Search Engine Optimization (HOW TO)

Rick -

The best thing to do is sit down with a cup of coffee when you have a little time and read through this tutorial http://www.seo-guy.com/tutorial.html

Then if there is something that is not clear or you want some clarification just ask here....

- duz

duz,
Ok I've briefly read through the information on the link you provided. I wasnt clear enough before... but while I do my email marketing in house, what I am looking for is someone that does SEO professionally gets good results, and works on a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition <- email term... dont know whether this term applies to the SEO Market) basis. Basically iw ant to know what I should look for as far as these type of companies, recommended companies, etc. etc.... Again I want to pay for performance, not take a gamble on someone claiming they can do it.

Thanks,
Rick

CPA, CPC, all these acronyms - it really comes down to ROI, doesn't it?

I think this thread has what you're looking for: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21016555/Reliable-SEO-companies.html.  Lots of good info there, I bookmarked that one a while ago.  Credit goes to duz (scroll down to his comments first) and the other contributors.

Ooops - well, that's most of it right there.  You can disregard my post, richardsimnett.

Hey guys,
Ok thanks for all the valuable input. I'd like to get your input on this cuz it was very confusing.
I spoke with a gentleman today, that was referred to me by several business associates. Apparently he specializes in SEO (as I have discovered half the world seems to from all the companies I plowed through today), He said something to the degree that he already owns a bunch of optimized domains... which he would then mirror my website on his servers (for tracking) and then submit data directly to me. This all sounds real shady to me. I already have an affiliate tracking system in place, why wouldnt he somehow hook into that? He works on a commission basis as well which fits my requirements.....

Does this sound right or wrong to you guys?

oh yeah and if you want to see the site I'd like to get on the search engines it is http://www.magazine-bin.com.

Cheers,
Rick

ingwa,
ok first off the site is a freebie site... its converts great across the board. 30% conversion rate on the sign up, and a 22% conversion on the sales end. Secondly, what about the alt='' containers for images? should those be populated? I have already built my list of keywords and phrases.... all of which contain the word magazine which also appears in my domain name? is this what you were referring to? Now having my links plastered across the web is another problem all together? what do you suggest I join a banner network of somesort? What approach should I take to this? I imagine if I get my link all over the place like that, that would provide a good amount of supplement traffic as well? What are your thoughts?

Cheers,
Rick

"Apparently he specializes in SEO (as I have discovered half the world seems to from all the companies I plowed through today), He said something to the degree that he already owns a bunch of optimized domains... which he would then mirror my website on his servers"
I'm glad your B.S. detector was working.  If you go back through the questions in the Online Marketing section of the E-E database, you'll find lots of people who went through a rude awakening upon hiring a so-called 'SEO specialist'.  I hope you will consider this one yours (and consider yourself lucky to have dodged a bullet).  This approach will get your site penailzed or possibly banned by the search engines.

Two of the basic principles in Google's Quality Guidelines are "Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings" and "Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank."  One of the specific guidelines: "Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content."  (source - www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html)

Again, look through the Online Marketing questions and you'll find examples of people who have damaged their search engine profile by using this technique.  I still think your answer is to follow the route duz outlined above.


Also, one other comment on what ingwa said:
"A fantastic piece of software is available to help you market your site using SEO.  It's called Webposition.  This software helps you . . . "

I disagree.  Take a look at what Google has to say about it:
"Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google."
(source - as above, another general quality guideline)

"What are your thoughts?"
You didn't ask me, but I'm going to throw in my two cents anyway.

First thing is that your site badly needs to be optimized.  Your question was about finding an SEO professional and that is what you ought to do.  If you are now considering doing it yourself, you need some SEO 101 help first.  You need to understand the general principles and requirements of optimizing your site BEFORE you get into worrying about banner exchange networks, etc.  Then you will have to redesign your site using CSS rather than tables.  As it stands, your website has LOTS of code and very little content and content is king when it comes to search engines.

If that's the route you want to go, read the Google Webmaster Guidelines (www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html) to help you understand the mindset SE's have these days.  Also essential: www.seo-guy.com/tutorial.html.  Go through this tutorial slowly and carefully - it is the best place to start learning SEO.

For a basic overview of SEO strategy, read this thread: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21214468/Search-Engine-Strategy-Where-to-begin.html.

humeniuk,
Ok optimized how exactly? Just migrate  to style sheets? all that will allow me to change is the default font settings and page display options etc.... tables are just a nature of the beast... unless my web design skills are that out of date. ;-D....  

Please clarify this for me.

Cheers,
Rick

humeniuk,
Thanks for the info... That was definitely very helpful. I am going to have to sit down one of these days, and start learning the CSS methodology of design I guess.... I hate unlearning things.. especially when I've been using them for nearly a decade already.... oh well.


Cheers,
Rick

I'm glad it was helpful.

humeniuk,
Quick question. I have been reading a couple things I found on google about migrating tables to CSS... its mostly technical jargon and syntax... but I have not found anything that shows me practical usage, so Im hoping you can answer a question for me about CSS....

If I am interpreting what I have read correctly, basically I set up the format and default values for the table and any embedded fonts / images, using CSS.. I remove the html code that the CSS definitions correspond to. And leave the table as it is... is that correct?
So basically I have something like:

BODY {align:center}
TABLE {background:#FFFFFF;width:780px;}

would cause me to change:
<body>
<center>
<table background=#FFFFFF width=780>

to:
<body>
<table>

Is this about the right line of thinking for this type of a thing? What I still dont quite get is how this would optimize a table that uses a lot of background images like magazine-bin.... I can see how it will shrink all the deprecated HTML tags out of the picture... and will save bandwidth based on the @import of a single file in the <head> of a document... which I imagine most browsers cache from page to page anyways. But again I feel like I am missing something major here.

Cheers,
Rick

Cheers,
Rick

I feel like I've opened Pandora's Box here :)  We've gotten well off-topic here, which is an E-E no-no.  

First, the on-topic comments:
It's not practical for you to migrate your website to CSS or redesign it until you are proficient with CSS.  You should keep the site table-based for the time being and focus on the (many) other elements of SEO.  Your original idea of retaining an SEO professional is a good one (provided you find a good consultant - as mentioned above, there are more bad ones than good ones).  I don't want to give you the impression that table-based websites can't rank well with search engines because they can.  I don't think any one optimization element can kill you, aside from the kinds of dirty tricks that will get you banned.  In the case of your site, for example, you need more incoming links far more than you need a complete redesign - it will do far more to improve your SERP placement with far less work.  Once you get to a point where you feel that you are proficient with CSS, you can consider a redesign (I have a few table-based sites myself that are waiting).

Next, re. your questions about CSS:
Actually, you would do away with the table altogether and use divs for positioning.  This is difficult to answer, because there is no simple answer - especially in the case of a complex table layout like your website.  CSS doesn't work like tables - putting together fragments of images like a mosaic that end up making a two dimensional image.  In other words, I'm not sure there's an effective way to "migrate" because using CSS is an entirely different mindset.  The approach your example takes is to replace the style elements of the table while keeping the table structure.  You need to eliminate the table altogether, not by replace the table elements (including layout AND style) with divs, but by dropping your perception of the site as a two-dimensional entity altogether.

In some cases, you might create a basic tabular structure like with a table, although it has the added advantage of being fluid.  Images are not cut up with the pieces fitted into individual cels, but rather can be kept whole and applied in a layer that appears in front of or behind multiple other divs/layers positioned absolutely or relatively.  You can see some very basic CSS layouts at www.glish.com/css.  Take this one for example: www.glish.com/css/7.asp.  Note the flexibility of the layout in different screen sizes.  Now imagine using the columns for content and being able to layer graphics and such where you want it.  No need for a complex 14 row x 10 column design in which everything has to fit precisely or everything falls apart.  What can result is the kind of layouts you see at www.csszengarden.com, but you have to start simple and build up to that.

So, my recommendation would be to close this question, find a good SEO consultant for your site (per duz's recommendations), and then set about learning CSS.  Start with the W3schools tutorial mentioned above (also very useful - http://css.maxdesign.com.au/floatutorial), look at some basic CSS layouts (ie. the glish website) and start to create your own, and take a look at more sophisticated CSS templates (ie. www.csszengarden.com) & start to figure out how to put together more advanced layouts.  AND make good use of the E-E Web Dev TA - you'll find there are some first-rate experts there who are much more well versed in this than I am.

I agree we have gotten off topic, and I appreciate all your input. I am goign to split points, and close this one out.

Cheers,
Rick

Good luck, Rick, and thanks for the A.

Greets again Rick,

"Secondly, what about the alt='' containers for images? should those be populated? "

The idea about populating containers for images can be good in some instances, and bad in others.  Good, relevant descriptions for your images are always very recommend as it enables your site to be accessible.  Additionally, it can help ranking, but only if it is not overdone.  SEO hangs in a very fine balance, and should be treated with tender love and care.

"Also, one other comment on what ingwa said:
"A fantastic piece of software is available to help you market your site using SEO.  It's called Webposition.  This software helps you . . . "

I disagree.  Take a look at what Google has to say about it:
"Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google."

Absolutely correct!  While I said earlier that this software is the only way to get good search engine results, it provides guidance.  You love your site, and your visitors love your site.  (That's why you have such good conversion rates).  Search Engines will also love your site if you are gentle with their spiders, and adhere to their submission guidelines.  Google is not the only good search engine out there.  Don't use Webposition for Google.  But it can help with others.  Give the trial a bash if you are wary of what it can and can't do.  If it violates terms, please NEVER use any software to do the job as you are certainly going to get your site banned.  If you notice these statements, talk to the software developers, and also people in the industry like here at EE.

I have already built my list of keywords and phrases.... all of which contain the word magazine which also appears in my domain name? is this what you were referring to? "

Yes, it is always an added bonus to have a keyword/keyphrase listed in your domain name.  NOt only does it show the general Net population that your site is relevant to magazines, it shows the the search engines that you have taken that little bit of extra time to make their search results more relevant.

"Now having my links plastered across the web is another problem all together? what do you suggest I join a banner network of somesort? What approach should I take to this? I imagine if I get my link all over the place like that, that would provide a good amount of supplement traffic as well? What are your thoughts?"

It always helps to have your link plastered across the net.  However, in places that are not relevant, you'll be wasting your time.  Talk to the webmasters of the sites that you frequent that are relevant to your field.  Ask them if you could recipricate links with them.  As your site is free, I'm sure that many will link to you if you link to them.  Make content that will be suitable for the webmaster to put on their site.  It adds to their content, and you have got your "press release" out there for others to view.  All parties benefit.

A banner exchange program is also another good way of getting advertising.  Look for one that provides a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio.  Unless the other site has tons of visitors that you feel you would benefit, don't go above 3:1.  You could even set up your own banner exchange.  This way, other webmasters benefit from the free service, and your banner is shown at least 2 times before theirs is shown.

Thanks for the points.  They're very much appreciated and I'm happy that I was able to help in some little way.  I wish you all the best in your endevour and hope you get tons and tons of good visitors.  Keep those great conversions up :)