Author Archive
Friday, July 9th, 2010
 Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
How do the big search engines see your websites content?
Google, and most search engines, use robots to sort through your page for content. These are not actual robots, but computer programs with a single purpose, to crawl your website. Crawling means taking the time to read all the code that makes up your page. This is largely HTML, but other code like Flash is partially recognized. What is important here is tight design to aid the robots in reading your site. You can also assist them via scripting, but that is something best saved for professionals like your SEO specialist.
Is Flash a factor?
Yes. Google can read a little bit of Flash, but HTML and other standard code is where they get most of their data. Be careful when using Flash, as overuse will result in difficulties with PageRank and other methods of promotion. The same goes with splash pages, or intro pages, for your website. That may have been cool in the 1990s, but today people want to get to your content as soon as possible. There’s no need to make a separate page to welcome them.
How do images come into play?
Without ALT tags for your images search engines won’t know what to do with them. As clever as Google’s robots are, they aren’t discerning all the contents of your pictures. The “ALT” tag allows for users to put captions in the code for their images. This way, if there are visitors to the site who are visually impaired, they will still know what is going on on your page.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
Tags: content, Google, HTML, Internet Marketing, Popularity, Robots, seo
Posted in Search Engine Optimization SEO, Web Development | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
 Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
Building a quality website is no easy task. Certainly there is software to assist the uninitiated in building a home on the Web (like Adobe Dreamweaver), but making sure that the site has value is something entirely different. The temptation exists to make your website big and flashy. However, the site’s quality often suffers as a result. Here are a few things to look out for.
Language
The language you use on your site says a lot about you. This is not limited to only slang, but the tone in which it is written as well as things like grammar and punctuation. Your website is the way the world will see you. Will they see someone who takes the time to make sure what they have makes sense or will they see someone who hurries to get things posted by sacrificing quality. Traffic is important, but repeat clients are what you want. Make sure that the language you use is tailored to your prospective clients.
Images
Images can be a great way to spruce up your site. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” You can save time and website space by using a picture appropriately. Conversely, if you use too many pictures on your site, it becomes cluttered with a lot of visual noise. Visitors will become frustrated and the loadtimes, even on a highspeed connection, could become unbearable. We’ve all seen pages that jump around a lot because of too many images fighting for their place.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
Tags: Design, internet, Web design, website, Website Building, Website Creation
Posted in Web Development | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
 Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
There’s no denying that Google is the most powerful search engine in the market right now. There are several other places you can go to find content on the Web, but at this moment, Google stands above them. Because of this, Google is a great tool for promoting your business. One tool that they offer, specifically targeted at business owners, is Google Places.
Google Places allows you to create a home for your business within Google. This then gets linked to Google Maps, as well as everywhere else in Google’s kingdom. The benefit here is, I believe, that you are one step closer to Google when it comes time for searches. Local results, which are probably what you want if you are a small business, are almost always returned first via Google Maps in a Web search. By having a Google Places listing, you increase your chance of being seen dramatically.
Another great feature of Google Places is the ability to show your area of service. This is incredibly handy for those companies offering services and products to a very specific area. Restaurants who deliver are the first to come to mind. Customers can see your delivery area, so that cuts down on wasted calls and wasted time. In addition to this, Google Places supports QR codes. They look like square barcodes, of a sort. Customers can scan the tag with their smart phone and get data on your establishment.
Google Places is a great tool for small businesses looking to start a presence online or extend their current reach. In addition to your website, your Google Place can be another source of contact in a world constantly built on making connections. I recommend at least checking it out.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland
Tags: company, Google, Google Places, Internet Marketing, places, seo
Posted in Internet Marketing, Web Tips | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
 Greetings, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We´re a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
Congratulations on building a website/having someone build it for you! You’re starting out online and your website design is fantastic. You have awesome content, animated menus, and links to social media. Now, that’s all well and good, but who is going to see it? Ah, the age-old problem of promotion. Well, there are several search engines out there that will pick up your site if linked properly. Today, let’s talk about Alexa.
Alexa is a powerful search engine that works based on how many pages they archive, as well as how many people visit the site. So yes, traffic is important. The way Alexa tracks traffic is interesting. Aside from looking at how a site is linked to others, the Alexa Toolbar is something Alexa uses to track the popularity of a website.
This leads to an interesting idea that Alexa uses a form of social media to determine your website’s popularity. The cool part is that people can help to promote your website without having to do anything but visit it. The downside is that they need the Alexa Toolbar to do this.
Now, they do get their data from this tool as well as searches, but it is also a combination of what they call “reach”. Reach means that they see how many visits your website gets. They give the example of Yahoo on their FAQ section. Essentially, since 28% of users on the Internet go to Yahoo, its reach is 28%.
Alexa is not to be overlooked when promoting your website. As with other promotion means, a link on your homepage will definitely help. Also, make sure to use the Alexa toolbar while browsing the web, since it will help Alexa get a better look at your favorite sites.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland
Tags: Alexa - Alexa.com, internet, marketing, page rank, ranking, seo, seo tools, website
Posted in Alexa - Alexa.com | No Comments »
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
 Hola, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. Our company is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
Let’s say you’ve got a website that you’ve had for a while and it’s doing pretty well. The only problem is that you want to change the name. Maybe your business partner left or you’re changing hobbies or whatever. In any case, you need to go from the old to the new. You know, however, that you will lose a lot of traffic if you just up and move to a new domain name. Sure, you can put a notice on the old website, but how will search engines find you? Fortunately, there is a way to get your old traffic to your new domain.
A 301 Redirect is a simple code in HTML that redirects a web browser instantly to a new website. Not only does it redirect the traffic, but 301 specifically means that this is a permanent change. This lets the browser, and search engine, know your change is going to last. Therefore, it can forward traffic and assign PageRank (Google) to you, despite your new site location.
Now, you should note that you’d still need to build up things for your new domain. However, people will still find you based on your old information. So, if you’re going from www.ilovetoplaygamesalldayeveryday.com to www.johnsgaminghouse.com , it is going to take time to build a name for the latter site. However, people who visit your old site will be taken straight to the new site. You also have the option to notify them of the change when you redirect them. I’d recommend this if your website name is changing… Read the rest
Tags: HTML, PageRank, PR, seo, Web Tips
Posted in Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
 Howdy, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We´re a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we´re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
You´ve got a website. Congratulations! Now it´s time to put some content on there. You know that the more you have, the better your site will do online. This is a mixture of Google´s PageRank system, pages indexed by sites like Yahoo! and Alexa, as well as the actual content on your page. This is where a lot of people are tempted to build giant sites that are really just the same page or two duplicated over and over again. This is a terrible idea.
There are many reasons why you should not simply bombard a web server with the same pages. First, no one is going to like your website. I know that search engines are important, but they are not the be-all/end-all of the Internet. The fact of the matter is, PEOPLE are going to look at your website. If they hate it because it´s 1,000 page of the same thing, no one will ever come back. In fact, they´ll likely tell their friends to steer clear of your site.
Second, search engines are not stupid. Think about it. You´re relying on software to make your website more popular; do you think they don´t know what´s going on? I can answer that: they do. Google, like all search engines, searches the text on your page. Therefore, they have checks in place to make sure that your content is not duplicated. Avoid duplication when building your site. The big guys know what you´re up to.
That´s all for this week. Check back again next week for more tips on web development and SEO.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland
Tags: content, engines, Google, internet, marketing, page, search, search engines, seo, site, website
Posted in Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization SEO | No Comments »
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
 Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Reisterstown, Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
There is a theory floating around the Internet about something called “poison keywords” for SEO. In essence, poison keywords are words or series of words that have been flagged by search engines as unacceptable. This is not based on the level of propriety, but rather on what they keywords intend to do.
The biggest example of a poison keyword, according to some online discussion, is using “search engine” as a tag for your website. Search engines like Google and Yahoo know what people are onto when they use those tags. Essentially, people are looking to get free page views based on keywords that don’t accurately define their site.
Another supposed poison keyword is “forum”. This seems to be mostly speculation. I haven’t found any evidence to support the idea yet. Most SEO professionals I’ve read say that it is nonsense. Mostly this idea comes from software giving you tips on your meta data.
That’s all for this week, folks. Check back with us next week! Also, feel free to stop by our new location at 406 Main Street, Reisterstown, MD! We’ll be there tomorrow.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
SEO Maryland
Tags: Internet Marketing, keywords, seo
Posted in Search Engine Optimization SEO | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Knowing Your Target Audience In Your Store and Online
Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
While we here at Internet Beacon specialize in Internet Marketing, what we don’t specialize in is each individual client’s target market. That it not to say we can’t help you with this area. It does mean that if you already know your target market, working together goes faster and smoother. To this end, here are some tips on how to get to know your target market.
First, see who buys your products. This sounds easier than it is, but it is important. If you have a storefront, keep track of who comes in. Then, note who buys things and who browses. If you have a large amount of teenagers coming in to buy things, then you need to make sure you are reaching that market. If your store specifically caters to a particular crowd, like stay-at-home moms, take steps to ensure they are being targeted by your marketing. This will extend to your presence online as well.
Second, tailor your website to reflect not only your business’ offerings, but also the type of clientele you are trying to reach. If your store sells extreme sports merchandise, your website needs to show this. Don’t use boring colors or plain advertisements. This is an area in which we can assist you. We will meet with you and get your feedback on how you want your website to look. From there, we go to work using your specifications. Remember, getting your target demographic to notice you means getting to know… Read the rest
Tags: internet, Internet Marketing, market, marketing, online, seo, store, target, target audience, target market, website
Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing Plan, Search Engine Optimization SEO | No Comments »
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
 Hey, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We are a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a subcategory of Internet Marketing. Similar to traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your Brand out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For more quick, useful information, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
As we’ve discussed in previous posts, keywords are a big part of SEO. They help to identify your site to search engines, and give them something to associate with the web address. For this reason, they are one of the building blocks of SEO. Here are some tips for choosing the keywords you want to use.
Be Accurate
Accuracy is important here. If you are a florist in Baltimore, pick keywords that match your business. Keywords like “flowers Baltimore”, “Baltimore Florist”, etc will be perfect here. They accurately describe what you do and where you do it. If you chose something like “local business Baltimore”, then you will most likely see negative results. That’s because, while you ARE a local business in Baltimore, so is EVERYONE ELSE in Baltimore. You’ve cast too wide a net, and therefore will get lost among the other companies.
Be Specific, but not TOO Specific
Specificity is your friend when choosing keywords. However, if you over-specify, you will likely get lost I the crowd. A great way to think about this is trying to imagine what your potential customers will search for online. If you a store that specializes in comic books from the 1930s and 1940s, then something specific like “Golden Age comic books” would work well for you since it is a specific niche you are filling. However, that same keyword will not bring in people looking for regular comics. As you can see, this part is tricky.
When choosing keywords, make sure you talk to your SEO professional about how you want to describe your business online. They can often make… Read the rest
Tags: business, choosing, internet, keywords, search, seo
Posted in Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization SEO | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
 Hey everyone, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. The Internet Beacon is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a form of Internet Marketing. Much like traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your name out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google and Yahoo. For more information, check out our SEO Answers page, SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.
Twitter is a very popular social media platform right now. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a micro-blogging service, freely available, that allows users to upload 140 character lines of text for the world to see. Now that the world can see it, does it mean people are actually reading them? Here are some tips for getting more Twitter followers.
Dive In
Find other popular Twitter users and follow them. Then, retweet (repost another user’s tweets while giving them credit) for others to see. Also, make sure to reply to other user’s tweets. This is similar to leaving a comment on blogs. You may see other people follow you as a result.
Be A Trendsetter
Trending topics are a way for users to have conversations with the world about specific ideas. Using a # sign, called a hashtag, followed by a word or phrase, marks your tweet with a topic. For example, if you want to talk about dog training tips, you might tweet “Getting my dog to jump through hoops is really hard. #dogtrainingtips” Then, people who use the dogtrainingtips hashtag will see your tweet.
Look Around You
Putting your location into Twitter will make it possible for other people in your area to find you. Also, with the advent of GPS in phones and Twitter on cell phones, you can search for Twitter users within a specific radius. This is great if you want to get involved in local affairs, but be careful; this will be a search with every local user. Specifying whom you want to track will be a bit more difficult.
That’s all for this week. We’ll see you back next week.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
SEO Baltimore
Tags: Growing Online, Social Media, Tweets, Twitter
Posted in Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | No Comments »
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