Posted on 2nd April 2010 by iansheldon in Random thoughts |Search Engine Optimisation
Google, Key Words, META Description, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SERPs, Title
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here, mainly because I haven’t been able to find the time to do so as I have been busy with clients.
However, tonight something confused (even slightly angered) me. I did a search for Villa near Disney (one of my clients key phrases) and to my amazement there were a couple of sites that quite clearly don’t adhere to the Google Webmaster guidelines relating to achieving a decent site ranking.
No I don’t know, and probably never will know if these sites are being actively SEO’d but what really grates is the fact that they are appearing so high up in the SERPs when they go against everything Google says about getting a good ranking.
We SEO’s spend much time creating quality content and gaining quality backlinks, whilst making sure that our web sites follow the guidelines / best practices as written by 
Google themselves, and then we get slapped in the face with things like this.
This isn’t the first time I have blogged about strange results and it probably won’t be the last either…….
Enjoy your Easter weekend!
Ian
Posted on 10th April 2009 by iansheldon in Random thoughts
Linked In, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Network
LinkedIn is a social network derived around businesses and professionals. Membership is thought to be currently around 35 million!
That being said, it presents a wonderful opportunity to do some “online networking”, re-kindle old business relationships and build some back links to aid your Search Engine Optimisation campaign.
So what is it exactly?
Some have described it as the Facebook of the business world. You start with a basic profile of yourself and your business, what you do, your web address, link your blog to your account and then you look for contacts to add to your network. When you add a contact to your network you automatically attach to their network – effectively creating a huge online directory of contacts.
Setting up a profile is really easy – if you haven’t got one already you should do so by visiting http://www.linkedin.com
- Goto LinkedIn and sign yourself up for an account
- Get to work on your profile – add the main URLs for your company (possibly your main web site, your blog and your twitter feed if you have one)
- Add Contacts to your network
- Create a company profile (and add your web address!)
- As with all things SEO, keep your profiles up to date and make them engaging!
Dont forget to add us to your network when you sign up!
Posted on 9th April 2009 by iansheldon in Random thoughts
We moved offices today – and it was much harder work than I thought it would be. We are only a small company, but the disruption that moving a few computers, phones, files and furniture caused was much worst than I could have imagined.
Ah well, its the bank holiday now, so whilst the UK relaxes and has a good time I can play catch up.
Enjoy the long weekend folks.
Posted on 8th April 2009 by iansheldon in Random thoughts
Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Campaign, Social Networking, Tweets, Twitter
Just a quick one for now……
The Twitter phenomenon seems to be ploughing ahead at full steam right now, with record numbers of tweets being recorded. But does it help with your Search Engine Optimisation campaign?
Directly, no, I don’t believe it does it terms of the actual optimisation of your site, but it does hold alot of value in terms of marketing and increasing the awareness of your site if you are prepared to invest the time to use it well.
I do know that since I started using Twitter that visits to this blog have increased which can only be a good thing.
Discuss……
Posted on 5th April 2009 by iansheldon in Random thoughts
Crawling, Downtime, Googlebot, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Web Hosting, Web Site Spiders
You may not realise, or even think about the value of having a good, reliable company hosting your web site when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation.
However, consider this.
If your web site is frequently down due to hardware or connection problems, and the search engines try to crawl your site whilst it is down, think about what damage that is doing to your rankings. Why would the search engines want to point searchers to a web site that is more often down than not?
When choosing a web hosting company consider the following:
- Your Budget
- Their reputation
- The quality of their hardware
- Their SLA (Service Level Agreement)
- The quality and speed of their connection to the Internet
- The volume of bandwidth they allow per month
Choosing a good quality host is important in terms of SEO, but also in terms of the quality of the experience that your site visitors have when on your site.
When it comes to web hosting we personally wouldn’t touch anyone other than Rackspace. You pay a little bit more but the support and service is a million miles better than anyone else out there!
Posted on 2nd April 2009 by iansheldon in Random thoughts
Google, Optimising Web Sites, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Company, UK SEO, USA SEO
Ever seen the Guinness advert here in the U.K.? “Tick followed tock” and the finale saying how long it takes to pull the perfect pint of Guinness?
Well in my world SEO is like a pint of Guinness, in that the best results are found by people who persevere and remain dedicated to the cause.
SEO is not, and should never be sold or perceived as a quick fix. It is a science, one that is to be studied (if not totally understood) with great detail. Changes to results in SEO can take months, and the best way to measure the performance of these changes is to limit them to one at a time. It’s not uncommon for SEO campaigns to take 6,12 or even 24 months to yield rewarding results.
SEO comes with no performance promises – you can never guarantee a position in the rankings , so be wary of anyone who promises the earth. There is a very big chance they will not be able to deliver. Ask your SEO about their long term strategy. Talk to them about keyword analysis, periodic reviews and realistic goals.
If you need help with SEO or are looking for a Search Engine Optimisation consultant give eSoftware Solutions a call on +44 (0) 845 838 8588 or email ian@esoftware-solutions.com. We would love to talk to you about your project, even if you just want a little bit of advice. After all, SEO is no secret and we are happy to help.
Posted on 17th March 2009 by iansheldon in Random thoughts
Backlinks, Getting to Number 1 on Google, Niche Markets, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Ranking, SEO, SEO Company, UK SEO
I’ve recently been working on an online dating site for a client and friend of mine and it’s raised a few eyebrows.
Over the last few years I have seen adverts for paid online dating web sites on the T.V, namely Match.com and the business model they use is based on income from monthly subscribers. The free dating model, however is something totally different.
I read an article today about a guy who is making thousands of dollars a day (literally) from running a free dating site in collaboration with Google Adsense. So how does he do it? If it were that easy we would all be doing it but essentially its all about knowing how to get your site seen on the search engines, which brings us back full circle to Search Engine Optimisation (or Search Engine Marketing if you will).
Without some form of SEO no site will succeed. SEO is all about getting site visitors to you and then getting them to engage and take action on what your site has to offer. Take one away from the other and you are treading water in quicksand.
So, in summary, find your Niche and stick to it. Good SEO can take time but the key is not to give up – if you give up you fail.
Google themselves, and then we get slapped in the face with things like this.
