Since search engines are the first stop for people on the Internet looking for goods or services, the position your website appears in search results is an important factor. If your URL shows up far down the results list, the chances of the consumer never finding you increase incrementally. Once you achieve a high search engine position, it is essential that you make sure you maintain the high ranking you have worked so hard to achieve.
This means you must come up with a strategy to monitor your search engines positions. This strategy is crucial to the success of any marketing campaign. Think of your search engine positions as your online portfolio. Would you let your stock portfolio be ruled by chance and market fluctuations, or would you keep close tabs on your stocks so you could buy and sell when the time is right? This is the way you must consider your search engines positions.
Be aware that at first, after you have launched your search engine campaign and done all the right things to increase your rankings, you will most likely see a continual upward climb. What you need to be on the lookout for is the moment that upward climb reaches a plateau. When this happens, your search engine position campaign moves into stage two, the monitoring and protecting stage.
In stage two, do not be concerned about the short-term fluctuations in your positions. These are similar to the subtle rising and falling of stocks in a portfolio. Short-term movement is an integral part of the whole process. It's the long-term changes that you must watch for and prepare to act on immediately.
Analyzing the long-term trends of search engines positions is imperative. The way in which search engines rank websites may change at the drop of hat. If you are unaware of these changes - many of which are subtle yet can be deadly to your ranking - your position may drop to the bottom of the list before you can get your bearings. To prevent this kind of precipitous drop, you must create a system to monitor your positions on a monthly basis. Devise a chart to keep tabs on your top ranking positions or your top pages, and make sure to watch "the market" closely.
Each search engine uses a formula to compute website rankings. When a search engine changes this formula in any way, it may raise or lower your ranking. Some search engines use a number of different formulas, rotating them so that a formula doesn't become overused or outdated. Depending on which formula is being applied, your search
engine position may suddenly drop or rise in rank significantly. Therefore, you must check your positions frequently in order to catch when a search engine changes formulas and what effect it has on your positions.
You must also deal with your competition - a crucial factor you must always be vigilant about. Your competitor's position may suddenly rise, automatically lowering your position. Or their position may drop, pushing your position higher. Each month, expect position changes due to the continual changes that are occurring in your competitor's position, and be prepared to adjust your marketing strategy to compensate for decreased rankings. Monitoring these fluctuations will also give you vital information about how to improve your website to increase your position in search results.
Of course, you must discern what the most popular search engines are in order for your monitoring efforts to be effective. Right now, there are ten popular search engines that direct most of Internet traffic to your sites. The challenge you face is that these top ten may change from month to month.
This means that your must not only monitor your search engine positions, but you must also keep track of the ranking popularity of the search engines you are monitoring. Find out which search engines people use most frequently every month and be sure to live in the present! People are fickle about their favorite search engines, and it takes constant vigilance to follow their dalliances. The
search engines they loved when you first launched your campaign may be old news in the next few months. You must adjust your list of engines according to the whims of the Internet users.
Another factor to monitor carefully is a sudden drop of your positions in all search engines. This is not the same as monthly fluctuations - this is a neon red warning sign! It could mean a number of different things.
It all your search engine positions have plummeted, it may indicate that search engines spiders - those sneaky programs that seek out your site and rank their positions - have found some type of problem with your website. If you have recently changed the code, for instance, the spider may become utterly confused and consequently drop your positions disastrously. If a spider creeps up on your website when it is down for adjustments or changes, you may actually disappear from a search engine index entirely. Or a search engine may drastically change its formula, and suddenly all of your website come up as irrelevant. If that search engine is a current favorite, it may create a domino effect, causing all of your position to drop in all search engines.
Some search engines rely on the results from other search engines, and it is vital that you know which engines these are and keep track of all the engines they influence. The biggest problem here is that search engines will sometimes change affiliations, and this can create a major shift in the geography of the Internet. For example, recently Yahoo decided to display only results gleaned from Google. So you must not only monitor your own positions, but you must keep abreast of seismic shifts in the landscape of the Internet as a whole.
Finally, pay attention to your keywords. Keywords are the foundation bricks of the entire search engine system, and they demand individual scrutiny in your monitoring efforts. If you have found that a number of your positions have plummeted, it may mean that a page of your website has become invisible or inaccessible to search engine spiders. Or the competition for that particular keyword or phrase has recently rocketed into outer space. In either case, you must act quickly and efficiently to regain lost ground.
Your search engine marketing campaign is an investment. If costs you time and money on a continual basis. Protect this investment as diligently as you would your financial portfolio. In the same way, track your positions from an objective perspective, and monitor your positions on a regular basis. Make sure your time and effort reap rewards by keeping your eye on the big picture - your long-term marketing campaign.
More Articles Like this one.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Selecting A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Company
By Scott Buresh http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters/seo-company.html
There are many factors to consider when selecting an SEO company. Unfortunately, many businesses that haven't previously used search engine optimization to promote themselves are unsure how to evaluate potential search engine optimization companies, and many are intimidated by the entire concept. The following article, divided into five major topics of consideration, is intended to help in the selection process.
1. Approach
2. Results
3. Ongoing Support and Reporting
4. Cost
5. References
Topic 1: Approach
There are many different approaches and levels of service available to anyone looking for an SEO company. Some techniques, such as "cloaking" or "doorway pages" can put your site at risk of penalization, although they may give you short term gains. For some, the risks of penalization associated with such techniques may be acceptable, but most prefer to play by the rules. You probably also want to be certain that any potential search engine optimization companies don't work with your biggest competitors. Here are three important questions to ask your potential SEO company:
1. Do you create pages, optimized for my keyphrases, which aren't built in to the navigation of my site?
If the answer is yes, you are probably dealing with an SEO company that creates "doorway" or "bridge" pages (although most companies will call them by different names). Such pages may even reside on a different server and funnel traffic to your site. This technique violates the terms of service of most major engines.
2. Does your technique involve showing a different page to the search engine than to my visitors?
If the answer is yes, than you are probably dealing with an SEO company that uses "cloaking". This is when the website server makes a note of the unique address assigned to each visitor, and when it notices that a visitor is a search engine, it feeds it specialized content designed to rank highly for certain keyphrases. Even though many engines specifically warn against this technique in their terms of service, some search engine optimization companies still use this technique. Google is particularly harsh on sites that use cloaking, and is known to remove them entirely (when they find them).
3. Do you guarantee that you won't work with my biggest competitors while you are working with me?
The optimization techniques used for your site could probably be used to help your competitors. Some unscrupulous search engine optimization companies will go so far as to use the positions they achieved for your site to sell your competitors on the need for search engine optimization.
back to top
Topic 2: Results
Almost every SEO company has a "brag book" of positions that they have achieved. However, looks can be deceiving. When evaluating the past results of an SEO company, there are really five important components to consider.
1. Which engines?
Make certain that the positions the SEO company has achieved are for the most popular search engines, not smaller engines for which they may have a knack. For a current list of the most popular search engines, visit the Nielsen Netratings page at Search Engine Watch.
2. Which keyphrases?
Wordtracker is a valuable tool free for limited use in determining if the positions your potential SEO company proudly displays actually have any real value, since it shows the popularity of individual search phrases based upon actual search activity on popular engines. When Wordtarcker displays a very low number (or zero) for a particular term, it is most likely not very competitive (or beneficial), and high positions for it are probably nothing to brag about. In other words, if the search engine optimization companies you are considering are boasting of the high positions they achieved for the term "dog silverware" and Wordtracker tells you (not surprisingly) that nobody searches for that term, know that you shouldn't be impressed.
3. What about an entire site?
While it's easy to focus on one particularly impressive position on one popular engine, it's more important to focus on a broad range of positions achieved for one site. It's entirely possible for a site to have one great ranking and be sorely lacking in positions for all other keyphrases. Ask your potential SEO company to show you a report for an individual client that demonstrates good positions on many popular engines for many popular keyphrases. An effective search engine optimization campaign will achieve maximum exposure across a broad range of keyphrases and engines, not one notable position on one engine.
4. How have results stood up over time?
When you find search engine optimization companies that can provide you with the data mentioned in the previous component, ask to see a report showing how those positions have held up over time (ideally for six months or more). Since search engine marketing is an ongoing process, you want to be certain your SEO company is capable of maintaining a high level of exposure for your company.
5. Did they really do it?
The most obvious of the five components is to confirm that your potential SEO company is really responsible for the positions they are claiming. It is not unheard of for unethical search engine optimization companies to take credit for the work of others in order to increase their chances of landing a sale. In some cases, vendor claims are easy to confirm (such as when a client site includes the vendor's name or logo). If you can't confirm that a particular SEO company is truly responsible for the positions by looking at the site, don't be afraid to pick up the phone to do so.
back to top
Topic 3: Ongoing Support and Reporting
As previously mentioned, search engine optimization is an ongoing process, rather than a one time "quick fix". If you intend to use your SEO company to help you maintain your positions, you should ask to see a sample monthly report. As the quality of reporting can vary between search engine optimization companies, consider the following three items in your evaluation:
1. Engines
Reports should always be based on the most popular engines, not the engines that the SEO company has had success with. Be sure that the sample report includes only popular engines based upon current figures.
2. Overviews
Your reports shouldn't be solely comprised of raw data that details individual positions. It is impossible to tell how your site is performing on search engines over time by looking at a slew of individual positions on individual engines and comparing them to the previous month. The sample report should provide easy-to-understand overviews of ranking performance, such as an ongoing chart that covers a long period of time and shows trend data such as "top 40 positions by month" or "top three page appearances by month".
3. Recommendations
You don't want to pay an SEO company merely to report on positions - you want to be sure that they are looking over your ranking performance on a monthly basis and are actively making the recommendations necessary to maintain and improve your positions. Be sure that the sample report contains monthly observations specific to the site. Otherwise, you may be paying somebody to simply compile reports, not to promote the ongoing success of the campaign.
back to top
Topic 4: Cost
Obviously, this is a large consideration for most companies, but focusing too much on cost and not enough on results can hinder your chances for success. Some things to remember:
1. Search Engine Optimization is NOT a commodity product.
Unlike selecting a gas or electric company (where the quality of the product is largely the same regardless of vendor), your choice of search engine optimization companies will have a dramatic effect on the overall results. If price is your largest consideration and you are unable to find search engine optimization companies within your price range with which you are confident, it may be advisable to wait until you can afford one that meets your criteria.
2. Prices are all over the board.
As with most businesses, the search engine optimization companies with the best reputations and the proven track records command the highest fees. However, it is possible to find a competent, lower-priced SEO company without a proven track record that will do an excellent job (every optimization firm has to start somewhere). Just be aware that there may be risks associated with unproven search engine optimization companies, and be sure that you are comfortable taking them.
back to top
Topic 5: References
If an SEO company you are considering is unable to provide you with references, you may want to look elsewhere. In almost every business, excellent references are a necessity when considering expenditures over a certain dollar figure. Why should choosing an SEO company be any different? Some search engine optimization companies may cite "confidentiality" reasons, but search engine optimization is no longer considered the black art that it once was. Every legitimate firm should have at least two clients (past or present) that you can call upon. Here are some important questions to ask when you do:
1. Did you enjoy working with them?
This doesn't bear much explanation, but you should find out how available the vendor was for questions, whether they met their deadlines, and how the company would classify the overall experience.
2. How reasonable were their requests?
Some search engine optimization companies will ask you to make changes that seriously compromise the visitor experience on your site. It is important to find an SEO company that can find a balance between the needs of search engines and site visitors, not a company that goes for high positions at any cost.
3. What overall effect has it had on your business?
This is the most important question, and the most important overall factor to consider when selecting an SEO company. While high search engine positions and more site traffic are an admirable goal, the true value of search engine optimization is found in positive effects on customer acquisition costs and bottom line revenues.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization can drive numerous, targeted prospect directly to your website, typically at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. However, as with most things, your results will only be as good as the people you work with. By taking the time to carefully evaluate search engine optimization companies before signing a check, you will take much of the guesswork and uncertainty out of the process - and greatly increase your long-term chances for success.
----
As I once Again State, this is all stuff you can do yourself, but do you have time, do you have the know how and do you want to pay that much.
There are many factors to consider when selecting an SEO company. Unfortunately, many businesses that haven't previously used search engine optimization to promote themselves are unsure how to evaluate potential search engine optimization companies, and many are intimidated by the entire concept. The following article, divided into five major topics of consideration, is intended to help in the selection process.
1. Approach
2. Results
3. Ongoing Support and Reporting
4. Cost
5. References
Topic 1: Approach
There are many different approaches and levels of service available to anyone looking for an SEO company. Some techniques, such as "cloaking" or "doorway pages" can put your site at risk of penalization, although they may give you short term gains. For some, the risks of penalization associated with such techniques may be acceptable, but most prefer to play by the rules. You probably also want to be certain that any potential search engine optimization companies don't work with your biggest competitors. Here are three important questions to ask your potential SEO company:
1. Do you create pages, optimized for my keyphrases, which aren't built in to the navigation of my site?
If the answer is yes, you are probably dealing with an SEO company that creates "doorway" or "bridge" pages (although most companies will call them by different names). Such pages may even reside on a different server and funnel traffic to your site. This technique violates the terms of service of most major engines.
2. Does your technique involve showing a different page to the search engine than to my visitors?
If the answer is yes, than you are probably dealing with an SEO company that uses "cloaking". This is when the website server makes a note of the unique address assigned to each visitor, and when it notices that a visitor is a search engine, it feeds it specialized content designed to rank highly for certain keyphrases. Even though many engines specifically warn against this technique in their terms of service, some search engine optimization companies still use this technique. Google is particularly harsh on sites that use cloaking, and is known to remove them entirely (when they find them).
3. Do you guarantee that you won't work with my biggest competitors while you are working with me?
The optimization techniques used for your site could probably be used to help your competitors. Some unscrupulous search engine optimization companies will go so far as to use the positions they achieved for your site to sell your competitors on the need for search engine optimization.
back to top
Topic 2: Results
Almost every SEO company has a "brag book" of positions that they have achieved. However, looks can be deceiving. When evaluating the past results of an SEO company, there are really five important components to consider.
1. Which engines?
Make certain that the positions the SEO company has achieved are for the most popular search engines, not smaller engines for which they may have a knack. For a current list of the most popular search engines, visit the Nielsen Netratings page at Search Engine Watch.
2. Which keyphrases?
Wordtracker is a valuable tool free for limited use in determining if the positions your potential SEO company proudly displays actually have any real value, since it shows the popularity of individual search phrases based upon actual search activity on popular engines. When Wordtarcker displays a very low number (or zero) for a particular term, it is most likely not very competitive (or beneficial), and high positions for it are probably nothing to brag about. In other words, if the search engine optimization companies you are considering are boasting of the high positions they achieved for the term "dog silverware" and Wordtracker tells you (not surprisingly) that nobody searches for that term, know that you shouldn't be impressed.
3. What about an entire site?
While it's easy to focus on one particularly impressive position on one popular engine, it's more important to focus on a broad range of positions achieved for one site. It's entirely possible for a site to have one great ranking and be sorely lacking in positions for all other keyphrases. Ask your potential SEO company to show you a report for an individual client that demonstrates good positions on many popular engines for many popular keyphrases. An effective search engine optimization campaign will achieve maximum exposure across a broad range of keyphrases and engines, not one notable position on one engine.
4. How have results stood up over time?
When you find search engine optimization companies that can provide you with the data mentioned in the previous component, ask to see a report showing how those positions have held up over time (ideally for six months or more). Since search engine marketing is an ongoing process, you want to be certain your SEO company is capable of maintaining a high level of exposure for your company.
5. Did they really do it?
The most obvious of the five components is to confirm that your potential SEO company is really responsible for the positions they are claiming. It is not unheard of for unethical search engine optimization companies to take credit for the work of others in order to increase their chances of landing a sale. In some cases, vendor claims are easy to confirm (such as when a client site includes the vendor's name or logo). If you can't confirm that a particular SEO company is truly responsible for the positions by looking at the site, don't be afraid to pick up the phone to do so.
back to top
Topic 3: Ongoing Support and Reporting
As previously mentioned, search engine optimization is an ongoing process, rather than a one time "quick fix". If you intend to use your SEO company to help you maintain your positions, you should ask to see a sample monthly report. As the quality of reporting can vary between search engine optimization companies, consider the following three items in your evaluation:
1. Engines
Reports should always be based on the most popular engines, not the engines that the SEO company has had success with. Be sure that the sample report includes only popular engines based upon current figures.
2. Overviews
Your reports shouldn't be solely comprised of raw data that details individual positions. It is impossible to tell how your site is performing on search engines over time by looking at a slew of individual positions on individual engines and comparing them to the previous month. The sample report should provide easy-to-understand overviews of ranking performance, such as an ongoing chart that covers a long period of time and shows trend data such as "top 40 positions by month" or "top three page appearances by month".
3. Recommendations
You don't want to pay an SEO company merely to report on positions - you want to be sure that they are looking over your ranking performance on a monthly basis and are actively making the recommendations necessary to maintain and improve your positions. Be sure that the sample report contains monthly observations specific to the site. Otherwise, you may be paying somebody to simply compile reports, not to promote the ongoing success of the campaign.
back to top
Topic 4: Cost
Obviously, this is a large consideration for most companies, but focusing too much on cost and not enough on results can hinder your chances for success. Some things to remember:
1. Search Engine Optimization is NOT a commodity product.
Unlike selecting a gas or electric company (where the quality of the product is largely the same regardless of vendor), your choice of search engine optimization companies will have a dramatic effect on the overall results. If price is your largest consideration and you are unable to find search engine optimization companies within your price range with which you are confident, it may be advisable to wait until you can afford one that meets your criteria.
2. Prices are all over the board.
As with most businesses, the search engine optimization companies with the best reputations and the proven track records command the highest fees. However, it is possible to find a competent, lower-priced SEO company without a proven track record that will do an excellent job (every optimization firm has to start somewhere). Just be aware that there may be risks associated with unproven search engine optimization companies, and be sure that you are comfortable taking them.
back to top
Topic 5: References
If an SEO company you are considering is unable to provide you with references, you may want to look elsewhere. In almost every business, excellent references are a necessity when considering expenditures over a certain dollar figure. Why should choosing an SEO company be any different? Some search engine optimization companies may cite "confidentiality" reasons, but search engine optimization is no longer considered the black art that it once was. Every legitimate firm should have at least two clients (past or present) that you can call upon. Here are some important questions to ask when you do:
1. Did you enjoy working with them?
This doesn't bear much explanation, but you should find out how available the vendor was for questions, whether they met their deadlines, and how the company would classify the overall experience.
2. How reasonable were their requests?
Some search engine optimization companies will ask you to make changes that seriously compromise the visitor experience on your site. It is important to find an SEO company that can find a balance between the needs of search engines and site visitors, not a company that goes for high positions at any cost.
3. What overall effect has it had on your business?
This is the most important question, and the most important overall factor to consider when selecting an SEO company. While high search engine positions and more site traffic are an admirable goal, the true value of search engine optimization is found in positive effects on customer acquisition costs and bottom line revenues.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization can drive numerous, targeted prospect directly to your website, typically at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. However, as with most things, your results will only be as good as the people you work with. By taking the time to carefully evaluate search engine optimization companies before signing a check, you will take much of the guesswork and uncertainty out of the process - and greatly increase your long-term chances for success.
----
As I once Again State, this is all stuff you can do yourself, but do you have time, do you have the know how and do you want to pay that much.
Monday, June 11, 2007
SEO Companies
I have tried a couple of search engine optimization companies and have found that I can almost achieve the results I want on my own without dishing out some much needed budget expenses.
I have learned that writing Blogs, Articles and making Posts on Message Boards increases your ranking without the need to pay for SEO Companies.
In less then one year, my Websites http://www.weathat.com and http://www.time2use.com have jumped up in the rankings from N/a to PR3 and PR2 respectively. All I have done is add need content, submit Articles, Blogs and Talked about my site on message boards. Then I tweaked my website to use the Anchor Text that I had used in my links frequently.
Adding Articles to your site is Easy and very effective as long as the articles you write are organized and entertain the reader for that specific subject. As an example you want to kind of write like you did with your ESSAY writing when you were in high school except add a descriptive introduction paragraph. Meaning that your site will be laid out like so;
Title
Description
Intro and a little info on #1, 2 and 3
Discuss #1
Discuss #2
Discuss #3
Conclusion
--About you--(add your website address with ANCHOR text here)
Then go to differn't Article Site and submit your Article to promote your site. One article site to use is Articles, Then create a blog with possibly the same content. Then make sure your website is tuned for that Anchor Text. Your anchor text should look like this <-a href="YOURSITE">ANCHOR TEXT<-/a> (remove the - signs to get actual link) The text in the middle of the Tags is what actually adds importance to your link. If your links says <-a href="YOURSITE">MUD<-/a> and your sites keyword density is about SOAP then you need to make a change in either your Anchor Text or your Websites keywords.
And another thing that increases search engine rankings can be something as simple as Complying with the W3 XHTML Webstandards, meaning your website has no Errors. Sometimes this is very difficult, and other times it is really easy, like fixing broken or open tags, extra line brakes or capitol letters where you need lower case. Although Google is not affected by these changes if compliant your website apears the same in all Web Browsers meaning everyone gets the same experiance.
I have learned that writing Blogs, Articles and making Posts on Message Boards increases your ranking without the need to pay for SEO Companies.
In less then one year, my Websites http://www.weathat.com and http://www.time2use.com have jumped up in the rankings from N/a to PR3 and PR2 respectively. All I have done is add need content, submit Articles, Blogs and Talked about my site on message boards. Then I tweaked my website to use the Anchor Text that I had used in my links frequently.
Adding Articles to your site is Easy and very effective as long as the articles you write are organized and entertain the reader for that specific subject. As an example you want to kind of write like you did with your ESSAY writing when you were in high school except add a descriptive introduction paragraph. Meaning that your site will be laid out like so;
Title
Description
Intro and a little info on #1, 2 and 3
Discuss #1
Discuss #2
Discuss #3
Conclusion
--About you--(add your website address with ANCHOR text here)
Then go to differn't Article Site and submit your Article to promote your site. One article site to use is Articles, Then create a blog with possibly the same content. Then make sure your website is tuned for that Anchor Text. Your anchor text should look like this <-a href="YOURSITE">ANCHOR TEXT<-/a> (remove the - signs to get actual link) The text in the middle of the Tags is what actually adds importance to your link. If your links says <-a href="YOURSITE">MUD<-/a> and your sites keyword density is about SOAP then you need to make a change in either your Anchor Text or your Websites keywords.
And another thing that increases search engine rankings can be something as simple as Complying with the W3 XHTML Webstandards, meaning your website has no Errors. Sometimes this is very difficult, and other times it is really easy, like fixing broken or open tags, extra line brakes or capitol letters where you need lower case. Although Google is not affected by these changes if compliant your website apears the same in all Web Browsers meaning everyone gets the same experiance.
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