Eric Brantner

SEO Content Writer

Businesses hire SEO firms to help them rank better in the search engines. For most companies, the bottom line is results. If they rank well, they’re happy. But sometimes ranking well isn’t enough. Regardless of how high your website is in the SERPs, you should ask yourself these 3 questions.

1. What keywords am I ranking for? One of the oldest tricks in the shady SEO book is acquiring high rankings for a keyword no one searches for. Shady SEO companies use this technique to boast impressive rankings for their clients. Unfortunately, the clients fail to realize that such high rankings don’t really matter if no one is typing the keywords into the search engine. Use keyword research tools to analyze the search volume of the keywords your website is targeting.
2. Is my SEO content compelling? High placement in the search results will get visitors to your website, but if your content isn’t compelling, visitors will click “back” immediately. If your SEO agency doesn’t employ talented copywriters, you won’t see an increase in your sales. Most SEO firms use a “keywords first, content second” mentality. The truth is the quality of your content should always come first. Visitors will not turn into customers if your website copy doesn’t connect with them in a meaningful way.
3. Do visitors trust my company? Even though online shopping has become commonplace, potential customers are still cautious when buying from an unknown company online. That’s why you have to make sure your website creates trust with its visitors. Beyond having great content, you also need a professional website design. If your design looks spammy, visitors will not trust your company, and you will lose loads of potential sales. Let a professional website design company create a unique, trustworthy web presence for your business.

Never place the pursuit of high search engine rankings above connecting with your customers. You need to place a priority on converting visitors into loyal customers. Only after you do that will your high rankings turn into increased sales.

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Eric Brantner

SEO Writer

We all know that keywords are the foundation of any SEO program. Without them, you have nothing to optimize your site around. So, you have your keywords, but are you getting maximum value out of them?

Keyword modifiers help you get more out of your main keywords. In a way, they help you be in many places at once on the search engines. Here are just a few ways keyword modifiers work to ensure you’re prepared for searches of all types.

Let’s start with a basic keyword: home windows

• Style and Function- Today’s search engine users are highly sophisticated. When they go to Google, Yahoo, or another search engine, they typically have something fairly specific in mind they wish to search for. For instance, someone looking for home windows, might be interested in finding windows that save energy. In this case, they would search for something along the lines of energy efficient home windows. “Energy efficient” is the keyword modifier to “home windows.” Or, if they were searching for storm windows, they might enter hurricane proof home windows. I could come up with a long list of style/function based keyword modifiers to “home windows” but I think you see the point.
• Brand- Other customers are interested in receiving a certain brand. Consumers are often married to brands, and they refuse to buy from another company. So, instead of just searching for the base keyword, they might have a query like Anderson home windows or Pella home windows. If you sell these brands, but your site isn’t optimized for these keyword modifiers, you probably won’t be among the top sites in the SERPs.
• Location- Perhaps, the most popular keyword modifiers are based on location. This is especially true for an item like home windows which require professional installation. Users might enter a search phrase such as home windows in Houston or Houston home windows provider. If your business is targeting local customers, you simply must include localized keywords in your SEO plan. Doing so will greatly improve your search rankings and the relevancy of your traffic.

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“Keyword research” – the 2 words every SEO is all too familiar with. It’s what we spend hours every day doing. Thankfully, there are tools available that help us streamline the entire keyword research process. But what if these tools didn’t exist? What would we do? After panicking and scheduling an extra session of therapy, we’d all be forced to sit down and come up with keywords the old fashioned way. Here are 5 ways to research keywords without ever using a keyword suggestion tool.

1. Brainstorming- While a number of SEOs out there like to let keyword research tools do all the dirty work, I still believe in the power of brainstorming. Long before I ever sit down in front of the computer, I get out a piece of paper to being my brainstorming session. I then write down every word or phrase I can think of to describe my products and services. As a writer, I’m typically able to come up with a large number of key phrases simply by writing down descriptions on paper.
2. Dictionary and Thesaurus- My two best friends as a writer- the dictionary and the thesaurus. Without these 2 resources, I never would have been able to crank out those 15 page term papers in college. Now, in my life as an SEO writer, I still find these books to be quite handy. Using them helps me generate a wide range of keywords I would never think of on my own. It helps me gain a deeper understanding of the terms, and it gives me insight into what phrases potential visitors might use should they be searching for my services.
3. Trade Journals- Virtually every industry has a trade journal of some sort that covers relevant topics surrounding the industry. Reading through one of these documents can open your mind to a whole new world of terminology. Typically, the content in these journals is highly targeted. So, the phrases used in these journals could be the exact terms your target audience would be using to find you. Stay up on the latest industry lingo by regularly reading trade journals in your field.
4. Competitor’s Websites- By no means is this a new idea for keyword research, but it’s necessary to mention. Keyword tools or not, you simply have to study the websites of your competitors if you want to have any success in the search engines. You need to analyze what they’re doing right, and what they are doing wrong. Look at their source code to find keywords that are repeated often. Remember, everyone has a different voice and a different way of describing things. The more voices you study, the more successful you will be at covering the most effective keywords.
5. Traffic Analysis- Lastly, you should be using a website traffic analysis tool to determine how visitors are arriving at your website. Sometimes, a person will land on your website by typing a keyword into the search engine that you’d never think of. Take careful notes of any trends you find in your traffic analysis. After all, who better to tell you what keywords to optimize for than the visitors typing them into the search engines?

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Author: April Hall

SEO Copywriter

Okay, so if you don’t have a middle age girl, you probably haven’t heard the ridiculously popular Miley Cyrus song “7 Things”. I admit that even though it has come on our Disney XM Station over and over, I never really stopped to listen to it in full. Well, yesterday I finally did, and I was kinda appalled, to tell you the truth! For one thing, we don’t use the word “hate” in our house; for another, why in the world is a girl so young singing so forlornly about a lost love? Call me old-fashioned, but I think high school girls should just chill out a bit… If you want to see what I’m talking about, check out the video on You Tube (at your own peril, since you will waste 3 minutes of your life that you won’t get back!).

After I listened to the song, I realized that I had subconsciously been counting off these “7 Things” as the song went along. I even realized that I had been willing to listen to the whole blasted thing for the simple reason of wanting to hear all seven! What a genius idea! Keep the audience’s attention by letting them know that there is a finite list full of information; a concise, neatly ordered list that is easily digestible…. Brilliant! I’m not sure if this was the line of thinking that the writer of “7 Things” followed (particularly if that writer is the young Cyrus), but it is definitely a tack that SEO marketers should take.

Think about it: if you promise your readers that your SEO content is a numbered list, you can almost guarantee that they will at least skim through each item to discover if there is some information of interest contained within. A numbered list is almost better than even a bulleted list, because it has a clear beginning and end; making it readable for even the most attention-deprived viewers.

5 Things to keep in mind with numbered lists (See how I did that?):

1. Make your intro statement short and to the point; a true staple of SEO marketing.
2. Make your intro statements follow the same format.
3. Make your intro statements relevant and eye-catching.
4. Make your supporting information as concise as possible.
5. Make your numbered lists the “meat” between your information sandwich. (The “bread” would be your introduction thoughts and your conclusions about why the list is important.)

So,thanks, Miley Cyrus! You kept the attention of an adult professional for the full 3 minutes! Although I couldn’t care less about your list, I couldn’t bring myself to turn it off before hearing all seven… Sad ? Perhaps. Relevant to the craft of internet marketing? Absolutely.

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Author: April Hall

SEO Copywriter

While we would all like to assume that we are resident experts within our chosen industry, the truth of the matter is that we all have a lot to learn about our business, about our customers and about business blogging in general.

Radio Blog Talk.com, an Internet radio show, provides some great information about why guest blogging can be a great way to provide some “relief” content for your own business blog (just ignore the random talk about raking leaves and prepping rooms for painting!):

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So, what about your own business blog? Why should your company consider inviting other industry professionals to post to your site?

1. It gives your regular bloggers a chance to explore other projects. While it’s true that many blog entries don’t take a lot of time, they can become somewhat monotonous day after day… Even those of us who really enjoy blogging appreciate a week or two away from Wordpress–it really makes it a welcome return once we blog again!
2. It can give your readers the chance to enjoy blog entries that have a different style and tone than your regular posts. Every writer has a unique style that identifies their work. Great as this style may be (and I am quite fond of my own witty, yet informative style… No laughing.), business blogs may get boring if they are not “shaken up” every once in a while.
3. The guest blogger will enjoy increased traffic to their own site (and will hopefully return the favor!). Most guest bloggers will agree that after a turn writing on another company’s site, they will see increased traffic as readers venture away to find out what their company is all about. Don’t be shy about asking the guest blogger to return the favor and give you a turn guest blogging on their site!
4. Your readers will learn from a different prospective; and readers who learn tend to return! If your loyal blog readers come to expect your blog to provide informative content on a range of topics, they will keep coming back for more! And, isn’t that the point of a business blog? (Well that, and to provide an open space for bloggers to share their ideas?)

So, what’s up? Are any of you interested in a guest turn blogging for Directory One?

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By Brenda Ross

Search Engine Optimizer

The newest Google slayer in Search Engine Land is called Cuil (pronounced Cool). Cuil boasts that it is the World’s Biggest Search Engine because it “has indexed 120 billion Web pages - three times more than any other search engine.” So one would think that means better search results than Google - right? Well, it all depends on how you define better.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft together control 90% of the U.S. search market and they don’t reveal the size of their indexes. Even though Cuil’s co-founder and president Anna Patterson once worked for Google, she still can’t confirm the size of Google’s indexing. But if Cuil’s numbers are correct, users should expect comparable - if not better - search results, right?

Based on the online chatter following Cuil’s July 28th unveiling, online users appear to be underwhelmed. Cuil promised users a “richer” display of results and organizing features that include tabs for subject clarification, images, and search refining suggestions. But while Cuil undeniably delivers on the pizzaz - the substance of the searches is another thing. And so far the internet hordes seem somewhat underwhelmed.

I  have tried this search disaster and determined that they have one thing in mind. Building it to sell. It has no accurate results that compare to google, Live, Yahoo.
Cuilsuxs
http://blogs.wsj.com

I thought the layout for cuil.com was innovative. The search results, however, were inferior enough in my 10 minutes of play with it that I’ll have to be somehow convinced to ever return again.
Co-founder David Gardner
http://www.fool.com

Cuil blows. No. It blows chunks. It sucks rocks. You get the picture. I entered 10 searches that work on Google. All 10 of them barfed up piles of poop of  absolutely no interest or relevance. Then I redid them in Yahoo. Yahoo didn’t find things if you had a misspelled word. Google showed you an option. Cuil didn’t find them when spelled correctly. I can’t imagine what these people were thinking when they thought it was time to “go live”.
John Toradze
Newsvine

Cuil is one of the biggest Internet hoaxes. The search results are terrible. The images displayed with the search results are often completely irrelevant. It is the worst performing search engine I’ve ever used.
fletc3her
Newsvine

On the positive side, based on sheer beauty, Cuil is pretty cool. Love the black background and I like the way the results are displayed. Pretty - but dumb sometimes.

When I “Cuiled” the words “United States of America” my query returned this message: “No results were found for united states of america.” But when I entered USA, Cuil returned “USA Today” (#1),  “USA.gov: The U.S. Government’s Official Web Portal”, “To Love and Die”, “USAJOBS - The Federal Government’s Official Jobs Site” as the top 4 results above the fold. Tabbed results included “USA Today”, “United States of America” (so it does exist), “USA Map” and more. Cuil has its work cut out for it.

The makers of Cuil claim it is an old Irish word for knowledge. Another definition uses cuil to describe different kinds of flies. But an online Irish language dictionary begs to differ. It defines cúil as “rear.” That ain’t cool.

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