Thinking Of Hiring A SEO Service Provider For Your Online Business? Some Objectives To Keep In Mind

The decision to use SEO services for your online business is probably the best business decision you have taken. Search engine optimization from an expert SEO service provider is especially useful for online businesses, whose clientele is based online. Popularizing your website on search engines ensures that you reach your target audience and increase your business potential. However, before using a SEO service provider, you need to be clear about the objectives or business goals you want to achieve through SEO services. Some of the common SEO objectives of online businesses are as follows:

• Getting Relevant Web Traffic

Getting relevant web traffic should be your primary goal in hiring a SEO service provider. The more web traffic you get, the more the chances are, of you getting new clients and increasing business. Your SEO service provider should optimize your website in such a way that it will climb rankings in search engines and you will get web traffic of people who are actually looking for your products or services. Optimizing your website through SEO services will also ensure that you stop getting irrelevant visitors to your site.

• Creating a Brand Identity

Since you own an online business, creating a brand identity online should be your second SEO objective. SEO services will enable you to create a brand identity of your products or services online. You need to ask your SEO service provider to not only get your website’s rankings up on search engines, but also to utilize social networking sites, blogs and forums to interact with online users. This will help create an awareness of your products and services and over a period of time, you will be able to create a brand name for your business. Your SEO service provider will know of many innovative methods to get your brand name across, which are more effective than the traditional advertising methods.

• Medium of Communication

Through SEO services, you should aim to make your website a medium of communication. In addition to capturing the interest of new clients, SEO services for your website will also help you in getting in touch with the online community, whether they consist of your existing clients or your target audience. As your SEO service provider keeps working on on-page and off-page SEO activities, your website will slowly and steadily become the main medium of communication between you and your clients.

• Direct Marketing

Marketing directly to your target audience is something you will be able to do with your website when you hire a SEO service provider. Your website becomes the main marketing tool for your business when it appears amongst the top results for your targeted keywords. Sit down with your SEO service provider and discuss your marketing goals with him/her. An experienced SEO service provider will make different suggestions for your search engine optimization campaign which will fulfill your online marketing requirements as well.

• Building Online Reputation

You should also use SEO services to build a good reputation online. An SEO service provider undertakes various SEO activities like link building, postings, articles and press note postings etc. which will slowly build your reputation in the online community. As your website becomes popular, you will also be able to exchange links with reputed companies, which will help your reputation further. Building this online trust is an important objective of utilizing SEO services.

Merry Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 is almost upon us! It's that time of the year when children wait for Santa Claus to bring them their gifts and adults look forward to the long holiday and the Christmas celebrations with friends and family.

Analytix Solutions wishes all its SEO services clients a Merry Christmas 2009.

Analytix brings an additional thing to cheer about this Christmas. Starting from today till 25th December, 2009, all SEO services packages will have a 10% off as part of a special Christmas offer. Get your website rankings up by availing of this special Christmas offer for your search engine optimization. Email sales@analytixsolutions.com for more details.

4 Reasons Why Your Medical Practice Needs SEO Services

Some time ago, we emphasized the importance of SEO services from a reputable SEO company for dentists. In this post, we highlight the ways in which SEO services can benefit not only the dental community, but the medical fraternity as a whole. Most of the doctors today have a website through which they try to manage patient inquiries, appointments as well as give information about their practice. However, just making a website and letting it sit there is not going to make it work for your medical practice. You need reputable SEO services to gain visibility on popular search engines, which your prospective patients use to look for you. But are SEO services really necessary for my medical practice, you ask? The following are 4 reasons which might convince you they are.

1. Higher Web Traffic

You may ask Isn't having a website enough? Why do I need SEO services to get web traffic? A few years ago, it was just enough to have a website; the traffic would automatically come. But now, with higher competition, your website needs to be optimized with relevant keywords by an expert SEO company so that it appears in the top ten websites in search results. (Research shows that users generally don't go beyond that in search results) SEO services improve the overall ranking of your website on popular search engines. This means that if your website ranks within the first few on major search engines, you will be able to attract a lot of traffic to your website.



2. Increased Flow of Patients

The main purpose of your website is to make your medical practice more approachable for existing patients and to attract new patients. Through SEO services, you can make your site more visible to people who are actually looking for your services. Search engine optimization for your website will ensure that your medical practice gets more and more patients as your online visibility increases. Some SEO companies also offer SEO services for local searches, which will make your medical practice more visible to people who are looking for local doctors. Use an experienced SEO company which recognizes your goals and can help you reach your target audience with ease.



3. Build a Brand Name

SEO services can build a brand name for your practice, which can establish you as an expert in your niche. In case you are a very well established doctor and do not want to radically increase the number of patients, SEO services can still help in maintaining a reputable image to online users. Professional SEO services from an experienced SEO company can hence help you connect with even those who are not your patients.



4. Increased Return on Investment

In case you are investing a certain amount on marketing your medical practice in the form of local advertisements, brochures etc., you will be attracting only a limited crowd which is able to see them physically. SEO services have the potential to give you exposure to millions of others who are looking for your services online. This will give you more results than the conventional marketing methods, increasing the return on your marketing spending. Look for a reputed SEO company which can offer customized SEO services for your medical practice.

SEO services have become the preferred choice for those in the medical fraternity who have recognized the importance of the millions of people using the internet to look for them. You too can take advantage of search engine optimization for your medical practice by hiring an expert SEO company.

Have you used affordable SEO services to optimize your website for Bing?

The latest news in website optimization is that Bing is gaining ground fast in the search market. From the launch itself, Bing has been boasting of providing relevant search results, which will solve the user’s search question and help them make decisions. It hence calls itself the “Decision Engine”. Just like Google, Yahoo and other popular search engines, Bing searches, indexes and displays relevant web pages for users. Due to the interest Bing is generating nowadays, many SEO firms are now offering affordable SEO services specifically aimed at Bing.

The growing popularity of Bing amongst the users is making SEO professionals as well as businesses dealing in e-commerce look for the correct strategies for website optimization for Bing. Businesses which are using SEO services are increasingly asking the question: Is website optimization for Bing different than that for Google or Yahoo? Most SEO professionals are of the opinion that Bing doesn’t require radically different website optimization techniques compared to other search engines. It involves using standard, accepted White Hat SEO techniques. However, you might do well by considering Bing particularly when you are looking for affordable SEO services for your website’s optimization.

Some website optimization factors which Bing gives importance to are:

• Content
  
  Relevant and fresh content is the most important factor for Bing, like it is for other search engines. Some SEO professionals are of the opinion that Bing gives importance to web pages which have more text in them. For website optimization for Bing, take this factor in consideration. Some affordable SEO service providers also offer content writing services, which you can avail of when you sign on with them.

• Domain Age
  
  The age of the domains is an important factor when it comes to website optimization for Bing. The older the website is, the more importance Bing will give it in a relevant keyword’s search result. If you don’t have an old domain, you might benefit by purchasing one. Your SEO service provider can also help you select a domain in case you are thinking of buying one.

• Inbound Linking
  
  Bing favors pages which have linking with other pages with similar topics. Like Google, Bing also believes that if others trust you enough to share links with you, your website is relevant for the topic concerned. Most professional SEO service providers offer affordable SEO services which can be used to increase relevant inbound links to your website.

• On-Page SEO
  
  You need to get the basic on-page SEO right. Ensure that your SEO service provider puts relevant keywords in all the content of your website. Use unique page titles and meta description, which lets Bing know what the webpage is all about. Affordable SEO services from an experienced professional can help you with all the on-page SEO techniques you need to use to attract Bing’s crawlers.

By undertaking website optimization for Bing, you can ensure that your website is optimized for different user demographics of different search engines. If you use affordable SEO services from a professional, you can reach your target audience on Bing easily.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

It’s time to be thankful for all the good things in life: Thanksgiving 2009 is upon us. Thanksgiving holiday is the time when you gather with family and friends and say thanks for all the good things you have in life. It is a day for celebration, sharing and appreciation.

Analytix Solutions wishes all its search engine optimization clients a very happy Thanksgiving 2009.

Analytix thanks all its clients for standing by it for so long and hopes this support will continue well into the coming years. To add to all those Thanksgiving deals that are being offered on this occasion, Analytix has one of its own. As a special Thanksgiving offer, Analytix Solutions announces an additional 10% off on all search engine optimization packages on Thanksgiving day. Hurry and avail of this special offer on the special occasion of Thanksgiving.

Want To Hire A Professional For SEO Services? Some Pointers To Recognize Bad SEO Companies

Choosing an SEO company which will give its best to optimize your website is not an easy task. You have to select out of a flood of companies out there, which are vying for your attention with "guaranteed rankings" blaring from its promotions. If you are looking for SEO services from a professional SEO company, you need to make a head start by eliminating all the fake SEO companies, which don't have experience but try to portray themselves as experts at search engine optimization techniques. For all you know, it might be a teenager hooked onto his home PC, looking for some work in his summer break.

If you are looking for affordable SEO services, you will already be aware of what you want in your SEO company. But you also need to keep in mind what your SEO firm should NOT be. If you are aware of what not to look for, it will help in eliminating the bad companies out of your list. We have listed down some traits of an inefficient SEO company, which you need to be aware of before you go on a hiring spree.

• Too-Good-To-Be-True Claims

Most unethical SEO companies do not hesitate to make tall claims about "guaranteed search rankings" and "instant No. 1 positions" on search engines. If you think that any claim about search engine optimization sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Professional SEO services take a long time to take effect, but the result is long-lasting. You need an SEO company which has a proven track record with other businesses and can ensure that you get the most effective SEO services for your business.

• Spam Techniques

It is a well known fact that back links do a lot for search engine optimization. Some inexperienced SEO companies try to get back links by spamming blogs or other websites with links. Back link development is a tedious and time-consuming task, which should be done carefully by any SEO firm. So if the SEO company offers thousands of back links as a SEO service, run in the opposite direction!

• Directory Posting

Do not, in any circumstances, agree to directory posting as your main SEO service. SEO companies offering such services do not have enough knowledge of ethical SEO techniques which bring real value to your website. Directory submission can be done by anyone, and you do not need an SEO firm for that. Look for a company which details proper search engine optimization techniques and explains to you how it will work for your website.

• Black Hat SEO Techniques

In their haste to offer "guaranteed rankings" on search engines, many unprofessional SEO companies use Black Hat SEO techniques. Such techniques may bring instant results, but in the long run, may get your site banned from all search engines, as they are not part of the accepted practices in the search engine optimization field. Some Black Hat techniques are keyword stuffing, invisible text, creating doorway pages, misleading content etc. Question the company about some of the techniques it uses for SEO services and you will have an inclination about whether it uses the right ones or not.

You will be able to spot such bad SEO companies easily if you keep asking them open-ended questions. The answers they give you about their SEO services will give you an insight on whether the techniques they use are the right or wrong ones. Getting the right SEO firm is a time consuming task, but it is worth the effort in the end.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009!

31st October, the Halloween day of 2009 is here! It's that time of the year when you can carve those pumpkins, wear your best Halloween costumes and go "Trick or Treat" from door to door. You can also look for special Halloween deals to get stuff you have been waiting to buy all year.

Analytix Solutions wishes all its SEO clients a very happy Halloween 2009.

If your website rankings are tricking you or giving you the Halloween nightmares, trust Analytix Solutions to make stuff right. SEO services from Analytix can increase your rankings and drive your Halloween blues away. On the occasion of Halloween, Analytix is pleased to offer a special 10% off on all SEO packages Halloween day. Take advantage of this Halloween offer right now and save your precious business resources!

Use organic SEO services to make your medical practice more visible online

SEO services for my medical practice? But do my patients even search for me online? The answer to that question is a very emphatic YES, they do. You might ask next whether SEO services will help you get a lot of patient inquiries. While patient inquiries are not guaranteed, what is guaranteed with SEO services is that people will start recognizing you and you will be easier to find online. Search engine optimization (SEO) should hence be your indirect tool to develop your practice. After all, visibility and recall is the first step to expanding you practice base.

Thanks to the internet becoming the Yellow Pages for today, patients now search online for local medical practitioners who are located near to them. This is proven by the growing popularity of Google Local, which people are starting to use to search for local services. Medical practitioners who have recognized this use SEO services including ethical search engine optimization techniques, to ensure that they are the first ones patients find when they search online for a local doctor. For example, if you are a general physician in Boston, you will want to be found when people search online for a general physician in Boston. But if you have not used SEO services for your website, you will lose out to other doctors who have.

One doctor who started his practice recently started with a website and significant SEO services. Within just a year of starting, the website has become his most important patient-getter. He has an online appointment scheduler and regularly tracks the number of patient inquires he receives through search engines. The website is getting him 60% more phone inquiries that of phone and references put together.

Being a medical practitioner, you will be very busy to take up the details of search engine optimization for your website yourself. You hence need the help of a professional with experience in SEO services. An experienced SEO consultant will ensure that your website meets your goals, whether it is maintaining a professional reputation or getting new clients. There are SEO consultants who specialize in SEO services for medical practitioners. If you are unsure of how to make your medical practice more visible online, take the help of such a SEO consultant.

A SEO consultant will also be able to supplement the main SEO service with add-on services like article and blog posting, link exchanges, on page and off page optimization etc., all of which affects a website's rankings on search engines. Moreover, if you lay down your website goals for the SEO consultant, he/she can work accordingly and show you the progress reports periodically. This way, you can hand over all SEO activities to a pro, yet have an idea as to what is going on.

Internet has become too big a medium to ignore. So even if you have a strong medical practice, SEO services are a must to uphold a strong, positive reputation online. Look for a reputed SEO consultant who can help you make a strong online presence and benefit your medical practice.

Make SEO Services Work For Your Small Business With This 5-Step Guideline

It is a given in today's marketing world that search engine optimization is of utmost importance for a business; the online audience is just too vast to ignore. SEO services are becoming a popular option for small businesses to tap into their online target audience. Search engine optimization is the most effective way to promote your business online if you are a small business owner. Once your website attains a good ranking in major search engines, you will be able to get exposure for your business to the millions of people who surf the web everyday and are looking for your products and services. The following is a 5-step guideline to make sure that SEO services work successfully for your business.

1. Assess your Situation

The first and foremost step for you should be to know where you stand in your search engine optimization campaign. What is your website's ranking for your main keywords? Is it user-friendly? Is the navigation easy enough? Does your content need a re-vamp so that major keywords are covered? What about on-site and offsite website optimization? If you are already using a SEO company, you can have detailed discussions about your questions with it. When you know the answers to these questions, it will become easier to utilize SEO services to your advantage or make the necessary changes accordingly.

2. Plan for SEO Services

You will not be able to determine which SEO services are required for your small business if you don't plan your search engine optimization campaign properly. You need to have a vision of what you want to achieve through the SEO services you use. This SEO planning also includes figuring out what kind of audience you want to tap into and the online mediums through which you can make a good impression on them. For example, if you are planning to target women entrepreneurs, you can develop a blog or forum which concentrates on issues related to them as part of the SEO services you avail of. This will give you a strong medium to interact with potential clients.

3. Look for Resources

In addition to SEO services, additional resources can also help in a search engine optimization campaign. Search for additional resources from around you like a content specialist who can help you maintain qualitative content on your website or a web designer who can help you improve the navigation of your website, if required. An SEO company may also offer content writing services which will help you change the content of your website or maintain blogs and forums. Although these are not included in basic SEO services, they are add-ons that help boost the visibility of your website.

4. Promotion

Don't forget to promote your website whenever possible. As such, your SEO company will take care of online promotion of your website. Ask the SEO company concerned whether link building and blogs are included in the SEO services you are signing up for. As a business owner, you can also promote your website in all your communications like emails, business cards and stationery, so that at least the people you come in contact with know about it and can access it with ease.

5. Evaluate the Results

There are various tools and softwares available today, which will help you analyze the results of the SEO services you have used. At this stage, you can see the result of all the search engine optimization activities undertaken by your SEO company. You can also change strategies after seeing the SEO result in case you feel a change will be better for future SEO activities.

Search engine optimization is not as complicated a procedure as you would think in the first instance. Taking the help of an experienced SEO company and signing up for the right SEO services will give your small business the advantage it needs to get the attention of your online target audience.

5 Questions About SEO Services To Ask Potential SEO Consultants

Due to the huge popularity of search engine optimization, numerous so-called expert SEO consultants have cropped up offering "unbelievable discounts" and "guaranteed rankings" to anyone who cares to listen. If you are looking for a SEO service company for your business website, you need to sort through a lot of companies to find the SEO consultant suitable to your requirements. We have come up with 5 questions you can ask a potential SEO service company, the answers to which will give you an inkling to their expertise.

Ask the potential SEO consultant the following 5 questions:

1. Can you guarantee No. 1 ranking?

Contrary to what you expect, an ideal SEO consultant should give you a negative answer. No one in the search engine optimization industry can EVER guarantee no. 1 ranking, and that includes major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Organic search results are natural and cannot be influenced by any SEO services company, no matter how experienced it is. Hence be very wary about SEO consultants offering guaranteed No. 1 rankings and run in the opposite direction if you meet one!

2. Does my website need to be changed?

The answer you are looking for here is "Yes". Organic SEO consists of two factors: onsite and offsite techniques. Both strategies are equally important and experienced companies providing SEO services use both to hike rankings. Certain inexperienced SEO consultants only offer "link submissions" or "directory posting" services, which completely ignore the importance of onsite optimization of web pages. Your website's content, its ease of navigation, back end coding etc. is very important in deciding the rank your website attains on search engines. Your SEO consultant should be interested in changing your website at least at the back end, in case radical changes are not required. If the company providing SEO services doesn't look at your website, consider someone else for the job.

3. Do your SEO services involve use of any software?

There are many softwares available today which aid in search engine optimization of a website. Nothing, however, beats an expert's hand at SEO. An experienced SEO consultant should, therefore tell you that he/she uses softwares sometimes, but most of the work is done by hand. SEO softwares can be used by novices in the search engine optimization; you don't need a SEO consultant or a SEO services company to make use of it.

4. Will you be able to prove the results you achieve?

An experienced SEO consultant should be able to justify his/her search engine optimization work by providing results you can evaluate your website's progress with. Your website should not only have more visitors than before, it should have more relevant visitors, who are likely to be converted into clients. The rate of conversion of website visitors to clients should be on the rise after you hire a SEO service company.

5. Will you use any Black Hat techniques to boost my rankings immediately?

Here, of course, should be an emphatic "absolutely not". Black Hat SEO techniques should be a complete no-no to a genuine SEO consultant. If it's a shady SEO services company you are dealing with, he/she will probably try to talk you into the "quick boost in rankings" or "No. 1 position within a week" idea as soon as you mention Black Hat SEO. Sure, it will boost your ranking for the time being; but it will also guarantee that your website will be blacklisted by major search engines very soon. Your SEO services should include only White Hat SEO techniques, which may take some time to be effective, but will give long term results which will be permanent. Make this very clear to your SEO consultant before you hire him/her.

Black Hat Techniques Your SEO Company Should Avoid

The popularity of search engine optimization has resulted in many SEO companies being set up today to cater to the growing requirements of businesses. The growing number of SEO companies has brought along with it some SEO service providers who don't mind using unethical tactics in the hope of achieving good results in a short period of time. Such unethical techniques are known as Black Hat SEO techniques, and are frowned upon by SEO experts as well as search engines.

The following are some Black Hat techniques which your SEO company shouldn't use for the promotion of your website:

• Keyword Stuffing

Some SEO companies try to popularize a web page by stuffing it with keywords within the content as well as in the design. This is called keyword stuffing, which is one of the most visible Black Hat SEO techniques. Firms providing SEO services, however, need to realize that search engines are becoming smarter by the day and can now recognize and ban websites using this Black Hat technique.


• Link Farming

It is a well known fact that relevant inbound links can hike rankings of websites. Search engines expect link building to take place between websites relevant to each other. However, some link farm sites are specifically built by SEO companies to increase inbound links. These sites do not have any relevant content and are built specifically for linking purpose. Experienced professionals for SEO services realize that a site can be banned for life for indulging in farming of links.

• Duplicating Websites

Search engines are constantly looking for fresh content; this prompts some web owners to create duplicate sites of competitors and siphon off clients from them. Any professional SEO company will tell you that if you indulge in such practice now, search engines will not only be able to spot you, but also ban your website. While using SEO services from any professional, instruct them not to create duplicate websites but instead focus on creating interesting and unique content, that will be useful in the longer run.

• Doorway Pages

Some unethical SEO companies create doorway pages mainly to attract search engines towards the website for a particular keyword. There is no relevant content on such a page and it is generally mass-produced and posted through a software. This is probably the easiest way to get your site blacklisted. When you avail of SEO services, ensure that your website has no doorway pages.

• Cloaking of Content

SEO companies using Black Hat techniques can also cloak content within the web page to gain advantage with the search engines. Cloaking ensures that the content seen by the search engine and the visitor is different. Using short cuts for getting high rankings convinces many SEO service providers that they can entice the search engines for a higher ranking. For example, one method of cloaking is to write keywords in the same color as the background; this way, the visitors cannot see it but the search engines can. Such methodologies give search engines the impression that the web page is full of relevant keywords. If such a trend is spotted in any website, it can be reported and banned by the search engines. Hire only that SEO company which can provide you with affordable SEO services without using such methodology.

Avoiding shady SEO service providers becomes easy if you are aware of some Black Hat SEO techniques like the ones mentioned above. Look for a genuine and experienced SEO company which can help you get your website attain a decent ranking through legitimate White Hat SEO techniques.

Why Experienced SEO Consultants Do Not Guarantee Search Rankings

With the importance search engine optimization has attained in the past few years, the number of SEO consultants offering SEO services has also increased. This increase in service providers has brought along with it a plethora of tall claims like guaranteed no. 1 rankings, which continues to perplex organizations seeking SEO services as well as those providing it. But the fact remains that search rankings cannot be guaranteed. The following are four reasons why you shouldn't believe SEO consultants when they promise guaranteed rankings:

• Search Engines Warn Against Guarantees
  

Any search engine, be it Google, Yahoo or the Microsoft's recently-introduced Bing, is unanimous in their opinion that guaranteeing a No. 1 position in their search engine is impossible. SEO consultants who guarantee search rankings are actually looking to hook less-informed clients. Such consultants cleverly sign a contract for SEO services guaranteeing rankings for certain keywords. They then go on to select and work on non-competitive keywords, which may quickly climb in rankings, but may not get in relevant web traffic. Search engines hence warn organizations to specifically avoid SEO consultants who guarantee rankings.



• Search Rankings Constantly Fluctuate
  

The ordering of search results is likely to change every few minutes; even if you search for a particular keyword and then hit the refresh button, the order of the results may change. Experienced SEO consultants hence stay away from guaranteeing any position on rankings, preferring instead to focus on bringing in relevant web traffic and making the site more popular with regular visitors. Although SEO services are associated with search rankings, improved rankings are the end result of a lot of hard work, and even after best efforts, cannot be guaranteed.



• Ethical Problems with SEO Guarantees
  

What SEO consultants should guarantee is the quality of SEO services they will provide. They can also evaluate your site and guarantee an increase in web traffic. But search ranking is something there is no guarantee for. SEO consultants who give such guarantees sometimes compromise on the ethical issues related of search engine optimization. They use Black Hat SEO techniques to boost the site rankings, which are considered unacceptable in the industry. A hasty job and unplanned steps may cause more harm to your SEO campaign than benefit it. It is hence wise to chose SEO services from those consultants who don't give guarantees but slowly and steadily work towards bringing in relevant traffic and slowly improving search rankings.



• Search Rankings Do Not Reflect Overall Performance
  

This is something each organization needs to understand before launching its SEO campaign. SEO services should not be hired only for getting a good ranking in search results, but for getting relevant traffic towards one's website. Real performance of the SEO consultant can be judged through increase in relevant web traffic and not only rankings. Sometimes in the obsession of getting a website in the leading position, an SEO consultant botches up the job and more time is spent thereafter in repairing the damage done.

If you want to plan an effective SEO campaign for your organization, stay away from SEO consultants who offer "guaranteed No. 1 position" and "instant improvement in search rankings". Professional and experienced SEO consultants focus on getting relevant traffic, which is the purpose of search engine optimization in the first place.

Hire A SEO Company To Make Your Business Website SEO And Social Media Friendly

If your business website is not found on the search engine results, you are liable to lose out on a lot of revenue simply because there are a large number of people looking for your products and services online. Not being searchable means that customers cannot find you and hence cannot buy from you. In such a scenario, it is important to not only make your website SEO friendly, but also to integrate various social media tools into it for greater benefit. A professional and experienced SEO company can help you make your website SEO and social media friendly, which will give important visibility to your website and ultimately to your business.

Search engine optimization is an evolving field and it is now not enough to use simple SEO tactics. Social media is coming of age and is becoming a major tool in helping people find the websites they are looking for. It is hence important to make a website social media friendly as well, so that people can find your website on a real time basis and recommend it if they like it.

'Search engine friendly' simply means making a website that is easy for the search engines to find and index for search rankings. A SEO friendly website makes it easier for search engines to give better search results as well as helps organizations make their products and services available to people looking for them. In addition to optimizing the site, making it social media friendly is recommended by SEO experts, as it is the newest medium of informal marketing today. Both these tasks can be completed easily by hiring a SEO company which is skilled in the tricks of the trade.

A SEO company makes a website SEO and social media friendly in the following ways:

• Content
  

The content on the website is very useful for making the site both SEO and social media friendly. Fresh and new content is always appreciated by both search engines and users. A professional SEO company optimizes the content for popular keywords and maintains its density so that search rankings can improve. If the website is updated with fresh and unique content, it will become popular amongst visitors seeking fresh, new and relevant information. This content, when popularized through social media like Twitter, StumbleUpon, Flickr, Digg etc. can make the website very popular amongst users. Many SEO companies offer content writing services which can be availed of by business organizations.



• On site
  

A SEO company uses many on site tools to make a website SEO and social media friendly. An SEO firm optimizes keywords, adds new web pages, makes internal and external linking etc. which helps improve search rankings for the website. For making the website social media friendly, SEO companies add tools like blog links, RSS feeds, forums etc. to the website so that visitors can interact with the company and recommend products/services/offers that they like.



• Off site
  

Off site tools used would include bookmarking, link exchanges, directory postings etc. which are used by SEO companies for search engine optimization.Such promotions help the search engine crawlers find the website easily. Some SEO companies maintain multiple blogs for clients for maximum exposure and popularity.

Using the services of a SEO company can make your company search engine friendly and findable on the search results. Hiring a SEO company for making your website SEO friendly and social media friendly is the best bet for making your website visible and popular amongst users.

3 SEO Services that your Business Can’t Afford to Miss

Millions of people use the internet everyday to search for your products or services. Search engine optimization of your website ensures that your products and services are easily searchable by potential customers. SEO guarantees the visibility that is needed to bring your company's product and services to the attention of customers. After all, if your customers can't find you online, how will they buy from you? However, Search Engine Optimization is a complex process which takes a lot of time and dedication to learn. If you need to give your complete attention to your business and do not have the time to learn the entire SEO process, you would do well by hiring a SEO company providing professional SEO services.

Even after making the decision to hire a pro, your role is not over. Many SEO companies offer SEO services at dirt cheap rates. Don't be misguided by such prices; such companies may just cover directory submission or link building as their main SEO service. Steer clear of such SEO consultant and look for an experienced and reputed SEO company. Your website needs a search marketing partner rather than just an optimization company. Partnering with an experienced company is a sure-shot way of making your SEO project a success.

Mentioned below are the 3 main SEO services that you need to ensure your SEO company provides for your business website:

Keyword Research
This is a crucial part of your website optimization process. The company providing SEO services will know how to research thoroughly regarding the keywords associated with your company, products and services. Ask your SEO company to research on the keywords commonly used within your industry, either by your customers or by competitors. Only after such research can the SEO company start on the optimization of your website. Keyword research is not a simple task and a lot of time and effort goes into it. Once the appropriate keywords are decided upon, a compelling copy including those keywords needs to be written so that your website can be found by search engines. Check with your SEO company on whether it offers content writing services which include your primary keywords. Allow only a search optimized content pro to write a highly keyword-optimized content for you.

Website Upgrade
You may have had your website designed by an expert web design company but your website also needs to be checked by your SEO company. Your SEO services should include in-depth analysis of your website by SEO experts so that search engine optimization tools and techniques can be used at the site's backend. Your website may need to be upgraded with new pages or sub-domains with the objective to improve search rankings.

Search Engine Rankings Reports - Keyword rankings and Website traffic report
Increasing your search engine rankings to get targeted traffic is, of course, the main reason for you to hire services of a SEO company. Make sure that your SEO consultant not only helps you with notching up your rankings but also with bringing in targeted traffic to your website. Some companies promise traffic but only end up getting spam traffic which is useless for your business. Make your goal clear to your SEO company and ask for keywords rankings update along with a website traffic report which will help you assess your websites SEO performance.

In addition to the above 3 SEO services, you should also make sure that your SEO company doesn't utilize any underhand methods to increase your search rankings. Black Hat SEO techniques may not only get your site penalized, they might also result in your site being banned from the search engines.

Increasing the online visibility of your website is easy, once you hire an expert SEO company and utilize the 3 main SEO services mentioned above.

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing: Two Important Aspects of Internet Marketing

Two concepts have become unavoidable for a successful internet marketing campaign today: search engine optimization and social media marketing. Previously considered two separate concepts, the two have become intertwined and together make a powerful tool for making your business’s online presence more visible and bringing in relevant web traffic. SEO experts till now, used to concentrate on either search engine optimization or social media marketing as a tool for increasing relevant traffic. Now, however, onsite and offsite SEO as well as targeted promotional campaigns on social media sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube etc. are getting equal importance in internet marketing.

Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the process of driving maximum web traffic by making the website rank top on the search engine results. It deals with optimizing the website, its content, its meta tags with relevant keywords. Organic SEO is generally considered a passive resort to bringing in traffic, assuming that if one builds the right site, the right traffic will automatically come in. It basically aligns with the ‘pull’ strategy of internet marketing.

Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing, on the other hand, is active internet marketing, with companies proactively utilizing social media sites to mark their online presence. It includes promoting website and services or products through related forums and inviting people to link back to the website’s useful content. With social media marketing you can interact with targeted prospects and get them involved in talking about your business/brand so that they may recommend your company to friends and people around them. Such ‘snowball’ effect is what companies hope for when they use social media marketing. Active link building, blog promotion and new and interesting content for relevant topics builds up trust and draws in relevant traffic, through which popularity amongst online users increases and search rankings also improve.

A Combination of SEO and SMM
Neither search engine optimization nor social media marketing alone can become an effective internet marketing tool. Good SEO helps the website rank higher on the search engine results, but it does not make the website popular or generate personal recommendations from the users. Social media marketing, on the other hand, can popularize the company’s brand or products and services. But it may fail to get a good website rank in the search engine results, in which case the site will lose its visibility.

The goal of attracting relevant traffic to your site can be fulfilled only if both search engine optimization and social media marketing run concurrently. Both are the perfect partners for getting the site on top rankings as well as building up an informal community of visitors. The millions of online users make internet marketing a powerful and compelling tool to get prospective customers involved with your business and turn them into customers.

Plan out your SEO campaign with a professional SEO consultant and ensure that you include use search engine optimization as well as social media marketing for all your internet marketing efforts.

6 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Mistakes you Should Avoid

Having completed your website and seeing it live might make you heave a sigh of relief. But don’t relax just yet; search engine optimization of your site is required to make your site more visible on the web. Putting up your site without SEO is like putting up ad billboards at a place with no visitors; it doesn’t bring the focus on your business or attract visitors. So, while gearing up for your search engine optimization campaign, you need to be aware of some major mistakes which should be avoided at all costs:

1. No Links
   Search engines give a lot of importance to the relevant links to your site; it shows that other sites trust your site. If you do not have quality links in place, your site’s ranking will be affected. Relevant link building should be done as part of search engine optimization which can help get your site a better ranking on search results. Check with your SEO expert if he/she provides link building services along with SEO services.
   
   
2. Keyword Stuffing or Keywords Cloud
   This is a big ‘no-no’ for search engine optimization. Many SEO experts with half-baked skills, in their eagerness to increase keyword density, stuff website content with keywords. This is a big mistake. Ask your SEO expert to optimize your content sensibly. Make sure that your site has meaningful and original content. A keyword-stuffed site might turn up good on the search results, but visitors leave the site the moment they notice the keyword stuffing; they realize that the site will not give them any useful information. Give your SEO expert the responsibility not only of getting your site on a good rank in search results but also of maintaining it with sensible content that attracts visitors to your site. You need to research for optimum keyword density or get advise from the right SEO consultant.
   
   
3. Black Hat SEO Techniques
   Search engine crawlers or robots, as they are called, are smart enough to recognize Black Hat search engine optimization techniques, which are unethical means to get ahead in the search rankings. If you try to deceive the search engines by putting up copied content, invisible text stuffed with keywords or page cloaking, they will ban your site. Organic SEO is the only safe and sure method of gaining good rankings on search results. No qualified SEO expert will advise you to go for such unethical SEO tricks. And if they do, run in the opposite direction!
   
   
4. Shabby Site Structure
   Your website’s structure is important for search engine crawlers to index the content and relevant pages. So if your site’s structure is in disarray, your search ranking can get affected. Make sure that your site’s structure is clear and understandable so that the crawlers can cache relevant content and rank your site higher. Also keep in mind that a few search engines prefer xml sitemaps to html ones. So make both available.
   
   
5. Images or Flash Instead of Interesting Content
   Putting important content in flash or images is a big mistake for search engine optimization, and should be avoided. Search engines cannot read content in images or flash, so if you put keyword-optimized content or product information in an image or flash presentation, crawlers will be unable to judge relevancy of information. Instead of flashy presentations, try to keep your site up to date on the latest information about your industry. Relevant and fresh content is good for search engine optimization and can boost rankings. If you are interested in putting up images, go for static ones and give them relevant image tags.
   
   
6. Omitting Important Keywords from Title, Description and Meta Tags
   Don’t ignore the importance of keywords in the title, description and Meta tags of the site. SEO experts will tell you that search engine optimization without keywords in the backend is useless. Search engines sort through description, title and Meta tags to decide the relevancy of the website; the tags tell search engines what the website is all about. Including keywords in the Meta tags is the most important aspect of search engine optimization, without which search ranking will not improve.
   

A lot of people believe that search engine optimization is a do-it-yourself exercise but the fact remains that a professionally trained and experienced SEO expert can drive results faster and better than you. Consider the SEO expert as your marketing partner and see for yourself how your website is turned into an effective marketing tool for your business. A professionally managed site will be much more effective than the trial and error methodology for SEO you will undertake on your own.

5 Search Engine Optimization Myths

Despite the rising importance of search engine optimization for higher search rankings and increased targeted web traffic on your website, one finds many prevalent myths about SEO. If you are looking to hire a SEO consultant, being aware such myths will help you make an informed decision. Mentioned below are the most prominent myths related to search engine optimization:

Myth # 1 - Reputed SEO Consultants Can Guarantee # 1 Search Ranking

Let’s put this on record: No SEO consultant or company can guarantee # 1 ranking in any of the search engines. This is because the search engine algorithms are constantly changing and companies like Google and Yahoo also frequently change the techniques for rankings. The SEO consultant does not have any direct control over the results of the search engines and therefore the only thing he can do is update your site according to the constantly changing search algorithms. No one besides the search engine companies themselves can claim to know the complete algorithm; guarantees for # 1 position are hence impossible to give. Instead of looking for a guaranteed # 1 position, you should concentrate on search engine optimization for your website in the best possible way. Hiring an experienced SEO consultant, however, can improve your website ranking considerably. Checking out the previous projects of the SEO consultant may help you select the right one.

Myth # 2 - Only the Home Page needs to be optimized for Good Search Rankings

Many business owners believe that if they write keyword-optimized content for only their home page, their work is done. This is a big mistake for website optimization. In any search engine optimization campaign, each page of your website needs to be optimized for their respective keywords. Search engine crawlers or robots are likely to visit any page of your website randomly. Experienced SEO consultants will advise you that if all pages of your website are keyword-optimized, your search ranking will get a huge boost.

Myth # 3 - In-house SEO is Cheaper than a SEO Consultant

In-house SEO experts are actually a costlier option to hiring a SEO consultant. A company providing SEO services has a whole team to dedicate to your project. Rather than spend space, time and money on hiring one in house SEO help, a SEO consultant is cost-effective, efficient and experienced to handle all your search engine optimization requirements.

Myth # 4 - Once Top Search Rank is Achieved, Search Engine Optimization Can be Stopped

Search engine optimization is not a one-time process; it’s an ongoing one. Once top search ranking is achieved, time and effort should be spent to retain that ranking. There are thousands of websites competing for top ranking in major search engines and if you stop search engine optimization, they may overtake your website ranking. Your organic SEO efforts should also be bolstered through additional efforts like blogs, articles and newsletters and paid means like Pay Per Click etc.

Myth # 5 - PPC is More Effective than Organic SEO

If your search engine optimization is for a short period, say one to four months, Pay Per Click is a good option for you. However, if you want high visibility for a longer term than that, organic SEO is the way to go. Also remember that web users have long ago figured out the difference between sponsored ads and organic results. They trust organic searches and find them more useful for relevant content. So organic SEO efforts should never be replaced with paid means; they are the best way to grab the attention of users.

Having put all these SEO myths to rest will hopefully have cleared some of your doubts. If you are aware of these facts while hiring an SEO consultant, you will be able to hire the most suitable one and get ahead with your search engine optimization campaign.

Promote your Website with SEO and Social Media Marketing in 5 Easy Steps

If you’re an established setup or a startup company heavily dependent on your website and internet marketing to sell your product/services, you need to pay close attention to search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing. Both can be a crucial factor in the success of your business. When combined with social media marketing, SEO can create a strong online presence and can attract loads of targeted traffic towards your website.

Social media marketing, till a very short time ago, was a relatively unknown term. It has exploded on the online arena recently as a means to reach the millions of prospective customers who look for information online. Youtube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. are becoming popular means of social media marketing for businesses. Some time ago, we covered the topic of using social media marketing as a tool to reach target customers. Some of the highlights from that post were:

• The concept of Social Media Marketing has exploded into the business scenario recently as the best way to communicate with target audience as well as for Search Engine Optimization. It is the most popular concept in vogue for internet marketing today.
  
  
• Compared to the millions of consumers businesses can reach through the internet, traditional marketing methods can only reach a limited number of people.
  
  
• Today companies, in addition to website optimization and SEO, are embracing social media marketing to reach its consumers.

Let us now move on to the 5 steps through which you can get great traffic to your website.

Drive Traffic to your Website through Search Engine Optimization

Once you have designed and developed your website, it is important to make it visible to the online users. In addition to having great products and services, you will need Search Engine Optimization to popularize your website. One simple tactic for starting SEO for your website is having a keyword-rich domain and integrating those keywords in the titles of your web pages. All you have to do then is to use the primary keyword and keyword phrases in the content you put up on your website. If your content is new and interesting and has a decent keyword density, the search engines will find you. After you optimize your website, you can consider other options like link building and paid forms of advertising like Pay Per Clicks etc. If taking care of all these details sounds tedious, you can hire a SEO expert.

Blog about Subjects Close to you

Blogs have become the informal way of connecting with the customers for many companies. They serve the dual purpose of making the company visible online as well as scoring points with the customers. Setting up your own blog is a simple and free process. You can get your own blog set up and ready for posts in three clicks on blogger.com, a site owner by Google. Updating a blog frequently and consistently with interesting information can help you interact with customers and gain a valuable insight to their likes and dislikes. With this feedback, you can improve your products or services in accordance to the taste of the customers. Optimize your blog posts a little for search engine optimization and voila, your blog will assist you in not only online community building but also driving valuable web traffic to your site.

Use the Social Media Network

As said before, social media marketing is the emerging trend to reach out to customers of all types. With millions of users hooked on to social media sites such as Youtube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. these websites are a great way to make your own network of dedicated followers. Create an attractive profile on one of these websites and keep friends, family and business associates updated on what’s happening in your business. Links of your business website on these profiles will also help in Search Engine Optimization for your website.

Make your Network and be Helpful

Just making your profile and posting updates is not enough to popularize your business on the social media network. You need to interact with other users, ask questions, and in some cases, answer them. Such interaction will give you crucial feedback which can be integrated into your business. Only if you give users some useful information and be helpful to them will they be interested in what is happening with you.

Keep Updating your Website with New Features

Lastly, keep updating your website with unique features which will interest the users so that they keep coming back to use them. Regularly updating your website also helps with search engine optimization and helps better search ranking of your website.

These 5 steps of search engine optimization and social media marketing will help you create a strong web presence and impression on your potential customers. But it is also important to remember the basics: people want great products or services for reasonable prices from a knowledgeable and trustworthy vendor. Having an ideal combination of these factors is a sure-shot way to success.

Ethical Search Engine Optimization: Some Important Dos and Don’ts

Search engine optimization is witnessing a boom in this recession. As more businesses turn to the internet to reach the millions potential customers, website optimization is becoming more popular as we speak. As success of one company and failure of its competitor is now associated with the company’s reach to its customers, SEO services are the priority on yearly marketing plans of most companies.

But in this rush to improve rankings through search engine optimization, it’s quite easy to make a wrong decision or opt for wrong methods. If unethical methods are used for short term gains, your website loses out in the long term, with the possibility of being black listed by the search engines.

What most people are unaware of is how to recognize these unethical SEO practices. The following are some points to guide you.

Black VS White

Black Hat SEO tries to trick search engines in giving websites a higher search ranking despite irrelevant content. It is the methodology which uses loopholes and unethical tactics to achieve a high search ranking in a short period of time. Black Hat SEO is not unheard of, and ideally, you should stay away from it. But it has one big tempting factor: higher ranking in a short period of time. Why bother about other factors, right? WRONG! Using wrong methods for SEO might sound the death knell for your website. Search engines are constantly looking to block sites which use Black Hat SEO. If your website is found, it may be banned or blacklisted from the search engines.

On the other hand, White Hat SEO is tougher, but it’s the most appropriate way to optimize. An ethical SEO consultant has to work very hard to keep up with the constantly changing search engine algorithms. There is constant work and the website is gradually improved via keywords, rich content and site navigation to meet the ethical demands of the search engines. This process takes time, but if you have the patience and persistence of going through it, White Hat SEO will give better results for a long time. You will get results through these ethical means in an average of three to four months.

Recognize Ethical SEO Experts

Always beware of SEO consultants promising #1 ranking in search engines within a few weeks; it is not possible. Also know that the search engine algorithm is ever changing; no SEO expert can claim to know it completely and accurately. Do not fall for the ‘hundreds of link exchanges’ or ‘thousands of article postings’ line most unprofessional SEO consultants use. Bulk link exchanges or article postings do not help unless they are relevant.

Be Patient

If the search engine optimization of your site is taking more time than you expected, it is a good sign; a short cut doesn’t always win. Be patient with SEO if it takes some time, because it could mean that work is in progress on the right track. Improving the visibility of your website involves a lot of backend work, with rich content, easy site navigation and other factors involved. Your SEO consultant has to work constantly so that the site’s ranking improves. And organic SEO always takes some time. Remember, it will benefit you in the long term.

Be Aware of the Process

Knowing the ethical and unethical means to search ranking, you have to be able to identify which method is being used for your website’s search engine optimization. Keep yourself abreast of the process undertaken by the SEO expert you hire. Ask questions and interact with him as much as possible. This way, you can keep tabs on the methodology being used to optimize your site.

In Conclusion…

Avoid SEO consultants who:

• Guarantee #1 ranking within a few weeks


• Try finding loopholes to lure search engines


• Claim knowing the search engine algorithm


• Talk of bulk link exchange or article posting at hundreds of sites


• Refuse to give you details of how they work


• Suggest stuffing keywords into meta tags and content


• Recommend permanent redirects

Use Social Media Marketing to Improve your SEO Ranking

Do you know that some of the biggest companies are asking their marketing departments to spend more time on websites like LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Facebook etc? If the statistics of 2008 are to be believed, the online social media commands the highest time and attention of youngsters today. The young generation loves it as it is an innovative way to connect and communicate with people all around the world. People’s social as well as professional communication is undertaking a change as they discuss everything from Oscars to Obama on websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace. Social media is hence a new category of internet which is a huge crowd-puller. Brand marketers use it as a source for targeted marketing to put across their messages, get feedback on their brand and sales promotion campaigns.

The concept of Social Media Marketing has exploded into the business scenario as the best way to communicate with target audience as well as for Search Engine Optimization. It is the most popular concept in vogue for internet marketing today. With even the smallest businesses going online and tech savvy for a better reach to their consumers, this is hardly surprising. Compared to the millions of consumers businesses can reach through the internet, traditional marketing methods can only reach a limited number of people. Companies, in and SEO, are embracing social media marketing to reach its consumers.

What Social Media Marketing is…

The term “social media” is given to the collection of online mediums through which users communicate on issues they are interested in. The most popular social media are said to be websites like LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc. These websites have forums created and maintained by users, rather than the company itself or its employees. Social media marketing is a way of utilizing this vast network of social media for marketing purposes. Initially used as a tool for interaction, social media is now looked upon as a medium by businessmen to get their message across to their target consumers. Also known as “social internet marketing”, “social network marketing” and “social marketing”, this concept is becoming a preferred tool for businessmen looking for publicity. In essence, social media marketing combines the word-of-mouth publicity with the millions of internet users. It is used for various purposes like increasing online presence, inbound linking, brand awareness and positive feedback from consumers.

How it Works…

Social media is based on conversations between people of the things they like, with recommendations being passed along if they come across anything interesting. If you have a blog with regular postings of interesting topics, you can promote them on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc. If users like your blog, they will pass it along to friends. This way, the information about your company gets passed along by users who like it, to people in their contact. There is a level of trust established between the two users, hence when one recommends your blog to another, it works better than any advertisement ever can.

But your work is not limited only to submitting your blog. After submitting your post at these social bookmarking sites, you need to interact with users with similar interests as yours. You can start building a network by checking out other posts, commenting on them and interacting with the person who has posted that blog. It would be a mistake if you keep on submitting your blog post and expect others to find it. By popularizing your blog this way, you can get inbound links as well as brand awareness for your business. The inbound links, in turn, will also improve your SEO ranking through organic SEO. In addition to blogs, you can also give links to interesting websites and updated information on various issues.

The key to making social media marketing work is generating interest in the content or topic being covered. Quality content is always stressed on, but it plays a vital role in the success or failure of a social media marketing campaign. Users browsing the social bookmarking sites are looking for innovative, new and interesting content, which they then will pass on to their friends. If the content on your blog is uninteresting or old, it will not spread to other users, and they will eventually stop following your blog.

Who Can Use SMM…

Not only large business houses with a pool of resources to dedicate to marketing, but smaller businesses are also starting to use social media as a marketing tool. We hence hear of food vans using Twitter to let followers know which area they will be touring this month, while established banks and others have introduced interactive blogs to let users know of its history. Any business with an internet connection can utilize SMM for business development. It is a better option to putting up ads online and is better accepted due to the creditability of recommendations made by known people.

A Word of Caution…

The message that you want to convey to people in the social media is not controlled by you, but by the users. People are just as likely to complain about a lousy product as recommend it if it was good. It has to be a 2-way interaction, with you giving out useful information in order to get a positive feedback. If the delicately-balanced trust of the users is shattered, they might spam you out of their circle or give you negative feedback.

Social media marketing is a tough concept and requires a lot of time and effort to become successful. It takes time and commitment to develop contacts, trust and respect with the online community and the results are obtained in a long term. If you don’t have the time to put into social media marketing, you can hire an SEO expert or SEO consultant to maintain your online presence through social media marketing.