Demand Media Files For IPO

August 14, 2010

Welcome to the Phoenix SEO Internet Marketing Blog at Tucson SEO Solutions

Demand Media Files For IPO

This article was inspired by an article in the Wall Street Journal. So you might be asking who the heck is Demand Media? Well, I asked that same question earlier today and this is what I found out. They are the company that owns eHow.com.

That surprised me a bit as I regularly use this site and I had been considering posting some how to videos there. Demand Media is a four year old company that has yet to make a profit. Their website is the 17th most visited site in the US and they still are not profitable. However, the IPO is expected to bring in 1.5 Billion, not bad for a company that isn’t profitable.

The company has only recently begun to court Madison Avenue advertising firms. It is making strides towards profitability. It has signed up Microsoft’s Bing and Hyundai as clients so it is moving in the right direction.

This is a good example of what makes link building so difficult. Now, with that statement you might be wondering where I am coming from. My point is this, you never know when building backlinks if a website will be around tomorrow or not. The reason is profitability. Here you have the 17th most visited site in the US and its not profitable.

Many if not most website will never get to the IPO level and without continued income they end up folding. I lost somewhere close to 5,000 links in the last year to sites that closed! I have observed that around 40% of my backlinks are lost every year to sites that close. So I find no comfort when I realize that the 17th most popular site in the US is not profitable. I build links expecting that they likely will not be there next year.

What say you?

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Keyword Luv Follows Comment Luv Both Deleted

July 13, 2010

Keyword Luv Follows Comment Luv

Both Deleted

Yes, it’s true Keyword Luv has been deleted. It follows the deletion of Comment Luv about a year ago. I can not longer tolerate the spam that these plugins produce. They are great tools for getting attention. Unfortunately, they produce the wrong kinds of attention.

When I used to blog comment for links I would seek out blogs that use these plugins. In this regard, I was no different than any other savvy link builder. The difference was that I actually would read the posts and leave useful comments. But I was the exception.

I have decided that I can no longer except all of the spam what they attract. My Scratch My Back Marketing plugin requires a 150 character comment to be considered for a link. That slowed things down but soon the comments got longer. Even with many useful comment, they often had the link removed. That was because the commenter chose to use only keywords and not the name@keyword format.

It just goes to show that most commenter’s are lazy and short sighted. When I blog commented for links I made it a point of checking what kinds of comments got links. I figured it made no sense to waste my time just using keywords to only have them deleted.

Will it make a difference… That not likely. When the blog was No Follow I still got huge volumes of spam.

What say you?

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Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeting SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

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The Video Learning Curve

June 13, 2010

The Video Learning Curve

Back In March of 2010 I meet with a young man from Tennessee. He had flown to Tucson to meet with me to discuss a project that he was pursuing. The project is an all in one website package for local small business owners. The idea was to provide the small business owner with everything that they would need to market their business locally on the internet.

The program provides website hosting, a content management system to build their website, and training videos. It is the most complete package that I had ever seen. My role in the project, if I chose to become part of the project, would be to provide video SEO  and link building training.

We would eventually enter into a two year agreement where I would do the SEO and link building portions of the training. Well, the first problem that was apparent was that I had never made a video. The next problem was as it turns out my computer was not ready for making videos. This would require many upgrades to my equipment and software.

My new partner Ken and I hit it off very well. So much so that he took care of the costs of the needed upgrades. I ended up with Windows 7, a video editing program called Camtasia, and the latest version of  the Word office suite. He also provided me access to a very expensive video training program called the Video Boss. I had never used a video editor or the recent version of Power Point. So I was now on this huge learning curve. I might note that I hate learning how to use software.

That was mid March. By early June I had completed about 20 videos. Most of these are for Ken’s program. Then yesterday, I began dabbling with videos produced to be placed on this blog. For all that I have accomplished so far, I still do not know how to place a video on this site. I did manage to post one video on several video sites but I messed up when I went to place it on this blog.

It was very late in my day when I attempted this and I was very tired. I will try it again today. The biggest learning curve, if you can call it that, was to overcome my fear of failure. After doing these 20 or so videos my confidence is soaring. I want to learn how to make the best possible video that  can. I already understand my content (SEO) very well. I now will learn how to make these videos more appealing.

I want to learn to use special video effects. I want to learn to record voice overs separately. I want to add a green screen. Yes, my wish list for new skills is growing daily. From what I have see on You Tube my videos are already better than most that are posted there, but nowhere near what would be considered a professional polished product.

My goal is to eventually bring my video making skills in line with my SEO skills. Video training programs are where the real money is made in this industry. But the reality remains I still don’t have a video on my blog yet!

The first video that I produced to be shared with my readers was all about the day of a local SEO. I recorded what I was doing, in this case, I was visiting video websites. I was signing up with as many video sharing sites as possible. I also was creating a database for my own video marketing program.

What I found was very interesting. Many of these sites are difficult to use. I am not referring to the loading of videos. Heck, on some sites it was a matter of locating the registration link. One site used a black background with a white font that made it extremely difficult for me to read. So I ended up reviewing what was wrong with the sites which is not what I had intended to do.

If your website requires that you register to use the site and if you allow user generated content you really must pay attention to the little things. Now, many of these sites have millions of users and it makes me wonder how many more users would they have if the process was easier. Registering to use a website should begin with easy access to the registration form.

Almost everyday I visit a site that I would like to use but I find that they are not user friendly and leave. As I have discovered making the video that many video sites in an effort to appeal to one market sometimes overlook the needs of users like me. If you have a customer base like those needing SEO, this can be a difficult task. The difficulty is that they come from so many different backgrounds.

One thing that I made a point of doing was hiding what website that I was on. I also noted that this was just my thoughts about their site and in no way was I attempting to tell this folks how to run their business. I made it a point of not identifying these sites for this reason.

When I started writing this post it was early in the day. I took a break to do other things. One of those was watching some training videos on script writing. It is now late at night and I am calling it a day…

Well,  eleven PM is way too early for me to call it a day. So I figured that I would give adding a video a try and it worked. Yea! What a relief. Where did I find the answer? On You Tube of course. The next mission will be to learn how to wrap text around a video.

Thanks for dropping bye! Please consider leaving a useful comment or maybe linking to the site.

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Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Defining Your Market

June 1, 2010

Defining Your Market…

Before I go any further I want you to know that this post is defining the markets for this keyword phrase:

Chandler SEO Internet Website Marketing Services

That means that I will be targeting potential local SEO clients in the city of Chandler, Arizona. I will also be targeting those wanting, needing, or desiring local Website – Internet Marketing services also in Chandler.

The goal here is to land this page on the first page of Google through the use of basic SEO and comments as fresh content.  Please note: If you have landed on this page from using a search engine then indeed consider this evidence that we know what we are doing. I am Tucson SEO Solutions and I want your business.

This post is part of a two pronged effort to land two blogs post into the # 1 and # 2 position for the Google searches for the keyword phrase Chandler SEO or SEO Chandler. The second option is actually the more desirable searcher. The visitors produced that used the keyword phrase, SEO Chandler are more likely to visit other pages on the site and stay longer on the site. This group represents the more serious buyer that would like a local solution to the fact that their website is MIA or missing in action.

If you are a buyer than I want to speak to your gut, if you want results call 520-505-6024 Now! If this makes sense to you then don’t hesitate call. Remember, you reading this is not by accident it was by design.

While I am at it I will also specifically be targeting our Internet – Website Marketing services for the city of Chandler. So let’s cut to the chase here folks. You likely found this post though Google or another search engine,Right?

You need to generate local business traffic to your website that is highly targeted and actively searching for your products and services while also being in your near bye community, Right?

You want solutions, Right?

Well,  what can I say is this. I am your local SEO small business solutions provider for Chandler. The fact that you are reading this post means that I not only talk the talk, but that I walk the walk. As in, I have never failed to get a client onto the first page of Google for multiple keyword phrases.

What does that mean to you? How will you benefit. Well, I will gladly explain. You will be generating highly targeted traffic to your website that is located in your city or town. Not only that, these potential income sources, are either researching for a future purchase or they are in  active buy mode. These  leads are the gold standard.

Now the post: Defining Your Market

For most local businesses their market is limited to a specific geographic area such as Chandler, Arizona. These businesses often are defined by a few specific products or services. It is really as simple as I sell abc in city xyz, or I provide service abc the city xyz. If you simply use basic SEO techniques you should rank very well.

For this post I promoted my local marketing services to the city of Chandler. It is really this straight forward.  You should be ranking well if you do business locally and on the internet. Local Markets on the internet produce the best most qualified sales leads possible today. Any time thank you can get in front prospects that live in your community and that are in the buying cycle you are going to be successful.

More on this another day…

Update 04/30/2010: I have defined my market for this post for Chandler, Arizona and for SEO services. I am very pleased to announce that this post is ranking # 2 for Chandler SEO. The # 1 position is currently held by our static sales page that targets this market as well.

I have effectively replaced two pages from my recently closed Chandler SEO .com website with two pages from this website which was the goal. I bother to point this out because in local markets it is very easy to land two pages in the Google search results if you have properly defined your markets.

More on this another day…

I recently had a database crash so my recent update was deleted so here I go. This page did exactly what I needed and wanted it to do. It defined our market as Chandler and for SEO, website, and internet marketing. This page is currently, as of 05/04/2010, in the # 1 position in Google for Chandler SEO and # 4 for Chandler Website Marketing. It also helped us replace our # 1 ranking for our closed chandler website… Another big Yea!

As you can see defining your markets does work. I don’t like to talk about SEO in theory. I like to show you how SEO really works in the real world.

Update 06/01/2010: This page was ranking # for Chandler SEO. Then my website went down. I have discovered a problem with that database and the All in one SEO pack. That has left some posts without a Page Title.

So let me ask this, why haven’t you called 520-505-6024 already?

Here’s some other valuable resources:

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

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

Our Arizona Services:

Increase Website Traffic Phoenix Tucson

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Local Internet Website Maps Google Places Yahoo Bing

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Blogging For Links What You Need To Be Successful

April 27, 2010

I am writing this post from life experience. I work at link building 7 days a week. Yes, that does mean that I am a workaholic and I have a great need to succeed. I do not recommend that you attempt to emulate my work ethic but I have some pearls of wisdom to share today.

My link building methods have been honed over three years. In the beginning I left my share of “nice post” comments. I was being truthful, as I had read the blog post and I agreed that it was a good post. I was looking at this from only my perspective. I needed links and the quicker that I could work the better. In most cases I added to the conversation but not always.

I am not a very good writer and if you have read my blog for a while you already know this. Grammar and spelling are difficult for those who are dyslexic which I am. I had to spell check dyslexic while writing this post. Thus it is very easy for me to make a mistake when leaving a blog post comment, especially if the comment was made when I am tired. Sometimes I come upon my old comments and cringe.

Then in May of 2008 I became a blog owner. I quickly learned what blog commenting behaviors that I liked and that I didn’t. The blog was No Follow for the first 10 months so I approved just about everything. I figured that it didn’t matter because the link was mostly useless. Think about it; when the last time you visit a website of someone who left a “nice post” comment?

Having my own blog taught me that there are good ways to leave comments and there were also not so good ways to leave comments. I now was making a concerted effort to leave a useful comment everywhere I went.

Then the blog became Do Follow in early 2009. This would eventually lead to the link building and marketing program that I call Scratch My Back Marketing.

Since the blog was now providing useful links I began to ask that commenter’s leave a 20 word comment at the end of each post. I started calling this requirement Scratch My Back Marketing. I expanded on this to make it our way of building links. The basic idea was to create a link building program that focused on  branding and advertising  while building links. I knew from experience that a great relevant comment can lead to business. I also like to multitask so the idea of doing multiple things while link building was a no brainier for me.

That comment length requirement that I asked for was almost 100 % completely ignored. I got frustrated with my commenter’s. After all; I was providing an anchor text Do Follow backlink and was using Comment Luv. I figured this kind of link was worth leaving a good comment. It’s what I would do, but I was wrong. People were only coming to the to comment for a link and they were not willing to work for it. They seldom bothered to even read the post.

That didn’t make me very happy. I even considered going back to No Follow, but I decided to create an anti spam plugin instead that I called Scratch My Back Marketing. It allows the blog owner to set a character threshold on comments before they are allowed a link. On this blog it currently requires a comment of 150 characters in length or the comment is automatically rejected.

The current problem that I am addressing is the use of only keywords only in the comment field. I have had comments that were several hundred words in length that were rejected. The blog uses Keyword Luv and it requires that a name be used along with your keywords. Yet, every day the blog receives a dozen or more comments that only use keywords. If the comment is useful and relevant I will use it without providing a link. I have been recording the daily results in the post, It Is Hard To Find A Useful Comment.

So then how do you successfully blog comment for links? That I will get to in Part 2 of this post! I needed to whine before I got to the serious post.

Are you ready to be a successful link builder?

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Backlink Rogue Agent

April 21, 2010

I always recommend that you should check your analytic program once a month or so. I call this review process Shampoo SEO and I have written extensively in the past. Recently while shampooing I discovered a new site has sending a bunch of traffic my way. I decided to see what this was all about.

Generally, in the past, I have seen traffic spikes when my old Do Follow lists would make it into someones paid Internet marketing program. However, these lists were removed in early 2009. As it turned out this Rogue Agent producer was so lazy they never verified if the lists were still available. They included are site in their paid product without verifying if it was a current and useful resource. That’s very sad indeed.

When they called this a rogue agent that were not kidding.

Here’s some other valuable resources:

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

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

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

An SEO Gets Shopped V 2.0

April 10, 2010

This post goes back in time to when we first began to domination all searches related to SEO and internet marketing in Tucson. We are were just beginning to emerge nationally as a force to reckoned with in the SEO industry in the US. I will interject some points as I go.

If you have been any business long enough a competitor will dial you up on the tele or, as the lazy ones do, they send a email to get the shopping going. They always start the conversation off by inquiring about the fees that you charge. This is especially true if your product or service pricing is not posted on your website which ours are not. One must be quick and clever to determine who is a real potential client and who is a competitor trying to acquire your pricing structure.

The shopper is rarely an established player in your industry, but they could be. This is where I love to being to direct the conversation to where I am the inquirer. The shopper usually doesn’t have a website yet or they are in the process of acquiring a business that has an existing website. Then there is the new kid on the block who starts of with “I have a client.” That may be true or they are breaking into the business and bidding on a job and that are looking for pricing guidance.

I don’t have a problem with this at all. I have done this hundreds of times over the decades myself so I am very familiar with the sport and I play it well!. When someone calls I’m a very good judge of who is real and who is not or at least I have convinced myself that’ this is so.

Another clear giveaway is if someone starts off by asking a whole bunch of questions without identifying themselves first, you can almost be certain that you are being shopped.

If they pause or stumble when you ask these questions you know you’re being shopped.

• What is the domain name?
• What is your business?
• What do you want your website visitor to do on your website?
• Who are you trying to market?

If the visitor hesitates on any of these questions you can be sure that your time is being wasted by a shopper. However, those who are skilled shoppers may be prepared for these questions. They are a little harder to catch. After all I role play the call many times before I shop a business. If you know how to ask the right questions it can be easy.

If someone seems more interested in pricing then anything else in the conversation I clearly explain that everything starts with a website review and that a paid service. I then I might ask them to email me from their website to get the ball rolling or something to that effect. If they are a serious inquiry they will email while you’re talking. If they make excuses, at this point, you know this is a waste of time and I quickly end the call. If they ask you why this is needed you can state its company policy to assure that this is a genuine sales call.

I mention this because I got shopped today by someone from the San Francisco Bay area code. We have just started targeting the area in advance of our new website launch. So I have been expecting these types of calls.

Sometimes the caller jumps right into the deep end of the pool from the get go. He asked if we did page titles, page descriptions, Meta tags, and ALT tags and what we charged. Well, nothing like cutting to the chase. What he didn’t realize is that real customers don’t talk like that. They just want to acquire search traffic and had read that SEO is the way to go. They don’t generally understand how we do what we do.

That’s was 2 years ago and things have changed dramatically since then. Callers  inquiring about our services are smarter and more aware about the process of SEO. When I began this business back in 2007 things were much different as far the the potential client knowledge of SEO. The response was mostly “I read something on a blog like you need SEO to rank well, but that’s all that I know.”

Yesterday, I was being shopped by an inexperienced shopper I thought I would have a little fun. It started with the basic questions I mentioned previously, and of course they didn’t have a website. They went on to explain that they wanted to market to the 48 states and that he was going to be selling computer parts.

Well, our website is very clear that we don’t provide service for highly competitive markets that are national. This is mainly due to cost to the custom and unrealistic expectations. I went on to explain that if his market was local we would gladly consider him as a client. I further explained that we only take on clients that when know going in can benefit greatly from our services. This guy wasn’t likely one of those.

Trying to take a website that sells computer parts nationally to the first page of Google is not a challenge that we will undertake then or now. While I noted that it can be accomplished given enough time and money but that it was not anything that we wanted to be involved with. Its just not our core market.

This person quickly became very defensive and started talking SEO slang and started to explain how it could be accomplished. I thought this guy is so clueless that he is being played and he doesn’t even know it. Then he started talking about Page Rank. I have never had a client or potential client that knows what Page Rank is. Now this person is talking straight-up SEO shop talk. To this day I have never had a real potential client who knew anything about Page Rank. This was so obvious that I could barely contain my laughter

Since I had flushed him out the conversation needed to end. I politely ended the conversation by informing him that we don’t work on these kinds of sites, I thanked him for his inquiry, and before he could say anything, I wished him a good day and hung up the call. I have become very skilled at ending a conversation quickly and abruptly when I have finally gotten bored.

The moral of the story is if you’re going to shop someone get the story straight first and don’t sound like you know so much that you really don’t need my help. If this caller knew about page titles, Meta tags, page descriptions, and ALT tags then why would they need me? Really, folks people who make legitimate inquires generally don’ understand SEO and will never use SEO jargon.

Update 2010:

With the economic slowdown like many I have had sometime on my hands. When I get shopped these days I am more likely to get up on a soapbox an give a long winded lesson on how we provide ethical services based only on the specific needs of each client. I go into great detail about our manual link building program Called Scratch My Back Marketing.

I also provide a detailed explanation about our website review. I go through just about every step in our processes. I provide them a map, a oral blueprint of how to provide services that assure that the clients needs are assured. If by change it turns out that it an actual potential client then they will certainly know that they are dealing with a professional.

For the shopper, I am an unashamed braggart. My attitude is, and I express to whomever I am speaking with. When I simply state “the difference between myself and most other SEO providers is that we simply this; I like to think that I work smarter and I put in more hours at this than they do.” If you are willing to do what it takes you will succeed. I also remind my inquirer of our monthly ranking report. I also never fail to mention that we have never failed to get a client onto the first page of the Google results (pause for effect) multiple keyword phrases.

While I provide a huge insight into how I practice SEO I never allow myself to be placed in a position to make a guess about how much a project will cost. There is good reason for this because I don’t know who there competition is and what they have done SEO wise. All of our processes are based on a competitive analysis. This requires a bit of research that can not be accomplished while on a phone call.

Real SEO professionals know that while packages sell well they are not designed to meet the clients specific needs. Beware of any SEO provider who offers packages. If they have not done a competitive analysis there is no way to be sure if any package will work. SEO packages are designed to sell, to make the seller money and to meet a certain price point expectation, if they actually work, consider yourself lucky!

Having said that, I must point out again that we have never failed to get a client onto the first page of Google for multiple keyword phrases. And this all started out with a competitive website review.

Update April 2010: I got shopped again by a persistent shopper from the Los Angles area recently. This person called late one afternoon when I was unavailable. He called back again late in the afternoon the following day. His method was not very creative. He suggested that he wanted to outsource business to me. The real story was we was trying to add SEO to his web design services and didn’t know how to bid the contract.

His project was for a lawyer referral service that wanted to target 25 LA area communities. He never realized that I was onto him from the beginning. I took a lot of time explaining how our business approach is different from other providers such as his company. I went to great lengths to details the difference between making a sale and meeting the clients needs. I groused about the poor businesses practices of my competition.

Finally, after 45 minutes I explained that my free time was ending and that he would have to go on the clock and incur consulting fees. We quipped that he was only trying to give me business. At that point I explained that I would never bid on a project like he was describing. This kind of project would require building links for 25 different cities to be accomplished correctly and the creation of specific pages to target those cities. I further explained that because of the cost involved he would likely never get the job as we would be bidding against companies that are offering packages to sell to a price point.

I have seen this over and over again on big projects. When you bid for what it actually will take to be successful you never get the contract. The company offering packages usually wins and this is why it occurs. The buyer likely does not understand the industry or the product that they are buying. It is very difficult to explain that your higher bid is based on research and need. These buyers are generally price shoppers and they don’t make good clients. Many SEO companies need work so they adjust their contract to meet the clients expectations.

If the project doesn’t work as planned they simply go back to the client and ask for more money. I have never done this and I don’t plan to start now. If I told a client a job will require 250 links to be successful and that didn’t work then I continue until we have meet our goal. That has only happened once.

The young man was astonished that I would not want to bid on such a project. The reality was he was bummed that after 45 minutes I didn’t not provide a price for the project. I then went onto explain that I get calls from people like him all the time promising to outsource work. Every time they are just looking for help on how to bid a project. I then explained that I went into the conversation hoping to educate him on how to be better at his job. I emphasized that the clients success was more important than making a buck.

I indicated that I do this a lot in the hope that I might shine a light on good business practices. In the process, maybe, I could make a difference in our industry that is full of bad behaviors like his lying to me. I string these people on and in the process I let them know that I have been successful because I do business differently than they do.

This may seem silly and it might be a waste of time but I consider it planting seed. I also love to talk about my business and do a little bragging in the process. I rather enjoy telling my competitors that I am better than they are at assisting my clients. I have a captive audience that has already concealed the true nature of heir call and really expect that I will provide a price for their project. Since I require an in depth website review before we can get to a price this never happens. They always prod me for an estimate, as do real customers, for an estimate which can not be provided without a detailed review.

Here’s some valuable resources:

Would you like to find 192 Do Follow Social Bookmarking sites with a Page Rank of 3 or Higher? Then go here.

Would you like 66 Do Follow Backlinks from high PR sites? Then go here.

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

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

Sierra Vista – Green Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Holistic SEO Local SEO Services Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Affordable Quality  BackLinks Building Services Local Internet -  Website Marketing Services

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, Niche SEO, Internet marketing, or our affordable website design/re-design services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Website Are Like NASCAR V 2.0

March 8, 2010

I wrote a series of posts back in 2007 well before this site had a blog. I had a page that I used like a blog and I updated it on a regular basis. The problem was that my visitors could not make any comments. This was one in a series of posts where I compared websites to different things to make a point. I compared them to a high maintenance girlfriend. That one was later edited by Geri. I have compared them to apple pies as well.

Lately, I have been paying more attention to NASCAR since Danica Patrick has been driving in these races.  She hasn’t fared very well yet. I hope that you enjoy this post as much as I have had writing it and reading the responses. Even though the posts is several years old it is still relevant today.

Here is the original post, Websites Are Like NASCAR!

Recently it dawned on me that websites and race cars have a lot in common. A race car team puts a lot of time, training and effort into their high performance machine. They pay lots of attention to the smallest details and are constantly fine tuning the engine and suspension. These two must work in harmony for the team to become a champion. Successful websites are no different in that they also require many pieces of the machine and team to be in harmony. Websites must also pay attention to details and fine tune to the ever changing needs of the search engines through effective optimization of the source code and content.

The other part of this website team is the user experience. Every thing must work and it should work effortlessly. Your site should be a well oiled machine that converts visitors into customers. The visitor wants to walk away a winner by feeling they made the right choice going with your team.

So SEO then becomes like the racing teams pit boss making adjustments and fine tuning the website to produce peak performance. However, you must be able to adapt to the changing environment to become a champion. During a race the team may use multiple types of tires often adjusting and changing through out the race.

A successful website team is no different. We who practice SEO have to make sometimes drastic changes quickly to adjust to how search engines, especially how Google handles the acquiring of website links. Managing a website requires the same attention to detail as a NASCAR racing team, you want to keep it well tuned and ready to win the race.

Are you ready to win the search engine race?

An extra thought: Way too many website owners have this allusion that SEO is a one and done process and this is so. The belief is wrongly fostered by SEO providers who sell packages to meet a price point. They never bother to tell their clients that like a NASCAR team their websites will need constant attention to be successful. You will need to make many changes along the way to succeed in racing and with SEO!

I personally loathe competitors who sell to price points and never explain that SEO is never a one and done proposition.

Here’s some other valuable resources:

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

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

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Slow Loading Pages – Are They Costing You Business?

January 1, 2010

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.

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

Here’s some other valuable resources:

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

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

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Is Google Putting Your Family Or Home Based Business At Risk?

November 1, 2009

If you are a small home based business you may have never heard of Google’s Place Pages. Google Place Pages are part of Google Maps or what Google calls the Local Business Center (LBC.) Recent changes to these pages may be putting you and your family unnecessarily at risk.

Google’s LBC is more commonly known as the Google Maps. It allows local businesses to place a free listing in its maps. These maps are often included with Google’s searches that are local in nature. You don’t even need to have a website to list your business with local maps listings.

However, these listing may place you and your family at risk. When you click on a business that is listed in Google’s maps you are taken to what is called a Place Page. These pages provide more detailed information about a company. These pages also include such things as reviews, direction to your business, and more. Recently, Google has begun including a street view of your businesses location. This is great for a retail location. However, if you run your business from your home it may be placing you and your family at risk if you are using your homes address.

Do you really want a picture of your home in your business listing? That picture will show whatever was in front of your home when a Google van took a picture. That may include your kids, toys, or your personal vehicles. The problem is Google does not seem to offer a business opt out of street views of businesses. I have scoured the Help Forum to no avail. My inquiries have gone unanswered.

Here’s is how I know that you may be at risk if you are using your home address in Local maps. Our business is a home based and when I first listed the business with Google I used my exact home address. When you first sign up with Google’s Local Business Center it sends you a post card. That post card has your pin number for your account verification. That is why I originally used my home address. Then I basically overlooked changing the address.

Then, a few months later I had a business appointment with what turned out to be a very strange man. Since I work out of my home I usually meet clients at a local coffee shop (not Starbucks.) At this meeting I was glad that I was using this coffee shop. This guy really was a very scary character. He is the kind that I would not have ever invited to my home or would want to business with.

During the conversation I mentioned that I meet at coffee shops for safety reasons. The very scary man informed me that he knew where I lived because my address was listed in Google maps. Quickly, I was making a mental note to change my address. I thought that I would never want these man just showing up at my front door. That’s when he told me that he drove to my house. He said “I pulled up in front of your house, and then I decided that it was not a good idea, I left and called instead.” Yea, I thought.

This was an almost mess in your pants moment for me. This guy was huge, disheveled, and he appeared to be a ticking time bomb to me. He claimed to have the next greatest idea that would put Google out of business and he wanted to run his business proposal by me. I had time on my hands and that it wouldn’t hurt to give this guy an hour of my time. I thought what if… Well, his proposal had already been duplicated thousands of times over and his was being poorly executed.

He thought so much of his great idea that he had me sign a non-disclosure agreement. Eventually he showed me his website and did his presentation. Then he tries to close me. He was looking for financial partners. I went to great lengths to explain why I thought that his business model would not work. I further explained that even if he could make it work that the site would need to be professionally built and he would need huge amounts of money to promote it.

What he was trying to accomplish was to be a cross between Craigslist and YouTube. However, his business model was built upon selling classifieds ads which are free all over the internet. I very carefully explained that I wanted nothing to do with his business concept. I further explained that I thought that he would likely fail. I thought the guy was going to pounce on me and perhaps do great bodily harm to me. Yes, the guy was that scary. He informed me that I was the only person who ever told him no. This guy was huge and I could understand why someone would want to shine him on.

Now, I had to be as gracious as possible because this guy knows where I live. The first thing that I did upon arriving home was to change my business address in Google’s Local Business Center. I made up a number but used the same street address. I hoped and prayed that this guy would not go off someday and come looking for me.

I got a second reality check when I recently checked my Local Business Center listing a few days ago. That’s when I discovered Google was now placing a street view picture of the address that I supplied with our LBC listing on our place page. It was not a very big deal for me as it was not my residence that Google was showing because I changed my address, but it could have been. It truly can be a crazy world out there on the internet we must be careful, especially if you have a home based business and a family.

If you are a home based business do you really want a picture of your home in your Google local listing? Depending when Google took a photo of your home it may also include you, your family members, or your personal vehicles. I have not been able to find out where or how to remove this picture. In fact, I can’t get any answers from Google about its local maps. They offer a help forum but this has been of very little help. If I find a solution I will let you all know. I have made an inquiry today, but none of my other inquiries have been answered by A Google employee. That inquiry was made three days ago. I held off posting then until I gave Google an opportunity to respond but they have not.

There is a lot of frustration with the lack of customer support with Google in general and more specifically in the Local Business Center department. I have been trying to get an answer for why a clients listing was flagged for several weeks now. Google is Beta testing a new ad program associated with its Local Maps and doesn’t seem to be offering any customer support at this time. Those of us who are regularly involved with Local SEO and Local Maps have never been thrilled with the support, or the lack thereof, that Google offers.

I would suggest that you seriously consider changing your address if you have been using your home address. Do you really want photo of your home appearing in your business listing? I know I have one really huge reason not to have my home appearing! I can only hope that others notice this and start asking Google to change this and allow home based businesses to opt out pf having pictures of their homes appearing in its local maps. Now, you will need to check your businesses place page to see if your home is appearing on this page. I checked some listing of other home based businesses that I know off. About two thirds of the listing that I checked has a street view photo in their listing. While yours may not have a street view now, it likely will in the near future.

I am asking my visitors, those who actually read these posts, to please Stumble or to give this post a Digg. This story needs heard and to be shared.

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Backlink Building RoboForm Style – Be Your Own Service

October 26, 2009

First off if you have never heard of RoboForm then let me explain. RoboForm is a password management system that stores your login information. It stores this information for later retrieval. If you do a lot of searching on the internet or use a lot of social media sites, then it is a must have tool. I visit hundreds of such sites monthly so I purchased the pro version for about $30.00 US. The company offers a trail version so that you can try it without buying.

I visit so many sites that it would be impossible to manage without a tool like this. There are many other similar products. The point here is if you are going to become a serious link builder you have to be able to manage a lot of information. RoboForm is a good choice for these needs.

Almost daily I sign up to join a site that doesn’t require me to login in to begin using it. In this case, the program will not pick up the login information. I have to remember to log out and log back in to record this information and I often forget. The only way that I might ever return is if I get an update email from this site. This occurs almost daily, the problem is that by then I may not remember what login that I originally used. The moral here is yours tools are only as good as how you use them.

So what does RoboForm have to do with backlink building or a backlink service? Well, I use RoboForm as a link finding tool or a service of sorts. I am currently going through my logins, all 800 plus, one at a time. I have collected over a hundred links by revisiting these sites in the last three days. It is impossible to remember all of the sites where I have registered and that’s were RoboForm is so helpful.

I am being my own on link building service so this requires an accurate database. While going through the database I end up dumping about 20% of these sites. I do research on a daily basis, as I have mentioned, and I join dozens of sites that turn out not to be very useful. Usually, I end up with at least one generic link to the home page, but these sites mostly offer little reason to return so they are deleted. This allows me to multi-task which is something that I love to do. I build more links, I keep my accounts active, and I also get rid of the dead wood.

Usually, when I am doing a database purge each site will usually offer at least one opportunity to acquire an additional link. Occasionally, as happened a few days ago, I visited a site and it produced an RSS feed and four other links for a total of 24 links. My point here is that we often have very useful information at our fingertips that we are overlooking.

One of those areas that I recently wrote about was Google’s Webmaster Tools. It contains all the sites that are linking to yours. Where you can get one link it is a good bet that you can return and acquire more. Remember, you will be gladly accepted back if you are adding quality comments and content.

Are you leaving quality comments?

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Is It Time To Bo Do Follow… Again?

September 6, 2009

I recently wrote about appreciating your blog readers and suggest that it is safe to be a Do Follow blog again. That made for some very interesting conversation both on and off the blog. We all know that all blogs get spam and it is especially bad for those blogs that provide Do Follow links.

I explained that much of the problem was not so much from individuals leaving comments but it was bots that were the problem. There are many lazy link builders around and they are not going away anytime soon. There are also many paid link builders from low wage counties cluttering our blogs with useless comments. This problem now has and answer. When you leave a comment here you now must leave a comment of that is at least 150 words in length or it gets rejected automatically. I am calling this plugin the Scratch My Back Marketing plugin.

For the last six months or so I have ended each post stating that you must leave a 20 word comment to be considered for a link. This was ignored everyday by link builders who visited the blog. So now, we have forced the issue. No longer will I have to waste my time deleting short comments that I like to call drive by comments.

I also use the spam filter Akismet and found that it was always full of spam. So much so that I dumped it all. I knew from experience there were useful comments in there but it wasn’t worth it to me to preview hundreds of spam comments everyday to find a few good comments. I know that I am not alone here. I am talking about 350 spam comments a day!

So after reading several posts about the spam filter plugin, Bad Behavior I had it installed. Then I took at look at the number of spam comments per day prior to using Bad Behavior. The spam comments on a good day were 113 on the worst day it went as high as 497. That’s a lot of spam.

The day before I installed Bad Behavior the blog had 444 spam comments. That dropped down to 16 the following day. I can easily deal with this amount of spam comfortably, in fact I now pull 3 or 4 comments out of the spam filter each day. Those 3 to 4 comments were being lost each and everyday. That is potentially 100 fewer comments per month!

Over the last two months the spam has been as low as 5 and as high as 32. Now, those are numbers that I can live with. This isn’t a perfect solution but it’s a reasonably good one. We have also included a 20 word comment requirement to obtain a link from this blog.  We have managed to become Do Follow without the Do Follow spam problem.

Well, I then upgraded my plugins and Bad Behavior would no longer work with the newer version of the Redirection plugin. So I switched to using the Tan Tan Noodles plugin. This plugin turned out to be even better than the Bad Behavior plugin. It has absolutely removed all the auto bot spam. The only spam that ends up in Akismet now are from blogger’s on our black list. If you have a WordPress blog you can blacklist email addresses in the Discussions area under settings.

What I am suggesting here is this, when we release the Scratch My Back Marketing Plugin it could be combined with Tan Tan Noodles and Akismet for a killer anti spam approach. It will then be safe to become a Do Follow blog. The reason that most blogs are not Do Follow is because of spam. These three plugins will provide your blog with lots of protection.

Is it time that you you went Do Follow?

Here’s some other valuable resources:

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

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

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

SEO Is Like Shampoo!

August 16, 2009

As I have said many times over I believe that analogies are a very good tool when making a point about search engine optimization. If you know anything about SEO you may be scratching your heads a bit. If you are visiting in search of small business SEO solutions you may also be scratching your head as well and wondering “What is he thinking? ”

Let’s take a look at what we know about search engine optimization. SEO is initially about developing keyword phrases. As the internet has grown it is now extremely difficult to acquire first page ranking on Google for one or two keyword searches. We are not saying it can’t be done, that would be a foolish statement, but it is very difficult except for very narrow niches. Of course it all depends on how competitive your market is.

So what then does SEO have in common with Shampoo? Every shampoo bottle that I have ever used tells you this “rinse and repeat”. I  believe you might want to consider repeating the SEO process after lets say 30 and 60 days after implementing it. Everyone one involved with SEO attempts to make an educated guess about what works and what doesn’t work as far as keyword phrases are concerned, but we could easily miss the mark or market. Your analytics program will tell you if you SEO is working.

I like talking about my own mistakes so that others may learn from them. When I launched this website the focus was on the keyword phrase organic search engine optimization in Tucson, because our services are based on organic search results delivered from Tucson. However, the  30, 60 and 90 day review revealed that we were not getting any traffic for that keyword phrase. That’s right we ranked # 1 but we didn’t get any Google traffic.

So we did a little SEO shampooing of our website and removed all references to organic SEO. We rinsed and repeated. Now, in fairness we should have stuck with some mentioning of organic SEO, but at that time we were a bit impatient.

I realized that while many nationally might understand what organic SEO is. I figured the only people likely to be searching for organic SEO were likely not buyers but members of this industry. So I decided to focus on the more realistic searches such as Tucson SEO. Since this was part of our company and domain name we had a built in advantage.

I continued to rinse and repeat every 30 days or so. Recently, we have begun to brand ourselves as providing Holistic SEO (Fall 2008) and we will be adding another page that reflects what we discovered in one of our rinse cycles. We thought Holistic SEO best describes our approach to creating websites that convert visitors into customers.

That was last year results. Our more recent SEO shampoo experience discovered that we were ranking highly for searches related to marketing and link building. I was not specifically targeting these markets. However, I discovered that we were ranking well for un-targeted searches. So I did a little SEO shampooing and we soon soared in four other keyword markets. Most of these changes were minor but may have a major impact on rankings.

Here is a suggestion that you can take to the bank. If your web page is stuck on page two try this. Add an H-1 tag to your page that includes your primary targeted keyword phrase for that page. Then a build a dozen Do Follow anchor text links that include your keyword phrase in the anchor text. Do this on highly crawled sites. Then check your ranking results in about two weeks. Once the pages that include your links get crawled the search engines will discover your page with the H-1 tag. It will get crawled and bingo you win! Don’t believe me… Well just try it and report back.

Have you rinsed and repeated lately?

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:

Local SEO Services Tucson Website Designs Tucson Search Engine Optimization Phoenix SEO

Holistic SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions Arizona SEO Solutions

Ethical Link Building Training Affordable Website Designing Tucson

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, Niche 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!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Are All Your Eggs In One Search Basket?

December 12, 2008

With the economy in turmoil many individuals have awakened recently to discover the sad truth that their 401 K now resembles a 101 K. Especially hard hit were those who had all their assets tied up in their failed company. This scene has been played out in many large and small companies. Those in the financial services industries, companies like Indy Mac and Lehman Bros had all their eggs or most of them tied up in their companies stock. This is a definite example of all your eggs in one basket approach.

We have seen these similar tragedies play out on the cable and evening news almost non stop for weeks on end. But you say that’s not a problem for my web based business; well you might want to think again. As  many have learned recently things can change and change rapidly, and having all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.

So I ask you how much of your internet traffic comes from Google? Now, what will you do if there is a “Florida” style algorithm update and you loose all your Google driven business. Could you adapt quickly enough to survive? If you are not prepared your business might not survive.

So let’s start out by considering what amount of traffic could you loose and survive. For those of you that say none, you truly have all your eggs in one basket and you desperately need to diversify your traffic sources. I personally, am comfortable with not exceeding 40% of my traffic from all the search engines combined. You will have to determine what you are comfortable with, but you really need to be realistic here.

It is common knowledge that the search engines adjust their algorithms over time and sometimes the changes can be dramatic. What if you generated 65% of your website traffic from Google? Let’s also assume that 65% of your websites links came from directories or forums. These are both common link building methods. What then do you suppose might happen if Google flat out stop counting links from either of these sources?

It is possible that if 65% of your links were made invalid that it could cause you to loose all of your traffic from Google in an instant. The traffic might never come back. What would you do? Do you have a plan in place to replace that traffic? These are very serious questions that you must ask. You need to clearly understand where your traffic comes from and how you generated that traffic.

We are fortunate that our Google traffic runs about 20% of our overall traffic for this site. However, we have a client, with a B2B very niche website, that has generated 50-55% of their traffic from the search engines. We are currently implementing changes that we hope will bring that down to around 40%. We recognize that for sites that are very niche or B2B, the challenge of generating non search traffic is much more difficult. This particular company manufactures equipment used in other manufacturing processes. It is non sexy stuff with a very small interest group. This is not the kind of stuff that people casually search for on the internet.

Having said that, we still must strive to get that reliance on the search engines reduced and as quickly as possible. Now, what about your websites? Where are your eggs located? One of the reasons I highlighted this B2B site in this discussion was to simply point out that moving your eggs into other baskets may not be easy as it first appears. Your market may limit the opportunities available to you. Making changes for some will require new marketing directions, but the need is great.

One last thing to cover here is that not all eggs are equal. While this website may only generate about 20% of its traffic from the search engines, it generates 90% of its leads through the SE’s. Since we are a pure organic search company we don’t use banner ads or PPC, if we lost our Google egg we might have to start paying for traffic something that we have never done.

So I ask you, where are your eggs these days?

We 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 links 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. We also use the Top Commenter plugin as well!

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 SEO solutions and venture further.

And to learn more about our services please check out these links:

Local SEO Services Tucson Website Designs Phoenix SEO Tucson Search Engine Optimization

Holistic SEO Solutions Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Niche SEO Solutions

If your business is located in the US, Canada, Tempe, Phoenix, Glendale, 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!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.

Ten Reasons Not Too Blog

August 17, 2008

Ten Reasons Not Too Blog

1. Time.
2. No Time.
3. Not Enough Time.
4. Finding The “Write Time.”
5. Takes Way Too Much Time.
6. Developing A Story Demands Your Time.
7. Return On Investment Very Uncertain Over Time.
8. Comment Responding Demands Detailed Attention And More Time.
9. Reading, Writing, And Research Require Copious Amounts Of Time.
10. Trusted And Steady Readers Can Only Be Obtained Over Time.

Do you have the Time?

Our Arizona Services:

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson – Phoenix

Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Local Internet – Website Marketing Services Tucson

Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Scottsdale SEO – Glendale internet Website Marketing Services

Marana – Sierra Vista – Green & Oro Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Nationally we offer the following services:

Detailed Website Review – Audit

Holistic SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Niche SEO – Internet – Website Marketing Services

Local SEO Internet Marketing Services Tucson Phoenix

Geo-Targeted Geo-targeted SEO – Search Engine Optimization Services

Affordable Quality Ethical Links – BackLinks Building Services Training

If your business is located in the US, Tucson, Phoenix, Glendale, Flagstaff, Yuma, Scottsdale, Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about how your website can benefit from a blog, SEO, Niche SEO, or Internet Marketing services please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024, 520-777-6479 or 843-882-7661 Now!

Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.