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Tag: internet marketing efforts

  • Should I Get a New Domain Name for SEO? | SEO Factor

    It’s no secret that having a keyword or 2 in your domain name can have an impact on your rankings. In fact, in some cases it’s difficult to see any other reason why a site may rank; with the exception of their spam-keyword-keyword.com domain name. But I’m going to present a few reasons why you shouldn’t change your domain name simply because you want to rank for a search term.

    1. Brand is King

    In the world of SEO, we always say “content is king.” But in the world of business, brand is king. Well, maybe not “king,” but it’s pretty important. And one of the ways in which you help to promote and protect your brand is through the use of your website, on your branded domain name.

    If you’re marketing your business in any other fashion, you will undoubtedly get links to your site as a result (think: press releases, events, etc.); and if a recipient of your marketing efforts should decide to research your company online, they will likely search for (or “Google”) your company’s name, not a specific keyword.

    Even if your site does rank at the top for the search, it’s placed in the same category as the others on the search engine’s results page (SERP). Instead, wouldn’t it be better to have a domain name that would allow searchers to easily identify your official site?

    2. It’s not that big of an SEO deal

    It’s really not that big of a deal to have your keywords in the domain name. We like to get them in there if we can do so without taking away from the integrity of the brand, but we don’t stress it. And we don’t stress it because it really isn’t that big of a determining factor. Sure, it will get a lot of sites to rank, but not usually out-ranking sites that focus more on the quality of their site and Internet marketing efforts.

    It’s hard to believe that when you’re staring at some competitor with a spammed domain name out-ranking you. But let me set your mind at ease with a secret number.

    100%. That’s the amount of clients we’ve had that faced some competitor out there with a spammy domain name. It’s almost guaranteed that there is someone out there, no matter the niche, that has decided to create a site to rank. And there’s another number too.

    100%. That’s the average amount of times it didn’t matter in the end. Our clients still ranked, still received great traffic and they didn’t have to sacrifice their brand integrity.

    I’m not bragging about our work (well, maybe a little); rather explaining that a quality campaign will out-perform rank-quick tactics. Besides, the sites that do that usually (but not always) implement other corner-cutting techniques that end up hurting their rankings.

    3. It’s on the chopping block

    Google is well aware that they are giving too much weight to domains with keywords in them. And they are aware that this is a weakness in their ranking results. And when Google identifies a weakness in their system, especially one that threatens the quality of their results they attack it.

    Google’s own Matt Cutts recently posted a video on the subject, mentioning that they will be looking at that aspect of ranking determination:

    Matt Cutts – How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?

    How long it will be before we see a “fix” is anyone’s guess, but it’s coming.

    4. It’s not worth losing gained ground

    New sites can be a pain to rank. New site’s start at 0 inbound links, and what links you can get in a few months still have to age before they fully impact rankings. It’s simply not worth losing the links to your current site, the pages that are already indexed, and referrals you may have.

    And if you’re argument is

    “We can just redirect the old site to the new”

    you have to remember that 301 redirects do not pass 100% of their value. Instead, it is degraded a little when passing through that redirect. Link-building is tricky enough as it is; only getting 80% of the returns that you could be getting is just plain silly.

    What if I have to change my domain name for another reason?

    There are cases in which you simply don’t have a choice but to get a new domain name. When that’s the case, you’ll want to stay tuned as we are writing a solution to that problem for release this week.

  • When You Simply Don’t Need SEO – 6 Questions to Help You Decide – SEO Factor | SEO Factor

    14 June 2010 | The Business of SEO | Josh Garner | No Comments

    With so many service providers out there, I’m sure you’ve been told several times that you need an Internet marketing service on some level. Check your email. How many times has some SEO company sent you a “free analysis” in the last month?

    And with all these companies out there telling you how much better their site is doing because of some other company they hired, it’s easy to begin to wonder if you need SEO too. But, it’s important to understand what your business needs, when it needs it. Yes, you need SEO (or PPC, or SEM, or whatever term it is that’s creating buzz these days). But do you need it right now?

    SEO Needs Are Relative

    If you were to run into me on the street and ask “does my business website need SEO?” I would reply with “yes. Yes it does.”

    I would give this same reply every time regardless of who asked the question. I don’t need to see your site or know anything about your or your business. I know you need SEO because there isn’t a site on the web that wouldn’t benefit from a proper online marketing strategy. But I warn you, the answer is almost as vague as the question itself.

    Let’s say you’re a 10 year-old boy. You come up to me on the street and ask “do I need a prostate exam?” I would reply with “yes. Yes you do.” The answer I can give is only as good as the question asked. A 10-year-old boy, barring some medical oddity probably doesn’t need a prostate exam. But, that boy who will one day become a man surely does.

    He doesn’t need it now. He probably won’t need it for quite some time, decades even. First, he has quite a few other items to check of his list of “things to do in my life.”

    Take a Look At Your Business

    You need to take a good look at your business before you start spending money on Internet marketing. I won’t lie, our services aren’t exactly cheap. Justifiably so, we garner some pretty hefty checks. For a business to pay us such fees without a return on investment would be…well…just silly.

    I don’t write these tips for the sake of a blog post (though we could obviously use it). I write this in response to a growing number of requests for services that simply aren’t ready for us yet. We don’t sell to just anyone. Rather, we make it a point to partner with business owners where we know a relationship will be mutually beneficial.

    Would you believe that we’ve had 2 people contact us wanting to compare our prices to another firm; only to be told that we wouldn’t offer our services in the first place? After a few years of doing this stuff, you can start to pin-point problems before they happen. One problem is that of offering a service when the business just isn’t ready for it yet.

    So I give you 6 questions to ask before you decide you need SEO services.

    1. Is my Business Ready?

    We can’t even talk about bringing traffic to you before your business is ready. Can you handle a sale? Do you have the write paperwork in order (corporate filings, etc.)? If you plan on selling locally, do you have a store-front? If you’re a service provider who’s work requires insurance or a permit, do you have those things?

    2. Do I Have a Website?

    This may sound odd, but we’ve turned several potential clients away because they don’t even have a website yet. We can’t promote something that isn’t even there. Instead, we had to build a site and are working with them to create the perfect strategy (2 of which won’t require SEO services for another 6 – 8 months).

    It’s something like buying gas for a car you have yet to purchase.

    3. Is My Website Representative of My Business?

    Sometimes, having a poorly designed site is worse than having no site at all. In the last year we’ve taken SEO off the table 3 times due to a poor website. This can be anything from the quantifiable use of parameters in URL creation (usually associated with a content management system) to the subjective “that’s just ugly.” Either way, if your website doesn’t properly represent your company, what good is it to drive traffic there?

    4. Have I Employed Any Other Marketing Efforts?

    Though not a show-stopper, the answer to this question has the potential to get my attention. If you don’t have any other marketing efforts going, you’re missing quite a bit of information that could be used with your Internet marketing efforts (like demographic information, past clients you can use to spread the word, etc.).

    In any event, we don’t normally shun at providing our services to businesses who haven’t explored other areas of “traditional” marketing. But just so you know, a lot of what you learn from those efforts can translate into Internet marketing in some fashion or another.

    5. Do I have Goals?

    Again, not something that will stop all further conversations, having a clear goal is extremely important. In fact, I would bet to say that having a goal is even more important than the act of pursuing that goal. Most often when someone doesn’t have an answer to that question, it’s simply because they do have a goal, they just haven’t taken the chance to articulate it.

    Without knowing what your goals are, there is no way to achieve them.

    6. Is SEO Going to Save my Business?

    This one is a show-stopper. It doesn’t happen as much as it did a few short years ago; but we used to get this call all the time. “My business is drowning. I need more traffic to my site or I’ll have to close it down for good.” I’m sorry to say, we can’t help you.

    The only difference between Internet marketing today and the T.V. and magazine ads of the 50s and 60s is the medium. The messages, goals, and strategies are more similar than they appear at first. If your business isn’t doing so well (to the point of closing for good) then it’s time to re-evaluate other aspects before you look for a silver bullet.

    Take away the fact that most online marketing efforts take a lot of time and money. A failing business with increased exposure will be just that; a failing business with increased exposure.

    So there you have it. If you can get the answers to these questions in line, then you are probably ready to start learning more about how SEO and other forms of online marketing can help your business. There’s still more to talk about, but this should at least keep you from spending money on something that won’t work.