Archive for the ‘Web Design’ Category

Navigating Pathways through SEO Terrain in 2012 – Panda and Penguin Updates

May 8th, 2012

Things are accelerating over there in Mountain View, California. Google’s HQ is churning out search algorithm updates faster than Wonka’s chocolate factory turns out candy bars – and under nearly as much secrecy and mystique. That’s a nice visual, eh?

In all seriousness, things have been busy on both sides of the SEO front. Month after month, Google has been updating their search products, making little improvements here and there. In the last couple of quarters, we’ve seen a page layout algorithm update that effectively governs how much ad placement can reside Above the Fold; we’ve seen the Panda Update – developed to aggressively drop the rankings of low-quality sites; and in April, Google delivered the Penguin webspam algorithm along with some 50+ other tweak launches (too varied and lengthy to list here).

Here at Sweet Spot Marketing, one of our primary jobs is to scour the updates from Google for clues that are likely to help benefit our clients. Due to the fact that our SEO, Paid Search, and Ad Campaign Managers diligently tread the straight and narrow when it comes to Google, we’re happy to see that the changes made to the Google algorithm (as well as with the other search engines) are right in step with our search engine marketing campaigns and don’t necessitate complicated program or plan reversals that serve only to confuse clients and discredit the less-reputable marketing agents out there. We’re taking on new clients of all sizes – who operate in a diverse selection of markets – allowing us to navigate new SEO terrain every day.

Our game plan: every step in the right direction.

To give you a peek at what the Sweet Spot SEO Team is doing these days, it’s easy to sum up the majority of activities by saying the roadmap is dominated by Link Building, Content Development, and much related research.

The Link Building Team is focusing on a wider diversity of growth and actual link types – researching and opting for a variety of link placements across a range of sites deemed beneficial to the specific needs of the client. Link growth is good, but we’ve become selective in link placement because we know that Google keeps watch over the types of links directed at sites as well as the frequency to which those links are added. Research is critical.

In addition, we’re also diversifying our anchor text and focusing on links that speak to “brand” and URL rather than non-brand-specific sets of keywords. In addition, we’re spending time looking through Google Webmaster Tools and Analytics, checking for any broken links. Available links are gold. Broken links are worth nothing. Making sure we redirect every broken link is a sure sign of quality web marketing campaign management.

Note: we’re also staying highly active on the social media pathways – seeking links from popular social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

The Content Development Team has never been busier. It’s a well-known fact that the web is driven by content that is relevant to search needs. Content is still King and there’s little chance for a dethroning any time soon. Sweet Spot Marketing is spending hours upon hours each month, researching and crafting fresh, quality content for clients. Great content, by the way, isn’t alchemy. Regular blog articles, along with planned press releases, new site pages, white papers, landing pages, infographics, and microsite additions are all valuable content areas that help grow site rankings and authority. Once again, research is critical if you’re planning to create value-added content for site visitors (and it’s well-worth remembering that great content builds organic links to the site).

In the end, the goal of any web marketing campaign is to encourage new and repeat visitors that are likely to share your content and speak highly about your products and services. And when it’s defined in these simple terms it’s easy to see that the SEO terrain isn’t such a wilderness after all.

Tags: Algorithm
Posted in Content Development, Google, SEO, Sweet Spot Marketing | No Comments

How Much Does SEO Cost?

February 13th, 2012

If you’re anything like the average business owner, you prefer straight-forward answers to your questions. With so many daily distractions that tear us from our action items – and countless managerial-level decisions that must be made – your head is full of data. There are a million calculations to be made every minute, so that you can give well-thought-out marching orders. Given all that, there’s nothing more frustrating than asking someone for an answer and getting a lot of dodge and weave and mumbling.

“How much does SEO cost?” Cue the crickets.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. The short answer, according to a December 2011 survey of over 500 marketing professionals in 6 different countries, is this:

  1. Hourly SEO costs range from $76 to $200 per hour.seo-cost
  2. By-the-project costs range from $1,000 to $7,500 per project.
  3. Monthly retainer costs range from $500 to $5,000 per month.

There you have it. Average SEO costs illuminated for all to see. There is an expanded answer, one that might suit you better, but it’s going to be tailored to your direct SEO needs and a lot of other details. And if no one has ever said that to you before, it’s about time you heard it straight.

Buying Search Engine Optimization for your website is a lot like buying gear to outfit your next outdoors adventure. Each piece of outdoor gear has a specific function that is directly tied to a need that you are likely to face out there in the wilderness. On a deep-woods camping trip, you need a hand axe or a brush thinner to split and trim wood for fire because nobody leaves those kinds of tools lying around in the forest. In a woodland area populated by predators, you need the right tools to survive the night and get through to the next day.

In a congested marketplace with numerous competitors vying for the same prospect traffic, you need keyword research, content development, a link building program and perhaps even a social campaign to secure your position in the search engine results pages. You need this kind of well-tailored SEO program to ensure that your site has a competitive advantage over other sites in the marketplace. You need it to earn revenues today and make sure that your doors are open tomorrow. You need it to lure traffic and survive.

Yes, the costs for outfitting will always fluctuate. Not every hiker is going into the deep woods. Your business may be the only one of its kind in a 500-mile radius. It’s all relative. So, when you ask an SEO professional about the costs associated with a campaign for your website, the correct answer is “Well, that depends on a few things…”

Because it does depend on a few things – a whole lot of things in certain cases:

  1. The overall size and reputation of your business
  2. The amount of competition you’re facing
  3. The kind of product or service you offer
  4. The size of the market
  5. Your specific region
  6. Everything else

It should be known that web marketers are the kind of people that approach every opportunity with eagerness and ambition. We love to answer questions and help our clients solve the problems that are preventing them from fully benefiting from positive search engine results. We’re not likely to be vague about aspects of our efforts or the expected outcomes, but we are likely to be careful about setting the right expectations for your need in your market against your competition. And after we’ve gathered some answers and some intel, we’ll give you the dollar figures for your SEO.

In the end, we know that you hope to draw more visitors to your website. With good content, quality products or services, and competitive pricing, a percentage of those visitors are expected to become customers. The more customers you can draw, the more revenue you’ll generate. All the numbers should figure into your SEO return on investment – a topic that sounds like a good idea for another article, another time.

Tags: Content Development, Keyword Research, PageRank, search marketing, search rankings, seo rankings
Posted in Content Development, SEO | 1 Comment

Too Many Ads “Above the Fold” May Result in Google Penalty

January 23rd, 2012

What is the first rule of real estate? Location, location, location. As true and unchanging as that statement may be in real estate, it’s about to change for website advertising placement. This is a good thing. Read on.

When it comes to web ads, the prime real estate, so to speak, is at the top of the web page – an area referred to as “above the fold” or “above the scroll” in some vernacular. But regardless of what it’s called, the area at the top of the website is an advertiser’s greatest attraction.

Why is this? Because we humans sometimes have a short attention span and the human brain is, therefore, programmed to skim. Any advertisement or call-to-action piece that exists above the fold – in that top-most area of the site that is visible without scrolling – is almost 7x more likely to be acted upon by page viewers. Any die-hard advertiser will tell you the area below the fold might as well be on another page altogether. In the advertising game, the value of ad positions above the fold cannot be overstated.

above fold ad placement

Great For Revenues Not User Experiance

According to the recent news item at the Google Webmaster Central blog, it’s all about to change.

Google has done a little research and made an algorithm improvement (one of about 500 expected in 2012) that examines how much of the “above the fold” area of the website is dedicated to content – and how much is covered in ads. Google has heard some complaints from searchers about how “it’s difficult to find the actual content” on some pages they’ve clicked to. And although Google claims that this algorithmic change will alter less than 1% of all searches globally, the search team has said in no uncertain terms that those sites that clutter up the top portion of their webpages with advertising may be penalized. Google has all but promised that sites with top-heavy advertising will not rank as high in the very near future.

From Google Webmaster Central: This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page.

Although searchers are no-doubt benefited from landing pages that “get to the point” and deliver the content they expect to see, some site owners are not happy.

But it’s only 1% of all searches, Google said. Seems like a small number, but when you consider that Google handles 2 million searches every minute of every day, that’s 20,000 occurrences every minute where a typical searcher might see a reordering of search results on the page. It’s quite a bit, really. Makes you wonder who’s doing all that advertising.

But, as stated earlier, this is a good thing. Here’s why: Google’s oft-stated mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google talks incessantly about relevance in all things related to search. Google is continuously making changes to its algorithm to favor original, quality content. Therefore, it’s no huge effort to see that Google knows that searchers want to see the content they expected to see with every search. If they give the people what they want, they’ll continue to be successful.

As web marketers, site owners, and content developers, it is our continued mission to create honest and compelling content that gains the immediate interest of site visitors and builds their trust in your brand.

Content is King. We’ve said it before and it’s not likely to change. Let’s be honest with each other, if someone walks into an ice cream parlor for a triple cone (chocolate, cherry and pistachio) and is offered a taco salad instead, they’re going to waste no time in exiting. In the end, you lose their business, your advertising dollars were wasted, and negative word of mouth begins to seep into the market. There is a place for advertising on nearly all websites. It is, however, not above your message. When adding a new ad to your page, it’s of paramount importance to consider the ad size and placement relative to your content. The focus of every content marketing campaign is to deliver the message and a positive user experience.

Tags: Algorithm, Content Development, PageRank, search rankings, Web Ads
Posted in Content Development, Google, SEO | No Comments

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