SEO Articles
SEO Training
SEO Training Courses in the UK
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation, is an extremely valuable skill.
The job websites – at a time of increasing unemployment – seem to be full of very well paid positions for SEO executives. The reason for this is that actually, there are very few people in the UK who are truly skilled in SEO – and for that reason, those that are tend to choose to work for themselves regardless of the large amount of money they could earn working for an SEO firm.
The main reason that very few people in the UK have real SEO skills, is that there are very few UK SEO training courses available. You can’t just go & enroll on an SEO course at your local night school, they don’t teach it in schools, there are no college courses in SEO in the UK, that I’m aware of, and there are very few real opportunities to learn real SEO from someone who knows how it’s done.
I think the reason most SEO consultants don’t offer to train, is that training is much harder work than just doing SEO – and at the same time, when training new SEO consultants, we’re creating real competition for ourselves – and at the moment in the UK, there is not a lot of competition from REAL SEO consultant who actually do the work, and I think most consultants would agree that they’d prefer it that way – it’s difficult promoting a clients website when you’re up against another professional, so really for us, the less true SEO professionals out there, the better!
So – most SEO consultants are self taught. I have been teaching myself SEO for roughly ten years, and I dread to think how much I have spent over these years on ebooks, courses & programs, but I’m sure whatever the amount, I would have saved money by doing an intensive SEO training course, if there was one available when I started !
I have now started to offer SEO training courses in the UK, to help people who are serious about becoming professional SEO consultants. My training courses are one to one, intensive training courses, that include a year of help & support.
Are SEO training courses absolutely necesarry
No – they’re not, however finding a professional SEO consultant to train you, will help you to take a huge leap towards becoming an SEO consultant, drastically reducing the learning curve that most SEO professionals have to go through.
What kind of SEO training course should I look for?
Look for a training course which is run by actual current SEO professionals, people who’re doing this for a living. The world of SEO is an ever changing one, someone who used to be a great SEO consultant who now just trains, isn’t likely to be training you using fresh knowledge & experience.
How much should I expect to pay?
SEO is a very valuable skill, and a good SEO consultant can make a lot of money, therefore logical thinking will tell you that no SEO consultant is going to offer to train you for a small amount of money, they are in effect training a future competitor, so they need to make more money than they would make in the same amount of time working for a client, otherwise what would be the incentive to offer training courses? So, if you do find a course which seems very cheap – just think logically about the value of such a course, and why such valuable training is being offered for bargain prices.
There are some valid reasons that a course would be offered for a smaller cost, for instance a course that was teaching a number of people at one time, would enable a lower cost – but in my opinion SEO taught in a class is never going to be as valuable as one to one training with a professional SEO.
What else should I take into consideration?
The main thing to think about – is what happens after the course? Like learning to drive, the REAL test comes after you’ve passed & you’re let alone to drive. Remember the first few weeks of driving, scary right?
A good SEO course should include after training support. I continue to support people for a year after the course, included in the price of the course – and I offer packages for continued support after a year.
Kevin John Lewis is a professional search engine marketing / SEO Consultant
Kevin is now offering a one to one SEO Training Course in the UK – available in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cornwall (Newquay), Glasgow & Dublin. There are only a small number of positions available on the training course in both 2008, and 2009 – so if you are interested in becoming a professional SEO consultant, act soon!
Author: Kevin John Lewis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Sponsored by: Social Bookmarking Software
SEO Software: Trying To Catch The Spiders…
SEO software does what exactly?
SEO software frequently starts from the following assumption:
- look at the page that ranks number 1 in Google,
- do exactly the same + a bit better,
- and you will be number 1
SEO software will then examine “all” the SEO parameters that it finds out about the number 1 site in Google. Then this SE software will automate the process in mimicking this for your site.
SEO is more than a software-approach!
SEO is the art of ranking number 1 in any search engine for any keyword.
Spiders rank a web site number one because spiders “think” that this site deserves to be number one. Of course the spider cannot think: there needs to be a programmer who programs the spider to find out which site is best.
Now if you are smart enough to feed the spider exactly what the programmer thinks is important, you will have the knowledge to rank number 1.
This is exactly what SEO software does: it claims to know and tackle “all” the parameters that make a web site ranking number 1.
Pitfalls of a software-approach to SEO
Suppose you find all the parameters needed to rank a web site number 1. You manage to get all this parameters onto your site and you even manage to be rank number 1.
Now if your site is really deserving to be ranked number 1, all is fine. But if surfers start complaining that you are not, the search engine will be blamed!
It won’t take long until Google finds out that “somebody broke the code” of the spiders. The spiders will be updated to give quality results to the visitors!
This means you need to get an upgrade of your SEO software approach… : you are running after the facts in stead of above the facts.
How to be ranked number 1?
You rank number 1 because you deserve it.
In spider logic this still means:
- your page talks about the keyword you are optimizing for
- you page has lots of incoming links about the keyword you are optimizing for.
This is what ranking number 1 should be about.
But my SEO software is really up to date, or is it not?
Your software can only be up to date AFTER the spiders’ software is updated. Unless you write the spiders yourself, you will always be a bit later.
You cannot know all the parameters the spider takes into account, unless again you are writing the spider software yourself.
Some of the parameters you cannot influence: age of the web site is one of them. Suppose the spider needs to choose between 2 websites: the oldest one and the SEO mimic: which one to choose? The oldest one would be the easiest bet, and you cannot change the age of your web site can you?
A close look at SEO software
SEO software advertisements could say that you can get a top 5 Google Ranking in under 30 Days… If that is true, then check out to see:
- is the web site of this SEO software ranking number 1 in Google for SEO or SEO software?
- are the example web sites the SEO software mentions to be ranked number 1, really number 1: number 1 in Google that is?
It’s very easy to type in the keyword phrase of the SEO software example web site and see if they are number 1 or not.
And don’t be fooled by SEO software that gives numerous examples of number 1 rankings in MSN or Yahoo: if you want to have a long lasting number 1 ranking in any of the search engines, you better start having a number 1 ranking in Google.
I didn’t say that it is a guarantee to rank number 1 in Yahoo and MSN once you rank number 1 in Google, but you will surely be high up there as well. On the other hand, a number 1 ranking in MSN can mean that you are no where to be found in Yahoo nor Google.
So you say: well, then I just try to rank number 1 in MSN since it seems to be easier. Well, it is easier, but then it is easier for your competition as well, so it won’t take then too much effort to out-play you again. Therefor do the job good once and for all: thrive to be number 1 in Google and then fine-tune if needed for MSN or Yahoo.
Why do you do SEO in the first place?
SEO is 1 of the ways to get more traffic to your web site. But there is more in getting a lot of traffic to your site, than “blindly ranking 1 in Google”:
— Always make sure you rank number 1 for a word a lot of people are looking for! —
If you buy any SEO software or out-source your SEO to the SEO specialists: always check their SEO examples:
- are they ranking number 1
- are the keywords they rank for popular search keywords (bigger than 10.000 searches a month in the Keyword Selector Tool from Yahoo’s search-marketing is considered not too low)
- how long did it take them to be number 1
- how big is the competition for the keyword-phrase (smaller or bigger than 5 million? As a general rule : above 5 million keyword-phrase results in Google, things become though)
- how big is the competition for the quoted “keyword-phrase” (smaller or bigger than 33.000? As a general rule : above 33.000 quoted “keyword-phrase” results in Google, things become though)
If for all these items the SEO software or SEO specialist can answer YES, then you can start taking them very seriously!
Try it out for each example web site any SEO software claims to have ranked number 1 for a certain keyword-phrase. And of course, always start with checking if they are ranking number 1 in the first place! If they are not, then you are going to buy SEO software that doesn’t do the job! Ranking number 2 is ALMOST number 1, and even worse, ranking number 9 is nowhere near to ranking number 1.
SEO software web sites
Whenever you are interested in something to buy on the Internet, check out the overall web site of the product you want to buy!
Some SEO software web sites are 1 page web sites: just 1 page with the product, no links, no extra pages…
Again back to basics. What was the first idea to set up the Internet? To give people information, lots of information.
And we are talking about a “NET” in Inter”NET”: “net” means links here, links there, links everywhere… (that’s why links are so important in SEO)
If you don’t see lots of links nor lots of content on a web site about SEO, then the SEO web site is not serious about its own subject: SEO!
Back to Basics: web-traffic
Your purpose is getting as much people to your site as possible, isn’t it?
SEO software has the purpose of ranking 1 in Google.
Now it is very easy to rank 1 in Google for the keyword-phrase “jhdkghgkbdcds”,
but who is looking for “jhdkghgkbdcds”??? Nobody!
So if nobody looks for “jhdkghgkbdcds”, then why bother to rank number 1 with it?
What is a nice number when it comes to “popular keyword searches”? If you use the Overture Keyword tool, anything above 10.000 searches a month means quite popular, but: also know that above 10.000 “the big boys’ are competing
with you, below 1.000 you have the field for yourself. So a good SEO advice is work yourself from the bottom up: start with keywords that are not so popular, and once you are ranked high for those, then tackle the next more popular keyword on the list.
SEO software Conclusion
SEO is the art to feed the spiders what they like.
SEO software is running after the spiders trying to catch their attention.
Always check the numbers and the facts about any SEO software and (this) SEO article!
Then make a decision yourself. If you see that the SEO software
- is ranking well for it’s own product
- is ranking web sites for popular keyword well,
only then you can consider buying it.
Making money on the Internet is something that has always intrigued Stef Glassee, a Sun Certified Java Developer. Being into programming and software development he has a first eyes view how software can help people, but it cannot yet replace people. Same goes for SEO software.
…It’s quick and easy to throw an apple pit in the soil. But be prepared: it takes a long time before the apple pit becomes a tree loaded with apples!…
You can read more about starting to make some money online, SEO and web-site marketing at : Quick and easy ways to make money
Author: Stef Glassee
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Sponsored by: Easy Clickbank Money
What Are Website Inspectors And How Can Website Inspectors Improve Search Engine Rankings With SEO
As their name suggests, website inspectors examine flaws in websites in order for clients to obtain higher search engine rankings. Website inspectors carry out full SEO (search engine optimization) evaluation of websites and report suggested changes that should be made in order to make a website more search engine friendly.
Website inspectors perform in-depth SEO website analysis of website HTML code, including META tags and Alt image tags, along with SEO analysis of website design, keyword text weight, download time and other SEO features. Website inspectors then produce a detailed SEO report consisting of manually generated META tags, alt tags and suggest other website alterations.
There are a number of differences between website inspectors and other SEO companies. Most SEO companies only evaluate and report on general website HTML code and limited website design features. By contrast, website inspectors will offer detailed evaluations and SEO reports of HTML code, and all aspects of website design from textual relevance to aesthetic design. Website inspectors will offer a comprehensive SEO report consisting of workable alterations that should be made to a website in order to significantly improve search engine rankings for the long-term. General SEO companies, by contrast, will only focus on what is wrong with a website without offering many good suggestions to improve search engine rankings.
Most general SEO companies will provide customers with “cookie cutter” style SEO reports. This is to say that the vast number of SEO companies will evaluate a website using automated, report generating software and send their client a print out of a generic SEO report. Such SEO reports will provide irrelevant information to the client’s website and will not provide any solid suggestions as to alterations that should be made in order to improve search engine rankings. By contrast, a website inspectors company will treat each website as a unique piece of material. A good website inspectors SEO company will refrain from using any automated software to analyse a website or to generate an SEO report.
Promoting user-friendly SEO reports and ethical, ‘white hat’ SEO practices is key to the ethos of website inspectors SEO companies. All good website inspectors SEO companies will refrain from using the out-dated practice of automated website submissions. Most generic SEO companies continue to use automated submission software although they know by now that such software submits websites to unorthodox, unethical sources such as FFA pages and link farms. Top search engines regard submissions to such sources as ‘spamming’ and will ultimately result in websites being placed in the Google Sandbox for extensive periods of time, if not banned from search engine rankings entirely. Website inspectors SEO companies will only promote the ethical use of manual website submissions to discriminative sources.
Another consideration is that website inspectors SEO companies will alter their services to suit their client’s needs. Good website inspectors SEO companies now offer on-site or on-page SEO website designs and SEO implementations in order to save clients a lot of time and hassle. Website inspectors offering on-site SEO website design will ask clients for access to website files in order to improve website features directly, so as to improve search engine rankings. Onsite SEO web design is a firm favourite of website inspectors clients who have limited website design and SEO implementation knowledge in order to promote their website in search engine rankings. Website inspectors SEO companies are seeing a great rise in clients opting for onsite SEO web design as they know that all onsite SEO web design implementations are performed by professionals who are well aware of effective and ethical SEO practices.
With all of these factors in mind, it is strongly recommended that clients seeking good SEO in order to improve website rankings look for website inspectors SEO companies if they wish to see long-term, positive search engine rankings. With comprehensive SEO reports and the option of onsite SEO web design at hand by SEO professionals, website inspectors are the way to go for anyone looking for strong and successful search engine rankings.
Victoria Powell is an SEO expert who works for a number of Website Inspectors SEO teams.
Author: Victoria Powell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Sponsored by: Free WP Themes
What You Need to Know to a Be a SEO Pro
The first thing you need to know about SEO: it is a very basic system. There are no secrets, no magic tricks; you don’t need to have aced high school English to get to grips with how SEO works. You can also forget about digging deep into your pockets. SEO is a popular marketing tool precisely because you don’t need to spend a fortune for it to work.
To identify the SEO tactics that are going to work best for your website, you need to go to the search engines themselves. Google, Yahoo!, and MSN are certainly the top search engines and everyone wants a piece of them. They offer programs and services to help website owners boost the position of their website on search engine results. However, rather than looking to the ‘big three’, if you want to optimize your site effectively, hunt down some of the lesser known, smaller, and more specialized search engines.
SEO is not about optimizing for Google. Although Google is the top search engine in most parts of the world (although it accounts for somewhere between 60 and 90 percent of all Internet search traffic), you don’t need to treat it as a holy grail. Optimize your site without fuss. Take advantage of the smaller special interest search engines to boost your vertical or category-specific optimization. The lesser know search engines will get you to Google if you work the right advantage. Have your content crawled and indexed by the lesser known engines, target information sites, news and social groups.
On the other hand, while you’re out crawling the lesser known search engines, beware that submitting your site to thousands of directories isn’t really going to help you. Perhaps you’ve received spam mail offering a quick and easy way to get listed with thousands of web directories. Anything that has a chance of being promised in spam mail is probably not a good thing. Target your web directories instead. Target your audience. Identify search engines that have a strong track record, including good quality inbound links and plenty of them, topical relevance for your site, and a good search engine ranking (for the directory) on one or other of the ‘big three’ search engines. Web directory submissions are a good way to optimize your site and draw attention but be selective.
Look into the real costs of SEO. Although it is a low-cost advertising option and one that does not (repeat, does not) require you to make large financial investments, you might consider hiring an SEO consultant, a programmer or graphic designer, and someone who is capable of managing your links. Even if you decide to do all of the work yourself, you have to factor in your own hourly rate. SEO is not free, it’s low cost based on everything from actual costs to return on investment.
The actual cost of your SEO campaign will depend on the website and your campaign objectives. It could cost anything from a few hundred dollars per month to tens of thousands per month. So long as you are managing your cash flow properly, all you need to think about is your return on investment. If your SEO campaigns are bringing in regular business, if you have a good ROI, you should keep up. If not, make a change.
To measure the success of your SEO campaign, you need to look at a number of marketing metrics. Specifically, you need to chart your keyword ranking, your website traffic (how many people visit your site per day/week/month?), your Return on Investment (how many visitors you secure per dollar spent on your advertising/keywords), and the level of brand awareness your visitors and customers are demonstrating.
When it comes to keywords, many people worry about positioning keywords throughout a website. They post keywords throughout their site, on every page, in every paragraph. This particular myth was popularized by outdated SEO information. Google has tailored its relevancy algorithms to favor natural rather than keyword optimized content. It is far better to cast a wide net for keywords. Feature your primary keywords alongside modifiers, in appropriate sentences. This is the most effective way to boost keyword ranking. Mix up your anchor text and you will also be able to boost your ranking passed on natural links to your website.
It is very important to regularly update your website content to stay on top of your SEO and keyword ranking. Your SEO efforts will start with one-time activities such as keyword research, diagnostic auditing, and diagnostic audit modifications. Once you’ve done this, you will regularly have to conduct competitive analysis, page editing and optimization, and link building strategy implementation to keep your keyword placements.
If your campaign is well organized, you should enjoy a reasonably prompt return on your investments. A good time frame for natural results is between 30 and 90 days. Regularly reviewing the metrics for your SEO campaign is the best way to monitor the success of your SEO marketing.
The most crucial thing in SEO, however, is the accessibility of your content. Visitors and robots a like must be able to review your site and make sense of it. Try to keep your site simple. Don’t overdo it with multimedia devices or flash (some visitors may not be able to view sites with these features). So long as your keywords are used naturally in your content and your content is accessible, you will enjoy good SEO results with a regular flow of traffic.
As an avid entrepreneur, Patrick is always in start-up mode, whether it’s finding or creating the latest cutting edge technologies or the latest online marketing tactics, he is always keen to share his experience to help educate others.
Get my first book about Search Engine Optimization – get your free seo ebook copy instantly, just download your free copy today.
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Author: Patrick Wagner
Article Source: EzineArticles.comSponsored by: Website Value
A Professional SEO Company Providing Local SEO Services – Is It the Right Choice?
Using a Professional SEO Company for your local seo services.
SEO or search engine marketing requires a lot of research to find the right company for the job.
There are so many web design firms out there claiming to be a Professional SEO Company for your local seo services it really is very difficult to find the right company that will suit your needs and budget.
When trying to decide what SEO firm to use one of the most important things you need to ask is, can they really do the job.
All too many fail in achieving a good search engine position for your website simply because they lack the skills and knowledge that is required to do this.
There are so many web design firms who have just decided to offer SEO as an extra but are really not experts in this filed, they have done a little research into SEO and read a few books on the subject and suddenly they think they are experts.
What makes a Professional SEO Company.
Well it actually takes years of working with the search engines and growing up with them; these are the people who will achieve those first page search engine listings for you.
These SEO experts have spent years changing the way they optimise and market websites to suit the ever changing rules governed by the search engines, they have done their apprenticeship and have the right to be referred to as a Professional SEO Company.
One of the important elements of choosing the right SEO company is to request some backup of their claims, will they let you speak to any of their previous customers.
Remember, to find someone qualified as a professional seo company you may have to look further afield than your local seo services.
Choosing Local SEO Services;
If you are a small business with a limited budget why not do a search for local seo services and talk to them about what you want to achieve.
It is often a comfort for many that the company looking after your online business is a local firm, someone you can have a sit down meeting with.
Try and do a little research into your local SEO companies and see who is offering the services you require and for how much, you have to think about the costs involved and also what you could make in profit with a first page listing.
Also ask them to give you an idea of how long it will probably take to get on the first page of Google or Yahoo for example.
Learn more about what makes a Professional SEO Company for your Local SEO Services.
Brought to you by Colin Castle of Web Design Firm – Web Centre Plus.
Author: Colin Castle
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
