The Press Release – Publicity on the Web

Posted on 21. Oct, 2008 by Boyd Norwood in Search Engine Optimization, Uncategorized

Does your site have something big that they want to show to the web? Perhaps you have a new product line that was added to your catalog. Your website may have just outgrown its prior facilities and you are now changing locations. Anything that happens to your site and your business ought to be made known.    

How can you get your story out there? The best way for you to do this is going to be a Press Release. A press release is a viable option where you will write a story on what is occurring in your company, or you can write a promotion for a new product you are distributing. Whatever your big news, you have the option of getting into the hands of the media so that they can grab it if they so choose.

Usually, you should not stress if your phone does not ring. There is link building power in the release itself.  Any media pick-up that might happen would be an added bonus. What then can you do to make your press release a strong link source for your site?   

You should choose a release package that fits your needs and budget. There are free press release sites, yet you should know that you get what you pay for. It will be worth your while to budget and get a quality press release done. Find the site that you wish to use. Two suggestions would be prweb.com and prleap.com.

Some of the things you will want to do as you write your press release would be the following:

1. Make sure to place links in the content of your press release. These links are the key purpose behind your release and they should not be excluded.
2. Be sure to use your keyword clusters as the anchor text for those links.
3. Be careful to only link once to each URL that you place in the press release.
4. Don’t use text with all caps.
5. Use a quote and some analytical information. This still ought to have meat to it so you can have the possibility of more media exposure.

If done correctly, a press release will be a great link building tool, and an opportunity for possible extra exposure. Be sure to track the effects of your press release and see the results of it. Watch your web traffic, analyze your amount of subscribers and return visitors to your site. All of these can be influenced by press releases. Do a good follow-up and analysis for yourself to see where you can change the way you use this tool.

In short, using press releases at times when you see fit will be a great way to build up your site, increase your traffic, and increase your site’s exposure.

Header Tags

Posted on 10. Oct, 2008 by Boyd Norwood in Search Engine Optimization, Uncategorized

When attempting to optimize your site for the search engines, there are structural pieces that become vital to your success. Certain locations on your website are more strategic for the placement of your key phrases. This is because search engines use algorithms that do not value all content the same.

Imagine a newspaper. When you are reading the newspaper, what do you do? You browse headlines to find the articles that interest you.  Once you find an article of interest, you might scan the article first looking at subheadlines to guide you.  We can all agree that the words in headlines and subheadlines are more important than the main body of the article.

In similar fashion, search engine bots read over the content of your web pages.  The bots tend to give more importance to phrases in headlines and subheadlines.  But what is considered a headline/subheadline to the search engine bots?  The answer is simple: Header Tags.  

Even though your page title might be big and bold and look like a headline to a human being, it is not seen as a headline to Google or other search engines unless it is turned into a header tag.  Those header tags are labeled in the code of your website, and the search engines look for those tags. Like the eyes that are looking for a relevant story, the search engines will place priority on H1 tags that cater to the desired search. 

You can make any text a header tag by simply adding a small snippet of html code around the text within the code of the website page.  Header tags range from h1 to h6 and the code looks like this:

<h1>Page Title Goes Here</h1> or

<h2>Subheadings Go Here</h2>

That’s it.  It’s not much code but adding them will help with your onsite optimization efforts.

How to put header tags into practice:

Put the main keyword phrase from that page’s cluster in the h1 tag for sure.  If you have any subheadings that are there for the user and they contain keyword phrases from that page’s cluster, then turn those into h2 tags.

Feel free to ask questions below. 

CMOE Blog Contest

Posted on 12. Sep, 2008 by Boyd Norwood in Uncategorized

CMOE has been around since 1978 and have been helping companies large and small develop a competitive edge in the business world.  They consult with companies and teach them about strategic thinking, coaching, team building, team work, leadership training, leadership development, and strategic management.

CMOE is currently having a blog contest.  During this contest they are giving away some Amazon gift cards and some really good books that can help any organization or individual excel in the work place.  You can read about their contest here.

Here is one of their great videos about Strategic Thinking.

Strategic thinking is a skill that anyone can use in any role or position within a company. Applied Strategic Thinking is practical, ongoing, and informal. Strategic thinking is helpful when it is linked and aligned with grand corporate strategy.