Do you know any celebrities? Have you thought about using them to help your search rankings? It’s a bit of an odd idea but I think it can actually work – and on several levels. Here’s why.

You’ve probably heard by now of people selling tweets or followers. For some time now celebrities have been generating additional income through this and – I’d imagine – to a fair bit of success.

Not only does the tweet get published to thousands – if not millions – of followers and can bring you many clicks and followers, it also acts as an endorsement from that celebrity. And I think that’s why so many people are turning to celebrities to push their brand or cause, whether it’s for charity or for financial gain through business.

We know that celebrity endorsement works – that’s why we see Michael Parkinson selling life insurance policies, George Clooney selling coffee machines and Davina McCall and Cheryl Cole advertising hair products on the television.

Taking this back into the online world, with Google Plus becoming more important as a social tool – as well as an SEO tool – getting high profile +1′s from authoritative celebrities is one way of publicising (or even initiating) endorsement quickly and encouraging people to click your site within the search results.

Let me explain. Those that are logged in while searching and have a Google Plus account will see which of the people they follow have +1′d your site. If that celebrity is one of those that are being followed this will appear in the search results next to your listing and the chances of click-through and potential sales potentially can increase massively.

Chosen wisely, the celeb will also have close ties to your industry and with a wide reach this could be a very powerful move for your online SEO campaign.

Not only that, but through the association between your business and the celebrity you might also see people publicly talking (via social media, forums and blogs) about the decision made by the famous face and it all contributes to creating buzz. In turn, this could quickly lead to links pointing to your website helping to push it up the search results.

Previously, a celebrity endorsement would be printed on leaflets and magazines and put on radio and television adverts and took time to be publicised, yet with social media it is almost instant and reaches out to those that are already ‘connected’ with the celebrity. And now that these +1′s appear within the search results, the connection is made obvious to those looking for products and services similar to what you provide – a connection that could work really well.

The idea is very quick and potentially very effective when it utilises social media, particularly powerful if there’s a good overlap between the celebrity and your audience and can be exploited as often as you like. It can also work for highly authoritative and well-known figures within your industry.

As for the cost… please contact your nearest celebrity.

This week my love for SEOmoz has just grown even more, as the new Social Analytics has just launched. Available in SEOmoz Pro accounts only, Social Analytics provides data on key social metrics such as followers, retweets and likes.

Although SEOmoz did introduce some social indicators into the Pro version of Open Site Explorer earlier this year, they aren’t nearly as useful as the new stats provided in Social Analytics. Not only can users get information on how many mentions a Twitter profile has had, or how many comments have been made on a Facebook post, the simple-looking, yet handy graphs in Social Analytics show interesting trends over time, so you can monitor your performance effectively.

I think the reason I like the new feature so much is because of its clean, simple interface that nicely collects your social stats in one place. Oh, but that’s not yet true… the one downfall (which isn’t bad going!) is that currently only Facebook and Twitter accounts can be added and monitored. However SEOmoz have thankfully mentioned that they are now working towards getting other top networks in there, such as Google+ and LinkedIn. Hurrah!

My favourite feature of Social Analytics is the monitoring of competitors’ social activity. By adding your chosen competitors, you can benchmark your progress against theirs, and keep an eye out for any spikes in their performance which might alert you of some good tactics that are being used, whether it be a Facebook competition or a popular blog post being Tweeted around. What is also interesting is that the social analytics include Klout scores. I know Klout has been getting more attention recently and now that my trustworthy source SEOmoz has decided to use Klout, I’m certainly feeling more trust towards the social benchmarking tool.

Up until now, the Pro account has been used by mostly SEO marketers, but with this new social feature, I can see more social media marketers becoming interested and joining the SEOmoz fan club (we love you Rand!) It’s definitely a sign of the times as social starts to play a bigger part in search, and the SEOmoz Pro account is a nice place for SEOs to gain insights, build integrated strategies, and start talking!

Are you a Pro Member of SEOmoz and as excited about the new data as we are? Or have you never been a member but now find yourself reaching for your wallet?

Despite the odd bit of controversy here and there, ‘Red or Black’, the new game show presented by Ant and Dec has been a relative success in terms of giving ordinary members of the public an opportunity to become a millionaire. Now I know that this is a game based on luck, however I want to focus on the important decisions that have to be made and relate those to the decisions that you as a business owner have to make at various stages of an SEO campaign.

There are ten big decisions that contestants have to make on ‘Red or Black’ before the wheel spins for one million pounds. You will however be pleased to know that I am not going to go through ten different decisions that have to made before and during an SEO campaign, rather focus on just two or three that play a pivotal role in the whole process.

Decision One: SEO or not?

We all know that the current financial climate is not great, so putting your business one step ahead of competitors could make the difference when it comes to prolonged success. Whilst word of mouth is a great tool to attract fresh business, in today’s day and age with so many businesses on the market, new tactics have to be employed.

With more and more people using the internet to search for available services from plumbers and window fitters through to hotels and restaurants, wouldn’t it be great if you could appear at the top of the page when people search for terms in your field of business? A successful SEO campaign can help you achieve this and with a dedicated team of professionals on board, any investment you make will be rewarded with hard work and all being well, positive results.

Decision Two: How much to invest?

Once you have decided to embark on an SEO campaign (good choice) the second decision you must make is to consider how much of your hard earned cash to put into the project. This is of course a difficult one so always take the time to review your options, assess your finances and then give the go ahead to begin once you have a budget in mind.

A campaign can be developed around the money you have available to spend and no matter how much, or how restricted that may be, you will be assured of the highest possible level of service with the sole aim of helping your business climb up the rankings.  A combination of hard work, a positive attitude and patience will give your business the best hope of drawing in new custom and ensuring you stay affluent and are able to grow even in these tough times.

Decision Three: Time to add more?

As your business begins to feel the benefits an SEO campaign can bring, you now have the decision of whether to stick with what you have or add additional services to further enhance what is currently occurring.

There are many other services that can be implemented alongside an SEO campaign such as social media, email marketing and pay per click to name just three. Again, experienced professionals within each field will work alongside you and push your business on to the next level through their commitment and expertise. You will obviously need to invest a little more to get the additional features, however it could well be worth it in the long run.

As ‘Red or Black’ draws to a close this weekend, you will see many more members of the public having to make a tough decision, choosing red or black? As a business owner embarking on an SEO campaign, you will undoubtedly have to make similarly tough decisions and take a gamble along the way. Making the correct decisions at the appropriate times to suit your business could most definitely make the difference between long standing success and languishing in the business doldrums fighting to stay afloat.

With stories of rioting and looting across the major cities in the UK this week, many are asking how on earth we got to this point of mayhem and despair. Finger pointing has begun with members of parliament, the police and parents of the offending characters all being assessed for their actions (or lack of), but something else has suffered condemnation for its role in facilitating the worst scenes the UK has seen since the Blitz; social media.

Reports suggest that platforms such as Twitter enabled large groups to form quickly and plan a reign of terror without being immediately noticed and tracked by police, allowing a highly organised crowd of predominantly young people to rise up and take authorities by surprise, causing devastation to many before the rest of the nation even had a chance to blink.

Although the way in which we use social media has changed significantly since its humble beginnings, the events of 2011 so far have truly highlighted the sheer power and capability it has. What was once simply a way of contacting friends and following the lives of favoured celebrities is now widely considered the best source for up to date information on current affairs.

So, is it the prevalence of social unrest seen in recent times that has led to this change in the way we use social media, or is it the ease of use these platforms provide that enable us to showcase our thoughts and discoveries to the masses that were previously mentioned only amongst our own peer groups? A case of the age old chicken or the egg dilemma perhaps.

Whilst the velocity of which information can be announced, digested and regurgitated through a simple ‘Retweet’ has many authorities worrying about the repercussions of such an incredibly loud, uncensored and hard to monitor online voice, it is important to remember the good that has come from the arrival of social media.

HarrassMap is the brain child of a small group of Egyptian women who want to make areas of Cairo safer for females. The premise of Harrasmap is to use social media along with texts and emails to report incidents of sexual assault; these areas are then mapped and colour coded for the type and severity of assault that has occurred. The map is closely monitored to ascertain the hot spots where abuse is taking place and volunteers from the site then descend on the area to notify residents, police and shopkeepers with information on how to make the area safer for women.

Let us not forget that social media platforms Twitter and Facebook are also the enablers of the large scale clean-up operations that have occurred across the UK to help those affected by looters and rioters. In scenes reminiscent of old fashioned wartime spirit, the infamous phrase ‘keep calm and carry on’ has never meant more to our contemporary nation; an old but relevant message carried by a new medium.

Is social media a blessing or a curse? With the average Joe now a ground-breaking reporter through simply being in the right (or wrong) place at the right time with the technology at hand to quickly bash out a line or two, one thing is for certain; whether social media is a force for good or a force for bad, it is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Discover how you can set your business up for a season of success

It’s that time of year that every fan looks forward to the most; the start of the new season. It’s just around the corner and hopes are high that your favourite team will succeed in the 30 or 40 league games that lie ahead. The start of a new football season links in well with that of an SEO campaign, so if you have not previously considered it for your business, why not invest and see your business climb the rankings in much the same way as you hope your favourite team will rise up the league this year?

After a summer of recruitment and investment within your favoured football club, why not do the same with your business as you strive for success? With a dedicated team of SEO specialists working alongside you, the benefits of increased traffic to your site and ultimate sales will be profound.

Every football fan wants to see their team do well and win trophies however this takes a great deal of hard work and dedication from all involved. It is also not something that will happen quickly either, which is exactly the same as your SEO campaign. After extensive planning and researching of your competitors, in a similar fashion to scouts  studying certain teams and sourcing quality new players, your SEO campaign is likely to be in a much stronger position in time for the big kick off.

It takes a strong squad of players to win a league or a cup competition, and for your business it is important you have similar strength on side when involved within an SEO campaign. From your specified consultant who will be the linchpin of your whole campaign right through to your article marketing team and stage system linking builders, each need to work together in order to bring prolonged success.

Once the base has been built and you have a strong and committed team working alongside you, it is then that you can invest further in additional services such as social media, pay per click and email marketing. See this as your transfer window whereby you have the opportunity to purchase new players to your team in the hope of even more success.

With many twists and turns along the way, you’re sure to experience similar ups and downs as you would when sitting in the stands watching your favourite team. There will be periods of success where you are doing well whilst there may be the odd occasion (for one reason or another) that things slip slightly. It is how you deal with the harder times that matter and with an experienced team who never lose enthusiasm for the task in hand alongside you, your business is almost certainly going to bounce back even stronger.

Investment in the right areas and a strong commitment to the project at all times will undoubtedly offer your business the best chance of success for the campaign ahead. As your football club plays its final preseason friendly before the real stuff starts, get your business off to a flying start against your competitors with an SEO campaign.