December 23rd, 2009
Many people have questions about how to rank better and to rank better organically, and it’s quite a complex question even though it may not seem like it. Google, as of just recently, has made major changes to its organic rankings algorithm with what they call real time search results. As everyone knows, you need to make sure that you follow the very best white hat SEO practices when working on your website SEO or search engine optimization. One might find this information from a number of different sources such as Netmark, SEOmoz.org, or even out on Google.
So let’s get to some of the guts of this topic and lets go over some basic things that you can do to rank better and rank better organically. Some simple things to check out… make sure that the HTML coding on your website is correct and simplified. This means that you do not have extra lines of unnecessary code in order to accomplish the same task. Also you want to make sure your content is as close to the top of the (while looking at the source code) page as possible even if you have to put the information in a div and help it reach the top via HTML code. Why should this matter? Well it makes a big difference because the search engines will index a page from top to bottom and from left to right. When you have your index able content as close to the top of the page the search engines will see this and know that you do have some idea of what your doing when it comes to design. Keep in mind that one factor that we’ve determined to help is the content to code ratio. The higher percent of content you have to coding… the more simple your website will be to index. This means bonus points for the search engines.
Another thing to remember is that “Content is King”. That means the more content you have on your site and the more pages you have, gives you better changes of ranking better and ranking better organically. If you ask some of the best SEO marketing firms in the country (high end SEO), they will not even decide to take on a project that has less than 50 pages of content. The reason for that is because the search engines love content. Content equals relevance. Relevance is good especially because the search engines can determine that what content you have and if it’s the most relevant to the search terms being searched for. Here is a big warning though. When you put up content on your website make sure that it is original. Don’t go and copy content off another site and put it up on your site, or you can get penalized for duplicate content and that page will not matter much to the search engines. If you want to put up a new page of content, make sure it is something original and new.
A good way to rank better and rank better organically is to put up a blog on your website. Let me share some cool statistics put out by Google about blog posting just this week.
• There are 900,000 blog posts written every day around the world.
• This means there are over 37,500 written every hour
• This means there are over 625 blog posts written every minute.
Now what should this mean to you? This is one form (of many) called social media marketing. Essentially you are trying to get content and other attention to your website, away from your website. What blogging really can help you achieve is more along the lines of brand awareness and activity that points to your website. Even with the short little blurb at the end that talks about blogging… my point is to point out a few more items that you can do that will help your website rank better organically.
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December 19th, 2009
Over the years I have had many people ask me how important it is to be at the top of Google or to have top rankings on all of the various search engines. Does one search engine matter more then another? There is a saying out there that goes “Go Google It.” There is a reason for such a statement. Google receives anywhere from 65-70 percent of all the search traffic on the internet on a daily basis. You look at that number and you realize that it’s amazing. Another interesting fact is that the remaining 30% or so is split with Yahoo receiving roughly 15% of the remaining traffic, while Bing receives roughly about 10%. The remaining search engine traffic is then split between all the other thousands of search engines out there such as ASK and Lycos.
Here is another interesting fact, statically almost 95% of the public will not look past the first 3 pages of the search engine to find the information they are looking for. I speak with people all day long every day who are asking how difficult it is to get to the top of Google. There is an answer for that and the answer is: it is extremely difficult. It takes a lot of patience and hard work. As you can see by the previous statistics, having top rankings on the search engines is incredibly important. I had a gentleman that I was speak with the other day that was asking me why I thought he needed to have internet marketing done for his business. So, I asked him a question. I asked “When you are looking for information on a product or a company what are the first things you do?” His response was all too well known. “Well I hop on the internet and look up the company.”
Exactly. Advertising on the internet and having top rankings on the search engines is absolutely imperative for your business. Something you may be thinking right now is how do I get my website to the top of Google? The answer is there are many things that you can do. First thing you need to do is make sure you have your content laid out properly on your page. Meaning you need to make sure that you have anywhere from 300-500 words of content on your pages. Secondly you need to insert your keywords into that content. This is imperative for the search engines to give you credit for your keywords.
You need to have your images optimized and by that I mean when you have an image on your website its physical name should not be image.jpg or 001image or something to that effect. It should be titled with what exactly the image involves, and should also contain your keywords, like Auto-Car-Dealer.png. Things like this seem small but there are literally hundreds of things that need to take place in order to get things worked out on your site so that you are able to achieve top rankings for the desired keywords.
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December 11th, 2009
It is that time of year again every one to figure on next years marketing budget. Most small and even large businesses are putting together their budgets for the New Year. Now above almost any other time of year is the time for Small Business SEO to be considered and put into your marketing plans for the next year. Now what is sad is there are still some companies out there that think that the internet is just a waste of time and money. They come from an old mindset of this is how we used to do things 15 years ago and this is how we are going to keep doing things or they hear about people who are making money hand over fist on the internet and just don’t have the first clue on how they can profit from such an investment.
SEO for Small Business is a complicated but very effective strategy for any company to take, and in today’s world is absolutely a necessity. I have clients with number one ranking positions on the internet for very competitive keywords that say “What Recession?” The truth of the matter is that if you are not doing your advertising on the internet right now by doing small business SEO, you soon might find yourself out of business.
SEO for small Business is so vital because the internet is considered to be the new phone book. Back in the day when you wanted to find out information, you would pick up the phone book and call the business. In today’s world that has changed dramatically. By some studies that were taken nearly 75% or more of people under the age of 40 do not even have a phone book in their home or even use a phone book any more. Terms such as “just go Google it” have taken so much that most people when they are looking to find out information do just that.
How to Improve Your Small Business SEO
So right now you are probably asking yourself, ok what can I do to improve my rankings in Google and the other search engines to get to the top? The answer is that there are many different things you can do. For instance you need to make sure that your code is cleaned up to be neat and tidy. You need to make sure you have the proper use of heading tags, and that they are being used properly. You need to make sure that you have content on you site that is able to be indexed by search engines and not in images. You need to make sure that you properly label your image files with your keywords, and not just make them “image.jpg” or something similar. That’s just a start.
In the end, there are hundreds of things that you can do to make sure that the SEO for small business is done and done correctly. I will not joke with you, there are hundreds of factors that the search engines use to decide where you are placed. The best way to do that is to make sure you either study up on what needs to be done from relevant sources, or that you pay a good company to do your SEO and your online marketing for you. If you might be thinking “Do I really need this?”, then the real question you should be asking yourself is “Can I really afford not to do SEO while my competition is?” I know we’ve stated it before, but it’s so true; If you’re not in the first position on the first page – one of your competitors is!
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November 28th, 2009
Almost well known for SEO at this point, Idaho is probably most popular for its big russet potatoes. They grow well here in our rich volcanic soil and are a favorite of people from all over. The conditions in Idaho are just right for growing potatoes; however, you might be surprised to know that they are also just right for producing Idaho SEO firms and more specifically Idaho Falls SEO firms.
Netmark Essentials is based out of Idaho Falls, Idaho and provides the best Search Engine Optimization available. A huge part of that is due to the people that run and work for this firm. Idahoans are well known for being hard working. They also possess other quality characteristics. So, aside from being hard working our Idaho SEO professionals are also:
• Reliable
• Honest
• Caring
• Knowledgeable
Our knowledge and passion is what really sets Netmark apart from any other Idaho SEO firm. As internet marketing experts, our clients seek our services for our extensive years of knowledge and expertise in the industry. Because each and every member of our company resides in Idaho Falls, our Idaho Falls SEO team of experts enjoys living in a community that loves and relies on technology. They keep up with the ever-changing industry through conferences, webcasts, blogs, online forums, news updates, testing, and more. Ultimately, we are in business to help others be successful online.
Netmark Essentials was founded with the objective to help any size business or organization improve their visibility online through strategic internet marketing processes. So, no matter what size your company is or where it is located at on the globe, give our Idaho Falls SEO firm a chance to live up to our reputation. Hey, if you want we’ll even send you a box of Idaho potatoes.
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November 3rd, 2009
I had a potential client that asked me just today how to get more traffic to his website and how to move up in Google. He is an insurance agent in the Eastern United States who is just amazed at what he had learned from a local conference he recently returned from.
“I have had a website for several years now. It had been doing ok for me but has never really generated much traffic, nor has it really moved up on Google. I just got back from a conference and was speaking with several of my colleges who have taken charge in their business and are focusing almost all of their marketing efforts now on Internet marketing.”
“They said they had been toying with the idea for some time now and after they had tried to do a bit of it themselves, failed, and went ahead and hired an Internet marketing firm. They asked them specifically how to get more traffic and how to move up in Google with SEO. I have looked over their numbers Sky and there is definitely something they are doing that I am not. ”
“I want to do that as well. Sky it is now time for me to ask you very specifically how to get more traffic and how to move up in Google? With a little help in SEO and conversion optimization I think I should be able to at least capture what they are doing if not more. After speaking with you I understand now what I need to do exactly and what it will take to get my business where it needs to be.”
We hear stories like this day in and day out here. Almost every day do I here customers ask something to the effect of how to get more traffic or how to move up on Google. I consider us to be one of the top SEO and Internet Marketing firms in the Country. When you are trying to get more traffic to your website there are a lot of things that you can do.
Below is a simple tip to get you started:
First and foremost you need to make sure your site is well coded to be search engine friendly. An easy way to get started on this is to consult Google Webmaster Tools. They have a lot of really great ideas to get you started. The next step is to make sure your coding is well optimized. Google is known to index code from top to bottom and from left to right. Think about it, make sure that in your coding the things that get indexed first are the information explaining exactly what your website is about, even before you allow Google to see your images or navigation. This is accomplished fairly easily with “div tags”. Div Tags allow you to place code anywhere you like, and still have it look presentable on the user version of your website.
Please feel free to inquire with us about what you can do to get your website traffic where you want it to be, and where it SHOULD be. Let us know how we can help you get the business you so rightfully deserve.
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October 30th, 2009
There are many businesses on the internet that are not being found period. One of the main reasons this is the case is because most businesses don’t have a website optimized to get Top Google Rankings. Google’s specific algorithm in ranking websites from #1 through thousands or even millions consists on many factors. The two largest factors (and fairly broad) are how relevant and how important are you when it comes to a specific keyword.
Better Google Rankings is one way that will substantially improve the amount of business that you will see from solid search engine optimization. Google has reported that 42% of searchers will click on the #1 ranking which makes the #1 spot for a keyword very coveted. It is critical however that you have top Google rankings for keywords that are relevant to your industry as well as have quality monthly internet users searching for those keywords.
There are many companies out there that claim that they can get you top Google rankings, but be leery as to what they are promising. Good quality Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requires patience. Any company that has a selling point on getting you to the #1 ranking in 30 days might be something to strongly beware of. There is no question that the right technique and strategy can potentially make that happen, but it usually comes at a major financial cost. It’s true, most of the time getting you to have top Google rankings takes time and energy.
To get better Google rankings, my first piece of advice is to search for the right company. Just like any other industry, there are many who will make large promises, but ultimately fail to deliver results. There are some key questions you should ask. See this earlier SEO blog post about questions to ask.
Look for companies that are reputable and can show you results with case studies from previous and current clients. These companies are ones that can show you results that are expected without over promising and under delivering. Your website is a critical part of your business in the online world and getting Better Google Rankings can show your customers that you are a leader in the industry and you can deliver to their needs.
For more information on SEO and other forms of internet marketing, check out the rest of our informative website. Most of our tips and tricks will help you to get those top Google rankings you’ve been dreaming about 
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October 26th, 2009
What is link building anyway? For those of you who may still be unsure of the term “link building” let me give you a quick definition and an example that portrays link building in its simplest form. Link building is a third party endorsement. For example, if I were to walk into Olive Garden and ask them which restaurant provided the best Italian food, Olive Garden would obviously promote itself by saying that it was the best. But, how can you trust such a biased answer? However, if I were talking to a random person off of the street, and I asked him the same question and he answered: “Olive Garden has the best Italian food around,” his answer would be a lot more valuable to me because it wasn’t a biased response. It was a third party endorsement that was not trying to endorse any particular company.
Now that we are more familiar with the definition of link building, what is the most efficient and cost effective way to build links? There are many sites out there that will build links for you, but they tend to cost a lot of money and often they do not add your URL to the best of sites. The most cost effective way to build links is to do reciprocal linking. This means that you add a link to a different site’s URL onto one of your own pages and they will, in return, add your link to their page for free. This works pretty well to help build traffic to your site. When you are doing reciprocal linking try to find sites that have a solid page rank. This will help to add more value to your own website.
Reciprocal Link Building
While reciprocal link building is the most cost friendly solution, the best links are one way links. Google gives more value to one way links. It sees them as the most significant links because a site out there is providing a link back to your site for nothing in return. Google can’t figure out why a site would do one way linking unless the site he is adding a link to is extremely valuable and contains useful information. As a result, Google will give your site better page rank. One way linking is the best method to help bring traffic and value to your site. However, it is extremely tough to find a site that will agree to do one way link building. Usually, you have to offer something in exchange for it such as a payment.
Link building is one of the most important factors in SEO; however, it also proves to be one of the most difficult tasks as well. I’m not trying to put down On Page work because On Page plays a huge role in successful SEO. On Page work is what makes a site relevant and link building is what makes it important. The two work hand in hand with each other, and must be used for any site to be successful in SEO.
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October 20th, 2009
Here are some common myths about submitting your website manually to search engines:
- Search engine submissions requires a lot of research
- Almost every search engine and directory has a link labeled “add a site” or “submit url,” which will take you directly to their submission form. All you have to do is just follow their rules and enter the information correctly and carefully.
- Websites should be listed in all search engines.
- If you list your website with some top tier search engines, it will eventually find its own way into the second tier and beyond. In fact, you don””t even have to submit your site at all for it to be listed. Search engine spiders are constantly crawling and combing the web and will eventually find your site on their own if your site contains any links at all to any other site.
- Websites should be listed on a weekly or monthly basis. Continually submitting your site can be classified as spamming and result in your site”’’s banishment from a search engine”’’s database. As a general rule, don””t resubmit a new version of a page unless you have an unfavorable ranking or unless you””ve made some drastic changes.
- Good submissions are costly. The truth is that you don””t have to pay a submission service to submit your website to the search engines. Believe it or not, submissions to most major search engines are free. Not all of them are free, but there are literally thousands of places that you can submit to.
Recommended Search Engines and Directories to Check out:
- http://dmoz.org
- http://dir.yahoo.com
- http://www.joeant.com
- http://www.skaffe.com
- http://www.bluefind.com
- http://www.zeal.com
- http://www.goguides.org
- http://www.gimpsy.com
- http://www.wowdirectory.com
- http://www.sevenseek.com
- http://thisisouryear.com
- http://search.looksmart.com
How Long Does it Take to Get Listed?
Here are some estimated waiting periods for some of the more popular search engines:
Bing: up to 2 months
Google: up to 4 weeks
Alta Vista: up to 1 week
Fast: up to 2 weeks
Excite: up to 6 weeks
AOL: up to 2 months
Hot Bot: up to 2 months
iWon: up to 2 months
DMOZ: up to 2 months (and good luck)
To learn more about our techniques about how to do submissions and where, take a peek at our Link Building page.
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October 1st, 2009
Did you know you can use pay per click advertising to test your keywords? Not a lot of people do. I am actually surprised to talk with many of the high status firms who are still in the stone ages with their PPC campaigns.
When I get on the phone with many of these account executives, a question I often field is “Would you recommend that we run a PPC Campaign in conjunction with our SEO?” For those of you who are reading this – here’s your answer: Absolutely*.
You might have noticed that little “*” after. Because we deal with so many people from so many different companies and lifestyles, I do need to make sure that I explain this out a little bit. For us, SEO is always a sure thing. We’ve been able to do so well with everyone. All of our clients (yes ALL of them) see positive results. For us, we can certainly kick it into high gear with our clients if we can find the niche traffic keywords for our clients websites.
Let me explain. We actually can use the analytical information that we get from our clients PPC accounts to help determine what keywords are drawing attention, and what isn’t. Now if the PPC campaign becomes monetarily successful immediately, that’s a bonus. Even if it doesn’t the information that we can glean with in the first 60-90 days is almost priceless. I’m sure you are all aware that statistically you’ll se almost 70% of your search engine traffic from your “other than regular” keywords.
I’ll give you an example. In the last 30 days, it appears that we’ve had 47 unique visitors to www.netmark.com from the keywords “Idaho Falls Internet Service Provider”. There was actually one time a while back where we mentioned it one time in a blog post. Let me ask you: “Is that a key phrase we are looking to optimize ourselves for”? Nope. We often see visitors come to our website from many of the odd and crazy terms that we really haven’t spent too much time specifically optimizing for.
So again, should you run a PPC campaign at the same time as SEO? Not only can you, but you should. It’s a great way to determine if your keywords are profitable.
Everyone knows how to find the popular keywords for their industry. Have you ever heard something about a KEI – keyword effectiveness index. The KEI of a keyword is a way of determining which keywords are right for your website based on popularity and competitiveness. The problem is that it doesn’t measure how profitable those keywords may be for your website. While this might be a decent place to start to find good keywords, I certainly wouldn’t end there.
A good pay per click campaign around the best keywords for your market can tell you which keywords might be most profitable for you. If you get a lot of click-throughs for a certain keyword, that should be an indicator that you can attract traffic for that keyword. The conversions are up to your landing page. Landing pages are kind of a whole other topic that we’ll visit soon. Once you find your most profitable keywords, plug them into your ads and don’t forget the landing pages. Watch your analytics and grab this useful and important traffic information, and put it to work!
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September 25th, 2009
When looking for affordable SEO it’s really hard to determine whether you’re going to get affordable SEO or cheap SEO, the latter of which is worthless. One of the hardest things for our company is competing with the SEO scammers. There are literally hundreds of companies out there that will quote you ridiculously low prices on SEO and promise the moon and stars, only to fail miserably each and every time. Some even give guarantees, or at least that’s how it appears (make sure to read the fine print on the contract VERY thoroughly). SEO is not a transparent process to our clients, so it’s easy to be fooled into thinking that every SEO company out there is promising the same thing, but nothing could be further from the truth. Have you actually thought about why some companies cost more than others? Yes, there are some very good reasons.
We actually invite you to take some time to shop SEO companies and see what people have to say. We feel that if you look around and actually pay attention, you’ll know when you are getting a great value for your money.
Search engine optimization is a vehicle to get you to the top of the search engines. The type of SEO we do is “powerhouse SEO” that will get you up in top positions in a reasonable time frame. It’s not always cheap, but it’s effective. We like to refer to it as inexpensive SEO. As an analogy, buying our service is comparable to a farmer buying a ‘10 Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup truck to do the things he needs to get done on his farm. The scammers out there call their service SEO, and it is SEO, but just a really low form of SEO that really won’t give you what you need. Their service is comparable to telling a farmer that they’re going to provide the vehicle he needs to get his farm work done at 1/3 of the price that the other company quoted, but then showing up with a moped. Yes, some of the farmers work can be done on that moped, but only about 20% of it, which means he doesn’t have the appropriate tools to effectively manage his farm and his crops will fail as a result. Both companies provided a vehicle, but only one was the vehicle the farmer needed. The Ford F-350 was sold at market value, while the moped was sold at triple the market value. The scammer was much more profitable than the honest company and achieved that profit at the expense of the farmer.
Search Engine Optimization is very similar to this analogy. The biggest difference is that since our product isn’t a physical product, it’s easy for scammers to say that their product is exactly the same, or does the same thing, as what the good companies are providing. Be careful about the companies you get involved with. There is a big difference between affordable good SEO and cheap bad SEO. If it seems too good to be true, it is.
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