There is a lot of talk about the “death of SEO” and “the death of ranking reports” lately.  It all stems from some sessions at PubCon in Las Vegas.

Remember we all want to get our message out there and have our voices heard and one way to do that is to make a dramatic statement.  So that is what you are seeing.  The truth is SEO is not dead – it is just evolving.  And the other truth is…. the more things change, the more they stay the same.

What I mean is; of course the SEO universe is evolving – search is so much more sophisticated than it ever was before.  We have universal search, geo-targeting and we have personalization.

However in spite of all that – the foundation has not really changed.  To get ranked you should have always been focused on creating high quality content, getting good links into your site and creating a useful, informative site that is focused on the user experience and ultimately on getting the sale.  None of that has changed – that is all just as important.

People talk about the death of ranking reports – but for those that know what internet marketing is all about – you should know that ranking reports were never that important.  Sure we provide them to clients, to give them an indication of where they stand in the engines – but the real results come from how much increased traffic and sales they get, not from how many rankings they can see on their report.

It’s true with personalization, universal search, intent based search and geo-targeting the landscape is changing and different results will be displayed for different people.  That is all good news!

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When it comes to setting up your Blog, there are many options and it’s enough to drive you crazy.

Here is some information for each option…

Blogger Versus WordPress

• WordPress offers a lot more customization and has more marketing and SEO power. 
• Some people think since Google owns Blogger it gives you a boost – that is not true. 
• Blogger has more rules you must follow and it could potentially limit a marketing technique or tactic.

My experience and personal opinion is that any Blog is better than no Blog but if you want to get the most out of your Blog – go WordPress.

There are other Blog platforms as well, but I consider the two main contenders to be WordPress and Blogger so that is all I have commented on.

Once you’ve decided on your Blog platform, you then have to decide on your Blog structure.

There has been a lot of debate about a Sub-Domain versus a Sub-Directory versus setting up a new domain. 

A sub-domain would be: blog.yoursite.com

A sub-directory would be: yoursite.com/blog

A whole new domain would be: newdomain.com

If you go with a whole new domain, then you have no “trust” and history built up and it may take longer for the Blog to get picked up.

It used to be that a sub-domain was treated as its own separate site with a root directory so you got the benefit of link juice and you potentially got more listings in the SERPs (search engine results pages).  Since December 2007, Google states this is no longer the case.  So you aren’t really getting any extra link juice from this structure.

Matt Cutts, the public face of Google had this to say about sub-domains versus sub-directory (as related to the December 2007 change):

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Building and developing a website is an ongoing process, but you need a firm foundation in place to ensure your site’s success for the long-term.  Your web professional must be able to provide three critical elements that will drive your future success, and each component plays a role in the overall look, feel, functionality, and rankings with the search engines.

Here are the three important things your web professional must provide to ensure your website’s success:

Website Design
Website design is closely related to website development, and involves the overall navigation and ‘look’ of your site.  This is how your site looks to both the casual visitor and the regular user; essential design elements such as layout, color schemes and other visual attributes fall under this stage of development, and your web professional must create something that is not only attractive but also as user-friendly as possible.  Website design must also take into account search engine guidelines and WC3 compliance; if a site isn’t designed with specific attribute sin mind, you can miss out on search engine ranking opportunities and lose traffic.

Website Development
Website development involves paying attention to the features, functionality and overall usability of your site.  A feature-rich site that helps users find the information they need and encourages them to return is a success – making sure everything you implement on the site solves a problem for the end user can help you stay on track with your business goals and build a quality site in the process.

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Many business owners get stuck during the phases of website design and website promotion; how do you decide which strategy to deploy first?

At first glance, it may seem as though one project comes before the other, but the truth is you need to employ both simultaneously to keep your site on the right track.  A website that is designed for the search engines must also be promoted effectively across social media channels and other marketing avenues; if the site’s design isn’t compatible with many of today’s Web 2.0-based technologies and interfaces, you could miss out on a critical portion of the market.

The Importance of Website Design
Designing a website that is not only relevant to your market but also optimized for the search engines will lay the foundation for your success.  Successful sites on the web today are driven by social media and Web 2.0 platforms; your website must have a few fundamental elements of Web 2.0 design interwoven to the site so that components such as articles, blogs, and video can be shared easily across the major social networks.  Without these components, you could be left far behind your competition and fail to reach your target market.  In the end, this means lower levels of traffic and infrequent visitors.

A website that is both SEO-friendly and W3C compliant is another important element to keep in mind; if your site isn’t indexable by the search engines, even the most creative website promotion strategy won’t bring you steady traffic for the long-term.

The Importance of Website Promotion
Promoting your website also plays a critical role in website development; with the right strategy and well-designed site in place, you will be able to build steady traffic while increasing brand awareness of your business.

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Driving traffic to your site is great, as far as it goes – but it’s not enough.  You need proven ways to convert prospects into buyers.

When your site is primed for search engine optimization (SEO), you get tons of traffic coming to you for free.  Great, right?  But many small business owners make the mistake of just concentrating on traffic and search engine optimization. They get the traffic, but it doesn’t convert into buyers. What good is a ton of traffic coming to your site, if it doesn’t improve your sales?

You’ve ultimately got to look at your bottom line. If you’re spending tons of cash, hours of your time and all your energy on driving traffic to your site with SEO, but not making sure it converts into buying customers, you’re just chasing your tail.

Remember, you’re not after “clicks” – you’re after sales! Here are 3 basics that you MUST ensure happen on your site in order to convert visitors into customers and increase your sales:

Craft an Effective Message.
First, you need an effective sales message that grabs your surfer by the mouse, turns them upside down, and shakes their credit cards out of their pockets! Recent studies have demonstrated that you’ve got less than 8 seconds to capture the typical Internet surfer’s attention.

Address desires directly. Tell your story right up front – what does your company offer? What sets you apart from your competitors? Make sure this information is prominently displayed on your home page.

The key to converting your visitors is to find out what they want – and the easiest way to find that out is simply to ask them.

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Choosing effective small business keywords can be an intimidating task.  Everyone knows that going to search for anything on a major search engine like Google can often return thousands of results.  But does that mean defeat for your local small business?  No!

There are a lot of things that can be done to get your local Web site noticed by your local customer base.  Five of those techniques are invaluable in guiding you to success.

1. Use Phrases
Phrases can make a world of a difference in what can be found through search engines.  Type in any single word and you’re bound to find literally thousands of results.  Type in specific phrases and the results not only drastically decrease, but they become much more relevant.

For instance, a search on Google for “renovation” can bring back over 32 million listings.  However, a listing for “bathroom renovation” can return less than 200,000.  A search for “software” can return more than a billion results.  A search for “custom accounting software” gets barely twenty-five thousand.

Many times people know what it is they’re looking for and can get fairly specific with their searches.  However, if your local small business site isn’t geared to take advantage of that, it will either be lost in millions of listings or excluded from your customer’s more specific searches altogether.

2. Include Location References
Because you’re aiming to reach your local audience, including location references when choosing your small business keywords can also work well.  This can mean including your specific city, metro area, well-known landmarks or even surrounding cities that you commonly provide services to.

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Because of the ability to specifically target your unique prospects based on interest as well as geography, the ability to tightly control your ad spend and to precisely measure results, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is probably the greatest breakthrough to come along in advertising since the launch of television.  And, because of those same benefits, it’s much more affordable for the small to mid-size business owner to leverage for their business (as compared with television and many other advertising alternatives).

That being said, PPC is not as easy as it seems at first glance. Business owners looking to launch their first campaign will quickly discover how easily they can spend hundreds – and even thousands – of dollars in wasted efforts while they learn to navigate the PPC waters.

While entire books have been written on the ins-and-outs of pay-per-click advertising, there are 5 common mistakes that I see business owners making when I’m asked to evaluate their pay-per-click campaign strategies.  These mistakes are easy to fix, and doing so will dramatically increase the effectiveness of your pay-per-click campaign!

The 5 most common PPC mistakes are:

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Social bookmarking sites are an extremely valuable tool for those who are looking at all of their small business marketing options. Of course, in order to fully take advantage of the results that social bookmarking sites can yield, it is important to look into social media optimization, and to understand that it is up to you to make it easy for your site visitors to bookmark your articles, news, press releases, blog posts, podcasts and images.

Of course, before you will find that you are able to take advantage of both the results of social bookmarking for directing traffic to your website and making sure that you will be looking into the appropriate social media optimization of your site, you need to have a sense of which sites are the big players and of why social bookmarking sites are important.

When you’re talking about social bookmarking sites, there are a few sites that will almost immediately come to mind. The first of these sites is Digg.com. When someone Diggs your story, your press release or blog post, they will be able to bookmark the site, include a description of what they read and to include some keywords to characterize the post. Another common social bookmarking site is Propeller – a site that is connected with the AOL network.

Perhaps the greatest advantage to social bookmarking sites is that, because they are used so frequently by so many people, they are an important part of a solid search engine optimization strategy; social bookmarking is an opportunity to get one way, incoming links to your site from websites with a high Page Rank. Add to that the importance of appropriate tagging, and what you’ll find is that the more your pages, articles and posts are bookmarked, the more likely it is for your prospects to find and visit your site.

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