What is Search Engine Optimized vs. Search Engine Friendly Website?

SEO is over populated industry that has a lot of firms and programmers that don’t have a clue.

Here is a little brief on SEO vs. SEF.

Good URL structure is search engine optimization.  A great example of this:

www.example.com/category/product-name/

A poor example of search engine friendliness would be:

www.example.com/IWCatProductPage.process?
Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=691&Product_Id=1439522&
Parent_Id=302&default_color=BLACK&sort_by=&sectioncolor=&
sectionsize=

Look at your CMS Content Management System and make sure that it is not stopping you from the following:

• ·      Handle canonicalization issues
• ·      Rewrite URLs
• ·      Add breadcrumbs
• ·      Change headers
• ·      Optimize images

Make sure that your CMS is not running cloacking system.  One way to check is  the website robots.txt file.  Type the website domain, followed by robots.txt (e.g., www.example.com/robots.txt).  If you see that they are disallowing (from the search engines) basically “everything” on the domain, there’s a good chance they they are doing “good” clocking, and sing one of these systems.

More important elements to SEO are:

• ·      Content
• ·      Information Architecture/Keyword Mapping
• ·      Blog Posts/Tips and Advice

If you would like to read more detail about SEO vs SEF please read Mark Jackson’s full article at SearchEngineWatch.

What you need to do for your business in 2011

I found this article interesting by Gregg Stewart.  I have had the pleasure to meet him more then once and I found him quite intelligent to marketing strategies for this day and age. 

With social media and mobile taking off we as marketing experts for small and medium sized business need to be on top of the changes that are happening.  You must pay attention and be prepared or you will be left behind.

Google places, Facebook, and Twitter are all here to stay and they are becoming more relevant then ever. 

Read the entire article by Gregg Stewart here 

Social Media & Mobile

Social Media and Mobile together in the future is inevitable prediction.   These two phenomenon’s have already taken over our lives and it won’t stop. 
 
Today I personally check in on foursquare for the fun of it and because I want to see if I get a deal at a location.  I use coupons on my mobile device, and I use Facebook on my mobile device.  With mobile becoming a big motivator to advertisers in 2011 it shows how impactful the mobile device has become. Mobile commerce information shows huge increase of mobile purchases.
 
People these days do mobile searches all the time and they are looking for answers to their questions.  If it’s not where is the gas station, to what restaurant should I go to.  People want to know what others think about things too.  So this is where social media comes in, its reviews on things.  I use Yelp, or urbanspoon to find recommendations on restaurants.  I do this on my mobile device and I am part of a community.
 
All in all Mobile and Social media will only become more powerful in the coming months and years, and many marketers and gravitating towards this revolution to target segmented audiences.

So how long until you start advertising on mobile devices? How can you promote yourself for free on smart phones?

Who is Britney Helm

My name is Britney Helm and I am an Internet Marketing Professional working in the Milwaukee Wisconsin area.  I have been developing my skills for over a decade and have pursued this career because of my passion for marketing and being able to produce something that can be measured for a return on investment.    

Some may call me a hustler, but I am just someone that knows what they want and will do anything to achieve it (with in reason).  I do make strategic moves to get things done.  So maybe I am a mover and shaker. What ever people may think of me or say about me.  I am Britney Helm the Internet Professional that loves results.  

This blog is personal and professional.   I will take the time to highlight my favorite news, tips, tricks and anything else on my mind that I think is relevant to people interested in Internet Marketing.