In addition to needing to handle 404 Errors after making changes to my website, I also needed to get visitors going from the old links to the updated links. The following WP plugin handles that nicely…

Simple 301 Redirects Plugin for WordPress

Once installed, access the plugin in the Settings menu, add the old url (url from the “/” address after the domain to the end) and then add the complete url for the new destination. Not only is this 301 Redirect tool very simple. It’s easy to redirect traffic another domain.

Practical Guide to 404 Error Pages: What WordPress is Missing

I saw the above article (Practical Guide to 404 Error Pages: What WordPress is Missing) following blog post from Yoast when it was posted a few months back.  At the time it didn’t mean much to me because the place I would have used it on is running a ColdFusion server. Well, last week I made some changes to my blog while doing some SEO. Then I found myself in the situation where 1 of my old blog posts was showing up #1 in the Google organic search results for a particular query and that link ended up giving a 404 Error. The Yoast post meant something to me then.

Anyway, long story short, I went back and found this article and installed the 404.php code from the article and viola!

Well anyway, see for yourself…  http://clickkinetics.com/archives/9 (The outdated url with the new useful 404 Error page which automatically provides the reader with a link to the correct former page with new url).

We just upgraded our WordPress Theme to Suffusion.

It may take us a few days to get everything back to the way we like it,
but since we are between projects we thought it would be a great idea
to do some SEO on our own website!

Here’s a really good article from Search Engine Land blogger, Josh Dreller: 9 Problems With Paid Search, 9 Real Tactics To Solve Them which addresses some of the complicated, difficult or “late to the game” aspects of PPC ads. Definitely worth the read for the smaller company facing some big competition.

In the article, Josh address concerns over budget and cost of entering a PPC market against big competition and how to deal with some this effectively. From experience, I can tell you that even with a big budget, there are companies out there spending an insane amount of money to generic words. In my case, I’m referring to pharmaceutical companies and companies marketing to them. Even after doing some great SEO work, you better be prepared to bleed cash if you plan to bid on campaign keywords that these guys are using. It’s just one more reason why drugs are expensive.

Another key point Josh makes is the importance of “standing out in a crowd”. This is really important in any type of marketing. Is your product or service cheaper than mainstream? Does your product have a benefit that the competition doesn’t have? What sets you apart from the noise on the web? Find that to help make you and your product stand out.

Josh also goes on to mention the importance of SEO, frankly stating that if the “pieces aren’t in place… [PPC] is pretty much a waste of money”. Yes, PPC can be great source of additional traffic and revenue. However, if your site is lacking some of the basic elements, an aggressive PPC program is just another way to spend a lot of money to make little.

Are you considering hiring someone to do SEO work on your website so that you rank higher in search results, but wondered if your money might be best spent doing Google AdWords? Here is short to-the-point article from Bruce Clay AU blog writer, Marc Elison, “SEO vs PPC” considering this very topic. He gives a brief explanation of SEO, PPC and the differences between the two – a great summary for the newcomer.

Having created and managed literally hundreds of Google AdWords campaigns and somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 keywords, I can tell you that PPC is not a great substitute for good web page content. As Marc covers in his article, PPC may be an immediate short-term solution to your web traffic needs, but the sad reality is that you may end up paying BIG $ for your PPC campaigns. This is especially true if your web content is substandard. Depending on your market, there are companies out there bidding $15 a click on general keywords. Can you imagine paying $15 just to get someone to click on your paid ad when they search for the phrase “trek bike”? Now imagine that 100 people did this and only one of them purchased a $500 Trek.

Well, for very popular words linking to landing pages with very poor content, PPC can be a very expensive substitute for basic SEO. You need to have decent content on the landing page unless you want end up in a situation where you pay more for your ads than the expected revenue from PPC generated sales. Yes, SEO can take a long time get your pages to rank in the search engines. Yes, PPC can get you immediate, measurable results. So, I submit to you that you should really do both. If you need fast results, definitely do PPC. However, if you want to get the best results from your PPC while getting the most out of your limited budget, do some SEO first.

Obviously you already have a website or else you wouldn’t be considering SEO. Look at your potential landing pages. Do those pages have the keywords your customers will be searching for? If not, add those key words and phrases by working them into the content. Do this regardless and certainly before you consider starting a PPC campaign. Once those keywords are in your page, start your PPC activities and keep and eye on your organic search rankings.

Early this morning a colleague of mine mentioned a site he found with a ridiculous amount of hidden text on the home page – “Kay Bailey Hutchinson for Governor Official Website”. Coincidentally, we had discussed the ethics of this several weeks ago. In this case, the Senator’s web site included some very negative and accusatory remarks directed towards her opponent in the race for governor of Texas.

When we I looked at the page, there were literally 100’s of keywords and phrases repeated over and over in a hidden div tag in the code. I jokingly posed a question if Google would actually penalize the site for this – which looked like it might close in on the 1# organic search results for her competitor. I noticed a few hundred Twitter posts on the subject and posted my own tweet as to weather “Bad” publicity on Twitter was Good.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this was indeed bad. Google seems to have banned the site and the hidden div tag has been removed. The following article by Vanessa Fox, posted on searchengineland.com gives more details: Dear Senator (and Texas Gubernatorial Candidate) Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Here’s A Free Crash Course On SEO

Not only does this article convey a poignant and humorous message about what not to do on your website, Vanessa also gives some great and concise tips for how to do things correctly.

Internet advertising, such as Google AdWords, can help effectively market your product or service to people actively searching for related information. Like SEO, properly designed and optimized ads will present your message to your desired audience. Please be aware that an aggressive AdWords campaign is no substitute for good website content. The combination of SEO and SEM makes your ads more effective and cost efficient.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of writing content that is both informative for your reader as well as for the search engines.  The key here is that your website content must contain the keywords and phrases your target audience is searching for. Once on your site, the content should be relevant to those key words and phrases. The popularity of your site with your reader helps improve your ranking in the search engines, which helps you expose your site to more potential readers.