Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Doug,

I'd like to participate. I can't say I know a lot of people doing this kind of work (yet!).

Thanks for your post!

Karl Seidel

karl.seidel@cablevey.com

818 761 1376

Thanks! I'll explore html some more.

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your response! It certainly wouldn't hurt for me to become more fluent using html. I have learned a little over the years but my SEO work doesn't get as much attention (yet!) as I'd like it to...it's a part of our marketing mix but a pretty small percentage.

I've looked at Lynda.com before. I'll have to see if there's a good course for my beginner level.

Thanks again!

Karl

Hi Bradley,

Thanks a lot for this answer! We (me and my designer) are slowly building a WP site to replace our current CSS site. It was this SEO improvement in mind we started this but the building has been pretty slow-going.

I've looked at the Yoast plugin and we will get that added into the new site.

Of course it wouldn't hurt if I was more fluent in html...just haven't made the time to work on that recently.

Thanks again,

Karl

Hi,

Our site was put together in Dreamweaver and I'm not great at using html so I use Contribute to modify the info on our site.

There are some limitations using Contribute so I'm wondering what other people use.

Thanks for your input!

We have a number of blogs that we categorize based on our vertical markets. In all cases the reader gets to the info through some type of search based on their needs/interests.

I can't help thinking that being specific, in other words sticking to the particular vertical market: nuts or coffee or breakfast cereal is better than lumping them all together into 1 blog.

On the other hand, if 1 blog is to be used, once a search was completed that search would drive that reader to that 1 blog that contained all the long-tail keywords anyway...so maybe that's an argument for 1 blog only.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your input.

I'm not certain I know the answer to the variety of questions you're asking - but I know content is king! So whether there's value "in links from articles sent to places like Yahoo and Topix" the answer is yes if there is value in your articles submitted.

I'm familiar with the idea behind long-tail keywords. If your industry is like mine there are words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs within concepts that will resonate with readers looking for information specific to their needs whenever they're ready to do a search.

I know for example that when we publish articles written by us or about us we get more impressions and click-throughs. And I believe if the reader gets the idea you're just offering pablum to fill pages and attract eyeballs you run the risk of offending and/or alienating them...in which case they might abandon your site with a bad taste in their mouth and never return.

Hi Erica,

I found the email and clicked through but no option was offered to purchase a ticket. I contacted eventbrite and your office and eventbrite said they would instruct your office to reissue the email so I can sign in and make the purchase. I'm in my office all day so please call 641 676 5434 or email karl.seidel@cablevey.com and I'll respond quickly.

Thanks!

Hi Erica,

Thanks for noticing my request! I put my name on the waiting list shortly after the event sold out. I've called a couple of times to see where I am on that list but no one seems to be able to direct me to my "standing" at this time. I'm told I'll be contacted if space opens.

I reserved a hotel room and plane ticket so I'm coming no matter what! My plan is to learn by osmosis and association and overheard conversations at breakfast, lunch, dinner and the bar.

Alternatively, in the spirit of www.fiverr.com I'll stand on my head and send a picture of myself holding a sign saying "will moz for knowledge" if nothing else works!

Thanks again!

Karl Seidel

OK...we have quite a bit of flash on our sites - and it serves the purpose of telling our story to people in less than  a minute via the Flash animation. I know there are ways to make it non-flash but we've not set that up to work automatically when someone lands on our sites using different browsers and devices. Would you recommend anyone? Thanks for your answers!

I suppose this is an open-ended question, at least for now, because I'm getting differing opinions on whether Flash inhibits optimum SEO results.

I don't know the answer but I've just started to do some research and it seems this would be a good discussion based on your experience.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Thank you.

Hi All,

I'd like to have entry to the mozcon event - and I wasn't quick enough to sign up. If you have an entry to sell I'd like to buy it.

Thank you.

Karl Seidel (SEO guppie)

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for your response. Here are the 2 other questions I've posted:

How do you prioritize your SEO efforts?

What are the Priorities for Site Optimization?

I don't want to rock the boat but the best way for me to learn is to engage people in a forum like SEOMoz...I kinda feel like my questions are getting lost in the sea (forum).

Thanks again!

I'd like to get more replies to my questions. I'm getting a decent amount of views. I'm making an offer and call to action. Do I need to just keep on tweaking the headline question? Or are SEOMoz'ers not necessarily looking for work?

Hi Todd,

Thanks for your reply. We have multiple sites in various stages of optimization. I have a variety of vendors optimizing, writing blog entries, key word ranking among other efforts.

What needs to be done is the sorting and prioritizing. I need to learn more to qualify my vendors better so each piece of the process is better defined.

Going forward, as I better define each piece, I'll get smarter and more proactive. I'll know more so I'll hire better.

In the meantime a comprehensive overview, by someone who's more knowledgeable than me, is what I'm after.

It seems what I'm running into now are consultants who offer aggregate knowledge and pitches to do the work. What I'm looking for is a detailed breakdown of what needs done in a priority order. While I understand the order can change based on a variety of factors I hope to find someone who can grasp our situation, and with this understanding in mind, show us the most efficient and economical path to success.

A fair-minded intelligent cost-conscious consultant/vendor will show up and lead the way. I'm confident of that.

When I know more I'll hire people for this site and others I need to manage.

That's the gist of it.

Thanks again for your response.

Karl

Hi!

I don't know if I got back to you or not but if you're still open to continuing this conversation I'd appreciate your help.

Thanks again for your insights, in any case.

Karl

I'd like to solicit opinions from pros on site optimization with an explanation why "this thing" is better to concentrate on now rather than "that thing."

I am already working with some people but I'd like to improve some processes and knowledge of what's working and what can change.

Ideally your opinion will come with an approximate cost/time factor. For example I hired a neighbor kid to change tags, links and headings on one of our sites and that worked out well. But this is work I would not pay a lot to get done; nonetheless I need to hire someone for that piece of the puzzle.

BTW I'm not asking for exercise...I am informally interviewing you to see if you would be good to work with for our variety of sites.

Anybody that contributes 'cuz you have an opinion - even if you're not a pro looking for work - thank you!

What's OSE? I need a site audit...how do you do that?

Hi EGOL,

Thanks for your detailed reply. We all need to make decisions about what we say in our marketing. I'm most interested in figuring out the form we need to follow to make sure our SEO works as well as possible. Content needs to be decided upon often and regularly to be competitive - that's an ever-changing process (for us at least!).

I am all for wearing multiple hats - it's simply a matter of prioritizing my time as I have many different venues to manage other than our site to attract, inform and generally communicate with our most likely target prospects.

The web and our sites are excellent tools to communicate - but they're not the bulk of our marketing - they're a tool. I need to learn how to use this tool better.

Hi Back Burner,

At the moment my goal is to understand better what I can do, train my assistant to do, and begin to define and document what I need to hire out.

I have a certain amount of time - and a lot of interest - in learning - but I have responsibility for more than SEO. That's where the prioritizing comes in.

Your comment about "full site audit first" makes a lot of sense. Because that would allow me some perspective and knowledge I need updated.

Who would do this audit? You? Someone you can refer? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!