Quality Content Defined for Pet Internet Marketing

With the mission of helping you keep up with the challenging world of search engine optimization (SEO) and how pet web content works best today, I try to follow the latest guidelines, trends and events that make a big difference in search results.

Finding quality websites for searchers has always been the goal of Google and other search engines. But just what does “quality” mean?

Last year, several strides were taken to clamp down on “thin” pages that offered very little information, keyword-stuffed articles that offered nothing of value, and duplicate content you can find on dozens if not hundreds of websites. So one definition of quality has been “original, useful and highly relevant content,” which I talk about a lot.

Today I read this new definition of quality, and it helps clarify things for us further, to a point.

According to Google, “High quality content is content you can send to your child to learn something.”

Hmmm.

Here’s how I interpret that for pet-industry marketers, whether you’re marketing pet products, pet services, veterinary care, pet business consulting or anything else related to this industry.

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Must Love Blogs for marketing your pet business

If you’re frustrated with your pet business website and you’re thinking, “What can I do to bring in more traffic and sales?” — consider the blog.

In spite of the explosive social networking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others, blogs are still extremely helpful for attracting customers via the search engines.

Here’s proof. A client I now work with was unhappy with his search engine rankings for certain important phrases related to his services for pet professionals. Simply put, he was upset that, “My ideal prospects aren’t finding my website.”

So we started blogging tips about his pet-business services, and just after 6 blog posts — voila! The blog appeared on page one, second spot in Google results. Not bad for just 6 posts.

Is this a fluke? No way! I’m getting the same results for THIS blog, and many of the blog experts I follow are enjoying similar results or better.

Consider these 3 reasons why blogging is a fantastic strategy, whether you’re marketing to pet owners or other pet businesses:

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Fascinating Facebook Facts for Pet Retail Marketing

This weekend, I was browsing through some pet retail magazines and came across a new report that might interest you. It’s called Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts for the Retail Industry, and it includes a number of fascinating facts that may well be worth considering for your pet business Facebook page, whether you’re marketing pet products or services.

  • Posting 1-4 times a week produces 71% higher user engagement than 5 or more posts for retail brands: quality trumps frequency
  • Posts containing fewer than 80 characters produce 66% higher engagement than longer posts (wow!)
  • Posts containing questions generate more than double the amount of comments, even if they may get fewer “likes,”
  • Top retail sales keywords that produced more user engagement: “$ off” and “coupon” worked best (55% higher user engagement rates); while the words “sale” and “percent off” (or % off) produced the lowest; even posts about offers less than $10 off produce 17% higher engagement than percent-off posts
  • The 2 most effective types of retail brand posts contain a single photo attachment or use only words. Posts containing only words produce 94% higher engagement than avg.
  • Wednesday is the best day to post, although you obviously shouldn’t post ONLY on Wednesday. 🙂
So — what kinds of topics should you post on your pet business Facebook page?

How to optimize your pet website photos for visitors and SEO

Last spring, I was driving my dog to doggie day care and came upon this hilarious scene in a neighbor’s driveway. I had to pull over and snap a quick photo from my phone.

Turkey lessons about optimizing your pet website for SEO, visitors
Turkey lessons about optimizing your pet website images

Everyone I’ve shown this to gets a big kick out of it, so I thought I’d share it with you.

What do these turkeys have in common with your pet business or veterinary practice website?

And what lessons can be learned from this photo when it comes to optimizing the images on your site?

I see 2 key take-aways for you.

1. Try to use distinct images for marketing your pet products or services.

This quartet of Tom turkeys are strutting their stuff in full regalia to attract the lone female who happens to be strolling by. Sadly, it’s hard to tell them apart, except the one on the right has some torn tail issues.

So how does the female know which one is her soul mate, or if any of them belong by her side? Hmmm. I wish I knew how that works. All I know is, it leads to an important point.

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More WOW ideas for marketing your local pet business

I was just reading Entrepreneur (October 2011) and came across a fabulous article about Animal General Hospital in Port St. Lucie, FL.

It seems that the owner of this veterinary practice figured out how to engage local-community clients and prospects online, using the practice’s website in combination with free social networking, email and YouTube plus a modest paid-search advertising campaign (Google Adwords and Facebook ads).

The result: instead of spending $27,000 over 18 months for Yellow Pages and getting lame results, his online strategy only cost $3,600 plus staff time, but his business grew with 250 new clients and $75,000 in additional annual revenue. Can you say “WOW”???

Here are 3 ideas your local pet business can take away from this as you plan your fall and winter pet marketing strategies:

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How do your pet business prospects find your site?

Are people looking for your dog bowls… or do they call them dog dishes?

Are pet owners searching for a great pet throw, or do they call it a blanket or car seat cover?

And are pet parents searching for a local veterinary hospital, clinic or practice? Or perhaps it’s an animal hospital or clinic… or veterinarian hospital, clinic, etc.)

When you write your pet business web content to attract the people who seek your products or services, be sure to focus on the key phrases THEY use.

This is critical for two reasons, whether you’re marketing to pet owners, veterinarians or other pet businesses.

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3 tips for an amazing pet business website

I recently watched a video where a Google expert talked about quality content and what really stands out when it comes to GREAT sites. He used the words “amazing” and “wow” to describe web content that is truly powerful.

So what does “amazing” and “wow” mean for pet business websites? Or even veterinary websites? In general, it means offer a great visitor experience on every page; something worth sharing.

Here’s my interpretation of 3 things you can do right now to offer your site visitors an amazing experience they’ll want to share:

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What makes the MyPetED fan page and pets apps popular

If you’re trying to determine how to tap into the hearts and minds of pet owners, pet businesses and the media, consider the successful approach that MyPetED has taken.

MyPetED is all about helping pet owners keep their pets healthy and happy at all times.

Everything MyPetED does is focused on that main goal… from their core website www.MyPetED.com to their Facebook Fan Page (4,097 fans in just 6 weeks) to last Friday’s launch of their pet apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Their message is clear and consistent across all channels: MyPetED helps you support your pet’s well-being 24/7 with access to important pet and vet info… online and on the go.

A clear, beneficial, consistent and audience-focused message is a major key to audience engagement and lasting success, whether you’re marketing to pet owners, pet businesses, pet-product manufacturers or veterinary practices.

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Attract more pet business customers with “bright side” web content.

Human nature has not changed in 90 years. Pet owners still want to make their pets happy and enjoy their companionship. Pet business owners want to run successful, profitable businesses that delight pet owners, right? Make sure your web content helps them envision those positive benefits.