It’s not an easy task to determine which keywords to use while doing your SEO (also known as Search Engine Optimization) for your website. Unless you are highly familiar with the concept and dynamics of SEO, choosing a few simple words, well . . . it isn’t that simple.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with SEO in general – I’ll make it easy for you.  Go to Google.  Type in something you want to find or learn about in their search engine.  The first entries that come up and the reason as to why they came up in the order they did, is all due in part to SEO.  

         In recent articles, I’ve gone over what to use, how to increase your ranking, etc. But I never really went over how to choose your key words which is the most important part! When choosing my key words for SEO – first and foremost, I do a test run.  I will run a sample search in google and see what results I get for a specific phrase – I specifically look to see how many sites or pages come up with that EXACT keyword. For instance, “web design Westchester ny” has those key words in every link until about the 20th or 21st page. That means that it’s a pretty popular SEO key word search. From this, I can conclude that it will be a little more difficult to get on the first page since my search resulted in quite a few pages that I’d have to beat out. IMPORTANT: This does NOT mean that this is a popular keyword that people are searching with, instead it is what companies or websites are using as their keywords for people to find. 

         One of my favorite ways to combat my competitors is to use google adwords. Yes I know this is meant to advertise your website on google, however, they actually have a pretty awesome tool called keyword tool. This tool allows you to search a particular keyword and then tell you keywords that are similar and what their monthly search volume is, what last months search volume was, and what level of competition you have. It’s a pretty awesome tool I think! This is where I basically get my key words. You always want to find a keyword (using google adwords keyword tool or whatever tool satisfies you) that has a good search volume and a low level competition scale. A keyword may have a high search volume, but if you can’t get on the first page then it is useless. I would rather have a keyword with a search volume of 100 a month where I am the first link, than be on the 5th page of a keyword with a search volume of 1000.  That could be 100 new potential customers that will visit my site, versus MAYBE 1000 new customers that may never even get to your site. Think of this question… when you search on google how often do you go to page 5?      

        In your keywords you should always try to specify a location, because local SEO is much easier then just doing a keyword of ‘dog walker’. That will be almost impossible to get on the first page unless you are posting articles every ten minutes for years. The more specific your keywords are the easier it will be to get on the first page of a search engine. Don’t think which keyword has the most volume, think of which keyword will get you the potential customers and the sales you need. Another issue I have with SEO is all the websites that ask you to pay them hundreds of dollars to keep track of all your SEO. Google allows you to do this for free with a few of their applications, so don’t fall into the trap of paying $200 dollars a month for a company to just tell you what your stats are. It’s completely different if they are actually doing the leg work to get you on the first pages of google, but not if you are doing the majority of the work and just want to know what your rank is and what your opponents ranks are.

Five years ago the world never could have imagined the places that Google’s search bar would take people.  In recent years, Google has set the bar so high for search engine technolgies that it doesn’t look like anyone will be exceeding their accomplishments in internet search anytime soon. The thing about Google is that it might have started with a simple search engine, however, today it has expanded into all various that help web designers with their websites.  The following are just a few of the exciting new capabilities Google has brought to the web.

1. Google has Web Master Tools that allow you to look at all your websites and see the top search queries for your site and who is linking to your site.  For instance we have 103 links to our Black Rhino index page – you can actually click and see who is linking to that particular page.  You can also see the most common key words Google sees.  Our top 5 is design, black, rhino, marketing, and logo. You can see where your website is linking to and how many people are subscribed to your website. You can also see  your site map and all the errors that exist within it. Furthermore, you can see crawler access, how often google has been crawling your site, how many pages per day, kilobytes downloaded per day, and time spent downloading a page.
2. Google also has Blogger which is a blogging system that people use. Most people are very familiar with Blogger so I’ll keep it short and sweet.  Basically, Blogger is a good addition to Google for web designers because blogging is a HUGE help with Search Engine Optimization.  By adding blogs to your website you not only make your website have more pages to be crawled by Google, but you also have more content for Google to connect users to. The more information you have on a topic and the more people you have going to your website the more important Google will think you are.
3. Feedburner is another important feature that Google has added.  Feedburner is a program that allows you to keep track of your subscribers. You can see who is subscribed to your blog, how they are subscribed, and which articles they are reading. It also has added tools to optimize, publicize, and monetize your site. In optimize you can make subscribing easier by applying clean visual format for your subscribers. You can also do SmartCast which makes podcasting much easier in feeds that normally cannot support it. It adds the elements that are required for a richer, more detailed listing in iTunes Directory. You also have SmartFeed which allows you to reach the widest possible audience while publishing a single feed on your blog. Publicize allows you to change your headliners, republish your blog on other sites, setup email subscriptions, and more. Monetize allows you to activate Google adsense for feeds and choose options that control how the ads are displayed in your feed.
4. Google Adsense is a program that allows you to sell advertising space for people’s ad’s on your website. These aren’t just any advertisements either, these are ads that Google chooses for you, but are completely relevant to your site’s content. It’s a free service by Google and you can earn money everytime someone clicks on one of your ads.
5. Google Analytics is an application that shows you how your customers found your site, how they explored your site, and how you can enhance your visitors experience. This will allow you to improve your overall site.
6. Then you have the Website Optimizer, which is Google’s free website testing and optimization tool. This tool allows you to increase the value of your exisiting websites and traffic by testing changes in your website content of your pages.
7. Then of course you have Google maps which I use on a majority of my sites. It allows you to put a map on your personal website of a location you want. It’s a nifty tool I must say!

Of course, there is much more … but I’ll leave that for you to Google.

Padma & Whoopi Goldberg at Blossom Ball 2009

The past week has been quite an exciting one for Black Rhino Marketing!  Our client, the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA), hosted it’s First Annual Spring Blossom Ball.  Despite the rainy Monday night in New York, celebs, medical professionals, and fashion moguls alike made it out to help support the EFA in its fight against Endometriosis.  Lucky for us, Black Rhino was invited to check out all the festivities.  From the step and repeat, along the red carpet to the spotlights and brochures, we got to see our work in full gear.  As website designers and graphic designers, it’s always great to watch your work come to life.   To see how art and design enter and effect the lives of the people it touches truly is an experience.  What I found most interesting though, was the way that the entire EFA event, from the flowers to the tablecloths, seemed to have evolved from where the style and the personality of this organization all started: it’s website and it’s logo.

Getting to see our work in action and to see how beautifully the entire event came together, was incredibly rewarding as a web marketer.  Obviously, the PR committee, event planners, and many sleepless nights went into the production of this event – but what is an event without something to spotlight?  I mean Padma Lashkmi from Top Chef, so graciously helped bring the spotlight to the EFA, but what’s the point in that if the organization had nothing to represent itself alongside the spokeswoman?  The design of this organization’s logo does more than just stamp it’s letterheads and hang out in the top left corner of it’s website – it literally brings the organization to life -it stands out and gives the public something to look at.  The design of the logo reflects the warmth, the nurturing and the hopeful personality of the EFA.  It has the power to help reach out to people and truly make a difference for it’s cause.  It is so amazing how something as simple a website logo can influence the many important aspects of a company or an organization’s reputation, it’s image, it’s press, and even it’s success.  When Spring Blossom Ball attendees, like Padma Lakshmi and Whoopi Goldberg were walking down the red carpet, all I kept thinking to myself was that, behind every great person, there stands a damn good logo. Check out below to see some of our pictures from the event!  I’ve also included just a few of the many online articles featuring coverage on the Gala.

Endometriosis Foundation of America Blossom Ball 2009

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