Outbound links are also not as important as they used to be.

Pagerank has also become a more dubious metric since websites with a low pagerank can actually do far better in search engine rankings than some sites with a much higher pagerank.

–>> The bottom line is that content is the lifeblood of your website.

What this means is that strong content with valid keywords used appropriately will help your website to rank well overall. Gaming the system or trying to trick the search engine’s algorithms may work in the short term, but you need to think in terms of long range optimization that is done properly.

I can help you develop a strong content plan for your site or blog that will ensure that you get ranked and stay there over the long term.

–>> For you as a business person, this presents a great opportunity for creating more visibility for your business through Google’s tools.

Registering and maintaining your Google Places entry is free. You can register at www.google.com/places and create your listing. It can be as simple or impressive as you like. There is support for text, images and video, so any combination of those is fine.

Once you have set up your listing, you will appear on Google Maps when someone views your area, and you may even find you are seen on search results relevant to your business when people in your area use Google. Quite often a Google Places search result will appear right at the top of the search results, so this could be a great way to attract new business.

As a free service, you have nothing to lose (other than a few minutes of your time) from enrolling in the Google Places program and there is a great chance of getting new business. However, there are some very important things that you must do in order to MAXIMIZE your Google Places entry. Otherwise, you will never show up on the first page of Google.

Let me help you set up your Google Places listing!

A blog is an ever-changing platform, which is one reason why they tend to rank so well in Google.  Google likes content that changes on a frequent basis.  They want the best user experience for their readers, so they like when websites publish new content continuously.

By having a blog associated with your website, you can constantly be driving traffic from your blog to your site.  Your blog should be something that you post on consistently, at least once or twice a week at minimum.

A blog is simply a place that you can publish material on a regular basis.  You might write articles or blog postings about something to do with your industry, specials you’re running or questions and answers from your clients.  It is a place where people can read the most up-to-the-minute information about your company.  In short, it shows the world that your company is not stale and static.

Having a blog will allow you to put links throughout your content to send people back to your website.  As your blog starts to rank better in Google, it will also improve your rankings of your own website.

One of the most important parts of marketing your business online is using a variety of different kinds of methods.  You don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket because things can change quickly online.  Google can decide that a certain kind of link is no longer worth as much, so you don’t want to have everything riding on that particular kind of link.

Press releases are great for several different reasons.  First of all, you might be able to get media attention for your business.  If you are releasing a brand-new product or service, and you send your press releases to the right places, you may get picked up for news coverage.  This can bring a huge flood of new traffic and customers to your business.

Press releases are also posted in different places online.  Some of these websites have very high ranking in Google, so you want some of your back links to be on press release sites.  For more information about how to write a press release, or get one written by a ghostwriter, give me a call today so we can chat about the opportunities.

The way you do this is through something called back linking. Back linking refers to putting links in your content and then posting content on other sites throughout the Internet.  Have you ever been on a website and seen an underlined link?  Most likely you have.  This link is called a back link, or an anchor text link.

You usually notice that these links are keywords.  For instance, if you are a copywriter, your keyword link may say something like “web content”.  That simply means that you are trying to rank for the keyword “web content” all over the Internet so that people will click the link and go back to your site.

Of course, there is a lot more to back linking than simply placing the links in your articles and moving on.  You must do extensive keyword research so that you know whether or not you can compete against your competitors when it comes to those keywords.  You need valid keyword research to show you what Internet users are putting in so that you aren’t wasting your time publishing content that won’t get you enough traffic.

If you’d like to learn more about back linking for your own personal site, give me a call today.  I’m always happy to explain anything further!

Similar to other sites, Google+ offers features such as “Circles” that group a person’s list of contacts.  An individual can create multiple “Circles”. For instance, they may group together friends, co-workers, clients, and acquaintances.  These circles have the ability to be kept private from other users.

Another popular feature are the “Hangouts”.  Google+ users can create a video chat with up to ten individuals through a specific URL.  These chats are not considered private, because if anyone happens upon the URL, they could potentially join in to the “Hangout”.

Other features include “Messenger” where users can communicate with other individuals in their circle, “Instant Upload” that allows for creating web albums and “Games” are similar to other social networking sites.

The most used feature of Google+ is their “+1 button” which is featured on the Google search engine.  This allows users to share what websites they would like to promote and recommend to others.

Are you thinking about getting on Google+?

On-page (or on-site) SEO refers to the things that you do to your pages/posts/website/blog that will make it more attractive to the search engines. Think of it as “dressing up” your website to impress the search engines so that they want to rank your website or blog higher than your competition for certain keyword phrases.

–>> Let’s use this example: You are in the real estate business and want to market your services to first-time home buyers. You want to rank well for the term “buy my first home”. If you are using proper on-page/on-site SEO, you would do things to your content to make it rank better in Google and the other search engines.

What kinds of things are important with on-site SEO?

Bold headers with your targeted keyword phrases
Appropriate ALT text on your images
Using keyword tags properly
Using SEO plugins (if using WordPress)
Using the proper keyword density in your content

Of course, there are other on-site SEO factors that I recommend, but the topic is a bit more in depth than a short email! I would love to give you more information that will help your site’s pages rank well and stay there. Give me a call or shoot me an email to chat.

It actually refers to a set of sites that is outside of your own, but allows you to interact with others in a meaningful way. Social media sites can be thought of as a type of Web 2.0 property, as well as certain bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumbleupon and Squidoo.

These sites allow you to post content such as articles, videos and blog posts so that users of the community can vote on them, forward them to friends and interact with you. The number and names of Web 2.0 properties changes frequently. The way that they work within Google also changes since Google is known for altering the way that its algorithm works from time to time.

Using Web 2.0 is another great way to vary the types of links that you are sending to your site. Google likes to see variety when it comes to links. In other words, you don’t want ALL of your links to come from one place as that would look unnatural.

So, make sure that Web 2.0 has its place in your online marketing plan!

–>> Jack is in a new city. He is hungry. He wants a restaurant that has reservations available. He opens his mobile phone browser and searches restaurants in the area. He finds the website of a restaurant that offers online reservations. The website also had a phone number. He can reserve a seat or seats by calling the contact number or by using the online reservation form.

In either case, Jack has a positive experience. It happened because the restaurant’s website was fast to load and easy to find what he was looking for. That is a website optimized for mobile.

What happens if Jack reaches a website that is slow to load, difficult to navigate and impossible to find contact information or a reservation form? He will decide not to open the website again. A customer lost for the restaurant.

The above example fairly sums up the importance of mobile optimized websites. A mobile optimized site has the following features.

- Fast to load
- Easy to navigate
- Easy to find what visitors are searching for

Benefits to Website Visitors:

The visitors to the mobile websites will be thankful because of the following factors:

- They can find what they need immediately
- They don’t wait for heavy flash video or images to load
- They can reserve a ticket, order pizza or buy stuff in two or three steps

This clearly is beneficial for the business too. Businesses can make more sales by actually trimming down their mobile websites. Plus, Google Adwords has now started given preferential treatment to mobile advertisers with a website optimized for mobile viewing.

Now, that is a strong case for optimizing your web pages for mobile phone browsers.

People do not like to feel pressured by sales techniques; however you need to recognize that a marketing message in the form of a text message is very different to a cold call.

People get irritated by sales calls as it means they have to stop what they are doing to answer the call, and all too often they find themselves talking to a pushy salesman.

–>> Mobile marketing can be much less intrusive; the customer can check their messages at their convenience and choose whether to act on the message.

You should always provide people with the ability to opt out of further messages, and also clearly identify yourself so that the customer can associate the promotion you are telling them about with your brand. By being open and honest in your promotional efforts, customers will learn that you are a company they want to deal with and you will be able to build a lasting relationship.

I would love to show you some examples of how you can use mobile text messaging in your business to increase profits AND reduce marketing expenses. Call me today!