"It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square."Pete Rose
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How To Effectively Use Link Popularity To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings
One of the criteria for website popularity and enhanced website search engine ranking is the quantity and quality of incoming links to your website. Links leading to your site from other sites - incoming links - are an important factor affecting how well ...
Press Releases Can Increase Search Engine Positioning
When you write a press release, what is your ultimate goal? No doubt, getting the information to as many publications and on as many Web sites as possible. The focus lies in moving outward. taking the press release to as many *other* sources as ...
The Search Engine Optimization Game Is Getting Tricky
For more than 4 years now I have been modifying my work from home based web sites trying to optimize for the major search engines, Especially Goggle. Today with much disappointment I have come to the realization that search engine traffic alone will not ...
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Even the best of intentions can go awry without careful attention to details and expectations. We've tested these methods out and they work.
1. Get it in writing. Define the service scope in detail (i.e. we'll research keywords and optimize these pages with approved search phrases for this long).
2. Return phone calls. That goes both ways. If the consultant needs some feedback, don't wait three days. If the client calls, don't wait three hours. It doesn't sound fair, but it makes sense. Consultants need help, but clients deserve more attention (prompt responses).
3. Don't overwrite changes. SEO consultants can easily overwrite source code if they're not careful. Web site owners sometimes overwrite the very optimization steps a consultant put in place. Talk to each other and work out protocols to avoid these problems.
4. Return e-mail messages. Like phone calls, e-mail messages deserve a quick response. Hitting "reply" is easier than picking up a phone and dialing a bunch of numbers. Clients and consultants shouldn't let a day go by without a response.
5. Own up to mistakes. Painful and embarrassing as it is, admit mistakes. They can include failing to return a phone call and poor communication in a written report. If you mess up - whether it's getting some data columns in the wrong place or placing the SEO consultants META data in the wrong spot, just acknowledge the mistake and move on. We're human. Things happen.
6. Don't switch domain names. If you sign up with an SEO consultant, don't start with one domain and then get a notion about introducing a new one. It throws the whole program off track.
7. Don't change your page names. If you have a page called newproducts.asp, don't change it to new-products.html after the SEO program begins. The change will just confuse search engine spiders and hinder or delay high rankings. 8. Don't insert "alt" tags after the SEO program begins. "Alt" tags with images are for search engine consultants to manage. They're in the best position to know when "alt" tags might be appropriate. If you add them on your own, you may ruin the delicate balancing act SEO consultants perform with many page factors.
9. Avoid altering page title tags. If an SEO consultant has a title tag strategy you approve, don't go back in a week and change it. Some pages can work with a company name in the title tag, others won't.
10. Keep an open mind. Clients and consultants both need an open mind as creative ideas and approaches are expressed. A client may suggest something unethical, but the consultant should gently steer them away from the tactic. If a consultant finds a useful way of introducing a links directory on the Web site, give it some thought. Just because your Web site lacks a directory doesn't mean it can't support one. How can you have reciprocal links without one?
About the Author
Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, an Ohio-based search engine optimization firm. We are members of SEMPO, SEO Consultants and SEOPros. Visit our site for our SEO white papers and recent SEO studies on the manufacturing and health care industries. michael@fathomseo.com
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