Prior to Google Panda, many companies were thriving. When it came to SEO, they were doing everything right. They had keyword rich content, proper tagging throughout, internal linking, etc. and they were seeing their traffic and sales increase.

Since Google Panda, however, many of these same companies have taken a hit. So, what happened?  Many were relying solely on SEO and didn’t have a presence anywhere else.

So Now What?

Start developing a presence on social media sites.  Social media is not  just Facebook and Twitter, although those are the best place to start.  You can also start a blog and use LinkedIn and Squidoo, which are a lot of fun, too. It all takes time to develop, but the longer you wait to get in the game, the harder it’s going to be to catch up.

Helpful hint:   There is a site called Twuffer, which will allow you to set up your tweets to post at various times of the day. It really helps to keep things rolling when you have a lot on your plate and its Free.

But I Don’t Know What to Tweet About

I have a friend who says he just doesn’t get Twitter.  He says “why would I want to tweet that I’m in the bathroom?”  Well, you wouldn’t! Unless of course you’re an interior designer and wanted people to check out your new bathroom design. Otherwise, no one wants to hear that. They do, however, want to know your opinion and the opinion of others who have purchased your products and services.

The only way a company can really deliver to its customer base is by knowing what they like and don’t like. So a good tweet would be “So what did you think about our new apple cider cupcakes?”, then add a link to your Facebook page so people can comment.

Don’t Be Afraid of Rejection

Are you getting customer feedback?  If not, you should be. Social media is about developing relationships with people. It’s just online instead of face to face. Don’t be afraid of rejection.

But what if my customer isn’t happy?  Well ignoring them won’t make it any better. Open up some dialogue. Dig into the problem and then fix it. Often times, just the simple act of responding to a problem, makes things much better. The bottom line is you want them to be happy.

Another thing you can do, which works great, is to contact your happy customers and ask them to write a review for you online. Make it easy and share a link with them. Most customers are more than happy to share their experience, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Everything you do online to optimize your website, social media sites, blogs, press releases and more, revolve around keywords.  It’s all about the keywords people.

If you develop a sound keyword strategy, through keyword research and competitive analysis and then take those keywords to develop a sound internet marketing strategy, you can’t go wrong.

Google and Bing are using Twitter and Facebook to influence the natural search results, which means, now more than ever, everyone needs to think about the keywords they use when they post.

So, what is the easiest way to develop a keyword strategy?  Here is just a quick checklist that may help you.

1. Develop a list of keywords. This is accomplished in a number of ways, such as having a brainstorming session, doing competitive analysis, using Google’s keyword tool and more.
2. Each page on your website should be optimized with unique keyword rich content and tagged appropriately.  These keywords should be directly related to the research you did in step #1. Please note, do not stuff your pages full of keywords just for keyword sake.  This is frowned upon by Google and could get you banned.
3. Take your list of keywords and create an excel spreadsheet.  Simply put the keyword in one column and then the landing page in another.  This will help to keep things streamlined and organized.
4. When posting on facebook and twitter, or when blogging, use those keywords and link where applicable to the appropriate landing page.

Keyword research can be time consuming, however, if you take the time and do things the right way, the reward will be a strong web presence.  Just remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Have a great day everyone and enjoy the sunshine.

Like us on Facebook.  Follow me on Twitter.

Buffalo SEO Company Shares the SEO Basics

In the martial arts we learn the importance of the basics. You must have a strong foundation and continue to go back and work on that foundation. The same goes for search engine optimization.

So, what are the SEO basics?

SEO basics include keyword research, analyzing your competition, writing good content, tagging your site, link building and reviewing your analytics.

Keyword Research – An important part of search engine optimization is keyword research. You can use Google’s keyword tool and others on the web to determine the words people are typing into the search engines for your particular products or services.

Analyzing Your Competition – Competitive analysis is another investigative part of search engine optimization. Check out your competitors’ websites and compare their rankings to yours and review their keywords and placement on the search engines. You can then put together a game plan with the keyword research you have done and take advantage of their weaknesses.

Good content. Good content doesn’t mean you stuff your pages full of keyword phrases. You need to write for your audience in a way that makes sense and draws them in. Once you have written what you feel is good content, go back and tweak it. Add keywords where appropriate or simply rearrange a sentence here or there.

Custom Website Tagging. In addition to adding good content to your website, you need to pay attention to your title, description and keyword tags throughout your website. Although people argue that you only need to focus on the title tag, I feel you should focus on all of them. Just do it right to begin with.

Link Building – There are so many ways to build links: press releases, blog posts, social media, bookmarking and more. A great way to start is to create a blog. Not just to have one, but a blog you will be interested in contributing to. From there you can link to your website, social media sites and other blogs. WordPress is great and you can link to and will get links from other bloggers.

Website Analytics – Website analytics is a tracking system that collects data from visitors to your website. This data will help you learn more about where your visitors come from, what keywords they are really using to find you, what pages did they visit, how long did they stay and whether they converted into a sale or lead.　

The basics are the core of SEO. No one said it was easy. SEO takes hard work and focus, but I know you can do it! Our Buffalo SEO Company can help you if you need it.

In the meantime, have fun with it. In the end, your hard work will pay off.

Have a wonderful day.

Simply put, if you want people to find you on the web, your sites need to be optimized. By sites I mean, in addition to your website, you should optimize your blogs, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc.

Search engine optimization (“SEO”) isn’t about just throwing up title tags and adding some keywords to your site. SEO is much more involved than many people realize.

I believe the key to quality SEO includes competitive analysis and keyword research. Having your site optimized does you little good if the keywords you have chosen aren’t being used by your potential customers.

You also need to know what your competition is up to. How are their rankings? What are they focusing on? Are they blogging? If so, what are they blogging about? Are they on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? Make sure you are not just playing follow the leader. You need to have your own thoughts and ideas.

If you are unsure where to start, have a brainstorming session. Sit down by yourself or with others and just open the door to ideas. Throw it all out there. Once you have some exciting avenues you want to tackle, start doing some research.

Google keyword tool is a great place to get a grasp of the value of the keywords you are targeting. You may even find some hidden jewels with low competition and high search volume.

Type your chosen keywords in Google and see who comes up. Understand your competitors online may be a completely different cast of characters than you are used to. Review their sites and you will get a good idea of what they are thinking and may also shed some light on areas you can focus on for your own site.

Once you’ve done your research, start writing. Just write from your gut and keep those keywords on hand to reference. You don’t want to overload your content with keywords. Just be natural and it will flow together.

Have fun and if you need help, we are an experienced Buffalo SEO Company and will be happy to help.

One thing small business owners have shared with me is the fact that they understand what I am talking about. That’s really important and exciting to me.  It should be important to you as well.

As a Buffalo internet marketer, I believe in explaining my seo and internet marketing strategy in a way that isn’t just a bunch of seo jargon they don’t understand.

Keep it simple stupid.  No disrepect here, but if you use the KISS moto, you may not always impress the CEO of a company, but Mr. Johnson, who just opened that hardware store, will certainly appreciate it.

Know your audience.  If you are trying to reach small business owners on their level, just be real.

• You don’t have to talk about the analytics, refer to it as the traffic reports.
• Don’t just throw at them that their ROI will increase.  Explain that by investing money in their online marketing, they will get more business.
• Don’t just say you want to optimize their site.  Explain it to them.  Search engine optimization is the process of getting your website ranking high on the search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Make sense?

On the other hand, I have spoken with small business owners who really know their way around seo and internet marketing, which is cool.  In that case, you can put your seo hat on and talk the talk.

Just remember, the whole point of being an internet marketer is to try to help people understand why seo and internet marketing is so important.  Don’t lose them trying to impress yourself.

As a Buffalo SEO company, we understand many small business owners are hesitant and unsure about SEO and internet marketing.

When we are asked to provide our small business clients with SEO and internet marketing services, we often suggest they take babysteps. You don’t have to dive into everything all at once.

Here’s what you could do.

• Have your website optimized and monitor it’s success/failures. A good Buffalo SEO company will sit down with you and make sure they understand what your goals are.
• Once you are happy with the work your SEO company has provided and are seeing results, take the next step. Start a blog or begin a social media campaign.

It’s basically up to you how you would like to progress. They key is hiring a good Buffalo SEO Company that will continue to move you in the right direction.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to get things rockin right away, that’s great.  Our concern, however, is that you are confident and secure with where your hard earned money is going.  If you are going to spend money to get more business, then before moving forward, make sure you are seeing a return on your investment.

I’m sorry for the tease, but now that I’ve got your attention, let me explain.

The point of this heading is simply to get your attention. That is exactly what you want to do for your business and a good internet marketing company will help you get your message out there.

If I was looking for baked goods and ran across “Free King Size Chocolate Chip Cookie  Yummy”, you can be sure I would click on it.  That’s the 1st step.

Now that you’ve got them on your site, don’t lose them! They clicked on the link because they want a free king size cookie.  Don’t make it impossible for them to qualify to get it.

I’m not saying lose money on the deal, but make the draw something that is within reason.  Keep it simple. A good internet marketing company will not only help you get the traffic you want, but they will also work with you to help you make sure the deal is sweet, too.

Once they land on your page, make the offer clear. Example: “With every order of $30 or more, you will get one of our King Size Chocolate Chip Smiley Face Cookies, Free”.

Woo Hoo!  Dude, I’m there.  I want that cookie!  Where do I order? Can I order more King Size Chocolate Chip Smiley Face Cookies?  Do you have smaller smiley face cookies? Yes, of course (the answer should be).

Your landing page should have good content for search engine optimization, as well as a great photo and video.  Also important, make it easy for them to place an order. The goal is to ultimately sell those King Size Chocolate Chip Smiley Face Cookies!

I have so many ideas to sell these cookies, but unfortunately, I’m on chocolate chip overload. It’s only 9 a.m., but I have a hankerin’ for chocolate chip cookies.  Want one?

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Fuel the Web, a Buffalo SEO and website design company, is pleased to announce the launch of our newly redesigned website.

We wanted to provide our visitors with information about the company, our services, and a quick contact form, which will enable us to get things rolling quickly.

Our company qualities include not only our focus on providing you the website design you have dreamed of, but we believe in an honest and ethical approach to search engine marketing and optimization.  We will work with you to ensure your goals are met.

Our approach is simply this…be honest, work hard and develop a product our clients can be proud of.

If you are looking for help with your online marketing campaign, or need a website redesign, Fuel the Web can put together a strategic plan to help you accomplish your company goals and objectives.

As a Buffalo SEO Company, I feel we not only have the obligation to provide exceptional service to our clients, but we need to share our knowledge along the way.

Embrace learning and pay it forward.  By attending webinars and reading as much as you can online, you not only make yourself more valuable, but you make your clients more valuable as well.

People want to learn, and if you take the time to share with them the best practices for them to be successful, they will appreciate it, and in turn, they will embrace learning.

The better educated my clients are, the more successful they will become.  In addition, they will take an active role in their internet marketing and seo practices. Pretty cool.

Fuel the Web is not only a Buffalo SEO Company, but we are a Buffalo Web Design Company as well. We believe in doing things the right way and are excited with each knock on our door. If you need a new website or your website optimized, we are here to help you.