10 Do’s and Don’ts to Avoid SEO Mistakes

With so much misinformation out there, along with a lack of knowledge about how SEO works, you could end up getting your website banned from the search engines. Learn how to avoid common mistakes with these 10 simple do’s and don’ts.

10. Don’t Use Flash for SEO. Flash websites are very eye-catching but search engines cannot read or index this type of content. If it is impossible to avoid a Flash-centric website and you need search engines to index it, you will have to offer an html version too. Search engines don’t like Flash sites for a reason – a spider can’t read Flash content and therefore can’t index it.

9. Don’t Use too Much JavaScript. Searchbots are not designed to read and understand JavaScript code. If a website contains a few lines of text in the JavaScript code, chances are that searchbots will ignore the entire block of code along with the text. This is true in the case of JavaScript menus. Try to keep the use of JavaScript to a minimum. Alternatively, create an external JavaScript file if it is unavoidable.

8. Do Implement a Robots.txt File. The primary purpose for using a robots.txt file is to gain complete control over the data indexed by the searchbots. Implement a Robots.txt file only when you want to prevent unwanted web pages from being indexed. A robots.txt file is always placed in the root folder of the website where the searchbots can access it easily.

7. Do Target the Correct Keywords. Targeting the wrong keywords is a common mistake many optimizers make and even worse – veteran SEO professionals do it. Marketers select keywords that they think are explanatory of their website but the average searcher does not think in those same keyword terms. Picking the right keywords can increase or decrease traffic to your SEO campaign. A first-class keyword suggestion aid, for example the Google search-based keyword tool will help you find keywords that are appropriate for your site.

6. Do Include Long Tail Keywords. With a million websites competing for short tail keywords, it can take more than 6 months to rank in the top 20 for a competitive keyword. In this case, long tail keywords come in handy. Long tail keywords are more specific and can contain the name of a specific product, brand or city. Ranking for long tail keywords is comparatively easier and the rate of conversion is better than that of short tail keywords. Do include keywords in the title tags.

5. Do Maintain a Uniform URL Structure. If your website is dynamic, then you need to modify the URL structure of the web pages. This maintains uniformity and helps searchbots to understand which page it is indexing. It is very easy to maintain the URL structure in dynamic websites. Blogging platforms like Wordpress provide an option for permalinks. Customized dynamic websites can use URL rewrite in the .htaccess file for the same.

4. Don’t Link to Low Quality Websites. Link building is a very crucial aspect of search engine optimization. Search engines consider the number of incoming links to a website as an indication of their popularity and give them priority rankings. Many beginners fail to realize that it is links from authoritative and quality websites that are important and they mistakenly link to low quality websites for higher rankings. This tactic can cause the credibility of the website to go down with search engines and in some cases, the website may get banned.

3. Do Perform Competitive Intelligence. Before starting your search engine optimization program, visit the competing websites in the top results. Research these types of questions:

A. How many websites are competing for the same keyword? B. How old are the websites in top search engine results pages? C. How many back links do the top ranking websites list? D. What type of social media is used by the competing sites?

2. Do Take Advantage of Google Analytics. 2009 was the year when web analytics gained momentum. Google Analytics came up with advanced metrics and intelligence report features which revolutionized free analytics tools. Companies realized the benefits of using web analytics tools to extract their relevant data. Implement Google Analytics to analyze data and build a 2010 plan to increase traffic and rates of conversion.

1. Do Create Fresh Content. Search engines are famous for penalizing a website for publishing duplicate content. With plagiarism on the rise and availability of content checking tools such as Copyscape, marketers have become more cautious. Yahoo is considered to be among the harshest of all the search engines with regard to this penalty. Add fresh content to your website to help build visitor interest and credibility with the search engines.

These 10 simple do’s and don’ts can help you to avoid making potentially dangerous seo mistakes and ensure your site is indexed and boost rankings.

Ranking Analysis - How to Look Beyond What Is or Isn't Ranking

Website owners and managers will always be fascinated with how well they rank on search engines. However, rankings can be deceiving because they only provide a small part of the data set anyone will need to gauge online success.

Who wouldn't like to be No. 1 on Google for an organic listing? Among the busy array of results (including paid ads and local search), a top ranking still shines. It shouts: "I climbed the mountain and beat out the other guy."

Ranking Analysis - How to
Look Beyond What Is or Isn't Ranking

By Mike Murray (c) 2010

Featured Video: Matt Cutts 301s, Googlebot & Page Rank

Website owners and managers will always be fascinated with how well they rank on search engines. However, rankings can be deceiving because they only provide a small part of the data set anyone will need to gauge online success.

Who wouldn't like to be No. 1 on Google for an organic listing? Among the busy array of results (including paid ads and local search), a top ranking still shines. It shouts: "I climbed the mountain and beat out the other guy."

But did you?

Here are 12 key points to consider with your ranking numbers that quickly touch on other aspects of your marketing online initiative. Keeping these factors in mind will help you make better choices about what next steps you should take to ensure that you're better positioned to improve your company's bottom line.

1. Did you pursue the right keyword?
A No. 1 ranking is possible with barely any effort, but will it drive traffic? You might rank well for Cleveland Legal Counselors, but odds are more people are searching for Cleveland Lawyers. If that's too competitive, try Lawyers in Cleveland and get your share of traffic from the many ways people search.

2. Are you targeting the right search engine?
A top ranking on Bing can trigger big smiles. However, if your website only gets 3.5% of its traffic from Bing - for all keywords - the ranking may not deserve a lot of attention. Yes, conversions are worth considering, but you need to constantly think about what precious time you're committing to Bing when other engines may pay off in an even bigger way.

3. What's your track record?
You need to chart the progress. It's not a good sign if months go by and you can't crack the top 30 positions in any search engine results. Own up to the fact that maybe the keyword phrase is too competitive if it doesn't show an improvement. Look for headway. For keywords with little competition, maybe you'll rank higher sooner. But that's not always the case. Your search engine optimization (SEO) practices may help you show a marked improvement even for more competitive search terms.

4. Setbacks are common.
If you manage to get a great ranking - perhaps in the top 5 spots - don't panic if your ranking dips a bit. It could easily rebound.

5. Substitutions aren't inferior.
Like NBA bench players, new keyword options can excel if given the chance. If you can't get a high ranking for a keyword phrase among your starting lineup, drop it after a few months. Why keep it if the keyword phrase isn't gaining momentum - either toward a top ranking or in its ability to convert. 

6. Don't be misled by your computer.
With personal settings, browser history and different data centers, it's increasingly tough to know if your exceptional ranking is really what it seems. For your most significant keywords, you may want to have someone else tell you how the keyword phrases ranks. Or, test out the search terms with some other ranking checkers (including third-party sources) like the ones listed below. 

http://rankchecker.net/Default.aspx 

(for Firefox): This tool still references your computer but has a setting to avoid your Google personal settings. 

http://rankchecker.net/Default.aspx 

Easy-to-use third party (note that it defaults to top 10)

http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/ranking-reports/ 

7. Understand your landing pages.
It's not uncommon for the home page to be the landing page for a powerful keyword phrase. Your conversion option may really be an inside page. In a fantasy world, you could tag keywords and they would magically be directed to your preferred pages. In reality, that's the beauty of paid search. But don't give up on your home page. If it's working, find a way to establish Calls to Action within the content, the core navigation, and diverse user cues to make sure visitors go where you lead them.  

8. The crowded home page.
Another problem with the home page is the fact that many keyword phrases often rank well for it. A few keywords may perform better if you are able to adapt your strategy and target some interior pages for some of the keywords. Your website analytics package should help you see what keywords are being used to reach the home page or any other page with a crowded keyword field.

9. Balance greed with diversity.
Online marketers get excited if they have more than one page appearing in the top 10 search results for the same keyword phrase. You should consider whether one of the pages could better support another keyword phrase that lacks the visibility it needs to generate traffic and sales or leads for your business. Don't make a hasty decision. If a keyword phrase ranks No. 7 on one page and No. 15 on another page, don't assume the No. 7 ranking is the best one to attack because it's closer to the No. 1 position. You need to weigh what you've already done with both pages, keyword themes on the website, the amount of content on each page, conversion opportunities and more. For example, the No. 7 ranking may be the best you'll do for the one page. For another page, the No. 15 ranking may not have taken as much effort to achieve (meaning you could still do more with SEO to improve the ranking).

10. Visitors tell another part of the story.
Unfortunately some businesses lack conversion data and settings. At least you can look at the visitor data in your website analytics. In the purest sense, visitor metrics will indicate whether the ranking has any merit.

11. Be honest about your conversions.
Many websites lack opportunities to connect with visitors. Your top ranking may be wasted if your potential customer encounters a poor design (with usability messes), text overload (visitors typically prefer to scan) and information without a clear Call to Action. Offering your phone number in the 14th paragraph isn't very effective.

12. Know your website strengths.
To appreciate your rankings (or lack of them), you need to know your website's strengths and weaknesses. Take a look at the competition. Study which website ranks No. 1 or even No. 10. What do they have that your website lacks? Maybe it's a great domain name (with a keyword), an age advantage, more links, and more content (multiple pages) to accentuate keyword themes, etc.

Business owners and marketers can study rankings every day, but the ranking position alone won't help. Look at the rankings within the context of overall traffic, conversions, your SEO efforts to date, the viability of your website, and your ability to spread keywords across the website.

Ultimately, you may need more pages to support your preferred ranking over the long haul. While making that investment, keep an eye out for alternative keywords that your website can realistically support - today and in the future.

Article Marketing and Your Online Business

Today, most online marketers make use of article marketing or article writing as a means of achieving success in their businesses. These online marketers have discovered the various advantages that this type of marketing can offer not only for online but offline businesses as well. Article marketing involves the process of writing articles and submission to article directories in order to generate traffic to your own website. It is considered as one of the most significant factors in long tail marketing in which traffic is generated through targeted keywords or keyword phrases.

Article marketing can involve your website alone. You can post or publish your written pieces on your website in order to drive traffic. However, it is much better if you are able to submit in prominent article directories, forum sites, blog sites, and social networking sites since these are high-ranking websites. Once you submit to prominent websites, it is highly possible that your articles would be included in the top positions of search engine results. More so, make sure you use relevant keywords or keyword phrases in your pieces.

On the other hand, many online marketers have attested that it is better to use article marketing than pay-per-click (PPC) marketing or search engine optimization (SEO). These online marketers find it easier to employ article writing in their online businesses specifically when it comes to generating traffic as well as profitability. Other marketing tools need proficient knowledge and skills; however, in this type of marketing, all you need to do is become aware of different writing techniques and rules in order to produce quality and informative pieces for your target market, readers, and publishers. Although other marketing tools such as search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing are also popular among online marketers, many have realized the power of article marketing in saving costs as well as energy since it is very convenient to implement.

Article marketing does not necessitate for any funding unless you hire freelance writers to write and submit your articles. Otherwise, every step taken in article marketing is free from any charges as different article directories are free for submission.

Upgrade Your Brain

Presumably, you're online because you you want to create a better life for yourself. Maybe you just want to earn more money because of extra options that will become available to you when you can pay for them. Or maybe you want to earn a great deal more so you can give up a job you don't particularly like and become financially independent...

To achieve your dreams, you use your brain to make decisions resulting in the actions you take. The better your brain works, the more effective, efficient, and productive your actions will become. The purpose of this page is to provide you with the means to upgrade your brain so you get better at taking the actions that will make your dreams come true...

"One of the greatest things aside from lucid dreaming that I have stumbled across in my lifetime has been the concept of brainwave entrainment. It has profoundly accelerated my progress and has allowed me to quicken my pace in the direction of my dreams. This process will play a large role in the future of consciousness training and awareness development. I hope that you can benefit from brainwave entrainment as well." -- Marc Vandekeere

Relationship Marketing Is Main Priority

Relationship Marketing is targeted at building stronger and long lasting relationships with clients and other companies. The business is performed with a strategic orientation, where the relationship is improved with existing customers rather than finding new customers. It is meant to cater to the needs of individual customers. Its major part involves studying the need of the customer and how it changes in different circumstances.

Relationship marketing applies techniques like marketing, sales, customer care and communication. The relationship is not only enhanced but its life period is increased by these strategies. And as the customer realizes the value of relationship, they are drawn closer. This marketing not only focuses on building relationships and attracting customers to their products and services but also how to retain them.

A raw form of Marketing came into existence in the 1960s. But, organizations were still facing difficulty in selling products, so a system was developed to sell low cost goods to larger group of customer. Leonard Berry and Jag Sheth originated this marketing, in 1982. It was started in B2B markets and industries, which involved long term contracts for many years. Over the period of time, various marketing strategies were improved and relationship marketing was one of them.

Relationship marketing is applicable where the customers have many options in the market for the same product or service and the customer is entitled to make a selective decision. In such a kind of market, businesses try to maintain their clients by providing comparatively better products and services and hence, achieving customer loyalty. And once it is achieved it becomes difficult for competitors to do well in the market.

The customer turnover wasn't paid much attention because the main focus was on customer satisfaction. This kind of marketing was initially named as defensive marketing. Offensive marketing is the marketing strategy where not only new customers are attracted, but also the sales are stepped up by increasing the purchase frequency. This kind of marketing concentrates on freeing dissatisfied customers and acquiring new customers.

According to a research, the cost of retaining an old customer is only ten percent of the cost of getting a new customer, which makes sense to not to run around to get new customers in relationship marketing. And according to another research done by cross-sectional analysis, says that, a five percent improvement in customer retention is responsible for twenty-five to eighty-five percent of the profit. Usually high cost is incurred when getting new customers, so if sufficient number of existing customers is retained, there will be no need of acquiring new customers.

Once the customer trust is gained his chances of switching to other company becomes relatively less, he buys goods in bulk, he buys other supplementary goods and he starts neglecting average price variation. This maintains the unit sales volume and there is an increase in dollar-sales volume. The existing customers will be like a living advertisement. If he is satisfied with the company he will recommend it to his friends and acquaintances.

Since the existing customers are familiar with the process, it will take less time and money to educate them about the procedures putting fewer burdens on employees also and making them feel more satisfied with their jobs. The customers are divided into groups based on their loyalty. This procedure is known as relationship ladder of customer loyalty. The groups in ascending order are prospects, customer, client, supporter, advocate and partner.

Due to the advancement in computers and Internet, software has been developed to facilitate customer relationship management. With the help of this software the tastes, activities, preferences, and complaints of customers are tracked. Almost all the companies have this software in their marketing strategy, which benefits the customer as well as the company.

Thus the main aim of relationship marketing is to construct and maintain relationship with committed clients who are meant to bring profit to the company. The other benefits achieved are confidence building and social benefits.