Taking Your Online Presence to the Next Level with Podcasts

Hello and welcome to the Internet Beacon! We’re an SEO firm in Maryland.

Getting people to listen to what you have to say can be difficult. After all, there are millions of voices all clamoring for the same thing: attention. We want to be heard and we want people to know about our businesses. Well, a blog is one way to do that. It’s been around for years now and people have come to expect them. However, there is an ocean of blogs out there. Something that’s grown in popularity in the last several years is the podcast. Now, if you don’t know what a podcast is, it’s like an internet radio/tv show that’s broadcast out for anyone who finds it. You can find free hosting and recording tools online, and it really just requires a microphone and a cast. You can even do one on your own!

Podcasts are great for many reasons. First of all, they’re portable. Just about everyone today has some form of digital media player. It could be their phone or a separate device. The fact is tons of people have them. You can take advantage of our mobile society and create content people can take with them on planes, trains, and…yes, automobiles.

Another great things about Podcasts is that they are easy to do. As I mentioned before, all it takes is a computer, microphone, and some free editing software. As a note, if you have a Mac OS computer made after 2007, it includes a program called GarageBand, which has podcasting features built into it.

Lastly, podcasts have a more personal touch than a blog or other medium. People can hear and sometimes see you. That establishes a connection between a real person (you) and the service/product you are selling. They can see your company as more than a soulless PR machine and as a collective of people working together.

Podcasting is a great way to spread your message on the Internet.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

In Text Ads Are One of Many Options for Website Advertisement

Hello and welcome to the Internet Beacon! We’re an SEO firm in Maryland.

There are a lot of ways to make advertising work for your website. You can go with banner ads, simple links to sponsors, or a lot of other options. One of the most controversial forms of advertising on webpages is the in-text ad method.

In-Text ads are essentially links generated based on keywords that appear in your page. They are typically double-underlined and when a user rolls their mouse over them, a tiny pop-up appears with an advertisement relating to that word.

Users are divided on how they feel about this form of advertising. While it does not always seem as intrusive as banner ads, with their occasional flashing and bright colors, they can also be frustrating when simply trying to read an article. Imagine trying to read a book and every time you come across the word “ship”, it shows a little picture of a ship and lists places to buy them. It would drive you mad.

No one expects websites to be used for free. Whether you use a membership format or support our site through ads, you have to pay the bills somehow. However, there are ways to balance your need for income with your need to keep readers coming back.

-Josh
Internet Beacon

for More info on SEO, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO. SEO in MD, improve search engine results

Tools to Help Acquaint You with Web Design

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon.

So you want to build your own website, eh? It’s hard work. There’s a lot of long hours of study of both the coding language and the programs it takes to manipulate it. There’s a reason professionals do this. However, if you need to throw together something quickly or just want to get your feet wet, here are a few program to try.

Apple iWeb

Bundled in for free with every Mac computer, the iLife suite is a series of software designed to let users start doing things with their computers right from the start. Far from shovelware, there products are quality tools. One of these programs is iWeb. iWeb is a great piece of software that takes away a lot of the need to know HTML, the coding language of websites. You can edit and create sites using templates, or start from scratch and make a site using a graphical user interface (GUI) rather than just text.

Adobe Dreamweaver

The de facto standard in web design, Dreamweaver is Adobe’s solution for building webpages. Be warned, it is not for the faint of heart. While Apple’s iWeb will give you a good tool to get a feel for how basic web design works, Dreamweaver is loaded with add-ons and tools for the professional web designer. If you are not accustomed to how this kind of software works, you may easily end up closing it as soon as you opened it.

Microsoft Expression Studio

The latest web design software from Microsoft, Expression Studio feels like a nice middle ground between iWeb and Dreamweaver. Microsoft claims that it is good for beginners as well as seasoned professionals. This is the only one I have not used personally, so I cannot comment in-depth on this software. All I can do is point you to their site and let you check it out for yourself.

-Josh
Internet Beacon

for More info on SEO, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO. SEM – Search Engine Marketing in Maryland

Why You Should Have an Expert Perform Your SEO

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon.

Running a business is a time consuming process, especially if you are a small business owner. Your focus is on getting your product or service delivered to the masses. You’re talented in a specific area or areas. However, you need to figure out a way for people to hear about your business. Well, an SEO Expert specializes in getting your name out there.  Here are some reasons why you should hire one to promote your business.

Specialization

Just like you know how to do what you do best, an SEO expert knows how this process works. They’ve specialized in how to market your website efficiently. Trust them to take care of this process. This way you can focus on what you do best, running your business.

Affordability

Lots of things seem cheaper to do on your own at the start. Sure, you can fix that noise in your car. Sure, you can take care of that pesky plumbing issue. Only once more problems have arisen does it turn out to cost a lot more than hiring a professional. The same goes with SEO. Letting a professional manage your Internet Marketing will not only save you money long term, but also time.

Getting Results

This is a combination of the first two reasons, as well as many other factors. In the end, a professional will get better results. They know the ins and outs of an industry that might be entirely foreign to you. Lots of people aren’t as Internet savvy as they’d like. So let the professionals deliver a quality service to you.

-Josh
Internet Beacon

More info on SEO, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

SEM – Search Engine Marketing in Maryland

Using Google AdWords to Make a Name For Your Business

As seen at http://adwords.google.com August 12, 2010

Hey, Josh here from the InternetBeacon.

Google, as we all know, is powered by advertising. It hardly makes sense to be in the search engine biz unless you can make a little money. Well, Google makes a lot of money. A large part of how they do that is a program called AdWords. AdWords is a marketing tool that allows you to design custom ads that will appear alongside search results from the Google engine. Let’s take a look at how it works.

First, you tell Google what kind of ad you want to post. For our purposes, let’s say simple text. Rather than making you go through an elaborate process, they have a simple, fill-in field system that lets you describe what you are advertising. Formatting and the like are all taken care of by Google. Part of this is determining the keywords you want to use for this ad. This will tell Google when to display your ads. If you aren’t keen on using text only, you can also opt for image ads using their web-based software.

As far as paying for these ads goes, it’s pretty simple. These ads are what we call Pay-Per-Click. This means that you only pay when someone using Google actually clicks on your website’s ad. You can set how much you are willing to pay as well as how much your budget is for that day. This keeps you from racking up a huge bill without noticing.

AdWords is a successful part of the Google brand. For those looking to get started marketing their business or for those who want to expand their reach, AdWords is worth a look.

More info on SEO, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Balancing Web Design and Advertising to Get the Best of Both

Hey, Josh here from the InternetBeacon.

More info on SEO, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Today we examine one of the classic conundrums when it comes to web design: using advertising to grow and earn from you website while not turning your page into a seizure-inducing catastrophe. Fear not, this can be done. In fact, lots of people have done this already. Here are a few tips.

Carefully Examine Potential Ads

Unless you really didn’t look at the agreement before posting ads on your site, you should have had a chance to look at some ads that the company runs. If they are all “Click Here! You’re a Winner!” ads with strobe effects and smiley faces, you will probably want to stay away from them. Be cautious, as your ads will affect how people perceive your site.

Take it Slow

Placing advertisements on your site is not an  “all or nothing” deal. You can start slowly and examine how different types of ads work. Google, for example, offers very simple, low-impact ads that will give you a taste of how the ad game works in relation to your site.

Match Ads to Content

Some ad networks will do this for you. You tell them what your site is about and some demographic info and they provide you with ads. However, some may not do this and so you need to make sure the ads on your page make sense. If you are writing a blog about home remedies and your page’s ads are about savings on video games, odds are they won’t match your target market.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Geo Marketing Helps You Reach Locally and Globally

Hey, Josh here from the InternetBeacon. The InternetBeacon is an Internet Marketing firm located in Maryland. Our primary focus, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

A huge part of advertising, especially if you are a small business, is getting the local demographic. Sure you can market to “The Internet”, but that is a large-scale endeavor. A great strategy is to start locally, then move global. To do this, you can explore a form of marketing called “Geo Marketing”, which I will refer to as GM.

GM allows for you to tailor your content and marketing push in order to reach your local market first. There are several ways to accomplish GM effectively. First, you can use software in conjunction with your web server.

The two big uses are gathering data and reacting to that data. As far as gathering data, you can use special software to gather the IP address of the visitors to your site. An IP address is unique to a location, like a ZIP code. Some of them can be more specific than others, but you will still walk away with the general area of the people visiting your site the most. This is very useful information, especially where the next part of GM is concerned, using the data.

First, you can use this data to see how well certain markets are responding to your marketing. If you have been putting up billboards in Town A and there is an increasing amount of traffic from there, you know that they are working. However, if Town B is showing a lot of interest without any advertisements in their area, you will have cause to do more research. Second, you can tailor your content to your audience. Sites like FedEx use data like this to help serve you a site that is fitted to your nation.

All in all, Geo Marketing can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to expand on the Web. Start local and see how far you get. The rest of the world will always be there, but getting a good following locally means word-of-mouth growth, which doesn’t cost you anything.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

How To Use Promoted Tweets to Advance on Twitter

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. Our company is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Twitter is a powerful social network platform. For a long time, people were unsure of how to make money on it. Strategies emerged and SEO experts learned that by using the connectivity with other Internet users, you could grow your circle of influence. However, Twitter itself was still barely treading water in a financial sense. After multiple attempts, it seems like they may have a solution, one that could prove useful for those looking to promote their business on Twitter.

Promoted Tweets is a program Twitter developed to combine traditional advertising with organic inclusion. The goal here is to provide users with ads that they will actually care about, thus wasting no one’s time. Now, in order to do this, Twitter has a decent plan in effect. This plan should not only benefit users of Twitter, but also the advertisers themselves.

The system will allow companies to pay to have a tweet placed in search results. Twitter will make sure that it is contextual. Now, if the ad does well, then everyone is happy and it’s a success. However, if the tweet does poorly, Twitter will remove it and work out a refund of sorts with the advertiser. To me, this seems like a great system, one that should benefit all involved.

Keep an eye on this as it develops. Over time, I’m sure it will diversify and may even branch into local and community options. For now, let’s see how this new development plays out. If it works, Twitter might have created a brilliant marketing platform.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Expanding Your Sites Connections on the World Wide Web

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. The InternetBeacon is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Linking your site to other sites around the Web is a fundamental part of the way the Internet works. In fact, that’s the reason we call it the World Wide Web. Now, the Search Engine giants like Google and Yahoo! are well aware of how this works. In fact, how your site connects to the rest of the Web is fundamental in how your page gets recognized. Here are some tips when dealing with Link Directories, aka collections of links to sites on the Internet.

The big thing to look out for right off the bat is the PageRank (PR) of the directory. This is especially important for Google. PageRank is Google’s way of ranking how websites are connected to others. The PR scale is 1-10 and the higher the number is better. You can check the PR of websites by either getting an add-on for your web browser or by searching the Web for a tool to help you do so.

Another thing to consider when choosing a directory is the pay structure. Depending on your marketing budget and the value you place on link directories, this will affect your decision to varying degrees. Many offer free links by simply placing a link back to their site on your homepage. Depending on your business, this may or may not be a good choice for you. The other option is to pay for inclusion, which will result in faster approval, but also cost you money. Again, you want to be sure of your marketing strategy here.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Content`s Role in Your Popularity on the Web

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

How do the big search engines see your websites content?

Google, and most search engines, use robots to sort through your page for content. These are not actual robots, but computer programs with a single purpose, to crawl your website. Crawling means taking the time to read all the code that makes up your page. This is largely HTML, but other code like Flash is partially recognized. What is important here is tight design to aid the robots in reading your site. You can also assist them via scripting, but that is something best saved for professionals like your SEO specialist.

Is Flash a factor?

Yes. Google can read a little bit of Flash, but HTML and other standard code is where they get most of their data. Be careful when using Flash, as overuse will result in difficulties with PageRank and other methods of promotion. The same goes with splash pages, or intro pages, for your website. That may have been cool in the 1990s, but today people want to get to your content as soon as possible. There’s no need to make a separate page to welcome them.

How do images come into play?

Without ALT tags for your images search engines won’t know what to do with them. As clever as Google’s robots are, they aren’t discerning all the contents of your pictures. The “ALT” tag allows for users to put captions in the code for their images. This way, if there are visitors to the site who are visually impaired, they will still know what is going on on your page.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Considerations When Building a Website: Language and Images

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Building a quality website is no easy task. Certainly there is software to assist the uninitiated in building a home on the Web (like Adobe Dreamweaver), but making sure that the site has value is something entirely different. The temptation exists to make your website big and flashy. However, the site’s quality often suffers as a result. Here are a few things to look out for.

Language

The language you use on your site says a lot about you. This is not limited to only slang, but the tone in which it is written as well as things like grammar and punctuation. Your website is the way the world will see you. Will they see someone who takes the time to make sure what they have makes sense or will they see someone who hurries to get things posted by sacrificing quality. Traffic is important, but repeat clients are what you want. Make sure that the language you use is tailored to your prospective clients.

Images

Images can be a great way to spruce up your site. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” You can save time and website space by using a picture appropriately. Conversely, if you use too many pictures on your site, it becomes cluttered with a lot of visual noise. Visitors will become frustrated and the loadtimes, even on a highspeed connection, could become unbearable. We’ve all seen pages that jump around a lot because of too many images fighting for their place.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Oh the Places You Will Go – Google Places in Action

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

There’s no denying that Google is the most powerful search engine in the market right now. There are several other places you can go to find content on the Web, but at this moment, Google stands above them.  Because of this, Google is a great tool for promoting your business. One tool that they offer, specifically targeted at business owners, is Google Places.

Google Places allows you to create a home for your business within Google. This then gets linked to  Google Maps, as well as everywhere else in Google’s kingdom. The benefit here is, I believe, that you are one step closer to Google when it comes time for searches. Local results, which are probably what you want if you are a small business, are almost always returned first via Google Maps in a Web search. By having a Google Places listing, you increase your chance of being seen dramatically.

Another great feature of Google Places is the ability to show your area of service. This is incredibly handy for those companies offering services and products to a very specific area. Restaurants who deliver are the first to come to mind. Customers can see your delivery area, so that cuts down on wasted calls and wasted time. In addition to this, Google Places supports QR codes. They look like square barcodes, of a sort. Customers can scan the tag with their smart phone and get data on your establishment.

Google Places is a great tool for small businesses looking to start a presence online or extend their current reach. In addition to your website, your Google Place can be another source of contact in a world constantly built on making connections. I recommend at least checking it out.

-Josh

Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland

Coming Up Through the Ranks: Getting Noticed on Alexa

Greetings, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We´re a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Congratulations on building a website/having someone build it for you! You’re starting out online and your website design is fantastic. You have awesome content, animated menus, and links to social media. Now, that’s all well and good, but who is going to see it? Ah, the age-old problem of promotion. Well, there are several search engines out there that will pick up your site if linked properly. Today, let’s talk about Alexa.

Alexa is a powerful search engine that works based on how many pages they archive, as well as how many people visit the site. So yes, traffic is important. The way Alexa tracks traffic is interesting. Aside from looking at how a site is linked to others, the Alexa Toolbar is something Alexa uses to track the popularity of a website.

This leads to an interesting idea that Alexa uses a form of social media to determine your website’s popularity. The cool part is that people can help to promote your website without having to do anything but visit it. The downside is that they need the Alexa Toolbar to do this.

Now, they do get their data from this tool as well as searches, but it is also a combination of what they call “reach”. Reach means that they see how many visits your website gets. They give the example of Yahoo on their FAQ section.  Essentially, since 28% of users on the Internet go to Yahoo, its reach is 28%.

Alexa is not to be overlooked when promoting your website. As with other promotion means, a link on your homepage will definitely help. Also, make sure to use the Alexa toolbar while browsing the web, since it will help Alexa get a better look at your favorite sites.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

SEO Maryland

301 Redirects: Moving to a New Home on the Web

Hola, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. Our company is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Let’s say you’ve got a website that you’ve had for a while and it’s doing pretty well. The only problem is that you want to change the name. Maybe your business partner left or you’re changing hobbies or whatever. In any case, you need to go from the old to the new. You know, however, that you will lose a lot of traffic if you just up and move to a new domain name. Sure, you can put a notice on the old website, but how will search engines find you? Fortunately, there is a way to get your old traffic to your new domain.

A 301 Redirect is a simple code in HTML that redirects a web browser instantly to a new website. Not only does it redirect the traffic, but 301 specifically means that this is a permanent change. This lets the browser, and search engine, know your change is going to last. Therefore, it can forward traffic and assign PageRank (Google) to you, despite your new site location.

Now, you should note that you’d still need to build up things for your new domain. However, people will still find you based on your old information. So, if you’re going from www.ilovetoplaygamesalldayeveryday.com to www.johnsgaminghouse.com , it is going to take time to build a name for the latter site. However, people who visit your old site will be taken straight to the new site. You also have the option to notify them of the change when you redirect them. I’d recommend this if your website name is changing drastically.

You can find examples of this simple code anywhere online. Simply search “301 Redirect” in your favorite search engine. That’s all for this week. Check back again for more SEO and web development tips!

-Josh

Internet Beacon

SEO Maryland

Why Making Identical Pages on Your Website Won´t Help You

Howdy, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We´re a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

You´ve got a website. Congratulations! Now it´s time to put some content on there. You know that the more you have, the better your site will do online. This is a mixture of Google´s PageRank system, pages indexed by sites like Yahoo! and Alexa, as well as the actual content on your page. This is where a lot of people are tempted to build giant sites that are really just the same page or two duplicated over and over again. This is a terrible idea.

There are many reasons why you should not simply bombard a web server with the same pages. First, no one is going to like your website. I know that search engines are important, but they are not the be-all/end-all of the Internet. The fact of the matter is, PEOPLE are going to look at your website. If they hate it because it´s 1,000 page of the same thing, no one will ever come back. In fact, they´ll likely tell their friends to steer clear of your site.

Second, search engines are not stupid. Think about it. You´re relying on software to make your website more popular; do you think they don´t know what´s going on? I can answer that: they do. Google, like all search engines, searches the text on your page. Therefore, they have checks in place to make sure that your content is not duplicated. Avoid duplication when building your site. The big guys know what you´re up to.

That´s all for this week. Check back again next week for more tips on web development and SEO.

-Josh

Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland

Poison Keywords – Easy Ways to Get Your Site Blacklisted by Search Engines

Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

There is a theory floating around the Internet about something called “poison keywords” for SEO. In essence, poison keywords are words or series of words that have been flagged by search engines as unacceptable. This is not based on the level of propriety, but rather on what they keywords intend to do.

The biggest example of a poison keyword, according to some online discussion, is using “search engine” as a tag for your website. Search engines like Google and Yahoo know what people are onto when they use those tags. Essentially, people are looking to get free page views based on keywords that don’t accurately define their site.

Another supposed poison keyword is “forum”. This seems to be mostly speculation. I haven’t found any evidence to support the idea yet. Most SEO professionals I’ve read say that it is nonsense. Mostly this idea comes from software giving you tips on your meta data.

That’s all for this week, folks. Check back with us next week! Also, feel free to stop by our new location at 406 Main Street, Reisterstown, MD! We’ll be there tomorrow.

-Josh

Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland