Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important things you can do to drive traffic to your website. It may sound simple and to tell you the truth it is. The question is which method(s) will you use and just how much time do you have to devote to this task.

There are a number of different techniques that can be used for building websites. The content that is contained on the pages of your website can help to improve their placement in the search engine results pages.

The reason for SEO is to push your pages to the top of the search engines in order to make your website more visible to those who are searching for the content that your pages contain. Generally, anyone who is trying to find something online will use a search engine and if your pages don’t land near the top then chances are you won’t be found.

If your website is for personal pages rather than business then it may not be as important to you to have your site optimized to be found quickly in the major search engines. However, if your website is business oriented, then it matters a great deal. In the past if you would have taken your business listing out of the yellow pages then you business might have been doomed because that’s where everybody went to find what they were looking for. However, that was then and this is now. Today, search engines are the preferred method of finding a product, service or business.

If you expect to attract new business or even retain you existing customers then you need to have high search engine rankings so they can find you online. Just as it once was with the yellow pages, it now is with the search engines. If a prospective customer can’t find you when searching online then you are at a very big disadvantage.

You can have the greatest and most customer friendly website in the world and even use your URL in all of your marketing material, but if they can’t find you when using a search engine then you are still at a disadvantage. After all, not everybody is going to see your printed ads or brochures.

When it comes to search engines, they don’t know how wonderful your site’s design is in terms of graphics.
All they see text. It is this text that tells the search engines what your site is about. This can be fatal to your site, as it basically assures that no one will be able to find you with a search engine query.

Through analysis and reverse engineering of search results and websites which are universally applicable, search engine specialists have been able to determine certain things that should be applied or not applied on your web pages. It is this knowledge that enables a professional SEO consultant to look over your website and suggest changes in order to increase its visibility in the search engines “eyes.”

One of the best ways to begin ranking your site higher in the search engine page rankings is to have plenty of one-way back links to your website. There are plenty of other SEO techniques which your site should be doing but back links will bring you more success, faster than anything else.

How Well Is Your Site Doing?
Unless your site is already in the top results of the major engines, (Google specifically) there’s a good chance you’d like to do better. This is where we come in. Any professional search engine optimization consultant will tell you, SEO is a process, not a single task. It takes time and is something that you will have to continue working on. It is an ongoing process and to be honest, never ending. However, if you have the services of a very good search engine optimization professional you will recoup every penny you spend plus a lot more.

Organic search engine optimization is the most effective process to use (in our opinion) when trying to climb the search engine rankings. However, it is important that your web pages are properly optimized and you are building back links. These two things will get you where to go sooner or later.

If you fail to implement good SEO practices on your website you are setting yourself up for failure. Those people who are searching and ready to do business will pass you by, unaware that your site even exists. In today’s economy it’s not a matter of whether you should implement SEO as part of your marketing strategy. The question is when and how will you go about it.

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It is estimated that there is over 1 billion local searches performed every month! That is an amazing number of searches in local markets throughout the United States. This number is only going to get bigger. With smart phones and GPS, consumers have access to search engines almost everywhere they go and if they don’t find your website, don’t be surprised if they find your competitor’s.

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Internet marketing simply defined is:

“The techniques and strategies used to drive traffic to a website and convert that traffic into sales.”

When it comes to internet marketing many people differ on what they think it is or what it does. However, most people will agree that internet marketing or search engine marketing (SEO) as it is known in the professional arena is essential for most businesses. The problem the average small business owner has is that they do not know where to start or what to do. In general the internet marketing services we offer include but are not limited to:

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Today, statistics tell us that 70%-80% of local consumers are using a search engines to start looking for a product, service or support by using a search engine. If you own a small business can you afford to NOT to be found by an audience this large?

The opportunities that are available to those businesses who are found on the first page of the major search engines are phenomenal. If you want your business to be found online then you have two options:

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Virtual Marketing, LLC uses 5 core components when creating an internet marketing campaign for small businesses. The 5 core components include:

1. Current Website Evaluation
   Before beginning any internet marketing campaign a website evaluation is completed to determine the elements of the existing website. The main purpose this review is to evaluate the current website design and usability. We can then define what areas need to be addressed and create an effective Internet marketing campaign.

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There are plenty of people who are willing to “help” you achieve success with your search engine optimization goals. However, not everyone can actually do the things they say they can do. Below you will find a few red flags that should tell you to steer away from a company or individual.

Guaranteed Rankings

There are companies out there who claim they can guarantee you #1 rankings in the search engines. This is not true. No matter what they tell you NO ONE can guarantee you a #1 ranking. They cannot guarantee a specific amount of traffic, they cannot guarantee you anything. If anyone tells you they can, steer far, far away from them. This does not mean you don’t need a search engine specialist. Just like doctors and lawyers you are paying them for their expertise and not for a guarantee. A good search engine specialist will know what is required to create traffic and promote higher rankings and that is what you are paying them for. It requires a specialized skill set that the average webmaster or web designer does not possess.

Trade Secrets

There are no real secrets in search engine optimization. Experience will give good search engine optimizers some tools that are helpful but in general they are not paid for some secret they have. Generally, if they won’t tell you what they are doing, how they are doing it, or why then they probably have no idea of what they are doing.

Submit Your Site to 1,000’s of search engines

First things first. If you never submitted your site to one search engine, your site would still eventually be found by ALL the major search engines. They are not called search engines for nothing and over the years they have gotten pretty good at finding websites, even the ones who did not submit to them.

Special Relationships

There are companies that have laid claim to knowing someone on the “inside.” Do you really think that the search engine companies allow just anyone in the company to have the algorithms that are used to rank websites. These are literally trade secrets. There are hundreds of programmers that work on pieces of the search engine coding puzzle. You would have to know a lot of people and be able to put together all the information they each possess to in order to even have a clue, let alone the answer.

First Contact

If you have been online for any amount of time it is quite possible you have received an email offering one of the above ploys. Generally speaking I would not use someone who contacted me online without my requesting information. Does this mean that any company who contacts you is a fraud. No. It simply means be careful and use due diligence when asking questions.

Package Pricing

SEO is a service, not a product. This means that it would be basically impossible to create a package price that could be used for any website or business. Every business requires research into the target audience, keyword phrases, competitive intelligence, and the hot points for that particular industry or business. What works for one client will not necessarily work for another. Every search engine optimization client requires and deserves a customized plan in order to have a chance at succeeding.

Last but not Least

Search engine optimization is not all about getting the highest ranking. High search engine rankings are a by-product of the process of driving qualified traffic to a client’s website. If your site is ranked #1 but makes no sales then what good is your ranking. Search engine optimization is about driving traffic to your site and converting that traffic into sales.

Virtual Marketing, LLC is a Colorado based Internet Marketing company that is experienced in all areas of online marketing. You may contact us for a free internet marketing consultation at any time without obligation or pressure.

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Google has been kind enough to provide webmasters a valuable set of tools to aid us in our SEO (search engine optimization) efforts. Those tools are called appropriately enough “Google Webmaster Tools.”

This set of tools provides us with information about what Google’s crawler sees, statistics, links, diagnostics and a variety of other helpful information. The first section we will address is the Overview section. Below you will find the items addressed on the Overview page:

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