Live Lab SEO

Put Your Small Business on the first page of Google… So naturally curiosity will kill the cat… as Google to me always seemed to be an awesome cat and mouse tool… Could this really be done...? Watch the SEO and OBF Video Below SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and having a website alone is not sufficient… Online Business Footprinting is the activity businesses share utilizing online Tools - Apps and Software  so before you go around paying 5k for a 3 month stint to an ‘expert’ here is how you can tackle the SEO basics for your small enterprise… Your Business Domain Name Your Domain name is most things, the be all and end of all of it all. Avoid long domain names. Simple Domain names that encompass your business framework and the design of your business. You can opt for many different types (.com - .co.za - .biz - .info etc). Good Hosting Costs Money – Expect to pay between R50 to R150 a month (+-1.2K (R1200.00) a year) for a reliable and go...

Google Launches Major Push To Get Local Businesses Online, Improve Data New site offers tools, content and solicits business owners to update information. Google is introducing a program it’s calling Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map . This new portal (Get Your Business Online) is not unlike Facebook’s Blueprint and Learn How sites launched this week. It offers resources to business owners (and potential partners) to help them get online or correct and complete their online presences. Each user who visits will see a localized version of the site (based on IP detection). In addition to various FAQs, videos and other information, Google invites business owners to search for themselves and then tells them whether their listings are present and complete. If “incomplete” it asks businesses to update their information. For those not online at all, Google is also offering a free domain and hosted website (for one year) through Startlogic. Consistent with its AdWords reseller stra...

How I ranked at the top of Google… On accident. Why new marketers shouldn’t be afraid of Hummingbird. I-C Hummingbird… If you’re new to online marketing, you might have read quite a few anecdotes of how Google has ruined search with their latest update, Hummingbird. Black and white hat marketing forums were littered with stories of how their keyword packed pages that were once reigning the top of Google search are now in the dark abyss (read: second page of search results). This was because Googlers got smarter. On an average, people were typing more words into their Google search results. People are no longer writing vague, short-tail keyword terms to find their desired information. They’re now writing keyphrases. Keyphrases have been what replaced keywords. For example, if I were selling low-priced blankets (I’m writing in bed right now) I would want any customer who searched “Where to buy the cheapest blanket?” to see me immediately. This is what would be known as long-...

3 Keys To Understanding Your SEO Needs Many businesses know they need search engine optimization, but they don't know much more beyond that. Columnist Casie Gillette has tips for determining the specifics. I-C   If you’re a provider of search engine optimization (SEO) services, you’ve undoubtedly heard the following: “I know I need SEO, but I don’t know exactly what I need.” If you aren’t an SEO vendor, you may have found yourself saying just that at one time or another. Businesses have slowly but surely begun to realize the value of search engine optimization, and consequently, the demand for SEO services has increased. However, it’s important to understand what you hope to gain from an SEO program before you embark on one. After all, SEO can involve a lot of different things: technical audits, on-page content recommendations, conversion optimization recommendations, blog posts, link building programs, etc. It could also be priced in an...

In the future, Google may value the accuracy of your content more than the quality of your backlinks, according to a paper (PDF) recently published by researchers within the company. New Scientist reports that Google is working on a system where it can determine the trustworthiness of a page not by who is linking to it, or how many incoming links it has, but by the number of facts it contains. I-C A score, called a Knowledge-Based Trust score, would be computed for each page by cross referencing the content with facts stored in Google’s Knowledge Vault. The Knowledge Vault is a database of 2.8 billion facts extracted from the web, and is the primary source of information behind theboxes that appear on the right side of some searches. The more facts contained on a page, the better it will rank. In instances where few facts are found on a page, Google will check the accuracy of other content contained on the site to determine how well it can be trusted overall. In...

Your company's logo is the foundation of your business branding. It is probably the first interaction that you will have with your customers. An effective logo can establish the right tone and set the proper ethos. After years of crafting logos for different projects, I've come up with a set of questions that I always ask myself before delivering a new logo. 1. What emotions does the logo evoke? Above all design guidelines, the most important criterion is whether the logo reflects the character of the company. The emotions that the logo evoke should be appropriate to the company values. For example, the Disney logo evokes a sense of happiness and optimism. The curvy, fun typeface is appropriate for a company that has been making cartoons and animated pictures for kids. However, a similar logo style on a sales platform would not be appropriate. Behind every great logo is a story. Designers should understand the psychology of colors and the effect that typeface has on ...

Like this infographic? Get landing page advice that works from Copyblogger .