Tag Archive for search engine optimization

31 Jan 2013
business tips • internet marketing • seo

SEO – What’s It All About


I was never a fan of sugar coating or beating around the bushes.  Maybe that’s why I like New Yorkers so much.  They’re up front and honest.  It hurts sometimes, but in the end, it’s always the best type of communication.  How can any of us learn and grow if others around us don’t help?

But, to get to the point about Search Engine Optimization…

There’s a great deal of confusion out there about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and what SEO actually involves.  One of the reasons is that there are many “opinions” and “theories” on what needs to be done to actually optimize a website.  And frankly, what works for one site may not work for another.

SEO is not a perfect science.  If the seo webmaster does “A” and expects “B” to follow, it just won’t happen.  The reasons are…

1) The competition for the keyword phrase plays a part.  After all, getting in to the top of the search engines for a keyword phrase that has 5000 other websites marketing that phrase is going to be A LOT easier than getting into the top of the engines for a keyword phrase that has 300,000 other websites marketing that phrase.

2) The demand for the keyword phrase plays a part.  If a keyword phrase is searched for 100 times a month then the amount of traffic that will be coming to your website will be very little, if any for that keyword phrase.  If the keyword phrase is typed in 8000 times a month, the traffic will be significant.

3) The construction of the site plays a part.  I know web designers do not want to hear this but it’s true.  If a search engine scans a website and the keyword phrases are found in the top 1/3 of the page, the chances of the site getting higher rankings is better than if the keyword phrase isn’t found until the middle of the page.  Also, the amount of coding on the page and the type of coding also play a part.

4) Reviews play a part as well.  What I mean by reviews are what others think about your service/product and what they say.  So, if you have 1500 Twitter followers and 350 Facebook Likes and good reviews on your Google+ page then your website will rank higher.  (Please know these numbers are not exact – I’m just show you an example)

So, as you can see, when your SEO webmaster tells you they can help you to get your website into the engines to get traffic, they’re not promising you anything, they’re just giving you the opportunity to accomplish this goal.  Believe me, no SEO webmaster (at least no legit ones) want the website to fail in reaching it’s goals.  How would that possibly benefit us?  Our goal is your goal, to get the website in a position where it’s bringing in traffic and sales.

What’s the point of having a business website if it doesn’t bring in business?

BUT – and this is a very big BUT.  It’s a collaborative effort.  I tell my clients all the time, “I know the Internet, but I don’t know your business.”  So, the content, the knowledge has to come from the website client.  It’s work, I  know but that’s Search Engine Optimization.  So, be prepared to work with your SEO webmaster – if you can’t provide the content then hire someone to write it for you or share the responsibility with your staff (or whoever helps you with your business).

A client today told me that he doesn’t want to put too much information on the website because he doesn’t want to overwhelm his visitors.  Yeah, that’s not true at all (and I said that to him).  It’s literally, literally impossible to have too much information on your website.  It’s not a book.  When someone visits the website they don’t see how thick it is.  They’re looking for information.  And guess what?  If the information is not on your website, they’ll find it on someone else’s website.  When that happens, which website owner will be more likely to get the business?

Just saying.

 

 


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12 Jul 2012
internet marketing • seo • small business

Cheap SEO – Be Careful


I’m looking through some statistics today from an old client who left our SEO firm to go with one who had a lower price.  I certainly can’t blame him, he’s a business man after all and aren’t we all looking for ways to cut back on expenses?

But at what cost?

He called me this morning because his sales through his website dropped dramatically in the last 2 months.  He started with this new company about 6 months ago so I hadn’t kept up with his site since then.  What I found when I saw his stats was horrible.  Here’s a summary…

1) 6 months ago he was averaging 2500 visitors per month with a 4% conversion rate.

2) in the last 2 months he’s been averaging 300 visitors per month with a zerio conversion rate.

3) 6 months ago he was receiving 95% of his traffic from the United States (which is his target market).

5) In the last 2 months 90% of his traffic is coming from India.

6) His website went from 120 pages to 200 pages.  Which is actually good but the additional pages are just exact copies of existing pages.  As a result he got hit hard with Google’s Panda update.  They penalized him for having duplicate content, so his rankings plummeted and since he wasn’t getting any traffic anyway from his target audience, he had nothing to help him through the penalty period.

Needless to say – he’ll be starting with us again but we have to start from the beginning.  We have to clear up the problems that the previous SEO firm (I don’t even want to call them an SEO firm, more like a Scam firm).  So, yes, he saved about $100.00 per month by going to this other company but in the long run, look what he lost!  Thousands of dollars!

Ugh – so frustrating!!!!

So, the lesson here is be careful.  When you get a cheap quote for SEO services, be very careful.  There is no magic and there are no programs that “DO” the individual tasks that need to get done for website page optimization.  People have to do the work.  And you hopefully want to hire qualified people that won’t get your website in a shambles!

 

 


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21 May 2012
internet marketing • ppc marketing • seo • small business

Which Is Better, SEO or PPC?


A very common question asked by small business owners, “Which is better, SEO or PPC?”.

The answer can be a little complicated but it doesn’t have to be. Let’s see if I can help you make the best decision for your business.

First, let’s make sure we’re both on the same page as far as understanding the difference between SEO and PPC.

1) SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – is the process of working on the website content and coding in order to help it come up in the search engines for specific searches.  These results are on the left hand side of your Google search.

2) PPC (Pay Per Click) – is the process of bidding on keyword phrases and creating advertisements for these keyword phrases (which point to your website of course).  These results are on the right hand side of your Google search.  Sometimes you’ll also see PPC ads at the very top of the left hand side as well.

Now, what can each of these give your small business?  Knowing their differences will help you make the decision as to which one is better for your bottom line.  We’ll go through these with some FAQ.

1) How Long Before I See Results?

SEO will always take longer than PPC.  You can create a PPC advertisement and within 15-20 minutes, that ad will be showing up (depending on your settings of course).  But we can work on the SEO for a website and we may not see the results of that work for several weeks or months.  It depends on the amount of competition for the keyword phrase that is being marketed.

2) What Can I Expect To Spend?

SEO marketing is usually fixed to a certain extent.  Eckweb’s monthly marketing is $210.00 per month and that includes adding 1 new page to the website (clients provide the content and graphics).  So, it’s much easier to budget what will be spent with SEO marketing.

PPC marketing is fluid.  You may begin your marketing campaign bidding $2.00 per click on a specific keyword phrase but your competitors will begin upping that bid to gain ground so by the end of 2-3 months you may end up paying $5.00 per click.  That’s just the nature of PPC marketing.  The only way to avoid this is to keep changing keyword phrases (to go after keyword phrases that can bring you traffic for only $2.00 per click).

3) How Much Time Will I Be Spending On This Campaign?

SEO marketing inherently involves adding content to your website, on hopefully, a regular basis.  Daily, weekly, monthly, whatever – it’s up to the business owner.  Of course, the writing can be outsourced to someone else in the company or to a professional SEO Copywriter.  So, the amount of time spent on this aspect will depend on how the business owner wants to manage it.

Most business owners do not participate in the actual coding and website development process – so this is not an issue as far as time spent.

PPC marketing, if managed by an Internet Marketing firm will take very little time away from the business owner.  Once the parameters are set up in the PPC account – it’s just a matter of making the decision to spend more dollars or change keyword phrases every now and then.  Of course, if the business owner is managing his/her own PPC campaign then the amount of time spent can vary greatly, depending on how much knowledge he/she has and how much time is needed on the research.

Both marketing programs will require time to be spent reviewing the analysis of the campaigns.  It’s extremely important to keep checking if the campaigns are working or not.  And to make changes to the aspects of the campaigns that are not working.

The Bottom Line, Which Is Better, SEO or PPC?

The conclusion is that IF you have a limited budget, you will want to go with SEO marketing.  IF you absolutely need traffic to the website immediately, then you will want to go with PPC marketing but be prepared to pay.

I do hope this information was helpful.  If not, or if you have other questions about Internet Marketing, contact me at Eckweb.  I’m here to help.


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23 Apr 2012
internet marketing • seo

Are You Really Getting SEO Services?


For most website owners, the understanding they have of SEO (search engine optimization) is limited.  They know that their websites need it, they know that it can bring in business, but do they REALLY know what’s going on at the SEO company?

It reminds me of my own experiences when I bring my car to the mechanic.  I mean, he TELLS me what is wrong and what he needs to do but he might as well be speaking Klingon, I don’t really understand and frankly, I just want the car fixed.  I have to trust him (and we all know that doesn’t always work out well!).

Anyway, I just read a great article explaining what the process of SEO looks like and I thought I would break it down for you.

First off, the article is written by Krista LaRiviere who is cofounder of a successful SEO software company – so her expertise is valid.  So, let’s get to the article.

1) Krista outlines the model of SEO like the old food pyramid we’re so familiar with.

She then assigns a percentage of the importance of each level.  They are…
(from bottom to top)

Technical Page Optimization
This accounts for 10% of the SEO model.  I can’t tell you how many times I argue with clients (well, I suppose I should call them discussions) about making changes to their website in order to comply with this rule.  Sometimes graphics are too large, sometimes there’s just too many graphics or flash or other animated features.  Sometimes there just isn’t enough text.  Believe me, I understand that it’s important to have an aesthetically pleasing website, but the reality is, the most beautiful looking websites in the world don’t necessarily bring in traffic.  Business websites are meant to bring in traffic, otherwise, what’s the point?

Keyword and Competition Research
This accounts for 25% of the SEO model.  Where it’s true that the website pages themselves have to be constructed with clean, up to date coding, it’s even more important that the words being used on the website pages are the right ones.  Does this happen right away?  I mean, when  website is first optimized are all the keywords chosen correct?  Are they the best?  I’m going to be honest with you – NO!  Why?  Because website traffic is dependent on a large variety of factors.  A keyword phrase may do well from January to April but perhaps it doesn’t do too well during the Autumn, perhaps there are other factors coming into play in the industry.  It’s difficult to tell.  Research is based on what has happened, so we can only go with that information.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that keyword research is constant.

External Marketing TO The Website
This accounts for 55% of the SEO Model.  Basically, this means creating articles to put on OTHER places like blogs, press releases, article directories, etc.  Of course, embeded within these articles would be links TO your website.

Some of the best types of articles to write are How To articles, Reviews and Case Studies.  The reason is that these types of articles showcase your expertise in your field.

Publish – Socialize – Share
This accounts for 5% of the SEO model.

Websites these days MUST be interactive.  The days of going to a website and just reading it are long, long gone.  Visitors expect to be able to link to you via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, whatever!  They expect to see you in those places and they expect others to be talking about you.

Make your website shareable.  Put the kind of information on your website that others will want to share.

Measure and Improve
This accounts for 5% of the SEO model.

No website EVER is launched being 100% complete, in fact, no website is EVER 100% complete.  If anyone tells you that it is, they’re just tired and don’t want to talk to you anymore.  The truth is, websites are in constant motion.  They’re constantly requiring work.  The reasons are easy to understand…

a) technology changes rapidly (so that means coding and search engine algorithms change)

b) needs of your audience changes – whether it’s due to seasonal changes or other factors, what your target audience needed in January is not necessarily the same as in August of the same year.  Keep up with what they need and you will always have enough traffic to your site.

c) factors in your own industry change – lawyers need to keep up with new laws, plumbers need to keep up with new tools and technology, doctors need to explain the new medications and treatments available.  Let’s face it, there’s always something new happening in your industry and you need to show that your audience that you’re on top of it.

Well, I hope the article and my synopsis helps you to understand the basics of the SEO process and hopefully I haven’t lost you (like those mechanics do with me!).  But, if you have any questions, you know where to find me.

 


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16 Jun 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business

Keyword Themes – A Top SEO Technique


A Top SEO Technique is the use of Keyword Themes

I know that if you’ve been reading about Internet marketing you have a grasp on the concept that it’s all about the keywords. The words that you have on your website pages will make or break the success of the marketing campaign. I mean if you set up a website page to market a phrase that not many people are using, then the reality is that you’re going to get very little (if any) traffic. How can the search engines match the words on your website page with the words people are typing in if you don’t have the words people are typing in on your website page?

What I want to tell you about today is an SEO technique that has been around for many, many, many years. It’s been called many different things, silo, hierarchy, pyramid, etc. Just know that it’s basically the idea of getting ONE main keyword phrase, creating a page for it on the website and then creating OTHER pages for the semantic phrases to support this ONE main keyword phrase. It’s sort of like creating a chapter on your website JUST for this keyword phrase. I’ll give you an example of how it evolves.

Getting the Main Keyword Phrase

Just yesterday I was consulting with an Internet copywriter who was writing an article for a podiatrist. The podiatrist wanted to market the phrase “intoeing in children”. I didn’t know what that was so I typed it into the Google Adwords keyword tool and the more common term came up, which is “pigeon toed”. Of course, there were other variations but I bet as soon as you saw “pigeon toed” you knew what I was talking about – at least more than when I wrote “intoeing…”

This is a VERY common mistake. Professionals (like the doctor here) knows what the correct terms are and he’s been using those terms for so long, he’s forgotten that the typical guy on the Internet does NOT know that term. So, for the Internet copywriter, the important factor is to market the phrase that is most popular, which in this case was “pigeon toes in toddlers”.

Getting the Semantic Keyword Phrases

So now that you have the MAIN keyword phrase, you can create a website page JUST to market that keyword phrase. But, to help that one page get up in the search engines you will need other pages supporting it. These other pages are pages marketing semantic phrases.

What are semantic phrases? These are keyword phrases that the search engines believe are similar or involved with the main keyword phrase. It’s their way of helping to identify exactly what websites to bring up for your search. The important thing to remember is that the search engines want to bring up the best possible search results for the Internet user, the webmaster’s job is to create the website in such a way so that the search engines can identify this.

Well, enough of that. Here’s how you find semantic keyword phrases:

  • Go to Google (just the regular Google search page)
  • Type in your main phrase (the entire phrase)
  • On the left hand side you’ll see a line of text that says “Show search tools” (click on that). If you don’t see that line you might see a list of “Any time” and “All results”. You want to click on the line of text that reads “Related searches”.
  • You’ll then be taken to a page that has some columns of keyword phrases on top. It can be one column, two or three columns, it just depends on how many semantic phrases there are.
  • These columns of keyword phrases ARE the semantic phrases.
  • Jot them down somewhere.
  • Now do the same exact thing except this time with the main portion of the keyword phrase – for example: Our phrase was “pigeon toes in toddlers” – so first I typed in the entire phrase and made a note of the semantic phrases. Then I typed in “pigeon toes” and again, made a note of these semantic phrases.
  • From this list of semantic phrases – you want to use as many as you possibly can to create ONE additional page on your website to support your main page which is about “pigeon toes in toddlers”.
  • Of course, don’t forget to hyperlink the pages together.

So, you can see now how a website can grow and grow and grow! Now, if the search engines scan your website, what they will see is a page about “pigeon toes in toddlers” but they will also see that you have pages about “intoeing” and “pigeon toes in infants” and “pigeon toe symptoms” and “metatarsus adductus”. There will be no doubt in the “eyes” of the search engine that this website has the information that is relevant for that Internet user.

So get to it, make your website as relevant as possible!


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06 Mar 2011
business tips • internet marketing • seo

How Many Hours Should You Spend On SEO?


Lately I’ve been seeing this question pop up here and there, “How many hours should you spend on SEO / Internet marketing?” I think like anything having to do with SEO and Internet marketing, the answer “depends” on a variety of factors. But I thought I would share what I do for my clients’ SEO campaigns.

Activity – Analyze Website Statistics
Time Spent – anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour
Purpose – the reason for looking through the website stats is not just to see how many visitors came to the site, it’s really to see how the website is doing. What I mean is, what pages are bringing in visitors (and which ones are not?), what keyword phrases are working (and which ones aren’t?), what call to action buttons are working (and which ones are not?). Basically, I’m looking for ways to improve the site, page by page, paragraph by paragraph. That’s the real purpose of website stats analysis.

Activity – Optimization Actions
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours
Purpose – This is where the nitty gritty of SEO really happens. If I discover that a particular page is not indexed in the search engines, I need to find out why. I need to correct any broken links throughout the site, or remove a duplicate description tag or increase the content on the website page or re-write the content somehow. I also need to make sure that all the tags are correctly written on the page. This is usually done during the initial SEO but if phrases change, links to and from the page change, and of course, search engine “rules” change – then all that means that the tags have to be changed as well. Optimization is a constant, never ending process of tweaking and re-tweaking website pages to get the most out of them.

Activity – New Keyword Research
Time Spent – anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes
Purpose – Finding new keyword phrases is not really that hard. Finding really good keyword phrases, well, that can be a bit difficult. The reason is that there are certain numbers you have to look up for each keyword phrase. I mean, is the phrase too competitive? Is the phrase typed in often enough to bring in traffic? Is the phrase relevant in your geography? Is the phrase the kind of phrase that “window shoppers” are typing in or is it one that “buyers” are typing in? If a page were added about this phrase, where would be the best spot to add it on the website? All these issues have to be answered before the phrases are chosen and sent out to the clients. The truth is, this one little service that we give our clients, each and every month, is the BEST way that they can get more and more traffic. But unfortunately, because it involves some work on their part (they write the content or at least pay someone to) – this is the least acted on!

Activity – Competition Research
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours
Purpose – I don’t think there’s anyone in business who doesn’t have a constant eye out for their competition. Internet marketing is no different. Knowing what the competitor down the street or the competitor on the first page of Google is doing can give you an edge in not just keeping up with them but surpassing the competition. The beauty of the Internet is that you can get quite a bit of information on your competition, without ever having to leave your desk!

Activity – Submissions
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours
Purpose – Although these days, it’s not necessary to submit websites to search engines, it still is helpful to submit press releases, articles and to find local directories and of course, niche directories to submit your information to. Especially now a days with social media sites such as Foursquare, Yelp, UrbanSpoon and so many others, it’s important to claim your space and be seen. Years ago you would have never imagined opening a business without getting listed in the Yellow Pages. Today, the same can be said but instead of just the Yellow Pages, there are literally hundreds of online sites to get listed on.

Activity – Keeping Up With The News
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours per day (every day)
Purpose – The Internet is amazing, it’s wonderful and at the same time, it’s frustrating and difficult. There are so many new events, new technology, new techniques, new algorithims, new engines, new online sources, etc. that keeping up with all of this information and sorting out what is working and what isn’t working can be daunting and is, absolutely, never ending. I scan through at least 50 articles per day and that’s certainly not keeping up! I have several thousand backlogged that I still haven’t gotten to. So, if you think that keeping up with what’s new online is not part of your Internet Marketing time frame, you’re in for a failed marketing campaign.

So, how many hours SHOULD you spend on SEO or Internet Marketing?

The minimum time I spend on a client’s marketing is 3.5 hours per month (not including reading up on new information). Of course, the size of the website, the willingness of the client to make changes on their site, all play a part in how much I can do on the website. And it goes without saying, that the more “action” that takes place on a website, the more it changes, the more new information is added, the more traffic the site will get.

Can all this be expensive if you outsource it? Sure – there’s no doubt, time is money and you’re not just purchasing time here, you’re also purchasing knowledge. But the truth is, if you are disciplined enough and if you are willing enough to put the time and energy into marketing your own website, it can be done. Would you be just as successful? Maybe. After all, who knows your business better than you do? But, then again, the Internet marketer knows the Internet – so, it’s a bit of a balancing act!

Know what you’re getting into, what’s needed to do the job of Internet marketing and you’ll be better off, not only with the campaign but with your expectations for that campaign as well!


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16 Dec 2010
internet marketing • small business

Pumping Up Your Internet Marketing For 2011


Okay, you know the old saying…

Do what you’ve always done and you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.  (or something like that).

Point is – review the Internet marketing that you’ve done for 2010 – what worked, what didn’t?  Look to see what’s new, what haven’t you tried that was recommended?  Make a list, make a plan and go for it.

It sounds all great, but when you sit down at your desk to “make the list” or “make the plan” – all of a sudden, you find yourself just sitting there staring at a blank piece of paper!  So, here’s an article that can help you get started.  My business coach, John Miller sent it to me – and I’m sharing it with you.

http://litemind.com/tackle-any-issue-with-a-list-of-100/

Check out the links for mindmaps as well – those are some great ways to begin the process of “thinking” and “planning” for success in your business.

Oh, and just another tip.  If your Internet marketing webmaster is recommending some strategies, don’t put them under the rug.  He or she is not doing it “just cause” or “to make money”.  The bottom line for any Internet marketing webmaster is the success of their clients.  If the client doesn’t succeed, then neither does the webmaster.  Recommendations are made based on what the competition is doing, what the Internet is offering and what the trends are showing.

Like I always say, “Find out what your audience wants, and then give it to them.”  It’s really as simple as that.  You just have to remember to listen!


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04 Oct 2010
internet marketing • seo • small business

To Web Designers: Listen Up!


The great majority of websites that we get here at Eckweb are sites that have already been built and have already been online.  A great majority of those site owners claim that their web designer told them they know how to market their sites.

I have no way of knowing if this is actually true or not but I do know that the websites, for the most part are in no way optimized or prepared for the search engines.  Some aren’t even ready for the public, but that’s another story!

After speaking and consulting with multiple designers over the years I do believe that there’s a sense of  “it’s not important” – from the designers’ perspective.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m writing this post to once again emphasize how important every SEO factor truly is.

It’s Not Just Me Saying This

Here’s an excerpt by Adam Audette at SearchEngineLand.

We can think about SEO ranking elements as signals to a search engine. Each one of them communicates something to the engine, and is considered (or not) and applied to the internal algorithms. When all of these signals are pointing in the same direction, powerful things can happen.

This is especially well illustrated with the problem of duplicate content and canonicalization. There are several ways sites can communicate to the engines which URL is to be treated as the canonical, including:

  • 301 redirects
  • XML sitemaps
  • rel canonical tags
  • Internal linking
  • External linking

Think for a moment about a typical website. It is likely to have many pages linking internally with multiple versions of URLs. The classic home page problem, for example, where sites often link to both mydomain.com and mydomain.com/index.html, is quite common. That doesn’t begin to cover the potential duplication that occurs on the enterprise level with large, complex websites and dynamic content.

This article speaks more about Canonicalization issues but the take home message is the same.  The details of SEO are extremely important when it comes to marketing websites.  If there are 200 different ranking factors that Google takes into consideration, and your competitor has fulfilled 130 of them but your website has only fulfilled 70 of them.  Well, guess who’s going to rank higher?


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29 May 2010
internet marketing • seo

Google Changes – Affecting Your Websites


Vanessa Fox from SearchEngineLand reports that “Google made between 350 and 550 changes in its organic search algorithims in 2009″.   So, whatever Google’s rules were on January 1, 2009 for ranking websites, they were quite different December 31, 2009!

What’s a site owner or SEO webmaster to do?

Well, stick with the basics for one and of course, keep adding and tweaking the site not only for the search engines but for the target audience as well.

Here’s a list of the basics that I follow when optimizing websites…

1) Keyword research is the key – assign 1 keyword phrase per website page and don’t forget to use the semantic phrases as well.

2) Make sure that keyword phrase is where it’s supposed to be.  Meta tags, header tags, bold, at the beginning, in the middle, at the end and within links.

3) Silo the website architecture and use breadcrumbs and smart menu navigation throughout.

4) Spread the word via articles, social media and social bookmarking.

5) Monitor each page of the website.  Find out what’s working, what’s not working and then make your changes.  Internet marketing is a constant tweaking process.  Don’t kid yourself to thinking that it’s a one time deal.

So, the lesson here is don’t get too caught up about the rankings of your website.  Look at the specific stats your website is telling you.  Fix the pages that aren’t working.  Change the keyword phrases that aren’t bringing in good traffic.    Believe me, you’ll get to the top!


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22 Dec 2009
internet marketing • seo • social media

SEO 2010 – Get Ready For New Methodologies


Okey dokey, has everyone swallowed the latest Google news and algorithmic changes?  Are you ready to embrace the new way of thinking about your SEO campaigns?  If not, well, don’t wait too long.  Before you know it, you’ll be left behind and other SEO firms will be way ahead of you in marketing their websites.

According to Search Engine Journal, …”SEOs are going to have to focus on two new concepts in their marketing plan in 2010:

1) Social Media
2) Mobile Search”

Basically, what the article points to, and I believe they’re correct, is that the future of the “relevancy of a website” (at least in the eyes of the search engine) will be how “interacted upon” the website is.  In other words, how many visitors come to the page and how many refer the page, how many talk about the page, how many twitter about it, facebook about it, share it.

And not just “share it” but “engage with it”.  All the hoopla about Personalized Search – Search Engine Journal boils it down to, “The more users engage with a document, the more it will show up in their personalized results.”   In addition, it’s not just the actual page the user will be interacting with, but what comes before and what comes after.  “Google will look to categorize a document according to the sites a user navigates to before and after the document in question.”  I know, it can all be quite frightening.  But, with Bing in the background, as search marketers, we have to remember that we need to optimize for Google, yes, but also for Bing as it grows and we’ll see how it grows!

So, what’s the bottom line?  Change, that’s the bottom line.

Basically, Internet Marketing firms have to make some changes…

1) Drop the old ranking game.  You can’t track rankings anymore.  You have to track visitors, conversions and usability.

2) Make the websites more informative and interactive.  You can’t just market the website for “denver dentist” anymore.  You need to add to the site so that the users will “interact” with it.  Share it.  Talk about it.  Refer it.

3) Stop ignoring the mobile web.  It’s time to go mobile and begin tracking how users go through (or not) your mobile sites.


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