Friday, May 7, 2010
Friday, July 24, 2009
Local link building
Maybe I'm misinterpreting it though. Let me know if you got a different idea from the post in the comments here.
post: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/020435.html
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
SEO News for the Week of May 25, 2009
Industry News
Companies are increasingly combining social media with cause-marketing campaigns.
Microsoft is gearing up to revamp live.com and re-name it Bing. This is just as Google reaches nearly 73% of market share.Microsoft plans to use its huge marketing budget to plant the idea that "today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems."
SEO News
SEO Advice
Target one keyword for organic rankings and its synonyms. One page per idea is best.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Usability and SEO compatibility no excuse to ignore SEO
The point of the article was that SEO and usability aren't at odds, but go hand in hand. The author listed examples of things you'd do for SEO that are helpful for users as well, and explained why they are helpful for both.
My only concern is that people might take this article to mean that as long as they're keeping usability in mind when designing and writing their Web sites, they're doing SEO as well.
Unfortunately, it's possible to write anchor text that is great for users and terrible for search engines. I see it all the time. I'll use an example from this very blog post.
I linked to the story referenced above with "usability vs. SEO" as my anchor text. Here I've sacrificed usability a little bit for SEO. I think it's most rational to click on the word "article" if you're linking to an article. But I'm sure the author of the article doesn't want SEO credit for the word "article," but would prefer to have it for the subject she covered in the article. I'm assuming she has no interest in ranking number one for the word article, but would love to be number one for "usability vs. SEO."
The point I'm trying to make is that you need an experienced SEO who knows when to choose SEO over usability and when not to in order to win. Just one or the other doesn't cut it.
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Mom Test for Usability
I've been seeing this all around and I think it really applies to the small-business Web site because its very cost-effective. It's called the mom test, and I like it. Basically, every site should optimally go through some usability testing, to be sure that an average user can figure out where to go and what to do on your site. Over at the Bruce Clay blog, Virginia Nussey talked about using the mom test to figure out what your call the action is. I've been to many a site where I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to call, e-mail, what number, what address?
So before going live or shortly thereafter, or ASAP, ask your mom to visit your site and then ask her what she thought, from the site, you wanted her next move to be. If she stares at you blankly, you might need to tweak something.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
E-commerce vs brochureware sites
I'm not trying to knock e-commerce at all. For some things it works well. I think it's a great addition to stores. But I think we need to get real about it obliterating the walk-in store as we know it. I also think that we should re-examine the e-commerce site's red-headed stepsister: the brochure-ware site.
I think everyone who is trying to sell someone something should have a Web site. But it doesn't have to sell anything. Just putting your basic information out there, what you sell, where you're located, ect., is extremely important. I think many times, with small business owners especially, they get caught up in thinking that their site needs to do everything, sell their brand, sell their stuff, feature all kinds of flash animation. There's definitely something to starting small. Buy a domain and let it mature. There's nothing wrong with a little 5-page brochure-ware site to get you started. It may be all you need.