Are you an Ostrich?

 12 Responses »
Nov 112011
 

Don’t Plan First … Regret Later

ostrichIt might seem like a good idea to just dive right into something because it looks good, sounds good, and you might assume that all the pieces will just fall into place. In some cases, this approach might work – IF you are lucky. However, when it comes to business, and especially when using the Internet, chances are you are going to find yourself all over the map with NO idea which way to turn.

Planning Is Key to Your Online Business Success

Proper keyword research is one of the most important elements of building a profitable online business. Doing your keyword research due diligence will help you make sure you are getting the right message to the right people at the right time – while they are searching for your offerings. There are many free tools out there to help you select the right keywords – Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a great resource. Many business owners don’t realize the subtle differences in results from how keywords are arranged in a phrase.

Take for example, the keyword phrase “Video Marketing Services”.  Look at the difference below at the number of searches for “video marketing services” compared to the number of searches for “video marketing”:

video marketing

Even subtle variations in spacing and the use of quotes – or not – can make a huge difference in the number of searches and the competition of that keyword phrase. If you are targeting the wrong keywords or are not targeting the most optimal ones for your niche, you will either get the wrong results or not as good a result as if you were targeting the right keywords.

As a rule, if you are using keywords that are highly competitive or too generic, you are going to find that you are a teeny tiny fish is a HUGE pond and will likely get lost in the crowd.

The Internet is HUGE! Your competition is fierce (unless you are in a HIGHLY targeted niche market), so it is in your best business interest to be sure you are targeting the right market, with a compelling message that tells your target market…

Who You Are and Why They Should Care!

SBI! Traffic Test

Is Your Business Visible Online?

 33 Responses »
Sep 172011
 

What Websites Are Found Using Your Search Terms?

online visibility

 

Can your potential customers find you online? Can your potential customers find your competitors online? Does your business have a strong online presence?

When your customers search for YOUR keywords, whose company do they find? Whose company do you want them to find?

What are YOU doing to increase your online presence and traffic?

How do You Make Your Videos Visible on Google?

 13 Responses »
Mar 022011
 

Video SEO

video sitemapsWe all know about SEO for our websites, but how many of us know about SEO for our videos?

What can you do to make sure your videos are found on Google? The answer is simple. Create and submit a video Sitemap. A video Sitemap includes a link to your video the title, description, play page URL, video thumbnail, and the URL of the original video. 

The Discovery Channel provides a powerful case study for Google on the benefits of using video Sitemaps to drive traffic to their website.

As many of you know, I am NOT technical. OK – that is an understatement! I read all the helpful information on how to create a video Sitemap, watched the video below which makes it sound really easy to create a video Sitemap. All you need are the 5 items outlined very clearly in this video right? Well, it is a little more complicated than simply submitting those 5 items. Being a huge fan of video, I opted to use the Google XML Sitemap for Videos instead of trying to create my own. It will be interesting to see how my stats look on my videos after submitting my Sitemap.

Your turn. Do you submit a Sitemap to Google for your videos? If so, do you create your own or are you using a plugin?

It’s All in the Title

 7 Responses »
Jul 282010
 

website title tagsBuilding a website is the easy part – getting it found can become challenging. The major search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing use spiders to collect the data they find on the web. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of preparing your website for a visit from these spiders.

If you have ever done a search on one of the web search engines (which I am sure everyone has), you will see how many results you get for any given search. Because of the huge number of results, your goal is to show up as close to the first page as possible. This is where your keywords/keyword phrases come into play.

The more selective/precise you are in selecting your keyword phrases, the less competition you will have and the greater your chances will be of ranking higher in the search engines. The only way to assure consistent top placement is to pay for it in the form of advertising. However, you can increase your chances of non-paid higher rankings by choosing the most relevant, least competitive words/terms,  including your keywords/keyword phrases in your website copy, effectively using your title tags, using alternative tags for images, and not overusing your keywords (keyword stuffing).

For the many small business owners who don't have Internet marketing expertise or the resources available to pay an expert, the rules of proper SEO can present a challenge and become overwhelming.  Determining how and where to use your keyword phrases can also be somewhat confusing. A very important thing to remember when writing your website copy is that it should accurately reflect your offerings and shouldn't be compromised in order to stuff keywords into your copy. Besides interfering with your marketing message, the search engine spiders are incredibly smart and will penalize websites that "keyword stuff" their content.

The proper use of title tags is extremely important for website optimization and not something that is commonly known by some small business owners. The video below from SPNVideos explains very clearly how to use your title tags:

Original video source

How Many of “You” are out There?

 3 Responses »
Mar 282010
 

tripletsDo you have a relatively common name? If so, have you ever checked to see what your other namesakes are doing on the web?

With information so readily available about anything to everyone, it is conceivable that you might be confused with someone else who has the same name.

Just for the fun of it, Google your name in quotes and see what pops up. What can you do if there are many of "you" on the Internet to differentiate you and your brand?

Judy Dunn in Google Said I Died: Will That Be Bad for Business? shares her ideas in a really funny post about her own experience. Can you imagine hearing from Google that you are dead?