My SEO GAl's Blog

How I Made Over 10K In One Month!

2011-10-28T11:05:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone!

It's been ages since I've created a post on our blog. I truly apologize. I've been keeping everyone updated via my newsletter this year but I promise to create more post here as well.

Feel free to sign up for our newsletters below:

Well , I'm so excited to bring this post to you. I always like to give tips on how to optimize your site, market your site and on and on...

I also like to show you proof of what a particular tactic can do for those of you who are serious about being successful online. That's exactly what I am going to do in this post. I'll try to keep this one short so it won't be so overwhelming.

To make a long story short. I am not only a seo specialist, I also own and operate several online pet boutiques. I have recently started 3 new pet sites this year. This email is going to focus on my very specific niche dog Halloween costume shop (http://www.doghalloweencostumesshop.com ). I began this site in February of this year because I am a firm believer in creating niche sites/ spinoff sites or in other words, sites that are based off of one specific theme. This is always a great idea especially for those of you who know your industry in and out.

When I first started off the traffic was slowly but surely creaping in as you can see below. Within the first month, I got over 800 visits. Not bad for a new site but nowhere near where I wanted to be for such a popular type of market.

So instead of letting the site sit there, I started doing some keyword research and found the perfect keyword that I was going to use as my main targeted keyword : Halloween Costumes For Dogs. You can see below that this keyword is pretty popular as far as searches per month is concerned. I also complied a list of about 70 other keywords I wanted to target and started optimzing my site right away:

The goal for this site was to make sure that I optimized it earlier enough to get in the top searches in time for Halloween shopping time. I wanted to make sure I was on the first page of Google for my main keyword by the end of August which is around the time customers start shopping for costumes.

As I optimized more and more categories and products. My traffic started to increase. So I started my next step in optimizing : Link Building. I started link buildng with my main keyword as well as my main categories so I could make sure I was ranking for my lower competition keywords as well as my highly competitive keyword.

Low and behold, my SEO campaign paid off. I decided to check my stats last week to see how well the site had done for it's busiest months i.e. September and October. I knew that I was super busy and had to hire someone to take orders but didn't think I had done that well for the past month. From September 23rd to October 24th I had done over $10,000 in sales and my traffic was way over 20,000 as far as visitors were concerned.

The best things about all of the stats above is this:

My site is only 8 months old!
I am on the first page of google for my targeted keyword : Halloween Costumes For Dogs
The marjority of my traffic comes from organic search results : 70.76%

So if you get nothing else from this newsletter. Please take away this:

You don't have to be in business for a long time to acheive 1st page rankings and get your desired amount of traffic to your site.

If you are an online business now and you are doing pretty good with a particular product type, think about starting a separate business just based off of that product or category. Niche businesses bring in a lot of traffic and sales. Especially around peak shopping times.
Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have to worry about optimzing your site. SEO really does help when it comes to ranking for your desired keywords and you can definitely make it to the top page for your targeted keywords.

I hope this newsletter inspires you to keep your dreams for your online business going. Wishing you tons of success and prosperity.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to just reply to this email or Contact us with any questions.

Have a wonderful day!

My SEO Gal
http://myseogal.com

You Pick Your SEO Savings!

2011-04-26T12:13:00.002-04:00

10 Quick Tips To Convert Your Traffic Into Sales

2011-04-23T10:41:00.003-04:00

So you've made the decision to start an online business. You have worked on making sure that your site is properly optimized and maybe have even done a few PPC (Pay Per Click Campaigns) but still aren't seeing any sales. These are both great steps to take to get the traffic you deserve to your site and definitely vital to your online success. But if you are not getting any sales, you must be asking yourself

"AM I EVER GOING TO GET ANY ORDERS!!!"

At this day in age converting the traffic that you are getting to your site is very important to your online success. Without any sales, you may find yourself closing the website down that you have put so much work into.

No Need To Worry! Help is on the way!!!

Below are 10 tips that I use on a daily basis to convert traffic into sales for my clients sites as well as my own. These are not listed in any particular order : )

Easy Navigation: Make sure your site is easy to navigate. Place all the important links at the top of your site i.e. Home Page Link, Contact Link, Policy Link etc.. If you sell products on your site, make sure your categories are easy to follow and preferably in alphabetical order. This will make your visitors shopping experience less stressful.
Payment Options: Place a logo picture of the type of payments you accept in a visible area on your site.Some people like to know what type of payments you accept before they begin shopping on your site. If they can not find an image of the type of payments you accept or a note, you could risk losing a buyer.
Promote, Promote, Promote: If you have any promotions going on, list a banner at the top of the website, right above the fold (the area that your visitors see when they first get to your site) that displays your current promotions i.e. free shipping, special sales etc.. That way visitors see immediately what type of sales your site is offering. Make sure the sales show up on every page. If they show up on just your home page, visitors who land on your other pages may not know about your specials. If you are not familiar with adding banners above the fold, consult with your designer or hire a professional that is familiar with adding these type of banners to your website.
Phone Number : I know many sites are Leary about placing a number on their site especially if you work at home. Consider looking into a company that offers 800 services. These services usually allow you to get an 800 number that can be customized to your needs i..e you can enter in the times you want the phone not to ring, set up voicemail option only etc.. A phone number is a great way to establish trust and look professional to your online visitors.
Checkout Process : A lot of online websites end up with a lot of abandoned carts. Make sure once your visitors have gotten to your checkout page, that it is as easy as possible. If a cart is to complicated visitors will abandon their cart. Top reasons why they abandon carts: shipping cost is way to high, to many pages or complicated wording that makes them nervous to continue their order. To eliminate confusion and abandoned carts, you can implement a flat rate shipping fee. For Example: Your entire orders ships for 9.99 (us residents only). I just opened two new sites and they both have a flat rate option, both have been online for 2 months and have already started to get orders in. If you can't offer flat rate shipping, try to set up a page that outlines your shipping charges and which carrier you use to ship your orders.
Be Emotionally Appealing (Sorry this one will be a little long but worth it) : Let's face it. We all love to shop and shopping online adds a extra special touch when shopping. The thought of finding unique items that may not be available in local stores and getting a nice package at the door with all of your goodies is really exciting. What does that really mean? Online buying is an emotional experience. So your job is to tap into the emotions of your buyers. Get to know your market! Are you marketing to Moms, Dads, Pet Owners, Geeks, Electronic Gurus etc.? Whatever your market, their is an emotion associated with it. Don't be afraid to step outside of the box. The one thing I always do with all of my online retail sites that I set up is to pick out images that are appealing to my market. I always have images on the home page that show a model in one of the products or similar products. For instance: If your main target market is mommies. What do mommies love? Cute adorable pictures of babies, toddlers and kids in the items they are interested in. If you can capture their emotions with your images, then you are more likely to convert your traffic into sales. With most of my sites, I take a funny approach when it comes to images. I try to think of concepts that will make people want to buy just because the site makes them feel happy. Playing into emotions is definitely a great way to increase sales and gain new customers. Which is always a plus. You can find royalty images for your site by doing a search for Royalty Free images. Most images only cost 1.00 each but may require you to purchase 10 to 15 credits up front for their images.
Best Sellers : Show case some of your best sellers on the site and use bold graphics that say BEST SELLERS or Customers Favorite Picks. If you have products that are best sellers, chances are, your new visitors may think they are pretty great as well.
Products: Whether you sell your own items or offer vendors items. It's very important to make sure you have a nice selection of products for your visitors to choose from. Although this is not the case all the time and there are some exceptions to the rule. It's still very important that when your site is live that you have products available to your visitors. Make sure not to have a lot of categories that do not display any items. Visitors may get frustrated or may think your site is not professional. If you have categories set up that may not have products in them for a couple of weeks. Think about disabling them until you have some products in them.
Social Media : Incorporate social media if you can. You can do this by simply adding a Facebook "Like" button to your website. The more followers you get the more you can promote your sales to. You can add a "Like" button to your blog as well. Social Media is a really great way to get new customers. So this is something that you definitely want to make sure you add to your marketing goals.
SEO with long tail keywords: As you know it's very important to make sure that your site is properly optimized with your keywords but did you know that there is a way to get sales from choosing out the right keywords. Many online website owners look at targeting 2 word keywords that can be very competitive or that may take months or even years to rank for. Try focusing on the long tail keywords in addition to your 2 word keywords. Research your keywords and pay very close attention to keywords you find that are 3 words and longer. Research shows that buyers are most likely to make a purchase if they are using long tail keywords to land on your site. Make sure you are optimizing the proper page with your long tail keywords. There is not worst then when a visitor arrives to your site using a keyword phrase to find out that the page they land on, has nothing to do with what they are looking for. You lose a visitors and your Bounce Rate goes up!

I hope you can use some of the above tips to increase your sales!

Carla Phillips

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

Things To Consider When Changing Hosting Companies

2011-02-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

WOW! It has been a long time since I've posted. Sure I've sent newsletters, Facebook post, and even a Tweet here and there but my poor ole' blog has been neglected due to a super busy 2010 and a refreshing 2011 thus far.

So I wanted to take some time to address a question that I keep getting about what to do and what to expect when you want to change from you current hosting company to a new one.

Will switching effect your current keyword ranking, what should you expect to happen when you change hosting company as far as SEO is concerned and how long will it all of this take.

Below are some tips that you can use to smooth over your transition.

For starters before you switch over to any hosting company, please make sure that the company you are switching to is SEO friendly!! I know that's an entirely different post but it is very important to make sure the hosting company you are considering switching over to is SEO friendly.

Some features that you want to look for is the option to add individual meta tags to each of your pages, categories, sub categories and products. There's nothing more annoying than working on a site that only allows you add meta tags to your home page. Then find out that every single page has the very same meta tag. If you have the same meta tags on every single page, how in the world are the search engines supposed to know which page is relevant to a search query?

Next, it's also helpful to go with a hosting company that has search engine friendly urls, ones that list your keywords in the url.

Here is an example of a search engine friendly url:

http://www.yoursitehere.com/my-awesome-products.htm

Here is an example of a not so friendly url:

http://www.yoursitehere.com/?id4wkiithesloehtlsoe.htm

Although you can still rank for your pages if your keywords are not in the url, it still gives an extra added bonus to have search engine friendly url's.

Those are just a couple of features to look out for when choosing a hosting company for your site. I'll make sure to do a blog post next week on what features you should consider when choosing a hosting company.

Now back to some tips you can take to make your switch a stress free one:

Tip 1: Before you switch your hosting company, take some time to copy and paste the url's of your main pages, important pages, pages that are ranking high in the search engines and any on page content that is currently on your site and add all your information into a word document or excel sheet and save it.

Once you have saved all of the work on your site just copy and paste it into your new pages,categories, subcategories. The reason being, is so you can redirect your old pages to your new pages. That way your site is not returning a bunch of unwanted and unneeded 404 Page Not Found messages in the search engines. Too many of those can effect your ranking, because the search engines think that your site no longer exist or is not being maintained which brings down the quality of their search engine results. No search engine wants to send their searchers to websites that are returning blank pages, or websites that are constantly giving a Page Not Found message. So you want to make sure you take care of those redirects as soon as possible. As a matter of fact, make this your number 1 thing on your to do list once you have your new site set up.

Copy your url's to your main categories that are currently listed on your site.
Set up your new categories with your new hosting company. Then create 301 redirects from your old categories to your new categories. You can usually do this via your cpanel depending on which hosting company you switch to.

Tip 2: Make sure you have copied your meta tag information from each of your old pages as well if they have been properly optimized. If not, simply do some much needed keyword research and enter in your keywords into your meta tags and copy them to all of your new page that you have set up with your new hosting company.

Tip 3: Once you've done your meta tags, 301 redirects and you have all of your pages/products added to your new hosting company site. Create a new sitemap and submit it to the major search engines. This will allow you to let the search engines know about your new urls/website pages.

You can create a free sitemap at the following link. This site will create up to 500 pages for free:

http://xml-sitemaps.com

When you switch hosting companies you should expect to start to get broken links and 404 error messages. You can usually see these in your cpanel traffic stats information or in your Google Webmaster Tools account, if you have one set up. If you do not have one set up yet, please make sure you set this up before you switch. Your webmaster tools account with Google, gives you all type of great information about your site as well as any crawl errors. They even allow you to remove those dreaded broken links/404 pages that are listed in your crawl error reports.

As your 404 error (Page Not Found) messages start to come in, start requesting a page removal via your Google Webmaster Tools account by clicking on Crawler Access and then Remove Page. Google is pretty fast with approving the request.

The number of 404 error pages you get will be determined based off of the number of pages you have in the search engines result pages. Just keep an eye on them and request removal as soon as you can. The quicker you address any broken links or pages that no longer are going to exist on your site the better.

Keep in mind that you may drop in ranking after switching to a new hosting company but the drop should be temporary and you should be able to return back to your normal ranking position. To offset any drop in rankings, try to build some one way links to your site from high quality websites while you are waiting for the search engines to update their search engine directory with your new website pages. As the search engines are updating their directory with your new website pages, they may redirect your traffic to your home page. This redirect may be temporary.

So if you are considering moving your site to a new hosting company make sure you follow some of the tips above and do some research on other tips and suggestions that you can use when change hosting companies. If you are not familiar with creating redirects, requesting url removal make sure to consult with a SEO specialist, website designer, the new hosting company etc.. Any website professional should be able to assist you with making your switch as stress free as possible.

I hope you enjoyed my tips as much as I have enjoyed giving them to you! Stay tuned for the next tip coming soon.

Carla Phillips

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

Just Another Keyword Optimization / Ranking Tip!

2010-10-12T10:47:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to do a quick tip on keyword optimizing. Okay it's not really quick but I think it's informative : )

Here are some simple rules that you can follow as far as trying to rank for your keywords.

When I optimize a site, I base all of my SEO packages or Custom quotes off of the competitive nature of a keyword.

If a keyword is competitive then I know the campaign has to be on a long term basis. If the keyword is low in competition, then I know that basic work will need to be done and not so much on a long term basis.

So here's somethings that you can jot down in your BIG THICK BOOK OF SEO ADVICE.

If your keywords are low in competition i.e. usually three to five words in a phrase.

Here's some things you can expect to do (of course there are other things but these are just quick tips):

Make sure your keyword is in your meta title and meta description.
Put your keyword in a Header tag.
Make sure it's in your on page content i.e. descriptions.

If your keywords are medium in competition i.e. Between 700K to 900K in competition for example purposes.

Follow all the steps above

Start link building with your keywords i.e. add your site to directories, other related websites, blogs.

Now if your in a competitive market. It's not just enough to optimize your meta tags, have super great content on your site and just leave your SEO work alone because you feel that you've done what you have read to do out of your BIG THICK BOOK OF SEO ADVICE!

No Sir-E

Not only do you have to follow the steps above, it will be a must to make sure, without a doubt that you are link building with your COMPETITIVE keywords.

Many think that by optimizing your onpage content or website pages that you should be on the first page of Google with no problem. WRONG!

What you will find is that your endless hours of searching for your ranking, will be wasted because 9 times out of 10 not only will you not be in the top pages, you will not be in the top 100 pages for a very long time.

Well unless the internet Gods are watching over you.

Here's what you want to do if your in a competitive niche or market and you want to eventually rank for one of your "competitive" keywords.

LINK BUILD, LINK BUILD, LINK BUILD

I know, you're tired of hearing those words, and I get tired of it too sometimes but the truth is, it's effective.

Link Build using your keywords in your link i.e

YOUR KEYWORD HERE
YOUR DESCRIPTION HERE
Your URL HERE

The section that states your KEYWORD HERE is going to be the part of your link that is clickable.

You always want to make sure your keyword(s) are in the clickable area of your link.

Make sure to change up your Keywords and Descriptions. Natural link building is important. It's not so natural for each and every site to have the same exact linking information to your site. So switch it up here and there.

Submit your site to directories. YES, this still works. There are still some great directories out here that are being listed in backlinks everywhere.

Create great articles and submit them to articles directories like Ezine.com or GoArticles.com. These are also great ways to create backlinks with using your keywords.

Contact blog owners and see if you can get listed in their blogrolls. Blogrolls are an excellent way to help with backlinks and ranking.

Do a quick search for the keyword phrase you want to rank for. Take note of who is already listed on the first page for that phrase. Contact them and try to get listed on their site. Their current ranking can help you out as well.

Check and see which pages you are currently listed on the first page of the search engines for and add your keyword phrase on that page that you are ranking for. Simply place your keyword phrase on that page somewhere in the content. Link that keyword phrase to your page that you want to rank for and repeat with other pages that may be indexed on the first page.

Last but not least. Try getting your website on high quality websites. Site with high page rank may be a bit harder to get a link from but it doesn't hurt to try!

There are tons of ways to get links to your site, by link baiting (creating a fuss to get people to link to your site, whatever a fuss means to you, go for it), one way links to your site are the best, create blog post and link back to your site from your blog, and don't forget the internal links on your site. It helps to link from your own website pages to others. A great place to do this is from your home page, but don't go overboard. Linking to a few deep inner pages can help that page get indexed and may help with ranking as well.

DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind the word "competitive" exist for a reason. Ranking will be harder to achieve and requires patience and determination because this is not something that is going to happen overnight, expect to wait at least 6 months to a Year before you start to see some real ranking results in the search engine result pages.

SO BE VERY PATIENT, IT COULD DEFINITELY PAY OFF IN THE END

Not a patient person? Consider Adwords for quick traffic for your keywords, while your waiting on your SEO work to take effect. The two tactics can compliment each other very well.
If you choose not to do any link building. You'll have to wait until the age of your site becomes a ranking factor for you. Sorry to sound harsh, but GOOD LUCK WITH THAT : )

Hope I didn't make your head spin to much with all of this wonderful and exciting keyword ranking and link building!

Just take it one page at a time and you will be okay!

Got a question or just confused. Leave me a comment and I'll try to ease the confusion.

Holiday Optimization Tips : Getting Your Ecommerce Site Ready For The Holidays

2010-07-07T13:25:00.001-04:00

The holidays are right around the corner. Is your site ready for the holiday shopping season?

If not now is the time to start focusing on getting your site ready for the holidays.

I get a lot of questions from website owners like yourself, wondering when they should begin optimizing their holiday categories and products for the holidays. My answer to them is always, YESTERYEAR!

As I know you are already aware that holidays are competitive and the sooner you began optimizing your site and products for the holidays the better.

Here are some examples of when you should start optimizing:

If you have any products that are holiday specific like Halloween, and Thanksgiving you should have already begun to optimize your site months ago.

If your products are Christmas related you should begin to optimize your products and categories Today!

Don't wait until October or November to try to start ranking for Christmas baby outfits or Holiday themed photo cards. Get started on your optimization today.

Holiday products especially Christmas themed products are very competitive and difficult to rank for if you wait until the last minute. By knowing this here are some tips that you can do to help with ranking:

1. Go through your site and pick out all of your holiday related products whether that be Halloween products, Thanksgiving Products or Christmas products.

2. Start working on your keyword research now. You will find more Halloween related search terms now since October is right around the corner. Make a long list of keywords that are being searched for. You can use Google's free keyword tool at the link below or Wordtracker's tool. Whichever you prefer. Narrow down your list of keywords to low to medium competition keywords.

3. Take those keywords and start optimizing your holiday themed category. If you don't have one set up yet but have holiday related products. Set one up now. Actually set one up for each holiday. You can have a main category that says Holiday Products and the sub categories can be Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc..

4. Next use those low to medium keywords in your product's title, your product's description (very important), your product's meta description and meta title (if your hosting company has separate fields for meta tags), and your product's images. Make sure that each product has it's very own unique meta title, on page description etc..

Examples are always fun, so here's an example:

You have two products that are similar. One is a red and white holiday dress and one is a red, white and green holiday dress. Here is what you can do to separate the two:

Meta title: Red and White Holiday Dress
Meta Title: Red White and Green Christmas Dress for Girls

Always differentiate your products by including the colors, who it is made for and any other specifics to help with creating unique content for each product.

5. Once you have optimized each holiday themed category and the products within the categories, now it's time to start doing some off page optimization. Start taking each one of those categories and start link building with them. Submit your categories to social bookmarking sites for the quickest exposure. Some sites would include Stumble Upon, Kaboodle, Mom Faves, Fave it.com and others. Create a blog post based off of each category. Once you create each blog post, submit your blog post to Stumble Upon, Digg, Delicious, Share it on Facebook and Twitter. Ask other's to pass it along.Create articles or Squidoo lenses (MY FAVE!)

Contact blog owners to see if they can do a product review and or add your link to your holiday category from their blog roll. This can be achieved here at the Circle. There are many members who would love to add your site to their blog roll.

6. Last but not least, invest a little money in Adwords especially for Halloween items, since that is right around the corner and steadily creeping up and even Back to School items. I know Adwords is intimidating but it's not impossible. Sign up for an account and set your daily budget to something you feel comfortable with. You can pause your ad campaigns whenever you want to. Keep an eye on your ad suggestions that Google makes and keep an eye on keywords that aren't preforming so well. Make sure that each ad you place has keywords in the ad that are related to the page that your visitors will see. Direct your visitors to your holiday pages, not your home pages. You have a higher chance of converting a sale that way. The less your visitors have to click to find what they are looking for, the better.

If you follow those tips, you have a great chance of benefiting from being listed on the first page of the major search engines.

Holidays are big money makers and there is no reason why you shouldn't be getting a piece of that holiday pie too!

So start on your holiday optimization right away, especially any Halloween or Thanksgiving related products. Don't wait until the last minute to start!

When all else fails, consult with a search engine optimization specialist to help you get your site prepared for the holidays.

Good Luck to you all and I hope to see you at the top!

Here are your resource links:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

For all of your Holiday SEO needs visit My SEO Gal
http://www.myseogal.com

Contact Us to find out how you can get 15% off our services for the holidays.

Carla Phillips

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

Twitter Tips ! : 7 Tips For Using Twitter For Your Business

2010-05-19T11:25:00.001-04:00

When it comes to using any social media site, forum or any online community. There's a right and wrong way to do it.

Below are some tips to get you moving in the right direction, if you are thinking of using Twitter to get more exposure for your business or if you are already using Twitter for your business and are just looking for some refresher tips, then this post is for you too!

Tip 1:
Help out your fellow follower: One of the really great benefits of being part of the whole social networking movement, is you have the ability to help those in need. If you see a post that ask a question that you are knowledgeable about or know something that may help. Respond to it. When responding you can use the persons id in your response to let them know that you are replying to their message. You do this by using the @ symbol then their user name. By helping someone out whenever you can, you will start to establish trust with your followers. They will start to remember you and your brand and you can become an authority figure in your industry. Helping is a great way to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and others too! So contribute when you can.

Tip 2:
Update on a regular basis : Okay, this one is easier said than done and if anyone knows that having time to post updates on a daily basis is just sometimes not possible, I know oh to well. So what I recommend doing is to put aside a couple of minutes out of your day to drop by your Twitter account and post something informative. Now don't have a cow if everyday isn't possible. Take a deep breathe it's okay if you don't have the time. I would recommend posting at least three times a week. It's a great way for your followers to get to know more about you and your business. The more they get to know you the better your chances are in establishing a relationship with your followers and maybe gaining a customer and friend.

Tip 3.
Be informative and Professional : I'm quite sure we've all seen the Twitter post by some that we follow letting us know about their everyday events. From updates about what they just had for breakfast to what time they woke up. It's okay to let people know about personal things and I even encourage it. Your followers can get to know you on a personal level which is great , but I have something that's even better when speaking about getting exposure for your business! Be informative, you only have 140 characters that you can use, so keep it simple. Keep your followers informed about things that are going on in your industry, special deals you may be having or events that will be going on. I don't think they will mind hearing about something that is going to benefit them. Not to sure if knowing that you just had your teeth pulled is going to be something that they are going to look forward to knowing about. Then again, it depends on which industry you are in.

Tip 4.
Show some Retweet Love : If you see an update made by someone else that you think will be a benefit to others, Retweet it! What is a Retweet you ask, well a Retweet is when you take a post made by someone else and copy it into your updates with the following : RT @theusernamehere. It's actually even more easier than that, with a simple click, you can choose to retweet a post.
You can also add a Retweet button to your blog or website like I have here. You can get the code to add to your website at the following website : Tweetmeme

Tip 5.
Follow , Follow, Follow : So you've noticed that you have some new followers. Great! Now you must return the favor and follow them. WRONG! Just because someone follows you, it does not mean that you have to follow them back. Follow those that you have interest in. If you do, you'll just get annoyed quickly, if those you follow post a ton of advertisements and nothing that interest you and those that really interest you will be left behind quickly due to the large amount of updates you will be getting.

Tip 6.
Be Grateful : If you notices that someone took the time to Retweet one of your post or a blog post or your website. Thank them, it's the right thing to do. Although the Retweet may have been done out of pure like, people still like to be appreciated and maybe even caught off guard by your appreciation.

Tip 7.
Don't over market your business : Last but definitely not least. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT over market your business on any social networking site. Advertising your business is great and to be expected by those that follow you, but there comes a point in Social Networking when enough is a way to get people to unfollow you. Post about specials you have going on, new products or services, freebies etc.. Just don't do it in excess. Post sales and specials here and there, around once or twice a week. I would say 10 to 20% of your updates can be advertising related, others can be about other things going on in your industry or terrific resources or even a shout out to a fellow business owner. A little promotion for others goes a long way!

So get your tweets together , make a list about what you want to discuss and what you think will be of benefit to your followers and get to Tweet, Tweet, Tweeting away!

See you on the Twitter side.

Carla Phillips

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

6 Tips on How to Increase Your Blog Traffic

2010-05-17T12:30:00.000-04:00

I know that I have been away for a while and haven't been posting that much this month and I truly apologize for not providing you with your weekly SEO fix, but rest assure that there will definitely be some great tips, and resources to come.

To start off the tips, I have decided to do a blog tip about getting traffic to your blog.

I got a question from one of our members at the Network Circle about driving traffic to a blog and I thought that this would be a great topic to blog about.

The great thing about blogs is that when you are a frequent poster, the search engines fall in love with you and will reward you by listing your blog post in their top search engine result pages.

Search engines love fresh content and blog posting is a great way to give them what they want.

Here are a few quick tips that I have used for my blog and other's to get some traffic to your blog:

1. Post, Post, Blog Away: The key to your blog success is to post and post frequently. When you are posting on your blog each week. Visitors will see that you are dedicated to providing your readers with up to date content as well as the search engines and you will find that your blog post are being pinged or indexed right away. I would recommend posting at least 1 to 2 a week.

2. Be informative: Make sure you are providing your readers with market related information. This can be how to's , or how not too's, tips, specials, reviews etc.. If your readers see that your blog is a benefit to their daily lives, they will come back to your blog and even follow it!

3. Post contest or Giveaways: A great way to generate traffic to your blog is sponsoring a contest or hosting a contest directly on your blog. The best contest are those that give away a bunch of items from numerous companies. The growing trend is to post your contest on Facebook, which has a promotions app now available I think there are some rules that you have to follow in order to post contest there, but you can always team up with other blog owners to help you promote the contest and contact store owners or niche specific sites or stores to see if they would like to donate a prize in exchange for some free publicity. Who can turn down that! We have some amazing blog owners her that can help you out. Just visit our blog section.

4. Have a newsletter sign up box on your blog. There's nothing better than being able to keep in touch with your fans! So why not take advantage of those that love you and have them sign up for newsletters so you can keep them informed of any events, important information in your industry etc.

If you dont have an email campaign company yet, you can check out a list of them here:

http://myseogal.com/weblinks.htm?page=1&linkCat=4

5. Submit your blog to blog directories: Another great way to get traffic to your site if I haven't mentioned it yet, is to submit your site to blog directories.

Submit your blog to these sites below then after that you can ping your blog by using http://www.pingomatic.com. It's very easy, you just enter in your blog url, name of your blog and RSS feed url if you have one and click submit and your blog post will be updated in some popular blog directories.

Blog Daisy

WAHM Blog

Blog Wise

Blog Catalog

Bloggernity

Bloglines

Daypop

Feedster

Syndic8

Technorati

Blogdex

Blog Street

Boingboing

We Blog Alot

Globe of Blogs

Blogarama

Feedburner

Blogrolling

Ice Rocket

6. Last Tip but definitely not least: Market, Link Build, Market.
Make sure you are getting your blog the exposure it needs. Add your site to as many niche related directories. Top 100 sites have become a great traffic generator, so I would suggest adding your site to as many of them as possible. Team up with other blog owners and see if you can get listed on their blog rolls. If you do, then your latest blog post will show up on their blog for their readers to see. Take some of your blog post and revise them a bit and create a Squidoo lens, once you create your lens, share it with your facebook fans, twitter followers etc. Include a link to your blog in your lens.

Make your blog post into articles and submit them to popular article directory sites like ezine.com or goarticles.com. This is a great way to generate traffic and backlinks to your blog.

Submit your blog to blog directories and Digg and Stumble upon. These social bookmarking sites can generate a lot of traffic for you.

The more you get your name out there the more you will start to see an increase in traffic and readers for your blog.

Just remember to always be consistent. Keep your logos the same, so you can start creating brand recognition and stay in the spotlight without being annoying. Meaning, keep your blog name out there by constantly posting on your Twitter account, Facebook account, blog etc. Remember that humans are forgetful unless you keep your name out in the open. If someone is constantly seeing your blog name, they will start to look for your post and want to know what the fuss is all about.

If you own a blog and have been successful , make sure to chime in below about what has worked for you as well.

Carla Phillips

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

Checking Your Organic Keyword Ranking Data Just Got Easier!

2010-04-18T12:24:00.004-04:00

Have you ever wondered how many times your listing appears in Google's organic search engine results? Want to know how effective your listing really is? How many times someone clicks on your listings and in which position your link gets clicked on?

Well, the wait is over! You can now see which keywords are performing the best and in which positions on Google!

It's one thing to be listed on the first page of Google but it's a whole different ball park when your listing is actually being clicked on by potential customers.

Up until now there hasn't really been any really good tools to tell you exactly where your site is listed and how many times someone has actually clicked on your listing to get to your site.

There are some techniques and some tricks of the trade that let you know these things but nothing that most website owners/ webmasters would know.

Guess what,

No you no longer have to wonder if your listings are actually being clicked on.

Google webmaster tools now tells you what keywords your site is being listed for in their search results and in addition to letting you know which keywords they also tell you how many times your site shows up in their search results plus how many times your listing is actually being CLICKED ON!

How cool is that!

You can also know which positions your listings were in and how many times your listing was clicked on in that position plus so much more!

You may be shocked to see that being #1 doesn't always mean your listing will be clicked on. You may see that your listing in the 4th or 6th position is doing better than your listing in the 1st position.

This to me is excellent news as far as SEO is concerned. This will give you the opportunity to see what's actually working for you.

This new data will let you know if you need to spruce up your on page content / meta tags or change around some wordings if you find that a keyword is getting a lot of impressions but the CTR (click through rate) is at a very low rate.

This tool is also great for seeing how your branding is working. You can check and see how many times someone actually types in your business brand opposed to typing in your actual keywords. If you see that your brand name is showing a lot of impressions and click throughs, that is a clear indication that there is some buzz going on about your business and you are moving in the right direction.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of webmasters to help improve their keyword ranking in Google , Yahoo and Bing and increase their website traffic and conversion rate. Our packages have always included Google Webmaster Tools set up but I urge webmasters to sign up for an account more than ever now.

I have been granted permission from one of my long term seo clients (Fleur Lilly) to use their data to show you how the new feature in Google's webmaster tools can help you with optimizing your site or improving your visibility in Google's search engine result pages (SERPS).

Below is the data for one of 358 Fleurlilly.com top search engine queries or targeted keywords. We targeted this keyword phrase for them in the beginning of March 2010. From the data (March 18,2010 to April 18,2010) , we can see that our optimization for this keyword phrase is on the right track. This keyword has generated a lot of traffic to their site and they have seen a tremendous increase in conversions for this brand, so much that they told us that they had sold out of many of their styles and have had to order close to 200 new pairs!

In the images below, you will see the number of times their site shows up in Google's search engine result pages (Impressions), the number of times potential customers clicked on their listing (Click Through Rate) and the percentage between the two.

This image shows their top search query, how many times their site showed up and the number of traffic they got for just this keyword phrase for the past 30 days:

This next image shows a break down of the keyword phrase, which you can see by clicking on the + sign right next to your keyword. The data shows the position their site / listing showed up in their SERPS. It also shows how many times their listing showed and the number of times her listing / link was clicked on.

If you pay close attention you will see that her site performed better in the 3, 4, and 5th position. Guess what!? Their site did okay on the 2nd page too! Their site showed up 1000 times and was clicked on 46 times. Not to bad for 2nd page listing. The site has showed up on the third page too but no clicks. So from their data their site performs great on the first page and still has traffic from the second page but being listed on other pages is not something that is too beneficial.

This image data shows something that is very interesting. This image shows which pages are getting the most click throughs and impressions. What was interesting about this data is that their product pages are getting the most traffic. This goes back to my comments about not abandoning your product pages. It's great to focus on your categories and main categories but definitely more beneficial when you focus on the actual product landing page. So don't neglect your product pages. Make sure you optimize the meta tags and your on page content.

Using your data in your webmaster tools can help you improve your website by letting you know which keywords you are ranking for, and how many times your site is being clicked on. If you see that you have keywords that have a high impression amount but a low CTR and more importantly no sales. Then go back to the drawing board and change things around a bit to increase your CTR. I'll do another post to give you tips on increasing your CTR. If you have a low percentage in click throughs but your conversion is high, you can still be on the right track and just may need some minor updates.

You can also use this data to increase your branding.

If you are not getting any traffic with your business name as a keyword, this lets you know what you need to improve on as far as branding.

If branding is part of your business strategy then you will have to start focusing on building your brand through social media avenues, building business relationships with others in your industry and getting your name out there by participating in events or even partnering up with blogs.

This new feature in your Google Webmaster tools gives you so much insight and data that you definitely want to look into if your organic listings are important to you and your business online success in Google's search engine result pages.

Now is the time to get focused and make a decision about how serious you want to be about moving in a positive direction with your search engine optimization and website traffic needs.

The tools are available to you, it's up to you to take advantage of them.

If your not sure what all the data is or how to improve your organic search engine listings. Consult with an SEO specialist.

Special Thanks to FleurLilly.com for allowing me to use their data!

Got any questions or comments about what you have done to improve your keyword ranking and CTR, leave us a comment, I'd love to hear from you!

Carla Phillips

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

Want Your Products in Google Shopping? You need to verify your website!

2010-03-25T09:39:00.002-04:00

Good Morning Everyone,

While working on a couple of websites this morning and getting their Google Base/Froogle feeds ready to upload. I encountered an IMPORTANT message from Google when I logged in to their accounts.

If you don't verify your website by a certain date, you will no longer be able to upload your products to their shopping portal!

If you are already familiar with Google Base then you know the negative impact this could have on your sales. If you are not familiar with Google Base yet, Google Base is a great option to upload your products to their free shopping portal that shows up on their search results pages. The shopping portal has many names: Froogle/ Google Base/ Google Product Search / Google Shopping.

It's a great benefit for ecommerce shop owners and something that you definitely don't want to not have access too.

Well guess what!

You won't have access to this great Google feature if you don't verify your website with Google by May 18,2010.

Here's a little excerpt from Google about this important notification:

"Verifying and claiming the website URL in your Merchant Center account is a new requirement. To make this transition easier, we have allowed eight weeks for you to complete this process. If you haven't verified and claimed your website URL by May 18, 2010, your existing and newly uploaded product listings will get disapproved until you verify your site."

It's important to claim your site but there are some ways that you can lose your claim on your url as well.

Here are some ways that they list how you can lose your claim of your website:

If another authorized owner of the website in question successfully verifies and claims the website URL, you will lose the claim. If you lose a claim, you will be notified by email and can choose to either verify and claim a different URL or contact us to try and resolve the situation for you.
If you lose your 'verified' status in Google Webmaster Tools, you will lose the claim. You can lose the 'verified' status because the identifying Meta tag or HTML file has been removed from the website. If you've lost your 'verified' status in Google Webmaster tools, you will need to verify and claim your website URL again.
If you choose to verify and claim a different URL in Google Merchant Center, you will lose the claim for your previously verified and claimed website URL.

Now, I don't want you to break into a sweet just yet. All you have to do to ensure that you can still upload your products to Google Base is to make sure you verify your website url in your Google's Webmaster Tools account and follow all of the steps mentioned in the link at the bottom of this post.

If you don't have a Google Webmaster Tools account, you can sign up for one for free at the link below.

Once you sign up for a free account. Enter in your website address. I suggest entering in your website address with and without the www's for example :

http://www.yoursiteaddress.com
http://yoursiteaddress.com

Google has listed a lot of examples of the type of urls that you need to claim in the link I have provided below.

You have the option of either inserting a meta tag code that they will provide you with to add to before the section of your coding.

or

You can choose to upload a html file into the root folder of your site.

You can upload a file by saving the file they provide you with onto your desktop. Then login to your cpanel, backoffice, file manager, or FTP account and upload the file to your public_html folder of your site or the "root" of your website.

Need Help Verifying your Google account? No problem. We can help.

Click on the link below to get your site verified with no stress:

Verify Your Google Account

To read more about verifying your website with Google, click on the link below:

Verify your site with Google

Carla Phillips

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

How you accept payments online could be costing you sales!

2010-03-19T10:44:00.002-04:00

This topic came up at the Network Circle so I thought I would create a blog post about the negative effect your chosen method of payment processing could have on your sales.

Did you know that you could lose sales based off of how you process your online transactions?

Are you losing sales because your only method of collecting payments is via Pay Pal?

There are huge benefits in having more than just Pay Pal as a payment option for your online sales! The major one, an increase in sales!

How you accept payments could possibly have a negative effect on your sales. Website owners and online sellers have grown to love and trust Pay Pal. Well, most have grown to love and trust Pay Pal for collecting website payments online. Pay Pal is a payment processor who became popular by Ebay users and is now being used on websites all over the world today.

As business owners we know and recognized the logo as soon as we see it and use it while shopping online for our personal enjoyments, but did you know that not everyone is familiar with the company or logo!?

I know you are probably thinking, Now how is that possible! Well, think about it. If you were not in the online website business or online sales business and you had no connection to the online world of sales would you be familiar with a company that processes online payments? If you visited a website and found a product or service that you wanted, got to the checkout page and saw a button to make a payment that said Pay Pal instead of pay via credit card. Then you clicked on the button and it took you to a page that looked like you had to sign up for an account in order to pay for your order. Would you feel comfortable with completing the sale or would you start to worry because the checkout does not say pay by credit card and looks like you have to have an account with Pay Pal in order to buy something?

Human beings are creatures of habit and those that shop online are use to seeing a standard set up for checkout. They expect to see the words "Credit Card" as a payment option. If you are only using Pay Pal for your payment processor regardless if you can still take credit card payments with that option, you are setting yourself up to lose a lot of business. Most buyers do not know what Pay Pal is or have never heard of it. When they are directed to the Pay Pal payment screen they may think that they have to either have an account with Pay Pal to order on your site or do not see the very small link at the bottom of the Pay Pal checkout page that says something like : Don't have an account? Pay with credit card or debit card. So unless you state somewhere in your checkout that you accept credit card payments via Pay Pal then you will have a lot of buyers that will end up abandoning their shopping cart.

Now don't get me wrong, having Pay Pal as a payment processor is perfectly fine, but you may want to consider investing in a credit card processing company. It's a small investment that could really boost your sales. You could provide two payment options for your customers : Pay Pal and Credit Card. That way those who are familiar with Pay Pal can use their Pay Pal account to complete the sale and those who feel more comfortable with using their credit card will have that option to do so.

I have spoken to so many website owners who have seen an increase in sales as soon as they switched or added a credit card processing option to their checkout. So many that it's just a subject that can not go unnoticed or ignored as an option to increase your sales.

Below is a list of suggested credit card processing companies that you can look into for your online business. Some charge a monthly fee, some charge an annual fee, and some charge a monthly fee plus a per transaction fee. Make sure you read all of the fine print and even contact any company to ask questions before considering signing up to use their services.

Here are some questions that you can ask:

Is there a monthly fee? If so how much?

Is there a annual fee option?

Do you charge a per transaction fee? What is the percentage per transaction?

What is your minimum sales amount per month? Some companies require you to make a certain amount in sales in order to use their services.

How soon will I have access to my payments?

What credit cards can I accept? You may have to pay separate fees if you want to accept AMEX or Discover. Always better to ask to make sure.

If you are a service provider company, you may want to find out if they have a recurring billing option.

Here is a list of some companies that you can look into. I am familiar and have used some of them below but not all, so make sure you look into each one and read over their terms before making a decision:

If you find that you can not afford to work a merchant processing fee into your budget right now and all you can do at the moment is use Pay Pal or Pay Pal Website Standard. That's okay too, just make sure you let your customers know somewhere on your checkout pages or on your site that you accept credit payments through Pay Pal and they do not have to have an account in order to complete their online order. As soon as you can afford to, definitely consider signing up with a credit processing company.

Your online success may depend on it!

Carla Phillips

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

Product Optimization : Your Products Need Optimization Love Too!

2010-03-16T11:16:00.001-04:00

I got a question in a thread about optimizing products so I wanted to create a blog post about optimizing your products and the importance of it. I hope you enjoy!

A lot of website owners always concentrate on optimizing their website categories, sub categories and information pages on their site, which is absolutely great but what about your products?

Your products need some optimization love too!

Products are important when it comes to converting traffic into sales. One reason being is because if you have a person searching for a specific type of product based off of colors, prints, patterns, size etc. and your product is optimized for that keyword phrase that they type in to find your product, then you are more likely to convert that visitor to a sale. Reason being, people that search for a specific type of product color, product brand, product name etc.. those people are usually looking to definitely make a purchase and not just window shopping or website browsing. So wouldn't it make sense to make sure your product is optimized for those customers who are actually looking to buy!?

For example:

A person goes to their favorite search engine and types in "brown and white baby bedding" the fact that they typed in a color let's you know that this customer is most likely not just internet browsing or what I like to call internet shopping instead of window shopping. This customer has actually included a color so they pretty much have in mind what they are looking for and most likely will be ready to purchase a product within minutes of visiting a site.

What you have to do is make sure you have your colors or prints, brand name (if popular or searched for) and what type of product it is in your meta tags as well as in your description. You want to make sure you say exactly what your product is within the first 20 words of your description. Include colors, sizes, and your main keyword. If you can it also helps to include a price.

Visitors will read the small description that search engines provide in their search results, so take that opportunity to post sell your product. Use it as a mini billboard ad.

Some of you have the ability to add a meta description to your products, take advantage of this but limit your meta description to under 255 characters, but be enticing enough where someone will be more likely to click on your link instead of your competitors.

For those of you who don't have a meta description, don't worry, you can just use the area where you enter in your product description. Do the same but in addition to your first 20 words, make sure you include a header tag. You can do this by choosing Heading 1 in your drop down menu of your description editor, it may start off with the word Normal or Paragraph, or you can add it manually if you don't have it in your tool bar:

.

By adding header tags, you are letting the search engine spiders know that this is the keyword it wants to focus on. Use your main keyword for the header 1 tag and secondary keyword for the header 2 tag (optional).

The key is to make sure you pay attention to your product pages as well. These are your landing pages, and a good landing page is not only important to SEO but definitely important when it comes to converting your traffic into sales.

Buyers are impatient, if they don't see the product that they are looking for right away, the likelihood of them, clicking on your categories to find it is very small unless you have a design that is just that appealing to them.

So go ahead and show your products some love! Your online success may depend on it.

Carla Phillips

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

How To Make Your Site More User Friendly

2010-03-14T16:14:00.001-04:00

Here are a few tips on making your site more user friendly for your visitors:

Have a search box. People like to be able to enter in a search term on your site so they don't have to click on each category to find what they are looking for. Make sure you have a search box to make this easy to do.
Have a way to get back to the place where they last visited. For instance, make sure you have links that were visited in a different color than your links that have not been visited. Most go with a dark purple color for links that have been visited. This makes it easier for them to know which pages have already been seen
Make sure you make it easy for your visitors to easily get back to your home page. If there is no visible Home page button or link for them to click on they may become frustrated and leave the site. Having it at the top is a very good place.
Have easy to understand content. If you want someone to click on a link. Make sure the words or link is highlighted. Most internet users recognize the color blue as a link that is clickable to another page, but if you have other colors that you use, that is okay, just make sure you let them know that I want you to visit this link here in your on page content Your visitors like to be told what to do next, so make it easier for them in plain english.
List the benefits of your products or services in the first paragraph of your product or website pages. Tell them how this type of product will improve their life or situation. Or how you can change their circumstances with your services or product. If your product or service can change a negative situation or something that they are having issues with then a customer is more likely to buy. Don't make it difficult for them to what what the benefits are of our product or service. Put in understandable text, bullets always work.
Make it easy for them to be able to contact you. A visible contact button or link is always best at the top of your site.

These are just some suggestions you can take to help make your site easier to navigate and convert your traffic into sales!.

Carla Phillips

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

Take Advantage Of Google Webmaster Tools! It Really Can Help

2010-03-14T16:04:00.001-04:00

Did you know that by setting up and verifying your site with Google can help you with ranking!?

Google has a great tool that you can use to check the following:

What keywords people are using to find your site
Check any crawl errors
Check duplicate content on your site.
See what sites are linking to your website pages
See if there are any No Found or broken links on your site and where they are coming from.
Submit a sitemap to maximize the number of pages that can be crawled on your site
Set your preferred domain : with www's or without (very important way to cut down on duplicate content issues.
Set your targeted geographic area.

These are all great tools that you can use to increase the amount of traffic to your site and your ranking. By keeping yourself up to date on any crawl issues like 404 errors or broken links and duplicate content, you will not only increase your chances of ranking well in the search engine result pages but you will also create a better user experience for those who visit your site.

So make sure you set up a Google Webmaster Tools account at the link below and get your site verified with Google so you can see all of the data that they are collecting about your site and they will also give you any messages that they have about your site if applicable.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

Carla Phillips

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

Does Speed Effect Your Ranking?

2010-01-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

This post is going to be quick and we can go over this more as you have questions but I just read about Google's new project Caffeine which should be effective soon. They want to make the internet FASTER. So in a nutshell if your site is fast then you may get a "little bonus" as far as ranking is concerned as Matt Cutts put it in the interview he did in November at Pub Con in Vegas about how speed could effect your ranking.

"it's sort of fair to say that if you're a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus."

So if your site is loading slow this could cause your site to perform bad for users and in return your site may have a negative effect on how your site is ranking.

In saying that, I know your next question must be: How do I know if my site is slow?

Have no fear, Google is here!

Google has a page that list a lot of resources you can use to check your site's speed. They also provide links to sites that you can use and there is also a Firefox add on that you can use to check your site's speed called Page Speed. .

Visit the following to find out which tools are available:

http://code.google.com/speed/

Now is the time to start getting serious about your site ranking possibility. With personalized search and now Google Caffeine just keep in mind that Google will always be making changes so don't let that discourage you. Just make sure you are keeping current with the changes and making sure that your site is relevant to the keywords that you are trying to rank for.

So whip out that to do list and put search engine optimization at the top and give your way of thinking a major make over. Especially if your goal is to get more traffic from being listed on Google's top search engine pages.

Take a peek at the link below to find out more about this and tell me your thoughts:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/state-of-the-index-2009/

As Google changes, you can change too ...... and for the better!

Carla Phillips

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

Image Optimization : Optimizing for the Search Results

2009-12-19T12:56:00.004-05:00

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

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

Tips On How Blogging Improves Your Ranking

2009-12-09T12:03:00.000-05:00

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

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

Come Hop With Us!

2009-10-03T10:00:00.004-04:00

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!

My SEO Gal's First Blog Hop! Whoo Hoo

2009-09-28T13:26:00.028-04:00

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.

Here's a great example of a Blog Hop:

http://tlcsilverjewelry.blogspot.com/2009/09/win-vaseline-glass-earrings-mcklinky.html

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 :

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.

Carla Phillips

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

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

2009-09-26T10:18:00.008-04:00

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 Kids 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 customers, 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.

http://www.stumbleupon.com

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:

Network Group for small businesses

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.

Twitter Buttons for Blogs, MySpace and Websites

2009-09-10T11:40:00.008-04:00

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.

Universal Search is Here!

2009-08-19T19:51:00.007-04:00

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!

2009-08-19T19:34:00.002-04:00

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.

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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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

2009-08-05T12:05:00.005-04:00

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

Duplicate Website Content : Can it Effect Your Ranking?

2009-07-22T11:49:00.003-04:00

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

Follow My Blog

2009-06-03T12:24:00.004-04:00

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

Are you a Circler?

2009-06-01T20:10:00.003-04:00

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

Free SEO Tips

2009-05-20T11:52:00.003-04:00

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

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

2009-04-10T11:05:00.016-04:00

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

And The Winner Is....

2009-03-30T10:33:00.003-04:00

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

The UBP SEO services Giveaway!!!

2009-03-21T11:04:00.007-04:00

Oh boy I am so very happy to be part of the Ulitmate Blog Party 2009!

So happy that I am going to be doing a Giveaway to one lucky WAHM blogger!

The winner will receive 5 hours of SEO work for their website. That's a value of 100.00!!! I will optimize your meta tags which include your keyword tag, meta title tag and description tag up to 5 hours. You don't have to have a Blog to win, just a website or a Blog will be good!

I have a Proven top 10 Google Listings for my clients. You can check out my profile here:

Proven Top 10 Google Listings

Here's some ways that you can win:

You can post a comment here on the SEO Blog about why you think you deserve to win.
You can tweet about My SEO Gal on twitter and put a link to this blog or the site: http://myseogal.com .
You can Blog about My SEO Gal on your very own blog and post a link back to the site or this blog.

If you blog , facebook or tweet about us, make sure to come back and post a link showing us where you talked about us iin order to receive credit for your entry.

The winner will be chosen at the end of the UBP week, which is March 27,2009.

Good Luck to you all!

Isn't this fun!!!

Yours Truly,

Carla Phillips

Who Gives A Hoot about WAHM's?

2009-03-21T09:34:00.007-04:00

Do you feel like no one cares about you being a WAHM?

Are you having a pitty party because you can't seem to figure out why you aren't getting any sales and your products are just so darn cute, unique, and trendy?

Well guess what! I care about you.

About a month ago, I posted a blog about an opportunity that would help WAHM's increase their sales. Well I finally got everything in gear about two weeks ago.

I created a site that is geared toward helping WAHM's increase their sales.

By being a SEO expert. I work with a lot of WAHM's and Dad's too. I was having a lot of sleepless nights because I was hearing all over the internet about small business owners not getting any traffic or sales. I knew I could help increase the traffic and take care of that problem. But the part about the sales were really getting to me.

Although I am able to help a lot of small business owners increase their sales along with their traffic. There were still some who were having a hard time increasing their sales.

Maybe it was because they didn't have enough products on their sites to make a visitor feel comfortable making a purchase. Or Maybe it was because their product images weren't the best quality. That's actually a whole different topic that I will be blogging about later.

Regardless of what the issues were. They were just not converting their traffic into sales.

Does this sound familiar?

So I created a fun website that is geared toward helping WAHM's and Dad's to increase their sales through our Online Shopping Mall with WAHM's products displayed in each department. The site is called WAHM Pub. Our slogan is "Coffee Stained T-Shirts, Jogging pants, and house slippers are Welcome! It's a great place where buyers can come and shop , chat and have fun.

I wanted the site to be different from all other advertising venues for WAHM's. There a lot of great things on the site for entertainment. Like the really off the wall departments like the Smell Good Department. With one of my favorite scents being promoted:

Yes, I have a weird since of humor!

There are other categories like our Bling Bling Department, Lookin' for Scraps (Features Scrapbooking products), Luck Be A Lady or a Man! (Features contest by WAHM's) and so much more.

There are a lot of things for buyers to do on the site, like visiting our Online Pub (it's a forum everyone, although your welcome to sip on a Margarita while joining in on some of the topics), or watching our Funny Mommy Videos. There are definitely some videos on there that I can relate too!

We also have a Super Mom Stimulus that will start in May, you can nominate a Mom or Dad to receive a $200.00 Stimulus from WAHM Pub, A Coupon Babes section, that list coupons being offered by other businesses (still working on this section) and so much more.

Okay, So I know you have a lot of questions like. How will it help increase my sales? and Most of all What is the cost for all of your kindness?

Here's how it works. You list your products on the site and when a buyer goes to the category or lands on your products page. They read over the product information that includes a description, sizes and price. If they like what they see, the click on the Buy Now button listed on your products page and lands on your product page to make the purchase.

You collect the order information, payment and shipping all through your site. I don't get a dime from your sale! You process the order just like you would any other normal order that comes through your site.

What's the point you ask?

The point is this. By implementing my SEO expertise, your products have a better chance of getting noticed on the major search engines, your products will be uploaded to Google's Product Search/Froogle/Google Base, and I do all of the paid advertising for you.

So I know, now your questions is. What's the catch?

There is no catch. Really. I really truly care. I am a WAHM myself, a mother of three. I know how difficult it is to try to get sales and how frustrating it is to spend tons of money advertising your site to not see a single ROI (return on investments). I really believe in helping others achieve their online goals and this is one way that I think I can contribute.

I know, now you are wondering how much is all of this going to cost?

Well, I really believe in the phrase, "Nothing in life is Free". So in saying that. Nothing in life is Free!!!

But the cost to list your products on the site is!

That's right, it's Free to advertise your products on the site.

All I ask is that you help promote the site. By helping to promote the site. You will be helping other WAHM's and Dads'. There are ways to help out.

You can help out by posting a My Products Are Featured At WAHM Pub button like the one below on your home page. Or Blog or Tweet about the site and tell everyone you know about the site!

The spots are limited for advertising and the amount of Free products you can list are 5.

I am also looking for Sponsors and Volunteers to help out with site.

This site is solely to help out others. So if you are interested in becoming a Sponsor. All funds will go into our site. The site is a site that is not for profit. All funds that come into the site are used to promote the site, through online ads, Google Adwords and so much more.

So if you would like to contribute by becoming a Sponsor. You can do so by either advertising your site in our WAHM Directory or by listing your Contest or Giveaway on the site. Or by Sponsoring a Super Mom Stimulus.

There are so many ways to help.

So all you WAHM's. I know you waited a long time for me to announce this and I am glad that I finally have.

If you are interested in listing your products on the site or becoming a sponsor. Just click on the link below and sign up. I will try to respond within 48 hours. It may take 72 hours for your products to get added to your site, because we have a volunteer helping out to add the products who is a WAHM mom too. So bear with us and we will definitely get your products added.

Make sure to drop by our Online Pub to chat with other Mom, Dads, Buyers and WAHM's.

Join us at: www.wahmpubm.com/forums

Advertise or Sponsor our Site

I look forward to seeing all of you at WAHM Pub and hope to help you achieve all of your Internet selling goals!

Yours Truly,

Carla Phillips

My SEO GAl's Blog: To Tweet or Not To Tweet?

2009-03-21T09:33:00.000-04:00

My SEO GAl's Blog: To Tweet or Not To Tweet?

To Tweet or Not To Tweet?

2009-03-17T19:50:00.006-04:00

It seems like it's been a long time since the last time I posted. I definitely have a lot of things to cover but I don't want to push it.

So I'll start off with the topic that everyone seems to be talking about, including you most likely?

Twitter!

Twitter has taken the world by storm. Some do it ever so often, some do it often and some of you, I hate to say it, are down right OBSESSED!!!

You can find your local news channels on there, you can find the latest celebs on there and guess who else you can find!

GOOGLE!

That's right I said it. Google is now on Twitter.

Do I have your attention now?

Just a couple of weeks ago, Google joined the majority and signed up for a Twitter account and within a couple of hours they had over 20K followers.

That has got to be some tweet record or something.

So what is Twitter and what does that have to do with your business success online?

Well,

Twitter is a great place to meet new people and network with other business owners. It's like an online texting oasis.

Start by signing up with a Twitter account at www.twitter.com

Name your twitter account after you business.

Set up your profile and invite your friends from forums, clients, and family too to start following you.

When someone follows you, they will get to see what you are doing by your updates.

You can also find others to follow and 9 x's out of 10 they will follow you back. You can find people to follow by clicking on the Find People link at the bottom of Twitters website.

You post little comments about what you are doing. You can post anywhere from messages about adding new products to your website or How crappy your day as been.

Twitter is a great place to build your prospect list as well. You can post links to your site, maybe even a link to a special offer on your site or a link to somewhere on your site that you offer a free download. All they have to do is sign up for your free downloadable item or giveaway and you can collect their email address to build a relationship with via newsletters, discounts, promotions etc.

The trick is though. You don't want to post mainly about your business. You want to be as natural as possible. Post about your day, your opinions about the latest trends, about any recalls you may have heard etc..

I got a great tip from a fellow follower, stalkers I like to call them.

She suggested that you post your link in all of your messages. That way, people who are following you will start to go to your website if you have interesting updates. That has worked for me as well. So I am passing on that suggestion to you.

So to end this post. I definitely recommend joining Twitter. It can be very confusing at first but definitely a must if you are a business owner looking to network , increase traffic and hopefully make a sale or two, or three, or a hundred!

Like anything. It will take time building the number of followers. I suggest having more followers than you following more.

You can come stalk us at:

www.twitter.com/myseogal

or

www.twitter.com/wahmpub

Let me know if you have any questions!

Carla

And the Winners Are.....

2009-01-24T17:14:00.001-05:00

We would like to say Congratulations to our 1st and 2nd place winners!

1st Place Winner:
WAHM Biz Tips
Winner of our SEO Package (20 Hours value $400.00)

2nd Place Winner:
Teacups and Mudpies
$100.00 Visa Gift Card

Congratulations to our runner ups as well. Each Runner up with receive a Best Dressed Website Award to proudly display on their site.

Runner ups (not listed in any particular order):

www.mypolishpotteryshopping.com

www.faithworksboutique.com

www.crybabyzboutique.com

www.miloscreations.com

www.therosebridge.com

www.twolittlewhales.com

www.couturebabyboutique.com

www.dreamscapesbaby.com

New Website! I am so excited.

2009-01-20T17:11:00.003-05:00

While I was working on SEO services for one of my clients I came across a cool site idea.

Well it started off as just a simple site at 5pm on January 18th then by 2:00am. I was writing down ways to promote the site and cute little categories, and website colors and options......

Oh yeah, creative juices were flowing.

Well, now I have decided to go through with the idea.

It's a great concept that I have actually never saw before, well maybe I have seen it but it was done poorly.

I am offering a way to increase sales in a fun and creative way.

Intrigued?

I hope so because if I don't hurry up and get this site going. I am never going to get any sleep!

If you are a WAHM looking to increase your income. Make sure you subscribe to my Posts by clicking on the Post button to the right. You don't want to miss out on this opportunity!

Stay tuned to find out how you can increase your sales and become part of an exciting venue. Designed with you in mind!

Until then, happy days and even better nights.

Carla

My Interview with Who Hub

2009-01-18T14:30:00.005-05:00

I was asked to participate in an online interview by WhoHub last week and I finally got around to doing it.

I thought it was fun and would like to invite everyone to take a look.

I hope I didn't come off as a complete goof!

http://www.whohub.com/myseogal

I still have one more interview to do but I have to take a break and tend to the little ones.

Let me know what you think.

Are you ready to go Universal?

2009-01-17T13:53:00.003-05:00

Did I get your attention? Well I hope I did because if you don't know what universal search is then you might be left in 2008 as far as search engine page rank is concerned.

I came across a great informational article and here's what I got from it about Universal Search. It's long but worth the read.

What exactly is Universal Search and What does it have to do with you.

This blog topic will explain what Universal Search is and ways you can benefit from implementing these tactics into your SEO plans for 2009.

There are some sites that are already using these tactics and they will benefit from them and their are tons of website who don't even know about these changes and these new tactics will ultimately end up working against you.

Universal Search in a nutshell is the combination of all Google's search engine databases into one index that will serve a single set of search engine result pages.

Examples of some of these databases are: Google Images, Google News, Google Blogger and Google Video.

So when you go to Google and do a search for whatever you are searching for that day. You usually get a list of links that may be relevant to your search. Well instead of just getting those links, what you will get is a list of everything combined together; Blogs, Images, News, and Videos.

Pretty Cool Huh!?

Maybe Not....

So right know we all know that you would have to search each of those databases in order to get the information you are looking for. What Google is planning to do is to integrate everything into one BIG search engine.

On one hand as a searcher what this means is easier access to everything you would look for in Google News, Images and Videos would be available in one search. On the other hand as a business owner looking to get more targeted traffic, this could either be a good thing or a bad thing.

This seams like a cool idea as long as it doesn't get too complicated. As long as their layout is not too confusing then I think this is a really great idea.

So I guess you are wondering what this has to do with your online business?

Well these changes can work against you if you don't take action now and start getting your site optimized and keep up with the jones so to speak.

What should you do to make sure you aren't left in 2008:

Organic Results : If you site isn't already optimized for organic or natural search engine results (listings that you do not have to pay for by Pay Per Click ads), this would be the place to start. Without this type of SEO you have no chance of competing in the search engines with or without Universal Search.

Since Universal Search will be taking information from databases like press releases, blogs, images, etc.. It would be wise to start using one of these resources to get exposure for your site.

Google Image Search: It's a great idea to have images on your site that convey a message, sale or promote a product. Now Google has it to where customers can find your site via a Google Image Search. Make sure you optimize your images with descriptive, keyword-rich file names and use ALT tags in each image. This will be useful to those who can only search text formats.

Google Video: Use good, keyword file names for your video files. Create a good keyword title tag, description tag, and video site map.
Google News: Submit your press releases for display as news. You can also make a new content page on your site and display your press release on your site as well.

Google Blog Search : Use Social Media sites and Blog Submission sites to drive traffic to your website. Make sure to submit your blog to Google Blog search and your blog can help you with Universal Search as well.

So when someone does a search for a product or service that you have to offer using the Universal Search Results and your website comes up. Within the same search your competitors site comes up under videos, images, news and blogs. That searcher is more likely to click on your competitors site since they have more results that come up for the keyword phrase being searched for instead of your site.

Without knowing exactly how Google will layout the results. Just know that you will be competing for the top listing. The top position could be videos, blogs, images, or news and if you are missing one of those listings then you will miss out on a potential customer.

So in summary you want to make sure you optimize your site to have most if not all of databases listed above.

Make sure you don't wait until it's too late to start optimizing your site! If you don't do it, your competition will. :)

Why am I not Getting any Sales?!

2009-01-15T22:44:00.004-05:00

It's depressing I know. You get your website set up, add products, optimize your site and get traffic coming in on a regular basis but no sales!

So I was sitting here and getting depressed from hearing everyone talk about not getting any sales or depressed because they are not getting the traffic that we all know you deserve and I decided to do my free tips here tonight.

Okay, so now you have to start analyzing your site and figure out what you can do to convert your traffic into sales.

Some questions you need to ask yourself:

Is my landing page relevant to the keyword used to optimize the page? Just assuming that you optimized one of your pages using the most relevant keyword possible for what that page is offering. If you didn't and a consumer clicks on your link just to find out that the "new" baby blanket they thought they were going to be looking at purchasing is actually a page about used baby blankets then you have lost a sale. Make sure your content matches your keywords/meta tags.

Are you collecting your visitors information when they come to your site? Do you have a form to collect your visitors information visible on your website. If you don't then you are missing out on potential customers. I know in the perfect world you want a visitor to buy right then and there but you are going to have some visitors who love your products but say to themselves that they will come back later or when they get paid. Truth be told, they won't! Statistics say that it usually takes anywhere from 7 to 8 follow ups before a customer makes a purchase from you. So in saying that, it takes me back to my original post. Gather your visitors information by collecting their name and email address or whatever you'd like to collect. You can do this by having a signup form on your site for a free product sample, 10% off their next purchase etc.. By doing this, you get to market to those customers who don't buy right away. You get to send them future offers and follow up with them and therefore increasing your sales. Follow up is the key to your success!! Start collecting email addresses today.

Are the descriptions based off exactly what is being sold on the page showing up in the search engines and does the description state the color, type of product, if it's plain or trendy? A small description shows up under each listing in the search engine for the product or service you are offering. Consider adding the size, color, style, manufac. in the description usually within the first 25 words of your description page. This way when a consumer looks at your listing in the search engine results, they know exactly what they will see and get when they click on that link.

Are your prices competitive? Check out your competitors and see what they are selling their products at. Are they lower or higher than yours. If your prices are lower, don't be afraid to state that in your description etc. "We have the lowest price online!" You will definitely lose a customer if your prices are too high.

Do you display your shipping cost on your site and which shipping carriers you use? Most customers want to know up front how much shipping will cost them if they purchase a product from your site.

What payment type do you accept? Place a logo that is visible for your customers to see i.e. in your header graphic. Top right hand side or left hand side.

Do you ship internationally? I don't know how many times I have received emails from international buyers wondering if I ship to other countries besides the US. By the time I get their email in the morning, they are either sleep or it has been 6 hours since they emailed me and have found the product at another online store. Customer lost! So now I have a message/graphic posted on the home page, although now that I think about it, it should be posted in the site message section so it can appear on all pages! Okay, will do that later.

Are you offering enough products? Do you have enough products on your site or do you have just two or five for each category? Think about expanding your inventory to include more products. Consumers like to have options, items in different colors, option to personalize items, a large variety of items to chose from etc.

Do you have a phone number visible on your site? It is important to have a phone number visible on your site. Half of your visitors will not even bother to call but they feel more comfortable seeing it there just in case they want to call. It's a security feature and a must if you want to continue to run an online business. I know this is not something that you want to hear. I know you don't want your phone ringing at 1 am. But there are affordable services out here that you can sign up for to get a 1-800 number on your website.

I personally use Ring Central.com. There is a device that you can download onto your computer. Everytime a call comes in, your Cell Phone icon starts to ring to let you know that there is a call. You can chose to ignor the call and it will go directly to voicemail or you can chose to connect to the call. You can also place an icon on your site that lets your visitors go directly to the link and enter in their number for you to give them a call. Pretty neat feature if I say so myself!

They offer affordable monthly plans and you can try them out for FREE for 30 days. If you don't like it, simply cancel before your 30 days are up.

Try them out at this link below:

Try RingCentral Fax FREE for 30 days

Last but not least!

Have you sat down and made a budget for PPC campaigns. I know a lot of people tend to shy away from this type of marketing because of the cost and YES natural searches are always the best and I encourage them, but they take time and since some of you do have full time jobs you just don't have the time to optimize your site enough to start to see a ROI, the investment being your time spent away from family, friends and even having a life (which I obviously don't have because I am typing this at 12am.).

Sit down and really think about this, PPC ads are really the best way to bring in traffic and convert that traffic to sales if you have the right landing page and products.

Write down a list of keyword terms that you are interested in and check the daily searches. You can use wordtracker to find these out or find a SEM (Search Engine Marketing) expert that you can trust to help you chose the right keywords that will bring you in some much needed traffic but won't break the bank.

Think about it like this, you are more likely to spend thousands of dollars in advertising cost in the Yellowpages, magazines, print ads, radio ads etc and you will most likely never get one sale from it, not only that you most likely won't be able to track if the sales are coming from them unless you have a special phone number you have set up per ad or coupon code ( If the buyer even remembers to enter in the code with their purchase). But if you set aside some money to use for PPC ads on high traffic websites ( that offer you a way to track your clicks/traffic) or Google Adwords you can see where your traffic is coming from and track your ROI. If you get no sales then you know to move on to another marketing venue.

To be perfectly honest everyone. Marketing takes time and although we would all love a really good get rich quick scheme you know that it's just not going to happen.

So be patient and do your research, find a good SEO company or a SEM company if you don't want to over exert yourself with all of the SEO mumbo jumbo.

That's my tip for the day and I approve this message!

Sorry, just miss hearing that every other 10 mins. on the t.v.

Sending you all positive vibes and hoping that your sales increase even through these bad economic times. Hang in there!

Long Term Search Engine Optimization

2009-01-11T19:23:00.006-05:00

I will be adding long term search engine optimization services within the next week or whenever my 4 month old allows me to take some time out to get the information added to the website.

What to Expect with Long Term SEO:

6 Months worth of SEO for your website that includes:

Link Building of Course

Monthly Maintenance: removing keywords that were once popular search phrases but are no longer searched for as much maybe due to seasons, holidays etc.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing): I will help you out with different techniques to increase your traffic. This is important because SEO and SEM are part of the same family but are two different services IMO. SEO brings traffic to your site but you need some SEM to get that traffic converted into sales.
Keyword Research: I will find profitable keywords for your choosen niche. Keywords that are searched for on a large scale each month.
Content Writing throughout your site.
Category work (choosing the right categories for your niche)
Product suggestion: Finding products that are profitable for your field you have choosen.
Updating or creating new landing pages that will be engaging to your visitors.

There are more benefits to this service of course that will be listed on the site.

My question is to you! What do you think is a reasonable fee for 6 months worth of SEO.

My services are geared toward small businesses. I like to ask small business owners opinions when it comes to prices and what you as a small business owner would be able to afford.

and of course although I will take into consideration all suggestion they must be reasonable suggestions. What's reasonable and what's not under 200.00 not too reasonable at all, over 500.00 definitely reasonable and considerate for the time it takes to dedicate attention to each feature of the package.

Looking forward to hear your suggestions!

Thanks
Carla

See the Winners of my Best Dressed Website Design Contest

2009-01-11T01:14:00.000-05:00

There were hundreds of entries but now we finally have the top ten winning sites for our contest. Congratulation to all!

Now it is up to the public to decide.

The website with the most vote will win 20 hours worth of SEO services and the second winner will win a Visa Gift Card in the amount of $100.00! All runner ups will receive an award seal from us to proudly display on their website:

Here are the winning sites from our first round of votes (the sites are not listed in any particular order). To vote for your favorite website, just click on the blue Vote For link next to the websites address:

Vote For: www.mypolishpotteryshopping.com

Vote For: www.wahmbiztips.com

Vote For: www.faithworksboutique.com

Vote For: www.crybabyzboutique.com

Vote For: www.miloscreations.com

Vote For: www.teacupsandmudpies.com

Vote For: www.therosebridge.com

Vote For: www.twolittlewhales.com

Vote For: www.couturebabyboutique.com

Vote For: www.dreamscapesbaby.com

Get listed on Google in less time

2009-01-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Over the past week or so I have received or been asked numerous questions about how I get sites listed on the first pages of the search engines for my clients targeted keywords in less than a month or what type of keyword tools I use.

So I decided to give a tip based off of those two questions. Well okay, I guess it would be tips instead of tip.LOL

I will start with the keyword tool first. When researching what type of keywords people are using for products you are selling or thinking about selling you can try Wordtracker or Miva. They both have free tools that you can use. Just enter in your type of product and there will be a display of keyword suggestions along with the number of daily searches. Locate the best that works for your products and use them in your meta titles, keywords in description.

Hurray!!! You are on your way to being listed on Google. Well no, not really. Yes keyword research is a MAJOR part of getting listed on the first pages of Google but.... that's not all to it though. If using the tools mentioned above and putting the keywords in your meta title and keyword tag and description were enough we would all be SEO experts.LOL

But the truth is, keyword optimization is not the win all situation.

Yes you can have the keywords in your meta title separate them by any symbol of your liking have them in the description over time you will start to see your site on the first four pages of the major search engines just by using that method but not any sooner than two months to a year.

It is somewhat difficult to really know how fast any SEO campaign will show results, and every campaign is different of course. SEO results are impacted by a lot of factors. One is the number of competitors competing for a keyword, the age of the site, the age of your competitors sites, and how well set competing sites are.

Okay so got the keyword thingy covered. So here's how you get listed quickly and I already know you guys know this but do you really know how it works?

How do I get some of my clients sites listed in as little as three weeks?:

Link Building

That's it!

Link Building. ..

Yes, it's tedious and boring and can make your head spin but it works.

You may say, well Carla that's what I have been doing for months and I am still not being listed on page 1, 2, or even 20!

Yes, but it depends on the type of links you are building.

You must focus on one way link building instead of just reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is okay and necessary if you are new and don't let anyone tell you that reciprocal link building is not good for your site! Yes, if you go overboard with it, it is not. For example, if you are exchanging links with over 100 sites per day than that just isnt natural and Google can see right through that. Hint stay away from sites that promise you thousands of links. They most likely own tons of websites and they just submit your website to all of their sites. Not good at all and it is known as one of those black hat tactics.

Start getting people to link to your site via site reviews, or product reviews. Create content that will make other sites want to link to you. Post comments on blogs with high page ranks and that do not have a "no follow" tag. If you get incoming links from sites that have a page rank of 3 or higher you will start to see your site appear right away in as little as four weeks.

So I know that's not what you wanted to hear because link building is truly boring but so worth it.

So put that on your to do list. Start getting incoming links, then your keyword research will come into play and things will all start to come together naturally.

I hope this helps out.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Wishing you all a successful business day.

Affordable Link Building Services starting at only $45.00 a month!

Free Internet Advertising Resource Guide

2009-01-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

I spent months getting this internet advertising resource guide together.

If you are looking to grow your business and increase your traffic. Download my Free Internet Advertising Resource Guide.

It is in a pdf file format so make sure you have an adobe reader installed on your computer.

Here is the link you can visit to download the free guide.

You should receive your report within 5 minutes. Let me know if you don't receive it and I will email it to you right away.

http://myseogal.com/pages/advertisingreport.htm

I finally finished adding my Cool Business Cards and Personal Business Cards

2009-01-10T21:33:00.001-05:00

Okay,

This is the story. I added over 100 cool business card designs and personal business card designs to my website about two weeks ago. I was very proud of myself because I wanted to add them for months. So I got all of the designs together, put them on my site and stared at them in awe throughout the day.

Well I added some of the designs to my magnetic business card category and chose to delete the products listed in that category via a global update option in my shopping cart. Deleted them!

That's right, I deleted them in that category plus all of the other categories they were listed in!

Bummer!!

So I finally got some of them added let me know what you think. Here's a preview of a couple. You can click the link below to see more:

http://myseogal.com/category_63/Busi ness-Card-Designs-.htm

To Blog or Not To Blog That is the Question!

2009-01-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

I finally did it! I created my very own blog. I have told tons of small business owners and WAHM's to create a blog, blog away, blog, blog , blog. But I didn't have a blog of my own.

So I took the plunge, my little one is finally sitting quietly with my 11 year old daughter and my 7 year old son. So while I have a piece of sanity left. I have decided to post my very first blog entry!

I am so happy.

I know it's not much but believe me, I will be posting something more informative later. Just wanted to break the ice and post.

So my answer to the question as mentioned in the title. Yes definitely Blog, Blog away!