Bevelwise Blog

I was just going through a Search Engine Land discussion thread that was posted through their Linked In profile and it was all about "What passes for an SEO professional". Needless to say it has 94 posts over a 4 month period - mostly about how people have paid for SEO and never realized results and trying to establish some sort of benchmark or certification to protect people from have a bad experience with Search Engine Optimization because anyone can call themselves an "expert".

Really, almost anyone who builds websites would be an expert compared to the average business person. Part of finding a good source for your SEO partner is knowing what to ask for. Lots of web people can say a lot that sounds good to the average business person, and they probably do know what they are talking about. BUT...execution of strategy makes all the difference in the results you achieve.

I have had to explain to customers that they didn't necessarily get "screwed" with their web site or SEO, but it is just because they didn't know the questions to ask and the person they worked with just didn't know how to follow best practices or execute to maximize results. There are over 200 factors that go into determining how a site will rank, and unless you have pretty deep pockets, you will have to rely on execution to get results with a focus on 10% of these factors.

It is about properly setting expectations and working to achieve those. You cannot guarantee someone everything they want unless you are using what is known as "black hat" techniques - but you measure you results and guarantee your work based on those properly set expectations. And black hat catches up with a site eventually.

Tips for successful SEO:
1. Be very specific with the keywords or phrase you want to get ranked
2. Understand that this is an ongoing process and you could check every hour of the day and see your own results vary probably up to 10 positions for the same keyword or phrase.
3. Ask for references and examples of work.
4. This is more of an ongoing relationship to be successful - doing it once and expecting it to last is going to be VERY temporary for results.
5. Don't spend all your budget "up front" or for one time optimization. It should be a 6 month budget because then you have the money to adjust once you start to see results.
6. There are basics to effective SEO, but every client engagement should be based on what that client wants to accomplish so your "plan" should be based on your desired goals.
7. Algorithms change regularly - usually 1-2 major changes a year, so there is no long term solution other than to tweak your optimization and it takes some work in order to keep SEO "expertise" by your resource. If you are reading it in a book, it is already TOO OLD to really help.
8. If you are starting from ZERO and don't rank for much of anything but your name, anyone should be able to move the bar for your results. Understanding if you are getting maximum value for your money is much harder for you to quantify unless they help you quantify it. Ask them. Ask for today, and ask for 6 months from today.
9. Be prepared to have more content and pages than you EVER had and have your site grow in pages in order to have enough content to create the quality scores and keyword density you need.

There are many more things to effective SEO, but I don't want to go on forever. If you want to have a discussion, just contact us at www.bevelwise.com and we will be glad to answer your questions and help further.

Labels: Search Optimization, SEO, SEO Professional, web marketing, web strategy

1. Non-Business Name Searches: It's great if people searching the internet are discovering your website without typing in the name of your business. Probably most of these visitors were previously unaware of your business. This signifies that your website is ranking well for phrase that describe its location and the type of products or services.

2. Specific Service or Product Searches: If your company offers a exclusive product or service you will definitely want to be found for it. These keywords will point to your website because you have a search engine friendly website well optimized even for its more unique services.

3. Searches by Zip, Street, & City: An important component of Local Business SEO if having your address in the footer or on every page of your website. Your company can even gather online traffic for searches by multiple zip codes across your region. This is also a result of having a well optimized map listing. For example, in your Google Local Business Listing, make use of targeted keyword phrases in your list of services or products.

4. Synonyms for Products or Services: If your website is well optimized, it will be able to draw traffic from multiple keywords describing its services. Optimize for multiple phrases to describe your business's services and products on pages within your website.

Labels: better marketing, local business listings, online marketing, Search Advertising, SEO, web marketing

There are several sites out there that people use for sharing information and more social media aspects that you should consider registering your name. Even if you don't plan to use Facebook or Twitter, we would advise you at least lock up your name so someone else cannot steal it - which is known as "squatting". Besides, just because you don't plan to use either of them does not mean there isn't the next hottest one around the corner that you should lock up.

This happened with domain names in the mid 90's as websites were coming into popularity. Several Fortune 500 companies ended up in court trying to get their trademarked names back. There has not been any precedence set for Social Media and if and how companies can get control of their Brand once it has been registered by someone else who is not them. As reference, here is an article from Adage that shows you some of the big Brands that don't own their Twitter identity.

You can see if anyone has squatted you out and potentially avoid that by visiting UserNameCheck.com . There are 68 different sites that someone could "squat" you on. Some of them you have never heard of, several are familiar and you can find all the different sites people could squat your identity on. You never know what might be the next big fad or emerge so it is best to lock them up and as new "fads" come out, register those as well, even if you don't ever use them - you can at least know you are protecting your Brand when it comes to Internet & Web Marketing and Social Media.

Labels: better marketing, Bevelwise, Branding, Facebook, Internet Marketing, link building strategies, Marketing Trends, social media, social media optimization, squatting, Twitter, web marketing

Social media optimization is a set of methods for generating publicity & conversations through social media and online communities. Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit. Search Engines also "love" this type of content because it is updated often, and seen as new and fresh.

A social media campaign means developing a great message and then reaching out to people, while giving them an incentive/reason to pass it on to other people. Social media optimization is a kind of viral marketing, where word of mouth is created through the businesses and people connecting and having 2-way conversations online.

For Business Social Media to work well, you need constant updates and make them interesting!! Also, you need fans who care enough about your message to pass it on to their friends. This is how something (good or bad) can get spread extremely quickly. If people like something and find it useful, they will link to it and tell their friends. Like anything else online - understanding the motivations and culture of the audience is key to making social media work.

Social media software applications include:

• Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn & Naymz (for professionals), Ning, NowPublic, Plaxo, MySpace, Avatars United, Bebo, Skyrock
  

• Blogs: (update very often) Blog.com, Blogger, Livejournal, Posterous, Tumblr, Typepad, Wordpress, Vox


• Blog Directories: Blogapedia, Blogarama, BlogCatalog, Blogdirs, Blog Flux, Bloghub, Blog Listing, Blogtoplist, Technorati


• Bookmarks: Delicious, Digg, Mixx, MyBlogLog, Newsvine, Propeller, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Yahoo! Buzz



• Free Directory Listings: (some may take time to get listed) Bateekh, BizHWY, Cardboard, CrunchBase, DMOZ, GetFreeListing, Google Local, Jayde, Jigsaw, Librarians' Internet Index, Little Web Directory, Manta, MerchantCircle, Simple Directory, SuperPages, Tradevibes, TurnPike, WebBuyersGuide, Web World, Yahoo! Local, Yellow Pages


• Name Checks: (don't let someone take your name) Namechk, Usernamecheck


• Post Presentations: AuthorSTREAM, Slideshare


• Post Videos: Vimeo, YouTube


• Press Releases: i-Newswire, PR.com, PressReleasePoint, PRLog.org


• Publish Articles: ArticleDashboard, Articles FACTORY, Ezinearticles, IdeaMarketers, Yahoo Articles Group


• Wikis: Pbwiki, Wetpaint, Wikipedia


• Social Aggregation Tools: Bloglines, Delicious, FriendFeed, YouBundle


• Events: Yahoo Upcoming, Eventful (concerts), meetup
  


• Twitter Tools: Grader, Ping, TweetDeck, TweetLater, HootSuite


• URL Shorteners: bit.ly, memurl, TinyURL, owl.ly, tr.im.com
  

Social media should be in your marketing mix, but it needs to be done right! Make it work for your specific target audience. Develop a great message and reach out to people...then hope they pass it on! Social Media is about connections, so make it a 2-way conversation.

Please contact Bevelwise if you would like to add Social Media to your company's marketing mix and need some help.

Many other sources have assembled lists of social media sites. Relevant Social Media helpful spots:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/top-list-of-social-media-sites
http://nextmark.typepad.com/blog/2009/07/top-100-b2b-social-media-cheat-sheet.html
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-best-advice-about-social-media/
http://www.mintblogger.com/2008/02/definitive-list-of-30-popular-social.html

Labels: Bevelwise, blogging, Google, HowTo, Marketing Trends, SEO, social media, social media optimization, Twitter, web marketing, web strategy

What can a local business do online when competing with a big, national brand? The websites of both local and national brands make their products/services available 24/7. But one thing big brands lack is community uniqueness and it can be as simple as a local phone number. Sometimes people just need to talk to a real, live human being, and this can be what sets you apart.

Admit it, the internet can be a bit impersonal. If you are a local business, adding you physical address and the phone number (with a local area code) gives evidence that you are a real person - which makes people feel more comfortable. It gives your customer a convenient way to order, but most importantly it means that a real person is give service.

• A phone number is instantaneous way to get your visitors' feedback
• A prominent phone number on a website builds trust and confidence.
• Local SEO Factor
• A telephone number is how Local Business Listings verifies that your listing is valid (Google will actually call you!) It is an on-page trust identifier.
• It is also believed that Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing often combine the local area code with local search ranking factors.

Make the most of Contact Information

A business' address and phone number are instrumental for conducting business locally. But this contact information also provides a critical clue to search engines that a business is local in nature. Make sure to display:

• Your full address (with Zip Code) on the footer of every page, with prominence on the "Contact Us" page
• Local phone number, even when a toll-free number is available
• If appropriate, provide information on areas served
• Driving directions and a local map

List your Local Business on Search Engines. These ones are free for basic listings:

• Google Local Business Center
• Yahoo Local
• Bing Local Listing
  
• Ask.com Local
• Local.com
• Yellowpages.com

From here, you actually have to answer this phone when it starts ringing off the hook!

Of course, please feel free to Contact Bevelwise if your business needs a better web presence.

Labels: Google, local business listings, SEO, web marketing, web strategy, web strategy Bing, Yahoo

How do you know if you should use Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Can I get better results from Pay-Per-Click (PPC)? These are the main two strategies in use today, especially for the small to medium enterprise. Both strategies are entirely different and it can be difficult to decide which one is best for you or how to combine both strategies for maximum effectiveness.

You have to determine what you are trying to accomplish via the web and your website. That will drive everything else. If you don't have the right objectives for what you want to accomplish, then you can wind up wasting a lot of money trying to figure it out and feeling like all you did was "spin your wheels". SEO and PPC are the best sources to drive you targeted traffic and only pay for targeted traffic, but you have to be intentional about them and what you expect from each.

SEO and PPC continue to grow as more and more people are using the Internet and become more web savvy. It is the best source for people worldwide to find information they want on a 24 hour basis. That will keep these two industries growing. Let's back up a second and define these a bit closer for some of those people who might know much about these subjects. SEO takes place on your own website site. There are pieces and parts to a website that the Internet search engines, crawlers, and indexes look for to determine if your site is a good match for particular keywords and search terms. Most experts will tell you that parity has been reached in search, so now it comes down to the user experience and how fast a search engine gets you to the results and relevant content you were looking for.

PPC refers to advertising on a search engine that charges on a per click basis whenever a visitor clicks on one of your ads. The order of ads is an algorithm and Google (62% of all searches), Yahoo (20% of all searches), and Bing (formerly MSN and 10% of all searches) all use different ones to determine the best match. This will continue to change now that Yahoo and MSN/Bing have announced their partnership for search - so we are sure a new algorithm for these sites will emerge soon and cause another adjustment. The newest factor in the game for Google is what is known as quality score. It has always used this to rank your site and pages organically, but now it is a factor in how well your PPC campaign will perform. Yes, how well your landing page and it's URL are optimized will effect what you pay per click, who shows up on the top of the list, and if you bid the most, you are not guaranteed the #1 spot. This is directly related to that "user experience" criteria.

SEO tries to change your overall search engine ranking by looking at your URL and analyzing all of the content on your pages and meta data (behind the scenes) to see how good of a match that page and your website is for a particular keyword or search phrase. This also needs to happen page by page - having the same information on every page or in every page's meta data, will actually discount your URL to the search engines. It needs to be specific to what they will find on that page. Also, putting too many different items on a page will not allow you to optimize it to its full extent to produce maximum results. It will also not allow you to effectively optimize for each item because what you can do and the "space" available for optimization, do not allow for the words and phrases you need (for example, a title tag really needs to be less that 70 characters in length). SEO is also considered a long term solution. You cannot do it just once and let it go for 6-12 months. You should pay some attention to it monthly after your initial optimization takes hold (like 120 days after their first pass on your site). Consider this just like changing some of the content on your website, this will help the engines pay attention to you. Ultimately you would want your optimization to allow for you to not have to pay for clicks on your brand name and your top 5-10 keywords and phrases because you already have page one ranking for them. Be prepared for this to take 120-180 days to really start to show some results but that is based on where your starting point is.

Bottom Line of what you can expect

PPC:

• Instant Traffic and results if it is done right
• Pay for what you get - no residual effects
• This is extremely intentional - to an industry, geographic market, product or service
• Optimize for performance, negative keywords, etc
• Can pause at any time so little risk
• Typically done with lower budgets
• Can control what it says, when and where it runs and to what audiences
• Is now tied to how well your landing page and website are optimized with Quality Score
• Once you reach your daily budget it shuts down
• Easier to target a specific market or industry

SEO:

• This is a marathon, not a sprint solution
• If you are optimized, you will always rank for the keywords and phrases you want - it will never shut down or reach a budget
• Results are harder to measure - because of all the ways to drive traffic
• Need to set metrics and goals prior to starting it
• Start with an amount to get started and have someone spend some time monthly continuing these principles if possible
• Will need to update and change as strategies and search engines change their algorithms and competitors change their websites, PPC and SEO strategies
• Allows you to rank for higher priority keywords and broaden your exposure through PPC
• Delivers the most qualified traffic – this comes from people who are actively seeking out products and services that you offer and not just browsing the web.

So what should you choose?
Well, it depends on how much money you are willing to spend, what your time line is, your goals and how you want to measure results. It is easy to blow through money with PPC unless you test, optimize and pay some attention every month. Typically it will produce results in the first 30 days but you will always have to pay for them. If you want to position yourself for long term results and establish your presence to your target audience and market, then spending some time in SEO will help be your solution. SEO is more permanent depending on your strategy and will build long term equity for your website, PPC will drive results and help you be specific to a particular industry, geography, or time period. If someone finds you through organic/natural results, you typically have more credibility because that is harder to accomplish and anyone can "pay" for advertising. If you can do it, we would recommend balancing both of them. Set your goals and then allocate X hours a month optimizing your site and equivalent dollars to PPC, but always be evolving and optimizing.

Labels: Bevelwise, Google, marketing, Marketing Trends, MSN, online marketing, PPC, Search Advertising, SEO, SERP, web content, web marketing, web strategy Bing, Yahoo