What tools do we use to provide website traffic?

Posted by Dylan on Sep 15, 2011 in Search Engine Optimization | Comments Off

When you own a website, the main thing on your mind is how much traffic am I getting, and what tools and resources can I use to enhance that number? We’re not here to keep you in the dark, there are lots of things you can do to your own website.

Traffic Tools for SEO and SEM
The number one way to increase your website traffic is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). What is SEO? -the title says it all! It’s a continuous process of optimizing your website to rank on search engines. So what SEO tools can you use to explore possibilities and improve your website?

Our favorite tool is the Google Keyword Tool. This tool was designed to assist businesses with SEO and SEM marketing. Now, we have invested into a more advanced tool, one that analyzes competition and digs deeper into keyword research, but as a business owner just wanting to explore keywords, the Google Keyword Tool is perfect. Try it out, its easy to understand. Type in a word or phrase, fill in the captcha, and hit search! The Google Keyword Tool will show you hundreds of related keyword phrases, the amount of traffic they receive monthly in the United States, and a global traffic number as well. The “competition” section on this tool is not so reliable though, so don’t count on its findings. This tool is mainly for giving you a better idea on what keywords your customers are searching on Google. You can also check if the city your business is based in is receiving any searches.

We have also invested into a tool that checks our clients’ rankings on Google in the click of a button. We simply type in the website address and instantly get to view their rankings. It shows the keyword phrase, the number of searches that keyword phrase receives per month, and a number that represents the rank of the website. For instance, if the number is “18,” then that tells us the website ranks on the 2nd page of Google for that keyword, because there are 10 results per page. This tool comes in handy in many occasions. We use it every month to evaluate our progress on keywords and see how we can improve the ranking. It also helps out when we have a marketing client that has been deceived by another company and told their rankings we’re strong when in fact they are not. This tool allows us to easily and quickly show the client what the reality of their situation is, and what we’re going to do to fix the problem.

Twitter and Facebook
Increasing Twitter followers and Facebook likes is a manual process. Twitter and Facebook have huge advantages and the most reliable and rewarding way to build a fan base is to promote them on your website. Simply ask people to follow your Twitter and like your fan page and people will do it. Ultimately, you have to focus on promoting your website and in return, your social network accounts will grow. Twitter is unique though, because you can follow your prospects and hope that they will follow you back. On Facebook, you only can add friends to your personal account and suggest to them that they checkout your fan page. Both of these methods work well, but there is a limitation to how much you can do. Make your social accounts look appealing and encouraging to your visitors.

The SEO Software that Drives our Search Engine Optimization Company

Posted by Dylan on Sep 8, 2011 in Search Engine Optimization | Comments Off

Search Engine Optimization can be very time consuming and extremely repetitive. It’s a technical battle, you are dealing with cutting edge technology that is constantly evolving. Google is getting more advanced and more knowledgeable everyday. Just recently the “Google Panda Update” was released which devastated thousands of websites across the world. Essentially, it escalated the importance of quality content, and uniquely written articles. Websites that were building links through use of spam and poorly rewritten content were devalued by Google, which dropped their rankings significantly. Major websites that were employing sub-par SEO companies lost millions of dollars. SEO Software was quickly put to blame from these SEO companies, but its a matter of how the software is used, not that it exists.

Why do we use SEO Software and is it safe?
Every Search Engine Optimization Company has a decision to make when it comes to the SEO Software that is going to drive their business. As an SEO company, you have to evaluate where you are lagging behind when it comes to your daily, operational work. Then you set out to find tools and software which will help automate, or semi-automate those tasks. Without SEO software, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish half as much as we currently do within a given day. However, it is always important to keep quality work well ahead of turnaround time. We never use any tools that could devalue our SEO work and damage our clients’ rankings. When an update like the “Google Panda Update” comes along, we want our clients’ websites to stand strong and receive an increase in ranking, rather than a decrease.

What does the software accomplish and how did we find it?
Some of the things we use our software for include actions like, registering to the same websites for each new client, submitting articles to directories, blog networks, social profiles, and blogs, and submitting links to general directories and other places. These actions are daily requirements to rank your clients well in search engines, but they can hinder the success of your business due to their time restraints. As to finding software, there are actually plenty of SEO Software Developers because there is a huge market for it, but the market has unfortunately been flooded with illegitimate products too, which means finding the right software for our company came down to purchasing the highest rated ones and giving them all a shot first hand.

Today we have several different software applications under our belt of tools. Rather than restrict ourselves to just one or two, we utilize them all, with each one specializing in its own respective task. It turns out that there really is no “all in one” tool for SEO. While there are some applications that do five or six things extremely well, we still have a need for some things that they do not cover.

Is SEO – Search Engine Optimization Necessary in a Small Town?

Posted by Dylan on Aug 29, 2011 in Search Engine Optimization | Comments Off

SEO – Search Engine Optimization is where you target specific keyword phrases for your business to rank for on Google and other search engines. We have received many questions about whether or not SEO is necessary when the business serves local residents of a small town.

Even for a business with no interest in selling online, yes, there is still a substantial benefit
While a small town may not receive an overwhelming amount of searches on the Internet, it does receive some. If your business has no interest in selling products or services online, and you solely want to sell to local customers, the advantage to ranking well in a small town is professionalism. When a customer searches for your business online, you want them to be able to find you. Not only that, you want them to find you even if they don’t know the name of your business. In which case, they would search a broad term such as “Moses Lake Marketing Companies” or “Moses Lake Promotional Items.” Ultimately, you want your website to rank number one for keyword phrases that relate to your business because it speaks professionalism. It shows that you have covered your bases, and you run a business that cares about the customer.

Search Engine Optimization is absolutely necessary in a small town when you have plans to expand. If you want to expand to another location, then you can certainly expand online. Offering your products and services for sale on the Internet can bring tremendous growth to your business. If you have the ability to ship your products for online orders, then there should be nothing hindering this transition. Modern businesses are expanding fast to the Internet, and the competition is catching on. If you want to keep up with the movement and begin capitalizing on the millions of consumers that use the Internet to search for products and services, now is the time.