Entries Tagged as 'SEO'

Website Ranking: Important Factors

April 5, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Many factors determine how well your website will rank on the search engines. Unfortunately, a lot of these factors can vary greatly depending on who you talk to. SEOmoz has released version two of their search ranking factors, where they ask many leading professionals the same questions, allowing you to compare their answers side by side.

Here is their list of the Top 10 Positive Factors:

The Power of a ReDesign

March 1, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

A few days ago I wrote a post over at Wildfire Productions, How A Simple Re-Design Can Increase Traffic and Sales. The article points out the benefits that can come with a simple redesign. From design, to development, and content to search engine optimization, everything about the site was redone with great success. Popoyo Rental is now listed on page 1 of Google, Yahoo, and MSN for many of its keywords.

Check out the article in full length for a thorough breakdown of what we did for each aspect of the site.

Technorati Tags: website design, website development, online marketing, blogs, blogging

How to Write Blog Posts to Increase Search Engine Traffic

February 19, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Businesses put a lot of time and energy into website development, design, blogs, and search engine optimization. These elements need to be implemented into a website in order for it to be indexed and perform well on the search engines. But once youâ€™re done, youâ€™re not really done, youâ€™re just beginning. Since you were wise enough to implement a blog into your website, you can now utilize this feature to create content that is going to increase your search engine traffic and exposure.

The nice thing about writing blog posts to boost your search engine traffic is that a lot of the thought process has already been developed while constructing the foundation for your website. Hopefully, you took the time to carefully research the keywords that are targeted on each particular page of your site. All you need to do now is write your posts with those keywords in mind and direct your links to those pages. It can be really simple if you organize your website design and development and plan everything out.

Hereâ€™s an easy formula to follow:

You chose to target keyword A for page2.html in the development of your website, use that formula when you are thinking of posts and article ideas.

In your blog, write a post with keyword A in your titleâ€¦something catchy, more info on that over here at seomoz or copyblogger
Write in-depth and informative content related to keyword A
Target keyword A in a link from your post to page2.html
When appropriate, link out to other authorities that can offer more information about your keyword topic (Use this tip with caution. While you are trying to give the user more info and get the attention of the other site â€“ thus possibly getting a link back to your site â€“ you should try to strike a balance so that the effectiveness of your post is maximized without excessive links out from your site)
Remember to vary the way you link keyword A to page2.html (did you target long-tail keywords? Those are very easy to alter)
Repeat this process on each post for all pertinent keywords throughout your site

The nice thing about this formula is that you actually tackle quite a few of the common marketing questions that challenge many business owners.

Common business marketing questions:

Q. We have a websiteâ€¦now what?

A. Writing informative posts and articles re-iterating your keywords will only build your prominence on the search engines for your particular keywords.

Q. We have a blog, but what do we write about?

A. Now you will have at least a post for every keyword in your siteâ€¦the more posts on each keyword topic, the better.

Q. How do we create link bait?

A. Writing content rich articles and posts that are targeted with your keywords both in your content and witty titles will attract users, thus creating link bait.

Business can easily get side tracked with all the commotions of new clients, old clients, and day-to-day affairs. This focused plan will keep your business on a steady path and not have you chasing this monthâ€™s new trend in search engine marketing and website promotion. These steps will likely take a while to fully implement, but if applied correctly and consistently they can help promote, market, and develop your site as an authority in your niche. In time your posts will increase your presence on the search engines and increase your overall traffic.

Technorati Tags: search engine marketing, seo, website development, website promotion, blogging

Google Announces Backlink Tool for Webmasters

February 9, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Google has released a new feature in their Webmasters Central that allows you to see the backlinks to your site. Although this is a huge advancement to their console, Matt Cutts is quick to put things into perspective:

Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it’s carrying weight. I’m going to say that again: Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it’s carrying weight. Sometime in the next year, someone will say “But I saw an insert-link-fad-here backlink show up in Google’s backlink tool, so it must count. Right?” And then I’ll point them back here, where I say do not assume just because you see a backlink that itâ€™s carrying weight.

This is a very nice feature that Google has added compared to their link: operator, which only gives you a sample of your backlinks. But why is Google still preventing us from seeing all of our backlinks? Yahooâ€™s Site Explorer still shows a much larger percentage of backlinks, but are they as legitimate?

Technorati Tags: Google, Yahoo, search engine optimization, marketing

What All Businesses Must Have in 2007

February 5, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

In November of 2006, Technorati, the leading blog search engine, was tracking nearly 60 million blogs. With blog software like Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, and Movable Type, anyone can setup a blog and begin posting articles, stories, and comments almost instantly. The power of a blog incorporated into your companyâ€™s website can be your most substantial and valued marketing tool by incorporating organic search engine optimization elements throughout every post. A blog can also serve as an important medium to reach out to potential clients where your ordinary website would normally fall short. Through social networks like digg, del.icio.us, and reddit, you can publish your news and services, which can then be syndicated throughout the Internet.

Effective Marketing

Companies that have successful websites and blogs typically attribute a large portion of their incoming clientele to the blog itself, ranking closely behind referrals. One reason that blogs are so effective is simple: getting the media to notice your business can be a daunting task, but a blog can serve as a valuable vehicle where you become the media. You begin by establishing a â€œvoice,â€ then you can publish any information you deem valuable to your client base.

The distribution of your RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed can allow you to syndicate the information on your blog to multiple outlets. You no longer have to wait for users to return to your website for new information; you can bring the content to them. You can add unique functions to your website where users can subscribe to your RSS feed through specific RSS readers. You can pre-install your feed into these readers and as soon as the user clicks on the reader of their choice, your feed is automatically installed. This feature will allow users the ability to read your news or services when itâ€™s convenient for them.

Building Credibility

Clients typically have many questions about specific areas of your business. Often, however, they feel that these questions are too minor and wonâ€™t contact you about them. A blog will allow you to interact with your users and create relationships. If you find yourself getting a lot of the same questions, write a post or distribute articles pertaining to the information. Just like in school, if one person has a question, itâ€™s likely that other people have the same question, and because blogs are a much less formal setting, users are more likely to â€œraise their handsâ€ and bring up their concerns.

Remember, though, that users want answers to their questions from a trusted and informative authority. The Internet is filled with information, but finding the correct answer to solve your problem can easily turn into a long ordeal. As you write posts and articles that answer your clientsâ€™ questions, you slowly build a reputation as an authority. Additionally, if you give users the answers theyâ€™re looking for, you pass along more than just information; you begin to implement an effective viral marketing campaign.

Improved Search Engine Results

Blogs are typically updated more frequently than websites; therefore, search engine spiders or bots crawl and catalog them more consistently. Blogs that are crawled regularly have the most up to date information catalogued and indexed on the major search engines, and thereâ€™s no waiting around until next week when Googlebot finally comes to your site to index your â€œbreakingâ€ news story. A blog allows you to maintain the sense of urgency that draws the immediate attention of your readers and clients.

Another huge advantage to blogs is that they are dynamic and archiveable, which makes them searchable. Users donâ€™t have to know the exact article name; they can simply search for a relative term or phrase to find results. Not long ago, in order for a website to be considered dynamic, developers would have to spend many hours on custom code that would end up costing thousands upon thousands of dollars. Most of the time the search feature, which was the complete magic of a dynamic site, wouldnâ€™t even work properly. Weâ€™ve all been to sites that had a search feature and scratched our heads in confusion either over the results that it did return, or over the results that it didnâ€™t. Fortunately, blog software is developed on a solid foundation that works. All of the features that you would need to create a user-friendly, dynamic structure are already installed as soon as you download the programs. Additionally, the uncomplicated URL structure allows the search engines to easily crawl through all of your content, giving your blog the best possible chances to rank for your particular keywords and begin to develop organic search engine optimization results.

Blogs are the new keys to a positive and effective online presence. Website marketing strategies for small business development begins with a blog. If utilized properly, your blog can promote your business faster and through more avenues than a regular website. Any business can take advantage of a blog. In many cases businesses that felt they were too small for a website can easily utilize the blog platform to begin to establish themselves online. 2007 is the year to build your business with one of the best viral marketing tools: your blog.

Technorati Tags: blogging, marketing, SEO, organic search engine optimization, RSS, viral marketing,

TopRankBlog Keeps Asking for My Link

February 5, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Search Engine Marketing Blogs Update every Friday, listing some of the best blogs he finds throughout the week. You can try to get your website included by writing a post on your blog and linking back to his list. Heâ€™ll see your link in his stats then heâ€™ll check out your blog. If you make the cut, youâ€™ll get your site added to his list.

Leeâ€™s list is an informative source for keeping in touch with the SEO industry and is definitely worth checking out.

Technorati Tags: SEO, blog marketing

SEO Content at SES Chicago

January 31, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Heather Lloyd-Martin sits down with Mike McDonald from webpronews.com to discuss the benefits and compromise of content in your search engine optimization campaign.

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Google PageRank Update

January 29, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

I bought the Alibi domain name in 2002. Back then it was just a place for me to display my design school portfolio work. All the text was in images and the whole page was images. It wasnâ€™t until 2004 that I really put any sort of effort into optimizing the site for anything. Once I started to really develop Alibi, everything else in my life started taking off. I started a company focusing on website design and development with a long time friend, John King. The last 18 months, Wildfire Productions has sprouted and kept us extremely busy. All of my time was devoted to Wildfire and once again, Alibi had to be put off to the side.

Iâ€™ve had some time the last few months and I decided that Alibi was going to be my main focus. I redesigned the site and re-wrote the content. This time around I focused on a specific niche instead of just random design and development. I put a little effort into implementing an effective viral marketing campaign, and now look at usâ€¦we have a PR4. The previous PR has gone from 1 to an occasional 2, but now itâ€™s on!

Technorati Tags: Alibi Productions, PageRank, Google, viral marketing

Blogging for Marketing

January 25, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Using a blog as a marketing tool is a very effective way to provide your customers with information and services. Often, companies receive more new clients from their blog exposure than article distribution, conference networking, or their existing website. Top Rank Blog recently posted a list of some of the better “Lessons Learned About Blogging.”

Out of the 25 items on the list, I was really looking forward to finding a few that I could debate, but after reading the list many times I have to say that I agree with Lee.

Technorati Tags: blogs, marketing

What is SEO or Search Engine Optimization?

January 18, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Search engines are constantly evolving and those who market themselves on search engines must adapt with the changes to be successful. Often in the search community there is a new technique or hack that people are convinced will help them rocket to the top of the rankings, but the fact is there is no one sure fire way.

Reading a recent post at Search Engine Watch, I came across an article titled, “What Are SEO Best Practices?” Author Eric Enge breaks down SEO in an easy to understand four-step process: