Hi, and thanks for visiting our new site. We specialize in helping small business owners realize their online marketing potential through search engine optimization and search engine marketing. We have recently launched this site with a new look and feel, on a new server, using WordPress as our content management system of choice. Take a look around and let me know if you have any questions. And while you’re here, be sure to check out our Local Search Engine Business Profiles.
My name is Ken Partain and I personally oversee every single search engine optimization project that we take on and I stand behind our work 100%.
Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving your company’s web site code and content to achieve higher rankings within the search engines.
Search Engine Marketing is a form of internet marketing that’s main purpose is to promote a person, company or product through the search engines.
Social Media Marketing is all about getting involved and connecting with others through social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Last week David Mihm released his latest annual report on Local Search Engine Ranking Factors. This is a must-read for anyone who owns a small business that serves a local market, and anyone who handles the online marketing for a local business.
This year’s report includes feedback from 34 prominent bloggers and local search experts. Each factor is graded three ways; 1) the importance of the factor, 2) whether the factor has increased or decreased in importance since last year’s report, and 3) how closely the 34 participants agreed on each factor.
I’ve noticed a trend lately that is a little disturbing. This trend is a slow and steady decay of rankings for static websites with very few, if any, regular updates.
The reason for this decline is a recent emphasis by the major search engines to not only serve up the most relevant search results, but the most recent as well. And if your site isn’t updated with current, relevant information then you’re losing the game to a site that is.
The sad part is that this is something that could be fixed with very little effort and very little expense.
There are a number of excellent, open-source (free!) content management systems available to the small business owner. If you have some technical skills you can make the switch yourself. Otherwise, you’ll need to hire someone to help migrate your site to a new platform and teach you how to add new content quickly and easily.
Costs for this can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars depending on how many pages you currently have on your site, what functionality you want and whether or not you use a template or have a new design created for you.
Here are a few of the top open-source content management systems available today.
I’m sure there are lots of others that are very good but these are the ones we have had experience with.
And if you need some help converting your site give me a call. I’ll be glad to take a look at it and give you a quote.
Photo Credit: Dinosaur Jr. by desdeaquinet on Flikr
Early this week Google announced that Google Local Business Center is now Google Places. There are lots of changes associated with this announcement and you can read all about them through the link above.
The biggest factors I see for small businesses are that you no longer have to have a physical office to add your company to their directory. With these changes Google will allow you to identify a service area and if you work from home or you travel around and don’t really have an office you have the ability to make your address private.
That is going to really open things up for the freelancer and work at home professional.
Today Google announced that they have rolled out Social Search. It’s now available to all users who are signed into Google. This is something that has been talked about recently but nobody really knew exactly how it would work. As with all things Google they will be constantly tweaking it as time goes by.
There are a lot of interesting implications to Social Search so we will see how this all plays out. I think it’s pretty amazing that when I search for information about a new movie or a restaurant in town I could see reviews, blog posts and other content from people I know, like and trust.
This will have a direct impact on companies who are not paying attention to their online reputation management and addressing concerns in a positive way.
If you are a small business owner it’s time to take the reigns of this use it to your advantage.
To your success,
Ken Partain
I just sent out our January Monthly Marketing Newsletter. The focus this month is on Social Media Marketing.
There are lots of links to helpful information so check it out and let me know what you think. You can leave your notes in the comments section below.
If you would like to have the newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, use the signup form in the right column to register.
Have a great day!
To your success,
Ken Partain
