Northwest Arkansas SEO

We’ve been showing our clients for some time how to optimize their web sites for free organic search traffic.

We have written articles about how and why brick-and-mortar businesses should really consider taking an online approach.

Today we came across a great article from our colleagues over at Early To Rise. If you don’t subscribe to their daily newsletter, you should…it’s free!

Anyway, listen to Edwin as he tells you why…

Search Engine Optimization Is Easy

By Edwin Huertas

About a year and a half ago, a family friend started a business selling women’s active wear. She had no website — and no plans to create one.

She sold her goods by driving door to door, visiting every gym she could find. She was doing okay. But the time and effort — not to mention gas — she was putting into it was crazy.

Her products were great, and the people who purchased them were always happy to buy from her again. But her only follow-up with them was by phone. She worked out of her tiny two-bedroom house. And because she couldn’t afford to have someone else handle order fulfillment, there were so many boxes piled up that you could hardly walk through the house without tripping over one.

I thought to myself … “If she had some way to reach her customers WITHOUT running all over town, she could seriously improve her sales.”

I offered to help her set up a website and bring her business to the Internet. And because she had limited funds, the main business-building strategy I recommended was to drive free traffic to her site using search engine optimization (SEO). (Actually, even if you have a big budget, free traffic is always best in my book.)

She finally agreed. And BAM! She is now selling about $10K per month on her website. She has even picked up a few wholesale accounts from big-name national gyms. And that doesn’t include the phone orders she is still taking.

Needless to say … she no longer drives anywhere to make sales. People find HER on the Web, quickly and easily.

If you have a brick-and-mortar business you want to take online — or if you want to start an Internet business from scratch — here’s how I helped my friend …

I developed a VERY simple shopping cart for her website, using www.OSCommerce.com as her e-commerce platform. OsCommerce is free software that you can easily install to run your own online store. It is used on over 1 million websites, so it’s been tested thoroughly by many Web professionals. (Just perform a search for “Powered by OSCommerce” and you’ll see.)

Then I taught her how to enter in her products. And I taught her how to input product descriptions using targeted keywords for SEO. (I just taught her the basics.) And before long, her website began getting free SEO traffic. In fact, she started getting it quicker than even I expected.

Let me show you what I mean. (I’ve got her permission to do this, of course.)

To view stats and original article, click here.

As you can see, she’s been getting a lot of free traffic from the search engines.

And 99.9 percent of her traffic is for the “targeted” keywords she’s used on her site:

Here are some of the tips I gave her to get that traffic:

1. Make sure the name you enter for each product on your site includes some of your keywords. If, for example, my friend enters a pair of low-cut workout pants, she might name them something like “Sexy Women’s Workout Pants.”

2. When you write a description for each product, insert keywords close to the beginning of the copy.

3. If a product comes in different colors, enter each one individually. This creates more website pages, because each product has its own page in the system. (And for SEO, the more pages a site has, the better.) The trick is to make sure you have different product names and descriptions. They can be close, but not using the exact verbiage.

Search engine optimization is the main technique I used to help my friend get free traffic — but not the only one. Another technique that worked really well for her was to build outside links to her website. In particular, I showed her how to find forums and blogs related to her niche. And I taught her how to post her opinions, ideas, and comments on those sites — and link her postings to her website.

Even if a site doesn’t “officially” allow you to include your link, you can usually find a way to sneak it in. For example, here’s a comment she posted on a website dedicated to health and fitness:

“I was working out one day and my fat thighs were tearing at the seam, so I thought it was time to buy new gear. I found a great place (www.bellamiasportswear.com), and they had some of the hottest outfits I’ve seen in a while.”

Not only did she get her link in, she did it as a third-party recommendation. And that kind of testimonial is probably the best advertising there is.

By the way, it’s important to post useful content on these websites. Don’t just “hit and run” with your site address. Join the conversation.

Throughout the learning process, my friend absorbed the tidbits of information I gave her. Even though she had known NOTHING about the Internet, she merely followed my simple instructions and kept plugging away.

Eventually, she felt ready to manage the website on her own. And she did great.

Now, she’s gearing up to open two websites in different (but related) markets: one for men’s workout wear and one for nutritional supplements.

And to think … before I stepped in, she had never realized how easy it is to make a fortune on the Web.

She had the right attitude. She was willing to learn a boatload of new skills. She pushed forward even though she was unsure. And she was well rewarded as a result.

You can do it too.

If you’re not interested in learning the technical skills, not a problem. There are many freelancers out there who can do just about anything you need for a very reasonable fee. (Because they work from home, they don’t mind charging less than you might expect.)

Bottom line: You really can’t afford to sit back and watch others make their fortunes simply because you don’t dare take that first step.

Like any other business, marketing your product or service online takes a little time to set up. But the financial and personal freedom you’ll enjoy makes it worth it.

The time is NOW folks!

P.S. There are many resources out there that can help you — and you should take full advantage of them, if you can. I know of one, for example, that is tailor-made for those who want to start their own online business. No previous experience necessary. Find out more about it here.

Early To Rise
Issue #2770
Thursday, September 17, 2009

If you’re a local established business or you’re considering starting a business out of your home like in the example above, please consider utilizing OUR services here at Northwest Arkansas SEO, we’ll get you and your web site going in the right direction saving you a lot of time and headaches!

“As business people who rely on SEO, any time Google gives
us some insights into what they have planned for the future, we
need to pay attention.”
– Brad Fallon,  Stompernet

We couldn’t agree more and as you may have noticed we previously told you pretty much the same thing in so many words in a two-part article we posted a while back.

How To Get Your Website Ready For New Search Engine Rankings

Part 1

Part 2

So…quite possibly what we’ve speculated for some time has finally started to happen as it’s official… Google recently announced testing of a new, more powerful version of their search engine technology.

Brad goes on to say that we should learn from what Google is telling us about the future of search and followed up with a quote, directly from Google.

*Google says, “It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions.”

Hmm…looks like Google is concentrating more on things that matter most when it comes to searching.

• Speed
• Accuracy
• Relevance
• Comprehensiveness

As subtle as these may seem, these are some powerful changes indeed!

Google feels so positive about the new and fully upgraded version of Google search that they codenamed it Caffeine and made it available to the public for testing.

So Northwest Arkansas SEO decided to do just that and what we found out was…well, pretty much what we suspected.

We are working on our results.  Would you like a quick review as to what we found?  If we get enough feedback and interest then we’ll post a part II of Google Loves Caffeine so stay tuned and be on the lookout  for a second article coming soon!

*Some of the information for this article, Google Loves Caffeine, comes directly from the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Help test some next-generation infrastructure with Google Caffeine

Try Google Caffeine Here

In part 1 of this article we talked about the following SEO facts:

• The fact that the World Wide Web of search engine optimization (SEO) is in a growth spurt.

• How you as a business owner in Northwest Arkansas and beyond, who rely on search engine results, need to know what’s going on – how to protect yourself and your interests and how to take advantage the changes.

• The fact that most specialist would agree that primarily search engines look for good content, the way the site is structured and link popularity.

• That search engines are changing the way they spider and index websites to help them serve better results to their search audience.

• We talked about Googles recent email to publishers about the use of interest-based advertising.  To read Part 1 click here.

In addition to all the above covered in Part 1…

Here’s what else we believe:
Google and many other top search engines will give higher priority to websites and their pages that Web surfers have more interest and interaction with. For the most part, the way a web surfer’s relevance for a website is measured will be completely transparent. We believe that this recent request by Google to their publishers may have something to do with these upcoming changes in search engine ranking.

If it all happens the way we and other specialist see it, we will start to see an entirely different set of patterns emerge.  This alone will affect all business related websites across the World Wide Web. It is thought that as these changes take place many websites showing up in the top 10 results will no longer be there!

Guess what? New sites or old sites making changes, practicing some good tactics and then getting rated using the latest algorithms will take their place!

Here’s what I’ve noticed lately when I’m logged into my Google account and tell me if a light bulb goes off when you hear this.

Google currently asks Web surfers that are logged in to move their search results around, based on the your own idea of how important each one is! If you like a certain page in the search results, you can move it higher on the list so that anytime you search for the same “keyword” or “phrase” you will be presented with your own personalized set of results.

What’s that tell you and what does that mean as far as how you operate your own website?

Well to me it means that I should be using a form of web platform that easily allows my customers to do pretty much the same thing when visiting our site…do you see?

In summary, these are the main things that we think will make a difference in the way results are ranked in the future.  The web users will have more influence and by all means…they should.

In closing, here’s some additional ways that we believe the search engines will be considering your online presence:

The first thing and one of the most important things that you want to consider and may be able to learn to handle yourself is the Content.  One thing will always hold true: CONTENT IS KING.

This has always been true and will continue to be so.  It alone will boost your SEO efforts more than anything else.

If you have good Web content, visitors will find it, read it, bookmark it, comment on it, and maybe even talk about it to their friends, neighbors and even other websites.

Informative articles are key…people appreciate high-quality content and search engines will take notice of these actions.

You’ll spark the attention of major search engines by the way comments are allowed through these articles.

Through social media like Del.icios, Google reader, Propeller and others? (An area that is exploding right now and one we will be covering in future essays a whole lot more!

Through videos. Videos on your website can help your SEO now but in our opinion only if a search engine can actually read the contents of a video.

What I mean by that is I think along with using relative tags you should also explain any and all videos by way of content in, on and about the video.

You see, you might have to give more serious thought about the videos on your site than you have in the past if you want the fact that they are on your site to have a positive effect and get the acknowledgment and gratitude of the prospect and the search engines.

Some other areas that we’ve noted and that other SEO analysts are listing as getting even more attention by the search engines are as follows:

* How often have your listing been voted to the top of the results?
* What other similar searches have those same users performed in the past?
* Have any of your page been bookmarked (voted for) on a major social   networking site (i.e., Del.icios, Google reader, Propeller and others?
* Are any other sites talking about your site?
* If your Web pages include video, how long do people watch it?
* How often do website visitors return to your page(s) – site?
* Are you allowing comments on your pages? Is there an easy way for visitors to do so?

As you can see, there are somethings that will guarantee good karma with the search engines and the “New” Ranking Rules!

It’s true that the new search engine ranking methods will bring a lot of changes to the world of search engine optimization. No need to worry though!

We have your back covered in several ways.

So, if you want to make sure you’re on the cutting edge when it comes to keeping your websites in check…

…If you’ve often wondered how you can get within the good graces of Google and all the other top search engines…

…or if you own a business and you’re considering the addition of a new website, you want to be certain that you put it together correctly, supply it with the right form of SEO and insure that it always has quality content that will be sure to please not only your audience but also the search engines…

…we have a couple suggestions for you.

If you have an existing website that just needs some T.L.C., needs to be brought up to date, refreshed and renewed, you might want to take us up on our SEO Quick Start Package.

If you’re unhappy with your current website or frustrated with your online efforts and would like professional guidance from A to Z, we highly suggest and recommend that you consider joining Blogging Beginners.


Why Blogging Beginners you might be saying? Out of all the years I’ve been online and out of all the gurus and website building programs I’ve seen, paid for and been a part of…I can absolutely guarantee you won’t find a better deal for the price!

You won’t find this level of expertise, knowledge and one on one help anywhere. You’ll be guided along by two of the best online marketers on the planet. Highly ranked experts I might add and in addition, you’ll be surrounded by some of the kindest most helpful members who have been involved with Blogging Beginners from the start.

Because of the help and support you’ll receive from the member base alone it makes this low cost membership an even better value!

But don’t take my word for it though, go here and read what others are saying and get the full scope on this great and highly recommended online membership.

Step by Step Instructions for a profitable blog …Click here!

In conclusion, I’d like to say that of course we can only speculate to a point on what the search engines are cooking up. It’s up to us as SEO Consultants to make an educated guess as to what the future of SEO holds, and try to keep on top of the latest changes.

Getting your site listed in the search engines’ top results has always and will always be the goal for many, you already know that.

And the higher up in the results you rank, the better chance you have of capturing your prospective customer’s attention. But remember that besides just being at or near the top in search engine ranking results…

…your end desire needs to be focused on what you can do for the visitor to turn him or her in to a new customer whom eventually places an order with your business.

How will you insure that your site is ready for new Search Engine Rankings?

Thank you for reading and please…if you found this essay to be informative and you feel that it was beneficial to read, please consider clicking on the “bookmark & share” button below.

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Related articles and information of interest:

• How to Blog For Traffic

• Privacy & Google

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How will your website handle the latest changes
in Search Engine Ranking?

Attention Northwest Arkansas Business owners or any business owner with websites:

Is your site ready for new Search Engine Rankings and if not, how will you deal with it?

Northwest Arkansas SEO has recently noted that the World Wide Web of search engine optimization (SEO) is in a growth spurt of sorts it would seem these days. You as a business owner in Northwest Arkansas and beyond, who have an Internet-based business and relying on search engine results to bring you new customers and repeat business…

…need to know what’s going on – how to protect yourself and your interests and how to take advantage of it and the possibilities these changes could create for any business everywhere.

I probably don’t need to tell you that SEO is all about getting your site listed in the search engines’ top results. You already know that the higher up in the results you rank, the better chance you have of capturing your prospective customer’s attention.

And of course the end result of this would be to get them to click on your link, the buy button or for local search engine traffic…

…get the web surfer to visit your place of business.

Get higher rankings for more pages and you’re part of the way to getting more traffic, making a sale or a customer to your store!

But back to the part about…

“the higher up in the results you rank, the better chance you have of capturing your prospective customer’s attention.”

Would you agree that getting those coveted high rankings is critical to the success of your Internet business?

Sure you would!

First let’s look at the way the search engines currently spider, rate, and index a website.  Then we’ll get back to the above oh so important thought!

The way the search engines currently do these important tasks depends on various factors, including these known by most SEO specialists:

Most specialist would agree they look for good content, the way the site is structured and link popularity.

Please note:  There are of course a mixture of other variables that we won’t be covering in this essay.

Although these factors are and will continue to be important…the engines are learning a thing or two about a thing or two and the word on the web umongst top notch SEO consultants is that search engines are changing the way they spider and index websites to help them serve better results to their search audience.

Check out this excerpt of a recent email we received as publishers:

“Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a users previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. “sports enthusiast”). To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network.

As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the “sports enthusiast” interest category. To learn more about your associated account settings, please visit the AdSense Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=20310

As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557 to ensure that your sites privacy policies are up-to-date, and make any necessary changes by April 8, 2009.

Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, were unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.”

In the past these calculations were primarily software calculations.  They’re learning that this isn’t always the best “resulting” experience all the time every time for the customers using their search engines…

…they’re incorporating new ranking algorithms that will take into consideration input that is submitted by “real visitors!”

This brings us back to the oh so important quote from above and why it’s an important one!

I’ve said this a time or two:

“You must serve many things and allow your prospective customers to sample and test your goods. You must show up several ways on several pages by way of several “key” words and several “key” phrases.  You must strive to show up for several combinations of possible searches that your prospective customer might choose when they type in a key word or phrase.  Plus you must serve these quests to them in the form of good, informative information which believe it or not, doesn’t always mean that you’ll always want to lead them to a sales pitch each and every time.”
– David W. Schaible

So what does all this mean and how are you going to get your website ready for it?

Well…

…you’ll have to come back an read Part 2 to find out how!

Please check back in a day or so and read the rest of this article.

If you already have a website for your business in Northwest Arkansas or beyond, you may already be implementing natural search engine optimization for your products or services.

“The fact that you have a website online counts toward part of this natural optimization in ways you just might not have thought of.”

It’s also known as passive marketing.

So you see, having a live website is half the battle and could mean there is the potential for local and of course distant Internet users to access your website through passive marketing.

In this and other related articles, we will examine some subtle ways business owners may be marketing their own business on the Internet naturally, the steps to improving these efforts and many more ways to do it.

First let it officially be  known as passive marketing and be aware that it might be happening naturally!

It’s been found to happen on a small scale since you have a site and it and it’s pages are indexed but if the SEO of your website has never been set up correctly or your online marketing has never been approach or actively promoted correctly…

…you’re probably not benefiting from it to its true potential!

Naturally you may find by doing your own key research or paying for some SEO Services, that your website can generate more  interest in your products or services.

So you may be asking…

“what are some subtle ways business owners can market their own business on the Internet naturally and how may I be already doing this on a small scale?”

Click Here to Continue reading…

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