SEO: What's Working; What's Not |
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Written by Michael Ferrantino
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Wednesday, 04 June 2008 00:00 |
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I recently read a posting, where the poster was looking for an SEO specialist who could work with the metadata for a specific product / asset. The reason the ad struck me, is that they were looking for a "specialist" - but at the same time dictating the best methodology for accomplishing their SEO needs. If you're working in corporate America in technology, you'll understand this posting to be a part of daily life - a quite Dilbert-esque daily life.
Let's get some facts straight about SEO. Because best practices are changing daily, I suggest:
- Read up on the subject -daily
- View SEO in the proper perspective
- Assemble a small SEO team and meet at least once a week (this meeting should take 15 minutes or less)
- Monitor performance -daily
Viewing SEO in the proper perspective means that SEO is not a stand alone effort. Like all marketing efforts, it should be part of a larger arsenal that includes, AdWords, viral efforts (blogging), advertising and PR. We've worked with clients that ignore PR but were heavy into advertising and vice versa. Without getting into the ongoing debate about PR vs. Advertising, the correct methodology is coordination and balance between all efforts. When your campaigns are running, your website needs to match what's in those campaigns.
Your SEO team should include a webmaster and marketing person (if possible, junior-level will suffice). What should be discussed during the weekly meeting is traffic analysis and if applicable - sales and competition.
At the beginning of this blog I talked about metadata. The current problem with metadata is that search engines are more commonly crawling what's on the pages of a site -rather than what's in the metadata. For example, our SpellBy.com site has a visually weighted home page. Given this information - we now have to switch our strategy to include more product descriptions, which is something we were always reluctant to do because we know that most consumer purchases are based on the strength of the product images. Here, SEO changes what was once a best practice for selling product --not because it doesn't work anymore once a customer gets to your page - but because of the necessity of getting the customer to your page in the first place.
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Thoughts on Enforcing Your Patent |
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Written by Michael Ferrantino
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Tuesday, 03 June 2008 00:00 |
You've come up with a great idea, taken the time to develop and refine it - and even spent the money to file for a patent. You've even successfully brought your product to market. Now you notice that other "similar" products are appearing on the market. What do you do? You enforce your patent, period.
There really is no daisy-petal game of, "to sue or not to sue." Thinking, talking and writing about it regretfully, is an even further waste of time. If you don't take the necessary action to enforce your patent - you're derelict in your responsibility to your idea, your company, employees, family and most of all - to yourself. Why am I taking such a hard line here? I watched a former client's business deteriorate year after year, as the patent was infringed upon. This particular client, like many people, instead - chose to get bogged down in the details of their patent - and used that as an excuse not to enforce it, even when expert legal council advised otherwise. The bottom line is - it's well worth the cost to enforce your patent - and I dare say, it's somewhat of a civic duty. In business, you pick and choose your battles - and sweating the small stuff in lieu of something as big as your patent, will only keep you small.
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Written by Michael Ferrantino
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 00:00 |
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Most web developers bill one of two ways:
- Flat-fee
- Hourly-fees (a.k.a: on a time and materials basis)
In the early years of our business (like most web developers), we billed via flat-fee for our services. However, over time we realized that billing flat-fee worked against our client's interest, mainly by prolonging their launch due to last minute graphic design and other changes. These last minute changes are the natural result of a client wanting to get as much as they can included, for the flat-fee.
The reality is, it's not possible for a boutique web service business like Blue Lab, to profitably offer a custom designed product (website) for a flat-fee. So, the choice is ultimately with the client - to decide if a flat-fee cookie-cutter website will accomplish their online business goals.
Honestly, most prospective clients cringe at the thought of hourly-fees, because they perceive them to be a bottomless pit (often likened to attorney's fees). However, unlike most attorneys, when we quote a job, we will estimate a low, middle and high range. The spread between low and high, is 30% - and more often than not, the total cost is in the middle range. Unless additional development requests are ordered (out of what was in the original project scope), we do not bill above our maximum estimate. In that sense, we are as close to a flat fee structure as we can possibly be.
The meaning of "Time and Materials" is: Time = hourly rates/fees and, Materials = any additional 3rd party services, including but not limited to: software, shipping, photography and content.
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Cast Your Net Wide on the Web |
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Written by Michael Ferrantino
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Monday, 28 April 2008 00:00 |
The name of the game is targeted and repeated brand exposure: but until then, cast your net as wide and as inexpensively as you can online.
Perhaps you haven't noticed, but there's advertising everywhere - for everything. In fact, if you haven't noticed, it's because you shut off a
part of your brain that pays attention to it. Yet, you have to somehow join the game -and find the key and/or marketing niche for your target market.
In this blog, we are presenting our method for casting a wide and inexpensive net on the web, using a real world example of a recent
BlueLab client: Nations Dog Services.
We designed and unofficially launched NationsDogs.com just a few weeks ago just a few weeks ago -
and now we're in the stage of refining the content and helping our client spread their net. There are several components necessary, which I'll list here first
and then go into a little detail about each one (this assumes that a brand / logo is already developed):
- Determine your marketing budget (big or small)
- Design and build a professional website
- Set up a MySpacee page for your business
- Join LinkedIn (a professional networking group)
- Set up a Google AdWords account
- Set up a blog (right here on this site) and start blogging!
1. Determine your marketing budget (big or small): In the early days of the internet it was a "build it and they will come world." Those days are long gone - and will never return.
Any website, no matter how cool, will fail without marketing and PR. It doesn't have to cost a fortune - but you do have to be realistic.
2. Design and build a professional website: The reason we stress "professional" is simple: a site's main objective is to instill and continually
reinforce confidence. If you build a cheap site, potential customers will click off your site in a few very short seconds.
3. Set up a MySpace page for your business: MySpace is still "in" for today so, we still recommend that our clients set up a page.
The idea here is to get yourself out there - in a personal and significant way. The objective is to introduce yourself - to get other people acquainted with you. But we
careful not to oversell yourself or your product or service.
4. Join LinkedIn: This is your opportunity to build a professional network and connect with others. You never know where it will
lead you. You may find a client or the best hire you'll ever make!
5. Set up a Google AdWords account: The beauty of Google AdWords is that you can set your budget as low as pennies a day.
If you begin to see a return, then you can always change your budget.
6. Set up a blog (right here): If you're reading this and learning, then I've made my case and point about blogging. Share your knowledge with other - it will lead to new business.
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