Internet Strategies

It’s not about building websites - it’s about building online businesses . . .

How many of you have a website? Uh huh. How many of you have updated it in the last month? Exactly. What is your page rank?, your Alexa ranking? or even your link building strategy? Not sure, call us we can help!

Internet Strategies

Are keywords dead?

I wouldn't say they are dead. I like what Scott said. "They're not feeling well". Content is key when engineered properly for search engine optimization. Keeping in mind your title and descriptions in both the code and content do play a major role in your search engine optimization. Izzy Macaluso

Keywords are not dead, but content is far more crucial in this ever-changing world of the search engine game. If you are delivering good content to your target market, no search algorithm can afford to ignore you!! Sanjay Mehta

Meta tags are not 100% dead, but have very little weighting- for now. I suspect this was in response to keyword stuffing/abuse & the fact that they are not visible to the user and therefore not part of the user experience. IMHO SEO is about 3 things- in order:

1. Content- drives SERP & volume- still king.
2. Linking- drives popularity, although more challenging now with global "no-follows" on many social sites (i.e. flickr)
3. Site Architecture- drives accessibility. Building a well formatted, 'bot friendly' site Marco Bailetti

What do you do different?

I teach business planning to entrepreneurs. What do you do different? This is always the first question I ask. Are you faster? Cheaper? Better?

Understanding how we differentiate ourselves in the market is key to developing a successful marketing strategy and ultimately a successful business. If your customers have three options (or some amazing multiple thanks to the Internet) why do they do business with you? Why do they come back? Do they come back?

One of the key ways a new business can differentiate itself is through customer service. Call any major corporation for assistance and if you are lucky enough to get a human - you are likely talking to a remote call center half way across the world – once the operator grills you on such things as what is your mother’s maiden name, where did you go to high school, and what is the name of your first pet – you will then get to enjoy their scripted dialogue which does little to solve your problem.

When your customers call your business, do you answer the phone? With Caller ID, I can typically answer the phone “Hey, Bob – what’s up?” I am connected to my customers, they are talking to the key decision maker – OK, I am also the chief bottle washer and all around guy Friday – but I’m still the decision maker.

If your not sure what makes you different – ask! You may get some amazing insights.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is how often your keywords show up in the text of your site. If they never show up - then the text and the keywords seem unrelated - if you over do it then it's just a spam site.

But as poor Goldilocks found out - it's not always easy to get it just right.

No more then 2-3% of you text should focus on one variation of a keyword or keyword phrase. Some people debate this and will say 4-5% and some will even go as far as 7%.

Google tends to like a lower keyword density, so err on the low side

Search Engine Ranking Factors

Here's a great analysis of many SEO topics which shows the most important factors as ranked by a group of 37 experts.

Check it out - it might just be a good refresher http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors