Search Engine Optimization

SEO Tips for eCommerce Website

12/30/2009 by Jack Burnett

I read an informative article about search engine optimization tips for eCommerce websites.  At TwinEngines, one of my duties is to help small and mid-market manufacturing companies in the southeast expand their markets and increase sales with B2C and B2B websites.

I follow my lean web methodology to implement a web presence that works hard for your business 24/7/365. If people cannot find you online, then you have committed one of the 7 deadly wastes of the web - that is, committing time, money and resources into building a website that your customers cannot find.  One of the tools to eliminate this waste is to enhance the basic SEO techniques.

The article at EConsultancy titled, Seven sensational SEO tips for ecommerce sites, addresses some of the common issues found in eCommerce websites.  One of the tips is looking at your products and placing them in multiple categories that have unique landing pages containing their own keyword phrases.  Another good tip is using the singular version of keywords instead of the plural.  This is a good idea since people usually want just one product and not a whole bunch.

If you need help upgrading your search engine optimization on your eCommerce website, contact me at TwinEngines and I'll be glad to create an implementation plan with you.  We'll prioritize these 7 tips and more ways to improve your SEO, creating action plans with cost estimates.  Your employees should even be able to perform some of these tips with the content management system of your website.

Quality is Key for SEO Link Building

10/29/2009 by Jack Burnett

Link building is one of the tools in your organic search engine optimization (SEO) toolbox. When search engines calculate the importance and popularity of your website for a keyword phrase, the number of quality inbound links to your website and outbound links to other websites with trusted information are key considerations.

Exchanging links with anybody and everybody does not necessarily generate any SEO value though, primarily because there is no relationship between the content of the websites.  The likelihood is small that a person browsing a website, whose content is not related to yours, would want to view your website. It is a simple concept. For example, if you sell boats to consumers on your website and your website links to a house repairs website, the link will not generate great SEO value.  If you think about it, it does not make any sense for visitors either.

The reason to have external links is to provide visitors with related information not found on your website.  If you sell marine supplies and accessories to consumers, but your products are not suited to the boat building industry, then it makes sense to have a link to boat building websites - and vice versa probably.  Best practice is to contact the boat building company and discuss the relationship of information on the two websites confirming the quality of the external link or link exchange.  Beware though; penalties to your website ranking are likely if you link to websites with bad reputations. Adding a bunch of links on your website, without doing the research and making contact with other website owners may not do anything for you and could actually harm your search engine ranking.

The search engines think your website contains valuable information deserving a high ranking when there are many, quality inbound links. Linking to other trusted websites, earns your website a higher ranking, too. The key is to exchange links with other quality websites and not with those websites just designed to contain a page full of links.

More relevant inbound links likely means your website is more popular.  More popular websites achieve higher search engine rankings. It is all about quality link building in SEO.

How Blogs Can Help Search Engine Optimization

8/20/2009 by Jack Burnett

Use a Blog to Rank High in Search Engines - but not just any blog...

At TwinEngines I help B2B companies with manufacturing value chains increase sales. Based upon the feedback from our customers I find that traditional business-to-business marketing like tradeshows are expensive and increasingly ineffective. I then explain the importance of the search engines, and help B2B manufacturers understand how SEO can yield better results at a better ROI than tradeshows and other traditional marketing efforts.

When we look at the search results for the manufacturing business' services or products, we get instant feedback on which competitors are ranking high. We see how many people are searching for those products and services each day. Once the importance of organic SEO is understood, the question is: 

How do we get our company to rank #1 on the Google search engine results page? 

And that is where our blog strategy and technology comes into play.  It's not exclusively our's, but it works and that's why we use it for the TwinEngines website and for our customers.  We don't guarantee a #1 ranking, nobody can.  It takes persistent work following a good game plan that has to be continually tweaked, to get results with good ROI.

The strategy is to treat a blog page as another page in your website that targets a specific keyword phrase - and only one phrase. The B2B company writes blogs for each keyword phrase creating multiple pages in the website.  The concept is that the manufacturer is providing relevant information about their products, written with a personal touch making it easy for people to read and follow.

The technology provides the capability to have an individual blog (website page) for each keyword phrase that is important to the B2B business.  We leverage the typical SEO basics to optimize the page for organic search engine optimization. Each resulting website page is rich in valuable information about the products, services and related topics.

A few tips on blogs and the articles themselves:

1. Write useful information about your products and services that help people.
2. Don't mention the competition.
3. Include links to your Terms of Use and Privacy Policy (TwinEngines technology: the blog page is just another page in your website with those footer links.)
4. Include a copyright.  (Again when part of the website - not an issue)
5. Don't rely on IT.  The blog - once implemented - should empower the knowledge worker to create the content.

TwinEngines, an Atlanta, GA manufacturing and eBusiness solution partner, practices what we preach.  Our blog is found here.  It is just another part of our website.  We write blogs using our content management system, just like we edit copy on our website pages.  There is no additional hosting or hardware needed.  Our developers are creating solutions for our customers, not spending anytime supporting the blog.

Examples of our succes:

Search our tagline: optimizing manufacturing value chains.
Search an important solution area: erp extensions or manufacturing websites.

There are a lot of resources about blogs.  Read them, but don't just find the cheapest one and start writing. Start with a plan that is going to lead to more visitors to your website to increase sales or generate leads.  Target your content following an approach leveraging SEO to put the plan in action. And have fun writing articles for people to read and enjoy.

In the end you will end up with a treasure trove of information about your company, your products and services.  That information is valuable in and of itself, but if done correctly, it also helps peope find your business.

Google Next Generation Search Engine Architecture

8/12/2009 by Jack Burnett

Google recently announced that they have been working on a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google's web search.

"It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits under the hood of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences."

For those of you who are interested in search engine optimization, you can check out the developer preview of Google's new infrastructure at:

http://www2.sandbox.google.com/ and try searches there.

What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

8/11/2009 by Jack Burnett

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is improving a website to rank well for keywords and keyword phrases in the natural, or organic, area on search engine pages. Search engines use proprietary algorithms to determine the value and relevance of a website for a specific search phrase. Algorithms vary between Google, Yahoo and Bing, are not public knowledge, and frequently change. A trustworthy partner providing your SEO  services relies on SEO basic methods, knowledge of your industry and experience.  It takes dedicated, ongoing study and research to remain qualified to execute successful SEO services, because search algorithms and your market are always changing.

Why SEO? First, the reason for search engine optimization is to get people to visit your website.  Once on your site, then we work on converting those visitors to customers.  Studies abound with statistics showing that almost all people use a search engine to find information, products and services.  If your company does not list near the top of the list for your products and services, then you are losing shoppers and potential customers.

How Do You SEO? It depends upon the level of competition in your industry and the quality of your website. Your budget will also set the stage for what should or can be done. A competent SEO partner will develop a customized strategy for your business, starting with a checklist of the basic SEO methods and techniques.

Can You Afford SEO? SEO is affordable and essential to get people to your website. At TwinEngines, a minimum investment to optimize a website will start in the range of $750-1000, and monthly maintenenace amounts vary according to needs. Even if you have a small budget you should allocate monthly funds to perform SEO improvements or risk losing business. SEO is an investment, not an expense.  The question really is, "Can you Afford Not to do SEO?"

Is SEO and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) the Same? No. Pay-per-Click is the paid listing areas on search engine pages. PPC programs are beneficial to initially confirm sucessful keywords and to augment organic SEO.  We believe organic SEO will always provide a better ROI.  At TwinEngines, we can help you with a PPC program, but we focus first on the organic SEO.

TwinEngines, an Atlanta, GA manufacturing technology company offers free evaluations to give companies an idea of where their corporate website stands in organic search rankings - contact us today to discuss how you can increase leads and sales with an effective SEO program.

Less Ad Spending, But More SEO

7/24/2009 by Jack Burnett

3 Reports came across my desk this past week that I think confirms the importance of search engine optimization and search engine marketing for companies participating in the manufacturing value chain.

I read that a Forrester report confirms what we have been hearing for years.  That is, interactive marketing is increasing in the United States.  In the "Five-Year Interactive Marketing Forecast Report," Forrester Research projects a 17% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for interactive marketing spending over the next 5 years in the United States.

Search Engine Marketing is expected to grow by a 15% CAGR, making up more than half of all the interactive marketing dollars.  Forrester estimates that Social Media and Mobile marketing will have the greatest growth rate, albeit, starting from small amount of dollars spent.

It's interesting that the second report, the "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2009-2013" report from PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that the total ad spending in North America (US makes up 94% of North America in study) compounded annually will decrease by 1.6% in the next 5 years.  So while the total amount of money for advertising is decreasing, the percentage of that total spend for interactive marketing is increasing.

Small and mid-market companies with limited marketing budgets should take note of the overall trend.  People believe that search engine optimization and marketing should play a major role in generating leads and sales.  In [x+1]'s "Search Engine Marketing in 2009" report, 60% of the senior-level SEMs surveyed were using SEO for lead generation. Especially, in this economic situation, search engine optimization can be the most cost effective method for small and mid-market manufacturing firms.  It has the greatest reach, working all the time, at a low cost.

Be careful though; SEO/SEM requires research, a thought-out strategy, and monitoring to be effective.  In the "Search Engine Marketing in 2009" report, only 20% of respondents expected their search engine marketing to perform better than 5 on a scale of 1-10 this year, 10 being most succesful.

TwinEngines builds websites with content management systems as the foundation for managing SEO content.  We help companies leverage that investment and create an effective SEM program to meet the business goals and objectives.  For small and mid-market manufacturers, we offer a continuous program approach to monitor and respond to changing conditions.  It is a very cost effective program with demonstrative returns on the investment.

Click here for an overview of SEO tactical basics.

Search: Google vs. Facebook

7/09/2009 by Jack Burnett

At TwinEngines we create websites and focus on the web presence of small and mid-market companies.  For a website, it is important to start with the business goals and objectives, address design, information architecture and usability.  It is also very important to have fresh, relavent and unique content on each web page, organized for the search engines - Google, Bing, Yahoo; but mostly Google.

Today, the web is dominated by Google, with its algorithms that parse through websites to build a map of the online world.  When you have a serach engine optimization program and your website is listed on top at Google for a keyword phrase, chances are your website receives a lot of traffic.

Then there is your company Facebook site targeted for the social media marketplace.  A place where you can have conversations with customers and potential customers, vendors, and even competitors. Facebook is attempting a more personalized Web, where you turn to your network of friends, colleagues, peers, and family for information. 

Facebook treats all of its data as proprietary so if you want to find something in Facebook, you have to be logged into Facebook.  A Google search will not retrieve any of the Facebook infomation, except the most basic data made public by users.  When it comes to search, Facebook is like Las Vegas, what happens in Facebook, stays in Facebook.

Facebook doesn't offer the rich search functionality found at Google and the other search engines.  But that will change soon when Facebook launches Facebook Search, allowing users to search other users' feeds.  The idea being, you want to know what your friends, colleagues, peers and family think of a company, product or service more than some anonymous person Google found based on a mathematical calculation.

TwinEngines partners with independent graphics designers and design agencies in Atlanta, GA.  One recently asked permission to place photos of her web design compositions on Facebook - designs of websites where TwinEngines created the strategy, the creative design plan and then took her design composition to produce the html integrating page templates to the content management system.

We considered the implications of allowing her to promote designs for our customers' websites.  One day soon people will be able to search on converstaions about those photos and the questions became "should the name 'TwinEngines' be associated with the photos - does TwinEngines lose out in search for the company websites in any way?"

While Facebook hasn't yet figured out how to make money, it is starting to become a second Internet, and companies need to consider that there are over 200 million Facebook users today. Companies need to consider the implications when Facebook Search allows these 200 million users to search for your company, your product or service.

What are your plans for your company Facebook site and how do you monitor the converstations about your company, your products and your services?  Are you ready to jump into those conversations to respond to challenges, to talk with customers and to promote and protect your brand?  Are you ready for both Google search and Facebook search when it comes to search engine optimization? 

By the way, we gave the OK for the design photos on Facebook with caveats on the text descriptions of the photos.  We think it is a win-win situation - perfect for our partnership.

SEO Tactical Basics

7/03/2009 by Jack Burnett

I work with small and mid-market businesses each day, and know how hard it is for small business owners to optimze their website for the search engines.  They all ready have a full-time job, plus it is a challenge to show up at the top on Bing, Google and Yahoo.  It ususally makes sense to use someone like TwinEngines to optimize your website and institute a continuous imrprovement program.  After all, the ROI can be realized in 6-12 months with benefits lasting for the long-term.

There are some basic tips I share with owners whether it is part of a new website design or included while enhancing a website to achieve real business results.  These tips will help rank a website higher in the natural (organic) search engine rankings, without having to pay the search engines.

First, the reason search engine optimization is important is that people can find your company when they need your product or service.  Once they land on your website, people become a new sales lead or make a purchase - two top ways websites can engage people to increase sales for your business.

All these tips can be achieved using a good content management system (CMS):

Each page in the website should have a unique meta title
This is the text that shows at the top of the browser window.  Try to include your company name, the name of the page and your keyword phrase.

Include a h1 page title in the content area of the page
This is the title of the page people read in the content area of the page. It can help if it includes your keyword phrase.

Use a keyword phrase as the anchor text for internal links on a page
The anchor text in the underlined portion of a text link on a website page. Instead of a link that reads, "Click Here", use a more descriptive phrase like "View our Bar-b-que Ribs". Using a keyword phrase to describe the link helps.

ALT and Title tags on all images in the website
Each image on your website should have ALT or title tags for not only SEO, but for accessibility, too.  Search engines can't tell what an image is; but the tags tell the spiders.

Content on Each Page needs to be relevant, fresh and unique
The text (copy) you write on each page is the most important element of optimizing your site. Use your keyword phrase throughout the text in a way that makes sense for a person to read it.  Try to place the keyword phrase at the start of the copy, but always write such that a person will understand.

Target a single website page for each keyword phrase
It helps if you follow the tips above so that each page has one main keyword phrase throughout - in the meta title, h1 page title, content and alt tags.

Include a site map page in the website
Your site map is a page with links to all the pages in your website. Search engines' spiders use it to find and index all the pages of your website.

Take careful consideration on the main keyword phrases people use to find your company, your product or services.  Once you have those, then it is a continual process to improve the phrases based upon web analytics.  These search engine optimization tips are the basics, and are a good starting point for an optimized website.

Do You Need to Fire Your Website?

6/03/2009 by Jack Burnett

Your eCommerce website or your manufacturing or industrial website can be your most productive and loyal employee, working 24/7 365 days a year.  However, your website may be like that employee shoppers can never find in the store or who loses sales because he dresses sloppy and comes across as untrustworthy.

Can I find Your Website (Search Engine Optimization)?

Search statistics show that around 2/3 of companies trying to find new products and services use the web to find suppliers. They most likely search Google to find those new suppliers.  In addition, over 80% of shoppers use the web to compare products, with many leading to an online purchase, phone call orders or visits to your store.

Evaulate your website with these 2 quick search engine optimization indicators:
1. When you Google your company name, does it come up at the top or near the top of the list?
2. When you search online for the products or services that you offer, are you listed?

If the answers are no, then those people searching are not becomming your new customers, because they cannot find you.  It's a level playing field on the search engines.  Google doesn't list companies in terms of revenue or size; Google likes your website because it has relevant, fresh and useful information for people.

What is My First Impression When I Do Find Your Website (Website Design)?

Your website design may be the determining factor whether a person decides to even stay long enough to read about your company and products. I read that a study, published in the Behaviour and Information Technology journal, found  that the brain makes decisions in a twentieth of a second of viewing a web page.  If people think a website looks good, then the positive vibes will spread to other areas, like the content.
The researches also believe that the first impression will persist because of the "halo effect".  Since people like to be right, they continue to use websites that made a good first impression, confirming that their initial decision was a good one.

I'll leave the psychology to the scientists.  I do know that when I see a cheap-looking website or one with broken links and out-of-date information, I am not confident that the company is one I can trust.  I wonder if the company is well managed and professional. And I realized today, that sometimes I decide to leave the website back to the Google listings in less than a second.

Before you decide to fire your website, you need to evaulate your website and the competition, comparing website design, functionality and search engine optimization. Bring in a trusted advisor to get an objective evaluation. TwinEngines offers no-cost website evaluations for small and mid-market companies who participate in the manufacturing value chain.  If you don't call us, then call somebody.  Each day you could be losing sales opportunities because people can't find your website or have a bad first impression.

Online Marketing and Social Media

6/02/2009 by Jacqueline Harris

I recently attended a webinar that focused on the reasons why online marketing makes more sense now than ever before and why Social Media (i.e. Twitter, YouTube and Facebook) have such an impact on businesses that are staying abreast of the current trends.

It's a given in marketing that you need to be where your customers are. So where are your customers these days? More and more, they're spending their leisure time online, either for personal reasons, checking e-mail or managing their online profiles. But they're also checking out products, services and networking with colleagues. 

While the audience we cater to participate in the Manufacturing Value Chain, it seems that even CEO's, COO's, etc. are getting involved with eBusiness marketing.  Online marketing is rapidly becoming a part of small and mid-market company's efforts in eBusiness.  So, the question is asked, is this new eBusiness, online Social Media hype really worth the time - I'm sure you would have a different response than your boss, but, nevertheless, more and more of your peers are reaching out and touching others via the internet. 

Here's a few thoughts for manufacturing businesses or companies participating in the Manufacturing Value Chain...

To make this new rave work for you, do your research.  Have a good sense of your target market.  Placement/position is key in traditional media and the same is true online - if your customers or prospects are using popular social media such as Facebook or Twitter, you should be using them as well. 

It's time to Adapt to change... Successful Manufacturing companies do not abandon their marketing strategies or increase their marketing budgets in a recession; they adapt them.  I am happy to say that TwinEngines opted to participate in the social media craze and was happy to see many of our clients and partners were already on board. 

One of the most important phrases that stood out to me during the webinar was "While social media enables your news and marketing to become viral in nature and gain momentum, if you're not careful, it also allows other messages to gain momentum".  The example given was a popular food chain prank - Two employees of this popular chain filmed and posted a YouTube video of a prank on a customer's food.  According to reports, the video made its way to as many as 500,000 would-be customers with the help of social media.  While both employees lost their jobs and are facing charges, the company's decision to defer comment initially resulted in its brand and online reputation taking the bigger hit.  All in all, Social Media is great, however, monitor what you publish and protect your brand.

It was recently said that emailing is the "90's", Blogging and Tweeting are taking over. 

Blogging is another form of social media that's on the rise.   Industry veterans with years of experience in business, delivered a fresh, direct and honest eBusiness perspective on new and emerging web technologies and trends in social media and social networking.  With a particular focus on the Manufacturing industry, they found that business leaders involved in the Manufacturing Value Chain were focused on business strategies, revenue and profit keeping their focus on the bottom line.  After a quick survey, many of those business leaders found that customers and prospects were interested in their view point and wanted to hear from them, not just in an email.  Creating a blog should begin a conversation between you and interested parties; Make blogging an informal way to present your thoughts and get feedback.      

In today's increasingly competitive environment, I believe it is critical for manufacturing businesses to deliver reliable, and cost effective, products to the market, however, it's equally important that you stay abreast of the ever-changing world of eBusiness and Social Media, your clients and competitors are....