Spring is in the air! Snow is melting, birds are singing, and people are gearing up to do some spring cleaning! Why not get in on the action by doing a little online spring cleaning of your own? Not sure where to start? One simple, but effective way to clean up and refresh your Web site is to work on your content!

8 Easy Ways to start the spring cleaning:

• Get current - Check your content for currency. Did you remove all references to 2008? Are all of your current promotions discussed on your Web site? Have you started to offer new products or services? Businesses change, and too often Web site content is not refreshed to keep up with those changes, leaving both customers and search engines in the dark about what it is you truly offer.


• Check your links - Are all of your links functioning properly? Are there new places you can add links within your content? You know how frustrating it is to click on a Web site's link and get an error. Make sure your visitors aren't having that problem.


• Evaluate your blog - Are you on a consistent schedule with blog posts? Do you have new material to add? Become more consistent with blog posts. If you want, now is a great time to do a little redesign of your blog. Get some new graphics, add new material, and update author profiles and company information. Re-release the new and improved blog with press releases and a promotional campaign.


• Get organized - A page on your Web site should have an obvious purpose. If you have a page that tries to do too much, it will get overwhelmed and messy. Utilize headers, bolded and italicized words to show both search engines and people what the main points of ear page are. If you have tried to cram too much information onto one certain page, expand! Clear out the clutter and decide the intention of each page. Don't be afraid to create new pages, or to get rid of the mess. That's what spring cleaning is all about, right?


• Do new research - Understanding the importance of targeting the keywords your market searches is important. Jargon and terminology change. Doing research now will give you a current, up to date look at exactly what it is your customers are searching for online. Turn to your SEO firm or trusted keyword research tools like Google's Keyword Tool to get the most recent keyword research, as the number can change drastically over time.


• Get recommendations - You probably aren't an SEO specialist. Even if you understand the importance of Search Engine Optimization, and have picked up on some of the basics, there are still a lot of things that only professionals know. Many Search Marketing firms offer a free search marketing analysis to serious Web site owners looking to make improvements. Turn to the professionals for a little help with your spring cleaning; you'll probably learn a lot!


• Create something new - Now is the perfect time to add a new page or two to your Web site. Get creative and write some how-to articles, or top 10 lists. Add a customer testimonial page or a glossary. Do you have an FAQ page yet? Adding a new page will not only give your visitors a new reason to come to your page, but it will also give search engines a reason to take notice.


• Get connected - Hopefully, content has been added over the last few months. Just because it's on your Web site, does not mean it's going to be seen though. Increase the chances of visitors finding the newer content by using internal hyperlinks. Mention a product on an information page? Link it! Reference an article on your blog? Link it! Be your own best resource and cross link!

Spring is the perfect time to make sure your Web site is current and attractive to both search engines and people. Many companies looking to maximize their Web site's potential will work directly with SEO professionals. Contact your SEO specialist or find a qualified Search Marketing professional today to make sure that you're Web site is ready to do all it can for you this spring.

Labels: Organic SEO

Effective search marketing is valuable for growing business. Done well, search marketing can be the most efficient and effective form of marketing available today.

However search marketing is not well understood. This opens the door to a variety of scams. From reading my junk email and talking to search marketing sales people whom our clients direct to us, search marketing scams are more prevalent today than ever. I also fear they are bagging too many clients who have no idea that they are being taken.

So avoid these common scams:

• Unsolicited emails...
  Ignore all unsolicited search marketing emails. When I check the sender's email address and contact information, they often do not match. When it is possible to check the domain of the sender's email, I usually find no Web site, a Web site "Under Construction" or a Web site with a Google PageRank of 0. These are not credible organizations. Stay away.
  

• Guaranteed top search position...
  The only way to guarantee top search positions is to buy Pay Per Click Advertising ? Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing or MSN AdCenter. If the seller claims some "proprietary method" or a "special relationship with Google," run away. These are fabrications.
  
  There are search marketing companies that do guarantee top search positions by using PPC. Make sure they are being honest with you about that. Then check your search positions to verify that the ads you are paying for are actually displaying.
  

• Advertising on search engines you have never heard of...
  If a salesman wants you to advertise on a search engine that you have never heard of before, don't do it.
  
  There is one so-called "search engine" that will manufacture fake traffic to your Web site for two or three months. Then a salesman will call you. He will ask you to look at your traffic reports and point to all the traffic his "search engine" is sending to your site. He claims "Advertise with him and you will have more traffic." Tell him, "no." Then look two months later at your traffic again. You will probably see that "search engine's" traffic disappeared. Don't worry. You lost nothing.
  
  Another "search engine" wants you to buy ads that they guarantee to place at the top of searches for the phrase you buy forever, with a yearly service charge. This "search engine" has no traffic. Save your money.
  

• Submitting your site to "hundreds of search engines"...
  Automated submissions of Web pages to search engines have long had no impact on search visibility. Despite that fact, there are many services still offering to submit your site to not only Google, Yahoo and MSN, but "hundreds of search engines." I could never find "hundreds of search engines." Can you name even twelve?
  
  Save your money and skip services that submit your site to search engines.
  
  Search marketing is a reputable way to grow your business, as long you entrust the job to reputable people. Demand that your search marketer's strategies are transparent to you. Don't buy into the quick and easy strategies. Effective search marketing is neither quick nor easy. There are trustworthy professionals who have made search marketing their careers. Those are the search marketers that will get you the long-term effective results you deserve.
  

Labels: Organic SEO, SEM Back to Basics

The economy is tanking, your sales have dropped and you're ready to panic. Be careful! Your Web site can be your most powerful sales generator in these slow economic times. We have seen many companies make fatal mistakes when it comes to their Web site in the past few months, severely hurting their visibility on the search engines and in turn hurting their bottom lines. Don't make the same mistakes.

Below are some of the mistakes we've recently witnessed that can be fatal to a Web site's success:

• Complete redesign of the Web site. The new Web site is either not search-friendly or has erased all SEO elements, such as target phrases within navigation or little content.


• Redesign of the Home Page by adding big banners but removing or pushing down optimized content


• Stopping the creation of informative content, such as a Blog or White Papers


• Attempt to boost site traffic by starting or expanding your Pay Per Click program by targeting keywords lacking relevancy


• Buying ads on search engines that no one has heard of


• Starting a new Web site with a new domain that has no link popularity or search position history


• Not expanding your search marketing initiatives


• And the most fatal mistake - not including the SEM firm in the discussions and strategies your company is considering to boost business.

When looking to improve your Web site, don't make any major changes or build a new Web site without discussing it with your Search Marketing firm first. A good Search Marketing firm can help guide you so you don't build a non-search-friendly Web site. They can help prevent you from losing search visibility, positions and history your Web site has already achieved. With the economy as tight as is it, losing search visibility is fatal, especially if you are within a competitive market. When you're planning on doing something to benefit your business in this rough economy, make sure to do it right the first time, consult the ones that have helped you in the past. Your Search Marketing firm should be more than willing to help you through these harsh times.

So, please don't panic. A good SEM firm can help increase the effectiveness of your Web site and assist you in getting your business through these tough economic times.

Labels: Organic SEO