One of the best examples was my introduction to Lee Rodrigues, co-founder of The Technology Dojo. Unbeknown to Lee, I was privately researching how to best convert my clunky, “overly masculine” (to quote my wife) Web site into being a lighter, more versatile communication tool. I ultimately decided on migrating my content into a WordPress-powered format. The next morning I visited a business networking group in Oakland, met Lee and discovered he does that (among other things) for a living. At TechDojo, Lee does technology coaching and strategy sessions on how to make bloated, do-nothing sites more flexible, more search-engine optimized and easier to monetize. We hit it off, and I’m thrilled to now be a copywriter and proofreader in TechDojo’s stable of resources.

I was also amazed at how much more quickly and efficiently my SEO techniques took effect in the WordPress format. Within just a few days my site moved near the top of the Google rankings in categories crucial for me. For instance, I’m the first two listings for the Google search “proofreader berkeley.” I’m also the first two listings for “berkeley copywriter,” and so on. My old site and Google didn’t get along nearly that well, despite my best SEO efforts.

Additionally, WordPress has hundreds of thousands of users contributing new plug-ins and themes, and it feels like all those people are working as my Web team in some small way. Many of those user-generated plug-ins are now essential to my workflow. WordPress (combined with MacJournal) also makes writing this business blog a heck of a lot simpler.

Now that my professional Web site is humming along, I’m utilizing The Technology Dojo to take things to that proverbial “next level.” And my wife is going to be taking advantage of a special very-reduced strategy session rate they’re offering right now to move her blogspot blog over to her own domain as her audience and reach expands. (She writes a blog that explores sea vegetables a a sustainable food source. It’s fascinating stuff, and she somehow makes seaweed fun, too.)

One of my goals with this blog is to highlight great local and online resources. WordPress and The Technology Dojo both fit that description, and it just so happens that they go hand-in-hand.

If you want to chat with Lee about your site’s growth opportunities, you can reach him toll-free at 1-866-556-4269 or through their contact form.

Wooing the SEO beast & gaining Google’s favor

“The terrible beast that no one may understand, came to my side and put down his head in love.” —Louise Bogan (1897–1970), U.S. poet

The importance search engine positioning in our daily lives is becoming more and more obvious. Just think about how many Google searches you’ve run today … or this past week … or this past month. And in all those searches, did you click to Page 2 once? With me, it happens, but it’s rare. I scan for the listing that is both clearly reputable and meets my needs (or price) and away I go.

That’s what happens when a person in Berkeley needs a carpet cleaner, or someone in San Francisco is selecting a recording studio. Appear at the top and your small business might not ultimately get the job — but it’s definitely going to get the first serious inquiry.

“How would you like to have the first listing in Google? … Well, how would you like to have the first seven listings in Google?” —Tom Petty, WSI

As a professional communicator, what stands out to me is that I don’t even know who’s out there typing a Google search that’s relevant to me. I can’t make a personal appeal — verbally telling that searcher all the reasons to go with me — unless I make it through that Google gatekeeper.

Then, you begin to wonder and start typing in your own Google search terms … featuring you! There’s no more helpless feeling than clicking through pages and pages of Google listings wondering where the heck you are … and why that lousy competitor is ranked so much higher than you. Well, as more and more of us are becoming aware, there’s an art and science to Google’s listing hierarchy — and a whole industry now devoted to the perfection of that practice: Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

My SEO research began with nine hours of Lynda.com training videos featuring a search engine optimization and marketing specialist. My SEO copywriting career later kicked into high gear when I forged a “power partnership” with a certified Internet consultant named Thomas Petty, who works with an SEO firm called WSI (”We simplify the Internet”). Tom is an SEO expert and educator, and the more I worked with him the more SEO savvy I became. When we work together, he does all the SEO research for a client and then I write the new SEO-style Web copy with the keyword phrases he provides based on that research.

Additionally, Google itself has become more transparent about its SEO guidelines.

I remember one exchange with Tom that really opened my eyes: He asked, “How would you like to have the first listing in Google?” I replied, “Of course.” Then, he said, “Well, how would you like to have the first seven listings in Google?” I was going to respond by saying, “You can do that?” when I realized that of course you can do that. It’s just about applying the same “white hat” practices to multiple Web pages.

I’m reverse-engineering copy … like a building contractor first installing the kitchen appliances on a vacant lot … and then putting in the foundation and erecting the house around the sink-with-granite-countertop and Sub-Zero refrigerator.

And going one step further, you can use different site landing pages to achieve the first Google listing in very different searches — searches that correspond with your different professional specialties. What does that mean? Well, say you’re a lawyer based in Oakland. You primarily focus on estate planning, but you also help people incorporate new businesses. Wouldn’t you want to be first in Google if someone types in “lawyer estate planning Oakland” … and … “lawyer business incorporation Oakland”? You can optimize different pages of a Web site to accomplish those two very different Google listing goals.

I could go on and on because the opportunities are so bountiful. And, let’s face it, I’m biased. The more SEO clients Tom has, the more SEO copywriting I get to do. And like I mentioned in my “Power of a Business Blog” post, writing for SEO is totally unique beast. Essentially, I’m reverse-engineering copy from the important keyword phrases, like a building contractor first installing the kitchen appliances on a vacant lot … and then putting in the foundation and erecting the house around the sink-with-granite-countertop and Sub-Zero refrigerator. (More simply put, it’s working backwards, or maybe upside-down.) Anyway, it’s different. And different is good when it comes to breaking up a workday.

So call or contact Tom and find out if SEO is the way to go for your Web site. He’s one heck of a nice guy, so even if you don’t move forward with anything, you’ll get a good conversation out of it.

Get a Webscan and comprehensive, 20-page report for $195 (discounted down from $350) at WSI by telling Tom that “Evan sent you.” Call (925) 245-0216 or e-mail Tom.