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If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 3 Comments

Keeping Up With Page Rank V 2.0

June 4, 2011

Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Keeping Up With Page Rank

This was originally posted back in 2009.

This is not a post that indicates some hidden truth or explanation about Page Rank. No, it is simply a post that indicates why I pay so little attention to it. Our site and blog had been sitting with a PR of 3 up until the most recent update. Then they both dropped down to a PR of 2. Both had seen steady increases in links so I was a bit perplexed, but it seemed to be part of a general trend. Many websites are experiencing PR down grades these days.

Then I noticed that our Tucson Small Business Networking Group site had a PR of 4. The site was just launched in May and Yahoo’s Site Explorer showed only 17 backlinks recorded. How could this be? Brand new sites are not supposed to have any PR. So how then did I end up with a PR of 4? This is beyond my understanding. Page rank is supposed to be a delayed report based on months old information.

Then today I discovered that the site and blog now have a PR of 3 and the networking site has experienced a downgrade to a PR 3. Could it be a fluke in the Page Rank? I don’t know. It is still this way days later and nothing has changed!

Well over a years time that situations changed. This website now has a PR of 0, but it still ranks well. As for me I only concern myself about page rank when I am building backlinks.

Update 06/01/2011: Back in late 2009 I added a widget to some of my blog posts. Google didn’t like this at all and the blog dropped out of sight in the rankings. Not only that we lost our Page Rank for all of our pages except the home page.

After, I remove the widget, the rankings were quickly restored but not our Page Rank except the home page. However, the blog and many of our sales pages continued to rank well. Often these pages would rank # 1 for their targeted keyword phrases but the page still showed a 0 PR.

My takeaway is this. I now am only concerned about PR when it relates to me acquiring backlinks from other pages. While I might want a higher PR for ego purposes it doesn’t seem to have any impact on our rankings. My 0 PR pages often out rank pages with PR’s of 4 or 5!

What say you?

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 3 Comments

Google Sandbox Theory Debunked V 2.0

May 19, 2011

Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Google Sandbox Theory Debunked V 2.0

This post first appeared back in May of 2008.

I had been reading every since I got into Internet Marketing about this mythical thing called a Google sandbox. I never believed it and by the time this blog arrived I had three sites that ranked right out the gate and stayed there. This would seem to put holes in this theory, at least for me.

I have since launched six other SEO related websites that very quickly began to rank well in the Google search results. Now, I came to the internet game in late 2006 so it is possible that this sandbox did exist at one time. However, over the last three and a half years I have seen no evidence of its existence.

Surprisingly this topic still comes up for discussion on forums all the time. This is why SEO can be so confusing for so many. Certain practices that once worked will become obsolete over time. However, those who make money on these services have a vested interest in keep the practices going. They want to continue to make money and they could care less if there methods still work. Search engine submission services come to mind. They were a valid service in a previous century but they are mostly useless today.

We re-launched this website back in April of 2008. To market the site we created some linkbait that we call our ‘Do Follow List.” It is a of lists of blogs that still pass link juice from comments on their blog.

Two months later the websites “Do Follow Page” sat 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 of our website previously to this project.

Now, the original post: Google Sandbox Theory Debunked

This 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, Do Follow List, 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 pick up about 2,000 or so 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.

At the time of the original post there had been 90 comments. Currently (as of) Nov. 28 2008 there are now 345 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 (maintaining the lists.)

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 competitive results. The whole process required time commitments that have exceeded 400 hours and we 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. (this has since changed but we still rank at the top for this search)

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 well executed, 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 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.

What say you?

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 1 Comment

Google Drives Me Crazy

April 30, 2011

Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Google Drives Me Crazy

This post was originally posted in 2009.

That’s right Google drives me crazy, but it still shows this website and blog a lot of love. The overall site and blog rank extremely, as in it ranks on the first page for over 60 keyword phrases that we target. That’s the love part. The crazy part for this site is it can’t seem to make up its mind when it comes to the keyword phrase, Local SEO. It can’t make up its algorithm on which page that it should rank higher our Home page or the Local SEO page.

I though that Google had settled on our home page as the primary page for this search. For most of the summer it settled into the # 4 position. Then in August it started bouncing between these two pages and our rankings suffered. Over the last three days it had delivered our Home page first. Today, it is serving up the Local SEO page first. A lot of this has to do with what data center your search was directed towards.

Yes, Google results are not the same across all of their data centers. I have never seen an explanation for this but it continues to be a problem, at least for people like me.

My other really big concern is the changes that Google is making to its Local Business Center (LBC.) (Now Google Places) They are rolling out new add features that have been appearing in San Francisco and San Diego and that have been widely covered by local maps followers.

For those outside of our industry the LBC simply is the known as Google Business maps.

Just when I was ready to start offering optimization of the LBC for clients Google started rolling out new features. This caused a major upheaval in the results. The LBC algorithm is separate from the primary results that it produces. It is based on what is known as citations.

These citations usually appear as recommendations and reviews that appear on other websites. These have disappeared not only for us but all across the board. This caused many websites to be dumped off of the first page of the maps. This is not a very good thing at all.

So from one day to the next Google sends me and thousands of others into frenzy while we try to figure out what is going on. Generally, these work themselves out… in a week or two. Did I say that I am still waiting! This new add placement feature will make us all rethink Local SEO.

04/20/2011 This craziness continued at a rampant pace in 2011 with the May Day update and Places Search roll out just to name a few changes. The biggest change is Google’s push into local markets. It has rolled out and then closed Tags.

Google is also slowly rolling out an AdWords product for local business that it calls Boost. It is the spawn of the testing that I spoke of earlier. Boost is basically a fixed price AdWords program for local markets. This might be a promising option for local advertisers.

It really all depends what the price per month per keyword phrase is before one can accurately determine what the cost/benefit is. I, for one, have never used AdWords but I might consider offering Boost for clients. It all depends what Google is going to charge.

What say you?

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 7 Comments

Slow Loading Pages Are They Costing You Business V 2.0

January 29, 2011

Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Slow Loading Pages Are They Costing You Business V 2.0

Does your website load quickly? Many a potential customer will never reach your website because of slow loading pages. We have all experienced this. You do your Google search and you see a promising website. You then click onto that link and wait and wait some more. Then you simply give up and try another site.

A slow loading website will drive potential visitors away long before your website ever opens. You have about two seconds to accomplish this. I call it the Google effect. Web surfers are so used to Google providing search results instantly. They then expect this quickness from all websites all the time.

The problem isn’t limited to small business websites that may have been home built. They actually often load very quickly because they don’t have many people visiting at the same time or they are loaded with a lot of graphics. Retail e-commerce sites are notoriously slow loading for a variety of reasons. There are literally Billions of dollars lost annually due to slow loading pages. This problem may require a bit of website redesign to resolve.

A general rule of thumb is that you have about two seconds maybe three for your site to open. If it takes any longer your potential visitors leave quickly to try another option. The more web savvy your visitor the quicker they leave. Imagine if your website is slow loading for a cable connection, and then imagine how slow the process is for DSL, dial-up service, or for someone using a notebook and using a Wi-Fi connection.

Update: 04/25/2009 – When I wrote this story when I knew that I had very slow loading pages. My website developed at the time swore it was WordPress that was the problem. My current developer said the old web host, 1 and 1 was the problem as they have really slow servers. I switched to Host Gator and the difference was amazing almost like a night and day difference.

Update 06/01/2010: Well, loading time is so important that Google has now included this element into it’s algorithm. Google also recently put out a video to explain there reasons behind the move. As part of that video it addressed a joint study by Google and Microsoft. That study indicated that e-commerce sites have two seconds to open before people start abandoning them.

I for one am very happy to see this happen!

The moral of this story is, don’t loose your visitor before they actually see your website.

What say you?

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If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , New River, Black Canyon, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 1 Comment

Get On The First Page Of Google Today… Really

January 16, 2011

Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Get On The First Page Of Google Today… Really

This post was originally posted in 2008.

Get on Google’s First Search Engine Results Page today. It sounds like some kind of SEO gimmick I know, but it’s true. Using websites like Craigslist and MSN , is where this begins and both are free. Free classified ads placed on these websites rule the SERP’s when used correctly. They allow you to post just about anything. However, they all have different rules so make sure you are aware of them.

Craigslist allows you to use HTML and place links in your ads to your website. These are great for driving some traffic to your website, but they no longer pass link juice. However, the same does not hold true for MSN. You can use Anchor text links on MSN but it has to be copied from somewhere else. You can not directly place HTML in MSN ads as you can on Craigslist.

The key to how all this works is in using your keyword phrases in your titles and in your content. A little basic SEO goes a long way here. That means using basic SEO techniques on another website to drive traffic to your website.

This works extremely well for long tail keyword phrases and for local websites. I have used this technique for the term “affordable Nike drivers.” Recently, within 2 days we were able to acquire the first 5 results on Google’s first page for this search term. This was an experiment and a learning lesson for a “would be rookie SEO” in the 206 zip code! (This is a story for another day) I did this several months ago.

This method can also be used for branding purposes. This is accomplished by placing your business name in the forefront of your ads or in your ads contents. This assures your company name will appear in the snippet field of each search result, if done properly. Since around 47% or so of searchers use the snippet when deciding whether to visit your site, you business name needs to be there.

You will want to write something like this. My business is XYZ and we provide XYZ.

While these methods will drive traffic to your website, the real secret here is not about the traffic that is produced. No, it was about denying my competition access to Google’s first page of results! Think about it, for every place you have taken up with your free classified ad or social media comment, you have removed your competition from the first page of search results.

I did this as an experiment in late 2010. I was able to acquire the first 15 positions in Google for the term Local SEO Arizona. I did it to make a point.

Also remember this, 89% or so of web searchers never go beyond the first page of results, those sites that are bumped from the first page are now less competitive. Some have suggested to me that this is not fair. While they are entitled to there opinion I would strongly disagree.

Tucson SEO Solutions has used this technique almost daily for over a year for the search term “Tucson SEO.” There are days when we have able to acquire 9 out of 10 positions for this search. Usually, we hold down 3 or 4 positions. It just depends how busy we have become. When we placed 9 out of 10 we were not a very busy SEO company and we spent a lot of time branding ourselves.

Give it a try if you like, just please do follow the rules on each site and be ready for immediate search results. Do a search for “affordable Nike drivers” and you see what we mean.

Did we mention that I have never spent a penny on marketing on line. I have spent hundreds on printed materials for expos but never a penny on line.

What we have written about here we offer as training that is included with our website design and redesign services but in greater detail and it covers many more options.

Update 01/06/2011: MSN closed its free ads site that I referred to here. I now use social media sites and place blog posts or videos to accomplish the same thing. These work extremely well in local and niche markets as I mentioned earlier.

Do you need assistance marketing your website?

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If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, New River, or Cave Creek, Arizona and beyond and you need Google Places SEO solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 2 Comments

Pre-Launch Website Link Building: You Need This

January 13, 2011

Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Pre-Launch Website Link Building: You Need This

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.

What say you?

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 3 Comments

Websites Are Like A Car Salesperson

December 16, 2010

Websites Are Like A Car Salesperson

This is one of my favorite posts from 2008. I use this example when discussing website marketing and the need to use a sales funnel. The whole purpose of your web pages should be to bring your visitor to make a buying decision. For those who have been in sales this process is known as a features and benefits presentation. In print is often called a sales funnel.

Now, to the original post updated!

Salespeople sell that’s their job. Well, a website is no different it’s all about selling or should be. It makes no difference whether you are peddling products, services, or ideas. You must actively be selling to succeed in website marketing. Just throwing facts and descriptions on your website is wasted effort.

I tell this story every time we talk to a perspective client. Imagine that you are going to visit a new car showroom. When you encounter the salesperson they will do several things during your visit. When they start their presentation they will explain the features of the vehicle. They then will explain the benefits of those features. Finally, they will ask you for the sale.

This is basic sales 101. It is know in the industry as the features and benefits presentation. You know when you go to the car dealer this is what you will encounter. The salespersons job is to sell. You as a website owner need to be selling. Sadly, very few websites sell. This is because most websites are created without input from a sales marketing professional. How many websites have you visited that do a complete sales presentation? It is likely that you have ever seen a good sales presentation on the web. Does your website sell?

I offer solutions that incorporate all the elements of a good sales presentation on existing websites as part of our SEO services. I call this process Holistic SEO. I also instruct our website design and redesign clients on how to write their content to sell. You might be amazed by the blank stares that I get when I suggest rewriting their content so that it sells.

I will not provide our SEO services to a websites that are not willing to make the necessary changes with the sites content. Our belief is this “Why bring traffic to a broken website.” Your website needs to be more than just information. You have to actively bring your visitor to a buying decision. This means creating a sales funnel.

I view our clients as partners rather than customers. I want them not only to have increased traffic, but I want that traffic to have the best opportunity to convert into business. SEO and web design should be a collaborative process or that’s my view of things. I simply would not want to take a clients money for SEO if their sites is properly prepared to sell.

Is your website broken? Do you actively sell or do you just provide information and hope for the sale?

We at Tucson SEO Solutions are officially requesting that you join the conversation here. That is, if you found that this post was at all interesting, useful, or perhaps you are just looking for a useful link. Then, I would like to entice you to comment by providing you with useful backlinks as part of what I call “Scratch My Back Marketing.”

The Scratch My Back Marketing requires you to scratch this blog by leaving a useful comment of at least 20 words or more. Your comment should be relevant to the post. My scratch is that you will receive a Do Follow anchor text link (Keyword Luv.) And if you have a blog with an RSS feed enabled you will receive an extra permalink back to your blog via Comment Luv.

It’s all about win/win marketing. I am willing to exchange page rank for the bump that a fresh comment provides.

Are you ready to exchange comments for links?

This is the part where I move link juice around the site and hope that someone might actually want to learn more about our local small business solutions and venture further.

Too learn more about our services please check out these links:

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If your business is located in the US, Tempe, Phoenix, Glendale, and Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Internet marketing, or our affordable website design/re-design services please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!

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Posted by Urban | Filed Under Geo Targeting | 6 Comments

Google Quietly Rolls Out Boost

December 12, 2010

Welcome to the Niche Internet Marketing Services blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.

Google Quietly Rolls Out Boost

Before I get into today’s post I want to recognize and welcome our visitors from the Arizona communities of Marana and Oro Valley. I also wanted you to know that you are here because I have specifically targeted you and your businesses need to rank well in the Google Places search results. I hope that you find this information useful. And if you need Google Places SEO services that you will consider Tucson SEO Solutions.

Towards the end of October 2010 Google rather quietly rolled out a new ad program that can be accessed from your Google Places account. It is basically an easy version of it AdWord text link program. Google announced the program and their was a flurry of posts on the topic initially. But things quieted down since then.

Unfortunately, my business does not have a Places account that can use the product so I never got an invite to try the program. It also doesn’t make much sense for me since Google allows me to be listed by business name only. When you search for my business by name the results are all mine with one exception. Thus buying additional ads would be useless.

But I have been surprised that things quieted down so quickly about this new product. Have any of you tired this service? I would like to hear from you.

What say you?

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