Posts Tagged ‘SEO Company’

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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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.


World Wide Local Web

Posted by David on January 13th, 2009

The Internet has changed a lot in how we search for real estate.  Ten years ago, I don’t know how many people could pick up their local paper and see an ad for a home in another country.  The World Wide Web is by definition a global product and service.  For example, a person in Italy can view property online in San Diego, CA, call up an International real estate agent and buy the property.  However, in the purest essense, real estate is local as are real estate agents. This means that real agents who are going to be successful should focus on optimizing their site for certain keywords.  One suggestion is that if you are a real estate agent in San Diego, CA, and your area of expertise is Pacific Beach, then you should optimize terms like: “Pacific Beach homes for sale.”  Any internet marketing company can optimize your site for general search terms such as “California real estate.”  But if you’re a real estate agent trying to get by in this market, you should contact an SEO company to help determine what the best search terms to optimize and what is going to fit in your marketing budget.  Plus, if you’re an agent, you can cater your site to the certain neighborhood and make it a very welcoming site.  There are too many sites out there that focus on the big city.  Real estate agents should focus on the local search terms which should help drive targeted traffic.  Sometimes it’s better to have 2 or 3 solid leads each month of motivated buyers than 200 – 300 hits that do not turn into a sale.  Once your site starts to place high organically in the major search engines for local search terms, and you’ve seen a positive ROI with your site, you should then contact an SEO Company and go into the broader terms.

SEO Strategy: Know Your Competition

Posted by Brent on January 6th, 2009

Research and strategy are a large part of starting any organic search engine optimization campaign.  One of the most important aspects to understanding what needs to be done (and for estimating how long it might take to acheive results) is to know your online competition.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between a company’s competition, and their “online” competition.  Many of a company’s direct competitors may not have an Internet presence and thus do not need to be included on the list of “competitors”.  Similarly, any companies that have some natural results on the second or third page may not be on that competitor list but should not be forgotten about because they may be working on increasing their placements.

OK, so we have defined “who” you should be looking for as competition in the search engines.  What is the best way to go about finding them?

Any good SEO company or Internet marketing company will help you define your most powerful combinations of keywords and phrases.  Generally the best keyword lists for any SEO or PPC campaign will include both broad search terms geared to your products and services and more specific “long tail” terms.  The more specific terms sometime drive less traffic than the broad terms but can actually offer better conversions through more targeted traffic.

By defining these most important keywords, you can then use them to run searches.  For example, if your company sells shoes online through an e-commerce platform then you should run a search for the terms “shoes”.  Your direct competition are the sites that rank 1 through 10 in the organic results and any of the PPC ads along the top and right side of the page.  You do not need to focus on sites that are on the second or third page for now (or until they are on the first page).  These days only first page placement really matter!

Once you have this list of sites then you should look at the following to determine how they have acheived these results and how you can beat them:

  • Age of the domain:  how long has the site been an active/registered domain – the longer the better
  • Number of pages the site has:  to determine this type “Site:domainname.com” into your Google search
  • Number of inbound links:  to determine this type “Link:domainname.com” into your Google search
  • Use of proper title tags/meta tags
  • Does the site rank for MANY keywords and not just one or two

By understanding all of these factors, you can more readily assess the competition.  Sometimes, the sites that rank well for some of your keywords are not well optimized.  If that is the case your task just got easier.  In theory, if your site has more pages, more inbound links, an older domain, and is properly optimized…then you should have better results than your online competition.  This is not always true.  It depends on all factors combined.  Sometimes you will see sites for your keywords with decent rankings that have no business being on the first page.  Generally, those rankings do not last and are a result of some search engine algorithm update.

Once you achieve those first page rankings there is a hierarchy of click through rates.  Obviously being number one in Google for your top keyword is the best you can do but not always feasible.  The higher you are on the first page, the better your click through rates will be.  If your site is well designed then hopefully your conversion rates are good too!  Understanding the other players on the first page of the SERPs and keeping up with what they are doing to stay on the first page is always going to be important.  A good Internet marketing company can help you do this and their engineers should always be following how the competitors achieve their rankings.


How SEO Can Help San Diego Condo Developers

Posted by admin on November 18th, 2008

The San Diego condo development business is a highly lucrative industry with the potential for great financial rewards. The competition between all the condo development companies out there can be quite fierce.

For example, a query for the words San Diego Condo Developers on Google shows no less than 2,490,000 web pages! That’s a lot of websites and all of them are competing with your own website for a share of the condo development market.

While your website is an important step to successful Internet marketing, you have to be sure that it works for you as effectively as possible, or else it will be lost in the sea of condo development websites out there. How do you stand out from the crowd and ensure that your website is living up to its potential? SEO is what you need and it is one of the most important things for your business if you want to compete.

With the help of a good, reliable, and effective SEO company, you can become one of the major players in this business.

Eldar Gaziev


What is the Importance of Web Directories?

Posted by Brent on November 18th, 2008

Is it still worth the time (and sometimes money) submitting your site to web directories?  Does anyone use these anymore?  Submitting a new website to directories is often one of the first things an SEO company will do on your behalf.  Most people don’t really even understand what these directories are for.

Well, web directories have been around for a long time.  It is even how Yahoo! got started on the Internet before search engines became the driving force behind finding the content you needed online.  People used to use directories to find websites and there are many of them out there.  There are a few major players such as DMOZ, but there are many smallers ones as well.  Web directories do not offer extensive content from websites; usually just a link and possibly a short description provided by the web master submitting the site.  Web directories have actual people reviewing the sites and categorizing them within the directory archives.  The search engines trust the major directories because the sites in them have gone through a formal approval process.

Now how does this relate to site traffic?  It is true that sites generally no longer receive an overwhelming amount of direct traffic from directories, but guess what…it is huge for building your search engine optimization strategy.

When web directories accept your site and therefore link to you, it provides a great high-quality inbound links, therefore improving your link popularity.  Having powerful inbound links is what makes the difference between good results and top placements.