Accurate or inaccurate as they may be, sometimes those looking for professional SEO assistance don’t need to know what to look for; they need to know what to expect. These 6 attributes should be present in every successful SEO pro; they’ll all be to the benefit as far as the services provided go, but they are also quirks you’ll have to bare with.

1. Organised (with close attention paid to detail) – you need your SEO pro to be organised and pay close attention to detail because they’ve got a lot to juggle at any given time and anything missed can compromise the success of an SEO strategy. This attribute means that a great SEO professional won’t miss a thing when it comes to optimizing description tags of titles, creating effective link placements or anchor text, establishing the correct code-to-text ratio, establishing URL canonicalization, or assigning image alternative text.  Of course, when meeting with your SEO professional, you may find that the books in their office are colour-coded and the same can probably be said for their underwear drawer.
2. Logical – in many ways, SEO is about cause and effect, with clear paths to get the desired effect. The attribute of logic helps SEO pros carry out the strategies, although their spouses may hate that logic when they argue.
3. Technical – what more can you say about someone who focuses upon coding and optimization? Someone who isn’t technically inclined will never make a successful SEO pro. SEOs are good with computers, but not all are great with tools. Living with an SEO could mean hiring someone to remodel your home – but they’re there for you when your website needs work!
4. Opinionated- SEO professionals are abreast of what’s happening in the industry and have their ideas about the best way to meet their clients’ needs based on proven experience. The confidence in their craft is essential for effective SEO. Watch out though, SEO pros are the guy or girl at the party not afraid to get into a friendly debate.
5. Focused – without focus, SEO pros could miss key elements needed for success (like those SEO elements listed under the first attribute). This focus means that an SEO pro may not hear a word you say if their mind is elsewhere. Not good for socialization; great for optimization!
6. Geeky – SEOs are often called computer nerds (in a negative context). So what’s it to you when your website has the best ranking in its existence? Overlook the pocket protector when they can do that for you!

Don’t believe that the above are true? Just check out the SEO Chicks Blog. Enough said.

Image Credit: Bycmet on Flickr w/ a Creative Commons License

Keyword Eye uses different colours and bolder fonts to present the most effective keywords, as well as the ones that get substantial queries, but also have a lot of competition. I personally can appreciate a tool like this as I am a visual learner. While I like to look at the numbers for analysis, to put keywords to memory while working on a project, having a visual outline to look at helps me greatly.  Keyword Eye’s results are also designed in such a way that you can process a lot of keyword information quickly, and that is always essential for a busy SEO.

While a tool like Keyword Eye will not change the information that an SEO has access to, convenience is always great for business!

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Related posts on Google
• Firefox 4 Beta VS Google Chrome 10! Acid3, Sunspider, Peacekeeper …
• Google Releases In-App Purchasing for Android (Mashable …

• Related posts on Keywords
• A quick way to keep the blog appears in google search engine
• Page Title and URL Keywords SEO Google Keyword SEOPro Matt Cutts …
• The Key To Ranking your Articles is By Researching Your Keywords …

• Related posts on Search engine optimization
• SEO – What is Search Engine Optimization and How it Can Benefit …

Research has demonstrated that the best type of mobile brand advertising is SEO-based. People are using their mobile devices to make search queries, and this increases their brand awareness better than any other form of advertising.  However, a very different approach is required to build an effective mobile SEO strategy.

When people are searching on the go and using a smartphone keyboard, for example, they’re not likely to tap out long search queries. Therefore, it’s necessary for businesses to begin developing mobile sites that keep these search trends in mind using a set of keywords that are brief yet effective.

As mobile search queries continue to increase at the rate of 30% per quarter, as reported by Google’s Mobile Sales Ad Director, the demand for a mobile SEO focus will continue to soar! Just another example of the constant evolution taking place in the industry.

In monitoring their social media success, businesses often only look at the following elements:

1. The number of followers or friends that they have.

2. The number of people that actively reply and the frequency that their formed network engages with them.

3. The number of hits to their pages. Either to the social media sites and profiles themselves; or the number of hits to links that have been shared.

While these are all great things to look at, and they can play a big role in social media success, those elements do not directly measure how efforts online generate more business.In order to gauge exactly how social media is benefitting any interest, there are other aspects to consider.

1. Exposure – Businesses don’t just need to know how many people are engaging with them directly online; it’s also important that they understand whether those efforts are making their name known online. Are there other websites and blogs linking to the business’ own website or blog? Are they being asked to contribute expert guest posts, bringing further exposure? Are others regularly retweeting or sharing content posted to social media networks? Likewise, coverage in mainstream media outlets can be measured.

2. Customer satisfaction – in becoming more available to customers via social media, customers can get more information about their products and services, and have their questions or concerns answered. Even more importantly, social media humanizes the business which makes customers more understanding, and gives them a general feeling of increased satisfaction. Direct feedback on products and services can give businesses an idea on how successful they are in this area.

3. Monetary growth – the most important measurement for a business owner is the potential increase in profit. Closely linked to the above two elements for measuring social media success; this is what can truly make or break a business. Are their social media efforts ultimately leading to increased business and profit?

By measuring and not just monitoring the success of social media efforts, businesses can ensure that they are able to adjust their gameplan if it’s not working to their advantage. It might not be direct marketing, but use of social media for business is still a marketing strategy, and it’s a tactic that can require constant evolution to get the best result.

While this post focuses upon social media, the above philosophies can also apply to blogs. For more ways to measure social media success, including some tools and applications, visit the Sales Rescue Team blog.

Here are some of the ways that you will find simply setting up a Facebook page can make all the difference to your business.

1. Facebook pages succeed in search engine rankings – because of Facebook’s popularity, a business’ Facebook page automatically rises in the rankings. Everytime someone likes you page, another link back is created. Since links to your website appear on your Facebook page in various places, there is a natural benefit to those rankings as well.

2. Facebook creates an opportunity to encourage traffic – whether you post promotions or product information with links back to your website, there is plenty of opportunity to enhance its visibility to your Facebook fans.

3. Facebook helps you refine your target audience – you can tailor your SEO strategy to reach your target audience, but it can be challenging to get demographic information from website visits alone. On Facebook, you have access to this information with most page fans. With this information you can ensure that your website content, including SEO keywords, ads and external links cater to those individuals most interested in using your services.

When you’re marketing your business, SEO can allow people to find your business even when they’re not familiar with your name; just your services. Offline brand awareness activities can help to strengthen your SEO strategy because people can learn your business name. In today’s world, brand reputation is solidified by the presence of a website. As individuals learn of your services and name through advertising and networking and looking you up online, they’re helping your search engine rankings since every hit to your site puts you in a better position. If potential clients catch your tag-line or information about your services, but forget your name, then keywords are coming into play there too.

With a little bit of effort offline, your online marketing campaign can have an even greater effect. Thinking about online and offline brand awareness just won’t do you any favours!

Currently, use of keywords for effective SEO involves using single words or whole phrases. Now, whole phrases queries will be broken down. Take the sample phrase “Red or Blue Digital SEO”.  As you input it into Google Instant you’ll begin to see search results right from the very first letter you type. By the time you’ve typed out the whole first word, there will be a complete list of websites that are ranked high under that keyword. Since currently the full keyword phrase (in this case, the business name) would be used in the SEO strategy, you’ll find that rankings for the single term from the keyword phrase will be much lower than for its entirety.

As a business, you want to have strong Google Instant rankings even for a single keyword from the phrase. This application could transform the way we use search engines, and people might simply stop typing out their full query if they get the results they’re looking for without it.  Lazy or efficient, call it what you will, but search engine use is not likely to ever be the same again and it’s going to transform SEO!

Stay tuned, this will not be the last time this topic is explored!

Related articles by Zemanta

• 56% Of SEOs To Change Strategy For Google Instant & 43% Wont (seroundtable.com)
• Google Instant Expands To Google Videos And Other Search Verticals (reelseo.com)

To date, SEO strategies have not taken this new element into consideration, but of course, already there are results as the top ranking sites already appear to top the lists. In the UK, brands like Argos, Zara, eBay and John Lewis all dominate their letter rankings. Some of the world’s best known sites also fall under more than one letter and these are YouTube, Google Inc, and MSN. Strangely, another strong site doesn’t make the list at all; Yahoo! is going to need to put some work in to take advantage of this new ranking strategy.

Another interesting thing to consider with regards to the letter/number rankings that Google Instant has created is the fact that different letters have different levels of brand exposure. There are some letters that will just be more frequently queried. So while XBox may be a more frequently searched query for a complete key phrase, it won’t get as much exposure as Sky, which will be commonly viewed as people plug the letter “S” into the application. For some brands, this letter ranking structure will have great benefit, to others, the presence of Google Instant may demand the use of new strategies that ensure they don’t lose the limelight.

Of course, it’s not just letters that will come into play with single keystroke categories. Numbers will finally play a stronger role in SEO as this will become a whole new category brands need to capture.

If you have any other feedback about your time exploring Google Instant, we’d love to hear about it!

The reality is, I can see it happening. But that’s unfortunate, and not just for those of us in the SEO business. For those looking for information, merely relying upon social networks for accurate information is a bit of a scary thing. Why? Because when you rely upon news and information posted by others, you’re allowing their opinion to indirectly influence their views. If you search for a specific news topic through Google, you’ll find various accounts on the same topic from journalists and independent bloggers. You can weed through the results to form your own opinion or find what you would deem “reliable” information on the subject.

When it comes to information posted on social networks, people are  posting accounts that are in line with their own personal beliefs in most cases. Not everyone who is tweeting about a subject is going to provide a well-rounded view of the issue. If you don’t actually click on the links tweeted, you’re also only getting 140 characters worth of information from each person. It can be a good starting point to become informed, but is it really enough for accurate acquisition of knowledge?

Sure, if you’re following multiple people of all different walks of life on your social networking sites, you may get more perspective on a subject; but you’ll still be subject to more opinions that could sway your judgement. As it stands, it can already be hard to take a stance when reading pieces by journalists who can be biased whether or not they should be under ethical standards.

I must admit that I do rely upon social networks for news and information. Twitter and Facebook can be an especially convenient way to have access to live information on events from people in attendence. But, for news and resources, I might find out about a subject from a social network and read some of the postings, but if it’s one that’s of real interest to me, I’m also more likely to run it through Google to look at accounts that haven’t been touched by a second level of bias.

To bring this subject full circle, yes, social networking can be a fabulous way to get current news and information, but I think that those who have a more deeply rooted interest will contiue to require the use of search engines From this standpoint, social networking should not be taking over, but they are surely ready to share the spotlight with search engines for news!

I’ve evolved as a copywriter through the transitional period, and can attest to both sides. I can see where the argument comes from that copywriting is dead, because no longer are you strictly trying to produce web content that is well-written to convey a particular message. For SEO, you’ve got to keep keywords in mind and incorporate them into the text as much as possible. What this means is that sentences are no longer carefully crafted for their eloquence; sometimes SEO copywriting can become just an accumulation of too many words used out of perceived necessity so the style and flow is compromised.

At least, that’s the conception people have, and in some cases it’s true. A good SEO copywriter should be able to strike a balance between copywriting and SEO. Of course, it’s essential to incorporate keywords relevant to your industry or your niche clientelle for your business, but in copywriting you do that too, even if it’s not for the same reasons. Keywords you’d use for the sake of search engine rankings that best describe your business are likely to make an appearance in your web copy anyways. The only difference is, the keywords might not appear as frequently.

A good SEO copywriter should be able to accomplish both goals – using the art of old copywriting and incorporating modern strategies in SEO to include effective keywords. An inexperienced SEO copywriter may allow frequent keyword usage to impact style.  The keywords might be good, but the copy itself isn’t which is why some are lead to believe the art is dead.

When SEO web copy is done right, you can ask yourself whether the focus is upon style or SEO and never come up with an obvious answer because both elements are there. Of course, that can apply to non-SEO content, too. For example, check out the introductory paragraph on Wax Marketing’s landing page. The rest of the site is filled with SEO keyword usage, but that paragraph is clearly more focused on the message; a sign that old copywriting methods are still alive, even if only used in a small section of any website.

The balance of SEO and copywriting creativity is essential, because remember, it’s not all about drawing people to your site with search engines, once they get there your written copy has to be captivating enough that they want to read it too or your strategy fails.

The art of copywriting is not dead, if anything now the level of skill required to combine the creative elements with the technical is increased.

What’s your take?

Image via: Flickr Creative Commons

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is SEO Copywriting Just Good Copywriting? (ducttapemarketing.com)
• Copywriting 3.0: How to Bounce the Fat Kid off the See-Saw (copyblogger.com)
• Copywriters can write about anything – but don’t ask them about it next week (brendancooper.com)
• Copywriting For Social Media (socialmediatoday.com)