Whenever Tom and I are driving, we see company vehicles containing business names and phone numbers painted on the side of their car or truck. Astonishingly, many times these businesses do not have websites posted. We both wonder if they have a website or know the importance of marketing on the internet.  I always want to roll the window down and ask the driver this question, “Are you aware of the fact that you can receive many customers and sales leads through search engine optimization?”

From time to time when we get someone’s business card, we get a professional looking card without a website address! A website does not perform the same function as a business card. Business cards help when you meet someone and it’s great to give them your contact information, don’t get me wrong.  But a website makes it possible for you to have huge opportunities of marketing your business to millions of potential customers that you might otherwise never meet face-to-face … if you wisely use good search engine optimization strategies on your website.

Do you have a resolution for 2012? If you are a business owner, you need to create your own website if you do not currently have one! If you do have a website, begin 2012 using professional search engine optimization techniques that will improve your traffic,  leads and sales! Email us today and allow us to assist you in growing your online business this new year!

Search Engine Optimization considers how a search engine works then examines what phrases or keywords people are searching for and helps your website gain better presence in those search results! When you target a specific audience, you will see better results with your website.  Another practice with search engine optimization is working to remove any known errors on your website.  (e.g. bad links or 404′s) Promoting your website through internet marketing will help increase your website ranking in natural search results.

The definition of natural results is not referring to paid advertising that you see on the top or side of search engine results. This visiblity is noticed within the 10 main results. Obviously the better the optimization,  conveys viewing your website on the first page. Ask yourself this question, how often do you scroll through all of the results? It’s rare people look at websites past the first page!

Because search engines (such as Google) were created in the late 1990′s, search engine optimization is an area that is constantly being analyzed, developed and improved. Unfortunately, this also opens the door of opportunity for some SEO people to put effort to find methods  that are unethical. The definition of this type of search engine optimization is known as Black Hat SEO.  If these tactics are used, your website will eventually get kicked out of search engines.  Stick to ethical principles and have a successful business that is captured in search results!

Read our basic SEO blog posts or contact us with your SEO questions!

10. Use structured format to create your website – Believe it or not, the foundation of your website is important for good search engine optimization. The depth of each page should not be more then three layers (3 clicks) deep. If you try to repair this after a website is built, good SEO can be difficult to achieve.

9. Create XML sitemaps – Tell search engines what pages you have to help get all of your pages indexed.

8. Use a robot.txt file – Tell search engines what to do and add it to the root of your structured website.

7. Use Title Tags and Alt Tags – Any time you create a link or graphic, tag them with good words and descriptions. This helps search engines know more about your website.

6. Use Meta Tags – Title tags and description tags should always be used on every web page. Use unique meta tags for each and every page.

5. Analyse your website - Look at reports at a minimum of every month to understand: who is coming to your website, why they are coming and leaving and what keywords are working and not working. Fix broken pages and any other errors. Adjust your site accordingly for maximum traffic growth.

4. Connect with Social Media Websites – Take advantage of social and video sites by create a profile. Linking from these sites are very valuable.

3. Get backlinks – Backlinks need to be from good websites that are relevant to your site.  Don’t link to sites or from sites that might be part of a link farm or you might get banned from search engines.

2. Find the best keywords for your site – Find keywords people are searching for and exclude keywords with high levels of website competition.

1. Add good relevant content – Content is still king. Search engines love content relevent to your website. Content should not be copied from another website. Content needs to inspire your readers with calls-to-action.

If you have questions about these top ten seo tips, contact SEO Does Matter today. If you enjoyed these SEO tips, read more of our basic SEO blog post entries and develop a successful and higher ranking website!

Answer - BASICS Of INTERNET MARKETING – SEO

1) On page optimization – Tags (title description, keyword, headings, text, good navigation) along with a clear subject matter focus, calls to action, Google sitemaps and more….

2) Back links – Link exchanging. These can be links from other sites, blogs, and directories. This shows Google you are an authority in your field.

3) Online Competition – No one controls this. If there is a lot, it is necessary to spend more time and resources to attain good rankings.

OUR CONCEPTS

1) Multiple pages

Reasons:
• Google values pages with unique keywords, meta tags and content on a site with a related theme. One keyword (phrase) per page
• This allows you to have many different keywords (combinations of locations and services)

Process:
• This can be done by making unique static pages OR,
• Using a database system pages can be made for many cities, counties and states, without the cost of making separate static pages.

2) Multiple sites

Reason:
• Normally Google only allows a site to be on the first page once. With multiple domains you can be on the first page many times.

Process:
• Keywords should be in the domains
• Sites can, and should look similar (for branding) – Existing designs can be utilized
• The text has to be unique; Google takes plagiarism seriously and will penalize what it considers duplicate content. Each site has to have unique content.
• Each site should be focused on one subject or theme. Financial advisor, wealth advisor, financial planner, etc.
• Sites should be hosted on different servers (the sites shouldn’t have the same IP address). This allows the sites to be linked together and not related.
• A valuable option is wordpress blog platform sites.

Benefits:
o Simple for the clients to update, make changes or add to at their convenience.
o No cost.
o They do very well in Google.
o 1000 FREE templates to choose from, 100′s of free plug-ins and add-ons. ALL FREE

3) Social Media Marketing and Other Forms of Internet Marketing

Social media marketing involved websites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Youtube. Other areas you can market include: directories, profiles, press releases and articles.

Internet Marketing is like the billboards on the highway of marketing. The more billboards you have, the more people will see your business represented!!

Have questions? Contact us today!

“How do I get links to my site?”

Here are a five suggestions to get backlinks:

1. Exchange links with your clients
2. Add news releases and/or article to these type of websites.
3. Take advantage of social media. On Facebook, make sure to create a business page!
4. Join a free link exchange website or relevant directory
5. Add your business profile to search engines.

Here are three important SEO tips in reference to links:

1. Make sure to use good anchor text. Do not use words like “click here.”
2. Link with relevant websites. Many times I see sites avoid their competition. Don’ t think of them as the enemy! If they are willing, link with them and HELP your website rank better in search engines. For example, if your hair salon is in New York, link with other hair salons in other states!
3. If possible, find sites with page rank better then your own.

If you are still asking the question, “How do I get links to my site?” Contact us!

A. – Why are you making a website? Are you trying to learn HTML or do you have a business and have a service you want to promote with internet marketing?

Most people are beginning to realize the huge potential available on the internet. If you have a business and want to make a website to market your service, we recommend making an inexpensive website and put your time, money and energy into adding content to your site and using search engine optimization to get your website in search results!

What is the best site to make a website? We use WordPress. It’s an elegant, well-architectured, personal publishing system. WordPress allows you to pick from hundreds of templates! Many of the templates are customizable to look the way you want! Why spend thousands of dollars for a site?

WordPress also allows you to add content without knowing HTML. Much like a Microsoft Word document, you can add content, images, video and links and create a website without the technical knowledge web developers use to create websites.

You will want to incorporate search engine optimization (SEO) from the start. If you are still thinking about this new adventure and don’t have a website address, STOP. Please don’t go any further then this website.

Contact us today and let us help you get in the best direction to give you the maximum benefits you need for your website needs.

SEO Does Matter, Inc. has a SEO Testimonal web page for you to view and read from our current and previous clients!

Another great place to add testimonials is in Google Places. Read a SEO testimonial from our South Florida Christian Internet Marketing Google Places page to know what our clients say.

It might feel like self-promotion to add testimonials…which it is! But turn the table around. If you are seeking a business service such as SEO or any other business service, reading testimonials helps you to know if the business has had good customer service and if clients have been pleased with the results of what they paid for.

If you own a business, take the opportunity and ask your clients for a testimony and add it to your website.  When people land on your testimonial web page it will affirm you are a valuable and reputable business.

I imagine many people think search engines results appear “magically” after typing in the information they are looking for. Years ago I guessed Google grabbed the websites from a “lottery ball” method. It really is a lot more precise and complicated then most people comprehend.

Understanding search engines and the basics of how Google gets their results for you will help you identify important factors of SEO and why there is a genuine need to know search engine optimization.

Google recently put a 3 minute video together to help you with understanding search engines. Take a look at Matt Cutts (One of the important team players from Google!) as he explains search engines and how Google works. This video has great visuals to help make sense of it all!

After viewing this video, if you’d like help understanding search engines and SEO, we are here to assist you! Let’s take a look at your website and get it optimized to be in the best search engine results for the user and for YOUR business!

This question is a very basic question to what is called “search engine optimization.” SEO help you get your site on the first page of Google!

SEO finds good keywords people are searching for in search engines, within your field, then optimizes the site so when people type in something directly related to your product or service, these web users will find your website!

This question is the very beginning to understanding internet marketing. There are many different factors that helps your site get better ranking in search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing!

Google also offers you SEO tips to know how you can do well in search ranking. Google  “Google Webmaster Tools.” Reading Google Webmaster Tools is the first step to get your website into Google.

But the work doesn’t stop there!

Take a look at some of our other SEO blog posts to help you learn more about SEO and your business. I wrote another post called “Is My Website in Google?” Learn more and read that post!

Want more answers? Contact us today so we can help you get started on the right foot for your business with internet marketing!

Google Instant is making searching so advance that it is waiting for you to type in what you want to search for.  (Google Instant results will give you search results faster then you are typing!) Google Instant mentions that you will save 2-5 seconds per search compared to the previous Google search.

So what about Google Instant and SEO? Will search engine optimization die? Not according to Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team. People might change the way they search for information in search engines or through social media, but search engine optimization is very much alive and well. Matt Cutts states this:

“But that doesn’t mean that SEO will die. I’ve said it before, but SEO is in many ways about change. The best SEOs recognize, adapt, and even flourish when changes happen.”

If you are thinking about creating a website or don’t understand the how and why of search engine optimization, it’s not going to go away or get easier! Millions of people are on the internet searching for the specific products or information they want. SEO will always exist but it will need to change based on the needs of technology and the user.