Posts Tagged search engine optimization

Should You Learn SEO?

Nov 9th, 2009 Posted in Business | no comment »

Not too many SEO Consultants will say this but the truth is if you own a website you should learn SEO. With this lingering recession business owners are exploring different ways to reduce costs and ways to get more business, so many don’t see the larger picture of SEO.

The Internet empowers the small business owner to reach the masses and expand their market. Search Engine Optimization is how you take a website to new heights. Having a website means nothing if people don’t know that your website exists. By By learning and implementing search engine optimization techniques you can get the lion’s share of web traffic for your specific niche. SEO is not limited to fine-tuning a website for certain keywords, there is a lot more that goes into it than that…this is the point business owners ignore.

The broader picture of SEO involves creating roads and streets on the Information Super Highway (the Internet) that all direct to a specific website. Have you ever noticed that when you get directions from Mapquest offer different ways to get to where you are going? Most people prefer the quickest way, some prefer to bypass tolls or highways. Mapquest does offer various alternatives for getting to a single direction; the search engines are very much alike. You type in what you are trying to find and the search engine presents you with a variety of options for tracking down what you need. With search engine optimization the goal is to be amongst the options given to searchers! SEO is about positioning yourself in front of your prospective customers.

Building a website and sitting around waiting for people to find it is a ridiculous notion. When you build a website you should be proactive in making sure people can find it. There are a plethora of websites and new ones pop up every day. You could have the best designed website with superior graphics but the fact is thats not enough. You must popularize, brand, and champion your website. If you desire business from the Internet you must market on the Internet. You must understand the Internet and Internet marketing. If you are unable to do these things you should either hire a professional or don’t expect much from the Internet.

SEO experts are individuals that have invested their time to learning the ins and outs of search engine optimization and Internet marketing. Regardless of what business owners think, generally SEO consultants are actually overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. SEO is not a get immediate results magic pill. When done properly it does take time to see any real tangible results. Is it worth the time? Certainly! While SEO is an on-going process the outcome is long lasting. Some prefer to place all of their money in high-priced pay per click campaigns. I’m not knocking pay per click, the issue with pay per click is that moment you stop paying your website’s presence disappears. It makes more sense to put forth a serious effort towards having your website rank organically in the Search Engines in conjunction with a pay per click campaign (if ppc is your thing). It is a mistake to put all of your eggs in the pay per click basket.

Website owners can save money by learning SEO. How? If you know how to do it yourself you don’t have to pay someone else to do it for you.

The problem facing business owners is a lack of interest in SEO. The Internet has changed how the world does business. The future of business is the Internet. Learning how to leverage the Internet should be a no-brainer! Learn SEO. Find out more information on Do It Yourself SEO.

The First Step To Landing On The First Page of Google

Sep 13th, 2009 Posted in SEO | no comment »

Although there is risk of a search engine violation, it is possible to get multiple web pages to the top position on Google for a given search term. In earlier articles I used the search term “Expired Listing Leads” and the multiple entries on the top page of Google that are directed to my sites promoting the savings on the RedX expired listing lead service through FreeTrainer.Com.

In order to demonstrate the point, I have resolved to share with your in real time, or at least daily posts the basic procedure to get multiple listings on the first page of Google for a particular search phrase. My method is to decide on a search phrase and promote my web links on the web such that a minimum of five of the ten results on the primary page of Google provide a link back to me.

As a first step you need to select a search phrase, I used Google’s Adsense Keyword tool for this project and find what search phrase is going to create the most amount of traffic with the lowest degree of competition. For this project, I am promoting expired listing leads for real estate agents. When you look at the available search phrases, you find that Real Estate is extremely competitive in web promotion so after some digging, I located the term “Real Estate Country” which provides about 1.2 million searches per month and is relatively sparse in the way of competition.

It is also important to note that when you narrow your target geography, the number of available searches will diminish accordingly, the number of monthly searches will be a lot less and much more targeted. Nevertheless, the same logic applies. Select the phrase with the largest amount of searches that will be made most often by your target customers.

Once you have located the opportune phrase, register a URL with that term included. I have found success with the dot com’s, orgs, net, and me’s and generally try to stick with those web extensions. If necessary, use hyphens to get your desired URL, but your target phrase needs to be part of the primary URL.

In summary, here is step one: Choose a keyword that does not have a lot of competition, but does have a high number of searches. Register your URL with that keyword. We will work on the site in the next discussion.

Blake Xyllion is managing editor and creative manager for lockbox and supra ekey. Real estate websites dedicated to helping REALTORS find leads and grow their business

You Have Requirements! Discover How to Determine the Acceptable Search Engine Marketing Company

Sep 12th, 2009 Posted in SEO | no comment »

Choosing the right search engine marketing company (SEM) is not an easy task. Before choosing the first company you find, you should consider several different things to help determine your specific needs. This will ensure the SEM company hired to help your business will work best for you.

Choose a SEM Company You Trust

The most important factor is that you choose a SEM company you can trust. Meet with several different companies to discuss some plans before delving into detailed plans. Your business will enter into a relationship with the company and as this relationship develops, information pertinent to the success of your business will be released. If the company cannot be trusted, you are risking your business’ well being.

To help gauge whether or not the search engine marketing company can be trusted, ask them to provide references. If they are reluctant to provide references, this is a major red flag, as any search engine marketing company with experience and a good reputation in the industry should not fear this. If the company doesn’t have references to provide due to a lack of experience, you’ll need to proceed with caution and gauge other aspects of the interview to determine if they are worth the shot.

Now you should ask yourself if the company answered all your questions to the fullest potential or did they try cleverly dodging some? If that particular SEM company can answer all of your questions and without hesitating, elaborating on details and fully explains the processes to you, it is probably a safe assumption that the company is trustworthy.

If the SEM starts pressuring you into things or service that do not make sense to you it is a big red flag. Understand that some of the time they might have some constructive criticism for your website. If the problems pointed out are large, you should take the time and correct them, because why pay for advertising to for your site if no interested parties will visit and become customers.

Identify the Services You Need

Not all SEM companies are all equal to each other. Though many of the basic services are similar like search engine optimization, pay-for-inclusion services, pay-per-click advertisement. Several different things are involved with Search Engine like site re-design to new marketing and content for building back links-Links from your site to other reputable sites to help increase your rankings naturally. In pay-per-click campaigns, your company will be advertised in the search engine results page on the sidebars, and each time the ad is clicked, you will have to pay. The Pay for inclusion services will allow you to pay for Search engines crawl a certain amount of pages on your website with a specific frequency.

Find a Comfortable Risk Level

Any search engine marketing plan will require an investment before knowing if and how much money the company will earn back in new customers and sales. It is important that you determine beforehand how much risk you are willing to take. Do not let the company pressure you into more.

Take your time in finding and choosing a search engine marketing company. Because of the investment and importance of the business relationship, this is something that should not be rushed into if you expect the best possible results. The search engine marketing company you ultimately choose should understand and be willing to help you with any aspect of making the decision on the right company for your needs.

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