Posts Tagged ‘seo’

Nobody likes being scammed. But there are plenty of “professionals” out there that know so little about their craft that they tell you lies without even realizing it. Search marketing is one such area riddled with scammers because very few understand how it all works.

Without further adieu, here are 5 signs that a so-called SEO is taking you for a ride.

1. They use Toolbar PageRank as a metric. Google’s popular browser toolbar has a setting that will show you Google’s perceived “importance,” called PageRank, of the web page that you’re currently looking at. What your search marketer probably didn’t tell you was that this number probably reflects data from several months ago and may even be scewed because Google hates SEO so much.
2. Guaranteed rankings. Your SEO should be telling you that they are helping you to influence search engine rankings. They should also be setting the expectation that ranking for key terms is often a long and difficult process.
3. Exclusive focus on link-building. Building links from other sites to yours is only one piece of the puzzle. Your SEO should make you aware of work that needs to be done on your own site as well. Want a great screening question? Ask them what the most important element on a webpage is for SEO. If they do not answer “page title” or “title tag,” then you have someone that doesn’t know their stuff and don’t have the experience that they claim to have.
4. Mentioning of the words “Alexa ranking.” Alexa, owned by Amazon, collects traffic data from users that have installed their Alexa Toolbar. An increase in your Alexa ranking has no direct correlation on search engine results.
5. Is reluctant to educate you. Part of any successful SEO strategy is educating everyone who works with the website. If your SEO is reluctant to educate you and your colleagues on how you can help to do your part, then you’re probably smelling foul. There should be no secrets in what your SEO is doing to help you out.

Was this a great post of fearmongering or what? Don’t say that you haven’t been warned!

Technorati Tags: fraud, google, pagerank, scam, search, search engine optimization, search engine optimizer, seo

Over the past decade, Google has become the “answer engine.” When someone doesn’t know the answer to a question, the default answer has become, “Google it.” As you are aware, people are increasingly using the search engines to find products and services as well.

So now businesses are turning to SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. This is the practice of tidying up your website to increase the odds of ranking high in Google. SEO also involves influencing others on the Web to talk about your company, products, and services.

As a business owner, how do you get started? This is a scary area to dive into because SEO is still a very new practice. And doing the wrong thing can get you banned from the search engines, therefore hosing your whole strategy.

Fortunately, there are some great resources on the Web that will help you get started:

• Don’t get blacklisted by Google
• Google’s page about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• The problem with search engine optimization

Technorati Tags: boagworld, google, internet marketing, jakob nielsen, marketing, search, search engine optimization, Search Marketing, seo

The #1 question that I get is, “How can I advertise my business on the Internet for cheap or free?” We all have limited budgets and want to spend as little on advertising as possible, while still getting the word out.

Case study: Discover Chiropractic

I recently received this same question from Dr. Vanessa Anderson, owner of Discover Chiropractic in Moline, Illinois. I figured that I could give her a few “first steps” for her to take. Being the nice guy that I am, I figured that I would share with you as well.

So Discover Chiropractic is a local service, and they have a website. They can only market to people seeking chiropractors within a limited geographical area. This limits what they can do to market on the World Wide Web, but that can also be a great thing.

For now, because awareness is a goal for them, I’ll point out a couple ways that they can work with this goal to get relevant visitors to their site.

Local search: the way to go

If you’re offering a local service, the first thing that I would suggest is to optimize your listings in the “Local” results of all the major search engines. More people are using the Web to find companies in their time of need for your services. And devices like the iPhone are making local searches even more convenient. In other words, appearing in local search is becoming even more critical for your business.

The first thing that I would do is type into the search engines what I think potential customers would be entering. In this case, I tried chiropractors moline, il to see what would happen. Also, I would try several different derivations like moline chiropractors and chiropractors in moline illinois.

Here’s what I saw in Google for the first search:

The local results are the lettered items next to the map. Notice that Discover Chiropractic does not appear in these results. In fact, you need to click the “More results near Moline, IL” link and go to the second page of those results to finally get to Discover’s listing.

So how do we get Discover Chiropractic on the first page of the local results?

Here are a couple steps that we can take for free.

1. Google and Yahoo! both let you update your local listing. This is useful for both optimizing the listing and for changing your phone number or address.

   I would recommend that Discover Chiropractic somehow get the phrase “chiropractors in Morine, Illinois” into their listing. Probably not in the business name though as that may be viewed as “too dirty” by the search engines. It would be worth a try to get words from the searchers’ phrase into the listing to increase your chances of ranking higher for that phrase.

   You can edit your Google listing by searching for your business in the results at Google Maps and clicking the “Edit this Listing” link at the bottom of the page. Locally Type has instructions for the other local search engines as well.

2. Update your website so that you include your business’s address and phone number in the footer of every page on the site. This tells Google that your site should definitely be associated with that address and city.

Measuring success in local search

Before making these changes, I’d suggest setting up Google Analytics on your site. It’s free and can show you whether you’re really getting traffic from those searches that you’re optimizing for.

And once you start setting more advanced goals—like converting all this traffic that you’re receiving into customers—a web analytics platform like Google Analytics can be an indespensible tool.

Bonus tip: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

Lastly, take a look at the first listing below the local results in the example search above. ChiroDirectory.com has the prime spot in the normal organic search results for this search. On their site, they allow you to list your business in their directory.

I would highly recommend that Discover Chiropractic look into getting a free listing or pay for a featured listing on that page to see if it drives any worthwhile traffic. You don’t know until you try.

Plus getting a link to your business from a site that’s outranking yours is a good way to maybe move up a few spots. I didn’t look into it too deeply, but you may need to have a paid listing in the directory to have a link. It would be worth the investment.

More ideas but no more time

So many more ideas, but I don’t want to write a book on the subject! I hope this helps you get an idea on a couple quick steps that you can take to get some extra relevant traffic to your site.

I’m hoping that Vanessa can get back to us and let us know if these suggestions have helped. If so, I’ll be sure to report it to everyone.

Questions or other ideas? Please let us know in the comments below!

Technorati Tags: discover chiropractic, google, internet marketing, local, local search, local seo, marketing, search, search engine optimization, Search Marketing, seo, web marketing, yahoo

As a person trying to promote your website, the Google Toolbar can be your friend and your enemy at the same time.

Here are some things to be conscious of. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: google, google toolbar, marketing, search engine optimization, Search Marketing, sem, seo, web, web marketing

What questions do you have about running a web site? SEO? Internet marketing in general?

You have questions, I have answers!

Technorati Tags: design, internet marketing, marketing, seo

Most web designers and web developers ignore accessibility. Now that Target is being sued for not having an accessible web site, the bar is going to be raised for your own site as well. Yes, this is yet another thing to worry about. And no, you should not half-ass it.

If you cater to those with visual impairments, then you will also reap benefits from the world’s most famous blind user: Google. I kid you not.

HTML, the document format of web pages, was designed to be consumed by those with vision impairments, not just by those of us with good eyesight. Once again, everyone has gotten lazy and hasn’t learned how to truly use HTML for this purpose. I’m going to point out a few things that should be done to help improve your site’s accessibility. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: accessibility, best practices, compliance, design, google, html, jaws, screen readers, section 508, seo, shockwave, target, w3c, wai, web, web accessibility, web writing, Writing

In the 20th century, the success metric for marketing was eyeballs. But that’s just not enough for the 21st century. Relevance is the name of the game. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Blogging, email marketing, facebook, google, link building, marketing, marketing experiments, relevance, seo, seth godin, social networking, yahoo

Over the course of my career, I’ve been obsessed with best practices. Be they best practices for writing code or for separating responsibilities, I’ve always had dreams of running that well-oiled marketing and technology machine.

If you’re just starting out in working with an internet marketer, you may be a little uncomfortable in knowing what your role is vs. what your internet marketer’s role is. You don’t want to come across as a micro-manager, but you also own the work that you’re paying for, right?

From my side of the table, here’s what I see as the line in the sand for responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: design, internet, internet marketing, marketing, Search Marketing, seo, web, web marketing

Aaron and Giovanna Wall have published a killer guide to SEO for your blog.

The Bloggers Guide to SEO

Even if you don’t have a blog, there are tips worth learning for promoting your web site.

Technorati Tags: blog, Blogging, seo

Studies have revealed that most blog and wiki readers never comment or contribute.

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

As a marketer, this presents a great opportunity for you. Blog comments and forums. You finally have an easy way to interact with your very own customers. Oh boy, Oberto!

Read my commenting guidelines before you run off and start Googling for blog entries to comment on:

1. Be relevant. Don’t try to force your products into the conversation. Only do so when it makes sense. Many people write blogs and participate in communities so they can escape from advertising. Err on the side of being a blogger’s peer, rather than “just another marketer.” Heck, this may be your chance to become friends with a customer. (Imagine that!)
2. Link back to your web site or blog. Most blogs let you submit a URL when you comment. If you’re talking about a particular product or service, link to its page on your site. You will be rewarded by the search engines for getting another link to your site.
3. Put in some effort. Just today, I read a spammy comment on 37signals’s blog. It’s since been removed, but notice that the next commenter called it out immediately. Be sure that you’re contributing to the conversation and not just pasting your pitch into the comment box, clicking submit, and moving on to the next blog.
4. Subscribe to the blog and say hi again later. This makes the blogger feel more like you’re their friend than someone who wants their money. Plus you may learn more about your customers from stalking them reading their blogs. (Huh? How do I subscribe to blogs?)
5. Don’t ever fake your identity. You will be found out. Just ask Wal-mart.

If you can make it a point to comment on just 1 blog entry per day, it very well could make a difference. It’s kind of like marketing without marketing, really.

Go ahead, try commenting on my blog for practice. I’m very forgiving and like feeling the comment love!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, communities, community, e-commerce, ecommerce, jakob nielsen, marketing, seo, small business marketing