The “Secrets” to Search Engine Optimization-ummm..relationships and authenticity

I have about had it with people looking for SEO techniques and e-commerce gimmicks. When you don’t know them, you tend to think that there are some magical potions that you can drink to take you to the top. Much like every other venture in life, these fables of gimmicks often lead people to die of old age searching for the fountain of youth…

Everyone wants the “easy way” when the “right way” is, well, right in front of our noses…

IT (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION) IS NOT ABOUT LINKS! It is about the relationships behind those links. To TRULY succeed on the net, you need to be willing to be creative, develop long lasting relationships in your industry, and to work HARD to protect your online reputation–or pay someone to do it for you. It is that simple. Really.

SEO guys can teach you principles in doing that effectively and efficiently, but I swear that is how it works.

IT is ALSO NOT ABOUT GIMMICKS  ! It is about you being authentically YOU. If your online persona and your offline persona are in synch,  (and assuming that you do quality work), it will show and you will drive business. If people think you are a poser in real life then they will think you are a poser online.

Good search engine marketing doesn’t change who you are. It just promotes it in a very efficient and near real time manner.

Here’s to being who you are, working hard, being creative and getting ahead! (Some things never change…even with new media!)

Using Alerts for Reputation Management- Part Deux

Ok, if you went to part 1 and read it, you have your Google Alerts set up. Another step is to do the SAME thing with Yahoo!! Why? (I knew you’d ask.) Well, yes it will give you some duplicate content, but the fact is that between Google and Yahoo, you are covering the vast majority of searches made about you or your company…

There are other things as well (like monitoring relevant forums, social media participation, positive spin control and many more advancd techniques), but these are a good start. So here’s how to get your yahoo alerts set up. Same method as Google except that you go to http://alerts.yahoo.com

Then you simply fire up yahoo for the same alerts as you did for Google.

You will get a lot of email if you are active on the web…Oh, did I mention to put your url in as well. It will help inform you when someone new is linking to you or talking about your sight! Works like a charm!

Quick Tools to Manage your Online Reputation

Over the next few days, I’d like to post some small tips on how to do BASIC level Online Reputation Management. It is something that we do here at the Web Works, but for those who want to learn the basics–here’s where to start….

Remember in the old days when you went to the library? The were card catalogs to help you find things. They were sorted by Title, Author and Subject. Today’s search engines work in much the same way. Think of your online reputation in terms of Title, Subject and Author. Mine would be Eric Blackwell, and then the titles and subjects of things that I have written about. Using different combinations of those words is how one would find out about me online. This is also where someone would go to try and co-opt my reputation online.

One of my favorite first steps in handling online reputations is to set up Google alerts for the titles, names and subjects that you associate with. “Google alerts” are emails sent to you from Google to let you know when something new is out there regarding a specific subject…

See http://www.google.com/alerts

I’d recommend setting them up for your website(s), your name, company names, and main keywords that you rank for in the search engines…What does this do? It provides you a semi -good alert system that tells you when someone may be adding content on the web regarding your reputation.

Give it a try and tell me what you think!!

Best;

Eric

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