Don’t do it yourself

Instead of attempting to do this on one’s own, it is prudent and recommended to seek out and hire an SEO consultant.  A professional SEO consultant will be able to determine which services are needed to make one’s business web site optimized for search engines and how to incorporate SEO marketing.

There are dozens of specific tasks and elements that go into good SEO and going the “do-it-yourself” route may end with one’s web site not showing at all in the major search engines.

Check their previous work

The first thing to ask for when looking for the perfect SEO expert is previous examples of SEO content as well as web sites they have helped optimize in the past.  Check the rankings of these web sites with the major search engines – Google and Yahoo are perfect examples – and use the Alexa web site to view overall rankings.  Alexa is a free web traffic metric analyzer that will give one a good overview of how well a web site or company is doing over time.

A good showing with increased rankings over time is an indication of how effective an SEO consultant can be.  Rankings that are dropping or maintaining an unchanged level would indicate locating another SEO expert would be in order.

Look at rates

Check the rates of the SEO consultants one is considering.  Very low rates can mean the person in question is just starting out and is trying to build up their portfolio.  Very high rates but with a less than stellar portfolio can also indicate a novice in the SEO field or one that isn’t terribly good at what they do.

Alternatively, as the world economy has taken a beating lately, many professionals have dropped their rates accordingly.  This is an important factor to keep in mind when researching rates.  Check to see if the SEO professional in question has recently dropped their hourly or project rates – one may get a bargain out of this.

Cheaper isn’t better

Don’t attempt to take the cheapest route.  While initially it may seem like a good idea and cost effective, a low rate SEO consultant can mean poor work produced for one’s business web site.  This, in turn, will mean ineffective search engine optimization, low rankings (if at all) within the major search engines and pretty much a loss of money overall.

Careful research should be done when looking to hire an SEO consultant.  Look at their previous results, experience and rates.  Remember that great search engine optimization can mean more customers and hiring a professional to do it correctly can only bring about a return on one’s investment.

How Twitter works for business

As social media outlets go, Twitter is quickly becoming one of the more popular micro-blogging sites around.  The list of businesses currently using Twitter in one fashion or another is constantly growing.  Comcast, JetBlue, and Dell are just a few companies that realized early on that Twitter has great potential to help them get in contact with and support their customers.  Comcast is a perfect example of how a business can use a micro-blogging service to give fast and courteous service to their existing customers as well as garner new business by word of mouth from happy and support customers.

How Twitter lists work for business

Once a business has set up their Twitter account, it is very easy to start racking up the number of users being followed.  At last count, the official support Twitter account for Comcast has over 32,000 users it’s following.  Trying to keep track of that many conversations at once is completely impossible.  So, what is the solution?

Simple – Twitter lists.  Creating a list is a very quick and easy process.  Log into Twitter and click on the “New list” link found on the right-hand side of the web site.  A new window will open up where a name can be typed in as well as the type of list it should be (private or public).  Once the list is created, it’s then a simple matter of going through the “following” list of the account and adding members to the newly created list.

One great example for a business use for a Twitter list is a company that has offices and customers across the states.  If this business wished to group its customers by area, lists such as “northwest_customers” or “Oregon_clients” could be created.  Then, support teams could have direct access to specific customers based on geographic location.

Taking it one step further

Twitter has made it convenient to include user lists within web sites.  By going to the Goodies – Widgets area, one can find the easy to customize Twitter list widget.  Once customized, the code then can be grabbed and integrated easily within a business web site.  This widget provides a quick way to keep tabs on customers and makes it very simple for new customers to join in on the conversation.  The list widget can be placed on a front page of a web site or even within a support section.  Either way, including this bit of coding is a perfect way to generate more business.

Conclusion

Including Twitter within a social media campaign is a smart move.  Twitter is continuously adding new features to make the experience of micro-blogging easier.  The latest addition of Twitter lists is a splendid way to monitor topics and people who matter most and a great way to keep in contact with and give support to customers and clients.

Lend Valuable Insight Where Needed

It does not matter how good the SEO company is, there is no way they can be fully grasp all the activities and processes going on within your organization.  By emphasizing some of the essentials upfront, you can shed light on areas that aid the outsourced agency and result in a win-win situation for both sides.  Don’t want until the SEO firm has almost completed the project to bring up matters that should have already been discussed.

Build Trust within the Firm

One definite way to hinder the success of your SEO project is to challenge the service provider with justification for every little recommendation.  True, since they are working for you, the company should have no trouble providing you with the answers you require at any given time.  However, making them do so repeatedly and needlessly could tie up resources that may have been devoted to pouring more productivity into your project.  Establishing a level of trust is not always as easy as it sounds, but if it does not exist, your campaign can turn out be very chaotic very fast.

Stay Open to Change

Some SEO campaigns require that significant changes to be made to the actual content or the overall structure of the site.  Depending on your role in the project, you may have to argue on behalf of the agency in order to change existing corporate polices and bridge the two parties together.  This could be a major hold up if top decision makers are not willing to discuss the negative impact their polices could have on the project.  If it is you making the decisions, keep yourself open to exploring possible changes that will benefit the campaign.

Learn and Apply

The more you know about your campaign and what it needs to be a success, the less the SEO firm has to go over.  Therefore, if a particular area has already been thoroughly covered, the firm should be able to build on it and consistently elevate their efforts to achieve the desired results.  That does not mean you shouldn’t try to bring something to the table.  If you don’t know or care enough to add to working concepts, it is very unlikely that your SEO agency will get the support they need to successfully employ advanced methods such as link building via social media and video sharing platforms.

If you want good results from your SEO campaign, get involved with the company handling all the hard work and give aid where ever you can.  By sitting back and leaving the entire project in the agency’s hands, you are more than likely to receive less than desirable results.

1.) SEO Book – Founded by Aaron Wall, one of the true SEO experts, this site makes a great resource for learning about optimization and moving your site in the right direction.  Here you can find all the tools need to help you become familiar with virtually every aspect of the game.  As a member of SeoBook.com, you are a part of a tight-knit community that will mold you into a better search engine marketer.

2.) Submit Ease – This is a powerful software tool that bundles article directory submission and website directory submission into a single user-friendly package.  With Submit Ease, article syndication is easy, and you can submit your site to more than 600 article directories. 

3.) Bookmarking Demon – This is a tool every internet marker should have in their bag of tricks.  It is a fully automated pinging and social bookmarking software program that can help you create an unlimited number of backlinks.  With the free upgrades and all the advantages it offers, many users find Bookmarking Demon to be worth every penny.

4.) Animoto - When it comes to the web, you don’t have to be a expert with a video camera just to incorporate video into your site.  Animoto is a great tool that gives you the power to create movie style trailers from the photos you upload to your site.  You have the option to choose from various default music themes or upload your own.  This is all made simple through an easy to use interface.  Simply upload your photos, choose the music, enter some text and the system does the rest.

5.) Tube Mogul – Video sharing has become one of the most effective ways to attract targeted traffic in fast and cost efficient manner.  Tube Mogul makes an ideal tool as it allows you to distribute your video content to several sharing platforms, including YouTube, Meta Café and MySpace.  Best of all, this tool is absolutely free to use.

6.) Keyword Elite - This is a great research tool that can help you save a lot of time when looking for keywords.  Keyword Elite also integrates with other tools such as Keyword Discovery and Word Tracker, allowing you to truly maximize your researching efforts.  It lets you find out which keywords your Google Awords competitors are using and where their sites rank in terms of optimization.  The Keyword Elite tool is like having your very own virtual researcher.

Boost Traffic the Natural Way

It is a proven fact that the most effective way to reel in targeted traffic and potential customers is through the search engines.  A number of studies show that nearly 90% of first-time visitors find their way to a website via search engines powered by internet brands such as Google and Yahoo.  You yourself are probably in this high percentile of web surfers who bypass all the pop-ups, spam messages and PPC ads by relying on the convenient search box to find the content you seek.  Search engines offer a consistent stream of targeted website visitors and in most cases, leveraging this traffic is absolutely free.  What you have to do is make sure your content is relevant to the search results because if it isn’t, visitors will likely be very disappointed when landing on your site.   If you keep this is mind when optimizing your site, the search engines will reward you with increased traffic of excellent quality.

When Users Search, Everybody Wins

Search engine traffic results in a win-win situation for anyone trying to promote a website or business online.  Improving your volume of traffic does take a lot of money or hard work for that matter.  All that is required of you is good site optimization.  Despite the millions of active domains throughout the world, an alarming number of web pages are not indexed by the major search engines for the simple fact that most of them are not optimized correctly, or not optimized at all.  Unless you have a winning marketing strategy that simply cannot fail, this makes it very difficult for anyone to find your website.  Though it can be a challenge, optimizing a website is also something that can be done by an individual with little to no marketing knowledge.

Believe it or not, the search engines want to send you as much traffic as possible.  This is because the more users who find the content they want, the more they will rely on that search engine and recommended it to others.  The actual search engine benefits tremendously as these recommendations lead to increased popularity and advertising revenues.  Search engines can be an excellent resource that helps internet users find what they desire and provide you with the targeted traffic needed to keep your site alive.

What is a site map?

A site map is the listing of all the pages held within a web site.  It is created with the intent of easily informing search engines about pages that are on a web site and available for crawling or indexing.  The listing starts at the home or base page and then branches out accordingly.  This listing can be done in several different formats – XML, text file or a syndication feed (RSS).  One or all formats can be chosen but in order to be effective, the site map(s) created must be in a format that allows search engine spiders to properly index all the listed pages.  As XML is a standard by  most search engines, XML is the best formatting choice.

A bit about protocol

To be truly effective, an XML site map should follow the standard site map protocol.  It must begin with the opening tag <urlset> and end with the closing tag </urlset>.  Within the <urlset> tag the proper namespace should be declared – in most cases this would be “http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″.  The numbering at the end of this url indicates the latest site map schema version as indicated by the sitemaps.org site (the official site for site map protocols and more).  Within the <urlset> beginning and closing tags, each page within the web site is listed.  This listing begins with the <url> tag and ends with the </url> closing tag.  The <url> set then contains all the vital information regarding the specific page.  This includes the actual url, the last date the page was modified, how often the page changes and a priority numbering.  At a minimum, each <url> set must contain the url of the page or <loc>.  The remaining information is optional.  More information on protocols and the proper creation of a site map can be viewed at http://www.sitemaps.org.

How to create one

The creation of a site map is quite easy.  If your web site is only a few pages, you can create an XML site map manually.  However, if your web site is rather extended, the best option would be to use one of many different programs available on the web.

There are many programs you can download and use on your computer to create your site map.  Alternatively you can use an online site map creator.  One such online option is available at XML-Sitemaps.  This site offers a straightforward four step operation – you type in your base url, select how often your site is changed, indicate the last modification date, select the priority number and click start.  Once your site maps is created, you simply download it to your main site folder.  This site creates XML site maps that work perfectly with Google and will enable you to use the Google webmaster tools to enhance your SEO efforts further.  One thing to keep in mind with XML-Sitemaps is the online version will only index up to 500 pages.  If your site is much larger than this, you would be better off downloading a piece of software that will index larger sites.

Conclusion

Creating an XML site map for your site is just one step in the SEO process.  It is simple to do either manually or with some online help.  A properly created XML site map will ensure your site is thoroughly indexed by search engines and will contribute to your SEO efforts.

1) Thumbshots Rankings

Thumbshots Ranking offers an informative, yet fun way to make yourself familiar with search engines and learn how to optimize your site for better ranking.  Proper use of this tool can go a long way in generating the quality traffic you seek.

2.) SEOBench

This particular SEO tool analyzes results from Google and Yahoo, identifies what they have in common, and them provides a graphical display of the results in both engines.  SEOBench gives you a nice illustration which reveals that while optimizing your site for both Google and Yahoo is not necessarily an easy task, it is not impossible either.

3.) Link Appeal

Link Appeal is a very effective tool that calculates the efficiency rating of having a link on a given URL.  It relies on factors such as the number of outbound links, its page rank and the overall percentage of links to HTML.  Link Appeal can serve as a great tool for helping you decide whether to request a link on a particular web page or not.

4.) Link Popularity Checker

The Link Popularity Checker is pretty self explanatory as it informs you on how many sites are linked to your own.  We think you will find this tool quite valuable being that link popularity is such an integral part of the entire optimization process.  The more popular your site becomes, the better it will rank in the SERPs.

5.) SEO Checker

SEO Checker is an ideal tool for checking up on search engine saturation, which simply describes the number of pages a search engine indexes for a given website.  While every search engine does not report this information, a fair share of them do, and this is enough to establish a few meaningful benchmarks for your SEM campaign.

6.) Google PageRank Report

Google PageRank Report is something you can use to automatically check the ranking value for any URL you specify in the provided form.  To get the best results, simple add “www” in front of the domain in question.

7.) Link Value

This easy to use link calculator calculates the link value of your website on a monthly basis.  The value is calculated based on many essential factors specific to most of the major search engines.

8.) Keyword Research

Keyword Research is a tool that can be used to research your targeted keywords and phrases, helping you determine which as best suited to implement into your web pages.  All if you have to do is enter a given term or phrase, and the tool automatically makes additional suggestions regarding other words and phrases you should think about targeting.

9.) Google Keyword Suggestions – This handy Google orientated tool will aid you in the process of selecting popular and relevant terms that are related to your desired keyword.  Simply enter a word, and the tool queries data from a number of Google searches, which it then uses to determine the most relevant terms used by websites in that particular niche.

Generating Traffic with Press Releases

Press releases are not limited to introducing a new product or service.  However, link popularity and all the most popular keywords on the web will not aid your efforts if traffic is not coming to your site.  With a good press release, you can reel in traffic from the following sources:

Direct Traffic – In the ideal environment, your published press release will be syndicated across a network of related sites.  If you are able to snag readers with an intriguing headline, people will check out the piece and follow up by paying your site a visit.

Subscribers - By signing up with a reputable press release service, you can have your publication submitted to leading news wire sites like, EIN News, Google News, Topix and several more.  These sites maintain an existing database of subscribers so when publishing a press release, they will be able to view your piece in their news readers.  If they like what you have to say, they will visit your site to find out what else you have to offer.  This is certainly an avenue you want to consider because these sites combine to offer the potential of millions of visitors every month.

Search Engines – The most valuable traffic source that can be obtained is generated directly from the search engines.  This could turn out to be a long term source because your press release will remain online for as long as your site is up and running.  Should the traffic from the news wire sites start to diminish, you can always rely on the search engines for that consistent stream needed to keep up your exposure.

Organic Search Engine Rankings - Since publishing a press release is merely another aspect of SEO, your search engine rankings will naturally improve, thus resulting in more organic traffic.  When following this up with quality backlinks, you can boost your traffic numbers considerably very fast.

Tips for Press Release Writing

If you want to write a press release to improve your SEO efforts, keep the following tips in mind:

- Right your press release in the third person.

- Compose an intriguing headline to entice readers.

- Emphasis facts and benefits; avoid fluff.

- Make sure your press release is not too short or too long.  500 or so words should do the trick.

- Remember to insert your primary keywords into the press release.  Do not go overboard with keywords as you want your piece to flow as naturally as possible.

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/09/30/leveraging-the-press-release-as-an-seo-tool/feed/ 0 http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/09/25/top-five-reasons-in-house-sem-programs-fail/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/09/25/top-five-reasons-in-house-sem-programs-fail/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:56:07 +0000 CommunicateBetter http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=542 With the growing prevalence of search engine marketing, several organizations are electing to run their SEM programs in-house instead of outsourcing to a professional firm.  While there are numerous tools and resources available to help companies incorporate these programs internally, most are rather basic and overlook many of the vital aspects that make up a truly effective SEM campaign.  Before you go to set up shop, get to know the five main reasons in-house SEM programs falter.

1.) SEM is Time Intensive – Unlike traditional media, SEM is not something you can simply do once and forget about.  These campaigns often consists of thousands of keywords that must be thoroughly researched as well as landing pages that must be carefully crafted in a way that appeals to search engines and visitors alike.  All of this needs to be done regularly to make sure you are getting the most out of your marketing dollars.  Although some possess the skills, most in-house teams simply do not have the time to commit to an SEM program that will give them the best results.

2.) SEM is all About Dedication – Google Ad Words and other paid advertising campaigns demand maintenance on a daily basis in order to maintain the company budget and ensure the best results.  If other projects takes away the team’s ability to dedicate to the SEM campaign, you will have trouble identifying your most fierce competitors and ultimately, making your campaign more effective.

3.) SEM Can be Competitive and Expensive – Reputable SEM firms have a knack for analyzing a budget and preventing their clients from overspending.  At the same time, many in-house teams fail because they are not able to maintain the budgets they sat aside for the campaign.  A skilled professional can implement measures and polices to help maintain costs while ensuring that the budget is well managed and evenly allocated across the campaign.

4.) SEM Demands Accurate Tracking and Analysis of Performance - Try as they may, but a large number of in-house programs suffer from insufficient reporting.  The beauty of SEM itself is that it is a results-driven marketing tactic so therefore, the best way to gauge the performance of your campaign is through detailed reporting.  An expert firm can help you understand what part of your program is doing good as well as what areas need improvement.  This is done by analyzing critical data, setting benchmarks and optimizing the campaign itself.

5.) SEM Requires an Awareness of Search Engine Polices

Many organizations find themselves in undesirable predicaments once they are banned or penalized for engaging in SEM practices that do not fall in line with search engine policies.  These practices can bring forth damaging results as your site could end up banned by Google, Yahoo and other major search engines.  By outsourcing to a reputable SEM firm, you can get the assurance of a trained and certified team that knows the search engine policies and uses them to measure the overall effectiveness of your campaign.

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/09/25/top-five-reasons-in-house-sem-programs-fail/feed/ 0 http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/08/31/yahoo-maintains-its-competitive-spirit/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/08/31/yahoo-maintains-its-competitive-spirit/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:42:23 +0000 CommunicateBetter http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=499 Last month, Microsoft and Yahoo finally struck a deal that will make these two internet super-powers a worthy competitor to Google.  However, it isn’t necessarily what Microsoft had hoped for.  Rather than a merger, the two have agreed to combine their search and advertising expertise to generate revenue through their respective search engines.  Despite the news, an announcement made in a Monday press conference proves that Yahoo is gearing up to do battle with its old rival Google, as well as its future partner, Microsoft.

While Microsoft’s Bing will power the search efforts for both companies, Yahoo will work independently on its search engine user interface.  According to internal sources, it plans to make this interface more efficient than the offerings of both Google and Microsoft.

Prabhakar Raghavan, Senior Vice President of Yahoo Labs and Search Strategy, said that the company is collaborating with Microsoft on the back-end, but will continue to complete on the front-end.  He noted that crawling and indexing are currently of less importance than enhancing the web experience via the user interface.  Raghavan and his colleagues emphasized that the company does not intend to abandon the field of search innovation entirely, making it clear that the Yahoo search engine will continue independent of Bing.

In late July, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to a much anticipated partnership that will enable Microsoft Bing to power the Yahoo search site.  Per the agreement, Microsoft will maintain the pay-per-click search advertising models while Google will sell advertising services of both companies to premium subscribers.  Barring clearing from the United States Department of Justice, the agreement will equate to a 10-year partnership.  Executives for both companies have stated that the implementation process could take as long as two years to complete.  In the meantime, Yahoo is gauging the response of a new search results page.  The new page is randomly available to worldwide internet users, offering features that allow them to filter queries to more efficiently refine search results.  The company is also in the process of creating a more intelligent engine that automatically learns from previous searches and makes the according adjustments for the benefit of the user.

In addition the above enhancements, Yahoo is looking to feature more tools such as Search Assist, that allow users to refine their queries on the fly, as well as Search Pad, which helps users organize the information they find within search results.  It also desires to let its users perform more tasks within the search engine interface by incorporating more information into results.  One idea involves delivering this information through popular customer review sites like Yelp.

According to Larry Cornett, President of Yahoo Search Products and Design, all of these efforts and more are designed to create a Yahoo search engine that is more personally relevant than what has been seen in other search engines thus far.  More importantly, it shows that Yahoo is still moving forward independently in light of the likely future partnership with Microsoft.

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