SEO-Example

A good friend of mine asked me this great (and specific) question:

Hi JilMac. I was surfing for info on wedding photos and Taylors web site kept coming up at the top.

Windham was not far behind.

I was using Bing and/or Ask.

Linden's web site was not in the first 20 or so choices.

I believe Taylors pays Teleflora and Windham pays FTD.

They both have cookie cutter sites in my opinion,

but better "in your face" placement for this "pop" up type of situation.

My question is ... do I need to consider paying the $$hundreds/thousands of dollars to Teleflora annually

to have our site "pop up" in these situations along with the other two shops in town.

At least price chopper wasnt' there.

I Replied

Dear Friend:

You have a very generic question ... so I'll pick it apart - just as I would in class.

The Major search engine is Google (I don't use Bing or Ask- but some times go look to see what they do)

From Bing I queried "Wedding Photos" - I don't see Taylors - so I'll "ass"ume that you are putting in more than "Wedding Photos"

OK - I'll try "Wedding Flowers" still no Taylor,

"Wedding Flowers, Brattleboro" - I see Windhamflowers (after ads) and then 4th TaylorForFlowers

"Wedding Flowers, Brattelboro, Vermont" - I see Taylor

OK - so let's go to their pages ...

Windham has a Wedding Page - Named Weddings, and it is all about weddings

From their home page - there is a big popup with "Vermont Weddings" and it says the word "Married:

Then you can click On Weddings under Occasions

When you go to the Weddings page - there is a heading called Beautiful Vermont Weddings

you see the arrangements for Wedding and Bridal

OK when we go to Linden Gardens, and we search the site for Wedding

we get 1 result - the home page

https://sites.google.com/site/lindengardensvtvt/home

where buried inside a bunch of paragraphs but no pictures

oh - it is the third paragraph, in parentheses we see wedding right next to funeral

Hummm why do you think they had a higher ranking than you????

And that is what I will be talking about in the three sessions.

To get you to THINK about what you want your Web Site to do

and How People search.

This is a good example.

NO - I don't want anyone to $$PAY$$ for advertising until they how things work.

Then after you:

* LEARN new SEARCH SKILLS

* PLAY with these new SEARCH SKILLS

* EXPERIMENT on Your Own Web Site

Then - if you need to

* BUY Google Advertising

* Donate flower arrangements (when you have time, energy, extras - like a barter) to the local Inns (that also come up)

* Later, after you have done a few donations with "Extras" ask if you could be listed as a resource

* Maybe even exchange EXTERNAL LINKS with the Local Inn

* Exchange resources with a local Photographer

* Exchange resources with a local Wedding Planner/Blogger/etc.

* The key here is to Build, Barter, Exchange your Resources

Let's try Other Searches

* Try Google Searches

* Try Bing (Yelk) Searches

* Try Yahoo or Ask Searches

* MY ALL TIME NEW FAVORITE - Google IMAGE Search

Why are IMAGES so Powerful?

* We as Human Beings were DESIGNED to use our eyes to see images

* Its the FASTEST way to make a decision

* Images can have the following:

1. The Name of the Web Page the image is on

2. A Description on a Web Page

3. The NAME of the Image

4. A CAPTION on an Image

5. Comments about the Image

Now - go make your images Rank!!