Follow The Rules: Unethical SEO Practices

Practicing search engine optimization (SEO) is more than simply posting your very own web site. SEO professionals are urging businesses and entrepreneurs to begin learning the ins and outs of site rankings, page tagging, search engines and other important SEO elements. Failing to educate yourself is an easy way to fall victim of unethical SEO practices.

Illegal SEO practices can cause a web site to receive a low page ranking or even be removed from search engines. It is best to consult with a search engine optimization professional when launching a site. This will save you a lot of time and energy on an issue that you are not aware of.

Below, CODANK Charlotte Web Design has composed a list of unethical SEO practices. Try to avoid these habits. Be sure to discuss these tips with your chosen Search Engine Optimization professional before constructing a web site.

Unethical Search Engine Optimization Practices

• Fooling search engines by imbedding hidden keywords in a web site. Doing so will more than likely get you banned from search engines.
• Artificially generating links to a site from unrelated sites in order to boost your ranking. Majority of search engines have a built-in mechanism that detects this type of unethical practice.
• Falsely generating traffic to your site so that it appears more popular than what it actually is. Safeguards are in place to prevent this from happening. Getting around these safeguards could place you on the banned list for many search engines.
• Submitting your web site to search engines continually for inclusion in the rankings.

Best Search Engine Optimization Strategies to Use

• Proper Web Site Structure
• Keyword Tools & Services
• Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
• Behavioral Targeting
• Appropriate Written Content
• Tagging Your Web Site
• Suitable Links & Linking

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Have You Registered Your Business Yet?

It is a small business or entrepreneurs main goal in business it to reach their target audience. Not only is it important to have the top search engines to list their websites, it is also valuable for a business to appear in local search results as well.

It is common for a business to be listed within local search results even if the actual business does not submit their own company information. This happens when major search engines collect data from a variety of sources. As a result, a business description may appear in the local listings.

Search engines such as Google, Bing/MSN, and Yahoo give businesses the option of submitting information regarding their company directly to them. Doing so is a great way to increase the possibility of being found during a local search and expanding the amount of information that is viewed.

Submitting specific information to Google, Bing/MSN, Yahoo, and other search engines is very important. Each engine requires different data, but most of them ask for the same basic information. Below is a list of the typical elements submitted to a local search engine:

• Description of company
• Street address
• Phone and fax numbers
• Year of establishment
• Link to your company website
• Operating hours
• Brands which are sold by you
• Payment methods accepted by your company
• Languages spoken by company

Visit the different search engines listed below to learn more about their local listings.

• Yahoo Local Listings – www.listings.local.yahoo.com
• Google Local Search – www.google.com/local
• MSN Local Search – https://llc.local.live.com/BusinessSearch.aspx
• Ask Local – http://city.ask.com/

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

How Well Do You Know Your Competitors?

It is very important to conduct a thorough competitive analysis prior to beginning your search engine optimization (SEO) plan. A break down of your competition should be your #1 priority, along with properly tagging your website, and keyword analysis.

Analyzing your competitor’s web statistics, conversions, and other basics, as well as your own, is an ongoing process. Studying their online behavior may help you reach popular search engines quicker or even draw in more traffic early on. Whatever the case, a business should always perform an analysis.

It is best to remember that you should not only analyze your direct competitors, but your indirect competitors as well. Also, take a look at the companies who are ahead of you in search engine rankings, even if they’re offerings are unlike your own business.

A competitive analysis should cover the following elements:

Meta data: Look at what meta data your competitors are including. How is it worded? You can access the source code of a site by selecting Source from the View menu on your web browser.

Site rankings: Where in the SERPs is the competitor’s site ranked? Make note of the top three to five sites.

Page saturation: Are their pages indexed? Look to see what you should include or exclude on your site pages.

Page titles: Is the sites page titles consistent? What keywords do they use, if any at all? How competition uses page titles should give you an indication of what you’re doing right or wrong with your own site.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Free vs. Paid Directories

When trying to determine to go with free or paid directory listings, a company should be clear of their specific needs as a business. Whether which one is better – free or paid – has been an ongoing debate between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals for quite some time. They also fuss about free e-mail versus paid and free website hosting versus paid web hosting.

Below are two lists that include available free and paid directories:

Available Free Directories
• Dmoz.com
• Jayde.com
• Somuch.com
• Webworldindex.com
• Linkcentre.com
• ExactSeek.com

Available Paid Directories
• Yahoo Directory
• Directory Journal
• Best of the Web (BOTW)
• GoGuides.org
• Botlink.org
• Directoryscape.com

The purpose of a directory is to link one site to other websites by categorizing those links. Directories are not the same as search engines and do not provide lists of web pages based on keywords. Instead, a directory lists websites by categories and subcategories.

Several online users believe that free directories have a greater advantage and equate to better quality sites over those that require payment. In truth, many free directories tend to be very strict about listings that are included in their results. Paid directories can be just as careless about the review process as any other directory.

Top Online Directories
• Yahoo Directory – dir.yahoo.com
• SearchSight – www.searchsight.com
• Open Directory Project – www.dmoz.org
• Google Directory – directory.google.com

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Common SEO Mistakes

If you are not familiar with search engine optimization, properly optimizing your web site may become somewhat of a hassle. Many companies and entrepreneurs fail to understand the importance of thoroughly planning in hopes of drawing in traffic. Inexperienced individuals easily make decisions which tend to damage their search engine optimization plan.

According to Wikipedia.org, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a web site or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid search results.

Similar to other methods and procedures, SEO is governed by rules and regulations. These rules are typically administered by search engines which include: Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN/Bing, etc.

Below are common mistakes made during search engine optimization by many companies and websites.

• Wrong Keywords – be sure to select keywords and phrases which have relevance to your web site.
• Use of Crawler Unfriendly Methods – search engines deal better with HTML text rather than Flash files
• Images instead of Headings – search engines need to read actual content; refrain from posting nothing but images
• Backlink Spamming – quality backlinks are much better than just having numerous backlinks
• JavaScript Menus – crawlers cannot read JavaScript menus; try using a sitemap instead.
• Ignoring URLs – place keywords in an URL; helps with SEO
• Poor Site Promotion – marketing goes beyond just launching a site; try inbound links
• Ignoring Title Tags – a title tag is important because it shows in the search results as your page title
• Thin Content Pages – little to no content is present on the page
• Poor Content Management System – a CMS should be crawler-friendly in order to be beneficial

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Message Boards

Catching the attention of online users are message boards. The use of message boards can be quite powerful if they are utilized in the proper way. Message boards tend to attract a large amount of traffic, which brings in visitors who are looking to converse.

A message board is also referred to as an Internet forum, online discussion site, and bulletin board system (BBS). Tree-like directories are found within the message board in a place known as a forum or thread. Users then are able to post content inside the threads. Most message boards require membership while some allow for non-registered members to post. Forums are normally organized, driven and updated by a group identified as members, and governed by a moderator.

Members of a message board often share a common bond or social interest. Topics and discussions vary within each forum.

Examples of Online Message Board Sites

• Yahoo
• AOL
• Ancestry.com
• iVillage.com

Eventually, sustaining a message board can help create hundreds of pages with many thousands of keywords used by members – which is good when trying to build a site’s search engine optimization (SEO) ranking.

Message board systems are inexpensive and often free. They are easy to set up and are creative ways to increase a website’s content.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Cleaning Your Home's Backyard

Making your home’s backyard look beautiful does not take much money or extensive hours (only if you let it!). There are several inexpensive ways to help manage and maintain a healthy yard. Impress your neighbors by taking care of your exterior property as much as possible.

Finding the time to maintain your backyard can become difficult. Try not to let your personal property overwhelm you. If need be, hire a professional company to do the work. But, if you do decide to handle the issue yourself, here are a few ways to beautify your backyard.

Charlotte Cleaning Services Tips on How to Clean Up Your Home’s Backyard

Remove all toys, equipment, and miscellaneous items
Get rid of any clutter in your backyard. You can organize each item in storage or your garage, if needed. Recommendation: invest in a small storage shed or try building one yourself.

Clean up any leaves, weeds and shrubs visible to the eye
Pull out a rake, garden trimmer, and wheelbarrow and remove all debris from the yard. Be sure to look around your fence, deck, patio, and side areas of your house. Shrubs should be handled with a garden trimmer. Place all wasted in your wheelbarrow and dispose of it.

Mow the grass
Set your lawn mower to a low height setting in order to trim down the grass.

Get rid of any blot on the landscape
Even though it may be difficult to imagine, there comes a time when unnecessary items need to be thrown away. These items include: broken lawn equipment or furniture, old cars, rusted children’s playgrounds, etc. If it makes you feel better, donate some of the good parts to a junk yard.

About Charlotte House and Commercial Cleaning Services

With a strong reputation for diligence, Bucket ‘n’ Broom Charlotte House and Commercial Cleaning Services provides the utmost quality of professional maid service cleaning and customer service. Serving the home and office needs of Charlotte, NC, Bucket ‘n’ Broom provides more than the ability to just clean. Services include general cleaning, deep cleaning, bathroom and kitchen cleaning, special occasion cleaning, and post construction cleaning.

Visit us online at www.bucketnbroom.com/charlotte-house-commercial-cleaning-services

What is Viral Marketing?

The importance of Social Media Optimization has increased over the past few years. If you take a look at sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter you will see that all of these sites seemed uncertain of at first, but now they have surpassed many expectations.

Large to small businesses have began to make use of social networking sites in order to create a buzz in the market. Using social media as a marketing tool requires a more dedication than some of the traditional methods. Viral Marketing is defined as the process of marketing materials and information via social networking.

This type of marketing uses pre-existing social networks to increase brand awareness by encouraging people to pass along a promotional message. It is an effective way of using word-of-mouth to achieve success.

The first step in viral marketing begins with good content (also known as viral content). All content that is spread through social networking sites should consist of ‘real information’ that catches the attention of users. Users are more likely to become more excited about things that benefit them in some type of way. If a message does not provide what they need, it is recommended that a company rethink their entire viral campaign.

Common on the viral marketing world is a concept known as blogging. For example, a company may post an article on a site such as articlesbase.com. Once the blog has been posted, the article is then tagged in a social network, and then begins to distribute elsewhere. Each time it is tagged more people see it, and then someone else tags it and it reaches more viewers. It is similar to applying the snowball effect to marketing.

Viral Marketing Tips
• Do not feel the need to only create expensive advertisements
• Make it easy for users to share your content
• Make use of different types of social media sites
• Sell your idea in a creative way

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Search Engine Penalties

Search engine optimization professionals tend to disagree as to whether or not search engines should penalize companies that do not follow their SEO guidelines and regulations. If you were to do your research, you will discover that a majority of search engines won’t actually admit to the specific penalties that decrease a web sites ranking. Unfortunately, they only disclose when a page has been delisted from a search engine.

There are quite a few reasons a search engine might remove a web site from its index. Potential ways to get delisted include: cloaking, linking schemes, keyword stuffing, even over optimization.

Once a web site has been delisted, it is possible to get re-listed. It is recommended that webmasters correct the errors and then give search engine crawlers the opportunity to recrawl a site. Once this has been completed, a web site will be added back into the index. There is a chance that it will take a few months to see the results.

However, a web site may simply lose a higher ranking rather than actually being delisted. Normally, this is not the result of a penalty from a search engine. A drop in ranking could be due to a problem with the web site or web server.

Below are a few reasons why a web site’s ranking may decrease:
• Broken or spammy links
• Another site is redesigned
• Server issues and hosting issues
• A search engine algorithm change

If you find your web site’s rank decrease, begin a thorough investigation and fix the problem quickly. And if you have been delisted, again, handle the issue as soon as possible. Attempt not to let the same problems happen more than once. More importantly, learn how to stay on a search engine’s good side!

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com