Friday, April 04, 2008

SO WHAT IS SEO? - Part 2

Hi,

We've just added a new article on SEO Tips to the top-rated Ezine Articles directory where you can learn how to get top search rankings in 4 easy steps.

As long you follow the steps outlined there really should be no reason why you can't crack the Top 10 rankings in the major search engines.

Go read the article So What is SEO? - Part 2 now and Good Luck with your online marketing efforts!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

DESIGNING A SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY SITE...

Today's topic is something that we get asked quite often and the straight answer is that designing a search engine friendly web site is definitely not difficult or complicated

Here are a few essential ingredients and guidelines that you should adhere to if you want to raise those all-important search engine rankings

Here are 2 basic elements that you will almost certainly need to begin with:

Web Designer
Content Developer

If you have already been through the process of hiring a web designer one of the key ingredients is keeping in constant communication between the graphic designer and content developer to ensure that the site architecture is not an afterthought

Your site must be visually appealing to visitors as well as having the content necessary to allure and appeal to the search engines

Whether you are hiring externally or building your web site in-house you will want to ensure that the design element i.e. the look and feel of the site matches closely with the message that you want to portray

This is where a specialist content developer working in tandem with your web designer will come into his or her own by giving your site the clear messages that you will want to have on each product or service page

In doing so, the search engines will rank your site higher which in turn will increase visitor traffic to your web site

So as long as you create a site that is easy for the visitor to navigate through, that looks good and gives your visitors what they are looking for you will be encouraging visitors to stay longer and to come back often

In real terms what this means is that your visitor to sale ratio is likely to be much higher than would otherwise be the case

Designing a search engine friendly web site is certainly not difficult but it is time consuming and as long as you are prepared to be methodical in your approach and create unique, interesting, well-written content you will be rewarded with high search engine rankings and better sales conversion ratios

Of course, if you have neither the time nor the resources or indeed the expertise to create your own search engine friendly web sites, then Loyal-e is here to help!

Until next time...

Monday, July 31, 2006

Monday's SEO lesson...

Today the world has a slightly askew feeling about it - that's partly a perspective thing, especially due to the fact that a friend of mine telephoned this morning to say that his rankings had fallen in the great 'G' and could I please help

Now ordinarily, I wouldn't be predisposed to comment on this but as this is also an issue that I see being constantly raised in forums across the web, I'm compelled to add my own two-penny's worth into the mix

The first thing to do if you find a drop in your rankings is NOT to panic. There could be and probably is a straightforward explanation for this namely that:

1. Datacenters around the world are being updated and the results haven't quite caught up with these updates
2. There may have been an algorithm change and if so the results may be all over the place for a week or so and then begin to settle down again
3. Your site may have been down temporarily whilst the search engine robots visited

If either of 3 above reasons have happened then you should resist your natural instinct to fiddle and tweak around with the content, keywords etc; on your web page

Instead, do the best thing that you can in the circumstances and that is to simply go and build some more web pages with real content that people will find useful and you’ll find that your rankings will correct themselves in due course

But, on the other hand of course if you have been naughty and have been dabbling with some dubious SEO practices then the best thing to do is to desist immediately and ‘own up’

Luckily, in my friend’s case his rankings crept back to where they were by midday and all is well that end’s well

I will be publishing a set of do’s and don’ts and specifically what to do in case you’ve been ‘sand-boxed’ over the course of the next few days

Just in case you cannot wait and must have your hands on this set of instructions then please visit our website here on http://www.loyal-e.com and use the contact form there and I will get back to you straightaway

Until next time…

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Tools of the trade...

We get asked over and over again if we use software tools to help in the SEO efforts of our clients

So let's lay this myth to rest once and for all shall we - In 8 years of working as an SEO Consultant, I do not know of a single SEO company or expert who does NOT use some form of automation to help in the process of SEO

But isn't that cheating or Black Hat in some way, I hear you ask?

Well that depends on your point of view? By definition, Black Hat SEO is using automated techniques to manipulate the SERPs (search engine results pages) in your/clients' favour

So all SEO companies must therefore be practising Black Hat SEO tactics - Well, NO, not really!

For instance, an SEO company may use software to break down the ranking structure of a top ranking website for a particular keyword and use that very same structure to gain a higher ranking position in the SERPs

But doesn't this constitute an unethical approach or even piracy of some sort?

Again, despite what a lot of 'SEO experts' may lead you to believe SEO is not an exact science and is unlikely to ever be - so what better than taking the guesswork out of the equation and basing some of your effort and what is clearly working for the top ranking websites?

This issue is likely to run and run as there are no definitive answers on the subject

In reality a lot of what makes up the process of SEO is at best a 'Grey' area and is likely to remain so

That said, there is no substitute for hard-won experience gained through years of exposure to the SEO process, if only to avoid the many pitfalls of bad search engine optiimsation

Until next time...As always good luck with your SEO endeavours!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Good Morning!

It's particularly sunny this morning and I'm feeling pretty contented today

Why you might ask? - The truth is that I was stuck on a particluarly thorny web design project with a client of mine and last night after much deliberation was able to get past what was holding us all up

This morning though, one of the burning issues in the meeting room, was what makes a client choose a particular SEO company?

Is is because of:
The rave reviews?
The carefully crafted web site perhaps?
Or simply having 'a good feeling' about the company?

Let's delve into this a bit more shall we:

It's been universally acclaimed that we don't like the feeling of being sold to and yet subliminally receptors in our brain are open to postitive messages and to particluar keywords and phrases

Take for example phrases such as:

"This powerful SEO package can help your website claim a portion of valuable search engine traffic with a blink of an eye"

Or

"Learn how I use this revolutionary software to consistently average over 15,000 visitors to my websites, per day"

See what I mean, I bet that you've already skipped past the caution stage by now and what if I also throw in this phrase "get almost instant results"

By now, you're probably seeing £££ signs flashing in front of your eyes and dreaming of top results and basking in the ensuing profits

That's not to say of course that the above statements are indeed false and the products being sold behind them are misleading in any way as there are perfectly good SEO tools and software out there that will genuinely aid you in your SEO efforts

So is it wrong to get excited about these phrases? The truth is that as long as you're prepared to be disappointed and are not 'hocking yourself up to the hilt' to pay for these services and products then it's probably worth a gamble

That said, be careful in your selection and choose wisely as some of the so-called SEO packages out there will cause your website more harm than good

And of course should you wish to avoid the pitfalls, my help is on hand at +44 (0)1934 832143

See you soon and good luck in your marketing efforts!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Surprise, Surprise

But I did say that I was going to update this blog more regularly

So what's on my mind today - Well we get approached constantly by companies who have just lost their search rankings overnight through following some rather dubious SEO practices

Swayed by the patter of some over-eager SEO rep or perhaps by sharp marketing copy on a company website, these website owners who hitherto have been circumspect in their online marketing efforts have been persuaded to go against their innate common sense and pursue what can only be described as a short-term gain mentality

Let's face it, to some degree we're all slave to this dream of striking it rich and what better if we come across someone who so-say can 'make' this happen for us and even better promises instant success

The truth is that as long as there are people dreaming of making it big online, then there will always be the 'fly-by-night' companies just waiting in the wings to con them of their precious livelihoods

For most however, the dream of making it big online is only ever likely to be just a dream and hey, I'm sorry if this upsets a few but if you are going down the route of Black Hat or whatever colour SEO or indeed far worse no SEO colour at all, then you have only yourself to blame

In a nutshell, YES! high search rankings are achievable and YES! you can make money online and be successful but and there's always one...

And on that salutory note...I end once again by saying be careful who you choose to carry out your search engine optimisation for you

Until next time... Good Luck in your SEO efforts!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Hi,

Gosh! it's been a long time since I updated this blog - Alas, an all too common a complaint in the busy world SEO I suspect?

So what's been happening over the past few months - here's what in a nutshell:

1) New clients - from web design to full Search engine optimisation
2) E-marketing - been devising targeted email campaigns aimed at increasing sales and promoting customer loyalty

But that's all blather... What's been happening in the world of search engine optimisation

SEO or search engine optimisation has changed dramatically over the past 12 months - tactics such as titles, metatags, keywords and so on seem not to have the importance they once did

All sorts of terms are being bandied about these days like Black Hat SEO, White Hat SEO, Grey Hat SEO and so on..

The truth however is that the basic principles are still very much constant - Content, good content and more good content followed closely by quality inbound links have always been the order of the day

In the race to get to the top of the search rankings software tools can play a vital role but beware using some of them can carry heavy penalties

More on that in the next instalment and yes there will be more on a regular basis hopefully...

So stay tuned and in the meanwhile go build sites with good useful content and get some quality backlinks...