Archive for January, 2012
The Why Of SEO – A Thermal Lifejacket For The
January 31st, 2012 | 
Author: The Why Of SEO – A Thermal Lifejacket For The Economic Ice Age!
Despite the many and varied articles written on how SEO is done most people have only a vague appreciation of WHY it is absolutely essential. As the economic downturn bites into revenue streams can you afford to ignore a key website business strategy?
That includes a depressing number of website designers some of whom actually tell their clients that SEO is a waste of time and money and that its quite unnecessary these days because Google is smarter than ever before… Au contraire it becomes more and more critical every day as website numbers expand exponentially! Lack of knowledge is not confined to website designers it also includes a number of wannabe SEO firms who make outrageous claims about their special relationship and affinity with Google etc but have little idea of what it takes to consistently succeed in attaining Top 30 rankings.
There are many articles written on the HOW of SEO covering the many and varied aspects of the art of improving your sites position in search engine ranking pages SERPs. Whilst most people have heard the term “search engine optimization” and have a vague appreciation or apprehension of the hopedfor outcome surprisingly few people seem to really understand WHY it is absolutely essential.
Be very aware that in most cases website design is taught as an Art not as a Business discipline. Website designers are rarely taught anything about search engine optimization and few are interested in mastering the skills required to produce optimal results. Thats all very fine and dandy but it leaves a lot of website owners desperately disappointed in mediocre results! Youve probably heard the analogy about building a shop in the middle of a forest too I bet? Seriously it really does not matter how beautiful the site is if no one finds it then its just a gorgeous waste of virtual space.
Content is Still King
Regardless of the various conflicting opinions Google conspiracy theories and misinformation it comes down to a very simple concept content quality and accurate content classification. Content is where many sites fail dismally! The sites that thrive are those with well written well organised original interesting and useful content. Dont copy other peoples stuff. Aside from being illegal at best it immediately downgrades you to second best As a general rule from an SEO perspective bear in mind the most fundamental issue Google loathes duplicate content!
Classification
There are literally millions of websites each competing for viewers in a particular niche. Reasons for their existence vary across the A to Z spectrum advertising entertainment comedy educational humour informational music news promotional sports wine video zoos… you get the picture right?
In the world of books we have the Dewey decimal classification system. Every published work is assigned an ISBN number and libraries classify all books under a rigid hierarchical subject classification system. Its not perfect but it works pretty well because every one uses and understands it! Erudite people write insightful book reviews which are sometimes included in advertising and promotions. Hold this thought its relevant to a following section. You want to find a book on a particular topic or by a specific author you do a search and Eureka! Youve found it there’s a list even! The best books are reviewed multiple times and take pride of place in the best sellers rack.
Relevancy Ranking
Using different terminology search engines are trying hard to do the same thing to give their searchers the most accurate list possible containing exactly what they want so they can pick and choose from it! Unfortunately there is no Dewey classification system on the web. The closest thing to a hierarchical subject listing is the Open Directory Yahoo or one of the thousands of other web directories all of which are inconsistently organised into completely different illogical structures!
So here we have Google and other search engines trying valiantly to index and categorize the billions of pages on millions of websites in hundreds of countries in a multiplicity of languages. Then they have to calculate each page’s relevance to specific search queries
Are You Helping or Hindering?
Thats where YOU come into the picture Its a big big task have you made any effort at all to help Google to help you? Or is your website fuzzy and unfocused with no clear statement of content or purpose? In most cases sites are constructed with vague intentions to do SEO as an optional extra sometime in the future What you want Google to do everything for you?
Done Any Homework?
Do you have any idea how your primary audience searches for the information products or services you offer? Do the pages on your site describe your content using terms your clients use? Because thats the only way Google can match searchers with relevant content! What? You actually forgot to do any market research before launching the site? You have no accurate researched hard data on the keywords your potential clients would use? You asked your friends at work for ideas? Absolutely incredible!
Let us pretend youre looking for clients for your small bed amp; breakfast business in Christchurch New Zealand. You are optimistic that potential customers in New Zealand Australia and the UK will be able to find your website amongst the millions of competing Bamp;B pages on the web be convinced by your persuasive advertising copy and elegant pictures youd also like them to come and book directly with you to avoid hefty commission payments on the dozens of Bamp;B Advertising Directory sites who also want you to pay to advertise! Dream on!
So You Want Google To Work For You?
Youd really like Google et al to help connect your potential clients to your business via Search Engine Results Pages by making your site No.1 And you certainly want qualified traffic from Google visitors who are specifically looking for exactly what you offer!
Anyone who thinks they can survive online without Google Yahoo and MSN is either a thoroughly wellrounded idiot or is a household name who does not need to advertise to generate qualified traffic. There is no middle ground.
But heres where it gets hard! How will Google do that? What solid information have you provided Google in your onsite content and in the offsite links to your site? Have you got a Domain Name which encapsulates your business type and location; BedBreakfastChristchurch.co.nz? Or a cryptic name like; BnBChChNZ.com? Of the two which is most likely to give the SE its first clue as to what your site is about?
What is OnSite SEO
Think about it this way Does your home page have an explicit and accurate Title that provides a direct and unequivocal statement of the sites business purpose in 70 characters? Does the Title say Bed amp; Breakfast Accommodation Christchurch New Zealand or does it say Welcome to Dusty Lodge or something equally asinine?
Does your home page have an explicit and accurate Description that provides a brief outline of your business purpose unique selling proposition and call to action encapsulated in 150 200 characters? Or does it contain some vague warm and fuzzy drivel about beaches and sunsets?
Keep the book analogy in your mind and take a look at your Home page particularly the first heading and first paragraph Welcome to my website is not a productive approach! What does it tell your visitors about you? It tells me that you are at best nave and both you and your website designer need SEO counselling! And think about that first paragraph is it an accurate summary of the sites reason for existence? Eliminate that fruity cheesy fluffy verbiage immediately!
If your website is required to deliver a return on investment particularly by selling products or services or delivering customer service informing or entertaining your really need to accurately describe your websites content and allow it to become visible online. Whats that I hear? Oh you want it to make you rich as well? But you dont really want to make a serious commitment or effort to do the job properly? Right good luck with that! And remember that old GIGO acronym Garbage In Garbage Out!
What is OffSite SEO?
This may surprise you but some people are dishonest about their site content. Frankly some people handle the truth in a very awkward fashion indeed Telling Google that your site is about Pamela Anderson when its actually selling Bart Simpson comics is deuced annoying to the people who visit it! Therefore Google and other SEs decided long ago that some external verification of every websites content would assist their efforts to deliver the most relevant SERPs to their clients. Makes perfect sense to me
How is this achieved I hear you ask. Well youve heard of links right? Back to the book analogy think of good links as being like a series of book reviews! What if lots of people are writing positive things about your site? What if multiple external widely distributed sites are all saying that your site is about Bed amp; Breakfast Accommodation Christchurch NZ huh? The balance of probability that your site is relevant to such a search is positively impacted by this external confirmation! A coincidence of keywords in onsite content and offsite links reassures Google immensely! Those keywords in the offsite links are referred to as anchor text and should form the link title.
No Its Not Rocket Science
Frankly search engine optimisation in the pure sense of the term is not particularly difficult to understand or to do. The aim of the search engines is to provide their customers with the content most relevant to the search they are making. Therefore your salvation lies in making your content relevant to the known searches! Do some thorough keyword research learn and understand your target audiences searching behaviour. Plan pages that target specific highvolume low competition search phrases.
Dont be vague dont waffle and help Google to help you!
When the economic gravy pot is bubbling merrily and theres ample business gravy slopping over even the mediocre get a share. But when the economic ice age casts midnight shadows at noon and credit wolf packs softly pad the empty streets howling balefully at the waning moon then when youre sucking the last congealed streaks of business gravy off your tarnished website spoon ask yourself… Can you afford your website to be second rate disorganised and drifting ever further into the icy wastes of mediocrity?
With a better understanding why SEO is so important to your website’s success will you continue to ignore it?
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Ben Kemp a 10year veteran SEO consultant and website designer with over 21 years in the IT industry provides guaranteed personal service on all projects and in The SEO Guys Blog offers free advice on SEO and WordPress CMS website design issues.
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Trends In Internet Marketing
Trends In Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing Basics
Almost all of the articles on Internet marketing lacks coverage on all the basics and all the avenues of Internet marketing because there is just too much information to cover in a few words. Here I am going for an attempt which will be an overview not an in depth affair.
Here I would cover four basic marketing subjects:
Market Research
Search Engines
Ezine Advertising
Email Marketing
Market Research This is the most basic part of any marketing campaign. This involves how much you are going to invest in the campaigns and where you are going to invest. Investing the right money at right place is the key. If you dont know your target market and how to reach them; if you dont know the value of the message youre attempting to convey; if you dont know the answer to all the pertinent questionsyour advertising and the whole project will fail.
The most basic step in researching your market is to first have a target. There should be a clear picture in your mind about the target audience and you should treat them as your potential customers. This means you know who youre aiming for their likes dislikes general age group income business type etc. and have a general idea how to hit them. Sample target markets would include:
This includes the segregation based on
Age group
Qualification
Per capital income
Spending capacity
Geographical location
Business class
Technocrats
Once you know who your target is the more information the better youre ready to get into the nittygritty of market research. There are five basic ideas in market research: Primary Secondary Combined all types of research and Qualitative and Quantitative ways of gathering the information.
A quick definition of each:
Primary research is research conducted by the primary user of the information. Secondary research is gathered elsewhere and used by you purchased leased etc.. Most small businesses conduct both of these types of market research customer surveys for primary information and by researching free or paying fees for secondary information. This is called Combined research.
Qualitative research is usually exploratory and has a direction or goal. It generally aims at specific issues in the subject matter and gives you a better idea in which direction you should proceed. This type of research is loose and is geared more towards finding a market or narrowing your market than it is towards getting specific information on that market and where your product fits within it.
Quantitative is much more rigid than qualitative marketing. This research gets much more accurate statistical results and information and is best used when your target market is already narrowed and you wish to find ways to reach or explore that market as well as find specific information on your product as it relates to that market.
Generally businesses conduct qualitative research during the exploratory research and development phase of their product to see if it is viable on the market and what they need in order to reach their market more fully with the product colors shapes uses etc.. Once the item is ready to hit the streets qualitative research is used to finetune the market niche and begin offering the product for sale.
Conducting your own market research is timeconsuming but is very well worth it if you have a need for information or if you are spending any considerable amount of money on your marketing for specific products or services.
Search Engine Marketing
This has for a long time now been a hot phrase in online marketing circles. Im not sure why since while it is generally an important part of a presence online it is not the endallbeall of marketing on the Internet. Search engines have become one of the most expensive forms of advertising on the Web but have also become one of the most effective. Great search engine marketing read: placement strategy etc. is done by professionals and takes a lot of time to do correctly. There are two types of search engines to market towards: search engines/directories and payperclick PPC engines.
Search directories Yahoo! and engines Google require a lot of patience to market effectively. Even if you are paying for your listing it can take weeks to appear on their site. Further your positioning on their site can change regularly as their indexes change or they change the rules of ranking on searches. On top of all of that you have paid advertisements and paid listings see PPC below that can usurp your position or push you further down in the results.
Payperclick PPC engines are much easier to use but also more expensive. A campaign on Overture for example can total hundreds of dollars in a single day. These engines however can usually get you a higher listing on a regular search engine such as Yahoo! much faster and with steadier results. Google Adwords is one more example in this category. This approach should be taken when the site is a new site there is no brand name associated with the website. This gives instant traffic to any website and which in turn increases popularity of the site among the affiliates who are in constant search for the good affiliate program websites.
Whichever course you take I would recommend both if youre serious about search engine marketing be prepared to spend a lot of time and a goodly amount of money in your endeavor. A listing at Yahoo! for example is 300/year and the average perclick cost on Overture is about 0.75.
EZine Advertising
In my experience this is by far the most effective form of advertising at very low cost online. That said be leery of offers to get your ad in 50 email newsletters for only 25. I doubt youll see one response for your 25 since most of the readers of these ezines are probably other people who paid for advertising as well.
If you have researched your market well then you know the general wants and desires of your targets. Using that information you can find the online newsletters email or webbased that these people would be interested in. Chances are that publication takes advertising. There are three basic types of advertising to a newsletter list: solo ads topline ads and classified ads.
Solo ads are sent to the entire or a part of depending on the options given newsletter list these ads contain ONLY your advertisement or perhaps your ad plus an article to get the reader interested in looking. These are the most effective type of advertising through most newsletters but are also the most expensive. Expect to pay 20 or more per 1000 impressions in a good publication.
Topline ads are just that: ads that appear at the very top of a newsletter or at the top of an article in the newsletter. These are also highly effective and are fairly costefficient at about half the price of a solo advert.
Classified ads are the most useless of the three options given. Theyre usually very cheap but almost always appear at the bottom of the newsletter and are generally bypassed by the readers who rarely read that far into the publication. These are cheap though 5/issue is not uncommon and can be effective when combined with one of the other two options to spread your advertising over several issues.
Email Marketing
Marketing online using email is a touchy affair and can easily lead to many problems. Despite this it is by far the most effective form of advertising online bar none. An email advertisement to a targeted and strong list of people can generate responses of close to 1/3 1 response for every 3 targets. Thats phenomenal in ANY form of advertising.
There are three types of email marketing: SPAM/UCE optin and newsletter marketing.
SPAM/UCE Unsolicited Commercial Email is something that everyone whether savvy online or not has heard of. The word SPAM has risen from questionable meat in a can to plague of the Internet in the past three or four years. Despite its bad name and any personal feelings I may have opt for it because SPAM is a very effective form of email advertising. If it werent it wouldnt exist. Doing it correctly however is expensive and requires much thought using it even just once can affect your business for better or worse for the duration of your time online.
OptIn email advertising is extremely effective and carries very little of the weight of SPAM marketing. The idea is pretty basic: you create a list of email addresses and send marketing messages to them occasionally. The hard part is getting those names to start with. Usually other forms of advertising get your website going and this type propels it forward.
Newsletter marketing is similar to optin marketing but includes useful information such as articles or insights. In fact youre probably reading this article through a newsletter that is being used to market a business of some type or another. Newsletters can be timeconsuming but are well worth the effort. Some newsletter publishers supplement their income by running advertisements in their publications see newsletter marketing above.
Of these three types of marketing I have had the most success with newsletter marketing followed closely by optin advertising. That said be VERY wary of email lists for purchase or hire that claim to be optin. Generally these are NOT what they appear to be and you will receive several complaints of SPAMming if you use them. Building a list of names and emails for optin or newsletter publication is difficult but very much worth the trouble for the payoffs in the long run. I have run my own newsletter for over a year now and receive more comments input and business through that than I do any other venue excepting wordofmouth. If done right a proper newsletter or optin list can greatly increase your success online. If you feel you dont have the time or skill to publish your own newsletter there are those who will do it for you .
Conclusion
Advertising online is a very timeconsuming affair but essential to your success. If you dont advertise your business will fail. There are no exceptions to this rule. Some form of advertising takes place for every business type without exception. Marketing requires thought time and effort to succeed but as an essential part of your business its directly related to your rewards at the end of the day!
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Himanshu Singh Partner Himshilp Internet Marketing Consultants have over 8 years of experience in Internet marketing services like SEO SEM.
8 Things That Motivate Web-audience Response
8 Things That Motivate Web-audience Response
It’s always a good idea to stick to the basics. When businesses stray too far from the fundamentals problems arise but sticking to the basics doesn’t mean boring people into a state of unconsciousness. If Webvisitors’ eyes glazeover upon entering your site you’ve lost them before you’ve begun.
Web success is based on creative implementation of the basics and that’s where your Webmarketing presentation should begin.
1. WebAudience Response Demands Communication
The Web has a lot in common with television but there are fundamental differences; it is important for Webentrepreneurs to understand these differences and similarities and learn from them.
Television and the Web are both communication environments but television like magazines and newspapers are primarily advertising platforms. Of course there are plenty of websites around that follow the advertising financial model but for the average business website depending on third party advertising not only dilutes their marketing message and brand but it also makes for a confusing and cluttered visual presentation.
Just because your website presents information doesn’t mean it’s communicating it to your intended audience in any meaningful way. The manner in which you communicate your message is as important as the message itself. The medium is increasingly becoming the message and even in situations where it isn’t it definitely shapes the message.
2. WebAudience Response Demands Content
You have repeatedly heard the comment ‘content is king’ but we think ‘communication is king’ because without communication your content is meaningless. But here’s the dilemma your information is basically advertising after all you’re in business and business is about selling something a product a service an idea or your knowhow. So the real underlying purpose of your website is to make that advertising message worth listening to and to do that you need to turn it into content.
To turn advertising into content you have to accept that sales take time. You have to be patient. You can’t hurry a sale you first have to build confidence; stop rushing the close and start thinking of selling as a courtship. You would never ask someone to get married on a first date so why would you expect to get an order from a potential Webclient on their first visit.
3. WebAudience Response Demands Courtship
No one is going to make a substantial financial commitment without reaching some level of comfort with who you are and what you do and that requires some repeated contact: a courtship or negotiation if you prefer.
Therein lies the similarity and difference between websites and television: the success of a television program is based on habituation. If you get people to tunein every week on the same night at the same time to see their favorite program you will be able to keep delivering your marketing message through the commercials that pay for the content. In the same regard if you can make your website interesting enough through the compelling presentation of content you will get visitors to return again and again each time gaining confidence and respect for what you do and what you sell.
The difference is people accept television commercials as the price they pay for free TV programming but the same cannot be said for the Web. People want free information on the Web without the irritation and bother of ads; so the challenge for website owners is to turn their marketing message into compelling programming that creates habituation which is just another form of negotiation or courtship of potential clients.
4. WebAudience Response Demands Consistency
You hear the word strategy bandied about with little relevance to its precise meaning. In marketing terms strategy is a big idea a sustainable concept that you can build a business around.
Successful companies rarely change their strategies a concept that should not be confused with tactics which are the various methods used to implement strategy in order to secure the ultimate objectives.
Business has to be resilient and openminded enough to adapt to an everchanging business environment by constantly updating tactics but strategy needs to be a constant a touchstone or benchmark for implementing action. Staying on course requires confidence in the strategy with a vigilant eye on the big picture.
Websites that are nothing more than brochures or catalogs of product that anyone can purchase at the local mall or box store is a tactic that delivers little relevance to today’s Websavvy consumer. And the same can be said for the blatantly obvious direct marketing sites based on old magazine subscription techniques. The new multimedia communicationbased Web requires new presentation tactics in order to successfully implement marketing strategy.
5. WebAudience Response Demands Expectation
Successful marketing is not just about persuading people that what you have is what they need it’s about creating a series of deliverable expectations.
If you expect a product to be easy to use because that’s what the marketing communication states then that product better be easy to use. Effective marketing presentations not only prompt action but just as importantly they create a set of realistic deliverable expectations.
Ask yourself why do people mistrust politicians car salesmen and telemarketers? We all know the answer: many will say and promise just about anything to get your vote or order and the result is a disgruntled cynical voter or customer. Read my lips no false expectations!
6. WebAudience Response Demands Trust
When customers’ expectations are met you begin to create trust and trust is one of the hardest things to achieve on a website that lacks any kind of human connection to the audience.
I can’t tell you how many websites I’ve visited that make no effort to humanize their presentations and consequently their businesses. When you go to a contact page and all that’s there is a form to fillin with no contact name or phone number it says to people ‘I really can’t be bothered talking to you.’ Hiding behind email tells people not to trust you and if they don’t trust you they are not going to do business with you.
Business is about connecting to people whether they are consumers purchasing agents or suppliers. If your website doesn’t have some kind of human element like a video Webhost audio message or even a contact name and phone number how can you expect to connect and build confidence and trust in your intent to satisfy their needs?
7. WebAudience Response Demands Personality
By building trust with your Webaudience you are also building your brand and defining your corporate personality. Here again we have a bit of a dichotomy since personality is a humanbased characteristic so how then can we create a personality and instill human characteristics into an inanimate entity like a business?
Corporate personality does not derive from a logo packaging or your website’s aesthetic qualities. Corporate personality is the sum total of the collective experiences your audience has with your company. In the brick and mortar world corporate personality is a result of dealing with people sales people receptionists and telemarketers; in short personality is derived from interaction with real human beings.
Clever well written website copy can help create personality as long as it is written in a distinctive human voice but we know that 70 of all website text is never read; people skip to bulleted points and captions. But the same material delivered by a real person either through Webaudio or video not only delivers the marketing message in the most memorable and compelling fashion but it also defines the business personality and humanizes the website.
Two caveats: avatars are not people and unless you can afford to hire the creators of the Simpsons to develop your animation you best forget it; as well using yourself or a nonprofessional as a spokesperson or Webhost is a dangerous practice and speaks more to ego than it does to effective business development.
8. WebAudience Response Demands Motivation
Lastly your website must communicate content that excites and motivates people to do business with you. The ability to motivate people isn’t about what you’re selling; it’s about how you present it.
Motivational speakers whether in the business entertainment personal coaching or sports arenas all deliver a similar message; but the ones that truly stimulate people to act are the ones that know how to present their ideas in the most exciting and compelling manner. If you want to motivate your Webaudience to respond your presentation has to be delivered by a real human being: a professional with charm charisma and a distinctive character.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia a website design firm that specializes in Webaudio and Webvideo. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads http://www.136words.com and http://www.sonicpersonality.com.
Contact at infomrpwebmedia.com or telephone 905 7641246.
About Us
People ask “What do you do?” You could say we inform enlighten innovate and create; you could also say we deliver our clients’ marketing messages in memorable ways using video audio webmedia campaigns and websites; all created inhouse from concept to implementation from graphic and motion design to Webdesign from script writing to videoproduction to postproduction from music composition to signature sound design.
What do we do? We motivate action by speaking to your audience’s real needs. We tell your story so your brand your message embeds in the minds of your clients. We are corporate storytellers.