Cayman Islands SEO and Internet Marketing

Cayman SEO: Search Engine Friendly means Business Friendly

2012-01-30T16:13:00.001-05:00

At the end of the last week of January 2012, I was feeling a bit worn out. I had arrived from Manila two weeks prior and honestly, I was exhausted. While I was in Manila I had gotten sick first with the flu and then fever over the New Year Holiday. I hadn't recuperated from that yet and then had to travel back to Grand Cayman. As soon as I arrived here, obviously, I had a lot of work waiting for me and have been meeting our clients left, right and center since then. Its been an exhausting two months to say the least.

So when I received this email last friday, it made all the difference to me as a service provider. This is one of the most meaningful testimonials I have received and it came at a time when I needed to know that what I was doing was worth it. It is from our only client in Little Cayman, Brenda of Scooten! Scooters! She writes...

Now that I am over the stress of figuring out the banner photo change, I want to tell you that we have had seven reservations come from our web site so far. That may not sound like much to you but, to us, it is significant, particularly because each one has been a long term rental of a week or more. Before the web site, most of our rentals were referrals from the resorts but they were usually only half day rentals. The web site customers have used our web site to plan ahead and rent a scooter instead of a car. Bottom line, we have already paid for the investment in the web site. Thank you!

Thank you for writing that in Brenda! You don't know how much that means to me. We want to know that our websites are making a difference so when we receive a testimonial like this, it makes all our exhaustion melt away and makes us ready to face new day.

If you are looking for scooter rentals in Little Cayman, please don't hesitate to contact Scooten! Scooters! Aside from the fact that they are excellent Clients, they also care about their customers and I can vouch for that!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-27T16:43:00.000-05:00

I haven't really had the time to update my blog in over a month. Up to now I can't even find the energy to write about anything because there are so many things that have happened. Way too many. A major thing thats happening right now is how Google has turned evil. On that same link is another important facet of 'search' and that is breaking news accuracy. Very interesting and it makes me glad that I am in the Cayman Island's search industry not in the news industry. I agree, it does matter who breaks the news first. The only problem with being first is the accuracy of the news.

In the Search Industry, I have been very lucky in that I have the time and the 'tools' to practice on alot of theories of Search related Algorithms. We manage over 100 websites now and yes, I admit, sometimes when I am testing a theory, I 'play' around with the websites but never at the expense of my client's ranking. If their rank does get affected, I make sure I put everything back in order. But I am lucky in that I am able to test theories and what-nots and I can validate what other SEO professionals are doing.

One of the most respected SEO professionals is Bruce Clay and I just received a newsletter from him and in it was one of his most recent articles. 16 Predictions for 2012. It caught my attention because, of course, like everyone else, I would like to be prepared for 2012. Fortunately for me, I don't have to agree or disagree right away because I'm not in the News industry.

In his third point, 3.) Conferences see massive popularity as companies fight to learn the IMO (Internet Marketing Optimization) disciplines... I just wanted to mention quickly that I am attending my first ever SMX West at the end of February. I am, of course, very excited. I will be charging my camera to ensure I get as many photos of some of my SEO 'Heroes'.

I think I will also be ready to do some predictions for the Cayman Islands Internet Marketing industry for this coming year. I just have to buckle down and do it. A little more difficult for me as I don't just do SEO, I am in usability as well as Project Management on a daily basis. But whenever I do come up for air, I enjoy updating my blog. There have been over 7,000 hits to my blog and since SEO is not a major industry in Cayman, that is a very cool statistic.

Yes, Ronnie Anderson, from Semrush, I have not forgotten you! I will get around to writing a blog about your software. Very interesting to tell you the truth but limiting for someone in the Caribbean to be honest. I will get more involved in the dedicated blog though.

Anyway, apologies for the delayed greeting - Happy New Year Everyone! Thank you for choosing Easywebsites.ky to be your partner in your online efforts. As we approach another year in Search please do not forget to frequently update your website with content.

If you need additional training on how to maintain your CMS, pls get in touch with us. We are always happy to help. Have a great Year of the Water Dragon!

Life in a Day: Online TV platforms.

2011-12-05T11:14:00.001-05:00

A life in a day is a movie that was produced by the Scott brothers and Directed by Kevin Macdonald, an Oscar-winning director. Whats most interesting about it are the cast members - all video was submitted by Users from Youtube. Everyone was instructed to submit a video of themselves on that particular day, 24th July, 2010 and over 80,000 people did. Here is the 90 minute video...

The movie is being promoted by Google on December 5, 2011

Screen Shot of Google promoting 'Life in a Day'

In as much as I think the movie had an appealing concept what strikes me most is that Google is promoting the youtube link on its homepage. And as soon as you click on the link, the obvious redesign on youtube is apparent.

Google is setting the stage for Google TV or the relaunch of it. When Google first launched Google TV - the mistake it made was trying to copy its 'search' based algorithms that did not work for video (Link to 10 Google Products that failed). Apple has a better understanding of video content and that shows in the wider use of its product, Apple TV. I am currently an owner of Apple TV but my issue of it is the same as the majority - it is not practical to buy each and every television show - Apple TV needs a rethink of its price structuring in order to really impact a bigger majority of Users. Thats why I am excited at the possibilities of Google TV. If Google TV can come back to life and seriously provide reasonable content on youtube and since Google is already User-centric I have no doubt that this will prove a worthy adversary to Apple TV.

Does the new Google Freshness Algorithm affect us in Cayman?

2011-12-03T12:52:00.001-05:00

Freshness Upate (reminds me of Mentos)

Mid November 2011, Google announced its most recent algorithm changes. But my question is how does it affect websites in the Cayman Islands? Well, here is a breakdown...

The first change is in Cross-language information retrieval - we are not affected at all because we are an English speaking nation. All our websites are already in english and do not need further translation.
The second change is in snippets. (the description of your results page) This would affect your website because Google is now going to use relevant text on your content pages vs. using either your header or menu content. The solution for this is to have relevant robust content on each page and not to focus on Menus or Headers as much.
Less Emphasis on boilerplate anchors - This will probably affect your website if you have multiple links pointing to it using boilerplate anchors. I just remove the boilerplate-like anchors on Easywebsites.ky as a result of this new update.
As a result of Yandex's popularity in Europe (Russia to be specific) Google has stepped up in improving lengthy auto-complete predictions in Russian (also because Russian has very long words). This practice is already the norm in English. Cayman is not affected by this unless you are a user and your searches are lengthy.
If you are an applications developer living in the Cayman Islands, then you are affected by this freshness update as now, Google will be providing rich snippets including costs, user reviews, etc. within returned results. If you are not an applications developer but a User looking for applications, this change will benefit you tremendously.
The latest algorithm is also retiring a signal in image search. Again, unless you are a photographer who has done alot of image optimization (like me) you will not be affected by this update. They have retired a signal related to images that has references from many online documents.
Fresher Content - this update was announced earlier in the month and affects 6 - 10 % of searches. The freshness update on Caffeine enables more accurate and 'fresher' content to be indexed within minutes of getting launched live. Since Search Engines rely on "old" data for trustworthiness, I think this freshness update is genius!
"Official" pages are given more importance - same as before but on an even higher scale. This change affects you if you work for Government or any other "Official" Website.
Date restricted queries - More relevant results will now show up if you specify a date query. Are we affected by this? Only if you search for specific dates but locally, not so much.
Prediction fixes for how autocomplete handles queries that contain non-latin characters. Again, we are not affected by this unless you search using Hebrew, Russian and Arabic.

For the most part, the freshness update really is a rethink of how Google handles content. I for one believe it is about time Google provides fresher and more relevant content. As a professional working in the Search industry it is sometimes frustrating to have to weed out older content for what is new and relevant and because of this update, it will be easier for me to find content faster.

How do you feel about this freshness update?

The Future of Search

2011-12-01T13:46:00.001-05:00

As users, we have been very demanding of Google. We have expected them to ensure that we find what we are looking for within split seconds of clicking on the search bar. And for the most part, Google has delivered. There are of course big issues that have happened and other issues that continue to happen and thats only because no one company is perfect.

If I didn't have a background in website development, I would probably be taking Google for granted. If my professional career did not involve a deep understanding of all of Google's algorithms - I possibly wouldn't care about their history or their future. I would probably be more excited about Voice Search and the Apple iPhone 4s' Siri Personal Assistant.

Here is a video that was recently released by Google on Youtube and it talks about their evolution. Its a nice look back at what they have achieved and what they want to achieve in the future. Its very inspiring and at the same time it makes you think of the possibilities of the future of search.

As a professional working in the SEO Industry, I have a gut feeling that the future of search is in Voice Search and it was bound to come to that. It may perhaps have been fast tracked by the acquisition of Siri by Apple and integrated into the very cool iPhone product but that is what Apple is good at - integrating environments, not search.

If Apple wants a share of the Search Market via Siri, it has to catch up to the progress of Google in terms of understanding what users expect to see. The newly launched Siri on the iPhone 4s has already caused quite a stir in its inability to return expected results. Which is a shame because its not getting as much air time for the things that it can do but for the things that it cannot do.

As an SEO professional I am very excited to think of the possibilities of Voice Search. Will the same search engine algorithms govern the voice search platforms? It is indeed, quite an exciting time to be involved in the Search Industry.

Cayman SEO: Searches for "Cayman Islands" come mostly from Jamaica

2011-11-25T13:43:00.001-05:00

As a Search Engine Optimization Expert for the Cayman Islands, it is important for me to know where web searches are coming from at any time of the year and this hasn't changed at all in the past couple of years, did you know that most of the searches for the major keywords for "Cayman Islands", "Cayman" and "Grand Cayman" originate from Jamaica?

Here is a Screen shot from Google Insights:

Searches from 2004 for "Cayman Islands" are predominantly coming from the Cayman Islands

The time range of these results are searches done from 2004 to the present time. A far second are searches for the same keyword, "Cayman Islands" being done in Trinidad and Tobago and an even further third are searches being done in the United States.

There is some variance with the locations of the searches being done in the last 12 months but Jamaica is still predominantly where the searches are coming from, here are the rest of the countries searching for "Cayman Islands" in the last 12 months:

12 month Regional Interest of the keyword, "Cayman Islands" with most searches coming from Jamaica

In the last 12 months, Trinidad and Tobago has disappeared from the top ten locations where searches are coming from. A far second and third place from Jamaica's high search volume index are the United States and Canada.

What might be of interest to business owners is that there is a significant amount of searches for "Cayman Islands" stemming out of Hong Kong... it would be very interesting to research on what the new Chinese economy is searching for. Is it time to optimize your website for Baidu? (The most popular search engine of China). Perhaps. Again, that will depend on your industry and other considerations.

If you are in the tourism industry, it would not be worth your time, money or effort to optimize your website for the "Cayman Islands" - instead as location searches are proving, it is important to choose your keywords properly. Here are the locations where "Cayman Rental" (monthly search volume of 18,100)

Please note that this might just be a biased search term because we own the first website for that keyword, www.cayman4rent.com but logically if your business wants to attract tourists from the United States, it is important to know two things:

1) What are the keyword/keyphrase and what its monthly search volume?

2) Where are the searches coming from?

Once you understand what and where, then you can go ahead and target these keywords for your online campaign.

Please note that this blog is meant to help the user understand search and location parameters in targeting a keyword. For a more in-depth analysis of your industry keywords and keyword search locations, please contact info@easywebsites.ky with the subject: More info in Location Searches.

Selling SEO Services in the Cayman Islands: What can you expect?

2011-10-13T16:43:00.002-05:00

I have been in the Search Engine Optimization business for the last 6 years in the Cayman Islands. For the last 4 years I have been the Founder, General Manager, Accounts Person, Sales Person, Cleaning Person, Customer Service Person and every other person imaginable.

From a staff of 1 person (myself), Easywebsites has grown into a company of 15 employees (11 full time employees). I have also personally had to transition from being an employee to becoming a business owner. I haven't fully transitioned yet and everyday I am learning something new.

One of the biggest challenges is becoming a Sales Person, selling Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is a big challenge because unlike other products and services, SEO is not a one time service. SEO Services are consultative in nature and it would be very difficult to teach anyone how to sell a service that took me over 5 years to completely understand.

Selling a service that requires a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the service made it virtually impossible to hire anyone in sales. But to be fair, I never really looked ... I made an effort to contact a person in the US to join our team in Cayman but she never made it, for some reason or other, and I just stopped looking as the company was doing really well in referral sales.

Please note that I was inspired to write this blog from this article. My blog is in no way meant to copy the article but to give it a different perspective for clients in the Cayman Islands. It was also amusing how Mark Jackson's experience was relatively similar to my own except he hired a CPA who had a background in business process. My personal background included understanding business process procedures under a CPA Consultant who worked at SGV Philippines when I was working for IPVG. I have Enrique Gonzalez to thank for that. Up to this day, I have no idea why he made me the official contact of the business process procedures for the company but I will always be grateful. Having that kind of foundation is important for anyone in entrepreneurial-ship.

Social SEO Vs. Traditional SEO

I cannot speak for other SEO Professionals and their pricing models, but you can always tell the bogus ones from the real ones from their pricing. Only a joker would provide a month-to-month plan (Cancel anytime = Waste of your money). A real SEO contract should run for at least 12 months and have the price involved for internal work, external work, possibly a back-link package in place for competitive industries, and integration of Social Media. In today's environment with Social Media in play, it is important to have an overall strategy in place and not an a la carte menu. It is also important to note that Google's latest algorithm actually benefits from strong social media integration.

Traditional SEO is the old way (2 years ago) of doing Optimization. Two years ago, the SEO Consultant would just have to manage link building, landing page optimization, bounce rate management and online advertising placements. The huge difference now is because of the advent of Social Media, which has pretty much taken over everything we are doing from having Company Facebook profiles to following the companies, brands and interesting people on Twitter.

Social SEO is ensuring that everything you have online whether it be a website, a Facebook profile, twitter, a newsletter, etc is all working and helping to add value to the Company or brand. A Social SEO contract would include understanding and consultation on the following online aspects of the company:

Who is handling the company Facebook page and do they need assistance in understanding the bigger scheme of things such as the overall Marketing Plan? Is the Facebook page adding value to the online presence of the company or brand?
Who is handling the company Twitter page and does it complement other online efforts?
Who is handling the online PR efforts of the company and which online publications are they using? Is the company using an external PR company and do we need to coordinate with them to further push the objectives of the online marketing campaign of the company? Are the PR efforts aligned with all the online presence of the company?
Are the Social Media aspects helping increase the company's brand credibility on two important levels: Search Engine Rank and Users?

Cost of Services in Cayman vs. Cost of Services Elsewhere

Because we live in the Cayman Islands, we all know that the cost of living here is considerably higher than most places. The advantage of hiring us would be because we understand the industry so much better than an outsider possibly could. There are so many nuances ... for example, we know how important the Cruise Ship schedule is to a lot of local businesses and how Users from Cruise Ship searches differ from searches of stay-over Visitors. Understanding the nuances of the Cayman Islands Tourism Industry gives us an edge over everyone else and could help make or break a business.

Because of the disparity between cost of services elsewhere and to assist small businesses in the Cayman Islands, we decided to actually include Search Engine Optimization requirements in the websites that we build. That's the reason our base prices for websites are sometimes higher than other web development companies on the island. We ensure a lot of SEO features when building a website so that when and if the client does decide that they want to be on the first page of major keyword searches, the costs aren't as high.

What to Expect from an SEO Contract

Ever since we started building websites that Search Engines "like" we have seen a decrease in SEO contracts. Most of our clients are happy being on the middle part of the first page and even the bottom part of the first page. It's hard to push the client to purchase a contract that could deliver a top search result when they have other expenses to worry about. But aside from Search Engine Results, a business owner also needs to understand that being on the first page of Search Results is not enough. A proper SEO contract also includes:

Usability Testing of Ease of Navigation
Smart SEO Content Writing that ensures a high click through rate (each landing page is carefully scrutinized by a proper writer so that Users will get the most value out of their time when they are on your website)
Comprehensive landing page analysis that ensures a high Click Through Rate (CTR)
Comprehensive Keyword Analysis and not just Keyword Research - this targets all keyword permutations that Users are searching for including the very important long-tail and seasonal keywords
Integration of all other Online aspects of the Company and ensuring that all online presence is meeting the Objectives of the Company

At the end of an SEO Campaign you can expect quite a few major changes in your business. Since every industry differs, a general expectation would be:

Your website ranks higher in all keyword permutations
Your Facebook page has a high CTR to the website and the engagement level with the fans is much higher
You have an effective Twitter stream that directs traffic to your website and/or physical location
Business has increased gradually in the last 12 months
You have more money in your bank account than you did the previous year

For more information about how Social SEO can help increase your Company's bottom line, please contact us for a Consultation. The first meeting is always free!

Cayman SEO: Optimization in the Real Estate Industry - Why being no. 4 is something to be proud of!

2011-06-28T14:30:00.001-05:00

I am very proud to say that one of our clients, www.caymanluxuryproperty.com is now number 4 on Google for the keyword, "Cayman Islands Real Estate"

Now, some of you might ask, well, if you know what you are doing then they should be no. 1 - and you would be right, I agree. But there are certain limitations to an SEO contract and one of them would be budget limitations. Given the resources at my disposal and knowing our online competitors are, I am so proud to be no. 4 for such a competitive industry. We just beat www.cireba.com (the association website with a kazillion links pointing to it) and www.caymanlundteam.com (the top remax agent in the Cayman Islands).

The only 3 companies ahead of Cayman Luxury Property for the keyword, Cayman Islands real estate are top 3 franchises for Coldwell Banker, Remax and Century 21. These domains have been around awhile and they have a kazillion real estate related links pointing to them both locally and Internationally. Only www.cireba.com would be able to beat their rankings if www.cireba.com was optimized properly. And given more time and resources, I am certain there is no way but up for our client.

Screenshot below of the search engine results in Cayman -

But thats not all - we are also no. 4 on the US datacenter of Google for the same keyword. Notice the minor difference with the other top 3 listings.

Screenshot below of US Google Datacentre -

I included the URL on this screenshot to emphasize that these results above are from the US Google Datacentre and you will notice minor ranking changes on the other listing.

When you search in Cayman, here are your top 4:
1. Remax
2. Coldwell Banker
3. Century21
4. Cayman Luxury Property

When you search in the US, here are your top 4:
1. Coldwell Banker
2. Remax
3. Century21
4. Cayman Luxury Property

There are also alot of disparities when you search for other keywords in the US vs. searching for it in Cayman but I am proud to say that when you do proper SEO work the disparities are minimized and there is always a logical explanation for everything.

Please note that we currently only have 1 client for SEO in the real estate industry in Cayman and that we would like to invite other real estate companies who want to vie for the first page of their industry keywords. Just to let you know, its not going to be cheap but it will be worth its value in gold. Please contact us for more information.

Another important information is that www.caymanluxuryproperty.com is the most visible real estate website in the Cayman Islands. It may only be no. 4 for a major keyword but it is mostly on the top 3 for everything else. It shows up on the first page of over 1382 keyword searches.

PS. This blog is an endorsement of the ethical SEO practices of our company Easywebsites.ky

Cayman SEO: The competitive industry of Grand Cayman Restaurants

2011-06-04T17:13:00.000-05:00

Did you know that if you belonged to the restaurant industry and that if you optimized your website properly, you are looking at over 10,000 searches per month? Thats 10,000 possible customers.

I hear it all the time, "business is slow" and if I didn't do a proper keyword search, that might possibly be true but finding the proper keywords and structuring a website using web-based standards could very prove you wrong. Yes, business is slower but more importantly, there is business! There is alot of searches for "restaurants" in Grand Cayman. Enabling your business to attract current online trends and to show up across a broad range of online presence including social media is whats needs to be done so that your business will not suffer or close, like what has happened to some of restaurants in Grand Cayman including local favorites like Senior Frogs and Bacchus.

A simple combination of SEO and Social Media strategies can easily help your website get to the first page of your industry keywords and every competitive edge online counts.

One of our internal projects is currently www.destination.ky - a travel guide as well as a top ten list of everything to do in the Cayman Islands. One of the sections directly deals with Grand Cayman restaurants. We have built in a customized voting script so users can come in and vote per IP address. This removes the probability of one company out numbering another because of sheer volume. It is solely based on individual users IP address thereby eliminating cheat-clicks. We just completed the restaurant directory which has over 100 entries and we are certain that all these restaurants are currently operational. There is a top ten list for categories such as 'casual dining', 'fine dining', 'coffee shops' and more... Please visit the website to check it out and please give us your feedback in the comment fields below.

In the coming months to come you will notice that the page within the website will be increasing its rank for many major and minor keywords and we hope you will join us in promoting the restaurant industry through many of the social media channels.

Cayman SEO: Visibility is the Key for www.cayman4rent.com

2011-05-25T18:53:00.001-05:00

There is only one property rental website in the Cayman Islands that shows up on the first page of over 800 search terms and no, it doesn't belong to any of the big real estate companies. Sorry. In as much a real estate companies have more experience renting property, we, as search engine experts simply have that edge in creating websites. The website was built because of the strong demand of online searches and simply no relevant website showing up for these searches, it was an opportunity that we saw, realized and ran with and now, we are proud, oh so proud to announce to the world that www.cayman4rent.com is the most visible property rental website (both long term and short term) in the country. Yippeedoodee! Thank you to users who have used it and to our partner's who have agreed to provide us with their listings. In no particular order you will find listings of these progressive rental companies on www.cayman4rent.com:

Long Term Property Rentals

Rainbow Realty
Tessa Hydes Property Management
BCQS

Short Term, Vacation Rentals

Cayman Villas
North Coast Management
Grandview Condos

It is also free to list on www.cayman4rent.com - so if you happen to read this post, please list your property so that it is visible to your target market. Below you will a screen capture as proof of visibility in over 800 keywords.

The website has proven to be a feather in our hat as proof that when we develop your website, you can be sure that users will be able to find it.

Please note that we are also currently testing the Google Panda algorithm on the website - we have added listings from other real estate companies and have not changed the content. This means that the content of the website is copied. How is it going to affect www.cayman4rent.com? You will find out in the coming weeks and we can compare how many keywords it appears on after the Panda has indexed the new property listings.

Update: June 4, 2011

The website now shows up for 961 keyword searches

Cayman SEO: Understanding and Embracing Social Media

2011-05-16T16:25:00.000-05:00

We have had quite a few clients who have come in for Social Media Training and the biggest objective that I have heard is this, (paraphrasing) "I don't see how facebook or twitter can increase our sales." The second biggest objective is this (paraphrasing) "I am not comfortable sharing my personal information online for all the world to see."

I am going to answer both questions on this blog entry. Please allow me some leg room in explaining how social media has changed the landscape in which we do business.

How can Facebook or Twitter increase our Sales?

In an impromptu training session I drew a chart, which I have inserted here:

The broken line in the middle represents the changing time.

Below the line is the old way customers found your business. TV, Radio and Print were mediums we used for advertising and customers would either call us, fax us or email us to communicate their needs/requirements. There are other facets to advertising your business such as direct marketing but for the purpose of this discussion, I have made it as simple as possible.

Above the broken line is the new way that customers are now finding your business. The acronyms below represent the following:

FB = facebook
TW = twitter
YT = youtube
TA = tripadvisor.
And there are many more.

The circle in the middle represents you, the business owner.

What I love about this graphic representation (ehem) is that is shows the exact relationship of new media and old media to your business. In old media, the communication platform was separate from the advertising platform. Your business can place an ad on the newspaper and a prospective customer can either call you or email you for more information. There was no direct communication platform between the business owner and the customer.

Social media has changed that. You can "advertise" on your wall and customers can contact you directly without picking up a phone or opening an email server. The bonus side of social media is that if you know what you are doing, your business can and will succeed without breaking the bank. Now that is what is amazing about new media.

To answer the question completely, I needed to illustrate this relationship. Social Media increases sales because it is an enabling tool that acts as an interactive real-time communication platform between customers and business owners.

Not only does it make money for you, it also saves money on traditional advertising because it is a free medium. It is the amount of time that you are willing to put in it that will differentiate it as an effective tool or just something that you did because everyone else was doing it.

"I don't want my personal information available online"

Actually, neither do I. Who has the time to do social media and run a business at the same time? The learning curve of facebook alone will take some time getting use to. Knowing how to categorize your "friends" and understanding your privacy settings will not just take time but patience as well. Especially to Users who have shunned the Internet revolution. But I promise, once you get the hang of it, you will embrace it completely including the "personal" facet of it. My mother actually spends more time on facebook than I do and she is almost 70 years old. I honestly believe that if my mom can get the hang of it, so can anybody.

Once you "get to know" facebook, you will realize that you can completely separate your business page from your personal page.

The ability of social media to make sense of all this information is actually awe-inspiring.

There is already so much information out there that it would be redundant for me to write a blog about how to create things and how to do things.

Instead here is a summary of what you need to know to connect your business with facebook:

How to create Proper Facebook Business Page - whether its a business or an organization, here is a webpage from facebook thats lets you set it up properly and NOT as an individual
How to link Facebook and Twitter - for users who do not have time to update both social media, this tool will update your twitter feed everytime you update your facebook wall
How to create a proper Twitter Account - for the twitter newbie, here is an important resource
How to link your blog to Facebook - a page from mashable that includes all the blogging platforms. My blog is on blogger and everytime I update it, my facebook wall and twitter feeds are also updated.
How to enable Facebook Places on your blackberry - I wrote a previous blog about enabling facebook places to register your business.

Let me know if there is anything else you need to know by commenting on the fields below. We also offer social media training on Saturday mornings if you want hands on training. I hope this article was helpful in understanding and embracing social media. Thanks for reading!

Cayman SEO: Google, Bing and Facebook Maps

2011-05-09T03:41:00.009-05:00

We just moved offices to Regency Court on West Bay Road and of course the first thing that you have to do when you move offices is ensure that all Google, Bing and Facebook Maps are updated. I realized somewhere in the process that not alot of people update their Google, Bing and Facebook Maps so I decided to blog about how to ensure your business address is on all maps.

How to Insert your business on Google Maps

Go to http://maps.google.com/
Sign In or Sign up for Google
On the search field type "Cayman Islands"
Move/drag the Map with your mouse or mouse pad until you get to the correct location of your office
Click on "edit" which is located on the top right part of the map
These editing tools will appear on the top of the map, click on "Add" and a field will appear asking if what type of location you are adding, choose your type of business and then red (red-ish) push-pin looking button will appear. Drag and drop that to your location.
A module with fields will appear on the left, complete the fields and click 'save'
Wait for a few minutes or hours for an editor to approve your listing.

Screen Shot of Google's Map Approval, which took approximately 2 hours to approve

Some notes to remember:

Google is very intuitive, if you dont understand something, there is usually a question mark icon near most fields and if you click it, it tells you what that field is requiring
It is better to place markers on the Satellite Map vs just the Map because you can be accurate of where the business is actually located
You can approve map listings created by others by clicking on "community edits"

How to Insert your business on Bing Maps*

Go to http://www.bing.com/maps/
Sign In or Sign Up for Bing. (Note: You can sign in using your Facebook Account. But when I tried to do it using Safari on Mac, my browser crashed. But when it opened again, I was logged on using my FB account.)
Search for Cayman Islands
Move/drag the map with your mouse or mouse pad until you get to the correct location of your office
At the bottom left corner you will see an icon with a star, click on it. A pop up screen will appear.
Notice the blue-ish pin at the bottom of the pop up screen. Click on it and then click on the location on the map where you want to place it. A another pop up screen will appear and this time, it has open fields for you to write on. Complete the field with information and click on save.

Some obvious differences between Google and Bing Maps:

Google's Maps are over populated while Bings are not, also I personally think whoever made Bing's Map is a librarian because of the over categorizing of businesses - you can see the businesses by click on categories on the left while Google's Map has ALL business visible by default.
Bing's graphic user interface (GUI) is alot more nicer than Google's but Googles is more intuitive. I could be biased here because I am more familiar with Google but I will venture as far as to say, 'I told you so'
If you are looking for "an action" in Google (ie. editing tools), chances are that it is located on the opposite side or almost to the opposite side of the screen on Bing. Also notice the subtle changes in color as both maps try not to copy each other.

How to insert your business on Facebook Maps

First create a business page, you can find that information here http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Ensure that you are inserting the correct address in the fields provided
On the map area, drag and drop the pointer to your location
Complete the entire Information fields and hit save
Your address should be highlighted in a blue link and when you click on it, it goes to a Bing Map. Not really helpful as Bing maps are not enabled for the Cayman Islands yet BUT it is a locator for Facebook places so its still important to be on there.

It is unfortunate the the Cayman Islands is not yet listed in Google Places but atleast we have Google Maps. You will also notice alot of tourists have put in information about places they like on island.

Why is it important for you to use Bing Maps? For the simple reason that Facebook uses it for Facebook Places. As a business owner, you should be visible on all maps because all of them have their own distinct advantage.

Why is it important to be on Facebook Maps - because it what Facebook Places uses and whenever anyone has their facebook places enabled, their friends can see where they are and that would count as a "vote" for your business.

*The Bing Map submission has still not been approved and there are no business located in the Cayman Islands. Just street names and places. I've done further research and apparently Bing is only for US business so you might want to not waste your time on this right away but it would be good to be on there when and if they enable the Bing Maps to work for us in the Cayman Islands.

Cayman SEO: Update on Changing to neutral Top Level Domains (TLD)

2011-05-07T15:09:00.001-05:00

Just a very quick update on TLD's that address the geo targeting tool that Google released, or is it unleashed. One of our internal website www.cayman4rent.ky already had a page rank of 3 and was very visible for online searches for most rental keywords in the Cayman Islands and it its domain age was not even 1 year old. When google inserted the fixed geo-targeting location on Web Master Tools it was a wake up call of sorts.

I quickly read up on what this could possible mean to the .ky and realized very quickly that Google was going to remove the .ky from its US data centres. I wrote a blog regarding TLDs back in February and you can read it here. On that blog I showed the fact that www.cayman4rent.ky was showing up for major keywords such as "grand cayman rentals" in the Cayman Islands but it was not showing up for the same keyword in the United States. I was crushed really because it mean that I would have to give it a neutral TLD such as a .com for it to thrive in searches in the United States. But redirecting the .ky to a .com meant that I could potentially lose my existing 3/10 page rank!

Nevertheless I made the call to redirect www.cayman4rent.ky to www.cayman4rent.com and today, it is showing up in Searches all over the world such as the United States, Canada, UK, Australia for major and minor keywords relating to "rentals" and "for rent". I was also jumping with joy on the morning that I discovered that Google had given www.cayman4rent.com sitelinks to the keyword "cayman for rent".

If you are in the United States and searched for "grand cayman rentals" which gets approximately 24,000 searches per month you will notice that our website, www.cayman4rent.com is on the first page of the search results. The website now shows up for over 100,000 monthly searches everywhere in the world because of our decision to switch it to a neutral domain. The sad news is that our page rank has not seeped through to the new domain but at this point, it doesn't matter nor is page rank as important as the trust rank the website has received from google.

Cayman SEO: Keywords for the Month of May, 2011

2011-05-05T01:19:00.000-05:00

The Google Panda/Farmer update has been quite tedious for a lot of media companies out there, including ours and we are still in the midst of figuring out how affiliate travel sites have been affected. It is with caution that we have removed affiliate travel sites from our flagship websites such as www.destination.ky and we are going to delay the expedia affiliate for www.cayman.com.ky for the same reason. More updates on the Google Panda algorithm as we continue to test the waters.

Without further adieu, here is a list of keywords that are being searched for at this precise moment. Please note, as always that this result is from Google Adwords Keyword tool and for a more precise keyword search you will need to use more than this but you can use this tool to source our your root keywords.

1. cayman
2. cayman island
3. grand cayman
4. cayman grand
5. cayman islands
6. island cayman
7. grand cayman islands
8. grand cayman cayman islands
9. cayman islands grand cayman
10. the cayman islands
11. grand cayman resorts
12. resorts grand cayman
13. grand cayman beach
14. cayman resort
15. cayman airways
16. cayman all inclusive
17. grand cayman island
18. island grand cayman
19. cayman bank
20. jobs in cayman
21. jobs cayman
22. grand cayman resort
23. cayman map
24. grand cayman weather
25. weather grand cayman
26. resort grand cayman
27. hotels cayman
28. cayman islands weather
29. cayman rental
30. grand cayman rentals
31. rentals in grand cayman
32. grand cayman hotels
33. hotel in grand cayman
34. hotels grand cayman
35. cayman island jobs

According to Adwords, there are over 2 Million searches for these keywords being done on a monthly basis. The sheer volume of searches alone is enough for me to want to appear on the first page of all these keywords but then again, that might not be as effective as targeting a specific industry keyword, nor will it be as practical.

If you would like a list of your industry keywords please write me an email at fevi@easywebsites.ky - lets get your your website to work for your business.

Cayman SEO: Changing TLD's for higher rankings on Google

2011-02-22T16:37:00.000-05:00

Just an update on my previous blog about the TLD (Top Level Domain) wars. Last week we redirected www.cayman4rent.ky to www.cayman4rent.com because we were not showing up for local searches in the United States and Canada and the website was on the first page for major keyword 'grand cayman rentals' if searched in the Cayman Islands. But if a user was searching in the US or Canada, they would not find us on the first page.

So we did a few things to the website...
1. We redirected www.cayman4rent.ky to www.cayman4rent.com
2. We changed the geographical target to "United States" on Webmaster Tools
3. We did a 301 redirect to all the existing URLs to the new URLs.

We are very happy to announce that even if we are still not showing up for the major keyword, 'grand cayman rentals' yet, we are now showing up for 'grand cayman rental' (singular) on # 6 (right under tripadvisor) and we are actually showing up in Canada on #4 for that keyword as well. That is a total of 5,400 monthly searches for that major keyword. So perhaps it is working. The pagerank of the website has not been transferred yet so that is something to look forward to!

The seamless redirect of the team from the .ky to the .com was fantastic and happened in less than 24 hours - so Congrats Team for a job well done! More updates on this topic, especially on the pagerank of the website.

Cayman SEO: TLD Wars: .KY vs. the .COM - which is better for my website?

2011-02-17T19:36:00.001-05:00

A few years ago, a client asked me if it mattered whether the TLD (top level domain) of a website was a .com or a .ky for Search Engine Optimization and a couple of years ago, I answered 'No, it doesn't matter' because there were several factors that determined search results and not just the TLD. Also it is important to note that Google's local search wasn't as strong as it is now. The TLD informed Google where your site was located and that was a good thing.

Things have changed though and because we are a tourism destination and because we need to attract users in the US before they come to the islands, my answer then is wrong now.

Yes it matters depending on your target market's geographical location.

If your business is in the Cayman Islands and caters to users in the Cayman Islands ONLY then it still doesn't matter - use the .ky because its FREE and available to everyone on island. But if your business objective is to attract customers before they get to the island then it would serve you well to acquire a .com, which is a neutral domain and is not associated with any geographic location.

We recently redirected our website www.cayman4rent.ky to www.cayman4rent.com to address a major concern: We wanted users in the US finding the website for Rentals in the Cayman Islands.
When you search in the Cayman Islands for "grand cayman rentals" on Google, you will notice that www.cayman4rent.ky is no. 6 on the first page.

Google result in the Cayman Islands: Cayman4rent.ky is no. 6 for "grand cayman rentals"

But if you search for the same keyword, "grand cayman rentals" in the United States, you will not see www.cayman4rent.ky on the first or second page of the search results on Google. Its actually on the third page of that search phrase.

This brings me to an important feature that Google unleashed... geo targeting or geographical targeting. In the old days of SEO (ehem... 2 years ago) this meant that your top level domain (TLD), in this case a .ky meant that the .ky was associated with the Cayman Islands. I use to highly regard the .ky TLD because it would automatically inform the search engines that your website should come up for searches relating to 'cayman' and it was FREE - who doesn't like free?

It is also important to note that the IP address and location of your server is important to the search engines when returning results but that is a side topic. Our dedicated server is located in the US so it didn't matter what TLD we took and since the .ky is free, I took the liberty of creating our website on it.

But Google has changed its geo targeting tool and country specific TLD's (ie. .ky, .ca, .bs, .ph) are no longer welcome in Google's Webmaster Tools geo-targeting settings. This has resulted in our .ky's plummeting on search results in the US, UK and Canada (our major markets for tourism). Because of this gigantic change, we made the bold move to redirect our .ky to a .com TLD. Taking into consideration that our Page Rank was a 3/10 - which is pretty decent for a domain that is barely a year old. Using proper 301 redirects, we have our fingers (and toes) crossed and hoping that our Page Rank for the .ky will transfer onto our .com.

Here is what Google has done under Webmaster Tools for our domain, www.cayman4rent.ky thats why it shows up highly for searches in the Cayman Islands but does not show up for searches done in the US, Canada or the UK.

Google's new settings include Geographic Target that automatically targets .KY TLDs to the Cayman Islands

When we validated the .com's site on Google Webmaster tools, here is the screen shot:

We can now Target searches in the United States because we are using a .com or a neutral TLD

Will redirecting our .ky to a .com change our position in the United States? We hope so. We don't know for certain even if Google says it does - Google sometimes has puzzling views. They have provided 3 reasons on how your website is categorized for location searches:

1. Your Top Level Domain (TLD) tells them what country you belong to

2. Your Hosting location

3. Your IP Address

If a website owner does not change the setting on Webmaster Tools, the Search Engine crawlers will use hosting location and IP address in determining the geo target. If it is changed, as we have done, will our ranking in search results in the US be better? We will update this blog in 3 months to see if this experiment paid off.

In the meantime, just to be safe, if you are registering a domain - depending on your target market. Use a .com for neutrality if you are targeting other countries. Use a .ky if you don't care about the Search Engines. It will be easier to geo target a .com than to change the geo location of the .ky because Google does not allow this function.

When and if Google changes this function, you will be the first to know.

Cayman SEO: On Bing copying Google Results

2011-02-02T23:36:00.004-05:00

I just read about this on Danny Sullivan's blog and then followed the link going to the official Google blog and both times, I couldn't believe what I was reading. But at the same time, its hard not to believe it.

So here is the scoop: Google's team created fake searches like 'hiybbprqag' - hiybb-what? Yes. That word that's not a word. It didn't mean anything but the assumption is that when you search for a term that doesn't really mean anything, the search results of two different (rival) search engines differs. It is a solid a assumption since both search algorithms supposedly operate separately. But more than that, the Google Team inserted websites that had nothing to do with the search query. They tested these synthetic queries and inserted websites that had no relevance to the search term whatsoever. (gasp!) Google returning wrong results!

Surprise, surprise! Google and Bing had the exact same results. The Google team tried it on many-a-keywords and it really does seem like Bing is pulling results from Google. Please read the official google blog for the full story. The entire sting by the Google Team was brilliant - from using Explorer all the way to posting the last line on the blog, "what do we want out of this? The answer is simple. We'd like for this practice to stop."

I don't normally react to search engine news, I don't normally react period. I am too busy trying to implement the latest search engine algorithm and dealing with all the web development and SEO contracts we have in the Cayman Islands. But this time, I needed to react. If what Google says is true and it seems that they have proven it through their experiment, it means that Bing has been faking it. They probably spent all their money on Advertising instead of product development.

The silver lining for me as an SEO is that I don't have to worry about optimizing websites for Bing. I optimize it for one website and bam! Two search engines with one click. Yes! But the implication of Bing copying Google's result don't stop with me. What about the future of search and the search market monopoly? Is no one capable of matching the search giant that is Google? Well, Facebok perhaps but that is another blog altogether.

Everyone seems to be going nuts about Bing copying Google but a bigger question at the back of my mind is this: Google can insert results for search terms! If they can insert results for fake searches then they can most definitely insert results for real searches. That is probably why they have never revealed their search engine algorithm. To keep SEO's, like me guessing and to keep Clients, like you - paying for more.

It kills me whenever I am working so hard to optimize a website (given budgetary limitations) and I have to keep buying links and having to get my client to pay for them. Not only that - because the cost of getting to first page is so high, this cost is probably absorbed by you - the user who buys products and services online. Yes, you are affected by this whole hullabaloo as well.

So Bing copies Google results and Google can insert whatever website they want on search results. No wonder the big corporations are getting bigger and the small companies who try to make a decent living, don't stand a chance.

Kung Hei Fat Choi Everyone! Thanks for reading my rant that just uninspired me to keep on fighting the good fight. I use to think Google was amazing but now because of this incident, I am now questioning Google's integrity in returning search results. Bing never mattered before and it certainly doesn't matter now.

Cayman SEO: W3C Validation and its importance

2010-12-22T03:41:00.003-05:00

We are very happy to announce that our Optimization Contracts in the Cayman Islands now includes the web standard of W3C Validation. A prime example of one of our current clients is www.grandviewcondos.com - when you scroll to the bottom you will see these icons:

When you click through to the W3C Validation the website has passed for both XHTML and CSS codes. Its actually one of a few websites in the Cayman Islands that have been validated. Why is that important you may ask?

I strongly believe that it is important because it is actually what you are paying for in a website. The code. ie. If your web developer ever gets hit by a bus (knock on wood), who do you think will manage it next? It will probably be another developer that someone else recommends. It will be frustrating for the new developer if he or she takes over the website and discovers that the code was not written properly and cleanly. Your new developer will have to rewrite the code and you will have to pay your new developer extra money to do so, like buying a new website all over again. But its going to be too late for you to get angry for having spent so much money on a website that was hastily developed.

We are always ensuring that we follow the standards set forth by the W3C - The World Wide Web Consortium - and even if its validation may or may not directly affect search engine optimization, the ability of of the website to satisfy compliance set forth by the W3C is something that we strongly recommend.

Standards and compliance exist in every industry and more so the Internet. These governing structures are what form the foundation of emerging technologies of building a more user friendly WWW.

Starting in 2011, every NEW project that we take on will have been validated by the W3C. Our industry is so fast paced that building compliant websites is the key to ensuring that our clients are paying for a quality website that acts as a sales tool.

Cayman SEO: Find real estate in the Cayman Islands FASTER!

2010-11-23T14:08:00.003-05:00

Finding your dream house in the Cayman Islands has never been easier, or faster for that matter.

We have almost completed the redevelopment of our client's website adding the page speed algorithm and ensuring that it is source-ordered.

The Cayman Islands Real Estate online industry is very competitive and having that faster edge could be all the difference for a User searching for their Vacation Home or Condo on Seven Mile Beach.

As I mentioned on a previous blog, a website's CTR or Click-Through-Rate has been proven to increase 16% more when you have a faster website. Waiting online for a website to load is no longer an option for competitive industries online and we are proud to say that when you log on to our client's website, you won't have to wait or waste your time waiting.

Update 7/12/10: Cayman Luxury Property is now the FASTEST website in the entire Caribbean with a pagespeed of 99/100!

Cayman SEO: Making Faster Websites

2010-10-28T13:32:00.005-05:00

In my previous post I had discussed Page Speed and all its advantages, particularly as it relates to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This time, I would like to show you an example of what exactly we have done. I would to introduce www.grandviewcondos.com - the most visible website in the Accommodations Industry in the Cayman Islands and now, probably one of the fastest if not the fastest. I still have to test the page speed of every single website but for the most part, I have tested around 80% of the websites in the accommodations industry, particularly the direct competition of Grandview Condos.

The most visible website in the Seven Mile Beach Condos Industry

Grandview Condos is no. 1 for the keyword, "condos seven mile beach" which has global monthly searches of 880 according to Adwords Keyword Tool.

No. 1 for 'grand cayman condos seven mile beach' which has a total global monthly search of 390

It is also on the first page of all major and minor keywords as it relates to the Cayman Islands and the Accommodations industry. In fact, it is the only property on seven mile beach that shows up on the first page of 'cayman vacation' a major keyword that attracts 5,400 global monthly searches. The rest of the organic results are booking/reservation websites such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc.

How were we able to make this website faster than most and in effect more visible than its competitors? It was actually a very challenging and humbling experience. We are still currently working on increasing its page speed and on some days, some of the guys have wanted to give up but truly, we are very proud of what we have accomplished so far.

Here is a list of adjustments we have made to ensure the website's optimization:

Source-Ordered Codes to ensure content (not scripts) is read first by the Search bots
Combined external CSS
Leveraged browser caching
Minify CSS
Minify Javascript
Minimize DNS lookup
Minimize redirects
Enabled Compression
Minimize request size
Optimize Images
Remove query strings from static resources
Avoided bad requests
Combined images into CSS spirts
Optimize the order of styles and scripts
Parallelize downloads across hostnames
Put CSS in document head
Serve resources from a consistent URL
Serve scaled images
Specify a Vary: Accept-Encoding header
Specify a cache validator
Specify a character set early

Having done all of the above, here is a comparison between www.grandviewcondos.com and its competitors for the keyword, 'seven mile beach condos'

Organic Result for 'seven mile beach condos' on Google

Screenshot of Grandviewcondos.com Page Speed result 92/100

Grandviewcondos.com Page Speed Score: 92/100 - Dynamic /Web 2.0 enabled
Silversandscondos.com Page Speed Score: 86/100 - Static site
Travelpo.com/condos/seven_mile_beach.htm/ Page Speed Score: 82/100 - Booking Site
10kvacationrentals.com/lodging/cayman-islands/seven-mile-beach/ Page Speed Score 78/100 - Booking Site
Aquabayclub.com/en/index.html Page Speed Score: 60/100 - Dynamic /Web 2.0 enabled
Tripadvisor.com (lengthy link) Page Speed Score: 77/100 - Booking Site
Cicondos.com Page Speed Score: 66/100 - Dynamic /Web 2.0 enabled
Vacationhomes.com/2097 Page Speed Score: 72/100 - Booking Site
Vrbo.com/49383 Page Speed Score: 75/100 - Booking Site
Cayman.com.ky/condo-rentals-seven-mile-beach.html Page Speed Score: 62/100 - Booking Site

It is important to note that static websites will get a high score on page speed but will probably be ignore by Users simply because the website will feel 'old' and users will feel that it is representative of the rental property. No one wants to rent a tired looking property in the same way that no one will want to use a tired looking website. It is important to ensure that the website is User friendly with all the intricacies of Web 2.0 (social media) to ensure a high usability rate.

In closing, please note that Page Speed is a very important aspect of Optimization and that is why we have given it an emphasis in our SEO contracts with our clients. It is important because Users have become less and less patient with waiting for websites to load. If a website is clicked off before it loads and a high percentage of users are doing it, the search engines will notice and probably penalize the website by pushing it down the organic searches, and that is something that you never want to happen to your business.

Cayman SEO: Page Speed increases Website Conversions

2010-05-21T14:14:00.000-05:00

A month back we at Easywebsites.ky started to implement source ordering in all the new web projects currently in the pipeline. We decided to go in this direction because Google's search algorithm stressed on the importance of page speed over and over again. It seemed as though Google was dropping hints and all we had to do was run with it. And we have.

Matt Cutts, a Google Software Engineer who heads up the Webspam team, wrote about page speed last month. Here is a LINK to his blog particularly to the page speed entry. In his blog he has inserted quite a few links on the process of how and why Google implemented Page Speed. It is a good read if you have the luxury of time and if this is something that interests you.

In the Cayman Islands, it is a bit tedious to keep up with new algorithms and basically new trends in Search or Social Media for that matter mainly because as a small island in the middle of the Caribbean, we have our own nuances to worry about. But being in the Web Development Industry, keeping up with trends and practices is something that we have to do, whether we like it or not. Obviously, we like some algorithms better than others.

As for Page Speed - we really like this new algorithm that has been added to the 200 other algorithms that you have to worry about when optimizing your website and today, there is proof that page speed can actually increase your site conversion by 16%! Watch this video by Webpronews.com which talks about the importance of source-order and how simple it can be.

For our "old" clients or clients who came on before April 2010 - we urge you to ask us on how to source order your current web design. As most of you are aware we have just shifted to a cloud server, another important advantageous update.

For new clients, please note that we no longer work with templates except in the design aspect. Now, we are making an effort to design websites that are source-ordered because we want to be able to deliver that 16% without additional effort from our clients end. Will this lead to an increase in web development costs? Yes because it will take a little more time on our end to deliver a source ordered website but that is not the correct question. The question to ask is, "will it bring in more clients?" Yes and that will be worth the effort.

Cayman SEO: Universal Search has arrived in the Cayman Islands

2010-03-28T14:11:00.001-05:00

Search engines have long been marching toward their goal of being one-stop shop for all types of search results. Not surprisingly, Google has been leading this movement since 2007 with their introduction of Universal Search. Prior to this, Google’s search results pages (SERPs) only listed down text results from Web pages. Today, however, Google instantly displays search results in various formats, such as images, videos, blogs, updates and news.

Universal Seach has been shaping how regular users search online for years, as well as how Internet marketers advertise online. While Google’s Universal Search has been extremely helpful for various purposes, it does have its weaknesses. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of Universal Search compared to the old Google search.

Advantages of Universal Search

Information in various formats – Instead of clicking separate buttons for images, videos and maps, users can now get all the results they want in different formats on the main home page by clicking “Search Options.” All these results are arranged according to their relevancy and users have the option to further filter them according to the dates they were published.

One keyword for everything – Google users used to type in “pictures” or “videos” along with their main search terms on the search bar to get the results they want. With Universal Search, one click at the “Show Options” tab automatically generates lists according to their categories, including images, videos, blogs, updates and news. Thus, it is much easier for anyone to come up with the right results, no matter what his level of online search technique is.

More opportunities for SMM – Google reaching out to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook means more opportunities for social media marketers to bring their products and services to their intended customers. Executing the right SMM strategies should get you to Google’s SERPs if users click on “Updates” on the “Show options” tab. The “Updates” tab shows links from social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and FriendFeed.

More opportunities for SEO – All types of content are now usable tools for SEO, whether it’s blog, news, or microblogs. Since Google is pooling together all types of information and media, online advertisers and marketers have more tools at their disposal to sell products and services to their target customers. Think of Google as becoming a virtual marketplace for all commodities in the world.

Disadvantages of Universal Search

More risk of irrelevant results – While Google’s all-famous algorhythms are constantly improving, the vast number of search results in different formats can also sometimes yield more irrelevant results for the user. Thus, the user might have to learn more advanced Googling techniques to get the information he needs.

Switching to the older version is impossible – There’s simply no going back for Google users. They’ll have to learn to be savvy with Universal Search and learn how Tweeter, Facebook and other websites and functions work in order to use Google to its full potential. Simple webpage search is now permanently a thing of the past.

More pressure on businesses to improve SEO and SEM strategies – This is not really a disadvantage, but it is a challenge that many businesses may still be hesitant to take on – which will be a costly mistake. All types of media are now pooled together by Google, so all users subscribing to these media are in a virtual hub where they can easily be accessed by various businesses. Not taking advantage of this opportunity is committing business suicide and handing your competitors who have intensified their SEO and SEM efforts the automatic victory.

Google vows to further improve their Universal Search. Both regular users and Internet marketers should take note of such improvements regularly to accomplish what they wish to do more quickly and successfully. For more information on how your business can take advantage of Universal Search – please do not hesitate to contact us email fevi@easywebsites.ky or call +345-925-8188

Cayman SEO: How Social Media is Changing the Search Landscape

2010-03-02T23:28:00.003-05:00

Google has always been the trailblazer when it comes to online search, and with its introduction of real time search, it has altered the search landscape once again. Businesses are now pressured to reassess their online presence and Internet users are pushed to engage in new search practices to keep up with this new fast-flowing stream of information.

Real time search means looking through search results on search engines, which are litereally broadcast in real time. Twitter is one of the pioneers of real time search with its endless stream of Tweets published as a news item unfolds. People have been flocking to Twitter for a long time because they can broadcast what they see and hear immediately just by clicking the “update” button. Thus, microblogging sites such as Twitter are oftentimes more effective than Google and online news companies because they are able to deliver content (text, photos and links to videos) as an event happens in real time. Google had been quite slow to ride the trend, and many Internet users found their stock links to be quite old and irrelevant when it comes to unfolding news. Now, Google aims to take the power back with its powerful new feature.

How Real Time Search Works
With Google’s real time search feature, you no longer need to search through Tweets on Twitter and status updates on Facebook because every update you need can now be found on Google. For example, try typing in “Chile earthquake” on Google’s search bar and you will find a Feed Box in the middle of the results page displaying related blog posts, news articles, Facebook status updates and Tweets released in real time.

It's not only Twitter and Facebook that have been ahead of Google for quite a long while. Websites like CrowdEye, Tweetmeme, Topsy and Scoopler have been delivering real time search results from major information streams on the Internet while Google was stuck with its old indexes of links. These websites gather real time links from YouTube, Flickr, RSS feeds and Digg – something Google wasn't capable of in the past.

The Difference Between the Old Google and the New Google

If we compare all the stuff uploaded on the Web to the contents of our mind, then real time search results would be our consciousness while regular search results would be our memory. It used to be that Google and all other search engines just enabled us to rummage our memory for answers we need. While this helped a lot in researching general topics with multiple sources all over the Web, regular search results were almost blind to news unfolding in real time. Thus, when a celebrity dies for example, you used to get links to that celebrity's biography or famous films from Google, but no news about his very recent death. With real-time search, you can get the hottest news directly from Google, and not just from news establishments, but from different people Tweeting about it.

Unlike memory though, consciousness can be quite superfluous, taking in everything without considering relevance. This is also the danger with real time search on the part of people searching the Web for real time news. With Twitter for example, it's often the case that important news items are just tweeted by a few individuals while others are merely comments or even spam with hashtags. If search engines like Google archive all of this noise in the Web's consciousness, then people will just get insignificant links, ultimately turning people away from these search engines.

OneRiot, a real time search engine, has a solution to this problem that Google and other search engines are likely to emulate. OneRiot is currently developing a program called PulseRank, which factors in the freshness of information, the link authority of the source's webpage, the authority of the individual sharing the link, and the speed by which such information spreads throughout the Web. Through this filtered system of indexing real time information, search engines could provide users with more relevant real time links. Still, this system won't catch everything and it's still better to browse through real time Tweets on Twitter if you want everything fresh. Search engines must be able to provide users something to be more competitive.

Google knows the answer to this problem: providing users with real time search results not just from Twitter or a single real time microblogging or social networking site, but from ALL sites generating real time information. Jack Menzel, Google's product manager said that Google aims to capture all the streams of real time information from Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Youtube, Flickr and elsewhere. This is great news for users who want to have all pieces of real time information in their hands. Microblogging sites like Twitter also ultimately benefit from this because Google will drive more traffic to them. In fact, Twitter's stats surged the very moment Google launched its real time search.

In terms of SEO, businesses would have to focus more on Social Media Marketing (SMM) to keep up with this new trend in online search. Instead of just arranging websites to be more friendly to search engine spiders, businesses have to assert their presence on as many microblogging and social networking sites as possible. They have to be able to ride the wave of new information or else, people may likely ignore them altogether. They also have to unlock the real time search strategy used by Google and other search engines to know what SMM and SEO techniques to employ. Thus, old school SEO and SMM tricks just wouldn't work as effectively anymore.

As for Internet users, you have dozens of opportunities with the dawn of real time search. It is now possible to get what you want instantly without going through the trouble of visiting multiple websites. If information before traveled at breakneck speeds, information today travels in lightspeed. With the whole world connected in real time, everyone across the globe will be seeing, hearing, and knowing about different events all at the same time. They say it's a small world, and this is the smallest it has shrunk since the beginning of time.

March Keywords for the Cayman islands

Here are the top 25 keywords for the Cayman Islands

1. Cayman

2. Cayman grand

3. Grand Cayman

4. Cayman islands

5. Islands Cayman

6. Cayman island

7. Cayman hotels

8. Hotels grand Cayman

9. Grand cayman island

10. Little Cayman

11. Grand cayman island

12. Cayman islands hotels

13. Cayman brac

14. Grand cayman deals

15. Grand cayman travel

16. Caymans

17. Grand cayman cayman islands

18. The cayman islands

19. Cayman vacation

20. Cayman airways

21. Georgetown Cayman

22. Grand cayman hotel

23. Grand cayman rental

24. The grand Cayman

25. Cayman diving

Cayman SEO: Top Keywords for the Cayman Islands this Holiday Season, 2009

2009-12-06T11:12:00.005-05:00

In the Cayman Islands, keywords tend to shift during holidays and is a prime example of why you should optimize your website for keyword trends. The shift is also prevalent in most parts of the world and is very important when targeting holiday traffic. Search Engine Marketing (both SEO and PPC) is important in understanding keyword trends and how it affects your bottom line.

Very important details: The keywords are from Google's Adword External Keyword Tool. When doing an online campaign is it important to cross reference your keywords using atleast 3 keyword tools. Other tools that are as relevant as Adwords are; Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery.

Without further adieu, here are the top 20 keywords for the month of November, 2009 - beside the keywords are monthly average searches of the past 12 months.

1. cayman 2,240,000

2. grand cayman 550,000

3. cayman islands 450,000

4. cayman island 165,000

5. cayman hotels 135,000

6. cayman islands hotels 60,500

7. grand cayman island 60,500

8. caymen 49,500

9. grand cayman islands 49,500

10. grand cayman travel 49,500

11. little cayman 49,500

12. grand cayman cayman islands 33,100

13. cayman brac 27,100

14. caymans 27,100

15. cayman airways 22, 200

16. cayman vacation 22,200

17. caymen islands 14, 800

18. grand cayman hotel 14, 800

19. grand cayman rental 14,800

20. grand caymen 14,800

If you look at the keywords for the same month last 2008 - you will notice that it is almost the same because they are trends. Everytime at the same time of the year - keyword trends play a very important aspect of Search Engine Marketing: both SEO and Pay Per Click Campaigns.

For enquiries please contact Fevi at 345-925-8188 or email fevi@easywebsites.ky

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

Cayman SEO: 'Tis the Season for PPC

2009-11-11T09:10:00.002-05:00

Published in Whats HOT! A Cayman Free Press Publication, December 2009

The Internet is the biggest market in the world and this Holiday Season, sales are projected to be at over 25 Billion Dollars. Being online allows your business to be open 24/7 and make money for you even while you sleep. Competition, however, is quite steep and you are not guaranteed that customers will find you amidst all the other websites.

So how do you instantly increase your online exposure without breaking the bank?

The answer: PPC or otherwise known as Pay Per Click.

PPC is the advertising business model of Search Engines. Advertisers only pay their host when their ads are clicked-through. The biggest PPC providers are Google.com via Adwords and Yahoo.com as well as Bing.com via Microsoft AdCenter. All of them operate on a bid-based model, which means that advertisers bid on keywords or phrases relevant to their target market.

PPC allows you to reach your target market instantly and directly. When a user searches for certain keywords on the search engine, your ad automatically comes up on the sponsored search results and its goal is to attract the attention of the user.

PPC also allows you to stick to a budget. You only pay for every user that clicks on your ad. You also get to decide how much you'll pay each time a user clicks on your ad and the maximum spend per day, per week and per month.

Tips on a good PPC Campaign

1. Check out keyword reports from the period of November 2008 to January 2009 to see which keywords converted well during the holidays. These keywords will most likely work well again this year so make sure that you bid higher on these keywords for the next few months to take advantage of the holiday traffic. This will increase your ad's chances of being displayed more often so that more people will see it and click through it. Hopefully, these clicks will transform into clients for your business. This of course depends on the usability of your website’s landing page to transform ‘clicks’ into clients.

Use Google’s External keyword tool for this search: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

2. Now look at your ads. Your ads should be edited to match the holiday season. For example, you may edit your headline to make it more relevant to Christmas like from "Cayman Islands Vacations" to "Cayman Holiday Getaway". You can catch your target market's attention if you can relate your business to his/her "holiday needs".

3. Another way to catch your target market's attention is to offer promotions. Tourism-based businesses usually offer packages for the whole family. In this way, you can show your target market that you can help them by allowing them to save a dollar or two. Include the promotions in your ads so that users searching for vacation packages for the holidays can spot you. Who knows, he or she can be your next loyal client.

4. When a user clicks on your ad, the next thing he/she will see is your landing page. Create a landing page that's captures the holiday mood. You might want to dress up your landing page to include Christmas designs and features. One good suggestion is to provide a "Holiday Package" or "Holiday Promotions" page or a "Gift Certificate" feature to help users decide on which package or product to purchase.

Check out your bestsellers from the same period of the previous year to find out what tickles your customer’s fancy and include that on your promos for the holidays.

The Search Engines provide training centers and setting up a PPC account is almost as easy as setting up an email account. But before doing so please study and learn as much as information as you can so that you are not wasting your dollars on useless clicks. For more information of how to set up and maintain a PPC account, contact me at 925-8188 or fevi@easywebsites.ky

Cayman SEO: Drive Traffic to your website during the Holidays

2009-10-26T15:15:00.004-05:00

The holidays are fast approaching in the Cayman Islands and I know for a fact that most people and business owners cannot wait, more so for this year, 2009 - because of the global recession that has hit many-a-business hard. For many tourism-based businesses, this is the time of the year that is the busiest because of the influx of tourists for the Christmas Holidays.

Why then would you possibly need additional traffic to your website?

Because 2009 is a 'special' year, now, more than ever is the appropriate time to take action on your website to ensure that it enables your business to take advantage of the 'gifts of the season'. This year, more than any other year before it, your customers are going to be looking for more value in every product or service that they buy.

Here are a few reasons why you need to take a second look at your website to ensure that is is working for you in this holiday season:

1. Just because it is the holidays and we expect more tourists on the island - it doesn't mean that tourists automatically know where to go and what to do. They will still be going online, before they come to the island, and they will be doing their research on what restaurants to dine in, what place to stay and what car rental and activity to engage in. Does your website have the ability to attract NEW clients for the holiday season, given the slow global economy? Does your website have the ability to retain 'OLD' clients?

2. Is your website positioned for 'holiday keyword searches' that are seasonal keywords? Do you have landing pages that support these holiday keywords and engage the user to click on your website either to use a service or buy a product?

3. Does your website 'speak' of the value of your product or service so that each click that comes through is translated to a booking or a sale? Is the value of your product or service easily translated by your website for its users?

As a website owner what can you do so that your website is able to retain its old clients from previous years, attract new customers who are looking for value, ensure that the website appears for all relevant holiday keyword searches?

Here are a few simple tips to get the most out of the Holiday traffic:

1. Create content within your website that provides the services and products you are offering for the holidays. Ensure that this page is linked directly from the body content of your homepage so that Search Engine robots can easily pick it up.

2. Start engaging in Social Media Networking promoting your holiday products or services as early as now - create links that will land on the content page for your holiday offerings.

3. Ensure that your website is prepared for the holiday traffic by checking with your hosting provider - bandwidth plays and important role because even if your clients can find you - if they cannot access your website within a limited timeframe, you can kiss that user goodbye.

Since we provide this service to all our clients, please feel free to contact us for any questions or clarifications you might have. Yes we can increase your holiday sales using the power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click Campaigns (PPC) and Social Media Networking (SMN) for your website.

Cayman SEO: Grand Cayman Helps out the Philippines

2009-10-06T14:44:00.005-05:00

On September 26, 2009 - Typhoon Ondoy battered the Philippines and flooded almost 80% of the entire Metro Manila. We at Easywebsites.ky wanted to do our part in the relief efforts. We want to thank all the volunteers and all the donations that came by.

Please watch the video of our Relief Efforts for more information.

Here are the credits below:

Thank you

Robert & Jeanette Totten of CLPG

Paula & Anne of CLPG

Melanie & Catherine & Lean of Smile

Dr. Albert Thacker of Smile Dental Clinic

Tom Mccallum

Max & Kenisha & Favi of Grandview

Robbie Cribb of Cayman Auto Rentals

Reno Mancini

The Wharf Staff

Twila Escalante

Lucinda Stokes

Katia Herrera

Karen & Saskia & Sharon

Dawn Ackermon of Heritage Club

Joy Basdeo of Simply Weddings

Deanna Bidwell of RBC Wealth Management

Nirmila Kumar

Staff and Volunteers

Carol Anievas

Len Anievas

Ken Estanislao

Albert Camacho

Sabrina Deparine

Leonard Jancordia

Dr. Meann Endriga

Dr. Adette Lagura

Mark Anthony Mara

Michael Bala

Glen Mark Garin

Photos taken from Flickr (Thank You)

Brandon Hoover

Adrienne Acob

Katrina Lou Samsin

Dave Deluria

PMT2009

REMBCC

(apologies if I missed anyone)

Special Thanks to

Gina and Boc Villamor

Music by Train

"Calling All Angels"

Video by Fevi Yu

Ondoy/Ketsana

Philippines Relief Project

We are still accepting donations until October 9, 2009 to benefit the Portalet Projects in Evacuation Centers. There are still almost 400,000 families in Evacuation Centers and most of them have no homes to return to.

Cayman SEO: Something to Tweet About

2009-09-11T18:52:00.005-05:00

Part and partial of Internet Marketing and SEO is Web 2.0's Social Media Networking.

As published in Whats HOT! for the month of September, 2009: Something to Tweet About
by Fevi Yu

Twitter is an extraordinary powerful online tool but even experienced IT professionals have had issues understanding everything it has to offer. So how do you begin and what can Twitter do for your business in the Cayman Islands?

Twitter Basics
On the Surface Twitter interface looks like a giant SMS screen where you can post messages no longer than 140 characters, referred to as 'tweets'. Originally desinged as an oline form of communication, it has developed into a platform for reading information that is relevant to your industry. More recently, 'tweets' have evolved to share interesting content found online and sharing real-time accounts from real people who are involved in a newsworthy event, crisis or natural disaster.

Retweets and other Cool Apps
When you see an 'RT' at the beginning of a tweet it means that that is a retwet from another user. Whenever you want to share information from someone else that you are following, just copy and paste the original tweet and put an 'RT' with the credits of the original person with an '@' at the beginning. Retweets are a sure-fire way of getting content to spread like wildfire online. For anyone wanting to 'RT' your content, it will have to be interesting. To tract retweets you can use web tools such as Retweetradar, Retweetist and Tweetmeme.

Hashtags are metadata for tweets. They were created to allow groupings on twitter without having to change the basic service. To track or follow hashtags use hashtags.org, which provide real-time tracking wihtout the necessity of following a specific service account. Other services such as Tweetchat, Tweetgrid and twitterfall also follow hashtags.

A notable aspect of Twitter is the numerous applications that are readily available. Tweetdeck allows users to tweet in tow clicks. Seesmic deesktop allows users to read, replay and send tweets from their desktops. Tweetree helps users organise their conversations in one page.

Personal branding in Twitter

Reserver your name, fast - When signing up for twitter, the name you want might not longer be available. So instead of getting your company name, for example, @Easywebsites, you might end up having to use your name with a reference to the company. However that could mean you end up with a twitter name like @easyfevi, which might not sit well with everyone.
Determine your Objective - like most advertising you place on the papers, there must be an objective and a brand that people can identify with your company.
Be an Expert in your field - and have your customers and other industry professionals follow you
Funnel your online marketing brands - just because you have a twitter page it doesnt mean that everyone is going to start following you. You have to ensure that all your customers, clients and contacts know that you have a twitter resource and one way of doing that is to ensure tht your Twitter page is visible in all your other online platforms such as your website, your Facebook fan page as well as youtube, Tripadvisor and similar sites.

Once you get the twitter bug there is no getting away from it. The readily available information from the best of the best in your industry is highly addictive.

CAYMAN SEO is no. 1 in SERP Inquiries

2009-07-16T03:19:00.004-05:00

Cayman SEO is the blog site of Easywebsites.ky - a web design and development company specializing in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

http://caymanseo.blogspot.com is current in the no. 1 position for the following keywords on Google:

cayman seo
cayman islands seo
grand cayman seo
cayman islands search engine optimization
grand cayman search engine optimization
cayman internet marketing
cayman islands internet marketing
grand cayman internet marketing
grand cayman islands internet marketing
cayman search marketing
search marketing cayman
cayman optimization
grand cayman optimization

So if your company is in the Cayman Islands and would like to be found online - please check us out.

Cayman SEO: Top Ten Keywords for your industry

2009-07-14T02:37:00.002-05:00

Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and the recently launched Bing, formerly MSN Live, have become such important tools in our daily lives. So much so that the latest average daily search on Google has reached 293 Million. Imagine that… and then try to imagine how many searches are being done for your products and services. The good news is that you don’t have to - I have compiled a list of top searches done for industries in the Tourism sector of the Cayman Islands. If you do not find your industry in the list below – feel free to contact me and I will gladly send you a top ten list. Also please note that since Google represents 63.7% of the total searches done, I have only included Google statistics below.

Top Ten Searches for the Cayman Islands Accommodations Industry (monthly)

1. Cayman hotels at 135,000 searches per month
2. Cayman hotel at 27,100
3. Cayman resort at 27,100
4. Cayman vacation at 18,100
5. Cayman vacations at 18,100
6. Grand cayman resort at 18,100
7. Cayman islands vacations at 14,800
8. Grand cayman hotel at 14,800
9. Grand cayman islands hotels at 14,800
10. Cayman islands hotel at 9,900

If your business belongs in the accommodations industry – being in the first page of these keyword searches is profitable as these are the actual searches being done by your direct Target Market.

Top Ten Searches for the Cayman Islands Scuba Diving Industry (monthly)

1. Cayman diving at 8,100 searches per month
2. Cayman dive at 6,600
3. Cayman scuba at 5,400
4. Grand cayman dive at 3,600
5. Grand cayman diving at 3,600
6. Cayman scuba diving at 2,400
7. Grand cayman scuba at 2,400
8. Cayman islands diving at 1,600
9. Cayman divers at 1,300
10. Scuba diving grand cayman at 1,300

Top Eight Searches for the Cayman Islands Car Rental Industry (monthly)
Note: There were only eight searches for the car rental industry available

1. Cayman car rental at 14,800 searches per month
2. Grand cayman car rental at 9,900
3. Cayman car rentals at 4,400
4. Grand cayman car rentals at 1,600
5. Cayman island car rental at 720
6. Rent a car cayman at 480
7. Cayman taxi at 390
8. Coconut car rental grand cayman at 46

Top Ten Searches for the Cayman Islands Wedding Industry (monthly)

1. Cayman wedding at 2,900 searches per month
2. Cayman weddings at 1,600
3. Grand cayman wedding at 1300
4. Cayman island wedding at 880
5. Weddings grand cayman at 720
6. Cayman islands wedding at 590
7. Cayman islands weddings at 480
8. Cayman islands weddings at 480
9. Wedding in cayman at 320
10. Weddings in cayman at 260

The total number of these top ten searches for weddings in the Cayman Islands is almost 10,000 per month. That is over 330 searches per day. Just imagine if your website had 330 inquiries per day and what it would mean for your business. If your website was created with the end users in mind in that they are able to navigate seamlessly and find pertinent and relevant information – then these inquiries might just become bookings.

Top Ten Searches for Cayman Islands Activities, Tours and Events (monthly)

1. grand cayman events at 9,900 searches per month
2. tours cayman islands at 3,600
3. cayman islands events at 2,900
4. grand cayman trip at 2,900
5. cayman things to do at 1,900
6, cayman tour at 1,900
7. cayman trip at 1,600
8. grand cayman tour at 1,600
9. cayman activities at 1,300
10. grand cayman things to do at 1,300

Businesses that are activity related should see to it that their websites appear on the first page of these relevant searches for their industry.

Be a responsible website owner

Its not easy to optimize your website to appear on the first page of Search results but another challenge to the website owner is to ensure that that visibility is maximized by having a functional and effective website that speaks to users. Lets face it, even if your website is found on the first page of search results - it does not automatically mean that you will get more bookings or reservations. What it means is that you have the opportunity to present your company's products and services to alot more people who are looking for you.

It is not enough to have a website that has amazing graphics too - but yes that is helpful. More than having a website that has all the fancy bells and whistles a website owner has to ensure that Users are able to navigate properly and that the site architecture is not confusing.

Cayman SEO NEWS: Unethical SEO practices by NETCLUES!

2009-07-03T21:04:00.007-05:00

I am a very passionate person when it comes to work and sure, most of the time I don't have time to moderate comments on my blog. Not that there is alot of them mind you, but because I know some people are trying to ride on the link popularity of my blog caymanseo.blogspot.com, which has a pagerank of 4/10 - and because I know how difficult breaks can be - I don't mind and sometimes approve them. What I do mind is when a competing company does it.

So my blog is decidedly no. 1 for most if not all the keywords relating to SEO and/or Internet Marketing in the Cayman Islands. Of course it is - I have applied alot of what I know about optimization to my blog. So it really makes me so angry that a competing company would even dare post a link back to their blog hoping to ride on my coat-tails. You should have made a comment at the very least and maybe I would have let it pass but to blatantly put a link back... thats just plain LAZY.

Its embarrasing really. I would hate to work for a company like that. Get your own links NETCLUES and hopefully you dont do this sort of unethical SEO to your clients. I am disgusted that we belong to the same industry and I am hoping that you do not kill our industry by your lazy, unethical behavior.

And they did it again. I have attached the printscreen here dated Sept. 3, 2009. This time it is optimizing for 'Internet Marketing' the previous comment was optimizing for 'Cayman SEO' - hmm. I wonder who the 'genius' is behind this.

Cayman SEO - Increase your online presence using Social Networking sites

2009-06-14T15:41:00.002-05:00

In the early days of the Internet – social networking websites such as Geocities (1994) and Tripod (1995) focused on bringing people together to interact and share personal information. Some sites went a little further by having its users link to each other via email – ie. Classmates.com (1995) and sixdegrees.com (1997). But most of these sites simply weren’t profitable and eventually shut down. It wasn’t until the years between 2002 and 2004 that three sites emerged and caused online social networking to become part of mainstream users globally. These three sites were Friendster.com, myspace.com and bebo.com. In 2006 Facebook.com opened to communities outside US Colleges and became the largest growing site in the world.

Social networking then flourished and became a component of business internet strategy - various social networking sites have sprung up to cater to every demographic. It is estimated that there are over 200 social networking sites using existing and emerging social networking models. Twitter.com (2009) eclipsed many other social networking services and even though lacks some essential aspects of SNS – has allowed add-on services that distinguishes it from the rest.

Reasons why your business should have social media presence:

1. It is a free online tool that has the potential to target your clients directly

2. It is also a way to target your clients right now – there is no waiting period

3. It is a way for you to interact with your clients on the same level

4. Social networking also creates brand awareness of your product/service

5. Social Media can act as an online reputation management tool

6. It is great tool for recruiting new college graduates

7. You can easily learn about new technologies and competitors in social networking sites

8. Can be used to generate leads for prospective customers

Companies are able to drive traffic to their websites while encouraging consumers to have discussions on how to improve or change products or services.

Social Networking is good for Business

In late 2008, Reuters.com published a report that Facebook, Bebo and Myspace are actually good for business and that bosses should not stop their staff from using social networking sites because it could actually benefit their firms. The report by Demos said encouraging employees to use networking technologies to build relationships and closer links with colleagues and customers could help businesses rather than damage them.

Robert Ainger, Director of Orange Business which co-produced the report said that it would be wrong of businesses to ignore the importance of networking in the current economic climate. “The report points out that the value of networking within an economic downturn is perhaps more important than ever and I believe it could mean the difference between a business collapsing or capitalizing on the tricky conditions.”

For any questions or clarifications regarding social networking and/or this article please email fevi@easywebsites.ky

This Article is going to be published in WH's July 2009 Issue

Cayman SEO - Three (3) Easy tips on improving your website presence

2009-05-16T00:33:00.002-05:00

(As published in Whats Hot March Issue)

Imagine Google as a recruitment company and imagine your website as a candidate applying for a position – and in this case your website is actually applying for a position – a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Position.

A SERP Position is the way Google and all other Search Engines display search results. The difference of a first page result vs. a second page result is far and wide and businesses on the first page of their industry’s major keywords reap the benefit of 62% more traffic* than a second page position.

In this metaphor, the end users are your Customers. It will be up to them to ‘hire’ your service/s or altogether ignore your application. There are many facets to this but that is another article and another issue of What’s HOT altogether.

What three simple things can you do to improve your position on Google without heavily relying on your webmaster? This is probably the single most frequent question that my clients ask me and I have narrowed down the answer to these three simple and effective ways of improving your online presence.

Easy Tip #1: Write an Effective Page Title – the page title is located on the very top of the browser (it doesn’t matter whether you use Explorer or Firefox). The Page Title is what the search engine robots first see as they crawl your site. That’s why its imperative to insert as much information about your location and services and not just your company name.
___________________________
*based on a whitepaper study done by iProspect, a leader in Search Marketing behavior

Helpful Tip: Write the page title in this structure and keep it to 65 characters long (including spaces):

1.) Country / Location
2.) Main Service or Product
3.) Company Name

Example: The Page Title of Easywebsites.ky is “Cayman Islands website design and development: www.easywebsites.ky”

Now, try searching on Google for “Cayman Islands website design and development”

You will notice that easywebsites.ky has the no.1 position on the SERP and its NOT for our company name and is instead for the services we provide. That is a simple enough example but for competitive keywords, it is not enough to simply write a good page title.

Very Important Note: Having the correct Page Title does not guarantee top placement or even a placement in the SERPs. However, writing a good Page Title can increase your position especially when the page content supports the page title.

Easy Tip #2: Content is King – Search Engines love unique and frequently updated content. There is a fine line between writing for Search Engines and writing for users and you must be very careful when threading that line. Writing for search engines is defined as focusing on your keywords / key phrases even if it no longer reads properly to a user.

You must also know how to balance content and graphics – too much content will turn off your users unless it is worth reading and has valuable information.

Helpful Tip: Before beginning to write content, it is imperative that you know what keywords you are targeting. Use keyword tools such as Google Adwords to help you decide. But remember – the content has to read well to users.

Easy Tip #3: The More Links the Merrier – but before you start linking to everyone requesting for a link please continue to read this. Links to your website ONLY count when it is relevant to your industry and / or location. If you are a business located in the Cayman Islands it would be wise to solicit links from other businesses located here AND links from a similar industry. ie. Wedding sites and photographers sites, car sales and car maintenance sites, etc. There are also many directories that offer linking services and it is best to qualify them before paying for listings.

What is the best strategy in getting links? Creating a website that is an authority in your field. When you become an authority – people will just link to your site without asking for a link in return.

Car problems and SEO in the Cayman Islands

2009-02-07T15:08:00.004-05:00

I am a girl and I drive a car. As most women (not all), I am as clueless as the next whenever something goes wrong with it. About a month ago, I visited a friends house and picked her up to go to the beach. As soon as my little car started, my friend looked at me and exclaimed, "What the heck is that?" and I looked at her and was surprised, "What?"

She said that my muffler probably needed changing because it sounded like a sports car. (No wonder I felt cool everytime I was driving) I never noticed because... well because I didn't think it was a problem. My car can get me from point A to point B and thats all that really matters. Right? (I guess I am just talking to women here, most guys would probably say, "wrong")

Anyhow as soon as I got home, I searched on Google for "pajero muffler shop grand cayman" which returned no relevant results whatsoever. Ok, ok, i thought to myself, what do most regular folks call those shops and then searched again, "car service center for mufflers, grand cayman"

One of the returned results was for a Cedar City, UT based service center that had 'grand' cherokees and 'cayman' porsche cars. Another one was for a directory listing of all the car shops in Grand Cayman. But if I wanted their phone numbers, I would have gone to check the yellow pages. And, I did not want to waste my precious phone minutes calling each and every one of them to ask if they fixed mufflers. What if they asked me what kind of muffler? I would not know how to answer that! "Um, the small one for small cars?"

Anyway, my search for mufflers and car service centers was futile. There are no automobile repair centres websites that are properly optimized for the Cayman Islands. And my muffler was getting louder and louder as each day passed. No wonder it was called a muffler - because you wanted to put mufflers on your ears because it was just so noisy.

About another week passed by and I was by Kirks Supermarket just finishing off my groceries. I started my car and turned the AC on because of all the fresh meat I bought then finished putting my groceries in the car. This gentleman was deliberately walking towards me and I could see him from the corner of my eye. Now, every girl out there knows that she is bound to get hit on one way or the other... so, like every other girl that feels uncomfortable in those situations, I pretended not to see him. But he came straight at me and said loudly, "Have you gotten your mufflers checked?"

I looked up and said, "I have tried to find a shop but I don't know where to take it." We were right beside my car so we were pretty much shouting at each other.

He said, "Take it to Scotts automotive, they are the best on the island." and then proceeded to walk away. I shouted after him, "Where is Scotts?"

"You know where Mirco Centre is?", I nodded, "Its the opposite street, keep driving to the end its by the right side."

That is one of the reasons why I love living in the Cayman Islands. Complete stranges will just come up to you and help you out. Of course he was probably more concerned about my little car's noise pollution but nonetheless, he helped me out.

I took my car out to Scotts Automotive on that same day and made an appointment for the next day. It took less than an hour to fix and my bill was less than CI$ 70. But more important than that, my car stopped making that crazy sports car sounding effect and nobody looked at me anymore while driving around the streets of Grand Cayman.

When you come to live in the Cayman Islands - its not so easy to find things online. Most companies will show up for their Company name but not for their services.

Scotts Automotives really is the best for fixing mufflers, that stranger was right. It was inexpensive and fast - the kind of service that should be promoted - atleast online.

When creating your title tags for your company website, put in a word or two about your best-selling service. In that way you will be assisting Search Engines such as Google to classify where to put your company in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page/s). If thats the only thing you do right on your website, it might just work.

If you are looking for a shop to fix your mufflers: go to Scotts. Look for Sue or Michael. Their number is 345-926-4186 and they are located on that street opposite Micro Centre. If they had a website, I would link to them.

This experience is relevant to how Search affects our daily lives. As a business owner, it is up to you to help the Search Engines find your services online.

If you want to be found online for your services, please do not hesitate to give me a call (345-925-8188) or send me an email fevi@easywebsites.ky

The Critical Mission of Internet Marketing in the Cayman Islands (With a Special Focus on the Tourism Industry)

2009-01-24T03:16:00.006-05:00

The Problem

I was driving in my car the other day and listening to the news. Coincidentally, I was passing by the Waterfront and seeing three cruise ships on port. On the radio, the news was saying that the badly beaten Global Economy would further dampen the tourism business in the Caribbean as a whole and that some hotels in St. Lucia were closing. It was all very surreal as I almost ran over a tourist when he decided to cross the street when the traffic light turned green. Don’t worry though; nobody was hurt as of writing this article. It was then that I decided to do my part, as an Internet Marketing Professional, in assisting the Cayman Islands Tourism Industry.

This article is about the Critical Mission of Internet Marketing against the greatest Economic turmoil of our generation. It will discuss how the Internet can be used as a tool to generate more business and how Search Engines can play a major role in helping your business stay afloat, if not succeed in the coming difficult years.

The onset of the US Credit Crisis and the succinct downturn of the World's Global Economy poses a threat for businesses in the Cayman Island. I cannot think of a single industry that is not being affected by what is going on in the International Business Community. For the purpose of this article, I am going to concentrate on the Cayman Islands Tourism Industry, which in effect, affects all else. By focusing on our biggest industry, this article hopes to bring about possible solutions to a burgeoning problem.

Some facts that can help us provide an online solution:

According to the Google Adwords Keywords tool, in 2008 there was over 7.5 Million searches for the words, "caribbean" and "the caribbean" as an approximate monthly average. That is a total of over 90 Million searches in 2008 alone.

Here are more interesting keyword searches that may and could possible assist us in achieving a more comprehensive online exposure:

In the same timeframe there was only less than a million searches done for "grand cayman", "cayman islands", "cayman island" (Note: there was a million searches done for the keyword, "cayman" but is it difficult if not impossible to determine how many searches were done for the porche-made car or for the islands. If we compromise and split that figure in half then there was approx. 1.5 Million searches done for the Cayman Islands, but that is a guesstimate)

Searches for Caribbean destinations are shown in the table below:

It is important to note that these searches were performed on Google and the Google Content Network. I have not even included searches done on other search engines such as Yahoo and MSN as well as the many other minor search engines.

Critical Mission #1 – Bring more tourists into the Cayman Islands

When someone goes online to search for a general keyword such as "caribbean" or "vacation" or "travel" it is easy to conclude that they do not know where to go and have not made up their minds on which destination to choose - thats why they are using such a general keyword. Someone who knows where to go will generally search for something specific and use a phrase instead of just a word.

An example of this is someone who has already decided to go to the Cayman Islands. He or She will then go online to search for something specific like, "grand cayman condos on seven mile beach"

Search funnels usually start from the very general and end at decision making using very specific keyword phrases.

So the Cayman Islands Tourism Board should really focus on getting the DOT website to the first page of the general keywords to help in the decision making process of undecided individuals.

With approximately 90 Million people searching for "caribbean" and "the caribbean" - if the online campaign manages to pull in 1% of that audience then that could translate to an additional 900, 000 visitors to the islands per year.

But (and isn’t there always a but) as a general rule, it is up to the website to transform 'hits' into 'conversions' and that's where solution #2 comes in handy.

Definition of HIT: A user that finds your website and clicks on it.

Definition of Conversion: An action that is done by the user within your website. For the DOT website, and for the purpose of this article and because we want to create solutions, let us define a conversion by a user booking a vacation.

Please note that if you belong in the tourism industry – the same rules apply to your website. If you optimize your website to show up for general keywords or compete in sponsored listings then chances of increasing your hits are high. But, again, it is up to your website to convince users.

An example of this is instead of just showing up for “cayman islands scuba diving” – start looking into showing up for “caribbean scuba diving” and competing head on against other destinations for scuba diving enthusiasts.

Because we are competing for the same tourism market – I would even suggest that the more prominent businesses start competing head-on against other destinations. When a user searches for “Bahamas Scuba Diving” and your website shows up as a sponsored listing – you might just be able to change their minds to experience Scuba Diving in the Cayman Islands.

Critial Mission #2: Improve Website Experience

I have been working in the Cayman Islands for a little over 3 years now and I have to say that a lot of business folks really don't care about their websites. There are typically two kinds of business owners.

The first kind wants to have a website that looks amazing and has all these moving photos / rotating banners / embedded videos or a flash website. They spend thousands upon thousands of dollars getting it to look as amazing as possible without thought or consideration to its users.

The second kind just wants to have a website and doesn't really care how its done as long as he can say he has a website. "Yeah, my son did it and I think it looks great!" - nevermind the fact that it receives no hits and no one can ever find it.

When you develop your website with a focus on user experience this translates into more traffic, more repeat business, fewer bounce rates and higher click through rates.

Jakob Nielsen, who according to the New York Times is "the guru of Web page usability" mentions that a homepage is the most valuable real estate in the world.

For the purpose of this piece, let us dissect the homepage of www.caymanislands.ky - If you were a tourist looking to vacation in the Caribbean what would differentiate the Cayman Islands tourism website from all the other destination tourism websites? Take a look at the other Tourism websites of our neighboring destinations – Bahamas, Jamaica, Aruba… What would it take for a user to choose the Cayman Islands over any of those destinations? Does the DOT website address this or is it merely a photoslide show?

We are all selling basically the same photos – the same crystal clear azure waters and amazing beaches.

Other noticeable issues on the DOT homepage:

Poor site navigation – someone in the DOT decided to be creative by using unfamiliar menu items. Is it not a fact that what is familiar is what will engage a user to click-through?
Poor site visibility – I have 20/20 vision but I still need a magnifying glass to see the menu items of the website. Also, lets face it – our target market are older, successful executives and they already wear glasses. Web usability studies have also shown that younger people with 20/20 vision prefer larger fonts for easy browsing.
Using graphics that look like ads instead of links – when it is a link – make sure it looks like a link instead of graphics or else users will just turn a blind eye. Check out the link “Discover the Cayman Islands” and you will know what I mean. How much money was put into this section of the site and how much money has it generated in bookings? I bet I know the answer to that.
Too many photos not enough descriptions – Web usability studies since the beginning of the World Wide Web have clearly stated that users prefer photos that have descriptions. No matter how pretty the photo is a call to action and/or short description would have made a huge difference between someone clicking-through or someone clicking-off. Yes a photo is worth a thousand words but… it is words that help decision making on the Internet.
Using photos that are as generic as all the other Caribbean destinations – that is self explanatory.
Aside from the Tourism Website not being user friendly, it is also not Search Engine Friendly.

The DOT Website as an Internet Marketing Tool for your business

As an Internet Marketing Professional, I can tell you, that if your website had a link from the DOT website, it would help it rank so much higher for your industry keywords. It can’t just be any link though – it has to be a html link using anchor text for it to be effective.

The DOT should provide this service to businesses who can help promote our islands. But at the same time they should create guidelines on how to achieve these much sought after links and not just because you can pay for them upfront.

Critical Mission #3: There is no right time but right now

Because we are working with third party initiatives, ie. Google – it is impossible to just call them up and ask them to put us on the first page for the searches that we choose. Not even if we had a million dollars to boot. Or… hmm… maybe. I have never tried to bribe Google, so I wouldn’t know. But I can’t imagine anyone turning a million dollars down, especially in this economy where hard cash is fast becoming a commodity.

The good news is that you won’t have to spend a million dollars to get your website into major keyword searches for your industry. You won’t even have to spend 10% of that much money.

So what would it take for your website to start earning its keep?

First, learn the lingo, here are some basic definitions of two major Campaigns that can help you increase your website presence:

SEO or Search Engine Optimization – is the process of naturally increasing your position in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This is a two-step process:

On-Page SEO – deals directly with developing websites on Search Engine Friendly platforms and creating content that complement your products and services
Off-Page SEO – is the process of linking your website to relevant websites

PPC or Pay Per Click Campaigns – is a campaign on any of the Search Engines for your website to appear in Sponsored Listings. This is when you pay the Search Engines for every click-through or for X amount of views. Google enables users to learn this independently but if you have no time to truly understand how to manage a campaign – it is best left to experts who can manage your bids, minimize your bounce rates, increase your click-through-rates and increase your conversions.

Second, when you have decided to engage in either SEO or PPC – it would be best if you consulted an SEO Professional. Make sure the consultation is FREE as it should be on the first meeting. There are quite a few Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Companies in the Cayman Islands. My company, Easywebsites.ky being one of them.

I truly believe you should hire a local company to do your SEO or PPC Campaigns for you. The reasons, I have blogged about before and can be found by following this link:
http://caymanseo.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-hire-local-seo-company.html

Whether you hire me or any of the other local SEO companies, do it now – the time to act is right now so that your business will stay above the competition and be able to compete in this flagging economy. Also, SEO is not an overnight campaign. It takes atleast six months before you can see results.

In Summary:

(If you were too lazy to read the entire piece, here is a quick rundown of the fundamentals of the Critical Mission of Internet Marketing for the Cayman Islands Tourism Industry)

There are many keywords/key phrases that people are using in the Search Engines in searching for your industry – saturate them all, if and when possible.
Catch the attention of possible/prospective target markets at the very beginning of the search funnels
Don’t just compete with internal markets – broaden your target base and go head on against companies in other destinations (but before you do that – make sure your website is up to par)
Ensure that your website is User friendly AND Search Engine friendly too
Find out if SEO or PPC is right for your business

The top Keywords for the Cayman Islands for January 2009

2009-01-19T16:43:00.003-05:00

The historical inauguration of President Barrack Obama tomorrow has had very little effect on the keywords being search for in the Cayman Islands.

Without further adieu here are the top keywords for the Cayman Islands:

cayman islands
cayman islands guestbook
grand cayman
grand cayman island
porsche cayman
cayman net news
cayman island
grand cayman islands
cayman
cayman island map
cayman airways
cayman brac
cayman airlines
little cayman beach resort
cayman compass
cayman news
cayman islands history
waterford cayman sales
grand cayman map
little cayman
vrbo cayman brac
smith cayman polarized photochromic
cayman islands government
grand cayman tours
grand cayman beach suites
truman bodden cayman

Again and as always, only one keyword research tool was used for this data. It is always best to use atleast 3 research tools for cross comparison. Only US data was used.

For more information about keywords for your industry - please do not hesitate to contact Fevi at 925-8188

EASY TIPS on Improving your Online Presence

2008-12-18T01:04:00.008-05:00

How blogging can improve your online presence

I have encouraged a lot of my clients in the Cayman Islands to start blogging. I have even gone through the motion of showing some of them how to blog, where to blog and why. I am providing a bullet point outline of the importance of blogging and am hoping that even the lazy reader will find this interesting if not empowering.

Interesting NOTE: Blog is short for ‘Web logs’

Why YOU should blog

If you have a business; YOU should blog because:

-blogging is a formidable online marketing tool
-the search engines easily index blogs because it is text heavy versus websites that are sometimes more graphically intensive
-blogging is as easy as sending email, except in this case you are sending an email to many
-blogs can easily be integrated into your website so even if you don’t want to pay to maintain your website, it is still getting new content from your blog
-blogs enable your readers to connect with you on a more personal level
-blogging can help establish you as an industry leader in your field
-blogging can help grow your business
-blogging helps you share knowledge about your industry
-blogging can help protect and promote your ideas and concepts
-blogging can help maintain your reputation…(or it could destroy it too!)
-blogging can help connect you with market leaders
-blogs create a historical record of your content as well as gives you complete control of what you publish

Interesting NOTE: A CPA Lawyer estimates that the time he spends on his firms newsletter and blog is roughly equivalent to playing a round or two of golf. So while his partners may build relationships with clients on the course, he uses a comparable chunk of time to reach approximately 250 people who read his blog on a daily basis during tax season. Fore!
-an excerpt from www.journalofaccountancy.com

If you DON’T have a business; YOU should still blog because:

-it is a means of expression
-blogging can help improve your writing skills
-blogging is a wealth of knowledge

There are many other reasons why you should blog but let me end at these bullet points. Like you, I am a lazy reader and bullet points provide me with what I need without having to beat around the bush.

Where should YOU blog and why?

There are many free blogging services available. Here is a list of the more popular ones…

www.blogger.com
Free
Google owned and operated – it hosts the largest blog members. Whats nice about this is if you already have a gmail ID – you can use that for the blogger ID as well. I use blogger because I like things to be simple.

www.wordpress.com
Free but charges for extra storage and unlimited users but who needs more than 3GB?
Has more choice templates than blogger and some of their more famous bloggers include: CNN’s Political Ticker; Time Inc’s The Page; Om Malik; Robert Scoble…oh and flickr blogs!

www.livejournal.com
A friend of mine swears by this online blog. She says its easy and even a dummy can figure it out.

www.webs.com (formerly www.freewebs.com)
I started my first blog here and have committed it to my website although I am currently in the process of migrating my site to a joomla template.

www.typepad.com
US$ 4.95 monthly for a basic blog
Has more choice templates than, uh, wordpress. Interesting to note that you can make money from your blogs through their advertising program.

www.squarespace.com
US$ 8 monthly for a basic blog If you can afford this then this would be my pick. Watch the video and learn…

www.reallifelog.com
Free
Provides videoblogs (but again so do the others). I know nothing about this blog service…just putting it here to make this list longer…

www.odiogo.com
Free
Turn your blog into a podcast for Free! I just signed up for the service so I can’t say that I recommend it yet.

Industries that would benefit tremendously from blogging

There are many Cayman themed blogs online. Some are politically inclined, some are geared towards advertising, some are reviews – rants and raves, etc. And although some of these blogs are entertaining, to say the least, it is always best to write for a large online readership base.

You can predict your readership base from the amount of searches for a given keyword on a daily basis. Based on the keywords of the past month, December 2008, the top industries which would benefit most from an online blog would be the following:

-Offshore banking
-Real Estate
-Jobs and Recruitment
-Flights and Travel
-Tours
-Weather in the Cayman Islands
-Cayman Food

If you or anyone you know belong to any of these industries – tell them to blog and tell them to make their blog specifically about these industries. In that way they can increase online presence and increase their customer base without increasing advertising spend. In this present economy – we all need a little help and hopefully my informative ‘blog’ about the importance of blogging has made you realize that it’s time to start writing that blog.

If you are interested in learning out to optimize your blog for a specific keyword, hit me up and I will hit you back!

TOP Search Engine Keywords for the Cayman Islands, December 2008

2008-12-07T19:49:00.005-05:00

December again and Merry Christmas to everyone who is reading this!

This month's keywords are seeing an increase in vacation related keywords. Even though the world economy is suffering, people will still take vacations, it seems.

Without further adieu, here are the top 20 keywords for the Cayman Islands this December 2008:

1. cayman islands
2. grand cayman
3. cayman islands guestbook
4. grand cayman island
5. porsche cayman
6. cayman
7. cayman airways
8. porsche cayman s
9. grand cayman islands
10. cayman island
11. cayman brac
12. cayman net news
13. cayman island map
14. cayman airlines
15. little cayman beach resort
16. cayman news
17. little cayman
18. cayman island vacation
19. car rental grand cayman
20. grand cayman tours

Disclaimer: Again before finalizing your keyword target, it would be wise to use atleast 3 keyword tools. The above keywords are from wordtracker and these search results are coming from the US.

Cayman Islands Keywords: Trends and Effects, October 2008

2008-10-04T04:18:00.005-05:00

I haven't been uploading the wordtracker keywords for the Cayman Islands of late because, like everyone else, I have been preoccupied by the recent Credit Crisis. I am trying to also find out how the economic affairs of the US will affect my industry, if at all. I still have my fingers crossed.

As always, please remember: Do not just use one source when targeting your keywords. I specifically use wordtracker for my blog as it has no frills and simple enough for the average joe to understand. Not that i think anyone reading my blog is an idiot. Of course not - I am merely sticking to the KISS principle. Why make things complicated?

Here are the list of top keywords for the Cayman Islands as October 4, 2008 (unedited version)

1. cayman islands
2. grand cayman
3. cayman
4. porsche cayman s
5. grand cayman island
6. cayman airways
7. grand cayman islands
8. cayman islands guestbook
9. crocs cayman
10. porche cayman
11. cayman brac
12. grand cayman shore diving
13. grand cayman hell
14. cayman island
15. cayman airlines
16. cayman island map
17. grand cayman government
18. cayman news
19. cayman net news
20. cayman island vacation
21. little cayman beach resort
22. car rental grand cayman
23. cayman compass
24. cayman island jobs
25. westin grand cayman
26. cayman islands government
27. smith cayman polorized photochromic
28. grand cayman tours
29. cayman jobs
30. finance jobs cayman islands
31. grand cayman jobs
32. it jobs cayman
33. jobs in cayman islands
34. little cayman
35. insolvency jobs cayman
36. temp jobs cayman
37. ritz carlton grand cayman
38. cayman brac real estate
39. executive jobs cayman
40. cayman islands audit jobs
41. audit jobs cayman
42. cpa jobs cayman
43. cayman temp jobs
44. insolvency jobs cayman islands
45. hedge fund cayman islands
46. hedge fund accountant cayman islands
47. fund accountant jobs cayman
48. grand cayman hotels
49. paralegal jobs cayman
50 temp jobs cayman islands

I am going to end at 50 and also inform you that the lowest search based on the keywords is at 19 and highest at 515. Thats a lot! The top 51 to 100 keywords also contain mostly job related searches. That is how my industry - or search marketing is being affected.

All these searches are from the US mainland as this was the geographic data I requested for.

Keywords for the Cayman Islands, July 2008

2008-07-27T06:58:00.002-05:00

The top keywords for the Cayman Islands are as follows:

1. grand cayman
2. cayman islands
3. cayman
4. grand cayman shore diving
5. grand cayman island
6. grand cayman islands
7. cayman airways
8. cayman brac
9. cayman island
10. grand cayman government
11. grand cayman hell
12. cayman airlines
13. cayman island map
14. cayman compass
15. ritz carlton grand cayman
16. westin grand cayman
17. little cayman
18. cayman island jobs
19. cayman island vacation
20. grand cayman hotels

Search Engine Friendly Web Development

2008-07-27T06:50:00.003-05:00

Like most people, I have been searching online since search began. First on Yahoo then on Altavista and then finally on the Search Engine of all Search Engines, Google. I fell in love with Google because of its simplistic design and user interface that focused on one thing and one thing only – search.

Google is a prime example of a well thought out website design: Focused on one service, simple enough for anyone and everyone to understand, effective in getting users to search on it and service-oriented in that search results are supplied within seconds.

When creating /developing or even choosing a template for web design and specifically for commercial websites, it is imperative that you put yourself in your user’s shoes.

Here are a few questions you might want to consider:

• Will users be able to navigate seamlessly? (without thinking too much)
• Will users find what they are looking for in less than 2 clicks from a given landing page?
• Will users find relevant and timely information on your website?
• Will first time users come back and visit your website?
• Will your website be convincing enough for users to perform an action? (whether it be clicking on to another page, submission of an email inquiry, or other actions which clearly define the effectiveness of a given website) ie. On Google the action performed is when keywords are entered into the search field.

Below, are vital guidelines in Search Engine Friendly Web Development: Please note that these guidelines have been crossed-referenced from official web sources namely the W3C and other trusted bodies and Institutions.

21 Important guidelines for Coding a Search Engine Friendly Website:

1. CSS should be used for both appearance and layout.

2. Designs should be optimized for a screen resolution of 1024X768 but keep in mind that 20% of internet users still use the screen resolution of 800X600. Depending on your target market, your screen resolution should be optimized to meet your user’s needs.

3. Recommend to use XHTML version 1 transitional and validate it using the W3C online mark-up validator

4. Each page should include a doctype statement

5. Ensure that your website looks the same across all browsers (firefox, explorer, safari, etc.)

6. Frames should not be used

7. Allow Search Engines to index your site properly using appropriate keywords in your title, header, meta tags and body.

8. Webpage should be functional without using java, javascript, flash or browser specific tags. Use these elements for navigational purposes only, to enhance the website but users should be able to navigate seamlessly and access all information with Javascript turned off.

9. Include a meta description tag at all times to allow the search engines to do their jobs in indexing and presenting your website in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

10. All tags and attributes should be in lower case to comply with the doctype standard of XHTML version 1.

11. Quote all attributes to ensure that browsers render the code correctly

12. Filenames should be in lowercase with no spaces

13. Tables should be coded in proportional widths to accommodate all screen resolutions

14. Page design should employ a flexible layout

15. Check the majority of your users limitations using Analytics, which will inform you of your user’s capability and limitations when browsing.

16. Logical arrangement of files and folders for a sound site architecture.

17. Create an XML Sitemap and submit to Google sitemaps for faster indexing of additional pages, especially if website has over a thousand pages

18. Redirect pages accordingly and prevent error links or restricted URLs

19. Integrate consistent Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs for all web addresses

20. Follow the W3C’s guidelines in accordance with Fonts, Graphics, Color, Flash and Printing.

21. Speed should be relatively fast as a recent survey from akamai supports that a large percentage of users click off when the webpage does not load within the 4-second timeframe.

Reciprocal Links

2008-05-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

Directory World

SEO services

Why hire a local SEO Company?

2008-05-15T22:44:00.009-05:00

I recently had a meeting with a senior manager for a recruitment company who had hired an SEO company based in the United States and although I have nothing against SEO companies based anywhere else. I do have a problem with the exorbitant amount of money they charge for an SEO campaign.

If you are a company located in the Cayman Islands and would like to be optimized for your industry keywords, please do yourself and your company a favor and contact us first. Not only are our campaigns cheaper but they are much more effective because we are located in the Cayman Islands - we know your industry and more specifically your industry ONLINE even before you ask us about it.

I am not saying that our services for an SEO campaign are cheap. I believe our rates are reasonable and because our service increases your bottom line, I am certain the costs involved are worth it.

Then there is that added bonus of us being here in that we will be spending that money locally for office rent, equipment and salaries. Yes the money you are paying us will benefit the economy of the Cayman Islands.

Also we do not accept all SEO jobs. Please note that depending on the search traffic of your industry, we will only accept an SEO job if we know that it is beneficial to your company and website - not just because you have the money to pay for it.

But discounting all other reasons like cost, location, proximity...The main reason to hire us is our SEO expertise:

From Robert & Jeanette Totten of www.caymanluxuryproperty.com

"Our company website has successfully been rescued from the depths of poor web designers. Fevi came to our aid with lightning resources and expertise in website SEO and PPC muscle. She quickly restructured our faltering five figured multi thousand dollar site and positioned us near the head of the pack on the search engines. With her continued involvement and professional guidance, our web site expenses have decreased while our web presence has excelled beyond our early expectations. Fevi is the true "white knight" of web SEO and web design guidance."

SERP Results for www.caymanluxuryproperty.com (first page)
"cayman real estate"
"grand cayman real estate"
"luxury property"
"luxury properties"
"cayman island real estate"
"real estate cayman islands"
"cayman brac real estate"
"real estate grand cayman"
"grand cayman realty"
"cayman islands property"
"grand cayman homes for sale"
"cayman islands property"
"cayman luxury real estate"
...and many more!

Lastly, hire us because we will walk you through the process. We won't just hand you a bunch of contracts to sign and email you the changes that need to be integrated. We will tell why and how and why not and why that and at the end of your SEO contract with us, we would have empowered you and your team with basic SEO knowhow.

Top Searches for the Cayman Islands

As usual here are the top search keywords for the Cayman Islands for this day of May 2008.

I have said this before: These results are from a keyword research tool called Wordtracker. It would not be wise to choose your desired and ideal keywords based on one keyword tool - the best thing to do is to cross reference your keywords across a fair number of keyword tools for accuracy.

cayman islands
grand cayman
cayman
grand cayman island
grand cayman islands
cayman island
cayman brac
cayman airways
cayman island map
cayman brac vacation
little cayman
grand cayman beach suites
cayman compass
cayman net news
cayman island and tourism
cayman airlines
ritz carlton grand cayman
physiotherapist job vacancies in cayman islands
grand cayman hotels
grand cayman weather
little cayman island
grand cayman map
cayman national bank
jobs in cayman islands
cayman map
grand cayman marriott beach resort
time share grand cayman
grand cayman diving
jobs in grand cayman
cayman island vacation rentals
grand cayman guesthouse
cayman island jobs
cayman forensic jobs

For any questions, clarifications or violent reaction please contact me: Fevi Yu 925-8188 or fevi@easywebsites.ky

Cayman Islands Top Keywords April 2008: Job Hunting in Grand Cayman

2008-04-18T13:35:00.004-05:00

First let me begin this blog by going through the list of top keywords for the Cayman Islands...

1. cayman islands
2. grand cayman
3. grand cayman island
4. grand cayman islands
5. grand cayman hotels
6. grand cayman beach suites
7. marriage requirements in grand cayman
8. grand cayman weather
9. grand cayman tours
10.jobs in cayman islands
11.grand cayman jobs
13.hedge fund accountant cayman islands
14.jobs in grand cayman
15.cayman islands executive jobs

It is interesting to note that the top keyword list is dominated by job related searches. It must be that time of the year when people are thinking twice about their current jobs and relocation options.

The Job Industry in the Cayman Islands is interesting because the newspapers are littered with Job vacancies for the financial industry. I actually just finished browsing the Cayman Compass and saw vacancies for almost all the top financial companies like Maples Finance, RBC, Fidelity, UBS Global Asset Management, CIBC, Caledonian, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Scotia Bank, Rawlinson & Hunter and Butterfield Bank...and more.

Seeing all the job postings in the newspaper and seeing all the online searches for jobs means one thing - that people need jobs and companies have job openings. How do we tie in both mediums so that the people who are searching for jobs online can find the job postings by these companies in the local newspaper?

Its so easy to say that the Cayman Compass should post their classifieds online - which they should. But asking them to do it and getting them to actually do it are two different things.

Let me just insert a plug here: GoCayman.ky - the company I work for is no. 1 for job related searches for grand cayman. If a company is seriously interested in finding the right people and not having to spend regularly on a one-off printed ad then think about buying a business listing in GoCayman.ky - for only 75 dolars PER MONTH! (Can you believe this deal?) You are going to get maximum exposure online. There is no other website on the island that can compete with our deal.

Just search for "grand cayman jobs", "cayman islands jobs"

And for companies in the Jobs industry - think about posting your business onine in GoCayman.ky as well because thats the first listing for most job related searches. GoCayman.ky will definitely increase the number of job-related inquiries in your website, without a doubt.

Questions? Violent reactions? 345-925-8188 Leave a message if I don't pick up.

The fascinating world of SEARCH

2008-04-05T02:21:00.005-05:00

Although this topic is not directly involving the Cayman Islands Online community. It is interesting for me, atleast on a professional level, to find out what people are searching for - on the general scheme of things. Most top valid searches are driven by events happening around us.

Most of the top searches are because of the events happening either globally or locally - tv, print and probably radio, too are the vehicles that trigger the interest. Oh and let me not forget the top headlines in News Portals.

At this very minute here are the top ten searches in Yahoo:
1. Pregnant Man - probably brought about by the Oprah Show
2. Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie - isn't she showing baby bumps?
3. American Idol - boooo Ramiele got voted off :(
4. Beyonce - this one, I dunno - maybe she was on the news today?
5. The Masters - of course, every other person is a golfer or knows one
6. Obama - yes, of course
7. WWe - Wrestling? Why?
8. Megan Fox - the girl from Transformers
9. Iran - !
10. Hillary Clinton - She should just have one name like Obama so its easier to type;)

For more up to the hour top searches just click here.

Wordtracker.com also offers the top searches but you would have to be a paid member to view them. Lucky for me, and now for you, my company is a member. Here are the top 20 long-term keywords according to Wordtracker.

Nos Keyword Count
1 sex 231143
2 youporn 195475
3 porn 183069
4 myspace 174739
5 google 152115
6 ebay 131672
7 yahoo 126282
8 youtube 120129
9 pussy 117180
10 redtube 116454
11 milf 101327
12 myspace.com 96515
13 boobs 96403
14 hentai 92551
15 yahoo.com 81247
16 free porn 79387
17 xnxx 72782
18 obituaries 71536
19 you tube 71199
20 craigslist 71187

I wonder why people are searching for obituaries... who died? I am not even going to ask why other search terms are so high. We are human and animals, anyway.

This brings up the title of this piece, "the fascinating world of Search" - it is fascinating because search enables all of us to understand a little more about each other. Search doesn't care if you are black or white, brown or yellow, tall or short, fat or slim. Search only cares about what you are searching for and delivering that information in split second. Ok, ok, maybe a couple of seconds.

Another interesting site that provides for real-time display of searches is Metaspy. I used the filtered version this time ;) No more PORN searches!

At this very second searches in metacrawler (a search engines that searches other search engines) are:

ottits.com
ottits
link:http://optiem.com
food recipes
bofh pictures
limewire free download
pfy pictures
limewire free download
phoenix costume
paris travel

I am not even going to try to figure out any of these searches except tell you that limewire is bad for your laptop!

And finally, here are the top keyword searches for the Cayman Islands according to Wordtracker. I have mentioned this before and I am going to mention it again. Cross-reference your keywords for accuracy and ensure that you are targeting keywords that will enable you to increase your conversion rates. More about conversions when I have more time. Meanwhile, here are your top 30 keywords, cut and pasted.

cayman islands
grand cayman
cayman
grand cayman island
porsche cayman s
porsche cayman
grand cayman islands
cayman island
cayman brac
cayman airways
cayman brac vacation
grand cayman hotels
cayman airlines
cayman net news
cayman island and tourism
little cayman
cayman island map
cayman compass
marriage requirements in grand cayman islands
grand cayman beach suites
grand cayman weather
cayman island vacation rental
king of convenience cayman island
grand cayman tours
windsor court cayman
physiotherapist job vacancies in cayman islands

Email me for any questions.

Pagerank and its (un) Importance

2008-03-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

When I first started this some years ago. I use to think that PR or pagerank was the do all and end all of SEO. The first thing I would look at when deciding to link to a website was PR. After years of trial and error, I have personally experience just how much and how little PR really means.

Firstly, PR was named after some guy in google who created it. Larry Page. He decided to give websites a rank based on how many website are linking to it. Think of a incoming link to your website as a vote for your website. But again, its not that simple. These "votes" need to come from relevant and trusted sources.

If a gardening website linked to a sports supply shop - even if both websites already have high position in the SERPs. It would not be counted. You have to be smart with your links. I read on a blog some time back about job openings for Link Ninjas. I think that is a cool way of calling the job. Think of all the ohhs and ahhs when introducing yourself in a bar.

Girl: "So, what do you do?"

Boy: "I'm a link Ninja"

Girl smiles shyly.

Boy, modestly, "Well, yeah I have a samurai sword in my backpack next to my laptop."

Anyway.

Links essentially make up your page rank. But, you don't have to have a high page rank to have a high position in the SERPs.

SERPs = Search Engine Results Page

I am managing an accommodations website with a PR of 3 and its on the first page of around 6 major keywords. It also has the correct semantic structure and complies with almost every SEO parameter. Its a great site but its PR is only 3/10. Would I still pursue a link from it? A resounding YES from a Link Ninja!

PR is just one of the factors to consider when linking. Other factors include counting how many external links are leaving the page, making sure that its has content relating to yours (title, headers, text), considering where your link is actually going to come from, etc.

If your website is showing up in the first page of your major keyword, would it still be worth it to pursue links to increase your page rank?

Yes. Always. You need PR because Google uses it to determine the importance of your website in the food chain. And if Google uses it, you HAVE to use it. Also as more and more websites are getting optimized, its always good to stay ahead of the pack.

PPC vs SEO

2008-03-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

I was in the middle of engaging in a PPC campaign when I had to jump into a conference call about SEO. Now, even though it might seem easy to switch hats, I found myself fumbling. PPC and SEO are synonymous to SEM and are like brother and sister. Most companies who know enough about the power of the Internet, engage in both programs. But still, they are as different as well, brother is to sister.

PPC or Pay-Per-Click is the when you pay the Search Engines a certain amount for every click that your website receives in the sponsored results. Of course its a little more technical than that - choosing the proper keywords, creating proper landing pages, bid management, stat tracking. If you are a newbie, I suggest you read up.

SEO or Seach Engine Optimization is when you develop your website to appear in the natural results of your industry keywords. Again this has many dimension to it and if you are a newbie, please go here.

What I like about PPC is that I worry more about conversions than I do about traffic. In natural results, I like worrying about traffic.

Traffic = no. of hits
Conversions = no. of clicks (in this case, when they submit an email)

Its much easier to get more traffic than it is to get a conversion for the simple reason that people will click on anything but will not just give their emails away without a good argument.

What is more effective? Depending on your industry and market competition, I have to say that working together, both PPC and SEO are more effective than just one - either PPC or SEO. I see this on all websites that I work on. As a result more and more companies are engaging in both lucrative online schemes.

If you had a limited budget, the way to go would be SEO. Its far cheaper and you will be able to maintain your position given that no one else starts optimizing their websites for your industry.

So I guess the title of today's blog should not be PPC vs SEO but instead be PPC & SEO.

What is SEO and why is it important?

2008-03-09T23:49:00.000-05:00

SEO is a term that has evolved through the recent years of online marketing. It refers specifically to new-media or online marketing. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of developing your website so that it becomes Search Engine Friendly. Of course there are many facets to doing this but before I get into any of them please note that the objective of SEO is to increase your website's position in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for relevant keyword searches.

Why is it important? Easy - do you ever go online to search for something whether on Google, Yahoo, MSN or some other search engine? Well, you aren't the only person because every single individual with a computer and internet connection does the same thing. They search for what they need, want and are curious about.

Since the internet is relatively a newer medium than TV, Print or Radio, it is more cost effective for a number of reasons. Of course cost is relative to the SEO company and scope of service but generally that would be the case.

Why should you engage in SEO? Well, it depends... I think companies located in Cities should have some form of organic or even PPC campaign. Everyone in the city lives vicariously online and some form of presence would reaffirm your company's existence.

Being in the Cayman Islands is a different story. I will not recommend SEO for some business in the Cayman Islands and only because we are such a small island and everyone that lives here already knows what to do, where to go and what is happening at any given time of the day. But I strongly recommend SEO for the following industries:

1. Real Estate and property management
2. Tourism-Related (Scuba diving, accommodation, attractions, restaurants, hotels, activities, shopping, water sports, etc)
3. Banking and financial services

Everyday, GoCayman.ky receives an average of about 300 emails requesting for recommendations on the above industries and as much as we want to assist each and every inquiry, it is just impossible for us to get to all of them. We simply do not have the manpower or resources to do that. The reason for this is because we want to keep our costs down so that we can provide our services at a reasonable rate.

So, why should you engage in SEO? Well for one thing the internet is not a passing trend. The internet is here to stay and it has already changed the way we are living our lives. Instead of going shopping in stores, more and more people are shopping online. It doesnt end there.

You should engage in SEO because it is a proven method of increasing your bottom line. As more and more people are using the internet to find services, it is imperative that your website is visible to attract NEW customers. Aside from attracting new customers, having a great website that is user friendly is also a great way to maintain customer services quality and ensure that you are reaching your customer base with minimal expenses.

Increasing Online HITS through extensive Keyword Research

2008-03-09T22:48:00.000-05:00

On the title line, I mentioned HITS instead of conversions and there is a reason for that. I'm not altogether certain that conversions will increase just because the number of HITS for any given website increases.

Definitions:
SEO - Search€ Engine Optimization
SEM - Search Engine Marketing
SERP - Search Engine Results Page
HITS - number of times your webpage is clicked
Conversion - depends on the type of industry. For ecommerce this would be the number of time you sell something and users enter their credit card numbers. For industries other than ecommerce, this could (but not necessarily) be the number of times users request for more information. Its always good to define conversions.

SEO is an interesting aspect of SEM because alot of it has no real information. The search algorithms haven't exactly been revealed to anyone in particular and most of the available information are experienced when you create your online marketing strategy and begin implementing through trial and error and by reading extensively into other experiences of other SEO websites. Some of the better SEO Guru's will provide better information than others. This include Aaron Wall's SEO Book, which I have, btw. I also read through Searh Engine Watch almost on a daily basis. I enjoy reading blogs from all over and sometimes wish I had more time to do so. On the other hand, I wish I had more time to write this blog.

One very important subject that I learned through the course of this journey is that you never really know what people are searching for until you start looking for it.

During the course of optimizing my real estate website, I did an extensive keyword search. Initially my job was only to optimize them for the real estate industry in the Cayman Islands and that is almost done. I just need to get them some relevant links to increase their SERP position. But during the course of my keyword search, I stumbled upon keyword after keyword all relating to real estate and because of this I suggested that they also optimize for these relevant keywords.

Choosing and targeting keywords

Again I am going to mention that I cannot say, with 100% certainty that their conversion rates will increase just because their SERP position for their keyword, or additional keywords will increase. Until they reach first page position for these multiple keywords and I see for myself that their conversion rates actually increase, that will be the only time that I will be able to say, Yes, it does works.

Targeting a keyword is tedious work because if you don't already have the landing page available specifically for that keyword, then creating it, from scratch will be alot of work. Thankfully I have content writers who can deliver. I just pretty much email them my requirements for keywords and how I want the content to be delivered and after about 3 days, they usually come through for me.

From the content, I ensure that the landing page is also technically relevant to the keyword search. I ensure that that landing page is similar to the other landing pages already present in the first page of the SERPs for those keywords. I also create short-list of relevant links that is easily visible to the user. Of course I insert rel=nofollow tags to external links and ensure that my semantic structure is correct.

So lesson of the day is to know and understand your keyword/s. Chances are that you will find alot more than the obvious and that when you do it is your decision to pursue or reject them. Currently I am going to pursue my newly discovered keywords and I will probably get more hits as an effect. Will I get more conversions? Probably, yes but I won't be jumping the gun here because personally, its much easier to get a hit than to get a conversion. Creating a website that enables those conversions should be a priority but that is another topic altogether.

I am a firm believer that websites should be able to draw the fine line between optimizing for the search engines and creating one for its users.

SEO for the Real Estate Industry in the Cayman Islands

2008-03-07T22:40:00.001-05:00

For about 4 months now I have been working on a website for our client in the Real Estate industry in the Cayman Islands. The top keyword for that industry is, "cayman islands real estate" - they now appear on the second page of Google SERPs after only 4 months and I haven't done any extensive linking yet.

When I signed up for the webmaster tools on google, I was pleasantly surprised that they were also getting alot of traffic from the keyword, "luxury property". I was surprised because I was not targeting that keyword. Nor did I anticipate the additional traffic source. But it was all good. The only time, "luxury property" is mentioned in their site is on the domain name and title already they are no. 5 of that keyword.

Note: Most SEO Specialists say that domain name is not important, well, after this experience, I have to say that it does count for something. Having a similar domain name and title name for a keyword does help in achieving ranking for the SERPs. This project proves that.

Signing up for the Google Webmaster tools is about the best decision anyone can do - whether you are an expert or site owner. Knowing where your traffic is coming from, understanding your entry and exit pages, bounce rates and knowing how long they stay is imperative in SEO.

For me, SEO isn't just about increasing traffic - SEO should be part and partial of a holistic strategy that includes:

1. Ease of Site Navigation (user experience)
2. Understanding the online user's needs and being able to address it in the least possible amount of clicks
3. Should be part of a bigger marketing strategy that incorporates other mediums and marketing efforts
4. Defining strategies that work and don't work
5. Creating a website that has room to grow. Meaning your website should be able to accomodate the ever changing needs of your users without having to re-develop everything from scratch.
6. SEO as Sales Effectivity Optimization - who cares about all that traffic when your sales hasn't even increased. The two should go hand in hand.

I have tried to incorporate all these strategies in the real estate website that I am currrently optimizing but the best thing about this project (aside from the SERP the position) is how the owners of the website are working with us and supporting us in all our recommendations.

I am the lucky one.

Website Search Engine Friendly Basics

2008-01-11T20:17:00.001-05:00

I had a three meetings today and all of them were to discuss 3 websites that were not performing and even not showing up for their company names. I don't know how many times I have said just how much more difficult it is to inherit a website than to create one from the bottom up. And yet clients expect to pay less for services rendered for Website RE-development.

When creating a website for business purposes it would be wise to ask your webmaster if you can insert these very important parameters into EACH page of your website:

1. Page Title: If you have to do ONE thing right, it would be your page title. The page title is whats located on the very top of your browser. Keep your title to 65 characters. Ensure that the keyword or phrase that you are targeting fits nicely in the page title without making it unreadable.

2. Meta description tags: Have you ever wondered about where the displayed text right under your website address comes from? Hello? This is actually the text that users will click on or ignore. Keep your descriptions brief with as much sensible use of the keyword you are targeting. There are other directories that SE's (specifically google) use to describe your site - dmoz being "it"- either way, whichever description describes your websiteis what the SE's will use.

3. h1 to h6 tags: Ok so maybe you won't use all the h tags but use atleast one to give credence to your page title.

4. alt tags: the text here actually replaces the image when search engines read your content. Make sure each photo has a proper tag. Always. And YES - for every single photo. This also adds to your keyword density so make it smart.

5. Content: Make sure your pages can accommodate at the very minimum 300 words and that the Search Engines can read your text. If your website has too little, it will not help you in achieving much in the SERPs. Its ok if it has more than 300 words but don't bore your readers. There is a fine line between creating a site for SE's and your users. Make sure you don't cross it.

These parameters need to be readable by the Search Engine spiders - they cannot read javascript or flash.

If you create your website using a Joomla CMS then you are on the right track.

I am reminded by a the K.I.S.S. principle here.

Keywords: My favorite tools

2007-11-26T15:43:00.000-05:00

Knowing your industry is important when searching for the appropriate keywords to target. Even before begining a keyword search, I usually have to research on the specific industry's terms & terminologies, catchphrases, etc. Having a deeper understanding of every industry that I optimize for is important because then I am able to see trends in keyword searches, historical keywords and even be able to decipher the long-tail keywords.

Here is how I know I have the right keyword or keyword phrases:
1. The keyword actually matches current content on the website that can be further refined through content development
2. Market competition is already present in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)

Tools that I use in keyword selection:
Wordtracker
Keyworddiscovery
Google
More Tools...

Its better to use more than one so you can reference each keyword or keyword phrase. Some tools offer more search criterias and others are just general and pertain to one market.

Every major keyword or keyword phrase should have a landing page. I dont suggest having more than two (2) major keywords and two (2) minor keywords and/or keyword phrase per landing page or else the Search Engines might get confused.

For any questions regarding keywords, please contact me.

Directory Submissions

2007-11-24T00:54:00.000-05:00

Submitting a website in numerous directories is an important factor for achieving better rankings in the Search Engines.

The directory that you submit to will automatically link back to your website. A link back to your website is a vote for your website. But there is a catch - think like the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards - Actors vote for their favorites within the movie industry. It wouldn’t make sense for a doctor from a medical field for vote for anyone during the SAG awards. In the same spirit - if your website is about Real Estate, it would make sense to any sensible person (and yes, to Search Engines) if links coming in are from Real Estate related websites.

A good number of directories to submit to would be around 20 to 50. Try to list with local and/or niche directories, which will emphasize either your location or specific industry.

Important note: When choosing paid directories, it would be wise and well worth your money to ensure that not more than 25 links are leaving the page and that it has, at the very least has a page rank of 3/10 or more.

This linking algorithm aka “vote-for-my-website” is the heart and soul of Google Search. Brilliant if you ask me. Just brilliant.

List of Directories /Search Engines that you need to submit to:-

ODP (Open Directory Project) aka dmoz.com
Yahoo
Gimpsy
Hotbot
Gigablast
Bestoftheweb
business.com
JoeAnt
iMegaMall.com
Looksmart
jayde.com
worldsiteindex.com
webworldindex.com
turnpike.net
somuch.com
netinsert.com
digitaldir.eu
ldmstudio.com

And you can get more of this list from Search Engine Watch: Major SE's & Directories

Finding specific niche directories is always good. Some of these directories are listed at www.isedb.com

We at GoCayman.ky actually have a database of directories that we submit our client's website for optimization purposes. We spent many man hours to find these directories so we aren't giving it out for free. To order this list, contact us.

SEO in the Cayman Islands

2007-10-30T15:35:00.000-05:00

When you search for 'Cayman Islands' on Google, it will surprise you to see that over 51,000,000 websites are competing for this search term. This search term is generally defined as a keyword. 'Cayman Islands' is a major keyword and it gets over 22,000 searches per day. Thats roughly 660,000 searches per month.

If your business is located in the Cayman Islands - how do you make it appear in the first page for your industry's major keyword?

"grand cayman scuba diving" gets an average of 527 searches per DAY! Wow... just imagine if you diving business was in the first page of that result.

"cayman islands real estate" receives a daily average of 42 searches! Just imagine getting that many inquiries to buy a house/condo/villa every day!

Do you want to know the top 100 keywords for the Cayman Islands? Email me.