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.
Social Media and Web 2.0
March 10, 2008 on 5:40 pm
Filed Under:SEO, Web
Jason Burby, another favourite over at ClickZ, recently wrote about Social Media and Web 2.0 and I am forced to echo his sentiments once again.
In times passed, I may or may not have been guilty of pushing the Web 2.0 aspect of site promotion a bit too hard, encouraging blogs and forums where they may not have been the absolute best solution. Now though, I can sum up my overall theories and beliefs on the best things for a site in one phrase:
Have a good website.
I say this quite often, I’m aware, but that’s because it’s so important to me. Part of the reason that SEO/SEM firms get such a bad rap about being snake-oil salesmen and scam artists is because so many of them push something purely because it’s working.
Social Media, sadly enough, is yet another victim of this. SEOs see that Digg and Reddit can drive traffic to a site and, as they’ve undoubtedly promised it already, they’ve got to deliver on some increases in traffic or end up looking inept. So, they throw a few articles in there, plug a few pages, and use these clever tools in ways that they weren’t originally intended.
Unfortunately, many Social Media sites are headed that direction, where they’re being used for the wrong purposes, and I fear they’re going to get burned by it.
The Social component to a site needs to be just that, social, and as soon as SEOs start making it too commercial then we’ve only given ourselves a bad name.
Yet again.
Combining your Pay-Per-Click Campaign with Search Engine Optimisation
March 3, 2008 on 9:18 am
Filed Under:SEO
I’ve heard it said enough, on enough SEO company sites, that your Search Engine Marketing strategy should always combine your Pay Per Click Campaign with your Search Engine Optimisation efforts.
While this is for the most part true, I don’t believe it’s absolutely integral to a solid campaign.
“What? Did he just say I don’t need to do the thing that every other SEO says I have to do?”
You got it.
Though much like everything in this online world, it all depends.
Sure, if you’re a brand-new site, don’t have much budget, and need to start getting some interest on your site quickfast, PPC is the way to go. SEO should always, ALWAYS, be there though, regardless of whether or not you’ve got a Pay Per Click Campaign going.
And also much like everything else in this world, it comes down to budget too.
If you’re new at this, then using just a bit of your budget to get some exposure, as well as get a feel for the market and keywords, is a fine idea and PPC is a decent way to do this. But, if your site has been optimised, you’ve got a solid idea of what the market looks like, and you’ve even done some keyword research, then I find that it’s a better idea to save your budget for companies like ours.
Depending on the bidding competition, you’re sometimes better off paying someone like me to do your keyword research and hustle to get you that one, high quality, high profile, highly relevant link, which in turn will drive your site’s value up as well as give you plenty of traffic.
It’s been my experience that Pay Per Click has it’s place, a close second to SEO in some cases, but your money can be better spent getting the right kind of qualified and relevant traffic to your site via quality linking. To me, it’s a much firmer foundation for traffic than something that people may or may not arbitrarily click on and you have to pay for regardless of whether or not they actually do anything on your site.
These Are A Few Of My Favourite Blogs.
February 29, 2008 on 5:08 pm
Filed Under:SEO, Web
Raindrops on kittens and plucking some chickens… or something like that.
The time is long overdue that I actually shoot some props out to those that have, quite honestly, made me better at what I do. Search Engine Optimisation, not the singing of the songs part.
In no particular order, simply by how I found them:
Online Marketing Blog - Lee Odden’s a bit of a stud, and throws around a bit of weight in the SEO World. Weight that he got from clout and such, not cheeseburgers.
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO - Think the name pretty much speaks for itself. I like it because occasionally he lets out Google secrets and paints his face like a cat.
SEOmoz Blog | Search Engine Marketing News & Tips - Rand Fishkin is somebody that I think I could have a serious drink with and talk all night about bidness and fun and how to mix the two.
He has help on the blog, of course, by too many talented folks for me to list. Heck, I’ve even contributed on the YouMoz part.
Graywolf’s SEO Blog - A quality blog from another respected name in the industry.
SEO Theory - SEO Theory and Analysis Blog - Michael Martinez gives me the in-depth and techie information with great insights.
Ramblings about SEO - I have to confess that I originally kept coming back to their site, and their blog, because their name is so damn cool. It’s like that great grunge band, but different. Eric Enge is a quality dude, and I’m always excited to see him either writing or posting elsewhere.
Internet Marketing News | Marketing Pilgrim - Ah, Marketing Pilgrim. So much to offer, so little time. Though I may usually scan through most of the articles and tend to focus on anything by my buddy, Andy Beal, I dig all their writers and will frequently click on something that interests me in my Google Alerts only to find out it’s from Marketing Pilgrim.
Plus, they gave me $500 in a contest and gave my kids a better Christmas. That’s the kind of thing that’ll make me love somebody for Life.
SEO Consulting that doesn’t suck - Stuntdubl - “Gettin’ hit by traffic…not cars.” - Affiliated with Marketing Ninjas, I do believe, and quite ninjatastic. To be blatantly honest though, doesn’t update enough. UPDATE MORE.
SEO by the SEA - Bill Slawski is a name that I kept seeing on various forums before I realised that it’s the same guy that writes here.
He gives more information than I can possibly comprehend on the techier side of Search Engines and their algorithms, crawling, and ranking systems.
Livin’ the dream — Tropical SEO - This guy is awesome because he call ‘em like he sees ‘em. Couldn’t have it any other way. Except the way where he UPDATES MORE.
Brian Chappell - Search / Social Marketer and Link Specialist - Has plenty of links to great tools and sites and such.
Web Analytics Blog | Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik - I LOVE this guy. Avinash not only has a highly unique and entertaining insight into everything from basic web design to business advice, but also works at Google and sometimes tells secrets about it.
Okay, he actually doesn’t tell any secrets, but it’s still really cool that he works at Google.
Vox Fortis Communications - One of my absolute favourites as far as an all-around business-minded, SEO-centric, witty and real writer. Susan is awesome, and I only wish that this blog got more readers simply so that I could share her with more folks.
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog - This one’s kind of a gimme, but there’s useful stuff on there every couple of weeks and worth keeping an eye on.
———————-
Thanks to all those above. You’re not all of everybody I’d credit for my knowledge, because that’s mostly me, but you’ve had a part in it, so thanks for that.
That’s it for now. I’ve got a whole ‘nother folder in my bookmarks though, that I’ll be sending the linky goodness out to sometime in the near future, so keep an eye out.
Blogging for Search Engine Optimisation
February 26, 2008 on 10:07 am
Filed Under:SEO
Mike Grehan has written yet another article over at ClickZ that I feel I must follow up on, appropriately titled, “Blogging for Search Engine Optimization“. Not necessarily the most unique title for my post, but it fit, and I swapped the “z” for “s” accordingly.
Back in the earlier days of SEO I learned some of my first real and lasting lessons simply by following my blog statistics. I’d been writing it for a very short time, on it’s free-hosted site, before I got a link from an insanely popular other blog. A guy who eventually became a very good friend of mine actually wrote one of those cultural icons, one of those emails that you get forwarded from a friend that just says “FUNNY!” which, in this case, is a profound understatement as this is the kind of thing that makes you laugh so hard you blow coffee out your nose.
I’d emailed him, he’d linked me, and I watched my statistics explode. Not just from visitors from his site, but now people landing on my site for terms that weren’t even necessarily on my site. Odd things, random things, phrases that had nothing to do with my site, yet Google seemed to like me for anyway. I’ll refrain from the exact wordings here, but most were not terribly appropriate to be searching on.
What it taught me though, was that the more I updated, the more the Googlebot came back, and the more I used certain terms on the site, the more likely I was to get hits from Google for them… sometimes within hours. My blog wasn’t written for Search Engine Optimisation, but I was watching it in action anyway.
As you do, I started experimenting, and then starting implementing things I’d learned on my company’s website. My fear of getting Dooced kept me from telling my superiors where I’d learned these tricks and tactics, but they were effective enough to keep anyone from asking.
By the time that I’d started my own company starting a blog was a no-brainer, but being a a professional SEO expert by this point meant that I would actually have to tone down my writing back to a human level. This is the hurdle that I imagine Mike Grehan is speaking to most, as it is typical in this fast-paced world for people to see something that brings positive results quickly and leap all over it.
The key, as it always seems to be, is to write for your users first, Search Engine’s second. Unless you want lots of hits for nerf dart guns or peanut butter parties, that is. Freaks.
Research the Client, Research their Market, Research their Keywords
February 18, 2008 on 2:59 pm
Filed Under:SEO, Web
Being an SEO is great because on any given day I can be involved in several different, and pretty cool, industries. When I’ve got my research hat on and I’m working on any number of clients’ sites during the day, I may be hiring a camper van bound for Broome or I may be sizing myself for a 13th Century metal breastplate that can withstand a direct hit from a knight’s lance.
It definitely keeps things interesting, especially when conducting research.
I’ll be the first to admit that the idea of research of almost any kind doesn’t exactly excite me. My eyelids instantly and involuntarily start to droop the minute my thoughts go anywhere near data collection and the like.
And yet, it’s a fairly big part of what I do. And I’m good at it. And, once I get going on it, I secretly really enjoy it. I suppose research really isn’t that boring then is it? Someday I’ll train that part of my brain on that as well.
The opportunity to work with a client that is already reasonably familiar with Search Engine Optimisation and Search Marketing is nice, because I don’t have to explain as much and also because I can get even more of a feel for my competition and how they’ve been handled before.
This is how I found that one of the major discrepancies I’ve found between myself and many other SEOs out there is the sheer amount of research I do. Some just take client-suggested keywords, plant them strategically on their site, and gather up some relatively useless links, giving the client only what they appear to have asked for… and nothing more.
Our focus is on more than just getting you optimised and getting you out the door with your keywords and a smile. We’re about getting your site to be all that it can be (just like those ads for the U.S. Army) and part of that is making sure that we’re not accepting your money for an incomplete job. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you are on the web, you’re looking for success.
Who are you to the Web World?
Our research is what sets us apart from our competition. We make sure we know you, the client, what you’re about, what you’re trying to sell and how. We get a solid idea of the ins-and-outs of your business before we go anywhere. Then, of our own accord, we research YOU. Nothing involving fingerprints or e-stalking, of course, but we see where your site is mentioned and in what context.
Where do you stand in it?
Next, we research the marketplace in your industry. If you sell Blue Shoes, we go out and see what kind of folks also sell Blue Shoes. We want to know how they sell them, for how much, and where. If they’re doing more with what they’ve got, and they’ve got about the same as you, then we figure you’d like to know where they’re experiencing success, and therefore where you can too.
How can they find you?
Part of the research into your web presence is more than just who’s talking about you, it’s about where you are showing up for searches that lead users to your competition. Where are you in the race? Even if it’s for a search term that you don’t even want to target, we think it’s important for you to know what’s out there and where certain possibilities lie.
Your keywords are basically the last step in our research. Once we know who you are, who your clients are, we can start to figure out how we’re going to help them find you. We can compile data on 75 keywords, but if we already know that 90% of them are going to be searching on the American spelling of a certain word, then we can effectively eliminate the need to further research certain other terms.
Research, Research, Research
Though I may initially be bored with the idea, nothing excites me more than delving headfirst into a whole pool’s worth of new information through research. I love finding out new things about places that I have never been and things that I have never experienced before. I love having a diverse array of clients that offer a chance to break away from some of the tedium.
I even love the tedium, though I rarely admit it.
Good SEO Companies Diversify.
January 15, 2008 on 9:57 am
Filed Under:SEO, Web
Mike Grehan recently wrote a column titled, “The Diminishing Value of the SEO Shop” which, as doomsday-ish as it may sound, is actually pretty accurate in it’s foretelling of where the industry will probably head.
When I started doing SEO, back in they day, it wasn’t even called that. In fact, I don’t recall it even having a name other than “our static pages”, meaning link-heavy directory-style pages whose content didn’t tend to change.
While our ideas, tactics, and their implementation were ever-changing, the bulk of the SEO that we did was a fire-and-forget missile (lock onto the target, launch and then wait for the “BOOM”). Monitoring and analysis was ongoing, but the SEO efforts were really only changed in minor ways every 6 months or so.
Finding myself in an industry where I was referring to myself as an “SEO” more and more, I also found that I was doing more and more to enhance what I was offering in terms of SEO. At times, it went beyond optimising for search engines and into the usability and functionality aspects of a site, though the line item on the invoices was still “Search Engine Optimisation”.
Our company now finds itself unique among our competitors as we’ve broken out that secondary step of optimising a website into something that we call, for now, Web Analytics, with a tagline that should be something along the lines of, “Optimising for Search Engines is only the first part, you’ve got to have a web site that people like too.”
Jex Analytics has a focus on the bigger picture in a time when there just doesn’t seem to be a name for it yet other than Web Consultants, and even that can lend itself to ambiguity.
The point is, regardless of what you call it, it all comes down to making a site as successful as possible (making the most money really). Grehan may sound as if he’s bagging on the purely SEO firms, but he’s not. What he’s actually saying is that, much like our SEO tactics of, “Experiment, Analyse, Adjust” we, as businesses, need to do the same.
When it’s time to optimise a site web consultants, SEO experts, web analytics experts or whatever you wish to call them, need to think more about the bigger picture and less about the nuts and bolts of how to get a site’s rankings to improve.
Rankings, Traffic, and PageRank are all important things (well, the latter may depend on who you talk to) but the fundamental tenet that anyone interested in success should cling to is simple:
Have a Good Website.
The unspoken thought following this is, of course, ‘and then hire us to make it better‘.
Dear Google Claus…
January 3, 2008 on 9:16 am
Filed Under:SEO
I honestly and sincerely thought that I had been an extra good boy this year. I played by all the rules, was patient and kind, and was rewarded accordingly.
That is, until Christmas Day.
As you well know there’s a certain key phrase that’s been quite good to us over this past year, bringing in folks looking for a good quality service, Search Engine Optimisation in Perth, Western Australia.
For some reason, instead of a shiny new bike or even the gift of continuing Goodwill and Good Fortune, I got a great big ol’ lump of coal. Our ranking for two of our most important phrases dropped from Page Numbering ONE way down to Page of the Number THREE.
That’s not particularly in keeping with the Christmas Spirit now is it?
What is it that I can do? Should I blog more? Should I get more inbound links? Give more to charity?
I suppose I’ll just do my best, and continue plugging along and following the rules and just hope that you were trying to teach me some sort of lesson about not taking something so good for granted.
Lesson Learned. And it’s a Brand New Year! Let’s start it off with a bang, eh?
Please?
Sincerely Yours,
Jex Analytics
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