Traffficum.com – Traffic for your website

Posts Tagged ‘search engine optimization’

Let’s take the time machine way back to the good ol’ days. There once was a time when people waited. It was a magical time when folks stopped to talk on the street and books were as thick as five stacked laptops. And would you believe that we had attention spans back then? I know, it is almost unfathomable. But that is how it was. They were good times.

Back to the present day. That mythical past is now just the stuff of legend. The stuff we will tell our kids about. This next part might come as a shock, but remember those things called attention spans? Gone. Extinct. Snuffed out. We simply cannot afford them. There are far too many things to do, and if we have to spend real time doing them, well then maybe they are just not worth it.

Alright, I exaggerate a bit. But as you will see, it is for good reason. In this world of search engine optimization, there is a direct relationship between attention spans and successful websites. Put simply, the less time it takes for customers to figure out your website, the more likely you are to get the sale. Take lots of time getting to the point and your potential customers are gone.

Let’s break down that concept further. Here is a list of things that will send your site viewers packing in no time:

1.  Your site takes too long to load

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You go to buy a product knowing that a few sites sell it. It really does not matter who you buy it from, you just want it done. The first site you visit takes 30 seconds to load but you were gone at 10. The next site loads fine except for the product images. You exit, wondering what good a site is that can’t display the product images. You end up buying at a site that loads in a few seconds, images and all.

What you say? That first site was yours? Big bummer.

2.  You do not have a clear call to action

What exactly do you want your viewers to do? Click on one of the hundred links in your sidebar? Read some more about your product? Visit your mother’s blog? Or do you want them to BUY? A clear call to action tells your viewer, “What you are looking for is right here behind this button – click it, click it, click it!” Sure there are other things you want them to know, but forget about those for now. Your call to action should punch them in the face (figuratively).

3.  Your important stuff is hidden in a mess of text or in some obscure location

What good is a killer call to action if they can’t find it? What good is your ‘offer to beat all offers’ if they have to scroll down 3 miles just to see it? Keep the good stuff above the fold* so they see it right when the page loads. If you send your viewers on an Easter egg hunt, they will be through with you.

4.  Your viewers have no idea what you are talking about

Let’s say you are trying to win over new customers with your site. Are you chasing them away with industry jargon? If you have got this fabulous new product that you are trying to break out of its niche, are you explaining it in terms everyone will understand? The second a viewer runs into stuff they know they don’t understand, you have lost them.

5.  Your checkout process takes longer than your viewer’s lunch break

Congratulations. They love your product and want to buy it. What have you done to make it easy on them? Is it as simple as throwing it in the cart and purchasing? Or do they have to wander through a maze of shipping addresses, billing addresses, additional offers, products they might like, and waivers? If you can’t shave it down to a few simple steps, your competitor sure can.

No terribly complicated stuff here, but allow me to make an observation about it. Very few businesses get around to making changes based on the list above. It is not that they don’t get the Marketing 101 principles. It is more likely they have a love affair with their site. It may not be the prettiest or smartest thing out there, but it is theirs by golly, and they are sticking with it. They invested time and money, and they really grew to like it along the way. I get that, and those people are not going to change on my account. So this is for the other group. The ones who are ready to make their site pretty and smart.

So there you have it folks. Now that we have adjusted to the change from the old ways to this new, flighty society, it is time to give our websites the attention they need. A few tweaks to make it more A.D.D. friendly and you will have a winner.

I know all of you SEO.com fans out there are wondering “what are the most important plugins that I can use on my WordPress blog for SEO”? Well, I’ve decided to unveil our secret stash of the best WordPress plugins for SEO because this is the year of sharing. And also I’d like to see if anyone else can think of any better ones. These are not listed in order of importance, Platinum SEO Pack is the best for overall search engine optimization though, so start there.

Plugin #1: FeedBurner FeedSmith

This probably won’t directly affect your seo on site, but the better reach your blog posts have, the more chance someone has to read it, and link to it if they were inspired by what you say. So you have to write good content first, and then this plugin becomes 100% more effective at building links.

Plugin #2: Dagon Design Sitemap Generator

A must have for every website, XML sitemaps should be generated on the fly and updated whenever you add a new page or write a new post. This is not just another XML sitemap plugin, but rather a true sitemap generator which is highly customizable from its own options page in the WordPress admin panel. Some of its features include: support for multi-level categories and pages, category/page exclusion, multiple-page generation with navigation, permalink support, choose what to display, what order to list items in, show comment counts and/or post dates, and much more.

Plugin #3: Friend Connect Commenting Plugin

You can now allow visitors to log in with their FriendConnect ID, and leave a comment with that same ID. This means that your visitors can log in with their Google, Yahoo!, AIM or OpenID account, by just clicking a button

Plugin #4: Google Analytics

The interfaces are fancy, and the fine grained stats and AdSense integration make it a particularly powerful tool when you’re seeking to push a product online using AdSense.

Plugin #5: Platinum SEO Pack

If you are already using All In One SEO Pack, this plugin will automatically import all the settings, that you have defined using All in one SEO plugin. You just need to verify the options, through Setting->Platinum SEO page of your wordpress blog. Platinum SEO Pack is also compatible with earlier versions of wordpress, though I recommend you to upgrade to the latest version of wordpress.

Plugin #6: Search Excerpt

It extracts out the search keywords, scans the content of matched post entries, and displays document snippets around the keyword, with that specific keyword highlighted. It adds a filter in get_the_excerpt() function so no modification needs to be done to WordPress’ 1.5/2.x theme. For other themes, make sure during “the loop” in search.php, it calls the_excerpt() to display the post entries.

Plugin #7: SRG Clean Archives

This plugin is designed to display your archive listings in a clean and uniform fashion that’s search engine friendly on a dedicated page or in your sidebar.

Plugin Features: It lists the Month / Year, shows total post count for the month (enabled by default), the day of the month the article was published, the title of the article (permalink to article) and the number of comments (enabled by default) that have been made on each article.

Plugin #8: WordPress Database Backup

WordPress database backup creates backups of your core WordPress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.

Graphics.net becomes part of SEO.com to form a comprehensive Internet marketing firm. The SEO company now offers full-service, professional Web design combined with all aspects of search engine optimization.

SALT LAKE CITY (Aug. 19, 2009) — SEO.com, a leader in Internet marketing and search engine optimization, today announced it has expanded its services by acquiring Graphics.net, a Maryland-based Web site design and development firm.

“Graphics.net is made up of very skilled, talented graphic designers and developers. I’m very excited about the potential this change offers for new business,” said David Bascom, CEO and founder of SEO.com. “We will be able to offer a much more expansive array of services to our clients for even better results.”

This acquisition makes SEO.com a more inclusive Internet marketing company by enabling it to combine Website optimization with Web site design services and social media applications. In essence, it will help existing customers and future clients’ Web sites become search-engine friendly, aesthetically pleasing and more user-friendly.

“With Graphics.net, we’ll be able to merge top design skills and SEO strategies to deliver a compelling user experience along with the ability to show up at the top of search engines,” Bascom said.

Michael Benson from Graphics.net will join SEO.com as the vice president of Web development.

“Mike brings a robust mix of creative and technical expertise. We’re excited to have him,” Bascom said. “He has been in the industry since its inception, and managed the company for the last year. He’s worked with many types of clients, ranging from large corporations to small, non-profit organizations. His broad experience in marketing, project planning, and management skills make him a valuable team member.”

The acquisition comes after an extremely successful year for SEO.com. In the last year alone, the SEO firm has quintupled its size, growing from 12 employees to more than 50, and moved to a larger office in Salt Lake County. The search engine marketing company is garnering both local and national attention. Recently SEO.com was named one of the top 10 SEO companies by PromotionWorld and one of the top 25 fastest growing companies in Utah by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum.

“SEO.com is a great company,” Benson said. “I am excited to be a part of their winning team and contribute to its success.”

About SEO.com
SEO.com is an industry leader in Internet marketing and search engine optimization. The company specializes in search engine marketing tactics that have helped numerous clients reach millions of potential customers on the Internet. SEO.com has grown rapidly since its inception and continues to expand its offerings as a full-service online marketing firm. The company offers everything from organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click to social media marketing, online public relations and full service Web design. Clients range from small startups to Fortune 100 companies. For more information about SEO.com, visit the SEO blog.

As an SEO, I know that my industry is constantly changing and evolving. That is one of the reasons why I truly love marketing through the search engines. One upcoming change will be the release of what has been code-named “Google Caffeine,” which can be beta-tested here. It will be a new, more powerful version of Google’s search engine technology. You can read more about it from the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Because I rely on search engine optimization to grow my client’s businesses and my personal websites, I pay attention anytime Google gives out little bits of information regarding the future of their search engine.

The following quote from Google tells us a lot about this new project’s role in the future of search:

“It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness, and other dimensions.”

That one sentence tells us just about everything we need to know about the future of Google search. It tells us where we need to be moving to stay ahead of the curve in our industry. Here is how we can do it:

1. Site & Indexing Speed: Google is going to be crawling more sites, more pages on those sites, and adding them to their index much faster. We have known for years that Google and the other search engines love fresh content. The problem is that there is so much new content hitting the internet every single day that they needed to come up with a solution to keep their index up-to-date with the latest news and information. The key here is that you need to continue to add new content to your website often. As Google increases their indexing speed, your new pages will get picked up faster and you will rank better.
2. Accuracy: Websites that will continue to dominate the search engines will be the ones that can properly match up the keywords people are searching on with the content of what they are actually looking for. I believe Google is not only interested in which sites people are actually clicking on, but what their behavior is like once they arrive at the particular website. The key here is that you should take all the time you need to make sure you are targeting the proper keywords, that the content on your website is related to the search term, and that it is enticing enough to keep visitors interested. Conversion optimization will also play a huge roll in converting more of your visitors into buying customers. One thing I always tell my clients is, “I can bring you traffic, but what good is the traffic if it doesn’t make you more money?” This is true regarding targeting the wrong keywords and having a crappy web design that doesn’t convert the traffic.
3. Comprehensiveness: Google will continue to favor “authority” sites. You know, those sites that do an excellent job of completely covering their niche. The key here is that if you want a website that ranks incredibly well for your main keywords, you better be ready to put in some blood, sweat, and tears. Google wants to see and rank sites that are thorough and comprehensive resources for the people who are looking for information about a particular topic. This is exactly why it is crucial that you continue to build new pages on your website that rank for each and every one of your relevant keywords. Remember, Google continues to show that they prefer larger, older websites that are loaded with useful information.

This information is nothing new. These are the things we are currently doing for our clients and that you should be doing now to increase your search engine rankings. However, there are many websites who are not doing these things and will fall far behind when Google finally releases their new search engine technology.

That is why you need to get started TODAY! If you do, you will be far ahead of your competitors who push aside this information and you will develop what is known as a competitive advantage.

Good luck!

Are you being kept in the dark by your current SEO firm? Do you wish the communication lines were a little more open? It’s too bad that some SEO companies view communication and sharing as a conflict of interest rather than an opportunity for reinforced, attack-at-all-sides teamwork. Amazingly, some SEOs believe clients would only stick around long enough to find out their methods and then bolt! In sharp contrast, SEO.com has found that as we share valuable information and resources with our clients, it builds the relationship and they achieve greater success.

I love the work I do at SEO.com. It is a privilege to work at one of the best, if not the best, SEO firms out there. We have consistently helped our clients rank on page 1 of Google (which holds about 70% of the search engine market share) for multiple targeted keywords. Each day I marvel at the methods we employ to help our customers achieve their desired conversion goals. I quickly gained great trust and admiration for SEO.com for many reasons, but especially for how transparent and open we are with our clients in regards to the methods and tools we use to help them.

At first, I was taken-back by it and wondered why any successful company would consider sharing valuable company tools, intellectual property, methods and training with a client who could choose to go out on their own and mimic the same techniques. But I quickly realized that there was no genuine risk and it is one of the reasons why we are so effective.

There are no big secrets in Search Engine Optimization. The work is very transparent, and most anyone can do it. Quality optimization only takes a lot of time, knowledge, dedication and skill, and that’s where an SEO firm comes in. We work for hours a day doing the tasks that anyone with SEO knowledge could do-because we have the time, and the training, to do it. We spend multiple hours every day doing keyword research, looking at our clients’ competitors, link-building and offering site optimization recommendations.

Every now and then we all need to be brave and do something different. We have to break the molds and stereotypes to step out of the norm and stop following the crowd if we want to be special and set apart. I’m proud to work for a company that does this. Many SEO firms simply do the basics for their clients. SEO.com is great at the basics too, but we also do things no other firm will-transparency with clients being only one example.

For example, a current client of SEO.com has seen phenomenal results in the year they have employed our services. During their first six months online they had no sales and only a handful of page visits. As a result of this failure, two of their four investors backed out, and the remaining two investors began desperately searching for a new firm. During their first month working with SEO.com they had 15 sales. By the third week of the second month they had between 5 – 6 sales a day. By the third month they began asking questions about what we were doing and how we were doing it. They even asked if we could show them our SEO methods, so we could work together as a team. We gladly shared the information with them. By the sixth month they were experiencing between 400 and 500 visits to their site every day and a dramatic increase in sales. At the end of their initial six-month contract they decided to double the amount of work we were doing for them and renew the agreement. Today they average between 1200 to 1300 visits and 30 to 40 sales each day!

In SEO, stepping out of the norm is usually rewarded with highly-desired results. Clients like to be kept in the loop. They like to know what is going on-especially with their money. Communication is the key. Our success and growth as a company are the result of a number of different variables, but the level of transparency and openness SEO.com offers its clients certainly deserves due credit.

Believe it or not, all SEO’s were newbies at one time or another. Launching a website can be a very exciting event for an individual or new business owner. However, that excitement can quickly turn to disappointment when the site owner finds out that they are getting little or no traffic. If they are getting traffic, it is most likely coming from family members or friends who they notified through an email or Facebook.

Being involved in SEO and marketing in general, I am usually bombarded by family members and friends with questions about marketing their website or their future website on the Internet. Because of this and my willingness to help just about anyone I know, you can usually find me in a small dark corner at a family party (it has to be small and dark because my wife gets ticked when I’m not up and socializing with everyone), on the phone in the car, or answering an email, Facebook message, or Twitter message about SEO and other internet marketing tactics.

I was on a call yesterday with one of my best friends from high school. Our conversation was focused on general search engine optimization principles and link building tactics that could provide a good foundation and hopefully, if he does them right, some strong rankings in the search engines. One thing I emphasized is the fact that what ever he does, he needs to build links naturally. A natural link building campaign is crucial for success in SEO.

A natural link building campaign is one that is just that, natural! Getting 50,000 links within the first twenty days of your website’s existence is definitely not natural. Getting a slow trickle of links coming into your website and then building up looks much more natural. Also, getting 50,000 links pointing to your home page with the same anchor text is not natural. Vary your anchor text and include long tail versions of your keywords. You should also build links to other pages of your site in addition to your home page. All of these things help with building a natural link campaign.

In terms of links, there are two types of links you can get for your websites, external and internal links. Both are very important and can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings. I want to discuss in detail, ten ways to effectively jump-start your link building campaign.

Friends & Family Members

When beginning a link building campaign, one very natural way of obtaining links is from friends and family members. I just opened up our family blog and counted all of the friends and family who we have added in our blogroll. The grand total… 41. How hard is it to simply call up (recommended – it’s more personal) or email your family and friends who have blogs or other sites, and ask them for a link to your new website? Not hard at all! In fact, because they are your friends or family members, they will probably do it without hesitation. You can do the same thing with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.

Add A Blog To Your Domain

Google loves blogs! Google loves fresh content! Google loves internal links! Internal links from other pages of your website are a guaranteed way to help you increase your rankings in the search engines. Adding a blog to your domain is a great way for you to easily add new content to your website on a regular basis. In most cases, adding a blog to your main domain is rather simple and can be done in as little as three clicks of your mouse. Web hosting companies like myhosting.com, Hostmonster, & Bluehost offer one click installations of blog platforms like Wordpress or b2evolution.

Adding a blog, posting to it at least once daily, and linking back to your home page and other important pages of your website with keyword anchor text is a great way to gain a lot of internal links. When blogging, you should also link out to other websites that interest you and websites that are in similar industries. You might also consider adding images, videos, polls, etc. Mix things up! Make it look natural! Most important, have fun!

Local Organizations

Just about every city in the country has a local chamber of commerce; mine would be the Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce. Joining a chamber of commerce will not only get you a very good link back to your website, but also provides networking opportunities with other local businesses. Most times, depending on your business, you can generate new leads rather easily by getting to know other individuals and businesses in your area.

Local News

Developing relationships with local newspaper writers and always making yourself available for comments on news stories that involve your industry is a great way to build awareness about your company and get links back to your website (if the newspaper is published online).

Help A Non Profit Organization

You would be surprised how many non-profit organizations are operating in your city and your state. Every one of us has been given talents and certain things that we are good at. I guarantee that there is a non-profit organization that could use your help, whether it is with designing their website or painting the conference room of their new office building. If you offer of yourself and your services freely, you can most likely ask for, and get a link to your website from theirs.

Submit Your Site To Local & Industry Specific Online Business Directories

Anyone studying SEO can usually find a blog post about submitting your website to directories on the Internet. Yes, this is a valuable link building tactic, but before you go crazy and start submitting to thousands of directories, seek out local directories and directories that are specific to your business. Submit to these first and take your time filling out all of the information that they ask for. These will be some of your most valuable links since they are so relevant to your website and business.

Social Bookmarking

You have probably heard the term social bookmarking. You have probably heard that social bookmarking is a great way to build links. Well, it is and it isn’t… You can waste a lot of time social bookmarking if you are submitting to the wrong sites. I limit my social bookmarking to Mixx, Propeller and sometimes Kirtsy. The trick to social bookmarking is to not only bookmark your website, your blog posts, and other things related to your website, but bookmarking lots of different things that interest you. This will make your bookmarking profiles look much more natural to both viewers and the search engines.

Write An Article And Submit To Article Directories

Writing articles and submitting them to sites like Ezine Articles, Article City, and Go Articles, also known as article marketing, is a great way to get links back to your website. Take time to write a very detailed article about your industry and submit it to a few article directories like the ones I listed above. You will get links back to your website by properly using the author resource or bio box at the end of the article. You should tell a little about yourself and your company, while adding keyword rich anchor text links pointing back to your website.

Write And Submit A Press Release

Writing press releases and submitting them to places like PR Web or Web Wire is a great way to generate interest and buzz about your business and also to get links back to your website. This method of link building is a little more difficult than other links that you can get for your website. Writing a press release takes skill… a skill, which the average person, like me, does not have. Press releases have certain requirements that must be met, a certain format that must be followed, and in most cases, need to be super interesting. Not having any of these elements can almost guarantee that your press release will either be outright rejected or not distributed to other news related websites.

Build A Hub Page Or Squidoo Lens

Building a Hub Page or Squidoo Lens is a fun way to get links back to your website. To date, I have built 73 Hubs and 25 Lenses for my own personal websites and hundreds for clients that I have managed. The most effective Hub Pages and Squidoo Lenses are those that have at least 450 words of text about a certain topic or subject, videos, pictures, polls, and other gadgets that are easy to add. You want to make the page as interactive as possible so it provides value for anyone who happens to read it. You are allowed two links to other websites from your Hubs and a handful of links (be conservative, don’t spam) from your Lenses.

Building links isn’t pretty. But, in order to rank well in the search engines, it is absolutely necessary. These are ten excellent ways for new companies or new website owners to start building links to their websites. There are many others and I encourage any of our readers to add to this list by commenting on this post.

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum names SEO.com as the 17th top young company in Utah at the annual “Top 25 Under Five Awards.” SEO.com was selected because of its rapid growth and strong influence in the Internet marketing industry. The Utah SEO company is also garnering national attention for its search engine optimization services.

PROVO, Utah (July 9, 2009) – The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum awarded SEO.com, a Web site optimization firm, as Utah’s 17th best up-and-coming business in its 10th annual “Top 25 Under Five Awards.”

“We are truly honored and excited to be included in this prestigious list of up-and-coming businesses. We have great plans for the future of SEO.com, and it is really encouraging to receive this kind of recognition early on,” said Dave Bascom, founder and CEO of SEO.com.

Crowds gathered into the Novell building in Provo, Utah to celebrate and honor entrepreneurs and some of the state’s top companies under five years old. In a bright contrast to the current economic struggle, optimism reigned here where companies were boasting both recent and future success.

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) recognizes the best emerging companies in the state of Utah based on profit, job creation, job quality and growth. The event’s purpose is to promote companies that may become industry leaders in the state, the region and globally. This year’s winner was Zagg, Inc., a designer, manufacturer and distributer of clear coverings and accessories for electronic and hand-held devices. Some of the past award winners include Omniture and Xango.

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert praised the winners during his keynote address, discussing the strength of entrepreneurship in the state and the positive affect it has on the entire economy.

“I can’t say enough good about the business community here,” Herbert said. “The private sector creates jobs and is the lifeblood of the community. Utah is a great place to live and a great place to do business.”

SEO.com was recognized among the top 20 because of its swift growth, having increased more than 300 percent in the last year alone. Since its launch in June, 2007, SEO.com has hired more than 40 employees and helped numerous clients climb to the top of the search engines. Currently, SEO.com has nearly 100 clients that range from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies.

About UVEF
UVEF is a volunteer non-profit support group linking entrepreneurs to Money, Markets, and Mentors. Celebrating 20 years of new business success, UVEF empowers current and future business leaders to thrive in today’s competitive market. The organization provides real-world, practical educational and valuable resources on how to access needed capital, attract new customers and tap into industry experts. For information on upcoming meetings, speakers, and membership, visit www.uvef.net.

About SEO.com
SEO.com is an Internet marketing firm that specializes in organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) management. SEO.com has helped numerous clients climb to the top of Google for their targeted keywords. Clients range from small, startup businesses to Fortune 100 companies.