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SEO Expert | SEO Podcast | Beccalori.com �

SEOMOZ SEO Expert Quiz

Posted in Uncategorized, SEO Knowledge, SEO Expert, SEO Consultant at 2:16 pm by Joe

I went over to SEOmoz.org and took their quiz. I have to say, i thought I’d do better. Most of the questions seem to stem from best practices, and known facts (some taken right from Google patent submission) - but there is definitely some subjectivity involved - especially on the questions where they ask which one of the following is MOST likey or LEAST likely… in any case I’ve been told my score is pretty decent. So I am posting it.

85%Are you an SEO Expert?

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The SEO Podcast is Live!

Posted in SEO Knowledge, SEO Podcast at 10:03 pm by Joe

I released the first podcast today, for those who want to listen. There have been a few issues getting it published on iTunes, but I am working on it.

http://www.beccalori.com/beccalori/podcast/seo-expert-podcast.xml

An SEO Podcast. For those just getting started with SEO, or those of intermediate level, the SEO Expert podcast will get you on your way to becoming an SEO Expert.

Download our SEO Podcast today or refer the podcast to a friend who needs some SEO Advice.

The Podcast is an easy tool to listen and learn on your free time. Listen to the SEO Podcast while you work out, or on your daily commute.

Even if you are a successful SEO Expert, you may pick up on an occasional idea or distinction in this podcast, that will further enhance your SEO toolbox. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever changing field. Why not listen to an SEO Podcast a few times a month to make sure you are keeping up to speed with the best, most supported white hat methods of natural promotion and link building.

Were your past SEO efforts thwarted because you followed Black Hat SEO tactics that then backfired when Search Engines changed the rules. If you listen to our SEO Podcast, you can stay up to date on changes like this.

So be sure to mark your RSS Feed, itunes Podcast, or other Podcast downloading software, and subscribe today to the SEO Expert Podcast.

As always, your feedback and topical requests are welcome!

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3 Common SEO Mistakes

Posted in SEO Knowledge at 3:52 pm by Joe

Common SEO Mistakes

There are many wrong numbers to optimize. Most people who call themselves an SEO Expert now finally understand that along with increased “measurability” has come increased accountability for results. As odd as it seems, the rest of the world is still catching up. Throughout my many years as an SEO consultant, here are some of the most common mistakes and traps that my clients have fallen into.

Mistake #1 - Are we ranked page one on Google for “widget” ?

Obsessing on one or two terms (usually the most desirable like “widget”) and measuring overall success of your SEO on whether or not you rank on top of page one for these…. and only these. Some real education is necessary here, especially in highly competitive industries. For example, I have often doubled traffic from search engines in 3-6 months for clients - a massive feat…(”blue widget”, “affordable widget”, “high quality widget”, etc.. yet if I did not also get to top of page one for one or two desirable terms “widget”, “widgets” - they are left feeling unsatisfied. Remember, it’s about increasing the OVERALL volume of qualified traffic to your site, and then maximizing the conversion rate.

I have often compared this to a billboard in Times Square vs. 500 Billboards along the east coast. If I could get you on 500 of those billboards for roughly 10% of the effort and cost of the Times Square Billboard, you would say yes, right?

Mistake #2 - How many impressions did we get, and what kind of click through rate? This applies more to PPC but can also be applied to Natural SEO. Impressions for Natural SEO can be estimated using any keyword analysis tool.

My answer - who cares? If we can maximize impressions to the RIGHT audience then great… if we can get a high click through rate from QUALIFIED individuals then great. Else, it simply does not matter. If you are not using conversion pixels and measuring your cost per action as related to your revenue and profitability of those actions - you are still looking at things upside down. Bottom line, how many leads, sales, or other desired actions did you get… which keywords produced the most of these, and how much is it worth to you… these are much better numbers to track.

Mistake #3 - Did the marketing effort payoff in an immediately profitable way. Ignoring Lifetime Value for web-acquired customers.

Because it’s so easy to measure Cost Per Acquisition, we expect that an SEO Expert can produce positive ROI on the first sale. So often, retailers forget - or more likely have no idea how expensive it is to acquire new customers through other channels. To test this simply apply the following equation to your business. (TOTAL 2006 NEW CUSTOMERS) / (TOTAL 2006 MARKETING BUDGET). Now, if you are using internet search engines, measure your Cost Per Acquisition on that channel. Odds are if you are in a B2C company, your internet acquisition is costing you less than half of traditional channels and in B2C - no more than 75% of traditional channels…

So the question is, really, why do you continue to market on those other channels - especially if you are LOSING MONEY on the first sale.. and perhaps needing 2 or 3 sales before you break even on a customer? It’s called LIFETIME VALUE, and the smartest web marketers are building successful campaigns on this philosophy - and often willing to pay more than companies who fear not having instant profitability.

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Establishing Terminology SEO vs. SEM

Posted in SEO Knowledge at 12:46 pm by Joe

What is the difference between SEO and SEM? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are really part of a joint strategy. The question is not which one should you engage in, but how can you optimize a strategy that includes both.

In most cases, when someone refers to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they speak specifically about best practices, strategies, and tactics for achieving high rankings in the organic (non-sponsored) section of Search Engine Result Pages on the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and AOL.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), or Pay Per Click (PPC) is a different term, used to describe the process of bidding for text ad placement in the Sponsored Links section of the search engines.

Just about every company or website seeking traffic can benefit from combining both strategies.

When I speak of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in this SEO Blog, therefore, I REALLY am talking about this joint strategy. So before, we embark together on this journey, it’s important that we are speaking the same language.

Next up: What information should I have ready before beginning an SEO project?

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Blog, Welcome

Posted in SEO Knowledge at 9:28 pm by Joe

These days there seems to be an endless supply of web content giving advice and tips for how to achieve high rankings on the Search Engine results pages. As an SEO Professional over the last 10 years, I have come across and tested many different strategies, but never have I seen so much mass confusion, and differing of opinions as I have seen in the SEO community over the last 12 months. Having had a great deal of success in my efforts, and recently having freed up some time from my daily grind, I have decided to join the recent onslaught of books, sites, and podcasts - and bring what I feel is a higher quality, less cryptic set of tools, practices, and measurement techniques. I will aim to use real world cases with each strategy and tactical approach I demonstrate, rather than just ramble endlessly on about fictional examples. In addition to the blog I will be launching a podcast later this year, an email newsletter, and a syndicated article section that will provide quality feeds from other reputable SEO sources.

So, without further delay, I welcome you to my SEO blog.

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Web Site Copy is about More Than Keywords

Posted in SEO Knowledge, SEO Articles at 12:49 am by Joe

Let’s say you are writing a web site to sell beach homes on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.You look for some good keywords and come up with ‘Vancouver Island waterfront property’. So you use that term in your title, headline and here and there in the text.So far, so good. The phrase will help you with your rankings. And the use of the phrase on the first screen of your home page will let your visitors know they are in the right place.

But for writers who focus too intently on keywords and phrases, there is a danger.

A danger in optimizing your pages for good keywords? Yes, I think so.

There is a significant difference between the keywords that pop into visitors’ minds, and the hopes and ambitions they carry in their hearts.

Let’s look at the real estate example again.

As a potential buyer I might type the phrase ‘Vancouver Island waterfront property’ into the Google search box, because that’s what I’m looking for. But that term doesn’t reflect what I’m feeling.

Having a home on the coast may have been a lifelong dream. It may be something I feel very strongly about. So when I come to your site, I am looking for two things.

- First, the rational part of my mind is looking for confirmation that your site can help me find what I want. And this is where the use of keywords and phrases makes perfect sense.

- Second, there is a strong, emotional element at play. As a potential buyer, I am looking for someone who can help me fulfill my dream. And this is where a writer who focuses too intently on keywords and phrases can end up with poorly performing copy.

By all means, optimize your pages for Google and for the rational part of a searcher’s mind. But be sure to understand and address the emotional needs of the visitor as well.

That means using keywords as the starting point. Beyond the keywords, you need to use language that addresses the deeper needs of the reader.

Yes, understand what Google wants. And understand what your visitor is looking for. But if you want results, you also need to understand and address what the visitor is feeling and hoping for.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocate of good writing.

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How To Design A Search Engine Friendly Website

Posted in SEO Knowledge, SEO Articles at 7:59 pm by Joe

There are many websites that fail to target their required traffic, even if they’ve had some search engine optimisation work done. One of the main causes for this is simply because the website isn’t search engine friendly. This is a basic essential that needs to be incorporated into the design of all websites at the outset – think of it as the foundation to establishing your search engine optimisation strategy.

This article aims to highlight the areas a web designer should think about and incorporate into their design for maximum search engine effectiveness:

1. Search Engine Friendly Pages

It is important that when you design your website you not only bear in mind what your website requirements are, but also what the requirements are for search engines. Best way to approach this is to remember that search engines don’t really care about how nice or complicated your graphics or flash movies are, or how snazzy your javascript is. Instead search engines look at the code behind your page. Therefore if you want to impress a search engine, then your code needs to be nice and easy to read. Now from this I don’t mean adding ‘comment’ tags and breaking the lines of code up with spaces, but to ensure that the elements the search engine is interested in, i.e. Title tag, Description tag, Keyword tag (these days only some search engines really use the keyword tag), Alt tag, are readable near the beginning of the code. Search Engines don’t like wadding through lines and lines of javascript to get to the core areas that can help you page’s ranking. Therefore careful planning and positioning of your page elements is required.

TIPS:

- If you’re using table for laying out your page then make them simple and not too complex.

- Avoid using frames.

- If you need javascripts for navigation purposes, then use smaller scripts to call up the bulk of the javascript from a different file.

- Think twice on how to use graphics – make them relevant to your content and use the Alt tag for all images.

- Position the main content of the page before the images, or at least with the images nested between the text.

2. Keywords

Having good keywords is one of the most important areas to consider when designing a website/webpage.

One of the best tools for this is Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com), which allows you to identify good competitive keywords for your pages.

In general the range of keywords associated to your pages can be very extensive therefore for good concentration and prominence of keywords it is advisable to carefully select the top 10-15 keywords. You can always export the results to Excel and try out other competitive keywords if the ones you selected initially do not produce any noticeable benefits.

TOP TIP:

Wordtracker offer a one day subscription to their service from which you can squeeze nearly 2 ? days worth of use! Here’s how – Sign-up for the service on the evening of Day 1 (the service will be available almost immediately so you can start searching for your competitive keywords straight away). You will also be able to use the service for the whole of Day 2 and strangely for the whole of Day 3! Enough time to get some good keywords for a lot of pages!

3. Content

Many search engines look at the main body of the page and identify keywords and phrases that are used within the text.

TIP:

Use competitive keywords relevant to the purpose of the page within the main body of the page. Always try and ensure that the keywords are prominent within the text body, i.e. they appear near the beginning of the page, they are defined using the ‘heading’ tag, they are typefaced in bold, or they are used as hyperlinks.

4. Page Title

This is arguably one of the most important areas of a page and needs special attention to ensure that a good title is selected. Similar to many other areas of designing a search engine friendly page, the Page Title should also have a good keyword which describes the page content. To keep within the limits of many search engines the number of words for the Title shouldn’t exceed nine.

5. Page Description

Another important area to work on for good ranking is the Page Description. This is the text found under the META Description tag and is displayed to users in the search results. Again, it is a good idea to pay attention to the use of good keywords when writing the description, which should be short (not more than 20-25 words) and sells your page before the user has even opened it!

6. Graphics

We’ve covered the use of graphics briefly above, emphasising the importance of using an Alt tag containing the relevant keyword(s). Although the use of images can be nice and very appealing to a website, it is also important to bear in mind that they shouldn’t overpower the textual content of your page. As a general rule of thumb it is best to stick to a 70/30 ratio (70 text/30 images).

7. Site Map

A Site Map is a fantastic way for search engines to find all your juicy pages on your website. There are many free Site Map tools available on the web that’ll create your site map instantly.

8. Navigation Links

Navigation links to other pages on your website should be nice and easy. There are some engines which find it difficult to navigate through to the other pages on your website if the nav bar is too complicated, e.g. complicated pop-ups, use of flash, etc. Therefore if your site does have complicated navigation then it’s always a good idea to implement simple text based hyperlinks to your common pages at the bottom of every page on your website.

Following the basic suggestions above will help lay the foundation to apply further good search engine optimisation advice which will make the difference in your overall search engine ranking.

This finer area of SEO is beyond the realm of this document and will require further investment based on individual needs.

Arif Hanid

Internet Marketing Manager for Ambleton Computing.

Professionals in bespoke Internet Developement and Marketing.

arif_hanid@ambleton.com

http://www.ambleton.co.uk

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Google Page Rank Is Dead - Or Is It? - Part I

Posted in SEO Knowledge, SEO Articles at 7:58 pm by Joe

For a long time now, marketing gurus all over the world have been talking about google page ranking. Page ranking is simply Google’s way of measuring your pages accordingly.

But there is a problem…

More and more we tend to see NO consistency with page ranking at all. Please don’t confuse the difference between “page ranking” & “search engine ranking”. The two are completely different.

With this method of measurement, we could quickly see how much or how little a person has put into promoting their website. A high rank of 6,7,8,9,10 is sometimes held as something honerable to have for your site but does it really matter?

In some aspects it does and in some it doesn’t.

As I mentioned above, page ranking has nothing to do with your search engine success. It (did) have everthing to do with “importance”. The only problem is (like so many marketing ventures online), this measurement method is dying off with the rest of them. People online are very intuitive about these sort of things and tend to over saturate ways to beat them and/or improve on them quickly.

People all over the world are even still wondering how to increase their page rank. Now why would they do this???

Simple, it’s all about prestige. Eventhough marketing experts like myself weigh absolutely no importance on page ranking anymore, there are still literally 1000’s of business people out there that consider a high rank a good thing.

So how do you benefit from increasing your rank?

- You will attract better quality websites to yours

- People will think your website has lasting power

- People will want to mimic what you do

- People will even think highly of you

Even now, many browsing people look for high ranking websites to exchange links with.

So does trying to increase your website page ranking help you? Not really. What you ultimately want to do is promote your website as much as you can in as many “RELATED _ RELATED” places that you can and let search engines do their own thing.

Playing into search engines hands won’t help your company. Building a great web marketing foundation will attract exactly what you’ve been after….. MORE EXPOSURE!

Please take this seriously and always be on the look-out for other ways to promote your business, let Google’s page rank go and look at the future beyond PR ratings.

Hope this article helps you out!

Read more of Martin’s articles online here:

http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux

Smartads - President

Affordable Web Design & Web Advertising

http://www.smartads.info

http://www.smartads.ca

Eye Catching Print Design

http://www.3dimentionaldesign.com

Marketing Tools

http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

http://www.thewebclinic.com

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Analyzing Google’s Backlinks Is Close To Worthless

Posted in SEO Knowledge, SEO Articles at 7:57 pm by Joe

Because of the delay with it’s backlink’s update period Google have managed to control the link broker’s pagerank eventure.

Many would say that analyzing Google’s backlinks is close to worthless, but still you need to know if your partners have your backlink with your keyword hostet on a good PR page.

Pagerank still have some importants and link’s poiting to your homepage is a part of the algoritme and relevant to some extend. You will never know the exact number of backlink, and they would be different from search ingine to search ingine.

Link building campaigns can be time consuming, and you will never be able to guess the effect on the pagerank result. The best link would be thoose coming out of the blue, from peoble who decided your content is important and give you a link.

In the end I think it’s thoose kind of link that make the difference between PR 5 and PR 6,7,8,9,10 and off cause traffic. Content is king and SEO is the throne.

http://home6.inet.tele.dk/anton/seo-elite.htm

 

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Google Slavery…Old Habits Die Hard

Posted in SEO Knowledge, SEO Articles at 7:56 pm by Joe

For the first few months after Yahoo decided to go their own way with natural search (and MSN decided to get serious about the search business), the search results provided by those two could only be described as bizarre. Enough time has now passed that the dust has somewhat settled and there are three main (from a traffic standpoint) sites for quality natural searches.

The term “natural search” is to distinguish true searches, as opposed to paid advertisements which appear in the search results for many search engines these days. I guess you can’t really fault the search engine companies from wanting to make some money (actually, BIG money) selling ad space, but the debate over the virtues of natural search versus paid advertising search is something that could take up a very large book and still have no clear resolution…much like arguments revolving around religion or politics.

Like most people that have been working as online home business entrepreneurs for a few years, I was strongly conditioned to the need to “feed the 800 pound gorilla” of the search engine world. Basically, “if Google didn’t love you”, it was very difficult to get any meaningful natural search traffic to your website. Since Google was actually the search engine that was serving up the results for most of the popular search portals, if Google didn’t look kindly upon your site and rank you well, you would not be ranked well for most of the high traffic search sites on the Internet.

However, the search landscape changed dramatically early in 2004 and things have been very fluid and interesting since that time. Its not that Google has stumbled, or become ineffective as a search vehicle, its just that major players like Yahoo and Microsoft (via MSN) have decided to make a major thrust into the search business.

Having been firmly conditioned (since shortly after 1998) that Google was the “supreme deity of search engines”, I took the highly publicized search entries of Yahoo and MSN with more than the proverbial “grain of salt”.

Throughout a very recent two month period, one of my websites occupied the #5 position on Google, Yahoo, and MSN for a very popular and important (at least in my line of business) three word search term. This situation provided an opportunity to measure the current popularity of each of these three search providers.

If asked “before the fact”, I would have guessed that Google would still be the overwhelming #1 search choice and that Yahoo and MSN would be distant #2 and #3 choices. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised by the results that were tabulated during this recent 60 day period.

For the period in question, the search popularity results were as follows:

Google: 34%

Yahoo: 31%

MSN: 20%

All others: 15%

Granted, the above results are for a single search term over a particular 60 day time period, but the results clearly show that Yahoo and MSN are already important players in the search business.

Webmasters that stick to the old ways and focus entirely on Google are missing out on a lot of search traffic these days if they are not also well ranked by Yahoo and MSN.

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kirk_Bannerman

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