It's not enough to have a great Web site. You need a great Web site that consistently attracts plenty of targeted traffic.
I can help you achieve that goal with compelling content and SEO. "Jim is a highly qualified writer who provides real results when it comes to writing for the Web and search engines," says Kara Jariwala, former search marketing strategist for Cisco.
Please call (415) 742-2022 for more information.
Does your Web site use pull-down boxes for navigation? Is your home page a 'splash page' without any real content? Uh oh. You've just committed two of the 29 Worst SEO Practices and Most Common Failures, according to Stephan Spencer in Search Engine Land.
Spencer offers a checklist of the 29 SEO no-nos, followed by helpful explanations. Like most of Spencer's other articles I've seen, this is essential reading for anyone practicing SEO. He's promising a follow-up article that covers SEO best practices, too.
Related post: Busting the 'Flash is Bad' and Other SEO Myths
Breaking news stories and hot topics on the Internet can give your business an SEO boost, if you know how to play the game.
A while back, I wrote about Google Insights for Search, a cool tool for uncovering trends in keyword searches. Google Insights shows you which keywords are rising in popularity, which can help you spot new content potential or even new business opportunities.
Then there's this Twitter thing. Regardless of how you feel about it, Twitter can help you put your finger on the Internet's pulse. You can see where the meteors are at any given moment out there in the Twittersphere.
Then your job is to write a new blog post or create some fresh content that's relevant to those hot topics. The content you create can get at least a temporary lift in search engine rankings. Here's why: Among the many algorithms Google uses to rank for relevancy is the Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) factor. QDF determines when a topic is "hot," and then that algorithm gets more heavily weighted when Google finds fresh content that is relevant to that topic, especially if the content is a news article or blog post.
Bottom line: Writing fresh, relevant content that's tied to hot, buzzy topics on the Internet is a great way to boost SEO, if only temporarily. And Twitter is an excellent way to gauge what's hot right now.
Trendistic (see below) is great for this purpose. It displays charts that show the rise and fall of any topic on Twitter within the past 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or 180 days.
By the way, the SEOmoz blog posted a worthwhile video on using Twitter as an SEO research tool.
Polls, analyst predictions, and research data can be helpful in understanding the latest trends. But as the Wall Street Journal pointed out this week, you can get an immediate read on what's happening in housing, hiring, retailing, or whatever by using search engines and social media.
In the next few posts, I'll share some of the tools I use to get a sense of what interests people at any given moment in time, based on their search queries and social media posts. This information can help you develop Web content that's more likely to attract targeted traffic. And it can help entrepreneurs and others uncover potential business opportunities.
Today's topic: Google Insights for Search.
Google Insights for Search gives you a snapshot of a search term's popularity over time and by region. For each search phrase you enter, it shows you where interest is greatest by region, as well as how interest has fluctuated over any given time period beginning with 2004. You can also see variations of your search term that are 'rising' in popularity.
So how is this useful? If you were in the business of selling urns, for instance, you might enter the term cremation into Google Insights for Search. Right away, you'd see that pet cremation is no. 1 on the list of top 10 searches (see the screen shot below). On the list of top 10 searches rising in popularity, you'd also find the terms pet cremation cost and pet cremation services. Hmmm. Do you think there's an opportunity to expand your urn business to pet owners?
You'd also discover that in the U.S., interest in the term cremation was greatest in Minnesota, followed by Iowa and North Carolina. California didn't even make the top 10 list, surprisingly. Maybe it's time to market your urn business to Minnesotans?
In the next post: Wordtracker Labs Keyword Questions
I'm a few days behind in reporting the news about Facebook beating Google as the top traffic source. But with trying to figure out why I should care about Google Buzz, I've been a bit preoccupied.
So here's the news, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle: Web measurement company Compete.com says Facebook has surpassed Google as the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN.
"People are spending less time navigating the Internet on their own and are now navigating the Internet based on their friends' recommendations or their friends' activities," the Chronicle quoted Dave Yovanno, who is chief executive of Gigya Inc., a Palo Alto firm that offers social-media services.
The article also says: "Some experts say social media could become the Internet's next search engine."
To a degree, that makes sense. A recommendation from someone you know on Facebook may be more valuable than what you find on your own through a Google search.
And no doubt about it, Facebook is huge and growing more important every day. It could very well be on its way to besting Google at its own game--quickly providing valuable, relevant information.
However, I don't think this means the need for search engine optimization will diminish. The larger point is that, in addition to SEO, companies need to pay attention to their social marketing as well.
Social media is great for customer engagement, reputation monitoring, and extending your company's brand. But most of the time, the visitors who come to Web sites from social media sites aren't as likely to convert into customers compared to visitors who find a site through targeted search engine queries. The search engine users are often looking for something specific, and they are more likely to take action on the information they find. By comparison, visitors coming to your site from Facebook or Twitter might just be curious. There's a big difference.
Ultimately, people who follow your company on social networks now are probably already your customers. So it boils down to this: Use your social media content to appeal to existing customers and target your SEO efforts to attract new ones.
In the meanwhile, please remind me: Why should I care about Google Buzz?
