Streaming Media…now a well accepted Internet technology. Yet streaming is still not being widely utilized by members of corporate training staffs. Why is this? I would venture to guess that lack of direct experience, hesitation to try new methods, and fears about costly "TV type stuff" have all contributed to make streaming seem like something too difficult to attempt successfully.

Granted, streaming media still has its limitations especially in the area of delivering full- screen, full-quality video. But most of the big players on the Internet, even those in head-to-head competition for the fast-growing streaming audience, agree that as bandwidth continues to improve, streaming provides a value added service to the Web. Live and on-demand streaming has definitely arrived on the Internet and on corporate intranets as part of a multimedia mix for all kinds of applications including sales, marketing, and training. (I think that the entertainment value need not be disputed.)

Streaming is economical and extremely affordable. Once the training production has been completed, there is no need for expensive tape, or CD-ROM, duplication and shipping charges. The stream is available 24 hours a day without human intervention and can remain on the company site for an indeterminate time. Streams can also be archived for easy access by new employees, customers and visitors. The cost of hosting and archiving these streams is minuscule compared with the costs associated with tape duplication, storage, mailing, and the personnel required to perform these tasks

What is streaming exactly? Streaming promises quick access to meaningful content without the aggravating wait for files to download. Downloading requires that files be sent to the user’s PC in their entirety before they can be played; MP3 is a perfect example of this. The files then remain on the user’s machine until they are deleted. Streaming continuously sends these same files, which have already been digitized, to the user’s PC while the user is listening or watching. When the stream is ended, no data is left behind on the user’s machine. Streams can also be password protected for additional security.

Why is this technology so well suited for training purposes? The first and most compelling answer is its availability. Unlike a video or tele-conference, the participant sets the time and place for the training activity, not the training provider. This is critical when you have a widely dispersed sales group, your company has remote locations, or workers who require training are on different shifts. This is also a very appealing feature for those seeking higher educational opportunities.

Maintaining training standards and techniques is facilitated with streaming media. The training provider is assured that all participants will see and hear the same program. It also makes the producer’s job easier; he or she only has to "put-on" the program once Instead of many times and can put more emphasis on quality production values.

Streaming media can be seamlessly integrated with other tools as part of the same program. An audio stream could be used with still or 3-D graphics to talk about complex machinery, architectural plans, or engineering drawings. Use a video stream in conjunction with workbook exercises for the classroom. Combine audio, video, and graphics for a facilities tour for remote sales people and their customers. Utilize streaming as an effective employee orientation tool, also. Company manuals can be adapted for on-line use and be available on the company Intranet for training on demand.

Streaming media can provide the answer when a company needs to reach a great many consumers at one time. I spent several years in the juvenile products industry where product recalls are common. Many of those recalls involve products that require a simple mechanical adjustment that the end-user can easily perform when provided with clear instructions. Streaming media could be used to demonstrate the corrective procedure and save the company a small fortune by eliminating unnecessary phone calls and product returns.

Streaming media technology is fast becoming an accepted method for disseminating information as well as a technique to entertain and amuse us. Now that broadband connections are readily available, companies that are willing to harness these new techniques will be called "creators of value" and the innovators of the future.

Ronni Rhodes is the owner of WBC Imaging, an Internet company that specializes in web site enhancement utilizing streaming media technology. With her husband, Don, a digital media engineer, they work with companies to incorporate streaming as part of successful and meaningful sales and marketing programs.

Please direct all questions and comments to: Ronni@wbcimaging.com 520-742-5780 http://www.wbcimaging.com

While professional SEO (search engine optimization) is becoming increasingly recognized as an extremely effective component of an overall marketing mix, the SEO industry itself is still very much in its infancy. Because SEO is a relatively new industry, many key decision makers are not even aware that professional SEO exists, or they simply believe that it could not work in their industries or with the existing marketing mix. This is not because these decision makers are ineffective or backward thinking, but rather because, in most companies, marketing efforts are focused upon activities that have already been proven effective as a part of the marketing mix (direct mail, print advertising, trade shows).

Very often, the people who first recognize the potential benefits of professional SEO are not the key decision makers. They are the people on the front lines of the organization – the ones who deal with prospects and customers every day. However, proposing professional SEO as a new marketing initiative to the people higher in the chain of command can be a frustrating process – very often leading to disenchantment and a general sense that the marketing decision maker doesn’t “get it”. Usually, however, the approach was more flawed than the decision maker.

Reality

Before getting into some ideas for approaching your marketing decision maker, it should be mentioned that if your company does not have a history of trying anything new, you may be better off spending your energies elsewhere. Professional SEO as an addition to your marketing mix can be a hard sell to a company that is still relying on computers that were cutting edge during the Reagan administration, no matter how convincing the argument. If your experience with your company tells you that your efforts will be in vain before you begin, you obviously don’t want to waste your time.

Speak on Their Terms

As previously mentioned, your motivation for suggesting professional SEO may not necessarily inspire your marketing decision maker to immediately add it to your company’s marketing mix. What will? Most marketing execs have a hot button issue, and they are rarely shy about sharing it. Is he or she concerned with increasing overall revenue? Is he or she always discussing cutting marketing costs? Does he or she talk about reducing the cost per lead? Does he or she always espouse the value of improving your brand recognition? For each of these scenarios (and virtually any other), there are specific studies on SEO that will support your recommendation. If you approach your marketing decision maker without keeping the issues most important to him or her in mind, you will diminish your chances for success.

Use the Competition

While different marketing decision makers can have different hot button issues, few things seem to motivate companies as much as the action (or sometimes the inaction) of the competition. With professional SEO, there are two potential scenarios – either some of your competitors have added it to the marketing mix effectively, or none of them have. If they have, it is fairly easy to demonstrate this fact by taking your marketing manager through a few keyphrase searches on any major search engine and showing him or her that your hated enemy figures prominently in the results while your company does not. This, of course, makes a compelling argument. On the other hand, if your known competitors have clearly not embraced the channel, it is just as easy to show a few searches on keyphrases demonstrating that you can have (for now) a competitive advantage. Such keyphrase searches can also turn up additional competitors – lean, forward-thinking companies that are embracing new marketing tactics. This eye-opening experience can also encourage a decision maker to act.

Use Your Potential Vendors

Talk to some established professional SEO firms before approaching your company with the suggestion that they consider adding SEO to the marketing mix. A good SEO firm has encountered all of the objections that you are likely to face and should be able to help you with your approach by compiling relevant stats and offering compelling case studies. Your time is valuable, and you needn’t spend it reinventing the wheel when you can get professional assistance for free. If a firm is unwilling, or unable, to help you to present to your marketing decision maker in a manner that will speak directly to them, perhaps you should look elsewhere. An inexperienced SEO firm might not be able to help you in this specific manner, and an overburdened firm will likely be unwilling to spend the extra time to help you customize your approach. The good news is that asking for this type of assistance can not only help you to sell to your company, it can also help you in the early stages of the all-important vendor selection process.

Offer a Plan

Piquing interest from the decision maker is only the first step. You should be prepared to offer a clear project description, including the price ranges of your proposed professional SEO vendors, how long it will take to see results, and, most importantly, how success will be measured. This is another area where your potential vendors should be more than willing to help – good firms will collect extensive data at the outset to measure success, and will be able to clearly define what “success” will look like.

As many companies are discovering, professional SEO is an incredibly powerful and cost-effective addition to the existing marketing mix. It is a sure bet, however, that the marketing decision makers of many of the companies currently embracing professional SEO did not come up with the idea independently. Some underpaid visionary in their organizations brought it to their attention first!

About the Author

Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue Search Engine Marketing. He has contributed content to many publications including Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet, SEO Today, WebProNews, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue, an Atlanta search engine marketing company, serves local and national clients, including Boston Scientific, DuPont, and Georgia-Pacific. To receive internet marketing articles and search engine news in your email box each month, register for Medium Blue’s newsletter, Out of the Blue.

If you’re looking for an SEO firm, we recommend that you weigh 10 factors that can save you trouble down the road.

1. Check out their experience.

You shouldn’t have to try hard to find samples of their clients or their SEO performance on individual websites. How competitive are their search terms that are ranking well on Google? Are the search terms that are ranking well difficult terms to position–one, two and three word phrases, or are they easy terms to position because no one else is using them at all–six, seven and eight word terms?

2. Ask for testimonial letters.

Insist on letterheads from the clients that feature real names, not Fred from Cleveland or J.T. from New York. Call these references and ask them questions about the SEO performance of the company you are considering.

3. Ask them to document their process.

What policies and procedures do they follow? Are they consistent? Do they stay away from unethical procedures that could put your site in jeopardy with the search engines?

4. Get staff credentials.

Find out who is doing the work. You really need a team of people - no one person can be proficient in every area of server administration, programming, marketing, writing, link building and more. Get to know the team a bit.

5. Be suspicious of money back guarantees.

Unless it’s super-clear, you have to wonder about the details of the guarantee. If a firm offers one, including Top 10 placement, ask them to elaborate. Which key words are included? Just one Top 10? Do they plan to achieve Top 10 rankings among natural results or pay-per-click? Are the Top 10 listings associated with your web site or a supplemental web site the SEO firm controls?

6. Get pricing information.

Is the SEO contract for hourly, monthly or annual services? Get prices from a few other firms as well, but be aware that the scope of services may vary greatly from firm to firm. Insist that the firm you’re interested in explain why it charges more for services, if that’s the case.

7. Ask about reporting. How many keywords will the firm handle? How many pages?

Find out whether you’ll be able to access the latest data about your project. How often is it provided? What’s included? Some firms just send a ranking report. What other details can you expect in terms of the overall strategy, next steps, web site traffic and conversions?

8. Determine the firm’s ethical standards.

What are the firm’s practices when it comes to ethical standards and practices? How far will they go? How do they view doorway pages, cloaking and keyword stuffing?

9. Know your objectives.

You need to have some idea of what you want to accomplish when selecting an SEO firm. Do you simply want to promote your brand? Do you want to increase visitors and push traffic to retailers? Do you want to improve online sales? Which categories of products will matter the most in your campaign?

10. Come up with a budget.

You can submit your web site pages (not optimized) for free or through services that cost well below $100. Optimizing is another matter–It’s going to cost money. Have some flexibility–the level of service and the firm’s expertise will determine whether you pay hundreds of dollars or well over a $1,000 a month.

Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, a Cleveland, Ohio-based search engine marketing (SEM) firm. A member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), he also authored the white paper, "Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game."

mmurray@fathomseo.com

When, shopping for a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company/specialist you need to be aware of a few things.

If someone offers you fast results they may be pulling your leg. If you aren’t listed on search engines the average time to be index takes around 4 weeks. Someone offering submissions in less then that is coning you. Websites that are already listed and are just being updated will have a faster result.

A guarantee isn’t always reinsurance. Just because a site states they can get you in the #1 spot doesn’t mean they can deliver. Or, they may have you listed under an obscure keyword or phrase. Most legitimate SEO’s will tell you no one can guarantee a top stop on all keywords and phrases. Search Engine optimization is not an exact science. Trail and error along with constant tweaking will help bring your site closer to your goal.

Most SEO’s should give you some information on where your site stands currently. You links, keywords, where you rank on major search engines etc.. Or, do one yourself. My article “Google’s Helping hand” show you free tools that can help you evaluate where you are on search engines. Don’t go into any SEO work blindly. Know where you stand before and after.

Price is never an indication of how good a service is. More isn’t always better.

Shop around try to get the most for your money, but be realistic. If it seems too good to be true then it may just be. Be prepared to shell out some cash. SEO is not cheap. You should think of SEO as advertising. It should be contestant as should all of your advertising efforts.

Ask questions! Do not be afraid to ask what will be done to increase your ranking. Most SEO’s will have no problem telling you what they will do. They may not want to reveal their whole SEO operation. But, they will give you some insight to what they will do. Talk to more then one SEO company. Compare what each has to say. Do some research on your own. Find out if these companies have been reported to the Better Business Bureau. If the company or persons have had any articles or reviews written about them. Ask around. Try to have some idea of the company or persons creditability.

A few additional things to keep in mind are:

Is SEO there main business or is it a sideline to other businesses. SEO is a full time job. Especially, keeping up with the constant changes.

Do they have a specialist?

Do they outsource?

How much do they really know?

What are there view points on link farms and doorway pages?

Will they do anything to get you links and traffic? Even though search engines frown on those practices.

Can they explain to you clearly how their plan of action?

Are they looking to take small steps with you?

Or, are they trying to sell you the biggest SEO package possible?

Follow this outline when you are searching for someone to optimize your site. In the end it will be worth it.

Joe Balestrino’s site is http://www.mr-seo.com where he offers affordable SEO, submissions and other articles on SEO and marketing. His other site http://www.jnb-design.com offers affordable web design and free lifetime hosting.

As the demand for search engine marketing continues to grow, so does the demand for experts in the area. In recent months, mass emails seem to be the new ‘promise’ of top search engine rankings. How do you choose an SEO provider that will understand the needs of your website and provide quality service?

Let’s breakdown the elements of SEO, to make it easier for you to recognize a good product. To find a good SEO provider, look for these things:

They need to be able to check your current site, evaluate it and set goals for it. They should develop a list of target keywords relevant to the site, write and insert good meta tags for you, and check all other tags to make sure that they’re alright. They should also check all your content and make recommendations on how to improve it to get better search engine rankings.

They should provide link-building programs, including writing and submitting listings to directories and giving you ideas on who to ask for links from. Reports tracking search engine referrals to your site are always good, especially if they explain what they mean and how they can be improved.

Website maintenance is a very important aspect of any SEO program. Once their site has been optimized, many people don’t realize that they need to keep up these methods over time. If you let your site lapse back to the way it was as you add new content, then you’ll need to start all over again.

What kind of price can you put on all this? Well, pricing structures for SEO vary a lot between companies. Some companies will charge more because they include a monthly maintenance fee, while other companies offer customized proposals based on a websites specific need. In general, good SEO can cost as much as $150 an hour, so be prepared for that. Keep in mind that the larger your site is, the more work will be involved. It will naturally take less time to optimize a smaller, simpler site, so keep this in mind when you consider the pricing.

After you’re more comfortable with what the services offered are and how they’re priced, you’ll want to make sure that the company you’re choosing as your SEO provider has the knowledge and skill to complete the work for you. You should talk to three or four companies before you choose one. Be sure to ask them these questions, and back off if you don’t feel like you’re getting an honest answer:

1. How long has your company been in business? Can you explain what your previous experience is and what principles your SEO works under?

2. What other services do you provide besides SEO? Do you provide Internet marketing services?

3. What kinds of industries have you serviced previously? Can you provide me with checkable references?

4. How will you break down the cost of your services?

5. How much will I need to do myself for this SEO project to run smoothly?

6. How much time do I need to set aside to communicate with you during the process?

7. How long does it usually take to achieve results? (SEO is a gradual process, so a reply of anything under 6 months should be a red flag for you).

8. Is it possible to have someone from your firm teach us how to maintain your SEO once it’s done? (If they tell you that you wouldn’t be able to do it yourself, then that’s another red flag).

When they do send you a proposal on the project, you will want to make sure that it contains everything you spoke about, and everything else that should be there. If the answers to any of these questions are missing, you should walk away:

1. What specific services are included in the contract? Are any omitted? Make sure that what you discussed and wanted is included.

2. What is the name or position of the person you will be working with? Are you dealing with a salesperson, a designer, or someone else?

3. Are allowances made for communication with you? Are there any additional fees for contact?

4. How will the company be providing support? By email? On the phone? Do they stop supporting you after a month or so?

5. Are there extra fees for re-optimization or additional consulting? Is it really necessary? What maintenance is provided? If not, what is the additional cost of it? When maintenance is not included with the plan you need to be careful, as there are people who will charge you exorbitant amounts of money to maintain their optimization.

6. What reports are provided and how often will they provide them?

7. What are the total charges? Are there any additional charges?

By taking steps like this you will guard yourself against bad practices, you will also have a better understanding of the service you are getting, and you can easily compare offers to find the best one. But how can you tell if your provider is operating ethically? Well, that’s is pretty easy. Here’s a list of the sales pitches that bad SEO providers will use on you. If you hear any of these from a company, use someone else instead.

1. Guaranteeing top-ranking placements. This is impossible to do since the algorithms of the search engines change often, and any good SEO provider will tell you that.

2. Offering a service that includes the development of ‘doorway pages’. These designs often don’t take your visitors ease of use into consideration, and search engines will ban your site if they catch you using them.

3. Telling you that you need more than one domain name pointing to your website. You can get banned for domain spamming, so don’t take the risk.

4. Any company that says it will get thousands of inbound links to your website – they will be using free-for-alls, which are very bad for your rankings.

5. Companies that offer you search engine submission software. Good positions always come from hand submission. If they tell you that submission by hand is not the best way to go, don’t stick around.

Many SEO providers use unethical ‘spam’ practices because they are cheap, easy to implement, and do provide very short-term results. Beware of any provider that uses them.

The best way to tell if the provider’s SEO practices are ethical is to ask: "Do these changes benefit visitors to my site as well making it more search engine friendly?" A good SEO provider will always say ‘yes’, as SEO is as much about the users as it is about the engines. After all, what’s the point of a high ranking page if it’s nothing but unusable rubbish that will have people rushing for the ‘Back’ button?

Don’t be overwhelmed by these things, but always be on the look out to make sure that you’re getting the best service possible. Good SEO companies can boost your site’s traffic without resorting to unethical practices, and keep up with changes in the industry.

About The Author:

Lawrence Andrews is an ePublisher, software developer, consultant, and author of numerous books. Visit his Private Label Content and Software site at http://www.lmamedia.com for more information about SEO and PRL.

You may use this article freely on your website as long as this resource box is included, a link point back to my site, and this article remains unchanged! Copyright 2005 Lawrence Andrews

After you have built your website the next natural step is to start promoting it. You can start with submitting your site to the various search engines and directories.

For those of you who either have a site now or are planning to have one in the future, you will of course want your site to be listed in the search engine index and directories.

You will thus need to decide if you want to submit your site to each individual search engine and directory by hand, pay a submission service to do it for you, buy site submission software, or use one of the free submission services on the internet.

Submitting to each individual search engine and directory by hand is relatively easy to do and yet can be time consuming and a bit tedious. If you decide to go this route, you just visit each site and look for the "Add URL" or "add website" link which is generally at the top or bottom of each site. Then simply click the button and add your website, using the full address or URL(Uniform Resource Locator). In certain instances you might have to add a title, description and other information. For the directories such as Yahoo and the DMOZ, you will be required to visit the relevant category first. Be thoughtful to select the right category. If you pay a submission service to do this for you they can save you a lot of time and will usually do a slightly better job with the keywords and descriptions based on their know-how. If you choose to do it yourself, a good place to start is directoryguide dot com and searchenginecolossus dot com.

Another method is to buy software like Submit Wolf if you are submitting a single site. I personally do not really recommend this software since it is somewhat expensive and time consuming for a novice to learn. If you have an older computer this software will chew up plenty of resources while it is running and slow down your computer considerably. On the positive side it does submit to a sizeable number of sites. This can boost your page rank or popularity. That leaves us with the freebie submission services that exist around the net. There are at least several of them available that are good. The way it works is you fill out 1 form and the service submits that site data to all the search engines and directories on it’s list. I do not recommend using them if your whole business is built around your site, but for many sites they are adequate. The problem is that some search engines block these automated submissions automatically(they want you to visit their site in person so you can view ads), and they are ineffective for most directories which require that you navigate to the pertinent category first. Also, each engine allows a differing amount of keywords and requires different types of information. Some of the more popular services include submitexpress.com, which will submit your site to 40 search engines for free, addme.com which will submit your site to Google, Subjex, Alexa, Scrub The Web, FAST Search AllTheWeb, LookSeek, ExactSeek, Jayde, and a few others for free, addpro.com submits to 20+ top search engines using an automatic service that is easy to use, and quickregister.net which will submit your site to the major engines and directories if you put a small text link on your site. If you go to ez2www.com there is a freebie site submission service there if you click "add url" at the bottom of the page. There are other free submission sites out there. Just go to your favorite search engine and type in "free search engine submission" and you will be presented with a list of such freebies.

A.M Wilmont is a writer and researcher. For more information go to http://www.aaronsfreebies.com/ or http://www.home-business-match.com/

This article will cause many companies to stir, but it’s about time someone started speaking against these services.

It really angers me when I see the numerous services that boast they will increase your traffic by submitting your web site to umpteen different search engines.

When I first started promoting my site, I used to buy into these claims and purchase such services only to be disappointed when my traffic did not increase.

FACT: The search engines can do wonders for your traffic. I attribute over 80% of my total Internet income from being found in the search engines.

FACT: Over the past couple of years, the search engines world has had a major overhaul. It used to be that most of the popular search engines were independently run. Now many of them get their search results from larger directories like Yahoo, Open Directory and LookSmart.

So if you’re not listed there, then you may not find your site in many of the popular search engines these days.

FACT: The majority of these multi search engine submission services use some type of automated software to perform the submissions.

Most search engine programmers have designed their engines to IGNORE such automated submissions.

What does that mean for you?

Yep….you probably aren’t getting most of the submissions that you pay for because the engines are rejecting them.

FACT: These submission services could care less about where your site ranks. They’ll just submit it for you, collect your money, and move onto the next unsuspecting Internet marketer, while you sit back and wonder, "Where is all the traffic I’m supposed to be getting?"

FACT: Spending hundreds of dollars on these multi-submission services is a WASTE of MONEY. If you want to get real benefits from the search engines, subscribe to Danny Sullivan’s newsletter at http://www.SearchEngineWatch.com and learn how the engines work and rank pages.

The BIG Yahoo Myth!

Don’t ever let any submission service make you believe they can get you into Yahoo with the click of a button.

First of all, Yahoo is not even a search engine. It’s a directory and it’s run by a group of human editors who decide whether or not a site will be accepted.

The ONLY way to get into Yahoo is to submit yourself, and if your site is commercial you’ll have to pay a fee.

FACT: You should submit to all the search engines yourself. Simply go to each engine - http://www.alltheweb.com for example - scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the "Submit Your Site" link and submit from there.

Just keep in mind that several major engines now get their results from the BIG 3 - Yahoo, LookSmart, and Open Directory. Getting listed here will eventually get your site into popular engines like MSN, AOL, Netscape, and more.

The key to receiving search engine traffic is:

1. Educating yourself on exactly how the engines determine web site rankings.

2. Develop your site accordingly. (selecting an appropriate domain name, including relevant content, keyword phrases, etc.)

3. And by all means, submit yourself!

About The Author

Lisa Irby is the author of 2 Create a Web Site — a site that encourages you to plan accordingly and GET THE FACTS before diving into the web site creation process.

http://www.2CreateAWebSite.com

Utilising the most under-used tool in any SEO expert’s armory - honesty.

We all know there are thousands of sites out there claiming to get you to the top of the search engines, the problem isn’t that they can’t fulfil this seemingly extraordinary promise, it’s that the objective of the excercise may not be as extraordinary as we are led to believe.

These promises can be tested, and can work. For example anyone claiming to get you to the top of google is probably able to do it - providing they implement a number of public-domain, straightforward practices there’s no reason they can’t get you to the top.

The honesty factor comes in here though. ‘I can get you to the top on google’ isn’t actually a bold claim. For example if you sell cars, I know I personally can get you to the top - so long as you don’t mind the fact that you are top for some pretty obscure keywords that no-one searches for - such as eskimos buy cars and shopping trolleys

Now, the true SEO expert is the one who can be honest and get you to the top using keywords people actually search for.

You might think that’s a fairly logical step, I mean why would you want to have your shop in a street where nobody goes? But I bet you’d be surprised if you knew the amount of web site owners who’ve been sold just this trick.

There’s good news too though - there’s no reason that you can’t get right to the top of google and all of the major search engines using an honest SEO expert. There are lots of us out there, and the truly good ones get a huge kick out of getting our clients sites to the top - if we didn’t we’d be in the wrong business.

The first question you should ask yourself is what your objective of getting to the top is - once you have that benchmark you can judge the efforts of your SEO expert from there, and if you pick an honest one who knows what they’re doing, you should achieve your top listing in no time.

© Copyright 2005 Harry Hardisty

Harry Hardisty is a renowned UK SEO expert with over 10 years in the Internet Marketing field.
He’s performed incredibly successful SEO services for global corporations, uk government departments, private enterprises, small businesses and private individuals.

UK seo http://www.harryhardisty.co.uk

He has won numerous awards in the Internet field and is regarded as a ‘guru’ for all things web related. You can contact Harry Hardisty on info@harryhardisty.co.uk or harry.hardisty@gmail.com

http://www.harryhardisty.co.uk a uk seo company

As I read the latest news online about what Google has done to many webmasters all over the world, I am left discussed towards some of the comments people are making against SEO Companies.

Please don’t be quick to blame seo companies. We are also loosing search engine ranking just as much as you are in areas that aren’t even related to seo.

Let’s take a look at SEO companies… Who created the need for seo companies? Search engines and webmasters did. The very same people who created a demand for seo companies are sometimes the same people who are trying to discredit them.

Here’s how I come to that conclusion: I keep reading that seo companies are trying to manipulate web pages, title’s, descriptions, key phrases etc in order to get a better ranking. Well why not?

In the off-line world of marketing, there are 1000’s of marketing teams all over the world trying to figure out what people want! Aren’t they trying to figure out what seo companies are trying to figure out in the end? how to get more sales?

Without going overboard with keywords and key phrases, creating a quality page is what we should all strive to do! Hopefully those who do saturate their pages with key words and key phrases get penalized and hopefully somehow in the future, search engines can tell them why they are being penalized. The unfortunate part is that since search engines don’t tell you why your site has been penalized, you’re left to blame someone, and like what most people do in that circumstance, you forget to blame yourself as well.

For the most part, getting a better ranking is typically done from having relevant information. So if we have relevant information, then what are we doing wrong? As SEO companies, we’re trying to give you better relevant information than anyone else.

There’s only one strategy I see online that gets me mad. When an seo company not only saturates their pages but they fail to create new and more content for their users. Instead they market what they have and never give their users more information for a better experience. A web site is never complete and should always plan on adding more visitor interaction.

A true SEO Company strives on giving their clients users - a more relevant experience by utilizing certain techniques.

Isn’t there always going to be a bad apple in the group? SEO Spammers - They are the companies you should be attacking. You can usually pick them out in a heart beat. Typically seo spammers are the companies that advertise something like this on their site…

"Get in the top 10 rank for any key phrase you want!" or "Top 10 search engine rankings guaranteed"!

Baloney. Don’t believe them for one second. If they could seriously get those Results all the time, then, wouldn’t everyone be in the top 10?

Why Then Are SEO’s Making A Fortune? People want seo companies, the average owner doesn’t have the hours, the weeks, and possibly the years it takes to learn how to advertise online properly.

Hense why seo companies are born. It’s like ANY industry in the world, where there is a demand; there will always be a supplier for them. On that same note, where there’s money to be made, there will always be fakers, spammers, scammers and crooks.

What I Recommend: If you are going to search for an seo company. Don’t look at how many testimonials they may have or don’t look at how many promises they make. I suggest finding out who their clients are and contacting them directly to personally ask them questions about the seo company they chose and why!

In Conclusion: Please stop attacking ALL Seo companies since your not only attacking the companies future but your also attacking the future of the families at home who are surviving from them.

About The Author

Martin Lemieux is a young entrepreneur from Canada who is trying to do his part in making the online experience a better one. He is the owner of www.smartads.info & www.flyinggelatingames.com - dedicated to web design and online advertising.

Once you have built and uploaded your home business website the next step is to start promoting it both offline and online. Offline methods include putting your web address on your business cards, stationary, brochures, flyers, pamplets, home sign, automobile or whatever literature you can. Online methods generally start with submitting your home business website to search engines and directories.

For those of you who either have a website now or are planning to have one in the future, you will obviously want your website to be found in these search engines and directories.

You will therefore have to at some point decide whether you want to submit your site to each individual engine and directory manually, pay a submission service to do it for you, buy site submission software, or use one of the free submission services on the internet.

Submitting to each individual search engine and directory manually is quite easy to do but can be somewhat time consuming. To do this, you simply visit each site individually and look for the "Add URL" or "add a website" link which is usually located at the very top or bottom of each site. Then just click the button and add your URL. In some cases you will have to add a title, description and possibly other information. For the directories such as Yahoo and Open Directory Project, also known as DMOZ, you will be required to visit the relevant category first. Be careful to choose the right category. If you pay a submission service to do this for you they can save you a lot of time and will usually do a slightly better job with the keywords and descriptions based on their know-how. If you choose to do it yourself, a good place to start is directoryguide dot com and searchenginecolossus dot com.

Another method is to buy software such as Submit Wolf. If you are only promoting a single site, I do not recommend purchasing this software because it is rather expensive and time consuming for a novice to learn. If you have an older computer this software will chew up a lot of resources while it is running and slow down your computer performance. On the plus side it does submit to a rather large number of sites. This can boost your page rank or popularity. That leaves us with the freebie submission services that exist around the net. There are number of them available, and they vary in quality. The way it works is you fill out one form and the service submits that information to all the engines on it’s list. I do not recommend using them if your whole business is built around your site, but for many sites they are adequate.

The problem is that some search engines block these automated submissions automatically(they want you to personally visit their site), and they are ineffective for most directories which require that you navigate to the pertinent category first. Also, each engine allows a differing amount of keywords and requires different types of information. Some of the more popular services include submitexpress.com, which will submit your site to 40 search engines for free, addme.com which will submit your site to Google, Subjex, Alexa, Scrub The Web, FAST Search AllTheWeb, LookSeek, ExactSeek, Jayde, and a few others for free, addpro.com submits to 20+ top search engines using an automatic service that is easy to use, and quickregister.net which will submit your site to the major engines and directories if you put a small text link on your site.

If you go to ez2www.com there is a freebie site submission service there if you click "add url" at the bottom of the page. There are other free submission sites out there. Just go to your favorite search engine and type in "free search engine submission" and you will be presented with a list of such freebies.

About The Author

Aarons Freebies Search and Directory

http://www.aaronsfreebies.com/

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