Beth Devine – Page 40

How is SEO like a college degree?

December 7, 2009 Beth Devine

I know, I know, another blog about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Well it’s a hot topic with our clients and often an area of confusion. SEO is simply optimizing a site to ensure that it is found when doing a search on Google, Yahoo or other search engines. Now the term ensure may be too strong because although SEO is important, there’s no magic to guarantee placement. A site that ranks third on the first page on Google one day may be at the bottom of page two the next day due to changes in the way in which the search engine looks at the site. And it may also vary form person to person–but that’s another story.

Although this can be a bit frustrating we do know that there are a few things we can do to make sure a site improves its ranking. First and most important is content–making sure that the keywords used in a search are in the content of a website is essential. The more comprehensive the content of the site, the more likely it will rank well on search engines.

The second way to improve search engine rank is to make sure that the keywords used in a search and in the content are included the meta and title tags . The most important terms should be included in these 2 tags. This is also important because the title and meta description may be what the search results will show and you’ll want to make sure that it correctly conveys your message.

Also important to SEO are incoming links. The more links you have from other sites to yours, the higher you may rank. The key here, however, is QUALITY links. You’ll often see ads to get you 15,000 links. Most of these won’t be applicable to your site and can even hurt your ranking. Quality links would be regional, industry directories, etc.

The bottom line is…SEO is a continuous process. Since search engines constantly update their way of looking at sites, SEO is not a one time fix and although there are no guarantees, it’s not something you can ignore.

How is SEO like a college degree? With a degree you’re not guaranteed to get the good job, but without it, you’re not likely to get it. Similarly, SEO doesn’t guarantee a first place search engine rank, but without it, you’re not likely to be found.

Sponsorships Available – Greater Hartford Women’s Conference

December 7, 2009 Beth Devine

Sponsorships are available for the Greater Hartford Women’s Conference (GHWC) 2010 conference. Sponsors get visibility and recognition from extensive marketing and promotion of the conference. It is the sponsors who make it possible to offer a dynamic program and help to keep the conference affordable. So please consider becoming a sponsor. For more information, contact Tonya Healis, GHWC sponsorship chair, at 860-817-8574 or healis@snet.net. For maximum sponsorship benefits, sign on by January 9, 2010.

Question of the Day: Any Value to Reciprocal Links?

December 4, 2009 Beth Devine

Is there any value in responding to the email and to providing a link to the website from your site? If you have a website it’s likely you’ve received emails like the email below:

I have visited your website yourdomain.com and I was wondering
if it would be possible to get a link to my partner’s website on it?

I’ll place a link back to you on our website, your link will be placed exactly here:

If you agree, then please link to me….

Please don’t forget to send me the title of your website after you
place my link so I can do the same.

Years ago getting reciprocal links was a pretty common practice. It was thought that search engines would rank sites better if they had numerous inbound links. It may still be true that sites with numerous inbound links will rank better than those without inbound links, but modern SE’s recognize if the links are relevant or if they are just exchanged links. So rather than respond to or initiate reciprocal links with unknown sources, a better strategy for obtaining inbound links might be to find relevant directories or businesses that are a source of referrals for your business in the “real” world and if appropriate ask them to link to your websites. Inbound links can also be generated through the social networks – join a discussion on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook and you’ll likely see a spike in traffic to your website

Stay safe on social networks

November 17, 2009 Beth Devine

Is there a danger to accepting unknown blog subscribers and Twitter followers? The short answer is yes. But if you have a blog and you are communicating via social networks, presumably one of your goals is to spread your business or organization’s message. So where do you draw the line?

I received this TWITTER Question from a client: “Is there a danger to me in being Followed by someone who rarely tweets, follows a lot of people, has few followers? Do I need to block these people or is it sufficient to not follow them back. Sometimes, I can see that Twitter has suspended them for improper activity. What is the danger? What are they doing?”

If you suspect danger, trust your instincts. You can set your Twitter settings to restrict access to only those people you approve. Consider how you use your Twitter account — if it is used to communicate with a business community and the goal is to build community you probably want to attract as many followers as possible. If your account is of a more personal nature you probably don’t have the need to allow unknown followers access to your account.

If you see that Twitter has suspended someone for improper activity it means they have violated Twitter’s rules. It could have involved impersonating someone else, spamming, threatening someone, copyright issues or any number of other issues that Twitter includes in their Rules. I would probably block anyone that Twitter has suspended or that you suspect of being involved in any of these activities.

I’ve put together a list of basic safety tips to help you stay safe while communicating with virtual strangers online through your website, blog or social networks.

1. Don’t give away personal information.

Don’t provide home address or phone number on your website or in your profile
Don’t tweet or post that you’re away from home — don’t post vacation photos until you return home — no need to inform the world that your house is vacant
Don’t include personal information like your birth date in your profile. Birth dates are helpful to idenity theives.

2. Be careful with social networking “apps”. When those Facebook applications tell you they need to access your personal profile in order to work — you might think twice about how important it is to use that application. See Facebook Application Privacy for details and set your limits based on their information.

3. Watch out for “Phishing”. Whether a social network post or an email, always assume that the identity of the poster could be an impostor–especially if the message seems out of the ordinary. Be suspicious! Assume any link that leads you to a login page to be suspect. See “Fraudsters Target Facebook With Phishing Scam”. If you receive a message from a “friend” that you suspect is a “phishing scam”, both you and your friend should change your account passwords.

4. Do NOT use the same username/password combination on all your accounts. If a thief obtains your username/password to your Facebook account, make sure it doesn’t also give him access to your bank account, Amazon or Paypal accounts.

5. YOUR BLOG: Review your blog’s user and discussion settings. If using WordPress the subscriber level by default allows them to read, comment and subscribe to your RSS feed. There doesn’t seem to be too much danger in that. However, I think it’s wise to review your subscriber list frequently and delete any suspicious addresses.

More information about online safety can be found at the following links.

Web site safety building safer websites

11 tips for social networking safety

The cobbler has new shoes

November 16, 2009 Beth Devine

Designing a website for a client and designing one for yourself seem to be two different animals. For one thing, the clients pay better. Maybe that’s the reason why the cgwebhelp company site has taken so long to get redesigned.

Finally the new site is in the works and will soon be replacing the old look. Say goodbye to the dancing header and the snappy tune – it is no more. Say hello to the new site with a focus on staying connected–through my blogs, at cgwebhelp.com and websavvymarketers.com, and through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

I look forward to your comments and your feedback. –cg

The SEO Rap

November 2, 2009 Beth Devine

Design the code right – the real trick to SEO.

Smart and accurate. Fun way to end a Monday afternoon. Enjoy.

If it Seems too Good to be True…It Is!

October 20, 2009 Beth Devine

I’ve been hearing more and more about people getting scammed by on-line companies when attempting to set up their own site. In fact, I recently spoke with a client that spent $4,700 plus $39.95 a month for a website and several months later has nothing to show for it. Now don’t get me wrong, there are many legitimate companies out there on the worldwide web, but if they’re talking large returns with little or no sales, marketing and effort – it’s not going to happen.

When it comes to creating or re-designing your website you’d be more productive if you focused on the planning of the site and hired someone else for the programming. Deciding before hand exactly what you want from your site and clearly communicating that with your web partner is the most effective way to build a website.

Too often people decide what they want their site to do for them after they’ve created it. For example a site that’s created to drive sales is much different than one that’s strictly for informational purposes. It’s imperative to determine the direction in advance so that you don’t end up having to re-design and re-program the site afterwards. In addition, what you want from your site will determine the type of tools used.

The bottom line is… If someone contacts you from an on-line company, look them up. A simple Google search can provide you with a lot of information. In addition, although these companies may promise incredible deals, nothing can replace the one-to-one relationship with an established, local company. It’s always nice to be able to speak to someone whose name you know.

What Net Neutrality Means to Small Business

September 16, 2009 Beth Devine

The internet, in it’s short history, has been a great equalizer for small businesses. Small businesses are free to put up websites that promote their business, sell their products, services and applications and are assured that their information is served to the consumer in the same way that everyone else’s content is served. It gives all businesses the possibility to attract a worldwide market. Many of today’s internet giants–think Google, Yahoo, E-bay–started out as small businesses with great ideas. Because their ideas were allowed to be served to the public in a fair way, they were able to develop into highly successful businesses.

Some of the major network operators are trying to change that. They want to set up a tiered payment system for content providers. Theoretically, the premium fee would ensure the fastest download speeds. And lesser rates would result in slower websites. What does that mean? Network providers could decide what content is shown on their networks and at what price. Suppose AT&T decided they wanted to expand their web hosting business. They could effectively eliminate the reach of web hosting competitors’ sites by raising their rates or slowing the delivery of their material to an unpalatable crawl.

Given the fact that there are actually very few network providers in the US — especially in rural parts of the country — shouldn’t we be trying to ensure that everyone has access to all information on the internet no matter what network they can access. In some parts of the country consumers may only have broadband access through one provider. Even in populated areas the choice is usually limited to the phone company or cable provider for the area. Shouldn’t we ensure that your website is as accessible to everyone as your competitor’s website?

Do we really want want big business deciding what is available on the internet? If not, we need to ensure that net neutrality remains in effect. Please support the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009.

Keep consistent styles in your WordPress posts

August 25, 2009 Beth Devine

There is nothing that screams amateur like a website with a mishmash of fonts and styles. Sometimes people copy and paste posts from a document they’ve already created in Word. Unfortunately that can also copy the Word styles and fonts into the WordPress document. In order to keep your styles and fonts consistent in your WordPress posts, click the “paste as plain text” icon in the toolbar. It will delete all the Word code and paste nice clean text into your post that will use the styles in your WordPress theme and keep your blog looking well-designed and professional.

Guerilla Marketing: Could I ask for a few mouse clicks?

July 7, 2009 Beth Devine

This morning I received an email from one of my clients, Trevor Eissler. Trevor’s a clever guy who is marketing a book he wrote. The subject was “Could I ask for a few mouse clicks?” The email was addressed to friends and family and asked if they’d mind spending ten minutes to complete 3 of 6 items on a list.

Here’s Trevor’s list:

Post a review of the book on Amazon.com. (If you haven’t read it yet, feel free to improvise. Pretend it’s one of your all-time favorites!)
Paste the address www.montessorimadness.com into an entry you write—in support of the book—on a site geared toward education, parenting, or early childhood such as www.mothering.com, www.parenting.com, or other big name sites, or even smaller blogs such as www.themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com, www.montessoriforeveryone.com, www.educatingforlife.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews, or any other relevant site you can think of. If you can’t think of anything to say, you could cut and paste or cite the review at www.michaelolaf.com/store/product1032.html or any of the reviews at www.montessorimadness.com.
Join the Montessori Madness! Facebook group and post a link to www.montessorimadness.com on your Facebook page.
Hold a sandwich board, emblazoned with the book title, outside your local Barnes and Noble bookstore.
Tuck the book under your arm next time you’re on Oprah.
Tattoo “Montessori Madness” on your forearm (using other body parts tends to discourage sales).

Trevor’s common sense approach to spreading the word about his book is simple and brilliant. By asking a favor of friends and family who I’m sure want to see his book succeed he’s leveraging the power of their networks. With Facebook, Twitter and other networks it’s easy for Trevor’s friends and family to help him spread the word.

I also like that he asked us to “Spend ten minutes to complete 3 of the 6 items.” By telling us how long it will take us (not long) I think that the average friend or family member would be more likely to complete the request. And by giving us a list of six and only asking us to complete 3 items it seems an even easier assignment.

Items 4 -6 are kind of funny and are a little beyond what most of us are willing or able to do, but that makes the list more brilliant. By process of elimination most of us are likely to complete items 1 -3 and that was probably Trevor’s goal. But it’s not beyond belief that someone in someone’s network knows Oprah – so spread the word friends! Good work Trevor!

More information about the book – Montessori Madness! A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education