DynamoAsh SEO consultant providing professional SEO tips » Internet Marketing

Link building part 2: How one competition boosted my Google Page Rank

Ash — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:01:23 +0000

A really effective way of attracting visitors and promoting your website is creating competitions. Competitions have a fun element to them and many people enjoy participating in one. You know that winning feeling!

I will give you an example of how one competition created a great big buzz, promotion and back-links for my blog. In fact as early as 5^st of January 2010 DynamoAsh.com suddenly jumped to Page Rank 3 and I know for a fact the competition played a very big role in this. Not bad really for a 2 months old blog with only 5 posts! How did it happen?

I launched this blog back in October 2009 and since I was quite new to blogging I decided to seek the advice and guidance of a pro blogger so I contacted the authority blogger Chrisg.com to help speed up the learning curve. In my opinion when trying to master a new area it pays dividend to seek help and mentoring from somebody that has been there and done it!

Chris provided much valuable help and advice and as we were chatting on Skype and I was explaining about some of the consulting and SEO audit services I provide, he came up with this competition idea. I was initially planning to give away some SEO audits for free to demonstrate my ability and also attract visitors, but Chris told me about the importance of perceived value of my services. In other words just giving away something for free makes it sound of low value.

Chris offered to create a competition on his blog to give away three starter SEO audits to the winners of competition. This was obviously a fantastic idea which would work to my benefit in all fronts: buzz and promotion for my new SEO audit service, visitors, valuable backlink, and last but not least an opportunity for me to try and test my new audits and receive valuable feedback and testimonials. Chrisg.com benefited form this as well by providing an interesting post and the chance for readers to win valuable SEO advice and review for their website! Excellent idea!

You can see the actual competition post here:

http://www.chrisg.com/win-dynamoash-seo-audit/

And see what the winners had to tell about my SEO audit here:

http://dynamoash.com/seo-audit/

Do you have any interesting competition stories to share?

How to grow a digital agency – a success story

Ash — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:17:59 +0000

It’s a Saturday morning and I am reading the latest .net magazine. By the way, It’s a great magazine for all Internet enthusiasts. I am reading an article about the digital agency Fortune Cookie whilst eating my fried egg breakfast.

.net profiles a digital agency every month and this month they were covering the agency fortunecookie.co.uk in an interview with the founder Justin Cooke. I started reading the article. The first question from .net to Justin was “How and when did Fortune Cookie form?” The answer to this question always fascinates me.

I’ve been working on growing my own digital agency for the past two years and who better to gain inspiration from than other entrepreneurs who have made it. One of my biggest questions has always been how to win those bigger and better deals? I am sure you know the scenario: small agency bidding for a large project, client asking for previous experience and a solid track record with their industry. Yes! Typical chicken and egg scenario.

So anyway, back to the answer that Justin gave to .net’s question “How and when did Fortune Cookie form?” Just the first two paragraphs told me so much that I can’t believe it. Have you ever had that moment when suddenly everything becomes clear and an answer appears right in front of you?

Here is the exact answer:

“JC: I founded Fortune Cookie in 1997 with the aim of making it one of the most successful web design agencies in the UK.”

With the aim of making it one of the most successful web design agencies in the UK

My commentary: already here we have the mindset of an ambitious and confident entrepreneur. What we also have is clear goal setting and vision. All of the things I have heard time and time again from various entrepreneurs and motivational speakers. A bit different than when I first started with the aim of designing a few websites that can pay the bills! Go figure! OK that was long time ago and I have expanded my vision since then!

Justin continues:

“JC: Our first account was with a luxury Caribbean hotel chain, as we had no previous experience, we did the work in exchange for hotel room bookings, which we then sold on to the travel agent for £35.000 profit! Fortune Cookie was a one-man band in the beginning and I founded the business on credit cards.”

WOW! Talk about thinking outside the box…

My commentary: I mean here it is again a fantastic example of an entrepreneurial mindset. How did he get around the lack of experience? He provided his services in return for something the hotel could give away for free. I remember Roger Hamilton put it very nicely once. “first prove your worth, then ask for what you are worth”. Other things that inspire me here is the fact he started the whole business on his own and only on credit cards. So no big investments or venture capital here.

Back to Justin’s answer:

“JC: We got lucky with our second project. The CEO of Thames Water had returned from a course in the US where he’d learnt about this new medium called the internet. He found Fortune Cookie in the Yellow Pages, called us up and we struck a deal! Thames Water would send us a Quark Express file and we’d transform it into ‘an internet’! I was then able to take on our first two employees. “

Inspiring stuff!

My commentary: So here we have another key element of success: LUCK! Yes luck, but still that luck wouldn’t be there if Justin hadn’t placed the ad in yellow pages. Reading this struck a chord with me. When I was operating as a one man band, my biggest question was at what point can I afford to take on employees? Justin’s story answers this for me: When you win a large enough deal that allows you to pay the monthly salary of an employee then you are in a position to take on your first employee. Simple isn’t it? I think so.

My conclusion – key elements in getting a new agency off the ground:

Ambition
Clear goal
Being creative and think outside the box
Prove your worth first
Take action
Luck

Ok, so this was me getting so much clarity from reading two paragraphs on this article! I don’t know maybe it was the omelette I was having for breakfast. I am sure Justin’s story means different things to different people. You can read the rest of the article in issue 198 of the .net Magazine. The website for .net magazine is http://www.netmag.co.uk.

What has been your experience with growing your business?

Hype or reality: How is real time search affecting SEO?

Ash — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:32:28 +0000

What is Google real time search and how is it going to change the rules of engagement when it comes to SEO?

Real time search is the big talk of the day at the moment. On December 7 Google announced the release of their real time search in this blog post Relevance meets the real-time web. This is what Google says:

“Try searching for your favourite TV show, sporting event or the latest development on a recent government bill. Whether it’s an eyewitness tweet, a breaking news story or a fresh blog post, you can find it on Google right after it’s published on the web.”

So let’s put this to the test. Basically to see real time search in action I went to Google.com and searched for “social media”. The search results initially appearing is the normal good search results so no difference yet.

To see the real time search I clicked on Show options and selected “Latest” from the left menu. The result is what you see on the picture above.

You can see that on top there is the a tweet about social media posted 6 seconds ago. Then there is one from Friendfeed posted 18 seconds ago and we have a blog post about social media posted 57 seconds ago. I think you get the pictures. To me real time search is up to the second coverage of what is being said in social media and blog sites.

The real time web casting and search was really started by Twitter. Also referred to as micro blogging, the concept is around short posts about something that is happening right now normally posted via mobile phones. For example I was at the SEO Pro seminar a couple of months ago and people were tweeting about some hot topics being discussed at that very moment. Another example was the post election results in Iran, you could get the latest news in tweeter as it was unfolding in the streets of Tehran.

Talk about entertainment and well real time search is going to provide a very fertile ground for up to the second gossip and news. Good example was Tiger woods accident. Socialmediatoday.com covers what happened in twitter in this post Why Twitter Wins: Tiger Woods’ Accident.

Twitter, along with other social media tools such as Facebook has become essential tools in the distribution of news. The Tiger Woods’ accident further exemplifies that the Internet is squeezing the life out of a traditional medium such as newspaper industries by bringing dishing up-to-date reports of the incident. This is why Google don’t want to be left out and their real time search is primarily about integration with Twitter.

So how is Google real time search going to effect our organic SEO strategy?

Since real time search is very new, it is currently under constant updating and fine-tuning by Google. As yet I can’t see many real time search results in the standard organic listing, but Google says based on relevance they will include this.

Rand Fishkin from seomoz.org talks about real time search in his post 8 Predictions for SEO in 2010 and predicts that the implementation in the actual search results is something that is going to fade away. He goes as far as saying “This is, in my estimation (and many others), the worst implementation of new results Google’s ever implemented”. So to make sure we are clear here, what he is referring to is the search results without clicking on Show Options and selecting Latest.

My own take on this? I agree with Rand to the extend that I don’t believe Google will sacrifice quality for PR in the sense of just tapping into this new and popular phenomenon. On the other hand the additional filters in the options left menu is certainly a useful feature for people who want to narrow down their search results and peak into what is currently covered in social media sites such as twitter.

The partners that Google announced as supporting in their real time search results are:
Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca — along with Twitter

My conclusion?

In my opinion businesses should definitely plan to engage and contribute in websites Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and mySpace. SEO starts with good content and social media sites are a good means of spreading the word for your content and building buzz. This not only creates brand awareness and brings you visitors but also will improve your SEO ranking. However, when engaging in social media sites it is important to get the balance right. If you focus on selling that will defiantly turn many people off. After all it is called social media because it is supposed to be sociable. It’s a bit like going to the pub. You need to go every week to start building trust and making friends. In the long run those friends can then work as a good connections for business referrals.

Top 10 SEO myths revealed

Ash — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:20:38 +0000

Do you find SEO mystifying? I know I did when I first started. I decided to get to the bottom of it all and here is what I found

1. Keyword and description META tags are the most important part of SEO

This used to mean something a few years ago. Now days the Keyword META tag is completely ignored by search engines like Google. The reason for this is primarily because the META tags are not visible to the visitor and as such can easily be misused to trick search engines into believing the site is about something that it is really not. So what matters now is actually the visible text on your page. I have been told that some other search engines might look at the keyword META tag so doesn’t harm to have it there but not important at all. And as for the Description META tag, this one again has no baring on your SEO but is useful one to have because search engines like Google us this as the site description in the search results.

2. Search engine technology is moving too fast: I can’t keep up!
Yes Google and other search engines keep updating and improving their algorithm all the time, but the underlying concepts of SEO has always been the same and will remain the same. Create interesting and valuable content on a well designed and developed infrastructure. Next start spreading the word about your website by building relationships, providing and asking for links and building buzz in social media. These basic core principles will get you a long way.

3. Submitting my site to search engines takes forever
Again more of a thing of the past.

Consider this facts: Google, Yahoo and Bing (MSN) have a 95% market-share of all search engines.

Once your website is designed and developed to be search engine friendly it will automatically get discovered and indexed by Google, Yahoo and Bing. Take for example this blog. I launched the blog in Oct 2009. 2 weeks later it was included in all the three search engines without me having to do any submission.

4. SEO is dangerous and can get my site taken off the search engines.
Good SEO is about using ethical and best practice technique to help your site get the ranking it deserves. Your site will never be taken off if you stick with Good ethical SEO (also referred to as white hat). On the other hand there are people who try to trick search engines and use spammy and un-ethical techniques which can indeed harm your ranking. This darker side of SEO is also referred to as black hat. If you have the long term benefit of your site in mind then I would recommend to stay away from risky and spammy techniques!

Useful link: Here is what Google recommends about hiring an SEO http://www.google.com/support/webmasters

5. I’ll see results from SEO quickly.
Although some elements of SEO can have a quick impact, namely fixing the technical aspect of your site. The main impact of SEO, specially in competitive markets, will only happen in the long run and will require ongoing effort. After all the biggest factor in SEO is link building and link building will takes time.

6. Visitor numbers to my site is an important element of SEO
Some people believe that the number of visitors to your site has a major impact on the SEO rankings. I have heard this question before: my website is new so it’s not possible to have good ranking in search engines before achieving a high traffic? This assumption is actually not correct at all. Although of course the end result of any successful website is high traffic but in-fact Google has no way of actually judging pages bases on the number of visitors. What will give you good ranking is good quality content with the right keywords and then a healthy number of back links.

Just one point to add I am not saying that visitor numbers won’t matter at all. With the ever increasing ways of collecting page visit data, for example via Google tool bar, Google can see the visitor numbers to many pages and this might also have a bearing on their algorithm but the weight of this factor is not very high compared to the all the major factors.

7. SEO is a hands off project. Let the consultant take care of it
Be very carful here. Although a technical SEO consultant might be good at fixing all the technical issues, when it comes to keywords and links nobody knows your business better than you so you need to play a very active part here. Otherwise it just wont work. Also be very carful with services that give you high quantity of links for small money. Chances are these links are very spammy websites such as link farms or low quality automated directories.

8. SEO is about tricking search engines into ranking my site high
Good ethical SEO is definitely not about tricking search engines by using underhand techniques to gain unfair advantage. Simple rule of thumb: stay away from hidden text or techniques that are there just to deceive the search engine. If what you do adds value to the visitor experience then it’s a good practice. Of course it is your website and your choice if you want to go down the riskier rout. All I can say is that search engines are becoming better and better at catching un-ethical techniques, so risky techniques might harm the long term SEO health of your site.

Simple rule of thumb: stay away from hidden text or techniques that are there just to deceive the search engine

9. SEO is a once and done project: when website is optimized then job is done
Couldn’t be further from the truth. I think I touched on this slightly before. The only part of the work which can be fixed quickly is the technical aspects which have to do with site development and infrastructure. The more important elements that are keywords and links require an ongoing effort. The game here is to constantly measure and refine if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

10. I should optimize my site for search engines above users
The best SEO is about optimizing both for search engines and users in a right balance. Getting this balance right I suppose is what sets apart a successful SEO campaign from a less successful one.

If you found the above useful make sure to subscribe to my email list (top right corner of screen) to receive weekly tips and advice about SEO.

Do you have any other SEO puzzles in your mind? Ask in the comments below and I will answer

How I got my first 100 Twitter followers

Ash — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:42:23 +0000

Photo by Todd Barnard

7 easy steps to your first 100 twitter followers. For those of you who are new to Twitter (like me), here is how I got my first 100 followers. Tips for twitter newbies.

I am reasonably new to twitter. I opened my twitter account about four months ago and really started tweeting a couple of months ago. It took me a bit over a month before I had my first 100 followers. You can achieve this a lot quicker if you spend the time. A bit of a late starter I suppose. I am not one of those who quickly jumps on the latest band wagon. I most say I am still trying to get the hang of it and find the 140 character limit a bit frustrating. I mean how can you have conversation with the limit. Anyway that is beyond the point. Here I want to share with you my journey so far and how I built my first 100 followers.

So down to business now. Here are the 10 steps which I went through in order to get my first 100 followers.

1. Open an account. If you haven’t already signed up for an account go to http://twitter.com/ and sign up.

2. Create your profile. As a bear minimum these are the fields you need to complete.

Name: Use your real name and make sure you separate your first and last name. This is how people can find you.

Username: This is your display name in Twitter, which will show up against your posts and also in the web address for your twitter: http://twitter.com/DynamoAsh. DynamoAsh is my username

BIO – Write a strong bio. Make sure it is relative to what or who you are.

Photo: Go to the picture tab and upload a nice picture of yourself. It is very important to have a photo, otherwise you are trying to socialise without a face!

3. Follow people you already know: Ok so now you have your profile setup and want to start getting followers. Before you get followers you need to start by following people. It’s a bit like you follow them, then they follow you. So click on Find People and start by following the people you know, then go to “Find on other networks” tab and import people from your email address books (these are people that already have twitter accounts). Because these are people you already know you can be sure that almost all of them will also follow you in return.

4. Follow people you like and admire: Basically these are people you like to get to know or quite simply want to follow their posts. These can be leading figures around your topic of interest or business related people whom you admire.

5. Discover people who share your interest: Say for example if you are into marketing you can quite simply search marketing in the Find People search box and this way find people who have mentioned marketing in their profile. The second search you can do is to search for marketing in the search box in the side bar. This search box will search all posts that contain marketing. So here you can listen to discussion going on around your searched topic and find people you find interesting to follow.

For more advanced users try Twellow.com . Twellow has a category function that you search for individuals within certain markets or categories. It is really good, and will give you tons of people to pick from.

Pick your target guru, and click on his/her followers ‐ Click as many as you can, add every single last one of them if you can. I know it seems like a lot of work, but it’s worth it. About 40% of the people you follow will follow you back.

6. Post interesting tweets. This is a bit then up do you whether you are so passionate about one topic or your business that that is all you want to tweet about or maybe it is more your personal thoughts and quite simply what you are up to. Personally I tweet about things that I believe are worth sharing and as yet I am not doing high quantity of tweeting just about everything that comes to my mind.

This is what @SeanMalarkey, who has101K followers, says: “Live and die by this ‐ Give 80% and take 20%. In other words, don’t sell sell sell. Give back, believe me it works.”

I’ve given you some ideas on what to tweet – but try and be personal – tweet things that are relevant to your niche or target audience.

What gets re-tweeted

Funny tweets
Cool articles
Quotes
RT of other good tweets

The more you post good tweets the more people will find you and follow you.

7. Start conversations.

Generally conversations start in two main ways

1. You retweet somebody else’s tweets. Twitter has just released an updated version to make this easier. Up to now the way it has been is that you copy the original message and Add RT to it. Twitter has just released an updated version which automates this. You can find out all about it here http://bit.ly/7q1hQl.

2. Start or engage in a conversation using the # tag. See the picture below. You can see that OscarDS has re-twitted a message with hash tag #CGWhiz. If you were to click on #CGWhiz then you will see all the tweets with that hash tag. In other words all the tweets from people engaging in this particular conversation.

TIP: for steps 3-7 I would recommend setting aside a little time everyday or every other day. Don’t rush through it trying to do it all at once. Building followers takes time. The more you engage the more followers you will have.

Some useful tools:

http://tweetlater.com Once registered, click on “add account”, add your Twitter account and it will give you an option to automatically send a DM to all new followers.
http://www.tweetdeck.com. Makes browsing and organising your tweets easier. Also you can add your Facebook and myspace account here.

The best sales tip of all time

Ash — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:12:22 +0000

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.”

Mary Kay Ash
1918-2001, Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics