Steve Penny, SEO guru, shares his search engine optimization expertise, in these four tips:

TIP 1. Learn the top 10 SEO reasons website redesigns lose rankings and traffic.

TIP 2. Do KeyWord Research with Google’s Keyword Research Tool

TIP 3. Know about the Google Sandbox.

TIP 4. Spider Check Your Website for Top SEO

TIP 1. Learn the top 10 SEO reasons website redesigns lose rankings and traffic.

Steve strongly suggests that clients and webdevelopers review this article so they have an understanding of how much is involved in this - and that failure to think through one element undoes everything else. He says that this checklist of the top 10 reasons redesigns lose rankings and traffic is a topic he deals with on a daily basis. People don’t realize how much is involved in doing this thoroughly and so don’t get the outcome at the end they were hoping for due to one over-site. You won’t find this checklist of the TOP 10 SEO REASONS WEBSITE REDESIGNS LOSE RANKINGS AND TRAFFIC anywhere this concisely on the Internet. Read more…

TIP 2. Do KeyWord Research with Google’s Keyword Research Tool

The Google keyword research tool is located here. Per Google, in answer to “How do I use the Keyword Tool to get keyword ideas?”

You can search for keyword ideas by entering a keyword related to your business or service or a URL to a page containing content related to your business or service. Or, you can go straight to filtering keyword categories. You can use one or the other or both together; the tool is completely flexible depending on how you’d like to use it. Things to try:

• Click Advanced options to further refine your search, for example, by country, language, or mobile search.
• Select or deselect the keyword match type checkboxes to further refine your search in the main browser pane.
• Click the Columns button above the results table to customize the columns you see within your results data.

Learn more here…

TIP 3. Know about the Google Sandbox

The Sandbox (a.k.a. Sandboxing or the sandbox effect or the Google penalty) is a name given to an observation about the way Google ranks web pages in its …

If you are starting up a new website, it is very important to understand the Google Sandbox for immature domains that have not yet built trust rank.

If you are dealing with existing sites, the ways that site redesigns lose rankings and traffic is far more common than people realize if your web developer doesn’t know and think through all of the ten elements outlined here.

TIP 4. Spider Check Your Website for Top SEO

If you want a website that works for both people and search engine spiders like the GoogleBot, you have to spider check your work. It sounds obvious and simple, but if you don’t spider check your work – how do you know it works? Search engine optimization or SEO is an environment where humans have limited visibility. There is definitely a limit how much human eyeballs alone can see in terms of how the GoogleBot sees your website without actually spider checking your work on Google. Read more…

If you aren’t able to hear Kathy Long give this presentation in person, check out the slide presentation. This is chock full of information on how to rise to the top of local search results.

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Here are 5  (6, actually) Super Resources for the Small Business Owner Who Wants a Great Website! [June 15, 2011 update: added #6!]

I’m gearing up for my June 14 and June 21 classes. I want to make sure I let you know about these articles and tools:

If we can push past the alarming use of profanity against a toddler, there’s something to be gleaned from Mad Mall Mama’s concise call-to-action. The 25-character statement included at least 4 smart components.

This information is intended for very small business owners, like a local landscaper or painter or maybe a daycare establishment. A business that will likely never be able to justify the ROI of hiring a competent and professional SEO. And quite frankly? Likely doesn’t need to.

Here are 5 common web design mistakes you must avoid to create a great user experience and grow your bottom line.

Page Speed Online analyzes the content of a web page, then generates suggestions to make that page faster. Reducing page load times can reduce bounce rates and increase conversion rates.

This is the gold standard tool for keyword research.

From Outspoken Media: “Hello. I’m a potential new customer and I just landed on your Web site for the very first time. I’m taking a look around and I think I may like what you’re offering. In fact, your services/that pair of shoes/that quirky owl necklace are exactly what I’ve been waiting for. But, as a new customer, before I take the plunge, I have some questions. Things I need to know or at least would like to know before I commit to doing business with you.”

Two great 1-evening classes coming up June 14 and 21. Register online at City of Santa Cruz Parks & Rec or call 831-420-5270. http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/index.aspx?page=540

1. Get the Best Online “Local Search” Results! Tue, June 14, 6:30-9:30pm at NextSpace. $68 for one evening class. #14476
2. Before You Hire Your Web Designer or Developer! Tue, June 21, 6:30-9:30pm at NextSpace. $68 for one evening class. #14475

Details:

As a web consultant and SBDC Technology Advisor, one of my services is to provide web audits for small business clients. A web audit consists of a thorough website review including review of first impression, design, navigation, usability, content, SEO, etc. I’m always on the lookout for articles to share with clients. [Updated January 21, 2011, February 8, 2011]

Here’s my recent collection of Best Resources to Review before You Design (or Redesign) Your Small Business Website:

1. I heartily recommend these two excellent books as an easy way to learn and/or review some of the basics of web design and web content:
2. • Don’t Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Steve Krug)
   • Letting Go of the Words – Writing Web Content that Works (Janice Ginny Reddish)
3. Here’s my collection of Best SEO Search Engine Optimization Resources: http://saraisenberg.com/2010/10/16/best-seo-resources/
4. Here’s my collection of Great Social Media Resources — LinkedIn, Facebook, Twtiter, Blogging: http://saraisenberg.com/2010/07/22/social-media-resources-linkedin-facebook-twitter-blogging/
5. 8 Best-Practices for Small Business Websites (DIYthemes):
   http://diythemes.com/thesis/best-practices-small-business-websites/
6. What Does Web Design Say About Your Small Business? (Mashable): http://mashable.com/2010/12/13/small-business-web-design/
7. 10 Questions You Should Ask Your Web Designer to Get Tangible Results (DIYthemes): http://diythemes.com/thesis/web-design-results/
8. The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page (Formstack):
   http://www.formstack.com/the-anatomy-of-a-perfect-landing-page
9. How to Choose – And Hire – a Web Designer (DIYthemes): http://diythemes.com/thesis/how-to-hire-a-web-designer/
10. Building an Online Marketing Plan: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2011/01/building-an-online-marketing-plan/
11. The Benefits of Wireframing a Design (SixRevisions):  http://sixrevisions.com/user-interface/wireframing-benefits/
12. (I’ll keep adding resources so check back later.)

I’m always on the lookout for simple articles and overviews of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to share with clients. Zdnet’s recent post is one such example:

http://m.zdnet.com/blog/seo/how-it-works-what-happens-when-you-search-google/1211

The article includes a very simple video clip from Google. Perfect for SEO beginners! Check it out:

My clients and students are often starting from scratch on SEO and would like to learn more about it, usually the basics. I find myself recommending these online SEO resources frequently. This blog post is for anybody who’d like to learn more about SEO. Here are some of my favorite Search Engine Optimization resources: [updated 1/31/2011, 2/21/2011, 3/14/2011]

Google’s Webmaster SEO Starter Guide
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/06/seo-starter-guide-now-available-in-40.html

DIY Part 1: Beginner WordPress SEO: How to Optimize Your Blog Posts
http://diythemes.com/thesis/beginner-wordpress-seo/

DIY Part 2: Beginner WordPress SEO: 9 Ways to Optimize Blogs for Search Engines
http://diythemes.com/thesis/beginner-wordpress-seo-part-2/

Another from DIY: A Beginner’s Guide to Optimizing WordPress Websites (w/ simple guide to optimizing WordPress websites)
http://diythemes.com/thesis/wordpress-website-optimization/

Hubspot’s 9 SEO Insights You Must Follow
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/7367/9-SEO-Insights-You-Must-Follow.aspx

25 tips to skyrocket your search engine rankings
http://www.socialmedia.biz/2010/09/15/25-tips-to-skyrocket-your-search-engine-rankings/

SEOmoz
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-beginners-checklist-for-learning-seo
http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf
http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
http://www.creativemarcomgroup.com/docs/beg-guide-to-seo.pdf
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tweets-effect-rankings-unexpected-case-study

Zdnet SEO Overview (w/ Google Video about SEO basics):
http://m.zdnet.com/blog/seo/how-it-works-what-happens-when-you-search-google/1211

Axandra:
http://www.axandra.com/
http://www.free-seo-news.com/index.php
http://www.axandra.com/free-online-seo-tool/

Bruce Clay:
http://www.bruceclay.com/
http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm
See BruceClay_SEO_web_rank.pdf and check the site for other documentation.

Bloofusion
http://www.bloofusion.com
http://www.bloofusion.com/resources/white-papers/index.shtml
See seo-for-ecommerce-sites.pdf, web-design-and-seo.pdf,  seo-web-2-0.pdf and check their site for other documentation.

SDForum Marketing SIG:
http://marketingsig.blogspot.com/2010/01/search-engine-optimization-for.html

Outspoken Media:
http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/seo-audit-tool-comparison/

Scott Design:
http://blog.hotdesign.com/2010/11/the-art-and-science-of-seo/

Alameda SBDC Resources:
http://acsbdc.org/business-topics/seo
http://acsbdc.org/business-topics/keyword-advertising

SEO Mistakes That Just Make You Look Dumb (Outspoken Media):
http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/dumb-seo-mistakes/

Not Getting Enough Traffic? Here’s Why… (DIYthemes):
http://diythemes.com/thesis/not-getting-enough-traffic/

The Dirty Little Secrets of Search (New York Times, 2/12/11), what NOT to do:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html

HubSpot’s 4 SEO Tips to Instantly Take Advantage of Google Instant Preview:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/7110/4-SEO-Tips-to-Instantly-Take-Advantage-of-Google-Instant-Preview.aspx

Steve Penny, SEO Expert, on Google Places Local Search:
http://www.stevepenny.com/googleplaceslocalseo.html

Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool:
http://tinyurl.com/2w634qo

]]> http://saraisenberg.com/2010/10/16/best-seo-resources/feed/ 3 http://saraisenberg.com/2009/12/09/google-caffeine/ http://saraisenberg.com/2009/12/09/google-caffeine/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:44:00 +0000 Sara Isenberg http://saraisenberg.com/?p=3260

The following great overview article about Google Caffeine comes from http://www.axandra.com.

Google Caffeine is the name given to Google’s next algorithm update that is going live after the holidays. It seems that Google Caffeine will be more than Google’s regular updates. It will probably be a major overhaul of the calculations that Google uses to rank web pages.

What is going to change?

Of course, Google hasn’t revealed the details of Google Caffeine yet. However, the new index has been live on some test servers and some Google employees also talked about the next index. The following factors might play a larger role in Google’s next index:

• Website speed: if you have a slow loading website, it might not get high rankings on Google.
• Broken links: if your website contains many broken links, this might have a negative impact of the position of your web pages in Google search results.
• Bad neighborhoods: Linking to known spammers and getting a lot of links from known spammers isn’t good for your rankings in Google’s current algorithm. The negative impact of a bad neighborhood will probably be even worse with Google Caffeine.
• The over-all quality of your website: Google’s new algorithm probably will take a closer look at the over-all quality of your website. It’s not enough to have one or two ranking factors in place.You’ll probably need good optimized content, a good website design with a clear navigation, good inbound links, a low bounce rate, etc. The number of social bookmarks might also play an increased role.

Factors like the age of a website, its past history, authority etc. will still play a role in Google’s new index. However, the effect of the different factors on your rankings will shift.

How can you adjust your web pages to Google’s new Caffeine index?

Although Google’s Caffeine update hasn’t been release yet, there are some things that you can do to increase the chances that your website will get good rankings in Google’s new index:

• Remove all spam elements from your web pages. Anything that might be considered spam can and will have a negative effect on the position of your web pages sooner or later. This includes text that has nearly the same color as the background, cloaking and fully automated linking systems.
• Check your website design and the navigation of your website.Your website should have a professional look and feel. The navigation should be easy to understand and your web pages should easily be parseable by search engine spiders. You can test this with the search engine spider simulator in IBP (Select Tools > Search Engine Spider Simulator in IBP’s main window).
• Get links from social bookmark websites. Social bookmark links already play a role in Google’s current algorithm and that role might increase.
• Check your links. You shouldn’t link to websites that look like spammers. It’s better to focus on selected quality links instead of as many links as possible.

Google Caffeine is going to be released after the holidays. If you follow the tips above, your website will be in a good position when Google’s new index will be online.

I spent some time today talking with Sandra Ivany, Santa Cruz Wedding Photographer, about WordPress, Blogging, and SEO.

Since text content is very important for SEO, what’s a photographer to do when the page content is mostly an image or several images?  Here are some quick resources that I found about SEO for photographers:

• Eric Bakken writes about SEO for Photographers.
  

• WordPress has a plugin for SEO Friendly Images.

• Lara Swanson writes about SEO for Photographers.

Much of this is generic SEO regardless of whether photography is involved, but it’s good to have some of the simple basics to share with a client.

Not specifically for photographers, SEOMOZ.org, has a great post about building the perfectly optimized page.

I want to let you know about this informative article:

23 Ways to Promote Your Website for Free, by Toni Anicic

From: http://inchoo.net/online-marketing/23-ways-to-promote-your-website-for-free/

There is actually no such thing as free website promotion unless you are really lucky. You always have to invest at least some time and effort, and as we all know time equals money which means no promotion is actually free.

However, if you are looking into ways to promote your website online while not spending any money, here are some ways you can do it. Most of these are generally well known but you might find something new and useful.

1. Start a blog. If you already don’t have a blog you have no idea what you’ve been missing. As we all know, content is king and having an ability to deliver fresh, engaging, and interesting content to potential visitors is crucial for any organic SEO success.
2. Be guest author on specialized blog or eZine. You can’t just wait to be invited to write for someone. You should contact respected blogs or web magazines in your industry and ask them if you can be a guest author. In most cases they will allow you to link back to your website and thus for you will gain free promotion. Being a guest author in respected media in your industry is also very good for raising the brand awareness of both you, your company and your services or products.
3. Get guest authors for your blog. By getting other people to write for you you will save time of writing an article of your own and you will be able to spend that time on promoting your website. In most cases guest author will also promote the article on his own, giving you free promotion. To find guest authors you can search for relevant bloggers and contact them or if you already are established website with community of its own, you can ask your community to participate in blog posting.
4. Comment on other blogs. Most of the blogs will allow for you to make your name on the comment appear as a link to your website/blog. By commenting on relevant blogs you will in most cases bring targeted traffic to your website and raise awareness of your existence to the owner of the blog. If you are investing lots of time and effort into creating valuable content in your comments, the blogger migth decide to award you for the effort and link to you via blogroll. Some of these blogs are “do follow” blogs and commenting on them will provide you with SEO benefit to.
5. Link to relevant content in your articles / blog posts. By linking to other relevant sources you show your give additional value to your content for the readers. Most of the websites track their visit statistics and referral sources and this way you will also raise awareness of your existence in the eyes of your niche. Some of them might be so nice to link back to you in some cases while some websites have automated systems of showing track backs to their articles.
6. Ask bloggers for your product or service reviews. Most of the bloggers are actually looking for something to write about. If your product or service is relevant to the blog’s content, the blogger might agree to test it and write a review of it for free. There is nothing for you to lose, you only need to ask nicely. Send an email to as many relevant bloggers as you can find and ask them to write about you. Eventually, you will get lucky.
7. Create a Facebook page and/or group. Facebook is one of the best social networks out there that you can use in order to bring some targeted traffic to your website. You should strive to create viral marketing effect when dealing with social networks such as facebook. Groups that encourage users to buy your service and / or product will not be very effective. You have to be clever and think of ways to lure people that might be of interest into your products and / or services into your group without being clearly obvious that purpose of the group is to direct traffic to your website and make people buy from you.
8. Create a Facebook application. Facebook applications tend to create even bigger viral effect then facebook groups or pages, especially if you play the cards right. Make something cool and fun that people will love to share and make sure to have a plan on how will you benefit from the application.
9. Use Twitter. Twitter is undeniably the next big thing in social media burning the web with over two million users right now! The ability to promote your product via twitter almost effortlessly should not be ignored. It’s really easy to gain followers on twitter and once you have a nice number of followers it’s as good as an RSS feed. You should read some useful tips on how to use twitter in marketing purposes and how to gain followers.
10. Use LinkedIn. While Facebook and Twitter both have huge user base and potential to bring millions of visitors at your website’s doorstep, LinkedIn can sometimes prove to be much more ROI effective. LinkedIn is a network full of highly educated professionals from different industries and in some industries it will send much more targeted audience then other social networks.
11. Create a LinkedIn group. And by creating a group I don’t mean create a group about your company. Try going much broader and create a group that concentrates on your entire industry. Invest some time and effort to bring people into your group and once you built yourself a nice community you might be lucky enough and your group starts growing on its own. If you succeed you will have an army of your industries professionals at your disposal. You will have ability to send emails to entire group and to make any discussion featured and thus for control where the traffic of your group will be sent.
12. Be involved in LinkedIn discussions. The discussions on linked in (group discussions and questions and answers) tend to bring really nice and targeted traffic if you place a relevant link to your blog post or article in it. Try not to look spammy and only link to your articles when they solve the problem someone asked in discussion.
13. Create YouTube channel and post cool videos. YouTube is currently the 2nd largest search engine in the world! Imagine how much traffic you could pull from there especially considering the fact that in most industries competition on YouTube is pretty low compared to the big search engines. You should try not to put on commercials on YouTube (unless they are extremely funny) but instead put something interesting that might go viral. Be sure to always include a link to your website or the relevant article or subpage to the video on your website into the sidebar.
14. Create accounts on other video websites (YouTube clones). There are really lots of similar websites that don’t actually have as much traffic as YouTube does but they also have much less competition. If you already made a video for YouTube it’s not very time consuming to also upload it to other video websites and it’s really worth of effort.
15. Publish press releases. This is not as effective as it use to be but it’s still worth the effort. There are quiet a number of websites that allow you to submit your press release for free. Just Google it and you’ll find more then enough to fill your appetite.
16. Post a Wikipedia article about your company / website / product. Wikipedia tends to rank really well on Google and appears to be really good source of targeted traffic. You’ll have to invest some time and effort into creating the wiki entry as you don’t want your entry to be disapproved (deleted as soon as editor realizes you are just trying to promote yourself). If this is your first time submitting something to wikipedia, you should spend some time researching the similar wiki entries and reading the guidelines.
17. Exchange links. Use search engines to find relevant websites to your industry and contact them in order to try to establish a link exchange. In most cases both websites will benefit from such a exchange as long as you are exchanging links with websites relevant to yours. Avoid exchanging links with spammy and scammy sites.
18. Exchange banners. In some cases you will find banner exchange more efficient then link exchange. The same rules apply here as in link exchange case. Try avoiding the big banner exchange networks and rather concentrate on setting up exchange deals on your own with websites you actually wont to exchange banners with.
19. Submit your website to web directories. There are really lots of web directories that will allow you to list your website on them for free. Try concentrating on biggest ones such as DMOZ and also on really targeted ones for your website’s niche.
20. Submit your website to CSS / design galleries. If you have a nice looking website design, it’s a shame not to share it with the world. Some of these galleries are really popular and could bring nice traffic. There are also specialized galleries for different type of website such as Magentique (Magentique is showcase of web stores made with Magento ecommerce platform).
21. Use Digg. Recent stats show that digg’s traffic is declining, however, it still remains one of the most valuable sources of free and targeted traffic you can find online. It’s not enough just to submit the article to Digg, it won’t hit the front page by some magical IT voodoo dance. You have to build yourself a network of friends on Digg which requires a lot of time and effort.
22. Use social bookmarks. You should use social bookmark services and be active part of community. The most popular ones are also free to use and only thing you invest is your time and effort. You should try with StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us. Also using less popular social networks might bring you some traffic easier as competition is lower.
23. Be active member of your niche’s forum communities. Most forums will allow you to put a link to your website in your forum signature. Some of them will even allow multiple links in signature which means you can also build some deep links easily. In some cases you will be able to mention some of your blog posts or articles in forum discussions when they actually solve the problem asked in discussion. This will bring highly targeted free traffic to your website.