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Showing posts with label SEO Companies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEO Companies. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Search Engine Optimization Companies : Top 10 Questions You Need to Ask
Picking a company to handle your SEO (search engine optimization) is not a task you should take lightly - it’s a big decision. Selecting the right firm could bring your company increased business and great success, while picking the wrong one will be a very expensive mistake - it will cost you money, time, and business.
So to help make it a little easier, here is a list of 10 questions you should ask and things to look for when seeking out an SEO firm :
1. How well does their site rank? The very first thing you should find out about an SEO firm you are looking into is how well their own site is optimized and ranking with search engines. It seems fairly obvious but it can be easily overlooked. Don’t waste time and money on a company that doesn’t even optimize their own website. Not being able to find the company on Google for their own keywords and phrases is a red flag.
2. What will the SEO firm do for YOU? Another thing you want to look into right away is what they plan to do for you specifically, should you sign up with them. Did they evaluate your website? Do they plan to before you sign up? If they don’t offer up what steps they plan to take to optimize your website based on its current standings, don’t give them a second thought. You need a company that is serious about SEO increasing your web traffic. If they can’t explain some of the steps they plan to take and what they have in mind for you, then they can’t give you success and you should not trust them. Anything short of a detailed proposal shouldn’t be considered acceptable.
3. What services are included? Make sure you get a clear and straight forward answer when you ask exactly what you’ll be getting for your money. If this isn’t something you’re familiar with and you don’t understand something they are telling you, don’t be afraid to ask. It’s your company and your money and you need to feel good about the hands you are placing it in. Find out exactly what your money is buying you, what methods they will employ and how they will spend their time on your site.
4. Do they have testimonials and successful case studies? What better way to find out what a company is really about than right from their current paying clients. Seek out customer testimonials - if they aren’t posted on their website, ask if they have some available or if you can contact one of their clients for a reference. Find out how much success the client has seen since signing up with the firm. How many clients do they have currently? Have they lost any clients? If so why?
5. Who are their clients? If you can, see if you can find out some of their current clients and what kind of businesses they are. Chances are, a reputable SEO company will have reputable clients, and visa versa. It’s as simple as that.
6. How will progress be measured? Definitely find out what methods the SEO firm plans to use to measure the results of the changes they make on your site. There are a number of different web analytics methods a firm can use to watch web traffic. Find out what methods and software the company employs. At NewSunSEO, we are proud to use Web Trends. This software allows us to carefully and closely monitor web traffic for all of our clients so we know what keywords are ranking well and which need more optimization. This helps us determine what steps need to be taken and what our next course of action will be.
7. How is progress documented? Once you do sign up and they start to work on optimizing your site, you’ll want to know what progress is being made and you’ll want to see the results. Find out how they plan to show you their success. For example, NSS sends its clients clear and detailed monthly reports comparing historical data to show the increase in web traffic. You should be expecting something similar.
8. Do they do link building? Link building is actually a very important part of SEO and you should look for a firm that plans to incorporate it into the time they spend on your site. It’s not hard to rank well for a keyword that no one is competing for, but what good is that? To rank well for highly competitive phrases and keywords that are most likely to bring you in the best traffic you’ll need some kind of link building campaign. (Note : find out if this is included or an extra fee!)
9. Can they write quality content? High quality copy, (written content) is crucial to your website's optimization and success. Having a good copywriter to rewrite or add content to your pages is a big plus and an asset to have in your corner. The overall goal is to have text that is rich in relevant keywords and phrases and that is also informative and useful to your target audience. Poor copy will hurt your page rank and cut short the time visitors spend on your site. An SEO firm that can supply valuable written content on your pages is really something to look for.
10. Unethical Practices? Over the past few years SEO has gotten a bit of a bad name from firms using unethical methods to try and ‘trick’ search engines and achieve high rankings in a very short period of time. Some of these methods include ‘cloaking’ which is a technique used to show one page to a search engine spider and an entirely different page to an visitor; another method is the use of ‘hidden text’ where text is hidden in the code of the page where a visitor wont see it but the search engine will still index it. One more method is the creation of ‘doorway pages’ which are pages with no purpose other then to rank well with search engines. If you hear any SEO firm talk about any of these methods do not use them for your company, these are unethical methods and eventually your website will suffer the price for their under the table schemes.
So to help make it a little easier, here is a list of 10 questions you should ask and things to look for when seeking out an SEO firm :
1. How well does their site rank? The very first thing you should find out about an SEO firm you are looking into is how well their own site is optimized and ranking with search engines. It seems fairly obvious but it can be easily overlooked. Don’t waste time and money on a company that doesn’t even optimize their own website. Not being able to find the company on Google for their own keywords and phrases is a red flag.
2. What will the SEO firm do for YOU? Another thing you want to look into right away is what they plan to do for you specifically, should you sign up with them. Did they evaluate your website? Do they plan to before you sign up? If they don’t offer up what steps they plan to take to optimize your website based on its current standings, don’t give them a second thought. You need a company that is serious about SEO increasing your web traffic. If they can’t explain some of the steps they plan to take and what they have in mind for you, then they can’t give you success and you should not trust them. Anything short of a detailed proposal shouldn’t be considered acceptable.
3. What services are included? Make sure you get a clear and straight forward answer when you ask exactly what you’ll be getting for your money. If this isn’t something you’re familiar with and you don’t understand something they are telling you, don’t be afraid to ask. It’s your company and your money and you need to feel good about the hands you are placing it in. Find out exactly what your money is buying you, what methods they will employ and how they will spend their time on your site.
4. Do they have testimonials and successful case studies? What better way to find out what a company is really about than right from their current paying clients. Seek out customer testimonials - if they aren’t posted on their website, ask if they have some available or if you can contact one of their clients for a reference. Find out how much success the client has seen since signing up with the firm. How many clients do they have currently? Have they lost any clients? If so why?
5. Who are their clients? If you can, see if you can find out some of their current clients and what kind of businesses they are. Chances are, a reputable SEO company will have reputable clients, and visa versa. It’s as simple as that.
6. How will progress be measured? Definitely find out what methods the SEO firm plans to use to measure the results of the changes they make on your site. There are a number of different web analytics methods a firm can use to watch web traffic. Find out what methods and software the company employs. At NewSunSEO, we are proud to use Web Trends. This software allows us to carefully and closely monitor web traffic for all of our clients so we know what keywords are ranking well and which need more optimization. This helps us determine what steps need to be taken and what our next course of action will be.
7. How is progress documented? Once you do sign up and they start to work on optimizing your site, you’ll want to know what progress is being made and you’ll want to see the results. Find out how they plan to show you their success. For example, NSS sends its clients clear and detailed monthly reports comparing historical data to show the increase in web traffic. You should be expecting something similar.
8. Do they do link building? Link building is actually a very important part of SEO and you should look for a firm that plans to incorporate it into the time they spend on your site. It’s not hard to rank well for a keyword that no one is competing for, but what good is that? To rank well for highly competitive phrases and keywords that are most likely to bring you in the best traffic you’ll need some kind of link building campaign. (Note : find out if this is included or an extra fee!)
9. Can they write quality content? High quality copy, (written content) is crucial to your website's optimization and success. Having a good copywriter to rewrite or add content to your pages is a big plus and an asset to have in your corner. The overall goal is to have text that is rich in relevant keywords and phrases and that is also informative and useful to your target audience. Poor copy will hurt your page rank and cut short the time visitors spend on your site. An SEO firm that can supply valuable written content on your pages is really something to look for.
10. Unethical Practices? Over the past few years SEO has gotten a bit of a bad name from firms using unethical methods to try and ‘trick’ search engines and achieve high rankings in a very short period of time. Some of these methods include ‘cloaking’ which is a technique used to show one page to a search engine spider and an entirely different page to an visitor; another method is the use of ‘hidden text’ where text is hidden in the code of the page where a visitor wont see it but the search engine will still index it. One more method is the creation of ‘doorway pages’ which are pages with no purpose other then to rank well with search engines. If you hear any SEO firm talk about any of these methods do not use them for your company, these are unethical methods and eventually your website will suffer the price for their under the table schemes.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Blogging : What’s It All About And Why Is It Good For Search Engine Rankings?
What is a Blog?
“Weblogs” shortened to “Blogs” are web based publications consisting primarily of periodic articles and web links submitted by someone. Blogging is a way of collecting links to web pages and sharing thoughts and ideas with people online. They are personal web pages, sometimes produced every few minutes and sometimes just once in a while. It all depends on the author and what she or he wants to express.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject. Others function as more personal online diaries. They are the product of their owners' imaginations, interests and wit, and it's probably this personal touch which has made them so popular, especially for political issues. It has become very popular and is now a huge Internet phenomenon- with millions of bloggers worldwide.
Blogs became increasingly mainstream as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Even politicians not actively campaigning began to Blog to form bonds with constituents. Some Blogs have covered major news such as the December 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
The true power of blogging comes from its interactivity with visitors and other blogs. As an author, you can allow your web visitors to comment on your entries, which then are published along side or in a separate window of your entry. Your visitors who either comment on your blog or make a comment about your blog on their blog, have a name, email address, website – an identity.
There are so many types of Blogs, (the names can go on forever and are quite funny), so there’s a lot of ways to personalize your own. There’s Media Blogs called Vlogs, which are composed of videos. There’s Blogs that just display links called Linklogs. A Photoblog is comprised of photos. Basically a Blog can consist of anything- whether it is videos, recipes, restaurant reviews, links, photos, music, art, etc.
Why Is Blogging Good For Search Engine Optimization?
If you produce a website, your website will score higher in Google rankings (search engine results) if your site is a blog. Google rewards sites for rapidly changing content and links outbound and inbound from other sites, which is the nature of blogs. As you find other blogs that you like to read, you link to them on your blog site. And as others find your blog interesting, they link to you as well. All of this helps build a community of those who share a common interest in each other’s content.
“Weblogs” shortened to “Blogs” are web based publications consisting primarily of periodic articles and web links submitted by someone. Blogging is a way of collecting links to web pages and sharing thoughts and ideas with people online. They are personal web pages, sometimes produced every few minutes and sometimes just once in a while. It all depends on the author and what she or he wants to express.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject. Others function as more personal online diaries. They are the product of their owners' imaginations, interests and wit, and it's probably this personal touch which has made them so popular, especially for political issues. It has become very popular and is now a huge Internet phenomenon- with millions of bloggers worldwide.
Blogs became increasingly mainstream as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Even politicians not actively campaigning began to Blog to form bonds with constituents. Some Blogs have covered major news such as the December 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
The true power of blogging comes from its interactivity with visitors and other blogs. As an author, you can allow your web visitors to comment on your entries, which then are published along side or in a separate window of your entry. Your visitors who either comment on your blog or make a comment about your blog on their blog, have a name, email address, website – an identity.
There are so many types of Blogs, (the names can go on forever and are quite funny), so there’s a lot of ways to personalize your own. There’s Media Blogs called Vlogs, which are composed of videos. There’s Blogs that just display links called Linklogs. A Photoblog is comprised of photos. Basically a Blog can consist of anything- whether it is videos, recipes, restaurant reviews, links, photos, music, art, etc.
Why Is Blogging Good For Search Engine Optimization?
If you produce a website, your website will score higher in Google rankings (search engine results) if your site is a blog. Google rewards sites for rapidly changing content and links outbound and inbound from other sites, which is the nature of blogs. As you find other blogs that you like to read, you link to them on your blog site. And as others find your blog interesting, they link to you as well. All of this helps build a community of those who share a common interest in each other’s content.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Search Engine Optimization : The Importance Of Link Building
Link Building is hugely important to your SEO campaign. The practice of link building is simply getting other websites to link back to yours. Despite how very important it is though, most webmasters don’t have a genuine link building campaign because it’s typically a very lengthy task to perform. But don’t let this be a reason you don’t do at least some link building for your website. You’d be doing your company a huge disservice by overlooking this vital Search Engine Optimization step.
Here is a brief list of legitimately important reasons and tips on pursing link building :
1. Google is the number one search engine people use when searching for any given topic or service. That being said, Google ranks much more favorably for sites with relevant and informative backlinks. When you have other sites who are relevant and rank well with Google (and other search engines) linking to you, it increases your page rank as well, and in turn makes it more likely your target audience will find you.
2. Content and Links work hand in hand! One is no use without the other. You may have award winning content on your site that anyone would find useful, but if they can’t find it, it’s useless. And links that go to a site without quality information are just as pointless. Make sure not to do one without the other. First you need content, THEN link building. Other sites will be much more likely to link to you if they find your site to be informative and helpful. They will not want to be affiliated with you if they feel it will annoy or hurt the relationship they have with their current website visitors.
3. The quality of backlinks depends on the relevancy of the page you are linking to. In other words, it is only a valuable link if the site you are linking to is in the same family of websites as yours is. You want the site to be rich in helpful and genuine content. Spam-like or irrelevant sites will not help your page rank, in face, it could hurt it. So while Link Building is important, the quality of the sites you select is what determines the amount of success your campaign will have.
4. The online community is a very active one, and it will do your company well to tap into it. Writing blogs and taking part in online forums is a great way to get involved with a group that is in the same theme as your website. Finding a forum where people are asking questions about something relevant to what you do is a Link Building gold mine! You can answer their questions and provide a link to your site for more helpful information. (This may also put you a little more in touch with what your client market is thinking) Blogs are also very useful, they give you an opportunity to talk about what you do and link back to your site, and if other bloggers find your article informative, they may repost it and link back to you as well. A link is born!
5. The more link building you do, the more inbound traffic will come your way, making it even easier to get people to link you. Before you know it people may be asking you to link to them! It can seem like an uphill battle at first, but as you go, it gets easier and you’ll enjoy the benefits with search engines like Google and Yahoo when they give you page one ranks!
6. Guaranteeing a successful Link Building Campaign isn’t easy, and taking shortcuts can get you penalized by the ever so important search engines we are trying to impress. It’s recommended to seek an experienced professional who knows how to effectively run such a campaign. That way you are free to spend your time doing other things for your company.
So in closing, the backbone of Search Engine Marketing is regularly updating and creating high quality and compelling content for your site and continuing to build links to that content. When done properly, it will do wonders for your web traffic.
Here is a brief list of legitimately important reasons and tips on pursing link building :
1. Google is the number one search engine people use when searching for any given topic or service. That being said, Google ranks much more favorably for sites with relevant and informative backlinks. When you have other sites who are relevant and rank well with Google (and other search engines) linking to you, it increases your page rank as well, and in turn makes it more likely your target audience will find you.
2. Content and Links work hand in hand! One is no use without the other. You may have award winning content on your site that anyone would find useful, but if they can’t find it, it’s useless. And links that go to a site without quality information are just as pointless. Make sure not to do one without the other. First you need content, THEN link building. Other sites will be much more likely to link to you if they find your site to be informative and helpful. They will not want to be affiliated with you if they feel it will annoy or hurt the relationship they have with their current website visitors.
3. The quality of backlinks depends on the relevancy of the page you are linking to. In other words, it is only a valuable link if the site you are linking to is in the same family of websites as yours is. You want the site to be rich in helpful and genuine content. Spam-like or irrelevant sites will not help your page rank, in face, it could hurt it. So while Link Building is important, the quality of the sites you select is what determines the amount of success your campaign will have.
4. The online community is a very active one, and it will do your company well to tap into it. Writing blogs and taking part in online forums is a great way to get involved with a group that is in the same theme as your website. Finding a forum where people are asking questions about something relevant to what you do is a Link Building gold mine! You can answer their questions and provide a link to your site for more helpful information. (This may also put you a little more in touch with what your client market is thinking) Blogs are also very useful, they give you an opportunity to talk about what you do and link back to your site, and if other bloggers find your article informative, they may repost it and link back to you as well. A link is born!
5. The more link building you do, the more inbound traffic will come your way, making it even easier to get people to link you. Before you know it people may be asking you to link to them! It can seem like an uphill battle at first, but as you go, it gets easier and you’ll enjoy the benefits with search engines like Google and Yahoo when they give you page one ranks!
6. Guaranteeing a successful Link Building Campaign isn’t easy, and taking shortcuts can get you penalized by the ever so important search engines we are trying to impress. It’s recommended to seek an experienced professional who knows how to effectively run such a campaign. That way you are free to spend your time doing other things for your company.
So in closing, the backbone of Search Engine Marketing is regularly updating and creating high quality and compelling content for your site and continuing to build links to that content. When done properly, it will do wonders for your web traffic.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
High Search Engine Rankings : What It Can Mean To Your Website
In recent years, traffic has been increasing to the Internet - with people visiting and creating websites every day. In 2005, statistics showed that over 1 billion people used the World Wide Web. Internet users also reported spending twice as much time on the Internet as they did watching TV. As people are spending more and more time on the Internet, they are also spending more money. Consumers spent $143.2 billion on online purchases in 2005.
Increased online spending means that businesses have the opportunity for increased profit. This means that it is essential for online businesses to market their websites. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most important marketing techniques to understand when running a website, and advertising is obliviously one of the most important aspects in running a business. Marketing is essential to extending your business, products, or services to new customers. It may seem as if advertising can get very expensive, but when running an online business, it is important to understand the amount of free advertising that is available on the web. Search Engine Optimization is a form of free online advertising.
Online search engines, such as Google or AOL, are programmed to rank websites according to a complex formula that determines which websites are most relevant to the search. What Search Engine Optimization does is take the time to organize your website so it will rank among the top sites for certain relevant searches. It is easy to see how important optimal search engine rankings are for your site once you realize how much Internet users actually rely on search engines.
A recent study concluded that 80 percent of Internet users use search engines to find new web sites. This translates to approximately 650 people regularly using search engines. Often search engine users do not bother to read beyond the first few results and they almost defiantly do not read past the first page. Having great search engine rankings opens up your website to an entire group of Internet traffic that otherwise might not ever see it.
The best way to ensure that your website gets excellent search engine rankings is to hire a company who specializes in it. SEO is complicated and it is always changing. This makes it very difficult for online business owners to try to maintain their results on their own. Business owners who chose to do their own Search Engine Optimization will likely have trouble competing with the websites that use an experienced company. Spending a lot of time on your SEO instead of your online business can be distracting. You can do it, but your rankings will not grow as fast.
Using a Search Engine Optimization company will help to drastically increase the traffic to your website. Search engine users are some of the most motivated users that will ever visit your site, so you want to make sure that they can easily find it. SEO will do just that for your website! Take some time to find an SEO firm and watch the hits on your site begin to increase!
-------------------------------------------------
NewSunSEO : Search Engine Optimization Experts
www.NewSunSEO.com
NewSunSEO develops and utilizes search engine optimization strategies (SEO) that result in top placements. With extensive knowledge about the underlying structure of search engines, we help your website gain exposure, added traffic and more business. NSS uses the top current technologies with highly effective, ethical methods that are proven to work continually.
Increased online spending means that businesses have the opportunity for increased profit. This means that it is essential for online businesses to market their websites. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most important marketing techniques to understand when running a website, and advertising is obliviously one of the most important aspects in running a business. Marketing is essential to extending your business, products, or services to new customers. It may seem as if advertising can get very expensive, but when running an online business, it is important to understand the amount of free advertising that is available on the web. Search Engine Optimization is a form of free online advertising.
Online search engines, such as Google or AOL, are programmed to rank websites according to a complex formula that determines which websites are most relevant to the search. What Search Engine Optimization does is take the time to organize your website so it will rank among the top sites for certain relevant searches. It is easy to see how important optimal search engine rankings are for your site once you realize how much Internet users actually rely on search engines.
A recent study concluded that 80 percent of Internet users use search engines to find new web sites. This translates to approximately 650 people regularly using search engines. Often search engine users do not bother to read beyond the first few results and they almost defiantly do not read past the first page. Having great search engine rankings opens up your website to an entire group of Internet traffic that otherwise might not ever see it.
The best way to ensure that your website gets excellent search engine rankings is to hire a company who specializes in it. SEO is complicated and it is always changing. This makes it very difficult for online business owners to try to maintain their results on their own. Business owners who chose to do their own Search Engine Optimization will likely have trouble competing with the websites that use an experienced company. Spending a lot of time on your SEO instead of your online business can be distracting. You can do it, but your rankings will not grow as fast.
Using a Search Engine Optimization company will help to drastically increase the traffic to your website. Search engine users are some of the most motivated users that will ever visit your site, so you want to make sure that they can easily find it. SEO will do just that for your website! Take some time to find an SEO firm and watch the hits on your site begin to increase!
-------------------------------------------------
NewSunSEO : Search Engine Optimization Experts
www.NewSunSEO.com
NewSunSEO develops and utilizes search engine optimization strategies (SEO) that result in top placements. With extensive knowledge about the underlying structure of search engines, we help your website gain exposure, added traffic and more business. NSS uses the top current technologies with highly effective, ethical methods that are proven to work continually.
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