Title tags are incredibly important for telling search engines what web pages are about. They also help people using search engines decide which search results to click on.

We’ve written about title tags before, and this week, Kristina Weis published a new article, based on the most common mistakes we’ve seen people make with their title tags.

9 Common Title Tag Mistakes and How to Avoid Them points out things you’ll probably recognize, and tells you how to write better, more effective title tags to get better search rankings and more site visitors.

If you really want to delve into title tags, you could also read Improve SEO and Clicks with Great Title Tags. That’s just one more helpful article in the Learn section of AboutUs.org, where we publish articles for business owners who want to become more visible on the Web.

Don't be this guy on Twitter. Image courtesy of Andy Field on Flickr.

Twitter is a wonderful place to promote your company’s product, services, blog posts and news. But we’ve all seen the auto-tweets that make it feel like nobody’s at home for that particular Twitter account. You don’t want your company’s account to look like that.

Our new article, Create a Personality for Your Brand on Twitter, shows you a few examples of companies with interesting, interactive Twitter accounts. We think it mostly comes down to abandoning your fear of being a human being. After all, if you make a mistake, you can always apologize….it’s only human.

Another comforting thing to remember: Tweets go by really fast. If you say something awkward on Twitter, it’s not fatal. The only times we’ve seen really bad reverberations from a company’s Twitter post was when it was nasty, mean-spirited or when the company simply refused to apologize. It turns out, Twitter is a lot like real life

Photo courtesy of Simon Forsyth on Flickr

Writers and marketers wear many hats.

Teacher, persuader, motivator, advisor, and entertainer. Which hat are you wearing today?

Deciding that can help you craft your article or blog post so people will want to read it.

Jonathan Morrow of Copyblogger  speaks to your plight in Sex,Lies and The Art of Commanding Attention. He recommends using powerful words in your headlines to wake up readers and tempt them to dive into your article.

He emphasizes that certain words – sex, lies, death, money, dangerous – elicit emotional responses and command attention. But that attention is worthless unless your topic words are also in the headline.

Give your readers meat, with some fat for flavor.  Continue marbling your substantive content with tasty fat – entertaining bits – to keep them reading right through to the end.

In a subsequent blog post with an equally catchy headline, Mr. Morrow recommends sleeping with your reader…metaphorically speaking. You need to be as in tune with your readers’ deepest hopes and fears as with your lover’s.

You may think that’s not possible if you’re writing for, say, General Motors. But it is – car buyers are worried about paying car loans, concerned about how much they’ll spend on gas, worried about their children’s safety. They also care about their image, about how their car adds to (or detracts from) that image. Plus, there’s the sheer pleasure of owning and driving a shiny new car.

Someone writing for General Motors needs to think about all of that – and, says Morrow, once you figure out your readers’ emotions, write about nothing else.

So, choose your hat – a daring, gorgeous, smart, funny, silly or stylish one one with sequins and frills – get into bed with your readers, and get writing!

Let your expertise flow to new audiences. Photo courtesy of vl8189 on Flickr.

You know you need high-quality content on your website if you want to engage customers and rank well in search results. Once you’ve taken the time to create great articles and blog posts (and it sure does take time!), make the most of that content by getting it out to the social networks.

You can learn how to do this in our new article, Cascade Content for SEO. We offer an outline for promoting your content to wider audiences, and include some examples, including some great cascading work by New York-based fashion site Refinery29.com.

Apart from sharing your expertise with new people, and persuading them to visit your site, cascading your content can earn you retweets, comments, “likes” and posts. These social signals help your SEO, which in turn can help your site rank higher in search engines, bringing even more new people to your site.

This new article joins the 100+ other pieces about SEO and Internet marketing in the Learn section of AboutUs.org. All our articles are written for business owners and marketers in small companies, and they’re easy to understand, even if you’re just starting to market your business on the Web.

Is there a topic you’d like us to cover? Do you have some Web marketing expertise of your own to share? Let us know: Editor@AboutUs.org.

We’re happy to be working with Blake Biesecker, our new chief technology officer here at AboutUs. Blake has been on the Portland technology scene for quite a while – he was CTO at Second Porch (which was purchased by Home Away earlier this year) and chief architect at SnapNames (and then at Oversee.net after it purchased SnapNames). He also worked at Gemstone Systems and Object Intelligence.

Blake has settled in quickly, and is turning his attention to hiring more developers to join AboutUs. We’re creating some exciting new things here, so if you have the skills we’re looking for, we’d love to hear from you: Jobs@AboutUs.org.

Getting more website traffic – and the right kind – is important to anyone who creates an e-commerce website. Our newest online marketing article tackles the most important search engine optimization (SEO) tactics any e-commerce site can use to rank higher in search for the right keywords, and reach the right people.

SEO Tips for E-Commerce Sites, written by Kristina Weis, tells you about the kind of content and  social media moves that will help your e-commerce website rank high in search results. It’s part of our ever-growing library of articles about online marketing, written for the do-it-yourself business owner who needs the essentials in plain, jargon-free language.

If you’re a busy website owner, browse through the Learn section of AboutUs.org. You’ll find articles on email marketing, getting your search engine optimization right, building valuable links to your website, using social media, and more. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Got some web marketing expertise of your own you’d like to share? Let us know: Editor@AboutUs.org.

Image by Anais Ferreira

A recent webinar on Hubspot about improving SEO rankings for small business emphasized two things: create meaningful and useful content about your industry on your website, and make it easy for people to share your content in social media.

The goal: Become recognized as an expert in your field, and get better search rankings and more clients. It’s a double win.

The key: Instead of using your site just to promote your product and your business, create some material that teaches people something useful. Once you’ve educated people on a topic they care about, they’ll trust you and your product more.

You’re winning two audiences at the same time: People who are searching for the kind of product you sell, and people who are interested in the topic you’re writing about. Sometimes, these are the same people, but you’re catching them at different moments – when they’re actually in shopping mode, and when they’re in research mode.

Social media matters: Make sure visitors to your site can easily share what they read there. Place social media links on all of your posts and educational material. It cannot be emphasized enough that Facebook likes, Twitter posts and shares on other social sites tell Google that your site is valuable, and can help your site rank better in search results.

For example: I searched the Internet to find out the best time of year to clean out my gutters. I found a useful article on a gutter cleaning company’s site, and then hired the company.  Finally, I shared the article on Twitter and Facebook. The company got me to their site with their content, sold me their services, and then reached prospective clients through social media.

Write engaging content, and often: It’s easier to generate new content if you think of what your clients want to know – or should know.

- Make a list of questions that you are often asked about your business.

- List the questions you wish people would ask.

- Think of yourself as a teacher to your customers and your future customers.

Keep an eye on your target audience: Once you’ve written compelling content, analyze it for keywords and other SEO elements.  Use Google Analytics and other tools that show you which pages on your site get the most visitors, and which keywords are best for attracting people to your content. Look at the trends and then create more of the content that’s bringing you more visitors.

The Google Freshness update affects far more websites than Panda.

Google’s Panda update caused a lot of panic early this year among webmasters who saw their site traffic plummet due to duplicate or minimally useful content.

The search giant’s new Freshness update hasn’t garnered nearly as much notice, but it affects a lot more searches – and websites. The best part is, the Freshness update can help small websites compete more effectively for searchers and traffic.

Interested in taking advantage of the Freshness update? Read Google’s Freshness Update Helps Small Business SEO, a new article by Matt Fielding,an SEO (search engine optimization) consultant at Preston, Lancashire digital marketing firm Custard Media. Matt tells you how the Freshness update rewards newer content on the Web with higher rankings, and offers useful tips for small business owners seeking more website traffic.

Matt’s article is the newest addition to our recent articles about how small business owners can take advantage of changes to search engine algorithms. You might be equally interested in our recent piece on using social media to boost your site’s SEO and position in search rankings.

At AboutUs, we know that small companies and small websites can use search marketing effectively to grow their business. We also know that SEO and Web marketing can seem confusing. That’s why we offer well over 100 free articles on different aspects of Internet marketing in the Learn section of AboutUs.org. Browse through and discover articles on email marketing, how to market a local business, SEO and more.

Is there a Web marketing topic you’d like to know more about? Do you have some expertise of your own to share? Let us know: Editor@AboutUs.org.

Thanks to Kathleen Donovan on Flickr

I read Sam Fiorella’s provocative blog post, 12 Most Pressing Reasons Social Media Must Die, just a few days after publishing an article on AboutUs.org about why social media is the poor man’s SEO.

I love social media. No, really, I love social media. I believe it levels the playing field, giving every small business person the chance to compete effectively against companies with much bigger marketing budgets.

So while Sam is right about some of the ridiculous behavior and time-wasting we see on the social Web, I maintain that actually, small business people can do social media better than big business. After all, entrepreneurs are usually much closer to their customers and have more at stake than their big-company brethren. Company owners’ tweets, posts and shares can come from a more heartfelt place, and deliver a stronger message.

All that said, there are some pitfalls to watch out for. Heed these, be smart, and use social media’s advantages to help you grow.

(Oh, yeah, for those of you looking for the 12 points – it’s all sort of bundled into the three below. Read Sam’s blog post and you’ll get it.)

Keep the message clear.   The social Web is a casual place, but that doesn’t mean a marketing message should be carelessly conveyed. Silly titles, meaningless buzzwords and phrases, and blurting the first thing that comes into your head won’t get you what you want: More customers and more business. Be clear in your thinking, understand your message, and use the language your audience will understand.

Keep relationships, reputation and demeanor professional. People seem to forget that when they go to the social Web to develop business, they’re establishing a professional reputation in a new venue. Don’t tweet or post something you wouldn’t share at a professional gathering. If you want to use social media to connect with close friends in a more playful way, create separate accounts for your business so you can keep your professional and private personas separate. (Just don’t assume no one will look at both.)

Be productive. It’s easy to open up Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and a few more applications in the morning, then look up and realize it’s lunchtime. You’ve glanced at a few shared blog posts, retweeted a couple of people with more Klout than you, caught up with your former colleague’s latest romance and maybe responded to a couple of direct messages. But have you produced anything of value for your business?

Yes, social media is fun. And yes, it’s difficult to link even business-focused social activity to real revenue. That means you must spend your social-media time on things that matter – your company’s blog posts, helpful hints for people in your field, industry news, answers to people’s questions.

Remember that one of the most valuable aspects of social media isn’t the sharing – it’s the responding. Demonstrate that you’re willing to hear all kinds of comments from your public – including critical or angry ones – and that you’ll respond quickly and appropriately. Your attentiveness can help you win a reputation for fair dealing, and that in turn can win yoiu more business.

Thanks to Miss604 on Flickr

In case you haven’t heard yet, the rules of search engine optimization (SEO) have changed. Yes, you still need to have awesome, unique title tags on important pages, you still need a search engine friendly architecture and you should still try to get inbound links from reputable sites.

But the playing field is more level than it used to be for small business, because social media mentions have become so important for SEO. Search engines take note of how much your company, product and website are mentioned on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and also who mentions you. Frankly, it can be a lot easier for small business owners – and marketers in small businesses – to create a good social presence than to fix the structure and code of their websites.

Get some tips for using social media to get a higher position in search results in our new article, Boost SEO with Social Media. There’s an introduction explaining how social media has changed SEO, and you can skip straight to the lists of tips for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs at the bottom of the article.

This new article is just the latest in our large, free library of articles for business owners on SEO and Internet marketing. We’ve got articles on email marketing, local marketing, how to be an effective marketer on mobile phones, and more. Take a browse through, and let us know if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover.

Got some SEO or Internet marketing expertise of your own to share? We love our guest authors – contact us at Editor@AboutUs.org.