Many painting contractors have spent some effort in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of their websites so that they can rank higher in the search engines, particularly Google.  It’s quite common to see that while some of the search engine optimization that small businesses have done to their site are working, there are many other things that can be done to improve the website’s position in Google that have been overlooked.

For example, is the site optimized for the most frequently searched, relevant and commercially viable keywords that fit the services that your business offers?  Do you know what those keywords are?  Many painting contractors miss optimizing for some very relevant keywords.

There are also a number of on-page and off-page factors that affect how your website ranks in Google.  Many business owners may use some but not all of the factors to the best extent they could with a few (often simple) adjustments to their website.

An SEO Audit entails a review of how your pages rank for the top keyword phrases relevant to your business, an analysis of your site’s on-page and off-page SEO factors, a review of your Google Analytic’s search engine statistics, and some recommendations for you on what things you can do to improve your site’s search engine ranking.

When should you consider having an SEO Audit?  Now is a good time, if you have done a lot of work on your website and it still isn’t ranking in Google as well as your competitors’ websites.  Certainly, if you are considering a major re-do of your website, investing in an SEO Audit before you start the project will more than pay for itself, by focusing your web designer’s efforts more effectively.

Here’s where you can find out more about getting an SEO Audit for your website.

Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, SEO, SEO Audit

Well, maybe.  It depends on how you set up your blog and how it is hosted.  It is often recommended that the easiest way to keep your website updated with new content is to add a blog and make frequent posts.  However, your decision on how to set it up can make a world of difference.

A question recently came up as we were reviewing statistics for a client’s website. He has a great blog that is keyword optimized and his blog posts rank very high in Google for some of his key phrases.  But it turns out that the blog isn’t hosted on his domain, but on a third party domain, so while he is getting traffic to his blog, he isn’t really building any backlinks or authority to his own site.

Here are 3 scenarios that I know of that business owners can be aware of when deciding to set up a blog.

1. The blog lives on a sub-domain of a third party, for example www.yourcompanyname.thirdpartydomain.com.  While you get the benefit of getting your posts to rank in Google by optimizing them, the weight of the overall authority and backlinks goes to the third party which can still help you indirectly, but is not your web property.
2. The blog lives on a sub-domain of your own URL, for example www.blog.yourdomain.com. Using this scenario actually doesn’t accrue authority to your domain but does accrue backlinks and authority to the blog itself which is still your own web property.
3. The blog lives on a subfolder or page on your site, for example www.yourdomain.com/blog which would then get all the accrued authority and back links to the same site.

So, it really depends on what you want to accomplish with your blog on how you set it up. Only the third scenario is going to update your primary domain with fresh content, but you may have other reasons to use one of the other scenarios.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, search engine optimization, SEO

According to PC World Magazine,  we should still count on Google to stay on top as the go-to search engine in spite of the recent merger of two giants Microsoft and Yahoo!  with the addition of the Bing search engine to Yahoo!

Author Todd Weiss, in a recent article states that Google is likely to stay on top as the search engine of choice for savvy consumers.

He cites the following reasons:

Google continues to come out with great innovations and free services that consumers love to use.

Though Bing may improve the Yahoo! search function, those like Weiss who have tried it say that in spite of some cool features, it doesn’t measure up in functionality to Google, plus Google has the advantage of familiarity for most consumers

Technorati Tags: Internet Search

Create ranking synergy by being smart about how you write your website content and using links to get better results.  You want to create pages that people like, content that keeps them on your site reading and looking around, and that brings them back for more. Good linking will help your good content get found and tie your content together in a way that gives it context and relevance.

Here’s how good content and good links work together:

Content is what you talk about on your website.  The purposes of your content is to provide good information to your reader.  You may want your content to inform, educate, entertain, promote an idea or product, and/or persuade the reader to take some action.  Good content will help your website rank well for search engines as well as your target customer.

People need visual cues when they are reading, like headings, section breaks and relevant words.  Your content should be easy to navigate, have a professional appearance and give good value to the reader.  Search engines are trying to replicate the way people search, so your page titles as well as your headers are indicators that your content is what they are looking for.  If you are trying to rank for a certain key word or phrase, it is important that the key phrase be prominently used.

Since individual web pages are stand alone pieces of content, bringing them together by linking adds context to the information on a specific page.   Your links should be transparent about where they are taking the reader.  For example, a link with the anchor text Interior Painting should go to a page that has a title and headline about Interior Painting.  This makes both human readers and search engines happy. Anchor text is the word or phrase in which the link is embedded.  Make good use of relevant keywords that describe the link destination as anchor text instead of embedding the link in the words “Click Here”, for example.

In addition more incoming links to a page from other pages in your own website or external websites add more authority to your page relevance for the search engines.

Here are 5 Tips for improving your ranking with content and linking:

1. A website with more pages is better because you have more places to put links to related content and keywords.
2. Add new content to your site often
3. Make good use of relevant keywords and phrases in your titles and headlines
4. Be aware of opportunities to link your pages together with relevant key words
5. Look for other relevant websites where you can get links to back to your site.

Technorati Tags: links, search engine optimization, web content

When a visitor comes to your blog, you have less than 3 seconds to engage them.  So you want them to immediately feel that they have come to a place where they can get the information they seek presented in a way that is easy to use and interesting to read.

Put yourself in your reader’s place, and think about what you like to find when you visit blogs on topics that interest you.  Use some or all of the following guidelines to make your blog stand out from the competition.

First impressions are always critical
Does your blog have a professional look?  You want your blog to have a branded look and feel that matches well with your professional presence and your website and displays your logo.

Make yourself accessible
People like doing business with people they can relate to.  Include a photo of the business owner or the team in your “about us” page.  Make your contact information easy to find, so your visitors can get in touch with you.  It also gives credibility to your business.

Add value to your readers
Make sure that you are first bringing value to your readers with good information and resources that they can use before pitching your product or services.  Your blog is a means to deepen the relationship helping your visitors get to know you and become comfortable with your credibility and authority through your blog posts.

Add interest with multimedia
Try adding audio and video components to your blog.  Not only do visitors enjoy the multimedia aspect, but it can add to your credibility and expertise as a painting contractor to describe things in your own word, demonstrate a technique, or show a skilled craftsman in action.  Photographs of your recent projects, galleries, before and after photos are also interesting to your visitors.

Provide opportunities for interaction
Asking for feedback, and comments on your blog allows your readers to interact with you which also helps to develop the relationship.  Another good tool to involve your readers is by placing polls on your blog and allowing readers to see the results.

Use testimonials
If most of your business comes from referrals, posting testimonials to your blog can help the visitor who is not already familiar with your company to feel more sure that they are making a good choice in contacting you.  Consider getting an audio or video testimonial for even more impact.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, relationship marketing

More businesses are engaging in email marketing every day.  For one, it is lower cost that snail mail marketing, and it is easy to create and deploy, thereby saving time as well as money.  Whether you are just getting started with email marketing or you have even been doing it for awhile, here are 5 things that you can start doing this month to improve your results.

Make it easy for people to sign up for your newsletter
Offer an email newsletter sign up form on your website and on your blog.  For my Small Business Coaching & Consulting website, I have my email sign up form on every page plus on my blog.   Most email software providers give you the code to add to your website or blog to make this an easy process.

Offer an incentive to sign up
Do you have a whitepaper, a checklist or some other resource that you have developed that your readers would value?  Put it in a PDF or some form that is easy to download and difficult to edit.  Add the download link to your confirmation page or create an autoresponder that gets emailed to your subscriber once they have has signed up.

Send regular communications to your list
Get people used to hearing from you, with good information of course!  If you start by sending a monthly newsletter, people wonder when they don’t receive anything from you for 3 or 4 months.  Don’t bombard your list, but do keep them informed of specials, promotions and valuable information that builds trust.

Track your results
It’s critical to pay attention to your statistics to find out what is working and what your readers respond to.  Most email software applications provide statistics on opens, opt-outs and bounced email addresses.  Even more interesting is that you can see what links that they clicked on in your email message, which shows you who was interested enough to read more on a specific topic or promotion.  To this end, you will want to make sure you insert links to a page on your website, a downloadable coupon within each article or section in your newsletter.  This will give you information about what interested your readers most.

Follow up on Clicks
With some email providers like Constant Contact, you can then easily move the people who click on a subject of interest to another list.  For example if your article contained a link on Faux Finishes, you could put all the people who clicked on that link into a “Faux Finish Interest List” and perhaps send them a later email blast or an autoresponder with more information about Faux Finishes and decorative painting.

Technorati Tags: Email Marketing, relationship marketing