| What's Wrong With E-Commerce Websites? |
What's Wrong With E-Commerce Websites?
By Jerry Bader (c) 2008
What is going on with e-commerce websites? It appears that online entrepreneurs spend so much time worrying about website traffic that they ignore the customers who actually want to buy something.
Recently, I tried to order a product we spotted at a trade show. It was perfect for our application so we did a Google search to find the manufacturer and a l? of dealers who sold the item.
Almost all the websites that distributed the product had proper contact information and invited people to call, which we did. After six frustrating phone calls to dealers we still hadn't found anyone willing to answer the telephone. Since we had to leave a message almost everywhere we called, we decided to try California even though we are located in the east, and it was far too early for any reasonable person to be at work.
We finally got in touch with a friendly salesperson in Boston, who was very helpful but unfortunately the company was out of stock. Despite not being able to fill the order, we kept their information on file because they were friendly, accommodating, and dealt with all our questions. They tried their best to meet our needs but if we would have ordered using their online system and found out later that the product was back-ordered we would have been very upset since we had a deadline to meet.
Next we reached the manufacturer who told us he was too busy to check if he had any stock, and maybe he could get back to us by four o'clock. Just as... more..
|
| The Meta Description Tag |
The Meta Description Tag
By Jill Whalen (c) 2011
The keywords and phrases you use in your Meta description tag may not affect your page's ranking in the search engines, but this tag can still come in handy in your overall SEO and social media marketing campaigns.
What Is the Meta Description Tag?
It's a snippet of HTML code that belongs inside the <Head> </Head> section of a web page. It is usually placed after the Title tag and before the Meta keywords tag (if you use one), although the order is not important.
The proper syntax for this HTML tag is:
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Your descriptive sentence or two goes here.">
If you're using a content management system (CMS), look for a field to fill out that's called Meta Description, or possibly just "Description."
Many years ago, the information contained in a Meta description could slightly help a page rank highly for the words that were contained within it. Today, neither Google, Bing, nor Yahoo! use it as a ranking signal.
In other words, whether you use your important keyword phrases in your Meta description tag or not, the position of your page in the search engine results will not be affected. So in terms of rankings, you could easily leave it out altogether.
But should you?
There are 3 important ways that Meta descriptions are being used today that make them an important part of your SEO and overall onl? marketing strategy:
1. They can be used as the description (or part of the description) of your page if it shows up in the search results.
2. They are often used as part of the descriptive information for your pages when Google shows... more..
|
| ready to assemble cabinets Ventura |
ready to assemble cabinets Ventura
The story with the ready to assemble cabinets Ventura services is quite complex as it answers to a great number of needs that the client has when it comes to ordering a piece of furniture for his kitchen. Many would argue that this is just a business like any other, but that's the beauty of being different from the other competitors on the market: coming up with various solutions.
Why the need for the ready to assemble cabinets Ventura services?
First of all, people should take into account the fact that the service was developed in order for them to be as comfortable as they get when it comes to ordering the cabinets. This means that they don't have to rush into town on a traffic hours, lose time watching around some showrooms and then decide if they are going to pick that cabinet or not. The ready to assemble cabinets Ventura services bring forth the idea of ordering in the online environment right from the comfort of your chair. In this way, you can actually take your time and browse through different models until you reach the one that best fits your needs, your style and the style of the house.
This is one crucial aspect that needs to be minded when ordering cabinets or any other pieces of furniture: they need to match the style of the room first and then the style of the house. Some people like to do things their own way and that's one brilliant thing. But in order to be seen as a person with great taste, some things need to be in... more..
|
| 6 Ongoing Link Building |
6 Ongoing Link Building
Techniques You Should Be Employing
A SPN Exclusive Article By Matt Jackson (c) 2011
Finding effective and sustainable methods of building links to your website can prove challenging. However, with some effort or investment on your part, it is possible to enjoy an boost in direct traffic as well as a boost to your link profile and search engine rankings through an ongoing link building strategy. There are tried and tested techniques that have been used for years that help build links in volume, as well as techniques that aim to build a smaller number of links but of much higher value - the perfect combination for a natural looking and effective search engine link profile.
1 - Directory Submissions
Directory submissions should be considered a staple part of your link building campaign. While directory links provide less value than they did several years ago, they do still provide benefit. What's more, while there is a finite number of directories online the number is massive and you can subm?to one or two hundred director? a month for at least the first year or so of your link building strategy.
There are location and topic specific directories as well as general category ones. There are also those that will only accept home page links and those that will take deep links to other pages of your site. Combining these and using them accordingly will help generate the best results.
2 - Article Marketing
Article marketing is another age old link building technique and while directory submissions provide finite, albeit extensive, opportunities, article marketing offers infinite possibilities. There are hundreds of article directories, including a good number... more..
|
| Black Hat, White Hat and Big G |
Black Hat, White Hat and Big G
By Peter Adamson (c) 2009
I read a lot of articles and postings regarding Internet marketing, SEO and the like. One frequently recurring theme is the distinction between black hat, grey hat and white hat methods. Interlaced with the use and abuse of these terms is the notion of what is "ethical" and what is not. It seems to be generally assumed that anything black hat is somehow unethical. More disconcerting yet, anything that Google frowns upon is often deemed unethical as well. I would like to clear the air about these terms which seem to mean all things to all men.
First of all, let's put to one side for a moment the recently coined terms which euphemistically refer to SEO techniques under hats of various colors. These are not dictionary terms, and anyone can make them mean whatever they want. However, the words "ethical" and "unethical" have very strict meanings, have had for generations and their misuse can call into question the personal integrity of individuals. So what does ethical mean anyway? According to dictionary.com:
1. pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.
2. being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, esp. the standards of a profession: It was not considered ethical for physicians to advertise.
So doing something unethical is first and foremost immoral and wrong. Additionally, it may be implicitly wrong because it violates an accepted code of conduct adopted by a recognized professional body, whose moral judgement is above reproach. Given these definitions, when would Internet marketing cross the line into the realm of... more..
|
| 8 Tips To Create A Landing Page |
8 Tips To Create A Landing Page
By Ayat Shukairy (c) 2007 Introduction
You need copy for your landing page but you're not sure where to start. First let's clarify what we mean by a landing page. A landing page can be a page that visitors come to after clicking on a promotional banner or link. Ultimately, the landing page must convince the visitor that they should stay on your site. You may also have a goal that you want accomplished, such as:
- Signing up for a newsletter or filling out a f?
- Buying a product
- Reading informational pieces
What's going to keep them there? The structure, the language, and the visual appeal all play a part of it. Ch? out these tips to create a great landing page, or reinvent the one you already have.
The Structure
People arrive at your site looking for answers. They scan to see if they're in the right place and assess whether it's going to be a quick and easy visit or a long grinding one. Your landing page is the welcome wagon inviting them in and feeding them the information they need. The structure of the page will either pull them in and encourage them to fulfill your goal, or distract and cause them to cut out of there before getting the whole picture.
The structure of the landing page in general should be matching that of the banner, ?or link they clicked on to get them there. So for example, if your PPC Ad is targeting SEO articles, your landing page should discuss exactly that. If a Victoria Secret's ?for lingerie... more..
|
| Fluff vs. Quality Content |
Fluff vs. Quality Content
By Devin Hansen (c) 2007
There are basically three types of content you can use for your site. Fluff, leased, or custom. All three have their pros and cons, but which would work best for ranking well with Google and the other major engines? Let's first explore the definitions of this varied content:
Fluff: Written cheaply by non-native-speaking writers, and used to fill up a web site with inexpensive content.
Leased: Identical articles that are well-researched and written, but sold to numerous web sites.
Custom: Well-researched, authoritative content that is tailored specifically to meet the needs of you and your business.
Fluff content is fine for businesses just starting out. It helps you to at least get a place in the race to the top of the search engines, but for long-lasting results, fluff just won't cut it. The wording is often choppy, incoherent, and doesn't achieve your primary goal which is customer conversion. Also, if the content of your site is sloppy, it will not instill confidence in a potential customer.
Leased content works well because it is professionally written, topical, and easy to find.
Search engine algorithms favor content that has keywords and phrases that are strategically placed but those words and phrases must also be embedded in text that is lean and carefully crafted for consistent results.
The drawback of leased content is that it can be found in a wide variety of other websites and cannot meet the unique needs of your business or specifically target the audience that you want to attract.
Custom Content
Custom content is content that has been professionally crafted to feature the keywords and phrases... more..
|
| Tips for Developing a Link Building Strategy |
Tips for Developing a Link Building Strategy
A SPN Exclusive Article By Nick Stamoulis (c) 2011
Link building should be considered phase two of any SEO campaign (on-site optimization being phase one) and is a critical component of maintaining site ranking and establishing a trust factor with the search engines.
Link building is an ongoing campaign necessary for improving a website's inbound link stream which can help promote your brand and overall visibility in the search engines. Link building can also help boost unique visitors to your site which in turn can lead to a boost in conversions. Link building efforts come in many forms including: local profiles, blogging and blog commenting, social networking, directory submission and online publicity, among others.
The overall goal of a link building strategy is to grow links from many different, but relevant, sources over time. Most link building strategies range from 3 months to a year and should incorporate 10-20 different scheduled tasks a month. It is important to create a very specific link building schedule and stick to it as much as possible. Growing links too fast raises a red flag with the search engines and can result in negative consequences. Growing links slowly helps establish a trust with the search engines, leading to better positioning in their results.
The first step in developing a link building strategy is to conduct a link audit for your website and its top three competitors. Google Webmaster Tools can analyze your site while Link Diagnosis (both free services) can be used to analyze the competition. Conducting a link audit helps establish a baseline strategy by determining how many one-way links are already pointing towards your site. Depending... more..
|
| Search Engine Optimization for Universal Search - Back to Square One? |
Search Engine Optimization for Universal Search - Back to Square One?
By Scott Buresh (c) 2007
Organic search engine optimization, until recently, had been a fairly straightforward endeavor. The goal was to optimize the content on a website so that it would show up in the organic results on one or more of the major search engines - results that were comprised of nothing but other websites. However, in the middle of May 2007, Google began rolling out its new "Universal Search," something it had been working on behind the scenes for several years. This new search option may have long-term repercussions for every search engine optimization company in the industry if it is something that is preferred by the public at large and if it becomes the standard going forward.
What Is Universal Search?
Someone using Google's Universal Search will find that a query brings back results that encompass not only web pages, but also videos, blogs, images, news articles, and other media available online. While Google already had in place options for searching each of these areas individually, many searchers did not notice those options or did not know how to use them, a phenomenon that became known as "invisible tabs."
With Universal Search, there's no need to select a separate menu item - the search will return results that encompass many different types of media. For example, a search for "breakdancing" might bring up not only web pages about breakdancing, but also blog posts about it, videos showing technique, and news articles about it. It would not, however, give you the reason why you were wearing parachute pants and trapped in the eighties.
However, Universal... more..
|
| Use Robots.txt and Save the World |
Use Robots.txt and Save the World
By Sante J. Achille (c) 2007
Robots.txt Help the Search Engines Learn All About Your Website
There is a growing interest in the little known file that every website should have in the root directory: robots.txt
It's a very simple text file you can find all about at the robotstxt.org website.
Why should you use it ? Here are some good reasons for you to consider.
The Growing Importance of Robots.Txt
At SES New York a robots.txt summit was held where major search engines (Ask, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!) participated, sharing interesting information on this file. Here are some numbers.
According to Keith Hogan from Ask:
i) Less than 35% of websites have a robots.txt file
ii) The majority of robots.txt files are copied from others found online
iii) On many occasions robots.txt files are provided by your web host? service
It looks like the majority of webmasters aren't familiar with this file. This is going to play a major role as the size of the web continues to grow: Spidering is a costly effort that search engines tend to optimize. Those web sites demonstrating optimal command (which in turn determines efficiency) will be rewarded.
During the summit, all search engines announced they will identify (or autodiscover) sitemaps via the robots.txt file. In essence search engines are now able to discover your sitemap via a link in the following format:
Sitemap: <sitemap_location>, where <sitemap_location> is the complete URL of your Sitemap Index File (or your sitemap file, if you don't have an index file).
Controlled Access to Your Content
With a robots.txt... more..
|
| 47 Simple Ways to Build Trust in Your Website or Blog |
47 Simple Ways to Build Trust in Your Website or Blog
By Miles Galliford (c) 2007
If your website does not create a sense of trust in your visitors, all your efforts will be in vain. Your online business will not succeed. That's the bad news. The good news is that it is very easy to create and build trust in your online visitors. Below, I have listed all the techniques used by the hundreds of websites I have helped launch. If you have additional techniques, please add them to the l?.
As the old saying goes, you have only one chance to make a first impression. Building trust cannot be achieved by one single action. Trust is achieved by hundreds of little things you do throughout your website that, when taken together, give readers a sense of honesty, legitimacy and stability.
The other bit of good news is that few website owners focus on building trust in the minds of their visitors. If you do it well, it can become a real and sustainable competitive advantage.
Here are 47 simple actions you can take to get started.
1. Trust is built by lots of small actions on every page of your website.
2. Your website design is the first impression. Make sure it is professional and relevant to the subject matter.
3. Navigation must be intuitive. If visitors can't find what they are looking for easily, they will question your competence in providing what they want.
4. Make the website personal by giving it its own tone and voice. People buy people.
5. Follow the HEART rule of creating online content. (Reminder:... more..
|
| Using Google Alerts to Help Your Business |
Using Google Alerts to Help Your Business
By Adam McFarland of iPrioritize.com At times it seems that Google releases more new products and services than we can keep track of. From Google Calendar and Google Video, to Google Base, Google Finance, and Google Trends, it can be overwhelming just to remember what each one does. One of the oft overlooked hidden gems in Google's enormous offering is Google Alerts. Within minutes, you can be signed up for email alerts that can give you and your business a leg up on the competition. Alerts can be used to spy on competitors, keep track of what people are saying about your business, or follow an important news story.
How Does It Work
Google Alerts sends you an email each time a new page for your chosen term makes it in the top twenty results on Google's web search. You can also have the alert ch? Google News and/or Google Groups. To sign up for a Google Alert, all that you need to do is visit the Google Alerts homepage, enter the search term, type of alert (search Google News, Google Groups, or the web), frequency of emails (daily, as it happens, or weekly), and your email address. You can set up alerts for as many terms as you like using a Google Account. So why would you want an unl?ted amount of alerts? Because as a business owner, you have a lot to keep track of and very limited time to do it.
Spy on Your Competitors
Every business has a competitor. More likely, you have several direct competitors and several more... more..
|
| What Does the Google +1 Button Mean for SEO |
| What Does the Google +1 Button Mean for SEO
By Rich McPharlin (c) 2011
Google, the internet giant based in California, has had a strangle hold on much of the online market for the past decade. Most would struggle to find a single person in the Western World who is not yet familiar with the Google Search Engine. In fact the search engine is so popular that the phrase 'Google it' has been adopted by many Gen-Yers.
In addition to their massive presence in the search marketplace, Google also commands a large percentage of the online advertising industry, generating revenues in the region of US$35 billion per annum.
Facebook, a relatively new comer to the internet, and center of popular film The Social Network, is quickly closing on Google's market. Currently Facebook ranks as the 2nd most visited website online globally and holds over 750 million member accounts. Facebook is beginning to threaten Google's market dominance in online advertising due to the huge volume of data that the social network holds about its members. While Google's advertising model focuses around what people are looking for, specifically using search queries, Facebook's model allows advertisers to utilize behavioural targeting. A Facebook advertiser can select very precise advertising audiences by focusing on:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Employment Type
- Education Level
- Likes and Dislikes
By selecting a narrow cross section of the global audience by one or all of the above variables, an advertiser can see significant improvement in their ROI when compared with search or conventional marketing.
This is where Google Plus enters the scene. In May Google released a limited Beta of... more..
|
| Social Media the Instant Brand Killer |
Social Media - the Instant Brand Killer
By Kalena Jordan (c) 2007
With the increasing uptake of social media sites such as Digg, Technorati, Slashdot, YouTube and MySpace, together with community bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, Reddit and Ma.gnolia, companies the world over can reach their target markets via a whole new channel. Social networking is like viral marketing on steroids. Companies can release a new product in the morning and have it talked about by mill?s of users on thousands of sites by the afternoon.
The good news is that social media is user driven. The bad news is that social media is user driven. Yes, there's the rub. Users are fickle creatures - they can love a product one minute and then drop it like a lead balloon the next, depending on their experience with the product, a rumor, or whether they have had their morning coffee yet. And if their experience is bad, the noise is generally louder. To protect their reputations it's not just journalists that companies have to impress these days. It's anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. Love it or hate it, the user community now has enormous power over the online reputation of a company or brand.
Not surprisingly, businesses and individuals alike clamor for the attention and mostly enjoy the limelight that social media can bring. Others hate the intense scrutiny that often accompanies the popularity. An example is usability blogger Kim Krause Berg's unpleasant first experience of Digg - I Don't Digg Being Dugg.
Online communities can even bring a site to its knees. Marketers are calling it the "Digg Effect" or the "Slashdot Effect". Buzz for a site... more..
|
| How search engine marketing tools can work for you: or, searching is really all about finding |
How search engine marketing tools can work for you: or, searching is really all about finding
Summary
This is the second of three articles. Part 1 appeared in the August issue of Information Outlook.
Search engine optimization and marketing covers a wide range of activities, many of which are similar to what a reference librarian, systems librarian, or market researcher does. Although the focus is the World Wide Web, many of the tools that are used have broader applications for special librarians.
Internal corporate processes. Web analytics tools measure and analyze corporate sales, customer preferences and problems, viable products and channels, and other issues that may provide answers for questions received by special librarians.
Competitive intelligence/market research. Keyword research, Web site saturation and popularity tools can provide information on a company's competitors: how they are marketing on the Internet, what they are spending on online marketing campaigns, how they are pricing their products.
Legal issues. Who Is tools can provide valuable information relating to copyright and trademark issues. Link Popularity tools can show who is deep-linking to your site. Log files, in conjunction with Who Is tools, can tell you who may be committing click fraud on your paid placement campaigns or spamming your e-mail servers.
Back end knowledge of how Web sites work. These tools can show you what may be keeping search engines from indexing your site and can highlight customer service issues.
SECOND OF THREE ARTICLES
Web site saturation and popularity tools show how much presence a Web site has on search engines through the number of pages of the site that are indexed on each search engine (saturation) and how many times the site is linked to by other sites (popularity).
more..
|
| The Lucky Thirteen - The Critical SEO Checklist |
The Lucky Thirteen - The Critical SEO Checklist
By Mike Tekula (c) 2007
When it comes to SEO not all of us have the time to be experts. At some point the real "gurus" of SEO and other topics are the people with a whole lot of time on their hands. This l?, put together with the everyday webmaster in mind, drives home some absolutely crucial points that you should keep in mind when optimizing your pages for valuable search rankings.
1. Check Search Engine Crawl Error Pages
It's important to monitor search engine crawl error reports to keep on top of how your site and its pages are performing. Monitoring error reports can help you determine when and where Googlebot or another crawler is having trouble indexing your content - which can help you find a solution to the problem.
2. Create/update robots.txt and sitemap files
These files are supported by major search engines and are incredibly useful tools for ensuring that crawlers index your important site content while avoiding those sections/files that you deem to be either unimportant or cause problems in the crawl process. In many cases we've seen the proper use of these files make all the difference between a total crawl failure for a site and a full index of content pages which makes them crucial from an SEO standpoint.
3. Check Googlebot activity reports
These reports allow you to monitor how long it's taking Googlebot to access your pages. This information can be very important if you are worried that you may be on a slow network or experiencing web server problems.... more..
|
| Keeping an Eye on Bounce Rate |
Keeping an Eye on Bounce Rate
By Merle (c) 2009 Merle's Mission
When you hear the word "bounce", you're probably more inclined to associate it with a checking account, not your website. But for those who study and understand website statistics, they understand that "bounce rate" is an important measure of your website's effectiveness.
Bounce rate, simply put, is the percentage of people who come to your site, then immediately leave without viewing any of the inside content pages. Think of it like window shopping. Say you browse by a shop and don't really care to enter based on what you saw at first glance through the window. The window in this case is your home page. A bad first impression, or irrelevant content, can chase away a visitor and stop them from freely investigating the full content of your site.
Google Analytics defines bounce rate as:
"The percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality - a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren't relevant to your visitors."
Therefore, a high bounce rate is bad but a low bounce rate is a positive sign that your visitors are engaging and exploring your website. So what constitutes a good rate? This is a very hard question to answer, but if you do some research, most say it needs to be under 50%. It also will depend on the type of site that you have. For example,... more..
|
| Top 10 AdSense Tricks To Boost Your Commission |
Top 10 AdSense Tricks To Boost Your Commission
By Kalena Jordan
Google AdSense - http://www.google.com/adsense - is fast becoming the preferred way for people to earn an income online. Forget eBay and multiple aff?ate programs. Whether you are a work-at-home mom trying to make a little extra c? or an Internet entrepreneur with hundreds of monetized websites, AdSense is truly the easiest way to earn mon?
Simply sign up for a fr?account, grab your ad code and paste it in your site. But here's the amazing thing - no matter how much mon?AdSense is making for you right now, a few simple tweaks can increase that amount considerably. And I should know, after learning about these tricks, I more than doubled my AdSense commissions!
The self-proclaimed AdSense gurus and experts are sharing this insider knowledge, for a fee.
Editorial Note: Some of the website AdSense examples provided below by the author may have changed since the article was written.
You can learn all these secrets from them, as long as you... more..
|
| 3 Onsite SEO Touchups |
3 Onsite SEO Touchups
A SPN Exclusive Article By Nick Stamoulis (c) 2011
"SEO is never done" is a phrase that is thrown around a lot, mostly because it's true! However, when most people talk about the continuation of a SEO campaign, they are usually referring to offsite link building. SEO is about more than developing inbound links! Without a well optimized link to send traffic to, all your hard work offsite is just going to waste. Don't let your onsite SEO go years before you revisit it. Here are 3 quick onsite SEO touchups you can do today to make sure your site is in top SEO shape:
Replace Old Whitepapers With Updated Versions
All industries change with time, some just evolve faster than others. If you want your website to become a trusted source of information for your target audience, you have got to make sure you are giving them the most up-to-date and relevant information at all times. That's simple enough to do on a business blog; as long as you are publishing new content on a regular basis, the blog will stay fresh and useful. However, many site owners forget to treat their website's resource section with the same care.
As part of a well-rounded content marketing strategy, you should be creating whitepapers, articles, videos and other forms of informational content for your target audience. However, these whitepapers/articles are not forever current. As your industry evolves the information in them becomes obsolete. Unlike your business blog, which may get updated every day with the latest and greatest industry news, these whitepapers can sit for years on your site, waiting to be downloaded. When was the last time... more..
|
| Marketing for Search Engines |
Marketing for Search Engines
By Karl Walinskas (c) 2011
As more and more people jump online and get comfortable with the ease of plunking down their bank card for purchases, it is becoming apparent that traditional marketing such as dir? mail, advertising, and telemarketing just won't be enough to get your small business over the top. Changes in the world that small business now sees are nothing short of mind-blowing. If you want to get your business, product or service noticed, you need to be marketing for search engines (SEM) and on board with the social media impact on business. Online tools today have changed the game and created new rules for information exchange and information commerce. Software as a service application, better known as SAAS, is bringing everything from Aunt Sadie's bookkeeping services to your kid's martial arts training regimen online as part of the mysterious but ever-expanding Cloud. Your business needs to be visible in the cloud, and marketing for search engines is your primary tactic of being found.
Interview with Ira Wolfe
The final piece of my Skype video interview with Ira Wolfe of Success Performance Solutions gets into the final 3 C's of Marketing for Search Engines, including the most important piece of the puzzle - consistency.
he 4 C's of SEM
As my VBlog guest Ira Wolfe sums it all up, here are the 4 Top Guidelines you need to know about successful marketing for search engines:
Content
If your website is your printed brochure and you like it that way, please click off of this page now! You cannot have any... more..
|
| Search in Internet Marketing |
The Importance of
Search in Internet Marketing
By Claudia Bruemmer (c) 2007 For long-time search marketers it will come as no surprise that search has become a media darling. Pay-per-click advertising is the most popular online marketing strategy, and organic search engine optimization provides top click-through and conversion performance.
Search is more popular than display ads and ema?marketing because of its excellent performance and ROI. Internet marketers should take note of the development in the search marketplace in order to better focus their advertising budgets.
Search is Evolving
As the Web grows exponentially, search engine databases suffer from information overload. As a result, technology and consumer search behavior adapts and changes. One of the early attempts to make search easier was the use of metadata in search. The search engine, Clusty came out in 2004 to "deliver groups or clusters of similar results rather that mill?s of search results in one long l?." The clusters were supposed to help users see search results by topic so they could more easily find what they were looking for.
Another of the early changes to search was the development of multiple databases within general search. Whether you go to Google or Yahoo, you'll see category choices such as Web, video, images, local, news, etc. These are all different databases that can help you target specific queries. Google aptly named this concept its OneBox solution; you could access many different databases from one box.
Along with the development of multiple databases on niche products or subjects came the vertical search engines. These verticals are particularly useful for B2B companies. The latest trend in the evolution of the market is... more..
|
| 10 Steps to Testing the Viability of Your Online Business |
10 Steps to Testing the Viability of Your Online Business
By Donna Gunter (c) 2009
The economic recession is pushing more and more people to consider self-employment. Starting an online business is a very low-risk way to put your toe in the entrepreneurial pond because the start up costs are minimal, the overhead is low, and the returns can be high. Despite these benefits, however, an online business is just like any other and needs to be thoroughly researched before starting to determine if there's a need in the marketplace and how viable the business idea is.
The Internet is rife with exorbitant claims of how much money can be made as an online entrepreneur and that you can be rolling in the dough by next week. Remember, most "overnight" successes are 1, 2, or more years in the making, and online businesses are no exception to this rule.
Make Your Monthly Google AdSense Check Bigger!
- Algorithm figures out the ideal ad unit sizes, formats, shapes, and colors. No guesswork!
- Works w/Google AdSense and other popular ad networks. Up to 200% revenue lifts typical.
- Easy, one-time setup. Easier to install than AdSense. No ongoing tweaking and maintenance.
Profiled on TechCrunch, John Chow, and Search Engine Journal.... more..
|
| Google Sitemaps Explained - How To Use Google Sitemaps |
Google Sitemaps Explained - How To Use Google Sitemaps
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006 Three Ways To Index Your Site With Google Sitemaps [Difficult, Hard, And Easy]
Google has recently implemented a program where any webmaster can create a Sitemap of their Site and submit it for indexing by Google. It is a quick and easy way for you to keep your site constantly indexed and updated in Google.
The program is appropriately called Google Sitemaps.
In order for you to best use Sitemaps, you must have an XML generated file on your site that will transmit or send any updates, changes, and data to Google. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is everywhere these days, you have probably seen the orange XML logo on many web sites and its often associated with Blogging because Blogs use XML/RSS feeds to syndicate their content.
Today RSS is known mostly as 'Really Simple Syndication' but its original acronym stood for 'Rich Site Summary'. XML is only simple code like HTML and it is used to syndicate your content to all interested parties.
And the interested party in this case is Google. By creating Sitemaps Google is really asking webmasters to take charge of the indexing and updating of their sites. Basically, doing the Googlebot's job!
This is a 'Good' thing! With the steady influx of new web sites growing rapidly, indexing all this material will become a challenge, even with the resources of Google. With Sitemaps, webmasters can now take charge and make sure their site is crawled and indexed.
Please note, indexing your site with Sitemaps WON'T improve your rankings in Google. You will still be competing with the other sites... more..
|
| Google Instant Previews - SEO & Marketing |
Google Instant Previews - SEO & Marketing
Article By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010
Google wasn't satisfied with just having Instant Search, now it has introduced something called Instant Previews. Searchers and web users can now browse a large instant "preview" of a site's content by placing the cursor over the small magnifying glass displayed beside each listing. These previews are large and Google sometimes highlights a major paragraph or quote from each displayed site.
Searchers can get a general look at the layout and design of a site, onpage graphics and bold headlines can usually be seen from the preview. However, small print and the general content of the page can't be read, so searchers will have to click through to your site if they want to read your information. Assuming of course, they don't find what they're looking for in the headlines or bold print.
Whether searchers will use this new feature remains to be seen, but these instant previews could have some ramifications on who gets the "click through" to their site. One would also reason that getting the top spot in the rankings have diminished somewhat, if searchers can quickly preview all of the top 10 listings and then make their decision. So they might not click the top listing, but decide one lower down is worth clicking. This could make any listing on the first page more worth having, not just the top one.
This doesn't really affect any of your SEO strategies and you should be optimizing for the search engines as usual. After all, getting those top rankings for your targeted keywords in the major search engines is what brings in the quality traffic to... more..
|
| The Top 10 Dumbest Web Site Decisions |
The Top 10 Dumbest Web Site Decisions
By Kalena Jordan (c) 2007
Having worked with web sites for the past eleven years, I've seen a LOT of errors, poor judgment and embarrassing gaffs on the web. Sometimes they are the fault of the client, the web designer, the IT Manager, or the SEO, but human error is always to blame. The saddest thing is that the problems are usually preventable.
Here is a l? of what I consider to be the Top 10 dumbest web site decisions ever, in reverse order, David Letterman style :
10) Misspelling a Domain
Back in the glory days of the late 1990's when I was working for a large Internet agency, the web designers had responsibility for the registration of domain names on behalf of clients. One particular designer had a face to face meeting with a major client, during which the client asked him to register CarTuneCentral.com (or so he thought!). The staffer did a check and was delighted to see the domain available. He made the purchase and proudly emailed the client.
An hour later his boss called him in to his office to say that he'd had a call from a very frustrated client who *actually* wanted him to register CartoonCentral.com. Needless to say the desired domain wasn't available and the whole office dined on his mistake for months.
9) Letting the Domain Name Expire
Now what type of company would allow their domain to expire a month after site launch? A very large one, that's who. I'll save the company some embarrassment and won't reveal their name but the site was offline... more..
|
| SEO For The New Google |
SEO For The New Google
Dave Davies
For those whose businesses rely on the Internet to produce revenue the latest Google update, nicknamed Jagger, was one of the biggest events in the past couple years (probably since the Florida Update of 2003). With this 3-part update Google has essentially changed many of the rules and have thrown the SEO community for a loop.
In this update there are a few key areas that have impacted the way sites rank and how an SEO (or a business owner optimizing their own site) needs to approach and address the various components. The key areas that have been affected with this update are:
The history of your web pages
The way backlinks are counted
Site content & structure
In short, the way everything about your site is calculated has changed however if we pay attention to what has changed in each area we'll quickly see how to optimize a site and equally important, we'll see what Google is trying to accomplish with this update. I state that this as equally important in that understanding what Google is hoping to accomplish will help us take measures now to protect our rankings during future updates. We will cover this further below in the conclusion.
The History Of Your Web Pages
The history of your website and in fact, the individual pages within it are playing an increasingly important role in your site's ability to rank well. The longer your site has been online the better your chances of ranking highly. Further, the longer a specific internal page has been live the better it will rank for additional phrases.
What this means to you is that you will have to take... more..
|
| Caffeine, Google's Mild Stimulus |
Caffeine, Google's Mild Stimulus
By John Sylvester (c) 2009
Although denying it has anything to do with the recent launch of Bing, Google's Matt Cutts unveiled their "secret project", one of the biggest behind-the-scenes updates to Google search in three years and is now testing the next-generation architecture of web search, called Caffeine.
In fairness to Matt Cutts, he said changes to Google search have been in progress for a number of months and hence, by implication, that the launch of Bing had nothing to do with the development of Caffeine. Moreover, I would hesitate to guess, it has far more to do with speed in real-time, so as to address its place in step with the social networking giants.
Although initially unavailable for testing because of "system maintenance", Matt Cutts, Google's enforcer of the Google Webmaster Guidelines and the man who cracked down on link spam, has invited us all to test it. He said Google hasn't made an update of this magnitude since 2006 and that it will make internet search much faster and more accurate than ever before, although "currently, even power users won't notice much of a difference at all".
He went on to say: "The new infrastructure sits 'under the hood' of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we're opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback."
The new architecture is said to include size, indexing, speed, accuracy and ranking changes and Google is asking searchers to give it a try it and report their feedback. While the version is still a pre-beta release at http://www2.sandbox.google.com, you... more..
|
| 3 SEO Traps to Avoid During Your Redesign |
3 SEO Traps to Avoid During Your Redesign
By Jill Whalen (c) 2011
I receive a lot of SEO questions from business owners who want to spruce up their aging websites, but are dead afraid of losing their existing search engine traffic. And for good reason. Going live with a redesigned website without considering the SEO implications is like being ensnared in a nasty trap that you cannot escape from. It's hard to make mon?while stuck in a trap!
With that in mind, here are a 3 SEO traps to avoid before, during and after you develop your website:
SEO Trap #1: Your Content Management System
If you are switching to a different content management system, (CMS) it often means that the URLs from your current site will have to change to something that fits with the new system. It's likely that the new URL naming convention will not match your old one.
The Escape: If this is the case with your new back end, then 301-permanent redirect all of the old URLs to their new counterparts if you can. If this is a practical impossibility, then review your analytics to find the landing page URLs within your website that receive direct search engine visitors, and redirect those. Also redirect any URLs that have links pointing to them from other sites. While it's best practice to redirect all URLs, those that don't receive any direct search engine traffic and don't have any external links are less important.
SEO Trap #2: Your Site Architecture
Your new website is likely to be sporting a brand new navigational scheme as well as an overall change of its site architecture (how... more..
|
| Is Google No 1 Forever? |
Is Google No 1 Forever?
By Jim Hedger, StepForth News Editor,
StepForth Placement Inc.
Google is without a doubt the world's number one search engine. According to the research firm Neilsen/NetRatings, Google's share of the global search market in February 2006 was 48.5%, more than double the 22.5% share its nearest rival Yahoo saw. Having been the engine of choice for nearly five years, Google is synonymous with search. Because Google is the first thing most folks think of when they think about search, it is the most important search marketing venue, at least for the vast majority of SEOs.
That might be changing in the coming years. There's a sense in the SEO sector that the horizons have expanded significantly and the search marketing map has gotten far larg? What the new landscape will look like exactly, and how large Google's footprint will be, is still unknown. The emerging online environment is still being explored, so to speak. As it is explored, it is evolving very quickly. In many ways, it feels like the early days of the commercial web where everyone knew that everything was about to change, but no one really knew exactly how.
While Google's influence is incred?e and its dominance appears unassailable, a number of... more..
|
| Tx Land For Sale |
Tx Land For Sale
The deal with the Texas Ranch For Sale opportunities is that they aren't advertised enough so that people can actually understand what they imply. Most of them simply guess that it is another form of attracting new clients towards the real estate industry and they don't have anything to do with them. That's one of the common behaviors there is when it comes to this delicate subject.
The important aspects of the Texas Ranch for Sale opportunities
First of all, any person should actually hear the entire story from the beginning till the end to be aware of the entire equation, before actually making a decision. If they do so, they would find out about the fact that now is the perfect time to actually take the Tx Land For Sale opportunities into consideration due to various reasons. One of those reasons implies that the prices of the ranches are very low in the times that we are living today. This is because of the fact that nobody is buying anymore and the real estate industry has to survive somehow. Many of them have dropped their value to a considerable low mark, so that somebody will feel that that's the perfect opportunity for him. This is a very important detail as there are many people who dream of a life, far away from the craziness of the city. That place can easily be one of the Tx Land For Sale opportunities due to the fact that they bring a lot of benefits to the table. A person actually has some peace and quiet in the middle of the environment and life goes a little... more..
|
| Anniversary gift ideas |
Anniversary gift ideas
There are some people who are so scared of the moment when they need to search for anniversary gift ideas that it makes those days quite terrifying. Having an anniversary should be a moment an honoring the time spent together and the year that has passed since the last anniversary. This is the moment of love and should be celebrated as such.
It's simple to find the best anniversary gift ideas
The world is currently offering its best solutions for the ones that are willing to search for them as there are so many resources and so many places to get inspired, it's quite easy to find something that is suited for an anniversary. The only thing that needs to be done here is to have the courage to pick something out of this world and make it a gift.
The internet is one of the best resources to find the perfect Anniversary gift ideas, because of the diversity that it provides. You just need to take some time to do a little research and use the resources of the online environment to find what you are looking for. The trick is to not limit yourself to what the internet offers you, but to start from there and stop whenever you please. You can find something really interesting and quite original and work with it in order to transform it into something even better. Imagination is the sole limitation when it comes to creating something spectacular. The very same goes for the Anniversary gift ideas and for any other things in life.
The think with such gifts is that they need to express love. Usually people... more..
|
| Clicking into the Future Predictions for 2007 |
Clicking into the Future Predictions for 2007
By Jim Hedger (c) 2006
While 2006 was a great year for webmasters it was a time of great change and challenge in the search engine sector. The most notable trend from 2006 was the continued advancement of Google against natural rivals Yahoo, MSN and Ask, as well as its persistent movement towards other, less obvious advertising venues. Next week we will look back at the ghosts of 2006 but as the New Year approaches, thoughts turn towards the spirits of things to come.
Predictions for 2007
1/ Google's early entry to radio advertising will bear fruit prompting Google to start examining television advertising.
When it comes to the allocation of advertising dollars, Google fundamentally altered the rules of the game. In the past, mass market advertisers would gamble on a shotgun approach to ad-spending. The options consisted of newspaper, magazine, telephone directory, radio or television. While each medium could provide statistics showing their print-run and audience, tracking the success or failure of these types of advertising has always posed a problem for manufacturers and retailers. When Google popularized the pay-per-click model in which advertisers only pay when a person actually views the ad, a new model was born.
Google's billing model will have to alter slightly to meet the radio and video formats however, as digital radio and television becomes the norm, tracking will become far easier. Google will be able to charge by the listener or viewer though it remains to be seen if listeners or viewers will actually listen to or view advertisements on digital radio or television.
more..
|
| Texas Hill Country Land for Sale |
Texas Hill Country Land for Sale
The Texas Hill Country Land for Sale offers come for the ones that really have a thing for making a smart investment. There are so many things that one can do with the real estate industry as it's a matter of time to actually earn real money from this investment. The single rule there is here refers to having a little bit of patience.
The golden rule of the Texas Hill Country Land for Sale opportunities
Firstly, people find it very interesting that now is the perfect time to make an investment here, rather than waiting fir the recession to pass. Many would take up the second choice as it is much safer and it is much comfortable for them. The first one implies making a risk, but so do the businesses and the investments that bring money to the table.
The only difference there is when it comes to the Texas Hill Country Land for Sale opportunities and how they bring a certain amount of profit to the investor and other types of investments is based in simple logic. The recession is currently making some devastation in most of the fields of the world, leading to some dramatic changes in the homes of many. But the recession is the one factor that has helped the value of the land to drop considerably in the last couple of years. This means that the ones that are interested in buying a piece of land now, should follow their instinct and go for it.
The second point of view here refers to how much one is willing to make out of the investment in the real estate industry. There are some who are... more..
|
| How to Build a Profitable Twitter Profile |
How to Build a Profitable Twitter Profile
By Harold Hemmings (c) 2009
Twitter is one of the fastest growing marketplaces on the Internet. The reason why so many people like Twitter is because it is actually the perfect communication tool for people who don't understand and don't want to learn about Internet technology and the technological geek-speak that goes along with it.
A few years back, I asked someone for his dad's email address. The son replied telling me that you just email his name. The son was clueless that there was an actual email address behind the shortcut for his dad's name. He did not understand email, and he did not care that he did not understand it. He was able to use it in a manner that was easy for him, and that is all that really mattered.
What makes Twitter so popular to the masses is that one does not have to be tech-savvy to use the service. The new user simply needs to locate the profile of the person he or she wants to follow, and then the user simply clicks "Follow". From that day forward, anytime the person "Followed" posts (tweets) new information to his or her micro-blog, Followers will be notified about the message in the Twitter Timeline.
The only thing that is really difficult about Twitter is that new people seldom understand that they must "Follow" someone, before they start to receive messages from others. But once someone has chosen to follow a few people, they get the idea behind Twitter very quickly.
With its' system of 140 character micro-posts (referred to as "tweets"), users are able to communicate information to other users. Sometimes the tweeted info is a random comment, but... more..
|
| Best 3 SEO Tips of 2008 |
Best 3 SEO Tips of 2008
By Scott Jason (c) 2008
Each year I spend the first three months looking for the best and most innovative SEO tips of the previous year's end. This year I have what I believe to be the best 3 SEO tips in a decade!
SEO Tip #1: Make Google Alerts Your Personal Online Spy
Google Alerts is a great way to let the world's biggest search engine be your personal online investigator. This takes search engine optimization insider info to a whole new level. Here's an excerpt straight from Google....
"Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic."
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
- monitoring a developing news story
- keeping current on a competitor or industry
- getting the latest on a celebrity or event
- keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams"
As you probably guessed, it's the second one we care about most, "keeping current on a competitor or industry."
Here's how it works... Each time Google finds a reference to the query or topic you request you will be sent an email with the details. This is like having an online agent to make sure competitors are not using your protected keywords (trademarked names, company names, etc.) It's also an instant identifier to know when your site or product is mentioned in a news story or even when a topic is hot so you can take advantage of the situation. It's the easiest way in the world to stop competitors' dirty... more..
|
| Does Your Website Need a Magic Act? |
Does Your Website Need a Magic Act?
By Jerry Bader (c) 2008
In preparation for an initial meeting with a new client, we were asked to preview their website to see if we could come-up with some ideas for re-branding the company, and invigorating product sales.
The client was suitably impressed with our thoughts but there was one problem, the product line that we stressed was not the focus of the company. The client explained that despite the fact most of their current website was devoted to a particular product line, it was not the product that differentiated them from the competition, nor was it the product that made them the most money. Once this was explained our entire focus shifted, and we were able to develop a website concept, and webmedia presentation that focused attention where it belonged.
The experience drove home the fact that many websites confuse potential customers by inadvertently leading audiences down the wrong path, hindering profitable sales rather than promoting them.
Pick A Card, Any Card
Most companies sell a variety of products or services, but they are not all created equal, some are more important, and more profitable than others. At the heart of any website design project is the underlying goal of attracting attention, and directing that attention to the product, service, or concept that is being marketed. In that regard, an effective website sales presentation is a lot like a magic act.
The PsyBlog, Understand Your Mind, recently published an article entitled, "Psychology of Magic: 3 Critical Techniques," in which they reported that the Association for Scientific Study of Consciousness held a conference called... more..
|
| 20 Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools |
20 Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools
By Kalena Jordan (c) 2007
Anyone working in Search Engine Marketing knows that this industry travels at warp speed. If you're trying to market your web site or the web sites of your clients via search engines, chances are your time is limited - severely limited.
To squeeze as much into my schedule as possible without resorting to self-cloning, my daily routine involves the use of a range of time-saving tools and software. I use such tools on a daily basis and I truly don't know how I'd function without them. I'm not the only one. I've talked to other SEM experts and they also rely on various tools to help them through their hectic schedules.
Here is a l? of 20 must-have tools used by busy SEM professionals:
1. Freshbooks Invoicing and Timesheets
Freshbooks is an online estimating, invoicing, project management and time tracking service that gives your business a professional image, no matter how small. I use it to invoice all my clients online and it can even be set up to automatically bill and debit the cred?cards of recurring clients every month. It also has built in staff timesheets and project management tools for online collaboration.
Price: Free for 3 clients or less
2. XML Sitemaps Generator
The XML Sitemap Generator trawls through all levels of your site to generate an XML sitemap. It also gives you a running count of pages, provides a text-based URL l? and a HTML sitemap you can import straight into your site. The online version of the generator is free for sites of less than 500 pages, but there's also a low-cost script-based... more..
|
| Increase Search Engine Traffic With Quality Content |
Increase Search Engine Traffic With Quality Content
By John Dow (c) 2007
Every web site owner wants to ?rease search engine traffic. It's free and the visitor is targeted to your subject matter, product or service. What more could you ask for in search engine traffic? The downside is that you need to understand search engine ranking methods and that is quite a challenge for many.
The number of opinions and "experts" on ways to ?rease search engine traff?is overwhelming. And regardless of what anyone might tell you, they're all guessing. The search engines themselves don't divulge how their methods work for one simple reason. As soon as anyone figures out the method, there's a mad rush to implement changes based on the method.
In a perfect world, where there were no scoundrels, this might not be a factor. Everyone would organize their web site information so that a visitor could easily find what they are looking for, and life would be good. But we certainly don't live in a perfect world and scoundrels are everywhere.
So we are at the mercy of the search engines to help us sort through the clutter to find what we want. And that's the value that the search engines provide, accurate and meaningful search engine results that are related to the search terms or phrases. So it goes back to the quality of content, that's the only common factor in all 3 major search engines' ranking methods.
Each of the big 3 (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) search engines use a little different method and technology to arrive at any given web site's ranking under specific search terms. As mentioned above, no one knows exactly how... more..
|
| All Optimized and Going Nowhere? |
All Optimized and Going Nowhere?
By Jennifer Horowitz (c) 2008
It happens sometimes. Here are some of the common reasons you may not be indexed:
Index Time: It hasn't been indexed yet. The amount of time before the engine indexes your site should be listed on the search engine's submission page, but these aren't always accurate or may be out of date. On the average, index times range from one to eight weeks depending on the engine. Some engines like AltaVista and Inktomi provide paid options if you wish to be indexed more quickly.
TIP! Time frame and expectations: Allow up to 4 months, if you are number 10 and want to be number 1, then it may just be time that is needed - but if you aren't showing up at all, then you need to look at keywords, content, title, description and keyword tags.
Already Indexed: The major engines won't tell you if you're listed; it's up to you to find out. The method to discover if a page or domain has been indexed varies from one engine to another. Don't assume you're not indexed just because you searched through keywords and you didn't come up in the first few pages of results. You could still be indexed and end up at the bottom of the heap.
Roadmap from Home Page: Some engines have been known to drop pages that cannot be traveled to from the home page. HotBot has been rumored to do this. Think of your site links as a series of roads from one page to another. If there's no road from your... more..
|
| The Web of Tomorrow |
The Web of Tomorrow
By Jason OConnor (c) 2007 Oak Web Works, LLC
A woman switches on a tiny wireless chip that has been surgically implanted behind her ear, which then synchs up with the Web wherever she is in the world. The simple thought of logging on to the Internet triggers the system to turn on and connect to the Web. She could be on a bus or at the beach and from all outward appearances she's just staring off into space. But she sees a three dimensional artificial world before her that she can manipulate any way she chooses by mere thought alone.
By looking at the trends of today we can begin to develop a image of what the Web of the future will look like. I believe the Web will improve and grow in a way that will dwarf its present existence and will improve and enrich everyone's lives way beyond what we can imagine today. The Net will become as integrated into everyone's everyday lives as much as, and even more so, than the television or telephone (in developed nations first, then everywhere). Television, communications and the Internet will merge.
The Web will become increasingly realistic, interactive, and three dimensional. Two dimensional displays will evolve into three dimensional displays. And the Web will probably incorporate more than just the two senses of seeing and hearing. It will first be incorporated into all other electronics found in household appliances, copy machines, automobiles, and anything else with a microchip. Then it will be integrated directly into our brains.
I also envisage this new Web creating an unimaginably sophisticated data sphere that surrounds and envelops the world like a warm... more..
|
| Google's New Page Layout Algorithm Penalizes |
Google's New Page Layout Algorithm Penalizes
"Above-The-Fold" Advertising
A SPN Exclusive Article By David Jackson (c) 2012
On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, a category 5 hurricane named "Panda" swept through the Gulf of Google devastating businesses large and small alike. The hurricane was reportedly named after one of Google's engineers.
So what was the reason for this catastrophic and "game-changing" update? Well, according to Google:
"This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites - sites which are low-value, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites - sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that's exactly what this change does." (Source: Google Blog)
Mission accomplished. Anyway, in the aftermath of the Panda update, there are 11 important SEO facts I've learned based on my own personal experiences, the experiences of my clients, and from listening to top SEO professionals across the Internet.
The above passages are from an article I wrote last July titled, Google Panda Update: 11 Important SEO Facts You Should Know.
In item #7 of the 11 SEO facts I wrote:
7. Avoid Excessive Advertisements or Images
"Be mindful of having too many advertisements on any of your pages, in relation to "meaningful" content. There seems to be a direct correlation between the number of advertisements on a page (especially above the fold advertising), and the overall ranking of a page. Make sure you have plenty of... more..
|
| The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites |
The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites
By Mark Daoust
Ugliness has nev?looked better. I have spent the last few days examining a surprising trend in web design that has made ugly websites look absolutely irresistible. No, it's not the bolded, 18 point Times New Roman font shouting at me as I access the page that has me excited, nor is it the harsh colors that have actually managed to make my eyes hurt and distort my vision. In fact, it's not even that logo which is so pixelated from being processed, resized, saved, and edited so many times that it appears to be blurred to protect the identity of the company who owns the website that has me singing the praises of ugly websites. What is it?
Ugly sells.
That's right ? ugly websites are surprisingly effective in making mon? As a person who puts business before technology, a profitable website is a website that is an unbelievably attractive website to me.
The Case of Plenty of Fish
I was struck by an example of just how... more..
|
| How to Use Web Analytics to Grow Your Business |
How to Use Web Analytics to Grow Your Business
By Mike Tekula (c) 2009
If you own a business, chances are you do. But don't pat yourself on the back too quickly.
By now it's widely-accepted that if you have a business card you should probably have a website. It doesn't matter what your company is selling - a website, however modest, has become a standard.
The real question is: what is your website doing for your business?
As a web marketer I often put this question to the business owners I meet. Not because I'm trying to lead into my sales pitch, but because I'm intrigued to hear the answer.
Most people get a certain "deer in the headlights" look in their eyes when I ask this question. To be fair, it's not a question we're used to hearing. But that's not all that's going on here.
Traditional advertising mediums - print, TV, radio, etc - are notoriously difficult to track. Sure, you'll know how often the phone is ringing or how many people come in with a coupon clipped from the Sunday paper, but what you don't know is how many people saw/heard your ad and whether they were interested, oblivious or, worse, annoyed.
Business owners are used to this. We all know we need to advertise - it's a necessary cost of doing business - so we buy that half-page ad in the Yellow Pages or the local newspaper, we sponsor an event or a little league team, we have a radio commercial written (maybe even with a jingle) and we hope for the best.
This has been a given in marketing since... more..
|
| Analysts Speculate on IT Tech Trends for 2008 |
Analysts Speculate on IT Tech Trends for 2008
By Anne Sych (c) 2007 Novo Help Desk Software
What are the experts predicting for tech trends in 2008? At the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo held last October in Orlando, more than 6000 senior business and IT strategists from virtually all major industries gathered for the industry's largest conference to gain the latest advice on driving prof? and performance with IT. Attendees rely on the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo for their annual planning and to gain insight into how their organizations can best use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency.
Reflecting Gartner's very latest research findings, the analysts projected the 10 technologies likely to play a 'strategic' role in 2008. Gartner defines a strategic technology as one "with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years." In addition Gartner also looks at "high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar ?estment, or the risk of being late to adopt."
"Companies should factor these technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key quest?s and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years," said David Cearley, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Sometimes the decision will be to do nothing with a particular technology. In other cases it will be to continue investing in the technology at the current rate. In still other cases, the decision may be to test/pilot or more aggressively adopt/deploy the technology. The important thing is to ask the question and proactively plan."
Here's a look at the top 10 tech trends, and what... more..
|
| EMR |
|
EMR
The medical field owes a lot to the EMR system and the benefits that it brings to the table. There have been many situations in which this system has proven its efficiency and there were many lives that were saved. It's interesting how things are developed in order to help people in their daily lives.
The best way to implement the EMR system
First of all, people should understand what this system is and why is it important for doctors to have it implemented in their medical facilities. The acronym stands for electronic medical records and has been developed for quite some time now. Many would ad that this isn't something of great importance if compared with the other equipment that is present in various medical facilities. This may be true in some aspects, but there are a lot of benefits that come with the implementation of such a system.
One of those arguments in favor of the EMR system refers to the idea of a great management of space. Think about how things were done 10 years ago. The information was stored in various files, which filled up many rooms. The clerk needed to search for that file a lot in order to get to the information that was needed. This means a lot of valuable time wasted as there weren't many organized systems to help the clerk reach that specific information. The EMR brings forth the idea of having the information centralized in one place so that the doctor can easily find what he needs in a very small timeframe. The computer is able to generate a search throughout thousands and thousands of files in order to find what is needed. There are... more..
|
| Anatomy of a Web-Advertising Campaign |
Anatomy of a Web-Advertising Campaign
By Jerry Bader
In The Beginning There Was Marketing
Anyone in business who has any interest in using the Web to further his or her business is well aware of "search engine optimization." Not a day goes by that my email in-box isn't loaded with information on how to get the best search engine results, and not a week goes by that a client or potential client doesn't request that their website be not just search friendly but search engine fanatical.
For some time we have been preaching the importance of delivering the marketing message and that your message should not be corrupted or distorted by techniques aimed at attracting search engine robots while driving away real people who may actually be potential customers.
Now I realize that in many circles this attitude is considered outright heresy, but hopefully there are a few marketing types around that understand websites have to deliver more than miscellaneous random eyeballs; websites have to deliver a message that is memorable, understandable, useable, and if you're really good at your job, information that can be incorporated into your audiences' belief system.
With that in mind we were pleasantly surprised when Google the primary target of this SEO obsessive compulsive frenzy of technical slight-of-hand announced that they were instituting Google Video Ads and to add a little icing on the cake, they purchased YouTube adding to their already considerable ?estment in Google Video. Somebody at the big "G" thinks video is a viable Web-medium even if the purveyors of search engine fool's gold would have you believe otherwise.
The list of companies, including Forbes, Amazon, Wyeth, and Ford,... more..
|
| Does Google Have A Golden Rule? |
Does Google Have A Golden Rule?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2008
As a full-time webmaster and site owner, figuring out just what Google wants has been the most challenging aspect of running an online business. For many webmasters Google is the eight ton elephant in the room and you only have two options: upset the elephant and get trampled or quickly find out what it likes to consume and try to feed it.
In order to keep Google fed, webmasters have to jump through more than one set of hoops. When it comes to getting top rankings in Google's Index or SERPs, there are 200 of these hoops or ranking factors. And if you want to play in Google's ballpark, you have to try and master the majority of them.
For years, frustrated webmasters have been guessing and searching for these ranking factors. Asking what does Google want? How does Google rank pages and keywords? How does Google want you to build your site?
Ten years ago it wouldn't have mattered what Google thought of your site for it wasn't even in the picture, but now when it comes to online search, Google is king of the hill. And as we all know, kings get whatever they want.
Besides, any webmaster worth his salt, knows Google is what counts when it comes to organic traffic - you can achieve #1 spots for a keyword in all three top search engines (Yahoo and MSN being the other two light-weight contenders) but Google will simply deliver the most traffic to your site.
Google doesn't as yet have a monopoly on web search, but it's getting close to... more..
|
| ready to assemble cabinets Ventura |
|
ready to assemble cabinets Ventura
The ready to assemble cabinets Ventura services come to respond to one basic need that any customer might have: to have things done and ready to be used. That's why so many industries have changed their way of doing things and handling services and that's why so many people are so comfortable with anything that is done rapidly and without any lost time.
Why should you choose the ready to assemble cabinets Ventura services?
There are many reasons why this type of service needs to be provided in a small amount of time and without any problems. One of these reasons refers to the idea that people don't like to waste time and energy on assembling themselves the cabinets that they've ordered. Even though, they might be required to pay a higher sum of money, they are contempt with the idea that everything is done quickly and they don't have to worry about a thing. That is one of the reasons why the ready to assemble cabinets Ventura services are so appreciated.
Another great reason that is worth to be mentioned here is the way you make the order. Think about one of the days when you are required to go out for shopping. Think about the time you lose in traffic and most importantly think about the time you lose in stores and at the cash registers. The ready to assemble cabinets Ventura options come with the idea that an online order... more..
|
| Success Strategies for Optimizing Online Press Release Campaigns |
Success Strategies for Optimizing Online Press Release Campaigns
By Craig Cannings
Before I outline the key steps we took in our own online PR endeavors, let's first review the key benefits of an optimized Press Release campaign:
I was recently having breakfast with a good friend of mine who is in management with a large Brick and Mortar Company and the topic of Press Releases came up in our conversation. My friend questioned the real value of this medium and pointed out that Press Releases, while certainly apart of his company's communication strategy seemed to have little impact or value on their business as a whole and were rarely picked up by major news publications. Well, in my last online press release campaign, I can honestly say we did not receive an enthusiastic call from the Business editor of USA Today or the New York Times or even the Grand Forks Herald for that matter!
However, this recent Press Release campaign did result in a top 5 listing for one of my keywords in Google, multiple top 20 listings, strong placement in Yahoo and Google News, many new quality in-bound links and a significant ?rease in our overall web visibility. The campaign proved to be a roaring success in driving quality traff?and gaining great exposure for our site, even though we were largely ignored by all of the mainstream news publications. So, how did we do it?
? High Quality One-Way Links to Your Website
A well-constructed Press Release campaign can result in multiple in-bound links from various sources such as industry-related websites, news and media sites, many of which have a decent Google Page Rank. Given that our business was launching a... more..
|
| Six Quick and Simple Ways to Dominate Google Rankings! |
Six Quick and Simple Ways to Dominate Google Rankings!
By Mike Small (c) 2008
The reason Google is the most successful search engine in the world is because they provide the best search results; pages ranked by tangible value. That tangible value is a combination of content and links, with links being the more important factor (they assume any pages linking in will only link to good content or risk their own ranking.)
Here are a few tips that will help you take full advantage of Google's love of linking...
1.) Link Deep and with Relevance
So why is deeper better and what's this about relevance? Google figured out that a link to a homepage is only good if that homepage has the information the visitor needs. If a person clicks a link for "amaz? chocolate chip cookie recipe" and ends up on the home page, which has nothing of the sort, Google discounts it as a wasted link. On the other hand, if the link leads to the page containing info on the "Amaz? Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe," even five levels deep, the link has huge value to the visitor and to Google.
Want some proof? You already have it if you've ever used Google's AdWords pay per cl? service. They will not even accept PAID links to pages that are not the most relevant for their visitors, regardless of what you are willing to pay per cl?. Now that's saying something!
2.) Use Absolute Links Internally
It sounds complicated but it's not. Absolute links are those with a fixed full URL. There's another kind, called "relative" links that skip the... more..
|
| Where's Social Media Headed? |
Where's Social Media Headed?
By Nipa Shah (c) 2009
Barack Obama started using social media and the marketing gurus went "Oh my God, he's a genius, now all we have to do is use his name to promote this and voila, clients will be lining up to buy social media marketing (SMM) services". Well, it didn't quite happen that way. And the wonderful case study that was "Presidential candidate Barack Obama" became a not-so-active name on various online portals including, Twitter, where from November 2008 to May 2009, his twitter update has had five posts. Yep, only five posts in six months.
So what is happening in the Social Media world right now?
Well, first of all, social media website use has exploded with millions of people using popular Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and dozens of others. I personally "play" and "work" on many, but my favorites remain Twitter and Facebook.
Celebrities and politicians seem to have found a way to pontificate one-way to their audiences. I say pontificate because most of these are rarely engaged in a two-way discussion, more times sending out their updates but not really engaging with others who may wish to interact with them. Politicians and celebrities across the globe have taken their messages to their fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook.
However, millions of users and dozens of so-called SMM experts later, small businesses remain offline and are positively scared of using social media websites.
The business owners I interact with when I'm speaking at an event or when I'm networking offline (yes I still do that) are concerned about using social media websites to promote themselves. They are worried about the lack of privacy and a... more..
|
| Google Caffeine and the New Ranking Factors | |
Google Caffeine and the New Ranking Factors |
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
Google Caffeine is the name given to Google's "Next Generation" search engine, which it will use to rank and index all the pages on the wonderful world wide web. According to all indications, this is not just another one of Google's infamous Updates, but a major "Overhaul" of its index and algorithm - the complex formula and calculations Google uses to rank all web pages, including yours.
If that doesn't sound ominous enough, according to Matt Cutts (Google Spokesperson) one database is already showing Google Caffeine, and the full blown version will be released after the holidays. The reasoning behind this - Google doesn't want to upset webmasters and site owners during the lucrative holiday buying season. In the past, other major Google Updates have come around this time of the year, most notably the "Florida Update" which severely affected many web sites and webmasters.
Recently, Google has been more aware and much more generous to webmasters by being more open and forthcoming in regards to how it indexes its pages. This time around, webmasters were even given access to a beta version of Caffeine which Google released last summer ('09) where webmasters could check to see how well their keywords and site would fare in this new search index. This beta site (www2.sandbox.google.com) has now been taken down by Google.
Like any professional search engine marketer who works online, I was constantly checking my sites and keywords in Google's new search engine. I have drawn some conclusions from what I have observed, but please be aware it is often very foolish to draw conclusions and make predictions from a... more..
|
| Getting Your Site's SEO Right |
Getting Your Site's SEO Right
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010
You simply must get the SEO part right. Mainly because proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will boost your chances of obtaining those all important top rankings in the search engines. Besides, a well optimized site or page, will go a long way in weathering any abrupt changes on the web.
Google Instant is a perfect example of how things can change overnight. While it didn't change SEO per se, it did change how people use Google and how the results are shown. Searchers don't get the same chance to type in their long-tail keyword phrases because they are constantly and instantly being bombarded by suggested links... so much so that getting those top positions for shorter root keywords has gotten more important and this has increased everybody's competition because those popular shorter keywords have always been the most competitive.
Probably every webmaster or online marketer knows that in order to get top rankings in the search engines you have to have quality one-way backlinks from other high ranked keyword-related sites. This will more than likely be the main determining ranking factor for most search engines, especially the all important Google. You simply need good quality one-way links and plenty of them to rank high.
However, there are many more SEO factors which come into play, especially if you're in a very competitive niche and targeting highly cherished lucrative keyword phrases which bring in the revenue. Then in these competitive situations, you must get all your SEO ducks lined up proper, if you want to be a player.
Some of... more..
|
| The Art of Website Maintenance |
The Art of Website Maintenance
By Erin Ferree (c) 2007
Now that you've designed and launched your website, you have a powerful marketing tool for your business. But, your website is only as useful as the content is current. The process of keeping the content on your site current is called website maintenance, and it's important to keep both visitors and search engines supplied with new information. Just like regular maintenance on your car, you have to make changes on your website every few months to make sure that things run smoothly.
If you update the content on your website on a regular basis, potential clients will be drawn back to your site to find out "what's new". The search engines pay visits to websites in their queue regularly. The catch is that you'll stay in the queue only if you update your site regularly. If the search engines visit your site several times in a row, and don't find anything new, they may decide not to come back-which can be a blow to your search engine rankings.
So, when is it appropriate to update your website? You don't want to waste time and mon?nitpicking at your site if you don't have updates of real value to add. You should update your site if you've:
- Grown your skills. Have you gotten a new accreditation? New licensing? Improved your skills? Any change in your skill set is a great reason to update your website - and your potential clients - with your new capabilities.
- Expanded your products or services. Do you have a new offering? Add it to your website and start making new sales in that area.
- Completed a... more..
|
| Electronic Medical Records |
Electronic Medical Records
Is technology a better alternative to the old traditional ways? Can a doctor find a specific information on a patient faster by using a filing system or the Electronic Medical Records system? How should it be better for the ones that are in need of the hospital's services?
Trusting the Electronic Medical Records system
First of all, people should take into consideration the fact that the world is currently expanding and technology is one of the best tools in any direction: industry, markets, everywhere. The medical field is the one that best benefits from the development of technology because it constantly improves its services. But what about the things that are done at the front desks of the hospitals?
The idea of the Electronic Medical Records was born from the need for a system that helps the doctors keep their information in one place. The old system was based on files, which were stored in drawers or any other compartments. Imagine a big hospital that has a lot of entries on a daily basis. Isn't it hard to keep track of all of those entries just by using a filing system?
The great thing about the Electronic Medical Records is that all the information on all the patients are stored in a simple computer. If a doctor needs to find a specific information on somebody, the system helps him reach it very fast. Furthermore, the space that is being saved is enormous as there is need for only one desk and not an entire room that is filled with drawers and files.
Another thing that should be mentioned here refers to the idea of time management.... more..
|
| Video Marketing - Its Different Manifestations |
Video Marketing - Its Different Manifestations
By Punam Parab (c) 2007
Just go through these facts and figures:
? "This [online video ads] could very well become the dominant form of online advertising... probably within the next 18 to 24 months" - Bob Hanna, senor vice president of sales with Burst Media-a group that offers publisher sites to advertisers.
? "Online video ad spend is to surge by 89% in 2007 and is poised to grow and in 2010 will be worth around $2.9 billion". - marketing vox.
? "At some time early in 2010, one in 10 dollars devoted to internet advertising will go for video placements" - David Hallerman, a senior analyst with eMarketer and author of the report 'Internet Video: Advertising Experiments & Exploding Content'
Well, if you have a sharp mind [and even if you don't], you cannot but notice the rising fortunes of video marketing. Video marketing is the next big thing in the world of Internet marketing.
Video marketing entails the use of video for conveying your message to the audience. Most experts believe that videos are more effective when it boils down to establishing an engaging and interactive platform to communicate with the target audience.
If you too are interested in entering into the world of 'online video marketing', then it will augur well if you are aware about the various forms of video marketing. Video advertising is one of the basic forms of video marketing. In case of video advertising, the advertiser makes use of the video that is already being run across television channels. Usually, the video is edited to shorten the duration. This also makes the video more appealing to the online audience.... more..
|
| Search Engine Keywords Selection |
Search Engine Keywords Selection
By Rajkumar Search engines are the vehicles that drive potential customers to your websites. But in order for visitors to reach their destination - your website - you need to provide them with specific and effective signs that will direct them right to your site. You do this by creating carefully chosen keywords.
Think of the right keywords as the Open Sesame! of the Internet. Find the exactly right words or phrases, and presto! hoards of traffic will be pulling up to your front door. But if your keywords are too general or too over-used, the possibility of visitors actually making it all the way to your site - or of seeing any real profits from the visitors that do arrive - decreases dramatically.
Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. If they are not chosen with great precision, no matter how aggressive your marketing campaign may be, the right people may never get the chance to find out about it. So your first step in plotting your strategy is to gather and evaluate keywords and phrases.
You probably think you already know EXACTLY the right words for your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven't followed certain specific steps, you are probably WRONG. It's hard to be objective when you are right in the center of your business network, which is the reason that you may not be able to choose the most efficient keywords from the inside. You need to be able to think like your customers. And since you are a business owner and not the consumer, your best bet is to go directly to the source.
Instead of plunging in and scribbling down a list... more..
|
| The Impact of Personalization on SEO |
|
The Impact of Personalization on SEO
By Claudia Bruemmer
Personalization of seek has been a growing topic of interest for a while, but has stayed under the radar for most people until now. By using Google\'s widespread integration of personalization into standard search results, seek marketers\' attention has lastly been firmly riveted on the issue. Up until recently, Google provided two personalization selections:
You could customize your Google Personalized Homepage for quick access to information of your choice (email messages, news headlines, etc.).
You could get automatic personalization from your search history.
Major Changes at SiteProNews: The SpotProNews webplace no longer reflects the content of the SpotProNews newsletter. The webarea has a completely new look, provides keyword and category search and proposals more article content as well as dynamically changing webmaster blog and news feeds. New features and sections will be increased in the coming weeks. Be sure to visit and bookmark the new AreaProNews webplace.
Recently, Google begined combining the above two choices for users who become associated for services through their Google accounts. When you sign in, you can get access to tailored results utilizing information from your seek history and your Google home page. If you don\'t wish to see results based on your past seekes, you simply sign out of your Google Account or turn the choice to track your history off in your Account settings.
To quote Danny Sullivan, \"...anyone who signs-up for any Google service using a Google Account (such as Gmail, AdSense, Google Analytics among others) will automatically be enrolled into three additional Google product or services: Search History -- Personalized Search -- Personalized Homepage.\" In the past, Google Accounts required you to manually enable Search History. However, by using the recent change, personalized search has been enabled for all accounts, new and old alike. All... more.. |
| Killer Campaigns Volume Four: The Color of Branding |
Killer Campaigns Volume Four: The Color of Branding
By Jerry Bader (c) 2010
Web video is a communication technique that provides a viewer-experience that delivers several big advantages over broadcast: first, the length of your presentation is for the most part a non issue other than the degree to which your content and delivery holds your audience's attention; second, the cost to produce and present professional online video is far more affordable than broadcast; and third, Web video provides the chance to intellectually and emotionally engage your audience with a memorable viewing experience, and involve them physically by prompting direct-response action. On the other hand, broadcast does provide a mass audience, but not necessarily an attentive one like your website.
As we have seen in previous installments of Killer Campaigns, the commercial broadcast industry, despite its economic and time constraints, has plenty of good examples of techniques that can be used effectively in Web video campaigns, if you understand how certain elements affect an audience.
It's easy to misread a commercial's true marketing effectiveness and assume the big flashy special effects and grandiose production stunts are what makes a commercial work, but in fact those kinds of things generally only make a commercial more expensive. True the big-deal aspects of a production may attract attention, but it's the small things that are the most important, the most effective and the most affordable. It's the things you hardly notice like writing, casting, music, performance, and campaign consistency that have the most impact on a presentation's ability to communicate, influence and persuade. It's the production techniques to which the audience pays little attention that maximizes sale-conversions and increases the... more..
|
| How & Why You Should Perform An SEO Audit On Your Website |
How & Why You Should Perform An SEO Audit On Your Website
By Mike Tekula (c) 2009
What makes or break an SEO campaign is knowing where to start, what is important and what is simply not worth the time.
Resources are never infinite. If you're not careful you can spend them spinning wheels and tweaking things that will have no real effect on your search traffic. Plan effectively, and you'll achieve true growth and a positive return on your investment.
The difference lies in understanding how search engines work - how they crawl the web and how they use that data to rank web pages - and how your website does or doesn't meet these criteria.
The Technical Audit
The first order of action is the technical audit of your site. Tackle these issues first because this represents the foundation of your site. Some technical problems can render web pages invisible to search engines. Identifying and resolving these issues upfront is critical.
A technical audit should include:
- Code cleanliness / content visibility
? Does the site use JavaScript heavily?
? Is the code bloated?
? Is content generated by JavaScript or otherwise not SEO-friendly?
- File size / page load time
- Navigation structure
? Is the navigation Flash or JavaScript driven? If so, does it degrade gracefully for browsers
that don't support these technologies (like a search crawler)?
- URL structure
? Are there session ID's in the page URLs?
? Are the URLs long and do they include multiple variables and parameters?
? Do the URLs contain keywords?
- Title tag / headlines
? Does the site have unique titles and... more..
|
| Images are the Natural Evolution of Search |
Images are the Natural Evolution of Search
By Ross Dunn (c) 2008
Over the past couple years it has been impossible to avoid the buzz about images and their increasing role in search; such as universal search which is becoming commonplace among the major search engines. But universal search is only the most prevalent news and only the baby-steps of a new format of search that is about to take over the Internet. Do I have your interest piqued? I will now lay the foundation of my statement to hopefully get you as excited as I am about this unstoppable search evolution.
Evidence 1) Photosynth
If you have any technology mavens as friends it is likely you saw this incredible video presented by Microsoft at the TED conference last year discussing Photosynth. To quote Microsoft Lab's Photosynth home page this software
"takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next. In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor."
My jaw still hurts from hitting the ground after my first viewing of Photosynth many months ago. This software made a massive impression on me that has led me to many interesting ideas on the applications for this software; I will leave these thoughts to another time. For now, however, lets just say that... more..
|
| 6 Website Redesign SEO Secrets Your Developer May Not Know |
6 Website Redesign SEO Secrets Your Developer May Not Know
By Jill Whalen (c) 2009
At the end of the year, many businesses start to think about redesigning their tired old website to breathe some new life into it. You may even be in the midst of a website redesign right now. If so, the first thing is to make sure you hire a design and development company that knows how to build the infrastructure of the website in a search engine crawler?friendly manner.
Beyond that, you need to address a number of additional SEO tactics before you get too deep into your redesign. The reason you need to keep SEO front and center during this time is twofold: so that you do not lose your previous traffic, but also so that you can gain additional targeted search engine visitors when the new site goes live.
Here are 6 SEO redesign secrets your developer may not know...ignore them at your peril!
1. Creating Your SEO'd Site Architecture
Search engines look explicitly at how all your pages are linked together in order to determine their place within the site. Pages that are linked from every other page will be given more weight than those that are only linked from a few others. This is all considered a form of internal link popularity, or in Google language, internal PageRank.
Recommendation: During your redesign, don't bury too deeply within the site any content that was previously bringing targeted search engine traffic. Ensure that any informational content that will be focused on the more competitive keyword phrases (for example, product and service pages) is high up in your site hierarchy.
In addition, all content contained in a... more..
|
| Inbound Links |
Inbound Links
By Andy MacDonald (c) 2008
Inbound links are now so important in the constant battle to achieve top search engine rankings, that tons of people are using every tactic under the sun to gain that one additional link. You must be careful when it comes to linking though. You could jeopardize your whole linking plan by getting links in a shady manner which could have an adverse affect on your search rankings. These inbound links are seen by search engines as votes for your site within a particular community of sites.
Anytime you're being voted for, you want to have as many votes as possible. However you want to be using tactics which are going to pay dividends in your linking strategy, not do more harm then good. Below I l? some of the best and safest methods around for generating inbound links for your website. Some can be more effective than others:
- Requesting Links: The oldest method of gaining inbound links is to request them. This requires that you study your market to find out who the players involved in the market are. Then, you contact each one of the sites and ask them to link to your site. In most cases, the person you contact receives your request, but providing links to other sites is the least of their worries, so you may never hear from them. If you do, it can sometimes be months later. So, you put a lot of time into requesting links from other sites for a relatively small return on your efforts. For more on requesting links, I recommend you checkout The Do's &... more..
|
| Using Google Local, Yahoo Local and MSN Local |
Using Google Local, Yahoo Local and MSN Local
Considering that a listing in Yahoo costs $299 per year, there exists 3 excellent opprtunities that are 100% free!
Those opportunities offer you a great way to get your local business to the top of the search engine results pages. It will take you about 1 hour of your time, and just 30 minutes in planning, but yields an amazing amount of long-term search results. Every business owner should perform this. If you have a physical address, adding your business to Google, Yahoo, & MSN local will help your current and potential customers easily find your company.
How To List Your Business On Local Business Centers
Google Local Business
Start by setting up a Google Maps account here. Then make sure to be as descriptive as possible about your business can be. Use your keyword phrases, separated with a comma, in the Description field. This will help increase the odds of your local business ad showing up when people are searching. Make sure and include all hours and payment information. Google local business ad?s will have the most power of the three and can really generate a lot of results within Google. Many times it will simple be people searching for your specific business but there is a lot to be said for making things easy on them. Also, remember to use an image, such as a logo.
MSN Local Business
To add your local business to the MSN local business center you will follow a similar procedure except it?s faster. Go to this link and start signing up. As with Google local business you will want to be as detailed as possible and take the... more..
|
| organic cosmetic brushes |
|
organic cosmetic brushes
Why should females choose organic cosmetic brushes instead of the ones that they are currently using? The answer can be found in the amount of changes that are brought by the cosmetic products that have a mineral foundation. There are still many who aren?t aware of the benefits that can be experienced when using the products that have natural components.
The natural side of the organic cosmetic brushes
People need to take into consideration that there are so many alternatives to the things that they are used to. The only requirement there is refers to having a little interest into discovering which is the best perspective in the matter that interests them. The very same goes for the cosmetics industries and the females who would rather choose something they are acquainted to and not the organic cosmetic brushes.
The very first thing that females should know when talking about the products that have a mineral foundation is the matter of durability. This is an aspect that surely changes some perspectives as the products that are currently available on the market don?t last very long. The reason for this aspect is that the nonorganic products don?t focus on fixing the problems as they are fixated on dealing with the surface and the effects. That is the main reason why most of the products don?t last more than a couple of hours.
The organic cosmetic brushes and other products which have the same basis, are a little... more..
|
| Getting the Right Marketing Mix Using Social Media |
Getting the Right Marketing Mix Using Social Media
By John Sylvester (c) 2009
For months (or is it years now?) we have been reading articles on how businesses should develop a presence on Twitter and build a Facebook Page as part of their SEM objectives. Now, with social media firmly established in the armoury of our online marketing efforts, how can we best take advantage of these two social media giants?
As if to demonstrate their power in the market these days, both Twitter and Facebook (to a lesser extent) have been targeted and dealt painful denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and, as a result, many hours of downtime.
With hackers determined to bring Twitter down to earth, it was acknowledged that although defensive measures had been taken on the company's part to repel further attacks, third-party developers whose applications have been using their application programming interface, were found vulnerable.
In a similar vein, the social-networking site Facebook was also hit with a DoS attack, but it didn't appear to be quite so threatening as the one that knocked Twitter off its perch on the same day.
Social media, as a phenomenon, has taken marketing online by the scruff of the neck and placed it in the control of the general public. In essence, traditional search engines, where votes have often been bought and traded by sleight-of-hand SEM tactics, have now been delivered on a platform where we decide our preferred content. Not ideal, but popular.
But how do we achieve success in this and what should the marketing mix be? Let's take a look at how some of the "big guns" treat social media?
One of the best marketing campaigns I have seen on Facebook Pages is that... more..
|
| Is Article Marketing Still Effective In 2010? |
Is Article Marketing Still Effective In 2010?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010
Don't exactly know what it is about starting a new year of marketing online, but I always stop and take a hard look at all my marketing tactics and methods. Article marketing is always at the top of my list, mainly because it is and has always been the cornerstone of everything I do on the web.
By cornerstone I mean it is the key to basically all of my online earnings. Without article marketing I wouldn't be a full-time online marketer - it's as simple as that. No articles, no income.
Articles bring in the targeted traff? Articles build those all important one-way backlinks. Articles build those even more important top rankings in Google for your chosen keywords. Articles build your online reputation and credibility in the eyes of your visitors.
I was struggling on the web for around three years before I wrote my first article. "10 Reasons To Put RSS On Your Site" which is still on around 8,000 sites around the web.
Writing was always a passion of mine, but it was more on the creative side, although I did work briefly as a reporter for a very small community newspaper. Looking back on it, I believe (perhaps falsely) that I had to gain all those years of experience before I could start writing articles about it.
Which was the totally wrong attitude to take since anyone can research a favorite subject or topic and write a short informative article on it. Most of us have been doing that since grade school - it is the same as writing a report or an essay.
Only with article writing you... more..
|
| Top Ten SEO Myths |
Top Ten SEO Myths
By Andy MacDonald Ever wonder what the biggest SEO myths are? I have taken the most prevalent myths that seem to be constantly resurfacing and examined them for you. This is a must read for anyone looking to hire an SEO firm or someone looking to do SEO for themselves.
Myth # 1: All Meta Tags Are Of Equal Importance
Some Meta tags are useful while others are not. I have stated this many times. Search engines are relying more and more about what is on the website than what the tags are telling them. The description tag is used by some (but not all) search engines. The same goes for the keyword tag. Keyword tags are used more by spammers and people using software to find you as a link partner than the search engines. In my opinion, the only tags you should concentrate your efforts on are the robot tag and the description tags.
Myth # 2: You Should Submit Your Site to Search Engines Weekly or Monthly
Honestly, I nev?submit any site more than 1 time and sometimes I don't even do that. If you submit your site once, you're good. The engines will come back on their own. You can sometimes speed up the process of getting your site indexed by linking it to a high traff?or high PR site. The search engines will find the URL to your site and index it automatically.
Myth # 3: SEO is Too Expensive
Actually, SEO is probably the most cost effective f?of online marketing. Organic SEO is cheaper... more..
|
| Texas Land Sales |
|
Texas Land Sales
The famous idea of the Texas Land Sales is no longer a mystery. Many people have discovered the great benefits that the real estate industry has right now and most of them have chosen those opportunities because they saw fit with their own expectations. The idea is that now it's the perfect time to think about an investment in this area as there are great benefits that come with this decision.
The benefits that arrive with the Texas Land Sales
First of all, people need to take into account that this is an opportunity that implies a long term investment and a lot of patience. There are many solutions that can be implemented in the times that the world is living today, but the Texas Land Sales come for the ones that really want to make a solid profit. The only requirement there is here is to have a little patience when it comes to choosing the perfect moment.
There are several reasons why people should start buying land in the present moment. A first idea here refers to the fact that the recession has made some drastic changes in the real estate industry: many companies have stopped expanding, others have had troubles paying their debts and so on. Those situations have generated the downfall of the real estate market and have made it possible for the value of the land to drop at its lowest point in the past 20 years. That's why the Texas Land Sales sound very promising for many people. The next idea here... more..
|
| Social Networking with Training Wheels |
Social Networking with Training Wheels
By John Jantsch (c) 2008
Look, I don't really think that the mySpaces and Facebooks of the world are that important for the typical small business as they stand today. There may be very practical business reasons for some to actually use these and other, what are called social networks, for business gain, but most people that have jumped on the social network bandwagon have found themselves left with a "is this all there is" kind of feeling.
To those, I say this, the value of the current public social networks for business folks is not what you can get out of them for gain today, but what you can learn by using them for practical gain tomorrow. That's why SpacebookedIn makes sense for you now.
The Facebooks of the world are busy teaching millions and millions of business folks how social networks work, how social networking works, how shared applications can be viral and ever-present. The real payoff in my opinion is that the wave to come after the Facebook bubble bursts is the "personalized business network." Once everyone of your customers and prospects knows how to use what are easily replicatable social networking tools, like building profiles, sharing video and connecting based on mutual interests, your job of building your own social business network around your own very specific community of niche will get a whole lot easier.
2008 will be the year of the personalized social business network. So, if you've decided to take a pass on the whole social networking trend, I would suggest that you use this handy list to start learning... more..
|
| A Perfect Link |
A Perfect Link
By Sharon Housley (c) 2008
Webmasters are given the advice that they must attract links, but the key is not just to attract links... they need to attract good links. But what is the perfect link? The search for the perfect link need not be a quest in vain. Consider the following when attempting to attract links...
1. Related
The best links should come from related websites which contain similar and related content but not the same type of material or content. For example: A link for baby clothing would benefit from a link that discusses baby care.
2. Anchor
The anchor text (the "text" that is used in the link) should include keywords that relate to the topic covered on the web page that is being linked to. Anchor text should be varied; links that all have the same anchor text will appear manipulated and contrived to the search engines. Therefore, the text links should contain a variety of related words.
3. Deep Link
The links should direct visitors to a related page within the website. Do not make the mistake of directing all of the web links to a website's home page. Deep linking, and directing visitors to material that corresponds to content that is closely related to the text link is key. Deep linking appears more natural to search engines, whereas links directing all visitors to a single page or the home page seem unnatural, and could be interpreted as an effort to manipulate search engine ranking.
4. Domain And Page Authority
Search engines trust some websites more than others. Links from "authority" websites... more..
|
| 5 Reasons Why Most Internet Marketers Fail |
5 Reasons Why Most Internet Marketers Fail
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
When it comes to starting any endeavor, whether it be learning a new hobby or starting an online business, we all have to start at ground zero. We all have to start at the very beginning from the very same place. Granted, we each bring different skills and backgrounds into the mix, but for the most part we are all on equal footing at the starting line.
If this is the case, then we really have to ponder why is it only a choice few go on to succeed, while most people don't. Just what are the reasons why most online marketers fail? This is the core question that has to be answered if you want to fully understand Internet marketing and how it works.
What are these basic reasons?
What are the causes or stumbling blocks that hold many marketers and webmasters from reaching their full online potential? If we know these factors, we can learn how to avoid them and even overcome them in our own online marketing. These reasons can be a solid reference point or even a source of inspiration for any online marketer just starting out.
Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who has started from the very beginning with little to no knowledge of computers or even marketing for that matter, I can honestly relate to the beginning marketer. I even had to learn HTML from scratch in order to construct my own webpages. Probably my only advantage, I did have a background in art but designing webpages was completely different from anything I had done previously to starting in online market?.
But from my own experiences I have drawn some general... more..
|
| Postup.com: Sorting Through the Noise of Social Networks |
Postup.com: Sorting Through the Noise of Social Networks
By Merle (c) 2010 MerlesWorld.com
Long before there was Google Adwords it was Overture, and before pay-per-click search engine marketing was even born, there was a website called Goto.com. If you've been marketing products/services online for more than 10 years, you might remember that Goto.com was the original and one-of-a-kind when it came to bidding on keywords and ranking for them in search results.
Fast forward to today, and the same man responsible for Goto, Bill Gross, the team at Idealab and other investors, are attempting to repeat that success with the invention of Postup.com - a concept very similar to Google Adwords, but this time for Twitter and other social networking platforms. When first launched, they were called Tweetup and were just for Twitter, but they've since changed the name and included other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.
It is a self service bid-based marketplace that runs on a patent-pending platform. At the time of this writing, it's just available to those in the U.S. but eventually plans to go international.
The concept is simple really. You sign up, bid on keywords and your posts will appear in Postup's sponsored results when a search is done for that phrase. They'll also appear on a number of particular sites and other Twitter third party apps, such as Twitterfeed and Tweetdeck. Partners also include Answers.com, Seesmic, Popurls, TechCrunch and more. They've also recently purchased Twitdroid, a Twitter app for Android phones.
With the help of multiple distribution channels, Postup's search results will be widespread and viewed by millions. This is a great way to not just display... more..
|
| Landing Pages. What You Need to Explain to your Website Design Company |
Landing Pages. What You Need to Explain to your Website Design Company
By Colette Mason (c) 2010
The definition of a landing page is simply "the first page that visitors hit on your site," so it is not strictly a certain page but any page that a user "lands" on. All websites have landing pages, whether they like it or not, even if it was not specifically designed as such.
Landing pages can have a substantial impact on your e- commerce website. A poorly-developed one can hasten its breakdown just as an effective landing page can drive traffic to your site, respond to calls to action and make your business website a success.
One vital measure of the effectiveness of your website is the "bounce rate," or the percentage of visitors who immediately leave your site without making any other click. The bounce rate is inversely proportional to the effectiveness of the landing page. Basically, this means that a high bounce rate indicates that your landing page isn't compelling enough for the visitor to pursue his interest or take some other action.
Normally, the home page is the primary landing page of most typical websites. But more and more, site owners are designing landing pages outside of the home page, and for good reason.
Most users prefer to skip information which is irrelevant to their needs. They want to get directly to their search, hence the need for a landing page that delivers just that. They can avoid the delays caused by having to click through pages and pages of information when they already have something in mind.
Landing pages serve their purpose when the site owner knows the kind of visitor they are targeting. This is... more..
|
| Shaping Web Audience Preference |
Shaping Web Audience Preference
By Jerry Bader (c) 2009
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you had the power to convince people that your product or service was exactly what they needed, and as a consequence your in-box was filled with inquiries and your e-commerce site was stuffed with orders. Wouldn't that be great? And isn't that exactly what you want to achieve with your website?
The problem is you are part of a giant online bazaar called The Web; and just like your local weekend flea market The Web is filled with crap, conmen, and contraband. Without understanding some of the underlying psychological principles involved in shaping audience preference you are in danger of being regarded as just another mangy flea market hustler, even if what you offer is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The subject of shaping public perception, or in our case Web audience preference, is complex and convoluted but there are basic principles that if followed will help you achieve your business objectives, no matter how you define them.
The Four E-Essentials of Website Presentation
All the Google ads, search engine optimization, linking strategies, social networking, and Twitter twirping will be for naught if you don't implement four essential marketing communication techniques: engage, enlighten, embed, and re-enforce.
These four website presentation elements are easy to grasp but not always easy to implement. If you've read any of our other articles you will know that we think Web-video is the most effective way to implement these elements on your website and in your Web marketing. But just because you use video on your website, doesn't mean it's going to be effective unless you understand the psychology behind the e-essentials.
Perhaps the best way to illustrate how... more..
|
| cabinetry Los Angeles |
|
cabinetry Los Angeles
One of the most important details that can be highlighted on the matter of cabinetry Los Angeles services refers to the idea of great time management. This is because of the fact that after an order has been placed, the service is doing all that it can in order to provide the desired cabinets in a reasonable timeframe.
What more can it be said about the cabinetry Los Angeles services?
First of all, people are looking for services that are designed to work efficiently. This is because of the fact that people hate to be put on hold, regardless of the reason. When a service like the cabinetry Los Angeles service provides them with a high professional assistance in a small amount of time, they will surely share their experience with others and that's what will generate more clients for the company. That's who someone that puts his clients as a priority works.
Another great aspect of the cabinetry Los Angeles services is that it helps the client from the beginning till the end. The process starts in the online environment where the client, right from the comfort of his home, can easily place his order. This means that he or she won't be required to head down in town and lose some precious hours in showrooms and traffic. Things go a lot easier on the internet and that is the method that is being preferred by many different clients.
The next two steps are quite easy because they don't involve the client directly. A team will head down and make the proper measurements and see all the details to where the cabinets will be placed and then they... more..
|
| The Evolution of Online Advertising - Pt 1 |
The Evolution of Online Advertising - Pt 1
By Scott Buresh (c) 2008 Medium Blue
Please bear with me as I go through a brief history of basic online advertising. The evolution of targeted online advertising is interesting, because I believe the perceived harmlessness of early advertising technology and targeting tactics lulled many people into a sense of complacency or perhaps even false security.
In the beginning of targeted online advertising, there were banner ads. As many people recall, these were supposed to drive the Internet marketing industry in its infancy. Scads of publishers paid scads of money based on a CPI (cost per impression) model or simply paid huge dollars for banner ads and other targeted online advertising on well-trafficked sites.
Then something crazy happened - nothing. It turns out that the banner advertising technology on the Internet was not the magic bullet it was purported to be. The old way of making money based on providing content (the way magazines and newspapers ran advertising) just didn't seem to work in this context.
This new advertising technology was part of the reason for the collapse of the dot-bomb era. All the talk was about "eyeballs," "stickiness," "bleeding edge," "cradle to grave," and several other terms that, in retrospect, would have sounded more at home in a Wes Craven movie than in an emerging industry. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of business models depended on a traditional marketing strategy working more or less the same as it always had when introduced into a non-traditional setting.
All the while, one company, originally called GoTo, then Overture, and finally bought by Yahoo!, actually formulated a targeted online advertising... more..
|
| Nine Steps to Social Networking Success |
Nine Steps to Social Networking Success
By Wayne English (c) 2011
Social Networking has taken the world of business by storm. Properly used, it can establish you as an expert in your field, keep you in-touch with customers, sell your products, and market your business or organization. It is an around-the-clock marketing machine that never sleeps.
In our seminars, we are asked how to get started using it. While that is a simple question, it requires detailed understanding of the company, knowledge of business goals, and much more information as well. So, to provide people with meaningful assistance we developed these steps. Be advised that they do not provide answers, but lead you to asking the right questions.
Why? Pertinent questions that apply to your business and situation only are invaluable. And those questions, my friend, are far more valuable to you than their answers. There are people, books, consultants, aplenty to give you answers, but if you don't answer the right questions, where are you? By developing the high quality questions that apply to your business, you will create a social networking campaign that is customized to your specific needs. To be successful, that is essential because your customers, their needs, your employees, your very business is unique. This is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor.
So, treat these steps as guidelines. Reorder them, combine them, delete any that you care to, but please read them all. Number nine you will find particularly interesting as it combines the online world and the offline world. Social networking has been around for hundreds of years. Don't think that it only takes place from your keyboard. Nothing could be further from the truth.
1. Goals... more..
|
| Web Standards, Browsers and Designing For The Future |
Web Standards, Browsers and Designing For The Future
By James Opiko (c) 2006
At present, a vast majority of webmasters are designing for IE (Internet Explorer) 6, which is not as W3C standards compliant as is FireFox, Netscape, Safari and Opera.
In my article - "The importance of sound website design & search spiders to Internet Marketers," I mentioned the importance of a designer being cognizant of the fact that web browser standards are not yet fully harmonized - a web page that looks great in Internet Explorer (6) might look hideous in a Mozilla based browser like FireFox or Netscape.
I also noted that with the explosion of devices with which to serve Internet applications, compliance with W3C standards has become critical.
When the final release for IE 7 for Windows XP, Server 2003 & Vista is launched, hopefully before the end of 2006, the tables will be turned, so to speak.
Internet Explorer 7 will be more standards compliant and your HTML code will be subject to much more rigorous interpretation than is the case with IE 6, consequently some web pages that look fine in IE 6 might not look the same IE 7.
In IE 7 Microsoft has made a solemn effort to fix the browsers acquiescence to W3C standards and CSS(Cascading Style Sheets) compatibility. CSS interpretation as recommended by W3C has been improved tremendously giving designers and developers more leverage in functionality for cross-browser design.
Microsoft asserts that they are taking W3C compatibility issues seriously.
Concisely what this means is that IE 7 will tend to interpret your web page code more scrupulously than before.
Therefore, if you have been designing your pages and have not... more..
|
| Your Website Does not Need A Traditional Call To Action |
Your Website Does not Need A Traditional Call To Action
By Jerry Bader (c) 2008
The other day I received two emails, both with the same question, why didn't we have a direct call to action on our website?
Sales people are taught, you always need 'a call to action,' a request to act or lose the opportun? of a lifetime. I'm sure you've seen the infomercials, website presentations, online direct market? come-ons, and even high-pressure seminar and tradeshow presentations that will never be repeated, so you better act now. You're familiar with the language used: "act now and we'll send you two pieces of junk you don't need, but wait there's more, call in the next ten minutes and we'll add a third useless item."
Does any intelligent person really respond to this kind of pitch, and what self-respecting business would actually behave in this manner? The fact is, if you sell something of value at a reasonable price, and you treat your customers with some respect, you will get your share of business. You may not get all the business, nobody does, but the business you do get, will result in more satisfied customers, more word-of-mouth referrals, and ultimately more sales. High-pressure tactics, and demands for instant commitment, frighten off as many potential clients as they ensnare.
Lies and Statistics
Statistically it may be true that if someone leaves your website without ordering, the chances of them returning to order are low, but as Shakespeare's Cassius said, "the fault, dear Brutus lies not in the stars, but in ourselves." The problem is NOT the customer; it's what you're saying, how... more..
|
| Top 10 Google Search Features for Your Business |
Top 10 Google Search Features for Your Business
By George Muha (c) 2010
The people at Google are truly inspired! They are evolving their search engine into something that can be an incredibly powerful tool for business. There are a zillion things that Google can do for different parts of your business and in this post, I will highlight the top 10 Google search tools that will help your supply chain.
Since Google is just a click away, I think it's a very useful for everybody involved in the supply chain to be aware of how much easier it can make their lives. Everybody from traffic managers, to purchasing people, to accounting people and customer service will likely need to reference what Google can do during the course of the week. There are a lot of people who don't even know all of Google's capabilities. So without further ado, here is your:
Top 10 Google Search Tools That Will Help Your Supply Chain
1. Package Tracking - You can track packages by typing the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS package directly into the search box. Some of the LTL and motor carriers also allow for you to plug in their pro numbers as well. Google will return results that include quick links to easily track the status of your shipment.
Example of what to search for: "1Z9999W9999999999"
2. Time - This is huge when dealing with vendors or customers overseas or across the country. To see the time in many cities world wide, type in "time" and the name of the city.
Example of what to search for: "time London"
3. Currency Conversion - This is cool! To... more..
|
| 19 Effective Offline Advertising Methods for Your Website |
19 Effective Offline Advertising Methods for Your Website
By David Jackson (c) 2011
With the advent of the Internet and the worldwide dominance and prominence of Google, Facebook and Twitter, one could reasonably assume the whole world revolves around the Internet. It doesn't. There's a great big offline universe out there with nearly 6 billion people in it that was here long before the Internet. And if you don't have an offline marketing strategy to reach those billions of people, and complement your online marketing strategy, you're missing out on a significant amount of traffic and income.
Following are 19 affordable and effective offline advertising methods that generate traffic to your website:
1. Bookmarks
Everybody has books in their home - some more than others. But I think that you'll agree, just about everybody owns books. And what better way to get your marketing message in front of readers, than with a bookmark with your company name and website address printed on it? And distribution couldn't be more easy! Simply get a bunch of bookmarks printed up and hand them out to everybody you meet. You can purchase bookmarks imprinted with your company name from Branders.com.
2. College Newspapers
Why market to college students? Because the college market consists of about 15 million people who spend over 120 billion annually. In addition, more than 79% of college students go online at least once a day and over 95% of college students have access to the Internet. (Source: NationwideAdvertising.com)
You can put your marketing message in front of tens of thousands of college students at an affordable price. You can get started by contacting more..
|
| Web Development Los Angeles |
|
Web Development Los Angeles
What are the Web Development Los Angeles services and how can they help a business in these harsh times that the world is living today. There are many different opinions on this matter, as some agree to the use of such services, others think that it's a waste of time. The reality is that, with the proper knowledge, things can only go up.
The rise of the Web Development Los Angeles services
First of all, people need to take into consideration two aspects. One refers to the idea that the online environment is one of the most powerful tools there is when it comes to reaching your potential audience. The other one refers to the fact that it's a lot cheaper to invest in this area rather than use any other forms of publicity. These aspects cannot be contested by anyone. This is one of the best arguments in favor of the Web Development Los Angeles services.
Another great issue in this matter here is linked with the idea of being unique. Such services encourage their clients to be as unique as possible when it comes to showing off on the market. There are so many competitors available out there, that it makes it hard for one to come up with other concepts in their business. The Web Development Los Angeles services talk about... more..
|
| 25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site (Part 1) |
25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site (Part 1)
. . . Using ideas that cover at least 25 different
industries! By Robin Nobles We've known for a long time that quality matters to Google. In a post Senior Google Engineer Matt Cutts made to his blog, "quality" was mentioned several times as being important to Google. Quality matters when it comes to content, and it matters when it comes to links.
However, building content and links doesn't have to be painful. Web site owners tend to think of content in a very limited way.
So, let's open up our creative minds and think of all sorts of ways of adding quality content to a Web site.
A few things to remember:
- You're only confined by the boundaries you set for yourself and your Web site. Allow yourself to think in a totally different way than you've thought before.
- Your Web site content should be written for your buying customers . . . not for you. Your Web site content should not be written for the search engines. The search engines are not your target audience.
- Think of the overall picture of your site, as if it were a living, breathing entity. After all, Web sites should continue to grow on a constant basis and nev?be stale or stagnant.
Let's Get into the Fun Stuff: Quality Content for Your
Target Audience
1. A calendar of events. This is ideal for sites like real estate sites to show upcoming open houses; book stores to promote upcoming book signings or writers' meetings; collectors' sites to show meetings across the country, etc. Be sure to allow visitors... more..
|
| How to Fire up Your Link Building Skills |
How to Fire up Your Link Building Skills
By Jeremy Morgan (c) 2008
You know you need inbound links to your site to succeed in SEO. What you may not know is, you don't need to spend a dime to get them. In fact, I would advise you not to purchase links.
The recent Google shakeup is all about paid links. Stop paying for links now! Google is now "punishing" websites for having paid links, because they feel it's cheating the algorithm. You might be upset by this, but they are doing it to improve the quality of their results. Here is how you can take advantage of it.
Google is moving towards algorithms that favor sites that are "naturally" linked to. What is "natural" linking? These are links that a webmaster puts up because he or she wanted to, not because they were paid to. They saw something they liked, and put a link to it. This means all those shady SEOs who were buying links up by the hundreds can't cheat good sites out of the rankings anymore. So how you do get natural links?
Focus on Your Subject
There is a saying in marketing, if you market to everyone, you are marketing to no one. Maintain your focus, and keep your content within your niche. Don't try to spread yourself too thin.
I personally have been guilty of this sin in the past. At one time JeremyMorgan.com had SEO articles, PHP scripts, Ford Mustang News and photoshop tutorials, and pictures of my family and locations back home. Needless to say I didn't really dominate any of those... more..
|
| Google's Supplemental Index - What You Need To Know |
Google's Supplemental Index - What You Need To Know
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2007 If you run an online website or business you have probably already heard about Google's Supplemental Index. You may have even heard it being referred to as Google's Gulag, Google's Digital Dungeon, or the moniker that seems to have stuck: Google Hell.
Hate it or love it, webmasters are passionate about the big G. There's no argument on that point for one good reason: Google simply delivers the most search engine traff?on the web. For any webmaster with at least a few white SEO connected brain cells Google can supply 60% or more of their traff?
Therefore, suddenly getting the majority of your pages thrown into Google's Supplemental Index can result in a correlating drop in business. A few examples of this were reported in a recent Forbes article by Andy Greenberg entitled "Condemned To Google Hell".
It recounts how two online jewelry businesses lost traff?and sal?by having their pages falling into Google's Supplemental Index. They speculated on what had caused this to happen: duplicate content? buying links?
Matt Cutts, Google's main spokesperson (some say pacifier) to worried webmasters everywhere, responded in his own blog: "Having urls in the supplemental results doesn't mean that you have some sort of penalty at all; the main determinant of whether a url is in our main web index or in the supplemental index is PageRank."
However, regardless of what Google maintains, being in the supplemental results is not a good thing for any webmaster or business. Just the fact it's called a supplemental index means it's not as important as the main index. This index is seen... more..
|
| Protecting Your Search Engine Rankings |
Protecting Your Search Engine Rankings
By Charles Preston
Your website's ranking on search engines is a vital element of your overall marketing campaign, and there are ways to improve your link popularity through legitimate methods. Unfortunately, the Internet is populated by bands of dishonest webmasters seeking to improve their link popularity by faking out search engines. The good news is that search engines have figured this out, and are now on guard for "spam" pages and sites that have increased their rankings by artificial methods. When a search engines tracks down such a site, that site is demoted in ranking or completely removed from the search engine's index.
The bad news is that some high quality, completely above-board sites are being mistaken for these web page criminals. Your page may be in danger of being caught up in the "spam" net and tossed from a search engine's index, even though you have done nothing to deserve such harsh treatment. But there are things you can do - and things you should be sure NOT to do - which will prevent this kind of misperception.
Link popularity is mostly based on the quality of sites you are linked to. Google pioneered this criteria for assigning website ranking, and virtually all search engines on the Internet now use it. There are legitimate ways to go about increasing your link popularity, but at the same time, you must be scrupulously careful about which sites you choose to link to. Google frequently imposes penalties on sites that have linked to other sites solely for the purpose of artificially boosting their link popularity. They have actually labeled these links "bad neighborhoods."
You can raise a toast to the fact that you cannot... more..
|
| EMR |
|
EMR
The medical industry has greatly developed in the last couple of years, fact that has lead to many improvements to the systems that were designed to help doctors and patients alike. The EMR is such a system and its benefits are very important to the needs of the patients.
The great thing about the EMR system
First of all, modern hospitals need to take into consideration the fact that they need to serve the patient?s needs with efficiency and great response. This means that the system that they use need to be adjusted to those qualities. The EMR system brings forth the idea that, by using the technology in favor of the patients.
One of the great benefits of such an implementation is the amount of space that is save when it comes to storing information on the patients. Think about how hospitals used to store data on patients 5 years ago. There were huge drawers holding too many files and often they got lost and valuable information was lost with them as well. By implementing an EMR system, you are basically avoiding all the problems that might occur when it comes to trying to find a piece of information in a very small amount of time.
Another great idea in this matter is the amount of time that is being spared when accessing the system. Here you are encouraged to think about how long it took the clerk to dig through various files and come across... more..
|
| Texas Land Sales |
|
Texas Land Sales
It's really interesting how people see the real estate industry these days. There are so many opinions and experiences here that's really hard to be objective when it comes to deciding if investing in this area is such a good idea. Some are scared, some are eager, some understand and others don't. But one thing stands clear, this is a field that has a lot to say, if properly heard.
The idea of the Texas Land Sales
Many people would think that it's suicide to invest in a field so heavily affected by the recession and its repercussions. But, things are a little bit different if properly observed. In terms of money, the prices have gone way down. The Texas Land Sales are considered to be very profitable now, than that were given in the year of 2008 or 2009. This is due to the differences between the financial periods and most importantly, this is due to the low rate of demands when it comes to lands. Companies don't have money to develop their business, individuals don't have money as well to try and have a business approach in this direction. The developers in the real estate industry need to make something in order for the things to actually work and that's why the value of the land is currently standing at the down side of the line.
This means that the Texas Land Sales are just the opportunities that one will be searching when it comes to making an investment now. How can it bring money in the future? The answer lies in a basic logical answer: there are many indicators that point to the healing of the world from the recession and all of its... more..
|
| Tactics to Draw People Back to Your Site |
Tactics to Draw People Back to Your Site
By Jeremy A Gislason (c) 2009
One of the biggest measurements of a website's success is the stickiness of its visitor base. Generally web masters would rather have 1,000 visitors who return regularly (they are "stuck to the site") as opposed to 3,000 visitors who only visit once or twice. These days the web is massive, carving out a niche for your site and gaining a following within that niche is the key to success.
There are many reasons why you should try to make your website as sticky as possible. Visitors who return regularly are more likely to purchase some of your products or content. If you have a membership site, then retaining your member base is critical for growing your ?ome and long term success. Also, a faithful following will encourage viral promotion of your site.
Search engine optimization can be a costly and time consuming task and your site's listing can be hammered down by the powers that be (Google) in the blink of an eye. If you gain a faithful user base though, they will tell their friends and family about your site and encourage them to use it as well. Viral marketing is the cheapest and most effective type of marketing there is and making your site and content desirable is the only way to achieve this phenomenon. There are "five C's" of stickiness to remember, and they are:
Content
Regardless of the site's design, without good content, the visitor will not come back or stay at the site for more than a few minutes. "Content is King" is a clich?but true. High quality content is far and away the most important... more..
|
| Are Your Ears Burning? - 20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing |
Are Your Ears Burning? - 20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing
By Merle (c) 2010 MerlesWorld
Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter make it easy for people to come together and share opinions, experiences and thoughts on a number of topics. Smart companies understand this and are using the power of social media to connect and inform their customers, and potential customers. Referred to as "Social Media Marketing", it's a smart way to open the lines of communication between you and your prospects.
Social media activities run the gamut from Blogging, micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social networking communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, video and music uploading sites, discussion forums, photo sharing and more. With so many different sites and ways to participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all your efforts.
Participating in social media doesn't take a lot of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses want to know that all of this investment in time is paying off. Before launching a campaign, you should have a firm grasp on what it is you're trying to accomplish. Is it increasing website traffic? Getting more ezine subscribers? Having more people download your free ebook or whitepaper? Or maybe you just want to work on your company's brand image. Whatever it is, you need to have a plan. As the old saying goes, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there". Have your game plan intact before getting started in marketing yourself, or your company with social media.
There are many different forms of social media, so it's impossible to use them all. Pick three or... more..
|
| Small Events Spell Seismic Shifts in Search |
Small Events Spell Seismic Shifts in Search
By Jim Hedger (c) 2006
I am going to step way out on a limb. I suspect, and am willing to propose; this short period is a major transition point in the history of search. I'm marking it in my archive, if only because a niece or nephew of mine might study economics and ask about it one day. A number of events over the past three weeks have set in motion a chain of events that will unfold over the remaining months of 2006, setting the stage for a bizarre and highly fluid 2007.
On or about November 1, 2006, three interesting press releases found their ways into my inbox. While meditating over them with Hypertext The Cat (she who watches like vulture) and a cup of coffee, it occurred to me that Nov 1 was a watershed day in the history of online advertising.
The first news item is extremely important for organic search and for information distribution in general. Ask and Lycos announced an alliance with Ask providing the organic, image and sponsored search results for Lycos users and Lycos pushing Ask search products. While the vast majority of search analysts will likely see this as the least important development in the first week of November, the combination of up-and-coming Ask with the old but still popular property Lycos signals a small shift in the search engine landscape.
"We selected Ask.com over other providers because of its great search technology and tools like Zoom related search, which cannot be found on other engines," said Brian Kalinowski, CEO of Lycos, in a press statement. "By partnering with Ask.com, we aim to deliver... more..
|
| Search Engine Promotion - No Strategy. No Success |
Search Engine Promotion - No Strategy. No Success
By Frederick Townes Whether you're planning the launch of your first site, or wondering why your site counter is actually moving backward, stop. You need a strategy to promote your site to search engines and to visitors. A plan of action based on five key factors, all of which should be weighed carefully before you take another step. Here are the five, most important considerations in the development of any search engine promotion.
1. The Site's Objectives
What are your expectations for the website? These will usually point you to the site's objectives. In the case of commercial sites, the broad objective is straightforward ? to sell enough goods and/or services to become profitable.
However, you might also want to educate, motivate, persuade and inform in addition to, or instead of, selling. A top-down analysis of your site's objectives is the place to start the development of your action plan.
Once you've determined the site's objectives, keep them front and center during the entire development of an SE promo strategy. It's important that any search engine understand your site's objectives on the very first spider visit.
2. Market Analytics
Essential. Who are you trying to reach ? your sal?demographic? What do the members of your demographic need? How do they make purchase decisions? Are they computer savvy? Critical to the design and implementation of a search engine promo strategy is to know your market.
And the best place to learn is from the competition. Pull a Google on the competition to see how the successful sites do it. Perfectly ethical and a measurable,... more..
|
| Google Caffeine - A Taste Test |
Google Caffeine - A Taste Test
By Kalena Jordan (c) 2009
Earlier this month, Google invited the public to take their next generation of web search, code named Caffeine, for a test drive.
The new search infrastructure is the beginning of Google's advance towards improving indexing speed and scale as the size of the web grows increasingly cumbersome. Google is seeking feedback on the changes from experienced users and web developers by making Caffeine available via a web developer preview.
From the official blog post:
"It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits 'under the hood' of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences."
What Is It?
According to Matt Cutts of Google, Caffeine is essentially a rewrite of the search index and it roughly compares with the Big Daddy index of late 2005 / 2006. In other words, it's a BIG change to Google search.
Here's a couple of grabs from Mike McDonald's video interview with Matt Cutts on the subject:
"We're shooting to get results identical to previous version. We'll open up a few datacenters with it first and then roll it out."
"Caffeine will be more powerful, flexible and robust - allowing Google to index faster."
"(Caffeine) builds a powerful foundation for including any changes we want to do with indexing. Not so much for taking advantage of semantic, real-time indexing, but for getting good infrastructure in place for growth and unlock more power."
"Webmasters shouldn't be concerned. Caffeine does not affect your... more..
|
| The 10 Commandments of Press Releases |
The 10 Commandments of Press Releases
By Bill Stoller, Publisher (c) 2007
In baseball, it's said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you nev?notice his presence. If he's doing his job, he won't call attention to himself in any way. It's much the same for the writer of a press release. When the recipient of a release focuses only on its content -- and not on its creation -- the writer has succeeded. With that in mind, here's The 10 Commandments of Press Releases:
1. Thou Shalt Be Professional.
No goofy fonts, rainbow paper or silly gimmicks. Even lighthearted press releases represent a communication between one professional and another.
2. Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional.
If you can't get enough objective distance from your company to write a press release that's not filled with hype and puffery, hire someone to write it for you.
3. Thou Shalt Not Be Boring.
Even the driest subject matter allows for some sparks of creativity. Journalists like knowing that there's a human being communicating with them, not some corporate robot.
4. Thou Shalt Be Brief.
Learn to cut out extraneous words. Keep your sentences short. Include only the points necessary to sell the story. The well-crafted one page press release is a thing of beauty.
5. Thou Shalt Know Thy Recipient.
A features or lifestyle editor is a very different creature from a city desk editor. If you're promoting the opening of a new winery, the food and wine editor may be interested in all the details about what kind of aging process and... more..
|
| Predicting Search Engine Algorithm Changes |
Predicting Search Engine Algorithm Changes
By John Metzler
With moderate search engine optimization knowledge, some common sense, and a resourceful and imaginative mind, one can keep his or her web site in good standing with search engines even through the most significant algorithm changes. The recent Google update of October/November 2005, dubbed "Jagger", is what inspired me to write this, as I saw some web sites that previously ranked in the top 20 results for extremely competitive keywords suddenly drop down to the 70th page. Yes, the ebb and flow of search engine rankings is nothing to write home about, but when a web site doesn't regain many ranking spots after such a drop it can tell us that the SEO done on the site may have had some long-term flaws. In this case, the SEO team had not done a good job predicting the direction a search engine would take with its algorithm.
Impossible to predict, you say? Not quite. The ideas behind Google's algorithm come from the minds of fellow humans, not supercomputers. I'm not suggesting that it's easy to "crack the code" so to speak because the actual math behind it is extremely complicated. However, it is possible to understand the general direction that a search engine algorithm will take by keeping in mind that any component of SEO which is possible to manipulate to an abnormal extent will... more..
|
| The Importance of Website Conversion |
The Importance of Website Conversion
By Scott Buresh (c) 2009 Medium Blue
Many companies make the mistake of spending money in areas where it's not necessary. Take, for example, companies pumping marketing dollars into increasing traffic on the website. It's great to get more traff? but that is just the first step. Now you need that traffic to do something.
Website Conversion Defined
The percentage of total visitors who come to the website, follow through after clicking on the company's desired point of action (POA) and submit information, download a demo, make a purchase, etc. is the definition of website conversion. In an e-commerce application, multiple visitors will add items to their shopping carts, but a smaller percentage will actually make the purchase. The percentage of visitors that complete the transaction signifies the conversion rate for the website. In a lead-generating application, multiple visitors will follow a path that you desire for them to follow (at first), but will not complete the form, download, etc. The percentage that does signifies the conversion rate.
In order to boost the website conversion rate, companies need to determine why potential customers drop out at certain points in the process and eliminate these roadblocks in order to improve sales. Clearly defined POAs, intuitive navigation, and simple checkout processes all make it easier for potential customers to buy, contact, download, or whatever else it is that you want them to do that will lead to a sale.
Point of Action
Basically, the POA on your website is what you want visitors to do initially. Many websites will have more than one POA, so POAs... more..
|
| Should Small Businesses Invest In SEO During A Recession? |
Should Small Businesses Invest In SEO During A Recession?
By Mike Tekula (c) 2008
These are tough times, no doubt. The pinch is on every business to cut unnecessary costs and improve efficiency. Those businesses that were squeaking by to begin with are now in danger of closing their doors.
Advertising is usually one of the first items on the chopping block (though it shouldn't be). You've got to cut costs, and you certainly don't want to lay off any employees if you can help it, so you start looking a bit more closely at your marketing budget to see where you can rein in ad spending. It's a natural reaction to a tightening budget, and there is a good reason for it.
Most business owners know that you need to advertise. Sure, word of mouth is great - there's nothing like a referral from a happy client to instill trust in a prospect - but you still need to be proactive in getting the word out. The trouble with advertising in the traditional sense is that it is difficult to know whether your efforts are working and what is generating the best value for your dollar. The uncertainty makes it hard to keep throwing money into your ad spend. When your budget tightens it is even harder to justify the cost when the benefits are fuzzy at best.
But marketing on the web is different. The costs are lower, return on investment can be much higher and traffic data allows you to chop out the dead wood and optimize your budget. Search engines are a primary driver of traffic on the web... more..
|
| Internet Marketing Tactics For These Tough Times |
Internet Marketing Tactics For These Tough Times
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
As we enter into what many enlightened souls are calling the most dire economic times since the Great Depression, online marketers need all the help they can get - regardless of the source. You have probably heard of Google; but chances are almost 100% certain, you have never heard of me. Lucky you!
Actually, the only thing you need to know about me is that I am a full-time online affiliate marketer and I make a very comfortable living from the web. Last year (2008), was my best year online so far, which left me scratching my head and saying what recession?
But that may be something of a false positive, as I will never know how much I could have made if the economic times had been good instead of bad. Plus, judging from my own limited experience, selling and marketing online may not have been hit as hard as those businesses in the real world in 2008, since consumers are doing everything to save a penny and shopping online has become a much cheaper alternative for many.
As we enter into these uncertain times, online marketers and webmasters need all the help they can get. Recently, Google mailed a small booklet to its Adsense users; in it Google gives "6 Top Tactics For Tough Times." It is obviously referring to its Adwords PPC (Pay Per Click) program and clients but Google's advice can be applied to your general online market?.
These tactics include: (quoting directly from the Google mail-out)
1. Focus your ads on low prices and sav?s.
2. Use Value-related keywords.
3.... more..
|
| 4 Quick Ways to Build Quality One-Way Links |
|
4 Quick Ways to Build Quality One-Way Links
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
Obtaining one-way quality links is often cited as the "Holy Grail" of online success. Especially if you take the SEO route for getting high rankings for all your profitable keywords in the search engines. It's no wonder then, achieving top spots for valuable and popular keywords should be the ultimate goal of any webmaster or online marketer.
How well you do in this "link quest" will largely determine the success or failure of your site or online business. Assuming of course, you're going after free organic traffic from the search engines and not using Pay Per Click or other means of succeeding online.
Link building and achieving top placements in the search engines (especially Google) has been my main objective for over ten years of online market?. Over the years, I have tried hundreds, if not thousands of link building methods in order to get those links. I would like to discuss briefly some of those methods and then explain in full detail my four favorite and most effective proven ways to get quality one-way links.
First, some general tips on how you should approach your link building from the get-go. You must realize the web is based on content; web surfers/users are looking for quality content. If you can supply valuable content that surfers want, you will build your links naturally. People will see your content and want to link to it. This process is often referred to as link baiting - you make your... more..
|
| RTA Cabinets Ventura |
|
RTA Cabinets Ventura
What are the RTA Cabinets Ventura services and why is it important for home owners to be aware of them? The answer to these questions lies in the need that people have to search for kitchen furniture. There are many choices that are available out there and some of these choices are designed to be in the best interest of the customer.
The interest of the RTA Cabinets Ventura services
First of all, people need to get acquainted with what RTA means. It is an acronym for the words: ready to assemble. This means that the RTA cabinets Ventura models are designed to help the client with the order that he has placed and not waste valuable time on crafting the cabinets on his own. The process is quite simple and it takes a small amount of time for a client to admire the newly bought cabinets in his own kitchen.
The very first thing that one should do if interested in the RTA cabinets Ventura models is to log online and find the best model that suits his needs, his style and taste and his pockets. There are models which are designed to go with futuristic styles and there are some which are available for the houses that have a more antique design. It really depends on the tastes of the clients and on what he or she wants for his home.
After figuring out which is the best choice for his kitchen, the client needs to... more..
|
| Google's 0.02% Spin Solution |
Google's 0.02% Spin Solution
By Jim Hedger (c) 2007
Last week, Google made a startling claim, one that begs explanation even after close examination. Faced with lingering quest?s about cl? fraud, Google released a blog post stating actual cl? fraud charges are ridiculously lower than those projected by third party analysts from the search marketing community.
According to Google, actual cl? fraud only accounts for 0.02% of all cl? activity found when Google's team is asked to audit an advertiser's account. If correct, Google's 0.02% assertion places the perceived dollar value of actual cl? fraud in their system somewhere in the range of $2,100,000.
In a post to the Inside AdWords blog, "Invalid Clicks - Google's Overall Numbers", Google gave a brief outline of how it claims AdWords' 100+ data-point cl? detection system works to filter out 99.98% of the nearly 10% of overall clicks Google determines to be invalid.
Other industry analysts have pegged the number between 15% and 20% with the cl? fraud index maintained by Cl? Forensics suggesting, "The average cl? fraud rate of Pay Per Cl? advertisements appearing on search engine content networks was 19.2 percent for Q4."
Google has nev?given specific figures citing how much of the PPC-traffic they filter is caught and disregarded as invalid cl? activity saying it fluctuates from month to month but is below 10%. Though evidence of these clicks might appear in server logs or be noted as cl? fraud by third party analysts, Google says it does not charge for them. In the absence of a fee charged to an advertiser, the most such invalid cl? activity can be called is attempted fraud.
On one... more..
|
| Key Marketing Methods For 2008 |
Key Marketing Methods For 2008
By Sam Law and Julian Stone (c) 2007 ProWorkFlow
ProActiveSoftware - Julian101.com (c) 2007
Isn't online market? by definition, expensive? Not necessarily. Online businesses are coming to the realization that in an organic environment like the Internet, organic marketing is required; paying for traditional or static marketing only gets you so far before it becomes ineffective. The consumer now controls your marketing.
What is Wrong With the Old Methods?
Old marketing methods are failing because users are beginning to wise up (Rise Up) against the old brute force advertising that tries to win users over through sheer volume, using abrasive web-page banners, unrelated Adwords displayed on the page, or repeated newsletters (most being restricted by anti-spam laws).
The old methods no longer work effectively for two key reasons. One is the fact that they are a "flash in the pan", directing users to websites only so long as you continue to pay for the campaign, the second reason is consumers are now at the stage where they either ignore them or go out of their way to block them (with plug-in based browser or email filtering).
Let's quickly run through some of the "traditional" ways to market on the web, and their failings.
- Paid Campaigns - (These only work while active) Paid campaigns may lure people to your site, but they are regularly not your target market and after arriving they promptly leave (High "bounce" rate).
- Banner Ads - People hate banner ads. Most of the ads on the Internet are loathed because they aren't relevant. Seeing a banner for a better ?urance rate... more..
|
| The 10 Week SEO Diet |
The 10 Week SEO Diet
A SPN Exclusive Article By Kalena Jordan (c) 2011
So you've noticed that your competitor's site ranks higher than your site on Google for *yellow widgets,* even though you are the premier widget provider in your area.
So what are you going to do about it? You're going to take back control of the search results, that's what!
You don't need to be proficient at SEO or hire a Search Engine Optimizer to make a difference to your search engine rankings. There are several easy steps you can take that can make an immediate difference to your site's visibility.
Here's a 10 Week SEO Plan that will quickly put your site on the path to higher rankings:
Week 1 - Verify Your Site With the Big 3 Search Engines
If you want to understand how search engines interact with your site and find potential issues before they impact your traffic, you really need to verify your site and sitemaps with the big 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) and monitor your stats regularly.
Start by registering your site with Google Webmaster Tools. This is easy. Simply create an account and verify your site by uploading a small piece of code to your server for Google to find. Then create a XML sitemap of all your site pages and upload it via your Webmaster Tools account.
The amount of information this gives you about how search engines interact with your site is truly mind-blowing. Once you've gone through this process, you'll be able to check:
- how many pages Google has... more..
|
| How Blogs Can Break or Make Your SEO Strategy |
How Blogs Can Break or Make Your SEO Strategy
By Jon Rognerud
Blogs are a great way to get started authoring content and sharing your knowledge and insights with other people. Plus, mix work and play - and you can get rich doing this.
You don't have to be an MBA-accredited author by any means. However, there are some rules to play by, and I'll break those out below. We will talk about the top blogs, practicalities around blogs and creative ways to get started, including how you could possibly ruin your good-standing ranking and having to change your Search Engine Optimization strategy.
Blogs - Structure and Layout
I work in the field of Search Engine Optimization. It has a wide range of options, from the technical to the more strategic. Tons of discussions are found on off-page and on-page factors, latent semantic analysis, content scope, quality, HTML/CSS development, site navigational structure, spamdexing, 301 redirects, plagiarism, link strategies, directories, blogs, search engine news, email marketing tips & online (internet) marketing. Most all of the top 10 SEO firms out there agree that blogs are a "must" for driving traff?and to get established in the Internet community.
There is a right way, and a wrong way. We'll discuss these below.
Be warned - too many folks out there are thinking about "how to outbeat the search engines" and use the latest-and-greatest (blogs) to elevate their rankings, essentially via content and blog sp@m. Blogs are a powerful way to get seen by the search bots. Blogger (Google's own) is an important key to the puzzle, but there are many.
The Un-Official Top 7... more..
|
| Top 14 Benefits of Social Media Marketing |
Top 14 Benefits of Social Media Marketing
By Wendy Suto (c) 2011
There's a lot of fuss surrounding social media these days. If you still haven't jumped on the bandwagon and aren't sure why so many people are making such a big deal about it, here are 14 benefits of social media for your business and you from Success magazine.
For Business:
Establish a Brand and Raise Awareness
Since the majority of the population is already visiting social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, getting your brand name all over those networks can help let people know that you're around. If you have yet to create a company image online, social networks are the place to do it.
Create a fun YouTube video that entertains and informs. Funny videos tend to make their way around the Internet a lot faster than any other kind, so when making a video, keep in mind that you want it to be interesting enough for your target audience to want to share. Using Facebook and Twitter to create a fun online community that your customers will want to visit will boost brand loyalty and drive traffic to your Website, allowing you the chance to make more online sales.
Spy on the Competition
Follow your competitors on Twitter and Facebook and you'll be able to see what they have up their sleeve. Just make sure to provide a better deal than whatever they have going on.
Pitch Products in a More Human, Interactive Way
Since people visit social media sites to get personal rather than be bombarded with ads, discuss your business in a fun way and engage your customers with questions. Ask... more..
|
| In the click: want all the right people to notice your business? You Need SEO! |
In the click: want all the right people to notice your business? You Need SEO!
You can't resist the temptation. Fixated on your computer screen, you anxiously type keywords relevant to your business into your favorite search engine. A list of search results appears. You cringe as you spot several competitors, then grumble because your company's Web site is nowhere to be seen. Where is it? That depends. Where is your search engine marketing strategy?
Gone are the days when adding keywords in meta tags to your site produced rankings. Search engine marketing has evolved into a complex and competitive program. It's also profitable--according to a March 2003 report by Piper Jaffray senior research analyst Safa Rashtchy, online search is the most cost-effective direct-marketing method. The average cost per lead from search is 29 cents, far less than e-mail (50 cents), the Yellow Pages ($1.18), banner ads ($2.00) and direct mail ($9.94).
Gather your Web design and marketing staff; both teams are required. Understanding search engine marketing basics will help your team execute a strategy in-house or outsource it to specialists. The sooner your site is visible for relevant keywords, the sooner future customers will find your company.
HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK?
Many business owners are unaware that search engines feed their results to each other. For example, if you type a keyword into MSN Search on Microsoft's consumer information and entertainment site (www.msn.com), the Web site listings displayed could be from Inktomi, Microsoft or Overture. Overture provides search results not only to MSN Search, but also to AltaVista and Yahoo! Could a top site on Overture then appear as a top site on a distribution partner's site? Yes. Unfortunately, these distribution relationships change frequently, making it difficult to... more..
|
| Top 10 Tools to TurboCharge Your Marketing |
|
Top 10 Tools to TurboCharge Your Marketing
By Donna Gunter (c) 2005
Most business owners hate the entire marketing process. I find marketing to be an energizing exercise to showcase my creativity, however, and enjoy it -- when I do it. However, I fall into the same trap as mill?s of other small business owners -- I'm so busy with clients (my profit-generating days) that I often push aside my marketing (my business development days).
So, to aid me in my marketing efforts, I try and "get the most bang for the buck" out of what I actually end up doing -- and try to do that with a minimal amount of effort. These are 10 tools that I use in my marketing efforts that help me turbocharge my marketing:
1. Assessment Generator: Like to create an interactive survey or assessment that will help your visitor learn something about his/her life or business? With Assessment Generator, you can create online assessments that you can post to your website to increase your traff?and attract more clients.
2. AudioAcrobat: AudioAcrobat makes audio streaming fast and simple, whether you want to add an audio greeting or audio test?nials to your website or send out an audio postcard or record a teleclass.
3. Ezine Director: Ezine Director is a great service for creating, mailing and reporting back on the success of yournewsletter. I love to be able to see how many readers opened my newsletter, who opened the newsletter, and what links they clicked on from the newsletters. EzineDirector offers the service fr?of charge if you send out less than 249 emails per month.
4. FreeAudioConferencing.com: Ever need to meet with colleagues, associates or even family members at a distance but don't want to do it... more..
|
| Avoid These 5 Useless Website Promotion Techniques |
Avoid These 5 Useless Website Promotion Techniques
A SPN Exclusive Article By Tremel Ennis (c) 2010
Every owner of a website on planet Earth knows that getting a constant flow of traffic is the key to making money online. The world wide web attracts such a massive number of buyers that regardless of what you sell, you will make some really good money when you have lots of traffic.
Internet marketers are constantly coming up with newer ways to expand their reach across the Internet because no website can survive without enough specific traffic. In their quest to obtain more of the elusive traffic, the website marketers have come up with some rather creative ways to bring in greater amounts of traffic in a short period of time and with little effort.
My email inbox has been flooded with sales letters promoting some automated software or seldom used secret that promises an explosion of website visitors within 30 days. The disturbing part of all this is that it goes against the teaching of our early years; that nothing good comes easy and there is no quick path to building a successful business. As a result of these promises of abundant website traffic and exploding sales figures, many have abandoned those time tested methods of attracting real targeted website visitors that are prepared to take some kind of action. Keep in mind that website traffic isn't something that you can just get, but visitors will come to your website when you have something to provide, enticing them to click on your link.
Too many people are cashing in on... more..
|
| ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles |
|
ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles
There are many different opinions regarding the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models and how they are or aren't beneficial to the people. Some say that it's great to have things done and ready at your doorstep, but others contradict with the idea that the possibilities from which you can choose are quite limited. There are still other details that should be highlighted here in order to determine which side is right.
The right side of the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles services
First of all, the matter of tastes cannot be discussed: if someone likes something, he or she cannot be argued about his choice. It's just how the way things are and that's that. But the relevant part here is the fact that the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models are designed to satisfy even the most extravagant of tastes. There are so many models, textures and colors that can be chosen for a kitchen, that it takes some serious hours to pick something up. Another great aspect about the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models and its diversities is that they suite almost any style that the other side of the house might have. This means that if you have a futuristic influenced home, you can choose something that best fits with... more..
|
| Google's First Page... Guaranteed? |
Google's First Page... Guaranteed?
A SPN Exclusive Article By David Jackson (c) 2012
A couple of weeks ago, I visited one of the Internet Marketing/Small Business forums that I'm a member of, and noticed a new member had posted a typical newbie question in the SEO forum. The member wanted to know how she could be guaranteed to get her website on the first page of Google. As usual, members came crawling out of the woodwork with advice - including members who didn't even own a website.
Unfortunately, that's pretty typical on Internet Marketing/Small Business forums... members who don't own a website instructing other members how to get on the first page of Google... members who don't own a business dispensing business advice. So be careful where you get your advice from... but I digress.
Not surprisingly, not a single member responded with the correct answer. And what is the correct answer? The correct answer is there is NO magic bullet that will assure a first page ranking on Google. Nev?has been, nev?will be. By the same token, NO reputable SEO company will promise first page rankings.
By the way, this isn't the first time I've written about this topic. In my article How to Choose a Reputable SEO Company I wrote the following:
"No SEO company can guarantee you a first page or top 10 ranking. I repeat: NO SEO company can guarantee you a first page or top 10 ranking. Here's why: There are far too many variables involved in the ranking of a website - not the least of which are... more..
|
| The Google Goal Of Indexing 100 Billion Web Pages |
The Google Goal Of Indexing 100 Billion Web Pages
By Danny Wirken
Google's Goal of Quality Search
In their paper 'The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine' it is very evident that Google's goal has always been to be one of the best search engines there is in terms of the quality of the results it gives. Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, however knew that in order to do this, Google needed to be able to store information efficiently and cost effectively and to have excellent crawling, indexing, and sorting methods or techniques. Google not only aimed to give quality results but to produce the results as fast as possible.
Google started as a high quality search engine and continues to be the best search engine today. It has managed to stay true to its original intent to be a search engine that not only crawls and indexes the web efficiently but also a search engine that produces more satisfying results in comparison to other existing search engines. To stay true to the goal of providing the best search results, Google knew right from the start that it had to be designed so that the search engine could catch up with the web's growth. According to Brin and Page "In designing Google we have considered both the rate of growth of the Web and technological changes. Google is designed to scale well to extremely large data sets. It makes efficient use of storage space to store the index". They knew that they needed much space to store an ever growing index.
Google's index size, which started out as 24 million web pages, was large for its... more..
|
| Ten Things to Avoid When Running an SEO Campaign |
Ten Things to Avoid When Running an SEO Campaign
By Ian D Spencer (c) 2011
There are plenty of SEO companies and consultants on the Internet that can help you out and plenty of free forums and guides that will give you the basics. Even if you do decide to use the skills and expertise of an SEO firm, it is still important that you at least know the basics of SEO so that you can also work with the company to make the results even better.
There are loads of things that you need to be doing within an SEO campaign, but there are also some things that you REALLY must avoid and we take a look at some of these below with our top ten things to avoid when running an SEO campaign.
Waiting Too Long - One of the biggest mistakes most people make is waiting too long to even begin an SEO campaign. If you have a website you should be running some kind of SEO, no matter how y? the site is because a good campaign can help to get a higher ranking in the early days.
Targeting Competitive Keywords - If you sell houses then the chances of you getting to the top of Google for the keyword "houses" are going to be slim, to say the least. If you are working in an extremely competitive market, then you need to look outside of the box and start looking at easier keywords that you can rank for, because realistically, it is going to take a lot of time, effort... more..
|
| Give Your Site a 10-Point Legal Check-Up |
Give Your Site a 10-Point Legal Check-Up
By Chip Cooper (c) 2009
It's early in the year, and it's time to fulfill your resolution to give your site a quick legal check-up.
Online businesses are now highly regulated, and there's substantial liability if your site's not legally compliant. In addition, your customers are becoming more Internet savvy, and a site that's not legally compliant is not going to be trusted.
So, let's get started.
Use This Checklist If You Already Have The Basic Site Documents In Place
1. Copyright Notice. Check Your Copyright Notice. Your copyright notice consists of the following elements: the word "copyright" or copyright symbol (c in a circle) followed by the year of first publication followed by the name of the copyright owner. It's also a good idea to add "All rights reserved worldwide". Example: Copyright 1996-09 Digital Contracts, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Note that if you update your site from time to time, you should add a date range reflecting the fact that the site has been updated each year within the date range. If you haven't updated yet for 2009, do it now.
2. Blogs, etc. Have you recently added a blog or any other functionality that permits visitors to post text or digital files to your site? Or, do you plan to do so as part of your marketing plans for 2009? If so, you need to have a DMCA notice in your Terms of Use and you also need to file a DMCA Registration form with the U.S. Copyright Office. These steps will create a "safe harbor" from strict... more..
|
| 7 Characteristics of a Great Webpage |
7 Characteristics of a Great Webpage
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006
What makes for a great webpage?
Wouldn't you like to know the main ingredients for creating a superior webpage? What basic elements you must have if you want a solidly designed webpage? A webpage that will stand out and be noticed by your visitors. One that will keep those visitors returning to your site, again and again. An effective webpage that is 95% better than most of the other pages on the Net.
Follow these simple design features when creating your next webpage and you will have the answer:
1. Good Keywords
The nucleus. The conception. Good keywords are the very first building blocks you must consider before your webpage even becomes a dim notion in your head. Picking the right keyword or keyword phrase is the ultimate factor that will determine the success or failure of your webpage. You must do major research on the keyword or keyword phrases that will be the focal point and drawing card for your webpage.
You must get this right. It is vital. It is the single most important element of a webpage. You can use keyword research software and sites such as GoodKeywords, Wordtracker.com, Nichebot.com, or superior keyword research software such as Brad Callen's Keyword Elite.
Regardless of what process you favor, you must choose your keywords very carefully. You must ch? the competition for your chosen keywords or phrase. You must ch? the number of searches made each month for your keyword. You must also ch? the keyword density of your page to see if it will register in the search engines. You may have to adjust or... more..
|
| Website Branding ? Establishing Your Web Brand |
Website Branding ? Establishing Your Web Brand
By Matt Jackson (c) 2008
Any form of branding essentially means being recognized. A positive website brand image means that your potential customers will recognize your brand and begin to associate that brand with a particular product or range of products. In achieving this, those same customers will begin to turn to your brand when they need the product you sell or require information that you provide.
Branding Is More Than A Pretty Logo
A lot of websites and website owners mistakenly believe that creating a brand means a compelling and relevant name, and well designed logos and web pages. While these are a part of website branding, they are far from being the whole story. In fact, every aspect of your website and online business needs to convey your brand image. This includes design, narrative voice, advertising, and marketing. Customer communication is equally as important, and provides the opportun? to strengthen your brand even further.
Your Target Market
Branding needs to concentrate on the target market you are aiming to attract. Market research and some competitor analysis will usually garner you with relevant information regarding the people you are aiming to attract. What products and services are they looking for? What information do they want access to? Do they expect to be able to interact with you or other members of your online community? These are all important questions that you not only need to ask but answer as well.
The most effective branding will also consider the demographics of a target market. Age, sex, nationality, religion, and disposable income bracket are important... more..
|
| Birthday gift ideas |
|
Birthday gift ideas
What is to be said about the best Birthday gift ideas? What makes them the best and why doesn't everybody know what to choose when it comes to celebrating the birthday of a friend, family member or any other person?
The difficulty with the Birthday gift ideas
People find it very hard to cope with this aspect and they end up being frustrated that they've lost several hours while trying to find the perfect gift. There are some details that can be minded when it comes to Birthday gift ideas, that will surely spear you the trouble of being frustrated.
First of all, there is the aspect of linking the gift with some of the hobbies, pleasures or other activities that your friend has. There has to be something that he or she enjoys doing and that's your gate towards finding the perfect gift for that person. It can be something related to sports, music, movies, books, anything that he or she might enjoy. In this way, you can actually show, that you are paying attention and you basically know that person pretty well.
The issue that arises here refers to the idea of having the obligation to pick out a gift for a person who isn't close to you. There are some social situations that might occur and might demand you this approach. The way with the Birthday gift ideas here is to actually try and find out more about the one who... more..
|
| What Your S.E.O. Strategist Won't Tell You |
What Your S.E.O. Strategist Won't Tell You
By Jerry Bader (c) 2007
Maybe you own your own business, or perhaps you're a critical cog in the corporate machinery responsible for marketing your company, brand, product or service. If that describes you, here's eighteen things you need to know about Web-marketing but were afraid to believe.
1. Time To Be Heard
Your mother told you 'children should be seen and not heard,' but you're not a kid anymore. So why are you listening to all those guys telling you not to use audio on your website. If you want to deliver a lot of content that people will remember, try letting your website do the talking.
2. There's Nothing Like the Real Thing
In a world of virtual everything there's nothing like the real thing. The sound and image of real people delivering your marketing message makes it a believable, memorable presentation.
3. Unlock the Conventional Wisdom Straightjacket
Driving traff?to your site is great, if those visitors stay long enough to find out why they should be doing business with you. If your website traff?is leaving as fast as it's arriving, maybe search engine optimization isn't the answer you've been looking for.
4. Linking Your Way To Obscurity
You know the reciprocal linking strategy everyone is talking about as a way to generate leads? Did you ever consider that each link to another website is an invitation to leave your site? Is that really what you want - to invite people to leave? I think not!
5. Your Company's Voice... more..
|
| New Search Engines - Can Anyone Beat Google? |
New Search Engines - Can Anyone Beat Google?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
Can any new search engine beat Google, probably not, mainly because Google isn't going anywhere but up. It is the dominant search engine with around 72 percent of U.S. online searches and its percentages are much higher in other parts of the world. (Source: Hitwise) However, there are some serious new competitors that may just take a bite out of Google's rosy search numbers. Never know, one or several of them, may just give Google a run for those all important search engine dollars.
Recently, there has been a whole army of new search engines debuting on the web. If you're a full-time online marketer like me, you really have to keep your eyes open to what is happening on the web, especially relating to search engines which deliver most of your quality traffic. Also keep in mind, this piece may be fairly biased since Google is directly or indirectly responsible for around 80% of my online revenue, so any opinions may be slanted in Google's favor, not that they need any favors from me or anyone.
But as an online marketer you have to try to remain objective and examine all angles in regards to these new search engines. Despite this, in marketing and webmaster circles, everyone will know even if you have the number one ranking for a certain keyword in all three major engines Google, Yahoo! and MSN - Google supplies the most traffic, hands down.
Despite its obvious dominance, Google is still basically the new kid on the block. We have to remember, there have been many search engines before Google and there will be many more search engines after Google.... more..
|
| Google Panda Update: 11 Important SEO Facts You Should Know |
Google Panda Update: 11 Important SEO Facts You Should Know
By David Jackson (c) 2011
On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, a category 5 hurricane named "Panda" swept through the Gulf of Google devastating businesses large and small alike. The hurricane was reportedly named after one of Google's engineers.
So what was the reason for this catastrophic and "game-changing" update? Well, according to Google:
"This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites - sites which are low-value, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites - sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that's exactly what this change does." (Source: Google Blog)
Mission accomplished. Anyway, in the aftermath of the Panda update, there are 11 important SEO facts I've learned based on my own personal experiences, the experiences of my clients, and from listening to top SEO professionals across the Internet:
1. Waiting to Exhale
Think you survived the big Panda storm? Don't exhale just yet. Google will introduce around 550 or so improvements to its algorithm this year. Yes, 550. (Source: Wired.com)
2. Relevancy Matters More Than Ever
In their aforementioned quote, Google says it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded. It goes without saying, Google places a tremendous amount of value on relevancy. So do everything you can to make sure your pages are as relevant as possible. That includes making sure your keywords are relevant to the overall theme of your site and accurately reflect your site 's actual... more..
|
| Web 2.0, Are We Bowing To A False Messiah? |
Web 2.0, Are We Bowing To A False Messiah?
By Barry Densa (c) 2007
Are you absolutely beside yourself ? giddy with delight because Web 2.0 has finally arrived to help you sell more, sell faster, make you richer, smarter, sexier, and lower your triglyceride levels?
Whoops, I'm sorry... do you even know what Web 2.0 is?
Web 2.0, in a nut shell, is the latest evolution in the online experience. The World Wide Web is now... ready... here it is: a tad more interactive, technologically speaking.
Where does Web 1.0 end and Web 2.0 begin? Beats the heck out of me! I'm basically your average techno-phobe ? the proverbial anti-Geek, if you will.
Nevertheless, Web 2.0 typically refers to an assortment of internet-based communication tools and services ? such as social networking sites, wikis, and "new and improved" chat functionalities.
Writing a book review on Amazon.com is apparently considered Web 1.0 technology.
I know all of this is a big whoop for some of you, but for others it's equivalent to the coming of the messiah (for either the first or second time, depending on which operating system you're laboring under).
Is Web 2.0 a Boon or a Bane for Consumers and Countries?
For most marketers, their company's website has been a rather static billboard of sorts. But now, thanks to Web 2.0, a website can provide visitors, prospects, customers and selected victims, with a certain degree of "give and take".
You can talk to them, they can talk to you; you can learn more about them, they can learn more about you; they can "experience" you, you can "experience them" ? in short, the level of... more..
|
| Cracking the Google Adsense Code By Kim Roach |
|
Cracking the Google Adsense Code
By Kim Roach (c) 2006
Google Adsense has empowered web publishers of all shapes and sizes to make money from their web sites. Whether you own a hobby site that gets 100 visitors per day or a popular finance portal that is flooded with millions of visitors per month, you can benefit from the Google Adsense program.
Simply sign up for a free account, grab your Adsense code and paste it up on your website. Well, it sounds good anyway. In reality, that's not the whole story. Maximizing your adsense earnings requires a little more care.
Fortunately, you can quickly increase your earnings by reading every word of this article. I will cover the basic necessities and also reveal advanced tips that you won't find on every digital corner. So, if you're looking to put more money in your pocket with a few tweaks of code, I urge you to read on.
As you are reading, keep in mind that Google is actually one of the best resources for finding information on Adsense optimization. Think it's hard to believe that Google would give good advice? Well, it makes sense when you think about it. The more you make as a publisher, the more they will make. Google has a big incentive to help you perform well. Not to mention, they have tons of data to research what works best.
So, for much of my research, I took quite a few tips from Google. But don't worry, there are also some advanced tips here that Google will probably never reveal to you.
Most Effective Ad Formats
In general, wider ad formats tend to outperform... more..
|
| 12 Simple Steps to Effective Websites |
12 Simple Steps to Effective Websites
By Nancy Fraser (c) 2009
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
Edward Lear must have had some precognition about what was in store for us all with the development of the internet when he wrote this nonsensical poem.
Many people do feel at sea after they launch their website and attempt to navigate the sometimes confusing channels of the internet. They wonder why their website doesn't get more traff?and why their inbox is not filling up with emails from people clamoring to buy their products or services.
It seems that the rules change as often as Oprah changes her clothes and who could ever hope to keep up with that!
Price quotes for search engine optimization are all over the map; the process seems never-ending and expensive.
How is it that some people seem to have great success on the web without spending a huge amount of money? Is it unrealistic to think that you can make a living working on the web?
When faced with a seemingly overwhelming challenge it helps to break things down into bite-sized pieces.
Effective websites should include the following:
1. Your website needs to focus on a specific niche.
2. You need to do keyword research and although Google no longer gives weight to Meta keywords some of the other major search engines still do.
3. Your website should have the main keyword used throughout and each page should be written around 5-10 keywords that are tightly focused on that particular page's topic.
4. Content is still King. Well written, focused content is crucial.
5. Meta titles need to include... more..
|
| Google Place Search Changes How Local Searches are Displayed |
Google Place Search Changes How Local Searches are Displayed
By Peter Bowen (c) 2010
Google Local and Map have become a big influence on how people search and get results. We can demonstrate this by searching for 'accountant' and the search result returns a broad list of 'accountants', but perhaps too broad so we tend to search again by narrowing the result - adding a location to the search - 'accountant in city' and the results we see are now closer to home.
So it's no surprise that Google should be taking a closer look at how we search and attempt to refine the process and provide a more meaningful search result by changing the Google Local search algorithm to make it easier for us to find what or who we are searching for locally.
Today, November 8, 2010 we see searches that reference local business and all the relevant places in that location in a new clustered visual display located in the upper right corner of a search result page. The now familiar map displays each business with red lettered pins, and links to each business. And as you scroll down the page the Google Places Map will scroll with the page so that it is always visible.
In addition to the way we see businesses displayed on Google Places, a new product is being launched - Google Boost.
Google Boost is a Google AdWords product that allows local businesses to feature more prominently in local searches. It allows small to medium size businesses the ability to feature more highly in searches, and concentrates much more on the... more..
|
| Social Media Optimization -Shifting the Landscape of Search Engine Marketing |
Social Media Optimization -Shifting the Landscape of Search Engine Marketing
By Julie Ann Ross (c) 2009
Social media optimization (SMO) is an important ingredient within your SEO and SEM campaigns. In the past, social networking sites were not much more than an oddity. Today, many have received enormous ranking authority from top search engines. If you are not leveraging these sites to improve your exposure and communicate with your niche consumer, your search engine positions are vulnerable to your competitors.
In this article, we will describe the influence that SMO currently has on search engine marketing. We will also give you the rules of engagement for executing an effective social media optimization campaign. We'll explain what SEO social media is, and the advantages of hiring an experienced SEO consultant to spearhead your social media optimization efforts.
The Influence Of Social Media Optimization On Search Marketing
Search marketing has always relied upon exposure in the search engines to drive targeted traff? For years, gaining that exposure was based solely upon the development of your site and generating links pointing to your site. Both are still important today. However, social media optimization has shifted the landscape of search marketing.
Google once maintained several disparate search platforms for blogs, videos, news, and similar types of "social" content. Each functioned as a separate search engine with its own set of organic listings.
A few years ago, Google blended the listings from each platform into a system called Universal Search. Bing and Yahoo have since incorporated similar systems. Universal Search is now used as the primary index. That means blogs, videos, and news have been incorporated into the natural listings, pushing many sites off the first page. This is... more..
|
| The Biggest Web Design Trends of 2011 |
The Biggest Web Design Trends of 2011
By Stephen Loates (c) 2011
Since we are over seven months into the year I decided it was time to give my take on what may happen in web design in 2011. (At least I thought I should probably write it before the year was over.)
So, over the past several weeks I have read a number of my favourite web design magazines, web design blogs and articles and viewed a number of cutting edge websites, particularly outside of North America, so that I could share some thoughts about what appears to be some of the major trends in website design for 2011. There is nothing scientific contained here, just some observations.
1. Less Use of Flash
It is not the fact that Flash is not a great technology...(when used appropriately it is)...but in the past year or so it has been over used, misused, abused to the point that it has developed a bad reputation. Certainly, the ongoing shenanigans between Adobe (creator of Flash) and Apple (iPhone and iPad) are not helping the situation. Today, websites need to have a clean, uncluttered design, fast loading and above all must be Search Engine friendly. This is a problem for Flash and now with the coming of the new web coding languages of HTML5 and CSS3, together with the explosive growth of web surfing on mobile devices perhaps it is the beginning of the end of Flash in web design.
2. Simpler and Cleaner Design
Simple. Minimal. Uncluttered. There's nothing quite as "attention grabbing" as an honest, straightforward message on a... more..
|
| 12 Ways to Use Twitter for Social Media Marketing |
12 Ways to Use Twitter for Social Media Marketing
By Ron Knight (c) 2009
Twitter is a wildly popular microblogging service. It involves writing Tweets, which are short updates of a maximum of 140 characters that tell your followers what you are up to. Although your Tweets are technically supposed to answer the question, "What are you doing?" Twitter has moved far beyond that. Tweets are used to share stories, link to photos, promote content, break news, and a whole lot more. Twitter has also become an incredibly important tool for social media marketing professionals. Here are 12 ways in which Twitter can be used in your social media marketing campaign.
1. Sharing Links to Items of Interest
As soon as you read something online that you think is interesting, it is easy to share it on Twitter with all of your followers. Twitter is highly effective in this manner because it is such a quick way to be able to reach a large group of people. You can also get a lot of great ideas for blog posts from Twitter since many new ideas and stories are floating around that haven?t even made it to the blogosphere and definitely not to mainstream media.
2. Building Your Network
Using Twitter is a great way to build your network because it allows you to find and follow people with similar interests. You can use Steeple to find people who live in your geographical area. You can also use other tools that help you find new people to follow based upon who your Twitter friends follow.
3. Build Relationships within Your Current Network
People in different networks often use Twitter to connect with their contacts... more..
|
| How to Get Free Press |
How to Get Free Press
By Kim Roach (c) 2008
Free press is one of the best ways to spread the word about your website, your product, and your brand. However, most people don't know where to start. Fortunately, it's really not as hard as you might think.
There are thousands of articles being published every single day on blogs, newspapers, and magazines. Bloggers, writers, and journalists have pages to fill and all of them are actively looking for interesting topics to write about.
Many people forget that PR is about public relations. It's not just about writing a press release. It's about getting to know the journalists. Find out what kind of stories they're working on and see what you can do to help them. PR is really about listening and engaging key influencer's.
You need to connect. Connect with journalists who are writing about stories in your industry. Send them a quick note to tell them what you like about their writing. Provide them with story ideas within your industry. Provide them with value and they will have open ears whenever you want to pitch your story.
But remember, a journalist is extremely busy. You must respect their time. Keep everything short and sweet. Get to the point quickly and concisely.
Most journalists can be easily contacted through email, which can be found on their website, in their byline, or within the publication they write for. However, many writers and journalists can also be found on a number of different social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These social media platforms are another great way to connect with bloggers and mainstream media... more..
|
| SEO Web Links - Directory Alternatives |
SEO Web Links - Directory Alternatives
By Joel Walsh
If you were writing a textbook on SEO linking circa 2001, you almost certainly would have included a chapter on web directories. They used to be the primary way of actively acquiring one-way inbound links, before content syndication, blogs, or the paid link market really took off.
Web Directories and SEO Links: What Went Wrong?
Fast forward a few years, and you'd have to rewrite the chapter on directories and web links. In fact, you would probably downgrade web directories from a chapter to a page or two. In the SEO world, nothing good ever lasts long, and so it is with web directories.
? Traff?/B>
With Google more accurate than ever, there was no more reason to turn to a human-edited list of websites. A directory might get you one or two click-throughs a month--or none at all.
? Redirects
Once directory owners realized their link popularity was valuable, they started hoarding it. Overnight, many, if not most, directories switched their HTML links to search-engine-invisible redirects.
more..
|
| 4 Steps To A Website Brand |
4 Steps To A Website Brand
By Jerry Bader (c) 2009
Do you have a plan? Most companies spend a considerable amount of time, energy, and money planning what to do and how to do it.
Let's say you need a website, so you develop a plan, present it to a bunch of website designers, and get quotes or proposals. You're not going to get caught with your pants down like the last time by some nerdy geek, you know the skinny kid with the scraggly beard, whose techno-babble gave you a headache, or the bizarre young lady dressed in gothic chic with the black lipstick and tattoo to match - yikes, no thanks, not this time, this time you got a plan.
Human Motivational Optimization
You read all the blogs on website design, you know all the ins-and-outs of search engine optimization, and Google Adwords. No one is going to pull a fast one on you. You know your business, your market, and your needs. Or do you?
How much do you really know about how real people interact with your website? How much do you really know about what we call Human Motivational Optimization? All the stats, logs, and number crunching analysis that forms the basis of many website development plans does not truly give you the visceral understanding of how to connect to an audience, and isn't that what you want your website to do?
So maybe your plan is the wrong plan; it's like planning a trip to Home Depot to buy a cabbage; it just doesn't make sense. So how about a plan that does... more..
|
| Anniversary gift ideas |
Anniversary gift ideas
What is the first idea that comes to mind when talking about Anniversary gift ideas? Many would say that it really depends on what is the anniversary and the people who are celebrating it, but there is the concept that each anniversary is special and the gifts that are exchanged should really mean something.
The way with Anniversary gift ideas
First of all, people need to take into account that just going into a store and grabbing the first thing that comes to mind isn?t necessary the perfect way to come up with the best Anniversary gift ideas. This is because of the fact that an anniversary marks a special date alongside someone and that special date requires some attention and care.
The idea here is that any gift should be personal rather than just the very first thing that comes in your hands while walking in a mall. This is because it needs to send out a message that you really care for the person that is sitting next to you, regardless of the status of your relationship. Many people have the tendency to choose certain gifts because they are too comfortable to make a little effort and discover certain items that will surely impress the one sitting... more..
|
| Current and Future Search Trends: |
Search Trends, What the Top Internet Search Engines Are Doing
By Scott Buresh (c) 2007 Medium Blue
The future of search is unclear ? what is clear is that change is rapidly happening for all of the top Internet search engines. Google as always is the frontrunner for many of these search trends, but even little guys like Ask.com are making waves. In this article, I will attempt to cover some of the more interesting search trends that are occurring today with the top Internet search engines ? but I am by no means being comprehensive about the subject. Things are changing on a weekly, or sometimes even daily, basis, and future articles will cover additional developments in depth.
Universal Search
In May 2007, Google ? the leader among top Internet search engines -- got people talking (again) when it rolled out its latest search concept, Universal Search. Universal Search was Google's attempt to create a single page of search results, rather than separate pages for types of results, such as videos, images, maps, and websites. When it was first introduced, many search engine optimization firms raced around exclaiming that this was one of those search trends that would change everything and that new optimization rules should be created and followed immediately.
I published an article in early 2007 in which I noted, "The problem with Universal Search is that it can muddy the results, and it can also introduce irrelevant results that a searcher cannot use."[1] I also wrote, "Clearly, Universal Search will change how an SEO campaign is run if it catches on. But this is a real if - users' search habits are hard to... more..
|
| Dispelling Fears About The GoogleBomb Algorithm Update |
Dispelling Fears About The GoogleBomb Algorithm Update
By Bill Platt (c) 2007
Google algorithm updates always bring the fears of webmasters to a boiling point. In the aftermath of an algorithm update, some people come out swinging, making claims that Google is trying to put them out of business. Others look at their Google rankings and pat themselves on the back for having survived another "algo" update.
It has been known in search engine optimization (SEO) circles for quite some time that one could successfully implement what is referred to as a GoogleBomb. The best example was a search on the phrase "miserable failure". A search on those words within Google would show George W. Bush's biography at the White House website, in the top three or four results of the search results. This would occur, despite the fact that neither word in the search criteria resides on the White House website. At one time, Bush's biography had been in the Number 1 spot, but counter-bombing campaigns moved Bush's listing down the page a bit.
Many people have written about this phenomenon in time's past. I have even written about it myself. When I wrote about it, my point was to show the importance of anchor text in a link to build the value of a web page in the Google search engine result pages (SERPS).
The "miserable failure" GoogleBomb came to exist within a loophole within the Google algorithms. Google puts a lot of value on the anchor text that points to a particular web page. It is part of their "one link ? one vote" philosophy as to the value of a web page.
Bloggers joined forces to create thousands of... more..
|
| The Most Popular Social Networks and Who Is On Them |
The Most Popular Social Networks and Who Is On Them
By Caitlin Rambo (c) 2011
How much time do you spend online?
According to a time use survey compiled by ComScore Media Metric, the average American spends 33.9 hours on the Internet every week. Depending on age and other demographics, this number can double! And for those lucky individuals whose occupations rely primarily on computers: the Internet commands their lives and they aren't ever not connected.
Computers have drastically changed the technological landscape. The Internet has facilitated efficiency in a number of offline processes. We use the web to communicate with our family, friends and business acquaintances in real-time chats. Books and other multimedia are available for online viewing and instant download. We can even shop for gifts online - often offered at a deeper discount than in brick-and-mortar stores! The Internet has revolutionized the way that we live, as we now spend one-sixth of our lives in the digital world.
Exhibit 1: 100 Most-Visited Websites by category, according to Google Ad Planner
Where are We Actually Spending Our Time Online?
Google has compiled a list of the 100 most-visited websites in the United States. (Being the modest company that they are, Google has chosen to omit their website and statistics from the study.) These 100 websites are sorted into six categories: social networking, search engines, shopping, entertainment, business and software.
The Internet can deliver information instantaneously, so naturally search engines and other information-related websites comprise the most popular category - sites ranging from web portals, such as Yahoo! and Bing, to encyclopedias and other how-to pages, such as Wikipedia and eHow. Closely tailing search engines are online shopping and other e-commerce websites... more..
|
| Is Google Really Developing a Facebook Killer? |
Is Google Really Developing a Facebook Killer?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010
No less than CNN is reporting rumors that Google does indeed have a social networking site in the works which could give Facebook some competition. This new social site/program is supposed to be called GoogleMe or Google Me.
Only Google knows the truth.
However, creating such a site would be a smart move on Google's part since they do need to comp? with Facebook, mainly because Facebook is turning into a real search engine, one that could possibly give Google a run for all those lucrative search dollars. Ridiculous you say - not really, especially when you consider Facebook's recent move towards "Open Graph Search" and its use of the "Like" button and box. is the number of plugins which you can add to your blog.
Unless the surfing public changes overnight, Bing/Yahoo is not going to give Google any real search competition, but Facebook with its massive number of users and rating system could present a true contender.
We also might see a complete change in how the surfing public sees online search. Google and the other search engines are quickly becoming one big "joke" in regards to organic search with big companies buying and selling their way into the top 10 spots and the search engines are helpless to stop it.
Link buying and selling has made organic search a joke and more and more web users are catching on to this fact. Once this becomes common knowledge, search engines will be appropriately viewed as corporate billboards rather than anything of true relevance or importance - even the mighty Google could fall.
That's why Facebook and its actual ratings/rankings by actual consumers/customers are becoming... more..
|
| The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites |
The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites
By Miles Galliford (c) 2007
I was chatting to a veteran print publisher who had been producing magazines for over thirty years.
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practices have emerged from years of tr? and error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. Good examples are some of the most read websites on the internet including:
- BBC
- The Financial Times... more..
|
| Controlling Search Engine Spiders for Improved Rankings |
Controlling Search Engine Spiders for Improved Rankings
By Eric Johnson (c) 2009
When it comes to getting your website listed at the top of the search engines keyword search rankings, it is essential for you to gain a deeper understanding of the search engine spiders that crawl over your website. After all, it is the spiders that determine the relevance of your website and decide where your site will land in the search engine results page. Therefore, by learning how to control the direction of the spiders, you can be certain your website will rise in rankings.
Gaining Control with the Help of Robots.txt
You may think that gaining control of search engine spiders is an impossible task, but it is actually easier than you might think when you take advantage of a handy little tool called the robots.txt file. With the robots.txt file, you can give the spiders the direction they need to locate the most important pages on your website while preventing them from wasting time on the more obscure pages such as your About Us and Privacy Policy pages. After all, these pages won't do much to improve your search engine ranking and won't help your target market find your website, so why should the spiders waste their time exploring these pages when ranking your site?
Another positive aspect to using a robot.txt file is the fact that it prevents the spiders from indexing duplicate pages. This is beneficial because having duplicate content can actually reduce your search engine ranking. So, while you are making changes to your website or working on an area that isn't fully developed yet, you can instruct the spiders to leave those pages alone until you are ready... more..
|
| Dreaming of Pay Per Cl? Sausage |
Dreaming of Pay Per Cl? Sausage
By Jim Hedger (c) 2007
The problem might have been that Jeffrey had heard the same set of quest?s once too often or it could just be the night noises one hears when traveling in strange cities. It could have been an undigested slice of deep-dish pizza from the evening before or a phantom blues-riff floating in his head. Whatever it was, it was 4AM on the morning of the last day of the Chicago Search Engine Strategies conference and Jeffrey K. Rohrs was wide awake.
At 9:00AM he was scheduled to moderate a panel titled In House: Big SEO. Two hours after that he was to moderate another panel, the one that was keeping him up at night, In House: Big PPC panel. Five hours before presiding over two long sessions, and Jeffrey wasn't able to sleep.
He wasn't nervous. Jeffrey is an SES veteran having appeared on or moderated large-attendance sessions for several years. The day before he had moderated for panels: Search Arbitrage, Dealing with Affiliates, Auditing Paid Listings and Cl? Fraud, and Search and Regulated Industries. So what could be running through his head at a time when he clearly should have been fast asleep?
Jeffrey was thinking about PPC, Von Bismarck, Garlinghouse and sausages in that lucid but dream like state that comes when you wake from your sleep with a start. Jeffrey had had a revelation that jolted him awake so he pulled up his laptop and started writing what would become known as The Sausage Manifesto.
As legend has it, nineteenth century German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck once remarked, "Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see... more..
|
| 10 Best Strategies to Massively Increase Your Visibility Online |
10 Best Strategies to Massively Increase Your Visibility Online
By Donna Gunter (c) 2009
Increasing online visibility is the goal of most online business owners. After all, without visibility, you have no traffic and thus no business. However, when you start to research how to improve your online visibility, you discover many options, but find that there is little time for research and implementation. Where does an online entrepreneur turn first to get the visibility (and traffic) to promote an online venture?
New tricks and gimmicks come out every day, but unfortunately, most of them are like so many recording artists and become one-hit wonders. In my business, I've discovered that there are a handful that are able to stand the test of time. Some have been around for as long as websites have been around, while others are newer kids on the block. Here are my 10 most effective strategies to massively boost your visibility online:
1. Press releases. Press releases are a well-known marketing strategy that have worked for years with print and broadcast media. In recent years they have found new life as an online visibility tool. Just like in the old days, your release should carry some newsworthy angle that has been optimized with a select few keywords by which you want your business to be found. Don't waste your time submitting your release to the free press release sites -- the release simply sits on the site and goes no where else. Instead, invest in a fee-based service (I prefer PRWeb.com), which will ensure your release gets the recognition it deserves.
2. Social... more..
|
| Ten Ways To Get Web Traffic Fast - And Free |
Ten Ways To Get Web Traffic Fast - And Free
By James Gladwin (c) 2009
There are several ways to get website traffic fast and free, and I'm going to share ten niche ways with you.
Article Submission
You don't need to be an award winning expert on the topic you are writing about - just pick an area that is related to the theme of your website, do a bit of research using a search engine and before you know it you will have more knowledge on that subject than most. Write in a relaxed, straightforward way. And, of course, when you add your details at the end of your article, make certain that you include your web address as well.
URL Submission
This sounds so obvious, yet so many people overlook it. Website URL submission is about getting more links to your website to help your website get ranked high on major search engines, thus getting more visitor traffic by, well, submitt? your website URL to the major search engines. You can buy or... more..
|
| The REAL Death of Email Marketing |
The REAL Death of Email Marketing
By Willie Crawford (c) 2009
For many online marketers, conversions rates are a mere fraction of what they use to be. At the same time, there are a few marketers that I've chatted with who have experienced no significant drop in conversions. These are all marketers who have built incredible subscriber loyalty over the years.
For many online marketers, the biggest problem is email deliverability. Their email is simply not getting through. Email is being filtered so heavily today that often less than 20% of a large ezine mailing gets delivered.
There are things you can do to improve your email deliverability, such as run it through a spam checker prior to sending it out. Top mailing list management systems, such as ProfitAutomation.com, have built in systems that allow you to grade an email against the Spam Assassin database prior to sending it. If your email scores higher than a 2, I personally would revise it to lower the score.
I've talked to friends over a year ago, who often confided in me that they sometimes sent out emails and got absolutely NO response. They wondered if anyone even got the emails or read them.
Many savvy marketers also realized that a business totally dependent upon email was not a very solid business. They realized that what they really needed was a database that contained not only names and email addresses, but physical mailing addresses. That way, if something dramatic ever did happen in the world of email, they could just shift their marketing to direct ma? and still be in business. This is one of the reasons that you started seeing some online marketers offering loss... more..
|
| The Benefits of Installing Internal Site Search |
The Benefits of Installing Internal Site Search
By SEO Advantage (c) 2010
Today's websites are more complex than ever before. Many contain a wealth of information visitors can use to answer their questions and learn what they need to know before contacting a company or making a purchase online.
But with all the information and features packed into many of today's websites, it can also be more difficult for site visitors to first of all determine whether or not a website will contain the information they need and then find it on the website. Installing a site search box can provide several advantages to help your site visitors - and also benefit your marketing function in the process.
Site Search Satisfies the Customer's "I Want It Now" Attitude
Installing an internal site search box can help visitors find what they need more quickly. With web users still looking to find what they need as fast as possible, confusing navigation and cluttered design are more likely than ever to prompt an "on-to-the-next-site" response.
Internal site search is undoubtedly the quickest way for someone to find what they're looking for on a large and complex site. An internal site search helps visitors get around navigational structures that may be confusing to them. This is especially important for sites that are constantly adding new content. As the site continues to grow, many users will find the site search function to be a valuable tool in helping them find what they need.
Site Search Makes a Website More Customer Centric
Installing an internal site search also means you can transform your website from a static "one size fits all" style to a more "customer-centric" approach. More and... more..
|
| Suicide in Cyberspace - Your Outward Links Can Kill Your Rankings |
Suicide in Cyberspace - Your Outward Links Can Kill Your Rankings
By Ben Kemp (c) 2007
Link building strategies have, for most people for a long time, revolved around reciprocal link exchanges. Whilst most people understand that links are important, they generally don't understand why this is so. In a nutshell, a link to your site has traditionally been accepted by Search Engines as a vote for your site. A link from a topic or theme-related site to yours is better than a link from a site having a completely different topic. An important site's link to yours carries more weight - for example from The Open Directory, or Yahoo Directory. All pretty straightforward...
BUT... the rules have changed... significantly! All the thinking webmasters worked diligently to build links - willy-nilly - in order to subvert the search engine rankings and gain an advantage to themselves at the expense of everyone else. For a long time, there have been mutterings about this, and comments from Google staffers about possible penalties from linking to "bad neighbourhoods'" and - heaven forbid it - buying links! Google et al simply don't approve of willy-nilly link-building schemes, and have recently tightened the screws a bit more, in two notable ways...
Bad Links
Some links are bad... for example, if you are a car sales company and you've got dozens of completely irrelevant links to international hotel sites... yeah, YOU know the ones! in Prague, Munich, Shanghai etc! That's a BAD neighbourhood over there! That IS going to put a world of hurt on you! And as for the Free-For-All link sites, web rings, and 3 way link schemes... that's just suicide in... more..
|
| 9 Steps to Diagnosing Lost Search Engine Traffic |
9 Steps to Diagnosing Lost Search Engine Traffic
By Jill Whalen (c) 2010
For the past few weeks I've been tasked with reviewing a few different sites that have seen a loss in traffic - their owners hoped to find out why. I love these kinds of reviews because it's like solving a mystery or figuring out a puzzle. While it's not always possible to determine the exact cause for the traffic loss, I can usually make some educated guesses based on what I dig up in Google Analytics.
Here are 9 steps you can take to diagnose the cause of lost search engine traffic:
1. Determine what type of traffic loss you're dealing with. Many people look at Google's overview page, see a loss of overall traffic to their website, and assume that they must have lost their rankings in Google and the target?traffic that comes with it. This may or may not be the case. Be sure to check for search engine traffic, and even more specifically Google non-paid traffic.
2. Look at the extent of the traffic loss. Your research will be very different depending on whether there was a gradual decline in traffic or a sudden, drastic drop. I reviewed a site last week that lost all of their Google unpaid traffic overnight! This sort of loss is typically a technical issue such as a robots.txt file or a nofollow directive that keeps search engine spiders from indexing your pages. Sometimes it's not actually a loss of traffic at all - your analytics code could have been inadvertently removed from all or most of the pages, making it appear like a traffic loss. I have seen all of... more..
|
| Website Traffic Generation and the Love of the Traffic Fairy |
Website Traffic Generation and the Love of the Traffic Fairy
By Bill Platt (c) 2010 the Phantom Writers
For a number of years, many online marketers honestly thought that the only thing they needed to do to be successful online was to build a website, and the buyers would come to them.
They heard all of the success stories from people who claimed that they had simply built a website, and people just started to arrive in huge numbers.
The story, as it is told, is:
These folks built a website, then the search engines found their websites and started showing people the link to their website. And the people using the search engines saw the link to their websites and saw that it was good. Search engine users saw the link and, as if it were the only link in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), they clicked the link by the thousands. And hoards of people came to the website with fists full of money, ready to purchase what the website was selling.
Some people still believe this is how the search engines work. They have built their websites, and they are waiting anxiously for the "Traffic Fairy" to sprinkle his magic dust on their websites too, so that they can also make lots of money.
Are YOU Still Waiting For The Traffic Fairy?
I hope not.
Those who are "waiting" for anything may wait until they realize they are flushing good money down the proverbial toilet, month after month. When they realize that they still have more money going out... more..
|
| Electronic Medical Records |
|
Electronic Medical Records
Is it safer to entrust the patient's files to one of the Electronic Medical Records? There are still many opinions who don't agree to the computerized system when people's life is at stake. Those people can be a little too traditional, but they need to see that this is a system that is designed to perform the actions that are already been done but with a much higher efficiency.
The great thing with the Electronic Medical Records
First of all, people need to observe how technology helps in their daily routines. There are so many examples that can be shared on this aspect that it is really hard to think of one that isn't affected by technology. The medical field is one of the best examples to prove how technology is the perfect assistant. Of course, there is the surgery room where all the equipment is so precise and it really helps people, but it can be spotted at the front desk as well. Many people don't actually know how the Electronic Medical Records really helps the doctors do their job without having another worry on their hands.
One of the best benefits that can be illustrated here refer to the spearing a lot of time and space with the use of computers. All the information on a certain patient is being held in a computer and this means that the drawers and the files... more..
|
| The Benefits of a Solid Content Management System |
The Benefits of a Solid Content Management System
By Mike Tekula (c) 2008
In the early days of the web most sites consisted of a handful of HTML pages. For smaller sites, it made sense for webmasters to use programs like Microsoft Front Page and Macromedia (now Adobe Dreamweaver) to edit their site templates, which usually contained the navigation, header and footer (the "shell" of the site), and individual pages.
Editor's Note: On Dec. 29/08, we published an article by Kalena Jordan entitled "A Beginner's Guide to Google Website Optimizer (Part 1)". The entire article which includes Part 2 can be found at SiteProNews.com.
The problems?
- Messy code
These so-called What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWIG) editors didn't always get the code right. Webmasters almost always had to get into the back-end and tweak the HTML source code. This took time.
- Tedious site updates
Edits to a site template meant every page had to be updated and reuploaded to the web server. This took time and used resources - especially before the days of broadband.
- Painstaking SEO
Optimizing for search engines meant going through every page and manually making sure your H1 (header) and Title tags were well optimized.
- Risk of data loss
Forgetting to download the most recent version of a site when working with multiple site editors or from multiple locations made it easy for editors to overwrite site updates - sometimes losing hundreds of hours of work with one ill-advised click of the "upload" button.
While Adobe Dreamweaver has certainly come a long way over the years (messy code... more..
|
| The HSA allows you to Take Control of Your Health Care Plan |
The HSA allows you to Take Control of Your Health Care Plan
Benefits of the H S A utilize the Consumer Driven Concept
The H S A grew from the concept of consumer driven health insurance. To define what a consumer driven health product is, we need to look back years ago, before health insurance. A patient visited a doctor; he or she then paid the doctor what they could afford and what the doctor would accept in payment. It could be something as simple as a chicken.
Today our system design is completely different. CMS is the acronym for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS has standardized everything within the medical environment. There are now CPT codes (CPT which is the acronym for Current Procedural Terminology) has to be assigned to each procedure a physician performs. Each code is attached to an ICD 9 code which identifies the type of sickness or injury.
The insurance industry and medical providers now use these codes. A mistake or mismatch of a code which is improperly reported to an insurance company can slow or cause a claim to be denied. Physicians and hospitals are in the business to be caretakers, but they are forced to spend much of their time and resources making sure they are properly compensated. The payer is now the government or the insurance companies.
The system has become so complex that that the physician is compelled to hire personnel who understand procedures and mechanisms mandated before they are properly compensated.
This system has separated any monetary interaction... more..
|
| New Website? It's Time To Think Links |
New Website? It's Time To Think Links
By Matt Jackson (c) 2007
Link building has long been the staple dietary topic for SEO and Internet marketing experts, but with good reason. This is hardly ground breaking news but having a powerful link profile will help you to rank well in the search engines. Having an especially powerful link profile will also drive traffic directly to your website.
As the webmaster of a new site, there are several things you must do. First, you need to create a genuinely useful website filled with equally useful and informative content. You need to ready yourself to add fresh content on a frequent basis, in order to retain existing site visitors and to attract the search engine spiders. You also need to start building links ? a good link profile takes time to develop so it is essential that you start as soon as possible. Below are some of the more and less effective methods of building quality inbound links to your new website.
Create Quality Content
OK, we've already mentioned this in passing, but it's important. Linkable content will get linked to (eventually). You may not have the traffic base to command links organically in this way yet, but you will do soon. Unique, informative, and even controversial content will ultimately see other sites willing to link to your own.
Video marketing has become especially popular because of its viral nature. You can create a good video clip, embed it into a page of your site and include "email to a friend" links. Also ensure that it is well branded so that everybody knows where the video first came from.
Free Directory... more..
|
| Kitchen Cabinets Ventura |
Kitchen Cabinets Ventura
The thing with the kitchen cabinets Ventura services is that they are designed for the comfort of the clients. Imagine having to go downtown to find a specific store and having to look throughout different models and textures in order to find the best possible choice for your own home. Not to mention, the time that it takes you to get there and the traffic.
The comfortable way of the kitchen cabinets Ventura services
First of all, people will always choose the comfortable side of things when it comes to a service that is provided for them because it is in human nature to act on this instinct. The developers of the kitchen cabinets Ventura services are aware of this aspect and have developed a system in which the client is in his comfort zone for the entire period of time.
The first step of the process involves letting the client to log on to the website and browse through the various models until they find something that they like. It might take some time and he or she won't decide on the spot, but the important aspect here is that he can do it right from the comfort of his home. The next step involves a team coming to the client's house in order to make the proper measurements and to see the space where the kitchen cabinets Ventura will be placed. In this way, the cabinets will be designed exactly for the desired space and things won't get complicated when they will arrive.
The last step of the process involves the team brining the designed cabinets, ready to be assembled and put together. The client... more..
|
| 7 Basics of Good Web Design |
7 Basics of Good Web Design
By George Peirson (c) 2009
Whether you are just starting a web design project, looking at revamping an existing site, or just wanting to double check the usability of your current web site you should consider these 7 Basics of Good Web Design.
These basics are aimed at new visitors/customers; your repeat customers will be judging your web site on different values. Just like wearing the appropriate clothes for a job interview, these basics will help you pick out the "look" of your web site so that you make a good first impression.
1. Fast Loading Web Site - Any way you look at it, a fast loading page should be your number 1 concern. The web is all about speed, fast searches, fast purchases, fast information. You can't have any of that with a slow loading page. Ask yourself this question - have you ever been on Google doing a search for something important and a link you clicked on didn't open up immediately? What did you do? Patiently wait for the page to open or move onto the next link on the page? My favorite sites open almost immediately.
So, a few suggestions: Make sure that your images are properly optimized. Don't use very many large images, save those for a different page. Keep any auto-running multimedia to a minimum, provide links to run media instead. Check your code for anything else that could affect your page loading times. Since text loads almost instantly go ahead and use all the text you want, just keep everything else under control.
2. No... more..
|
| 7 Google Tools You May Have Overlooked |
7 Google Tools You May Have Overlooked
By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2011
Google's always coming out with new fangled gizmos. It's amaz? how many new, updated, or overlooked tools you can find during routine research.
Of course, not all of these are completely unknown. There are probably a few on this list that you know, and a couple you've heard of but may not know much about.
Let's look at a few of them.
1 - Google Reader Sharing
This has been around for a while, but I'm still surprised at how few of my peers are using it.
If you have Google Buzz turned on, you'll notice when you next log into Google Reader that there's a section for "People You Follow". In this section, you can share links - or random thoughts, with all the people who are following you, or a select group, and they can share with you.
Those links also show up on your Google Buzz page. I enjoy getting suggestions from people who know and understand me, and what kind of news I like or need. I also like being able to split my audience into targeted groups of people so I can send them updates just on things they would want to know, instead of the whole fire-hose. Accessing Google profiles from within Google Reader has helped me get to know a lot of people better as well.
2 - Your Google Social Circle and Social Content
Surprisingly, lots of people are dismissive of Google's Social Search. This was understandable when the searches that turned... more..
|
| South Texas Ranches for Sale |
South Texas Ranches for Sale
"When I will retire I want to get one of those South Texas Ranches For Sale opportunities so that I would live happy". This is one of the most common answers when people are asked about why they decline such offers. The idea is that people are too scared to think of investment in this area now due to the fact that there are uncertainties when it comes to the real estate industry.
Stepping behind the South Texas Ranches for Sale opportunities
There are many things that can be said here in order to prove that now is the best time to actually think of investment in this area. One of the things that come to mind is the issue of money. This is the number one reason why people are worried about this type of investment. Thy think that the South Texas Ranches for Sale offers are designed for wealthier people and that's why they don't afford them.
Let's examine the real estate market and see how things are really going here. The recession has made some dramatic changes in this area and things clearly aren't the same as when this industry flourished. Companies have stopped buying land in order to expand, people have stopped thinking of this area as an something worth their while. That's the main reason why the value of the land has dropped to the lowest point in the last decade and that's where all the opportunities open up. The South Texas Ranches for Sale offers are designed to fit the pocket of anyone that wishes to have a home somewhere in the middle of the nature someday. The interesting part here is... more..
|
| Yahoo Panama - Pros and Cons |
Yahoo Panama - Pros and Cons
By Scott Van Achte (c) 2007
Near the end of 2006 Yahoo officially unveiled the new back end for Yahoo Marketing Solutions, widely referred to as the 'Panama' Update. Since then they have been slowly allowing the upgrading of accounts from the old into the new system. While not everyone has had a chance to have their accounts switched over, it is expected that all will be upgraded by the end of this quarter.
After several months of waiting, this new backend is a welcomed change as Yahoo finally moves into the future but as with any new system, it is not without its pros and cons.
New System Cons
There are a few negative aspects that have been widely noted in many forums and by Yahoo advertisers. As with any new design and back end, it is expected that there will be some wrinkles. Most of the problems are relatively minor, and for advertisers on top of their campaigns, these should not present any major issues.
- One of the downsides most discussed is the transfer of account stats from the old system to the new. Once your account has been transferred, the new system will not log any of the old system historical data. While this information is still accessible by logging into the old interface (which is made read only), it would certainly make more sense if stats were available under the new account login.
- Another issue is campaign tracking. After the switch has been made, as long as you do not change any tracking settings everything should continue... more..
|
| Is Your Web Site Missing These Crucial Conversion Factors? |
Is Your Web Site Missing These Crucial Conversion Factors?
By Kim Roach of UnleashTheTraffic.com Smart online marketers nev?guess. They base their decisions on precise testing. Unfortunately, 90% of online marketers nev?test at all. However, for those that take the time to test properly, they can quickly rise above the competition.
Want to know how to increase your prof? without increasing your web site traff? Proper testing and tracking is the key.
You should test all of your sal?letters, landing pages, order forms, and web designs. Here are some of the crucial elements that you should test on every page along with some advice on best practices.
Keep in mind that nothing beats your own testing because different market segments will respond differently to your sal?copy.
Headline
Simple changes to the headline have been known to produce up to a 1,900% increase in conversion rates. The headline is the single most important part of your sal?letter. If they don't read past your headline, they will nev?reach the order button.
An effective headline will capture your visitors' attention and draw them into your sal?copy.
You only have about 8 - 10 seconds to capture your visitors' attention. To do so, your headline must hit your visitors deepest needs and desires.
One of the most powerful headlines is a question. Why? Because quest?s irritate the brain and make your grey cells go haywire. Psychologically, quest?s are extremely powerful.
Here are 3 quick tips for writing effective headlines:
- Ask a question that begs to be answered.
- Create curiosity. ( Our brains our naturally curious)
- Embellish your visitors deepest problem.
If you are not... more..
|
| Small Budget Promotion Techniques for Web Designers |
Small Budget Promotion Techniques for Web Designers:
- Direct mail: Direct mail is still one of the cheapest ways of getting your message out to a large audience. The cost of a well presented direct mail piece is easily justifiable given the almost guaranteed results if you target your audience correctly. Make sure you copy is done by a professional direct mail copywriter ? it's worth hiring their services for a one page letter. Most people think they can write good copy but most cannot ? even people who draft marketing copy frequently do not know how to write good direct mail copy.
- Chamber of Commerce membership: Joining a chamber introduces you to other businesses and other businesses to your talents. An advertising listing is often included in most chamber memberships and a majority of businesses belong to local chambers. Do not assume that because you are small a chamber can not help you or has no role for you to play. Offer to do a class on web design. Connect with other IT professionals.
- Rotary membership: Rotaries are good places to meet business leaders and introduce yourself and your company to the local economy. Also, because rotaries focus on issues affecting the business community, you will get a good idea of how the local economy succeeds and what it is facing. Involving yourself in a rotary also says a lot about you as a community member. Remember that most successful businesses start local and ?go global? after they have established themselves as viable.
- Sponsor local education programs: These are different than high school sponsored adult learning in that they are usually sponsored by local organizations or charity groups. They help teach adults new skills. Getting involved in these types of classes will give you... more..
|
| Court Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Data |
Court Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Data
By Donald P. Schweitzer (c) 2008
A federal court has ordered the giant of all Internet companies - Google, to hand over documents concerning YouTube's viewing data to another media monster - Viacom. Viacom and Google are currently entangled in a no-holds barred lawsuit, concerning allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights. Viacom wanted the viewing data to help it determine the extent to which YouTube's success was built on the popularity of copyrighted clips that were illegally posted to the site. Google contended that YouTube's viewing data should be kept from Viacom to protect the privacy of its users.
Unfortunately for the millions of people who view YouTube videos, the judge granted Viacom's request. The court's ruling has caused many advocates of privacy rights to cry foul. For the following reasons, I believe the federal judge was correct in ruling against Google.
The Court's Powers To Access Records Cannot Be Denied
Like millions of Americans and other people around the world I love Google. I can say without a doubt that Google has been very good to me and my family law practice. And if Google wants to be viewed by it's customers as the champion of privacy rights, so be it. But, let's get real... , the court's access to private records under appropriate circumstances cannot be denied. We cannot let people hide behind their computers to commit crimes or torts. It would be absurd, for example, to give a child molester safe haven to either post or view child pornography. It would be equally absurd to give a person safe... more..
|
| SEO Copywriting Tips for Google, Yahoo and your Prospects |
SEO Copywriting Tips for Google, Yahoo and your Prospects
By Angela Charles, President, (c) 2008 Pilot Fish
It might not seem logical, but a web site that's well-written for human consumption with a little SEO help usually is also well-received by the robots of search engines like Google and Yahoo.
So, what does "well-written" mean? Here are some tips to good SEO copywriting for Google, Yahoo and site visitors.
SEO Copywriting Tips ? How to Write Great Web Site Content
- Keyword research: This topic deserves a whole article on its own, but suffice to say that you'll want to base your site content on the keyword terms that you know are most popular among the audience you're trying to reach. There are online tools available that can help you determine the right keywords for your company. Among them are WordTracker and Keyword Discovery.
- One topic per page: If your company makes 5 different products, you'll need to devote at least one page per topic.
- Details, details: Each topic should be covered in enough detail that the site visitor can determine whether to contact you for more information. From an SEO standpoint, the more detail you provide on each topic, the more easily the search engines will be able to determine the relevance of your site to that keyword.
- Kill the sales brochure: Internet users don't appreciate going to your web to find only a sales brochure. Avoid flowery language; it usually signifies a page that's light on content and heavy on sales pitch, which the search engines won't rank well. Good SEO copywriting will focus on objective facts about your company's products and services,... more..
|
| Is Your Business Website Old School - 5 Reasons To Redesign With CSS |
Is Your Business Website Old School - 5 Reasons To Redesign With CSS
By Linda Bustos
Many small business owners have a hard time seeing the value of a website redesign. They believe "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." And this is understandable. Unless you are eating, breathing and sleeping technology and staying up to date with the moving target of Internet business, you're not likely to know intuitively if your site needs a redesign.
And as a small business owner, you may be concerned about the up-front costs of a website redesign. But once you understand how a redesign can help you drive traff?to your site, convert more users and even save mon? you'll feel more positive about making the ?estment in your business.
Old School Web Design - Tables-Based HTML
Not long ago, fax machines were the best way to deliver business documents fast. But now it's so easy to scan and email documents, and even capture digital signatures through email, the fax machine is quickly going the way of the typewriter. With email, recipients can choose to read and archive the message online, or print it out themselves on their own desktop printer. No need for individual telephone lines for the fax machine, taking up desk space, replacing toner, uncurling fax paper and listening to screeching fax machine tones!
Tables-based HTML websites are like the fax machine. At one time tables were the best way to render information on the Web. But like curled paper and fading ink, tables left something to be desired. Designers were constrained by tables that allowed data to be rendered only in tabular f? The clean, professional and... more..
|
| Top 5 Ways To Use Web 2.0 for Web Marketing |
Top 5 Ways To Use Web 2.0 for Web Marketing
By Jason OConnor (c) 2008 Net Gazette
Web 2.0 and Web marketing is a match made in heaven. There are many ways to create traffic to your website using the power of Web 2.0. Below I am going to examine what I consider to be the top five.
Jack Humphrey, a well-known Web 2.0 expert, defines it this way in his Authority Black Book:
Generally speaking, if people can submit links to content, submit content, make comments and vote good/bad content up/down thus affecting the amount of traffic that content can generate, it's Web 2.0.
Blogs, wikis, file sharing sites, content rating systems, book-marking sites, and social networking sites are all examples of Web 2.0. Some of the more well-known Web 2.0 sites are YouTube (file sharing), Facebook and MySpace (social networking), Wikipedia (wiki), del.icio.us (book-marking) and Digg (content rating system). The l? is almost endless, and the traffic that these websites generate is absolutely staggering.
So how can you harness some of this traffic?
1) Create original, quality and compelling content and submit them to Web 2.0 websites.
For example, if you write an original and compelling article, you can submit it to content sharing and content rating system websites such as Digg, Propeller, Newsvine, MarkTD or Reddit. Sometimes content sharing and content rating system websites specialize in a particular industry. MarkTD specializes in marketing, for example.
When you submit your article to these sites, people will give it a vote, and each vote moves the article up where it can be seen by more and more people. This has the potential of... more..
|
| Birthday gift ideas |
|
Birthday gift ideas
One of the biggest issues when it comes to someone's birthday is the Birthday gift ideas. This is one of the main concerns when kids have a birthday and their friends need to find a gift that is best suitable for that occasion. Of course, there are some classic things that can be bought, which will save the day, but a birthday is much more personal than the first thing that comes to hand in a shopping mall.
The great things about Birthday gift ideas
A first idea here refers to the aspect of being personal. One of the greatest Birthday gift ideas were the ones that sent a message to the receiver. Those are the gifts that really matter and those are the ones that will be remembered in the years that will come. This should be the main target of people when they are planning to hand out a gift. In this way, it will have the impact that they've planned and the receiver will be happy.
A second idea here, is linked to creativity. People don't let their imagination flow as often as you might think. There are so many things that can be done if some friends put their heads together, they only need to have a little bit of courage to actually do what they think. Of course, this refers to the interesting and great Birthday gift ideas and not the craziest of ones. Jumping from a roof top into the swimming pool can be a... more..
|
| 9 Hot Tips to Increase Site Conversions |
9 Hot Tips to Increase Site Conversions
By Gary Klingsheim (c) 2009
"Site conversion" is a very dry and unexciting way of saying "how to get more prof? from the same amount of website traffic." Isn't that a more upbeat way of expressing it? Who doesn't want to get more prof? from the same number of visitors?
Increasing your conversion rate is a straightforward, even dramatic way of positively impacting your bottom line. It really cannot be emphasized too much that any improvement at all in your conversion rate means additional revenue that is total prof?
Remember this fact when you are told that the way to "make more money" is to invest in more traffic-generating schemes (and dreams, at times). Before you start spending more money to generate additional traffic, you need to do as much as you can with the traffic you are already getting. If you keep the horse ahead of the cart in your planning, you will have an efficient, stable, measurable conversion rate from which you can extrapolate x amount of additional profit from y amount of new-traffic generation.
The following tips are not in any particular order (except for Number 1), and can be modified and reordered to suit your particular situation. Take ownership of the change and improvement, and make sure everyone involved understands the importance of maximizing every revenue source, beginning with the existing ones!
1: Before you can repair or improve something, you have to have a good way of measuring where you are, what you're doing, where you're going, etc. You can sign up for a free Google Analytics... more..
|
| Microsoft Going After Google |
|
Microsoft Going After Google
By Jim Hedger, Step Forth News Editor, Step Forth Placement Inc.
"This is hypercompetition, make no mistake," Bill Gates, November 2005.
Gates is worried about Google and has been for a while. For years, observers have watched Microsoft, imagining the frantic pacing behind closed office doors in the executive suites, waiting for something major to happen. There have been articles about the rearrangement of furniture around the board table and the flinging of furniture across Steve Ballmer's office but, for the most part, very little of substance has been written about Microsoft's plans to deal with Google. That's because, until recently, the moves Microsoft has made have appeared to be either cosmetic and internal, or clumsily executed and easily thwarted. This week, work that's been happening in the background is showing fruit.
For Microsoft, the month of May has come in like a triumphant lion. When you are used to being the king of the pride, nothing says success like taking big chunks of business from the competition and over the past few days, Microsoft has scored big gains in its fight against Google. These gains, coupled with today's rumors of a Microsoft/Yahoo... more..
|
| How To Use Twitter for SEO |
How To Use Twitter for SEO
By Kristina Weis (c) 2011
Links Tweeted on Twitter Matter for SEO
It's official. Google and Bing include social signals - namely, links that get tweeted on Twitter - when determining rankings in their search results. This was confirmed by Danny Sullivan in his December 1, 2010 post on Search Engine Land, and it was likely a factor for a while before that.
To put this new factor in perspective, Google uses hundreds of signals to determine how it should rank a website. These include inbound links to the site, the title tag of a web page, and site speed.
Getting people to link to your site is really all about having great content that people want to share, whether on their blogs or websites, or on Twitter. As Google and other search engines increasingly take note of social activity and the links shared on sites like Twitter, having a good social media presence will become increasingly important for ranking well in search results.
Many companies have been employing social media as a part of their marketing strategy, and for good reason. Now that social activity has so much impact on search engine optimization (SEO), companies that take SEO seriously know they must use social media as part of their strategy for getting onto the first page of search results.
Note for those who are not familiar with Twitter: "tweets" are the 140-character (or less) messages that people post on... more..
|
| My Tactics for Getting Those Top 5 Spots in Google |
My Tactics for Getting Those Top 5 Spots in Google
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010
Actually, getting in the #1 spot is best, but I will settle for the top 5 or even anywhere on the first page for very competitive keywords. Obtaining those top rankings for your targeted keywords in Google will obviously be very important to achieving your online goals.
I don't have some magic formula, just marketing online stuff that works. Very simple stuff that everybody can do to get those top rankings. Here are some of the tactics/things I do:
* article marketing through the free article directories
* create videos on my niche products
* make blog posts in my niche areas
* do press releases for my targeted products
* create free ebook guides on my subject areas
* build separate lists for each major niche market with follow-up emails
* participate in online forums with my sig links added
* make regular tweets about any new content
* find out my competitors' main backlinks and duplicate them
* create Google Alerts for my major keywords and add comments/links to the ones I like
* keep adding fresh content pages to my sites keyworded to phrases used by buyers
Now on second thought, some of those are not so simple, but they can be easily done by most webmasters. Or, you can get someone to do them for you. For example, I get my videos done for me since I simply don't have the time or expertise to do them myself. If you're poor at writing or have little time, you can even get someone to write your articles for you as well. Same goes for your web content, but you have to be careful and make sure it is of the highest standard.... more..
|
| Landing Page Quick Reference Guide |
Landing Page Quick Reference Guide
By Michael Cordova
A landing page is a website page that is created for one purpose - to persuade the site visitor to convert into a customer by making a sale, completing a form (thereby becoming a qualified lead), signing up for a newsletter, etc.
We provide this landing page quick reference so you can pull it out every time you are creating a persuasive landing page. It is divided into 4 sections and is intended to be an all-inclusive tip sheet.
Most importantly, consider that you have 8 seconds or less to convince your visitor to act. If you haven't convincingly made your case in this time then your visitor will move on and will be lost, as the Internet has created the most fickle customer in sal?history.
Page Layout
- Place your logo at the top left. Visitors expect it there so display your branding where it counts.
- If the visitor came from a search engine keyword search or a PPC ad, then place the keyword terms in bold at the top of the page. This reinforces to the visitor that they came to the right place.
- Always keep the Golden Triangle in mind. It is the most important and scanned part of the page. It is the area of the page that starts at the top left of the page moves to the top right side of the page then down diagonally to the bottom left of the page just above the fold. The fold is the area of a web page that the visitor sees without scrolling vertically. You should nev?force a visitor to scroll horizontally.... more..
|
| Website Traffic Generation Planning and Methodologies |
Website Traffic Generation Planning and Methodologies
By Duncan Wierman (c) 2009
Real Estate internet marketing is like any other kind of marketing, you're trying to reach a niche market and must plan accordingly. You have to start by identifying your target market in order to develop your message conveying exactly the kind of high value business proposition which your niche will respond to.
The first steps are to:
1) Identify your target market; start with geo targeting and work with the demographics from there.
2) Decide how you want to be perceived by this target market and decide how you'll foster this
perception.
3) Identify and refine your value proposition.
Once you've done this, the next step is to develop and distribute your value proposition, making sure that your value proposition is perceived by your target market exactly as intended. In marketing, shaping consumer perception isn't just the most important thing: it's everything.
You have to start by positioning yourself to be perceived in a specific way; from here, you'll need to maintain, develop, grow or alter this market position as you deem necessary.
The real challenge is putting these principles into action:
Driving Traffic
There are some important principles of traffic generation you need to understand in order to be successful at bringing visitors into your website.
There are both principles and rules of traffic generation; principles have to do with your approach to the task and the rules are the practical nuts and bolts of driving traffic. You need to have an understanding of the larger picture before you can successfully put the practical techniques into action.
What you'll usually see a lot of is the techniques alone. While this is still valuable information, you probably... more..
|
| How to Optimize for Google: Part 2 |
How to Optimize for Google: Part 2
By Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO, StepForth (c) 2008
Optimizing for top Google rankings includes a number of factors. In Part 1 of 3 we discussed onsite optimization. In Part 2 we will touch on incoming links as well as using Google Webmaster Tools.
LINKS
Links are very important in today's Google rankings, but just how many links you need will depend on both the competitiveness of your target phrases, and the quality of the incoming links themselves.
Essentially the number one rule of links is to keep it relevant! Topical relevance is very important in order for inbound links to give your site the most value. If the page that links to you is relevant that is good, if the entire site linking to you is relevant, that is better.
First to get an idea of how many links you may need, take a look at the top 10 ranking sites in Google and record how many links Yahoo is noting for each site. (This is because Google does not display anywhere near all the links they have noted). The average of this count is often a good indication of how many links your site may need.
There are many different ways to get links to your site including the age old reciprocal link trade, directory links, article based links, and links from press releases.
Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal linking has seen its value drop considerably over the past few years, however, if the site you are trading with is relevant you can still receive value from these links.
Paid Links
Google... more..
|
| You Are NOT George Clooney - So Get Your Social Networking Act In Gear! |
You Are NOT George Clooney - So Get Your Social Networking Act In Gear!
By Adam Urbanski (c) 2009
When George Clooney was recently asked about his take on Facebook at the Toronto Film Festival, his response was short: "I'd rather have a prostate exam than a Facebook page."
Now, that's probably understandable when movie studios (his potential clients) have his number on a speed dial, and pesky paparazzi (freebie seekers and unqualified prospects) chase after his every move.
But unless you already have more prospects and high quality clients than you and your business can handle, your approach to Social Networking should be drastically different.
Frankly, a little over a year ago I considered online networking a total waste of time. Fortunately, I was able to recognize how wrong I was. And I wasn't the only one that had a change of heart on this.
After Dell revealed they generated a cool million dollars in extra sales in 2008, (ahm, make it a cool $3 million by June'09!), many other companies large and small started paying attention to this social networking "fad"!
Just consider a few of these facts:
? Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks initially considered online hang-out places for kids and teenagers are now attracting a much more demographically diverse crowd.
? Big brand names, like Ford, WholeFoods, Comcast, IBM, Dell, Southwest Airlines, and many, many more are establishing a strong presence on social networking hubs like Twitter and Facebook.
? Facebook membership has just passed the 300 million mark (that's nearly the population of USA!) and Twitter is marching towards 18 million users by year's end! That's a lot of potential customers!
? Although, started with college kids... more..
|
| 10 Key Things to Look for in a Good Web Designer |
10 Key Things to Look for in a Good Web Designer
By Gary Klingsheim (c) 2008
The pace of business today is positively supersonic. There doesn't seem to be enough time for anything anymore, and businesses of all sizes are working harder and faster all the time.
It's important to work smarter, too. And that means when you have to choose an important vendor for an essential service, you need to slow down and make a deliberate, careful decision. This is particularly important when you are getting ready to put your company's face on the World Wide Web in a new or newly-refurbished web site.
Before listing the ten key things to look for in a good web designer, let's define a few terms. Even though you may encounter variants on the name ? like web developer, web artist, webmaster and so forth - we're talking about an individual who, alone or with some assistance, is going to "get you up and running." This means more than simple design.
You may need someone who can help you conceive and write copy. You may need someone who can plan smart site structure. You may need help getting a domain registered, files uploaded, e-mail accounts set up, and other technical details. You will definitely need someone who can do just about anything, or quickly find out how, or have an associate who can at the ready.
With these caveats, and serious encouragement to shop around for price and professionalism, here are the ten things to look for, in rough order of importance:
1) Experience
You will need someone with all the techniques, tools and tricks that... more..
|
| Site Content and Copy Writing |
Site Content and Copy Writing
By Michel Fortin (c) 2008
An interesting debate is raging among copy writers, web designers and content developers about the differences, if any, between writing copy for the web versus writing content.
According to prolific copywriter Nick Usborne of Excess Voice, a recent survey conducted among the readers of his newsletter of the same name offers some interesting results. They seem to be split almost three ways: one-third consists of copywriters, another content writers and the final third both.
But it's wrong.
This is an important debate, I believe, since all online copy is content but not all content is copy. And that's a real problem.
Most web designers, webmasters and content writers develop text for websites in a way to educate visitors. They also write it with the notion that "content is king," "content increases search engine rankings," "content makes a website sticky" and so on. That's all fine and good.
But I believe content fails when it strives only at informing the reader, and thus lacks important elements that take her "by the hand" and compels her to do something - anything, including the simple act of reading.
In other words, while some websites may compel our attention, others fail to propel our actions, too. And their owners often end up screaming, "Why is my website not producing any sales," "why am I getting a lot of traffic but such a poor response" or "why are people leaving so quickly?" Well, if content is king, copy is the castle.
The Internet is not a traditional medium ? at least not in the broadcast sense. It is intimate,... more..
|
| Microsoft vs Google: Game On or Bing results too "Spammy"? |
Microsoft vs Google: Game On or Bing results too "Spammy"?
By V9 Design & Build (c) 2009
It didn't look too promising at the launch but Bing has been constantly in the news ever since. Some say the results are better than Google, even going as far as suggesting Google is all but finished. I don't agree.
On one of the search engine forums I often comment on, one of the moderators had this to say on the subject: "But overall this confirms my sense that Google, having abandoned the business model that got it to the top, viz. fast no frills search, in favour of added features and buying up other companies, is becoming increasingly fat and complacent, and along the way their search results are becoming less relevant."
Now, I have to say that I had a small run-in with this guy as he supports everything Microsoft does, from its browser to its operating system and now to its new "decision engine". So when he writes - "I've been using Bing lately and I'm finding a lot of advantages over Google. These are early days yet but this is the first emerging search engine that may provide a real threat to Google's dominance - something I for one welcome," - I'm a little suspicious.
There's plenty of supporters out there giving online commentaries on Bing's progress. TechCrunch.com, for example, analyses its early success by saying: "Microsoft sites' average daily penetration among US searchers reached 16.7 percent during the work week of June 8-12, up 3 percentage points from the May 25-29 period (which was prior to Bing's introduction) and up over 1 percentage point from its first week."
However, on webpronews.com following its launch, Matt Cutts,... more..
|
| How to Make a Website Successful |
How to Make a Website Successful
By Shelley Lowery (c) 2009
When doing business on the Internet, there are many ways in which you can make a website successful. Although the look of your website is important, fancy websites don't make sales. There is much more to creating a quality website. To make a website successful, you must create a website that will be of interest to your target market and make them want to visit your website over and over again. In addition, your website should lead your visitors to take the action you desire, such as joining your mailing list, or making a purchase.
Selecting a Website's Niche
The first step toward how to make a website successful, will be to target your website for one specific niche. For example, if you are designing a website about wine, everything within your website should relate to wine.
Selecting a Website's Keyword Phrase
You must also select the most relevant keyword phrase for each webpage. A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your webpage. For example, if your webpage is about 'making wine,' your best keyword phrase would be 'wine making.' You should use your keyword phrase a few times within your webpage, as this will enable the search engines to determine what the website is about. This is a very important step to make a website successful.
Using HTML Heading Tags
When you begin writing your content, it is very important that you use the HTML H1 heading tag with your main title at the top of your webpage. In addition, use the HTML H2 tags for your sub-titles. This is very important, as some search engines place relevance on the text... more..
|
| Understanding Business Cycles and How They Relate to SEO |
Understanding Business Cycles and How They Relate to SEO
A SPN Exclusive Article By Nick Stamoulis (c) 2011
As the song by The Byrds goes "To everything - turn, turn, turn/ There is a season - turn, turn, turn/And a time for every purpose under heaven." The same principle applies to Internet marketing - different aspects of Internet marketing campaigns run on different cycles. These business cycles have to be understood and accounted for when developing any SEO strategy, because they can directly affect the success of the campaign. While one company's business cycles may greatly differ from another, especially when comparing B2B companies with B2C businesses, the bottom line is that you have to be aware of your company's business cycles to more effectively measure SEO success.
There are three main types of business cycles a company should keep track of: the sales cycle, the conversion cycle, and the SEO cycle.
The sales cycle begins the moment a company gets a lead. It could be a phone call from a prospective customer or client, someone submitting an online form and so forth. Each business has to decide when they are dealing with a real lead that is worth pursuing. The sales cycle doesn't stop until that lead has either gone cold or been successfully closed. Some leads may remain active for months as potential clients hem and haw over making the final purchasing decision. Depending on the complexity of the products and services your company sells (medical testing equipment versus office supplies, for example), your business sales cycle could take a few days or even up... more..
|
| Land For Sale in TX |
|
Land For Sale in TX
When trying to understand what the Land For Sale in TX opportunities offer to the people who are in need of a change in their lives, several arguments come to mind. First of all, the stress and all the craziness that people have in their life contribute to a daily routine. All of these factors negatively influence the way that people think and that's why they are so skeptical all the time.
The positive of the Land For Sale in TX opportunities
First of all, people need to take into consideration that this isn't a way to change their mentality, but this is a way to make them understand that there are solutions to the problems that they have and those solutions are worth to be checked out. One of the solutions that are being brought up here is to actually consider the Land For Sale in TX offers as a way of changing ones perspective of their current reality. The idea here is to view the entire palette of opportunities and choose the best ones that fit your current situation.
Let's take an example. You are in need of a change in your life, due to the stressful problems and other issue that may influence your wellbeing. How can the Land For Sale in TX offers help? The answer can come in various forms, but the main point here is to evade from this environment to a place where you will find peace and quiet. It's... more..
|
| The Search Landscape Reflected In Paid Results |
The Search Landscape Reflected In Paid Results
By Dave Davies (c) 2008 Heart Of Business
It's important to note that the writing of this article occurred on July 17, 2008. I mention this only to insure that you can put it into context and also so that those who read this article in a day or week or month from now aren't confused by my noting of Q2 reports and references to "today".
Any of you who have read some of my past articles or who have visited Beanstalk's services pages will know - I'm not a PPC guy. Quite honestly, it's not in my primary skill set and it's something I would definitely prefer to leave to the experts. Now that said, following Google and it's health (which is tied directly to AdWords and AdSense) is something I'm keenly interested in. To this end, recent changes in Google's paid search display and ranking systems will have huge impacts on advertisers and, more important for the purpose of this article, on Google itself.
A couple weeks ago a friend of mine, Richard Stokes from AdGooroo sent me a PDF entitled, "Search Engine Advertiser Update - Q208" . With this document they outline the changing trends in the paid search marketplace and many of the stats are surprising. If you're a PPC manager they're obviously directly important. For those of us in the organic optimization world they are still both interesting and important. They're interesting for reasons which will become clear below and they're important because anything that affects the economic health of the search engines affects the search landscape both... more..
|
| How to Control Your Listing Text in Google's Search Results |
How to Control Your Listing Text in Google's Search Results
By John Metzler (c) 2009
A Google Webmaster Help video from Matt Cutts released on Nov. 10, 2009 got me thinking how the listing text in Google's search results can easily be overlooked by some webmasters in their SEO efforts.
SEO is all about extending the reach of your web site content to your target market using online search platforms. You can tell when this has been achieved, and to what degree, by using web analytics software to monitor referral and visitor data. But what that data won't tell you is how your site appears to users in a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Sure, you're getting traffic but perhaps you're missing out on a lot more because your listing text is weak. You wouldn't take out a newspaper advertisement without looking at the final proof first. So don't be in the dark over how your site appears to people who use Google.
Poor page titles, visible copy, and description meta data can result in a weak listing. Webmasters have a lot of control over what text is displayed in a SERP, but in the end, Google reserves the right to modify result snippets if it feels the original isn't up to par.
It's important to remember that this decision by Google is based on a highly refined algorithm and is ultimately for the benefit of people searching for your content. That said, I'm willing to bet most webmasters still prefer to retain control over how their web site is shown in Google.
By ensuring your on-page content is the best it can be, you're greatly... more..
|
| 9 Common Title Tag Mistakes and How to Avoid Them |
9 Common Title Tag Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
By Kristina Weis (c) 2012
A website's title tags are very important for several reasons:
1) The title tag shows up in search results as the blue link, and a good one helps the site get more clicks and visitors from search results.
2) Title tags are a crucial SEO element that can help the website show up higher when people search for the words in it.
3) Title tags show up when web pages are shared on social media sites like Facebook. This is important because social media mentions are now a ranking factor in Google search results.
So if you have the time to optimize one thing on your website, title tags are it.
Here are some of the top mistakes and missed opportunities I've seen in title tags. Avoid these and you'll be ahead of the game. You'll rank higher in search results and entice more people to click on your site.
9 Signs of a Bad Title Tag:
1. "Home" or "Home Page" in Title Tag
It may be logical or helpful to the website owner, but including "Home" or "Home Page" does not help visitors or search engines. All we really care about is what the page is about, and what it offers us. Why take up space with this non-information? You surely don't want to rank for the terms "home" or "home page."
2. Domain Name in Title Tag
Including the domain name (like example.com) in the title tag is redundant and takes up prime SEO real estate.
If a searcher... more..
|
| The FTC Needs to Shut Up! |
The FTC Needs to Shut Up!
By Pace Lattin (c) 2010
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is one of the most unique parts of our government. It has a wide range of powers given by law, which encompass among other things the ability to pass rules and regulations against unfair and deceptive acts or practices. The FTC often issues "guidelines which are no more than notices that they will push for prosecution or civil action against individuals in violation their guidelines. Although these guidelines are often up for public debate, they are not passed by any governing body such as Congress, yet affect us often more than any newly passed law would. While many people see that the FTC is a consumer rights entity within the government, a growing number of people see that the FTC is a part of a growing, overreaching government that is interfering with the ability of businesses and often individuals to conduct business in this market economy.
I'm not claiming that the FTC should NOT prosecute obvious fraud, where consumers are clearly being scammed - such as not delivering a product as promised or the mass distribution of unsafe toys. That being said, the FTC's guidelines and civil actions are quickly crossing the border of infringing not only on our ability to do business, but our First Amendment Rights to Free Speech. The Right to express one's self and opinions, whether it is political or business related is an inherent part of our society and the foundations of our business community. The courts have ruled that advertising is a form of free speech, which cannot be infringed upon anymore than any other opinion, written or spoken.
Recently the... more..
|
| Search for secret millions + Google |
|
Search for secret millions + Google
Ori Allon ? the 26-year-old UNSW student who promise to change web searches.
IT IS the hush-hush deal that could be worth millions - many, many millions.
Google, the world's biggest player in the internet search business, has paid the University of NSW an undisclosed sum for the rights to a mathematical process that promises to change the way we explore the web.
But it is unclear how rich it will make Ori Allon, the 26-year-old doctoral student at the university who developed the algorithm, or formula, at the heart of the process. It could become the basis for the next generation of search engines, improving the relevance of responses to a search - and displaying a more detailed taste of each file so users can better decide if it is what they need.
But having won a tussle against its two main competitors - Yahoo! and Microsoft - to secure the rights, Google has gagged Mr Allon and UNSW from saying too much.
What we know is this: Mr Allon came to Sydney in March 2005 to work on a project run by Dr Eric Martin, of the university's computer science department, to develop a better search engine.
Six months later, the team announced it had developed Orion - named after Mr Allon - which the university said would "revolutionise existing search engines".
"I provided the spark," Dr Martin said last year, "but it is Ori who developed this through his amazing creati-vity and sheer hard work."
Yesterday, he said: "What others would have taken two to three years to do, he did in six months."
The university took the formula to the US, and now Mr Allon is working out of Google's head office in California. But because of confidentiality agreements, all the university can do is confirm that Mr Allon is... more.. |
| How Google Applies Science to Search 1 |
How Google Applies Science to Search 1
By Kalena Jordan (c) 2008
Dr. Craig Nevill-Manning is a New Zealander who joined Google in 2000 as a Senior Research Scientist to develop more precise search techniques. Previously, Craig was an assistant professor at the Computer Science Department of Rutgers University, where he conducted research in data compression, information retrieval and computational biology. Before that, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Biochemistry Department of Stanford University, where he developed a software suite used by pharmaceutical research laboratories to identify the role of particular proteins within cells.
A scientist at heart, Craig is probably best known as the developer of Froogle (recently re-named Google Product Search) and the founder of Google's software engineering center in New York City.
This article is a summary of his presentation at Webstock 2008.
Google's Spelling Bee
Craig started his presentation by talking about one of his first challenges in his job at Google: the spelling correction tool. As the popularity of the search engine grew, Google needed to be able to spell-correct lots of obscure words. So his solution was to take a sampling of content from the entire web. Craig's team came up with a algorithmic model and ran it over the web. He discovered that there were several correct answers to the same question. For example, words like "kofee" could mean either the searcher is seeking a cup of java or information about Kofee/Kofi Anan.
To combat this, Craig came up with an interesting solution: the "Did you mean?" alternative spelling option, based on predictive examples of searcher spelling patterns. You can see this in action if you type in "kofee anan"... more..
|
| Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords |
Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords
By Anthony Harris (c) 2011
You may have heard advice from Internet marketing gurus that ezine ads are one of the best forms of advertising. You may also have heard that Google AdWords and other pay per click search engines are one of the best advertising methods. But when it comes to marketing your web site, article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords anytime.
The advantage of article submission is trust. Suppose you subscribe to an ezine in the form of an email newsletter. You've just sat down at your PC, coffee in hand, to read your email. There in your inbox is a copy of one of your favorite ezines, the one you read every time. Clicking on the newsletter, you see that this edition starts with a sponsor ad and then has a couple of great sounding articles and a couple more ezine ads. Sipping your coffee, one of the articles catches your attention. You read the article, and you were right. It's a great article.
At the bottom of the article, there is a link to the author's web site and a short biography. You notice the author has a link to pick up a free report with more information about the article's topic. Then you notice that right below that there's a sponsor link in an ezine ad. The sponsor's link is for a different web site, but it also offers a free report about the same topic.
Now you might click both links. But if you could only click one, which would you choose:... more..
|
| Creating Widgets for Your Websites and Blogs |
Creating Widgets for Your Websites and Blogs
By Doran Roggio (c) 2007
With a widget you can place the current information from your blogs and or/websites on other webpages, and your personal pages on social networks like myspace, ning.com and your private clubs. This is not only fun and informative, but an excellent promotional tool.
What is a widget? According to Wikipedia a "web widget is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Generally widgets are third party originated... Widgets are also known as modules, snippets, and plug-ins. Widgets can be written in HTML, but also in javascr?, flash and other scripting languages..."
Applications can be integrated within a third party website by the placement of a small snippet of code. This is becoming a distribution or marketing channel for many companies. The code brings in 'live' content - advertisements, links, images - from a third party site without the web site owner having to update."
You have probably seen widgets on web sites you have visited. When clicked on the widget will take you to the source of the information. Although widgets have been around since the late nineties, they are becoming increasing more popular especially with the rise of social networking.
I first started playing around with widgets as a way to promote my own AC published content. While widgets are not that difficult, they can be a little tricky at first if unfamiliar to you. It took me several tries to perfect my own widgets and place them on my blog and social networking sites. They now work perfectly without any... more..
|
| 11 Ways To Drive Traff?Away From Your Webplace |
|
11 Ways To Drive Traff?Away From Your Webplace
By Jerry Bader (c) 2007
Why Web-Users Are So Impatient
While viewing a Toronto Raptor basketball game I saw T.J. Ford, one of the fastest players in the league, rush down the court like a man possessed and proceed to throw the ball behind his back to a trailing Andrea Bargnani. The trouble was the ball sailed over the head of the seven-foot Bargnani into the second row of seats. Ford, himself, finished up with a beer and popcorn fac? after landing in the lap of a front row patron. So what does this have to do by using webplace design and marketing you ask? A lot.
As talented as Ford is as a basketball player he sometimes plays out-of-control, and his major asset, his speed, turns into a litalent. When this happens in a basketball game the answer is to gradual the game down and get back in control.
Don't Speed-It-Up; Gradual-It-Down
Webarea visitors are like the velocityy T.J. Ford; they are so intent on getting what they want as quickly and efficiently as possible, that they generally surf the internet out-of-control.
How many times have you sat in front of the computer by using your hand resting on your mouse seeking for some desired product or service, service, or information, when all of sudden you find what looks similar what you would like, but before you even have a possibility to discover precisely what it's, your hair-trigger finger decides it\'s time to move-on. It\'s like your finger has a mind of it\'s own.
Velocity Kills Marketing Labors
All the talk and discussion about short attention spans caused by people raised on video games and quick-cut-edited music videos is very misleading.
What website visitors won\'t tolerate are webplaces that waste their time, and many webplaces are guilty of... more.. |
| 12 Simple Steps to Explode Your Site Traffic Using Online Social Media |
12 Simple Steps to Explode Your Site Traffic Using Online Social Media
By Dave Foster (c) 2007
Last year saw the arrival of online social media. If you operate a website or blog, you would be well advised to realign your site to exploit the popular social media sites for increased traffic.
You should also introduce social media components to your site because web users are experiencing these new forms of interaction on more and more sites and they will have an expectation of the same from your site too.
If you want to attract repeat visitors and want them to stay longer, your focus for the next few months should be on the social aspects of your site.
Social media uses technologies like RSS, blogging, podcasting, tagging, etc. and offers social networking (MySpace, Facebook), social video and picture sharing (YouTube, Flickr), and community-based content ranking (Digg, MiniClip) features.
The central theme of these sites is user generated content used for sharing amongst other users. The social aspects of these sites allow users to setup social communities, invite friends and share common interests.
You don't have to change your site immediately to take advantage of these new technologies. Introduce small changes incrementally and you will be well on your way to measure up to your visitors' new expectations.
Step 1. Declare who you are to the online community. People should be able to relate to you. Unless they know more about you, you will be just an unknown identity and most people don't like to deal with people they don't know. Create an About Me page to l? your achievements, skills and aspirations.
more..
|
| Understanding Social Media |
Understanding Social Media
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flikr, etc. These are all social networking sites the business world is buzzing about these days.
But why? And how are some people using these platforms to make money and bring in new clients for their companies?
Let's face it, no one wants to get left behind in business and certainly no one wants to miss out on a new way to attract new customers.
First let's talk about the wrong way to do social media marketing.
These sites are not advertising vehicles to blast out sales pitches to millions of people. Sorry it's not that simple. The fastest way to fail at this new form of marketing is to try to slap old marketing methods on a new media.
There are two terms that are often used interchangeably but they have important distinctions. Social media and social networking.
Social media refers to the technology. The various platforms mentioned in the first sentence of this article are all social media sites. They are places people can go to... more..
|
| Anniversary gift ideas |
|
Anniversary gift ideas
The first though in people's mind when it comes to Anniversary gift ideas is to run away. This is because of the fact that they simply don't know what to choose when that time of the year comes, regardless of the stages that that the relationship is at the moment. Some say that this is one of the hardest things that they need to do and that is the reason why they need some help in this matter.
Why are people so afraid to find the best Anniversary gift ideas?
First of all, they need to understand one simple and yet very important aspect: the meaning of an anniversary. There are many examples, especially of men, that simply don't understand why they have to come up with the gift once every year during a certain date. The explanation is represented by the fact that it's a celebration of the relationship and that is why it is so important. People are adjusted with the idea that a celebration is connected with the fact that a gift should be offered and that's why the Anniversary gift ideas are so searched for.
One of the best advices in this area is that there are no rules when it comes to making a gift. This is because of the fact that people are different, their experiences are different and they see the world in a different way. That's why people have different tastes when it comes to everything and that's why life is so enjoyable. Offering something to somebody... more..
|
| Size Really Does Matter - At Least When it Comes to Twitter |
Size Really Does Matter - At Least When it Comes to Twitter
By Merle (c) 2009 MerlesWorld.com
Back in the days when newsletters first hit the Internet, they were usually published in text format because many email clients did not support HTML email just yet. One of the problems many publishers faced was long URL's being split in half and not being clickable to the reader. To solve this problem, shortening services started to spring up that would take a long URL and cut it down to a reasonable size.
With the popularity of Twitter and the confines of 140 characters, URL (link) shortening services are in high demand once again. When you have such a small amount of space to work with, no one wants a long URL cutting into that precious real estate.
There are a variety of shortening services to choose from, each having their own specific features and benefits. Most of them do work hand in hand with Twitter, allowing you to Tweet the link once it's been shortened. If you're an avid Twitter user this is a useful feature to have.
Some only provide a basic shortening service, but many allow you to view stats and metrics on your newly shortened links if you register. If you're doing any form of social media marketing, it's nice to be able to see if anyone's actually clicking on all the links you're sending out to the "Twitosphere", or posting on Facebook and other sites. Tracking will give you an indication that you're being heard and that people are actually paying attention to what you have to say.
Another important thing to look for is whether or not the shortening service uses... more..
|
| Click Fraud, Six Things You Should Be Aware Of Before You Buy |
Click Fraud - Six Things You Should Be Aware Of Before You Buy "Guaranteed Traff?
By John Young (c) 2006
Bill was getting frustrated and desperate. He'd being trying to promote his website for months with little or no success.
Adwords didn't seem to be working. He'd devised the most fiendish ads he could think of and set them up on Google only to find that nobody clicked on them.
He had written several articles and, using an automatic article submitter, had placed them on hundreds of Article Barns across the web. There had been an increase in his Alexa Ratings, but that was it. Maybe there was a slight flurry of hits when he first placed the article, then nothing.
He'd set up a blog, made a press release announcement, and done everything except don a Shaman costume and dance around his computer.
He'd purchased ebooks on increasing his traff? and tried every idea he ran across. His budget was beginning to show the effects, and he had the chilling realization that if he didn't come across something that worked, he was simply going to run out of mon?and go bankrupt.
In other words, he was about to become one of the 90 per cent of the Info Marketers on the web who fail.
That was when he ran across a site that guaranteed traff? Little did Bill know he was about to become a victim of cl? fraud.
Cl? Fraud and Big Business
Cl? fraud has been discussed in a recent issue of Newsweek (Oct 6, 2006) as one of the most serious issues that faces online advertising. It has cast doubt on at least... more..
|
| Make Your Brand Cool |
Make Your Brand Cool
By Jerry Bader (c) 2011
Is your brand cool? Cool is the ultimate compliment your company or product can receive from its buying public. To be cool is to be special, superior, and of higher value than the competition, which is why coolness is such a sought-after marketing objective. And before you reject the idea that your business, product, or brand doesn't have to be cool, think again. To be cool is to be desired and to be desired is exactly the goal of all marketing communication. Sure you want sales but first you got to be cool.
You Got To Be Cool
To be cool is definitely not the same as being trendy. Trendy is a far too ephemeral goal to invest in. Where trendy is a mere short-lived fad; cool is a statement of character.
The recent American Idol finale and pop culture sideshow illustrates perfectly what I'm talking about. Lady Gaga, the Queen of Trendy, put on a performance that may have wowed her twelve-year old fans but will surely be regarded in the future as merely a bizarre, over-the-top, vulgar circus act; whereas senior citizens Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, and Steven Tyler all delivered remarkable displays of class, cool, and resilience despite their obvious decline in vocal chops. You won't be seeing fans lineup to see Gaga fall off a staged-cliff in her underwear when she's cashing her old age pension.
If you run a Internet business, you know you have to be pop culture savvy, not always the easiest thing to do when things change so quickly, another reason why "cool" needs to be the goal, not "trendy." When businesses... more..
|
| 5 Must-Do Strategies for Dominating Social Media Marketing |
5 Must-Do Strategies for Dominating Social Media Marketing
By D M Gray (c) 2010
Social media marketing is an essential tool for any business. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are among the most popular sites regularly visited on the internet and can generate large numbers of visitors and new sales leads.
Many businesses are already utilizing social media marketing as part of their ongoing business strategy, but a large percentage of these are not aware of the essentials required to fully maximize social media to its full potential.
Here are 5 important criteria that need to be addressed in order to run a successful social media campaign.
1. Search Engine Rank Awareness
Social media profiles now make regular appearances in search engine listings. The major search engines are placing greater importance on these profiles as they tend to possess regularly updated topical content and provide quality information that search engine users are looking for.
Any social media profile should be created with search engine placement in mind. Ensure that relevant keywords are placed in titles, and content, and that any links use keywords (located within the anchor text). Brand names should be clearly visible to augment the likelihood of search engines displaying a social media profile for brand-related search queries.
Having a social media profile appear in SERP listings will build traffic to that profile and could subsequently lead to additional traffic to the main business website via that profile.
2. Additional Site Traffic from Social Media Posts
Search engines now index and display individual social media posts in their search results. The search engines consider these posts topical, relevant and useful to their users - 3 of the main criteria search engines look for when ranking a page (or submission).
Posting quality submissions on social... more..
|
| Simple SEO Truths |
Simple SEO Truths
By Kim Roach of UnleashTheTraffic.com According to the 1998 Georgia Tech GVU User Survey, 85 percent of respondents found Web pages from search engines. Since then, other studies have reported 50 to 80 percent of Web site traff?comes from search engines. Searching is second only to email as the most popular online activity.
Unfortunately, there are many marketers who simply do not put enough effort into preparing their web site for the search engines.
The following guidelines will help you to start seeing results in the search engines. Your first step is simply choosing the right keywords.
Choosing the Right Keywords
Often times, people make the mistake of optimizing for very general keywords like used cars or online marketing. Although these terms get lots of traff? it is very unlikely that you will be able to rank highly for them. Then, even if you do, this type of traff?produces very low conversion rates because they are not targeted prospects.
For example, if you are selling hiking backpacks, it would be much more beneficial for you to target the phrase 'hiking backpacks' rather than the extremely competitive keyword 'backpacks'. It would be even better to target the phrase 'camelbak commander'. This is a specific type of backpack and therefore will attract more buyers than searchers.
In fact, according to Jupiter Media Metrix, 28 percent of searchers will type a product name into a search engine. Nine percent type in a brand name and 5 percent type in company names.
The more targeted your keyword phrase, the more likely they are to buy. A person who types in 'backpacks' may be looking for... more..
|
| Using Social Media Marketing to Promote Your Specialist Information Website |
Using Social Media Marketing to Promote Your Specialist Information Website
By Miles Galliford (c) 2007 Before I get started, it is worth defining social media. It has become a widely used and abused term that means different things to different people.
My definition of social media is:
'online technologies and practices that people use to share their opinions, insights and experiences with each other. Information can be shared as text, images, audio or video via blogs, message boards, wikis, RSS, podcasts and social networking sites'.
At the heart of social media is the ability of individuals to interact with other people so that they feel involved and part of a community. A big part of this phenomenon is the activity of finding, sharing and recommending products, services, events and experiences to like-minded people. This is where social media crosses over with marketing.
Social media can be a great way to have your website promoted by word-of-mouth.
If you can get people to talk about and recommend your services to their peers, it is more powerful than any marketing you can buy. So how can you get started?
How Can You Make Social Media Work for You?
The good news is it is easy to start the process of using social media to promote your website.
1) Create a MySpace Page
MySpace (www.myspace.com) is the largest and best-known social network. Individuals create profiles about themselves and then invite similarly minded people to become their online friends. When someone becomes a friend, you can communicate with them and subtly direct them towards your own website.
Setting up your own page is simple and fr?... more..
|
| 5 Steps to a Social Media Avalanche of Customers |
5 Steps to a Social Media Avalanche of Customers
By Doug Firebaugh (c) 2010
"Build it and they will come" the saying goes.
Not.
You can build a blog or video site and you can still be lacking connections.
Connection is the nuclear core of social media. But you must make an effort in order for that to happen.
Whether you have a social media home business, traditional brick and mortar business, or an online business, you must get into the social trenches and connect and converse. It is that simple and that plain.
It is all about connecting and creating an engaging conversation with people that draws them towards you.
But why are people in social media not doing that?
Maybe they do not know this powerful 5 step "Avalanche Process" for getting new customers and keeping them in social media.
The first thing you must do is connect with the social media culture. It is what marketing is about in social media. Some people think that they can be anti-social in social media and think they can broadcast their message and people will still come.
That simply is not going to happen. Not in social media. You do not build 'it' but instead, build relationships that can become doorways and then eventually become customers.
Here is the "Avalanche Path" you can follow:
1) Connect --> 2) Conversation --> 3) Value --> 4) Doorway --> 5) Customer
Let's take a quick look at each step:
1) Connect
Connection with people is where success in social media starts. Connect with people on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on Youtube, on Orkut, or every other niche site out in the social sphere that matters. You must connect.
Here's a little tip:
Connect to those who are looking for you. They will find you if you are visible, and accessible... more..
|
| Your Logfiles May Be Missing Important Data |
Your Logfiles May Be Missing Important Data
By Ross Dunn (c) 2007
In this article I am going to explain logfiles and their importance in website analytics from my perspective as a ClickTracks user. Before I begin, however, I want you to know that although I provide essential analytic consulting, I am a certified ClickTracks Analytics Professional and have dabbled in books on analytics, I don't consider myself to be an analytics expert. In fact, I constantly find myself humbled by how much more there is to know. That said, I do know more than the average site owner and I hope that this article can shine a little light on this often confusing subject and save you some future headaches.
As many of you may know I am a huge fan of the logfile version of ClickTracks Professional, a website analytics package that I find indispensable for myself and my clientele. ClickTracks can do a lot to determine what is or is not working on a website; much more than expected in most cases. The one thing, however, that ClickTracks or any other logfile-based analytics tool cannot do is interpret information in your logfiles if it is not recorded. Unfortunately this is a common occurrence and many site owners have no idea that their hosting company is not saving information that could help them now or later when they find they need it.
The reality is that over ninety percent of the hosting companies I have dealt with have not been saving the vital data that a higher level analytics program needs; to work at peak performance if... more..
|
| SEO: Best Practices |
SEO: Best Practices
By John Sylvester
A few nights ago I was asked by a regular in a bar I frequent: 'what is this pub doing with a website? Somewhat bemused, I replied that it receives substantial hits to its website and that it is listed on all the Bangkok portals. More importantly, they have consistently remained at #1 on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and the other major search engines for well over a year. Visitors the site, although not verifiable, must convert into a lot of money.' He looked slightly bemused, shrugged his shoulders and muttered something about not knowing much about search engines.
That is where we stand on building websites: our philosophy is based on making the web work for our clients; in providing them with a new revenue source. We don't just deliver tastefully designed websites, we also provide detailed research which we convert into accurately anticipated keywords likely to be used by potential visitors when searching for a source of information.
With this knowledge, we optimise our clients' web pages and register it with sites we know will boost its rankings. This strategy has been successfully employed on sites based in Thailand, the UK, Germany, Australia, France, Austria and France.
But there is another option to be seriously considered: commercial search. It is by far the most dynamic and fast-growing industry segment now, estimated to extend beyond $5billion by 2006. Pioneered by Overture (now Yahoo!), pay-per-click was created in response to three fundamental issues concerning internet search: poor quality results; random ordering of listings; and a weak advertising revenue model. It solved these problems by creating a real-time market for keyword bidding.
Recently, however, it has spawned a series of bidding wars among a growing number of... more..
|
| Texas Land for Sale |
Texas Land for Sale
The very first thing that comes to mind when talking about the Texas Land For Sale offers and what they bring to the table is if it's worth it. There are so many different things that trouble people's minds right now, which makes it hard to focus on various things if they are not that important.
The really important things about the Texas Land for Sale opportunities!
First of all, this is an aspect that should be minded by all the people who whish to have their own home one day. Not just a flat in the middle of the city, where there is noise, business and stress, but a home in the middle of the environment, where one can find peace and quiet. The Texas Land For Sale offers are not a way to advertise a land, or a ranch, as they are a fulfillment of one's desire.
Why now? There are many times in life when one can actually think of investing in their future home. Some say that now is not the time to think of any investments as the times that we are living today are very complicated. Those are the people who should know that the recession is the factor that has made investing in lands so accessible to people. The middle classes of the society can actually consider the Texas Land For Sale opportunities due to the harsh times that the world is experiencing today.
How much will it cost? There are many variations of the price and it really matters where you wish to buy that specific land, but one thing is certain: the value of the land and the prices are at their lowest point. One can verify this aspect by checking out the... more..
|
| Can Google Truly Make Quality Content King of The Web? |
Can Google Truly Make Quality Content King of The Web?
A SPN Exclusive Article By Titus Hoskins (c) 2011
For those webmasters and e-marketers who can remember a web without Google, life was much less complicated and a lot less tumultuous back then. Since Google came onto the scene and became the dominant search engine in the world... things have changed drastically.
And not necessarily in a negative way, those same webmasters probably jumped for joy when they reached the top of Google for their keywords. Then they complained just as loudly when Google made one of their never-ending changes to their algorithm and these webmasters saw their rankings drop or in some severe cases, disappear from the web altogether. In those early days, most of Google's major updates were kept secret until the fallout got webmasters fuming or rejoicing.
However, in recent algorithm updates or changes, Google has openly broadcasted these changes to anybody who was listening. The same openness applies to Google's recent changes dealing with "content farms" and "low quality content" in Google's SERPs. Matt Cutts stated in his blog, "we're evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others' content and sites with low levels of original content."
Basically, what Google is trying to do with these changes is to improve the overall quality of their search results by lowering the rankings of sites which it perceives as low quality and containing little or no original content. These would be sites that have scraped content from other websites and... more..
|
| RTA cabinets Ventura |
|
RTA cabinets Ventura
What's the deal with the RTA Cabinets Ventura services and the things that they do for their clients? Many people talk about how important it is for a business to take care of its clients and more importantly to answer to whatever needs they have. This is one of the best ways to create a strong relationship, between a brand and its potential clients.
The bond between the RTA Cabinets Ventura services and its clients
There are still man people who think that making a business is simple because the only thing that you need to do is to sell your product, item or service. Things are a little bit complicated as there are many factors that need to be taken into account in order to be considered successful. The RTA cabinets Ventura services are a great example in this direction due to the fact that they bring some great features to the table.
First of all, they put their client's comfort first. It might sound a little bit as a clich?but it is important for the client to actually feel comfortable. That's why the service was designed to give the customer the opportunity to browse throughout different models in the online environment until they find the right piece of furniture that best fits their needs, tastes and preferences and lastly, they can make their order and have things delivered for them.
When asked about how they were treated by the RTA cabinets Ventura services, many persons appreciated this aspect and the fact that things were done for them in a small timeframe. They talked about the fact that they didn't lost several hours in traffic or in a showroom, having to browse through various models and not be certain of... more..
|
| 2010 SEO Predictions That Came True |
2010 SEO Predictions That Came True
A SPN Exclusive Article By Warner Carter (c) 2011
Each time a year ends, we encounter countless bloggers and writers who share their thoughts about the incoming year. Some predictions are theoretically supported and some are just plain wild guesses. Predicting what's in store for the next year is almost a tradition for writers, even those not involved in SEO and Internet marketing. Sports writers, business analysts, music critics, and amateur writers - they all follow this unsung tradition. Many think that this tradition is worth following because nailing a wild guess or a well-researched fact means only one thing: respect from your readers.
It's only the third month of the year but some predictions from last year have become realities. People didn't ever expect that the realization would be this quick, but, unbelievably, many predictions are coming true right now.
The Power of Content Length
This was a common prediction that was heavily criticized. I read on some blogs last year that Google would be considering a site's content length as a determining factor for site ranking. Experts and SEO veterans commented that this was an amateur's prediction, but they all ended up wrong. As a result of this latest algorithm update, many guest blogging sites have increased their minimum article length to 450 words, and some are requiring even lengthier articles. Perhaps this recent update caused content-related terrors to some SEO geeks. They'll just have to remember that quality is still better than quantity.
Mobile Search Growth
Both local and global search benefited from the rise of high-tech phones... more..
|
| Using Internal Linking To Get Better Search Engine Exposure |
Using Internal Linking To Get Better Search Engine Exposure
By Randy Zlobec (c) 2008
Anyone who runs a website should be aware of a few basic search engine linking tactics. Used properly you can interlink your website so that Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines will rate you higher in both page rank and search engine results for your keyword/key phrase niche terms. If you're unaware of what internal linking means, here's a basic overview.
Internal linking involves the links on your website that point to other pages on your website. Internal linking is very important because it allows the search engine spiders, those automated bots that scour the Internet looking for information, to find all of the pages on your website. In comparison, external linking are links that are on your website which link out to other websites, and there are specific tactics for those as well. In this article, however, we're going to cover a few simple tactics and strategies to get your internal linking up to speed.
When you're developing your website, you will tend to put a whole lot of pages of similar information tailored to a specific niche or subject that you want to convey to your visitors. You probably will have information, news, how-to articles, tips and sales pages, where informed visitors can buy your products or services. Your internal linking structure will not only benefit your visitors, but it will help you rank better with the search engines as well.
Having a good navigation system makes Google and Yahoo happy, and in turn, they will reward you because you are doing things to improve... more..
|
| 8 Methods Of Adding More Content To Your Site |
8 Methods Of Adding More Content To Your Site
By Matt Jackson (c) 2007
Content is king and your content site is your kingdom. When the adage "content is king" was first coined, the web was, in many respects, a simpler place for Webmasters. Creating a website with ten to twenty pages of keyword rich content would generate excellent search engine results and a mass of traff?as a result. Note that keyword rich has now been replaced by keyword optimized ? a subtle difference, but a difference nevertheless.
However, the web evolved (difficult to imagine that it's only now considered web 2.0). With the evolution of the web came a much greater demand from web users. Where the static content site was once the epitome of everything good about the Internet, that is less true of the most recent incarnation of the World Wide Web. Your website visitors demand more, but are you able to provide it? We look at various methods of including more content on your website.
More Pages
OK, we'll deal with the most obvious method first. Add more pages. It's simple and it might be considered old school to many, but it still has a place. The more pages of content you have, the more information you can provide and the more keywords you can target. The math is simple and the technique is devastatingly simple.
Try to add new pages for new topics and, if a particular topic looks like being too verbose, split the page down into several parts. Host? plans usually allow for a lot of disk space so you should have no problems with space limitations in this respect. Content Management Systems... more..
|
| Why Your Website Needs Inbound Links |
Why Your Website Needs Inbound Links
By Rick Hendershot
Most web-savvy people quickly learn why they need "links" from other sites pointing at theirs. Your inbound links are one of the most important ways of getting yourself known in your field, generating traff?to your website, and influencing the search engines to notice your site.
"Traff? is what linking is all about. Without traff?your website is useless as a tool for selling your products or communicating your ideas. Getting links from other websites is not the only way to generate traff? but it is probably the most important one.
Learn the Secrets of the Top 10
Have you ever done a web search on your targeted keyword only to find the same 10 websites at the top of the rankings? How can they do it? What is their secret? Take an inside look into the workings of top ranked websites
But how do links generate traff?
**Direct traff?.. more..
|
| Linking With Integrity Getting One Way Links The Right Way |
Linking With Integrity Getting One Way Links The Right Way
By Jerret Turner (c) 2008
It's just as important to know what not to do when executing a website linking strategy as it is to know what to do. With inexpensive linking software and services so readily available, there's a strong temptation to take shortcuts when it comes to getting quality links.
Avoiding these traps will help your search engine placements rise naturally and stay that way for a long time. In this article, I describe two ways that you can help yourself avoid being labeled a link sp@mmer.
Link Farms
What is a link farm? A link farm is any website designed and set up for the sole purpose of getting search engine spiders to crawl and index web pages. These websites provide absolutely no end user utility or benefit.
So how do you recognize a link farm? First, you need to ask yourself, is this site heavy laden with links? Most link farms will have a "farm" of links with little to no content. As for an explanation of the site's existence, it's usually missing too.
The next question you need to ask is, what does the URL of the site itself look like? Most of the time, link farms will have long, hyphenated URLs (i.e. our-great-linking- directory dot com). This is a generalization so not all link farms will have these types of URLs. Many of these link farms are generated using software. The software will go out and find a domain name that contains specific keywords even if it settles on something with several hyphens and numbers. You may... more..
|
| Gift Ideas |
|
Gift Ideas
When taking up one of the Gift Ideas resources available on the internet, many people find themselves in difficulty rather than having a solution to their problems. This is because of the fact that there are so many choices that can be made and so many things that can be considered. It's quite hard to choose a gift these days.
What's your best Gift Ideas?
The very first thing that comes to mind when talking about which Gift Ideas are the best ones, is related to the issue of how personal they really are. It might sound a little bit strange, but the best ideas come from having a real connection with the one that will be receiving your gift. This is due to the fact that it sends out a deeper message, an unconscious one.
This means that one should turn to searching for something that will really send out a positive message and will generate amazement and why not excitement. You can always take up one of the Gift Ideas that are offered by the stores, markets or malls, but the piece of advice here is to not stop there. You can always do something with an item that has been bought from a shop.
The golden rule that should be taken into consideration when offering a gift, refers to the idea of how you offer the gift and not necessarily what you are offering. If you have some ingenious idea of how you offer your gift, you should apply it, no matter how creative or different it is from the normal norms. You can always impress your friends, family or close ones by coming up with various ways of offering a... more..
|
| How Much SEO Do You Need To Get Top Rankings? |
|
How Much SEO Do You Need To Get Top Rankings?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions, perpetuated by industry SEO experts, is that a website must follow perfect SEO strategies to get top rankings. While adhering to simple common SEO standards does help the search engines both find and index your site more quickly, it doesn't guarantee by any stretch of the imagination that following those SEO guidelines will propel your site to the top of the rankings.
If only search engine optimization was that easy!
No doubt, there are some SEO faux pas that will do harm to your site's rankings, especially in Google, the ultimate hall-monitor all puffed up and ready to pounce on any misbehaving webmaster. Things such as keyword stuffing, keyword spamming or linking out to bad neighborhoods such as link farms, pharmaceutical or gambling sites may get you blacklisted.
But how much SEO do you need? How much search engine optimization do you need to get top rankings? Do you need a whole lot or do you need very little SEO?
Actually, after 10 years of marketing online, the answer to that question varies depending upon what you're trying to accomplish with your SEO efforts? If you're operating an online business in a very competitive (read lucrative) market, SEO will be high on your agenda as you go about annihilating your competition.
Even if... more..
|
| Search Engine Positioning for the Weary |
Search Engine Positioning for the Weary
By T. O' Donnell
Do you want to get your site from page five to page one in Google? Here are a few tips to boost you on your way.
1. Clean Up Your HTML.
Keep a beady eye on Dreamweaver and avoid CMS software.
What, Dreamweaver, beloved program of pro webmasters everywhere?
Yes!
Dreamweaver adds lots of extra blank space to HTML code, and breaks lines. This is especially irritating in meta tags. Use EditPad's 'Find and Replace' function to get rid of newlines and double blank spaces in your pages.
Content Management Systems are a great time saver. An amateur can set up a professional-looking site in a few hours. The problem is they contain lots of code that's irrelevant to search engines. The top of a CMS page may contain only a few words relevant to its subject matter.
Then there's the duplicate content problem.
- Blogs have duplicate copies of their own content; sometimes exact, sometimes excerpts.
- Thousands of people are using the same CMS as you.
- A search engine spider sees the same header, sidebar and footer content in every page in your site.
Result? Your page is down the SERPs for any competitive keyword. Assuming it's indexed at all.
These programs are written by geeks. Their primary aim is to eliminate code errors and add features. Your marketing comes a very poor second. They're also posting security updates every few months. More hassle. For you.
Drastic solution:
1. Type your documents in a text editor like Editpad, then
2. Use a Text to HTML converter, then
3. (Use Dreamweaver to add formatting,... more..
|
| Websites, It's the Experience Stupid |
Websites, It's the Experience Stupid
By Jerry Bader (c) 2007
The other day I picked up a book that was sitting on my night table for over a year. It's just a small book and seemed like an easy read, perfect for falling sleep. It was called, "The Invisible Touch" by Harry Beckwith. Mr. Beckwith has written several books and is an expert on positioning, branding, and client relations. I wasn't sure if I was going to bother reading it or not, but after looking at the introduction I was hooked. This guy knew what he was talking about; he must because I agreed with most everything he said. That surely makes him an expert, at least in my eyes. Anyway, he tells a story about going to a concert for one of his favorite artists, a Laura Nyro. He purchased her recordings and loved them for their exquisite sound and her technical playing ability but the concert was a disaster.
Ms. Nyro performed with her usual skill and precision, but she nev?once looked at the audience, preferring instead to sit at the piano staring offstage while she played. Each song was preceded by a perfunctory introduction that was barely addressed to the audience. Needless to say, Harry was disappointed, as you can imagine anyone would be.
The Difference Between Products and Services
The point of the story Harry Beckwith was making was that there is a big difference between products and services. To quote from his book, "Products are made; services are delivered. Products are used; services are experienced." In this case, recordings are products and concerts are services. This got me thinking of my own experience, perhaps not... more..
|
| 10 Most Valuable Free Google Marketing Tools |
10 Most Valuable Free Google Marketing Tools
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006
Google has become the dominant search engine on the Internet. It would be hard to imagine a web without Google. For that matter, it would now be hard to imagine a world without Google. As frightening as that may seem to many people, it is none the less true.
For better or worse, Google has permeated into almost every aspect of our everyday life. Being Googled is now a common expression and an act carried out by mill?s of users around the world each day. New Google products and services are coming on stream at a frightening pace, further increasing Google's impact on our lives.
Despite this dominating presence, many people still don't realize Google offers some excellent fr?marketing tools for marketers and webmasters. Marketing tools which can prove extremely valuable to any webmaster or marketer trying to promote their sites or products online. Useful tools that will make your promotions easier and much more profitable.
Don't be fooled by the 'fr? label, these marketing tools might be fr? but they are also valuable. One even wonders why Google would be giving away these tools and services for fr? It probably makes good business sense in the long run, by providing these fr?tools Google is fostering a lot of company good-will and building up the Google brand name in the process. Good PR is good business.
Every marketer and webmaster should be taking advantage of Google's good-will and snapping up these professionally run services and marketing tools. Here's a quick run-down of the 10 most valuable fr?Google Internet marketing tools:
1. Google... more..
|
| Do You Really Need To Come In First Place? |
Do You Really Need To Come In First Place?
By Erin Ferree (c) 2008
When I was in 6th grade, track and field was all the rage. I've never been particularly athletic. But it was 1984 and everyone in my class was pretty fascinated with the Olympics that year. As you can imagine the school's annual track meet turned into a mini-Olympics.
So I surveyed the events and the sign-ups for each one. I decided that the long-distance running events held the most promise for glory. The 2 mile, in particular, only had 2 other girls signed up - so I was pretty much assured a "medal". That sounded pretty exciting. Maybe I could go for the gold!
However, watching the other events leading up to the 2-mile, I soon learned that one of the other girls was a seasoned runner. She knew all about pacing, how many minutes she should be able to run a mile in, and all that fancy stuff. At that point, I knew that first place was pretty much done for. I barely knew how many laps around the track I had to run. I ran the race anyway and wound up coming in second - which was just fine by me.
It's not all about winn? - a place or a show can be just fine.
Whenever I talk to a client about search engine placement, this track meet comes into mind. The client comes to me wanting to be Number 1 for their chosen search term. But for many small businesses, being ranked first is not truly that important - and depending on the search term, being... more..
|
| 7 Highly Effective Viral Marketing Techniques You Should be Using |
7 Highly Effective Viral Marketing Techniques You Should be Using
By David Jackson (c) 2011
I was watching the TV show Biography recently, and the celebrity being profiled was none other than Ted Williams. No, not Ted Williams the famous hall of fame baseball player and arguably the greatest hitter of all time. Biography, (which has profiled famous celebrities from Barack Obama to Michael Jackson to the Beatles) was profiling the story of Ted Williams, the homeless "man with the golden voice" who was discovered on a street corner in Columbus, Ohio in January, 2011 - thanks to a YouTube video that went spectacularly viral, receiving over 13 million views before it was removed at the request of the Columbus Dispatch newspaper due to copyright infringement.
What is Viral Marketing?
Think about that for a second. From homeless to being featured on Biography in only six short months. Such is the awesome power of viral marketing. So, what exactly is viral marketing?
In essence, viral marketing is word-of-mouth advertising. Or, to be more specific, Internet word-of-mouth advertising. And as you know, word-of-mouth advertising is the most powerful method of advertising there is, bar none - online or offline.
Viral marketing exists in many forms including articles, videos, e-books, software, reports, interactive flash games, white papers, text messages - even tweets.
The term "viral marketing" was first used in 1997 to explain the extraordinary growth of Hotmail which accumulated over 8 million users in an astonishing 18 months. Hotmail was subsequently acquired by Microsoft in 1997 for an estimated $400 million.
And what exactly was Hotmail's viral marketing success secret? Actually, it wasn't a secret at all. It was a clickable, single... more..
|
| Web 2.0: Way of the Future or Marketing Gimmick? |
Web 2.0: Way of the Future or Marketing Gimmick?
By Mikhail Tuknov (c) 2007
The term Web 2.0 has come to dramatically increased usage over the past few years. Many people have since begun to appropriate this hot new buzzword for their own websites while others are not quite so eager to embrace this new concept, considering it little more than an inappropriately named web-marketing gimmick. It has clearly polarized the web into two opposing camps, of adherents on the one hand and skeptics on the other. Yet in spite of all this - or perhaps because of this - there is still plenty of confusion and controversy surrounding Web 2.0. What is it exactly? And are the changes to the way the Internet has come to be used in recent years really significant enough to warrant this name?
The phrase itself is attributed to O'Reilly media, the company who coined it in 2003. Subsequently, the first Web 2.0 conference, which was held in 2004, brought it into widespread public consciousness. A series of conferences hosted by O'Reilly media has made the term even more popular than ever and facilitated the adoption of it by many industry pundits. The term as it has come to be used by O'Reilly media, refers to what many in the Internet industry perceive to be the second wave of Web-based communities and hosted services, following the first wave of communities which flourished during the initial Internet boom. These web sites encompass social networking sites, wiki sites and folksonomies - all of which share the trait of encouraging and facilitating content collaboration and sharing among its many users.
Perhaps some of the confusion surrounding the use of the... more..
|
| Do You Pay Per Click Fraud? |
|
Do You Pay Per Cl? Fraud?
By Kim Roach (c) 2006
The world of pay-per-click marketing started in 1997 with GoTo.com. Today they are known as Yahoo Search Marketing. What started in 1997 as a way to quickly get listed in the top of the search engines has turned into a 5.6 billion dollar industry in 2005. In fact, about 99% of Google's revenue comes from advertising.
However, this multi-billion dollar search industry is under attack and has been for quite a while. Cl? fraud has become the greatest threat to the rapid growth of the paid search marketing sector. The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that 20 to 35 percent of ad clicks are fraudulent.
Who's to blame? Cl? fraud can come from a variety of sources, including competitors, bots that simulate the human behavior of clicking on ads in web pages, or even friends of the publisher who want to "help" the publisher gain some additional cl? revenue.
However, the major search engines have received the majority of the blame, even though they are not necessarily responsible.
Yahoo has recently settled a class-action cl? fraud settlement. Under the settlement, Yahoo advertisers will be allowed to submit cl? fraud claims dating back to January 2004. Yahoo will reimburse any confirmed fraudulent clicks in c?, with no set limit on the amount of claims it will cover.
This year, Google has been burdened with its own cl? fraud case to the tune of 90 million dollars. Currently, the court is deciding whether to accept the search giant's proposed $90 million settlement while roughly 50 plaintiffs are voicing their dissatisfaction with it.
Cl? fraud is certainly no small... more..
|
| Has Google Replaced Content as King of the Web? |
Has Google Replaced Content as King of the Web?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2012
While great content will always get you noticed, I have come to the somewhat obvious conclusion that "Content is NOT King, Google is King" on the web. This is a slightly different mindset when it comes to getting traffic and marketing on the net.
This new mindset doesn't change the fact that you still have to create great content, but it changes the way one goes about promoting that content on the web.
In the last few years, Google's share of the search market has grown to 65% or much more in most areas of the world. This domination of online search puts Google in control of what content is seen - regardless of its quality.
It plays a major role in your content's visibility, a role so great that without Google's approval, your content is not exactly dead in the water, but your chances of succeeding is much less than with a thumbs-up from Google.
Now, the real turning point (light bulb moment) for me was Google's recent promotion of its own products or data, as in the whole "Google Plus Your World" search results features which were introduced a few weeks ago. Google is actively showing and promoting its Google+ profiles and posts within its SERPs.
Many believe Google is sacrificing both relevancy and quality by only showing its own data (as opposed to Twitter's and Facebook's profiles/posts which Google claims it no longer has access to) when Google users are logged into their accounts.
Those same critics also believe Google has stepped over the... more..
|
| Ten Ways To Clear Bad Press From Search Engine Results |
Ten Ways To Clear Bad Press From Search Engine Results
By Linda Bustos (c) 2006
What do you see when you search for your company or brand name? Is there anything on the first page of the search engine results that you wouldn't be proud to display on your home page? Consumer review sites, blogs and forums have made it easy for anyone to say whatever they want about your company, whether they be disgruntled customers or competitors who like to play dirty.
If you're in a situation where negative publicity is front and center in search results, there are ways you can reclaim search engine real estate for your corporate identity. Though you can't make negative results disappear from the search engine indexes entirely, the following strategies can help them slip off the first few pages of search engine results.
1. Good Old Fashioned Networking
The first thing you should do is contact the webmasters of the sites in question with a polite request for removal of negative comments. There's a good chance they'll be willing to co-operate. Note that, even if they do remove the listing, the cached pages may remain in the search engine indexes for some time. But users who cl? through the search engine results will land on a page with the comments removed.
Ch? out some of the sites that already have something good to say about you. Send them an appreciation note, and offer them a link back from your site. You could even create a special page called "Gary's Garage On The Web" (if that's the name of your business) or "Press Room."
2. Tap... more..
|
| 11 Proven Ways to Turn Your Website Visitors Into Buyers |
11 Proven Ways to Turn Your Website Visitors Into Buyers
By Charles Kiyimba (c) 2011
Learning to turn your website visitors into buyers is a skill that every internet marketer should acquire. Do you have a website or a blog you are promoting? Are you satisfied with the behavior of the people who visit your website? Do they come and disappear without accomplishing the desired actions you expect them to perform such as filling in a form, buying a product or signing up for the program you promote? How much time do they spend when they visit your site?
If your responses to the above questions are in line with your expectations, then you are probably one of the lucky few website owners or marketers with the skill and ability to turn your website visitors into buyers. But if you still find hardships in this, like many other marketers, it's high time you tested the following tips for improvement.
How do you then turn your website visitors into buyers? Before going into the details, bear in mind that your success in making a sale online will largely depend on your ability to create a reason for your visitors to hang around your website, to keep visiting your site frequently and to perform the actions you expect them to do. There are many ways of doing this, but let me share with you 11 proven ways. When you apply them properly, I believe you will be able to turn your website visitors into buyers slowly but consistently.
1. Having the right product for your targeted visitors. Review your product. Does the product you provide, meet the individual needs of your... more..
|
| Baby Gift Ideas |
|
Baby gift ideas
When trying to discover what is that people are searching when it comes to Baby gift ideas, there is an interesting aspect that arises and intrigues some people. Many of them don't actually know what to buy, due to the fact that it is hard to determine what a baby might need. There are certain things that can be minded in order to actually come up with a gift that will surely hit its target.
The details you should know about Baby gift ideas
The very first aspect that needs to be taken into account is the gender of the child. This is very important as studies have proven the impact that certain things have on a baby's perspective on life from its early age. This means that one of the best ways to approach this aspect is to know whatever the baby is a boy or a girl. There are many Baby gift ideas that are suitable for a boy rather than a girl and the other way around. General gifts can be an option, but they will be seen as something with a lack of a personal touch.
The other aspect that can be taken into account refers to the idea of taking to the parents to see what they need in order to raise the baby. A proper conversation will lead to one of the best Baby gift ideas that you can come up with. The parents don't need to know exactly what your intentions are as this may lead to an awkward situation, but you can easily establish what the baby needs after... more..
|
| Web Design Los Angeles |
|
Web Design Los Angeles
There are still many people that don't actually understand what the benefits of a Web Design Los Angeles service are. They are so focused on doing things the old fashioned way, which makes it really hard for them to survive in their business. This is an aspect that has greatly been confirmed by the recession and the harsh time that the world has been facing until now.
The necessities of the Web Design Los Angeles services
People need to take into account several factors that are simply the best motivators when it comes to developing an online approach. They need to understand that the internet is a very powerful tool and if used well it will be able to generate the amount of profit that will surely raise your interest. That's why the Web Design Los Angeles services need to get your attention and most important, that is the main reason why people need to start enhancing their image in the online environment. Many would think that such a service is able to make some web pages and that's that. The reality is a little bit different as such a service covers a lot of ground, especially when it comes to promoting ones business. One of the best arguments in this direction refers to the other services that a web design company offers to their clients. The search engine... more..
|
| Web Communication, "Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign" |
Web Communication, "Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign"
By Jerry Bader (c) 2007
Your business success depends on your ability to communicate effectively to an interested audience. Driving appropriate traff?to your site is important, but the tactics that generate visitors are not the same tactics that get visitors to stay on your site.
Web-communication is a series of elaborate multi-sensory sign languages; signs being the words, images, audio and videos that constitute the range of presentation vehicles that like all forms of communication have their own grammar, context, and relevance as interpreted from personal experience by each member of your customer-audience.
Websites that consistently under perform and that don't meet business expectations generally suffer because they are not designed to hold viewers attention long enough to communicate a clear concise marketing message.
When Words Lose Their Meaning
Marketing is one of those words that has lost its currency because it has been tossed about with little respect for its meaning. To many, it's merely just another word for advertising, which of course it is not. To the more sophisticated it takes in all the disciplines of branding, positioning, identity, advertising, and more. Above all marketing implies a strategic approach to implementing these tactics.
For companies interested in using the Web to further their business objectives, Web-marketing is the execution of a communication strategy through the creative implementation of multi-sensory signature presentations.
Semiotics: The Study of Signs
"Sign, Sign, everywhere a sign,
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind,
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign."
- Five Man Electrical Band
Like the lyrics of the song, 'Signs,' by the Five Man Electrical Band' suggests, we... more..
|
| Today's Google Bots and What They Do |
|
Today's Google Bots and What They Do
By Kim Roach (c) 2006 Google currently indexes over 8 billion web pages. However, before these pages were placed in the index, they were each crawled by a special spider known as the GoogleBot. Unfortunately, many web masters do not know about the internal workings of this virtual robot.
In fact, Google actually uses a number of spiders to crawl the Web. You can catch these spiders by examining your log files.
This article will attempt to reveal some of the most important Google spiders, their function, and how they affect you as a web master. We'll start with the well-known GoogleBot.
GoogleBot
Googlebot, as you probably know, is the search bot used by Google to scour the web for new pages. Googlebot has two versions, deepbot and freshbot. Deepbot is a deep crawler that tries to folow every link on the web and download as many pages as it can for the Google index. It also examines the internal structure of a site, giving a complete picture for the index.
Freshbot, on the other hand, is a newer bot that crawls the web looking for fresh content. The Google freshbot was implemented to take some of the pressure off of the GoogleBot. The freshbot recalls pages already in the index and then crawls them for new, modified, or updated pages. In this way, Google is better equipped to keep up with the ever-changing Web.
This means that the more you update your web site with new, quality content, the more the Googlebot will come by to check you out.
If you'd like to see the Googlebot crawling around your... more..
|
| Going Broke on Google Adwords? |
Going Broke on Google Adwords?
By Kim Roach (c) 2006
You've heard the stories. Cl? fraud has run rampant on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This is evidenced by the numerous law suits that have been filed.
One of the most notable cases occurred this year when Google settled their own cl? fraud case to the tune of 90 million dollars. In fact, Google and Yahoo have each settled a class action lawsuit filed by marketers.
Cl? Fraud - What It Is
So, what is cl? fraud and how does it occur? Wikipedia provides us with a definition:
"Cl? fraud occurs in pay per cl? online advertising when a person, automated scr?, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per cl?. Cl? fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud whether they like it or not."
However, I would like to simplify this definition. Cl? fraud is a crime, plain and simple. Cybercrime, however, is hard to track. Law enforcement has only just recently started focusing on the threat of cl? fraud.
Cl? fraud is now being targeted by some of the industry's biggest names. This movement has both the American court and government system involved. Business Week recently announced that major brands including Expedia.com and mortg? broker LendingTree.com planned to go public with their disputes over cl? fraud in late September.
Who can blame them? When it's your mon?that's going out the door, you need to be asking quest?s. Unfortunately, Google and Yahoo haven't... more..
|
| Blogs, WordPress and Google |
Blogs, WordPress and Google
By Scott Van Achte (c) 2009
It's no secret that a continually updated website with new content being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site's content is through the use of a blog.
While there are numerous platforms to choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price can't be beat either.
Google likes fresh new content, and setting up a blog on your site, assuming it is updated often with interesting and relevant material, can be one of the best things you can do to help out your search rankings. The beauty behind WordPress is that there is a wide array of totally free plug-ins you can easily install that will make your blog totally search engine friendly. The following are some basic guidelines and essential plug-ins you should consider when you install your WordPress blog.
Template Design
The first configuration you need to do is work on customizing the design template to match your existing site. I suggest finding a template that matches as closely as possible to the look you are going for then work on tweaking its graphics, colors, and other particulars till you achieve the desired appearance.
Most of your changes will occur in the header.php, footer.php, index.php, and page.php files in the theme editor, however, the theme you install will dictate which files actually need to be updated. You will also need to make some adjustments to your CSS file. These changes all involve working with code and graphics, and are most likely left to a professional.
Once you have your... more..
|
| 7 Social Media Tactics for Explosive Results in Your Business |
7 Social Media Tactics for Explosive Results in Your Business
By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2009
First, let's define the term Explosive Results for our usage.
A standard social media campaign helps spread the word about you and encourages other people to as well.
An explosive social media campaign has inherent viral exposure, inspires community driven communication, helps make the web a better place, and even brings joy to people, however fleeting.
When you share in social media, if your goal is just to get more people to see your links, you're on the right track, but at the same time, you're limiting your potential. You may think that getting explosive results from social media will take more time, energy and money, but this doesn't have to be the case.
If you're a business owner, you know that working harder doesn't necessarily mean bet
| |
