Search Engine Optimization is clouded underneath a shroud of mystery.  Sometimes SEO works as a Deus Ex Machina (”God Coming from a Machine”, as in those theater plots solved by the appearance of a deity hanging from a crane) that solves every single marketing problem.  Traffic to your website?  You got it, boss!  More conversions?  We have some of that!

Sales, tons of sales, millions of sales? Um… excuse me one second.  That might take a while.  Let me talk to the SEO Senior about that…

There are some things that SEO can do for your business but there are no miracles here.  Just research and good practices.  Here are some urban legends you better ignore if you don’t want to lose your money or your time.

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So SEO experts are charging tons for what it can be considered nothing but good practices.  That’s like having a restaurant that charges more because their employees wash their hands.

Sometimes it’s better not to know what’s going on.  I hope you’re not eating as you read this but:  probably the person who made that sandwich didn’t wash hands at all.

Maybe that person is you.  See what’s going on here?  Not everyone takes care of those details.

I hope (and in some way I believe) that there is a lot more to SEO than keywords and link building.

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One of the first things I wrote about SEO was about how optimization practices were changing the logic of journalism and writing. I was kind of optimistic about it and, being a writer with a rather traditional formation, I smiled a wide smile on heavy weather.

“Well, maybe THIS is the future of literature. Web 3.0 will create extensive nets of information and everything will be linked inside of the Internet, so strategically positioned keywords will only make this process a bit more organized, providing categories of meaning”, I told myself every time I had to embellish a relatively traditional article with keywords.

And then, I wept.

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According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a tool is “something (as an instrument or apparatus) used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession” OR “an element of a computer program (as a graphics application) that activates and controls a particular function”.  What we are going to share with you falls on the second category.  I wouldn’t say it’s hard to find tools out there, but what really consumes time, money and energy is finding the RIGHT ones.

Let’s face it:  Word’s clip is NOT a tool.  Or it is, in a more colloquial sense… if you catch my drift…

And, the best thing: it’s free.  You can always donate cash to the developers of these tools and take a nice look at their sites.  If you want to thank me for compiling these, hey… cookies are always a nice treat.  And don’t forget to check our products and services.

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It is not a secret to anyone that, when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, I’m still learning.  Hopefully, most of you guys are in this process with me.  I don’t believe it’s possible to master a certain Marketing tool.  The way people look for products and services keeps changing.  I mean, even the snottiest of doctors still have to study and learn new stuff every day in order to provide a better service and implement all those technological advances that have made life easier and longer.

Why should we be different?  SEOs, at a certain point of their careers, seem to embrace a couple of techniques and they stick to them.  While it’s true that some of these are quite effective, they probably will be rendered as obsolete in a couple of years.

That’s why I’m one of the few that still advocate for content.  It’s an almost safe bet.

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One of the many problems of SEO is that we have created a system to deceive others that is SO effective we can use it to deceive ourselves.  It’s only a matter of finding charts and small amounts of info to make us believe everything is going smoothly.

But it’s just fair to ask if your SEO campaign met your expectations.  You probably experienced more sales but, did you get them from your target?  Were these as many as you wanted them to be?  How much of your success was serendipity and how much of it was a direct result of your efforts?

Charts can give you insight, but you have to be willing to accept the facts.  Don’t use them to deceive yourself.  Or anyone else, in that order of ideas.

It’s time to get critical. Read the rest of this entry »

If you still have to ask to yourself why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important, you probably need a little help from us.  Maybe a lot, but we don’t want to embarrass you in front of your entrepreneur friends.

Just between you an I, do you know what SEO can do for you?  What WE can do for you?  Keep  reading. Read the rest of this entry »

SEO Blogging opened a Pandora Box in the world of marketing.  All of a sudden, everyone became an expert on EVERYTHING!

To be honest, I consider myself a rookie when it comes to marketing and SEO.  The more I write about these subjects, the more I learn of all the steps needed to accomplish a positioning goal.  There are no magic words, no easy road, nothing:  you can’t beat the machine without some research and muscle work.

That means:  No matter how hard I commit to learn an SEO method, there will always be a change/improvement/handicap that will make things a bit more defying.  Challenges keep my creative juices flowing.

But, really… sometimes I feel worthless due to these online bullies out there. Read the rest of this entry »

“If you lived here, you’d be home now”

The natural process of a neat search engine optimization has to keep in mind two things:  keywords and ease of navigation.  I know I’ve stressed the point to almost awkward levels:  your customers are people, not machines.  Some web designers tend to forget that we, the average joes, get easily confused.

If you need to know (you probably don’t, but it makes a good anecdote), last weekend I spent a good share of time wondering why my cellphone wouldn’t work until I realized that it wasn’t my cellphone…

It was my TV’s remote controller.  Makes you humble in a silly way, huh?

We get confuse easily.  Some of us more often.   That’s why having clear URLs is key.

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“Words are meaningless and forgettable”

(”Enjoy the Silence” - Depeche Mode)

Natural search engine optimization (SEO) relies heavily on words.  Just like everything else in this world.  Words are the bridge between our subconscious mind and our conscience, they help us elaborate the map we use to wander around the world.

Ever since the Dawn of Marketing, the way to approach potential customers has been a proper phrasing that matches queries in an accurate way.  So far, there has been no substantial changes in these dynamics.  Search engines are based on a simplified algorithm that evaluates the relative importance of a website based on the keywords the search was based upon.  While knowing the nature of one’s products and services is key, SEOs must know how to rapport the research patterns of a viewer to convert it into a customer.

“Speaking your customer’s language”, as stated on the last post, becomes crucial (if not urgent) at this stage. Read the rest of this entry »