Website Marketing / SEO

Based out of Forest Hill, MD, Coastal Web Services provides SEO and web marketing services for Maryland residents in Baltimore County, Harford County, Cecil County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Carroll County, as well as customers in Delaware and Pennsylvania. However, we will accommodate any customer in the U.S. As our company's name suggests, we serve customers from coast-to-coast.

So you built a website? Unfortunately, so did all of your competitors!

In order to reap the benefits of a successful website, Search Engine Optimization (also known as website marketing) is imperative. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a strategic process that involves ongoing modification to your web pages.

Website marketing is designed to increase the search result rankings of your site within major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Basically the higher your web site ranks, the more likely people will visit your site, therefore increasing your chances for gaining additional customers.

If you are unsure as to whether or not your site could use Website Marketing, here are some questions to think about:

• What sets your web site apart from your competitors online?

• When searching for a specific key phrase, does your site rank within the first page of search engine results?

• Does your competition rank above you in search engine results?

• Are you losing potential business because your website cannot be found easily?

If you relate to any of the above questions, Coastal Web Service's Website Marketing program just may be the right solution for not only your site, but for your business as a whole. After investing in a web site, it makes sense to go the extra mile and make it work for you. 

Ideally, where do I want to rank within search engines?

If your business's website rankings are not within the "Top Thirty" search results, it's highly unlikely that you will recieve many visitors. The "Top Thirty" rankings consist of the first three pages shown within a search engine's results. Most search engines display only ten company listings per page. See the chart below to get an idea of approximately how many surfers visit a page-one listed site as opposed to a page-three listed site:

How do I know is your SEO services are working?

After each business quarter, Coastal Web Services will provide a printed report of your website's activity and performance. This analysis includes:

• Where your website ranked within all the major search engines

• Where your site ranked after searching with specific key phrases related to your organization/companies

• The number of visitors to your site

• Which pages were visited and how many times

• What key phrases visitors used to locate your site

• Social networking results

• Suggestions on improving your pages

• Page optimization summaries

• Outside links that referred users to your site

• And much more!

Why are your web marketing reports quarterly instead of monthly?

Once we make modifications to your website it can take up to 6 weeks to see the changes. Once the changes are registered with the search engines, we will need some time to evaluate how the web surfers are responding to the changes.

 

How do you charge for Website Marketing services?

We charge a monthly fee by credit card. You can cancel after 3 payments but we strongly recommend you continue this service long-term. Think of it like a gym membership. The longer you go; the better shape you are in.

Search Engine Optimization Terms

What are Key Phrases?

A key word is just one word, whereas a key phrase is 2 or more words.
These are specified terms that web surfers type into a search engine to find the information they want. Typically, a key phrase includes a service or a product followed by a location.

For example, let's say you have a car rental website in Mobile, Alabama. Someone in your area is in need of a car. While searching online, they type in the search phrase "car in mobile alabama" The keyword in this phrase is "car." By typing a specified keyphrase as opposed to a keyword, a list of relevant car websites within the Mobile region or surrounding areas would appear.

 

What are search engines?

Search engines are websites that provide a sort of library of online businesses. It is a huge database that organizes and evaluates web pages. They use algorithyms to help formulate a way to prioritze importance or relevance of a web page. Some of the major search engines include google.com, yahoo.com, ask.com and msn.com.

 

 What are Directories?
Directories are a huge listing of business that are online. They don't change unless you request a change. They do not have to list you and they don't have to make changes. You can pay for directory listings. You can also pay for additional listing services.

 

 What is PPC?

PPC is short for Pay Per Click. It is a way for search engines to make money since basic searches are not charged. If you go to google.com, notice that when when you type in a key word or key phrase, they do not charge you for the results. Also notice, when the results are displayed, there are a bunch of names listed in an organized format to your right and sometimes a couple listing at the top (they have a slightly colored shade which signifies it is an ad or ppc). If you click on one of those names you personally do not get billed. The company you clicked on gets charged for every time you or someone clicks that name.

 

 What are links?
Links are simply pointers to another website. Cross-linking is when you link to someone's site and they link back to you. Some sites have a page specifically for linking to other websites. Be careful not to overlink as you may frustrate your web surfers because it may be too difficult to find the links they want.

 

 What are Social Networks?

These are websites that are used to socialize online. They are gaining importance in our online society and search engines may rank you better based on your social efforts. More information on Social Networking.

 

 What are META/Title tags? These are behind the scenes tools to help increase the possibilty of search engines ranking you more accurately.

 

 Text on your site?

Text continues to be the most important factor on your site regarding search engines and web surfers. The only reason you would not need text is if you are entertaining the websurfer, for instance a movie. More information on text writing.

 

 Pictures on a site?
Pictures have a valuable role on web pages as they can reinforce what you are attempting to bring across with your text. You can also use phrases on your images to better define that image. It also helps to have text on images for the visually impaired. You can also now search for pictures on some search engines.