Framework

The basic framework (or how your website is built) has to be “spider friendly.” Here’s how it works…Every couple of months, search engine spiders crawl the entire world wide web. Do they crawl every word on every website? Well, not exactly. If they run into a website that is not created with search engine spiders in mind, an entire section of a website may be skipped.

So, what am I saying here? You just spent the past two weeks writing keyword rich content for your site in hopes of working your way up the Google ranking ladder, and it may be all for nothing? …possibly.

Some websites and blog themes (especially the free ones) are built on shaky frameworks that actually block search engines from crawling anything but the homepage. I recently explained it to one of my clients this way: “It’s like building rooms on your house without doors…Really pretty, but no one knows they are there because there is no way in.”

This is why Writers-Elite only builds with the SEO charged combination of WordPress and the Thesis theme. With the combination of these two as a framework, you can’t go wrong. They are made with search engines in mind. In fact, I’ve had sites that I’ve built on WordPress actually indexed with the search engines within 24 hours. Now, that’s what you want if you are trying to get noticed online!

Quality SEO Web Content

Once the basic infrastructure is covered, its time to focus on your SEO web content. Unique, informative, keyword optimized web content is the fastest way to reach your target audience and land yourself on page one of Google. 

The right keywords and keyword phrases help the search engine spiders to understand your content and rank your website accordingly. Writers-Elite will help you to choose the keyword phrases that you can use throughout your entire site for optimum search engine ranking.

Content should be added on a regular basis. We at Writers-Elite offer a Blog Management Package for busy individuals who just don’t have the time to add new content on a regular basis. With our Blog Management Package, we provide 5-10 keyword rich posts that are loaded into your blog panel and pre-set to “go live” on the web at future dates. We recommend two posts per week, so we will load all ten into your panel, set the first two for Tuesday and Friday of THIS week, the next two to go live Tuesday and Friday of NEXT week, and so on…until all of your SEO web content is preset to deploy. Doesn’t that sound nice? You’ll keep climbing in Google rankings on a regular basis, but won’t have to worry about your site again for the next 5 weeks.

You can do it this way, or you can just have us write two posts per week for you indefinitely. Then you REALLY won’t have to think about your site or worry about your business blog. Contact Writers-Elite today to discuss the plan that is right for you.

Internal Linking

Developing your website with an internal link structure is a vital part of your Google ranking strategy. Once your necessary pages have been created, such as About Us,  Services, Contact, Experience etc. you should link them with each other. This is especially easy to do in a blog post. I’ve already linked over to my Home Page earlier in this post. When creating content, I will keep in mind what my previous post topics were, and will link over to “more information” in related posts as they relate to the topic at hand.

How Does Internal Linking Help?

If you take the time to make sure that each page links with at least one another page, this will help the search engine spiders to crawl through from one page to the others, thus indexing all the pages of your website. I also use a plugin that provides  links to related posts and articles when I build a new blog. This plugin ensures that I have internal links (even if I forget to do it manually).

These are the main ways to move your business blog or website from the internet “abyss” over to “high traffic central.”

A business blog or website is built to increase your business and ultimately your bottom line.

In order to do so, you need to “get noticed” on the web. Writers-Elite does the work for you so you can focus on what you do best…Run your business!

Call us today at 239-440-856

Email: editor@writers-elite.com

Some of my clients have dabbled in business blogging and are trying to figure out the right way to write SEO web content that works. One recent client had been creating well written, valuable posts for the past year, but didn’t know that his website (created by a friend), probably wasn’t built in a way that was conducive to Google crawling and indexing his site. He was frustrated, wondering why all his hard work hadn’t added any traffic to his site.

SEO Web Content

If you still have no clue what I’m talking about, you’re not alone. I like to explain it like this…If you don’t have the correct framework for your business website, it’s like building rooms on your house that have no doors. They may be pretty, and full of cool stuff, but no one can get in there.

That’s exactly what writing content on some websites can be like. Frustrating, I know…but true nonetheless.

Why We Insist on WordPress

There are certain recipes for success that you just don’t mess with. Building your website or business blog with the combination of WordPress and the Thesis Theme is one of those recipes. Why mess with perfection?

Thesis is a Premium Theme that was created by a group of web developers that are adamant about constant improvements and SEO web content. If you install the Wassup Plugin, you will be able to view live traffic on your blog by readers, as well as spiders and robots crawling your site. The Wassup Plugin, although rather elementary, does give me a charge every time I use it. Whenever I finish writing a post and hit the “publish” button, I immediately look to the Wassup Plugin to make sure my pings are working and that the search engines are crawling my site. Wassup will show you, in real time, the number of robots, spiders, and real people who are on your site at any given moment.

I especially love Wassup when measuring the effectiveness of my viral campaigns. If I create a blog post and send it out to my 18 thousand followers on Twitter, I can immediately check and see how many individuals actually followed that Tweet link and are currently viewing my blog. Addictive? …. yes. But it’s tools like these that let me know that I haven’t built rooms without doors. People are visiting my blog, reading it, commenting…and at the end of the day, I’m getting business from the deal. Social networking is increasing my bottom line. And isn’t that what we all want?

Simply put, Thesis is powerful. It has a remarkably efficient HTML + CSS + PHP framework and easy-to-use controls that you can use to fine-tune each and every page of your site with a tactical precision that has never been possible before. The days of worrying about your in-site SEO are over—with Thesis, your strategy is “just add killer content.” SEO web content is what we do…and that is what will bring your Google rankings up.

Not a coder? Not a problem. The Thesis option panels allow you to command your site with ease, while Thesis does all of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. You’ve never had this much control over your site before, and this is precisely what makes Thesis indispensable to critical website owners all over the globe.

If you don’t already have a business blog… you should. A business blog will capture new business from around the web, funnel them to your site, and build a following of readers that will not only trust you, but tell others about your business as well.

Content

We all know that fresh content (blog posts) that includes targeted keywords and keyword phrases helps Google to crawl your site and to rank you with the search engines for those keywords.

First we get the business blog up. Second, we work a plan of getting your blog indexed and up to page one on Google by creating scheduled blog posts (usually two per week) to add to your blog.

These scheduled posts provide the fresh content Google looks for, plus builds a following of readers for you which gives you authority in your field. All of this works to pre-sell your potential client. They see that you have the business presence, the knowledge, and the credibility that they are looking for.

If this is something you are looking for, let us know and we will make it happen. We can talk about getting you a WordPress Blog set up (which can connect right to your main website with a button or tab).

Check out this basic blog that we just built:  http://PropertyAnswersNow.com

This is a site that will be geared toward investors, especially those from out of the country, looking to buy Florida property.

If you already have a blog, we can talk about the blog maintenance package, which brings 2 posts per week to your business blog. Each post has at least 7% keyword density and will keep your site up in Google rankings.

Wherever your stating point is, just start. Your bottom line will be glad you did.

Robin Bright

239-440-6856

As a web copywriter and SEO web content provider, I can relate to the frustrations of business owners and entrepreneurs who are desperately trying to build their online reputation, only to be met with a series of disappointments when it comes to their blogs and web content. After quietly observing some of the decisions many of them make, I can honestly say that I have the answer, but whether they will listen remains to be seen.

Let’s take a quick look at the root of the problem…SEO web content misconceptions. We will also happily dispel a few evil myths along the way.

Misconception #1: Those who do not recognize the true need for SEO web content. “Just write compelling and valuable content. The keywords will naturally flow into it. Write what people want to read and they will find it.” Really? That’s about as silly as thinking that if you open a restaurant on a desert island and serve the best food in the world, somehow, someone will know you are there. Come on, we’re more intelligent than this, aren’t we? No one is going to magically “find” your rocking website filled with killer content, unless it is properly search engine optimized.

Misconception #2: Those who recognize the need for keyword dense content, but choose to fill their website with cheaply spun or plagiarized articles. This person is so blind to the needs of their readers that they’ve gone off the deep end in the complete opposite direction. They believe that as long as they can rise up Google rankings with keywords, it doesn’t matter what kind of crappy content is on their site. Wrong….You may get a lot of initial traffic, but take a look at your bounce rate. No one is going to stay on your site long enough to read 2 paragraphs, let alone purchase your products or services.T

How to Rank Well With Google: Understanding the Search Engine Brain

These misconceptions stem from a basic foundational misunderstanding of the way search engines operate. More specifically, it’s a misconception of the way a search engine crawls a website to gather information.  A search engine is not simply a massive find function, like the one in the “Edit” menu of a Word document. Google doesn’t simply pull up any random page that has your chosen keyword in it X number of times. If it did, all pages that show up on search engine results would simply contain a list of the keywords.

Ultimately, writing for the search engines entails writing for web surfers. Think about it: services like Google thrive on giving web surfers the pages they are looking for. If they consistently failed to give people what they wanted, people would stop using them.

Bottom line, in order to rank well with Google you are going to have to realize that your content has to be specifically written for the web. Web content must be informative, a quick and compelling read, preferably with bullet points covering relevant facts that answer specific questions. Most people searching through SEO web content are looking to answer a “how to” or “how does” question. They are looking for a product or a solution to a problem. They have questions…they need quick answers. If your web content isn’t crafted to answer a question or fill a need, you’ll end up on page 33 of Google rankings, regardless of how eloquently written your web content is.

No one is looking for a novel or someone’s opinionated ramblings online. In fact, as far as publications go, newspapers are the only paper publications that have made a smooth online transition, precisely because they are written in short, to-the-point paragraphs that are easy to scan.

Still Think Good SEO Web Content Makes for Bad Reading?

If you are reading these words, congratulations. You’ve  just read through an article that is filled with search engine optimized web content. This blog post was optimized using the keyword phrases, SEO web content, search engine, search engines, search engine optimized, and rank well with Google.

The keyword phrases are present in sub-headings and throughout the content. The content itself is easy to scan and is broken up by sub-headings every four paragraphs or so.

Because this post is search engine optimized, if someone types in a phrase like, “SEO web content,” this page has a pretty good chance of showing up.

In short, there’s much more to writing well for the web than just writing well. There’s also much more involved in being able to rank well with Google than stuffing your fluffy, useless post with keywords. If you have enough sense to get your web content written professionally, have enough sense to take some solid advice from me. Use a professional SEO web content writer, such as myself, that will supply highly usable, informative, articles that are also keyword rich and Google friendly.

Contact me at 239-440-6856 or by email at: editor@writers-elite.com to start rocking your website or blog with SEO web content that will get you the results you are truly looking for (the kind that nicely pads your pocketbook).

What Can a Professional Blogger Do to Increase Your Bottom Line?

A blogger for hire, especially one who is experienced with SEO web content (such as myself), can get you indexed with Google and on the right path in a matter of months. Naturally, the first thing you need to do is add a blog to your current website if you don’t already have one already. Blogging is good for business. A blog allows you to keep your static (and sometimes stagnant) original, informative website, but freshen it up constantly with informative posts that ultimately pre-sell your potential clients on your business.

A blog helps you come across as an authority in your field. You are giving useful information on a consistent, scheduled basis. This shows that your heart is in what you do and that you have your client’s best interests at heart. You want to involve them, educate them, and keep them on a successful path by making the most use of your business.

Whether you own a local hair salon, a law firm, or an online marketing business, a business blog will work for you. A hair salon can offer weekly or seasonal style tips, hair product reviews, and educate clients about hair care. A legal firm can use popular questions he receives during consultations to create timely blog posts that will add value and credibility to his firm. Looking at your business through the eyes of the consumer, you need to step back and realize that without an informative business blog, you are merely another name in the yellow pages, or another advertisement. Blogs build trust. They develop real relationships and are an important part of networking and marketing. If I’m looking for a lawyer to represent me or a dermatologist for my skin condition, I’m going to choose the one who isn’t just a “name and a number.” An informative website and blog will put one business owner far above the next when it comes to gaining credibility and clients. New potential customers only know what you put out there. If it’s just an ad on Craigslist or a square box in the local paper, that’s not much to go on.

How Much Time Will it Take to See Results?

Luckily  blogs and fresh SEO web content are well favored by Google. Real, measurable results should take no longer than three months. It takes about that long for Google to cycle and crawl the entire web. If three months sounds like a long time, think of it this way… That amount of time is going to pass anyway. Wouldn’t you rather have a killer blog filled with valuable information than nothing at all? Trust me, it will work in your favor.

The words you are reading right now are on my business blog. I receive new quote requests and client projects almost daily, just off of this blog. Yes, I advertise in other ways also. I have an ad up on a local forum, I use FaceBook and Twitter,  and I do network face-to-face with business owners on a regular basis. But this blog is my foundation for success. It’s a pleasant surprise to open my email and have two or three quote requests along with an order for a 10 article set every couple of days. My business would be non-existent without this blog. Armed with SEO web content I use it as my website / blog combo. If you’ll notice, I have a static home page that explains what I do, and I update with informative articles, such as the one you are currently reading.

If I relied solely on ads in forums or networking on Facebook, where would I send my interested potential clients to validate the fact that I am a professional writer who takes my business seriously? I’d have to explain and re-explain what I do to each potential client. This would waste valuable time, and no doubt I’d leave out some key details after repeating my trade to countless prospects. Yes, I still consult with clients over the phone and in person, but I feel confident that whatever they may have missed, they can find within the pages of my business blog.

Isn’t it time you invested in the success of your business?

Whether you need a blog created or just need someone to write compelling, valuable, SEO web content for you…you’ve found your answer with Writers-Elite.

Contact me today. We’ll get you going on the road to online success. You’ll be glad you did…especially in about three months from now.

Email: editor@writers-elite.com

Phone: 239-440-6856

Or fill out the quote request, contact form on the sidebar of the site.

Mention this article (Improving Your Online Presence) & instead of $30 per post, you will receive a set of 10 search engine optimized, keyword rich articles for $199. I’ll even supply the image to go along with your post at no additional cost to you.

Ready to order your set of 10? Click here to purchase and then shoot me an email or give me a call with instructions.

Welcome to online success!

This is somewhat of a double edged sword…

It’s never been easier than right now to establish an online presence.

However…

It has also never been more difficult to pull your online presence together and make it work.

Why? Because competition for qualified clients is fierce. If you are going to rank with Google and convert online lurkers into a trusted group of fans and satisfied clients, you need the right content.

Yes, there’s a difference. There’s regurgitated sludge and there’s intelligent, fresh, valuable content that will build your online presence into a remarkable tool to funnel clients right to your door.

Using content to draw your client into your industry, your world, and your area of expertise adds value to your business and search engine authority to your website, all while developing a bond between you and your target client, well before you ever ask them for the sale.

Ideally, you developed your online presence so you could increase your bottom line while working less hours.

However…

There is a right and a wrong way to go about this . Marketing and selling are vital elements, but you have to go about it differently than the competition. Your website, your content, your industry knowledge has to bring fresh ideas and clear, usable knowledge to your clients…or they won’t stick with you. Writers-Elite specializes in this concept.

Do we write a little sassier than the next guy? Yes.

Do we take more chances and step out on the ledge once in a while? Yes.

Is that what it takes to draw interest? Absolutely.

Your potential client wants to develop that ‘feeling’ of old fashioned customer friendliness and pulling up to the general store where everyone knows their first name, even though we live in the ultra fast paced world of the internet. How is that accomplished? By supplying content that not only informs, but also entertains. Content that gives the reader some insight to your personality, while always bringing them along the friendly path that leads to your front door.

It’s really doable on the internet…And at Writers-Elite, we really know how to do it.

Give ghostwriting a spin… Give us a month and we’ll give your website or blog the best feel it’s ever had.

Our Guarantee

We guarantee that your readership and following will increase. We guarantee to start a buzz about who you are and what your company provides. We will create a client base of individuals who are already warmed up to you, and already charmed by their mental perception of your business. Won’t that be wonderful?

What We Provide – Our specialties include (but are not limited to):

SEO web copy: Search engine optimized articles and blog posts will enhance your web presence and grow the seeds of your business. Writers-Elite creates content for both search engines and humans. SEO means nothing if the human eyes that land on your page don’t enjoy what they’re reading. Quality content is highly readable, always engaging, and well articulated. Every page we write elevates your ranking while motivating your visitors to take action.

Sales letters: The right words can drive dollars to your bank account 24 hours a day. That’s the only kind we write.

Email autoresponders: Think of your autoresponder as your personal team who never sleeps. They are always around to shake the hand of new leads, then guide them toward a comfortable spot (such as your blog) where they can keep the conversation flowing. Setting the right autoresponder into place can yield dividends for years to come.

Press releases: Let’s face it. Most press releases are simply overwritten announcements about events that no one really cares about. We make sure that doesn’t happen. We only write with character and clarity, about events of interest to your potential clients.

Ghost Blogging: Keeping up with a successful blog is time consuming, but a loyal audience will lead to money in the bank. Every post must have a purpose, whether it is to strengthen your authority, gather leads, or close the deal. We provide beautifully written content on any subject, all optimized to get you noticed.

Ebooks and info products: Spread your message, cement your authority, or sell your knowledge. We create and help you distribute the assets that will help you launch your dreams.

Writers-Elite also offers a full range of personal services including but not limited to: letter writing, custom speeches, editing and revision, and custom wedding vows.

Please contact us today for friendly content that respects your customers while pulling in profit.

Contact us by Email or give us a call at 239-440-6856. We look forward to hearing from you!

Oh, and the gentle reader also accused me of outright plagiarism. Fancy that. I hardly think there is the need for me to stoop to such humiliating levels, especially since over 80% of the articles I read are quite poorly put together. I pondered the thought or the “idea” of the deeper truths of advanced SEO and it kind of made me chuckle a bit. Sort of like Randy, from My Name is Earl, does whenever he thinks about having sex with his wife, Catalina. The deep truths of advanced SEO. Sounds like a new religion and I suppose for all the self proclaimed gurus out there, it kind of is.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is nothing more than building your blog or website in the most beneficial way possible, to satisfy your reader’s need for information, while also satisfying Google’s attempt to crawl your site and try to figure out if there is a common thread or theme (keywords) that runs through your site. Google likes to catagorize things; makes it easier for the searchers. So, unless you are posting about fig trees in Jerusalem one day and your Aunt Bertha’s bunion medicine the next…eventually you should get ranked for your niche, subject matter, or keyword phrases.

The actual dictionary definition for the word “optimization” is the act, process, or methodology of making something (as a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible. Not too deep, huh. The websites I work on are all highly ranked because I take the time to follow the necessary steps to get them there.

I use a clean, easy to search blogging platform (WordPress is the winner in my book) and then I add a super charged, brilliantly SEO friendly theme (Thesis is by far superior to any other themes). After that, I carefully choose the plugins that will help Google to search your site for the best keyword phrases, All in One SEO is my favorite so far.

After that, it’s a matter of constant research to find keyword phrases that are desireable, yet not so competitive that you’ll have a hard time ranking. This can be accomplished through a number of Google tools created just for that purpose. After this step, throw in a pinging plugin, learn to use the power of Social Media Networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), claim your business address on Google Maps and continue to supply fresh information in your posts, (no duplicate content, no copying and pasting other’s work) using the chosen set of keyword phrases in the title and throughout the body…and guess what? It works. Throw in some backlinking with anchor text. Supply links to trusted sources that are not competitive, and it works VERY quickly. Here is an excerp from an email I received from a Real Estate client that I’ve been working with for about three months now. This came to me on January 1, 2009. Very fitting indeed:

“Robin… Holy shit!  We are on first page organic Google search this morning for all five of  the keyword phrases you used to SEO our site! Thank you, thank you, thank you! YOU ARE THE BEST!”

Deep truths of advanced SEO? That sort of sounds like the people at church who just don’t “get it.” Having a spiritual relationship with God is pretty easy. It’s basic. It’s based on one or two spiritual truths (Love God with all your heart, Love your neighbor as yourself) and then get to building your relationship. Pray, talk to God…Include Him in your life. Don’t write letters to your Pastor telling him that he needs to teach DEEPER THINGS. If you want a fish my friend, guess what? Go get yourself a fishing pole, a bucket of fish and get busy. But don’t waste your time trying to disprove others who are doing just fine. Sure, you can buy a fish finder, you can get yourself some charts and meters…You can even hire an expensive fishing guide to help you learn the DEEP things of fishing. Or you can walk over to the dude with the cane pole who’s been fishing the same way in the same spot for the past ten years and ask him what he’s using for bait. My bet is on the cane pole guy.

Until next time… Happy New Year to all my fans and my haters alike. Hope you ALL have plenty of fish to fry in your buckets this New Year!

Google Local, which hit the web full-force in March of 2009, has evolved into Google Maps, which now gives local businesses the opportunity to build a solid presence on the web and appear in a top ten list next to an area map. This is ideal for the traveler looking for a certain type of business on their smart phone. By ranking with Google for your location and business category, you can add quite a bit to your bottom line in 2010. If you aren’t getting your share of the traffic, let me show you how it’s done.

If you apply the following tips, your Google Maps ranking will have no where to go but up–Heavy traffic will follow.

Claim and Verifying Your Business Listing

Google Maps gathers it’s local business information through a multitude of online sources. Every listing starts out as “unclaimed.” The first thing you need to do is to look up your own business on Google maps and claim the listing. Once you do so, check and fill in the correct information, (or add your business if it’s not there) and then verify that you are the owner. Google will send you a pin number to your business address through the mail. Once you receive this pin, come back to Google Maps and verify your listing.

Since Google heavily relies on the information it gets from the business owner through GLBC (Google Local Business Center), be as accurate as possible when adding your business information.

Add Keywords to Your Business Name

One tip that will greatly improve your rankings with Google Maps is to include important keywords (such as pizzaria or car wash) after your business name, in the same title space. It’s a small keyword trick that can push you up a few notches in the Google Maps top 10.

Categorize Your Business Correctly

Properly categorizing your business in Google Maps ties for number on the importance level. It can make a huge difference in your ranking.

Google will suggest categories as you type. Use a predefined category for your first couple of category selections. If your type of business is not included in the category choices, come as close as possible with a predefined category,  then  use your other choices to add your own unique category. You are allowed a total of 5.

To make your categorizing more effective, try to think like a searcher would when looking for your services.

Description

The Google Maps description field should be used to relay the details of your unique products or services to your potential clients. In 200 characters or less, describe the remarkable, valuable and unique qualities of your business. What makes you shine above the competition? Here is your chance to make it clear. There is a small, charming Italian meat market in my town that is the only licensed retailer for certified angus beef in our entire county. This is the kind of information to add to your Google Maps description.

Images and Videos

Google is all about “user experience.” Adding images and videos will help you to gain authority and bring your rankings up. Be sure to include your logo and pictures of your business in the images section. Also upload commercials, interviews, tutorials, etc.

Coupons

The coupon section in Google Maps really excites me. You can actually set up coupons in this section and then track the amount of business you are receiving from Google Maps. Pretty cool, and an easy way to bring new clients to your door instead of your competitor.

Get Reviewed!

Most of your best clients may not even be aware of your business listing with Google Maps. Encourage your clients to write reviews by providing a link to Google reviews right on your website. Google relies on the positive feedback from satisfied clients. This is an excellent way to build a strong business presence.

Follow these tips and Google Maps will help you to make this new decade more prosperous than you’ve ever been before.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• A) Creating Unique, Valuable and Original Posts that contain specific targeted Keywords (No Duplicate Content Please), and
• B)  Using the Keywords in your Title, Meta Description, and SEO Plugins (Such as All in One SEO Pack) to further assist Google in it’s Site Assessment

Other ways to rank well with Google and the Search Engines is by gaining backlinks. Backlinks are other well ranking sites that mention your site and provide a link to you on one of their web pages. Either the site’s writer specifically links to you through an article, review or mention of your site, or you can comment on certain sites that allow links to appear along with your comment.

Those are just two of the many SEO tactics. If you are into writing articles, you can write on sites such as Ezines.com or Suite 101 and link back to your website. Guest blogging on a popular site in exchange for a backlink is another way to earn some Search Engine juice.

Now that you have a bit of an idea what goes into SEO (and that’s just scratching the surface), obviously you can appreciate the importance of a well planned, well written, and well constructed blog or website.

That’s the geeky end of the spectrum.

How does Social Media Networking fit into this picture?

If you are active on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, and LinkedIn….”Active” being the defining word here, you can go viral for certain information, offers, contests, and articles in a very short amount of time. How short? How about an hour or two. Now I’m not talking about the casual Tweeter with a following of 500 or less, nor am I talking about the occasional Facebook poster. If you have a following that actively engages in conversations with you, then you pretty much know who you are.

If you were wondering, try heading over to a site called Topsy.com. Sign up for a free account. It will sync with your Twitter and show you the statistics of your Tweets. You’ll see numbers such as “How many times other influential Tweeters Re-tweet you” and it even rates  how influential you are, right next to your name. You’ll get a good idea of your authority level.

With that in mind, if you are active on the Social Media Networking scene, you’ll happily enjoy the best of both worlds. You’ll have a site that is easily found and ranked by Google, and you can go ahead and set up your networking sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn to automatically grab your blog posts and display them. You can also Tweet your latest or most popular posts. Just don’t overdo it with the Tweets or it becomes irritating spam and you’ll lose followers.

As a side note, the active Social Networker is NOT someone who wastes all of their time every day on FaceBook or Tweeting away their morning. Use Social Media wisely, just as you would use your email. It’s a tool. You don’t check your email every five seconds, so treat Social Networking accordingly. Once check in the morning with a few comments to individuals and one in the late afternoon should be plenty. It’s the individual who squats on FaceBook for hours at a time that complain about what a time suck it is. It doesn’t have to be.

So, who is the winner? Which is more important? My vote is for enjoying the best of both worlds. There have been times that I’ve Tweeted one of my blog posts and it led to quite a surge of traffic. I wouldn’t want to have to give this effective marketing tool up. But for those of you who really want to know which is more important…My vote is for SEO, hands down.

Why is SEO More Important than Networking?

Search Engine Optimization works for you 24 hours a day. It’s a “set it and forget it” tactic. If you take the time to implement proper Search Engine Optimization into your site and your posts, Google will do the work for you. Ranking on Page 1, 2, or 3 for targeted keyword phrases will bring potential clients to your door while you sleep. I wake up to quote requests for my writing at least three or four times per week. For me it’s a combination of my SEO and Social Networking, but I’ve noticed that I also am approached for my services even when I have neglected my Social Networking. So that’s my take on it. SEO should be the foundation for a properly built site.

Google is getting better at weeding out the spam sites and ranking the valuable, original, well constructed sites. Get in on the SEO train now, and your site will be ready for a profitable 2010.

Telling someone you can bring them to page one rankings without disclosing the keyword phrase that will be targeted is like selling someone waterfront property that is actually a shanty sitting on a retention pond. Oh I know I’m ruffling some feathers here, but actually I’m quite sick of the smooth talking web designer or freelance writer that so ardently makes that promise. “I will bring your site to page one rankings within two months,” they boast. Well, guess what? I can bring a site to page one rankings in less than one week if it’s for some obscure search term such as “Robin Marie Hale of Cape Coral.” But that’s not a very good plan, if I want more web traffic.

Recently I had a heated discussion via email with an individual who just “didn’t get it.”

Web design companies who aren’t keeping up with Search Engine Optimization SEO and the purpose of SEO articles, sort of dance around the subject in an obvious, yet sad sort of way. During my most recent conversation regarding the importance of keyword and meta descriptions, I was met with a zinger, “Surely you are not speaking to me regarding this issue, since my company has been building websites for the past ten years.” I promptly put at least five of this company’s sites through a few rankings tools to determine the unique visitors and proper use of keyword phrases, and just as I suspected…Every single site was a train wreck. Hiding under the fact that “you’ve been doing it for X amount of years” is a very poor argument. It’s like the hairdresser who is in her 50′s and thinks that people still want perms and mullets.

Why am I telling you all of this? For one, to get it off of my chest. I personally collaborate with two of the top Search Engine Optimization and Website Design firms in the world–One is based in Orlando and the other in Germany. I study, test, re-test and print pages of data regarding best practices for search engine friendly sites. I don’t like it when I know that there are companies out there, blindly building websites that are not easily read by Google and even worse, are causing their client’s sites to become banned because of duplicate content and placing META keywords in the description box that simply aren’t found in the posts.

Search Engine Optimization isn’t rocket science. There is a simple, easy formula to start off with and once you learn the first few vital steps, it’s just a matter of continued learning and building off the basics. But the basics will ALWAYS be the basics. Let’s talk about targeted keywords for a moment:

• Targeted keywords and keyword phrases should be planned out before ever writing that first blog post
• They should be used in the Title
• They should be used within the first couple of sentences of your post
• They should be used naturally throughout the post and never forced
• Targeted keywords should consist of words and phrases that will be searched by an average individual that is typing into a Google search box (This seems to be the most difficult one for people to understand. If you are not a celebrity than your name should not be considered one of your main targeted keywords. Someone in Texas is not going to wake up in the morning and say, “Heyyyyy…. I think I need a blog built. I think I’ll look up the words Robin Hale.” If you build blogs and you want traffic and business, one of your targeted keyword phrases should be “build my blog”… Get it? It’s not that difficult.)

Yes, it’s a bit more complicated than that, because you shouldn’t try to compete with major keyword phrases. That will make it much more difficult to rank well. If you sell Detroit Tigers pencils, don’t try to rank for the keyword phrase “Detroit Tigers.” You’ll be up against ESPN, Sports Authority and everyone else. Instead, use the keyword phrase “Detroit Tigers pencils” and write blog articles that include the phrase “Detroit Tigers pencils” in the title and body of your post. That’s how a winning niche blog gets to page one for a term that someone looking for Detroit Tigers pencils will actually search for. SEO is all about getting noticed, being found, and letting your potential clients know where you are. If you are selling Detroit Tigers pencils, don’t fill your blog with articles that you rip off from ESPN about baseball. You may think to yourself, “Hey…This is interesting stuff. My readers probably want to see this.” What readers? By copying and pasting other web content directly to your own blog, you are creating duplicate content which Google greatly frowns upon (let alone the plagiarism factor). When Google searches your site and finds that your new post is already somewhere else on the web, guess what happens? Your site tumbles in rankings. A couple more mishaps like that and your site will be banished forever to the Island of Misfit Blogs.

With that said, there is a real reason why corporations and businesses pay writers (such as myself) to create unique, intelligent, well researched, and ORIGINAL web content for their blogs. They supply the writer (me) with a list of keyword phrases that represent their product or services and I take that list and plug those words and phrases into the title and body of my articles. It’s both a science and an art to be a good web content writer. First there is the talent of writing something that another individual actually wants to read, and then it must be combined with the ability to plug certain keyword phrases into that creative, witty, informative content…..Whew!

On a good day, I personally have the ability to write five well researched and search engine friendly articles. Some subjects take a bit more time and once in a while I get a brain block, but overall my average is five. I’ve read forums where countless “writers” boast over ten articles per day. I’ve even heard claims of one article every 20 minutes. I cringe when I consider the quality of these 20 minute disasters.

Just like anything else, some people get it and some people don’t. I suppose the ratio will forever stay the same, regardless of my level of approval or disapproval. Just remember, when writing your next blog post:

• Do not copy and paste another person’s work (even if you give them credit)
• Do figure out your site’s targeted keyword phrases in advance and use them naturally throughout your post
• Use one of your keyword phrases in your title

If you do those three things, you will be miles and miles ahead of most of the blind bloggers and web writers out there. We’ll talk about linking strategies in another post, but for now at least you won’t be banned to the Island of Misfit Blogs… Merry Christmas.

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