San Jose SEO

Archive for the ‘SEO’ Category

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Local San Jose businesses can benefit tremendously from a thorough review of their online marketing efforts. San Jose SEO expert online business analysis can reveal simple and effective solutions, that can drive sales and revenue, and set your business on a path to growth and future success.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consists of maximizing on-site search engine potential as well as off-site link development. These efforts over time can produce higher search rank positions for both primary keyword phrases and also many more lucrative long tail keyword phrases on the major search engines.  Higher search rank results in much higher click rates and traffic to your website.

Localized San Jose SEO advertising can also be of tremendous benefit to the San Jose brick and mortar business or local San Jose service business. If you have a San Jose business call San Jose SEO at 408-250-2390 for a free and thorough analysis of your online potential.  We have over 10 years of online success driving online revenue for businesses large and small. We have online marketing packages starting as low as $99 per month. So there is no reason to wait. Every moment delayed is an opportunity lost, so don’t delay, call today 408-250-2390.

San Jose SEO
5236 Vera Lane
San Jose, Ca. 95111
408-250-2390
www.sanjoseseo.org

The Rewards of Parent Participation

Mulberry is a school where children and parents learn, work, play and grow together in an atmosphere of acceptance, patience and mutual respect.

Parents gain as much from Mulberry as their kids:

1. A warm, supportive community for family and individual learning.
2. The honor of watching children grow, more deeply understand your child and their friends.
3. Shared responsibility for creating a positive, joyful learning environment.
4. A collaborative environment built on mutual respect and trust.
5. A community open to ideas and suggestions and opportunities to implement those ideas.
6. A safe place to risk being authentically you, and stretching your ideas of you. A place to grow.
7. Life-long friendships.

Most parents choose Mulberry because they find our school to be magical and unique. Parents cherish the Mulberry experience with their children, savoring the precious and fleeting moments of childhood. Join Mulberry School to make the most of your child’s educational experience and make memories to last a lifetime…!

• Willow Glen Private School
• San Jose Private School
• Saratoga Private School
• Campbell Private School
• Almaden Private School
• Los Gatos Private School

220 Belgatos Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032   (408)358.9080  

info@mulberry.org

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The reason for and purpose of Search Engine Optimization is to dramatically increase visitation of potential customers to your website by achieving first page and ultimately a top three page rank in searches using keywords and keyword phrases that define your business and products.

Search Engine Optimization Methodology

There are several approaches to developing a strategy for improving a website for search engine placement. The most common is finding the top site for your keywords and “just doing it better than that site” using a follow the leader methodology. While this approach will give you some insight into the level of SEO the competition has employed it wont necessarily help you get ranked in a higher position without a deep understanding of all the criteria that drive that top position listing. A thorough review of the content below should help you get that understanding and you will see that while examining the top ranked competition may be instructive it wont reduce the hard work you need to do to be a web contender.

We have worked with several of the greatest marketing minds in the world and without exception not one would give a thought to the competition when defining a marketing strategy for the business. In fact if you are focused on the competition and not on differentiating your business and website from the crowd you will never achieve a higher ranking (your content will be seen as redundant and of low value to the search engines) and there is no guarantee that the competition is using the correct keywords for your business in the first place.

Your best plan of action for any SEO effort is to optimize, dramatically expand your content, and focus relevant content on specific keyword phrases that are based on your customers needs. It is this deep dive content with specific customer centric keyword phrase focus that search engines love and your success or failure has nothing to do with what your competition is doing. If you don’t know what keywords are relevant to your business or even if you think you do know talk to your customers. Take their language and their challenges as the basis for your keyword research. Then use a comprehensive free tool like Google keyword generator. You will have more truly relevant keywords than you know what to do with. Use them all and start generating content around them.

In search engine optimization there are a handful of things to check first. Then more advanced tactics to implement and finally a host of things to avoid. Here we have provided a comprehensive overview of all the tactics that make up an aggressive SEO strategy for you to use and learn.

#1 Linkability

Can search spiders find and see your content. Dynamic database driven content is a killer for SEO. You want to make sure your text and links are presented to browsers in a static form that can be read by search spiders. Dynamic menu navigation using javascript or DHTML can also be a problem. The way to correct this linking problem is to employ a site map. Link to the site map from a text link on your home page. Search spiders will follow the link to the site map and find all your pages from there.

#2 Page Titles

Each page of your website should focus on the keyword phrases that are search engine relevant to the page content. It is the primary keyword phrase that should be the title for the page. For instance this page is about Search Engine Optimization so the title of this page is Search Engine Optimization. Its that simple. Each page should have unique keyword focused content and the title tag should reflect that primary individual keyword phrase for that page.

#3 Keyword Content

While search engines don’t measure keyword density as a criteria for page rank its generally agreed your relative keyword density should be about 3-5% of total page content. You can measure keyword density by dividing the number of keywords by the total word count expressed as a percentage. The more content you have the better. We recommend 500 to 1000 words of relevant content. Ever wonder why Wikipedia is #1 for many searches. Shear volume of targeted content. You may argue that this page about search engine optimization could be broken down into separate pages for better readability. Perhaps but not better for the SEO strategy we are engaged in. This volume of single focus single page content is what I’m talking about. Did I mention that this page is about search engine optimization and search engine optimization strategy? I think you get my point.

#4 Keyword Headings

Your pages should be well segmented and defined by related keyword headings. Headings are expressed in HTML as H1 H2 H3. Search engines love content that is well defined by category and keyword focused on the section content. Note that on this page that the subject Search Engine Optimization is an H1 header while the sub chapters of the page are H2 headers.

#5 META Description Tag

This META tag is of the most importance. It will be used by most search engines as the descriptive text under your search listing. There are instances where these descriptions may be pulled from other directories such as DMOZ however this is less common as the quality of these directories erodes over time and you can actually use META tags to tell the search engines not to use DMOZ (My recommendation). So using a description META tag is very important.

Most websites fail at one or more of these most basic criteria for SEO readiness and fixing them can lead to dramatic improvements to your search engine ranking.

#6 Site Submission

There is so much garbage on the web regarding this almost useless tactic. The top search engines will find you whether or not you submit your site. The search spiders for Google are always looking for new and unique content to add to their index. Provided you have properly implemented all the basics above your pages will be spidered and indexed in a matter of weeks. If you want to be proactive then you can register for a Google AdWords account and access Google webmaster tools. This will allow you to submit an XML site map with all your pages to the index. Updating your XML site map to notify the index of changes to pages is also easy to do using these tools.

#7 Inter Linking

Inter linking is the practice of using keyword targeted phrases within the content as anchor text for links to your other pages. For instance in this discussion of search engine optimization I might describe SEO as subset of search engine marketing and use that phrase as the link to the relevant page. You should create content with one to five interlinks provided you have the pages to support that. You do not want to use several different phrases as links to one single destination page. The idea is to focus each individual page on the primary keyword phrase related to the anchor text.

#8 Back Linking

This refers to one way links to your site from other content relevant sites. Notice I did not say reciprocal links. Link exchanges can work if you are careful not to allow garbage sites into your directory. You must also have actual content on your website meaning that your site can’t be just a link farm. These link farm sites are all but dead now. Having one is of no SEO value and linking back to one is likely to damage your SEO effort. Other strategies for acquiring relevant back links range from using online PR to making forum posts and blog entries with links back to keyword relevant pages using those keyword phrases as the anchor text for the link in your posting. Back linking is believed to be one of the most critical factors considered for page rank in the latest search algorithms. If no-one is linking to you from outside your domain you will have a very difficult time getting a first page ranking.

Things to Avoid – they will get you penalized and/or banned from the major search engines.

1. Overuse and repetition, repetition, repetition of keywords
2. Focus on keywords unrelated to the content
3. Colored text that matches the background
4. Duplicate content on different pages
5. Use of Cloaking tactics and Fast Redirect scripts
6. Too many reciprocal links or bad neighborhood links
7. The use of multiple gateway pages that all link to the same content page.

Some terms you may encounter are Keyword Stuffing, Google Bombing, Link Farming – all of these tactics are bad news and you should stay clear or risk having your domain banned from the major search engines.

Email Marketing has lost some of it’s power due to rampant abuse and spam that have the effect of desensitizing peoples perception of the medium and confusing users as to what is legitimate or junk. That being said email marketing still outperforms all other marketing channels in terms of cost and return on investment and there are steps you can take to effectively build relationships online that will mitigate the discontent where it exists.

If you have never created an email campaign the easiest way to get started is to simply examine the marketing emails you receive. There are numerous online resources that can assist the newbie email marketer but for those of you who have some experience with email marketing campaigns this post will cover optimization of your email marketing and improvement of your email marketing results.

Formatting the copy

The format of your email is critical. Important information goes at the top and I mean the very top of the email. Though it is common practice in most businesses to put a graphic header in the email this is a classic mistake. Most email readers now block images by default forcing your recipient to take an extra step to see your graphic content. This is unlikely as your reader scans through several dozen or more emails. Business users typically use the preview pane in outlook to aid in the scanning of email content. An image header in this view will appear as a blank space or just the alt tag for the image. These users give far less weight to emails that are not formatted for their ease of use.

The Subject Line

Subject lines should be short, catchy and relevant to the email content.

Bad example:

Webinar – Learn how to maximize your email marketing for increased productivity and ROI

Better example:

Email marketing roundup, productivity and ROI

Best example:

Top 5 Tips email marketing ROI

Start with a well defined subject line. In the three examples above you can see how each subject would lead you to take a completely different approach to the same content.

Layout Style

There are two primary layouts used in business email. Single link Event/Promo style and Multi-link Newsletter style. Each has a specific use. You have probably seen and may even be tempted to create a newsletter style marketing email with offers and special sales and incentives but this is a mistake. Our research has shown that customers respond far more favorably to a single purpose marketing email but wont scan through a newsletter style promotion to compare the various sales offers. Newsletter subscribers on the other hand will anticipate the longer newsletter format and scan through multiple story excerpts looking for relevant content but will also be turned off by newsletter disguised sales promotions.

Using Layout style to your advantage

Do create a newsletter that outlines headline news and interesting story lines and then send separate periodic single purpose marketing emails to promote events or special promotions. Studies have shown that an average customer takes 3 marketing touches for brand awareness and 5 marketing touches before the sale. So it is to your advantage to send separate emails over a period of weeks rather than trying to jam everything into one newsletter style email.

Tracking and Metrics

Most any email marketing service provider will have the standard tracking tools available.

You want to track:

Deliver-ability and Bounce Rate (Are my emails being received?)

Opens (Are my emails being read?)

Click-through (Is my content generating interest?)

Keep a log of these metrics and compare percentage change from email to email and month to month. This will allow you to measure the impact of subject lines (Opens) and content offers (Click-through) . Over time you may see certain offers resonate with your customers better than others. Use this information to improve your email marketing effectiveness.

Marketing Management

Create a calendar of your fiscal year and break that into four quarters. Now notate all trade shows dates you will be presenting/attending. Around each of these dates you can anticipate sending an invite to your prospect list. You can also plan your monthly newsletter. Now look at what remains in each quarter and plan another 3 to 5 promotions that will go to your house list and other rented or 3rd party promotions. This calendar approach will commit you to driving a full force email marketing effort that will give you the highest possible returns.

A client recently asked me for an overview and recommendations for a Web 2.0 strategy. I thought I would provide an outline of that report for all who might be interested. In short Web 2.0 is what could be referred to as the 5th “P” in marketing (Participation). So any strategy for implementing Web 2.0 could be considered as building a portfolio of “Participation” mediums.

Blog - regular postings on keyword relevant topics creates a scenario where users are invited to comment using topical language. This in turn generates more keyword relevant content which drives SEO. Best usage is to drive conversations with topical questions and opinionated commentary rather than reported sales speak and event wrap ups. etc… With the open dialogue a blog can produce it should be easy to establish a roster of guest contributors to your blog as well.

Forum – This drives community and networked participation generating the most keyword relevant content for driving SEO efforts. Using predefined subject threads can broaden the scope of content generated. The main drawback for most forums is the need for oversight to mitigate spam and abuse of the system. For some topical subjects this is of little concern but most general public gathering forums tend to have more issues with abuse.

Viral Video- This is a less defined medium which requires creative innovation to be successful. The video player must be branded with the company URL and closing screens can also be used to supply contact information though this can turn off the audience as being too salesy.

Setup Considerations:

To be effective as dynamic SEO generating vehicles the Blog and Forum MUST be run locally on the www.yourdomain.com. General public Blog and Forum services do not support the SEO tactics we are hoping to engage.

Software Recommendations:

Blog- WordPress, http://wordpress.org/ No Cost. Open Source. It has built in RSS capability and is easy to use for distributed editor/contributor management.

Forum – PHPBB, http://www.phpbb.com/ No Cost. Open Source. This is the highest rated forum tool available. Supports SEO with the proper setup.

Video- YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras, camcorders, and cell phones in the .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats.

Most computers come with some sort of video editing application already installed, such as Apple iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker. Using these programs, you can easily edit your videos, add soundtracks, change the file type, compress the file size, etc.

There are also more advanced editing programs available for purchase or download online. My personal favorite is CyberLink PowerDirector 6

Implementation Considerations:

Blog and Forum software can be easily acquired and set up in a matter of days precluding any missing server requirements which your internet hosting provider would need to supply.

The style and voice of the blog in particular needs to be decided and adhered to. As I said previously we are striving to generate viewer responses to posts. So avoid PR and other uninteresting subject matter i.e. “This product is the greatest…Just released the latest…” Instead focus on being original, generating controversy or opinion i.e. “Is a distributed ODBMS really better? …Who does Oracle think they are?.. Top 10 Tips on Dating an RDBMS Developer…

Both the blog and forum will require some moderator/administrator time to manage rude and spam postings. The tools outlined above have features that prevent most kinds of spam but you still need to watch what is being said on a daily basis.

Video production will require some trial and error up front. You want to strive for a simple repeatable process. Pre-production planning is 90% of this effort. A system for generating ideas, storyboarding the outline, acquiring talent, filming, and editing will be required.

Stylistically I would recommend you develop a highbred home movie newscast where you brand the opening and closing scenes with a standard shell that will encapsulate any content you create.

It is the first thing you see when you go to any website and it is the #1 element in any SEO effort. It is website content. All online marketing efforts begin and end with the content that is being promoted. Your website content is the foundation of everything you are hoping to achieve through online marketing. So lets ask some questions that may illuminate shortcomings in your website content.

Why is this important to me? Look at your home page and ask that question. You had better have a good answer. For every visitor to your website this is the first thing that enters their mind. How do you personally answer that question? How does your website answer that question? Sadly for most company websites the answer is not easy to find. Companies will pile on product lines and bestow the virtues of their quality service and still never answer that question.

Complete this sentence: We help our customers to…

Customer-Centric Content

Are you a customer centric company? Most business marketers would reflexively answer yes but your website may not be carrying that message in an effective manner. Take a look at your high traffic web pages (home page, product pages). How many times do you use the words I, We and Our? – (I have the experience, We are the largest, Our features and benefits). Now how many times do you use the words You and Your? – (You will achieve, All you need, Your solutions partner). This simple exercise can shine a light on what is missing from most business websites. Writing from a technical knowledge of the products perspective rather than an understanding of the customer needs perspective.

Do your customers go looking for features and benefits? Probably not, most customer relationships begin with a challenge and a search for a solution. Your copy should target the challenges faced by your customers. This is the core of customer-centric copy writing. When you focus on the customer challenges two things occur that both work in your favor. First you will be speaking the language of your customers. Saying what they want to hear at the time of their greatest need. Second and most importantly you will have properly defined your target demographic.

With both challenge based customer-centric copy and an understanding of your target (challenge) audience you now have a core foundation that will resonate with your target customers and the focus to target your marketing effort where it will be most effective.

SEO Keyword Selection

Your website copy is also a prime target for search engine optimization (SEO). Try to create copy with keyword phrases that are relevant to your target audience. Keyword phrase selection should follow the same customer-centric approach. Focus on the customer challenges not your features and benefits.

Key Takeaways

1. Your website copy is priority #1 in online marketing  
2. Focus on customer challenges not features and benefits   
3. Use relevant challenge focused keyword phrases in your copy

What is Online PR anyway? Online PR is syndicated distribution of public relations documents via web services. There are various PR syndication services from the high priced BusinessWire and PRweb to the free OpenPress. Why optimize PR for SEO? External links back to your site influence your site’s quality rating in search engines. The more high quality links leading back to your site the better your potential for higher search rank position.

“PR optimization is the only legitimate link back strategy that gives you full control.”

Optimization

PR optimization is a two fold concern. First the content should be tailored to specific keyword phrases and second these keyword phrases will be the the anchor text for the links back to relevant pages on your site.

Content Development

News wires specify that a PR post must be a newsworthy event in an announcement format. Prime subjects for PR would be Partnerships, Event Sponsorship, Product Release, Customer Wins, Executive Promotion, Service Announcements, Legal Filings, Awards, Industry Recognition ….

Format

Once you have your optimized copy with embedded keyword phrases linked back to your website you will need to put it in the standard PR format. You need a contact block at the top including Name,Title, Company, Phone , and Email. The first line of your copy should begin with the City, State, Date.

Example:

Contact:

Your Name

Your Title

Your-Website.com

Your Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Your Email: EEE@EEE.com

San Francisco, CA. September 24, 2050 – YOUR COMPANY the next generation of Interactive Agency announced the release of a new set of SEO tools for the Internet Marketing professional ….

Your copy will need to be at least 300 words to qualify for posting on most syndication services.

PR Management

You should strive to post at least one PR announcement per month. Many leading companies will post PR 2-3 times a week. As often as you have legitimate newsworthy announcements that you can optimize for your SEO requirements you can send out PR. You should not try to fabricate phony announcements. While it is unlikely that a syndication service would approve what appears to be a deliberate attempt to spam the news sphere doing so would generate a perception of illegitimacy that would hurt your business. So Behave yourself.

Search Engine Optimization has come a long way since the days of static websites and simple optimization tactics. While no business can afford not to invest in traditional SEO today’s business needs to contend with website optimization that provides fully integrated marketing automation, interactive communities, and sales force automation systems. These web based systems give businesses a distinct competitive advantage over companies with old school manual operations.

Yet the broad experience and knowledge required to implement an effective strategy and roadmap for scalability are typically far outside the capability of most SEO providers. An appropriate strategy will impact Marketing, Sales, and IT – all stretched resources with little time or interest in bringing forward such a project. Yet companies will typically task marketing with the design and management of this effort as well as all SEO strategy and tactics. Smart companies want a single point of contact to manage these design, integration and optimization efforts. As a result, a full service agency becomes the proactive choice. This new reality is driving a consolidation of SEO and Systems Integration companies into a new breed of services.

As the needs of fast companies in high growth markets continue to expand the prospects of independent SEO providers will continue to shrink in favor of agency level consolidated services. One need only look at the electronics industry over the past few decades to see how market growth triggers the consolidation of large corporate providers virtually eliminating small operators from the field of competition.

SEO providers have until now enjoyed a relatively low barrier to entry. But those days are numbered. Globally; businesses are fast becoming aware of the optimization needs of their web properties. Surveying the landscape of CRM, SFA, Data Mining, and Automation solutions it becomes clear that only seasoned professional integration expertise with the vision to enable a full web optimization solution will suffice as part of an overall Marketing Web Optimization Strategy.

Some takeaways you should consider:

1. SEO is now only the leading edge of a totally integrated interactive front end and back office solution.
2. Look to a single source provider to consolidate your management efforts.
3. Seek a firm with the vision and experience to map and scale a full marketing and sales integrated solution.
4. Understand that the agency you select will also need to effectively help you define Sales and marketing processes and train employees during the roll out process.