Denver SEO Speaker | Business Blogging Consultant

I was meeting with a potential client last week. They are a small business here in Denver Colorado with a pretty typical problem. They have a website that gets no traffic, has flash that is not done correctly and they have no web presence when potential customers are doing a Google search…sound familiar? In addition, they want their new website design to address the needs of distributors, contractors and home owners-they sell products for remodeling. But what really struck me about these Denver business owners is when one of the partners asked me : “How will you get contractors to click on our information when they find us in a Google search?”

What a great question and clearly the essence of any small business doing Internet marketing. I told him the cold, hard truth-We could not guarantee that any contractor would click on their information in a search. We can only increase his chances by having meta descriptions on each page of his website and put the appropriate copy and keywords on each and every page. In addition, there are some opportunities for him to address the contractors needs directly through the use of a blog and writing white papers that we will place on his website.

This problem is not confined to Denver Colorado business owners needing search engine marketing but rather is representative of small business owners everywhere. As I told our potential client, it’s not enough to address the concerns of his potential clients, the search engines must also be addressed through the judicious use of headlines and appropriate keyword density. I’ll keep you posted how we fight this battle.

Another thing this client really brought into focus is bad website design-again, not a unique problem to Denver Colorado business owners and search engine optimization firms! It drives me crazy to have to point out to customers that their $5,000 website needs to have a total make over to make the code more search engine friendly. Please, before you have any web design firm in Denver Colorado or your city, design your website-ask them to detail how they are going to make your site search engine friendly. If they have that blank look on their face-give us a call!

Steve Mertz
Denver SEO Tips

All good startups have common characteristics. You need visibility, buzz around your product and a lot of money. Preferably, money from friends and family who don’t want an equity stake in your company-you can pay them back at your leisure…Dream on!

We can help you with two out of three of your basic needs. Let’s start with creating visibility and buzz around your product. Before you spend a ton of money on a web site with flash, that Google will never find, consider going the route of the blog for the following reasons:

1. No one goes to your current web site

2. You have much more time than money

3. I lost that expensive business card you gave me with your contact info.

4. I don’t remember your company name-don’t be too clever with your name. Try to have a name that includes what you do and use keywords in your name.-Unless you are Guy Kawasaki, check that, he recently changed his blog name.

5. Learn the power of using keywords in all your documents and web sites or blogs.

6. You have no customers…while you are worrying about no prospects for immediate cash flow you might as well blog.

7. VC’s are not calling you…You don’t want to give up that much of the company anyway.

8. Search engines will never find all your good keywords and content because you have flash as your very first page!

9. Your marketing director writes fabulous copy-with not one keyword to be found.

10. Your business focus has expanded since you built your web site and you don’t have any money to pay your web designer to update your site.

11. You have new, influential endorsements of your product and don’t know how to update your web site.

12. You discover that your product has international demand but potential clients in Boulder can’t find your site much less those in Hong Kong.

13. While you are waiting for that angel investor to return your phone call you could be writing a post to your blog.

14. Brad Feld has reviewed your Executive Summary you sent him and properly filed it…he’s not going to call you, ditto for David Cohen, so write another post in your blog.

15. The snappy video email you sent to Miss/Mr Big did not make it past the spam filters-You now realize the beauty of your blogs RSS feed! Your information actually goes through and does not use the email system!

16. The “White Paper” that you wrote on your product will not only establish you as an authority, but happens to be loaded with keywords. You don’t know how to upload it to your web site so you are going to send a mass email and hope the spam filters don’t catch it. On the other hand-that same white paper can be a post in your blog and be seen around the world!

17. Your brother is calling and wondering when you are going to be able to pay back that money he leant you-Remember, you had the next Google. Write about this humorous experience in your blog!

18. You are constantly worrying about lack of funding, you can’t sleep at night-Until you do a Google search for your site. After the first 110 pages you are sleeping like a baby……zzzzzz

We can help you with great Search Engine Optimization techniques-Google will find your site! Whether you need a completely new web site design or a great blog optimized for search engines-We can help the search engines find you. We are also very unique in the fact that not only can we help you get in the top of Google searches but we also have world class presentation coaches that can help you hone your sales presentations skills so that when you do present to Sequoia Capital you will have a memorable and persuassive presentation.

Steve Mertz
Startups Have an SEO Friend!

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Search Engines, Guy Kawasaki, Brad Feld, David Cohen, Sequoia Capital, Denver SEO

Another speaker with a very unfriendly search engine site…This time a web site design with frames! And you thought those had gone out of style! Your True Nature has a page rank of 5 on the first page-pretty darn good! Problem is his other pages have not been spider-ed because of the frames. With a little make over this site will probably go to a page rank of six and garner more traffic and most importantly-More Cash Flow!!

You may have been able to slip the frames by me but Knox is on the case and will work magic on this site. So quit testing me with these ugly sites that are hated by search engines Come on Denver, test me with your ugly web sites that search engines hate and Google will never be able to find-We can fix it!

Steve Mertz
Blogs are Much Friendlier!
Technorati Tags: Search Engines, Search Engine Optimization, Denver Search Engine Optimization

Neil Patel at Pronet Advertising has some great points to consider in your first 7 days of blogging:

1. Don’t Launch until the blog is properly setup.
2. Pick a topic and stick with it.
3. Be Consistent.
4. Don’t leave your readers stranded.
5. Get to the point.
6. Spice it up.
7. Don’t expect the world.

Guilty-On all charges! I’ve made all of these mistakes…and more. I have been particularly guilty of launching blogs before they were properly setup. My rationale was- who the hell is going to see this besides me and maybe dear old mom? You never know. Imagine my surprise when doing a Google search for “sales presentations training” and my blog came up number 5. I was absolutely stunned and not ready for the traffic and expectations of readers. If you have a blog that places well in a Google search-potential clients will have certain expectations as to content, references, audio and video clips and the sites overall “feel”.

Take it from me and do your homework before launching your blog and go over to Pronet Advertising to read Neil’s excellent article!

Steve Mertz

OK-search engines don’t really like splash pages and now the whole world will know thanks to Oatmeal over at SEOmoz Blog! Many of my professional speaker and consulting buddies have been convinced by a web designer that a flash page will really catch a persons attention and help their business-Wrong!

Oatmeal makes very specific comments, including:

1. Search engines will spider the splash page instead of the real content.
2. Search engines won’t be able to spider beyond the splash page.
3. Most users immediately click “skip intro.”
4. Slower connections will have to wait for the page to load.

He goes into more detail and I would urge you to read all of his article: How to Convince a Client They Don’t Need a Splash Page.

Do keep this in mind though-If you are offering SEO services in the Denver, Colorado area-You should completely disregard his advice and keep using those good looking flash pages
Steve Mertz
Give Search Engines A Chance!
Technorati Tags: Search Engines, Search Engine Spiders, SEO, Denver SEO