The Tiger King’s Questionable SEO Tactics
The Tiger King Joe Exotic used blackhat SEO tactics to take revenge on Carole Baskin. We break down why blackhat SEO doesn’t work, even for Joe Exotic. If you’re one of the millions of Americans with a Netflix subscription and nowhere to go because of the pandemic, there’s a good chance you’ve watched at least part of Tiger King. According to both Netflix and Rotten Tomatoes, this documentary has generated enough attention to become America’s most popular TV show at the moment. The series largely focuses upon the rivalry between Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin, rivals in the business of keeping big cats and other wildlife. Some characters in the series have been described as appalling, cruel, and of course, oddly mesmerizing. During this time of national crisis, why are we highlighting a show that documents mistreatment of beautiful animals, hypocrisy, and even attempted murder? Well, among Joe Exotic’s other questionable actions, he employed illicit SEO tactics to try to improve his business at Carol Baskin’s expense. While this TV show can provide so many morality lessons, it’s also instructive about blackhat SEO tactics that you should never rely upon. Blackhat SEO: the Tiger King way Before explaining Tiger King SEO, it’s helpful to make sure you understand a little background of the story. Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin appear very different on the surface. For instance, Joe openly ran his zoo to earn money and often appeared short of cash. On the other hand, Ms. Baskin has lots of money and says she runs her nonprofit to help protect endangered animals. At the same time, they do have a few things in common. Baskin runs a nonprofit animal sanctuary called Big Cat Rescue in Florida. Exotic owned the Garold Wayne Zoo in Oklahoma, now known as the Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and under different ownership. The feud between the two them began when Baskin claimed that Exotic’s animal conditions, breeding programs, and practice of charging visitors to pet cubs were abusive to the captive wildlife. She embarked upon a mission to end all private ownership of big cats and in particular, Joe Exotic’s zoo. In turn, Exotic claimed that Baskin did not provide good conditions for the captive animals in her own refuge. He said that she waged a hypocritical war against his zoo by encouraging PETA to track him, badgering prospective clients, and even creating websites that called him out for animal abuse. How does Tiger King employ SEO? Another series character, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, owned a South Carolina animal preserve. He mentioned that Baskin always ranked at the top of search engines. Joe Exotic must have also known about Baskin’s SEO success. In order to gain more visibility for his business, Exotic figured he could ride on Baskin’s SEO coattails by registering his business and online properties as Big Cat Rescue Entertainment, instead of Big Cat Rescue. Even Baskin admitted that Joe Exotic enjoyed some initial success with this tactic. She would sometimes get phone calls from people who wanted to find Big Cat Rescue Entertainment. She sued Exotic in 2012 with a claim of copyright infringement. In the end, she won a settlement of almost $1 million. Some evidence her lawyers used to help her win her case included Big Cat Rescue Entertainment advertisements with the same Florida area code that Baskin’s organization used, even though Exotic had his business based in Oklahoma. Having similar business names doesn’t necessarily imply copyright infringement; however, a deliberate attempt to masquerade as another organization might. Don’t be like Tiger King Naturally, nobody wants to suffer the same fate as Joe Exotic. He had to sell his business. He also ended up in prison for trying to hire somebody to kill Carol Baskin. Nobody thinks that blackhat SEO is as bad as trying to murder somebody. Still, attempting to misrepresent yourself or your business through gaming search engines and misleading customers won’t lead to long-term prosperity, and that’s true even if you enjoy any success with it at all. Here are at least three takeaways you should learn from Tiger King’s blackhat SEO: For one thing, major search engines have gotten much better about catching misbehavior like this. According to Search Engine Watch, search engines will penalize or even delist businesses that attempt to fool them and their users. Even if you get away with it for a short time, your rankings will rarely last as long as your penalties. Even more important, companies that get caught employing these sorts of tactics suffer from terrible damage to their brand reputations. No business wants potential customers to think of them as a company that lied about their own address or other important business details. Of course, you should not overlook the fact that a court awarded Baskin nearly a million dollars after she proved that Joe Exotic tried to gain search engine visibility by spoofing her organization. If you have to start hiring lawyers, you know that’s going to make a big dent in any potential profits. Anyway, if they ever make a documentary about your life and your business, you don’t want to gain an audience for the same reasons that Tiger King did. You can speak proudly about your prominent business and website when you know that you gained that popularity by adding value and not through deceit.
5 SEO Mistakes that are Costing Your Business Money
If you’ve been in the digital marketing world for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the term “SEO”. If not, it stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it describes a subset of digital marketing and development that emphasizes keywords, website design, linking and other tactics to help gain traction in search engine rankings, and ultimately, result in conversions. This is important because people around the world conduct millions of searches a day, and if your business is the top rank for a particular keyword, then that simple placement on Google’s search engine can earn you thousands or even millions of dollars in additional income. While the concept of SEO is fairly easy to understand, mastering search engine rankings and conversions is another story. Google wants the most relevant sites to come up first in rankings and uses a complex algorithm to make sure this is the case. At the same time, companies who want to secure coveted positions can implement website optimization tactics to their websites to secure top rankings that lead to conversions. As a result, companies turn to search engine optimization for help in implementing a strategic approach to both SEO and conversion optimization. Unfortunately, we see far too many businesses executing incorrectly, and succumbing to SEO mistakes. Here are a few things that can harm your SEO rankings, compiled by the team at your favorite Orlando SEO agency: 1. Not Having a Web Page This is a rather obvious one, but when companies have no digital footprint, potential customers on the web have no way of finding them. While in this day and age, it seems like every business you can think of has a webpage, you might be surprised at the number of businesses that solely rely on sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor as the only means of being found online – leaving these businesses virtually invisible to the Google-searching masses. [quote] Find out how BIGEYE utilized SEO when working with Ability Wood Flooring to enhance their internet marketing strategy. [/quote] 2. Paying for Cheap Services Inexpensive SEO services may actually cause more harm than hurt. Many times, businesses try to “cheat” and end up outsourcing website copywriting assignments to foreign agencies that produce keyword heavy content in broken English. In theory, the notion that the copy is keyword-heavy would produce strong results, but Google’s algorithm is trained to recognize keyword density above a certain level. As a result, businesses are penalized for attempting to employ outrightly obvious SEO boosting tactics. Remember that Google wants to provide the most relevant results, not necessarily the most keyword heavy ones. Therefore, sites that rely on inexpensive services may end up at the bottom. 3. Bad Keyword Research If you’re in a business that’s highly competitive in the SEO field, you’ll have little chance of competing with companies that have years of SEO experience and are major players in the space. A better tactic is to focus on more narrow keyword searches, but not so narrow people can’t find you. Developing a strategic course of action takes time and effort, but a great place is Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner. You may find you need to stay away from high volume searches due to stiff competition. Instead, you can hone in on more specific searches that don’t get as much volume, but are more targeted toward your business offerings. 4. Link Exchanges / Spam Links / Paid Links in Content / Other Shady Linking Tactics Google gives a fair amount of credit to legitimate links included in blog posts, but if you’re engaging in shady linking practices, you might have a problem. [quote]There is a multitude of ways people try to manipulate links, but if you think you’re smarter than Google, guess again.[/quote] If, for example, you’re using low-quality blog networks to try to increase ranking in SEO, or are inserting paid links in your content, then you’d better be ready to watch your search engine ranking drop dramatically. SEO experts know that Google doesn’t allow companies to recover from this practice easily, and that it can take years to regain ranking if Google’s algorithm flags you for using shady linking practices. 5. Not Keeping Apprised of Updates and Best Practices Google is constantly updating its algorithm to help combat shady SEO tactics. Even if you’re someone who’s simply dabbling in SEO, it’s important to be up-to-date with the most current SEO ranking trends and practices. A great resource to figure out whether your SEO needs a refresh is Google’s Webmaster Rules. Need some help updating your page’s SEO strategy so Google’s search engine can better locate your business? Contact the team for at your favorite Orlando ad agency for assistance, and let us help you navigate the tricky terrain of SEO best practices.
A Few Simple Steps for Effective Content Optimization
What do you think of when I say “optimization?” I’m willing to bet most of you think in terms of search engine optimization, the art of getting your website and web content into the highest placement on related search engine searches. That tricky thing called SEO is as much of an art as it is a science. Try to cheat, and you risk making your website completely invisible on search. [quote]Optimization isn’t limited to SEO.[/quote] In marketing, there are a variety of ways you can optimize your homepage, email marketing and app experience, under a cluster of what some people call conversion optimization. If you’re aren’t taking care to make sure you’ve implemented optimal design, then you might be making it more difficult than necessary for people to find your site, navigate your homepage and email marketing, and ultimately, convert. Below is an overview of each from the team at our Florida marketing agency, as well as some information as to what steps you can take to optimize your content. Search Engine Optimization I opted to start with content optimization or SEO when it comes to “optimization” because it tends to be the most familiar, and because it can be so helpful in driving customers to your site. Essentially, search engine indexing systems rely on a series of algorithms in order to make sure the most relevant content appears first when a person keys in a search term. Content creators can capitalize on this by figuring out a few relevant keywords and posting content that relates to those subjects. Unfortunately, the average blogger can’t possibly understand all the factors at play in good SEO. However, website tools such as those offered by Moz can help ensure the blog experience is optimized for search, even giving content creators an optimization score per post. These types of tools can be highly valuable in making your site searchable within the clutter. Additionally, other areas for search engine optimization include site static content (such as the “about” page or the introductory copy on the homepage of the site) and page headlines. Look carefully at what search terms are most valuable to your brand. A shoe retailer may not be able to optimize on the word “shoes” against corporate giants like Nike and Adidas, but may have more success with something more specific, like “beach shoes” or “summer sandals.” The Google Keyword AdWords Tool is a great way to figure out search viability for specific keywords, and then structure your content as to feature those words. Conversion Optimization This type of optimization strives to improve the visitor’s experience, with the goal of ultimately leading to the most conversions. Optimizing a website means making sure it’s designed responsively. It means making sure that people can understand the content whether viewing it on mobile, tablet or desktop. It also means making sure that you page loads very quickly, that information on the page is easy to navigate, and that the code used to make the page is strong. It means making sure links work and that there are no broken links. People interested in knowing how their site adds up for website optimization purposes can use check use optimize.ly to run tests. It also means running tests to make sure the calls to action are clear, and for ecommerce sites, it means checking to make sure the checkout process is as seamless as possible. Conversion optimization also applies to email marketing. Experimenting with email length, subject lines and email template design is a great way to improve the effectiveness of the email marketing, resulting in more conversions. If you’re not optimizing, you’re missing out on serious opportunities to increase your conversion metrics. For more information on how to keep people coming back to your site again and again, contact the team at our BIGEYE ad agency for a free consultation.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Search Engine Optimization
If you’re like me, you pretend to be “in the know” on all things digital. I’m not saying that I don’t “try” to fully understand; it’s just a bit confusing at times. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those digital concepts that I just couldn’t quite get a grasp on. So to save you hours of research, I have pulled together a plethora of information that describes the concept of SEO and basic tips to help you capitalize on this marketing strategy. What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the process of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s “organic” (unpaid) search results. The concept behind this strategy is to find ways to increase your site’s appearance in web visitors’ search results. [quote] In laymen’s terms, SEO is an Internet marketing strategy that, if used correctly, will drive more traffic to your site. [/quote] A Florida Advertising Agency helping you capitalize using SEO: 1.) Monitor Your Current Standing Before you change anything on your site, see where you already stand with your visitors. Use tools, such as Alexa and Google Toolbar, to check out your page rank. Make it a habit of regularly checking your referrer log, which will give you insight into where your visitors are coming from and the search terms they’re using to find your site. 2.) Be Conscious of Keywords Sprinkle appropriate keywords throughout every aspect of your site. These aspects include: titles, content, URLs and image names. According to Business Insider, “the title tag and page header are the two most important spots to put keywords.” Be strategic in where you place keywords because you don’t want to overdue it. Search engine spiders, which are programs that automatically fetch Web pages and feed them to search engines, are programmed to ignore sites guilty of “keyword-stuffing”. 3.) Always Link Back to Yourself The most basic strategy to increase your site’s traffic is the integration of internal links into your site. Make it a habit to frequently link back to your archives when creating new content for your site. As I stated above, don’t overdue it. The last thing you want to do is spam your readers with an annoying amount of links. 4.) Keep Your Content Fresh This tip is a given. Updating your site regularly is crucial for increasing traffic to your site. MarktingVox explains, “the best sites for users and consequently for search engines are full of oft-updated, useful information about a given service, product, topic or discipline.” Carve time out of your daily routine to update your site with fresh and unique content. 5.) Use Social Media to Your Advantage Distributing links to your content across appropriate social networking platforms will open you up to a new audience that you might not have reached before. Business Insider said, “Whether displayed on your company’s account, or recommended, re-tweeted, and re-distributed by someone else, this strategy exponentially multiplies the number of places where visitors will view your links.” Now that you understand Search Engine Optimization a little more, it’s time to start implementing it into your growth strategy! Need help building your SEO? No need to fret. We’re pretty much SEO experts. Give us a ring, we’ll help you out. Article by Paige Goodwin
Read about the SEO Orlando & the Bing v. Google Debate
The Bing v Google debate is a long running debate that encompasses the effectiveness of both of the major search engines. For a marketing firm Orlando, the importance of this debate can not be ignored. When dealing with SEO Orlando, it is important to determine which search site is the goal for increasing page views and search rankings, as one rank does not necessarily transfer to another. BIGEYE Creative understands the differences between the two and how they effect sales. What is Google in Relation to SEO Orlando? Googles search engine bot is called Panda. It bases its finds on relevance, keywords listing and usefulness of content. Google is also the larger search engine, with 80% of consumers turning to Google first when seeking a product or service. There are many benefits to focusing advertisement on Google, however, competition is fierce and it is very hard to make it to the top ten pages without a very focused SEO Orlando campaign. BIGEYE Creative can create that campaign. What is Bing in Relation to SEO Orlando? Bing is very similar in the way it locates content. However there is one key difference. Spammers tend to focus less on Bing search results and instead focus their marketing campaign on Google. Because of this, a marketing firm Orlando may be better served with focusing their products on the less competitive Bing pages and it will probably be easier to reach the top ten search results. However the downside to this is Bing has far less users than Google. SEO Orlando Should Focus on Both BIGEYE Creative, a marketing firm Orlando, will focus on both search engines and work to increase search rankings on both pages at the same time, rather than work with just one. This helps a product reach more viewers so key market segments are not lost in the shuffle. When using SEO Orlando, if the focus is on quality articles, the search results will easily follow.
How does using local SEO Orlando benefit your business?
If you are using an Orlando advertising agency, changes are, they are using SEO Orlando from local providers. There are millions of SEO Orlando providers on the internet, however, some are much better than others for creating focused search results. BIGEYE, an Orlando advertising agency chooses local talent for SEO Orlando because they are working with a local company that is seeking local buyers. When picking SEO Orlando providers, it is important to focus on the goal rather than the price. What SEO Orlando Providers Do SEO Orlando providers may provide an Orlando adverting agency or business with SEO Orlando content articles for search engine optimizations. These articles will be posted on the companies web pages so that search engine bots can view the page and give it a relevance rating. This relevance rating will decide whether the page will come up at number 1 or number 100 in search engine results. Why Choose Local in SEO Orlando Providers It is not enough to just be found in a website ranking. BIGEYE Creative, an Orlando advertising agency, wants to keep the reader on their page. An article written poorly, by someone who is clearly not familiar with the area, will come off as spammy and not professional. It is important to hire local SEO Orlando providers to ensure that once the person clicks on the link, they find a page related to the information they were seeking in the first place. While a keyword packed poorly written article may come up higher in the search results, it usually isn’t enough to gain a potential buyer. For that, a certain level of quality is needed. Choose the Best Orlando Advertising Agency for SEO Orlando When seeking SEO Orlando content, BIGEYE Creative should be your first stop. This agency will know the best local providers and may even have some on staff. These days, with search engines working the way they do, and fickle consumers who stay on a page for less than a few seconds, it is important to find a quality SEO Orlando provider to keep those consumers reading and keep those page rankings high. Visit our SEO services page to learn how BIGEYE rules the digital marketing world.
SEOhhh! Moving your website’s search rankings to the top
SEO gets a bad rap. It’s not dazzling design. It’s not premier prose. So what makes SEO so appealing to so many—and to us for that matter? The answer is simple: When it’s done right, SEO works well… really, really well. And unlike Pay Per Click, SEO is organic, meaning that results are gradual, performed manually by certified SEO professionals. It’s a long-lasting investment in your website’s future. It will come as no surprise that consumers use the web to research nearly every decision they make. From finding the best local smokehouse and backyard barbecue products, to studying top-rated orthodontists and plastic surgeons, the web is a treasure trove of valuable information—a place of vast knowledge and discovery for the consumer. Ensuring that your website is optimized according to relevant keyword searches increases your chances of landing at the top of search engine results, maximizing the opportunity for converting the active web surfer into a paying customer. From a consumer perspective, think of your website as a pot of gold and SEO as the rainbow, pointing the way to the riches that await by using your product or service. They’re actively seeking it—using tools like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Without the SEO rainbow pointing the way, your riches will remain lost and unused. The brighter the rainbow, the more visible the path to your pot of gold will be. BIGEYE Creative offers Search Engine Optimization solutions designed to increase your brand’s online visibility. Here are a few reasons why your SEO should be performed by someone other than the big SEO factories… someone like BigEye Creative: Customer Oriented SEO: You’re already aware of the high-quality customer service that we offer all of our clients. This level of customer service is hard to find, especially in the SEO industry. Monthly SEO Reporting: Every month, you’ll receive reports that compare the previous month’s results to the current one. You’ll be able to see how your site visits increase, discover your most popular landing pages and referring sites, and monitor your organic keyword rankings on popular search engines. Local SEO Work: We do not use offshore outsourcing to perform our SEO work. Everything is done right here in Central Florida. Quality SEO Link Building: We embrace “100% Natural” SEO strategies like quality link submissions, niche directories, and back linking among others. Current SEO Strategies: Unlike other SEO companies, we’re not using outdated strategies. Our SEO experts remain up-to-date on new search engine algorithms that change from week to week. We offer a variety of SEO packages to suit various budgets and goals. We’d be happy to take you through them and answer any questions you may have about SEO. Give us a call and get your SEO on track. In a matter of months, your website will start acquiring the attention that it deserves! We are pretty darn proud of our SEO skills. Visit our Digital Marketing page to learn more.
Don’t ‘Like’ Facebook? Well maybe this will change you mind
If you’re tired of reading your friend Amy’s thousandth status update about her son’s potty training progress, you’re not alone. But Facebook is about so much more than TMI status updates, how many “friends” you have and photos of college kids making bad choices. Eighty percent of ComScore’s U.S. Top 100 Websites have established a strong company presence for their brands on Facebook. Here are a few reasons why you should too. Let’s start off with the obvious: it’s a marketing tool to more than half a billion people. According to Facebook, 50 percent of its active users log on to the site every day. Digitalbuzz Blog found that more than 1.5 million local businesses have their own Facebook pages, and more than 20 million people become fans of pages each day. In fact, the average user becomes a fan of at least four pages and writes about 25 comments each month. Furthermore, those who use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active as non-mobile users. And we all know how many smart phones are out there nowadays. Facebook has clearly proven itself to be the prime location to get people discussing and checking out businesses around the world. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get more people talking about you. The public is interested in you and likes to be heard, but it’s your job to show them you’re listening. Which brings us to reason No. 2: Facebook allows people to get engaged in your company. Every time you post an update, comment on someone else’s post or “like” a comment, you’re showing your audience that they’re important to you and reminding them you’re there. Encourage your fans to tag themselves in your photos, create contests for them to participate in (such as fun trivia), or reward them for “checking in” to your company. The more fans you can get, the higher Search Engine Optimization (SEO) you receive for your name. And yes, for those keeping count, that’s reason No. 3. If you have a Facebook page, it automatically gets indexed on Google, increasing your SEO. By including all of your information under the “Info” tab on your Facebook page (city, state, address and zip code, etc.), you’ll optimize local searches on the Internet. In the same regard, all of the information inserted in the Company Overview, Description and Mission fields will optimize your company name in product searches. You can add as many keywords dealing with your business as possible to heighten your SEO. This is done by captioning your photos and videos, adding descriptions to your event postings and allowing a discussion forum. If you pack everything you can with those key phrases, all of that information will be made available on search engines. The more your fans are involved in your page, the higher your SEO becomes. It’s basically like telling Google you’re pretty important. But it doesn’t stop there. (Are you ready? You’re going to really like this one.) When used correctly and frequently, Facebook has been proven to increase businesses’ ROI. Take Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG organization for example. According to Social Media Examiner, LIVESTRONG appointed a full-time social media employee in 2009 and raised a record-breaking $10.8 million for their charity — even with the troubled economy. In fact, more than 60 percent of LIVESTRONG’s website traffic is due to its social networking sites. So be proactive and use this marketing technique to your advantage. We’d love to help. Whether it’s incorporating your branding into your Facebook, YouTube or Twitter page design, maintaining your status updates, or developing a social media campaign, we love this stuff. Give us a call at 407.839.8599 or contact us at info@bigeyecreative.com to learn more. And while you’re at it … why not Like us on Facebook?
