It's the Little Things (they all add up)

Sometimes the little successes can go unremarked, unrewarded, even unnoticed. So, when we do see something we've done has worked (even a little better than we hoped), it's nice to be able to bask in the warm glow of success for a few moments.

One of our clients is exhibiting at a trade show, among some big players in his industry, and it was our job to tell people about this, to help promote the event a little, and to help his business capitalise on the attention the event will get.

So it was gratifying to see, when searching for some information about the event, that said client's website popped up in second spot on page one, with only the event's official site above it. Below our client in the listings are, as I write this, major industry publishers (on and offline) and, well, all the manufacturers, large and small, who are exhibiting at the show.   

It's a little thing, because the show may or may not bring some significant business for our client, and the Google listing may or may not bring lots of website traffic, but to be mixing it with the big boys and coming out on top - well, I thought it was worth a little celebration, at least.

Roy

So Much More than Search Engine Optimisation

When we do Search Engine Optimisation for our clients we steer clear of the technical details and trying to explain the latest Google algorithm, because most business owners, frankly, don't care about the "how". All most of our clients want is better results for their business.

Rest assured we do all the techie stuff as well - including the bits Google isn't using now but might want to use next week - but that's really just laying the foundations for your SEO and it's not what you'll see (or care about) when we've done our job.

There's another good reason for not getting bogged down in the latest updates and techniques: concentrating on satisfying the latest guidance from Google - to the letter - means you might as well be "gaming" the system. It's this concentration on doing everything just to satisfy the latest criteria that gets Google's attention and makes them re-write the criteria in the first place. Only people dedicated entirely to SEO - meaning those trying to get the best results with the minimum useful content - work in this way. Those are the very people Google hates and the very reason they update their algorithm so often, negating millions of pounds worth of SEO worldwide as a result.

It's also why the article directories were punished so severely last year. Article directories used to be a source of good quality articles that informed the reader and made useful content for their blogs and websites, and which enhanced the reputation of the writers. Any articles posted on other sites also meant a useful backlink for the author. But SEO "experts" latched onto this and soon the article sites became a source of variable quality, often spun, articles designed to provide backlinks from the article sites themselves.

Google rightly decided that these article sites were of low value to readers and of disproportionately high value to article writers and spinners, and punished them in a major algorithm update in 2011. Other SEO "tricks" have met the same fate.

What Google really wants, and what therefore continues to work year after year, is genuinely original and relevant content with relevant links. This content is of real value to the reader seeking real information.

So, to get back to Cinnamon Edge and SEO, our system has been developed over the years to produce exactly what Google and its users actually want, and in quantity. That's why our system is more "hands on" and time consuming - because we're creating real content - and why it is more successful that a thousand links bought from an "SEO company" that might give your website a temporary boost but which won't give you the long term search engine domination that we give to our clients.

So, as well as optimised directory listings, optimised blog posts and social media updates, we write original content for your site, post original articles in the best article sites, create original videos and presentations - and more. That's how our clients don't just get onto page one - as they might with any old SEO - they actually get to dominate the search results with multiple listings on the first two pages. You can imagine how much more valuable that is!

Download our case study that shows exactly how this worked for one of our clients and then imagine what it could do for your business.

Yes, SEO still takes skill and we probably don't charge as much as we should for this service, considering its value, but that's our loss, not yours!

So, if you think you might want SEO (but actually want more business) contact us for Search Engine Optimisation and we'll do our best (and our best is very good!) to help.

Roy

PS. There is one "techie bit" that we do put more emphasis on. Not because it matters for Google SEO (at least this week) but because it makes an enormous difference to your results. I'll explain that next time.

Search Engine Domination with Cinnamon Edge

Search Engine Domination with Cinnamon Edge

Here are the slides we used for our Search Engine Domination workshop in June of this year. For a real live presentation, in-house training or more information, call us on 01284 767 193 or email info@cinnamonedge.co.uk

Roy

Why Does My Website Need SEO?

When we talk to people about Search Engine Optimisation, we're often reminded that a lot of people don't appreciate the importance of it for their business.

This is usually for one of three reasons:

1. They don't get much business through their website
2. They don't know what SEO is
3. They have an idea what SEO is but think it sounds complicated and therefore expensive

I think we can skip number one for now.

To answer number two - SEO is the process that makes your site more search engine friendly or 'optimised' so it appears higher than your competitors' sites in the search results. This brings you more of the 'traffic' or website visitors, meaning your business is seen by a lot more of your potential customers.

Well over 90 percent of visitors will go to the websites listed on page one of Google.

In answer to three - yes, SEO can be a bit too 'techy' for some people, and too time-consuming for others. This means you will probably need to pay someone else to help you. However, for a local business, SEO isn't always that difficult, and assuming you have a good product and know how to 'convert' enquiries to sales the investment will easily be covered by the extra sales you make through your website.

And point number one? Well, if no one is finding you online, even the most stunning website won't bring you sales. Whereas we've seen the ugliest websites you could imagine making their owners all the sales they can cope with - because they get all the visitors their competitors miss, and that's simply because they're above their competitors on Google, Bing and Yahoo.

That's why Search Engine Optimisation matters, and that's why SEO is one of our most important services, even if it's not the easiest to sell!

Roy

PS. You might have been approached by companies offering SEO link-building services, and link building is certainly a big part of SEO. However, the way we approach SEO means our clients usually get much more than just their website on page one. What we achieve is more like Search Engine Domination, with multiple appearances that make our clients almost impossible to ignore. We can also create a presence for you on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others.

PPS. Test us out now. Try looking for "foot care Kings Lynn" or "Flatpack assembly Suffolk" on Google and see if you can guess which companies are clients of ours!

PPPS. Then contact us if you'd like to see similar results for your business. Email info@cinnamonedge.co.uk or call 01284 767193 for a no obligation chat.

Google Places' Latest Guidelines

Google Places has seen some 'interesting' changes lately, as you'll see from previous posts. So here, for your information and straight from the horse's mouth, are Google's latest guidelines (read 'rules') for Google Places:

Your Google Places Account
Ownership: Only business owners or authorized representatives may verify their business listings on Google Places.

Account Email Address: Use a shared business email account, if multiple users will be updating your business listing. If possible, use an email account under your business domain. For example, if your business website is www.google.com, a matching email address would be you@google.com.

Your Business Listing
Business Name: Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world.

Do not include marketing taglines in your business name.
Do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name field, unless they are part of your business name.
Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field.

Business Location: Use a precise, accurate address to describe your business location.

Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations. Listings submitted with P.O. Box addresses will be removed.
Use the precise address for the business in place of broad city names or cross-streets.
Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts.
Businesses that operate in a service area, as opposed to a single location, should not create a listing for every city they service. Businesses that operate in a service area should create one listing for the central office or location and designate service areas. Learn how to add service areas to your listing.
Businesses with multiple specializations, such as law firms and doctors, should not create multiple listings to cover all of their specialties. You may create one listing per practitioner, and one listing for the office.
Do not include information in address lines that does not pertain your business’s physical location (e.g. URLs, keywords).

Website & Phone: Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible, and provide one website that represents your individual business location.

Use a local phone number instead of a call center number whenever possible.
Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “refer” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business.

Categories: Provide at least one category from the suggestions provided in the form as you type. Aim for categories that are specific, but brief.

Categories should say what your business is (e.g. Hospital), not on what it does (e.g. Vaccinations) or things it sells (e.g. Sony products or printer paper). This information can be added in your description or as custom attributes.
Categories should not contain location-based information (for example, Dog Walker Los Angeles is not permitted).
Only one category is permitted per entry field. Do not “stuff” entry fields with multiple categories.

Custom Attributes & Description: Use the description and custom attribute fields to include additional information about your listing. Learn more about acceptable custom attributes.

Other Items of Note
Ineligible Business Models: Only businesses that make in-person contact with customers qualify for a Google Places listing.
Businesses that are under construction or that have not yet opened to the public are not eligible for a listing on Google Places.
Rental properties, such as vacation homes or vacant apartments, are not eligible for a listing on Google Places. Create a listing for the central office that processes the rentals, rather than the individual rental properties. If you'd like, you can then add your real estate properties to Google Maps so that they are available on our Real Estate layer.

Disclaimer: Google reserves the right to suspend access to Google Places or other Google Services to individuals or businesses that violate these guidelines, and may work with law enforcement in the event that the violation is unlawful.

So there you have it. The guidelines aren't actually that complex or difficult to comply with, but we are getting reports of people adjusting their listings to meet the new guidelines and being penalised as a result - listings are being demoted or are disappearing altogether.

I suggest you stick rigidly to the new guidelines for any new listings you create (and use a new account for each listing). Meanwhile, you might want to watch and wait as we are with any existing listings - I'll let you know how that works out!

Roy

PS. There's more about Google Places Anomalies on our Marketing Manual Blog

Googles Changing the Roogles

The SEO and local marketing world is buzzing today as the latest sweeping changes from Google are rolled out around the world.

No longer will you be able to have a top position in Google Places and no website. No longer will you be able to claim top spot with organic search and not bother with Google Local Business Center.

From now on, you'll need both. Experts and pundits, and SEO professionals around the world are watching as the new set up is tested, trialled and tweaked by Google. The idea is to combine local search results in such a way that your Places (or Maps) listing is merged with your main website listing when people search for a local service. Possibly.

But it's all so up in the air still, that no one, except perhaps Google, actually knows how it will all look when it settles down again next week. Google themselves may not have decided, if the multiple screenshots and test results I've seen are anything to go by - they're still testing.

Personalised results have been coming for some time, too, so it may be that we'll never again see a 'typical' Google results page. Maybe we'll all see something different every time we search from now on.

It's exciting for SEO professionals, and probably quite baffling for bystanders, but the important thing is, we're on to it.

If you want the very latest optimisation strategies to make your online marketing as effective as it can be (and that's very effective indeed) we know exactly the people to go to - us.

Contact Cinnamon Edge for the latest help with SEO, local search and search engine marketing. Ask us about our training workshops, too. We'll be putting on a special Google Changes one very soon.

Roy

Contact us by email roy@cinnamonedge.co.uk or phone 01284 753912

Seen a Bury St Edmunds Dentist Dance?

We recently created a new site for a client on a new domain, called Dentist Bury St Edmunds. The performance of the site in the SERPs (search engine results pages) reminded us of an enduring mystery...

One of the bigger puzzles in search engine optimisation is a phenomenon known as the 'Google dance'.

Sometimes a website will be indexed quite quickly by Google and might even appear on the first few pages, especially if it's been set up with SEO in mind.

With on-page SEO and some nice incoming links, a site can quickly be successful. But sometimes it will then simply disappear. The site is still there if you type in the URL, but it doesn't come up in the search results.

Then, just as suddenly, the website will reappear in the listings. It might be a few days or it may take longer, but when the site does come back it will often be in a higher position than previously.

This is what SEO experts call the Google dance, and it's what happened to our dentist site.

It looks like the most important thing, when a site disappears, is to continue link building, bookmarking and so on, as though everything was fine. This may be why, once Google decides to index the site again, it often appears higher in the SERPs (because it now has more links than it did before). It's also important to give the site the authority that steady link-building bestows on a website, because authority is a big thing with Google.

So the lesson is, if your new site disappears from site, don't panic. Carry on as if nothing was wrong, and chances are that very soon your website will be doing even better than it was before.

Here's the website we're talking about, for Dentist in Bury St Edmunds.

Roy

Online Marketing and SEO Services

Visitors to our online Marketing Manual blog will hopefully have found the recent posts useful and informative, whether they hail from Bury St Edmunds or beyond.

So far, we've covered keyword research, the essentials of website content and starting a blog. This amounts to the beginnings of search engine optimisation, or SEO, and as a company we of course offer SEO services to our clients.

So, whether you have a website and no visitors or you have no website at all, your first priority if you want to make proper use of free online marketing is to make sure you have an effective website and visitors coming to see it.

The selection of a target keyword phrase is the first essential step with SEO, but the continued, consistent use of that phrase and related terms is the key to making it work for you in the longer term.

Part four of the course will appear soon, but meanwhile you can get up to speed with parts one to three, at http://marketing-manual.blogspot.com/.

Roy

Save £75 - and Your Business

Are you making these two mistakes in your business?

If you're not making good use of the Internet to promote your business and at the same time wondering how you're going to survive the recession ... I've got great news!

Because you CAN make use of the Internet and online marketing to help your business thrive, with or without a website.

Now, you could be one of many people featuring on a directory site. You could place classified ads on Gumtree or Graigs List, along with everyone else.

But you don't need local directories or classified ads. In fact, you don't have to share your webspace with anyone when you use Google or Yahoo's local listings service. And you can often get onto page one of those listings quite quickly, with YOUR business literally placed 'on the map'.

Meanwhile, if you have a website, you'll link your local listing to that, and you'll want to get the best possible position in the search engines for it as well so you can maximise your 'web presence' and really start to dominate the search engine results.

Add a blog and you could even have three listings!

Here's the good news. If you want my help 'optimising' your website to get a better placing in the search engine results, I can do that for you. And I'll add your local listing to Google and Yahoo for you absolutely free of charge as well. Normally, I charge £75 for local listings.

Prices to optimise your website for you start at just a few hundred pounds. Take me up on that and you save £75 on the local listings. I can even help you set up and maintain your blog.

Or, if you prefer, you can just pay me £75 to do your local listings for you.

Email me, Roy@CinnamonEdge.co.uk and tell me which of those you'd like done for you!

Roy

Find out more about online marketing at www.Cinnamon Edge.co.uk