What Exactly IS SEO?

I was browsing through a website this week when I realized that the company had SEO’d their Privacy page. I know, what kind of funky browsing was I doing? I think it’s safe to say that I look at things most other visitors don’t when perusing sites.

But back to my shock. Yes, they had paid an SEO company to write meta tags for their Privacy page — title tag, description, and keyword phrases. What does this mean? It means that the general website owning, updating, using public actually has no idea what SEO is and when it should be used. Furthermore, they’re probably paying someone to SEO things that don’t need it.

So, over the next few weeks, I will be posting SEO-related information on my blog — when SEO is important, when to ignore it, how to go about it, when it should be revisited (sorry, it’s not a one-time thing). Part 1 of my mission to clear up SEO-related confusion? What exactly IS SEO?

What is SEO?

SEO is short-hand for Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine = Virtual Library
As you may or may not realize, search engines such as Google keep a huge virtual library of web pages indexed and ready for when someone requests a search. Think of it as if you walked into a library and handed the librarian your topic list. He or she is going to review your topic list (i.e. your search terms), disappear into the stacks of books and papers, and reappear with some material.

How do you know the material he or she brings back is on-topic and the best available information for your list? You don’t. You trust that the librarian knows how to locate the right information. You trust that the person who read the book in the first place and assigned it a place in the stacks deciphered the book’s information correctly. It’s the same thing with a search engine.

Google Loves to Read
Google is actually constantly visiting sites, reading through the pages and trying to decipher what information that site provides. It does its darnedest to pick out words from the copy that best describe the content. It then assigns that page a space in the “virtual stacks”. Optimization is done to increase the chances that Google indexes your site’s information correctly and likes the information enough to pull it out whenever your topic is requested.

You should optimize pages, then, that contain information that someone might search on. Have you ever thought, “I wonder what a photographer’s privacy policy might be?” Unless you’re writing your own privacy policy, I’m betting “no”. Should privacy pages be optimized? Heck no.

A Brief Introduction to the Art of SEO
How do you optimize? Well, SEO is an art, not a science but the following seem to work the best:

• Write clear, on-topic content: Make sure that each page’s content carefully reflects what you want to say. If your page is all about your product, the Super 7 Cabbage Chopper, then stay on topic.
• Include your keywords in your content: For our Chopper page, be sure to use the name of the product a bunch of times plus include a few generic terms for the product — anything a potential customer might use to describe it.
• Use bullets & bolded words: Don’t write your entire page in bullets and bolded words. Don’t. Google is smart enough to see you’ve done this and will penalize you for it. However, the search engines do give higher importance to words that are highlighted. Make sure your keywords are highlighted — in proper context — somehow.
• Add keywords to headings: This is another way of highlighting your keywords. The search engines, apparently, think that words in a title (heading) are important and, so, they rely on those words more when deciphering the meaning of your content.
• Use meta tags: Traditionally, these were the ways website owners told the search engines what their pages were all about. Many website designers still think that meta tags will do all the heavy lifting, SEO-wise, with the search engines. That is just not true anymore. Too many sneaky people abused the search engines’ trust (e.g. tagging the page with “grow your business” when the site actually referred to growing body parts) and now many engines actually read through every page to avoid being duped.That being said, the description and title tags are still used by many search engines. Title tags tell your site what to write in the blue bar at the top of your browser while the description tag is hidden in the code. Google uses the title tag as the heading for your page in the search results (it’s what is underlined at the top of each blurb). So, those are still important and should be a elegantly written string of your keywords (not a bunch of words stuck together).

Do you feel like an SEO expert now? No? Well, it takes time and practice. Keep your eye open for more blog posts on the “how to” of SEO over the coming weeks. There’s lots more to chat about and it will eventually become more clear!

Changing Your Twitter Background

Did you know that your Twitter page can take on your branding design quite easily? Even if you’re at a loss at how to make a background image, your page can include your brand colours. Here’s how to spruce it up:

• Go into your “Settings” at the top right-hand corner of your Twitter page
• Choose “Design” from the blue navigation bar just under “Your Name’s settings”
• Choose a theme from the different options. Don’t like any of these but have an image you’d like to use?
  • Scroll down and choose “Change background image”, upload your image, and click the “save changes” button at the bottom of the page
• Want to change the colour of the background, column, links, or the text? Simply, scroll down and choose “Change design colors”, click on the appropriate box and choose a colour
  • If you know the hex colour code, type it in without the # at the front
  • If you know the RBC colour, you can find the hex code with this handy site

Be sure to click “done” once the colour is picked and “save changes” once the correct colour or image appears in the box. Otherwise, the changes will not update on your page.

Inspiration

Would you like to see some updated Twitter pages? Check these ones out:

Bluelime Media
Ballistic Arts
David Suzuki Foundation
Edible Vancouver
Pebble Road Marketing

Prepare for Fall without Breaking a Sweat

There are as many summer business styles as there are entrepreneurs. Some check out for two entire months, some work part time. For others, it’s business as usual.

If your business does slow down this time of year, take heart. Apparently, even my local coffee house — which is usually insanely busy most of the day — slows down in August as customers leave town or do other, non-coffee related activities. But, for those of us who are still around (physically at least), there are ways to turn the sleepy summer into a time for fall preparation. As my title promises, all my suggestions can done without breaking a sweat. Here are some of my favourites.

1. Daydream: You read it right. Daydream. Do what you love to do (and is safe to do while mentally checking out) while your mind wanders. What do you want your business to look like this fall? Who is involved? What do you want more of? Less of? Make sure you take some quick notes after your session so you don’t lose your great ideas!
2. Google: This is the time to spend a few hours checking out competitors’ sites. What do they offer that you don’t? What words are you entering into Google to find them? Is your site listed somewhere around theirs? Are there interesting Google Ads that come up when you search for your keywords? If you click through from an ad, does the landing page have a great “hook”? Is it something you could use in your business?
3. Browse: Take some time to investigate fall networking opportunities. Try the local Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade, women’s groups, small business organizations, and — of course — industry associations. Another place to find networking opportunities? Meetup.com. See what’s available and schedule yourself into a few now before your calendar fills up.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but all my suggestions can be done from the comfort of your reclining deck chair. This is by no means an exhaustive “pre-fall” list, but these are some great things to start with. You’ll feel so good that you’ll be able to talk yourself into doing the ones that will require a little sweat. More about those next week.

The Taste of the TriCities Gets a Website

The Taste of the TriCities is the proud new owner of www.thetaste.ca, where you can find up-to-the-minute information on the upcoming festival. Billed as “an event celebrating the foodie in all of us!” — Yum! — The Taste boasts food samplings from local restaurants plus showcase the newest and best in food-related stuff. All will be revealed at the Red Robinson Show Theatre on Tuesday, September 21st.

Interested in having a booth or being one of the restaurants? Check out the site for all the details. Remember to check the site every so often…it’s still growing and changing.

6 Tips to Developing an Environmentally “Light” Product

As entrepreneurs, we often have several “next ideas” in mind just waiting for the right moment to pull it them out. Some of these are services, of course, but just as often they are products – often to fill gaps we’ve seen while working with clients. Some “thing” that is missing in the marketplace.

Depending on the product, development can take weeks, months or even years before it’s ready for the public. Trying to balance the cost of R&D with delivering a good quality, easy to use product that perfectly meets the market’s need is difficult. Now more than ever, there is another thing to consider – how will your product fit into an ever-increasingly sustainability-concerned marketplace? Even if you aren’t offering an environmentally-related product, consumers are looking for products that help them live a little lighter on the earth.

Here are some things to consider when you’re planning your next product:

1. Is it multi-use? Consumers are looking for products that can be used multiple times or have an extended life. Consider rechargeable energy options or a more durable version.
2. Can it be multi-functional? Often we think of products as being one thing when it can be used for many different functions. For example, roofs have traditionally a covering on the top of the house to keep the rain and snow out of our stuff. Today, roofs are used to create energy to run the household, they deflect heat, offer a gardening surface, protect the house from the elements, collect rain, and are a beautiful architectural design feature. Take some time to think about how your new product could be tweaked to be used in several different ways.
3. Can it be packaged in an eco-friendly way? Those hard plastic shells protecting the batteries have got to go. They’re impossible to get into – not at all fun when your mouse just died and you have the rest of the sentence waiting in your head – and there is nothing green about them. I won’t even start about the fact that they’re protecting mercury-filled batteries. Please don’t wrap your product in a battery-like packaging. There are lots of other options, from recycled cardboard to compostable bags.
4. Can the product’s components be sourced in a green manner? That is, can they be found locally? Can you choose a low-emissions plant to manufacture them? Is there an organic or fair trade option? Yes, this can kick up the price of the product. However, take a look at your options. Your green product may be worth a little more to a customer. They may be willing to pick up the difference in cost – or more people may be interested so you can cover the cost in volume.
5. Take a look at your supply and delivery chain. Are there ways you can reduce the delivery carbon footprint? If you decide to deliver to Europe, for instance, consider renting space at a European distribution center. You only need to ship larger quantities to Europe periodically to refill supplies at the center. They ship your European orders to local customers, reducing the number of times per month you’re shipping your product to a far away location.
6. Consider an end-of-life program. Do we ever know what to do with products we can’t drop off at a thrift store? I am always happy when a company tells me how to fix, dispose of or recycle their product once it’s finished. For instance, I love the little postage paid envelope I get with my Dell ink jet cartridge refill. I always pop in my old cartridge and mail it off, so happy it’s not sitting in my garbage (eating away at my conscience).

You may not be able to tick off all these boxes, but by planning ahead a little, you may be able to offer a more “Green” product than you thought. Lastly, make sure you talk about how your product eases the customer’s footprint in your marketing! You’ve spent the time, effort, and maybe cash improving the product – flaunt it.

Optimizing Your LinkedIn Contacts

Okay. So, you’ve invited your colleagues to link to you on LinkedIn. They’ve all accepted and your contact and resume information is all up-to-date, right? Now what?

Truthfully, this is as far as many of us get. We may remember to check out our contact’s connections to see if we’ve missed anyone. But this is usually where it ends.

I was at a course a few weeks ago when the presenter made a statement that shook me a little – he’s never (never) heard of anyone who has received business directly from their LinkedIn efforts. And he’s a social media expert. Yikes.

Well, the good news is that I have heard rumours of the elusive business brought in from LinkedIn connections. How did they do it? Well, I have a Give It a Try item for you this week!

I want you to pick ten of your LinkedIn contacts and check out their connections. Look for anyone that might make a good client, supplier or referral partner for your business. Now, email that contact and ask for an introduction to the potential new contact. You can do it!

From here on out, it’s like any networking opportunity. Just set your networking follow-up process in motion and reap the rewards. (Don’t have a networking follow-up process? We’ll talk about that in a future blog post.)

Accolades Gets a New Logo

Accolades is walkin’ around town with a snazzy new logo, thanks to some help from Pebble Road Marketing. Alina Vaida, the numbers guru behind Accolades, wanted something professional, approachable, and modern. This is the final result.

Let us know what you think!

Now, onto the business card and website…

Business in the Summertime

While I was at one of my networking meetings (yes, we meet in the summer) the other day — Latte Ladies on Meetup.com — Camille Goddard of Footprints to Wellness asked how we stay in work mode over the summertime. She was looking for us to help pull her out of “summer fun” mode. Sadly for her, we weren’t going for it.

The truth was that everyone in the group seemed to alter our work style in the summer. We did more coffee meetings on the patio, shorter but no less productive work days, and looked for casual networking meetings to keep some sense of time accountability (“It’s mid-July already!?”). Now, please don’t think we don’t work in the summer. Of course, clients are cared for, projects progress, and business development keeps trucking along. But, for some reason, we find more efficient, more effective ways to do this and keep a little summer in our lives.

The $100,000 question is then — if the work gets done, our clients are happy, and projects keep coming in — how do we keep the “summer fun” year round?

BerniceBailey.com Gets a Facelift

Bernice Bailey (aka “Mom”) was looking for a simple website where she could update her own pages and maybe even start a blog. So, when it was time to move bernicebailey.com to a new host server, we took the opportunity to design a simple site on a WordPress management system.

Take a look and let us know what you think!