What is Link Building?

Link building or the skill of attaining back links is essentially working to gain website links from other websites pointing to your site. Understanding there are many that are somewhat new to SEO and they are not quite aware of the importance of building a good backlinks structure, I am going to dip into it a bit here today.

There are a few names you might have heard like; backlinks, link building, linking, inbound links, one way linking, reciprocal linking, 3-way linking, etc. For the most part they are all talking about getting a website link from someone else’s site pointing to yours.   The reason for the popularity of this is for some search engines the more important one being Google, they look at the amount & quality of links pointing to your website and that helps them determine how popular and relevant your site is for certain terms and helps them rank your site accordingly. Though this is only one of the many ways they determine your relevance and ranking for a term, it is a very important one. Please don’t smack me on my phrasing as I am trying to put this in layman’s terms for those that are not fluent in SEO and link building.

One of the more important aspects of link building and achieving backlinks is the way the links are produced. If you have a site that places a link to your site that looks like this  http://www.HowardSEMGroup.com it will work just find and even push a little authority or link juice your way though it doesn’t show the search engines what your site is really relevant for. Now if you have a link from a site pointing to yours that looks like this Small Business SEO this is the way that will give you the most relevance for your terms as this link is essentially telling the search engines that Small Business SEO = http://www.HowardSEMGroup.com essentially giving you a popularity point as well.

With that said remember this is the very watered down explanation…When it comes to one-way linking and reciprocal linking, one-way linking coming from another site to yours is always better, though much harder to achieve. If the search engines are giving you let’s say a popularity point for getting a link, when you give the linking site a link back (reciprocal) you are essentially giving them half of your earned point. Hopefully that makes sense.

One of the most important things to remember is that theme related relevance does matter when you are receiving links from other sites. When the search engines notice you’re getting a link from 2 different sites (using Howard SEM Group as an example), if you get a link from Mikes Donuts, and California SEO Services which do you think the search engines are going to give more value and credit to?

Unfortunately like all things many have tried to manipulate rankings by using black hat and unethical linking techniques. These techniques might produce great results as for your ranking in the short term, but can get your website banned or penalized in the long term. The search engines all have their own guidelines, but for the most part it’s pretty simple to understand. If you play by the rules you will succeed if you don’t, you won’t!

Effective link building and attaining backlinks can be very time consuming, and many in the industry struggle with this aspect of SEO. This is something you can learn as there is a lot of information on the Internet, though we always recommend using a professional SEO Firm or SEO Consultant to aid in your success. (Did you catch those? Ha!)

Happy 4th of July from the team at Howard SEM Group!!! We hope everyone out there has a wonderful and safe Independence Day celebration with their family and friends. We will be enjoying the traditional barbecue & picnic theme while watching the wonderful fireworks show where the music is choreographed with our local radio stations 93.9 FM  The Lake & 1490 AM KOWL …. We are also looking forward to listening to a few commercials we have out with those great stations to ensure our local businesses know we are here, and can help them succeed on the web.

You can listen here Howard SEM Group – Radio Commercial – 4th of July 2010

If you are needing help ensuring your business is found on the Internet and succeeds, give us a call at 1-877-4EZ-RANK or 1-877-439-7265  or visit us at www.HowardSEMGroup.com

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

If you like Java, Google Caffeine is going to rock your world! For those of you that are not aware Google has fully launched there new web search indexing system called Caffeine on June 8th, 2010. With this new indexing system new content will be indexed by Google much faster compared with there old system. There old system used to index every few weeks or some times as long as a month or so. With Google Caffeine indexing will be so much faster it will be almost like real time indexing. This full roll out of  Google Caffeine has been long anticipated as Search Engine Marketers and SEO Consultants have been curious of effects Caffeine would have in the market since mid 2009.  This will change a lot in regards to Internet Marketing….

How Google Caffeine Will Effect SEO

Time will tell as many are consistently researching the changes in Google’s new indexing system. One thing is for sure the websites that are creating fresh, quality on-going content, on a normal basis will have an advantage in the SERPs (search engine results pages). Those who are not, might find their rankings being crowded by newer fresher content pages. So if you do not have a blog, and/or you do not update content on your website it’s time for change.  As we’ve recommend in the past, Google and other main search engines love fresh, high quality, original content, so don’t be left behind get that WordPress blog going and be consistent.

With MSN’s Bing roll out in 2009, and Bing and Yahoo joining forces, Google has lost a small piece of search market share to Bing. Though we like Bing, and the size of Yahoo’s massive index of sites and pages we just don’t know if they will be able to catch up with Google’s massive amount of search market share. Now with Caffeine launched, instead of the Google search engine indexing the majority of the web every few weeks, it now indexes pieces or chunks of the web almost in real time and continuously. Meaning it is updating the index on such a larger scale and with a more in depth and faster look at the web, that new content like this will be live to search on Google possibly within hours rather than weeks, so you can see how the competition for popular search terms will really start to shift more aggressively.

We understand many small businesses do not have the time to update blogs, or write fresh new content on a continuous basis to their site so we recommend working with a professional content writer that has experience in writing SEO optimized content & best practices. You may also look into hiring a SEO Consultant or SEO Firm as many of them provide SEO content writing services.

We would love to hear about the changes and effects Google Caffeine has had on your website or just the way you search and the results you receive??!!!

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A Few Free Tools That Might Help Your Small Business

In this economy no matter how strong your small business may be it never hurts to save money with tools that are free or of very low cost. Here is a small list of some of the tools we like to use on a regular basis. Would love to here your comments on the tools you use for business online.

Google Analytics

A tool we use regularly that is free, easy to use and has shown sustainable endurance in web analytics. This tool allows you to look into your web traffic for your site, and verify marketing effectiveness.  When using it to analyze your traffic data and where your visitors are coming from, entering and exiting your site, it can aid in making the correct changes to your site, marketing campaigns etc. It’s better to know, than not know, and wonder.

Google Webmaster Tools

A tool we have a love hate relationship with as the data it provides are usually snippets of the full amount it finds, though it is extremely informative on any issues Google might be having while viewing our site. One of the easiest ways of being informed and receiving data from Google about how they see our site. A must have in your arsenal of tools.

Mikogo

A tool we just began using recently which we LOVE.  Mikogo gives you the ability to opportunity to share any screen content or application over the Internet. Perfect for online meetings, web conferences, product demonstrations, web presentations, remote support, and the list goes on. This tool allows you to have 10 participants online at a time all while never leaving your desk.  As for usability, it cannot get much easier than this. Another must have. Recommended!

Free Conference Call

This site is a money saver. Instead of paying for numerous  attendees to a toll free conference call, this site will set you up with a FreeConferenceCall.com account. Then give you a regular standard number to call (not 800 number) where close to  100 callers can join in for up to 6 hours in conversations. Callers will get charged whatever there normal long distance rates are to call in, but most everyone these days use cell phones with free long distance and long distance fee’s are minimal compared to toll free charges with 800 numbers. We love it.

Log Me In

This tool we have used for quite some time, as it allows you to work remotely on another computers desktop just by logging in. Has been great thus far though no file transfers are included with the free version, the payed version does allow file transfers. This tol has been very dependable though we see ourselves using Mikogo much more in the future. Good tool.

Fax Zero

This tool allows you to upload and send a 3 page fax twice a day for free. Now that is pretty good, though they do include a small ad on the cover page it still is great in a bind. For a very small fee you can be rid of the ad and faxing many more pages…We thought it was worth the mention. Another tool we like for free.

Just a few of the many

Well we could go on, and on with many other tools we use and have used that are free or very low cost, but we would be writing for a very long time. We will definitely provide more tools we like in the near future, we hope you find some of these as useful as we do!

We would love to hear about any tools that you use on a regular basis that are free or of very low cost, so please send us your comments…

During an economic crunch and downturn, Mastercard and its Spending Pulse – March Report is showing double digit growth in sales within the eCommerce venue. With booming sales just over 2 years ago, we find many online retailers that have gone under due to slow sales during these hard economic times. We have also found more eCommerce stores and online business merchants requesting proposals for SEO and Internet Marketing for their website, realizing the need for more targeted customer traffic.

Lately eCommerce channels show sales are up 18.4% form this time last year according to Mastercards’ Spending Pulse Report. It’s 8th consecutive month of double digit growth, showing that e-commerce is Alive & Well! Clearly growing at a faster rate than regular brick and mortar stores. This increase though still lower than prior to 2008 is a great sign for online merchants and websites alike.

Now Is The Time For e-Commerce SEO

In a time when so many online business were thrown into economic fear and reduced or stopped their marketing budgets, we’ve advised many clients that now is the time to use those marketing budgets for eCommerce promotion, Internet Marketing and website promotion. It is the typical domino effect when businesses reduce their marketing budgets due to economic downturns, marketing companies have to tighten their belts as well, as it all rolls down hill. This is the perfect time to negotiate better rates with all marketing venues and agencies. So many SEO Firms, including our own have reduced their pricing structure to accommodate struggling online businesses.

Another point to think about is when you reduce the amount of companies that are utilizing professional SEO services, you are also reducing the amount of tangible competition in the search engine advertising market. So again, I say now is the time to launch that eCommerce store you’ve been wanting, or that merchant website to compliment your brick and mortar business. The next step is to partner with an Internet Marketing or SEO Firm that has a strong specialty in e-Commerce marketing strategy and online sales, it’s even better of the firm has solid experience or understanding of your niche industry. We are especially happy to see some good online sales growth, and looking forward to continuing growth that will benefit our clients and ourselves.

Why should you start your home based business today

As the new world of downsizing continues to make news and the Internet makes telecommuting even more productive, more and more entrepreneurs are discovering the benefits of running businesses out of their homes. If you are looking to get out of the rat race, to spend more time with family and friends, and to live a more sound life, a home-based business may be the right decision for you. According to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration the average American spends 348 hours each year commuting. So you can imagine, with a home-based business, you have those extra hours to have power over your personal life. Plus, there are no bosses, no dress code, no set work schedule, and no office politics to maneuver. All you need is, discipline, personal drive, and time-management skills. Just think you don’t have to wait for a raise or a promotion. The harder you work the more money you get to make. Also, you save so much money on the little things like food and gas. You will find yourself eating what you want and not what you just have time for. That usually means a happier and healthier life for you.

Along with having more time, there are also many tax advantages of having your home and business under the same roof.  These advantages include; a percentage of your mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and/or the expenses of household maintenance. Now that sounds exciting. Another thing to think about is if you have kids, you can set your own hours to tend to them if they are sick or have a school function that you don’t want to miss. Life is too short to miss out on.

“An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.” –Stephen Covey

Google PageRank Update, What That Means To You?

Google, the most popular search engine on the web uses a tool called PageRank, which was believed to be named after Larry Page co-founder of Google, Inc. to help determine their view of the popularity, authority or quality of a web page. Using numerous terms, filters and variables PageRank determines a numerical value for a specified page. Taking into consideration other pages that link to your specific page and those links/page value as well, it will determine a PageRank between 1-10,  ten being the highest. Simply thought of like a popularity contest, the more web pages that point a link to your web page, it’s reasonable to concur it is like a vote for your page. The more votes (links) to your web page, the more popular you are considered, thus aiding the PageRank increase in your favor. Now don’t get me wrong it is much more complicated than that, as there are many, many other variables that are considered like the value of the page that links to you for instance.  “PageRank” itself is a known trademark of Google, and the process in which it operates has been patented (US Patent 6285999). Though this will give you a basic idea…

April 2010 PageRank Update

As some of you that might keep track have noticed, Google performed a PageRank update in the beginning of April 2010. This seems pretty standard for Google’s trending MO (method of operation) as it seems to have happened around the same time in the last few years.  This update looks to have happened on April 2nd, so if you notice a slight increase in your page rank that is why. With these possible increases can also come a negative decrease in page rank depending again on their algorithm, and how they determine your web page to rank depending on their findings. Link Farms and other sites known to sell links have been known to have their pages PageRank decreased or penalized severely by Google. A black hat practice that should be avoided at all costs.

Why Is It Good To Have High PageRank?

For small businesses the value can be enormous as PageRank is considered to be involved in organic search rankings. Meaning if your small business web page has a high PageRank combined with its relevance determined by Google for a specific keyword or phrase it can equal very high rankings within the organic search results used by most folks to find information, a product, or a service depending on their needs. This high visibility will increase the visitors/consumers that frequent your web page or site equaling in increased interaction, sales, leads & targeted consumer traffic. I consider this to have enormous value as it can essentially make a business! Think of it like:  A customer wants to buy a baseball bat and in driving down the freeway to a sports store they get lost, or cannot find one until they see this HUGE billboard pointing them to your sports store that sells baseball bats. By having a high PageRank and a high relevance for a certain term related to your business that can lead to a high ranking in the search results which will show your billboard helping folks to find you on the web.

There are also many businesses out looking to advertise on blogs and websites with high PageRank and visitors to expose their brand, product or service. So there are different values for your business that can increase your overall value and monetization of your website to be considered when thinking of the value of PageRank. Though the true value and results of PageRank has been debated within the Internet Marketing industry over the years it is still a strength, and / or weakness of a site that can be changed to help monetize your small business site.  You can find out what your PageRank is by downloading the Google Toolbar for your browser. Also you might want to seek the help of an experienced SEO Firm or SEO Consultant to aid you in increasing your PageRank.

Tell us if your PageRank has moved at all with the April update???

How Can SEO Help Your Small Business online?

SEO services and techniques are very important for any small business. With the advent of the Internet, more and more people are searching things online, whether it’s products, information or services.  You want your site to be found! So many believe all they have to do is build a website, sign-up for Facebook, Twitter and a few other social sites and they are good to go, unfortunately 6 months later they find that is the farthest from the truth. So how do you catch the attention of your online customers? How do you ensure people can find your website? SEO & Internet Marketing is the answer…

First of all, you need a good website.  Your website is the interface between your business and your online customers. A good website is the one which has fresh, original content as well as good SEO optimization. When looking for an SEO services company or consultant, check with their references, past clients, etc. to ensure they can provide results. As there is a lot of promotional talk and advertising but the fact is , if they can’t provide proof  of their results over and over again then you are better off seeking services elsewhere.  Ask  just to make sure they have worked with websites in your same niche/industry before hand, to ensure they are not learning as they go.

SEO – search engine optimization

So many ask the simple question of  “What is SEO” –search engine optimization? It is a combination of art & science that use numerous processes to increase the amount of visitors to a website or page, and increase the quality of the traffic to that site or page. This type of optimization uses techniques that involve cleaning the website code to ensure spiderability by the search engines, and engaging in attracting one–way links from others sites to your own to show a sort of popularity, and most importantly ensuring the content and usability of the site is ideal for your customers and search engines alike.

This means that when a prospect comes online looking for some products or services that are provided by your website, your website will be visibly and easily found, ranking high within the search engine results. An SEO firm can achieve this targeted goal for you. There is a never ending increase thus far in the amount of businesses spending for SEO & other Internet marketing services year after year. If your not doing it yourself, don’t get left behind.

Studies prove that a person is more likely to pick the results from the first page listings of search engines for that searched keyword or term.  So if your website is among the first page results provided by the search engines, it has higher chances of being chosen.  More people visiting your website, mean more customers for your business, more leads, more sales, etc.

One of the main and most important techniques in SEO is choosing the right keyword/terms for your site. A skilled professional will be able to assist your site in choosing the perfect terms to target and not waist your money. Good SEO attracts search engine bots & spiders that scan your site to index data into the search engines, though your website needs to be ultimately aimed for the visitor, not the search engine.  An SEO Consultant can ensure that your site is targeted for the user not the robot. After all it is ultimately the prospect, and not the bots, which will increase your sales. For this reason, choose the services of good SEO consultants or Firm if you have no experience in professional SEO content writing.

If you are thinking about developing a web site for your small business, it is advisable to consult an SEO services provider. If you already have a business website but are not getting the traffic or sales you need, or no one can find your site, consult with a reputable SEO firm that will work within your budget. If you don’t have the patience and time it takes to learn SEO (search engine optimization) yourself, it is better that you leave it to the experts so that you can focus on your business.

Having your site rank high in the SERP’s (search engine results pages) resulting in a large increase in targeted high converting traffic, when properly optimized will increase sales, leads and brand recognition naturally and organically. Not like the typical advertising that stops providing, when you stop paying.

Remember, if you see an ad for “TOP Rankings in 14 days for $199.”  If it feels too good to be true, it probably is. Many reputable SEO Consultants and firms charge between $600 – $20,000+ per month depending on many, many variables with an average campaign running anywhere between 6-12 months.

Don’t forget about Us!  Howard SEM Group specializes in affordable SEO for small and medium sized businesses. Contact us today for a FREE, no-obligation quote/proposal.

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Enter our Sweepstakes for a NEW Blu-Ray DVD Player starting April 7th,2010 – ending May 1st,2010 at 12:00pm  (Sweepstakes now CLOSED)

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Visit our Facebook Fan Page by CLICKING HERE then become a FAN,  Suggest our fan page to all your friends, Click on the sweepstakes tab on our fan page and ENTER!!  That’s it!!! EASY!

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So if you thought you had a bad day this week. You must not work at Wikipedia or YouTube, those folks had a truly bad day! Between yesterday and today, both large authoritative sites went down for different periods of time. Wikipedia stated their issue was the result  of an overheating problem in their European data center, which forced them to move all user traffic to there back-up at their Florida Cluster. This however resulted in another failure that shut down Wikimedia globally for over an hour. This created quite a stir in Twitter with enough mentions that it soon became a bit of a Twitter trend.You can read Wikipedia’s Tech blog here

YouTube which is owned by Google, Inc. had went down as well, though not due to the many rumors about Google’s recent issues with China. A representative from Google states the outage which lasted just over an hour was not cause by outside sources, but rather from technical problems. Google did give an apology for any inconvenience the downtime may have caused.

With the pure size and traffic hitting both of those widely popular sites, we hope the engineers and techs’ working for those companies can finally put there feet up a bit and relax as both sites issues have been resolved and are back up and running.We wish them the very best, though all we can say is “Ouch!”