Author: Philip O’Hara
Search Engine Marketing Salesperson

Be sure the person answering your phone is smart enough to answer just a few questions. Record those calls on paper or by computer. This is the very first part of the sales process. It should start right after the call is answered.

Remember that Information gathering is the first stage in the sales process. Listening will make the sale for you. Who are they? What’s their Name? How did they find you? If they found you on the Internet, whose search engine and what keyphrase was used. By getting their domain, you can sometimes get a great deal of information from www.who.is

Never let a sales call go to auto attendant or voice mail system. Over half of the people who phone you will hang up if the call goes to an auto attendant or voice mail system.

Remember that Search Engine Marketing leads to many more sales calls by phone. If you are getting a few e-mails a week from your website, you should be getting double the calls. Sometimes you will get as many as 5 times the calls to the e-mail. People like to do business the old fashioned way over the phone and they want answers right now.

Bookmark to:
         

Author: Pablo Gomez
Web Design Expert
Directory One, Inc.

I meet with the client so that I can have all the details before starting work on their website. In some cases, clients want to keep the look they have on their sites. However, they will convert their sites to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), since this is a more friendly Search Engine Marketing technology for building sites.

I always suggest it is better to change the look of your website at certain times. I compare a website with the clothes we wear, since clothes are part of fashion. Since fashion changes often and you always want to be in fashion, your website needs to change to be fashionable, contemporary or just to change its look.

If the client has decided to go for the re-design, or is a new client that wants to start from scratch building a website, then I have them show me samples of other websites. Seeing their competition helps us figure out a plan for the best looking site possible.

I personally like to work on just one ProtoSite (mock-up). That one ProtoSite has to reflect the best possible design I can come up with. Of course, if the client doesn’t like it then I work on one or two more choices. My belief is that the client deserves the best layout I can give them.

I always stick to the corporate colors of the company or the colors that client has requested. If they don’t have a logo, I will come up with a logo that reflects the Company’s Corporate Image.

Images and colors are the best way to make a website look good. If you have good imagery on the homepage and throughout the entire site, it reflects that the company is very professional. On the other hand, if you have poor images searchers may think twice about exploring your website. Personally, I’m not sure if I can trust websites with poor photography.

The layout is very important because it will help customers navigate. Here is where the good use of color will play an important role. If the site is harmonious and colors have been properly combined it will be pleasing to the eye. This will assure that your potential customers will enjoy navigating in your website.

In the end consistency is reflected in the good selection of fonts, colors, backgrounds, and where the navigation is located. All these elements will determine an attractive and pleasing design to the visitor. For example, this image of  “Rouge Restaurant” is a ProtoSite of how the website will look. After the client has approved the ProtoSite, along with any modifications, they request the process of building the site. After this website was coded, it ended up looking like this current website “Rouge Restaurant”  

Bookmark to:
         

Author: Erica Evans
Directory One, Inc.
SEO Content Writer

For the trained journalist, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content writing is a hard pill to swallow. Through their training, journalists are expected to be informative, imaginative and objective in writing precise prose to appeal to the masses. With SEO writing, you’re writing with one key idea in mind: sell!

Where Metaphors and a Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Vocabulary are important in one regard, strategic keyword placement and search engine rankings are the priority in the other. By it’s very nature you are hardly objective, and you aren’t necessarily trying to appeal to the masses, but you are targeting a very specific audience- one that has buying power and is willing to follow a call to action.

While they differ greatly, taking certain steps can ensure that you not only succeed in providing quality content, but that you thrive at creating a happy medium that meets the expectations of both styles respectively.

Plan Ahead
As with most things in life, a lack of a plan is a plan to fail. Before you massage the keyboard, take some time to think about the purpose of what you’re writing and any actions you want to come out of the article itself. It is a good idea to check in with clients during this phase, as they can best explain what the motivation of the article is. Having an idea of what they are looking for or any important specifics they believe you should include will save time later.

Do Your Research
You can’t write an article if you don’t know what you’re talking about. While it can be time consuming (and at times boring), research is necessary in order to produce quality content. Browsing the internet for the latest industry news on the given subject will usually yield an abundance of information. Here again, the client can be of great help to you during this phase, as they are most familiar with the subject area.

Keyword Placement
By no stretch of the imagination can an SEO content writer avoid strategic keyword placement- face it, it’s unavoidable.

For instance:
If my client is Sunbelt Stud Welding, I’m going to make sure that I carefully use phrases like: stud welding parts, stud welding equipment and/or CD studs.

It should be noted , that if you want to maintain a healthy relationship with the search engines keyword density, or maintaining the ratio of the number of occurrences of a particular keyword or phrase to the total number of words in a page.

While these tips will help you to build a foundation, this is just scratching the surface when it comes to SEO writing. There are many factors to consider, and as always much to learn.

Bookmark to:
         

Author: Anne-Christine Johnson
Directory One, Inc.
Google Pay Per Click Advertising Expert

The Google Sandbox is a mysterious term. What is it? A theory? A well kept secret by Google? Experts offer numerous theories about the Sandbox. Some believe it is an erratic and obscure Mathematical Algorithm. Others think it is a foyer where new websites stay before being capable to rank higher and still some experts believe it doesn’t exist at all. What is certain, however, is that the Google Sandbox looms over the heads of Webmasters and in the hard to reach places of Search Engine Marketing.

The theory suggests that new sites added to the Google Index will not rank well for their keywords, even if the sites have been optimized. Experts believe this can occur to a given website anywhere from two to six months, or longer. When searched, the site may show up for the company name but will most likely rank under poor ranking and/or irrelevant keywords. Even older, established websites are threatened. Too many links from other sites can send your site into the Sandbox before you ever knew what hit you. The most frustrating thing about the Google Sandbox is you cannot escape it and you never know when you are getting out.

Luckily, the unfortunate have options. Upon finding yourself being kicked in the face with sand, you might consider Pay Per Click Advertising. Spending money on Google Adwords offers an alternative for those who have trouble ranking in organic results. This way, you receive the same traffic (if not more) you would have received organically.

As for Google Sandbox theory, it is only a theory. Or an illusion. I haven’t heard Google admit anything yet but in these types of scenarios it is probably in everyone’s best interest to be aware of their surroundings in case a potential sandbox experience does happen.

Bookmark to:
         

Author: Lara Crandell
Directory One, Inc.
PPC Management

SEO being our livelihood here at Directory One,Inc. should bring about
a lot of concerns when it comes to the possible loss of Net Neutrality. 
Not only should we worry, but so must all of the other small businesses
out there. My father, brother, neighbor and my favorite local music store
down the road all need to read up and get educated on the effects of
what can and will happen if we do not fight this. 

With so many concerns in creating a successful strategy for our clients
campaigns, net neutrality should be the last thing we need to worry
about. There should be no concerns when it comes to whether or not
an Internet Service Provider (ISP) will allow us access to our client’s websites.

Have we just been spoiled with what the Internet has offered us since
day one? I don’t think so. I think this is just another way for some of
the big guys to make more money. So, how will this affect all of us?

A brief description on Net Neutrality.

Net Neutrality means there are now no restrictions on what software or
hardware is able to access certain networks. The Internet is currently neutral
but there is arguing going on now in congress that is trying to change this,
to allow ISP’s to favor one product (software or hardware) over another.

Here are some links that are helpful in understanding Net Neutrality.

http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/neutrality.html

Bookmark to:
         

Author: Anne-Christine Johnson
Directory One, Inc.
Google Pay Per Click Expert

Once you have ad groups and written ads, you can start putting them into Google Adwords. This is a repetitive copy-and-paste process but well worth it, if you know how to apply Broad, Phrase and Exact matching to your keywords. Using these matching options not only bring impressions but also potential clicks. Ad groups, ads and keywords stay the same. There is no extra work required thanks to a tool called Adwords Wrapper.

Example: Broad:   A/C Services 
              Phrase: “A/C Services”
                Exact:  [A/C Services]

Broad, Phrase and Exact each have their own benefits and pitfalls. Exact match doesn’t recieve as many clicks and impressions as Broad might however Broad match is not as keyword targeted as Phrase match.

Broad:If someone searches air conditioning service, your ad appears and can also appear in the plural and in various relevant forms such as central air conditioning service.

Phrase:Keywords in quotation marks allow your ads to appear only as air conditioning service or possibly air condition service or even with other terms. Phrase match targets more than Broad match.

Exact:This is the most targeted way of matching. Air conditioning service searched exactly that way allows your ad to appear as that and nothing else…not central air condition or air condition service or air conditioning services. Impressions are weaker with Exact match but you are most likely to get clicks from the clients you want.

Bookmark to: