How Site Speed Affects SEO

July 17, 2014 More Ways to Stay Updated: RSS Twitter Is Your Hosting Coasting? Here's How Site Speed Affects SEO by Jayson DeMers Search engines consider hundreds of factors to determine search engine rankings. Many of these factors are related to a website's content, such as its text and titles, or to the authenticity of the site itself. Several years ago, Google announced yet another consideration regarding ranking; the speed with which site visitors can view the pages.... $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Yeah, But... I Already Rank For My Company Name by Stoney deGeyter Every now and then we get a call from a prospect who seems to want to try to talk themselves out of buying SEO. We call them "Yeah, Butters." And if you've been following this series, you understand why.One of the common objections we hear is, "But we already rank for our company name, so why do I need SEO?"There are a couple dynamics at play here. One, you're probably seeing personalized results, not necessarily what the rest of the world sees. And two, because... and this is important here... UNLESS YOU'RE A WELL-KNOWN BRAND, NOBODY IS SEARCHING FOR YOUR COMPANY... Does the Internet allow more differentiation? by Mike Moran If you are a marketer, you can't ignore differentiation. Differentiation is not just about a difference from the competition--it's a difference that your customers care about. Without some kind of differentiation, marketers don't have much to talk about. And talk they do, every kind of advertising is based on some kind of marketing message--most about differentiation. But how does the Internet change the way marketers discuss differentiation? Does the Internet allow more differentiation? Read on.... Not Every Piece of Web Content Is a Masterpiece--Nor Should It Be by Stoney deGeyter There are two types of writers: Those who write and produce masterpieces. Those who write to produce masterpieces. The difference between the two is that the first one is a better writer than the second.... Return to the Top of this Page $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Newsletter Information Current and Archived News This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others. © Copyright 2014 K. Clough, Inc. - Search Engine Guide - 17531 Hamilwood Dr. Houston TX 77095

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We Don't Rank Websites. That's Google's Job.

June 15, 2014 More Ways to Stay Updated: RSS Twitter We Don't Rank Websites. That's Google's Job. by Stoney deGeyter The recent news of an SEO getting sued for lack of results got me thinking about the dynamic that SEOs and their clients need to have in order for any web marketing campaign to be successful. Unlike many other industries, the success of SEO relies heavily on the client themselves. $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! SEO is a Partnership, Not a Solo Endeavor by Stoney deGeyter At the end of the day, both the client and the SEO bear responsibility for the success of any campaign. Avoiding Website Navigation That Makes Users Never Want to Come Back by Mike Fleming In my experience, grocery stores are one of the most frustrating places I go. I really try to avoid going at all costs. Why? Because when I go, I'm usually looking for unusual ingredients for something special my wife is planning to make. She sends me there for things like ground red pepper, evaporated chicken broth, rare beans or chopped green chiles.If I were going there for some milk, then no problem, because I know they always put the milk in the back corner of the store. But when I (the non-frequent grocery store user) go for unusual items, I have no idea where these random things are located. Assembling the Big SEO Puzzle One Small Piece at a Time by Stoney deGeyter I've always said that SEO is really about baby steps. While there are almost always some easy big wins when dealing with a site's architecture, for the most part, successful SEO is a combination of hundreds of different things.On algorithmic signals alone, there are over 200 that factor into how a page ranks. That number may or may not include local and mobile signals. Then add on top of that usability and conversion optimization, you're easily looking at several hundred individual issues that can, and often do, effect how your site performs against your competitors. Improve Your Website By Getting Beyond Who's Right and Wrong by Mike Fleming In my efforts to help businesses improve the conversion rates on their websites, I hear objections ALL the time. Behind the objections, I have observed fear (about how the changes will perform), offense (because they think I'm implying their work isn't up to snuff) and procrastination (because they want to avoid the scary world of testing). A few factors that I've seen contribute to this include: Stakeholder's opinions about what will work best for a particular site or page within a site are usually strongly held, whether it's because it's what they like themselves or what they believe as a professional. Return to the Top of this Page $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Newsletter Information Current and Archived News This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others. © Copyright 2014 K. Clough, Inc. - Search Engine Guide - 17531 Hamilwood Dr. Houston TX 77095

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How do you break into SEO?

May 16, 2014 More Ways to Stay Updated: RSS Twitter How do you break into SEO? by Mike Moran If you are in this business long enough, someone will come up and ask the question. To some of them, it is the most important question in their lives: "How do I break into SEO?" I honestly get this question several times a month. And each person that asks me is ready for my answer. Some seem ready to take notes. They expect that I am going to rattle off some kind of canned answer that will unlock the secret to their future career. But I don't, because it isn't that easy...... $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Are You Launching Sinking Websites? by Mike Moran When I was in Stockholm, I visited a very cool museum dedicated to the Vasa ship, a huge Swedish warship launched in the 1620s. The ship was on display for all to see, with lots of explanations about the way it was built, what life was like back then, and many other interesting facts. But this is not your standard museum of history. Because the story of the Vasa has huge implications on the way we operate in business today, even the way we launch Web sites...... Less Is More When Writing for Landing Pages by Mike Fleming Yes, I know why you include so many words on your marketing landing pages. It's because you really, really, REALLY want your visitors to get it. You want them to understand all that it is you have to offer them and how choosing to do business with you is really going to change their lives. You want to use all of the information you can to persuade them to stick with you, to continue on the journey to being your customer. Problem is--they don't read them. I know you worked hard on it, and I'm sorry.So, what do you do... Which POS System Is Right For Your Startup Retail Business? by Jayson DeMers Once you've established your retail business model and you're ready to invest in the necessary equipment to start selling, a point of sale (POS) system will be one of the biggest choices you make. This combination of retail software and hardware will drive your business every day and either limit or maximize your customers' shopping experience. Selecting the best one for your business is crucial. ... Yeah, But... [My Cousin / Mom / Webmaster / Company X] Does SEO a Lot Cheaper by Stoney deGeyter Everyone likes to bargain shop. We don't like paying "full price" for anything. When we do, and find out later we could have gotten it cheaper somewhere else, it really burns us.... Increasing Site Speed: 8 Often-Overlooked Steps by Jayson DeMers How important is your website's speed? When it comes to internet traffic, it's critical - and that may be an understatement. Read on to learn more of its significance and what advanced - and often overlooked - steps you can take to increase website speed.... 10 Ways SEO Works for B2B Companies by Jayson DeMers When marketers think of SEO, they often misunderstand its relationship with B2B companies. Typically, SEO is associated with B2C organizations, since customer acquisition is focused on a positive brand user experience. It's easy to forget, though, that marketing to other businesses still involves marketing to people and building relationships.... Return to the Top of this Page $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Newsletter Information Current and Archived News This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others. © Copyright 2014 K. Clough, Inc. - Search Engine Guide - 17531 Hamilwood Dr. Houston TX 77095

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Yeah, But... I Can't Afford SEO!

April 14, 2014 More Ways to Stay Updated: RSS Twitter Yeah, But...I Can't Afford SEO! by Stoney deGeyter In many ways I'm an extremely budget-conscious person. I don't like spending money when I can get the same thing cheaper and just as easily. But, over the years, I began to discover a timeless truth: You truly do get what you pay for! $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! A Simple Overview of Meta Tags by Stoney deGeyter It always amazes me at the number of people I come across who equate SEO with "adding keywords to meta tags." As if SEO is a bag of magic beans that when properly placed, grow your site to a #1 ranking--you know, where the goose that lays the golden eggs lives. I've seen that movie, and it's called a fairy tale for a reason. It's just not true! How Schema Helps Your SEO Campaign by Jayson DeMers Every business, regardless of where you stand, is interested in growing and upping customer leads; your website is the perfect conductor for this. Schema data can optimize your SEO, which in turn can cause an increase in targeted search traffic, which results in more customer leads. But what is Schema data anyway? Survey: 83% of Businesses Aren't Prepared for Online Threats by Jayson DeMers Following Target's data breach, in which the financial and personal data of 40 million Americans was leaked online, cyber security has been the focal point of businesses everywhere - or so we've been told. Return to the Top of this Page $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Newsletter Information Current and Archived News This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others. © Copyright 2014 K. Clough, Inc. - Search Engine Guide - 17531 Hamilwood Dr. Houston TX 77095

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Have We Seen the Last of Guest Blogging?

March 14, 2014 More Ways to Stay Updated: RSS Twitter Have We Seen the Last of Guest Blogging? by Jayson DeMers This is an issue that has received a great deal of attention over the last month or so. Ever since Matt Cutts' article 'The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO', marketers and webmasters have been scrambling trying to figure out whether there's still a place for guest blogging in their marketing strategies.... $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Dear Developer: Building a Website Isn't Good Enough, It Has To Be Marketable, Too by Stoney deGeyter Dear Web Developer,Let me start off by saying that I am simply amazed at your skills and abilities. The fact that you can take what appears to be random strings of letters, numbers and other strange keyboard characters and turn them into a great looking website is, quite simply, an amazing feat. I can't do what you do, and I'm glad there are people like you who can.... Website Usability Tips for How People Use the Web by Mike Fleming Last time I shared here, I established that a major problem affecting your site performance is that (because you designed or contributed to or commissioned and approved the site) YOU don't have to think when YOU use the site because YOU know what everything means, how everything is supposed to work, where everything is located and where every click is supposed to go. Your visitors are left to interpret things that you already know the interpretation for.A second major problem affecting your site performance is that you designed it for people who use the web in a similar fashion to... Does Internet Marketing need a business case? by Mike Moran Don't give me that look. Depending on where you work, that might sound like a silly question. Everything needs a business case in some places. And I understand that. I used to work for IBM, which is one of those places in love with justifications for how you spend money before you drop a dime. And you can put together business cases for Internet marketing projects, but there is another way, too. In fact, I actually started the IBM search marketing program without any business case at all. You might be able to follow my lead where you work, not... How to Make Your Website Easier to Use (and Improve Conversion Rates) by Mike Fleming Web usability expert Steve Krug starts off his popular book on the topic with these words:People often ask me: "What's the most important thing I should do if I want to make sure my Web site is easy to use?" The answer is simple. It's not "Nothing important should ever be more than two clicks away," or "Speak the user's language," or even "Be consistent." It's "Don't make me think!"This exposes a common problem. YOU, the person that designed or contributed to or commissioned and approved the site don't have to think when YOU use the site because YOU know... Money Alone Can't Buy Digital Marketing Success by Mike Moran I've been talking to some small business owners recently who are all complaining that they are getting squeezed out of social media, search marketing, and other forms of Internet marketing by the big guys-big companies with big budgets. At the same time, I've been hearing from frustrated large company marketers that they cannot break through the clutter and that their budgets don't seem to help. This would seem, on the surface, to be a simple question. Either the small companies or the big companies have a point, and the other ones are smoking something. So. who's right?... Return to the Top of this Page $100 in FREE Text Link Ads! Check out our new Link Buying Starter Kit and get: 1. A Free Link Buying Guide 2. $100 in Free Text Link Ads Get started today! Newsletter Information Current and Archived News This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others. © Copyright 2014 K. Clough, Inc. - Search Engine Guide - 17531 Hamilwood Dr. Houston TX 77095

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