by Mike Moran
Most search marketing experts are full of advice for folks who are struggling with weird looking URLs that search engine spiders really don't like. I should know, because I have always been loaded with that kind of advice, too.
I mean, here is an actual URL I saw on the Web site for Sears a few years ago:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/dpp.do?vertical=Buying %20Guides&cat=Televisions&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&splash=true&n-state=http://www.live.bguides.webcollage.net/_wc/televisions_1.html~~~G!0B6765CD4C51!XRHzYAguDp1SwH5C~~~~@http://guides.sears.com/server/sears/bguides-televisions-showcase
You can't make this stuff up.
Now, not only is that a URL that only a dynamic Commerce engine could love, but it's one that both search engines and normal people avoid. Spiders probably won't index it and other sites won't link to it.
So what do you do if you have funny URLs? Not necessarily THAT funny, but you have a few dynamic parameters dribbling off the end of your URL, with question marks and equal signs and other weird-looking stuff?
There are some standard things that people (yeah, people like me) advise:
But suppose that stuff is beyond you? Or you don't even have access to your dynamic Commerce server? Or your shared hosting plan doesn't allow you to do redirects the required way?
That would probably mark you as a normal person who does not beep when you talk. Is there anything that you are allowed to do that you actually have a possibility of being able to do?
Well, you actually have an option in some of these cases. If you have several weird URLs that you are trying to map to a single URL (such as those pesky metrics tags at the end of what is basically the same page), check out the <canonical> tag. The search engines all pay attention to it now and if you can code HTML tags, this should be something you can do.
But there is a bigger lesson here. Just because you can't personally do something doesn't mean it can't be done. If your host or your Web server doesn't allow you to do these things, then complain to them and think about switching to someone new, if that is possible. If you are simply incapable of doing this stuff (I understand), get help from someone who knows how.
Weird URLs seem like a nit in search marketing, but they can have serious consequences. If your URLs are the size of a small Latin American country, you need to do something.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=bb442022-e1cd-417a-829f-4ad5ef1ac2f4)
Check out our small business news site.
by Mike Moran
Image via WikipediaNo, not that Bing–Microsoft's Bing search engine. And no, I haven't been living under a rock. (Who does that, anyway?) I know Bing has been out for months. That's not what you need to be ready for. You need to be ready for approval of the Yahoo! deal with Bing, because once that happens, everything you've been doing with Yahoo! will change. And if you haven't been doing anything with Yahoo!, you might want to change that, too.
The latest guess is that a regulatory decision will come in the first quarter of 2010, but the government follows no timetable, so it could come sooner or later than that. If approved, and many think it will be, Yahoo! will start dismantling its organic and paid search platforms and substituting Bing, country-by-country, probably starting in the U.S.
What will that mean to the search business? It means that Bing, which holds around a 10% share of U.S. searches today, will suddenly get close to 30%. You might have easily ignored Microsoft before, but it's hard to turn your back on a 30% market share. Those people buy stuff, too.
What will that mean to the search marketer? It depends on what you are doing with Yahoo! and with Bing today:
Most of the companies that I work with tell me that they are using Google AdWords but are not working with any other paid search program. For you, nothing will change on the paid side if the deal goes through, but you might want to re-examine that stance. Perhaps it made sense to forego all the extra work of managing two vendors to try to get that 30% share, but should you make the same decision when it is half the work?
It's unclear whether Microsoft's latest search strategy will make any dramatic inroads on Google (I'm betting that it won't), but 30% of the market is nothing to sneeze at. (I'm not sure why sneezing is an issue, but just stick with me here.) If you've been looking for a low-effort way to improve your paid search results, doing some experimenting with Microsoft adCenter over the next few months might be a good use of time. If the deal is approved, you'll have already learned what works and you'll be reaping the benefits at a time when your competitors are just noticing that the world has changed.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e3d24518-2b5f-4ea1-9a11-22ce98743eec)
Check out our small business news site.
by Karri Flatla
I might get in ca-ca for sharing this with the entire readership of
Search Engine Guide, but it's time to reveal what a lot of web
copywriters probably don't want you to know. Why? Because keeping you
in the dark about how we crunch out great copy day after day keeps us
in business.
Or so one would think.
Personally, I'd
rather spill the beans. It's too much pressure to have everyone
believing that we web copywriters and SEO copywriters are practitioners
of witchcraft. While I readily admit that I cannot always explain how I
craft each and every line of compelling copy, there are a few "tricks"
that I use–and I'm pretty sure other copywriters use–when
words fail me.
Voodoo That Will Help ANYONE Write Better Web Copy (Even SEO Copy)
The voodoo secret behind some (maybe even a lot) of the great copy you read online is what I call "freestyle copywriting." It entails temporarily suspending rules and formulas so you can get the creative juices flowing and ultimately, so you have something decent to work with later. Here's how it works:
Step 1: Do
the requisite pre-work. Research your target market. Research potential
keywords. Get your head around the main message for the page you want to
write some great copy for. Write it all down in a notebook. Slam the notebook
shut. Walk away.
Step 2: Get a good night's sleep. The brain works in mysterious ways. (Told you this was voodoo.)
Step 3: Open your notebook and review your pre-work. Chances are you
suddenly have some additional insights you'd like to add to your notes.
Write them down. Squeeze stuff in the margins. Use arrows and squiggly
lines to connect related ideas and words. Try to keep this little
brain dump all on one page if you can. This creative dance is the
foundation for the witchcraft that follows.
Step 4: Open
up a blank Word document. A new post or page in your WordPress or
Typepad dashboard screen will do just fine as well. Take a sip of
coffee and crack your knuckles a few times. Stretch your arms up above
your head. This helps you feel like a real writer and puts you in the
zone for some copywriting voodoo to happen. (No pressure.)
Step 5: Think
about your key message and start typing
like a mad scientist. Worried about the headline? I don't care. Start
typing anyway. Not sure where to begin? Then don't start at the
beginning; start in the middle or even at the end and work backwards.
Just TYPE. Let the voodoo flow through you. Don't get up to go to the
bathroom. Just type until you've got nothing more to say about the subject
matter at hand.
Step 6: When the mad typing starts to
feel redundant (and it probably won't for at least a page or two),
STOP. Stretch out. Crack your knuckles. Take a sip of (now cold)
coffee. Click save, and walk away.
Step 7: Get a good night's sleep.
Step 8:
Turn on your computer and review your voodoo copy. Not bad, is it? It
surely needs a lot of editing, rearranging, and a ton of ruthless
deletion. But overall, I bet there are some real nuggets of gold in
them there pages. This is where copywriting can actually be fun,
because now you have the opportunity to take lots of raw, honest words and sculpt them into something
concise, compelling, and able to incentivize action.
The
point of all this? You've now got something much meatier than a blank
page. You've got ideas, emotion, passion and hopefully lots of
interesting facts and tidbits about what you're trying to pitch. Even
if you have to look up some copywriting formula to know where to begin
editing this mess, you've got an incredible starting point.
And
that, my web friend, is how you win the battle. Find a starting point
and jump off. It's what every web copywriter and SEO copywriter does
when the words just won't come. Use this bit of copywriting voodoo
next time you're stuck for words, and I promise, you'll end up with
a call to action that is a helluva lot more inviting than something coerced by a template.
Check out our small business news site.
by Stoney deGeyter
Many small businesses are at a financial disadvantage when it comes to marketing their website. Too often they don't have the funds, time, or resources needed to engage in as much marketing as they would like. Unlike larger businesses with deep pockets, small business often have to rely on do-it-yourself strategies built upon free advice gathered from blogs, forums, and social networking sites.
This gives them a lot to worry about, making sure they are doing it right and that the results will be all they had hoped for. And hoping it doesn't break their budget in the process.
Every small business owner wants to get the most value for the money they spend on their marketing efforts. Simply put, the ROI must be there. But even with a good SEO and a good campaign outline, you can still break your budget–or render your SEO campaign ineffective–when you let your worries get the best of you. Worrying about smart things is smart. Worrying about the other stuff, well, that just sets you up for failure.
Here are five things you should stop worrying about if you don't want to blow your SEO budget over the top:
1) Worrying about perfection
SEO isn't an exact science. Nor is usability. There are many trials and errors along the way and if you're not prepared for that then you'll likely spend too much of your time trying to perfect what can't be perfected.
There are many trade-offs made when optimizing a site. Ultimately you want to do what's best for your visitors, while doing what's best for the search engines. While the search engines like to believe those are one in the same, the truth is that they are often two different things. But the differences are not always that great between them. The problem is when you want perfection on both, when you may need to settle for less than perfect in order to get a perfect balance.
When it comes to both engines and visitor usability the paths to the perfect site is always changing because what would have been perfect yesterday is not perfect today. While I don't advocate settling for poor performance, sometimes you have to accept what you have, get it out there and then move forward perfecting it later. If you try to make it perfect first, you'll be spending your budget on that while you get no improvement from the search engines. Isn't it better to start getting the benefit of the changes sooner, and perfect it later?
2) Worrying about getting #1 rankings
Wouldn't it be nice if getting that #1 spot were easy (and cheap?). Unfortunately we don't operate in a vacuum and there are many competing forces out there.
If you're in a highly competitive industry, it's not just your competitors that you're up against. Informational sites such as Wikipedia, blogs and other informational sites can often dominate the top search engine rankings for your most profitable keywords.
Achieving top search engine placement for all your keywords is great, but sometimes your money is better spent making improvements elsewhere. Once your site is optimized you can often get better return on your investment by improving your website and visitor's experience. Instead of wanting to be #1, why not build a site that actually deserves to be #1.
You may never outperform sits like Wikipedia, and you may never be able to outspend your competition. Get your self settled on this and you can direct your, and your SEO's, efforts on things that will make a real difference in your optimization campaign.
3) Worrying about competitor movement
Do you see a competitor climbing in the rankings? Are you worried that they will over take you? Do you see them outperforming you on some keywords? While this may be disconcerting, you can't expect your SEO to jump in and stop that from happening. Yes, you can invest in more SEO or links or social media… and maybe you should, but short of that, a site can only get so optimized for certain keywords.
Honestly, the question here isn't whether your SEO is doing their job or not. The solution isn't to demand that they start doing better. The real and only viable solution is to assess your campaign and make changes as needed. This may require spending your money in new areas, or spending more money altogether in order to remain competitive.
The problem with worrying about how your competitors are performing is that there is so much you don't know. How much are they spending? Are they profitable? Are they focused on the right things? These questions are just a few you need to know before you decide what, precisely, is worth worrying about.
4) Worrying about traffic over conversions
We all want rankings so we can get traffic. But why do we want traffic? Traffic alone isn't worth much unless it converts into paying customers. We often lose sight of that as we optimize sites. We pay our SEOs to deliver traffic and are often happy to see traffic come, even if the conversions do not follow.
While traffic is a required result of the SEO campaign, conversions should matter more. Before worrying about traffic increases or declines, look first to see what your conversion rates are. SEO can often result in more traffic but less sales. How does that benefit anyone?
If your traffic improves, your conversion rates need to be monitored. If you're getting more sales, great. But if you're losing in your conversion rate then you may need to focus on improving that before looking to improve traffic any further. Why bring more people to the site if fewer and fewer are going to convert?
5) Worrying about slow growth / instant success
SEO is a long-term process that rarely, if ever, brings over night success. One of the most difficult expectations to overcome when pitching SEO services is the expectation that results will come fast.
Some sites can be optimized and see near immediate benefit. Other sites take longer to get optimized therefore the benefit in rankings takes longer. Newer sites have a much longer hill to climb before they see success.
Before beginning an SEO campaign be sure that your expectations are in line with reality. Don't look for a get-rich-quick solution, but instead be willing to invest in a long-term strategy that will pay off only as you let it mature.
Small business budgets are tight and they have to make the most of every dollar. But sometimes trying to squeeze every bit of juice from a dollar ultimately squeezes the life out of it. Worrying too much about the performance of your SEO campaign can lead to jumping the gun on bad intel and making a seemingly bad situation worse.
Give time for your SEO campaign to work before jumping in to make changes. I know, it can be difficult if you are spending money and don't see things going your way. There is risk in everything, including worrying about something that you shouldn't. Worry less, and let your SEO campaign perform more.
Check out our small business news site.
There are many factors to consider when looking to build a new website and one of the most important is building a site that is friendly to Google. Thats it people!!! SEO. Aside from the obvious such as who will build it and what it will look like, first its best to understand which building blocks of the SEO spectrum do you need to focus on. This will allow you to build a blue print for ongoing success rather than trying half assed crap techniques that are going around these days.
You could spend thousands on elements of SEO that you don't need. Its depends on your business and what you are trying to achieve.
For example…
And the list goes on……
Say you answered….
Then there would be no point in over optimising / analysing every page of you content (apposed to a static site as you would need to optimise every word as yo have less to work with). If you are posting every day then we would work on your workflow and frame works to ensure you get it right the first time. You would need to focus on having the best content and a very big site so that you can become the authority in your niche.
We probably don't need a massive linking building campaign (most link building adds very little value unless done very well anyway). If your product is picked up in social land then you get "real links".
Build up your profile / brand using social media. There are many quite easy "none blackhat" techniques to make you the social authority.
As much as some SEO's will tell you, there is no quick fix or miracle technique that will get yo ranked no.1 for a highly competitive keyword. At the end of the day you need a decent SEO plan that complements you business objectives.
Should I Build A New Website for SEO? YES
Stay tuned for more.. ..
Google is today rolling out a key upgrade to the algorithm powering its search engine which is based on "Australian-made" technology originally developed by a PhD student at the University of New South Wales.
[From Google search gets Aussie algorithm update - BizTech - Technology]
Google is set to make changes to its search ranking algorithm to combat the spate of links leading to malicious web pages appearing at the top of Google’s search results, according to an inside source.
In the SEO world the term content is king has been used since the early days. In my mind this is still true. Its harder now than ever to get decent articles out on the web. I am getting sick of seeing crappy badly spun articles wasting space on the interwebs. But i must admit is hard to come up with articles quickly that are of quality. I came across this article writing tool recently that helps research articles and structure them in away that makes sence. This saved me a lot of time. If you are that way inclined you could also use this tool for the darker side of seo. Its not my cup of tea but if you wish, go for it.
Tags: SEOTools, article software, seo,
A new really bad attempt at taking on Google. Claims to index more pages than any other search engine. More pages equals more spam.
Tags: google, search engines
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of decent keyword tools out there. Give 'em one or more terms, and they'll spit back a number of related phrases for which you should optimize. Only now Google's giving search volume data along with traditional Keyword Tool responses.
Is this good or bad for SEO? I think it changes the game a little.
Tags: keywords, seo, google, traffic numbers
More