ࡱ>    !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~Root EntryZ O22 O @CONTENTS CompObjVSPELLINGrneath the Local business results on the page. There are currently two search engines Google and Yahoo! who offer local result listings as part of their service. How to get your business listed in Google Local listings? To create your business listing in Google Local you will need to register an account first. When you first login into your Google Local Business Centre account you will be asked to enter your username and password. Once you are logged into your Google Local Business Centre account you wi      !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~ll be asked to enter your business details such as company name, address, telephone number, website URL address, opening hours, payment options and a brief description about your business along with the categories you would like your website to appear under. You will need to verify your business listing before it goes live. To do this you will need to enter your pin number and this can be retrieved either by phone, SMS or postcard. After verification you should start seeing your business listings on GoogleCHNKWKS $TEXTTEXT^FDPPFDPPFDPPFDPPFDPPFDPPFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPCFDPC FDPCFDPC FDPCFDPC FDPCFDPC FDPCFDPC FDPCFDPCFDPCss listing iWhy is Local Search Important for your Business As the web gets bigger and bigger it is becoming more of a battle to ensure your website gets listed higher up in the search engines. Local businesses can sometimes get lost or struggle to get listed at all for relevant keywords or phrases. As you will already know it is important for your website to appear as high up in the search engine results as possible. This is a technique known as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO for short and this process can take anything from a few months or even longer depending on the competitiveness of the keyword or phrase you want your website to get listed for. Google has recently made some changes to its algorithms so that when you search for something Google will display local results on the page allowing you to find local businesses relevant to your search query. Internet users will be looking for local businesses when searching on the Web Internet users are becoming more savvy and will learn to broaden their search phrase e.g. locksmith services becomes locksmith services London. This will allow the search engines to deliver content that is more specific and relevant to the user. Research has shown that around 70% of household users perform some kind of search for a local product or service on a daily basis. Do you know if your website is being found for Google Local results? Most internet users will want to deal with a company based in their local area first before dealing with a company based further away. Why not perform a search on Google for a keyword or phrase relevant to your business along with your geographical area and find out if your website is being listed or not. Your listing should appear next to the location map (on the right hand side) being displayed unde within one day. Your business listing may not always appear on the first page because of your proximity to your location. However some useful tips to get your listing to appear higher up or on the first page is to make sure your title contains keyword phrases and also ask your customers to leave a review about your business. How to get your business listed in Yahoo! Local? Unfortunately Yahoo! Local listings is not a free service and prices may vary depending on your area and the keyword phrase you want your website to be listed for. Why not visit the Compass SEO website to request a quotation on how much it would cost for your website to be listed in Yahoo! Local. You may think to yourself why should I pay to get my website listed in Yahoo! Local when it is free to get listed with Google? There is one advantage with Yahoo! Local. All BT users have Yahoo! installed as their default web browser on their PC or laptop and this will help you to introduce your business to an entirely new market who may not use the Google search engine to find what they're looking for online. Elements Of A Good Design One resoundingly negative consequence of the amazing advances in computing power over the last 25 or so years is the notion, still popular despite constant debunking, that all you need to be a designer today is to buy a computer (usually a Macintosh). When over-caffeinated pundits were first promoting the term "desktop publishing" in the mid-1980s, many said the new technology would result in so many great new print publications (this was before the Internet boom) that it would "put the First Amendment into overdrive. What really happened, of course, is that entirely unqualified, untrained and untalented people got hold of a Mac, a LaserWriter and some software and proceeded to crank out a few metric tons of 300dpi landfill. My, how judgmental, you may think. Oddly enough, for all the counterculture tendencies of some, artists in general are among the most judgmental and elitist folks around, and have no problem observing (and saying) that people are not "equal" when it comes to design talent. A clever advertisement from that bygone "DTP" era promoted a graphic design firm with the tagline, "Using Picasso's paintbrush doesn't make you Picasso". Since this is a principle and not a value judgment, it is as true now, and will be as true in 2050, as it was then. Fact is, there are elements of a good design that must be attended to and contended with, no matter the medium-print, broadcast, web, even mobile phone displays. Classic components Think of the elements of design as the basic building blocks. These elements will be part of everything you design, from consumer products and furniture to magazine pages and billboards, whether you know that or not. (For now, we will restrict our discussion to the layouts that are common to print and web publishing.) It should go without saying, but very little does anymore, that understanding these basic elements will enable you to create more powerful pages for your packaging, ad, magazine or website. At the most basic level, there are five elements in any design: 1. Lines and linework These terms do not refer to pen-and-ink or pencil sketches, but to borders, frames and rules. Horizontal or vertical, thick or thin, regular or irregular, they help define and delimit spaces around various elements on your pages. Good linework increases both the readability and "directionality" (see #5, below) of the design as a whole. 2. Shape Any enclosed area, form or contour in your design is a shape. Shapes in most layouts are square or rectangular, but nothing says they must be, and circles are useful, too. You can also use images to create other, regular or irregular shapes. 3. Texture Texture imparts a "surface" feeling, and is tactile in printed matter, so choosing the paper stock-matte, weave, coated-is a design decision, too. Textures on layouts meant for broadcast or the Internet are visual only, but still key. 4. Colour Colour is probably the element that most designers are at least acutely aware of, if not schooled in. However, colour is not required in many designs, and some art educators suggest creating designs without any colour first. The artist, in this view, should then add only as much colour as needed to enhance or complete the design. Another school of thought holds that colour should be one of the first elements determined. Experience and experimentation will help every artist develop a good colour sense and strategy. 5. Direction Effectively designed layouts, in magazines or on your computer screen, usually have a sense of motion. A good design will lead the reader's eyes through the design deliberately, using colour changes, shapes, linework and copy placement direct viewers' attention to what the designer wants them to see. Balance and interest Other considerations enter in to the process of making good design choices, such as the feelings of space, balance, action and even excitement. The important thing for young, inexperienced designers to remember is that "less is more". One can often identify the design work of a beginner by a lack of open (or "negative") space, an overdose of motion or colour contrast, the proliferation of different typefaces and conflicting directionality. Rather than pull every tool and trick out of the bag, the designer needs to remember the ultimate aim of the layout, which for pages in print or on the web is quite simple: Draw the reader in so you can deliver your message. It seems much simpler after, say, three or four years in a fast-paced, high quality, well-managed design studio. One of the simpler ways of judging a page design is to ask, Does it say "read me" when you look at it? Frankly, some print and web pages look like the backside of a rental agreement, while others seem designed to confuse the readers or test their reactions to optical illusions. The bottom line of good design is, quite simply, to attract readers' attention, direct it in a particular way and, in concert with the copywriting, make a positive impression. It is, after all, "commercial art" at which most artists work. It becomes much easier for them to do as they learn to leave their egos out of it and simply do what is necessary, proper and effective. If they are unable to do so, perhaps they should go get one of Picasso's paintbrushes and be a different kind of artist entirely. What Makes a Website Design a Good One? A lot of people can recognize good design when they see it on the web. But most people don't really know what makes that design good. How do you define "good design?" Is it subjective, like your favourite flavour of ice cream? Although there is some subjectivity within good design, there are artistic principles that good design is built from. Here are a few that form the foundation of good design. 1. Proximity Because items that are in close proximity to one another become one visual unit, items that are related to one another should be grouped together. Laying out related items on a website page this way helps the eye associate the information and enables the viewer to mentally categorize the information easily. The flip side of this principle is that items that are not related should not be placed in close proximity to one another. The purpose of the principle of proximity is to organize information in a way that enables viewers to quickly and easily comprehend. When information is organized, people are more likely to read it and respond. People are also more likely to remember information that is organized. How can you determine if items form a visual unit? Squint your eyes and look at the page on a website. Now count the number of times your eye stops as it views the page. On a page that is using the principle of proximity well, your eye will stop three to five times. In other words, there will be three to five groups of information for the eye to comprehend separately. 2. Alignment You've seen website page layouts where the text and graphics are placed wherever there happens to be space. The effect is messy, with no impact. Nothing should be placed on a page arbitrarily. There should be a visual connection between each item and something other item on the page. When items are aligned, it creates a cohesiveness that the eye appreciates. The purpose of alignment is to unify the website page. Imagine a well-organized kitchen. All the pots and pans are stored in the organizer, the fruit is nicely displayed in a basket on the counter, the spices are all on the rack-everything is in its place. A page layout needs the same thing. Look at a website page that you feel is good design. Now focus on the main visual element. Where does your eye go from there? Do you see how other elements are aligned with that one main element both vertically and horizontally? 3. Repetition Good design repeats some aspect of the website design throughout the site. It's this repetition that makes all the pages in a site look like they belong together. Colour scheme, graphic elements, typefaces-all of these elements should be repeated-used consistently-throughout. The purpose of repetition is to create consistency and to add visual interest. Repetition creates a professional, polished look that the eye is drawn to. When a website design uses repetition and is consistent, it is more likely to be viewed and read. Here are some was you can create repetition beyond simple consistency in typefaces and colours: Use some element in your logo as a major graphic element in the design. If you are using a ruled line, make the line more interesting visually by perhaps making it with tiny dots or dashes, then repeating the line element throughout the design. Create patterns that are repeated throughout the design. Take a small element and place it somewhere on each page for a whimsical look. Just be careful not to overdo the repetition, or viewers will be annoyed rather than pleased. 4. Contrast The principle of contrast states that if two items are not the same, then they should be different-very different. Contrast creates an organizational hierarchy of the information and graphics on a webpage. When using contrast, you can't be a wimp! The contrast must be strong to be effective. The purpose of contrast is two-fold: to create interest on the page, and to organize information. A page that is interesting to look at is more likely to be read. And contrasting elements will help a reader understand the way the information is organized. Contrast can be created in many ways. You can contrast large type with small type, a serif font with a sans-serif font, bold with light, smooth texture with rough texture, a small graphic with a large one, a dark colour with a light one. A design that integrates these principles will automatically gain a professionalism and polish that it would otherwise lack. Next time you stumble across a website design that makes you say "wow", cheek for these principles-you'll find them quietly working to make that design a good one! Simple And Successful SEO Strategies - On Page Optimization SEO doesn't have to be complex and by following these simple on-page optimization techniques you can give your SEO campaign the perfect start. SEO is often seen as being a difficult and in-depth process, but the reality is that by following some reasonably common sense guidelines it is possible to get good rankings. That's not to say that optimization is a simple or quick process; there are, unfortunately, no short cuts. Your SEO efforts should be a concerted and long term effort in order that you will enjoy the best possible results and should incorporate both on-page and off-page optimization techniques. By following the on-page SEO strategies below you can set a strong foundation to all your SEO work. Keyword Research Before you begin penning content and writing title and meta tags you first need to research the keywords you will use on each of your pages. Using the wrong keywords can negatively impact your entire campaign, causing you to lose untold hours and days of work and eventually forcing you to concede that you made the wrong decision and start all over again. The most appropriate and most beneficial keywords are popular enough that they will enjoy regular searches but without being prohibitively competitive or overly generic. A number of keyword research tools exist and your competitors' websites are a good place to start your early research. Ensure keywords are targeted specifically to the type of content you will provide as well as the service or product you will be selling. More targeted keywords will result in more targeted visitors and targeted visitors mean greater conversion rates and an improved return on your efforts. Niche And Semantically Related Keywords A good strategy is to incorporate a reasonable list of competitive keywords with less competitive ones. The more niche keywords will serve you well during the early days of your website and over time you should be able to start competing for the more challenging of the keywords you use. Also incorporate semantically or topically related keywords into your keyword list because the search engines are placing more and more emphasis on those pages that use related keywords as well as primary keywords. Accessibility And Standards Site accessibility is an integral part of good website design but it should also be considered an important factor in any SEO strategy. Using standards based code for your website will help to ensure that anybody that wishes to access and view your website will be able to do so. It will also mean that the spiders used by search engines will be able to access and index your pages effectively ensuring that you get the full credit for your site. Navigation And Intra-Linking Your navigation menu and internal links should be prominently placed, easy to see, and easy to follow for the spiders. It is good practice to include a text link from the home page to a compliant sitemap on your site, alleviating any potential problems that might arise from broken links or the use of graphical or flash based navigation menus. You can also consider adding links into the main body of your content, although too many will make the page difficult to read and therefore diminish the overall effectiveness so don't get too carried away. Title And Meta Tags While search engines do not specifically use the meta tags to help assess the value of a page like they once did, meta tags are still critical to good SEO performance. The title and description tags that you add at the top of a page are used in various ways including in the compiling and display of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). This is the first thing a potential site visitor will see from your site so this mini listing needs to be as effective as any paid advert or PPC ad. Poorly written titles and descriptions can put many readers off viewing your pages so a little time and effort here can have a very positive effect. Using your keywords in the title and the description is good practice because these will be highlighted in the search results if they were used in the search query itself. This will make your result more prominent and instantly identify your page as being relevant to the user. Don't needlessly use keywords, however, and don't throw extra keywords into the description at the cost of a well written, short ad. Other Formatting Tags On-page content should always be written with the visitor in mind, although obviously it can still be optimized for search engines. As such, proper page structure is important to your reader as well as to the engines. H1 and H2 tags are an effective way of breaking up page content, and give readers the chance to skim through a page and determine its relevance. A page should only contain a single H1 tag at the top of the content but can include multiple H2 and H3 tags. Alt tags on images should also be included and these as well as the actual file path to the image itself can include important keywords (but do make sure that they actually make sense and are more than just a keyword thrown in for the sake of SEO). Page Content Optimization Finally, we get to the heart of the page - the content itself. Use the keywords you researched for a page including semantically related keywords. Write as naturally and appealingly as possible while keeping those keywords in mind and don't get carried away stuffing or cramming them into the body of the text. Not only is this unappealing to readers but is seriously frowned upon by the search engines. The reader really is the most important aspect of your content. If the majority of your visitors are coming from the search engines remember that they arrived using specific keywords. This means that they are searching for equally specific information relating to those keywords - make sure you deliver on the promise that you made in your title and description tags. Search Engine Optimization May Not Be As Hard As You Think Being found on page one of the major search engines is one of the number one marketing techniques you can use. It's all about bringing targeted traffic and visitors to your site for your niche. Not only that but it is often one of the least costly kinds of advertising even if you hire an expert to do it for you. For example a Toronto search engine optimization company may charge a few hundred dollars a month for their services. In comparison you would easily spend upwards of a thousand dollars trying to get similar results from paper ads. And optimizing your site can give it much a broader exposure. You don't always need to hire an expert because you can do a number of things yourself if you are willing to put in the effort. Before you even begin to optimize your site you need to think about which keywords you wish to rank for. Think like a customer to discover keywords phrases they might use to find a similar product or service. The more you can think of the better. These may then be plugged into on-line tools like Google's keyword research tool or on sites such as Wordtracker or Wordze. These sites can give you an estimate on how often these terms are searched for. If you find some terms that have a great number of monthly searches then it is a good indication that being on page one for that phrase could equal a large number of site visitors. Remember that frequently the keyword phrases with the most amount of searches are often the most competitive also. That does not mean that you can never rank for them, only that it may take quite a lot of time. A good strategy is to select a mix of difficult and easy to optimize terms. This will help get you a short term and long term focus. The content contained on the pages of your site should be your next focus. Try to use your chosen keywords into the various web pages. Despite the fact that one of the reasons for using your keywords in your site is for the search engines don't forget that actual visitors will be viewing it. The greater the number of pages you can add to your site the better. Every time you add new content you are attracting the search engines to frequently return and re-index your web site. This can increase the chances of getting you to page one for many more terms than the ones you are specifically focusing on. Finally comes what is definitely the most critical part. Every time another site points to your web site you are one step closer to being on page one. That does not mean getting just any kind of link from any site. They need to be from sites that are of the same theme to yours. For example if your site is real estate oriented site then you will need to have a real estate search engine optimization strategy. This may include getting links from various real estate agent sites, blogs, or anything related to that topic. You should be more concerned with quality, not just quantity. One of the premier ways to accomplish this is with article marketing. You create content in the form of articles. These can then be submitted to various directories for inclusion like Article Alley. Your site will get a link pointing back to it in return for handing out free content. This is step you should be doing a minimum of once a week. You will slowly begin to see your site's traffic and ranking soar. The greater the time period you optimize your site for the better your results will be. It could take some time and work however it is well worth it. Spelling and Grammar in Online Content Just how important is spelling and grammar in online content? It is well known that not everybody in the world speaks English as their primary language. It is also well known that while the first fact is true, the vast majority of all websites... and especially websites about Internet Marketing are written in English. Not everybody can be an expert in English but you really should consider the importance of spelling and grammar in your online content. Would you allow an auto repairman to work on your car after he described such technical issues as "fixing the thingy there" or talking to you about "doo-hickers" and "thingamabobs"? The fact is that if you are going to allow someone to work on your car, you want them to know a carburettor from distributor and you want to know what they are working on and without a bunch of generic talk or worse yet... gobbledy-gook involved in the discussion. In all likelihood, you would probably leave running and never go back. It may be that they are the greatest mechanic in the world but you would never know that because they could not establish your trust. How many sales pages have you seen where you were almost compelled to buy something that sounded really good but had second thoughts? I personally know of one very admirable product that is nearly complete in every sense of the word and it really is an awesome product. The sales page is long, involved, detailed and laid out in all the right ways according to the copywriting gurus but conversion rates still hover somewhere around one to two percent. Why is that? Well it could be because it is an expensive product but somehow I doubt that is the case. It happens to be a very in-depth and informative informational product for Internet Marketing that leads you by the hand from start to finish where you can get enough going to at least get started creating your virtual online empire. While it is actually an incredible product and you would definitely be interested if you saw it, most people will never actually see it. The fact remains that when somebody is going to "plunk down" their hard-earned cash for an informational product, they want information. "Well Duh!" you say. Still, how are you ever going to trust someone to provide you with valuable and timely information that will actually help you if they can not even get a sales page up without a massive number of errors? Are you going to trust them or are you going to run... whether consciously or not, because you are just not convinced that they know what they are talking about? Nearly everybody is judgmental to a degree. If a fat, smelly, homeless looking person cut in front of you in the line you would be much more likely to get upset than you would if an extremely attractive person graciously intervened and thanked you for your kindness, beguiling you with their charm and good looks. Facts are facts and no amount of discussion can change reality. The same principles hold true in website copy. If your website is full of errors that could have easily been avoided, it is costing you more than just a little lost ad revenue. How important is spelling and grammar in online content? Do you want your readers coming back from more or running away without even giving you a chance? The Big Trends To Watch Out For In Search Engine Optimisation If you know anything about the fundamentals of search engine optimisation, you will know that the experts' opinions on what to do, what is now considered redundant and recommendations of the absolutely necessary elements you must put in place on your website, change with mind-spinning frequency. However, the bigger trends in search engine optimisation are easier to keep up with and most seem to be here to stay, as business owners become more attuned to just how important SEO is to their success. SEO Trends 2009 And Beyond The industry and 'bigger picture' trends have become relatively easy to identify as the SEO world becomes more established - increased awareness of SEO in general being the first major trend. Search engine optimisation used to be an exclusive world, with only those practising it really knowing what it entailed and how it boosted a website's visitor stats. Now, most people know what it means, and most business owners are aware of just how important the internet is and how SEO can help them gain more customers. The next major trend and one which is definitely here to stay, is the rise and rise of Google - they have dominated the world of search engine optimisation for years, and their lead over competitors such as Yahoo and MSN is only getting bigger. When Google speaks, SEO consultants listen and if your business is not being found on Google, it's almost certain it's not being found at all - around 70% of user searches are done using Google. SEO tools and automated processes are becoming an important part of the reporting of website results - individuals are focusing on developing these tools for companies to buy, who may be struggling to find or afford a good search engine optimisation agency. Such tools can offer good basic data, but it's worth remembering that it's still what you do with the data that's important. Dipping into the actual technicalities of good SEO practice, good content has been king for a while and remains so. As a business owner, if you write, or employ an SEO copywriter to write good quality articles and press releases, this will benefit your search results hugely, encourages links to and from your website - and links are extremely important as the 'currency' of good quality SEO. Finally, a trend clear to all - not just those operating in the search engine optimisation world - is the rise and rise of social networking sites. Facebook and now Twitter are educating people to communicate in a whole different way, and business owners should be engaging these people in order to develop a whole new audience. Keep Up With SEO - Your Business Will Benefit There are many more trends in search engine optimisation, too many to mention here, but one thing remains clear - business owners small and large cannot afford to ignore SEO and must become well-versed in good SEO practice if they want to keep up with the ever-changing world of consumer web behaviour. Who Says Flash is Not SEO Friendly? People who say that Flash is not SEO friendly are absolutely wrong. It is just a myth that Flash is SEO unfriendly. Creating accessible flash content for search engines is crucial for you to preserve your online presence and drive traffic to your site. Follow these Flash Optimization Tips to get most out of the major search engines. Adding SWF content to your HTML source An iron-clad way to guarantee that a SWF's content is picked up and ranked by search engines is to extract the content and place it into the page's HTML source. Tools such as Dreamweaver use SWF Object to embed Flash. The code view in Dreamweaver displays comments where you should add your alternative HTML content. Keep your URL unique If your site is just one big lump of Flash in an HTML template, your page is never going to refresh. Consider having a different URL for each page of your site's Flash content. Each page would have its own HTML source title, "H1" and body copy containing the keyword you want to rank. Use source content dumping A one-page HTML rich internet application (RIA) will not be SEO enhanced simply by adding the content for each section of the Flash application into the HTML source for this page. Doing this doesn't establish any prominence of content, as there are too many competing terms. Keep extracted Flash content relevant to the page it's on. Keep an eye on new initiatives Adobe has been working with Google and Yahoo! to make the Flash file format (SWF) search engine friendly. This will enable the engines to see what's inside a SWF's content and index it. However, the use of Flash Player technology by search engines is still developing and so can't be relied on as the only step towards optimizing your project for SEO. Add text to your Flash applications A simple Flash SEO enhancement is to use Flash-generated text in your creative when displaying or animating type. You can do this instead of using text that's a flattened bitmap. Flash text can contain keyword-based messages, which help increase traffic. Include this text in the HTML source of the page as well. Remember that search engine spiders hate pop-ups We've all visited sites that urge us to click to launch Flash content into a new window. This removes any chance of the site's content being picked up and indexed by search engines. In addition to search spiders not being able to see them, pop-ups suffer from being blocked by many browsers. Get robotic help Robots.txt is a plain text file found at the root of a server. This tells search bots which content needs to be allowed or disallowed when it visits their website. If your Flash text content is the same as your HTML version, you could set the Robots.txt file to ignore the SWF content and push only the HTML content to the search bots. Embed Flash content with SWF Object SWF Object is a search engine-friendly way to embed Flash content. Alternative (non-Flash) content is produced first, and then snippets of JavaScript are used to swap out the alternative content with the Flash movies. This ensures that the content is indexed by search engines. Users without Flash will still see a working HTML page. Web Optimization - Four Common Problems That Stop Your Success Anyone interested in online marketing knows that web optimization is critical to a successful business. Web optimization comprises a number of different ideas, including search engine optimization, website analytics, and design factors, among many others. However, optimization is more than just a standard set of practices. As every good interactive marketing agency knows, it is different for each business, and within each industry. Those differences are one of the primary aspects that make 'do-it-yourself' optimization without an interactive marketing agency such a risky prospect. An interactive marketing agency keeps abreast of the ever-changing landscape in order to implement best practices to achieve good positioning and visibility for a website -- they are also able to conduct in-depth research to understand what your competition is doing as well. If you are learning from scratch and implementing as you go, you can be put at a disadvantage compared to competitors who hire professionals. In this article, we'll walk through some of the most common misconceptions about optimization. We'll also look at what your company can do to see real optimization success. Problem 1: Seeing Optimization as a Project With An "End Date" Optimization, and online marketing in general, isn't a destination. Rather, it's a road, one that must be constantly travelled for optimal levels of success. There is no time when your optimization is "complete", in fact, even once your initial online marketing plan sees success, there will be other ways that you can improve your online presence. The process can always be improved. Problem 2: Not Planning For Optimization In The Long Run Because online marketing is a process, wise companies will plan for optimization in the long run. Don't think of it as a short-term investment, and don't divert resources you are only comfortable diverting for a few weeks. Think about it more broadly, and give your optimization plan the time and support it needs to be successful. Like any company initiative, if the program is understaffed or under funded, it won't be able to thrive as it ought to. Problem 3: Not Monitoring Progress In the old days, it was next to impossible to know if your agency's plan was doing the job. But now, tracking online marketing results are easy. Think of it like cooking: you have to test the food every so often to see how it's going. If you need to make a change, you learn about it early on, and if the food is great, you know more about how to make it the next time around. Web optimization is exactly the same way. Keeping track of what policies bring success and which don't will help you in the short term and in the long term. You will have more to work with when you start additional campaigns, and you'll have real results that you can point to. So much depends on customer preference, and only when you start to get a feel for that preference will you see the best outcomes. Problem 4: Working Alone It is the rare person who can successfully design and implement an online marketing optimization strategy without the help of an interactive marketing agency. Optimization is a very particular process, with a number of techniques and strategies to learn. Articles like this one can help, but it takes years of experience to become a real optimization expert. Does it really make sense for you to spend your time learning, rather than hiring the expertise of an interactive marketing agency? In almost every case, focusing on what you do best - running your business - is the best idea. Putting it All Together Now you know some of the most common pitfalls that make optimization programs fail. Do any of them sound familiar? If so, then you're now equipped with the knowledge to change the problem. You can start fresh, and get the optimization results you're looking for. You might not see them overnight, but with time the effect will be noticeable. How To Find A Good Web Host? Usually when someone contacts me online, one of the most frequent questions I get asked is this: "How do I find a good web host?" or "Which web host do you use?" This is one of those essential things you will need in order to earn that online income. You will need a web site and you will need a web host - somewhere to place that web site. Sure there are countless marketers who work without a site but most have at least one main site which acts as their online calling card; where people can find them on the web. Of course, you can always use the social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter... but that's like operating your office out of Starbucks! Instead, a well designed site is just more professional and business like. It also means you're serious about your online business. Picking a good web host is not easy. I have had numerous different web hosts over the years. Most of them have been very good and served their purpose, but I have had some bad experiences too - what long term webmaster or marketer hasn't? Something always goes wrong eventually, especially if you have a lot of sites and many different web hosts. Sometimes having a web host can be downright scary. Several years ago, the web host that I had my main site on was first sold and then went bankrupt. One day your site is running fine and the next day the web host is completely gone. Shut down. Your site and all your files completely gone. Vanished. Your host can't be reached. Total blackout! Fortunately, I had my site backed up on several systems and since that experience I always back my sites up on several computers and I go even further by copying them onto DVDs should those computers crash. If you have a site, I always suggest you back up your site files and make it redundant. The very worst can happen to you. Overall quality and good 24/7 support should be your first objectives in choosing a good web host. You want a site that's fast, easy to use, rarely down and has good support that you can reach at all times, should something go wrong. You need to check exactly what features your web host is offering and for what price: - How much storage space? - Daily traffic limit or transfer? - Email system? How many accounts... - What type of server Linux or Windows? - How many other sites will be sharing your IP address? - Do You need SSL or a secure site? - Are sites/files backed up? How often? - What are the support hours? - And of course the Price? But don't always try to get the cheapest price hosting, keep in mind, you always get what you pay for. A cheap web host won't save you money if it's a poor service and your site is always going down. So don't always pick the cheapest web host. Match up your hosting service with the type of site you will be running; a simple HTML site will have or make simple demands on your hosting service. So a shared hosting service may be quite adequate to meet your hosting needs. For SEO reasons, you should always check the location of your site, I have found which country your site is hosted in, plays a role in your rankings, especially in Google. However, if you have a site that's extremely interactive with forums, discussion groups, get large bursts of traffic or you're running a lot of server-side scripts and programs - then you may need a more robust hosting service to meet your needs. In this case, you might need a dedicated server to handle just your site. Many web hosts offer this service and it's worth looking into if you have a site with extreme amounts of traffic or if you're running forums, affiliate programs, email services... from your site. Most of my own sites are very simple and I have them on many different web hosts. Mainly because of my own experiences, I just don't want to have all my sites on one host... the old "don't put all your eggs in one basket" reasoning. At the moment I am quite pleased with all my web hosts... many of my sites are on GoDaddy and I find them OK for simple sites like mine. I also find it convenient because they are also a domain registry so I can easily use them to buy my domains. Although many experts suggest you should always keep your domain registration separate from your hosting service because if your host should suddenly vanish, it is only a simple matter of moving your site to a different host. If your host controls your domain, this can be a major problem. Always keep control of your domain in your own hands, but you probably already knew that. Another web host I use is Bluehost which is very good, can't remember the last time my site was down. They are very popular with around a million sites and my only concern is that they may become too popular and their services will be spread too thin. However, I have had very few problems with them and you can always reach their support. I also have a site with Ken Evoy's SBI (Site Build It), but I created that one mainly to get access to the enormous resources connected with SBI. It is slightly more expensive than some of the ones listed above, but SBI is an overall online marketing system that in my opinion can't be equalled on the web. Well, perhaps the Warriors group could give them a run for their money, but it's the community of like-minded webmasters with SBI which makes it special. They are always ready and willing to help you out, doesn't matter if you're an experienced pro or a complete newcomer. Several years ago, I took a very close first-hand look at the hosting service provided by SBI. You can find my opinions/review on SBI located in the resource box below. There are countless web hosts you can choose from when picking a web host. But do your homework, check around to the different forums and see how everyone is rating the web hosts they are using. First-hand experiences are the best judge of whether or not a web host is good and reliable. Although moving a site from one web host to another can be a real pain, especially if you have a large scale site, but if you're not totally satisfied with a web host and are having serious problems - simply change your hosting. Just make sure you're not going from bad to worst. Still, finding a good quality web host will be a major chore, no matter how you look at it. Perhaps, in the final analysis, nothing beats checking with your friends and fellow webmasters you trust. Ask them which hosts they're using and if they're satisfied with it. Nothing beats first-hand experiences when it comes to choosing a web host. Just make sure you're comparing oranges to oranges, that is: make sure you have similar site requirements as your webmaster friends. If you both have similar type sites, then finding a good quality web host can be as easy as having a friendly chat over a cup of coffee. How Effective is Your Online Marketing? Many people struggle with their day to day routine. From the time they sit down in their home office with a fresh cup of joe, and are plagued with the anxiety created by the day's marketing events. One of the best ways to avoid "paralysis of analysis" is to write out the next days activities before you go to sleep. This will help you to avoid the morning feelings of "I don't know where to start". It also helps to imagine yourself completing all the tasks with ease. Allow your thoughts to bring you visions of how you will feel when you complete these tasks and the fun things you will get to experience when you are done. If you are having a hard time figuring out how to do something, i.e. getting information from someone or a great price on a product you need, ask yourself throughout the day, "where or how can I most easily get x"? and then let it go and move on with your day. You'll be surprised how the answers will pop up when you are at the gym, the grocery store, or where ever. When it comes to internet marketing, there are many paths one can take to make their marketing efforts successful. However, many of them can be costly. If your budget is tight, article marketing can be a very helpful source to get your message out. We've all had experiences and many folks are experts in certain niche fields. People are always looking for new and improved ways to do the things they are doing. By writing articles, you will simply share much needed advice to people actively looking to be helped. This is also helps get your message and name out to the communities you are looking to target. Branding is now becoming even more paramount as website marketing becomes flooded with competition. Just having a company landing page that looks like everyone else's just won't cut it anymore. People are even more sceptical these days, and they want to be able to connect with the someone attached to a certain product or service. Landing pages or "squeeze pages" have been proven more successful when there is a specific person they can connect to. A simple picture with a nice introduction about who you are and how you can help is great. Even more effective, is to shoot a video about you and the product or service you are recommending. Your conversion rates will be much higher using the video method. A strong marketing plan is always valuable and it must be written down on paper. Otherwise you have ethereal wishes that continue to take up space in your mind and annoy you from time to time. To be successful, you must plan your work and then work your plan. It is helpful to be able to cross off "money getting" activities as you go. This will also help you keep a log of your progress. There is no way to track the effectiveness of what you are doing without this. If you don't make note of it, you will continue to spin and recreate the same madness that is holding you back. Buy or journal or a notebook. Type it in a file you will save online. Just make a record of it so you can chart your progress and move towards making money online. How effective is your marketing? Only you will ever know this. But taking some baby steps in advance, like the night before, will allow you a sense of peace as you tackle the days events. How To Find An Effective And Free Internet Marketing Course Are you an Internet marketer? Perhaps you are just aspiring to become one. If you are doing business online, then maybe you are looking for ways to boost your website's traffic or have it more visible to the search engines as well as to your targeted customers. But, are your methods and efforts fruitful? Have you reached your expectations? Have you accomplished something out of doing the things you thought can help you become successful? However, fret not. Even though you may think that you're only good in failing or that you have only wasted your time and effort for nothing, there are still so many things left for you to do. When it comes to making money online or promoting your business on the web, the chances and opportunities are always countless. All you have to do is be keen and determined in finding effective and suitable ways to prop up your website or the business itself. You should never close your doors to possibilities as you can always find ways to succeed or stay on top. Online marketing is about trial and error, application of the best means and maintenance and continuous search and learning as well as practice and application. You should always keep your mind open and make yourself busy discovering methods, information and other interesting stuffs. You must come out of your shell and explore as much as you can. Have yourself trained in a regular manner so as to sharpen your ideas and skills. So to be able to supply yourself with the appropriate, effective and updated skills or information with regards to SEO and other related things, you must take part in an SEO training or other means of gathering helpful stuffs for the sake of your business and online growth. Participate in an Internet marketing class and see to it that you get into the best group. You can even get a hold of free stuffs. Many expert marketers are sharing their ideas for free. Search for free internet marketing courses or SEO trainings where you can possibly get the best of everything for free. It doesn't matter if you have to pay for the training so long as you can guarantee yourself that you can learn more valuable and effective techniques. Roam around the web as much as you can. Go from one website to another so you can gather sufficient resources and references. Find loads of internet marketing courses especially those offered for free by some experts. You should be able to determine the reputation or credibility of a particular website offering SEO training or internet marketing class. The least that you would want to is to participate in some form of a scam or something that would only waste your time, effort and even money. Nowadays, you can certainly get a hold of free stuffs provided you actively participate or visit their website. Of course, it will always be a win-win situation. Ask around: either online or personally. Perhaps you have friends who are also making money online or doing business through the Internet. Gather information as much as you can. Compare services or offers. You should pay attention to remarkable benefits or things you can get during the training and after that. Inquire as many questions as you can to the website offering SEO training or free Internet marketing course. Ask who would train, the modules involved and other necessary information to determine which training is truly worth everything. It pays to go for trainings rendered by seo experts or Internet marketing gurus. Pay if you have to. That is why you need to make a thorough research so you can compare and choose wisely. How to Optimize Your Website Content We all know that search engines are very important for the success of a website. Almost 85% of new internet users find good websites by using a reliable search engine like Google. Search engines like Google fight to index thousands of pages of content found on the internet in the right order depending on several characteristics. Search engine algorithms may vary with time but you can ensure that you have a website that is filled with SEO optimized, original content so that your page ranks as high as possible on the search results. The following explains best 5 tips about SEO optimizing your web page: Appropriate landing page Apart from finding a great niche and product, it's also necessary to have a targeted landing page to encourage paying customers. And one great tip I've found is that to ensure your landing page does not sell anything at all! In fact, it should give a valuable resource away for free like a niche e-book, newsletters, mini-course and even tele-seminars that will educate the customer about the value of your product. Not only does it raise customer awareness but it also encourages customers to buy what you will eventually show them! Fresh content Fresh and new content updated daily is one way to ensure that Google keeps returning to your page again and again. Once the search algorithms are trained to realize that the content on your page changes daily and is completely original you are more likely to see your website higher up in page rankings. SEO optimizing! You also have to ensure that the content is SEO-optimized. This is possible by using Keywords that are recognized by search engines as related to your product. Fill your content with an average of 2% of Keywords per page of 100 words. That means your page should run an average of 10 Keywords in a page of 500 words. Do not put in more than that as search engines tend to classify high keyword pages as spam or duplicated content. Create a lot of internal links where a single article links to another archived articles in your blog or the site itself. This will increase site recognition and page rankings. Keeping them simple Don't flood your site with complex codes like Flash, Ajax, etc. Of course, the site will look great but this just tends to slow down your site and as a result might prevent search engines from crawling and indexing your website properly. Arranging the Keywords can make or break a website! Start strong by adding your keywords in the first paragraph and the very first line and the first line of the last paragraph. Search engines like this as it makes it easier for them to classify the article, site and content. Try to use lateral semantic indexing where you use the same keywords in the form of plurals or related variations. The more the number of variations you put in, the better the page ranking. There you have it.. The most important thing of all is to take action. Top 10 Don'ts for SEO Copywriting Following in the footsteps of Rand Fishkin and Guy Kawasaki, I decided to come up with my own list of don'ts. There is no shortage of don'ts when it comes to SEO copywriting. It seems this niche got off to a rough start many years ago when early comers somehow misconstrued the core principles of the trade. Allow me to elaborate on how not to write SEO copy. 1. Don't shove as many keyphrases into the copy as humanly possible. It's not about the sheer volume of search terms you include. Yes, Google and other engines should be able to follow what the page is about. Yes, engines are looking to match a searcher's query with search engine optimized content on your web pages, but which pages land at the top is decided through a series of calculations far more complex than any simple ratio. When you overload copy with keyphrases you sacrifice quality and user experience. 2. Don't lose site of balance. If SEO copywriting isn't about the percentage of keywords within the copy, then what is it about? Balance. You have two audiences with SEO copywriting: the search engines and your site visitors. But surprisingly, the balance doesn't come with serving both masters well. The balance comes in how much you cater to the engines. You see, your site visitors always come first. However, if you write with too little focus on the engines, you won't see good rankings. If you put too much focus on the engines, you'll start to lose your target audience. Balance... always balance. 3. Don't let someone else choose the keywords. If keyword research isn't a service you offer, an SEO firm, keyword specialist or some other professional that your client hires will have to conduct the research. Don't just accept keyphrases these folks toss your way. Ask to see the entire list with recommendations as to which terms would be best strategically. Then you, as the professional writer, can decide which will also work best within the copy. 4. Don't sacrifice flow for numbers. This is a follow-up to number three and is a major issue with bad SEO copywriting. SEOs or clients sometimes insist on using hacked-up search phrases that simply don't work in a normal sentence. An example? "Candies samples free." Many copywriters will just grin and bear it, sacrificing quality and flow for the sake of competitive values or other numbers. The result is often some obnoxious sentence like, "If you're looking for candies samples free, you've come to the right place!" Forcing a phrase into the copy at all costs never turns out well. 5. Don't use keyphrases that don't apply to the page. If you operate a site about wedding receptions, don't try to force a search term about wedding dresses into the copy just because it pulls a lot of traffic. (A) Unless you sell, alter or design wedding dresses, it won't be applicable. (B) Even if you manage to get the page ranked well for the phrase [wedding dresses], once the visitor clicks to your site and realizes you have nothing to do with wedding dresses, they will leave. It's a waste of time and effort and it creates a poor user experience. 6. Don't use misspellings and correct spellings on the same page. I fully understand that the misspellings of keyphrases can be valuable search terms. However, to mix correct spellings and misspellings within the same page of copy looks like you've got a bunch of typos in the content. It's just not professional. Some writers will go for the old, "We rent limousines (sometimes spelled limosenes) for the most affordable prices in town." I don't care for that approach. It's just not natural. Would you ever see brochure or newspaper copy that reads that way? I think not. 7. Don't use keyphrases the exact same way every time. This is how we end up with horrible SEO copy that sounds like a 4th grader wrote it. (See #4.) There are lots of ways to use keywords in copy, not just one. In order to sound natural, you have to get creative with your keyphrase use. One way is to break up phrases using punctuation. Since search engines don't pay attention to basic punctuation marks, you can easily write something using the search term [real estate Hawaii] that reads like this: "Currently there is an impressive selection of available real estate. Hawaii listings can be..." See? "Real estate" is at the end of the first sentence and "Hawaii" is at the beginning of the second sentence. The engines ignore the period so there's no problem. 8. Don't use all types of search phrases for every situation. There are many ways in which this "don't" applies. One quick example is that of an ecommerce site. It wouldn't be advisable to use specific, long-tail keyphrases on the home page of your site. They are much too specific in most cases and are better suited for individual product pages. Broader terms are typically best for an ecommerce home page. If you don't understand the best applications for the various types of keywords, you're likely to have lacklustre results. 9. Don't neglect ALT tags/image attributes. These tags are the ones associated with images on your pages and they carry a good deal of weight especially if the image is used as a link. The ALT text counts the same as anchor text in a text-based link. Depending on a few different factors, ALT text may be a good place for those misspellings mentioned in #6. 10. Don't forget the chain of protocol. There's a method to the SEO copywriting madness. The idea is not to get as many different keyphrases onto a page as possible. Just the opposite, in fact. Rather than having 12 different search terms used only one time each, you need to use two to four keyphrases (depending on the length of your copy) per page. The title, META tags, ALT tags, other coding elements and on-page copy need to support each other as far as keyphrase use goes. Your goal is to let the engines know that you have original, relevant content about a narrow topic. Unless you have an exceptional number of back links built up, just mentioning [dark chocolate], [chocolate strawberries], [chocolate chip cookies], [chocolate cake], [chocolate desserts], [organic chocolate] and [chocolate cheesecake] once each on a web page isn't likely to do a lot of good. Instead, pick two or three terms which are closely related and use them several times each along with mentioning them in your tags. When you avoid making common mistakes, you'll find your SEO copywriting flows much better, is more natural-sounding and ranks higher, too. Insider Secrets On Why Go For An Internet Marketing Class For you to become successful in doing businesses online, you should be able to constantly enhance your knowledge and skills particularly with regards to search engine optimization and Internet marketing. It is because the world of web or the Internet itself and its corresponding aspects such as the search engines and the like revolutionizes in a continuous and sometimes varying pace. If you can't cope with certain changes which the search engines provide, then you might have a hard time competing with other marketers who do things well. The usual and most convenient thing that some Internet marketers do is hire a "SEO specialist" or have somebody who knows much about the Internet, online marketing, search engine optimization and many other things concerning making money online work for you. Although this may prove useful and handy to some marketers, it also has some disadvantages. The worst part is, there is a possibility that your business will be torn into pieces or that your hired specialist will use your valuable information against you at your own expense. Remember, the competition in world of Internet marketing is tighter than you can ever imagine. How long will you rely on the service of other people when you can actually do things on your own? It's not really that you should never depend on other people; because you can't successfully make it to the top without the aid of others especially your network friends or contacts. But aren't you even interested on learning how things work? Haven't you ever thought of spending some time working on your own online business and see how far it may lead you? You should know that it is more fulfilling to see your business reach the top all because of your own applied methods. It is true that starting your own online business can take so much of your time and effort thus you need the help of other people especially the experts. Just bear in mind that you can never depend on them for a lifetime. You need to learn how to do things on your own, find ways with your sole effort and time as well as practice what you can gather or learn from other successful online marketers. To become one of those expert marketers who can easily and effectively maximize the visibility of their website or gain more profits for their businesses is the main reason why you should go for an Internet marketing class or participate in SEO trainings. There are lots of Internet marketing courses offered by some of the most prominent people in the world of SEO as well as Internet marketing. You can even find free Internet marketing courses. Learning from such courses especially trainings which are comprehensively discussing search engine optimization can actually benefit you in ways you never thought possible. There is no need to worry about boredom since seo training videos will be provided making it easier and fun to absorb each and every important detail. Deciding to go for an Internet marketing class should be done as soon as you have chosen the Internet to market your business. This way, you will learn the basics of effective marketing until such time that you're ready to be equipped with the advance knowledge and skills. After undergoing seo trainings or Internet marketing classes, you can guarantee yourself and your business the success that you've always wanted. With the information and methods that you can learn from efficient, comprehensive and updated Internet marketing courses, it will be a no-sweat doing businesses online. Expand Your Business With Blogging Statistically speaking, you're likely reading this outside of normal business hours. Am I right, or am I right? Why? Because if you have a life (okay... admittedly many people don't) the majority of your time is spent away from the office and outside of normal business hours. Usually, when the sun goes down you are already out the door. Frazier has left the building. But the sun never sets on the internet. It operates 24/7/365 for online and offline businesses both. There are no doors to unlock and no lights to turn on. The doors are always open and the lights are always on. No brick; no mortar; no time clocks. There are so many important online tools for both marketing (presenting your company and product to the market) and sales (trading that product/service for revenue)... if you're not using them you're soon to be extinct. Even the US government figured that out. Filed any corporate taxes lately? Most companies now do it online (it is called EFTPS, if you're at all curious). Low-to-No Cost Many of the online resources available for your business are usable with no cost and can offer great results. Calculate the ROI on that: small investment (mostly in your time) and great results. Infinite ROI? No, not quite. But as a business owner if you use these available tools correctly it will make a difference in your business. Put another way, if you are not using online tools for your business, the wolves are at the door and your house is made of sticks. Not brick and mortar; sticks. Blogging is increasingly being used to effectively to present businesses and products to the market. Websites like Blogger and Wordpress make it possible to share value - your knowledge and experience - through blog posts. Helpful blog posts on relevant content establish you as a leader and creates a relationship that your consumers don't normally get from just visiting your website. Just today in a phone conversation a client said, "I was so glad to see you are a real person!" The personal touch works. Need a great example? Go look at 3PAR's company blog called "StorageRap" (www.storagerap.com). No, I'm not associated with 3PAR in any way. But Marc Farley is awesome at what he does for the data storage industry. Take special note of the value that he delivers. Yes, it comes with a heavy dose of opinion, and more than a bit of controversy, but that is the whole point of blogging! Ever read a boring blog post... more than part-way? I rest my case. If you are venturing into a company blog, ensure it has a clear objective. Brainstorm with colleagues on ideas of what to write and how to represent the company. Then just to it. Don't be stingy. And don't be a twit. Contribute to the communication in meaningful ways. A terrific way to increase your network is to be active and to comment on others' posts. Respect the poster; comment on the post. Remember that a single post could be read by thousands, some of whom may take great interest in you and the products you represent. Don't Abuse the Blog If you use your blog correctly, clients and consumers will appreciate your information and insight. But consistency is key. Deliver value to your business community by remaining active in blogging and in social networking forums. Don't hold back. Give more, and you will receive more. 10 Successful Steps to Converting Ezine Subscribers to Clients A business website may inevitably attract a lot of traffic and can have the potential to create clientele from the traffic attracted, but without a proper Ezine subscription process, the odds of creating clients from web traffic is low. Websites rarely attract clients without offering resources that would be of interest to a specific audience. And even when there is an abundance of information, visitors to a specific website don't always purchase the service or product being advertised. People don't usually purchase a product or service without knowing more about the business providing it. Because of this, providing a reason for visitors to remain interested in your business is integral. The best way to do this is by offering an Ezine - a periodic free publication usually distributed by email and usually in the form of a newsletter, Ebook, video or any other type of useful information that may be of interest to the audience you are trying to attract. Terry Z. is a self employed business strategist and marketing consultant as well as owner of Solo Entrepreneur was able to increase subscriptions and web traffic by 70 per cent using thoughtful and ultimately useful steps. In turn Terry Z developed a 10 sure-fire step process to getting people to your website, subscribing to your Ezine and eventually becoming a customer. Step 1 - Do you have the right visitors? In order to convert website traffic to clients, you have to have the right visitors. In order to attract the right visitors, visitors who would benefit from your product or service, you must ensure you are using the right keywords and linking your site to businesses that would be appropriate to the message your website is trying to convey. Google Analytics, a free program, is an excellent tool for helping you see how much web traffic is landing on your website, and where the traffic is coming from; helping you determine what is and isn't working in regards to your site set up and information. It should be kept in mind that while web traffic is an integral part of your business success, traffic from referrals are more likely to develop into clients. You can refer traffic to your website through writing articles, trading links with appropriate businesses and guest blogging. Step 2 - Do your visitors know what you want them to do? Visitors to your website won't know what to do with the information you have provided them if you don't tell them. It is best to keep information and direction on your homepage simple, meaning do not confuse the visitor with too much information and choices. Be sure to clearly tell your visitors to sign up for your Ezine and remember to tell them what it is all about; whether it is a newsletter, Ebook, or other form of valuable information. Step 3 - Is it easy for visitors to take action? You have valuable information to share with your visitors, but it won't help if they cannot find it. Research has revealed that the majority of people scan websites from the top left down. This valuable information therefore tells us to place your subscription box in the top left of your homepage for easy visibility. You may want to also consider placing your sign up form on every page, increasing visibility regardless of what page traffic lands. Be sure to also make the sign up form as effortless as possible. Consider having a form that doesn't require too many clicks to achieve the end result. Step 4 - What's in it for your visitors? Most successful Ezines offer some kind of incentive to sign up. Whether you are giving away an Ebook, an audio, a video, or an Ecourse, be sure to describe what the freebie is, and how it can add value to them. Also provide clear instruction on how they will access the valuable information; can they download it? Or will the information be emailed? Also, tell subscribers that they will hear from you again and how often. You may also wish to provide a sample of what they will be receiving. Step 5 - Are your visitors put at ease? Subscribers to your Ezine are providing you with valuable information - their personal information! Be sure to ease their minds by assuring them that you will not sell names and email addresses or allow their information to get into the wrong hands. Be sure to provide clear information surrounding your privacy policy and let them know that they can unsubscribe at any time. Step 6 - Do your subscribers know to the next steps? Often times, Ezines subscriptions require confirmation once sign up is complete. Therefore, remind visitors on the thank you page that they will need to confirm to receive the subscription they have signed up for. Step 7 - Do your subscribers know how to white list? Many email programs send unknown senders straight to junk mail. In order to avoid getting tossed in the junk mail folder, you need to tell your subscribers to white list you. White listing is a method used to ensure an email program recognizes and accepts an address. Provide clear instructions and be as specific as possible when you tell them how to white list, not only just your Ezine but all your subscriptions. Step 8 - Is your confirmation email customized? Customize your confirmation emails and use the same language and graphics used on your website. This will help trigger people's memory as to what they are subscribing to and who is sending it to them. Keep things consistent and clear. Don't use generic language! Step 9 - Are you delivering what you promised? Resist from having subscribers wait for the Ezine. As soon as they receive the confirmation email and link, you should send them to a page that gives them the information right then and there. Also be sure to provide clear instructions if necessary to retrieve the information. If they have to download it, you may wish to provide instructions according to PC or MAC software. Give as much information and help them obtain the information as much as possible. Make it easy for them. Step 10 - Are you sending a thank you email? And is it customized? Just like the confirmation email, the thank you email should be clear, consistent and provide helpful information. Tell subscribers to your Ezine how they can contact you if they need help and send the download link again. It is also a great idea to tell them in the thank you email what they should expect next. If your newsletter is weekly or monthly, remind them of this. Also let them know often they will be hearing from you. Also let your subscribers know that they can unsubscribe anytime by clicking at the bottom of the email. Remember to put yourself in the shoes of the person on the other end. Would you sign up for your Ezine? Make the process as simple as possible and continue to look for improvements. You will soon be well on your way to increasing web traffic and establishing a valuable client base. Ad Tracking and Conversion Stats When undertaken in the right manner, pay per click marketing campaigns can deliver excellent results. In some instances, there have been those entrepreneurs who have earned incredible amounts of revenue from successful PPC campaigns. But, this does not mean simply signing up with a PPC service is all one has to do to achieve success. Rather, it is important to stay informed throughout the entire marketing campaign. This is where ad tracking tools comes into play. It is these ad tracking tools that deliver the clear analytical data required for a successful campaign. Tracking can be considered a key component of any marketing campaign. This is true of both online and offline marketing since all marketing success requires trial and error. No matter how well planned a marketing strategy may be, you will never know how successful it truly is until you launch the campaign. Now, if the campaign does not deliver on initial expectations that do not mean it is necessary to completely scrap it. You simply need to look at the areas where the campaign is faltering and where it is succeeding. From this, you can improve the weak points in order to have a more successful campaign. The way to do this is through examining the analytical information that is reflected in ad tracking tools. This is a key point because it is these ad tracking tools that allow marketers to look at vital information such conversion rates and visitor information. For those not familiar with the term conversion rate, it refers to the number of people who visit your site and actually make a purchase. So, if 15 out of every 100 visitors were to make a purchase, the conversion rate would be 15%. Those wishing to raise their revenues would have two options: increasing the number of visitors to the site or increasing the conversion percentage of those who do visit. (Actually, they could do both as well) However, such a plan will not be possible without clear analytical data that details the various components of conversion figures. Among these components, detailed information on landing page statistics is among the most important. Landing pages are where a visitor will "land" when they visit a site through a PPC ad. Since a website could have several different pages that the visitor can land, you could have a multitude of landing pages within the same site. If certain landing pages are performing well and others are performing poorly, you could always direct the bulk of the PPC ads to send visitors to the successful pages. This is a simple strategy that can deliver excellent results and it is only possible thanks to the data found on quality ad tracking tools. Of course, there are many other components that are integrated in an Ad tracking software program. This is a good thing because the more analytical information at your disposal, the greater the chances are of crafting a brilliant and successful PPC marketing campaign. 10 Tips For Creating a Brilliant Landing Page Building a great landing page should be on top of your priority list if you want your website visitors transformed into customers. While a great looking website can grab the attention of your visitors, a strong landing page will keep them involved and get them to buy your products/services. Wikipedia defines a landing page as: The page that appears when a potential customer clicks on an advertisement or a search-engine result link. The page will usually display content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link, and that is optimized to feature specific keywords or phrases for indexing by search engines. Wikipedia's definition sums it up nicely but there is certainly more to a great landing page then relevant and keyword rich content. Here's 10 things that you should be looking at when optimizing a landing page: - Relevant Content A landing page's content should be directly related to organic search results, PPC campaign, anchor text in inbound links and any other targeted inbound advertising, online and offline. If people don't get what they expect, they will be more likely to leave. - Multiple Landing Pages A landing page shouldn't necessarily be your homepage. In many instances a homepage is a good landing page. However, for more targeted traffic and better results, you want a landing page to be focused on specific offer and specific call for action. To accomplish this, a given website should have multiple landing pages. Create some deep link landing pages that will focus on specific offer and your conversion rate will be higher. - Focus on Functionality More and more visitors seem to judge the professionalism and credibility of a site by its design. To satisfy this, many website owners concentrate on the design aspect instead of focusing on its functionality. A well-designed landing page is essentially worthless if the prospect can't accomplish anything. While I wouldn't suggest skimping on the design, it shouldn't be your priority. Focus on the exact steps you want your visitor to take and design a page with that in mind. - Call To Action You got visitors to your landing page, now direct them to take action. Make it clear and highly noticeable without overwhelming your audience. Whether it's a sign-up form or a "buy now" button, make it the focus of your page. - Send a Clear Message Keep your landing page clean and clutter free so your visitors stay focused on your message. Emphasize the biggest reasons that they should carry out the applicable call to action with larger text, contrasting colours, images. Make it easier for them to scan the content by using lists and getting right to the point. - Offer Incentive Bribing your visitors with freebies and samples is a proven method of enticing them to sign up. Offer more than your competition but don't sell yourself short either. Provide a list of reasons why your offer is better and what exactly the visitor can expect. Provide references and testimonials. - Make Visitors Stay Avoid sending your visitors to another page unless it is absolutely necessary. That includes any internal navigation as well as external banners. If you remove all distractions and limit navigation options, you stand a better chance of keeping your visitors around. - Simple is Better Make it easy for your visitors to complete the action you want them to. Less confusion and decision making for your visitor means better conversions rate for your landing page. Don't offer multiple choices and throw in optional extras. Focus on the offer the page was created for. - Power of Freebies Everyone likes free offers. They are hard to resist and can be a powerful conversion tool. Whether a call to action is free or something free is received as a result of carrying out a call to action, it certainly doesn't hurt. If your competition charges for something and you offer it for free, you'll win the customer. Remember, just because you make a free offer doesn't mean that it shouldn't be quality. - Testing In a recent post "How to Turn Website Visitors into Buyers", I've stressed how important testing is in finding out what your visitors like. Testing various text, call to action forms, layouts will give you true idea what produces the best results as far as conversion. Using a tool like Google's Website Optimizer you can easily monitor the conversion rate, bounce rate, and tons of other useful metrics found in most modern day web analytics apps. Using these metrics you can easily figure out which version will be your optimal page, one that maximizes the results. Creating a successful and effective landing page takes a lot of work but should be the focus for anyone involved with a website. Whether you are a website owner, web designer, web developer or a web marketing specialist you must be aware of the components that comprise a solid landing page. After all this can mean website's success or failure. Developing a Website That Generates Traffic and Increases Sales When you own a business, your website is one of your most important tools that can be used to reach new customers and generate higher sales. Whether you have an established website that is not currently working for you, or you are a complete newbie to the online marketing world, improving your website so that it generates traffic and increases sales is the right thing for your business. Without a high quality website that attracts visitors and provides you with a way to capture information, you are not using the Internet's power to its full potential. The information below can provide you with an idea of why a good website is so important for your businesses' bottom line. Why is a Quality Business Website so Important? A high-quality business website provides you with a way to capture the enormous amount of traffic that is on the Internet. It also makes your business more accessible to your customers. It does this, by giving website users a way to contact you or find out valuable information about your products or services without having to get on the phone, and during non-business hours. There are literally millions of people searching the Internet for various reasons on any given day. If you are not trying to capture some of those visitors, then you are losing out on many potential sales each month. Just as your store gives you a physical presence a high-quality website provides you with an online Internet presence. Benefits of Having a Good Website As a business owner, there are many benefits to having a quality website that is able to not only generate traffic but also increase sales for your company. The first benefit that a business website can provide you with is it enables you to have access to customers that you otherwise might not have contact with. Without a website, you are only able to reach your potential market through traditional means, and not those potential customers that primarily use the internet for their purchase research. By enlisting the help of an internet marketing service company, you can create a highly effective direct response website that enables you to reach out to Internet traffic. By adding an opt-in form to a quality website, you can increase your earning potential each year by at least 20%. An opt-in form provides a means of capturing visitors' contact information. This is very valuable as it will allow you to send current and potential customers information about promotions, important updates, and special sales events throughout the year. The visitors on your list will be people that you know are already interested in the services that you are offering, and by sending out a sales message to them your rate of return will be much higher than with an untargeted ad in the newspaper. One of the most important benefits that a business website provides is that it allows you to remain a step above your competition. If other related local businesses do not currently have websites, you are already reaching far more people than they are. By creating a high-quality website that can generate massive traffic and drive sales, you are ensuring that your site will be listed before the competitions' in the search engine rankings. How to Develop a High Quality Business Website Unless you are professional, the best way to develop a high-quality business website is to seek out an Internet marketing company or web designer that can create a customized plan for your business. These companies have experience marketing to those online, and they can help your website by marketing it for targeted driven traffic, and ensuring that it gets ranked well within the search engine listings. Off-line business owners can increase their revenue by creating a business website or revamping their old one. Without a high-quality site that is able to generate traffic and increase your sales, your online presence will do you no good. Enlist the help of a professional Internet marketing company to develop a website that will help your business thrive. Corporate Branding is Key to a Successful Business Corporate branding is the process of establishing a name and image for your business. It is something, which should be done by every organization, and establishes a name for your product or service. While you can have a successful business without the use of corporate branding, it is much harder to remain in the minds of customers when you do not have a brand or logo for them to associate your business with. Corporate branding begins with the designing of a relevant logo, website, business cards, letterheads, and any other promotional materials that you might need. With these items in place and the corporate logo established, you will begin to see why corporate branding is the key to success. Why is Corporate Branding so Important? When you think about Nike, what comes to mind? I can guarantee that most of you just pictured a check mark in your head. This is because Nike has spent a lot of time and money to ensure that their logo and "just do it" motto have been set into the minds of consumers for years. This is just one example of why corporate branding is so important. Without a brand image to quickly associate your business with, you are instantly out of the minds of consumers. If you can on the other hand, provide consumers with a lasting memory of your brand, then yours will be the first business that will come to mind when they see that image or logo. It will also allow them to spread the word about your business much easier. Sometimes people remember logos better than the names of businesses. You Can't Do It Alone The first thing you need to understand about corporate branding before you begin selecting a logo or other merchandise, is that you can't do it alone. Even if you could design the image, you would not be able to produce the merchandise such as business cards, letterhead, and other promotional items by yourself. For this reason, it is important to enlist the help of professionals. Companies who provide marketing services can conduct research based on your business, and help you choose a logo, motto, and merchandise that can help you create effective corporate branding. While you may spend a little bit of money by using one of these companies' services, it will be well worth it when your business has a successful brand, and your traffic and sales increase. While you are new to the idea of corporate branding, these professional companies have had years of experience helping businesses get their start. Developing a Logo The first step that a marketing service company will introduce you to, is the development of a logo. This is the most important step in corporate branding, because it creates an image that will always be associated with your business. A logo can be serious, humorous, or just about anything else that you like. It can communicate to consumers what type of services or goods that you offer, your quality of service, or any other important information. It is essential that you choose a logo that can't be interpreted the wrong way. It is also important to choose a logo that makes a statement about your company, and is not just a random choice. The more content you are with your brand image, the better your potential customers will react to it. Completing the Image Choosing a logo is not the last step in corporate branding. In order to effectively brand your business, you need to display that logo and brand image consistently on and in all your marketing efforts. A company's letterhead, business cards, and any other promotional items used should reflect the logo and brand image that has been created. If you are inconsistent, your attempt at corporate branding will fail. Corporate branding is becoming increasingly popular with local small businesses and large corporate companies as well. When you associate a specific logo, image, or motto with your business, the consumers are more likely to recognize your brand as one they know and trust. Remember though, that it cannot be done alone and that is best to enlist the help of a professional marketing service when working on this strategy. How to Become an SEO Expert Search engine optimization (SEO) is more difficult than rocket science. Becoming a Jedi-level SEO master requires years of practice for most mere mortals, and like a Jedi, if one falls out of practice, one's skills quickly wane. This is not a static science. Search algorithms change constantly, and as they are carefully protected secrets, one can never know what those designing the search engines are really doing under the hood. No, it's not rocket science; A more apt analogy would be trying to reverse engineer a UFO that one can only see from afar, the specs of whose propulsion system constantly change. Do not kid yourself: Becoming a genuine expert in this field is no easy task. In addition to all the knowledge needed, competition can literally be fierce. Your competitors may even actively sabotage you. One mistake can undo months of hard work. If working on behalf of a client, you had better be darn sure that you keep your methods above board so that you do not get their site exiled to the far reaches of the Internet where it will never be found. Meanwhile, some of your competitors will be using very underhanded techniques to try to make that happen. Like I said, it's hard to reach Jedi level, and once you do, you have to take care to stay on the bright side of the Force. If you are in business, it is extremely important to choose the right SEO company or employee. If you want to become the right SEO company or employee, here are a few suggestions on ways to train yourself (and being self-taught is the only way to do this): 1. Build at least five websites and administer them for at least a year. Keep each one separate from the others, its own little sanitary petri dish not to be sullied. 2. Go about it scientifically. Test hypotheses rigorously until you have a few bona fide theories. Keep good records and track results. Take special note of changes in search engine behaviour and the keywords and descriptions that draw your visitors. Connect those changes to your SEO activities. 3. Learn how to identify effective keywords. Despite what you may have heard, this is not as easy as finding words that are both searched for and non-competitive. It's best to be somewhat intuitive. What keyword combination are potential customers likely to use as opposed to bored or curious web surfers? 4. Use different tools until you find one that works. I have my favourite, but I'm not allowed to mention it in this article. Follow the link in my bio and surf around the blog. You should be able to determine what that tool is. Try it free. 5. Success before sales. Once you have at least 20 pages to the top for fairly competitive keywords, you can turn prospects into clients. 6. Play your cards somewhat close to your chest. Once you have some success, take a cue from the people who write the search algorithms and keep your exact methods to yourself. Also train and improve continuously so that your skills do not slip. If you go through that training course, you will become a Jedi-level SEO expert who commands top dollar and deserves every penny. The Art of Staying Focused Many new and even seasoned internet marketers find it hard to stay focused on their tasks. When you work online it can be nearly impossible to get anything accomplished when you run across new opportunities, are tempted to visit websites, watch videos, check email, browse forums, check your stats, listen to tele-seminars, browse Google and do other distracting online activities. Not to mention other offline distractions. Here are a couple things you can do to diminish distractions. 1. Work alone in a quiet space If you have young children you'll understand how crucial it is to work in a quiet space where other people can't distract you. It seems just about when you're ready to start working you're barraged by requests to do something or help with something. Now, there's nothing more important than my family but when you need to work you must get down to work. Go to a quiet space and carve out a solid amount of time where you can be productive. If someone else is in the room with you while you're working you run the possibility of getting distracted. 2. Throw your TV out the window That's right. Turn it off and get rid of it. This will curb your curiosity of wondering what's on TV. When you're tempted to see what's on you tell yourself "well, I'll only watch a little bit." Before you knew it your watching an hour or more of TV and aren't getting any word done. This can also be a form of psychologically avoiding tasks you need to get done - procrastination. Procrastination is a sure-fire way to make sure nothing gets done. If you find yourself doing this, remember you can always record what you miss on Tivo, or better yet, you can probably find the shows you miss on online. 3. Get Rid of Internet Distractions While it may be fun to look online for the latest viral videos, check you stats, check email, browse forums, you can literally waste hours doing these activities and check your favourite social networking site. These activities don't get you closer to your goal. Force yourself not to do any of your favourite internet time wasters until you've gotten some real work done and can see actual results from your real efforts. If you don't see results don't give up and give into temptation, try again and again. When you see results then reward yourself with your favourite activity. If you don't actually have the will power to prevent yourself from engaging in your favourite online activities there is actually software which will block these activities for you. By implementing at least one of these strategies you'll find your productivity going up and your goals will become much closer than you thought. Internet Marketing 101 - A Look at the History of the Internet Throughout the history of man, our accomplishments have been marked by various ages. There was the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. These were primarily marked by the material used in the weapons of the day. In modern days we have gloried for a brief time in the Nuclear Age, but this rapidly fell from favour when we figured out we either could destroy the world, or die from all the waste from our reactors. With the advent of the Internet, we find ourselves in the information age. Although most people think that the Internet is a recent development, it actually has its roots over 40 years ago. The US military saw the need to interconnect radar facilities all over the country. Later this ability would allow the exchange of information between educational facilities. What we know as the Internet today actually got its start in the early 90's. The advent of the personal computer in the late 1980's spurred the growth of the internet. What started with a few college students talking to each other's computers has grown to an international information exchange. Remember the days when you would mention you had a computer to a friend and they would say, "Hey my friend Joe has a bulletin board, do you have a modem?" Once you figured out what a modem was, you went down to your friendly computer store and either bought one, or most likely had it installed. (I remember the days when I was scared to death to open up a computer case.) So you had your 1200 baud modem hooked up, listened to all those tones and viola, you were connected. It took maybe 2 weeks if you downloaded a picture, but you were actually talking to another computer. Heaven forbid that you even thought of video. No one could call you because the phone was always busy as you were exploring this strange new world. Now we have DSL and satellite so we can talk on the phone while we text our friends on our cell while we post to Facebook. Information is king in this day. You can find most anything within seconds. We have new words, "I'll Google that," or "I Googled that yesterday." A word that a few years ago did not exist has become a noun and a verb for finding information. With the rise of the internet we have seen a new economy develop. "Ecommerce" has become the byword of the day. Today it is quite possible to live and never leave your home. This new economy has given birth to a new generation of entrepreneurs, the Internet Marketer. Selling information on the Internet has become a multi-million dollar business. People like Armand Moran, Alex Mandossian, and Rich Schefren are among the top Internet Marketers in the US, as well as Michael Green, Michael Cheney, and the up and coming Alex Jeffreys in the UK. Although the main advantage of selling information on the 'Net is it is a fairly level playing field that most anyone with a few skills can be successful in, it is becoming a bit more difficult now. There is quite a bit to process from web site design, content, sales copy etc. Unless you are very self-directed, and disciplined, one of the better ways to become successful is to find a mentor. A mentor can provide the information and inspiration to guide you along the way. After all, they have been down the route before and already made the mistakes. Finding the right mentor can be a challenge. You must take care that you don't get one who is willing to take your money and leave you standing. Some of the best places might be forums directed to the Internet Marketing niche. Look for people with a good reputation check references. You can also try typing the potential mentor's name and "scam" to see if there is any negative feed back about them, but do this with an open mind. Sometimes disgruntled people will leave undeserved negative feedback. Can anyone know how long the "Information Age" will last? What is next on the horizon, implants that bypass the computer and let your brain directly access the Internet? Can you make it "big" on the "Net?" The only way to know is to find a mentor and give it a try. SEO Effect Of Duplicate Content There are a lot of ways that you can improve your site's page ranking in search engines, unfortunately, not all of them are good. Some people employ certain methods in acquiring a high page rank in search engines, even if these are considered to be deceitful in the sense that they are designed to trick the search engines - one of these methods is actually duplicating web content. What is duplicate content? Duplicate content in SEO is actually any web content that is considered to be similar to another site. Search engines have actually implemented new filters specifically to monitor these types of deceitful attempts to improve site's search engine page rankings. A lot of people think that by creating multiple but similar replicas of their web pages or content, that they will be able to improve their site's page rankings since they will be able to get multiple listings for their site. Since search engines are now monitoring these types of trickery, sites using duplicate content can actually end up getting banned from search engine indexes instead of improving their ranking. What are considered as duplicate content? There are a couple of duplicate content types that are being rampantly utilized by a lot of people, each one a bit different in their use, but all of them employed for the same purpose, which is to trick search engines to get better page rankings. One way of getting duplicate content is by having very similar websites or identical web pages on different sub-domains or domains that offer basically the same content. This may include landing or door pages aside from the content, so make sure that you avoid using this if you don't want your site to become vulnerable to search engines' duplicate content filter. Another method of creating duplicate content is by simply taking content from another website or page and reorganizing it to make it appear dissimilar to its original form, though it is actually the same. Product descriptions from many eCommerce sites are actually being utilized by other sites as well. Other sites simply copy the product description of manufacturer's utilized by other competitive markets as well. And add the fact that the product name, as well as the name of artist, manufacturer, writer or creator would be included, a significant amount of content would show up on your page. Although this is much harder to spot, it is still considered to be duplicate content, or spam. Distribution of copied articles by other sites other than the one that distributed the original article can also be considered to be a duplicate content. Unfortunately, although some search engines still deem the site where the original article came from as relevant, some however, do not. How do search engines filter duplicate content? Search engines filter for duplicate content by using the same means for analyzing and indexing page ranking for sites, and that is through the use of crawlers or robots. These robots or crawlers go through different websites and catalogues these sites by reading and saving information to their database. Once this is done, these robots then analyzes and compares all the information it has taken from one website to all the others that It has visited by using certain algorithms to determine if the site's content is relevant, and if it can be considered as a duplicate content or spam. How to avoid duplicate content? Although you may not have any intentions to try and deceive search engines to improve your site's page ranking, your site might still get flagged as having duplicate content. One way that you can avoid this from happening is by checking yourself if there are duplicate contents of your page. Just make sure that you avoid too much similarities with another page's content for this can still appear as duplicate content to some filters, even if it isn't considered to be spam. Integrating SEO Into The Web Development Process Effective, ethical, and ongoing SEO can deliver targeted traffic to the pages of any website. It can provide geographically and topically targeted traffic that is ready to begin or continue the purchasing process, but SEO needs to be done effectively. It is best to implement SEO practices during the first stages of development although with a little extra work it is more than possible for an existing site to benefit from search engine optimisation efforts. Planning The planning stage of any web development is a critical facet to a successful online business plan. As well as planning your own strategy and interlacing your prospective customer's needs you should also consider the methods of marketing you will use. The most effective SEO methods include the regular addition of fresh content, as well as the creation of pages that will encourage others to link back to your site. By adding content platforms and structuring a site according from the beginning, it should become easier and more efficient to add the required content. Design And Development Website design needs to incorporate many elements. It should be appealing to your visitors and should be accessible and simple to use for anybody that opens your site. In terms of SEO, text based content should be given a prominent position above the code of the page. Pictures, videos, and dynamic elements need to offer alternative text as well as clearly labelled and optimised HTML tags. Site Content In terms of on-page optimisation, the content of your site is one of the most important factors. Optimised content should be clear and simple to understand for the benefit of your readers and should incorporate the relevant keywords for that page. Using keyword inflexions and semantically related keywords, as well as introducing header tags and other formatting elements, can help to further improve your search engine results. Fresh content is critical to your success, so a method of quickly and conveniently adding new website content should be implemented for the best results. Creating A Marketing Mix A marketing mix is a program or strategy of marketing that incorporates various advertising and marketing techniques. SEO is certainly one of the more popular forms of online marketing but it is far from being the only viable option. PPC advertising, social media optimisation, and text links can also prove highly effective especially when combined into a single marketing mix. Try to ensure that each page uses relevant marketing techniques so that they lend themselves to SEO, PPC, and any other technique you use without having to alter the page too heavily. Ongoing Updates And Development The Internet is a constantly evolving platform for business. Not only are new technologies being introduced that can be incorporated into most websites, but the way website visitors think is also changing. Static websites with no content updates or new additions may prove successful for a period but the most effective sites should be monitored, maintained, updated, and improved over time to enjoy continued success. Analytics And Performance Measurement In order to implement successful changes, it is important to benchmark your efforts. For the new website this means tracking analytics from day one and monitoring the effectiveness of any additions or amendments. Different techniques work to varying degrees for different websites so there is no one size fits all solution. Learn what works for your website and use this information to improve or optimise your marketing efforts. The Importance of Keywords and Keyword Placement For Your Website You've made the decision. It's now time to either build a website for your business or do a redesign on your current website that just isn't bringing in the business you would like. One of the first steps in the process is identifying keywords or keyword phrases that potential customers would use to find out about your business and the services you provide. This is a critical step because these keywords or keyword phrases are what will identify you to potential customers. For instance, you wake up and your foot hurts, normally you'd get online, do a search for a podiatrist or foot doctor, make a couple of calls and be on your way. What if you just put in "doctor" and went to the first one that came up? Well, next thing you know, you're bent over an examination table, pants around your ankle, while the person behind you tells you that you may experience some pressure and you're thinking either this is some new age medicine or I've made a terrible mistake. Where did you go wrong? When identifying keywords or keyword phrases it's important to be as specific as possible. Analyze every possible service or product you provide to potential customers, and think of all the ways someone could do a search for those services. For instance, in our example for the podiatrist, you could do a search for "podiatrist", followed by the location you live in, or you could put in "foot doctor, location" or maybe "foot diagnosis, location". Phrases regarding your foot and or care of your foot would be a good start. The same applies to your business. Think to yourself, who am I marketing to? Ask coworkers, how they would look us up on the web, same with friends and family. Then take into account variations of those keywords. What if I make them plural, can I abbreviate them, and are they frequently misspelled? Also, think in two and three word phrases, too few words and you might not be specific enough, too many words and it's overkill. After you've identified and exhausted all the possible keywords you might think there are regarding your business you can test out your theories. Google has a keyword tool the enables you to put in all the keywords regarding your business, and then they'll provide you with the number of searches each term generates for the last month and gives you a monthly average. From there you can determine which keyword phrases or most relevant to your business and maybe you'll even discover a niche that your business can service that you can use to your benefit. Now that you've designated your keywords, it's time to begin the process of creating your content. Placing your keywords can be just as important as identifying them. A good plan is to have one or two keyword phrases that you will associate with each page on your site. Also, things like putting your keywords in a bold font can also be helpful. The first assumption most make is thinking you can just repeat the keyword, not so. Most search engines will penalize you because they consider this spam. When creating your content, it's important to use your keywords so that the flow freely in the description you are providing. The content must read well. When discussing your website design with the company you are using, make sure that they also place keywords in the title, headers, and intra-site links. These important tidbits should help you have a greater understanding of the importance of keywords and their placement. Why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Matters If you aren't yet aware of its meaning, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Simple enough, but just what is SEO and what is it for? This is a more complex matter. Search engine optimization refers to a number of different techniques used for building websites and the content on these sites to improve their placident in the search engine results pages. The idea of SEO is to make your website more visible to web users who search for content with search engines (which is essentially everyone who uses the World Wide Web at all). If your website is a personal page meant primarily for yourself and perhaps a small number of family members and friends, it may not be all that important to you to have a site which is optimized. However, if your website is business oriented, it matters a great deal. Think of it this way: if your business decided to stop being listed in the phone book, took the signs and awnings down and stopped advertising, how successful would you be at attracting new business? Search engines have for many largely replaced the function once performed by local phone directories. In order to attract (and even retain) business, you need to have a high profile where your customers are likely to see you - and these days, this place is online. It once was that if people couldn't find you in the phone book, your business was in serious trouble. Now, of course the question is how easy it is for people to find your website. You may have a great looking website and even use the URL in your printed marketing materials and advertising campaigns; but not everyone is going to see your advertisident in the paper. People tend to look at web sites when they're actually in need of something and even if a potential customer has seen your ads, it's not at all certain they'll remember to go to your site immediately when they're looking for what you offer. Instead, your potential customers are using search engines - which is why your business may need some help from a professional SEO consultant to ensure that consumers will find you when they really are looking for you. One of the things we should look at first here is what the search engines actually see when their crawlers come to your site. The search engines don't know (or care) about your site's design in terms of graphics (though they will read the alternate text for these images - if you don't know about this important elident of web design, an SEO consultant can help you with this). All the search engines see when they look at your site is text and nothing but text. For this reason, sites which are entirely Flash-based are not generally recommended from an SEO perspective (many visitors don't like this either). What the search engine crawlers are looking at on your site is the actual text contained on your website as well as the information contained in what is known as the headers of your site's HTML, most notably your title tags. These tell the search engine crawlers what your site is about - if you don't include these (or use an entirely graphics or animation based site), the search engines really can't tell what your site is supposed to be about. This can be fatal to your site, as it basically assures that no one will be able to find you with a search engine query. As for how the search engines determine page ranking, this is a much more complex question. The short answer is relevance: but the relevance of any given website is calculated in a number of ways. The exact nature of the algorithms used by each search engine is different and each is closely guarded proprietary information - to further complicate matters, these algorithms are constantly evolving. However, there are certain things which the SEO experts have managed to figure out through analysis and reverse engineering of search results and websites which are universally applicable. This is what enables an SEO consultant to look over a website and suggest changes to the site to increase its visibility in terms of the search engines. The alterations which can improve a site's search engine rankings include fine tuning the copy on the site to make it tune with the site's content, its meta tags or especially popular search terms which are relevant to the content. There are other changes which will improve a site's search engine ranking which are not visible to visitors to the site. These are changes which affect what the search engine crawlers see when they visit the site and help this to more accurately determine what the site is about. There are yet other SEO techniques which your site should avoid using. What should you avoid? Let's take a look at a hypothetical scenario. Suppose your kitchen wares business has a website which is doing well in the results for tea kettles, frying pans and the like. However, you'd like to further increase traffic - how about trying to rank high in the search engine results for some other non-kitchen related search terms? This may help to increase traffic to your site, but there are reasons why everyone doesn't do this. If SEO really worked like that, every site on the web would optimize their content for whatever the most popular searches happened to be. There are many websites which do this simply to get you to their site by any means. This is one of the several different SEO techniques which are considered "search engine spamming" and should be avoided. If you're considering working with a professional search engine optimization firm, you should avoid any company who uses this technique or any of the others which follow: * Keyword stuffing. * Misleading redirects and link/URL cloaking. * Duplicating content between pages of a website. * Misspelling words and names commonly used as search terms. * The use of unrelated links (also known as link farming). * Or for that matter, any other technique aimed at fooling the search engines. These "black hat" SEO methods can work as a means of generating traffic, but they only work for so long before the search engines (and the public) catch on. Once search engines figure out what you're up to, they often respond by un-indexing your site, making it impossible for anyone to find you with that search engine. Don't think you won't get caught either; the major search engines encourage users to report these deceptive tactics. You can get better and more lasting results with ethical SEO methods; and without having to worry about having your site blacklisted. Is Your Site Doing Well Enough In Search Results? Unless you're already in the top couple of results in the major engines, chances are you'd like to do better regardless of where your site stands at present. As any expert search engine optimization consultant will tell you, SEO is a process, not a single task. It's something that you'll likely have to continue working on as your site slowly but steadily makes its way up the rankings. This organic SEO approach is the most effective and will get you to where you want to be sooner or later; the most important thing is to ensure that your business' website is optimized for search engines. Failing to implident good SEO practices is one nearly certain way to set yourself up for a fall. It is much like the unadvertised, unlisted and unmarked business we discussed earlier. People who are ready and willing to do business with you will pass you by, unaware that your site even exists. Whether or not to use SEO as an integral part of your marketing strategy isn't even a question anymore - the question is how you'll go about it. 9 Tips For Effective Website Content Web readers may be a difficult bunch, they may take a while to digest information and they may need convincing of every single point you deliver but they are essential. They can become long term, loyal customers, as long as you give them what they want. Writing for the Internet is a different skill to writing for paper print or paper publications. Website readers digest smaller amounts of information in less time when compared to reading from paper. This means that website content needs to be very well organised, concise, well formatted, and appealing. Throw in the proper use of search engine keywords, a powerful Call To Action (CTA), your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and the natural scepticism of web users and it's easy to see why many website owners use professional content writers. 1 - Use An Inverted Pyramid Style Of Writing The inverted pyramid style of writing means getting your point across early in the text. Web readers are an impatient bunch and they need to know that the page they're reading is relevant. Include a summary or conclusion of the page's main points at the beginning of the text and then elaborate on this as you progress. 2 - Make It Concise As well as being impatient, web readers aren't able to digest and process information as well on a computer screen as they are on paper. There are masses of studies and numerous sets of data giving statistics on this, but the general point is that basic pages need to be between a third and a half of the length they would be on paper. Try to aim for 300-500 words for web pages, with longer pages for technical articles, newsletters, and other web based publications. 3 - Use Headers And Sub-Headers Headers and sub-headers not only enable you, as the writer, to properly structure the page; they also enable the reader to scan through and find the information that is most pertinent to them. Don't try anything too clever with your headers and do ensure that they are relevant and informational. 4 - Use Bullets And Lists Bullets and lists are another method of enabling readers to quickly navigate around a page and grab the most important information. Many readers will simply scroll down a page and if no information jumps out at them then they won't read anything. Prevent these readers from clicking away from your website by offering bite sized chunks of information. 5 - Use Simple Language Another area where statistics and figures differ is in the comprehension level of website readers. No matter which figures you listen to, though, one point is clear - we simply can't process information as well when reading from a computer. Use simple language, avoid jargon that isn't necessary or clearly defined, and engage your readers using language that everybody can understand. 6 - Use Short Paragraphs And Shorter Sentences A paragraph should contain text relating to a single, simple idea. When you reach the conclusion of that idea, you should also reach the end of that paragraph. Paragraphs should contain no more than 70-80 words where possible. If a paragraph requires fewer words then make it shorter. The same goes for sentences. 7 - Make It Easy To Scan Shorter paragraphs, more concise pages, and good headers make a page easy to scan. So too do bullets and lists. Add formatting such as bold and italicised text, quotes, and even hyperlinked text to make the page easier to scan. Remember to use a degree of caution, however, because a page that consists of different formatting techniques will be very difficult to read and understand. Many readers will simply close your page and move on. 8 - Write Objectively We've already discussed how Internet users are impatient and find it difficult to digest information; they're also a highly sceptical bunch that will take convincing of virtually anything you have to say. Use objective language and avoid the use of too much marketing fluff. Avoid exaggerated claims such telling readers that yours is the best product in the world and instead show them why - convince them to come to that conclusion on their own and you will enjoy better results for your effort. 9 - One Idea Per Paragraph, One Subject Per Page A single paragraph should contain a single idea and a single page should cover one topic. If a page is becoming too wordy because it includes information on other subjects, then break it down and hyperlink to those other pages. For longer pages remember the bookmark function and use it wisely to help readers navigate their way around your site and take in all of the information that you have to offer. Giving Visitors What They Want Web readers may be a difficult bunch, they may take a while to digest information and they may need convincing of every single point you deliver but they are essential. They can become long term, loyal customers, as long as you give them what they want and that's why we love them so much. If you don't have the time or the resource to write your own compelling and effective website content then consider using professional copywriters. more than 70-80 words where possible. If a paragraph requires fewer words then make it shorter. 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