Picking a Domain Name

So your going to take the plunge! One of the first steps to building an online presence is picking and registering a domain name. Should it be the name of your business? The name of your main product or service? Or should it be a acronym of both?

The answer lies with your customers and future customers. What would they prefer? Is it easy to remember? Is it related to what your business offers? Also you should consider how search engines will perceive the name.   Think of  search engines as a really picky customer (after all they are there shopping for info).

Sometimes you aren’t able to get the exact domain name you want. Don’t worry this is not the end of the world. Search engine optimization or customer satisfaction does not solely rest on the domain name. We have many clients with unique domain names that we have implemented successful internet strategies for.

Another thing to keep in mind is buying different variations of your domain name. You can point these domain names at your homepage or different product/service pages that they relate to.

A good idea is to sit down and brainstorm a list of of potentials. A good site that will aid in the process is Network Solutions . There you can search for potential domain names and find related domain names if the one you want is taken. You can also find contact info on domain name owners if you are willing to bargain for a domain name.

Once you pick a domain name you can register at any of the major internet registrars such as Tucows, GoDaddy, Network Solution, or many others.

Remember if this process is intimidating or you need an experienced professional on your side for negotiating a domain name buy contact us and we will be glad to be of assistance.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is defined by Wikipedia as “the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion”. That type of definition; although correct, leaves a lot of questions in its wake. How does it work? Does SEO focus on the customer or the search engine? Or my all-time favorite what is the secret to getting the top listing in Google for this keyword?
The best way to answer these questions is not to think of SEO as a simple one-time fix problem. SEO is a multi-faceted spoke in your overall marketing plan. SEO is not a simple fix and forget solution. It is an endless process of proving to search engines and customers both that your business is the one to go to for a particular product or service.
When implementing SEO for a web site you must break down every page into content, links, & structure. Site navigation must be simple and easy to use, structure should be eye appealing and logical, links to and from the site must be relevant, and page content must be fresh, relevant, unique and cleanly structured. By doing this search engines and customers can discern what your website is about and the increase of web site traffic should soon follow.

When planning an online marketing strategy it is good practice to simplify what you offer into no more than twelve keywords. List these keywords/phrases out and determine the order of importance.  The first keyword/keyphrase on that list should always be on your mind when making search engine optimization changes or modifications to your websites homepage. The other keywords should be used on the homepage; however, should be focused on the other pages of your site.

The three biggest mistakes I see when doing Search Engine Optimization for websites is way to many images, poor use of alt tags, and poor keyword density and placement. When trying to optimize an already created site these mistakes require creative solutions.  Remember if your search engine ranking is not where you want it to be the only way you can change it is trying new things! Now trying to move from a SERPs ranking of 5 to 3 it’s best to be cautious when making changes. If you are on page 5 or greater no amount of changes could make things any worse.

If you are making a new website for your business now is the time to incorporate SEO best practices into your design.  A web design centered around a focused message will garner the attention of both your customers and search engine spiders alike & is a best practice that is guaranteed to yield results!

Links are very important when it comes to traffic & page rank. They can help boost your site to the top of the search engine results and a re a necessary part of SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

When it comes to links not any link is exactly alike. Each carries with it a unique set of variables that can either make it more valuable to your website or actually cause it to hurt your rankings. While web design, keyword placement, and the informational architecture is important to your site links can be the difference between ranking at the bottom of the first page of search results or at the top. And believe me, that bit of difference can cause your traffic number to go up significantly.

Finding quality links will take some time, communication skills, and research. When first looking for for websites start by looking for the the ones closest and easiest to to your business. You can start at free listings (Just make sure they are respectable) and from there you can move on to your own customers, friends, neighbors, relatives, etc. To keep the links you gather from sapping your index page rank make sure you set up a links page. It is also important to get rid of any one way links that are not reciprocal ( linking back to your site). If it is paramount to have that link you can always use the “no-follow” link attribute to discourage search engine spiders from following it. The best links are non-reciprocal and are usually the hardest to get; however with persistence and patience you will yeild results and the payoff will be worth it.

If you need assistance with creating a link campaign please do not hesitate to call InteractOne to talk with a Internet Marketing specialist who can get you started today.

So your located somewhere in the middle of nowhere USA (lets say, Cincinnati OH:) far from the tech capitals of the world. You know the web is gaining more and more traction and will someday most likely outrank all other forms of media for marketing.

What will the plight of your organization’s marketing be in this new age of media? How can you get a foothold in this market without traveling far and wide to find a reputable Internet Marketing firm.

Good news….many tech firms are cropping up all around the Midwest to meet the growing demand for Internet Marketing Services. These firms are often well suited for servicing the “conservative” Midwest market and provide a full range of services such as Website Hosting, Email, Website Development, Shopping Carts, Search Engine Optimization and Intranet Software Development.

So next time your thinking about revamping your website, doing search engine optimization or building a shopping cart look no further than your local yellow pages. If you want to be really high tech just Google the “name-of-your-city, web developer”.

Well here it is my first blog post!  Because Search Engine Optimization is such a big thing right now it will be the subject of my first post.  I’m just going to cover the basics here; however, I don’t mind going into a more in depth discussion & I’m sure I will as the post grows. Enjoy!

There are many things you can do to help improve your search engine listings.  Here at InteractOne we call these best practices and they are included in our base SEO package.  For every web page there is a set of Meta tags.  These tags are sometimes seen by human viewers in the search results page for search engines (title tag, description meta); however, they are more importantly used by search engines to evaluate and classify your website.  There has been allot of talk around the blogosphere about the relevance of these tags.  Whatever you read remember that although the importance of these tags has diminished the last couple of years in no way are they irrelevant.  Simple proof is going to major websites and viewing there source code (control U in Firefox, View then source in Explorer); sure enough there they are.  The most basic layout is:

• Title
• Description
• Keywords

When explaining this to people the next question I often get is “what do I put in these tags to maximize my SEO?”  Although it may seem like an easy answer it is a bit more complicated than you think. First there are character limitations.  Put to many words in and you look a spammer, too few and you’re undercutting yourself.  My personal rule is under 70 characters for the title tag (including spaces), Under 150 characters for the description tag (including spaces), and only 5-10 keywords describing my business in the keyword tag.

Basis Rules for the Title Tag

-The first words carry the most “weight” so put what your business does there

-Make sure it is legible and enticing to human eyes (this tag show up in the search results)

-If you want to include your business name put it at the end

Basis Rules for Description tag

-again the beginning words carry the most weight

-This may or may not be included in search engine results so keep it nice for human eyes

-put a call to action at the end

Basic Rules for Keywords tag

-First words carry the most weight

-make sure these are the most basic words describing your business

-don’t waste too much time on these

If you follow these simple steps you are on your way to getting a good listing on any of the major search engines!