Website Migration
Hey all! It’s been a while since I’ve posted my weekly roundup. And the reason is because I moved the site off Squarespace and onto WordPress. And I screwed up a lot in the process. I mean, a lot.
I had to transfer the domain as well as the whole website. The website was down for a couple days, and then when it did get transferred, I had to rebuild the entire site. I was at least somewhat smart and downloaded my pages, but failed to download my images, so there were a bunch of broken images all over the site. And I didn’t think ahead and so I didn’t have a theme I wanted installed. Also, a lot of my URLs changed so I had to deal with that.
To sum it all up, it was a learning experience. The site is still a little bit of a work in progress, but I’m incredibly happy to have my website on WordPress. It’s so much better for SEO purposes and it’s a lot easier to manage and update as needed.
Now onto the weekly roundup, shall we?
15 Secrets to Creating the Perfect Meta Descriptions [Listicle]
Full disclosure: I’m mentioned in this article, but it’s worth sharing because while meta descriptions are not used by Google to explicitly help SEO, they can work to entice a user to click through on your website, which is ultimately good for your website and SEO. Check out the tips that are featured in the article, and here’s one in particular:
Sam Kessenich, SEO Specialist with digital marketing firm RyTech, agreed.
“Once you have a ranking on a search engine or a following on social media, test out a few different types of meta descriptions. Try a more broad description that can catch a variety of people’s attention, then a more fact-focused description,” he said. “Through this all, keep in mind the customer you’re trying to focus on and how they think. The tone and verbiage will change depending on the age, gender, location and industry you hope to target.”
Kate Neuens, marketing analyst at online lender OppLoans, said this should include experimenting with length and where you are positioning the keyword, as well as how you phrase the call to action.
Marie Haynes’ Newsletter [Email Newsletter]
I’ve heard of Marie Haynes’ newsletter for awhile, but never took the time to subscribe. I took the dive this week (because it was so difficult, you know, adding my email) and I’m glad I did. She has a paid version of the newsletter, but I signed up for the free version. It’s a great resource for staying up to date with changes in search and she always recommends further reading so you can learn even more.
The Evolution of Local SERP Topography [Infographic]
Ahhh, the local SERPs. They can be the bane of your existence sometimes. Tidings made this infographic analyzing the current and possible future state of the local SERPs. I’m not super surprised that they predict that Adwords will take over more of the SERP. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if in the future the first page of Google is just all ads. And as an SEO, don’t think that the thought of that doesn’t scare the crap out of me.
Experts on the Wire, Episode 76 with Bill Slawski [Podcast]
The Experts on the Wire podcast is one I listen to regularly. It is hosted by Dan Shure and he runs Evolving SEO and is also good follow on Twitter. This episode features Bill Slawski, who runs SEO by the Sea. This episode in particular focuses on Google’s patents, which is something Slawski has written about extensively. It’s a good informational episode, and my only complaint is that Slawski speaks pretty slow so I listened to it at 1.5x speed.
How To Launch A Killer Email Newsletter [Article]
This was a in depth article on how to launch an email newsletter. The email newsletter is the cockroach of the internet, it’s a great way to distribute your content, reach people outside your niche, and get people in your marketing funnel. Plus, I’m a sucker for when people give away info from their own successful campaigns, which this article does.
Random Fun Find: Welcome Back, Otters: Could The River Otter Call Chicago’s Loop Home?
I thought I would feature some local color in this week’s random fun find. I’m a sucker for otters (my parent’s place has them in the lake and they are adorable and incredibly smart) and I had no idea that Chicago had otters, and there was a whole project relocating otters to Chicago. This article also include a helpful guide on what to do if you spot an otter in the wild. Who knew?