A Simple & Effective Keyword Strategy for Ecommerce Sites

By Karon Thackston

When it comes to ecommerce sites, there are plenty of keywords to choose from. Because sites typically follow a fairly set format, numerous pages are created between the home page and the order confirmation page. Those pages all need keywords and phrases if they are going to rank high in the search engines. So, how exactly do you choose the best keywords for each page? Here's an easy strategy to follow. (Please keep in mind that all keyphrases used in this article are for example only and have not been researched.)

Home Page - Broad Keywords

When you start out, use keywords and phrases that are descriptive of your overall site. For example, if you sold clothing for the entire family, you might opt for phrases such as "ladies clothing," "men's clothing" or "kids clothing." Those would be expressive, but could also be worked easily into the home page copy.

Think of the sales process as a funnel. It's broad at the lip and gets more narrow as you move closer to the spout. The same goes for the keyword strategy: broad keyphrases at first and more specific ones as the subject matter gets more specific.

Category Page - Specific Keywords

Once you move to the category pages, you'll want to select keyphrases that work well with what you're trying to describe in your copy. If your visitor clicks on the women's shoes category, she'll want to read about and see pictures of women's shoes. Perhaps you'll use phrases such as "fabric ballet flats" or "leather peep-toe pumps."

I typically create a paragraph at the top of the page, then add a descriptive sentence or two under each image. Sometimes, I'll also add a paragraph of copy at the bottom of the page. This helps guide your visitors through the sales process.

Product Descriptions - Long-Tail Keywords

The product description pages should incorporate long tail keywords that are laser specific. If your visitor clicked on a link for "Bermuda shorts" on the category page, you'll want to get as detailed as possible, so your customer can make the decision to buy.

For instance, a keyphrase such as "Liz Claiborne pastel plaid Bermuda shorts" would be perfect for a product description because it is. well. descriptive. Long? Yes, it is a long phrase. Most long-tail keywords will be. But the further into the sales process a customer gets, the more specific their searches will be. Chances are, someone who has decided she wants pastel plaid shorts will use a phrase like the one above instead of something like "Bermuda shorts."

Here's a plus: Because long-tail phrases are much less competitive than broader terms, you stand a better shot at getting ranked highly for them.

A Word on Linking

Here's where some copywriters get confused. When you use links in anchor text, you're giving credit to the page being linked to. For instance, if you have a category page for shorts, you would want to use the keyphrase "Bermuda shorts" in the anchor text of a link that pointed to the Bermuda shorts page. That way, the Bermuda shorts page gets credit for the link. The link would be of no (or very little) value to the general shorts page.

When you take note of the navigation and purchase cycle of your visitors, you begin to see why this simple strategy for keyword placement works so well. Using more specific terms as you write more specific copy helps usher visitors from the front door to the checkout counter with ease while also boosting your search engine rankings.

About the Author:

Get the latest release of Karon's popular ebook Writing With Keywords (formerly titled How to Increase Keyword Saturation). This new 4th edition includes 11 clever strategies for keyword optimization as well as the latest information about changes with how stop words and punctuation affect SEO copywriting. Order today at http://www.writingwithkeywords.com.

SEO For Local Markets

By Michael Francis

Many brick and mortar companies that are catering to their local clientele find it hard to SEO for local markets despite targeting the best keywords. Quite naturally this is not a surprising matter as many of them, although efficient in running their off line businesses, typically stumble over two critical blocks.

Stumbling Blocks and SEO for Local Markets

When local businesses set to do SEO for local markets, many of them invariably ignore the need to think rationally because they are advised by SEO experts to target the big three search engine users and sometimes get confused and tackle this feat on a global level resulting in global traffic. The direct fall out of this step is exposing your business offers, products or services
to the world at large only to dilute all other local online SEO efforts. If your product is not global you are in trouble. So here is the stumbling block number one.

1. Not using localized target keywords, however good they are, will leave your new websites way down the SERP's locally. Actual localized keywords you should be targeting in which will bring you a steady stream of natural traffic.

The second block where you might probably stumble, especially if you are new to web and optimization is wrongfully assuming internet marketing techniques as something radically different and for removed from the earthly- worldly affairs that we all do by trial and errors over and again. The crux of the matter here is SEO for local markets is only a small part of larger marketing exercises, with certain twists, to get exposure with local locations. Here is the second stumbling point in SEO for local markets.

2. SEO for local markets is not a marketing technique but a sophisticated local technique of optimizing websites on a local basis. Obviously, the one who knows the pulse of the market is not the SEO expert but can contribute his knowledge to SEO expert.

So, What Is Actually SEO For Local Markets?

Let me dash you through steps involved in SEO for local markets in short.

1. Localize your target keywords. This includes prefixing or suffixing local terms, names, and names of areas, cities or zip codes with target keywords. Example: "remodeling contractors Orange County", not "remodeling contractors".

2. Submit to local search engines (find one, if you don't know already), directories and web based yellow pages.

3. Display your mailing address with street address, zip code and complete. Once your site is indexed, these words gain prominence as a part of content.

4. Submit to local listing sections of Yahoo and DMOZ which is in addition to generalized listing.

5. Don't leave out general SEO techniques because you want to SEO for local markets which the power of link building which can be done globally as there might not be enough local sites to beat you competition.

6. Get on the local maps of Google, Yahoo, as this generally puts you on front of the local search engines.

7. Exchange links and banners with local businesses as the local traffic exchange will bring you new business. Avoid changing banners or links with competitors but exchange them with businesses that will complement you. Verify there traffic so it's a almost even exchange.

Dominating local SEO can be done fairly easy you just have to either hire a professional with a proven track record or take time to learn local SEO. The main concern is to be patent as it takes at least 3 months to start seeing results.

About The Author:

Michael S. Francis the author is a SEO expert for local businesses. Michael S. Francis is the owner of http://www.seovida.com a search engine optimization company that has worked with fortune 500 companies optimizing their sites. Go to the site now to freely subscribe to a free local SEO class.

What Is Organic SEO?

By David Odgen,

Before we can understand what organic SEO is, we first need to understand just what search engine optimization is itself. When many people hear the words "Search Engine Optimization", the phrase is enough to scare them off. In the next paragraph we will try to put those people's minds at ease with a simple explanation.

Search Engine Optimization is a process of choosing the most appropriate targeted keyword phrases related to your site and ensuring that this ranks your site highly in search engines so that when someone searches for specific phrases it returns your site on tops. It basically involves fine tuning the content of your site along with the HTML and Meta tags and also involves appropriate link building process.

The most popular search engines are known as "The Big Three". These search engines include Google, Yahoo, and MSN Search. Search engines keep their methods and ranking algorithms secret, to get credit for finding the most valuable search-results and to deter spam pages from clogging those results. A search engine uses tons of different factors while ranking the listings where the factors themselves and the weight each carries may change continually. Algorithms can differ so widely that a webpage that ranks #1 in a particular search engine could rank #200 in another search engine.

Brand new sites don't necessarily need to be submitted to search engines to be listed. A simple link from a well established site will get the search engines to visit the new site and begin to spider its contents. This is itself, a form of Organic SEO. It can take a few days to even weeks from the referring of a link from such an established site for all the main search engine spiders to commence visiting and indexing the new site.

If you are unable to research and choose keywords and work on your own search engine ranking, you may want to hire someone to work with you on these issues. One of the most important factors in gaining very good results with Organic SEO is in the keyword research itself. Some people tend to think that this crucial part of the process doesn't matter that much, but, if you end up competing with millions or even billions of other search results you will had wished you learned more about this important step

Search engine marketing and promotion companies, will look at the plan for your site and make recommendations to increase your search engine ranking and website traffic. If you wish, they will also provide ongoing consultation and reporting to monitor your website and make recommendations for editing and improvements to keep your site traffic flow and your search engine ranking high. Normally your search engine optimization experts work with your web designer to build an integrated plan right away so that all aspects of design are considered at the
same time.

For the most part, the companies that provide work for their clients only participate in getting the sites good ranking with Organic SEO practices. It's really not worth it for these companies to be using what are know as "Black Hat" practices, as it would only hurt the reputation of their business in the long run.

About The Author:

Davin Ogden runs several successful web sites on the internet. It you would like to learn more about Organic SEO and more helpful information please visit his site at
http://www.davinatorbiz.com.

Optimizing For The Masses

By Dan Mercurio

You write your content effectively, you follow what you believe are the "Golden Rules", you watch how and where the content is placed on pages and yet you seem to not be able to get your web site ranked highly enough no matter what you do. You do your research and find yet more information that you feel may be attributing to the issue and start all over once more trying
ever more to overcome the problem without success.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies have been trying for years to figure out the magic behind what the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN are looking for when determining whether your content and what you are doing with your web site merits moving you up in the ranks to allow your website to show anywhere close to the top 10 or 20 spots that are valued so highly.

If we look back over the years, we find that there were specific search engine optimization techniques and practices specific to each of the major search engine players. For one it might be something as simple as, placing two repetitions of every keyword side-by-side in your meta keywords tag. In another it might have been something as simple as place your text on the
page in a font size and color that was overly readable and started in the upper left of the page.

Today, there has been some consistency brought to the table and the majority of SEO can be done with the same rules and standards in mind. A few easy to remember techniques such as
using keywords appropriately, adding more static and easily crawled text, and promoting sites through social networks, and directory services have made things much easier across the board
for everyone. A lot of people still have questions and concerns about which engines they should target and why some search engines seem to work better for them than others.

What has been found is that beyond the obvious (on page content and web site design), other factors too can effect if and how you may get ranked. The age or newness of a site as an example can keep a site from being ranked at all, let alone moving up in the ranks. The type of content and the relevancy to the business or services being promoted will play a large part in this as well.

Most recently, due to the acceptance of Blogs, social networking sites such as MySpace and other sites that promote online interaction and postings, the avenues and approaches for getting a web site noticed has changed. Utilizing some industry accepted and search engine friendly techniques, one can very quickly get their web site noticed, indexed by the major search
engine players and ultimately starting the ever sought after goal of being ranked high on the board.

So as the times change and lifestyles and social networking and blogs grow even more, the job of search optimization will always need to be reviewed, but staying in touch with these changes will allow this process to work in a very positive way and to the benefit of everyone concerned.

About The Author:

Elite Search Engine Marketing is an http://www.elite-searchenginemarketing.com SEO company. We can administer a quality search engine marketing campaign for you as we have for http://www.doverhonda.com Southern Maine Honda and http://www.autoservtilton.com Nissan New Hampshire.

Blackhat SEO: Protect Yourself by Recognizing The Bad Guys

By Bill Platt

Over the years, webmasters have been told that they should want to avoid Blackhat SEO techniques in connection with their own websites. In general, I agree with this statement. But, by obtaining a deeper understanding of Blackhat search engine optimization, one could actually learn a bit about how to better his or her own positioning in the search engine results.

White Hat vs. Black Hat Search Optimization

Whitehat and Blackhat SEO is a comparison that is a take-off from the old cowboy westerns, where the good guys always wore white hats and the bad guys always wore black hats. So, in theory, we can assume that Whitehat practitioners are the good guys of SEO, and Blackhat practitioners are the bad guys of the industry.

But, the truth is a little bit more opaque than this. SEO is never a pure "white vs. black" issue. Just as in Mad Magazine's "Spy vs. Spy" series, sometimes the white spy whipped the black spy, and vice versa, sometimes the black spy was victorious.

In theory, Blackhat SEO is the type of search optimization that will eventually get your website banned in the search engines. And sometimes it will.

But, it is truly fascinating to me when I visit a website such as http://www.blackhatseo.com/ and discover the world-renowned SEO expert Aaron Wall owns the website. In case you were not aware of it, Aaron Wall is the owner of the SEO Blog at http://www.seobook.com/ and is recognized as one of the world's foremost leaders in SEO technique.

Blackhat SEO Is A Learning Opportunity

To me, the study of opposites offers a greater understanding to mankind.

* One cannot know "altruism", until one learns about "selfishness".

* One cannot truly appreciate "wealth", until they have experienced "poverty".

* One can never declare something "easy", until they have faced something truly "difficult".

* A "slow" driver will seldom be noticed, until which time the "fast" driver passes them by.

These are the philosophical ramblings of Bill. ;-)

I have always argued that in order to see the light, one must be able to recognize the darkness. And that is why when I am told to avoid something; I go right to it, so that I can see what it looks like, for the sake of being able to recognize it.

So, whenever I am in the mood to learn more about SEO, I search out Black Hat SEO forums and websites to learn how to recognize the dark, when I am in the light.

After all, if you cannot recognize the dark side, how do you expect that can you protect yourself from it?

There Are Always Two Sides To Every Story

Remember when your grandmother always told you that there were always two sides to every story? Well, my grandmother did, and I like to believe that everyone had a wise old grandma to help them find their way in life.

White Hatters teach us how to do things the right way. Black Hatters teach us the wrong way to do things. And as my grandmother used to be fond of saying, "the truth is somewhere in the middle."

For example, White Hat web programmers teach us how to install Captcha scripts on our websites to keep the spammers at bay. Then the Black Hat web programmers come along and teach the spammers how to break Captcha software (http://www.blackhat-seo.com/2008/how-to-break-captchas/). And as Grandma used to say, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The White Hatters try to teach us good programming technique and to present us with safe protection from spammers. And the Black Hatters teach us how to break the coding. You and I are in the middle, and by seeing the world through two sets of eyes (white and black); we can find better ways to protect our websites. Our websites are only as safe as the intelligence level of the programmers who try to protect us. If the bad guys are smarter, we lose. If the good guys are smarter, we rest safe in our protection schemes.

Some Black Hatters even call what they do Grey Hat SEO. One that I really like is called http://www.SlightlyShadySEO.com They did a post about the little fun pill and the folks who push it. They referred to it as a keyword that will give a lot of insight into how Google is combating the spammers online: http://www.slightlyshadyseo.com/index.php/some-insights-from-the-buy-viagra-results/

The previously mentioned post spoke at great length about the people who spam forums. We all despise these guys who trash up our favorite forums, and Slightly Shady exposes why our forums are always on the spammer's target list.

As my grandmother said, "the truth is somewhere in the middle." The little pill Black Hatters play an expensive game with the Google results, but at $2 commission per little pill, no wonder.
But now that we understand what is going on, we know that we need to make sure that we keep our own forums clean of this trash, to protect our Trust Rank. We also know that one slam is not the end of the world for us, if we are quick to clean our own houses. But, if we cannot keep our houses clean, the Google will stop coming by to visit, for the exact same reasons why most girls
avoid visiting bachelor pads.

Light Sources Are Always Brighter When We Stand In The Dark

One of my favorite television personalities, Carl Sagan said, "The exploration of the cosmos is a voyage of self discovery."

This quote reflects the reason for my voyages into the light side and dark side of SEO. I study Whitehat SEO and practice the same. I also study Blackhat SEO to understand what is defined as the opposite of Whitehat SEO practices. By seeing what is dark, I can better see what is in the light.

I am comforted in knowing that I will never be pulled blindly into the dark side with Darth Vader. ;-) To quote from the Bible, "The blind will lead the blind into a ditch." Now that my eyes have been opened to Blackhat SEO, I will never stumble and fall as I fish for better rankings in Google and the other primary search engines.

About the Author:

Bill Platt has been providing article marketing to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article writing success that can be found at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html

Read his blog at: http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/

SEO ROI vs Other Marketing Mediums

By Toronto SEO Guru

Every type of business needs to showcase their product or service to their discerning customers in order to induce or motivate purchase. Purchase yields profit, and profit produce Return on Investment or ROI. The core objective of any business is to achieve the best return on their investment.

To obtain the best results, businesses should have a well-defined business plan supported by an appropriate budget. Having these tools put in place, the next question will be the venture to employ the available budget for optimal results. Do you choose SEO as your primary medium or would other more traditional mediums yield better results?

The purposes of marketing are diverse. These include revenue generation, increasing market share, influencing preference over other brands, building brand equity and building brand awareness among other things. Studying competition from all its angles including the marketing communication strategy adopted by them will guide you through the process of investing your marketing budget into the right medium.

Your prospective customers face a bombardment of advertisements through various media in their daily lives. They are naturally inclined to filter out most of it before arriving at the buying decision. To really stand out from the crowd, you need to be extremely different and of course have a huge advertising budget.

Why not make things easier on yourself and follow the logical step of placing your marketing message where the customer is already looking for it? This is the logic that racks up huge points for SEO versus traditional marketing mediums.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO scores over almost every other medium in terms of ROI. To understand the reason, it is essential to have an overview of how search engines work and how to get the best out of them.

When a customer decides to buy goods or services, he or she uses the Internet search engines to provide the customer with the information on the quality, pricing, warranty, after sales service etc, of the particular product. More often than not, the customer will be provided with a list of several thousand web sites with the information he or she needs.

In effect, most individuals will look at the first ten or 15 sites for the information they need. When they are finished with the 10-15 sites, their buying decision would have been finalized. Getting into the first 10 to 15 positions is what SEO is about and several tools are available to achieve this.

The global character of the Search Engines affords you the opportunity of your product/service being accessible to customers round the clock all through the year. The numbers that an SE optimized website can provide in terms of sales and profit will naturally be several times higher than any other media or perhaps all of them put together.

The limitations of time zones, language, overbearing influences (like positioning in a magazine) are absent in the case of search engines. You will no doubt have to spend a decent sum of money to get your marketing message optimized for search engines. This would not only be an investment for a very long time to come. Rather, it would also bring you the best Return on Investment at a fraction of the cost of traditional mediums.

About The Author:

Toronto SEO http://www.searchengineoptimizationtoronto.com/ SEO services provider in Toronto Ccanada

The Mythical Google Sandbox And How To Escape It

By Bill Platt

With an article title like this, it almost seems like I am playing the fool, by telling you something doesn't exist and then telling you that I will show you how to beat that thing I said does not exist. Maybe I am the fool, or maybe, I have something valuable to share with you today. You be the judge.

I Don't Believe In The Google Sandbox, Dragons or Unicorns...

I was browsing the Digital Point forums earlier, when I came across this quote:

"The Google Sandbox is something that people either believe or don't believe. It usually means that within the first 6 months - 1 year you won't get a lot of love from Google." -
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=8286280

I saw the quote shown above and I had a good laugh. Yes, many people believe in the existence of the Google Sandbox, and I am not one of those people. I place the "Google Sandbox" in the same category as the leprechaun... they both make a neat children's story, but I see no truth in either.

What Is Google Love?

Google love is the imaginary "feeling" that Google has for the websites in its index. The more Google loves a website, the higher that website will rank in the Google search results.

No matter how many search results Google shows for a particular search term, Google will only show a maximum of 1,000 website listing in its search engine result pages (SERPs). However, few people, except nuts like me know that as you go to each consecutive page in Google's SERPs, the actual number that Google is willing to show you gets smaller with each additional page visited.

For example, I just did a search on the keyword phrase "Google Love". My default Google settings are set to 100 results. When I first typed the search phrase, Google showed 68,300,000 results, and Google shows me that I can look at ten pages of results. But, when I get to the tenth page in Google's results, there are only three listings. Google only loves 903 web pages for the search term "Google Love".

Google has told us that they attribute value to a web page, based on the number of inbound links that page might have. Google Love primarily comes from link popularity, which is derived from inbound links.

The Suggested Lifespan Of The Google Sandbox

I see the "sandbox" as being a term that some person working in SEO derived to explain why so many of his client's new pages appeared in Google's search results for about one month, before the pages disappeared into the deep recesses of the Google index.

In absence of a better explanation, some SEO person coined the term "Google Sandbox" to explain to his or her customers why a page disappears from the Google index and stays missing for months or years.

According to those who preach the Google Sandbox theory, the lifespan of the Sandbox is six months to one year. That is a lifetime when you are running an online business.

The Life Curve Of A Web Page

Google's algorithms rely heavily on inbound links to determine the value of a web page. But a brand new web page has not had the opportunity to attract any inbound links, because after all, it is a brand new web page. So Google gives new web pages the benefit of a doubt.

News stories are a good example of web pages that may very well be important to the world-at-large, but its importance cannot be determined by the number of inbound links available to that page.

As a result, all brand new web pages on the Internet are given an intrinsic value by Google, as if the pages housed a news story. But what was important thirty days ago, will not necessarily be important today. So news stories are given early value and then their value fades with time.

Once the news cycle is completed, the web page will slide down to where it deserves to be according to the normal Google algorithms. This often means that a new web page will disappear
into Google oblivion (or the theoretical Google Sandbox), if after 30 days the page has not generated any link popularity of its own.

After The News Cycle, All Normal Rules Apply

We have all heard it before. The way to get a web page to rank in Google is to build link popularity for the web page.

And how do you build link popularity for a web page? Build inbound links to that web page, of course.

Once the news cycle is done, a new web page must compete with every other web page, based on Google's normal algorithm.

What If A Page Could Develop Link Popularity In 30 Days?

What if you were able to build inbound links and therefore link popularity for a web page, before the news cycle runs out? That would be a twist, wouldn't it?

Personally, I know for a fact that if you can build link popularity on a page, within the news cycle window, that this new page will not fall into the dreaded and mythical Google Sandbox. The page will not fall into the Google Sandbox at the end of the news cycle, because the page will have already accrued some link popularity within Google's primary algorithm.

You Are The Master Of Your Own Domain

As the master of your domain, you get to choose how long a page is sandboxed. Most people don't realize they have that kind of control, but with smart link building, one can prevent a web page from entering the sandbox. Or, if the web page does slip into the sandbox, the smart online marketer can bring a web page out of the mythical sandbox in days or weeks, instead of months or years. The beauty of this truth is that you define the time line for when a web page exits the sandbox, not Google.

I Boast That I Can Prove It To You

I built a new page 16 days ago (June 10th, 2008) that is holding page one results in Google against 200,000+ websites, with my Blackhat Fish SEO Contest entry.
(http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/whitehat-vs-blackhat-fish- for-links-or-die-trying/2008/06/10/)

Now, one could argue that I am still in the news cycle for this web page, so in another two weeks, my page could disappear from the Google results. But, I have built so many inbound links to this page that I fully expect that when the news cycle is done, my page will remain outside of Google's mythical sandbox.

I Challenge You To Test My Results

Test my proof by checking back here in a couple weeks, or even in four weeks or six. If I am right, you will be able to click this link to Google's search results for the keyword phrase Blackhat Fish (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=blackhat+fish), and you will be able to see my page title on page one or two of Google's search results: "Whitehat vs. Blackhat: Fish For Links or Die Trying".

I say page one or page two of Google's search results, because I would be surprised if I actually won the competition. However, if I am still in the top20 results for the search key term after July 10, 2008, then I will have proved to you that anyone can beat the sandbox, if only they exercised the right strategy for escaping the sandbox ahead of the end of the news cycle.

I have actually pulled this off with three web pages in the last 60 days. The above listed example is just one of many examples I could show you as proof of concept here. But for brevity's sake, I am only including the one example here.

In Conclusion...

You can accept my analysis as sound, or you can call me the fool. It does not matter to me which you choose. If you want to believe that the Google Sandbox really exists to thwart your online business, then more power to your fears.

For those of you who have found my words worthwhile, let's meet next Saint Patrick's' Day to share a green beer and a laugh.

About the Author:

Bill Platt has been providing article marketing to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article marketing strategies at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html

Read Bill's blog at: http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/

Keywords Are King For A Home Based Business

By Kelly Walker

There are many diverse sales tactics that people use in the promotion of their online business, but there is virtually always one thing that ties all of these tactics together. Every single successful home based business is successful primarily because somewhere in that method there are keywords that make the approach work. When it comes down to it keywords determine almost everything possible on the internet and that is exactly why when it comes to the land of online internet marketing and home based business keywords are king.

The Significance of Keywords

Why are keywords significant to a home based business? Well it all has to do with internet search engines. Try to think about how many times you have been interested in a particular topic, and as a result you have gone online and used a particular search engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN? If you are like the majority of people that have used the internet, the answer is quite frequently. Although there are some people might exclusively search the online encyclopaedias and other similar products, the vast majority of internet users will use search engines to look over the millions and millions of online sites. When you take into account the amount of internet users all over the world this amounts to hundreds of millions of people conducting billions of searches each day. The phrases that people submit to search engines when looking for items that relate to your online business should be the same as the keywords that you use on your website. If your keyword placement has been done correctly it will ensure that your website is directly linked to search engine results. It is for this exact reason that when it comes to home based business success, keywords are king.

Plan of Attack

It is always a good idea to have an implementation plan for your keywords before you begin to set up your home business website. The best way to put together the plan is to first think of all the keywords that are directly related to the website that you are building.

For example, an all inclusive website on affiliate marketing would greatly benefit from keywords like "work from home" and "make money online". Once you have compiled your list the next
thing you need to do is run those keywords through keyword tools to ascertain the volume of searches per month conducted on each keyword set and rank them accordingly. Then, brainstorm a list of synonyms for your keywords and search for those. It is preferable to have at least 100 keywords that relate to your website before you formulate your plan of attack. By carefully following this process you will most likely find that you will end up with a lot more.

Search Engine Optimization

An important segment of your attack plan has to revolve around placing your chosen keywords into places on your website where they will attract the attention of the search engines. The procedure for doing this is known as search engine optimization. In essence Search engine optimization means getting important keywords that relate to your home based business into the titles and sub-titles of the website pages that you have as well as making sure that keywords are sprinkled throughout the text in appropriate percentages. This process, although easy to learn the basics of, is very difficult to master. If you are putting together your own website, it is a very good idea to learn the basics of search engine optimization.

About The Author:

Kelly Walker is a successful internet marketer and the owner of http://reklaws.com. Kelly writes on a variety of topics on buisness and marketing. To learn more about this topic and other ways to make money online Kelly recommends you subscribe to her free newsletter at: http://www.reklaws.com.

SEO Basics in 45 Minutes

By Kalena Jordan

As most people who read this newsletter will know, Jill Whalen is a pioneer in search engine optimization. Nicknamed the First Lady of Search, Jill founded the site HighRankings.com in 1995. Today High Rankings has grown to be one of the pre-eminent SEO companies in the US. Jill's company is dedicated to educating its clients and sharing its knowledge with the industry at large through the High Rankings Advisor newsletter, the High Rankings Forum and her in-house seminars.

In her presentation for Webstock 2008, Jill gave the audience a 45 minute tutorial in SEO Basics. First up, Jill discussed what SEO isn't. Some of the most common SEO myths she exposed included:

PPC Myths:

• PPC ads will help organic rankings


• PPC ads will hurt organic rankings

Tag Myths:

• you must have a keyword-rich domain


• you must have keyword-rich page URLs


• heading tags are necessary (H1, H2 etc.)


• you need to use keywords in meta keyword tags, in particular you need to use keywords that are included in your page content. Jill says that it's actually better to use the keyword tag to include misspellings and other keyword varieties that you don't have in your pages.


• using keywords in comment tags will hurt your rankings.

Content Myths:

• page copy must be a certain percentage of words. Jill actually made up the 250 word limit a few years ago and it's stuck, but there is really no set limit to please search engines.


• that you need to bold/italicize your target keywords.


• that you must use a specific keyword density. Jill says that keyword density tools are ridiculous.


• that you must optimize a page for a single keyword or phrase per page. Instead, try to optimize each page for 3-5 phrases that are related, so that your copy reads better than repeating one phrase over and over.


• that you need to optimize for the long-tail searches. You don't generally need to optimize for these - engines will find them on their own.


• duplicate content will get your site penalized. There is not a penalty as such, but engines will filter out duplicates in lieu of the original copy (or what they think is the original).

Design Myths:

• your HTML code must validate to W3C. Not even Google.com validates!


• your navigation must be text links not images. Surprisingly, graphical navigation is fine as long as you use ALT tags.


• you can't use Flash. It's fine to use Flash, as long as it is one element of your page, not a complete Flash site. Use a text-based site too if using a Flash site.


• certain design techniques are black hat. Javascript code is legitimate, not just used by black hats.

Link Building Myths:

• that Google's link: command is accurate. It's not a useful tool. Use Google Webmaster Tools or the Yahoo link command instead.


• that reciprocal links won't count. From the right site, reciprocal links are fine, even very helpful.


• that pages are ranked in PageRank order in the search results. They're not. Google Toolbar PageRank is not accurate anyway so ignore it.


• you must be in DMOZ or Yahoo Directory to get good Google rankings. In Jill’s opinion, the Yahoo Directory is not worth the money these days.

Submitting, Crawling and Indexing Myths:

• that you need to submit URLs to engines. Provided you have a link to your site, you will be found and indexed.


• that you need a Google Sitemap. Not needed for the average site. It won't change your site rank.


• that you need to update your site frequently.


• frequent spidering helps rankings. Not true


• that you need multiple sites. This won't help in the engines and creates more maintenance work.


• that you need doorway pages. Jill says this is so 1995!

SEO Company Myths:

• that a #1 ranking will always lead to more traffic or sales. The good rankings need to be for keywords and phrases that people are actually searching for.


• that the company can place pages in certain positions. Not possible, unless they're using Pay Per Click or sponsored spots.


• that your rankings will tank if you stop paying the company. Rubbish!


• that they have a "proprietary method" of SEO. They're lying!


• that they have a "special relationship" with Google. Again, they're lying. Google has no relationships with organic SEO companies that Jill is aware of.


• that they can increase your rankings without doing any on-page work. Run away!

Next, Jill defined what SEO is. Her definition of SEO is "making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines". She made the point that search engines need to:

• Find


• Crawl


• Index


• Determine relevancy


• show results

So you should keep these top of mind when designing and SEOing your site.

Jill also made the point that search engines don't know you. So you should disclose what you sell and who you are in plain language that naturally incorporates the keyword phrases. Dumb down your pages for users. What search engines want is good content. If you're not getting good traffic from your pages, they're broken, she says. In a nutshell, make sure your pages speak to your target audience and solve their problems.

Jill then discussed how to choose keywords to target on your site. She recommended brainstorming with friends, family and business colleagues and creating a seed list of keywords. Then take that list and run it through keyword research tools such as WordTracker or Keyword Discovery and even Google AdWords to determine the best keywords and phrases to target.

Jill says there are three types of keyword phrases:

1. General and highly competitive terms - not good choices.


2. Long tail - uncompetitive terms - generally no need to SEO for.


3. Relevant and specific terms, which are the best to choose because they highly searched, yet are targeted enough to bring qualified traffic.

Next, Jill explained where to put your keywords. She recommended putting them in:

• anchor text


• clickable image alt attributes (alt tags)


• headlines


• body text copy


• title tags (Don't make your titles less than 10 words, she says.)


• meta description tags

Jill finished up by teaching the group how to measure SEO success. She said that high rankings are not the best measure of success because you might be ranking for phrases nobody is searching on. Instead you should be looking for increased targeted traffic to your site and more conversions. Use your web stats to give you the clues as to whether your site and your SEO is working.

As for the future of SEO, well despite the rumors that SEO is dead, Jill doesn't think that the big engines will switch to exclusively paid listings any time soon. In her opinion, there will always be some free ways to get listed so there will always be a need for SEO. In the same vein, a crawler-friendly site will always get good results and off page criteria (e.g. links) will always be important.


About the Author:

Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.

Should You Change Your Copy When Rankings Fall?

Article By Karon Thackston

I've been on a seesaw for the last year. I have a client who, for almost 12 months, has been asking me to rewrite their home-page copy because they dropped from the top 10 to position #11 (the dreaded second page!). My question to her was always, "Is your copy still converting the way you want it to?" She answered yes every time, to which I advised, "Leave the copy alone."

"But what about my rankings?"

"Is business suffering?"

"No, we're swamped."

"Leave the copy alone."

"But it's over a year old. Don't you think it needs to be refreshed?"

"Is your copy still converting the way you want it to?"

"Yes."

"Leave the copy alone."

We'd have this same discussion every 3 or 4 months. Some people just get hung up on being in the top 10, and their tunnel vision can cause them to make decisions they otherwise would not make. Others think that, because they are tired of seeing their website copy, others are too. This is usually not true.

My suggestion was to enhance her linking campaign with some quality articles through an article distribution campaign, but to leave the copy alone since it was still doing its job. Search engine positioning isn't the whole ball of wax. Getting top 10 rankings shouldn't be your primary goal. Attracting and keeping more business is what it's all about. If that means using search engine optimization as one tool, so be it. But too many times, website owners bow to the SEO gods and sacrifice conversions and their best business sense all for the sake of saying they are #1. Not advisable, if you ask me.

I am happy to report that, after holding at #11 for many months, this company's site is now back in spot #5. While we can't say with any certainty that it has driven any more business to their site than being at #11, the managers are quite pleased.

Never Change Your Copy?

Is this my advice in every case where rankings drop? No. There are instances where you do need to change your copy if your rankings decrease. Ask yourself (or your client) these questions:

1) Are conversions suffering?

If you're experiencing a decline in conversions, by all means take a look at your copy. It might need some help. But keep in mind that decreasing conversions may also be due to a new and more complicated shopping cart, recent design changes that impaired usability for your visitors or a dozen other reasons.

2) Have products or services changed?

If you have products or services to add or remove, certainly you'll want to change your copy to reflect that.

3) Has business fallen off?

If, due to the decrease in search engine positioning, you've tracked a definite lag in business, then yes, you'll want to make an effort to gain the lost rankings back. But, changing the copy isn't the only way to do this. If you answer no to the other questions, I'd leave the copy as-is and opt for an article distribution campaign first.

4) Other than hoping to appease the SEO gods, is there any other reason that the copy mandates changing?

If the answer is no, don't change the copy.

With all of the above, if the answer to each question is no, leave the copy alone.

There are as many reasons for your positioning to change as there are days in the month. Guessing at and trying to adjust for mysterious shifts usually does little good. Plus, while you're chasing the golden ring, you may be losing sales.

About the Author:

Learn to write emotionally driven SEO copywriting with Karon's Step-by-Step Copywriting Course at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Read Karon's copywriting blog at http://www.marketingwords.com/blog.

What To Do When Your Website Does Not Rank Well In Google

Article by Bill Platt

Online marketers frequently struggle with the question of how to compete when Google fails to look positively upon a particular website. In this article, I will focus on how to build rankings and drive traffic to your website, using Google and the other search engines.

What Motivates Google's Algorithm

Over the years, many have tried to claim, even in court, that Google was unfairly keeping their website out of the top of Google's search results. But, the truth is that Google is not beholden to the needs and desires of the webmasters who want to be on page one of Google's natural search results.

Instead, Google is beholden to its stockholders and its need to earn profits. Google has determined that the best way to keep profits high is to keep Internet users flocking to its websites. Google accomplishes that by giving its users the kind of information they are looking to find, and Google weights its search algorithm towards what Google believes its search audience wants to see in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

It is important for online marketers to understand that it is not always in Google's best interest for our websites to rank well in Google.

How Important Is Google In Search?

Worldwide, Google is currently providing 78% of all searches
(http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=4).

But in 2007, Google only provided 52% of my website's total search traffic. Yahoo, Windows Live, Ask, and MSN provided the next 42%. The remaining 6% of my website's search traffic came from another 55 smaller search engines.

On my website, only 48.8% of my 2007 traffic actually came from search engines. The remaining 51.2% of my website's quarter million visitors came directly from article placements on other websites, recommendations from other people, forum posts, and from people who have bookmarks for my website.

Tips For Ranking Well For Specific Keywords

It has been my experience that it is easier to rank in 1) MSN / Windows Live, 2) Yahoo, and then 3) Google, in that order. Quite frankly, I have always ignored the role of Ask in the search market. While MSN is the easiest search engine to rank in, it only delivered 4.6% of my total search traffic in 2007.

I read a question in a forum, where the poster was asking how he could get his website to rank well in Google for the search term, "software".

The truth is that it is nearly impossible in nearly every search engine to rank well in the natural results for such a singular keyword, such as "software". In a nutshell, if you want to rank well in Google, you need to build inbound links (IBLs) to your website with your targeted keywords in the links.

But, you don't want to put all of your links together with one keyword phrase. One of Google's red flags is when they notice a link to a particular website appearing more than 60% of the time with one specific keyword phrase.

Utilizing a variety of long-tail keywords will actually serve you better in the search-engine ranking puzzle, in more ways than one. After all, when I do a search for software, I don't type in the search word, "software". I type in search phrases like: "accounting software", "small business accounting software", "windows software accounting small business", "windows image
editing software", "windows software image editor", "window xp photo album manager", etc.

People searching the keyword "software" have yet to figure out that they are looking for specific kinds of software. Once they do an initial search, they are going to type in more specific search terms to find what they actually want. So, once you start targeting a variety of long-tail keyword phrases, then you will start seeing more success in your search marketing efforts.

How To Start Your Search Engine Optimization Journey

If you are wanting to get into the natural search results of Google and the other search engines, you must know before you dive into the project that getting good rankings in the search engines for your chosen keywords can take a really long time, before you begin seeing results.

While inbound links to your website, targeted to your chosen keywords, will help your website climb in the search results of your favorite search engines, it may be a frustrating journey.

Your competitors want to rank well for the same search terms you do. And since only ten of you can be on page one of the search results, you may have to work really hard to topple those guys already on page one of the results, and you will have to fight to keep your ranking once you get it.

There are some keyword phrases that are nearly impossible to rank for, even if you have really deep pockets. For example, most every keyword phrase for the financial industry will be extremely difficult to rank for in Google. Competition in this industry is fierce, so achieving top search rankings will be tough to say the least.

This is the reason why so many SEO experts encourage marketers to target "low-hanging fruit". It may be fairly easy to rank well for a four- or five-word search phrase, and extremely expensive to target a two- or three-word search phrase.

My personal approach has always been to rotate through a list of more than 100 target keyword phrases, over a longer period of time. In doing so, I capture a lot of low-hanging fruit quickly, and at the end of the loop, I am a bit closer to snagging the fruit in the upper branches of the tree. At the end of my list, I analyze my keywords again to see where I am strong and to see where I am still weak, and then I begin the process again. (According to SEOdigger.com, I have better than 950 keyword phrases in the top twenty results of Google.)

How To Get Links

The challenge most people face when they begin building links to a website is where to get those essential links.

Article marketing is my chosen method for getting inbound links.

Because of Google's news feed strategy, the initial placement of your article might appear immediately in the SERPs, but then it will disappear. During the news cycle phase of the Google algorithm, new materials are given an added boost in ranking. Once the news cycle is done, any new pages will sink back down to where they would be based on the general Google algorithm.

If you are honest with yourself, you know that every page on the Internet started life with a PageRank Zero, but given enough time, many pages will gain in PageRank, as they begin to be linked. For a more detailed look at the process of how reprint articles gain value for a website in Google's search index, see my article about "Fishing for Links in Google" at:
http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/whitehat-vs-blackhat-fish- for-links-or-die-trying/2008/06/10/

Utilizing article marketing as a link building method, I have put one website on the map in as little as eight weeks, with only three articles. This website has one #1, one #2, eight results on page one, and twelve results in the top twenty listings of Google. Most of those keywords also rank well in Yahoo and MSN.

On the other hand, on my main website, I started looking at the keyword phrase "article marketing" just eighteen months ago, when my website sat at #79. Today, my website sits at #12 in Google for that keyword phrase.

I believe that given enough time, investment and commitment, I can use article marketing to elevate any web page on the Internet to multiple page-one listings in Google. But, not everyone is willing to make the kind of investment and commitment one needs to get to the top of Google's search results...

What To Do When You Need Results Now

If you simply cannot wait as long as it takes to build top rankings naturally, then you need to look seriously at Pay-Per-Click advertising models, such those offered through Google Adwords (http://adwords.google.com) and Yahoo Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com).

About the Author:

Bill Platt offers Article Distribution and Article Ghost Writing services through his website at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com He has written an ebook that has been designed to help people create more effective articles. One customer said of his ebook, "I've read almost every ebook out there on article writing and article marketing and this one tops it all." To learn more about Bill's ebook or to get your own copy, please click this link: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html

Write For Robots Write For People

Article by Andy Crestodina

Without good web copy, the best team of designers andprogrammers in the world can't help you. The goal is good writing and a clear, concise message that speaks to the target audience.

But let's assume that you already have that: Maybe you're re-purposing some amazing copy that you've used for another medium—a print piece, perhaps. How can you adapt it to work well online?

If you want people to find you, you have to speak to search engines. But if you want them to stay, you have to speak to people. Writing for search and writing for visitors are often competing endeavors.

Write for people

Think of how you look at a newspaper: skim headlines, take inthe first few sentences of interesting articles, and if anopening captures you, read on to get to the meat of the piece.

Feature journalists and copywriters often strive to evoke emotion and pique your curiosity early on. Once they've captured your attention, they develop the central themes of the story.

Web writers, on the other hand, structure content in a sort of inverted triangle: meat first, details later. Why the stark contrast?

Well, think of how you look at web sites: Click, glance, click, scan, read a little, click, next page, click, click. Your eyes quickly gather an idea of what the page is about, your brain decides if you're interested, and then you read a bit or move on. The entire process takes only a few seconds.

To support this quick-to-click behavior, web copy should be easy to scan and understand at a glance. It should include plenty of:

* Bulleted lists (like this one)
* Captions
* Headings and sub-headings
* Bolding
* Short paragraphs
* Links

Write for robots

If you're concerned with your rank in search engines, this next part's for you. Targeted web content is one of the keys to successful search-engine optimization (SEO) . There are 3 basic steps for creating web copy that will boost your search position:

1. Research the optimal phrases for your business
2. Select your keywords through careful analysis
3. Show your relevance with optimized copy

Let's look at an example: Say you're creating a site for your Chicago-based knitting store. To show search engines that you're relevant, you'll have to boost your keyword frequency — which means that you might have to bend the rules of writing for people.

Ideally, your key phrase will appear 5 – 7 times in the body text of the page (links and headers don't count here—although your keyword should definitely appear there as well). So you start with this:

"Learning to knit is easy. Just sign up for our convenient classes."

But, since "knitting classes" is the target phrase, you change it to this:

"Knitting is easy to learn when you sign up for our convenient knitting classes."

In the first case, "knitting classes" never appeared as acomplete phrase. In fact, the word "knitting" didn't show up at all. As a bonus, "knitting" appears twice in the revised sentence.

True, the first example sounds better. But if you're competing for search-engine ranking, you're better off with the second version.

Ready for a real challenge? Work the word "Chicago" into the page 5 – 7 times—and keep it next to "knitting classes" if you can. This is where it gets tricky. After all, you might lose visitors if your copy is too clunky and repetitive, like this:

"It's easy to learn knitting in Chicago if you sign up for Chicago knitting classes."

Or even worse: "A new class of Chicago knitting classes is now available in Chicago for those interested in a knitting class."

This is called keyword stuffing, and I don't recommend it. It goes too far. Instead, spread out your phrases so the text makes sense for humans. This is easier to achieve if you have a few hundred words on the page. (After all, search engines love text-heavy sites.)

It's all about striking a balance. Don't sacrifice your message for your rank. Instead, focus on getting people to your page and keeping them there with targeted, concise content.


About The Author:

As a principal and strategic director at Orbit Media Studios, Andy draws on his knowledge of marketing, usability, and interactive design to lead strategic planning for the firm and its clients. Orbit specializes in web, print, and video design & development http://www.orbitmedia.com .

Usability and SEO - Red Light, Green Light

By Kim Krause Berg

Another article has appeared on the topic of SEO and Usability and how these two different skill sets benefit each other. The latest, Usability and SEO. Which comes First?, written for Search Engine Watch by Eric Enge, caught my eye because he wrote:
"What I want to emphasize here is one key point: Usability comes first, and SEO comes second."
It's funny to hear that statement coming from a professional SEO.

In the late 1990's, when I offered search engine optimization services, I didn't get the call for help until the web site was launched and swimming for dear life in the search engine pool. In those days, there were lots of search engines. SEO came last, after the design and after people were intended to use it. If they ever found it, that is.

During the past ten years, acceptance by companies to work search engine marketing techniques into their web site pages has vastly improved. User centered, persuasive design, on the other hand, are still whispers in the wind. Will it take another ten years for usability and accessibility to be as justified as marketing a web site property?

What opened my eyes was working in user interface design and discovering that usability came last, AFTER SEO. It was always a pleasant surprise to hear someone on the design team inquire about image alt attributes or fuss over page title tags. Unfortunately, I realized they only knew these things mattered because some of my design team mates owned their own personal web site businesses on the side. It wasn't something the company demanded for itself. They were just lucky the web site designers had their acts together.

User centered design still gets shoved around. As it makes its way into the world of search engine marketing, the experience reminds me of the game "Red Light, Green Light". The caller yells, "Green light!" and everybody runs forward, willy nilly, confident, trying to get to the finish line first. Then, the caller shouts, "Red light!" and suddenly everyone stops. Frozen. They have to hold their position. They can't breathe or giggle, as they wait for their next instruction.

Corporate Blinders

I was recently part of a conversation whereby a man was describing his company's future plans. Presently, they sell products online locally and are now moving into a neighboring country. After this, they plan on going global.

As he describes it, they have no usability person in the entire company. They have search engine marketers. But, they have no idea how to sell online internationally. They don't understand what browsers are popular outside the USA. They don't know how to make forms usable for global customers. User behavior and habits vary by culture, even down to how web pages are read. They assume their present website will work everywhere. I see this constantly and wonder how some corporations survive with such tunnel vision.

Usability is misunderstood and therefore, not even considered a worthwhile investment until sales stop or worse, a lawsuit appears by someone unable to use the site.

It's Not Who Goes First

Whenever I see phrases like "Usability is first, SEO is second" or "SEO is first, usability is second", or "SEO doesn’t need usability", I don't agree with the competition this sets up.
Both disciplines are vital to the air your web site breathes. They are equal sides of the same lung.

Usability, accessibility and search engine marketing practices are united partners because they're focused on the web site visitor. We can all walk up to these customers and shake their hand together.

About the Author:

Usability Consultant, Kimberly Krause Berg, is the owner of UsabilityEffect.com (www.usabilityeffect.com), Cre8pc.com (www.cre8pc.com), and Cre8asiteForums (www.cre8asiteforums.com/). Her background in organic search engine optimization, combined with web site usability consulting, offers unique insight into web site development. Copyright 2007 Cre8pc.com. All Rights Reserved. Reprint rights by Permission of the Author

Using Differentiators in Keyphrases: What Every Search Engine Optimization Company Needs to Know

As any good search engine optimization company knows, in search, more so than any other medium, you have a very short window of opportunity in which to engage your prospect. The only way to get a solid competitive advantage in this arena is to utilize various techniques in order to make sure that you are giving a prospect exactly what it is that he or she is looking for. Otherwise, your prospect will simply click the back button and visit one of your competitors – a process that only takes seconds.

One way to gain a competitive advantage, of course, is to work on the website itself. Any search engine optimization company worth its salt will also be involved in conversion testing on your website – in other words, making certain that the visitors who arrive on your site are likely to take a point of action that eventually leads to a sale. Split tests, modifications in content, different color schemes, and numerous other variable elements can all have a measurable impact.

There is also another way that a quality search engine optimization company will seek to maximize the value of the prospects that find your website through search engines. In this case, however, it is using your company differentiators in the keyphrases that they target to make sure that the traffic that comes to your site is of a very high quality.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage with Differentiators

As more and more companies turn to organic search to gain a competitive advantage while promoting their products and services, it can be increasingly difficult to achieve high rankings for the generic terms that everyone in your industry is pursuing. While any ranking is ultimately attainable, eventually a search engine optimization company has to decide whether the effort involved is worth it, especially when it recognizes that you can get overall better results from the campaign by making sure that a very high percentage of people that are typing keyphrases into search engines are looking for exactly what you offer.

This is why your search engine optimization company should be able to leverage differentiators in your keyphrases to give you the best competitive advantage available.

What Keyphrases Will Work Best for Your Business?

Suppose that you are in an industry where companies can have a wide array of prices, approaches, customer service levels, and so on. Instead of targeting, from the outset, the general keyphrase that defines the industry (for example "email marketing"), a good search engine optimization company will take the time to help you gain a competitive advantage by realizing what is different about your company in order to a.) attract very highly targeted prospects who know what they are seeking and b.) reduce the competitiveness of the keyphrases they are choosing.

Let's take a look at a high-end provider of email marketing that has advanced web-based functionality and focuses on the B2B market. This fictional business is seeking a competitive advantage by working with a search engine optimization company. We can safely assume that the percentage of people that type "email marketing" into a search engine who are looking for this exact type of company is anywhere from between 0 and 100%.

By looking into the popularity of other variations, however, we can see that it is nowhere near 100%. Phrases like "cheap email marketing" or "free email marketing" are very popular, demonstrating that many people seeking "email marketing" are not looking for exactly the service that the provider is offering.

Imagine that instead of targeting "email marketing", a daunting task (that, even if achieved, assures that a high percentage of visitors that come to the site are not looking for the provider's particular type of solution), the search engine optimization company takes advantage of the provider's differentiators. In this case, the search engine optimization company would instead target phrases such as "business to business email marketing" and "web-based email marketing". Suddenly the two objectives have been achieved - the provider knows that a much higher percentage of visitors that are typing these terms are actually looking for the right kind of company and the competitiveness of the phrases has also been reduced, leading to faster and higher rankings.

Using Modifiers to Give You the Edge

There are hundreds of modifiers that can give a competitive advantage by reflecting a company's differentiators, including words such as "free", "affordable", "high-end", "full service", "proven", "turnkey", etc. The point is that by making use of your unique differentiators in the search terms you target, your search engine optimization company is already setting the table for your prospect before he or she even clicks over to your website. When the message that is seen on your site then supports the keyphrase that was typed, you now have an engaged visitor. This can mean more leads, less site abandonment, and better overall website performance.

Conclusion

Remember, your company is better than the others out there. Ask yourself why, and then tell your search engine optimization company to take advantage of these differences in your keyphrases to give you a competitive advantage in your industry. The subtle addition of a few seemingly minor modifiers can have a huge impact on your bottom line.


About the Author

Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue, which was named the number one organic search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld in 2006 and 2007. Scott has contributed content to many publications including The Complete Guide to Google Advertising (Brown, 2008), Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet, WebProNews, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue serves local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, DS Waters, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee based on your goals and your data.

How to Start Your Own SEO Business

This article is for those of you who are learning search engine optimization (SEO) or working in the field with a view to starting your own SEO business or on-selling your services as an SEO contractor or freelancer.
Planning and Preparation

First up, you need to think about what type of SEO services you are going to provide and what type of goals you would like your business to achieve. You’ll need to prepare a business plan and answer questions such as the following:

· Will I require finance?
· What are my long and short term goals?
· How will I market my business?
· Who are my potential customers?
· Who are my competitors?
· What services will I offer?
· What should my business / trading name be?

Getting Started

Next, you need to decide how to set up your business structure. You’ll need to answer questions like:

· How will I structure my business? Will I be a sole trader? A partnership? A company?
· Will I need to hire staff?
· What taxes will I be liable for?
· Do I need to create a business bank account?
· What type of business stationery/marketing materials do I need?

Your Workplace

A key component of your new business is its location. Ask yourself questions such as:

· Do I need to rent commercial office space or serviced offices?
· Can I work from home?
· Can I claim home office expenses?
· Do I have a dedicated workspace?
· Can clients access my workplace easily?
· Do I need to purchase equipment or furniture?
· Should I buy a desktop or laptop computer?
· Do I have adequate room for extra staff?
· Can I set and stick to reasonable working hours?

Tools of the Trade

In the SEO business, there are quite a few “must have” tools of the trade that you will find indispensable. Some of these are huge time-savers and others are vital if you run an online business. These include:

Hardware

· At least one desktop computer with plenty of memory and hard drive capacity
· Broadband, ISDN or Wireless Internet connection
· Separate phone/fax lines
· A cell phone and/or palmtop
· A reliable fax machine or PC fax software*
· An answering machine*
· A printer / scanner / copier*
· A file cabinet / desktop filing system
· A large desk with drawers
· A comfortable, ergonomic office chair

* There are a large number of product manufacturers that offer a combination of all these elements in the one machine.

Software / Tools

There’s plenty of tools and software available to help the busy SEO / SEM operator. Here are some of my favorites:

· Freshbooks Invoicing and Timesheets
· Keyword Discovery
· Proposal Kit Proposal Creation Software
· ClickTracks Log File Analysis Software

You’ll find other tools and software in my articles 20 Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools and 20 MORE Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools.

Subscriptions

· Search Engine Watch
· The Search Light
· Search Engine Marketing News
· High Ranking's Advisor
· Search Engine Report
· Search Day
· Marketing Pilgrim
· Pandia


Books / E-books

· Search Engine Visibility
· The Nitty Gritty of Writing for the Search Engines
· Ring Bell For Service Usability Report


Memberships

· SEO Consultants
· SEO Pros
· SEMPO


Open for Business!

When you’re ready to start business, you need to spread the word about your business and start dealing with clients. You’ll need to address things like:

· What domain name should I buy?
· Can I design my own web site?
· How will I market my business online?
· How will I promote my business offline?
· What are my short and long term marketing goals?
· What clients do I want to attract?
· How will I invoice clients?
· How do I want clients to contact me?
· What type of client contract do I need?

Getting Clients

Finding clients can be difficult for new business start-ups. You haven’t yet developed a reputation and you have no clients to vouch for the quality of your services. Here are a couple of suggestions for attracting new clients:

· Ask friends and family if they need or know of anyone seeking SEO services.
· Approach your favorite charities and offer to do some pro-bono work in return for publicity and use of their case studies.
· Join SEO industry organizations like the SEO Consultants Directory.
· Spread the word you are open for business.
· Hang out at SEO forums and chat rooms offering free advice.
· Commence a PPC campaign targeting persons seeking SEO services.
· Optimize your own site so you rank high for SEO related searches!

Other Considerations

· Having a watertight contract
· Having a professional services proposal (e.g. Proposal Kit)
· Business and indemnity insurance

Keeping Clients

Once you have your clients, keep them happy. Try to address these issues:

· How can I provide the best customer service?
· How can I solicit client feedback on my services?
· Should I offer a satisfaction guarantee?
· Is my contract client-friendly?
· How can I reward my best clients?
· What can I on-sell to my clients? (Would you like fries with that?)
· Do I want to give my clients corporate gifts?
· How should I regularly keep in touch with clients?

Working in the SEO Industry

The SEO industry is a strange beast. It’s growing enormously fast, due to the boom in search and so the demand for search engine optimization services is huge. However it is also plagued with a bad reputation, thanks to a handful of fast-talking, money-grabbing companies claiming to be SEO experts and taking advantage of web site owners with little knowledge of how search engines work.

For this reason, if you choose to work in the SEO industry, you may come across some skepticism and doubt from clients who have been burned by shoddy operators in the past. You’ll need to work extra hard at overcoming client fears and proving the value of your services.

But as long as you truly know what you are doing, can prove the ROI on your services, educate your clients about the SEO process, use ethical business practices and follow the guidelines set down by the search engines, you should build up a good reputation quickly.

Here are some resources that will help you in this direction:

· Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008
· Writing Useful Articles That Readers Will Love (Finding Your SEO Niche)
· Google Information for Webmasters: SEOs
· Questions to Ask Before Hiring a SEO Company
· Selecting a Search Engine Optimization Company
· What SEOs Expect From Their Clients
· Working Well With Your Search Engine Optimization Firm
· Let Your Trusted SEO Do Their Job
· Search Engine Optimization

Getting Help

Even if you’re a seasoned pro at search engine optimization, there’s always something more to learn. Occasionally, there will be times when something has you completely baffled or you don’t quite know how to handle a particular client situation. That’s when you need a little advice or guidance from your peers.

The following forums are popular hang-outs for persons in the SEO industry. Whether you’re a novice or veteran, you’ll always learn something new, make new friends and possibly even get new clients by visiting regularly and contributing your time to the webmaster community:

· Cre8asite Forums
· SEO-News Forum
· High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum
· SearchEngineWatch Forums
· Webmaster World
· Search Engine Forums
· SitePoint Forums

Growing Your Business

After you’ve been in business for a while, there comes a time when you’ll need to decide whether to expand and take on more and more clients or to cap your growth capacity and turn down new projects. Here are some things to consider when that time comes:

· Do I want to expand my business?
· Do I really need more clients?
· Can I hire more staff?
· Should I take on an admin person or virtual assistant?
· Should I take on temporary or contract staff?
· Can I outsource some aspects to specialists?

Pitfalls to Avoid

Here are a few common pitfalls to avoid when running your own business:

· Don’t fail to create a business plan and update it regularly. Small businesses don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.
· Don’t let bad creditors get away with it – always chase overdue invoices before they cause a cash-flow problem and make sure your Terms of Trade are clearly available on your site, on your invoice and in your proposals.
· Don’t get caught up on administrative tasks. Delegate them where possible so you can concentrate on your clients and your business.
· Don’t forget to communicate with your staff regularly. Make use of collaboration software to manage your client projects effectively.
· Don’t take on more clients than you can handle.
· Don’t discount your services if you can help it – recognize the value of your knowledge, time and services.
· Don’t lose sight of your goals – spend at least one day per week on marketing and business development.
· Don’t spread yourself too thin. It’s better to let someone else handle a client than do a poor job of it yourself.
· Don’t become a workaholic, make sure you work reasonable hours and take regular vacations with your family.
· Don’t burn-out. Keep asking: Am I enjoying myself? Remember to have fun!!


About the Author:

Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.

Using Differentiators in Keyphrases: What Every Search Engine Optimization Company Needs to Know

By Scott Buresh

As any good search engine optimization company knows, in search, more so than any other medium, you have a very short window of opportunity in which to engage your prospect. The only way to get a solid competitive advantage in this arena is to utilize various techniques in order to make sure that you are giving a prospect exactly what it is that he or she is looking for. Otherwise, your prospect will simply click the back button and visit one of your competitors – a process that only takes seconds.

One way to gain a competitive advantage, of course, is to work on the website itself. Any search engine optimization company worth its salt will also be involved in conversion testing on your website – in other words, making certain that the visitors who arrive on your site are likely to take a point of action that eventually leads to a sale. Split tests, modifications in content, different color schemes, and numerous other variable elements can all have a measurable impact.

There is also another way that a quality search engine optimization company will seek to maximize the value of the prospects that find your website through search engines. In this case, however, it is using your company differentiators in the keyphrases that they target to make sure that the traffic that comes to your site is of a very high quality.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage with Differentiators

As more and more companies turn to organic search to gain a competitive advantage while promoting their products and services, it can be increasingly difficult to achieve high rankings for the generic terms that everyone in your industry is pursuing. While any ranking is ultimately attainable, eventually a search engine optimization company has to decide whether the effort involved is worth it, especially when it recognizes that you can get overall better results from the campaign by making sure that a very high percentage of people that are typing keyphrases into search engines are looking for exactly what you offer.

This is why your search engine optimization company should be able to leverage differentiators in your keyphrases to give you the best competitive advantage available.

What Keyphrases Will Work Best for Your Business?

Suppose that you are in an industry where companies can have a wide array of prices, approaches, customer service levels, and so on. Instead of targeting, from the outset, the general keyphrase that defines the industry (for example "email marketing"), a good search engine optimization company will take the time to help you gain a competitive advantage by realizing what is different about your company in order to a.) attract very highly targeted prospects who know what they are seeking and b.) reduce the competitiveness of the keyphrases they are choosing.

Let's take a look at a high-end provider of email marketing that has advanced web-based functionality and focuses on the B2B market. This fictional business is seeking a competitive advantage by working with a search engine optimization company. We can safely assume that the percentage of people that type "email marketing" into a search engine who are looking for this exact type of company is anywhere from between 0 and 100%.

By looking into the popularity of other variations, however, we can see that it is nowhere near 100%. Phrases like "cheap email marketing" or "free email marketing" are very popular, demonstrating that many people seeking "email marketing" are not looking for exactly the service that the provider is offering.

Imagine that instead of targeting "email marketing", a daunting task (that, even if achieved, assures that a high percentage of visitors that come to the site are not looking for the provider's particular type of solution), the search engine optimization company takes advantage of the provider's differentiators. In this case, the search engine optimization company would instead target phrases such as "business to business email marketing" and "web-based email marketing". Suddenly the two objectives have been achieved - the provider knows that a much higher percentage of visitors that are typing these terms are actually looking for the right kind of company and the competitiveness of the phrases has also been reduced, leading to faster and higher rankings.

Using Modifiers to Give You the Edge

There are hundreds of modifiers that can give a competitive advantage by reflecting a company's differentiators, including words such as "free", "affordable", "high-end", "full service", "proven", "turnkey", etc. The point is that by making use of your unique differentiators in the search terms you target, your search engine optimization company is already setting the table for your prospect before he or she even clicks over to your website. When the message that is seen on your site then supports the keyphrase that was typed, you now have an engaged visitor. This can mean more leads, less site abandonment, and better overall website performance.

Conclusion

Remember, your company is better than the others out there. Ask yourself why, and then tell your search engine optimization company to take advantage of these differences in your keyphrases to give you a competitive advantage in your industry. The subtle addition of a few seemingly minor modifiers can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

© Medium Blue 2008


About the Author

Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue, which was named the number one organic search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld in 2006 and 2007. Scott has contributed content to many publications including The Complete Guide to Google Advertising (Brown, 2008), Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet, WebProNews, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue serves local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, DS Waters, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee based on your goals and your data.

All Search Engines Love Spiders: How Meta Commands Can Help You Love Them Too

By Scott Buresh

Nearly all search engines utilize spiders (which are also known by their original name, robots) to go out and scour the web looking for web pages. These search engine spiders then bring the data back to be indexed by the engine.

Since roughly 1996, individual meta commands have existed that can be used on individual web pages to modify how these search engine spiders behave. The most useful of these commands are fairly universal and respected by almost all search engines. What follows is a list of some of the more popular spider commands and instances in which you might want to use them. (Please note all <> have been replaced with [] for publishing purposes).

[meta name="robots" content="index"]

This meta command is one of the most common ones used – and it is also the least necessary. It tells search engine spiders to come on in and put the page in their indexes. However, all search engines do this by default anyway. Basically, if you want to put it in there for fun, be my guest, but this command is not giving you any special treatment. All search engines are going to index your page, unless you specifically tell them otherwise.

[meta name="robots" content="follow"]

The follow command is different from the index command. It basically requests that the search engine spiders follow the links that are on a particular page. Again, however, this piece of code is completely unnecessary because all search engines are going to follow the links on a page, unless otherwise directed.

[meta name="robots" content="noindex"]

The noindex command, the opposite of the index command, tells search engine spiders not to index the content of a page. It’s important to note, however, that search engine spiders will still follow the links on a page that uses only this command.

When not used for legitimate purposes, this tag can be dangerous because it can put you at risk for penalization by most, if not all search engines. This is because you can use a noindex tag to hide pages with multiple links that you don’t want visitors to see but that you do want all search engines to index.

There are, however, some legitimate uses for the noindex command. For example, if you have a dynamic site, and you’ve created static pages to replace some of your dynamic pages, which can make them easier for search engine spiders to access, you could put a noindex tag on the dynamic version.

As Google mentions in its Webmaster Help Center:

"Consider creating static copies of dynamic pages. Although the Google index includes dynamic pages."

About the Author:

Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue, which was recently named the number one search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld. Scott has contributed content to many publications including Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet, Organic Rankings, WebProNews, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue serves local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, DS Waters, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee based on your goals and your data.

Advanced Link Checks

By James Mahony

You should be able to find several indispensable facts about SEO in the following paragraphs. If there's at least one fact you didn't know before, imagine the difference it might make.

View the source of each and every page: is there JavaScript and CSS on the page? Remember that spiders may not index pages that have more than 10k or so of JavaScript or CSS embedded in them. Spiders don't enjoy getting tangled up in JavaScript. So as a general rule you should avoid putting out prompts and alerts using JavaScript every time that a page loads. Because of this rule, it is also wise to avoid link partners who do so on the pages that they link to you from. If anything looks fishy, it probably is.

CSS won't give you many problems. If you are going to use CSS, it is best to link to it from another source. Create a separate CSS page and use the tag to work it into the head of your HTML. This method will keep your file size down considerably, and since you will probably be using the same CSS on several pages, decrease your bandwidth usage. Normally a large quantity of CSS within the document isn't indicative of any suspicious behavior on the part of the linker. If you feel that you are, indeed, suffering from the fact that the site uses such an excessive proportion of CSS on the page itself, suggest to the webmaster that he/she may want to create an external CSS document and link to it in his/her header.

Check that you're still on the domain you clicked on a link to, and you haven't moved to another site or a subdomain. Some people will move you to another domain while telling that's their site and your link is there, relying on you not checking the address bar. This trick is all too common and happens to folks who are new to SEO every single day. This sad fact will continue until people begin to catch it every time.

If you don't have accurate details regarding SEO, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don't let that happen: keep reading.

If the domain has changed, delete your backlink to the site in question immediately and then email the webmaster with your complaint. If the webmaster does not fix the problem you may
even want to request that they remove the link as the site may wind up discredited as a link farm or some such thing that you do not want to be associated with for fear of being banned from many popular search engines with technology used to combat link farms.

On a related subject, when you check your back links, make sure that these links appear in legitimate places. If the site is completely dedicated to linking to other sites and doesn't seem to be a directory or something similar you will want to get your link removed as soon as possible. There is no time when one link is worth the risk of being permanently banned from any popular search engine. Aside from the traffic that you will lose from that one search engine, you may wind up "red flagged" so to speak. It seems to be common practice among search engines that
if one finds faulty activity the rest seem to find out soon afterwards.

Overall, if it seems dodgy, leave it alone. It's better to sacrifice one link in caution than to destroy your site's rankings by accepting one you're not sure of. There are hundreds of situations aside from link farms that can and will give you trouble. It would be impossible to list every scam as there are people who make their living (or seem to anyway) in creating and executing these scams. Whenever there is a new form of "SEO" technology that "can't fail," you should watch out because it is almost guaranteed to blow up in your face. The only truly powerful and guaranteed method of SEO is to make your site valuable to your visitors and then let it fall where it may in the realm of the search engine.

It is difficult, after you have optimized your pages and submitted them to search engines and directories, to sit back and wait, but there is not much that can be done aside from attempting to accumulate links from good, solid places. The work that you have done is bound to pay off sooner or later as long as you stay honest. When it comes to the world of SEO, honesty is, indeed, the best policy.

When word gets around about your command of SEO facts, others who need to know about SEO will start to actively seek you out.

About The Author:

James Mahony is the founder of http://www.searchmama.com - A site dedicated to Search Engine Optimization SEO Tips http://www.thedomaintycoons.com
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