Posts Tagged ‘Search engine optimization’

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SEO Fraud: Small Business Owners Beware

Posted by Brent on June 7th, 2009

Like most industries, the Internet marketing world is fraught with companies and individuals seeking to make a quick buck by ripping people off.  One of the most common is SEO fraud.  There are unfortunately many firms or “consultants” out there preying on the unsuspecting small business owners and selling them SEO “guarantees”. 

Frankly, there are a lot of larger SEO companies doing similar things by charging outrageous prices while spending about 2 hours a week on your project and telling you to “stay the course” and that it takes time.  They use iron clad contracts and by the time you are frustrated by the lack of results and fire them (if you can get out of your contract), they have collected thousands from you.  These days of course that is harder to get away with because do to the economy, companies will price compare more often.

So how do you find the right SEO company? How do you compare the good ones from the not so good ones, and choose a company where you feel confident that the money you invest is in good hands and will generate good returns?  Here are a few tips:

  • Do as much research on basic SEO as you can on your own so you know what questions to ask
  • Choose a few firms and learn as much as you can about them
  • Be careful about the pitch where they show you all the “rankings” they have gotten for their clients – you never know what was involved, what kind of rankings the client had before, or if they are even still a client, etc.
  • Look at the firm’s own rankings and see if they practice what they preach
  • Look at their website:  if they are selling you SEO but don’t even have title tags, descriptions, etc…RUN!
  • Ask them details about their SEO practice, strategy, process, link building efforts, etc.
  • Know who their SEO engineers and project managers are:  chances are your campaign and keyword strategy will only be as good as that individual’s knowledge
  • Check certifications/qualifications
  • Read their blog, if they even have one
  • Ask if they attend the SEO trade shows, seminars, etc. to make sure they are continually learning too:  SEO these days is all about staying current
  • NEVER work with a firm offering ranking “guarantees” because you might be treading closely to black hat SEO and potential penalties

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SEO Link Building and Business Development

Posted by Brent on June 5th, 2009

Search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are constantly changing as we chase the SE’s latest algorithms and try to keep up with what Google wants from us.  As search engine marketers, we have to always be on top of the best practices and guidelines in order to properly serve our clients and ensure that the strategies used are sound. 

The greatest part about SEO these days is that its less about repetitive activity (though that is still a big part of it) and more like business development (in my opinion).  SEO has become more and more natural and it all starts with adding real value to the web by creating a site with good content.  These days good content can and should come in the form of all kinds of media:  blogs, articles, video, podcasts, etc.  The SE’s are giving rankings to sites that really have that “wow” factor when it comes to valuable unique content. 

All of the basic rules still apply and things like having good site structure/site maps, unique content, and solid link building strategies are the foundation of any good SEO effort.  The on-page portion is of course all about continually adding fresh content for your users (content that is relevant and hopefull educational).  The off-page portion has become the mosty important ongoing effort in the form of link building.

Link popularity is about building solid inbound links from relevant websites.  The more quality links you have the more “votes” of assurance Google will notice and the rankings will follow.  The days of link trading and link farms are over as we all know.  Follow those practices or any unnatural method for building links and you could find yourself sitting on the search engine sidelines for a long time. 

Below are some initial steps to beginning your link building effort:

  • Build a healthy content rich website that adds value to your online community
  • Submit your site to all the top directories
  • Purchase key “paid” links
  • Always SEO optimize your press releases before sending

The rest of your link building effort is where it gets tricking and time consuming.  As stated above, the best link building strategies are natural and well planned.  Use some of the steps below to get started once you have completed the steps above:

  • Run Google searches using your targeted keywords
  • Find sites that are relevant and similar but not competing
  • Call or email the webmaster and formall request that they link to your site
  • Offer reasons and benefits (consider offering to link to them as well but don’t over do the “link trading”)
  • If you have other websites with related material or partner companies, make sure they are linking to your website
  • Use anchor text when setting up the links and try to have the link coming from the home page or other powerful pages on their website
  • Set up a blog and contribute to other people’s blogs – once you are a trusted source you can start throwing some links in as long as they are relevant and the page on your site you are linking to offers additonal value to the reader

The key to these efforts is that you simply have to commit the time to do it.  Google will usually only recognize a fraction of the links you build so make sure you are going after quality, not quantity.

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Don’t Forget to Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

Posted by Brent on May 26th, 2009

We have talked before about how social media strategies can be a great compliment to any SEO strategy.  Social media can be a great way to build quality inbound links and develop solid off-page content.  Naturally, all the basic SEO rules apply:  content, keywords, user value, and quality inbound links. 

So what about your social media profile pages?

If you haven’t already noticed, social media profile pages are starting to rank regulary for search terms.  For example, if a person has a Facebook.com and Twitter.com profile and then Google their own name, these profile pages will usually come up first,  or at least very near the top.  The reason of course is because these websites themselves are already highly regarded by Google.  They have millions of pages, great user-generated content, etc.

So when looking for a great compliment to your SEO strategy for your website, consider optimizing your social media profile pages as well.  Great SEO pratice according to Google’s latest algorithms suggest that it is best to optimize all possible online assets including websites, videos, social media profile pages, press releases, pod casts, images, etc.  When considering optimization for your social media profile pages don’t forget the following:

  • If you don’t have a Twitter and Facebook page (any other networks of course) for your brand, create one
  • Flood your BIO and pages with keywords, but do it in a reader-friendly natural way
  • Use keywords in your profile name if possible
  • Add other great content such as videos
  • Build good inbound links

Remeber also that when building a following for your profile pages such as Twitter and Facebook, one of the best ways is to actually drive external traffic to these pages (as opposed to just networking within the social community).  Make sure to have links to your social media pages from your main website, email signatures, newsletters, print media, etc.   Some companies have considered using social media profiles as their main websites do to their searchability, cost effectiveness (FREE), and great functionalities. 

The best Facebook and Twitter strategies use the profile pages as key communication platforms where they announce all value propositions, special offerings, incentives, coupons, etc.  Imagine of these pages are also apearing in the SERPs for relevant keywords how impactful that would be!


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Internet Marketing Inc SEO Director Speaking At SMX Advanced

Posted by Myles on April 29th, 2009

I’m speaking at SMX Advanced

I will be representing Internet Marketing Inc. at SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 2nd as a speaker on the Mobile Search panel.

SMX Advanced is a two day event taking place at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center from Tuesday, June 2 to Wednesday, June 3 in Seattle, Washington.

There will be a Meet & Greet party at the Odyssey Maritime Museum on Monday June 1st hosted by Microsoft who has timed the announcement of its new search engine KUMO later at the conference.

SMX Advanced in my opinion is the pinnacle of all major Internet marketing conferences as such if you could only attend one conference all year this should be the one, although PubCon would be a close second.

This conference has sold out each year and the last chance to get the early bird lowest pricing is on Friday May 1st by saving $200 at this SMX Advanced Registration page.

Please let me know if you will be attending the conference or in the Seattle area in early June by emailing me at mike AT internetmarketinginc DOT com

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Small Budget SEO Strategies

Posted by Brent on April 20th, 2009

As the web grows, search engine optimization (SEO) strategies will get more competitive.  Its happening already.  As SEOs scramble to keep up with the latest and greatest with Google’s algorithms there are other looming issues to keep in mind.  The simple growth of the web and increasing competitive landscape make it more difficult to rank for competitive keywords.  The search engines are also delivering better results on the first page and fewer users feel compelled to look any further.  One query will get them great web page results, news results, local business results, video results, etc. all on the first page.  So what is a company to do?

More and more companies are seeking to get a better return from their smaller marketing budgets.  To accomplish this, they are turning to the most cost effective and measurable way to market…Internet marketing.  Natually one of the best long term investments in a company’s web growth is in organic search engine optimization (SEO).  But then the question remains, how long will it take to get to page one and will it be effective for you?

There are many key elements of course that go into estimating when “success” will be reached.  Noone can really predict how long it will take to achieve results but you can look at your online marketing competition to see what they have done right (i.e. how many pages does their site have, how many inbound links do they have, is their website user friendly and does it provide fresh valuable content, etc…).  The list goes on and on.  When companies make the decision that they do in fact need to make this investment and start down the SEO path, they will need to consider a few fundamental items that will shape their future:

  • How much budget is available to put towards SEO in the next 12 months
  • How competitive is the industry online (i.e. what is a realistic timeline and budget?)

The bottom line is that companies that decide to higher and SEO company will have to face these questions and make some decisions.  These days companies large and small have budget issues.  These decisions will be different for every company depending on how large that marketing budget is and how many other marketing channels are being pursued.  SEO takes time to show results so the tangible ROI may be 6 months out or more.  Therefore, most companies will be using organic SEO combined with Internet marketing strategies that will produce more immediate results.  This will leave only a certain amount of money to put towards SEO and companies that are new to SEO may be hesitant to put all their eggs in one basket.

Naturally, Internet marketing companies and SEO firms will make recommendations based on the competitive nature of their keywords.  Also, SEO can be a get what you pay for strategy.   It is not realistic for companies who only have $500 per month to spend on SEO to go after highly competitive terms but there are ways to get creative and work towards these goals anyway.  Before we break down the recommendations for small budget SEO campaigns lets identify the differences in keyword strategies.

Broad Keywords:  Broad terms are generally reffered to as the more generic (less specific) keywords and keyword phrases that drive more traffic.  An example term would be “shoes”.  This type of search is very high level and usually used by a person doing general reseach, surfing the web, etc.  But ranking for it will drive high volumes of traffic.

Long Tail Keywords:  Long tail terms are more specific keyword phrases that drive less traffic but can be more targeted and have better conversions.  An example long tail term would be “women’s Spring shoe sales” or “women’s running shoes Nike”.  These terms are very specific.  Often they will have a geographic focus as well for people looking for something specific in their area.

From a competitive aspect, broad terms are naturally more competitive and hence usually take more budget to put together and effective SEO campaign.  They also take longer to achieve first page results.  Long tail terms might be a bit easier to get and have decent conversions, but will that alone be enough?  Generally, the recommendation is to develop a keyword list that combines both broad and long tail terms.  This gives the company a chance to capture the lower hanging fruit first while tackling the tougher times over time. 

So what should you do if you have a very small budget but your terms are highly competitive?  Here are some creative recommendations:

  • Develop a long tail keyword list and go after the less competitive terms
  • Make sure your website has basic SEO coding and a sound strucutre from which to build this effort
  • Get involved:  set up a blog on your site and start writing content relevant to your users, your indsutry, and your keywords (link keywords to pages relevant to those terms)
  • Write on other relevant blogs and send links back to your website
  • Try social media as a support element to the SEO effort
  • Don’t expect results over night, or in three months for that matter

All companies need to get creative on how they spend money and achieve success.  A great online marketing strategy does not have to mean huge budgets.  But be careful about the “doing it in-house” route unless you have a qualified team experienced in all aspects of the campaign.

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Universal Search: Out with the Old, In with the New

Posted by Brent on March 18th, 2009

The days of simple on page optimization are over and have been for a while.  A year ago most search engine optimization strategies included the simple practices of basic site structure, seo copy written content, and building inbound links.  As Google continues to progress and make new updates to the algorithms, we must also adapt and develop new strategies that will keep us competitive.  A well-rounded approach is imperative which is why a good Internet marketing company can take on all aspects of search engine marketing and combine them to create a truly united front.

I tend to use the analogy of military combat when analyzing business and marketing situations.  For example, the reason a small special operations force that has superior training and works as a team will always defeat a larger force with mediocre training is becasue each person on the spec ops team works in complete synergy with one another.  In Internet marketing, it will no longer suffice to use one approach with a non-targeted strategy if you want to be competitive.  A comprehensive online marketing plan will ensure true optimization of all online assets and maximum exposure and conversions.

So what does all this mean?  What is Universal search?  What are digital assets?

Bascially, it means that optimizing all of a company’s digital assets is the best way to ensure good rankings as they apply to Google’s new “universal” search.  Universal search means that Google gives rankings to not only web pages anymore but also news results such as press releases, video content, images, local buiness results, etc.  Simply optimizing the pages of a website will not ensure that a site will rank as well as its competitiors.  Websites that use well rounded internet marketing strategies are getting traffic from other assets that appear in the search results pages.  For example, a company’s web page might not appear for a specific result but a SEO optimized press release might.  That press release if optimized properly would then have links back to the website which would drive trafic.  The same situation would apply for video content appearing in the results.  The vidoes if well optimized could then have links or calls to action noting the URL that people should follow. 

So are we taking about social media?

Basically, yes.  Social media is popular for many reasons other than viral marketing and online reputation management.  Social media can be a fantastic provider of inbound links which of course supports the ongoing organic search engine optimization campaign.  A good SEO company will optimize all a company’s digital assets to ensure the best possible ROI.

Where does conversion optimization come into play?

True conversion optimization is at the root of all online marketing strategies…or at least it should be.  Nobody wants to spend time and money implementing any marketing plan unless there is a strategy to ensure conversions and ROI.  Conversion optimization is more than just manipulating a web page to make the user do what you want.  All marketing strategies should be completely complimentary and support the same goals…that goes for offline and online components. 

Not so long ago, an SEO team would work independantly from a PPC team, and nobody would be communicating with the print team.  These days that is just poor marketing.  Everyone must be in constant communication with each other…that is, if you were to use different teams for each component.  The best practice for having a truly effective online marketing plan is to use the same team for all aspects and make sure that team knows how to coordinate with traditional media aspects as well.


Google Cares About Your Brand!

Posted by Brent on March 10th, 2009

Google just keeps getting smarter and smarter, don’t they?  Well, with there newest algorithm updates it is rumored that Google is making some judgements for rankings based on “brand”.  Naturally, the first question that come to mind is how Google defines a quality and trusted brand through the Internet.  I would assume that some of the factors include:

  • age of domain
  • number of mentions on the web (Web 2.0)
  • overall traffic (maybe)

Many of Google’s algorithm updates make sense but this one seems much more subjective.  The question then remains…how does a hard working company build a brand on the web if it doesn’t know what Google is really looking for.  The best answer to all this mystery is always to follow the best practices, stay on top of Google Guidelines, and keep your ear to the grindstone.  Providing users with great content and a valuable experience will always lay a good foundation for rankings.  Of course, you must have a good SEO company or search engine optimization consultant working with you to ensure best practices are followed. 

You will most certainly not be able to build your brand online for long term results if your site is not following at least the basic rules of SEO.  Often times, people wonder why their site isn’t ranking even after they have been working with an Internet marketing company for months.  There could be many reasons for this of course including the competitiveness of the key terms, ability of the SEO company, etc.  However, a good firm can look at a site for 30 seconds and see if the bascis are being performed.  It is sad to see companies  spending money on SEO when the firm implementing the campaign is either using black hat tactics…or no tactics at all.  Many firms out there play on the assumed ignorance of the client and just tell them to “stay the course”.  In the mean time they are doing virtually nothing to the website or performing any on page or off page SEO.

So my advice to any company out there seeking to improve orgainc rankings…make sure the company you hire knows what they are doing.  Make sure they are transparent about their methods and ask for references, past clients, and of course…look at how well their own site ranks.  If they do not even appear in the SERPs, you may want to think twice.


Is Keyword Research Necessary for Website Development?

Posted by Brent on March 8th, 2009

It certainly should be!  I will start by saying this…if you have a website design company or website development firm building you a site but they do not know anything about organic search engine optimization (SEO), your site will not be set up properly for achieving natural rankings.  It is often a tough pill to swallow when someone just spent $50,000 on a website but then find out that it is invisible to Google.  There are many important steps that should be taken during the website design phase of an Internet marketing campaign that will ensure long term visibility in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

So what does this have to do with keyword research?  Let’s first define keyword research and then apply that definition to help answer this question.  Keyword research is a process used by search engine optimization professionals to determine what key terms and phrases best apply to a given website or online marketing campaign.  For example, if a company that sells shoes on their website, they would first want to begin by defining their exact goals and brand niche.  Keywords associated with “shoes” are going to be very competitive so the company would want to narrow the focus and generate a list of terms directly associated with their products. 

Here are some steps to take when starting keyword research:

  • Determine the business goals you want to achieve through your online platform
  • Define your brand, products, and services
  • Start an initial list of terms you would want your site to appear for
  • Use both broad terms and very specific terms (and combinations of them)

A good Internet marketing company will use your initial list to begin research but will also do extensive research on your industry as it applies to online searches.  Many times the terms and keywords a company thinks they should appear for may not be the most appropriate terms for traffic and conversions.  For example, a company owner may want to appear for terms more associated with their brand.  During the research process though it might be discovered that those terms are never searched.  This of course means that the terms are not competitive but there may not be a need to use resources to focus on them if they won’t drive targeted traffic.

The difference between broad/generic terms and “long tail” terms:  Broad terms are generally defined as the more competitive and less specific keywords associated with a search.  For example, if you sell used cars in downtown Philidelphia, you may not want to try to focus on just the term “used cars”.  Broad terms like this are very competitive and some sites will not have the ability to reach page one of Google.  Many experts believe the broad terms are useless for conversions anyway.  If your site appears for broad terms like this it will drive large amounts of traffic and be great for brand exposure, but in the long run it will be the more specific terms that will convert. 

Using this example, someone who types in “used car dealer downtown Philidelphia” will be much more likely to convert than someone just searching the terms “used cars”.  This is why using a mix of long tail keywords is so important too.  Long tail terms are the more specific and often geographically targeted keyword phrases.  Another example would be to compare a broad term like “Manhattan apartments” and a long tail term like “Manhattan highrise apartments near Central Park”.  The long tail terms like this generally have a higher conversion rate for obvious reasons…they are more specific and will drive more targeted quality traffic.

We won’t go into the intricate details of developing a good keyword list right now because I want to get into the discussion of how important it is for website development.  Why spend time and money building a site if it will never have the ability to appear in the natural search engine placements.  Makes sense right?  Unfortunately, this is where many website design firms fall short.  It is imperative to understand at least the basics of SEO in order to build the proper framework for a website. 

A good Internet marketing company will build a website keeping the following things in mind:

  • Proper keywords associated with each page
  • On page content – ensuring those keywords are used
  • Title tags – using most relevant keywords associtaed with each page
  • Meta descriptions – the source code must contain a description that uses the keywords associated with the page
  • Keywords – the source code will also show a list of the most relevant keywords for each page
  • H1, H2 tags – these must be embedded in each page as well to support the title tags and content on the page – again, keywords must be used
  • Site map – I don’t know how many times I have seen fancy websites that do not even include a site map; without this the search engines can not properly index your pages and you will not rank

All of the elements above can of course be handled during an orgainc search engine optimization campaign but they really should be handled during the development process…otherwise, you will just have to spend more time and money having an SEO company or online marketing company redo the work!  Save yourself time and energy and hire a website development company that knows SEO!


Search Engine Optimization Defined

Posted by Brent on February 9th, 2009

Search engine optimization is of interst to all business owners and everyone wants to know how to get to page one.  Of course these days it is about much more that getting to page one.  There is a lot of strategy involved and many moving pieces that must work cohesively in order to foster the best possible return on investment.  Generating “traffic” is a cost and should always be looked at as such until that traffic is converted into a form that helps your business grow.  Below are some basic definitions and elements involved.

The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website via natural placements in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  Optimizing a website involves manipulating content and code in order to increase relevance for specific keywords and decrease various barriers to the indexing behaviors of the search engines.  SEO is a constantly changing strategy that involves continual research about one’s industry, the competition, and most importantly the ongoing algorithm updates/changes.

Some facts and background:
• Webmasters began optimizing sites for search engine placements in the mid nineties as site owners realized the value of their site ranking well.
• Many elements to site rankings (algorithms) were in the actual webmasters control which led to manipulation and ranking abuse.
• Search engines are constantly adapting to improve relevance and quality of the search results for each user.
• Stanford grad students Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a search engine that relied on a mathematical algorithm to determine relevance and rank for websites.  In 1998 they founded Google.
• Search engines now consider both on page and off page elements.  Google uses over 200 different signals when analyzing a site for determining rankings.

The key elements that a search engines cares about:
• Domain name/Age of domain
• Site structure
• Meta data (titles and tags)
• Unique content & keyword usage
• Internal linking
• Inbound links (votes)
• Digital assets (video, audio, images)

On page and Off page search engine optimization:  On page SEO refers to the elements of the strategy physically performed on the web pages (i.e. structure, code, content, internal linking, meta data such as titles and tags).  Off page SEO refers to the elements performs away from the site such as link building strategies, off page content, etc.)

Best and Worst Practices (White Hat and Black Hat SEO):  Largely due to the lack of information that the general public is given about search engine algorithms (search engines do not disclose details), abuse and manipulation developed over time as ranking became more competitive.  Webmasters would devise tactics to “trick” the search engines and achieve fast rankings at the top of the SERPs.  Many of the Back Hat tactics include:
• Link spamming (link farms, link trading)
• Duplicate content
• Keyword stuffing

The search engines have become more transparent in their disclosure and will publish information on best practices and how to avoid receiving penalties.  The best things to keep in mind is to make sure the site is relevant to the audience, user friendly, and has good use of natural content relevant to the audience.

Keyword Research:  This is generally one of the first steps in an SEO campaign.
• Develop keywords relevant to your industry and target audience
• Use open source tools to help define what keywords are best and how often they are searched
• Use a good mix of broad terms and long tail terms
• Continually monitor results to see what terms are driving the best traffic and conversions
• Make adjustments along the way (adjust focus and on/off page SEO efforts based on your goals)

Some data was sources from Wikipedia.com.

Well Rounded SEO – More Important Than Ever

Posted by Brent on January 30th, 2009

Many people out there think SEO is just about getting to the first page of Google and simply entails putting keywords in meta tags.  Search engine optimization is an art and science with a huge learning curve for both client and professional SEO consultant.  Many times clients are confused why an SEO company is making design recommendations or suggesting copywriting changes.  Sometimes an SEO company will suggest a complete redevelopment of a site and will not touch it until that happens.  These are very difficult things for a client to hear, especially if they have a site that is visited frequently (which means they probably have a fairly high opinion of their site).

With the new emerging trends and search engine algorithms, SEO will not be just about rankings anymore (this being a common misconception).  It will be about the end results such as traffic and more importantly, conversions.  A conversion could be some kind of registration, a newsletter sign up, an online sale, etc.  Whatever your business goals are, your online marketing tools need to be a means to that end.

A truly well-rounded Internet marketing company will offer all of the important aspects of SEO which really does involve additonal strategy such as web design, development, information architecture, URL rewriting, and copy writing.  Depending on the site, there might be months of work needed to be done simply to prepare a site for proper search engine optimization.  As I mentioned above, sometimes a tough reality is faced by a client when they are told their website needs a complete overhaul before SEO can start.  In the long run though, only a healthy platform with good well-rounded SEO strategy applied will yield lasting results.

The goals behind SEO should no longer be focused simply on first page rankings for the top keywords associated with the campaign.  The business goals for the client need to be set first, then you can reverse engineer the Internet marketing strategy to support all those goals.  As Google rolls out personal and universal search functions, we all will start getting slightly different results for the same searches based on our own prefernces and user behavior.  That said, number one rankings will not matter as much as overall user experince, the value your site offers, and how it helps your business grow.  Getting rankings is only one small step towards true business development.

We have all run searches and clicked on some of the first page results only to find a less than appealing website with poor navigation and site architecture.  Nevertheless, the site is right there on page one.  Maybe some good SEO principles have been applied but maybe not.  However, the online consumer/user is continually becoming more sophisticated.  For a company to have a sub-par online rpresence will do then no good.  Businesses need a site that can not only be found, but that offers the best possible value in accordance with their business.  The site must also be design to transform traffic into fuel for reaching the business goals.  Obviously, if it is an e-commerce site, then it should sell products.  If it is an advertising site, then it should generate leads for the advertisers.  You get the idea.

All of the concepts mentioned above are part of a comprehensie well-rounded search engine optimization/Internet marketing campaign.  If you have a business in need of transforming your online presence, there is no better time to get started.  It doesn’t happen over night so invest the time and resources now!


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