July 12, 2010

Top Ten SEO Mistakes We See Connecticut Businesses Making

SEO is effective, but only when done properly. Avoid these top 10 mistakes to have the most success with your Search Engine Optimization:

Mistake #1: Targeting the wrong keywords. Make sure that you have keywords that users actually search for, not just ones that sound good.

Mistake #2: Ignoring Title tags. So many people leave their website title tag empty, which is NOT effective at all. It helps with optimization, but ultimately makes your page look complete with a title.

Mistake #3: Limiting accessibility. Having a Flash website is great. They’re fun, interactive, and they look pretty. However, not having an HTML alternative turns off search engines and visitors who have slower connections.

Mistake #4: Menus with JavaScript. Search engines don’t read JavaScript, so you should consider having links elsewhere or doing them in HTML so search engines can read them.

Mistake #5: Lack of maintenance. You can’t just put your site up and leave it forever. Just like a physical business, it needs to be updated, maintained, cleaned, and changed over time to be most effective.

Mistake #6: Meta tag overload. While meta tags are effective, spending too much focus on them will waste your time. They’re not as important as they once were, and will be much less critical than other parts of your site.

Mistake #7: Image-only headings. Images do make your site look good, but headlines will do much more for SEO than any graphic. Try putting images under headlines instead, to get the best of both worlds.

Mistake #8: Forgetting the URL. Your URL matters. You need to make sure that your URL speaks to your page content so that it can add to your SEO success. Consider something like www.dantheSEOprofessoinal.com instead of just www.danjenkins.com, for example.

Mistake #9: Spam via backlinks. So many people assume that more backlinks are better than less, but that spells trouble right away. Quality is far more important for your backlinks than quantity, and over-linking will rule you a spammer and get you kicked out of search engines.

Mistake #10: Lack of keywords. Just like having too many keywords, not having enough will kill your website’s SEO success. Focus on adding keywords wherever you can, with a standard of 1-2 keywords per 100 words. More will border on the line of spamming and less will not do your website justice.

These are the top 10 mistakes that we see Connecticut businesses—and indeed businesses throughout the U.S.—making when it comes to SEO. In order to keep yourself from making these mistakes, keep them in mind when doing your SEO for your or your client’s website.

To schedule a free consultation with Connecticut’s leading Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm, please visit www.AllAccessUnlimited.com or call our Stamford, CT headquarters directly at: 203-276-9812

Filed under: SEO, Search Engine Optimization — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 11:05 am

January 4, 2010

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Stamford, Connecticut

We are always happy to provide free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips and advice to local Stamford, Connecticut companies.

So in case anyone out there has any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re located in the heart of Stamford, Connecticut on Strawberry Hill Avenue.

Money is not everything to us, the appreciation we get when we know we’ve helped out another person or company can be just as rewarding.

For example, today we received a call from a local law firm. They recently got their web site created and up and running. Now they want to climb higher in Google’s rankings.

As we explained to them, this can appear to be a daunting task, especially for a new site. They wanted to know if there were some things that we recommend they should try first before calling a “big guns” company like us (big guns but with the big price tags).

So we came up with this list and emailed it to them:

  • Create a short list of keywords and phrases you would like to focus on. Don’t make the list longer than 10 words and phrases. In fact, the shorter the list the better (to start off). Keep in mind, these are the keywords that people are typing in Google to search for your products and services; the words for which you want your site to rank for.
  • Try to use those keywords and phrases in your content. Use them in the headings especially. Don’t overdo it.
  • Go though your entire web site and try to tag each image with one of your key words. But keep in mind that if you overdo this it’s considered a “black hat technique” that can result in your site getting banned by the search engines. Make sure the keyword is relevant to the photo. For example, if the photo depicts a “divorce attorney” in court then use that keyword for the photo. Use the ALT tag to do the tagging of your pictures.
  • Title your pages with your company name and a few of your key words/phrases. This is important because your title is what appears in the browser title bar. Don’t make it too long, but make it relevant. Relevance is more important than length.
  • Check your competition and see what they’re doing to rank for your keywords. Who is your competition? Type your keywords and phrases into Google to find out. Study their sites.
  • Create a page with a site map and post a link to the site map on your website. As an example, you can find a link to the site map page on the bottom of well-optimized websites.
  • Create a Google Ad Words account (optional). Do some keyword research, find out what your top competitors are doing, choose the amount you would like to spend and set it up. Check your results.
  • Get as many “inbound links” (links back to your web site) as possible. Are you or the people in your company members of any groups or organizations? If so, then email them a brief note explaining who you are and asking them to link back to you. If you can have them link some of your phrases to your site, even better. For example, if you are a Stamford, Connecticut Web Design Company, then make sure that the keywords are linked.)

These are just a few quick tips.

It’s always better to hire an expert SEO company, preferably a local company.

There are always lots of changes going on in the SEO industry, and a professional SEO company can help navigate the changes and can also do the most with your budget.

Filed under: Search Engine Optimization — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 6:16 pm
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