This week I had a call with a small business owner who is launching a website redesign in WordPress. He asked me how can we best preserve his existing SEO and makes sure he doesn’t lose any search ranking in the transition. Right away I replied that this was a fabulous question. We then chatted about common mistakes that occur and how we can prevent them from happening with this website redesign project. Here is the scary part about this conversation: I rarely am asked about this until the ... Read More
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StudioPress Sites: The Who, What, and Why
This month the Rainmaker Digital team is rolling out a brand new offering called "StudioPress Sites and holy cow they might just have something special here. I've long been a fan of StudioPress and the Genesis Framework and was even a beta user for Genesis back in the day. When the Rainmaker Platform arrived I dug into that as well and was highly impressed with the beautiful admin panel and ease of use. Let's hit the hottest questions on StudioPress Sites so you can get the rundown on what ... Read More
The What and Why of Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a must have account for owners of blogs and websites. It is critical for SEO because it helps webmasters understand Google’s view of their website or blog. And the great tools inside Google Search Console don’t stop at reporting. Google also provides multiple data points and suggestions for resolving issues you may not have even known existed. When I first discovered Google Search Console I was thrilled. I was fascinated by the data it provided and it has only gotten ... Read More
Technical SEO for WordPress: What Webmasters Need to Know
Basics of Technical SEO Technical SEO can sound really intimidating. But don’t worry, because it doesn’t have to be scary at all! Technical SEO simply refers to “things” that are related to code, settings, and servers. It includes things you can see and things you can’t see. Today I'm going to primarily focus on those items you can discover and fix, which means you can "see" them online. What I like about technical SEO is it focuses on discovering issues and fixing these problems. All ... Read More
Digging Deeper Into WordPress SEO Tools
A few weeks ago I published an article about maximizing SEO efforts in WordPress. I had promised a follow up post to cover additional features like automatically populating meta titles and descriptions, configuring the permalink structure, integrating Webmaster Tools, and creating XML sitemaps. Today we're digging deeper into WordPress SEO tools and covering all those additional SEO goodies. Don't worry, I won't go so far into each topic that I lose you. We'll go just deep enough to get your ... Read More
Do You Need an SEO Advocate?
Your Website Can Be a Maze of Hidden SEO Issues Over the last month I’ve been helping a client with search engine optimization. Normally we help clients with both website development and SEO, but this time the website was already in process by a large firm in another state. The client reached out to me because the web development firm did not have anyone on staff that is knowledgeable about SEO. As the client prepared to launch their beautiful new website, we started to discover critical SEO ... Read More
The Small Business Guide to Google Webmaster Tools
When I first discovered Google Webmaster Tools I was thrilled. I was fasinated by the data it provided and it has only gotten better over the years. I love showing it to clients, as many don’t even know it exists. Okay – 99% of my clients don’t know it exists until I show it to them. And the remaining 1% had no idea how much the tool really offered. If you’re like most small business owners, you have limited time and resources to dedicate to sleuthing around in Webmaster Tools. Don’t fret! ... Read More
The Girlfriend’s Guide to Blogging
This week I received an email from a longtime girlfriend who is interested in launching a blog. I was actually surprised by this, because Mary (name has been changed to protect the innocent) has a full-time job already and it is not marketing related. She had an idea for a blog and wanted advice on how to get a blog started. My girlfriend is not alone. I receive dozens of emails each week from people wanting blogs and websites created for their “idea” and I can tell at least 75% have no ... Read More
Stand Back! The Geeks Are Coming
Last night I met with a business partner named Scott. Scott is an engineer and his engineering brain loves SEO. I’ve been teaching SEO 101 while we build Scott’s website. Last night as we moved from SEO 101 to SEO 201, Scott couldn’t understand why I didn’t do this with every client. The truth be told, 99% of my clients don’t care. They pay me to make sure their website and SEO are taken care of and they don’t want to worry about it. We All Make Mistakes Very few clients have Scott’s ... Read More
Twenty Tips for Creating the Perfect Blog Post
When I said I blogged five years ago, people looked at me as if I was crazy. Well I was, but blogging didn't drive me to insanity. Today it is a bit more mainstream and bloggers are everywhere. I actually like blogging. I enjoy it and it has been a huge help to me professionally. Last weekend I attended WordCamp Detroit and I was surrounded by bloggers. I wasn't prepared for that one, as I use WordPress for website design and I guess I assume everyone in the room would too. Was I wrong. ... Read More
Ten Steps to Quality Link Building and Strong Organic SEO
Whenever I create a new website for a client, I always tell them the website is only the core foundation of strong SEO. Strong SEO requires a solid, well planned, and long-term link building campaign. Interestingly enough, as I prepare for a live Q&A sessions for my friends over at JuJuQ on the subject, I found myself an email to a client nagging him about building inbound links for a brand new website we launched last Wednesday. Inbound links are a huge part of SEO and since I’m an ... Read More
How Long Does it Really Take to Get Indexed by Google?
It seems like just a few years ago it took Google forever to index a new URL and website. Well maybe not, but for anyone working on Internet marketing it felt like it took Google forever to index a new URL. Things have changed and Google is different these days. Remember the Six Million Dollar Man intro? “We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was before. Better. Stronger.” That’s what I think of Google. Google is better. Okay I may have just dated myself ... Read More
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