Posts tagged SEO
Help… I need an SEO Glossary!!
Aug 13th
Hey guys! I’m back. Been traveling a lot this summer with family. It’s funny how when you’re in different parts of the country – seemingly you need a glossary to get around. IT became very apparent that certain words mean different things in different areas of the country. LOL. Anyway – back to business!!!
I Came across this nice glossary today. It’s all about SEO. You can download it here.
20 FREE Keyword Tools To Help You TODAY!
Jun 4th
Ready to take a crack at improving your SEO? Well… the first place to start is to perform some preliminary keyword research.
Keyword research helps you in many, many ways as we discussed on a previous post here.
Since there are thousands of ways that people can begin searching for content or a type of product or service online, creating your own extensive and useful list can be quite the chore. No worries, though, because there are plenty of great keyword research tools on the Web that you can use RIGHT NOW that won’t cost a cent.
That’s right – all of the online keyword research tools in the big list that follows are totally free. So what are you waiting for?
Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Easily the most popular entry on this big list, Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool lets users enter a keyword from their niches and look for those exact terms or for phrases containing them through advanced options and filters.
Open Site Explorer
This service from SEOmoz is ideal for researching your competitor’s keywords.
SEMRush
Use SEMRush to get data on the top 10 keywords that your competitors are getting traffic from on both paid and organic search.
SEOmoz Term Extractor
Another SEOmoz tool, Term Extractor lets users enter a competitor’s URL to receive one, two and three-word search phrases that the site is targeting.
Alexa
Alexa lets users see search engine queries from their competitors and the percentage of traffic that those terms bring to their sites.
Wordtracker Keyword Questions Tool
The majority of the full set of tools provided by Wordtracker are totally free to use, and they allow users to fine tune and get specific data about the relevance and popularity of certain topics within their niches.
SEO Book Keyword List Generator
This keyword research tool is actually powered by Wordtracker and generates a list of related terms for a user’s search and provides links to keyword suggestion tools from major search engines.
WooRank
The Website Review tool from WooRank offers – no surprise – a free review of a user’s website that shows the top keywords that the site ranks for on Google search, in addition to a list of its competitor sites.
KeywordSpy
This tool is also meant to help users track their keyword competitors by showing them the keywords their competitors use in their advertising campaigns, which includes AdWords, the Bing Adcenter and Yahoo Search Marketing.
SpyFu
SpyFu will analyze a site’s competitor’s paid search campaigns on AdWords to generate a list of organic and paid search keywords they are using.
Keyword Discovery
Keyword Discovery from Trellian lets users analyze a list of over 100 search terms related to their chosen keywords.
WordPot Free Keyword Tool
This tool will also provide users with a list of the most popular keywords in their niches, and features “Exact Daily” and “Total Daily” lists so that users can easily separate their data.
WordStream Keyword Tool
Users can get free keyword suggestions for the target search terms that they enter into the WordStream Keyword Tool.
Soovle
Speed is the name of the game with Soovle, which will return quick keyword suggestions from Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, Wikipedia, YouTube and the always-popular Answers.com, along with statistical data graphs to compile all of that information.
UberSuggest
Similar to the Google Suggest tool, UberSuggest takes your base keyword term and adds a digit or letter next to it that suggests (see?) probably search term combinations.
SEOquake
This is actually an add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser that helps user find keyword data based on keyword density.
KGen
Short for “Keyword Generator”, KGen (pretty clever, eh?) is another Firefox add-on that scans the Web page a user is on to determine its keywords, making it perfect for competitor and keyword density research.
Ranks.nl
This online tool offers users a plethora of different variations and combinations of their keywords and phrases.
TweetVolume
Built for social media campaigns, TweetVolume lets users see how many times a specific keyword or phrase has been mentioned on Twitter.
Keyword Typo Generator
Not everyone spells every word right every time they try. That’s why the Keyword Typo Generator from SEO Book comes in handy, as it generates a list of the most common misspelling for a particular keyword, just so you know.
Microsoft Advertising Intelligence
This PPC research tool and Microsoft Excel add-on requires a Bing Ads account and helps users discover new keyword ideas by entering the URL of their website or a list of keywords.
Google Trends
Another Google tool for the list. Trends lets users compare multiple search terms by separating them with commas. Who knew such a simple punctuation mark could be so powerful?
NicheBot Classic
With NicheBot Classic, users simply have to type in a keyword or phrase to receive the top 50 most popular keyword listings for that particular term.
Facebook Cheat Sheet
Jan 21st
Facebook is a funny, interesting tool when it comes to getting fans to comment and share on your wall posts. Want to learn a few tricks and secrets that experts use to boost customer interaction? The good folks over at Linch Pin SEO created a great infographic that is a cheat sheet to help you increase interaction.
We’re sharing this infographic below to show you how easy it can be to tweak even the smallest aspect of your posting to get the jump you need to be noticed. Check it out!

Attention Small Business Owners… Can SEO Make Your Head Explode?
Oct 15th
Or better yet – is SEO harder for smaller businesses?
First off – is SEO easier for a bigger business? Well… it does seem that way. But – for everyone… small and large businesses alike – SEO is getting harder.
Here is a TOP 9.5 LIST of STRUGGLE-POINTS.
If you’re a small business – see how many of these you can relate to.
1. LESS MONEY – This is the #1 reason SEO – and everything else! – is harder for small businesses. It’s an old saw but it’s true: You have to spend money to make money. SEO isn’t a magic pill, nor is it a wave of our magic wand. It’s work. Sometimes very tedious, repetitive work… that frankly you don’t have the time to do. If you can devote more money to your search engine optimization efforts, you’ll see better returns. Bigger companies have bigger budgets they can allocate towards hiring more employees, bringing in top-notch consultants, investing in “big content” and great web design, and so on.
2. NO TIME- Time is money, and if you have less money you also have less time or no time at all. Fewer heads on the marketing team means that everyone is juggling multiple tasks and nobody can focus 100% of their time on SEO Relate to this: most small businesses typically have a few strong people doing the job of 10. When most entrepreneurs think about running their business – marketing, unfortunately is often an after thought. And finding the time to do quality SEO work is virtually impossible. Real SEO takes a lot of time. Creating worthwhile content, optimizing your web pages, promoting your assets and securing links, running A/B tests – none of this is easy. Small businesses end up doing a rush job or neglecting it altogether, resulting in under optimized
sites with poor rankings.
3. SEO is always the last thing people think about – When you’re short on resources, SEO-related tasks always seem to get pushed to the bottom of the list. Blogging and other forms of content creation are a prime example – everyone’s got the best of intentions, promises are made (“I’ll get you that blog post by the end of the week!”) but nothing ever really gets written and published. Bottom line – big companies hire someone to do this.
4. It’s harder to keep up with changes – LIke #3, if your resources are tight – then forget about keeping up with change. In most cases – you’re just happy to have a website up and running… :-) But we all know that just isn’t enough. Rent your shop – throw up a sign outside and people will beat a path to your door… right? Nope. An SEO specialist who lives and breathes search has time (and incentive) to follow industry publications and keep up with the rapidly changing search landscape. They’ll know if Google has released a big algorithm change or other significant update that could affect your rankings and strategy. They’ll hear about new techniques and be better able to judge what’s worth trying and what isn’t. WE KEEP UP WITH SEARCH. You keep up with what you do. Time is money – and your time is best spent on running the daily activities of your business.
5. Uncle Google favors brands. The reality is that big brands get more clicks and Google likes more clicks. So if you want to compete on a keyword that bigger brands are also going after, you’ll have to work that much harder to prove your content is relevant and worth the user’s time. For a lot of branded keywords, you’ll never be able to beat the bigger companies A 4-point domination strategy is just what the doctor ordered if your coming up against a Godzilla in your industry.
6. Bigger businesses have been at it longer. And so – they typically have not only been online longer, but their domain name is older. Other sites have been linking to them longer. If you’ve been operating as a small business, doing well but staying small, for many years, that’s great – you’ll have an advantage. But lots of small businesses haven’t been around that long, and it’s tougher for them to rank because their younger websites haven’t accrued authority and a great link profile yet. This is why it’s harder for new websites to rank on competitive keywords. Aside from the fact that Google likes older domains, big brands have simply been doing SEO longer, so they’ve more things and they know what works and what doesn’t.
7. Your website is smaller. Is that actually a true statement? Probably not – if I really thought about it, but here’s the point. Most small businesses have less content and fewer pages on their websites. This also means that you have less keywords to to rank for and potentially less traffic as a result. The simple formula is that Google and Bing love content. So if your goal is to rank higher – you need to publish more content. But not just any content… quality, useful, keyword optimized content. Content that you can rank for on the web. Really big websites get more traffic in part because the sea of search queries they have the potential to rank for is so much bigger. And big brands have bigger websites because (you guessed it) they have more resources to funnel toward creating content, and because they offer more products and services. Think of Amazon and all the individual pages they have for each and every product they offer!
8. You have fewer tools and less powerful software. Small marketing budgets – typically yield cheap web and SEO software. Large businesses can afford to invest in great software to build a website, run SEO and publish. OR they just hire an expert. The in-house SEO at a big company has tools at his disposal that automate away some of the time-consuming tasks involved with search marketing. They can afford to buy up for better analytics, better keyword research, better reporting tools, better conversion optimization tools, etc., etc. Small companies are often stuck with free, which makes it harder to gain a competitive advantage. More manual work also takes more time.
9. You have less clout to leverage for link building and media coverage. Where you build links and how you build links does cost money. If you’re brand is big… you can garner more attention. Most small businesses, however don’t have that luxury.
9.5 Half way through this list your mind exploded. When your mind explodes you can’t do SEO. Big businesses typically have backup for when one of their marketer’s blows their minds. Unfortunately – you don’t.
Where to go from here? SEO? Link-building? Pay Per Click advertising? Writing articles and blog posts? Shooting and posting videos? The trick for small businesses is figuring out what you can accomplish given your limited resources. AND THEN… hiring an SEO specialist who can help with a plan that fits your budget. If you want different results – get as far away from what your currently doing – and make a change.
SEO Copywriting – What You Can Do To Rank on Page One of Google!
Jun 4th
“It’s a cesspool.” That’s what Google CEO Eric Schmidt said of the Internet a few years back. We can pretend it’s an incredible resource that can do no wrong, and of course it is home to some handy resources and reputable retailers, but half the time it can feel like you’re having to wade knee-deep through a sewer before you are able to access this information. How do you distinguish the good from the bad? One tried and tested route is through the use of a professional SEO copywriting service.
Professional SEO copywriting services can help the cream rise to the top, so when you enter a search into Google, Bing or whatever search engine you prefer to use, those sites that have invested in their business are displayed, leaving the crumbs at the bottom.
SEO copywriting is a careful balancing act between readability and search engine manipulation. Keywords are all important. In the first instance the keywords you wish to target need to be chosen carefully. There is no point targeting ‘how to make baked potatoes’ if everyone online is searching for ‘how to make jacket potatoes’. This problem can be solved by conducting keyword research, a simple process which only need take a few minutes of your time. We talk about this all the time here. Taking the time to research your keywords is oh-so-critical, my friends.
Once your keywords have been chosen you need to weave them into the correct locations on the page. Title tags, meta descriptions and headings are essential. An experienced SEO copywriting professional will know how many keywords should be used and in what quantity. They will also be aware of the character limits of each of these sections.
Writing the body copy of your page is more difficult. A keyword density of anywhere between 3-5% will keep the search engines happy, but your copy has to flow naturally. Customers will not only get disjointed if your copy is out of whack… they may just smell a rat – if your words don’t fit the right context. A professional SEO copywriter will be able to write text that pleases the search engines but also informs, entertains or intrigues the readership.
A call to action is not only a good idea – it’s the only idea. Without a call to action – your visitor can just lolligag. You need to tell them what to do on your site… if they wish to make a purchase or who they should contact if they would like to receive further information. If you find the right online marketing agency or freelancer then SEO copywriting services needn’t be expensive, just make sure you have a word of mouth recommendation before you go splashing the cash; if that’s not possible then at least ask to see some examples of work they have produced in the past.
Explaining Google Search in Under 8 Minutes
May 11th
Ever wonder what happens behind the scenes when you type a search word or phrase into Google’s search bar? Check this out!

Video Marketing in 5 E-Z Steps…
May 1st
Ok, so you’ve created this great marketing video about you, your company or the problems you solve for your customers. Now what?
Well… it’s time to get it out on the wires!!!
Here are 5 steps to effective video marketing
1. First and foremost – use a dependable hosting service
When you are marketing your video, the last thing you want is an unreliable hosting service that ruins your efforts. It’s important to use a provider that will offer you consistent quality and give you the assurance that your video won’t be spontaneously taken down at any point.
Websites such asYouTube and Vimeo are traditionally pretty reasonable at providing such a service; if you want 100% peace of mind, then investing some money into a host such as Brightcove or Bitsontherun might be a good idea. In many instance I use Viddler – it’s solid, you can customize the look of your videos to include your branding and host a ton of them for $50/mo at their premium level.
2. Remember to OPTIMIZE your video for the search engines. SEO, SEO and more SEO!
Video is a great SEO (search engine optimization) booster, and using sites such as YouTube can greatly aid your SEO efforts. Just as in any SEO strategy, your main aim is to allow your video to be found by online users who are searching for content related to your video.
When marketing video, making your video findable by search engines is your top priority. It’s essential, therefore, to fill out all of your video meta-data on all the video sharing sites it is hosted on, and to write as much information as the sites allow you to include.
3. Harness the power of social sharing
Cracking social media isn’t always easy, but the power of a social share is unquestionable. Sharing online video on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and other social sites allows you to reach an almost limitless audience. Time consuming, YES. But necessary.
One share to your primary audience could generate further social shares within that group, thus reaching audiences you’ve never interacted with before and spreading your video’s message way beyond your current online reach.
4. Interact on your platforms
No matter what platform you are using—your website, social profile, video-sharing site, or blog—as the home of your online video, you will need to embrace and interact with the communities there. Time consuming? Yes. But, necessary.
Engage with commenters and other users, Like or comment on their content, video-respond to them, share their work, and generally participate in the discussions taking place in those locations.
Doing so will encourage other users to do the same, in turn, with your content and will generally create good marketing karma for you.
5. Measure your success / Track your efforts
Always remember that measuring success creates success. Whether you’re looking to improve your video views, social following, Likes, conversions, website visits, or bounce rates via online video… you need to regularly check the success of your strategy and tactics.
Try to check on your success monthly to allow for an appropriate amount of time to have elapsed. Upon checking your results with tools such as Google Analytics, SEOmoz, HootSuite, and the like, sit down with your team to work out how to strengthen your campaign further.
Remember – Video marketing is huge in today’s Internet-focused world. Don’t take this lightly. Videos engage, plain and simple. We offer a pretty good service for video marketing. If you need help, let us know.
What are THE WEBSITE 9 and How Can It Transform Your Business???
Apr 30th
When it comes to strategic web design – we focus on a very important prinicipal… creating websites that are search engine friendly right at the onset. To every website project, we believe there are 9 critical elements… “secrets”, that when applied and integrated correctly can transform your website from a static billboard or electronic business card – to an engaging and interactive website that attracts visitors and encourages them to take positive action.
The Website “9″
- Having a clear objective
- Keyword research
- Thematic consistency
- Navigation strategies
- Call to action elements
- Good, valuable content
- Social proof and trust
- SEO and social media
- Tracking
Having said that – this is what we do everyday. We just don’t “build” websites, we help you create your virtual customer service or salesperson.
Your website can be one of your greatest assets. Are you leveraging your website the way you should be? Or are you leaving business and new relationships on the table?
Google is About to Target Sites That Are Overly-Optimized… Look Out!
Apr 26th
Earlier this month during a Q&A at SXSW Matt Cutts leaked that Google was working on a new algorithm change that would make GoogleBot smart enough to pick out and penalize over optimized Web sites that score well in the results.
Here’s the audio of what he said in the statement:
It’s expected that this update will come out pretty soon, but Google’s been quiet about it so far. We’re sure that when it comes out the usual uproar from SEOs and webmasters will arise and we’ll know why then.
Worried about your site? Although this all sounds new and we’re sure that sites will be hit – this is actually not a new concept. You just can’t push to hard folks. Over-optimization is a bad thing.
Remember that Google’s ultimate goal is to make searching better for the user, while your goal might lean more towards getting the user to your site or building up link bait. Google stresses relevance and penalizes those who use tricks to make their site seem more relevant. The point of this update will be to reward those who focus on the user experience and align their goals with Google. If you align with Google’s goal, you can bet you’ll get rewarded for it.
We feel the sites that are the most vulnerable to this update are the ones with an unnatural inbound link profile. It’s the most commonly abused tactic and very easy to target. So, if 90% of your inbound links have “KEYWORD” in them, that’s not good. You need to start to tone that down and get those swapped out sooner rather than later.
Here are 8 Areas to Concentrate On and You’ll Stay Safe…
- Keep your content unique, fresh and relevant.
- Keep your incoming and outgoing links relevant.
- Keep your site ads from taking over the page.
- Be sure your site is more than just a Flash file.
- Avoid using over the top Page Rank Sculpting.
- Deal with duplicated content issues.
- Don’t ignore RSS feed issues.
- Be aware of incorrect canonical tag implementation.
How Much Content Do You Have On Your Home Page? Is It Enough?
Sep 27th
I have spoken with and have engaged in relationships with clients whose home pages aren’t highly ranked in the search engines. The first thing I typically look at is the amount of or lack of content. Instead, they have of lots of images and links to products. The truth is – having a content-rich site these days is good for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is better SEO rankings. It’s a well known fact that it’s much easier to rank a site competitively when there is actual content on the page for Google to algorithmically score.
A couple of side notes: Not only do excessive images impact site speed (which can decrease customer usability and lead to higher bounce rates), but they don’t look as attractive.
But the question remains – if content on your home page is a good thing - how much content is enough? In our opinion, enough content is that which easily and effectively communicates your product and service offerings to your audience and the search engines.
Is this a quantifiable figure? Probably not. For some of you with shopping sites you may want to take the Zappos.com focus and provide less direct information but more linking text and contextual content around the breadth of features and products they offer. However, for those of you with blogs or information-focused sites, you may want to emulate the sites of Dave Taylor and Jim Boykin. Both provide a TON of content in the form of blog posts, industry links and customer testimonials that Google is clearly using to effectively place them at the top of the search engines for dozens of competitive queries. Just “google” them and you’ll see what I mean.
What Does Google Say?
As for Google’s stance on this question, check out the below Google Webmaster Help video from Matt Cuts:
The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.
In the video Matt addresses this exact question but doesn’t give a clear answer. He does say that you wouldn’t want to have a home page containing 20MB of data since that would clearly be too much. He then continues to relate the following:
“But in general, if you have more content on a home page, there’s more text for Googlebot to find, so rather than just pictures, for example, if you have pictures plus captions – a little bit of textual information can really go a long way”
In the end, only you can decide how much content is enough for your home page. In our opinion though, it’s always better to have too much content as opposed to not enough.