Web Marketing Blog | Web Marketing & SEO Copywriting

Don’t Mistake Your Web Guy for an SEO

Written January 25th, 2012 by Nicolette Beard

I laugh every time I recall my Web developer telling me that one of her client’s thought that she was a search engine. I know that those outside the online marketing and SEO arena feel completely in the dark when it comes to search engine optimization. I know because I talk to business owners every day. And, I suspect, they will never understand how Google works or the definition of an algorithm. Why should they?

Web developers the world over have over-complicated SEO. My experience with developers is that they like to throw technical roadblocks in front of us mere mortals. There’s an intellectual arrogance about many developers that smacks of elitism. My sense is that they’re basically insecure because the truth is THEY DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING. And, neither do I.

What I do know is that when you make your client feel stupid or anxious, you are failing miserably, even if you have their website ranking for key terms. Read the rest of this entry »

SEO Fundamentals: How to SEO Your Website

Written January 19th, 2012 by Nicolette Beard

Off all the definitions for “fundamentals,” the one I like best is “down to bedrock.” It’s not commonly used but, for this SEO fundamentals post, I think it fits. The phrase is defined as meaning “Down to basics or fundamentals; down to the essentials.” Bedrock is literally a hard, solid layer of rock underlying the upper strata of soil or other rock. By extension, it’s any foundation or basis.

So the question then becomes, “How do I lay a rock-like foundation for my website that will provide a solid base from which to grow?” Read the rest of this entry »

Want Better Search Results? Write Better Page Titles.

Written January 17th, 2012 by Nicolette Beard

One of the hardest things to convey to people outside the search industry is that SEO, in addition to requiring some technical proficiency, also encompasses research and writing skills. Your Page Title will almost always trump any technical ranking factor, unless the page URL lands in your robots.txt file. Then, even the most laser-focused page won’t be crawled.

Matt Cutts, Google Webspam Team, recently wrote about Page title tips on Webmaster Central. Essentially, he shared what most of us in the industry have known for a long time: Page Titles are an important part of page results. Of course, they don’t disclose why they’re stating the obvious (to SEOs anyway) now.

“We use many signals to decide which title to show to users, primarily the <title> tag (emphasis added) if the webmaster specified one,” said Cutts. Read the rest of this entry »