Alberta Business Marketing

At the recent Search Engine Strategies event in Toronto one of their final sessions was held at the Hyatt Regency’s bar where many of the conference attendees got together and discussed tactics around Search Engine Optimization and if they were a Black Hat or a White Hat optimizer. Intrigued I was…interested in seeing all the different opinions and approaches some optimizers take in working on search engine rankings.

Being relatively new to this industry here in Calgary I was intrigued until I finally got it.  White Hat and Black Hat SEO are tactics used to help position business in the search engine rankings.  I related this to what my friend Paul Moffatt would call, below the line or above the line prospecting.  This got me thinking, what do I stand for in business.  The Go Giver approach or the Go Taker approach.  White vs. Black in the SEO world.

At about.com they define Black Hat SEO at unethical or if I relate it to Paul’s prospecting model, perhaps “below the line’.  Is operating in this manner effective?  This is a question I keep asking myself.  Is creating doorway pages or feeding industry forums with false information appropriate tactics in SEO or promoting your business online.  I recently experienced perhaps a “so called” guru SEO consultant at work at a recent trade show who in my opinion confused many of our peers with trickery and black hat tactics.

I left their presentation wondering how long it will take for Black Hat tactics to be punished on Google?  May not to long with their recent Mayday release.

I rather focus on the “white hat approach”.  White Hat SEO tactics focus on quality content balanced across the Internet.  It is about leadership and being an authority on your area of focus.  I may even break it down to specializing, picking a niche rather than attempting to be everything to everybody.  Although it maybe slower in getting the SEO results you are looking for, it will be more effective in the long run.  This is my belief.  It is sort of like the sprinting out in the marathon just to get the TV time as the early leader and your 15 minutes of fame or pacing yourself and winning the race.  What would appeal to you?

About.com defines “White Hat SEO” as clearly defined keywords, important keywords and phrases stand out and I would even take it a step further and I tell my clients about the importance of balance.   On their website, balancing the right content with the right design…this is what matters the most online.  Google’s Mayday update may just reward those who have been focusing in the White Hat space with the changes to long tail searches and maybe punish those who demonstrate Black Hat approaches to SEO and not focused on quality content.

Deep down inside, I don’t like seeing business in Calgary and wherever we serve being taken advantage of by slick salespeople and those only out to serve their own interests (this month’s quota).  This is not the Go-Giver model I have been working hard at focusing on over the past few years.  Your business needs someone who will serve you and look after your best interests.  Your business needs someone they can call on when they need help or have a challenge.  This is what I strive for and if this approach interests you, then call me at 403.775.2205, I will be happy to serve your needs.

Tags: About.com Inc, Black hat, Calgary, Computing, Google Inc., Hat, Hyatt Regency's bar, Internet Marketing, Mayday, search engine, search engine optimization, SEO consultant, Stuart's ramblings, Technology/Internet, toronto, White hat, World Wide Web
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Over the course of the past 48 hours, one continuous message was almost a centre of discussion at the SESTO show which has recently wrapped up in Toronto was the elimination of spam in search.

The other day I got to see “doorway page” spam at work. I was on a conference call and was fielding some questions about search engine optimization with a potential client of ours at Ulistic. This client has an older site laced with hundreds of links in the footer of their main corporate site and is reluctant to remove them. He believes they work and my guess is some inexperienced SEO guru told him this is what he needs to do in order to succeed online.

Well, nothing is further from the truth in today’s search world. Those links at the bottom of your page are not scoring high in the Google world and they may be flagged as spam and will potentially harm your overall page ranking. Driving off page one instead of keeping you at the top.

What works? This list is quite a lengthy one but I will touch on just a couple of examples right now:

Keyword Rich Content – I preach about then importance of balance of design and content. Your website needs to work for the reader and for Google. Balancing the design of your site with well-written and keyword rich copy is crucial to attract qualified prospects from the search engines.

Be personable – This point is very important. You need to be personable online. Blogs and social media are wonderful ways your business can “have a face” online. Using Facebook, Twitter, video and blogs are key important personable tools all business must embrace.

There is more to life than self-serving links, especially spam-filled self-serving links…this is from the horse’s mouth and was shared with us SEO professionals at the Search Engine Strategies show in Toronto. Stop the cycle of pages filled with spam.

Get personable and educated your followers. Share your insight and share your knowledge and you just may rise to the top of the table.

My company Ulistic works with business across Canada understand SEO, social media and the importance of doing business online today. Give us a ring at 403.775.2205 with any questions you may have.

Tags: 403.775.2205, canada, Computing, Doorway page, E-mail spam, google, Google Inc., Google search, important personable tools, Internet Marketing, main corporate site, search engine, search engine optimization, search engines, search world, social media, Spam, Spamming, Technology/Internet, toronto, Twitter Inc, ulistic, website, World Wide Web
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Is your head buried in the sand or does your technology organization understand and leverage the powers of online marketing, search engine optimization and social media to share information, content and advice with your community and client base?

Hello from Toronto and the 2010 Search Engine Strategies conference.  David and I are guests at this years Canadian stop and enjoying a great opportunity to share best practices and ideas with many of our peers in the online community.  It is great to actually see faces in this usual face-less world that is emerging.

It is no secret that the online search world is evolving, is your business prepared for the upcoming changes or are you still attempting to catch up with older techniques?

Today’s age of the knowledge worker empowers users and search is one of the most important ways many learn about what you have to offer and teach the market about your offerings. Search can be a complex yet adaptive strategy and the time is now businesses large and small to take control of how and where people find them online.

Interested in understand the latest on how Google’s search techniques impact the marketplace? Does Microsoft’s advertising strategy tweak your curiosity but allow prospects to find you?

The 2010 Toronto Search Engine Strategies may just have the answers for you. Now underway at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Toronto this annual event brings the sharpest minds together for 2 days of intense collaboration on search engine techniques and facilitates the sharing of best practices amongst conference delegates.

It is no secret that the Internet is evolving and the way small business across North America look at new ways to market their business challenges even the sharpest of marketing minds. SES 2010 provides a forum for online marketers to learn the latest techniques on effective link building, pay-per-click advertising, social media tactics, real-time search effectiveness and many more business and marketing strategies.

Now in it’s seventh year, SES Toronto is organized and programmed by the SES Advisory Board and SearchEngineWatch.com, the leading authority on Search Engine Marketing (SEM), including Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click.

What are some of the emerging trends? Is it Google’s recently announced “Caffeine”, which is a complete overhaul on how Google indexes websites? Will this shift from crawling the net looking for content to a real-time database of online content change the way many of our VAR businesses show up on search results?

Will Social Media continue the onslaught that has attracted the attention from experts, enthusiasts and hobbyists? Gobbling up the attention span of business professionals to casual surfers across everywhere? How important will Facebook and Twitter be in the next year? Will the “instant on” social media services play impact search results and help position business when prospects look for products and services? “We can’t continue to keep our heads in the sand.” states Ulistic Senior Advisor David West.

These questions and others will be discussed in the keynotes, breakouts and in the hallways throughout the 48-hour conference in downtown Toronto. Peter Morville, President of Michigan’s Semantic Studios kicked it all off with his morning keynote address on how search patterns influence the decisions and actions people make. “We really need to understand our users and the vocabulary and the words they use,” said Morville, talking on understanding how people search for information throughout many facets of Internet, mobile and Internet search.

Follow Search Engine Strategies on Twitter #SESTO.

Tags: advertising strategy, Advisor, Business/Finance, David West, Facebook Inc, google, Google Inc., impact search results, Internet Marketing, Internet search, knowledge worker, Michigan, Microsoft Corporation, North America, online community, online content, online marketers, online search world, pay-per-click advertising, Peter Morville, President, President of Michigan, real-time search effectiveness, Reprise Media, search engine, Search engine marketing, search engine optimization, Search Engine Strategies, search engine techniques, Search Engine Watch, search results, search techniques, SES 2010, social media, social media services, social media tactics, technology organization, Technology/Internet, toronto, Twitter Inc, Vertical search, Web search engine, World Wide Web
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Greetings from Toronto and the floor of SES 2010 Toronto.

During the next couple of days the members of Ulistic are wearing our “press and PR” hats.  David and I have been invited to cover in our blogs, all the great things going on at this years Search Engine Strategies Toronto conference.  This is my first time ever at this event and I am very excited to be back in my hometown.  It is truly an honour to be working in this industry and very excited to be reporting on all the great things happening in and around this two-day conference.

I was shocked to hear that this year’s SES 2010 Toronto event is the 7th annual event.  It only seems like yesterday that search engine optimization became such a big deal.  But it is for many Canadian small businesses?  I believe that effective SEO strategies are a big deal and it is now a very crucial component to any marketing and sales plan.  It is time for Canadian business to execute on creating vibrant SEO campaigns to help market their business in the highly competitive online world we live in.  I am not going to start my rant about planning again today, however if you are not thinking about your search positioning on the major search engine engines you maybe missing out on opportunities out in the market.

SEO is especially important since I just learned that the Yellow Pages Residential directories are going to stopped in seven cities across Canada.  They are urging people to go online and search for information.  Wait a second, they are encouraging you to do what?  Yes, search for information online.  Now do you get the importance of SEO.

Ulistic is a Calgary-based Search Engine Optimization firm specializing in helping your business gain exposure online and David and I are here in Toronto attending and covering the SES 2010 event.  Need some help to figure out SEO for your Canadian Small Business…give me a ring at 403.775.2205.

Tags: 403.775.2205, Business, Business/Finance, Calgary, canada, Internet Marketing, online world, Organization of Search Engine Optimization Professionals, search engine, search engine engines, search engine optimization, Search Engine Strategies, search positioning, toronto, ulistic, World Wide Web, Yellow Pages
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Nothing is more suicidal for a business than not have clear objectives and not having the plans in place to support you through your business journey.  My good friend and trusted mentor, Arlin Sorensen who guided me through my years as an IT Professionals talks about the importance of planning every day.  His basic four plans for business success is something I attempt to live by (doing an OK job with some).

I still run into many small businesses in Calgary with no business plan.  They have no clear objectives, they don’t know if they are on track and the worst thing is that they all have employees running around like chickens with their heads cut off.  Simply because the leadership team has no clear objectives, no destination in mind and no idea how they are going to get there.  Besides loosing tonnes of cash spinning their wheels they also run the risk of losing their talented staff.

Is this your business?

Is your approach to business this, let’s just shoot everything up against a wall and let’s see what sticks?  What falls to the ground we will dismiss and what sticks, “heck, let’s go for it”.  I would like to advice you, that approach may not be the best for you and your team.

Why do you come into the office each day?

Since my focus now in business is around your entire strategy when it comes to marketing your business online, I am going to practice what I preach and focus in on what I know.  However, I am also a small business owner and have been in organizations that didn’t have a business plan and people on the team were the “blind leading the blind”.  It is very frustrating.

Your online marketing must have clear objectives and be measurable.  Tweeting for the sake of tweeting may win you a tonne of followers on Twitter, but tweeting which is aligned to your business objectives may win you new business opportunities.  Do you see what I am getting at?  What is your blogging strategy, who does what and on what topics?  How do you know what you are doing is working?  Lots of questions to ask here.

Based on what Arlin has taught me throughout the years, I came up with four mandatory plans for online marketing success.

1. Your Business Plan – This is a must (fail to plan, plan to fail)
2. Your Marketing Plan – This is where you set all your marketing goals and where all marketing rolls up
3. Online Marketing Strategic Plan – What are the goals of your online marketing in relation to your entire marketing and business plan
4. Online Marketing Execution Plan – Who is responsible for what, what gets done and what needs to happen.

You can even break it down deeper that every aspect of your execution plan has a strategy and execution plan attached.  The message here is that you have to plan.  You must start with the end in mind and work back.  You need to constantly tweak based on your objectives and you can’t do that unless you measure what you are doing and taking ownership of your entire business strategy.

This is where our team at Ulistic comes in.  Enter, shameless self promotional piece…if your business simply needs some guidance on social media, online marketing, search engine optimization or any other marketing type of query answered…pick up the phone and call me at 403.775.2205 Option 2.

Tags: 403.775.2205, arlin sorensen, Business, business plan, Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, Management, marketing plan, online marketing success, search engine, search engine optimization, social media, social media part, Twitter Inc
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