L13: Ranking, Link Building & Google Analytics

This week we packed in learning all about link building, rankings and Google Analytics.  There was a lot of information packed into the week but it was definitely all good information. 

The topic that was the most difficult for me to understand was link building.  While I understand the concept of getting content out there with links back to your website, I had hard time following just how you are supposed to do that beyond creating all of the content and links yourself.  Maybe that is all there is to it, or maybe there is a whole lot more, I'm not sure.  Along the same lines, I didn't understand that concept of "deep linking" either.  I tried to research a few thing but it was just too confusing.  So for now, I think that my basic understanding of creating links will suffice.

I really enjoyed learning about how to dig for data on Google Analytics.  I had no idea that you could drill down to so may specifics pieces of information.  It just makes me realize just how much Google has about our activities as we visit websites.  When you take out the element of Google being a creepy stalker information gatherer, the data becomes invaluable to helping website owners improve their sites and target their ads to their key audiences.

Another piece of valuable information that we learned this week was how to use WooRank.  I found the information that site provided to be helpful in steering me in the right direction to improve my website going forward.  I love that it hows how big of an impact each topic will have and how easy or difficult it is to resolve each issue. 

L12: Social Media for SEO & Social Networking

This week we learned about about SEO and how to use social media to influence our analytics.  In order for this to really work for me and my business, I will need to actually create some soial media accounts for my business.  As I have thought about it, I think that Instagram, Facebook and interest will be the most relevant social media platforms for me to use in relation to what I am trying to do with my business. 

Another thing I will need to do is link all of my social media accounts to my website.  Not only do I want to drive traffic to my websites through social media accounts, I also want to generate traffic to my social media accounts from my website.  For this reason, it is really important for me to install all of my social media icons and links on my website.  Then if someone finds my site from a Google search and they like what they see, they can easily follow me on social media as well. 

I didn't realize that you can track the way traffic comes to your website.  It was fun to learn that through Google Analytics I can keep track which platform people are finding their way to my website.  I think this was the most valuable thing I learned this week.  Being able to track this will help me know which platform I should focus on. 

L11: Landing Page Optimization & Basic SEO

This week we learned all about SEO or search engine optimization.  This is something that I've heard a lot about but didn't really understand very well.  After going through this week's lesson materials, I have definitely learned more about SEO but I can't say for certainty that I understand all of it very well.  I did learn a few tips on how to boost my sit's rankings in the search engines in relation to keyword targeting elements.  Below are seven tips:

1. Make sure the page title is relevant to the keywords.
2. Make sure the headline of your ad is relevant to the keywords.  
3. Make sure the body text on your ad and site are original and relevant.  
4. Make sure the URL of your site is as simple and concise as possible.  
5. make sure your images are tagged and that you have inserted alt attributes.
6. Make sure your internal and external links are going and coming from legitimate websites.  
7. Make sure our meta keywords are accurate.  

When it comes to making sure your landing page is in tip top shape, I learned that I should ask myself the following questions:

• Is the page featuring what you promised in the ad?
• Can people easily find what they are looking for on your site?
• What do you want them to do on your site?  include a call to action.  

As I move forward with my site and ads, I will definitely have to consider these things and adjust as needed.