Archive for SEO efforts

The success and sustenance of every website begins with the server on which it is hosted, and the performance of that web server relies entirely upon the competence, reliability and capabilities of the web hosting provider. Perhaps even more essential to the success of a website is it’s ranking in the search engines. Without traffic a site may as well not exist, and it is a well known fact that having a high page ranking search engines is the bet way to get constant traffic automatically. Many people do not see the correlation between their web hosting plan and their search engine optimization efforts, but I assure there is a valid connection. Every web hosting plan comes with certain features and options, some of which can directly impact your site’s ranking in the search engines.

Geographic Targeting

Many people seem to overlook the importance of targeted traffic. Getting traffic to your web page can be easy, especially if you accept any kind of traffic. However, getting traffic that is actually going to convert into sales is another story. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative to go after traffic that will be beneficial to your business. One of the ways you can do this is by targeting your traffic geographically. If you are trying to sell a product or service that is going to be popular in the UK, then you wouldn’t want a lot of your traffic coming from China. For this reason it is important to choose a web a hosting provider that is located in the area you would like to target. I.E. -  If you are in the US, then try to pick a web hosting provider in the United States.

IP Addresses

Another important aspect to consider is the IP address of your web site. Search engines often look at the IP address of a website to determine it’s relation to other websites, which may directly impact it’s rankings in the search engines. In other words, choosing a web hosting plan that offers only shared IP addresses may not be the best decision. You may find it too expensive to purchase a dedicated hosting plan, however you can still get a dedicated IP address with your shared hosting account. If you share your IP address with other websites then you are risking the search engine ranking of your site, since the actions of those websites could be directly connected with your site’s behavior by the search engines. When you have a dedicated IP address you will not have to worry about such occurrences, as your IP address will only be used by your website.

Site Building Tools

You’ll also want to make sure you have access to all of the website building tools and languages that are standard in today’s technology. For example, you’ll need to be able to use PHP, MySQL databases, FTP clients and other standard tools. You’ll also need access to your .htaaccess file and PERL if you want to have a fully functional and reliable website. These tools are also extremely important in the search engine optimization efforts of your website. If your web hosting provider does not offer these tools then you may want to consider a different web hosting company.

Nov
27

The Importance of SEO Article Writing

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The web is littered with articles that are not worth the word processor they were written on.  After a second glance, you will notice that they are horribly composed and stuffed with keywords, immediately recognizing that they were written for the sole purpose of trying to boost the ranking of a particular web page.  This is not a bad thing, just the wrong approach.  When incorporating articles into your SEO campaign, there are three things you need to focus on:

1. Providing valuable information.

2. Increasing link popularity.

3. Increasing search engine rankings.

All of this is difficult accomplish when your articles are badly written and stuffed with keywords.

The Power of Articles

So why would you want to consider articles for enhancing your SEO efforts?  Well, although having optimized content on your site is very effective in the eyes of the search engine, you must also make sure that content serves a purpose for your visitors as well.  Many of the successful search engine marketing gurus agree with this and stress the importance of delivering useful information.  If the content on your website is not helpful or useful in any way, visitors will have little motivation in reading it to learn more about what you have to offer.  Sure, you may be able to get a higher ranking in Google and possibly even bring in considerably more traffic.  Unfortunately, if visitors simply take one look at your articles and then leave, those high rankings you achieved in the search engines would mean noting at all.

Articles also make a great way to establish link popularity.  However, if you plan to distribute them across the web and have not taken the time to make sure they have an acceptable level of quality, it is very unlikely that someone else will want to publish your article on their site.   Point blank – if your articles are poorly written and do not give useful information to the reader, they will be very ineffective at helping your build good links.

Writing Articles for Search Engines

Once you have a handle on writing good content that makes sense and delivers solid information, you can then embark on producing articles for SEO.  Keep in mind that writing for the search engines calls for a good balance so there are a few things you want to avoid.

- Never sacrifice the reader experience just to achieve higher rankings.

- Never repeat the same words and phrases to the point of extreme.

- Never overstuff keywords into text because it is more likely to backfire.

The Keys to Success

You will have a much better chance of succeeding with SEO article writing by establishing some discipline within yourself.  This can be as simple as studying your niche and coming to understand your target audience.  Once you have done this, keep your articles specifically focused on their needs or interest.  Also pay attention to your content and make sure it contains concrete knowledge that is useful to the reader.  If you can accept that your audience should come before the search engines, you will be become a better article writer and everything else will fall in place from there.

Oct
22

How to Get a Better Service from Your SEO Firm

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Many website owners are not getting quality results from their SEO efforts.  This even holds true for those who have decided to outsource these tasks to professional third-party companies.  While you are paying the company for its services, there are some responsibilities that must be handled on your end in order to get the best bang for your buck.   In this article we will give you a few pointers for getting the most out of your SEO firm.

Lend Valuable Insight Where Needed

It does not matter how good the SEO company is, there is no way they can be fully grasp all the activities and processes going on within your organization.  By emphasizing some of the essentials upfront, you can shed light on areas that aid the outsourced agency and result in a win-win situation for both sides.  Don’t want until the SEO firm has almost completed the project to bring up matters that should have already been discussed.

Build Trust within the Firm

One definite way to hinder the success of your SEO project is to challenge the service provider with justification for every little recommendation.  True, since they are working for you, the company should have no trouble providing you with the answers you require at any given time.  However, making them do so repeatedly and needlessly could tie up resources that may have been devoted to pouring more productivity into your project.  Establishing a level of trust is not always as easy as it sounds, but if it does not exist, your campaign can turn out be very chaotic very fast.

Stay Open to Change

Some SEO campaigns require that significant changes to be made to the actual content or the overall structure of the site.  Depending on your role in the project, you may have to argue on behalf of the agency in order to change existing corporate polices and bridge the two parties together.  This could be a major hold up if top decision makers are not willing to discuss the negative impact their polices could have on the project.  If it is you making the decisions, keep yourself open to exploring possible changes that will benefit the campaign.

Learn and Apply

The more you know about your campaign and what it needs to be a success, the less the SEO firm has to go over.  Therefore, if a particular area has already been thoroughly covered, the firm should be able to build on it and consistently elevate their efforts to achieve the desired results.  That does not mean you shouldn’t try to bring something to the table.  If you don’t know or care enough to add to working concepts, it is very unlikely that your SEO agency will get the support they need to successfully employ advanced methods such as link building via social media and video sharing platforms.

If you want good results from your SEO campaign, get involved with the company handling all the hard work and give aid where ever you can.  By sitting back and leaving the entire project in the agency’s hands, you are more than likely to receive less than desirable results.