#michaelgrosheim

If you have just launched a website or you have had your website up for a while but are frustrated that your not moving up the rankings in search engines, especially Googel, MSN and Yahoo, this is the article you must read. While there are a number of reasons you may not be moving onto page one of search engines, the most common reason rankings are hindered is your website design and layout itself. So, how do you know if your website is poorly designed or optimized?

There are seven, count 'em - seven quick fixes that can help to boost your organic rankings.

Titles: The title of a web page is the most important part of optimizing your website. The title is the first tag found by search engines spidering your site. Be sure you are using a custom title tag on every one of your pages; for example, instead of using "Bob's Wesbite" as the title of every page, you may want to use "Come Learn More About Bob - The Best SEO Guy" as the title of your about me page. While you title should be short, sweet and to the point, if you choose to be extra wordy, keep in mind that most (if not all) search engines only include the first 80 characters.

Redirects: Not all website use redirect options. If you do, you must make sure that your script is formatted properly. There are many different options when using a redirect - Java, HTML, .htaccess - and since I am not well versed in all of the different forms, I would suggest picking up a book or asking your web developer to double, even triple check everything.

Backlinks: Think of backlinks as free advertising. It not only creates more "buzz" for search engines to include in their results, but it also puts your website, and your brand, all over the Internet making it easier for people to find you. Your goal is to create quality backlinks for websites similar to yours and the blogs you follow on a regular basis. Adding backlinks is something you need to work on constantly. if you miss a month you could easily fall behind your competition. How do you create backlinks quickly and effectively? Leave comments on websites and blogs that have products or services similar to yours. Every comment will have the option to add your name and a web address, which should link directly to your website.

Content: While the content on your website needs to be fresh, up-to-date and added frequently, context - in my opinion- is far more important. Have you ever wondered why a blog or website does so well? It is not just about the fresh content the post every day. It has everything to do with the context of the articles. Search engines love new content that has keywords that describe your business and brand.

Structure: If you build a skyscraper without the proper structure it is going to crumble right before your eyes. The same goes for your website. THe internal liks that yo use to structure your website are extremely important. If you are only using a menu navigation across the top or down the side of your website then your internal linking structure is poorly designed. Use links to other pages on your website and your blog in the content you post daily. If you are suggesting someone "Contact Me," link the text to your contact page. You can also link your keywords to specific article on your blog. Equally as important, create links that direct your visitors to other websites taht may have more information on a topic you're discussing or a review of a product, for example. This will strengthen your link structure as well as your backlinks!

External links: If you are linking out to another website or blog, make sure you take a good look at those links. Make sure they are relevant to your service and not spam. If a site you are linking to is spam, there is a good chance the search engines will think you are spam as well; and that's not good news. Only link to sites that you feel are trust worthy.

Keyword usage: Some SEO's will argue that keywords no longer play a part in search engine optimization. In some ways this is true, however, using keywords in your title, meta description and other areas of your head is an excellent idea. First let me say, DO NOT over use a specific keyword. If a keyword is used with too much frequency it may be considered spam by search engines. Keep a nice balance when using keywords. An average of 100-150 keywords per page (which includes the keywords used in your header) is perfect to help boost your rankings without being "spammy."

There are many issues which may lead to poor ranking on search engines. These are the ones that are found most common. A few simple little tweaks can seriously boost your SEO and draw in a considerable amount of traffic. I hope you find these suggestions useful; but, if you have made some, or all, of these changes and are not seeing a difference in your rankings, feel free to give me a call - we can walk through it all together.

Even if you're using social media as your main point of contact with prospects and customers or as a way to spread the word about your affiliate or article marketing campaign, it is very important to have a web presence to reach out and tell people about you and your brand. Any business owner who has a website can speak highly about it's ROI. But, what if you're not convinced? Is this my 5 minutes to sell you on the idea? It shouldn't be.

As a savvy business owner, you should already understand the importance of a website. But, if the cost of designing and hosting a custom domain is a little to daunting for you, consider this; when it comes to building a website for small business, nothing compares to Yola.

There are plenty of options to choose from, so you can tailor a solution that best meets your needs. Teyoffer one of the best free design and hosting packages available with: free hosting, easy-to-use website builder and award-winning customer support.

If you want an even more powerful website, with a custom domain and premium design style, it will only cost you $4.16 a month (that's $49.95 a year) – you can't beat that! If you want a comparison, the average hosting and domain registration runs $19.99 per month.

Get Your Website On With Yola! Learn More!

For way too long now, building your own website lived in the realm of black-framed-eyeglass-wearing graphic designers in the alleys of SOHO or lanyard-garbed gearheads who breathe and dream code in Silicon Valley. Well, it's time that changed. Yola brings website building to the rest of us. Small businesses. Groups and organizations. Non-profits. Your Aunt Martha. The guy in the next cube. Everyone.

Their website builder lets you easily take what's in your head and turn it into webpages in front of your eyes. Yola lets you make great-looking sites with webpages that work beautifully together. We do it without imposing banner ads or throwing up pop-up ad windows everywhere.

Yola fundamentally believes you should be able to build and host your website without paying thousands of dollars for a designer, a suite of software or a hosting company; you have absolutely everything you need to get your site up and running. And, if you are worried about all the technical mumbo-jumbo, Yola always giving you a helping hand, so you'll never feel like you're stuck. They even have the awards to back it up!

You have the power to bring your business to the next level of professionalism with a very attractive website without the high price tag. So, do your business a favor. Get on the web with Yola.

Earlier this month, I discussed tips and tricks to help boost your Facebook fan base and increase visibility by turning your fan page from whimpy to wow. What's the next step? Optimizing your fan page by boosting your ranking and capturing your audience. If you're using social media as a tool to create a profile with your company information and a picture, and to connect with people who are contacting you, then you are making some very big mistakes.

As a business owner or individual with the goal of increasing brand awareness and driving in sales, you should not be sitting back waiting for customers to interact with. You should be using your Facebook fan page - or any social media account for that matter - as a landing page to interact with people that is rich with variety of marketing techniques.

The most important consideration to make when using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is how your content, wall posts and tweets effect search engines. The goal of your social media use should be to drive popularity and captivate an audience by increasing brand awareness.

As social media continues to grow and evolve, more and more businesses will be utilizing the great benefits it has to offer. For this reason, Social Media SEO needs to play a huge part in your social media marketing efforts in order to stand out in the crowd. With that in mind, there are a few "Must-Dos" for every business or personal brand that wants to optimize their social media experience - in this case, Facebook.

Respect Your Audience. Every person you connect with has the right to his or her own opinion. When it comes to good and bad experiences, most people are more likely to be vocal about a bad experience they have had with your company. Use social media to make a public attempt to resolve the issue and find a solution. Instead of using your profile page to pitch products and services, utilize this space to connect with customers by posting information they may be interested in, as it relates to your industry. This is also a great place to provide them with free tools, information and coupons to show them how much their being a fan means to you.

Use Your Keywords. The keywords you use on your website or blog are a key contributor in determining your ranking on a search engine. This is equally true for social media. Including keywords that describe your business, service or brand on Facebook will be recognized by search engines increasing your ranking. While you should include keywords in your posts, it is a very good idea to include those same keywords in the "Info" section of your profile. These keywords will help to boost your fans, optimizing your overall social media experience.

Engage And Reciprocate. Instead of sitting back and waiting for people to come to you, go out and engage with them on their wall by posting comments. Help people by providing answers to their questions or suggesting links to information they may find useful. People who find your information useful will click through to your fan page and, if your content is engaging, will become a fan. This is the most social way to use social media and improve traffic to your fan page.

Using Multiple Media. Unlike some other social media platforms, Facebook offers the ability to included different applications on your profile. If you have a blog, include a tab with your RSS feed. If you post videos on YouTube, include those videos on your fan page and in a tab to give your fans direct access. There are several applications which will create a fun, engaging and informative fan page. Don't over-crowd your profile with tons of different application, but select a few and use them to their fullest potential.

Finally, the people who are succeeding with social media are the people you should be learning from. The same keywords that you should be using to optimize your social media experience are also amazing tools to help you find incredible amounts of free information on the web. Search for people in your industry who are "Crushing It" - in the words of Gary Vaynerchuk - and copy what they are doing. Don't be afraid to try new marketing ideas and to be creative; and, when you find something that works for you, stick with it!