If your answer is an adamant NO, then you might not be ready to take on SEO.  Well, at least according to Chris Bloggs, who wrote something about SEO being a lifelong engagement.  According to him, getting on the good side of Google is more than a one-time fix.

I have always thought the same thing and it is nice to read about experts saying the same things.  Even though this idea has been repeated time and again, it is still a good thing to be reminded of the effort and patience that is needed to get results from SEO practices.

All too often, we see and hear of new bloggers or new web site owners who want to make it big overnight.  They have this great concept for their web site and they think that it is so great that they should see results almost at once.  Of course, we know that this is all but impossible.  Even the best SEO practitioners will not guarantee such results within such a short period of time.

SEO is more than giving it your best shot once, twice, or even thrice.  SEO is all about having an overall plan and identifying specific goals.  SEO is all about having definitive steps as to how to reach these goals.  SEO is all about working regularly to achieve results over a period of time.

Indeed, SEO is all about the long, a lifelong engagement. Your thoughts?

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It is known to many that there are a lot of tools that one can use in order to get that much needed boost for a web site. The trick, I suppose, is in knowing about these tools and determining which tools in particular could be useful. In a recent post, we took a look at Google Alerts and how this Google product can become a useful tool for you.

How about Google Web Site Optimizer? Have you heard of this Google product? Probably. To be honest, I have heard of the Google Optimizer for quite some time now. However, I have not really dabbled with it. I have focused more on Google Analytics.

Upon reading an entry over at No Doubt Marketing, however, I think I shall give this a try. They describe their experience with the Optimizer:

By far, this tool is one of the most powerful and it is free to use. You will need to set up a Google account to access it, but it is well worth it. You can use this tool to test out various configurations, layouts and page content to determine how effective they will be. Set up a test page, run the optimizer and it will provide you with the tips you need to perfect that page. With multiple test pages, you can easily see which one will have the best projected ROI.

Yup, as with many Google applications, this is for free. More so, the chances are that you already have your Google account, so there is no need to create a new one. I can’t wait to play with this tool!

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We all get irritated when we click on a link and it redirects us to the 404 page.  I am pretty sure that the average Internet user has encountered this page at least once.  From the standpoint of the provider – the web site or blog owner – the 404 page should not be disregarded.  This is a case of taking advantage of what you have to work with.  Though users curse the 404 page, you can still use it to your advantage.

Think about it, though the user does not get anything from the 404 page, you can optimize that page to bring them back to the relevant pages in your web site.  The 404 page may very well be an inevitable page so why not simply exploit it?

How do you do this?  More than using the default content for the 404 page, tweak the content to be shown in it.  Make your own text explaining what the 404 page is and why the user was redirected there.  Use keywords relevant to your site even.

Don’t stop there, though, make sure that the users can find their way back to your main site.  You can do this by including your main navigation bar and including a link for the user to click on.  This link can be to your main page.  Better yet, this link could be to your site map, if you have one.

By doing so, you can point users who wander off to the 404 page back to your main pages.

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I have a disclaimer before I say anything else – I am not that knowledgeable when it comes to Google Alerts. Oh, I have used this feature every now and then but I have not really played around with it much. I think that it is my loss – especially after reading about how Google Alerts can help you a lot when it comes to SEO.

So what is Google Alerts anyway? Google says:

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on a competitor or industry
• getting the latest on a celebrity or event
• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Basically, you will automatically be updated on the areas of interest that you indicate when you create your account. At this point, you should already be seeing the potential that Google Alerts brings from an SEO standpoint.

Let’s say you want to monitor the web sites that mention your own web site, blog, or product. You can do so by using specific key words and letting Google Alerts do the job. For your web site, for example, simply indicate in your search term your URL or domain.

Another aspect would be monitoring your competitor. If your web site or blog is about your business, then you can find out what they are up to using Google Alerts.

Based on the data that you receive, you can then work out your SEO plan even more efficiently.

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I talked about buying links in the previous post. If that was not enough to convince you that buying links may not be the best option when it comes to improving your PageRank and attracting traffic, here is a list that was written by Brian Chappell. I think, myself, that it sums up the argument against buying links quite neatly.

1. You are buying links through a network
2. You are buying links in chunks, 3-5 at a time on one page.
3. You are buying all your links on sidebar, footer locations.
4. Your entire niche buys links.
5. Your site sucks, as in no one in there right mind would naturally link to you.
6. All of your links have perfectly, articulated anchor text that simply looks fake.
7. You are not a 300+ Million dollar brand name.
8. You are doing really, really well in the SERPS, and rank in the top spot for a majority of the money terms.
9. 70+ % of your sites traffic comes from Google organic results

Furthermore, according to Brian:

The bottom line is if you are buying links you really have to be under the radar. I know this has been said for a while but more so then ever. If your entire niche is buying links then there is a much greater chance your site is going to get checked out in my opinion.

Don’t go overboard, actually buy links that will get you traffic and conversions.

PS. If your link profile is made up of 1/2 to 3/4 paid links you might as well stop now, and start building defensible traffic.

Photo courtesy of amalthya

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There are a lot of myths in the modern world and SEO is not exempt from this. I was reading a very interesting article by Joey de Villa wherein he detailed his notes from Search Engine Strategies 2008 Toronto. Take a look at some of them and see if you believe them OR if you can be a myth buster.

You have to submit URLs to search engines. Search engines will find you if people link to you. If people are linking to your site, you don’t have to go around submitting its URL to Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and so on.

I used to believe this – like eons ago. That was even before I started blogging. I guess I didn’t know anything after all.

You need to provide a Google site map. It’s nice, but it’s not really going to help. “Most sites are spiderable the way they are.” If you have a site with millions of pages that changes often and your system can auto-generate a map, then mmmmaybe…

I still see some blogs and articles which encourage site maps. What’s your take on this?

Frequent spidering helps rankings. If it’s already indexed, getting it spidered again isn’t going to do much.

This makes a lot of sense. Once a site is indexed, it probably wouldn’t really make much of a difference if it is spidered another time, within a short period of time, would it?

PPC ads will help organic rankings! PPC ads will hurt organic rankings. Google keeps its search engine and Adwords divisions separate and it appears that your ranking are not affected by whethe ror not you’ve bought pay per click ads.

Photo courtesy of manfry

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In the last post we took a look at some of the things that you should consider when making your web site accessible. Yet we did not really delve into the reasons you should make your web site accessible. Why is it important?

Search engines prefer accessible web sites.
It’s a simple fact. Search engines place a higher premium on accessible web sites over inaccessible web sites. How so? Spiders – or search engine crawlers – browse web sites much like people would. The easier access you provide, the easier it is for search engine spiders. This means that the fewer hindrances you have in your web site for browsing, the better the search engines can index your web site. This includes the proper use of tags and the like.

Accessible web sites makes for stronger branding.
One of the things that you want to do for your blog is to create a strong brand. It is much like that principle that business men employ in marketing their brand. The idea is to create an impact in the minds of their target clients and to maintain that impact. So how does making your web site accessible create a stronger branding?

I suppose the idea is to cater to your audience. Having an accessible web site, of course, gives you the image of wanting to deliver what your audience needs. you offer the image of making it easier for them. That makes for stronger and longer recall.

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Accessibility is one of the most important aspects of your web site or blog. The idea is to be able to cater to a wide range of readers. From those who are physically challenged to those who are technologically challenged – you should bear them in mind when working on your blog or web site. Why is this so?

With the Internet being as prevalent as it is today, practically everyone has access to it. Statistics would probably show that there is a huge percentage of Net users who are challenged in some way, supporting the idea that web site or blog owners should make sure that their site is accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

How do you make your web site accessible?

Consider the wide range of devices that are being used to access the Internet. Before, only computers were used to go online. Today, there is a host of other gadgets. Mobile phones are probably the second most common gadget used to go online. Then we have other things such as gaming consoles, both portable and otherwise, PDAs, and the like. You have to bear in mind these things as more and more people are accessing the Internet using gadgets other than computers and laptops.

In relation to the different devices, you should also bear in mind that these devices have different software - different operating systems, different Internet browsers. You should consider these things when designing your site.

(to be continued)

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