Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing Website? Talk to Your SEO Pro First!!!  One More thing...

... if you decide you want to emulate an "industry leader's" website, make sure that "leader" is really using a web design and a Search Engine Optimization Strategy that is going to boost your search positioning potential.

For instance, let's say you're a mid-size, natural dog food manufacturer and you want to compete with the well-known companies. (By the way, this is a fictional example and any similarities to real companies are purely accidental.) You decide you should have a website that is like "theirs" (since they are so successful) and you get your website designer to look at the big company sites to get an idea of a direction you need to take with your website design. Sound familiar?

Your website designer designs a site that has a gorgeous flash banner that takes up half of the web page showing beautiful, healthy dogs romping through a fantasy meadow, pulling dog sleds, swimming in a mountain lake, or saving a baby falling from a skyscraper - you get the picture(s); all the information about your dog food and company is within aesthetically-appealing graphics; there is no real informational/optimized content; the SEO is practically non-existent. You love it! 

Give it two months (give or take) and you'll find that your site can't be found because it's buried so deeply in the Google cellar that it's seems like you don't even exist. What happened?! You did everything the "industry-leaders" did for their sites - you would think that you should be found at least in the top 20 search positions. You would think. But that's not the way it works.

Without getting too technical and caught up in all the details, you didn't have a chance to get top search positions. Your new website was never going to get you better search positions because the "industry leader's" website you emulated didn't have a good website design for successful online exposure.  Chances are, the "industry leader" didn't even have that great of a search presence for the keyword searches your audience would use - they don't have to - they have brand equity.

When you have a well-established brand, your website can still work for you because the audience knows your name and will search for specific information using your brand. So, if you cannot cash in on a well-known name, you may want to think about cashing in on a solid website design that uses up-to-date search engine optimization. 

Just sayin'...

Get Professional SEO Help Now!

Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing Website? Talk to Your SEO Pro First!!!

We see it all the time... companies create their new websites or re-design their existing sites without any Search Engine Optimization strategies - and boy do they get a rude awakening when it comes to getting top search engine positions.

Many on-page technical, design, and content factors are involved in SEO for getting (and maintaining) great search engine exposure. Do you really want to spend all the money on a new website only to have it ignored by search engines - or just not found - or going to the wrong page?

Website designers and developers are fantastic at designing and programming websites but most likely don't focus on the SEO components that must be incorporated into the design of the site for maximum search engine effectiveness. Many designers promote the fact that they design "optimized" sites but we have discovered they really don't provide up-to-date or thorough SEO tactics that will give you the best results.  It's very much like a brain surgeon saying she can do open heart surgery: clearly, each discipline requires a different set of skills.

Get at least an hour consultation with a Search Engine Optimization Pro during the planning stages of your new website. You should hear recommendations not only about keywords and meta data but also about photo placement, use of  flash, re-directs, content, internal links, inbound links, off-page optimization, etc.

Search Engine Optimization should not be an after-thought. Get it right from the beginning and you'll have less expense, disappointment, and frustration. 

January White (Hat) SEO Sales Event!

January is typically the month when merchants have their annual "White Sales" to get shoppers to stock up on their towels and bedding. January is the time when Awareness Creation has its annual "White Hat SEO Sale" so that clients can stock up on the best Search Engine Optimization tactics to start off the new year with improved search positioning.

One of the best ways to take advantage of this yearly sales event is to get a Site Audit which includes reviews of the following:

• Your site analytics to determine on-page SEO effectiveness. 
• Page load speed.
• Canonical issues.
• Indexed pages.
• Web content. Specifically checking for duplicate content, insufficient content, use of keywords.
• Indexed pages.
• Back links and internal links.
• Social signals.
• 1 hour follow up Q&A.

Interested? Just drop us an email info@awarenesscreation.com with any questions you may have, your contact info, and we'll get in touch.

And, I want to thank you all for getting in touch with us wondering about this blog. You know, our time and priorities can get high-jacked sometimes as did ours in the last 9 months - oh well, it happens. But, we are now back on track and you can expect continued SEO, SEM, Social Media Marketing, and more Internet Marketing info coming your way!

Carole

Are You Sabotaging Your SEO – How You May be Zapping the Power of Your Online Touch Points

Many companies are not doing themselves any favor by approaching Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with self-sabotaging practices.  The way a company optimizes their online touch points can really make or break a company’s sales, business development, reputation management, customer relationship building, and Marketing/PR efforts.  
 
The Top 5 Ways Companies Compromise the Power of SEO  

1. Having an “either or” attitude.  Successful SEO Strategies require Social Media and effective Social Media requires SEO.  By having an “either or” attitude, a company misses out on great business advantages that come with the necessary integration of SEO and Social Media. 
2. DIY SEO.  SEO requires specialized expertise.  Most companies have an idea that SEO is important and that they should be using it with their website (and since many of these companies have an “either or” attitude Social Media doesn’t even come into the SEO discussion). However, many companies believe that an intern or employee can do a little reading up about SEO and develop a “good enough” strategy that will get their website to the top of the search listings.  
3. Hiring Cheap “Experts”.  More people are jumping on the SEO bandwagon to promote themselves as “experts”.  You may be seeing this in action when you get email spam from companies that offer SEO services for $15 (USD) per hour.  On the other side, some companies are seeking an SEO “expert” that will create and manage strategies for $17 per hour. 
4. Depending on Web Designers.  Good website designers and developers are crucial to creating a professional website but they are not typically SEO experts.  Finding a balance between good design and usability with SEO is important and some designers may have a lopsided perspective about that balance.
5.  Ignoring online content standards.  To get top search engine positioning your online content must be optimized.  SEO requires a specific style of writing that incorporates very specific SEO tactics. Many Marketing execs, teams, writers, and managers don’t understand the necessity of using a writing style that is appropriate for the Internet and SEO.

Do any of the above sound familiar? If so, just stop!

Till next time!

Carole

SEO No-Nos Could be Hurting Your Google Positioning

Just a heads-up:  even though you think you’re only using one URL for your website, search engines may see that your site uses a number of URLs which creates what the techies call a “canonical” issue – which can weaken your SEO strategy and positioning.

For instance: www.awarenesscreation.com is my website URL. However, IF I had a canonical issue (which I don't!), search engines would see that my website used the following additional URLs:

Awarenesscreation.com
Awarenesscreation.com/index.html
http://www.awarenesscreation.com
 
If you have a canonical issue, search engines interpret the situation as using duplicate content, which is an SEO No-No.  Even if you don’t have duplicate content, Search engines will penalize a website as though it has duplicate content if you have a canonical problem.
 
And, if you’re backlinking to a variety of URLs (especially from valuable, authoritative sites) your inbound linking strategy is also going to be weakened which will prevent you from getting top Google search positions.

How to Repair a Canonical Issue & Improve Your SEO
 
Your website developer or hosting company can help you fix this problem:

1.     Select the URL that want to consistently use as your website’s URL.
2.     Create a 301 redirect from all URLs to your selected (canonical) URL.
 
Chipping away at Repairing SEO No-Nos

SEO continues to be important for your business development, reputation management, and online effectiveness. By repairing your canonical issue, you’ll have one less SEO No-No to worry about.

Of course, you’ll still have plenty of other issues lurking around the Web that can sabotage your SEO Strategy and keep you from out in front of the competition; but you can always get in touch with Awareness Creation to help you chip away at those SEO No-Nos!

Happy SEO-ing!


Carole

DIY (Do it Yourself) SEO May Not be Helping You!

I've had a rash of new clients who have just updated their websites (or have new websites) and are just now discovering that their DIY SEO may be keeping their wonderful new sites from being indexed by Google. Many clients have had nothing but the best intentions to improve their websites with SEO but, unfortunately, many of the SEO strategies applied may be actually hurting the websites' rankings instead of helping.


Or, what's even more frustrating is that some clients are finding out their developers are using content management systems that need to be tweaked to get the benefits of  SEO. After paying a pretty penny to design or update a site, you would think that some problems shouldn't have to be worried about. You would think...


Some of the most common SEO problems include:

• Mis-use of keywords (or lack of strong, relevant keywords)
• Duplicate content
• URLs that are not search friendly
• Canonical issues 

If you're planning to have a website re-design or new website designed from scratch, check with us first so we can give you an idea of the SEO problems you can avoid before it's too late.

Have a great week!

Carole

SEO Vital 5 for 2011: Take a Step Back

As we all get excited about moving forward in 2011, I would like to suggest that we take a step back when it comes to Search Engine Optimization.

Make Basic SEO One of your 2011 Business Resolutions

A successful Search Engine Optimization strategy needs to include a variety of tactics to push your site further up the search engine listings. But, with all the new advancements in technology and digital marketing it’s easy to become overwhelmed, side-tracked, and more at risk of losing a strong online presence (or never getting one in the first place).

So, it’s time review my Vital 5: the basics of SEO that will help your company start off the New Year with a solid foundation for your 2011 Internet marketing initiatives.

The SEO Vital 5

1. Website Design.  No matter how gorgeous your site may be if it isn’t developed with user and SEO-friendly components, it’s not going to bring your company the results you may be expecting or needing.  Make sure you have a good SEO-friendly architecture: your link structure must be properly established and navigable. Additionally, one mistake that many designers and developers make is that they are not aware of canonical URL issues. (Get in touch with Awareness Creation for more details about this potential SEO penalty situation!)  If you’re the beholder of the beauty of your site, take a closer look to make sure it’s not just a pretty face.
2. Keyword Research & Development.  Before any content for the website is written, it’s necessary that research is completed to discover the terms that are actually being used by your audience. Marketers often think they “know” the terms being used by people who are searching for information about their products or services. However, professional research will often shine a different light on the keywords that must be used within the website, meta data, and all online communications content. Once a user-centric list of keywords is established, these keywords can help propel your website to the top of search engine listings as well as help you better reach your audience. Also, be aware of the proper use of keywords within meta data and content – it can make or break your SEO success.
3. Web Content Optimization. Website copywriting is not the same as any other marketing copywriting. Many companies still use content from their print materials for their website content – which is not going to help improve the user experience or search listing positioning. Website copywriting requires an understanding of the science and art of online copywriting not only for websites but for all online communications.
4. Inbound Link Building. The number of links coming into your site is not as important as the quality of those inbound links. Many marketers are still under the wrong impression that as long as they have hundreds (or thousands) of incoming links, they’re golden. Not so. Search engines pay attention to who is linking to your site and how those links were acquired. Keeping up with inbound link building requirements will improve your search engine positioning.
5. Ongoing Web Analytics Review & Reporting. Many website owners have a wealth of information at their fingertips about the performance of their website, campaigns, SEO, and audience trends but never take advantage of that resource: website analytics applications or web logs. If you don’t have a web analytics application intact, get Google Analytics; it’s free, and it will provide invaluable information about the realities of your website. Of course, interpreting the data takes some expertise but it is worth it. Web logs are not my favorite resource but if you have them at least look into them to see if you can scrape together some useful data. Web logs (usually provided by your hosting company) are a little clunky to go through and may tend to focus more on technical rather than user issues but use ‘em if you got ‘em.

Each of the vital tactics, above, must be integrated into one Search Engine Optimization Strategy. So, the first thing I recommend is that you get a professional strategy established and follow it to the letter. If you don’t have the resources to implement the strategy all at once (the best option), create a monthly plan that will include SEO deliverables. Once your SEO Strategy is in place, keep it going – SEO is not a one-time thing.

It is possible – and vital - to get on the right SEO track for 2011. At a loss about how and where to start? Do you feel your existing SEO is not delivering the results you need? Or, are you a commitment phobe not wanting to deal with the continuing requirements of a relationship with your SEO? No worries, just get in touch with an expert SEO Consultant.

Here’s wishing all of you successful SEO and a fabulous 2011!

Carole