Posted on 20th August 2010 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Campaign
I recently put a proposal together for a business colleague and friend of mine. The proposal was to SEO his web site for 10 high performing keywords.
Unfortunately, the proposal wasn’t accepted for the reason that his business was doing extremely well at the moment and he didn’t need any extra work.
This got me thinking.
What better time to invest in SEO than when your business is doing well? One of the issues for many companies when it comes to organic SEO is the time it can take to achieve a ranking that will start to drive traffic, although instant visibility can be bought at a price using Google Adwords. SEO is a long term strategy to gain visibility in the search engines so surely the best time to set about your SEO campaign is when your business IS doing well. That way when you hit the hard times your site is already sat on top of the SERPS shouting out to all the prospects actively searching for your services.
Equally so, if your business is doing well then it’s easier, financially, to invest in an SEO campaign that when done correctly can see a very healthy return in investment.
Naturally, I’d like to credit my colleague / friend / client for the inspiration for this post!
If you want to talk to, or email, us about your SEO requirements then pop on over to our new web site at http://www.online-digital.net
Posted on 10th September 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation
Getting to Number 1 on Google, Google, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Campaign
Search Engine Optimisation techniques vary, from white hat techniques such as Link Building, Content Copy Writing and Blogging to black hat techniques bordering on SPAMMING. Googles main aim is to provide a trust worthy search service, presenting search users with a list of useful web sites based on their search criteria.
Some, although not all, of the known black hat techniques can quickly get you to the top of the Google rankings for your chosen keyword. In the short term you can yield some excellent results, enquiries and conversions, but you will find that eventually your site will drop like a stone or in the worst case scenario dissapear completely.
Why does this happen? You have been penalised by Google for using black hat techniques to promote your site.
This is one of the most frustrating things to happen for any SEO, or web site owner.
Depending on how serious your violations are (against the Google Webmaster Guidelines) depends on how serious your penalty is. In some cases you may only be blacklisted for a few weeks and you can correct your penalty by dropping your black hat techniques and working towards Googles Webmaster Guidelines. In the most serious cases web sites have been known to dissapear completely from the rankings forever.
There are two major levels of penalty that have been reported, the -30 and the -950.
The-30 penalty basically does what it says on the tin. It drops your web site ranking by 30 places. Minus 30 penalty is one that filters for handling spam in Google algorithm. The only solution to get around this penalty is to have unique content on your site, to get links from well trusted sites and to link to high quality sites.
The -950 penalty is a different beast altogether. It only affects precise URLs for particular keywords. However, the -950 is also the harshest penalty and web sites can be dropped to the bottom of the results for the given keywords. How can this be avoided? The only thing you can do is to stick to the Google Webmaster Guidelines and stick to White Hat SEO tactics.
If you have been penalised by Google then don’t take it out on the Search Engine. You have been penalised for a reason and it’s nearly always down to the techniques that have been used in an attempt to promote your web site.
Posted on 26th May 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation
Getting to the top of Google, Optimisation, Optimization, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Results, SEO, SEO Campaign
Search Engine Optimisation is a collective term for a range of techniques used to getting your web site to the top of the search engine results. What are the benefits of being at the top of the Search Engine results I hear you day? Here are a few reasons why.
· 15% off sales in Great Britain are done online. This figure is set to grow to around 40% in the next 12 years.
· 90% of Internet users find what they are looking for by using search engines, in particular Google. As an SEO, focus on Google is the most important due to the volume of search users and potential visitors it can bring to your Web site.
· Over 80% of search users never make it onto the second page of search results, and around 60% don’t click on the paid (otherwise known as sponsored) links. The key to online success it to break into the top 5 listings on Google for your chosen keywords.
Based on the above statistics its quite clear that the nearer to the top of the search engine rankings you are the greater chance of getting enquiries and therefore sales. Internet searchers associate the top results as the better brands on the internet.
A good SEO campaign is split into three equally important stages.
1. The analysis and preparation
2. The execution of the campaign
3. Maintenance of the campaign.
Any Search Engine Optimisation campaign should always be carried out in that exact order. The reason for this is that you create the foundation for your campaign by researching and carefully selecting performing keywords. These keywords form the base that allows the execution of your campaign, which in a nutshell is all about optimizing your web pages and building up popularity via back links. Once you have achieved a good ranking you need to ensure that you maintain it on a regular basis – as some might say staying at the top is harder than getting there!
Another important aspect of any SEO Campaign is to make sure that your web site is up to date and easy to navigate for your site visitors. Does it give them the opportunity to request call backs, place orders or make enquiries? Are your call to actions obvious or to people have to hunt around to find them? All these items may seem like common sense but they are often over looked. When designing any web site think about what you would expect from the web site as a site visitor.
Think about this – before you start inviting people to your site is what you have at the moment what you want hundreds, many thousands, mainly tens of thousands of people to see?
When your house is in order and you want to start inviting people around its time to start to think about promotion and backlinks…..
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……
