My Web Development Tips

If you ever need to price around for SEO services you might begin to wonder why there seems to be such a wide range in fees from one SEO company to another. It’s not uncommon to find prices ranging anywhere from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand dollars per month for what appears to be the same type of service. You may also be asking yourself why these charges seem so high to begin with.

The process that an SEO Company must follow in order to achieve improved search engine rankings for your website includes certain activities that can be very labor intensive such as link building and on-page editing. Any SEO expert worth having on your team will be doing these tedious chores by hand and it’s this process that will be taking up many hundreds if not thousands of hours of his time, that is, if he’s doing his job correctly. If you’re not able to do this type of work yourself then you’re going to have to pay someone else to spend all that time doing it for you and it’s these large chunks of timed labor that are largely responsible for what might appear to be large fees for SEO marketing services.

The fact is that no matter how small or large an SEO company may be, someone has to be paid to sit down and actually do all the tedious tasks associated with good search engine optimization and this is the reason why you’ll see fees that can reach well beyond $1,000 per month. The only way to try negotiating your monthly fee to a lower level would be to request a lower priority placed upon your account where you’d allow your SEO project to receive a lower amount of time spent each week, but keep in mind this is likely to delay your results over the long run as well, so it all evens out either way you do it.

Since the amount of time and labor being spent on your project each week (or each month) is such a major factor in determining your short term costs it stands to reason that you should probably be wanting to discuss this factor with your chosen SEO company or specialist. When looking around for a new service take notice if they are willing and open to discuss the matter with you or not. Asking for monthly updates that clearly show their progress and time spent is also a smart idea. You can’t expect too much progress in too short a time period as these things take time but you should still be updated and have the information provided to you nonetheless.

All things considered, an SEO company who is good at what they do and who can achieve the goals which you have set for them certainly deserves to be paid a fair wage for their time and expertise. At the same time you need to pay careful attention to the time being spent and their attentiveness to your project. The competitiveness of your specific key phrases will also have a large impact on the amount of time that is required for your project so expect to pay more for higher profile words or phrases. The more open your perspective SEO expert is to these types of discussions the more informed you can be and hopefully will help you to make the right decision for yourself in the end.

Looking to find the best deal on SEO Marketing Services, then visit www.the-web-manager.com to find the best advice from a well respected SEO Company .

Successful companies invest in brand image and in establishing a solid leadership image in their industry. Companies of all sizes can utilize the same strategies though, to compete for new revenue. Development of an effective internet message strategy requires an investment of time and effort. This investment usually pays off with increased sales.

Most organizations utilize the company website as the major communication tool to interact with customers and prospects. Effective use of this tool though requires understanding of customer behavior and the level of internet and web skill users typically possess. Savvy business markets know the level of internet skill that current customers have and have taken the time to build a consumer profile that outlines who the usual customers are and how they acquire data and information.

Start Up enterprises or new businesses may have more difficulty because they lack an established client list, but research into client purchasing behavior can overcome this in the early stages. Gathering research and consumer data is necessary though, to help formulate a communication strategy that will effectively reach new and potential customers.

Consultants can help gather this information and organize it into an effective message plan. SEO Consultants in Denver has used this basic framework to guide clients through development and implementation of an internet message start-up companies and new organizations will have to invest time and creativity in developing a consumer profile for use in their message plan.

A good message and communications strategy will establish: Credibility Leadership Depth of knowledge Confidence

Understanding how your current customers use the web, you can build your messages to address points that establish you as the leader in your line of business. Here are a few techniques.

Credibility: Providing information helpful to prospective customers is always a good idea. Blogging or posting common questions that consumers in the field frequently face can establish the company as one that is effectively “on the same side” as the customer. Including little known industry facts are also useful. Purchasers new to the industry will appreciate knowing the experiences of others – particularly as they navigate unfamiliar territory.

When future questions arise, these readers will remember your ability and willingness to provide useful help and information. If your customers frequently use the web to research product features or location, you can address concerns about product reliability, ease of acquisition (shipping or delivery features that you provide). Understanding the reasons your customers use the internet is important to structuring the credibility message.

Leadership: Success stories provided by current customers are extremely useful in building a leadership image. Stories detailing how the business helped clients achieve greater profit margins or decrease expenditures are great inclusions. Newer companies or start-ups of course don’t have the experience base to draw upon, but with a little creativity and perhaps a performance guarantee, a lack of experience can be overcome.

Story telling is a proven method of delivering information. Focusing on how clients realized the value of the product or service should be included on the company website or blog. New companies won’t take long to acquire a few of these stories. Maintaining a log of these customer experiences is necessary to build into the message strategy as the company matures.

Depth of Knowledge: This can be difficult to establish with the reader without boring him with details. Still, building trust with your reader that you have the depth of knowledge to solve her/his problems is ‘key.’ Again, story-telling or case studies are useful.

Questions that customers asked in the past are also useful to include in the web page content. These questions are relevant to future customers. Providing answers and solutions in advance allows the company to build brand image around its depth of knowledge.

Confidence: Return on Investment or ROI is the ultimate measure of success in the customer relationship. If ROI is delivered, the customer is happy. The value or essential element that provides ROI requires client success stories. Customers want confidence in their investment in the company product or service.

Prospective customers are willing to invest in products and services if value is delivered. The message strategy needs to minimize the perceived risk held by the prospect. Telling stories that communicate the results other customers received reduces the level of perceived risk.

Building a message strategy that addresses each of these communication objectives can over time, increase business and revenue earned or supported by communication on the internet. The methodology can also increase internet traffic and convert readers into customers.

SEO Consultants Denver helps clients nationwide attract new business income streams and earn new sales using proven Search Engine Optimization and internet market communication processes and methods. Specializing in article market communication and link building, the company serves both service and manufacturing companies.

You check your traffic every day but all you find are tumbleweeds blowing across the landscape of your blog. Well, there’s a reason you’re not building readership. Your blog sucks. Most do, and all for the same reasons. The same 7 reasons.

1. Your articles are boring – Remember that thick book we all have to go through during high school? Hint: Textbooks. Aren’t they the most boring thing we ever come across. Why? There’s no life in the writing. It’s robotic. Write like you talk or you’re going to make your readers fall asleep. Yep, just the same way we did back then.

2. Your blog revolves around you – Unless you are a celebrity, no one cares about what’s been going on with your life. Instead of personal ramblings, you’re way more likely to gain loyal readers by sharing tips that can help solve their problems.

3. You’re repeating what others are saying – So what’s the whole point of reading your blog? I’m not saying you shouldn’t gain insight on what to write by reading other blogs, but always make sure to put your OWN two cent on the matter. Not a blatant copy paste of other peoples work.

4. Oh no, not your favorite music on auto-play! – So as soon as I access your blog, the ukulele string quartet starts playing? I’d rather hear an accordion band. Don’t add music to your site. Half the people won’t like it and the other half will find it’s a distraction.

5. Nothing but a wall of text – I’ve written many articles on what makes a good articles. Not once is this point missed out. It’s that important. And remember to put some relevant pictures to go along with your articles. It may take some time to find one, but it’s well worth the effort.

6. You post once a month – A week, that’s the most it will take for your readers to remember your blog no matter how good and funny your articles may be. This is not true for seasoned blogs, but definitely true for new blogs. I recommend three posts for every new bloggers out there, to keep the momentum going.

7. Your blog design is lame – I’m sure you heard of the importance of having a good first impression. That applies to blog, unfortunately. If your design is unprofessional and clumsy, chances are, they are not going to read what you have to say. It’s sad, I know.

What’s your opinion? Have any to share?

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you have no clue as to what constitute a blog, you can check his article where he answers the most basic question in elaborate fashion. What is a blog?

One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month’s worth of your usual content. In this post, I want to set you a challenge with the potential to launch your blog into the stratosphere. So make sure to use these tips and make the next post you write your most popular post ever.

1. Time is more important than talent – In the end of the day, it’s really matter of how much effort and time you put into your article. If you work on something for six hours, you can bet it will be good. With more time, you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value.

2. Use your best idea – A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. To generate ideas, there are lots of questions you can ask yourselves. For example, what is something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet?

3. Use formatting to your advantage – These days, a post can never become popular without the help of social media. However, social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.

4. Brainstorm headlines – The importance of headline is often understated. Whenever I choose to read an article, how I would decide which to read is by browsing the headlines. I’m sure that is the same for everyone else. That’s right; headlines serve the purpose of drawing attention of readers to read your articles. So make sure to take some time to brainstorm your headlines.

5. Send messages with links – The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We’ve got a natural desire to know what’s being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it’s ultimately more promotion for them.

6. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.

7. Edit your post – Good writing is in the editing. Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and cut out the stuff that you don’t need.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on blog setup. You can check out his guide on how to install wordpress.

While starting a money making blog may not be the easiest thing to do, it won’t be the hardest thing you’ve ever done either!

If you’re just starting out I would suggest you set-up a Blogspot blog. They are free and easy to monetize. Blogspot, also called Blogger, is owned by Google so setting up AdSense is really a snap.

The very best way (I think) to make money online is by setting up a hosted Wordpress.org blog. It’s widely felt that a hosted blog gets more “respect” from the search engines (you want the search engines to like your blog!!) If you feel you can’t afford the $10.00 it costs for hosting than a Blogger blog or any of the other free platforms is the way to go.

Whether you are using a hosted blog or a free one you should choose a niche that you know something about. Why? Because if you are “into” whatever you’re going to blog about (your niche) you will find writing content much faster and easier. The trick to easy content creation is knowing your subject well!

Also in the first stages of choosing your niche you should try to get into your future visitors heads and figure out just what it is you’ll be able to sell to them. You want to make money right? Then as an Internet Marketer and blogger this should be your ultimate goal (and deserves a good deal of thought.)

There are more than a few ways to make money online, but I feel running a successful blog to be one of the best. Why? Because it gets you writing a lot of content (which you need to get good at) and gets your name out there (as an expert in your niche hopefully!)

If you choose a niche you are passionate about some of your readers will share your passion and become part of your community of like minded individuals. Work within this community, build relationships, cause in the end that’s what making money online is all about (to my way of thinking anyways) building relationships, and working with people.

Enjoy your blogging, get good at it, think about traffic and money making opportunities, but don’t obsess about it. Who knows you may want to enter a second niche, than a third, heck this could be the start of something big!

Visit my blog, so I can show you How To Make Money Online

Probably the most important single investment any website owner can make is search engine optimization, also known as SEO. Every year the strategies that go into effective SEO become a just a little more advanced and a little more specific. Search engines themselves are constantly refined, responding to user queries more accurately, and recognizing more spam sites. And as search engines evolve, website owners everywhere need to review their SEO strategies every year to make sure they are still the best available.

Once upon a time, in the’90’s, SEO was very simple. You built your website. You added some meta tags. You chose keywords, probably repeating them over and over, hoping to draw traffic. Ten years ago and more, spider technology was relatively new, and users were easier to please. The Internet was sufficiently new that users were satisfied with simple matches that were just “kind of close” to what they were seeking.

Up to and into 2009, search engines have worked tirelessly to make their searches much more accurate, and Google is the best example of that. Their original algorithm gave much more weight to back-link counting and prioritizing. That means that you would get more credit for a link to your website from a well respected website than one that was just created, and that the more links you had of high value, the better you?d perform in search results. Additionally, keyword anchor text for those links would optimize your site for specific keywords through links.

Keyword-rich links from high-value external sites is still the most effective way to raise your page rankings on Google. Nowadays, however, content also counts. Google and the other search engines have been working hard to discern quality content from content that may not be spam, but isn’t original and informative and really worth a visitor’s time. To a certain extent, your website still has to win a popularity contest, because back-links continue to count. But the new natural language filters don’t just differentiate between natural language and spam. They give you increasing credit for increasing readability and originality of your content.

Google and the other search engines have begun to distill word patterns from the news, from books, and online sources to contrast and reject keyword stuffing. This has made the quality of content on your site a lot more important than it used to be. Where website owners once made a point of stuffing a page with 4%, 5%, 6%, or even 7% or more of a keyword, now the optimal percentage is just 3 to 4 keywords per 100 words in text. Google now values natural speech and rejects repetitive use of keywords, even when it falls below the threshold for spam.

The top SEO strategy in 2009 is to make copy that is keyword optimized, but reads naturally. Copy should not just house keywords; it should also be appealing to the reader. Keyword-rich external links, however, are still important, and you still need to keep your keyword density up to 3 or 4%. Maintain a natural flow of meaningful text with just enough keywords and Google with reward you with higher page rankings.

Justin Harrison is a leading Internet Marketing consultant responsible for the Internet Marketing strategies behind some of the biggest online brands including Amazon, BBC, MasterCard and many others.

Blogging success is dependent on the amount of subscribers your blog has. In short, a blog without a good number of subscribers is bad for business. So be sure to use these simple tips to gain more subscribers today.

1. Have clear focus – Unless your blog has a clear focus, it’s going to be hard to convince people to subscribe. Think of it this way – They won’t know what to expect from your post. If you write about ten different topics, the chances are likely that they are going to pass on subscribing to your blog.

2. Write valuable content – Content is king. No matter how your blog design rocks, if your blog’s articles do not offer value to your readers, they are most likely not going to visit your blog again. In order to grow your blog, offer as many value to your readers.

3. Publish new posts frequently and consistently – If you pay attention to the blogosphere, most big blogs post on a daily basis. This is not a coincidence. When you post daily, the chances of your articles landing the interest of readers will increase. Secondly, it will indicate that your blog is active. I’m not saying that you should post daily as it can be very time consuming for individual bloggers. Try to seek a minimum of 3 posting a week for the best visitors – subscribers conversion.

4. As few steps as possible – People are lazy in general. If your rss subscription requires more than 2 steps, the chances are likely that your readers will hesitate to subscribe. Make sure you make it as easy as possible for your readers to subscribe.

5. Encourage readers to subscribe at the bottom of every post – Apart from having an RSS icon and email subscription form above the fold, it is also important to place them below each single post. Why? Because right after people finish reading your articles, they will look for something to do next, and subscribing to your blog is a good option. Additionally, if the article they just read was really good, they will be on the right mindset to subscribe and receive more of your articles in the future.

6. Use an email subscription form – For most bloggers, an email subscription form will convert better than a simple “Subscribe via email” link. That is because Internet users are used to seeing those forms around, and typing their email address there is quite intuitive. The top of your sidebar is a good spot to place one.

7. Run a contest – Contests are very popular on the blogosphere. If you have a somewhat popular blog, in fact, it is not difficult to raise some prizes and create one. By making subscribing to your RSS feed a requirement to participate, you could quickly boost the number of subscribers that you have. If you want to control who is going to take this action, use the email subscription method.

8. Use icons to offer subscription on the most popular RSS readers – One practical thing that you can do to reduce the number of steps required to subscribe to your feed is to use RSS reader specific icons (e.g., “Add to Google Reader” or “Subscribe on Bloglines”). Just analyze the most common RSS readers among your subscribers and add those icons to the sidebar.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in creating a blog, be sure to check out his guide on how to choose domain name.

I’ve seen many bloggers who gave up or seriously slow down their activity because they feel like they are not getting anywhere, when in my opinion they are on the right track. Hopefully if you are doing the right things and making progress you will recognize your growth and accomplishments, but not all do. Here are 10 signs that your blog is on the right track.

1. Growing subscriber count – I’ll admit I made this mistake with my first blog. I expect subscribers to grow huge within 2 months. When I said large, I’m talking about at least 10k subscribers. That’s not realistic. It does happen to bloggers, don’t get me wrong, but it’s rare. As long as you have a growing subscriber count, you’re making progress.

2. Increasing numbers of inbound links – Links determine your search engine rankings. It makes it easy for people to find your site. There’s only two ways you can increase your links. It’s either you write long useful articles or you do guest blogging. Personally, I recommend both.

3. Increasing Numbers of Valuable Comments – If your blog is receiving a decent amount of thought-provoking comments, that is a good sign that people are reading and paying attention to you. Comments are the lifeblood of blogs, and those that have a lot of valuable comments from readers become even more useful for readers.

4. Increasing visitors and pageviews – Many bloggers are stats junkies. While growth in traffic isn’t always representative of meeting or surpassing your blogging goals, it certainly isn’t a bad thing. There are many channels for you to market your blog and increase your visitors. Guest posting and making use of social media is some of the ways to reach out to new readers. If you make use of these channels, over time your blog stats will increase as more and more readers visit and subscribe to your blog.

5. Consistent posting – Consistent posting is perhaps one of the most important element to blogging success. For new bloggers, in order for your visitors to pay attention to your blog, it’s vital for you to provide new articles for them to read. If your blog looks dead, the chances are, they won’t subscribe. If you are posting consistently, you’re already one step ahead of the vast majority of bloggers.

6. Improving quality of articles – Though this may be a subjective issue, but I think most bloggers can make good comparison through going through their older posts. If the quality of your articles improves overtime, which it should, you’re on the right track.

7. An increasing network of bloggers – Making friends with other bloggers are crucial for blogging success. You can hardly find any successful bloggers that does not start off making connection with other bloggers. This is because; you are more likely to get links and blogging opportunities from this connection, not to mention comments.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to create a blog. If you are interested in building your own blog, check out his guide on how to install wordpress.

Indeed blogging is a great way to make money online. Ever since it took off in 2004, many have jumped on the bandwagon in hope to taste financial success that they have envisioned. However, there are a couple of things one should keep in mind before they start blogging. Below is the list of things you should keep in mind before starting your own blog.

1. Be realistic – It’s all fine and dandy to dream big, but there is a problem when you have big expectations and don’t see yourself anywhere near it. I think when it comes to blogging, it’s better to set goals in stages so that your motivation will sustain over a longer period of time.

2. Don’t quit your regular job, yet – Many makes the mistake of assuming things will be smooth sailing. This is a bad business mentality to have. Plans always go wrong. Circumstances change in seconds. Before thinking of going fulltime blogging, I recommend keeping your regular job and setting aside some time everyday to work on your blog and popularize it first. Once you start making enough money for at least a few months, then only was it sensible to think of quitting your day job.

3. Enjoy what you do – Only if you truly enjoy blogging will you be able to stick to it and make it work. If you’re in it just to make money, you’re not going to be able to keep your enthusiasm going when you don’t see the dollars pouring in like you’d envisioned.

4. Having a niche – Blogs that fare well are usually those which focused on a specific topic. It’s important that before you start your own blog, you first choose a niche in which your blog will be focusing on, rather than prattling on random topics. This is in order for your readers to know what to expect from your blog. He or she could then make the decision of whether to subscribe to your blog, or not.

5. Be patient – I’m sure you heard of bloggers who makes a lot out of their blogging activities. The money is real, and spending a tiny bit of time each day to make a living does sound easy. But few questions how long exactly does it take for these bloggers to get to their position. It doesn’t happen overnight, not for many of them. Rather than focusing on instant monetary result, you should focus on providing quality contents to your audience on a consistent basis. It does pay to be patient.

6. Spend some money – Blogging is cheap. Unlike other businesses, you doesn’t require any startup capital. There are free hosting and free themes for anyone to choose from. However, I recommend to at least get your own hosting, as it is more beneficial to do so in the long run.

While blogging success is not hard to achieve, mistakes are easy to make. So, do make use of this list provided, so you don’t repeat the same mistakes other blogger does.

Nik Imran is the writer of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in building your first blog, you can check out his guide on how to choose domain name.

You have probably come across many blog tips before. Some are good, while others are just repetitions wrote in a confusing manner. Truth be told, you don’t need hundreds on blog tips to succeed when professional bloggers only stick to a few. Simply use these 7 tips and I’ll guarantee you a better blog today.

1. Reply to comments on your blog – Replying to questions or comments from readers is your way of letting people know that your blog is “alive.” It gives readers the opportunity to interact and engage in conversation.

2. Don’t think about making money first – If making money from your blog is your primary goal, I will not argue against that. The problem with focusing solely on money in the beginning is that you lose sight of the far more significant goal every new blog must reach first: quality content. What good will you provide your readers if you only post hundreds of affiliate links and self-promotional articles in the hope of winning people’s credit card numbers? Don’t be greedy. Money is great but don’t let it destroy your blog.

3. Show your personality in your writing – Your style of writing makes the difference between interesting read or uninteresting. Manolo the shoe blogger is the blogger was the first blogger I remember reading with a really unique voice (he writes in the third person). I’m not saying all style of writing is acceptable, but those that do will make your blog more memorable. Take Copyblogger for example.

4. Focus on your topic – Unless your blog has a clear focus, it’s going to be hard to convince people to subscribe to your blog. Think of it this way – They won’t know what to expect from your post. If you write about ten different topics, the chances are likely that they are going to pass on subscribing to your blog.

5. Publish new posts frequently and consistently – In order to gain more subscribers, you should post frequently and consistently. It’s not a coincidence that most big blogs post almost daily. Though I would not recommend doing daily posting, the best posting frequency for individual blog is around 3 posts a week.

6. Write killer headlines – Why? It’s the first thing your visitors see. If it does not attract your visitors, the chances are, they won’t be reading it.

7. Guest post – I can’t think of any other way to market a blog besides guest posting. Ok, maybe I can. But the point is, guest posting is useful in showcasing your writing talent and knowledge to new readers. For better results, I recommend guest posting in big blogs. Don’t wait, send them an email today.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make blog. If you are interested in creating a blog, be sure to check his guide on how to choose domain names.