Expert Search Engine Optimization

SEO Best Practices: How Blogs Can Break Or Make Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy

2007-07-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

Blogs - Structure and Layout

I work in the field of Search Engine Optimization. It has a wide range of options, from the technical to the more strategic. Tons of discussions are found on off-page and on-page factors, latent semantic analysis, content scope, quality, HTML/CSS development, site navigational structure, spamdexing, 301 redirects, plagiarism, link strategies, directories, blogs, search engine news, email marketing tips & online (internet) marketing. Most all of the top 10 SEO firms out there agree that blogs are a "must" for driving traffic and get established in the Internet community.

There is a right way, and a wrong way. We'll discuss these below.

Be warned - too many folks out there are thinking about "how to outbeat the search engines" and use the latest-and-greatest (blogs) to elevate their rankings, essentially via content and blog spam. Blogs are a powerful way to get seen by the search bots. Blogger (Google's own) is an important key to the puzzle, but there are many.

THE UN-OFFICIAL TOP 7 BLOGGING BEST PRACTICES FOR SEO

Start here, begin a quick review of the world's top blogs:
http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs (the gorilla blog listings - updated daily)
http://www.problogger.net (this guy makes 16,000 USD / monthly)
http://microsaw.stikipad.com (web 2.0 blogs and news)

Get an account - it's free. log in - and - don't start! What? No, you must first continue by scanning the list above and get a sense for what people are writing about. This could be more generic at first, but start looking to yourself. What do you know? What do people come to you for? Anything that you specialize in? (Hint: don't think "how can I sell this" - but "how can I share this?") You'll also learn how to use trackback functions to allow other people to be notified. Permalinks are great for SEO and should be used where appropriate. So, now you learned something big: be yourself!

Think about an interesting headline. You don't need to be copywriter, but you should think about your headline and the topic at hand. More importantly, is it something that you are passionate about, or can contribute something to? It's ok to spend some time here, writer's block can come up. Think about other sites, can you re-write their UVP (unique value proposition)? How would you write yours (thinking theme here). What I've found to work is simply sit back and start talking as if you were discussing a (hot) topic with a friend, and then breaking it out into sub-groups from there.

Writing tips: casual, friendly and interesting (meaning you have something to write and you don't copy others) works well in blogs. Make sure you stay on topic and that you are truthful. Would you lie to your mother? Of course not - then think about this when you are writing online (and she will not come after you). Yahoo's blogging policy is a good one: "Be respectful of your colleagues, get your facts straight, provide context to your argument, and engage in private feedback." Also, make sure to include images (flickr) and video (youtube, google video) where you can. Make the images rich and colorful, don't worry about sizing too much.

Committment, persistence and disciplin. Sound like an extract from Jim Rohn or Anthony Robbins? Well, they probably are - but it applies to most of the things you do in life. So be it with blogging. Carve out 1/2-1 hour every day to nurture to your blog business. Think of it as your morning ritual - right after you have attended to your family and other duties. Plus, often you are not going to be in writing mode - but rather, maintenance mode - reviewing and responding to other blogger's input.

Search engines start picking up your blog, and traffic increases. Be prepared and if it gets out of hand, be able to manage that too. I'm not simply talking about traffic, but as others join and comment, you may need to defend your stance, including admitting mistakes if / when you make them. Folks appreciate other folks who are big enough to admit mistakes if it gets there. For example, you may have folks who don't like you - even if you're Bill Gates. This guy created a Corporate Weblog Manifesto that I found interesting.

Run and host your own blog service. More expensive, but this could have a large impact on your ability to control not only the content, but custom HTML layouts, code and information architecture that are important to search engines. You can offer this as a service to others in your niche market. http://businesslogs.com/ is a great resource to use for starting this process, and more hands-on development companies like http://www.leveltendesign.com/ can be an option for you. Keep in mind that the market has developed niche-companies, from real-estate to healthcare, and you should research those specifically.

If you have writer's block - make sure to read the next section, content is important for Search Engine Optimization - be on top of it.

How To Be Creative RE: Blogs (and SEO)

Here are some tips about being creative with blogs. Funny, but poignant.
(Taken from http://www.gapingvoid.com/)

Ignore everybody.

The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.

Put the hours in.

If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

You are responsible for your own experience.

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

Keep your day job.

Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.

Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.

Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.

Dying young is overrated.

The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.

The world is changing.

Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

Avoid the Watercooler Gang.

Sing in your own voice.

The choice of media is irrelevant.

Selling out is harder than it looks.

Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.

Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.

Don?t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.

You have to find your own schtick.

Write from the heart.

The best way to get approval is not to need it.

Power is never given. Power is taken.

Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.

The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.

Remain frugal.

Voila - that's it, there you have it. Watch how the search engines will start picking up your content. You can run tools to see how you are ranking, how often you are showing up in the search engines. We like www.UrlTrends.com as a simple beginner starting point. However, it's not 100% accurate, other SEO tools can provide more detail.

Keep your content fresh, updates daily is preferred - and definitely once a week and your search engine marketing (which includes search engine optimization) will become more visible than it was just last week. Then, use http://pingomatic.com/ to alert search engines that you have made updates. It's a free service, and will help your visibility.

The Truth About Search Engine Optimization

2007-07-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Search engine optimization – or SEO – has been around for pretty much as long as search engines have. Over the years, it has gained both proponents and opponents – many for good reason. The prevalence of sneaky, underhanded tactics, increasing spam in the search engine indexes, and publicized cases of websites being banned from the listings have given SEO a bad rap.

"SEO is just about tricking the search engines," some claim.

In an effort to de-bunk this and other wayward SEO beliefs, we have developed a list of 'top 5 myths about SEO'.

#1 – SEO is all about tricking the search engines

In actuality, good, honest SEO is not about tricking, but analyzing search engine algorithms in an effort to develop websites in a way that consciously supports search engines in doing their job – that is providing the most relevant content to their users. "White hat" SEOers understand that what's good for users is also typically good for search engines, and they strive to not 'trick' search engines, but be forthright in giving them exactly what they want.

#2 – SEO is all about the meta-tags

In a previous life, webmasters would stuff the meta-keyword tag with their desired terms, and voila!, a top spot in the rankings. SEO was about the meta-tags and not much else. Whether this approach worked then or not, it most certainly does not today. In addition to the multitude of other 'on page' ranking factors that now seem to matter (such as keyword-rich copy, anchor text, and file names), sites now more than ever have to look 'off site' – most importantly, at the volume and quality of their inbound links.

#3 – You only have to do SEO once

A recipe for SEO failure: optimize your pages once, obtain great rankings, and let simmer forever. On the contrary, successful SEO requires on-going evaluation and tweaking of strategies in order maintain and enhance positioning. With search engine algorithms changing by the hour, searcher behaviour maturing, and the competitive environment constantly shifting, does it stand to reason that your rankings today will remain the same 6 months – or weeks – from now? Without an on-going commitment to SEO, probably not.

#4 – Anyone can do SEO right

You read an e-book on SEO. You attended an SES conference. You're now a seasoned SEO expert, right? Wrong. Although SEO is definitely NOT rocket science, it does take a level of knowledge, and most importantly, experience, to really succeed. The knowledge that comes from testing out various techniques and working with a wide variety of websites over time is invaluable. Knowing how and why to select the right keywords is crucial, and understanding the impact of the site's design and coding on SEO is just as important. The bottom line: Yes, anyone can 'do' SEO, but it's much more difficult to really do it right.

#5 – SEO is purely the webmaster's job

Your webmaster is responsible to make sure that the front and back end of the site performs as it should. They are typically a technical person; a programmer. They are definitely not marketers. They might implement the SEO changes to the site, but actually determining what should be changed should be in the hands of the content authors and marketing/comm people in your organization. Hoisting the full responsibility for SEO on the webmaster's shoulders can produce less than desirable results as these 'techies' struggle to imagine what a customer would type into a search engine, and then attempt to massage these words into your agency-perfected copy. Instead, make optimization a collective initiative – ideally with the guidance of an SEO expert - and give your webmaster a break.

Search Engine Optimization

2007-07-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

The term SEO also refers to “search engine optimization”. We can break down methods used for SEO into two categories; “white hat” and “black hat”.

White hats say that black hat methods are an attempt to manipulate search rankings unfairly. Black hats counter that all SEO is an attempt to manipulate rankings, and that the particular methods one uses to rank well are irrelevant.

Search engines display different kinds of results on ’search engine results pages’ (SERPs), including: pay per click, paid inclusion, and organic search results. SEO is primarily concerned with advancing the goals of a website by improving the number and position of its organic search results for a wide variety of relevant keywords. SEO strategies strive to increase both the number and quality of visitors. Search engine optimization is sometimes offered as a stand-alone service, or as a part of a larger marketing effort and is often more effective when incorporated into the initial development and design of a website.

For competitive, high-volume search terms, the cost of pay per click advertising can be very high. Not only is the cost high, but the quality of traffic is not as good as the organic search engine traffic. The reason for this is that people that have been on the Internet for more than a short period of time know not to trust the pay per click websites as much as the organic websites. It does not take long for someone to realize the pay per click websites always have a sales pitch.

Ranking well in the organic search results can provide better targeted traffic with a significant savings. People just tend to trust the organic search engine results because they often have websites that are there to provide information and not always a sales pitch.

Not all sites have identical goals for search optimization. Some sites seek any and all traffic and may be optimized to rank highly for many common search engine keyword phrases. A broad search optimization strategy can work for a website that has broad general interest, such as a periodical or a directory of websites. Overly broad search optimization can hinder marketing strategy by generating a large volume of low-quality inquiries.

In contrast, many webmasters try to optimize their sites for highly specific keywords that would indicate readiness to buy or take some kind of desirable action. Focusing on desirable traffic generates better quality sales leads, resulting in more sales. This is called ‘highly targeted traffic’ and can be very effective when used as part of a smart niche marketing strategy.