The basic premise of SEO is that search engines peer inside the code for your website and read about what you have written – this is typically done through header tags, meta-data and alt tags, as well as keywords in content.  All of this data talks to the web crawler and tells them about what is written on your site, what’s important and then the web crawler makes some informed decisions/guesses and ranks your site accordingly.  For this reason it’s important to have content that contains keywords on your home page, to give your images the alt-tags that are relevant to your content, and use meta-data.  Flash however, takes all of that information and puts it into a nice and compact, neatly packaged little file that isn’t readable by search engines.

There is a bit of controversy surrounding the Flash VS. SEO conundrum, so in the subsequent paragraphs we’ll address how some Flash sites achieve high rank, why you should avoid flash, and if you already have flash how to improve it (from a SEO perspective).

Flash Sites with High Ranking

When initially consulting with clients on a website design we request examples of “references sites” that illustrate a feature, design or other element the client really likes. Almost every client will direct us to a LOT of flash examples.  We ask our clients to show us what they love in a website – show us some of their favorites, and typically what comes back are examples of various animations.  To make it more interesting the animations generally appear by themselves with no wording on the page.  For an SEO expert, this is like the 7th circle of hell. Below are a few examples of beautiful Flash sites – with absolutely nothing SEO wise to back them up.  So… why do they rank so high?!

• Orbit Gum
• Hersheys Chocolate
• Louis Vuitton
• Marc Ecko

They are all household names – big brands.  Giant media backing, millions of dollars go into marketing – and frankly their backlink count is higher in a day than most of us could hope for in a lifetime.  On top of that, Google doesn’t just rank based on content, but they rank based on relevance and according to all the back linking going on, Google sees their web address as being very relevant to a lot of people.  Flash works for power brands because big brands don’t need to worry about content.  However, it doesn’t work for smaller companies because smaller companies have to work hard for just a couple of back links (especially CPAs and Accounting firms which are not typically household names).

Help! I already have a Flash site but I want to do something to improve my ranking….

Well the first thing I would tell you to do is to ditch Flash and have your developer put you on a CMS system that uses HTML 5 and Javascripting. This will allow you to achieve similar effects to Flash without compromising your design or your SEO. Although this may sound costly, it is less expensive than you may think. If a change is just not in the cards for you right now, here are practical steps you can take to help your Flash website increase in the rankings:

• Create a set of HTML pages that contain the inner workings of GOOD SEO and direct people through your Flash Site to those pages, or vice versa.
• Add HTML content below the pages within Flash – like paragraphs about the visual.
• Extract any text that is embedded in your Flash site as an image, into a text file, Google has a fair shot of finding these text files, but will definitely not be able to crawl an image file.
• Break apart your entire Flash site into individual Flash components and put them onto their own HTML page to make it a hybrid HTML/Flash site (Search engines really like this a lot better than a straight Flash site).
• You could also try having separate URLSs by implementing the SWF Address.
• Ask your Flash Developer to utilize the accessibility features – its kind of like alt tags for big chunks of your site.
• Last but not least, you could simply focus on off-page SEO instead of on page SEO: convince other websites to link back to your site (like our first big brand examples above).

Flash Hurts

It really does.  You may talk to some developers who tell you that they can make your Flash site optimized – true, there are some things that you can do to help existing Flash sites build their SEO, but the best course of action is to avoid them all together. Some things to remember:

• iPhones are not compatible with Flash – unless you download a specific flash compatible browser ( its not free).
• Flash takes time to load – and making visitors wait for your content, especially if they have a slow connection, is like playing Russian roulette with potential clients.
• Web crawlers see the ENTIRE site as just a single page (ouch!)
• Web analytics for Flash sites are cumbersome at best, and more often purely problematic. The best metrics you can get is when visitors enter and exit the site, but tracking actual activity is impractical.
• Usability is compromised – non-functional back button, inability to copy cut and paste ‘text’ objects, inability to link to a page within the flash site.
• Cross Platform Support is lacking – and sometimes upgrades to a newer version of Flash are required, which navigates visitors away from your page for an install of software and sometimes a reboot. How often do you think visitors are going to come back after going through all that?
• Adding additional content or correcting a content error will require you to contact a Flash Developer ($$$$)

Now despite everything I have said, there are actually some practical applications for Flash sites, such as large household name brands, gaming sites, and virtually any site in the entertainment industry, but for most CPA and Accounting firms a Flash website is not a practical application when tax, audit and advisory leads can be attracted through the Internet.  Before you embark on your next website project, consider why looking into CMS systems that leverages JavaScript and HTML5 could be a viable alternative to Flash.  If you’re looking to consult with an expert *ahem* that can give you some practical advice on your next web project, give me a shout!

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

1. Be Visible.
Being visible means participating in the social web, becoming a sponsor or a speaker at an upcoming conference, and listing your firm in every relevant publication known to the industry.  Network, network, network, and not just with other people in the industry.  You need to be where your prospective clients are.  For example, if your firm targets tax planning for restaurants in the greater New York Area, consider attending the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York.  While your competitors are leaving voice mails, you could be shaking hands with the decision maker.  Do not under estimate the power of being where your prospective clients already are.

2. Branding Matters.
In the words of branding guru Jerome Smith, CEO of brandEvolve, “Branding is the art of incorporating your professional identity into how you sell yourself.”  Decide how you want to position your firm, and then work on your differentiators.  What makes you stand out? What are you doing bigger/better/bolder than your competition in the same area? It’s important to remember that brands do evolve – so your branding this year may not be exactly the same as next year.  This is especially true as your firm continues to grow its services.  To build your brand, you need a very firm grasp on the concept (what you do), the content (what you offer), the look (logo, letterhead, website, business card), and the ability to bring it all together as one cohesive plan.   The recognition of your brand is a very powerful tool- and bear in mind that the consumer is naturally more preferential to something aesthetically pleasing, so hire your designer with the same scrutiny as you would taking on another partner.

3. Your Website is Not Static.
Seriously, it is not a brochure.  This may have been true in 1998 – before all the moving parts and communication were really understood, but it’s 2011 and your website needs to work just as hard for you as the newest intern in the audit department does. Your website is a tool for lead generation – often times it is a prospect’s first and only impression of your business. Right now, take a look at your site, does it do these things;

• Provide a visible and easy way (1 click max)  for the site visitor to contact you?
• Offer a free consultation/white paper/e-book about a service your firm specializes in?
• Illustrate in a beautiful and approachable way the culture and professional nature of your firm?
• Offer intuitive navigation to access the different services of your firm?
• Focus on what a potential client will want to see/know?

If the only thing your website is achieving is the ability to give you a seizure (Click here for an example!) you may want to consider getting a new website that will actually showcase the amazing firm that you really are.

4. SEO is NOT a Buzzword.
 SEO will help your firm generate meaningful, qualified leads.  It will bring the prospects you have been searching for directly to your front door.   It’s hard for some firms to justify hiring an outside provider for SEO, and many firms actually do their own SEO, check out this article about the trade offs between in-house and outsource to decide for yourself.  Regardless of the direction you decide, it’s important to make sure you are doing something in this area.  Keywords, search terms, and meta-data are the roadmaps of the internet and you don’t want to be out in the middle of nowhere never to be found again. Recognize the importance of being found, and watch the leads pour in.

5. Follow Up and Follow Through
You might actually be amazed at how many firms out there bring people to the front door and then slam the door right in their face.  We might be e-mail junkies, but if someone calls you – return their call promptly.  If a lead comes through on your website, send an e-mail that immediately addresses their questions.  Set appointments and meetings during the first point of contact whenever possible.  Always make your prospects feel wanted, needed and important – and when they become clients – treat them the same way.  Follow through with promises and deadlines.  In marketing, word of mouth is still the best and most effective form of advertising – and bad news always travels faster and further than good; don’t fall into that trap.

So, if your inbox is not exactly flooded with leads and your voicemail isn’t full,  if you’re still not sure how or where you could use some improvement, send me an email and we can look into it together.  If you’re already thriving, share your tips in the comments.  How does your firm stack up?

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

1. The Button.  +1
You’ve probably seen it.  You just might not understand the impact that it has on SEO for you, and for everyone you are connected to. This magical little button lets you recommend articles, blog posts, and links, and pretty much any content – much like the Facebook ‘Like’ button.  However, this particular mechanism is changing the face of search engine marketing.  By giving a link, website, or any content your ‘+1′ seal of approval, you are essentially voting that content up the search engine ranks for both you, and all of your Google plus contacts – and over time as Google sees the +1′s increase from a wide variety of sources (ie. those you are not directly connected to) the +1 button will contribute to the organic search ranking as well.

2. Links, Schminks!
If I told you now that Google was putting less of an emphasis on the value of a link within their SEO algorithm, would you panic? Links still matter, but not to the degree that they once did. Google’s valuation of linking is over a decade old and with the recent addition of Google Plus to their mountain of services, times are changing.  This means that the way you once thought of SEO is very different than how SEO really is.  Links floating in the universe don’t really matter very much, but links that people click on, interact with, share and comment on, well… those matter the most.

3. Interest Must be Genuine.
What your friends say matters, to you.  But did it ever matter to anyone else? Now it does.  The +1 button which is available to click to your hearts content on various videos, blogs and articles now actually affects the Google ranking which that article sees.  Social sharing just engaged in a plot twist.  The more +1′s that a page gets, the more Google sees it as being relevant and worthy of a higher ranking – because to a great number of people the content that was found within that link mattered and it was relevant. Does that mean if all my ‘Friends’ like my website, than I’ll be a higher rank on Google? Not really, Google knows your friends better than their own families, Google is also watching the other things that your friends are clicking on and giving a +1 to determine if the interest in your site is genuine.

4. Google + Is Watching You.
Google isn’t just spending time ranking pages, they’re actually ranking you too.  The more time you spend on Google, the more you search, the more friends you have, the more Spark interests you choose, the more articles your read, the more data you put in your profile, the more times you ‘check in’ – the better Google knows you.  And the better Google knows you, the better Google can serve you by eliminating non-relevant content from your search results, and ranking the most relevant content higher in the results.  I’ll borrow an example from my friend Brian here, if your Spark interests contain Organic Gardening, and you have a  Google Plus circle of friends that is dedicated just to Organic Gardening, and then one sunny day you do a Google search for how to grow tomatoes – Google is going to place articles which cater to organic tomato gardening at the top of your results – whereas those same articles may have been on page 2 or 3 before, or maybe on page 5 or 6 for me – since I don’t particularly share an interest in gardening of any kind.

5. Signed In and Signed Out – Very Different Results.
Below is concrete evidence that being signed in or signed out of a Google account (any Google account for that matter) has a significant impact on the results you will get with a search.  Take a look at the screen shots below of our Principal, Brian Swanson’s G+ account for the search term ‘Accounting Marketing’.  Several differences appear in the results – most notably, the items that he assigned a +1 to are appearing in his search results. These results are specifically relevant to him. The signed in/signed out distinction is extremely important, because this is yet another factor which should be considered when developing an SEO campaign.

Conclusion
So what’s the bottom line?  We recommend content worth reading and worth sharing.  Relevant content will guarantee your place in the ranks and it will be much more interesting for your target anyway – and who doesn’t want to read something interesting these days? If you’re not sure what more you can do, or how you can create that spectacular, everyone-wants-to-read-this kind of content, give us a shout and we’d be more than happy to talk with you about ways you can improve both your SEO, SEM and overall online strategies.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

To help provide perspective on this topic, Flashpoint Marketing spoke with Jennifer Fehrenbach, Senior Marketing Specialist at The Bonadio Group in Western New York. She is responsible for managing her firm’s SEO and digital media marketing.  She provided a great deal of interesting insight from her experience on the topic, which we think will help our readers learn from her experiences. 

How did you “sell” SEO as a viable strategy to partners/or others in marketing?

After reviewing our current site and the current SEO strategy I realized that I could be doing the same, if not better job, internally with our optimization. I showed our managing partner how much we were currently spending on SEO through our agency and informed him that I could be doing all of this in-house as part of my current job description, in turn, saving the Firm the money we were currently spending by outsourcing.

 Do you outsource your SEO efforts or conduct them in-house?

We conduct all our SEO internally

Please share your thoughts on what are the benefits/drawbacks of outsourcing SEO? What do you think are the benefits/drawbacks of in-house SEO?

I think the major drawback to outsourcing is what I mentioned above – not having someone who understands your content and is dedicated to refreshing, testing, and tracking results on a consistent basis. When we outsourced we create a plan for optimization that was done 1 time per year, and then analyzed at the end of the year to see the progress that was made. Now that we have it all internally we can test, track and measure on real-time results.

The drawbacks to in-house though is that there is never enough time in the day, you can always be doing something to improve your SEO and with the other demands of my job I don’t get to dedicate as much time in a week as I would like to.

 How does your firm measure the ROI of SEO efforts? 

Traffic, number of page visits, time on the site, ranking for key words we are trying to optimize, qualified leads (warm leads that come to the site based off a key word and request to be contacted from that visit – much better for a follow up than a generic visitor that just fills out a contact us form)

For accounting firms currently deciding whether to outsource their SEO or tackle it in-house, what advice can you share from your experience?

My advice is to first take the time to gain a full understanding of what SEO is, what it can do for your site, and best practices. Whether you decide to outsource or keep in-house, you need to have the knowledge base to know that you can tackle what it takes to drive results, or to know that you are getting what you are paying for when it comes to outsourcing the job. Ask lots of questions if you decide to outsource to make sure that the ‘experts’ you are paying understand your objectives. Don’t be hesitant to keep your agency accountable for the results your SEO is garnering and question how it all works. It will give you peace of mind that you are getting value out of your investment, and you might learn something new along the way as well!  

Once you have a full understanding of SEO – the sky is the limit.  Put a strategy in place, dare to try something new, track what works and what doesn’t and measure your results.

Do you think that SEO is the next big thing for accounting firms? What role do you think SEO should play in a firm’s marketing program? 

I think that SEO is a very important function for the marketing department. Whether you decide to tackle in-house or dedicate the budget dollars to an outside vendor, you need to be ranking when it comes to key words for your industry in your geographic reach. However, I see the role of SEO as needing to go hand-in-hand with the time dedicated and spent towards having a reputable website. Yes you want to be found, but at the end of the day – you want what your potential prospect finds to be something that looks professional and provides them the information they need to take the next step in their decision process whether it be filling out a form to request more information or picking up the phone to make an appointment. Once your site gets ‘found’, is it a user friendly site, do your calls to action make sense? Tying your SEO strategy into having an engaging website is when the quality leads will come in and where the true ROI lies

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

Recently when surfing the web, I found an excellent article that discusses the important elements to a successful landing page. This topic is so important because many firms have invested time and resources into building a wonderful website with beautiful graphics and good copy. However, if your landing page is not set up properly or is not performing there is likely an issue that needs to be addressed.  An excerpt from the article discussing landing pages includes:

• Keep It Simple: You have about 3 seconds or less to capture people’s attention. Keep the page clutter-free, and make sure the benefit headline instantly grabs them. Don’t over share your knowledge – share enough to compel them to take the action you want. Especially if it’s capturing a lead – once you’ve got them, you’ll have time to share your expertise and build your credibility. For now, you just need to keep it laser-focused on what you need to share to get them to take action RIGHT NOW.
• Know Your Audience: Use images and text that they can relate to and that talk to their pain. Offer them solutions they can see themselves really using. Are you targeting men, women, college kids? Are you targeting people with money for a high end product or people with lower income? You need to know your prospect inside out and your page needs to appeal to them. They need to see themselves in the problem/pain that you outlined, and they need to be able to imagine the solution you are proposing is something they can use and afford.
• Formatting: Make sure you use bolding, different font colors and sizes, italics, lists and white space as well as strategically placed graphics to catch the eye, BUT don’t overwhelm. Draw the eye to one focal point – which is where your strongest call to action should be. I know you want them to see your testimonial, your list of benefits, your offering and your call to action, but if you draw their eye everywhere at once, they’re likely to be overwhelmed and just leave. Have one strong focal point, draw the eye there and keep it simple.

These basic points when applied can really help increase the effectivness of your landing pages, regardless of what service your firm is selling! I highly suggest reading this article. Let me know what you think!

Click here to read the entire article written by Jennifer Horowitz.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

As a result, this makes both initial and ongoing keyword research and selection a critical part of SEO. Initially it is important to select keywords that are relevant to the content on your website at that specific point in time. Ongoing, you want to be sure as content is added that each page is being optimized for the most effective keywords. The challenge for most of us is determining the best keywords to use based on the type of traffic we are trying to attract, the page content and overall popularity of our selected keywords. An interesting irony of SEO is that most of us would initially select are really not effective. Our familiarity with the subject matter, industry and content usually influences what terms are used to conduct a search. As a result, what often times happens is keywords are selected that yield less than optimal results.

Keyword Research

One way to reduce the chance of this happening to you is to become familiar with one of the many keyword research tools available on the web. Below we have provided the top five keyword research programs that we have found to be most helpful in the process.

1. Google Adwords – This is a free application that allows you to research different keywords to determine which gets the most traffic through Google.  You can even conduct a competitor analysis to determine what keywords your competitors are using!
2. Keyword Spy - Keyword Spy is a fast, effective tool for looking up information about domains, keywords and more including information on the volume of a search, the number of ads and the CPC for those ads.
3. SEO Spyglass-  Although SEO Spyglass is best known for its research into backlinks and other SEO factors, it uses that information to offer a truly unique keyword research experience where the application shows you the keywords best for your site. 
4. Traffic Travis – Traffic Travis is a free, downloadable application that you run on your PC Traffic Travis is user-friendly, powerful and fast.Traffic Travis not only provides a great keyword tracking tool, but combines that with a slew of other powerful SEO tools including page analysis, PPC Analysis, ranking tracking and more
5. Market Samurai – Known as one of the most powerful, information-rich keyword marketing tools on the market, Market Samurai provides a slew of information and filters for your keywords including checking the competitiveness of a term the Adsense CTR and CPC of the term as well as the local SEO traffic.Market Samurai’s power, however, comes at a cost and that cost is $97 for a license.

Whatever research tool you decide to use remember that it is important to spend the time vetting your keyword list.  Simply using the keywords that “seem” to make the most sense can be a fatal flaw to your SEO efforts.

Partial Source: The Top 5 Keyword Research Tools

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

The new block feature is designed to provide a more user friendly search experience. In the past, many have complianed that when searching for a specific term there are often unrelated websites that are displayed on the results page. The new tool now allows you to permanently block a website from being included in search results.

Google states, “We’re adding this feature because we believe giving you control over the results you find will provide an even more personalized and enjoyable experience on Google. In addition, while we’re not currently using the domains people block as a signal in ranking, we’ll look at the data and see whether it would be useful as we continue to evaluate and improve our search results in the future.”

The good news for those currently using or engaged in SEO is that when someone blocks your site from their search engine results, it will not negatively impact your ranking. The bad news is that this could be the first step in a process that leads to page ranking being affected by whether or not a user blocks your site from their search engine results. 

For additional information on the new changes visit the Official Google Blog. There are examples on how to use the new feature and more detailed information on how Google will deploy this feature in future Chrome releases.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

A simple “How to do SEO” search yields so much technical information that most everyone soon gives up. Here, then, are a few secrets any accounting professional can implement to help improve SEO.

Secret #1: Focus on Inbound Link Building. Search engines determine website rank, in part, based on the number of “inbound links” directed to your website. These links are viewed as a vote for your site, telling the search engine in what areas your firm has expertise and knowledge.

There are many ways to increase inbound links an they do not cost any money. For example, the next time your firm sponsors an event, purchases online advertising or writes an article for a publication, be sure to ask for a link to your website. In addition, ask your clients, business partners, colleagues and anyone else connected to your business to insert your website link on their site. The more links you are able to build, the higher your website will be positioned on search engine result pages and the more you will drive traffic to your site.

Visit the Intuit Proline Blog for the rest of the article.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

Content Importance in SEO

“Why? I already have plenty of content on my site.”  A common question many ask.

The answer! The primary reason is that search engines love to index new content. After all they are in the business of answering users queries on a number of topics. So the more input you can offer on a specific accounting topic the more highly ranked your site will be in regards to that topic. Here is an example. If you have a benefit plan audit practice then it is not enough to simply discuss the audit service you offer. To be ranked high in this area, you will also need to create articles and other materials that focus on the happenings in benefit plan industry.  Think about the regulatory changes that  may affect plan participants, or the rulings from the Department of Labor that will impact plan sponsors. An example might be the new disclosure rules for plan sponsors.

Duplicate Content & SEO

As you contemplate content development and enhancement there is something you should know. Duplicate content or content that is shared across several sites offers NO BENEFIT to your accounting firm seo efforts. The reason for this is Google, Yahoo and Bing want to create the best user experience for those using their search engine. If your site has duplicate content then it tells the search engines that you did not develop the content yourself. This creates an problem for the search engines because they only want to credit the original author and not anyone else. So, the spider determines who initially published the copy and gives them the SEM/SEO benefits. Any other sites that have the duplicate content are ignored and receive low ranking with the search engines.

Impact on Your Firms

Audit your website and determine if the content is original or duplicate. There are several website development companies in the accounting marketing vertical that offer templated website design. Typically these are companies that can quickly create a website for you with only a few clicks of the mouse. If you have one of these sites then carefully review the content on each page. Determine if it is “canned” content or if it was uniquely provided to you. If the content is duplicated on several other accounting firm websites then you need to make a decision. Invest the time to change the content so that it is “original”, or make the changes outlined at the link below to reduce the SEO impact of such content.

Remember, the key aspect of Accounting firm SEO that you want to focus on is enhancing the user experience. Duplicate content that can be found on several sites may be effective at educating a cold prospect about your firm, but it will not do you any favors with search engine marketing.

For specific information on how Google handles duplicate content click the link to view the Google Webmaster section on duplicate content.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.