When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

February 27, 2012 By laurie 2 Comments

I walked out of my front door one day to find a box of lemons on my door step.

No note.
No identifying marks.
Just a…
Big.
Ass.
Box.
…of lemons.

The next thing I did was call my dear friend and videographer, Ana. How can you NOT make a video when life (or…some random neighbor) gives you lemons? Like – literally gives you lemons. So – armed with no knowledge of how this might work, or a juicer, we set out on our adventure. This slightly long video is that adventure.

Do you have a “when life gives you lemons” story to share? Please do so in the comments!

OR – if you have a favorite lemon recipe – let’s hear it!

Filed Under: how to, videos, YouTube

That’s what the heck SEO is…

February 21, 2012 By laurie 1 Comment

At the beginning of this series on SEO, we promised to provide you with the SEO basics. And – that’s what

we did! Yet, there are a few more things to add. (But of course, there always are…remember what a big subject we said this was? Oy vey.)

Your SEO strategy is a process

Once again, there is no magic bean to plant, button to push, or lever to pull to improve your ranking in the search results. You can’t simply “turn on” your SEO. Sorryyyyyyyy, it just doesn’t work that way.

Optimizing your site for the search engines takes time. Why? Because, as we explained in the post “What the heck is website SEO, anyway?” the search engines store their search results rather than performing a new search every time a search term is entered. By building what is essentially a library of optimized content at your site, you give them search results they can store for the next time your keyword is used in a search. Boom, done…

SEO techniques change over time

Yeah, sorry again (aren’t we just the bad news bears today…) but, the techniques that are used today to maximize SEO, even the SEO basics, are different than they were just a few years ago. They’ll be different again a few years from now, too.

As the search engines develop and become more refined in their techniques, information providers, those of us who own websites and blogs, must also become more refined in the ways we make our information available to them. Don’t take it personally that you have to change with the times; it’s just progress.

Website SEO requires diligence

If you want to improve your ranking in the search results; if you want to move to the top of the page on Google, you can’t afford to do some of the things some of the time. Since the search engines are relentless in their pursuit of information, you must be equally relentless in providing it for them.

Content SEO requires creativity

Content SEO requires the creative use of keywords, as well as the creative generation of content. As the search engines become more focused on quality of content, you must provide that quality if you hope to be found. Besides appealing to the search engines, quality content also appeals to the reader, who is your ultimate target, after all.

Stick to the SEO basics…for now

Remember this, as you see the results of your own web searches improve, providing you with higher quality information every time you enter a search term, it is the refining of search techniques which makes this possible. Your response to these refinements, as a website or blog owner and web-based information provider, should be enthusiastic. Why? Because, this means it will actually become easier for your target audience to find you.

For now, stick to these SEO basics to improve the SEO of your site, but don’t allow yourself to become complacent. You can’t afford to – none of us can.

(This is post 4 of 4 in a series on SEO and SEO Basics)

[<--- go back to the article on Content SEO]

Filed Under: SEO

What the heck is content SEO?

February 13, 2012 By laurie 2 Comments

Now that we know what SEO is, and now that we know what website SEO is, let’s learn about CONTENT SEO!

What the heck is content SEO, anyway?

Content is the text you post to your blog or website…Duh, thanks for nothing! (Be patient, young grasshopper!). Content SEO, on the other hand, is the practice of making your text easy to find for the search engines, as well as relevant to the search they are performing.

How do the search engines do it?

First, you need to know that Google, and the other search engines, don’t actually search the web every time a search term is typed into the search box. They search their servers. Huh…?

That’s right, Google and all the others have literally millions of servers around the world which are constantly “crawling” the web for content relevant to search terms they’ve stored in their systems. They could never search the entire web for you as quickly as they do if every search was a new one. With literally billions of websites to search, there is just too much information out there. Plus, they rank the quality of the info they deliver to you and that takes time too. So, they store it up for you and everyone else, and make it available in seconds. Cool, huh?

Why do the search engines prefer text?

Since text is the easiest type of information to crawl, that also makes it the cheapest to crawl. That means the search engines absolutely love text – and they always will. Beyond that, as the web began to develop as an information-sharing platform, and due to the relatively prehistoric technology available at the time, it developed as a text-based platform. So, text-based searching became fundamental to the development of search engine technology. It is now so deeply ingrained, it will never go away. And, again, it’s cheap.

Here are some tips on Content SEO:

Content SEO techniques…

Use your Keyword in the first 50-100 words of your text
Use your Keyword in the approximate middle of your text
Use your Keyword in the last 50-100 words
Text should be no less than 300 words
Highlight your Keywords with bold, underline, and italics, once each

For more information on content SEO techniques, check out this article at SEOmoz.

The final step to effective content SEO…

You knew this one was coming, didn’t you? Just as with website SEO, to make your content SEO efforts pay off for you, you must do these things consistently and relentlessly. This means – every time you post!

In other words, if you don’t want to waste all the effort of creating quality web content, perform these few simple tasks on each and every post to maximize your optimization efforts.

(This is post 3 of 4 in a series on SEO and SEO Basics)

[<--- go back to the article on Website SEO / go to the next article on THAT's What SEO is --->]

Filed Under: how to, SEO, websites

What the heck is website SEO?

February 6, 2012 By laurie 3 Comments

Now that we know what SEO is…

What the heck is website
SEO, anyway?

The simple answer to this question is, “Use WordPress.” If the response to this recommendation is, “OK,” then boom, we’re done. If you ask me, “Why?” well, that’s what this post is about.

WordPress is SEO-friendly – by design

When we talk about website SEO, what we’re really talking about is the structure and design of your blogging platform, or Content Management System (CMS) [non-techy people - don't fade - it gets better]. This structure and design can make it easy, or hard, for search engines to scan, or “crawl,” each website for useful information.

The beauty of WordPress is that it was designed and structured specifically to be Google-friendly, which also makes it search-engine friendly (to those “other search engines. Yes, there are others). Without going into a bunch of technical detail, we’ll just say that no other CMS is as SEO-friendly as WordPress (this is a good thing).

What do the search engines look for?

The search engines look for key words, what we now call keywords, to help them judge the relevancy of your site to a particular search term. A search term is what you type in to Google like: “videos of cute cats” (come on, you KNOW you do that). They first look in the most obvious places, then they dig a little deeper, if necessary. What are the most obvious places? The search engines will look for the keywords you’re using in the content or page title, of course, and in the permalink (aka the URL of the page, aka the web address, aka the thing up at the top of the screen that starts with www….), plus the headers, especially H1, and in the Meta information.

Here are places to place your keywords (if this list of things makes you cry because you don’t know what it means, skip to the next paragraph).

Website SEO techniques…

Keyword in the Title
Keyword at the beginning of the Title
Keyword in the Permalink (the page/post URL)
Keyword in the first Header (H1)
Keyword at the beginning of the first Header (H1)
Keyword in the Meta Description

For more information on website SEO techniques, here’s a great article at SEOmoz.

WordPress does much of this for you…

Do you remember that we talked about WordPress being a great CSM, above? Well, here’s why. WordPress does a bunch of these website SEO thingies for you! That’s right, WordPress will automatically use your title as the H1 tag, as well as placing it in the permalink for you (you have to set this up though – as your web person). Plus, with a WordPress plug-in such as “All-in-One SEO Pack,” which is FREE by the way, the Meta title and Meta description are taken care of for you, as well.

The last step to effective website SEO…

The final thing to remember is this; to make your website SEO strategy effective, you must do these things consistently and relentlessly. This means – every time you post! Since, with WordPress, some of the most important website SEO functions are automated, it is the CMS of choice for the savvy web entrepreneur. You do want to be known as a savvy entrepreneur, don’t you?

(This is post 2 of 4 in a series on SEO and SEO Basics.)

[<---- go back to the first article on SEO basics] [go to the next article on Content SEO --->]

Filed Under: SEO, websites, Wordpress

3 Reasons Why You NEED YouTube For Your Business

February 1, 2012 By laurie Leave a Comment

By Guest Blogger: Ana Levley

A lot of businesses still are debating whether or not to do social media. I understand the concern. When you come from a “traditional corporate” background, it may be really hard to imagine personalizing your business. But let’s take a look at one of the biggest social media sites out there: the amazing YouTube. It is not JUST a social media site. It is not JUST a place to find videos of cute cats and kids. It is also a search engine (the second most popular search engine, actually) – yes, really!

Are you on YouTube? If not, here are three reasons why you should be if you have a business:

1. YouTube is FREE. It is a free channel that billions of people view every day. That’s right! In fact, Mashable reports that YouTube just surpassed 2 billion views daily. YouTube is like basic cable now because everyone who has Internet can access it and watch it. So your business could have free promotion and ads with thousands of views at no charge.

2. YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world according to UPI.com. 28% of Google’s searches are referred to YouTube.

3. YouTube is great to boost your Website SEO by embedding the videos. Google helps out its own comrades, (which, YouTube is, since it is owned by Google). Google loves YouTube and will help anyone who searches for your keywords find your videos in the search results. With the keywords tool on YouTube you can easily reach your target demographic.

With YouTube videos, you will be able to reach your target demographic and spread your brand. Now, knowing this, all you have to do is create a YouTube Video!

Don’t know how to make a YouTube Video?

Don’t care how to make a YouTube Video (and just want it boom, done)?

We can help.

[Also - if you are in the Los Angeles or Orange County Area (or will be), Ana is available for filming.]

Ana Levley is the resident Go2Girls Video Guru. Her social media experience comes from a broad background including, film and comic books. She is great at driving traffic in niche markets. Ana graduated from UC Irvine with a major in Drama and minor in conflict resolution, which we are convinced is the driving force behind her sense of humor and ability to deal with Laurie’s “Ana! I have the BEST idea for a video!” late night calls.

Ana believes in giving back to the community. She is involved in a variety of charities including Walk for Alzheimer’s and Relay for Life and also donates time working with Families Forward and Invisible Children. A lover of all thing outdoors, Ana enjoys camping, hiking and kayaking. She also knows how to cook tofu. All around, she is an impressive gal.

Filed Under: building a list, SEO, videos, YouTube