Cuil It!
July 30, 2008
By now just about every blog related to the Internet or Internet marketing has chimed in on Cuil (pronounced cool.) In case you missed this Cuil was a really hyped world beating, Google beating new search engine. It was created by a Group of Googler’s who cashed out and attempted to create the world biggest search engine.
They rolled out the new SE yesterday amidst tremendous fanfare. The problem is that it just doesn’t work very well at all. It was a public relations nightmare. The marketing folks got out way ahead of the development group. So this baby may end up succumbing to SIDS before it every gets out of the cradle and starts walking.
The reviews across the blogosphere have been frigid. I liked the layout out of the website but it is clear that this product is not ready for prime time yet, the worlds biggest search engine needs a lot of work before it becomes a useful tool. While we techies and early adopters may have given it bad marks for its launch the general public has never heard of Cuil, and that’s a good thing.
Cuil has a lot of work to do but they have a good core group that should be able to work out the technical problems. As Google morphs from the 800 lbs. gorilla into a 1600 lbs monster a hunger will grow to replace them. Google is already becoming the company to hate just as happened to Microsoft, and just like Microsoft they will be hard to replace. I wish this company well.
Since our company is # 1 for the search Tucson SEO with Google and can not be found on Cuil I am not overly excited. But it will be worth watching to see if this ever turns into a serious search engine at least for now its ad free.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in Flagstaff or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
T Boone Pickins Alternative Energy And Yahoo
July 29, 2008
I have desired to write about this old Texas oilman, T Boone Pickins for sometime but I didn’t see the connection for my audience until today. Mr. Picking has come up with his own alternative energy plan. He has been claiming in TV ads that our energy problem is not something that we can drill our way out of. That’s big talk coming from a famous oilman.
Mr. Pickins also has held a large stake in Yahoo, at 10 Million shares. He was adamant that the board of directors should have sold to Microsoft. So now that Carl Ichann has become a board member he has decided to was time to sell. For further reading see T. Boone Pickens selling off his entire stake in Yahoo.
Perhaps, he will then use this money to further expand his vision for his wind energy ventures. My hat goes off to Mr. Pickins for telling America that truth.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
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Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Button All.COM Worth A Look
July 28, 2008
This is one of those websites that I found using my StumbleUpon toolbar. I must admit in the past I used this toolbar daily, but not so much anymore. Today, I decided on a whim to give it another try and like and old friend it came through. That’s when I discovered www.buttonall.com.
At first blush it seemed like a rather dull website and somewhat plain like Google’s home page. Then just as I was ready to click away to the next site in the Stumble rotation something prompted me to take a closer look. That’s when I realized that this website was worth exploring a little more closely.
It had your basic search box with five columns of buttons with four rows in each column. The first row included the four major US search engines and Mahalo, a mostly useless search engine. The second row included reference material sites that include Wikipedia, a dictionary, a thesaurus, Map Quest, and About.com. The third row they refer to as their people channel it includes MySpace, FaceBook, White Pages, Super Pages, and a site called Socialzr. This last site I not sure what it is about. The fourth row or channel is for shopping sites including Amazon, E-Bay, Craigslist, Buy.com, and Overstock.
While I do not personally use many of these websites I can easily see that this could become a highly used website for me since I regularly use 11 out of these twenty sites. I just gave it a test run and this is what I discovered.
First enter your search query and then you click on a button it takes you to that website. In this case I did a Google search and it delivered Google results below a row of Google AdSense ads. I found that somewhat amusing. It also explained how the website makes its money. The only thing that I found that I didn’t like was that you can not get back by using the back button. I found this flaw annoying but not so much so that I would not recommend using this website. If you are a power searcher you might find this site useful. It is now happily bookmarked.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in Flagstaff or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Are You Part Of The Conversation?
July 27, 2008
It never stops amazing me that so many bloggers miss the opportunity to engage their readers with their blogs. For us the blog is part of our social media efforts. We believe the blog should rule social media. Many individuals seem to spend copious amounts of time on other social sites like Digg, Twitter, or Facebook, and they overlook the social benefits of their own blogs. The small business owner working an SEO and website marketing program doesn’t have time for this but many can find time to work their blog for all its worth. You don’t need a high paid consulting service to apply these few simple techniques.
You see it all the time a blog owner makes a post and never returns to the post except to moderate the comments. The trouble is that all they do is clean up the spam. If you want social media to work for you then practice it on your blog. Respond to your commenter’s and you might just see a huge increase in comments. You might not but at least you show that you care. I see comments left behind that ask a question. However, the question goes unanswered. So there is no conversation just a post and some replies.
What do you think the chances are that this commenter will be back to your blog when they see that you didn’t care enough to respond. This is where you can really loose by not answering questions. You never know if the person asking the question was going to follow up and give you a shout on their blog with a trackback.
I have personally considered following up a post with an expanded version or maybe a post with a different twist. So I have left a follow up comment trying to get a better understanding of what the author meant. This has happened maybe a dozen times with no response.
I call this lost opportunity. Yet, we see this behavior as the norm rather than the excepted way of doing business. This misses the whole point of blogging. Now, I don’t respond to all comments if I get a bunch of similar comments all in the same day. But if it’s a period of slow commenting I will respond to all comments that are more than “nice blog.” We also take the time to respond to the detailed comments with a personal email. It all about putting the social in Social Media.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
The Different Faces of SEO
July 26, 2008
There is a myriad of ways that you can describe the process of website optimization. There are the standard terms SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
But since we actually provide this service professionally we are more likely try to define a smaller niche within this industry. Like any good SEO we would rely on our keyword development skills to create long tails for our keyword phrases that define us.
Here are some of the many ways that we describe ourselves.
Some of us take an organic approach as in:
Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization, and others will add location into the mix, as with Tucson Search Engine Optimization.
Some will describe there skills to include:
Local SEO
Niche SEO
Solutions SEO
Business SEO
Small Business SEO
Geo-targeted SEO
Geo-targeting SEO
Real Estate SEO
Travel SEO
And to all of these you can change out the SEO for search engine optimization.
You could also market yourself as a positioning or ranking service. Perhaps, as someone who creates increased website traffic because that what our services do they produce more website visitors.
SEO is many things to many people but it is only about what can be done on a website. Many individuals consider link building as part of SEO as it has a direct impact on the search engine results page. However, since it is not something that is done on a website it is generally considered link building and not part of SEO. Some call link building SEM or search engine Marketing. We are part of this group.
So as you can see there are many niches under the umbrella of SEO. You can even take Geo-targeted approach as we do and break any of these groups by location. So while it may be near impossible to break onto the first page for SEO or search engine optimization it is possible to do so within any of these niches.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Goggle Patent Application Reveals A WordPress Advantage!
July 25, 2008
We absolutely believe in the power and the advantages of WordPress websites. WordPress uses a WYSIWYG editor to create webpages. A WYSIWYG editor allows you to simply type what you want and the coding is automatically done for you. There is on need to learn programming languages such as HTML or XHTML. Another great advantage is that it is free.
There are currently over 2000 plugins available. Plugins are software program that can be downloaded and added to your website or blog. They enhanced the functionality of your site and allow you to personalize it. This requires the downloading these plugins and then uploading them.
The uploading process requires an FTP client such as FileZilla. FileZilla is also a free program. This is where many people will require some assistance in setting up WordPress. If you have never used a FTP client before you may find that you will want to hire someone to show you how. Finding someone in college using Craigslist should be very easy. There is lots of website and video’s available with free tutorials.
There are also thousands of free templates which are called themes. The theme is like the shell of the house and the plugins are like the rooms in the house. It’s all very simple and all have to do is create your content and you have a very nice blog or website. WordPress eliminates roughly 90% of the design process.
The big advantage using WordPress is that changes to the content can be made by simply using the page or post editor and typing. Those of us who spend time on the US patent office website have discovered another reason why this update ability is so useful.
Google Patent Application in 2005 listed 63 separate areass that they asked to be considered in their filing. The first 22 had to do with the age of a document and how it changed over time. So having the ability readily available to change and update your website will provide an enormous advantage over a static website.
We see this play out all the time with the websites that we own, manage, and from competitor. A website that sitting at #7 makes a blog post and moves up to #3. A few days later the site loses ground to another website that updated. If you have real aspirations of being a first page player in your niche you need to seriously consider moving your static website into a content management system.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
We Learned Something Today, Actually Two Things.
July 24, 2008
We received an email today asking if we work on websites outside the state of Arizona. The emailer provided a link to their website, which is generally a sign that this is a serious inquiry and they also provided their name. Now, we get a fair amount of inquiries that lack this specific information. We know these people are shopping us. We know that because we email them asking for their contact information and never here back from them again.
However, this was not the case today. Unfortunately, the person who contacted us about their website has an E-commerce site and we do not work on these types of websites. He also asked if we work outside of Arizona. I quickly realized that even though we work outside of Arizona the website did not indicate this.
I graciously returned the email and informed him that we did work outside of Arizona but not on E-commerce websites. Since I always want to know “how did you find us” I asked. He responded back and said that he found us by doing a Google search for small business SEO solutions.
So I Google’d that search query and found that we are the first page of Google at the # 7 position. To say that I was blown away and happy about this discovery would be an understatement. I have been laying plans to create a new website to target small business SEO and I was already ranking for a closely related search. That was the very good news.
What troubled me was that the website gave the message that we only work in the state of Arizona. While that has been true up to this point, we have been working to expand our reach beyond Arizona. Yet, that is not the message that my website was producing. I have to wonder how many visitors came and got that impression and moved on without asking.
It just goes to show how easy it is to miss the mark. Reflecting on this question I can easily understand where the site has fallen short and will begin to address this short coming, So thank you Daniel for opening my eyes to this weakness and strength of my website.
We always ask how someone found our website; it’s just a good business practice. I am truly grateful that he took the time to return my inquiry. Now, excuse me I have a website that needs fixed.
Since Daniel was very nice and helpful here’s a link to his Topiary site and a thank you.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in the US, Canada, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
What Are You Fishing For?
July 22, 2008
I love it when I read articles about Linkbait. I really do love to read about creative linkbait approaches. There is so much of the same old do this or do that that on the subject can get old quickly. So when I read about novel ways to lure people into linking to your website I pay attention.
It also reminds me of my days growing up along the banks of the Allegheny River and the French Creek in rural Franklin, Pa, as in Pennsylvania. Except that we called the creek a crick. I know go figure, but that slight regional variation is very important when considering keyword development, but that for another post on another day.
As a youth in rural Pennsylvania there wasn’t much to do other than to go fishing. So I did a lot of fishing with two major rivers within walking distance. When fishing you generally choose what fish to target on any given day based a multitude of factors such a time of day, water conditions, available food sources, and what you ultimately want to catch.
Then I had to choose which river to I was going to fish that day. I would have to choose between the huge Allegheny River or the smaller but robust French Creek. Once the river choice was made I would have to choose between slow deep waters or faster shallower waters. There is a lot to consider if you want to be successful fisherman.
Now, I would have to have to choose my bait wisely to match my prey of the day. That choice was based on a myriad of environmental conditions, if I wanted to be successful. It also had a lot to do with what I had available. Your bait must be attractive to your targeted fish and be delivered in a way that induces a bit when you want.
Choosing a linkbait for your website is very much like fishing. The bait needs to targeted towards the group of websites that can provide you useful relevant backlinks that are Do Follow. This is where effective linkbaiting can be very difficult. It can be very easy to create a bunch of links with a very creative baiting method, but getting the desired fish to bite is a lot more difficult.
As any seasoned fisherman knows you can catch a lot of unwanted fish while going after a targeted species. The same thing is true with any linkbaiting method. So when developing linkbaiting programs or methods don’t loose site of your target.
There is another huge benefit to linkbaiting for the blogger that is never much written about. A good linkbait effort can generate hundreds of comments. If your blog is part of a website, those comments provide lots of fresh content that will boost the overall website in the SERP’s.
This is where a great page title that includes a targeted keyword phrase or two can be very beneficial. When titling your page focus on a targeted keyword phrase. Your linkbait comments can break you into the first page of results for that targeted keyword phrase. So linkbait if done correctly can not only supply you with a flood of new links to can assist your website in the SERP’s. This is just another reason why we use WordPress to build websites.
Are You ready to build your WordPress website?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada or our Arizona cities of Surprise, Gilbert, or Scottsdale and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Duplicate Content - Don’t Worry Be Happy
July 21, 2008
There has been so much written over the years about duplicate content penalties from Google. I always view these kinds of things with a healthy dose of skepticism. I’m one of those kinds of persons we says “seeing is believing.” If I can not verify personally through trial and error then I remain skeptical about certain SEO beliefs or theories.
I know page titles are important not only because I have read this hundreds of times over, but I have proven the validity through real world application. Lately, I have given a lot of consideration to the effects of website scraping and its effects on scrapped websites. So when in doubt I have found if you have a questions about Google, its best to go to Google.
So I visited the webmaster central blog looking for answers and indeed I found my answer. It was “don’t worry, be happy.” their words not mine. It seems that duplicate content isn’t the big problem that it is made out to be. If you would like to read the article at Webmaster Central you might find it an eye opener.
Don’t worry be happy!
What Do You Want Your Website Visitor to DO?
July 21, 2008
When you talk with most website designers the first question that they ask is “What kind of look and feel do you want.” That is the last question that we ask our perspective design clients. The first question that we ask is this “what do you want your visitor to do on your website?”
This should not be overlooked. It comes down to this; is your website designer interested in your websites success or theirs. Website designers by whatever form of training that they have are not marketers. We have interns who are formally trained with MIS degrees and lack any marketing skills. Most web designers do not take an active role in the creation of the sites content.
We first define what the websites goal conversion is then we work back from there. Most websites have one basic goal that they want the visitor to accomplish for that visit to be considered a success.
Service based businesses primarily are attempting to generate a sales lead through a phone call or an email. They may have a secondary goal to sign up for a newsletter. The consultant or business coach may be after the newsletter sign up as their primary goal with a phone inquiry as a secondary goal. The blog owner may simply want you to make a comment.
As you can tell we left out the websites that are selling products online out of this discussion. The process is similar but since we don’t work with E-commerce sites we will not make any suggestion for this group, however, we believe that this group can benefit from this approach as well.
Once the ultimate goal has been established you can begin to construct your content to bring that visitor to a buying decision, even if that buying decision is only a phone call. How then do you accomplish this?
This is where you rely on a tried and true sales technique right out of sales 101. This process is known as a features and benefits presentation. You simply tell the visitor what you do and how it benefits them and then you ask for the sale. It’s really that simple. Now, let me ask you how many websites have you visited that have taken this approach?
You may be asking yourself why this isn’t done more often. The answer is basically this website designers are not generally marketers. They are skilled at code and not selling. We are first and foremost marketers who build websites and that give our clients a huge advantage.
We figure if the features and benefits approach is good enough for the automobile industry than its good enough for us. Think about it, when you go to the car dealer, what happens? They tell you about all of the cars new features. Then they explain how those features will benefit you, and finally they ask for the sale.
If your website has not been built with a features and benefits approach and doesn’t ask for the sale on each page then maybe it’s time for a change.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, or maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
If your business is located in or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Does Your Website Sell?
July 19, 2008
Today I spent a few hours off an on asking and answering SEO related questions. While I have written in the past to be careful when using forums, I feel much differently towards the users and administrators of this forum.
There is generally a positive approach here. It seems to be a good place to ask questions with an expectation of getting was fairly reasonable answer. The genesis of this post was when I read someone asking for an example of good selling on a website.
I referred him to this post that I had previously written on the subject. The article KISS My Website discussed how you should “Keep It Simple Stupid.” It went on to explain that one should use old fashioned and very basic, as in sales 101. It is called a features and benefits presentation which always concludes with the “call to action.” This is simply as simple as asking for the sale.
Still other websites, such as a service business, have a need, and that is to conclude your visit when you initiate contact by email, or preferably a phone call. These websites are about lead generation or setting appointments. They are no different when it comes to how they should sell themselves. It’s that they have a different conversion.
A good sales presentation is just the beginning. Everything that your website does should be built around and should support the sale presentation. You goal then is to make sure that your pictures or graphics enhance your content. Avoid excessive use of images you should do well. Images cause eye tracking problems and make it more difficult to concentrate on the content.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, or maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
If your business is located in Flagstaff or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Do Follow List: Insurance - Music - Nature - Politics
July 16, 2008
Insurance
Delta Fund - http://www.deltafund.org
Music
Afrision - http://afrison.com
Guitar Licks And Tips - http://www.guitarlicksandtips.com/
Nature
Angs Chicken Coup - http://www.angschickencoop.com
Politics
Opinions Are Free - http://www.opinionisfree.com
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Do Follow List: Blogging Tech Stuff Writting
July 16, 2008
If you have landed on this page it maybe because we optimized this page for website designs, website designers, and website designing for Tucson and Apache Junction. If so please click here for our Tucson Website Designs.
Blogging Stuff
Abndance Highway - http://www.abundancehighway.com
Blogjer - http://www.blogjer.com
Blogging Addiction - http://www.bloggingaddiction.com
Blogging Tips - http://www.rishabhsood.net
Blog P I - http://www.blogpi.net
Blogging Startup - http://bloggingstartup.com
Cats Who Code - http://www.catswhocode.com/blog
Fast Blog Finder - http://www.fastblogfinder.com *
Hot Chick Writer - http://hotchickwriter.blacksheepjewelry.com
Internet Business Blogger - http://www.internetbusinessblogger.com
Pure Blogging - http://www.pureblogging.com
Thou Shalt Blog - http://thoushallblog.com
Big Bright Bulb - http://bigbrightbulb.com *
Dawud Miracle - http://dmiracle.com
E Money Marketing - http://emoneymarketing.com
Foximus - http://www.foximus.com
Home Based Business - http://www.bestrealincome.com
Leveraging Ideas - http://www.leveragingideas.com
Lonely Marketer - http://www.lonelymarketer.com
Make Money Online - http://www.tipscollections.com
My Review On Everything - http://goodreview.bloggerunleashed.com
Pure Blogging - http://www.pureblogging.com
Rotten Bananas - http://www.rottenbananas.com
Simon Chapples - http://marketingasolicitor.com
Small Business Blog - http://www.sme-blog.com
Trade Macro - http://trademacro.com
Web Hosting Blog - http://www.hostsgate.com/blog
Woman Start Your Business Now - http://womanstartyourbusinessnow.com
Tech Stuff
Anti Spyware & PC Security News – http://digitalhub-tips.com/spyware
Beautiful Minds - http://beautifulminds.in
Brown Thoughts - http://www.brownbaron.com/blog *
Compsci – http://www.compsci.ca/blog
Graphic Design Blog - http://www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk
I Web Is - http://iwebis.com
Jones PC - http://www.jonespc.com
Keiron’s Window Of Madness - http://www.skillett.com/index.php
System Call - http://systemcall.org
Techie Zone - http://blog.techiezone.in
Venture Beat - http://venturebeat.com
Web Design
Design Adaptations - http://designadaptations.com
Writing
Writing Thoughts - http://writingthoughts.com
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Solutions Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-targeted SEO Tucson Website Design
Niche SEO Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization Do Follow List
If your business is located in the US, Canada, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Welcome To Tucson SEO Solutions
July 16, 2008
Welcome to Tucson SEO Solutions.
This website has been a work in progress for the last year. We have recently re-launched this website after nearly a year of dreaming and planning. Previously, we had used a self built Office Live website.
While the website software left a lot to be desired it was free. Yep, the domain name, the website and hosting were all free. We were able to leverage this website to grow our small business beyond merely providing SEO services.
We noted early on that every website that we looked at had serious design and marketing flaws. With this in mind, we decided, never to SEO a broken website. This posed unique challenges as we (the owners) are marketers and not web designers.
We knew we wanted to build and rebuild broken websites so that they were best able to convert their new website traffic. With this in mind, it has been a nine month journey full of obstacles putting our design team together. Finding honest, ethical, and trustworthy designers and editors has been way harder than we had ever anticipated.
We, now have a solid team in place that shares the same vision. This vision is to develop websites that are affordable, that sell, and create customers out of visitors. We simply apply simple basic Geo-Targeted SEO, basic sales 101, proof reading (not the blog), open source CMS, and marketing training to produce tremendous results.
We fully understand how difficult it is to obtain high search ranking in competitive fields. That is why we focus on the local small business owner and niche national players. We play the numbers game, and we play to win.
We never take on a client that we do not believe has a reasonably good chance to obtain first page results over multiple keyword searches (think long tail here.)
We invite you to do some verifying of what we say. Do a Google search for “Tucson house cleaning service.” This is our first website, www.yourfreshstart.us and it has held the #1 or #2 position for this search since April 2007.
We learned SEO out of necessity to market our own website and now we share our experiences with you. We encourage you to comment and thank you for visiting, and if you really like us we would ask that you link to us. This blog is about empowering the small business owner to leverage the web to grow their business.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in US, Canada or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Do Follow SEO - Internet Marketing Blogs
July 16, 2008
Denotes CommentLuv being used *
SEO/SEM “Do Follow” Blogs
Affordable Internet Marketing - http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com
Algo Junkie - http://www.algojunkie.com
Amplify-Interactive http://www.amplify-interactive.com/blog
Antigua Web Solutions - http://antiguawebsolutions.com/myblog
AskaX World - http://askax.net
Ask Owen - http://askowen.info
Attraction Biz - http://attractionbiz.com *
Big Foot Web Marketing - http://www.bigfootwebmarketing.com *
Biznology - http://www.mikemoran.com/biznology/blog
Blizzard Internet Marketing - http://newsletter.blizzardinternet.com
Blue Hat SEO - http://www.bluehatseo.com
BP Wrap - http://blog.cre8asite.net/bwelford
Computer Chit Chat - http://www.computerchitchat.com
Comp Sci.ca - .http://compsci.ca/blog
Darren Singleton - http://www.darrensingleton.com
David Leonhardt’s SEO Marketing - http://www.seo-writer.com/blog
Digital Products Review - http://www.digitalproductsreview.net/blog *
E Business Advantage - http://e-businessadvantage.com *
E Marketing Performance - http://www.emarketingperformance.com
E-MoneyMarketing - http://emoneymarketing.com
Erum Munir -http://www.erummunir.com
Fiddy P - http://www.fiddyp.co.uk *
Geeky Speaky- http://www.GeekySpeaky.com
Getblogged.info - http://getblogged.info
Getting Started Online Today - http://www.getstartedtodayonline.com
Greg Boser - http://www.gregboser.com
I’d Rather Be Blogging - http://www.idratherbewriting.com
Internet Marketing Strategies - http://internetmarketingstrategies.co.za
Internet Marketing Sucks - http://internetmarketingsucks.com/blog
Its Write Now - http://www.itswritenow.com *
Joe Dolson - http://www.joedolson.com
John Cow - http://www.johncow.com
Learning SEO Basics http://learningseobasics.com *
Link Building - http://www.linkbuildingbestpractices.com
Link Building Bible - http://linkbuildingbible.com *
Link Worth - http://blog.linkworth.com *
Marketing Blagger - http://www.marketingblagger.com
Me and My Drum - http://www.meandmydrum.com *
Me Myself And I - http://www.memyselfandiblog.com *
Modern Street - http://www.modernstreet.com
More Than Scratches The Surface – http://www.scratch99.com *
My Online World - http://pixelheadonline.com/blog/index.php
Neil Shearing - http://www.neilshearing.com
Nicholas M Ong - http://nicholasmong.com *
Nusuni.com - http://www.nusuni.com/blog
O’Flaherty - http://blog.oflaherty.dk
Online Public Relations - http://www.ewriting.pamil-visions.com
Organic SEO Blog - http://www.organicseo.in
Out Of My Gord http://outofmygord.com
Pachecus - http://www.pachecus.com
Page Traffic Blog - http://www.pagetrafficblog.com/
Pajama Professional http://pajamaprofessional.com *
Performancing - http://performancing.com
Pimp My Page Rank - http://pimpmypagerank.com
Pingable =- http://www.pingable.org
Raven - http://raven-seo-tools.com/blog
Randa Clay Designs - http://randaclay.com
Reviewer Of Sites - http://www.reviewerofsites.com
Riggie Freyer’s - http://www.freyer.com *
Rob Cubbon - http://robcubbon.com
Ryan Shamus.com - http://ryanshamus.com/blog
Sandossu - http://www.sandossu.com
Schwoit.com - http://schwoit.com *
Screenwrek - http://gesterling.wordpress.com
Search Any Way - http://blog.searchanyway.com
Search Engine Marketing - http://www.darin.cc
Search Engine People - http://www.searchenginepeople.com
Search Rank – http://www.searchrank.com/blog
SEO 2.0 - http://seo2.0.onreact.com
SEO Copy Writing - http://www.seocopywriting.com
SEO Diva - http://www.seodiva.net
SEO Horror - http://www.seohorror.com
SEO Noobs - http://seonoobs.com *
SEO Snack - http://seosnack.com
SEO Techniques - http://daftseo.com
SEO Web Tips - http://seowebtips.com
Shandy King - http://www.shandyking.com
Simple PC Talk - http://www.simplepctalk.com
Site Logic Marketing - http://www.sitelogicmarketing.com
Small Business Branding - http://www.smallbusinessbranding.com
Social Marketing - http://www.michellemacphearson.com
Techsager - http://www.techsagar.com
The Raven Blog - http://raven-seo-tools.com
To Split An Atom - http://howtosplitanatom.com
Total Web Review - http://www.totalwebreview.info
Your Website Profit- http://blog.yourwebsiteprofit.info *
Web 2.0 Spot er - http://www.howtospoter.com *
Webatlantis - http://webatlantis.org *
Weblog Tools - http://weblogtoolscollection.com
Web Style - http://feverishthoughts.com *
Whacked Out Marketing - http://www.whackedoutmarketing.com
WP Theme Designer - http://www.wpthemedesigner.com *
WYPOV.com - http://www.wypov.com *
Unlock The Online World - http://unlocktheonlineworld.com *
Xiirus - http://xiirus.net
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
Local SEO Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization
Small Business SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Do Follow Blog List
If your business is located in Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert, or through out Arizona and across the US and Canada and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Google Sandbox Theory Debunked.
July 15, 2008
We re-launched this website back in April of 2008. To market the site we created some linkbait and call it a ‘Do Follow List.” It is a group of lists of blogs that still pass link juice in the comments of their blog.
Two months later the this websites “Do Follow Page” sits at #4 in Google for the keyword phrase “Do Follow List.” Now, up until we began this linkbait effort we were not targeting this phrase. These three words never appeared together on the same page previously to this project.
There is where the sandbox theory comes into the story. So if you follow the sandbox theory it should take six months before this keyword phrase would start to appear in the SERP’s for our site. Almost every SEO will tell you that any work done on a site will take that long to be effective.
Yet, this phrase was regularly appearing on the first page after one month. We did not want to write about this until it had reached the top 5 and stayed there for a week. Well, this just occurred.
You might think that we did so well because our linkbait produced thousands upon thousands of links. However, we were not flooded with tens of thousands of links. We did however, pick up about 2,000 or links because of this project.
What I believe had the greatest impact was the comment activity on the blog where the list resides. The comments have dribbled in every other day or so and we responded to every question and almost every comment.
We put social into our social media effort. Currently this post has 90 comments. The search engines reward this kind of activity. The visitors and commenter’s enjoy being part of the conversation and seeing a lively discussion. Also their kind comments were very encouraging when the process was becoming tedious and boring.
In less than 2 months we were able to rise to the 4th position in Google for a competitive keyword search “Do Follow List”. We are talking 156 million results competitive. The whole process required time commitments that has exceeded 300 hours and were are still counting.
So this is our evidence that the fabled sandbox doesn’t exist. I am so thrilled to have such documented evidence to debunk this theory. We have never believed in the sandbox after our first website went onto the first page of Google results quickly. Skeptics chided me on blogs and forums that it could not be done for a competitive keyword search. I think 156 Million results make my point.
This accomplishment is partly due to that fact that few websites are actually making an effort to maintain their interest in the “Do Follow Movement.” We seized the opportunity and began planning our assault on this keyword phrase two months in advance of ever publishing the list.
So my friends there are no secrets in this business, except those held within the algorithms. If you really want to obtain the first page of results, it is obtainable; you don’t have to except sandbox theories. You really only need a burning desire to be a winner, a good plan that is executed well, time, and resources.
Success is within reach, you just have to want it bad enough and ignore those who say it can’t be done. Believe in the sandbox theory if you must for me is has never existed.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, or maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
If your business is located in Peoria, Gilbert, or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
What’s In Your Websites Upper Right Corner?
July 14, 2008
Today, I am going to explore a common misconception of website marketing as it relates to the upper right corner of your website. This one is used extensively by marketing professionals. So let me ask you, what’s in your upper right corner of your website?
For many of you the answer is simply a graphic header. For many other website owners that area is occupied with a newsletter sign up form. This is common practice for those who use a newsletter as a part of their marketing efforts.
I recently had appointments with two clients with vibrant marketing businesses. I asked them both the same question. Why is your sign up form in the upper right hand corner of your website? The first man, Sam stated “I don’t know. It was there when I bought the website. Why do you ask?” I answered “because it makes you look desperate!”
The second gentleman, Johnny stated “that’s where marketing websites tell you to put it.” Johnny seemed surprised that I would ask. I again related that it comes off as being desperate. Johnny seemed very confused, the look on his face said “how could they be wrong?”
So imagine, if you will, that your websites home page is the front door of a retail store. How would you feel if when you walked into the store and were immediately greeted by a salesperson? Now, also imagine that that salesperson asked you for a sale right there on the spot. No, “hi how are you.” no qualifying questions or chits chat.
You would probably turn around and leave. That’s what happens to these websites and they often have very high bounce rates. Isn’t it a little presumptive to think that a visitor will want to sign up before they have an opportunity to judge your credibility? You have to earn their respect before you can ask to sign up for a newsletter.
This approach comes off as desperate. So why does this bad advice persist? I believe that this and many other Internet marketing beliefs and practices began early on and no one spoke up and challenged these approaches. Then another person with a heard mentality does it and the practice snowballs. I have heard that this is an expectable practice from other marketing professionals as well.
It is amazing that people whose business is marketing so easily miss this fundamental marketing mistake. All good sales presentations include three elements the features, the benefits, and the call to action. When you place the sign-up form on the top of your website, you are effectively asking for the sales first and that’s the last thing that you should do.
Effective marketing requires thinking outside the box. It also often requires challenging long held beliefs.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, or maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
If your business is located in Flagstaff or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
#4 out of 156,000,000
July 13, 2008
Our SEO practice is all about developing and exploiting niche opportunities. Since SEO is basically a numbers game, you want to target your keyword phrases that are actually being used, but that have a few competitors. It comes down to the fewer competitors the better.
So while we do well at landing this website on the first page of results for SEO related searches, these would not be considered competitive. That’s the whole purpose of what we are trying to achieve.
#4 out of 156,000,000
Our SEO practice is all about developing and exploiting niche opportunities. Since SEO is basically a numbers game, you want to target your keyword phrases that are actually being used, but that have a few competitors. It comes down to the fewer competitors the better.
So while we do well at landing this website on the first page of results for SEO related searches, these would not be considered competitive. That’s the whole purpose of what we are trying to achieve.
So today, I read a question on a forum that I had never visited before. It asked “what is the most competitive keyword that you have ranked for?” I knew that we ranked high for the search “Do Follow List” but I never pay any attention to how many results came up on a Google search for this term.
Well, the answer is that we are #4 out of 156 Million search results… Wow!
All of those ahead of us have had 8 months to a year or more advance lead on us. So it say we are pleased would be an understatement. I am still a little bit in the clouds over this revelation.
We were able to accomplish this recuse we put in over 300 hours developing the list and marketing it effectively. The whole project was created as linkbait for the relaunching of our website and it has worked very well, to say that it exceeded our expectations would be an understatement.
The bottom line here is SEO is not an easy fix, but if you are willing to put in the effort you will succeed.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, or maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
If your business is located in Scottsdale or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Winning At Keyword Development
July 10, 2008
Winning At Keyword Development
Tonight I ran across another forum discussion about keyword tools. Everyone tells what they use. This one swears by WordTracker. The next one thinks AdWords is the greatest things since slice bread. There are always those that like the tool provided by SEOBook. Then there is the smattering of tools that are still obscure.
I seem to be the lone voice that distains these automated tools. I believe in doing research, yep, good ole fashioned and time consuming research. We usually will start out looking at 20 competing websites. We read these web pages from front to back and we take copious notes. We include websites from various regions of the country. This allows you to discover regional variations in language.
We ask the client to come up with their own lists of keywords. Then we perform focus groups. We ask the group to provide keyword feedback on the website. In other words, we ask them what they would search for to find the targeted products or services.
Yes, it does require time and resources, but success isn’t easy in competitive fields. It’s all about thinking outside the box. We use these methods daily because they work.
Then we combine all the research into a database. We use this information to create keyword phrases using 3 or more words, in most cases. Then we place them onto the website and observe what works and what doesn’t.
Generally, we analyze these keywords after 30, 60, and 90 days. We make adjustment based on the website statistics. This is what we call Keyword Development.
Our Best SEO Customer
July 8, 2008
Our Best SEO Customer
Everyone has their own take on what is their best customer. For many their best customer is one who pays on time. Some will take that a little bit further; their best customer is one who pays on time and never complains.
Many will relate that their best customer is a happy customer who sends them quality referrals time and time again. We all appreciate our customers who send referrals. We call this WOM marketing, or Word Of Mouth.
I have developed a very friendly relationship with a business coach here in town who has been a client of mine. We travel in a lot of the same business circles. She warmly introduces me by saying “this guy knows what he’s talking about” in a loud gruff New York City kinda way. She really puts on a very good presentation for me. So Lynn, I want to take a moment to say thanks.
However, I may have a new best customer. This man, Paul gave me my first job in this business. At that time I had been in business 2 months and had only done a few website reviews, but never got a chance to work on someone else’s website.
He was a sales manager at a local moving company with a local customer base. Before I began the Geo-targeted SEO process the website could be found 3 times on the first page of results. Within in two weeks of implementing basic Geo-targeting the website was on Google’s first page 16 times. That grew to 33 times in one month.
We used basic SEO here and targeted 50 or so geo-targeted keywords. However, they failed to implement any vehicle to add fresh content. Then they slowly slipped off the first pages. I recently found that over the last year that had lost almost every thing that they had gained has been surrendered to the competition.
This development changed the way that we approach business and clients. We decided that if the client wasn’t motivated to do everything possible to succeed that we would no longer take on these types of clients. We concluded that it was a waste of effort to SEO a site that was broken or a site that had no way to readily updated.
Last week I discovered that Paul was no longer with this company when I meet his replacement. Then within days Paul calls me out of the blue. He explains “I’m working for a bigger company that has money and I want you to do what you did before, but this company has money.”
He went on to explain that he has talked to a lot of SEO people over the past year and I’m the only one that knows what I’m talking about. He went on to say “you have proven that you can do the job.” He was very surprised when I explained that he was my first customer.
It is this kind of response that keeps me up at night as I plan to roll out our services nationally. When you get this kind of customer feedback anything seems possible.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We further invite you to continue the conversation on your blog and use a trackback, perhaps even social bookmark this post, or maybe Sphinn it, or Stumble it.
If your business is located in Flagstaff or through out Arizona and beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.