Inbound Marketing Blog

Client: "I want to rank for the keywords X, Y and Z."

Me: "Why do you want to rank for those specific keywords?"

Client: "Because that is what my product/service is..."

Me: "Ah, I see, but do your customers/potential customers use those keywords to search for your specific product/service...in your area?"

And that is a conversation I've had countless times over the years.

Keywords can be slippery little suckers to nail down. It's not just about ranking for keywords for the sake of generating any traffic; it's about getting ranked for the right keywords--the ones that your customers and potential customers enter into the all-knowing search box on Google.

Your website might be the most beautiful in all the land, with content so rich it makes your competitors tremble in fear. That's great, but if the back end of your website runs like a 1985 Yugo, Google is likely to give your site the big thumbs down when it comes to organic search results.

But do not fret just yet. Google provides several tools that gives you everything (well, almost) you need to fix, and eventually prevent errors.

Why Google Gave Meta Descriptions the Boot, but You Shouldn't

In 2009, Google announced that meta descriptions would have no influence on search rankings. So why is it that we keep optimizing them, or (frankly) even care about them anymore? What impact do they have if they don't affect Google's search engine result pages (SERPs)?

Many believe that meta descriptions are no longer useful and shouldn't be bothered with, but that is simply false, and we are out to crush that myth.

Every SEO company has (at some point or another) written a blog or given a speech on the importance of link building, Tribute Media included. In fact, we've written a few, because link building is never as simple as it may seem.

There are two things to keep in mind:

1. Some links have a positive impact

2. Some links don't

"Well, duh!"

In the past, we've really delved into what positive links are and their impact. But now we want to take an in-depth look at links that hurt your rankings.

The search engine king, Google, is currently in the midst of one of the most noteworthy battles over search engine results. Google has always been able to dictate the results of their search engine via their many algorithms, but they also have the final say in who gets exposure in their search engine results page.

Or do they? If you haven't heard about the most recent debacle, you don't want to miss it.

In the past, most legal cases against Google's search results have been quickly dismissed. However, a recent case brought againt Google was not dismissed by a Florida judge. This is monumental in the world of Search Engine Optimization.

How do you measure the success of your website and campaigns? Is it by the amount of traffic? Or qualified leads? General visitor data? How you examine and act on the metrics of your website and campaigns is crucial to the success of your company. Keeping track of your visitors is imperative if you are to grow and expand your reach. However, how you track them ultimately depends on your end goals. In this blog, we want to focus on the key areas of Google Analytics that we think are essential if your end goal is increasing your qualified leads. There are other key areas for different end goals, but for now, we want to focus on this component.

What accounts for nearly a third of all mobile searches, has grown 50% faster than overall mobile searches in the past year, and is an element you can't afford to ignore? Location-related searches. Recently, Google announced that it is about to roll out a new way of displaying ads for mobile devices. This integration of ads into location-related searches gives advertisers a greater reach and more exposure. The question with this Google update roll-out is the same as with any update: "How does this affect my company?"

I am often asked what the difference in cost is between pay-per-click (PPC) and organic SEO. As obvious as it is to me what the differences are, when I try to explain it to others who are not as "nerdy" as I am, often the response I get is the deer in the headlights look. Mostly people think that you have to pay for ads on Google, Bing, etc., and not for organic first page rankings. Not the case.

Over time, I have attempted dozens of analogies to explain the differences between the costs of first-page placement for organic and PPC. I think that I may have finally found a way that helps people understand and that they can easily relate to- the cost of an athlete versus a non-athlete going to college.

In the world of Search Engine Optimization, there are a number of ways that businesses work their ways to the top of search engines. Some of these tactics are what you would call “White Hat” SEO tactics. These go along with Google’s terms of service and take the approach of improving a website by focusing on users rather than rankings. Using these tactics can take a bit of time to get your website off the ground, but will garner you long-term results that will make it easier for your customers to find you through search engines. Just remember: "Slow and steady wins the race."

Nearly 10 years ago I built my house. I decided to be the general contractor on my own and learned that, at the time of the housing bubble, there were really only two requirements to be a contractor. First, you had to have a truck. Second, you had to have a dog.

In the nearly nine years that Tribute Media has been a web agency (web development, web design, web marketing, etc.), we have seen so many agencies come and go. In fact, most of the agencies that were around when we started are now out of business. Even some that we thought were stellar competitors have gone away.

We've seen many start and almost as many end in the last nine years. It feels that the only qualification to starting an agency (social, SEO, web design) is that you have to have a computer and lost your job.