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If you’re new to internet marketing, you’ve probably heard the word “SEO” several times without ever really understanding what it means. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it most likely is the reason why you found this article. In fact, the majority of the websites that our find via a search engine, such as Yahoo, Google, and Bing, utilize SEO to deliver the most authoritative and relevant results.

Several businesses have company websites, which is great since more and more people are using the Internet to find goods, services, information and advice. However, the fact is that 90 percent of Internet users never search past the third page of search results, and 62 percent never search past the first page. If your business wants to attract visitors to your website, ranking high in search results is crucial. And SEO can help.

When you type a keyword or phrase into the search bar, thousands to millions of results are presented. Search engines must be able to deliver the most appropriate results to online users, and SEO is how they do it. In short, SEO is a process that involves editing a website’s content and programming code in order to help search engines figure out:

• What the page is about
• How relevant and useful is the website content to users

A SEO campaign is something that the best websites will implement in order to achieve the goal of increasing the number of visitors a website receives from search engines, by increasing the site’s visibility in search results. The higher ranked a website, the more likely a person is to click on it. Typically, the first page of results are what is wanted, while the first three to five listings are the prime spots.

Getting a high ranking on the first page of results can be achieved by targeting specific keywords that users frequently search for and including them in the website content. Most legal businesses will not get a high return on investment if they use 1) competitive keywords (like “day spa”) and/or 2) awkward phrases. For example, when optimizing a website for a day spa in New York, a specific keyword phrase that might be targeted is “day spa New York”. These days, there are several keyword graders available for a business to take advantage of, allowing them to examine the search volume and competition of specific keywords in their area to help determine how the target audience will get to their page through the search bar.

Content, however, is only the first step. There are other important aspects of SEO, such as how a website is structured and how easy it is to understand (both for humans and search engine robots). Another important part of an SEO campaign is building links that direct back to your legal website. Building links to your page from quality, relevant sources can show the search engine that your website is authoritative and important – and the more authoritative websites are ranked higher.

Overall, a good SEO campaign is more simple to achieve that you think. First, create a great site with quality content that provides something people need and are looking for, and then share your site with other great sites to build links to your page – that’s it! A successful SEO campaign will quickly lead to increased website traffic.

These days, when a person wants information – regardless of what type, whether it be for a recipe, local plumber, or a place to buy clothes –  they go to the computer and use their preferred search engine. People all over the world use search engines everyday, and most without ever understanding exactly how they work. This is fine for those who search for recreational purposes, but if a company or business is interested in utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, then it is best to understand exactly what happens between the search bar and the results page. After all, if given the chance, most businesses would want their website to show up in the highest rank page slot.

Internet search engines are software created to search for online information and provide search results in return. These results are typically returned in a list over several web pages ranked from one to infinity. This ranking is not random, and if a business understands how search engines work to manage, rank, and return search results to online users, they will be able to increase their page rank with specialized SEO techniques.

So how does a search engine work? Below, are the three components that allow a search engine to produce results corresponding to a search term or phrase:

1. “Crawl”for Webpages

• Search engines can use software programs to crawl through any webpage content that is published on the internet. What crawling involves is copying the content that is on the webpage and constantly checking the pages for changes, and if a change is made, re-copies the content. Such software is commonly called a web robot, web crawler, or web spider.

2. Index Webpages

• After a crawler finds and copies a page, the created copy is returned to the search engine and stored in a data center – an enormous sever that holds all the copies of webpages that are made by the crawlers. The webpages are stored in the server in the “Index”. Indexing is the process that organizes the webpages and their data in such a way that they can be searched quickly for relevant results to a specific search term or phrase. The index provides the search results that are given from a search engine; if a page isn’t in the index, it will not be ranked.

3. Use an Algorithm to Rank Webpages

The time of search engine optimization (SEO) solely for SEO sakes is over. Search engines these days are able to pick out the SEO spam among the decent content. Although the end goal of SEO is simple – to increase a business’s search engine rankings and to increase their reach – achieving this goal can be complicated. There are several tricks that can be used to make content appeal to search engines. However, the internet is dynamic and ever-changing, what works today is not guaranteed to work tomorrow, and any SEO expert knows that content must adapt and evolve rather than sit and wait.

Here are some things NOT to include in a content marketing campaign:

• SEO Blogging: Although the goal of SEO is to increase search ranking, it is very important that the content produced reflect well on the business. Blog posts must sound natural and deliver something valuable to the readers.
• Awkward Keywords: Content should not be written keywords. A long-tail, awkward keyword will not make sense, and will turn readers off. Even though the Google search bar is in the minds of many SEO marketers, long, erroneous phrases are clear pointers to SEO spam.
• Too Many Keywords: There is no “right number” for the amount of keywords to include in a SEO blog post. However, when writing, it is important to get a feel for the article. Too many keywords will create an article that many would guess is written by a robot.

Enough with the don’ts, here is what should be done:

• Write for an Audience, and Write Well: As said above, SEO blogging is not advised. For the best content marketing, delivering something of value to the target audience is just as important as SEO. It doesn’t matter how great content is; if it doesn’t appeal to the target audience, it won’t make a difference. The better the content, the better the return on investment (ROI). In addition, writing well can make all the difference. Misspelled words and grammatical errors can hurt search engine ranking, because they leave a bad impression on potential customers.
• Research Keywords: In addition to writing in a way that appeals to the target audience, researching keywords can also help SEO campaigns soar. Many businesses will not get a high ROI if they use 1) highly competitive keywords (like “food”) and 2) really obscure phrases that won’t get much traffic. There are several keyword graders available. A business should look at the search volume and competition of each term to determine how the target audience is most likely to land on the page through search.
• Post Frequently: Frequent posts can help search engine ranking. Many search engines use programs to visit websites. These programs are assigned a list of URLs to visit, and when they find new content, the pages are forwarded to the search engine for indexing. More frequent posting will lead to the more consistently these bots will visit a page and rank updates.

Google is constantly updating their search engine algorithm. The success of content marketing has backed away from keyword stuffing and buying links, and is more focused on authentic, original material that can provide the reader, or potential consumer, something of value.

October 24, 2012 (San Diego, CA) – Legal website design specialist Legal Web Experts is announcing its leading design, custom programming, and marketing services in Latin America and Canada. Legal Web Experts has recently launched a new site for Latino legal marketing (http://www.legalwebexperts.com/ESP/) and also offers services in French.

The Legal Web Experts Spanish website was officially launched on September 10, 2012. The new site is part of an expansion initiative by Legal Web Experts’ parent company, internet marketing agency New Wave Web and Marketing, which launched its own Spanish-language website the same day as well as a Spanish site for its other subsidiary Medical Web Experts. The Latino and French-focused site follows the company’s commitment to help Hispanic and French law firms expand their client bases, engage users and succeed in the digital age.

With nearly ten years of experience in custom programming and web design, Legal Web Experts has put together a completely bilingual website design and marketing team to tackle a variety of Hispanic and French legal marketing services – including translation services in French and Spanish; bilingual website design; Hispanic and French internet marketing; search-engine-friendly design; Hispanic and French custom logo design; Latino legal marketing, French legal marketing; Latino and French market analysis services, and more.

By offering a unique approach for each client, the company is able to consider each client’s needs, budget and overall goals to guarantee successful results. “We find there is less competition for Spanish keywords than English keywords in the United States, so the costs of getting to the top of Google are lower. That, combined with the same conversion rate, leads us to experience a higher ROI,” says John Deutsch, President and CEO of New Wave Web and Marketing.

About Legal Web Experts 
Legal Web Experts was founded in 2003 by John Deutsch as a subsidiary of New Wave Enterprises LLC. Specializing in providing web solutions for law firms, Legal Web Experts aims to provide customers with highly effective websites and time-tested internet marketing services that meet each client’s specific needs and budget. For more information, visit http://www.legalwebexperts.com/.

Contact:

Guillermo Piñón
Legal Web Experts 
619-446-6348

No matter what you type in to your Google search bar, odds are that Wikipedia.org will be the top slated search result. It’s no coincidence, and businesses can learn several search engine optimization (SEO) basics from Wikipedia that they can use to optimize their search results.

Wikipedia is specific: Wikipedia articles are focused and cover very specific topics. Most Wikipedia article headings contain only one or a few words – generally the term searched. Google will not give an article a high ranking unless it is sure that the article is correctly focused on a specific search term or phrase.

Wikipedia is up-to-date: Content on Wikipedia is updated regularly – new articles are continuously added and old articles are revised and improved. Google favors content that is up-to-date. It is not enough to just create a website and add content. These days, you must add new content regularly, update existing content, and improve or correct content that is outdated or incorrect.

Wikipedia is used: People use Wikipedia often as a reference source. Its content is well written and comprehensive, and people trust it. But this feat isn’t exclusive to Wikipedia – any good article can be referenced and shared in social media.

Wikipedia is organized: Wikipedia articles are easy to read and very well organized. Document structure is an important factor to Google ranking and is a good indicator of quality content. It is important to utilize a single title tag for each article, and break up pieces of content into logical sections with headers. In addition, make use of tags to specify important SEO terms and phrases in your content.

Wikipedia is full of links: Wikipedia content is full of internal (linking to other Wikipedia pages) and external (linking to other websites) links. Internal links both help connect readers to related content and lowers Wikipedia’s bounce rate (which, according to Wikipedia, is the percentage of visitors who enter the site and “bounce” (leave the site) rather than continue viewing other pages within the same site). Low bounce rate is a good indication that their content is engaging and relevant. Not only does Wikipedia use internal links, but its content also contains external links to high quality sources to cite information used in their articles. Google also monitors external links, and proper use can increase a sites page rank.

In general, content should be specific, up-to-date, trusted, and configured in a way that is easy for real people to read, understand, and use. Also, when appropriate, articles should link content to other high quality websites as well as use internal links to encourage a flow of traffic internally.

To read more about what businesses can learn from Wikipedia, click here.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an effective way to increase exposure and traffic to your website, but this marketing strategy falls short if the online marketing content used is not captivating and original. These days, anyone can create content on the Internet. In order to make your business stand apart from the rest, consider these six ways to increase the effectiveness of your online marketing content:

1. Identify your target audience:

Know the audience you wish to reach, and create content that speaks directly to them. Knowing who your online marketing content is directed to and targeting their needs/wants can give you a greater chance in converting them into a loyal customer.

2. Consistently update content:

Outdated content can lead readers to believe that your business is obsolete, and in effect could turn off prospective customers. Updating content on your social platforms is a great way to stay current and relevant.

3. Reformat your content:

It is okay to use the same content in different platforms to target different segments of your audience, but under no circumstances should you just ‘copy-and-paste.’ Duplicating content can lead to punishment from the search engines gods, and no one wants that. To avoid upsetting them, you must reformat your content in a smart way. For example, you can turn your blog post into a slideshow or video.

4. Recognize what your target audience likes:

After you’ve determined your target audience, decide which social platforms and tools are most appropriate to reach. For example, if the majority of your audience prefers Facebook, then focus your energy on these posts than on tweets or blog updates.

5. Watch your competitors:

You want your audience to view, like, and share your content over your competitors, and keeping an eye on their online content marketing strategies can help you update your own.  Some things to take notice of include what type of content they produce and share, how often they publish it, and the level of sharing and engagement they get in return.

6. Make your online marketing content easy to find, like, and share:

Keep in mind that even the best content means nothing without an audience to view it.  In order to make your content readily available to your audience, publish within the platforms they use most and make it effortless for them to find, read, like, and share the content (the easier, the better).

Once you effectively reach your target audience through unique blogs, posts, and tweets, you will create an active online community that increases brand awareness, generates inbound links, and directly engages your audience. It may not happen overnight, but the results from improved SEO via suitable online marketing content are certain to improve your business’s online presence.

“You don’t want the next Penguin update,” was the dire warning Matt Cutts recently sounded off for online marketing companies. Cutts, a search engine optimization (SEO) and spam specialist for Google, was referring to the company’s ever-changed internet search algorithm, currently known as “Penguin,” which is designed to block out “black hat” marketing strategies, such as excessive spam, and has put strict compliance in optimizing websites.

Since its release in April 2012, the Penguin has caused a number of sites to drop down in search rankings or even be eradicated from Google’s search engine results due to a number of web spam factors including keyword stuffing, cloaking, unnatural link building and content duplication.

The general goal of these algorithm updates is to better rank and reward web sites that are using “white hat” search engine optimization. Though Google is ringing an alarm for SEO companies to drop old-fashioned “black hat” marketing techniques, it is not the end of the online marketing world, in fact, we’re very far from it.

Online SEO business strategies are always changing courses and experienced marketing companies will stay on top of developing trends, serving clients’ needs regardless of the latest algorithm update. Below are some current “white hat” techniques that you or your marketing company should be utilizing to strengthen your business’s online presence.

• Rich, Meaningful, Readable Content: Website content is one of the most important aspects and should be given serious thought. Adding fresh content on a website will reawaken Google’s search engine bots and, if they find the content to be legitimate, they will rank the site accordingly.

• Consider Website Theme or Branding: Google’s search engines thoroughly examine the themes of websites to rank them. As a result, it is important to design a web site theme that fits with your business functions or operations.

• Use Keywords: Keyword density plays an important role that you need to comply with the standards cautiously. While it is important to add keywords in web site content, it is more important to use them properly. Ensure that you do not add keywords forcefully in your content.

• Staying up-to-date through Social Media: One of the newest elements in SEO is Social media optimization (SMO). If you want to promote a business, it will require a working knowledge on social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. Constantly updating business events and happenings through these mediums is one of the easiest ways to increase your company’s internet profile.

The internet and online social media attract an audience too big for businesses to ignore. Regardless of what you sell, your company’s size or location, the potential for online marketing is growing every year and business owners that take advantage of it are rewarded for their efforts.

According to marketing research, an increasing number of consumers go online when they are looking for local businesses in their area or want to learn more about the products available near their homes. Therefore, having a strong internet presence is essential for a successful business strategy.

Using a mix of online social media websites and localized search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, any business owner can raise the profile of their enterprise and attract more customers. Here are a few easy tips on how to boost your business’s search engine results:

Localize Your Keywords and SEO Marketing Strategies

It sounds simple, but many forget to do it. Where is your business located? The name of the town, state or region where do business should be a prominent on your company’s web site and not just on the front page, but in subtexts, titles, keywords, tags and other SEO tools.

Data on your website analytics tells you that you have lots of customers searching for you from a particular city or region, you should include that area by name in your keywords. If you find that visitors are hitting your website with a search term paired with a city or state name, optimize your online content for that particular city/state name.

An easy way to increase your visibility in specific areas is to simply include city and state names with the keywords you’re optimizing. Search engines will recognize your keywords and link them with the regions you’re targeting, so when someone within your area searches for your services, your business is more likely to rank higher due to that association with both service and regional relevance.

Join Google+ Local

Google is God in the digital world and will shine light on your business if you do as it pleases. Not only is Google the most widely-used search platform on the internet, but it provides a number of free, simple features you can use to promote your business directly to search engine users that are actively looking for your products and services.

With a little effort, you can boost your small business’s visibility on the internet by providing Google with some basic information about your business. The more you provide, the easier it will be for customers to find you through Google search.

When you complete a profile on Google’s “Places for Business”, your company will be easy to find on Google Maps, Google Shopping, Google+ Local, and many other Google Search products.

Take Advantage of Customer Review Sites

Sometimes, online customer reviews can make or break a business. Internet date reveals 72 percent of consumers find online reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendations, and 52 percent said positive online reviews about a local business increase the likelihood they will visit the business.

The answer is clear: online reviews are becoming more popular, and more consumers are referring directly to the Internet to seek out local businesses. Therefore, any smart business will make these customer reviews work for their business. That doesn’t mean you should spam fake reviews of your own business all across the Internet, and it doesn’t mean you should use these review sites to slam your competition—those are bad practices that can get you blacklisted on Google Places and can destroy your good name as a reputable business in no time.

Instead, encourage your customers to leave positive reviews online. You can’t force customers to really do anything, but if just a handful of them leave positive reviews on the Internet about your business, those will become valuable testimonials that will encourage more potential customers to pay your business a visit.

Small business owners looking for a way to get started with social media or improve their accounts have a new event to look forward to.  The community of Lake Forest, California is offering a free seminar on social media and SEO for local companies trying to boost their business and increase their client bases online.

It’s become increasingly important – almost essential – for a business to build a presence on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ in order to keep their client bases strong.  Additionally, social media sites are starting to have more and more importance for SEO, as search engines are starting to crawl social media profiles and use them in search results.

A lot of businesses simply don’t know where to start with social media, and offering free social media seminars could be a great way to encourage local small businesses to grow and change their companies to keep up with current trends.  Next step: a comprehensive and affordable social media campaign with an internet marketing agency.

In the 1990’s – when search engines were beginning to take a huge hold over the internet and marketing strategies – keyword density was an enormous part of whether a website would rank on the first page or the last.  For any keyword targeted on a specific page, SEO experts recommended using it a certain number of times proportional to the amount of words on the page for maximum exposure.  Search engines would pay more attention to sites with a keyword density (the percentage of words on the page which are your targeted keywords) of between 1 and 5 percent, depending on who you ask.

Google’s algorithm, however, is constantly changing – and keyword density is no longer something to really focus on while optimizing your pages.  The main issue is that Google’s bots have become more sensitive to keyword-stuffed content and engineers have changed the algorithm to devalue sites that overuse keywords or put them in awkward places, making reading the page difficult for the user.  The end goal of SEO is to draw more human users to your website, so the content should be more for them than for search engine bots.

Well-known for his Google Webmaster Help videos, Google software engineer Matt Cutts claims that the new algorithm uses an enormous number of factors before keyword density to rank a page.  What web developers and content writers should do is focus on writing informative, well-constructed content that mentions the keywords at least once or twice, but still reads naturally.  If the rest of the SEO on the page is good and the campaign is carried out successfully, the page will rank even without keywords stuffed into each paragraph a ridiculous number of times.