•  Do you still have to check your ranking by hand? Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
• Do you use Excel to try and keep track of websites you’ve gained links from in the past? Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
• Do you have to log separately into Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter to see their statistics and measure your engagement with clients?
• Do you struggle with finding a trustworthy source of cost effective content writing for your website copy? Then the bird said, “Nevermore.

Listen to me, I’ve been a believer in Raven SEO Tools since they gave me a free T-shirt 3 years ago and I logged into their platform for the first time. It gave me access to track keywords, build a profile for each client where I could log links I’d built and gave me analytical tools to improve those client’s websites. They have improved since then, with UI updates, and new features and capabilities that have changed with the boom of social media.

So, trust me when I say they are awesome. They’ve got a 30day trial thingy, and here is a non-affiliate link http://raventools.com. You won’t be dissapointed. (BTW…if you waaant to, your can use my affiliate link, it”s not mandatory, but certainly appreciated.)

P.S! I nearly jumped out of skin, as I was saying out loud to myself  “Then the bird said, “Nevermore”, I hear TAP! TAP! TAP! On my office window! It was THIS GUY!

(I named him Steve!)

One of the key factors to any successful online marketing strategy for a small business owner just starting out with search engine optimization, pay per click and other strategies is to first identify your audience.  The best way to do this is to get an idea of what people might be searching for when looking for your products or services.

I’ve spent the last seven years working with a few hundred clients.  Every one of them started out with me completing some pretty detailed keyword research.  Needless to say, I’ve spent some time over the years waste deep with keyword research.  I’ve manually typed out lists, semi automated spreadsheet software and most recently have dived into a little more advanced spreadsheet automation.

Roughly a month ago I set out to evolve once again in regards to one aspect of my keyword research and that is to completely automate the list creation process.  What started out as a small project for my own personal use, quickly became a concept for an online keyword discovery tool that any small business owner in real estate, mortgages, retail or marketing consultant can use when starting in on their own keyword research efforts.

Today I launched my keyword discovery tool that will help quickly create a list of local specific keywords based off of the answers you provide to three simple questions.  Those questions are:

1. What areas (Cities, Counties, Neighborhoods) do you work in?
2. What service / product (plumbing, plumber, plumbing services, etc.) do you sell?
3. What state are you in?

A list of three areas and three niche phrases will result in 27 possible keyword combinations.  A list of three areas and six niche phrases will result in 54 keywords and the possibilities are endless.

I actually saw the update last night just 10 minutes after I changed my Title. What really fascinated me though was that I also immediately broke into the top spot for Diamond Bar SEO. Now I know that I’ve built up some authority over the years, this is a blog and not a static website, and that it’s not a competitive term by any means, but I think that SEOers who have been around for a while should re-evaluate their expectations when it comes to timelines and estimating when Google has recognized an update.

SEO copywriting is the glue that brings all your other online marketing efforts together. Without strong glue, everything unravels, and you get no results.

If you aren’t converting visitors into customers, it could be that you’re making one or more of these 7 SEO copywriting mistakes.

1. Targeting the wrong keywords—Just because you’re ranking well doesn’t necessarily mean you’re targeting the right keywords. You want to focus your SEO efforts on keywords that draw in searchers who are in the final stages of the buying cycle. Never guess about which keywords you should be targeting. Do your research. There are several great keyword research tools online you can take advantage of.
2. Stuffing keywords—I can’t believe I still see this mistake, but I do. Amateur SEO copywriters think that repeating the keyword as often as possible increases their chances of ranking well in the SERPs. Even if that was true (and it’s not), this method completely overlooks the fact that you need to actually convert visitors into customers. Keyword-stuffed copy doesn’t convert. Don’t just write for the search engines; write for your ideal customer as well.
3. Making word count a priority—One SEO myth that just won’t die is that there’s some magic word count you have to hit if you want Google to rank your page properly. Some people say that you need at least 250 words; others believe it’s 400 words. The truth? It doesn’t matter. Just search for any phrase, and look at the top results. The word counts are all over the place. Instead of focusing on hitting a certain word count, just focus on writing clear, concise copy, no matter what the length.
4. Not being focused on the consumer—One of my favorite copywriting tools is the We We Calculator. The purpose of this tool is to ensure your web copy is focused on the customer…not you. See, customers are selfish. They only care about how your products and services will benefit them. Your copy needs to use the word “you” as often as possible. Limit the use of “me”, “we”, “us”, etc. because no one really cares about you.
5. Writing copy that’s difficult to scan—Eyetracking studies show that online users tend to scan content rather than read it. They scan in an F-shaped pattern, trying to get the gist of your copy as quickly as possible. This means you need to write copy that’s easy to scan. How can you do this? Use short paragraphs, short sentences, bulleted lists, and bolded text to highlight important information throughout.
6. Having a weak call to action—How can you expect your website visitors to take action if you don’t tell them what action you want them to take? One thing I’ve noticed is that too many copywriters are afraid to sell. They’re constantly demeaning sales-y copy, and they’re always trying to tone down their copy. Look, I’m not saying your copy needs to read like a Billy Mays infomercial script, but let’s cut to the chase, you’re selling products and services. So, sell them! You need to have a clear, strong call to action that motivates visitors to take action now. Keep your call to action brief, and only ask visitors to take one action so you don’t overwhelm them.
7. Not being credible—One of the biggest challenges companies experience when selling online is that customers just don’t trust them. With every word you write, you should be working toward building your credibility. Use statistics whenever possible, and it’s always a good idea to include testimonials on your website.

Take a look at your website copy. Are you making any of these mistakes?

About the Guest Author:

Gagandeep Singh works for a conversion rate optimization company Invesp and blogs about landing page templates, conversion rate optimization, SEO and affiliate marketing.

While many of us in online marketing are SEOs and work on a full time basis with web sites, and keeping ourselves updated with tons of articles from everywhere on the interwebs, it’s possible for some of us to lose track of the basics from time to time.  That’s why it never hurts to review the basics [of onsite search engine optimization] every once in awhile to keep our foundation strong and hopefully never forget these essentials to ranking well!

Title

This may be a no-brainer but there are still a few web sites I’ve been to that have even neglected to add their title!  Or, they leave an obvious default title that is not going to help anyone who’s searching on Google find the site.  It’s important to have a good well-written title!  The function of the title tag is to tell search engines what the page is actually about.  So, be sure to have your major keywords in the title, at the very least.  The title should be around 50-60 characters at the most.

Meta Description

A well-crafted Meta Description is another important on site item on your page.  This is essential because it does 2 things at once:  it tells potential clients running across your listing on search engines what your page is about, and can help convert a lead by enticing clients to click on the link and move forward into your site.  However, it really isn’t used by Google to that much as far as keywords are concerned.  Keep the description to 150-160 characters.

H1s, H2s, H3s

These are all header tags.  They need to be a part of the page because keywords and descriptions within these header tags tell Google what is actually on the page.  It helps to establish a page structure/hierarchy that will actually help your rankings. [Header tags also help break up the various topics on the page for the user, so it makes for a much easier experience.]

Internal Linking

This is another important page item.  Using appropriate internal linking does 2 things at once – it tells people what’s behind a link on a page, and it tells the search engines what to follow, what not to follow, what to index, and what not to index.  In short, links are the backbone of the world wide web.  Without links, you can’t expect Google to do much in terms of spidering and indexing your site.  Use links with anchor text that accurately describes the name of the page.  It’s important not to mislead your users or search engines, as doing so can raise red flags that your site may possibly be considered spam.

Keyword Mentions On the page

There is an age old myth in SEO that’s based on keyword density.  The keyword density myth includes requirements that claim anything from a 10% keyword density to more than 25% keyword density is a ranking factor and can get you ranked.  In all of my experience as an SEO, I have not seen this to be true.  One or two mentions of a targeted keyword on a single page is really all you need.  Anything more than that is unnecessary. [SEO Moz did an excellent article on keyword targeting that deserves a read]

Images

This may be the last thing that you think of when it comes to basics, but it’s probably one of the most important.  If you create images for your site and they take too long to load, that can cause search engines to spider your site more slowly than they would have otherwise, leading to slow site load times and other issues that can have a negative effect on your rankings.  In addition, it can cause a high bounce rate, a major limiting factor when it comes to increasing your lead conversions.  Instead, always ensure that you optimize your images for the fastest download times.  This will make it easier on both your users and search engine spiders who spider your site. [Additionally, if you're adding images, be sure to upload them with appropriate file names. A project I assisted with had a background image labeled skeleton.jpg, and 4 months later it was ranking for "skeleton in desert", "jack skeleton" and other terms, when there was no other reference at all on site in meta text or text about "skeleton".]

Image Alt Text

This is usually incorrectly referred to as the image alt tag.  It’s not actually a tag.  It’s the alternate text attribute of the image tag.  The reason it’s an attribute is because it’s something that you add to the image tag that tells it what to call the image.  See, by default Google does not read images – while they may spider and index them by file name, Google sees images as a blank space on the page.  So, you need to have some kind of text that appears in place of the image to tell the search engine what’s really there.  Enter image alt text.  Keyword rich, appropriate image alt text can actually help your rankings.  But, be sure that it describes the image itself and isn’t just laced with a number of keyword repetitions that are useless to the user.

Valid coding practices

This is true whether you’re a designer, SEO, or developer.  You need to have good coding on your site.  If you don’t or you’re not sure, then you’d best get over to the W3C and crack open your site with their HTML validator to ensure that you have valid code.  Or, you can utilize any of the cheap or free HTML validator software that’s available online.  Valid code ensures that your site design is going to work on many modern browsers on the market. [Remember that with all of the various browsers, and various versions of those browsers that site rendering may be different on each platform, and browser specific elements can be established in your CSS code to adjust for this. Additionally, more outdated browsers are now getting messages from places like Twitter that their browser is outdated, and should be updated.]

These are essential basics [for onsite optimization] that must be on your site to help it rank well.  Even if you know these by heart already, it’s always a good idea to review them from time to time to ensure that you’re optimizing your web sites correctly.  Remember – only you can prevent web site penalties!

When I first saw someone solve a Rubik’s cube,  it looked like magic. A bewildering flash of turning corners, spinning layers and yet flashes of some type of pattern to how it was done… I felt the same level of intimidation when I started working on websites and was being told how you get a website to rank in the search engines.

With the Rubiks cube I found myself picking it up again and again despite the fact that again and again I’d find myself stuck, or undoing all of my hard work!

In a similar way I’d begun my journey to learn Search Engine Optimization, and I’d find myself making misteps, get frustrated with how things came out and be on the border of giving up… but still sticking to it.

De-Mystifying The Process

As anyone who does slight-of-hand tricks will tell you, the first hundred times you attempt your trick it will be bumbling, slow and awkward. The same is true of learning and implementing SEO tactics online. However, now I can solve a Rubiks cube in just a couple of minutes, no matter how mixed up it is… I think that looking at how you approach a Rubiks cube is very helpful as you approach Internet Marketing. These are the basic steps you’ll need to take and the posts I will be making over the next few weeks:

• Understand The Basic Moves
• Learn the Algorithm
• Solve Layer By Layer
• Go Backwards To Go Forward
• Deal With Missteps
• Go Past Your First Win
• VICTORY IS MINE(Again and Again)!

Why Did You Hire An Expert You Ignore?

This is the first thought that immediately comes to mind, for me is, “If you believed so solidly in your own website marketing/design prowess then why did you reach out and HIRE someone to make these changes?”  Seriously. I know what I’m doing and have justifiable reasons for implementing changes, so why won’t you just let me do my job?

Understanding Your Clients

Now with each of these situations, it has been a sole proprietor/small business owner, and that gives us a clue to unravel the mystery. These are people who have made the bold decision to strike out on their own, and have obviously made a living at their profession and have a wealth of experience in their industry/niche. As a website marketer, we need to understand and harness that experience, and hopefully guide those decisions in the right direction.

Downsize The Ego And Listen

If there’s anything bigger than my Ego around here I want it trapped and shot. – Zaphod Beeblebrox -Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

So the first step is to take your EGO out of the equation, and simply ask them why they think that it’s a good idea to have a flash introduction to their website. Do they need a flash intro? No, but hear them out and understand where they got the motivation for their bad idea. HERE’S THE KEY: Let them continue explaining until they actually ask for your opinion. This will put you back into the position as the authority in the situation, if you are addressing them and trying to convince them that their idea is bad they may be simply defending their past actions and their ego. By allowing them the chance to (attempt to) explain, it moves the situation out of the personal realm and will give you the power to logically construct a valid reason to dissuade them… If you’re successful then you’ve assisted the client in not only avoiding a bad decision, but to truly understand your reasoning and logic that brought you to that conclusion.

Personal Opinion: Email = Destroyer Of Compromise

On a personal note here, I have worked in some form of web related customer service for the past 6 years. Out of all the hundreds of situations where there’s been a heated difference of opinion between me and a client, the majority of the time it’s resolved by actually talking, and not via email. This is mostly because you don’t have to actually read and understand an email…you and your client can just skim over the email and gloss over the arguments/facts/scenarios presented so that each of you can then hit them again with an opposing opinion. Aside from that, it’s much harder to be snarky and sarcastic over the phone than it is through digital communication, ask anyone who’s been flamed on a forum/twitter/blog. (This is my opinion only..any one out there actually have more success with email?)

What if they don’t change their mind?

So you listen to them explain and bring up the most elaborate and thorough treatise on the proper use of meta-tags that mankind has ever heard..and yet they still decide to restore that tag to it’s spammful position. Who knows they may have found some small reason for bad design/marketing choice, and are still be convinced by their own argument… At that point, it would seem wise to remember the saying:

He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day!

What Say You?

So, are there any SEO/Design Horror stories out there? How did you handle the situation… any you might do different now?

Google Is My “Other Lady”

I came to the realization that the relationship that I have with Google is actually extremely similar to the relationship I have with my wife *shameless promotion* who runs an awesome online vintage shop. Looking at the way that I interact, communicate and understand what it is that Google is looking for mirrors the way that I find ways to communicate and interact in my romantic relationship. So we can take a stab at understanding Google’s ranking factors, by looking at the factors in our relationships.

Communication is Key

When you are talking to a girl, and hope to begin a relationship you have to let them know about you, who you are, what you do, and what your interests are in life. When you are building a website, you need to also be communicating to Google who you are, what you do, and what interests might bring people to your website. You can’t just be fluff, you have to have content that’s relevant and makes “semantic sense”. This means that the year 2000 tactics of stuffing pages full of keywords and not actually using real sentences is out. The way you present yourself and dress does say something about you, no it’s not just being shallow. If you like to wear a stained and faded black sabbath t shirt with hopelessly ripped jeans, it sends a message about you. Header tags ( h1, h2, h3 etc) have the same effect, they send a clear signal about your page’s content, so be sure to use them effectively.

Meta-tags: The Pick Up Line

Do you believe in love at first sight…or should I walk by again?

You only have one chance to make a first impression, and being far too forceful can have just a negative impact on your chances of impressing Google, as an attractive woman. In your first conversation, you also need to be truthful about what it is you actually do. If you claim to be “in finance” and turn out to be a cashier at the local Quikie Mart, then you aren’t going to be seen as particularly trust worthy.

In your meta-title, description and keywords you need to describe what it is your site is about, without adding items that you don’t actually cover. Also be sure not to stuff your meta-keywords with tons of repetitions or words and topics your site doesn’t cover. Recently Google made a change to it’s handling of meta-tags for longer queries, and uses items from the page to understand context, and this is important because it means that Google is looking past the “pick up lines” and looking at the content of your site, and letting searchers see more of the context from your page before they even click through to your site.

Don’t hate the Player, Hate the Game

If the people who know you refer to you as “shady”, or “flirtatious”, then a woman you want to be in a relationship with is going to be second guessing you, questioning your actions and generally not going to be secure in her relationship with you. Likewise, if you hang out with a crowd of people that are constantly having “drama”, getting in arguments with their girlfriends, go out gambling and hanging out in strip clubs, you are most likely hurting your chances. Whether you think it’s fair or not, people are going to make assumptions about you and your character based off the company you keep. Even worse is if you consistently stand up and talk up these people as your close friends who can be trusted…when they can’t be.

Google also looks at who your website is “hanging out with”, and is going to analyze your online relationships. If you’re linking out to adult and gaming websites, and recommending your visitors to those types of sites, you’re going to lose credibility with Google. What other sites say about you will be used by Google to evaluate your relevance to a particular topic, so be sure you’re getting good “anchor text” from reputable websites that are related to your site’s theme, topic, or geographic area.

It’s All About Trust

To summarize my analogy, no relationship can function without trust. Without it, both partners will start taking on negative behaviors, and trust me, you do NOT want to have Google as your Ex-Girlfriend! But if you stick to the straight and narrow, and faithfully update your content, find trustworthy links and friends to support you, then you will over time become more and more trustworthy to Google and your girlfriend.

I Now Pronounce You Man and Search Engine

A relationship in the end is about commitment. If you do not commit yourself to the time needed to write content, create videos, blog, respond to blog comments, submit yourself to directories, put out link bait, promote yourself socially then you’re not going to have a very successful website or online presence. So get over your commitment issues, and go for it! Now repeat after me:

I SEOer,
Take Thee Google,
To Love and to Optimize for,
With useful, unique content
through serp changes and algorithm updates,
For Adsense or Adwords campaigns,
Till Death or Server Outage do us part.

Pay attention to the bones of your Site: File Names

Well, I just went back and checked in to my Google webmaster tools account and discovered something very strange for this real estate and local centric website for La Quinta, CA…

I was totally confused why this site had so many different terms that it ranked for for “Skeleton”… Well I did some digging and realized that when I built the site, I had added the background image with the file name “images/skeleton.gif”. The rest of the site has NOTHING to do with skeletons but here Google is giving rankings for a wide mix of terms related to the main content of the page, as well as for terms related to skeletons! For example Google webmaster tools showed me ranking 48 for [Jack Skeleton] from Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as [skeleton in desert] which seemed to have used the geographic context along with the filename. The lesson here for your site is that filen ames are one of the many factors in how Google understands your website, so do everything you can to name them appropriately!