Alaska’s Best SEO

Link building is the cornerstone of a good organic SEO campaign. Having good quality links (links that have good descriptive keywords in the link) should be your number one goal in getting ranking, right behind good content.

So how do you build links? Easy. You find sites that relate to yours (industry related, bloggers, customers, friends, and so forth) and ask them to link back to your site.

How man of these have you seen (if not…you should definitely consider working your SEO) the following e-mails? The example has had all the senders information removed:

Dear Webmaster,I need PR 2+ links for my site.

My Linking Details;

URL: [THEIR DOMAIN]
Title: Burglar Alarms
Description: Burglar alarms for do it yourselfers. Top brands and best prices for burglar alarms!

Linkback Site: [TOTALLY DIFFERENT DOMAIN] PR 3

And Let me know when our link is live. At this time I am accepting links from all themes. (except adult, casino, gambling)

Looking forward to hear from you soon.

Thanks and Regards,
[THEIR DOMAIN]

Contacting a webmaster is easy, however you don’t want to convey a bad mesaage or worse look like a spammer, possibly loosing not only the link…but also having some blogger write a post about how you dared to spam them (many bloggers can be pretty mean on their blogs!).

So here are some simple tricks to getting a site to link to you:

• Keep your e-mail to 25 words or less. You don’t need to “butter up” the person you’re trying to contact.
• Provide your real contact information (name, e-mail, title, organization).
• Have your contact e-mail address show from the domain you’re asking the link from (as in don’t use email@hotmail.com as the return for yourgreatsite.com).
• Personalize the e-mail. People respond to an honest reason to link than “Hi, I found your site and think you should link to us….”
• Reciprocal link. This is critical! Don’t e-mail with the following “Once you link to us, we’ll link to you” or as above not even saying you linked or are willing to link back to them!
• SPELL & GRAMMAR CHECK! Seriously…if you received an e-mail that was fought with misspellings and grammatical errors, you have to also wonder how the site looks as well.

I have read many books, posts, and heard podcasts that recommend using a form letter (with some sites/forums offering “templates”). We don’t recommend that if at all possible as many of the more “savvy” webmasters out there will instantly identity it as such (especially if their site is a regular recipient of requests) and probably ignore them - or worse yet, a “black hat” (questionable) SEO group uses the same template and you’re filtered out for being similar.

Just use the golden rule in asking for a link or updating a link…treat them the way you want to be treated.

An sincere e-mail asking to link because in reviewing their site you saw that they are a related interest (cite specifics of the site - that goes a LONG way in showing you really looked at the site) and you’ve already linked to them will go a lot farther than the above example.

It’s the latest craze for business on the internet.  Shareing your thoughts and wisdom on a particular subject or subjects.

What is a blog and more importantly…what can it do for my business?

First let’s define a blog. A blog is short for web log - a frequently updated journal or diary that is instantly published on the internet. Lately blogs have come into mainstream fashion in the news and political areanas, but there are blogs for practically anything, so much so that even google has now built a speciality blog site (http://blogsearch.google.com/).

Compared to a regular website, a blog has several advantages, most notably:

• Easy to maintain - no special tools like Dreamweaver or FrontPage, nor do you need to FTP anything. All the necessary tools to publish content are built in.
• Easy to create & setup - most blogging tolls are very easy to setup on your existing website and there are a wealth of free blogging services such as blogspot (https://www.blogger.com/start).
• SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY - That’s correct…blogs have lots of SEO features built in (i.e. each post is typically it’s own URL, categories and/or tags, and updated content make them more likely to be indexed if the search engines find lots of fresh content each time).
• Interactivity with customers - It’s a great way to interact with your existing and potential customers. If you make widget cast molds and blog about the various methods of ”care and cleaning of widget molds” then you have now added value for existing customers as well as a forum for feedback (via blog comments).

Best of all, blogs aren’t tied to a location! If you’re at a conference, you can blog from your hotel about the great things you’ve learned that will enhance your product/service. If it’s a matter of typing, you can even blog by phone (http://www.phoneblogz.com/)!!!

Blogging for business allows you to do more than just plug your product or service, it personalizes your business with the customer allowing you to share your points of view and creat a lasting relationship…not just with the people who walk in your door (assuming you have a brick and mortar shop), but the customers a half a world away.

First things first….

Right now there is no real reason to upgrade.  There aren’t security fixes, or the like in 2.3.  The changes between 2.2 and 2.3 are the following:

• Canonical URLs.  Our number one reason for you to move to 2.3. If your WP is in a subdirectory (www.myawesomesite.com/wp) then you’re OK search engine wise…however if your blog is the root (www.myawesomesite.com) or a subdomain (subdomain.myawesomesite.com), you will be penalized by search engines for having duplicate content!!!!  Basically…in earlier versions of wordpress, http://www and http:// are not canonical so that in the eyes of the search engines, you have TWO websites with duplicate content which will have you removed (right now you need to load a plugin, or set your .htacces to correct it)!
• Links and posts are finally separated (if you use the blogroll it was considered a post and searchable as such).
• Pending review for content, allowing the site owner to have contributing authors but maintain editorial control.
• Housekeeping was another big one. Code formatting and style were also cleaned up.
• Several bundled libraries were updated to their latest versions at time of release (i.e. TinyMCE – the core visual input tool now has spell check).
• Post and page management was also improved. Managing your draft and private posts and pages is now much easier.
• Plugin maintenance. If the plugin is registered, the plugin admin screen will alert you to updates.
• Native tagging support which has been significantly lacking and required one to three plugins to incorporate.

In making some of these changes, the developers had to restructure the database and this is where the problems come in.  If your theme or plugin isn’t 2.3 compatible it could cause you MAJOR headaches.

Luckily WP is listing the compatible (and incompatible) plugins for 2.3: http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Plugin_Compatibility/2.3. For the most part, your theme should not cause problems, but here is a list of compatibles: http://codex.wordpress.org/Themes/Theme_Compatibility/2.3, especially if you want to implement tags.

However the lists above are as people alert the codex, so to still be sure we recommend you load and run this amazing plugin: http://smithsrus.com/downloads/wordpress-upgrade-preflight-check/.  We can tell you, if we had found this first…it’d have saved us several hours of headaches.

So…here is what we recommend now after all our experiences with upgrading:

Backup your database (you are backing up your database regularly right?!?)!  If not or you can’t with your hosting service, there are two plugins that do this VERY well from within WP: http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/wp-db-backup/ and if you want more control (as well as some db maintenance abilities): http://lesterchan.net/portfolio/programming.php (WP-DBmanager).

With a little preplanning the migration should be fairly smooth.  Just remember to have a good backup of your WP files and database in case you need to revert.

We have so many business customers ask us this question. Our reply is typically to counter with; “do you manufacture your own office furniture?”

Today’s businesses, in keeping up with hightened competition, need to be more efficient.

There was a time when businesses could spend tens of thousands of dollars on just the computer hardware alone, and building your own PC(s) could cut those costs by upwards of 15%. However, thanks to improved manufacturing and global competition, that is no longer the case.

We always recommend that your decision to build or buy should be based upon the business opportunity cost - what else could you be doing to grow your business instead of building a PC?

With the costs of PC’s being well below the $1,000.00 range (including a warranty and preinstalled software), it seems almost nonsensical to build your own. For the casual business user, a standard PC with the default amount of RAM from the manufacturer is usually quite sufficient for the average office suite or application.

So, today, like your office chair and desk…buying one is much easier than building one.

Like the mechanics at your local car shop, most times their vehicles are not in the best of shape. This is due to the fact that they are too busy working on our vehicles to work on their own.

The same applies for us here at Apex. Slowing down to work on our own website has not been easy, but we were finally able to squeeze in some time and…viola!!

A new and improved site which we believe will allow you to navigate easier, thus allowing you to get to the information you need in a timely fashion.

So…thanks for stopping by and we hope you enjoy the new look as much as we enjoyed making it.

For most, the idea of maintaining a website is nerve wracking. I mean, how do you find the time to sit down and make a new web page?

Many people, when asked, still believe that you need special software such as FrontPage (or now called MicroSoft Expression), to make web pages. This limiting philosophy is what tends to keep a site either static or some crazed monstrosity built by a co-worker with limited or no experience.

Enter the “Blog” (short for web log), which allows you to simply type in content to a structured framework, thus eliminating the need for special tools on the individual PC. Blogs simplify the web-publishing process to such a degree that anyone can do it, regardless of experience and because it requires no web design tools it allows for fresh updated content from any PC anywhere! Imagine being on a hotel computer in Paris updating your website immediately instead of having to wait to use the one back home or meeting with your web designer. Also a blog allows multiple people to add content.

Note: There is also a tool called a Content Management System (CMS), which is decidedly different from a blog. Many CMS tools now have either a built in blog or a blog add-on.

So why a blog and why does it enhance SEO?

Simply, it’s a very easy way to add content to your website. The more good relevant content, the better you will be with search engines by upping your keyword density. In fact, thanks to the enhancements in blogging technology, a single individual could easily manage a large web presence. In fact, early adopters of blogs found them to be a useful tool for online communication and a godsend in the ongoing quest for search engine ranking / visibility.

Blogs are a great way to communicate with your target audience and if you’re in sales a very good way to connect with potential customers. In the Real Estate industry, the blog is now becoming a major component of their web presence as it personalizes the Realtor (”Get to know John Smith - click her to read his blog”).

A blog also does not have to be lengthy, each “post” or “article” can be small - snippets of your expertise in your industry or passion for your product. You also do not need to have multiple daily articles, especially if the content is good and relevant. A regular weekly article will be fine. We have one client who starts her week blogging about a topic relating to her latest art project(s). She now sees it as a great way to get her back into focus for her business and based upon the stats on her site, her many fans love to read it! With blogging, you can find yourself in a position where you create consumer interest…thereby allowing you to acquire new business.

Simple, easy to add content, and manageable (editable). Also blogging tools can be attached to existing websites - so most sites shouldn’t require any “major” revisions.

(more…)

Pay-per-Click (PPC) are the fee based ads you see at the top and sides of the major search engines. There are two kinds of links in search engines. Links are either unpaid (the organic ones on the left side that the engine index and rank) and the paid links on the top and right side. There are several major PPC services: Google AdWords, MSN adCenter, Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), Ask.com, and dozens or smaller PPC services.

Using you PPC account you write small (typically two line) text ads. Then, using a list of keywords you choose (most services have tools to help you select keywords if you have not done so beforehand) you set “bids” - the amount you’re willing to pay - for your selected keywords. The better you bid, the higher your ad will appear in the search engines. However, only when someone clicks on the ad, do you pay the bid price - thus the term “pay per click.”

By definition the nature of PPC is a competitive one making it complex. In a bidding environment, the highest bidder usually wins. However you must be cognizant that keyword values are always changing, as new advertisers enter the marketplace. A PPC campaign must be monitored and updated (on an hourly, daily basis, and at minimum weekly basis) unlike organic SEO methods.

OK…Is this something I need to do?

The truthful answer is…it depends…but we say YES! There are lots of reasons to here are a few quick ones:

• If your site is fresh out of the starting gate, PPC is a great way to get it on the radar quickly (manual submissions are taking upwards to six months as of this writing) with search engines.
• If you are in a highly competitive market (i.e. Used Auto Sales near a military base), it’s a great way to get a leg up on the competition.
• You want to steer visitors to a specific place on your website (that new product/service/promotion or just a landing page).
• You want to have more conversions (that’s visits to sales/sales calls or whatever your site is designed to do for you/your business).
• You only pay for the click through.

That last item is a really good point to stress. How much do you pay for your phone listing or yellow page ad? Imagine that the phone company provided you real time reports on 1) who is reading your ad, 2) who is calling from the regular listing vs. the yellow page ad, and lastly 3) you only pay the phone company ONLY WHEN a potential customer used the yellow pages to call you)! With a PPC campaign you can budget by bid/time so you can stretch the money for the web campaign. You can also increase or DECREASE your budget amount (so a ski resort can up the ads when the snow flies and then lower them during the summer) with a few clicks. The yellow page people can only give generalizations and averages…and just try to change your yellow page subscription rate or ad on the fly! A PPC campaign provides REAL value to your marketing dollar.

Also w/PPC you become a “customer” of the search engine…so they provide tons of useful information to help you get the best performance out of your ad. After all…it’s in their best interest to help you get lots of people clicking your ad!

So is PPC really right for you? Our rule of thumb is - if you are a non niche business (and who isn’t thanks to the internet) and would like to get more visits to you site, then yes.