Jul 30

To Have Two Sites or Not to Have Two Sites? That is the Question.

We often get this questions from clients who are considering adding a new product or service to their company that doesn’t fit inside what they presently do. So today I want to take a look at navigating how to decide what to do.

There are a lot of factors to consider when launching a new vertical for your brand and how the size and scope of your business may impact this. Each situation should be looked at and assessed on its own merit. The first question I ask is, what are the goals and what are you hoping to accomplish? This often gives me insight as to what recommendations to make.

But see, I have a dual vision when I look at a problem. What is the client hoping to accomplish, but also how is Google going to perceive this? And then, how do you balance these two things? The natural progression in the conversation usually comes around to why should Google care? The answer is pretty simple. This can easily be perceived is trying to game Google’s system or trying to mislead them to gain larger traffic or market shares using their search engine. If you are only having two websites to gain market share, with no speakable difference in the two sites, then you should not have two sites.

Gaming the System

Google’s organic algorithm is designed to rank the most relevant website on any given term. So sometimes when trying to address this new vertical, it could be perceived that you are setting up a site to ‘game’ Google’s system. And Google does not take too kindly to that.

In the SEO world, you will hear a lot of discussion on the utilization of microsites and why they work. It’s a very pedestrian and rudimentary approach. And its probably past its shelf-life in terms of effectiveness. No matter, I still hear people discuss this and therefore I believe Google has a hypersensitivity to why this second site exists.

So here are a few honest scenarios we run in to.

Scenario 1: I have a top-ranking, focused, relevant website that is focused on Family Law and I want to now open a secondary product line that talks about corporate tax law. Well the only things those two things have in common is the word law. Aesthetically those are two different client types. The words surrounding each of those terms are different. So If I wanted to add tax law I may do a risk analysis and decide that I need a separate stand-alone site to address the needs of those clients and not dilute my primary business, which may impact it negatively. Additionally, there is the who is going to hire a Family Law person to do Tax Law or vice versa? Considering you have about eight seconds for people to decide if they are staying on your site, diluted messaging would not work well. I like to think in terms of what people know, so this would be like Taco Bell and KFC. Both owned by Yum Brands but marketing in two very different ways to two very different audiences.
Scenario 2: I have two unrelated topics, for example, I have a tax preparation business and I own a print shop. Those two things share nothing and therefore two sites are fine. And there is not much more discussion needed on that.
Senerio 3: I have a product that services two different markets, let’s say oilfield and aerospace. And this is where this can get very tricky to do it right. So, a large corporation that services multiple industries can put this on one website and do just fine with it. And in fact, most businesses would do just fine with it if you silo the material properly and use your brand as the umbrella. Take for example Trelleborg, their website makes sense. Google understands it and it is set up properly for that. Mostly because it was set up as an industry-specific site, with Trelleborg being the common thread between them all.

Fork in the Road

So what about a smaller company whose website was not set up around the industries they serve, but rather the products they sell? Because those silos are not built out and because the site ranks very well under the product side of the business, there may be a short-term negative implication from just adding them on to the site.

First thing I would determine is are they the same company or do they do business under separate names:

Example: Marathon Oil vs. Marathon Petroleum / ExxonMobil vs. ExxonMobile Chemical

If they are two separate companies, with two separate addresses, separate corporate structures and different attributes like separate phones, we are well within our bounds to have two separate sites and allow them to operate as two different entities. It would also be assumed that they would have two separate product offerings and would not be piggybacking one off the other.

Cannibalization of Keywords

Once you determine you do need two websites, you must stay above board. The natural inclination would be to cannibalize keywords or try to make the product offering the same on both sites thinking you will get a bigger market share. But this is where this starts leaning towards stepping over Google guidelines as well. If you felt these two businesses needed to be different and have different websites, there should be no inclination to blend them back. Resist the temptation.

Products, content and approach must be unique for both sites or you risk damage to one or both of the sites in the SERPs. There would be places that you may compete, but overall they should remain different.

Google My Business and Local SEO

One other concern that has come up since I originally posted this is how essential Google My Business has become. However depending on which path you choose and what direction you may or may not want a unique Google My Business page for the entity. In most cases, I would say you do not. It is like notifying the police that your speeding so that they can give you a ticket. The first question I would ask is, would the company have local foot traffic or need a unique map listing. If the answer is yes then proceed on. If the answer is no don’t mess with it. But if the answer is yes, here are more decision guidelines.

I am a lawyer who wants to add a separate wills site for my divorce site. I have two different addresses but they are similar and walk-in business would come really to the same place.
I would not open a separate GMB account.
I have 2 unrelated businesses. I would have 2 GMB for that.
Are each company/division offering similar things that Google may think are too similar? If so I would proceed with caution. If no then it might (stressing might) be okay

Conclusion

Each situation should be evaluated as to where it makes the most impact, but here are a few rules to follow that should help:

Evaluate Ownership
Assess the Audience
Avoid Cannibalization
Do not make a second site with the only intent as to game Google
Understand that each site will have to be cultivated independently. Separate content, links, social, and engagement.
General speaking use good common sense when deciding on setting up a separate Google My Business account

If you don’t have a clear path or resources and aren’t willing to do all that is entailed, add your new product or services to the main site as long as there is a relationship between the items. In other words, don’t add Veggies to a Shoe site. And once you put them together, it will be very difficult to pull those pages back out and put them on their own. To understand this is not a decision that you can make and unmake and make and unmake.

Feb 07

The Key Elements To Business Web Development

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

One of the key elements to business web development and its success is hiring the right SEO firm. Anyone can design a website on the internet. It is even possible to do so without charge. However, there are other things such as hosting and maintaining it that begin to make the average person nervous. For a company that has their future riding on those pages, they need to make sure that they have the best representation that is possible.
While many people think of business web development as a mere banner of advertisement, nothing could be farther from reality. Once a domain name has been assigned to a page, there is still much to do such as adding content. The content is the way that a company conveys to the prospective client why they are the one that should be chosen to provide the goods or services for which the customer is searching. This data has to be useful as well as timely. Poorly written articles that have many grammatical mistakes can jeopardize not only how they look in the eyes of the consumer, but how the company is perceived within the extremely strict regulations of the search engines. Mistakes or incorrect info can lead to the site being penalized by losing their ranking through the likes of Google or Bing. Plagiarizing can also be an extremely costly mistake as the crawlers are looking for repetitive information that is found elsewhere on the net.

It is just as important to make sure that the server continuously hosts the pages so that they do not end up being unavailable to traffic. All of these things depend on the right SEO professional.

Feb 07

What Is A Black Hat SEO Service

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

Everyone has known someone who takes risks and cuts corners and that is what a black hat SEO does. It is a lazy way to promote a business as being a search engine optimization service when in actuality the service they are providing is immoral and unethical. They will eventually lead their customers into the abyss of the internet because they will be banned from being indexed by the more popular search engines.

Creating pages that the business does not know is there, using white text to log in extra key words or using the key words three times in each sentence are all things that can end up getting a business’s website banned from the likes of Google or Bing. These are some of the tactics that a black hat SEO service will do to get fast results. In the short term it looks like they delivered on what they promised but over the long term, the end result could be disastrous.

Building a great website with usable and fresh content takes a lot of time and constant maintenance. The truth is there is no way to quickly get the top slot on the front page of a search engine. It requires the right knowledge and the right company monitoring the site to make sure that everyone within the website is within the perimeters of regulations and rules that Google and others demand that companies adhere to at all times.

The old saying about if it seems too good to be true it probably is, definitely rings true for these rule bending companies.

Jan 28

How Ecommerce Website Design Can Help A Business

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

There are many methods for obtaining a professional ecommerce website design. There are free templates, premium templates, and custom designs to choose from for the business owner looking for an online presence.

While some of those methods allow the business owner to not have to pay a single dime, sometimes, they want something a little more professional and unique. For this to happen, the business owner looks for a company capable of providing superior and reliable web designing. These developers create, complete, and maintain a site. In addition, a specialist can be active through all stages of the process and be there to provide any other necessary services.

What makes a developer capable of providing unique and reliable construction of the business’s online site? How does an online storefront work? Can it be secure enough to take payments?

Experience and education is the key to a successful specialist. There are a multitude of choices available just by utilizing a favorite search engine. Sometimes, knowing which one to choose is not as clear cut as choosing by what they charge for their services. Skill and experience are easily witnessed by looking at past work. The portfolio should be filled with exceptional examples of past work that showcase numerous sites.

Building an online storefront often includes a variety of methods for the business owner to sell a product or service. These online storefronts are secure and safe, which will allow their clientele to make a purchase and receive a product without the fear of identity theft. Ecommerce website design will allow the business owner to make sales and receive payment without any glitches.

Jan 28

What Custom Web Development Companies Have To Offer

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

There is a vast difference between designing a business site and custom web development. Knowing the difference can save a business a considerable amount of time, stress, and money. A well designed site can increase its potential for revenue and attract a specifically targeted demographic to the site.

Basic designing may look aesthetically pleasing but be lacking in the basic maneuverability that denotes a quality site. Most businesses want to have a site that works to gain clientele and increase their overall revenue. That means something more than aesthetics is necessary. With a custom web development company, the online company will find that the SEO specialist will develop a plan of action that is created uniquely to meet their specific needs. Not all businesses require the same options for maximizing their site. A professional company will understand how to provide a unique online presence.

Mobile applications are a vital part of maximizing potential visibility to an online marketplace. An online presence should also appeal to smart phone users. In addition, mobile applications can attract a variety of potential clients that may otherwise be unavailable. This will boost how an SEO company can work for a business.

Is hiring someone to do a customized website appropriate for all businesses? If a business wants to attract an online audience, then the answer is yes. There is a lot of competition on the internet. SEO and SEM specialists help provide that company with the most advanced techniques available to create a greater volume of clients and customers.

Jan 28

Searching For The Best Web Development Firm

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

Choosing a web development firm to ensure a positive online presence takes a bit of effort. There are a number of viable choices online, and sometimes, the choice comes down to price. However, knowing how to choose a company that provides the needed services and is on the up and up is the first step to getting a better deal.

Some questions to address:

How many years of experience does the proposed company have?

Stability is an important part of staying in business. By investigating the longevity of the company, the investigator can get a good idea of the stability of that company. A company that has been around a while will most likely remain active, providing upkeep and maintenance years in the future.

What services do they provide?

Design is great, but there is a lot more to an online presence than the design. Marketing, advertising, planning, updating, maintaining, and even correcting the finished design is an essential part of a company. The more aspects of the complete process the company provides the better.

What are the payment terms?

Just about any reputable company will ask for an upfront deposit, regardless of the size of the project. As milestones are met, payments are then releases to continue the progress. Always be cautious of a company demanding full price upfront.

While nothing can ever guarantee a successful merging of minds between company and purchaser, there are ways to better ensure a closer meeting of ideas. A web development firm is there to help build, promote, and maintain a site for a purchaser. By asking just a few questions, the purchaser is better able to predict a successful campaign.

Sep 05

What is Reputation Management

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

What is Reputation Management?

Simply stated, it is the science of URL domination on the front page of a search engine. We see to it that every listing about you that appears in a relevant search points to something good about your organization.

Why would we need it?

You need it because someone out there is always going to try to make themselves look good by making you look bad. Plus, you already know that some people are impossible to satisfy, and these are the people that always are the first to write nasty little comments on the Internet.

You need a way of heading these people off at the pass before they can do more damage than their limited thinking skills should be allowed to accomplish.

What if criticism published against us contains a certain amount of truth?

What is truth? By truth do we mean the facts of a matter? Does the person criticizing you have ALL of the facts, or even more importantly, are they PRESENTING all of the facts in a rational way? No. Angry people twist the facts to make themselves look good, and to make you look bad.

In reputation management, we do not play that game. We simply compile facts upon facts that clearly itemize the benefits you consistently deliver to reasonable clients whose continued business with you proves you are doing things write.
If you have made mistakes we are not going to put them on trial to determine their guilt or innocence. We are here to talk as much as possible about the countless number of times you MADE NO MISTAKES and simply outnumber your alleged failures with an overwhelming army of success stories.

How does reputation management specifically work?

We purchase multiple URL’s that relate your company name or key service offerings. In effect, this uses URL management to achieve brand positioning in your respective industry. Whenever a key phrase that relates to you in any way gets typed into a search engine, the results on the front page that follow report the strength and integrity of your organization and push any negative comments further down in the search engine listings.

Do you only buy URL’s for us? Can we not do that ourselves?

No, because you have to fill those URL’s with the right kind of content. That content must be SEO friendly and also clearly communicate to the human mind what they can expect as a result of doing business with you.

What kind of content do you write?

Everything from feature articles, business blogs, testimonials, and press releases can be included in our service offerings. It depends on what your organization specifically needs. Strategies are individualized and developed in partnership with each client on a case by case basis.

Reputation management tools are implemented in accordance with the strategy.

Sep 05

Web Design & Enterprise Solutions

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

SEO411 builds turnkey web designs around enterprise solutions.

We provide everything needed by you to rise to a position of true market dominance. We offer plenty of room, and even more options, to provide you with reliable, productive process flow.

Co-location makes it possible for the smallest companies to have everything a big company

You can rely on some of the best servers in the country to provide you with affordable web hosting, website development, Internet marketing, and website security. We use proprietary content management software to develop your new website.

SEO411 clients get their websites hosted on managed servers.

Once your website is up and running on your own managed server, we maintain its momentum with daily activity. we provide hosting, tech. support, maintenance, and the daily posting of content on your behalf.

We protect these enterprise solutions with multiple security levels.

Several scanning programs are run daily that detect and destroy obtrusive agents such as Trojans, worms, and server crashers. Firewalls protect company secrets and data integrity. Intrusion prevention catches any attempt to gain unauthorized access to your site.

We use all kinds of tools and monitoring systems to get this done. Some of these we obviously are not going to talk about on our home page. Suffice to say we can detect and track down spammers and hackers when they try to break into the network.

Still another vital component to SEO411 enterprise solutions is PCI compliance for E-Commerce clients.

A large number of the businesses we serve are product sales companies. In fact, some of these businesses were among our very first clients 10 years ago and remain with us to this day.

These companies must have reliable e-commerce to make money, and they depend on us to make certain that all credit card information sent to their websites meets with full PCI criteria.

We handle all security protocols called for by card issuing companies and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. we also conduct audits, scans, and annual assessments.

Enterprise solutions with 99.99 SLA are standard for SEO411 clients.

We keep our servers constantly up and running so people can make money 24 hours a day. As we stated earlier, many clients are product distributors that ship all over the country. Some even ship worldwide. Resultantly, they simply cannot afford downtime of any kind because the next transaction could happen when they least expect it.

For this reason, you can count on SEO411 meaning what we say when we tell you that you get 99.99 SLA as part of the deal. It simply has to be this way due to the nature of the businesses we work with, and for the sake of the integrity of the long-term contracts we establish with our clients.

Sep 05

High Impact Website Design

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

SEO411’s high impact website creates consistent, long-term lead generation for every client.

Every website is aesthetically appealing without busy overkill. The power of our approach, and the key to the success that we create for you, is rigorous SEO.

We require ourselves to make sure that you are found by your clients. We see little point in building a website that no one ever sees.

We avoid wasting time on theories and hypothetical’s. It is important to keep things practical and always moving forward.

Rather, we take initiative in strategic website designs that put you in a dominant of market dominance.

Copywriters are trained to sound through articles and blogs that showcase the unique value production that characterizes your particular organization. We want your clients to feel familiar with you before they actually contact you. We want them to feel they know you well enough already that they won’t bother to call your competitors.

The importance of content writing in our search marketing website design is central to everything.

Content writing drives organic listings in search engine results that consistently rank your website above your competition. This gives you long-term, consistent exposure to new possible customers.

Our content writers deal in tangibles. Generalities, ambiguity, and vague talk are rejected in favor of the concise and the concrete.

Prospects have to be able to visualize the benefits of what you can do for them when they read the articles and blogs on your site. They need to be able to count on the value production you offer. The truth helps you many money.

Results are greatly proportional to partnership, and expectations should be set for the long term.

If someone told you new website design is an instant money bag, they did not tell you the truth. SEO411 tells the truth about what to expect and when to expect it.

Hard work is always part of making you money.

We do not economy, nor do we cower down before its threats. Website design is an essential in this civilization no matter what flips the economy makes. With our team of consultants, you can rest assured that your initiatives will steadily grow through careful, deliberate, and systematic execution of your custom online marketing program.

Sep 05

The Power Of Website Development

By Beth Guide In Uncategorized /

Website development IS defined by customization to client need.

Sites are attractive and balanced. They are also highly functional. Advanced internet marketing methods are combined with the best in copywriting and web editing services. This makes your site easy for potential clients to find.

We regard it as pointless to create websites that rival movie quality if no one can find them in an Internet search.

Our core principle has always been that websites must be found first before they can be seen. You get this with SEO411’s website development. We make no pretense about this being a process. Nothing good happens overnight. But for those who value commitment, long term relationships bring sure return on investment.

We never cease to tell people how essential SEO is to web development.

We maintain a high standard that keeps you high in Google and Bing. We use strategically written and carefully targeted articles and blogs to populate organic listings. We use ongoing website development through content writing that spells out in simple terms what the nature of your products and services are.
With strategically targeted articles, blogs, and ongoing website development, we position you higher than your competitors in the search engine rankings.

We do this by stating the facts in a manner that educates your clients in the nature of your services. We enumerate in plain English the tangible values people can expect to get when they do business with you.

We do not write feel good copy that says nothing when you read it. We avoid the ambiguity that many rely on.
People know you have “great customer service” and “quality” to offer. Does anyone NOT say this?

It is so much better to be the one company that is different by simply telling the simple facts about what you do for people. You gain enormous credibility when you do this.

The time we invest in your website development relationship is directly proportional to the payoff you receive. If anyone told you that a new site will bring instant ROI, then they took your money and you never saw it again.

We don’t do that. We are candid about the amount of time and energy we must expend to give you the results you anticipate.

Our team commits itself to a plan, and then it executes that plan without bogging ourselves down with what the economy is doing today. We have found that simply focusing on consistent partnership and community management will always pay off no matter what.