SEO Mistakes – A Lesson Learned from the JCPenney Fiasco

As recent as just a few years ago, creating a web presence simply meant creating a site, creating content, and publishing the site online.  Period. Individuals did not take into account how traffic would flow to their site or how it was supposed to get into the top results in page rankings by the top search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, and more recently, Bing.  Then in 2006, the words “search engine optimization” began to appear.  Since that time, SEO has become one of the leading strategies to drive traffic to one’s site for many companies across a wide range of industries.

SEO is a powerful method for companies to increase their flow of traffic and therefore increase their sales in the process.  Actually, it is fair to say that a company that does not use some form of SEO in their marketing strategy is somewhat foolish, as one can bet that the company’s competitors are using it.

As important as SEO is to a business, it is important to utilize this marketing technique in an ethical manner that follows rules that are created by the search engines themselves.  If a company does not follow rules that have been created in order to minimize unfair competition, they find out, much the same as JCPenney’s did, that there are consequences to breaking the rules.  It is important to maximize one’s potential with relevance, not with deception.  For instance, JCPenney recently had created SEO in such a way that for many unrelated items, they would be the top ranked result.  For example, when searching for Samsonite Luggage, a user would find JCPenney in the top ranked position, thereby beating out the luggage maker’s own site.

The bottom line is that JCPenney had employed the SEO firm known as SearchDex to perform their search engine optimization tactics for them.  This firm proceeded, whether with or without JCPenney’s knowledge, to perform “black hat” techniques, also known as cheating one’s way to the top, which involved paying many sites to unethically link back to JCPenney.  In short, more than 80% of the links created had absolutely nothing to do with JCPenney.  Black hat techniques do not lengthen a business’ lifespan; in fact, this brand of SEO will get a company blacklisted from the search engines, as it did for BMW a few years prior.  What every business owner needs to know is how to avoid the crisis that befell both JCPenney and BMW.

For one thing, a company has to play by the rules to ensure a fair competitive marketplace for all industries.  Search engines will not accept ignorance as an excuse for ignoring these rules.  Know what one’s SEO company is all about, and keep tabs on what is going on with his or her company’s search branding.  Be sure to communicate upfront about what will be admissible and what will not be tolerated.  It can be tempting for an SEO company to want to impress its clients with great search results, so make sure that the SEO company with which one chooses to do business is reputable and understands what one wants.

As stated, keep tabs on the SEO company’s dealings with one’s site.  Even assuming that JCPenney really did not know what their SEO company, SearchDex, was up to, it is stated plainly in every law book that ignorance is no excuse.  For instance, if JCPenney was on top of their game, they would have found out long before the New York Times ran the story that something was afoul in how they were gaining visitors.  If one’s company decides to outsource their search engine optimization, it is important to keep tabs on how they optimize one’s site.

For all intents and purposes, take the high road, and acquire one’s visitors organically, or naturally.  It is unscrupulous and unethical to purchase links from link brokers in order to increase one’s site’s visibility.  In fact, the sale of links is an unethical practice in and of itself.

In order to optimize one’s site ethically and organically, use focused keywords as anchor text from external sites related to one’s industry to link to one’s site.  Focus on the popularity of external links that one has. Have a diverse source of external links.  Check into the trustworthiness of the domain of the original link based on the distance between it and trusted domains. And finally, simply stick to search engine optimization strategies that are legitimate in order to make one’s site visible.

Is It Time for Your Company to Get a Mobile Website?

If you are getting ready to market your website to the mobile minions, you need to take some time to decide if you simply want a mobile application, or if you want a full blown interactive website for your visitors.  Of course, the end point is what you are after, so the choice between mobile applications and mobile websites is a paramount one; it all depends upon the goals you have for your company and the budget you have to make it happen.

You are first going to want to identify who your target audience is.  If you want to reach a large amount of individuals, opting for the mobile website is most likely your best bet.  Mobile applications are great; but, they only work on the device for which they have been created, such as the Blackberry or the iPhone.  So if you decide to work on a Blackberry application, you must remember that it will only work on the Blackberry, and that cuts out many potential customers who are iPhone or Android users. 

However, if you decide to create a mobile website, this can be accessed by any device, thereby opening up your targeted audience to iPhone users and prepaid cell phone users alike.

So, after you have decided your target market, you can begin to formulate your goals.  In this process you must decipher who the end user is that you wish to captivate with your site.  Sites are much better when it comes to being able to utilize SEO to pull in traffic.  Applications will be housed in an app store where the individual end user will have to perform the search him- or herself, whereas a website can use SEO marketing tips to submit the site to the search engines which do all of the searching for the individual.   Not to mention that sites are simply less expensive to develop.  This makes branding your company with a mobile website the most obvious choice.

Before designing, find out if the site that one has can transition to a mobile device and still be readable.  If so, then you are in business already; but, the fact of the matter is that most sites do not transition well if at all to a mobile device.  In order to take advantage of the mobile web’s ecommerce opportunities, your mobile site should be configured to allow for individuals to either pay their bill or make purchases.  This has been reported as the single most relevant reasons that individuals will surf the web on their mobile devices.

Finally, figure out how you want your site to be presented.  There are several ways of accomplishing this, and a couple of the major options are outlined below. 

Find what it is about your home website that makes it so attractive to its visitors.  Then, begin building a scaled down version.  The mobile device user will still be able to experience the feel of your regular site, only in a smaller version.  This option works well for companies that have a strong online clientele.

Your second option could be a site with just your company’s basic information, such as contact information.  This will scale down the costs you have to pay, as well as give users the choice to contact you via the contact form or to be taken directly to the regular website.  This works well for companies that simply want to highlight their services rather than open a portal for customers to shop.

In short, 2011 is definitely the year of the mobile device making this the best time ever to consider investing in a mobile presence.

5 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website

Many people are of the notion that simply creating  a website and getting it online is the end of their work.  This is simply not the case.  One’s site will not obtain any visitors if it is not listed with the search engines or directories.  There are a variety of services available to an individual or company, but these can cost hundreds of dollars.  Social networking is also a great way to promote one’s site, but that can also cost the individual money if he or she has to hire another person to do all of the tedious legwork.  In other words, the best way to promote one’s site should involve as little work and have the least amount of money involved.  The following is five easy ways to promote one’s website for free.

Google is the most popular of all search engines.  For many people, this is the only search engine they use on a regular basis.  People of all ages use Google to find what they need, and if one’s website is listed with Google, he or she has a much better chance of reaching a wider audience if his or her site is listed in Google.  Doing research will enlighten one as to how to submit his or her site to multiple search engines; just remember, not all search engine listings are free.

Another great free way to publicize one’s site is by adding an email signature at the bottom of his or her emails.  Adding a signature is easy, and instructions can be found easily within one’s email service provider.  The individual’s email signature should include his or her name, all of his or her relevant contact information, and the domain name of his or her site.

Writing a keyword-rich title page is very important to ranking high within the search engines.  In fact, it has been shown that over 70% of people do not search much farther than the first three or four listings on the results page.  Writing a descriptive title for each page on one’s site will help it rank higher, thereby sending more traffic to one’s site if he or she is providing an in-demand product or service.  Using descriptive words on one’s homepage is also a good idea, because the title one creates will be what people see in the search engine rankings.

Creating a descriptive META tag is also a very important step in this process.  This is the description that will be included below the hyperlinked title of one’s page in the search engine results. It is not a good idea to use keywords in this space that do not appear on one’s site, as this could be considered spam, and will not be judged very highly by search engine representatives.

Once one has performed all of these steps, he or she is ready to progress to the final step, which is learning how to optimize his or her site with SEO, or search engine optimization.  This simply requires keyword-rich content to be placed on one’s site.  There are professional SEO writers that specialize in this type of web promotion.  It is a good idea to have hired the SEO expert in the beginning of one’s bid for placement, as an SEO expert can help one with his or her keywords throughout the entire process.  Also, this way the SEO professional will understand what the client’s site is all about well before it is time for him or her to begin writing the page content.