by: Collyn Floyd
Would you buy a house without checking out the neighborhood and schools first? Or a car without researching its reliability and safety ratings? Of course you wouldn't, unless you enjoy throwing caution to the wind (and in that case, you can stop reading).
Search Engine Optimization is - or at least should be - all about seeing improved results on your website. That's why it's crucial to ask to see an SEO company's case study information before selecting them for your SEO efforts. While you're at it, ask to meet the SEO staff who will be optimizing your site.
Sound a little over the top? Maybe, but here's the thing: it's really fashionable for businesses to jump on the SEO bandwagon right now, regardless of whether or not they actually know how to do SEO. Many of these companies don't even have dedicated SEO staff; they simply outsource the work. Ad agencies, for instance, desperate to make themselves more relevant, are some of the worst offenders - they often claim to do SEO despite not actually having a single SEO person on staff.
What can you really learn from a SEO case study?
An SEO case study can provide a treasure trove of information, including answers to the following questions:
How does a firm approach SEO? Case studies provide a perfect opportunity for an SEO firm to show off their strengths, strategies and results, giving you a good idea of what they can do for your business. You can see what they're most focused on: search engine rankings, link popularity, conversions, or all of the above. It may be possible for you to determine if they use ethical "white hat" strategies, or more risky tactics that could end up hurting your efforts in the long run.
Do they track and compare key statistics? You can see how thoroughly they track and compare data. And you may even be able to get a glimpse through graphs and screenshots of the kinds of tools and analytics programs the firm uses. Accurate tracking is obviously critical to your SEO efforts; if a firm can't tell you where you are and where you've been, how can you trust them with where you're going?
What industries do they serve? Or are they a generalist? You can find out if a firm specializes in certain industries, which is excellent information to know when determining if they are a good fit for your business. Maybe you have a manufacturing site and are looking for an SEO firm with experience successfully optimizing similar websites. Or perhaps you're a local business and are looking for a firm who knows your local market inside and out.
What if a company won't supply SEO case study data?
If an SEO company won't supply case study data, then generally speaking that should send up a red flag. Here are some likely scenarios as to why an SEO firm might avoid providing case study data, none of which are good:
* not actually having any clients to document
* not actually doing the SEO work themselves thereby not having access to data
* not being able to produce good enough data to document
* not properly tracking data (making before-and-after comparisons a challenge)
* not wanting to divulge their clients
* not using SEO methods on the "up and up" (i.e., unethical or Black Hat strategies)
What should a good SEO case study include?
Let's break it down a little further: a good SEO case study should give you a well-rounded picture of the challenges facing both the client and the SEO firm, as well as the strategies and results used during the optimization process:
Background/Challenges: This part of the case study may include client history, as well as details regarding the challenges facing both the client and SEO company. These challenges might include being in an ultra-competitive industry, having a totally un-optimized site, having previously been banned by the search engines, etc.
Strategy: Next, a good SEO case study should lay out how the company approached the challenges and what they did to improve the site's rankings, traffic and conversions.
Results: A good case study will lay out documented results in key areas like search engine saturation, link popularity, search engine rankings, etc. And, of course, since SEO is ultimately results-focused, a case study should include sales and conversion information if available.
Conclusion
SEO case studies should be one of a company's best marketing tools. That's because if they are able to produce good, documentable results using proven SEO strategies, they'll want to show off those results to secure new clients. The proof's in the pudding, right?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Security and Privacy for Web Sites, Online Applications and Online Shops - Part 1
by: Brad Dixon
Security and Privacy for Web Sites, Online Applications and Online Shops - Part 1.
Online applications, whether these be stores or portals to other business information are very much on the increase. It would be fair to say that most businesses today either have some form of portal or are losing business to a competitor who has one.
I have been writing code for these portals since the mid 1990's at first the code would be primarily for a Kiosk either located at the businesses premises or in a shopping centre. These would provide unassisted information or pricing on this businesses products or services. We would only adopt them for the Internet, just because we could. "How times have changed".
These portals are excellent for presenting company data to customers, prospective customers, employees or contractors.
The problem is that by presenting this data on the Internet you also allow billions, that's right billions of others the opportunity to access this data. How long would you stay in business if the competition got a hold of your client list ? What would happen if you're clients credit card details where stolen and they where used online to buy all sorts of wares? Not nice thoughts.
Some attacks are not even this blatant. Sometimes a hacker will steal all your companies data and blackmail you for the return claiming the payment as a "Security Audit".
Over the next few weeks I will be writing several articles on security and how best to secure your Online Stores and Portals on the Internet. These articles are intended for an audience of both company owners and web application programmers. They will be more conceptual than technical. If anyone requires any technical clarification they can contact me direct.
User accounts -
User accounts are a primary source of access for most sites. There are many security issues to cover here.
Firstly what is the password policy for the site?
I have seen so many sites where the web developer uses a htaccess file or some other simple form of access whereby only one username and password is distributed. People ring reception and ask for access and this "Generic" password is given out. Why even have restricted access? You may as well open this site up to the world, the world has the password.
Other companies go a little further by asking prospective users to Email for the password. You may think that then you have screened all users for the password. But where are these users now? Who do they now work for? When is the last time their password was reset? ... That’s right it is all just too hard. If you where to reset this password now then 10's or 100's of legitimate users won’t be able to get access and they will be ringing you direct. So lets just leave it be...
Don't use single user password access!
Take the effort to give every user an individual username and password this way periodically the user database can be cleaned out.
Which brings us to the next point, when is the last time you "cleaned" the online user database? If like most corporations never or at least not in the past few months. I still have access to websites, portals and servers that left my services over 5 years ago. (Thankfully I'm a nice guy ;). Make sure your portal or applications have a password policy system that disables accounts after an extended period of inactivity. Make users change passwords, even if it is once or twice a year. Manually clean out deserted or old accounts from your backend system on a regular basis.
This article and the rest from the series can be found on the following rss feed -
http://www.search-engine-optimise.com.au/articles.xml
Security and Privacy for Web Sites, Online Applications and Online Shops - Part 1.
Online applications, whether these be stores or portals to other business information are very much on the increase. It would be fair to say that most businesses today either have some form of portal or are losing business to a competitor who has one.
I have been writing code for these portals since the mid 1990's at first the code would be primarily for a Kiosk either located at the businesses premises or in a shopping centre. These would provide unassisted information or pricing on this businesses products or services. We would only adopt them for the Internet, just because we could. "How times have changed".
These portals are excellent for presenting company data to customers, prospective customers, employees or contractors.
The problem is that by presenting this data on the Internet you also allow billions, that's right billions of others the opportunity to access this data. How long would you stay in business if the competition got a hold of your client list ? What would happen if you're clients credit card details where stolen and they where used online to buy all sorts of wares? Not nice thoughts.
Some attacks are not even this blatant. Sometimes a hacker will steal all your companies data and blackmail you for the return claiming the payment as a "Security Audit".
Over the next few weeks I will be writing several articles on security and how best to secure your Online Stores and Portals on the Internet. These articles are intended for an audience of both company owners and web application programmers. They will be more conceptual than technical. If anyone requires any technical clarification they can contact me direct.
User accounts -
User accounts are a primary source of access for most sites. There are many security issues to cover here.
Firstly what is the password policy for the site?
I have seen so many sites where the web developer uses a htaccess file or some other simple form of access whereby only one username and password is distributed. People ring reception and ask for access and this "Generic" password is given out. Why even have restricted access? You may as well open this site up to the world, the world has the password.
Other companies go a little further by asking prospective users to Email for the password. You may think that then you have screened all users for the password. But where are these users now? Who do they now work for? When is the last time their password was reset? ... That’s right it is all just too hard. If you where to reset this password now then 10's or 100's of legitimate users won’t be able to get access and they will be ringing you direct. So lets just leave it be...
Don't use single user password access!
Take the effort to give every user an individual username and password this way periodically the user database can be cleaned out.
Which brings us to the next point, when is the last time you "cleaned" the online user database? If like most corporations never or at least not in the past few months. I still have access to websites, portals and servers that left my services over 5 years ago. (Thankfully I'm a nice guy ;). Make sure your portal or applications have a password policy system that disables accounts after an extended period of inactivity. Make users change passwords, even if it is once or twice a year. Manually clean out deserted or old accounts from your backend system on a regular basis.
This article and the rest from the series can be found on the following rss feed -
http://www.search-engine-optimise.com.au/articles.xml
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