For all you web designers and programmers and webmasters out there – how many of your clients work with you during the web building process and then once it’s over, that’s it – you never hear from them again?

Yep, even if they’re “marketing” their websites?

For all you website owners out there who are paying SEO and Internet Marketing firms money to “market” your websites – how often are you sending in changes?  How often are you updating your sites?  When’s the last time you were asked for more information for your site?

If the answer is “no one has asked me” – then your website is not really being marketed.  Oh, they may be submitting it to engines and directories and linking back to it from an article or a blog post – but there’s no new data – no new “juice” for the search engines to be attracted to.

Think about it – search engines are just machines.  Their job is to scan website pages and gather data from these pages.  One of the tidbits of data that they gather is the structure and words of the website page.  Once they have a “scan” of that page, the next time they come back to that page they compare the new “scan” with the old “scan”.  If there are no changes in the scan, guess what, you lose a point or two.  If there are changes in the “scan” you gain a point or two.

Yes, it’s just one out of 100 factors but if the large companies like Coca Cola and Hallmark and Sears and just about any other large company you can think of feels that they need to change their websites often, what makes you think that you can get away without changing yours?

Websites are not billboards.  They are meant to evolve, to grow, to change.  So, if your web designer or webmaster or SEO firm gives you ideas about adding to your website – take them up on it.  It can only work for you!!

Tags: internet marketing, seo, seo firm, web designers, website marketing, website owners

Oh, if I had a nickle every time someone asked me to “guarantee website rankings” for them!  I’d have a nice little retirement account!

If you don’t know already, when an Internet marketing firm tells you they can “guarantee” rankings, they’re just trying to sell you some snake oil.  Just like those salesmen standing on the back of their horse drawn wagons, these guys are just trying to con you into trusting them.   Here’s a tip, the louder an SEO firm has to yell, the further you should run from them.

SEO or Internet marketing firms don’t have arrangements with search engines or other companies.  There’s no such entity.  There are no secret codings or under the table payments or anything like that.  Search engines don’t care about the websites trying to get higher rankings.  They care about the user who is searching on their engine.  They need to please the users – not the website owners.

Any type of Internet marketing campaign has to do the following…

1) Find out what the target audience is looking for.  (aka Keyword Research)

2) Put what the audience is looking for on the website (aka Page Optimization)

3) Showcase the trust-worthiness of the website (aka Backlinks with anchor text linking)

4) Keep the website updated and continuously repeat the steps above.

This is the absolute minimum that any Internet marketing campaign should consist of.  That’s pretty much the only thing an SEO firm can guarantee you (or should guarantee you) – that they will give you these services.

Tags: internet marketing, search engine optimization, seo, seo guarantees, website marketing

It seems so many companies (and people) are talking about Simple Living these days.  There’s an Allstate commercial that talks about finding the pleasures in Jenga and Meatloaf these days, which I think sums up the sentiments of today’s economy.  And I can’t help but wonder if that will remain the sentiment for at least another decade – but that’s just my humble opinion.

Wikipedia’s article on simple living reports that…”According to Duane Elgin, “we can describe voluntary simplicity as a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living.^{” “}

What has this got to do with SEO?  Simply (no pun intended) put – SEO IS SIMPLE LIVING when it comes to marketing and advertising.

Since I’m in the SEO business I can’t help but see how the “simple living” mentality running across the country is impacting the SEO industry.  It seems as if lately I’ve been getting more and more calls from businesses looking for ways to reduce their advertising dollars.  I’m so amazed at the number of busineses that still rely on newspaper ads, car flyers, brochures and traditional network marketing for their advertising.  Considering that as of March 2009, the stats in North America (USA and Canada) were that over 337 million people use the Internet.  Worldwide, Internet usage is over 6 billion.

And considering the fact that websites (or blogs or other Internet media) can be changed in a matter of seconds or minutes – and at the fraction of the cost of traditional media – it just makes sense to market on the Internet.

And it follows the “simple living” credo.  Think about it – Search Engine Optimization is all about ranking and conversions.  The concept is to find out what the target audience is looking for and then give it to them via the website (or websites).  So, the business owner is actually interacting more with the target audience through his website than if he put up a billboard or slapped a flyer onto a windshield of a car.

The business owner is “listening” to what the audience wants and is immediately providing it.  How much more interactive and authentic can a business get?  SEO and simple living go hand in handand as the sentiment continues to grow and expand in this country (glad to see the country changing from a ME mentality to a WE mentality!) – I think that the industry of SEO will only grow with it!

Tags: internet marketing, search engine optimization, seo, website marketing

SEO Services, like most other services, are a myriad of activities all put together to create a package.

SEO (Search engine optimization) services come in all shapes and sizes.  Let’s face it, no 2 SEO firms are the same, although there are certain similarities, no 2 will ever be exactly the same.  Just like no 2 divorce attorney firms are the same or no 2 accounting firms are the same, etc.

And just like any consumer, those who purchase SEO services do so with their pocketbooks in mind.  The package they purchase is only as big as their pocketbook will allow.  So, some companies can take much greater advantages of SEO than others.  So, how do you know what factors to choose?  Which ones to put aside?  Let’s go over some of them and I’ll see if I can help you.

I’ll rate each step – 1 being absolutely needed , 2 being you can get away without it (maybe)!

1) Cleanup of the coding – Rating 1

There are some amazing web designers out there, I mean the graphics and the layouts that they come up with are just WOW!  But, as an SEO webmaster, I have to admit, I’m absolutely in the Matrix.  I took that red pill a long time ago and the way that I see websites is very different from how web designers see websites.

I see the coding and I see the layout structure.  I see the gobbleygook that the search engines see and if that gobbleygook takes up so much space and time from the engines, it’s just a minus when it comes to SEO.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the beautiful designs, I really do.  But what is the point of a business website if it doesn’t bring in business?  I’ve seen some of the most beautiful websites bringing in 20-30 new visitors per month – that’s pitiful.  Why pay so much for such a gorgeous website if no one is going to see it?

Cleaning up the website coding is a very important part of the SEO process.  It basically lays out the foundation for how the website is seen and coded by the engines.

2) Keyword Research – Rating 2

I know what you’re thinking – why should I pay for someone to tell me what keyword phrases to use when I KNOW what my clients are typing in?  Well, I agree with you – to a point.  You MAY know (or think) what your clients are typing in to find your services/products but you don’t know ALL that they’re typing in.

Many business owners make the BIG mistake of keeping their websites small – specific – so specific that only a small group of their audience will find them.  For example, I was speaking with the owner of a small Greek restaurant from Ohio yesterday and we were talking about the catering section on his website.  He wants to increase the business for the catering but wanted to market the phrase “Greek Food” on those pages.  Although this is what he obviously will be catering, Gree Food, my point to him was it’s fine to market that phrase, but you also want to get a little more general.  You want to go after “Ohio Catering” and/or “Columbus Ohio Caterer” (phrases like that) because if a company is looking for a caterer and they weren’t thinking of “Greek Food” and they came across your website – after reviewing your site they may say to themselves, “Hey, I never thought of having a Greek caterer for the corporate event, let’s try that – it’s different.”  See my point?

How did I even know this was occuring?  Do I have a magic ball on my desk?  Yes, the magic ball is called “Keyword Research” – by looking at Twitter feeds, Keyword Research tools, Google Adwords tools and competition websites, I could see that phrases like “Columbus Ohio Caterer” were more popular than “Greek Food Caterer”.

Another point on Keyword Research.  Many attorney websites (as well as other professions) make the mistake of just talking about themselves on their sites.  WEBSITES ARE NOT BROCHURES.  I don’t mean to yell but really, I’ve been saying this for 10 years now, I’m tired!  Your audience is not just looking for “attorney in pompano beach” – they’re also looking for answers to questions.  They want to know INFORMATION – and guess what, if the viewer doesn’t find the information on your website, they’ll find it on someone else’s.

But what kind of information should you put on your website?  The keyword research can tell you.  Let’s say you’re a patent attorney, here are some “questions” that viewers are typing in…

“What is the duration of a patent?”
“Why are patent fees so expensive?”
“Why is patent protection important?”

Answer these questions on your website (or blog, or whatever) and you’ll get that traffic.  Answer more questions and you’ll get more traffic.  A side benefit is that if User X types in 3 questions into Google and your website keeps coming up with the answers to these questions, who do you think he’s going to call when he’s ready to buy?  Who would you call?  I’m just saying!

3) Page Optimization – Rating 1

Once the keywords are chosen, the next step is to actually place these words on the website pages and in the right spots (for both the search engines and the readers).

Without this step there really is no SEO – so, this factor is just as important as the code cleaning.

4) Monthly Marketing – Rating 2

Although I do admit that not every website requires monthly marketing (all depends on the products / services) if you want to get the most from all the money you spent on your SEO efforts, then you really do want the marketing.  Not for submissions to search engines and link exchanges, but for the traffic analysis, the competition analysis, the continuous keyword research and the research on new website widgets and gizmos for both engines and users.

Ongoing marketing efforts ensure that the website will always stay fresh and new.  Believe me when I tell you that I am on the Internet at least 8 hours a day (I mean ON the Internet – not just at the computer) so I visit ALOT of websites and many of them over and over again and it’s very rare that a week goes by that a website doesn’t change.  Something changes on the site, whether it’s the sale banner, an addition of a link to an article, something.  I emphasize to my clients all the time how important it is to make changes on the site and really, if websites with thousands of visitors per day take this advice, why don’t small business owners take this advice?  I’ll never know.

Yeah, I know, basically it boils down to that you need the basic SEO services entirely but hey, show me an advertising campaign that can reach so many people for so little money?  I dare ya!

Tags: internet marketing, search engine optimization, seo, seo marketing, small business seo, website marketing

So often I find myself in an argument with a new client over keywords.  Basically, the scenario is usually…

They want to be found for a main keyword phrase.

And I want them to be found for keyword phrases that convert into sales.

What’s the difference you say?  Let me tell you!

1) It’s more difficult to get on the top 5 search results for a main keyword phrase than it is for a targeted keyword phrase.  So, although it can be done, more money and time are being spent on attempting to go for that main keyword phrase.  (By main keyword phrases I’m talking about generic phrases like “name tags” or “lawyers” or “care managers“)

2) The type of audience that are typing in these generic phrases are not in the “buying” stage as of yet.  They’re just looking.  Also, they’re not sophisticated enough to know how to look.  In other words, if I were searching for a lawyer on the Internet, I would want to search for a specific type of lawyer in a specific city or area.  As a website owner, of course you want to get traffic to your website but more than that, you want targeted traffic.  You want the kind of traffic that will convert into sales.

3) Think about it – if your website was a store and you advertised on your front window that you were selling “towels” but your store only sold Kitchen towels – you would receive a huge crowd of people looking for towels, but when they came into the store they would see you only had Kitchen towels.  What percentage of those people do you think will ask you if you sold other types of towels?  I bet a large percentage.  That takes up alot of your time and takes you away from the people who are buying the Kitchen towels.  So, why would you want to attract every person looking for towels when you only sell Kitchen towels?

Get my point?

In Summary – make sure your website markets specific keyword phrases and make sure you keep updating your website to keep up with your audience.  Know what they’re looking for and give it to them.  With Internet marketing and keyword research, it’s easy to do!

Tags: internet marketing, keyword research, keyword selection, seo, website marketing

The great majority of small businesses have yet to take advantage of Internet Marketing services.  For some, it’s the cost, for others, it’s the inability to comprehend what it is.  So often I hear comments from callers such as…”Well, I guess I’m supposed to have a website so can you build me a website?”

I imagine this must have been what it was like when television or radio first came out.  Trying to educate business owners on the potential these venues have for their businesses is not easy.  If they don’t understand it, they don’t want to participate in it.  Well, at least some of them.  We do have callers who say they don’t care to know how it works, just that it works.  And boy, does it ever!

Yesterday, a small business client that sells one niche product (a natural product for the care of gums) emailed me.  We’ve been marketing his website for only 2 months (so we’ve really just begun) and although the number of visitors to the site has grown his sales were minimal and he felt he wasn’t getting as much business as he should have.  He also felt that the “language” we used on the website for marketing wasn’t correct.  He had investigated this whole “SEO Thing” and he advised me that he’s learned enough about it to know that what we’re doing just wasn’t right.  (I’ll have to let my 40+ clients who’ve been with me for 5+ years know that I’m just faking it!)

My response to him was this…

#1 -  we have to get traffic to the website, we have to let people know that this product exists and what it could do for them establishing why they should purchase it.

#2 – we have to accomplish #1 by going after the keyword phrases that people are already typing in.  We can’t sell a product on the Internet by it’s name only.  If people don’t know the name, they’re not going to find the website.  So, we have to sell it by what it does.

#3 – I repeated my request to him for about the 10th time that he absolutely needs testimonials and recommendations from dentists.  Without those, the product doesn’t have any credibility.  You have to build trust in the viewer coming to the website and you can’t do that by just talking about the product and how great it is!

The client didn’t agree, he just felt he needed to go in a new direction.  Well, can’t win them all I say.  But I felt sorry for him in a way.  I mean, I know that the product could do well for him if he understood how the Internet works.  The ROI (Return On Investment) that he could have gotten from our services for him would have been great.

How do I know?  Because I know that if you give the viewers what they want, you will do well.  It’s happened over and over and over again.  I’ve seen it with great products and services and I’ve seen it with products and services I didn’t think would have a chance, in any market!

Give the audience what they want and you will succeed.

Tags: internet marketing, niche marketing, roi, small business, successful internet marketing, website marketing

Social media planning is very important – here’s how you can plan your next exciting marketing campaign.

So many Internet Marketing firms are scrambling to offer social media marketing as part of their marketing campaigns. And who can blame them? It seems that social media programs like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter have taken over!

But before you plunk down your hard earned cash (and getting harder every day it seems) make sure to create a marketing plan for your social media campaign. Lewis Green wrote a great article discussing this very topic.

He outlines 6 questions that you should be able to answer BEFORE you enact any social media programs into your internet marketing campaign.

1) Who are your ideal customers? The ones who deliver the most value? What do they look like? What do they want and need?
2) Where do those customers live online and how do we reach them, engage them in conversation?
3) What should be the focus of a blog (or a social networking presence)? What content will be of interest to those readers who make up our ideal customers?
4) How do we ensure that social media is seamlessly integrated with our other marketing tools?
5) How do we drive those readers to our blog and then to our web site, using the blog as a way to interest them in our expertise because of the great content (conversation starters) we create on the blog?
6) How do we create content that is not viewed as simply a marketing and sales vehicle?

The answers to these questions will tell you…

1) What social media programs to join. If your ideal customers are business people, LinkedIn is a great social media program to join. But if your ideal customers are musicians, then MySpace is a better social media program to join.

2) You can find out where your customers “live” online simply by asking them or adding a “link to me” button on your own website(s).

3) 90% of the reason people come to the Internet initially is for information. Be the source of that information and you will increase your sales. So make your blog and online articles a part of your social media program.

4) So often, programs are begun but not maintained. If you’re going to open a Facebook account or LinkedIn account, don’t just open them and walk away. That’s like spending $400.00 to join the Chamber of Commerce and then never going to the meetings.

5) Driving visitors to your blog and social media content is not that difficult. Add links to these in your email signature, in your website, in your printed material, etc.

6) Create content that answers questions your audience is asking. Do you sell name tags? Your audience are more than likely business owners and business employees. Supply information in your blog answering questions like “How To Get Through An Interview” – “How To Ask For A Raise” – etc. These are relevant to your audience.

Mr. Lewis finishes his excellent article with a great formula…

“X, with X being integrated planning, = Y, with Y being ROI. And in today’s lean times, those who fail to deliver Y will soon be victims of budget cuts. And without an objective, goals, strategies to meet those goals, and tactics (tools) to achieve the strategies, we shall perish, no matter the tools we use.”

The bottom line of ANY marketing campaign is the ROI (Return On Investment) – bring in traffic which then converts into sales. If the campaign does not do this, something went wrong. Plan ahead and the chances of getting a great ROI are much, much better! Social media planning is worth the time and effort.

Tags: eckweb, internet marketing, social media, website marketing

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!

Tags: internet marketing, small busines marketig, web page marketing, web site marketing, website marketing