If you’ve been on the Internet or involved in any kind of business development I’m sure you have heard the term, Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. This is nothing new. Ever since search engines or directories have been on the Internet companies have wanted to be at the top of the listing.

I hate to use the term “early days” but the previous mindset regarding preparing a web site to be easily found by a search engine involved some back-end technical steps which at one time made sense when search engines and portals had more of a directory approach.  The initial approach involved adding what is known as “meta tags” in the code of the web site and while some of these are still important to a degree modern search engine optimization is focused and hopefully will always be focused on the actual content in terms of text, images and other non design elements.

In terms of marketing this is actually a huge advantage in terms of competition, making updates known quicker and standing a better change at being found. Provided a web site has compelling content and is updated frequently.

What are some ways to to optimize, design and develop a web site so one can make frequent updates and provide compelling content? Here a few things to consider;

• Have a web site designed around a content management system - The makes it easier and faster for the non-designer, i.e. owner or employee of a company to update a web site without asking the web designer to make those updates.
• Incorporate a blog feature on your web site - The search engines love frequent content and writing on the topic related to your business on a frequent basis increases your search engine ratings
• Register your domain name for more than one year. The more years the better as search engines like Google rate domains with a longer registration period higher as it makes them look less, “fly by night.”
• Include words in your title tag you think people will use to search for a business like yours
• When writing, write naturally. Be sincere and don’t try to trick the system by stuffing keywords in the document.

These are just a few tips but they are ones they have helped us tremendously in the past few years to the point we rank on the first or second page of important search terms, many of which we have a lot competition.

Some SEO resources you may want to look at include;

• The Search Engine Academy of South Carolina
• The Wikipedia SEO entry
• Google’s page about working with SEO companies

Again these are just a few resources. We are constantly looking at ways to optimize web site for our clients and also our own business so we can not only get more customers but also practice what we preach and become more experienced to help others. If you are struggling with getting good search results for your web site contact us and find out what tools and resources we have that can help you be more successful. Of no one can guarantee you will be number one, that’s impossible and always changes but we can help you get achieve greater visibility amongst all the other choices out there. What are your SEO Success stories or concerns?

Last night was a great night of networking and learning in various networking groups. It wasn’t until the middle  of the afternoon when I looked at my wife and business partner’s shared calendar that I was aware of a Small Business Owners meeting at the Greenville, SC Chamber of Commerce. I am so glad I went.  Everyone there were small business owners in the Upstate of South Carolina or interested in entering the Greenville,SC market. We had a chance to listen to Timothy Justice of Rescom Construction and ask him questions about what we could do in our own businesses to take them to the next level. Very encouraging.

After the meeting at the Chamber I went to the meeting of the Upstate Entrepreneur Forum which was about a mile away. This was another opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs and listen to Elizabeth Garrison of Ever Green Recycling, her business vision and past business experience.  Once again I got some great tips and ideas to grow my own business and to make it stronger.  Not to mention I love meeting others I can work with and help succeed and thus help my community prosper.

I had to leave the UEF a little early, It pained me to do so but on the other side of town another group I am very passionate about was meeting.  The Greenville Mac User’s Group has been around a long time and I’m happy to be a part of the group of enthusiastic Mac computer users.  Last night’s GreenvilleMUG meeting revolved around the discussion of backups and we also had a video conference with our local Apple rep who could not make the meeting in person last night. I have a desire to start a more specialized group of people who want to develop applications of the Mac OSX platform and the iPhone.

The only thing I regret about going to all the meetings last night was I had to spread myself around, leave early at one and show up a little late at another. I didn’t get to network and make as many connections as I could have. I do plan on e-mailing people I meet with last night who I exchanged business cards with to do some of that networking today.

Did you see me last night (4-14-08)?

My last post covered the “old school” method of marketing known as direct marketing. A method used to target a wide range of consumers in a particular demographic or “geographic.” Initially the direct marketing mindset was attempted on the Internet via banner ads, mass market e-mails (Ok, let’s just call it spam now)

In the beginning stages of when businesses started using the Internet they attempted to do things the way they were done in the older media of print, TV and radio among others. We were indurated with banner ads we soon learned to commit to a blind spot, pop-up ads we soon learned to remove through third party software or different web browsers.  thankfully things have changed and Google used their great search algorithm to not only return better search results but also to display ads in a textual form people would be more interested in seeing. This is an example of using the technology in the particular media to it’s greatest advantage.

Blogging and podcasting also take advantage of another aspect of marketing in the “real world” but aggregates the information in such a way they you can only do on the Internet.  People will look very suspect at companies who do blatant advertising but we get great assurance from talking to friends and third party authorities we can trust.  Even if I blog or podcast is on a businesses own web site people will place greater trust if they are being taught and informed as opposed to a forceful sale. Two great examples of how podcasting/blogging is used to market products are Photoshop User TV and The Adobe Creative Suite Podcast.  Both of these promote Adobe products and Photoshop User TV even has advertising but it’s advertising I don’t mind because I have already sought out the podcasts and blogs for their topics and more than likely I am a likely candidate to purchase either the Adobe products, software or camera equipment.

What aspects of Internet marketing have you grown to despise and which one do you find refreshing?

If any aspect of market has come under attack in recent year it’s direct marketing. It often associated with junk mail, spam and broadcast faxing, etc.  I’m also going to have to admit that I have been putting off writing about this aspect of marketing  because it is my least favorite.  I realize some involved in the direct marketing field may read this, react and defend their industry.  As a business person I am tempted to use the form of marketing but as a consumer I am more often than not annoyed by it and it’s one reason I haven’t bought into such a campaign despite the fact it may bring a good return.

We have at times sent out postcards or similar media to potential customers within industries we have experience working to let them know we are here but other than general awareness I don’t beleive in intruding people’s live even if it does mean losing potential money.  We have received better response by making personal contacts, adding value to our web site via this blog and referrals for satisfied clients.

What do I do with most of the direct market efforts that are “directed” at me?

• Stand over the trash can tossing right after I get the mail, actually I have transitioned into standing over the recycle bin
• Right after I wrote the above point I received a phone call on behalf of a congressman. It was for a cause I believe in.  I hung up.  I knew they were going to ask for money and I didn’t want to get on a  list that would keep asking for more money.
• Constantly hit the delete button in my e-mail program but thankfully my e-mail programs junk mail filter and a new server based filtering program my company is now offering cuts about 98% of that stuff out.
• I never keep my fax machine turned on except when I’m faxing or someone I know is sending me one so that is a non-issue.

At one time direct marketing via the mail or print advertising was about the only way to get the message out to the masses but today we have so many more tools to more efficiently interact with current customers and to selectively develop relationships with new ones.  Sorry, direct marketing is not one of our favorite means of doing business.  Sadly I find the term, “Direct Marketing” to be misleading.  I never feel as if it’s truly directed at me personally.

We  have been working on coming up with a very short slogan that distills our company’s mission and brand into a memorable statement.  After many meetings and going back and forth with various ideas we are pleased to present, “Innovative Media in Harmony” as our official company mantra.

Nothing beats listening to a group of singers or instruments who join together to form a unified sound. While the bulk of our work involves web design our commitment is to integrated marketing solutions that communicate a consistent brand across multiple form of media from web sites, print products like business cards, signs, newsletter, a logo as well as optimizing and developing compelling content for portable devices.

You may have noticed that we talk about innovation a lot. Innovation is not only about new technologies it involves discovering more efficient ways to do things, the way a message is presented and how it’s distributed to the intended audience.  Look for this mantra in more and more places in the days ahead.