Archive for July, 2009

Racano Media – SEO Character Sheet

Posted by sracano83 in An SEO Auto-Biography on July 30th, 2009

Web pages are similar to online gaming characters in that they start of simple and rank up over time if worked on. Right now Racano Media would be considered a “noob” in the SEM field. The domain name is only 9 months old and what would be referred to as “play time” in an online game would be minimal at this point.

Racano Media does have a structure of directories and social media sites to work with to improve their ranking. To start, the site is listed in both Google and Yahoo local directories as well as DMOZ.org, webdesigners-directory.com , us-city.net, designfirms.org amongst a few others that do not have much or any effect on page ranking results.

In addition to these initial directory submissions, Racano Media is armed with a variety of social networking profiles to help spread material including technorati, digg, stumbleupon, twitter, facebook, myspace, linkedin, naymz, and younoodle.

Current inbound links range between 7 and 16 according to link tracking software. As you can see, this site is nowhere near complete and should provide some excellent examples during the optimization process.

sem, SEO

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Starting a “Mouseroots” Movement

Posted by sracano83 in An SEO Auto-Biography on July 30th, 2009

All good ideas have to start from the ground up. This concept is no different online than it is in any “real world” scenario except IT offers a variety of tools to help. A grassroots movement relies on its’ supporters to spread a message via “word of mouth” which leads to exponential growth. The goal of a “mouseroots” movement relies on “word of mouse” and the knowledge of how information spreads online. There is little that differentiates an online and offline campaign and the most beneficial campaigns stretch multiple media.

It is all about determining who your target audience is and what they would like. In the web design and online marketing industry the audience is primarily looking for tips for success. Keeping your audience intrigued is the most important part of any campaign. There are unlimited possibilities and ideas. Do a little research into successful campaigns of both yourself and competitors.

Every article I write, I ask myself “Who will be reading this?” and that is what determines the content, style, and language. The same aspect should be applied to all marketing efforts as well.

mouseroots, word of mouse

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A Bleak SEO Startup

Posted by sracano83 in An SEO Auto-Biography on July 30th, 2009

The goal of this site is to follow and analyze the tasks and routines involved in optimizing a startup company in a competitive keyword industry. I refer to it as a bleak startup based off the assumptions that a successful campaign is estimated to take 18 to 24 months for first page results, if not more. A company that is launching a new site needs to understand all the complications and challenges that will be faced along the way so a project schedule can be determined. Just like in any other logical business venture, milestones and goals must be clearly defined.

Let’s look at some of the challenges of existing competition that need to be overcome:

* High number of inbound links (Roughly 2,000+ for first page results for keyword phrase “NJ web design” or “NJ SEO”)
* Keyword phrases chosen have monthly search volumes of 100,000+ searches
* Starting with a page ranking of 0 with no budget

Knowing all these factors, I am still optimistic that this will be another successful venture. I plan to bring my site that recieves an average of 8 hits a day after 1 month of SEO to over 300 visits a day. Please feel free to share any suggestions and comments throughout this process as it is meant to help business owners understand all of the concepts involved in search engine marketing.

sem campaign, seo startup

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SEMMs for Local Business

Posted by sracano83 in Search Engine Optimization on July 25th, 2009

I frequently get asked about how to make local businesses visible in search engines. Many owners make the move online, do no research on online marketing, and then get no results from their endeavors. This article covers the “search engine marketing musts” (SEMMs) for local business owners including detailed descriptions for the least savvy internet user.

As you may already know search engine crawlers use a mix of page content, tags, links and open directory information to assist in ranking a website. Even though the internet is worldwide, there are easy ways to let search engines know about local business like restaurants, home improvement contractors, and medical and professional services.

Start with submitting your business to local directory listings. There are 4 musts in regard to local listings but feel free to submit to as many as you would like:

For Google and Yahoo it may be easiest to do a search for your business within their local listing sections to see if you are already listed. (or search Business name, Town State) If your business is already listed, this does not mean the listing is complete and the option to claim ownership should be chosen rather than creating a new listing from scratch.

Google: Visit http://www.google.com/local. Google local listings will require verification before showing a new listing. The fastest method of verification is by phone. It is as easy as receiving an automated phone call, and inputting the 5 digit verification code into a text box in your account. There are additional benefits of using Google local listings including placing coupons and other relevant information about your business.
Yahoo! Search Marketing: Visit http://listings.local.yahoo.com/. There are both free and enhanced listing options but I recommend setting up at least the basic listing option. Once creating an account select create new listing. For the free listing option please use the find out more button under the basic listing option. Next, click the sign up button which will bring you to an information form. Fill out all relevant information including the URL for your website. Most sites take 7-10 days for approval.
DMOZ.org: Getting admitted to the DMOZ open directory project can be difficult because of the large number of sites in review. The best way to get a listing is to follow the business category down as close to the region in which your business resides. Once in this category choose to suggest URL and input your business information. No confirmation will be sent so check back after 3-4 weeks to see if your listing has been accepted. If your listing is not accepted on the first submission attempt, wait a couple months and re-submit.
Your local town business directory: .gov links hold a high value with search engines and should not be overlooked. Most towns have local business directories. These listings may take longer than most other directories being accepted.

Other search engine marketing musts may be a little more complicated for less tech savvy business owners. Please view my other articles that describe how to set up a verified sitemap file and prepare meta tags and page content for web crawlers.