As we’ve mentioned before in previous articles, links are a positive signal to search engines affirming the value and validity of your website.  By this logic, the more websites linking to you the better your page rank, right? Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that simple. In the early days of search engines, yes, it was that simple. Early search engines only assigned value based on quantity. They possessed no ability to ascertain quality or origin of external links. Webmasters constructed entire networks of interlinked pages designed to boost the ranking of specific websites and this still happens today! Their overall impact is, however, diminishing. This and other tactics intended to fool search engines and boost page rank are considers “black hat” strategies. After all, how does a web crawler definitively ascertain the value of the originating site? Only the people behind the search engines know. Suffice to say that as search engines and their crawlers evolve, so does their criteria for evaluating the origin of the website hosting your link. As you attempt to gain stature in the eyes of the search engines, be wary of engaging in the following practices; the short term gain isn’t worth the monetary loss and long-term [....] Read More >>

Ed is still hunkered down behind the four computer screens in his office while I gaze longingly through the windows at the beautiful blue skies....FREE ME FROM MY CHAINS! Since all my work is done, I get the honor of giving you this week's edition of Friday Props, brought to you by the friendly interwebs, Where All Good Things Happen. For our first prop, I will add this disclaimer: I don't understand Spanish very well. OK, yeah, I used to work with a whole lot of guys from El Salvador, but most of our conversation revolved around food so my vocabulary is almost useless outside a grocery store or kitchen. Don't worry if you don't know Spanish. It won't take you too long to figure out how this invention works and how it will improve society:   Speaking of commercialization that helps improve the world, Rhett and Link have made an art of making low budget commercials for local businesses. This came out three years ago but its so campy, it makes me chuckle everytime I see it because it is so ridiculous. If every TV commercial was this interesting, I would watch TV for the commercials. What gets the Props here is not [....] Read More >>

Your Business on the Web: Episode 1 - The Basics of SEO Below is the first video in our "Your Business on the Web" series where we discuss the basics of SEO. This video is the first in our series on SEO for your business. Our intent is to demonstrate the value and the strategies involved with SEO to boost search engine Page Rank and visitor traffic to your website. Below is a transcript of the video and, of course, we welcome your feedback!   Ed: Hello and welcome to the first episode of our series, “Your Business on the Web.” In this episode we will be discussing the basics of SEO. SEO is… Phil: Santa Eating Oreos. Ed: No. Seo is… Phil: Swirling Earth Orbits. Ed: No. SEO is… Phil: Actually, Sweaty Engaging Omelets Ed: No! SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Phil: Right. Search Engine Optimization is about increasing the visibility of your website through unpaid, natural, organic search results. Ed: That’s right. In general, the higher a website ranks in the search results and the more frequently it appears in search results, the more traffic those websites can anticipate from search engine users. There are different types of SEO targeting such things as Keyword Search, Image Search, Video Search, Local [....] Read More >>

The number one frustration for most small business owners is a lack of visibility of their beautiful well-designed website. “I spent all this money on a website but no one can find it! How do I get it to the top of the Google?” Welcome to Search Engine Optimization and Marketing (SEO/SEM). It’s true. You can have the most awesomest on the web, but it won’t make a bit of difference if no one can find it! The goal of any business is to be ranked #1 on any SERP (Search Engine Results Page) for keywords relating to your business, driving traffic to your wonderful, gorgeous website. The short-term fix to the problem is to spend money on advertising through Google, print media, promotions and such, herding potential clients to your website where they’ll say “Wow! This is EXACTLY what I need!” Or they’ll leave without spending a dime and your bank account shrinks. This strategy will drive traffic to your site, and, if the guest finds your website useful, they might spread the word out to their friends. But what if you don’t have the money to promote your website, first-time visitors don’t return and you see zero return [....] Read More >>

Whether hob-knobbing with the jet set during the Monaco Grand Prix, having dinner with political insiders at The French Laundry or testing the latest jet-pack across the croc-filled waters of the Zambezi River, SEO / SEM Specialist Philip Stevens is the adventuresome social butterfly of the Edgeworks Creative Team. Tiring of the 5-star lifestyle, Philip settled back into Central Vermont and began transitioning his social networking powers for clients, boosting their reputation on the internet with well-developed marketing strategies. “Search engines and people aren’t all that different from one another,” he says. “The only difference is that sometimes people will invite you to Monaco. Search engines won’t.” Tracking the evolution of search engines and social networking, Philip combines his vivid imagination with precise marketing skills to develop exposure campaigns that would put a flasher to shame. Recruited to the Edgeworks Creative team in the fall of 2011, Philip worked in the hospitality industry as a manager at one of the best resorts in the country. His ability to adapt quickly and develop unique angles and niches for our clients hides his deadly aptitude with the Nerf gun. Working extensively in the worlds of Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn, Google Adwords, Google Analytics and Google +, Philip creates a buzz for our clients until it [....] Read More >>

A few weeks back, Google launched the Penguin update, targeting websites that use a variety of tactics to boost page rankings on Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page). From a ‘consumer’ viewpoint it’s often difficult to gauge the validity of a website on a SERP: that’s what Google’s algorithm is all about. With each of these updates, Google aims to bring you the best results possible for any keyword search by refining the algorithm to eliminate or reduce the rankings of those websites that employ “black hat” SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tactics. Black Hat? What’s that? By nature, every SEO is looking for the edge, the opportunity to maximize their exposure (or their client’s) on the web and push a website to the top of the SERP. Common “black hat” tactics include keyword stuffing, cloaking and redirects, duplicate content and linking schemes all of which are designed to supersede the rankings of competitors and, ultimately, generate more business. There are a hundred different analogies we could incorporate here (i.e. Star Wars, Talledega Nights) about good vs. evil, but to boil it down, SEO’s need to play by Google’s rules. Is your website’s page rank about to get whacked? Probably not. By their estimate, [....] Read More >>