http://searchconcepts.com
On April 28, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
The days of taking a cookie cutter approach to your SEO optimization are over. You need to be aggressive with everything you do now online so it is important to go above and beyond the typical cookie cutter approach when it comes to marketing your website online. You have to really test SEO efforts and [...]
The days of taking a cookie cutter approach to your SEO optimization are over. You need to be aggressive with everything you do now online so it is important to go above and beyond the typical cookie cutter approach when it comes to marketing your website online. You have to really test SEO efforts and try new things to see what might work better or worse. Every industry has a great deal of competition online so it is important to do everything you can to really stand out in your specific marketplace.
Try these efforts to help increase the effectiveness of your search engine optimization efforts:
Meta Tags: Meta tags are nothing new. You would not believe how many websites I come across where only 30 of the 60 recommended characters are being utilized. Out of those thirty a good portion is just a company name. There is a significant amount of room for improvement if only 30 are being used up. You want to maximize the 60 character limit for the meta tags and the 160 character limit for the meta tag descriptions. Don’t short change yourself by not maxing out these locations for keywords and useful text. Meta tags don’t create rankings but they do guide your website to the direction of the right audience so make sure you have a very strong emphasis on your meta information.
Profiles: Don’t just launch a business profile and walk away from it. Fill it with some nice raw data and information. You should have every field always filled in with something pertaining your business. That doesn’t mean to jam keywords into fields where it doesn’t pertain but fill in the information where it calls for it. Every piece of text within your business profiles is an opportunity for the search engine spiders to read so if you are going to spend the time to launch a variety of business profiles make it worth your time.
Social Tools: We all know that social media is a rather large beast and I am not going to sit here and tell you need to be a part of it but now that search engines are really starting to display rich snippets of social information in the search results it is important that if you are using the platforms you try to use keyword rich text to get your point across. Using filler text will not help your snippets reach search engine visibility if it should happen to make it into the search results.
SEO requires taking that extra step and really thinking about each and every move you are making in the search engines when marketing yourself or your business. Think outside the box and go that extra step and over time you will increase your potential to appear in search results.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On April 21, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
The online space grows more competitive each and every day and the importance of finding niches and certain areas to be visible in is becoming even more evident and important. If you are targeting a space that clearly has a great deal of competition it will be very important to go after the long tail [...]
The online space grows more competitive each and every day and the importance of finding niches and certain areas to be visible in is becoming even more evident and important. If you are targeting a space that clearly has a great deal of competition it will be very important to go after the long tail keywords as well as the broad to be able to achieve some sort of rankings fairly quickly. Being a new website in a competitive environment requires a great deal of time, patience and experience. Don’t expect to rank quickly going after the broader search terms. Long tail keyword phrases will be your friend so you have to use them.
The most important advise that I can provide for a new website or new business owner is to spend the time doing your keyword research! Keyword research should be based on the existing content of each page of your website, so conduct the keyword research after you write your content. This is a big mistake that I see many people make that are new to the search world. They sometimes write content to rank well in the search engines, your content should always be written with your audience(s) and visitors in mind.
Continuing on and about the long tail track here…The mindset of many websites is to try and rank for the broad keyword phrases to pull in the largest amount of search volume. When first getting involved in search with a new website you have to be realistic. Don’t be in denial when you first launch your website because you could potentially short change your business. Try to go after some of the low hanging fruit in your industry to get some new business and sales. This will allow you to pull in some new clients and build some quick credibility in the industry for yourself by wowing some new clients. As you build your reputation in the industry your website will slowly grow in power naturally and start to climb for the much broader keywords in your industry. Don’t assume that you belong in the search results for the broad keywords right away. You have to earn those spots and that takes time.
Like any industry you have to slowly pay your dues to achieve visibility and respect to achieve the high rankings in search results. Once you have that than you will see your rankings climb for the top industry keywords.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On April 12, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
Okay, maybe these social SEO tips won’t apply a year from now, but I had to come up with a catchy title for this post
Businesses large and small still struggle to find the connection on how to properly pull together SEO efforts and social media so they work well together to [...]
Okay, maybe these social SEO tips won’t apply a year from now, but I had to come up with a catchy title for this post 
Businesses large and small still struggle to find the connection on how to properly pull together SEO efforts and social media so they work well together to help grow a business online. The social space has only been around for a short time but users have already figured out how to block out any aggressive spam techniques that might be smacking them in the social communities. People are slowly becoming conditioned to view only what they want so the evidence of requiring a quality approach to communicate is even brighter now. A solid approach in the social space will strengthen your search engine optimization efforts from a branding standpoint. While helping you increase rankings and search exposure.
Here are some social SEO techniques that should be followed closely:
Monitor your Audience: Once you get onto your social network of choice pay close attention by monitoring your audience and see how they interact with each other. Pay close attention to what type of information individuals in the group share with one another. Try taking a unique spin on the current conversations to grab the attention of the group in a different light. If done correctly your audience will spread your word helping you generate great natural links in the search results over time.
Add to the Conversation: If you want to test the waters try adding to a conversation that has a great deal of discussion already. If you are worried about stirring the waters at first try adding something positive that is not to edgy in your industry. This will allow for you to get on the radar screen of your audience allowing them to recognize you even more when they bump into your other efforts that might stem from SEO efforts.
Don’t Be Negative: Nobody likes a negative nancy so keep it clean and positive. Everyone is there to communicate and learn from each other and if enough people learn from you eventually people will talk about you. When people start to learn enough from you they will quote you and mention you in other sources greatly strengthening your SEO efforts.
Search engine optimization is changing and absorbing other related online marketing efforts. Social media is very closely related to SEO and it is vital for all businesses to realize this. They go hand in hand and work more together now than they ever have. As time goes on the marriage between SEO and social media marketing will only grow stronger.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On March 18, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
Link building is that dreaded phrase that still to this day confuses the heck out of many people trying to figure out how to proactively market themselves online in the search engines. They hear from one source how they need thousands of links to start ranking and from another source they hear just quality links [...]
Link building is that dreaded phrase that still to this day confuses the heck out of many people trying to figure out how to proactively market themselves online in the search engines. They hear from one source how they need thousands of links to start ranking and from another source they hear just quality links gets the job done. So what is the right answer? In a perfect world you would have an abundance of good quality links pointing from only a variety of targeted authority industry websites.
Just building links for the sake of building links is not going to benefit you or the search engines. Links that sit on irrelevant websites can actually hurt you a great deal over time. A link sitting a website that is part of a blog farm is not going to benefit you in any possible way. If you are not sure what a blog farm it is a farm of blogs that a company will use to place links for clients or other websites in order to increase rankings. These blog farms usually have absolutely no strength or power in the search engines but appear to do so. Don’t assume that spending more money is going to get you more quality links. It is not about how much you spend but more so about how good your marketing message is. A promotion that gets your audience talking and bloggers writing will get you much farther than just purchasing a link on a website. Many different businesses take a variety of different approaches in the search engine marketing industry but purchasing links is very frowned upon. Buying a service that generates thousands of links for you is only going to create a mess of your online marketing approach and hurt you in the long run. How good do you really think those thousand links are going to be? Do you think they generate any value to your business?
Link building should always be done with a quality approach. A blog post on an industry related blog that is an authority in your industry is an example of a great link. A major business publication doing a write up on you for their online division is a great link. A “directory blaster” is a horrible way to generate links and should be avoided at all costs. Link building should be conducted using a strategy and a schedule and not with a number goal. A combination of a variety of monthly efforts is an approach that will help you climb in the search results over time.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On March 17, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
We are all sort of accustomed to seek out rankings for organic search only but there are actually many different areas of search other than just organic that is equally important for online business to be visible in.
Below are a few of the more important ones all websites should keep an eye on:
• [...]
We are all sort of accustomed to seek out rankings for organic search only but there are actually many different areas of search other than just organic that is equally important for online business to be visible in.
Below are a few of the more important ones all websites should keep an eye on:
• Image Search – Many search online everyday through image searches to find what they need. If you have a website or blog that uses a great deal of images it is important to optimize those images so that can rank in image search as well. Make the URL of the image friendly along with your image alt tag. Over time you will notice in your analytics information how many people will make it to your website just from using the image search feature.
• Video Search – This is an area that has seen explosive growth over the last few years and will most likely continue to see even more as time goes on. Take the time and make an effort to put out some sort of company video for your business. Prospects will enjoy seeing the video appear in search results. There are ways to get this done on a budget.
• Social Search – You know social search? The thing that everyone is buzzing about now? Well search engines are starting to really index online conversations so it is time to take your online conversation to the next step. Get your audience bumping into your conversations online.
• Real Time Search – Real time search is happening right now! The search engines are getting super fast so they index material very quickly. Are you adding useful material everyday for the search engines to gobble up?
These are just some of the more important areas of search to be visible in. The search engines are starting to evolve and offer much more to the end user so it is important for your brand and your business to be visible in all the different areas of search not just the organic. A few years from now we will most likely see this list grow even more so take advantage of it while it is just beginning otherwise you could find yourself spending a great deal of time and resource to make up for lost time down the road.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On February 10, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
Social media marketing should not be looked at any longer as a white elephant. Social media marketing is happening right now and all businesses need to understand the value and importance to incorporate it into their daily search engine marketing routine. You might think it sounds extremely difficult to slide in those efforts now but [...]
Social media marketing should not be looked at any longer as a white elephant. Social media marketing is happening right now and all businesses need to understand the value and importance to incorporate it into their daily search engine marketing routine. You might think it sounds extremely difficult to slide in those efforts now but you might be surprised as to how easy it really is.
Do you currently write in your blog at least once or twice per week? A blog is perfect way for a business to get involved in social media. As you write your blog posts do you do anything with them? If you don’t you could be missing out on some great traffic not to mention additional search engine optimization benefits for your website. Remember that the search engines see almost everything you do to promote your business so taking a robust social approach will help strengthen your websites power over time. By dropping the link to your blog post in your Twitter and Facebook page you open the door to a whole new type of audience and web user.
Does Twitter still scare you? It shouldn’t. All businesses should be using Twitter in some way. I don’t recommend spending your entire day using Twitter but 30 minutes to an hour everyday will help you get some great exposure online. Start by just following your competitor’s followers for now. This is a nice way to give them a tap on the shoulder and just let them know that you are there and that you exist. This way you can really test the waters with slowly incorporating social media into your search engine optimization efforts. Over time as you feel a bit more confident and advanced you can certainly ratchet things up quite a bit. Social media is not something to be scared of any longer. Every search engine marketing campaign requires you to take an approach that assists in targeting your online social audience. Why wouldn’t you want to be visible where your audience is already hanging out? Start by setting up the profiles completely and filling in all necessary information and over time increase the amount of efforts you incorporate from a social level and you will see your web traffic increase tremendously.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On February 3, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
Online personal branding and marketing helps not only your company search engine optimization, but also your own personal search engine optimization efforts. Whether you are trying to find a job or marketing your company, the bottom line is you should strive to build your name as a leader in your industry.
The following are some [...]
Online personal branding and marketing helps not only your company search engine optimization, but also your own personal search engine optimization efforts. Whether you are trying to find a job or marketing your company, the bottom line is you should strive to build your name as a leader in your industry.
The following are some low cost personal online branding resources to consider:
1. LinkedIn – If you have a LinkedIn account but haven’t touched it in many years now might be the time to get in there and really beef it up. If you don’t have one make the effort and launch one. Make it nice and robust by filling it up with every bit of information you can that will directly reflect your business. Utilize keywords that people might be using in the search engines for things like titles and descriptions. This will give you an opportunity to start ranking in search results.
2. Facebook – A Facebook account is a must. They often times rank extremely well in search engines so make sure it is appropriate and relevant to your business. Fill in as many fields as you can in order to make it clear on what type of service it is that you offer. Understand that if you are using your Facebook account for personal purposes, try creating two different accounts, one for business and personal. And whatever you do, please be careful of the types of things you post to your account if you are only using one account…everyone can see it
3. Twitter – Twitter will be a great place to not only be visible but bring in some new possible business as well. Same principals apply, launch an account and fill it out completely and start following people that are following your competition. This will get you on the map in front of your audience and over time they will start following you as well.
4. Blog – Launch a blog and start writing about your industry and your area of expertise. Once you start writing you will then be able to leverage your blog posts through the social media channels list above. Over time you will build a loyal following of readers and eventually some of those readers could turn into clients.
5. Profile Image – Make sure to use the same profile image throughout all your profiles. This way you can brand yourself even more for when people bump into your other profiles. They will be able to make the connection almost immediately if you keep your image consistent. Your face will be the logo of your business with social media.
5. Profile Links – Make sure you consistently add your company website (or cross link your other social networking profiles) throughout all of your profiles. Also, some social networking sites allow links of your RSS feeds, please be sure to add this in as it will help generate more visitors to your blog and website overall.
6. Portfolio - Depending on what type of business you have you should keep some sort of portfolio to showcase your work for other potential clients to see.
These are just some of the things you can do to market yourself online and help your online personal brand. Most don’t even cost any money they just require time and patience.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com
On January 11, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis
When you first start your search engine optimization campaign for your business website or if you are just in the process of learning, your head will most likely start to spin a little from all the information available online. It will be important for you to realize there are some efforts that are industry standards [...]
When you first start your search engine optimization campaign for your business website or if you are just in the process of learning, your head will most likely start to spin a little from all the information available online. It will be important for you to realize there are some efforts that are industry standards and some that are very much frowned up by all including the search engines.
Here are some SEO don’ts of things that you should not do (these are my white hat recommendations, you can always feel free to choose the path that you would like!):
1. Mass Directories: Did you come across an ad or software that will place your business into five thousand directories? This will not help you even in the slightest. I know the large explosive print on the packaging says otherwise but realistically there are only about 10 public directories that your website should be listed in that will give any SEO benefit. Some of the good directories that actually matter are, DMOZ, Yahoo! Directory, BOTW and Business.com to name a few.
2. Purchasing Links: It might sound like a great idea at first but eventually it could lead into much larger problems for yourself and your website. Buying links is actually prohibited by Google’s website guidelines so if you want to grow your website online the right way this is the wrong way. If you purchase a “link”, please invest in some sort of an online advertising instead that could generate visitors to your website that could lead to an increase of business.
3. Link Exchanges: Link exchanges is not something that is done proactively any longer. The only time a link exchange works the right way is when they occur naturally. Naturally means a blogger or website has decided to do a story or write up on your business or website and in return you have let your fans and audience know from your website. This is the correct way to go about this situation.
4. Flash: It might sounds nice to have a fluid motionless website that flash might provide but search engines have a very difficult time reading these types of websites so try to only incorporate certain elements into your website that are flash like a small image or your navigation.
5. Relying on Software: Software will not grow your business online, only you can grow your online business. There are great paid software products out there, but remember you need a brain to power that software. There are many human elements and factors that come into play when you start to think about how to market your online business that you simply cannot allow for software to take control.
5. Wasting Time: Understand if you have the time to learn search engine optimization properly. If you complete your ongoing SEO efforts in a haphazard manner the results will be poor. The bottom line is don’t waste time (or money) not doing it properly. You should either spend the time and do it right yourself or consider hiring a professional to build your visitors and sales from your SEO efforts.
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com