|
||
Can the small websites compete with the big guys?
I'm often asked by small business owners if they stand a chance against larger websites when it comes to organic search results. My response is that size doesn't matter. When it comes to improving natural search results, it's all about the keywords you choose and how competitive those keywords are.
What makes a keyword competitive?
One way to determine the competitiveness of a search term is to simply type that search term into Google and notice the number of web pages that contain that search term. This number appears in the upper right-hand corner of the search results page and appears as, "Results 1 - 10 of about 228,000,000 for [your search term here]."
The large number you see gives you an indication of how many websites contain the keyword term or phrase you're searching for. Not all of these sites would necessarily be competitors, but have been indexed by Google none-the-less. From my perspective, when this number is less than 3 or 4 million, the particular search term would not be all that competitive in and of itself.
Determining just how competitive the search term is.
There are a variety of methods to determine true keyword effectiveness (KEI, etc.). However, if you're just a regular person trying to figure out how difficult it will be to rank well for a particular keyword, consider the following. In addition to the number of sites that contain your keyword, how well optimized are the top 3 sites that appear on the search result. You can determine this by:
1. Visiting the site and determining the Google PR of the page. This information is available by downloading the Google toolbar and looking in your browser. You will see a green bar and ranking (ex: PR5), which tells you how Google ranks this page/website with regard to popularity. Any site with a Google PR6 or better is well established and will be difficult to outrank in the near term.
2. Visit Google and type, "link:www.competitorwebsite.com". Be sure to replace 'competitorwebsite' with the website name you are researching. Remember, this should be a website that appears on the Google search result for the keyword term or phrase you're researching. This will tell you how many sites are linking to this particular website. The larger the number the more difficult it will be to outrank.
3. Look at the website code. Simply visit the competitor's website and go to "View", "View Source". Look for the meta tags of "Title", "Description", and "Keywords". Are the meta tags at the very top of the page? Does the website also use h1, h2, and h3 tags? If so, they probably know something about SEO and have applied some on-page optimization techniques.
Using the above will give you a good sense of whether of not you can compete for given keywords. As you've figured out by now, a company's size is no indication of their level of experience in optimizing their own website. You'd be surprise of the type (and size) of companies that call me for SEO advice. Keep this in mind the next time you think that size matters!
Not only big business but also small business can outsource their work which increases the efficiency of work. Several security issues are linked with outsourcing whish are especially applicable to small business as business processes outsource (BPO) management is not efficient or effective. Small businesses must take security as a key issue during the planning stage itself to protect their business critical data.
Following are top ten security risks small business should know:
1. It is vital that the number of people who will handle the business data and information in the outsource provider's office is known to the small business. Issues such as the personal security of the service provider, security against industrial espionage and other such issues need to be adequately addressed. Simple issues such as if employees in the BPO vendor's office can take home information that they have worked on or if sub-contractors will have access to the small business information need to be dealt with before the outsourcing contract is signed.
2. Often the employees of the company you are outsourcing to may not be aware of the security software and thereby leave your business information vulnerable.
3. Small businesses are liable for any misuse of sensitive data provided to offshore vendor because most of them can't afford costly but good quality security software.
4. Collecting information is one which will keep you at an edge over your rivals and vice versa. Business process outsourcing is nothing else than sharing information with your outsourcing partner. Thus only credentials and reputation of the company should not matter.
5. If the company you are outsourcing to is not professionally capable of handling the job that they are entrusted with then this can lead to confusion and increased security risk. For instance any certified public accountant would know that the financial information of a business and the manner in which they are processed has dramatic affects on its tax issues and the manner in which its budget is planned and earmarked.
6. Legal system of both the companies country must be check thoroughly otherwise you may Face problem with the contract.
7. Since the files are transferred electronically to outsource service providers so it should be handled with care to get high end security. Software used must give high security otherwise you are placing you company and business at risk.
8. Most often the data that needs to be processed by the service provider is confidential and if it is not handled in a secure manner it may be considered as an invasion of privacy. This is especially true when the information includes names, addresses, social security numbers and credit card information of clients and employees.
9. Though there are no security, privacy, and auditing standards exist that can be followed in BPO projects, small businesses should come up with an overall security framework they require for their project.
10. Emphasis must be given to data storage, information sharing policies and training procedures for the outsourced team or they may lead to inadvertent misuse or mishandling of information.