Utah SEO Marketing Blog

The Three Main Components of SEO

There are really three main core components to SEO that are easily categorized and have their own unique difficulties, challenges, and strategies.  Those who understand these three core components well can begin on basic seo projects inching their way up to advanced seo strategies.

1.  SEO Friendly HTML

The html of your website is very important for search engines.  Editing HTML is the most ‘easy’ of the three components in my opinion, takes  the least amount of time, and is the only seo component that actually has some closure at some point in time.  The key focus on the HTML is to make sure it is SEO-friendly; but what does that mean?  More often than not it means fixing HTML items that are actually hurting your SEO strategy rather than helping.  The most common issues I see are too much javascript, a flash-only site, weak title tags and meta descriptions, use of graphical text in headers rather than HTML text, poor setup of navigation elements, empty alt-tags, spamming or trying to trick the search engines, very slow load time (large graphics are usually the culprit), and more.  The good thing with ‘fixing’ your HTML for SEO purposes is that once its done you don’t have to worry about it too much except for a few extra minutes when you add new pages to your website.  This step usually requires an SEO expert who has HTML knowledge and maybe a specified HTML programmer or web developer if necessary.

2.  Content for Search Engines AND Visitors

After you have patched up your HTML the next step is to ensure you have enough useful information/content/copy on your website.  You should note the emphasis on ‘enough’ and ‘useful’.  If you only have a three page website with a few paragraphs yet you offer hundreds of different products or services how would you expect the search engines to really understand what your website is about?  Once you have identified the core content your targe audience is seeking make sure it is put up on your website.  After that stage the door opens up uto endless possibilities of methods you can produce relevant and useful information for your current and future clients.  Some simple ideas are adding a blog to your website, adding a press release or news section, setting up a FAQ, having a client testimonials page, have a photo gallery with a description of each photo, post reviews of other products or services that are relevant to the industry you are in, setup a monthly industry newsletter, and more.  Content development should never really end unless you start to get thousands upon thousands of pages which most people do not achieve easily. This stage will involve an SEO expert and some good copywriters or strategists.

3.  Link Building

Link building is probably the most critical and overlooked strategy of SEO.  It is also the most difficult and avoided because of its difficulty to achieve.  You have total control over your HTML and copy on your website; you can update and add those to your hearts content.  However this is not the case with incoming links to your website.  You have no control over who links to you and how they link to you; unless you happen to own some other websites.  There are  many different strategies to gain links to your website and the most successful is link baiting; but also the most difficult to attain.  Link baiting is creating something so noteworthy, sought after, or impressive that other people link to it from their websites or blogs naturally - without you even knowing it.  Other methods of link building include directory submissions, viral  video distribution, commenting on blogs, buying links, link trading, social media bookmarking, etc.  This is the most difficult stage of SEO and  also never seems to end, I have not found a website yet that has ‘too’ many links (unless they are bad ones)~

SEO Components Summary

Remember to focus on HTML, Content, and Link Building and your SEO campaign should be successful.  Ignoring one of these three components can hold you back from your true potential to success.  I recommend tackling them in that order (easiest to hardest) and focusing on seo copywriting and link building on a regular basis after the HTML is squared away.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted in Link Building Strategies, SEO Copywriting, Search Engine Optimization | 1 Comment »

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible Book Review

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible by Jerri L. Ledford

So a co-worker of mine bought this book because he wanted to learn more about SEO and asked me to review it for him to see if it was any good.  Man - was I disappointed.  It was so bad I actually told him to not even waste his time reading it and to get a different book.

First off almost all the book is about PPC, not even about SEO - and they are totally different online marketing strategies, similar but very different.  I was expecting it to be only about SEO with maybe one chapter on PPC, but as I flipped through I kept seeing PPC everywhere. 

Next most of the advice is very dated.  There were a few chapters that were good, but they were the exception.  Also it lacks specific examples and pieces of advice.  It goes over topics in such broad detail if you were not familiar with SEO it would leave you sitting there to wonder “thats great, but how in the world do I actually implement some of this advice?”

 If you are new or experienced to SEO this is not the book to buy.  It is too vague, jumps around from topic to topic too much, and should be titled “The SEO and PPC Bible” since it covers so many topics specific to PPC.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Posted in Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization | 3 Comments »

Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer Review

I have used google campaign optimizer in adwords now for several different websites and have also spoke with many other marketers who have utilized the service as well.  So far the results have been much less than impressive and appears to be a system for Google to suck more money out of advertisers than before.  Here are the results of three campaigns and the statistics relating to them.  Each test only lasted about 2 weeks and in all cases the before and after time period of running ads was much more profitable for the website or business than during the 2 weeks that google optimizer ran. In all three cases the biggest noted change to the PPC campaigns was increased CPC for keyword phrases.

Campaign Optimizer Campaign 1:
* Conversion ratio went down by 126%
* Overall spend increased by 21%

Campaign Optimizer Campaign 2:
* Conversion ratio went down by 243%
* Overall spend increased by 19%

Campaign Optimizer Campaign 3:
* Conversion ratio went down by 64%
* Overall spend increased by 17%

To say the least I have not met anyone who has had positive things to say about the Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer tool. Although it could possibly be useful for those who know absolutely nothing about PPC campaigns, for those who have even a little experience will end up doing much better by setting up their ppc campaigns on their own. If you do plan on testing it out I would highly suggest making a backup of your Google Adwords account so you can restore it later if the results are not what you were looking for.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Posted in Pay Per Click | 1 Comment »

People in Graphics and The Effects on Website Marketing

I have always been a big fan of Bryan Eisenburg including his books and blog.  I came across a blog post about website graphics and usability a few days ago and found it very interesting.  It is a bit dated (few months old) but a very good read.  It talks about how something as simple as the direction a model is facing in a web graphic or the direction their eyes are looking can play an important factor in conversion, website usability, and information architecture.

In his example they had two simple ads that were the exact same except in one graphic the model was looking at the product and not at the user.  The one where she was looking at the product had heatmap registers (tracks eye movement) that were much more prominent and kept attention longer.  It was interesting as I tested it on myself as well and I found myself naturally looking to where the model was looking as well.

I plan on experimenting with this website design tactic through some analytical mouse tracking software to see if simple changes like this can have enough of an impact to warrant attention and resources for some of the website I work on.  This is extremely intriguing though in the fact of how such subtle differences that normally would be overlooked and not even thought about can actually have an impact on website metrics and how every single detail must be taken into consideration to truly have an above than average website marketing strategy in place.

Popularity: 95% [?]

Posted in User Centered Design | No Comments »

The Ultimate 2008 Top 7 SEO Tips for Professionals List

Here is the ultimate top-10 SEO tips list for seo professionals, enjoy!

1. Stop Reading SEO Top 10 Lists! - So my list is ok to read since its a top-7 list.  They are fun to read but limit your time on them and move on to bigger and better SEO research opportunities.
2. Read Less SEO Blogs and Do More SEO Work - Although it is very important to keep up to date with the latest and greatest SEO tactics and strategies it still amazes me how much time is wasted trying to be the ‘best’ when in reality you may not be getting anything done.  I have fallen into this typical SEO mindset in the past but have found much more success as I actually focus on DOING work rather than just LEARNING.
3. Optimize Your Own Website First - This is one of my goals in the coming 2-3 months.  There really is no excuse for not having your own website (especially if you work for an interactive agency) not optimized - including ‘we are so busy we don’t have time’ which is the one that I have used lately.  Just set aside some time and don’t let anything else bug you, it will pay off in the end as potential seo clients will notice how well your own website ranks for your targeted keywords.
4. Stop Trying to Outdo Your Local Competitor - Be friends with your neighbors.  Here in Utah the SEO industry atmosphere is sometimes a little too competitive when there is plenty of business out there for everyone.  Find ways you can work together rather than battle it out, in our experience we have found many of our ‘competitors’ are really not competitors at all as we go after different target markets.  Focus more on building relationships that trying to be ‘the best’, that will come naturally.
5. Worry More About a Client’s Profits Than Their Rankings - I am sure almost everyone agrees on this point by now.  Getting seo rankings is only one minor aspect of search engine optimization, even internet marketing, even marketing, or even the overall strategy of the company.  The end goal should be to bring in profits for the company, at a minimum what they are paying for seo and then some.  Start implementing other strategies such as usability, information architecture, user centered design, converion improvement, persuasion architecture, and overall unique advantage positions.
6. Don’t Take On SEO Clients That You Know Will Fail - I review all potential seo clients before we let them sign up, and there are some we turn away because we fill a search engine optimization campaign would fail.  This could be for a variety of reasons from not enough investment for success, too competitive, not enough keyword search volume, or an unkown product or service that no one  is searching for online.  If you find yourself in a situation like that do yourself and them a favor and just tell them its not worth it.
7. Focus On The Basics (HTML, Content, Links) - It also amazes me how many search engine optimization specialists still don’t get the basics right and jump into way advanced seo strategies.   I wonder if the three core fundamental seo components will ever change: html, content, and links.  Make sure your html is seo-friendly, have useful and informative content, and get some good quality links.  Enough said

Popularity: 89% [?]

Posted in Search Engine Optimization | 3 Comments »