Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts

Friday, March 19, 2010

Brand Building Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune

It isn’t necessary for a small business to have a huge advertising budget, but there are a few must haves to cement your brand identity.

First of all, you really do need a logo to give your business a recognizable face. Consistently using your logo on all printed materials increases brand image and awareness.

A web site is another must have in this digital age, as well as business cards that make use of your logo. These give potential clients a way to easily look up and get information on your business.

It doesn’t require spending a fortune to create a fabulous brand, but it does take planning and consistency. You need to know the image you want others to have of you and your business, and then, most important of all, you must get the word out.

Start using Facebook and Twitter to get people to check out your products or services. Always use your logo on all the social media pages. Also try to write articles which will show you to be an expert in your field. Finally, make sure that you do your homework on search engine optimization to make sure that your website comes up on the first page of the major Internet search engines using appropriate key words for your industry. A web site is useless if no one can find it.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

What is this SEO that we keep hearing about?

SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. It means optimizing your site so that it can be easily found and properly indexed by the search engines.

This means knowing how to design your site and its content so that search engines will rank it high within the search results. There is a definite basis as to which key words you should use in the title and description of your pages and in the content of your site so that the search engines will rank your site higher. You can use one of several on-line tools to help you find high ranking keywords such as the one from Google Adwords, which can be gound at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, but you are then asked to pay per click for ads on a Google account. A totally free tool can be found at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/.

You may have also heard the term SEM which is Search Engine Marketing. This is the process of paying search engines so your site appears in the small text ads or sponsored links on a search engine's site based on the words and terms that someone is searching for. For example, you may buy the keywords "designer New York City" so when someone searches for a designer in New York City, your website will appear in the sponsored links section which is often above or beside the other search results.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Internet Directories - How valuable are they?

Many people know that high rankings on Google and other modern search engines can be achieved if a website has both optimized web page content and good inbound links. A relatively easy way to get inbound links is to submit websites to Internet directories. But how valuable are these directories when it comes to search engine rankings?

An internet marketer tested three pages that were created to provide valuable content to search engines.These pages were submitted to some high quality paid directories (Yahoo, BestOfTheWeb, Joe Ant) and free directories. The marketer reported tat about 45 days after the paid directory links went live, the web pages had increased visibility on search engines. Visits and conversions also increased and the tracking of the marketer indicated that at least 50 percent of the results could be attributed to the directory links.

The final results included a lift of traffic to levels that other highly visible site pages receive within 90 days and an increase in monthly conversions for the business line of 45 percent year-over-year
Therefore, getting links from Internet directories should be a fundamental part of any search engine optimization strategy. You should submit your website to all big Internet directories and to Internet directories that cover your niche.

Links from Internet directories are only one way to get links from other sites. If you want to outperform your competitors, you also need links from websites that are related to yours. Links from blogs will also help. Don't forget to optimize your website content before building links. The better your website content has been prepared for search engines, the better the links to your website will work.