One of the most common misconceptions today is that a blog is meant for personal use. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
A blog is so much more than a personal diary or a daily dose of someone’s personal opinions and ideas. A blog provides an opportunity for outsiders to become engaged and active. Let me put it this way. You are missing out on a huge opportunity if your company does not have a blog. Let’s start out with the consumer’s perception of companies.

Consumers have changed the way they view companies. In the past, consumers had a limited number of choices when purchasing goods and services. Before the web, consumers purchased goods and services from a local company or possibly through a catalog.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that total e-commerce sales for
2009 were $134.9 billion. More and more people are signing on to the web to make purchases. This has provided a significant opportunity for businesses, especially small to medium size businesses. Think about it. If I wanted to buy a bicycle ten years ago I would have went to my local Wal-Mart to make the purchase. That’s not the case today. I can get online and search specifically for the bike I want. It could be that I end up making the purchase from a small bike shop in Minnesota and have it shipped to me. The web has increased the purchasing power of consumers. We now have more choices and are not limited to what our local companies can offer. You are probably thinking what does this have to do with whether or not my company should have a blog? Everything.

It is your responsibility to differentiate yourself from your competition. It is much more difficult to do this today. Not only do you have to compete with your local competition, but you also have to compete with businesses in other cities, states, and even other countries. One way you can differentiate yourself from your competitors is with a blog. Consumers want to feel good about their purchases. I will gladly pay $10, $25, or $50 extra to a business that I feel understands my circumstances and reaches me on a personal level. That is exactly what a blog is…personal. It could be that I chose to purchase my bike from the online company in Minnesota rather than my local Wal-Mart because the company in Minnesota spoke to me in a different way through a blog.

A blog creates a feeling with consumers that they are getting inside knowledge. It helps companies establish relationships with their customers, which by default leads to trust. Do you want to see an increase in online sales or see your website become a tool rather than an expense? Get on a personal level with your consumers.

Another reason you should have a blog is because it keeps your website updated with fresh content. Common sense tells us that people are not going to visit your website repeatedly if they see the same thing each time they visit. However, if your content is changing consistently they will continue to visit your website in order to remain informed. The opportunity to sale your products and services increases greatly with the more visits you have to your website and the longer people remain on your website.

Having a blog opens up so many avenues for companies. Think about the numerous ways you can keep your website visitors engaged through a blog.

1. Inform them of new products and services, or changes
   to existing products and services.
2. Offer online
   discounts and promotions to your blog readers.
3. Inform
   your readers of how your company is doing in relation to its’
   goals and objectives.
4. Post articles regarding your
   company’s involvement in charity (consumers love this).
5. Post information about your employees.

These are just a few of the ways you can utilize a blog to
reach out to your website visitors and customers. Do not use a
blog to bash your competition. This is one of the cardinal sins
of blogging. We, consumers, get really tired of negative
publicity. So, keep it positive and be consistent.

If you are still unsure if your company needs a blog you
apparently skipped this entire article and went straight to the
bottom hoping to find a summary. Well, here is your summary.
Yes, you need a blog. If you are on board and are ready to
implement a blog then we recommend using WordPress.

About the author:
Ray Goins is an author and owner of www.stopdev.com.

StopDev
provides web design and online marketing tips.

SEO is a trade that exists solely on the internet, and even then
it is comprised almost entirely of the hot air of so-called
“expert opinion.” Plenty of it blowing around these days as
search maintains position as one of the most important
marketplaces in the modern business world. Many DIY webmasters
will end up searching, what else, for blog entries, articles,
informational web sites, etc to help get them up to speed. The
problem is that in most cases certain key terms are flung around
like household names while the people doing the flinging are way
out of touch with the average web browser. What some of us don’t
realize is that not everyone knows even the basics of SEO.

This list of twelve SEO-related definitions in alphabetical
order (with notes) serves as a great companion for your initial
SEO reading. Read alone it will get you up to speed on some key
terminology that you’ll need to know to intelligently engage the
ever-changing world of SEO.

* Algorithms. A search algorithm is, in short, the incredibly
complex mathematical formula that a search engine uses to “rank”
web sites for keywords. Based on a huge number of variables and
calculations, algorithms are among the most closely-guarded
secrets on the internet. Why? Imagine if they were leaked -
suddenly the less-than-honest would have a very specific
guideline to follow in climbing to the top of search results in
a less-than-organic way, ruining the quality of Google’s search
results and their entire competitive advantage with it.

* Bot or Bots. See also “crawlers”

* Crawlers. Googlebot, for example, is a search engine crawler.
Googlebot periodically traverses the web in record time,
indexing content, links – everything contained in page source
code – and storing it in Google’s search index. Then, when a
user visits Google and enters a search phrase the index,
filtered by the algorithm, is what the user gets. Please note:
there is some delay in this process since the results you’re
getting are from the index and not the live web.

* Directories. When webmasters realized just how much power
inbound links have in determining search rankings they quickly
set out to do two things: 1) get inbound links and 2) set up web
sites where other webmasters could achieve inbound links
(meaning big traffic revenues for the site). Hence the directory
farms you’ll find today. Link building has been a priority on
the list of any SEO-savvy webmaster for years, and as a result
“quick fix” directories that allow streamlined listing
submissions get a ton of traffic. However, Google and the other
major search engines are on to this tactic, and the word among
SEO “experts” is that the benefits of listing your site at
directories are diminished if not gone.

* Frames. Frames are a way of laying out a website with multiple
documents in one browser window. Essentially, there is one main
document which contains the frameset tag – this document
specifies the dimensions/placement of the frames and also the
documents that will “populate” those frames. From an SEO
standpoint the use of frames for your layout is not recommended.
Since frames do not use links in the same way, and since links
may point to one frame from another, they may cause serious
problems for crawlers. Additionally, there are almost no uses
for frames that can’t either be 1) duplicated with other methods
or 2) thrown away without much fuss. If your site was built with
frames and you’re thinking you don’t want to rebuild – it might
be tough luck if you’re interested in optimizing for search.
Consider it a learning experience – build yourself a CSS-based
layout.

* Gateway Pages. Also “doorway pages.” Although there isn’t a
real consensus about what these pages are, their function is
always cited as their definition. In other words, these pages
are created to “rank well in search engines” by playing to the
algorithms. Often viewed as “spammy,” “gray hat” or even “black
hat.” However, any page written with search in mind, and geared
towards search, can be construed to be a “gateway page.” The
difference between a page well-optimized for search and a
“gateway page?” No clear lines there, but quality of content is
probably the determining factor.

* HTML. Okay, most of you probably know this one, but there are
probably some of you who don’t. HTML stands for Hyper-Text
Mark-up Language, and it is the core building block that has
made that web the greatest modern tool for business, social,
informational, political and any other causes. Search engines
look exclusively at a web page’s HTML code to determine its
relevance. Therefore, it’s a good idea to pay attention to HTML
and familiarize yourself with proper tagging techniques if
you’re hoping to get a good handle on SEO.

* Link Popularity. Inbound links are probably the most important
optimization point for web pages. Number, quality, trust – these
are all factors that affect the value of an inbound link. Going
back to the HTML root of search, link popularity (in terms of
quantity) measures how many pages point to your site using
anchor text (<a href=”www.yoursite.com”>link text</a>).

* Link Building. In short, the process of gaining links at other
web sites pointing in to pages on your own.

* Link Baiting. The process of generating high-quality content
on your pages that users will appreciate and link to voluntarily.

* Meta Tags. Meta tags are found at the top of a page’s source
code. They are used to specify certain things that might not be
found in the page content. They also allow webmasters to put up
certain “flags” that search engine crawlers can react to. There
are many Meta tags available for use, and many of them can help
with SEO to a great extent and for a variety of purposes.
However, Meta tags are no longer used in the way they originally
were – as a place to stuff keywords to drive your site up in
rankings. Some webmasters out there are still doing this, but
they are decidedly behind the times and unaware of the
impending, or already cast-down, penalties.

* Robots. See also “crawlers.”

* Search Engines. If you don’t know what a search engine is
congratulations on finally making it out from under that rock.
Search engines are essentially programs that scan an existing
index of the web based on a query of search terms, or keywords,
that a user enters. However, the word more commonly refers to
companies as a whole – Google, for example, controls a search
engine, while Googlebot is the crawler the gathers content for
its index, but most users and webmasters think of a search
engine as the whole package.

* Search Engine Marketing. Most often this refers to
Pay-Per-Click marketing in which an advertiser bids on chosen
keywords and writers several ads to be displayed should their
bid achieve placement. These ads are displayed in the
“sponsored” section of search engine result pages (SERPS).
However, in some circles this term is used to refer to any
action taken to gain rankings both paid and organic.

* Search Engine Optimization. This one is open to
interpretation. It is quite often used to encapsulate a huge
amount of different tactics. On-site optimization, off-site
optimization (link building, etc) and many other techniques all
feasibly fall under the SEO blanket. However, there is an
obvious difference between optimizing a page’s code to be clean
and search friendly and writing link bait that will be popular
and get linked to.

* Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The pages resulting from
a search engine query run by a user. Webmasters review these
pages to determine where their pages are ranking for certain
search terms.

* Spamming. Basically, any unnatural effort to bring a page
higher in search results. What constitutes spam is open to some
interpretation, but the only interpretation you need to worry
about is that of the major search engines. If Google, for
example, considers a technique “spammy” you’d be wise to cease
at once.

* Spiders. See also “crawlers.”

* Submission. For SEO this has traditionally meant submitting a
web site to search engines so they’ll know about and crawl it.
SEO firms offered submission services as a big selling point to
bring in clients. However, for a long time now submitting your
site to search engines hasn’t done jack. They’re all much
smarter now – just focus on gaining quality inbound links and
your site will be indexed in no time.

 This is just a sample of the core vocabulary associated with
SEO. Is this all you need to know? Absolutely not. But in my
experience these are the words and phrases that newcomers have
the most trouble with. If these definitions help one person have
a better understanding of SEO then I will be satisfied.

About the author:
Mike Tekula is the founder and Lead Strategist at <a
href=”http://www.tekwebsolutions.com/”>Tek Web Solutions</a> in
New York and specializes in W3C Standards compliance, search
engine optimization and <a
href=”http://www.tekwebsolutions.com/”>generating increased web
site traffic</a>.

Blog Design and Theme

This is your chance to make a great first impression.
Personally, I’m a fan of WordPress. However, no matter the blog publisher or website host…NEVER go with just the standard/default template that is available. Search for templates and themes that are “clean” and fresh looking. If you are using a lot of pictures and videos, you may want a theme that is darker in presentation. Lots of text and information, lighter colored themes seem to work best.

Keyword Selection

We could really spend all day talking about this topic, but for the sake of the article we’ll keep it short. Effective keyword usage is your way of telling the search engines what information your website contains. If you are marketing a dog training course, your blog/site should be peppered with the phrase “dog training” through the site. Never, EVER…do keyword stuffing (using the same phrase over and over) it is a quick way to get your website sent to the bottom of the pack.

META-TAG Optimization

In all honesty, there are some people that say this is unnecessary. My opinion is that every little bit helps. Plus, for the most part, once you do this you rarely, if ever, need to go back and update it. This is the area that you can put your top 10-20 keyword phrases. Additionally, use a MetaTag description that is a 4-6 sentence description of your website.
Make sure you place several of your keywords in this description.

Link using Keywords

No website should be an island to itself. No links in or out is a surefire way to make sure you don’t get any search engine traffic. Whether you are linking to or from your site, use one of your relevant keywords as the anchor text. Simply using “Click Here” does very little for your SEO and internet marketing.

Link within your blog/site

As you create more articles and post more content, its safe to say that you will discuss the same or similar information in different postings. Link to other articles and postings within your blog. Give the search engines every piece of help in indexing your site.

Good Permalink Structure

Again, using every opportunity to get our keywords involved in our internet marketing…make sure that you are using good permalink structure. What’s a permalink? The URL for this post as it appears on my site is http://kevincrawley.com/2010/02/27/seo-for-blogs-internet-marketi
ng-101 With this URL, my keywords “internet marketing” is getting another opportunity to shine. Had I not made the change, my URL by default would have been something like
www.kevincrawley.com/?p=5

Get a Domain Name

If you are on a budget…fine, get the free option of a blogger.com or wordpress.com site. However, if you really want to make some headway with any type of marketing strategy for the internet, invest the few dollars and get a domain name. There are several hosting companies out there. My personal preference is Global Domains International. I’m an affiliate and it allows me to build an income by sharing the service which makes my hosting FREE!

These are just a few steps that you should take if you want to improve you search engine optimization. No, you will not jump to the top of Google rankings on day one, but consistent effort and actions will bring you results that will pay off.

About the author:
Kevin Crawley is a trainer/teacher and entrepreneur that loves to see people reach their fullest potential. Find out more about him and get more tips at www.kevincrawley.com