Regardless of how you feel about the proposed Economic Recovery Bill, it will have ramifications that affect the Internet, and in turn the search industry, positively.В  The bill includes an astounding $9 billion to expand broadband Internet service to rural and underserved areas.В  One of President Obama’s major campaign promises was to expand the information superhighway to every corner of the land.В  Whether or not those areas are ready for that broadband service is another story – but it’s coming.В  Additionally, the stimulus package may include tax breaks for wireless companies that commit to expanding broadband coverage.

The United Kingdom also has a similar plan.В  It is likely that the UK government will step in and spend about ВЈ10 billion to support the expansion and development of a superfast broadband network.

In the past we have blogged about the expansion of online advertising and the wireless ubiquity of SEO.В  These stimulus packages, though maybe not as efficiently as the government hopes, will still lead to an increase in Internet users and, consequently, an increase in potential consumers for your business.В  Your business can take advantage of search engine optimization and reach those new users, whether they are in rural or urban areas, in the U.S. or the U.K., or even on a mobile phone.

It has been an interesting week or so in the search engine industry, especially for Google.В  After it pulled the plug on its proposed deal with Yahoo!, Google now faces an unexpected twist in the wireless cell phone search market.

In a previous blog about the wireless ubiquity of SEO, we noted that Verizon was in early discussions regarding a partnership that would feature Google’s search service on Verizon phones.В  However, on Wednesday reports leaked that instead Microsoft is offering a better deal to become Verizon’s default wireless search provider – reportedly twice as much as Google was offering.

While it is true that a deal with Microsoft would not preclude Verizon phone users from accessing Google’s search engine and only makes Microsoft’s search engine the default, the significance of Microsoft’s proposal should not be overlooked.В  The fact that Microsoft was willing to guarantee $550 to $650 million and double Google’s proposal, even during a financial crisis, shows how important they consider the mobile phone search engine industry.

Again, as search engines becoming increasingly accessible – literally in the palms of to millions of users across the globe – your business cannot afford to neglect SEO.

We usually take a look at your competitor’s web sites to become better acclimated with the terminology of the particular industry for keyword research purposes.В  That said, we never imitate the on-site SEO characteristics of other web sites. В Here’s why:

Web Site Structure. Your competitor’s sites are structured, designed, and built differently than yours is. Imitating on-page features may not be possible given the structural differences.

Domain Name and Age. If your top ranking competitor’s domain name consists of a highly searched industry keyword, this provides them with a huge advantage from the get-go.В  Trying to optimize for that same keyword presents a major challenge. В In addition, if the age of your competitor’s domain name is older than yours, then your competitor’s site is likely a more relevant and trusted site because it has been in each search engine’s crawl longer than yours.

Inbound Links and PageRank. If your high-ranking competition has been around a while, they’ve probably built a considerable amount of links, achieving a Google PageRank of 1-10. В Imitating the optimized content of a site that has many inbound links and a quality PageRank will not achieve the same results for your site since you do not have the same PageRank or amount of quality links.

These are just a few reasons why imitating your competition’s optimized content such as meta tags or keyword frequency is generally not a wise strategy. В Also consider that your low-ranking competitors might be in the same position as you and have a similar mindset of imitating the on-page content of your top competitors. В With everyone pursuing the same keywords and optimization strategies, achieving a competitive advantage and quality rankings becomes less likely.

At Search Concepts, we’re more concerned with what your competition is not doing. В The search engines can be crowded so it’s important to find unique approaches that give your site the advantage it needs. В We’re committed to this strategy, especially in keyword research. В Instead of pursuing only the most popular search terms, we also dig for the niche keyword phrases that are searched, but don’t have millions of other sites competing for them. В You would be surprised at how many relevant and searched keywords are often overlooked by your competition and their short-sighted SEO strategy.

In conclusion, discover what your competition is not doing and find a unique angle that will differentiate your site from the rest of your competition. A unique approach will get you the results you’re looking for in the search engines. Find out how Search Concepts can achieve the results you’re looking for by requesting a free quote.

Verizon and Google are in early discussions regarding a partnership that would feature Google’s search service on Verizon phones. Verizon has 68.7 million customers and added 1.5 million wireless customers in the second quarter of 2008 alone. Clearly, the impending deal has significant SEO ramifications. Additionally, Google already has a deal with Sprint that gives Sprint PCS customers direct access to Google’s search engine.

Perhaps most astonishing is how Apple’s iPhone has transformed search engine use. Last February, Google reported that the iPhone produces 50 times more search requests than any other mobile handset. Apple has sold millions of iPhones (over one million just in the first weekend they were released) and is looking to further tap into the overseas market. The bottom line is that more users are performing more searches more frequently than ever before.

The trend does not appear to be slowing any time soon. The New York Times recently stated, “Google has a voracious appetite for expansion of its search business beyond personal computers and into the mobile world.” As an example, Google offers to upgrade numerous brands of wireless phones with its free products. As Google and other search engines expand into the mobile world, your business can gain significant exposure – but only if you take SEO seriously.

First, tracking sales that originate from a search engine user is problematic, especially when the user calls or emails first, delaying the buying cycle. Customer service would have to track the source of every sale to make sure it is noted as a search engine based sale.

Second, our SEO services drive unique visitors to your site from the major search engines. After a visitor arrives, then your web site’s message, pricing, appearance, and functionality determine whether you make a sale. Although our SEO services cannot fully control whether your site appeals to visitors in the aforementioned areas, we are happy to provide feedback on what your site may need to accomplish the site’s call to actions such as sales, calls, contact requests, etc.В  In sum, successful SEO cannot be measured simply by number of sales. Rather, it is measured by the number of unique visitors coming to your site from the search engines.

Instead of a commission on sale based structure, a commission on the number of unique visitors that originate from the search engines would make more sense because that is our primary responsibility. Take the website’s existing average number of unique visitors per month from the search engines, and agree on a commission based structure when that average number increases.В 

Search Concepts has one of the most consumer friendly pricing structures in the industry. We strive to earn your business each month by providing noticeable and measurable results. Unlike most SEO companies, we do not require that you make a long-term commitment. After each month, we assess the results achieved, and you can renew based on the satisfaction with that progress.

Although many purchasers improve websites through a simple redesign or software upgrade, an SEO campaign often ends up being the most profitable way to flip a site. There are many successful websites for sale that have never been optimized and are thus nowhere near their full business potential. A prudent purchaser can turn such a site into a gold mine with some patience and a small investment in an SEO campaign. Full-time website flipper Dave Hermansen said it best: “Making sure people find your site makes all the difference. Once you beef up traffic, everything else just happens.”