Three SEO Tools 2019

 

The internet has evolved since its existence over twenty years ago. However, the basic requirement of ensuring your web pages have unique page titles which reflect your content as well as keyword headings to better highlight the content of individual pages and tags have remained the same. The core ideas of SEO are ensuring pages have the correct tags for targeting keywords, not just natural content placement in search results, but also for PPC (Pay Per Click), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), call to action (CTA), backlinks, and conversion rates are essential indicators of success.  

There is a number of tools to help businesses generate traffic with keywords and target internet traffic from key areas. Here are three tools that will help you complete the task:  

 

1.) Ubersuggest 

Takes current keywords you are ranking number one for and Ubersuggest will provide other keywords in short or longtail phrases to help you rank. Ubersuggest will provide suggests on how to incorporate the long-tail phrases onto your content.  

 

2.) Search Console 

Use the Search Console to A/B test your title tags. From Search Console look at the keywords on your pages that are ranking and make sure you add these to your title tags. Also, make sure your title tags are actionable verbs. Look for catching titles to use on your headlines.  

 

3.) Ahrefs 

Ahrefs allows you to determine who is linking to your top three competitors and not you. Use this tool to approach other sites who are linking building to your competitors.  

There are plenty of free tools in the market to help you manage your SEO. At the heart of SEO, your website needs to follow HTML 4 guidelines to better identify the purpose and content of a document. The tools listed can help provide Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) and help rank higher in natural organic traffic.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preventing and Responding to Bullying and Cyberbullying

 

 

 

 

Bullying victims suffer many effects both physically and emotionally. These effects range from feeling helpless, humiliated, angry, depressed, or even suicidal. Bullying is no longer limited to the school halls, playgrounds, and street corners. Technology allows cyberbullying to occur anywhere including your home, smartphones, emails, texts, and social media. Bullying has become relentless twenty-four hours a day to include hundreds of people – anonymously. Bullying rather in face to face or online should never be tolerated. We must arm ourselves with knowledge and best practices to protect our ourselves and children from the growing problem of bullying and cyberbullying.  

 Tips for dealing with a Cyberbully 

 There are many reasons why bullies may target you. It is important to remember that you’re not alone. But most importantly you don’t have to put up with it. There is no one and done solution to bullying or cyberbullying. Here are steps to take if you find yourself or someone you know becoming a victim to bullying or cyberbullying.  

 What is best is to go to people we trust for encouragement and support. Talk to a parent, teacher, counselor, or trusted friends-who are zero tolerance to any kind of bullying).  

  • Distance yourself from social media, texts or emails. And interact with people who support you.  
  • Don’t respond to any messages or posts.  
  • Keep an offline diary. Save the evidence of the cyberbullying by printing emails, take screenshots of text or social media messages, and take notes about the days, times and people involved in the bullying incidents.  
  • Prevent communications by blocking or muting cyberbullies 
  • Do not retaliate against the perpetrator. Just document the communication.  

 Tips on How Parents and Teachers Can Stop Bullying or Cyberbullying 

 

The best tip is always monitoring your child’s use of technology and relationships even if the child resents it.  

 

  • Limit the number of hours and time frames your child is online or uses their phone 
  • Set parental controls apps on phones and tablets. Set filters on computers and all devices to block inappropriate web content. Find apps to help monitor your child’s online activities.  
  • Know who your child communicates with online 
  • Know your child’s passwords 
  • Encourage your child to tell you or a trusted adult if they are targeted by bullies or cyberbullies.  
  • Make sure they are reassured they will not lose computer or phone privileges.  
  • And above all they do not have to put up with bullying nor do they deserve to be treated in ill regard.  

 

 

Steps for a Kinder World  

 

Above all the greatest prevention is to raise awareness of bullying and cyberbullying. As I indicated there is not a one and done solution but the action of responsibility of each us to create a kinder world where bullying or cyberbullying has no place among us. So, let’s make the good people and communities online help the internet be kind and positive through these steps we all can take part in.  

 

  • Make Their Day 

 Generate content worth sharing by making it positive and uplifting. Celebrate the positive in recent accomplishments, birthdays and your mission should be to uplift others. Share cute videos of babies or animals such as dogs, cats or even horses and use laughable memes to create positivity online.  

  •  Positive Discussions and comments 

 Create positive vibes when you see others sharing contributing positive content by giving compliments on it. If others are upset with the content at least the good vibes will be present especially when you post with positive statements.  

  • Unfollow 

 Be your own KonMari online by deleting accounts or users who do not spark joy. If you are following something that makes you feel bad about yourself or the world at large simply unfollow them. It’s a positive step to get rid of the cringe and hate.  

  •  Tell them about good experiences 

 Most of the time when reviews are given it’s because you have had a bad experience with online shopping, mobile ordering, a visit to local retail store or restaurant. However, to create positive energy on the internet leave a message of well-deserved comments and really love on them to let them know.  

  •  Offer advice  

Make someone feel a little less alone by offering your wisdom on when someone asks a pressing question. Google may have an answer to questions but not the advice of experience within the community of people we value. So, answer in the most positive way possible.  

 

  • Be the Keeper of Community Standards 

 To make the internet a kinder place anonymously reports on bullying, hate posts or comments that go against community standards. Don’t rely on artificial intelligence to catch the negative images, videos or comments this is where a human touch is needed.  

  •  Unplug 

 We can’t get away from all things negative. But when we come across something that upsets you the best resolve is to unplug from the internet.  

  The Law and Resources 

  

Cyberbullying goes against the terms of agreement for social sites. The actions of cyberbullying breach harassment rather in the form of stalking or sexual, and anti-discrimination laws or violate school codes. Every state makes its own laws in dealing with Bullying and Cyberbullying. The Texas Education Code 37.0832 defines Bullying as Engaging in written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct that occurs on school property or in a vehicle that is operated by a district. More information on this law and Texas Project FIRST can be found at https://www.texasprojectfirst.org/node/297 

Also, the Great State of Texas has SB 179: David’s Law –Texas’ new anti-bullying law that addresses off-campus cyberbullying. The bill requires school districts to include cyberbullying in their district bullying policies and notify parents on or before the third business day after the date the incident is reported, and to notify the parents of the alleged aggressor within a reasonable amount of time. Also, schools have the authority to investigate cyberbullying and to work with law enforcement on such investigations.  

 

Here are some other charges that apply to the laws on Cyberbullying:  

 

  • Identity theft, password theft, or hacking can violate state and federal laws 
  • It is punishable to possessing or distributing child pornography. Sexting or forwarding a sext (text messages with sexual content) is considered pornography, If convicted, a sexter may be required to register as a sex offender, even if they’re a minor. Recently, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott signed a bill into law making it class C misdemeanor to electronically transmit sexually explicit material without the recipient’s consent.  
  • An arrest can be made if you as an adult perpetrates or allows cyberbullying, which results in a felony or misdemeanor if convicted.  
  • When charged with cyberbullying in the U.S. it can result in a charge of juvenile delinquency or a misdemeanor cyber-harassment charge.  

 

Conclusion 

 

 

Whether a victim of bullying or cyberbullying is found on the school campus or online we know the issue has changed the way we must practice how to protect ourselves and children. The best practices are to bring awareness on the issue and build a better world online or face to face. If you find bullying or cyberbullying leads to you or someone you know feeling suicidal, please call 1-800-273-8255 in the U.S. or visit IASP or Suicide.org to find a helpline in your country.  

 

 

 

How SEO is like Baseball

 

Who’s On First with Abbott and Costello. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://pixels.com/featured/abbott-and-costello-whos-on-first.html

Major League Baseball will be opening their playoff birth in a few days.  However, every new season every team begins with zero losses, and zero wins no matter what happened in the season before. Besides, the tallied games the common thread each team has before it hits the game mounds is practice because there is mastery in training. We’ve been told to practice if our end goal was to hit a home run or win the World Series in the sport of baseball. It is the same in the practice of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

 

Who’s on first  

Speaking of baseball, have you ever heard of the baseball joke by the comedian actors, Abbott, and Costello, “Who’s on first?”  Knowing who’s on first is where you start the practice. You need to know who is first in ranking when in search of keywords associated with your business. Understanding your business is key to determining your web pages theme, keywords, your potential consumers, and your competitors. You begin the first practice to take your business to the number one ranking by knowing your business competitors. Once you’ve determined who is on first, you would use a page analyzer on your competitor’s web page. The page analyzer determines the keywords used in their content and whom they are attracting in traffic and conversion. The application will give the details to the HTML. The HTML is made up of the meta and title, which contain the theme and keywords of the site. The HTML is essential to place your page in a high-ranking position.

Here’s a look at the baseball field with the players in the position.

Who’s On First Baseball Field. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rabbielizabethbahar.com/whos-on-first/

What’s on second?

Your next practice is to determine what’s on your website. Is the content SEO friendly enough to be viewed as mobile friendly? Your content needs to include video, links, theme, and keyword named files while building your brand. A search engine wants your site to be user-friendly. The way a page download is also a factor in Search Engine Results Page (SERP).  Writing original content to incorporate all these factors is what adds value and pushes your site to higher ranking while creating a well sought-after website to share. Even looking for long-tail keywords is becoming the desired practice to incorporate. However, the content will always be king when it comes to ranking in a search engine. Pages must have contained content other than pushing a product or service. The page must offer useful information to the website visitor.

I don’t know who’s on third

We will never be given the algorithm for Google. Spammers make it impossible to run a clean search engine site.  We will have to work with the unknowns and use different analytic programs to assist with determining what competing businesses are doing to gain the first position. While ensuring that our end-user is finding the value of your brand by using the keywords to interest and meet their needs with the content of your website. This content should be 1000 to 1200 words of useful original content related to your business. Have a content strategy in place to help with keeping up with the trend changes. One effective strategy is guest blogging. It helps with social shares from your website to creating contact with a broader audience.

Even Late Night host, Jimmy Fellon enjoys the Who’s On First Skit by his re-enactment.

 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Retrieved from http://youtube.com/FallonTonight.

Hit your home run

Stay on the top of the game to hit that home run. Create an SEO calendar not only to be diligent in your analysis but also to engage in with your audience through social media. Just like the game of baseball, you have to know when to play and who is at-bat. Your social monitoring helps you keep tabs on when people are searching for your company or brand name. Develop a relationship with other business players in your market and engage with them to increase your audience and reach.  What worked for one month may not work the next.  So, Let’s play the game of SEO and determine who’s on First.

 

Here is the most memorable skit by Abbott and Costello.

Abbott and Costello – Who’s on First? – Naughty Nineties – High Quality. (2011, March 5). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/RatKhtboq2E.

 

References:

Who’s On First with Abbott and Costello. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://pixels.com/featured/abbott-and-costello-whos-on-first.html

Who’s On First Baseball Field. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rabbielizabethbahar.com/whos-on-first/

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Retrieved from http://youtube.com/FallonTonight.

Abbott and Costello – Who’s on First? – Naughty Nineties – High Quality. (2011, March 5). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/RatKhtboq2E.

Links to Social

https://www.facebook.com/LunaBellaMediaServices/

Luna Bella

 

Introduction to DigiTech Rebel and Its Bloggess

The world has so many lessons to teach you. And the secret I’ve learned to get ahead is being open to the lessons.

In life’s lessons, I have learned someone is always a teacher, and someone is the student receiving the lesson. I’m Belinda Bustos Ybarra, and I am carrying twentyseven years of lessons learned in customer experience (CX) in the financial services industry. But first and foremost, I am the mother of three children, two boys, ages 8 and 9 and one daughter, age 25. I have been married 27 years to my husband, Richard. My interest includes going to the movies, traveling (when grad school is completed, I will be) and spending time with critical but authentic female friends from all walks of life. 

 After earning my bachelors at the University of Incarnate Word in Business Administration with the concentration in Social Marketing, I decided high-level skills in customer service would not define me and wanted to enter the Online Marketing world. Before completing my degree, I obtained two DBAs for social marketing and personal branding.  About fourteen months ago, I changed my life’s work into the digital, online, and social marketing industries. Or did I? The life lessons which has been a massive part of my life’s purpose with my previous employer of twentyseven years and has become embedded into the new field which I have been studying through my graduate school and master’s program of Digital Marketing and Analytics.

My recent course is requiring I write blogs in my interest of study while bringing value to my followers. My blog has been named DigiTech Rebel. I choose this name because it incorporated my field of studies while offering a side dish of rebellion, which rebellion is another lesson learned from being born and raised on the Southside of San Antonio, Texas. I plan to write from my freelance page and DBA name of Luna Bella Media Services and hope to continue even after the course has ended.

So, what will I blog in these next five weeks? I hope to bring you awareness in good practices in search engine optimization (SE0), what to practice in making social media a tolerant place, how to detect cyberbullying and what to do if you are a victim and so much more.  I want to bring together a community of like-minded people who want to explore the online world. According to Creating Value with Social Media Analytics, A network of people are separated by six degrees. Meaning most people are separated by six or fewer steps away from each other. A chain of “a friend of a friend” statements connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. However, a social network such as Facebook is separated by 3 degrees. I believe this! I know my Southside Friends will come along for the journey and be a DigiTech Rebel. 

 Don’t forget to leave a comment on my blog and always like, comment and share social network pages of Facebook Luna Bella, Instagram DonaBelia, LinkedIn Belinda Ybarra and Twitter Belinda_Bustos. 

 

 Reference: 

Khan, G. F. (2018). Creating value with social media analytics: managing, aligning, and mining social media text, networks, actions, location, apps, hyperlinks, multimedia, & search engines data. Seattle, WA: CreateSpace.

Hitting Your SEO Out The Ball Park

In the game of sports, we must practice if we want to win. And not every practice will yield a game win, but there is mastery when you have a focus on the end goal. The focus is the same as the practice of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There are five areas of practice to master SEO for your website, which includes optimizing your website to be mobile-friendly.     

First, an athlete must know its competitor. In SEO knowing what keywords or phrases that are successfully attracting our competitor’s customer and how your customer searches for our product/services on the internet. Start by creating a spreadsheet to list topics, products, or services related to your business. Then utilize a free keyword research tool (SEMrush, etc.).   

Secondly, use best practices for On-Page SEO, which is the practice of using research keywords or phrases on the assigned landing page. Focus on having the keywords or phrases natural fitting into your copy. Google focuses on top-ranking content, which serves the user first. For each page, I recommend using the keywords 2-4 times. There are a couple of key places where the keywords should appear. The keyword places are:   

  • Page title  

  • Page meta description  

  • URL  

  • H1 or H2  

  • Image alt tags  

Thirdly, always optimize the speed of your website pages. It may be a hassle and out of your league, but it is worth the time, energy, and cost in hiring a specialist to help you. And as mentioned before, your website must be mobile-responsive. Google has made the speed of loading pages and mobile optimization a priority and a ranking factor. Just like in baseball, a player must know how to work the infield and outfield.   

 And our fourth practice is building links. Backlinking is most important in managing the day to day SEO of your website. Your link-building efforts need to be focused on quality over quantity. Your links need to be reviewed to ensure they are active and not broken. And most of all relevant to your content. We suggest finding other businesses who align with your target audience and try to establish a relationship. Either way, link building is a great way to expand your brand’s reach to form a lasting and beneficial partnership and earn a link or two.   

The final and fifth area to master the practice of SEO is to review the four areas on a routine basis. As keywords in search by your customer can change. The website URLs or backlinks may become broken and need to be addressed.   But most importantly, Google may change what the requirements are for optimization of your websites crawlability. Changes made by Google make it essential for you to stay on top of your SEO review. 

These top SEO practicing tactics will help your website rank among your competitors. When we play with SEO, it is a marathon, not a sprint. If you have any questions with getting started with your SEO, please leave a comment. 

 

References:

Markov, I. (2019, August 6). SEO Basics: A Noob-Friendly 5-Step Guide to SEO Success. Retrieved from https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-basics/