For most of the different websites that we work on, we notice Pinterest to be a creeping trend in referral traffic- even if the website isn’t “optimized” for Pinterest. Why not make get the most out of this popular referral source?

4 Easy Wins with Pinterest

1. Add the “Pin It” button to your pages. These can be added to your blog posts, product pages or any page with a visual that users might want to Pin (or have already Pinned).

The “Pin It” button on a blog post brought in a lot of referral traffic to the website. Click on the image to see a real Pin example.

2. Optimize your images. Make “Pinnable” images. Visuals that Pinterest users will be inclined to Pin and RePin.

Make your images interactive. Collages, step-by-step photos, etc.

(Source)

3. Add a custom description that includes keywords (for search purposes). Don’t make it a marketing message.

Some plugins might override custom descriptions and replace it with the title of the post. This may not be ideal for some posts, so you might try adding a Pin It button directly under the image and customize your description.

4. Connect with your advocates (the Pinterest users Pinning your products/pages). Utilize the data available in Google Analytics and Pinterest Analytics to follow and network. Use your analytic data to inspire blog posts, pinnable images and more.

Check out this great post on ideas for link building with Pinterest!

Have you noticed Pinterest referral traffic to your website? How do you use that data?

Measurable KPI’s for Social Media Campaigns

Outlined below are the three main social media campaigns and examples of measurable objectives for each.

Objectives for Brand Awareness: Consistent Activity

1. Fan/follower/subscriber count

2. Social media referral traffic and website usage metrics

3. Post/profile engagement or impressions

Objectives for Loyalty: Interaction*

1. Social shares

2. Social engagement and interaction within social profiles

3. Recommendations and reviews

4. User-generated content

[*Note: You don't have to have a large fan following to have engagement!]

Objectives for Sales/Conversions: Action

1. Social media leads and/or assisted social leads

2. Email list growth + email list conversions

3. Social conversions + social conversion value

What are your social media KPI’s? How does your company measure social media success?

5 Important AdWords Settings for Local Campaigns

1. Location settings.

You can add and/or exclude locations based on radius or city/town (or both). There is a lot of flexibility with the locations you can target for your campaigns. If you have a big list of locations or postal codes, for example, you can add those too. 

2. Location extensions.

Add location extensions from a Google Places account or manually enter an address. With the Enhanced campaigns, you can now adjust your bids based upon location.

3. Mobile Bid Adjustments

Similar to adjusting bids based upon a searcher’s location, you can adjust bids based upon searchers using a mobile device. When working together, you can ensure your ad will show for those targets within a certain location and on a particular device.

4. Specialized Ads for Mobile Users

If your mobile users convert differently (for example, a more immediate call-to-action to stop into your store), tailor specific ads for mobile users. You can pair these ads with call and offer extensions to help the customer convert.

Don’t mind my fake ad example.

5. In-Store Offer Extensions

Add an offer extension to your ads to lure traffic into your store.

You can use the scheduling options to match your ads and campaigns with your in-store or location-specific marketing campaigns.

Have any questions or tips to add? Leave them in the comment section!

10 Tips to Optimize Business Pages for Facebook Graph Search

1. Create/implement a social media strategy that focuses on user-engagement and interaction.

2. Add your address and hours.

3. Optimize your “About” section, as it’s one of the primary sections of information that’s displayed to users during search.

4. Choose the right categories and subcategories for your business.

5. Show your map on your Page.

6. Utilize the “other places on the web” widget. Facebook will pull in profiles from partner sites like Yelp, Foursquare and TripAdvisor.

7. Gather recommendations and photos for your page.

Photos In takes you a page with photos from visitors that have checked in or tagged the resort.

Visitors takes you to a search page full of Facebook users that have visited the resort.

8. Merge multiple and unofficial pages! If you have several pages on your brand floating around, merge them into one page (you must be an Admin on all of them, though). All your fans, check-ins and recommendations will be transferred over into one authoritative page.

9. Encourage check-ins and photo-sharing on your page.

10. Optimize your website for Bing!

Users don’t even need to leave Facebook anymore- they can search the web and their friends all in one place! In general, Facebook encourages page owners to strengthen page connections and interaction with your content. Top results are determined by what’s most popular with their closest friends.

This new Facebook feature, if adapted by Facebook users, could greatly affect online marketing (SEO, social media marketing, paid search marketing). Make sure your Facebook page doesn’t get left behind among all these changes!

The potential for brands and businesses on Facebook is HUGE. While the search is being rolled out to users, brands and marketers can prepare their profiles. We plan on writing a separate post with tips for businesses soon- so stay tuned.

How does it work?

Facebook Graph Search is a social search feature. Graph Search is particularly good for search related to connections, local and vertical searches and media/entertainment search.

You get a basic drop down list of generic searches – let’s go with “restaurants nearby.”

I’m brought to a search results page that displays popular restaurants nearby. According to Search Engine Watch, the more content from your Page that gets shared, liked or commented on through Facebook increases your chances of discovery through Graph Search.

You can further refine this search by cuisine, restaurants that friends have “liked” or visited and more.

The possibilities of this social search are pretty endless. I can search by places my friends have traveled to or have lived, photos of friends and so much more.

Why is it important?

Having an optimized page with great fan/follower interaction is key to getting found in Graph Search. If Facebook users adapt to Graph Search, they can essentially search anything on the web right within Facebook. Whether consumers will use it seems to be the burning question.

Graph Search has the ability to transform search signals and social media  & discovery marketing.

How can I try it out?

While Graph Search is currently in beta, you can sign up to be on the waitlist. I signed up about 2 weeks ago and have had Graph Search for a few days now, so it shouldn’t take long to get it added to your profile.

You can also test the search before it gets rolled out to your profile. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the new search, so you can prepare your business pages. Stay tuned for a “tips for businesses” post in the near future.

Have questions or anything to add? Add it in the comment section!

Edited to add: See our actionable tips to optimize business/brand pages for Graph Search.

Martin Zellar had a show on March 1st, and instead of using a ticket sales and distribution website to sell tickets to his show, we sold them on his website! One of the major benefits of selling tickets directly to fans is that there were no hidden fees or services charges. You paid the admission price online and that was it!

Tickets were emailed to the buyer and were to be printed prior to the show. Each ticket had it’s own unique bar code and purchaser’s name for validity.

The kicker was all fans who purchased tickets through Martin’s website will receive a free music download from the show (the show was recorded live!). About 2-3 weeks after the show, the purchasers will receive an email with instructions on how to claim their free download.

To create more hype around the show (in addition to the free download!), our team integrated with Instagram’s API to pull in fan photos using hashtag #mzellar. We picked a hashtag that would be easy to type and remember, and integrated that call to action on the tickets (see above) while Martin informed his fans on his Facebook page.

After the show started, we switched the “buy tickets” graphic into a graphic leading visitors to the fan photo page.

Ideally, for every show Martin does, he’ll utilize the same hashtag (#mzellar) and compile a huge page of fan photos.

I wasn’t there, but I heard the venue was packed and it was a great show!

Have you used the Instagram’s API to integrate photos to your website? Or, have you seen it done on a website?

Two easy ways to check (and improve!) your website speed.

Check Your Site Speed

Google Page Speed Score : Enter in your website URL (main domain or any page on your website) to receive a Page Speed Score from Google. You will receive a score out of 100 possible points based on the opportunities your website has on speed improvements.

What does this mean?

This means that if your score is higher than our score, it does not mean your website is faster. Your website is only competing against itself. A neat thing about this tool is that it lists suggestions to improve your page speed. Focus on the highest priorities first, than work your way down the list  until your comfortable with your score. [Note: I feel as it is unrealistic to receive a perfect score. Can it be done? Probably. Should you spend all your efforts on this? Probably not.]

Google Analytics : Log into Google Analytics, visit the Content tab > Site Speed > Page Timings

In this report,  you will see a breakdown of page speeds, in order of the most page views. You can dig deeper into this high-level data and add a secondary dimension of domain, browser, operating system and more. Find slow pages and enter them into the Google Page Speed Score (above)  for opportunities to improve the page speed. While you’re at it, save this report as a shortcut so you can check back after you make improvements.

What’s your site speed score? How do you monitor your site speed?

Although very similar, there is one main difference that separates Wanelo from Pinterest- user intent.

Pinterest users collect things. They collect ideas, recipes, fashion inspiration, gift ideas and more. Wanelo allows nothing but products- so users join with the intent of saving and purchasing products that catch their eye.

About 6 million products are saved by members each day and tens of thousands of products have been listed on the site, says Wanelo founder and chief executive. While still being fairly new, traffic to the site doesn’t yet compare with Pinterest or Polyvore- but the buyer intent may outweigh that deterrent.

Who is on Wanelo?

According to the NY Times article, Wanelo seems to have captured the attention of a younger demographic, primarily women, and has a strong presence on mobile.

If your product fits the Wanelo demographic, then it may be worthwhile to try and get your foot in the door. Top stores on Wanelo, like Victoria’s Secret, Free People, Modcloth, Nordstroms and more have hundreds of thousands of followers.

Take Action!

In order to have a store page, enough members have to post products from your website. Stores are verified by the Wanelo administration. If you’re smart, you’re now wondering how to get your web visitors to post your products.

Follow these steps and ideas to get started:

• Add the Wanelo Save button to your product pages.
• Search to see if your products and/or industry is already on Wanelo. [17.4 K products for a simple "wedding" search- see image below.]
• Create a Wanelo Contest or giveaway.
• Participate on Wanelo. Post your own products and build a following.
• Engage in conversation on your products. Wanelo sends email notifications to every user who has saved a product that you comment on. This is powerful!

If your demographic fits- there’s no reason NOT to try and test results with Wanelo.

Have you heard of Wanelo? Do you use it?

I created an AdWords custom report that displays keywords, clicks, cost and conversions. Add secondary dimensions like: destination URL, match types and more to dig even deeper. Once your desired dimensions are in place, sort the graph according to your liking.

Add the custom report to your profile.

When you want to revisit the report, simply click the “Customization” navigation link within your Analytics account.

My report is primarily beneficial to non ecommerce websites because it focuses on conversions. However, if you are running AdWords to an ecommerce site (with ecommerce tracking set up), apply Avinash Kaushik’s report to your account to see revenue per click and more.

Feel free to share your favorite custom report in the comment section, below!

P.S.- Make sure you sign up for our newsletter for more custom reports and Analytics tips you can apply to your account!

If you have or manage an ecommerce website, this post is for you. It’s your lucky day because I’m giving you a list of my top 5 ecommerce product page “must-haves.”

Spice Up Ecommerce Product Pages

1. Unique product images and descriptions. Of course, both of these elements should be optimized to ensure a unique user-experience. No one wants to read a generic product description. Make it stand out. Think how you can make these pages unique and what unique content you can add to the page.

Stella & Dot does a great job of adding life to their product pages. Social share buttons and multi-media content that corresponds to the product all while keeping the page clean and easy to use.

Tip: Utilize multi-media & user-generated content.

2. Reviews. Ohhh, reviews. Some businesses are scared of reviews, but they’re necessary. Not only do they enforce social proof (think: “Hey, that person ordered this product and loved it!) but they can also help cut down on returns or cancellations. Win-win, right?

Tip: If you’re looking for a site that “gets it” – visit ModCloth. The website’s product reviews feature is stellar.

3. Social share buttons. Even if by chance you aren’t present on social media- chances are, your consumers are! Encourage them to share! Yet another form of social proof.

Tip: Don’t forget to add social tracking!

4. Ecommerce tracking. You might argue that it’s not technically related to SEO, but it is. With ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics, you can see all sorts of important data and consumer/product information. It’s SO important.

Tip: Grab this custom report for ecommerce traffic that shows revenue per source/medium, average value and per visit value.

5. Rich Snippets. We’ve been pushing these like crazy because we know how important they are! Tag your products, location, reviews and more. They’re semi-new, so once you add them you’ll probably be a step ahead of your competitors. Sweet!

Tip: You can grab the guidelines for product rich snippets, here.

Besides optimizing for search, make sure your optimizing the product pages for your users.

What do you have to add to the list?