3 simple ways to avoid making big mistakes as a teen using social media

Social media may connect and empower a teenager, but it can also become a permanent record of a young person's disgraceful behavior. 

SEE ALSO: 4 smart ways to use the internet to educate yourself about sex

Karlie Hay, the newly crowned Miss Teen USA, learned this lesson the hard way. Soon after Hay claimed her mantle on Saturday, it became apparent that the 18-year-old Texan used a racial slur on Twitter four times in 2013 and 2014. 

Hay, who is white, vaguely addressed the matter on Twitter and Instagram, noting that "personal struggles" led to the use of language she wasn't proud of and couldn't excuse. The old tweets, however, haven't cost Hay her crown.  Read more...

More about Social Media Etiquette, Social Media, Twitter, Miss Teen Usa, and Conversations

Pokemon Go Is the Hottest Thing on U.S. Mobile, So Who's Marketing in Japan?

About one week after launch, the number of Pokemon Go users topped that of Facebook. Roaring mobile media success on that magnitude begs a question: Foreign companies are using social media and mobile to dominate the American market, but are we marketing them back?

Predictably, Facebook, WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) and Facebook Messenger top the list of social networks by users, but the next three biggest platforms might surprise you:

1. Tencent QQ is a messaging application that offers online social games, news feeds, directory search, music, shopping, microblogging, movies and group and voice chat. It's the most popular social network in China, with an astonishing 853 million active users, a virtually–no pun intended–untapped channel for American marketers.


2. Tencent also owns the next social media juggernaut on the list, a messaging service with many features similar to QQ and 762 million active users. It's called WeChat, and it's a marketer's dream. With an officially recognized account, marketers can pinpoint target messaging using free customer-relationship-management and marketing-automation tools–that's right, completely free. According to one report, more than 200 million consumers in China have linked their debit cards to WeChat. It should also be noted that marketers should be aware of the local market–China has hundreds of regional dialects. Tweak your wording and offers to attract local business, but don't change your product too much. Western products are popular with Chinese consumers.


3. Rounding out Tencent's domination of the Chinese social media landscape is QZone. Described as a “virtual world and social networking application for self-expression and content sharing, it enables its users to write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, listen to music, and watch videos,” QZone boasts 640 million active users.

Foreign, but familiar

According to Ken Charles, founder of the tech industry team at Apex in Tokyo, Twitter is even more popular in Japan than in the U.S., with Facebook running a close third.

Adam Pedowitz, co-founder and CEO of CHARFEN, used a targeted social media strategy to reach foreign customers on Facebook and Twitter when he released his latest book, and he said:

For our book, we knew that the ability for books and content to break international barriers can be prohibitive and costly. So we broke with convention and took a different approach. We gave away our book–in a very limited release–with a goal of sparking a conversation.

Similar to what Pokemon Go achieved in bringing people together, we gave our book to people committed to driving that conversation and sharing it on social media. As the desire for the books grew, we saw them traveling across Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, Singapore and the U.K.

Then, when we released the e-book version, the momentum of our online conversations around the book increased that desire for the book internationally and led to greater and greater conversations.

Asian marketing realities

How lucrative is the market? The biggest brands are already on board with foreign marketing. Disney partnered with Line in 2014 to produce mobile game Tsum Tsum. By March 2015, the game's revenue had hit $300 million, even as Disney had begun backing out of the games industry.

Marketing to Asian markets is not as foreign as it may seem. While choice of language is critical and may be difficult to master, consumers the world over make buying decisions in the same way. Asian consumers search the web, ask their friends, read reviews and engage with the company, just like we do. Winning marketing strategies rely on stellar content, social engagement and positive reviews.

There are a number of legal issues involved in doing business overseas that you need to be aware of, and some of them are pretty crazy. Be careful to avoid running afoul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, for example. Doesn't it seem strange that our laws make it easier for foreign companies to market to us than for us to market to them?

In reality, your product is unlikely to hit the level of success of Pokemon Go, and there's good reason. It had history, nostalgia and household-name status before the launch. Characters and storylines had already been a national fascination for decades, complete with merchandising, cartoons, movies, collectibles and earlier video games.

That shouldn't deter you. It's a massive market out there, filled with social-media-obsessed consumers friendly to American products and eagerly waiting to hear what you have to say.

Sherry Gray is a freelance content writer from Key West, Fla., currently suffering in the suburbs of Orlando. She is a science geek, a social media junkie and an unapologetic fan of all things bacon. Follow her on Twitter: @SheriSaid.

How to View & Measure Your Tweet Activity

How well are your Tweets performing? Unfortunately a lot of businesses don't know the answer to this question because they aren't measuring their Tweet activity. Getting to know the data behind your Tweets is important because it shows you what's working, and more importantly, what's not.

If Twitter is a big part of your social media marketing strategy, you need to get familiar with the analytics dashboard. The Tweet activity section is where you're going to spend most of your time. In this post we'll break down how to view your Tweet activity and how to use the data to improve your Twitter marketing strategy.

How to See Your Tweet Activity

Tweet activity lives in the Twitter Analytics dashboard.

From the main dashboard, click on Tweets in the top menu to go to the Tweet activity dashboard.

The Tweet activity dashboard gives you an aerial view of your Tweet performance. You can narrow down the data to see:

• All Tweets


• Top Tweets


• Tweets and replies


• Promoted Tweets

While this dashboard gives you an overall look at your performance, you can also access Tweet activity for individual Tweets as well through the desktop or mobile app.

For desktop, just click the three bar icon below your Tweets.

This will show you the activity of a single Tweet, including:

• Impressions


• Total engagements


• Profile clicks

To see your Tweet activity from a mobile device, the process is the same. Tap on any Tweet and click the three bar icon below it.

You'll see the same data as you do on desktop.

As you can see, you also have the opportunity to setup a promoted Tweet from this screen. Learn more about promoted Tweets in our Twitter Advertising guide.

Now that you know where to find your Tweet activity, the next step is figuring out how to use the information.

How to Use Tweet Activity

The main use of the Tweet activity dashboard is to find out how many people are seeing your Tweets and how many are engaging. The specific metrics Twitter gives you are:

• Link clicks


• Likes


• Retweets


• Replies


• Engagement rate

Here's what you can learn from each data point.

Link Clicks

Link clicks are the highest level of engagement. When someone clicks your link, it means the Tweet's copy and image were so compelling they wanted to learn more.

If you're getting a lot of impressions but aren't seeing as many link clicks as you'd like, it's a sign that either the content you're sharing isn't connecting with your audience or your headlines/images aren't eye-catching enough. In that case, you can start to test different headlines and photos.

A good tactic is to use Sprout Social to schedule multiple Tweets for the same post and change out the text a bit.

Then look at your Tweet activity or Sprout's Sent Message report to see which version got the most engagement.

Look for similarities in your most clicked Tweets such as certain call to action phrases or hashtags. If you find patterns, use that information when crafting future Tweets and track your results.

Likes

Likes are lower on the engagement totem poll because the action requires the least amount of effort. However, it's still very useful to help you figure out what content is having an impact on your followers.

If you Tweet a lot of links, there should be somewhat of a correlation between your number of likes and link clicks. If you notice your Tweets are receiving a lot more likes than link clicks, it could be a sign that people aren't clicking through and are just randomly liking your Tweets.

Retweets

Retweets are a level above likes. Retweeting doesn't require too much effort beyond hitting a button, but it gets your content in front of more people. This can make it more valuable than a like.

Spending too much time resizing images for your social posts? Try our new tool: Landscape! https://t.co/hU9jyU5uwZ pic.twitter.com/Eai6vgFYS5

- Sprout Social (@SproutSocial) March 15, 2016

One of the downsides to this metric is it can be inflated. A study from the French National Institute found that nearly 60% of people share content on social media without actually reading it. So there's a possibility that people aren't necessarily Retweeting you because they found your Tweet valuable. They could just be doing it to engage with you or fill up their own Twitter feed.

That doesn't mean you should ignore your Retweets. The fact of the matter is even if the sharer doesn't read your content, they're still distributing it for you.

When you're looking at Retweets on the Tweet activity dashboard, pay attention to the dates they occur on. If you see huge spikes on a particular day, you can go back and look at where they originated. Maybe one of your Tweets was Retweeted by an influencer, which sparked even more engagement.

Looking at stats is helpful, but you need to take the next step and act on it. If an influencer helped you get a boost in Retweets, try to connect with them for a partnership or co-marketing opportunity. At the very least, thank them for giving you more exposure.

Replies

Replies are right up there with link clicks as the most valuable types of engagement. When someone replies to your Tweet, they took the time to actually stop in their feed and read it instead of just scroll past.

@SproutSocial what's the next-to-last logo? What social network it is?

- SMM Stars (@SMMStars) July 13, 2016

Even if the reply is a criticism (not trolling) it means that your content triggered some level of emotion from them. As a social media marketer, any time you can get your followers to engage in conversations around content you shared, something worked. Your job is to figure out why it worked and do more of it.

Also, look for patterns in your replies. Do you tend to get more replies on certain days? Those could be the days your followers are the most active. Start to schedule more Tweets around that time of the week to boost your engagement.

Engagement Rate

This is a helpful stat that's easy to overlook because most people just look at their total number of engagements. Engagement rate measures your total number of engagements divided by your total impressions.

Engagement rate gives you an idea of how much your audience is active. If you're getting thousands of impressions but very few likes, Retweets and replies, you could look into ways to get your followers more engaged on Twitter with your content. You can ask them to Retweet or share your Tweets with friends. According to data from Salesforce, Tweets that specifically ask people to Retweet receive a 12x higher Retweet rate.

RETWEET if this is you waiting for the work week to end. #NewGirl pic.twitter.com/zeHXBTtbu7

- New Girl (@NewGirlonFOX) July 19, 2016

It's easy to get caught up on vanity metrics like total number of followers. Engagement rate is a great metric because your follower size doesn't matter as much. It's all about how active your audience is, which is what's most important on a network as competitive as Twitter.

Beyond Tweet Activity

Tweet Activity gives you a good overview of your Twitter performance, but to get more specific information you'll need an additional data source. Sprout can give you a deeper level of insight into the performance of your Tweets, as well as your overall Twitter account.

You'll be able to see a lot of the same data as Twitter's Tweet activity report like the amount of engagement and clicks, but you also have access to some additional metrics like reach.

Reach is a metric Sprout uses to calculate the total amount of people that may have seen your Tweet. Check out our Twitter impressions article to learn more about the difference between impressions and reach.

Another benefit you get with Sprout is the ability to see how your different Twitter profiles stack up against each other. You can quickly switch between your different accounts, which is perfect for agencies that manage multiple Twitter accounts. Instead of choosing between Twitter's dashboard and Sprout, we suggest combining the two for a complete picture of your Tweet activity.

Measure & Take Action

The Tweet activity dashboard is a great way to gather data and see what's working for your brand. However, don't forget to take the next step and use that information to make smarter decisions for your Twitter marketing strategy.

If you've never used the Tweet activity dashboard before, give it a try. If you want more in depth Twitter analytics and reporting, sign up for a free 30-day trial with Sprout Social!

This post How to View & Measure Your Tweet Activity originally appeared on Sprout Social.

Why You Should Dump Your “Analytics Person” (And Do THIS Instead…)

Whether you're a bootstrapped startup or a well-known company, you likely have one (or more) people on your team in charge of analytics.  These are the people who wrangle all that big data into meaningful insights that help propel the company forward.  They're the ones who make sense of all the input arriving from all the disparate tools and filter it into discussions, split testing ideas, sales hooks and other angles that help improve conversion rates.

So if they're so crucial, why am I suggesting you dump them?

Because if they are the all-encompassing heart of data at your business, they're doing more harm than good in the long run.

Now before you grab your digital torches and pitchforks, hear me out. I want to preface this article by saying that yes, analytics people are valuable – critical, even – to your business' success.  But no matter how varied their experiences or how unique their perspective, all of the insights you're moving on and data you're collecting are still being filtered by one or even a handful of people.

On the surface, there's no harm in that.

It's when that person leaves, or changes departments, or gets promoted that you start to run into problems.  Suddenly, this person who was the linchpin of the entire analytics action team has left everyone else scrambling to pull and/or make sense of the numbers and charts.

On the opposite spectrum, there's the “analytics fortress”. It's virtually impregnable and understandable only for a select few. There are whispers and rumors about the treasure trove of data it contains, but few have ever seen it first-hand. And while that may seem like rock-solid job security on the surface, it's a giant red flag for the organization doing the hiring. Remember, they want the system to be set up so that it's easy to understand, pull from and analyze. They won't hesitate to hire someone who can help them re-configure it to be more open, accessible and cross-functional.

Getting a better handle on your analytics starts with putting the information out there and letting your various teams, departments and decision makers brainstorm the possibilities while gradually guiding them on integrating more of the data into their everyday tasks.  One step at a time, and gradually, everyone becomes proficient.

But We're So Far Behind!

Did you know that analytics, as a field of study, is less than five years old? That means it's still at the proverbial not-eating-paste stage of its life.  Because there are so many advancements being made in the field and new tools being developed, it's easy to think that you're falling further and further behind. But the fact is, with the right dashboard and the right information at your fingertips, you can make course corrections in real-time for the betterment of the campaign or project as a whole.

What this kind of new-found power will do, however, is put a big dollop of transparency on everyone. Mistakes (and successes) will be visible. Scrutiny and the sizing up of campaign results will happen. But nobody's perfect and everyone's learning.  You can't afford to let your mistakes hold you back, but by the same token, you can't afford to rest on your laurels either. Always moving forward.  That's what it means to be data driven.

The New Data Wrangler

Every business wants someone with a brilliant analytical mind to swoop in, corral the data and turn it into a nice, neat and meaningful slideshow where everyone gets to bask in hefty sales figures and pretty charts. In a perfect world the numbers speak for themselves and the subsequent actions obvious.

Sadly, it doesn't work that way. And companies who forge ahead with this mindset are terribly misguided. But because transforming into a data-driven company is such a new process, it can be overwhelming to know where to start or even how to go about it.  You may already even have people in place, such as those who oversee proper compliance, those who fix broken or duplicate data, or even those who build monetization models. But data-driven isn't a person so much as a way of doing business.

That means you want your company to have a strategic, forward-thinking mindset. It's very much a cultural shift. People should easily be able to reference and use the information collected to make improvements and add value to the customer experience.  That means being able to make decisions that are practical for today as well as far-reaching for tomorrow.

Make It a Group Effort

The fact is, your campaigns will always improve over time whether you've got one person running it or 100. Why pin all your insights on a single person when you can make analytics a group effort instead?  Have a process in place that turns your company from reactive to proactive when it comes to data-driven insights. Oftentimes, there's a pervasive thought throughout companies that analytics “is not my job” or that the only time it's useful is determining the success or failure of a campaign after the fact.

If data isn't the foundation of every marketing decision made by each and every person, then you're not truly a data-driven company. Teach others how to use the data not just when it suits them, but as part of the overall company culture – in planning, prioritizing, during the progress of a campaign, and throughout optimization up to launch and beyond.  Above all, analytics should never be used to tout one person's idea as better than another's. Through all this data, everyone is learning whether something works, whether it doesn't, or whether it merits more study.

Every single piece of information is a potential lesson.

Action Steps for Becoming a More Data-Driven Company

So now that we know what's needed, how do we turn this information into action?  Here are a few steps to integrating a more data-driven flow into your workplace:

• Set your data free – Let everyone from key decision makers to operational leads, partners, suppliers and vendors have access to relevant information


• Make analytics for everyone – Connect all your sources so that every department sees the big picture and can drill down for more details


• Let people create their own insights – You'd be amazed at the ideas and perspectives that percolate to the top when people have the freedom to make their own analyses and insights based on the situation presented


• De-centralize decision making – Let things be done openly. Test, track, monitor and report. Don't require lots of needless hoop-jumping just to try out some ideas.


• Rely on systems that everyone can use, not a black box configuration that is recreated each year by a new analytics lead

Remember, analytics is going to be new to many, many people. So it's understandable that there would be some uncertainty or outright trepidation in getting accustomed to it. Furthermore, company culture shifts don't happen overnight, so gradually easing into this new form of doing business helps ensure that everyone is on the same page and understands what's expected of them as it relates to their role in moving the company forward using data insights.

With that being said, however, it's always a good idea to learn from those who have successfully migrated over to a more data-driven mindset. Has your company embraced its data-driven roots? How did the process go? What parts were easiest to get people acclimated to and where did you struggle? Share your insights with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!

The Proven Method to Ranking on the First Page of Google For Any Long-tail Keyword

So you want to write an article that ranks on the first page of Google for a long-tail keyword?

Fine. So does everyone else.

Ranking on the first page of Google for well-selected long-tail keywords remains one of the fastest ways to get your content in front of thousands of people.

But how do you do this?

One option is to sign up with one of the shady SEO agencies that promises “first-page ranking in two weeks!”

I think we can all agree, you don't want to do that. The days of fly-by-night-snake-oil-salesmen SEO agencies are long gone. If anyone promises first-position rankings, run the other way. There are no guarantees in the world of SEO.

Unfortunately, as a result of these con artists, some people think that first-page ranking is still a myth. I can't say I blame them.

Maybe you've wondered too: is first-page ranking even possible today?

With the search algorithm changing so frequently and millions of pieces of new content being released on a daily basis, it could seem like a fool's errand to try to create top-ranked content in Google.

But it's not impossible.

To be completely transparent, you won't rank for the term “Apple” or “Google” anytime soon. Those are head terms, not long-tail keywords. They are also trademarked, talked about, and dominated by large and established businesses.

But we're not talking about head terms. We're talking about long-tail keywords-the kind of terms you want to rank for in order to get more eyeballs, clicks, and sales.

After all, someone has to rank on the first page of Google. The sites that are ranking on the first page of Google right now had to do something in order to earn that rank.

What did they do to get it?

Today, I'll show you the simple and proven method for ranking on the first page for any long-tail keyword.

This isn't some shady trick, hack, tweak, black magic, or programming voodoo. In fact, this requires quite a bit of hard work, time, and effort. If you're expecting “one sneaky trick that Google doesn't want you to know about,” you've come to the wrong site.

This is the honest, no-BS method for truly outranking your competition, authentically gaining rank, and staking your claim in the most valuable digital real estate on the planet-the first page of Google. 

1. Do your research

While many people believe that keyword research doesn't matter anymore, it's just as important now as it's ever been.

In fact, the only way you can hope to rank highly for a keyword is to make sure you do your research.

And that's where we need to start with this whole effort-researching the correct keyword.

What should you look for when researching the right keyword?

Length

The first thing you should always do whenever you are trying to rank for a long-tail keyword is to make sure the keyword is long enough.

I always suggest a minimum of four words.

Take a look at the type and length of searches that constitute a long-tail keyword.

Don't go overboard and write content for a 10-word phrase, but anything fewer than four words, and you'll likely face too much competition to get your article ranked.

Competition

Whenever you are trying to find a great keyword to rank for, you want to look for something that's not highly competitive but still has a respectable number of monthly searches.

Long-tails don't have a lot of search volume. But you shouldn't worry about this. You're not going for high volume-you are going for focused intention.

It's better to have a few searches and rank high than to have tons of searches and not rank at all.

Run your selected long-tail keywords through Google's Keyword Planner tool to find out how much competition you're facing:

The good thing about long-tail keywords is that there are many of them. In fact, 70% of all search traffic today comes from the long-tail.

The key to this is to look for more descriptive keywords, ideally keywords that will convert well.

User Intent

Something that's more important than the keyword itself is the intent behind the keyword.

For example, when someone searches the keyword you are trying to rank for, are they searching because they want to browse, shop, or buy?

The good thing about long-tail keywords is that it's fairly obvious to figure out what the user is searching for.

Take a look at these queries:

The head terms-”camera” and “digital camera”-aren't very descriptive. You might not be able to get a focused understanding of what the user is searching for.

But the long-tail keywords are valuable. Someone searching for “sony digital camera 7.1MP with 3x optical zoom” is looking for a specific product.

With a few additional variables, you can create and deliver precisely the kind of content the user is seeking:

• Buy sony digital camera 7.1MP with 3x optical zoom


• Compare sony digital camera 7.1MP with 3x optical zoom


• Research sony digital camera 7.1MP with 3x optical zoom


• sony digital camera 7.1MP with 3x optical zoom features


• sony digital camera 7.1MP with 3x optical zoom accessories

If you can figure out the long-tail intent-and it's not that difficult-you can masterfully craft content that will match that intent. As a result, your content will quickly rise to the first page.

2. Write keyword-rich headlines

One of the keys to ranking in Google is to ensure you write keyword-rich headlines.

Headlines matter. They matter to people, and, therefore, they matter to SEO.

Most people will only pay attention to the first two words of their search phrases to decide whether or not you have the content they are looking for.

So make sure you play with variations of your headlines to include the necessary keywords and grab the reader's attention as quickly as possible.

For example, let's take the search phrase “make money online.”

Here are a few headline variations you could use to rank for that keyword:

1. How to Make Money Online in 3 Simple Steps


2. The Proven Method to Make Money Online in Any Niche


3. The No B.S. Guide to Make Money Online This Weekend


4. How to Make Money Online TODAY Using Skills You Already Have


5. How to Make Money Online Without Any Marketable Skills

These headlines include the keyword, are clear in their purpose, and let readers know what they are in for right from the start.

When you use your selected long-tail keyword in the title of your article, you make the keyword stand out in the SERPs.

Remember, Google is smart. It can figure out what people are trying to search for even if that person isn't doing a very good job of actually searching for it.

3. Pay attention to user intent

I mentioned this in the first section: align your content with user intent.

In other words, focus on the why behind a user's search query.

For example, if someone types in “Buy 43” Panasonic TV,” you can safely assume the user intent is to make a purchase.

However, if the keyword is “43” Panasonic TV Reviews,” you can assume the user intent is to gain information.

You can think of these various types of intentions as concentric circles that correspond to the stages in a marketing funnel:

You can take this a step further on your quest for keyword domination by looking for key phrases that have top-ranking, highly-shared articles you could improve.

Here's what I mean.

Let's say you are trying to rank for the keyword phrase “content marketing strategies for your blog.”

You plug this keyword phrase into Buzzsumo and get these top three results:

“The Worst Content Marketing Strategy Mistakes You Don't Know You Are Making”

“How to Do an Audit of Your Content Marketing Strategy for Your Blog”

and

“Advanced Content Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Blog 10X”

Here's the thing.

Most people who are looking up the phrase “content marketing for your blog” are probably content marketing newbies, not looking for mistakes, audits, or advanced strategies.

This gives you a fantastic opportunity to write content that better addresses the user intent for that keyword and will, therefore, rank higher in Google.

For example, using the above long-tail keyword, you could write articles titled:

“The Best Content Marketing Strategies to Rapidly Grow Your New Blog”

“Simple Content Marketing Strategies for Your Blog to Double Your Traffic”

Or

“Proven Content Marketing Strategies to Double Your Blog Traffic in 90 Days.”

These titles are much more focused on the user intent behind this keyword search and will quickly rise to the front page of Google.

Why will they quickly rise to the front page of Google?

Because they meet the user's intention.

Google's algorithm is focused on providing the best possible search result for user queries. If you can successfully meet those intentions, you'll be rewarded.

4. Write, write, write

I always tell people that if they want to rank in Google, they'd better get used to writing-and writing a lot.

Let's face it. If you're blogging once a month, you're not generating enough content to get ranked.

Articles that rank in Google are typically 2,000+ words and filled with pictures, embedded videos, and internal links.

Whenever you write an article you want to rank, you should treat it as more of an “Ultimate Guide” than just a normal post.

Make the content so good that you could sell it as a standalone product if you wanted to.

Also, be wary of stuffing your article with keywords. Instead, focus on providing massive value to your audience, not pulling one over on Google…because you can't pull one over on Google.

5. Market your new article like crazy

Now that you've written your article, it's time to market the living crap out of it.

Ramit Sethi sums it up in his unscientific graph:

Putting it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a given, but there is a lot more to it than that.

What really matters is telling the right people about it.

Reach out to influencers to see if they'd be willing to link to your content; create a YouTube audio version of your content with a link back to the article in the description; or even create a podcast with a summary of your article.

Use every possible avenue to get your article in front of as many eyes as possible.

The more times your article is seen, shared, and commented on, the better your odds of higher ranking on Google.

Conclusion

Most people think that ranking on the first page of Google for a long-tail keyword is impossible, but most people are wrong.

If you put in the effort, write quality content that offers real value, and market your content effectively, you can expect to see your article on the first page of Google in no time.

I'm going to say it one more time: You can't trick Google.

Instead, you've got to put in the long hours. You have to feel the sore fingers and the exhausted brain. This is hard work. There are no shortcuts.

Delivering real solutions to real people is the key to success. Your content must be better than everyone else's. That's all there is to it.

By following this process, you are guaranteed a spot on the traffic-scoring, conversion-boosting A-list of marketing power: the first page of Google.

Do you have any Google first-page success stories? How did you do it?