Saturday, December 19, 2009

Image Optimization : Optimizing for the Search Results

I've touched on this topic before but it was a brief tip in an overall topic. I wanted to actually focus just on the topic of Image Optimization this time around.

I did some keyword research on image optimization a week ago as I am planning on updating my site and adding new products and packages and getting rid of some that are no longer beneficial to what I want my customers to achieve as far as success is concerned online.

I found out that the majority of keywords using image optimization only pertained to resizing images in other words optimizing images to add to your site so your web pages can load quickly. There were some searches that included keywords like search engine image optimization and seo image optimization but I was overwhelmed at how little this keyword was searched for as far as seo was concerned.

The reason why I was so shocked is it is a big factor in achieving targeted traffic to your site and a HUGE way you could possibly see an increase in sales as well.

Images are showing up in Google's search results for a lot of keywords. In most cases these images show up at the very top positions of their search results and in other cases they show up under a couple of website listings in their search results.

To get your images to show up in the image results you must have images properly optimized with your keywords in mind.

Below are a couple of tips or suggestions on how to do this:

If you are just starting your website this is the perfect time to perform this type of optimization., as you are resizing your images or getting product images ready to add to your site. When you save your image onto your hard drive. Make sure your image name includes your actual keywords and maybe a color or type of product name.

Here are two examples:

Don't: Don't save your image as the file name that you get from your digital camera or by the name that your vendor or manufacturer has named the image that you are getting from them.

For example: Here is the wrong way: IMG102697.jpg or FEA415441253644_ID1258.gif

Do: When you save your image to your pictures folder on your hard drive. I'll use my pet site as an example.

Here is an example of how you should save it: pink-studded-dog-collar.jpg

Naming your images with your keywords in mind increases your chances of showing up in Google's image search results. Thirty percent of my website traffic to my new pet site comes from my optimized images that show up in their search results. This is especially important for new website owners who are waiting for their site to start to rank for their targeted keywords.

Once you optimize your images, create a sitemap and upload it to Google. Make sure your sitemap includes your images. If you upload your products to Google Shopping your images will be included in your feed, so this is also a great way to get your optimized images added to their image index.

This task may take a while if your website is already established or if you already have tons of product images on your site that are not optimized but if you do some each day that will make all the difference as far as image optimization is concerned.

Google is now showing an array of different results in their search engine directory. These results are called "Universal Search". They return news feeds, blog feeds, videos, images and organic search results, and adwords campaigns.

Just imagine the amount of traffic you can achieve if your site is properly optimized for the search engines as well as having your images optimized, blog posts listed, articles, and videos.

The possibilities are endless and the search engines are giving you every chance to achieve your website traffic dreams.

The opportunities are yours for the taking!

Carla Phillips

 

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Tips On How Blogging Improves Your Ranking

Did you know that blogging can improve your search engine rankings for your targeted keywords?

Blogging is an important factor when you are trying to rank for your targeted keywords.

The search engines love new content and I know you have heard that content is "king". The more new content you add to your site or blog the more the search engines will reward you.

If you just add one or two post to your blog each week and be consistent with the amount of blog post you do per week the search engines, Google especially will love you for it.

Blog posting doesn't have to be complicated either. I always get emails from website owners asking what to blog about and how uncreative they are and how they are not good writers.

To be honest you don't have to be an experienced writer when it comes to blog posting. It's okay to be natural and your self and your posts don't have to be long and detailed.

Here are some things you can blog about:

1. Reviews: Products that you have used and like or dislike that are related to the type of products or services you offer.

2. New products recently added to your site.

3. A product that you really want to increase exposure for you.

4. Small how to guides

5. Coupon codes that you have found online and want to share with your readers

6. Sales going on at your site or contest

7. Post a list of things that you love on your site. Doesn't have to be things offered by you. If you link to other's websites,they may see the link in their traffic stats and do the same for you.

8. Recipes

9. Interviews with others in your niche

10. If you get comments on your blog that may be questions from one of your readers, you can take those questions and create blog post about them. 


There are so many little things you can blog about to increase your exposure online and get the search engines to pay more attention to you.

Here are some SEO tips that you can use to help increase ranking for keywords you want to target:

1. When blogging about a product or service that is being offered on your site, make sure to have your keyword in your blog post title, in the first 25 words of your blog post and in your blog post labels.

2. Link your keyword to the correct landing page on your site. So if your blog post is about your fabulous tutus for girls. Make sure that you take the keyword phrase tutus for girls and link it to your page that is about your tutus for girls. Keep in mind not to just link all of your keywords to your home page. So a little love to your inner pages, categories, sub categories and product pages.

3. Add a list of your categories to your side navigation bar and link them to your categories on your website. This will help with keyword ranking as well.

If you find a really good keyword that you want to rank for, create a blog post using that keyword phrase in the title and link to a website page on your site and overtime you will see that your blog post are being indexed within  hours and start showing up on the first page of the search engine results over time.

Carla Phillips

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Come Hop With Us!



Are you tired of not winning contest and sweeps that you have entered into? Are you a giveaway addict? Do you absolutely love to read blogs and meet other bloggers?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above then My SEO Gal's Network Circle's 1st Blog Hop event is designed specifically for YOU!

We have joined up with the best online bloggers to bring you giveaways for baby products, jewelry, personalized gift cards, business services and so much more!

From Giveaways to Vacation Pictures, you can take some time to browse each bloggers blog and see all the terrific things that are going on in their lives whether it be business or personal.

If you are a business owner or an online website owner, make sure to follow our blog by clicking on the Follow button located to the right hand side and keep up to date on ways to market your business online.

So Get Ready, Set and start entering giveaways and visiting the blogs listed below by clicking on the blog sites in the MCK LINKY box below. Once you get to each blog, you will find the same exact Mck Linky box so you can easily visit the next blog on the list.

Wishing you tons of Luck and We hope you have a fun time while Hopping!




MckLinky Blog Hop

Monday, September 28, 2009

My SEO Gal's First Blog Hop! Whoo Hoo

My SEO Gal is having it's very first Blog Hop of many To come!

I'm so excited that we made the decision to get together and start a blog hop.

Our first blog hop will start on October 5,2009.

How To Sign Up to Participate in our Blog Hops:

All you have to do to enter into the hop is enter your blog name and blog url below in our
Mck Linky box located below and your site will show up in the box. Click on the Enter Your Blog Url Here link, then Leave a comment below
that says you will be participating.

Then add a post to your blog about the hop, you have the option to include a
prize and post your rules.

Come back and get the code for your blog or copy the code as soon as you enter in your
blog's information and add the code to your Blog Hop post. You get the code by
Clicking on the link under the Mck Linky box below that says Want to participate
in this blog? Get instructions here.


You can use this wonderful image designed for our Blog Hop
by Jen at by J Bee Designs and place it at the top of your blog post or on the
side navigation of your blog so all can see.

Make sure to upload the image to your computer first then upload it to your blog.


1 – What is a blog hop?

Hop, hop, hop… that’s right! Imagine a themed blog posting in which many other

bloggers are posting the same theme, with a list of participating bloggers links on

that post that will allow you to HOP to other blogs and see the exact same theme,

however different content. For example: Let’s say this week the theme given

to us is “My favorite picture”. Everyone in the blog hop group will post their

favorite picture and content and at the end of the blog, will post an HTML code

that will have a list of all the blog hoppers. In this case, if I go to my blog,

I’ll see a post of my favorite picture, my content and a list of all the participating

bloggers. So, I can click on another blogger’s link and see their

favorite picture...and then just hop from blog to blog……..


Everyone participating may insert the same HTML code so that we

will all have the same blog hop list displayed. That way, the

visitor will know which ones they have visited and which

ones still remain to be seen…


Now the question is….


2 – Why should I participate?

Exposure… !!! This is a creative and new way to increase

the exposure of your blog, by receiving traffic from your

fellow Blog Hoppers and from the visitors.


It’s FUN and addicting. Think of our example. Wouldn’t you want to see what everyone’s favorite picture was? And wouldn’t you want to click on all the links to see what

they were? And if you found the blog interesting, with interesting articles, wouldn’t

you stop and read?


Increase your blog’s traffic AND get more followers by participating in this program.

It’s a win, win situation.


3 – I want to participate, but I don’t know HTML….

That’s fine!!! The HTML code (Mr. Linky) will be given to you,

and if you have questions as to how to add the code, you can

me at the contact link :

Contact US and get assistance. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity.

If you have additional questions in regards to this program, please

e-mail Contact Me Otherwise….


What do I do after I sign up:


4.- What you would need to do is to create a blog post before this

Sunday October 4,2009 and copy the Mck Linky code that you get below

into your blog hop post. Your blog post should display the Blog Hop banner above.

The post can be about the blog hop. You would mentioned something like

We are participating in My SEO Gal's Blog Hop. If you are giving away

a prize then you would say something like. "To celebrate the 1st blog hop of

many to come I am giving away a prize. Then you would have your rules to

win the prize. Let your readers know to visit other blogs in the MckLinky box

to enter to win more prizes.

Here are some giveaway entry rules people have used in their

blog hops:


* Follow our blog and leave a separate comment.
* Follow our blog on Facebook's Networked Blogs, leave a separate comment.
* For an extra entry Tell all your Facebook friends about our giveaway

and leave a separate comment.
* Tweet about our giveaway and leave a separate comment.
* Post about our giveaway on your own blog, leave us a separate

comment with your blog url.
* Fan our biz page on Facebook and leave a separate comment.

Please leave us a way to contact you in at least one of your comments.

The blog hop ends on October 21st so you can put the end date in your

contest rules and when you will be announcing the winner.

If you aren't giving anything away, you can just start a post about the

blog hop and use the image from my blog post in your blog post,

make sure to still add the Mck Linky code to your Blog Hop post

so people can jump from blog to blog.


LET’S GET STARTED!!!!

5. – When the blog hop opens or if you want to add your blog now, you can add your

link to the Mck Linky box below and get the HTML link code by clicking on the

get your code link located under the Mck Linky entry box.


The first week of our blog hop will not have a theme, but the blog hops after

this one will have some type of theme that will be announced before the blog hop begins.


Our blog hops will last for 7 days to 14 days. The first one will start on October 5 and end on October 21st.


Remember to add your link below and don't forget to tweet or retweet

about the blog hop by clicking on the little green box located at the bottom

right hand side of this post.


The blog hop doesn't actually start until October 5, but you can help us promote it by tweeting about the hop, contacting your facebook fans, telling everyone you know that has a blog and invite them to participate.


The more blogs that participate the better!


To keep up to date on our Blog Hop make sure to follow this blog by clicking on the follow button on the right hand side.


So hope to see you while hopping!


NOTE: If you want to participate in the blog hop, you MUST put a Mck Linky box on your site right after you add your blog below and you MUST mention the Blog Hop. I will go through the list and remove any links below that do not have the Mck Linky box listed or any blog that does not mention the hop.


MckLinky Blog Hop



Carla Phillips


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stumble Upon Is Awesome : Tips On Getting More Exposure On Stumble Upon

You may be aware or not aware of a great site by the name of Stumble Upon.

If you have heard of Stumble Upon then you are already two steps ahead. If not, then you are about to take a huge leap towards online exposure.

So Just sit back and take a load off of your already busy day and take some time to read up on some tips about how your online business can benefit from using the every so popular Stumble Upon bookmarking site.

For starters I will take the approach that you may not know what a bookmarking site is.
A bookmarking site is used the same way you use your favorites or bookmarking button on the top of your browser. The difference between your favorites and a bookmarking site is that you are the only one who knows that a site is your favorite site or that you have stored a site on your computer to return to it in the future. When you sign up for an account on a social bookmarking site, you are allowing other members to view your favorite sites.

It's just like saying, "Hey, I love this site man! I think you may like it too!".

So in essence you are just sharing your favorite websites, news clips, blog post, products, services etc.. with others that share the same or similar interest as you. That is exactly what you can do on Stumble Upon.

Stumble Upon currently has over 8 million registered stumblers.

Stumblers or Stumble Upon members can go to a website and give a thumbs up or a thumbs down review. Once they review a site, that site is then indexed in Stumble Upon's directory.

When a site is reviewed, the reviewer has an option to add "tags" or keywords to the review which makes it easier for a site to be found while a member is stumbling through Stumble Upon's directory.

Once the tags are assigned to a review. That
review is shown in Stumblers profiles or sent to their email addresses, as a recommended site. This all depends on a Stumblers interest. Interest are set when someone registers with Stumble Upon. If someone chooses Business as their interest, then they will receive Business recommendations and so forth and so on.

Have I lost you yet?

If so, don't worry, there is a point to this post if you are a website owner.

And here comes my point!! (Dun, Dun, Dunnnnnn.....)

If you own a website and someone stumbles your website and reviews your site on the Stumble Upon site that once again, has over 8 million members. You have the opportunity to get tons of exposure to your website!

If you own a site that is geared towards kids and someone reviews your site and places it under Stumble Upons "For Kids" category. Then your site will be recommended to those Stumblers who have chosen For K
ids as one of their interest. Which means that the traffic to your site from that review will be individuals who are interesting in things about or for kids.

Now do you see where I'm going with this?

I think I've covered the basis about what Stumble Upon is and some of the benefits. Now I'll cover some tips on how you can get your site stumbled and reviewed.

Here are some simple and quick tips that you can use to get your site Stumbled:

First you have to get your site reviewed on Stumble Upon before you can get any exposure. You can do this by:

1. Adding a Stumble Upon button to your site or blog. When you do this, your visitors can review or share your site with other stumblers.

Here are a few sites you can go to, to get a Stumble Upon button or share button for your site or blog:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/buttons.php

http://www.addtoany.com/

http://www.addthis.com/

2. Ask your customer
s, business partners, fellow stumblers, friends etc.. to stumble your site. They can stumble your site by clicking on your share button that you just got from one of the sites above or if you don't have a share button on your site, then they can join Stumble Upon and download their Stumble Upon tool bar and stumble your site and others (I recommend downloading the toolbar).

3. Stumble other website owners sites. If they monitor their traffic stats, they will see that they have some traffic from Stumble Upon then will get curious as to what Stumble Upon is and why are they getting so much traffic from it. They may sign up for an account and then see that you were the one that reviewed their site and they may do the same for you. Just in case you've never seen a Stumble Upon
logo they may look something like these or more creative (I like the more creative ones):



4. Want to know if your site has been reviewed on Stumble Upon? But of course you do. To check and see if your site has been reviewed. Simply copy and paste or use the following to check for your reviews. Make sure to replace the yoursitehere with your website name:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/yourwebsiteaddresshere.com

5. Sign up for a Stumble Upon account. I guess this should have been the first tip.

That's it. That's all there is too it. Of course you will need to take some time to get reviews and add the buttons but it's all worth it in the end.

You can increase your exposure by simply having your site reviewed by one stumbler, can you imagine if you had your site reviewed by hundreds of stumblers. Oh the possibilities......

Need help getting your site reviewed? If you do you can either follow the steps at the link below or join My SEO Ga'ls Networking group and members will stumble and review your site and vice versa:

To add your website link to be reviewed, just click on the link below:

Stumble Upon Reviews

To Join the network group click on the link below:




I hope you get tons of exposure from these tips!

Carla Phillips
My SEO Gal
http://myseogal.com
Got a Question or need help?
Contact My SEO Gal Today for a FREE SEO Quote.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Twitter Buttons for Blogs, MySpace and Websites

I get a lot of emails asking about where to find Twitter Buttons that can be used on Blogs, Social Networking Sites and Websites.

Well,

I have scanned the web over and over and have always recommending the following sites to those who inquire about the buttons. I have decided to compile a list of sites that you can visit to get free twitter buttons. Some of them have really cool graphics, some of them provide you with the code you need to put on your blogs, social networking sites and websites and some provide you with the image but you will need the code to put on your sites.

Here are some examples of images you expect to find:








Here are some links you can visit to get some of these TOTALLY AWESOME TWITTER BUTTONS. You can click on the links by moving your cursor over the links:

http://www.twitterbuttons.org
http://www.twitterbuttons.com
http://mysocialbuttons.com/buttons/twitter
http://www.twittermysite.com/

This site has some really cool and different Twitter and other Social Networking Icons:
http://www.hongkiat.com

I hope you enjoy them and make sure to check back again over the next week for more social networking buttons.


Carla Phillips
My SEO Gal
http://myseogal.com
Got a Question or need help?
Contact My SEO Gal Today for a FREE SEO Quote.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Universal Search is Here!

I posted about Universal Search and what you need to do to get ready for it and stay on top of your search results in the beginning of the year. If you don't recall or if you just started following me then you can look at the post located below:

http://myseogal.blogspot.com/2009/01/are-you-ready-to-go-universal.html

I remember getting some negative feedback from those who thought what I was saying was bologna or thought what I was saying was insignificant or didn't apply to them because they already had this website marketing/SEO thing in the bag.

Well good for them!!!! Goody two shoes...... (P.S. I love those type of people, they make me want to work hard at proving them wrong!)

Well guess what guys, Universal Search is here now and very visible in the searches.

Go ahead, do a search, search about anything. Nine times out of ten I bet you will see a variety of options for your search. Unless you're searching something about pet rocks??

You may see Google's Shopping results first or paid advertising, nothing new there. Then you may see a display of images that are related to your search (this is part of the Universal Thing I've been talking about), then videos (Yup, still part of the Universal Search thingy), then the search results.

Now let's go over some things and answer a couple of questions and when I mean a couple I mean a couple! I'm not going to go deep into this right now. Please feel free to read my first post about it to find out more detail about it and what you can do to stay on top of your search results:
http://myseogal.blogspot.com/2009/01/are-you-ready-to-go-universal.html

Here's a common question I get all the time:

How do I get my images to show up in the search results?

Here's a quick tip:
When you upload pictures to your website. Are the images name something like IMG25687? or AzBe25E? Well if they are, CHANGE THEM. Unless someone is searching for an IMG25687 then the chances of you showing up in the search results is very, very, very slim. Try naming your image with your keywords in mind.

Example: If your image is a picture of a giraffe print purse, optimize or name your image with those keywords when you save it to your harddrive or your My Pictures located in your My Documents. Upload them to your website, then go to your Webmaster Tools in your Google Account and include your images in Google's Search. You can do this in your Settings in your Google Webmaster Tools. You can also create a sitemap with your images included and upload it to your Webmaster Tools.

How do I get a video to show up in the search results?

The same goes for videos. Make sure your video file is named with your keywords in mind. Add the videos to your site and to popular video sites like Youtube who just so happen to be owned by Google (wink, wink).


These two tips plus others included in the post I did a while back are really beneficial to your online search results success!

So work on getting those images optimized and those videos uploaded to your site!

Carla Phillips
My SEO Gal
http://myseogal.com
Got a Question or need help? Contact My SEO Gal Today for a FREE SEO Quote.

10 Absolutely Awesome Advertising Tips!

When you aren't seeing any orders coming in or when you are starting to bite your nails due to the current economy. It's a normal reaction to start looking at things that can be cut in the budget like marketing. Marketing should be the LAST thing on your list to cut out. If you make that choice to cut out marketing you are taking a huge risk of crashing faster than you thought you already were!

Marketing your business and attracting new customers should be an ongoing process, not something you do one month and then forget about for three or four at a time. You will never see a sale at that rate! Below are a list of low cost to free advertising options so you can succeed online.



  1. Join the Social Networking Sites: This is a must. If you haven't gotten around to joining social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Now is the time when you should sign up for an account to market your products or services. Social Networking or Bookmarking Sites are great ways to generate traffic and to start a buzz about your business. They are free to use and get tons of traffic each month.

  2. Be prepared for Peak Seasons
    You must be prepared for peak seasons. The holiday shopping season is already here!!! Do you have your holiday items on your site? Do you have your holiday newsletters and sales lined up. If not, don't start running around, pulling out every strand of your hair off your head. Simply sit down and write out your plans for this holiday shopping frenzy. What new products or services are you going to offer. Are they holiday themed products or are they gifts for people or pets even? Have a service that you offer to other businesses? Create a holiday package just for your customers. Offer a discount or an incentive. Research seasonal keywords that people are already using for the type of products or services you have to offer.

  3. Unique items or services : Make sure that you have unique items or services offered on your site. Take a look at your competitors site and see what they are offering and what they aren't offering. Try to find products being offered by manufacturers in your niche that your competitors do not have yet. Don't forget about the “Small Business Owners”! Small business manufacturers have the most unique products and are looking for retailers to help distribute their products. Contact them to see if you can get a sole contact with them to sell their products online. If you do land a contract, make sure to state it in your products description. You can use words like “Exclusive” “Only Available” or Available Online Only. If your product is online available online then a buyer who is interested will be more inclined to make a purchase.

  4. Get on top of your SEO: If you haven't done so yet, make sure to put SEO on your calender before the month is over. You really don't want to be left out in the cold or finding yourself closing shop the first of the year due to no sales. Take some time to research your keywords in your niche. If you don't take the time to properly optimize your site, just remember this big tip: YOUR COMPETITION WILL!

  5. Reward referrals
    As you may know, some businesses thrive from referrals. I have found that one of the best ways to get referrals is by having others help you find customers for you. You can do this by offering a rewards program or a referral program. You can either give out free merchandise, give a discount off of their future purchases, or offer a percentage of your sales. It all depends on your the type of business you have and what you can give away. Now be realistic. Don't offer a 50% cash incentive if you can not afford to pay the incentive. If you send out a newsletter, include a section in your newsletter where your customers can tell a friend or you can set up a form on your site that will allow your customers to enter in the names of their friends. When you get a new customer from the referral, make sure to send the person a personalized thank you note along with their reward.

  6. Send out a newsletter: Have a sign up form on your site and give a discount for those who sign up. Make sure the discount is automatic. You can do this by doing a custom thank you page and include the coupon code in the thank you message. It's important to keep your customers up to date on sales, contest, and new products. Keep your newsletter simple and straight to the point. Your newsletter can be themed based where you send out information that is geared toward one specific type of product or service. Make sure to get permission from everyone you send out a newsletter too and make sure to give them an option to unsubscribe from your newsletter. You don't want to take the risk of getting to many spam marks or you will not be able to send out newsletters because your email address will be marked as a SPAM address.

  7. Sponsor a Giveaway or Do a Giveaway:

    Sponsoring a contest or doing one yourself is an excellent way to advertise your site. This is also a great way to collect email addresses, mailing addresses and any other information you would like to use to in the future. I have done plenty of contest advertising for clients and they ended up with over new leads over a period of a month. You can also participate in blog contest events. There are tons of blogs out here that offer Blog Hopping events. Make a note of all of the events and make sure you include your site or blog in the hopping event. You can gain a lot of exposure to your contest and website.

  8. Start a Blog
    I should have posted this tip before the giveaway tip?! If you don't have a blog make sure to add that to your To Do List. A blog is another great way to bring traffic to your sites. More and more searchers are looking to see if a website has a blog when they visit sites. A blog is a good way for them to get to know more about the company they want to purchase a product or service from. You can keep your customers informed about any sales, new products or upcoming events you are having. Be as natural as possible with your post. Don't sound like a robot when you are promoting your advertising. Make your post as friendly and as engaging as possible.

  9. Groups and Forums

    Join groups and forums that are related to the type of products you have to offer. Many forums will allow you to post your url in your signature. Be very cautious when using this as a method of advertising. Forum members do not like when a business gets on a forum and starts to post links to their site with no other communication. This is known as SPAM and most hate it, so stay away from it. If you join any forums or groups on Yahoo, Google or MSN. Make sure you are there to learn or contribute. Respond to questions that you are familiar with, especially those that pertain to your niche. Become an authority figure on the topic and people will start to respect you and even look for your comments.

  10. Team up with like minded businesses or people:
    Find people online and offline who are within the same niche as you or who have a passion for the type of products or services you have to offer. If you sell pet products, team up with pet lovers or groomers. If you sell baby products, team up with new mothers, play groups or day cares in your area. If you are in the website designing niche, team up with hosting companies, SEO'ers, or other website designers. You can offer discounts to anyone you team up with for your products or services. Establish life long relationships and watch your business grow!

If you have read through these 10 tips and are thinking that all of them sound great but you just don't have the time right now. Times are hard right now for a lot of people and they just aren't shopping the way they were a year ago. Although money might be tight right now for a lot of consumers the need for making money is continuous. Try setting aside two to three hours each week to start focusing on advertising your business. When you actually take the time to market your business, and start to see a change in new orders, then believe me, you will be glad you did!

Carla Phillips

My SEO Gal

http://myseogal.com

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Long Term SEO : Keyword Research Plus Long Term SEO = Online Sucess

Long Term Keyword Research leads to Long Term Search Engine Ranking Results

I spend my days and nights working on a lot of websites from all different type of niches and I am constantly reminded of the importance of keywords. It really all comes down to obtaining the coveted top 10 listings for your most profitable keywords in the major search engines, of course Google is the one that most seek out and freak out about.

Since your keyword rankings can make or break your online marketing plans. You have to be consistent and keep your keywords on the first page of the search engine result pages or SERPs. It's all about getting top keyword rankings and staying there. You can do this will Long Term SEO.

If you're trying to target extremely competitive and profitable keywords you will definitely have your work cut out for you. You will have to have the type of mindset that it's going to take time, and you are going to have to have patience. Then again, if you have money in the bank like Daddy Warbucks and time to build and buy links to get you to the top spots then you might be there in no time, MIGHT. Google has frowned upon link buying and is/has taken steps to fight it, although there are some who still use this form of link building to obtain top ranking position, doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do. Why take the risk of Google finding out? If you want to rank for those “competitive” keywords, you are going to have to expect to spend months if not years, getting to those top listings.

Long Term SEO is the way to go!

Most website owners who are just starting out and honest website owners want to take the proper yellow brick road to the top and earn those top rankings by providing good quality content that your website visitors will actually find useful and beneficial. These “honest” website owners build links and target their keywords in a natural way, by creating articles, having keyword enriched content, writing ebooks, working with blog owners, targeting social networking sites and building their brands, which in return will build backlinks or one way links to their sites.

One way to help you achieve long term keyword rankings in the top results is by building one way links. You will start to gradually see over time that these links will build up those highly competitive keywords you are trying to target and your rankings will go up in the search engines. Searchers will find your content on the web and start to bookmark it or share it with others in their social networking groups. They can share your information, content, products or services on sites like Kaboodle, Stumble Upon, Facebook, Twitter etc. and your rankings will move up even faster. I'm a fan of social networking sites and definitely believe that you should focus on creating content on your blogs or websites that will make others want to share it or come back to it to see what else you are going to say or provide.

Building links and keyword marketing has become very competitive. You may have noticed some of your competitors holding the top positions on a consistent basis. This is because they are focusing on targeting their keywords in their website content, focusing on obtaining backlinks or one way links to their sites using those keywords and working on their SEO campaign on a long term basis.

Google is always changing, as you may have noticed lately. You may see a site listed on the first page of their search results one day and then gone the next or you may see a page rank at a 3 one day and then a 1 the next. You really have to stay on top of your game if you want to keep your keywords in the top positions. It really all comes down to making quality content that web surfers will find beneficial or think that they need.

Overall, once you have taken the time to tackle your SEO plans and no longer run from them your long term SEO will end up working for you in the long run as long as you keep promoting your site and using your keywords in your content, and link titles. Make sure to target hundreds of keywords, but don't use them all on one page! Make a list of the main keywords for your site, then make a list of keywords for each one of those main targeted keywords. Once you have narrowed down two or three for each page. Then start incorporating them into your website pages, products etc..

If I have learned anything over the years that I have been working on SEO, one thing always remains true and that is PERSISTENCE! You must keep at it and don't give up. It's going to take months if not years to get to the first page especially for very competitive keywords, but if you can see the big picture it is so worth it in the end.

If you need some help with finding keywords that are being searched for on a daily basis, I have listed some keyword tools that I use everyday and they are free:

Keyword Discovery

Google's Keyword Tool

Word Trackers Free Keyword Tool

So take a deep breath and an aspirin. Make a to do list to start focusing on Long Term SEO and building one way links to your site and you will be on your way to success in no time.

Sincerely,

Your SEO Gal

Carla Phillips

http://myseogal.com



Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Duplicate Website Content : Can it Effect Your Ranking?

Can Duplicate Website Content Effect your Search Engine Ranking? Sure Can!


I have been noticing lately that website owners who were once on page 1 for their targeted keywords are now on page 12 or have dropped off the face of Google for their targeted keywords.

This can be based off of a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons is due to Duplicate Content.

What is Duplicate Content exactly?

Sometimes I like to explain things in a colorful way. So bear with me with this explanation. I want to make sure I get my point across in the most easiest way so you will understand it and not find yourself in the same situation as the above mentioned website owners.

Picture your favorite magazine. It could be Reader's Digest, Better Home and Gardens or O. Whatever your pleasure.

A magazine has a cover = Your home page

A table of content = Your navigation bar

Ads = Your products or services

When you flip through the pages of your favorite magazine. You see either an ad or a header letting you know what that content is about on that page. They are either selling a product or discussing a topic.

There are different headers for each individual page, right(rhetorical). You don't see the same header or text on the pages of the magazine, do you (rhetorical question again)?

Okay,

Duplicate content is just that. The same content on more than one page of your website. So picture your website as an online magazine. You don't find the same content in a magazine. You don't see the same text in more than one page. So this is how you want to set up your website.

If you have more than one page with the same content, the search engines can get confused and don't have the time to weed out which page is actually relevant to a search query.

So if you have more than one page on your website with the same header or content on them then you are not only confusing the search engines but you are competing against yourself.

Do a search, doesn't matter about what. Just do a search about any type of product or service.

Then look at the number of links returned for that search. Those links that show up are links that contain that very same keyword that you just searched for. All of those links are competing for that golden spot, that top 10 listing all at the same time.

You already have all of these links coming from different urls, running to the same spot at the same time for that keyword phrase. No need to ruin your chances getting to that number one page by having the same duplicate meta titles, keywords and descriptions on your site. Your pages are just adding to that number of links returned and if the search engines can not figure out which page on your site actually contains what that searcher is looking for, they will move on to another link, Your Competitors Link.

You want to make sure that each page has it's very own header, meta title (meta title is the words that are displayed in the blue section at the very top of your browser window), and description.

I know it's hard to have a different description for products that are the same. If you change the first 2 to 5 sentences of each product than that will make a world of difference.

If you have another manufacturers product on your site and you copy their description, just remember that there are tons of other sites that have just done the very same thing. This is also considered duplicate content.

Change the meta title of that product, don't just use the product's title as the meta title. You can include the products name in your description.

Use your meta title to describe the product. You can include the manufacturers name if it is a well known brand, include the color and who the product is made for. Make sure to change up the description or "copy". Add your own words to it, add your own intro to it to make it your own.

You also want to make sure you don't use the same exact keywords for each product and page. If the product is about baby diapers, don't have baby swings in the keywords.

I know this is a lot to take in, but following some of these rules can keep you in the search engines and will help you move up in ranking.

Here's a recap, just in case I lost you at Duplicate Content:

1: Have different descriptions on each page. Change up the first 3 to 5 sentences if the products are similar.

2: Do not and I repeat, do not have the same meta title on each page. The most pages you should have the same meta title for is 2!

Here's an example:

Page 1 meta title usually a main category: Designer Baby Clothing | Kids Clothing | Clothing for Teenagers

Page 2 meta title usually a sub category: Designer Baby Clothing | Designer Baby Shirts | Designer Baby Shoes

3: Do not have the same keywords for every single website page.

Here's an Example of what not to do:

Product page is about buying a Fancy Bling Dog Collar

Description is about a Fancy Bling Collar for large dogs

Keywords: fancy bling dog collars, collars, dog, doggie, cats, cat beds, dog beds, dog leash, dog clothing, dog sweater.

Here's an Example of what to do:

Product page is about buying a Fancy Bling Dog collar

Description is about a Fancy Bling Collar for large dogs

Keywords: fancy dog collars for large dogs, bling dog collars for large dogs, bling dog collars, large dog collars, bling, large, fancy, dogs, dog

There is no reason to have keywords about anything else but what that page is about. If that page is not about a cat collar, do not include cat in the keywords. If that page is not about dog clothing, do not include dog clothing in the keywords.

Stay focused on what that page is about. Don't put in unnecessary keywords in the keyword tag if that is not what that page is about.

That's it for today!

Stay tuned for tips on Keyword Selection.

Your SEO Gal,
Carla Phillips
http://myseogal.com

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Follow My Blog

Good Morning Everyone,

Hope everyone's working their fingers to the bones! Not really but I do hope that you are having a wonderful successful day.

Well,

I am usually on top of the techie stuff when it comes to plug ins, editing, coding etc.., but I feel like a loser because I did not notice the option to add a Follow button on this blog.

All of this time I could have had the option to let you follow my every single last words of wisdom and failed to have a follow button! DUHHHH

So I have found that there was a gadget that will allow you to do just that.

Yes, I know you have been wanting to hang onto everything I have to say! LOL

So now you can.

Just click on the FOLLOW button to the right and now you can. Isn't that Awesome!

You can keep up to date on all the latest info about SEO, Social Networking , Blogging etc..

So go ahead, click on the follow button. PLEASSEEEEE!

No seriously,

I would definitely love it if you follow me and I promise not to bore you to a stuper.

Thanks a bunch!

Your SEO Gal,
Carla Phillips
http://myseogal.com

Monday, June 1, 2009

Are you a Circler?

My SEO Gal has done it again!

After months of researching and testing. We have come up with the perfect network group for small business owners.

This group is all about helping each other succeed online with their products or services by networking with each other.

This is not your typical classified ad networking group. This group has actual members who participate and chat with each other to find out great new way to help increase exposure to your site.

And guess what folks! It's FREE!!!!!!

That's right. You can reap the benefits of other Circlers for free.

What is a Circler?

A Circler is a member of My SEO Gal's Network Circle.

I keep thinking to myself, "Now what can I call my members?" Twitter has Twitters, Facebook has Facebookers and Kaboodle has Kaboodlers!

My members are worthy of being called something too, darn it!

So I thought about the name of the group and so forth and so on. So I sleep on it and woke up in the middle of the night and said " Circlers!, I'll call my members Circlers!".

So how bout it? Don't you want to be a Circler too and find out what all the hype is about?

You know you do. I won't spill the beans on all of the networking opportunities we have in our PRIVATE little community. Well because I want you to find out for yourself.

So come on and Join our Circle of friends and network with us today:

See ya there, soon to be Circler!
Your SEO Gal,
Carla Phillips
http://myseogal.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Free SEO Tips

Over the next couple of weeks. I will be adding some tips on how to optimize your site to make sure it is search engine friendly.

The first tip will be on keyword research then the next one will be on choosing the right keywords for your meta title.

I hope you enjoy!

Your SEO Gal,
Carla Phillips
http://myseogal.com

Friday, April 10, 2009

Want some Tips on Increasing Your Sales? Here are 9 Tips on Increasing your sales.

Do you want tips on how to increase your website sales?
Well of course you do.

Having a website can be one of the most rewarding,
addicting, and obsessive decisions you could ever choose to make.
It can also be the most frustrating, and somewhat depressive
decisions as well.

You put your heart and soul into creating your website.
From your website's design down to the color of your text.
You think about it all day and even dream about it
at night.

After everything is neatly put together, you finally
publish your site with excitement!.....

It's been two months now and that level of excitement
is slowly starting to slip away. No sales...
"What am I doing wrong?", you ask yourself.
I have the best website design and My products or
services are unique.But still NO SALES!

I've been down that road before and I definitely
understand how heartbreaking and nerve wreaking
it can be not to get what your ultimate goal is
when you first consider starting an online business,
which is getting sales and making a profit.


Well here are 9 suggestions I have
to help you convert your traffic to sales:


  • Your Website Design: Is your website easy to navigate? Are the colors or fonts hard on the eyes. The background colors you choose can definitely have a negative impact on your visitors and the type of font you choose can be detrimental to your sales as well. Stay away from really fancy fonts or fonts that have a lot of curves to them. Although they might be appealing to you. I would suggest you keep the fancy font for your logos or banner graphics. Buyers may find it hard to read and if they can not read what you are selling then, click... they go to another site. When choosing a website template or design. Keep it simple. Don't choose something with a dark background. This is important if you are selling a product. It takes away from the product. The visitor focuses more on your background color than what you actually have to offer.
  • Trusted Seal : Building trust is an essential part of selling online. Your buyer needs to trust you and feel comfortable purchasing your products or services. Make sure to have a SSL Certificate somewhere on your site or a trusted merchant seal. You can have this on your site or within your shopping cart. You would be amazed how many visitors actually search for the seal when they visit your site. Over 60% of online shoppers check to see if they see a trusted seal. If they don't see one, they might leave your site. You can get a seal from Godaddy, your hosting company (if applicable), Hackersafe/Mcafee and other sites as well. Over 70% of online shoppers will abandon a shopping cart if they dont' see this seal. They want to know that their credit card information is safe. Studies show that online websites who display the seal on their site/shopping cart see a surprisingly increased amount of sales after displaying one on their site.
  • Products : Have a nice amount of products on your site. Before you launch your site. Think about what you will be selling on your site. Make a list of the different categories you will have on your site. Then make sure you have at least two to three pages of products per category. If you make your own products. Don't launch your site until you have sample images of the products you will be selling on your site. Try not to have just two or three products per category on your site. If you only have two products per category. Don't put the category on your site until you have 10 to 20 products ready. There's nothing worst than visiting a site that doesn't have a nice selection of inventory to browse through. For example purposes : Picture this scenario. You walk into a new boutique that has moved into your neighborhood. They have an inviting logo outside that screams come in and buy from us. You step inside and the decor is breath taking. You take a step further and noticed that the inside is HUGE! You take another couple of steps toward their merchandise and in this very BIG place there is only a couple of racks in the center of the store. You look around their two or three racks or displays and tell the store owner that they have a beautiful store and that you will be returning but didn't make a purchase. Why? Because the store didn't have a big enough variety because they were just starting out. I know I have done this before, it was uncomfortable for me and the store owner. You expect to find a nice selection of items when you visit a store and the same goes for an online store. Moving on...

  • Price: This is a biggie. You must make sure your prices are competitive but not to low where you are not making a profit but not to high where you are not seeing any sale. What I suggest is that you do a search on Google to find out who your competitors are and see what prices they are offering. Then go back to your site and pick a product and do a test. Perform a test on that product by doing the following: Take the product you chose to do a test on and make a copy of that product so you have two of the same product. Change the name of the second product so you don't confuse the buyers. Make one product's price lower than the other. Make sure the lower price isn't so low that you won't make a profit though. Run this test for two to three weeks. If you see that the product that has the lower price sells better than the product with the higher price, than you know that you need to change your prices in order to start getting sales on that particular type of product. If that doesn't seem logical to you. Just take one product and do a test on it for three weeks. Lower the price on it ( as long as it's not lower than the MSRP), change the description around a bit and see what happens.

  • Images: Make sure that you have clear images. You can have the best products or services but if a visitor can not see what they are buying than they will just leave your site.
    Make sure you have professional images on your site. If you take your pictures yourself, that is fine as well. Just make sure you take your pictures outside or on a white background. You can either use a white sheet or go to your local fabric store and buy a couple of yards of Muslin which should only run you .99 cents a yard. I recommend getting a photo cube. They are inexpensive and creates a professional picture. You can find one on ebay. Your images say a lot about your businesses image. If you have dark photos or photos with the cat in the background, you are less likely to get a sale. If you can not afford a good digital camera and a photo cube. Consider investing in photo background removal services.
  • Shipping: Make sure you display which shipping courier you will be using on your site. You also want to display your shipping fees on your site as well. This way a buyer will know exactly how much their total order will be. You can set up a separate page that says "Shipping Fees". Create a graphic towards the top of your website pages that says Shipping Fees and make the graphic clickable to the page that has your shipping cost.
  • The Type of Payments you accept: Display what type of payments you accept by placing a payment logo on your site. The closer you have it displayed at the top of your website pages the better. That is one of the first things visitors look for when they visit your site. If they don't know what type of payments you offer than they will get frustrated looking for a payment option and leave your site.
  • Pay Pal: Having Pay Pal as your online payment processor can be okay depending on what type of online business you have. If you offer a service to other online businesses. Than this option is okay because most online businesses pay via Pay Pal or know what Pay Pal is. Not all of your visitors know about Pay Pal, to be honest there are a lot of people who have no clue what Pay Pal is. In saying that. I would highly recommend investing in or inquiring about signing up with a Credit Card Processing Company or a Merchant Account Company that will process your credit card payments for you. I recommend Authorize.net or Pay Pal Website Pro. Both have a monthly fee of about or around $30.00 a month. It is less confusing to the buyers and more professional. I have seen and heard about other online businesses seeing an increase in sales when they added a payment processor to their shopping cart.
  • Contact Information: This is something that is overlooked or dreaded by small business website owners. It is important to have a phone number somewhere on your site. A buyers wants to see that they can contact you if there is a problem or a question that they have about ordering or an order that they place. If there is not a phone number visible and only an email address or a website contact form. They will become worried that your company may be fraudulent and not purchase from you. I know that you may have concerns about people calling you all times of the night, but there is a solution to your problems. You can sign up for an 800 number. There are tons of services out here that will provide you with an 800 number. I recommend Ring Central. You can set up an option to have them take messages on all calls or you can have a do not disturb option set so your phone does not ring in the middle of the night. Instead all calls will go to an automated voicemail service and you can retrieve your messages when you have time. You also have the option to either except a call when it comes in or to send it directly to the voice mail. When a call comes through to your 800 number and you pick up the phone. The operator chimes in immediately and says " You have a call. Press one to accept this call or two to send this call to voicemail". It's the best option especially if you work from home. You can try them out for Free for 30 days :Try RingCentral Online FREE for 30 days


I hope you enjoyed reading some of my tips and use them to
help increase your sales.

Just remember to do a lot of testing with your products
or services. See what works. If something
is not working then try a different route.

Think about installing Google Analytics within your
website so you can see which pages are your
highest exit pages and which ones are the most popular.

If you have any questions. Feel free to contact me
or leave a comment.

I am always here to help.

Yours Truly,
Carla Phillips
Your Search Engine Ranking Specialist


Monday, March 30, 2009

And The Winner Is....


I put the names in a hat and picked out one and The Winner is:



Sea By Me Candles


Congratulations You have won 5 Hours of SEO work!

So get ready to get your site listed on the first pages of the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN and to see an increase in traffic!

You will have 4 of your categories optimized plus a Bonus of adding your sitemap to Google and Yahoo. Plus you will have your site submitted to the search engines!



I'll be contacting you shortly to go over the details!

Yours Truly,

Carla Phillips