There are many advertising options available to businesses who wish to use the internet as their advertising medium.  One of the most often used methods is PPC or Pay Per Click.  PPC can be effective if used right - it is not the right option for those businesses that are short on operating capital.  Those companies that are short on capital will need to undertake a quality SEO program.  Please keep in mind here that a good organic SEO program is crucial for all online businesses.

PPC is done right can be a good solution for companies who have an advertising budget.  A good PPC ROI plays a very important role in a PPC program and monitoring bids, keywords, conversion ratios and statistics are key in making this work.  Proper selection of keywords can target users in a relevant and timely manner.  These targeted users perform a keyword search on a search engine and if your PPC has been done properly you will drive these users to your website.    The results often result in higher profits.

What is important to remember here is that you only pay when your ad is clicked on by the search engine user.   You do not pay to have your ad show up but rather only when the user clicks on your ad.  This amount you pay was previously agreed upon during the bidding process when you set up your ad and the amount you pay for each click through can change,  That is why proper targeted keywords are so important here.  It is important to remember that PPC is a bidding process that is determined by the strength of keyword demand.

Google is expected to announce this week that they are looking for a piece of the Facebook pie.  No longer happy with the Search Engine or Cell phone business Google is now looking at adding Facebook type features to it’s Gmail platform.

Since Facebook is currently adding a “Messenger” type service to its platform Google is looking to counter that move.  Google already allows its’ Gmail users to leave short “status updates” much like Twitter and Facebook.  Google is planning on allowing these messages to aggregate, which will create a stream of notifications.

Since Gmail currently has over 150,000,000 users it will be interesting to see how this unfold over the next year or two.

Google Inc. (GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in December again saw a slight increase in their shares of the U.S. online-search market, according to market research firm comScore Inc. (SCOR).

Americans used search giant Google for 65.7% of their 14.7 billion core searches last month, up from 65.6% in November. Microsoft’s share was 10.7%, compared with 10.3% in the prior month.

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) fell 0.2 percentage point to 17.3%. Ask Network, owned by IAC/Interactive Corp. (IACI) captured 3.7%, followed by AOL Inc. (AOL) at 2.6%.

The total number of searches rose 2.1% in December from the month before.

Microsoft search-engine Bing, which launched this summer, again saw large growth in comScore’s analysis of Websites where search activity is observed. Bing’s queries jumped 6% to nearly 1.4 billion searches.

EBay Inc. (EBAY) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) also experienced gains, of 7% and 21%, respectively, in December as consumers increased their retail search activity for the holiday season.

For social networking sites, Facebook posted a 1% decline, while MySpace, owned by News Corp. (NWS, NWSA), declined 5%.

PageRank is nothing but the measure of a website’s visibility over the web. So the only way to get a higher PageRank is by getting some quality backlinks to your website. One very important factor to keep in mind is the fact that Google is against attempts made by webmasters to unnaturally increase their PageRanks.

This means Google is against link farms, link selling and any other practice which has been specifically developed to increase the PageRank of a website in an unnatural manner. Google considers such attempts as a manipulation of its ranking algorithm and can even penalize websites found guilty. Google clearly explains this on its website.

One easy way of generating links in involves searching the internet to find relevant sites that are either vertically or horizontally related and asking them for a link exchange. Links ‘brought in’ in this manner are more effective and can help successfully increase the PageRank. In addition to getting links from websites, getting links from quality directories is another way to increase your link popularity.

You can also generate inbound links through article submission and press releases among others.  You can also carry out a Link Exchange Program through your website.  We offer catered Link Exchange Programs for Point2 Agent Websites.  These can be expensive depending what the client can do vs what they need us to do.

Link Exchange Programs for Point2 Agent Websites

It looks like Google has updated the PageRank around the web.  The majority of my websites experienced significant PageRank increase…

Website Design Gal – from 0 to 2
Nancy Golliday – from 0 to 4
SEO Redefined – from 0 to 4
First Coast Designs – from 1 to 4

I was surprised to see the jumps from PR0 to PR4!!  What about you all, did you notice any changes?

Click here to check your Google PageRank!

Bercu Homes  – upgraded Point2 Agent Website, Custom Facebook Fan Page (FBML) and Wall, Active Rain Header and Background, monthly SEO/maintenance services…

1. Will the SEO service provider share its optimization techniques with you?
   Ask them for an overview of how they achieve results. If the firm won’t give you an explanation, chances are the company is trying to hide unethical techniques.
2. Is the SEO firm putting “in-house created contact forms” in your website that are hosted on their servers?
   If so, why?  Think about it.  Those are “your” leads and you hate spam as much as your viewers do – you can never guarantee that your SEO firm feels the same way.  Even if you’re participating in any “Guaranteed Lead Capture” Program with any SEO firm, it’s always best to use the forms provided by your online website platform if you’re using one.  If you need more than one recipient so your SEO firm can track leads on their end, we highly recommend www.wufoo.com  (have been using their forms since 2005) or any other online company that specializes in custom form creation – this way you’re still in complete control of your leads and prospect information – and know that names in your database are not being sold to a third party.  If you choose “anything” other than your online website platform’s form choices, you “will” have the responsibility of exporting / importing any database contacts from your form host into your online website platform database or whatever lead management database you’re using.
3. Is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) part of the SEO firm’s strategy?
   Optimization results should not rely on PPC. Performance results for organic optimization and PPC should be evaluated separately.
4. Can the SEO firm guarantee your site will not be penalized and/or removed from the search engines and directory indexes?
   By using unethical techniques, many SEO firms may produce short term results, but in the long run will end up getting a client’s website penalized or even banned from being indexed by the major search engines.
5. Does the SEO firm optimize more than your homepage – if so, how many pages?
   A good SEO firm will maximize the number of active pages on your website. It’s more work for the SEO firm, but it will produce the greatest results for YOU.
6. Does the SEO firm provide an unrealistic guarantee?
   Any SEO company that guarantees a specific position (like number one or two) on Google or Yahoo are being dishonest. It is impossible to guarantee specific positions on search engines.
7. Are automated submission tools used or are all submissions processed manually?
   Automated tools can often lead to penalization and result in your site being excluded from the search engines.
8. If the plan includes link building, is the firm using a link farm?  Or is it contracting sites individually and concentrating on link reputation more than link popularity?
   Soon websites linked to and from link farms will be penalized and banned from the major search engines.
9. Does the firm’s technique involve showing one page to the visitor and a different page to the search engines?
   If the answer is yes, then you are probably dealing with a search engine optimization provider that uses “cloaking” techniques. Many search engines specifically warn against this practice in the organizations’ terms of service. Google is particularly harsh on sites that use cloaking, and is known to remove them entirely when it finds them.  This falls under “Black Hat SEO Practices”

The great thing about Ultra Agent is that they really provide clients with a strong foundation, modern themes with the option of changes in your header at no cost!  There are some limitations, and that’s where FirstCoastDesigns.Com comes in to play.

You may not even need our services – it’s that good.  However, if you find you still want more,  FirstCoastDesigns.Com can customize your Ultra Agent website using CSS and javascript for a nominal fee.  We suggest starting with a theme provided before contacting us as Ultra Agent has nice looking themes unlike some of those other real estate website platforms out there.

You can get started with a 15-day free trial directly through Ultra Agent and if you find you want more, contact FirstCoastDesigns.Com!

Select your website theme including the layout and colors

• Add unlimited pages, unlimited links, unlimited listings, and unlimited images.
• Enable MLS Search capability using the latest IDX technology
• Select which Lead Generation tools to include in your agent website.
• Schedule Open Houses, list past sales, add virtual tours, embed slideshows, display Google Maps, search for local schools, Printable Fliers, and much more!
• Syndicate your listings to over 200 websites!

Key components of Ultra Agent real estate website designs are built for search engine optimization.  This includes full control over your metatags, title bar, image alt and title tags, as well as all your content throughout. 

Plus, all real estate agent website designs (themes) can be customized at no extra cost!  In 3 easy steps, Ultra Agent can customize any of their real estate agent website themes with your desired photos.

How Can FirstCoastDesigns.Com help?

We’ll be adding the pages for you, incorporating any widgets and lead capture tools, and making all new pages search engine friendlier – completing your website at a fraction of the cost!  We can give you a complete custom theme using CSS and javascript for a nominal fee, however, we suggest starting with a theme since Ultra Agent provides modern themes, not themes  that look very outdated like some platforms out there!

We will active your website FREE (for a limited time), complete any profile information, upload agent photo and logo, choose a theme, send header photo(s) to Ultra Agent upon your approval…and then…

Sam’s Club Members websites are powered by Innuity.  Innuity (formerly Vista) is a publicly held, Software as a Service (SaaS) company that designs, acquires and integrates applications to deliver solutions for small businesses.

FirstCoastDesigns.Com – Our role, as it has been since 2002, is to help small businesses on the Innuity website platform with customization and design services at an affordable price.

Wilging Construction
Dooley’s Florist
FirstCoastDesigns.Com
SEO Redefined
Home Is Where The Army Sends You

Innuity Website Features Include -

Customizable Templates – For a more personal feel, you can customize templates with your own graphics, colors and designs. You don’t need to know how to program to do this. And for those webmasters out there, you can completely remove the template and do a custom designed website!

Best Value (30+ features) – Many site builders don’t offer similar features at any price and those that offer features charge much extra e-mail features – layout features – shopping cart features – editing features – marketing features – password protection – and more!

Easy Editor – No complicated downloads or installs to use the built-in editor that works like your favorite word processor: bold – italics – colors – align left, center, right – bullets, lists – titles – add photos

Secure Shopping Cart – Shopping carts are often provided for an extra fee. The Innuity website builder shopping cart doesn’t cost extra yet has more features and higher product limits than other site builders. Supports 500+ products options (e.g. color, size, etc.) – Comment field (e.g. for gift card) – PayPal integration Merchant Gateway (for credit card processing) – Secure shopping cart server – Catalog lists

Easy Photo Albums – Most competitors don’t have an easy to use method of putting a collection of images on the Internet. Automatically creates the thumbnails to click for you.

Royalty-Free Image Library – choose from hundreds of images – or add your own!

Interactive Features – Usually only available in expensive custom-built websites, the Vista website builder offers “dynamic” features that let your visitors interact with your website: Custom Feedback Forms – Message Boards – Chat – and more!

Online Support – Online support is available in every section throughout your website.

Overall Ease of Use – The ease of starting and building a website is the number one reason why clients start and continue using the Vista website builder.

My Options - Easily update your account info, change design style, work with “marketing tools” – create custom forms through My Members, manage store, receive notifications, view reports, and manage your image uploads!

Working with My Site – Easily add/edit pages to your site anytime – with the Innuity website builder you can create up to 56 web pages!

Once you sign up with your Sam’s Club website, you may not even need our services, but we’re here to offer help and design services if you need it.  Enjoy your Sam’s Club website!  You’re working on a great platform!

We’ve found it!  A great flash website platform that is also search engine friendly!  We’ve been able to play around a bit and the platform allows us to enter the Google Analytics ID #, give pages Title, Description, and Keywords, and more!  So we’ll be testing it over the next couple of months and will have more updates for those who really want a flash website, but have just been too worried about the search engine friendliness.

Visit Wix.com pricing page for more information – they have sites for free as well as various hosting costs.

Check it out for yourself and create your own FREE flash website for starters!   Visit our new flash website – we will be using this website as our “experimentation lab” for trying new design elements!

One of the most important choices you’ll make when building your website marketing plan is the choice of  keyword phrases you’ll target.  Choose a keyword phrase that is too competitive and you’ll often end up frustrated when trying to break the top 25 results.  Choose a keyword phrase that’s too unique and you may find that no one actually uses that for their searches.

Below is the process by which I go about determining a keyword phrase.  This process has served our clients well.  Remember, the key to a successful website is driving targeted traffic to your website for a specific reason and then, once the traffic comes, achieving your goal at the highest level possible.  This means that rankings mean nothing if they don’t drive users that convert.  Your keyword phrase has to relate to what you are actually trying to accomplish or people will just click on the back button and go away.  

When analyzing keyword phrases start by trying this:

Write down your goal.  Phrase it as the response to a question.  People who are using the search engines are looking for an answer to their question.  When someone has arthritis pain, for example, they don’t type in ‘arthritis pain’ they most likely type in ‘relieving arthritis pain’ or ‘arthritis pain relief’.   What are people asking when they are looking for you?

Create 5-15 terms that reflect the above.  Then go to a few search engines and type in these terms.  Review who comes up and then pick out the companies that are your competition.  In your browser, view their source and see what keywords they target (this doesn’t mean that you should use those terms – you’re just looking to make a complete list).

Print the top 25 search results for the top 5 to 15 terms you have.  Then review the total number of sites that are returned, the number of your competition present in the top 25 and your ability to convert users who found you and came to your site using that term.

Other things to consider:

If you are selling on the Internet consider longer and more specific keyword phrases.  Research shows that people who buy from websites often found the site using a four to five word keyword phrase.  People who use shorter phrases are often just browsing.  You do not have to make just one keyword phrase choice.  However, each choice that you make needs to have its own page dedicated to it.  This is because it should be reflected in the metatags.

Don’t try to do too much with one page.  Content is what matters.  If you want to be found for a certain keyword phrase then you need to use it within your content.  However, if you are trying to target multiple keywords on one page you may end up not ranking for any of them.

How do you know if it is working?  It is vital to track the traffic statistics for your website.  Most good website reporting tools can now tell you where your users came from and even what search terms they used in the search engines.  There is always the traditional way as well.  Survey the users who turn into customers about how they found you.  Those results are the ones you want to build on. Don’t forget to put the question, “How did you find us” on any of your forms used in your website!

Any SEO tactic that maintains the integrity of your website and the SERPs (search engine results pages) is considered a “white-hat” search engine optimization tactic.

Internal Linking

By far one of the easiest ways to stop your website from ranking well on the search engines is to make it difficult for search engines to find their way through it.  Using a navigational menu that is graphic based and not text based is a good example of fancy menus that don’t do well with search engines.   

While many of these effects add visual appeal to a website, if you are using scripts or some other form of navigation that will hinder the spidering of your website it is important to add text links to the bottom of at least your homepage linking to all you main internal pages including a sitemap to your internal pages.  For reassurance purposes, we only use OpenCube search engine friendly css navigation menus in our website design (even Point2 Agent Website Customization).

Reciprocal Linking

Exchanging links with other realtors and real estate relevant websites is a good way (not the best, but good) of attaining additional incoming links to your site.  While the value of reciprocal links has declined a bit over the past year they certainly still do have their place.

A VERY important note is that if you do plan on building reciprocal links it is important to make sure that you do so intelligently. Random reciprocal link building in which you exchange links with any and virtually all sites that you can will not help you over the long run. Link only to sites that are related to yours and whose content your visitors will be interested in and preferably which contain the keywords that you want to target. Building relevancy through association is never a bad thing unless you’re linking to bad websites.

Content Creation

Don’t confuse “content creation” with doorway pages and the such. When we recommend content creation we are discussing creating quality, unique content that will be of interest to your visitors and which will add value to your site.

The more content-rich your site is, the more valuable it will appear to the search engines, your human visitors, and to other websites who will be far more likely to link to your website if they find you to be a solid resource on their subject.

Creating good content can be very time-consuming, however it will be well worth the effort in the long run. As an additional bonus, these new pages can be used to target additional keywords related to the topic of the page.

Writing for Others

You know more about your business that those around you so why not let everyone know? Whether it be in the form of articles, forum posts, or a spotlight piece on someone else’s website, creating content that other people will want to read and post on their sites is one of the best ways to build links to your website that don’t require a reciprocal link back.

Site Optimization

The manipulation of your content, wording, and site structure for the purpose of achieving high search engine positioning is the backbone of SEO and the search engine positioning industry. Everything from creating solid title and metatags to tweaking the content to maximize its search engine effectiveness is key to any successful optimization effort.

That said, it is of primary importance that the optimization of a website not detract from the message and quality of content contained within the site. There’s no point in driving traffic to a site that is so poorly worded that it cannot possibly convey the desired message and which cannot sell. Site optimization must always take into account the maintenance of the salability and solid message of the site while maximizing it’s exposure on the search engines.

Black Hat SEO Tactics
Grey Hat SEO Tactics
White Hat SEO Tactics

The following tactics fall in the grey area between legitimate tactics and search engine spam. They include tactics such as cloaking, paid links, duplicate content and a number of others. Unless you are on the correct side of this equation these tactics are not recommended.

Cloaking

There are times when cloaking is considered a legitimate tactic by users and search engines alike. Basically, if there is a logical reason why you should be allowed to present different information to the search engines than the visitor (if you have content behind a “members only” area for example) you are relatively safe. Even so, this tactic is very risky and it is recommended that you contact each search engine, present your reasoning, and allow them the opportunity to approve it’s use. 

Arguably, another example of a site legitimately using cloaking, is when the site is mainly image-based such as an art site. In this event, provided that the text used to represent the page accurately defines the page and image(s) on it, this could be considered a legitimate use of cloaking. As cloaking has often been abused, if other methods such as adding visible text to the page is possible it is recommended. If there are no other alternatives it is recommended that you contact the search engine prior to adding this tactic and explain your argument.

Paid Links

The practice of purchasing links on websites solely for the increase in link popularity that it can mean has grown steadily over the last year or so.  When links are purchased as pure advertising the practice is considered legitimate, while the practice of purchasing links only for the increase in link-popularity is considered an abuse and efforts will be made to either discount the links or penalize the site (usually the sellers though not always).

Duplicate Content

Due primarily to the increase in popularity of affiliate programs, duplicate content on the web has become an increasingly significant problem for both search engines and search engine users alike with the same or similar sites dominating the top positions in the search engine results pages.

While it may be tempting to enlist grey-hat and black-hat SEO tactics in order to rank well, doing so stands a very good chance of getting your website penalized. There are legitimate methods for ranking a website well on the search engines. It is highly recommended that webmasters and SEO firms put in the extra time and effort to properly rank a website well, insuring that the site will not be penalized down the road or even banned from the search engines entirely.

Black Hat SEO Tactics
Grey Hat SEO Tactics
White Hat SEO Tactics

How important is your online reputation? Do not wait until it is too late to find out.  Your online reputation is every bit as important as your credit history. Whether the information is good, bad, or ugly you need to manage the information about yourself and your company. You cannot afford to allow individuals to spread vicious and untrue derogatory messages about you on the Internet.

Search engines, like Google, Yahoo and MSN, only show relevant information on their sites. They show whatever relevant searches that people searched for using search words and phrases. Managing this information and the relevant keyword and phrases is what we do. This is not as hard as it sounds.

Many firms charge in the thousands for such work and do a very good job. But most small business and individuals can not afford to pay this. That is where SEO Redefined has “REDEFINED” the way SEARCH ENGINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT (SERM) is done. We will get the ball rolling by getting to work right away repairing your online reputation.

SEO Redefined will take a comprehensive look at the information that is out there about you and your company. We will report back to you what we have found and the best plan of attack. Since each situation is different our plan of attack will depend on two factors. One would be just how much information we find and where it is located. The second will depend on your budget. We can and will work with all budgets.

Much of the rebuilding of your reputation can be done by you. Where to start and how to do it is where we come in. We will work with you and give you a step by step outline on how to bury and in some cases completely remove all derogatory information. Please keep in mind that some information cannot be removed but we can show you ways to bury this negative information or at least counter it 100 to 1 with relevant and positive information.

Do not wait any longer.