Posts Tagged ‘Consultants’
Google Insights for Search is an SEO Consultant’s Dream Tool
I love Internet marketing because each day I learn something new and discover more SEO tools that make my job easier. As an avid Internet user and passionate online consultant, I try to forward these tips onto others. Today my tip is Google Insights for Search.
As usual, Google continues to provide free and valuable tools to webmasters and online marketers. Their Google Insights for Search tool allows users to view search volumes, geographical hot spots, and search volume increases.
For my example search, I selected “marketing”. Internet marketing scored fourth with online marketing scoring sixth in search volume. I learned Illinois was the top state for US based search with Minnesota and Georgia following close behind. My beloved Michigan was not in the top ten, but I will not blame this on Google. Rising search terms were social media marketing at 250% growth, SEO marketing at 50% growth, and affiliate marketing at 40% growth.
The tool also gives the ability to select a given region, state, or city and see the data all dynamically change based on the new selection. A decision support system at its finest, all free and all within my world of Internet marketing.
Once again, I say Google is Googlelicious.
The SEO Consultant’s Biggest Mistake
Recently I heard an experienced SEO consultant state with pride and confidence, “I write for search engine spiders and not real people.” If ever there was a time to run for the hills, this would be the time.
A quality and experienced SEO consultant will write solid content that is useful to website visitors as well as search engine friendly. There is no reason to select one or the other, because both objectives can live in harmony with each other.
A bad SEO consultant will spend all of their time writing and optimizing websites for search engine spiders and forget completely about actual website visitors. Optimizing in this manner will result in one of two outcomes, with both scenarios being detrimental to a website promotion campaign. The first outcome will be that these tactics work and search engines drive increased traffic to the website, yet actual people become frustrated upon arrival and leave to find a more user friendly source of information. The second outcome is even worse. In this scenario the search engines notice the poor behavior and remove your website from search engine results completely. Neither outcome will produce increased sales of your products or services.
Regardless of the potential outcome, a reputable SEO consultant will write content and optimize website pages designed to please the user and not the search engines. If you hire an Internet marketing consultant and you are leery about their tactics, run away as fast as you can.
Website Promotion Promises – Are They Real?
If you have a website and your email is listed on the Internet, you’ve probably received unsolicited offers for increasing your website’s ranking on the Internet. Over the last few years, these offers seem to multiple like a virtual plague. I myself receive so many of these emails, they are perpetually trapped in my spam filter.
If you’ve ever read these offers closely, you will quickly become suspicious. The emails come from gmail accounts without phone numbers or website addresses. They offer promises of first page ranking on Google and website traffic increases beyond your wildest expectations. And all of this is yours for little money and within record time.
Take note my friends, nothing of value comes easy. Your Grandmother was right. Positive results typically come from hard work. And so is the case with website promotion. Can a website refresh and an Internet marketing campaign make a difference? Yes, absolutely. But this difference is a result of a qualified Internet marketing consultant who can a implement proven Internet marketing campaign to work for your company. The consultant should have a real website with a real domain (www.something.com) and be ranked high on Google for keywords associated for their own website.
The bottom line is this – if an Internet marketing consultant cannot promote their own website effectively, they will not be able to do a solid job of promoting your website. If you can find them quickly on Google, then they are most likely a real, live, oxygen breathing consultant who can produce results. If you cannot find them on Google, keep looking for someone else.
Internet Marketing Consultant or Website Designer?
Is an Internet marketing consultant really necessary or do I just need a good website designer? This question is asked by a lot of small business owners who are contemplating a new website or the redesign to an existing website. While I’d love to provide a simple answer that yes, a website designer is the only real services needed, I’d be lying.
From my own firsthand experience, I can tell you, a lot of hard work goes into promoting a website and reaching that coveted page one search ranking of Google. It doesn’t happen overnight and it is not something that just happens. Top search engine ranking requires optimizing each website page and promoting those pages off site via the Internet. While designing a visually pleasing website is important, designing one that can be easily searched and one that is supported by a solid online marketing campaign is critical.
If you ask your new or potential service provider a few questions or listen to the questions he or she asks you, you will quickly see the level of their expertise. A true Internet consultant will begin with your overall marketing objectives, your offering, and your target market. A website designer will ask what you’d like on your website. A quality Internet marketer will create a website that is visually effective and that directly supports all of your marketing efforts.
Your website is an ongoing and never ending campaign. Just like more traditional marketing efforts, you cannot expect to create a campaign and have the campaign manage itself. It will not happen. It needs a solid foundation and constant nurturing to make it a success.
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