Industry insiders in The Hot Seat:  With Craig Dinan From ContentFast

Focus on the Big Three Search Engines, Google, Yahoo and MSN (live.com) as they comprise roughly 90% of all searches in the U.S.

Don't be fooled by offers to "submit your website to the 1000 top search engines" as there are not 1000 top search engines.  Many of the smaller search engines and directories actually draw their search results from the Big 3.

*Source: Nielsen Online reports December 2007 data for the Top U.S.  Search Providers. Top search providers, ranked by total searches. Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the provider.

SEO Basics:  Moving up the Search Engine Ranks

One of the best ways to promote your business is to get your website into the top ten on the search engines for your keyword phrases. The question is, how do you do that? It isn’t as difficult as you might think, it simply requires a few techniques to make your pages more search engine friendly. Here, we will explain exactly how you can get your website into the top website results, without having to be too terribly technical.

What is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the term used to cover pretty much all techniques related to getting your website listed in the top search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN are the most sought after listings, but the competition can be fierce. That’s where SEO comes in, giving you a better chance at getting into the top ten listings for your keyword phrase.

Entire books (e-books, that is) have been written about search engine optimization, so we won’t cover everything here. Rather, we’ll take a look at some of the easier techniques and must-dos so you can get started and get ranked in Google quickly. With Google and Yahoo cornering up to 80% of search engine traffic, you really want to be listed high with these two. The remaining search engines will follow almost immediately, although it can actually be easier to get listed on smaller search engines, in some cases.

Content is King

If you spend any time online at all, you will hear the above phrase over and over. It is really true. By simply putting up content on a regular basis on your website, you will automatically draw search engine spiders. This is why blogs are so popular in search engines, they are constantly updating content.

Really, content can be anything. You can use photos, videos, articles, interviews, product reviews, etc. to add value to your site. By including your keywords and keyword phrases in the content (or description in the case of photos and videos), you help the search engine spiders file it under the correct listings.

Even if you have a business website, you can make it much more attractive to search engines and human visitors alike by giving valuable information. For example, if you are selling lawnmowers, you might try adding some articles to your site offering grass cutting techniques, lawn mower care tips, etc. The more content you have, the more the spiders will visit you.

The key is to update your pages on a regular basis. You can continue to add new photos or articles to the site, have a daily tip or quote, or have a news section that you report in frequently. Another good way to draw the spiders is to set up a blog on your website and post daily blog articles. This is ideal because blog posts are usually fairly short, 150-300 words, so they are easy to write and publish on a daily basis.

Make Lots of Friends

The more links you have coming in to your site, the better the search engines like you. The best links are non-reciprocal, that is, when someone else links to you and doesn’t require a link back. However, you will probably find it easier to get reciprocal links, especially early in the game.

There are many ways to get links, but here we will just focus on just a handful very effective methods.

First, writing great content and having good, top quality information on your website will bring in links automatically as people discover the website and want to share it with others. Each one of these links will help your website get noticed by the big boys like Google and Yahoo.

Article marketing has been around for a while, but it is still very useful for getting links. What you do is rewrite an article that is already on your website, or write a new one, if you are so inclined, and submit it to a free article directory. You will be allowed to add a bio box with your author info and a link back to your website. Every article directory that you submit to is a backlink. Then, when webmasters start to pick up your article to publish on their sites, you will find that your number of backlinks goes up drastically. All this draws in the search engine spiders, too.

The last method of getting links is to simply ask. Find websites that cover similar material to yours and write a polite email asking if they would mind linking to you. The best way to make sure that they do link to you is to add a reciprocal link on your own page and include the URL in your email, letting them know that you are interested in an exchange. It can’t hurt to ask, can it? And if they say no, then just take down your link to them.

What to Avoid

There are certain “black hat” techniques that you are likely to see around if you are looking for methods to get your website onto Google. Be aware that these are techniques that may work for a short amount of time, but will get you banned from the major search engines if you are caught. And they almost always catch black hatters. Here are a few of the worst mistakes you can make when trying to stay on the good side of the search engines.

Keyword stuffing: This is when you absolutely cram your articles or webpage with your chosen keyword phrase. It will get you banned from Google and most other search engines as well. The ideal web page will have about 1-3% keyword density, meaning the keyword phrase repeats 1-3 times every hundred words. Much more than that and you are risking losing your search engine ranking completely.

Invisible text: You may read about this now outdated technique on some older SEO websites. It is completely taboo and the search engines are on the look out for this type of thing. Invisible text is your keyword repeated over and over,  in the same color as your  background so it doesn’t appear to visitors, only to search engine spiders. While it was an effective black hat technique in its time, that ship has long since sailed.

Over-promoting yourself: When you use Web 2.0 sites such as StumbleUpon and Digg to promote your own website, beware. Although a stumble here and there probably won’t hurt anything, if you get caught promoting your own stuff, you can be in big trouble! This can mean that your account with that particular website gets closed or you will have your own sites banned. Not the best promotion method, so try to get friends and family to promote the business site.

Over-Submitting your website: There is no need to submit your site to the search engines more than once. Some people swear by monthly re-submitting, but most experts agree that it not only doesn’t help, but may even hinder you. Instead, stick to natural techniques and watch your ratings stay nice and stable.

Link farms and directories: These are webpages that list thousands of websites for a small fee. Not worth it. The search engines don’t like these sites, because they are cheating. The same goes for paying for a high PR link, if you get caught, you could be penalized or even banned.

Getting your website noticed by Google, Yahoo and all the other search engines isn’t rocket science, although there are people who would have you think that. By providing quality content on your website and getting some links back, you are basically guaranteed that you will appear shortly. If you have used your keywords and phrases correctly throughout the website, you may even see yourself in the top ten for search results on your key phrase.

While you can always tweak and improve your site, why not try the easier methods first and see how far you get? With the basics outlined in this article, you should be getting search spiders in a few days, sniffing around your site.

To brand your business, is to place full light on what your advisor firm has to offer to its potential clients and the community. Business branding can be achieved easily through the use of creativity and efficient marketing.

Many small firms struggle to grow their practice, not because they are not offering the best service in the community, but, because no one ever knew they were there.
 
Creativity is key to branding a business. With the use of creative logos and slogans, a business can create a brand recall with prospects. Brand recall is important to a businesse's success, because prospects that cannot remember your products or services, will not be viable prospects for long.

When creating a logo, businesses should focus on a creative, unique symbol memorable to potential clients. Logos should never be too complex or cluttered. Simple and to the point, works best, when striving to brand your business. In order to get a better idea of the types of logos that are successful for businesses, look to the kings and queens of successful business marketing. Motorola, for instance, uses a simple "M" to evoke brand recall with it's customers. Hewlett Packard, along those same lines, settled on an "hp" for their logo, and many prospects no longer recognize the company's name but recall the logo easily.

Slogans, another creative cornerstone in business branding, are trademarks of successful businesses. A catchy slogan, paired with the unique logo is like hitting the consumer with a one, two punch. Slogans should be comprised of only a few words and hit the point of your business on the head. Retail giant Wal-Mart, decided on the word "Always" as their slogan.  Paired with a creative font, and slight slant of the word, nationwide recall was achieved.

Business branding can also be achieved with creative marketing. Your business must stand out to the consumer as the only option available for the service you provide. Creative marketing should center on the characteristics that make your business different from others available to the consumer.

Business branding is the key to the success of every business. Prospects will respond to businesses that have created a familiar and comfortable face in the community. Creativity and efficiency will brand a business quickly and lead to immeasurable support and income via satisfied clients.

Welcome to the October 2007 issue of our newsletter. This issue includes updates on JAB Web Solutions services and showcases recent client work. We are also introducing a new feature, a monthly “Quick Tip,” aimed at providing you with valuable online marketing advice you can do on your own.

Always be sure to test your website in each of the the major browsers before going live and after after a substantial design change. Your website may look great on your computer with your monitor and through your favorite web browser, but it may look different in another browser and/or in a different monitor.

Since the early days of the internet, we have seen the rise and fall of many diffent web browsers. From the dominace of Netscape in the 90's to the increasing popularity of Firefox today, one thing remains constant, well thought out and professionally designed websites created 8 years ago, look as good today as they did when they first went live.  The trick is to design a site with the different web browsers in mind and to never lean too heavily on the flavor-of-the month site building technology.

The most popular browsers today are Explorer 7.0 Explorer 6.0 Firefox 2.0 Firefox 1.5, Netscape 9.0

I suggest that you install at lease the latest versions of IE and Firefox on your computer and test your sites thoughouly in each.

Alternately, you can contact your friendly web design studio and ask them to run a comprehensive browser and screen resolution test of your site.  If you're considering Jab for your upcoming website make-over, we'll run a complimentary report on your existing site, including the digital snapshots of how your site looks in each browser.

After a lengthy selection process, Jab Web Solutions Inc. was chosen to create a fresh logo and website for the FPA NCA.  The logo and website re-design project will commence throughout the fall of 2007 and is scheduled to be deployed in early 2008.

For more information about the FPA NCA, please visit the current website at www.fpanca.org

What is the FPA NCA?
The Financial Planning Association of the National Capital Area (FPA NCA) is the preeminent organization for financial planning professionals in the Washington, DC area including the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia.  The FPA NCA provides a forum for education and career development for its members while adhering to the highest ethical and professional standards.