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XGR0 Presents: 7 Tips to Dominate SEO For Your Brand
Google doesn’t publicly reveal the “secret sauce” that powers their search algorithm, and the company makes tweaks and adjustments all the time to continually make results cleaner and more effective. But despite all of this mystery and complexity, it’s still possible to improve your site’s performance using a few relatively straight-forward steps.
According to Kevin Miller, the co-founder and CEO of the Los Angeles-based digital marketing agency GR0, having a major positive impact on these rankings can be as simple as setting up profiles on major social media sites and web directories. “Platforms like Glassdoor, BuiltIn and Clutch to name a few have incredibly strong domain rankings, allowing those profiles to rank highly on Google searches,” Miller explained. “For most companies, if your profile is built out properly, it has a very strong chance of ranking on the first page of your brand name. This allows a brand to basically dominate Page 1 SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) within a short span of time."
GR0 offers a bespoke B2B service with just one mission: to help brands rank #1 on Google. GR seeks to demystify the SEO process for their clients, allowing them to realize their full potential and deliver unmatched value to every customer. Now, in collaboration with dot.LA/the Founders guide, they are for the first time sharing its secret sauce: 7 tips to get your brand conquering SEO.
STEP 1: GETTING STARTED / BASIC TIPS
The first and most important step of all comes right at the top: making a list of the keywords and phrases, in addition to your brand name, that you most want to emphasize in Google results. Bear in mind that the most popular and commonly searched words and phrases are extremely competitive, so it’s wise to choose some secondary or tertiary keywords as well. (Rather than trying to rank for the term “dentist,” for example, try “West Philadelphia dentist” or “painless West Philadelphia dentist” or “painless low-cost West Philadelphia dentist.”)
You’re going to include these keywords in every item about your product or company or service that you post on other sites, so they should be relevant and natural for you to work into sentences.
STEP 2: GLASSDOOR
Glassdoor is a large and very well-established service allowing tech employees to rate and review their employers.
As with Comparably, there are a number of benefits to having an “Employer Profile” on Glassdoor. It’s a way to take control of the conversation and showcase your company and brand in the most positive and effective way possible, giving potential hires a clearer idea of what it’s like to work for you.
STEP 3: GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE
“My Business” pages are a free tool from Google that helps companies manage their online presence. This is a particularly important tool for local businesses seeking to gain greater exposure in their immediate region or primary area of operation, because Google organizes search results based on your location while searching. This means a business with a clearly marked location will perform better in searches from people in that area.
Google uses the date from the My Business pages to power its “Knowledge Graph,” an important component in how the algorithm structures and organizes information. As well, Google creates a Maps location for every My Business listing, so your company will now appear in Google Maps searches and searches within any third-party platform using the Google Maps API.
STEP 4: CRUNCHBASE
Crunchbase collects basic information about startups and industry trends, and contains profiles on individual companies. Because it’s a long-standing and trusted resource that also allows business owners to customize and flesh out their profiles, it’s also a powerful SEO tool.
When filling out your Crunchbase profile, specifics are always better than vague generalities or “marketing speak.” As well, avoid using phrases like “my company” or “our company.” Whenever you can, without sacrificing readability, throw your brand name in there.
Fill out the complete profile without missing any major steps. “Founding date” is a popular search among Crunchbase users, so make sure you have this filled in as well. Also, bear in mind that investors primarily use Crunchbase to investigate funding, so the more thorough you can be in those sections – including links to articles about your previous rounds, if available – the better. Also be sure to update your Crunchbase file when there’s important news about your company.
STEP 5: BUILT-IN LA
This community for startups, tech companies, and their employees has a local element: in addition to Los Angeles, there are Built-In sites serving Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and more. The site is largely structured around employee satisfaction and recruitment, but it’s also another quality link pointing back to your business, which increases your visibility among people scanning LA tech startups more generally.
STEP 6: COMPARABLY
Comparably is a community tool allowing staffers to review and discuss their employers safely and anonymously. For employers, in addition to the SEO benefits of setting up a Comparably profile, having a favorable Comparably page with fair and accurate employee reviews can be a great way to attract additional talent.
Because Comparably is established in its vertical, and features original editorial content that keeps the site active and relevant, their pages show up high on Google for dozens of search terms related to jobs and job seeking. This helps not only with recruitment but media visibility as well; these profiles are a great way to amplify public-facing employee perks and programs, such as diversity and inclusion efforts.
STEP 7: CLUTCH
Clutch.co is also built around ratings and reviews, but from a B2B perspective rather than employee and employer. The Clutch platform provides in-depth reviews of companies offering B2B services based on analytics and feedback from former clients, to see how businesses and their services compare within specific markets. These profiles have all the same benefits as the employee-facing services, but exclusively for businesses that want to catch the attention of other managers, founders, and startups in the B2B space.
STEP 8: SOCIAL MEDIA
While the previous steps were based around setting up one-time profiles, some of which require occasional updates, it’s also important for your company to regularly post fresh content to major social media sites, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Social media posts don’t directly contribute to your SEO ranking, but links that are shared across these platforms increase your company’s exposure, and can ultimately help improve your rankings in a number of ways. Studies have repeatedly found a correlation between social shares and SEO ranking for individual links.
It’s a good practice to tweet at least once or twice every single day, and then post this same content to your company’s LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.
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True Botanicals Founder Hillary Peterson on Launching A Company To Fulfill A Market Need
Jan 09 2023
After getting diagnosed with thyroid cancer, Hillary Peterson committed to becoming healthier, but quickly realized the beauty products she used were full of toxins.
On this episode of the Behind Her Empire podcast, True Botanicals founder Hillary Peterson discusses her journey in creating a non toxic and sustainable skincare brand.
“In my early thirties I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer,” Peterson said. “I wanted to do everything I could to live the healthiest possible life. And through that exploration, I was really shocked to find that my skincare products had toxins in them, and specifically, endocrine disrupting toxins.”
Peterson knew something had to change. She decided she could create the products she wanted that didn’t exist in the current market. While working as a consultant for Levi’s, she spent her free time researching the beauty industry, different products and consulting with skin care and environmental experts.
“Early on, we had done a clinical trial against a leading moisturizer, and the product dramatically outperformed that moisturizer. So then what I did is I took that information, and brought it to New York,” she explained. “I was able to say this is the moisturizer, ‘here are the results. This is how our product outperform so that I could get them to take the product home and use it. And that's how we developed an initial cult following for what still is one of our core products: Renew Pure Radiance Oil.”
True Botanicals combines science with nature to make clean products that are not only good for your skin, but the environment. They use glass and aluminum for packaging to make recycling easier. They require that every ingredient is “safe certified.”
Peterson said they were self-funded for two years, and to keep the business afloat, funding decisions were centered on specific products rather than branding and marketing.
“We focused on investing in the products themselves, the quality of the ingredients,” Peterson explained. “And we were literally blending the products ourselves for those early years.”
That do-it-yourself mentality translated into their marketing strategy as well. True Botanicals relied heavily on word of mouth and building a reputation among the skincare scene.
“So I knew from my experience with my prior role that word of mouth and establishing a real reputation for the products in the brand was key,” she said. “So I started off with a heavy focus on PR.”
Rather than taking on the role herself, Peterson also made the decision to hire a CEO who was an expert in the beauty industry.
“I think one thing that was just an incredible, pivotal step for me was to hire a CEO who's a beauty industry veteran,” she said. “And she in turn brought on people who really understand this industry and I feel like they're helping us to continue to evolve in a way that emulates beauty industry best practices, while innovating and doing things differently.”
For the most part, True Botanicals’ rise to fame was relatively smooth sailing. However, Peterson said early on there was one crisis involving an issue with a supplier that resulted in discontinuing their number two best-selling product.
“Our ingredient supplier had not disclosed to us that there was BHT preserving our retinol,” she said. “So we were making a product with BHT in it, and we didn't know it. And that was definitely a crisis just in terms of making a really tough decision. But we thought about it overnight, and we actually called up Women's Wear Daily, and we made an announcement. So we discontinued our number two selling product.”
In the end, the tough decision paid off. True Botanicals later created a retinol alternative that Peterson said she’d “much rather use anyway.”
“It was just one of those decisions where we prioritized our values and commitment,” she said.
For Peterson, entrepreneurship is a path that requires a lot of determination, but it also comes with a lot of flexibility.
“I found a lot of opportunities to be sitting at the kitchen table, while my kids were doing homework, and I could be doing work myself,” she said. “That was a really fantastic aspect of being an entrepreneur.”
dot.la social and engagement intern Gitanjali Mahapatracontributed to this post.
This podcast is produced by Behind Her Empire. The views and opinions expressed in the show are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of dot.LA or its newsroom.
Hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast. Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radioor wherever you get your podcasts.
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From NFTs to augmented reality and streaming services, a new frontier reshaping entertainment and technology has exploded in Los Angeles. It's ripe with media talent and fueled by venture capital.
Dot.LA will explore that intersection of media and tech during our inaugural Intersect summit. We'll be talking to Los Angeles executives, entrepreneurs and investors at the forefront about trends moving the industry.
The event kicks off Wednesday with a keynote address from the CEO of Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud Productions and concludes with a pitch competition featuring three SoCal startups. Join the live event by applying to attend at the Intersect site. Follow us here for coverage.
- Live Events Brace For a 'Roaring' Return, and a New Normal
- Snap Inc's AR Play
- How SportsTech is Remaking the Game
- PlayVS CEO Delane Parnell Has Ambitions Beyond H.S., College Esports
- NFTs Are 'No Get Rich Quick Scheme'
- 'It's About Reading The Room': How Kevin Hart's LOL Connects with Audiences
- NFTs: What They Are and What's Coming Next
The Live Events Industry Braces For a New Normal, and a 'Roaring' Return to In-Person
As more people get vaccinated, venues and stadiums are opening up, leaving a looming question: what will events look like in the future?
Leaders in the entertainment and event space said events in the near term will be hybrid, with organizers ensuring attendees feel and are safe. The industry is hoping that those watching at home will see others experiencing the in-person event, and become more comfortable with the idea of returning in person.
While some companies have found success in remote events, panelists said, it isn't equivalent to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with friends and strangers on the concert hall floor as they're experiencing their favorite artists.
"I'm looking forward for live to come back," said Robert Ellin, founder, CEO and chairman of LiveXLive.
LiveXLive will be testing the waters for its return to live events in June with an in-person matchup in Miami called "Social Gloves," which will pit YouTubers against TikTokers in the boxing ring. It will also be livestreamed.
VidCon will return as a live event in October in Anaheim. It's also selling digital tickets for remote access.
"I know they're going to enjoy the experience so much they're going to want to go to a VidCon somewhere else around the world when it comes near them in '22 or '23," Jim Louderback, GM and senior vice president of VidCon at Viacom, said of at-home viewers.
Ellin said he feels like we are moving into the Roaring 20s based on his experience of the excitement in Miami.
"We're all in the digital space right now," he said. "No matter what we do, the live experience is nothing like it. You're actually interacting with people and so there's going to be audiences."
In Los Angeles, SoFi stadium will host Vaxx Live on May 8, a charity concert featuring Selena Gomez. Organizers said it will host thousands of fully vaccinated frontline health care and essential workers.
Even as things return, more or less, to normal, industry insiders say the future live events will use more technology than it once did, including touchless purchasing at the ticket booth and concession stand, as well as more virtual and augmented reality experiences.
Louderback said at VidCon they're thinking of ways to incorporate those technologies, maybe a scavenger hunt or secret party through AR.
"I think there's really creative unique ways to integrate them," he said. "I think we all have to be thinking about those and those special ways to make it more interesting," he said.
Ellin said Social Gloves will feature NFTs in the form of a digital card, but also a physical card.
"As you can touch it and feel it, you're going to want to really have a responsibility of protecting those assets long term," he said.
When it comes to touchless technology at venues or processes like mobile ordering and individual packaging, Wroan said it might seem cumbersome and costly upfront, but it will put more people in seats.
"I think, once they're up and running, we're actually going to be more efficient — probably in the long run, better," she said. "Part of it, too, is just people feeling confident and safe to get off the couch and come experience a live event."
Snap Inc’s AR Play
Snap Inc. is placing big bets on AR technology.
Last year, it announced a $3.5 million fund for augmented reality (AR) creators building their own lenses for the app.
The fund will help the Santa Monica-based company keep products fresh for its 280 million users and potentially reel in big revenue for developers and artists like Frank Shi, who co-founded a boutique AR studio called Paper Triangles.
But perhaps most importantly, it feeds Snap's advertising deals as brands look for new ways to sell products.
Shi remembers the first time he showed Crocs how to use Snap's AR try-on feature, which lets users step into shoes and clothes virtually.
"That experience to us was magical," Shi said. "I think when it comes to brands, they're a little hesitant at first, but once they see the magic...how easy it is to use AR, their eyes kind of twinkle."
As advertising remains a key component of Snap's business model, AR represents a natural avenue for companies scouting new customers. Fashion-oriented AR is a promising market given how shopping habits have moved online since the pandemic. Last month, Snap acquired FitAnalytics to help shoppers find the right clothing sizes.
"Before, it was a question of who's using AR," said Sophia Dominguez, who heads camera platform partnerships for Snap. "Brands have seen the value."
During its first quarter Q1 earnings call last week, Snap focused on two of its software development kits — Camera Kit and Lens Studio — and its community of "lens creators" like Shi who get early access to AR tools, training and support.
"Those who want to build AR on Snap," Dominquez said, "we hear you and we're looking for more ways to create streamlined sources of monetization."
How SportsTech is Remaking the Game
Athletes are moving from the court or the playing field into boardrooms. Increasingly they are shunning traditional endorsements for a stake in startups and other companies. It comes amid rapid-fire changes in sports tech and is altering the landscape for both investors and founders.
"What makes [athletes] really, really interesting partners is not only their ability to command an audience with their social following or their conversations on the court and in interviews and whatnot, but also their ability to support business development," said Amanda Groves, a partner at Plus Capital. The Marina del Rey-based venture advisory firm helps celebrities across entertainment and sports facilitate investments and equity-based partnerships.
Groves said athletes are particularly good storytellers and team players who are passionate about their underlying investments and can tell a complicated story in a way that's approachable and interesting for the consumer.
"It's not just a service day to go do this photoshoot to support a product line. It's like, 'this is my baby and I want to help grow it and so I'm going to give it to all my friends and I'm going to to talk about it every chance I get'," she said.
DeMarcus Williams, a partner at Silicon Valley Bank, which supports early stage entrepreneurs and VC firms, said athletes are cultural influencers, using NBA legend Michael Jordan as an example.
"I would say for startups that are pursuing athletes, it's really important that you really sit down and understand what they're passionate about and appeal to that passion point," Williams said.
Athletes' journeys through training from a young age to achieving success at a professional level is similar to the growth startups face, Groves said.
These changes are unfolding as the technology people use to interact with sports is changing.
For instance, the panelists think bite-sized highlight clips will be key to delivering sports that air on traditional regional networks.
Williams said he thinks these networks will still be around for the next 20 to 30 years, but he used the example of his 8-year-old son to highlight how younger audiences want to engage with sports.
"Can he sit down and watch a game for its entirety for three hours? No, for an hour, no, for 30 minutes, maybe, 15, maybe," he said. "A lot of these sports leaders and sports leagues, they're going to have to meet their audience where they are."
Kyle Laughlin, CEO of Surfline Wavetrak, Inc., a Huntington Beach-based company that specializes in surf forecasting and surf reports, said the World Surf League has demonstrated how to use digital platforms.
"I think there's a real range from a league perspective, from the little niche league to the mass, that is embracing technology to engage ether fans in new and interesting ways from both an athlete and a technology perspective," he said.
But it's not only in professional sports that tech is altering viewership. Pasadena-based BallerTV live streams and shows replays of youth basketball and volleyball, mainly targeting the audience of parents who can't make it to their kid's games. Since being founded in 2016, it has broadcasted more than 500,000 games, typically showing 10,000 games each weekend.
It is looking to expand into different vertices with the launch of youth soccer this summer.
"In this industry, we like to say that we're sort of first to market or category definers with respect to video at scale in this market," said Sandeep Hingorani, EVP, Founding Team at BallerTV.
PlayVS CEO Delane Parnell Has Ambitions Beyond HS, College Esports
Founder and CEO of PlayVS Delane Parnell was living in Detroit and developing the idea for his company, when he had a chance meeting at South by Southwest with Peter Pham, co-founder of Santa Monica venture fund Science Inc.
Darnell recounted that Pham encouraged him to come to L.A., saying 'You can be a millionaire in Detroit or a billionaire in L.A., but don't waste my time.'
The startup has been on a remarkable ascendency since.
PlayVS has raised $107 million since it entered the esports marketplace for high school teams in 2018 and now 43% of all high schools in the country have an esports team, playing Fortnite, SMITE, League of Legends and other games using the PlayVS platform.
It expanded into the college market last year and now has 30% of colleges in the country on the platform.
"We wanted to build an environment to actually reengage and reactivate that community," he said.
While there are only 1,000 professional gamers in North America, there are 2.8 billion gamers globally, many of whom don't have aspirations to become professional. Parnell wanted to tap into that market starting with high schoolers, who sometimes are prevented from playing because they are under 18.
He said the beauty of amateur esports is "there's more gamers who care about actionality and don't necessarily care or have aspirations of going pro, and so they just want to play their favorite game at the time with their friends and teammates."
Eventually he'd like to expand, building PlayVS digital playground beyond school sports.
"I still want to build the digital playground in which every gamer can compete whether they're high school-aged or college-aged or in their 40s in any sort of context of competition," he said.
But, Parnell said, the company relies on partnerships with game publishers, who drive the content.
"We don't just add any game to our platform," he said. "We're really thoughtful in which titles we decide to partner with and integrate with."
NFTs Are 'No Get Quick Rich Scheme'
The underpinning of the hottest new trend, NFTs or "non-fungible tokens," is blockchain and it's here to stay.
At least in the eyes of Zach Katz, CEO of the music-tech investment firm Raised in Space.
"Blockchain is finally finding its footing in supporting something that fans and artists have wanted to do for a long time," Katz said.
As the pandemic reshaped how businesses and creatives made money, NFTs have boomed as a new market for digital commerce. Artists and musicians can now build new and profitable relationships with fans — ones that do away with "traditional financing" they once relied upon, he said.
NFT sales have spiked in the first three months of the year. And artists and creators are looking at new ways to use the tokens to provide fans exclusive, paid experiences.
"Graphic artists and 3D designers now have a way to monetize their creativity and monetize the art that had been previously really, really hard to sell," added Shara Senderoff, president and partner at Raised in Space.
But in the world of NFTs, "there's no get quick rich scheme," Senderoff said. "This is about being able to show your loyalty and follow the people you admire and respect."
And the environmental consequences are looming.
"When you're putting in that level of energy and using that level of computing power at scale, it's absolutely doing something," Senderoff said about the climate change risks of blockchain technology. "Entrepreneurs need to be accountable and responsible for what the products they create are doing."
'It's About Reading The Room': How Kevin Hart's LOL Connects with Audiences
Created by comic Kevin Hart, the four-year-old startup Laugh Out Loud, or LOL, is quickly becoming a force, carving out its own space for comedy across multiple platforms.
The company, which originally began as a joint venture between Hart and Lionsgate, now has a deal with NBCUniversal and estimates it reaches over 100 million people on streaming and audio platforms with original scripted and unscripted series, stand-up specials, live broadcasts and other events.
Last year, it inked a deal with Snapchat for "Coach Kev," a show in which the comedian doles out wisdom and advice. The move pushed LOL's content further across media channels having already been on Roku Channel, ViacomCBS's PlutoTV, SiriusXM and YouTube. It has also given an expansive platform to comedians of color.
"An entertainment media company, you have to be involved with tech," said CEO Jeff Clanagan. "You have to embrace tech because the worldwide consumer accesses content through technology."
That's become key as demographic shifts have been playing out in media. Gen Z, for instance, would rather scroll through social media, play video games and stream music than watch TV or catch a film.
"Comedy is about keeping your finger on the pulse," said Candice Wilson Cherry, the company's head of development and production. "It's about reading the room, reading the cultures, seeing what's changing and it's changing so quickly."
NFTs: What They Are and What's Coming Next
Sam BlakeNFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have exploded in popularity in 2021, but what's hype, and what's here to stay? That's the main question dot.LA will be exploring with a panel of experts during one session of our inaugural Intersect conference this Wednesday.
NFTs have helped create scarcity among digital assets. Consider a photo, GIF, video or any other type of online item: previously these could be endlessly copied, with limited ability to reliably distinguish the copies from the original. Using blockchain, an NFT injects scarcity by serving as a unique, traceable certificate of ownership of that digital asset.
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