A self-published author’s real struggle has to do with distribution and marketing. When it comes to media relations, if you do it right, you can play in the same ballpark as the majors.

Read More

We all know the importance of SEO and getting your site listed in the top of the engines so you can tap into all that traffic out there that is searching for exactly what you have to offer.

The question is how do you optimize your site and tap into your piece of the pie?

It comes down to two options – handle your own optimization or hire a professional firm.

After careful consideration, you have decided to tackle your SEO work yourself and control your own destiny in the engines. Congratulations on your decision.

Once the decision has been made, it’s important to track your time and progress and determine if the decision is still what is best for you. Things change and what you decided initially may not always be the right decision. Like SEO work itself, deciding how to handle it isn’t a one time thing – you have to evaluate the progress and results and you may have to tweak your initial plan of action.

Here are some warning signs that handling SEO yourself is doing more harm than good.

If you decide it doesn’t make sense to continue to handle your own SEO, it’s not failure, no need to admit defeat, it’s simply smart business.

If you find:

• You aren’t finding the time to get done all that you need to in order to properly make your site SEO friendly, optimized, and submitted then you really aren’t making the progress you need to be and likely won’t see the results you were hoping for in the engines.
• You are spending too much time on your SEO, and getting it all done, but the rest of your work has slowed to a halt, and you can’t even handle the new business that comes in.

Read More

Did you know that 25% of searches each month are brand new, never before seen search words and phrases?

That is shocking. You would think with the number of search queries running through Google, they have seen it all.

We spend so much time on keyword research – and rightfully so, it’s the foundation of your campaign. But this new information tells us that we need to tweak the process a little bit to keep up with the ever changing SEO world.

So, how do you handle keyword research and make sure you are staying current?

First and foremost you want to make sure you have outlined your strategy. Without a plan in place you are likely to forget to do it, and it’ll just rattle around in the back of your brain or sit on a post-it note that gets stuck to the back of another piece of paper in your planner.

So, before that happens, let’s define your plan right now.

1. Start with a brainstorming session to list all possible words and phrases that people would use to find what you have to offer. Remember to put yourself in the mindset of the potential customer.
2. Do the necessary research to continue building your list.
a. Research your competitors and see what keywords they are using.
b. Look at your web stats and logs and pull words and phrases from there (this is a great source of info, you can find the words that people are already using to find you and enhance your rankings on those words so you can get even more traffic).
c. If you have a search feature on your site, look at the logs and see what people are searching for within your site once they get there.
3. Take the large master list you have come up with, and use a keyword tool to determine how much traffic there is and how competitive the words/phrases are. Remember you can’t live and die by this information; it only acts as a guide for you.
4.

Read More

There are so many articles out there on SEO and so many conflicting opinions. Some of those opinions are people just spouting off without any solid evidence to back it up and others are based on tests and experiments done by the author. It can be really confusing for someone trying to understand SEO. Who is right, who is wrong? Where should you focus your attention? Let’s answer that question by breaking things down…

The truth is…with over 200 components in Google’s algorithm there is definitely more than one way to get your site ranked.

If you’ve read any of my previous articles you may have come across my Gold Star analogy. Let me quickly break it down for you…

Think of the engines like teachers handing out gold stars. Google currently has about 200 factors in their algorithms that determine how your site will rank. Imagine your teacher with a clipboard and checklist with 200 items on it and she assigns you gold stars for each of the things you do well.

The catch is that some of the items on the list are more important and you may get multiple gold stars for that one item, whereas other items are worth only one gold star.

No one (but Google) knows for sure how the algorithm works, so we study and we test and we monitor the industry to come up with a technique that works well for getting sites ranked based on earning gold stars in various different areas.

The number of gold stars you achieve will determine how well your site will rank.

Let’s say you have a ton of great content that uses your keywords really well, and you also have some other on-page optimization in place (like naming images with keywords, clean code that is free of ‘bloat’ etc.) but you don’t have many links. You could still rank well, we see it all the time.

Read More

Here is a simplified view of how the search engine algorithms work:

Think of the engines like teachers handing our gold stars (or check marks) for everything that you do well.

Google currently has about 200 factors in their algorithms that determine how your site will rank.

The process they go through is the equivalent of the teacher looking at your site and then looking at their checklist and giving you a gold star for each of the things that you do right.

However, some of the items on the list are more important and you may get multiple gold stars.

No one knows for sure how the algorithm works, but we test and monitor the industry to come up with a technique that works well for getting sites ranked.

You should look at the foundation of the site first (we call this search engine friendliness.)

This includes looking at the HTML that is used to build your site and making sure there are no errors in the code, and looking at how the site is built to make sure there is nothing that will block the spiders.

Then you should look at on-page optimization, which is tweaking the content for keyword density (increasing the usage of keywords on the site), tweaking the Meta tags (they are like a guide to each page that tells the search engines what keywords are on the page and what the page is about, and then use ALT tags, Header tags and various other HTML tweaks.

You should also look at adding new content – as long as it is informative and relevant and not just keyword stuffed text that has no value.

You should do a sitemap, an XML sitemap (this is a technical way of feeding your site to the engines so they spider your content frequently).

You should work on obtaining quality links into your site to boost your link popularity.

Read More

Recently people have been asking for tips and “Do’s and Don’ts” for website design and content.

Whether you are building a new site or redesigning a current site, here is a collection of tips that you’d be wise to follow:

• Create your site with a clear hierarchy and interconnection of pages.
• Your most important pages should never be more than one click away from your homepage.
• Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
• Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages. I’m conservative; I don’t like more than 50 links on a page.
• Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn’t recognize text contained in images.
• If you are using images, name them with your keyword phrases.
• Avoid frames.
• Avoid an all Flash site. It doesn’t matter that Google can read and index Flash. You are still better off not having a site that is all Flash.
• Optimize your site – if you don’t know how – hire someone.
• Create a plan for content addition – keeping your site current with fresh content is good for the engines and your site visitors.
• If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a “?” character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
• Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would.

Read More

Over the Holidays I spent a lot of time reading fairytales with my nieces and nephew. The Little Mermaid and Mulan are the current favorites. It reminded me how nice it is to have something you believe in so unconditionally. To my nieces there is nothing more exciting than the magic of those fairytales.

That’s when I realized when you are 3 or 5, it’s OK to believe in fairytales. As you get older, it becomes more important to face reality. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in a little magic myself, but not when it comes to my business.

I still like the idea of Tinkerbell, but I know she isn’t going to sprinkle fairy dust on my website and make all my traffic dreams come true. For that I need to look to my SEO Director, so she can work her own special kind of magic.

Just as my nieces fantasize that they are princesses, play dress up and make believe that they are Ariel, or Mulan – many website owners are playing the same kind of make believe (likely without the dress up though!).

It’s a special kind of adult fairy tale – the one where you throw up a website and imagine all the traffic and sales that will come in.

But when reality sets in, and you realize that the traffic isn’t coming, what do you do? From my experience, I can tell you a lot of people still do nothing!

After much thought about this, I realized it comes down to 2 main factors – themes that are present both in the fairytales my nieces read & watch and in the adult business world.

One is fear – and while it is easy to imagine quaking in your boots at the sight of a fire breathing dragon, it’s harder to imagine an adult being afraid to hire a marketing or SEO consultant. Yet it happens, every single day. People are afraid they will be scammed, afraid they will spend money and not make money. In some cases people are even afraid they will succeed!

Read More

Communication comes in many forms including television and radio. You will remember that in the past decade there has been a surge not only in the types of music and television programs but in the number of television and radio networks. Some of these networks have grown and become quite profitable while others were disasters that flopped and are no longer on the air. You can find a TV network for sale or even a radio network for sale through various methods.

Finding a Television Network for Sale
One way to find television businesses for sale is through an Internet search and asking around in your community. You can even contact the various TV networks to determine if one of the television businesses is for sale in your area. In fact, your strongest option is to locate one through direct contact with the station manager who will then be able to connect you with the station owner for buying the TV network for sale.

Finding a Radio Network for Sale
Radio stations and radio networks for sale are found using the same method as finding television network for sale. It will be important to be resourceful to find a potential seller in this niche of the communication industry. Do not despair because it is very probable to find a great radio network for sale.

Legal Assistance
You will need to have a strong business lawyer to help you finalize the paperwork for the sale and to make certain that everything is accurate on the legal forms.

Read More

In America, the small business owner has been used to sitting on the sidelines and watching whilst the large corporations dominate all areas of industry. Many small business owners have gone out of business whilst others often struggle to survive. One of the reasons behind this was that the Bush administration tended to offer very little support, instead making tax cuts for the corporate world. With the election campaigns now in full swing, Barack Obama has pledged to help small businesses survive and enable to thrive in the coming years.

Obama has put a number of measures in his manifesto that could help small businesses to take root and grow in the world of business because he fully recognizes that they are the heart of the American economy. Small businesses provide valuable jobs and income to millions of Americans up and down the country and, were they to go out of business, could actually make the economic situation worse. In fact, in some quarters, financial experts are touting the possibility of a recession on the scale of the 1929 Depression. By keeping small businesses alive and healthy, it can strengthen the economy and give Americans everywhere a little security of peace of mind.

Tax Issues

Obama has pledged to help small businesses by putting a series of measures that may help them into place. For example, he has pledged to reduce the burden on the owners of small businesses that may struggle to make ends meet by providing them with a little tax relief. Every small business owner has to pay both employee and business owner taxes, but with the $500 tax credit per worker that Barack Obama is proposing the burden of those payments will lift somewhat.

Read More

The ultimate goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to drive traffic to your site. Many people don’t know why, but they aren’t achieving this goal.

The key is staying current and evolving with the times.

Way back in the good old days, SEO was a lot easier and we saw results quickly. What do I mean “we saw results”? We ran a ranking report and we were able to see what words held what positions in the various engines. And admit it now, when you received your ranking reports, you promptly pulled up Google or Yahoo and did a search, waiting with baited breath to see your results right there in the top 20. Ahhh, the good old days.

Now, you get a ranking report and you don’t see all those wonderful rankings you have seen in the past. Competition is fierce and even though your site deserves to be on top, it may take a while to work its way up there. So, what do you do? You call your SEO Firm, you complain, you work on a strategy to get the results you want.

The missing piece here is called Analytics.

A well optimized site will bring traffic from many engines, for various keywords that are related to your site. Those keywords may not be on your “approved keyword list” – however they are words people are looking for and they are driving traffic to your site.

Many people don’t give credit to their SEO company for these words – however they are mistaken. The fact that your site was properly optimized and content was added is what made the site get noticed by the engines, so the optimization is directly responsible for these “bonus” keywords that are driving traffic to your site.

Because most people don’t understand this, and they don’t give credit to their SEO Firm, many SEO Firms don’t bother looking at or sharing Analytics information with their clients. They simply care about rankings for the keyword list.

Read More

There is always a lot of talk on SEO Forums about penalties. Recently there was some discussion about 3 specific Google penalties:

• The “-30 penalty”
• The “-950 penalty”
• Index Exclusion

There has been a lot of debate about whether the drop of a website’s rank by 30 or 950 spots in Google is really a penalty for unethical SEO tactics, or is it simply a result of an algorithm shift (and the particular site just didn’t measure up against the new algorithm so it dropped).

Many people insist there is no penalty (except Exclusion for really blatant “Black Hat” techniques), and rather it is all about Filters. If you do something that triggers a filter your site won’t rank as highly. Whether you call it a filter or a penalty, the results are the same. If you don’t follow best practices, sooner or later your site will be penalized or filtered out of the top rankings.

It is widely accepted that the -30 penalty affects the whole domain, however the -950 penalty only affects specific URLs for specific keywords.

Rather than actually moving your site back by precisely 950 spots, I think it is more likely that you are just going to be banished to the end of the results. It also appears to be specific to certain search queries. A site may go from first page to last page in the SERPs (search engine results page) on one keyword, and still hold a top ranking on another keyword.

Both of these penalties are associated with shady optimization practices. Some say these penalties happen when there is keyword stuffing, while some others say that these penalties are because of shady link building practices.

It is widely believed that getting too many links within a short time span and with similar anchors can raise red flags with Google. I personally believe this to be true and always tell people to be careful with their link acquisitions.

Read More

It is time to look at those SEO questions from the folks who need help and guidance. Let’s take a read of some of the Dear SEO Drama Queen email which floods her box every day.

Dear SEO Drama Queen

I want a number one ranking for my web site. The keywords are clothes, sneakers and hats. I read so much out there on how important it is to be on Google. Can you promise me a #1 ranking for my 3 keywords?

Thanks
BA

Greetings BA
Of course I can guarantee #1 ranking’s on Google for those very generic keywords that compete against missions of other sites. An SEO who couldn’t isn’t worth their wait in gold. It is easy. First, I need you to purchase about 100,000 shares of Google stock. Once you are a major holder, we can then bribe Google to either place you on top or we will sell their stock to Yahoo.

Let me know when you have made the purchase
Best
SEO Drama Queen

Dear SEO Drama Queen
I contacted an SEO company and they stated their fees are $300 a month for 6 months. They stated they needed to access my site, make changes to code, write content, and help me decide on keyword phrases, build link shares and on and on. I think this is a rip-off as I have seen SEO for $25 a month and they do not need to work on my site or have me make changes, they just submit the site to 1000’s of engines. Should I go with the less expensive company?

Thanks
ST

Greetings ST
Cheaper is always better. Why should anyone actually do anything to your web site. Do not use your valuable time on making your site better when you can have someone do everything for $25 bucks. I mean, why should you suffer, it is only your business, so do not put in the effort if someone can do it cheap. Let’s face it, your $25 bucks pays for them to spend a minute of time placing your URL in an auto program and pressing a button.

Read More

A lot of people think summer is slow and not the time to focus on their websites.

So many people are out of town, some businesses slow down. Not to mention we all have concerns about the economy right now.

I want to propose a different perspective.

1. People are sticking closer to home because of high gas prices. You’ve all heard the term “Staycation” thrown around by the media. If you watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart you heard John Hodgeman (the PC guy from the commercials) create his own new word for the “stick closer to home because gas is way too expensive” phenomenon: “Holistays”.

No matter what you call it, people are sticking closer to home. People are shopping online even more.

It’s a great time to offer a shipping special. With the cost of shipping going up, again due to the cost of a gas, a shipping special is much appreciated right now.

You can tap into this situation by playing it up. Just as The Daily Show created a segment that was funny and garnered a lot of attention; you can find a way to make the current situation work in your favor.

2. If things are a little slow, it is actually the perfect time to devote some of your time to your website.

It is suggested that you review your website and refresh it at least once a year. Just a handful of suggestions for you:

• Now is a good time to check the links and pages within your site and make sure everything is in working order. Get rid of those pesky 404 errors from broken links.
• You could also come up with a summer special.
• Jazz up the site.
• Add some testimonials.
• Look at your web stats and see if you can increase conversions.

3. Now is when you absolutely must start focusing on your upcoming holiday campaigns.

Read More

The primary thought behind all techniques should be: “What is natural”?

If you are constantly asking yourself,
“Am I using this in a way that the search engines will view as a natural enhancement to my site and not as an overused and abused method”?
then you should be fine. So, Keep it Natural, Don’t (Over) Use and Abuse should be your new mantra.

Let’s look at specifics.

RSS Feeds:
• Do: Use them to enhance existing content.
• Don’t: Use them in place of hand written, unique content

• Do: Limit the number of feeds you use on any given page to 3 or 4.
• Don’t: Clutter every page on your site with endless feeds.

• Do: Target feeds are specific to the keywords you are using on each page.
• Don’t: Put feeds that are about other topics that are not relevant on your site.

• Do: Turn your hottest, most newsworthy content into feeds to get out there to other people. Blog posts are a natural for feeding content to other people. Blogs are often updated very frequently and are about the hottest topics in your industry.

Article Syndication:
• Do: Post your article on your own site first, and wait for it to be indexed by the engines before you syndicate it out.
• Do: Date each article with the date it was written.
• Do: Interlink your articles to other articles on your site that you have written that are relevant to the topic.
• Do: Update your SiteMap when you add articles to your site.
• Do: Link to your article from your Blog.
• Don’t: Post the article on your Blog and on your site – that is duplicating content and can be considered spam.
• Do: Take the time to create different versions of your article. When syndicating articles out to various article sites, use a handful of different version.

Read More

If you’re anything like me, there are probably times when you’ve booked onto a networking event and then when the day arrives, you question whether or not to go to it. My reasons are usually around the stack of work I’ve got building up on my desk and I debate whether to stay in the office and plough through it or to make the effort to go to the event.

And I’m obviously not the only one who feels that way, judging by the amount of no-shows that an event usually gets. Nine times out of ten though, I do turn up, partly because once I book something in my diary I tend to stick to it and partly because very often when I do go, it’s worth my while.

Just the other day, I attended a networking event, that to be honest about half way through I was thinking “why did I bother”. But then, the 10-minute speaker stood up. He was excellent and gave me a couple of really good marketing tips that I hadn’t come across before. That in itself was worth my time to go to the event.

So, why is it then that people in generally don’t go to the event? Well, like my reason above, I think the number one reason is probably time – as in something they consider more important on the day has come up and the person has to stay and do that instead.

The second most common reason is probably the “can’t be bothered” excuse. I know I’ve certainly felt like that, or it could be that I’m not in the mood to socialise and be nice to other people.

Other excuses could be that the person is ill or an emergency has happened. I’m sure there are other reasons too. But, you see, that’s where there seems to be a bit of a conflict. I hear business owners say that they want to get more business and yet they will also say that they haven’t got time to go out there and get it – so it comes back to a choice of which one is more important to you.

Read More

Pitch your book and you have a certain number of stories and media hooks. Pitch yourself, your life experiences, your anecdotal stories and your book and you’ve suddenly broadened the bulls eye…

Read More

I am often asked if small businesses have a chance at competing in the search engines and the answer is a resounding YES.

It is true small businesses face some challenges that large companies may not. Small businesses typically have smaller budgets, less staff and more pressure as they try to get as much done as they can with a small team. It is true that those things do present a challenge however they do not preclude you from getting top rankings. There is actually an upside here as well! Many people do not realize it, but these small businesses also have some advantages.

Small business usually have less red tape and are free to try different things out and see what really works for them. They can experiment.

They can usually get things done quicker – with decisions not getting hung up in a bureaucratic mess internally.

So many large companies have more money to spend but it doesn’t get spent because they are so hung up on every detail and getting every little thing approved.

The truth is SEO doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg – there are ways you can get things done and get into the top of the engines without blowing your budget.

And the truth is any action is better than no action. So even if you can’t afford the Cadillac version with every bell and whistle you can still get some things done and begin to better position your site.

Tips for getting top rankings on a budget…

Read More

Let’s talk about some common SEO myths.

SEO Myth # 1: Submission software is a one-time, one-size-fits-all solution, and SEO Friendliness is NOT a Factor.

SEO TRUTH # 1: SEO Friendliness IS a KEY factor, and one time mass submission is not a solution.

The cold hard truth is that if your site is not search engine friendly, you’re losing hundreds and thousands of hits from the very people you most want to visit your site – those who demonstrate a serious desire for what you have to offer by proactively typing keywords related to YOUR business into the engines.

Just one of the many reasons mass submission companies don’t help is that they don’t provide any human interaction, and therefore don’t invest the time and resources to stay on the cutting edge of the SEO industry. And as the engines change and shake things up (which they are constantly doing), the mass submission companies can’t keep up.

Your site needs to meet all of the most *current* SEO criteria, and be hand-submitted according to each engines schedule for the results you desire.

As the public becomes more educated about the importance of SEO, the competition for top-20 rankings becomes fierce. If your web site is not search engine friendly and properly hand submitted, better step to it, as without ensuring your site is SEO friendly, you’ll be left in the dust…leaving your competitors to snatch up profits that could (and should) have been yours!

Let me share with you the valuable lesson one client learned, very early on.

The site in question was nice, professional and informative. It was NOT search engine friendly though. After many attempts at getting rankings, the client came to us and enlisted our help in getting his site search engine friendly and optimized.

Read More

SEO – Just Add Water…..NOT!

I miss the old days….life was simple. Your TV had just a few channels, your phone was attached to a wall, and the computer was cool thing to have for the few who could afford one. But times change, our world changes and technology grows. TV has 200 plus channels (an still nothing on), your phone is attached to your hip and you could not live without a computer and the Internet is filled with billions of pages.

SEO was an easy job then. It was a no brainer. It was fast, it worked and the stress was little. Well, those days are long gone and the facts of SEO are no longer as easy as it use to be. It is not a quick fix and it is an ongoing process.

Sure, there are hundreds of SEO companies available for you to choose from. Cheap ones that say they submit your site to 1000’s of engines (big deal), ones that add 100’s of doorway pages (look out for spam), those that promise fast top rankings (they lie). Let’s face it, for SEO there is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. But lets not focus on the bad and ugly….they may be cheap, but you get what you pay for…nothing!

SEO is not instant, not any more. You need to look at many factors, you need to be prepared to make changes, you need to be willing to work closely with your SEO expert and be willing to be in it for the long haul. SEO changes and you need to be ready to meet those changes.

You should be serious about your web site. This is your business and you need to treat it as so. Canned web sites, website templates that offer everything from stores to products to hosting and say you have no worries on updating the site and still can achieve rankings may be a bit misleading. SEO is ongoing work and one you need to be prepared to handle

Read More

You may not be familiar with the term “consumption” when it comes to your business, but it is something that is critically important and often overlooked.

Let me tell you a story about a recent purchase I made…

Like many women, I consider Sephora to be “the place” for beauty products. On one of my many trips to Sephora I bought a bag full of stuff (which I hoped my husband wouldn’t see – he doesn’t need to know I need all this stuff). I had creams and lotions and I was excited about the success of my trip.

When I got home I snuck the bag in the house and up to the bathroom to put it all away, and then went on with my day.

That night when it came time to get ready for bed, I saw all my great new bottles and jars and tubes of expensive skin care and I realized I wasn’t 100% sure which product to use at night versus the morning and various other things that confused me. So, what did I do? I picked up my old cleanser and moisturizer and used those. Not even opening the new products I just bought.
Many of you are thinking why did I bother buying them?

The reason is the store made them look good, there was a pretty display, some promised benefits and a pretty sales lady telling me it was perfect for my skin type.

So, you may be thinking what’s the problem here; they made a sale – they should be happy.
BUT think about this – isn’t it so much easier to get repeat business than it is to get new business? (The answer to that question is yes) Yet why would I buy another product from the line when I wasn’t even sure how to use the first one???

The problem here is consumption. People buy products but they often (more often then you would think) don’t consume them. They may be confused, they may forget about the product once they get it home, they may be too busy – there are countless reasons why.

Read More