Inbound Links and Guajillo’s

I admit it. I am not an inbound link master- not by a long shot. I find it tedious, and I don’t like solicitating. One of my co-workers is brilliant at it, and I think that more of our clients could benefit from following his guidance. As a client hits the plateau at which we simply cannot make him or her rank any more highly, and we’ve done so many revisits that we could recite the page content in our sleep, there comes a time when it’s necessary to more firmly (but gently) put your foot down about how important an inbound link campaign can be- after all, sometimes it can make all the difference between plateauing out at number 5 and edging up to number 1.

There are things you want to consider in an inbound link campaign:

1. The quality of links is more important that quantity.
2. Make sure you’re being linked to by relevant sites with solid content or information.
3. Make sure your site has link bait and appeals to the other site owners you’re trying to attract.
4. Don’t forget blogs and forums. Some may have nofollows set up automatically, but not all do.

For more resources I recommend the following:
SEO Book’s Link Building Ideas for Small Businesses
SEOMoz’s How to get Links from Your Linkbait

And on to Mexican food! I like Mexican food, but unfortunately I have trouble finding restaurants that make Mexican I can eat. Chain restaurants are definitely a bust. We stumbled across Guajillo’s in downtown Durham, and I love it! It’s in walking distance from the American Tobacco Campus, and it’s very small, but the food is excellent and priced well. I like how well the meat is flavored without being overly spiced, and I like how fresh the produce and cheese are. They do not have a website, but you can find them at 325 W Main Street, Durham, 27701 or call them at 919-688-9462.

Keyword Research and the Savoy

One of the first things I ever learned about SEO was the importance of keyword research. The topic’s been discussed thousands of times before, but that never reduces its importance. This is something everyone with a website should practice, not only because it helps your site rank, but it can drive traffic from visitors with a common interest or need that your site fulfills.

Voting and Voting Centers

Yes, I know this has nothing to do about SEO or anything web related (mostly), but honestly, I was too caught up in election fever to focus. I’ve always had a very set stance on voting. If I don’t know a good majority about what’s going on (i.e. the Presidential candidates, governor, senate and house candidates, and their platforms) then I think it’s worse for me to walk blindly into a poll booth and randomly mark circles on a piece of paper.

Something for Nothing and Durham Performing Arts Center

Most businesses that offer a service have a model in place that follows something along these lines:

Analytics 101 and Metro 8

Web analytics are one of your lifelines to your site’s performance. Through an analytics program, you can see what pages users visit, what keywords drove them there, how well visitors convert on your site, and what pages have the highest bounce rate. In addition, analytics programs are more accurate with regards to your site’s traffic than server logs too. Server logs can be influenced by caching, image requests, or the definition of a unique visit, and as a result usually return a much higher number than is really correct.