A weekend project…
So, I’m assuming that everyone here has at least heard the term SEO, or more to the point “Local SEO”. Today you can find a plethora of companies offering their local seo services for $250 – $1k depending on size and scope. I’m not here to sell you a local SEO package, this is a genuine DIY Saturday project for your small business. I’ll do my best to explain all of the things you can do for your site and how to implement them.
First Things First
Before you start an SEO project, you need to make sure you have a way to measure your results. For the sake of keeping everything on this list free and as easy as possible we’ll be using Google Analytics. I suggest starting here http://www.google.com/analytics/discover_analytics.html. You can get as indepth with this guide as you feel comfortable with. But really to get this whole thing started you need:
by David Brown on December 13, 2011 Comments: more
It’s a story I’ve had to tell many times in my career as a Google Real Estate Professional. So much so, that I believe that it deserves it’s own post so I can selfishly reference it in the future. Often times we have clients come to us that are 100% reliant on PPC (Google AdWords, or any other pay-per-click model). And they ask us ‘How can you help us? We’ve heard Organic SEO is expensive’. Well, it’s not cheap…seldom in life are great things ‘cheap’. What most people never take the time to equate for themselves is that PPC is the equivalent of RENTING your sites ranking spot. And Organic rankings are BUYING a home on Park Place!
Rent vs. Own
by David Brown on December 2, 2011 Tags: Organic SEO, PPC Comments: 0
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I know we all have a lot to be thankful for around the Shade Tree. We are grateful for our Family, Friends, and all of the blessings we’ve received this year! Niceties out of the way I wanted to leave you all with something to think about over the break. I know it’s hard to think when Turkey is involved…I plan on getting good and stuffed, so much so that I have to undo my pants as I half sleep / half watch the Cowboys & 49er’s games, comfortably nestled in my over sized lazyboy.
by David Brown on November 23, 2011 Comments: 0
I know that there are many of you that would love to rank for those coveted head terms for the traffic. Who’s with me there? Yeah. I’ll take that traffic. But does that traffic mean anything?
When building a keyword list, conventional wisdom in the industry says it’s better to come up with this huge list of less frequently searched terms than a list of a few hugely popular phrases. But is this really the case?
SEO companies will typically try to discourage you from ranking for those head terms. We’ve been guilty of this at times, but for the reason that we believe those terms will come around based on what we do anyway, so we should focus on the terms that will immediately show results.
by Brian Mark on November 21, 2011 Tags: Head terms, Keywords, Long tail terms Comments: 0
Wow! What a morning already… I like most of you other web geeks don’t get our news in the traditional sense. My Dad still gets a newspaper thrown at his front porch every morning, while I follow a trusted band of nerds & geeks for my news. Believe it or not I get the breaking news often times before local news does, and then there’s time where I am a bit behind the curve. Today is one of those days unfortunately. Todd Mintz on Google + had a post up that said “I need your help–please. Call your congressperson?” from Matt Cutts. Whom I’ve never seen ask for help! This must be big – so I race over there to find about about SOPA… This is just depressing, and so so wrong. I’ll quit rambling but ask that you watch the short video and check out the infographic. Then head over to American Sensorship to see what you can do to help!
by David Brown on November 16, 2011 Comments: 1
No really… save your money.
“If saving money were as important to us as most advertisers believe, there would be no such thing as convenience stores. We would cook more meals at home, and Federal Express would not exist.” ~ The Wizard of Ads
Last night, my before sleep reading came from Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads where I was giving the book a second time through. *sidenote – if you’re in advertising of any sort… read the book! When I came across chapter 37, The Six Tugs-of-War: Time vs. Money, I had an “Aha! Moment.”
The book goes on to discuss shopping, time spent in malls decreasing, and the introduction of ‘category killers’ like Toys “R” Us, Home Depot, Best Buy and the like taking the lions share of business from the malls. After all, who wants to spend all day traipsing across the mall looking for a blue widget when you know the ‘Blue Widget Super Store’ has exactly what you’re looking for right up front by the cashiers…
by David Brown on November 9, 2011 Comments: 0
We’ve been very closed mouthed as of late, and that’s not like me. It’s hard to explain how all this came about, but I’ll try.. let’s just say for the last 2 years Brian and I had our focus ‘Shifted’. We were going to launch a great big SEO / SEM SaaS company over at shift.com but; best laid plans of mice and men…(*I’m omitting the rest of the story until I can legally let it all out) – now that we’re back Brian and I had to take a long look at what had become of our Firm.
Re-Branding:
We love our logo, and the story behind the Shade Tree (obviously) we also believe it’s ‘brandable’. We still love Word Press… however over the last few years it seems that anyone and everyone has the ability to push a button and create a WP site. We’re a marketing company and we want to set ourselves apart from the crowd a little – not necessarily a ‘purple cow’ but it is HTML5 Validated! (I know it’s not that big a deal – just let me have my geek moment).
by David Brown on November 3, 2011 Tags: business, rebranding, seo consulting Comments: 0
Over the last few months I’ve worked with a fairly diverse spread of verticals and quickly realized how little many people know about their own websites. Most instances I have worked from the onset of the project doing work like reviewing the initial keyword research and looking at internal linking structure. Typically when we ask a customer if they even know what the are targeting as far as key words and phrases, they spit out the name of their biggest seller, which is a good guess but not usually what can be seen when analyzing their website.
Often times when requesting AwStats or Google Analytics access the customer is not only mystified, but almost offended that there is an application that can track the traffic and sales on their site. I have a tendency to believe that this behavior stems from a lack of understanding of what is going on behind ones monitor and router. People need to remember that there are sophisticated systems in place that define their web presence and overall success online.
by Alex on September 1, 2010 Tags: how to audit your website, SEO Audit, SEO Audit Cycle Comments: 0
One of the most simple and helpful ways of keeping your site relevant and ranking is blogging. Simple as it may seem, blogging has vast potential and is one of the most useful tools you can utilize to help your business’s site and your web presence thrive.
Blogging is a great way to show off your expertise in a personal format and keep your customers informed. Instead of launching a large advertising campaign which could have an impersonal and/or corporate feel to it, a simple blog post may be all you need to get your word out. Plus, it’s cheap. You get to share your expertise with a large audience for less than a traditional media campaign.
by Tristan on August 24, 2010 Tags: blog, business Comments: 0
To those business owners from the Triassic who haven’t created accounts at social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, know that these services have become a valid part of business advertising. Tried and true posting tactics work well here and can increase profits and brand-ability. In addition, the less employed methods of brand research using social media are equally as valuable and often more lucrative.
I like to use YourOpenBook to track mentions on Facebook of products my clients sell. If I find a Facebook user who is mentioning a product that interests either myself or the firm, I’ll log the mention into an Excel document, and record it. This allows me to provide the client with a list of people they can strike up conversation, and solicit a “Like” from.
Again this post is expected to be read by newbies to social media, so those who are reading with experience, take the time to yawn.
by Alex on August 17, 2010 Tags: facebook, Social media Comments: 0
