Denver Web Design & Denver SEO - The Katz Web Design Blog

I am pleased to introduce DenverSEO.info, a web page that goes over the basics of search engine optimization: what is SEO, how can you do SEO yourself, and Denver-specific SEO.  Many of Katz Web Design’s clients are unclear as to what search engine optimization is, so I hope this page gets them started with their own optimization.

The web page was constructed using Google Pages, which was very simple to set up, but unfortunately, they don’t allow you to point your domain there properly, so I’ve hosted it on the KWD server.

Because this domain is a .info, it’s very informative (with little self-promotion), and I hope that users will find it to be helpful.  Leave feedback below!

Only pay for great optimization results

One of Katz Web Design’s Denver web design clients wanted an option for performance-based SEO (Search Engine Optimization), rather than a monthly set price, so I created a package.  

Here’s the gist of our SEO package:

• Pay only $5.00 an hour for optimization
• Targeted keywords are given a value based mainly on the competition’s SEO strength (content optimization, inbound links, age of site, etc.)
• Monthly payment per keyword are based on SEO click-through statistics  (eg: the #1 result gets 42% of all clicks) and SEO difficulty
• Minimum 3 month contract, or by the month with a 15% premium 

(more…)

So I’ve been working on creating great content for everyone out there, which happens to include Google.  Well, it turns out that the Denver Web Design & Denver SEO Blog has been given a PageRank (their system of measuring the quality of a website) of 5/10…which is great.

I enjoy blogging for many reasons other than SEO, but it’s always nice when there’s a great reward, including good PageRank from Google.

I recently purchased some domains for SEO, and I wanted to do some research about best practices for using multiple domains on the same content.

The good news?  Google does not punish duplicate content; they just sort it out themselves. (more…)

Image by annaOMline

Gettin’ Me Some Domains for Search Engine Optimization

Since Katz Web Design is going to be more active in Denver search engine optimization, I finally registered some domain names that I’ve been eyeing. Since domains are important for S.E.O. and KWD doesn’t have any SEO domain names, it was a ripe time to buy.

Bought

• denverseocompany (.com and .net)
• denverseo (.info)
• seodenver (.biz and .info)

Want to sell

There are also a few domains I’d like to sell, since I didn’t end up using them; I was the president of a chapter of Colorado Business Leads for a while, and I had planned to make a member directory website as an added benefit, but (no surprise) I was too busy.

• madeindenver.net
• lakewoodbusinessleads.com
• denverbusinessleads.com
• jeffcobusinessleads.com

If anyone’s interested in these domains, make an offer.

Much search engine optimization revolves around guessing how users will search to find your site. When you’re optimizing for organic (non-paid) search results, you may be surprised to find out how much word order impacts the search ranking.

Optimize your website for organic search with varying keyword order

If you search the major search engines, you will find that the order of your keywords makes a huge difference on where your website ranks. (more…)

Westside Business Builders is a networking group based in Golden, Colorado. Their website provides general information about the group, and it serves as a member directory. Katz Web Design is a member of the group.

The membership committee asked Katz Web Design to prepare a proposal for the WSBB website, and this Wednesday, the group voted to have KWD redesign the website to improve appearance and functionality.

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I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one of my first clients in Lakewood, Colorado is now ranked top 5 for their primary keyword/key phrases:

SEO results for New Choices Plus

At the time of writing this article, here is their ranking in Google:

• Denver lavage: 3
• Denver colon hydrotherapy: 1
• Denver colon cleanse: 4
• Denver colon: 3

It’s pretty cool that even before I was “doing SEO” that KWD websites perform well in search.  It got me to thinking of some pretty fun domain names!

I’ve been working with the WordPress platform for a little while now, and I’ve been a regular blogger since January (though I had been promoting blogging for years earlier, and had my first blog in 2000 [yes, I'm a bit insecure about my blogging creds]).  I’ve created many sites with blogging capabilities, some of them based on Blogger.com integration, and others WordPress.

I’ve explained the benefits of blogging many times to my clients, made nagging phone calls reminding them to blog — all to little avail.  I even wrote an article about the importance of blogging to help explain myself. But still, the blogs remain silent.

What I tell my clients about the benefits of blogging

If my clients already know what a blog is, then I can dive into why it’s so important (other than people KNOW that it’s important).  I tell them the following:

Blogging is a great way to reach people who may not be searching for what you want them to be searching for. Let’s say you have a service for “healing touch,” but it’s not “therapeutic touch.”  With a normal website, you would not be able to rank well for the other key phrase. If you write an article on the differences between therapeutic touch and healing touch, you then will be able to rank for both phrases, even if your business only focuses on one service.

The more you write about what you know, the larger your online sphere of influence grows. By writing consistenly about topics important to you, you’re able to rank better in Google and other search engines, build a community of people who follow what you write, and become an authority on your topic.

There’s no other marketing medium like blogging where all you need to invest is your time, and you’ll get direct benefits. Fliers, radio, tv, newspaper, business chambers — they all take money.  Blogging is free to set up, and free to use.  You will get out of it what you put into it.

That’s the jist of what I tell people about blogging.  They generally get very excited, get a blog, and post a few times. One month later, cobwebs form on their admin login form.

Maybe try a professional blogging service?

One thing I’ve considered is writing the articles myself.  I’m no copywriting expert (I’m a Denver web designer), but I do know my clients’ business well.  If they don’t have the time or commitment to write their own articles, they should find someone to do it for them. There are many professional blog writing services out there, maybe I should start recommending them?

Does anyone have any experience using a professional blog writing service?

I just finished meeting with a client who told me that she had met with multiple other designers, and that I was the only one who provided any ideas for marketing her website. It’s pretty unbelievable.

She has a new product that is not yet launched — very under wraps — and wants to spread the word once the product goes live. Other web designers only discussed her website. I talked about a web presence.

It’s hard for me to imagine doing what I do in Katz Web Design and NOT knowing about Squidoo or Flickr and finding ways to integrate a community of users into your website.  If people want exposure, they know they need a website.  But that’s not all.  They need to be properly situated online, and that means SEO.

A man called yesterday wanting to have his Denver IT Services website optimized.  He had called multiple search engine optimization specialists in Denver, and each one had given him the same proposal: spend thousands of dollars per month, and take a long time.

Check out what the SEO companies said

He had been told the following by multiple companies:

In order to get your website ranked well, it will take 6 months to a year, and will cost $1,000.00 per month.

- Random Denver SEO companies

That means he will have paid $6,000 to $12,000 to have his site ranked well in search engines. I was taken aback; spending that much money each month on SEO is ridiculous for many reasons, but here are a few: (more…)

When I think SEO, I think of Google. Why? Is it because Google’s PageRank system determines better websites? Is it because Google’s advertising options are superior? It’s as simple as this: Google gets better results than any other search engine.

The major search engines often don’t agree

Optimizing websites for search is frustrating sometimes. The biggest search engines are Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. The frustrating part of optimization is the variation between the search engines. The variations in ranking can be huge. I will use Katz Web Design’s ranking information to show some examples:

So you see, there’s a crazy variation between the search engines that can be frustrating. My statistics show, however, that even a bad ranking in Google is better than a good ranking on any other search engine.

92% of my organic keyword search traffic comes from Google

A vast majority of my traffic to my website comes from Google. What about my some of my clients?

These clients have similar ranking placement on Google, MSN, and Yahoo! for many of their keywords. You can see that even so, Google still sends an average of 69.4% more visitors to these websites. Optimizing for other search engines doesn’t have the same return on investment as optimizing for Google does. Google remains king.

What’s your experience with optimizing for various keywords across the search engines?

I am a Denver web designer, and lots of what I do is advise my clients on how to improve their ranking. I do what I can to optimize the code using tried and true SEO techniques. But in the end, it comes down to this: are you willing to work for search engine placement?

2 months later, a look at the results

On January 24 of this year, I set a goal to improve Katz Web Design’s ranking in Google, especially for the terms “Denver Web Design,” and “Denver Web Designers.” I had my blog for 2 days at the time. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

• Denver Web Designers - from 41 to 18
• Denver Web Designer - from 29 to 11
• Denver Web Design - from 30 to 11 10

These results have been achieved mostly by writing in this blog. The Katz Web Design site is currently a one-page placeholder with very little content on it. Imagine what will happen when I move this blog over to the KWD site soon.

The Democrats are doing something no one has ever done before. It’s revolutionary. It’s amazing. It’s a cost-saving measure. For the first time in the convention’s history, there will be no printed vendor list. Instead, it’s all being featured online.

Are you a business in Denver that wants additional exposure? If so, you too can be in the Vendor Directory. It’s as simple as filling out the application.

But don’t stop there! Now that you’ve started building your site’s link network, give you site a shot in the arm with the steps below:

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Search Engine Optimization is not voodoo; it directly translates into how well your website performs.  The Ignite Matchmaking website was not performing well last September for their main keywords.  Katz Web Design redesigned their site, optimized the site for their keywords, and now, look at their ranking:

• Denver professional matchmaker: 1
• Denver match makers: 2 (up from under 1000)
• Denver matchmaking services: 2 
• Denver matchmakers: 2 (up from 284)
• Denver matchmaker: 3 (up from 50
• Matchmaking denver: 4 
• Denver matchmaking: 5 (up from 112)

Currently, I am working with my client Savory Cuisines Catering in Boulder, CO to improve their ranking.  

The process I will follow to improve their rank:

There are more than five steps to help place higher in search engines, but the five below are simple and straightforward steps that anyone can take to improve their rank. (more…)