Below is a great example of a blog post optimized for search engines.

It also delivers a powerful marketing message by answering the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) question.

Bride Asks: What’s in it for me if I hire this band?

Answer: A great band that other brides loved so much they voted for them!

All of your web pages, and blog posts, should answer the WIIFM message. When they do, you’ll get better results, get more inquiries, get more phone calls, and ultimately book more weddings.

I created a great new byline to help this client promote a unique value proposition (UVP).

In this case, their unique value proposition, when competing with disc jockeys,  is – “Nothing Compares to Live Music.”

This byline is also now a major part of the company’s sales presentation and is helping them to increase their close ratios and book more weddings more effectively.

The anchor text link uses one of our targeted keyword phrases for the band’s website: wedding bands in New England. There are many others and we distribute them across the posts we create at the blog.

When brides go to Google, and type in: “wedding bands in New England,” this is a search engine results page we want to show up top ranked for.

Anchor text linking, from your blog, or from any other website or blog, is an advanced search engine optimization technique that must be part of your overall search engine optimization strategy – and it works! Why, because it tells Google and other search engines; “Hey, if you follow this link you’ll find information about wedding bands in New England…”

Finally, note the different wedding related keywords integrated throughout this blog post. First, as it should be, this post has valuable information for a bride (i.e. real person). But it also is highly optimized for search engines using a combination of ALL the keywords/phrases that we have identified for our overall search engine optimization strategy.

You can see this actual post at this link and the band’s blog at this link.

It is the page you see after a search query is typed into the search box at a search engine.

Understanding the different elements of a search engine results page is very important.

At Google, there are three core elements of a SERP. The optimization techniques required for showing up in each are very different.

• Paid (pink)
• Local (green)
• Organic (yellow)

A: This is a great question, thanks. Twitter only gives you 120 characters, including spaces, to use when you Tweet. If you are passing a long link in your tweets you’re going to probably run out of space. Here’s an easy-to-use solution.

1) Go to http://www.bit.ly and enter the link address you want to use in your Tweet.

2) Cut/copy the newly generated BIT.LY link that is provided, usually 20 characters.

3) Paste it into your Tweet

Voila! Your link has been effectively shortened and you now have more space for your actual message.

One more thing, if you open a BIT.LY account you can track clicks on your shortened links – for free!

Frankly, most people have nothing to worry about.

What Google is doing is getting rid of lousy, irrelevant, top-ranked websites.

I think it’s great. I think it’s about time.

Websites that are not 100% relevant to a search, websites that are top ranked because of keyword stuffing, websites that use black-hat techniques or try to cheat, and websites that were made only to promote paid or sponsored links (i.e. Google Adwords) are all on their way to the bottom of the pile.

So if none of these things apply to your website you probably have nothing to worry about.

Here are a few things you should know:

1) Google likes websites and pages that are the MOST relevant to the search performed by a Google user. In other words, if your pages create the most desirable and informative page that matches a search – you’re in the game!

2) Google doesn’t just look at one page to determine relevancy – it looks at your entire website.

3) Google Webmaster Tools help you determine what keywords Google thinks your website is relevant for.

4) Google absolutely hates when you try to manipulate the index or “cheat.”

5) You CAN NOT just “stuff” keywords on a page and expect that to work. Weave your keywords and keyword phrases into your page copy. I know this isn’t easy in all cases, but it (a) has to be done, and (b) works very effectively.

6) Page-title tags are still critically important to the entire top-ranking process, but they are not the only factor. If your page-title tags do not have the keywords in them that match the search performed there is NO WAY that page will rank high.

7) Inbound links from other thematically similar websites and blogs have a tremendous amount of value when it comes to (a) getting top ranked at Google, and (b) staying top ranked. Remember though, it’s not about the quantity of links but the quality of the sites linking to you.

Of course, this assumes the QUALITY (not quantity) of your traffic is very good and it’s actually brides and grooms in your marketplace looking for your category of services and products.

To do that you’ll have to put more effort into getting REALLY GREAT testimonials.

Once you have, use them at your:

• Website
• Blog
• Email newsletter
• Facebook Business Page
• Twitter Feed

Here are four of my favorite questions that always result in a 5 STAR testimonial.

1. What solution were you looking for when you hired us?

2. What did we provide that you valued the most?

3. What has been the result of working with us?

4. What would you tell others who might be interested in hiring us?

How do you get people to give you great testimonials?

You can send these four questions to people via email or set-up a simple form that they can use online and easily fill in.

In a way, it’s a trick question. The reason it’s a trick question is because the first question you have to ask is: Is your current website working VERY well? Because if it isn’t, and The Knot drives high-quality traffic to your website, don’t blame The Knot if it doesn’t convert into inquiries or sales.

Here’s why I like The Knot in 2011:

1) Brides Know Who They Are

The Knot is probably the best known brand in the online wedding planning space. Combining a solid offline/print brand with their online presence pretty much puts them ahead of their competition. Sure Brides Magazine (.com) is well-known too, but while they were trying to figure out the Internet several years ago The Knot pushed right past them, and in my opinion, they’ve never caught up. “Catching up” on the Internet is always hard to do.

2) They Have a Lot of Traffic – Real Brides and Grooms

There are thousands of wedding planning websites and blogs online but I’d guess most brides visit The Knot sooner or later. There is a lot of valuable and very helpful content. Great content builds repeat visits. In other words, ”fish where the fish are.”

3) High Quality Traffic

While the actual numbers are never released (monthly visitor sessions), or I’ve never been able to find them, it’s pretty clear to me, based on reviewing hundreds of Google Analytics accounts this year, that The Knot is a good source of high-quality traffic. High-quality traffic is the most likely to convert into inquiries, phone calls, and ultimately sales at your website.

4) Visibility

It’s a good thing when brides see you advertising at The Knot (.com) and it builds your brand and increases your online influence factor (OIF).