Google’s philosophy and long term goal is to “make the web better” and improve the user experience. In addition, lately one of their many goals is to make it faster also but that is a separate topic all together.  To that end, they make regular changes to their algorithm to improve the quality of their index and search results.

Google is getting better and better at figuring out what is quality website content and what is used purely for SEO purposes.  Website content created for SEO purposes is basically SEO content written specifically to help the website gain an advantage over their competitors by loading up the page with keywords, links and artificially building or buying inbound links from other websites using very specific keywords and anchor text.  This is slowly but surely no longer working.

WHAT IS THE ONLY TRUE AND SAFE LONG TERM SEO CONTENT STRATEGY?

The purpose of SEO is to get more traffic to your website.  As Google gets smarter and smarter, what may work now to get your site ranked will not work later.  The only true, safe investment you can make is to continually add fresh, interesting, useful content to your website and market that content. Content that will generate interest, natural links, social media mentions and ultimately traffic and conversions. Here is a recent blog post from Google that backs this up: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/06/quality-links-to-your-site.html

Website content marketing brings people who are actively looking for something: information, insight, solutions to their problems. If you have that special something,  you can attract that special someone – the customer.  But these new rules of attraction require a shift in direction. It’s not about “pushing” your message, but “pulling” in your customers. And the way to pull is to publish content. Content marketing is defined very simply. It’s worth repeating: Content marketing is the art of understanding exactly what your customers need to know and delivering it to them in a relevant and compelling way.

THE RULES FOR WEBSITE CONTENT HAVE CHANGED

360i CEO Bryan Wiener said this: “Marketers need to understand the dire importance of value exchange in their social programs.  Consumers aren’t going to follow you on Twitter or fan your Facebook page in the absence of something in return–entertainment, information, utility of some kind or some form of social currency.  Understanding that there now NEEDS to be a value exchange between consumers and brands in their advertising and marketing is probably the single biggest change to the marketing industry since the advent of TV advertising.  The strategy of intruding and interrupting is replaced by informing and engaging.”

I think this philosophy makes a ton of sense and the same approach should be used for your SEO content and Website content strategy.  Give your potential customers and visitors something valuable and the links, traffic and mentions will come which will ultimately lead to more sales and referrals.

There are lots of great lists out there with advice about mistakes you can make with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts. But NONE as big as this! I thought it would be fun to compile the biggest, baddest, most complete list there is. (Be sure to read #102) That's a huge bonus...

Enjoy! (these are in no particular order)

The first 10 are from Alhan Kesar's too funny post: Ten ways to piss off your SEO
1) Forget to place a robots.txt file on the dev server. It’s great that Google is already picking up pages and that our dev server is ranking for “cute puppy clothing”.
2) Link to www and non-www versions of a site. Search engines are great at figuring out which version of a url to use. No need to worry about a stupid prefix.
3) Use tables instead of divs and place sidebar coding above page content. I really love it when the first 200 words on an html document are just links to other pages. And I especially like it when all you see are a bunch of table width attributes, colspans, ’s and all that good stuff. Reminds me of the old days.
4) Incorrectly set up a 404 page so that any url gives a 200 status. Google loves it when it checks to make sure that your 404 pages do indeed display a 404 status and finds that in fact your server is totally okay with nonexistent urls. That doesn’t look fishy at all.
5) Link to different pages using the same text. We have 10 pages on our website about “free poker”. Let’s link to them all with those words so that users can really see the difference between each page!
6) Create a sitemap that uses images as links instead of page titles. Rollover images are a great way to make a sitemap truly captivating. Also, add some Ajax action in there to make it more interactive.
7) Create urls that say nothing. What could possibly give more insight to a user about a page than the following url: www.mybadasswebsite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category1_10251_10201_12559_-1_12551
8) Link to the /index.php page from all pages on a website. You cannot imagine the joy that I feel seeing high PR given to the /index.php page. It makes me proud to know that both versions of our home page are doing great.
9) Use an entire paragraph as a link to another page. This is an awesome way to pack a lot of anchor text keywords into one link…
10) Use H1, H2, H3, or H4 tags in navigational menu links. I love seeing the same H1 tags used across an entire site. It really gives it that consistency that I look for.

The rest are from me and my experience as well as some great lists I gave credit to at the bottom of the post:

11) Change your content without consulting with your SEO
12) Buy spammy links during the SEO campaign
13) Use: User-agent: * Disallow: * in your robots.txt
14) Install a shiny new Flash navigation system
15) Move the site to a new TLD
16) Leave the title tag empty
17) Put the top 100 keywords you want to rank for in the META keyword tag
18) Leave the keywords out of the content
19) Use images for headings rather than h1-h6 tags
20) Use a ~ as a word separator in your urls (yes I have seen this very recently. Huge e-commerce site to boot.)
21) Create 50 new pages that all say the same thing except the city or other geo info is different.
22) Use "click here" for anchor text. Adobe appreciates it trust me
23) Keyword stuffing. Using the keyword on the page 30 times and in every sentence is not going to make you rich.
24) Think about SEO after you launch the site
25) Target general keywords. Good luck reaching #1 for "shoes" or "cars"
26) Duplicate title tags.
27) Making the company name the FIRST thing in the title tag. This rarely is the best approach.
28) Create a blog and then fill it full of advertising only posts or links to your site
29) Create a blog then don't ever post. EVER
30) Get links from every Tom, Dick and Harry site out there. (Even the relevant ones!)
31) Build a "Resources" page and fill it full of links to every Tom, Dick and Harry site out there
32) Use the same anchor text for every dang link to your site
33) Check your rankings everyday and fire off the morning panic email to the SEO
34) Don't start with keyword research.
35) Submit urls that have the wrong case.
36) Don't use a custom 404 page
37) Create 100's of blog sites and link them all together for lots of link juice :/
38) Build links too fast. Google is watching...
39) Think SEO is a free traffic source. Do you think the websites on top got there without time and investment?
40) Write content that is only optimized for the engines, not human friendly too
41) Talk about the "other" SEO that can get you on the first page of Google by the end of the week
42) Target the wrong keywords.
43) Use nothing but images as content on your home page
44) Have content automatically populate your blog from other blogs
45) Skip analytics, hell who needs that?
46) Put distracting links near the call to action
47) Put an h1 at the top of the page, fill it with keywords and use CSS to make it tiny
48) Put an h1 at the bottom of the page with lots of h2's and h3's above it
49) Use a slider with html content and every slide has an h1 with varying content. Guess what, it's all in the home page code.
50) Do SEO yourself, then ask us if it's right
51) Use URL's that are 5 levels deep
52) Create a blog or website on a domain you don't own.
53) Use unfriendly file names
54) Use unrelated or not optimized alt text on images.
55) Use the Google toolbar to count back links, you may be missing a few
56) Email Google and ask them to review your site for terms of service violations. DOH!
57) Create a site with nothing but affiliate ads and link it to your main site
58) Copy someone elses content and put it on your site
59) Use URL re-writing that does not include keywords.
60) Build your new site using 100% Flash...I could put an example of an invisible site here but I wont!
61) Tell us you "know SEO"
62) Use only the company name as the title tag
63) Try to convince us all you need is Social Media
64) Give up after the first month
65) Offer us skunk beer in return for SEO
66) Offer us "a piece of the pie" because your product is the "nest big thing"
67) Chase unrealistic keywords for your budget. $100 a month will not get you ranking for "Viagra" anytime soon
68) Duplicate the META descriptions so Google will grab some random useless garble to show your customers in the SERPS
69) Focusing on link quantity versus quality
70) Commenting on blogs that get moderated and then not following up to see if they get approved
71) Getting site wide footer or sidebar links and counting each link
72) Redirecting all 404's to the home page
73) Making your home page nothing but links. Me thinks that may be diluting your PR slightly
74) Using tons of inline CSS and Javascript
75) Serving different pages to target humans and spyders
76) Filling comments in the code with keywords
77) Hiding keywords in content by using the same color text as the background
78) Assuming that the keywords you are targeting are just as popular today as they were 2 years ago
79) Take others advice without first consulting with your SEO
80) Trying to stay completely removed from the process
81) Don't pay us
82) Blowing off Bing and Yahoo.
83) Thinking Social Media is a fad
84) Asking us, "what is Twitter"
85) Telling us you were ranking just fine earlier this year for that keyword
86) Go ahead, bold your keywords EVERY FRICKIN TIME it appears on the site
87) No, it doesn't help if you use the keyword more than once in the title tag
88) Tell us page load speed doesn't matter
89) Ask us to spell "canonicalization" :)
90) Delete a page without 301 redirecting the url to a new page
91) Use a Flash splash page.
92) Use session ID's in the url, Google loves those. Also, don't worry about their parameter handler in Webmaster Tools.
93) Create tons of sub domains vs sub directories.
94) Create content with no links to ANYTHING
95) Don't put images in your content
96) Be impatient, it will happen but not tomorrow!
97) Optimize your homepage for every keyword under the sun
98) Ignore site structure, the engines read the code from top left to right and down. Have you looked at it lately?
99) Disregard traffic analysis, there is NO WAY the traffic increase is because of our work
100) Blame lack of conversions on us, even though traffic is up 30%
101) AND one of my all time favorites: Hiding content in a container 1 px X 1 px...gotta love it

(Bonus 102!)
102) Linking to SEO related blog posts you find useful and a little entertaining ;)

Some awesome posts and lists I used to compile this list:

• Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/seo-donts-20-fatal-mistakes-you-must-avoid-to-succeed-11533
• Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/3634797
• SEOmoz: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-most-common-seo-mistakes-big-brands-commit
• TopRank.com: http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/03/common-b2b-seo-mistakes-and-how-to-solve-them/
• Outspoken Media: http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/9-seo-mistakes-businesses-make-with-content/
• Fantastic list by Paul Carpenter: http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/seo-101-common-mistakes.html

Hope you enjoyed the list! I'm sure I missed some so please leave them in the comments below. I will add them to the list if I like them. Also, be sure to keep NotaryBids.com in mind if you need a notary anywhere in the US.

You can also see the original post over at my SEO and Web Content Services site LenderTech.com

Did you know you can use News Releases to get immediate 1ST PAGE (or worse case 2ND) page rank on Google & Yahoo with a carefully written, keyword rich News Release?  What do I mean by IMMEDIATE? I mean IMMEDIATE! As soon as you submit your release you can Google your keywords and your release will come up at or very the near the top.  Skeptical? I was too until I tried it. 

Before you read on try this: open a new browser window and Google Search the following term: "NotaryBids launches" or better yet let me do it for you: http://www.google.com/search?q=notarybids.com+launches You will see 109 results returned, all from one well written, keyword rich news release I submitted about 2 months ago. 

A business associate and friend of mine Norm Bour of the Radio Show "The Weekly Real Estate and Finance Show With Norm And Mike" ( http://www.normandmike.com ) realizes the importance of marketing "you". Meaning don't sell your product, market "you". One of the ways he has been successful at doing this is by regularing submitting News Releases (aka Press Releases).  His News Releases have had a dramatic effect on his success and notoriety and they have also been instrumental in helping him to be recognized as an "expert" in this industry. 

Up until about 60 days ago my marketing efforts did not include News Releases.  Boy what a mistake!

I spend a lot of time educating myself on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Currently NotaryBids.com has the number 7 position on Yahoo for the search terms "mobile notary signing agent" out of 299,000 results.  That was obtained over time using carefully developed content, title tags, descriptions and lots of other tricks.  But I was BLOWN AWAY at how cheap and fast using a news release got me the traffic and exposure I wanted for NotaryBids.com.

Another example: Here is another recent example of a news release strategy I used for my sisters website www.WorshipToys.com She is a struggling single mom in NJ and works full time and then some to support her daughter. She recently became affiliated with a company called Blessed Toys (www.BlessedToys.com) They are a faith-based toy company that offers affiliate relationships to people that want to sell their toys.  The site they provide leaves much to be desired: http://www.blessedtoys.com/members/angels/ I set her up with her own website and explained to her that we need to do a News Release to kick start her marketing efforts.  We needed a way for 1) people that are looking for faith-based toys to find her site and 2) find a way to piggyback on the success and exposure her affiliate company BlessedToys.com is currently enjoying and 3) put her site above the many other BlessedToys.com affiliates. I decided the best thing to do is write a news release announcing the launch of her business and filling the title with keywords like "BlessedToys.com", "Faith-Based Toys", and of course her website title WorshipToys.com.  If you Google "BlessedToys.com" you can see her news release on the 2nd page at the very top. Initially when I submitted it we had first page #3 for about 2 weeks.

Wrap UP: A carefully written news release with a keyword rich title is a great way to enhance your internet advertising strategy.  The site I used was www.WebWire.com They offer a terrific service for just $19.00.  The next phase of my research and strategy will be submitting news releases on a regular basis, either weekly or bi-weekly as I have noticed that over time the news release losses it's relevance in the search results.

Like anything in life there is no guarantee this will work for you. Results will vary depending on your writing skills, keyword relevance and luck but I encourage you to give it a try.

If you would like a simple 10 step quide to writing and submitting a News Release I have written an eBook you can download here for just $19.00 http://www.NewsReleaseEbook.com 

- Chris

Do you get tons of email everyday like I do?  Most professionals do these days. Some of it is wanted email and some of it (lately a lot of it) is unwanted email from people we don't know pushing everything from Viagra, to the next great stock to other unmentionables... Microsoft Outlook offers a great way to automatically file your legitimate email in various folders based on who it's from or who it is to or the subject line or whatever the content is in the body including keywords you can choose. I am not talking about "Spam" management here. This is for email from friends, family associates, clients, whoever.

First off be sure you realize when I say Outlook I don't mean Outlook Express, the built in email program that comes with Windows and Internet Explorer. Microsoft Outlook is part of the "Office" suite of programs that are available for purchase from Microsoft like Excel and Word.

Outlook rules are basically quidelines you set up for your inbox.  The rules can do everything from file your email in specific folders automatically as they are received to color coding or playing a specific sound or even a special pop up message you can choose to notify you of important emails.

The most effective and common way I use rules is the filing in specific folders part so that my inbox stays managable.  (It's still pretty unmanaged but I do my best!) Say for example I want to make sure I don't miss emails from my sister.  I can create a folder called "Laura" and then set up a rule that tells Outlook to "move emails from Laura to the "Laura" folder automatically when they arrive".  Prettty cool huh?  Of course you have to make sure you have the "Folder List" showing. If you have Outlook you can do this by clicking the "View" menu and then select 'Folder List".  That way you can see that there is new email from Laura because Outlook will display the number of unread messages next to each folder.

How do you set up Outlook Rules?  I have 2 versions of Outlook on my various computers, Outlook 2002 (aka Office XP) and Outlook 2003. I can only speak intelligently about those versions. There are 2 ways to set up rules, the fastest and easiest way is to simply right click on an email and you will be given the option to create a rule relating to that email.  The dialog box that comes up is pretty straight forward and too lengthy to go in to here but I'm confident you'll figure it out. <wink>

The other way is from within Outlook to click on the "Tools" menu on the main menu bar at the top and select "Rules Wizard". This gets you a more comprehensive list of rules and options but can be a bit overwhelming.  I always say "Microsoft thought of everything you think you need, the trick is figuring out where it is and how to use it" ha ha...

Rules are also a great way to clean up your inbox. If you are like me you have had as many as 2000 emails sitting in your inbox. What a mess!  Outlook also offers the ability after you set up a rule to "Run It Now". You'll see this option after you set up the rule. By doing so Outlook will take all rules and apply them to your inbox. In seconds you will see your inbox immediately cleaned up and organized.  

BACK UP YOUR RULES! Finally, one important note about rules. You have the option to create a lot and some can be complicated so back them up!  I have had to recreate mine several times before I finally got wise and found a way to back them up.  When you have the rules wizard open click on the "Options" button. You will see an "Import" button and an "Export" button. Exporting is for saving and importing is for restoring them if you lost them or had to reinstall Outlook. 

So, those are the RULES for RULES sorta...don't forget you can always find plenty of help by selecting "Help" from the main menu in Outlook.

- Chris

I was reading some of Brad Andersohn's blog posts today, in particular his posts about Google and their various tools and features. (Great posts Brad, thanks so much for the info. I signed up and started using Google Alerts today)  There is another hidden gem in the Google arsenal I have been using on my site NotaryBids.com that I would like to share.  In fact before I wrote this post I used the search feature on this site to make sure there were no recent posts about it and low and behold, Active Rain uses it too.

Google custom search is a free tool non technical people can use to 1) add a quick and easy site search box to your website, blog  or any online content and 2) to actually build your very own search engine!  Although the site search is helpful I found there are endless possibilities Google gives us with this and the best part is it is free and it can be live on your website in about 15 mins! However, you must have a Google account to use it.

You are probably asking yourself, why would I want my own Search Engine? Well, I will tell you a little more about how Google Custom Search works and I think you may start seeing it could be a great traffic generator and marketing tool.

With Google Custom Search you control what sites get searched when someone uses your search engine. Using their easy to follow wizard you actually specify the URL(s) (website address) of the sites you want your search engine to search.  You can also specify if you want it to check the entire Internet as well or check your sites first then the Internet.  For example, I created a Notary Industry Search Engine called (you guessed it) NotarySearchEngine.com.  Currently if you follow that link it takes you to the search engine currently residing on my website but in the near future http://www.NotarySearchEngine.com/ will be a stand alone website and free tool for the Notary community. My vision is that NotarySearchEngine.com will be the place notaries and signing agents go when they want to quickly and easily find content on the web about their industry without getting hammered with ads and irrelavant content.

HOW CAN THIS HELP YOU? Lets say you set up a Real Estate listings search engine (and of course promote it at every opportunity). Who will use your search engine? Potential customers!  In addition, they will also see any content you want them to see around your search box.  Again the great thing is you pick and choose what sites they will see in the search results. It could be yours only or any number of other sites.  In addition, you might consider contacting other listing site owners and charging them a fee to be in your search engine...The sky is the limit!

ONE WAY TO USE AND PROMOTE YOUR SEARCH ENGINE: The actual html code you insert in your website, blog or other content to display your search box is very small and is completely self contained. Therefore you can offer the code to others to insert it in their websites as a way to drive traffic to their site which drives traffic to your site when they search. (I know that may seem complicated, feel free to contact me for clarification) Here is an example on NotaryBids.com: ADD OUR SEARCH ENGINE TO YOUR SITE 

THE DOWNSIDE: There are several downsides to consider before using this service:

1) Even if you use this as a way to search your own site Google's technology is not actually searching your site. It's searching THEIR INDEX of your site. In other words, your site search is only as good as how many pages Google has indexed on your site in the past. Try Googling your website address and you will see how many and which pages they have in their index first. If most of your site is not there a Google custom site search will not be valuable to your visitors because searches will not return any results. You can add your website pages to their index by going HERE but it takes a few weeks before your pages will show in searches.

2) There will be ads on the search results pages which may take your visitors off your site and in my humble opinion detracts from the professionalism of your site.  However, there is one way around this...Google offers a paid version of the Custom Search Engine called the "Business Edition". For about $100 a year your search results will not contain any ads and there are other benefits as well.

3) You may be making it easy for people to leave your site. Choose and plan your search engine carefully so that you are not sending your customers to someone elses site!

I would be interested in hearing about how others are already using Google Custom Search or plan to use it.