Sheridan Broderick

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Small Business Owners Guide to “Self SEO”

August 9th, 2010
Tags: Search Engine Optimization, SEO, small business
Categories: Search Engine Optimization
By: Sheridan Broderick

There are many aspects of Search Engine Optimization (AKA “SEO”) that must be addressed in order to successfully place your website at the top of the big 3 search engines. This article will not address all of them.

There are many free tools available for you, both online and for you to download, that will help you with managing your website and with your website’s SEO.

Keyword Suggestion Tool
When writing your website copy, keep in mind that you should be including your keywords in your content several times. You should do your keyword research before your ever begin adding content or even building your website.
Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion
Analytics
Monitor such things as number of visitors, keywords used to find your site, geographical information, and so much more.
Google Analytics
Webmaster Tools
Sitemaps, robots.txt file, internal and external links and more.
Google Webmaster Tools
Broken Link Checker
It’s important to make sure that your website does not have any broken links. These are bad for both search engine crawlers and website visitors.
W3 Link Validation
Search Engine Saturation
Your website cannot be at the top if it’s not even indexed yet! Check to see which of your pages are indexed in the search engine.
(Ex: Type “site:yourdomain.com” into the Google, Yahoo or Bing search bar)
Backlinks
Check to see what site’s, if any, are linking back to your website. The more the better!
(Ex: Type “links:yourdomain.com” into the Google, Yahoo, or Bing search bar)

There are so many more pieces of the SEO puzzle but with these tools you’ll be well on your way to success! Contact us today to learn about SEO Monitoring and SEO Optimization.

E-commerce Plans for the Future

March 11th, 2010
Tags: conversion optimization, E-commerce, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, website
Categories: E-commerce, Search Engine Optimization
By: Sheridan Broderick

Some new insights into the future plans for many Ecommerce retail businesses.

A recent study by Internet Retailer shows that 2/3 of Ecommerce retail shops have plans to redesign their shop’s sites at some point this year. The number one reason for doing so would seem to be to increase their optimization.

Search engine optimization it the key to success in the Ecommerce world. With so much competition out there, if you’re not on page one and maybe two you are not likely to see much traffic from the search engines.

Most of these Ecommerce business owners said that completing a website redesign would generate a higher sales conversion and attract new customers. While a redesign will usually attract more customers to staying on your site once they have reached it, search engine optimization is not guaranteed to increase sales because the goal of SEO is to increase traffic. I’ve seen sites with website traffic at 300+ visitors per day and zero sales.

When considering a website redesign, make sure that you’re also getting someone to look at conversion optimization as well as search engine optimization. Your redesign should make your site attractive, but it should also streamline the sales process, funneling visitors through their shopping cart to checkout.

SEO vs. PPC

March 11th, 2010
Tags: conversion optimization, PPC, ROI, SEO
Categories: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization
By: Sheridan Broderick

Many clients come to us with the false impression that SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay per click) are relatively the same thing. This is where the internet community and the small business owner’s share their biggest mis-understanding.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization focuses upon organic (free) search engine results. These are the ten results you see on each results page. I don’t know how many times I’m asked, “How much does Google charge to be in the first spot of their search results,” and each time I’m as dumbfounded as the first time I heard this. Search engine optimization is the process of in-site, on-page, and off-site techniques being properly placed and developed. The only person you might have to pay for this is your search engine optimization specialist.

Pay Per Click

Pay per click is exactly what the name says, each time someone clicks on your ad you have to pay Google, Yahoo or whomever your buying ad space from. With pay per click you create campaigns and within each campaign you create ads. Each ad will be different and will be selected to displayed when people search for certain keywords. You bid on the different keywords by selecting how much you will pay-per-click. Pay per click, when done correctly can increase your ROI by 40% or more and when done incorrectly you can see very significant losses.

I’m not trying to discourage your from choosing to do a pay per click campaign, you should just be aware that you should do thorough research before selecting a pay per click manager. A good conversion optimization and ppc company that we recommend is Bach Marketing Group, www.bachmarketinggroup.com.

SEO Study, the importance of page 1

February 19th, 2010
Tags: icrossing study, Search Engine Optimization, SEO
Categories: Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines
By: Sheridan Broderick

In a study released by icrossing earlier this month which analyzed natural search results showed that 95% of all traffic seen by the 10 clients used in the study were captured by the first page of the search results with clicks from pages 2 and 3 significantly less. The report states that, “while visibility on page two or three may seem ‘visible’ to many, the likelihood that these results will drive traffic to your website is minimal.”

This study also validates the idea that people are not just using a single keyword to search for something, but may use upwards of 6 keywords.

This study also validates the already widely known fact that the search engine giant, Google, is the public’s primary used search engine, and when comparing the big three (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) Google brought in 59% of the traffic while Bing carried 23.8% and Yahoo! with only 19.3%.

So, page one really is the key!

CSS3 | Design Evolution

February 9th, 2010
Tags: cascading style sheets, css, css3, website development
Categories: Design
By: Sheridan Broderick

Just like everything else, the internet and website development is evolving. Many browsers are beginning to support several new CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheet) styles. Of course this is not fully supported by all of the most widely used browsers so the use of them is not recommended at this point. However, here is a quick breakdown of my favorite design related pieces you can expect in the near future…

CSS3 Borders

Mozilla/Firefox and Safari 3 users should see a rounded box, with a rounded border.

background-color: #ccc; -moz-border-radius: 20px; -webkit-border-radius: 20px; border: 1px solid #000; padding: 10px;

You will also be able to show borders using images! You will do this with the following tags and attributes:

border-image:
- border-top-image
- border-right-image
- border-bottom-image
- border-left-image
border-corner-image:
- border-top-left-image
- border-top-right-image
- border-bottom-left-image
- border-bottom-right-image

CSS3 Text Effects

Mozilla/Firefox users should see this text with a nice gray drop-shadow

text-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #666;

Mozilla/Firefox and Safari users should see fiery hot text!

This might be my favorite because clients seem to all love drop shadows but browser can only read text in HTML, not in images, and since we focus our business on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) this is just not a worth while solution. Now the browsers will be able to read and the clients will their drop shadows and everyone is happy!

Until the release of CSS3 we’re still using CSS2, at least mostly with unsupported browser alternatives, but as the evolution continues I can hardly wait to see what it brings!

Office Makeover by Staged by Susan

November 12th, 2009
Tags: home staging, interior design, office interior design, staged by susan
Categories: Off Topic
By: Sheridan Broderick

Susan Rutter, Owner and Designer for Staged by Susan, came into our office on Tuesday for a little office interior design and gave it quite a makeover! She used what we already had in our office (which was very little), and then she brought in some of her own props to fill in the gaps and complete the look. Take a look at some of our before and after office interior design pictures…


Before	After

Before	After

Before	After

Before	After

Thank you Staged by Susan for bringing our dull, bland, office back to life! Call Susan today for a consultation for office interior design in your office or place of business.

Visual Architecture

October 16th, 2009
Tags: Business Marketing, design composition, print advertisement, visual architecture
Categories: Design
By: Sheridan Broderick

Visual architecture is the key to good advertising. This is defined as the use of a particular method of building visual information and balancing communication between images and words.

Visual architecture is regionally determined based on the way that Occidental languages train our eyes to read from left to right. Just as other languages, such as oriental and middle-eastern ones train the eye differently. This along with the advancement in technology changing the way that we learn and input information has changed the way that people gather that information. Because of this drifting trend from a “Read It” behavior, as with printed books and newspapers, to a “Scan It” behavior, with digital interfaces such as television, radio commercials, video games, and cd-roms, the way that people find, learn, and absorbed information has changed.

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How to know if your SEO provider is providing good SEO…

October 13th, 2009
Tags: Business Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, small business
Categories: Search Engine Optimization
By: Sheridan Broderick

Every website owner out there has heard of SEO. Maybe you didn’t know the technical term, maybe it was just “that Google thing” but you knew it was good to be at the top of the search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical to every business that is online, whether you sell online or you just get leads online. If the search engines in all of their automated computer power can’t find you, your potential customers are really going to struggle.

So, every business with an online presence needs SEO… ok, so what exactly falls within SEO?

I’m so glad you asked! There are a couple huge pieces of SEO that are the necessary first steps of every long-term SEOist to business owner relationship.

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FTC Says NO to Endorsement Hanky-Panky

October 8th, 2009
Tags: Endorsement Guidelines, FTC Guidelines, internet marketing, new blog rules
Categories: Online Marketing
By: Sheridan Broderick

were-watching-you Beginning December 1, 2010 the Federal Trade Commission will begin regulating blogs and social media sites… no more advertising shenanigans. The FTC protects consumers from fraud or deceptive business practices, and due to the social media boom over the last few years they have decided to update their guidelines concerning endorsements.

The new guidelines will require bloggers or anyone using social media, chat rooms or any other form of internet communication to clearly disclose any “material connection” they may have to an advertiser, including but not limited to payments and free products in exchange for their endorsement.

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Stop Fox Hunting!

October 7th, 2009
Tags: colorado, fox hunting, stop hunting
Categories: Off Topic
By: Sheridan Broderick

I was forwarded this in an email and just HAD to share it with you all!

If you agree with this please send to the powers that be. Hope we can stop it.

While I always agree that hunting is an ethical God given right, I think that I would have to agree with the author on this one… fox hunting in Colorado should be banned!

Please help ban fox hunting in Colorado ~

THIS MADNESS MUST STOP!!

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Author Archive

Small Business Owners Guide to “Self SEO”

E-commerce Plans for the Future

SEO vs. PPC

Search Engine Optimization

Pay Per Click

SEO Study, the importance of page 1

CSS3 | Design Evolution

CSS3 Borders

CSS3 Text Effects

Office Makeover by Staged by Susan

Visual Architecture

How to know if your SEO provider is providing good SEO…

So, every business with an online presence needs SEO… ok, so what exactly falls within SEO?

FTC Says NO to Endorsement Hanky-Panky

Stop Fox Hunting!

I was forwarded this in an email and just HAD to share it with you all!

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