Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Which Is Better: Pay-Per-Click vs. Organic SEO

Before comparing the pros and cons of pay-per-click and organic SEO, let me define the two first.

PPC or simply Pay-Per-Click are used on websites in which the advertisers pay their host once the ad is clicked. Marketers normally bid on keyword phrases significant to their target market. Usually, content sites charge a fixed price rather than using a bidding system. Three of the last network operators operating under a bid-based model are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter.

Organic search results display on the search engine results page because of their relevance and not for being adverts.

SEO enthusiasts have different opinions on PPC versus organic search. In due course, natural search will bring you the best return of investment. But, paid search has its advantages too. The boons and banes of the two are as follows:

Advantages Of Organic SEO:

1. It’s free.

2. Natural search results are trusted more.

3. The natural search results are more likely clicked.

Organic SEO Disadvantages:

1. It takes an occasion to get results.

2. The hourly rate of SEO can be costly.

3. There’s a possibility of not ranking for every search discrepancy – long tail SEO.

The Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advantages:

1. Instant ranking.

2. Capability to rank high for any search term.

3. Capacity to assess best keywords for organic searches.

4. Capability to send viewers to more targeted landing page.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Disadvantages:

1. It is very expensive. In some industries, you can pay several dollars per click.

2. Click scheme is common.

Even if each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, both can help increase and improve the visibility of your site. If you’ll choose the natural listings or the paid ones, it’s up to you. When you chose the natural listings, make certain that you hire an organic SEO company for guaranteed SEO services.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

SEO: 3 Things to Consider Before You Begin Blogging For Your Business

Blogging as part of a search engine optimization campaign is currently popular. A number of businesses blog to help improve their performance and results in different ways. A blog can be a useful SEO tool if used appropriately.

Before creating and developing a blog, there are some important issues which must be considered. If you do not take the time to plan these aspects of your blog carefully, you will likely struggle with your blogging in the future.

The first thing you must consider is why you want and need a blog. What do you hope to achieve by writing a blog for your business? There can be many benefits for a company which uses blogging. You must have a clear idea of what you hope to achieve from your blogging efforts before you begin because the purpose of your blog will affect many aspects of it. Blogs are commonly used to gain exposure for a business, to establish the business owner as an expert within the online community and to direct traffic to the website of the company.

The second issue for consideration is where your blog will be located. A number of blogging sites offer you free space for blogging but when choosing this option, you will not have control over the domain name of your blog. This can hinder how useful and effective your blog can be for your business. In most cases, it is recommended to create your blog as part of your company website. A number of businesses choose to do this because it can be highly advantageous. However, the purpose of your blog can alter the suitability of this option.

The third issue for consideration is the content within your blog. The content you want you write, how often you plan on updating your blog and the type of language you will use within your content are all areas which need to be explored.

Ensure you carry out thorough research for the content of your blog. Use keyword research tools so you know which keywords and phrases you need to be using in your content and make a plan of what different topics you aim to cover in your blog. Brainstorm ideas and gather some useful writing tips from reliable sources too. Techniques to help you to find inspiration when writing and tips to help you to express your ideas and thoughts clearly can be highly beneficial.

If you are hoping a blog will be useful for your search engine optimization campaign, there are some important matters you must consider before beginning the development of your blog.

We at Center Stage Web Design and SEO know how effective blogs can be when used as part of an effective SEO campaign. We help our clients at every stage of blog development and ensure blogs are used productively. We can provide you with the support and action you need to make your blog successful. Work with us and your blog will contribute helpfully to your SEO campaign.

6 Awesome Tips for Creating a Natural Backlink Profile

If you’re paying for links or building them manually, it’s becoming more and more important to make it look like you’re gaining them naturally. That’s because, as a site owner, you’re supposed to be gaining them naturally, at least in Google’s eyes.

And the search engines are becoming increasingly good at sniffing out links that, by their rules, haven’t been earned.

In an ideal world, what is considered ‘earned’ would be up for debate. In the real world though, we must play by their rules.

Therefore, if you’re actively involved in the backlinks you obtain and not simply sitting back and taking whatever comes at you via your ‘too awesome for words!’ content, then don’t raise any flags and make it easy for Google to discount your hard earned links.

Follow the tips below the help keep your link profile as natural looking as possible.

Because things that aren’t in accordance with nature are easy to spot.

1. Vary Your Anchor Text

Targeting one specific term and building links with exactly the same anchor text and description is never a good idea. Instead try to gain links that have varied versions of your preferred anchor text. For example, if your main term was “online college degrees” you might also target; ‘college degrees online’, ‘online colleges and degrees’ and even ‘degrees and colleges online’. Also get some links that are just straight URLs (and even images) as not every site would naturally link to you using anchor text or keywords.

2. Don’t Focus on Just Pages with High PageRank

Again, in the natural realm of things, not every site that links to yours would have high PR (or even any PR). Don’t be afraid to ask for, or spend your money, on backlinks from pages that are of good quality and indexed, but maybe don’t have oodles of PageRank. They’re not a waste of time if they’re helping to balance out your link profile.

3. Don’t Forget Your Inner Pages

Don’t focus your campaign solely on gaining links to the homepage. Choose important inner pages and get links to those too. By doing this you’ll be showing Google that your content is garnering interest.

4. Get All Different Types of Links

There are many different types of backlinks, with editorial style ones being the best. Definitely try to score these but don’t focus exclusively on any one type of link. Also strive to gain links from blogrolls/sidebars, resource type pages, quality directory listings, social media sites, sponsorships and awards etc. Basically anywhere it makes sense for your site to be listed or mentioned.

5. Stay Away From Link Schemes

Avoid automated link programs and spammy “submit site” or “add url” type of sites. Showing up in these places only tells Google that you may be actively seeking links to increase your popularity. Focus on obtaining links that not just everyone can have (i.e. ones you can bring home to mama).

And again, only get links where it makes sense.

6. Keep the Link Velocity Slow and Steady

Unless your site has recently been mentioned on CNN or made the homepage of digg, be wary of the rate at which you are gaining your manual links. Just remember, it isn’t only the sheer number of links that matters in the long run but the quality of the sites linking to you.