Did you know there are over 350 Million Tweets a Week? Can you  imagine how many people that would be? You  ever wonder what little cartoon characters would say about it?

Well here are your answers…

Welcome to a Social Medial World. (Click the Pic to see the larger version)

Alexa Rankings mean nothing to SEO. And they should mean very little to you. No offense to Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, it’s nothing personal, it’s just that, the numbers there have no reflection on how you are ranking in search engines.

Now, I’m no Alexa expert. I haven’t spent a lot of time using it, I openly admit that. Why haven’t I worked with it more? Well, because even when I began my career in SEO and link building in 2006, Alexa’s ranking information was already being dismissed in regards to SEO.

I’m writing this, because I’ve talked to so many people who are looking for better organic rankings and better online visibility, that immediately describe their current condition by quoting their Alexa numbers. The two stats that get mentioned the most seem to be  the “Alexa Ranking” and Alexa’s reported “number of sites linking in”.  I hear things like “My Alexa ranking is better than THAT guy’s Alexa ranking but he’s doing better in Google and…blada blada blada (that’s a combination of blah and yada btw)… So after 3 consecutive conversations explaining why these numbers were flawed… I finally decided to create this post so that I can simply say, “Read this” instead.

Here’s the thing, as a FREE competitive analysis’s tool Alexa definitely has some features with merit.  I mean it. Aaron Wall gives a great review of some of these features with ideas on how to use them. In Alexa you can study page views, bounce rates, traffic sources etc., to gain competitive intelligence which can be helpful when designing a marketing strategy. You can also generate some keyword and content development ideas. But you CANNOT use their rankings to accurately gauge your site’s popularity or value.

I know, some advertisers and site buyers still use Alexa data to determine how much a site is worth for purchase or advertising space. I get that. But if you are trying to SEO your site and not sell it, then leave your Alexa stats off the table please.

So many people have formed a misplaced fixation on their Alexa stats in ways that simply do not apply to SEO.  Here is the bottom line; don’t trust Alexa. She is a self-centered little girl, and her “rankings” are inapplicable when it comes to SEO. And don’t just take my word for it either.

The Case

SEOBook

A long, long time ago, back in 2005, Aaron Wall, offered up his personal reasons for discounting Alexa rankings. In 8 bullet points he summarizes both what is wrong with Alexa and why the site was so popular.

More recently, as I mentioned earlier, his review of the 2010 Model is much kinder. Alexa Twenty-Ten can be very insightful, when used properly. But even Aaron’s recent review carries this word of caution: “What Alexa is most popular for – their traffic rank, is popular because it has been around for a long time and is well referenced. I don’t consider it to be a high value tool in terms of accuracy though. I think all these traffic estimation tools have a big margin for error, and its easy to read too much into the base/core number.” Still need more convincing? Fine.

Cash Revelations

This piece gives a concise account of how Alexa gets their rankings information. Put simply: “Alexa ranks sites based on information from users of Alexa Toolbar.” The article continues on to give a detailed explanation why this method results in biased un-reliable data. The short summary gives a fantastic bulleted list of the pros and cons of Alexa. Note the pros have everything to do with advertiser PERCEPTION and nothing to do with a site’s actual value.

Tech Jaws

Tech Jaws uses a real life example to demonstrate why Alexa rankings are bogus and are in no way a real indicator of traffic. If it can be PROVEN that one site out-performs another and yet Alexa still has the top performer under ranked… clearly this data is skewed.

Tech Crunch

Well, would ya look at that? You Tube is bigger than Google… If that sounds crazy to you…IT SHOULD, because it’s just not true. But here is yet another example of how Alexa is misleading.  This post offers up Quantcast and Compete as alternative traffic gauges.

SmallBusinessem

This article gives a terrific comparison between 2 sites. Viewing both the Alexa stats and the Google Analytics data on these 2 sites, we can see CLEARLY that Alexa’s numbers are inaccurate. Author Matt McGee sums up Alex’s fallibility in this perfectly pithy quote: “Alexa’s stats come from people who install the Alexa toolbar, and the only people who do that are webmasters and online marketers who have a vested interest in trying to manipulate their Alexa ranking into something that matters.” And if it’s not clear yet he says:

“Real estate agents, small business owners, etc., please do yourselves a favor and ignore your Alexa ranking. It means nothing.”

Alternative Options

The fact that Alexa rankings aren’t really useful in terms evaluating your SEO value doesn’t leave you helpless. All you need to know is how to check data that ACTUALLY matters. Like your rankings, your traffic, and your back links. Here’s how to get real, useful information on those aspects of your site.

Free Traffic stat counters

Google analytics is one of the most popular free programs for data tracking and it’s pretty comprehensive making it a top choice among many. Yahoo has their own version as well which offers a solid amount of data for analysis. In addition to the “big guns” there are literally HUNDREDS of stat counters available through private vendors, ranging from free to hundreds of dollars a month. Depending on how in-depth you want your analytics to get, you can probably get away with using a free program at first, at least until you get the hang of it, and get a feel for what kinds of data you need to investigate further.

Sites like compete.com offer the ability to compare traffic data on multiple sites but the free options give limited information and the paid accounts can get a bit pricey.

Using statistics programs which require the placement of code directly n your site will give you a much more accurate picture of your traffic, especially if you use multiple programs and compare the data.

Rankings Tools

If you want to know more about your rankings, give up on arbitrary Alexa rankings and spend your time focusing on the rankings that really matter, Search Engine Rankings.

Try using a ranking tool. The best one I know of is the SEO book ranking checker. It requires you sign up for the free membership but 5 minutes of registration time is a small price to pay for access to this tool.

Digital point allows for the free tracking of an unlimited number of keywords for day to day movement with graphs

Web CEO also offers a free version of their rankings checker but you can only monitor a few keywords, the paid version gives a lot more options.

All of these tools can be used with your own site, or competitor’s to view their rankings for various keywords.

Spy-Fu is another program which can check rankings, but instead of checking a list of keyword you put in, this site also provides insights about your rankings for keywords you didn’t even know you ranked for. You can also look at what keywords your competitors rank for. But you’ll pay for that information; the good stuff has a price.  Also, the information they provide may not always be 100% up-to-date, however if you want some surprises about what your site is ranking for, give it a whirl.

Back Links or In-Links

If you want to know how many sites link to you, don’t take Alexa’s word for it.

Linkdomain:yoursite.com –site:yoursite.com

Run that command in Yahoo! And I can’t stress that enough, Y-A-H-O-O. NOT GOOGLE.  Google’s information is even less reliable than Alexa’s. Google intentionally does not provide a full and accurate picture of the links they are counting toward your site.

If you really want to keep a constant eye on your numbers download the SEO Book Tool Bar for an instant view of any page’s domain and page back links and other data.

My Closing Argument

If you still aren’t convinced that Alexa rankings have nothing to do with SEO then here are “Some Important Disclaimers” that come directly from the Alexa website:

“The traffic data are based on the set of toolbars that use Alexa data, which may not be a representative sample of the global Internet population. To the extent that our sample of users differs from the set of all Internet users, our traffic estimates may over- or under-estimate the actual traffic to any particular site.

In some cases traffic data may also be adversely affected by our “site” definitions. With tens of millions of hosts on the Internet, our automated procedures for determining which hosts are serving the “same” content may be incorrect and/or out-of-date. Similarly, the determinations of domains and home pages may not always be accurate.

Sites with relatively low traffic will not be accurately ranked by Alexa. Alexa’s data comes from a large sample of several million Alexa Toolbar users and other traffic data sources; however, the size of the Web and concentration of users on the most popular sites make it difficult to accurately determine the ranking of sites with fewer than 1,000 monthly visitors. Generally, traffic rankings of 100,000 and above should be regarded as not reliable. Conversely, the closer a site gets to #1, the more reliable its traffic ranking becomes.”

So there you have it, the reasons that Alexa rankings are biased, and unreliable. The Alexa numbers bear no more resemblance to the real value of your site than I do to a mongoose. If you have been using Alexa’s rankings, traffic or “in-links” to track your site’s progress, success or quality of SEO you have been wandering down the wrong path. So, while the information Alexa provides may yet be of some use in regards to sales, insight or advertising, it has place in the discussion on your site’s SEO future.

I rest my case.

Recently I was explaining to someone the different levels of quality when it comes to links. He said, I think I get it; links are kind of like BMWs. There are your top of the line models with all the bells and whistles, and then there are your more accessible, middle-income targeted varieties. Absolutely I said, the only difference is BMW doesn’t make a car without an engine, and some links are exactly that.

The unfortunate fact is that powerful V8 horsepower links can be really expensive in terms of resources. And most companies simply can’t afford the time and manpower involved with getting “Z series” level links. Or they just don’t have the patience. So they invest in the “I models”, which aren’t nearly as effective. Then he asked me something that made me stop and think; he said “Ok, but is it better than a bike?…

Yeah, I guess it is.

SOME links are definitely better than NO links, but it’s never ok to try to pass off starter links as high impact links. It is ok to say that, for your budget, commitment level and resources, this is the best or the most you can afford. Granted, the muffler is falling off and it’s missing a side mirror or two, but hey…it’s better than a bike.

What brings the industry down are promises of top 10 rankings through 1000 links on pages which aren’t even cached.

There are plenty of legitimate companies whose business models are based on directory submissions, and blog networks. Is there anything wrong with that? I don’t believe there is.  But what is wrong is over-promising what those links will do.

Make, Model and Merit

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all links are NOT created equal, that they are not endowed by a Creator with certain unalienable might. In fact every link is different and carries a unique value. A value which is determined by numerous factors and cannot always be determined at a glance. Links of real value cannot be generalized, or neatly mass produced.

Every day my email box and Facebook margins are filled with ads championing the latest link machine on the market. “Generate hundreds of one way links!”, “Get more Links now!” What scares me is not really the insurgence of these link factories, the capitalist market is a breeding ground for crappy products. What worries me is that people have become ingrained to want links, CRAVE links and spend money to get links without really understanding why or how they function. And whenever Chicken Little incites a panic because an acorn fell on her head, somebody winds up as Foxy Loxy’s dinner.

Not to say it’s strictly the fault of link providers either. I blame the quick-fix site owners just as much. The people who want one-and-done SEO, the webmasters who want the rankings without the work. These mentalities have created the demand for cheap and easy links. If you buy a cheap product, when the cheap product fails to work properly or breaks after a short time…can you really be all that surprised?

That doesn’t always mean that Big Brand Names = trust either. Big companies may have become very successful delivering a sub-par product. And small SEO companies may be able to tell you how to get great links, but lack the staff to do the footwork.  The key to understanding the true cost of anything is education.

Before investing in any SEO service, do the research. And don’t just believe what the company tells you either. I mean after all that’s how links became so vital in the first place. Google determined that what other people say about a site’s substance and value is far more trust worthy than what a website says about themselves.  Ultimate satisfaction between a client and company comes from creating and fulfilling reasonable expectations on both sides of the fence.  themselves.

The difficulty in obtaining great links  doesn’t have to  mean that little sites can’t run with the big dogs or that businesses with small budgets are screwed. It’s ok to get a Chevy Nova and it’s ok to sell them. But it’s not ok to pretend it’s a Porsche as the seller or to expect one on a Nova budget as a buyer. In the end, the law of link quality is no different than other product; you get what you pay for.

The Following is a Guest Post from Gerald Weber:

It seems like a day doesn’t go by without another blog being published about reasons to use Twitter to promote your business, how to use Twitter, and mistakes to avoid when using Twitter. But with so much talk about Twitter, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around about this social networking tool.

Today, I want to clear up some of the most common Twitter myths. I hope that doing this will help you better understand Twitter and how it can benefit your business.

Myth #1: There’s a right way to use Twitter

Everybody is always telling you how to use Twitter. Heck, I admit it; I’ve even written some blog posts offering tips for using Twitter correctly. But the truth is there’s no one right way to use Twitter. What works for one person may not work for someone else. Some audiences may prefer a certain Tweeting style, while others interact on Twitter in a different way.

You’ll see some people who say that Twitter shouldn’t be used for updates…that no one cares about what you’re doing or what you’re thinking right now. But the truth is there are plenty of people who use Twitter like this, and there are plenty of people who would be interested in knowing what you’re doing or thinking. In these cases, this could add a personality to your company.

By all means, follow some common sense when using Twitter, and incorporate some of the best tips you come across. But at the same time, find your own way on Twitter. Figure out what works for you and your target audience.

Myth #2: Followers=Influence

Too many Twitter users are obsessed with how many followers they have. They’re constantly looking for ways to get more followers, because they think that with more followers comes more power.

The truth is having a lot of followers doesn’t mean you’re influential. If your followers aren’t interacting with you, ReTweeting your content, or paying attention to what you say, what’s the point? It’s better to focus on building a list of targeted, engaged followers than just trying to get a lot of people to follow you back.

Myth #3: Twitter is a waste of time

Over the past couple of years, I’ve encountered dozens of people who think Twitter is a total waste of time. They say social media marketing doesn’t work and can’t be measured. Usually, these are people who sign up for Twitter, Tweet for a week, don’t see any results, and give up on it, writing Twitter off as a passing fad.

The truth is Twitter isn’t a waste of time…at least not for everyone. Twitter isn’t about getting some magical results overnight. It’s about building a relationship with your audience over time. To be successful, you need to be committed to Twitter for the long term.

Myth #4: Twitter is for everyone

Not every company needs to focus their marketing efforts on Twitter. Why?  Their customers might not be on Twitter. The average Twitter user is in his or her early 30s, so if your target audience is significantly older or younger, it might be pointless to try to build a Twitter presence.

Before you spend time signing up on Twitter and growing your presence, figure out if it actually serves a purpose for your business.  Ask your target audience if they’re on Twitter, and if they aren’t, don’t waste your time using it.

What do you think about these myths? Do you agree or disagree? What are some other Twitter myths you’ve heard?

Gerald Weber is a blogger, social media enthusiast and founder of a Houston SEO firm.

I know I’ve talked about how SEO is a commitment, I’ve compared it to a gym, but today it feels a little more like steam train, fast, powerful and unyielding.  It’s the forward momentum of SEO that pushes us all to keep learning, go further, try harder, and achieve more.

Being in a relatively young industry means suffering, enduring and trying to learn from the growing pains. Pains which come from changes, updates, testing and failure. It challenges us to give each day, and each client our best as we hope we become experts, thought leaders and even sometimes achieve guru status. No matter what road we take in an effort to reach that destination, we all share one common thing; the drive to move forward.

SEO in particular means forgetting what you knew yesterday. As each day closes, we must put away the failures of the hours passed and get ready to turn the knowledge gained through those losses into tomorrow’s success. Sure that’s also a truth of the human existence, but here in SEO when each day brings a new chance, new rankings, new data, we can never look back. Ranking #1 yesterday means nothing to someone who finds themselves gone today.

That’s why the greatest SEO’s I know, with thriving companies, and having achieved rock stardom amongst their colleagues are never satisfied. I just returned from SESNY where I have seen these people up close. They share a hunger and a love of the business but most importantly, the desire to continue to create and re-invent. What’s new is passé. It’s what hasn’t been created yet that is exciting.

Climbing Higher

Running an SEO campaign is, on a smaller level, no different. As one part of a project draws to a conclusion, the first steps of the next phase should be underway. We never really have time to stop and enjoy what we have accomplished. SEO is not a staircase, it is an escalator, it never settles at a pinnacle it is a continually revolving conveyor that when it reaches its height simply and without fanfare begins again.

If you stop moving in SEO you are falling. An on-site overhaul will likely reveal immediate results, either good or bad. But after the dust settles there will be a new status quo. Today’s actions may bring some immediate results and can even have ramifications in the following months; but expecting to propelled upward for the long haul as a result of one initiative, often results in disappointment. There will inevitably be a plateau, a leveling and a call for a new action. Without continued development we face stagnation. In a competitive niche there may even be a back slide as those you’ve passed begin to outpace you.

One of the many questions surrounding the link building process, is when is it enough, when can I stop link building? And each time, the answer remains never. When sharks are not swimming, they sink. When you stop link building, you may sustain for a while, but inevitably a cease in action will end up causing a cease in progress as well.

The entire essence of SEO is forward motion. Search engines are putting a greater and greater emphasis on new information, trying to grab the latest headline in “real time”. It’s not a technical fad either, it’s a philosophy.  One that demands we all strive to continue to be relevant and are never satisfied with letting something we created in the past be our Pièce de résistance, our greatest achievement should be our next one.

There is an ever growing demand on all of us to keep up with new information, to follow changing technology and concepts. It is one of the more difficult aspects of SEO. The constant influx of new information, and the many voices adding to the din. New theories, tools, plug-ins, programs, companies, publications, techniques, analytics…it never stops. This causes us to move forward at a loud, break neck speed. It is a challenging road, to say the least, but it is one fraught with excitement.

The speed of the SEO world and its relentless demands may be difficult to embrace. But there is only one way to truly endure in and succeed in SEO and that is to adopt a mind set that centers around one single question. What’s next?”

Sometimes big brands are so big that when it comes to an online presence they only manage to get in their own way. How do I mean? Here are 3 examples of big brands making SEO mistakes that could be hurting them online.

TJ Maxx

I discovered this one not wearing my SEO hat, but in my role of a woman going on vacation soon.  I Googled “cheap bathing suits” and followed a referring link from a web page listed in the top ten for the phrase. An action I imagine hundreds or thousands of other people have taken. The link I followed landed me on this URL.

http://www.tjmaxx.com/index.asp

Ugh, as an SEO I hate that, but occasionally there are good reasons for keeping a /index version of a page. But there’s never a good reason for what I found when I got there, which this was:

Ahhh!! What is this?! Now, I know enough to scrap the index and go to the home page…but does everyone who visits Tjmaxx.com? Or would most people simply assume the site was down temporarily and go elsewhere? Adding insult to SEO injury, this stark, blank 404 page offers no assistance to a poor lost soul.  So instead of helping a visitor get to another page, by way of a site map or other links, this empty landing space basically says to would be customers: “Figure it out yourself or go away”.

Then my curiosity got the better of me, if one top ten ranked page for “Cheap bathing suits” links to this page then how many others do too…

I nearly had a heart attack.

That’s over TWO THOUSAND lost back links for TJMaxx. Just to put this into perspective, TJMaxx has approximately 31,000 links to their domain which means that 2,500 links, is 8% of their total link portfolio. EIGHT PERCENT of their back links go to a 404 page. The saddest part is that a simple 301 re-direct could salvage the power of those back links and send visitors the the correct page.

Reebok

Ok this was my first clue that something might not be right:

Notice anything missing? The little link next to “Similar” that’s supposed to say “Cached” perhaps?  But I didn’t want to pass judgment right away, so I clicked on Reebok.com. It forces you to select a language and a country, so clearly geo-targeting is at work here. Ok, so that means that the final landing page for a visitor like me, an English speaker from the US, would be

http://www.reebok.com/US/

So, this page SHOULD be the page which is cached, right?

Uh-oh.  Un-cached main pages are usually not a good sign…So I looked further. I mean if I ran a site command I should find some Product pages or something cached right? Well…

How is this even possible? Wait…no they couldn’t have…

http://www.reebok.com/robots.txt

Oh yeah. They did. Apparently not only does Reebok not care about SEO they seem to have blocked their site from being indexed with their robots text. Well that explains a lot…except WTH they were thinking!

Ok so what does this all mean? Is this a crisis for Reebok? Well, it SHOULD be, and for a smaller less known brand whose robots.txt blocked indexing it WOULD be. But thanks to Big Brand politics and their branded terms they still live, rank and prosper. Reebok ranks for their name and keywords like “Reebok Shoes” and “Reebock Apparel” But they don’t rank in the top 10 for “Athletic Shoes” “Running Shoes” or “Sports Shoes” (which they are paying for an ad for btw)

I can’t help but think about their bottom line. The cost of the website, the cost of their PPC programs, the lost profit due to missed opportunities, you’ve got to wonder if, in the long run, it would have been cheaper just to create pages that would get cached in the first place.

Prada

It’s no secret that high fashion favors form over function when it comes to clothing, shoes and accessories, but apparently Prada uses the same philosophy in regard to its website. When shopping for “Handbags” one site in the top 10 caught my eye. Their listing stood out from the others, but not because of its super catchy meta-copy, no it was actually the LACK of a description that I noticed.

Interesting, choice to opt out of a meta description, but at least the page is cached. Right? Well, technically. Clicking on the “Cached” link took me to a cache of a big, blank white page. And the text-only version gave me some really useful advice:

Thanks, I’ll get right on getting that flash player.

So, basically there’s no text at all behind this entirely flash based site and so Google has only cached a big white, empty home page. To see if any pages on the rest of the site fared any better, I ran a site command. The results?

The top didn’t look good:

The bottom looked even worse:

Omitted results after only 6 pages? Really? Oh and by the way, the 6 pages are comprised of the Homepage, 2 videos, 2 PDFs and an XML file. Super.

So how in the world does this site rank in the top 10 for a phrase like “handbags”? Well Google was kind enough to help me out with that too, telling me:

Yeah but How many sites having to do with hand bags link to Prada.com? Oh..

…well that makes more sense.   I guess when you have 85,000 back links and 10% of them come from pages which make some reference to a hand bag, you can get ranked for the phrase based on that contextual relevance alone.  Unfortunately, back link strength like that tends to be a luxury only afforded to big brands.

But what does this all mean, aside from being more evidence of big brand nepotism? Well it means that sometimes a big brand can get back link lucky, even on a keyword like “hand bags”, without having the words, or any words for that matter on it’s cached page.

Fashion designers are renowned for taking risks and all, but this seems extreme. Having an all Flash site with a blank cache for a home page and most pages lost in the realm of “omitted results” is relying pretty heavily on branding.  As far online marketing strategies go, it’s a gamble to say the least.

So maybe Prada, who charges a couple of grand per purse doesn’t care about ranking for phrases like designer clothing, sunglasses or shoes because they rank for their name and the occasional anomaly like “handbags”. But you’d think with a single handbag going for $1500 they might be able to spend that much a month on SEO…but then again… maybe it’s just not fashionable to care about your rankings.

And what of it?

The fact that these big brands don’t care to engage in SEO probably won’t matter much in the end to these billion dollar multinational corporations. On the strength of their brand names alone, they will survive without it but, what a waste. For them. For the rest of us, it translates to opportunity.

See these big brands, that don’t care to sweat the small stuff means that little guys, online businesses that aren’t Goliaths of corporate America can still make it big on line. By learning how to use search engines to our advantage, we can compete and win. But the time to act is now, before the sleeping giant wakes up.

Please share your thoughts on my findings. Is there something I missed? Have you seen other situations like these?

Over the last 2 months I’ve been working on a guest writing project with Ina Steiner and the great folks over at auctionbytes.com that I’d like to share here on my home blog.

The article got a bit long, as some of my articles tend to do, and so it is broken into 2-parts.

In this series I talk aobut a few key ways that small merchants, particularly those on auction sites and online marketplaces can utilize basic SEO techniques to improve their business. Enjoy!

Four Ways to Apply Big Brand SEO to Small Merchants, Part 1 – Published January 24th

Part 1 focuses on keyword research and content creation.

Four Ways to Apply Big Brand SEO to Small Merchants, Part 2 – Published February 5th

Par 2 focuses on link building and competitive research.

Doing SEO, I hear a lot of questions that I can give practical answers to. Questions like:

How do I know which keywords to target? How can I build links to my site? How can I use social media to promote my business? What can I change on my site to make it rank better.

I’ve got answers for those questions. I like those questions; those are productive, forward thinking questions which indicate a willingness to put in the work.

Oh and the short answers are: research, content, build relationships, and probably a lot.

And then there are the other kinds of questions. The questions that have helped flatten my forehead as a result of head butting my desk.

How long will it take until my site ranks #1? When can I stop building links? How long do I have to do this SEO stuff? I changed my title tags, why aren’t my rankings better?

See, these questions represent a short-cut mentality. These questions indicate someone looking for a fast answer, and in SEO, there just isn’t any. So the answers to these questions look more like; Maybe never, definitely never, for ever and …seriously?

Silver Bullets are for Werewolves…and beer.

Search engine optimization is not a one-shot deal. It’s never going to be. Anyone who tells you that you can make a one time investment and never again think about SEO is lying to you. It’s never going to be as simple as “Build 1,000 links overnight and rank forever.” Or “Order this report for $5,000 and your website will rank #1!” I’m sorry if I blew up anybody’s sales pitch here, but it’s just not real.

Search engine Optimization is defined by Wikipedia, dictionary.com, entrepreneur.com and hundreds of other reliable sources as “the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results”. All of the definitions are similar with the main commonality being the use of the word “process”. Now the definition of a “process” is a systematic series of actions directed to some end. A “series of actions” plural, implying, several, and repeated. There’s a reason for that.

A good SEO strategy is an ever evolving “process” which will require constant monitoring, updating, re-shaping and growth. If an SEO program is not growing, it is stagnating.

Starting an SEO campaign means a commitment from both the site owners and their internet marketer. No one can promise you a magical solution that will permanently propel you to the top of the rankings for any phrase, not for lack of talent or trying, but because nothing is permanent in the world of search.

Double, Double Dot Com Bubble, Learn the Lessons, Skip the Trouble.

The practice of making a site rank doesn’t involve sorcery, but what IS magic is the relationship between an SEO and a client. When both sides are invested and committed to collaboration, creativity can abound and anything is possible.

But it won’t be quick. Writing a check to your SEO isn’t like ripping off the band-aid and waiting for the sting to die down, it’s an investment in your future.

This is why it’s so important to find the right person, company, or method of promoting a website. Finding the perfect blend of passion and knowledge in an SEO is hard. Finding the right synergy between SEO and client is even harder. But when it happens you have a relationship that can be inspiring and profitable on both sides.

Good SEOs continually re-define themselves. Like hundreds of tiny little Madonnas running around in cone bras with English accents. We study, we learn, we re-learn what we thought we already knew. We test, we study, we cry at the results, ask questions and we test some more. With a mentality that is constantly striving for longevity in a world which prefers that hot fires burn out quickly. A good SEO campaign must have the same spirit. It must be fluid and in a constant state of motion.

If the growth of the internet has taught us anything it is that inertia, and adaptability are what breed a long life on line. Rigidity and resistance will only lead to web-death, which is an inglorious dissolution into obscurity for most, or for the lucky ones, immortality as a punch line. Just ask the original Pets.com, not the one powered by PetSmart, the one with the dog puppet from 99’.

Engaging in online marketing is no longer an option for businesses, but doing so must be viewed for what it is, a constant, a new way for a business to breathe. Sure, some parts will be simple; re-writing a title tag, changing some internal anchor text, adding a blog to your website technically won’t take very long. But it’s ongoing keyword research and monitoring rankings, or maintaining a successful blog that will begin to peel away the hours of your business day like layers of an onion.

No matter how you see search engines as a part of your business, they are a channel, which offer unparalleled opportunities for exposure. For any business ready to attempt to capitalize on that potential, there are no easy answers and there is no short cut. The only element of SEO for which speed should be a factor, is a web site’s load time. But, that’s about it. As for the rest, prepare for the long haul, or be prepared to be left in the dust.

In short, here are the figures tracking the annual progression of online spending since 2005.  Each figure is tracked and linked to its source.  Scroll down for a year by year breakdown of spending amounts.

At the end of the year it’s always fulfilling to reflect on what has passed. In the last 5 years there is one force which has so intrinsically changed all of our collective lives that as a civilization, we will never be the same. That force is of course, the internet.

Because the internet has changed everything from how we get news to how we connect with friends, it’s possible to look at the growth of social media, and the exponential growth of websites in existence, because it’s The Holiday season and the economy has been such a prevalent part of conversations everywhere, as we begin the second decade of the 21^st century let us reflect on the growth of online spending over the last 5 years.

2005

In 2005, online spending hit a new high, reaching 82.3 Billion (excluding travel). This was a 24% increase over 2004.  Making up 24% of that amount was holiday spending which was 19.6 billion.

2006

In 2006 non-travel online sales broke the $100 billion mark, settling at $102.1 billion dollars which was a full 24% increase over 2005. Holiday spending increased by 24% from 2005 and accounted for $24.6 billion of the year’s overall total.

2007

In 2007, online retail sales once again hit a new high, reaching $122 billion dollars. This amount represented a 20% increase over 2007, with just over $29 billion of those sales happening during the holiday shopping season.

2008

2008, was a record year for online retail spending. That’s right, 2008 holds the record for the smallest increase in spending over the previous year since 2001. Online sales topped out at just over $131 billion, a mere 6% increase over 2007. Holiday spending remained on par with the previous season, at approximately $29 billion.

2009

As we bring this decade to a close, early forecasts predict that online spending will reach $156 billion dollars in 2009. If this number proves on target, it will mean an 11% increase in online sales from 2008. Early estimates have online holiday sales at just shy of $20 billion as of December, 11^th.

What this says about the future:

• Online spending has continued to increase every year, so there is a good chance that trend will continue.

• Holiday spending will most likely continue to make up a significant potion of annual online sales.

• E commerce will probably continue to grow and thrive in spite of the world’s economic struggle.

• It is more vital now than ever to create and market an online presence in order to remain competitive for the next 5 years and beyond.

If the last 5 years are any indication, online shopping is not a temporary fad, but in fact the business of the future. Though the rapid growth of e-commerce may have slowed in the last few years; that may simply be attributed to the world’s diminishing economy, combined with some level of market saturation.

As a new decade dawns, it finds a civilization in transition. Today, we struggle to find balance in a world of ever shifting political and financial power. We are a society of increased connectivity, where information spreads with a deafening speed and social media forces us into a new reality of fellowship and voyeurism.  This, is a world where the lines between the “real-world” and “cyber-world” will only continue to blur, and those who do not rise up to claim their place in it will only be left behind.

Yeah, I know analogies are tired. But I love them… so they may happen here a lot. Just a heads up.

Anyway, welcome to a new year, where everyone resolves to have more career success and get in shape. Ok, so resolutions are notoriously short lived, but for those who don’t revert back to Twinkies and covert games of  solitaire at work by February 1st here are some ideas that apply to both resolutions.

If you want to increase your business or your career credit, try turning up the volume of your online business.  How? A good SEO campaign of course! If SEO is a vital part of overall online business health, and exercise is an essential element of a healthy lifestyle,then  it’s easy to imagine why some advice applies to both SEO and working out.

Commit to the process

Deciding to start SEO is like deciding to start a workout routine or going to the gym. Once you begin doing it consistently and commit to the process you get better at it, it becomes easier and you see significant results.

If you go sporadically, or give up after a couple of visits, you probably won’t gain much benefit from it. Making one or 2 changes on your site and expecting to rank #1 for competitive phrases is like driving to Planet Fitness, doing 3 squat thrusts, spending the rest of the hour flexing in the mirror and going home wondering why your pants are still tight.

SEO, like working out is not something you can do once or for a brief period of time and then give up and hope the good you’ve done will last. It must be maintained and refined continually in order to remain effective.

Give it your all

Half-assing your work out will never get you buns of steel and dabbling in SEO will never get you great rankings. Period.

You can get on the tread mill set it to “leisurely stroll” and peruse the latest “Us Weekly” for half an hour but you’re not going to see a lot of results. If you build your site blindly, write link bait with zero market research, guess your best keywords and pray. You might also want to ask to win the lottery while you’re down there. Doing SEO properly takes time, and effort. It requires research and engagement with your community and your online market. Without these things you’re basically bench pressing the bar without the weights.

Vary your routines

Unless you want gigantic biceps and tiny little legs eventually you have to ease up on the curls and start doing some lunges.

Essentially, SEO is the same way. You can precision tune your on-page factors, but if you never ask anyone for a link, or promote your content in an effort to build links your rankings will never move. You can build back links all day long, but if your usability sucks, you’ll never really see the benefit of the traffic that comes for good rankings If you create social media profiles to protect your brand but never use them to build brand loyalty, you’ll never have any fans, friends or followers.

Doing one thing well is great, it’s called a strength, or a forte, but in SEO it’s not enough. Really good internet marketing is marked by diversity. It means actively, even if not evenly, engaging in a variety of marketing methods. By engaging multiple strategies there is a greater chance for maximizing rankings, traffic, and conversions on numerous fronts.

Personal Trainers, Classes and DIY

You can work out for free, and you can do SEO for free. As long as you know what you’re doing. Granted, most of us instinctively know that we can start to exercise simply by moving our legs in the rapid repetitive motion known as running. SEO can be a bit less naturally intuitive. However, the options when it comes to working out and doing SEO are much the same. You can go it alone, or get help. In fitness, a class may mean joining a roomful of sweaty people peddling frantically on bikes that goes nowhere. In SEO it may mean going to a conference or having a professional come in to give a full staff training. In either case, at the gym or learning SEO participants benefit from having someone who knows the ropes in the lead.

Using a personal trainer is yet another option for gym goers. Sometimes there’s nothing quite like tailored, individual attention. It can be extremely helpful to have someone show to the right moves to tighten your glutes, or exactly how to use the leg press properly so you don’t look ridiculous, or do more damage than good. Getting an SEO for your website is about the equivalent of having a personal trainer help you create a work out tailored specifically to your strengths, weaknesses and goals. A good SEO will have ideas that fit your exact needs. Every site, like every body is different having different needs and unique results. But one thing is common among all of these options, regardless of whether you choose to go it alone, or get assistance, do some research first.

Engaging in the culture improves your results

No matter how much you go to the gym, or how many crunches you do, if you never really embrace healthy living as a lifestyle you will inevitably plateau. The more you view exercise as part of a proactive approach to healthy living, the more you will find new ways to feel good and stay fit. With SEO, by being as minimally involved as possible, never learning about the jargon or how all the elements work together, it will always keep you on the fringe of your SEO campaign. By keeping in the loop, being involved and passionate about the process you will discover your own infinite well of great ideas innovative strategies.

The health of a website in terms of online life can be deeply impacted by good SEO, in the same way a person’s life can be deeply affected by regular exercise. By following some of the same principles for both it’s possible to have a long and healthy life, get rankings and look good in skinny jeans.