Posted by BlueSEO on March 5th, 2010

Creating and submitting an xml sitemap to Google is an extremely important step that is often overlooked by novice webmasters. If you have a small business website (under 500 pages), here is an extremely simple way to submit your xml sitemap and get Google crawling and indexing your pages:

1) Visit xml-sitemaps.com and input the same settings as the screenshot below. Click the “Start” button and wait a few seconds to a few minutes for your sitemap to finish building. Once built, click “Download un-compressed XML Sitemap” and save your the sitemap.xml file to your desktop.

2) Visit Google Webmaster Tools and create a webmaster tools account using your preferred email or Gmail account

3) Login to your Webmaster Tools account and click the “Add a Site” button on the bottom of your screen

4) Next Google will ask you to verify ownership of your website. Select “Upload an HTML File” from the drop-down menu. Don’t click verify… yet. Click where it says “Download this HTML verification file” and save the file to your desktop.

5) Using a Free FTP program such as Coffee Cup (Cyberduck if you are on a Mac), upload the xml file (in this case the file is named googlef8755faedfb09a5a.html) from your desktop to the root web folder as shown below (Typically public_html but it may be called www or httpdocs). You should also upload the sitemap.xml file that you created earlier to the same folder.

If you have trouble connecting to your server, make sure it has been added to the program and that your settings are correct (worst case check with the hosting company for login credentials).

6) Once your xml file is uploaded, go back to the Webmaster Tools control panel and click the button to “Verify“.

7) The next screen should be your site dashboard. Scroll down to the bottom right of your screen and click on “Submit a Sitemap“. From the Sitemaps page click the “Submit a Sitemap” button and add the location of your sitemap, which should be sitemap.xml unless you renamed the xml file. Click “Submit a Sitemap” one final time and you are done.

8) Log back into your Webmaster Tools account in about one week to make sure your site has been indexed by Google. This should be ample time for Google to visit, but it may take longer. You will know that your pages have been picked up when you visit your site’s dashboard. Check the sitemap area to see how many pages were indexed.

Now that you know how to submit an xml sitemap to Google, it wouldn’t hurt to do the same thing with Yahoo! Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster Center.

Posted by BlueSEO on February 17th, 2010

One of the most difficult tasks in any SEO campaign is finding niche-specific pages that are not only relevant, but pass link equity back to the web property you are optimizing. While competitive analysis may turn up some diamonds in the rough, it is very difficult to get the quantity and quality of links you are looking for through that tactic alone.

Since buying links can put your site in the sandbox and it’s not easy to garner any tangible results through link baiting, it is essential to “search outside the box” in order to turn up backlinks of value. This is where link building queries come in. Link building queries are essentially search queries (ie searches in Google) that tell the SE’s what type of sites you would like to turn up in the results. By using effective link building queries, an SEO can not only save countless hours of time but can turn up the exact type of sites they are looking to build links on.

Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz created an extremely thorough list of link building queries that can be used in any niche to find specific types of links. I especially like how he goes into queries for finding specific types of links such as directories, blogs, etc. Anne Smarty, a guest writer for Search Engine Journal put together a more simplified list of link building queries that give any link builder a good place to start. If you want to get a more real world approach on using these tactics, refer to this list of advanced link building queries from 21 link building experts.

There are also several tools out there that help you find the best link queries for a particular keyword or type of search. The most effective and easy to use tools I have found are Ontolo’s tool, which gives you some advanced options and Solo SEO’s tool.

Now that you have the resources and the tools on advanced link building queries, get out there and see what you can dig up!

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

Social networking is a unique tool that is bringing people together for social and business interaction.  Networking sites have also become a valuable SEO tool as it offers a variety of portals for you to advertise your company, what it can offer and gain valuable search engine credibility by staying trustworthy and maintaining a legitimate public profile.

Networking sites are a free and effective way to drive traffic to your website.  By creating profiles on various networking sites you are able to put your business out there to be seen my millions and potentially send new business your way.

When people browse the networking sites they do it in very similar ways as they do on Google or Yahoo.  They type in specific keywords to find what they’re looking for.  Implementing basic SEO strategies when putting your profile on these sites is a valuable tool for people and search engines to be able to find you.

When getting involved with social networking sites it is important to not only put your information on there but to be involved with what the site offers.  A lot of these sites are blog sites where you can get involved in discussions pertaining to your business.  The more you are involved and the more blogs you post the better chance you have of the search engines picking it up and increasing your positions in the rankings.

Be very wary of spamming.  Posting keyword stuffed blogs and irrelevant articles all over the place will cause the search engines to devalue your content and drop it from valuable ranking spots.  Make sure you post content that is valuable and important to your reader.  This should not be a hard thing to do if you are running an honest business and have a genuine belief in the goods or service you are providing.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Well, hopefully you don’t have too many enemies but when participating in social networking sites it’s important to maintain a positive image as “bad press” goes a long way.  If you are encouraging inappropriate activity or being a general nuisance on these networking sites it’s very easy to build up a lot of negative comments.  These bad remarks will not only tarnish your companies name and good standing but the search engines are very aware when negative comments are out there and if in abundance they will rank very high when people do searches around your important keywords or company name.

By being actively involved in these networking sites not only promotes your business and helps with search engine rankings but allows you to interact with others in the same industry and can be a great tool for gathering information when doing research.  Honesty and integrity will go a long way in keeping your site at the top of the searches and keep you in good standing with the most important client of all….your customer.

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

If you own a business website, you already know that your continued success depends upon the amount of traffic you receive. Websites that do not deliver traffic are completely ineffective and can lead to lost money, time and immense frustration. Every business website owner covets traffic and wants users to visit their sites because they know that a user can quickly turn into customer.

The one way in which businesses are able to attract users is through strategic internet marketing techniques. While the traditional internet marketing techniques like PPC campaigns, SEO and links are effective at helping users find businesses and directing traffic to sites, these techniques are still very limited. What happens after a user visits your business site? Whether they stay or exit will depend upon what your website has to offer. This means that you must be more creative when it comes to your internet marketing plans.

Visit any high-performance business website and what you will discover are innovative online marketing tools that not only deliver users, but also engage users. Instead of the traditional list of services, mission statements and “About Us” pages, companies are opting to be more creative with their online marketing tactics and are relying upon things like blogs, photos, videos and applications to keep their visitors intrigued.

This new wave of internet marketing utilizes fun features that attract customers. If you think it is time to become more inventive with your marketing, why not try some of these popular marketing tools:

1) Photos: no amount of copy can convey what an image can. If you run a business, why not include artistic photos of your products and your work? Often times, people want to see a product or be able to have a visual measure of your professional abilities. If they like what they see, they will most likely contact you. This is a great way to impress your website users and you can make this feature interactive by adding commenting capabilities. Additionally, you could create an account on Flickr, a well-liked photo hosting website that allows users to create custom photo galleries and interact with other people.

2) Videos: no user wants to spend time reading text. With users spending meager seconds on a website, you need to engage their interest fast and nothing accomplishes this as efficiently as videos. Online videos are viral and some of the most highly-trafficked websites are those committed only to hosting videos, like YouTube. By paying attention to this trend and keeping up with it, you will lure in customers and also have a chance to make a great first impression.

3) Blogs: blogs are great in terms of user engagement. Many businesses are using blogs to talk about their experience, to share funny industry related stories and to draw attention to their professional services. Users gravitate toward blogs because they are personal, opinion based and a quick way to make a connection.

In terms of generating traffic, attracting customers and monetization, creative marketing tools are the way for businesses to go because the longer a user stays on a website, the more time businesses will have to captivate attention and successfully sell their services.

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

If you are taking the time to read this article, chances are you already know a little something about search engine optimization (SEO) and that when it comes to search engine marketing, people need to incorporate organic SEO strategies in their website’s content. There are numerous ways in which you can do this, from using targeted keyword phrases to internal linking to including SEO videos. This seems easy enough, right?

Well, if it is so easy, than why are so many people struggling to achieve organic SEO placement?

As a professional SEO writer and content writer, I cannot tell you how many people ask me to review their websites’ copy because their websites are not achieving top organic ranking in the search engines. These consultations always start with people complaining about how they have put so much time and energy writing their content and that they have used the same keyword phrase over and over again. So, why aren’t they ranking? I usually tell them they could have saved themselves time, energy and money by hiring an organic SEO expert, but for some reason that response only adds to their frustration.

Here is what people need to realize, when it comes to the search engines, everyone wants one of the coveted top 3 spots, but those spots are not easy to get when people choose to write what I call “junk copy”. What is junk copy? It is copy that:

• Uses the same SEO keyword phrase again and again: people reading repetitive content will quickly discover that it lacks substance and leave the website and the search engines will penalize the site. For a page that contains 300 – 500 words of content, you only need to use a keyword phrase twice, not one hundred!

• Has meaningless links: years ago the search engines LOVED links, but the algorithms have changed and websites are now penalized for having non-quality links. Helpful hint: If you have links, avoid “click here” text and externally link some of your keyword phrases to sites that are relevant to the phrase.

• Is not relevant to the keyword phrase the person is targeting: if people are hoping to achieve placement for the keyword phrase “organic SEO”, they had better have content on their sites that is about organic SEO, not half-thought content that lacks relevance or that does not engage a user’s interest. If a user is searching for the keywords “organic SEO” and they stumble across your site, they will quickly leave if it lacks quality information. The search engine spiders will also pick up on a website’s irrelevance to a keyword and the site be penalized by losing organic rank.

If you are about to write copy for your website, you should absolutely stay clear of junk copy. Doing so will not only save you a lot of frustration, but also help you achieve organic placement in time. You should take the time to think about what type of information your website’s visitors are hoping to find on your site and include that information within your web pages. Think of your website as being leading resource or an information center and you will be on the right track when it comes to writing effective organic SEO copy.

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

For many people, writing website content is not an easy task, as most people are unsure what sort of information they should include in their web pages. Content writing may seem like an onerous task or a mystery, but it does not have to be. If you are about to undertake content writing for your website, one of the very best things you can do is to think about what your prospective customers or users would want to spend time reading and researching.

For example, if you own a travel agency, you will want content on your website that is travel related. Your website should be rich in travel resources and you should incorporate articles or blogs that touch on destinations your agency specializes in, things people can do or see while they are visiting travel destinations and services your agency provides. Additionally, it is helpful to include content rich web pages and links that pertain to destination resources like hotels, tourist attractions, maps and weather information.

The key to writing good content is to think outside of the box. While people will want to know about your business and your services, they will also be searching for information that is useful and are likely to spend more time exploring your website if the content writing is informative, exciting and tailored to their individual interests.

If you’re using your website to promote a business, prospective customers will be more likely to utilize your services if they feel that you are a credible resource. For instance, if online users visit a web development company’s website and all they find are random pages, advertisements and poorly written content, they are very likely to exit that company’s website and go to a competitor. However, if people visit a web development company’s website and they find things like content writing tips, “how to” articles and intriguing blogs about web development, they will automatically get the impression that the company is experienced and may choose to contact the company based on their evident expertise.

When you are ready to start writing your web content, ask yourself these questions:

• Who are my users or customers?
• Why are they visiting my website?
• What information are they looking for?
• What are my users interested in?What things or experiences can I share with my users or customers that may be interesting or useful?

After you answer these questions, you make sure that your content writing easily engages user interest and keeps your users wanting more. If you choose to write blog entries, make sure that you continually update the blog with entertaining stories and features. If you choose to write articles, make sure the articles are on topics that relate to your business. By taking the time to write quality web content, you will not keep users interested, but may also turn users into customers.

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

In the world of websites, more and more people are starting to use SEO videos to market their services. A SEO video is multimedia that is optimized via title tags, alt tags and keywords. On the web, digital media has become viral because people are more likely to spend time watching a short video than reading a full page of content. In the past, videos were merely geared toward entertainment, but now businesses are starting to discover that SEO videos can actually be effective marketing tools.

SEO videos can help businesses in numerous ways. First, a video makes a quick, lasting impression on a user. Imagine that a user has stumbled upon your website, it is likely that this person wants information fast. If your website just has endless pages of content, the user will likely take a quick look and exit, leaving you high and dry.

However, if the first thing the user sees is a video, the user will most likely click on the media and instantly become engaged. Once your users have started to play your videos, you will have created the perfect sales opportunity and will be able to make a lasting impression. Additionally, because the user is engaged, you will have more than a few seconds to tell them about what you do, who you are and why they need to become your next customer.

Another way SEO videos can help businesses is through the transference of knowledge. For example, if you are a lawyer and you want to attract new clients, you could use a SEO video to discuss the areas of law that you practice. You could be creative and produce videos that answer common legal questions and give legal advice. You could also post videos that contain client testimonials, which is an extremely effective way to gain a prospective client’s trust. When users spend time viewing your knowledge-based videos, they will get the impression that you know what you are doing and that you have the experience and services they desire.

Search engines also like SEO videos, which can only work to a businesses’ benefit. Often times, websites that contain optimized multimedia stand a better chance of achieving top organic placement. They key to optimizing a video is through the submission of meta data. After you create a video, you will want to appropriately tag the media with a keyword rich title and meta information.

When businesses incorporate SEO videos in their web pages, they can make a great first impression, get customers interested in their services through effective marketing and also crawl up the search engine ranks. Businesses can also use high-quality videos to persuade customers that their services are desirable and worth pursuing.

Posted by BlueSEO on February 4th, 2010

In today’s consumer driven market, customers can afford to be very selective when it comes to choosing which businesses and services they will utilize. If they find that they like a product or service, they will most likely refer the business to people in their social network. Unfortunately, the opposite also holds true. If a customer has a bad experience with a business, felt a company’s customer service was poor or really hated a product, they will be sure to let others know through various mediums, including the internet.

On the internet, there are numerous websites, message boards and consumer review forums like Yelp that allow customers to post reviews of businesses, products and services. Often times, these reviews can make or break a business as internet reputation is everything. Just imagine if your prospective customers visit a consumer review site, look up your business and discover negative comments and complaints. Your online reputation will be not only be tarnished, but prospective customers will take notice and ultimately choose not to use your services. This effect can be crippling to a business that is trying to use search engine marketing to attract new customers.

It is often said that “knowledge is power”. When you know or suspect that you do not have a positive business reputation on the internet, there is a way in which you clean up your bad rep and it is called reputation management. Reputation management is a process that allows businesses to track what customers are saying about their services and that also allows businesses to take
action by addressing complaints and reporting damaging remarks so that they are removed from sites and consumer message boards.

With so many businesses relying on their online exposure to attract new business and surpass competitors, it is imperative that business owners are conscientious of what their customers really think and use their knowledge to pro-actively implement fixes so they have a sparkling clean web reputation.

If you believe that your online reputation is not as good as it should be, you should explore online reputation management services. Internet reputation management can help you in one of two ways. First, these services can help you clean up your search engine reputation. When customers are looking for business services or a product, they will likely turn to the search engines. It is crucial that when your business appears in the organic search listings, that nothing negative is returned for customers to see, or else you risk losing business.

SEO reputation management services are helpful because companies that offer these services will do the work for business owners and intervene when any damaging stories, posts or comments are made about the business. By eliminating off-putting information through reputation management, businesses will be allowed to thrive and draw in customers with relative ease.

Second, these services can help you learn what your customers really think about you, your products and your service. When you know what your customers really think about your business, you can fix any problem areas or identify weaknesses that are causing you to lose customers and business prospects. By taking a pro-active approach, you will ensure that your business remains viable and wanted.