Robots.txt Guide for Popular CMS and Shopping Carts

Robots.txt Guide for Popular CMS and Shopping Carts

It can be difficult to know which directories should be restricted from search engines and which should be allowed.  I thought it would be a good idea to create a robots.txt reference guide for popular content management systems and shopping carts.  Depending on what...
Solutions for Your Top Daily Distractions

Solutions for Your Top Daily Distractions

I want to start off by saying that this post is a little bit of a different topic than I usually write about.  However I think it is relevant to everyone and can be applied to any topic. Now that I am writing for my blog on a much more regular basis and recently...
Promoting Article Marketing with RSS Feeds

Promoting Article Marketing with RSS Feeds

Many people think of article marketing as simply a way to build a backlink or traffic to their website, to build their reputation as an expert, or to make money online via article writing. But not many think about their articles as promotional items and actually...
Effective Link Bait Examples and Techniques

Effective Link Bait Examples and Techniques

Link Bait is simply creating a piece of viral content that people will want to link to and share across the web, typically through forms of social media.  There are a number of differ formats that link bait comes in, however they all have one thing in common.  People...
Link Building – What Works

Link Building – What Works

Over the course of the last week, I have seen people saying what works and what doesn’t in link building – and they all contradict each other. Some say the old fashioned link request from webmasters is dead and guest blogging is the way to go, while others...
Google Panda Algorithm Update [Infographic]

Google Panda Algorithm Update [Infographic]

I was recently contacted by Carlos Paulinich, who created this amazing infographic that shows a graphical representation of the Google Panda Update.  I thought I would share it with the readers. Make sure you give him some props on his amazing job! Image...
How to Form a Good Relationship with your SEO Clients

How to Form a Good Relationship with your SEO Clients

“SEO? Oh, we’re set. We’ve got links in the footer.” At some point in our careers every SEO has heard a client make an outrageous statement likes this gem from Ian Lurie. Anyone who has worked at an agency knows, when working with clients there are always bound to be...

SEM vs SEO: Short-Term vs Long-Term

For clients, it can be hard to see the big picture when it comes to an effective internet marketing strategy. Their initial response is similar to “I need to get traffic to my site immediately. How can I get results today?”. The mentality is always now,...
14 Free SEO Tools and Resources from SEOmoz

14 Free SEO Tools and Resources from SEOmoz

SEOmoz just updated their site with a new design, as well as some new resources. Here are the best SEO resources offered by SEOmoz without having to be a PRO member. Simply sign up for a free account and take advantage of the following resources. Free SEOmoz Tools...
You Need to Know This About Website Graders

You Need to Know This About Website Graders

I’ve been watching with great fascination as flocks of webmasters and business owners race to the latest website grader. They wait with eager eyes for the newest software widget to tell them why they aren’t ranking well in the search engines. I can...
Are Article Submissions for SEO a Thing of the Past?

Are Article Submissions for SEO a Thing of the Past?

Google’s two most famous ever algorithm updates of recent times (which funnily enough are named after black and white animals – Panda and Penguin) have changed the landscape of SEO forever. It’s fair to say that the tactics that worked to help ‘SEO’ your website...
How SEO and Social Media Are Joining Forces

How SEO and Social Media Are Joining Forces

I have discussed with a number of people recently the debate about what is considered Search Engine Optimization and what is considered Social Media.  To tell you the truth, I feel like they are starting to blend together to become the ultimate marketing machine on...
Part I: The Ultimate Guide to Meta Description

Part I: The Ultimate Guide to Meta Description

You’ve just taken over a client from an unscrupulous agency; title tags are stuffed with keywords, there’s a dodgy backlink history and the meta keywords are used on every page. Worst of all, your just not getting the traffic you’re expecting from the rankings you’re...
Your Website SEO Checkup: Part 7 of 8 – Testing

Your Website SEO Checkup: Part 7 of 8 – Testing

Testing can be a never ending battle, depending on how thorough you are looking to test. The idea is to find the most effective web page that will lead to the best results. Your results may be, increased time on site, increase in page views, increase in # of signups,...
How Professional SEOs Get Inbound Links

How Professional SEOs Get Inbound Links

Getting found on Google consists of 2 things: 1) content and 2) links. Since inbound links act as a voting system or currency for search engine algorithms, it’s imperative that SEOs acquire high quality inbound links on a consistent basis. One way to produce...
5 Reasons Why Your Site is Not Ranking Well?

5 Reasons Why Your Site is Not Ranking Well?

Recently I have spoke to a number of people who have wondered why their websites are not ranking well.  Of course that is going to depend on a case by case basis, but there are 5 things I will check first before I give them an answer.  9 times out of 10, if they are...
The 3 Tier Keyword Structure

The 3 Tier Keyword Structure

So are you optimizing your pages the right way??? Brad Fallon, a leading search marketer, discussed a great way to structure your keywords/phrases on your website. He broke it up into 3 tiers. I will use the example he uses on his Stompernet video. Brad owns an...
Why You Need to Run Multivariate Tests

Why You Need to Run Multivariate Tests

It’s been several years since your website’s last major update. The design is starting to look outdated even though you’re still adding new content every day. You know it’s time for change, but you’re understandably hesitant because things seem to be working out just...
Your 10-Point Local Optimization Checkup

Your 10-Point Local Optimization Checkup

If you do business in a specific area, you want to make sure that your website is optimized properly for local search. Here are 10 quick ways to optimize your site for more localized traffic. Create a detailed directions/location page: Include an embedded map on your...
Using Google’s GL Parameter to Beat Geo-Targeting

Using Google’s GL Parameter to Beat Geo-Targeting

Nowadays, Google and many other search engines custom-tailor search results to a particular location. They identify user’s IP address or GSM location and provide results relevant for his/her whereabouts. This could be good for users, however, this often gives...
Best Practices for Online Press Releases

Best Practices for Online Press Releases

Search marketing and public relations have traditionally functioned as separate entities however in recent years it has become clear that there is a close synergy between the two. Many companies will employ both PR and search marketing agencies to help promote their...
Tips for B2B Search Engine Marketing

Tips for B2B Search Engine Marketing

Today, strong search engine marketing strategies are a survival necessity for any business, be it a small or big show. Even using this as just a general rule, the fact remains that B2B (business-to-business) marketers will have to think and act slightly different from...
Selling SEO Is Not Just About You

Selling SEO Is Not Just About You

Stepping into the corporate world of SEO is not a simple task. SEO is no regular desk job. As a businessperson who wants to make it big in SEO, you’re going to be meeting people from different industries, not only for the purpose of introducing and selling your...
Major Tips to Improve the SEO of All Website

Major Tips to Improve the SEO of All Website

Search engines such as Google are smart. They appreciate websites with creative and original content, and reward them with high page rankings. SEO (search engine optimization) is followed by some quality websites to get rightfully noticed by search engines, while most...
10 SEO Bloggers To Watch in 2010

10 SEO Bloggers To Watch in 2010

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger recently wrote a blog post encouraging people to write a ‘Bloggers To Watch’ post, to promote bloggers in your prospective industry.  I thought I would do my due diligence and make a list of 10 SEO bloggers I feel you should...
The Importance of Conversion Rate Optimization

The Importance of Conversion Rate Optimization

Have you ever heard of Conversion Rate Optimization?  I hope most of you are already aware of it but for those who don’t. Here is its simple definition – Conversion rate optimization is a process intended to increase the percentage of visitors who are converting...
SEO Optimizer’s Guide to Smart SEO Reporting

SEO Optimizer’s Guide to Smart SEO Reporting

Today, I’d like to speak a little SEO reporting. But, before I begin, what are SEO reports actually for? They are used by SEO’s to demonstrate the results of their work in a visual and easy-to-grasp mode. Is this all SEO reports do? For most SEO services...
Are You Optimizing Your YouTube Videos Properly?

Are You Optimizing Your YouTube Videos Properly?

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world, so why not leverage that.  As you probably know, video is becoming such a large part in every marketers strategy.  It is a great way to convey a marketing message and to tell a story, where plain text lacks. ...
The Link Wheel Concept Explained

The Link Wheel Concept Explained

There seems to be a rising popularity in developing what is called a “Link Wheel” for your blog.  A link wheel is the process of creating backlinks to your website or blog AND other off-site properties.  The goal is to create a system where all of your...
Link Building: What’s the Best Approach?

Link Building: What’s the Best Approach?

If your link building efforts have fallen flat as of late, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your approach. Let’s assume that the key to content is the quality of that content. Does it inform? Does it instruct? And, perhaps most importantly, does it build links? The...
How Article Marketing can Help Your Blog

How Article Marketing can Help Your Blog

Article marketing is a great way to promote your blog. Many people might think, article marketing is dead or “old”, but the fact it, it’s not. It works, and it works very well. Basically, you submit an article to the article directories. Once approved, your article...