Archive for July 31, 2008

31 Jul 2008
internet marketing • seo • small business

On Page Optimization Techniques


One of the most overlooked onpage optimization techniques in web page design is the LSI factor. LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing. This technique is used by search engines (especially Google) to help it refine it’s results so that the serps (search engine results pages) are as relevant as possible for the user.

So, let me share with you how easy it is to incorporate this on-page search engine technique into your next search engine optimization project.

1) Complete your keyword research.
2) Assign ONE keyword phrase to each website page.
3) Go to Google and do a search for that keyword phrase using a “tile” symbol. Which is ~.
4) Here’s an example: Let’s say the keyword phrase you’re using is “name tags“
The search on Google would look like this…
~name ~tags
5) When you hit “Enter” take a look at the results on your page. All the words that are bolded on that result page are the words you should use on your optimized page for the phrase “name tags”. Of

The keywords that I got back for “name tags” were…

a) Name
b) Names Reference
c) Nametags
d) Tutorial Registration ( an odd one, I agree)

These words, in the eyes of Google, reference to the keyword phrase “name tags”.

So, now I know that when I optimize the website page for “name tags” I need to add the phrase “nametags” on the page as well. (Because Names Reference and Tutorial Registration didn’t fit)

Let’s try another example. Let’s use the phrase “south florida attorneys“.

The search on Google would look like this…
~south ~florida ~attorneys

The results I got back were:
attorneys
florida
south florida
south florida law firm
law
south florida attorney
law south florida

So, when I optimize my website page for “south florida attorneys”, I’m not only including the keyword phrase on that page but I also want to include as many of the keywords and phrases that I found through my LSI research.

This is one of the easiest and quickest on page optimization techniques you’ll find! Have fun!


eckweb | No comments | Tags: , ,
29 Jul 2008
seo • small business

The New Cuil Search Engine


Just in case you’re not sure how to pronounce this new search engine, it’s pronounced “cool”.

The story goes that 3 of the co-founders of Cuil are former Google engineers so the speculation that Cuil will be true competition for Google can’t be ignored. But is it really? Well, let’s give it a try, we’ll compare some searches on Cuil and on Google and the results they present from the first page of results.

Keyword Phrase: name tags
On Cuil: I got 1,451,401 results – all relevant
On Google: I got 51,200,000 results – all but 1 relevant

Keyword Phrase: south florida attorneys
On Cuil: I got 3,063,754 results – all relevant
On Google: I got 2,150,000 results – all but 2 relevant

Keyword Phrase: vacations to hawaii
On Cuil: I got 22,353 results – all relevant
On Google: I got 13,1000,000 results – all relevant

In this short exercise, Google had more items “indexed” in 2 of the 3 examples, but Cuil had more relevant results in all their examples. Also, the layout on Cuil takes a little getting used to but I like the photos and I like the tabs, when they are present.

All in all, I think Cuil may present as an alternative to Google but if it will be able to truly compete with Google’s massive marketing? Well, only time will tell!


eckweb | No comments | Tags: , , ,
25 Jul 2008
seo • small business

A New America and The Internet


If you drive a car then you know how much MORE money is coming out of your pocket these days for the gas for that car. Maybe you’ve changed your driving habits, maybe you’re telecommuting more or carpooling, maybe you’re thinking twice about going out just for a few items at the grocery store.

Let’s face it, we’re in a new America! The next few years are not going to be easy as we adjust to new ways of doing things. It’s not just the gasoline that’s affecting our lives, it’s the global economy, the value of our dollar and the sheer number of companies and infrastructure that the US is selling off to other countries and foreign companies just so we can pay some bills. I just shake my head in amazement that it’s happening, but it is.

So, how is this affecting the Internet? Well, good news! It’s a positive effect. According to emarketer.com, Internet sales in June 2008 rose by 11%. In that same time period, JCPenney reports a 7.4% decrease in store sales but an 8.7% increase in Internet sales. The Gap reported an 11% decrease in store sales but a 21% increase in Internet sales.

The Internet is becoming the new Mall! Not only for products, but for services as well.

So, come on, if you haven’t seriously begun marketing your website, or, I can’t imagine but, if you don’t even have a website, get going!! What are you waiting for? This new America will be on the Internet, the world is on the Internet. Make yourself heard (and found) on the Internet!


eckweb | 2 comments | Tags: , , , ,
23 Jul 2008
internet marketing • seo • small business

Web Marketing Services For Small Businesses


Web marketing services for small businesses should include the following…

1) Manual submissions to directories

Many Internet Marketing Firms will tell you that they are going to submit your website to thousands of search engines. Well, the truth is that many search engines, the big ones at least, will find your website without you having to submit to them. BUT, many web directories will not. So make sure your SEO firm provides manual submissions to Internet directories.

2) Monthly marketing reports

If your SEO firm does not provide you with detailed marketing reports each month, then how do you know if your website is doing what it needs to be doing? Of course, you may receive more emails, phone calls, etc. but if you don’t have an idea of what your website is REALLY doing, you won’t be able to grow it, change it, accomodate it to your target audience. Web marketing services for small businesses requires more work than large company websites simply because the budget is smaller and it takes more creativity and “thinking out of the box” to get top search engine rankings.

3) Direction

If you own a small business website that is being marketed, your SEO firm should give you a constant flow of new information. They should provide you with suggestions, new keyword phrases, tips, services that you can sign up for. They should give you an idea of how your online competitors are doing so that you can compare your website to theirs. This gives you the tools you need to make the proper decisions of how much money to put into your online advertising.

If you have any questions about web marketing services for small businesses, contact Eckweb Designs, Inc. today. We’ll be happy to answer them.


eckweb | No comments | Tags: , ,
23 Jul 2008
article writing • internet marketing • seo • small business

Article Marketing – Can You Do It?


Article marketing is by far the best, easiest, cheapest, most effective type of Internet marketing. The website owner has total control and can write as many articles as they wish. So, what’s the glitch? Many website owners don’t think they can do it.

I just got off the phone with a client who is just terrified of having to write! She’s so concerned with getting “just the right” text, making sure the grammar is perfect, etc. It’s so overwhelming that she doesn’t do any writing at all!

What’s my comment? “Can you talk?” – If you can talk, then you can write.

I’m no master writer, (as you can tell). But I know my business, I know SEO and Internet marketing and talking about that is not a problem. So, if I can talk about it, I can absolutely write about it. I just imagine myself at a networking group, in front of someone, talking about whatever the topic of the article is. That’s it. No magic, no panel of reviewers, nothing. Just me and the keyboard and my imagination.

How do I know what to write about? That’s easy too. I go to Google News and type in a word or phrase. For me that would be something like, “Internet marketing”, or “seo”, or “search engine optimization”. I then sort the articles by date and I get a list of updated news on the topic. I also keep a list of blogs that I read daily which help to keep up with the news in my industry as well.

Writing articles doesn’t have to be daunting or overwhelming. Keep it simple and focused on your topic. You can do it.

So, what do you think? Is article marketing for you? It should be.


eckweb | No comments | Tags: ,
21 Jul 2008
home business • internet marketing • small business

How Do I Use The Internet?


I’m often asked about how I use the Internet. Since my job is all about the Internet, (I provide SEO services) I guess folks are interested in knowing what do I do with it? Well, I thought I’d write a post about some of the ways that I use the Internet, so here goes…

1) I don’t watch the news anymore on TV – I don’t care to listen to hours of the same story and I certainly couldn’t care less about the personal opinions of each of the news anchors. I don’t have time for all of that. I want to know what’s going on, where and how does it impact me. So, I use Google news to get the headlines and read the stories and I use Google Alerts to send me news stories about the topics I’m most interested in.

2) I use iGoogle as my home page and I add blogs and rss feeds to the iGoogle page so that I can easily keep up with what’s going on in my industry.

3) I use Skype as my business phone line. Skype works through the Internet and it’s an excellent, inexpensive way to add a phone line in your establishment. But better than that, whenever I’m away (which I admit is not too often) I can get my phone messages wherever I am! As long as I can get to a computer that is! No more relying on anyone to get my messages and no more calling in the office to get my messages!

4) Whenever I want to purchase something, anything from books to lawn equipment, I use shopping comparison sites like Google Base or My Simon. I’ve been doing that for years and it’s proven to be such a great way to shop. I can feel comfortable that I got the best price for an item, I find new stores online (and locally) and I can get reviews and recommendations from other consumers. I can’t imagine shopping any other way.

5) I use RingCentral.com for my fax line. It allows me to provide a toll free fax line for my customers and I can access my faxes from wherever I am.

6) Of course, banking and bill payment services are all online through my bank. I haven’t written a check in years and rarely walk into a bank. Of course, you know all these services provided through the Internet save me quite a bit in gas money! And nowadays, that’s quite a bit.

7) I use an online P.O. Box service so that I don’t have to go to the post office for mail. And even though I do as much as I can online, you wouldn’t believe the amount of snail mail I still get!!

8) Of course, I use WordPress as my blogging tool. There’s no doubt that writing and maintaining a blog does help any Internet marketing campaign to bring in business – no matter what business you’re in.

9) I use Google Chats for quick conversations with co-workers. Instead of waiting for someone to open an email I can instantly “chat” with someone and even send files over this program. It’s such a nice quick way to get things done.

10) I use the Google Desktop sidebar to keep my work timer, task timer, calendar and chat easy to access. It’s indespensable and I’m always looking for new gadgets to put on there!

11) I use BlueMountain.com to keep in touch with family, friends, colleagues and even customers. It’s a great way to schedule and send an interactive and fun communication.

12) I haven’t attended networking groups in years. Instead, I do my “networking” through online programs such as Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and countless others. Find a few that you like and stick with them, use them daily, they can be great networking tools.

Well, these are just a few ways that I use the Internet for both my business and personal life. I’m sure you’ve got some great tools and methods, share them!


eckweb | No comments | Tags: , , ,
18 Jul 2008
home business • internet marketing • small business

What Is Your Online Reputation?


Ever wonder what your online reputation is? In other words, what are others saying and thinking about your company?

To find out, Google yourself. If your company name is more than one word, put that name in quotes and check out all the entries that are in Google that contain your company name. Do you like what you see? Would you like to see more or better comments?

Here’s how you do it.

You need to work at building your online reputation and the way to do that is to put your information on social networking groups. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc. These “groups” are basically your “online chamber of commerce”. Your name, your reputation, your brand can be created and sculpted by you on these social networking groups.

Think about it, when you go to a networking group or a networking group at the local chamber of commerce, how much business do you get the first time you go? Probably not much. But, you certainly met others and introduced yourself to others. And it may take up to 6 months of attending these meetings before you gain their trust and establish your reputation with them, before you get any business.

That is no different on the Internet. Who are you and why should anyone use you or buy from you? Tell your audience who you are, what you’re about, why your service/product is worthwhile and you can do all this for free on online social networking groups.

So, what are you waiting for? No one is going to build your online reputation as well as you!!


eckweb | No comments | Tags: ,
17 Jul 2008
internet marketing • seo • small business

Getting Ranked For Competitive Keyword Phrases


Well, today is a great day!

About 6 months ago we (Eckweb Designs, Inc.) signed a contract with a new client who sells Name Tags among other products. He had been using another SEO firm for a few years and he was not seeing the kind of results that he wanted.

His main complaint was that he was not on the first page of Google for the very competitive keyword phrase of “name tags”.

So, we cleaned up his website coding, did some keyword research and optimized his website pages. We also encouraged him to write articles and we’d submit them to article sites, blogs, etc. In other words, we did what we do for every one of our clients.

Well, 6 months later, his website is #7 in Google for the phrase “name tags”!! How exciting is that? We’ve been doing SEO since 2000 but still, to this day, it’s still so exciting and wonderful to see how our hard work pays off. We immediately called our client and he was elated, to say the least.

So, if your SEO firm is telling you it will be impossible to get top rankings for your keyword phrases (and I’m not saying that every phrase is possible) you should take a moment and make sure that the SEO firm is doing all that they can do to get you that ranking. After all what are you paying them for?


eckweb | No comments | Tags: ,
16 Jul 2008
home business • internet marketing • seo • small business

Can Small Businesses Benefit From SEO?


Most small businesses begin with a small website, after all, the costs of creating a custom website can be out of reach for many small business owners. Especially start ups and home based businesses.

But the truth is, the cost is SO worth it! The monies spent on a custom website, especially one that is Search Engine Friendly will come back to the website owner in multiples! Not only will the website owner save money on re-designing the website but because the website is already structured to attract those search engine spiders, the site will naturally gain ground in the search engines.

But, can small businesses really benefit from SEO services (Search Engine Optimization)? Yes, if they put some muscle into their websites. The days of creating a 10 page website and expecting that to compete on the engines are pretty much gone. As the larger companies output websites filled with information and data and the “content” that search engines just love, the small business website owners need to do what they can to continuously add information, quality information, to their websites.

How can they do this?

1) Look at the long tail. Keyword phrases that don’t bring in a ton of traffic but also don’t have much competition are GOLD. Go ahead and look at your website logs. I will guarantee that the total number of visitors that you received last month from your Long Tail keyword phrases is more than the total number of visitors from your high competition phrases.

What should you do? – Create more pages on your website, you can do this slowly, adding one new page a month. Target each new page towards a long tail keyword phrase. By the end of the year, you’ll have 12 new pages bringing in more visitors. And an added bonus of long tail keyword phrases is that the type of visitor who is typing in this phrase is usually ready to “buy” – not just browse.

2) Go Social! Join those social networks like Linked In, FaceBook, Twitter, whatever other social network might be related to your industry. Not only are these places great for networking, but they offer you a place to link TO your website.

3) Write, Write, Write, Write, Write!!!!! – The absolute cheapest, most effective method of marketing on the Internet is to write articles, submit articles, press releases, blogs, online newsletters, comments on forums and social networks. Use anchor text in those articles and you’ve got incoming links TO your website. It’s really that simple.

So, although SEO is getting more and more competitive, there absolutely is a way for small businesses to benefit from SEO. And so they should, after all, what’s the point of having a business website if it doesn’t bring you business?


eckweb | One comment | Tags: , , ,
14 Jul 2008
internet marketing • seo • small business

Secrets of SEO


I think the phrase “secrets of seo” is one of the most widely used phrases on the Internet today!!! It seems everyone wants to know “the secret”.

Well, you’ve heard it a million times, I’m sure, there is NO SECRET!!

SEO (search engine optimization) requires a few things…

1) The website needs to be created in such a way so that the search engines can READ it. Just because you see your website on the Internet, does not mean the search engines can READ it well enough to index it. Make sure you use a website designer who has a portfolio of websites that are in the top 10 in Google. Or at least work with a website designer who will work with an SEO firm. Otherwise, you’re wasting your money on your business website.

2) You need keyword research. If you don’t have the right keyword phrases on your website pages, the search engines won’t know to match your pages with the searches people are typing in. After all, search engines are just machines. All they can do is match up what people are typing in with the words that are on your site.

3) You need website pages, not just 5 pages on a website. At the very minimum, you should have 10 pages, even that will not be enough but it’s a start. The more pages a website has, the more keyword phrases you can market. The more keyword phrases you can market, the more traffic you get.

4) And these pages need to be optimized. That means that the keyword phrase for each page needs to be properly coded and placed on these website pages.

5) Anchor text links coming TO you from other websites. The words other websites use to link to you are very important. Having different sets of keyword phrases linking to the pages on your website will help your website to get top rankings in the search engines for those keyword phrases. You can get links to your website from blogs, articles, other websites, press releases and more.

That’s it. There’s no secret. It’s just hard work. It seems minor, only 5 factors, but each of these factors is made up of many sub-factors, hence, the amount of time and work involved in each one can be quite a bit. But if you don’t know anything about search engine optimization or internet marketing, you’ll at least now have a baseline knowledge of what’s really involved in this venture!

So, there are no secrets of seo, really!


eckweb | One comment | Tags: , ,