• Attempting PPC Advertising Is Not For Amateurs •
• Don’t Leap & Look Later! •

I’ve recently become involved with a number of new clients who have been attempting Google PPC campaigns to attract more traffic to their sites, but have absolutely no idea about what really needs to be put in place before a PPC campaign should be attempted. Why, they don’t even have a clue about issues such as how Google determines the ‘click’ prices. This is like jumping into deep water, but not knowing how to swim. Bad idea, you know?

However, in defense of my clients, there are thousands (probably more like hundreds of thousands) of people doing the same thing … people who are eager to have more targeted traffic come to their sites in the hope of selling more of their products or services. I understand this. I am not trying to put shame on anyone.

Some Facts You Need To Be Aware Of Before You Even Utter The Term ‘PPC’

Are you aware you will pay MORE, yes I said MORE for each click your PPC ad receives if you are not well versed in PPC advertising basics. Here are just a few of a myriad of issues that affect the cost per click. Believe me, the Google bots take all on-page factors and even your ads into consideration before they figure out what you’ll be charged for each PPC click.

• You should have a unique landing page.  Simply explained, that is a page you have written and optimized specifically for the ad. It should provide everything and more that the person who clikced on your ad would hope to find.
• You need to do detailed keyword research  in order to understand what keyword phrases people are really typing into the search engines to try and find your product or services. What you may think searchers are typing into the search box often is not even remotely close to reality.
• You need to know keyword trends.  That’s right! Believe it or not, depending upon your marketing niche, keyword phrases that searchers are using can change from month to month, as but one example. If you don’t know the search trends, you may be missing out on a broader base of people who are searching for what you have to offer.

  Or worse yet … you may be bidding on terms that are very competivie, thusly will have higher cost per click prices, yet you might be better off going for terms that have less competition and will COST YOU LESS.

• The quality of your SEO efforts in writing your ads will also be taken into consideration. Proper keyword use is also very essential for the relevancy of what the prospect is looking for.

You also need to know about “LSI” - latent semantic indexing. LSI allows Google to determine what a page is about outside of specifically matching search query text. Here’s a good article (that isn’t overwhelmingly technical) that covers the basics for those of you interested: Google Semantically Related Words & Latent Semantic Indexing Technology I recommend you become very familiar with LSI if you are going to manage your PPC campaign yourself.

The bottom line here is this: PPC advertising is NOT for amateurs.  You need to either do a lot of homework to educate yourself on the ins and outs of being successful so as not to pay more for each click than you need to … or hire a professional PPC campaign manager.

• 5 to 8 Targeted Keyword Phrases Are All That’s Necessary •
• Stuffed And/Or Spammed Keyword Meta Tags Are Relics Of The Past! •

I can’t believe my eyes when I come across keyword meta tags that have been recently “optimized” using an out-dated and totally wrong method! Meaning … I find a keyword stuffed tag! And even worse, stuffed with one word terms that will NEVER EVER do any good ranking-wise for the site!

Incredulously, many of the sites where I see these extremely amateurish stuffed tags have supposedly been optimized by a “knowledgeable SEO specialist”. Come on people … this is the year 2008! Stuffing keywords is a thing of the ancient past! So is using more than eight keyword phrases! These techniques are loooooooong gone! 

After 1998, when Lycos dropped its ranking recognition of the keyword meta tag, and then in 2000 when AltaVista and Inktomi stopped paying attention to it, there was really little if any reason for people to optimize this tag. (Google never did pay any attention to it.)  Spammers had defeated its once useful purpose via fraudulent keyword stuffing.

The spammers inserted keywords that had nothing to do with the on-page content, thusly the terms “keyword tag stuffing” and “keyword tag spamming” became know as black-hat techniques.

To show you a real example of what is a very wrong, and very poor use of a keyword meta tag, here is a website that was recently tweaked for improved navigation and other issues, including (supposedly) optimization of all the Title and meta tags that had previously been ignored. I have knoweldge of this site, as this is an individual who choose not to hire me for my services. Obviously her loss … not mine!

OK … I have removed a few terms to provide anonymity to the site owner, but take a look at this meta tag - and no, I am not making this up:

‹META name=”keywords” content=”ND, naturopathic, naturopathic medicine, emedicine, natural medicine, hormone replacement, alternative medicine, ND, complementary medicine, CAM, supplements, [name of state] naturopathic doctors, healing, health, healthy, healthier, natural supplements, [abbreviation of state], phone, consults, consulation, NMD, consultation, Weil, homeopathy, homeopathic medicine, cholesterol, heart disease, prevention, men’s health, botanical, Xymogen, detox, oil, vitamin, prostate, women’s health, menopause, bio-identical, mind-body, skin, dysbiosis, probiotic, inflammation, progesterone, GI, Alzheimer’s, dementia, Huperzine, osteoporosis, nature, anti-aging, estrogen, testosterone, counseling, Caribbean, speaker, fatigue, [another state-nonrelated to this person's business], [yet another state-nonrelated to this person's business], [another country-nonrelated to this person's business], neurotransmitters, targeted amino acid therapy, depression, anxiety, non-drug, insomnia, [11 names of cities located near the place of business], free-lance, writer”›

Oh my goodness! 81 keywords and/or keyword phrases! And even if the search engines gave a lot of ranking value to the keyword meta tag, almost all of these terms would NEVER EVER EVER do anything to help get this website a higher ranking for those terms.

Why? Well … just how competitive do you think the terms “oil” or “consults” are?? But more importantly, how general and non-targeted to the site’s niche are these terms? I’ll tell you … TOTALLY too general and TOTALLY non-targeted!

Are you new to the concept of keywords?? No problem! Learn the difference between using one word versus multi-word phrases in my post: Keywords Explained: What’s A Keyword? A Keyword Phrase?

I’ll stop ranting here. Let me show you a general example of what this person’s so-called-seo-expert should have done with this tag:

‹META name=”keywords” content=”Naturopathic medicine, naturopathic doctor, alternative medicine, [name of practioner], [name of city & state]“›

Though I’ve done zero research into the terms I’ve used in this example, I do believe you get the idea that the keyword phrase terms ARE more targeted and related to a specific niche.

But hold on! I know you’re saying “then why Claudia, if you’re telling us the keyword meta tag no longer matters to the search engines … why are you telling us to optimize it? That doesn’t really make any sense!” I agree, but it is a common held belief amongst knowledgeable SEO experts that there is still a good reason to optimize the tag, and we do so for our clients. The reason is that Yahoo! and MSN do give a tiny bit of ranking weight to this tag (Google still ignores it). So, even though you may read elsewhere to just ignore this tag altogether, my professional advice is don’t. We never know if one day, this meta tag may prove to add a bit more weight to organic ranking positions.

When you are optimizing your web page’s keyword meta tag remember this: use 5 to 8 targeted, specifc terms relating to what your site and that particular web page’s content is about.

This is all you need to do to properly optimize the keyword meta tag. It’s that simple.

• How Polite Are You To Other People? •
• I Am A Bit Weary Of The Lack Of Consideration Shown By So Many People These Days •

Oprah did a show just the other day about how rude people in the USA are. How timely! I had honestly been thinking about venting a bit here on my blog about that very subject and Miz Oprah beat me to it!

This little rant of mine today is about a quiet yet sort of constant underlying irritation in me … I never am ceased to be amazed at how unprofessional and plain inconsiderate many people are. Where did social graces go? Where did proper etiquette go? Out the window I guess.

For example, I very often go out of my way to go the extra mile for potential clients that seemingly are anxious to get a quote from me because they want to get their websites SEO’d and starting to rank. They are always in a hot rush. So, being the kind of person I am, I try to accommodate their sense of urgency.

I also understand that not every quote will result in a signed contract. Of course … that is all part of doing business. BUT! Do you know that I rarely, if ever, receive even a simple two sentence email from them saying “Thank you for your quick reply. Let me go over the information and I will get back to you ASAP.” Even if they never plan to actually get back to me … OK … so lie. But at least send one stinkin’ thank-you email to acknowledge the fact I did accommodate you!

No … I get NO REPLY. NO thank you. Nothing. Never hear from them again … even when I send a second email to them, asking if they had any further questions pertaining to the quote; please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns, etc. I’m sorry, but this just amazes me. How rude and unprofessional … and well … what a lack of simple common courtesy!

And what would be so wrong for these type of folks to just send an email saying “Thank you. I’m in receipt of your quote and am thinking about it.” Again, that may be a lie for one reason or another (maybe they were doing nothing more than fishing around for prices) but AT LEAST it would be an attempt to be civil and polite.

Where has politeness gone? Let me even be so bold as to ask “where has professionalism gone?”

Yes Oprah, I agree with what you said all throughout your TV show the other day … yes, people sure are rude and inconsiderate these days. And it is time that these folks grow up and gain some social and professional graces!!

End of rant. I think I feel a little better now. Thank you.