It’s time for another SEO Advice post! Last month, I offered free SEO advice to 21st-century-boy.co.uk. I’m going to continue my SEO Advice series today by helping out another YoungEntrepreneur.com blog reader Kimmoy Matthews, from Teach and Still Grow Rich.
Kimmoy Matthews – http://www.teachandstillgrowrich.com/
Hi Evan,
I just came across your blog and have read straight through 4 pages so far – it’s good stuff! I don’t know where my website ranks let alone where I rank as far as those requesting your advice (number million and one in line?) LOL So, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping you would help me out. If it speeds up your response time, then you don’t even have to feature it on your blog, I’ll take your advice via email. I’m really just looking for advice.
My site is www.teachandstillgrowrich.com
Thanks a bunch!
Kimmoy
My Recommendations
1) Get Some Links (and some PageRank!)
I originally received an email from Kimmoy back in April about her website. At that time the site did not carry any PageRank. And now seven months later… still no PageRank! Kimmoy you need to get out there and build some links to your site. Google hasn’t even found it yet and until you build those links, you won’t get search engine traffic. Further reading for you: Links To Young Entrepreneur, How I Got 15,937 Links To My Site. This blog post gave you one link – now focus on building a few more!
2) Identify Your Top Keywords
Try to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What would they type in to end up on a site like yours? Right now you’re title tag reads “Teachers Start a Business Not a Second Job!” Are teachers really typing this in on a regular basis? Use the Google Keyword Tool to find out what people are actually searching for and then start optimizing your website around those keywords.
3) Put Your Blog On Your Domain… And Update It!
I see that you’ve created a blog at http://teachandstillgrowrich.blogspot.com/ which is hosted at Blogger. Blogs are a great way to drive traffic and rank in search engines because Google loves fresh content and you can get picked up by all the various blog search engines. However, the blog isn’t actually hosted on your website! With Blogger you can easily set up publishing rules so that the posts will go to a folder on your site instead of at Blogger. Don’t give away the links to blogger that you’re working to create! And speaking about working… what happened to the blog? It seems to have died out in May. Time to get posting!!
Good luck Kimmoy!
Readers, what do you think about Teach and Still Grow Rich?
To learn more about how to get SEO tips for your website please read my post: Need SEO Advice? Submit Your Site!
Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book:Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.
I looked at the site and am not any kind of internet expert. I am a consumer of information though and can say that the site didn’t inspire me to sign up for the newsletter which I assume is the goal. Your tips for the site seem sound advice though. I would guess it’s a numbers game.
well.. getting a page rank is not that simple… moreover it is not even in your control…
you just have to follow the SEO rules and be patient…
as for the blog … there is always a debate whether to have the blog as a sub-domain or a directory … both have their own pros and cons … and you should define your requirements before you choose the right method..
I agree on hosting your own blog, you have much more control using WordPress or something of that nature. It would be a good idea to have some recent posts on the home page to provide some SEO and give something to your visitors to read.
In fact you can build your whole site out of WordPress, then install some pretty cool SEO plugins which will help towards your Google rankings.
I think if you are trying to sell something on your blog or website, you need to invest a bit of money and effort to get results. Using too many free tools like blogger or hosted website builders can have negative effects.
Good tips, especially number three. Here is an article I wrote that will keep you out of trouble with Google if you use their sites. The article is part of my free eBook, How to start a business from scratch…Without having any. Enjoy.
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Turning Adversity into Opportunity
Every self-help book has something similar to the following: “Inside every disaster there is an opportunity hiding.” I was always skeptical of this attitude, until a little adversity came my way.
I used Google to host a web site for me. As I mention in the eBook, I like Google web sites when you start a business because they are easy to put together, give several different template options, and most importantly, they generate a site map for you and index your site very easily. This gives you a better chance being found by their search engine.
There are two downsides, however, to using these sites:
1. Flexibility. For the most part you have to design within their template constraints. This can make your site look cookie-cutter.
2. You have to play by their rules. That’s where I got into trouble.
One morning I went to my Google site and a yellow banner came across the top that told me, “This site has been suspended for violation of our Terms of Service.” Yikes!
Google did not tell me what I had done wrong, only that I had violated the terms. They did give me a link to dispute their decision and a link to the Terms of Service for me to figure out the violation myself.
After reading the terms, I guessed that the site was suspended because of a parity video I had created using my wife. It was a take-off on the Charles Schwab commercials. It had that “cartooner” effect the Schwab commercials had been using. So, I took the video off the site and wrote Google asking if we were friends now and if I could have my site back. Of course, there was no immediate response.
Panic setting in. This was my main site for my sales copywriting business. If people could not get to it how would I get business? If people saw that threatening banner at the top what kind of credibility would I have? How could people trust me with their sites? Is Google putting me out of business?
Breathe. The truth of the matter is that I had wanted to create my own pages for my business and host them with another provider but I had been putting it off. I had already created one site to give away this eBook on starting a business from scratch, and I thought it would be nice to have my sales copywriting pages have the same look and feel. But everything else took priority. Now it was time to buckle up and the pages done. I had no choice.
Take action. So, I jumped in and gave it priority. Within one day I had converted most of what people visiting my site would need to see if they wanted to hire me and I really liked the way it came out. I think it makes a much better impression and I’m already having better results.
Taking action is the key to opening the opportunity door. Contrary to “secret” believers, you cannot just wish it to happen. You have to do something about your situation and put all your mental energies into it.
The Lessons. You usually don’t knowingly walk into adversity. Somehow you just end up there. But when it strikes, you have a choice to make: Wait for things to get better or take action yourself and try to turn the adversity into an opportunity.
There a lot of lessons for entrepreneurs to be learned from what happened to me and how you can apply them to your business. Here are a few:
1. Don’t ever forget – Nothing in business is ever really free. If it was, it would be called a charity and not a business. Google gives away a lot of software for free because they tie it back to the advertising revenue model. And they do it very well. Google gives good, quality software at no cost. You can do a lot without spending anything. But you are playing in their sand box and have to play by their rules.
2. Make sure you have a backup plan for areas that are critical to your business. Don’t just think about it. Get them ready to go at a “Violations” moment’s notice. Your list should be prioritized and have the items that will shut you down listed at the top.
3. Don’t be lazy by thinking you will get it done but, “it’s such a hassle and I have important things I have to take care of.” Set aside a half hour a day and go through your list of critical areas to your business. Knock off a piece each day until you feel comfortable. (Don’t forget about data backups. Most people do forget to back up their data until it’s tragically too late. Thumb drives are ridiculously inexpensive these days.)
4. There really can be opportunity in adversity. You just need to stay calm, make a plan and take action. I’m a true believer now.
Google finally did write back to me. Their team said I could not use that particular site but I was welcome to create a new Google Site. It turns out I had a “link referral” on my site. Google does not allow those types of links on their sites. When you start a business from scratch, you need to know the ground rules for every part of your business.
Louie Bernstein – http://www.sales-getter.com
Thanks for the advice Evan. I have actually been doing this business part-time the ‘old school’ way – without using my website. I get clients from classes I teach and word of mouth. However, in the near future I have some work to do to increase my online presence and will definitely follow your advice.
Thanks a bunch!
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