Lesson 1: Understanding how you currently perform with search engines.

Its always good practice to work out where you are now before planning for any improvements.

At this stage we are going to check out two things:

1. Your current exposure to the major search engines
2. Your current performance with your major keyphrases with the major search engines

1. The first question is whether or not you are being recognised by the search engines – that is, has, for example, Google spidered your site and included you in its index (its database)?
Its easy to check this by simply typing your domain name into the Google search box (and also for the other search engines). If you are indexed it will then show you what is included.

There is a simpler way. Fortunately we have some online tools (I’ll be introducing you to several as we move through the lessons). The one I’ll introduce you to at this stage is www.marketleap.com.

If you go to this site you will see three tools in the central column under ‘Search’, they are Link Popularity Check; Search Engine Saturation and Keyword Verification.

It’s the second one we want – Search Engine Saturation. If you click on this tool then type in your domain name a report will be generated for you. This report will tell you how many pages you have indexed with all the major search engines ( if they recognise your site). You’ll need to keep a record of this report since we will use it as the baseline for improvements as we move through.
If most of the pages in your site are recognised by all the major search engines that is obviously a good starting point.

2. The second question is where are you ranked with your major keyphrases with the major search engines.?

This time we need to click on the Keyword Verification option at Marketleap. This will allow you to type in one of your keyphrases (eg for me it might be ‘web marketing consultant’).

The report generated will tell you whether this search term ranks you in the first 30 results with all the major search engines.

Obviously you can do this several times with different search terms you think are important to you. You will see also that you can identify how you competitors rank.
Again you need to record this information somewhere since the objective of the lessons is to enable you to make big improvements on you current rankings.

In future lessons we will show you how to identify the best keyphrases for you, or, if they are the ones you have used above how to improve your rankings with these keyphrases.

Please get in touch if you need any help 01928 788100 ; jan@janklin.com or look at our services (Traffic Builder) to help you do this if you don’t want to do it yourself.

Q&A Spot : Optimising for Foreign Languages

Question:

I’m a manufacturer of a wide range of industrial fasteners and wish to target specific European countries with my products (notably Germany and Holland). How far do I need to go in terms of translating my site from English and ensuring people in these countries carrying out searches in their own language can find me? – Tony Greasby, ASL Fasteners, Stockport.

Answer:
Ideally you need to do the following if you are really serious about business from these countries. Before hitting you with this optimal list you should be aware that is seldom necessary for companies to go to these extremes as we’ll discuss later, but here it is:-

- Have you site translated into the target language and use the appropriate domain eg www.asl.de

- Ensure the search engine optimisation is carried out in that language – ie all the things we talk about in the lessons on this blog need to be done – identifying keyphrases ( in German, Dutch etc), incorporating them into the metatags, writing appropriate content etc.

- Identifying which search engines and directories are important in those countries (surprisingly Google with its 54,000 servers delivering results in less than 0.2 seconds is not dominant in every country – its not even in the top 15 in Korea. Incidentally much more detailed information on search engine regional variations this can be gained at www.searchenginewatch.com)

- Submit to local search engines and directories – ie .jp, .it, .de etc versions

- Have your site hosted in the target country ( search engine ranking algorithms will give preference to locally hosted sites)

Phew! Sounds like hard work.

It is, so maybe you will need to compromise ( remember the above is the optimum). Many companies are happy with just foreign language pages (optimised) but part of the main UK site. It maybe this is all you need to do; its worth a try before going down the optimum path.

Another great way of targeting specific countries is by using the ‘Pay per Click’ services of Google and/or Overture. With these guys you relate your campaign to specific countries (eg at www.overture.com you click on the relevant national flag and go through the bidding process). You still have to put your ads together in the foreign language and you will need foreign language landing pages, but its still a lot easier than the above.

On a closing point its worth remembering that we are fortunate in that the English language is still the dominant language of the web ( although rumour has it that those Chinese guys out there are catching up fast.)

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need more info or wish to link with some local resources to help you with the above – jan@janklin.com ; 01928 788100. www.janklin.com

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – A DIY approach.

Whether you decide to do this yourself, or get someone to do it for you, it probably represents the best return on investment you will get in online marketing.

The postings on the blog will give you all you need – approaches, tools, resources, know how – to enable you to do it yourself. If you need to talk to me at any time, please feel free to call ( direct line:01928 788100).

Each month we will address a key stage of SEO showing you exactly what you need to do. Over a period of time this will form a complete DIY kit for you.
Its worth re-iterating that the first page on search engines is where the action is regarding sales. Over 80% of buyers buy from sites listed on the first page; 85% of traffic is driven by the top five hits, etc, etc – you know this and that many people have obtained tremendous success through their page one ranking. Here’s you chance to get amongst them.
It may be that to get success you don’t need to do too much – its down to how much competition there is for your target keyphrases. The fact that the vast majority of companies (I estimate over 95%) don’t know about this subject means you will have a head start to get positioned above the masses.
The process I will take you through is the following:
1. Understanding where you are now – the audit
2. Identifying the ‘roadblocks’ – what are the factors inhibiting your ranking.
3. Identifying relevant keyphrases to optimise your site around
4. Ensuring your site has the ideal structure for search engine spiders
5. Inserting the keyphrases into the relevant metatags in the correct form, and also in other key areas of the site
6. Inserting the keyphrases into the relevant visible content ( paying due attention to keyword density issues)
7. Submitting your site to search engines and directories
8. Building an effective backlink strategy
9. Content development techniques.
10. Monitoring and measuring your impact.
So, over a period of time you will become very knowledgeable and WILL be successful if you give it the attention it deserves. It’s not a short term fix but will deliver solid results for you in the medium term.
Each of the above steps will be communicated to you as a ‘Lesson’ in my blog postings. Lesson 1 will take you through the audit process. If at any time you wish to speed up the process then you should consider our ‘Traffic Builder’ service which is also posted on the blog.
Again, if at any time you wish to discuss anything with me don’t hesitate to call – 01928 788100. www.janklin.com

SEO Essentials - optimise, submit and measure

TRAFFIC BUILDER SERVICE

Optimise your site, submit ALL pages to top 50 Search Engines to get maximum saturation, and monitor what happens. The essentials of Search Marketing.

The TRAFFIC BUILDER service is designed to do just this.


THE SERVICE

…is designed to get you top rankings in all the major search engines, keep you up there and ensure your web based sales increase.

I describe the service below in detail but in essence it follows the teachings in my seminar events - that to gain consistent top 10 performance your site needs to be optimised for the major search engines ( without trying to mislead them) then submitted and monitored on a regular basis. It works wonderfully well and will undoubtedly bring you more business.


The service comprises 3 elements...

1. Site Analysis and Improvement Report
2. Implementation of Recommendations
3. On-going Site Submission and Reporting


1. This is a comprehensive report which will make recommendations about keywords, phrases, site structure and other points which, when implemented, will increase the number and type of visitors to your site and ensure the traffic is aligned to your web marketing objectives.

Further it will address all the areas preventing your site achieving optimum rankings with all major search engines, for example problems that result from the use of technologies such as flash, javascript, dynamically created sites and frame sets etc, and advise on how to overcome them.


2. You will need to carry out work to implement the recommendations. ( Or we could do it for you) In some cases this may be trivial but in others require more effort. We will advise on the essentials and those areas which could be implemented at a later date.


3. We will then submit the site to the major search engines and directories. Specifically around 50 which collectively cover over 95% of all searches. The rankings will be reviewed on a monthly basis and re-submissions manually carried out (in accordance with the search engine rules) if and when necessary to give higher rankings.

NB The reason for including some major directories is to ensure you are getting some significant in bound links which also helps your ranking.

A report will be generated on a monthly basis showing the position - with a live link into each engine so the position can be verified. The overall objective here is to systematically move higher up the rankings over a period of time such that eventually top ten rankings are achieved for all the major search engines.

The first report is sent to you approximately 6 weeks after the recommendations we make have been implemented, thereafter monthly.

Its essential, its low cost and it works - for pricing contact jan@janklin.com or call 01928 788100