Lancaster Online reported this week that Mike Blinder claimed that although some people believe that when they establish a website they will start making a profit, there are more aspects that need to be included when establishing an online presence.

He said that Online Marketing is a most successful sales tool when it presents an appealing offer that requires a prompt response.

"That's why I get frustrated when I meet advertisers who say, 'The internet doesn't work for me.' People are still people. They need to be motivated to make buying decisions," he said.

Mr Blinder also suggested that websites can be used to traditionally market and promote a business, but that they need to be well-researched to achieve this.

In related news, Tech Journal suggested this week that the internet has a vital role to play in viral marketing campaigns.

31 percent of adults online at home report that they view video online at least weekly, compared with 25 percent that said so last year. Some 10 percent of online adults now say they view video online daily.

But increases in online video usage were primarily among younger individuals, a group that watches video online far more frequently than others:

• Among those age 18-34, 42 percent report that they watch video online at home at least weekly - up from 28 percent last year.
• Among those age 35 and above, 15 percent say they watch video online at home at least weekly - compared with 13 percent last year.
• Men age 18-34 account for 40 percent of those who view video online on a daily basis, although they constituted just 17 percent of online subscribers in the sample.

We go all out educating clients that Search Engine Optimization is all about smart work and not just adding random keywords and submitting to every directory possible.

I'm writing this article to reach out to the SEO buyers and help them distinguish the crooks from the genuine SEO cos. I've compiled my Search marketing experience over the years in this article. I hope this helps you in selecting your Search Marketing initiative.

Commandment 1: There are No Rank Guarantees. (Period)

Search Engines alone control their indexing and ranking algorithm. Do not try to trick Search Engines. The only way to improve your search engine rank is by playing by the rules. And the rule is very simple: make it logical. Web content is primarily for the site visitor and not crawlers.

If your Search Engine Optimizer sold you magic "Top rank on Google in 10 days flat". Forget it. There are no short cuts. Top ranking in Search Engine Natural Results will take time. Hard work is imperative especially in developing the content on your website and the links to your site.

Commandment 2: Ranking is Not the End, It's the Means.

Ask yourself what will a top search engine rank get you? Most businesses are interested in increasing sales on a website or at the least driving qualified traffic. Ranking for the right keywords (keywords used by your target audience) is important. There are SEOs who will try to show case results for keywords that occur only on your website. Beware such gimmicks.

Commandment 3: Know Your Competition.

"Rank" is relative position and more so in the Search Engines' natural results. How well you do in the search engine results is a function of how much hard work you have done in relation to your competition. Analyze your competition's keywords, links, keyword density and spread, but be sure to never copy your competition.

Commandment 4: Use Search Engine Friendly Design.

A search and visitor friendly design is a must for any successful website. Your website should be compelling enough for repeat visits by search engines and potential customers. Make sure you have search engine friendly URLs and avoid those long URLs with query strings.

Commandment 5: Select Keywords that are Worthy.

You must research your keywords before targeting. There are tools that give you a good idea of a keyword's search potential for example. It is important to know the number of searches for a keyword in the last month, last 6 months and last year.

You should also find out the number of web pages that are targeting the keyword. It is advisable to start a campaign with keywords with moderate competition and a high number of searches.

Commandment 6: Write Great Content.

Even if your website site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won't do you any good unless you also fill it with great content. Great means it has contextual and editorial value. Great content brings repeat visits and increases the chance of conversion.

Great content is factual and appeals to your target audience. Your web page should have your desired action embedded in the content and you must ensure that the content is fresh. Keep adding and editing content regularly.

Commandment 7: Use Good Hyper Linking Strategy.

Hyperlinks make your content accessible and contextual. You must hyperlink in the right context within the website and to other websites. Good links are appreciated by the Search Engines and by visitors. No one likes to be taken to a mall selling "Macintosh" when shopping for "apples".

Commandment 8: Write Relevant and Original Meta Content.

Meta content is like a business card. Just as your business card tells who you are and what you do, Meta content tells the search engines the relevance and context of a web page. Resist the temptation to include everything in the Meta content, but make it detailed. Confused?

The idea is to include only what is relevant to the page in the Meta Content but to include everything that is relevant.

Commandment 9: Acquire Relevant Links.

The links you acquire are the roads to your web page for search engine bots and visitors. Good links increase your webpage's equity on the World Wide Web and bad links make a dent in your equity and credibility.

Be selective in reciprocal linking. Both reciprocal and one way links work, if you are prudent in selecting the links. Submit your website to the relevant sections in relevant directories.

Commandment 10: Consult Experts, If You Need To.

If you have the competence, there are two ways to learn - learning from your own mistakes and learning from others' experience. You can choose either. If you have the time and can wait for the online dollars, do it yourself. If you want to get started now, it may be useful to consult the experts.

MySpace is partnering with Yahoo!, eBay, Photobucket, and Twitter to launch what it has dubbed the MySpace data availability initiative.

It will allow users of MySpace's social network to share their public profile data with websites of their choice throughout the internet -- just not with the web's next biggest social networking site Facebook.

It marks the first time a social website has allowed its community to share public profile information with other sites and follows last year's news that MySpace would be joining with Google to launch OpenSocial in November 2007, allowing applications to run across multiple social networking sites.

Chris DeWolfe, CEO and co-founder of MySpace, said: "The walls around the garden are coming down -- the implementation of data availability injects a new layer of social activity and creates a more dynamic internet.

"We, alongside our data availability launch partners, are pioneering a new way for the global community to integrate their social experiences web wide."

The data availability idea will put users of social networking sites fully in control of what they share and what they do not much in the same way that they can already decide what information is seen by what people on their MySpace profiles.

Importantly it allows people to make a single update be it a photo, favourite movie or music that will then appear on each site where a user spends time.

It takes a step forward to creating a universal web profile that is in effect portable and can be used across the web. This means if a user changes their profile picture on MySpace it would also appear on their Yahoo! or eBay page.

MySpace and its launch partners will initially allow users to share content and data including: publicly available basic profile information; MySpace photos; MySpaceTV videos; and friend networks.

Amit Kapur, chief operating officer of MySpace, said: "The launch of data availability is an unprecedented move to further socialise the web and empower users to control their online data and content."

On Yahoo! the initiative will allow users to share their MySpace data and content with Yahoo! Instant Messenger making available their MySpace default photo, interests and favourite music displayed to their Messenger contacts directly in the IM client.

Additionally, MySpace users will be able to choose to display their information within Yahoo!’s universal profile or use it in Yahoo! Mail's smarter inbox.

Ash Patel, executive vice-president of platforms, at Yahoo!, said: "Yahoo! believes in an open internet that gives users the flexibility to make their web experiences as relevant, social and personalised as they can.

"The Yahoo! Open Strategy and MySpace data availability are a giant leap towards a more social and open internet."

On eBay, the move will allow eBay profiles to be enhanced with MySpace bios, interests, pictures, and videos.

On Twitter, where profiles at present are primarily focused on current updates and are relatively short on information, the MySpace plan will enrich Twitter profiles with MySpace profile content including their bio, blogs, and photos, ultimately making the Twitter site a more enriching site with content previously unavailable in its interface.

The work on integration of the data availability project will roll to MySpace users and participating websites in the coming weeks.

The report (pdf), by the Public Accounts Committee, finds that the public sector has some work to do on the usability of its websites - which it says have barely improved since 2001.

The report revealed some surprises, including the fact that the government apparently has no idea how many websites it operates, while more than a quarter of government departments are unaware of the costs of operating their sites.

The major criticisms were:

• Accessibility: Incredibly, a third of websites reportedly don't comply with the government's own standards on accessibility. On several sites, text could not be resized, and text alternatives to non-text content were unavailable.
• Site search: The search functions on government websites were generally poor, and only searched within individual sites, rather than across government departments. According to the report, the Cabinet Office is working with Google to improve this search function.
• Lack of feedback options: Government websites aren't very 'Web 2.0' either, with few means of leaving comments about their information and services.
• Usability: The report criticised a lack of improvement in quality and said that either user activity on these websites was not being monitored, or information was not being used to make improvements. One in six departments gather no user data from their websites, while many of those that do are not using this data. Honourable exceptions include the Transport for London site, and direct.gov.uk.

No responsibility can be taken for the content of external Internet sites.

Initially on Tuesday (the day the policy change was enforced) we saw a large number of adverts for brand name terms but these ads are no longer showing.

We suspect that ads were being triggered by broad match terms and the advertisers didn't intentially target the trademarked terms.

Looking at the search results for brands such as Amazon, BBC, Tesco, Lastminute.com and Asda leaves me puzzled why there are not more competing retailers and affiliates bidding on the terms.

Of course an affiliate of Tesco would not be allowed to bid on "tesco" but they could bid on "asda".

The same applies for "amazon" - why are there no ads for competing book retailers?

Certain payday loan websites seem to be advertising on all the brand name terms but there is a distinct lack of real retailers taking advantage of the new rules.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft informally approached Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social-networking website, to gauge his interest in selling Facebook to the software giant.

Microsoft, which last year bought a 1.6% share in Facebook for $240m valuing the site at $15bn, made the approach via its investment bankers, but the paper reported there are no active discussions between the two.

However, Zuckerberg has in the past not showed signs that he favours a sell off. Instead he has pursued a strategy of taking minority shareholders such as Microsoft.

News of the approach could put in doubt speculation that Microsoft was set to return to Yahoo! and cut a deal with the internet firm after CEO Steve Ballmer ended talks at the weekend after a failure to agree a price.

In a letter to Microsoft staff after the failure of the Yahoo! Bid, Ballmer said the firm would explore acquisitions and increased investment in its own online services.

In another possible twist there have been reports that Microsoft and News Corporation have been talking, on an informal basis, giving credence to the idea that Microsoft is casting around for alternatives to a Yahoo! deal.

Talks with News Corp would involve Microsoft spinning parts of its online group and combining them with MySpace.

The search giant sold search ads on Yahoo! last month as part of Yahoo!'s attempt to find alternative options to accepting a takeover bid from Microsoft.

Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt said yesterday at the company's annual meeting that the trial had been "successful".

"That's a good basis to talk to Yahoo! some more," he said.

A deal is yet to be made as Yahoo! has been busy fighting off Microsoft. The software giant withdrew its $44.6bn (£22.6bn) bid to acquire Yahoo! on the weekend after the two failed to agree an acceptable price.

Separately, Google declined to reveal any further detail about the several new products for video-sharing site YouTube that it is planning to launch in the next few months.

Schmidt, who mentioned the plans earlier this week, remained tight-lipped about the products but revealed that they have not begun initial or beta testing.

He said that getting YouTube to make money is Google's top priority for the year.

Google plans to introduce changes in the UK, which it has already launched in the US, allowing companies to advertise under the key ad words of their rivals.

Under the current system, if a trademarked name such as Tesco is searched for, results are delivered about that company at the top.

However, under the new system, rival firms could bid for the Tesco name and a search will deliver a whole list of ads for rivals.

Likewise for companies like Lastminute.com, a search under the new system could deliver results for rival travel firms.

Ian McCaig, chief executive of Lastminute.com, told Channel 4 News that Google's proposals will cost it millions and could breach trademark law. He said that if the search giant goes ahead with its plans, Lastminute is prepared to launch legal action.

McCaig said: "We believe that Google's policy change is a big problem and we object to it.

"We are investigating with vigour the legal position and if that investigation concludes positively then we will absolutely pursue a legal case, no question."

Channel 4 News says that a number of other firms are considering legal action, including the Guardian Media Group/Apax owned Auto Trader. Tesco is another that is unhappy with the change, but says it is adopting a "wait and see approach" before deciding on pressing ahead with legal action.

In a statement, it said it was "disappointed at Google's recent changes to their Trademark Policy as we think that consumers are the people who will be disadvantaged".

In response Google has dismissed complaints and it said was making the changes to improve its service to users.

Matt Brittin, Google's UK head, told Channel 4 News: "We are absolutely making this change because we believe it improves our service to users… if we do things that are right for users then we would expect to make some money out of it, but it is not something we are doing because we believe people will have to pay more for their trademark terms, absolutely not."

This will ensure that your client both maintains and benefits from the free rankings available in the organic listings of the major search engines.

To gain a ranking is not as simple as changing meta-tags and adding keywords that the target market may use - it is far more involved and requires a structured design process.

The following four tips will help web design firms make a good start at upgrading a website successfully for SEO.

1. Protect Existing Rankings. Many clients will already have rankings in the search engines on the existing pages in their website. If the search engine finds a page is missing after an upgrade your clients will not only lose all the traffic that page brought to the site, but also the credibility that their entire site had built up. This credibility is measured via the Google Page Rank, and sites with high Google Page Rank’s will find it easier to achieve new ranking.

To maintain existing rankings and the important Google Page Rank, these pages must be maintained alongside the main site, or as more professional solution, have a custom 301 redirect setup to point people to the new pages on the new website.

2. Balance multimedia and text. As a search engine indexes a site, remember the search engine can only read text they cannot process images or video. Therefore, ensure ample text is added to the pages (c250 words) so that the search engine can understand what your site is about for indexing. It is reported that Google now ignores meta tags, so for safety do not rely on these.

3. Keyword Research. As more people surf online to find services using ‘keyword’ searches, so does the competition to rank on these keywords too. There are various keywords that would now costs hundreds and thousands of pounds to rank on organically, with no concrete guarantee of a top 10 ranking.

However, your clients can still benefit as people are filtering their searches more by using more unique keyword terms, which still attract significant amounts of searches yet remain untapped by much of the competition. For example, one such search may be “laser dentist” which attracts over 60 searches a day (i.e. 21,900 search p.a), yet the competition is extremely low in comparison the keyword “dentist”.

4. Web Site Software. To get your clients website to rank highly, you either need to build thousands of links to it, or alternatively take the route of building great content to attract the links. For example, a forum is a cost effective way to do this, as people tend to link to forums quite willingly and enjoy adding content to them.

Although this is not an exhaustive list of the best of practice SEO techniques when building a website, this will certainly ensure that you make a good start at SEO.

For those that need further ideas on how to improve your rankings you can take a look at our evaluation report (PDF).

About the author: Max Worton is Marketing Director of the SEO agency Web Efforts and is a regular guest blogger at E-consultancy. The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those held by the publisher.