The first thought that occurred to me is that perhaps it’s some sort of automated spam that causes these types of results to appear in the analytics for countless websites, and then people like me actually start searching for “sedat yüksel”. The only flaw with this plan, if it is indeed the plan, is that when I searched for “sedat yüksel” it didn’t pull up anything meaningful. I can’t see why anyone would want to optimize for the keywords “sedat yüksel” or drive traffic to any of the sites that do come up for “sedat yüksel”.

I’ve had some other ideas as well, but they all break down when I try to figure out what the motivation would be unless it’s just good ol’ mischevious fun on behalf of some 14-year old hacker in Russia named Sedat Yüksel. Well, whatever the case, if you know what Sedat Yüksel is up to, if it’s a person, or if sedat yüksel is some sort of Slavic dish involving cabbage, let me know.

If you’re interested in writing for the blog, email me.

Anyway, if you’ve got any questions, comments, gossip, or anything else, we’d invite you to post it in the forums if for nothing else than to help us verify that they are indeed working.

Thank you kindly.

If you have any suggestions we’d love to hear them. Sign up, post some stuff, make it your community, and we’ll see if we can’t grow this thing into something serious.

Website & Search Engine Optimization Proposal

I welcome the opportunity to assist you in building a stronger online presence via a marketable website. I can begin work immediately upon approval of this proposal. I look forward to hearing from you.

I. Background
II. Overview
III. Objectives
IV. Website and Marketing Components
V. Development Timeline
VI. Project Cost
VII. Terms and Conditions
VIII. On-going Maintenance

I. Background

After careful review of your current website and marketing program here are some, but not all, key points I wish to address:

• The current website is not search engine friendly: I ran some analysis programs on Acme Construction Software.com and found out that search engines are not seeing any content from your website because it is built in Cold Fusion. The only information the search engines are currently picking up are your footer links and the main page text. I wish to develop a website that is strictly HTML and easy for search engines to index.
• I could not find any incoming links to your website: No links came up in Google or Yahoo, it is imperative that we improve your incoming links to improve your search engine rating.
• Difficulty Rating: After an analysis of your market (construction management software) I have determined your industry to have a competition difficulty rating of 6.5 out of 10 with ten being the most difficult. Your industry has a competitive online advertising rating, but I did find niches that have been overlooked.
• Pay-Per-Click Campaign: After reviewing your current Pay-per-click campaign on Google I have determined that your campaign is somewhat successful but expensive. I think we can receive a much better return-on-investment ratio in the long-run via natural search engine marketing. *PPC provides quick response at a high cost versus natural search engine marketing which provides a slower response at a lower cost.
• Other Suggestions: There are several other suggestions I have including revamping the flash demo (which we can still use), developing an interactive non-subscription demo, and including more useful information for your potential clients.

II. Overview

I am proposing to develop a HTML based website for Acme Construction Software. This website will be search engine optimized and built to attract customers and encourage purchases.

III. Objectives

These are the main objectives I will focus on in order of importance, if you want to add, delete, or change any objectives please let me know so I can adjust the project accordingly.

• Develop a website that attracts customers via ‘natural’ search engine marketing.
• Develop a website that encourages customers to take an action. (purchase a subscription)
• Develop a website that is easy to maintain.
• Develop a website that contains dynamic information

IV. Website and Marketing Components

This project will mostly consist of developing a website and increasing your company’s market share. Here are some specific key points that will be included in the project. Note: this is not a comprehensive list, only the most important aspects are included.

• The new website will consist of only HTML with no scripting language with a few exceptions of the flash banner, contact form, etc.
• Most of the content/menu structure will remain unchanged.
• Dynamic information will be encouraged to be added (recent news, events, newsletters, etc.)
• There will be a site map to assist search engines with indexing your site.
• Most of the graphics are well-made and can still be used, some new graphics will be added.
• The main content site should include 20-30 web pages with an additional 30-50 marketing web pages.
• Every web page will have its own unique and optimized meta data including title, keywords, and description.
• Other online marketing programs will be suggested such as online discounts, referral programs, etc.
• I will generate some incoming links via industry directories, geographic directories, link exchanges, and information sites.
• An industry analysis and competitor analysis will be conducted.
• A comprehensive keyword analysis will be completed and explained.
• Information (content) will be requested from you on a regular basis.

V. Development Timeline

Here is a breakdown of the different phases of the development of the project. They are in general order from start to finish, but two or even three processes may overlap each other. I anticipate having the complete website finished within 1-2 months. The time estimates have taken into consideration most complications that can occur.

• Conduct an industry and competitor analysis: In order to create an effective website I must thoroughly understand your business, competitors, customers, and industry. I will spend time analyzing Acme Construction Software, competitor websites, market share, comparable products, customer behavior, supply-demand, etc. Estimated Time: 12 hours, approx. 1 week.
• Complete a keyword analysis: I have finished a preliminary keyword analysis and have determined that there should be an emphasis on keywords targeting construction software and any other construction management related term that is under-marketed on the internet. I will conduct a comprehensive keyword analysis for your business. The main tool will be wordtracker.com. I will analyze keywords based on: number of searches, competition, keyword relevancy, logic, etc. I will meet with you once to discuss my final evaluation and receive any input you may have. Estimated Time: 20 hours, approx. 1-2 weeks.
• Develop a website template: I will develop a template for the website which includes the header, footer, content section, and ‘look and feel’. I will also develop the site map and navigation structure. Estimated Time: 25 hours, 1-2 weeks.
• Content gathering and website building: I will gather content for each webpage on the website and complete the website. I will gather information from you during this phase and also generate my own content based on industry information for marketing pages. I will send you specific requests for information that will be easy to understand; i.e. ‘2-3 paragraphs describing the scheduling component of your system’. Estimated Time: 40 hours, 2-3 weeks.
• Build incoming links: I will spend a considerable amount of time getting other sites to link to your site. This will be done via directory submissions, link exchanges, publishing useful information on your website, product review, press releases, competition analysis, etc. Estimated Time: 12 hours, 2-4 weeks.
• Review and revamp: I will constantly analyze your website for improvement. This may include adding new marketing pages, keyword analysis, adding appealing web functions or useful information, web stats analysis, link building, etc. This will continue until the 3 months from the start of the project has ended. Estimated Time: 20-30 hours

VI. Project Cost

Here is a breakdown of the cost by phase:
• Industry Research: $1
• Keyword Analysis: $1
• Content Phase: $1
• Website Template: $1
• Link Building: $1
• Review & Revamp: $1
• Total: $6

Payment Schedule:
• $2 due at the start of the project
• $3 due at the completion of the website
• $2 due at the end of the project (3 months from start)

* This cost is included as a whole and no part may be deleted or the overall project may fail. This price reflects about a 50% discount from what I will charge starting Dec. 1st, 2004 due to the fact that this project will take 1-3 months to get the initial website completed. This project will take a considerable amount of time and I am offering the bare minimum price I will accept.

VII. Terms and Conditions

• It is important that I receive any information (content) requested within 3-4 business days in order to stay on schedule.
• It is important that I have FTP access to your hosting server and they are willing to resolve any server problems promptly.
• It is important that I have access to any web statistics software for your website, your Google campaign, etc.
• I cannot guarantee a definite number of hits per day, but I am confident you will see a dramatic increase in your online marketing efforts, but you may have to be patient, results do not happen the day after the website is complete.
• Prompt payment is required according to the schedule.
• If the project is in progress and then cancelled, the funds paid up until that time are non refundable.
• No web applications or web scripting are included in this project, if you wish to receive these services they must be discussed separately.

VIII. On-going Maintenance

Overall Project: This project cost will include my services for up to 3 months from the start date. After that time you may elect to continue to improve your online marketing program via my services at a rate determined at that time or terminate them. The website will start producing results within 2-3 months of finalization and full results will not be realized until 3-9 months.
Content Updates: You may elect to update your website with current information via in-house staff or you may continue to use my services after the initial 3 months at a rate to be discussed at that time.
Hosting and Statistics: It is assumed you will provide the hosting and web statistic functions of the website.

Here is a breakdown of the different phases of internet marketing I would suggest. They are not in any particular order and the difficulty of implementation varies. These are just some initial suggestions after a quick glance at your website. I hope they will prove useful in your internet marketing efforts.

Note: this document is written for users who have some experience with HTML, if you would like a more detailed plan feel free to request one.

• Keyword Analysis: Perform a keyword analysis, identifying the words that your potential customers use when searching for ski packages. I would rate keywords in relevancy, number of searches, narrowness (is it specific or general?), and target market. This is one of the most important steps leading to a successful search engine optimization campaign and is too detailed to go over in this document; if you want further information on this I would be happy to provide it to you.

• Meta Tags: None of your pages have meta data, this is extremely important to include. I would suggest making the meta data unique to each individual page with a direct correlation to text found on the page as well as the targeted keywords. The meta title is the most important meta tag and should be used carefully. Below is a listing of actually words found on the main page, I would suggest making targeted keywords appear in the text as these words do:

Total words : 9
Word Count Density
colorado 7 8.75 %
snow 5 6.25 %
resort 5 6.25 %
shore 4 5.00 %
west 4 5.00 %
park 4 5.00 %
city 3 3.75 %
resorts 3 3.75 %
valley 3 3.75 %

• Content Improvement: “Content is King”, this is almost always true. The best method of building a successful internet marketing campaign is to fill the website with useful information that people are seeking for.

• Directory Submissions: domain.com does not appear in the DMOZ directory, this directory is the most important to maintain a listing in to have a successful marketing campaign, plus it is free. Another useful directory to consider is yahoo.com, but it costs slightly more.

• Inbound Links: I suggest that you spend a considerable amount of time getting other sites to link to your site. This can be done via directory submissions, link exchanges, publishing useful information on your website, service review, press releases, competition analysis, etc. Your website does not have very many incoming links as of now. If your incoming links improves this could greatly improve your search engine ranking positions as well as attract website visitors directly from the links.

Search Engine Incoming Links Found
Google 1
Yahoo! 19
AltaVista 19
Lycos/MSN 11
All The Web 18
Average 13.6

• Graphics/CSS/Scripts: I would suggest minimizing the use of graphics and scripting languages. Where it is possible I would replace graphics with html text and css to maintain the same look and feel of the website, this will help search engines find more information about your website. HTML is preferred over scripting languages when there is no need for the scripting language.

• Sitemap: Yahoo only has 1 page indexed. Although Google listed 7 pages within domain.com, none had descriptions because the search engines are not picking up any text. More pages need to be indexed by the search engines, the best way to do this is make a sitemap page that links all pages in one place and get rid of graphics/scripting languages.

• Conduct an industry and competitor analysis: In order to create an effective marketing campaign you should thoroughly understand your competitors, customers, and industry. Analyze competitor websites, market share, comparable products, customer behaviors, supply-demand, etc. If you understand what your clients need and the position of the competition you can take full advantage of the internet.

For those of you thinking about taking the Google Adwords Certification Test I would not stress too much about it. The test is $50 and if you fail you can take it again; you need 75% to pass. It was 104 questions and you have 1.5 hours to finish the test. They have a very comprehensive online study guide you can use before you take the test. Many of the questions are directly from the guide, although not all of them are. However I think almost all the questions were contained in the study guide, just not necessarily on the sample quizes.

If you are familiar with adwords you should pass the test without too much of a problem. The most difficult part for me was the billing section and international questions; so if you are not familiar with those you should study up on them. If anyone is thinking of taking the Adwords Test and you have questions about it let me know and I would be happy to let you know what the test is like.