SEO Alpaca and You

Empower your alpacas to show up in search results online. SEO Alpaca has revolutionized how alpaca ranchers market themselves, maximizing the visibility of your website and each alpaca.

Alpaca Catalog Manager makes your alpacas easy to find online - and easy for you to update, too. Now alpacas you add to your site are automatically added to the online alpaca directory at seoalpaca.org. Add up to 3 alpacas to the directory at no charge! Go to www.seoalpaca.org

Who is SEO Alpaca?

SEO Alpaca was created by leading online marketing firm SEO Advantage to serve the alpaca industry. We've been working with alpaca owners since 2000 - and we'd like to work with you, too!

Visit SEOalpaca.com
Email us here or
call 800-366-1639

Website Starter Package

With any site design or redesign, Total Advantage optimization program included at no extra charge.

See Your Farm Profiled Here

Every month we'd like to profile one special alpaca farm right here. Will it be yours next month?

Besides the great exposure to all our readers at no charge to you, the profile will be posted in our online newsletter archive, giving you another valuable link to your alpaca web site.

We're proud to support alpaca farms like yours. Just submit your farm profile here for consideration.

Knowledge: Increasing Your Footprint Online

Using Press Releases to Reach More than the Media

A press release is an announcement that was traditionally sent by companies to members of the media in hopes of getting press coverage.

Now the press release has gone grass-roots, turning up independently online and offering alpaca farmers a powerful way to reach more people.

Even the smallest business - even one person with one alpaca - can take advantage of the benefits of press releases. In short, press releases make your farm look busy and successful. They help build your credibility and exposure:

• Online press releases can attract attention from local media searching for stories to cover.
• Press releases show up high in search engines when ANYONE (not just media) searches on Google, Yahoo! etc. (independently of your site).
• They can help your web site also show up higher when you optimize your press release.
• You can get mentions and links from others in the industry - bloggers, editors, etc.

So, what sorts of topics are suitable for a press release? There's no shortage of ideas. Look at these announcements that make for great "news":

• An upcoming farm event
• Following up an event
• Birth of a cria
• Starting a blog
• Breeding to a high-profile alpaca
• Acquisition of an alpaca
• Starting up your alpaca farm
• Shearing time
• Farm expansions and partnerships
• Your take on industry issues

When putting together and optimizing your press release you'll need to consider:

• Which keywords to target for the text of your release (so it can rank high for those words).
• Formatting your release to meet accepted standards.
• A strong "boilerplate" section about your farm.
• How to link to your web site from your release for maximum impact.
• Where to submit the release - local media for starters, but you need to also choose a good online distribution method to get maximum exposure on news sites (and this doesn't have to be expensive!)
• Building relationships with alpaca news sites to get your news on industry-specific sites or blogs.
• Posting releases on your own web site.

Remember, consistency is key. If you commit to one or two releases a month, you will build up a great news section for your web site and dominate online for your chosen keywords before you even know it!

Featured Marketing Resource

Articles Available to Members of the Ideal Alpaca Community...

You'll hear this over and over: adding relevant content to your web site is a powerful way to get your web site ranked higher and higher in the search engines. And the ways you can accomplish this are as plentiful as the grass in your pasture.

Did you know that you can use the content in the alpaca resources library on your own web site if you are a member of the Ideal Alpaca Community? (Just remember to link back to the IAC site as required.)  This can give you a quick and easy way to jumpstart adding the content that helps Google to smile favorably on you.

Visit the Ideal Alpaca Community Library to see these valuable articles created by industry thought leader Mike Safley.

Membership is free in the Ideal Alpaca Community - learn more here. While you're there, make sure you're also signed up for the Ideal Alpaca Newsletter.

If you offer a resource of value for alpaca ranchers and would like to be considered for a mention in next month's issue, just hit "reply" to email the editor.

Q&A from Readers

We know you've got lots of questions for us, so we are starting this new section where we'll answer a question or two each month.

What can you ask us? Anything to do with marketing your alpaca farm online, as general as "What is SEO?" or as specific as "My farm is located in Tennessee and I am just starting out, and I wanted to know...."

We live and breathe this stuff every day, and we love to talk about it! Just hit "reply" to email your question to the editor and look for answers next time.

What's New at SEOAlpaca

Adding our own cria to the herd...

Extend a warm welcome to Gaby Zapien, our new Art Director. Gaby is a talented graphic designer with a background as an ad agency creative director and she is the force behind our website (and newsletter) designs. It's exciting to offer her amazing skills to clients, and we've been busy with several new creations over the past few months.

But even more exciting are the "smaller" additions to SEO Advantage. Last year, Gaby became a new mother to a rambunctious little boy, Santiago. Just one month before her, optimizing team Pat and Stone also became the proud parents of Aidan Max! Who will be next...?