SEO pros know that if Google sees two addresses for your website, your page rankings could be split. In SEO circles this is called the Canonical issue. While that does sound like a $10 word, the impacts on your sites ranking can be substantial.

And yet there is a very simple fix that is easy to do and is even Google recommended. We’ll get to that in a minute, but first some background.

Background

A bit of history behind this whole canonical issue is that when the Internet was just getting started, websites were placed in the “www” folder on the webserver. This created the www. Subdomain. As the Internet has evolved, webmasters were not consistent with this practice and at times placed the website files in the root directory.

This created the “Canonical Issue” with websites. At least that is what Google calls it. According to Google’s Matt Cutts:

Canonicalization is the process of picking the best url when there are several choices, and it usually refers to home pages. For example, most people would consider these the same urls:

• www.example.com
• example.com/
• www.example.com/index.html
• example.com/home.asp

But technically all of these urls are different. A web server could return completely different content for all the urls above. When Google “canonicalizes” a url, we try to pick the url that seems like the best representative from that set.

To help Google and other the search engines know which site (URL) you want as your site’s primary URL, you need to do two things.

1.     When linking to your site, especially internally, use the URL of choice and be consistent. There is no “better” choice between the two, but pick one.

2.     Create a 301 Redirect or permanent redirect from the URL you do not want to use to the URL you do. For example if you want to use http://MyAwesomeCoolSite.com in place of http://www.MyAwesomeCoolSite.com because is it shorter, then you would want to create a 301 redirect from the www version to http://MyAwesomeCoolSite.com

Does My Site Have a Dual Identity?

Many WordPress installations or SEO friendly themes automatically correct this Canonical issue for you. The easiest way to check if your site has a dual identity is to type both URLs in a browser address bar and see what is there as the page loads.

For example if you type in http://www.myawesomecoolsite.com and after the page loads you see the same thing (with the www) then your site is recognizing that URL and it is not being redirected. Then type in http://myawesomecoolsite.com and see if the www was added in or not after the page loads (technically it’s right before the page loads, but who needs to be technical??). If the www is shown then your site is redirecting to the www URL. If it does not show the www then the non www URL is viewed as a valid site address.

If these two tests do not resolve to the same URL address, then your site has dual identities and should be corrected using the 301 Redirect.

You could call your hosting company or your developer/web designer and tell them to take care of it for you (they should have done this in the first place, but that is another story).

If you want to make the change yourself

For Linux servers where the Apache Mod-Rewrite module is enabled, you can create an .htaccess file to ensure that all requests to www.mycoolsite.com will redirect to mycoolsite.com, where “mycoolsite.com” is your domain name.

Now before you get all freaked out, an .htaccess file is a simple text file that can be created in your favorite text editor. If your text editor complains about saving a file that begins with a dot (or a period if you prefer), then just save it as htaccess and then rename it before you move it to your website.

Save the .htaccess file in your website’s root directory, which is the same directory as your index file.  You can create a .htaccess file with the following code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^ myawesomecoolsite.com \.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http:// myawesomecoolsite.com.com/$1 [R=301,L]

This will redirect any links to http://www.MyAwesomeCoolSite.com to http://MyAwesomeCoolSite.com

I’d love to hear if you have any stories about Dual Identities or other ways that you have overcome the Canonical challenge.

Here’s to Safe Surfing and High Rankings!

Most entrepreneurs and small  business owners are busy with the operations of their company. Sure they know they need to get visibility and let their customers know that they exist, who they are, and how to reach them. This would be all part of their marketing plan.

But where should they start?

Run an add in the local paper? Take out an ad in the phone book? Use social media?

The choices seem endless and confusing. Add a limited budget to the mix and the choices get even more difficult.

There is an answer though.

Most of  my clients have found that their marketing is easier and more cost effective when they use their website as the hub of their marketing plans. Let me explain why.

The hub of your marketing plan - your website

Marketing is all about getting your message heard by your prospective client and then causing them to take some action. That action may be to pick up the phone and give your office a call, fill out a card requesting more information, visit your establishment, sign up for a no cost e-newsletter, or buy your product or service.

Today’s buyers are much more skeptical that in the past. People want to know more about what they are getting for their investment. The best and most economical place to define who you are and what you are about is your company’s website. When you use any of the other proven marketing methods, people expect to see a web address so they can find out more.

Your website is the place that you can update and answer their questions. It is the place they can reach out and contact you. And, it is the place you can build a relationship with them. No other medium provides all of these abilities. Further, all of the other marketing methods are enhanced by your website.

And, this may be the best part, you can update and add to your website for free. That’s right, even if you are not a techno-geek and don’t know a ting about HTML, PHP, or anything else “web” you can easily learn how to edit and update your site. Even at 2:33 in the morning when that very cool idea wakes you from a sound sleep.

Additionally, by using your website as the hub of your marketing, you can add any of the other marketing tools as you see fit. The best part is that you are in control and there are no boundaries on your marketing options.

Using a well constructed SEO friendly website that provides ways for your to interact with your prospects and clients give your the foundation to grow and market your business today and into the future. This is true, even if we don’t know exactly what that future looks like.

What are your thoughts on using your website as the hub of your marketing plans? Please share below or contact me directly.

Ideal Customer?

I was talking with a friend of a friend who is opening up a restaurant in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis. After some light chat about what the restaurant looks like and what is on the menu, as frequently happens the conversation came around to marketing. I made the mistake of asking about his website. At which point he said that he was not concerned about that. He has a local business and gets his business from “the foot traffic in the neighborhood.” I cringed.

A bigger mistake

I compounded my website question with a bigger faux pas “…and who is your ideal customer?” When he said everyone because he “does not want to exclude anyone” I about died. Needless to say I really don’t give his restaurant much chance of survival. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon thing to hear. Business owners, especially startups, tend to be hungry and don’t want to turn anyone away. After all, everyone has bills to pay and paying clients make that so much easier.

Determining your ideal customer

Why do we need to know who our ideal customer or client is?

Can’t we just sell to everybody?

It’s simple really. Think of a game of darts. The board is hanging on the wall and has rings on it, each progressively smaller until that little circle in the center. That’s right – the bulls-eye. We all know that the closer to the bulls-eye we get, the more on target we are, the more points we get. It’s the same with our marketing efforts. Some people are much better clients and customers than others.

Going back to the restaurateur who wants to serve everyone. Does that mean the people who cannot afford to pay for the food or the people who live in Brooklyn, New York? How about the folks in Seattle or even the nice people in Lafayette.

Maybe, but likely not, but they are part of “everybody.” I’d say those people are part of the wall the dartboard is hanging on, but not even on the board itself. Let’s keep narrowing the field a bit and get closer to that’s bulls-eye. How about the people in Indianapolis, Carmel, or Zionsville? Now we are getting somewhere. people who live or work within 20 miles of the establishment. Now we are on the dart board.

Another way to look at the ideal customer – food preference. Does his menu include a vegan and vegetarian selections? If it does then vegans and vegetarians would be on the board. If not, then maybe not so much.

Can you see how much easier it is to target a geographical area or a niche of the population within that geographical area. Then you can talk directly to the wants, need, and desires of those specific people.

And yes, before you ask, a business can have multiple ideal or target customers.

The Point?

The point is do you know your ideal customer? Not do you know who your ideal customer is, but do you know her? Where does she go after work? What does she read? What are her hobbies? Where does she live? To really sell to her, you need to not just know she is, but really know her. If you do and you cater to her, then your sales and website conversions will be significantly better.

If you don’t, you have some work to do.