Financial Stress Gets to the Best of Us!

Financial Stress Gets to the Best of Us!
 
You know how it is. You have the bills to pay, your regular job to do and an IPO (initial public offering) expecting shares to begin trading in the range of US$108 to $135 each. Let's see...that would amount to $36.3 billion market capitalization on the high end.
 
Oh, wait a minute! That's Google in that situation!
 
The problem is that someone let the ball drop when the Google search engine died in multiple parts of the world on the same Monday that Google, Inc. made the regulatory filing! Can we say oops!

According to initial reports from the BBC, the failure may be the result of a version of the MyDoom virus. Although not all Google servers are down, there are widespread "outages" reported across multiple Website Designer and SEO forums online. Is this a case of bad timing? Has this been a well thought out plan? Maybe time will tell... Or, maybe the folks at Google just need to read their email. I understand from all the s.p.a.m. I receive that Cialis and Viagra can get anything up!

What You Don't Know Can Be Holding You Back!

What You Don't Know Can Be Holding You Back!
 
Recently, I came across a post on one of the website designer forum threads where a person (I shall call a webmaster for clarity sake) stated he/she was not aware of the impact the website changes made over the year had on visitors. This person did not seem to know the measurable results of the work performed for a year!
 
Please understand that I don't say this to make anyone feel like I am putting them down. I make these statements here to show how blindly we can work towards a "goal" while not ever really knowing how it truly fits into the "big picture". With this in mind, I shall continue with the answers I gave this person and, hopefully, some of these can benefit you as well. I look forward to your comments!
 
The webmaster had the site on a web host whom I personally have had contact with recently. The host offers reporting tools that give detailed information (e.g. hits, view, visits, unique visitors, search engine visits, spiders, etc.) with the ability to vary beginning and ending dates for specific research results. This webmaster did not seem to know this before posting or had forgetten. Either way, the ongoing research to determine measurable results was not happening.
 
Another facet of this is the conversion rate of visits or unique visitors to sales was also being left out! This left the business "in the dark" regarding what creates sales from the website!
 
As you can see, having the details regarding what has happened can be used to "forecast" what can/should be done in the future to improve standing with clients who use the medium. I will not go in detailed analytics nor which method is best (at this time) but, suffice it to say it is critical to create a plan of action regarding how to measure the success of your website marketing and then track your results. Without this, all else is purely guess work!
 
I believe the webmaster has gained a "new life" regarding the results of the work performed and can now better determine what works, what doesn't and what to look at next!
 
 

How do I get to the top of the Search Engines?

How do I get to the top of the Search Engines?

I wish I had a dime for each time I was asked this question!

There are already posts on this blog regarding this misuse of Meta Tags, Google updates, etc. In this post we will focus on the KEY to getting your business web site to the top of the primary search engines. Yes, we will discuss the SECRET!

First, when we talk about search engines, the top of the line (currently) is Google. More traffic comes from Google to business web sites than any other search engine. Second place is Yahoo! and then some of the others. Do not forget a major directory (read here "not search engine") called the Open Directory Project or DMOZ as it is known on the web. For this article, we will focus on Google since we want to be top of the line.

Second, no matter how many people you get to visit your business website, if there is nothing on the page to hold interest then people will click away faster than you can blink. Having quality content on the page can not be over emphasized! Using graphics and Flash animation may look nice once loaded but, over doing these can significanly slow download and cause extreme frustration of your potential visitors (can we say click away?). Text is what people read and what search engines index. Text is what you should have in the proper places on your site (sounds like another post needed!).

Third, having content on the page only gets you started! Getting people to visit your site and Google to rank you highly requires Inbound Links (IBLs). The more competitive a keyword or keyphrase is, the more of these IBLs you will need. Also, quality IBls are generally considered those with a Google PageRank (PR) of 4 or better (4+). When you want to be the top Google Search Engine Rank Position (SERP) for your keyword or keyphrase, you will need to have more quantity and quality IBLs than the competition. Sounds simple!

Realize that there are hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) of other people on this planet who realize the same thing! From professional Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs), professional website designers who have truly studied optimization and website marketing recently, to wannabe SEOs on the web there are a number of people striving to obtain the quantity and quality of IBLs for their particular website. This is exactly the reason you need to hire a professional SEO you can trust!

An ethical and professional SEO knows:

• when to trade links,
• when to purchase links,
• when to purchase Pay per Clicks (PPCs) and other pay per options,
• and, when to just ask properly which obtains the link for free!

There are even occassions when it is best to perform a three way (or more) back link trade to better the SERP standings of all!

The question to ask yourself is "Do I want to invest the time and resources to learn SEO and links?". If so, by all means, go after it! If you do master the processes and devote the time to maintaining your SERPs, you will have a number of visitors to your site on a regular basis.

On the other hand, if you have a business that already takes up your time and resources, hire a professional SEO! Think about how much effort and how long it takes to obtain 10,000+ Inbound Links with specific keywords/key phrases pointing to your business web site page by page. There is a reason why so many of the top web sites rely on professional Search Engine Optimization to obtain and maintain their SERPs!

For more about Search Engine Optimization, SERPs and Website Marketing please visit H2 SEO, LLC today!

Latest Google Update May Cause ReThinking of Link Promotion Campaigns

Latest Google Update May Cause ReThinking of Link Promotion Campaigns
 
Recently (approx. July 15-17th), Google updated the backlinks tracked for indexed websites. It seems they are now showing many more low ranking (PageRank less than 4) backlinks than they usually do. In addition, it seems, certain high ranking backlinks are not showing up in backlink search results using the advanced search option link:www.mywebsite.com.
 
As of posting this document, Google has only updated the backlinks while not modifying visible PageRank (PR) nor Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERPs). There has been much discussion regarding this "update" among the SEO community via online forums questioning whether Google is trying to look at relevancy more for high PR links.
 
Also, there is considerable discussion that Google seems to be trying to make link brokering less effective or at least more difficult to perform as a business. Considering the history of Google and web site backlinks, it seems only prudent to continue striving for more Inbound Links (IBLs) from a wide variety of C class IP addresses while keeping "theme" where practical. If we can maintain a perspective on PR values for specific pages, this would be ideal. If not, we must work with what we have (in my personal opinion).
 
Posturing Changes on the Forums
 
Considering the above mentioned changes by Google and the concerns expressed within the SEO and Web Designer online forums, there have been people trying to rent hundreds of links from varied IP addresses for a few dollars (or equivalent) each. This very well may become a more cost effective technique of link purchasing rather than buying a few higher PR (e.g. PR 4+) IBLs or even just sponsoring a single extreme web site.
 
As usual, time will tell...
 
 

Domain Name Dilemma: Do Dashes or Underscores Goose Google Rankings More?

Domain Name Dilemma: Do Dashes or Underscores Goose Google Rankings More?
Copyright 2003, John Gergye (originally posted online Nov. 2003)


It's a fact. When it comes to Google ranking you don't have to be a lot better to beat out the competition.

So let's take another dip into the "every little bit helps" pool.

Now believe it or not there are those who like to debate the merits of using dashes or underscores in domain names.

Some assert dashes are better.

Some have an ongoing love affair with underscores.

Others are certain there is no difference.

I agree you do get a bit of a bounce in Google if you do this right. But it's only marginal.

Still let's end this debate once and for all and PROVE which is better.

To sort this out we need to conduct a study. Using the Google search results to test if Google treats dashes or underscores the same or differently.

The guinea pig search term I picked is "affordable search engine placement".

There's nothing special about it. It's more or less your run-of-the-mill multi-word search term.

So let's get searching.

First, to set a benchmark I cast the broadest net possible by doing a simple search using

affordable search engine placement

Google returned these results:

Searched the web for affordable search engine placement.
Results 1 - 10 of about 78,600

That simply says there were 78,600 pages indexed by Google for
ANY of those keywords.

Next I searched on the same phrase only this time I separated the words by dashes like this:

affordable-search-engine-placement

Google turned up these results:

Searched the web for affordable-search-engine-placement.
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,160.

As you can see our term with dashes gave considerably fewer results than the one without.

Then I searched on the same words separated by underscores:

affordable_search_engine_placement

For this one Google didn't find much:

Searched the web for affordable_search_engine_placement.
Results 1 - 4 of about 6.

Whoa! Next to no pages with underscores, right?

Finally I searched for "affordable search engine placement"

Note the quotes. Using quotes limits the search results to one specific phrase. Just like you were doing an advanced search for that exact phrase.

In this case Google returned these results:

Searched the web for "affordable search engine placement".
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,160.

Huh, exactly the same number of pages as with the keyword phrase with dashes.

Okay so what do we got?

Let's see. The first search returns what you could say is a free for all of listings with any of the words in the keyword phrase. That's why there are so many search results.

SIDEBAR: Reality check time. This is how most search. In fact I saw a stat the said only 3% use the advanced search feature provided by Google. Yet the dramatically bigger number of resulting SERPS explains why it is harder to rank high sometimes. Reason being you are going up against a whole bunch more pages - some unrelated to what is being searched for. So it takes more juice, ie on-page optimization, internal links and maybe even in bound links to come out on top.

Now our study also showed the phrase with underscores (which Google treats as any other CHARACTER) produced negligible results. As in next to none.

While the keyword phrase with dashes and the exact phrase search turned up the same number of listings.

At this point you should be wondering "Why is that?"

Glad you asked. Even if you didn't let me explain. Oh and since this is important engage your brain NOW.

The reason for this apparent match of search results is Google uses the dash to separate the words in the phrase. Programmers call this a "delimiter". In essence Google sees it as a space
or separator between the words. Or in other words Google treats the dash as a spacer.

Yet Google does NOT treat the underscore as a delimiter. Again to Google it's just another character.

Which is proven by the search results. Had Google treated the dash and underscore alike the number of SERPs returned for

affordable_search_engine_placement

or

affordable-search-engine-placement

would be identical. But as you saw they are not. Not even close.

So to answer the original question of which is better dashes or underscores is obvious isn't it? You want to go with dashes in your domain names, folder names, files names etc.

That's because using dashes to separate the words will give you the biggest Google impact -whatever that impact may be. Since Google can parse the different words. While using underscores won't help one iota.

Look. This isn't theory or speculation. It's fact. And you can repeat the same searches with any keyword phrase you want and you'll get the same results.

In any case let's be real. Don't expect some kind of massive boost from this dash trick. Sure it can help at tad as part of an over all optimization scheme. But whether or not you use dashes in a domain, folder or file name is not going to be what gets you top Google listings. Content and links are.

Still this study settles the debate about dashes and underscores. Giving you yet another little thing you can do to rank well.



How much is more traffic worth to your business? Take John Gergye’s Search Engine Quiz and get a special report "Coming Out On Top" with 49 tools that make it easy to get more traffic. http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/search-engine-quiz.shtml

Meta Tags Are Dead!

A construct placed in the HTML header of a web page, providing information which is not visible to browsers. The most common meta tags (and those most relevant to search engines) are KEYWORDS and DESCRIPTION. The KEYWORDS tag allows the author to emphasize the importance of certain words and phrases used within the page. Some search engines will respond to this information - others will ignore it. The DESCRIPTION tag allows the author to control the text of the summary displayed when the page appears in the results of a search. Some search engines will ignore this information.
www.beyondink.com/glossary.html

Meta tags have been considered the "saving grace" of many websites over the past years. Having Keywords and Description tags was often given more consideration than much of the remaining page. Then the major search engines like Google and Yahoo! got wise!

Before the world of SEOs and web designers decide to hang me up by my toes, let me set a few things straight!

Google still uses the Description tag from time to time. Also, there are still many secondary search engines and directories that use and/or require both tags mentioned above. All in all, you still want to have these tags within each web page but, they no longer hold the prominence they once did.

Now you have to work for it!

In today's competitive online world, the Title tag is the most important on-page content there is! Bar none! No exception! Amen!

After the Title tag comes the Heading tags, emphasis tags (e.g. bold, strong, italics) and then the page content itself including the density of your keywords/key phrases throughout the page. It is best to have these keywords/key phrases as close to the top of the page content as practicle to make it easier for search engines to find and index.

Then comes the names of your pages themselves and the folder naming conventions of the site. Not the least of this side of optimization is the actual domain name itself!

As you can see, there are a number of things to consider which is why it's important to hire a Professional SEO when you want it done right.

Like when your business livelyhood is on the line!

This only touches the surface regarding on-page optimization. Then there is link popularity but...that is a whole other story.

An Affordable Health Care Plan for All

Pre-existing Conditions Accepted

MedCare Advantage is not an insurance, HMO, PPO, or managed care plan. It is a patient advocacy organization that provides access to affordable, quality healthcare services to all individuals and families, including Uninsured, Foreign travelers, Underinsured, Self-insured, Pre-existing conditions, and Employee groups. We offer multiple non-insurance solutions with significant savings on physician visits, hospitalization, dental care, prescription drugs, vision care, hearing, chiropractic services and much more.

One of the great tragedies of today’s society is that over 41 million Americans are uninsured, and over 60 million people are underinsured, leaving millions of hard working people no longer having health insurance for their medical needs. With the cost for normal doctor visits, as well as health insurance premiums, skyrocketing to almost unimaginable levels, many of these employees, friends and relatives are left to the Effects on the Uninsured Population.

EFFECTS ON THE UNINSURED POPULATION
· Thousands of premature deaths each year
· Being uninsured for even a year diminishes a person’s general health
· The majority of uninsured go without healthcare until an illness becomes too serious to ignore
· The quality and length of life is lowered and shortened for the uninsured
· Many uninsured discover serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and HIV too late. Most uninsured never receive treatment for mental illness, high cholesterol, arthritis or asthma...

MedCare Advantage: 100% Guaranteed Acceptance including:
· Individual & Family Plans Under $100
· Save up to 60% on Medical Services
· Dental Exams & X-rays at No CHARGE!
· Pre-existing Conditions Accepted
· Accident Protection of up to $5,000
· Save up to 80% on Prescription Drugs
· Save up to 60% on Vision Care Services
· Save up to 50% on Chiropractic Visits
· 24 Hour Nurse Hotline Included
· 24 Hour Counseling Services

MedCare Advantage has partnered with Healthcare Advantage, which was created based on the highest principles of patient advocacy by a select group of professionals with a common goal in mind. Our vision is a system that dictates healthcare coverage without diminishing care. We provide the consumer with alternatives that access information and quality healthcare, while at the same time educating consumers and providers. Healthcare Advantage has accepted the challenge to set a new standard in the healthcare industry by servicing the needs of the uninsured and underinsured consumer. This commitment includes the creation of a specific and unique medical provider network (“Preferred Savings Network”) for the uninsured and underinsured through contracts with providers at fixed and/or daily per-diem rates.

As a cost containment advocate and liaison, Healthcare Advantage keeps its finger on the pulse of healthcare services provided within the industry. Consumers are well represented with the most practical healthcare benefits at the absolute highest savings available. With national access to networks with over 400,000 medical doctors, 3,500 hospitals, 50,000 ancillary facilities, 50,000 pharmacy locations, 17,000 dental providers, 10,000 vision providers, 6,000 chiropractic providers, 1,100 hearing facilities, as well as medical providers nominated by our members, consumers should not encounter difficulties in locating providers within their communities.


For more info about MedCare Advantage’s Affordable Health Care Plan, please visit our website at http://www.MedCareAdvantage.com or

3516 Plank Road
Suite 5A
Fredericksburg, VA 22407

Phone: 888-785-6565
Fax: 540-785-7671

This information is courtesy of H2 SEO LLC. Ask us how we can promote your website business.

Why Hire A SEO When I Already Have A Web Designer?

There seems to be a common misconception regarding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Website Developers/Designers. Business owners often think that having a website designer precludes the need to hire a SEO expert. This is a fallacy we will quickly dispell!

How often would you expect the chief mechanic of a NASCAR race car to win Daytona driving the last lap? This may seem quite ridiculous. It is obvious that the chief mechanic wouldn't be the driver since he is not there for that purpose. He is there to oversee the car.

The same holds true for website design. There are plenty of tasks and responsibilities for a website designer to do. Graphics, content text, and overall interface take up a considerable period of time to develop and maintain. If a site becomes stagnant, people will quickly stop visiting and your site becomes meaningless. Technology changes and users expect your site to keep "up with the times". All of these are the responsiblity of the website developer/designer.

But what about SEO?

Once you have a quality website for users to see and use, you need to get people to visit! Whether they come from search engines and directories like Google, Yahoo!, MSN or the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) it is another task that needs to be performed and maintained for your business website to be productive. Getting the right keywords and keyphrases on the pages is only one aspect of SEO. Another is getting the Inbound Links (IBLs) which drive leads to your site as well as assist your website rankings on the major search engines.

Working together...

There is not need for conflict between website developers/designers and Search Engine Optimizers. Each has specific talents and duties. Making the most of these talents while coordinating as a team easily gives the business owner (e.g. the customer) the best value for his/her money. The resulting success is a win-win for all involved from the website designer, the SEO, the business owner and the website end-user.

For more about SEO, please visit our website at http://www.H2-SEO.com.