The Art of SEO

  In the summer of 2009 I phoned my father and asked him about a mechanical issue I was having with my truck.  He may not be an expert mechanic, but he is miles ahead of me.  His response to my issue was "why don't you GOOGLE ...(whatever the issue was)".  While I certainly was familiar with the internet, had a company website and knew what it was to 'google something' - this struck me.  If a 70 year old man who types with 2 fingers and hasn't ever read an owners manual in his life... googles for information - then maybe everybody does.  Maybe our company should focus more on internet marketing.
  So in the fall of 2009 I began redoing the website for Blue Dot Landscaping.  Boy, have I been in for an education.  In addition to not being a computer programmer, the entire vocabulary necessary to read and perform certain tasks was new to me.  It was like looking up a word in the dictionary, only to find the definition written in Chinese. I was determined to do this myself, and not hire a company to do the work.  One reason was that I wanted complete and frequent access to our website so that I could update it.  I wound up with a compromise.  I purchased and installed Microsoft Expression Web.  But then instead of creating a website from scratch, I purchased and installed a template from i3dthemes.com. 
The website was essentially finished in about 3 months, but I have continually updated it.  I would call my overall experience a success.  At least I know the definitions (in english) of a lot more words.
  The next step has been actually getting people to see our website.  Being online, I have found, is only part of the battle.  It doesn't do too much good if we have a website, but no-one sees it.   If I had it to do over again, I would have started with reading "The Art of SEO" by Enge,Spencer, Fishkin and Stricchiola.  As it is, I purchased this book about 6 months ago and have found it an immense help.  In order to popularize one's website with google one must engage in SEO (search engine optimization) as well as SEM (search engine marketing).  SEO is basically making sure your website is a searchable, quality website.  SEM is of course, marketing that website.
  My first mistake, later corrected, was too many pictures and not enough content.  I have designed and used many different brochures for Blue Dot Landscaping (and Regan Landscaping before that).  Apparently Google doesn't recognize pictures and places a lot of emphasis on the text of a web page.  This was contrary to my previous experience. 
  After creating a quality website, an important step is to get others to 'link' to your site.  Two really good landscaping companies might both have quality websites.  The landscaper with the most quality and relevent links to his site is going to rank higher.  Two good examples of landscaping company websites are Peachtree Landscaping, a fine company located in middle Tennessee and Scottsdale Landscaping of Arizona.  According to The Art of SEO - "Links are the main determinants of ranking behavior." The idea of quality links is to get links from websites that rank high in the eyes of Google.  The relevant factor is self explanitory, we would rather have a link from a landscape architect or a landscaping page than a page that sells pink widgets.
  I have been discussing a high ranking with Google.  Certainly every landscaping company knows that a high google ranking is a good thing.  But ranking how?  Finding 'keywords' is another education I have undertaken.  A keyword is the term for what people type in the box to search Google.  I assumed 'landscaping company Greenville' would be enough.  I could not have been more wrong.  I have a page called "Garden Ponds", you might think the keyword "garden pond" is enough.  Well, it is not enough.  There are about 50 different variations of what people enter in the google search when they want a garden pond.  Koi  pond, Koi ponds, water feature, water features, backyard water garden, fish ponds, landscape ponds, etc... you get the idea. 
  Overall, I consider our work a success.  We are now tracking 51 keywords.  "Landscaping company Greenville" and "Landscaping company Spartanburg" are on the first page of Google.  "Back yard ideas Spartanburg", "Lawn irrigation Spartanburg", "Lawn sprinkler Spartanburg" and "Back yard ideas Greenville" are ALL number one in Google Search.  With links from other great landscaping companies like the ones in Nashville, TN and Scottsdale, AZ - we hope to have high rankings in all of our 51 keywords.  Then we might find 51 more to tackle.

Rich