Search Engine Marketing & Optimization

Training Courses

Andy Boddy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:45:58 GMT

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Hey Guys,

I've been searching around the web for some decent and more importantly, credible SEO training courses.

I haven't been able to find any as of yet, would any of you guys know of courses or areas to explore?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Things that will make your relationship with your SEO agency a success

Anne Collet — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:22:17 GMT

Hi there,

I wanted to bring to your attention a really good post from Jeremy Spiller about the 10 things that will make your relationship with your SEO agency a success. This covers things like budgets, expectations, results measurement... 10 really good tips to know about whichever side you are (client's or agency's).

Read the post:

http://www.whitehatmedia.com/blog/2009/10/27/10-top-tips-when-working-with-a-search-engine-optimisation-seo-agency/

How to promote your website

Tracy16 simons — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:34:43 GMT

See, there are many ways to get traffic around the GLOBE coming to your site. I want to share with this community so that some will benefit from this list, here are few points to keep in mind while promoting your site - 1. Post newsgroups, 2. Press releases, 3. Email to VIPs, 4. Article submission, 5. Reciprocal Links, 6. Forum Posting, 7. Directory submission, 8. Tell everyone with whom you communicate, 9. Post ads to free advertising website, 10. Blogging, etc.say blogs, forums, adwords etc. Now if you take adwords they really work and you can see increase in the flow of traffic.

but everything needs to placed in the right place to get good results like adwords can be made more effective by using proper keywords, so keyword research is very important for that. you have many tools available for that if you find out.

I personally used "keywordspy" and saw the results, you see for yourself now :)

good luck
tracy16

what strategy you use to promote your site?

andy parker — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:42:15 GMT

what strategy you use to promote your site on internet? Because i try many of the seo services but not get that much of result from them. So please help me move forward.

Reviewing Search Engine Results

infolist john — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:26:41 GMT

I find it educational to watch others search the Net and then navigate the web sites they find. One of the things I notice among these "average users" is that they really read the title of the pages returned on the searches. For example, when you search Google for, say, "chicken recipes", Google returns a list of pages with the titles of the pages hyperlinked. My observation is that most people review the list carefully and only click those hyperlinks which have titles that appear relevant to them. In this regard, I'm fairly confident that most experienced searchers do the same too. Lesson: make sure your pages have an appropriate TITLE tag. The TITLE tag should contain the keywords that you're targeting in the search engines so that people who search for those words will see the relevance of your page and click on the link. The TITLE should also be more than just a string of keywords strung together - it should make sense and sound relevant. Where the design of a web page is concerned, the KISS principle ("Keep It Simple, Stupid") may actually help Website Design CA to keep their visitor. A cluttered page with too much information tends to confuse visitors, and cause them to think that the information cannot be found on your site. It doesn't mean that your site has to have the spartan appearance of the Google search engine or thesitewizard.com. It can be decorated with colours and images, etc. But if there is some central information that you want to convey, or product that you want to sell, making it appear prominently on the page helps the average user zero in on what he/she is looking for.

SEO - what' s changed?

Leo Kendal — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:36:24 GMT

I've recenly been reviewing search agencies. iv'e been struck by how little has changed. can that really be the case?

what is new in seo land? is it still just content, in bounds links and keyword density? if so, are the agenices thriving off providing the same stuff over and over?

is the keywords meta tag now completely redundant?

Simon Scott — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:20:00 GMT

We had a note round our department today saying that the keyword meta tag is now officially useless.
Desptie having thought this for ages, i still populate it. I don't know why. am i wasting my time?

Is anyone using Cuil?

Holly Martins — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:29:06 GMT

Cuil's been going a few months now. Is anyone using it? Does anyone think it has improved since the initial teething problems?

Good keyword tool

Simon Scott — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:29:45 GMT

Since the demise (removal?) of the Overture keyword tool, what's the best option? The google keyword tool seems clunky by comparison and doesn't give numbers of searches

Links: and link:

Matthew Gerry — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:50:48 GMT

This query came up from one of our magazine teams today. I didn't know the answer and Google's help pages don't seem to cover it;

Can any of you please tell me what the difference is between the following searches on Google? Each one returns different results, but I have not been able to find anything about it in the Google help pages.

Link:hortweek.com

Links:hortweek.com

Link: hortweek.com (note the space)

Links: hortweek.com

I know that Link:[URL] is supposed to return the pages that link back to the site.

Keyword research tools

Ed Hockey — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:10:59 GMT

Hi,

Does anyone know of any decent competitor PPC keyword research tools?

Thanks!

How are your Google Adwords and Analytics skills?

Louise Ogle — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:09:05 GMT

We're conducting an extremely short survey looking at skills gaps in use of Google Adwords and Analytics. This is part of a new series of training courses we are researching in partnership with Google, which will also include SEO training.

The courses will be targeted towards marketing people and anyone who runs their own business.

We'll be giving away a few free places on the first courses to a lucky few who fill in the survey...

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jdV6iDq4HRWM81Cf2Htsgg_3d_3d

Why Good Website Navigation Is Important?

infolist john — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:28:08 GMT

Web surfers are basically an impatient bunch and if a website is hard to figure out because the links are not obvious, they will click away never to return. Website navigation is one of the most crucial elements in determining the effectiveness of a website. This article discuses the basic principle of designing website navigation. To be effective website navigation must first and foremost make sense to the average person. While there is always room for creativity, well-designed websites tend to have similar navigation layouts. As a web designer you must always keep in mind the basic purpose of the website and the intended audience when designing navigational elements. Most websites exist to either inform the visitor about a product or service or to actually sell the product or service. Therefore there are some basic guidelines to follow: Make sure all navigational elements are clearly links by using standard conventions for links such as buttons, menus, underlining the text or changing color on mouse. Resist the temptation to use clever or ambiguous names for links. When using non-conventional links, explicitly tell the visitor that this is a link. For example, suppose you design a web page where you want to use a map showing several different cities and want to let the user click on the city name to pull up information about that city. Just make sure you tell the user to click on the city name to get more information about that city. Remember the “Three Click Rule” that most professional web designers use. Studies have shown that most users will not click more than three links to get to the information they want. So every page on your website should be reachable within three clicks. Custom Web Design does not recommend using a flash movie or other type of splash page on your website. Keep the web page design simple yet attractive. But if you do decide to use one, make certain you use the META REFRESH tag to take the visitor automatically to your home page after a few seconds and provide a clickable, clearly marked button or link so the visitor can skip the entry page and go directly to your home page otherwise a large percentage of visitors will just click away never to return. Remember most visitors are looking for information not entertainment.

It Conflicts with Screen Reader Software

infolist john — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:26:09 GMT

Although access keys are also meant to help blind users as well, they are for the most part useless to them. Most commercial screen reader software basically takes over the keyboard and redefines most of the useful keys to some other purpose. This redefinition usually conflict with the access keys supported by the browser. However, in this case, Web Design Services don't need to get up in arms over the issue. If you have tried any of the commercial screen readers, you will probably have noticed that they have some very useful keyboard shortcuts that make surfing with a screen reader very much easier. Their keyboard shortcuts provide better functionality than any you can create using the brain-dead access key facility, so the fact that they nullify your access keys is not going to be a loss to your users. In other words, access keys are irrelevant to blind users. To sum up: Access keys need to be standardized to be useful but cannot be standardized if they are to be useful. They are meant for people with mobility problems and blind users, but are a hinderance for people with mobility problems and are useless to blind users. There isn't much a webmaster can do with access keys that can make it really useful.