Search Engine Optimization – Maroon Interactive

September 7, 2012

How to improve your search ranking on Yelp

If you are running a small business – say, a mechanic shop, diner, dentistry or hair salon, chances are people are talking about your business on Yelp. Over 30 million customers have written a review of a local business using Yelp and about 78 million folks check out those reviews every month. The site’s popularity is such that a search for a business by name could list it’s Yelp review even before the business’ own website.

Getting a positive (or negative) review on Yelp is not hard, but since a big chunk of Yelp’s 78 million monthly users are accessing reviews directly via their website or app, the challenge is getting your business at the top of Yelp’s search results. Here are five tips for improving your ranking on Yelp –

1. Get more reviews. Unless your business is the only one Continue reading “How to improve your search ranking on Yelp”

November 7, 2011

Google+ Ready for Business Profiles

Google is finally inviting businesses and organizations to set up profiles in their Google+ social network!

First adopters can choose to set up a business profile in one of five categories; “Local Business or Place” (e.g. Hotels, restaurants, places, stores, or services), “Product or Brand” (e.g. Apparel, cars, electronics, financial services), “Company, Institution or Organization” (e.g. Companies, organizations, institutions, non-profits), “Arts, Entertainment or Sports” (e.g. Movies, TV, music, books, sports, shows) and “Other” (e.g. pages that don’t fit any of the above categories).

Here are answers to three questions you may be asking before joining Google+ for business: Continue reading “Google+ Ready for Business Profiles”

April 15, 2011

Do Small Websites Need a CMS?

So you are getting ready to launch a Website to promote your business and your Web developer is recommending that you use a content management system (CMS) to manage the Website – is this a good idea or just an additional expense? Here are five reasons you should use a CMS to manage – and take control of your Web presence:

1. There’s a CMS for every budget. Content management systems are great at managing data publication. Although there are many great expensive CMS platforms out there, some of the best platforms are free to use – even thought they might attract a modest fee for set-up and customization. Check out this review of a variety of CMS platforms.

2. Manage your Website’s ‘look and feel’. Whether your Website has 4 Web pages or 50, a decent CMS will make it easy for you to seamlessly apply your Website’s design to all content pages and provide a consistent user-experience for visitors. For example, if you decide to change your logo or information that appears on all pages of your Website, a CMS could make this process a breeze by removing the need to update each Web page individually.

3. Save time with a CMS. The CMS will reduce the amount of time (and cost) required to add content or make changes to your Website. If you’d like to update your Website and don’t know much about Web development and coding, a good CMS will also make it easy for you to make simple updates your Website.

4. Faster, uniformed deployment of helpful Web applications. If your Website is informational, you might think all you need to get your point across are a few Web pages – this might be true, but a CMS will also make it easy for you to engage in search engine optimization (SEO) or add Web applications to your Web pages that will help potential customers find your Website and share it with others.

5. Stay up-to-date with interactive marketing technology. Most developers of content management systems (CMS) review and update these Website management tools quarterly. The updates usually apply user feedback and the latest Web technology to the platforms – for example, a robust CMS will let you know when your Website is not secure or if your site’s code is outdated.

There are content management systems (CMS) for every budget – many reputable systems such as Drupal and WordPress are even free of licensing fees. If you care about consistency and maintaining a high quality Web presence, it’s well worth it to invest in a CMS.

March 9, 2011

Google Search Algorithm Updates-What’s New

If you’ve got a Website or any type of Web presence, search engine rankings should be important to you. Last week Google made some dramatic changes to their search algorithm which is changing the way search results are generated – and affecting companies that invest heavily in staying on top of rankings. According to the company –

Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.
–Google

Here’s what’s in and what’s out with Google Search algorithm changes:

1. Websites with “better quality content” will move to the top of search rankings.
There is much contention about what constitutes “better quality content” or a “high-quality” Website. Google is describing this as original content and information such as research, in-depth reports and thoughtful analysis.

2. Users will get the “most relevant” answers to queries.
The most noticeable updates here are location-based results, and the increasing inclusion of “Real Time” results picked up from social media Websites such as Twitter and YouTube. Also, if you have the type of name that typically deliver porn sites when Googled, those types of results will now be pushed back to 2nd or 3rd page of results – bad news for those type of Websites, good news for you (if you are not in that type of business).

3. “Low quality sites” will be suppressed in search results.
This has caused uproar in the Web development and business community because Google used information from “Personal Blocklist “, a tool that works with their Chrome browser. This tool allowed Chrome users to rank and block sites they found sub-par or sites that promoted content they didn’t agree with. Although Google say they don’t rely totally on the results from Personal Blocklist, it’s still a factor in rankings.

4. Hacked Websites and domains responsible for spam are being eliminated from results.
‘SPAM’ in this instance means repeated “spammy words “, automated content, and Web sites with too many comments that originated from content authors. ‘Content farm’ Websites are taking the biggest hit with this update. According to CNN “..sites like Mahalo.com, Wisegeek.com, Ezinearticles.com… [are] among the biggest losers in the algorithm tweak. Google-generated traffic to each dropped more than 75%…” The bad news is that Google has not clarified why a hacked Website should be punished or how the site can get off the blacklist.

5. Copy-cat Websites will move to the bottom of the search results pile.
If you steal, borrow, take, liberate or copy content from other Websites – stop. Hire a copy writer and start over if you care about your Website’s place in search results. New changes to Google’s search algorithm are not kind to Websites mirror the content of other sites. See #1.

So what does this all mean? Content, my friends, is about to become king again!

December 28, 2010

The Truth about Twitter, Trending Topics and Your Business

Are Twitter trends fixed? — Twitter Trends - fixed?

The wikileaks fiasco has revealed an ugly truth about social media marketing via Twitter – their top trends may not be ‘the top trends‘ after all. Marketers assumed that top tweets and trending topics were based on actual Twitter user activity, but according to Twitter – this is not true. When users raised questions about the omission of tweets about wikileaks in Twitter’s list of trending topics and top tweets, the company was forced to admit that “Twitter favors novelty over popularity…” and that the company is in full control of what topics make their lists. Continue reading “The Truth about Twitter, Trending Topics and Your Business”

August 25, 2010

Yahoo! tosses HotJobs to Monster – Search Fail?

Goodbye Yahoo! HotJobs, hello BIG Monster! Yahoo! HotJobs has been acquired by Monster® for $225M in cash. The acquisition promises to present more opportunities to employers, job seekers and those doing business with Monster.com. I’m sure this is a big win for Monster, but what does this say about Yahoo!? Continue reading “Yahoo! tosses HotJobs to Monster – Search Fail?”

January 10, 2010

When your Company Name is Your Top Keyword

Everyone wants certain keywords to put their Website among the top 10 search results on Google, Bing or Baidu. The baker wants his Web site to show up every time someone search for “tarts”, the travel agency wants their site to show up every time someone search for “Jamaica” and so on. The fact is, sometimes your company name is the number one keyword driving traffic to your Website. Does this mean your keyword strategy is a failure? Absolutely not.

If your company or organization name is among the top keywords sending traffic to your Web site it doesn’t mean people are coming to your Web site for the wrong reasons – it means they are coming! Continue reading “When your Company Name is Your Top Keyword”

July 27, 2009

Your Website is your “game face” – Is it on?

The first thing most customers do before they follow a lead to any product or service is to ‘look online’ to learn more about that product or service. Your potential client is likely to take two steps before giving you a call or making a commitment to your product or service – 1. use a search engine to look for your business, 2. visit your Website (if you have one).

When potential customers find your Website online, what should they see? Your Website is the global face of your business. In today’s marketplace, Websites are required to legitimize a business or organization. When potential customers arrive at your Website, they should see what they are looking for – not just what you want them to see. Continue reading “Your Website is your “game face” – Is it on?”