What do you really know about SEO? - ISSUE 19 - 1/23/12

Whether you are an "expert" in Search Engine Optimization or an amateur, this blog is for you.  As always, I'm trying to grow my knowledge of being a professional marketer and I'm still amazed at all the new things I learn that I thought I knew everything about.  I thought I knew what the most important aspects to SEO were and I thought I was doing everything right.  But, even after all that, I wasn't seeing the results in website traffic that I knew I should be.  So, just as you may have guessed, I sought out the information that would allow me to produce the results I should have been producing.

Now that you have your website up and running, how do you maintain and grow your excellent store front?  What on Earth are people looking for that will lead them to find you?!  You hear people saying all the time that it's all about "getting ranked high in the search engines."  What does that mean?  It's simple.  Everyday people all over the world are looking up information on the Internet.  Google uses their very sophisticated algorithmic formulas to determine which websites are the most relevant to the questions people are posing within the search box.

Obviously, your next question will be, "how do I do that?!"  This time, my answer will be... "It's not so simple."  You will have to work very hard and consistently to grow your business and your following online.  You must never stop because within a very short period of time of doing so, you will be obsolete in the world of the search engines. Believe it or not, a very large factor of your relevance is how fresh your content is.  By keeping your information current and up-to-date, you will always be at the forefront of your competition.

Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor to your website.  Let's say you are someone who has never seen your website before and let's say for example, it looks like the website hasn't been updated since 1998.  What is the first thing you are going to do?  That's right!  You're going to push the BACK button and move onto the next because you believe there's no way the information is going to be relevant to you.  In case you didn't know, the BACK button is the third most used feature on an Internet browser.  You want your visitors using this button only when necessary.

Now that you're updating your website on a regular basis, the next aspect to SEO that's most important for you to focus on is who trusts you and perceives you as an authoritative figure.  In other words, the more people that link to you and your website, the more relevant you will be to the search engines.  Link-building is not an easy task and will take a lot of work on your part, but it will pay off ten-fold in the long run.

As a whole, there are only a small percentage of people out there to assist you with link-building but they have the most impact on your success.  People link to other websites for six primary reasons: anger, pride, excitement, surprise, envy, and sharing.  It's your job to determine what message you want the public to see, but you always need to be thinking about this when you are maximizing your website.  Regardless of the quality of your content, no one is going to share it unless they have a reason to and/or it benefits them.

Following is a list of on-page correlations based off importance:

Highest - Lowest

1. Website URL
2. Title
3. Body
4. Alt Text
5. HTML
6. Bold
7. Meta Description
8. Emphasize
9. Meta Keywords
10. Italics
11. H1, H2, H3
12. Out Anchors

Now that you have a little more information about SEO, and you know what is most important to focus on, you should start to see results within a short period of time, but remember, you must always be updating to stay competitive.  

Why You Should Incorporate SEO Into Your Website - ISSUE 15 - 1/12/12

Whether you are an online marketer or just a business owner who wants to drive business to her website, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is imperative. People are utilizing Search Engines more than ever before and if you aren't maximizing this, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars of business. In fact, SEO is the most effective online marketing tactic for generating conversions.

In case you are wondering, the definition of SEO by Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing states that it is "a set of methodologies that make it easier for search engines to find, index, categorize and rank web content.

Most people are familiar with search engines such as Google or Bing, but do you know how the search engines work? To sum it up, when you visit Google, for example, you are actually seeing a copy of the web, and not the actual web. Google downloads the entire Internet on a regular basis and indexes the information onto their servers all over the world. After they download the information, they use their algorithms to sort the information and place the most relevant information to your search query at the top of the list. If your website can't be seen by Google or your information is not relevant to what people are searching for, then very few people, if any, will be able to find your company's website.

To ensure you are making your website search engine friendly, the following is a basic SEO Checklist:

• Content is reachable by search engines
• Content is added often/periodically
• Content is organized logically - themes/categories
• Keywords exist in content and internal text links
• Quantity of quality sites linking in
• Relevant and Authoritative
• Get links coming in to specific products and services
• Monitor, adjust

After you have gone through the SEO checklist, you must also spend a considerable amount of time optimizing your website by writing valuable and relevant content, brainstorming keywords for the three parts of the sales cycle (Research, Consider, Buy), and then by doing your own research to leverage and maximize your keywords so that you can be placed on the top of the search engine results.
It's very important that when brainstorming for keywords that you get into the minds of your customers rather than guessing. Here are a few examples of how you might do that:

• Brainstorm based on solutions and customer needs
• Interview or survey customers
• Review current web analytics
• Poll sales and customer service staff
• Review competitor content

There are multiple different facets to optimizing your website for the search engines and the process is painstaking and never-ending. If you haven't already, it's highly recommended to hire a professional so that you can focus on other areas of your business, unless, of course, you are a professional web designer and online marketer and enjoy doing it. Visit our website to learn more about how we will be able to assist you with accomplishing your goals and to ensure your success. www.suitedmarketing.com
Information is constantly changing and if you don't change with it, you will find yourself out of business before you have time to blink.

If you're the do-it-yourselfer and would like to learn more about SEO, I highly recommend for you to watch the following video by one of the experts in the field.


SEO Crash Course to Get Found (GF102)

Why is Marketing Your Business so Crucial? ISSUE 9 - 5/5/11

In today's world, the small business owner rules. However, not all small business owners are created equal and the only way to prove that to the rest of the world is through Marketing. Marketing allows you to build value, brand awareness, and trust with the public. How will they know who you are unless they can see you? If you don't constantly market your business to your potential clientele, you will be lost in a sea of options. You will not be able to set yourself apart and you will not be successful... guaranteed! Marketing is the single-most important aspect to developing a successful business.

As you may already be aware, large companies are the most obvious big-time marketers because they have the resources to create brand awareness by positioning themselves in front of your eyeballs every opportunity they can whether through email marketing, web ads, television commercials, print ads (magazines, newspapers, periodicals, etc.), billboards, mobile applications, social networking (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace), direct mailers, radio spots, sporting events, and much, much, more.

Everywhere you look, you see an Ad enticing to buy something that you "can't live without!" In fact, the average American is bombarded with about 5GB of information daily. That's the equivalent of 35,000 web pages of information per day. If you aren't staying at the forefront of your clientele's mind, you will be spit out and tossed out the other end, especially since most small business owners don't have the budget necessary to compete in the big leagues.

No need to worry, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You don't need a million dollar marketing budget to create brand awareness. Instead, you need knowledge, expertise, and an investment of your time.

Some examples of marketing and creating brand awareness are as follows:

1. Write articles related to your business building trust and value for your clientele
• Your articles should offer tips and tricks to enrich people's lives.
2. Talk to as many people as you can
• People will do business with people whom they know and trust.
3. Partnerships and link exchange
• Look for ways to partner with other small business owners in a link exchange referring business to one another.
4. Join forums and discussion boards
• Offer high-value assistance to those people looking to solve problems related to your business
5. Create how-to videos
• You're the expert.  Teach people how to do what you do best.  
6. Conduct workshops
• Put together a free workshop related to your business and invite people from your community.
7. Write a Press Release or have a newspaper write an article about you
• Magazines and Newspapers are always looking for a good story.  Let the public know who you are and what you stand for.

There are endless possibilities.  You just have to be creative.  There are many, many ways to get your name and/or company name out to the public.  We are always here to help and always willing to assist.  All you have to do is reach out to us and we will guide you through the process.

The world is going through the largest paradigm shift in human history. You are living in the most exciting times known to man. Technology is rapidly changing and altering the way people live their lives, and especially conduct business. Big players such as Blockbuster, Borders, and even Circuit City are getting kicked to the curb and Internet startups such as Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu are becoming the big names in today's digital world with more emerging companies on the rise.

The companies who failed did so because they failed to change. The emerging companies are run by young, bright, and talented stars. If you want to become successful, you should mirror the successful companies who may or may not be a competitor. Mindfully watch and observe their behaviors and study each and every move they make.

We are one of those companies. Please visit www.suitedmarketing.com to learn more about our company, educational products, services, and promotions and our What We Do page for more information.







www.suitedmarketing.com
shane.russell@suitedmarketing.com

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Why You Should Quit Your Job & Start Your Own Business - Issue 2 - 12/22/09

Every day I would wake up more sick and tired than the next. Although I was a little sick and tired from the winter weather and the season, I'm was more sick and tired of working for someone else.

The thought of going to work for someone else every day made me sick to my stomach. I woke up in the morning, got ready for work, and headed out the door. I'm was always in a good mood when I'd leave the house and was away from work, but as soon as I walked in the door at my job, the happiness subsided and the frustrations arose.

The following situations are not intended to be complaints (because I did something about it), but rather situations you can relate to in order to motivate you to quit your job. I'm very confident that everyone reading this article has experience similar situations in the past.

Situation 1

Even though I worked very hard and did a great job month-after-month, I still had my managers riding me every day to do better because nothing was ever good enough for our company. As employees, we were constantly scrutinized.

One day I got so sick and tired of it and not being paid the money I knew I was worth. I finally told my boss to get off my back because he was constantly breathing down my neck and there was no need to ride me the way he was. I've always been a very self-motivated person, and the way he approached me was hands down the worst way to get someone motivated to do a better job. He told me that if I didn't change my attitude, I could go home. For fear of not having a job the next day, I changed my attitude and went about my business.

Situation 2

My family is spread throughout the country and my boss told me that I couldn't go home for Thanksgiving nor Christmas because I HAD to work the following days. If I wasn't at work bright and early the day after the holidays, I would be out of a job. If it weren't for a few great friends who knew I was far away from home, I would have had to sit at home alone on Thanksgiving & Christmas.

That was the last straw!

I had to sacrifice a ton of fun, friendships, and enjoyment of life for the greater good. I made a commitment to myself that I would not quit pursuing my dreams until I was able to quit my job and live the life I have always wanted to live. I had to put my life on hold for a short period of time which was very difficult. My friends constantly asked me to go out and have fun. If I didn't go out, they would get very upset. Finally, I had to ask them to be supportive of my goals.

I received a lot of grief in the beginning because most people couldn't comprehend the thought of working for themselves and what it takes to be successful. Most people have been programmed from an early age to work 40 hours a week for 40 years for someone else, but not me. I was re-programmed in my early 20s and vowed I would quit my job before I was 30. Of course, I wasn't able to before then because I never sacrificed enough.

If you really want to quit your job and accomplish the goals you have set for yourself, you must sacrifice and become obsessed with your business. You must become well known in your business community and be the first person every potential customer or client thinks about when they are ready to purchase the product or service you provide.

IIn my opinion, obsession is success' predecessor. To quit your job and become successful, you must wake up early in the morning before anyone else is awake and work on your business; you must get off work in the evening and come home to work on your business; you must talk to everyone you run into about your business; you must pass out business cards to everyone you talk to; you must write down all your thoughts and ideas; you must share your expertise with the world; you must subscribe to my blog; and lastly, your must stop what you are doing right now, and ask yourself whether you are doing what you love.

Whether you are doing what you love or not, make the right decision today for a better tomorrow.

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