Chicago SEO

Twitterous [twit.or.us] - adj. liberal in retweeting or sharing tweet links; unselfish retweeter.

Related form:
twitter.ous.ly - adverb
twitter.os.ity - noun

Ex. Monica’s retweet of Jori’s redbox code post shows her twitterosity.

Twit.zy [tw-it-zee] - adj. scatterbrained twitter user; overly eccentric when retweeting or micro-blogging on twitter

Ex.  “I’ve heard of retweets, but her twitter posts make absolutely no sense…she’s clearly a bit twitzy!”

Get your pen and paper kiddies, the code is available and ready.

Code: 75EA16

Punch this in where you see promo code and your 1 day rental is free.

This can be used at any locations.

Twitalicious [twi. it. ah. lish. us] adj. - a tweet so excellent that it’s worth bookmarking on de.li.cious.

Does anyone have an example?

Nitwit [Nit-wit] n. - An individual who joins Twitter under the impression that following everyone will result in having a mass amount of followers who actually care about their updates.

I thought I ought to be allowed to have a little fun with my site, and since I enjoy using twitter as my preferred micro-blogging platform, why not start there?

So, what’s with the twitter, word of the day series….

Well, from time to time, I like to think that the Search Geek within…is quite the character.  As such, I will be posting words that I have seen, heard, or just plain made up…in relation to twitter.  Let the fun begin!

Chicago isn’t the only city feeling the recession crunch. People everywhere are finding ways to save. Comcast, RCN, and DirectTV all show increases in account sign-ups…Why? Because people are opting to stay in rather than go out.

Blockbuster has decided to enter the DVD Rental kiosk arena as well, to make movie rentals more convenient. But as everyone knows…Redbox is the #1 contender. You know, that little red kiosk next to the change counting machine…yeap!

If you’re trying to save money during the week, and defeat boredom, Redbox has announced Free Movie Wednesday’s in March. For all you business owners and SEOs that stay in, I’ll be posting the codes right here, so stay tuned and get your free movie codes. Wednesday will be the first!

As a natural search geek, and active member of the search community, it’s always been a pleasure of mine to engage in conversation and exchange trade secrets with others in my field.  About two weeks ago, I was back and forth via comment posts, with Ann Smarty of Search Engine Journal, discussing link building and her excellent contribution that delves deep into back link analysis and some of the tools she has used.

While reading her article/post I thought to myself…”why didn’t I write about that?”

Then I thought about how much respect I have for Ann and her work.  She continually develops strong articles that aid people in learning more about SEO.  As the wheels started to churn, I realized, I do the same thing here at Chicago SEO Pro, but I want to reach more people, because what’s the fun in being a SearchGeek and not having every know it?

Well after talking with Nick Stamoulis, publisher of www.searchenginejournal.com, I was asked to be a guest author and share my articles, seo findings and such, with his blog visitors.

I’m very excited to be able to offer my insight, feel free to check out the press release about my new seo guest author position.

The first step to ranking well, is solid SEO.  Most search marketers focus so heavily on link building the shrewd fundamentals of SEO are overlooked.  It doesn’t matter how many links you build, if the site is not a quality site, built with solid architecture and a good internal linking structure, the site will not perform to the best of its abilities.

After your site is live, step 1. to getting high rankings is indexation.  Getting Google to notice your website isn’t very difficult, however, getting it to notice your entire website, all the pages that could potentially add value and bring in long tail niche traffic…well, that’s a different matter.  Making Googlebot’s life easier and aiding it in getting all your important and valuable pages indexed is easier than waiting around for it to do all the work on its own.

Sitemaps are a great answer, as to how you can assist Googlebot in indexing more of your site in less time!

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap is a file that is uploaded to your server to catalog the pages available sitewide.  It is very much like the index of a book and can be displayed as different file types dependant upon its proposed use.

Different Sitemap Types:

• XML - the most commonly used to feed a list of urls to google and other search engines.

• RSS 2.0/Atom 1.0 - an automatically generated feed which is typically associated with blogging platforms, that lists pages/posts.

• HTML - a static file that is intended for users but also serves as a resource for search engines to catalog/reach all available pages on the site.

• Text File - a text file containing all the site urls.

Google allows you to submit these various types of sitemap files, alongside others, with ease.  My suggestion for those who are not very familiar with webmastering or accessing your site host, is to have a professional compile your sitemap file to ensure it is properly validated, then submit it using the two easiest, and most prominent methods.

1.  Sign up for Google webmasters tools.  Verify your site.  Then follow instructions for submitting your sitemap.  It’s simply entering the url location of your sitemap file on your server/host.

2.  Indicate your sitemap file via robots.txt.

Locate more information on Google sitemap submissions.

Taking these general steps allows for higher levels of indexation.  Next step, increasing visibility of your indexed pages.

Local search seems to be the claim to fame these days, however, in a recent release by the Associated Press on China’s ever increasing number of internet users, it’s a smart idea to be ready for global exposure of your web site.

“China’s online population grew by 23.4 percent last year to 137 million people, about 10 percent of its 1.3 billion population” — Associated Press

The web has always been world wide, however, now the ability to do business and reach a new, ever growing amount of consumers has finally been recognized.

Businesses that are looking to sustain in 2009 should definitely consider extending their global reach as it were.  A strong combination of effective search marketing will boost sales and visibility across global marketing channels if businesses develop a well crafted search marketing strategy.

B2B service sectors can really benefit from this new reach, as Chinese business extends its reach to the US global market, the need for local business relationships will develop.

Grow your business, locally, globally, and sustainably, with proven SEO strategies.