Blogs

Email marketing is a popular and effective online strategy for small businesses (as well as large corporates). Like all marketing strategies, email comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses - but it can also be dangerous for unwary companies.

Really unique and clever business ideas don't come along all that often, and when they do I feel obliged to help them out with some free SEO advice.

I came across We Rent Goats today, and loved their eco-friendly idea of clearing weeds and brush with goats, instead of harmful herbicides.

The site opens with a cute sign of a goat carrying a sign around his neck - "will work for food". Nice touch.

Almost all businesses that have researched Internet marketing strategies are aware that high quality, engaging and relevant content is one of the best ways to drive valuable organic Web traffic.

The problem is that many people don't have the time or patience to build up a good base of content via blogging.

So what's the alternative?

Genuine bloggers and businesses use high quality articles to build high page rankings in Google and generate plenty of valuable organic search traffic.

The problem is that the better the content, the more likely it is that others will duplicate, copy, or spin those articles and publish them on their own sites (without permission or attribution).

Most of the time this is not an issue because low quality, article spinning sites generally tend not to rank well in Google search results.

Starting out with a great business plan is especially important for online startups (like blogs, professional sites & eCommerce stores) because knowledge and understanding rule the highly competitive Web based economy.

Restoring Web traffic volumes after a Google algorithmic penalty (especially one like Panda or Penguin) can be a very difficult and, often, fruitless task - without any guarantees.

Inset text can make your Web design look beautiful, and while it is cutting edge, it's also super easy for beginners to implement using CSS and a bit of HTML.

Creating text with subtle shadows and shading, that gives the impression of depth, is a widely used Web design technique on many leading blogs and websites.

You can even see it in action in the SME Pals site name - and best of all, it uses lightweight, clean CSS instead of clunky, slow images.

Everyone creating a website, regardless of whether it is a blog, professional site, or shopping cart, should keep Google and SEO in mind right from the start.

Almost every aspect of building a site from choosing a domain, Web hosting company, website builder or CMS, Web design, through to page layout and color scheme, can affect the way Google ranks a site.

Here's a quick step-by-step, beginner's guide to making a free website (start for free, or choose from their low-cost paid plans) using Weebly - one of the world's best website builders

Drupal & Joomla are two popular CMS systems that offer powerful Web design and development features, and both have been overtaken in popularity by website builders, such as Wix & Weebly.