Yes.

If you cross the line of having SEO on your Website just to pack pages with search engine optimization, that can be an issue. Loading pages with keywords that are and are not particularly related to what is on your Website and those pages, can detract.

Ideally you code a Website clearly with SEO strategy  done to help search engines and people find everything. I feel it is important, as I have seen keyword stuffing done often, not to pack pages with lists of keywords everywhere possible. Things should not get to a point where they are not done intuitively.

Search engine optimization is never my first priority when working with a Website I want to rank a Website high on search engines. Above all of the huge growing number of useful SEO techniques, it is important to have a Website that is built for users first and search engines second. To build this kind of Website with a strong foundation for Search Engines, I recommend first building a Website for users:

• With a purpose.
• With a niche.
• With an audience.
• That is coded well.
• That is updated frequently.
• That evolves depending on what happens with user comments, metrics and competition.

With these items above mentioned, here are my Search Engine Optimization priorities. I feel the best online marketing categories to focus on for SEO are, in order of priority:

1. On Website Face Items
   When I say face, I mean items that are visible to users in their browser without viewing source code. This includes Website UI / architecture, branding, design, congent, updates, new rollouts and SEO items.
2. On Website Coding Items
   Code well for fast loading pages and strategy for search engines.
3. Off Website Items
   These include links, articles, pages and reviews linking in to your Website from other Websites.

About Jordan Hardy.

Google’s top 5 searches were website and product related. MSN UK’s (MSN top searches cannot currently be displayed) top searches were actors, product and website related. Ask.com’s top searches were very functional queries. AOL’s top searches involved actors, a store and weather. Lycos top searches involved poker, actors, a website and sports.

A. Google Top Searches from the Zeitgeist.

1. iphone
2. badoo
3. facebook
4. dailymotion
5. webkinz

Zeitgeist Archives.

Also interesting are Google Hot Trends.

Check out Google shortcuts.

The Google Blog.

B. MSN UK Top Searches.

1. mark speight
2. wikipedia
3. xbox
4. victoria beckham
5. kylie minogue

MSN A-List.

MSN Hotlist Blog.

C. Yahoo Buzz.

D. Ask.com’s Top 2007 Searches.

1. MySpace
2. Dictionary
3. Google
4. Themes
5. Area Codes

The Ask.com cheat sheet.

E. AOL’s Top Searches.

1. Weather
2. ‘American Idol’
3. Britney Spears
4. Pottery Barn
5. Chris Brown

F. The Lycos Top Searches.

1. Poker
2. MySpace
3. Britney Spears
4. Paris Hilton
5. Golf

As you look for the right online marketing person/company, you can find people who do “Online Marketing Consulting” at many rates. These will include those per hour or per project. Some people claim to just do SEO.

It is very interesting that one person will charge one rate and the next person may be many times that rate. How do you choose? What do you get for your money?

What you don’t want is Someone/a company:

• who is using automated software to sbmit your Website to search engines
• who isn’t somewhat technical
• who doesn’t know how to market
• who doesn’t have experience on small to large Websites
• who does not promise to deliver results
• who cannot deliver results
• who does not use metrics

What you do want is Someone/a company:

• that you trust
• what keeps organized
• who has marketed well before
• who knows what they are talking about
• who works hard
• has worked in a number of verticals
• who knows search engines well
• who knows the Internet well
• who knows how to market in endless ways

Why?

I have enjoyed managing PPC teams in the past, but PPC is more predictable. Once the money stops, so do results. With organic search engine optimization and marketing, results should continue increasing over time. There can be months where traffic or conversion decreases, but the overall increasing trend line should increase well for years.

What happens if SEO and various online marketing efforts are paused?

I’ve noticed results can slowly start to drop in 2-3 weeks if continued efforts are not done. There are so many categories of relevant efforts that I find useful. It is important to sustain these efforts. The reason for this is that people and Websites/search engines are looking for Websites which are alive, so the more your Website has going on, the better.

1. http://www.google.com/analytics/
2. http://www.coremetrics.com/
3. http://www.clicktracks.com/
4. http://www.webtrends.com/
5. http://www.omniture.com
6. http://netinsight.unica.com/
7. http://awstats.sourceforge.net/

Beyond this list I have worked with 15 others, all of which have various plusses and minuses.

The way you should choose the best Web analytics tool/s for your Website/s:

1. Practice with a number of Web analytics tools to see what information you do and don’t need.
2. Talk to some Web analytics experts.
3. Narrow down the possibilities of which vendor to choose by looking at their Websites and talking to their employees. Compare price to features. Ensure there will be no delay in server time. Check if there will be a tag or log files.
4. Test a number of analytics tools.
5. Negotiate with the company on price.
6. Make your selection.

These are the ways I suggest you narrow down your search to find the right search engine vendor / person :

• Find out if the person/people who you would be assigned to work with you and your company are technical. You don’t want to be talking on a daily basis to people who cannot communicate technical details that need to be done.
• Explore their techniques. Do they believe in black hat or white hat techniques? When do they believe each of these techniques should be used?
• Find out what their strategy is all about. Will you get the same strategy as any other client? (You want a unique strategy.)
• Find out if the vendor makes excuses. Will they drag work and timelines out?
• Find out if they can promise results. Ask what increases in traffic, rankings, and conversion they can promise. If they promise the moon, with exact figures, be concerned. If they do not promise exact numbers, but do say they will over time consistently improve results, that is good. You want them to be sincere.
• Do they have experience marketing for companies of various sizes? (You want yes to be the answer.)
• Look at a few examples of their past clients. How well do they do in search engines? (Obviously new websites will take a number of months to start moving up in rankings significantly, so keep that in mind.)
• And the last, most important item is this. Don’t get fooled by a search engine vendor telling you that you need to be placed high for particular niche searches. They may name long strings of 3-8 keywords and tell you they can secure these important listings /keyword searches for you. That is easy! No one else will be looking for or securing those listings. Those listings won’t be valuable with enough searches.

Essentially, don’t get fooled. You want an honest person/vendor who knows what they are doing technically. You want someone with a proven track record who will help, not hurt your results.

Click here to learn about Jordan’s experience

Organic.

Why is organic Website traffic more important? These are the positive aspects of organic.

• It does not turn on and off instantly as paid ads can.
• Organic traffic, on a well done website, will increase and increase with the correct efforts.
• Eat organic! Haha… just had to sneak that one in even though I only once in a while eat organic.
• Organic can include dozens of top search engines and thousands of smaller search engines. It can also include a large number of Websites in other categories.
• Organic is free.
• Organic is long lasting.
• Organic is highly trusted by users as they are natural results.

Negatives of organic.

• Can take some time for search engines to notice changes or new Website items.
• You can’t pay organic search engines for listings/traffic/rankings/conversion. You can only pay for services of someone to help you attain these results.

Positive of paid ads.

• You can turn them on fast.
• You can turn them off fast.
• You can test quite a bit.
• You have control.

Negatives of paid ads.

• Not as trusted as organic results. Over 95% of clicks on an average search engine results page are organic listings.
• They cost money.
• They turn off when money runs out.

Click here to learn about Jordan’s experience

Remember, when submitting to search engines, make sure:

• Have a valid email address. The better known and trusted the email provider, the better.
• Only submit your home page URL once you want your website to be crawled by a search engine spider. It may take minutes or weeks for your website to be crawled.
• Be patient, and do not resubmit in efforts to trick search engines. Only resubmit if you haven’t been listed and it has been two months that you have waited.
• Remember you will not appear at the top of search engines instantly. You need to prove your website over time to websites and people. There are a huge number of relevant items you can do to increase the chances of your website moving up on the Internet. These items all will improve rankings, conversion rate, and stickiness. To learn more, visit this website every few days as I will post helpful information twice per week.

Top search engines and submission URLs

1. Google
   http://www.google.com/addurl/
2. Yahoo
   http://submit.search.yahoo.com/
3. Ask
   http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/webmasters.shtml#18
4. AOL
   http://www.dmoz.org/add.html (results from DMOZ are pulled into AOL and others)
5. MSN
   http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/submit.aspx
6. Live
   same as #5
7. Alexa
   http://www.alexa.com/site/help/webmasters
8. Netscape
   http://wp.netscape.com/escapes/search/addsite.html (leads to DMOZ)
9. AlltheWeb
   http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/submit_site
10. AltaVista
    http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/default (leads to Yahoo)

Important to Note

• There are thousands of search engines. The top ten listed above will include the majority of searches, but many other search engines are worth submissions.
• Submitting to search engines doesn’t do a lot. It only makes sure that if you have a good website, you have more chances of being indexed and found if you have a well done website.
• Once you are indexed on a search engine, you may be on page 100 of listings where you are not found by people often. To move up to the top of page one of search engine listings, you need to consistently market and build up your website. There are thousands of ways to do this.

Click here to learn about Jordan’s experience

Blogs

A Blog (also known as web log) is usually either an often updated online journal or platform to provide news or commentary on a subject. Blogs are usually hosted by a third party. Entries are displayed by date, and can contain images, text, and links to other websites. Many blogs allow comments to be added to entries by readers. Types of blogs include textual, photoblogs, sketchblogs, vlogs, MP3 blogs, and micro-blogs.

Spam can be a problem on blogs. Anonymous users will post comments just to get links back to their websites. Those links are not relevant to the blog. Comments can be set up to be approved only by the blog owner. You’ll only see comments approved on this blog which are not spam, and are relevant.

An example of a blog is this website you are on now.

Another example is here:
http://orchidcaretips.imagine123.com/orchidsblog/

Forums

A forum is a web application usually set up for discussion of topic/s on a website. Forums are for posting user generated information. They allow groups or individuals to communicate online easily. Usually no extra software is needed other than a web browser. Information is stored centrally. They have much in common with mailing lists, message boards, discussion boards, discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, and newsgroups. Posts can be replied to and easily searched. Messages in forums are displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions. Often a pleasant sense of virtual community develops on forums. Many forums have regular users. A discussion board is built of forums.

Spam can be annoying on forums. There is usually a moderator or group of moderators who pull spam posts from the forum. Members of forums often look out for spammers and can help get their posts removed, or call them on their actions.

Here is an example of a forum:
http://orchidcare.imagine123.com/discussion-forum/

When to use a Blog vs. When to Use a Forum

Use a blog when you want your message conveyed. You can choose on a blog if you want people to be able to comment to posts. Use a forum or message board when you want community members to chat on various topics. You will not need to spend as much time as you would on a blog since most content can be generated by users.