Think of this as sort of like those essay contests the English teachers used to make everyone participate in, but the differences are 1) we won’t take off points for poor grammar or spelling (because this is all about style and ability to persuade!) and 2) the prize is way cooler than some lame $50 savings bond that you can’t do anything with for 20 years.

BEHOLD, the Details

1. Listen to SEO 101 tonight at 9p Central
2. Call (646) 716-6190
3. When you’re on… give us your most compelling reasons why YOUR business needs and can use the information and tools you’ll learn at the seminar.

Just remember, the seminar is near St. Louis, Missouri. You have to be able to get yourself there and home again because we’re only supplying admission to the event ;)

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101 Call-In Show Tonight

Podcast Recap
Before I join the podcast, Brian and Robert covered a pretty extensive array of e-commerce topics:

• Twitter “Help Engines”
• A lengthy discussion of Magento Commerce, prompted by the announcement that Brian is converting his properties from his own custom-built ecommerce platform to Magento (which speaks volumes about how impressed Brian is with the features available — it’s not like he hasn’t just built his own platform when he needed features existing programs didn’t offer).
• Robert Garcia (Rumblepup) is now offering e-commerce and SEO consulting.
• There was fairly in-depth discussion of the evolution of social media — from the days of BBSs and Usenet News through to all the “new” Web 2.0 social media options.
• Brian and Robert also discussed a number of social bookmarking and social shopping sites that retailers should definitely be paying attention to…. specifically mentioned were:
  • ThisNext
  • Kaboodle
  • HonestBargain
  • Dealigg
• Finally, they wrapped up by talking about must-haves for every e-commerce website: “Add This” buttons to enable customers to easily submit products to the aforementioned social bookmarking and shopping sites, product reviews, and forums for customers to discuss services and products, as well as get support.

So then….
Whew! Still with me? Okay :) This is where I joined the conversation… I just returned from PubCon South in Austin, where Twitter was discussed *incessantly*. I shared with Brian and Robert some of the major points that were discussed, what software is most popular for using and monitoring Twitter streams, and some best practices for retailers on how to use, but not abuse one’s Tweeple.

I’ll warn you, this is a 95 minute long episode, so make sure you’ve either got a long drive ahead of you, or have a comfy place to sit before you begin :)

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
Ecom Phenom: Social Media and eCommerce

In addition to the obligatory, heymybookisgreatsogobuyit stuff, Mike talks with us about developing and implementing a search marketing program in your business, the ins and outs of exploring new media and social media (again, in the context of “how will this benefit my business”), and then finally, the absolute importance of optimizing your internal Web site search.

P.S. If you’re looking for something to keep you from dying of boredom at the relative-who-has-no-wifi’s house over the holidays… grab a copy… good readin’

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Mike Moran discusses Search Engine Marketing, Inc

Specifically, we discuss:

• Crawling through HTML Forms — Friday, April 11, 2008
• Dynamic URLs vs static URLs — Monday, September 22, 2008

In a nutshell, Google says they pull “important” terms from surrounding pages and use them to populate search boxes and other forms in an effort to get more content. Some of the terms they pull don’t seem like things normal people would be searching for, so we’re not sure how exactly they decide what terms to try or not try. You should be able to scan through your access logs and pick out examples of the bot filling in forms to see for yourself.

As for the 180 degree flip on dynamic URLs vs. static URLs, we’re pretty much in agreement that it’s not a green light to shut off URL rewriting or stop doing “pretty URLs”. Pretty URLs enhance the user experience, and in cases where you have an existing web site that is already turning ugly, dynamic URLs into pretty static strings, you should DEFINITELY not deviate from the status quo. Changing all of your existing URLs will cause a horrendous drop in traffic while the engines try to figure out what you’ve done and get everything sorted out.

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Google Revelations

MSN Live's Jeremiah Andrick

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Interview with MSN Live’s Jeremiah Andrick

The Handout
Seriously, this is frame-worthy. I’m going to get a big laminated version to put on the wall in my office.

Things we cover in this episode include:

• Press releases (for links) — pay attention as there are some good tips for not breaking your budget and how to know when you should use free services versus when it’s a good idea to use the paid services.
• Wikis and Social Sites
• Traditional Link Building — Cherry picking links, how to ask for links the right way, how to NOT ask for links, etc.
• Paid Links, Link Exchanges and Directories

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Link Building

So why would you want to start a social network?
In addition to adding coolness and generating additional traffic for your site. Branded social networks help build your brand by creating a community for your users and fans. The users connect with other like-minded people and while bonding with each other… they emotionally bond with the brand… that turns users into fans and fans into brand evangelists.

Let’s not forget that a social network also creates additional ranking opportunities for your site. More content, more potential spots to occupy on the SERPs.

So why is Lovd so special?
Lovd is a) really cool looking and fully featured right out of the box, b) FREE, c) open source, and d) supposedly very easy to install and run — if you’re familiar with Ruby On Rails. I say supposedly only because I am absolutely NOT familiar with RoR, and will have to defer to Steve’s expert opinion on that topic.

If you’re interested in adding a unique facet to your site, and you (or a geek you love) are familiar with Ruby on Rails, go check out Lovd — check the system requirements, demo, features, etc — then download it and give it a spin. It’s open source and you can’t beat the price :)

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Starting Your Own Social Network

From the question, it sounds like his clients are small to medium sized businesses that either aren’t ready for a full blown SEO specialist or don’t have the budget for a dedicated SEO person right now.

Paul says he spends much of his time each month designing, building and maintaining web sites and, in the process of doing so, he also performs some monthly SEO maintenance for those clients. The monthly SEO maintenance includes Google Analytics/traffic software analysis, keyword and internal linking adjustments, and some external link development. Paul estimates that he spends about four hours per month per client on these activities, and that the clients are getting what he considers to be “decent results”.

Our analysis
Additional services Paul could offer, like more intensive link development or linkbait/content writing would add a tremendous amount of time per client and would cause his workload to bloat to the point he needs to start outsourcing to other SEOs or developers, hire help, or try to handle everything by himself (and probably burn out in the process).

If hiring help or outsourcing aren’t in the plans, Paul should continue to provide the services he’s already performing for his clients, but make sure he’s educating them on the actual value of what he’s doing for them. He might also want to update his promotional literature to reflect a greater emphasis on SEO-conscious web design and list all of the benefits of building SEO into your website from the get-go, rather than trying to optimize a site as an afterthought to the design process.

So what are the benefits that should be emphasized?

• A bot friendly site. The most awesome website in the universe is a waste of time and money if no one ever visits it.
• Proper use of stylesheets. Way, way, WAY too many web designers and developers think it’s good, right and proper to use stylesheets for *everything* and do so to the point they omit important things like H1 tags and <strong> tags, and other HTML structures that the bots use to understand what is important on the page.
• Good content. It’s not that most businesses can’t come up with quality content for their websites — most people in general just don’t know what defines good content. Having a developer or SEO consultant who can guide the client and educate them on how to locate good content, and then tweak it to be perfect content, is practically priceless.
• Good URL structure. Do you have any idea what a colossal pain in the keister it is to try to fix bad url structure after the fact, or patch a content management system that makes crappy URLs by default — especially AFTER the site has gone live? Trust me… this is another one of those things that you just don’t fully appreciate until you’ve had to do it the hard way.
• Graceful degradation. Graceful degradation is when your site is viewed by users who don’t have a browser capable of rendering it as it was intended to be viewed, but it is STILL USABLE despite not being as pretty as originally planned. Good SEO generally leads to good usability… and to steal a line from St. Martha, “that’s a good thing.”

What Paul is already doing for these businesses is probably worth a lot more than they realize, and worth a lot more than they’re paying. He should probably raise his rates. ;)

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Valuing SEO-Conscious Web Design

This episode is based on my liveblogging notes from the Competitive Intelligence session at PubCon Vegas 2007. There are a lot more details and links to resources in my write-up over at search engine roundtable, so I encourage you to pop over there and check it out. Our discussion veered a little more into protecting your stuff by making sure you’re not making it completely simple and easy for bad people to do bad things to you, which isn’t entirely SEO but I think it’s valid and important business stuff to know. My notes from the conference had more detailed information on gathering intel on your competitors via various tools that are available online.

Important Points Covered:

1. Vendors are chatty. Make sure (1) that YOUR vendors are not chatty about YOU to your competitors and (2) that you take advantage of chatty vendors who have info about your competitors. If they’re not blabbing to you, they’ll just blab to someone else, you may as well benefit.
2. Sometimes people aren’t entirely honest when they call. Make sure that you, your family, your employees, etc. know to not discuss business with “unauthorized” people. Loose lips sink ships.
3. A google a day keeps the crisis away. Search the web regularly for info, media mentions, blog mentions, etc. about your competitors, their products, their key personnel, as well as YOUR company, YOU, YOUR key personnel, YOUR products, etc. You might be surprised by what you can google up.
4. Shredding isn’t just good, it’s good for you! Sure shredding is fun, but did you know it’s also a great way to keep your account numbers and other sensitive personal information out of the hands of ne’er-do-wells? Invest in a decent cross cut shredder and use it often.

Fun Items to Listen For…

In this episode, I share an interesting story from Vegas about some of the… um… “people” who were… um… “working”… at the Wynn. I also manage to make a relatively not stupid sounding football reference after I mispronounce Brett Favre’s name, and I worked in a Star Wars reference for good measure.

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Competitive Intelligence

Enjoy!

This post is courtesy of CSHEL Chicago SEO
SEO 101: Obligatory 100th Episode Outtakes and Bloopers