There are many people out there selling Internet Services and promising you Number 1 search engine positioning and more. Without all the hype, who do you believe, who can you trust?
Here are some tips and pointers on identifing the straight shooters, so you're not taken advantage of.
1. Many people are not getting good or complete advice. Often for example people don't understand all the concepts of Internet Marketing and having a website so they simply pay to have a website developed. Often this website may look good but it falls far short in the area of being "search engine friendly". This is typically because many businesses that deal with the web are very one track focused.
People need to get independent opinions from a knowledgeable person. Someone who doesn't have a biased agenda. Most businesses have a product or service they try to push customers toward because they make a greater profit on these items.
Many businesses that deal with the internet can be narrowly focused on their one main niche. They may do webpage design and development and for their ease they either knowingly or not don't consider other important attributes like optimizing the page for search engine placement.
Things to look for in evaluating someone for web development work.
– analyze other work they have done. Analyze and be aware of all the following, either concerning their work or just the best ways of doing something:
- Check navigation bars/ web links – they should be using plain text links for maximum effect – some images are okay. Never link using CGI or Java Scripts. This is search engine death.
- Evaluate the title they use in the web header. This is the text between <title> and </title>. This text should be 80 –100 characters and be rich in applicable keywords. Focusing too much on the company name is a no no, unless it is a powerful keyword. Also if it is a “Contact” page using “Contact Page” as part of the title is just stupid. Nobody searches on “Contact Page”. Remember what words are in your Title is how people find you.
- If someone says they are going to submit your site monthly to search engines run the other way real fast! This is not necessary and can actually be harmful.
- Beware of companies saying they will submit your site to 1500 or more search engines – 85- 90% of all traffic comes from 6-7 search engines.
- Beware of companies promising specific positions on search engines – anyone can get top positioning for search terms no one would search on.
- Beware of companies selling a service where you own specific keywords and thus you will always show up on top when someone searches on that keyword. This service requires the user to have already downloaded specific software off the web prior to searching. Only a small percentage of people will ever do this meaning you will only reach this small percentage, who then must search on your keyword(s) – Good Luck!.
- When dealing with web developers or SEO people find out what their Link Strategies are with other websites. I prefer a direct relationship approach other webmasters of top ranked sites versus using some link management software – especially Zeus. I wouldn’t touch them with a 10 foot pole.
Things to look for when evaluating SEO or Search Engine Optimization services.
- Ask them how important the – Meta Keyword tag is with Google – Answer – Google doesn’t utilize the Keyword tag.
- Evaluate the title they use in the web header. This is the text between <title> and </title>. This text should be 80 –100 characters and be rich in applicable keywords. Focusing too much on the company name is a no no, unless it is a powerful keyword. Also if it is a “Contact” page using “Contact Page” as part of the title is just stupid. Nobody searches on “Contact Page”. Remember what words are in your Title is how people find you.
- Evaluate how they structure links. Is it through Java or CGI scripts? Absolute no-no! Do they over use images for this? Not real good. For maximum search engine effect they should be using keyword rich text links. Keyword rich text links are one of the primary factors Google considers when evaluating your websites reputation.
- Ask them how once they have completed initial work on selecting possible keywords to target what their next step is. How do they decide which in these list of target keywords to focus on? They should do the following:
- They should be using a tool like Wordtracker to determine which of these keywords has the best keyword density. In other words has the most searches versus least competition for those searches.
- Next they should do trial searches on various keywords and see what the search engine spits out. If the search engine spits out a Goliath if a site I would recommend you perhaps select different keywords to target. For example if your search lists like US Government sites or State sites or extremely well known business sites I would suggest you target other keywords. You're not going to compete against the State of Ohio or some similar type site.
- Ask them their philosophy on their scope of keyword targeting. In other words do they try to target every remotely related keyword combination or do they take a more narrow niche approach. Here is my way of thinking in this regard. With a site just starting out take a more narrow niche stanch and develop some traction with this niche. Then as you become established you can develop other webpages, which further expand your niche. The bottom line is if you over target to begin with you will dilute they good niche keywords you have. Think of it like this - it is better to have 3- 5 keyword combinations where you show up on the first page then 30 on page 30 of the search listings.
- Tip: Keep this in mind – when someone is searching on a broad term – for example “cars” they may type in “cars”, but in reality they have in their mind a much more specific, narrower vision of the type of car they are looking for. Thus the narrower the niche is that you target the much greater the chance the searcher is going to purchase from you when they find you.
I hope I've given you enough information to avoid making a poor decision. Contact me above for additional advice.
