You work in a field that's constantly changing, so here's something you can rely on: the SEO Chat newsletter, arriving every week in your in box. And here's something you can't rely on: unlimited texting on Apple's iPhone. What's that? You have an application that allows it? Better check out the article we're highlighting this week from eWeek. Google chose to block Infinite SMS from connecting with Google Talk. Actually, the ban is wider than just this one app; it applies to all non-Google free SMS applications. Who says we're living in a more open, less proprietary world now?

But enough of this; we know you keep up with Google's movements, but you're probably more interested in things other than SMS, like ways to get more visitors to your web site. You definitely want to check out the article we published Monday on SEO Chat, then; it's all about the important elements of a viral marketing campaign. If you're concerned with some of the technical aspects of your web site, then you'll want to read Tuesday's article; it covers the effects that your site's coding has on search engine optimization. Finally, though you may be content to attract a steady stream of visitors throughout the year, have you ever wanted to attract searchers around the holidays? Check Wednesday's article for some good key words to use for various times of the year, and ideas for content.

It seems as if everyone decides to reinvent him or herself sometime; when that reinvention involves your business, it also involves your web site. So what kind of ramifications can something as simple as a name change and an effort to refocus have for your site? Should you build a new site and ignore the old one, scrape the content from the old one to the new one, or what? That's the question being asked in this week's thread. Feel free to stop by and share your opinion.

Another place you might want to stop by is Tutorialized. This is a great resource if you're interested in learning about various aspects of SEO. We currently feature 93 SEO-related video tutorials on the site, and the numbers are always growing. If you do any web site design and development along with your SEO – and I know many of you do, or at least need to have that knowledge – we also offer tutorials on those topics. Check them out today!

Finally, our Spotlight, just for readers of our newsletter, covers a very simple topic: optimizing the pages of your web site. It's been said that you should optimize every single page of your web site, and that each page should be optimized for a particular keyword or key phrase. Is that strictly true, or are there certain web pages you should leave alone? Scroll down to the Spotlight to find out.

As always, thanks for reading.

Until next time,
SEO Chat Staff

• News of the Weird explains why men don't notice women and their new-fangled haircuts. I got one word for you. Okay two words. Two giant, luscious words.
• Juan Valdezburg just got back from the Learning Annex, where he learned absolutely nothing at all.
• Jenny hosts a segment. And really, there is nothing else you need to know.

Watch the video!

It is nice to own and maintain a site that gets a steady stream of traffic all year long, but have not you ever wanted to take advantage of the potential spikes that content based on the holidays can bring? Keep reading for some ideas to lure visitors during those times of year when searchers suddenly start using an entirely different set of keywords.

Some keywords, like making money and earning income, are popular the whole year through. Internet users are always interested in finding jobs, creating revenue for themselves, and learning the latest celebrity gossip and shocking tabloid stories. Web writers can use all of these constantly-popular keywords to their advantage, filling content with catchy phrases in hopes of gaining plenty of traffic.

Other keywords crop up only once a year, but when they do, they control a large volume of Internet surfing. What do you need to know about using calendar-based keywords?

Read Using Calendar-Based Keywords

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Consider the bar raised

Coding and Search Engine Optimization
by Ivan Strouchliak
2009-03-10

I have previously written about some simple things you can do to your web site and its pages to optimize it for the search engines. It is time to dig deeper. In this article I will discuss code and its role in search engine optimization.

We have already covered in detail <title tag>, <h> tags, <alt> tags, <images> tags, <meta keywords> and <meta description>. You can learn more about those elements by reading my article on website development and SEO.

There are two methods you can use to format your pages: HTML or HTML/CSS. As far as SEO goes, I believe both ways are okay.

Read Coding and Search Engine Optimization

Important Elements of a Viral Marketing Campaign
by Terri Wells
2009-03-09

It is every marketer's dream: deliver a message so compelling that everyone who sees it passes it along to their friends, increasing your brand recognition, sales, and bottom line. On the Internet, we call this viral marketing, though it is certainly used in other media as well. How do you make your marketing campaign go viral? In this article, I will talk about some elements you should include.

The first viral marketing campaign I can recall coming across - at least on the Internet - was Burger King's Subservient Chicken. Yes, that old bird from early 2004 is still around, and still will do whatever you type into the text box - well, unless you tell it to remove its mask; then it scolds the screen. The site also features some still photos of the chicken in action, and a "chicken mask" that you can print out, with the following instructions:

1. Cut out mask on dotted line.
2. Put on chicken face.
3. Be subservient.

Most important of all, it includes a link that allows visitors to tell their friends about the site. This is one of the keys to running a successful viral marketing campaign; you need to make it easy for those who visit your content to pass it along so it can spread.

Read Important Elements of a Viral Marketing Campaign

Tutorialized is dedicated to programming, designing, and many other
tech related tutorials.

Search Engine Optimization for Your Online Store
Getting a good ranking in search engines is essential.
Read the tutorial.

How to Choose Keywords
Part of SEO work is putting golden keywords in your website.
Read the tutorial.

Social Media Optimization Basics - Part 1
The basics of using social media sites in website promotion.
Read the tutorial.

How Search Engines Operate
How do search engines and their spiders actually work?
Read the tutorial.

Social Media Optimization Basics - Part 2
Harvesting the power of social media for website promotion.
Read the tutorial.

Duplicate Content
Avoid duplicate content in print ready pages.
Read the tutorial.

How can this SEO Newsletter be better?

What do you like or dislike about this issue?
Is there a topic you want to learn more about?
What issues in search engine news are important to you? We'll consider your suggestions and ideas for improvement,
so please email us. Email us.

For whatever reason, you may find that you want to change the name of your business. If you've already built a web site with the old name, what do you do? That is, in part, the problem faced by the original poster of this week's thread. Be sure to stop by and share your experience.

I am Torn with an SEO Decision

I have a website that is ranking pretty well in Google for strict XHTML 1.0 website design, and numerous veterinary web design, veterinary e-mail newsletters, and vet seo related searches.

My website is Nimble Ad. It has been around for maybe 4 years now, but I'm just sick and tired of people not being able to pronounce it right. I also would say my best talent is e-commerce consulting.

So with Twitter, Facebook, blogs and online video I feel like I need to build my brand around myself (Brian Kaldenberg). I also want a keyword rich domain that projects "consulting." So I decided to change my business name to Kaldenberg Consulting. We are in the process of developing the new site, and I will SEO this home page for "ecommerce consulting" lol.... most of you are probably saying good luck with that!

Anyway, what should I do with Nimble Ad? Should I just keep it running and mold it into Kaldenberg Consulting logo and colors just so I can keep those SEO rankings?

Or should I just scrap it and rebuild those pages on Kaldenberg Consulting and use an .htaccess file to forward? The problem is I don't necessarily want to have the pages on my Kaldenberg Consulting site.

How much is lost in Google's eyes when you switch to a new domain but forward the link to a page on new domain with almost exact same content?

I really don't want to lose my veterinary keyword positions. I'd appreciate any advice on my dilemma.

Thanks

Quote:
I have a website that is ranking pretty well in Google

Most people would be praising God instead of kicking the site.

And do you think that people will pronounce Kaldenbug correctly.

As long as people can spell it, I wouldn't stress about how they pronounce it.

Personally I would keep NimbleAd as is
Although a 301 redirect should forward your PR, LJ and history it's not always the case and you'd almost certainly lose revenue in the short-term.

Also - the "vet" thing is likely to affect your attempts to (re)optimize for "ecommerce consulting".
Although it's not usually the best option, it sounds to me like you have a case for creating a 2nd domain optimized for "ecommerce consulting" which you could feed with traffic from NimbleAd whilst you're building it up.

Just a thought.

Posts from this thread may have been abridged or removed. Forum members are responsible for the content of these posts.
Read the full thread.

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Choose Which Pages to Optimize

When SEOs see websites optimized for the same keyword or three on every single page - usually the result of a template - they want to pull their hair out. Common wisdom says that you should optimize every page of your site, and you should optimize them for different keywords. This will ensure that your site as a whole ranks for the best range of keywords, and that search engines will guide their users to the pages most relevant to their search. After all, you want someone who is ready to buy to go directly to your product pages, right?

As with anything, though, that advice can be taken too far. One member of our SEO Chat forums mentioned speaking with an "expert" who said he should optimize every single page of his web site, including an account log and the terms and conditions page. That didn't make sense to him - and rightly so. For what terms would you optimize these pages? Do you really want to attract visitors to your site with the search phrase "Terms and Conditions"?

There are certain pages you probably need on your web site for various purposes, such as an About Us page, a Contact Us page, a page that explains the terms and conditions of your site's use (and the use of your products and services), and so forth. Some of those, like your product pages, you will want users to be able to find in the search engines. But others are less important. So, as another poster explained, "You should optimize each page which contains relevant content and that you wish to be indexed and ranked well." Spend your time on those pages, and don't worry about the rest.

Or if you insist on being concerned about the other pages, keep in mind, as yet another poster pointed out, that you definitely do NOT want your terms and conditions appearing above or instead of one of your product pages! You can use a robots.txt tag such as noindex to ensure that certain pages do not go into search engine indexes. That would help you avoid the problem completely, and make sure your web presence - as far as the search engines and searchers are concerned - is focused tightly on the areas that are most relevant, and will therefore give you the largest number of conversions. Good luck!