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ideas as
well. We invite your ideas, comments and suggestions. We changed
our format to a quarterly newsletter in the Spring of
2006 due to time constraints. We hope you will continue to find SmallBizNews
an informative resource for your internet marketing efforts.
SEO - In House vs. Outsource
Which
SEM Method is best for your Organization?
March 27, 2007
In the interest of
being brief (a.k.a. - I'm behind elsewhere in my work) I will
quote Paul Bruemmer of RedDoor Interactive on this topic.
In 2004, Jupiter Research reported that
two-thirds of search engine marketing services were performed
in-house. Since then, the number of service providers, the size
of marketing budgets and the complexity of search campaigns have
all been growing exponentially — suggesting a need for more
agency involvement. However, the in-house statistic remains
basically the same today as in 2004.
Despite the fact that most search campaigns are managed
in-house, many companies do not have a dedicated search
marketing staff. Jupiter Research reports that most in-house
search personnel share duties with up to five other job
functions including Web design, email marketing, marketing
communications, market research and other functions such as
banner, print, radio and outdoor advertising.
Search Marketing Budgets
Search has gone mainstream as a line item in the budget.
According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional
Organization (SEMPO) 83 percent of corporate advertisers plan
for search engine optimization (SEO or organic search), and 80
percent plan for Search Engine Marketing (SEM or pay-per-click)
in their 2007 search budgets.
Human Resource departments have added such titles as VP Search,
Chief Search Engine Strategist and Senior SEO/SEM Analyst to
their job classifications in company handbooks. As search
becomes a dominant force in Internet marketing, in-house search
marketing commands the attention of the CEO and senior managers.
The Downside of InHouse SEO & SEM?
Training and workload
come to mind.
What is the cost of
training your staff properly?
Paul Bruemmer later
reports in his article that, "SEO
campaigns can vary between $10,000-$50,000 per month..."
and later, he also reports that SEM (Pay Per Click) Campaigns
run, "from $20,000-$2,000,000 per month"
YIKES! If you're
spending that much per month for SEO/SEM then you had better be
hiring someone and sending them off for ethical training. I
can't imagine charging these types of fess - then again, maybe I
am doing it wrong. PS - I'd be interested in that job :)
Workload and
Dedication to the Task
How many hats does
that employee wear or how many other duties are they responsible
for in any given day? If there is one thing I can say about the
changing trends in SEO and search patterns is that the person or
persons doing the research needs to be focused and diligent to
the task at hand - there is little or no room for error.
Which is best for
your organization? Only you can be the judge. Do the homework
before you make the decision though and weigh your options
carefully armed with that information. By the way - Ethical
Organic SEO on static pages should not be an expense - it should
be an investment.
Call me today for a
needs assessment and estimate. (607) 276-2223 or email me at:
Dave@DavidWilliams.biz
March 16th, 2007
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Have
you ever wondered how search engines can return hundreds or
even thousands of relevant results for your keyword searches
on the World Wide Web in such a short time, often in less
than one second?
The answer is quite complex, and may have something to do
with the fact that Google is trading at nearly $490.00 a
share, for the sake of simplicity we’ll describe it with
some easy to follow imagery.
Just as a spider crawls on a spider web - search engines
have robots or bots (known as spiders or crawlers) that
periodically crawl about the vast world wide web looking for
new and updated web pages available to searchers. Once they
have captured that data they return it to a search engine
database within a search engine data center.
Importance of Building Search Engine Friendly Pages
Just as one might try to block a spider from gaining access
to one's home, well-intentioned, yet misinformed, web
developers can inadvertently write code or entire pages that
block search engine spiders from successfully crawling
(indexing) their entire site.
Needless to say, if the search engine spiders cannot access
(crawl) your site, or if they have difficulty in navigating
through the various sections or sub-sections of your
website, they will have not be able to return the
entirety of your site to their respective
databases/datacenters.
Some shining examples of development that inhibit the search
engine spiders are:
- Java Script Navigation Menus (spiders cannot
interpret Java script very well)
- Dynamically Generated Pages (too many variables
can block spiders)
- Sites built entirely around Flash (spiders
cannot read within Flash files)
note: Adobe owns Flash and their website is not entirely
made of Flash.
Want
to show up in the search engine result pages (SERP)? Build
search engine friendly web pages and elements. |
Dynamic vs. Static Web Development
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Here we go again...
revisiting an all too familiar argument among developers and SEO
Professionals - and the debate continues.
But, since it is
still worthy of discussion I will venture into the topic of
Dynamically Generated Pages vs. Static Pages as it relates to
Organic Search Engine Optimization.
Dynamic Web Pages
Most dynamic web
pages are generated in response to queries run against databases
within the website. When a visitor comes to your website and
looks for 'peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwiches', it is
this database that supplies the response by building the page
from a specified template and returning the results from the
database that match the variables in the query.
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Certified Organic SEO
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While the search
engines are getting better at reading them, dynamic pages
are created on the fly with technology such as ASP, Cold
Fusion, Perl and the like. These pages function well for
users who visit the site, but they don't work well for
search engine crawlers (spiders).
Why? Because dynamically generated pages don't actually
exist until a user selects the variable (s) that generate
them. A search engine spider can't select variables, so the
pages don't get generated properly -– and therefore can’t be
indexed as easily as static pages.
The biggest
problem is that search engine crawlers such as GoogleBot
cannot always read the entire dynamic database of URLs,
which either contain a query string (?) or other database
characters (#&*!%) known to be search engine spider
(crawler) traps. Because search engine crawlers have
problems reading deep into a dynamic database, they’ve been
programmed to detect and ignore many dynamic URLs.
Static Web
Pages
In contrast,
static web pages with static URL's in their navigation
hierarchy tend to fare much better.
Why? Because
there is a real page with real content linked
via real hyperlinks that make it simple for search
engine spiders to crawl the site in its entirety.
Again, as Google
(Yahoo!, MSN/Live) endeavor to return the most relevant
results possible in their SERP's. It only makes
sense that their means of delivering the most relevant
possible results in their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
are based upon the data collected by the search engine
spiders.
Content
Management Systems (CMS) are great for reducing steps for
employees - but at what price to your ranking in the search
engines?
Want Good Ole'
Fashioned Search Engine Friendly Results? Roll up your
sleeves and do some Good Ole' Fashioned Organic SEO on
Static Web Pages.
The answer is clear - Ethical Organic Search Engine Optimization
and Web Design
Google's suggestions for Quality Web Pages fall under three
basic criteria:
1. Provide relevant and substantial content
2. Treat a user's personal information responsibly
3. Develop an easily navigable site
Seems like good guidelines to me :) If you desire ethical
web design & development and approved Organic Search Engine
Optimization...
SEO
Using Only Approved White Hat Tactics
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Effective copy writing is the first step to
promoting your web site in your internet marketing
endeavors.
We have recognized an increasing trend in search engine
behavior that will one day change the way web pages are
written and developed. Pages that used to rely heavily on
keywords and metatags to lure traffic will soon become a
thing of the past.
Trust me on this one as I go on the record to say that soon,
the search engines will look at and
review the written copy of the page to determine the page
relevance and value to the search query.
When this happens - Effective SEO will become what we have
been encouraging since day one. Always write for your
clients first - Content is Crucial and Content is King.
The Kelsey research group published these statistics and
trends:
-
74%
of households use the Internet as an information source when
shopping locally.
-
Approximately 45% of local searches had a buying intent.
-
The
percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories
decreased from 75% to 62%. (If you have a yellow page ad, it
is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your
marketing dollars to the Internet.)
|
 As
local business owners you need to take action now. You need
to keep your existing customers, and gain new customers, so
you need to be found where they are searching. Local Search
Marketing is where your future clients and customers will
come from.
So where do you start?
Well, go back to the first paragraph of this article and
you'll notice that Local Searches are now over two years
old. It is still free to modify your listings with:
-
Google Local
-
Yahoo Local
-
and
so on...
These complimentary features of local search and a little
initiative on your part and you'll be well on your way. |
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Write for Your Prospective
Clients First
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David Williams is proud to be a
small business owner in the United States
Small Businesses in the
United States
(defined as independent
businesses with fewer than 500 employees):
-
Represent 99.7 percent of
all employer firms.
-
Employ half of all private
sector employees.
-
Pay more than 45 percent of
total U.S. private payroll.
-
Have generated 60 to 80
percent of net new jobs annually
over the last decade.
-
Create more than 50 percent
of nonfarm private gross
domestic product (GDP).
-
Supplied more than 23
percent of the total value of federal
prime contracts in FY 2005.
-
Produce 13 to 14 times more
patents per employee than
large patenting firms. These patents are twice as likely
as
large firm patents to be among the one percent most
cited.
-
Are employers of 41 percent
of high tech workers (such as
scientists, engineers, and computer workers).
-
Are 53 percent home-based
and 3 percent franchises.
-
Made up 97 percent of all
identified exporters and produced
28.6 percent of the known export value in FY 2004.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census; Advocacy-funded research
by Joel
Popkin and Company, Jan. 2002 (see www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs211.pdf);
Federal Procurement Data System; Advocacy-funded research by
CHI
Research, Inc., Feb. 2003 (see www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs225.pdf);
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey; U.S.
Department of
Commerce, International Trade Administration. |
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What's New?
BusinessLaw.gov has been incorporated into Business.gov.
Before launching your business, be sure to check on specific
laws and regulations in your area. |
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Small Business
Administration |
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A wealth of FREE information, regulations and forms for
Small Business Owners every where.
Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource. |
| Question:
"I am considering updating my Windows XP machine to
Windows Vista. Any suggestions or advice?" Terry -
Allegany County, New York
Answer:
Dear Terry,
I'd wait just yet before completing the update
to the Windows Vista OS as
their are known issues that have not yet been patched/fixed.
Typically, it is
wiser to be the last kid on the block to own a toy that
works vs. the first kid on the block that owns a toy that
works - well, most of the time.
There is a
plethora of complaints out there. Just Google
Windows Vista Problems and see how you feel then.
All the best,
Dave
We
offer two great FREE Whitepapers for you to download and
employ as brainstorming tools. You can get your FREE Web
Site Planner and Getting Started Guide from
DavidWilliams.Biz on our
Free Whitepapers Page
And I would be
remiss if I didn't at least extend you an offer to serve as
both your Web Developer
AND SEO
Firm. If I've already put this much thought
into it - imagine how hard I would work for you if I was
paid :)
Thanks Again for
visiting us!
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(recent articles only - older issues have been removed)
Check out Dave's actual client
case studies to view quantifiable results achieved by David Williams
for his SEO clients.
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