Choosing an SEO Consultant

Search Engine Optimization is essential for any online business. Implementing it on your own can be a headache. However, if you possess the financial resources finding a consultant is easy. In fact it is too easy, as everyone seems to be an SEO expert now. Here are a few tips on choosing and SEO consultant.

• First of all you should read up all you can about SEO. Get an overall understanding of how the process works. This will help you in the event that your consultant tries to hoodwink you or does a shoddy job. At the very least it will help you understand the jargon being spoken.

• Ask for recommendations from others, such as any friends that may no more than you or other businesses.

• Search on sites like Top SEO Firms and other SEO directories.

• Search for SEO related terms on Google. Only the best SEO specialists will get to the top of that search results page. Now, go to the websites of each of the top ten. Pick the ones that have a good balance between design and content. An accomplished SEO consultant is able to deliver a page that normal people can understand as opposed to one that only search engines can. Some keyword suggestions to search for: Search engine optimization services, search engine placement, search engine marketing, SEO services, SEO company, SEO firm, SEO consultant, etc.

• Take the shortlist you have come up with and look at their history. Check their online reputation in forums and by typing the company name in search engines, plus words like “fraud”, “rip off” and “scam.” Check their BBB rating. Also, check if they are member of SEMPO.

• Call them up and inquire about their packages and pricing. Ask for references and sample rankings. Find out exactly what they do in detail. Make sure they also offer link building and find out exactly how many links they will get you. It might be a plus if they also offer web design services.

With all of this information in your hand, take a smart decision based on it. Do not base you decision on one factor alone, like pricing for instance. What you should finally settle on is a consultant who has a good record in all factors. Then you will have a good experience working with that person and also ensure that your site receives the best possible SEO work.

Finally, one company that we really recommend for all your search engine marketing needs, is Submit Express. But again, do your own due diligence and compare them to other SEO companies.

Keyword Generator Tools

Back in the day coming up with keywords was a specialized task. Whoever was entrusted with the job was under a lot of pressure to think and to think out of the box to come up with fantastic keywords. However, all that changed with the advent of keyword generators.

These tools have simplified and complicated the lives of internet marketers and web developers. The simplification refers to the fact that keywords are now generated rather than thought of. The complication is that everyone has access to this technology and therefore come up with more or less the same keywords.

This is where making the transition from a free tool a paid tool will make the difference. Free keyword generators are ideal for startups as their cash reserves are low. However, once the business gets going it is advisable to switch to a paid tool which is more powerful. These have advanced features like cross testing, which will highlight the keywords being used by others so that they can be avoided or used with care.

When choosing a paid keyword generator, it is essential that a lot of thought is put into it. A tool that comes along with a training session from an experienced internet marketer will be of more value than others. It is also essential to know everything there is to know about Search Engine Optimization, so that the full potential of the tool can be realized. If used properly, this tool can help to get a website into the top search rankings every time.

If you are looking for free keyword generation tool, then use these:

Google Keyword Tool : Free tool from Google that checks their own search data
Submit Express Keyword Suggestion Tool : A free tool that provides some similar keyword data, but also will give you keyword traffic estimates using data source from WordTracker and KeywordDiscovery, which are 2 of the best keyword research tools, but since WSubmit Express has a partnership with them, they provide the data for free.

For paid keyword research tools, try these:

- WordTracker
- Keyword Discovery
- Keyword Spy

Simple tips to Improve SEO

Search Engine Optimization is an important factor for any online business.  Sometimes people tend to forget some obvious factors while focusing on the more complex aspects of SEO. Here are some of them and ways to avoid them.

Content is King. Making a page look good is not a crime. In fact, the page has to look attractive enough to the visitor for them to be interested in it initially. However, it is of utmost importance that the page contains enough content textually as well. For example, to a search engine, a page only displaying pictures of Lions is no different to a page full of pictures of medical instruments. However if either page was full of content describing the pictures, there would be a clear difference. This is why each page on a website should have unique content.

Anchor text is often used in the wrong way. The concept behind anchor text is that it should let a search engine know what is being indexed. This will result in better ranking on search results. For example, linking PixelMagic in the term “Website design by PixelMagic” is the wrong use of anchor text. The correct term to link here is Website design.

Think in terms of “Spiders”. Search engine spiders crawl the web looking for content to index. By “thinking” in their terms, the design of the webpage can be changed. This was full Flash sites can be avoided, image heavy and content low sites can be avoided and so on.

By helping a search engine identify and asses a website, the chances of that website’s ranking improving in the search results becomes a more probable event.

Finally, if you think SEO  is too technical for you, then you should consider hiring an Search Engine Placement Firm like Submit Express. Not only will you save time that you could spend more productively elsewhere, but also you can rest assured that you are doing everything correctly and you won’t screw up.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website so that it receives more traffic from search engines. The ultimate goal of anyone using SEO on their website is to get their site listed on the first page of any search engine.

Not having any SEO work done on you website is akin to having a physical store with no store sign or advertising. In this example it is evident that very few or no people at all will visit the store. The gist of this is that if none of the search engines can find you, then you will get zero traffic coming to your website.

SEO is important because search engine results are powered by “Spiders” that crawl the net looking for websites and the information they hold. Spiders look only at text and not at the graphics. So you are ranked purely on content and not how good your website looks. This is why people who are interested in getting their website into the top rankings don’t bother with Flash or any other type of heavy graphics. These add a nice visual element, but have no value towards any SEO.

The whole point of doing SEO is to get on the map. As you go along and refine your keywords, you will want to appear higher and higher in searches. Being ranked number one for a certain keyword is what you should work at. This highlights the fact that SEO is an ongoing process which requires constant attention. The only instance where low SEO is required is when it comes to industries where rare keywords are being used.

For more on SEO, we recommend visiting the Submit Express SEO Forum. Submit Express is also a good search engine placement company.

Tips for Onsite Optimization

Although the process of building backlinks and making off-page optimizations do more for you than on-page optimization, it is not something to be disregarded. In fact by using other techniques, on-page optimization can be take you to another level. Here we will look at how an attached blog to your website can your SEO efforts.

Give importance to the title of the blog site. This has a lot of weight in ranking and it is one of the first things users look at in the search results. Ideally the title should contain the keyword at the beginning and not be very long. It should also make the user want to click on it. Although this is asks for a lot, it is worth it to put the effort to satisfy these factors because it is a proven method of getting traffic.

Don’t get lazy with URL’s. Many blog sites offer database driven scripts to ring up the content. Unfortunately the ease of use for the designer does nothing for SEO. For example, a default WordPress blog page might look like this:

something.com/?p=123

The characters after the question mark denote that the page has been generated dynamically. This does not go down well with a search engine. Take the time to rewrite the URL to something that makes sense. For example:

Something.com/look-at-this-page-now

This also adds to the users confidence, as they know exactly where they are navigating to.
Another thing you should do is submit an XML sitemap to Google and Bing. This makes the indexing process easier for the search engines. Do not forget to have a static sitemap on the website, as this is very essential too.

Some additional recommend resources:

Search Engine Watch: The orginal and perhaps one of the biggest SEO forums and communities, including Articles.
Webmaster SEO Blog: offers general SEO tips and WordPress SEO tips.
Submit Express SEO Forum: An SEO forum, including link building and social media marketing topics.
Web Marketing Tutorial: A blog offering many articles on web marketing.
Search Engine Land: Another SEO forum and article site. Often articles posted by industry veterans.