What is Search Engine Optimization Anyway?

It seems to me that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those buzz words that IT departments seem to use a lot and I think I should probably know more about. The site below has some great online tools to help you optimize your own websites, the main points I've included below.


http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm

What Is SEO?

• Search engine optimization (SEO) is the science of increasing traffic to your Web site by improving the internal and external factors influencing ranking in search results.
• Eye tracking studies have shown that searchers scan a search results page from top to bottom and left to right (for left to right languages), looking for a relevant result. Placement at or near the top of the rankings therefore increases the number of searchers who will visit a site
• According to Bruce Clay, there are a few key Steps in SEO

Step 1 - Brainstorm Keywords

• Select keywords that you expect Web surfers to use to locate your site, submit your obvious keyword terms using our research tools to locate the top-ranked competing sites
• The most important first search engine optimization tip is to select keywords wisely
  http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/
  

Step 2 - Search for your Competitor's Keywords

• try the online tool...it's pretty neat
• If you get one visitor per month for a search term, but one out of twelve spends a million dollars, keep that keyword! But if you get a million visitors and only one buys, and you lose money on that sale, then consider dropping that keyword phrase

Step 3 - Combine Keywords

• Sort the keywords and phrases in descending order of their perceived importance. (i.e., how likely it is that they will be used by visitors as search words and hence, generate traffic).
• It is also important that you add words to help clarify the use of your keywords. For instance, "capital" can have very different meanings — such as intellectual capital, state capital, capital letters, venture capital, etc. So a keyword or two that helps the index builders learn the context of your keywords will help raise your search engine rankings
• Also, consider common misspellings [sic] as additions to your keyword lists

Step 4 - Add your keywords to the content

• Keyword tuning for a search engine marketing campaign is an iterative loop; you keep doing it until you rank reasonably well on several search engines

Step 5 - Submit to Search Engines

• For search engine submission to just the top few search engines, you may use our URL ADD page with links to the add pages of the major search engines.
• Allow two days to four weeks for each search engine submission to be indexed in each major search engine. If you do not show up (as is common), then resubmit

Step 6 - Consider Community, Intent and Engagement Objects

• Once you identify opportunities to add Engagement Objects (ie. video) to your site, be sure to use SEO selected keywords just as you would in any other content. It will contribute to content structure and theme, and it will certainly aid engagement. Adding Engagement Objects is a part of the SEO process and should be done.

Step 7 - Check your Ranking

• Visit the search engine that you care about most and see if you are registered by searching for your URL.
• Once you have your SEO ranking results, you can easily identify where you need to go back and resubmit your site and fine-tune your keywords. Hopefully you will be placed at or near the top of your search results page.

Step 8 - Link Building

• we consider links vital to long-term natural search engine optimization and ranking. The objective is this: if you get a site to link to you, then you gain PageRank popularity points.
• If that site has a lot of quality sites linking to it and it links to you, you get a lot more points,

Major Changes in Radio (PPM) + A New "rule of Thumb" for Advertisers by The Wizzard of Ads

The PPM system signifies a major change in measuring radio (and TV). For decades, we've used a diary based system which asked panelists "what do you THINK you listen to". We believe the new electronic PPM system is a far superior measuring tool because it more accurately measures "what people REALLY listen ". It's important to note that the listening audience for each station in Calgary has not changed. What has changed is the way we measure each audience. One of my colleagues noted that this change is similar to when Canada converted from Imperial measurement to Metric. 10 degrees celcius is still as cold as 50 degrees farenheight.

The major changes are as follows

1. Reach

• it (PPM) accounts for persons that are exposed for even 1 minute or more


• it (PPM) will measure loyal, occasional and infrequent listeners as well as those exposed by coincidence. It will capture data from personal listeningexperience in your office, car and home, to incidental listening at a coffee shop, mall, a colleague’s office or at the dentist.
  Diary respondents report listening to stations that are part of their daily routine and seldom record second hand exposure while PPM accounts for actual exposure to a radio station

2. Daytime Performance

• Diary data typically reports that morning and afternoon drive had the highest reach potential; however, PPM indicates that day time tuning isjust as strong.

3. Frequency

• the average frequency for any radio station campaign will be lower when occasional and incidental listeners are part of the equation
  
  

you may find yourself asking....
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME?

For the answer, I'd like to refer to the Wizzard of Ads, Roy Williams...http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertising/adcolumnistroyhwilliams/article170166.html

• It’s no secret that advertising isn’t working as well as it once did
• In truth, only 11.7 percent of U.S. households are equipped with a DVR, but response to TV ads is off by far more than 11.7 percent. Broadcast radio has only lost about 4 percent of its audience over the past three years...But response to radio ads is off by far more than that. Newspaper readership peaked in 1984, and today’s number is only about 16 percent below that banner year. But the response to newspaper ads isn’t nearly what it was back then.
• SO WHAT'S GOING ON? In a nutshell, we’ve developed mental filters to guard against hypercommunication
• Bottom line: Meaningful messages are working better than ever, especially when the fundamental premise of your ad is clearly stated in the opening line.
• You and I spend about a minute a day sorting the mail, right? Up until a few years ago, these six minutes each week were our only exercise in high-speed content evaluation. Now we’re spending at least six hours a week scanning search engine results, web pages and e-mail for relevant, meaningful information. These hours of practice are teaching us--and our customers--to more quickly recognize and disregard empty words.
• If your ad delivers a meaningful message that rings true from the moment of contact, you’ll find that it works regardless of which media you choose to deliver it
• The new rule is to say what you've got to say, and say it clean. The opening line of your ad is its most important element, so open big
• Message relevance has become more important than repetition. (Keep in mind that I did not say repetition no longer matters.)
• Here’s an example of an ad that closes the loopholes instead of sounding like hype:
  

Green Fees + Condo = $20

It’s a Myrtle Beach Miracle. No strings attached.

We want you to get to know us at Condotels, and we’re willing to lose a few bucks to make it happen.

Put yourself in our shoes. Nothing is more frustrating or more expensive than advertising that doesn’t work. So we did the math. Financially, it makes a lot more sense for us to help pay for your next golf outing than it does to pump out ads that don’t work.

So here’s the deal:4 days of golf at 3.5 and 4-star courses: Tradition Golf Club, International Club, Wachesaw Plantation East and Indigo CreekGolf from December 8 to January 25You and three friends stay three nights in a two-bedroom (four beds) two-bath condo at Golf Colony.Green fees + Condo = $20 per golfer/per dayThe total four-day/three night package price is $80 per golfer x 4 golfers: $320 total.

Want to golf between now and December 7?

This same package is only $39.50 per golfer/per day.

Here’s what we get out of it: Four people telling all their friends back home how much better it is to stay in a condo than in a hotel.

This whole thing sounds too good to be true, right?

Let us tell you what we’re up against: Four short years ago, Myrtle Beach had 73,000 rooms for rent. Today it has 92,000 rooms. Our job at Condotels is to rent out our clients’ condos when they’re not using them. And we’ve got a lot of condos to rent.

The Condotels check-in desk in open 24/7, just like a hotel, and we’re not hard to find. Just pick up your keys, and go to your condo. Do it once, and you’ll never stay in a hotel again.

Not interested in golf? Want to take the family to a luxury, oceanfront condo with a balcony overlooking the beach? Talk to us. We’re knee-deep in condos like that.

Condotels has decided to spend its ad budget serving you instead of annoying you.
Book a golf outing or beach vacation with us. Let us know it’s working.

Sincerely,
Chipper Chip Olin

Selling Through a Slump

By most accounts, the recession appears to be behind us now. However, despite turning the corner, there seems to be a lingering "hangover" that is making for a somewhat lethargic business climate. As things pick up heading into the christmas season, I thought this eBook may be helpful to you as a kickstart for your sales process.

You can download this book here

Selling through a Slump contains the best of the best—Top Ten (and more) lists on how to sell in a recessionary market from well-known sales experts like Jill Konrath, Charles Green, and Dave Stein

• This eBook includes selling advice for the following
  Retail, Public Sector, Insurance, Law, Health, Accounting, Telecommunications, Technology, Services, Media, Manufacturing


• Each of these top 10 points are expanded on in the actual eBook. For brevity, I only included the titles


• As you'll notice, each industry has unique tips, many of which are revelvant and transferable to other industries
  
  RETAIL


• Managers, get on the sales floor


• Don’t wait for business to get back to where it used to be.


• Hold a “talk to our customers” event


• Distribute a daily insider sheet to your browsers.


• On busy days, place a manager outside your store


• Hire sales people to sell, not customer service people


• Create an invitation-only promo where your customers determine the invitation list.


• Ask your front-end salespeople where your company is missing opportunities at the store level.


• New and different sales training can help you weather this new and different selling environment.


• Teach your employees how to reach out to their personal and family networks
  

LAWYERS

• It costs less to delight a client than it does to frustrate him.


• You’ll never be passionate about selling yourself until you start searching for clients you’ll be passionate about serving


• The most effective way to get new clients is to impress old ones


• When meeting a potential client, don’t sell your competence, sell your compassion.


• Recognize that while it is usually easier to ask for new business from prospective clients than it is to ask for more businessfrom current ones, it is rarely more profitable.


• The most compelling thing you can sell to a prospective client is more sleep.


• There are (at least) 10 things your clients wish you’d do differently, and I bet you don’t know what they are


• If your clients can go months without hearing from you, they can go forever without recommending you.


• Never assume your current clients know all you can do for them


• The single best sales strategy in the world is to find your best clients and ask them, “How do I get more clients like you?”