Need a Web Site You Can Maintain Yourself?

Blogs used to be a great way to help you add fresh content to your site and help increase your visibility. They used to be used in addition to your regular Web site. Advances in content management have blurred the lines between conventional sites and blogs. Blogging programs have evolved into the most powerful and flexible systems available.

WordPress is a leading 'blog' program and it's completely free! Check out these great features:

• You can create static pages and sections making it appear virtually the same as any other site.
• It's great for new Web site owners who want to manage their own sites WITHOUT learning HTML code.
• Easily allows you to take advantage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) opportunities
• Material can be easily categorized allowing effortless structure. A more orderly site will perform better with the search engine spiders. Search engines are all about structure. :-)
• Categories let you effectively group relevant material together by creating URLs with anchor text (text that uses your keywords) and relevant internal links. This makes your site more easily crawled by the search engines.

Fresh Content
WordPress is specifically designed to handle the frequent creation of content. You can even create multiple updates (or posts) and schedule them to be published at a later date. So if you're inspired and get a bunch of content cranked out, you can schedule your blog to update automatically! This is great for vacations or times you are away from your office. Your site can continue to be updated with fresh content even though you're away. Making regular updates to your site will get it crawled more often.

Link Building
The nature of blogs and the blogging community lends itself to link trades more often than with a regular Web site. Other bloggers love to find related blogs to link to and recommend.

Social Interaction Via Comments
Commenting plays a big role in link sharing with other blogs. Being an active participant and commenting on others' blogs, naturally improves visibility. A feature I particularly like is the ability to turn off the comment option at the page level. So if there is a page where you don't want people to be able to comment, just turn off the option and it becomes a static page.

Viral 'Word-of-Mouth' with RSS
With a blog, RSS is automatic and built right in. With this feature, your blog can be included in blog directories and blog-specific search engines.

WordPress is another easy to use, affordable tool for the small business owner! It allows you to simplify your site maintenance and improvements. The beauty is that you will be able to more easily and quickly manage your site, spend less $'s on a Web master, have greater control, not have to wait on another person's schedule, and realize the savings over time.

If you have a hobby or a small site idea - why not give WordPress a try? Get started here.
To see an example of a site created using the free version of WordPress, visit PaulaBonelli.com.

Until next time - Ciao!

Understanding Google's PageRank

First, let me start with the definition of PageRank (PR) according to Wikipedia...a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page, used by the Google Internet search engine that assigns a numerical weighting...
The name "PageRank" is a trademark of Google, but the PageRank process has been patented to Stanford University, not to Google. Google has exclusive license rights on the patent from Stanford. The university received 1.8 million shares of Google in exchange for use of the patent.

Here's an elementary explanation of how Google determines your PR. (In reality, it's anything but elementary. Google doesn't fully share how they determine this.) A link from one page to another is a 'vote' for that page. But not all votes are equal. Votes from higher quality pages are weighed more heavily. Other factors in the ranking process include the relevance of keywords on a page and the actual traffic to the page among many other factors. Understanding the basics of PageRank is a part of a good link building campaign. But don't fixate on it, just use it to build a reputation for your site.

You can build good PR by getting quality links coming in to your site. Quality links means links from relevant, authoritative sites in your industry. This, in turn, "passes" authority to your site. Don't bother linking to any sites that are NOT related to what your site is about. They simply won't pass any authority, you will be wasting your time, and they could damage your reputation if they are a low quality site. Getting relevant, high quality, incoming links is one of the most affordable SEO methods at your disposal. It just takes some time. Don't try to get to a specific number, you just want to improve it.

Just like creating unique META data will help any page of your site get listed, each page in your site can obtain PR. Remember...the search engines index PAGES, not SITES. Link to the most relevant page of your site; not necessarily your home page. Ex. You have a gardening site that sells many gardening tools, has gardening information, etc. You find a good site that sells spades and you contact them for a link. You'll want their link to your site to go to a page that is as closely related to spades as possible...not a generic page that focuses on multiple products or unrelated information.

PR is ranked on a scale from 0 to 10.
Sites from 0 - 2 = newer site with few incoming links
Sites from 3 - 5 = more established site with more links
Sites ranked 6 and above = well established site with many high quality links
There are very few sites that have ranks from 7 - 10. They are usually large, highly trafficked sites with longevity in the search engines. Don't expect any PR for at least the first few months after a new site is launched. You have to 'play the game' for awhile before Google will assign a PR to your page, if at all.

Where do I find my site's PR?
There are many tools online; these are all free -
PRChecker.info
Free-Pagerank-Checker.com

I use a FireFox add-on called SearchStatus. With this add-on there is a toolbar added to my browser that shows the PageRank and Alexa Rank of the site I'm browsing. To find this add-on, go to "Tools/Add-ons" (when your browser is open) and search for it by name.

The Google toolbar also has a PageRank function you can enable. You can download it here: http://toolbar.google.com.

For those of you with bricks-and-mortar stores, consider linking to other business owner's sites in your local area, if you feel you have some of the same customers and can offer each others' customers value. It's a great way for local customers to find you.

Now you are armed with information [knowledge! and knowledge is power :-)], so go get some links!

Ciao for now, Paula

Title Tags

The title tag is one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings, and is just one of three things that are given algorithmic weight by the search engines. Equally important is your visible text copy and the links pointing to your page. The title tag is often overlooked when attempting to optimize Web sites for targeted search engine traffic.

Title tags should contain specific keyword phrases. Be sure to do your keyword research to find the best phrases. If you provide products or services that are strictly local, you can be even more specific by adding geographical modifiers to your title tags, such as "New Prague Auto Repair". Try to use 2 or 3 of your most important keyword phrases. I find that using 10 to 12 words works best.

What format do you use to put your title tag together? Does your company name and/or phone number belong in the title tag? These are both common questions. It's fine to place your company name and/or phone number in the title tag. If your company is already well-known, then it's essential. This doesn't mean that you should put JUST your company name; even the best brands will benefit from a few good descriptive phrases.

There is not one right formula for writing it. Don't make yourself crazy trying to create the perfect title tag, because there is no such thing. The best thing to do is to test different ones to see which brings the most traffic. In the end, it's really a personal choice.

Here are some examples that will work just fine:

• Words separated by hyphens:
  New-Prague-Auto-Repair

• A complete sentence:
  We provide auto repair services in the New Prague, MN area.

• Strictly a list of factual keywords in order of importance:
  auto repair new prague mn 555-555-5555

• Written like an ad (my preference):
  Need your car fixed? | Call 555-555-5555 | Quality Auto Repair New Prague, MN  

How your listing appears in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is crucial. After all, if you have a high ranking but visitors are not clicking through, it won't do you much good. My preferred method is to write a title tag like an ad - with a compelling headline and a description that contains a call to action. Let's pick mine apart (from above):

Compelling headline: Need your car fixed?
It addresses the searchers' problem and asks a question.

Contains a call to action: Call 555-555-5555

Contains important keyword phrase - quality auto repair

Contains a geographical modifier (if applicable) - New Prague, MN

Don't worry if some of your visible title tag gets cut off when the search engines display your information; they are still indexing all the words.

Last, (but should really be first), use your visible text copy (the text on your page) as your guide. Create your title tags after the page copy has been written and optimized. It's much easier to see how the keyword phrases have been integrated into the text, giving you a better place to begin. If you've done a good job writing, you should find all the information you need on the page. Choose the most relevant keywords from the copy and write a compelling title tag. If you can't get a handle on the most important key phrases or words, then you probably need to rewrite your page content. Or better yet, hire a professional web copywriter; one that knows how to write for visitors as well as search engines.

Keep these things in mind when you are gathering information from your copy -

• don't use an exact sentence pulled from your copy;

• don't use the exact wording of your page's headline; but

• do use a unique sentence that contains keyword elements from your copy.  

If you are using software that automatically generates the title tag, in some instances the default is the exact same title tag on every page. This is the best way to kill your rankings because the search engines will only see one page. Remember: search engines index pages, not Web sites; each page has the ability to be displayed on the results pages. If the exact same title is on all pages, the search engines will think you only have a one page site. If you have a unique title tag for each page, then each page has the chance to be indexed. If you cannot customize your tags easily, then you'll want to find new software or a new Web developer.

Why Your Business Needs to Engage in Social Media

Social media can get you noticed when SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can't. Businesses that don't have a Web site are mostly invisible. Today, almost everyone has a Web site, but new sites are not found on the Internet without a little help; social media can give you that help early. It can give you an immediate boost, while continuing to optimize for the search engines will help for the long haul.

Figure out which social media is right for your market and start gaining visibility now! Here are a few of the most popular social sites as of this writing:

FaceBook (personal and business)
LinkedIn (business)
Twitter (microblogging; personal and business)
MySpace (personal or business)

Optimizing a Landing Page

A landing page is the first page a visitor to your site sees. I find myself reminding small business owners to keep their pages focused to one (2 at the most) things you want your visitors to do on a page. Since Seth Godin says it better than I, read the full article here.

Top 11 Emotional Triggers That Convert Prospects Into Customers

I listened to a teleseminar yesterday that went covered the top 11 emotional triggers in the sales process by Sue Painter of ConfidentMarketer.com

Sales are made on emotion, not logic. So MANY times, I write my Web copy from a logical perspective. I'm such a logical person that I think others are the same as me. That's a mistake! You need to put yourself in your customers place and find out what motivates them to buy your products/services.

Your sales approach or Web copy should include 3-4 of these triggers. So before you begin to write, sit down with a piece of paper and identify/"answer" 3 or 4 that apply to your target market, then write your copy so that it provides a solution for these.

There are more than 11, but these are the top in order of importance. Your customers can be motivated by:

1. Saving time
   
2. Saving money (wouldn't you have thought this would be #1?!)
3. Making money
4. Avoiding effort - they want EASY
5. Increasing their happiness
6. Finding success, accomplishment
7. Being pain free or in better health
8. Having fun
   
9. Gaining praise
10. Feeling safe and secure
11. Feeling liked, loved, popular
    

Identify your customers passion or pain and tell them why your products/services can help them.

All of us have a tendency to sell the "features" of our business rather than the benefits. Features are your credentials, trustworthiness, testimonials, etc. These do play an important part, but they are NOT what makes a sale. Benefits answers the "What's in it for me?" question for your customer. Bottom line, that's what they want to know - how it's going to solve my problem?.

Sue says "...if you can't identify any emotional benefits, you don't have a business!"

Are your sales where they should be? If not, then your message or your Web copy isn't connecting with your customers. Triggers change over time - evaluate constantly to see if you are feeding your customer's emotional triggers.

Join me as I continue to change my thinking process in an effort to grow my business. If you are logical like me, it will be a challenge and a learning process! But one I look forward to.

Ciao, Paula
Links to my other Web sites are in the side bar to the right of this post, under the Blog Archive section.

If you are on Twitter, you can see more of the conversation around this subject and teleseminar at #clientconversion.

About Sue:
Sue Painter, The Confident Marketer - Everything you need to conquer fear or uneasiness over marketing and networking for your business is right here. You’ll learn the how-to’s, answer the what-if’s, and create marketing strategies that build your business and your bottom line.

How to Get Free One Way Backlinks Virally

As many of you know, one way backlinks is one of the best and most effective ways to get high positions in search engines resulting in targeted traffic to your site. But getting quality one way links is a big job.

Free Traffic System is a system that helps you to get an unlimited number of one way, top quality links. Free Traffic System has integrated a concept of viral marketing, rewarding its members with bonus one way links. I use the free version - it's a good place to start. There is also a pro version (paid) that will allow you the opportunity to increase the number of backlinks you can receive from each article you post.

Before getting to the viral part of the project, I'll explain exactly where you are getting these backlinks. The backlinks are built inside real blog posts, not in the footer or blogroll - in the very body of a blog post. This is a natural way to build one way links, because you give real unique content to your visitors in the blog posts, and search engines will always welcome it - search engines were created to help people in finding quality information in the Internet. When you submit an article, you can choose up to 30 related and relevant blogs. The blog owners can grab your article(s) for adding content to their blogs thus creating a backlink to your site from the article you created. These are backlinks from relevant blog sites that belong to real people in different niches. It's a natural and smart way to build backlinks for free.You submit one article to Free Traffic System and it converts into up to 60 top quality one way backlinks!

The viral part of Free Traffic System is simple - you get rewarded for referring others.You get a BONUS backlink on every 3rd post that your referral makes. This means you get bonus backlinks on article No 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, etc. of all people who got into the system via your referral. [Inside the system you get to choose your sites and related keywords so that your backlinks appear in relevant blog categories.]

Every article can be republished on up to 30 blog sites in the Free Traffic System, this means that one article with your bonus link equals to 30 backlinks from Free Traffic System. 2 articles = 60 bonus backlinks, 3 articles = 90 bonus backlinks. And this is in addition to the unlimited backlinks that you can build yourself by submitting your own articles.

The final perk of the viral strategy: If you add at least one WordPress blog to Free Traffic System, you will instantly increase the number of bonus backlinks by 7%.

So, you get 3 ways to build backlinks virally:

1. Free backlinks that you build yourself by submitting articles
2. Viral bonus backlinks for referring others
3. Viral bonus backlinks for adding your WordPress blog(s) to Free Traffic System

With this free backlink building power, targeted traffic from search engines becomes just a matter of time. And like with everything else you do to marketing your business online, it comes with consistent effort.

Get more information and details here.

Ciao for now, Paula

PaulaBonelli.com
MarketYourBizOnline.com
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Make sure your SEO strategy includes these 2 main components - making sure your site is search engine friendly and building relevant links to your site.

Before we get to those 2 components, you must target the keywords your customers are using to find your business. Many small businesses target the wrong keywords. Ideal keywords and/or keyword phrases should represent 3-4 focused terms that are not too general. For example, you sell widgets - widgets by itself is probably too general and too competitive a term. Try a more focused version like 'blue widgets' or 'widgets for small business'. Make sure your keywords are highly targeted to your audience - matching the right offer to the right audience - yours.

Keyword research tools:
Beginner (free) - Google search-based keyword tool
Advanced (fee-based) - NicheBot

One note about these tools - don't rely solely on them. You know your business and customers best. Gather a list of general keywords that your market would use in a query and use the tool(s) to uncover more targeted terms that you may not have come up with on your own.

Choose a combination of keywords. Choose some with a fair amount of searches/competition, as well as terms with low competition. The terms with low searches will help you easily rank for these lesser searched keywords.

Search Engine friendly web site
If you are using site builders like WordPress, Drupal, or GoDaddy your sites will already be search friendly when they are hosted.

If you are maintaining your site manually (or using a web master to do so), implement these 2 things.

1. Make sure the keywords you chose are included in the META title, META description and META keywords tags. The title and description tags are used in compiling and displaying your listing in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Since this mini listing is the first thing a visitor sees, these 2 things need to be as effective as an advertisement. Use the title as your headline and the description as your call to action. The goal is for them to click-through to your site.

2. Make sure you use keyword-rich file names for your web pages (ex. www.mysite.com/keyword-here.html)

Remember your primary goal is to make it easy for the search bots to find your web pages and easily determine the overall content/subject. It's also for your customers to easily navigate your site. Simple is better! Don't overcomplicate things.

One other note about navigational linking - be sure you have text links that lead to other pages on your site. Graphical or flash based menus are not easily read by the search engines and may be not be seen by your users if they have chosen not to display images while browsing.

Other formatting - the actual content on your page should always be written for your visitor. Your content should include your keywords in the most natural, appealing way possible. And make sure you deliver what is promised in your title and description tags or they won't stay long. Now's the time to get them to convert to customers.

Building relevant links back to your site
There are SO many ways to build links to your site. You have to review your options and choose what's best for YOUR business. You need to choose something that you know you can continue to maintain. Here are some starting points:

Blog - use regular blog updates to keep your content fresh. These are some free blog templates to get you started fast:
Google Blogger
WordPress

Press Releases - write and distribute press releases. These are usually fee-based.
PRWeb
PRNewsWire

Article Marketing - Write and distribute articles. Many free sites are available for you to distribute your articles. Here are a few:
ArticleMarketer
EzineArticles
GoArticles

In the search engines 'eyes' every link from an external source to your site is a 'vote'. The more links you have pointing to your site, the better your site will rank in the search results. Keep in mind that these links have to be relevant - they need to be links from authority sites with relevant web pages. Linking to unrelated resources will not count as a 'vote'.

In all instances of link building I've referenced above, write on topic and include your keywords as anchor link text back to your site. This is another way the search engines determine the theme and relevancy of the content of your web site.

Don't expect this SEO process to be a quick fix and don't expect miracles right away. Consistent and steady improvements/actions over time is what will help your site rank for the long term. Do your part by giving your visitors valuable content, great products, and excellent customer service and you'll soon be enjoying the rewards!

Ciao, Paula
MarketYourBizOnline.com
PaulaBonelli.com
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Smart Marketing in Recessionary Times

In a recent article in DMNews, Ashley Johnston of Experian Marketing Services talks about taking advantage of social media as part of your marketing mix and also how to spend smarter instead of spend more. It's a great follow-up to a conversation I had recently with a small group of business owners. We talked about doing the same kinds of things she discusses.

Excerpted from the June 1, 2009 issue:
"It's not a time to spend more, it's a time to spend smarter. Recessionary periods are a great time for customer engagement. Focus on tactics that increase customer loyalty and value. Some of the simplest activities don't take long to implement, require only a small investment and yield quick returns.

It's cost-effective to re-engage lost customers and current customers. By combining email marketing and Web analytics you can deliver a highly targeted message that can be adjusted as you move forward to best suit how your customers search, browse and shop. This will help engage them for the longterm.

Take advantage of the power of social media. Promoting your company through blogs, social networking sites where your customers hang out, and ratings and reviews programs are great ways to stay on their mind and keep the conversation open with them. Encourage customers to share what they like about your business and be a part of more conversations in your industry.

Don't overlook the power of really LISTENING to your customers. Make it easy for them to tell you what they want by using surveys, response cards, online forms - whatever works for your business and customers. Asking and then giving your customers what they want goes a long way in building loyalty and increasing the lifetime value of your customer.

Take time to re-evaluate your relationship with your customers. How do you interact with them? What will help you communicate more effectively? Making even the smallest adjustment will increase retention now and for the long haul through these tough economic times."

Ciao, Paula

Avoid these 9 SEO Mistakes

Take time to be sure your web pages are created so that these important things are avoided and your site will be search engine-friendly. DON'T assume your webmaster knows how to do this - there are SOME (very few) web designers that are also search engine optimization (SEO) experts. But most DO NOT design sites that are SEO-friendly. Do your own research or hire an SEO specialist to help you. You want to have control over these important parts of your site.

1. Search engine-friendly URLs
If possible, your domain name and subsequent page names (URLs) should contain keywords. This is good for your visitors and will help you rank better with the search engines.

Example of search engine-friendly URL: mysite.com/keyword-rich-page-title
Example of Dynamic URL that can't be followed or indexed: mysite.com/?p=abc123

2. Common Title Tag Mistakes

a. Same title text on all pages
Every page on your site should have a unique META title tag with your most important keywords in it. If you have the same title tags on every page you are telling the search engines that every page is about the same topic and one isn't more unique than another. Don't forget, search engines index PAGES not SITES. So make sure each page has unique content and unique META data (page META title and page META description).

b. Exceeding the 65 character limit
Don't use long titles. Search engine result pages use your title tag as the link heading. You have about 65 characters (including spaces). Any more than that will get cut off. Think of it as a headline - you only get one chance to make an impression to a person perusing lots of search engine results. Make yours count!

c. Keyword stuffing
Don't put too many keywords in the title tag. This will look like spam to the search engines. Use the most important (not more than 3) and use them in different ways if they have repetitive terms. Ex. "Search Engine Optimization for small business" and "small business SEO" - repetitive terms used in different ways. Your visitors may use either one when performing a search query.

3. Splash Pages
You've seen this mistake before…people put up a banner image and a "Click to enter" link on their main or home page. Worse yet, the "click to enter" link is embedded in a Flash object. This will make it impossible for the spiders to follow the link.

I've seen this commonly used for creative sites (like photographers). This is fine ONLY if you don't care about what a search engine knows about your site and if you don't care if you get placed in the search results. Your main or home page is most likely your highest ranking page and has the potential to get crawled frequently by search engine web spiders. No internal pages (pages beyond the "click to enter") will appear in the search engine index unless they have been properly linked so that they can be followed.

Your home page should have the keywords for your target market in the links to your other pages. All links to your other site pages should be within 1 or 2 clicks of your home page. Don't bury them too deeply or they might not be able to be followed by the spiders.

4. Don't Use Vague or Non-descript Link Anchor Text
I KNOW you've seen this and maybe you are guilty of it - using "Click here" or "Learn more" as link text. This is great if you want to be ranked highly for "Click Here"! What you want to do is tell the search engine what your page topic is by using the topic keyword in your link anchor text. It's more relevant and descriptive to use "learn more about {keyword topic}". Be careful not to use the exact same link anchor text everywhere. This can be seen as search engine spam. Instead, use variations of your keywords; it's more natural that way and the search engines are smart enough to make the relevant connection between versions of keywords.

5. Flash Menus that the spiders can't follow
Flash menus, links like fade-in or animated menus might look really cool, but they can't be seen by the search engines therefore can't be followed. Use text-based links.

6. Heavy with Graphic Images and/or Flash Content
Web spiders are text-based. They can't read text that is embedded in a graphic image or in Flash content. Don't embed your most important content and keywords in Flash or images.

7. Image Alt Attribute
Rarely do I see this being used! Always describe/name your images using the alt attribute that has a keyword in it. The alt attribute is what describes your image to a blind web user and this is the only way a search engine can 'see' images. This is an additional way for the search engine to determine the topic of your page. And it will help your images rank in the search results since images are indexed and made searchable by the major search engines.

8. Overuse of Dynamically Created Content
Some sites with many products choose to use this function because of the number of items they have to sell. But dynamically loaded content cannot be spidered or indexed by the search engines. Another disadvantage is that the URL (page address) is also dynamically created and doesn't reload. This doesn't allow the current page to be bookmarked or sent as a reference to someone.

9. Theme Design Versions in Subfolders
Don't put your design versions into sub level folders (Ex. yoursitename.com/v2, v3) and redirect to the new folder. Continually changing the main root location may cause loss of backlink counts and ranking.

Whew! That's a lot of stuff, but the more often you do it, the more naturally you'll remember it the next time you create a page or a new site.

Ciao, Paula

A better explanation of optimizing your web site (SEO)

Seth Godin does a better job than I've been doing......
He offers 2 common ways to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Synopsis -

Step by step:

1. Make an incredible product, offer a remarkable service.

2. Associate a unique term or trademark with it. (Something that isn't generic, and preferably, not a crowded search term already).

3. Assuming that you do #1 and #2, you'll end up owning that word in the search engines. If you don't, revisit the first two steps.

Read the full article here so you can see the background behind these steps.

Ciao, Paula

Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, seo, website optimization, website promotion

Action-Oriented Copywriting for Your Website

Before writing content or copy for your web site, keep these things in mind to get the results you want. Help your customers find and get exactly what they are looking for when they visit.

You can increase the likelihood of visitors getting what you intended for them to receive (or going where you intended to have them to go) by writing your web page copy (content) so it's focused on one goal or action.

Before you write, ask yourself "What do I want my visitors to do?" Do I want them to click through to another page on my site, purchase right away, sign-up for something by giving me their contact information--there are many possible actions. Give some thought as to what one action you want them to take once they arrive on any given page of your site. Then write your copy with that one goal in mind and include clear verbal steps along the way to help your visitors prepare to take action when the time comes.

If you are offering a free sample, sprinkle 'free trial', free sample', etc. throughout the text. Motivate them by telling them why they need it, why it's important to them, - solve their "problem". As they are reading, you are preparing them to take action and they are saying to themselves--Where do I get it? What do I do next?

Now tell them how to take action. Buy here, get your 'free whatever' here, give us your name and email and we'll send you.....get the idea? Your copy should guide, nudge, and lead your visitors in the direction of the action you want them to take; then call for that action.

Once you give your copy a single focus with a defined goal/action--then your visitors will find what they are looking for and you'll have a web page that is clearly defined for your users to take action!

Happy copywriting :-)
Paula


Paula M Bonelli | ASAP Web Site Promotion
"Helping small businesses find customers online."
http://www.MarketYourBizOnline.com

Copywriting Best Practices for your Website

You need to take steps for your users to find your website. Studies show more than 80% of Internet users begin their time online when searching for products and services. You want to increase the likelihood that your site will come up near the top of the search results.

The sophisticated algorithms of Google, Yahoo! and MSN match the best websites for each search. The search engines are looking for the content that matches the search most closely. The words you use on your web page(s) tell the search engines whether or not your page is relevant. Taking time to focus on good keywords will likely increase the traffic to your page.

Choosing Keywords/Keyword Phrases
Think about how your target audience is searching for you. What phrases would they enter into a search engine if they were trying to find a business/product like yours? Choose 3-5 keyword phrases per page that fit your business and also would likely be common phrases that people would use in a search. Here are some free keyword research tools:

-Google AdWords keyword tool
-NicheBotClassic.com
-GoodKeywords.com

Create Relevant Page Copy
It's essential to create relevant copy by spending time researching keywords and keyword phrases that match what visitors are searching for. Examples of relevant keywords and keyword phrases could include:

-Your company and/or product (ABC widgets)
-Local attributes (New Prague Minnesota widgets)
-Special attributes (Minnesota blue widgets)

In the examples above, the keywords would be relevant or "optimized" keywords or keyword phrases. Use these relevant keywords/keyword phrases in your web page copy, photo captions, links, etc.

Quick Tips About Page Text
1) Search engines place strong emphasis on the first words on your page; place keyword phrases at the beginning and in order of importance.
2) Avoid repeating them more than 3 times.
3) Be sure text is related to the overall theme of the page and organized in logical sentences or bullet points.

Other Details to Remember
1) Use text-based keyword phrases in headings. Avoid using only images/graphics as headers because search engines cannot "read" them. When posting photos or videos to your pages, add text descriptions/captions nearby that include a keyword/keyword phrase.
2) Search engines weigh link text more heavily than plain text; use keywords/keyword phrases in on-page links.

Updated features of Google's free Local Business Ads

Get the most recent updates from Google about your local business ads here.

Google has added great new functionality to your listing that allow you to learn more about your business. Starting in a few weeks, they will also be adding a new interaction report available through your account’s Report Center. The report
will help you accurately assess your return on investment with local
business ads by detailing how many users opened your info window and
clicked on each of the new interactive links. Read more here.

Let me know if you have questions and have fun using all of Google's great tools for small businesses!
--Paula

Could Google Chrome Change the SEO Field?

An opinion and more information about Google Chrome from Aaron Wall.

5 Tips for Blog SEO

As always, I find great information at About.com. If you're a blogger, check out these 5 tips for optimizing your blog for the search engines.

Blogs and Search Engine Optimization - Top Five Tips for Blog SEO

Filler content vs. killer web content

I couldn't have said this better! Think thoroughly about your content before publishing it to your web site. As Gerry McGovern says "Content is not neutral. It is either delivering value or destroying it."
The true cost of content: New Thinking: Gerry McGovern

Find out more about Gerry.
Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern

Google Proxy Hacking: How A Third Party Can Remove Your Site From Google SERPs

This is really interesting. Has your site been affected? Protect your site now!

Google Proxy Hacking: How A Third Party Can Remove Your Site From Google SERPs

Search Marketing Industry Shake-up Imminent

This article in SitePro News is where the online industry is headed - adapt now!

SiteProNews: Search Marketing Industry Shake-up Imminent

When Is Duplicate Content Okay? When Is It Penalized?

Do you ever wonder what the search engines will consider duplicate content? I've been thinking on it lately because of the pay-per-click work I'm doing for a couple of clients. Their original site pages aren't converting to sales and I want to change some of the page elements and optimize for the top 3.

The site owners are reluctant to change the visual aspect of the page yet that's exactly what needs to happen in order to produce results. My thought is - why can't we create a test page that has basically the same content, but from which we can see what is going to get visitors to purchase or sign-up? While we're doing this, we leave the original page live on their site.

Here's an article that might help clear up some of the fuzzy lines surrounding what is and what isn't duplicate content.

When Is Duplicate Content Okay? When Is It Penalized?