Spot Byte Blog Entries

Came across a very well-written & informative article by Stoney deGeyter on the blog of www.SearchEngineGuide.com, titled The Construction of an Optimized Web Page.

The article essentially focuses on the basics of getting some key page elements done to ensure that your web page has been optimized correctly.

This is a useful article for both individuals and small businesses who are starting out on optimizing their web pages, and is also a good refresher for everyone else who is already on the Internet marketing highway.

Additionally, you can use this article to ensure that companies doing search engine optimization work on your web pages are not skipping out on these essential things!

This article was published in the Nov/Dec ‘08-Jan ‘09 issue of The Yak, a lifestyle magazine in Bali.

Do you have a website that showcases your business and need it to help you be found from among your competition?Patricea Chow-Capodieci explains how.

Jean and Keith are two individuals who both own different tour agencies specialising in organising inland tours of Bali.

Six months ago, they both made separate decisions for improving their company website, in anticipation of capturing repeat and new travellers arriving in Bali for the year-end peak season.

Jean splashed US$4,000 on redesigning her agency’s website, adding a range of new functionalities including options for planning a personalised tour itinerary online before arrival, selection of preferred inter-island transport, and making secure payments online.

In contrast, Keith spent US$2,000 on marketing his agency’s basic yet informative website on the Internet through efforts such as targeting content at desired consumer markets, and placing banner advertisements on selected travel websites and portal.

The result?

While the website of Jean’s agency handled more bookings from past clients who totally dig the new features, the website of Keith’s agency received a surge of queries and confirmed bookings from new visitors.

So how did Keith succeed in using less money for generating new business through his company’s website, even though his competitor has a snazzier website?

Keith understood something that Jean did not: while a website can assist in showcasing a company’s products and services globally through the Internet, more has to be done if the website is expected to reach out and capture a wider audience.

Keith had used the Internet for advertising and marketing his agency’s web site to Internet savvy users looking for information or services offered by his company, so that they could arrive at his agency’s website through related searches using search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Live Search.

Keith had subjected his agency’s website to Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, the term describing the advertising and marketing efforts of web sites through the Internet.

Various steps are required in SEO work, which essentially is optimising a web site so that it can be found by search engines when Internet users look for services or products that are available through the website.

Begin by identifying the market of people you want to reach so as to understand what are their interests and how they use the Internet. From here, you can begin identifying possible words, phrases and terms used by your target clientele on Internet searches.

These terms are used in a range of technical and content work carried out on web pages of your site, transforming ordinary HTML into relevant information sources over the Internet.

In turn, search engines will recommend these web pages as good resources for Internet users obtaining information using these search terms.

Further reinforcement of your web site’s relevancy for your chosen terms is achieved through building and maintaining a resource page of links to other similar or affiliated web sites on the Internet.

Although the process sounds simple, it requires constant attention, work and maintenance, as the methods used by search engines in ranking web sites for relevancy to search terms is always changing and never fully disclosed to the public.

Good placement in search engine results pages arrive with time, provided that your web site has been optimised with ethical methods, is continually promoted through approved channels, and is constantly updated so that it remains current and useful.

With the easy availability and huge range of both printed and online literature on SEO in the market, it is easy to learn on your own and execute SEO on your web site.

If you would prefer having more time for attending to other aspects of your business, why not follow Keith’s example and pay someone else for conducting the online marketing and promotions work of your web site.

Companies like Spot Byte have expertise and experience in SEO. Besides optimising your web site, the Spot Byte team also manages other online promotional activity for web sites, including advertising campaigns, link exchanges, social bookmarks, and submission to web directories.

Thus Spot Byte combines these efforts to increase your web site’s visibility and accessibility to your chosen market.

For more information and a free initial analysis of current Internet traffic and trends to your company’s web site, contact Spot Byte at  +62-361-313-6535 or BeFound@spotbyte.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

There are some people who have yet to fully comprehend how search engine results works, as illustrated by this email by an acquaintance that we received last Friday: “The daily clicks to my website are definitely three times more than to a competing website, so why are they still ranking higher than me when I search for ‘Bali activities’? Shouldn’t my site be higher since I get more clicks?”

So we present three secrets of Internet marketing work, which are not really secrets at all! They are simple and straightforward to understand, and easy to implement once you know them.

Secret #1: Good keyword rich content

Your company operates cruises along the Nile, and you want the home page of your website to be found for the keyword phrase ‘cruise in Egypt’. So pepper the home web page content with the phrase ‘cruise in Egypt’.

For example, instead of writing only ‘one-day cruise’ use ‘one-day cruise in Egypt’; instead of ‘comfortable cruise liner’ use ‘comfortable cruise in Egypt liner’; instead of ‘reputable company’ use ‘reputable cruise in Egypt company’.

When web page content meets requirements of a keyword search, the web page will rank higher in the Search Engine Results Pages.

Need help with identifying suitable SEO keywords and creating keyword rich content? Contact us for a consultation: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

Secret #2: Provide what customers want

Stuffing your web page with keywords may increase the ranking of your web page in Search Engine Results Pages and bring more visitors.

However, if your aim is to convert visitors in to customers, a web page that is loaded with too much content and nothing else may not retain customers!

Think about what information a customer would want from your company’s web site, then tweak your web site to meet customers’ needs and demands.

When people find what they are looking for on your web pages, there is a higher chance that they will stay on after arriving, and even convert in to a customer of your company.

Need help with ensuring your web pages have information that customers are looking for? Contact us for a consultation: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

Secret #3: Engage your visitors

Provide a platform for visitors to your web site to leave comments, share opinions and contribute ideas on how to make their experience on your site better.

Blogs, comment fields, forums all work well; just ensure that you moderate comments before they are published so that you avoid being held responsible for slander or flippant remarks.

Ask friends and visitors to spread the word about your website if they like what they see.

Provide them means to do so: become a fan of your company’s Facebook page; become your website RSS feed subscriber for updates; bookmark your website in social bookmarking sites like del.cio.us; link back to your web site from their own sites; mention your website to others in blog comments, forums discussion threads and emails.

When people are included in something, they take more pride in it and will do their best to make things work.

The more recommendations your web site receives, the more important and relevant the search engines think your web site is, and this will aid its position in the Search Engine Results Pages.

Need ideas for visitors to leave feedback and comments? Contact us for suggestions: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

Out of ideas on how to promote your website without spending too much cash?

Here is Spot Byte’s tongue-in-cheek list of 5 things you can do to spread the message about your website. All you need is a bit of time, and thick skin in carrying them out.

1. Send chain e-mails to your friends

Everyone has received one of those chain emails that being with “Do not open unless you have the time to read” and ends with “Forward this email to at least 10 people if you don’t want to get back luck for 7 yeras”.

Use the same concept and get friends to spread your website URL through chain emails. One way of writing the email can be:

“You don’t have to read this email, just forward it to 10 friends and tell them to visit my website http://yourwebsiteurl.com by clicking on the HTML link http://yourwebsiteurl.com the moment they see it.

If you forward this email to 10 or more people, you make me very happy by getting more people to come to my website, and you will receive heaps of good karma & fortune for a month.

Forward this email to between 5 and 10 people, and you will receive some good karma & fortune for a week.

Forward this email to between 1 and 5 people, and you will have a good day.

My psychic powers will know if you do not forward this email at all, and you risk being stuck in morning traffic thus being late for that important meeting, have the runs for a whole day, be asked to work three hours extra, and miss the last bus/train home.”

2. Create a Facebook Page

Create a page on Facebook for your website. Ask all your contacts to become a fan. If you feel particularly bold, approach strangers too!

This being done, make sure you update the page regularly so that you keep current fans and draw new ones.

3.Mobilize your family

We are talking about the tech-savvy family members, which includes your nieces; nephews; youngest daughter of your brother’s wife’s sister; cousins and siblings below the age of 40 years.

Badger them to blog about your website; become a fan of your Facebook page; bookmark it in their Delicious profile, and send out chain emails ala point 1 above.

4. Blog about your website. Incessently

Start a personal blog using Wordpress and yap about your website on it, whenever you can. Talk about its design, its content, its owner (yes, you!), and of course the business that your website is selling.

Once you have created the blog, do not forget to inform your family, friends and Facebook fans about it!

5. Post a home-made video about your website to YouTube

Humor sells, being wacky sells more. So go ahead – rap, dance, sing or mime about your website and record the performance with a video camera.

Upload the video on YouTube, then place the link to your video on your blog and Facebook page, send out chain emails to friends and get your family in on the act too!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work is *the* Internet marketing buzzword in the past 10 years. Yet, despite so much information on the Internet about SEO work from SEO industry experts like well-known SEO consultant Aaron Wall at SEOBook.com, there is still much confusion about how SEO works, what an SEO consultant does, and how SEO is performed on web sites.

Using our blog, we would like to break SEO down for the benefit of our clients, and anyone else who wants to clear the cloud surrounding this ‘mysterious’ SEO work.

This will be explained over the next few weeks in a series of Blog entries, starting with “What is Search Engine Optimization?”

In our blog entries, we will reference articles, entries and comments made by SEO industry experts, like Aaron Wall, just so you know that we are not pulling information out of thin air!

Through these entries, we hope that a better understanding of SEO work is gained. If there is a topic or question about SEO work that we have not addressed here, write to us blog.comments@spotbyte.com and we will reply via the blog.

In comparison to some other companies offering SEO consultation work in Bali, our prices are higher.

Or so we have been told by some compaanies and individuals exclaming: “Oh! I cannot afford your prices! Look, this other SEO company costs a third less than you!” This despite the fact that we are charging for the work of creating unique content and building links manually, the most important aspects of work in search engine optimization.

Yet we have to thank all our supportive clients like ARC Anti-aging Clinics, Batu Karang Lembongan Resort & Day Spa, and Batu Belig Residences – to name a few – for being the perfect clients that SEO consultants hope to get: tell you what are their goals, make the payment, leave you alone to do your job but bug you (justifiably) when pre-defined attainable goals are not met.

Today, we came across an article by Diane Aull, published on Search Engine Guide, aptly titled Why Do The (Good) SEOs Cost So %L&*# Much? As you can tell, we blatantly copied the title, because there was no other better title we could think of!

We still love how the article has articulated our thoughts perfectly: we can give you all the know-how we have gained about SEO work, but do you know how to execute it?

If you are lazy to click through to the article, you can read it below.

—–

Why Do The (Good) SEOs Cost So %&*# Much?
Diane Aull, February 26, 2008

I was talking recently with a friend who’s been trying to hire an SEO to work on her company’s website. She was surprised to find out how much it could cost to hire a good SEO (by “good” I mean those people I was willing to recommend to her because I know they do a good job).

“You always say SEO for most sites isn’t rocket science,” she complained. “How is it these people can get away with charging so much for something so simple?”

Here’s what I told her.

A man worked for years as a maintenance technician at a manufacturing plant. His job was to keep the antiquated production machines running, and he was very good at it. Despite the age of its equipment, the plant hadn’t suffered any downtime in years.

The company was sold, and the new owner wanted to cut costs. Unfortunately, the new owner was a bit “penny-wise and pound-foolish.” He noticed the plant had never had any downtime due to machines breaking down. He reasoned if the machines were so reliable, why did he need a maintenance technician on salary all the time? Despite the production manager’s protests, the new boss laid off the maintenance guy.

Others in the plant knew how to take care of minor maintenance issues, so all went well for a few months. The new owner was patting himself on the back for having made a wise decision, when one of the most important machines in the plant suddenly broke down completely.

Without this machine, all work at the plant came to a standstill. With all the employees standing around and all the other equipment idled, the plant was losing money by the minute.

Worse still, nobody in the building had any idea how to fix the machine. And the company who manufactured the machine had gone out of business decades ago.

Everyone told the owner the only one who knew how to repair that machine was the former maintenance technician. With reluctance, the owner called him.

“Oh, yes, I know that machine well. I’d be happy to come in and help you out,” said the maintenance guy. “But since you laid me off, I’ve gone into business for myself as a consultant. If I can get the machine up and running for you, you’ll have to promise to pay my invoice on the spot.”

The owner didn’t have much choice at that point, so he agreed.

An hour later, the maintenance tech walked through the door. He strode to the malfunctioning equipment, opened his toolbox, and carefully selected a small hammer. He opened a door in the side of the machine, reached in and whacked something inside with the hammer.

The machine started right up.

The man replaced the hammer in his toolbox, wiped his hands, and presented the owner with a neatly typed invoice. It read:

INVOICE
Repair of equipment….. $10,000

“Ten thousand dollars?!” sputtered the owner. “All you did was whack the machine with a hammer! That’s outrageous! How could you possibly expect me to pay ten thousand dollars for five minutes of work?”

The man took back the invoice, extracted a pen from his shirt pocket, and scribbled a few words on the paper. He handed the invoice back, and the owner could see what he’d written:

ITEMIZATION OF CHARGES
Whacking equipment with hammer…….. $100
Knowing exactly where and how hard to whack… $9,900

The plant manager paid the invoice.

Knowing what to do is important, of course, but frankly the what is usually pretty easy to learn. The former employee could have told them the what in 30 seconds over the phone: whack just the right spot with a hammer.

Likewise, most people can grasp the basics of what needs to be done to optimize most small business websites fairly quickly. As my friend pointed out I’ve said on more than one occasion, most of SEO isn’t rocket science.

The hard part, though, is the how. Telling the folks at the plant the machine could be fixed by whacking it with a hammer would have told them the what… but without the how that knowledge would do them little good. Knowing which hammer to use and precisely where and exactly how hard to whack with that hammer — therein lies the skill.

It’s one thing to understand, for instance, you need a unique title tag for each page. It’s quite another to know how to write title tags that effectively incorporate each page’s most important target search phrase and encourage maximum click-throughs from the search results. Simply recognizing you need “search optimized web copy” is a far cry from knowing how to write it. Realizing you need more high-quality links pointing to your pages is not the same as knowing how to go about getting those links.

The what you can learn in minutes. The how takes considerably more time, effort and skill.

It’s the how you pay for when you hire an outside expert, whether it’s an accountant or a lawyer or an SEO or whatever. Those who have devoted the time, put forth the effort and learned the skill sufficient to be considered “experts” are entitled to charge appropriately for their hard-won knowledge.

Absolutely, if you have the time and the desire, you can learn to do it for yourself. But you have to decide whether that’s the best use of your time and energy. For some, it may be worth it to learn. For many others, it’s a better idea to hire an expert and focus their attention on their core business.

The plant was dead in the water without the help of the former maintenance tech. Your company’s website might well be dead in the water without the help of an experienced site optimization expert. If you can afford to let it languish for months and you’re able to spend time away from your core business while you learn the how of optimization, that may be a viable option for you. Otherwise, like the plant manager, your best bet may be to hire the expert.

That’s why the good ones charge what they do for their services, and why their clients willingly pay the invoice.

Learn more about the ways Diane can help improve the performance and profitability of your business web site, or request a no-obligation personal consultation, by visiting www.NineYards.com.

Optimizing for Company Name or General Terms

During a call with the owner of a dive resort about the Internet marketing services we offer, the owner questioned the need for any SEO work on the web site, since it was already number one in the search engine result pages.

It turns out that he had done a search using the full name of the resort, which naturally resulted in the web site taking top rank in the search engine result pages.

When we suggested that he do a search for the term ‘dive resort in Bali’, he was surprised to find that his web site did not appear in the first 10 search engine result pages.

Then there was the case involving the sales manager of a private luxury villa in Canggu, who happily declared that their web site had SEO work done. Yet when asked what the keywords are for which the site is optimized for, and if the site was turning up in the search engine results pages for these keywords, her reply was: “I have no idea, we left it to the company doing the work.”

In both cases, the businesses were happy to declare that their company web sites had been optimized for search engines. However, neither knew what the keywords are for which their sites were optimized for, and whether the keywords were relevant to their business and industry.

In the case of the dive resort, unless you already knew the resort’s name, there is no way of finding its web site using search terms like ‘dive resort in Bali’ and ‘Bali dive resort’.

In the case of the villa in Canggu, ignorance about the set of keywords used to optimize its web site could mean that irrelevant keywords were assigned. For example, a check on the title and Meta description of all its web site pages revealed that all the pages were optimized for the same set of generic and highly competitive keywords, including ‘cheap accommodation’ and ‘cheap property’.

Need help identifying relevant, good keywords for your web site? Contact us for a consultation: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

Results of Optimizing for Incorrect Keywords

Keywords are important in search engine optimization for they act as indicators of what your web site is about. Keywords help search engine software to identify whether your web site is a relevant result for a search. Keywords optimized for should be phrases that most ordinary people use when searching for something on the Internet.

If you think of a web page as a magazine or newspaper article, you can see that:
web page title = article title
Meta description = article summary or what journalists call the Stand First
keywords = words that are used most often in the article

Optimizing your web site for the wrong keywords not only means the high probability that your web site are not reaching your target audience, your web site may also be drawing in the wrong audience. So while visitor numbers to your web site are high, the number of sales or goal conversions will be low. If the goal of optimizing your web site for search engines is to draw in visitors and in turn convert them in to purchases, then the goal is obviously not met when the wrong audience arrives at your web site.

Need more information about optimizing your web site for your target audience? Contact us for a consultation: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

Inserting Keywords in Web Page Title & URL

Since keywords act as indicators, you should include them in the web page title and URL.

The web page title acts in same way as the title of a newspaper article – it is a headline that succinctly explains what the content is about. Similarly, having the same keywords in the web page URL indicates to search engine software that this particular page of the web site contains information relating to the keywords in the web page URL.

Having keywords in your web page title and URL will greatly improve its chances of being returned in search engine results pages, example: the page title ‘Installing Outdoors All-Weather Security Camera Instructions’ will be relevant for search terms such as ‘how to install outdoor security camera’, ‘installing outdoor camera’; ‘all-weather camera installation instructions’.

Finally, although the Meta description is not as important as the web page title and URL, it is still a helpful element. The web page Meta description is similar to the short line of text after the title and before the main body content of a newspaper article. The Meta description of the web page acts as a summary of the different areas of the topic being discussed.

Need help in assigning page titles and URL with good keywords for your web site? Contact us for a consultation: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

Why are Keywords in Page Title, URL & Meta Description Important?

Because they collectively tell the reader, in this case the search engine software, what the web page content is all about.

Do pay attention to the keywords used when doing SEO work on your web pages. They have to be related to each other, and to the topic being discussed in the content of the web page.

Also, there should not be more than 10 keywords assigned per page. After all, the term ‘keywords’ literally means ‘important’, ‘significant’, or ‘main’ words, and it is not possible to have numerous keywords in one page.

Therefore, a web page with a clearly defined page title, URL, Meta description and sensible set of keywords is sending out the message that the web page is providing sensible information to people searching for this information.

This is picked up by the search engine software, which in turn enables your web page to gain a good ranking on the results pages for searches using the keywords the web page is optimized for. In turn, there is also a higher chance for people to click through to your web site from the search engines results pages.

Need help evaluating the SEO work already done on your web site? Contact us for a consultation: email BeFound@spotbyte.com or call +62-361-313-6535.

This sentence is something that many website owners want or hope to hear, when they ask how long it will take for their website to reach top ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs).

While it is not impossible for a search engine optimization campaign to deliver such a desired outcome, i.e. top ranking on SERPs within a year, much planning for a search engine optimization campaign is required so that this can be achieved.

Now, it is the planning stage that will probably take more than a couple of months. It is also at this planning stage where the decision between one-time search engine optimization (SEO) and on-going search engine optimization (SEO) has to be made

With one-time SEO, once the basic SEO set up is completed, the website is left to age and gather prominance on the Internet with time. One-time search engine optimization is economical and requires little time and effort. This process can take as short as three months to a few years, depending on how relevant the website’s content is to the key words or phrases that the search engines think the website has.

With on-going search engine optimization, it is a continual process of reviewing the key words or phrases used; building information resources on your website; spreading the news about your website through online social networks or submitting your website URL to web directories; placing banner advertisements on other websites or engaging in banner exchanges with other similar websites; and being engaged with other similar websites through reciprocal link exchanges, one-way links and sharing of information. All these actions are methods for increasing awareness of your website, otherwise known as advertising or marketing.

Just like how on-going advertisements gradually increase the visibility of products such as fast food brands and technology brands, on-going search engine optimization perform the same way.

If planned and executed properly, on-going SEO can fulfill expectations of top ranking on search engine results pages within a year. Of course, on-going SEO requires much attention, and some costs will be incurred for banner advertising and submission of your website URL to web directories.

What do the some search engine optimization enthusiasts say?

Search Engine Watch states that “SEO is Not A One-Time Fix”.

A member of seomoz.org seems to veer toward on-going SEO work in his contribution “One-Time or Ongoing SEO – Is it a Yes or No Question?”

Lee Odden writes about the Advantages of Ongoing SEO Consulting at the Online Marketing Blog.

Over on revenews.com, Mike Murray writes about Dispelling the Old “SEO-Is-A-One-Time-Deal” Myth.

Tell us what you think: one-time SEO or on-going SEO?

How many times has a company doing website marketing or search engine optimization made you that promise in their sales pitch? How many have delivered on their promise?

In reality, there is no definite way of knowing if your website will rank first in the search engine results pages, even if all the possible ways of search engine optimization have been used. This is because the methods that search engines rank websites or web pages for relevant search terms are varied, constantly changing and not totally disclosed to the public.

Sure, top ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) can be guaranteed for really uncompetitive key words or key phrases. Such as ’spock ears’ from among about 103,000 results, ‘popsicle stick’ from among 288,000 results, and ‘tropical vacation’ from among about 706,000.

However, it is difficult to guarantee top ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) for highly competitive key words or key phrases. Such as ‘villa in bali’ from among about 5,160,000 results, ‘cheap air ticket’ from among about 3,030,000 results, and (this is our favourite) ‘search engine optimization‘ from among 30,400,000 results.

Instead of eyeing the top ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), you should focus on getting your website to appear on the first page of results returned for key words or key phrases that are highly relevant to your website’s content.

The way to determine the relevant key words or key phrases is to decide who are the people you want your website to reach. Think about their age range, ethnicity, income range, interests, education, family background, and how they use the Internet. These factors help narrow down the likely key words and key phrases your intended audience will use for finding information on the World Wide Web.

The reasoning behind this is that you want your website to be more visible and available to more people searching for the service/product you are selling. By optimizing your website for humans, you actually improve its relevance to searches. This in turn increases the chances of your website ranking well in search engine results pages (SERPs).

So the next time someone says “We guarantee top ranking”, ask them for what key words or key phrases and in what time frame, then have it all written down on paper so that if they do not deliver on their promise, you can get your money back!

Next post: how long before results are seen.

Should you advertise your website using print marketing or use online marketing such as search engine optimization instead?

We at Spot Byte say that both are necessary for a successful website marketing campaign. How so?

Online marketing such as search engine optimization makes your website visible to savvy users of the Internet, making it easy for anyone located anywhere in the world to receive the message your website is sending out. Print marketing helps promote the presence of your website among those who are less Internet savvy or have yet to hear about your website, while maintaining awareness among people who already know about your website.

Print marketing spreads the word at the location where the printed materials – flyers, brochures, advertisements in magazines – are displayed while online marketing such as search engine optimization is not limited by location and borders.

In essence, online marketing is very effective for reaching out to people across borders while print marketing maintains a localized awareness for your website. Both should be carefully integrated for maximal results in promotion your website.