Liz Skorski.com

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Follow these three simple rules  to easily avoid mistakes that can cost your higher search ranking.

#1. DON’T be guilty of ‘keyword stuffing’ This old-school SEO tactic used to use mass repetition of the same keywords throughout a web page to rank that page highly for those keywords. But search engines quickly got wise, and keyword stuffing now results in penalization and LOWER RANKING.

#2. DON’T make duplicate or near-duplicate listings Get more listings for the same business and you’ll get more traffic, right? WRONG. In fact Google and other search engines are extremely good at recognizing near duplicate content, and will de-rank ALL pages that appear to be duplicates. Result: poor ranking and a waste of your time trying.

RECOMMENDATION: Better to create and develop one really good website and enrich it with unique and informative content. #3. DON’T let it stagnate Did you know that new and updated listings are indexed by Google more frequently ? No? Well now you do. How can you make this work for you? Well, you can keep Google interested by updating your listing frequently. RECOMMENDATION: Set a diary reminder at least once a month to make updates on your website: add an article of news section, add a special offer, update your product or brand list, post a new testimonial.

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I have been reading a lot of industry information about website promotion, SEO, and internet marketing over the summer and I struggle with an effective way to explain how your  websites’ place in your business marketing have changed, and oh boy there have been a lot of changes.

If you oversimplify the situation like this:

Imagine the internet is a huge pool of water ( information /content),  your website is one little drop of water in that pool.  How do you make that little drop of water into a large bucket of water?    You need to make your pool bigger by adding information and content on a consistent basis in other words turn on the hose and let it run

Fresh Content + Increased social presence = Increased exposure and traffic

Why is fresh content important? The more new content under your domain the more often frequently the search engines will index your site, thereby giving is a perceived greater importance.

Why is it important to use social media? Search engines give you “Bonus Points” if you use social media and you are linked throughout the internet.  When you participate in discussions in social media forums you are putting your expertise in a place of visibility for the world to read and check you out.

Here are some ideas to increase website visibility:

The Basics – Step 1

1. You need a website (fundamental part of your business marketing foundation as much as a business card)
2. Set up a  blog within that website domain
3. Establish  social media profiles
4. Create a schedule to add content to the blog and social media platforms on a regular basis

Growth- Step 2 ( the first step is not enough)

1. Write articles for your blog about your industry, your products/services, your experiences and knowledge
2. Post articles on your blog on a regular basis
3. Comment on industry blogs
4. Actively participate in social media
5. Submit your articles to syndication services for use on the web

Common Mistakes

• Using a poorly coded website- it needs to be indexable by the search engines- avoid heavy use of Flash (loads slowly or not at all on some mobile devices)
• Forgetting to put a Statistical counter on your website and blog
• External Blog- if you are trying to attract website traffic and elevate the visibility of your business you need an internal blog.  Get a WordPress Blog installed within your current website domain.
• Not blogging enough- if you don’t have time to write blog articles you may need to write a content writer.
• Not linking your social media, blog and website- these should all be linked together.
• Time Saver: Install social media apps on your cell phone to do quick updates on the go.  Is use Linked In, Twitter and Facebook apps on my Blackberry

1.  To get found by more prospects (addition user functionality)

2.  To convert more prospects into leads and customers

3. When there is a change in product or service

4. When your target market demographic changes

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Content, content, content- can’t have to much

Writing is as much as an art form as it is a skill, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t write content that is powerful and helps to improve your company’s ranking with the major search engines. There are certain elements which can help your website content, blog posts, articles submitted to online directories and other online content increase your rankings and move your business forward. Here are ten things to look for:

1. Content Matters: No matter what you write, keep in mind that it has the potential to reach a large audience and be beneficial to your company beyond any SEO benefits. Blogs, articles and on-site content are a chance to link your company to useful, interesting information about your industry. Well-written copy about intriguing topics is also more likely to be linked and shared by outsiders — increasing your page rank as well.

2. Write Compelling Headings: The titles of your articles and webpages are important — they are among the first things that can grab the reader’s attention. Instead of using a boring, generic heading, make sure that your heading is interesting while clearly explaining the content. Working a keyword into the heading is also a good idea.

3. Stay on Topic: It’s easy to write around a topic and begin drifting into tangents that are unrelated to your topic. Keep in mind that this is business writing and not a personal blog! While it’s OK to have some personality in your writing, your focus should always be on the topic you are writing about.

4. Ideal Keyword Length and Density: For website content and off-site articles for directory submission, content could be 300 to 1,000 words in length. The length of your article will largely be determined by the number of keywords you are using: you should use a keyword for every 50 to 100 words of content.

5. Don’t Stack Keywords: Some people cram all of their articles’ keywords into one section at the beginning of the article – often as part of a list. This looks unprofessional since all of your linked keywords will be running together on the page. Spread your keywords evenly throughout the article so they look more organic.

6. Add Keywords to the Bio: Whether you are writing a story for a magazine or submitting an article to an online directory, there will be an opportunity for you to add your biographical information. This is valuable real estate and another chance for optimization. Make sure that you include one keyword in your bio.

7. Write and Tag Hierarchically: Using the appropriate tags for your content will show Google and other search engines that it is professional and well-structured, leading to higher placements. Make sure you use the h1 tag for titles and the h2 tag for subheadings, etc. You should also apply this concept to your writing, putting the most compelling information up front.

8. Use META Descriptions: Making sure that your articles have META descriptions — 150 character descriptions of the content — that have keywords included. Including META descriptions is a great way to get Google to recognize your content and give it greater value.

9. Write Original Content: Search engines will punish sites that publish duplicate content that already exists online. Make sure that your content is fresh and original instead of just “copying and pasting” content from existing sources.

10. Choose Relevant Images: Having eye-catching images that are relevant to your content will grab the reader’s attention. You can use Creative Commons search tools like the one found at http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/creative-commons-image-search.htm to find intriguing images that are free to use without risking copyright infringement.

Submit Express Newsletter June 2010