A quick break from internet marketing posts to recognize the great country we live in. God bless the USA.

I can’t help wishing I was back home on the banks of the Charles listening to and watching the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular with Keith Lockhart.

Why must the west feature fireworks shows with country artists instead? The east-coast in me can’t handle it.

There’s a reason that SEOBook’s 100 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006 post started with lists…they’re perfect for internet marketing.

People like lists. Lists can present a great deal of information in a crisp, clean and easy to follow format. And due to the fact that people love them, they also make good link bait material and content for online article submissions. The key to turning lists into good SEO linkbuilding tools is simple. Somewhere in your list include a relevant hyperlink with good anchor text to the site you’re trying to rank. The more your list gets circulated, the better your site will fare. So make ‘em fun, make them clever and make them interesting.

If you’re a good great list-maker, you can become a great link builder. You just need to be creative.

Have you ever tried to do SEO for a client with a terribly designed website? It can be a disheartening waste of skills and resources. What often happens is that even if a site ranks well, customers fail to see an increase in conversions. You feel like you’re just throwing yourself against a wall.

[Tip for SEO entrepreneurs and firms: web design companies make great SEO referral partners. Send them your clients with terrible websites and they can send your their clients with new websites that need SEO. Everyone wins]

It’s fine when the site arrives to you without good title tags, permalinks, etc. because that’s the SEO’s job to fix. It’s not good, however, when the graphic design is unappealing and navigation is dismal. Sometimes, to accomplish the end goal of helping a client be successful, a little web design consulting may be necessary.

Take this for example. I’ve worked with clients who have homepages that aren’t very engaging. Visitors tend to have a high bounce rate when they don’t find some significant call to action on the first page. Conversion can go through the roof by changing a button from this:

to this:

It’s a simple fix, but it can significantly boost the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. IMHO, improving a website will improve your ability to show your clients the results they’re looking for.

Make sure you get your ducks in a row. Whatever that means.