Posts Tagged ‘SEO’

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Taking Advantage of Twitter to Boost SEO

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

By now, if you aren’t already on the social networking Web site Twitter, you’ve no doubt heard about it. Twitter has been making headlines almost from the moment it appeared in 2006.

Twitter’s number of visitors has surged 131 percent in the U.S. last month, with 5 million new users joining the site in March. Considering how popular Twitter is worldwide, the number of user is expected to grow exponentially. This post on TechCrunch forecasts 50 million global Twitter users by the summer, 2009.

So what does all this mean to you, the business owner? It means that if you aren’t already taking advantage of this real-time communication tool, you need to lock in your user name! The last thing you want to happen is for someone to register your company name and camp out on what should be your account.

The Twitter platform already has a built-in search engine for you to quickly find what people are saying about your company (if anything!) or your industry. Many major companies like Southwest and CNN are already active on Twitter and have been able to communicate with their audiences constructively and efficiently. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the people you’re trying to work with are saying about your business?!

But what does this mean for search engine optimization? Well here in Las Vegas, USASEOPros uses Twitter on a daily basis to glean information about the SEO industry, keep tabs on communications regarding the company, and responding in kind. Twitter serves as a wonderfully efficient platform to “keep our ears to the ground”. If you’re interested, you can follow our Twitter account online.

For the average business user, merely creating a Twitter account and giving the occasional update will help boost your online exposure. Our Twitter profile is currently ranked on the first page for Google for various keywords related to our business and company name. We’re frequently adding to our following/followers lists, and we make efforts every day to tweet about industry-related articles and blog posts. Twitter also adds a meta description to your user profile, so it will increase your visibility on the search engines with some personal branding.

Links are a very important part of SEO. The more (legitimate) sites you have linking back to your home page, the more relevant search engines like Google deem you to be. Having a Twitter account that links back to your Web site is a great way to get started. Even better, you can tweet about posts and content you have on your site, and provide links back to the content. If you’re doing a good enough job, you’ll have people actually help you by re-tweeting your links!

Interaction also has an impact with SEO. Sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN take into account how fluid your website is. It’s helpful to have fresh content on the site frequently. Placing a link on your Web site with your Twitter feed will keep your site up to date and let visitors know of another avenue to contact you.

It’s also possible to use Twitter to spot trends on popular topics that you can potentially glean some exposure from. If you operate a solar panel business, attaching your name to the CNN/Ashton Kutcher race probably wouldn’t have helped you much. But if CNN publishes an article about the positive effects of home solar panel installation and the Twitter universe is discussing it, it might not hurt to chime in with your own personal knowledge.

Most importantly, Twitter can be a tool to help you learn. You’ll come across interesting blog posts, new articles and commentary within your industry that you may not even be aware of! Twitter is a place of discovery and community. As you share your knowledge, you’ll be simultaneously increasing the amount of exposure your business getting and improving your SEO.

By: Zack S.

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The Power of the Press Release for Search Engine Optimization

Monday, May 4th, 2009

In the days of old, press releases were written by powerful PR professionals in high-rise offices and then submitted directly to journalists for major newspapers. The goal was (and still is) for a major news source like the New York Times to pick up the story and print it for their millions of readers.

The internet has changed the press release landscape, though many of the same rules still apply. Press releases should still be written in proper AP style, with correct grammar and punctuation. The casual writing style of most blogs should be avoided, since many news sources quickly dismiss unprofessional press releases. What has changed is that press releases are no longer limited to the realm of big business PR…virtually anyone can do it! That being said, you must play by the rules if you want to be successful.

Each press release should have value to it. Everyone wants the opportunity to tout themselves or their company, but simply promoting for promotion’s sake isn’t effective. Online press release distributors are much more relaxed with these rules (some are stricter), so you may be able to get away with more than the Times would publish. Nevertheless, it’s important to stick with newsworthy events. Think: product launches, new hires, new services, company-sponsored events, annual reports etc.

A well written press release may not land on page 1 of the New York Times, but page 1 of Google and Yahoo can be just as exciting and lucrative.

When writing a press release, keep in mind some simple search engine optimization tactics. Use an eye-catching headline that includes one of the key words you’d like to be found for. For this blog post, I wanted “press release” and “search engine optimization” included.

An effective press release can vary a bit in length, but you should aim for 3-5 paragraphs, and most certainly fewer than 500 words. Write in clear, concise language, and be sure to include your company name and the industry you work in. If you’re releasing a new product or service, include details like when the product/service will be available and the locations they can be found.

“(Company) is pleased to announce the release of its latest (product). Available in most major electronic stores on May 15, the new (product) is expected to improve (whatever it does).”

Always, always include a company profile at the end of the press release. In it you should describe the company, how long it has been around, the business it operates, location(s) or base of operations, etc. Also include a way for readers to contact you, like a phone number or email address. Some people choose to include their Web address here too.

Once you’ve written your press release, you’re going to want to go back over it with a fine tooth comb. Cut out excess words and fluff sentences. The idea is that a news source will contact you and ask questions for more information. I’ve heard that some writers will cut out 40-50% of their writing when they edit their press releases! If you include a bunch of sales text and self-promoting sentences, your writing will be dismissed very quickly.

Next you’ll need to submit your press release to a variety of news sources and distribution sites. It doesn’t hurt to submit your story to your local newspapers and TV stations – especially if your announcement is locally focused. I also recommend a number of free online press release sites including 24-7 PressRelease, 1888PressRelease, PR.com, and many more. Premium pay-sites include Prweb.com.

When USA SEO Pros submits a press release, we usually do so to nearly 40 distribution centers. This improves the likelihood of publication (not every site will publish every press release) and will increase the sheer volume of sites that will have your information about your company!

Search engines love press releases from reputable sites because they recognize the fresh, dynamic content. Stale is the last thing you want for SEO, and a press release is a great way to remind the world that your company exists and that you’re doing some exciting things.

USASEOPros offers press release writing and distribution services to our clients and many have taken advantage of it. We take the time to research your company and your industry, and then we craft a concise, well written press release that will dramatically improve your search engine ranking position!

Any amount of quality, professional content that provides relevant information to the reader will always perform well for SEO. A press release is a fantastic way to get started! If you have any questions or would like more information about press release distribution, submit your inquiries to press@usaseopros.com.

By: Zack S.

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Search Engine Traffic Can Help with Good Morning America Suggestion

Friday, May 1st, 2009

On this beautiful May 1, 2009 – one that is seeing protests around the globe about the on-going financial crisis - ABC News had a financial expert on their Good Morning America Show to discuss several ways we can all put a little more jingle in our pockets.

Now none of these are going to let you retire early…but they may help ease the pain of this current economic downturn.

Melody Hobson, the chair of the board of trustees at Ariel Investments suggests affiliate links on your personal website as a way to earn a little income on the side. She said that rather than becoming a human billboard, a great idea is to turn parts of our Web sites into a billboard. Businesses can profit from this as well!

She cautions against using too many affiliate links, but her example of Amazon Books estimates an individual can earn between $50 and $160 per package.

So what’s the catch? Well the catch is having the Web traffic to your site to actually convert affiliate sales. Just having your family and friends, or a small number of customers visit your site without clicking through and buying a book won’t bring in the cash. For that you’re going to need exposure, but where to get it?

Well one way you can get great online exposure is from a little SEO, or search engine optimization.

What that means is improving how your website appears in a search engine result for a given search term.

Your website and business can be about anything – parenting, knitting, exotic golf courses! But if you spend a little time working on improving how a search engine indexes your Web site, you can see a real growth in online traffic and potentially some incredible financial results from affiliate links!

USA SEO Pros is a full-service SEO company and if you’re interested in learning more about SEO or our services, please visit usaseopros.com. Whether you’re a business or just someone looking to pad your pockets a bit, we can help. You can also find us on Twitter: @realusaseopros

By: Zack S.

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Google Pathways: Following Google’s Beaten Path on SERPs

Friday, May 1st, 2009

The other day it was brought to my attention that Google queries for certain keywords will give you some strange, “organic” results.

I haven’t been able to find any information about this particular problem, and I wondered if anyone else had run into the same thing.

In our SEO office, we have a sales team that runs through a great presentation online with potential clients. Part of the presentation includes examples of key words that our clients have ranked very well with.

As such, our sales team runs through the same Google queries multiple times a day while on the phone, talking the client through the search on the phone as well. It seems now that we are seeing a well-worn path through the Google search universe, and unrelated key words are turning up in the search results.

Try it for yourselves. Search for “Alabama metal roofing” on Google and see if you don’t get “see results for ‘financial statement software’” and “Also see ‘direct marketing leads’”. If you don’t – that’s great! But we’ve tested this on multiple computers on multiple IPs throughout the city and are finding the same results.

Before anyone asks, yes – we tried this both signed in AND out of our Google accounts.

Another pre-emptive: as far as I can tell, this isn’t Google’s mid-page See results that was first reported in 2005. At least with that, the suggested results were related search query. What we’re running into are completely unrelated search results being mixed.

You can find a video with a similar example here, but it’s still not quite what we seem to be dealing with. They included an update in 2007 to the original post with a link to “Google Difficult Words”, but I don’t think “direct marketing leads” qualifies as difficult.

This has moved beyond Google trying to guess what you meant with your search query or helping you understand a difficult word.

It seems that Google is trying to anticipate the user’s next move by giving its predicted results for the upcoming search. Our sales team has been going from “Alabama metal roofing” to “financial statement software” to “direct marketing leads” as examples for our clients.

So what’s the problem?

Well the problem is that this “pathway” is giving the end user some very non-organic search results. Just because you’re searching for Alabama metal roofing does not mean you’re interested in direct marketing leads. These are unrelated terms!

The same problem exists if you run a search for “direct marketing leads”. You’ll come across Google’s suggested results for “financial statement software”. Strangely, we haven’t had the problem with just a search for “financial statement software”.

We had a discussion about this in the office, and decided the most recent Google algorithm change turned the search engine in a large lawn of sorts. Each potential search query represented a point in the lawn, and if a certain pathway was taken frequently enough (like first searching “Alabama metal roofing” and then “financial statement software”), a pathway could be formed.

Search engine algorithms are essentially mathematical formulas designed to figure out what the end user is looking for, so it’s no stretch of the imagination that Google is now actively monitoring search patterns and attempting to offer up search results for a search that hasn’t even been performed yet. Hmm, pre-emptive, anticipatory actions based on things that haven’t happened yet…

Did anyone watch Tom Cruise in Minority Report? This doesn’t bode well…

By: Zack S.

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What Does Domain Aliasing do for SEO?

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Perhaps there is a wealth of information out there on domain aliasing and the effects it has on SEO, but I sure couldn’t find it.

Domain aliasing is by no means a new trick. It’s been used for years as a way to direct Web traffic to particular sites on the same domain.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, I’ll be happy to briefly explain it.

It short, domain aliasing allows you to host a Web site on one domain, and then direct other domain names to the same site. For example, if you visited originalsite.com, but wanted to direct secondarysite.com to the same Web site, you could use domain aliasing.

This is possible through a very simple server configuration. Both domain names (originalsite.com and secondarysite.com) head to the exact same place on the server. The Name Alias (on your server) will point to your Name Server (where your Website is hosted). Consequently, whatever is in that HTML file will appear on both sites, rendering both exactly the same.

The question is what sort of impact, if any, this has on search engine optimization.

Here is where I ran into some problems with my research. There doesn’t seem to be much out there about actual domain aliasing and the effects on SEO. I found some interesting posts about a 301 redirect and SEO, but that’s not what I wanted to discuss. Perhaps the best article was posted here by Zen Zoomie.

Under a forum, I found an older post about domain aliasing and SEO, and the general consensus seems to be to stick with a 301 redirect.

Most of what I read about domain aliasing, domain mapping, and indexing seemed to say the duplicate content created by the alias site would harm a Web site’s results within organic searches.

Considering the goal of search engine optimization is to improve the SERP, I have concluded the best approach for this kind of work is a 301 redirect. This means a permanent change in where a URL will take you. When you type in secondarysite.com, your URL will actually change to originalsite.com, and that’s where the content will be.

Does this mean you won’t have two sites out there to be indexed by Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. that includes your business information? Yes.

But that’s not a bad thing. Virtually all search engines frown on duplicate content. The best case scenario for sites with duplicate content is that one will rank and the other will not. It’s entirely possible both sites will suffer in SERPs.

To avoid a negative response to your search engine optimization efforts, I would strongly recommend a permanent 301 redirect for a secondary domain that points to the primary. Don’t let both domains suffer because you want to “juice” the search engines for a slightly higher rank.

By: Zack S.

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Having a Website without SEO is Like…

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

…owning a brand new car but not having any tires. It might look great, but you aren’t going to go anywhere.

Search engine optimization leapt out of obscurity several years ago and it has raced to the forefront on the online marketing industry. Acronyms like PPC, PPA, and SEO are tossed around like rice at a wedding, but what does it all mean to the average business owner and their website?

Well what good is having a Web site if no one is seeing it? Just putting your business name on a Web site is no longer good enough to generate the kind of traffic you need to be successful.

You need to focus some attention on various online advertising methods, and this means acronyms: SEO, PPA and PPC.

In case you aren’t already aware of what they stand for, those are “search engine optimization”, “pay per action” and “pay per click”. Each represents a different approach to online marketing, although PPA and PPC are quite similar.

Any great marketing campaign should include a number of facets, and I’m certainly not discrediting PPA and PPC. You can run into problems with any type of advertising though, as you can read about cases of PPC fraud here if you’d like.

With that said, I turn my attention to SEO. Why? Well USA SEO Pros is a professional search engine optimization company, based in Las Vegas. I use SEO techniques on almost a daily basis, from my own personal blog at home to my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. It’s remarkable how some choice key words and geographical targeting can boost my Twitter followers! Don’t believe me? Check out my Gmail trash. I’ve blurred out my information since it is my personal email, but every time I make an SEO post, I get another 5 or so followers…

So business owners, how can you make this work for you? Well, you can make a concerted effort to learn everything there is to know about search engine optimization. It takes a fair amount of time, and because the rules are constantly changing, it means you really have to keep up on it.

You can also opt to have your “web guy” do it. But I think you’ll quickly find that’s not the best result. Collyn Floyd has some choice words for that on the blog post titled 9 Common SEO Myths.

That leaves hiring a professional SEO company. Any form of advertising should be viewed as an investment in your business. Just imagine what a huge increase in traffic to your site can yield…more visitors…more sales!

Proper search engine optimization goes far beyond just a keyword or two on your site. You need to provide your visitors with quality content that engages the reader. Ideally you should maintain a blog and keep rotating content through your site throughout the year. Static sites are a thing of the past. Google, Yahoo and MSN respond much more favorably to Web sites that offer visitors a forum to discuss topics or a blog to respond to.

Research should be done into the right key words to be used on a site. For every industry, certain key words rank differently on various search engines. Some key words are exceedingly difficult to rank well due to the sheer number of sites that use it. Go to Google.com and type in “free money”. Last I checked there were 189 million sites listed.

The point is that you shouldn’t approach online marketing with a half-hearted effort. Consider how you would like your business to succeed and the web traffic you’ll need to get there. You wouldn’t try to drive without wheels on your car. Please don’t try to run a website without giving consideration to solid SEO techniques!

By: Zack S.

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A No-Wait SEO Opportunity!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

At our Las Vegas SEO office, we work with clients who are looking to get on the first page of search engine results naturally. When it comes to online marketing, you have plenty of options, including SEO opportunities, pay per click, pay per action, and “old-fashioned” banner space.

But like many things in life, these various types of advertising techniques are not equal. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and today I want to share a bit about an opportunity that we have available.

At USASEOPros we work with our clients generally for a six month SEO contract period. This means we do industry research, generate business specific keywords, write the content, build a website, submit the site and provide regular maintenance to the site for six months.

The goal is always to get our clients’ website a large amount of exposure and traffic by appearing on the first page of sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN Live. We have become quite efficient with our SEO practices and consequently we have “leftover” first page placements after a six month campaign is over.

A lot of our clients choose to renew their contracts, but some do not – whether it’s due to finances or other personal choices. Because we worked hard to achieve those first page placements, we are now offering new clients the opportunity to get on the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN Live today! Here’s an example of an available first page Google placement.

By offering already-ranking keywords to businesses within the same industry, we can drastically cut down the wait time for your search engine optimization to kick in. Whereas it can sometimes take up to a month for the search engines to recognize and index a site – we’ve already accomplished that with these key phrases!

SEO Opportunity

I just received the latest numbers of available first page placements for the USA SEO Pros licensing program, and we’ve topped 2.5 million available placements!

This doesn’t mean we have 2.5 million keywords that are ranking that high – rather we aim to have our key words rank on the first page for every major search engine! For example, the key phrase “marriage agency in southern California” currently has 11 first page placements that are available! Here’s a shot of our first page placement on this keyword.

Of course we aren’t limited to just wedding companies. If you visit our licensing demonstration page at USASEOPros.com, you can see if we have SEO key words available in your industry.

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USA SEO Pros Reaches 4 Million Placements

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Las Vegas, NV, April 20, 2009 – Internet advertising firm USA SEO Pros set a new record today as it leapt past the 4 million first page placements mark and grew client placements at over 20 percent.

The online marketing and ad company, based in Las Vegas, works in the field of search engine optimization – an industry dominated by first page placement statistics. Today USASEOPros beat its own expectation by growing its overall placements by 10 percent while improving client first page placements 20 percent and breaking the 4 million mark. The total now stands at over 4.3 million top spots.

“I’m simply ecstatic with the results we’ve been able to achieve for our clients lately,” said Steve Howe, the operations manager for USA SEO Pros. “Google had made an algorithm change, and yet in the past 4 weeks we have grown the first page placements for our clients by 20 percent.”

Search engine sites like Google and Yahoo rely on complex mathematical formulas for indexing and ranking individual sites. When the formulas change, search engine optimization companies must change their own processes.

“Our development team has been working hard on our new SEO project called Septuro,” Howe said. “The system will allow us to keep pace with the search engines even better and should really benefit our clients. The race to 5 million has begun.”

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USA SEO Pros is a search engine optimization company and has been in business for over 6 years. With thousands of satisfied clients and team of highly skilled professionals, USA SEO Pros has continued to grow and expand its business. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company has built itself into a leader in the online advertising and marketing field. USASEOPros.com currently holds over 4 million placements for its clients and uses its knowledge and expertise to continue to grow that number.

By: Zack S.

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Search Engine Optimization and You

Monday, April 13th, 2009

The internet has grown to become a significant force in the global economy, and if you want to be successful through internet commerce, you need to be proactive and forward-thinking in your marketing techniques.

“Easier said than done,” you say - but you might be surprised.

Here at USA SEO Pros, we specialize in a powerful form of internet advertising called search engine optimization. We utilize our skills and knowledge to help businesses just like yours achieve ideal placement on the search engines.

Online marketing is so much more than simply putting a website up. After all, what’s the point in having the site if no one is seeing it? Through search engine placement, we can help you attract the visitors you need to truly become successful online.

Our SEO consultants and experienced web developers work diligently to keep up with the fast-paced world of search engine optimization. Sites like Google and Yahoo frequently update how they track and rank individual web pages, and a company like USA SEO Pros can help you stay on top of the online business leader board!

We have been counseling business owners for over six years and have achieved some incredible milestones in the search engine optimization business. We’ve worked with thousands of clients and carved out millions of first page placements on sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN. We pride ourselves on being one of the absolute best search engine optimization and internet marketing companies out there!

Our repertoire of package options ranges from our 5 keyword Nickel plan to our VIP submission and 100 keyword Diamond package. You pick the plan, and we’ll get to work putting your business website at the top!

All of our packages include:

• Full company and industry consulting and research
• Business-specific keyword research and generation
o Geo-targeting tailored to fit the area you want to market to
• Professional content writing
• Site hosting
• Website validation with W3C standards
• Submission to every major search engine, yellow pages, and hundreds of smaller search engines
• Re-optimization (as needed)
• Each marketing campaign runs for 6 months, with the option for a discounted extension.

We offer a full suite of optional services as well, which includes:

• Press release writing
• Blogging
• Conversion consultancy
• Unique web page creation
o Splash page, Content Management System (CMS)
• Conversion Consultancy

By: Zack S.

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Using SEO and Social Media to Gain Authentic Exposure

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Working in the SEO and marketing industry has exposed me to all sorts of social media, and today I incorporate Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Myspace into my daily routine. As a result, I come across plenty of news articles, blog posts, pod casts and various other social media flotsam throughout the day. Today I found a blog post from Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist who works with companies that are addressing new marketing platforms.

In his blog, Fred talks about the social media platform and his remarkable experience with @kogibbq on Twitter. Briefly, Kogi BBQ is two taco trucks that drive around Los Angeles and tweet their location throughout the day. They have become remarkably success, and have attracted a large following on Twitter as well as throughout LA. Wilson says this type of media exposure is of the “earned” variety, a phrase he picked up from Jerry Solomon – the executive producer of Epoch media and Wilson’s brother in law.

Solomon compares the brand/consumer relationship to that of a man and a mistress. After a while, the jewelry and other gifts grow old, and the mistress begins to want more. The same is true with a brand/consumer relationship Solomon says. Brands should focus on dialogue with the consumer instead of engaging in mere monologue.

This all felt remarkably familiar to me. The goal of search engine optimization is to draw attention to a particular business or website. We do that in a variety of ways, but blogging is one particular approach we use. This creates a platform for feedback from consumers, both potential and current. The conversation can move from just the monologue to a true dialogue. I use Twitter and Facebook daily, and it opens the door for feedback from the public and the consumer.

Aside from large companies with very deep pockets, the days of effective TV advertising are gone. Kogi BBQ can’t afford a spot during the Superbowl, but they don’t need to. They are able to use tools like Twitter to build a following and grow their business.

Fred Wilson said the big challenge for marketers and advertisers now is to engage consumers without alienating them with perceived spam. Despite the popularity of Google’s Adwords program, how often do you click on a “sponsored link”? I know I never do, because I know it’s a marketing link. And an unwelcome one at that. I prefer to digest my internet material organically

A very effective way for businesses to reach their intended audience is through tools like blogs, Twitter and by using techniques like search engine optimization. This way you’re ensuring that your audience sees the message, but it doesn’t feel like they’re being advertised at. Perception is reality. If you’d like to learn more about what SEO can do for you, visit our site or find me on Twitter (@realusaseopros). I would love to start a dialogue with you!

By: Zack S.

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