What’s your SEO approach? Are you a do-it-yourself SEO or did you hire an SEO consultant? DIY SEO can be great because it is a whole lot cheaper than hiring an SEO professional. And even better, since you are your own SEO expert, you are in control of everything. On the flip side, DIY SEO can also be very time consuming and it can lead you down a dark path of destruction without you ever even knowing. It can also give you a false sense of security and make you believe you know enough to be effective, when in reality you know enough to be dangerous. The Case of Harry, the DIY SEO Over the last week I’ve been talking with a guy named Harry about his blog and upcoming website launch. Harry was connected with me via a mutual acquaintance, so I’ve been reviewing Harry’s activities and giving him free advice. This is something I typically do not do, but I like our mutual business partner and I believe in Harry’s project. Harry has an ultra secret website project and he has been blogging in an attempt to drive initial traffic and drive interest in the big reveal. Harry knows his competition and he has an idea what he’d search for if he were a potential visitor to his future website. Harry even put those words into Google to figure out the highest volumes. Harry, like many others I speak with, thinks he is fairly well prepared. After all, he has his 80 or so keywords in hand, he’s blogging regularly, and he is considering keyword density within his posts. Heck he’s even content tagging and sharing his posts via Facebook and Twitter. He is making progress with inbound traffic, yet none of it is actually coming through his blog posts. By why would this be the case you ask? He’s doing everything right isn’t he? No, not really. Harry’s intentions are excellent. And as a person, I think Harry is pretty darn cool. He is trying really hard to read up and SEO topics and learn from SEO experts. Harry is the average wannabe SEO expert. Although in Harry’s case, he is actually spending a significant amount of time trying to learn SEO and he has picked up a lot of information on SEO basics.

To monitor a search engine algorithm closely, you need to operate near and over the boundaries that you know. Inevitably, you take the risk of receiving penalties from search engines. I keep close ties to ex-clients in industries known for their less ethical approaches, just to see what does and doesn't work. Not surprisingly, all the old black hat tricks I used to play keep working. Making the Wrong Page Rank Related articles Influencing the SERP ranking of one's competitor might be hard. Influencing which page on their domain ranks is much easier. If the wrong page ranks, they're likely to miss a conversion. This is a trick derived from a specific search engine reputation management (SERM) tactic. Instead of pushing a negative result down, you can replace it by a neutral/positive page on the same domain. This way you don't have to match all the domain related factors before focusing on relevance and page importance. The new result replaces the old one, thus removing a negative result from the top 10.

Search engine Optimization can be done in a variety of ways. It’s flexibility and boundaries are almost limitless. There are two popular ways or methods to do SEO and they are called the ‘White hat’ method and the ‘Black hat’ method. You are either of the two or you’re in between. I’d like to keep my posts simple and short so that the newbies in this particular profession would easily understand. For this post, I would focus on the black hat method. First things first, why is it called ‘black hat’? I’m sure all of us have played MMORPG games in our playstation when we were kids. There would always be a ‘black mage’ character somewhere in the game. Black magic is known as the darker side of the arts. It is used to destroy, hurt or kill (compared to white magic). The term ‘black hat’ has been derived from this concept. Why? Because the black hat method is used to hurt some websites (and sometimes even your own) in order for you to gain Google juice. It all used to be legit but then some people started abusing these practices – and now it is generally frowned upon by search engines and the SEO community at large. Now if you get caught using these dark arts of SEO, you run the risk of getting your website banned from the search engines – which will probably hurt because 89% of the people use search engines to explore the internet. If you get banned from the search engines it will also hurt your brand, which you are most probably trying to build. Reputation is vital in the internet these days. That’s why there’s such a thing called ‘Online Reputation Management’ and ‘Search engine reputation management’ – 2 services (which I do provide by the way. Hehe.) Some of the Black hat practices: Keyword Stuffing Keyword stuffing is the art of packing keywords into your site even when it’s not making any sense anymore. It greatly lowers user-friendliness and information reputation and quality of your site in exchange for temporary increase in rankings. But I think Google now detects this one in a matter of days. Invisible Texts Using invisible texts is simply putting some keywords with the same color as your background so that it would be invisible to the site visitors. Doorway Pages Doorway pages are webpages or a collection of webpages that are merely put up as a dummy. This is done for search engine spiders to crawl links and keywords for the main site (which the doorway page would most probably point to). Usually, the users would never see or find these pages. These are just SOME of the practices that a black hat SEO practitioner uses. There are so much more. And even now, new ones are in development.

Today at the PRSA 09 conference, it was a packed room for TopRank CEO (and author of Online Marketing Blog) Lee Odden who gave a presentation on SEO for Public Relations. He started by explaining why SEO is/should be important to PR Professionals. In a 2008 Journalists Use of Search Survey by TopRank, we discovered that 91% of journalists use standard search to fulfill a component of their job whether researching a story or locating a subject matter expert. With journalists writing for more channels and with less resources making your content visible within search is critical. Here are Odden’s 10 SEO Tips: 1. Number one thing to do? Magic answer is that it depends on the problem. However, if you choose one item to tackle make sure your website is crawlable. If the site isn’t crawlable, then really nothing else you do in terms of SEO will matter. 2. Understand and Optimize PR Tactics The content that is likely already being created as part of the PR campaign is low hanging fruit in terms of SEO. Optimize the following content with keyword phrases (or those terms that journalists might be searching) to help your content become more visible: Press Releases Letters to the editor Online Newsroom Media kits Corporate blogs White papers Webinars/demos Newsletters Real world interviews published digitally In addition, Odden introduces the audience to the idea of Micromedia Optimization. Now that tweets and soon status updates are being integrated into the search engines, it’s important to optimize the content regardless of the channel. 3. PPC vs SEO for PR SEO is long term, part of a content process and contingent on content and links over time. PPC is on-demand, pay to play and an alternative to natural listings. If you have something you need to draw attention to right now, PPC is perhaps the more viable option as you can have ads live within minutes. 4. Keyword Research In order to optimize your existing content, a list of keyword phrases needs to be developed. Here’s how you build the list: 1. Brainstorm phrases 2. Import to a keyword research tool –Google Keyword Tool –Google Insights & Trends –WordTracker –Keyword Discovery –SEM Rush

These 10 SEO tips will help you maximize the impact of your website in order to increase engagement among consumers and keep visitors coming back for more. Search engine optimization (SEO), often associated with change and fluidity, continues to mutate at a frenetic pace. The SEO techniques that were once considered best practices are now things of the past. Search rankings have an important role in determining the popularity of your business. Only if your website has visitors will you be able to increase your sales and get a high marketing return on investment (ROI). Thankfully, there are many effective tactics that can lead to higher visibility and increased search friendliness. SEO is an essential part of your online presence. Using the right SEO techniques can increase the ranking and visibility of your website. If your business is somewhere near the top of the search results, then more users will click on your page and see what your product or service is all about. So, how can you make your Web design SEO-friendly to position yourself higher on search result pages? Here are some of the best SEO techniques for Web design that will maximize the impact of your website. 1. SEO-Friendly URL You need to make sure that the URL of your site is SEO-friendly. Only use keywords that are relevant to your business and relate to it in some way. Avoid using long URLs, and if possible separate terms using hyphens. The URL should give people an idea about your business. 2. Optimized Images To get a better rank in the search results, optimize your images along with the text on your website. Avoid using large images on your website. Keep the image size from 30 to 100 KB with a resolution of 72 dpi. Large images make your site load slower. When you are creating an alt image text, make sure that you use keywords in graphics, header images, logo images, and buttons on each page. 3. Responsive Web Design Designing for multiple devices, aka responsive design, is what Google recommends. This type of design allows your website to perform optimally on multiple devices. From an SEO perspective, a responsive website has a single URL for both the mobile and the main site, which means that you will have to drive links to a single URL instead of two. This is an easy way to increase your external backlink count. 4. Quick Navigation When you design your website, make sure the navigation is not difficult. Let users experience an easier navigation when they land on your website so that they can easily find what they are looking for. Place the navigation bar either at the top or along the left margin of the page.

When most people think about structuring a website for search engine optimization, they immediately think of developers. You don’t have to be a developer to master SEO. It doesn’t take much technical skill; you just need to understand the basic elements of SEO and how to incorporate them into your posts. In other words, while developers are essential when it comes to troubleshooting, site performance and much, much more, structuring your blog for SEO is one thing you can get started on right away. Even if you do eventually decide to put some of these tasks in your developers’ hands, you need to know how to direct them on SEO best practices when structuring a blog. Fortunately, it’s easy to implement once you know how it all works. Even the best blogs can go unnoticed if they don’t have proper SEO in place to help them rank on a search engine results page (SERP). You want your website to show up so that people will find the site while searching, click on the URL and hopefully continue to return. SEO helps people find your blog in the first place, so once you have great content ready to go, your next step is structuring it with SEO in mind.

Do you find yourself complaining that your SEO writing clients are cheap and not paying you what you’re worth? Here’s a reality check. It’s not your clients’ fault that you’re getting paid peanuts. It’s yours. I know, I know – I’m being harsh. But I’m doing it in a loving way. When you’re a freelance SEO writer, you are responsible for your business’ success. If you find yourself begging to be paid $50 for a 500 word post, you need to change your marketing process, pronto. Here’s how to do it: – Quit doing what you’ve done before. If you know that marketing yourself on Elance and Odesk is going to get you low-paying gigs, quit relying on them as primary revenue sources. Chances are, the dollar amounts aren’t going to get any better. Instead, create a marketing plan and stick with it. That probably means creeping out of your comfort zone. That’s OK. It’s good for you. – Pull yourself out of the “I’m doing this for experience” trap. Sure, it’s OK to charge super-low rates when you’re first starting out. After that, you need to do important things like eat and pay your rent. If you think your writing isn’t worth it, your prospects won’t either (and they won’t pay you the fee you want.) – Take things off the table . Can your prospect pay for some – but not all – of your proposed deliverables? Take something away until you can reach their price point. That way, you’re not discounting your prices – and your prospect gets (almost all) of what they need. – Find a niche and establish your expertise. Pam Foster – who specializes in pet copywriting – is a great example of someone who has found a profitable niche. She’s the recognized go-to expert within the pet industry (and she can charge for that expertise accordingly.) – Learn to say “no.” Does a new prospect want you to do everything for 50 percent less than your stated price? Just say no. Nicely. Practice saying “no” in front of a mirror if needed. Remember, your prospect’s budget issue is not your problem. – Gather testimonials and case studies. That way, you can prove how you’ve boosted your clients’ bottom lines. You’re selling your value and how you’ll help your clients – so the more documentation you have to back that up, the better. – Is your niche not making money? Find another one. You may love to work with small business clients – but if they can’t pay your bills, it’s time to let them go. – Talk to someone who “gets it.” This could be a friend, a mentor or another freelance writer. Explain why you’re raising your rates – and share all the reasons why doing so freaks you out. It’s amazing how less scary something gets when it’s out in the open. – Learn to say “goodbye” to low-paying clients. Yes, even if you love them. It’s scary to let existing clients go (I’ve been there many times.) But sometimes, we have to let things go to make space for better things in our lives (like better paying clients!)

Nine days ago when Google released Panda 4.0 — which aims to filter out “thin” content from top rankings — we focused our attention on the big Winners & Losers charts, Since then, some have noted that press releases may have also been hit big time. Using SearchMetrics, I looked at the top Press Release sites and checked if they lost any SEO visibility on a large scale since Panda 4.0 hit, and PRWeb.com, PR Newswire, BusinessWire and PRLog all seem to have lost significant rankings in Google. PRNewsWire.com seems to have shown a significant drop in SEO visibility, dropping ~63% after Panda 4.0 was released: PRWeb.com, another major press release distribution web site, also saw a huge drop, ~71%: BusinessWire.com saw a ~60% drop after Panda: PRLog.org saw a big drop in mid 2013 but then another dip right after this past Panda update: Sean Malseed from SEER Interactive used SEM Rush metrics to document a lot of the same patterns I documented with SearchMetrics data. They also documented specific cases, of specific press releases that recently ranked well and now are no longer on the first page. As we said in the Winners and Losers report, lists like this aren’t perfect. The sites above may have had gains and drops for other reasons; less visibility this week because last week they were visible for different news stories, for example. It’s also worth remembering that this is a sample of search terms. The only way to really know if any update has hurt or helped you is to look at your search-driven traffic from Google, rather than particular rankings or lists like this, which have become popular after Google updates. If you’ve seen a significant increase, you’ve probably been rewarded by it. A big decrease? Then you were probably hit.

Everything You Need In A Manhattan Beach SEO Company The city of Manhattan Beach takes a lot of the characteristics from the other Manhattan, like the legendary home prices. If you want to compete in this affluent seaside market, you need a strong marketing plan, both online and offline. The world of business is changing at a faster rate each day. With more and more business and customer acquisition being done online, you can’t do business without a solid online presence. If your web presence is not where you want it to be, then you need the help of a reputable Manhattan Beach SEO Company to turn that around. Quality Manhattan Beach SEO Services Universal Positions is a leading Manhattan Beach internet marketing company , specializing in helping local businesses reach high ranking in major search engines. We take a multi-faceted approach to your online marketing needs, working with you to devise a plan that will get results. Customized Manhattan Beach SEO Services You aren’t just another company that we are trying to rank higher on Google. We understand that each company has unique needs, which is why we do a deep dive into every firm before beginning our Manhattan Beach SEO service. This analysis looks at your industry and competitors to find high value search engine terms and help you rank above your competition on them. Website Optimization From A Leading Manhattan Beach SEO Company In order to get you ranking higher, the first step is to make sure that your website is optimized correctly. We will work with you to optimize both the content and the code to make it more attractive for search engines. We will also assess your content and make sure that it is helping your ranking. The Top SEO Firm Is Also A Manhattan Beach Design Company Many businesses put off a major webpage redesign for too long. If you are looking to us to redesign your online presence, now is the perfect time to redesign your online brand as well. Our top-notch Manhattan Beach web design team will work with you to create a website that you can be proud of for years to come. Let The Leading Manhattan Beach SEO Company Help You Build Your Brand Having a beautiful website that has been optimized for search engines is important, but you also need to have a wide reaching brand image to improve credibility with search engines whenever possible. We use a variety of tested, proprietary strategies to market your business to potential customers and drive them to your site. Our external brand building knowledge is one of the things that sets us apart as the best SEO company Manhattan Beach

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