Linking, content and SEO strategies just don’t work
Posted on | January 18, 2009
When discussing search engine marketing and optimization (SEM/SEO), most would agree that internal and external linking, using the right anchor text and of course solid SEO’d content and plenty of it are just what your site needs to rank well in the major search engines. I would argue that its possible that these factors may have no bearing on your search engine rankings.
Well, OK, that may be a little bit misleading. What I mean is that if Google and the other major search engines can’t read or crawl your site, you’re wasting your time trying to optimize your site, or building natural links or adding superior content to your website. The first thing I do when looking at how a site is SEO’d and where it could be improved is to validate the code. Never done that you say? Let’s take a look.
Visit this tool from the W3C: http://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_uri and enter your web site URL What did it return? Errors? Warning? If you have errors like “No Character Coding found” or “No Doctype” then you have big problems. Its possible Google won’t go any further than your home page. If they do, they won’t go far. Are there other errors? There are some errors that won’t affect your website’s ability to get indexed, but most of them need to be corrected in order to get your site fully indexed. The more your website does to slow down Google’s bot, the piece of software they use to index your site, the less of your site it will actually put into Google’s index.
Don’t understand all these errors? That’s OK. Get with your webmaster and they should be able to address most of these issues. Once you have these errors corrected, and you’ve done all the other SEO stuff, you should start to see an increase in pages in Google’s index.
Good luck and be sure and read more about SEO strategies on our website.
Do you know the secret of making clients, repeat clients?
Posted on | January 6, 2009
I’m going to break a bit from the technical issues with this post and talk about the single most important aspect of any service oriented business, customers or clients.
So, the secret to increasing your client base and making repeat customers out of everyone that walks through your doors? It’s customer service! If you own a service oriented business the number one proven way to get your customers to come back to your business and to impress them enough that they will recommend your business to other people that they know is to provide superior customer service. No matter what industry your service business is in customer service is the key to making customers want to come back. Customers always have a choice of where to spend their money. They will spend money at a business where they feel that they are welcomed and valued. So doing everything you can to make them feel that way is the best way to get them to choose your business.
What do customers want when it comes to customer service? There are lots of ways that you can provide great customer service that will make your customers happy but in general you need to make your customers feel as if they are old friends and that you really value their business. How can your employees improve their customer service? Here are some easy ways that employees can make every customer feel special:
Greet customers by name. Employees will usually learn repeat customers names but train them to sneak a peek at a customer’s file or at least greet the customer and ask his or her name as they enter the office. A warm welcome by name is a great way to give clients a good impression of your business.
Actively listen to customers. Active listening means making eye contact with the customer and really focusing on what the customer is saying instead of trying to answer the phone, write in a file, make an appointment for another customer and do something else on the computer at the same time the customer is asking a question. Sometimes it’s hard to find the time to focus on each individual client but it’s necessary to do that if you want to turn the bulk of your clients into repeat clients.
Acknowledge mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Most of the time clients will be understanding about mistakes like billing errors or scheduling mistakes but only if your staff own up to the mistake and take responsibility for it. Admitting the mistake and apologizing will go a long way to soothe a ruffled customer. So even if a staff member makes a mistake you can still turn that customer into a repeat customer if your staff members are trained in the art of great customers service.
Quality Link Strategy for your site’s SEO health
Posted on | January 3, 2009
Content is King. But external links are the loyal subjects that keep the king on the throne. OK, kind of corny but its true. On-page factors will only do so much for your site in terms of search engine optimization. Links are the votes of confidence your site needs for Google and the other major Search Engines to take notice of your site and give it some props in the SE Result pages.
In the good old days, you simply paid for some directory listings and banner ads and link farms. These techniques are for the most part dead. There are some directories that are still worth their weight in gold (Yahoo, DMOZ, BOTW, STPT) but we now live in a Web 2.0 world and you’re going to have to get out and earn quality links if you want to rank highly in the search engines.
Link building is nothing new. What is new is that now you’re forced to look for quality links, not just any old links. We know the best kind of links are one way links that use proper anchor text and are located in the body content of a web page, as opposed to the footer or margins or simply on the links page of a website. But most established websites and webmasters are not going to give you the time of day, much a less a coveted link on their site. What we have begun doing with some success is finding smaller blog owners and simply asking for a link on their blog.
Most blog owners are very active online and thus are accessible. Many of them are approachable. And, if you offer them $25 or 50 for a quality link in a blog post, using anchor text you specify, this could get you some very high quality links. So how do you find them? Let Google show you the way.
Hopefully by now you have been exposed to (or using actively) the search tools AllInText, AllInAnchor and AllInTitle. If not Google them now and learn about these invaluable tools for your SEO toolbox. What I recommend is starting at http://blogsearch.google.com and type in allintext:”Your Keyword Phrase”. This will bring back all the blog posts in the Google index that contain your keyphrase. Next try it with allintitle for a smaller more pinpointed list of blogs. Try some advanced search options within the google tool itself, or cross reference the lists to get a list of high quality blogs for your keyphrase.
Next, spend a couple of weeks posting some comments. Nothing spammy, nothing over the top and maybe only a couple of posts per blog each week should be enough. Then email the author and let them know you have been enjoying their blog. And by the way, would they be willing to link to you. Then let the conversation unfold. If you have a quality site that is relative to one of their posts, they may not even want payment, but you could offer if they seem hesitant. A link on a quality blog will be worth any small amount you need to pay.
My only caution with this technique is not to be too agressive. Approach only 5 to 10 bloggers a day with a unique email, not one copy and pasted over and over. When you have success with an email, note it. Note the tone and wording of the email. Use it as a control for your next round of emails and continue to test, perfecting your introduction and approach to the bloggers.
One last piece of advice. If the blogger you approach does not respond and its a blog you really want, find a phone number and call them. Ask for the link. Its the only way you’ll get it! Too often today, in this world of wi-fi, facebook, blackberry’s and all the technology, we sometimes overlook the most effective tool of all, the telephone. Don’t let that happen to you.
When looking for links, I approach it like I do everything in life:
You don’t get what you need in life.
You don’t get what you want in life.
You only get what you ask for in life.
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