This Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Cartoons Quiz is funnier that the first one I posted last week. It is not as serious but just as difficult. There are only 15 questions. Try it. It only takes 1 minute to complete.

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Eric Lowe, Online Marketing Strategist from the Rick Hansen Foundation sent me an SEO Quiz today. If you think you know a lot about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and consider yourself and expert, please take a few minutes to take the test. It is a serious exam and should be treated as such. If you are looking to hire an SEO specialist, use this as an entry test. I scored 64%. How did you do? Share your results here and learn what you missed.

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When a business owner expresses the interest to launch a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan, which is the most entry level form of online promotion, a lot of questions come to mind. A long time ago, I prepare this list of questions for business owners, not currently engaged in Search Marketing, before they come and see me for advices, prices and such. They are basic questions but they are quite important since they make an overview of the fundamental elements of online promotion. They also contribute to a good client assessment process so nobody is wasting any time. Too often I see sites that are broken, inappropriately hosted with poor domain names, no web analytics and so on. Therefore, before you get into any forms of online promotion, you need to be able to answer the following questions, so that we will be able to help you and your business go further on the e-commerce side. They are simple, but you must be able to answer most of them. Here it goes:

Do you have a reliable hosting plan? What is your uptime?

How much do you pay for it on a monthly basis?

Do you use all of the data transfer?

Do they (the hosting company) provide a comprehensive visitors stat report?

Do you have any other Web Analytics software (such as Google Analytics)

Are you satisfied with your actual website (graphic, content etc.)?

How much did you pay for it (your website)?

Who created it?

Are you proud of it?

Is your website up to date in terms of design and content?

How much do you invest in it every year in maintenance cost ?

Would you be proud to invite 40,000 targeted potential customers to take a look at it?

How many people visit your website, on a monthly basis?

How many people would you wish visit your website per week?

in 6 month? in a year?

Did you ever think of your website as an employee, a sales rep essentially, working for you 24 hours a day / 7 days a week (and never complain)? 

Do you agree to spend marketing dollars to attract more customers to your company’s website?

Do you have a marketing plan?

Does your plan include search marketing?

Are you willing to learn more about search marketing?

Do you want to do it yourself or you want to hire a pro?

Do you have a keyword-rich domain name?

Do you plan on registering more keyword-rich domain names?

Does investing $20,000 in search marketing per year overall sounds like a good idea?

What does it worth to you if you reach your sales objectives?

How is your life will change if you sell more?

These are eye opener questions that help build the foundation of a future Search Marketing plan. If you are not proud of your site to start put, do not put any value in this channel, there is obviously not much we can do for you. But, if you are willing to learn and see this initiative as a long term investment in your business, we should talk.

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A lot of website owners are upset or puzzled when their website’s Google PageRank goes down or does not rise. Is it worth losing any sleep over changes in that green line and number that appear in a Google tool bar at the top of your browser? I think that excessive worry or thought about PageRank is not constructive, and it is better to put it all in perspective by taking a rational look at what PageRank is and what it is not. If you don’t even know what PageRank is, take a minute to download an install the Google Toolbar. Make sure you enable the advanced options, which includes the PageRank bar.

First of all, the concept behind PageRank is indeed at the heart of Google’s ranking process. The Google founders noticed that in many academic documents some sources were continually cited. They reasoned that if a particular document such as a book or research paper was mentioned in many places then it must be important. They applied this to the web and assumed that if one website links to another it is in fact, giving a “vote” for that site. A website that has many incoming links (or vote) must have a certain degree of importance. In the current Google algorithm the quantity and quality of incoming links is certainly a factor in deciding the ranking of a particular website for any given search-query.

Think about it. In the early days of the web people would build websites and then they would tell their visitors to check out other “cool” sites and they would link to these sites. This is the process of natural linking and it still goes on today. If you really have good content people will link to you without letting you know. Similarly if your name is Nickelback and your website is http://www.nickelback.com , thousands of people will link to you without you having to send a cheesy email begging for a link.

Various government agencies, educational institutions, established companies and anyone else who is “big” in the “real world” is likely to also be big on the Internet simply by virtue of their previous fame and accomplishment. This is not always true though. Google’s ranking system took this into consideration and this is one of the reasons why Google is currently the number one search engine. It gives better results and that is the main reason why people use it.

But, does that mean that only the big players can be seen on the net? Far from it. While there is a difference between one guy working in his house with one computer and a corporate giant with a whole staff, and this is indeed reflected in rankings. Prior to 1995 it would have been very hard for someone to spread their news and views far and wide as bloggers do today. It costs millions of dollars to publish a daily newspaper or to print and circulate a magazine, but it costs far less to publish a website or a blog, and lots of “little guys” have taken advantage of the power of the Internet.

But what about PageRank, how much of it do I really need to get my site noticed?

For those who are not familiar with the PageRank system:
Google supplies a toolbar which you can download and install on your browser. If you make a complete installation with all the advanced features, then every time you open a new website you will see a green and white bar with the label PageRank. Put your mouse on the bar and you will see a number from 0 to 10. If a website is not indexed by Google or banned by Google the bar may be grey or all white.

But what do the numbers mean? Is it worth worrying about a number 3 PageRank figure? Based on my observation I answer with my unofficial view on the rankings. Here is how I currently see it:

Page 0-2 shows that a site does not have many links and needs work. However, that does not mean you could not rank well if you have PageRank of 2 for several search terms in a fairly competitive industrial category. Therefore, PageRank is not everything; it may have an impact on your rankings and traffic, but in some cases it may not matter. In any case, if you have a PageRank of 0-2 (out of 10), you can work on it through proper link building activity which I will explain a little more at the end of the article.

PageRank 3 can be OK in some cases but in highly competitive industries you should work to improve it.

PageRank 4 is quite a normal number and indicates that you have enough links in either quantity or quality to make your site competitive.

PageRank 5 indicates that a site has many links or links from authoritative sites, and that Google has good “trust” in the site. It is a respectable and attainable PageRank.

PageRank 6 is very difficult to attain. This rank indicates that the site has many links and links from respected places. Remember the example of http://www.nickelback.com, which I mentioned above, it has a PageRank 6, so you can get an idea of the difficulty involved.

PageRank 7-10 is usually earned by large and established institutions or websites which have tremendous authority, due to the quantity and quality of the incoming links. It is extremely difficult to attain this ranking. You really have to be special to get it.

So, don’t worry excessively about PageRank. First look at your traffic, then look at your sales and finally at your bottom line. They are all important numbers to watch. If you want to increase your traffic and also PageRank, then here are a few steps that you can take:

1. Add content to your website. Make your website is so good and so useful that people will link to you without you asking for a link.

2. Write articles and get them published on other websites and blogs with a link back to your site.

3. Distribute online press releases

4. Judiciously exchange links, or even better, exchange content (containing links back to your site) with other websites.

5. Get your site listed in online directories.

These efforts will certainly help you to build targeted traffic, and they most probably will also help you to increase your PageRank as well. If you want me to get the job done for you on increasing your PageRank, then get in touch with me.

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Every week, I explain to new potential clients the power behind blogging and its relationship to the ongoing battle of increasing site traffic over time. Blogging has also a strong relationship with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on top of the fact that adding fresh content to your site (ie. Blog) helps improve your rankings. As you know, my Search Marketing Blog is only 6 months old and I am still learning how to do this right. So far so good. I can tell you that the process has been somewhat easier than anticipated but the results are far greater than what I expected. Before I show you the results, you must take note that I have been working on my blog approximately 5 to 10 hours per week. Here is the progression of readers I have had since March 15, 2007:

Not bad, eh? That is the kind of growth curve that I can live with.

And here is what you need to remember if you consider launching a blog, from my own experience:

It pays to have a blog! (real customers looking to buy from you)

It brings in better prospects

It brings awareness to the existence of your business (from those who just stumble upon your site)

It reaches an audience you did not previously have

It increases your potential customer-base

It solidifies your online presence

It raises your professional profile

It helps you becoming a better writer

It keeps you motivated as you evaluate your progress

It takes time

There are a lot of arguments for doing it and very few drawbacks. The ratio, cost (time) vs benefits is outstanding. Fortunately, as everything else online, you can measure your progress over time through Feedburner (owned by Google). Soon enough, we can speculate that the amount of subscribers to your RSS Feed (in this case 53 as of November 5, 2007) will become part of the Google search algorithm and this measure will help Google position your site organically. You can’t avoid it. If you are not sure which CMS (Content Management System) to use to incorporate a blog on your site and how to get this done, feel free to Contact me and I will suggest a few options and people to work with. For a thorough education process on Blogging, please sign up to attend the next Northern Voice Blogging Conference 2008 in Vancouver (BC) Canada (site to be updated soon). 

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Every time Gord Hotchkiss, President of Enquiro based in Kelowna (BC) Canada, write an article, you can be confident that he is going to hit the nail right on the head. In his most recent article on Ad Agencies and Search Marketing, Gord mentions that Ad Agencies are far from “getting” search and follow search marketing best practices. Even when they include search, for as little as they do, they miss the mark by a mile. It is especially dramatic when it comes to budgeting for it. Media plans & budgets are based on arbitrary numbers which are not a reflection of comprehensive business objectives. According to Gord, “Search dollars should be the first ones in, not the last. Take as much search inventory as you can get. Judge your costs per acquisition not against your top performing keywords, but against your other channels, both online and offline. If even the marginal search traffic is generating a lower CPA, beg, borrow and steal as much budget as you can and top up search. Only then should you move from “pull” (prospects holding up their hands to purchase through search) to “push” (trying to persuade latent prospects to purchase). Only put restrictions on your search campaign if you’re absolutely certain that another channel can exceed its effectiveness.”

Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro

For a review of all the benefits for doing Search Marketing, budgeting for it as well providing a perspective on the utilization of search to reach branding objectives, take a minute to read the article.

If you are still up for it, take a minute to read this: Search And the Digital CPG Shelf. It is about the utilization of Search Marketing for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), an area that has historically never used Search Marketing. The findings of the study are quite revealing and will convince the most skeptics. 

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