Virtual Focused Marketing Chosen To Participate In Amazon Services Sellers Beta Program

Virtual Focused Marketing, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, has announced that they have been chosen to participate in the new Amazon Services Seller Beta Program. The program is available by invitation only, and Virtual Focused Marketing is the only full service online marketing agency chosen by Amazon Services to participate in the program. A number of other industries are also being represented in the program.

Rusty McMillen of Virtual Focused Marketing says, “Of course, we're thrilled that Amazon has reached out to us for this program. Being the only agency of our kind to be asked makes it quite the honor.”

The program is designed to allow businesses to offer professional services on the Amazon marketplace. Everything from diagnostics to installations can be offered, and businesses will be able to set pricing estimates, receive requests from customers, and basically sell their services to customers through Amazon.

“The program will enable us to set our prices for pre-packaged services, such as local business optimization marketing, and sell that service through Amazon,” McMillen says.

The purpose of the program is to make services available so that customers browsing and shopping on Amazon will see them. When customers purchase products related to a particular service, that service will show up as a related or recommended purchase. Amazon will handle the payment for services and deal with payment issues from customers, so that businesses can focus on providing their services.

Virtual Focused Marketing offers a range of services such as SMB branding and reputation marketing services, that they say will be very well advertised on the Amazon marketplace. Currently, they are the only company offering these services to be invited into the program.

The above-mentioned services program is now live and available to customers on the Amazon marketplace. Meanwhile, Virtual Focused Marketing continues to offer their services online to local and nationwide customers through their official website. Those interested can learn more about the new Amazon Seller program on the Amazon site or visit Virtual Focused Marketing on their website to get more information about the suite of reputation and marketing services they provide.

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Contact Virtual Focused Marketing:

Rusty McMillen
1785 East Sahara Ave Suite 490 Las Vegas, NV 89104

Google Says You Need Experts for Quality Content Writing

 

 

As we all know, Google is tight-lipped about their algorithm and ranking factors. They do this to avoid past SEO abuse, which has ranged anywhere from keyword stuffing to the more recent spamming semantic markup.

But since Google has started announcing updates and additions to their core algorithm, it's about time they start sharing their criteria for quality content. This is why Google's Search Quality Guidelines was finally released on November 2015 on their webmaster blog. (These guidelines were initially leaked, and eventually released by Google since most of the SEO community had already seen it.)

Looking at the guidelines, it's clear what matters to Google. First, Google wants to give priority to content that is written with a certain level of expertise. If the content has to do with health or finances, Google requires its Content Quality Graders to take extra care in making sure they are high quality pages.

Second, Google wants to provide the best user experience possible for the people searching on their search engine - which means, they want to direct their users to the websites that will provide them with the best answers.

Use the E-A-T Standard

E-A-T, an acronym for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, is what Google looks for in high quality content. This is especially the case for pages that have advice on the following topics:

• Medical


• Financial


• Well-being/Health


• Hobbies (Like Sports, the Arts, and Outdoor Activities)

All of these topics require expert writers. If pages with these topics don't have a certain level of complexity or expertise, Google's evaluators will deem it low-quality.

An expert writer is not necessarily someone that has studied or worked in a field. It varies based on topic and context. For example, Google considers product/restaurant reviews to be expert content as long as it's in-depth and helpful. Similarly, they consider certain community forums as high-quality. Quality forums generally have content from users with first hand experience. To make it clear: advice on a specific topic should come from an actual professional, but advice on life experiences can come from someone who has gone through it.

Here are some high-quality content examples Google provides:

Providing the Best User Experience

As we mentioned before, Google wants the best experience for its users. Since we've already been given tons of on-page feedback on content size and page speed specifications, we will need to start focusing on other nuances of the user's experience.

1. Optimize For Device Types

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Google released Mobilegeddon last year, and hit us with a reality check - we had to make sure our websites were up-to-par with different screen sizes, different devices, and connection speeds. Google's Mobilegeddon removed low-quality mobile results from its search engine. Keep this in mind with new devices that will be released in the future.

2. Avoid Spammy Advertising

Besides the general best practices of making your website load quickly and easy to use, quality raters are also on the hunt for spammy advertising. This includes but is not limited to: popover ads that shift a user's page down, popup ads that restrict a user's ability to switch screens, and having more than three ads on any given page.

3. Get Creative with Doorway Pages

If you're an affiliate marketer, Google will not want to rank your product review unless a user searches for its specific attributes. Instead, they want to rank the product itself - that way, a customer can go straight to checkout or learn more information about the brand.

How Will Google's Quality Guidelines Change in The Future?

Google's quality guidelines will evolve with new technology and devices. We'll just have to wait and see if Google's Quality Graders will actually be as harsh as they seem in these guidelines.

Make sure to get the nitty-gritty details on Google's Quality Guidelines in the full 160 page document… which, just so happens to be a PDF document with a terrible mobile experience. We'll let it slide this time, Google.

http://www.conductor.com/blog/2016/01/google-quality-content-writing/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuqnLcO%2FhmjTEU5z16uQuXaC3hYkz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMSMRqNbDYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3EKNkNwNhoRhbkCw%3D%3D

 

SEO Industry News: Google's Core Algorithm Update, Google Panda, My Business

 

 

In our January 2016 edition of Conductor 30|30 (which is 30 minutes on the last 30 days in search, social, and content), Pat Reinhart starts off the year discussing big changes in marketing. Click a topic below to jump down:

• Google's Core Algorithm Update


• Google Panda Assimilation


• Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)


• Google My Business API


• Facebook Professional Services

We also had a ton of unanswered Q&A questions during the webinar. Click a question below to jump down:

• Can you define “real-time”? What is the main difference between a “Real Time Algorithm” and Google's current algorithm today?


• What are some things to focus on as we get closer to a potentialGoogle Penguin assimilation to the core algorithm?


• What should I do tomorrow to optimize my content with these new algorithm changes?


• You stated in the webinar that My Business won't affect rankings. But will Google My Business affect the local search results at the top of the SERP?


• With the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) becoming the new standard, will there be a need for a specific kind of optimization for these pages? How will AMPs be prioritized?


• Is AMP eventually meant for mobile advertising in your opinion?


• Will the return of Matt Cutts signal RankBrain going rogue and bring the rise of a robot resistance?

 

Want more details? Get into the nitty-gritty by watching the full webinar recording for January's edition.

 

 

1. Core Algorithm Updated Over the Weekend

Google has actually announced that there was a major core algorithm update over the second weekend of January 2016, similar to the quality update they released in May 2015). Usually they update their algorithm quietly but since Google knows their algorithm is getting better, they may be avoiding their typical phantom updates (release without public confirmation).

This algorithm change is not to be confused with the Panda assimilation below. This is a completely independent update to their core algorithm to improve its real-time efficiency.

2. Google Panda Assimilation

The second major algorithm announcement is that Google Panda is now part of the core algorithm. So to reiterate, Panda was not updated, it was simply assimilated into the main algorithm. This is what Google's PR Team had to say about it:

“Panda is an algorithm that's applied to sites overall and has become one of our core ranking signals. It measures the quality of a site, which you can read more about in our guidelines. Panda allows Google to take quality into account and adjust ranking accordingly.”

What does this mean for you? Google is happy with its Panda implementation enough to make it permanent. If you were positively affected by Panda in your rankings, keep up the great work. If negatively affected, you should bring your website up to par with the Google Website Guidelines to start mending the damage.

3. Google Rolling Out Accelerated Mobile Pages To Everyone Next Month

After a successful testing period, Google has announced that they are going to be rolling out their accelerated mobile pages to everyone in February of 2016. AMP pages, as discussed in our November 30|30 recap, were previously exclusive to certain publishers. Now AMP pages will be available to everyone. Find out how here.

4. Google My Business API Has Launched

Google had officially launched the API for Google My Business. This is great way to manage branches and locations for businesses so that “customers can find you, no matter what device they're using.”

This API will be a much easier way for companies to create and edit their listings' information, especially for companies with thousands of locations.

Google My Business API includes:

• Create business locations with information such as name, address, phone number, category, business hours, and more


• Manage special hours


• Mark a business location as permanently closed


• Manage business photos


• List, invite and remove managers on locations and business accounts


• Read listing state to identify Google updated, duplicate and suspended locations


• Search/Filter locations by name, category and label


• Set the service area for a business either by specifying a point and radius or Place IDs

You can find the full API documentation here.

5. Facebook Professional Services

Facebook now has an area on their site dedicated to professional services. This feature is very similar to Yelp where it helps you find the highest rated business in a given area.

There are currently 85 business categories you can choose from when you create your listing. The business will show up in Facebook's business search results based on the five-star rating system that is currently implemented.

 

But, it looks like there are other metrics that have influence in rankings. It will be very interesting to see how much Facebook promotes this, if at all, and tries to aggressively move into this space.

 

Pat Reinhart Answers Your Webinar Questions

Q1. Can you define “real-time”? What is the main difference between a “Real Time Algorithm” and Google's current algorithm today?

The main difference is that a real-time algorithm would not need manual data pushes to update, but rather, they would updated automatically second to second, minute to minute, hour to hour.  Currently all algorithm updates require manual data pushes.  While Google's core algorithm technically does work and process data in real time, to update it they still need to push manual data.

Q2. What are some things to focus on as we get closer to a potential Penguin assimilation to the core algorithm?

You should always keep an eye on your link profile and audit it quarterly to ensure there is nothing harmful going on.  For larger brands this is more of a challenge, but also less of a concern as they tend to have a higher volume of quality links than smaller brands.  Regardless of the size of your business, you should make the investment to monitor your backlink profile on a regular basis.

Q3. What should I do tomorrow to optimize my content with these new algorithm changes?

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You wouldn't necessarily “do” anything to optimize your site different for this specific change, but rather, you should be looking at your SEO program as a whole and see where the holes are that caused the site to remain flat, or worse, fall in the rankings.  Create great content, do it often, optimize it, work with partners to share content and build quality links.  These are all things that you can do tomorrow, and should always be doing. 

 

Continue to evolve with the algorithm and make sure your program doesn't get stagnant.  Make your paid team speak with your SEO team, integrate campaigns and share ideas.  That's what the most successful campaigns usually draw their strength from.

Q4. You stated in the webinar that My Business won't affect rankings. But will Google My Business affect the local search results at the top of the SERP?

Google My Business listings don't necessarily affect your overall site rankings (I don't think at all, but there are hundreds of unknown ranking factors so I guess it's possible), but are the properties that you need to update and maintain to show up higher in local search. 

 

Best practices here are to ensure your NAP information (Name, Address, Phone Number) is consistent across as many local aggregators as possible, not just GMB.  Don't try to optimize your listing, just put the correct information, and then work on making that information correct across the web.  MozLocal is a great way to see how you are doing across multiple properties, but there are other companies that help you do this such as WhiteSpark and Yext.

Q5. With Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) becoming the new standard, will there be a need for a specific kind of optimization for these pages? How will AMPs be prioritized?

I want to be clear here that AMP pages becoming standard is a prediction of mine, and not necessarily what the state of the web is at this time. 

 

There is a very specific way you need to code these types of pages, which is described at www.ampproject.org, but the main thing to know is that these are completely separate pages that should be created and then canonicaled back to the live page, and are not meant to be indexed.  This isn't a ranking play, it's a visibility play within the AMP carousel that will appear for certain terms.  Learn more at the URL provided.

Q6. Is AMP eventually meant for mobile advertising in your opinion?

This is a truly great question and I believe there are two ways to look at it. AMP, at the moment, is going to be mostly used by publishers to get their content to their users faster and without any load times.  From an advertising perspective, my guess is that dynamic ads, such as Google AdSense, will not function properly within this framework and most likely will cause tracking issues with many platforms that measure the eyeballs viewing an ad. 

 

With that said, Google is a sales organization and I can't imagine their plan is to do this out of the goodness of their own hearts and eventually will work out a way that the advertising will be available and trackable.  This could already be in place, as I said, this is a very new technology that only a few companies have been given access to, so time will tell.

Check in at www.ampproject.org for more info.

Q7. Will the return of Matt Cutts signal RankBrain going rogue and bring the rise of a robot resistance?

It's truly too soon to tell what the re-emergence of Cuttsman would bring back to the table, for all we know he IS Rankbrain and we could be on the cusp of a full-on Lawnmower man situation.  I guess all we can do is wait and see if our phones all ring in unison.

Via: http://www.conductor.com/blog/2016/01/seo-industry-news-google-core-algorithm-update-google-panda/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuqnLcO%2FhmjTEU5z16uQuXaC3hYkz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMSMRqNbDYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3EKNkNwNhoRhbkCw%3D%3D

Do You Need to Be an Artist to Do Web Design?

Web design and development are necessary components of creating online success, and certainly aesthetic appearance plays a major role in how it all plays out.

But is design an art? The experts say no – and, further, they argue that conflating art and design is detrimental to success.

ART VERSUS DESIGN: DRAWING THE DISTINCTION

The biggest distinction between art and design is that art comes from something internal, and design comes from something external. In short, art is about creative expression, while design is created in response to a functional need.

While a site should look visually pleasing, its purpose is to perform a function. The designer needs someone to use what he or she creates; it cannot serve its purpose if there's no one to use it. Certainly, art exists that is useful, but design creates something to be incorporated into our everyday lives.

This isn't an insult to designers. Certainly, it's possible to appreciate and respect design as you could a work of art. And, indeed, many designers are also artists. But the project of art is not to solve an everyday problem. In a nutshell, art is itself a project, while design is a product.

Kissmetrics sums it up this way: Pretty doesn't count. When you look at a well-executed website design, “That looks nice” is less important than “That works well.”

APPROACHING ART FROM A DESIGN PERSPECTIVE

If anything, the art world could learn a thing or two from designers – especially online. If current successes are anything to measure by, it takes an engineer and entrepreneurial approach to make a real splash to sell art and make it accessible to a wide audience. In a recent interview, Albert Scaglione, the founder and CEO of the world's largest art dealer, Park West Gallery, explains how he came to the art world.

While he studied to be an engineer and spent the first portion of his post-graduate adulthood teaching, art kept pulling him back. His technical history is certainly a contributor to his success.

WHY THE DISTINCTION MATTERS

It's not just about semantics; it's about attitude. Design is a business-related venture, and it needs to be treated as such. The treatment of designers as artists undermines and undervalues the work they do. While this is an unfortunate and unwarranted reflection on art itself, it's a problem for designers who produce a design – a product.

HubSpot points to one frustrating but common request designers receive from non-designer clients: “Could you send me a couple different versions of that?” This is like asking a nutritionist, after she recommends a nutrient-rich diet for better health, “Okay, but what else ya got?”

FINAL THOUGHTS: WHAT DESIGNERS ARE WORTH

In short, while an artist can create a number of different works of art – sometimes within a very short timeframe – a designer's creation is meant to solve a problem. Asking for a different “version” of the designer's solution assumes that the designer hasn't already invested careful, thoughtful work and ideas. It's one thing if you're unhappy with how the website functions, but if you'd like to see the entire thing redone “just because,” expect to pay the designer to build the design up from the ground all over again.

– See more at: 

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2016/02/03/do-you-need-to-be-an-artist-to-do-web-design.aspx