SEO (search engine optimization) is the art and science of bringing people to your website who are likely to purchase your book. Why use it?

• 81% of customers find products and services using search engines (Forrester Research). This is even true for local search.
• 60% of all search engine clicks occur in natural (non-paid) search results.

There are five components that contribute to high rankings in organic listings:

1. Keywords: This is a word or phrase that defines the demand on which targeted prospects are likely to search. Longtail and brand-related keywords are generally worth more than shorter, vague keywords, because they are typically used when someone is further along in the buying cycle.
2. Content: Search engine “spiders” read the content of the webpage in order to categorize the subject matter and determine whether or not the page should rank for related keywords and keyword phrases. Search engines also find content in URLs, alt tags, link title attributes, and heading tags.
3. Linking: Internal links are essential for good search engine optimization. The spiders find navigating your site easier when they can move through via internal links and place great importance on those linked pages.
4. Code: Code offers another opportunity to include keywords. It is often the first thing the spiders see.
5. Technology platform: Keeping technology as clean and simple as possible is important for both humans and search engines. Code factors that affect SEO include coding, databases, the use of JavaScript, and the content management system.

Along with these components, which are by and large onsite optimizations, a second component of your SEO campaign is a conservatively aggressive linking strategy.
It’s an essential part of search engine optimization, because the spiders “believe” that if you have links from other authority sites and important directories, then your site must be worth something in the eyes of the internet community, and they accordingly give you credit for that.

What is a link? A link is a reference on a web page that sends the user to some other place, either on the same site or out on the internet. Generally, a site with more quality inbound links will be positioned higher than a similar site with fewer links.

Some of these steps are things you can do for yourself. Others involve an in-depth knowledge of the search field and require the services of an expert. Feel free to contact Customline Wordware if you’d like some help with your SEO efforts!

Be aware in the meantime that SEO is currently undergoing a sea change. Google’s new personalized search (see this article by SEO guru Danny Sullivan to see where search is going) is going to be making a lot of changes in the landscape in the very near future. Stay on top of the trends, and then you’ll be .. beyond the elements of style!

Remember that if you installed a Google toolbar on your browser and use it for search, you’re missing out on the Google Doodles altogether! So make it a point to visit the landing page from time to time. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

But change is the only constant, and the web is changing faster than anything else, it seems. The new paradigm, the essence of social media marketing, isn’t helping people sell—it’s helping them buy. Changing the focus from pushing Product X to pulling people in to buy Product X. It may seem like a matter of semantics, but if you think about it you’ll see that it’s far more radical than that, a seismic shift.

It doesn’t mean that other forms of marketing are obsolete. In fact, social media marketing sits in snugly with search engine optimization, because at the end of the day, it’s still all about content, still about getting people to one’s site and having them buy once they’re there.

And there are as many ways of getting them there as there are people in any given conversation. But that’s another shift, isn’t it: from advertising (i.e., talking at people) to evangelizing (talking with people). Social media types find advertising invasive, anyway, so we’ll be seeing less and less of it; but one can evangelize from within—a community, a club, a social group—specifically because one is a group member. One belongs. One listens. One supports.

So the first tip for those of you who want to join the conversation? Listen! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

It’s called Link Tiles, and you can click around a bit to find where you fit in its schema (I’d suggest starting with “prose”).

Let me know what you think! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

“Spam blogs, sometimes referred to by the neologism splogs, are artificially created weblog sites which the author uses to promote affiliated websites or to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites. The purpose of a splog can be to increase the PageRank or backlink portfolio of affiliate websites, to artificially inflate paid ad impressions from visitors, and/or use the blog as a link outlet to get new sites indexed.

“Spam blogs are usually a type of scraper site, where content is often either inauthentic text or merely stolen (see blog scraping) from other websites. These blogs usually contain a high number of links to sites associated with the splog creator which are often disreputable or otherwise useless websites.

“There is frequent confusion between the terms “splog” and “spam in blogs”. Splogs are blogs where the articles are fake, and are only created for search engine spamming. To spam in blogs, conversely, is to include random comments on the blogs of innocent bystanders, in which spammers take advantage of a site’s ability to allow visitors to post comments that may include links.”

I want to say a little more about this, because it is a problem and has in a sense hijacked the public’s perception of search engine optimization. And since a) Customline Wordware does SEO and b) I continue to work ethically, it’s worth talking a little more about it.

Here’s Wired’s take on the issue: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/splogs.html (or http://tinyurl.com/knra7)
From the article: “Extreme vulnerability to spam, he says, is a defining characteristic of Web 2.0, and splogs are its first manifestation.”

SEO unfortunately got a lot of early bad publicity through those who abused it, and some of the dirt sticks; but like any other business technique, it can be used correctly and ethically, or it can be abused. Splogs (whether generated by people hired to write them or, as is done more frequently, stolen from other sites via bots) are indeed proliferating, and it’s hard to see where it will end. The author of the Wired piece seems to think that it could end the net as we know it. Stay tuned to see…

It’s worthwhile to occasionally put a long, unique phrase from your web copy into Google and see if it is being copied anywhere. I’ve found my posts copied elsewhere, and have had varying success in getting them removed, depending on the site owners and/or hosting company.

What can you do? Try this: Copyscape.com is a service with free and paid modes where you can check for pages that are duplicating the content from a particular URL.

And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

A necessary evil, at the very least.

One of the best tools I’ve found is to target and join multiple professional associations. And not just any professional associations: you need to choose ones where you will encounter the clients you’re hoping will engage your services. (Other groups — writing, editing, and SEO groups — may be great for your professional development, but don’t join them to get clients.) For example, if you want to target financial clients, research and then visit and/or join a few of their professional associations. You can take it a step further and participate in their email lists, advertise in their journals, attend their conferences, etc., but start with the professional associations: networking is king.

Other groups that exist uniquely for networking purposes are also worth exploring. Google “networking groups” or “networking associations” in your area and see what turns up. Typically this will involve attending regular local meetings and passing referrals to other group members along with accepting referrals from them.

Either or both choices are good, as are online networking opportunities such as LinkedIn and other such sites. Marketing doesn’t have to be a terrible chore, and you can end up with as many contacts as you make sales! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Let me note right away that I do not have children. What I do have, however, is a search engine optimization business, and not long ago I did a rather thorough evaluation of a website for a company that features children’s clothing, accessories, and furniture. We did not end up working together, but my computer … remembers.

The reason my computer remembers is because of Google. During the time I was doing this research, my ISP, for reasons unknown to anyone but itself, decided to stop sending my emails. I therefore relied on my Gmail account to correspond with the prospect and work on the website evaluation.

And Google, as we all know, Never Forgets.

So now as I meander around the web, pay-per-click advertising for this company is never far away. I check out the TV schedule and it reminds me about kids’ pajamas. I consider purchasing a book online and it’s right there telling me about a special on children’s dressers. I look into a writing contest and it wants me to pay attention to Christmas décor ideas for the kids’ rooms.

Inanely grinning child models are stalking me as I move through the net, haunting my every click. I want to run screaming from them, but they’re actually intruding into the real world, too. When someone mentioned the company name at a recent party I attended, I started looking around for the hidden microphones.

I could draw some political parallels, of course; but this column isn’t about politics, it’s about words. And today’s cautionary word-related tale? Be careful where and how you use your words, because Google Never Forgets. I’m lucky: I only have child-merchandise pursuing me. But the words you leave out there are there forever. It’s a great reason to think before you type.

Do that, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Every time Google dances and other SEO experts go swooning over page ranks and links and so on, I order another latte. I don’t care. Page rank is so 2005, folks, and links can be manipulated more than golf scores. But content – good, solid, reliable, authoritative, changing content – that’s what will bring visitors (and customers!) to a site.

The social media sites, no matter which one you choose to consider (and new ones spring up, literally, daily), are all about content. They’re frequented by people who are generally less educated but far more web-saavy than those who are attracted to pre-web 2.0 sites, and these users know all about links – and aren’t about to play that game. You can’t ask for links in this world, and you can’t buy links, either; you have to earn them.

And you earn them through great content. I’m starting to sense a theme here.

The social media world focuses on experience rather than on destinations. It focuses on connections rather than on sales pitches. And it values creativity above anything else. The best way to get noticed is to do something new, something cool, something insanely great – and tell somebody about it. Tell everybody about it.

Who do you tell? Ah, that’s the other catch. To market to these communities, you have to be part of the community. You cannot communicate to web 2.0 denizens unless you’re one of them, unless you’ve spent the time and taken the effort to be there. You have to grow a bit of a thick skin, for social media sites can feature some very mean individuals (read Digg for a few pages and you’ll see what I’m talking about); as is true everywhere, it is generally the people who know the least who attack the most. So you’re going to get some slingshots. You need to have humor and a sense of balance out here – it’s not for the faint of heart.

Let’s get back to content, though. Because social media has changed the way content is presented: even though it must be even better than ever in terms of quality, the quantity rules have changed:

• First, your content has to be bite-sized. Say what you have to say, say it well, remind people of what you just said, and get out. If you can’t do this well, hire someone who can (maybe even a copywriter like me!): it’s essential.
• Secondly, your bites need to be in a lot of different places. Study the sites. (I’m not going to list them here; those lists are available elsewhere – check out SEOMoz’s fine articles on social media marketing, as an example.) Everyone wants something a little different. Modify your bite-sized bits of content to suit the specific audience.
• Finally, and this is where all your old creaky SEO skills come in: change content. All the time. Follow up your bite-sized nuggets with other ones. Experiment with doing a series of such nuggets on a given site. Keep creating this great content and tossing the articles, lenses, and tidbits out into the social media you select. They won’t all stick; but some will.

Remember that you’re not going to make any sales out here: social media sites aren’t going to buy anything from you. But put out content that is creative, dynamic, and intriguing, and if you’re any kind of decent marketer, you’ll draw people in to where you want them to be … and encourage them to do what you want them to do.

Do that, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!