Here is a Video from Google about the latest changes…

These updates clearly show how important Google feels timely information is. Basically, they are now making it easier for people to identify recent information, including results that are less than 24 hours old. Real Time content is becoming more and more important with Social Media and Google has no intention of losing control of being the #1 provider of information.

Bottom Line – Small Businesses need to have a strategy for providing up to date information more than ever before, through dynamic websites using Content Management Systems and Social Media.

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1. Google is the only search engine that matters

The plain and simple truth is not everyone uses Google. In fact, for the month of August 2009 there were nearly 4 Billion (Nielsen Ratings) searches in the US alone conducted on other search engines. That is roughly 50 Billion searches each year on the ?other? search engines. It is true that Google does receive almost 65% of all search traffic and should probably receive at least 65% of your focus, ignoring the other search engines is equivalent to ignoring 35% of your potential market which probably does not make sense.

2. I need to submit my site to search engines and resubmit every week or every month

Technically speaking, a site with a proper SEO strategy does not need to be submitted to search engines at all. It is technically not a bad idea to submit a new site, particularly one that will have a hard time getting quality incoming links, but the whole notion of submitting to hundreds (or thousands) of websites to provide some benefit is incorrect. Once a site is submitted once, the search engine does know it is there and they will not visit or update the site more often if you continue to submit it.

3. Search Engine Optimization is a collection of tricks to fool search engines

Putting a bunch of white text on a white background is not going to help a site become #1 in search rankings. Repeating the same word over and over again at the bottom of the page in a tiny font will not help either. The plain and simple truth is SEO is really about providing good quality content, structured in a proper format with authoritative sources (i.e. high ranking websites) linking to the content. The best approach will ALWAYS be to identify the sites that rank at the top for the searches important to you and do a better job than they are doing at adding value to the web. While there are some trying to use ?black hat? (trick the search engine) techniques, these are very risky as they risk being permanently banned from search engines.

4. SEO is a single event performed after I initially build my site

Optimization is an ongoing effort for a few reasons. Search engines continue to refine the way they value sites in an attempt to always provide the most relevant results, so it will always be important to identify changes being made (for example, at one point, meta keywords was an important function of SEO until everyone started stuffing keywords into this tag). Another factor is the fact that information can become outdated, with the time being dependent on the subject and industry. The simple answer is SEO should be closely tied to the overall marketing strategy and should move to continue to support the overall marketing efforts.

5. SEO is a function of IT

While there is certainly a technical component to Search Engine Optimization, the overall strategy and implementation should be handled at a much higher level. There are many things that factor into the overall strategy, including marketing (branding, advertising, etc), legal, information technology, product development, etc.

6. I need Multiple domain names to rank well on Search Engines

There are several reasons to purchase multiple domain names, but they are not really related to SEO. Having 50 different domain names pointed to the same site does not improve search rankings and it could actually hurt rankings if they are not directed properly. Ideally all of the links to a site will be directed to a single domain name. While having multiple websites could be a good strategy to target different markets, merely creating multiple websites for the sole benefit of linking to each other will usually result in diluted websites and not better rankings.

7. You need to update your site frequently

It is not necessary to update a website weekly or even monthly to remain at the top of the search rankings. It is always about the other sites that are competing for the top spots for certain terms. If one site provides 500 pages of good quality detail about a specific subject and has high quality links from established websites, it will not be surpassed by another site with only 50 pages of average quality content with low quality links just because that site is updated more frequently. Of course, if the smaller site continues to add 10 pages of good quality content each week, it will certainly close the gap very quickly. The main focus should be to make sure the website is providing relevant content at all times. Changing the site should only be done to improve relevancy, not change just for the sake of SEO.

1) Who is your target audience?

SEO is useless if you do not have a clear plan on who you want to bring to your site. Thinking you site is for EVERYONE would be pretty outlandish, unless you are looking to replace Wikipedia or Google. You must really drill down and figure out details on the niche of your target audience before moving any further. There are plenty of general ?marketing resources? to help with this, please use them.

2) What content will your target audience find useful to READ?

SEO is about helping other find the information THEY want on YOUR site. It is not a bunch of tricks trying to get visitors to your site. So, to me the MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION in the planning phase is establishing a plan to develop all of the content that will meet your target audiences need and a plan to continue to develop new and fresh content over time.

3) How will you incorporate the content to meet your target audience?s needs?

Developing the content is not the same as the layout of the site, but once someone is at the site, it is very important to make sure they can easily find the other information they need. This means it should be easy to get from some content to some other content, products, etc. A plan on how to ?move? a site visitor from some content to other content, allowing the user to ?interact? with the site is essential. This strategy should include a degree of flexibility as not all visitors will land on the home page (especially true of a site with good SEO) and not all visitors will want to go from page 1 to page 2 to page 3, they will want to find their own path to the content most important to them.

4) How will you update content over time?

You can pay a full time webmaster, have a team of developers, have a part time independent contractor or do it yourself (using a CMS perhaps), but regular updates are a very critical component to long term SEO. Waiting to figure out that strategy until AFTER the site is created could be a DISASTER. If a single developer hand coded each page, it could be a very big undertaking to update that site, while a Content Management System (CMS) could be much easier for an individual to add new content. (Note: while not directly related to SEO, it could be a solid marketing strategy to capture willful visitors email addresses on the website then email them when updated information is posted on the site. If you intend to employ this strategy it could have a significant impact on the method used to develop the site as it will need a component to handle this.)

5) How will you ensure the site structure and code will be “clean” and easily indexed by the search engines?

Again, this is not about fancy tricks, but it could be about avoiding unnecessary items on the site that do not help SEO (such as flash, etc). It is VERY IMPORTANT to make sure your site developer understands proper SEO design techniques and if not, hire a consultant to ensure these are “built in” to the site. Many people build a site first thinking optimization can happen later, but this could involve “redesigning the site” because much of the fixes could be simple cleaning up of code. The number of people that can build a SEO website from scratch if far less than the number of people that can just give you a pretty website.

6) Who will link to your new site?

Link Building will eventually be a necessary component of your SEO strategy, so you must also consider who might want to link to your site and how the site can be built in a way that would help facilitate this process. Consider who you would freely link to from your brand new website. What type of content would they need to provide for you to deem it useful to link to them? Again, more than likely people will not be lining up to link to your site unless you give them a compelling reason to do so. Unless you want to make the compelling reason a dollar value by PAYING for every link, making useful content for others is the best way. This generally means USEFUL INFORMATION in general, not just USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTS.

There are of course other considerations, but plan for these first, than you can start the “fine tuning” process of your SEO.

During an unrelated counseling session with SBDC certified business analyst Bill McKown, Mark mentioned the internet marketing program and how for him it was a bust. A few months later, Mark received a call from McKown who suggested they move quickly to take advantage of a class action suit. The legal action had recently been settled by the Florida Attorney General’s office on behalf of other Florida residents who had signed up with same the online marketing company.

McKown was aware of the settlement due to a tip from Ruth Shank. Mrs. Shank is an SBDC client who had visited McKown’s office to seek help with accounting questions. As the counseling session unfolded, McKown became concerned with several aspects of Mrs. Shank’s experience with the online marketing firm and suggested she file a complaint with the local sheriff’s department.

Mrs. Shank followed-up with a call to her local legislator, Florida House District 77 Representative Denise Grimsley. From Grimsley’s office, Mrs. Shank received news of a pending class action suit against the internet marketing company. According to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s official website, the state’s action against the internet company was for allegedly using deceptive practices to get consumers to buy expensive website creation products and services.

Due to the volume of complaints from citizens like Mrs. Shank, the state’s class action suit was successful. In September of 2008, Mrs. Shank received a refund of most of her investment. Mrs. Shank offered the following advice, I would caution all senior citizens to be cautious and to inquire at the SBDC office before starting a business.

In December of 2008, Mark and Esther Williard also received their refund. Mark exclaimed, We are so pleased with the SBDC for what their programs have done for us personally and with our business. And we especially thank Bill McKown for all the counseling sessions, emails, and phone calls and for looking out for us not only in our business endeavors, but our personal lives as well.

There is a happy ending to this story with over $30,000 recovered for local residents like Mrs. Shank and the Williards. However, McKown is quick to point out that current economic conditions have accelerated cases of fraud. His advice for those listening “Caveat Emptor!”

House District 66 – Senate District 17 – U.S. Congressional District 16

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With so many Small Businesses turning to Facebook, sometimes even instead of creating a website, this post by Jennifer seems very timely. If you are considering a Facebook fan page, or already have one, take the time to read this article, it could certainly give you direction for your social media strategy.