Each of the six classes in the Breakfast Bootcamp series is held right in our offices in North Canton, Ohio.  Our team of web marketing experts will be giving practical tips and advice in these two-hour intensive classes.  The topics for 2009-2010 are:

• Blogging & Micro-Blogging (Twitter)
• Effective Web Design
• Web Analytics
• Social Media Strategies for LinkedIn and Facebook
• Email Marketing Techniques
• Online PR

Who would benefit most?  Our Breakfast Bootcamps are perfect for business owners, webmasters, marketing and PR professionals, web designers and developers, communications professionals, and ad agencies.  The layout of each class in the series has been carefully designed to be as flexible as possible, allowing you to attend all the classes or just a few – it’s up to you.

Registration is open – space is limited!

Why a Search Engine-Friendly CMS?
“Dynamic content (the kind of content generated from a CMS) and the search engines have had a long, rocky relationship.  That’s because when a typical CMS generates dynamic content, it creates long URLs with variables that the search engines may have difficulty interpreting. In some cases, the search engines flat-out ignore these URLs.”

Some features of a SEO-friendly CMS include:

• Ability to manually optimize Meta-tags, page titles, H1 tags, etc.
• Generate short and clean URLs
• Session ID storing in cookie, not the URL

“If you want control over your site, but also the ability for it do well in the search engines and grow with your business, then do yourself and your business a huge favor: take a pass on the CMS freebies and invest in a flexible, search engine-friendly CMS that will help you to generate long-lasting results.”

Read more about why choosing an SEO-Friendly CMS is important for your website.

Angela, a sought-after speaker for business-to-business conferences, will discuss “Strategies for SEO Success.” Angela joined Polysort/Pilot Fish in 1995 after a 10-year career in business journalism, primarily with trade publication Plastics News, where she was assistant managing editor.

Polysort, the operating parent of Akron SEO firm Pilot Fish, launched the first plastics and rubber industry portal site in 1995.

This year promises to be a difficult one in Ohio, for us as SEMs, as well as for our clients. Northeast Ohio’s economy has been trying to pull out of a recession for a while, and Stark County, at least seems to have hit rock bottom and is rebounding. We want to make that happen for the rest of Ohio.

I know it’s February, and it’s been freezing cold for weeks, but it is time for our thoughts, and SEO / SEM strategies to turn to spring and summer, when many people begin making tourist trips into Ohio. I think this year may actually be especially good for tourism, as people still want to get away, but just can’t quite manage that Disney or Myrtle Beach vacation this year. We need to show Ohio’s citizens, as well as out-of-staters, just how much fun they can have right here in the OH! Just as we strategize to help our clients gear up for holiday sales, it is now time to think about how we can bring people, and their money into Ohio.

Hopefully many of you have clients in the tourism industry, and you may have clients that can benefit from the tourism in Ohio. Ohio is blessed with amusement parks like no other state in the Union. The indoor water parks have also become very popular in recent years. We also have a wealth of Amish goods available alongside the many antique shops and Amish and Country restaurants. Ohio also boasts of amazing museums and zoos. Ohio’s wineries have begun to garner attention nationwide and are now often a popular stop for any tourist looking for a little food and fun on their trip.

TKG is thrilled to provide SEO services to one such Ohio winery, right here in Hartville. Maize Valley has been in operation in one form or another since the 1960s. What began as a farm has evolved over time into the enterprising operation it is now, encompassing not only the original farm, but a bakery, deli with Amish meats and cheeses, a market with Maize Valley grown produce, and most recently, a winery.

Maize Valley is still evolving, this summer they will be hosting their first annual Civil War reenactment. Civil war reenactments have become very popular of late, and tend to draw families, tourists, students and history buffs. Maize Valley’s Bill Bakan is aware that his business has evolved over the years and that the way they have traditionally marketed their business has needed to evolve as well. He has chosen to “focus a lot on web based marketing because it is uniquely adaptive to the changing market place”. SEO/ SEM allows TKG and Maize Valley to focus on specific aspects of the business that Maize Valley would like to grow. Because the winery can be such a draw most especially during tourist season, it would be beneficial to concentrate our efforts in that area, as well as the many family friendly events that go on at Maize Valley, capitalizing on the natural growth in tourism in the spring and summer months.

Ohio has so much to offer as far as restaurants, family activities, camping , many outdoor activities. As an SEO, one suggestion you may want to present to your clients in the tourism sector is a page on their site with ideas and links to things to do in their particular area. This can be very helpful for users that are trying to plan a vacation, or a special trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or even the Pro-Football Hall of Fame. If you let people know what else is available in your area, you may be bringing some much needed cash into our state. Some really great resources for marketing your client’s sites include the following Ohio tourism sites:

Discover Ohio

Travel Ohio

Ohio Traveler Magazine

Hopefully, we can use this opportunity to generate some real interest in Ohio. We live in a remarkable state, with much to offer visitors, and more economically than trips to far away places.

While to many, it may not seem like a major deal to put off search engine optimization until Web development is complete, the reality of the situation is that it can be a much more costly approach. In the following article, the search I have outlined some of the major issues associated with this approach and the true costs of delaying search engine optimization until the post-launch phase.

To experts in the combination of art and science that is SEO; it is taken for granted that search engine performance is highly contingent on many factors. These include Web site design, technical infrastructure, Web site content (marketing and informational copy plus “behind the scenes” tagging), and offsite optimization (primarily involving link popularity development and enhancement). When some of these factors are ignored, it is unlikely that optimal organic search engine visibility will be achieved, especially in competitive industries. Yet, it remains extremely common for companies of all sizes to skip critical steps in the process, or at least put those on the “backburner” until the other aspects of Web development have been completed.

One problem is that many traditional SEO or marketing firms provide their services in a vacuum. They are not actually involved in the design / development of the site or in the implementation of their SEO recommendations. Instead, they simply provide search engine optimization recommendations in document form. Because of this approach, they are not always aware of the incremental expenses – comprised of both direct and indirect costs that are incurred by postponing the implementation of search engine optimization.

As a full service interactive agency, Brulant has unique experience in measuring the true costs associated with a non-integrated SEO effort in direct comparison to those of our clients who include SEO as part of the initial scope of the design or redesign effort.

Direct Costs:

The primary direct costs associated with post site launch optimization stem from the rework that is often necessary. In most cases, decisions that are made during the design and development processes are not in alignment with or inclusive of search engine optimization best practices.

Technical infrastructure:

There are many aspects of a site’s technical infrastructure that can have a significant impact on search engine performance. Therefore, the ideal approach is to follow search engine optimization best practices at the time of initial site development. Otherwise, it is highly likely that additional work and significant expenditure will be needed at the time of optimization to rectify previously made decisions that preclude optimal search engine performance.

Typical points for rework include:

• • URL structure – an optimized URL typically includes targeted keywords, a shortened length, and only alpha numeric character, which may or may not have been requirements during the site design or redesign phase.
  • Canonical URLs – multiple versions of the same page existing on multiple URLs are often allowed to be crawled and indexed by search engines. SEO efforts are required to focus efforts on a single version of the page
  • Directory structure – SEO calls for a clean directory structure with descriptive folder names and concerted efforts to minimize the “depth” of pages within the design hierarchy
  • Use of JavaScript, Flash, or AJAX – SEO recommendations often include directions to externalize JavaScript code to ensure it is non-obtrusive to the spidering process. Additionally, rich Internet applications (RIAs) such as those that use Flash and AJAX require additional content to be presented in a format legible to search engine spiders (as well as to disability software).
  • Code cleanliness – while validated code will not necessarily help to improve rankings, poorly formed code that is difficult for the spiders to traverse can negatively impact ranking performance.
  • Code ordering with CSS – the use of cascading style sheets (CSS) enables the ordering of code to present keyword-rich content to the search engines first, followed by all of the code and superfluous page elements. In addition, CSS helps to minimize the amount of code needed to display a Web page, therefore reducing the code to text ratio.
  • Titles, Meta tags, Header tags, and ALT tags (and their corresponding placeholders in the database) – the basic tenants of SEO are often ignored by developers who may not have been tasked with this consideration. If not handled in a proactive manner, adding these tags can be very time consuming proposition, especially on large Web sites.

Design / Layout:
In a similar fashion to the technical infrastructure, layout decisions that are made during the design and development process can greatly impact the opportunity for search engine performance. In order to avoid rework in this area, a qualified search engine optimizer should be part of the design process to review prototypes and provide direction from the search engine perspective. Otherwise, considerable investment will likely be required to alter the site layout to support the requirements for search engine accessibility. Typical points for rework include:

• • Navigational structure and placement – the use of images as navigation elements are disruptive to search engines spiders and limit the ability to use descriptive anchor text within internal linking
  • Adequate space for HTML text content – many site designers disregard the needs of the search engines when developing a page, presenting in many cases only human-visible images. HTML text content is required for a search engine to be able to determine the true context of a Web page and is also a usability best practice.
  • Use of images and Flash in place of text – same as above, search engines cannot read Flash or images effectively.

By comparing four projects in which optimization was a post-launch initiative to four projects in which optimization was included in the initial scope of the design / redesign effort, summary conclusions have been made for the average incremental costs associated with site updates for search engine optimization.

On average, the post-launch method of search engine optimization led to incremental redesign project costs of roughly 30%. To put that into perspective, the incremental costs of updating the site layout and technical infrastructure for optimization of a $250K Web site was $75K. For larger, more complex sites, the cost is more significant; $150K in site enhancements for a $500K Web site project and $300K for a site that initially cost $1MM to develop. Much, if not all, of this additional design and development cost could have been eliminated if search engine optimization had been made part of the initial project scope, not an after thought.

Opportunity Costs:

In addition to the direct costs that are incurred when optimizing a site in a post launch fashion, there are also significant opportunity costs that should be factored into the decision making process.

According to many studies, 60%-70% of searchers prefer to click on organic listings over paid search listings. When they do, over 60% of searchers don’t look past the first page of search results, making first page search results critical to online success. Therefore, without the right SEO program, a great deal of opportunity to acquire new customers is being missed.

Unfortunately, strong organic search engine performance is not achieved over night. Even in ideal situations, the process of spidering, indexing, and ranking takes time. For a new site, one with a newly registered domain with no existing link base and established Google PageRank™, the process of ranking for competitive terms can take upwards of six months. For existing sites with strong incoming links and PageRank™, the process is expedited, but still takes time.

Optimistic Project Timeline for Post Launch Optimization:

Design or redesign project duration = 6 months

Post launch optimization project = 3 months

Optimization implementation = 3 months

Ranking adjustment latency = 3-6 months (redesign vs. initial launch)

—————————————————————————-

= 15-18 months

Realistic Project Timeline for Integrated Optimization:

Design or redesign project duration = 7 months

Post launch optimization project = 0 months

Optimization implementation = 0 months

Ranking adjustment latency = 3-6 months (redesign vs. initial launch)

—————————————————————————-

= 10-13 months

As illustrated above, the integrated approach to SEO, in which optimization activities are embedded in the redesign project scope, can shave roughly five months off of the time that is required to achieve top organic search engine listings. For the companies analyzed, the value of the direct conversions from organic listings over a five month period ranged from $625K to $2.2MM.

Summary:

While postponing search engine optimization may seem like a logical decision in light of timelines and overall project budgets, the truth of the matter is that it can be an incredibly costly decision. With additional direct costs ranging from $75K to $300K and opportunity costs ranging from $625k to $2.2MM, the total costs of waiting are between $700K and $2.5MM.

Before moving forward with your next Web site design or redesign effort, consider the direct and opportunity costs associated with making search engine optimization a post-launch initiative.

If you have an account with LinkedIn and are a member of Cleveland SEO, you are officially invited to Join the Cleveland SEO group there. Doing so will associate you with other members of Cleveland SEO as well as place the handy Cleveland SEO logo in your Group and Affiliations section of your profile.

Now, LinkedIn requires approval for members into the group and in order to make this process as smooth as possible, I have taken everyone from the mailing list and added that name and email address into a pre-approved list for the group. If you’re lucky enough to have your LinkedIn account and your Cleveland SEO account contain the same information, all you need to do is join the group and you should be a pre-approved member.

If you’re not quite that lucky, no fear, just join the group anyways and you will then be manually approved.
The easiest way to join the group is to view someone’s profile who is already in the group. In this instance, I’ll use myself as a guinea pig…

1. Go to the Greg Habermann LinkedIn Profile.
2. At the bottom you’ll see my Groups. Click on the ClevelandSEO logo
3. You will see a brief description and a chance to join the Group. Click Join!

That’s it! If you have any questions or concerns, let me know and I’ll do my best to take care of them.

Without a good SEO copywriting strategy, most sites fail in their quest for higher search engine rankings.

To help with the process, Angela Charles, president of Cleveland SEO member company Pilot Fish in Akron, Ohio, has developed a comprehensive list of SEO copywriting tips.