Tag Archives: web strategy

Anyone can be a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professional right?

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I was just going through a Search Engine Land discussion thread that was posted through their Linked In profile and it was all about “What passes for an SEO professional”. Needless to say it has 94 posts over a 4 month period – mostly about how people have paid for SEO and never realized results and trying to establish some sort of benchmark or certification to protect people from have a bad experience with Search Engine Optimization because anyone can call themselves an “expert”.

Really, almost anyone who builds websites would be an expert compared to the average business person. Part of finding a good source for your SEO partner is knowing what to ask for. Lots of web people can say a lot that sounds good to the average business person, and they probably do know what they are talking about. BUT…execution of strategy makes all the difference in the results you achieve.

I have had to explain to customers that they didn’t necessarily get “screwed” with their web site or SEO, but it is just because they didn’t know the questions to ask and the person they worked with just didn’t know how to follow best practices or execute to maximize results. There are over 200 factors that go into determining how a site will rank, and unless you have pretty deep pockets, you will have to rely on execution to get results with a focus on 10% of these factors.

It is about properly setting expectations and working to achieve those. You cannot guarantee someone everything they want unless you are using what is known as “black hat” techniques – but you measure you results and guarantee your work based on those properly set expectations. And black hat catches up with a site eventually.

Tips for successful SEO:
1. Be very specific with the keywords or phrase you want to get ranked
2. Understand that this is an ongoing process and you could check every hour of the day and see your own results vary probably up to 10 positions for the same keyword or phrase.
3. Ask for references and examples of work.
4. This is more of an ongoing relationship to be successful – doing it once and expecting it to last is going to be VERY temporary for results.
5. Don’t spend all your budget “up front” or for one time optimization. It should be a 6 month budget because then you have the money to adjust once you start to see results.
6. There are basics to effective SEO, but every client engagement should be based on what that client wants to accomplish so your “plan” should be based on your desired goals.
7. Algorithms change regularly – usually 1-2 major changes a year, so there is no long term solution other than to tweak your optimization and it takes some work in order to keep SEO “expertise” by your resource. If you are reading it in a book, it is already TOO OLD to really help.
8. If you are starting from ZERO and don’t rank for much of anything but your name, anyone should be able to move the bar for your results. Understanding if you are getting maximum value for your money is much harder for you to quantify unless they help you quantify it. Ask them. Ask for today, and ask for 6 months from today.
9. Be prepared to have more content and pages than you EVER had and have your site grow in pages in order to have enough content to create the quality scores and keyword density you need.

There are many more things to effective SEO, but I don’t want to go on forever. If you want to have a discussion, just contact us at www.bevelwise.com and we will be glad to answer your questions and help further.

Social Media Optimization: Business Marketing Mix

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Social media optimization is a set of methods for generating publicity & conversations through social media and online communities. Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit. Search Engines also “love” this type of content because it is updated often, and seen as new and fresh.

A social media campaign means developing a great message and then reaching out to people, while giving them an incentive/reason to pass it on to other people. Social media optimization is a kind of viral marketing, where word of mouth is created through the businesses and people connecting and having 2-way conversations online.

For Business Social Media to work well, you need constant updates and make them interesting!! Also, you need fans who care enough about your message to pass it on to their friends. This is how something (good or bad) can get spread extremely quickly. If people like something and find it useful, they will link to it and tell their friends. Like anything else online – understanding the motivations and culture of the audience is key to making social media work.

Social media software applications include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social media should be in your marketing mix, but it needs to be done right! Make it work for your specific target audience. Develop a great message and reach out to people…then hope they pass it on! Social Media is about connections, so make it a 2-way conversation.

Please contact Bevelwise if you would like to add Social Media to your company’s marketing mix and need some help.

Many other sources have assembled lists of social media sites. Relevant Social Media helpful spots:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/top-list-of-social-media-sites
http://nextmark.typepad.com/blog/2009/07/top-100-b2b-social-media-cheat-sheet.html
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-best-advice-about-social-media/

http://www.mintblogger.com/2008/02/definitive-list-of-30-popular-social.html

Local Business SEO – #1 Use a Local Phone Number

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What can a local business do online when competing with a big, national brand? The websites of both local and national brands make their products/services available 24/7. But one thing big brands lack is community uniqueness and it can be as simple as a local phone number. Sometimes people just need to talk to a real, live human being, and this can be what sets you apart.

Admit it, the internet can be a bit impersonal. If you are a local business, adding you physical address and the phone number (with a local area code) gives evidence that you are a real person – which makes people feel more comfortable. It gives your customer a convenient way to order, but most importantly it means that a real person is give service.

  • A phone number is instantaneous way to get your visitors’ feedback
  • A prominent phone number on a website builds trust and confidence.
  • Local SEO Factor
  • A telephone number is how Local Business Listings verifies that your listing is valid (Google will actually call you!) It is an on-page trust identifier.
  • It is also believed that Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing often combine the local area code with local search ranking factors.

Make the most of Contact Information

A business’ address and phone number are instrumental for conducting business locally. But this contact information also provides a critical clue to search engines that a business is local in nature. Make sure to display:

  • Your full address (with Zip Code) on the footer of every page, with prominence on the “Contact Us” page
  • Local phone number, even when a toll-free number is available
  • If appropriate, provide information on areas served
  • Driving directions and a local map

List your Local Business on Search Engines. These ones are free for basic listings:

From here, you actually have to answer this phone when it starts ringing off the hook!

Of course, please feel free to Contact Bevelwise if your business needs a better web presence.

Internet Ad Sales In 2008

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From today’s New York Times Media & Marketing Section:

Internet advertising rose in 2008, according to a report released Monday, but the growth is starting to flatten.

“The economy has had a significant impact on the short-term growth of the Internet advertising market,” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which contributed to the report, said in a conference call.

Internet advertising grew to $23.4 billion in 2008, an increase of 10.6 percent from 2007, according to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group representing online advertisers, as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

That was the only category of advertising spending that grew in 2008 other than cable television, which rose 7.8 percent, according to Nielsen figures supplied for the report,

Over all, total non-Internet media revenue declined 2.4 percent in 2008 from 2007, according to Nielsen. Spending in network television declined 3.5 percent, in national magazines 7.6 percent and in local newspapers 7.8 percent.

Internet advertising rose in 2008, according to a report released Monday, but the growth is starting to flatten.

“The economy has had a significant impact on the short-term growth of the Internet advertising market,” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which contributed to the report, said in a conference call.

Internet advertising grew to $23.4 billion in 2008, an increase of 10.6 percent from 2007, according to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group representing online advertisers, as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

That was the only category of advertising spending that grew in 2008 other than cable television, which rose 7.8 percent, according to Nielsen figures supplied for the report,

Over all, total non-Internet media revenue declined 2.4 percent in 2008 from 2007, according to Nielsen. Spending in network television declined 3.5 percent, in national magazines 7.6 percent and in local newspapers 7.8 percent.

Though overall growth was strong relative to other mediums, Internet advertising did not have the large increases of recent years.

Internet revenue dipped in the first and second quarters for the first time in four years. And online advertising in 2008 had the lowest growth rate — 2.6 percent — from the fourth quarter compared with the period a year earlier.

As Mr. Silverman said, however, “it’s one of the few things that actually grew in the fourth quarter 2008.”

There were some interesting shifts within Internet advertising.

Digital video revenue more than doubled in 2008 versus 2007, growing to $734 million from $324 million. Advertisers were also more frequently using performance-based ads – where they pay only when someone clicks on the ad or buys something after seeing the ad. Performance-based ads made up 57 percent of all Internet advertising in 2008, according to the report, up from 51 percent in 2007. Ads that were paid for based on how frequently they were shown – called CPM-based pricing, for cost-per-thousand – fell to 39 percent, from 45 percent. And sponsorship advertising, where publishers create custom pages and advertisements for brands, was less popular this year than last: it fell to 1 percent of all fourth-quarter revenue in 2008, down from 3 percent in 2007.

Online advertising from consumer-packaged goods companies was a big growth area, rising to $1.5 billion in 2008, up from $925 million in 2007. That was significant, said Peter S. Fader, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who participated in the conference call.

That was “something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. People didn’t think this would be the right space to be selling grocery-type products,” he said. Now, “customers are becoming accustomed to seeing relatively mundane products advertised and promoted” on the Internet, he said.

Courtesy of www.nytimes.com

Free or pay for web content?

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There is the age old debate for publications whether to charge for content or make it free. Publications have thought they could make pay for content advertisement free and it would make up for the revenue that was lost from advertising. I believe it really depends on what type of content it is, how valuable that content it, is it readily available from other sources and how timely is that content.

I myself have never paid for content – other then by subscribing to a local paper, I have access to “breaking news” that I would not have had if I was not a subscriber. But that news we never earth shattering and there were other sources I could have got it from at relatively the same time.

As an example, I read an article in my marketing news that stated a study had been done on this and in some cases content can be paid for and it backed up my thoughts above. However It referenced The New York Times trial with this. They have a fee-based access to its editorial pages and had 225,000 subscribers. In 2007 they withdrew that fee. When that was removed they added 7.5 MILLION readers worldwide or a 64% jump in readership. They already had the highest unique vistor rate a month news content providers BEFORE that jum. That jump, just based on selling advertising – if they can fill their available online ad inventory should have generated MORE revenue that the subscriber base.

So if you ask me, free is still king for content, unless is it niche or not easily found through other sources.