I speak with a lot of small businesses and they have some wild ideas about what it takes to be successful online.

Periodically I’ll dive into their thinking and offer ways to work through the issues they face.

One problem is they don’t understand search engine optimization – SEO. I can explain that it involves selecting keywords and integrating them into a web site (source code and text). Some of them wonder what that really means.

When I share that the words should be on the web site (it really doesn’t happen without touching the web site), they wonder what that might mean to the design.

One business wasn’t real keen on disturbing the design with words (apparently everything is supposed to be pretty with text a part of images). I made the case for appropriate sections, touches of text. The business rejected SEO. I think it’s just because the overall look mattered more and the executive was not able to grasp what text and SEO could accomplish within a nice design.

Instead of welcoming SEO, the start up ignored it.

Later, the executive asked for SEO after the design went ahead with a design that didn’t favor SEO.

Now I’ll try to work with the design with the possibility that the design will need to be modified. It’s just a shame that SEO wasn’t given a chance in the first place.

When companies are all about the visual and skip the SEO strategy, they basically declare: “I want to limit my search engine visibility and let others get the visitors.”

I justed created a new guide for accounting and CPA firms: “How Accounting and CPA Firms Can Succeed with SEO.”

Get  your copy of the accounting and SEO guide today.

It’s from World Synergy and Accountants and CPA Firms.

Here is an excerpt:

Accounting firms have many options when it comes to marketing. They can start with traditional efforts like generating leads through networking and following up on referrals from existing clients.

For a moment, you might think that no one would hire a professional services firm just by searching online.

But it happens that way – all of the time.

Yes, individuals and companies check with friends and business associates to find an accounting firm that could be a good fit for their interests and needs. They also rely on directories and search engines like Google and Bing to identify potential firms. Here’s a quick sampling of monthly searches on Google:

And that’s just the broad, national data. Here’s a cross-section of local searches:

In this guide, we’ll look at key ways accounting firms can leverage search engine optimization (SEO) to connect with prospective clients:

SEO has been around since the early 1990s and people still seem bewildered by SEO like it’s some kind of special magic that only some marketers understand and few master. It is complicated and based on many variables. But it can work if you’re smart about your strategy.

If your accounting firm wants to succeed with SEO, you need to start with a simple reality – your web site’s viability. It can change over time, but each web site at any given time has certain strengths and an ability to rank well on major search engines.

You can’t just pick keywords like you’re a kid in an apple orchard. It’s not that simple. Take stock of your situation and get a handle on what your web site has going for it.

Search engine rate all sorts of information for every single page, including:

• Domain name
• Domain age
• Number of pages
• Inbound links from other web sites, newsletters, blogs, magazines, directories, etc.
• Keywords in title tags
• Keywords in page headers (like headlines)
• Keywords in subheads
• Keywords in the core content
• Keywords in and around links between pages on a web site (also called anchor text)
• Keywords in the navigation
• Keywords in URLs (page names)
• Amount of content on each page
• Keyword themes throughout a web site
• Keyword density (percentage of keywords in relationship to other words on a page)

If you’re passionate about SEO or accounting, you’ll find want to get my new national study, “When Will SEO and Accounting Firms Add Up?”

Get the free study of accounting firms.

I spent a lot of time with 200 accounting firms – well maybe not in their offices. But I got to know them – from the single page that looks like it was made in 1996 to the largest CPA firms in the world. Amazingly, despite the apparent strides they’re making, they aren’t performing too well from a search engine optimization standpoint.

From what I could tell, they really lack visibility on the Internet. It appears that 62% don’t have a single word in the top 1o 0n Google for keywords based on the cities where they’re located.

Ouch.

I led the study with a team through Online Marketing Coach, a service of World Synergy (I’m the web strategy thought leader).

Online Marketing Coach manages an Internet directory I created called Accountants and CPA Firms. Until recently, it was Ohio CPA Firms. The directory ranks all over the place for major cities in Ohio. In recent months, we’ve been building up content with the new directory – and top rankings are springing up for everything from Fresno and Spokane to Ocean City (and a lot more).

Get listing info here.

By the way, we didn’t use any of the directory advertisers for the study except one we couldn’t avoid because it’s among the top 100 firms in the nation (one of the types of firms we targeted). We also looked at 100 small firms to see how they stacked up.

View the news release.

Let me know what you think of the study after you get a chance to check it out.

Try michael at onlinemarketingcoach.com or call me at 440.349.4940 ext. 635.

For effective online search marketing, here are some SEO Basics:

Keywords:

Keyword phrases are the most important part of your strategy. You’re going to miss your target, but that’s OK. That’s web site development. That’s marketing.

You can cast a big net and grab everything or you can target a specific phrase. I favor a mixed portfolio. It increases your odds of some success. A mixed set of keyword phrases also ensures some commonality among keyword phrases like nature posters and nature posters for sale.

If you go broad, your opportunities to convert a visitor (prompt them to take some action) are more limited. The searcher may very well not be interested in what you offer. If you’re too specific, no one may be searching (or the search traffic may be rare).

Web Site Content for Online Search Marketing

You don’t have a Golden Rule for content and the number of times you need to mention a keyword phrase. Start with few and then add more. Overkill won’t cut it. Some people suggest having 250-500 words per page. I think that can vary site to site and depending on what keyword you’re targeting. I’ve received traffic with 50 keywords and had no traffic with 500.

Focus on page headers, subheads and info boxes (secondary navigation) to other parts of the web site. Search engines seem to like it when you cluster together related keywords and navigation).

Online Search Marketing Analysis:

You can’t look at data in a vacuum. The real story is in the multiple slices of data and how they relate. A keyword ranking is nothing if no one is searching. And a single web site visitor can be worthless or an invaluable piece of data. You need to know how often people search for your relevant phrase. For example, if you see that you only got one visitor, that may be good if you’re ranking #15 and 500 people search for your phrase each month. You can do more with the page that is ranking and create related pages to support that keyword phrase (to help you get on the first page of Google and get more of those 500 visitors). Or, if you’re already ranking #3 for the keyword phrase and you only got one visitor, it’s likely a keyword phrase people rarely use. So don’t dismiss low web site visitor traffic. Keep it in perspective. If the Google tool suggests that relevant search traffic is high and you’re in the ballpark with rankings, you can make some changes and get the web site traffic volume you want.

Learn More

2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors – SEOmoz
 

SEO

• Competition
• Domain age
• Keywords in domain
• Text navigation
• Number of pages
• Amount of content on a page
• Keyword themes (keyword focus on web site)
• Anchor text (linked words when cross-referencing pages)
• Inbound links (from other web sites)
• Alt tags (text associated with images)
• Page headers (like headlines – H1 code)
• Subheads
• Proximity and density of keywords on page (staggered or limited to one area)
• Info boxes (secondary navigation with closely related linked text)
• Page age
• Programming (prominence of text on page or text lost in mounds of programming)
• Page load time
• Splash page (bad for SEO, and limited value for visitors who leave or click on
• Skip Intro out of habit)
• Keywords in page URLs
• Web site traffic
• Social media (mentions of your web site)
• Future content (your capacity to add to the web site)

If you want to be successful at online search marketing, these are some of the many variables you need to consider.