professional wordpress themes

Things Not Do With Your SEO Program

On April 25, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Your SEO program does truly require a patient person that understands not only the value, but understands that it is an effort that builds and grows over time. If your company is in an industry that is very competitive and already saturated you might have to wait a little while before you start to get [...]

Your SEO program does truly require a patient person that understands not only the value, but understands that it is an effort that builds and grows over time. If your company is in an industry that is very competitive and already saturated you might have to wait a little while before you start to get noticed as an authority figure.

In my opinion these are some of the important things you should NEVER do with your SEO program:

1. Don’t Get Frantic: When people get frantic stupid things occur. You get impatient and jump on the first email blast you get promising you the world and you spend money that could be allocated elsewhere and get almost no value in your purchase. Plus you could get your website unindexed from purchasing one of those spammy “marketing” techniques for your website as they usually involve links on very low powered resources.

2. Don’t Quadruple Your Link Building: Pumping out four times as much link building efforts thinking it is going to speed things up is not the answer either. Often times it won’t help you from a link building stand point and might trigger a red flag on the side of the search engines. You always want your SEO efforts to look and feel natural. Once you start to stray from that natural approach the search engines start to question your efforts. This is where things can go wrong for you.

3. Don’t Hire More Than One SEO Company: Going behind the back of your SEO provider and hiring another to speed things up is a disaster waiting to happen. This will end up in certain implosion so stray away from taking this approach. Put your trust into one provider.

4. Don’t Lean Towards Black Hat: At some point you might want to lean towards the black hat area. This almost always will results in total long term failure as well. Be patient and do it the right way. Once things start to work how they should you will be happy you waited.

Patience and quality for any search engine optimization campaign is key to a successful long term marketing approach. Don’t stray and be patient. Your efforts will kick in and work you just have to sit tight and bring in traffic to your website in other ways.

http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

An SEO Recipe is a Recipe for Disaster

On March 1, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

I saw a funny forum post this morning about a person asking the community in a an online marketing for the best SEO recipe. That person is already dead in the water right from the start. Let’s take a step back and emphasize how important taking a marketing approach really is when conducting a search [...]

I saw a funny forum post this morning about a person asking the community in a an online marketing for the best SEO recipe. That person is already dead in the water right from the start. Let’s take a step back and emphasize how important taking a marketing approach really is when conducting a search engine optimization campaign for your business or website. When you start off asking for a recipe for your search engine optimization program, you are really setting yourself up for disaster. Your search engine optimization should never look like a science project.

The search engines have been evolving since their birth many years ago. When they first came on the scene, instantly many highly technical “marketers” started manipulating the algorithm to get web pages to appear high up in search results. Search engines really dislike it when people do this. Over time they have consistently tweaked and changed their algorithm to get these people to stop manipulating the system to get their bogus web pages to rank. Some have disappeared and some have evolved to find new loop holes in the system. Remember that rankings alone do not generate business. Rankings are just one factor out of a basket filled with other marketing factors that should be utilized as well. Online shoppers are changing drastically. Over the last few years during the economic down turn many people have realized that they need to change their shopping behaviors. Many have already made the change in slowing down spending affecting the way people market their businesses. Making many technical sweeping changes to get your website to rank is not the answer you need. Online customers want to bump in your pay per click ad, they want to see you communicating with your audience online, they want to see you branding yourself and making at attempt to be visible in front of them in many different ways before they decide to call you or pull out their credit card to make a purchase on your website.

The evolution of the search engine and the relationship it has with online customers is rapidly evolving. You should not be looking for an SEO “recipe” but rather an SEO internet marketing plan to help grow your business. SEO and marketing together are very powerful. They create many multiple quality pathways and links pointing to your website that can really generate a great deal of targeted traffic to any website.

http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Win an Online Olympic Gold Medal

On February 14, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Having a successful online search engine optimization campaign is a lot like trying to win an Olympic gold medal. Nobody wakes up one day and says that they want to join the Olympics and it happens by the end of the week. SEO works the same way in the sense that things take time to [...]

Having a successful online search engine optimization campaign is a lot like trying to win an Olympic gold medal. Nobody wakes up one day and says that they want to join the Olympics and it happens by the end of the week. SEO works the same way in the sense that things take time to build and grow and patience and good hard work is what it takes to have a successful search engine optimization mindset and approach.

Below are some of the most important similarities between an Olympic gold athlete and a successful SEO campaign:
• Both require having a solid plan in place.
• Both require hard work and dedication.
• Both require patience.
• Both require outside the box thinking.
• Both require early mornings and late nights.
• Both require having a vision.
• Both require great sacrifice.
• Both require knowledge and education.
• Both require a competitive edge.
• Both require awareness.

Search engine marketing is not a fly by night marketing effort and neither is training for the Olympics. You have to have solid plan in place and the ability to put in hard work and dedication to get the job done right. If you want your website to be visible and highly trafficked you need to be able to apply some outside the box thinking to achieve your goals. Building an online brand doesn’t happen by the end of the week or even by the end of the month. The best approach is to put a plan in place that you continuously expand upon. Write it down! Visualizing your vision will allow things to move with much less friction. Constantly update your plan of attack. Research new areas you want to be visible and make it happen. Most importantly you must stick to it.

These are all similarities that are relevant across not just Olympic athletes and internet marketers but anyone trying to make a name for themselves in any industry. As an aspiring internet marketer we could all take a page out of an Olympic athlete’s playbook.

http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Take Time to Focus on Your Website First

On January 20, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Have you taken the time to analyze every piece of your website before jumping into your link building campaign? Your search engine marketing efforts won’t mean diddly if your website has not been correctly structured for traffic. Remember that your search engine optimization campaign and your website go hand in hand. What this means that [...]

Have you taken the time to analyze every piece of your website before jumping into your link building campaign? Your search engine marketing efforts won’t mean diddly if your website has not been correctly structured for traffic. Remember that your search engine optimization campaign and your website go hand in hand. What this means that all the marketing in the world won’t make you successful if your website doesn’t have the right foundation in place.

Remember that every page of your website should be looked at as an entry point into your website. The search engines do not rank websites, they rank web pages so every page of your website should have good quality content along with all conversion aspects fully optimized so that every visitor has all possible options to create or start an action with your website. Whether that be to pick up the phone and call, submit their info or make a purchase it is really important to have these aspects in place. Your website must always be 100% optimized before you worry about external links or social media. I know the idea of hopping onto Twitter and Facebook and sending people to your website is very appealing but you have to make sure the website is ready for people. Did your website just get out of bed and people are knocking on your door? Or is your website sitting in the den wearing its finest blazer ready to mingle with company? Ask yourself this before you start focusing on the other marketing efforts.

Not only is it important to be ready for website traffic but in order for rankings to occur online you must have a well optimized website. The search engines can see what your website looks like and what features it has on it. If you don’t fit into those parameters you will not be allowed into the party. To many times I see people spending a great deal of time on social media and link building and then their website has been neglected since day one. If you are unsure about your website you should speak with a professional to make sure you are not just spinning your wheels.

http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Things Not To Do With Your SEO Campaign

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

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

What to Ask When Interviewing SEO Firms

On November 19, 2009, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

If you are looking to hire an SEO firm for your next search engine optimization campaign, you’ll want to conduct extensive interviews. Don’t just interview one SEO firm. Interview several. And ask them all the same questions so you have a basis for comparison. But what questions?

At a minimum you should ask any potential SEO [...]

If you are looking to hire an SEO firm for your next search engine optimization campaign, you’ll want to conduct extensive interviews. Don’t just interview one SEO firm. Interview several. And ask them all the same questions so you have a basis for comparison. But what questions?

At a minimum you should ask any potential SEO firm you are planning to work with the following questions:

  1. What new SEO tactics have you added to your portfolio of skills within the last three months? – Search engine algorithms are ever evolving and you want your SEO to be as well. That doesn’t mean they should take unnecessary risks, but they should constantly be testing new tactics and strategies. This question is designed to uncover an SEOs current knowledge of those.
  2. Where do you think the SEO industry will be in 5 years? in 10 years? – A good SEO has a handle on where things may be headed in the future. If an SEO can answer the previous question with ease then he should be able to answer this question too.
  3. Have potential SEOs critique your website for strengths and weaknesses and provide you with a report for improving your site’s SEO. – This will give you a chance to see the SEO in action. Is he methodical? Does he approach the site with a plan or does he just pick random sections out one at a time?