SEO Tactics That Work

Marketing Sherpa just released this chart on the marketing effectiveness a various SEO efforts. Although their reports are written for B2B, we can use the same information for Business to Consumer (B2C).

Although keyword research is the foundation for all SEO, and should be at the top of the effectiveness portion of the chart, the effort expended is on the low side:

It’s surprising that respondents did not indicate that keyword research required a high level of effort. In order to conduct effective keyword research that will drive results of SEO campaigns, a considerable amount of effort in research is required. This may be an indication of organizations executing incomplete keyword research.

Keyword Research – The Foundation

It’s very easy to conduct a quick review of keywords via Google’s keyword tool. However, that keyword tool was recently changed and doesn’t give results that are as trustworthy as they may have been in the past. Additionally, just because a keyword gets a lot of searches does not mean it will convert well or at all for your product or service offering.

My favorite tool for keyword research is Market Samurai, which includes competition analysis and monetization among many other valuable tools. You can get a free copy (does not include all modules) by clicking on the link.

Blogging for Fresh Content

I found it interesting that businesses perceive blogging as being very high in effort but low in effectiveness, yet developing new content is perceived as highly effective. Including a blog on a site means adding new content on a regular basis (hello). It’s content that gets crawled regularly, and can rank on it’s own merits.

Businesses are missing out on a huge source of ongoing, targeted, fresh content opportunities if they don’t include a blog or utilize their existing blog effectively.

Inbound Link Building

Ongoing link building is perceived as a high effort, highly effective tactic. Although some smaller, local businesses can get by with fewer links, those with a lot of competition must keep inbound link building work going all the time in order to get and maintain their rankings. My company has a department dedicated to inbound link building for our clients.

The link building work we perform is predicated on keyword research – aha – and now we’re back to the value of spending more time on keyword research to improve SEO!

© Kay Frenzer-Zeeh - visit SEO Diva for more great content.

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5 Steps That Will Make Your Site Immune to Algorithm Changes

Are you alarmed about the recent Google algorithm changes?

Here’s the deal in a nutshell – follow the rules and you won’t have to worry about algorithm changes and updates. 99% of the time they only affect websites that are trying to get rankings by cheating in one way or another, or that are so poorly designed and optimized that they seem spammy to search engines.

It pays to do things the right way. Follow these 5 steps and you won’t have to worry about changing algorithms:

1. Build a site that is valuable for visitors
   
   Check your navigation, content, photos, forms and landing pages


2. Ensure that your code is search engine friendly
   
   Review your titles, descriptions, content, alt tags and contextual links


3. Make it easy for visitors to convert
   
   Make certain your phone number is easy to find, contact form works, your shopping cart works smoothly to completion, your download links aren’t broken


4. Build links the right way
   
   Write meaningful articles that are interesting to read and add value, then syndicate them for keyword links as well as encouraging potential customers to visitor your site


5. Post to your blog on a regular basis
   
   Keep it fresh and interesting with valuable information for the reader, and avoid sales pitches

This can be a considerable amount of work, but if you’re serious about your business you’ll do it. If you’re not SEO savvy, hire someone who is. You want a website that is the best it can be – ranking well in search engines and converting visitors to sales.

© Kay Frenzer-Zeeh - visit SEO Diva for more great content.

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Camera Takes Pictures That Allow For Focus Adjustment AFTER The Photograph Is Taken

Note: Example photograph you can manipulate yourself after the jump. Single-click to change focus, double-click to zoom.

Unlike a regular camera, the Lytro Light Field Camera allegedly gathers ALL the light information coming through the lens, allowing a user to manipulate the focus/color of a shot on a computer long after the picture was taken, effectively making it possible to take amazing looking photographs with absolutely zero skill or coordination. *Sits back and waits for the inevitable 'I AM TEH L337 PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!11' Facebook albums to start popping up*

The secret behind the Lytro camera is a new type of sensor that gathers much more information about the light coming into the camera than the sensors found on all other types of digital cameras. Rather than record a finite amount of information about the light in a photograph, as is the case with other camera sensors, the Lytro sensor records the entire "light field," which is made up of "all the light rays in a scene," according to the Lytro website. This includes the color, intensity and direction of the rays of light. Other cameras simply record all the light as a single amount of light.


With this vast amount of data, the focus of a photo can be fully adjusted to match a photographer's desires, using a computer, in the same way one might use Photoshop to adjusts hue, brightness or contrast on a regular photograph. This means never having to worry about whether auto-focus centered on the right part of a picture, and it makes capturing fast-motion much easier.

Admittedly, cool technology -- but it still breaks my heart a little to know everybody and their grandma (ESPECIALLY grandma) will be able to do things that once took some actual knowledge and skill. Like -- what's that other modern example I'm think of? Oh right, MUSIC. *autotunes fart, makes millions*

If you have Flash installed, hit the jump for a picture you can manipulate yourself.
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