When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and getting your web sites ranked highly in Google, WordPress has the ability to make a positive impact on your results. Over the years, WordPress steadily evolved and has become a very popular tool for individuals and businesses looking to build sites for a wide variety of uses.

In the old days, WordPress was pretty much considered a blog platform like Blogger and some of the others. It had features beyond what similar sites offered but most people were drawn to its ability to function as a blog. However, things have changed dramatically and countless companies and site owners are now using WordPress for their primary sites.

WordPress has developed quite the reputation for having an amazing and easy to use content management system. This means that webmasters are able to quickly add fresh, new content to their sites and are able to keep that content organized very easily.

As for Google, fresh content is one thing that they undoubtedly love and that is partially why they seem to support sites that are developed using WordPress. In addition to having a superb content management system, WordPress also allows for easy interaction on sites.

Again, this is something that Google favors so it often helps in getting a bump in site rankings when it comes to SEO. It is well known today that Google prefers sites that are fluid and not stale. So, a site that has active user comments will often outrank a site that is more static and out of date.

Another great feature of WordPress is its ability to automatically insert needed tags inside of the html code. Without getting too technical, this basically means that WordPress users can tell the system which parts of an article or content needs to be highlighted.

With WordPress, a writer can simply hit a button and identify which keywords or phrases should be tagged as H1, H2, H3, bold, etc. These tags are then read by search engine spiders and that helps Google and other search engines in determining where and how to rank various pages.

Outside of content management, ease of use, and respect from Google, WordPress is also well known for its ability to add plugins and themes. Plugins are coded add-ons that can give thousands of new abilities to a typical WordPress based site. Some of them are totally free while the premium plugins normally cost a fee.

In terms of themes, WordPress offers many different types of theme designs and colors that can be quickly added to your back office to change your site’s design. Like plugins, many of these themes are free and some of them must be purchased.

Both themes and plugins can have an impact on your site’s overall ranking and money making ability. Some of them are specifically formatted to help improve search engine optimization, click through rates, or to attract more customers.

As you can see, WordPress is a truly powerful system which continues to grow and change every year. If you are looking for an easy way to improve your site rankings, building your site on the WordPress platform is a smart choice to make.

If you are a business owner looking to tap into the power of the web in terms of driving new revenues to your company, you may want to begin by focusing on local online marketing as a means to get more locally targeted prospects. You can achieve this while also sidestepping competition that may not be inclined to advertise or promote in your immediate area.

The internet is growing rapidly and just a few years ago there were a large number of businesses who felt that a website was just a luxury and not something that was consider mandatory. However, in a short period of time, that mentality has shifted dramatically as millions of businesses scamper to claim their positions on the web.

This rapid influx of new web sites has caused a major rise in the competition level as everyone is vying for the coveted front page position in the major search engines. If you are taking the route of paid traffic, the competition is even fiercer.

The major reason for this is because more and more potential customers are turning to the web to locate products and services that they want. No longer are people sitting down with the yellow pages to find somewhere to spend their money. This means that online marketing is critical if the average business wants to survive in today’s marketing world.

However, as mentioned, the competition levels are very intense inside the general online marketing space and that is why many smart marketers are shifting to local online marketing angles.

Local online marketing revolves primarily around using geographical qualifiers to target very specific areas and thereby attracting buyers that are normally closer to your business.  It can be through search engine optimization to attract free traffic or via paid traffic methods.

For example, let’s say that you owned a hair salon. Instead of targeting the generic keyword phrase “hair salon,” you would go after a more localized phrase such as “Boston hair salon” or “hair salon Boston.” As you can see, by adding the city of Boston modifier, you are now targeting customers in a very specific region.

When you utilize local online marketing, there are several benefits that you might achieve. The first is that you are pinpointing potential customers that have a higher probability of spending money with your company.

Secondly, you are automatically reducing your competition, and thereby your costs, by avoiding much bigger companies that are more inclined to market on a broader, nationwide level.

One of the biggest benefits to using local online marketing strategies is that the average web surfer is becoming much more skilled in finding exactly what they need online. This often means that they are performing more refined searches and looking for things close to their homes or jobs. As a result, if you are able to get your message in front of these customers, you are far more likely to get their business.

At the moment, local online marketing is definitely starting to gain momentum. In simple terms, it is a cheaper and smarter way to promote your business and this is especially true if you are a startup or on a shoestring marketing budget.

Many businesses are anxious to spread the word about their companies through the power of online marketing. While some projects using a professional web developer or SEO company is required as it can be extensive and also bring great results, but there are some things you can do on your own too. Here are three online marketing tips you can actually start utilizing right away that will help generate results.

1) Join a social media network. If you are not a part of Facebook or Twitter yet, you are missing out on a great opportunity to just share what you do with your friends and family, and their friends and other families. While a social media marketing campaign might include a comprehensive approach like building a fan page for your company, you personally can help to drive traffic to your business with your own page.

If you have been fearful of putting your information on one of these sites, know that there are many different privacy settings you can select to filter who gets to see what. Also, don’t worry that you are going to get addicted to these sites as many people claim. It only takes a few minutes each day to post a “status update” which might be a sale you are running or details about new merchandise. Once you become familiar with the social media platform, then you will really be able to see how powerful a full campaign can be for your business.

2) Surf the Internet. It sounds simple enough but it is actually something that many busy business owners fail to do. Perhaps you can get an associate to take on this task but either way, it is an important part of increasing your online presence.

Now by surfing the Internet, we don’t mean to spend hours at Hulu.com watching the latest episodes of your favorite prime time shows.

What we do mean is that you should visit the websites of trade organizations, forums, message boards, non-profit organizations, or groups that pertain to the business you do. When you visit these boards, you should be an active participant in the conversation and leave relevant and unique comments.

At the end of your comment, you are usually allowed to post a link back to your website. This is a very valuable link and even more valuable depending on what kind of site you are visiting. Search for quality sites to contribute to with your comments and your site traffic will definitely increase.

3) Write articles and submit them to article directories. Writing articles does not have to be complicated or cumbersome. You are an expert in your business already. What do you know? What questions do your customers want answered? Write it all down and format it into logical articles of about 400-500 words that answer those questions.

Post these to your website but also rewrite them and post them to various article directories with a link back to your site. Again, this link is valuable and serves as a portal for the reader of your article to visit your company’s page. Aim for at least one new article per day and your simple online marketing efforts will pay off.

It can sometimes be tempting to throw caution to the wind and give up on web development with articles and content. Articles are difficult to write for many so other methods, like massive back linking campaigns, sometimes take precedence. However, many website owners are making big mistakes when they ignore the draw of quality content.

Just recently, we saw a website that was ranking #1 for a popular search term for a health product online. This site had no content other than a very long, nonsensical paragraph with the keyword phrase thrown in randomly. This resulted in sentences that read like “Christmas dolphins like cake acne cure popsicle.” Over and over the keywords repeated throughout lines and lines of gibberish. Still, this website was listed first in the search results with little to no web development.

Upon first glance at this site, many companies might be tempted to follow similar tactics. They could run out and by software to spam the web with their keyword rich-but useless content. Being first and having a large “Buy Now” button at the top of their website might be their only goals.

What these website owners don’t understand about such top-ranking sites is that they don’t last. Sure, one or two might hang on to the top spot through a combination of sheer luck and maybe oversight, but most of these sites are removed from search engine indexes rather quickly.

On the other hand, there are far more examples of websites that do web development the right way and are able to sustain their Google rankings long term. When you study these sites and the techniques they use, there are a few themes that repeat. One of them is quality content.

Article writing, blog writing, and web content development can all mean about the same thing. To search engines, a word is a word is a word but at some point, sites are reviewed by actual people. How can you be assured that your content will pass the test?

One of the best tips about article writing that continues to stick after all of these years is to find a question and answer it. How many times have you tried to search for something on Google only to be led astray and without the answer you were looking for? This is an opportunity for you to create unique and quality content. Check keyword tools to determine how many other people might be searching for that information. Then figure out the answer and write an article about it.

By doing this over and over again (about one per day minimum), traffic to your site will grow organically or naturally. This is definitely the preferred type of traffic versus traffic that is paid for or driven to your site through disreputable means.

Maybe you can’t imagine yourself writing articles or blog posts to your site every single day? A lot of business owners just don’t have the time to devote to Internet research and writing. This is where the help of a web development specialist might come in handy.  A web developer can help you to come up with the proper keyword phrases to target your potential market, but they can also write the content for you as well. For content development help please feel free to Get in Touch Today!

Overall, web development through quality articles and content is still the best and most preferred method of creating a top-notch web site. Hot tricks and slick techniques are a dime a dozen but on the Internet, content is still King.  It’s just what the doctor ordered!

SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and many companies claim to be SEO experts. Perhaps you have received an e-mail guaranteeing a number one ranking in Google’s search engine results? Maybe a company representative told you they could send your site out to thousands of search engines in the blink of an eye?

Unfortunately, there are always a few bad apples in every bunch, and it is no different with SEO companies. The high demand from businesses to enter online marketing has created a lot of activity in the SEO world, and not all of it is good.

So what exactly does a search engine optimizer do? Ultimately, they help to make your website and search engines like Google get along. They do this through content development, keyword research, site structure and formatting, and a variety of other techniques.

Having a website that is search engine-friendly can do wonders for your overall rankings and traffic. After all, it is through sites like Google, Bing, and Yahoo that potential customers find your products and services in the first place.

It is important to note that there are certainly a lot of qualified online marketing specialists who are very capable of working with your site to maximize your online presence. On the other hand, there is another group that will show you a lot of bells and whistles, take your money, and call it a day. While their pitch may be enticing, you should definitely learn to resist the draw to anyone promising things that might sound too good to be true.

As a business owner, whoever you decide to hire to help you with your online campaign becomes your responsibility. As your SEO consultant, you basically hand over the reins of your website to them. If they should cause your site to be removed from the Google index by participating in unsavory practices, there is no way to undo their actions. Essentially you have to start all over again. For any company, this could be debilitating.

What can a company do to protect itself? First and foremost, you should find a reputable SEO company that offers a free consultation. Then it is just a matter of knowing the right questions to ask. To ensure that you receive a valuable service, you should be able to see examples of the company’s previous work, discuss their SEO techniques they intend to use on your site, and understand their timeframe for completing work and getting results.

During this initial meeting, you should feel like the SEO consultant wants to create a long-term partnership with your company. SEO companies that offer one time services like “I will Super Blast your site to 1 thousand blogs for $100” should be avoided.

Instead, you want to build your Internet business using natural or organic traffic. Good content, quality web development and following best practices according to guidelines from the search engines is absolutely the best way to foster positive SEO. Find a partner that will help you to succeed in these efforts by using your due diligence and taking time to learn more about online marketing.

You’ve got a local business listing on Google as well as hundreds of other popular search engines and web directories. It’s been optimized for all the right keywords. You’ve even started a blog and social media pages so that Google sees you’re constantly putting up fresh, new information. All these things have helped move your local listing up in Google page ranking, and you’re getting closer and closer to that coveted number one spot. But you need that extra push to get you to the top. It’s time to focus on online customer reviews.

Online ratings

Now it’s time to turn to your customers for help. Not only does Google search your site for keywords and content, but it also searches the rest of the web for your name. If your name is mentioned a lot, you move up in the rankings. And one of the best ways to get your name out and around the web is through online reviews. A good number of online reviews can take you from the second page of a Google search to number one in no time.

Asking for reviews

It may feel weird or uncomfortable to ask current and former customers to review you online, but if you have regular, satisfied customers, they already have a positive view of your business and they’ll want to help you out.

We’ve all seen negative reviews written about a business we are familiar with and we certainly don’t want to see anything of the sort written about us. Most negative reviews are unsolicited; coming from a customer who feels alone or abandoned. When a business extends a personal invitation to a customer to write a review about them, more often it will result in a positive experience for both parties.

You can a send request out to your email list or devote a section of your monthly newsletter to requesting online reviews from loyal customers.  You can even give them links to your business profile on the top online review sites:

• Google – www.maps.google.com
• Yahoo! – www.local.yahoo.com
• Yelp – www.yelp.com
• Citysearch – www.citysearch.com
• Insider Pages – www.insiderpages.com
• Superpages – www.superpages.com
• Yellowpages – www.yellowpages.com
• Local.com – www.local.com

Go to these sites, search for your business and see if any reviews have been posted. Maybe you’ve already got some positive buzz going!

What makes a good review?

A good review is more than just a positive comment. Good reviews also give information about where you are located and what you do. Including keywords that relate to your business in a review will improve your Google page rank. In the examples below, check out the keywords these reviewers used (in italics).

Good: I love Ernie’s!
Better: Ernie’s is the best place to get a burger in downtown Omaha.

Good: Performance Automotive has great service.
Better: I took my Subaru to Performance Automotive for repair, and they did a great job. They have a convenient location on the south side of Minneapolis, and they specialize in Japanese cars. Their car repair was also cheaper than originally quoted. I’d definitely use them again for any car problems.

As you ask your satisfied customers to review you online, it’s good to keep these tips in mind and suggest that they use them while reviewing your business.

Online Review Don’ts

Now that we’ve discussed tips for creating good online reviews, here are a couple of practices that will actually hurt your Google ranking. If you care about your Google rank, don’t do this:

1)      Don’t post a review yourself (or have anyone from your organization post a review)—Not only will this hurt your Google rank, but if anyone finds out you posted your own review, get ready for some nasty, negative word-of-mouth.

2)      Don’t have someone who shares your last name post a review—You may not be able to control who posts reviews online, but if you know someone who shares your last name, like a family member, don’t ask them to post a review. Google frowns on nepotism.

3)      Don’t have more than one person post a review from the same computer—Google views posting multiple reviews from the same computer as a taboo akin to ballot stuffing. It will hurt your page rank and your reputation.

4)      Don’t get all of your reviews now and never address the topic again—Keep the reviews coming on a consistent basis over time. Google looks for content updates on a continual basis and new reviews each and every month is a great way to make that happen.

More reviews, better ranking

If you are looking to give your website that extra push it needs to make it to the top, it’s time to start focusing on online reviews. Even only a handful of reviews on various sites will do wonders for your Google page rank. Stop messing around on the second page and get to number one by following these tips and asking your customers to review your business online.