Category Archives: Marketing

Building a website? Don’t forget about the user!

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In the golden age of SEO and SEM often websites are built with the search engines in mind. This is not necessarily a bad thing its just that sometimes one of the key elements is forgotten. The user. The person who brings revenue and eyeballs to your site in the first place.

We know that content is king, always has and always will be. We also know that content is one of the keys to a search engine friendly site. But when the content does not speak to the user and is geared more towards the SE’s. Then we have a problem. As a Search engine marketer, you have to be intrinsically aware of what you are trying to achieve.  Simply put, you want…web nirvana. That happy place where you have achieved the goal of creating a search engine friendly site with a user friendly design.

It can be done, but remember that it has to be built from the inside out. That means your pages have to have ample room for content. Sure Flash is cool but really, what does flash do for a site? It makes it sexy and it’s visually appealing but the SE’s are not too wild about it. But… “What about my user? They like it!” And there my friend is the Catch-22. What’s good for the user is not necessarily good for the search engines. Thus the thinking that has to go into any and all web deployments. You have to straddle the beam like an olympian. Balancing between the users needs and expectations and the SE’s criteria.

Keep the flash to a minimum if you must use it, and spare the flash/splash as some organizations are wont to do. I would say that most users skip the intro anyway. Once you get past the flash, crank copy that you as a user would want to read and that is relevent to the site. After a rough draft, you can then go back and possibly tweak with some of your key words.

After you have crafted the content, then you can work on the structure, site maps, alt tags, metas and linking, all which speak to the SE’s and really won’t affect the user too much. Lastly once you have the site done, go back and see if it flows; and if you the user think the content is relevent to you, the user! While you’re at it, I would highly recommend one of the few Naples based seo companies

Search engine Algos’ change quicker than a stoplight.

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As an SEO/SEM expert like me can attest, one of the first things we do in the morning is to check the natural rankings of all the sites they work on. Why? Because as much as they know what the the “Big Three”( For those uninitiated-Google, Yahoo and MSN) require, want and need for optimal organic rankings, they still are not quite sure where the respective sites that they’re working on, are going to end up ranked each morning.

Part of this can certainly be attributed to each SE marketers’s belief in what they do, is what is needed. But the other part is that because search is so ingrained in what we do and is so profitable to each of the SE’s, they, the SE’s, constantly tweak and adjust and change alltogether their Algo.  They then look up out of the huddle to see what the other team is doing. Remember when you were a kid, or maybe you still are, and each team huddled up. Most huddled up, but some of us always looked up to maybe catch a glimpse of what the other team was getting ready to do?

The same thing goes on daily, hourly, weekly, in the SE wars. Why? Because search is so important in our daily lives and is so lucrative. Google is not the behemoth that they are because of all the tools they’ve rolled out over the last 3-4 years. It’s their core business of search. They do it well, they’ve done it best  and they are completely branded and part of our culture. few have done it so well.

Think about like this. How many companies have become a verb. I.e. “I Googled Tim and found out that he is actually a multi-millionaire…. ”

I remember when Google launched and the first thing I thought was, a) what a cool name, and b) what a light and simple landing page. But that was the beauty of the user interface. Almost like walking into a club with a simple facade. Doesn’t seem like much until they let you in the front door, and as soon as you get in, you look around and say., “My goodness, I had no idea”. The same thing holds true with Google. Who Knew?

It used to be that Microsoft was the big dog on the block. Well for those living under a rock. It’s Google now. And because Google calls the shots in regards to Search they can also redefine the search algoritham, and by doing that, they force the other 2 to do the same. Do you see where I’m going. By changing or tweaking, they force the others to do the same.

It’s the essence of competition. In order to be the best, you can’t stand pat, you have to continue to prove why you are the best, you have to be different but you always have to do it better. You are always scruitinzed and you’re always held to a high standard and expectation. So far Google has done that, but it sure can be frustrating to the  Naples Based Search engine marketers who are trying to figure out, just what are they doing over there in the huddle.