Julie Brown

SEO Results

As an SEO professional, I recognize how important it is for my site to rank high in organic search. However, since juliebrown.typepad.com is less than a month old, and SEO takes time, I wasn't expecting anything for about 6 months. However, a recent search indicates that my site ranks very high for several key terms.

In this article, I will share my results with you and some of the tips & techniques I used to achieve these SEO result.

Keyword Terms

A quick search on www.Google.com indicates that my site appears within the first two pages for certain keyword terms:

1. julie brown
2. julie elaine brown
3. online editorial and content strategy
4. content strategy and user experience
5. julie brown seo
6. julie brown seo copywriting
7. online editorial and usability
8. julie brown consulting
9. content strategy editorial
10. online marketing editorial

So far, so good. It's unusual for a spider to notice a site as small as mine so quickly (I was visited by the Googlebot within 4 days of launch). But it's even more unusual for a spider to read the content, categorize it, determine its importance, and throw your site to the top of the list for it after one month.

Why My Site Works for SEO

One of the main reasons my site performs well is due to its name: juliebrown.typepad.com

Julie Brown is a popular search term. A famous "VJ" from MTV named Downtown Julie Brown, and a Hollywood actress named Julie Brown who starred in films such a s"Earth Girls Are easy," are two popular ladies. Below is a list from Overture that shows you just how popular searches around "Julie Brown" are:

Searches done in March 2005
Count	Search Term
2242	julie brown
1035	downtown julie brown
111	julie caitlin brown
71	downtown julie brown pic
66	down town julie brown
52	mtv julie brown
47	julie brown lyric
40	julie brown cause i m a blonde
34	julie brown picture
32	julie brown weather channel
29	downtown julie brown gallery
26	downtown julie brown playboy

I assure you that none of these searches are for *this* Julie Brown (me). However, as an SEO professional, I knew how to take advantage of a popular search term and incorporate it into my site. I could have named the site julieelainebrown or something that didn't use my name at all.

I chose juliebrown for a reason.

Keyword Density

Because my site uses the term "Julie Brown" in many places, it has a high keyword density for the phrase. Keyword density is one of those elusive terms that SEO professionals use. What it means, simply, is that if you want to rank high for a given term, you need to ensure that you use that term enough (but not over-using the term) to alert Google (or any search engine) that you have a page on that topic.

Since I wanted to rank high on organic search for Julie Brown, I used this term in my:

1. URL
2. About me copy
3. Header copy
4. Below-the-header text
5. Body copy
6. This article ;)

and more...you get the picture. As a result of the high keyword density (amount of times this phrase shows up compared to other phrases), my site is on Page 2 of Google results for the term "Julie Brown." I suspect that result will climb to the top of Page 1 within 2 months.

Content Strategy Rankings

I am also ranking high on key phrases such as "content strategy editorial." This is important since I own a business and want people who need these kinds of services to find my site. I chose the keywords I wanted to rank high on and built my site around them.

I created what I call "Happy SEO Text" at the top of each page. See the phrases all jumbled together beneath my main header? That's spider food. Googlebot and other spiders from the search engine eat that kind of copy up. The spiders "read" catch phrases and terms and attempt to make sense of your site through such phrases.

Since my site is about these terms, and I will eventually have articles on each topic, I want Google to index me under such phrases--and it already has.

Create Categories Based on Keywords

I want to rank high on a few more keyword phrases such as:

1. Internet marketing
2. content strategy
3. user interface
4. information architecture
5. seo
6. professional writing services
7. sem
8. search engine marketing
9. online media

The way I will rank high on all of these phrases is through content. I'll create articles on each and every topic here, and then more articles, and eventually I'll have libraries with hundreds of pages on each topic.

Create URLS based on Keywords

My URLS are named after my articles, and my articles are created around categories that take advantage of my keyword phrases. Therefore, each of my URLs are keyword-rich and spiderable under the terms I want to rank high on.

All Traffic is Good Traffic

Some SEO professionals argue that not all traffic is good traffic. Certainly I am picky about who links to me and whom I link to. But I encourage all free traffic--qualified or not--to my sites and to client sites.

Lower conversion rates are shown with unqualified traffic, and for someone conducting a search on "Julie Brown pictures," they aren't going to find exactly what they're looking for on this site.

But who is to say that the person who arrives unexpectedly at this site doesn't know someone who is looking for editorial consulting services? Organic search is not that costly--even when you pay professionals to help you. It is worth the money to drive anyone and everyone to your site.

Body Copy & Text Strings

I am often surprised at how many companies underestimate the power of copy for SEO rankings. Right now, this site ranks high solely because of the Website copy and domain name. I have no links or partnerships to speak of (yet), I am using a template and have no control over the meta tags or source code.

I rank high solely because of the copy on this site

It's important to mention it again because it is true. Google determines the importance of a site in two ways:

1. Linking to and from (mostly to) your site
2. Content (keyword density & types of content

Bear in mind that when Google determines your site is important, you will rank high, or higher, on organic search.

Virtual Garage Sales

I love selling things online. I sell on www.eBay.com, I sell for my career (www.StubHub.com among other Websites), and now I'm selling on www.Craigslist.com.

I go back & forth on what products are appropriate to sell online. Four years ago at a SWSX Interactive conference in Austin, TX, I recall being offended at a coworker's panel discussion on eBooks. To me, reading is a tangible sport. It's difficult to read a substantial amount of copy online, and you can't take your laptop into the bathtub with you.

Now, four years later, I like the idea of downloading various books into a  PDA and reading the books from MUNI or from the couch. After working in Silicon Valley for 7 years, I now believe you can sell anything online. Someone, somewhere will buy it.

All that said, the garage sale may be an in-person phenomenon.

Craigslist & The Virtual Garage Sale

I've been using a digital camera to take pictures of every item in the house that we're selling. I then upload all the pictures ( painstaking amount of time), and write up the descriptions and prices. Then I post an ad with the URL to my photo album on CL every other day. Since Craigslist has anti-spam techniques in place, I have to switch the email address I'm using to post my ad every other time in order to trick their system into thinking it's a brand new poster. Thankfully, I have about 5 email addresses.

So far my garage sale has been of mixed success. I get emails from people asking to see pictures, asking about prices, and asking for descriptions of items. I just send them the URL of the photo album so they can see for themselves. If I've done a poor or lazy job at Online Merchandising, I should probably read my own articles on it:

http://juliebrown.typepad.com/editorialstrategy/2005/03/online_merchand.html

24/7 Selling

The good thing about online stores is you don't need to man the fort, so to speak. Your Website does all the work. If you spend the appropriate time taking good product shots (or hire a professional to take pictures), and you spend the time writing up a description that eliminates any questions, you should minimize the amount of customer service phone calls & emails.

I seriously thought about adding ecommerce capabilities to this Website (briefly), in order to make the selling process more efficient. The interested party proves their interest by actually using PayPal to buy my $100 computer. Then they come to the house and pick the item up. Great! No shipping costs, no waiting around all Sunday to see if someone *might* show up...it's all done.

This concept, however, does not appear to work for the Virtual Garage Sale.

Trust & Guarantees

www.Amazon.com and other top ecommerce sites work so well because of the inherent trust consumers have for these Websites. And, naturally, these well-publicized sites are able to offer excellent consumer protection and guarantees thanks to deals with affiliates and brand-name companies. If the item breaks, send it back to Amazon. Amazon refunds your money, or replaces the item at no cost to the customer.

Juliebrown.typepad.com unfortunately lacks this customer service model. I can't offer my potential customers the original user manual for the stereo, never mind a a 5-year guarantee. Because of the lack of trust, (If Julie says the stereo works, we should believe her?!), people need to see the products in person. They need to touch them, test it out, ask me questions in person to see my reaction and make judgments on how I treated the item in question.

But is it really the guarantee that prevents people from knowing they want my items off my Website? I'm not so sure. I sell used, un-guaranteed items all the time on eBay, and I have a high sell-thru rate and decent conversions on high competition items (such as "Theory" pants). So what's the difference between clothes on eBay (or anything on eBay) and the Virtual Garage Sale?

I think it's all about the adventure of a garage sale.

Adventure

Yard or garage sales are a family tradition for many, and from an early age, we remember traipsing around someones house, garage, or sidewalk sale. It is these memories, I believe, that interfere with our ability to consider Virtual Garage Sales.

The whole idea of a garage sale is the exploration & the adventure. It is, quite simply, seeing the stuff up-close, all together, in the expected cluttered & haphazard way. Garage sales allow us a glimpse into a strangers life. We can formulate thoughts & opinions on what they like to do, what their job might be, and what kind of a person they are based on their throwaway items.

My suspicion is that the main allure of a garage sale is not the "$10 table" or the "$5 looks-like-Tiffany's lamp." It is the voyeur in each of us whom is intrigued by the prospect of examining how someone else lives.

And this is why, despite my best attempts at arranging everything over the net and over the phone, people want to come to the house to touch and look at all my items. It doesn't matter how glossy and nice my pictures are, or if I email the exact measurements of the TV. People want to bring their measuring tape with them and see for themselves if an item will fit into their apartment.

In fact, my glossy pictures and sophisticated Website might be hurting my sales. I look like a professional seller (almost), and this makes me seem like a scammer. The trusted garage sale sellers are the innocent amatuers who bring their junk down in a box to a rickety table on the street, set up a chair and hang out all day.

The Virtual Garage Sale is a nice concept, but I would argue after this experiment, that simply putting all my items in front of the house and posting signs around the neighborhood would yield better & faster results.