As we all know, SEO has changed significantly over the years, and will continue to change as the search engines evolve and get more intuitive. A lot of SEOs adapt after each update and start using tactics they know will be successful.. However, the problem there is we never know which actions might cause a penalty when the next update hits.
It’s okay though, because there is one sure-fire way to always stay on top: build your brand.
Building a brand doesn’t mean create a new logo. There is a lot that goes into creating a brand, and if done correctly, links will get built naturally. Doing things like providing educational, valuable content on a consistent basis will build followers who want to share that content.
Check out this infographic that depicts the steps you should implement when building a brand.
Like interlocking gears, your SEO strategy requires regular maintenance to keep improving your site and page ranking. Web analytics, keywords, content, site architecture, usability, link building, and site optimization all play an important role in the success of your website and aid in increasing SEO value. Site optimization is not something that happens overnight – as mentioned above, it takes time and regular maintenance to increase your page ranking. While one aspect of SEO such as link building will help increase your site’s SEO value, it takes all of the elements to work together as a unit in order for your site to reach its fullest ability.
The key to increasing your SEO value lies in finding a great SEO service provider who can offer you knowledge and expertise while properly explaining their plan for you. A great SEO company will find themselves always evolving with the industry and finding new and innovative ways to help improve your site.
WebiMax is a leading international Internet marketing company that specializes in SEO and its faucets including social media, PPC, web design and brand management.
SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that it becomes search engine friendly. But how does this apply when you embed a video on your site? There is no content or keywords so how do search engines actually rank a page which contain a video?
How do search engines know what is in the video?
Rich snippets are the most popular way of getting video rank in search results. If you are using YouTube, this is done automagically, based on the title and description you provide. You can read about rich video snippets and how they help with video SEO here.
Is a short snippet enough at telling Google what the video is about?
Let’s quickly remember. SEO works primarily by using keywords (ranking is not solely based on content of course, but it is still the most major factor). The more meaningful keyword dense content you have on your page, the higher your website will rank if you do everything right. A typical 5-minute video would contain about 700 spoken words. That’s a lot of content when you think about it in written format (i.e this article is about 500 words). For the written equivalent, search engines will have a lot of opportunity to tell what the content is about and if it is beneficial for the end user. But with the snippets, all you have is 160 or so words in the description and a short title. This reminds me the days where the biggest ranking factor for a webpage was the keywords in the meta tags, which are not even considered by most search engines anymore. Snippets may be an important and powerful factor today, especially since search engines seem to favor video content, but that’s not going to last for long.
Video transcription to the rescue!
Transcription is the written format of spoken text. It has been around for a very long time and was (and still is) mostly used for court hearings and in the medical field. As online videos become more and more popular and started playing a major role in search engine rankings, content marketers realized the opportunity. Transcribing your video is the easiest way to tell search engines what your video is exactly about. This is perhaps one of the major reasons why SEOmoz adds full transcription text under each of their Whiteboard Friday videos. If my video page only has the snippets and a few tags to describe the video while yours contain the entire transcription, you’re a lot more likely to get a higher placement in rankings, with everything else being equal.
With video transcription search engines will have the opportunity to index all the words in your video. This is a major compliment to what rich video snippets provide. And if the two comply, you have a golden match for Google. Not convinced yet? Video transcription will also make your video accessible to people with hearing difficulties as well as foreign watchers. It is a lot easier to read a language you are not fluent with than listening to it.
Emre Akkas is with Globalme Language & Technology. Globalme provides a variety of media localization services including video transcription, voice over dubbing and subtitling.
Google Analytics is a free website statistics service offered by the search engine giant Google. With Google Analytics installed on your website, you are able to track the number of visitors your website receives, where those visitors come from and what they do once they are on your site. With this type of valuable information in your possession, you are able to make smarter business decisions about your website.
How to Use Google Analytics
Knowing how to properly use Google analytics will help you get the most out of this free service. The first step you will need to take is to install the tracking code you are given when creating your account within the header tag of every page on your website that you want to track with Google Analytics. With this code in place, you will immediately start to receive data pertaining to your website that you can then use to analyze your traffic and business goals.
Once the tracking code is installed on your website, you will want to familiarize yourself with the Google Analytics interface. Becoming familiar with the interface will enable you to utilize all of its features while you learn more about your website’s visitors and where they are coming from.
One specific feature of Google Analytics that you will want to incorporate with your website is the goal tracking. Since your website should have a very specific conversion goal in place already, you can create a “goal” within your analytics account to see how well your efforts are helping you reach these goals. By tracking all of the conversion funnels you have on your website with Google Analytics, you will be able to see exactly where you are losing your visitors along the conversion process, allowing you to correct any mistakes you are making.
Benefits of Using Google Analytics
While there are several different website statistic services you can use, Google Analytics remains among the best options. One reason why Google Analytics is superior to other services is that it is free and very easy to set up. It does not take a lot of money or technical knowhow in order to set up a Google Analytics account. Also, once you have your account set up and tracking your website, it is very easy to navigate the backend interface and truly discover what your website traffic is doing.
Another benefit associated with Google Analytics is being able to see where your website’s traffic is coming from and whether or not that specific traffic is generating any conversions. When looking at your website’s statistics with Google Analytics, you can drill down into a very specific type of visitor. If your website receives a lot of traffic from one specific keyword or source, you can track the number of conversions that traffic generates for your business. If a certain traffic source has an excellent conversion rate, you can then focus your efforts on obtaining more traffic from that source.
Being able to make these kinds of informed business decisions is why it is so important for every business to install Google Analytics on their website. If you do not know where your website’s traffic is coming from or what people are doing once they are on your website, you have no way of knowing what the best changes to make to your website are.
As a business owner, you probably don’t have time to create your own website. That means you need to hire a web designer to do the work for you. However, that doesn’t mean you need to jump in blindly. Learning about your web designer and their services will help ensure your website reaches the level of quality you require.
How long will the project take? The answer will vary, of course. It depends on how complex your project is, how large your site is, how quickly you can provide the assets the web designer needs, like copy, photos, logos and other graphics they might need.
Another major factor not often discussed is how quickly you can make decisions. Is the design a committee decision or does one person make decisions. If your project requires multiple decision-makers to reach consensus, your project mostly likely will take more time than one with a single decision-maker.
Some web design projects take around a month to launch, but variables can drastically increase or decrease that number.
Do they offer training? Specifically, ask about training for updating your site. Do they offer a Content Management System (CMS)? Many designers will leave the management of your site in your hands once it has been created. Also, ask your web designer if they will train your employees to keep your site up to date.
What other services do they provide? Some web designers only provide web design services, not the website optimization services to keep it on top of the search engine results pages. Some might offer logo creation services. They might provide web hosting services. They might offer training for a content management system and the skills necessary to keep your site up to date. You need to know what you want out of your designer, and you need to know if they provide it.
What do you need to provide? Good web design doesn’t happen in a vacuum. While your designer will need to do their own research, they will also need to ask you for information. You may need to provide content and feedback in a timely manner. You may need high quality images and logos. You may simply need to provide the funds to purchase stock images and budget funds for professional copywriting.
How long do they spend researching your business? You want to make sure that your designer is familiar with your business and your market. You also want to make sure they know your competition. You don’t want to end up with a site that looks just like your competitor. And, you don’t want a site that looks amateurish compared to others in your industry. Your designer needs to know what your industry standards are and what your site needs to look like to target your audience. This means they need to do their research.
What happens if the website breaks or is hacked? In some cases, a web designer will not provide on-going support following the site launch. You may need to contact your web host, own IT or a third party for assistance. It might be worth your time and money to hire a web designer who will continue to maintain your site if an issue crops up.
Who owns the site? Some web designers, in their agreement, will assert ownership of the design and programming as their own copyrighted work. You’ll want to find out before signing any agreement who will ultimately own the website and the domain names. The last thing you need is an unexpected legal dispute because you didn’t read the fine print.
How much do they charge? Price point can be an indicator of web designer’s skill. You should contact several web design firm to discover what your project costs will be. Look for someone confident in their skills and aware of what they are worth.
What SEO services are included? SEO involves continually building valuable links to your website and rich content generation. And yes, it also involves usability. Part of having a site that ranks highly is having a site that is easy to use. The foundation of solid SEO is a design that works with it from the outset.
Will it work for mobile devices, like tablets and smartphones? These days, an astonishingly large percentage of Internet traffic is mobile. As tablets and smartphones increase in power and decrease in price, more and more users will take to web browsing on the go. This means it is an absolute necessity that your site is usable on these devices. While adaptive or responsive web design is an ongoing debate, make sure your designer is designing for mobile.
Do you use templates? For many business owners, the thought of a template site is an instant reason to call it quits. You want your website to stand out as a unique example in your market. You’ll want to discover right away if your web designer is using a predesigned template or theme. Most templates and themes come with innate limitations that cannot be bypassed.
What kind of results can I expect? Your website is an investment. It costs money to maintain and it costs money to update. Ask your web designer if they have case studies or evidence to support their work. Talented web designers will have examples on hand of how they have helped other businesses in the past.
By asking these questions upfront, you can avoid the major pitfalls that cause many web design projects to go sour. Take extra time before moving forward with any web design project agreement, know the facts and ask the right questions. Your relationship with your web designer should last years, so be sure to take the time to do the due diligence before embarking on your new relationship.
Benefits of Using Google Analytics
As a business owner, you probably don’t have time to create your own website. That means you need to hire a web designer to do the work for you. However, that doesn’t mean you need to jump in blindly. Learning about your web designer and their services will help ensure your website reaches the level of quality you require.