Search Engine Marketing | Mirna Bard - Part 3

Category : Search Engine Marketing

7 Questions You Should Ask Your SEO Firm
Posted Jan 2nd, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing With | 3 Comments

SEO firms or consultants can be of great benefit to your business, but unfortunately, there are some frauds out there. You can’t just assume that someone is an expert in the field because he says he is. It’s up to you, the consumer, to take the time to do your due diligence, but the following questions can help you get a straight answer and figure out if the company is the right one for you.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

1. How long have you been in business? A company that has only just started might not be legit. That’s not to say that no new company is trustworthy, but you will want to know more about the people behind it and their experience with SEO before committing to them.

2. How is success measured? There needs to be a specific method of checking for success if you are going to hire someone to do your search engine optimization for you. Otherwise, there’s no telling if you are getting what you paid for.

3. What are some of your more successful campaigns? An SEO company that has been in business for a while should have some case studies of happy clients to show you. If they don’t, you might want to look elsewhere.

4. Can you share your general SEO process? This question needs to be asked because you don’t want spam tactics being used. A badly done SEO campaign can destroy your company’s online reputation and ruin your search engine rankings, so make sure the company isn’t using anything but white hat techniques.

5. Do you offer a guarantee? If the answer is yes, clarify, but be suspicious. It’s impossible for anyone to guarantee specific results when it comes to search engines, so if someone says they guarantee top spots, you should look elsewhere.

6. How will I know what you’re doing? Your SEO company should give you frequent updates on what they are doing. How frequent? That’s between you and your SEO firm . . . you should be able to request updates more often if you need them.

7. What is the long term plan? SEO isn’t just about optimizing your content and leaving it, a good strategy is ongoing. Check with the company to see what their long term plan is for your site.

Ask the right questions and you should be able to tell if the firm you are considering hiring is legit or not. What is your advice to selected an SEO firm?
5 Reasons You Should Be Optimizing for Bing
Posted Sep 20th, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Google, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | No Comments

The standard for search engine optimization has been Google for a very long time, but now people are starting to think about another option. Bing has been far more popular than anyone anticipated. Even with Google Caffeine on the horizon, it would be foolish not to take this new up and comer into account when planning your SEO strategies.

Still not convinced? Here are a few reasons you should be optimizing for Bing.

1. It is rapidly creeping up on Google and if this deal with Yahoo goes through, you’ll definitely want your site in Bing. It’s important to consider all the possibilities, especially since it can take some time to get picked up by the search engine.

2. There are already many loyal users. These are people who no longer use Google. If you want to reach as many people as possible with your marketing message, you definitely want to include the newer search engine in your SEO plans.

3. If you get decent traffic from Yahoo right now, you’ll want to make sure you start optimizing now for the transition which is expected to occur early 2010. This will ensure that you don’t end up losing too much traffic when the two companies join up.

4. Who couldn’t use more traffic? If dual optimization helps you boost your incoming traffic, then it is definitely worth it. This is the main reason people have started aiming for better rankings on both Google and Bing.

5. It takes very little time. SEO for this new search engine isn’t much different from that of Google, so making some small changes or additions to your website can drastically change your results.

Despite the fact that Google has been such a big player in the SEO field for so long, we shouldn’t become complacent and ignore other traffic sources. Even the Romans ended up losing out, so keep your options in mind and don’t put all your website traffic in the hands of just one search engine.
Google Caffeine: A Desperate Attempt at Competition or Something Worthwhile?
Posted Aug 17th, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Google, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | No Comments

The brand spanking new version of Google Caffeine is about to be launched, but the internet is already buzzing about it. Last week, a developer’s version was released and the testers have been reporting some excellent results. So just what can you expect from this new and improved search engine when it finally makes a full appearance?

Faster Searches

That’s right. Preliminary testing shows that the new Google search is roughly twice as fast as the current version. That’s excellent news for anyone who likes their info fast and let’s face it, who doesn’t? This could prompt searchers to refine their searches a little more, as well, resulting in more targeted results.

More Results

While Google has been the leader of indexing pages in the past, more recently it has fallen a bit behind. This may be because of so many sites winding up in the Sandbox or simply because Google is not that great at finding new pages on old websites. At any rate, Google Caffeine is showing up with hundreds of thousands of new results, indicating a drastic change in how its spiders check new pages.

This is great from the SEO side of things, since it means your site will be completely indexed faster.

Better Optimization

Keywords are extremely important in the new version of Google’s search engine. It looks like keywords used in titles are now particularly useful and that is great news for anyone who has been using proper SEO from the start. If you still haven’t optimized your business site, now is the time to get on that!

Google Caffeine isn’t just a slight upgrade to the current version, however. It is a full-blown, brand new way to search. From the looks of things, it is also going to change the way we do business and improve SEO.
7 Worst SEO Mistakes
Posted Aug 12th, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | 2 Comments

These days, everyone knows that SEO is important to running a successful website, but not everyone is aware of how to implement search engine optimization successfully. Could you be sabotaging your website’s search engine ranking? Read on to find out.

The 7 worst SEO mistakes are:

1. Using Flash or JavaScript. It might seem like a great idea to use JavaScript or Flash to set up your site navigation, but the truth is that this simply makes your site a black hole for search engine spiders. The spiders can’t follow these “invisible” links, meaning your website will be invisible to them and thus impossible to rank. Your best bet is to use CSS or XHTML, but if you do decide to continue using this type of navigation, just be sure to add in real text links, too.

2. Not using ALT text. If you only have one or two photos on your website, this isn’t a big deal, but when you rely on graphics to carry your business, you could be in trouble. Minimal content could cause your website to be ranked lower by search engines, unless they realize that your photos are also content. Using ALT tags to add keywords to the photos can help boost rankings.

3. Reciprocal linking. Note that this is certainly not a terrible thing, but reciprocal links get you virtually nothing. Instead, look for real one way links that you can build up. There are several ways to get these links and they are infinitely more valuable than linking to a site which links right back to you.

4. Poorly formatted anchor text. When link building, it is in your best interest to use keywords as part of the anchor text. So why is it that so many links simply say “Click here”? Part of the reason is fear, but any SEO expert can tell you how to adjust your anchor text to give you maximum exposure without being slammed by Google for spamming keywords.

5. Using black-hat techniques. You know it’s wrong, but if it works and you don’t get caught . . . Too many people have discovered the hard way that trying to fool Google simply doesn’t work, at least not in the long run. If you’re tempted to use the latest trick to get that coveted #1 position, think again. Using evergreen SEO techniques will get you there and keep you there, without fear of being discovered.

6. Using more than 65 characters. If you look at the top listings in Google, you’ll notice that almost all of them have relatively short titles that fit into the 65 character limit. Most search engines will cut you off after this, so it’s important to format your title correctly . . . something most website owners and bloggers neglect to do. If you go over the limit, be sure to make those first 65 characters count so they can stand alone.

7. Not staying on top of the latest guidelines. Search engines are constantly changing their guidelines and rules to help keep spam off the front page, but if you aren’t aware of these changes, you could be doing precisely the wrong thing for your website.

Reading blogs like this one is a good way to ensure you won’t fall behind and end up using outdated SEO techniques that could end up dropping your site into the depths of the search results.

Are you making any of these mistakes? The good news is that they are all completely fixable. With careful attention and the right SEO techniques, your site can rise to the top.
Search Engine Marketing: Building Your Business Economically
Posted May 22nd, 2009 By Mirna Bard in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | 1 Comment

One of the biggest advantages to promoting your business online, even if it`s a brick and mortar business, is the fact that it is affordable. You can literally spend tens of thousands of dollars for the same results that you`ll get for a fraction of the price online. Search engine marketing is one of the best methods of building your business without spending a fortune.

What is Search Engine Marketing?

Quite simply, search engines are always looking for relevant content to give their searchers and if you have optimized your business site or blog for your top keywords, then the search engines are will recognize you as an appropriate search result. The higher you are in the search results, the more people will see and click on your link.

Very few business owners have the time or energy, much less the know how to do their own search engine marketing, but that`s not an issue these days. Everything can be outsourced, from building your website to providing SEO content. An entire online marketing campaign can be worked up and executed by an expert in the field for far less than an offline endeavor would cost.

What does this mean for you? Search engine marketing is far too important to miss out on. It`s an affordable method of promotion for any business, no matter what the marketing budget. Without creating your site with search engines in mind, you are essentially dooming it to a life of hiding on page 55 of the search results, never to be found by those looking to buy your products and services.

Marketing to the search engines is something that can be done every time you add content to your site and over time it will pay off, particularly if you`ve chosen a knowledgeable expert to do the optimization for you.

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