The analogy in the article is worded:

SEO is like a car. You can’t just ask “how much does SEO cost?”

Let’s expand on the analogy here.

You would never walk up to a car salesman and simply ask, “How much does a car cost?”

We all know that there are many factors that determine the final cost of the vehicle such as size, brand, speed, power, gas mileage, make and model, performance reviews and so on. Furthermore, there are other ‘hidden’ or future costs of cars such as annual insurance, maintenance, replacement parts and resale value.

The price you are willing to pay likely depends on some combination of these factors – perhaps you want a European model made in the early 2000’s that goes from 0 to 60 in less than 5 seconds. Or perhaps you are looking for a vehicle that simply gets you from point A to point B.

Search engine optimization is much the same:

• Some SEO companies or SEO services will simply get your website from point A to point B.
• Some SEO services focus on short term performance rather than long term value.

The price you pay and what you get are highly correlated. We encourage you to understand exactly what you are getting from any SEO service for the price that you pay. Make sure you compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges when you gather SEO quotes and decide on your provider.

For a free initial Search Engine Optimization consultation that involves the discussion of our SEO Process:

You have probably come across countless SEO companies offering three or four SEO bundles much like a cell phone company offers. These companies assume that you will find what you need within one of their packages or more likely, force you to settle for the package that best suits your needs.

We believe that these companies have been somewhat successful in attracting new customers because there is a general misunderstanding as to what exactly SEO is, as if it’s a mysterious black box.

By making it a tangible product – packaging it into a ‘Local Business SEO Package’ with a set list of features – customers are more open to making the purchase.

However we would like to challenge you to think of SEO for what it is – a service. Like any other service you should expect to see a very broad range of service offerings.

For example, you would never expect to receive the same level of service at the drive-thru window of a fast food restaurant as you would from a five star restaurant. At a drive-thru window you would pick either a hamburger or cheeseburger from the menu whereas at a five star restaurant a waiter would describe each of the evening specials and offer additional items that may compliment your meal.

Challenge to Go Above and Beyond

Our culture has instilled the desire to “think outside the box,” to be creative, and to go above and beyond what everyone else is doing. There is no doubt that you try to do this in your business every day.

Often the low-cost SEO packages you see online apply the same approach to each client. They work their way through a checklist of tasks and performance metrics that may or may not necessarily apply to your unique site.

Our ability to go above and beyond other SEO companies involves taking a step back and evaluating the website, your business, your industry and your target market and then creating a unique approach to help achieve the client’s specific online goals. The majority of the time this translates into your marketing campaign going above and beyond all of your competitors.

We offer custom SEO solutions because we believe that:

• Every website is different
• Every target market is different
• Every business is different
• Every industry is different

The Added Benefits of a Customized SEO Strategy

What will a custom SEO solution get you that a ‘boxed’ solution will not?

• Support from experienced SEO staff
• Interaction – our SEO Consultants are available to explain their work and explore various strategies
• Get you the RIGHT kind of traffic – for your top performing products, categories and target markets
• Optimization – gradually improving performance, traffic and conversions as we learn from what works and what doesn’t work
• Ability to respond to data and make necessary changes – with a fast response time
• Long-term solutions – shifting the focus from immediate rankings to  substantial growth month after month

Custom SEO on a Budget

Often customers seeking SEO shy away from a custom SEO solution because they have a small budget. However our creative out-of-the-box consultants are able to generate unique ways to maximize your budget and get the most bang for your buck.

If you are interested in a custom SEO solution that adheres to ‘thinking outside the box’, contact us for a no obligation initial consultation by calling Toll Free 1-888-262-6687 or by Emailing Our SEO Team.

Messages such as “Page Not Found” or “Requested URL not Found” can be extremely frustrating in your quest for a particular piece of information.

Rather than frustrate your own website visitors you can design a custom 404 Error Page that is useful in getting them back on the right path.

What is a 404 Error?

A 404 error is presented to visitors when the page they are trying to reach is non-existent on your website. This could be because they clicked on a broken hyperlink or the web page no longer exists or that they mistyped the URL.

These ‘404 Pages’ get their names because webservers send an HTTP status code of 404 when a user requests to see a page that is missing. Most webservers have standard 404 page errors to return when a missing page is requested. Unfortunately, these standard 404 pages provide little information to the user other than that the page they want is not there.

As a result, most users just click away and leave your site in search of another site that does offer the information they are looking for. Rather than just let your visitors leave you can turn your 404 page into a helpful page that directs your traffic and helps them find what they are looking for on your site.

How to Design a Custom 404 Page

Here are seven tips for designing a useful custom 404 error page:

1. Tell visitors clearly that the page they are looking for can’t be found.
2. Use language that is friendly, inviting and in line with the tone of the rest of your web page content and consistent with your branding image.
3. Make sure the 404 page has the same look and feel – including all main navigation – as the rest of your website. This makes the visitor feel as if they are still on your website and makes them more likely to stick around.
4. Add helpful links to your most popular pages, articles or posts as well as a link back to your home page to guide the visitor where to go next and to reduce the likelihood of the leaving.
5. Insert an Enhanced 404 widget to embed a search box on the page to allow visitors to search for the information they need in case they do not see what they are looking for in your list of helpful links and navigation.
6. Provide visitors with a way of reporting a broken link to help keep your 404 pages to a minimum. This also empowers the user to give feedback and to feel as if their problem of not being able to access a page is being addressed.
7. Exclude your 404 page from Google search results regardless of how nice it looks.

Dealing with 404 Pages in the Search Engines

As mentioned, you will want to keep your 404 pages from being indexed by Google and all other search engines. To do this, set your webserver to return an actual 404 HTTP status code when a visitor tries to reach a missing or broken page.

There are free programs such as WebBug.exe that are useful for showing you your HTTP referrers.

404 Pages for SEO

We recommend to all of our search engine optimization clients that they install a customized 404 page for the benefit of their user. Once this is complete we also recommend performing a HTTP/1.1 referrer check to ensure it has the proper HTTP status code of 404.

For help installing a 404 Error Page that will reduce the chances of your users not visiting your website pages at all, please contact 1st on the List Promotion:

Studies show people scan the pages using an “F” pattern or “F Behavior”:

Visitors will not read your web page word-for-word (especially in their initial stages of research). This means that you need to write your page so it is easy to scan . Use headings to signal what the text is about. Subheadings, lists and bullets are a great way to break up the text and make it even easier to scan, as long as it is done within reason and not overdone.

Place important words at the start of subheadings, paragraphs or bullet points so that they form the stem of the “F” down the left side of the page; these words will be easy for the reader to spot and find what they are looking for in the text.

If you want your pages to rank well you will also have to design the pages to cater to the Search Engines as well. Be sure to include a Page Header (“H1” tag) as well as sub headings (H2, H3, etc.). These show the Search Engines the importance of information as it is presented.

Finding a balance between pleasing the Search Engines and your reader can be quite tricky and often takes time to develop but is well worth the effort.

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For more information about Search Engine Optimization or any of our other services at 1st on the List Promotion, please:

Call us toll free 1-888-262-6687

Email our SEO Consultants

Complete our Form SEO Request for Proposal

So how do we measure up to his seven habits?

Practice Makes Perfect -
We Practice SEO

Patel admits that it isn’t hard to become an SEO expert – read some books, forums and white papers and you’re set to go. However he says that being able to speak the lingo and point out short fallings on websites doesn’t mean you are good at SEO.

We have been practicing SEO for over 14 years. We have worked on hundreds of clients sites and are constantly improving our own website and sister sites.

As Patel admits, only practice and experience gives you a “better understanding of how you need to adjust your approach to rank higher.”

You Never Know Until You Try -
We Take Calculated Risks

Patel says that in order to be effective you must take risks and be aggressive with your website. We agree with this habit to a certain extent but would like to add that these risks should be logical, calculated and not extreme.

Effective risk taking is not buying hundreds of links and hoping you won’t be penalized. Taking risks is being aggressive with your websites and applying what you learn to push onward to the next level.

The Customer is Number One -
We Build Relationships

Patel refers to building relationships in the context of networking with other SEOs and people within the industry.

This is an important aspect of SEO and we work hard at networking but we feel that building relationships with our clients is much more important.

There are far too many SEO companies that get hired that don’t really care about their clients or take the time to truly get to know their clients. We view our relationships with our clients as strategic relationships. Only by working very closely with the client can we achieve great SEO success.

Think Outside the Box -
We Are Creative

Often SEO companies offer cookie cutter solutions with only three SEO packages to choose from. We are creative from the very beginning in designing custom tailored packages designed to meet the specific goals of the individual client.

Sometimes this involves getting creative. Hard questions get asked, such as:

“Will this package really help the client meet their goals?”

“How can we stretch their online budget to meet their goals?”

“What are the most effective SEO activities that will maximize the efficiency of their budget?”

A recent example of this is a client who sells jewelry online. Her main products and business description is ‘custom jewelry’ but her small budget couldn’t afford chasing after this highly competitive market. Instead of attempting to do so we designed a strategy to target another product line – one that had a lot of searches with relatively low competition and provided a much better and much more effective way to allocate her tight budget. The long term plan is to increase revenues in this product line and apply future returns towards pursuing the more competitive and expensive ‘custom jewelry’ market.

Think It Through -
We Are Analytical

An analytical mind is required throughout the entire SEO process. From choosing effective keywords that will attract prospective buyers, to conversion analysis all the way to site and server set up, our SEO is focused on Patel’s one main point: increasing revenue.

A recent example of applying analytical thinking was a new client who had performed SEO in house for a number of years. Upon decision to outsource this area they wanted to continue using their list of existing targeted phrases. Upon looking at the list and doing some research it was decided that some of the phrases were too generic and the company didn’t really offer the service that was implied by the phrase. With some tweaks to the list the client is now optimizing their site with more targeted phrases that will bring better qualified visitor traffic.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket -
We Use Multiple Tactics

I think what Patel is trying to say is that good SEO’s don’t depend on just one successful activity. He says that SEO is a “constant game of cat and mouse” where you never know what the single most effective tactic is or what the most effective tactic will be tomorrow, next week or five months down the road.

The Search Engines use over 200 factors to determine how well a website will rank and often make more changes to their algorithms in one year than there are days in a year.

We focus on covering as many of the 200 factors Search Engines consider as well as the future changes that the industry predicts to see. Rather than only building links or only writing content our team is able to address a significantly higher number of ranking factors by applying a wide range of SEO activities. With this approach it is far more likely to maintain more stable rankings in the long term.

Always Have a Backup Plan -
We Rely on SEO Supporting Activities

Patel believes that SEO needs to be supported by pay-per-click ads, email marketing and other forms of online promotion that will help diversify channels. We offer many of our clients’ complimentary activities to help support their SEO efforts.

The best example of this is using PPC to help gain traffic website during the early stages of SEO and for brand new websites.

If you are interested in becoming one of our SEO clients please visit our Search Engine Optimization page or contact 1st on the List Promotion:

The original purpose of a keyword tag was to help Search Engines understand the content of the page by listing the most important words within the text. Over time people began to take advantage of boosting their listings by placing popular keyword phrases within the keyword tag even if the corresponding page did not support these words. Today the major Search Engines are much smarter and able to read the content on their own in order to determine the main keyword phrases relevant to the text.

For this reason most people believe that the user submitted Meta Keyword Tags have very little value as they have little influence on major Search Engines rankings.

However, some smaller search engines still take the meta keyword tag into account when determining their rankings so it can be beneficial to still include the Keyword Tags.

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For more information about Search Engine Optimization or any of our other services at 1st on the List Promotion, please:

Call us toll free 1-888-262-6687

Email our SEO Consultants

Complete our Form SEO Request for Proposal

However, thanks to the sophistication of Search Engines, the quality of the website plays a much larger factor in determining rankings. Creating a lot of web pages just for the sake of having a large website will likely hurt your rankings; creating web pages that purposefully support your products and services (and support each other) will likely help your rankings.

The reason that some people may still feel that larger websites rank better than small websites is because larger websites are generally owned by large corporations or brands recognized around the world. These popular companies have huge resources to invest in their websites and to perform search engine optimization. These sites also naturally attract a lot of visitors, attention and backlinks - which are a large factor in ranking algorithms.

If you are a small company or own a small website – do not be discouraged – it is possible to rank very well for your relevant keyword phrases with a website that has only five to ten pages.

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For more information about Search Engine Optimization or any of our other services at 1st on the List Promotion, please:

Call us toll free 1-888-262-6687

Email our SEO Consultants

Complete our Form SEO Request for Proposal

In some cases websites will have very little text. In other cases websites will have duplicate content taken from other websites such as their manufacturers’ sites or their franchisers’ sites.

In the first case, with little to no content, the website is not only missing out on providing customers with the information they are searching for, they are also missing out on helping the Search Engines understand what their website, their brand and their organization is all about.

In the second case, while duplicate content may provide value to the visitor, the Search Engines regard it as a second (or third or fourth or hundredth) copy of text owned by another author on the Internet and will only give the original source credit in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). If you have duplicate content on your website then you probably won’t be found in the SERPs!

So whether you are in the first or second category, it is time to sharpen your pencils and follow these four tips for great SEO content writing.

1. Keep a Focused Theme and Stay on Topic

Before starting to write, select one main theme for the entire page. Every statement on the web page should closely relate to the main theme of that page.

Once the theme is decided choose one or two target search keywords you want the page to gain visibility for. These should be the keywords with moderately high search levels and moderately low levels of competition. You can support the two main keywords with related keywords but stay focused on your theme.

For example, one of our writers recently wrote a page for olive oil hair products. The theme of the page focused on how olive oil can be used to treat dry hair and the two targeted keyword phrases were olive oil shampoo and extra virgin olive oil hair products. Everything about the page was related to hair;  it did not mention olive oil moisturizers which the client also sells and is a completely separate theme. Instead, we created another separate page to support that theme and those types of keywords.

2. Write for Your Audience

During the SEO writing process keep your primary target audience in mind at all times.

Yes, you are writing in a way that favors the Search Engines; after all you have picked out your target keywords and other supporting keyword phrases and are attempting to rank for these.

However, this is NOT who your main audience is! Your main audience is your visitor traffic: potential customers and returning customers searching for information on your website. This means that your content needs to make sense and be written in context to the central theme – you can’t just insert keywords systematically (keyword stuffing) through the text. Only use keywords where they make sense and help support your primary page theme.

Ensure that the web page has a logical flow. The flow of the web page should guide the reader down to the desired action or solution (keep reading further). Studies on how people read Internet web pages suggest that they first scan the page in an “F” pattern, looking for headings, lists, bolding, links and “key” words that stand out. Ultimately they want to know if the page contains the information they are searching for before they spend time reading the entire page.

3. Emphasize With Your Audience

When you speak to your audience you also need to emphasize with the problems they may be facing. Ask yourself “Why are they researching this topic?”

In the case of the olive oil hair products the person may be suffering from a dry itchy scalp. Try to pinpoint the needs they have and the pain they suffer. Try explaining how your products or services benefits meet their needs and overcome their pains.

Instead of speaking about the product or a service in reference to its features focus on how the benefits can help address their problems.

4. Offer a solution

Finally, know from the beginning stages how your content will inspire your reader to take the next action whether it is a move to the next page, purchasing a product, looking up a recipe, emailing a salesperson or making a phone call.

It is worth noting that the solution should be very obvious by the time the reader finishes the page of content. Use explicit phrasing that tells the reader what to do next. The goal is to lead the reader to take the next step of action without consciously thinking about it.

Summary to Better SEO Content Writing

If you find yourself having to write new pages for your website, remember:

1. Stay focused
2. Speak to your audience
3. Emphasize with their needs (list the benefits)
4. Give an obvious solution

Do you need help with your SEO Content Writing?

Have one of our in house writers create new pages from scratch or write your own content pages and have our in house optimizers edit and optimize the text for you.

Our experienced SEO content writers can help you develop web copy that is effective for both your visitors and the Search Engines. Please visit our Search Engine Optimization page or contact 1st on the List Promotion:

The search results list all of the pages that Google has in its index for your website. You should note that these pages are listed in order of importance, as determined by Google.

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For more information about Search Engine Optimization or any of our other services at 1st on the List Promotion, please:

Call us toll free 1-888-262-6687

Email our SEO Consultants

Complete our Form SEO Request for Proposal

It was particularly interesting because I was just discussing one of our clients who is getting great visibility results in their SEO Campaign. However, it seems they are struggling with converting all their SEO generated traffic into customers.

One of our campaign managers described the situation well: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink. In this case we’ve led a whole flock to the watering hole but the client isn’t doing anything to entice their visitors to take action!”

Josh McCoy, SEJ author and SEO Strategist hits this SEO nail right on the head when he says,

“I had spent years placing all my concern SEO-ing sites to the fullest to maximize traffic potential. At the end of the day I realized that hordes of traffic mean nothing if they don’t convert.”

Are you a website owner using SEO techniques to get hordes of traffic but are struggling to convert and retain your customers? Here are some simple pointers for improving your site in order to retain your customers.

Make Your Page Title, Sub-Headings, Meta Titles & Descriptions Relevant

Have you ever searched in Google for a term, found a good listing that sparked your interest only to reach the page and find it has nothing to do with what you wanted?

Google is working hard to improve the relevance of its listings to address this problem but you can also address the relevancy issue for your pages on your own.

First make sure there is a strong correlation between your page title, your Meta Title that is displayed in the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) and the content on your landing page. Does the page fully support the description? Does the page satisfy the visitor’s interest that was originally sparked by your Meta title?

Don’t be afraid to bring outsiders into the discussion as a fresh set of eyes – when you write the description and page content it’s easy to be biased.

Second, address the low correlation issue by making sure that your headings (H1, H2, H3 etc. tags) are structured in a format that answers your visitors’ questions and continues the conversation you started in the SERPs. Visitors will only take a few seconds to scan the page for value and will use the headings and sub-headings as cues to the content. If the headings don’t address their needs they will click away.

Again, use your unbiased outsiders to quickly scan the page and ask them to summarize what the page is about – this will give you an idea of what your visitors’ first impressions will be.

Relevancy Earns More Qualified Visitors!

I am glad that McCoy points out the fact that 100 visitors who do something are more valuable than a thousand who do nothing. Don’t be so worried about potentially losing traffic when you change your Meta Titles to better correlate to the page content. Wouldn’t you rather have 100 qualified visitors who do something than a 1000 unqualified visitors who do nothing?

Funnel Your SEO Visitors Using “AIDA”

Remember the AIDA acronym from marketing class?

Use it to shape your online sales funnel when designing your content pages and Meta Titles:

Attention – Grab the visitor’s attention with an exciting Meta Title in the SERPs as well as interesting headings and sub-headings that go beyond just the keyword phrase you are targeting. When the visitor reaches your page you have only a few seconds to catch their attention.
Interest - Generate interest in your product or service through creative discussion of benefits over features.
Desire – Create a desire for the visitor to use your product or service, which often occurs by addressing a particular need or want.
Action - Lead the visitor to take an action such as picking up the phone, filling out a form or sending in an email.

All of your content pages should be designed with the purpose of funneling visitors into your company and turning them into customers.

Connect with your Visitors on a Social Level

Unless you have been under a rock for the past five years you will understand the social aspect of your online presence. You likely have a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts in full swing.

Why not take the traffic garnered from your SEO efforts and direct it towards your social platforms?

This can be as simple as adding a graphic link to your Facebook profile. McCoy reminds us all to be mindful of how your social profile opens. You want to ensure it opens in a new tab or new window – you don’t want to direct traffic off of your website!

Create a Seamless User Experience

Part of creating a great user experience is getting rid of those broken links. Isn’t it frustrating to navigate a website only to reach the page you want and find that it has a 404 error?

Google Webmaster Tools provides some great tools for monitoring broken links on your site pages as well as where other linking websites may have your web pages wrong.

The second part of creating a great user experience is making sure that your website renders properly on whatever platform the user chooses. Test and retest your website on multiple browsers as well as devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Check out our article on Mobile Search to learn best practices for mobile search optimization.

Be Prepared for Customer Phone Calls and Email Inquiries

An important aspect of retaining your online customers is having a strong offline customer service and sales department to respond to visitors.

A lot of our clients use their websites as a way to collect leads where there is no guaranteed income until they follow through with visitor contact requests. If your website is designed to generate leads you need to make sure that when the leads come in – either through phone or email – that your salesperson or customer service rep connects with the interested visitor immediately. Don’t underestimate the power of prompt service.

We often install call tracking data to know exactly how many phone calls a website generates. One of our clients received nearly 150 calls last month. When looking at the details of each call there were several calls only 10 seconds in length – showing that reception or the sales department wasn’t even answering their phone! Think of how many sales the website could have generated if the sales department was devoted to answering all phone calls and becoming more effective at closing the sale!

Remember that your visitors are actively searching for your products or services and are interested in doing business – do everything you can in your offline business efforts to make sure you follow through.

For additional tips and information on Search Engine Optimization or on retaining your online visitors please contact 1st on the List Promotion Inc today. Call toll free at 1-888-262-6687 or Contact our SEO Experts.