In this issue: SEO Straight Talk
Straight answers to what really gets the attention of Search Engines.
So what is it that really gets the attention of search engines? We'll break it down for you right here with the top 3 most important things. If your site doesn't utilize all 3 of these categories, chances are, you aren't as competitive as you could be. Important hint: Most people take care of #2 & #3 during the web development phase, and forget all about #1... but it is the most important one.
1. GOOD, FRESH, UPDATED CONTENT
All of the keywords in the world won't help you if you put your site up and then leave it alone. Your site needs to be updated on a regular basis with relevant content. If you sell red umbrellas, then you need to update your site once a week, once a month, or more, with changing content about red umbrellas. And you need to make sure that you have more, and more relevant, content than your competitors. If you have a small, static website about red umbrellas, but your competitors have larger, dynamic sites about red umbrellas, then no amount of #2 & #3 below will ever get you above them in the SEO rankings. So how do you accomplish this fresh, updated content? Adding a blog is one of the easiest ways. Also, adding a site editor so that you can update your own content without your web developer, and doing monthly e-newsletters are all great ways to accomplish this goal.
2. NAVIGATION
Search engines like "flat" navigation. This means that every page of your site can be accessed within one or two mouse clicks. Also - have a site map page - search engines love them.
3. TITLES & TAGS
"Page titles, the line of text that appears at the top of your web browser, are the most important words in the SEO universe." (Quote taken from the Feb. 10 edition of "Entrepreneur" Magazine). These tags, along with key words, alt tags, hyperlinks and more, are the foundation of your SEO. And here is the thing - SEO is most helpful at the development stage of a website. It is very much like laying the foundation, framing, piping and electrical elements of a house... pretty hard to go back and do after the house is up.
CAUTION: "There are countless SEO strategists, consultants and self-professed experts who will claim they can beam your site up into Google's top 10 search results - for a price, of course.... Unscrupulous SEO firms not only make promises they can't keep, the worst of them also use shady practices that might produce no traffic, deliver the wrong traffic (most common), or even get you banned from planet Google." (Quote taken from the Feb. 10 edition of "Entrepreneur" Magazine).
We hope you have found this Winter issue informative. If you have any suggested topics that you would like to learn more about, please email us.
Remember, we have new offices now within the Fisheye Studios building at 802 Augusta St., downtown Greenville.
Sincerely,
Caroline Harrington
Workhorse Creative
Fisheye Studios Building
caroline@workhorsecreative.net
864-238-2857
Greenville, SC 29601
So now you know
the basics of SEO.
Here's how to get started:
CMS
Our WISE editor (Workhorse Integrated Site Editor) allows you to update your content easily. If you don't have one, email us to ask about adding it to your site.
BLOG
Add a blog to your site. It's the easy, even fun way, to boost your SEO ranking in a hurry.
E-NEWS
Send out weekly, monthly, or even quarterly e-newsletters (like this one!). They can be archived on your site, and work to boost SEO by adding relevant content, on a regular basis.
PUT IT ALL IN OUR HANDS
Too busy to do all of this yourself? Or want to handle it but need us to get you started? We are happy to give you a quick quote for setting up any of these things, just shoot us an email. Or, if you'd rather we handle it all for you and don't want to worry about our hourly rates, ask about our set-rate monthly retainers for unlimited work. Everything you need. No counting hours.
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