seo-news

What makes a good SEO service

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:01:27 +0100

Today I would like to discuss the importance of a good SEO service. I still see many companies advertising search engine submissions and wanting money for it... What!!!

This is why I wanted to write this post to give an insight on what to look out for when hiring SEO services and how to tell if that company if offering what SEO is today.

Firstly a good SEO professional will not say that your website has to submitted every month, nor would they say that they could guarantee top position on Google. It is impossible for any SEO technician to say this, there are no guarantees with SEO and SEO does not essentially mean getting your site to the top of Google in 2 months.

If you read my post from a couple of weeks ago on "how SEO has evolved in the last 5 years" you can see that some of the techniques has changed and that been a good SEO practitioner is about bringing out the best of a website or online business not necessarily barging your way to the top of every big keyword in sight .

A good SEO service would offer custom SEO, they would want to see your website first to asses it. They would offer and explain to you what they could do with your website and how it they could improve it. Many SEO companies offer SEO packages but I cannot see how a reputable business could improve a website from offering all their clients the same package at the same price. Each business, website and the competition of the business plays a big part in where you can go with your website.

A good SEO would also put many hours into research of your competition, keywords, bad coding and link building alike. They would talk you through the process of what they are doing, they would also submit reports to you to prove your website is more search engine friendly and they would also consider the fact of user experience and how the structure of you website i.e menus etc.. could depend on whether a visitor becomes a possible client. It is also good practise for a SEO profession to have knowledge in marketing, after all, this is what the whole objective of having a website is, acquiring visitors and getting business.

There are many ways to improve a website, there are a number of ways to make that website run a little bit more smoothly and start ranking higher in the SERP's, but it is a long process, with allot of hours and hard work. If you are considering hiring SEO services or a SEO consultant, check to see what passed work they have done, have they got references? If not, go somewhere else and find a SEO who is passionate about their work, someone who will put every effort into your website and someone who is not going to fob you off for old and dated SEO techniques.

The definition of SEM

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:03:06 +0100

Many people ask the question, "What is the difference between SEO and SEM?"

Today I thought I would make things a little clearer on the subject.
SEM stands for search engine marketing, it is the marketing of a website using the search engines. It can also mean similar to PPC. PPC is the system used to buy advertisements I.E those little ads you see on the right side of the page of a Google search.

The job of a SEM would be to utilize the search engines to their full potential and promote a website and its traffic. So why is it different from search engine optimization?

SEO is still number one before SEM, without the initial optimization of a website it is pretty pointless to start to concentrate on SEM/PPC. A website has to be ready and optimized to its full potential for both search engines and users. To be a good in SEM you need to have a background of SEO and know how the search engines work.

SEM can be perused and applied to further the audience of a website by using pay per click advertising. The marketing of a website can mean many things, and depending on who you are taking to can depend on each persons definition of the word SEM. Personally, I think SEM is allot more than just paid advertisement, So I have listed below a number of online marketing tactics that I class as SEM.

Online Advertising
Social Marketing/Link Building
Blog/Article Writing
Email Marketing
News Letters
Research

I think it is wrong to class SEM as just paid marketing, the is many ways of marketing a business online that are organic and natural to the search engines. Remember without SEO primarily there is not much point in diving into SEM.

Google's next business adventure as they buy Picnik

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:02:49 +0100

Google has yet spread out their wings even further as they have announced on their official blog that they have bought Picnik, an online image editor which lets you use tools to modify your images.

Picnik was founded in 2005, and since then has grown year after year and now has regular traffic of millions of users.

It is uncertain as to Google's plans with Picnik but no doubt they will add features and other uses as time goes on.

How SEO has evolved from 5 years ago

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:03:48 +0100

This is a question I have been thinking about for a while. Many people think SEO techniques are always changing whilst others still vow by the same principals from 5 years ago. I personally think there are many techniques from 5 years ago that are still vital in today's practises. At the same time there are many techniques I use that are new, like page speed etc....

5 years ago the only SEO needs were to submit to search engines, keywording and good quality content. Today in the big world of SEO you do not have to submit to search engines no more but you still have to think about keywording and good quality content. Plus nowadays there are hundreds of tweaking techniques that you can apply to make the slightest adjustments on a website.

To me, personally, I like to stick to some old basics whiles adding in some of the newer tactics that also include search engine marketing like back linking (obviously!), articles and blogs, headings and titles, social media marketing, page speed and last but not least HARD WORK!

Summary
Been SEO Director in the company for the last 5 years the biggest problem in running a successful website is you have to put in allot of time and hard work. 5 years ago you could get a website popular and on the front page of Google in a matter of 2 months, but times have changed as there are millions of websites filled with all sorts of information, services and products. This means the competition in almost every business category is extremely high.

What makes a good SEO service?

Latest Web Design Offer, Up To 10 Pages for €290

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:02:37 +0100

We are offering for 4 weeks only a 10 page website designed, optimized and Submitted to all major search engines for just €290.

This is a great opportunity for small business based in Andalucia and the Costa Del Sol. Having a website is a way to offer previous and potential clients of showing them what you are about. Whether you have a holiday accommodation, a bar or any other small business, get your word put across to the thousands of internet users living in Spain.

We will design you upto a 10 page website with contact, about, gallery, video etc to your specific requirements as well as optimizing the website ready for the search engines. SEO (search engine optimization) plays a big role in any website as it is this which brings you business.

SEO in Spain also offers ongoing SEO/SEM services should you wish to entail on them. If you are a little unsure as to what SEO is all about, Louise Hartley our SEO Director shares her expertise and knowledge of the search engines and on web design on your blog.

I have an E commerce website designed but I have no customers...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:02:22 +0100

Having an E commerce website and selling online can be one of the hardest marketing businesses to crack. With the easiness of been able to set up an online shop in today's world, too many people go out and get a website without even thinking of the ways to market their products. First of all, like any website it is to optimize it, make sure that your website is user friendly and easy to navigate. Your online shop should be easy for potential customers to find what they want, are the navigation menus in see-able places? Is it easy for them to update their shopping cart? How user friendly are the checkout pages? Try to get an idea of what your competition websites have, are and how they have their navigation menus set out.

So, you have the website user friendly, easy to navigate etc.... It is now onto the optimization of the website. Without optimizing a website at all, no one will ever find you. Set up analytics, it is important to know who, when and where are you visitors coming from? If you are looking to sell in Spain, then it is pointless working on getting clients from the UK. Analytics also gives the information of what pages are been hit the most and what pages dont show up in search results. Once onsite optimization has taken place, it is important to carry on with offsite SEO techniques and a marketing strategy. This includes link building, articles, press releases, social media marketing and much more to get your brand noticed.

To be able to suceed on the internet with e commerce it is vital to get your company noticed and generate a good number of traffic. It takes a lot of hard work, patience and a good business plan to shine through all those other e commerce websites. It is also important to embark on SEO services/consultancy and get a good marketing plan writen out and stick to it. Most businesses fail for the sake of bad marketing, don't go for those cheap link deals or SEO's which say they can place you on the 1st page of Google in a month for €20. It is just not possible. Search engine optimization and SEM practises are a slow on going progress that takes months and even years to develop correctly.

What makes a good tweet that everyone will want to read

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:02:16 +0100

Using twitter as a marketing platform is great, only there are some things to keep in mind when tweeting. Make the headline stand out, if the headline is intriguing then people are more likely to click on it and follow the link. Hey presto, a new visitor.....

Shortening the URL is also a good idea. Try using a service like Ping that lets you to track the clicks to the link, this way you can keep a record of what's hot and what's not.

Using twitter for promotion of a business is becoming an important tool for marketers, make sure that not only is your twitter headline interesting but once a user clicks on the link, the article/news piece needs to be just as good, other wise people will not return.

Don't just keep your tweets to self promotion, people will get bored and stop following you. Mix your tweets with other info, tips, news, not just that of your business. Advertising your sales you currently have on is another good tweet but try not to hype it up too much.

Twitter is social media and social media is what it say's. You have to be social to get any good response from your social media marketing. People will just ignore you if all you are about is self promotion.

An insight into how much work is needed when running a successful website

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:02:09 +0100

An insight and brief into running a website in todays online world.

Many people out there think that as soon as you have set a website up, thats it..... The website will run itself!

Well i'm affraid that is really not the case. A website is an important part of any business in todays world but there is lots more to having a website than just designing one and then letting it sit there.

The first thing is obviously design, the design has to fit and tell visitors what your all about. You need the design user friendly, once someone finds your site you want them to stay, so it is important that your website is intriging enough to people want to stay there.

Once a suitable design is made, you have to think about the SEO for the site. How are visitors ever going to find you on Google if Google itself can not find you?! So within the design get the onsite SEO right from the begining. SEO is an ongoing project in itself and is always updating constently.

Marketing your product or service is a job that has to be done right. Marketing a website is not just buying business cards and the odd advert in a magazine. Online marketing again is a long process and there are many ways of marketing online. Google adwords can be in many cases one of the best ways for small businesses to get seen from day one.

Blogging is another great way to start spreading the word, news pieces about your products or services can be an extremely helpfull tool. This shows Google you are constently updating and adding new information. Submitting your news articles to specialized websites can result in a benifical linking strategy.

Social Media this last 2 years has gone from strength to strength and is considered to be essential in the SEO world to survive on the internet. Social media can bring you and many people in the same interests together and so makes this a very powerful marketing tool.

13 useful link building tactics

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:02:00 +0100

Today we look at how and where is best to find those valuable links. I have listed a number of ways to find links that are essential for building a good link campaign and ways you can achieve this.

1) Write blogs on your business subject.

2) Submit blogs to article bases.

3) Submit press releases.

4) Join forums and get involved.

5) Contribute in social media sites and forums.

6) Look for groups on social sites, like Facebook and Twitter which are in the same line of business as you..

7) Focus on local news and article sites, It maybe that one of them is interested in wirting an article on you..

8) Look for libraries. They can be good resources for quality links.

9) Study competing sites and see what they are doing.

10) Find niche directories which specialise in you subject.

11) If you are able to, add photos and video to your site then post them to youtube, dailymotion, flicker etc...

12) Make free widgets, widgets are a great tool for spreading the word.

13) Add RSS feeds and submit to feedburner and all your social media sites.

Link building is a long process which needs alot of time and hard work to make a good job of it. As I have said in previous post, social media may just be one of the best ways to meet possible new clients and friends.