What actually is a good SEO service and delivery model? This is something that will get you a million different variations on the theme. It’s not unlike trying to talk to a lawyer or an accountant. In fact, I had an accountant tell me the other day that if you asked 10 accountants about an issue you would at least 12 different approaches. I had to laugh because that is the exact same issue in SEO circles. There are things that everyone knows must be done but how they are done is the key differentiator between providers. Oh and by the way there is one that is non-negotiable: one way inbound link acquisition.

First, a page submission offering is NOT SEO. In fact, it is pretty well known that you should let the engines find you on their own. This is not going to take long if you have put up a decent site and got one or two decent links. At that point you are looked at as a potential “player” in that keyword competitive environment. Once that’s done it’s where real SEO kicks in. So the lesson here is that if you are paying to be “indexed” or “registered” or whatever with the major engines; don’t do it. If you are interested in having your site indexed in some niche engines or directories this can be done with a little effort. Don’t pay for it.

As for the real deal with SEO service offerings and delivery? It’s pretty simple. Copy, title tags (or page titles), meta descriptions, usability concerns, site architecture issues, analytics and one way inbound links. Here’s a simple (and very rudimentary) outline to follow:

Copy – If your SEO provider says they will do your copywriting I suggest that you play the role of skeptic. First, who knows your products and marketing message better, you or an SEO provider? I would hope you do. Yes, it may be painful but write it yourself. Too bad. Write for the reader / prospect / client and then maybe your provider can tweak it for the engines. Don’t hand this all important marketing function over to an SEO agency…..please.

Unique title tags and meta descriptions – Easy one. Just do it for every page. OK, so your Contact Us page may not need but what can it hurt? Regularly revisit these. Make sure your provider is working to get unique tags on every page. Beware of automated title tag generators! Many agencies use them but if they are not then having a person review and edit them then you may be getting short changed.

Usability – Should be something that your agency is very concerned with. Strong calls to action are critical to convert visitors into whatever you have defined a conversion as.

Site architecture – Your SEO provider should be looking at your code, your internal linking structure and more for any potential red flags or “gotchas” that could render all of your SEO efforts moot. Potential issues are too numerous to mention here in detail but don’t get taken on this important element.

Linking – If nothing else you MUST call your provider to the mat on link building. Directory submissions do not constitute a linking strategy. Also, beware of this language during the sales process “We will develop a linking strategy for your web site” Translation – We’ll tell you what you should do regarding linking but we won’t do it because it’s too hard” Since one way inbound links are the most critical component of successful SEO programs you CANNOT be short changed here. If you don’t have the bandwidth to research, solicit and negotiate link deals then make SURE your SEO provider does this. There is a lot more to talk about here but that’s for another day. Final thought on linking ……. at my company we believe that if we did nothing else to a site other than implementing strong inbound link partners for our clients then our service would beat anyone who is doing everything BUT linking. Yup, it’s that important.

SMB Takeaway – SEO services will sound different from each provider you speak to. If there is not a vast majority of the time spent on acquiring quality inbound links for your site then you are dealing with just another “ho-hum” SEO agency / provider. A strong SEO provider knows that linking gets the results you desire from search so go with a provider where linking is the main message in their story.

Thanks and have a great day!

The national average cost for a gallon of gas is soon to hit 4 bucks. Unemployment is on the rise. Food costs are starting to skyrocket. Needless to say, nerves are a bit jagged in the marketplace these days. So what does a business do?

In a previous post, (Fight or Flight? March 18, 2008), I talked about how in the coming tight economic times there will be two types of business approaches. First, will be those who cut spending, hunker down, wait out the storm then emerge from their business storm shelter and regroup. While possibly weathering the storm this way they will have to play catch up when on the other side and may miss opportunities. The second group will make a strong assessment of current marketing programs that are underperforming (i.e. The Yellow Pages, newspaper etc.) cut out the deadwood and then find ways to market that has measurable bottom line impact (i.e. search marketing, niche ad networks etc.).

Well, we are a month later now. Where are you and your business? While fear is normal, especially around economic uncertainty, it is also manageable. It’s when it controls you and your decisions that trouble can start. If you keep your existing “this is what we have always done” marketing plan in place then you have no one to blame but yourself if you feel like you are throwing those valuable marketing dollars away with nothing to show for it. Now is the time to decide if something really works or if you are simply doing it to say you are doing something for marketing.

I truly believe that the smart money goes online in a strategic way. Search marketing is one area that is very attractive because of its accountability. You can tell very quickly if something is, or is not, working then you can adjust accordingly. While everyone else is in their bunker trying to ride out the storm you will be out there taking their customers who still need to do business. Better yet you are getting the new prospects with less competitive influence and thus building your brand and reputation. When the economy cycles back around (six months, a year…..whatever) you will be in the driver’s seat and your competition will have to take the scraps from your table. I suspect this is a better place to be but that’s just my opinion.

How do you get into this “new” marketplace? First, be brutally honest about your business. This is no time to let a sales guy try to pull the “relationship” card on you to make you do another bad deal and waste more of your money because of the amount of time you have worked “together”. Let’s be honest; there have been times when your business need has been set aside by that very sales person because something better was in the hopper. Make a business decision not an emotional decision.

Next, don’t be afraid of new tactics or techniques. At this point what do you have to lose? I would have to guess quite a lot. The marketplace is different. The world is different. The economy is different. Like the book says “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”. Adapt or die. Take a chance. At least take a chance that has upside potential. By not changing or adapting to new market conditions you are really taking a chance and a poor one at that. If you’re not sure how the old ways actually benefit your operation you are stacking the deck against your success of even surviving this period. Give you and your business the best chance to come out of this stronger. Take a good chance.

As Norm from Cheers might ask, “Business is a dog eat dog world. Are you wearing Milk Bone underwear?” Get in or be prepared to be eaten up. It may be that simple.

SMB Takeaway: The economy is not getting better. This is no time to put your head in the sand or do as you always have done for success. This downturn will truly separate the winners from the losers. I suspect you want to be on the winning side so adapt to the new marketing economy now or let your competition roll you under the bus. It’s your call.

Thanks and have a great day!

Have you tried to field quotes from SEO services providers lately? How did it go? Do you feel like you would rather have bamboo shoots hammered under your fingernails? Did you think that there is no way that this is a real industry considering the variety of claims, pricing structures and “information” that is out there?

Well, you’re not alone. Trying to decipher what SEO actually is, let alone how it is priced, delivered and maintained is enough to make your eyes cross. It’s this very situation that makes being an SEO provider so frustrating. I know what we do to help our clients obtain results. I also know that it does not happen overnight, it requires diligent work on both our side and the client side and it is a process that requires a partnering mentality. I also see a marketplace just chock full of ridiculous claims, snake oil salesman techniques and poor customer service levels. I have to fight this battle daily to simply get folks to feel like I am not “one of those”.

OK, so who cares that I have these issues? No one really but it is important for SEO buyers to know that they are going to encounter a little of everything in the marketplace. I had someone tell me this joke one time while we were talking about SEO services; Q – What’s the difference between an SEO salesman and a used car salesman? A- The used car salesman KNOWS when he is lying. Ouch. I could, however, see his point. Many SEO “sales reps” are under educated and don’t talk about what is truly important in any search marketing campaign: results. Results come from taking the technique of SEO and then APPLYING it to the business of a client. The act of performing SEO without a true understanding of the business need and application is a waste of valuable client time and money.

For a small business or anyone who is new to this thing called search engine optimization (SEO) here is my first piece of advice. Go to, actually read and try to understand the Google Webmaster Guidelines. This is the best starting point to help identify some of the potentially dangerous or just plain untrue practices and claims made by SEO providers (like the infamous “guarantee” of rankings – if you hear or read that anywhere just turn tail and run away as fast as possible, you’ll thank me later). It’s a good primer on the subject and provides strong foundational information to be armed with in the SEO marketplace. Ethical SEO providers adhere to these standards. It is because of these standards that SEO is a more involved and difficult task thus making it harder for someone to just add it to their list of marketing duties (thus the need for outsourced ethical experts). These standards are in place so Google can actually provide what you are looking for when you perform a search. Relevant, real and authoritative organic search results are what drives Google’s paid ad model. I want to believe that they are doing their best to provide the best answer to the questions I entrust to them.

Having said all that, it takes time, real thought, planning, technique and continual education to truly do SEO well so that real results are obtained. Real results, by the way, are not just ranking for some obscure keywords or key phrases. It is measured in bottom line impact of your SEO investment in hard dollars, increased lead volume or some other metric that YOU deem to be the most important to you. Don’t let someone convince you that rankings are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Rankings can generate traffic but there are other issues like usability, calls to action and more that will create results. All of these elements are important in a complete and thorough SEO campaign.

There is a lot more to address about this issue, including what is a fair price to be paid for SEO services in the current marketplace. I’ll save these for another day.

SMB Takeaway: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not what many folks would like you to believe. Exercise extreme caution when choosing a vendor and at a bare minimum read and understand Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This will arm you with enough information to protect yourself from some of the ridiculous claims in the SEO marketplace. Consider these guidelines as your can of mace to keep the predators away long enough for you to get to safety.

Thanks and have a great day!

I often feel like I am blogging about the painfully obvious. There are things that I type and eventually post which appear to fit in the “Well, no kidding…. Everyone already knows that” category but I now realize what’s really going on. I am right on one thing …. everyone does know these things at least to some degree. Here’s the real trouble though: knowing them and acting on them are two diametrically opposed concepts. People (and business people in particular) are scared to admit that they are not doing some of the basic “blocking and tackling” items of business well. We (notice I include myself here) will act as if we are doing all the expected things because we are afraid to be exposed for not doing them. I recently joined a peer group of small to medium business owners and was shocked at some of the things I was not doing. The more I listened the more I felt like I was behind the times in how I worked.

So how does this apply to search marketing? Well, I’ll give you my two cents right now. I talk to business owners and their marketing stakeholders all the time and they LOVE to talk about search marketing. They think it makes perfect sense (which we all know it does) and they SHOULD be doing it. When it comes time to talk about a contract, however, they can get pretty evasive. It’s like they all turn into Barry Sanders and juke everything that comes at them.

I have asked why this happens on many occasions and now I realize the cause in most cases. Fear. Because the vast majority of small to medium businesses still have not invested in their websites I think there may be some embarrassment around that. They don’t want to be exposed as being behind the marketing curve. So what do they do? They continue to flush marketing dollars down the advertising toilet of “this is what we have always done”. Yellow pages, newspaper ads, radio spots, direct mail, you name it, dollars are wasted all the time in these areas. They seem to grasp that search marketing is measurable and can prove its worth but they can’t seem to get out of their own way to success.

Look, I make some monumental gaffes as a business owner myself so I am not claiming perfection here. I have, however, realized that for the foreseeable future (which should include the rest of my working life) that the variety of marketing options the internet represents will outpace all other advertising mediums by far. Playing “catch up” in this area could be the death knell for many small to medium businesses.

On the plus side is the simple fact that anyone who is embracing these marketing opportunities will appear to be giant killers as they replace old stale businesses at the top of their industry. Remember how David took out Goliath with a single stone? There are a lot of business Goliaths out there right now (both locally and nationally) that have a bulls eye on their business’s forehead waiting to be made obsolete by the little internet marketer that could. I want to talk to the guys that are loading their slingshots.

SMB Takeaway: Small and medium businesses have to “pull the trigger” and get involved in internet marketing, regardless of what they are familiar with. On a local and national level the most aggressive internet / search marketers will literally steal market share from the traditional industry giants, regardless of the vertical. It’s your choice as to whether your business is a conquering David or a dead Goliath.

Thanks and have a great day!

Well, this is definitely a case of “those who can’t do…teach” or “easy for you to say….” for sure. I am ratting on myself, so to speak, because this is the first post I have done in a week. Now since the traffic for the blog is not huge I have convinced myself that it’s OK but I know that it’s not.

You see, I tell people all the time that they should blog to add content to their site or build their reputation or authority in an industry. I say that you need to be dedicated to the blog to show your readers and the engines alike that you are truly an authority and you are current. I act as if this is something you should be able to do just by rolling out of bed every day. Well, I admit it; I was completely wrong.

This is not an easy thing to do so it now makes perfect sense why there is such incredible value in a strong B to B blog that is updated regularly with current, authoritative content. Now there are an abundance of regularly updated blogs that are pure junk. Many are just filler material that is passed off as content on a daily basis which may be labeled a blog but it’s just a cheap attempt to appear to be relevant to both readers and the search engines. The day to day of even putting aside the few minutes it really takes to update your blog can seem daunting at times. Heck, it doesn’t just seem that way, it really is that way.

Here is the main thing that I have found that keeps me away from posting 2-3 times per week and really building this thing to the point of being considered a strong offering. It’s planning. Wow, pretty revolutionary concept huh? Well, it wouldn’t be recommended in every business “How To” ever written if it wasn’t valid. In blogging, it’s mandatory if you want to succeed. I now see that I must plan out the subject matter of at least two posts a week and then comment on one major news item of importance to a reader. If I do that I can feel real confident that I will post at least twice a week. Two good posts a week is pretty good. Would more be better? Sure. I am now becoming a realist on this whole blogging thing though. There is the ideal of posting every day etc., etc but it’s not bad to post a few times a week and give true value to your readers.

SMB Takeaway: Blogging is a great tool for small businesses to incorporate in the marketing mix. It requires a real dedication and strong planning to have success. Don’t start blogging unless you are committed to keeping it current. If you don’t, you could end up doing more damage than good.

Thanks and have a great day!

I just got back from a weekend trip to New York to see the Mets play in their last season at Shea Stadium. I had a great time and my kids can now say that they went to Shea. The new Citi Field looks awesome and I can’t wait to see that when it opens next year as well.

As I was driving back with the rest of the family taking a snooze I started thinking about stuff. I was driving through Philadelphia on Route 95 and I was paying particular attention to the billboards. The stretch of 95 through Philly is just a mass of billboards and over the years I have seen some entertaining ones. This time there are some full video screen versions that were pretty amazing.

Anyway, I’ll get to my point now. I was thinking about the reality of the fact that we see roughly 3,000 advertising images on any given day in all the variety of media and other message delivery channels. Personally, I have grown almost numb to the onslaught. It takes a lot for me to notice a message these days. When I say notice, I mean seeing the message, having it register and then taking some action on it (even if it’s noting that I want to research it more).

It was on this stretch of road though that I really thought through what I believe to be the primary role of a business web site. It’s more than e-commerce, lead generation or branding. If your website is doing what it should do it’s the actual foundation of your business, regardless of what you do or even who you think you are. What I mean is that because the world is so cluttered with messaging and forms of communication there is rarely an instance where you can have the full attention of someone without other things to interrupt your message. I know for me, when I am at home and the kids are in bed and I am hanging out watching a ballgame, I am probably the most relaxed and least distracted than any other time during the day. It’s at this time that I do my serious research. This is when I go to a site and dig in. If the site is well laid out, has an easy navigation, great content and helps me get what I am looking for I’m hooked. If I have seen something during the day that I want to research more this is the time of the day that I do it. If the website misses the mark then so does the other message. If your website is not the best possible representation of your business then you are building a business on a foundation of sand. Your website can easily weaken your other marketing efforts if it’s not up to speed. In this day and age, no matter where someone sees your message they are going to measure who you are by your website. You could have the best salespeople, the strongest product and the best advertising but if your site is subpar then the rest of those great aspects of your business suffer.

I am going to take my own advice on this one and work to make my website the best it can be. I want people to look at my site when I have their full attention and have them say “This is a strong company.” Right now, I am not convinced they would. I know how I feel when I visit a weak web site especially if it’s at one of those times when I can really pay attention to the details of the company. I get turned off. I don’t want anyone to have that experience with my company’s web presence. Do you?

SMB Takeaway: Your website is the foundation of your business. You can either build your company on a foundation of sand or stone. Choose the stone so that your website doesn’t allow the best parts of your business to get washed away in the tide of business.

Thanks and have a great day!

Have you ever wondered for even a second how much advertising money is in that Yellow Page Book that is still in the delivery bag in your garage? Or how about that other red covered Yellow Page Book that is underneath the old paint cans in your basement? Or why that Talking Yellow Page Book has never said anything about how much money the advertisers wasted in there and will never be heard? Are you getting the idea that I am not that impressed with the Yellow Pages regardless of which publisher or phone company puts it together?

I speak with businesses all day long that put money into the yellow page advertising black hole. Part of the reason is just habit. It’s what many have done for a long time and they simply renew year in and year out. Others have fallen prey to slick sales folks who make the Yellow Pages appear to be some kind of marketing panacea. I have just one word for this issue and your marketing budget: reallocation.

I am sure that many of you reading this post have spent money with the Yellow Pages. Some have decided to discontinue while others still do. Now I am not saying that these books are worthless or don’t deliver any results. That would be unfair. I am willing to state however that their relevance is nothing like it used to be and is dwindling every year.

There is value in the Yellow Pages, however, and Mike Moran does an excellent job of describing how to do that in his Biznology blog. The good news is that there is some value in the variety of online listings that are out there for the many yellow page directories. How is that so based on what I wrote earlier? It’s easy…….it’s free! I would agree with Mike’s advice to make sure you are listed in as many of these freebies as possible. Will it get you traffic and business? I don’t know but it is free. The downside of course, is the fact that you are being bunched in with all of your competitors and if you want to differentiate yourself you will need to pay for premium services.

Oh yea, about reallocation. I may be biased but take that money you are wasting with the Yellow Pages and put it into search marketing. It’s incredibly measurable. You can assign real return on investment (ROI) value to it. There are no long term commitments. It’s a place for the little guy to appear big. There’s more but I guess you get the point.

Bottom line is to look long and hard at your marketing spend and stop throwing your advertising bucks into your customers’ garages and basements.

SMB Takeaway: Utilize as many free Yellow Page directories online as possible because they are free and stop wasting your marketing dollars on the printed version. Put your money into search marketing so you can be where your future customers are looking for you, know exactly what you spent and know what it generated for your bottom line.

Thanks and have a great day!

Before my thought pattern was interrupted by bloggers dropping dead at an alarming rate (Bloggers Working Themselves to Death?) I was discussing what you should be looking for as you try to decide who will have the honor of doing your company’s SEO work. I am not kidding when I say honor either. You eventually should be deciding on a provider who is excited to have your business and is looking forward to partnering with you and not just treating you like another client / monthly fee.

One of the best ways to determine if your SEO suitor is worthy of your business is to pay particular attention to the sales process. In my last post on this subject it was mentioned that you need to see that your sales contact has some level of knowledge. Now don’t expect your sales person to be a technical wiz regarding the intricacies of search. Most are not but that’s OK. If they have basic knowledge and they express confidence in their company’s ability to deliver then that is a good start.

There is one area, however, that I would not compromise on and that is that your SEO sales person exhibits a consultative approach to search and looks to truly apply it all to a business objective / metric etc that is important to you and your business. It’s real easy for someone to come into your business and rattle off a bunch of impressive jargon but never actually talk to you about your business. I have found that in the vast majority of sales calls I have been able to draw information out of a company representative ( I am trying to avoid using the word prospect because it sounds sooooo salesy) that has started a thought process around new marketing ideas and untapped targets. Now I am not saying I am a master sales person by any stretch. What I am saying is that by listening to the needs of the business or project owner more often than not I can ask a few simple questions or just guide a conversation in a certain direction and they are off to the races coming up with their own great ideas. Who knows their business better anyway?

Search marketing, and the process of truly examining it for a business, forces someone to look at their business from the angle of their customer or prospect. Well shouldn’t that be happening every day in a business? Ideally yes but in reality it doesn’t happen as much as one would think. The pressures of the day to day often make it difficult to pay attention to the level that helps make good business decisions. I look at my job as helping my potential client to slow down and truly think about their marketing and what potential is out there. Once that happens the rest is easy for them. The beauty is that now my company looks like a true partner and not just another vendor. That will make all the difference in the delivery and performance of your SEO campaign.

SMB Takeaway: Make sure that the sales process is consultative. Make sure you are doing most of the talking and thinking and not being directed toward some canned SEO delivery. Your business is unique and it demands that your SEO provider approach it as such.

I’ll have some more to say about this whole SEO and sales thing shortly.

Thanks and have a great day!

Normally I wouldn’t pay any real attention to the story I am referencing here but it was one of those that was both tragic and funny at the same time. The New York Times actually put ink to paper (or bytes to memory……whatever) about the fact that two “major” bloggers died of heart attacks in the past three months and another survived a heart attack. Now, I am not discounting the deaths of anyone because there are many who are grieving the loss but is this really a news story?

The article itself said that there are possibly tens of thousands of bloggers so I would suggest that what happened is just the way things go, a numerically normal occurrence, not some kind of death by blogging. When I first read the story I kept checking the byline to make sure I wasn’t really reading an article from The Onion.

What does this say about the internet culture in general? Not much really. Certainly nothing positive or endearing. Let’s be real here, people have been “working themselves to death” since the invention of the desk. In this day and age we just hear about EVERYTHING so it seems like some kind of big deal. The reality is that we are simply hearing about each and every incident that has been occurring forever all over the world but for some reason we confuse this information with some kind of increase in whatever it is we are looking at.

I have just started blogging myself and I didn’t relate to anyone that was mentioned in the article at all. Why? Well it’s pretty simple because I am interested in providing some good information with easy takeaways for small and medium businesses. This “gotta get the story at internet speed” nonsense is just that…..nonsense. Most people are not keeping up with the amount of information that is being thrown at them anyway so why are people keeling over at their keyboards to beat the other guy to the story? Seems a bit over the top to me.

Once again, I am not trying to make light of anyone’s death here. I am not trying to be disrespectful. What I am trying to point out here is the silliness of this mad rush to a 24 hour news breaking society. It’s like anything else, it’ll look like it’s a great way to make money and many people will flock to it but very, very few will be truly successful (of course, the definition of success is truly subjective).

SMB Takeaway: When you are blogging for the benefit of your business don’t overdo it. If you are spending an inordinate amount of time doing it then just dial it back a bit. There is great benefit to blogging but just like anything else, you can have too much of a good thing.

Thanks and have a great day!

I have been in the search marketing field now for about three years and I can honestly say there are still some areas of this industry that baffle me. I know I am not supposed to admit that kind of thing but it’s the truth and I simply suck at telling lies, so I don’t. One of the most intriguing areas of search marketing is the mystery of pricing of search engine optimization (SEO) services.

If you have spent any time fielding quotes for SEO services you are probably well aware of the ridiculously wide range of prices, services, promises, tall tales, outright lies and all stops in between that occur in the marketplace. If you are confused and frustrated I would suspect that you are not alone. In the next few posts I would like to cover this matter from the point of view of the service provider. After all, if it’s incumbent upon the SEO provider.

Before we get to the hard numbers let’s take a look at what is required to deliver SEO services. First and foremost is knowledge. Knowledge of the search engines themselves, knowledge of the latest and greatest practices, an overall knowledge of business, knowledge of marketing ….. Well, you get the point. There is incredible value in this knowledge so paying for that knowledge rather than obtaining or hiring it yourself is often preferred by businesses. However, here’s the catch on the knowledge play; if someone makes SEO appear to be too easy to do (“Oh, we’ll just do some directory submissions for your link building” ) or too difficult ( “With a multivariate analysis of the various key algorithmic factors …….”) your BS detector should be lighting up like a Christmas tree. Knowledge is the means to the end and not the end unto itself. Many firms will concentrate on technique rather than practical application of SEO principles that will yield bottom line results for your business. Be careful not to get fished in by the over simplification or over complication of SEO.

Another important factor in the effective delivery of these services is people. It starts with your sales experience. Does your SEO account executive or sales representative give you a sense of comfort or a sense that you should be hiding your checkbook? Although people laugh about this, it is one of the most critical aspects of the process of deciding who to work with for search marketing services. Sales people should be concentrating on business applications and not on the technical side of SEO. Most SEO salespeople have never optimized a website in their lives. You may even want to ask your sales rep about that and see how they handle it. The good ones will tell you the truth: that they are there to solve a business / marketing issue and if you want to get in the weeds on the technique they will have someone from their delivery team talk with you. Here’s a joke that someone once told me on a sales call “What’s the difference between a used car salesman and an SEO salesman? Answer: The used car salesman KNOWS when he is lying. Considering I am a sales guy that stings a little but considering what I have heard regarding sales folks in this industry it might be well deserved.

Well, that’s enough for today. I will continue this examination of the service provider’s side of the story in my next post.

SMB Takeaway: Don’t allow anyone to over simplify or over complicate SEO when talking about their service; both tactics are red flags. Don’t be afraid to “go with your gut” and size up the potential SEO provider based on the professionalism and knowledge of your sales contact.

Thanks and have a great day!