SEO Success

May 28, 2009 on 4:22 pm
Filed Under:SEO

One of my favourite’s over at Search Engine Land is Jill Whalen, a gal who’s sentiments echo my own so often that she has been known to come to my rescue in a forum or two when I haven’t communicated my point properly.

She’s done it again, with something that hits very close to home with me in an article titled, "Using Analytics To Measure SEO Success"

It has only just occurred to me that my last post was about another article written by Jill… cue the creepy stalker-esque music and I’ll get back to digging through her garbage.  Thanks.

Back to it then, the reason this hits home so much is that I am in exactly the boat she’s writing about.  Servicing SME’s that can’t take their eyes off a ranking report long enough to pay any attention to their analytics.  That, or the fact that there are just some things that the Googs chooses not to show those of us with free accounts, asking for the world and paying nothing for it.

About a year ago, it came to the point in my business that I was so befuddled by the lack of certain functionality in analytics software that I decided to write my own.

I wanted to know the basics, because my clients want to know the basics, and most of the stuff that I want to know isn’t that different from the stuff that they want to know.

The "W"s:

What’s that?  "HOW" has a "W" in it, so shoosh.

So I wrote something I call SEO Success and I’ve been using it on clients’ sites whenever I can.  I’m close to unleashing it upon the unsuspecting populace, so if you’re interested, drop me a line and we’ll talk.

Of course, if you’re one of the chosen few already using it.  Drop me a line and tell me how I can make it better.

This one has been priceless in helping me with my business, and I bet it can help others too.

Until next time, Have a Good Website.

Actually Quite Funny

May 22, 2009 on 11:00 am
Filed Under:SEO, Web

Jill Whalen’s article titled, "85 Reasons Why Website Designers/Developers Keep SEOs in Business" actually had me laughing quite heartily, but some of my laughter was in that slightly sad way that wonders why people can’t just learn some simple lessons that will ultimately improve their business.

Meh, we all live and learn and will eventually figure it out when it becomes a deal-breaker I suppose.  HA, or the deal gets broken!

Hope you enjoy it though, especially when you either A) look at one and go "Hey, I have a client that thinks that!" or 2) look at one and go, "Hey, *I* used to do that!"

Good times.

Keywords really are where it’s at.

March 24, 2009 on 9:58 am
Filed Under:SEO

When it comes to pursuing any sort of venture in the realm of Web Marketing, you need to start with keywords to get any sort of handle on what’s going to happen next. From simple Search Engine Optimisation to fine-tuning your sales funnel to get better conversions (and other markety-sounding terms that I can bust out with the best of ‘em), you need to know what people are more likely to type into that query box.

It’s not just that li’l ol’ search phrase either, that will tell the tale. It’s what they’ll do after based on how they got there. “create photo book” is more than likely someone searching for a website that will either sell them a photo book package or direct them to a brick-and-mortar establishment that will help them build their own. “digital photo book” gets a bit trickier, in that it may be someone that’s looking for exactly the same thing as the previous, but it is more likely to be someone looking for a product that operates similar to a regular photo book but has a digital display, similar to digital photo frames.

One may be easier to rank for and one may show that your website is already ranking fairly well for it. Heck, it may even show that you’re getting substantial amounts of traffic to your site based on searches for that phrase. This may or may not be a good thing.

Here’s where the analytics kicks in, and we see where your visitors went after that. It’s called a “Bounce rate” and it can tell us a lot about whether or not “digital photo book” people left your site after seeing that you’re more about regular old paper “photo books” and not the digital variety at all.

The downside is that without the website traffic, analytics really don’t tell us much, and we’re left to what amounts to a fair bit of guesswork. Big Googs themselves provide estimates on monthly search numbers, but being that they’re just estimates and there’s really no benefit to them in providing actual search data (I’m sure they’ll find a benefit before too long and then find a way to charge us for it) we are still left just taking our best shot.

That’s where the psychology of it shows up, and we have to do our best to understand not only our client’s business, but the mentality of those that are seeking it as well.

And picking the best keyword for this is where that starts.

Oh NOES, Google Results Using AJAX?!?

February 6, 2009 on 8:45 am
Filed Under:SEO, Web, Around the Web

Search Engine Land plopped an

interesting article

into my inbox this morning and as I was leaving an insanely long comment on that blog, it occurred to me to just post it here.

I love the hand-flapping and red-flag waving that happens whenever the Googs seems to be messing with our lives.

Sometimes I wonder if they don’t necessarily do it under the auspices of a "better user experience" and only do some of this stuff to create columns like this and put all us poor SEOs in a panic.

I don’t, for one second, believe that Google would do something to their search results that would render their own Analytics tool less-capable.  Nor do I believe that they would do anything that could do such damage to the analytics software industry.

Has no one wondered what their motivation for doing such a thing would be?

Seriously, when was the last time Google went and did something that so drastically mucked with all our lives that we got mad at them and lost money and clients and shaved all our cats?  The Florida Update?  From my memory of the experience, all that did was teach us to be a bit more scrupulous (or at least educated in Google’s "rules") in our search engine optimisation efforts.

So, at the risk of sounding too rational and pragmatic and not handflappy enough, I say "So what?"

Google is testing something and may change the entire way they do things…

So what?

So you may have to change the way you do things as well?  So you may have to clean up a few of your processes and applications that you’ve long depended on?

Get real and adapt and adjust or die.

I know I’ll be fine, and No, that doesn’t mean I won’t have to do anything.  I may have to work my ass off to get my systems to catch up to an all-AJAX SERP from Google, but that’s fine, because there’s probably a lesson in there about how to do things better.

Alrighty, my rant’s over.  Catch you later, and have a good website.

The More Things Change…

December 2, 2008 on 11:49 am
Filed Under:SEO

While it seems like every 3-4 months or so, the SEO blogging World is all a-twitter (see what I did there?) about some Google shake-up, if you’re on-the-ball with what your web-oriented business is really doing, you don’t necessarily worry about any of them.

My fundamental tenet is basically "Have a Good Website" and that pretty much sums up what I help my clients with.

Lately "The Googs" has given us Customisable Listings, like so:

Google's Customisabe Listings

With the ability to move a site up or down in the search results based on your preferences, and is also dependent upon you having a Google Account.

Now they’ve thrown in an additional spot for you to search locally for more generic search terms, such as "dentist", like so:

Google's Local Search

Whether they’re considered a megalomanical cadre bent on World Domination, or just the biggest and bestest game in town, they have always stated that they’re out to "Do No Evil" and have, in my opinion, strived to give searchers the most accurate and relevant results they can.

These latest changes, despite their potential impact on the way many perform Search Engine Optimisation, are no different.

What I hear and what I read will almost consistently sound like "Oh, better tighten up how you do things, Googs has changed the game again!"

My response to this, whether internal while I listen to this or external while I write this, will continue to be "Have a Good Website" and people will find you.

Probably the most sincerest form of marketing there is.  Have something that offers value and spread word of it.  If you’re not a very good deal, your lack of business will show for it.  Conversely, if you’re a fantastic deal and do things right the first time, you’ll see results of that in the form of an increase in your business.  Whether that comes from word-of-mouth referrals or from directly quantifiable search traffic, the fundamentals haven’t changed.

Have a Good Website.

If it’s good enough, it’ll get found.  If you aren’t sure how to do it, then hire me.

Free Keyword Research?

August 11, 2008 on 1:08 pm
Filed Under:SEO

Google’s done it, and it’s the talk of the town. While running some routine keywords through their AdWords Keyword Tool the other day, I noticed that instead of the usual ‘0.66’ and ‘0.33’ business that they had going on before had been replaced with actual numbers.

I was elated.

Not only does it save a few steps, trying translate what ‘0.66’ means to me, but it’s data directly from the horse’s mouth, and can even be specific to Australia.

Oh happy day.

The answer to this one is pretty simple.

Doesn’t really matter.

Much like you don’t bet all your money on one horse at the racetrack, if you’re doing proper keyword research, you won’t pick your keywords based solely on data from one source alone, especially when there are several reputable and relevant sources out there.

This doesn’t mean I’m discounting that data by any stretch of the imagination, for it is unbelievably helpful, it just means that I’m factoring it into the mix with an increased, but not exclusive, relevance to my research.

So the bottom line is: It’s great, and saves me quite a bit of time in my more cursory research. But it isn’t the be-all, end-all, for keywords and I’m not going to trust it any more than any other keyword data provider.

If you’re smart, you won’t either.

Keyword Research - Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Contest

June 12, 2008 on 3:53 pm
Filed Under:SEO

Yep, I’ve entered into a contest on the Marketing Pilgrim website with an article called "How to Research Keywords".

I know, I KNOW, the title is pretty vanilla.  Consider that one a lesson learned.  Especially in light of the fact that the other entries are stacked on top of mine like kids in a dog pile, and only the ones with numbers ("5 Easy Ways to..") in them or CAPS actually stand out.  Oh, and the one that mentions Kobe Bryant.

All I need is to get into the Top 4 for traffic though, and I’ll have a chance at the Grand Final.

Unfortunately, without my entry being titled something WAY catchier, I doubt anyone’ll notice it.

I’m off to ideate and hopefully salvage my chances at winning this bugger.

Thanks to those that have hit the site, stayed for 2 minutes, and left a comment.  I’ll hook you up with some free research or something.

‘Til then, have a good website.

It may not be a lightbulb, but it’s still pretty big.

May 8, 2008 on 12:07 pm
Filed Under:SEO

I am, by no means, Thomas Edison, but after the last month or so, I can certainly understand a bit about how he felt.

I’ve written in here about my ideas, the tools that I’ve decided to build to make life easier for SEO/SEMs, website owners, everyone actually, and I’ve been going great guns ‘o glory on them for quite some time now.

I can remember the exact second I thought of them, and how I began working on them the next day, and in those moments I truly knew what it felt like to be an “inventor”.  The thing is, whenever I pictured Old Tommy Alva and his cool stuff churning out of Menlo Park, I never actually thought about how difficult it was for him to build some of these things.  The trial, the ERRORs, and the spirit it takes to pick your chin back up and tackle the damn thing again.

It is a trying process, to say the least.  I give thanks to those that are helping me test it, and for their invaluable feedback, but some of the headaches I’m experiencing on things that were just. so. simple. in my head are giving me… well… headaches.

One of the things that keep you going though, is that spirit that I mentioned above.  Whenever my energy towards these new “inventions” starts to flag and wane, I am further bolstered on by thoughts of how to make them bigger and even better, how to take things even more beyond the limits of conventional thought.  In short, dreaming again.

But dreams are good, they’re more than good, they’re great.  They keep us going through the humdrum of actually “working” and, in the end, make “work” not feel so much like work.

One is sometimes better than Two

April 22, 2008 on 11:16 am
Filed Under:SEO

Most folks cruising this blog for the first time may start to think that I’m a bit of a Mike Grehan fan because of the fact that I link to so many of his articles.  I’m afraid it’s true.

I can’t help it though.  Every single morning I read anywhere from 5-20 different newsletters and up to 30 blogs, ALL industry-centric, and the guy just writes stuff that so strongly resonates within me that I feel like I have to write about it.

Today is no different.  His article, “Analyze This, That, and the Other” is yet another example of not just the point that I try to get across to my clients and peers, but to the entire Web Industry, that SEO and Web Analytics are too important separately to NOT be put together.  They’re the core of my business and desperately need to be blended together into one, cohesively data-ed, easy-to-use tool that’s both good and good for you!

As I eluded to in my last post, I’m working on one and, while it’s still small I believe it’s important and if you’re an SEM/SEO I can think of no reason that you wouldn’t want to use it.

Web Analytics and Search Engine Optimisation have been too separate for too long.  Two separate logins, URLs, software apps, sections, or tabs on something-or-other isn’t working for me any more.  I’m putting it into ONE and it’s almost ready.

So, good on ya Mike, for yet another article that speaks to me.

Take it easy, and have a good website.

Something SEO this way comes…

April 21, 2008 on 12:15 pm
Filed Under:SEO

I’ve seen it happen all too often lately, where someone is hired simply for SEO and nothing more.  The client is looking to sit better with the Search Engines and figures that there’s some sort of “trickery” to get this to happen.  “If only we could hire someone to do something about it,” they think, “we could harness some of their witchcraft for our own purposes.”  Fiendish cackling aside, this is not terribly far off the mark as far as what goes down in the clients’ noggins.

So they hire someone to do some SEO, figuring that something magical may happen.  Sometimes it does, usually it doesn’t, and they go away wondering just that much more about whatever it is that happens when someone “performs” SEO.  Search Engine Optimisation isn’t a magic trick or waving a wand.  Anyone with 15 minutes to spare can Google the term and figure that much out.  Hopefully, information on the basics of it will spread thoroughly enough throughout the web such that the majority of people seeking the service will start to understand that.

Part of educating others is blogs like this one, where we debunk a few myths and basically use a very no-nonsense approach to our language and industry references.  I’m the same with my clients, in that I don’t sugar-coat a whole lot, instead shooting straight from the hip in the hopes that no one will have to waste time or money.

Well, I’ve been busy lately (too busy to even blog, heh), and I’ve been working on something that is even bigger than just words in a blog or a voice on a phone.  I’ve been building something.  I don’t want to go into too much detail just yet, but it’s pretty cool, this thing I’m building.  It literally “popped” my eyes open at about 4 AM a few weeks ago, and I haven’t stopped working on it since.

Here’s a basic rundown… I’d been thinking lately about all the SEO and Web Analytics tools out there, free and otherwise, that I use for my business and are pretty much integral to making me money.  Most of them are great and I love them, but I still use them for my explicit purposes, and not necessarily as the creator had in mind.  There are still other tools that only do a small fraction of what I really need, leaving me to do the rest manually.

Well, I started searching, really looking, for something that did what I, in particular, needed.  And I couldn’t find anything that did it.  Oh, some stuff came close, and I could pretty much do what I needed by combining data from about 5 different places, but who wants that?  At the end of the day, I wanted one place, for me and my clients, to stop in and check out how certain things were going.

And that’s what we’ve got now.  I’m just tweaking it and trying to make it a bit more usable.  Thankfully, I’ve got clients (and Friends!) that are helping me with this.   Soon, I’ll roll this sucker out to a few industry colleagues and have them see if it is indeed something that is both exciting and usable.

And, dear reader, once it’s ready, I’ll make it available to YOU.  Trust me, it’s worth the wait, especially for you SEOs out there that are tired of trying to be Google Webmasters too.

Until next time, have a good site.

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