The Ultimate 2008 Top 7 SEO Tips for Professionals List

Here is the ultimate top-10 SEO tips list for seo professionals, enjoy!

1. Stop Reading SEO Top 10 Lists! – So my list is ok to read since its a top-7 list.  They are fun to read but limit your time on them and move on to bigger and better SEO research opportunities.
2. Read Less SEO Blogs and Do More SEO Work – Although it is very important to keep up to date with the latest and greatest SEO tactics and strategies it still amazes me how much time is wasted trying to be the ‘best’ when in reality you may not be getting anything done.  I have fallen into this typical SEO mindset in the past but have found much more success as I actually focus on DOING work rather than just LEARNING.
3. Optimize Your Own Website First – This is one of my goals in the coming 2-3 months.  There really is no excuse for not having your own website (especially if you work for an interactive agency) not optimized – including ‘we are so busy we don’t have time’ which is the one that I have used lately.  Just set aside some time and don’t let anything else bug you, it will pay off in the end as potential seo clients will notice how well your own website ranks for your targeted keywords.
4. Stop Trying to Outdo Your Local Competitor – Be friends with your neighbors.  Here in Utah the SEO industry atmosphere is sometimes a little too competitive when there is plenty of business out there for everyone.  Find ways you can work together rather than battle it out, in our experience we have found many of our ‘competitors’ are really not competitors at all as we go after different target markets.  Focus more on building relationships that trying to be ‘the best’, that will come naturally.
5. Worry More About a Client’s Profits Than Their Rankings – I am sure almost everyone agrees on this point by now.  Getting seo rankings is only one minor aspect of search engine optimization, even internet marketing, even marketing, or even the overall strategy of the company.  The end goal should be to bring in profits for the company, at a minimum what they are paying for seo and then some.  Start implementing other strategies such as usability, information architecture, user centered design, converion improvement, persuasion architecture, and overall unique advantage positions.
6. Don’t Take On SEO Clients That You Know Will Fail – I review all potential seo clients before we let them sign up, and there are some we turn away because we fill a search engine optimization campaign would fail.  This could be for a variety of reasons from not enough investment for success, too competitive, not enough keyword search volume, or an unkown product or service that no one  is searching for online.  If you find yourself in a situation like that do yourself and them a favor and just tell them its not worth it.
7. Focus On The Basics (HTML, Content, Links) - It also amazes me how many search engine optimization specialists still don’t get the basics right and jump into way advanced seo strategies.   I wonder if the three core fundamental seo components will ever change: html, content, and links.  Make sure your html is seo-friendly, have useful and informative content, and get some good quality links.  Enough said

Posted in Search Engine Optimization | 4 Comments »

Minimizing the Effects of SEO with a Website Redesign

This is a topic that seems to come up very often and I am surprised at how little information there is out there on the subject. I have put together a simple list of ‘must-do’ things to do when you are worried about your SEO rankings dropping when you do a website redesign or website re-launch. If you have a specific question about a website redesign and SEO feel free to post a comment and I will send you an answer if I have one.

1. Incoming links to the homepage will not be affected as long as they are keeping the same domain.

2. Keep the same domain if possible and if it has some SEO value.

3. If applicable keep the same url structure. If not setup 301 redirects from old to new pages.

4. Have at least the same amount of content on the website, but more is even better.

5. Have an .xml site feed setup for google sitemaps and yahoo sitemaps.

6. Setup a custom 404 page not found page that contains a custom message and maybe a website directory/sitemap.

7. Be patient. If you follow the above guidelines there should only be an adjusting period of 1 month or less while the search engines re-index the new website, but realize your rankings will fluctuate for a while – give them time to settle back in.

If there are specific pages that currently receive a lot of traffic you could setup a 301 redirect on those pages to send visitors to the new url. This is SEO friendly and will help the SE’s recognize that you are simply doing a website redesign. Setting up a sitemap account with Google and Yahoo would also be beneficial; that way you could generate an xml file and upload it directly to the SEs with a map of all the new pages to help them get indexed quicker.

Posted in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

Podcast Transcription Services Reviewed

Getting your podcasts transcribed into text can work out well for SEO and for those readers who don’t want to have audio enabled on their computer and would prefer reading. We found three lower-cost transcription services and tried them out with three different podcasts from my work. The purpose of us putting the podcasts on our blog in text format was strictly for search engine optimization purposes. As a sidenote the first day we put up our first podcast the traffic to our blog increased by 20% over the next week for searches landing on that podcast transcription.

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Posted in Search Engine Optimization, SEO Copywriting | 1 Comment »

Utah Corporate Alliance Event – January

I just got back from the jumpstart corporate alliance event that was held at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City.  This was the first official Salt Lake City Corporate Alliance Event, at least I am pretty sure it was.  I have been to several of their events in the past in Provo, Utah and have enjoyed them.  This one was also fairly good.  There were about 200-300 people there, by far more than you could go around and network with all in the same setting – but that is not the purpose.

I think if you are considering joining corporate alliance a lot depends on what your business does and your own personal personality / goals.  I work for Twelve Horses which is an internet marketing, web design, search engine optimization, web deveopment, email marketing, yada yada yada company – there are very few businesses out there that do not need a website or are interested in internet marketing to some degree.  I also enjoy meeting new people and building relationships on a personal level, if you are just there to try and get some sales it is not the best place for that, plus that turns people off. 

I met people from many different companies in Utah including seven peaks, mckonkie law firm, venture capital firms, media agencies, etc.  The food was ok, but I have a major stomach ache from it now, feel a little sick actually.  However other than that is was worth attending, if you are thinking about corporate alliance feel free to give me a shout and pick my brain on if it would be a wise move or not.

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Posted in Networking | No Comments »

Bad Example of Email Marketing – TLC Lasik

Sometimes it is just as fun to write about bad examples of online or email marketing as it is to write a post about bad examples. A few months ago I visited a Utah TLC Lasik center to get screened to see if I was a good candidate for lasik or not – which I am. Yesterday I was checking my personal email and I usually glance through my spam folder to make sure there are no emails that should not be there. I noticed an email from TLC Lasik in my junk email which I normally would not have opened but I was interested in their email marketing strategies so I opened it – how disappointing it was for several reasons:

1. The subject line was “Look forward to treasured moments with LASIK at TLC.” What is that supposed to mean? Generally speaking for most email marketing campaigns the sole focus of the sender is to make sure it doesn’t get caught by spam. The sole focus of the subject line is to make sure it gets opened. The sole focus of the content is to make sure they click through to the website to a landing page. The sole focus of the landing page is to direct them to information they are seeking to help them take an action on your website at some point. I don’t want to look forward to ‘treasured moments with LASIK at TLC’ and I doubt I ever will want to. I am interested in finding a reliable trustworthy successful low-risk affordable lasik center though. I am also interested in the end benefit – being able to see clearly without having to wear glasses. However since I am not interested in spending treasured moments with TLC Lasik then I would normally not have opened it and I doubt very many others did either.
2. The main text of the email was “Eric, Take the Next Step with TLC this season. Look forward to treasured moments with LASIK at TLC. What are you Waiting For?” There is a picture in the email of a smiling man and woman drinking wine together. Ok, lots of issues here.
3. First and foremost ‘this season’ is dead and gone, its no longer the holidays people! Christmas was two weeks ago and New Years was a week ago.
4. Next the picture and message suggests I want to go hang out with TLC Lasik and spend ‘treasured moments’ with them. Instead the message so focus on the benefits and information I am looking for. The email could focus on me not having to worry about having sweaty dirty glasses when I am out mowing my lawn in 95 degree weather, or not having to wait 2 minutes until I can see again after going out on a cold day while my glasses unfog, or maybe not worrying about the times when I forget my glasses at a movie theater and get stuck in the back because we are late and can’t see the screen in any detail whatsoever. The email could have focused on benefits like those but it didn’t.
5. “What are you waiting for?” What am I waiting for? If they do some market research they may find out that I am waiting on Lasik for financial reasons and for quality reasons. The email could have focused more on the 0% financing, how they have a discount if you do it on Wed. because its the slow day, how they just lowered their price $200 since I was last in, how their retreatment rate is only 5%, or how they just got the newest lasik machine that addresses quality issues with night vision. [those are all fictional examples by the way]

Overall it was a poorly written email, I am very disappointed especially since I consider them as my first choice to having Lasik when I do it finally. This email look like someone literally spent about 20 minutes to put together and just hastily hit the ‘send’ button which is a huge long-term mistake. First it will get them more often in spam folders if the quality is not high and next time I receive an email from them I will automatically delete it since I already had one bad experience with an email from them with little or no valuable information for me.

Posted in Email Marketing | 2 Comments »

SEO Prices – How I Would Do It Differently Now

I came across an old SEO prices document I created nearly 3 years ago, it amazed me how much SEO has changed over the last few years and how much it has stayed the same as well. Overall I would setup SEO pricing much differently than I did back then though. It seems like the industry may eventually go more towards a pay-per-performance model but I don’t see that happening anytime soon because of some major issues such as contract lengths. I would take out the ‘hours of work’ from pricing today though and focus more on doing what it takes to get certain results for the client, some you will lose out on and some you will win on but if everything equals out in the end its ok. Anyway, here are the contents of that document, I thought it was interestesting anyway:

Basic Internet Marketing – $xx/month
• Approximately 8 hours of work
• Keyword Research – which keywords are best suited for the website
• Individual Page Optimization – meta data, text, headlines, links, useful information, etc.
• Link Building – reciprocal links, one-way links, directories, message boards, etc.
• Other Suggestions – conversion rate, PPC possibility, newsletter, useful information, specials, bonuses, etc.

Intermediate Marketing – $xx/month
• Approximately 16 hours of work
• Same as above with more of an emphasis on link building and other suggestions. Also suitable for very large sites.
• $xx advertising credit for PPC, link buying, site advertising, e-zine advertising, etc.

Advanced Marketing – $xx/month
• Approximately 25 hours of work
• Same as above with more of an emphasis on link building and other suggestions. Also suitable for very large sites.
• $xx advertising credit for PPC, link buying, site advertising, e-zine advertising, etc.

HTML/CSS Hourly Rate
• $xx/hour contract rate or per project as agreed upon.

Posted in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

Online Marketing and Passwords – America First Credit Union

I have never ever ever ever [and another 'ever'!] understood why technology security freaks always win this battle: forcing website users to create custom passwords that are virtually impossible to remember. You may wonder what this has to do with internet marketing? well its pretty simple actually – if you force users to create passwords they will not remember they will become very frustrated. If there is anyone who reads this who has never had to request a new password from an online website they have some sort of membership at I would be very surprised! Please post a comment if you fall into this category. In the end you will read how all this came about from an experience with my online banking from America First Credit Union. This IS a website usability issue, and anyone who says otherwise I would welcome the challenging arguments.

Here are the main reasons why this is a very stupid idea:

1. “Create a password that has at least one lower case letter, one upper case, in between 6 and 8 characters long, has one and only one special character except for ‘*’ and does not contain your name” – well that doesn’t leave much room for creativity does it? I hate it when I read things like this because even after reading it and trying to meet all the requirements it literally takes me about 4 to 5 tries before I get a password that it will accept, and by then its one I am sure I will never remember.

2. The password you end up with is something you would not have normally chosen and contains characters that you will never remember. This creates the issue of you having to write your password down somewhere on a piece of paper with the website it is associated with – far much a greater danger of losing that piece of paper that someone could easily use than a hacker trying to guess your password!

3. “You must reset your password every 30 days” – totally retarded! This simply creates a situation where you have to call support every time you want to login to the website because you never remember the password you chose for that month.

4. “Don’t try to tell me what to do, I’ll do it how I want to!” – Teling users what to do online is a bad idea as it insults their intelligence and makes them very upset. The internet is one aspect of life where most website goers feel totally in control and hate it when they lose that power. In the end it is the website user who loses out if their online access compromised. I am the one that must pay the price if I do chose a password that is easy to guess, let me take that responsibilty of choosing a password that is hard to remember, not forcing me to choose a password that is not only hard for a hacker to guess but hard for ME to remember as well!

So this blog post was spurred this morning because I logged into my bank account, America First Credit Union in Utah, and it forces me to answer special questions I setup about a year ago if I login from another computer other than my home one. Of course I had no idea what answers I had put in so it blocked my access. “who is your best friend?” – well I don’t really have a ‘best’ friend, just lots of ‘equal’ friends, what type of dumb question is that, it may have worked well when I was in elementary school. ‘What was your first car’ – well I know that one, an ’89 buick skyhawk, or was it a ‘skyhawk’ or a ‘buick skyhawk’? no, I think it was ‘Skyhawk’? – idiots, how are you supposed to remember what you typed in even if you know the answer and on top of that I am pretty sure it was case sensitive.

As you can tell I was very upset, but it didn’t end there. In order to restore my access they started asking me my address and such, I tell them my zip code which is ’84045′ and they say on their system its ’84043′, so I tell them ’43′ is for a neighboring city in Utah called ‘Lehi’ and that my city, ‘Saratoga Springs’, just got a new zip code a year ago. They say it won’t accept my new zip code – ok so you are telling me even though I know my own zip code that its wrong and you can’t use it – again the idiots come out!

So by the time I get access I am pretty frustrated already, I am actually thinking of switching from America First Credit Union and moving over to Washington Mutual where my business bank accounts are, they just seem so much more user friendly and technology/online usability friendly as well. I have had far less issues with their online banking system then America First Credit Union.

Posted in User Centered Design | 1 Comment »