Archive for May 29th, 2009

SEO For Small Business Owners

Friday, May 29th, 2009

SEO For Small Business Owners
Ok, you’re a small business; so you go out get a website built but then what you have to delve in to the world of search engine optimisation, were do you start almost everyone knows someone that can do SEO but you have to remember this is where you can fall down you are about to trust some one with you website and your corporate brand here are a few simple tips to remember: . .Contracts .It takes time to achieve good results when undertaking an SEO campaign Most companies will require a contract but you need to ask the questions like “what exactly are you doing on a month by month basis?” and “when will I see results?” In other words, “what am I getting for my money?” . .Crazy Guarantees .This is quite simple there are NO guarantees in SEO SEO companies offering guaranteed rankings are liars Fact Don’t let people tell you “we are in partnership with Google” or “we are an affiliate of Google” because there not Quite simply they may be Google Adwords qualified or Analytics qualified - this does not mean they have a special relationship with Google and can get you higher rankings or traffic . .Questions to ask an SEO Company . .Who are some of you current clients? .Which is your most successful client and why? .What exactly will you do to make my site more visible in the search engines? .Do you use ethical SEO techniques? .What do you know about my business and do you know why my competitors are? .Which search engines will you target? .How long will it take to see results? .How will you track and report on my SEO Marketing campaign? .What do I need to do to assist you? . .To sum up, stay away from the slick sales man offering the world and his dog for 50 bucks a month and seriously think “are these people going to make an impact for such a small cost?”.
Source: www.rsstnx.com

Popular Myths in SEO
SEO is a science and should be treated like it, there is no wizardry involved at all even though there are a lot of ancient myths circulating It is honestly not that hard to do some serious research instead of trusting random people whose blog you happened to stumble upon If you still want to take someones word for it here is our top list of SEO myths . .1 Keyword Density .Since Altavista was the great dinosaur that roamed the Internet people have been talking about keyword density Some claim that you should have 3% keyword density, others say that exactly 5% of the text should be the keyword The truth is that keyword density is a myth, Google doesn’t care about it so why should you? . .2 Meta Keywords .Meta Keywords might have been something useful ten years ago but to be honest, the only thing Meta Keywords can do for you now is get you banned for keyword stuffing No matter how hard you work or how much time and brain power you put in to your meta keywords, you will never ever gain anything . .3 Pagerank .Every single SEO-rookie starts off by installing the Google Toolbar browsing more or less all of Internet to compare Pagerank on each and every site After that he or she will rush off and buy high PR links to get those top positions Ok, it might feel good to get some of that green in your sites bar but it doesn’t mean that you will get good positions Pagerank is old, it was useful once but a good link building strategy has nothing or very little to do with getting high PR links . .4 Validating your code .A lot of people actually believe that validated code will give you a better ranking For some reason these guys believe people are searching for code when they use Google The truth is that Google couldn’t care less, validating or not validating is not the question . .5 Traffic and click through rate .A very common idea even among more seasoned SEO experts is that the traffic and the amount of clicks you get will get you better or worse positions This works with Adwords, it has nothing to do with organic results Ok, it might in the future but if we are speculating what will happen in the future we might as well suggest biz domains . .6 Code to Text Ratio .The amount of code on the site compared to the amount of text could actually be a problem some time ago It is no longer though, Google has no problem seeing what part of it is text . .These myths can exist because people like you and me listen to the so called experts Instead of listening we should be testing it ourselves and my suggestion is that you don’t even take my word for it Set up a test and see for yourself .
Source: www.rsstnx.com

The Dark Art of SEO
Many of you will be aware of the sorcery that is search engine optimization This is a process that improves your search engine ranking and the amount of traffic that arrives at your website Now, we are not taking about turning prospective clients into zombies, SEO simply boosts your listings in organic search results My head is far too full of pretty pink things and kittens to understand Google dancing, spider trapping and spamdexing and therefore I do not practice this black magic, you will have to speak to my good friend “Google” Dave for it . .Once you have worked out the technical side of SEO wizardry you need to come up with the words for your site, which link to snazzy tools such as Google Analytics This is where I come in . .It is one thing to understand which keywords and key phrases that need to appear, it’s another thing to craft them into engaging and interesting copy Everyone can write a couple of paragraphs about their business, it’s their baby after all But unfortunately not everyone has as strong a grasp of the English language as they should Now don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we don’t have a nation of poet laureates as I’m rubbish at gas tungsten arc welding! . .The beauty of having professional copy writing produced on your behalf is that not only will you be relieved of the stress of slaving over a hot keyboard, but you can be safe in the knowledge that your website will get your prospective clients to act . .A major trick which many people miss when writing copy, is getting a prospective client to act, in marketing jargon this is known as a call to action With the best will in the world a beautifully crafted piece of text will reap no rewards unless it motivates the reader to do something Skilfully written copy can inspire, excite and entertain . .So, in a nutshell, remember kids, black magic should be left to the professionals .
Source: www.rsstnx.com