Denver SEO Blog: Web Development, SEO & Marketing

It’s been one whole year since we founded the Denver SEO Meetup. We have now had 13 meetups, with 119 members and growing. Expectations about the number and types of SEOs we’d meet have been exceeded, as noted Denver SEO professionals large and small have attended. Among our top lessons:

1. We have great synergies with attendees from related industries
Several great contributors to the Denver SEO Meetup aren’t even SEOs - they are affiliate or internet marketing professionals from the Denver/ Boulder area. Or SEO folks looking to hire/ be hired. While the group is targeted toward full-time SEO professionals, it’s been a happy accident that we’ve also attracted so many other great members.

2. Denver Web Designers and Webmasters attend, expecting a learning group
Several webmasters have attended or joined the group, and left disappointed when free SEO training wasn’t offered. All Denver SEO experts started as beginners at some point, but the meetup is really targeted toward socializing - not educating. Unfortunately, there have been hurt feelings. We have heard the cries, and are working in conjunction with Colorado SEMPO to provide a mixture of educational programs in addition to this social event.

3. SEOs like beer, wine and socializing, not laser tag
The SEO meetup was initially a lasertag group. Of one. It didn’t take long to figure out that should change.

4. Denver SEOs are normal people. Even the “Black Hats”. Especially the “Black Hats”.
Denver SEOs have families, pet sites, hobbies, etc. Even the black hats. More than just search engine optimization rules their worlds. Some of the best SEO conversations have started about families, pets, travel, and things without any acronyms whatsoever.

If you are a Denver SEO Firm, search marketing agency, SEO freelancer - or a curious Black Hat - consider this an invitation to join the group. To socialize, network, and relax a little. Hope to see you there!

Tags: search engine optimization, denver web development, website design, denver web design, seo, website development

Less than a year after starting the Denver SEO Meetup, we are pleased to announce that it is quite successful.

The Denver SEO Meetup is a great place for Search Engine Optimization professionals throughout Colorado to network and socialize. Both freelance and agency Denver SEO folks are encouraged to attend. The environment is a very friendly, even laid back. Are you a Denver SEO firm or practicioner? Come on down to our Denver SEO meetup!

If you are a web developer, web designer, webmaster, or business owner interested in learning more about SEO, we highly recommend the training program at the SEMPO Institute instead of the meetup. The courses were created by some of the industry’s leading Search Marketing professionals, and can help you build your online business.

And coming soon: Those professionals belonging to SEMPO will soon have a Colorado SEMPO group available!

Tags: search engine optimization, website development, denver web design, denver web development, website design, seo

Hyper Dog Media is providing Search Engine Optimization tips at the Association of Strategic Marketing’s upcoming seminar. The full agenda includes information from experts in PPC (Pay Per Click), Web Analytics, and more:
Proven Strategies for Improving Your Search Engine Marketing

Are you optimizing your greatest asset? Website content is an essential part of online success. Help search engines see the relevance of your sonic payday loanadvance? cash loan online payday ?consolidate payday loan debt,consolidate debt loan paydaypayday loan store milwaukeepayday loan canadamoney tree payday loanquick cash payday loanno fax payday loan missouriapplication loan online paydayfaxless online payday loanfaxless loan online paydaycheap loan long payday term,cheap loan paydayhour loan online paydayfax loan no online paydayloan online? payday quick ?,quick payday loan without checking account,loan payday quicksonic payday loan,loan payday sonicameriloan loan paydaysavings account payday loanfastest loan online paydayloan online payday,2 loan online payday,payday loan online bad creditlow fee payday loangeorgia payday loanpayday loan on linebad credit loan loan payday,bad credit loan payday,bad credit loan payday quickchicago loan payday store,chicago in loan payday storeadvance loan mexico new payday,advance loan payday,advance loan payday software? ?cashquick payday advance loancash till payday loanpayday loan in savings account,account loan payday savings,account loan payday people savingsadvance fax loan no paydaycash loan payday tillcheck credit loan no payday,no teletrack no credit check payday loancash america payday loan,america cash loan paydayloan online payday quickcash advance until paydaycash advance loan online,advance cash loan online,advance cash fast loan online paydayadvance america cash advance,advance advance america cash center,advance america cash firstpayday cash loancash advance new yorkadvance america cash company,advance america cash advance center inc,cash advance americaadvance cash day pay,cash advance until pay daycash till payday loancash til payday loancash loan payday untilcash loan payday tillcash until payday loanfirst cash advance houston tx,first time cash advance,first cash advancegeorgia no fax cash advance,advance cash fax no,savings account cash advance no faxcash advance servicescash advance no credit check,advance cash check credit no online,advance cash check credit no pages, articles, press releases and more. Learn to identify and target ranking opportunities with titles, headings, bolding and additional techniques. Also, HTML can be used to communicate the relevance of your website and content to search engines. You don’t need to be an HTML whiz either!

Once you have the content, you must know how to maximize your search engine exposure. Find out how aggressive search engine submission may harm your ability to get into Google’s listings, as well as modern strategies on how to get your site indexed safely. Learn how to take an active role in getting pages indexed quickly in the major search engines as you add new content. Finally, links from other websites are an important source of traffic and search rankings. Several kinds of links will be discussed and you are sure to leave with new link building ideas!

5 reasons to attend!

• Translate the user experience to all online channels
• Learn about online measurement and analytics tools
• Use your SEM campaign to maximize your ROI
• Ensure you are paying for profitable clicks
• Discover 26 sources of links to target

BONUS! Free manual with registration

Hope to see you there!

Tags: website development, search engine optimization, denver web design, website design, seo, denver web development

Yahoo’s “Search Assist” tool is a hoot. Search for “Denver Mobile SEO“. go ahead, I dare you. Now, I’m thinking Yahoo knows me a little better than I’d like. Is this behavioral targeting? Profiling? Something even more sinister? Or is it just that Mobile SEO always goes better when plenty of chocolate is at hand.

Now look through the related queries for “Chocolate“. Go ahead - I’ll wait. It appears many of us are writing about chocolate and writing about mobile seo in the same places. I’m going to bet more people are writing about chocoalte, and I don’t blame them:

Mobile SEO is the (sometimes thankless) task of making sure websites look good on all sorts of mobile devices, including handhelds, cell phones, zunes, and the new ipod touch(which is probably a “no brainer”). Few mobile seo simulators are available online, which means field testing. And then page tweaking. It can be a time consuming and arduous task. It’s best accompanied with plenty of chocolate.

Tags: website design, denver web development, denver web design, search engine optimization, website development, seo

It takes many different web development / programming skill sets for a successful internet marketing project. For any website to be successful on the web, it requires a combination of stunning web design, usability, web conversion, bulletproof web development, search engine optimization, and project management. A failure at any of these points can destroy the potential of any internet marketing project. The roles each require very specialized skills:

Web Design
Web designers are popping up everywhere these days, but it is still very hard to find website designers who have stunning artistic and layout skills and just enough web knowledge to make it all work. Implementing some designs on the web can be impossible. It’s important to have a web designer who understands the limits and potential of each web technology. Web designers must also know enough CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to create web friendly designs that will look great in any web browser.

Usability
Usability is very important to any website. Web site visitors must be able to understand the navigate the site. Most usability professionals are not great designers, but have a knack at understanding human behavior and expectations on web sites. Having a site that is highly usable encourages repeat visits - or “stickiness”.

Conversion
Web site conversion is a very important consideration: How do YOU want visitors to use the site? Web site visitors should be eased and encouraged to follow a “desired action” on your website. The action might be to purchase a product, send an email, sign up for a newsletter, or even pickup the phone. Having a great website is still pointless if it does not drive sales, lead capture, or some other desired action.

Web Development
Web developers are programmers. They create programs that allow interaction with human visitors, like shopping carts, RSS Feeds, image uploading and more. Web development requires a tremendous skill set that is always in need of expansion and updating. Web development languages like PHP, Perl, Flash Actionscript, and the many Java technologies require constant upkeep and training as they develop.

Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is a set of guidelines, technologies and procedures for ranking well in search engines. The first step is determining which keywords can drive quality traffic to the website. What are prospective visitors searching for? Search engine optimization (SEO) specialists research keywords and optimize the pages to show how relevant the site is to visiting search engines. SEO Specialists are skilled at showing the natural relevance of pages and securing better search rankings. Since many search engines also weigh the amount and quality of links to a website, SEO firms will often create and request links from other websites.

Social Media Optimization
With the creation of social media websites like myspace, digg, facebook and friendster, websites have an opportunity to capture amazing amounts of targeted web visitors. With millions of searches starting on myspace, it has become an important opportunity for certain niches. There is a social media website for nearly every niche, however. Finding the correct niche full of prospective buyers can drive tremendous amounts of sales.

Project Management
Project management allows all of the other skill sets to shine. By communicating between clients and the other roles, the project manager helps balance the many roles in the project with the client’s needs. They also serve as the point of contact for many the many questions and deadlines involved in the project.

In sum, any great web development project requires a diverse skill set. A balance between the roles is equally important, never sacrificing usability for design, or design for search engine optimization.

Tags: website design, search engine optimization, website development, seo, denver web development, denver web design

Mobile Search Optimization has been a bit of a buzzword this last twelve months. Web sites have long ignored the cellphone-based web surfer, but lately there has been much interest. There may be huge opportunities for websites optimized for cellphones, PDAs, toasters, and all of the other crazy devices visitors might be using to surf the web. More and more consumers are requiring email and even web access on their cellphones. Initiatives are merging local search, coupons, and even GPS. Mobile search optimization surely is the next huge possibility for traffic. Is your website ready?

It may not matter. With Apple’s impending introduction of the iPhone, everything may change. Again. Consider:

1. There will be a whole new set of expectations for how a phone should browse. With the iPod, Apple defined the niche. Competitors were weighed against Apple’s offering. With the introduction of full-featured browsing via the iPhone, consumers are about to demand more from their phones. They won’t demand a better mobile experience. They are demanding the full desktop experience in a mobile phone.

2. Who would visit a .mobi site, when the full featured experience of a .com is available? In most cases, I would be too lazy to attempt a .mobi surf - since I KNOW the .com is available. We all just want to get our data and get on our way. Only hobbyist surfers would want to go check out the .mobi sites. Who wants to look at a dumbed-down webpage?

Was mobile search optimization a waste of time? Having a few major companies optimize their websites for cellphones probably didn’t make much of a blip on the radar. It’s hard to say what the ROI was for their efforts, but it was likely more of a bet for the future. What do you think - Is mobile search optimization worthwhile for your company or clients?

Tags: search engine optimization, denver web development, seo, website design, website development, denver web design

Successful web design projects require a tremendous amount of planning, and planning starts with asking the right questions. Any web design benefits from extra planning, but 4 questions should define the entire project from the start:

1. Who is my target audience?
Too many websites try to be all things to all people. Instead, think of your most important visitors and design according to their tastes. They may or may not appreciate animation. They may be on dialup connections or they may be visiting the site via a cell phone. Knowing your website’s target audience is vital to the project, even before a web site design has been created.

2. What do I want them to do?
If the purpose of your website is to get prospective customers to call, be sure your phone number is prominently displayed. A link to the “Contact Us” page should also be prominently displayed. Other websites may want to capture email addresses or newsletter signups. Ecommerce websites want to make a sale. Whatever the objective, make it as easy as possible for your customers.

3. How will they get to my site?
With competition among websites growing daily, it’s important to plan how you will increase the visibility of your website. Will you blog? Or participate in forums? You might even use pay-per-click advertising on Google AdWords. There are many ways to bring targeted visitors to your website, but they won’t come just because you’ve launched a new website design. Plan ahead, and watch your website bring you new business!

4. How can I measure the project’s success?
Many smaller website owners do not measure their web site metrics or statistics. Without an idea of traffic patterns and popular keywords, it is difficult to tell if a new web site design is effective. Are web site visitors converting to leads? Is the web site generating sales? Only by measuring can you know for sure.

Tags: seo, denver web design, website development, website design, search engine optimization, denver web development

There was an excellent story in the San Francisco Gate in May about Lake Champlain Chocolates, and the lessons they’ve learned with Pay Per Click Advertising. The story title is “PAY-PER-CLICK PROBLEMS: Emeryville gourmet chocolate company has a rough go of it“, but the real value of the article is the PPC secrets it gives away. The article discusses two chocolate retailers: Lake Champlain Chocolates and Charles Chocolates. Lake Champlain Chocolates has experienced successful growth due to their PPC campaign, but Charles Chocolates did see any measurable growth from theirs.

1. Use negative keywords
In the article, words like “cheap” and “free” were used as negative keywords to avoid showing ads to less affluent searchers. Every time you show an ad it’s like holding out a dollar bill for your searcher to snatch away. Be sure to get a prospective customer in return!

2. Refrain from using the content network
Google AdWords users expect that the content network will show ads in all the right places. In a perfect world, new customers would see your ad and keep you in mind for their next purchase. But it isn’t a perfect world(Don’t even get me started!). Consider:

- Visitors probably will not click. Content ads are like billboard ads. How often do you see a billboard and pull off of the highway to make an immediate purchase? It’s highly unlikely. Like the company in the article learned, “The return was never there.”

- Visitors who click your ad won’t buy that day. They were reading, not shopping. At best, they will signup for your newsletter or bookmark your page. Is the landing page converting them into bookmarking or signing up? Probably not. Either fix that, or turn off the content network for now.

- Clickfraudsters will click your ad and keep half. Click fraud is a plague of the content network. Last June, Outsell estimated that click fraud could be as high as 14 percent. The real estimate is probably a little lower, but click fraud does exist.

3. Use large sets of focused keywords
The successful Lake Champlain Chocolate seller had a keyword set as high as 70k at one time, and now has it trimmed down to 30k. That’s  a big keyword set!

4. Use advanced keyword features
One of the issues Internet Marketing Consultant Lael Sturm found with the struggling Emerville Chocolate Retailer Charles Chocolates was that they “hadn’t modified the ad text to match each specific keyword.” Be sure to use the advanced keyword options that PPC engines like Google AdWords provide. In Google AdWords, the code is {keyword: your keyword}. This option shows the keyphrase your user was searching for in the text of your ad.

5. Measure and adjust
Is money being wasted in your campaign? You won’t know unless you are measuring. Lake Champlain saw they spent money attracting a searcher for “Chocolate covered scorpions,” something they didn’t sell, and decided not to let that happen again. Along with measuring what ads are the most effective, be sure to measure what you are paying for and remove/adjust the ads lacking good ROI.

6. Outsource your campaign to professionals to dramatically increase your sales
Even with Lake Champlain Chocolate’s success inhouse, they were able to DOUBLE their sales by outsourcing their PPC management to professionals. You just can’t beat having the right help. Get to your friendly neighborhood search marketing agency today!

Tags: search engine optimization, denver web design, seo, denver web development, website design, website development

I’m still getting two copies of Search Marketing Standard magazine, but I’m not reporting it. First off, it’s so good that I don’t want to possibly miss an issue by having anyone mess with my subscription. With other magazines, I’ve found that fulfillment centers sometimes get confused, and it’s usually months before I realize a certain issue isn’t coming. I just can’t risk it. Every article is good.

Secondly, I’ll probably read through it twice. Might as well have a fresh crisp copy the second time. I wonder if I’ll even dog-ear the same pages?

Here are four excellent resources for anyone interested in SEO, internet marketing, ecommerce, and the affiliate scene:
1. Search Marketing Standard. If you’ve thought the SEO world moves too fast for print, think again.

2. Practical Ecommerce. Not just for ecommerce store owners. Every web developer creating ecommerce websites should be in tune with the industry.

3. Revenue. Great for affiliate marketers, ecommerce merchants, or any company creating PPC(Pay Per Click) campaigns on Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing.
4. Internet Retailer. Especially important if you are helping larger companies with their SEO, SEM, PPC, and ROI! This publication is best at industry trends influencing larger retailers and online merchants.

It is essential that web designers and web site developers start paying attention to the many facets that can make or break an online business. These publications can help get you serve your clients!

Tags: website development, denver web design, denver web development, seo, search engine optimization, website design

After the launch of any web design project, stakeholders and web design firms might sit back proudly and call it done. There are, however, a few things that should be cared for after the big launch.

1. Check 404 error logs
Be sure to check your logs after you launch that new site.
A. Missing pages
You wouldn’t move without forwarding your mail, would you? Don’t forget to forward your important (former) page locations, either! Instead of showing the (hopefully customized) 404 error page, make sure you 301 redirect that page to the appropriate new location. You’re not only saving your visitors a click, but you might just preserve the pagerank(and trustrank) Google has given that page.

B. Images
Were important images being shown on other websites? Perhaps your logo is being shown on a partner’s website. Of course they shouldn’t link directly to images on your site like that. But they did. And if the logo is now missing, it isn’t going to get visitors to click through to your site! You may also have traffic from Google’s image search or other sources. Make sure you know what happens to that traffic when images are suddenly missing.

2. Announce the site launch to vendors and customers
A website launch is an excellent reason to get in touch with old and new partners, vendors and customers. Contact them via email, email newsletter, or a direct mail piece. Who knows - you may have a product they didn’t know you offered!

3. Make adjustments
Luckily, changes can always be made after a website launch. Is something working? Not working? You can always fix it on the web. Everything web is measurable. Measure and adjust.

These steps will help any website design launch go more smoothly. Remember - it isn’t over after the big launch. Sometimes a little more work is needed to put the professional touch on that site.

Looking for a more organized approach to your next web design or redesign project? We HIGHLY recommend Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works.

Tags: search engine optimization, denver web development, website development, denver web design, seo, website design