Happy Valentine’s Day Week!
In this edition we try and “show you the love” with some commonsense, practical facts about Internet Marketing – both its virtues and vices . . . Also, we are pleased to announce an upgrade and a number of enhancements for SoundOff, Bizzuka’s e-mail marketing platform, scheduled for March 9-11. This should resolve a number of performance issues and image handling should be much improved! Later this spring, look for a number of new features, including more templates; integration of Google Analytics; and tools for working with recurring mailings. Please mark your calendars for this small lapse in SoundOff availability. Our hope is that many of you may be busy with Mardi Gras activities and the impact will be minimal – we appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
With “heartfelt” regards in February from us all, Maura Nelson
Bizzuka Marketing Director/ EBurst Editor |
 | SEO 101 (Search Engine Optimization) . . . Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), a specialty at Bizzuka, involves enhancement of a website for search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, etc.) via "natural" or unpaid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) target paid listings (e.g., pay-per-click advertising). The earlier (or higher on the page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list is the most desirable.
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and how people seek information. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. In today’s competitive arena, however, it’s important to play fair; failure to do so has costly consequences. In industry jargon, this is commonly referred to as “White Hat” versus “Black Hat” SEO practices.
At Bizzuka, we’re SEO “white-hats” . . . why care? At Bizzuka, we exclusively engage in “white-hat” practices, referring to the use of ethical SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus on a human audience as opposed to search engines. A website that is SEO optimized yet focuses on relevancy and organic ranking uses White Hat SEO practices. Some examples of white-hat SEO techniques include using keywords and keyword analysis, backlinking, link building (to improve link popularity), and writing content for human eyes.
“Black-hat SEO” refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engines rules. Some examples of black-hat SEO techniques include keyword stuffing, invisible text and doorway pages. Black-hat SEO is more frequently used by those seeking a quick financial return on their website, rather than a long-term investment philosophy. In the most extreme cases, black-hat SEO can result in your website being banned from a search engine, however since the focus is usually on quick high return business models, most black-hat SEO marketers roll the dice on this potential risk.
Google is Watching . . . Arguably the kingpin of search engines, Google vigilantly protects the integrity of its search engine process and is equally committed to persecuting any violators they can identify. Just this week, The New York Times exposed unscrupulous link building by an SEO vendor for J.C. Penney (Editors note: free registration may be required to view entire article link). Although the retail giant vigorously claimed ignorance of the black-hat tactics being used, as The Times, reported, “Google’s guidelines warn against using tricks to improve search engine rankings, including what it refers to as ‘link schemes.’ The penalty for getting caught is a pair of virtual concrete shoes: the company sinks in Google’s results.” And that’s precisely what happened – JC Penney’s rankings plummeted overnight. The hired SEO gun was fired and Penney’s issued this statement, “We are disappointed that Google has reduced our rankings due to this matter, but we will continue to work actively to retain our high natural search position.”
Bottom line . . . As we’ve stated before, SEO is an art as much as a science; search engine rankings of your site is something we specialize in at Bizzuka. Be careful out there with overpromising marketers. Remember, we’re proud to be your trusted Web partner and are here for you! |
