Organic Search Results Are Our Speciality!
November 28, 2008
We specialize in organic search results for local and niche product or service websites. We are not interested in working on large e-commerce sites, nor do we offer Pay Per Click management. In fact, we are the anti-PPC SEO Company. Our goal is to achieve the highest possible natural search engine results across multiple keyword phrase searches.
SEO is all a numbers game and we only work where the numbers are in our favor. Think of it this way, let’s say your websites sells blue widgets. You might be competing with thousands of other sites to get the search engines attention. However, if your website features blue widgets in Tucson, or Arizona, the numbers become very favorable for obtaining high search rankings. You are now likely to have only a dozen or so competitors per geographic region. The website site that optimizes locally goes to the first page of results and quickly. It’s all about the numbers and we play where the numbers are in our clients favor.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Casa Grande, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Pre-Launch Website Link Building: You Need This
November 19, 2008
Just about anyone and everyone who has anything to do with Internet marketing knows that Google’s algorithm is based on links. These links are commonly known as backlinks. The more quality relevant links that your website has the better that it will do in the search engine rankings.
So why, wait until your website is built to start building links? Link building for many website owners is an after thought. Heck, let’s be real honest the first time most website owners learn about links is about three months after their website was been launched.
They finally realize that the have little or no website traffic and start asking questions. Their website designer likely didn’t understand search engine optimization so the website was not optimized. So the designer rightly suggests that you need to start on a link building program. Better late than never.
The problem here is that this link building effort has begun about 6 months too late. The website design process can easily stretch into 3 months and if you don’t understand the need to build links you can be missing an opportunity for a quick start.
You need to build inbound or backlinks simply because Google’s algorithm is based on the website inter linking relationship. So the earlier you start the better. Our first website was obtained through barter. So the designer took his good old time building the website.
The whole process finally was completed after four months. Once we had purchased our domain we started building links slowly everyday. When the website launched we had already build up 1400 links to our website. The website rocketed to the first page almost overnight.
I must note that we were not targeting a very competitive field. We targeted house cleaning services and cleaning services in Tucson, but it was our market and we were on the first page. If you are new to the link building process, this pre-launch period will provide you with time to learn the ropes. Believe me there is a lot to learn. Even if your designer does optimize your website you still need to build links. That is if you want search engine traffic from Google.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, through out Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Putting Social Back Into Social Media
November 16, 2008
We want to start off by saying that we believe in social media when it is done correctly. We specialize in working with B2B websites and local B2C sites that are not well suited for most traffic that is generated through social media sites. The sites that we work with don’t use AdSense. However, we are still big promoters of social media.
Social Media has been the Holy Grail for marketers for several years now. The trick, from the marketer’s perspective has been to capture this audiences attention and thus drive traffic to their websites or blogs. In SEO we attempt to do this as well. But at this point this process hasn’t really become social.
The social part doesn’t come into play unless the visitor actually begins to interact socially. The Wall on FaceBook is a good example of where social media can become interactive and actually social. I believe this is where most small business owners miss a wonderful opportunity. They are only focusing on making a sale and on the bottom line.
I am guilty of this as well, and have written often about the dismal Return On Investment (ROI) from social media sites. There are numerous stories floating around the blogosphere about huge amounts of traffic created from Digg that resulted in very few conversions. The writer usually concludes that at least they ended up with a couple of hundred links.
The lesson here is that while it is possible to generate huge increases in traffic from social media sites it is very difficult to turn this group into buying customers. That’s where we, as website owners, must become social and a blog is a wonderful tool to accomplish this. We caution clients, potential clients, and anyone who will listen to avoid social media if all they want to do is sell.
Driving social traffic just to sell your product or service is a waste of time. This traffic has come to you as curious window shoppers looking to be social. If you don’t have a vehicle on your website that allows them to interact then this isn’t a social experience for them, after all social requires interaction.
Our blog accomplishes this for our B2B website. We create these articles, and then we submit them to Digg, Stumble and the like. Hopefully someone that visits creates a social experience by leaving a comment. We then take the time to personally respond and do not use an auto responder. If the commenter makes an unusually good comment, we will take the extra time to respond on the blog and by email.
Thus we create a social experience on a business website. Many businesses wrongly think a video accomplishes this for them. But there isn’t anything social about a video if you can not interact with the website.
I see so many blogs were the owner presents their topic and never engages with their responders. I have always seen this as rude and anti social. Like being at a dinner party someone starts a conversation and walks away not caring about your option or to answer a question. Never to be heard from again.
I’m writing this today because Nicole commented that we had a great “Do Follow List” but that it would be nice if we listed PR as well. So I took the time to email her to thank her for the comment. I took it a step further by explaining why we thought PR and link building had lost their relevancy to each other.
She wrote back today and thanked me for taking the time to send a personal reply. She also noted she would put me on her sites and social bookmark the site. So if you have a blog (a very good social tool) don’t forget to be social, interact with your commenter’s on your blog and by email. Sure it takes time but it also shows that you truly care. Social media requires interacting with others and giving freely to strangers.
Are you ready to put social into your media efforts?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog,SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Website Stats Reveal Hidden Gems – A Follow-Up
November 16, 2008
Every few days or so, I get around to checking where our website traffic is coming from and what pages are generating the most traffic. Shortly after we created our “Do Follow List” it became the most frequented page visited. It has stayed that way for three months and doesn’t look like it will be fading anytime soon.
The second most visited page is our blog. This makes a lot of sense, we post often and each new post is submitted to Technorati, Digg, Stumble, Reddit. We also ping a large number of sites and we also submit each post to Google’s Blog Search.
The third most visited web page is the home page. This traffic is generated by the search engines mostly. This is the group most likely in need of our services.
The #4 and #5 positions are taken up by more recent blog posts. One of those is for our “Do Follow Forum List.” It originally was part of a much larger list but was recently separated to create a series of smaller lists. These two pages have just moved up into the top 5 since I last reviewed my website stats.
I tell you this to point out that there is a lot of very useful information hidden within your statistics. I have determined that posts that create value for the visitors become the most visited pages. This seems like common sense I know, but these insights can be useful.
You can begin to see patterns both positive and negative. If you are one of those inclined to take a closer look at things you might find some real gems here. Let’s say a post generated 500 visits but only 5 comments. This might reveal that you are a great marketer but that your content is weak.
Follow-up - After this post I took another look at what searches people were using to find us and I was surprised by something that I had noticed. We had a new Keyword phrase as the most searched query. We have been targeting Phoenix SEO for sometime. There are many websites working to gain or maintain the first page for this search. So it has been difficult to gain a presence on Google’s first page.
We managed to crack the the #10 position for three days running. Even at the 10th spot we were able to generate a bunch of traffic. This blew me away and encouraged me that my efforts were worth it. I was very surprised by this gem. We will now work to polish it to perfection.
When you take the time to analyze your statistics you can find some very amazing pieces of information. For many of you, this is something that you already know, but for many website owners this is all new to them. So if this is new to you, then definitely it is time to add Google Analytics. Its a free Google tool.
We recommend that your stats be reviewed weekly!
So I ask when is the last time you looked at your website stats?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, through out Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Can Google’s Search Results Be Trusted?
November 14, 2008
We just did a search Google search for “niche SEO’ where we are usually in the number # 1 or #2 position bouncing back and forth with Aaron Wall’s seobook website. To our surprise another website www.seosearchbot.com was in the #1 position. So we visited the site.
The website lacked content and was easy to read, as it is one of those link directories. We used the Ctrl F command and discovered that the word niche didn’t appear on the page.
We then ventured to check out the pages source code. We did another Ctrl F search and again we came up with no results. So why did this website appear in the search results? Does anyone have a reasonable explanation?
Well, before this even got posted the site dropped to the #4 position. I just don’t know how it ever ranked for niche SEO when the word niche never appears!
We will continue to investigate and keep you updated.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, the Arizona cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Winning At Keyword Development
November 12, 2008
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 disdains these automated tools. I believe in doing research, yep, good old fashioned and time consuming research. We usually will start out looking at 20 competing websites. We read their 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. This is so hugely important. There is no easy way to the top.
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.
There is also a new face of keyword development that may eventually change the whole industry dramatically. This new face is Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI. It scores pages on where the keywords appear on the pages.
We invite you to visit SEOBook and Wikipedia to learn more about the growing importance of this new tool.
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.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Geo-targeted Websites For The Cleaning And Services Related Businesses
November 12, 2008
Tucson SEO Solutions is excited to announce that we are offering affordable websites that are specifically built for the house cleaning, cleaning services, and other service related businesses that have a local customer base, such as Tucson.
These websites meet the unique demands of lead generation required by all service industries. We have chosen to use the open source platform, WordPress to build these sites.
The choice of WordPress allows us to include the following with our websites.
The actual website is specifically designed to generate leads using the features and benefits presentation that includes a “call to action.” We also include all aspects of good basic Geo-Targeted SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. This is the process of creating high search ranking and website traffic.
We also provide Search Engine Marketing which is designed to provide search engine and visitor traffic.
We are able to provide all of these services and create winning websites all for about the price of most design services.
We invite you to visit the Web Sites For Service Providers
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing, Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
KISS My Website!
November 11, 2008
I was reading an article today about website usability. When it struck me that what they were saying was the equivalent to Keep It Simple Stupid. I thought, Wow, this really sums up our approach to building websites that convert website visitors into customers.
When I encounter a website that was way too much information crammed onto a page I leave quickly wondering “what were they thinking when they built this site.” These sites often have multiple navigation menus and way too much information. This creates information overload. These websites have very high bounce rates and are not very effective.
Many websites overload you with too many options on the home page. This makes finding anything difficult. They often include flashing avatars to get your attention. They fail to understand how the eyes track when you visit a website. Eye tracking studies have shown that any movement, picture or graphic on a web page actually makes concentrating on the written content more difficult.
This is why we only use simple clean designs that do not overwhelm the visitor. That is why we focus on turning the website visitor into a customer, before we concentrate on “The look and feel” of the website.
As part of our KISS approach we use a hub and spoke system of website design. Our home page hub provides snippets of information about the other pages and provides a link to this detailed information. These links act like spokes that lead away from the hub.
We specialize in building websites for service industries. Visitors to these sites are transactional searchers. The transactional searchers are looking to complete a transaction. They are active and highly motivated to find a service provider who can fulfill there needs. They respond well to clean straight forward websites that clearly define the service and how it will benefit them. The final touch to our KISS approach is that we ask you to pick up the phone and call Now! We do this on every page.
We often remind clients that vanilla ice cream is by far the largest selling flavor of ice cream world wide. We dish up vanilla websites day in and day out. The reality is that the service website visitor is looking you to solve a problem or fulfill a need.
That is why we KISS our websites.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg, 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, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Tucson Search Engine Optimization Meet-Up Now A Reality
November 11, 2008
Tucson Search Engine Optimization Meet-Up Has Arrived.
Tucson SEO Solutions has created a seven part seminar series called the “Create A Successful Website Series.” This series will include seven one training sessions spread over a seven week period.
Week one will cover how to develop keyword phrases. 11/12 Completed.
Week two will be covering the importance of in-bound link development. 11/19 This is a do not miss seminar and that is because Google’s algorithm is based on website linking to each other. Link building and SEO work hand in hand.
Week three will cover how to market your website. 11/26
Week four will take a look at the most effective marketing tool available. 12/03
Week five will include Search Engine Optimization or SEO. 12/10
Week six will be all about what works and what doesn’t. 12/17
Week seven will explore the advantages of ethical email marketing. 01/07
We are currently charging nothing for this training. That right we will be providing thousands of dollars of training at no cost. If we find at out there is a high no show rate we will then consider a RSVP registration fee. Seating is limited to 20 members and guests.
If you are interested to becoming a member please visit our Tucson Search Engine optimization Meet-Up page.
If you have joined our Meet-Up group please do introduce yourself and tell us about your website. If you haven’t joined yet, but have questions please comment below.
Update 11/11/2008
I am very excited about tomorrows seminar. It will be the first in our journey to create a successful website. We are happy to be offering hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of free training to local merchants. I love what I do and I really enjoy empowering businesses to leverage the internet to grow your business. I am looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.
Update 11/12/2008
WE had our first meeting last night. The group was small but we had some lively discussions. The session went at bit long at over two and a half hours, but it was a very rewarding experience. I learned that although keyword development is the cornerstone of any website it may have not been the best topic to have started the series with.
I sat that, because much of the discussion covered how to apply keywords which is covered in other sections of the seminars. So the next time I offer this series I will re-arrange the order of the presentations. I want to also take the time to thanks those who attended.
Are you ready to create a successful website?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479.
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
What Do You Want Your Website Visitor To Do?
November 11, 2008
When you talk with most website designers the first question that they ask is “What kind of look and feel do you want your website to have?” 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 gives 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 also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or even maybe social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Apache Junction, Superior, Casa Grande, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Google Indexing Some Flash Files
November 10, 2008
Today I discovered that Google can now index text content in Flash files. I found this very interesting news. I have never been a fan a flash because the text could not be indexed. This made optimizing a website a very difficult process for many. It often required that an HTML version of the website to be created. Which adds a lot of work and expense to build a Flash based website.
So I was very curious to find this Google Update on their Blog http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/.
The post went on to answer very specific questions and is worth while reading if you have a flash site. It did note that FLV files that are used on YouTube can not be currently indexed as they have no text available for indexing.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Duplicate Content – Don’t Worry Be Happy
November 10, 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!
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Scottsdale,Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Google’s “Do No Evil” Some Say It’s Just Not So
November 9, 2008
Google is famous for it’s “Do No Evil” approach to doing business. However, many of its biggest advertisers are disputing this position. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on Google and its struggle with trademark infringement in it paid ad placements. Google currently allows trademarks and copy written materials to be used in its AdSense and Ad Words pay per click advertising
One of Google largest advertisers, American Airlines filed suit last August in a Texas federal court. They are claiming trademark infringement. The suit requests that Google stop selling trade mark protected keywords.
A Google spokesperson replied that lower court decisions have supported Google concerning these matters. This matter is not limited to just American Airlines other large corporations such as Marriott Hotels and Northwest airlines have voiced opposition to the position taken by Google.
Several months ago it was pointed out to me during a business discussion that I was vulnerable to the same situation. At that time I scoffed at the notion that this could happen to our business. I stated as a local SEO service provider my market wasn’t likely to be targeted. I also replied “there isn’t much that I could do anyway; I couldn’t afford to sue Google.”
Now, that we are expanding our business presence to a national audience we have found that our position has matured on this subject. While we still can not afford to fight the search engines in courts we find that we do support American Airlines on this trademark issue.
Why shouldn’t trademark laws be enforceable on the Internet? The WJS pointed out several examples of trademarks being used as a bait and switch. This problem is often called “piggybacking” where a trademarked business name is used to lure visitors to another unrelated site.
Google is rumored to punish websites that use these kinds of methods in their organic search results. It is believed your website might actually be penalized by linking with unrelated sites, or the link is considered useless. But they are doing little to stop this practice in the money producing portion of their results. American Airlines thinks its illegal.
Now, don’t get me wrong we are big fans of Google. However, it does seem that this trademark issue is tarnishing their “Do No Evil” mantra. What do you think?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Yuma, Gilbert, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Website 101 – Just Say No To Website Submission Services
November 6, 2008
Recently, when I was doing a website review the client asked me about how I handle website submissions. This caused me to pause for a moment, I looked at him and asked “Are you asking me if these website submission services are worth all the millions that they charge, for a useless service, that you can do yourself for free.
He stated “Yes, I have read… At this point I politely interrupted him, by saying “Yes, I known, there is a lot that is written, about how beneficial these services can be, but that is just not so, or is no longer so. He noted “things do changed don’t they?”
Yes, I explained, “things are always changing.” which is why this service is no longer beneficial. This kind of exchange happens all too often with clients and potential clients. This is especially true for the small business owner who is the mainstay of our business. This is one reason they come to us for advice.
This is why I enjoy blogging and providing training seminars. These are wonderful tools to educate the consumer and to develop trust. An educated consumer is our best friend. We want our clients to be actively involved with the marketing and management of their websites.
Our desire is to empower the client to leverage the Internet to grow there business. We provide the tools, the training, and services to conquer the SERP’s for their local target market.
It is so way cool to help someone who was struggling to make the Internet work and then turn their website into a profit center.
Here are the links you use to submit your website.
Google – http://www.google.com/addurl/
Yahoo – https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
MSN – http://search.live.com/docs/submit.aspx
Why pay when it’s free!
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Where Do We Go From Here?
November 5, 2008
November 4th 2008 has been a very historic day for our nation. Yes, change is coming whether you voted for the winning candidates or not. The economy is in a perilous condition known as a recession. People are scared and re-evaluating just about everything that they do as individuals and as business owners.
We are no different in that regards. We have been re-evaluating how we go about the practice and marketing of this business. We started this business with a huge educational component. We wanted to train the business owner to do this stuff themselves and that was the focus of this business.
When we began this journey the small local business owner was and still is our core market. However, many, if not most of these business owners, even those with websites, know very little about the inner workings of a site. They may even know less about how to market their websites.
This posed a huge problem for this business because consumers didn’t understand our services. So after months of evaluation we concluded that seminars would be the best marketing tool available. The seminars would serve dual purposes. They would educate the consumer about our industry and would serve as a wonderful marketing tool.
So we started offering search engine optimization and marketing basics seminars for a small fee last year. These seminars not only were a great marketing tool, but they also provided a valuable small business resource.
Then in March of 2008 we re-evaluated our business approach. At that time we decided to discontinue offering local seminars. We began to redesign our website to take us from a regional player into a national player in the SEO field. Amazingly this approach worked. This site can be readily found on the first page of the Google results for multiple searches that include SEO in the search query, such as small business SEO solutions.
However, while we were focusing on creating a national presence for ourselves we neglected our core market here in Tucson. We also discovered it is much harder to land a client from Hawaii or Florida than one that is located here. The weakening economy has also played a huge role. So we again decided it was time to re-evaluate our business model.
We have concluded that it was time to start offering seminars for small business owners with websites again. However, we decided to expand the seminars to include 7 segments that cover all aspect of having a successful website.
We then took a long look at our pricing structure and the economy and have chosen a path that we have never gone. We will be offering these seminars absolutely free with no string attached. Like we always have said “An educated consumer is our best friend.” The hope is that those who attend our seven part series will learn, prosper, and tell their friends and families.
So for us these seminars offer an opportunity to generate a whole bunch of high quality ‘Word Of Mouth” advertising. We also have long term goals of producing a seminar series that will be sold on our website as a subscription service.
So having said all of this, let me ask you what are you doing differently in these changing times to survive or expand your business?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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 in the Arizona cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, and beyond and would like to learn 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.
Trackback Heads-UP Search Engine People
November 5, 2008
I love wakening up in the morning and opening my email to discover that I have a trackback connected to my blog. A trackback is a way of notify a blog owner that you have been written about. Call it a blogosphere heads-up if you’d like. So I visited the site.
Today, I discovered that Search Engine People had written a very cool and in-depth article about “Top lists”. They included our post on Top Ten Reason not to Blog in their article.
I highly recommend visiting Search Engine People and reading the post. The writer put a lot of effort into the post and I would ask that you give him some link love and visit and leave a comment. It’s a good blog that allows “Do Follow Comments” and uses CommentLuv.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Paid Links Our Point Of View
November 5, 2008
As you most likely know by now, Google finally has begun to enforce its long standing position on the buying and selling of link’s in 2007. It’s official position was first outlined back in 2003 on their webmaster blog. Here is a more recent update: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/information-about-buying-and-selling.html
We are very pleased that they have finally taken action. As they say better late then never. We have always thought the ability to buy links gave deep pocketed companies a huge advantage over the small website with limited resources.
Some say Google is the biggest link seller in the world with their AdWords program. We would agree but it’s their service and they can do what they deem most effective for them.
The sad part about this is that a whole lot of websites took huge hits financially over Google’s decision to enforce these rules. Thousands upon thousands of website business models were built on the ability to sell links. This has effectively shut down many of these operations.
Taking four years to enforce a company policy and then forcing businesses to completely alter their business practices doesn’t seem very fair to us. Now, don’t get us wrong we are big fans of Google. We just wish this had been handled a little better.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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, through out Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Tucson SEO Asks You To Vote Today
November 3, 2008
Tucson SEO Asks You To Vote Today
It is a very simple thing that we ask of you today, from Tucson SEO. We are asking that you get out an express what makes America great by voting. The right to vote and to run for public office is one of the cornerstones of American society. We would ask that you take the time to vote today.
Yes, the lines may be long, but we as a nation in turmoil need you to participate. Many lives have been shed for this right and many an individual world wide years for this right. So please exercise your right to make a difference.
Political Endorsement Viewed As Page Rank
November 2, 2008
I have wanted to write for sometime about the presidential election that is currently upon us in the United States. However, politics and business do not often mix well, especially, if you have opposing views. I was further reminded of this election as I just picked up my early ballot and related information from my desk. That’s when I began to reflect upon two recent and significant endorsements, both of which went to Barak Obama.
That’s when I realized that political endorsements can be like backlinks. After all, I have heard over the last few year, perhaps hundreds of times, that a backlinks can be considered a vote can be for a website. Like endorsements, some backlinks are more important than others.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at a couple recent endorsements for Senator Obama. There are two notable endorsements from over the weekend. The first one came with a big splash on Meet The Press when Colin Powell endorsed Obama. The other was from the corporate titan and CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt. Of the two endorsers only Mr. Schmidt will actively work with the candidate and his campaign.
I would know like to look at these endorsements as backlinks with Page Rank. So if these endorsements are backlinks what do you think their Page Rank would be? Let’s first take a quick look at Mr. Powell.
Retired four-star general in the United States Army
Former Assistant to the President on National Security
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Former chairman of Americas Promise The Alliance for Youth
Secretary of State of the United States
Received 2 Presidential Medals of Freedom
Received Presidents Citizens Medal
Received Congressional Gold Medal
Received Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal
Received Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal
He is also a well known and admired world leader.
Now, I will take a look at Mr. Eric Schmidt.
Current CEO at Google
Has worked at Novell
Has worked for Sun Microsystems
He has a doctorate degree from Cal Berkeley
He is an engineer.
Member of the National Academy of Engineers
He gets a lot of attention as the corporate leader of Google and will be campaigning for Obama in the few remaining days that are left in the campaign.
It’s now its time to consider the value of these two if they were backlinks.
These are how the link will be judged for PR purposes.
The first consideration will be relevancy to the candidate.
The next consideration is trust.
Then does the person represent authority on the subject?
Since links are needed to generate useful traffic that will actually bring visitors to your site who want what you have to offer. We will look at these two for what they might offer the campaign.
Mr. Powell will be granted a PR of 9. He represents trust and authority and is relevant to the subject.
Mr. Schmidt will be granted a PR of 2. He does not seem like and authority on the subject and he is only slightly relevant. He is given a small amount of credit on the trust score, because I like Google.
Will these endorsements (links) really make much of a difference? When looking at links we must evaluate them also as traffic generators. Does this traffic actually improve our ROI. It is really hard to determine how much influence Mr. Schmidt will have on voter turnout and actual votes for Senator Obama. The most likely advantage is not immediate, but may produce positive results down the road. It can’t hurt getting the ear of the Obama campaign if he should eventually win.
So if long term benefit is the goal then Mr. Schmidt would be a link worth having.
I actually found myself pondering the effectiveness of the Colin Powell endorsement (link.) I had been considered that areas of the country that have a high military and ex-military presence might be impacted. My reasoning was based on Colin Powell’s long service record. I would soon find that indeed his endorsement has made a difference.
While waiting in a long line at our local Mervyn’s department store on Sunday, a casual conversation turned to the economy the elections. Mervyn’s had just announced that they are not coming out of bankruptcy and will be liquidating. During our wait we began talking with a retired couple from Kentucky about the economy and the elections. The endorsement of Powell came up. I stated that I thought that it would have an impact in Florida and in northern Virginia; both have a huge current and former military presence.
The gentleman spoke up and said “I know it is making a difference. He stated “I was talking with a retired military officer from back home this morning. He stated that Powell’s endorsement had swung is vote to Obama.”
I have no profound tale to tell about how Mr. Schmidt. I scoured the internet trying to find someone who had changed their mind due to his endorsement. However, that search was in vain.
So from a backlink perspective it would seem that Colin Powell’s endorsement offers much more link juice than the one from Google’s Mr. Schmidt. It would also seems that Mr. Schmidt doesn’t have much value to make a difference when considering ROI for the elections.
So I ask you how you would grade these two as backlinks?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg 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 in the Arizona cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, and beyond and would like to learn 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.