Monthly Archives: June 2008

Google’s Cross-Product Webinar

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Google have announced a free cross-product webinar for webmasters to learn more about three of their most used products, Google Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, and how they can work together to enhance your website.

The webinar will be held 8th July 2008, 9:00am PT (Pacific Time). To attend you need to register. Those that can’t make it will be able to access an archived version of the presentation via the same registration URL. This is the first time Google have offered a joint webinar for these products.

Search Industry Job of the Week: Search Engine Optimization Specialist

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Job Title: Search Engine Optimization Specialist
Job Reference #: Unknown
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: Impact Media Ltd
Location: South Hampton, UK
Date Posted: 24 June 2008
Position description:

This could be the chance you have been waiting for to join a successful Internet marketing company.

Due to rapid expansion Impact Media Ltd are seeking a Search Engine Optimisation Specialist with good knowledge of the main search engines Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Required Skills:

  • Search Engine Optimisation (Natural Search Marketing).
  • Analysis and Optimisation of websites.
  • Keyword / key phrase research and generation.
  • Analysis and improvement of results.
  • Reporting to clients with a proactive approach.
  • Excellent organisational and project management skills.
  • Excellent communication and literacy skills.
  • Knowledge on HTML, CSS and other popular technologies.

Advantageous Skills:

  • Analytics (web traffic analysis, conversion rate analysis, Return On Investment tracking).
  • Offline marketing experience or qualification.
  • Google Adwords Professional accreditation.
  • Pay Per Click knowledge.

Software / Application Knowledge:

  • Web Ceo or equivalent SEO reporting and analysis software.
  • Webtrends / Google Analytics or similar traffic analysis tools.
  • Dreamweaver 8 / MX or equivalent web editing/HTML skills an advantage.
  • Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc).

Person Specification:

The ideal candidate will be pro-active with great enthusiasm and motivation. The candidate will be intuitive and creative within the internet marketing field and possess strong organisation skills. You should be confident and out-going with the ability to communicate effectively with clients to meet their needs. This is a fantastic opportunity for the right person with real potential for career progression within this rapidly developing internet marketing company.

How to apply:

If this sounds like a job for you then apply now by sending your CV and covering letter detailing what you feel you can bring to the company and your expected salary to jobs[at]impactmedialtd.co.uk

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: [www.impactmedialtd.co.uk]
Contact: Send resumes to jobs[at]impactmedialtd.co.uk

For more search industry job vacancies visit Search Engine College Jobs Board.

Enhance Your Life with a Virtual Assistant

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Do you ever wish there were more hours in the day? Or specifically, more hours to do the things you most enjoy? Search Engine Marketing is an exciting, cutting edge industry, but it is also a demanding one. Keeping ahead of client demands and industry changes can be a bit of a juggling act. If you feel spread a little thin, or worse still, can’t remember when you had your last holiday, you may benefit from hiring a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an independent contractor who provides business support services, such as administration or marketing, tailored to your business needs. A VA works from their own premises and you only pay them for the time or service they have provided.

There are always many tasks that need attending to when running a business, but ask yourself – do they necessarily need to be done by you? Could you delegate any of them? Hiring a Virtual Assistant could enhance your business productivity and your life.  Like it has for Timothy Ferriss in this article How to Shorten Your Working Week, published in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this month. Timothy describes a new trend in personal outsourcing. People are beginning to understand the importance of a healthy work/life balance, and with arrival of the digital age, outsourcing options have increased dramatically.

If you are a small company, or working alone, an important thing to keep in mind is the distinction between dedication and compulsion. Burn out can be a serious problem in this industry. Don’t set yourself up to fail. Do you have enough time to: 

  • Manage all the clients you have taken on?
  • Keep abreast of industry changes?
  • Network with industry colleagues?
  • Keep good business records?
  • Actively promote your business?

If you have answered no to any of the above, you really should think about delegating some tasks to a VA.  Ask some of your colleagues in the industry who their VA is? Could they recommend anyone to you? Once you establish a business relationship with a VA, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without one. 

Like Timothy Ferriss, you too could be sitting in a restaurant in sunny Greece. Confident all your business needs are being taken care of and the only ones you need to tend to, are your own.

How to Set Up a Link Building Campaign for a Web Site or a Blog

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Building up good quality inbound links to your web site or blog is still the best long term strategy to ensure your site will be found by your target audience. Below is a set of instructions to help you set up a link building campaign for your own site, or for a client’s site, using Microsoft Excel. You will need to create 5 or 6 worksheets (tabs) within the spreadsheet, to keep track of the various aspects of the link building campaign. The first five worksheets will need eight columns each (A – H), with the following headings:

Column A – Number
Column B – Search Engine Name
Column C – Search Engine URL
Column D – Link Page (address of the category page you want your site listed on)
Column E – Submission Page (address of the page where you submit your site)
Column F – Date Submitted
Column G – Date Added
Column H – Submission Comments

The sixth worksheet (tab) will contain all the web site or blog information required for submitting your site to search engines or directories.

Submissions Tab:

The first task is to add the details of your web site or blog into the submissions tab. You will use this information for each submission. Submission information includes: 

  • Web site/blog name,
  • Web site/blog url,
  • In the case of a blog, it is helpful to list the rss or atom feed address as well as the standard url,
  • Short description (150 words or less),
  • Long description (250 words or less),
  • Anchor text (the short sentence of text you wish to have listed with your link),
  • Keywords,
  • Your name and email address (for tracking submissions only).

Please note: When writing your web site or blog descriptions, do not use overly promotional language and do not repeat the name of your web site or blog within the description. Most directories do not accept submissions which breach these two rules.  

Tab 1: Major Search Engines

The first tab will contain a list of the major search engines and directories. For a comprehensive list of major search engines to include, visit: http://www.searchenginewiki.com/CategorySearchEnginesMajor  Once you have your list imported into the excel spreadsheet:

  • Check each one on the list to see if your site is already listed.
  • If your site is displayed in the search results, write ‘already listed’ in the comments field.
  • Once you have checked through the list, begin submitting – record the date in the ‘date submitted’ column.
  • Always submit your website/blog to the most appropriate category.
  • Note in the comments column any directories or search engines that require payment. Depending on your budget, examine the directory to determine if it is worth paying to get your site listed with them or not.
  • Some sites will require you to sign up as an editor or member in order to be eligible to submit to them. Record all relevant membership data in the comments column.

Tab 2: Minor Search Engines

The second tab is to contain a list of minor search engines and directories. To view a comprehensive list of minor search engines to include, visit: http://www.searchenginewiki.com/CategorySearchEnginesMinor

Submit your site/blog as per the instructions for the major search engine tab.

Tab 3: Niche Search Engines and DirectoriesThe third tab is designed to contain a list of niche search engines or directories which may be relevant for your site/blog. The search engine or directory itself may be targeted towards your niche area or it may contain a category which is directly related to the subject of your site/blog. To view a comprehensive list of Niche search engines to include, visit: http://www.searchenginewiki.com/CategorySearchEnginesNiche  

Submit your site/blog as per the instructions for the major search engine tab.

Tab 4: Regional Search Engines and Directories

The fourth tab is to contain a list of search engines or directories from a particular region of the world. You may not wish to have a regional focus in regards to your link building campaign, but if you want to target a particular region, you will need to submit your site to directories and search engines from that region. For a comprehensive list of regional search engines or directories to include, visit: http://www.searchenginewiki.com/CategorySearchEnginesRegional 

Submit your site/blog as per the instructions for the major search engine tab.

Tab 5: Blog Directories

This tab is only relevant if you are conducting a link building campaign for a blog. The fifth tab is to contain a list of blog directories. Sometimes the submissions page will ask for the rss address instead or as well as the standard url. (This is the address people use to subscribe to your feed). For a comprehensive list of blog directories to include, visit: http://www.searchenginewiki.com/CategoryBlogDirectories  

Submit your blog as per the instructions for the major search engine tab.

Follow Up:

After you have made your submissions, wait about six weeks and check to see if your site/blog is listed yet. If it is listed, write the date in the ‘date added’ column. Keep checking about once a month until all submissions are finalized. Some may take quite a long time to get around to listing your site/blog. If a directory or search engine does not intend to accept your submission you may receive an email indicating the reason. Sometimes however they will not notify you of the outcome either way.

Some search engines and directories require payment for submissions. Sometimes paid listings are worthwhile if the directory is very popular with a high page rank (5 or over) or contains focused relevant categories. Feel free to skip them and stick to free submissions only if you are working with little or no budget.

Happy submitting!

Q and A: Should SEOs take on jobs involving a mix of SEO and design?

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QuestionHi Kalena…

You give all kinds of great SEO advice on your site. This question is more about the business of SEO.

When you are applying or looking for SEO jobs you see a lot of postings for SEO and Design in one job. Most SEO’s I know aren’t designers. Since I don’t classify myself as a designer but, like any advance SEO consultant, can do some design/webmaster work, my question is when you see job postings like this one, what do you think? I spoke with them and in order to be completely effective the direction they want to go will need some design work. What do you think about these types of jobs for an SEO?

Thanks
Chris

Dear Chris

It all depends on whether you know you can do what they are expecting and also on whether they are a good *fit* for your business. I find that when taking on new clients, half the battle is in educating them about what they want vs. what they need. Many prospects come to me with a specific idea of what they think they want, whether that’s top 5 rankings in Google, more sales, more traffic than their competitors or simply more exposure on the web.

Nine times out of ten I need to re-educate them about what’s achievable with SEO (or PPC) and help them shift their goals to ones that would actually benefit their business. If they aren’t willing to take my advice and trust me to take all steps required to achieve their goals, I would rather walk away from the business.

Example: I had a potential client come to me insistent on wanting to be number #1 on Google within two months for a particular (very competitive) search query. Researching his competition and the top rankings on Google alerted me to the fact that it would be almost impossible to achieve that goal for him without resorting to aggressive short-term, risky, link building / buying. I wasn’t prepared to do this when there were so many other search queries he could target using SEO that would have brought him just as much, or even more, traffic combined. But he couldn’t let his obsession with this particular search query go. So I refunded his deposit and told him to look elsewhere, despite having invested a considerable amount of time and effort.

So my point is – make sure the communication between you and your potential client is crystal clear about what you can or can’t do for them as well as what you are or you aren’t willing to do for them. If their site will require a complete re-design, don’t sugar-coat the news, tell it straight and explain that they will recoup the additional cost once their site is search engine compatible. If you can’t do the re-design yourself, outsource it and pass that cost onto the client in the fairest possible way.

But you’re right, many SEO projects these days do require some design work. If you can’t do that side of things, or just prefer not to, my advice is to partner with a few trusted web designers in your region to whom you can farm out the design aspects of any SEO projects you take on. Good luck!