First, why SEO over other marketing such as PPC?

Pay-per-click advertising is all very well, but it means you have to pay for every visitor. SEO is about getting free traffic from the search engines. Over the course of two years or more, nothing has a better return on investment than SEO. Thus, if you plan on having a website that runs for more than two years, search engine optimization should be a key part of your online marketing strategy.

So what is the worst SEO mistake that a company can make?

The most common mistake that organizations make with regard to SEO is bringing their SEO consultants into the process too late. Many companies fail to give SEO its due consideration during a website’s design phase.

So there you have it, from one of the godfathers of search engine marketing.

Brandt goes on to list several key aspects to a successful SEO campaign that need attention during the design process, or what we like to call “On Page SEO.” Some crucial SEO techniques your design might forget are:

• Search Engine Friendly URLS
  www.abc.com/your-keyword.html vs. www.abc.com/page1.html
• Text Based Navigation Links
• Use of CSS instead of Javascript or Flash

For more in depth info. on the why a SEO consultant should be contacted during a website’s design phase, check out the whole article or give us a call for an informative chat.

1. Less Is More
   The average user spends just 4.4 seconds on a page, don’t waste it with filler language or beat around the bush. The more clear and concise you can be, the better.
2. Important Information First
   Don’t leave your call to actions or main selling points to the end of the page, bring your visitors in and get them excited. Then add the supporting arguments and details. If you don’t, they may not make it to the important points.
3. Use Headings
   Break up long pages by adding sub-headings, such as the <h2> and <h3> tags. Make them catchy, relevant, and of course describe the content immediately following them.
4. Images
   Attractive images are extremely effective in selling your message (even subliminally), if used correctly. Make sure they are very clean and attractive. Spend a few dollars on professional stock photography to get your message across, my favorite shop is IStockPhoto.com by the way.
5. Establish Trust
   The internet is a low trust environment. Don’t oversell, or be pushy, or your users will surely hit the “Back” button. Take every opportunity to make your site & content more personable, after all this is sales, not promenade. And don’t forget the “About Us” page, they’re looking for it….
6. Be an Authority
   If you want to look up defenestration, you go to the dictionary. Visitors should leave knowing that you are the first stop, should they have a future need. Use action verbs, demonstrate credentials, and give away good great information, customers will thank you with their business.
7. Emphasize Key Terms
   Bold or italicize key terms and concepts. Drawing a user’s eye to a section’s key concept will draw them into the rest of the text surrounding them.
8. Use Lists
   Whenever possible. Which looks better?
   
   Bass, catfish, trout, sharks, stingrays, and tarpon
   – or –
   • Bass
   • Catfish
   • Trout
   • Sharks
   • Stingrays
   • Tarpon
9. Break Long Content into Chunks
   Break long articles, tutorials, or product listings into sub-pages, with a small (but descriptive) navigation menu to help visitors get to their desired location.
10. Highlight Quotes
    Nothing makes the impersonal personal like quotations from valued sources. Whether they take the form of testimonials, or quotes from industry leaders, be sure they stand out. For example: “This is a quote that is inline with other text, is it very noticeable?”

    “Or does this quote grab a little more attention?”

Whether you are looking to contract Rainmaker for your next small business website or somebody else article by Steve McKee should be required reading.

Read  “Make Your Web Site Work for You”

Here are some highlights:

Even in the age of technology there’s nothing more powerful than a first impression, and your Web site increasingly is your introduction. I used to counsel startup companies not to underestimate the need for a professionally designed logo. I stand by that advice, but now I extend it to their Web presence as well. You simply can’t afford to look anything less than first-rate online.

The Flash introduction is a little cheesy, but it does seem to capture the personality of the company. What it doesn’t do is communicate anything about what Health Barn is or does. That’s a big missed opportunity, especially given the short amount of time parents can spare.

Revat, which describes itself on its site as “the leading self-defense program for adults living in an urban environment,” appears to be off to a good start, but it’s missing the drama. The fear of being accosted is powerful, yet the Web site doesn’t capitalize on that. Imagine how compelling a mini-movie dramatizing Revat training would be to its prospective customers.

While diagnosing and fixing problems may or may not be easy, discovering a problem is very easy.

Enter BrowserShots.org to the rescue. BrowserShots allows you to check your web site’s appearance on literally dozens of browser and operating systems for free. You can then either view or download JPG images of how your site lays out in all of them. It usually takes 15-30 minutes to load them, but you can go do something else while it loads.

An example of AmericanVagabondPhotography.com in the Netscape Navigator browser on a Ubuntu Linux operating system. It’s not important that I don’t know what either of those are, what’s important is the site looks clean in whatever they are….

First, because many of these sites come up in major search engines for a variety of phrases, which can lead potential clients to your website. Second, it can help build your search engine rankings by giving you high quality, relevant inbound links to your charter or guide website. Most are free, and some require you to link back to their site from yours (reciprocal linking), but all offer web links as well as contact info pointed towards your business.

But never fear, you can sign up for Google Local and Yahoo Local within 10 minutes! Oh, and it doesn’t cost you a thing.

Google Local Signup
https://www.google.com/local/add/
*you will need a Google account to sign up, but it’s free too.

Yahoo Local Listings
http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

Screenshot:

RoswellOfficeCondos.com includes:

• All the basic info on the park
• Suite specific pages
• Virtual tours
• Photo Galleries
• Map & custom directions form via mapquest
• Embedded youtube video
• Contact form

Visit Roswell Office Condos

RSS Feed Primer Article

Building Business through Forum Posts

Knowledgeable posts and interesting discussions on forums and message boards can benefit your business in four ways:

1. It helps establish you as an authority. Think about someone searching for family trust or tax issue that you answered back in 2006. You had it answered, think they may want to give you a call if estate planning is on their mind?
2. Direct Web Traffic. And it’s targeted too. Let’s say you answered the question “What’s the best time of year to fly fish for tarpon in the Florida Keys?” Potential clients can follow the link in your signature to check you out your charter operation.
3. Search Engines Love Them. Posting on boards that allow you to include a link to your website is a cheap and non-technical way to increase your search engines by building relevant, in-bound links to your website or blog.
4. It keeps working for you. Although message boards normally list current topics first, your post content still shows up in the message board’s search function as well as search engines proper. The post is still their linking to your website, so the in-bound link isn’t going anywhere. Lastly, on many forums, when a visitor comments on an old post - it jumps right back up to the top for it’s category!

Pick Your Forum Wisely

Nearly all forums and message boards are free, with few exceptions, skip any that have membership fees. There are three criteria you should evaluate before joining a forum and posting on it regularly.

Subject Matter

Sounds like a no-brainer, huh? Well, back up for a minute and think about where your customers or clients might lurk. Are they going to be in a national fishing forum discussing redfish and marlin, or are they more likely to be zeroed in on a Florida fishing forum before they book their next outing? Every business niche will have a different posture on this, but take a look at who’s posting around the message board and ask yourself is the subject matter relevant to your customers?

Popularity

Nobody likes talking to themselves, and web forums are no different. Look for vibrant, active communities to join, it will help you more in search engine rankings and human trafficNobody likes talking to themselves, and web forums are no different. Look for vibrant, active communities to join, it will help you more in search engine rankings and human traffic.

Signature & Linking Policies

Last, but most important. Make sure to read the message board’s terms/rules/guidelines and find out if you are allowed to add link(s) to website in your signature. Without links, it may be fun and/or informative, but it’s not doing anything for your business. Even if you can put your company name in a signature, will the interested parties “Google” it? If they do, will they find you? Speaking of Google, and all major search engines for that matter…. The web is a democracy, and think of links as votes. The more votes, the better the rankings. If you write an excellent post or tutorial on tying salt water flies, they won’t know who wrote it if your link isn’t in the signature.

How do I find them?

A simple search on your favorite search engine should suffice. Just enter your trade or industry name, along with geographic keywords if appropriate, and take a look at the top results.

What is a signature? What’s the best setup?

A signature, in forums speak, is text, links, and even images that are automatically inserted underneath your forum post as shown below:

Each forum may be different, but somewhere under “Profile” or “User Control Panel” or the like, will be an option to set up your signature. While adding your name, company name, an image, or anything else is up for debate - you certainly want a link (or more if allowed) to your website. If possible, you want to include keywords into the actual text of the link (called anchor text), because it tells search engines what your site is about. Links will most likely be inserted in one of three ways:

1. Bulletin Board Code. Just copy this code, making the necessary changes of course: [URL=http://yourwebsiteaddress.com]Your Website OR Keywords[/URL]
2. HTML. Again, copy this code making the necessary changes: <a href=”http://yourwebsiteaddress” mce_href=”http://yourwebsiteaddress”>Your Website OR Keywords</a>
3. Code Editor. There are many variations on this, but anything that pops up and asks you the name/text and address for a link that you wish to insert. Just enter your website’s name or keywords in the name/text box, with your website’s URL in the link box.

Tips on Posting

• Don’t be a spammer! Nobody likes spammers, and quickly posting “Have boat, can fish, call me” will annoy board members, potential clients, and possibly get you banned from the forum.
• Do make worthwhile contributions. You don’t have to give up the farm, or for example, list GPS waypoints of your favorite fishing hole. But lending your knowledge or perspective on an issue can demonstrate your command of the subject matter, and build a solid foundation for building personal relationships and sales.
• Strong, concise titles. A great title is half the battle in getting readers to check out your post. It should be as concise and descriptive as possible, and never post generic titles such as “Fishing?”
• Provocative posts are actually good. Controversial posts are often replied to more, and also linked to more often from external websites. This keeps your post up at the top for longer, and increases the value of that signature link in the eyes of search engines.