10 Sure Fire Tips for Choosing The Right SEO Company
Joe Borges
There is a lot of conflicting information out there when it comes to advice about choosing which SEO Company is right for you. After all, if you are like me, your Internet business is your livelihood; you can’t afford to trust its success to just anyone! Additionally, as you may have already learned, time is not on your side. Every day that you struggle with optimizing your website is another day without sufficient income and another day that your competitors have a chance to get the jump on you. To eliminate some of the confusion, below I have listed the top ten things that you should look for when choosing a SEO company. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to find an effective, efficient and affordable Search Engine Optimization Company! 1. Size. A good SEO company should include different price points for all business sizes. It should be able to effectively optimize websites with pages from 1 to 1000. 2. Page Rank. The company should specifically address ways of improving your website’s Page Rank and Search Engine Positioning. Ideally, this will include a detailed site analysis. 3. Keyword Optimization. Your site’s keyword optimization is an integral part of onpage optimization. The SEO Company that you are considering should be able to analyze and optimize your keywords, and suggest alternative ones, if necessary. 4. Linking Strategy. Any SEO company worth its salt will understand the importance placed on both one-way and reciprocal linking by the Search Engines. Therefore, they should offer and be able to perform an advanced analysis of your website’s linking structure and offer to improve it. 5. Customer Care. You should have expert advice available to you within reasonable parameters. Do you want or like to wait for answers to your questions? I didn’t think so! A company’s philosophy on customer service is your indication as to how reliable they are as a company! 6. Time is of the Essence. If you can’t save time using an SEO company, what is the point? They should be able to do their job professionally, without asking for continual guidance from you. You should be free to work on other, more pressing projects, such as developing another income stream! 7. Savings/Pricing. The company should be competitively priced. Always compare the value of their SEO services with price that you will be paying. The prices should be reasonable; this means not too cheap, but not too expensive either. 8. Communication. The company should ask for all of your contact information and offer all of theirs. You should be able to get regular updates as to your site’s progress, at any time that you ask for it. 9. Value. Compare the price of the SEO service to that of traditional advertising (for example, PPC or classifieds). How does their price compare with other methods of advertising? Do they offer better results faster, with much less cost? 10. Reporting. A serious SEO company should provide detailed reports to you so you can see your website’s performance. Do you like guesswork? I know I sure don’t! It is much better to see results in print rather than “accepting” a verbal one. This way, you can be assured that the Search Engine Optimization Company is really doing what it said it would. Choosing the right SEO Company is critical to the success of your online business. Use the guidelines above and you will be starting on the right path to making your business profitable. About The Author Joe Borges makes it easy to get your website optimized and listed in all the major search engines. Optimize your Website for online business success by visiting: http://www.tekretail.com/seo_plans.html Joe Borges is an experienced professional SEO Consultant, helping internet businesses increase their web presence, website traffic and Search Engine Ranking. He is also an Internet Marketer and Software Consultant with experience in website development and implementation. Get tools and strategies that you can use right now to make your online business thrive by visiting: http://www.tekretail.com/seo-services.html

1 Simple SEO Strategy To Get More Visitors To Your Site From Google
Jean Lam
Did you know that you can dramatically increase the number of visitors that come to your site on a daily basis from Google? And it’s not constantly improving your position in Google search engine result pages(SERPs) for your competitive keywords which can take some time after working on your search engine marketing campaigns. I take this example from Google because I’ve experienced it some time back now. Apart concentrating on getting and maintaining a top 10 ranking in Google, there are lots of easy traffic sources that you haven’t exploited yet. We are still talking about search engine traffic here. What’s that strategy you ask? The answer might surprise you but it’s a technique that works and is pretty legitimate. It’s not creating stand alone or doorway pages with practically no content, overly optimized with keywords and a link back to the homepage. Doorway pages work but only if you know how to do it well. And this article will talk a bit about this topic as well. The strategy is to search for overlooked keyword phrases which are not too competitive and create effective doorway pages related to these keyword phrases. These pages can be promoting a product for instance. Just by adding a few effective doorway pages, I managed to make 9 sales in just a few short weeks and earned $364.59. Imagine you come up with several keyword phrases that generate a few monthly searches, you now have several pages. So each page targeting a specific keyword phrase is worth traffic and not any type of traffic but it will be targeted. So if you have one page which brings you only 1 visitor per day and you have 50 pages, you can easily receive 50 visitors per day for free. You see the potential now. Keywords that have about 1000 searches on Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions previously known as Overture at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion are valuable keywords with lower competition. If you are using Wordtracker at http://www.wordtracker.com , a keyword with only 10 searches per day can get you a good ranking and bring you traffic. If you have already a website which is generating traffic, you can dramatically increase your numbers, simply by adding relevant doorway pages targeting a specific keyword. These pages have content and have your optimized navigation menu on it with their specific keyword phrases. These pages are just an entry to your site nothing more nothing less. They should not be overly optimized with keywords but they must have some optimized content which is readable by your visitors and friendly for the search engines as well. If you have a good website which is crawled by Google’s robot called “Googlebot” often, your new pages will get spidered and indexed fast and will start bringing you small loads of targeted traffic. But be careful when adding pages, don’t go in a frenzy with this and add hundreds or even thousands of pages all of a sudden. For eg if your site has 50 pages already indexed in Google and ranking well and you add 100 new pages at once, your indexed pages might suffer a temporary drop in rankings. The key here is to add pages on a regular basis say 1 or 2 pages daily until you reach the total number of pages to be added. Why not capitalize on this free source of traffic? The key is to research your keywords well first, work on your content and create these pages afterwards. Your website will grow bigger and bigger with time and it will attract loads of targeted traffic from multiple keyword phrases. Good luck and happy research and optimizing. About The Author Jean Lam is the author of the highly acclaimed eBook “Top Search Engine Ranking Secrets in Google Revealed”, a concise, step-by-step guide to high search engine ranking for the beginner to intermediate level webmaster - available now at http://www.top-ranking-strategies.com .

10 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tips for HTML designers
RKD Unger
10 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tips for HTML designers Article by Rkd Unger: www.internet-marketing-australia.com Web design and SEO component Search engine optimisation has been a hot topic for a while. Many owners understand that without professional SEO service their investments in websites are likely to fail. It is typical though to see a professionally designed pages that miss or ignore the SEO component. Web designers have plenty of things to take care of or worry about. Static or dynamic, ASP or PHP, HTML or XHTML, browser compatibility - this is just a very short list of problems they face. Being busy with their primary tasks web designers often miss search engine issues. That can be a primary reason for many websites and web pages not to appear in search results at all. Although SEO should be performed by specialists, some initial efforts can be applied during the web design stage. 10 Tips for Web Designers 1.Do not miss the Title tag. Although it is optional, it has a maximum weight for search engines. SEO specialists spend hours researching and creating good titles. Do your client a favor - if SEO is not budgeted for make sure that every page you work on has a meaningful title. 2.Do not miss DESCRIPTION meta tag. All meta tags are optional. Be aware that description is second important SEO issue. Try to match it to title. 3.Make sure that title and description are located within HEAD. 4.Do not use dynamic pages if you can. The project architecture may dictate usage of PHP, ASP etc. However search engines are reluctant to index them. 5.JScript is fun to use but it makes it harder for search engines to understand the content of the page. If you need just a menu highlight try to use style instead of script. 6.Pages with Flash are difficult to optimise for search engines. How about web sites that are built on Flash? They impress visitors. However how do visitors find such websites? 7.Utilise style sheets. Most of modern pages use style sheets. Very few utilise them effectively. That is why web pages are overloaded with HTML attributes. That makes them heavier and slower in load. 8.Search engine look for text - not images. If possible use text rather than image. 9.Text of the page should be at least 250 words. Search engines do not score pages with just a few sentences. 10.Text of the page shouldn’t be very lengthy. To make search engines happy stick with the page size of 15KB - including images. About the Author RKD is the founder of http://www.internet-marketing-australia.com. He is the author of IMOR/SEOR methodology for search engine analysis of web sites.

10 Ways to Make Sure Your SEO Goes Out of its Way for You
By Michael Murray, VP of Fathom SEO
If they want to have success, companies should do everything they can to ensure that their SEO firm doesn’t provide lousy service. Here are 10 tips to keep in mind: 1. Be realistic. Don’t waste your time or the SEO firm’s expertise by arguing about broad search terms. Don’t say you want to be in the Top 10 for “e-commerce.” The SEO firm should ask: “E-commerce and what else? E-commerce consultants? Please be specific.” 2. Think long-term. If you can’t help yourself and you want broad search terms, such as “toys,” think through what it may take to pull that off. Variations on your favorite term may be best in the short term. If you start looking a year or two out, then make sure there aren’t site design, programming and link popularity flaws. 3. Be open with log files. Don’t shield log files from the SEO firm. Admit if your web analytics capability is poor. How can the SEO firm do a good job if your host company can’t provide decent statistics, such as the number of visitors from search engines and the actual search terms they use? 4. Change text. If an SEO firm wants to change text, give the consultant lots of room. If a graphic can be modified so the words appear as text, be open-minded about the change. Chances are, it won’t hurt the overall look of the web site. SEO professionals grit their teeth when clients say they want rankings and then resist change. 5. Don’t sit on recommendations. You may end up discouraging the SEO firm you’re paying if you hire them and then fail to review their suggestions. 6. Reply to e-mails, voicemails and other communications. If an SEO firm contacts you, especially for a scheduled meeting, make a point to return the e-mail or call. Really, it’s a good idea to be available for strategic conference calls. 7. Stick to the program. Don’t ask the SEO firm to optimize the web site and then expect them to provide Pay-Per-Click (PPC) guidance as well. If you can’t handle PPC on your own, pay the experts. 8. Keep statistics in perspective. With many search terms and engines, it’s always going to be possible for some keywords not to rank. Don’t get hung up on what search terms didn’t pop in the Top 30. Focus on your traffic growth and conversions. 9. Know your limits. SEO firms appreciate informed clients - to a limit. Read the articles. Pick up an SEO book. Keep up with the news. But don’t hire an SEO expert and then tell them you’re an SEO expert. For example, you may be excited to learn about all of the SEO devices that could be at your disposal. Don’t blame the SEO firm for failing to use them all at once. Measured, gradual changes are best. 10. Take your company name out of title tags. Do yourself a favor and make title tags available for search terms, not your long company name. Only keep it if it’s short and useful from a title tag proximity and density standpoint. About the Author Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, a Cleveland, Ohio-based search engine optimization (SEO) firm. He authored the “U.S. Manufacturers Resist Natural Search Engine Optimization” study and white paper, “Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game.” michael@fathomseo.com

10 Things To Expect From Your SEO Copywriter
Glenn Murray
From the perspective of a business owner, webmaster, or marketing manager, the change exhibited by the Internet is profoundly exciting, yet profoundly disturbing. The information (and misinformation and disinformation) it offers, the business benefits it promises, and the rules it is governed by change at such a rapid rate that it’s almost impossible to keep up. These changes have led to a growing appreciation of the value of quality web copy. This appreciation has, in turn, led to an influx of opportunistic ‘copywriters’ promoting themselves as website copywriters or SEO copywriters. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few excellent SEO copywriters out there, and you should definitely shop around. The purpose of this article isn’t to scare you; it’s to help you find the SEO copywriter who’ll deliver honest service and excellent results. So with that in mind, take a look at the following ten tips. These are the things you have a right to expect from anyone wearing a name badge that reads “website copywriter”, “SEO copywriter”, “internet copywriter”, or “web copywriter” (See also http://www.divinewrite.com/websitecopywriter.htm and http://www.divinewrite.com/makethemost.htm.) 1) An understanding of SEO Obviously, your SEO copywriter must have a solid understanding of the essentials of Search Engine Optimization. They must know that ranking is essentially the result of a website’s relevance (i.e. keywords) and importance (i.e. inbound links). There are a whole lot of other factors involved, but if your SEO copywriter doesn’t understand these two basics, you should look elsewhere. If you’d like to ensure your SEO copywriter knows a little more than just the basics, take a look at http://www.divinewrite.com/SEOCEO.htm, http://www.divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm, http://www.divinewrite.com/seotradesecrets.htm, http://www.divinewrite.com/webcopyenough.htm, and http://www.divinewrite.com/seoarticles.htm for some clues as to what you might like to ask in order to assess their knowledge. 2) Proven experience The proof is, as they say, in the pudding. It’s not enough that your SEO copywriter can talk the talk; they must also be able to walk the walk. Ask to see some examples of websites for which they’ve obtained some good rankings. Note that it may be very difficult to find an SEO copywriter who has actually worked on both keywords and link generation, so if you find one who has, and they write well, snap ‘em up! They’ll have a very broad and useful working knowledge of search engines. 3) An understanding of how many keywords to use You don’t want to fill every page up with every keyword you’re targeting. This simply dilutes your site’s relevance and reduces readability. Ask your SEO copywriter how many keywords they would recommend targeting on each page. Hopefully they’ll suggest no more than 3, preferably 2. By targeting 2 keyword phrases per page, you can use them a lot without impacting readability. 4) Clear agreement on who will provide keywords Someone needs to perform a keyword analysis in order to figure out what words you should be trying to rank highly for. Your SEO copywriter should be able to do this for you, but it’s quite often more cost-effective if someone a little closer to the business does it. Either way, make sure your agreement with your SEO copywriter makes it very clear who is performing this task. Don’t assume the SEO copywriter is going to do it, because they may assume you’re going to do it, and then you’ll blow your budget. 5) Keywords or keyword phrases Expect your SEO copywriter to offer some advice regarding how specific you should be with your keywords. In most industries, the competition for keywords is so fierce that you’ll be forced to target very specific keywords in order to rank - at least at the outset. For instance, if you’re in IT, you probably wouldn’t start out by targeting the keyword “IT”. The competition is immense (at the time of writing, there were approx 3,240,000,000 results for this search in Google.com) and the IT giants already dominate the search engines for this keyword. Instead, try using a more specific keyword phrase like “IT infrastructure consulting new york” (at the time of writing, there were only around 4,000,000 results for this search in Google.com). The other benefit to targeting more specific keyword phrases is that you’ll generate more relevant leads. 6) Agree on word count per page Always make sure your SEO copywriter gives you an indication of the number of words they expect to write per web page. While it’s necessary to have a decent body of words on most of your web pages, you certainly shouldn’t have too many. What “too many” is all depends on your industry, the objective of the page, and the needs of your audience. It’s always a delicate balance, but it’s certainly possible to rank highly with only 100-200 words per page. So don’t be fooled into paying for copy you don’t need! 7) Density targets & measure SEO of a web page is NOT guess-work. A good SEO copywriter will talk about density measures. This is a measure of the number of time the keyword phrase appears on the page. It’s expressed as a percentage of the total word count of the page. So if your page has 200 words, and your keyword phrase appears 10 times, its density is 5%. As a rule of thumb, your SEO copywriter should be aiming for a density of approximately 5% for your primary keyword phrase and 3-5% for your secondary keyword phrase. If your density measures are much higher than this, readability will be reduced, and you’ll risk being perceived as spam by the search engines. Make sure your SEO copywriter understands keyword density, is prepared to state the target density for each keyword phrase, and is also happy to be measured by that standard (should you decide to measure). Where to place keywords The question of keyword placement has been the subject of much debate amongst SEO copywriters. While it is still unclear how much impact placement has, there is a general consensus that it has SOME impact. Be sure that your copywriter is aware of this impact. Popular opinion has it that keywords are more effective if they appear in headings, bolded text, links, and generally toward the beginning of the page. 9) Some comment on structure & links Websites are generally better indexed by search engines if their spiders can traverse the entire site using text links. This means your SEO copywriter should be linking each page to every other page using text links. If your site is complex, this may be impractical, so your SEO copywriter will need to create a hierarchical structure for your site. First, they should break your subject material down into categories. Then for each category, they should write a summary page. These summary pages should be accessible from higher level pages via text links. They should also be accessible from each other. Each summary page should link - using text links - to a number of pages discussing the finer details of the category. And each detail page in a particular category should link to every other detail page in that category (once again, using text links). This way the spiders are able to travel from the top of your hierarchy to the bottom, and from left to right across any level. 10) Don’t believe grand promises SEO copywriters can play a significant role in increasing your search engine ranking. But they can’t do it overnight. By optimizing your site for your target keyword phrases, an SEO copywriter is simply declaring the relevance of your site. If you engage an SEO copywriter to write helpful articles containing a byline with a link back to your site, you can then submit these articles for publication on the Internet, and this will steadily increase your ranking. But if an SEO copywriter tells you they can dramatically increase your ranking in a matter of hours or days, be wary. NOTE: Your SEO copywriter should be able to submit your articles to various submit sites on the Internet. These sites are closely watched by hundreds of thousands of publishers of e-newsletters and article pages from all around the world. High quality articles are quickly snapped up and published prolifically. And each time your article is published, you’ve got another link back to your site, thus increasing the importance of your site (to the search engines). If you’d like to submit your own articles, your SEO copywriter should be able to sell you a list of 50 or more submit sites for as little as USD$99. Conclusion An SEO copywriter is a valuable addition to your marketing function. But you need to make sure you choose wisely. When you know what questions to ask, the battle is half won. Happy hunting! About the Author : * Glenn Murray is an advertising copywriter and search engine (SEO) copywriter and heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at mailto:glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles. Source: www.isnare.com

10 Important Web Design Tips: SEO Friendly Website
Siuchu Suga
1. Avoid creating menu on the left-hand side of a website . If unavoidable, an alternative way is to put some text with rich keywords at the top or above the left-hand menu so that this text will be the first thing to read by search engines. 2. Headlines are rated more important than the rest of the web page by search engines . To take advantage of this, you should have your keywords in the page headline. Since the header tag (h1) is quite large, you should format it to make it smaller. 3. Every page should contain the “title” and “description” tags with good keywords to describe the page content. The number of words for the title should not exceed 9 and that for the description should not be more than 20 words in order to keep within the limits of most search engines. 4. Try not to use Flash when possible . Flash cannot be read by the search engines to date and will cause slow page loading time and makes people run away 5. Think twice on how to use graphics . Make them relevant to your content and use an Alt tag containing the relevant keyword(s). 6. Do not only use images to link out . You should always use text links to link out to important content on your web site. Spiders can follow image links, but like text links more though. 7. Avoid using frames . Some search engines cannot spider web pages with frames at all. For the other search engines that can, they can have problems spidering it and sometimes they too cannot index the web page. 8. Avoid using too complex tables when laying out your page but to keep them simple for the spiders . There are some engines which find it difficult to navigate through to the other pages on your website if the navigation bar is too complicated. 9. Use external Cascading Style Sheets and Java Script files to reduce page size and make the download time much faster . It will allow the spider to index your web page faster and can help your ranking. 10. Use standard HTML . Software such as FrontPage, Dreamweaver or a WYSIWYG editor will often add unnecessary scripting codes that will make the page larger than it needed and make it harder to crawl. It will sometimes add codes that can’t be read by search engines, causing the spider not to index the page or not index the whole web page. If to use, you should use those web page creator software wisely with a good understanding of html. About the Author Siuchu Suga specializes in website design and Internet marketing . She is also the webmaster of About-webdesign.com .

12 Things You Really Should Know About SEO
James Doc Lewis
From the very beginning of the Internet, the number one challenge which all of us have faced is how to attract qualified visitors to our websites. Throughout the boom years, one of the most popular solutions was to get massive funding, relatively easy to get in those days, and “buy” traffic, by various means. As an iconoclastic young developer, with ambitions of beating the “big boys” at their own game, more time than money or the connections to get it, I sought a less capital intensive methodology to achieve the same results. Years of study and rapt attention to the pertinent forums, trying everything that even seemed to make sense (making many mistakes along the way, and learning much from each one), then carefully monitoring the results, has lead to many highly workable tools in our SEO bag of tricks. The outcome of these trial and error methods, (lots of both) lays the foundation of our SEO services and the basis for the ongoing growth of traffic to your website and ours. The simple fact of the matter is this: Expertise in any other form of writing in no way qualifies one for the type of writing required to optimize a website for the Internet. There are many sites which have less than correct punctuation, grammar, and even spelling which rank #1 in their optimized search phrases. This is not to say that I don’t think these things are important, only that to be found in the search engines, they are not the most important consideration. The flip side of this argument is equally true. Just because someone knows all the ins and outs of all of the search engines, can write algorithms in their sleep, has lunches with Dr. Eric Schmidt and is on a first name basis with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, does not, in any way, make them a writer. All of the writing on this site was done as a collaborative venture between Susan K. Thompson, a professional writer with strong academic credentials and real world experience, in both business and marketing, and myself. Was there a lot of editing and re-write? Yes. Were there disagreements? You bet! Was it worth it? Look at the record. Emerald Coast Entrepreneur was launched on May 1, 2005 with most site optimization in place and submission to the directories just beginning. With a total monetary investment of less than $100.00, and a time investment, I’d rather not think about, but which approached 300 hours, the site was given a PR5 ranking by Google on it’s first update, less than 2 months after our launch. Studies show that over 90% of all online users use search engines to find what they are looking for, whether products/services, or just plain old information. The following twelve points will, I hope, summarize a philosophy, approach and methodology to the SEO question which is both sound and effective, along with giving some helpful insight into the industry itself. 1. Content. Content. Content. Effective, professional, optimized Copywriting is the single, most important factor in any SEO campaign. Search engines index websites based on the content found on each page of the site. With a thorough understanding of the language and grammatical conventions combined with intensive research, to find and exploit the market focus, one can move a website to the upper echelon of the “SERP’s” (Search Engine Results Page) in a methodical as well as ethical manner. 2. Analyze Web Logs. Measure everything, at least twice, and then check again. While I would be the first to say that many of the procedures that make up website optimization are more art than science, one needs to take a very scientific approach to the results of the effort. This is done by methodically keeping a record of, and making an analysis of the sites web logs. There are a number of specialized software which make the job easier but at the bare minimum, one needs to keep a close eye on the site visitors and their activity while on the site. No matter how well planned the strategy, it is largely theoretical until proven by the results, which can only be measured by the logs, and a thorough analysis of their content. 3. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, or any other search engine. Those who promise such feats will either optimize for such vague search term phrases (such as, “green stunted widgets with purple Polka-dots and icing”) that no one will ever likely look for, or they are making a false claim, which they have no intention of keeping, or they have an inside edge at Google, something which they will loose, quickly, when the honest folks at Google find out about it. The other option, that they will take the money and run, is worth mentioning here but I’ll be polite. 4. Some things are just plain silly. You don’t need to submit your site to 50,000 search engines. Businesses which offer this service are suspect, at best. 85% of the search results on the Internet come from one search engine, which, if you have one link from an established website, or better yet, a directory, will find your site just fine, on it’s own. Four (4) search engines account for over 90% of the traffic on the web. As for any supposed benefit which may accrue from being listed in an obscure search engine in Botswana which specializes in safaris to the Kalahari Desert and receives 7 hits per day; well, you figure it out. 5. SEO is not Pay-per-Click. While no one would argue the effectiveness of getting increased traffic and sales, through a well planned, pay-per-click campaign, the fact remains that the conversion rates are generally low and they cease the moment the “pay” stops. With a well planned and executed SEO campaign, while results may take a bit longer, they continue to produce, and in fact grow, long after the work is done and paid for. Quite often we have found that after a thorough optimization of a site, only minor adjustments are needed on an ongoing basis, primarily related to new content and/or new items of sale or service. 6. SEO is not witchcraft, Druidism, shamanism. Neither does it require any special chants, ceremonial fires, or vestments, though some of us do like to howl at the full moon, on occasion. There are no “Top Secret” practices which a reputable SEO can not tell a client, a judge, or his mother, for that matter. The very nature of the Internet has always been cooperative and there is nothing about SEO that can’t be learned, with a heavy dose of time and money. A reputable SEO firm will give you an item per item breakdown of just where the money goes. Be wary if you sense a secretive atmosphere or any unwillingness to answer questions. While there are technical points which might take some background to fully understand, if one has a solid overview of the entire situation, a simple explanation should be easy enough to come up with. 7. Do-it-yourself SEO. Yes, you can execute your own SEO campaign and find a reputable SEO firm to help plan and organize it for you. About one half of my own clientele do some part of the actual work themselves, or have their in-house dedicated personnel do it, after discussion of the goals and aims of the business/website, a thorough website analysis, comprehensive search phrase research, and focused instruction on the ways and means of achieving high SERPs. These preliminaries are followed up with a detailed program of suggestions and methods which the client can then implement themselves or hire others to perform. Average savings; 30-40%. 8. Phased Implementation. While many companies spend thousands of dollars per month on Search Engine Optimization, an alternative is available which will pay dividends to you in increased sales and leads without the high initial investment. The most important consideration is to have a reputable firm handle the initial evaluation and suggested optimization planning first. The trial and error method will cost much more, in the long run, with or without the desired result. After studying the plan and establishing a workable budget you may implement the plan as finances allow. 9. Remember the old saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Never was this more true than in the realm of SEO. While concrete and measurable gains will always come from a well thought out and executed optimization strategy, the Internet is a competitive media and we all want to be number one. Accept that a steady upward movement, over time, will place you worlds ahead of a flash followed by a crash. 10. A thought to ponder. At stake, in the race for the top, is the very existence of your website, your business, and quite possibly your reputation. Beware of any “shortcuts” or less than ethical schemes that anyone might suggest to further your business goals. When it’s all said and done it is you, the business owner, who bears the responsibility for any company or individual you hire. Insist on knowing exactly what the strategy is and what steps are being performed to implement it. If it seems, in the least, suspicious, ask for and get an explanation. In this case, not only is Ignorance not bliss, it could very well be the beginning of the end for your business. 11. All incoming links are not created equal. Both the relevance to your line of business and website subject matter and the PR value of the incoming link determine how valuable they are to your own PR ranking. With Google starting the trend, nothing new there, and most of the others following close behind, the days of grabbing all the inbound links, in any way possible, are gone. Not only will low ranked and/or irrelevant inbound links not help, they will, in fact, cause a penalty. Link farms, free-for-all link schemes, automated link accumulation software, or any other fad that doesn’t carefully screen the links and websites they are coming from will, in the long run, do more harm than good. 12. It’s more than just facts and figures. The relationship between an online business and SEO is, perhaps, one of the closest of business relationships. In order to be effective, a SEO must know not only the facts and figures pertaining to the endeavor, but s/he must know something of the dreams and aspirations of the business principals. Things which don’t normally come out in a prospectus are often invaluable information when searching for the “right fit” into the complex world of the Internet. My own clients sometimes ask, due to the frequency of my calls and email in the early phases, “Am I your only client?” I usually laugh and say something to the effect that until I know your business almost as well as you do, yes, you are the only one that counts. About The Author James ‘Doc’ Lewis spends much of his professional time as SEO for http://www.EmeraldCoastEntrepreneur.com . Doc started practicing his magic long before the term SEO was even coined and continues to study and perfect methods of workable and cost effective SEO and SEM, devising unique solutions to diverse marketing challenges. Should you find this article to be of interest to your website visitors, you are welcome to publish it, in it’s entirety (no editing), including this footer. Copyright © 2005 Emerald Coast Entrepreneur SEO@emeraldcoastentrepreneur.com

4 Tips For Optimal Site Maps
Dan Thies
Search Engine Optimized Site Maps by Dan Thies If you want visitors (and search engines) to be able to find your whole site, the easiest way to do this is with a site map. The more content you have on your site, the more helpful this is, both for visitors and for search engines. Unfortunately, a lot of folks miss out on a big opportunity when creating their site maps, which is to ensure that their site map is contributing as much as possible to their search engine positioning. Here are a few simple tips for optimizing your site map: 1. If you optimize each page on your site for a particular keyword or search term, you should use those keywords in the links you set up for each page, including the link you put on your site map. 2. If your site covers certain distinct subjects, make sure you include the primary search terms for these subjects as headings on your site map page. I like to use H2 tags for each subject area, above the links for that subject. 3. No matter what navigation scheme you use, your site map really needs to use plain old text links - search engines have trouble following CGI navigation or image maps. This includes creating a plain text link to your site map from your home page, so the search engines can find it. 4. If you have the ability to set up a customized “404 error page” on your server, to display when visitors find a broken link or missing page, use your site map! This way, anyone who linked to your missing page in the past (or just mistyped the URL) is sending visitors (and search engines!) to your site map. Site maps are a vital part of any good website marketing strategy - if yours isn’t quite up to the job, it may only take a few minutes to fix it. I wish you success! Dan Thies is the author of “Search Engine Optimization Fast Start,” a step-by-step guide to search engine positioning for the beginner to intermediate level webmaster - available now at http://www.cannedbooks.com

Today’s SP BondDay Trade

Date: 03/20/2007

BUY US at Market on Open

Place stop 43 ticks from open - Offset at MOC-Condition1