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Author: Search Influence Alumni

Is Your Website Healthy? Increase Its Organic Intake & Watch It Grow!
Whether you’ve noticed it or not, all website owners are in the parenthood business. Our websites are our babies; despite how frustrating they can seem, how stressed they make us, and how much of our money and time they require, we love them anyway. And, of course, we want them to live long, healthy lives. So, whether your business is currently raising a newborn, keeping track of an 8-year-old, or guiding a young adult, your baby deserves undivided attention, precious care, and the healthiest food available.

Why Choose Organic?

Just as any living and working body, your site deserves a high intake of organic food, and in this case, every visitor is a small portion of a meal. Organic traffic is traffic that comes to a website through unpaid links from search engines, directories, and more. Because organic traffic is considered natural, it’s not a quick process but rather builds over time. Its success is directly related to the content on the site and the number of backlinks it receives from trustworthy sites. Since you’re the parent of this functioning being of the virtual world, you’re responsible for its wellbeing.

The Recipe To Increasing Organic Traffic

The organic method is not only a high-quality and reliable tactic, but it’s also free and increasable. Plus, high numbers in organic traffic will naturally inflate your search engine rankings. How do you do this? Here are a few, efficient ways to increase your site’s organic traffic:
- Build a site with relevant, unique content that’s up to date and free of grammatical errors.
- Add keywords as naturally as possible into your compelling content. (Don’t overuse them.)
- Do NOT post duplicate content on your pages.
- Start an engaging blog.
- Only have dependable, authoritative backlinks to your site. (Strive to have content that others want to link to. Don’t use link schemes.)
- Optimize your photos.
- Remember to add page descriptions.
The Final Health Check

The question at hand is simple: Is your website healthy? Or, is it stuffed with too many keywords? Is it living on manipulative, artificial backlinks? Is its body suffering from the lack of unique content nutrients? Deceptive preservatives will decrease your traffic and discredit your right to rank high on Google, Bing, and other search engines. Fill your site’s body with authentic, creative content with striking, optimized photos and strong backlinks. Then, you can sit back and watch its organic traffic grow.

Your website has a heart. Treat it like it does, and give it your best.
July 2, 2014
5 for Friday – G+ On Your Phone, Teens On Facebook, & Tips For Powerful Images

1) CNBC: This 17-Year-Old Website Devastated By Google’s Panda Update – Search Engine Roundtable

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Linda Stadley. Her recipes brought so much joy to her and those around her that she generously decided to share them with the Internet. So she created www.whatscookingamerica.net, and for 17 years her recipes reigned supreme. She lived happily ever after until Google unleashed its mighty Panda 4.0 paw and ended her domination of the search engine results page faster than you can say Jack Robinson. Users everywhere weep for her loss of traffic.

…that website though. The writer of this article says it all with his closing statement, “I feel bad but the site does need a facelift.” Well, yeah. This article speaks to the very nature of Google updates: even though they may not make everyone happy, the goal is to help all users find the best information first. Let’s be real here. This site lacks a lot of the features that make a website useful to users looking for recipes (like reviews, for example); therefore, more useful websites will get better rankings because they give people more of what they’re trying to find. Google would probably reply with something along the lines of “sorry we’re not sorry.”

2) Google My Business iPhone App Now Available – Blumenthals

Do you want Google all up in your business? You’re in luck. Google just released the My Business iOS app (as discussed by Mary Silva). The noteworthy features (for both the iOS and Android app) include the ability to edit your business listings and view local insights. Missing from this app is Google Analytics and Adwords Express. You can also access all the features of your Google Plus account. JUST WHAT WE’VE ALWAYS WANTED, said no one ever. The thought behind this was probably something along the lines of, “hey wait a minute, no one seems to be posting to their Google Plus account, maybe they would if they could do that on their phones?” We will see Google, we will see.

3) Wait A Minute. Facebook Is Still A Big Hit Among Teens? – Marketing Land

Facebook hasn’t been poisoned by moms and businesses? What?! As it turns out, Facebook is still popular with teenagers. Forrester Research released a report revealing that 75% of Facebook users ages 12 to 17 use Facebook once a month, with 28% of this age group claiming to use Facebook “all the time.” Of course, numbers don’t always give the whole story. Yeah, these kids are logging on, but are they actually using Facebook? Who’s to say these kids using Facebook everyday are not just scrolling through the newsfeed absentmindedly? Well, this may be the case, because a niche study reveals Facebook lost to Instagram for the most engaging platform.

There’s a lot to consider here. For one, how will this trend change in the future? Have teens just been classically conditioned to check their Facebooks like a hopeless romantic checks Craigslist missed connections? Do more engaging platforms have more of an advantage in retaining and attracting new users? Time will tell.

4) Net Neutrality Protesters Arrested At Google HQ – Techcrunch

Well, this is a fun one. A group of activists in favor of net neutrality were arrested for protesting outside Google Headquarters. What were they doing there, you ask? The group calls for Google to “stand with us in support of an Internet that is free from censorship, discrimination, and access fees.” The group asked Google, among other demands, to change their homepage for a day to include a link to the FCC petition. You may be thinking, ‘but Google isn’t exactly the bad guy here trying to end net neutrality for all, why are they protesting there anyway?’ And you would be thinking correctly. According to this article, Google declined to comment on the arrests. I can’t blame them, as it seems these protesters might have a classic case of misdirected rage.

5) The 8 Types of Images That Increase the Psychological Impact of Your Content – Copyblogger

Quality images matter because they increase user experience. Yes, we know this. The advice in this article seems rather obvious, but there’s something to take away here. Specifically, what makes an image useful? This article proposes eight different types of images that provide users with the information they need. The top eight being: stock photos, screenshots, charts and graphs, personal photos, still frames from popular movies and TV shows, infographics, custom art, and comics. I would like to point out that most of these (except stock photos) could and maybe should fall under #7 “custom images.” I feel this article missed out on the opportunity to highlight the way that custom images serve more of a functional purpose for marketing than non-custom images. An infographic, comic, or screenshot that is custom and directly relevant to your business would obviously be more useful to users than one that is not.

June 27, 2014
Our Influence Grows!

As Summer starts, the SI team continues to grow. This month, we welcome three new faces to Search Influence!

Caroline VanDyke – Junior Internet Marketing Associate

Originally from Newport Beach, CA, Caroline came to Tulane University to study Political Science and International Development (and eat her way through NOLA). Before coming to SI, she worked on policy research for the Cowen Institute and had an article published on Huffington Post. Caroline is a current events junkie and foodie which makes New Orleans a great place to call home!

Harrison Galante – Account Associate

Originally from New Jersey, Harrison moved to New Orleans in 2009 to attend Tulane University. Before joining the Search Influence team, Harrison worked at a Local SEO firm in New York, but the New Orleans bug is a hard one to kick. He loves to travel, brew his own beer, and practice Yoga. Harrison is extremely excited to be a part of New Orleans’ budding tech scene!

Nina Hymel – Junior Internet Marketing Associate

Nina is originally from Destrehan, LA, but she just moved back to the area after attending Loyola University in Chicago. She graduated with a double major in English and Communication. Before Search Influence, Nina worked as a public relations and business development intern at ASC Communications in Chicago.

Welcome Nina, Harrison, and Caroline! We all look forward to working with you. If you are interested in joining Search Influence, visit our career page.

June 24, 2014
Has Panda 4.0 Got You Down?
Now that we are 4 weeks post-Panda 4.0, there is a decent amount of data to sift through and determine if a website got caught in the Panda filter.

Panda is supposed to provide consumers with search results that are helpful to their needs. This means websites that have some authority and provide a service to consumers are going to be more trusted and rank better. The better websites offer answers to consumers for what they are looking for and help them make decisions based on useful information. The content is engaging and gets people the information they need.

Not Too Much Panda Drama

Panda started rolling out May 19, so that’s our magic date for before and after data. When looking only at Google organic traffic and comparing May 19, 2014-Jun 15, 2014 to Apr 21, 2014-May 18, 2014, I saw a 6.71% increase for one plastic surgeon’s website. This is a respectable increase when you consider that summer is generally thought to be the start of the slow season for plastic surgery as an industry.

For this plastic surgeon, I looked at the same date range for the last 4 years. Every year, this same date comparison resulted in a minor and expected decrease of Google organic traffic. This illustrates the typical seasonality. Given that history, we’re pretty excited to see an increase from Google organic traffic going into summer.

I looked at another client’s website, this time for an apartment complex, which is up 15% in Google organic search. Last year showed a decrease for the same time frame comparison. Unfortunately, the client didn’t have Analytics data for 2012. I have always thought that summer would be a high season for his industry, but he says for his complex and his location, summer is not necessarily the busy season. I always like to see double-digit growth in Google organic traffic (that’s a no brainer), but I worry about the monthly Panda data refresh leveling things back out, which happens all the time. The fact that the site had an increase at least tells us that the site is trusted, and we are on the right path, so that’s the story to celebrate.

One of our account managers has a charter-fishing website (which I think would be super fun to work on). This fishing charter client had a whopping 115% increase, but you have to consider that this is his high season. Last year the same time frame comparisons saw a 65% increase. Even with the seasonality, I think he was a winner with Panda 4.0. He has lots of great original photos and lots of engagement – it totally looks fun to go out on his boat! And that’s a major part of what makes a quality site.

In the health industry, we have a drug rehabilitation clinic website, which experienced a 19% increase after Panda 4.0. So, the interesting part for this client is that their content is solid. We have been working more heavily on their citations and less on their content, so it’s possible this client is simply readjusting from the previous Panda. It’s also possible that clean local citations are helping the site’s quality and trust.

Magic?

I know everyone reads these posts for some super secret insight, to learn some nugget of goodness, and I will probably disappoint. The efforts of our account managers have helped our clients’ websites, some shown above, but really, as a group, we have done nothing extraordinary. If it’s an older client, we have taken the time to review all of the past years of work and get back to the basics. We fixed any technical SEO problems we found. We are also constantly refreshing content, constantly reviewing citations, and building social channels with planned content calendars. If it’s a newer client, we work on building a solid foundation of fresh content, consistent business data, and getting social.

There is no magic here, just thoroughness.

This Wasn’t Just Any Ol’ Panda Update

This Panda update is largely thought to be a significant algorithm change rather than the monthly refresh. Barry Schwartz says it succinctly, “Panda 4.0 must be a major update to the actual algorithm versus just a data refresh. Meaning, Google has made changes to how Panda identifies sites and has released a new version of the algorithm today.”

What does this mean? It means that if you look in Google Analytics and your visits took a dive towards the end of May 2014, then you need to dedicate some time, effort, and resources to your website. When there is a Panda data refresh every month, it’s not going to get better without some serious website rehab.

As a side note, most of the clients I looked at had a small bump up in first week of June. I don’t know if there was a Panda refresh just 2 weeks after the Panda algo update, but I definitely see it across a large number of clients.

The Panda Checklist

There is so much you can do to “clean your house” for Panda, but here are the first efforts I would take to tackle the Panda beast.

#1 Crawl Before You Can Walk

Start with a detailed crawl of your website. You can use whichever website crawler you prefer (At Search Influence, most of us use the Screaming Frog SEO Spider). You’re really just looking for a comprehensive spreadsheet where you can look at your website as a whole. The crawl will give you a list of pages, images, CSS files, and many other goodies.

With this list, you can sort, filter, get organized, and clean up your site.
- Review how many H1s and H2s each page has. Subheadings are wonderful. Use them.
- Check your canonicals. Make sure they are set up properly.
- See what is being redirected.
- Find what is 404ing.
- Read the meta data for each page and see how amazing or how lame it is.
With this list, you can find multiple pages on a single topic. Often enough, we find a client has multiple pages and posts on a single topic. I looked at a client two weeks ago who had 8 pages all on the #1 service she offered. Wow! I was so overwhelmed. I can’t imagine how a casual site visitor would feel (“Where in these 8 pages is the info I need?”) or how the Google bots sort this out. Confusion within your own site is absolutely a no-no. If I am confused about which page I should read, then the Google bots sure won’t know what to say about it. If they could talk and all.

Once you review your site crawl and have some action items to improve the tags and architecture (i.e. make it easier for the consumer to find what they need), you can laser focus on individual pages within the site.

#2 Am I a … Plagiarizer?!

Put your site through a content checker. There are a few out there, so try several because no single tool is the best. If you wrote your content years ago or someone wrote your content for you, it’s a good investment to check for duplication. Who knows who has scraped your content or if your writer ripped it off from some other unsuspecting website owner.

Search Influence’s Tracy Stoller, Content Lead, asks a pointed question, “Google is looking for quality content that is useful to searchers. If the content is on 40 other sites, what makes your site the useful one?

#3 Improve the Content

If you’ve discovered some redundant pages, you need to merge those pieces into a single primary page for the given topic. This is tedious, but it absolutely must be done.

If you happen to find some duplicate content, rewrite it. Sit down and knock out some new text. If you are the business owner, then you know the details of your product and service like no one else. I like to suggest that a business owner talk about the service—just talk—and record him/herself. Then, have a transcript service type it up from the recording. This usually generates the most natural and most detailed text, even after editing.

How long has it been since you updated the content on your site?

I logged into a client’s WordPress site last week and saw that the page I was on had not been updated since 2010. We have been updating their content slowly, but, clearly, we missed this one. Some topics may not have much change in four years, but we can look at how the visitors came to that page and where they went after and how long they spent on the page, and we can certainly refresh the page with this information in mind. We can rewrite with more details and offer easy links to the most often visited next page. We want to make it as easy as possible for the visitor to get the information they need.

Remember, content does not mean just text. Content is text and videos and images and calculators and quizzes and slideshows, etc. Multifaceted media on a single page creates an extremely consumer-focused experience.

#4 Take Some Pictures!

You need relevant images on your page of text. Text and images should be focused on a single topic. The image should be optimized around the same topical idea as the text on the page. If you create the image, and it’s original, that’s even better. I have combed through a client’s Facebook, Flickr, and Pinterest to grab any original images they have and reuse them on the website. If they already exist, and I have access to them, it’s one less thing I have to ask the client to do. You really need to see the impact of authentic, original images.

Really, which of these says more to the consumer?

#5 Blogging

Pages and blog posts are different animals. Pages are for the topics that are evergreen and should represent a business’ core products or services. Blog posts are for
- Commenting on current events,
- Answering specific questions that require high levels of detail (Q&A)
- Showing current trends in your industry
- Real engagement with your audience!
Paula Keller, Search Influence’s Director of Account Management, says, “We see blog posts written about specialized topics from seven years ago still driving organic search engine traffic to a website. Blogging is good for the readers who come across it today, good for the search engines as the new content publication brings them back to your site, and has long-lasting benefits on your site’s authority.“

#6 Video

Video is not entirely necessary to overcome Panda, but it is a great addition to your content. The best videos are created with some input from the client or are created by the business owner with a handy smartphone.

The best videos are instructional how-to’s or tutorials: 30 seconds on unclogging a sink, installing an ice maker water line, or one minute of an attorney educating us how to behave if we get pulled over or… (Yikes!) arrested.

When you have a video created and ready, add the video to your Google account’s YouTube channel, and embed it on the topically relevant page. Mark it up with proper schema! I would add videos at a pace that is both slow and steady – once a month, once a quarter – whatever frequency you think you can actually stick to.

#7 Consistency is The Key

Okay, so I know that local citations work is not the first thing we think of when we are considering Panda (typically thought of as strictly a content algorithm). Panda is really searching for the quality, authoritative websites. Way back at the very first Panda, Google said, “It will provide better rankings for high-quality sites.” And one of the key efforts in building high-quality sites is having clean consistent business data across the local ecosystem.

David Mihm started his Local Search Ranking Factors “to help small business owners confused by Local Search, or those strapped for time, to prioritize their marketing efforts.” Many industry leaders contribute to the Factors (including Search Influence!). It was last published in August 2013, and it reveals that citation volume, NAP consistency, and other local signals account for 16% of the ranking factors.

Our own Mary Silva, Senior Internet Marketing Associate, adds, “Consistent and correct business NAP (Name, Address, Phone, and often Website) is the key to getting your site to rank locally. If Google finds inconsistencies in your business information across the web, then your business and its associated site are considered less authoritative and not as trustworthy.”

You can clean your listings yourself, but be forewarned, it’s a serious time investment. There are tools out there to help you in this endeavor. Be sure to allocate some hours every month to reviewing those tools and taking any action to edit and update listings as you go.

Learn to Love the Panda!

If you need help getting your site back on track from Panda, we would love to help out. Just know that Panda can be your friend. The latest update shows that it’s a simple matter of some spring cleaning, getting back to the basics, and being a good citizen. We can help you get there!
June 18, 2014
5 for Friday – Twitter and Facebook Duke it Out, Social Signals’ Effect on SEO, and the Power of Nofollow Links

1. Mobile Site Call Conversions Now Available in AdWords – PPC Hero

It’s finally here! Adwords now tracks click-to-call conversions on mobile devices. This can easily be added to a specific landing page with a little bit of coding. This feature will allow you to track calls through the same venues as your other performance metrics and customize the value of the incoming call. This blog post has step-by-step instructions on how to implement this new feature on your site!

2. Google Wallet’s 2-Click Instant Buy Checkout Comes To iOS – Tech Crunch

This week Google Wallet released its Instant Buy API for iOS apps. This was first released for Android apps a year ago. This free service can be accessed with your Google+ login and stores your shipping and credit card information. Merchants can then use the information to complete the transaction. Google Wallet aims to eliminate the frustration of mobile device shopping and decrease shopping cart abandonment.

3. Facebook and Twitter Want You to Talk About the #WorldCup on Their Field – Marketing Land

Facebook and Twitter are engaged in a Battle Royal almost as intense as the World Cups itself. With yesterday’s commencement of the Fifa World Cup, these two social media powerhouses pull no stops to be become the No. 1 platform for Fifa fans to electronically engage.

Facebook’s campaign provides fan with a Trending World Cup Page. Here fans can access the latest scores, view highlights and interact with a global map to pick their favorite teams

Use #WorldCup and #WorldCup2014 to access Twitter’s World Cup landing page. Here you can create a Fifa-specific profile and choose a cover photo and profile picture to support your team. Don’t forget to include your HashFlag. Introduced during the last World Cup, these three-letter hashtags can be used by fans to unlock an image of a country’s flag.

Which social media platform will reign supreme? Only trending numbers will tell. Let the games begin!

4. Social Signals and SEO – Blind Five Year Old

While the power of social media seems encompassing, Google is currently not using social signals, even from Google+, in its algorithm to calculate search results. You might be asking yourself why you’re putting so much effort into social now. Fear not! Maximizing the potential of a Google+ listing and other social outlets does have benefits. The Blind Five Year Old breaks down social media activity to explain that its not necessarily the activity itself, but the result of that activity that matters.

5. The Hidden Power of Nofollow Links – Moz Blog

Link building is an integral part of all SEO campaigns. They can help build your company’s brand, build public awareness, increase profit and, of course, lead to more links. Links can also help build your site’s authority in the eyes of search engines. But what about nofollow links? While they seem unfathomably dreadful, this blog posts offers a silver lining and techniques to utilize those nofollow links.

June 13, 2014
Yelp Adds Videos — But Not Necessarily For Reviews

A couple of weeks ago, Yelp leaked to Business Insider that they will soon allow users to add 3-12 second videos to their reviews. When I initially heard this, I was thrilled, because I have been waiting for this feature for some time now.

However, when I learned that these videos are intended to simply to add more media to the reviews (in the photos section) and not actually stand as reviews themselves, my excitement waned.

Rather than video reviews, what we are getting is a way for Yelpers to capture the atmosphere of a venue or more likely, selfie videos of them stuffing their faces at their favorite eatery. Yelp’s mobile product manager Madhu Prabaker explained the purpose of adding the video as “a reward for businesses that go to great lengths to achieve a certain ambiance, whether by having a certain lighting or the music at just the right level.”

Was anyone else as let down as I was when they heard this? I feel as if this new platform change is being wasted on the business aesthetics such as atmosphere and showcasing products, where pictures were doing just fine. The photo capability has been around for years—nothing new there.

What I see as the future is a full video review platform where consumers can turn the camera on themselves and tell us how they feel about the businesses they interact with. There are plenty of platforms out there to help SMB’s solicit reviews such as DemandForce and Customer Lobby, but there are no pure play platforms dedicated to helping users generate video testimonials. However, this functionality could ultimately rid business owners of the demon that is the Yelp review filter. (Business owners with less than stellar Yelp reviews, you know what I am talking about.)

What’s With The Filter Anyway?

Yelp’s justification for not showing certain reviews has always been that they appeared to be less than trustworthy. What could legitimize a review better than a video of the person posting it?! No more having your real user reviews taken down and your competitors’ employee-generated or otherwise fake reviews staying up. Real live video testimonials from your customers would become the gold standard for authenticity on Yelp.

While this version of Yelp videos may help to drive new business by showing a scrumptious plate of food or even a clean car that just went through a car wash, I believe that Yelp is missing out on a huge opportunity. According to SO Media, Video has 400% higher engagement rate than static content. That means that a video testimonial will most likely bring on an action, whether that is a like, comment, or share leading to more significant actions like phone calls and getting directions.

So, How will Adding Video Effect The Yelp Review Filter?

One can only hope that allowing customers to add videos to their reviews will serve as positive reinforcement that their opinion of your establishment is a credible one. One can only hope…

If Yelp factors the use of rich media (namely photos and videos) into review filtering, it hasn’t publicized this. Will they start giving these media reviews priority?

Industry experts have consistently pointed to the importance of users having a profile picture, connections, and several reviews as the keys to success in building an optimized Yelp profile.

I personally believe that video will soon become an important part of this conversation of what a truly optimized Yelp user profile is. While I understand that photos might not have been a large piece of the puzzle in the past, I would contend that the rich content in user videos will be of much greater influence in helping build authority and the perception of local business leadership.

Why Are Your Reviews So Important?

We’ve long known the importance of having a Yelp business profile. It’s so important, in fact, that according to the Boston Consulting Group in 2013, a business who even has a basic and free Yelp profile will make on average $8,000 more in annual revenue than a business without a Yelp profile. And this is where Yelp gets its leverage. It’s also a great reason to be so selective about which reviews they show.

As the video feature rolls out only to Yelp Elite users this June, we will have to wait until it makes its way to new users to really see how it effects the review filter. The reason being, Yelp Elite user reviews always show up when posted. The filter’s most negative impact comes to those newer users, without perceived authority on Yelp.

June 4, 2014
The Mullet Model: Why Your Business Should Be On Thumbtack

Thumbtack is making life a whole lot easier for consumers and for businesses. Unlike Yelp and Angie’s List, Thumbtack has found a way to connect businesses and their potential customers in order for them to make a deal. With their most recent round of funding, the tech company will have $30 million to help them become a leader in localized markets. Jonathan Swanson, one of the cofounders, describes the easy to use platform as a mullet business, “it’s very simple on the front, but very complicated on the backend.”

How Thumbtack Works

Businesses can bid on, and acquire, new customers based on the specifics of a job, and consumers are able to hire professional service providers effectively by getting an “introduction” that includes a businesses’ custom quote, customer reviews, and profile. Consumers fill out a detailed form regarding what services they need done (see the mullet form below), and then, as a business, you can “bid” and contact the potential client based on the fit. One of these “introductions” can cost anywhere between $3 and $25, based on the size and cost of the job. From there, the customer can compare other local professionals and decide on the best pro to handle the job.

Customer Form:

How Thumbtack Can Help Your Business

There are hundreds of services available for hire on Thumbtack, and you can find new customers that fit well with your business. The website’s reinvention of the Yellow Pages covers all types of services, from painters and tennis instructors to web development and Swahili translation. You can proactively find and acquire customers in your area, who already have a high intent to purchase. The local services market is worth over $6 billion, and Thumbtack provides a good platform for small business to earn their share. Thumbtack has lots of momentum behind it, and it’s free to sign up, so you can start discovering new customers now.

Customer Request:

Business Custom Quote:

June 2, 2014
5 for Friday – Google Changes Its Logo, Apple Buys Beats, Internet Trends Report and More!
1.Google Made the Slightest Change to Its Logo and Users Still Noticed – Mashable

Google changed its logo and chances are, you probably didn’t even notice. The nerds did, though. Here’s a GIF of the logo, before and after.

2.Apple Confirms It Will Buy Beats for $3 Billion – Mashable

Apple confirmed the largest acquisition in company history – they will buy Beats Electronics and Beats Music for a cool $3 billion. No big deal, really.

3. Lawyers Sue SEO Firm For Violating Google Guidelines – Search Engine Land

A Michigan law firm is suing its former SEO company for allegedly using “spammy” techniques violating Google’s guidelines. I’ve been with Search Influence since October 2013 and have already seen changes in industry best practices, so it’ll be interesting to see what this means for SEO companies moving forward.

4. The Most Important Insights From Mary Meeker’s 2014 Internet Trends Report – TechCrunch

TechCrunch breaks down Meeker’s 164 slide report into 52 more digestible nuggets. Here are the 5 I found most interesting:
- Mobile now accounts for 25% of all web usage
- Internet advertising grew 16% this year
- Music streaming is up, sales are down – sales fell in 2013, while streaming grew 32%
- Photo sharing up 50% over 2013 in just the first half of 2014
- 84% of mobile owners use their devices while watching TV
5. 7 Essential LinkedIn Marketing Stats: When to Post, What to Post and How to Improve – Search Engine Journal

An interesting read about the third-fastest-growing social network. Don’t believe me? LinkedIn sends nearly four times more people to your homepage than Twitter and Facebook. Combined.
May 30, 2014
#HowTo: An Overview of Using Vine for Brands and Businesses
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, the list goes on…

Everyone knows keeping up with the current trends is important when it comes to marketing your business, especially on social media. It seems like each year there is a new social media craze that everyone is using, and it sometimes gets difficult deciding which platforms are the best for your business.

Most social networks perform in a way where businesses can share written or visual content with their followers. Think of how Facebook and Twitter perform – brands share interesting text or pictures in hopes that followers will “like” “comment” or “retweet” the posts.

However, there is nothing quite like watching an interesting, funny, or moving video. That is where Vine comes in. Created by its parent company Twitter in 2013, Vine brought a whole new way to market your business through videos.

Well, Isn’t That What YouTube Does?

Vine Profile

Vine is similar to YouTube in that they are both platforms where users and brands can share video content with their followers. However, there are many differences that make Vine unique.
- In the same way that Twitter limits users to 140 characters per tweet, Vine limits videos to a mere 6 seconds. This causes users to be really creative in getting the message across to viewers because there is such a limited time.
- “Vines” are looping videos, meaning they will continue to play continuously as long as you are watching them.
- Vine also has stop-motion capability, allowing users to record a portion of the video, stop recording, then start again at a different time.
- Also similar to Twitter’s retweet, Vine has “revine” capability that allows users to share videos that they think are interesting to their followers.
Interestingly enough, because of the creative nature of the app, many ordinary people have become “Vine Famous,” acquiring millions of fans since its inception in 2013. However, many businesses have also branched out and started using Vine to market their brand.

How Can Vine Help Your Business?

Vine can be beneficial for both new and loyal customers of your business.

For new customers, you can gain awareness for your business through Vine. Millions of people view the popular pages and the trending #hashtags each day. Participating and getting your Vines exposed to more people could introduce your business to someone that didn’t know about it previously.

For already loyal customers, Vine can offer a different way for them to see your business. For example, if you are a clothing store, making Vines of backstage action at a fashion show would be interesting to people who already have an interest in your brand.

Tips for Getting Started

Now that you know what Vine is and why it is important, here are a few tips to help you get started!
- Use Hashtags: Join the conversation with other users on Vine and make videos relevant to the trending hashtags. An always popular one is #HowTo. Getting your business seen on these trending subjects increases the probability of your video getting seen, liked or even revined by other users.
- Cross-Post Vines to Twitter: Vine is still such a new technology that not everyone is using yet. You can post your Vines to your brand’s Twitter account to get even more exposure.
- BE CREATIVE: Vine is not the platform to just make videos just for the sake of making them. Because of the looping and stop-motion features, you can really make something unique and interesting that other people will find shareable. The best Vines are the ones that are funny or extremely visually appealing (think optical illusion or magic).
Have A Call To Action When Applicable: Contests on Vine are popular. Have your followers create a unique video of themselves using your product, and revine the winner! This makes loyal customers feel special when their favorite business is actually acknowledging them.

Above you can see an example of a great Vine from GE. They encouraged their followers to be creative and make a #6SecondScience video, and in return they would revine a winner.

Finding out how to use Vine can be difficult at first, but finding your niche and posting to this app can definitely be beneficial when it comes to keeping loyalty among customers and finding new ones. However, just like any other social media platform, it is important to keep up with the updates of the app and stay current with this ever-changing technology.
May 29, 2014
April Showers Bring May Influencers!

Search Influence continues to grow! This month, we are happy to welcome seven new faces to our team.

Breanna Gussoni (Part-Time Administrative & Accounting Assistant):

Breanna was born and raised in New Orleans. She is currently attending Herzing University where she is pursuing a B.S. in Accounting. This is Breanna’s first job in business and marketing. She looks forward to learning all she can from working with Search Influence.

Chris Henson (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Originally from Covington, LA, Chris moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University, where he majored in History and Film. After graduating, he went on to receive his Master’s Degree in History from Southeastern Louisiana. Chris is very involved in the ever-growing New Orleans film industry as a reporter, critic, promoter, and producer. He is fascinated by the never-ending possibilities of social media.

Jessica DeBold (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Jessica was born in New York City and raised in Greenwich, CT. She graduated from Loyola University in early May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy Pre-Law and Mass Communications with a focus in Journalism. Before joining the Search Influence team, Jess was the Editorial intern for Uptown Messenger and the Editorial Editor for Loyola’s weekly newspaper. She is a fourth-degree black belt in Isshin-ryū karate, she plays the cello, and she spent her most recent summer in Cairo, Egypt working on an international women’s rights project with German University and UN Women.

Marina Brazhnikova (Operations Associate):

Marina is originally from Russia, although she has lived in the US for the past 12 years. After 7 years of managing operations at a successful art gallery, she decided to go back to graduate school, which brought her to New Orleans, the city she now considers home. Marina recently graduated from Tulane University with an MBA. At Search Influence, she concentrates on special projects with a focus on process improvement and optimization.

Patrick Kolstad (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Patrick is originally from the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He has lived in New Orleans for four years and recently graduated from Loyola University with a B.A. in English Literature. Patrick is excited to navigate the post-collegiate world while continuing to explore the city of New Orleans.

Sabrina Mohsenin (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Originally from Nashville, TN, Sabrina moved down to New Orleans to attend Tulane University, where she graduated this May with a double major in Communications and Psychology. Before Search Influence, she worked as a Junior Content Creator at a local PR and Marketing Agency, Hero|Farm, and as a PR Intern for The Office of James Carville.

Siobhan Lidon (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Born and raised in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Siobhan is now working towards her Management and Spanish degrees at Tulane University. Prior to Search Influence, Siobhan was a marketing intern at Be Well Nutrition, Inc., in New Orleans. After having fallen head over heels for the music, culture, and food the city has to offer, Siobhan plans to stay in New Orleans after college.

Welcome to SI, Breanna, Siobhan, Jessica, Patrick, Sabrina, Chris, and Marina. We’re excited to see all the great things you will accomplish!

May 27, 2014