Posted via web from Brooks Digital Marketing

Related posts:

1. BBC News – Google to limit free news access via news.bbc.co.uk This is a very interesting development and raises...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This is just a short post and I’m sorry if this old news but for those of you that don’t have a decent in browser competitive research tool this is for you.

This handy little piece of kit allows you to pull all of the data you need from the web sites on a search engine result page in one scoop.

You can export the data into a spreadsheet and use it to get strong idea of which sites stand in our way and exactly what you need to do to take over their rankings.

There is also the ‘SEO Xray’ function which will give you a quick look under the hood at keywords, links and other domain related data.

An absolute must for any serious marketer.

Get your SEO Book Competitive Research Tool here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Struggling to keep afloat as the economy teeters? Well it’s going to get much harder when business picks up too.

Here are some reasons why search engine optimisation could not only be your life raft now but your platform for the future .

The recession is biting and you aren’t the only one that is hurting and there will be more and more casualties as the gloom descends further, so what can you do to help yourself?

It might be that a carefully considered ‘spruce’ up of your web site could be all that is needed to get your web traffic flowing again or you might be ready for a major overhaul.

Either way an investment in what is obviously going to be the de facto method of winning and doing business for many sectors in the future, is going to give you both short and long term benefits.

Ask yourself this one question; “Is our sector going to get more or less competitive online?”. The answer to that is simple: Absolutely yes and probably by much more than you might anticipate.

I would be prepared to estimate that in just five years the investment required to get a new web site to the top of a search engine for any commercially connected keyword is going to cost at least five times more. I make this estimate based on a loose calculation that takes into consideration the penetration and speed of internet access, the number of businesses coming online every year and the rise in awareness of search engine optimisation as an essential ingredient for generating traffic and profits.

In reality, the impact of this huge increase in competition will mean that valuable Google page one real estate is going to be fantastically more difficult to secure and yes, you guessed it, a lot more expensive.

As a digital marketer when researching industry sectors, I find that more and more work is required to get a top ranking and this is even before the internet has been swamped by heavily optimised web sites.

In fact, in some sectors, without a huge investment the exercise of gunning for some keywords is actually quite pointless and I have to formulate a ‘side door’ strategy to get my clients enough online exposure.

So what will happen to you if you don’t take any action with your web marketing?

Well consider this. In five years it is going to be much tougher and web sites that have age on their side will also have lots of content and lots of links and these are the factors that Google rates highly.

It stands to reason then that if you don’t start taking action now and your competitors do those slots on page one that you covet and don’t have now, will be even further from your reach. Inevitably without the best positions, if you are an internet based business, the shutters will most likely have to come down at some point – not a nice thought.

You see, the internet like any gold rush – or in fact any sector – starts of fairly balanced with small and big players all vying for a piece of the cake.

As time passes the smarter players get the upper hand and the number of companies shrinks; look at the motor industry for example…

…in 1922 there were 183 companies in the UK and by 1929 there were only 58.

So what happened? Obviously the conditions were different economically but the reality is that the businesses that invested in themselves also spied opportunities to absorb talent (think Google buying YouTube) and managed to power through the hard times – are you seeing a historical pattern here?

What then happens is competing in many sectors becomes impossible for the smaller players – and again I think of all the corner shops disappearing because they just cannot compete with Tesco and the like.

It is a sad evolutionary model but it is the natural way of things and the only way forward is to embrace the internet fully and begin to understand the importance of laying a foundation in your space now.

Get optimising today!

For more information on how to boost your profits visit this web site – Brooks Digital Marketing

Related posts:

1. Google Launches Real-Time Search via mashable.com I’m not sure about this. Google is putting...
2. Link Building Strategy: Employee Volunteer Program – Search Engine Watch Link Building Strategy: Employee Volunteer Program via searchenginewatch.com This is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Today, we’re going to discuss what the search engines like, but specifically we’ll talk about Google since this player as you will already know totally dominates the search engine market place and getting search engine optimisation right with Google will set you on the right path for success with other search engines.

An important thing to realise before we get started is that search engine optimisation and digital marketing is essential to the success of your business online.

There’s no point having a swanky website with all the bells and whistles if Google can’t see you.

It’s just like just like having a fancy high street shop with a boarded up front and in this economic climates that is virtually commercial suicide as you will be missing out on potentially huge amounts of lost revenue.

In this post we are going to quickly discover what Google does and what it really looks for when indexing websites.

And the reason we need to do this is that just like any other game, knowing what the rules are before we start is going to help us play the game properly and get you the best results.

Ok, so lets take a look at what Google actually takes into consideration when ranking websites, but be aware, I’m not listing these factors in any particular order of importance because we can only make informed guesses!

Google closely guards the way it compiles its results because it is in a constant war with those that continually try to manipulate the results and other search engines. If we all knew the exact formula then Google wouldn’t be able to rank sites properly and the results would be pretty useless to users.

All we can do as ethical digital marketers is use the search engine optimisation techniques available to us and continually monitor our results and refine our campaigns to get better listings for you – this process isn’t easy and of course it takes time and money but after all digital marketing isn’t a paint by numbers exercise!

So what does Google do all day (and night)?

Google constantly spiders the Internet gathering information from websites so that it can rank them accordingly.

What we need to understand is what information it collects and where it collects it from.

With this understanding we can set up our website to be ready with the correct information when Google shows up.

Right so lets’ talk about the factors that we know that Google loves

1. Unique and Fresh content

If Google can see that your content is frequently updated it’s going to make sure that its spiders visit you regularly and that it indexes your new content. One of the ways you can see if Google rates a site as an authority in a particular niche is by looking at page rank (you’ll need the google toolbar to see this).

Google is the most respected search engine and provides up to the minute access to the latest information the world has to offer so to keeps its top spot it absolutely can’t afford to miss out on new content.

By feeding it unique, high quality regularly updated content you are making big friends with Google.

Secondly

2. Google likes sites that large numbers of people or other sites like

Google gauges this by counting link popularity. If you got to Yahoo site explorer and type in a web address you will see the number inbound links that site has.

These links, how they are formatted and where they come from play a major part in getting a good listing.

Thirdly

3. Relevancy for keywords.

Google also likes sites that it can easily determine what the website is about and therefore rank it more easily.

The key here is that Google loves it when you are specific about what you do so if you communicate the exact theme of your site to Google at every chance you’ll start becoming friends with Google.

By showing to Google at every opportunity that your site is about a particular subject you are telling Google that you are worthy of indexing for that particular subject.

Of course we’ll be talking much more about how to do this properly in subsequent posts.

Another factor is…

4. Authority and status.

Sites like Amazon will always be on top of the search engines, so the idea is that you become the authority in your niche. Authority is something that is gained over time by applying the techniques that we’re going to talk about in this blog over time.

Finally

5. Age is also another factor that Google takes into consideration however this factor can be circum-navigated if everything else about your website is set up correctly.

Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you in the next post

For more information on Search Engine Optimisation for the Derby area call Brooks Digital Marketing.

Related posts:

1. Google Launches Real-Time Search via mashable.com I’m not sure about this. Google is putting...
2. BBC News – Google to limit free news access via news.bbc.co.uk This is a very interesting development and raises...
3. Link Building Strategy: Employee Volunteer Program – Search Engine Watch Link Building Strategy: Employee Volunteer Program via searchenginewatch.com This is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This is a fact that should really whet your appetite for promoting your business online using SEO techniques.

“Last year online consumer spend grew by 38%”

- this is a significant figure considering the economic conditions we are facing.

In fact it represents an enormous amount of money and slice of that business can easily be yours with the help of a solid digital marketing strategy and a good search engine optimisation consultant.

The reason I say ‘easily’ is that surprisingly, very few websites are actually optimised for the search terms that their customers are using to look for products and services.

Because of this lack of SEO they’re missing out on stacks of business opportunities and lost revenue.

The best way to visualise not being optimised for your target audience is to think of it like this…

…a website not set up for the search engines is like having a boarded up high street front – in these difficult times this is commercial suicide but you’d be amazed at just how many business web sites are set up like this!

So it isn’t any coincidence that smart businesses are switching more of their budgets to online forms of promotion as the economic situation gets worse and worse.

So you might now ask ‘why invest in promoting online’ and there’s a simple answer to this.

Online marketing can be much more targeted and this is a real bonus for businesses in Derby that focus on the local area only. You can specify exactly what search terms you want to be found for and tailor your website to meet the requirements of your visitors when they arrive.

If you set your site and digital marketing up properly, most of your traffic will be looking for exactly what you provide, it is just then down to how well your web site makes the sale.

Secondly, digital marketing is highly trackable. This means that you can save incredible amounts of money by only investing in advertising and web development that is proven to give you a profitable return.

The opportunity to set up your web site to be laser targeted on your customers using search engine optimisation techniques is here now – all you need to know is how to do it.

For more information on Search Engine Optimisation for the Derby area call Brooks Digital Marketing.

Related posts:

1. On Site SEO Explained On Site search engine optimisation is looked down on by...
2. Google Launches Real-Time Search via mashable.com I’m not sure about this. Google is putting...
3. Link Building Strategy: Employee Volunteer Program – Search Engine Watch Link Building Strategy: Employee Volunteer Program via searchenginewatch.com This is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.