Following are some resources that I can personally recommend!

Esther C. Kane
Eckweb Designs, Inc.

One of the BEST ways to market your web site is to show the Internet audience that you KNOW your stuff!

If you would like to write an article about any of the following topics and submit it to our Newsletter, we would love to review it for inclusion in future issues.

Our topics of interest are...

Marketing (General)
Internet Marketing
Small Business Issues
Web Design
Web Hosting
Web site Programming

Contact us today about your article(s) and get yourself promoted!!

Editorial

I have to say I'm very tired!

It's one thing to know Search Engine Optimization and how to implement it on website pages. But it's a whole other story when it comes to the business end of this industry.

After all, there are no courses or books (at least none that I'm aware of) on how to conduct this business. There are no set forms or even formulas for that matter. I mean, everyone has their own "idea" of how things should be done but pretty much, that's all they are, ideas. Once they're put into practice, well, that's when ideas get tested and they may or may not work.

So, how does any SEO business go about learning the process and then implementing it? Well, trial and error I'm afraid. At least, that's what I hear from other seo firms. But I sure do wish there was a better way.

I'm sure that I'm not saying anything that any other small business owner hasn't already said or even been through! That's just the norm, I think, for business owners. We all work to not only keep up with changes within our industry but we also work to keep up with the demands by our clients. It's a never ending cycle and an exhausting one. Guess that's why business owners spend more time at work than salaried employees.

Well, we have more of a stake in the business as well.

So, how do YOU do it? How do you handle the incoming emails and phone calls and daily workload? What tools do you use to help you streamline your workload? I'd love to hear from you! Contact me.


Sincerely,
Esther C. Kane
Eckweb Designs, Inc.
678.765.0120
Search Engine Optimization Services

Cool Tools

I receive so many questions about the types of tools that I use not only for Internet Marketing but also for business that I decided I should add a section to the newsletter about them. So, each month (or so) I'll try to add a new tool to this section. Of course, if you have any tools you would like to recommend, please let me know!

What's All The Fuss About Keywords?

You use keyword phrases all the time.  When you use Google, Yahoo, or whatever your favorite search engine, you are using keywords to help you narrow your search for a particular product, service or item of interest in the huge conglomeration of information that is the world wide web. 

Everyone wants to be in the top ten of the search engines rankings.  That’s why we do search engine optimization, right?  Two ways to increase your ranking are to target specific keywords on your web page and to consistently add content to your site.  Kill two birds with one stone by using keyword phrase analysis as a cornerstone of your marketing strategy.

Actually, this kind of marketing strategy is called long tailed marketing and it’s the centerpiece of Eckweb’s services.

Specialized tools, such as Keyword Discovery or Word Tracker are used to collect a sampling of phrases being used to find products or services similar to yours.  Ideally, you want keyword phrases with the least competition—not many web pages containing that phrase, but people are using that phrase to try to find products or services similar to yours.

Say your product was “tissue boxes” and you wanted to market your product online.  The keyword phrase “tissue boxes” is very popular and lots of websites are competing for that phrase.    In fact, according to Google 2120 other websites are marketing the keyword phrase “tissue boxes” on their website.  It would be very difficult to make it on to even the first three pages of the top 3 search engines because the competition is high. 

So, how can you market your website for the phrase “tissue boxes”?

The long tail marketing strategy is your key.  Here’s how it works.

Keyword analysis conducted by a trained SEO specialist will give you the phrases that are similar to “tissue boxes” but don’t have a huge amount of competition.  So, what are some keyword phrases that would take the place of “tissue boxes”?

“plastic facial tissue boxes”
“vintage metal tissue boxes”
“decorator tissue boxes”

Get the idea?  A little research reveals that people are typing in these keyword phrases, but only a few websites are marketing these keyword phrases—resulting in extremely low competition for these keyword phrases.  Because the competition is low, you’ll naturally be higher in the search engine ranking.  So, instead of trying to get into the top of the search engines for a competitive term and waiting 2-3 years to get into the top, you can target 10-20 "long tail" keyword phrases and essentially bring in the same number of visitors in a much, much shorter time span.

Here’s the beauty of using keyword analysis as part of your internet marketing.  No matter what keywords you may be using, search engines regularly review your website for new content as part of the criteria for ranking your site.  Search engines “remember” what was on the page the last time it was reviewed.  If there’s no new content, your ranking is affected.

A simple and effective internet marketing strategy is to write a web page optimized for your hot keyword phrase.  Because each page is another doorway to your product or service, you’ve increased traffic to your website for customers who search on that particular phrase AND provided additional content for the search engines’ review, thereby increasing your rank. 

So, using our earlier example, I write a page about “vintage metal tissue boxes.”  Maybe it’s about the history of metal tissue boxes or the different kinds of metal tissue box styles I have in stock.  Nevertheless, when my customer searches for “vintage metal tissue boxes” my site comes up and the chances of getting customers through my website increases.  After reading about vintage metal tissue boxes, they’ll probably buy from my site—and maybe even check out my page on “plastic facial tissue boxes” and buy some of those, too.

Eckweb Designs provides clients a mini-keyword analysis every month.  Take advantage of your hot keyword phrase monthly and make the internet work smarter and harder for you.

LeAnne McDaniel
Write On Communications
404-790-4299, office
email: leannemcdaniel@gmail.com
www.writeoncomllc.com

Blogging and Relationships

In some ways, marketing professional services hasn't changed for hundreds of years. Ultimately it's still about relationships. It's about who you know and who knows you.

What has changed is the way those relationships are developed.

The technology has changed. Printing started it all in 1440, followed by desktop publishing in 1984. The Internet, with web sites and email, took things to a whole new level in the 1990s.

You can now be in touch with more people, more quickly, than ever before. Instantly available information and ease-of connection now builds relationships exponentially.

And then along came blogging.

Blogging is certainly a way to get more information out more often to more people. But did it really help businesses attract more clients?

I wasn't hearing many success stories.

But that all changed for me when I interviewed ace blogger, Pamela Slim last week and learned how she attracted ALL of her clients through blogging. That intrigued me. What was her key?

When I understood, it was both an "ah-ha" and an "of course" at the same time. The secret to blogging is building relationships, just like any other kind of marketing technology.

Blogging requires a whole new level of interactivity and give-and- take. It's about freely sharing information and resources (the InfoGuru Principle) with and about others, which in turn results in others sharing information with and about you.

It's all out interlinking. Not just to anyone, but to others in the blogoshphere who have real value to offer. It's not about vainly and egotistically posting every idea that crosses your mind. It's an interactive conversation (in thousands of different domains) that dynamically connects everyone in that conversation.

Some of the key activities of this interlinking include:

Listing other favorite blogs on your blog (they'll often reciprocate): commenting on others' blog posts; posting ideas, resources and links from other bloggers and the Internet; sending thank-you notes when someone gives you a link.

Blogging is electronic networking on steroids.

And even if you don't like in-person networking, you can be successful at blogging. If you have some good business ideas, can express your ideas coherently and are willing to share generously, blogging can work for you quite unlike anything else.

As a result of doing this audio interview with Pamela, I finally "GET blogging."  And it's not the technology that's the big deal. It's the possibility of building great business relationships with thousands of people that gets me excited.

I'll be expanding my blog from the weekly eZine post to blogging a few times a week. And finally I'll have a place where I can connect with all the people I couldn't connect to before.

Some of my plans include: Providing links to valuable marketing- oriented web sites and blogs, posting information and mini- reviews on books (people send me books now and I don't know what to do with them!), discussing more of the outer and inner fringes of marketing... and that's just for beginners.

I've often said my biggest problem regarding my eZine is that I had too many ideas for a weekly eZine. With blogging, I can now post any good idea or resource as it pops up.

I invite all of you to jump into the blog world. It's the place to be.                                     
The More Clients Bottom Line: Blogging is the next and most dynamic form of relationship building and information sharing. If you don't get into blogging, you are missing out on connecting with a whole new world of business.

Not Your Usual Marketing Tips

Not Your Usual Marketing Tips
Vol. 4, No. 5
May 2, 2006

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?

Allan Horowitz is a friend and colleague who runs the video (and film) production company, Blue Planet Creative. Allan and I have collaborated on a few projects and I respect his savvy when it comes to this dynamic marketing tool. In fact, I respect it so much, I’m going to let him do the talking…

Welcome to another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Videos are the “action” way to tell your business’s story. They can appear through all kinds of vehicles: streaming on your website; as an ongoing “loop” on a monitor at a trade show booth; on a screen in a darkened room at a seminar; as a tiny CD/DVD business calling card; as a commercial on TV or in movie theaters.

And, of course depending on the length and production value, a video might not cost much more than its printed cousins, the large, slick brochure or a small catalogue.

“Video is one of the most powerful communication tools available,” says Allan. “This is because video has the power to move people. Through shot composition, lighting, pacing, music and voice, a video presentation can establish an emotional connection with the viewer that no other medium can. It can move people to act. It can inform, educate and inspire. It can spark excitement. Video puts power behind your brand. And having a video to market your business, to communicate with others, to tell your story, shows a high level of commitment that people respect and which gives you built-in credibility.

“Think what a lift it would be for your business to have a video presentation that speaks your language, conveys your information accurately and reflects your organization’s values. It would be a permanent source of pride with ROI to boot!”So next time you’re thinking of a way to market your business in an expressive, “moving” way…think video.

This medium, by the way, plays a compelling role at Discovery Place in the otherwise compelling history of The Dead Sea Scrolls. If you haven’t yet ridden your camel over there, I urge you to do so for an exciting, enlightening experience. This beautifully mounted exhibit runs through May 29th.

See you the first Tuesday of next month for another dramatic though less than cinematic offering of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips. (And, by the way, check this column out each month at www.eckweb.com where we also appear in web guru and SEO maven Esther Kane’s online newsletter.)

Joel Kweskin
JDK Marketing Communications Management
704.846.4835, office
704.575.8850, cell
704.841.2746, fax
www.jdkmarketing.biz

Great video on explaining RSS, how it works, why it works and the great benefits it offers not only to YOU but to your audience as well.

10 Great SEO Tips
by Esther C. Kane
September 1, 2007

Original Article From E-Commerce News

The author originally wrote two articles titled "10 Great SEO Tips", Part 1 and Part 2. Below are the combined total of 10 Great SEO tips that he provides in both articles.

Some tips you've heard before and some may be new to you. It's always good to review!

As evidenced by the phenomenal success of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , search has evolved from an interesting sideline into a primary function for many, if not most, Internet users. Consequently, more and more companies are putting content up on their Web sites to attract the attention of search engines.

"You can have really great information on a site, but if a potential customer can't find you, what good is it?" asked George Aspland, president of eVision.

Chances are that most times a person won't find the company. If a user types in a simple query today, tens of thousands, millions and even billions of results come pouring back in an instant. In most cases, a user will sift though a couple of pages -- basically a few dozen links -- and either re-enter the query or give up the search in disgust.

Those First Few Pages

Consequently, companies are trying to make sure that their sites show up on those first few pages. In response, a booming cottage industry creating search engine optimization (SEO) specialists has emerged. What follows are five tips from such experts that a company can use to increase the likelihood that its name will pop up quickly.

1. Keep tabs on search engine rules. The search engine vendors would like to make it easier for themselves to collect information. Consequently, they have devised Web page design guidelines that help their software index new Web pages.

   "The search companies expect to see basic items, such as a site map, so their Web crawling software -- as well as your customers -- can find information on different pages," George Chaney, president of SEO King, told TechNewsWorld.

   Repetition is another item that these vendors value. "Keywords belong in page titles, image names, headlines, body content and links," Todd Follansbee, vice president at Web Marketing Resources, told TechNewsWorld. In certain cases, following this guideline may diminish the graphical appeal of a page or not follow business writing rules, but that is a price a company has to pay to be displayed on those first few search pages.

2. Pay special attention to the title of a page. Search engines list a company's title at the top of search results, so it is not surprising that they examine titles carefully. An obvious item -- but one sometimes overlooked -- is that companies need to put titles on all pages, not just main entry points on their Web site. Also corporations need to be direct, rather than clever, when crafting their titles because the Web crawling software does not have a sense of humor.

   Brevity is an important consideration in regards to the title -- the search engines want companies to limit text to less than 80 characters, which translates to one short sentence. All caps should be avoided because it detracts rather than enhances reading comprehension.

3. Label graphical content. Increasingly, companies are putting more graphical and video elements on their Web sites. "Currently, most search engines are not able to understand and rank thumbnail pictures and video content," Andrew Frank, a research vice president at Gartner (NYSE: IT) , told TechNewsWorld.

   Since they cannot understand the information, they simply pass on indexing it -- although their algorithms are getting better at working with such information. If a company has a number of these items, there are alternative tags that can be used to describe them. When a company uses one of these tags, it should include keywords in the text and clearly label the item. Generic descriptions, such as pix1, and abbreviations should also be avoided because search engines do not value them highly.

4. Support link exchanges. Search companies have taken on the communal characteristics found in the Internet. If a number of other sites link to a company's Web page, then the engines give it more credence. "Companies should include link bait, phrases or pages on Web site that others can use to link to it," eVision's Aspland told TechNewsWorld. Also, a company can search for sites similar to its own, contact the creators and build a new community. Another option is to join a webring, a string of linked sites dedicated to a certain topic. There are plenty of them on the Web, and more arising daily.
   
   
5. Be prepared to tweak Web content consistently. Search companies, such as Google, determine which items to display by relying on ranking algorithms, formulas they have developed that decide which Web pages best match each user's query. With the dynamic nature of the content and the vendors' desire to deliver the best page out of millions and billions of possibilities, these algorithms are constantly being scrutinized.

   Daily, vendors' engineers work busily to make them more precise. After undergoing a test phase, changes are put into production. No one knows when this occurs -- observers expect it at least once every three months -- because companies like Google never announce them. The only time it becomes clear is when a company's page rankings change dramatically. Consequently, firms need to track their rankings and make changes when they are needed.

There was a time when companies could simply boot up a Web site and their content would immediately begin showing up in various search engines. For better or worse, those days are long gone. To have content displayed, corporations need to understand what the search engines are looking for and then provide it to them. If one company does not want to do that, a competitor certainly will.

Search engines have taken on the role of parents doling out rewards as well as punishment to companies building Web sites. The punishment comes from two sources. For one, the search engines are flawed, often unable to work with various types of information.

"At one time, search engines could not make sense of PDF data, but that was one shortcoming that the vendors were able to overcome," said Andrew Frank, a research vice president at Gartner (NYSE: IT) .

The other set of problems comes from companies bending -- and in many cases, knowingly breaking -- rules in order to have their results displayed more prominently. "Because of the high stakes involved in search, scams have become rampant in the industry," George Chaney, president of SEO King, told TechNewsWorld.

Avoiding the Punishment

Part 1 of this two-part series features five tips on how a company can increase the likelihood that its name will pop up quickly and high on search pages.

What follows are five steps that a company can take to avoid being punished by search engines:

1. Submit Web pages to search engines judiciously. When the Internet was first booming, search vendors had rudimentary techniques to identify new Web pages. Consequently, they often appreciated it when companies submitted new Web pages to them.

   Much has changed in the past few years. If a company puts a new page up, a search engine will find it. That statement assumes that a corporation has made other groups aware of its site. When it puts up a new site, a firm needs to register itself with a domain name services provider so the page makes its way into the Internet's global network index.

   If a company is nervous, wants to be on the safe side, and decides to submit its content to a search engine, that step should only be taken once. If it is done repeatedly, the search engines may deem the material as spam and blacklist it, removing the site from all search mentions.

2. Make sure Web links lead somewhere. Links to other sites help a company gain a higher site rating, so many sites have them. However periodically, search engine suppliers will check to make sure a link is working, so companies have to make sure that their referenced content has not moved or been taken offline.

   Some unscrupulous companies have pushed the idea of embedded links a bit too far. They include bogus Web links on their pages in order to generate higher site ratings. While there is a link, it leads to a blank page in some instances or in other cases will circle back on itself -- thereby creating an infinite number of links. Search engine vendors are not particularly fond of such links and blacklist sites known for them.

3. Minimize use of flash. Flash is a programming tool used to add video-like animation to a Web site. These animations are small programs that can be embedded into HTML pages and provide cool visual effects, often close to video.

   "While flash can be compelling, it is not something that search engines can easily recognize and categorize," Gartner's Frank told TechNewsWorld. Consequently, many search engines do not read or catalog any flash content. If a company wants to use flash, it needs to make sure that similar textual content is available so search engines can work with the data.

4. Do not react to every algorithm change. The search engine vendors are constantly trying to fine tune their algorithms and make them more accurate. "A company can drive itself nuts reacting to each change that the search vendors make," George Aspland, president of eVision, told TechNewsWorld.

   After they make a change, search engine vendors then examine how well it works. In certain instances, the change hurts rather than helps the company deliver appropriate content to users. As a result, the search engine company will pull the change and go back to its original algorithm. Rather than rush back and forth through such exercises, it is better for companies to wait about three or four weeks after noticing a change before making their own alternations.

5. Limit use of pop-ups. Pop-ups have become items that help companies gather information quickly and effectively. These items are still associated with spamming sites, so search engines flag sites with excessive numbers of pop-ups as spammers. In designing a Web site, a company should limit the number of pop-ups.

Garnering the attention of the search engine vendors requires a delicate balance. While there are some steps that companies can take to improve their ranking, there are other items that lower the company's search rankings, and can even result in them being blacklisted in some cases. Consequently, they need to maintain a proper balance.

Have You Got Something To Say?

Do you have opinions? Do you have stories? Do you have knowledge that others do not? Want to make some extra money? (I suppose we can all say "yes" to these!)

Anyway, IF your answer to all four of these is "Yes", then consider opening a website filled with information and adding "AdSense" to it.

What's AdSense?

Well, you know when you go to Google and conduct a search you get two sets of results. One set is a list on the left and then there's a separate list on the right (and sometimes there are 1 or 2 listings on the top of the page). Well, the listings on the right and the top are sponsored which means that the website owners paid to have those listings there. The way they pay is on a per click basis. Every time someone clicks on their ad, Google bills the website owner. This pay per click program of Google's is called AdWords.

The AdSense program is also owned and operated by Google. What Google has done is that they allowed those ads to be published on other websites. So, let's say you own a website about Home Insurance. When you open an Adsense account and place the codes from Google on your website, ads automatically show up on your website pages. When a visitor to your website clicks on any of those ads, Google bills the website owner. Then, Google gives YOU a portion of the money they collect.

How much can you make?

Well, it all depends on the amount of traffic to your website. The more traffic, the more clicks.

Have you heard of Whateverlife.com? It's a website that was created by a 14 year old to showcase her design skills for myspace templates. She's now 17 years old. Last year she earned 1.5 million from the Adsense on her website.
Obviously, she gets thousands of visitors each month. But it gives you an idea of the power of AdSense!!

The biggest SEO mistakes that are killing your website
Rob Collyer
CEO and Founder of Webforumz.com

In my years as an SEO specialist (or Guru as I've been dubbed by some) I have come across many SEO mistakes and pitfalls.... some of which are of the cringing variety.

What I am about to share with you are not tricks or cheats, they are the fundamental and basic DONTS of SEO.

If your site does any of these things, then you will definitely want to look into rectifying that ASAP. If you are unsure as to whether your website is suffering from any of these points, then please let me know and I will take a look at it for you.

The following are in no particular order and is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but should hopefully (at least) help out some of you.

• Not using a <title> for your page.
  If SEO were a game of darts, then getting a good page title would be like hitting the bullseye. Failing to use a descriptive and thought about title containing your keywords will harm your rankings. Every page on your website should have a different title. For more information on page titles, see my recent article: Improve your ranking with web page titles
  
  
• Using Dynamic Javascript, Java Applets or Macromedia Flash for site navigation..
  
  This is a regularly overlooked factor and is visible all over the web. Search Engine Spiders may be very intelligent at crawling web content, but they cannot index Javascripts. Any menu system done purely in Javascript is a disaster because search engines will not see those links and therefore your listings on search engines will be very very limited. This is equally true of navigation systems done in java applets and Macromedia Flash. Googlebot will see links in flash (I think the weighting in algorithms would be far less than regular text links), but I am not aware of any other spiders that will. Just because complicated site navigation menus may be easy for a human to use, does not mean spiders will be able to use (follow) the links.
  
  Many Javascript and flash menu's can be replicated almost identically using CSS and XHTML. If you insist on using a technology invisible to spiders for your navigation, then the golden rule in my book is to place normal text links (or a link to a site-map) in your footer (not invisible ones... lol) in order to give spiders a crawl path around your site.
  
  Extra info: Images are not as good as text for navigation and links. Search engines cannot see the context or relationship of the link and the page your are linking to if you use an image.
  
  
• Not using meta-data.
  It's true that meta data is not as important today in SEO as it used to be but it is still fairly important for some search engines. Make sure you use a keyword optimised title (see above), meta description and meta keywords on your pages.
  
  Tip!: Meta-data should be thought of as a spiders 'first impression' of your website so make sure it very accurately describes the content.
  
  
• Poorly written, UN-optimised content.
  You may have spent ages writing the most in depth and informative content in the world, yet that does not mean it's automatically good for SEO. For instance you could have a 5000 word page all about London.... you may mention several attractions in London and rant about the fine restaurants and nightlife.... you may even say the queen lives there but if you never mention the word 'London', then you're stuck!!
  
  If for arguments sake the page really is about London Tourist Attractions, then you will want your page title to be 'London Tourist Attractions'.... your H1 element (highly recommended) would be the same. Ideally, you will use those words throughout your copy a handful of times... and maybe even include them in bold or italics to show search engines that those words are REALLY important in the scope of the page!
  
  
• Overuse of images and flash animations
  Many websites employ a plethora of images and animations to give eye-candy to the page and in my book, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem arises when the content of the page is mostly portrayed in images an animations. Websites with very little textual content are very hard to classify as search spiders cannot see inside images. Achieving a good balance of content and images should be the ideal focus for any website.
  
  Tip!: When you do use images, make sure that each one has ALT text. ALT text is contributory to SEO and gives some (however small) indication to search engines what the image is.
  
  
• Never seeking links.
  If you never take the time to hunt out relevant and well ranked websites in which to obtain links from (or exchange links), then your site is pretty much like a hermit who doesn't get out much. You need a good number of inbound links from other websites.... if you have none, you are effectively an orphaned website with a non existent search engine rank.
  
  Links on other websites to your own contribute enormously to a system known as Google Page Rank (see article: What is Google Page Rank?) and in turn play a sizable part in search engine ranking algorithms. To reflect this you should spend a few hours a week working to increase links. Links can be sought on other people's or businesses websites and also directories. Here is a blog of mine containing many useful directories that are free to submit your website to:- Improve your search engine ranking with directories
  
  Tip!: Writing blogs and articles for other websites are an excellent way of boosting links.
  
  
• Don't make yourself an island!
  Where relevant, give your users links to additional references and information. Spiders will 99% of the time have already classified the pages you link to... they will know the subject matter and topic so linking to other relevant sites is contributory in terms of SEO as it helps to hold up the relevance of your page.
  
  
• Blatant disregard for search engine guidelines.
  OK, so this one goes without saying, but do you actually know what the guidelines are? Most search engines have guidelines that need to be adhered to. Often, if you read the guidelines, you will reveal tips to improve search engine rankings for your site. Breaking the guidelines all too often results in your website being banned from a search engine... a very difficult and challenging situation to reverse. I wrote an article recently all about techniques that are used to fool search engines. You may wish to read it and ensure you are not using any of them otherwise... well, you know.