Month: June 2011

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Smartphones Are Changing the World as We Know It

We thought that the invention of the Internet was the most life changing thing to happen in our lifetime, but I am here to tell you that smartphones are the next big change driver. It just takes a few weeks of using a smartphone to know that the Web will never be the same and that the future is in the integration of the Mobile Web with the Internet.

In fact while you are reading this post, I will be up in NYC using my smartphone to help my family navigate the subways, find places to eat, secure tickets to events, and follow an itinerary mapped out by an Android application called  mTrip. I consider my Motorola DroidX smartphone such a revolutionary tool that my head is simply spinning with the future possibilities.

Here’s just an example of what I mean when I say smartphones are revolutionizing the world.

  • I downloaded mTrip. Planned our NYC itinerary with it. Used it to actually plan out each day based on activity level, types of things we were interested in, and our dates of visit, and location. We are able to follow an itinerary, get directions to get us from one location to another by walking or subway. We can find shops or places to eat by simply clicking virtual view and then holding the phone out and turning in a circle. Highlights appear on the screen over images shown on the phones camera. Click a highlight and see photos of the restaurant interior, pricing, menu, and even review specials or discounts.
  • I downloaded the subway maps for NYC so we could see the stop names by line and even watch for service delays by train or line number. There’ll be no delays for my group, we will simply work around the problems.
  • I browsed for several other travel apps like tripadvisor, GuidePal, and other NYC subway apps. With nearly one click I now have phone numbers, locations, and even coupon codes for dining specials.
  • On top of that we won’t ever be lost as I have Google Maps and full navigation on my Droid. What better way to be an out of town traveler than to have all the information you need in your pocket or purse for a terrific experience based on what you want to see and do.

With information at your fingertips where ever you are with your smartphone you are connected to the world. I consider this technology revolutionary in scope and know that the Mobile Web for smartphones will forever change our world for the better.

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Do Videos Help My Organic Placement?

Do videos help your website to place better on Google? Hmm, that is a good question and one that has several answers and this is mine. Yes… but.

First off I would not install Flash videos unless you have to. My preferred way of showing videos is to load them to YouTube.com (a Google property), and then embed the iframe tag into the website page. There are several reasons why I recommend this course of action.

  1. At YouTube, you can add tags, a keyword dense subscription that Google will spider and spider preferentially as YouTube is a Google property. By building a channel on YouTube you can actually get organic placement boosts by keywords and add to your own site authority with links from YouTube to your site.
  2. Others can link to your YouTube videos, embed them in blogs, and use them while you get the credit. Traffic can funnel to your website directly or to your website via your YouTube channel page.
  3. If the videos you have are not yours but you are authorized to use them, you cannot go the YouTube route and then your best scenario is to place them in a quick loading Flash player. You won’t get SEO juice from them, but you will improve website stickiness.

Video however is not the SEO placement magic tool that it was once thought to be as when Google bought YouTube and started pushing video several years ago. At that time, many SEO gurus claimed that adding videos would move your website up in organic placement. That however has simply not happened. Videos are just another great way to engage customers, get your message out, and if you are using YouTube potentially get some link juice and web authority back to your website.

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When It Comes To SEO Services Be An Educated Consumer

Just because you receive an email from a firm saying your website is poorly placed organically or has supposed SEO issues does not mean that you have to take action. First off, I have a high ranking on Google on many of my services, and nearly all of my business comes in via my organic placement efforts, and I still get these letters!

If you do decide to work with an SEO firm, that is fine, just make sure that you are getting what you pay for and are an educated consumer about what they say they can do. Here is just one case study that should help you to be aware that you need to be careful, aware, and vigilant when you are shelling out your hard earned cash for SEO services.

Fees: Six months expense for a local business for SEO services $400 a month or $2,400 already spent

Services: SEO work plus articles to garner inbound links.

Review: After six months of service Google shows the site as having 223 links. Many of the links are from link farms or off-topic locations. As comparison we did a report for one of our long time blogging clients the same day we looked at this other client’s results, our client had 70,000 links. A different client we also reviewed for links had 11,000 links just from on-domain blogging. 223 links for $2,400 is not a lot of links. When challenged by the client, the SEO firm said typically they get results in regards to links in the ninth month. My analysis of this is that I have seen it take 90 days for links to happen and start building with an article program, but my next question would be let me see some of these articles and where are they syndicated. You may get better overall performance with your on-domain blogging efforts as our own clicnts have than with poorly written articles that may actually give you a black eye with consumers if they are not up to snuff.

Services: Website work for SEO – installed Google Analytics, created sitemaps…

Review: Yes these are all good things and should be done, but as a consumer you need to know that in many cases, and certainly in this one, Google Analytics was installed via a WordPress plug-in that took less than 12 minutes to install and once installed Analytics code appeared on all pages. WordPress will build a sitemap without your involvement once you install a plug-in. Don’t let SEO firms bill you big money for these things. Yes, they are important, yes they should be done, but when the report comes to you stating that these things took hours to do and were labor intensive, know that this is simply not true in most cases and certainly not if a WordPress plug-in is used to do the work or code installed in a footer include.

Services: Add keyword dense image alt tags and link title tags to website.

Review: Yes these things may be extra ways to capitalize on SEO, but did you know that most browsers now do not show an alt tag on mouse over. The information is only shown if you use a title tag. If you are paying for these things, go to your own home page and right click “view source” do a control + F to find title or alt. Is there even anything there? In my case study situation,  the SEO firm said that this was one of the things they had done. After six month of payment, at least the home page should reflect these items, and there was not a single keyword dense alt tag or link title tag on the page. With the home page being crucial for SEO placement, one needs to wonder why this is on the supplied services list and not visible on the home page of all places!

Services: Increase website traffic

Review: The case study client thought that the Google Analytics report showed good traffic. They were pleased with 250 visitors in a 30 day period. This is about 9 visitors a day! Good grief, that is awful traffic for having spent six months of $400 a month. This money would have been better spent on Google AdWords to drive qualified immediate sale generating traffic.

Our case study client has gotten in fairly deep with an expenditure of $2,400 that really has not given them much of anything. There are surely some SEO firms who will deliver what they say they will and are, but you as an educated consumer need to be aware of what you are paying for and confirm that you are getting it. In this most recent case the client did not get value for a $2,400 of expenditures with their SEO firm. Make sure you are not being charged for things you are not receiving.

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How to Get Your Google On!

Google is the top search engine and continues to stay that way even with increased pressure from Bing and Yahoo. So it is important that your marketing plan cater to this fact. So often I am asked what can I do to improve my search position on Google? Here’s how to “get your Google on”!

1. Redo your home page to include content and not mainly images. Search engine spiders cannot read images.

2. If you are using WordPress as the backbone for your website, contact a WordPress web designer to make these changes to your template:

  • If you have been archiving content like newsletters or blogs off-domain, get them on-domain now! If you aren’t blogging get your designer to create a page template just for your blog page. It must include the archives, categories, and tags.
  • Update your site navigation with links to point to the blog, create a new section just for your videos if you have them. If you don’t have videos get started creating simple ones and post them to YouTube.com ( a Google property) and embed them in your website. Start a regular informational content building program ON-DOMAIN.
  • Bring all old newsletters onto your site you have archived off-domain and housed at Constant Contact or other resource. Most likely a page will need to be created for each newsletter and then hard coded into the newsletter page.
  • Create a new reviews page on your website. Pull the favorable reviews from the web, link back to the original content. Build up the positive things. Link to the home page of the BBB showing your rating if you use them.

Get Google Maps going for any locations
Pricing is $240 per location for set up and then $40 each site for monthly account refreshes.
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/google-maps.php

Consolidate your efforts in Facebook. One page for all business. locations don’t be fragmented
Do Facebook Mini services for $8 per day
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/twitter.php#ghost

Get going on Twitter or remove the icon from your website
If you aren’t going to update something, don’t take a black eye remove the link from your website.
Twitter Mini $8.50 per day
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/twitter.php#ghost

Get blogging but only on-domain
Do the Topaz Level at the minimum two days a week for $50 per week. If you can afford a higher level do it!
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/blog-writing/index.php

Get going with Google AdWords
Set up and first four weeks of account management is $699. I would recommend a landing page for each of the four ad group themes we would do. Landing pages typically take 5 hours at $80 per hour to create. You may need your blog designer to help with the contact form implementation as typically the landing page will have a small form at the bottom.

We recommend a click budget paid to Google of $500 per 30 days on top of our fees.
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/adwords-quick-start.php

Get your site confirmed and set up with the Google Webmaster control panel
Get a site map created and your site validated. Diagnostics can be done on demand to the site after set up.
Typically set up and validation is about 1.0 hours or so. We recommend monthly reporting once set up. We review placement on keywords, review your webmaster control panel, reload your sitemap. Set up is 1.5 hours and then monthly reporting is typically 1.5 to 2 hours billed at $80 per hour.

Build online reviews
I would highly recommend that you start approaching clients to build your online reviews. Get the email when setting up service, Offer to send coupons for the services you provide. In all your correspondence link to your Google Places pages for both locations and ASK for a review.

Remediate your online reputation
Make sure all employees know of any bad reviews you have received online and work to implement new procedures that solve those problems. Reviews may be scathing, but there is typically truth in them. Look at them as areas of constructive criticism.  All employees should believe that customer satisfaction is their job. It will show in your reviews, your referrals and repeat customers.

If you can’t afford everything I would do AdWords first, at the same time do Google Places, then the website changes, then the blogging, then Facebook and Twitter.

It is time to get your Google on!