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To start off with, I dont like Search Engine Optimisation, for a lot of reasons. Basically it overshadows the main objectives of a website and perverts the way they work. The whole notion of Search Engine Optimisation also contaminates a clients attitude towards their site and creates a semi-blinkered perspective to the internet.

In reality, Search Engine Optimisation should be renamed to Cheating, because thats what it is. However, its not as clear cut as that.

Just to lay the foundations, TWS take Search Engine Optimisation seriously, or rather, the performance of its clients sites across the whole of the internet, seriously. As such we operate a mantra of DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE. This means that sites are designed to perform and generate results. This mantra or saying is then complimented with our second mantra, ACCOUNTABILITY. This means that we demonstrate and proove performance. This is achieved through a simple robust counter that is deesigned to make it easy for clients to see how their site is performing. Whilst the exact structure of this counter is confidential I would like to say that I have seen no better system. I have looked at a wide range of counter systems including Webalyser, Google Analytics and NedStats etc and none of them do what the TWS system does. The main reason for this is that the counter is custom designed for the TWS niche, small companies with predominantly UK markets.

So what is Search Engine Optimisation? Well, in essense its like dressing up to go out. A client will come to TWS and in effect say they want to go to the pub and meet a girl. I see that they are dressed in rags and so I optimise them for their night out. I make sure they have clean clothes and have brushed their hair. This is optimisation. It is not gauranteeing anything. It is not selling success. Wether a client meets a girl at the pub is entirly down to theit ability and performance. However, if they went to the pub dressed as a clown they would not be optimising their chances. As such, you can expand the analogy.

In practice this means doing the obvious. Ensuring that the web site has the appropriate content and the required spread of keywords. To me this is optimising in its purest and most honest sense, as it should be. If you are selling pens then you make sure your web site has the keywords 'pens' in it.

However, in practice Search Engine Optimisation is a much darker subject. TWS have hundreds of strong keywords positions in the search engines. And mostly they are achieved through common sense and hard work. However, getting an edge in Search Engine Optimisation often means doing things that dont make littoral sense. This can range from including mispelt words in your keyterms and duplicating keyword density to achieve an optimised footprint in the search engines eyes through to, well, the most unsatisfying part of all, link building.

I think I should clarify that Search Engine Optimisation is a mix of page management AND link building. Link building is generally the most frustrating aspect of this whole science because it is through link building that you get an edge, and through excessive link building that you win the battles. And thats not right.

The development of links to a site has one objective, to assist web surfers in reaching your site. Or rather, to assist a web surfer who is currently reading a particular third party site such as a directory, where they are looking for similar services to find a link to the customers site, click it and arrive. In the purest and most honest sense you can see this in County Industry. County Industry allows surfers to search for a particular service, such as Powder Coating and to see a long list of prospective service providers, and then, based on the information shown, such as town and county, to visit sites that might interest them. All said and done, that functionality is worthwhile and vaild. However, the spin off to that is that it provides a link and that link gives you points in Googles eyes. So whats the significance of that? Well, what that means is that in order to improve search engine rankings you can build up links to your site which will result in your site rising up in the search engines for your keywords. So in practice what this means is the process of Search Engine Optimisation is a combination of configuring the site (keywords & content) and then POWERING the site through link building.

So wheres the beef? Well, again, using an hoest approach, as TWS does you are quite within your rights to develop links in legitimate locations such as Yell, Applegate, Kellys, Thompsons, Tough and of course County Industry etc etc. Some of these will give you a link, some wont, and in the sum total they will increase your performance in the search engines. The question is, although its a little premature in my argument, have I optimised the site or have I manipulated the search engines? I would select the latter.

What this brings us on to is the dark (grey) world of link farms? Directories? these are strange areas, they always make me laugh, that serve very little purpose in the real world. No one will ever use them as directories, and very few people will find them from the search engines, htey are like ghost sites that drift across the oceans of the internet unseen to the human eye. However, they are directories and if you can get a link in them they might get picked up by Google and Google might give you a few points for having a link, or being that bit more popular.

In effect, there is a huge market for these link farms, and if you search for almost any key term you will find that the companies at the top are the ones that have over 100 links in these farms, sometimes much much more. You can do that by looking at the link function in most search engines (Google is now protected by Web Master Central). Its also worth noting that these link directories actually allow you to fabricated anchor texts, and if your market is widgets, and you have 1000 links from 1000 link directories that are text links to your site that say WIDGETS then the chances are you will rank VERY HIGHLY for widgets in the search engines. That, is not Search Engine Optimisation, that is Search Engine Manipulation. But its very effective. And alot of people do it. Just to make it clear, TWS only dip their toes in that murky ocean. What this means I shall now explain.

I often get people call me and say they want TWS to get them to the top of the search engines. I immediatly go into [turn of inner smirk mode] and listen. Prospective customers say they want me to 'optimise' their site. Well, I say sure, I can modify the metatags in your site, thats what optimisation is. In fact in an ideal world I would redesign your site using the rinciple of DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE, because basic Search Engine Optimisation requires not only good metatags but also good content and link sructure as well as a raft of other tricks. However, as soon as its my turn to speak I say something like, soooo.... you want to increase search engine traffic? Thats right isnt it? And they say well, yes. So I say, well, Search Engine Optimisation wont actually achieve that. What you need is a redesign using my principle of DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE, but mostly they dont want that as they are happy with their site as it is. So what I offer is to optimise the current site as best as is possible, and then, using the huge TWS directory database go about link building. I also try to jury rig a counter of some sort, usually Google Analytics, and low and behold, traffic goes up. Its as simple as that.

The point is that people think that Search Engine Optimisation is a carefully crafted discipline resulting from long hours of looking theough HTML script and tweaking things, when i reality, which that is important, its the link building that gives the site the power. And its the dominant factor. As such I sell Search Engine Optimisation services, and not link building. TWS do not own link farms, only County Industry and Heathrow Business Directory (a fledgling project).

So whats my point? Well, really, im only writing this blog to entertain those that would like to read something. Please excuse spelling mistakes. I dont really have a point, but I do feel that its an issue that is worth discussing. As the web design market becomes more and more competitive and demanding TWS find that they have to 'justify' and 'account' for so much more. TWS have always focussed on performance and accountability, but this issue opens up alot of cans of worms. To digress a little, some clients are very aware. I was cold calling today and a prospect after hearing my speil said that whilst they knew their site was poor, still knew how to do things in house, and pretty much demonstrated that by say that they knew they were number 1 for 'art shippers', but nowhere for 'art shipping'. Or the other way round, I cant remember. I knew he was on the ball. But compare this to the prospect that when you ask for their web site address they tell you their e-mail address..... Really, it happens ALL THE TIME. Please dont get me started. What we have are a variety of prespectives on how the internet works. Now the former in these examples, if they were to become a customer would probably be quite easy to please or at least there would be an understanding on expectations. However the latter would be far more volatile. I once had a customer that would constantly say, I looked at Google and were not there. Please say it in a very hard to understand fast Irish accent. Of course they were there. I checked. But no, according to him, they were not there. Very frustrating. What he meant was that a customer, they were a hotel, who was in China or some Far East country was typing in HOTELS into Google and could not find this particular client. Hi perception was in its own universe. He hadn't even looked himself as he was not too 'bright' with computers and really would not look at the screen when you were talking him through things.

So what this all comes back to is that, as 95% of TWS clients have a fully managed site, that TWS have a professional obligation to manage the Search Engine Optimisation of their clients to best effect, or words to that effect. However, in some instances this will mean that they are doing well in the search engines, and in other instances that they are not. TWS always try to avoid credit for success because it by implication means TWS are responsible for failure. Instead we just state, well, the job is to optimise in the desire of achieving good results, thats the job, its not a special magic that was a favour.

So in conclusion, I think that as an issue for all web designers, Search Engine Optimisation is one of the thorniest. Its worth noting that 99% of people that I speak to that have a web site do not know how well they are doing or have any support for updates or feedback on site objectives. With TWS your web site is an ongoing concern. I think the main point or question that i'd like to leave you with is this. Given the huge effect of link building on a sites Search Engine Optimisation or Performance, is Search Engine Optimisation really a disciple, an art? Or is it, as I feel, a [insert clever French word for fraud mixed with chess piece] Fraux Hatiche? I often think of the pub scenario, and often align massive link building with sending your customer to the pub in a dayglow suit and a magephone. They will get noticed, but to me it sucks. And do they get the girls?

I know that Google has apprantly tried to limit the effect of link farms but in practice they have not. I also know that they are less effective than they were, to the extent that some consider them unviable, but even so, it makes a bit difference against a site with zero links, which is often about 80% of the internet (or at least 80% has minimal links). What the future brings is never clear, and TWS view the internet and Search Engine Optimisation as a flux soup, ever changing, and hopefully we'll end up with a world wide web free from stupidity and 'clever' tricks to diseive the honest web browser. To finish, all i can say is that if that ever happens, i'll be amazed, I say that because I think that the biggest fraudster on the internet is in fact Google et al, Do No Evil - lol. But thats another story for me and little people that I can see at the bottom of my pint glass, and dont tell me thats just the beer mat. ]]> General http://technicalwebservices.com/blog/index.php?itemid=8 Fri, 8 Aug 2008 20:57:39 +0100 http://technicalwebservices.com/blog/index.php?itemid=6
Directories have alot of potential. The geography of web based directories is huge ranging from the well established highly regarded niche specific directories through to the made for google generic directories that crop up like weeds through any well laid surface.

Directories offer many benefits, both obvious and not so obvious. Getting a listing in a directory in its purest sense is aimed at bringing new business to your company and/or hits to your web site, but directories are also well used for generating links to your site, and in the eyes of Google, links meeans increased popularity and better rankings.

At TWS we manage free listings for clients. This means that new clients are submitted to free directory listings which are then recorded for management purposes. Through a secure counter hits from these directories are then recorded. This means that we can then determine which directories are performing under a free entry and make informed decisions regarding enhancing those entries, etc.

Free listings range from excellent sources of traffic through to virtual wastes of time. But as an excercise in managing and understanding the geography of the internet it is a critcal aspect of a companies online prescense. When a client can log in and see 60 directory listings for which they are listed and their respective traffic volumes they can gain a better understanding of the environment. This is quite useful for when telesales agents call trying to say they are the best directory. The client, in theory, can look at their directory overview and say, but yes, what about these other directory? Why are you better than them. Telemarketing agents will often try to claim that they are the only directory on the internet, and nearly always have no comprehension of other directories at all.

This leads on to the TWS philospohy regarding directories from a holistic perspective. Like the term Company UK, we see the sum of all these web directories as a singular unit, which each directory being a sub-section of that singular web directory. This holistic singular directory offers alot of potential, but also alot of rubbish.

So, a TWS client can see, for example, 60 directories that they are in. To start with these are free listings. Some of these free listings might bring in significant amounts of traffic. However the idea is that people pay for these listings in order to generate more traffic.

This is really the issue I have been trying to get to in this blog. Paying for directory listings. In short, directory listings are expensive. Ridicuosly expensive.

As you might already know, TWS run their own directory, County Industry which generates a modest amount of traffic. The cost for an enhanced entry is £50 which for a year is a reasonable amount of money. Its affordable, people can risk a gamble with £50. However, alot of the mainstream directories are really expensive. These are directories that have high profile names that people trust. However, from experience, they dont always generate any traffic. In fact, the TWS clients directory overview will often show that free listings are generating more traffic than paid listings. The reason for this is that these large directories do not have clear vision, and neither do their clients. So often when i'm talking to directory telesales agents do I hear the argument, we have 90% renewal rate so customers must be happy with their directory listing that they have paid for. The truth is that alot of these customers dont know how much traffic they are generating from their paid directory listing. Further, they are not at the coal face. The only time they think about their listing is when the renewal comes through. They are busy people and they dont have the inclination to look into the return, and neither do they have the ability.

At TWS we strive to make this issue transparent. For example, a client was spending about £3-400 in both Yell.com and The Phone Book by BT. Our counter showed that whilst Yell was paying its way, the Phone Book generated essentially nothing at all. So TWS helped to save this client £300/year because they would never have realised that otherwise as both names are high profile.

But it doesn't stop there. You have to look at return versus cost. TWS manage this by dividing cost by hits. For example, a listing in Kellys directory might cost £1200 and generate 300 hits which is quite alot, but that is really £4 per click. Once you have that rate you can compare the real cost to other directories. For example, an entry into The 1 which cost £10 and generated 100 hits over the year had a return of £0.10 per hit. Quite a difference. Obviously, the total amount of traffic generated by The 1 was less but the ROI was higher.This comparitive approach to quanifying directory performance is important for understanding directory value. At TWS we then use Google Ads as a benchmark. So a company selling widgets would run a Google campaign which would cost £0.20 per hit. Google ads will vary according to industry, but for each industry a Google Ads campaign should set the pace and provide a decent bencmark for calculating relative value.

From there we are better placed to assess the value of a directory. However, value is also calculated accoring to value of lead/sale. As such, even £4.00 per click might be worthwhile for a sale of £10,000. This is where this chart comes in handly:

The chart shows a decreased return as cost increases, but an increase in total volume of traffic. This means that whilst a directory listing in Kellys might be expensive, the sum total will produce more traffic.

That said. With reference to the cost of £50 for an enhanced listing in County Industry the actual cost of on line business directories is way over the top. A directory is essentially a database that is available online. There is not alot that needs doing. A new entry can be enabled at the switch of a button. For that, the some directories charge £1000. In actual fact £1000 is alot of money. Its more than many people earn in a month. The beef here is that that is tamprmount to theft. Especially when the directory does not generate ay traffic, especially when the directory entry does not generate more than a free entry in another directory. Examples of these types of directory entires include Touch Local, Scoot & ITV Local and many more. TWS have seen time and time again where clients have been telemarketed and sold dircetory listings over the phone for £2-400 which have never generated any traffic. These directories are often supported by large call centers, which are costly, and they are pushing diectory listings that dont work. But because customers cannot see that, they manage to secure 90% renewal rates. Its obsene.

Whilst TWS does not want to push its directory too far, its worth saying that the simple structure of County Industry is intentional to the extent that its very easy to use and provides alot of information. This is relevent when you note that many of these high end directories are justifying their high prices through added features, many of which just add confusion to the communication of information.

Just to finish up. The world of directories is, in the view of TWS, one which offers a great deal of opportunity, but one which is frought with inconsistencies. Unlike the price of beer, which in general is the same everywhere, the cost of a directory listing is not consistent or standardised. Using the analogy of beer, the world of directories is currently one where a pub can serve a pint for £1.00 whilst another will serve a pint for £7.99. Another pub could sell a litre for £6.00 whilst another sells gallons at £16.00, which is better value? Did you want a gallon? Yet another pub might sell a shot of beer for £1.00 and another might sell a 0.05% pint of highly watered down beer for £4.00. With this type of uncertainty its no wonder people get ripped off.

One more point. Many directories offer counters so they can demonstrate how much traffic their sites get, however, even with the best intents, there is no way you can measure traffic that accuratly. That is, search engine spiders click up hits. There is nothing that can be done about that. Obvios spiders like Google can be ruled out, but there are always new spiders that dont identify themselves, and they search through directories requesting pages and in short, clicking hits on directory profiles. TWS has experience of directories that claim 400 hits per month whilst we detected 2 hits that month. However, when you talk to dircetories, they will swear blind that they block all spiders. This is about as possible as having a sign on your door saying no unsolicited mail or flyers etc. You know they'll still put the free newspapers through your door.

It is difficult to qualify directory traffic, but TWS have methods in place to help do this. This means that clients can get a better handle on directory traffic and a better understanding.

Another issue with directories is relevence. Many of these directories, especially directories such as Yell will tell you that they get 2 million viewers a day which means that you'll get lots of sales enquiries. What they dont say is that 99% of those viewers are looking for flowers or MOT garages. If your business is about selling 100,000 aerospace fabrications which you sell 3 of a year then this traffic is going to be irrelevent. In fact, the relevent traffic through to your section will be 0. But they dont say that, because they dont understand. The point is that many companies markets are generally too specific for certain directories.

TWS hold a database of about 3000 directories. It is fromthis database that clients will end up in about 30-100 directories depending on time since the service began. And of these directories only a handful will be of any major significance. Some of the favorite TWS directories include and . Obviously, these directories are only relevent if you are in the fish or pig industries. But they are great examples of industry specific niches. So imagine, if your a fish processing company, where do you want to me, Yell or FIS? With TWS you get visibility of the entire directory market. Other interesting directies include directories focussing on magnts, sundials, concrete, Uganda and mechanical seals.

Hopefully this has been interesting. Excuse the spelling mistakes and the disjointed prose, I recieved a few calls inbeteeen and lost my train of thought. Its worth noting that I also gained a new client, inbound, whilst writing this. Hopefully i'll spell check later......

Just a few short extras. Some of the draw backs of directories include return calls. What happens is that you submit to a directory and the next day they call the company to confirm that the company details are correct. This can be a pain, especially when TWS put themselves as the main contacts. This is further frustrated when directories such as Engnet call and intonate that if TWS wont convert clients into paying customers that they will call the company directly to make a sales pitch, against the suggestion of TWS who knows the client is not currently interested, for example.

Other issues include rubbish calls, calls from india looking to seel products and spam. But al of this is, in theory, relativly minor.

Another benefit with directory subbmission is that you are seeding the directory with your company information. Each directory is owned by someone or some company. It is the belief of TWS that each of these bodies has the intention of making their directory work. A great example is Engineering Capacity which was a relative backwater for many years but in 2007 had a major redesign placing it at the forfront yet again. This means that submissions to Engineering Capacity whilst before might have been regarded as a waste of time, pay dividends when the directory starts to work. This has happened in many cases. Another bonus is that data is traded. For example, Hot Frog was spawned from KellySearch and the Reed Group and is now a reasonable source of traffic for several clients. Another example is Build.co.uk which appeared out of nowhere but which had a lot of current TWS clients data included, data which had to have come from somewhere because the companies were new. What makes the Build.co.uk example interesting is that they dont accept fre entries easily. Having tried to submit to Build.co.uk recently TWS found that they call the next day with a very intimidating sales pitch.

This leads on to the issue of FREE ENTRIES. Directories offer free entires but then call and try to upsell the customer. This appears to be wrong, they will often even deny that the directory is free. They will say stuff like, So how are you going to get business? Well, that goes back to the overview of the single directory. Out of 60 odd directories and search engine traffic, hits will come, but they use a tone that insinuates that without their paid listing you'll get nothing. One directory even finished the call with the line, so you dont want google leads? And many will say, so you dont want busines. Of course a customer wants business, but they dont want to accept the narrow minded view that business is all generated through a single directory source. The worst of it is that the listing is supposedly free, and yet they approach you as though it deserves payment.

Another issue is that all these directories base their business on information about comapnies. They would not exist without the information they hold. In theory they should not be able to profit from that information without the permission of the owner. This is relevent because directories will hassle you about getting a fre listing, whilst they dont accept the fact that it is they that should be humble about recieveing free listings, because without them they would be nothing. This issue can be taken further. If each directory had to pay £5/year to each company for the right to profit from the presentation of their contact details, they would soon be out of business. Applegate has about 160k entries, which at £5 each would cost them £800k. They have about 2k paying customers at on average £400 is £800k. Most directories do not even make that kind of profit. Its an interesting point.

Another issue that has been brought up recently is copywrite and trademarks. This is in relevence to a directories updatability. Some companies will use trademarks in their keywords, they might even submit those trade marks to directories. Directories might even trawl the internet and generate listings themselves from metatags. The result is the possibility of information that is out of date and for which their is a legal president, within local counties for ammendment. But which id the directory is based in India or the web master cant be bothered to address issues? Further to this point, when a company relocates, directory listings can show old company information. Often its impossible to update this information. TWS specialise in managing drectory listings enabling company loves to be reflected not only in the web site but through directories. Many directories offer passwords so they can be edited, but many are completely automated and dont respond to e-mails.

Again, a very rushed addition and rushed blog entry, hope it makes sense, ]]> General http://technicalwebservices.com/blog/index.php?itemid=6 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:51:53 +0000 http://technicalwebservices.com/blog/index.php?itemid=3 General http://technicalwebservices.com/blog/index.php?itemid=3 Sat, 2 Feb 2008 03:42:56 +0000