You Have to Tend to Your Website…But Not Too Much

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jonathan

Websites are a lot like gardens. You have to tend to them regularly, and you have to be responsible with what you put into them. If you show them the least bit of negligence, you will see it shrivel up and die…in Google. Also, just like gardens, if you give them too much attention, you will likely drown them. In other words, treat your website with the same care you would any living thing you are responsible for.

Here are some ideas for keeping your website as relevant as possible, without completely overdoing it:

Don’t overdo your backlinking. You don’t want to call too much attention to yourself, and the surest way to do that is to point too many backlinks to your site too soon. The surest way to tank your website in Google’s results are to add several dozen (or more) links in a very short amount of time. They’ll red flag that quickly, and your site will suffer because of it.
Do get your site into local directories. This is especially true for those companies that service local clients (i.e. chimney sweeps, plumbers, contractors, etc.). This is the surest path to legitimacy in Google’s eyes.
Don’t buy backlinks. No matter how unlikely it is to happen, if Google discovers this, they’ll de-index your website. Plus, why buy something that can be gotten for free. There are plenty of free places to put your backlinks.
Do add fresh, relevant content to your website. This is precisely why blogs are so important. They add new content (if you update them) on a regular basis to your website, and give you an opportunity to display your expertise to your potential client base.

Websites are important because that is how people are finding businesses. The yellow pages are a thing of the past that will not be coming back. You don’t need a website that has all the bells and whistles, but you do need one that lets your potential customers learn about you.

Must-Have Tools For Your Website

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Jonathan

If you are a small business owner, you can do 1 of 2 things to enhance your website. Number 1, you can hire an SEO/SEM professional to make on-page SEO improvements to the site. Number 2, you can do something like that yourself. However, you will need to do some things to give yourself a fighting chance. Do yourself a favor, and add these free tools to your repertoire. You can thank me later.

Firefox - There are faster browsers (Chrome) and more elegant ones (Safari), but there are none that have the add-on ecosystem of Firefox. Every optimization tool in the book is available as an add-on to Firefox. It doesn’t have to be your browser of choice for your personal browsing, but it’s a must when scouting out your competition.
SEO Quake - This Firefox add-on gives you the ability you the ability to see where you or your competitors rank in Google, Alexa or a host of other web metrics. However, do yourself a favor. If you are going to use this add-on, use it 1 of 2 ways. Either use it only sparingly, or disable everything but Google PR. Otherwise, you could find yourself unable to search Google for 30 minutes to an hour. They only allow a certain amount of searches of PR via their API.
NoDoFollow - This Firefox add-on gives you the ability to determine whether backlinks from a website are DoFollow or NoFollow. For the uninitiated, it definitely matters. DoFollow means the links allow the googlebot spider to follow the link to the website that is linked. NoFollow, obviously does not allow this.

None of these are guarantees that your site will rank at the top of the Google search results. There are too many variables in play to promise that. However, if you use these tools as they are intended to be use, you will certainly be a step ahead of your competition.

Basic SEO Tips For Your Website

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Jonathan

In today’s business environment, you need a website for a variety of reasons. It doesn’t matter if your website is intended to bring you leads. Legitimate businesses have a web presence. Plus, Google is increasingly focused on local search, so it isn’t a bad idea to stay in Google’s crosshairs. Here are some basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips for you website. Just remember, any one technique will not work. A diversified SEO approach is much more likely to bring you toward the top of the individual keywords you want to rank for.

Keywords - This is the backbone of internet search. Think about this way: how do you search the web? If you want to find the best plumber in Nashville, TN, you enter “best plumber nashville tn” into your search engine of choice. Thus, if you are a plumber in Nashville, TN, you want to optimize your site for those keywords.
Backlinking - This involves links from other websites to your website. It’s pretty pretty basic, but it is absolutely vital. Whether you are commenting on blogs, forums or Web 2.0 sites, you need to be getting your website’s link onto other websites.
Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are not the end all be all. However, they are still quite important. The best online marketing can come by “word of mouth”, and social networks are some of the best places to do that. Remember, do it smart. No one is interested in looking at content online that comes across as “spammy.”
Content, Content, Content - Nothing is better than good content. Your pages, your blog posts and any other content should be of high quality. Use this good rule of thumb: would you direct your family toward it for information?

If you use a measured and well balanced approach to your website’s SEO, you are much more likely to achieve your online marketing goals.

Badges For Your Blog

Posted on September 22, 2008 by Jonathan

One thing you’ll see a lot of on most blogs is a badge or two. On the web, a badge refers to a graphic that is used to promote an issue or product.

You’ll see two badges on this site. Each blog post has one that allows you to bookmark the entry at sites like Del.icio.us, Reddit, Technorati and others. There is another one on my About page that links to my LinkedIn profile. If you read my other two blogs, empireofgeek.com and jonathansanders.net, you’ll see me promoting the EFF, or Electronic Frontier Foundation, with web badges.

Web badges allow you to help promote things that are important to you. On the flip side, creating badges for customers to put on their sites is a great way to promote your brand. If people like your product, they will absolutely want to promote you. It is a very easy way to advertise, and it costs almost nothing.

Using Stock Photography

Posted on September 15, 2008 by Jonathan

There used to be either really inexpensive or really expensive ways to add images to your website. On the expensive end, places like Adobe Stock Photos could cost over a hundred dollars for a small 4×6 photo. On the inexpensive end, you could take your own photos for free.

For most small businesses, spending lots of money on single digital images simply isn’t cost effective. However, taking photos yourself presents its own challenges. If the photos you take aren’t good, they can make sure site look bad.

In the last few years, several low cost stock photography sites have sprung up. These provide viable alternatives, and make your site look professional. One site I use is iStockPhoto. Small web optimized photos can cost as little as $1 to $2 dollars. They even have vector graphics and video to spice up your website.

Use whichever service you want, but do consider adding stock photography to your site. It can really make a difference.

Use Google Analytics

Posted on September 8, 2008 by Jonathan

Website owners all have the same question: who is visiting my site? Knowing your audience is the best way to create a successful website. Google has a free tool that will help you see who is viewing your site.

I use Google Analytics for all of my websites, and I’m able to see what my readership consists of. If I wanted to appeal to a tech-savvy audience, I would be able to see what kind of browsers they were using on what operating systems. If I wanted to target a specific geographic location, I would be able to see if my advertising is bringing in visitors from that location.

There are some limitations to GA. If an individual uses certain ad filtering programs and extensions, the results for that user can be blocked. People that often clear their cookies can also be missed. Despite these shortcomings, the benefits make Google Analytics a vital tool.

Why Would You Blog?

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Jonathan

This is a great question. Many of my clients tell me they want a blog, but don’t really understand what it is, or why they want it.

First, let me define the term “blog”. It is a place on a website that is continually updated with new, relevant content, and it often contains pictures, video, links, etc. An important aspect of a blog is “pinging”. This is what makes it a blog versus a static page. Pinging is where you link to a service that notifies the search engines that you have new content.

A website has many uses, but I’ll highlight two. One use is as a brochure. You directly lead people to the site, and you don’t rely on people to “find” you on Google. The second is just the opposite. You want people to find your site. You rely on leads from search engines for business.

This second use is where blogging may be very helpful. By maintaining a regularly updated blog, you are telling Google and Yahoo you have new fresh content. This drives up page ranking, and increases the leads you receive from search engines.

When telling your webmaster you want to setup a blog, make sure you understand exactly what you’re asking for. This will help you to know what you really want to accomplish.

The Benefits of Using Tags

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Jonathan

One aspect of Web 2.0 that has been most useful are “tags”. By tagging posts or pictures, you can make them easy to access. All you need to do is think of how people might search for your content, and then add a tag. Multiple tags are helpful, although I wouldn’t go overboard.

If I write an article about the newest iPhone, I would give it these tags: iphone, apple, 3g, at&t. This way, when someone enters a search for iphone or apple iphone, they will find that article easily.

By tagging accurately, you can enable quick and useful searches. This helps in two ways.

You can promote certain articles by tagging with specific words or phrases.
People are able to find what they’re looking for quickly. If people find useful information quickly, they’ll come back to your site often.

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