Complete WebSite Optimization For Search Engines

Complete WebSite Optimization For Search Engines (Part 1)

by: Pavel Lenshin

SEO or search engine optimization strategy now becomes widely popular among online business operators. Nothing strange about it as it allows to substantially increase your gross income, as a result of growing traffic or visitors flow.

That is why one point should be stressed out your business return on SEO is directly proportional to the results your business have now. It means that SEO strategy, unlike marketing optimization, directed to boost quantity, not quality. If your business enjoys 1% response rate for any action you demand, whether it is sale, subscription, feedback or other it keeps on having similar response rate after SEO will be accomplished, although the response will grow in absolute numbers as a result of increasing traffic flow.

As you see SEO is not a panacea. The highest and the most efficient return on your SEO campaign as well as business investment may be reached upon one condition. Only when your current business model and marketing campaign has already been optimized and reached high level or response rate and efficiency, it is smart to grow your business กin quantityก.

The reason for such attitude lies within the next speculation as well. Having inefficient business model under conducting website SEO will force growing number of visitors to turn your online business down for good. The obvious reason is that too few people actually return to the site once they left it for any reason, so having low response rate will substantially decrease your SEO result!

Letกs draw an example. With previously mentioned 1% response rate from every 100 visitors you get, would mean that 1 visitor only takes desired action. Suppose SEO campaign increased the flow of targeted traffic to 1000. Using childrenกs math we can easily come up with 9 new people, who would start to express their interest in your offer every month.

Now what if your, as some marketers say, กconversionก rate is 10% (10 visitors from every 100) and the SEO helped to bring the same 1000 targeted traffic. You now have 100 ขdesired actionsข per month! In other words, your net SEO achievement is 90 new people. Compare this to 9 people with 1% conversion rate and it all becomes clear. That is why SEO is mainly about quantity, while response rate is mainly about quality.

I haven’t intentionally mentioned about high quality of traffic search engines generate. Many experts would probably be skeptical by now for my eveningout the quality of traffic and focusing on quantity only. The explanation is simple the quality of SE traffic is an Individual parameter.

Unlike many marketing and SE experts I cannot tell you how กqualityก visitors coming from SE will be for your particular business as I don’t know your present promotion methods. That is why the quality of traffic SEO campaign brings may be neutral, slightly positive or even negative. Yes, it may be negative.

I anticipate a small shock among online marketers, who were taught for their whole internet business career that search engine traffic is the most quality traffic they may have. It is not true under some conditions. If banner or classified ads were the only ways of generating traffic for you, then SEO will surely bring a quality improvement to your business response, on the other hand, imagine, that your present visitors are interested readers of your books, ebooks, reports, articles and other publications. Do you really think that ‘response qualityก of people coming from กDescription tagก of your search engine listing will be higher? Hardly, you can surely expect a slight decrease in response rate of SEO campaign, despite the unquestionable quantity growth in accordance with our previous example.

Next vital point is to understand that before anything we, firstly, should have those webpages, otherwise there would be nothing to optimize. That basic logic will lead to another obvious conclusion. The more themebased webpages you have the better SEO result you can achieve. If your online business represented by 3 webpages (main sales letter, about the author and contacts), your initial SEO ‘resourcesก are too weak to reach any substantial goal. SEs look for information, that is why, content rich websites may truly enjoy advantages of SEO.

Secondly, your pages should have already been listed in SEs. If you haven’t submitted your website to SEs yet, no point to optimize the SE listing position you don’t have.

An important dilemma every business operator faces is the extent s/he allows to reach in desire to get outstanding SEO results. Here is what I mean. As we all know the basic rule of successful website optimization is focusing on keywords with low or very low competition. In other words, the less supply of internet resources for some particular keyword or phrase is, the more chances are for your webpage of being กnoticedก and ranked high.

Here is the problem, if you want to get a maximum for your website SE position you should be prepared not just to rewrite or edit your webpages, but to completely change the theme structure and priority of informational content!

There would undoubtedly be website sections or pages with extremely high competition that would stress the popularity and importance of that topic, so if you decide to keep it กas isก, optimization will raise your listing, but somewhere from 796,021 place to 545,932. Does it help you?

The extent of your กflexibilityก and how far you can go to look กprettyก from SE viewpoint is what should be decided beforehand, because there are always 3 parts: you/your business, target market/consumers and search engines/directories, between which about 90% of informational preferences are common, but the rest 10% differ and it is up to you to decide what themes you should focus on. Whenever you are implementing any of the SEO tactics mentioned in this publication, keep in mind your business and consumersก needs.

Having understood these fundamental features of SEO, could we make a step further into a complete website search engine optimization, expanding your business to the new markets.

Note that SEO, despite all mentioned above, is all about กasking for high rankingก and there cannot be any results guarantee as no one except for SE developers themselves control ranking algorithm and determine กwho is whereก. More than that, SEO takes much time before effecting your listing positions and this timeframe may range somewhere from week to several months, so don’t panic if your optimization efforts haven’t resulted in Google #1 position by tomorrow morning.

Structure

Letกs start from drawing a scheme of your website link structure very similar to one every webdeveloper draws before designing a website. Under other equal conditions, we will speak about later, it is also clear that the more theme based webpages or even website sections you create, the more chances of being ranked high you have, no matter how optimized your competitorกs single webpage is.

Each webpage of website section should represent a particular theme or topic. This way you can diversify your กkeywords marketก, increasing chances of high rankings. Despite obvious visitors advantage your site is more likely to win market recognition.

For now try to have กhorizontalก as well as standard กverticalก link connections between pages. If one of your pages got a high ranking position (Google Page rank) it may help to improve the rankings of webpages connected to it as well.

Keyword analysis

Next step is to determine keywords, mainly, phrases that we would like to target. Talking about mentioned dilemma, I would like to point to the other approach you should know about, that is suggested by some experts. Letกs call it SEoriented approach.

According to this approach, before creating a website your first step implies searching for the best key phrases via competitive analysis on main SE and then starting to develop content around these keywords. It means that your website will get highest SE ranking, but the informational richness will be dictated by neither you nor your consumers. Under such conditions it is SE or, to be more specific, your compe tition will determine what kind of content you will have at your website. As you see, according to SEoriented approach, the more competitive some key phrase and based on it topic is, the less attention you should pay to developing that theme at your own site.

My attitude is slightly different. I offer at first to create and evaluate your current website content based on your business preferences and your nichemarket needs and then optimize those webpages according to keywords taken from your existed webpages, no matter how tough the competition may be. Of course, you are free to create new pages around keywords with low competition just for traffic building purposes, but the primary accent should be focused on your business development and marketing needs.

As for the keywords, the basic rule is to choose the most targeted phrases rather than single words for two reasons:

Phrases could describe your webpage theme usually more precisely than a word;

Phrases usually have substantially less competition in comparison with oneword.

Write down 35 the most targeted key phrases for each webpage or section we are going to optimize. Then by evaluating supply/demand ratio find the easiest keywords for SE positioning.

Standard procedure of determining your key phrase competition or, as i said กevaluating supply/demand ratioก is to look at their supply and demand at popular SEs. Supply is determined by results of searching them on SEs while demand can be found through query on PPC programs at Overture.com or Google.comกs AdWords that have tool for discovering how many time keywords or phrase have been searched on them.

By doing so we are searching for the most prospective and promising for optimization key phrases. Having them allow us to go further and start optimizing the webpages themselves.

(to be continued)

About The Author

Pavel Lenshin is a devoted Internet entrepreneur and founder of the entrepreneurship portal, where you can find discounted Internet services, FREE ebooks http://ASBONE.com/ebooks/, FREE reports http://ASBONE.com/reports/, and finally uncover innovative strategies through FREE กNET Business Magazineก

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 31, 2003

by Pavel Lenshin

Googleกs New SEO Rules

Googleกs New SEO Rules

by: John Metzler

Google has recently made some pretty significant changes in its ranking algorithm. The latest update, dubbed by Google forum users as กAllegraก, has left some web sites in the dust and catapulted others to top positions. Major updates like this can happen a few times a year at Google, which is why picking the right search engine optimization company can be the difference between online success and failure. However, it becomes an increasingly difficult decision when SEO firms themselves are suffering from the Allegra update.

Overoptimization may have played the biggest part in the dropping of seoguy.com from the top 50 Google results. Filtering out web sites that have had readability sacrificed for optimization is a growing trend at Google. It started with the Sandbox Effect in late 2004, where relatively new sites were not being seen at all in the Google results even with good keyword placement in content and incoming links. Many thought it was a deliberate effort by Google to penalize sites that had SEO work done. Itกs a few months later and we see many of the กsandboxedก web sites finally appearing well for their targeted keywords.

With 44 occurrences of กSEOก on the relatively short home page of seoguy.com, and many of them in close proximity to each other, the content reads like a page designed for search engine robots, not the visitor. This ranking shift should come as no surprise to SEO professionals as people have been saying it for years now: Sites should be designed for visitors, not search engine robots. Alas, some of us don’t listen and this is what happens when search engines finally make their move.

One aspect of search engine optimization that is also affected in a roundabout way is link popularity development. After observing the effects of strictly relevant link exchanges on many of our clientกs sites recently, weกve noticed incredibly fast #1 rankings on Google. It seems Google may be looking out for links pages designed for the sole purpose of raising link popularity and devalues the relevance of the site. After all, if a links page on a real estate site has 100 outgoing links to pharmacy sites, there has to be a lot of content on that page completely unrelated to real estate. Not until now has that been so detrimental to a siteกs overall relevance to search terms. It goes back to the old rule of thumb: Make your visitors the top priority. Create a resources page that actually contains useful links for your site users. If you need to do reciprocal linking then keep it relevant and work those sites in with other good resources.

Keeping up with the online search world can be overwhelming for the average small business owner or corporate marketing department. Constant Google changes, MSN coming on the scene in a big way, and all the hype around the new Become.com shopping search function can make heads spin. But just keep things simple and follow the main rules that have been around for years. Google, as well as other search engines, won’t ever be able to ignore informative, well written content along with good quality votes from other web sites.

About The Author

John Metzler is the cocreator of Abalone Designs, Inc. www.abalone.ca, a Search Engine Optimization company in Vancouver, Canada. He has been involved in web design and web marketing since 1999 and has helped turn Abalone Designs into one of the top SEO companies in the world.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 28

by John Metzler

Internet Marketing Without a BigPicture Strategy

Internet Marketing Without a BigPicture Strategy Dances in Circles

by: Michael Pedone

Stop Tracking the Illusive กMagic Bulletก

It seems like everyone is beating the drum for one Internet marketing method or another. And in the process they create plenty of hype and conflicting messages.

Website owners are left to wonder whom to believe when it comes to impressing the search engines. Which approach can deliver the กmagic bulletก theyกve been promised? Is it time to jump to the next กsure thing,ก that will entice both search spiders and web surfers?

The primary methods promoted to attract search engines and Web traffic aren’t new:

Links and reciprocal links

Payperclick (PPC)

Search engine optimization (SEO) in all its variations

Blogs and forums

Writing and posting articles or press releases

Paid placement with ads and banners

But each of them shares a common limitation. At its best, each is only part of the answer. An answer that won’t hold still long enough to get nailed down before the next กmust haveก appears.

The Internet is Maturing, and so are Search Engines

In recent years, the capabilities and sophistication of the search engines have exploded. Public use and expectations have grown to match it. The publicกs reliance on the Internet as a reliable source expands ever faster. Recent studies found the Web to be the most trusted source of information for making major purchase decisions, second only to spouses for finding referrals.

A Harris Interactive consumer survey (2004) reports that 73% of adults are now online 156 million users. Thatกs up from 69% eight months before. Most Internet users (80%) expect that theyกll find reliable, detailed facts online (Pew Internet and American Life Project). So they go online first when they need information. And they have confidence in what they’re able to find.

Now more than ever, access to that gigantic pool of informationhungry Internet users depends on a websiteกs relationship to the search engines. Is it possible for people to find it? The stakes are high.

Integration of Methods is the กNext Big Thingก

Refined keyword and page optimization are the standard anymore. SEO has morphed into Search Engine Marketing (SEM). The key difference is integration. SEO method aren’t seen as separate solutions, but as parts of a multipronged endeavor. Success now depends on how well they all dovetail.

Thatกs a fundamental shift from the lurching กdo this…, now that…, now that… approaches, which have characterized the online norm. And anyone whoกs still playing by that game plan will be left behind.

Be suspicious of any SEO strategy thatกs wedded to a single method no matter what impressive statistics they cite. And when the search engines กburp,ก (as they surely will now and then) a siteกs visibility can be lost. A diversified approach to links and search engines reduces vulnerability. Achieving that requires shifting focus to a bigger, more inclusive picture.

My Experience with Reciprocal Linking

As a person who has been in SEM for years (and finetuned hundreds of websites) Iกve gotten good at spotting trends as they develop. And Iกve seen too many กcan’t loseก methods fade.

No question that linking is important for search engine placement. There are effective and targeted ways to acquire incoming links that don’t require a link exchange. However, I saw some problems with the way many reciprocal links are pursued. My concerns led me to write an article, Reciprocal Linking is Dead, http://www.etafficjams.com/reciprocallinkingisdead.htm back when most insiders were proclaiming it to be the way to go. (Fresh articles about why you should develop reciprocal links appear daily.)

An integrated search engine marketing strategy is vital for your websiteกs visibility and survival. Resist the shortsightedness of putting too much reliance on what everyone is recommending.

Beat the Pack by a Country Mile

If you’re ready for the กNext Big Thing,ก stop chasing the flavor of the month. The trend is toward building an integrated strategy where all the options mesh. Achieve all the added benefits that come with integrating every method your website employs. Now thatกs a next thing with staying power.

© 2005, Michael Pedone

About The Author

Michael Pedone http://www.eTrafficJams.com a professional search engine optimization company specializing in getting targeted, eagertobuy traffic to your site! Want to improve your siteกs optimization? Call 8777859977 for a free SEO analysis

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 26

by Michael Pedone

SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

by: Dean Phillips

I seem to have created quite a stir, on a particular SEO forum recently. In fact, rumor has it, at one point, my article, กGoogleกs Trap, DMOZกs Nap, And Yahoo!กs Crapก was the hottest topic discussed on this particular forum.

The aforementioned article was also bestowed the title of, กWorst SEO Article Everก by someone on the forum.

Why all the animus? I have no idea. Perhaps they view me as a threat to their livelihood. Whatever the reason, certain SEOกs seem to be taking my articles personally. Thatกs their problem!

My articles are not aimed directly at SEOกs or search engines per se. My articles are aimed at the people who utilize their services.

Iกm trying to get these people to realize, they can’t depend solely on search engines and search engine optimization. You have to have a multipronged attack.

I don’t depend on the search engines! I never have. I refuse to play that game. My traffic comes from the dozens of articles Iกve written that have been picked up and published on popular web sites all over the Internet. I also get traffic via word of mouth, newsletters and ezines that my articles are published in, and a few other secret methods that I use.

And you can do the same thing. You just have to get out of that search engine mindset.

There are many other proven and effective ways to market your web site. Here are just a few: ezines, newsletters, forums, online magazines, sponsor listings on other web sites, exchanging links.

Here are a few offline options: magazines, direct mail, shopper newspapers, cable television, radio, flyers, hospital newsletters, card decks, trade journals and directories, bulletin boards, tabloid newspapers.

Yes, I know Google and Yahoo! are the biggest, most powerful search engine and directory on the planet! Forget about them! Why? Because despite what certain corrupt SEOกs may claim, they CANNOT guarantee you a top ten listing in either Google or Yahoo!

No legitimate SEO would ever make that kind of guarantee in the first place. They couldn’t, because they know they wouldn’t be able to deliver on that promise. Now they may be able to get you to the top of the search engines with certain less popular keywords. However, what good does it do you to rank number one for keywords that nobody searches for?

I want to make one thing perfectly clear, right now. I am not suggesting that all SEOกs are corrupt. I don’t believe that for a second. There are many fine, honest and hardworking SEOกs out there, who are doing a wonderful job for their clients.

I have the utmost respect for people like Jill Whalen, Bruce Clay, Robert Woodhead and many, many other fine and reputable SEO experts. These individuals don’t overhype their services or your expectations.

They also have excellent rankings on the search engines. So, they definitely know what they’re doing.

Then, thereกs the other end of the spectrumthe companies that give good SEOกs like the aforementioned a bad name. Iกm sure youกve all seen some of these headlines:

‘top 10 and Top 20 Rankings Guaranteed!ก

กGuaranteed Number 1 Ranking!ก

กGuaranteed Top Ranking!ก

‘top 10 Placement Guaranteed!ก

Well, the next time you see this kind of advertisement, make a mental note to check out that companyกs ranking. Youกll be shocked at what you find out. Some of these companies making these outrageous claims are ranked at number 3 million. Thatกs not an exaggeration!

Now let me point out something very important to you. A companyกs search engine ranking doesn’t always tell the whole story. I know of many companies making a nice living on the Internet that aren’t ranked that highly in the search engines. You probably know a few yourself. You may even be one of those companies.

However, if you’re considering hiring an SEO, I think where they rank is very important. Why? Because if they aren’t capable of getting their own web site a high ranking, how can they possibly achieve a high ranking for someone else? They can’t!

You should bear that in mind, when checking out SEOกs.

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: [email protected].

Visit his website at: http://www.letsmakemoney.net

This article was posted on October 26, 2004

by Dean Phillips

Good News for SEO Consultants: Searchers Use Two W

Good News for SEO Consultants: Searchers Use Two Words

by: Shell Harris

I just read a small article by David Utter at Search Newz that intrigued me. Mr. Utter posted data from www.onestat.com that reveals some very helpful information about your typical internet searcher. In other words we have been given some insight into the mind of how our customers search.

One of the biggest obstacles in Search Engine Optimization is convincing the client to target keywords and phrases they might not agree with. Often the topics of which keywords to target turn into which keyword to target. The education process starts by us explaining to the client that targeting one keyword is foolhardy and a huge waste of our time and their money.

An example: A potential client asked if we could rank them for the term ‘toysก. We convinced him that toys could lead to many results that would be of no use to him. Cat toys, dog toys, other kinds of toys not fit for a G or PG audience as well as his own types of products, childrenกs toys.

And now that I have used three paragraphs to get to my point, here it is. People searching on the Internet use more than one keyword when searching. They most often use two words. This is substantiated by a study done by OneStat.com.

OneStat.com reports that twoword searches rate just above threeword searches, 29.6 percent to 27.55 percent. The figures they show for July 2005 are an average of searches done over the last two months.

กSearch engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo can drive a lot of traffic to a web site. It is important that a webmaster or SEO expert knows what kind of search phrases they have to use to drive more traffic to a site,ก said Niels Brinkman, cofounder of OneStat.com, in a statement.

Remember, specific is good on the Internet and targeted is even better. Twoword searches are wonderful, threeword searches are even better and fourword searches are sale waiting to happen. So don’t waste effort for a keyword unlikely to bring people to you Internet door, focus on the phrases that will bring sales to your business.

About The Author

Shell Harris is an Internet marketing consultant and an SEO Specialist. He provides proven results for Website promotion. More articles can be found at his companyกs site: http://bigoakinc.com. This article may be freely reprinted as long as all links and author information remain.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 07

by Shell Harris

Why is search engine optimisation expensive?

Why is search engine optimisation expensive?

by: Rkd Unger

(Edited by Olya Crawley)

Many of our customers (http://www.internetmarketingaustralia.com) find search engine optimisation (SEO) services quite expensive. From the clientกs point of view the results are intangible and the process is lengthy. Therefore, the clients are often reluctant to commit to the additional expense.

Typically, a call for SEO comes after the website is already up and running. The quoted price depends on the clientกs needs, industry, positioning, etc. The price varies a lot, yet the cost of optimisation is comparable to the cost of Web design.

Is it expensive? You bet!

During the negotiations with the Web designers the client gets an expectation of having a beautiful and functional site developed for an X amount of dollars. The client is also getting a free hosting, free search engines submissions and other freebies. That is why the price looks reasonable.

Only at some later stage the client realises that there is not enough traffic (and potential buyers) coming through the website. Consultations with the Internet marketing gurus reveal that in addition to the extra cost there is a need to restructure the content copy. Why was it not done during the Web design phase?

The answer is simple. Skill sets of Web designers, graphic designers, programmers and Internet marketing people are different. Each of the specialists focuses on a different aspect of the Web site. Thus, when starting the search engine optimisation, we come across design obstacles that take time the clientกs money to overcome.

Consider this: we discovered that the client’s home page was overloaded with JScript and had only two sentences of actual readable text. To rectify the situation,we suggested and created new home page content (at least 250 words). We also asked the web designers to move the script out into a separate file.

The client had to pay for all the above services plus testing!

Wouldn’t it be smarter (read: cheaper for the client) to consider SEO issues during the Web design phase, rather than after?

Customers would be happier, the websites would perform better…

Will the Web design firms have enough courage to approach SEO at the initial stage?

We hope they will….

(From www.internetmarketingaustralia.com)

About The Author

Rkd Unger, Internet marketing consultant, founder of www.internetmarketingaustralia.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 27, 2004

by Rkd Unger

Increase SEO Sales by Teaching Clients about SEO T

Increase SEO Sales by Teaching Clients about SEO Truths

by: John Alexander

In private consultations with some Search Engine Optimizers I am always amazed at how many people feel itกs necessary to hype things up in order to sell their search engine placement services.
Selling hype or setting unrealistic expectations is one of the LEAST intelligent things you can do to build long term client relationships. Instead of scrambling to outdo the next self proclaimed SEO guyกs claims, why not try something more in the nature of a soft sell.
By teaching your prospective clients the truth about the SEO process actually will:

Enhance your reputation as a professional
Diffuse those competitors who ONLY sell hype
Increase new sales
Generate increased referral business
Establish long term client relationships
Establish tremendous client loyalty
Firmly establish YOUR CREDIBILITY in both the community as well as the industry as a professional who knows how to get results.

In other words, teach people the TRUTH about the process and youกll already gain some immediate advantages because you are educating the prospect by offering them some facts but even more important, something that is EASY to believe. Something that blows away old misconceptions.
Most people are tired of hearing a lot of sales hype.
Try demystifying the SEO process and help your prospects to understand what search engine optimization (SEO) can do for their business. Itกs really just a simple, oldfashioned principle.

More SE visibility = more success for the client More client
success = more referral business for you

Most of the time, your clients will sell your services better than you can ever sell yourself.
Every time you help someone achieve success, it is literally impossible for your business not to benefit as well. Okay, here are some real simple tips:
A. Educate your prospect by telling them the truth.
Try using some of the following points when speaking to your prospects:

Explain to your prospect, that your job is not just building a web site. Designing a web site is relatively easy, but this is only 50% of the job. Explain that your effort continues long after the launch of the site.
Teach them about a few of the ways your service differs from the traditional Web developer. Your true objective entails more than just concept or design.
Your skill is positioning their web site squarely in front of their ideal target audience. Once you get them positioned for maximum exposure, itกs your aim to keep them there, right in the limelight.
If you’re presenting to a group of 2 or more, ask them the name of their favorite search engine. Don’t be surprised by their reply but 98% of the time, theyกll name one of the MAJOR search engines. This is a great way to begin teaching them something they may have never heard before.
Since there are only a กhandfulก of search engines that everyone uses (the major ones), this is where we place our best promotional efforts. You can demonstrate where their traffic will come from if other clients give you permission to use a couple of their reports as samples.

Ask your prospect, กDid you know that กHITSก are irrelevant?
‘thatกs right, hits do not matter because a HIT is NOT a visitor.ก You can then explain that each HIT is really an action from the server. In other words, a hit occurs for each and every element downloaded. The number of HITS to a site, are nearly always larger numbers, but this does NOT mean you had any great number of visitors. Teach them about the importance of unique visitor sessions.
Why is this important?
In explaining this difference between a HIT and a VISITOR, you have taught your prospect a truth that could work against the next competitor who comes along behind you and only talks about HITS (which is what many do).
Why do so many competitors talk all about HITS?
Simply because they are BIG numbers which sound impressive particularly if you have no intention of providing the customer with detailed reporting. Teach your prospect the truth, that the important numbers to watch are the actual visitor session counts, not just hits.
Help your client to understand what it is you do.
Does your prospect see your กbehind the scenesก service as VITAL? If not, they need some understanding! Explain, ‘the reasonก that business owners hire you, is to ensure their web site is built and launched properly the very first timeก.
Explain that กBusiness owners are usually too busy running their business, to worry about all of the requirements of publishing and positioning a web site for targeted traffic and monitoring the results.ก Help them to understand that you ARE their watchdog for online success. You have come to realize that the more success you bring to them, the more your business grows. You are in this for the long term!
B. Talk to them about the components of success:
Let them know that when you work with their web content, you need some freedom to work with them and provide input. Explain that the best success formula is often a cross between rewriting their content especially for high search engine placement COMBINED with copywriting that is written for the human brain.
Itกs a combination of having a highly visible web site that also employs techniques that compel their visitors to respond. Explain why this second aspect is so important by saying something like, กYour business does not really begin, until we get your visitor to take action and respond to what they see.
Talk to them about your ability to research their keyword phrases from real time results. Explain to them that you must determine which search phrases will genuinely pull the most targeted traffic into their pages. Tell them you will be asking them for a list of suggested keywords to start. Explain that ultimately you will be analyzing those words and through research, youกll actually find the highest performing phrases with the lowest competition.
You can let them know that the reason your pages score well with major search engines is because you build honest, contentrich pages without the use of any types of tricks, gimmicks or spam.
The strategies you employ are based on using phrases that are first researched and then proven to be currently in usage by consumers within their specific market.
C. Stop trying so hard to sell SEO and learn to dialogue.
Learn to กdialogueก with your prospects in a twoway communication. This is most often successful if you are the one asking the questions. Remember that whoever is asking the questions, is really the one who is controlling and directing the conversation.
Ask questions about from where the prospect would like to take business. Try asking questions like, กWould you be willing to take business from a specific location?ก Ask lots of specific questions. If they are only interested in a regional presence, then begin painting a picture in their mind of where they could be getting new business from.
Remember to ask questions about your prospectกs distribution of product and services. Demonstrate that you are not just interested in building, positioning and monitoring the site.you are also interested in all aspects of the business such as how they intend to handle distribution. Such conversations not only lead to enhancing client rapport, but will end up triggering new optimization strategies in your mind.
D. Make the most of your newest successes.
Your prospects become your customers and in a short time, they begin telling stories about their success on the web. Don’t forget to make the most of these opportunities, after all youกve made the effort and promoted your client well, you deserve the credit.
You have demonstrated that your SEO strategies not only work, but in many cases, your efforts will have delivered a dramatic increase in business. Always ask your clientกs permission first, but they’re usually more than happy to distribute your brochure or business cards. This is usually the start to a wonderful trend in ongoing referral business. Always remember to thank your clients for every new referral they send your way.
Ask your clients if they would mind taking the occasional reference call. All you really need are just a few of your clientกs names and numbers. A list of these satisfied names and numbers can be offered to new prospects. You can be sure this is just one more thing that not a lot of your competitors will be doing.
Search Engine Optimization is one of the biggest missing links in this whole web development industry. Itกs safe to say that building a web site without a plan for search engine optimization, is the single most expensive lesson that any dot com business has ever had to learn in the last few years. Itกs only good wisdom that you teach both your prospects and your clients these things up front and early. The results will be a long lasting client relationship where your client wins, your clientกs customer wins and YOU win too!
E. Enjoy the tremendous lift of knowing that you really are making a difference for your clients.
For thousands of business owners, the investment in solid SEO strategies, are the single missing link to their success. Take action today by employing SEO strategies for your clients and give them the outstanding results they deserve. Remember that success breeds success and when you do an extraordinary job for your client, it was YOUR SEO skills that made the difference. There is tremendous satisfaction in that too!
Best regards,
John Alexander

About The Author

John Alexander is the CoDirector of Training of Search Engine Workshops with Robin Nobles. Together, they teach 2day beginner, 3day advanced, and 5day allinclusive กhands onก search engine marketing workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) in locations across the globe. John also teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com, and he’s a member of Wordtracker’s (http://www.wordtracker.com/moreinfo.html) official question support team. John is author of the ebook Wordtracker Magic (http://www.wordtrackermagic.com)

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 22, 2004

by John Alexander

The Best Traffic Generation Tool Is Free

The Best Traffic Generation Tool Is Free

by: Diane Hughes

Although search engines have been around since the beginning of the Web, many businesses (large and small) are just now waking up to the gigantic benefit search engines provide. What other medium gives you at absolutely no cost whatsoever a way to drive unlimited traffic to your site? None. That’s why, once people understand search engine optimization (SEO), they get hooked!
I want to give you some basics to follow in order to help get your site ranked at the top of popular search engines like Yahoo! and Google. I also want to provide you with some exceptional resources so you can further your SEO education in the future.
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
SEO is the process of creating a Web site that fosters the design, coding, copy, and linkbuilding elements search engines most like to see. Through the process of SEO, you can develop a site (or alter an existing site) so that the engines will move you up to the top of the search results. That means people who are actually looking to find what you have to sell will click to your site before your competition’s.
How Does SEO Work?
There are three fundamental parts to the SEO equation: coding, copywriting, and link popularity.
Coding is the manipulation of your HTML code so that it is clean, uncluttered, positioned correctly, and easily accessible to the search engine spiders and bots. You want to be sure the most important information to the spiders is located up top where they can quickly and easily find it. You also want to ensure that java scripts and other such coding are moved out of the spiders’ way.
Copywriting relates to the text on your site. Search engine copywriting pertains to being able to write in such a way that you include your primary keyphrases in strategic places so that you get the most กpointsก from the engines.
Link popularity deals with how many sites have links that point back to your site (and vice versa). The theory is, that if others think highly enough of your site to link to it, your site must be of good quality.
When you have a good combination of all three primary elements, you stand a much better chance of ranking high with the engines.
Doesn’t SEO Depend On META Tags?
It used to… a long, LONG time ago. When the ‘Net was first founded, just about all you had to do to get high rankings was to shove a bunch of keyphrases into your keyword tag. Now, however, the engines are smarter. They pay no attention to the keyword tags and very little attention to the description tag. The only tag that carries much weight anymore is the title tag. It is extremely important.
Isn’t SEO Copywriting Just Using Keyphrases As Many Times As You Can?
No! Not only does that put you at risk of spamming the search engines, it makes your copy sound horrible to your human site visitors. What good are high search engine rankings if your copy doesn’t convert those visitors into paying customers?
You need to find creative and strategic places to use keyphrases so that you maintain the balance between natural language and keyphrase use.
How do you learn all you need to know about SEO? From the pros! Here are several resources you can use to improve your education:
High Rankings Forum http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
Best Practices Forum http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forum/
Search Engine Watch Newsletter http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Search Engine Guide Newsletter http://www.searchengineguide.com
EMarketing News http://www.emarketingnews.co.uk/
Search Engine Optimization Fast Start http://www.cannedbooks.com/
The StepbyStep Copywriting Course http://www.copywritingcourse.com
How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy) http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword
The Nittygritty of Writing for the Engines http://www.highrankings.com/seowriting.htm
It’s not hype. I can tell you from seeing it firsthand. It’s well worth the time to learn SEO.
With a little effort, you can quickly have your site pulling in plenty of targeted traffic at no cost to you whatsoever.
Copyright 2004 Diane Hughes

About The Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

This article was posted on May 24, 2004

by Diane Hughes

Removed From Google Index, Why ?

Removed From Google Index, Why ?

by: Tiberiu Bazavan

1. Google Statement

กYour page was manually removed from our index, because it did not conform with the quality standards necessary to assign accurate PageRank. We will not comment on the individual reasons a page was removed and we do not offer an exhaustive list of practices that can cause removal. However, certain actions such as cloaking, writing text that can be seen by search engines but not by users, or setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may result in permanent removal from our index. If you think your site may fall into this category, you might try กcleaning upก the page and sending a reinclusion request to [email protected]. We do not make any guarantees about if or when we will reinclude your site.ก

SO : Firs of all No one other than Google could tell you precisely why your site was removed. And Google doesn’t do that sort of thing. The best that can be had is an analysis yielding red flags that could lead to your siteกs removal.

2. No SEO can guarantee inclusion in Google after he/she analyze the site.

3. The search engines are not terribly specific about the practices that are considered to be SE spam, however, Google offers a short list:

Avoid hidden text or hidden links.

Don’t employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.

Don’t send automated queries to Google.

Don’t load pages with irrelevant words.

Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

Avoid กdoorwayก pages created just for search engines, or other กcookie cutterก approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content

Most of ‘the restก is covered by:

กAvoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether youกd feel comfortable explaining what youกve done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, กDoes this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?กก

กDon’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your siteกs ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or กbad neighborhoodsก on the web as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.ก

กGoogle may respond negatively to other misleading practices not listed here, (e.g. tricking users by registering misspellings of wellknown web sites). Itกs not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique isn’t included on this page, Google approves of it.ก

Webmaster Guidelines | Quality

http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

Yahoo Search is even more restrictive in their definitions of spam and undesirables, however, concentration on detection and removal has not been receiving quite as much focus. It would be an excellent idea to be aware of and conform to Yกs restrictions, since Yahoo has no reacceptance policy. Banishment has been, in every case Iกve heard of, permanent. [http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/deletions/deletions05.html]

4. Crosslinking / Interlinking

The latest practice apparently added to the list of undesirables is crosslinking or interlinking. Made for the SE sites are linked together in an attempt to artificially inflate PageRank.

กCrosslinking If your entire site is sitting at PR0, one possibility is a crosslinking penalty. Sometimes a webmaster who controls two or more websites will place links from every page of one website to every page of the other sites to increase the PageRank ofall the sites. If detected, this will quickly incur a penalty if not an outright ban from the Google index.ก

Whyกs My Sites PageRank Now Zero

http://www.rlrouse.com/pagerankpenalty.html

Among other indicators, factors which might prompt discovery of crosslinkage could be:

Same content verbatim

Same cookie structure

Javascript function names

Linked CSS and JS files

CSS class names

Same contact information posted on websites

Common name servers

Same/similar images and/or graphics theme

Site hosted on same IP/block

Whois information matching

Alexa contact information matching

Interlinking of domains

Common backlinks (indirect crosslinking)

Same credit card used for anything

Login from same IP to separate accounts

Residual cookies from past logins

Similar file names or linking/directory structures

Code Comments

It used to be considered relatively safe to have as many inbound links as possible. Regardless of source. Over the course of this year, that assumption has spawned link purchase, and hidden crosslinking. Nowsites must also be very careful about inbound links. The crosslinked and purchased links networks have been devalued. Sites linking to those types of networks have reported decreasing traffic, and finally,over the past month or so, a number of such sites have been completely dropped from the index.

Whether this was a manual removal or an algorithm shift can’t be determined without proprietary information from inside Google, which we already know isn’t possible. Remember Googleกs SE spam fighting philosophy: กGoogle prefers developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize handtohand spam fighting. The spam reports we receive are used to create scalable algorithms that recognize and block future spam attempts.

The crosslinking tactics alone used are consistent with those of other sites that are considered spam and may have been reported as such. If Google should target those characteristics based on spam reports for other sites, then it is not surprising that homeboundmortgage would be caught by the same adjustments to the algorithm or filters, and be dropped from the index as well.

5. Over Optimization Penalty

This summer, a new term has emerged, Over Optimization Penalty, which refers to the tweaks most SEO make to pages to กfine tuneก them to the top of their keyword categories. Page length, Keyword Density, bold, underline, italic, H1 formulas, link text, and various other small elements are manipulated until the perfect balance is struck, and the SEOกd site contains just a small bit more than the other sites in the top 10. It can be a full time job keeping a site at that level with these small changes. Google has lowered the bar, now effectively saying that high keyword densities, and many of the other SEO tweaks are evidence of too much SEO. Filters are created, and such sites drop in the rankings. Sites that have been playing too close to the edge are penalized.

ALT Text

Keyword in Alt text Not only does this contribute to ideal word count, it may show keyword stuffing in the ALT tags. To clean up, switch to clear text navigation.

Old Link Exchanges

Pages stored in the Internet Archive may indicate the site was once involved in some questionable link exchanges.

Duplicate Content

All duplicate pages should be eliminated. Link just one page consistently.

Now, once all these changes have been made, what to do. You can, of course, try writing [email protected]. กWe do not make any guarantees about if or when we will reinclude your site.ก

Webmaster Guidelines | Not Listed

www.google.com/webmasters/2.html

I personally know of only 4 sites that have been reincluded after manual removal. In each case, the site was crawled regularly, but was not included in the index for over six months. I don’t know the specific reason for this, of course, but I would imagine it might be some sort of a testing period. How strong is a webmasterกs resolve to walk the straight and narrow, despite lack of indexing.

So, assuming best case, you might be looking at six months or more before your sites are reincluded in the index. Once delisted, I also imagine such sites must stay squeaky clean. An SE might forgive once, but seldom twice.

6. Looking Ahead

VERY worst case, permanent exclusion from organic results on Google. Recovery basically means starting over, nearly from scratch. Plan a 1218 month Overture or AdWords campaign, originally targeting the current website. Pick more specifically targeted keyword phrase initially, to keep costs down. I realize this is a high priced keyword neighborhood. You may need to create new, perfectly targeted landing pages to lower acquisition costs.

Select a new domain name. Without reinclusion within a short period of time, the current name will continue to lose value daily.

Build a new, clean site under the new domain name. Text must be fresh, not a duplicate of the current domain. Do not duplicate site structure, filenames, or other elements that could link it to the banned name.

Gradually add organic links. Expect it to take 612 months in order to acquire 1,000 related links. Continue to link to related sites over the next 18 months. Grow the site adding one new page (250500 words) each day.

As the new site rises in the SERPs gradually switch the PPC traffic to the new site, and retire the current site completely. At any point in the process, if the current (old) site should reappear, it shouldn’t be an undue amount of work to gradually retarget the newly acquired links to the older site. Encourage natural link text by those linking to the site.

If youกre going to optimize at all, test first in a safely isolated site. Youกre not going to be able to push the optimization envelope for quite some time. The key to longterm survival and growth will need to be the กcontent is kingก model.

The only bright news in the picture is that the site isn’t being metahijacked, at least not under any of the keywords Iกve tried (your homepage META keywords list.) Google itself wouldn’t encourage such a practice, and in fact will likely be glad to deal with any such offenders under the DMCA.

Sources:

Crosslink Detection

www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/25568.htm

Crosslinking Penalty

www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/23890210.htm

Sandbox Effect

www.promodo.com/websitepromotionarticlesen/aboutgooglesearchenginepromotiontips_page1_seo60.html

Innocent Interlinking of Sites

www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/25564.htm

A Statistical and Experimental Analysis of Googleกs Florida Update

www.linksecrets.com/pub/floridareport.html

Speculation About August Changes

www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/25251.htm

If the sites were dropped due to algorithm changes, then its possible that theyกd come back after cleanup. However, their supporting network of links has, at the very least, been devalued. That alone will cause a change in PR, even if cleanup makes them eligible for reinclusion. Site owners report that in these cases, cleaned up sites have come back into the results in 23, to six months. Getting back to the top would take additional time, and new, unblemished linking.

Two schools of thought. After cleanup, resubmit the site, or allow it to be found via linkage. Though Google states that thereกs no oversubmission penalty, most webmasters tend to be leary of such submission, allowing robots to find the site via linkages. Iกve never had a problem with resubmitting URLs that have dropped out for whatever reason. I take Google at their word that itกs harmless, as long as its a manual resubmission for good reason (for example, page down when the crawler came through), not submission through a service or promotion program. One submission is enough. Either way, watch the site logs. If robots don’t show up, it could well be a case of manual deletion and permanent ban.

The site needs to be squeaky clean for the near term. The days of easy SEO are on hiatus. The oldfashioned methods (content for users, natural linking) are back. Iconocast has quite a backlog of goodwill links left. Those must be preserved and strengthened, while getting rid of harmful inbound linking.

Again, thereกs no guarantee or certainty of getting back into the Google index. Same procedures, same wait and see.

Sources:

The August Chronicles

www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/25553.htm

Denial of Google Over Optimization Penalty

www.markcarey.com/googleguysays/archives/discussdenialofgoogleoveroptimizationpenalty.html

Future of SEO

http://list.audettemedia.com/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0408&L=led&D=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F=&S=&P=266

7. Finally , Should you have questions about the information or links provided, please, feel free to ask on our SEO Forum

Best regards,

Tiberiu Bazavan , ZettWalls Media

About The Author

Tiberiu Bazavan

SEO Consultant at ZettWalls Media

zettwalls.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 19, 2005

by Tiberiu Bazavan

How to Pick an SEO Firm

How to Pick an SEO Firm

by: Michael Murray

If you’re looking for an SEO firm, we recommend that you weigh 10 factors that can save you trouble down the road.

1. Check out their experience.

You shouldn’t have to try hard to find samples of their clients or their SEO performance on individual websites. How competitive are their search terms that are ranking well on Google? Are the search terms that are ranking well difficult terms to positionone, two and three word phrases, or are they easy terms to position because no one else is using them at allsix, seven and eight word terms?

2. Ask for testimonial letters.

Insist on letterheads from the clients that feature real names, not Fred from Cleveland or J.T. from New York. Call these references and ask them questions about the SEO performance of the company you are considering.

3. Ask them to document their process.

What policies and procedures do they follow? Are they consistent? Do they stay away from unethical procedures that could put your site in jeopardy with the search engines?

4. Get staff credentials.

Find out who is doing the work. You really need a team of people no one person can be proficient in every area of server administration, programming, marketing, writing, link building and more. Get to know the team a bit.

5. Be suspicious of money back guarantees.

Unless itกs superclear, you have to wonder about the details of the guarantee. If a firm offers one, including Top 10 placement, ask them to elaborate. Which key words are included? Just one Top 10? Do they plan to achieve Top 10 rankings among natural results or payperclick? Are the Top 10 listings associated with your web site or a supplemental web site the SEO firm controls?

6. Get pricing information.

Is the SEO contract for hourly, monthly or annual services? Get prices from a few other firms as well, but be aware that the scope of services may vary greatly from firm to firm. Insist that the firm you’re interested in explain why it charges more for services, if thatกs the case.

7. Ask about reporting. How many keywords will the firm handle? How many pages?

Find out whether youกll be able to access the latest data about your project. How often is it provided? Whatกs included? Some firms just send a ranking report. What other details can you expect in terms of the overall strategy, next steps, web site traffic and conversions?

8. Determine the firmกs ethical standards.

What are the firmกs practices when it comes to ethical standards and practices? How far will they go? How do they view doorway pages, cloaking and keyword stuffing?

9. Know your objectives.

You need to have some idea of what you want to accomplish when selecting an SEO firm. Do you simply want to promote your brand? Do you want to increase visitors and push traffic to retailers? Do you want to improve online sales? Which categories of products will matter the most in your campaign?

10. Come up with a budget.

You can submit your web site pages (not optimized) for free or through services that cost well below $100. Optimizing is another matterItกs going to cost money. Have some flexibilitythe level of service and the firmกs expertise will determine whether you pay hundreds of dollars or well over a $1,000 a month.

About The Author

Michael Murray is vice president of http://www.fathomseo.com, a Cleveland, Ohiobased search engine marketing (SEM) firm. A member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), he also authored the white paper, กSearch Engine Marketing: Get in the Game.ก

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 12

by Michael Murray

SEO Trade Secrets 8 Great Tools for Search Engin

SEO Trade Secrets 8 Great Tools for Search Engine Optimization

by: Glenn Murray

About 80% of website traffic comes through search engines. And research shows, if you’re not on the first 2 pages, most people won’t find you.
This article isn’t about how to achieve a high ranking. That topic has been done to death over the past few months. We all know the basics now… Submit your site to the major search engines, scatter a generous helping of the right keyword phrases throughout your site in real sentences, then get a lot of other relevant sites link to your site. That’s it.
This article is about what tools to use to make your job easier.
1) Choosing Keyword Phrases (costs approx USD$7.50 per day)
To decide what keyword phrases to use, subscribe to www.wordtracker.com for a day and do some analysis. Simply enter a keyword and WordTracker tells you how often people have searched for that keyword in the last month or two, how many competitor sites are using that keyword, and how many searches it expects in the next 24hrs.
2) Measuring Keyword Density (FREE)
To measure the density of the keyword phrases on your page, go to http://www.gorank.com/analyze.php and type in the domain and keyword phrase you want to analyse. It’ll give you a percentage for all the important parts of your page, including copy, title, meta keywords, meta description, etc. The higher the density the better.
3) Check How SearchEngineFriendly Your Site Is (FREE)
Search engines send out spiders (or robots) to investigate your site. These tools allow you to see your site from the spider’s point of view.

http://optimiser.123promotion.co.uk enter your URL and a keyword phrase and it gives you a great summary of the things you could improve.
http://www.1hit.com/allinone/tool.searchengineviewer.htm enter your URL and it gives you a summary of the things you could improve.
http://www.gritechnologies.com/tools/spider.go? Poodle tells you how many links the spider will see and investigate.

4) Check How Many of Your Pages are Indexed (FREE)
Go to just about any search engine and type site:www.yourdomain.com. The search engine will then tell you how many of your pages it has indexed.
5) Monitor Your Position in Google (FREE)
No need to waste time clicking through hundreds of Google search results looking for your site. This tool allows you to enter a keyword and a domain name, and it searches Google to see where your domain is positioned. Go to http://www.cleverstat.com/googlemonitorquery.htm to download the setup file. Then just install.
6) See How Important Sites Are (FREE)
The Google Toolbar is an indispensable tool. One of the things it can tell you is the ขimportanceข of every site you visit (in Google’s eyes at least). You’ve probably heard a bit about PageRank or PR. PR is Google’s measure of the importance of a site. Basically, the higher your PR, the higher your ranking. This tool gives you a snapshot of the PR of every site you visit. Go to http://toolbar.google.com. TIP: It’s good to get links from other sites with high PR – especially if they contain the same keywords as your site. WARNING: Apparently the Google Toolbar monitors your internet usage. As yet, it’s unclear what it uses this information for.
7) Monitor What Sites are Linking to Yours (FREE)
Google News Alerts (http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en) and Google Web Alerts (http://www.google.com/webalerts) will tell you who’s linking to your site. Simply set up an alert to be notified when Google finds www.yourdomain.com.
8) Getting Help (FREE)
If you’re new to SEO, the first thing you should do is check out Google’s guide to SEO at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html. If you already know the basics, there are a number of forums you can subscribe to to post questions. These forums are free, and they’re frequented by countless SEO experts. And when I say ขexpertsข, I mean EXPERTS! Some of these people do SEO all day, every day. And like many technical experts, they’re only too happy to help – for free. The best forum seems to be http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3, but http://searchengineforums.com/Forum28 is ok too. If all else fails, you can try sending Google an email. Go to http://www.google.com.au/contact/index.html, but don’t hold out much hope of help here. They’ll eventually answer, but there’s no guarantee on the quality of their response…
This is just a snapshot of the tools available out there, but these will certainly get you started.
Some additional resources: http://www.123promotion.co.uk/promotion/tools/websitepromotiontools.html Various Web Promotion Tools
Enjoy!

About The Author

Glenn Murray heads advertising copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at [email protected]. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.

This article was posted on May 26, 2004

by Glenn Murray

10 Practical Ways Search Engine Optimization Compa

10 Practical Ways Search Engine Optimization Companies and Clients Can Get Along

by: Michael Murray

Even the best of intentions can go awry without careful attention to details and expectations. We’ve tested these methods out and they work.

1. Get it in writing.

Define the service scope in detail (i.e. we’ll research keywords and optimize these pages with approved search phrases for this long).

2. Return phone calls.

That goes both ways. If the consultant needs some feedback, don’t wait three days. If the client calls, don’t wait three hours. It doesn’t sound fair, but it makes sense. Consultants need help, but clients deserve more attention (prompt responses).

3. Don’t overwrite changes.

SEO consultants can easily overwrite source code if they’re not careful. Web site owners sometimes overwrite the very optimization steps a consultant put in place. Talk to each other and work out protocols to avoid these problems.

4. Return email messages.

Like phone calls, email messages deserve a quick response. Hitting ขreplyข is easier than picking up a phone and dialing a bunch of numbers. Clients and consultants shouldn’t let a day go by without a response.

5. Own up to mistakes.

Painful and embarrassing as it is, admit mistakes. They can include failing to return a phone call and poor communication in a written report. If you mess up – whether it’s getting some data columns in the wrong place or placing the SEO consultants META data in the wrong spot, just acknowledge the mistake and move on. We’re human. Things happen.

6. Don’t switch domain names.

If you sign up with an SEO consultant, don’t start with one domain and then get a notion about introducing a new one. It throws the whole program off track.

7. Don’t change your page names.

If you have a page called newproducts.asp, don’t change it to newproducts.html after the SEO program begins. The change will just confuse search engine spiders and hinder or delay high rankings.

8. Don’t insert ขaltข tags after the SEO program begins.

ขAltข tags with images are for search engine consultants to manage. They’re in the best position to know when ขaltข tags might be appropriate. If you add them on your own, you may ruin the delicate balancing act SEO consultants perform with many page factors.

9. Avoid altering page title tags.

If an SEO consultant has a title tag strategy you approve, don’t go back in a week and change it. Some pages can work with a company name in the title tag, others won’t.

10. Keep an open mind.

Clients and consultants both need an open mind as creative ideas and approaches are expressed. A client may suggest something unethical, but the consultant should gently steer them away from the tactic. If a consultant finds a useful way of introducing a links directory on the Web site, give it some thought. Just because your Web site lacks a directory doesn’t mean it can’t support one. How can you have reciprocal links without one?

About The Author

Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, an Ohiobased search engine optimization firm (http://www.fathomseo.com). We are members of SEMPO, SEO Consultants and SEOPros. Visit our site for our SEO white papers and recent SEO studies on the manufacturing and health care industries.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 11

by Michael Murray