Does SEO Really Matter in Website Design?

Yes, yes it does.  My project plan doesn’t allow for website design to begin until we’ve gone through keyword discovery, created a keyword rich sitemap, and defined our call to actions.  Only after we know the full scope of the project does the graphic artist and coders begin work.  It is that patience and due diligence that makes the project a success.

The below graph shows a large increase in website traffic two months after go live.  The website went live September 30th and by the end of November the website traffic had increased 353%.  That’s a pretty big shift in traffic in just sixty days.

The below graph separates out the traffic increase into traffic that is solely based on keywords (or organic search traffic).  In this example, it is showing just Google search traffic.  This illustrates that huge traffic gains can be obtained by good old fashion content creation and focused web design and blogging.

What Else Was Included in the Project?

My client is someone who originally approached me a year before we actually started the web design project.  He had known of my work through his competitors and others within his industry.  At our first conversation, he told me I was too expensive.  I’m okay when people tell me this and it does happen a lot.  I know I am more expensive then many other web designers – especially WordPress designers.  This is because my team makes sure we design and build websites with personas, organic SEO, and conversions in mind.  We don’t just customize an existing WordPress template, we create one from scratch and we make sure it is 100% designed to the client’s needs.  We also make sure the entire project is based on search engine optimization, a competitive analysis, and hours of keyword discovery.

A year after turning down my pricing this client resurfaced.  I believe he had tried some lower cost SEO options and some website tweaks that didn’t quite work.  His traffic was still low and his visitors were not converting.  This time around he was willing to invest both time and money into the project.  This time around he obtained results that included a 350% increase in traffic.

Our website design project included:

• New logo
• Complete keyword discovery
• Website pages were created based on keywords
• New custom design for the website and blog
• Design built out in WordPress via the Genesis framework from StudioPress
• Each website page and post were given optimized meta titles and descriptions
• Performed an inbound linking campaign
• Integrated social media to help build branding and inbound links
• Professionally designed newsletter

And the Winner Is?

Both the client and I are winners in my mind.  The client may have paid more than he originally anticipated, but the initial outcome if most likely better than he expected as well.  I win because I was able to stay true to my methodology and keep SEO closely tied into the web design process.

If you’d like to learn more about how Web Savvy Marketing can help with your website, visit our website design or WordPress portfolio pages for more information.

My girlfriend is not alone.  I receive dozens of emails each week from people wanting blogs and websites created for their “idea” and I can tell at least 75% have no clue what to do or where to start.  The classic signs of this state of confusion are the words “thinking” and “maybe” and “possibly” and of course the phrase “not sure”.  Let’s be realistic here and understand that thinking and maybe and possibly are all wishy washy and they do not equal a plan.  To make money on the internet you need a plan. Without it, you’re blog will struggle and you’ll lose interest and you will inevitably waste money.   I want to give you a blogging plan.

A quick check of Google search volumes shows that over 14,800 searches are done for “how to blog” each month.  That is a lot of people looking for a blogging plan of attack. That also means you have over 14,000 people thinking about or potentially starting a blog each month.  Lots and lots of competition.

My initial thought was to send her a quick how-to guide for blogging.  Then I realized that this should be a teaching lesson for more than one future blogger.   So I’m whipping my how-to guide into a blog post for the masses.

Let’s Walk Through the Process for Getting Started With Blogging

Pick a Topic – You’re blog needs to have focus and it needs to be focused on something you know and love.  If you’re going to right about something a lot, you need to love it with all your heart.  I love internet marketing, but I’m a geek.  My girlfriend is a better example of a real life, nongeek blogger.  Mary is going to have a travel focused blog which is perfect because Mary loves to travel.

Check Keyword Search Volumes – Before you finalize your blog’s focus, you need to make sure people will actually search on the topic.  You may love to talk about your bottle cap collection, but it won’t generate any revenue if no one actually searches for terms related to your bottle cap collection.  A quick visit to Google’s Adword Keyword Tool will provide an excellent source for keyword research and finding keywords and phrases people actually search for on the internet.

Register a Domain Name – You need to have a URL (www.something.com) so people can find your blog.  There are lot of extensions available, but I tend to stick with the .com group.  Few .com URLs are available because so many people are holding them hostage.  Be creative, be unique, and if needed use dashes.  I register my domains at GoDaddy.  Search the internet for GoDaddy deals and coupon codes, but remember not to host at GoDaddy.  They’re good for domain registration, but not so great at actual hosting.

Pick a Blogging Platform – If you’ve ever been to my website before, you already know I’m a WordPress girl through and through.  There are other blogging platforms available, but WordPress is by far the best.  You can go 100% free via WordPress.com, but you will be limited on your capabilities.  You can go down the path of WordPress.org and have a world of opportunities available to you.  You will have to self host your blog, but this is easy once you realize there are great hosting companies that do everything for you.

Pick a Hosting Company – Like my allegiance to WordPress.org, I am also a firm advocate of Blue Host.  They offer one click WordPress installs, have great performance, and their technical support team is top notch.  I have literally had to stop the technical team and explain I don’t need education on WordPress, because I’m a website designer.  But the gesture is appreciated and their response time and performance applauded.

Pick a Blog Theme – As with everything else in my life, I am very opinionated here too.  Do not be fooled into thinking free WordPress themes are all you need.  Not only are they generic, they can come with hidden code that links to nasty websites.  Invest in yourself and your blog by picking a solid WordPress theme.  These would be called premium themes.  My favorite (I stress favorite) premium theme provider is StudioPress.  Their Genesis framework is functionally robust and has great performance.  It is all we use at my firm when we create custom themes for websites and blogs.  Should you not find what you want at StudioPress, you can visit ThemeForest.net to find hundreds of WordPress themes from a slew of theme developers.  Be careful though, because not all ThemeForest designers will live up to the technical support provided by the StudioPress team.  Some are very good and others not so much.  Expect to pay at least $30 for a premium theme that is off the shelf and about $1,500 to $5,000 for a custom theme.

Remember Images Matter – A blog needs some eye candy and images are that eye candy.  Images help break up the text and they add depth to the posts.  I like to use BigStockPhoto.com and iStockPhoto.com.

Pick the Right WordPress Plugins – WordPress is awesome, but WordPress plugins extend this awesomeness exponentially.  Not all plugins are good and some are just stinky.  Once I find a good plugin, I tend to use it over and over again for client websites.  My favorite ones include:

• Akismet – The rock star of spam fighters.
• All in One SEO – Easy to use tool for search engine optimization.
• Contextual Related Posts – Provides a list of related blog posts based on content.
• Digg Digg – Easy to use share buttons for content distribution.
• Google XML Sitemaps – Produces a list of content for the search engines and updates them when new content is published.
• Gravity Forms – A premium plugin that makes form create simple.
• NextGEN Gallery – Easy to use image grouping and display.  Don’t forget to add a lightbox.
• Robot.txt – Protects your WordPress core files from search engine indexing.
• Subscribe to Comments – Great for user engagement.
• Taxonomy List Shortcode – Good plugin for creating a A-Z index of your blog topics.  You can see an example of this by clicking on the link in my sidebar.
• WP-DBManager – Back up and database optimization all in one.  Yes you do need to optimize your database.  It’s kind of like brushing your teeth WordPress style.
• SEO Smart Links – Creates automatic hyperlinks to your pages, posts, categories, and tags.
• Outbound Link Manager – Easy way to manage outbound (aka affiliate marketing) links in one page.

Connect With the Search Engines – Submit your XML sitemap (see plugin above) to Google and Bing.  They both have some version of Webmaster Tools available for this process.  Take the time to establish an account and then check back for errors or messages.  Google and Bing have lots of information available, so explore and return often.

Find a Revenue Stream – Your blog should make money.  If you’re good at blogging, you can make lots of money.  You need to sell a product, service, or have ads.  With the help of Google and the affiliate marketing network, getting advertisers is easier than you think.  You can use the Google Adsense program to have their network of advertisers matched up to your content or you can go the affiliate marketing route.  Affiliate marketing refers to placing ads on your blog and you are paid for each impression, click, or action resulting from your ad.  Google has an affiliate network and other popular ones are ClickBank and Share a Sale.  Pick one or more, but have a plan to generate revenue.

Use Email Communication – Stay in touch with your readers and give them a reason to come back to your blog by emailing them regularly.  You can use a free service like Google’s FeedBurner to automatically update subscribers when you publish a new blog post or you could create custom newsletters with email campaign software from Constant Contact or Bronto or Mail Chimp.

Become a Social Media Goddess – Social media does work and it is more than a buzzword.  These days everyone thinks they are great at social media although in all fairness, few really are.  Just remember the goal is to connect with people and engage them.  To succeed you just need to be honest, be open, and be present.  Use YouTube, Facebook Pages, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.  Every time you publish a new blog post, it should be shared via the social media websites.  Just don’t forget to read through some social media best practices and blunders before you start posting.

Analyze Your Traffic – Huh?  This simply means pay attention to how many people come to your blog and watch what they do once they get there.  Google Analytics is a free tool that has a ton of functionality, data points, and graphs.  It will show you how many people visit your blog, where they come from, what keywords they search one, how long they stay, and even what pages or posts make them leave.  Learn from the data and improve your blogging to improve your traffic and activity.

Give Yourself a Break – Blogging success does not happen overnight.  You need to find your blogging mojo, get yourself in a rhythm, and learn what works and what doesn’t work.  Don’t expect to see 1,000 hits a day in the first month.  Be patient and be thorough and you will succeed.

Will Mary Succeed at Blogging?

I’m about 99% confident my friend will do just fine.  Mary is smart, has an MBA, and is quick witted.  She is also determined.  I’ve known her for well over ten years and I know this – if Mary sets her mind to something she will succeed.  And darn it she better.  Mary has a living girlfriend’s guide to blogging in me and I won’t let her fail.

We All Make Mistakes

Very few clients have Scott’s thirst for knowledge.  They don’t understand it, or care, or have the time to listen to me ramble about SEO and website design.  Their confident my team will manage go-live and do so properly.  And we do, because we have a project plan that we walk through and I check off as the project progesses.  But not every web design firm or SEO consultant uses a checklist or project plan.  They miss things and these “things” become opportunities for their client’s competition because it is the little things that win in SEO and website design.

Three weeks ago I was researching competitors of a prospect and I discovered one of their local competitors had every page on their website blocked to search engines.  Only the home page was in Google’s index and the company was paying heavily for pay per click campaigns.  The company didn’t know their web designer or in-house webmaster left the noindex tag on all their pages.  It was everything I could do to stop myself from calling the firm to let them know.

The point I am trying to make here is that many consultants and marketing firms miss things.  We’re human and we make mistakes.  Not like a doctor leaving a medical device in a patient type of mistake, but pretty big mistakes nonetheless.  If you’re the client or the DIY web designer, you need to protect yourself.  You need to have some education and you should do a quick run through of your website before and after go-live.  And of course, well before you pay that final invoice.

Go-Live Checklist for Web Design Projects

1. Test Your Website Against All Browsers – Just when you think everything is perfect, in walks someone using IE (Internet Explorer).  Older versions of IE have produced many of grey hairs for me over the last few years.  Things tend to break in IE, so double checking the new website in it right before go-live is critical.  While not as buggy as IE, other browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Safari should also be reviewed.  They are more robust, but older versions can also be problematic. My beloved iPhone and iPad are newer arrivals and they too should be checked.
2. Add a Favicon – A favicon is about branding.  It adds a little image to the tab or window of the user’s browser and it is saved with the bookmark in a favorites list. While this isn’t a critical element, it does provide a nice polished look to your website and I have many clients who get big smiles when they see their logo pop up as a favicon.
3. Create an HTML Sitemap for Visitors – Much to my disappointment; sitemaps are ignored by many developers.  I still create one and while I don’t put it proudly in the main navigation, I do try to make it available in the footer.  Most people don’t use sitemaps, but for those of us who are impatient (that would be me) they’re important.
4. Create an XML Sitemap for Search Engines – A sitemap.xml file should be created and placed in your root directory.  This simple little file allows major search engines to easily index your website.  In WordPress, generating this sitemap is as easy as adding a plugin and clicking the generate button.  WordPress will automatically update this file with every new page or post addition or content change.  It is a simple way of reaching out to search engines and letting them know you have fresh content available for their review.  While this is simple, it is many times forgotten.
5. Prepare a Redirect File – The redirect file is the bane of my existence.  It simply tells search engines and users that an old page or post is no longer available and it redirects them to the current page or post.  It is important for usability and SEO.  So why do I hate it so much?  It is time consuming and it is one of the last things we do before go-live.  Not only do we create the redirect file for the client, we generally have to audit their existing pages and provide a cross reference between old and new.  My clients don’t know what pages they have, so I end up becoming an internet detective in my efforts to locate a complete list.  Once you have the list of old and new matched up, you simply add the directory to the .htaccess file.  Or in my case, you use a WordPress plugin like Redirection.  I love the Redirection plugin because I can upload all the links right from a CSV file.
6. Create and Review a Robot.txt File – The robot.txt file blocks spiders or instructs the search engines to ignore certain file folders on your server.  For most clients this generally means keeping spiders out of the WordPress core and theme files.  For others it may identify a protected directory of white papers or files that are restricted.  Simple, yet important for protecting your website and your high value web assets.
7. Double Check Your Submission Forms Are Working – The simple checking of submission forms may seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised at the amount of problems that can result from a simple contact form.  Email and forms can work differently from server to server, so you absolutely need to recheck forms after a website is moved from a development server to a live server.  One woman told me her company had broken forms for an entire year after they launched their website because no one remembered to check them.  When inquiry forms are your lead source, this is disastrous.
8. Double Check Your Meta Titles and Descriptions – Yes I know I just blogged about this in my last post (Web Design Ain’t Over Until the SEO Sings) and we’ve really already done this twice, but it I still double-check high value pages after go-live.  I use the toolbar from SEOmoz to view the meta title and description outside of WordPress just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  And sometimes, the meta title or description that sounded great a week ago sounds incredibly stupid at launch.  So I go back and edit it just to make sure my pages are well represented in the SERPs.  This is where my OCD personality is highly visible and beneficial.
9. Double Check Your Index Settings – Didn’t I do that with my Robot.txt file above?  Well yes and no.  The robot.txt file looks at folders and is server based.  CMS packages like WordPress allow you to block search engines at a site or page and post level.  While we are in development, we have a site wide block of search engines so our clients do not run into issues with duplicate content.  Our go-live plan includes removing this setting.  That being said, not everyone has such as policy and I’ve noticed new websites blocking search engines more times than I have time to discuss in a blog post.
10. Check Your RSS Feed and Sign Up for FeedBurner – An RSS feed is a techie term for a page that lists your most recent blog posts.  You can use this feed to automatically populate other websites or profiles on the internet.  It is a must have for link building efforts.  Feedburner is a service that allows visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed via email.  It is offered by Google, it is 100% free, and it makes a great tool for building engagement.  Some people even show off the number of RSS subscribers they have as if it is a badge of honor.
11. Add Google Analytics – I virtually force Google Analytics on every client.  I set it up even if they don’t care, because I think some day they will care and I want them to have data available.  Google Analytics is a free application that tracks visits to your website and the corresponding activity.  It can tell you where people came from, what keyword they used, how long they stay, and when they left.  Good website design and SEO requires analytics.  Since GA is free and powerful, it makes a great tool.
12. Submit Your New Sitemap.xml File to Google, Yahoo, and Bing – Use Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Tools, and Yahoo Site Explorer.  Doing so will not only allow for very rapid indexing of the new website, it will provide very valuable tools down the road.  I use Google Webmaster Tools every week and find it a critical tool for evaluating website and SEO success.
13. Review Speed and Performance – After your website is live on your server, you need to review performance.  You’ll be able to verify speed immediately from viewing the website live on the internet and you’ll receive performance reports from Google via Webmaster Tools.  Remember that speed alters search results and conversion rates, so make sure your website performance is up to par.  If you’re live and you’re living with poor performance, don’t be fooled into thinking it is temporary.  Some hosting companies are just horrible, so get out as quick as you can.

DIY Designers Take Note

Winning (not the Charlie Sheen kind) isn’t easy.   Most people are not like my pal Scott and their minds do just magically sponge up SEO knowledge.

Each week I receive calls from a lot of DIY website owners.  Virtually every time my heart goes out to them, because they’re really trying.  But trying and succeeding are two different things.  Website design and SEO is hard work.  Competing on the internet is difficult and there are reasons why most websites get virtually no traffic.

If you are considered the average Joe and you’ve undertaken at DIY website project, take a moment and reread the above list.  If you’ve reviewed my thirteen items and you only “get” about five of them, you’re setting yourself up for failure.  Take the time to research them further and postpone your website launch until you’ve made sure you’ve thoroughly covered your to do list.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the list, then seek out a professional.  The few hundred dollars you spend for the last minute help will be well worth it in the end.

Whether you’re the DIY website designer, a marketing manager, or a small business owner – double check your website and efforts at go-live and make sure you and/or your website design firm have everything in working order.

On Saturday morning I was drinking my coffee, surfing the web, and reading blog posts. Yes I am an SEO (aka nerd) and this is what we do on a Saturday morning. As I explored the web I happen to run across a blog post on Bing’s Webmaster Center blog. I’ll be honest, I don’t even know how I got there but I did and I was happy I did. I started reading a blog post from Duane Forrester. Then I found another and another and I was impressed. I was impressed with Duane and with Bing. It was good content, transparent, and written in a way the average person could digest. All things I love and appreciate.

I’ve been blogging for a very long time. I like blogs and I recognize good blogs when I see them. Google’s blog posts are one of the reasons why I’ve been such a Google fan. I like to know the rules and what is expected of me as an SEO consultant.

Duane’s posts are good and while they are not currently receiving the retweets and likes they should, if he keeps blogging at Webmaster Center, they will in due time.

Recent Bing Webmaster Center blog posts I found of interest were:

• You love links. We love links. Build for the right reasons.
• How To Build Quality Content
• Keyword research: a wise investment of time
• The Power of Local – why small, local businesses matter so much
• Social and Search: A Small Business Primer

All four are things I blog about and care about. I try to get others to read and care about them too. They are elements of good white hat SEO and the big part of what makes the internet awesome.

But why have the SEOs and internet marketers not been tweeting, liking, and sharing this content? I think they are like me and we’ve kind of gotten lazy. We’re getting much to reliant on Google, Danny Sullivan, and Matt McGee. All sources I love, but we need to broaden our horizons a little more and our horizons need to include a little more Bing.

While I am publically apologizing to Bing, I do think Bing still has a huge uphill battle. Bing is still recovering from the MSN flop and still trying to position itself as a true competitor to Google. But it can and I think it will. Competition is good and I welcome it.

Now I just need to get my fellow SEO consultants to pay a little more attention to the underdog.  Goliath (I mean Google), as much as I love it, needs the competition.  In the end, that competition will be good for SEOs, search quality, and the ultimate users.

Google is far from forty and has a memory like an elephant. Good SEO only makes this elephant stronger.

My SEO Efforts Will Outlive Me

This concept has been overly apparent to me this last year. As I left my prior life and launched my own company I knew I could easily reinvent myself. I did and while much of me transferred from ERP Rebecca to WordPress Rebecca or SEO Rebecca, Google still sees all three. I realize I should stop whining, but I can’t. I love Google, but the elephant memory is exhausting. I spent a lot of time marketing ERP Rebecca with good old fashion SEO and looking back now I feel like I did it a little too well.

If you Google Rebecca Gill you’ll see references to Web Savvy Marketing and a bunch of social media profiles for me on pages one and two of the search results. You’ll also see my former employer at the bottom of page one and references to “ERP Rebecca Gill” and “TGI Rebecca Gill” in the suggested searches from Google. Both are me, but the old me.

In reality, my former employer’s website only has a few references to me left on it and they’re really old press releases. But in the eyes of Google, the company website is still page one worthy for my name. I suspect this is because Google still sees a lot of inbound links to their website that reference me within the page content. This was accomplished through blogging, press releases, articles in publications and so on. Well it all sounded good at the time, but ERP Rebecca will just not go away. In fact, lately I feel like ERP Rebecca will haunt me until the day I die. All thanks to Google.

Will the Real Rebecca Please Stand Up?

You’re probably wondering if I’ve just done a lousy job marketing the new Rebecca. No I haven’t. My efforts working on new Rebecca haven’t been in the works as long as the old Rebecca, but I’ve done well. It’s just that Google doesn’t forget.

Google Rebecca Gill SEO or Rebecca Gill WordPress and you’ll see there are a lot of references to the new me. A lot. But that elephant just won’t let go what it was taught years ago.

What’s the SEO Take Away?

While this conclusion is not completely scientific, it does have merit. Google places significant value on on-page SEO for providing short-term search results. However, off-page SEO significantly influences Google for providing search results with longevity.

If Google didn’t place so much value on inbound links, my old employer would no longer show up for my name because they have virtually no content with references it.  In addition, Google would not suggest users replace their generic searches for Rebecca Gill with ones that include ERP or TGI. Again this is not scientific in nature, but it does provide a little insight into how the search engine results work over a long period of time.

My Personal Take Away: Be careful what and for who you optimize because if you’re good at SEO, it will haunt you forever.

As your web designer, I will do everything in my power to design an SEO friendly website that is built around your target keywords. I identify the keywords, prioritize the keywords, and try my best to guide your content to help support those keywords. But that process, as long as it may sometimes feel, is only the beginning to a solid SEO campaign. The real work comes after the website is launched and if you do not hire me or another SEO consultant to help in these efforts, the due diligence of this effort falls back on you.

So now what? You’ve got your cool new website (if done by me this would be based on the WordPress website design platform) and you wonder what’s next. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell the students over at JuJuQ and the same thing I tell me website clients. You get building. Not house building like my friend Rick does, but link building, like all the WordPress geeks I know do.

Ten Steps to Quality Link Building and Strong Organic SEO

1. Plan Out and Separate Your Content into Keyword-Rich Pages

Any good project needs a plan. SEO and linking building do too, so this means start your plan with the right keywords. You want to target keywords that will result in a positive experience for website visitors and this means you want keywords that are relevant to what your website will offer in content, the products you sell, or your service offering. Remember I’m an organic girl, so we need to focus on quality. Organic SEO begets quality content; or really, the other way around.

Offer misleading keywords or irrelevant keywords (aka black hat SEO) and your visitors will simply bounce on arrival. This will not only defeat the effort to gain quality traffic and it will ultimately produce negative results with Google because it will inflate your bounce rate per keyword.

To avoid this I suggest starting with a sitemap that matches up individual keywords to individual pages. Once you’ve defined it, stay on task and stay focused in both writing quality content and building inbound links.

2. Limit Your Targeted Keywords to One or Two Per Page

One page cannot gain you oodles of traffic for ten different high volume keywords. It can do so for one or two, so stay focused. If you are not targeting a long-tail (longer keyword terms that are offer lower volume) keyword, then pick only one, or at most, two terms to target per page. This will make your sitemap to keyword relationship manageable and it will be the most effective in generating traffic.

3. Check Out Your Competition

Before you stop planning, visit your top competitors. Look at their website structure, page URLs, on page content, etc. You can also utilize resources like Google’s Keyword Tool, SpyFu, Keyword Spy, Complete.com, or Alexa to gain insight on their target words and their traffic. You will find new keywords and new inspiration for your website.

4. Make Each and Every Link Count

Having a link isn’t enough. It needs to be keyword rich. In step one I said to make a plan, now that you have this plan and page to keyword reference sheet, just use it for link building. For example, if you have a Linkedin account and you are adding a link to your website on your profile, don’t just use the standard “My Company”. Use your keywords and link to a specific page. That takes an average inbound link and makes it a great inbound link.

5. Never Engage in Link Farming and Avoid Paid Links

You may have received emails or read ads promising the world with inbound link farming or paid link promotions. They sound to good to be true and they are, so ignore them at all costs. When I say ignore, I mean run and run fast. Google will not reward you for paying for inbound links, so don’t waste your time or money working to obtain them.

6. Promote Your Inbound Links Through a Press Release, Blog Entry, White Paper, Article, Event or Social Media Site

Not all people read press releases and white papers, but search engines certainly can and will. If you have something meaningful to announce, then consider a press release. Remember to embed your press releases with quality links that are keyword rich and point to specific pages within your website. I, particularly, pay for few press release services. I tend to rely on free services, although I do admit I regularly pay $12 for one service that allows three keyword rich links. Some of my favorite press release websites are PR Inside, PRLog, OnlinePRNews, OpenPR, 1888PressRelease, PitchEngine, and MyPRGenie.

Blogs are another great way to increase your inbound links. As a matter of fact, blogs are the best way to get links. If you are a good blogger, you will quickly gain regular readers and people who ”follow” your postings through RSS feeds and other publishing methods. These readers will also encourage other people to read your entries. Google looks positively on blog entries and their associated links. If you’re lucky, you’ll realize you love blogging and it will be both a benefit to your website and an enjoyable task and outlet for you at the same time.

Once your blog post is released, you can promote it or post it on other websites such as industry forums, blog directories, or social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.

7. Always Include the “http://” in Your Link

If your link isn’t embedded in keyword rich text, always include the http:// in the inbound link’s URL. If you forget, the link you provide might get picked up as an inbound link or it may not. Therefore, it’s always a good practice to include the full address of your URL, and this also means the http://. This is a simple point, but an important one. As a rule, I believe in both keyword rich links and URL based links. A little variety is good for the Google soul.

8. List your Website in a Directory

Another way to increase your inbound link efforts is to merely to promote it as much as you can. A great way to do that is to utilize a directory. While you typically can’t submit individual pages, you can list your main site. Think of a directory as online yellow pages.

First and foremost, focus on DMOZ. This is a free service, however each submission is reviewed by a human, so proceed with caution. Take the time to make sure you are applying you link to the correct directory location. If you do not, you will be rejected. And do not give up if you are not quickly listed. It takes time and it may take a few requests before you are officially in DMOZ.

9. Establish an RSS Feed, Sitemap.XML File and a Strong Ping List

Make sure you have an active RSS feed for your blog posts. The RSS feed will automatically be updated each time you release a new blog post. This feed can be connected to Facebook and other social media sites to automatically update your page or profile with each new post. That equates to new inbound links each time and you do not have to touch anything beside your blog post.

You also need to make sure you have a sitemap.xml file that includes content for your entire website. Once set up, this sitemap will automatically update each time a post is added or a page updated. This will literally “reach out a touch” the search engines and nudge them in a way to inform them that you have new content available. This is critical for keeping the search engines up to date on your fresh content. It will also help get your blog posts into Google’s blog listing, which provides current content to other bloggers to read, review, and comment upon. Just make sure you use your keywords within your blog titles so the effort is not wasted.

Finally consider a ping list. By utilizing a ping service, it allows you to automatically notify blog directories that your blog has been updated. Once you establish your ping list, whenever you write a new blog post, the blog directories on your ping list will automatically be notified of the change. The bigger your ping list, the higher the chances of receiving traffic from those sources. If you use WordPress, for example, you can modify your ping list in your Dashboard settings. This is a great timesaver as it will help spread the word about your new posts effortlessly. All you have to do is maintain a healthy ping list.

10. Stay White Hat, Organic, and Don’t Give Up on Your Effort for Quality Inbound Links and SEO Driven Traffic

To maintain your credibility with the search engines and to obtain page one ranking, stay on top of the SERP (search engine results page) and continue building your inbound links. It is an ongoing process, so remember that you’ll need to continue your link-building efforts or you’ll fall off page one. Just because you land on page one, it doesn’t mean you’ll stay there. Good organic SEO takes work and it does not happen overnight.

One reason I like organic SEO is because I believe in the concept of a strong work ethic that is driven by good intentions. That, in itself, is the basis for organic SEO. It takes commitment and steady work, but as many website owners already know, the reasons for engaging in SEO are compelling. Cultivating inbound links is a proven methodology for attracting free, long-term traffic.

Unlike Christmas morning, where I savor the unwrapping of presents, I ripped into my Blekko access as fast as I could. I was not only impressed, I really loved the experience. I quickly started making slashtags for some of my favorite things and I started searching topics that I’m intimately familiar with on Google. I wanted to see the difference between results and I wanted to better understand Blekko’s algorithm.

In addition to my SEO work, I’m a WordPress addict so I frequently search Google for WordPress themes and plugins as I build new websites. Sometimes this process is efficient and other times I’m overwhelmed by spammer websites and useless blog entries from people who barely understand the English language. With Blekko my searches produced a different type of result list or SERP for my fellow geeks. I found myself seeing more quality results for both WordPress themes and plugins. Instead of having to filter through useless information, I was presented with some of my favorite developers. My only disappointment was that StudioPress, my favorite team of WordPress developers, was listed at 57 and not at the top. Since Blekko is new, this is obviously an oversight and they will realize the error in their ways. Blekko did list Yoast on page one for WordPress plugins, so this helped me recover from the StudioPress issue, although this SERP did return more “best of” lists than the theme search. Regardless, I was impressed with the introduction and I found myself wanting another date with the search engine.

For years I have been a huge Google fan. I closely follow Matt Cutts, I own Google stock, and I start my day with Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. My love of Google and my respect for the company is unmatched by any other company or website. But I have to admit, Blekko has stolen a little bit of my Google love. Not only do I find the search engine fresh and creative, I am thrilled with the idea of not seeing four thousand articles and blog entries written by spammers or want-to-be subject gurus.

Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, Cuil, Wolfram|Alpha and all the others could not come close to dating me. They simply could not court me or disrupt of my loving relationship with Google. I was formally introduced to them, but I always returned to my first and only love. Blekko, you might be different. I might have to cheat on Google a little bit and I just may have to have a long-term affair with you.

If you’re not familiar with Blekko, you can learn more about the new search engine at Blekko’s website, Blekko’s blog, Blekko on Twitter, or Blekko on Facebook.

If you’re the average small business owner, you know enough about organic search engine optimization to make you dangerous. You know a little about SEO (search engine optimization) and you periodically check your keyword rankings to make sure you are still sitting on page one. Did you know these results are not necessarily the real results Google shares with the average visitor?

Google is now using what is called Personalized Search. Their new algorithms change search results based on what websites you have previously visited. While this is great in some cases, it proves very misleading in other cases.

I was on the phone with a prospect the other day and he mentioned he was sitting on page one for his top three keywords. Well, not so much. He was sitting on page two or three, but he thought he was on page one, because he visits his website more than other websites within the results. Thus his view of his website and his search rankings are a bit skewed and not nearly as accurate as some may believe.

As an SEO consultant it drives me crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I love Google and I all the new functionality and gadgets they offer. That being said, their little feature called Personalized Search distorts reality for many who have no idea Google is morphing results based on a user’s search history.

So how do you really know where you stand? Google’s Webmaster Tools gives you a list of your top search results and where you stand for a particular period of time. I also pay close attention to actual visitor traffic through you guessed it, Google Analytics. Did I mention I like Google? Between the two you will have a much clearer image of your current rank than what your own search can provide. There are also a variety of tools you can purchase to help keep you informed, although since I work with a lot of smaller companies with limited marketing budget, I tend to steer towards free open source packages.

The take away here is to not jump to conclusions on your keyword ranking before you’ve done a little research beyond that of Google’s search box. I start each day with a review of client keyword rank and traffic in Google’s Webmaster Tools and Analytics. Between the two I have a good idea of where we stand or what we need to work on for improving traffic and conversions. It is part of my morning coffee and a ritual I do even on the weekends.

Still confused about Google’s Personalized Search? You can learn more at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/personalized-search-for-everyone.html.

October 2010 Update: Google now allows you to turn this feature off.  Thank heavens!  Just visit Google’s help article titled Personalized Search: Turning Off Personalization.

As of this posting, 198,584 people voted and their results are fairly close to what we see on other websites and analyst reports.

Website Usage Results

Search Engine      Percentage        Votes

Google                    85%                  168,166

Yahoo                     8%                    15,687

Bing                        4%                     8,419

Other                      3%                     6,312

CNN’s poll clearly shows that the website readers use Google more than any other search engine.  While Fox News may find a bit different results, I doubt it would stray very far from that of CNN’s.  Google is by far the major player in search and none of us can dispute this dominance.  It makes you wonder what Yahoo and Bing will or even can do to make the battle a little closer.

State of the Index

Last week Google’s Internet marketing Guru Matt Cutts posted a new video in their Webmaster Central Channel on YouTube.  I love these videos because they are short and to the post and without any pitch or longwinded verbiage cluttering the real message.   The video that caught my eye was Matt Cutts’ discussion on Sock Puppet Marketing.   Yes you read that correctly.  Mr. Cutts is talking openly about puppets.

Puppets aside, the discussion was in relation to an individual or company creating fake Internet personas for marketing purposes.  While Matt did not go into how Google would react to such tactics, he did provide a very funny puppet commentary to illustrate the process.  While the entertainment value alone was good, Matt briefly described a real-world scenario where one company was fined over $300,000 for creating fake testimonials on the Internet.  He further talked about why he and Google felt this practice was harmful for all involved.

The short of this video is this – Internet marketing is powerful and effective.  People, companies, and the government now consider Internet marketing in the same ranks of traditional marketing techniques.  If a technique wasn’t legal in traditional marketing, it isn’t legal on the Internet either.  If marketing misrepresents anything, it isn’t marketing.  It is just bad business.

Matt summed this up with stating you should avoid anything you wouldn’t want your mother to see or read.   I struggle with this, because I am a mother and I know different mothers nag about different things.  I would be a larger nagger than most.  So, I would modify his statement to caution against any marketing tactic you have to think twice about.  If you question it, don’t do it.  You’ll be much better off in the end.

What does Social Search mean to you?

If you use Twitter for business, it means you’ve just had your world expand exponentially.  If you have few Twitter followers and struggle finding new Twitters to follow you, don’t despair.  Your tweets will soon be broadcasted to the world.

If you use Twitter for personal communication and you tweet about anything and everything, tweets beware.  Be a bit more careful about what you tweet, because like it or not, your tweets will reach more people than you may want.

As with anything in this Web 2.0 age, think before you type.

Ms. Moskwa then points to the FAQ section of the forum that states PageRank is one of Google’s 200 plus criteria for performance, but that it is only updated a few times a year so it should not be a focus of SEO consultants.  The FAQ continues with a suggestion of focusing on Google Analytics and a website’s actual performance.

So PageRank is not fully dead, just not nearly as important as solid and unique page content.  In the end is this news at all?  Didn’t we already know content was king?

What does this mean? For some SEO consultants, it means meta keywords can be completely ignored. I consider this the lazy approach. For me, this means I will take note and simply not place as much weight on meta keywords as I did in prior search engine optimization projects. Why? While Google does not use meta keywords in their primary search results, other search engines still do. Yes Google holds the most market share, but it does not hold the entire search market so SEO consultants cannot ignore the fact that keywords are still relevant.

What disappoints me most is the reason for this change. Matt specifically stated that Google assumed this policy because spammers continue to try and capitalize on competitors’ brands by stuffing unrelated keywords into their meta tags. As a SEO consultant who loves the search marketing industry, this saddens me.

Regardless, Google and Matt Cutts continue to win my heart as they collectively come out with additional insight on their algorithm and specific instructions for webmasters and SEO consultants to follow. This transparency makes me believe their tolerance level for illegal and blackhat SEO tactics will grow weaker in the coming days. Google is making every effort to guide Internet marketers in developing quality websites which rank well in their organic search. Take note fellow consultants, as I truly believe the ramifications of blackhat practices will be both swift and deep.

This little birthday celebration led me to wonder if Blogger is as popular as it once was years ago. I also wonder how it fairs against the top competitors in recent years. The geek in me just could not go one wondering or let it go. I had to find out the answers to my burning questions. Well, maybe not burning, but questions nonetheless. I visited Compete to query traffic volumes for Blogger and competitor websites such as WordPress, Typepad, and Livejournal. I was actually surprised at what I discovered.

The chart represents traffic for all four sites and covers the time span of one year. Blogger is still the traffic leader with thirty million unique visitors per month. WordPress – my current darling – comes in close behind. The other sites are falling well behind at less than ten million unique visitors a month. While I don’t know if you can call ten million unique visitors per month “falling behind” in anything, there is certainly a difference in volume between the websites.

Blogger dominates because it is easy to use. I recently sent my mother-in-law to the website to host her personal blog. And it isn’t just easy and it is also free. Users can be completely clueless about website design and still create a blog because everything is drag and drop. My mother-in-law is a perfect example of why Blogger is still going strong after ten years. At age ten it is still cool because it isn’t scary, costly, or difficult for the average Internet user.

The moral of this exercise story is this – you don’t have to be young and fresh to dominate the Internet. You just have to provide value and be marketable to the masses. Blogger and WordPress have both discovered just how to do just that!