CT Web Marketing Blog

There are many different elements of search engine optimization.  If you ask several companies you will; or at least should get the same answer.  What differs between the companies is how transparent a company is to its clients.  What we mean by that is; does your seo firm tell you exactly what they are doing from week to week or are you not privy to that information.  As a paying client you owe it to yourself to ask questions to your seo firm.  What software do they use in their keyword and link building research?  What specific steps do they take to communicate a link exchange request and how is it follow up on.  Be sure they can give you references.  Be very specific about the type of reporting they provide.  Ask for a sample template and determine if it meets your needs or if any information lacking and can they provide that.  Do you guarantee results?  We have that question come up so much but the easy answer is no.

If a company tells you they can get you on the first page in a search engine they are talking about pay-per-click advertising and yes anybody willing to be the highest bidder can be number one.  Organic search results are achieved by a set program that has many elements such as page optimization, fresh content, properly researched back link partners, video optimization and more.  There are no shortcuts.  Make sure the seo firm takes the time to understand your business and your customers.  How they shop and what their needs are will be critical in establishing the search criteria they use when seeking out your product or service on the internet.  Your seo firm should also be able to assist you with other elements of increasing visitor traffic and your overall e-commerce initiative.  Their value is helping not only seo but also exposing you to other facets such as affiliate marketing, social media, should you have a mobile website etc.

Be prepared to spend money for the first few months normally 90 days without seeing too much increase from organic traffic but as all the elements are put in place and your seo firm properly adhering to the guidelines established by the search engines well results will follow.  You are not hiring a seo firm to get you up and running and then let them go.  This is a long-term relationship that is based one constantly adapting to the requirements of the search engines.  If your seo firm is doing the job hired for and they are let go you should see your keyword rankings gradually drop as well as visitor traffic within the first three to 4 weeks.

1. Keywords Analysis & Research
2. Manually Directory Submission
3. Weekly and Monthly Reporting
4. Article Submission
5.  Press Release Distributions (1 Press Release      submit in 10 Sites)
6. Blog postings (Using pre-written articles)
7. Competitive Analysis
8. Social Bookmarking Submission
9. Article Writing
10. Press Release
11. Keywords Mapping
12. New Content Suggestions
    12. Keywords Research
    13. Competitor Analysis
    14. Title Tags Changes Suggestions
    15. Meta Tags Changes Suggestions
    16. Alt Tag Changes Suggestions
    17. HTML Site Map
    18. XML Site Map Setup
    19. Anchor text optimization
    20. Google webmaster setup
    21. Google analytics setup

SEO is a marketing strategy commonly used within the avenues of online marketing and it seeks to improve both the quality and quantity of traffic on any website. SEO has become a household name with many people talking about it and for this reason it has been viewed as something that is relatively simple. Even though many businesses grasp the basics of this technique, there are still far too many mistakes business owners make in the name of SEO. Experience in SEO is therefore mandatory for any small business that wants to be ahead of the competition.

Search engines are constantly evolving and this is making it hard for less skilled business people to keep up with the changes. For instance, Google Panda and Google Penguin are just some latest updates that have affected SEO trends. In most cases, these updates are known to affect any sites ranking and this is why it is important to ensure your website is optimized according to Google requirements.

Google Panda: Google accounts for over 80 percent of the internet search market and with introduction of Google panda, many websites have been affected. This program basically reduces the ranking of low quality sites. In a time when article marketing is being perceived as the corner stone of SEO campaigns, Google panda comes as a new challenge to internet marketers worldwide. Google Panda has affected a number of small businesses and this is mainly in areas of content quality, spellings and grammar, and website uniqueness. Keeping your small business site ranked high on Google means that you have to understand how Google Panda operates to avoid being ranked as a spam site by Google. Panda is constantly updated and this means that your site has to meet the acceptable standards for it to be ranked in Google search engine.

Google Penguin: – Google’s latest developments have forced a change of guard in how small businesses carry out their web optimization process. Google Penguin algorithm targets web spam and if it detects any of these in your website, be ready for decreased ranking. Websites should not violate Google’s quality guidelines and the harsh truth is that most small business owners are ill informed on these kinds of Google updates and may make misinformed judgment on performance of their website. In order for your site to remain relevant and gain better ranking in the wake of this new Google Update, you need to avoid things such as keyword stuffing, link schemes, duplicating contents and cloaking pages.

Google Panda and Penguin are here to stay and small business owners should not worry. The future of SEO is not threatened by these latest developments and as the use of internet in doing businesses increases, web marketers are gaining the right skills and know how in dealing with such developments. As a matter of fact, there is no cause for alarm and a small business owner should let professional web marketers handle this part of web marketing on their behalf.