Search Engine Optimization & Marketing

Target Local Customers with Your Website

Feb 122012

The internet continues to grow at a rate that is difficult to fathom. In addition changes in search engine algorithm are being made daily if not hourly. Some of these changes are quite significant. The goal of Google and Bing are bring you what you are looking for on your first search query. To do this they are accumulating information about you from everywhere they can. The latest change in Google’s privacy policy does not let you opt of providing them information on any of their services.

It may seem a little creepy. I know it does to me especially if you think they have been reading your emails for a long time, if you use gmail, to target ads to you. The stated goal is to provide you with a more rewarding search results. That makes sense if you think about the other search engines that are popping up that target niches so you don’t need to wade through so much irrelevant information to get to what you are looking for.

Why is this important to website owners? The impact of these constant changes is that you need to make adjustments in your website just as frequently if you don’t want to start loosing visitors. You also need to make adjustments to attract local visitors so they don’t need to try to find you in a long list of websites in other parts of the country.

The quickest and easiest way to start being placed higher in the search results page is to provide information directly to Google and Bing local. These placements allow room for ad copy and images as well as hours of operation, credit cards accepted, etc. Google Local | Bing Local

There are also meta-tags in the source code of websites that can pinpoint your location if the person searching has their location option activated. For more information go to XanZaMar Consulting

A good book on the subject is:

How to Get Your Local Business Ranked on Page 1 of Google in 7 Days or Less!

Articles with additional thoughts and information on local search:

Five New Online Tools for Finding Local Customers by Carol Tice |
It’s one of the big challenges of the wide-open, global Internet: How to use it to help customers in your town find you. At a recent two-day “hackathon” event hosted by the New York business incubator General Assembly and American Express OPEN, more than 100 developers met to work on this problem….MORE

AdWords Express Takes Pain Out of Local Online Advertising by Mikal E Belicove | Google released a new version of AdWords this week with the intent of making setting up and managing a local online advertising campaigns easy and stress free. And from what I’ve seen so far, AdWords Express is not only simple to use, but it’s an ideal interface for local businesses with no prior online advertising experience….MORE

Please post your questions and/or comments for consideration and response.

Richard G Roberts/richard@xanzamar.com
XanZaMar Consulting/Founder | LinkedIn
Northwest Arkansas SCORE/Vice President-Counselor

What is SEO-Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization 2 Responses »

Nov 112011

Search Engine Optimization includes a wide set of factors that impact the ranking of your website and its placement on the search engine results page (SERP) as well as the quality of your visitors. There are approximately a hundred factors that Google uses in its search algorithms to rank and place your website on the results page. The most important factor is choosing the proper keyword(s). You might have more people looking for shoes but if you are selling a unique shoe like pink sneakers you are much more likely to hit the first search engine results page (SERP) when optimizing for pink sneakers rather than shoe. Though there is a larger audience for shoes, there is also more competition making it much harder to stand out.

Content has also become much more important. It should be original and meaningful having a few of your chosen keywords sprinkled through it.

Domain names, page naming, page title, bold words, links to your website, directory listings, age of your domain, type of domain (com, net, org, usa, biz, info, etc). length of time until next renewal is due, etc. These are just a few of the factors that impact how you are ranked, where you are ranked and comes to your website.

We will be taking each of these factors and covering them in much greater detail in subsequent posts.

Meta-Tags – Are They Still Important?

Search Engine Optimization No Responses »

Nov 112011

Meta-Tags are used to provide information to search engines. While search engine bots are getting smarter every day and are able to get much information from the content of your site a few meta-tags are still important.

The most important one is the title meta-tag and should include the keyword(s) that you want people to find your site with. These words should also be in your page title, h1 and first sentence of two of your content. Characters should be limited to no more than 70.

NOTE: We all like to see our name in print but your name in the title is only important if people will use it to find you. Otherwise use this space to promote you keyword(s) and/or message.

The next most important meta-tag is your description and should expand on the title meta-tag and can include your company name. Characters should be limited to 120.

The least important meta-tag is for keywords as most search engine bots pick up keywords from you title, description and content. There are a few search engine bots that still read this meta-tag so do include the most important keywords for the page you are optimizing.

Richard Roberts/Founder
XanZaMar Consulting

“Black Hat” SEO v. “White Hat” SEO

Search Engine Optimization No Responses »

Nov 092011

Google has always valued links directing users to your website. From the beginning links to your site have been viewed as a vote for it. The more important the site linking to your site the more important your site is seen. The answer to getting Google’s attention is not quanity of links as much as it is quality.

Linking became so important that “Link Farms” starting popping up everywhere. These are sites that offer 100′s or 1,000′s of links using various schemes. A few of these are viewed legitimate by Google, like a directory of sorts. Most are viewed as trying to game the system. Get labeled as trying to gain the system and you are benched. No longer in the game. It is so difficult to get back in the game that most people find they are better off getting a new domain name and starting over.

The fear of crossing the invisible line of Google’s view of your links as always caused me to be a little conservative on links to any client’s site. This has not presented any problems due to fine tuning of search engine optimization I employ. I say “has” because the search engine approaches to algorythems is changing so frequently and drastically that standard seo techniques and best practices, aren’t amymore.

I have generally had my clients obtain links from social media, trade associations, vendors, Yahoo Directory and other directories identified as acceptable to Google.

It is my opinion that that is no longer enough. I still have concern about any of my sites being labeled as using “Black Hat” techniques and being benched for life. That concern has almost been escalated to fear at times.

The time has come to challenge my fear which I identified as coming from ignorance. We will be exploring the world of linking, what to do and what not to do for the next few weeks.

This post is going to identify some “Black Hat” techniques that are the kiss of death and some of the more well-known linking strategies. If you have questions or experiences that would be helpful to share, please use the comment section of this blog.

We will start out with some basics from Wikipedia followed by “Black Hat” techniques followed by “White Hat” techniques.

Wikipedia Information on Linking: This article pertains to methods of hyperlinking to/of different websites, often used in regard to search engine optimization (SEO). Many techniques and special terminology about linking are described….MORE

Black Hat SEO: Killing Your Rankings by Breeanne Martin | Google has warned that black hat tactics are “unethical, overly aggressive marketing efforts where a company tries to manipulate search engine results in an unfair way.” Despite Google’s warnings, many Internet companies persist in providing black hat SEO services. The truth is, using black hat tactics on your site can be as scary as facing these slasher movie murderers….MORE

Black Hat SEO and Online Business: What Not to Do by Hunter Young | Perhaps you’ve heard of black hat SEO but aren’t sure exactly what it really means? Black Hat SEO is a series of unfair techniques that break search engine guidelines. These practices degrade search results and search engines constantly update their algorithms to catch those who practice black hat SEO. The consequences of black hat SEO can be devastating – sites that follow these unethical practices are often prevented from being indexed and banned upon discovery. To ensure that you’re fully aware of what’s off limits, here are some examples of common black hat practices you should avoid….MORE

Positive and Negative Link Baiting: The Risks and Rewards by Jennifer Van Iderstyne | Getting into the link bait debate always gets controversial. In fact I often regret it because it seems as though everyone has distinct, borderline passionate, feelings on the subject….MORE

SEO Wars: Forget Black Hat, White Hat – What Color Is Your Lightsaber by Angie Schottmuller | SEO is a powerful force that can be wielded to dictate the prominent content placement in search results, potentially driving countless visitors to websites. Those mastering this power represent contrasting strategies that search engines would consider “good and evil.” Historically, we’ve called this white hat and black hat SEO… But what fun is that….MORE

Richard G Roberts/Founder XanZaMar Consulting
Vice-Chairman – Volunteer Counselor at Northwest Arkansas SCORE

SEO v PPC | How do I balance them?

Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization No Responses »

Nov 052011

Search Engine Optimization versus Paid Per Click is a discussion we in the internet marketing arena have frequently. The following are some of my thoughts on the subject followed by some articles with additional or different points of view.

Paid Per Click has a lot of fine points. You copy can target a particular product or service and induce action if written correctly. The problem becomes cost if you don’t monitor and target your ads correctly. You pay for every click whether someone takes action or not. This means if you purchase a keyword that is very general and pique interest you may get a lot of click from people that don’t find what they are looking for when they get to your landing page.

Google AdWords has many features if fully utilized can get increase your ROI. You can select very targeted keyword(s) that usually cost less than general keywords. An example would be “shoes” v. “pink laced shoes”. Your ad won’t appear as often with “pink laced shoes” but you are much more likely to have a click turn into action. The other things you can do is limited you exposure to certain demographics, specific hours, daily budgets and geography. I saw one campaign that ran over $1K per month with little to know results turned into a $400 a month investment with excellent results just by using all of these features.

Now for Search Engine Optimization. There is nothing like having someone directed to your site for free…..OK not exactly free but if done right much less expensive than PPC and the great thing is it is the gift that keeps giving. SEO is not free but amortized over time it can be one of the least expensive ways to increase your exposure. You do need to careful what company you contract for these services. Know exactly what they are going to do, what they are going to charge and how they are going to verify the results of their efforts. And always get references and talk to them.

And here are some of the better articles I have run into on the subject of SEO v. PPC:

Balancing pay-per-click and SEO efforts by Stephan Spencer | One aspect of search marketing that doesn’t get enough attention — and indeed is misunderstood by the search engine optimization practitioner — is the interaction between organic search and paid search….MORE

A Look at Pay-Per-Click Tools for Small Businesses by Johnathan Blum | Managing online paid-search-term campaigns can be like water torture for a small-business owner: A slow drip of tedium, choosing keywords and deciding what to pay for each on services like Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter.

For the uninitiated, paid-search campaigns involve advertisers paying a fee, usually based on clicks or views, to have their links placed high on search-engine results pages. They typically bid on keywords or keyword phrases. Users can find themselves guessing at the words those searching for your products or services might enter into Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search engine. All for the prospect of having your short bit of linked copy appear across the top and on the right side of a web-search results page….MORE

How do PPC Campaigns and SEO Work Together by Nick Stamoulis | SEM (search engine marketing) is the combination of both paid (PPC campaigns) and unpaid (SEO) online marketing activities. Research has shown that about 80% of clicks come from the organic results, which the search engines rank based on SEO factors. The other 20% of clicks comes from PPC ads along the top and side of the SERP. Some business owners believe that the amount of money they spend on their PPC campaigns (mostly Google AdSense), has a direct affect on how well their site ranks in the organic listings. While I can’t prove it, I’m 100% positive that this isn’t true….MORE

Richard Roberts
SCORE Volunteer Counselor/Mentor
Northwest Arkansas SCORE Vice-Chairman
Founder of XanZaMar Consulting

FREE SEO Tips and Tools

Search Engine Marketing 1 Response »

Oct 182011

I run across articles regarding search engine optimization tools daily that are often free. I have tried many of them but not all. My take away is that they are mostly worth looking into to what would be helpful to your SEO efforts.

The following articles are about some SEO tools and the SEO industry in general:

Google Merges Analytics, Webmaster Tools Data, Adds SEO Reports by Thom Craver – Google Webmaster Tools reports are now included as part of Google Analytics. You may recall four months ago, Google Analytics launched a pilot program between the two services. As of today the Analytics team announced the initial test are over and everyone will now be able to link Webmaster tools and Google Analytics accounts….MORE

Ten things you didn’t know about SEO by Krista Lariviere – Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of many digital marketing tools. It’s especially important for small-to-mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to use the right search terms, keywords and terminology in order to attract new business. In an ideal situation, a good SEO program will organically grow the leads and potential sales that an SMB can then realize through closed sales…..MORE

Attracta SEO Tools to be Bundled with cPanel Control Panel by Liam Eagle – In one of the bigger stories to come out of the first day of the cPanel automation event in Austin, Texas this week, SEO software developer Attracta (www.attracta.com) announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to have its SEO tool bundled with cPanel, the first time a third party application has been incorporated into the control panel in this way….MORE

Richard G Roberts/Founder XanZaMar Internet Marketing Services
NWA SCORE – Volunteer Counselor/Mentor/Vice-Chairman

Can I do my own SEO?

Search Engine Optimization 1 Response »

Oct 112011

The answer is yes with a few provisos. If you are in a nitch market with little competition or are in a geographical area that has little competition you can most likely do an effective job at search engine optimization.

The first thing you need to do is research the best keyword or long-tail keyword phrase for your industry. That is what term would people most likely be using to find your product or services. There are two ways to do this……you can get a group of people together and brainstorm or you can use a service that has facts on the number of searches for keywords. One of the best free services is Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Once you have your keyword phrase then it is time to go to work on your website. Most SEO professionals agree that the single most important meta-tag in HTML code is the title meta-tag. This is the most important 60 characters you have on your site and should be chosen with much care. I should have your keyword phrase at the beginning and don’t bother wasting this space with you company name unless you are General Motors.

The second most important space it the description meta-tag. This is a 140 character pitch for why people should contact you and again should include your keyword and can include your company name, product, service, service area or whatever you think drives the message home.

If you are in a specific local you would also want to insert a geo meta-tag which can be done in several ways….I suggest doing a Google search to see which applies to your site.

To Google there are two more very important elements….content which is king to Google and links into your site which Google sees as votes. Let’s approach content first. Do not use Flash or Java script for you home page unless you can duplicate what it is doing in plain old HTML. Google doesn’t read Java Script or Flash. If you have a Java Script menu (drop down type) you should put a secondary menu at the bottom of you home page with hyperlinks to your internal pages. If you have a fancy flash intro…..put you text below it. The correct amount of text is 200-400 words and should start with your keyword. H1′s and H2′s should have keywords and you should have a density of about 2-3% for you keyword. In other words 200 word text 4-6 times for keyword.

Links from high ranking sites are very valuable. Try to get trade associations, vendors and professional organizations to link to your home page. Outgoing links have value but not so much.

There is so much more to SEO but this should get you on the first page of Google if you meet the provisos first stated.

If you are in a competitive field, a good SEO professional could be you best investment in promoting your company.

Richard G Roberts/SCORE Counselor-Mentor
Vice Chairman Northwest Arkansas SCORE

What makes SEO so fluid?

Search Engine Optimization 2 Responses »

Oct 102011

I picked up a new client recently that I just knew would be a piece of cake to get into the top 10 of Google and Bing. I did the work….researched the competition, analyzed keywords and long-tail keywords and applied what I know to work to this website. Then made the sitemaps and submitted them to Bing and Google and then started monitoring the results.

It was a small target area in a nitch market so it wasn’t long and many of the keyword phrases were appearing in my ranking reports near the top. I was actually a bit on the proud side and pointed it out to my client who then gave me an assignment for another website for another company he owned. This is the stuff that gets me going……proven results helping a small business grow.

That was a couple of weeks ago……………now today. Rankings are falling for our website and his number one competitor is gaining in many areas. This was pretty quick so I started looking into how it happened wondering if I had inadvertently done something that impacted the site in a negative way. Nope…….the competitor had one upped us with a new SEO company and they are good.

Being competitive and wanting my client to do well this is going to become one of my daily challenges……getting back on top. This is the nature of SEO……the first page is a prized spot and once you are on it, your business will feel the impact of it. When you slip it will feel that too. That means you either need an SEO company that looks after you website continuously or you may need to change companies to maintain your position.

Don’t think once you have hit the first page that all is done. SEO is very fluid due to competition, increased number of websites and every changing algorithms.

Make sure you are dealing with an SEO company that provides you will ranking reports on at least a weekly basis so you can catch changes before they have a negative impact on your business.

Richard Roberts/NWA SCORE Counselor
NWA SCORE Vice-Chairman

A Story of Contrast

Search Engine Optimization 6 Responses »

Oct 072011

I just finished two projects and they couldn’t be more different. One client was a struggling service business that just knew they needed a website to increase their business and another who wanted to showcase his business. Though almost everyone develops a website to attract and/or impress potential clients, some know what and how and others don’t. There is where the contrast in these two clients is most pronounced.

I generally don’t create content for a website believing that no one knows their business better than they do. My line is that if I create the content and draw the clients they won’t reconize the company they called because it will be different than the one I create on their website. This usually gets them writing and then I edit and tweak the content to match our SEO goals.

There just wasn’t enough I could say to get my service client to write. Fortunately he is operating a franchise so I went to the franchisor’s site and got some marketing material and then visited some of the franchisee’s site. The end product was pretty good if I do say so but here is where the results are not the ones I was going for. I ended up meeting with the client and revamping many parts of his new site and the end product is great but would have been a lot less painful for all if he had answered my information interview originally. We ended up with a 10 page website that is already ranking in the top 10 for many long-tail keywords.

Now the contrast. The engineer that wanted to showcase his company had not only given a lot of though to what he wanted to accomplish but had already written much of the content. He even had his navigation outlined. Most of the content was cut and paste for me and even though this website turned out to be over 50 pages it was easier than the 10 page project and all we had to do after the soft launch was repair a few links. It too early to see where this site is going to end up in the rankings but it a nitch market so I expect it to do well. On a side note, the day we put up the site a potential client from Ecuador was considering this company for a $250,000 fee project and had seen their prior website. Was not impressed…..he is now seriously in the running for being awarded this project and we have our fingers crossed.

The point of this story?

If you know what you want and properly communicate it, you get what you want right out of the box. If you don’t it could be a struggle for all.

A website that bests reflects your business is thought out, planned and professionally written. This is no longer a build it and they will come world. Websites can be one of the most cost effective ways of marketing your business…….treat it that way and you will be a winner.

Richard Roberts/NWA SCORE Counselor-Mentor-Webmaster
Vice-Chairman Northwest Arkansas SCORE
XanZaMar Counsulting Founder

SEO – Changing at the Speed of Light

Search Engine Optimization 103 Responses »

Sep 162011

“I am all about SEO” is a statement I made at a meeting with my fellow SCORE counselors. Couldn’t believe it when I heard it….but it is true. I have been a volunteer counselor/mentor for SCORE for five years. I use to focus on the original request the client made when we start our first session. The first thing I want to know now about a client is their domain name. That way when we meet for counseling I know a little bit about their business and if there is anything I can do to help drive more relevant traffic to their website. I still focus on their original request but I can add value to the session. I know, it FREE but time has value. Doesn’t it?

I do this for EVERY client since I have met very few entrepreneurs that have more business than they can handle. I know it happens but unfortunately very rarely. My thinking is that ALL entrepreneurs and small business owners welcome/need new business and that an increase in sales without increased cost is one way to improve almost everything in the world of small business. Small businesses often lack financial resources to execute their plans and this is one way to improve the bottom line and hopefully cash flow.

Now back to the title of this post……SEO continues to fascinate me and has really drawn me in. I spend a few hours everyday reading blogs run by other SEO professionals, forums, books and an online course or two. I am tossing tools out almost daily and testing and adding new tools. In other words….”Here Today – Gone Tomorrow”. I use to do SEO on six sites I put up for a company I recently sold and found I had a knack for it. Now that I am in the field full time, I realize how ignorant and lucky I was. And to be fair to me….there were less websites competing for fewer keywords. The profession is so fluid now that if you sit back without increasing your knowledge base you will be left in the dust. SEO truly consumes me and my skill sets are quite capable of helping the market that inspires me…..small business. I realize after my first session as a SCORE counselor I had found my nitch for this phase of my life.

If you are a small business owner and don’t seem to be getting the traffic you want to your website, set up a session with a SCORE counselor (FREE) and get started with building your business. If the counselor you start with doesn’t know SEO, they should be able to hook you up with one that does.

We also respond to comments on this blog as well as SmallBusiness-Blog.XanZaMar.com and Blog.NWASCORE.org.

Richard Roberts/XanZaMar Consulting
Northwest Arkansas SCORE Volunteer Counselor/Mentor, Webmaster and Vice-Chair

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Search Engine Optimization & Marketing

Target Local Customers with Your Website

What is SEO-Search Engine Optimization?

Meta-Tags – Are They Still Important?

“Black Hat” SEO v. “White Hat” SEO

SEO v PPC | How do I balance them?

FREE SEO Tips and Tools

Can I do my own SEO?

What makes SEO so fluid?

A Story of Contrast

SEO – Changing at the Speed of Light

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