Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I’ve been slammed with work and preparing for my presentation at the upcoming Performance Marketing Expo, an affiliate marketing conference and exhibition at Miami Beach which runs September 27-29, 2010.

I will be doing my bit as SEO Manager of FramesDirect.com on Monday, September 27, at 1:30 p.m. in a Search Engine Optimization session. It will be based on my popular SEO Tips Even Mom Would Love post, but, of course, shortened to best practice basics for non-technical types.

Mercifully, I go on before Shari Thurow, who I often credit with my decision to move into SEO full-time and out of web design and part-time SEO a number of years ago after reading her book Search Engine Visibility. I absolutely devoured the book, thinking “Wow, I LOVE this stuff!” and knew SEO was what I was supposed to do.

Anyway, glad she’s following ME and not the other way around! Her presentations are always great!

And, no, I don’t run the affiliate program at FramesDirect.com, but I do work with our affiliate manager and frequently get questions from this blog from affiliates struggling with SEO.

Check out the agenda.

If you need a 20% off discount coupon for the conference, feel free to grab it here.

And keep you fingers crossed for me!

Later,

Richard V. Burckhardt, The Web Optimist

Performance Marketing Expo is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Top 10 SEO Tips from the BlueGlass LA 2010 online marketing conference in Marina del Rey.

This is The Web Optimist’s Top 10 List of SEO Tips from the recent BlueGrass LA conference held in Marina del Rey. Vanessa Fox and Adam Audette provided incredible search engine optimization presentations and these are what stuck out above everything (at least in my opinion).

1. The TITLE tag is the most important tag. Ask someone NOT involved with your site to review your title. Is your title what they would be searching for?
2. Build your site based upon what people are looking for, NOT the other way around.
3. Clarify your business goal, brand objective and value proposition. These are extremely difficult to do, but essential to your success. Answer these first!
4. Make sure what is ranking for any given keyword is relevant and not a 404 or non-related page. We’ve all seen these pop up in the serps.
5. Solve a problem for your customer. Make sure the page does this with proper SEO and a call to action. It comes down to answering user questions.
6. Don’t put SEO front and center. Ditch the the huge list of links. Good SEO is unseen and should be an invisible layer. Make the best user experience, then leverage SEO.
7. Give the SEO team the power to do things.
8. Give the SEO team their own development resources (This is my FAVORITE!).
9. Make SEO part of the work flow, but don’t bring it into the development cycle too early. However, make the SEO team aware of product and value development as they progress.
10. Great content + Great User Experience + SEO = Traffic

Thanks to Loren and the whole crew at BlueGlass LA 2010. Fantastic conference!

This is a post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Top 10 SEO Tips from BlueGrass LA is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Does your business have multiple locations? Does each local location want to do its own PPC marketing? Then each local site needs its own domain to do local paid search marketing.

Quick SEO Tip: Domains for Local PPC is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

I’m preparing to do a presentation as VP of Search for FramesDirect.com  for the Performance Marketing Expo in Miami this September and would like a local Palm Springs area test audience for “SEO Tips Even Mom Would Love” – a roughly 20-minute Powerpoint show.

Ideally, I’d like to do this for a business or organization group of at least ten people in a conference room. Yes, that’s the catch. You will need to provide the facility. A projector or large monitor that can be connected to a laptop will also be required.

And, of course, I am offering to do this free for the lucky group. I’ll take questions regarding the presentation and general SEO afterwards.

So, these are the requirements to qualify for the free workshop:

• You must be in the Palm Springs area
• Group of at least ten participants
• Conference room or other facility with either a projector or large monitor that can be connected to a laptop.

So, if your Palm Springs area business, organization, bureau or group wants a free primer on search engine optimization from The Web Optimist (me), drop me an e-mail or call me at 760-641-1501. At this time, only ONE free workshop will be made available, but you never know.

For more information about me, check out my SEO Speaker page where you will find links to even more info about yours truly.

Thanks,

Richard V. Burckhardt
The Web Optimist: SEO in The Desert

Free Palm Springs SEO Workshop for One Lucky Business is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

WordPress plugins offer great tools for your blog's SEO and Social Media implementation and overall productivity.

WPing.fm - This plugin, as you can probably figure out, works with Ping.fm. Every time you edit or publish a post (you decide to do one or both) it is sent to Ping.fm, which sends it to Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, MySpace and a ton of other social sites (again, you set all of these up). Great for pushing out new posts across the social world.

Raw HTML in WordPress - For those of us blogging about SEO, web design or development, this plugin solves a world of headache. Since WordPress won’t allow you to display raw code in a post without totally borking it, this plugin wraps itself around the HTML so that it displays as, well, raw code in your post. For example, take a look at my post Top 10 SEO Must Do Tips and you’ll see this plugin in action in tip #4.

Page Links To - This one is a must for any blogger’s toolkit. This plugin allows you to redirect a page or post somewhere else. For instance, let’s say you want to create a link to an external site in your main menu where your pages are listed. You can create the page, name it what you like and have this plugin redirect the link to that off site location. The link in your main menu will have whatever text you set up for the page, but when clicked on, the link will 301 redirect to the URL of your choice rather than open the page (a 302 redirect is available, too, for those rare times it is needed).

Canonical URLs - Simple yet powerful. This plugin allows you to override the default canonical tag on a post and set it for the URL of your choice. Great for SEO!

permaLowercase301 - Another great tool for your SEO kit. This plugin will look at the case in URLs pointing to your pages and if the person linking to you has added upper case characters to your all lower case URL, this plugin will 301 redirect to the correct all lower case URL. This can help conserve link equity for SEO. Just set it and forget it.

WP Facebook Like Button - Literally, that’s what it does. Your visitors can “Like” your posts and have that appear on Facebook. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon with your WordPress blog, this is a quick, easy way to do so.

Add Post Footer - Add a configurable footer to your blog posts. Content can include a paragraph of text, links, HTML, ad code or whatever. I use it to link out to some cool pages (See “Other Cool Stuff Online” at the bottom of this post).

Antivirus for WordPress - This isn’t like a full antivirus tool, but during the recent Godaddy.com attack (where this blog is hosted), it was the first to alert me that something was going on, which allowed me to work on counter measures quicker. I was able to find a tool online that would wipe the malicious code from my hosting account and check it every day from WP admin with this plugin to see if reinfection had occurred. Not exactly an SEO or SMO plugin, but can help you head off problems that could have an impact on them.

WP Google Buzz - Nice, easy to configure implementation. Allows your readers to push your content out to Google Buzz. Who doesn’t need more buzz these days?

Google Base Newsfeed - If you want to get informational articles and posts out on Google Base (not Google Merchant Center), this will create an XML file for News and Articles. You’ll need to create it as a custom category in Google Base admin since Google Base only includes categories for Events and Activities, Housing, Jobs and Vehicles these days. Of course, the plugin can be used for these as well, but for my case, the custom News and Articles is appropriate. A datafeed file called googlebasefeed-posts.xml or gbfeed-posts.xml will be created from your most recent posts that Google Base can fetch, so set up a schedule in Google Base to update it on a regular basis. Don’t expect a ton of traffic from it, but it can’t hurt to have your content out there.

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Handy SEO/SMO WordPress Plugins is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Wayne Barker

Bait the link hook with great content for improved SEO.

Essentially link bait is just a form of content that will gently nudge website owners, bloggers and social media acolytes to link to your site. Matt Cutts himself said link bait is “interesting enough to catch people’s attention” – whilst this is true link bait should be something that is interesting enough for people to want to link to it.

How do you go about creating link bait?

The first step is to put yourself in the position of your potential fish (or audience) and ask yourself what it is they want. Usually the best link bait (or at least the link bait that is successful) can fall into a few simple categories:

• The link bait solves a problem
• It is funny (without trying to hard)
• It is controversial
• It is easily digestible (often this is why lists are good link bait)
• It looks great (infographics are good for this – and they are also easy to digest)
• It is topically relevant

Have a think about the kind of content that you have linked to in the past – be it written content, video, infographics and the like – and try and create your link bait with this is mind.

A big issue with link bait can be that a lot of website owners think that what they sell or the service they offer does not lend itself to link bait – which is not true. The most important thing is…

Use creativity when creating link bait

Creativity is key to link bait – people a more likely to go to the trouble of linking to you if you have put the effort into your link bait. So if you think your business won’t lend itself to this tactic sit down with your team and brainstorm some ideas – you may find that the perfect idea pops up when you least expect it.

So link bait is only hampered by a negative attitude and a belief that your business or service isn’t relevant to this tactic. Have a look at this post from SEObook – yes I know it is old but it is a great example of when you start throwing ideas around something will come out of it. In addition to that the general ideas that are discussed still hold relevancy for creating link bait.

How will link bait benefit my site?

If you manage to come up with some great link bait and it takes off on the Internet you will ensure a couple of benefits for your site. Short term you will get the benefit of boost in traffic for your site (and if you site is engaging this traffic can turn into customers). Secondly you will receive the benefit of those fantastic, much needed one way links – which you know are crucial to your overall SEO campaign.

Promoting your link bait

As with most things in life you are going to have to put in a bit effort to make sure your link bait is seen by enough people to get the ball rolling. Promote you link bait through Social Networking and Social Bookmarking – making sure that you are reaching out to the correct audience. For more information on promoting your link bait check out this post on link bait promotion.

So for successful link bait just follow these four rules:

• Make it creative
• Make it link worthy (funny, controversial, catchy, informational, helpful)
• Have fun creating it
• Then promote it (without being spammy)

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Utilising Link Bait As Part Of Your Inbound Linking Strategy is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Nick Lewis

Guest blogging can be a great e-marketing strategy and help establish you an an authority, terrific for SEO and social media campaigns.

A good blog can be the centre of an effective social media marketing strategy, and, particularly if it’s hosted on the website you want to promote; can be an excellent way of driving traffic. Websites are fantastic for pushing your message out there, but blogs allow greater flexibility in staying up to date and demonstrating your specialist knowledge in your particular niche.

Not only that, but a well loved blog can become a platform for guest blogging, which will allow you to spread your genius even further into cyberspace. If you contribute a knowledgeable post to a well-respected blog, traffic will follow you back to yours, which will have earned extra kudos as a destination for decent information by virtue of your guest post.

On the flipside, if you can attract guest bloggers to write on your blog, you not only get the benefit of having fresh content to appease the Google gods, but you are further entrenching your blog’s authoritative reputation. This can be spread throughout other social media channels to drive even more traffic to your blog, which will translate to traffic for your website (if it has been designed effectively).

The potential benefits to be reaped from keeping a good blog, guest blogging and attracting guest bloggers are obvious, and that is why a blog should be a key part of your web design. An orphaned blog will serve no purpose; you may attract readers but the end-goal is for them to click-through to your actual website. As such it is a good idea to host it on your website so that people are already there, and need merely follow header links to discover your services. Making blog integration a key feature of your web design will allow you to drive traffic to your products or services much more effectively than tacking one on at the end.

The marketing strategy of blogging and guest blogging is simple: become an expert and establish yourself as an authority. As every blog thrives on fresh content, most well reputed blogs will be open to the suggestion, and it is an easy way of showing off your knowledge.

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Guest Blogging as an Effective Marketing Strategy is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Unique, keyword rich content is still the best spider food.

Understand that these are my personal top tips as an in house SEO. Another SEO would probably have a different list. You know how it goes, put two SEOs in a room and there's gonna be an argument! Heck, I even get arguments from my own SEO cronies!

Keep in mind that...

SEO is NOT Rocket Science

BUT, it is complex and an ongoing process that changes almost daily. There is no such thing as a permanent fix to magically send you to the top of the rankings for good. But here are some of the basics to look for when optimizing your site to drive more traffic, prospects and, hopefully, profit.

Absolute MUSTS for SEO:

1. Content is (Still) King - Be sure to have good, well-written and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase. Be sure to include keywords in heading tags and in the first paragraph and throughout body copy. This is referred to as spider food! Fresh content can help improve your rankings. Add new, useful content to your pages on a regular basis. Content freshness adds relevancy to your site in the eyes of the search engines.

2. Good Back Links - If content is king, then links are queen. Build a network of quality backlinks using your keyword phrase as the link.
• Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase. In other words, if your target is “blue widgets” then link to “blue widgets” instead of a “Click here” link.
• Get links from good, authority sites. The "authority" will rub off on you.
• Avoid link farms and obvious paid links.
• Remember, if there is no good, logical reason for a site to link to you, you don’t want the link.

3. Link Format Consistency - Did you know that...

http://your-site.com
http://your-site.com/
http://your-site.com/index.html
http://www.your-site.com
http://www.your-site.com/
http://www.your-site.com/index.html

...are all technically SIX different URLs even though each will land the site visitor on the same Web page? Stick to one format, otherwise you are splitting your backlinks and link juice.

http://www.your-site.com/ = YES

http://www.your-site.com/index.html = NO

4. Use Absolute Links - Not only will it make your on-site link navigation less prone to problems (like links to and from https pages), but if someone scrapes your content, you’ll get backlink juice out of it. What are absolute links?

Here's an example of an absolute link:

<a href="http://www.yoursite.com/blue-widgets.html">Examples of Blue Widgets</a>

Below is a relative link:

<a href="blue-widgets.html">Examples of Blue Widgets</a>

5. Title Tag - Among the first things the spiders will crawl on your page is the Title Tag at the very top of your HTML code. This is what you see in the blue bar at the top of your browser when you land on a page. Unique text in this tag on each page is essential and the single most important thing you can do for rankings. If you MUST have the name of your company in it, put it at the end unless it contains the page's targeted keywords

6. Don’t be Obsessed with PageRank - PageRank, or that little green bar you see in the Google Toolbar, is just one isty bitsy part of the ranking algorithm. A site with lower PR can actually outrank one with a higher PR. In fact, what you see in this toolbar is NOT what Google sees internally for daily rankings.

7. Optimize Your Images:
• Use captions with your images.
• Pay attention to the context surrounding your images. Images can rank based on text that surrounds them on the page.
• Use the words “image” or “picture” in your photo ALT descriptions and captions. A lot of searches are for a keyword plus one of those words.
• Enable “Enhanced image search” in  Google Webmaster Central. Images are a big part of the new blended search results, so allowing Google to find your photos will help your SEO efforts.
• Use keywords for image file names.

8. Social Media - Understand social marketing. It IS part of SEO. The more you understand about sites like Digg, Yelp, del.icio.us, Facebook, Twitter, etc., the better you will be able to compete in search.
• Link to your social media profile pages. Make sure visitors can find your social site pages. Make your very first weighted link to your profile pages a link from your company site.
• Twitter is incredibly powerful for weighting in the search engine results pages, so use it! Just be sure to grab your name before someone else does (this applies to all social sites).

9. Go Viral - Inject viral components into your web site or blog
• Ratings & Reviews (User Generated Content)
• Sharing (E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Comments (More User Generated Content)
• Videos (Upload these to YouTube, etc.)
• Podcasts (Distribute these through iTunes, etc.)
• News (Press releases, news feeds, etc.)
• Free E-Books (Who doesn't like free?)

All of these can help your content be found, linked to and rank better. SEO is not about 10 blue links anymore.

10. Localize - Local search is getting hot! Create a local listing for all locations if you have more than one. Don’t just create a local listing for the main one. Get them all in there! Start with local listings at Google (through Google Places or Google Maps), Yahoo! and Bing. Include photos, videos, links, web pages and coupons if available. It’s quick, easy, free and gives you one more opportunity to rank.

There you go. Again, these are my personal top 10 SEO tips. If you don't agree, well, eat dirt.

Just kidding. Feel free to comment.

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist - SEO in The Desert.

Top 10 SEO Must Do Tips is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

It's easy to forget these simple, yet frequently overlooked SEO tips.

Create a robots.txt file. This is a simple text file telling the spiders what they can crawl. Assuming you want the entire site spidered, it’s as easy as typing this into Notepad and saving it as robots.txt:

User-agent: *
Disallow:

Drop it in the root of your site. Without a robots.txt, Google reports an error when trying to access the non-existent file. This will take care of that.

Naturally, the robots.txt is much more powerful that this, but so many sites flat out don’t have one at all. More on the many uses of robots.txt can be found at http://www.robotstxt.org/.

Get local. If you haven’t already, register your site in Google Local Business Center at http://www.google.com/local/add. It’s free and gives your site the opportunity to possibly show up in local business results listings in Google search (like the map area below).

Sign up for the Bing version as well at https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx.

Customize the 404 page. This is the page that appears when someone tries to go to a non-existent page on a domain. You can currently find it by trying to get to any page on your site that you know doesn’t exist. Instead of a scary Server Error (insert blood curdling scream here) default 404 page appearing, create a sitemap page with a directory of your pages. Link to this in your footer as your Sitemap and use a non-spidered copy as your 404 page (Frequently this can be done in your web hosting control panel or by uploading a 404.html page). This will help keep visitors on your site by giving them a chance to find what they are looking for and it also creates a table of contents for the search engine spiders to follow.

You’d be surprised how many great sites I have come across that somehow missed these, so here’s a quick reminder!

Read the Spanish translation: Tips de SEO, simples, y frecuentemente olvidados

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Simple, Frequently Forgotten SEO Tips is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Ben Hook

Matt Cutts’ recent announcement that page speed is likely to become a factor seems to have built up a lot of hype around the subject and is now likely to play an increasingly important point on every SEOs checklist.

Google wants your website to be quicker, because a quicker website is better for users. In this day and age it seems like nobody wants to spend more than 3 seconds doing anything in particular. Well, in order to speed up your website Google has provided webmasters with a new addition to the firebug tool called page speed checker. The tool can be found here. The tool will look at you website and analyse it to make recommendations on how you can speed up your website. It’s all broken down easily to help you see what factors you will be able to adjust and what you will need to pass on to your webmaster. Although it is quite specific and goes into details such as javascript compression and browser caching, some of the suggestions are well worth following and will a few tweaks you can often easily reduce your page size by half, which can make a big difference.

Another useful tool to look at is one that was mentioned by Matt Cutts when he spoke at PubCon in 2009 about the state of the index. Have a look at www.webpagetest.org and enter in your URL to start the diagnosis.

Just enter in your details and adjust the setting and it will bring back results of your websites performance. The data is displayed in different ways, but one of the most visually useful is the waterfall chart of the site speed as is displayed below.

The website will also provide an optimisation checklist for your website to help speed up the different factors. Here is an example below.

Make Your Website Quicker for Rankings is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO