About This Blog
Sara Lancaster here. Thanks for visiting the No. 2 Pen blog where I share examples of business websites with sharp website content.Project Hound
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Posts Tagged ‘SEO keywords’
Take Cover – Dropping Link Knowledge
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
The integration of links into web content is as important as a well-written headline. Okay, maybe it’s not as important as a headline, but links matter in a big way.
Too often the link and its anchor text go ignored or abused. To keep you from doing this on your site, I’m about to drop some link knowledge on you.
Anchor text, or the words that make up the link, should not read “find out more” or “click here” or anything similar. Couple reasons why: (more…)
7 Things You Need to Know about SEO Keywords
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
Creating a website is one feat and creating a search engine optimized (SEO) website that can be found by the search engines is a completely separate feat. To make sure your website is found by Internet users, you have to focus on keywords – the crux of SEO. Here are seven things you need to know when working with keywords:
- A professional can complete keyword research and provide you with a list of important SEO keywords to focus on, but you can do your own keyword research too. (more…)
Do-it-Yourself Keyword Research
Sunday, May 9th, 2010
In a recent post, we talked about the No. 2 Pen keyword research service, which helps small businesses determine what words and phrases need to be incorporated into website content. But if keyword research isn’t in the budget or you want to expand/update your existing list, the following do-it-yourself keyword research tools will get you there.
Sets in Google Labs – Simply enter five terms on a subject and ask Google to expand on the set of terms. Ideal for vague idea generation. (more…)
3 More Things Google Analytics Will Tell You About Your Website
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
My last post went over a few of the ways that Google Analytics can help you improve your web copy. Today, I want to follow up with three of my favorite Google Analytics features. The following items are less about web copy and more about marketing, which I dig. (more…)
6 Things Google Analytics Says About Your Web Content
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
If you have a website, you need to use Google Analytics (if you aren’t using another analytics program). This incredibly 
powerful tool will reveal indefinite amounts of data about your visitors. While I won’t go into the details of how to use Google Analytics here (Mahalo has a great “How-To”), I do want to tell you about ways you can improve your web content with the information it reveals.
1. Google Analytics tells you what your visitors like about you (and that feels nice)
Under Content, select Top Content. Find out which one of your pages is viewed most often and which one of your pages is viewed for the longest. When you see what your visitors enjoy reading, you can add more of that type of content and put links to that content from your important pages (e.g., home page and services pages).
2. Learn what your visitors don’t care about
Just like you looked at the popular content, take note of the least popular. If no one is reading what you spend hours researching and writing about, then what’s the point? (more…)
ABCs of Search Engine Optimization – A Dictionary
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Every month I try to focus on a particular marketing communications issue here on the No. 2 Pen blog. Last month I talked content marketing with ebooks, and this month you’ll get a smattering of info on search engine optimization and keywords.
To start off on the theme, check out this list of definitions relating to search engine optimization (SEO).
Alt tags – Descriptive, keyword rich text descriptions for non-textual elements, e.g. photos and graphics. Placed within the HTML of a web page.
Analytics – Tools that allow you to assess your website visitors by number, location, traffic sources, and much, much more. Popular analytics tools include Google Analytics, StatCounter, CoreMetrics, and Omniture. (more…)
Everything You Need to Know About Keyword Research
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Keyword research is more than just an intuitive approach to what you “think” your website visitors are searching to find your site. Proper keyword research looks at multiple data sources and trending tools to determine the best keywords based on actual search engine data, not assumptions.
With Keyword Research From The No. 2 Pen You Will Receive:
- A report identifies the most important and commonly used search engine keywords for your business.
- A greater understanding of your target visitor’s search behavior.
- A short list of recommended keywords to use within your website content, link anchor text, meta descriptions, alt descriptions, and more.