Key Specific | Seo Las Vegas | Web Development Las Vegas

Did You Know Not All Links Are Created Equal?

Kevin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:49:12 +0000

Well, did you? Search Engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.) algorithms have become and will continue to become more complex over the years. They take more and more into account and are continually refining their ranking algorithms to keep up with Search Engine Marketers and the needs of the searchers. I mean, Google didn’t become an official verb in the English language because it lacked the ability to continually progress and stay ahead of the curve. So with that said, here are 5 interesting ways search engines like Google have advanced their evaluation of Links in recent years that you may not know…

#1 – Link’s Higher in the HTML Code Are More Powerful

That’s right. The higher on the page your link is, the more important search engines think it is. Much like the front page of a newspaper is where the most popular story is found, so it is with links on a website.

#2 – Webspam Links May Devalue Your Legitimate Links

Say you have a website that sells ashtrays (stay with me) and you’ve acquired some links from Cigar Parlors and some tobacco-related blogs and forums, that’s great. Now after being inundated with emails and special offers you decide to let a poker/pornography/erectile dysfunction company advertise on your website. Google will take notice of this, and the value of your site and the other legitimate links on your site will drop. If your website has a blog or a comment section, be sure to monitor that no one leaves webspam on your website.

#3 – Links from Popular, Trusted Sites Are Given More Value Even From Less Important Pages

Let’s say your ashtray website has a link from a popular forum or blog, that’s great. But it may be even better if you had an link from an obscure, hardly read CNN.com article in the depths of their massive website. Why? Because CNN.com is “The Most Trusted Name in News”–well at least their website is trusted by Google. The lesson here is it’s better to be trusted than relevant.

#4 – External Links Are More Important Than Internal Links

In Google’s original PageRank algorithm internal links and external links were considered equal, but this seems no longer true. Google apparently decided that what others think of you is now more important than what you think of you. This does not hold well for our self-esteem and I’m not saying this is true on the playground, but it does happen to be true on the Internet. I will let all those who’ve been bullied wrap their head around this…It’s not your fault…It’s not your fault…okay enough Good Will Hunting.

#5 – Links from “Inside” a Site are Worth More Than Links from Navigation, Footers, or Sidebars

You may have noticed that links in the navigation, footers, or sidebars are often paid links. Google and other search engines have noticed this too. And as SEO experts and webmasters we know how much harder it is to get a link from the text of unique content than it is to buy a link in the aforementioned locations. Giving links from inside unique content more value is a way for the search engines to avoid spamming and rank manipulation.

We hope these tips helped today. And though we don’t actually have Google or Yahoo’s PageRank algorithms (wouldn’t that be nice?), we have done studies and taken from the studies of others to compile these theories and use them to our advantage. We hope you do the same.

Magento Adding Custom Options in Shopping Cart

Edwin — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:20:26 +0000

I recently had a client who needed the ability to add and modify custom options that were already in the shopping cart. This is useful for users who often change their mind or want to get as far in the checkout process as possible before being bothered with options. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but I can give you the key functions:

The first set of functions are used below.

//Get the checkout Session
$session = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/session');
//Iterate through all Items in Cart
foreach ($session->getQuote()->getAllItems() as $item){

$program = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($item->getProduct()>getId());
$options = $program->getOptions();

//Get the option you want to modify
foreach($options as $option) {
if ($option->getTitle() == 'OPTION NAME HERE'){
$optionId= $option->getId();
}
}
//Now get the Custom Options in cart
$productOptions= $item->getProduct()->getTypeInstance(true)->
getOrderOptions($item->getProduct());
}

So $productOptions is an array that contains all the current options. Now, to modify a current entry or add a new one, all you need to do is clear the cart and iterate through $productOptions to add them all back to the cart. I have written some pseudo code below.

$cart->truncate();
$cart->save();
$cart->getItems()->clear()->save();

for ( $counter = 0; $counter <  count($productOptions['options']); $counter++) {
if($productOptions['options'][$counter]['label'] != 'OPTION NAME') {
$arr['options'][$productOptions['options'][$counter]['option_id']] = $productOptions['options'][$counter]['option_value'];
}
}
$arr['options'][option id of custom option] = 'New Value';
$cart->addProduct($program, $arr);
$cart->save();

And there you have it!

Using Twitter for Online Marketing

Kevin — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:15:11 +0000

Many of you may have heard of Twitter, especially if you watch any major news network, sporting event, sitcom or you just want to know every detail of a celebrity’s life. What many of you may not know is how Twitter is being used as a marketing tool for small businesses or how if you’re already using Twitter for this purpose what you might be doing wrong. Well, I am here to answer all your questions. Like…

What is Twitter?

You probably already know this since you clearly know how to use a computer, but Twitter is a “microblog.” “Micro” meaning small and “blog” meaning blog. You have 140 characters to deliver a message, so to those of us that are of a more verbose nature, we have to be clear and to the point. Twitter also serves as a social network and like any social network you have “friends” who aren’t really your friends but that’s okay, we won’t tell anyone. Your “friends” on Twitter are called “followers” but don’t get too excited about having followers, you’re not a cult leader…yet.

How Does Twitter Work?

Twitter couldn’t be easier. You sign up for a Twitter account and then start posting the 140 character messages and just like that you’re tweeting. Once you’ve posted a tweet, it goes into your Twitter feed. Your followers will then see your tweet on their Twitter account. It’s very similar to how a blog’s RSS feed reports to the RSS readers. But again, it’s smaller.

Isn’t Twitter Just For Celebrities Like Ashton Kutcher and Burt Reynolds?

No, unlike being Punk’d Twitter isn’t just for the super famous. Regular Joe’s like you and me can use Twitter to not only let our friends and family “follow” us, but we can also promote our business and help improve our visibility online.

How Does Twitter Help Market Small Businesses?

Many large companies are already achieving success with Twitter. For them Twitter is a quick way to update their already large base with instant updates on exiting deals and exclusive offers.

For a small business Twitter supplements other online marketing methods like SEO, PPC, email marketing campaigns, and banner adds. Use Twitter to communicate with your current clients so they can learn more about you and the exciting things your company is doing.

What kind of results can I expect?

It’s important to remember that Twitter is a social marketer and not a direct marketer. It’s important to refine other elements of your online marketing like SEO, PPC, and Link Building before you start a Twitter campaign. The combination of all these methods can keep your company ahead of your competitors and on the front page of search engines. Once you maximize all these marketing efforts Twitter will serve as a great way to communicate to a core audience. A major benefit of marketing with Twitter is being to update it from your mobile phone. Tweeting on the road helps you (and your customers) to stay involved with all your new and fresh ideas. It’s important to remember Twitter is a long term marketing method, so be patient and keep tweeting.

How To Get Started With Twitter…

If you are ready to give Twitter a go and see what it’s all about, here’s a quick start guide for how to get the most out of Twitter.

Create a free Twitter account
Search for people you know and who you want to follow and then hit the “follow” button underneath their avatar to follow them.
Tweet about yourself. And don’t forget you only have 140 characters, so keep it simple and straight to the point.
At first use Twitter to talk about yourself, your company, and why people should follow you with the aim of building a relationship with your customer so they feel more comfortable spending their money with you. This could be tweeting about your family, values, news articles, articles of interest to your business and so on. If only all relationships could be based on 140 characters.
If you release a new product or if you have a special discounted offer then be sure to tweet about, but it’s important to mix in real life messages with these promotional deals so people don’t think you’re just here for the buck.
Use Twitter to follow other companies in your niche so you can stay ahead of their deals, promotions and just to get a feel for how they too use Twitter to promote their company.
Once you’ve established yourself on Twitter start sending out your Twitter address with all other facets of your marketing campaigns like newsletters, press releases, emails, and physical mail-outs.

What To Avoid…

There are some methods that can start to hurt your relationship with your followers and they are as follows:

Automated software programs. At first they seem like a good idea but it’s important to remember Twitter is about building relationships and an automated message comes off as impersonal.
Don’t follow everyone who follows you. Following too many people can make the important tweets get lost in the shuffle. Find other tweeters who are relevant to you and leave the others by the wayside.
Don’t spend too much time on your tweets. Twitter is supposed to supplement the more intense marketing methods you use. Have fun with it and keep your tweets light in nature.
Don’t tweet to strangers. Well, don’t let just anyone be a follower, look out for bots and sexual predators—this is still the Internet, sexual predators are everywhere. (Not as bad as MySpace, but they are out there.)

Now I must go and post this awesome blog on my Twitter account. As always, I hope this helped.

What is Key Specific?

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:58:50 +0000

Key Specific provides SEO Services(Search Engine Optimization) SEM Services (Search Engine Marketing) and Internet Marketing services. We are a privately held Internet Marketing Company based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. We specialize in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We have years of experience in web development, search engine optimization and search engine marketing.

Key Specific has formed a team of highly skilled SEO Specialists that focus on a wide variety of industries and niches. Currently our Search Engine Optimization team is working on several in-house projects as well as web development for our clients. Learn more about what Key Specific and SEO can do for you in our blog…