Now I am thinking about multi-colored spandex and a black-tiled room full of overweight men working out… ah the 1980s… All Olivia Newton-John song references aside (although I am sure you are singing it in your head), Google Analytics is a free website analysis tool that generates detailed traffic reports for websites. These traffic reports “talk” to us in a sense, by listing important website statistics that are useful in many ways.

DDA, a search engine marketing company, uses Google Analytics on websites that we are not hosting, but are enrolled in the SureThing Optimization Program. By adding a piece of tracking code to each page, we are then able to track our progress of website optimization by viewing the improved traffic to the site.

We find that being able to view traffic reports is an important part of website optimization. We can see which keywords potential customers are using to search for a website’s services and can then point out which terms need focused optimization to improve rankings. This software can show how visitors find a website and how they interact with the website’s content.

Being a search engine optimization specialist, I find it important to be able to view a website’s visits and pageviews, new and returning visitors, and also which search engine the visitor is coming from.

I was reading an article the other day about what to look for in a Search Engine Optimization Specialist. I found the paragraph below interesting :

“Most so-called Search Engine Optimization Specialists are people who slap keywords and keyword phrases inside of HTML tags without considering an overall online marketing strategy. On the other hand, there are people who can write for the search engines, analyze site statistics, have a thorough knowledge of spider-friendly HTML, have considerable experience with SEO in multiple industries, and stay up-to-date on search engine happenings. These are the true search engine experts.”

At first I took offense to the initial sentence thinking. “Hey, that is not true about me!” Then I continued to read and calmed down and thought “OK, that’s much better.”

So I guess working at DDA, a search engine marketing company, has turned me into a search engine expert. Working with websites in varying industries, from medical to plastic injection molding, means that each websites needs its own focused optimization. I do not just slap keywords into the meta tags, thank you very much, but rather integrate them into all meta tags, content development, and focus each page on each word specifically. And you could say that 12 years could be looked at as “considerable experience.”

At DDA, we stay ahead of the game on search engine happenings and are truly search engine optimization and marketing experts.

As a Search Engine Optimization Specialist at DDA, a search engine marketing company, Dreamweaver is always open on my computer. Dreamweaver is a combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support… everything I need for my website optimization on a daily basis. From editing meta tags to adding alternate text, this all encompassing program can handle it all. When I first started using Dreamweaver many, many years ago, I only knew how to do the basics. Over the years I have learned how to use several of the tools and even how to make changes in the code, of all things!!

Sure from time to time it will throw me a curveball and make me redefine all of my websites. Or give me the occasional “fatal error” and “this program is not responding” message. This usually happens when I have been working on a page for a while and right before I get to save my work. So with a few words mumbled under my breath and a click of the mouse, I continue on. This program has become my right-hand man when handling optimization of websites.

Forget diamonds (although they will never be turned down)… Dreamweaver is a search engine optimization specialist’s best friend!

When I think of cookie cutter, I think of the dictionary’s definition… a device, usually of metal, for cutting shaped forms, as circles or stars, for cookies from dough that has been rolled flat. This is probably because I love baking!

Baking was one of my all time favorite things to do with my Mom. She baked all of our elaborate birthday cakes and always had cupcakes ready for us as a little surprise on holiday mornings. I have taken her recipes and secret tips and continued the baking tradition. From cakes to cookies, cupcakes to cobblers she taught me how to do it all. Over the years, I haven’t had as much time to bake and at times have resorted to running to the store to pickup something from the bakery section… but this weekend I was back in the kitchen and baking cakes, cupcakes, and making sand pudding.

In today’s world, cookie cutter has come to mean the footprint/shape/base of something that is the same and repeated over and over.

Cookie cutter is probably used most often to describe website design. Other website design companies are using templates to create websites. DDA knows better!

Search engine optimization could also be considered to be cookie cutter by having the same meta tags on each page etc. At DDA, a search enging marketing company, we take the time to focus each individual page of an optimized website on a specific topic. We treat each of the sites that are enrolled in our SureThing Optimization Program like we are baking them from scratch, in a sense, making sure that each site has the proper ingredients to increase their website rankings on Google. And when the timer has gone off… our client’s websites have achieved numerous rankings on the first page of Google.

At DDA, we leave the cookie cutters at home!

After making it through my weekly case of the Mondays, next up comes the Tired Tuesdays. It’s not so bad, since at DDA, we work a four-day work week. So after today my week is half over.

With my cappuccino in hand, I check my emails, check my calendar to see which websites I will be optimizing today, and of course there is that request for something that was not scheduled. All tasks will be handled, completed and all of this with a smile on my face to compensate for the bags under my eyes.

Website optimization is a tricky task. Knowing what the major search engines are looking for and implementing those items into your website without changing the website design, functionality and overall appearance, can be challenging at times. And once Google changes its mind on what is the most important element for a website to have, I need to go back and make the updates.

Years ago, keywords were everything to Google. I would create lists and go back and forth with clients on which keywords were just right for their website. Nowadays, Google doesn’t even weigh as much importance on keywords as much as having keyword-rich content.

DDA, a search engine optimization and marketing company, stays ahead of the game and knows what optimization aspects to implement into our clients websites. Not to mention our own website that is over 3,000 pages! www.zeroonezero.com.

As I look at my day ahead, full of sips of cappuccino, Dreamweaver and Filezilla, I know that the efforts I put into my clients website, will over time increase their website rankings.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!

Keywords need to be focused and relate to the products or services your company offers and also need to be heavily searched by users. Say, for instance, you own a real estate company and are trying to find keywords that relate to your company. The term “real estate” is definitely one keyword to use, but Google shows more than 538 million results for that term. The internet is over-saturated with “real estate” related websites, so you need to focus the keywords for better search engine optimization results. If your real estate company primarily targets luxury homes, then consider using the term luxury real estate or boutique real estate. A quick search in Google finds that “luxury real estate” has over 1 million results and “boutique real estate” has over 1/2 million results. This is much more manageable since the search engine is not flooded with results for those two search terms.

Not only that, but when a user is presented with 538 million search results, it is likely they will not find what they need and will hone their search to something more specific, like luxury real estate. Because you’ve made the smart move to focus on that keyword phrase, chances are you will be found with proper search engine optimization.

Before my workday begins:

Q: Mom, where’s my favorite sweatshirt?
Re: At the bottom of the basket at the top of the steps.
Q: Mom, I can’t find my school project!
Re: It’s on your desk under the stack of coloring books.
Q: Mom, have you seen my other shoe?
Re: It’s under your bed behind the box of Legos.

Once I get my daughter on the bus and take my sons to school, I take a deep breath and then walk through the doors at DDA:

Jess, have you seen the latest version of Director?
Jess, is that website optimization review ready?
Jess, could you please register this URL?

I have always been organized and able to multi-task with ease. Being an employee at DDA, a search engine marketing company, has put these skills to use on a daily basis. I have to make sure that URLs are renewed, optimization reviews are organized, software is available for the designers and programmers and much more. Somehow with this juggling act that I perform daily, I continue to optimize websites so that they can achieve higher rankings in the major search engines. Using the skills that I have learned over the years each and every day on several different websites keeps me on my toes. I’m optimizing well-designed websites by my coworkers with one hand, all the while checking on traffic reports and website rankings with the other.

I would continue my blog but I need to check on a secure certificate and then answer the phone…

I have been referred to as one of the first search engine optimization specialists in Pennsylvania. Starting twelve years ago, with a handful of websites to optimize, I have learned the ins and outs of search engine marketing and sometimes feel as though I could do it in my sleep. Back then, I had a hand in just about every field of work that DDA covered. From marketing mailings and proofreading, to shipping/receiving and inventory management, to website updates and database management, I seemed to be the go-to person for many things.

Since my early days, I now focus my entire day on enhancing our customers websites. Each day holds something new for me in the optimization world. One day I will be working on a medical website and the next on a site for wedding cake software. Most of the website optimization that I do is on websites that DDA has designed. I then get to see the skill of our graphic designers when looking at an amazing website design.

Working for a professional search engine marketing company has definitely changed the way that I look at websites. I can no longer look at a website without checking for alt text, focused head titles and keyword-rich content. Working in meta tags has become second nature to me. It is interesting to see a website achieve higher rankings in search engines due to the work that I have done. It is a nice sense of accomplishment seeing a website’s rankings and page rank increase.