ss_blog_claim=67e92efd63fe88f85f6935471a3236eb Insights on Search Engine Optimization

Friday, September 23, 2011

On Learning SEO

Being an SEO specialist is a tedious task. In the process of being one you need to constantly feed yourself with a lot of things that goes around in the online marketing community. This has always been never easy. You should be able to find the most efficiently informative source to nourish you with updates consequently attracting ideas for your next move.

For the past couple years, this sort of progress that I’ve reached as an SEO was an uphill climbed. I was indeed a project manager for a website design company with SEO. But now, saying that is merely just for bragging rights. There is still a lot to learn. And what I’ve learned being in that position is just half of what other SEO’s have learned. Achieving goals is not the goal anymore. It’s maintaining that goal you’ve achieved.

Here’s the number one tip I learned so far, which I bet has been there staring at me all this time I kept ignoring. Do not be complaisant of what you have. Keep going for it. It’s still not the end of your journey towards achievement. If in any case you thought you’ve seen the end of it, look at it again, or probably look at it from a different angle, and I bet you it’s still not it.

The stories and so-called helpful tips I’ve shared to you in the past are all based on hands-on experiences as a project manager. When I wrote them I was thinking, yup, that’s already it. Looking at them now I say, gee, that’s not just that!

I no longer work as a project manager. I no longer write for a keyword research tool. I now am doing fulltime SEO for a BPO company. Having said that, whatever my credentials were, I still have a lot to learn. I still need a lot of feeding, more nourishments in this career I’ve chosen. But you know what’s funny about this reflection? It’s that it took me a long time to give it to myself. Who has gotten me into this situation? I’d like to say Google Panda to say the least (insert devilish laugh), but seriously, it’s SEO itself that got into me. Of course! What else will get into your ego except for that ego be confronted by the more egoistic persona of something else (still I think it’s that Google Panda update. Dammit!)

Oh well. From now on people, think that learning SEO is a continuous process. You’re still not done. It’s an industry with the most changes this world has ever seen. It’s still happening, moving, here, there, everywhere. Don’t assume you’re done or that you’ve learned enough. Interact and you will realize that what you’ve achieved is not really all that yet.

Happy weekend, everybody!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Why we should invest on Keyword Research Tools?

Investing in a good keyword research tool is important for advertisers, e-marketers and site owners these days so this is what I want to talk about today.

Everyone wants good productivity ratings in their chosen business ventures. So basically that’s where it all has to start. When you want your businesses to grow online, you look for ways to create traffic to your site.

This is where a good keyword research tool subscription can help you. Now, you have quite a choice: Free Trial or Subscription? You start to think, do I really have to pay for so much on these tools when I can use them for free? Ok. Let’s give this a little thought.

Many keyword research tool companies are now offering the so-called free trials. These, as a matter of fact, just allow you to have a quick peek into their database. In one word: Limited. That really won’t be enough for a good research, right? Think again of your goal on productivity ratings and add the quality of results you want to get in return for the time and effort you have already exerted. You shouldn’t have thought twice.

If you are uncertain with trying and using keyword research tools, let me share you some of my observations from the previous projects I’ve done. Keyword research tool subscriptions that are available online are the best sources of keyword analysis for all types of online advertising campaign. The package prices are always reasonable for their wide range of keyword statistics, research database are developed regularly and results are reliably accurate. I thought of two things that can be done in keyword research, the first one is the simple keyword research looking for your industry related keywords and the second one is the competitor research or competitor tracking. These two are now the most preferred type of keyword research analyses that is widely available with my chosen keyword research
company. So if you are looking for a great combination of results for your marketing needs don’t be afraid to invest on the right keyword research tools company.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Get in the zone of Online Marketing

Creating a website that would represent the company to the online community is difficult; however, even more difficult is making sure your site is seen on the rankings and making sure you maintain your Ad campaigns with the search engines. Although many people are familiar with online marketing, only very few are able to achieve the results they want. The key now is to do the right move from the very beginning.

When you’ve already created a website to represent your company, you have to exert some effort and make sure it gets noticed by the search engines. Your first approach would have to be finding a company who does an all around site optimization service. This company must have the capacity to do all the necessary stages your website has to go through to get to the rankings.

First is the keyword research. The very basic of all search engine optimization projects always involves keyword research. This is the part where you get to choose the keywords you want to use for your optimization. Some SEO companies handle this process themselves and just show you a list of the keywords they’ll be using for your site’s optimization while some companies would want to get reference from you, the business owner. Since you know the business more than the SEO companies do, you have the right to get involved in this stage. Clarify areas about your marketing approach to your chosen SEO company so they will have a better idea how to start picking the right keywords for you, or even make you choose yourself instead. You can also try and get yourself some outside help from keyword research tools in the market that could do a better research for you if you’re not too satisfied or convinced with a simple keyword research. You can try using advanced keyword research tools or competitor tracking tools and know what your competitors are using to market their business online and see if you can use them on your own.

Second part is the content creation. Content creation is where your keywords are translated into website text contents. SEO companies have copywriters who do this and make sure that your keywords are integrated properly on the contents of the website. As the site owner you also have to check the way the contents are written. Again, look at it in a business’ standpoint, make sure it contains the right words that properly promote your business.

Third is the website submission. Once you go live with the search engines, everything you do with your website is monitored and will be manipulated on a third party basis by the search engines. At this stage, the search engines are now in control of putting your website on their rankings. What you and your SEO company can do is continually check and add more back links to help your website get noticed.

If you prefer to rank high in organic rankings among major search engines you should be aware that here, number is the game. It is important for search engines that you have a numbered history on the net and numerous backlinks to high ranking sites because this shows that sites that link to you patronize you. Then again, if you’re vying for a high spot in sponsored links or the Pay-per-click rankings, you should be ready to prepare a certain budget for your advertisement. Most high profile companies take risk in this area, spending lots of money on keywords research and SEO to get the best possible search engine position for their site. So if you decide to push for this type of campaign, be prepared to deal with the cost and the competition.

It is now time for you to get out there, in the world of online marketing. Are you prepared to get in the zone?

Friday, November 7, 2008

Through Tracking

Online marketing isn’t just about getting high rankings and numerous hits on the search engines. A good online marketing needs careful strategic planning from getting the most advanced keyword research tool to do your keyword analysis, hiring the best copy writers to create your website content, and finding high ranking link directories for your back links and so on. Here are some tips to prepare you when entering the competitive field of online marketing.

Tip#1 – Use an all-around keyword research tool for your keyword analysis. Now, if you’re already using one of them for research purposes check if they also offer competitor tracking system that will let you in on your competitors’ exclusive ad campaigns and keyword database. Some keyword research tools like KeywordSpy.com offer a tracking package that will enable you to see your competitors’ keywords with corresponding analytical statistics across your preferred search engines and countries.

Tip #2 – Use keyword phrases on your website content. Relevance will be an important word for you once you’re on this phase of online marketing. In writing articles and site contents, you need to have relevance between the keywords you chose and the stuff that you write about because content is what drives people to your site. So, in order for you to maintain loyal readers and keep them coming back, give them a reason to. If you used a keyword phrase in your site that says travel cheap, make sure you really write something about travel cheap. Now, even at this stage you can make use of your keyword tracking tool before writing an article. You can check on your competitors’ own Ad campaigns and website, search for the ones you think can be applicable for your own campaign and start writing the right stuff!

Tip #3 – Submit your site to the right places at the right time. You’ve gone through the keyword research analysis part and content creation. All you have to do now is submit your website to the search engines, at the right time. There is also another way of getting ahead of your competitors in this area by means of tracking them online. This is where your keyword tool can be a good help too. In the keyword tool company I mentioned earlier – KeywordSpy.com – there is a way for you to track on what time of the year your competitors are bidding the highest and the lowest in all their campaigns. On their keyword tracking tool database you can simply back-track yours competitors’ Ad campaigns and see if you’ll advance against them if you will advertise in a certain time of the year they didn’t. Right timing is one issue advertisers need to deal with most importantly.


Competitor tracking is what I consider the most innovative way of marketing online. It doesn’t only give you a chance to see your competitors’ way of advertising but also gives you a powerful edge to increase your website traffic, marketing sales and profits.

Monday, September 29, 2008

The Perfect Spy

Think of your website as your business courier to the online community. The rest of the world will know whatever you do with it and how it turns out will represent you entirely.

So this is where you begin to ask: How did my competitors make it to the top of the search engine rankings? You browse online looking for the answer to this and you’ll notice the first thing you need to have is a keyword research tool to help jumpstart an online marketing campaign. There are hundreds of keyword research tool companies so all you need to do is to start choosing.

Online marketing is a very tricky game. One of the important things you need to consider is getting an excellent partner to help you in your research and competitor tracking online. A keyword researcher should be able to provide a wide range of keyword statistics fit for your business and of course, your chosen search engine marketing campaign. Your online search might give you results that tell you that all you need is a perfect keyword research spy that can make all the difference. But what do we need a spy for? Do we really prefer spying on our competitors online? Shouldn’t we be focusing in our own campaigns than doing an undercover work? Let’s try analyzing a few obvious details for you to understand why a keyword research spy is what you need for a successful online marketing campaign.

Large SEO companies conduct their research based on your industry, your business capacity and target market. I am not saying that this is not a right thing to do, but the problem here is that they hardly ever notice that there is huge competition between you and your business rival who is ahead of you in the search engine rankings. Increase in the demand for the top rankings on Google and Yahoos’ sponsored links can prove that search engine results are a big factor to consider in keyword research analysis. Indeed, SEO companies have their different sources for keyword research and advanced software tracking system but they use this to generate keywords only based on business preferences and not so much on competitors’ strategy.

This is where keyword research tool companies come in. Keyword Research tools are the latest trend in the online marketing arena because of the reliability and consistency in the keyword database they show all their subscribers, most of them for competitor research and tracking purposes. Now, not only will you be able to manage your own online marketing campaign but also get the opportunities to see-thru your competitors’ entire marketing strategy. The technique is to find the most reliable, accurate and powerful keyword tool with user-friendly features that you can easily familiarize yourself with, easy to understand database that won’t require you to have special internet skills, and relevant information you can manage for your own online campaign.

So the next time you browse online, find the perfect spy that will help your website become the best representation of your company in the online community.


As Featured on ArticleCity.com

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

KeywordSpy Rants and Raves

The past few weeks I’ve done some series of study on keyword research tools and some companies offering web and SEM analytics. I was curious about them all at once after reading some forums sharing views about who’s in and who’s not in the industry. I have apologize it took some time. While doing my research I come across one interesting review on (as you may know it by now) my personal favorite KeywordSpy. I say it interesting because there were only two responses to this review yet they seem to be real encounters of people who had entirely dealt with KeywordSpy before. Here are some of lines from their post.

From Privatebox (rants)
“Firstly what made me signup was the fact that I could see all the keywords my competitors were using. This is great in theory, but after I signed up I found that most of the keywords many of my competitors were using were rubbish. It seems that all my competitors were using keywords that were not working for them. After I signed up I found that over 2/3 of the keywords I received from my competitors were useless.”

First, if I were KeywordSpy I’d like to know the address you’d been typing on the search bar, Privatebox. In this way we would be able to identify the keyword results you’re getting. If you see keyword results that are irrelevant to your competitors’ industry, don’t just suspect your keyword research tool for that, instead, check on your competitors’ site and do a little observation.

One way of checking is thru the Source file. Some of the keywords in a site are shown on the Source file of the website; get this by pressing ctrl + U. In the illustration below you will see Meta keywords on the Source file that serves as the sites’ backup keywords.

If you see anything similar Source file results on your competitors’ website with that illustration above then you can start the comparison. This way you can check if your competitor is indeed using irrelevant keywords or not. For some reasons you will not find Meta keywords on the Source file of the website don’t worry. It simply means that your competitor is not one of the few who are left trusting the ever changing Algorithms of Google. That’s no joke you see. It’s a big strategy. You have to understand that many advertisers rely on the Algorithm swing or the popularity rate of SEO techniques that some just opt to take out Meta Tags instead.

Back to the topic. My point is just do a major comparison first and then get some real analysis on the results you’re seeing. It wouldn’t hurt hiring an SEO analyst to read you the results if you’re serious about online marketing.

Let’s say you did found out your competitors’ had been using irrelevant keywords. Well, as I had been telling my clients before, don’t be surprised. There really are a lot of site owners who allow the use of whatever keywords on their site since (even if it’s too risky) they’re only concerned of getting traffic our site popularity. That is why there are a lot of SEO agents around who tries to get this notion out of any marketing strategy (read: too risky).

From Lorlyn11 (raves)
“Regarding some people's comments on their subscription & cancellation method, KeywordSpy’s way of doing things is no surprise to me anymore because I know for a fact that once you are subscribed to an online service, using your credit card, your account is already subjected for an automatic renewal and it's only up to you - the account holder - to continue or not with your existing account before the subscription expires. This is the same procedure I’ve gone through with all the hosting providers I have ever used.”

Like what I mentioned earlier, this is what interests me about this review is that because two real people shared their thoughts about the situation. I admired the brilliance of Lorlyn11 here. In her post she quoted that the cancellation method practiced by KeywordSpy isn’t the first time she’d encountered, matter of fact she’s right! I have friends who were Senior Billing Officer of an online company for years and they do the same thing. Internet companies usually don’t allow their members to just cancel anytime. Typically, they’d send someone to check on the cause of cancellation, talk to the company representative and all that just to make sure the termination isn’t a fraud one.

On the other hand, I would like to comment that KeywordSpy need to change their cancellation process. I hope they really do something about it because if they’re only capable of dealing with their members online then they should create a cancellation option on the ‘My Account’ page or something so that all the subscribers won’t have a hard time dealing with that issue.

Well, those were some really interesting inputs you see. Unfortunately, many reviews almost slaughtered KeywordSpy to the core. There were some predictions that before the last quarter of the year the company will introduce some enhancement on their tool, something highly anticipated by many subscribers like myself. Well, let’s just wait and see if this happens, and hope that the matters discussed on the review above was considered.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Your Blog as an advertising medium?

Advertising for me is an art form to express freedom in making business. The approach is forever varying that there are so many strategies founded to ease the way in achieving ones goal to be noticed. Blog, I can say, is one of the best answers to this kind of marketing freedom that I’m talking about.

Unlike online articles or contents on a website, Blogs are more concise. Yes, they are short or would only talk briefly about a certain topic but they are crisp with information. They also create a hippy impression to the viewers that even with just the mention of the name - ‘Blog’ - already creates an impact. You get my drift?

As an SEO researcher and consultant and a family business manager, thru the years, I’ve learned that to deal with competition sometimes you have to take it easy in your marketing approach. Yes, you have to be extra careful with your every decision but you also have to consider the fact that you’re dealing with your viewer’s interest. You have to always think both ways – the one arrow pointing to you and the arrow pointing to your customer. I’m not saying that

you have to take the back seat and just watch your business grow or suffer before your eyes and just do minor fixes. What I’m saying is you’ve got to have or find ways to be able to deliver in ease and feel the freedom to just be what your business can be. Alright, so that line I just said right there nearly gave my grandmother a heart-attack on a gathering about our family business. He-he. But seriously, get some hassle-free ideas to market your business like getting yourself a Blog for example.

Tips on this thought:
- If you’re a business owner who also happens to have a website up and running, consider creating a Blog for you and your business.
- Identify yourself as the legitimate owner of the business.
- Create write-ups using your own views about your products or services.
- Write and write some more!
- Be as candid as you can be. Anyways, Blog is hippie so no need to be serious and all that.
- Make connections to your colleagues’ own Blog sites.
- Use your Blog as a back link of your website.
- Freely share your opinion on why your customers should make an effort to check you out.
- But don’t expect too much from your Blog sit. The best you can get from it is your viewer’s feedback, nothing more nothing less.

I’ve experimented on this idea by simply updating regularly my personal Blog even with just simple entries about what I’m currently going thru right now as an individual (this Blog of course has connections to my friends’ Blog sites and other network community sites - i.e. Friendster.com, Multiply.com, Devianart.com and MySpace.com, etc.). Now, every time I post an entry to this Blog they’d be able to read my status, insights and all, be it good and bad remarks, you know.

One time I posted the same *entry I have on Deviantart.com to my personal Blog. The next day, I got a comment from a viewer in Bahrain saying that I was running out of ideas and all. I’m just saying, Bahrain? I mean --- I have viewers from Bahrain? That’s like wow, right? So, can you imagine just how much useful it is?


*Sorry, I already deleted the post just ver recently so I’m sure the comment went with it to the drain.