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Do 404 Errors Affect My Google Rankings?

December 21, 2016 By Tracee Loftus

What Are 404 Errors And Why Should I Care?

While you are dealing with the phones ringing, ordering supplies, making sure the local paper has your event’s date and time correct, you get a call from a Marketing person telling you that your website is ‘broken’ and this person can help you fix it. They go on to talk about the report they can share with you that will show you have a lot of broken links and error messages on your website. Does this sound familiar?

On the one hand, this is a very common tactic for internet marketers to get your attention. Web sites just don’t stay “fixed”. There are continuous updates to the Content Mangement System or links change/page closes or a myriad of other items change and cause your website to no longer be perfect! If you have not had a professional looking after your website, you should probably pay attention to what this market is saying. However, if you have had a professional internet marketer maintaining your website, there are fake “errors” that can be used to catch your attention.

More than you every wanted to know about the number 404

This brings me to the 404 Errors. How much do they really affect your website and how do they affect your standing in the Google SERP or results page – your SEO! First of all, a crawl error or 404 Error is a response code that the Google Search bots return when they find a dead end on your website. This may be for a number of reasons – maybe a page was deleted (please say no, that is not the reason), may be the name of your page was changed slightly or updated and the URL changed and no one bothered to clue Google (or the internet search bots) in on the redirect or something else weird happened.

The 404 errors happen when there is a request for a page and Google cannot find it. As previously discussed, may be there was a page and something happened to it making it no longer available. It is reported that the Google Algorithm delivering the SERP or search results page (how far up you show when someone searches for your keywords) is not affected by 404 Errors. However, if you have a page on your website that is returning a 404 error, that means Google can’t find it to index it, so it doesn’t exist to Google. Also, if you have a lot of 404 errors on your website, your Google “Crawl Budget” (how much time and number of pages Google is willing to spend on your website) will be wasted if Google bots are running up dead ends with the 404 Errors.

So…what to do with the notification about your website’s 404 Errors?

Don’t freak out.
Request a report from your SEO provider (or website maintenance company) from Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools). You can see for yourself what pages are returning errors to see what the priority is to fix these.
Take action – fix the pages or use a redirect for the URLs so that when Google goes to the page, it is forward to a good page and the little Google bots are happy to devour all your great content and make a record (index) it.

If you do not have a professional to rely on to help you with this topic, call me! I can help you or help you find someone that can help you. Technical problems with your website can be as troublesome as bad content (duplicate content, over-optimized content, no content) for your SEO.

4 Favorite Tricks to be More Productive with Social Media

November 15, 2016 By Tracee Loftus

Do you ever look around your desk and see the mounds of work you “need” to do? Do you ever find yourself wondering what happened to the last two hours? Do you ever get lost on the internet down a rabbit hole to discover you just missed that conference call you were supposed to call into? Do you wonder how in the world you can possibly make a difference on your social media platforms when you don’t have enough time to do your “regular” work now? How am I every going to be productive with social media?

You are not alone. With all the barrage of devices and delivery methods, it is a wonder that we can focus long enough to get anything done. Add the difficult project you are not looking forward to working on and you could be lost on the internet for another two days trying to not do the one thing you need to get done!

Here are four of my favorite tricks to keep myself in the positive, productive mode:

1 – I use a timer – kitchen timer, free timer on my iPhone, meditation timer found on the internet – use anything that you can set for a specified amount of time and get to work on just one thing until it goes off. My preference is to set the timer for 14 minute blocks. Usually by the third or fourth time it goes off, I am ready for a 3-4 minute stretch. I actually stand up and stretch at my work area to get the blood (and ideas) flowing again.

2 – Focus on one thing at a time. Resist checking email, answering phone, responding to texts, etc. Anything can wait for the 14 minute block of time while the timer is going. Stay in one platform, like LinkedIn and find people you know, find groups that will help you with your business, etc. Write that blog article and nothing else until that gets done. Review and reset your Facebook ad settings and comment on business pages to help your network (hint: and then they will probably help you back).

3 – At the beginning of each work day, I organize my day by choosing 3 to 5 “priorities” to get done that day. When I find myself pulled off into another direction, as soon as I realize it, I end that diversion and get right back to my big focus point. I literally write them down on a 3 X 3 yellow (or pink) sticky note and cross them off as I accomplish them. These priorities can vary in time commitments and/or importance.

4 – Stay in the moment. Do not concern yourself with the weight of the world on your shoulders. For the 14 minutes your timer is ticking, just work on the one thing. Each day, one of those 14 minute blocks is spent in silent meditation. I find this helps me keep clearer throughout the day. I turn off sound notifications and simply close my eyes, breath quietly and try to think of nothing.

One aspect to success and being more productive with social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, etc.) is consistency. Be consistent in postings to keep communities interactive. Posting in social media accounts is part of a basic internet presence plan and this need to be done on a regular basis. Use these 4 tips to become more productive with your social media accounts.

Don’t pitch the program if you falter. Just start over. Set the timer, pick that one big focus, ignore the buzzes, rings and beeps and forge onward!

Priorities-Blog — Remember to focus on your priorities when you want to be more productive with social media. Use these 4 tricks to stay more productive.

Blab.im – Shrinking Our Globe

September 21, 2015 By Tracee Loftus

#Blab is a great platform, tons of fun and I think it will stick around!

I have had the enjoyment this past weekend to participate in a couple #Blab sessions. On Saturday night, Erika James and I hosted a Blab session for women’s self-improvement ideas and sharing. We managed the software fairly seamlessly and you wouldn’t have guessed it was our first session.

We ended up staying for an extra hour, as I have noticed seems to be the norm on #Blab.im. Recording can be stopped and started as the host’s whim, so the final recording doesn’t have to be long and boring. The #Blab sessions bring community to people from all over the globe and those interested in discussing topics. I feel like I made a bunch of new networking connections and some real potential friendships. I joined a private Facebook group. I even have a couple leads to follow up on that could materialize into business.

Blab.im is a vehicle which can be utilized to discover people who are interested in a particular subject. Everyone (most users currently are internet marketers and small business/sole proprietors) is talking about how it can be used for businesses. The possibilities are many! I don’t anticipate Blab.im is going to bring money directly (right away), but it will be a gateway for future clients to find the businesses with which they want to work. Thus far, I have seen it used as a public-oriented conversation steering interested and appropriate people to a private Facebook group where more personal sharing, support, and growth can happen. Many companies can host Facebook support groups (if they don’t already) which can be oriented geographically specific (local) or non-geographically identified. I am personally using it as a platform to talk about a #4Q15Goals Challenge I will be facilitating and finding more people to join in the challenge. I am finding new connections on Blab and steering them to my Facebook group and my Meetup group for the challenge.

I predict this social media platform will grow fast and stick around. It is like sitting in a coffee shop and allowing people, who are interested in the discussion topic or just interested in talking, join your conversation. These sessions can be recorded or not. Recordings can be saved and downloaded in audio and/or video. There is also a link to put the recordings on YouTube. Blab can be used on desktop, iOS and Android.

One of the major, positive aspects of Blab.im is the personal connection available very quickly. Most media that are live streaming result in one person broadcasting and others listening. Or, with the use of video, like YouTube, there is no immediate interaction. In Blab.im, real human connections are being formed like crazy!

There is a lot of potential for this social media platform. I am having a blast with it already!

Social Media Use – Trends 2015 | #LiveStreaming

September 18, 2015 By Tracee Loftus

With the availability of soooo many new platforms and apps for use, I find this a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand, what fun it is to discover something new that is easy to jump into and use right away. On the other hand, so many things to explore and so little time! This morning and last Friday I stumbled into live Social Media events that gave amazingly great information. I didn’t have to register, put it on my calendar, log in to some platform that asks you for a code you just don’t have, etc. Nope, I just went to Blab.im. So fun!

ThePeaceCenter.com is hosting a new challenge, the #4Q15Goals Challenge. Previously, we just hosted an in-person group meeting, handed out papers (goal forms), answered questions live and interacted with those on Facebook who were interested or through personal phone calls and emails. I haven’t hosted this challenge for a few years and oh boy, have things changed. The new live streaming platforms make online meetings seem very easy. I really didn’t care for Google Hangouts. Getting all the members signed onto their Google accounts and finding the Hangout took half the meeting time up! After Monday night, I’ll report back on just how easy the new live streaming, #Blab.im was.

I’m planning on hosting my own Blab.im for the #4Q15Goals Challenge for our information meeting on Monday. As I understand it, just create a title for the Blab and boom – you’re good. It isn’t public until another joins…otherwise I guess it would be like blabbing to myself in the mirror. The #Blab host shares the link with an invitation. Once live and in action, other viewers can do just that – view or log in and interact. I was logged in through Twitter and jumped right in to the first one I was on, not realizing that’s a bit like opening a closed door to a conference room with glass on it, uninvited, and barging right in. Oops! There are settings the host can do to prevent this, so it isn’t likely you will create your own Blab.im gaffs too easily. You have to be logged in to comment or “high-five” the people on screen or to type questions or comments. You could just stay in the “lurking” mode and listen to the whole #Blab like it is a tv show you have on in the background. Although, I signed in and high-fived a couple comments (I have to admit I felt a bit shy with my high-five). I’m sure it will come easier with more time spent #blabbing.

Looking forward to #LiveStreaming.