Lincoln Business Journal SEO Interview

  • Comments: 2
  • Written on: September 19th, 2006

I received a request for an interview today from the Midlands Business Journal regarding the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I staunchly believe that SEO is a must-have tool in any small or medium size businesses’ marketing toolbox, and after the 45 minute interview and numerous real-time examples of our current efforts and results, the interviewer had what she needed for her story.

The Midlands Business Journal is a weekly business newspaper that has been circulating state-wide for more than 75 years in Nebraska. Jill Hanson was the interviewer and we started our conversation speaking about how Google rates websites where it does. I explained that there are black-hat (bad) and white hat (good) methods that can be used to “encourage” Google to rank a website near the top of its results for a given search term. The good methods are above board and accepted by Google, while the bad methods are far easier to implement but will eventually get your website de-indexed (removed from all Google search results).

I used our newest client, Phil Walker as an example of the dramatic improvements that can be made in a website’s ranking with the smallest of changes. Phil Walker produces the Visions Along the Platte river Valley CD Series, and has sold more than 10,000 copies of his Nebraska History CDs since he started the series.

Phil’s website is www.plattevisions.com and after listening to my speech on the importance of SEO at the last LIBA luncheon, he took me up on my offer of a free website review. A quick Google search revealed Phil’s website did not place in even the top 10,000 results for the search terms Phil Walker or Nebraska History. After only 5 minutes I found four critical problems with his website that contributed to his lack of a search result position.

  • His website did not have a Site map
  • There were no Meta Tags on any of his pages
  • Much of the text on his page was contained within graphics
  • Nobody was linking to his site

After a brief discussion, Phil decided to keep his existing website, but switch his hosting to Schrock. We always provide free SEO work to our clients for to help promote the sites they host with us, so we started working on Phil’s website. In only 10 days, we had placed him on the map at a Google search engine result of 49. We expect to have him in the top 10 results within the month.

It is always a pleasure to have an opportunity to educate business owners to the value of generating traffic for their website. Keep your eye out for the next issue of the Midland Business Journal. I have no idea how large of an article it will be, but they did request a photo.

What do you think? Join the discussion...

How do I change my avatar?

Go to gravatar.com and upload your preferred avatar.

Subscribe to My RSS Feed

Subscribe Form Click to Subscribe or

      TwitterCounter for @thorschrock

Ed Wunder Loves Schrock's Service

Popular Posts

Top Commentators

Schrock Innovations' New Ride

Revolution Wraps Rocks!

Geek Squad Hires Anyone!

Other Recent Videos


We're on the Morning Blend answering your Lincoln Nebraska computer repair questions regarding warranties


Need your computer repaired in Omaha? If you're never visited Schrock Innovations before (1st time client), stop by for a FREE hour of repair

Our Open Adoption

    Kim and I are seeking to adopt another child through Open Adoption. If you know of a birth mother seeking a stable, loving family in Nebraska, please direct her to our website at nebraskaopenadoption.com.

Thor's Sponsors

© Thor Schrock 2024