SEO Blog - Search Engine Optimization - Organic Search - PPC

What is a SEO?

admin — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:46:00 GMT

Search engine optimization (SEO) seeks to improve the number and quality of visitors to a web site from search results. The quality of visitor traffic can be measured by how often a visitor using a specific keyword leads to a desired conversion action, such as making a purchase. The term SEO can also refer to "search engine optimizers", an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients.

MSN

admin — Thu, 04 May 2006 11:48:00 GMT

now that is where it is at!

google

admin — Thu, 04 May 2006 11:48:00 GMT

google is the best thing in the world!

Yahoo!

admin — Thu, 04 May 2006 11:47:00 GMT

what in the heck does yahoo have to do with the seo? it is all about msn.

Yahoo

admin — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:05:00 GMT

Yahoo is probably the second best search engine in the game today

Optimizing your search experience

admin — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:05:00 GMT

Use key words and know the terms

Hotbot

admin — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:04:00 GMT

whatever happened to the hotbot search engine i like that one

Google is the bomb

admin — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:03:00 GMT

Google is the greatest company ever created. WOw

SEO equals big money

admin — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 20:12:00 GMT

If I new how to seo, I would do this in a heartbeat because the people my company pays for seo work is mucho dinero. So if you have any tallent in computers, learn this and pay for that RV or time share in Cabo, Mexico.

Why Television Marketing Works - TV Ads

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 23:35:00 GMT

Many companies feel that using television is one of the best ways of reaching a wide audience. However, this type of advertising is often prohibitively expensive for new or small businesses. Prices for television advertising can vary dramatically, peak time during popular programmes will set you back the most.

Companies use commercials on your television to get your attention, they try and make it where you will think about their product throughout the next day by remembering a jingle or a slogan that you heard during the commercial. It is easier to get the attention of the public when they are relaxing at home sitting back watching a show, winding down from the day. They actually have time to watch and listen to the advertisement.

Bear in mind that people see a great number of commercials and standing out can be very difficult. It is well worth ensuring that your advert is different and will leave a lasting impression. Ideally, people should be talking about your product for hours after they have seen the advert.

Nobody can write an advertisement without full knowledge of the product that they are promoting. Success depends not only on the quality of your advert but also on the people that you target. There is little point selling the latest kitchen gadget to children who have just come home from school! Of course the most popular time to advertise is during prime time when a huge variety of people are watching television. Unsurprisingly, this is also the most expensive time to put your product on display.

Using television to market you product is defiantly the best way for you to reach the highest rate of consumers, it may also be one of the easiest ways to advertise because people seem to remember something they can see while listening to the commercials. You can do more things to create a response, when you can use visually effects instead of just sounds. No wonder advertising on television is so popular!

Google AdSense Builds Revenue For Site Owner - How to

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:54:00 GMT

Paying for a website is often the main stumbling block between owning and running a successful website and remaining offline. The way around this problem for many website owners is to save space on their website for advertising. Advertising such as with Google AdSense is a convenient way to find quality advertisers and also attract necessary traffic to your site. The trick is making Google AdSense profitable for your website is to pick the right advertisers and to draw the right kind of traffic.

Google AdSense is a service that allows any qualified website to carry Google Adword ads by over 150,000 advertisers. You could think of AdSense as an agency suggesting advertisers for your magazine. Rather than convincing these advertisers to place their ads in your magazine, your website is reviewed by Google AdSense and served with relevant ads. As long as the shoe fits, you can place these ads in your publication at no cost. You choose the advertisement from an approved selection and you don't have to display an advertisement from a close competitor.

Okay, so how do you make the shoe fit? Only the sites that are scanned by AdSense and meet AdSense's criteria can offer these advertisements. Basically, Google wants to make sure your site has high quality "content" and is well constructed, without lots of "under construction" pages or broken links. How do know if your content is of their standards? Well, no one exactly knows what AdSense Mediabot is looking for since it tends to adjust its criteria from time to time. However, you can have a good idea by using lots of relevant keywords and phrases. You can also check out https://www.google.com/adsense/policies for its guidelines. Generally, a website with any "questionable"

material such as sexual content or profane language will be rejected. Also, pure directory sites are not qualified to display Google Adword adverts.

You can increase the odds of getting the best Adword ads by using content that's highly relevant to the highest paying Adword ads. By working on your content, you create a win-win situation. In other words, if you offer relevant content, most visitors will be drawn to your site through search engines and then visitors are more motivated to follow up by clicking on these ads. Furthermore, a higher proportion of visitors will return to your site since they

view you as an expert on the topic. Lots of sites offer

free content that pertain to your site's content that you can include as a page in your site. Some of these locations are AABusiness.com and AAGeneral.com. However, if you can provide it, original content is far better. Once AdSense Mediabot approves your site, you select from ad styles and paste an AdSense code into your web page. The styles of Adword ads that traditionally get the best clicks are "skyscraper" and "leader board" style ads. While some Internet experts feel this approach to content and advertising is compromising integrity, many advertisers and website publishers see this approach as increasing the ability for visitors to get what they're looking for.

A site ends up building revenue whenever a visitor clicks on the ads. Some ads pay a penny per click; others pay up to

$5 or more per click. You can check your built-up revenue by logging into your account at AdSense. Is AdSense right for your site? From website publishers like About.com to blog gurus, many website owners are finding AdSense makes their online presence affordable and profitable.

Optimizing your HTML

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 03:57:00 GMT

Optimizing your HTML documents is a must for professional webmasters, and it has many potential benefits. With a little effort and know-how, you can clean up your HTML files and reap the benefits today.

There are three steps to cleaning up your HTML files.

1) Validate your HTML using the free w3C validation service. Validating your HTML provides cleaner HTML code and prevents search engine bots from innacurately reading your pages. Validated code also eliminates useless tags, and can decrease your document's filesize, eliminating wasted bandwidth.

2) Ensure Compatibility - Try to make your HTML code compatible with as many internet browsers as possible. Right now, the Big Two are Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) and Mozilla Firefox, but it is useful to optimize for older versions of these browsers (many new HTML tags are incompatible with these browsers), as well as other browsers like Opera and Netscape.

3) Eliminate Excessive Whitespace Excessive whitespace is unnessary and keeps your content lower on the page than is necessary. Eliminating excessive whitespace is therefore marginally useful to Search Engine Optimization.

Shopping Online Will Save You Dollars - Buy Online

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 02:06:00 GMT

Shopping Online Will Save You Dollars

Today, almost everyone has had the chance to check out the Internet in some fashion. But, not everyone has done any of their shopping on the Internet, and this is a shame. On the Internet, overhead is low (no bricks and mortar), so online vendors can consistenly offer you lower prices and great terms like free shipping. And not only can you buy luxuries - like jewelry and even cars - but you can also purchase some of your essentials - such as clothing and food. But beware! There are some dangers in online shopping as well.

When shopping online, security is a vital issue. Not only do you need to protect your credit card numbers from being stolen, you also need to do everything you can to protect yourself from the horrible crime of identity theft. But, you can have a great online shopping experience if you just take a few precautions.

When you shop online, always pay with your credit card to ensure maximum protection from fraud. When you pay with a credit card, you are able to dispute any unauthorized charges and your credit card company will help you sort out the issues and retrieve your money. And, so you don't need to worry about additional fraudulent charges, your credit card company will cancel your credit card and issue you a new card with a new number.

But, even though a credit card might be your best way to shop for goods and services online, it does have its drawbacks. For one, it can be a real test of patience when you need to work with your credit card company to dispute unauthorized credit card charges. There is a lot of time spent on the phone, and the credit card companies don't always seem to have your best interests at heart. But, even with these types of delays, a credit card is the fastest, safest method of purchasing online.

It's also a good idea to check the return policy of a bargain shopping online site before buying anything. Once an item that you have purchased arrives, inspect it immediately and check it for defects so that if there is a problem, you can phone their customer service number straight away.

One way to make sure you stay on top of your online purchases is to immediately print out the invoice after you have purchased something online. Write the following information on the printed invoice if it is not already there - web site URL, address and telephone number, the date of purchase, and the expected arrival date. And, if you can't find this information on an online shopping site, it is best to find some other online vendor to make your purchase.

Last, but certainly not least, trust your instincts. Too often people see great deals that defy description and purchase them without a second thought. Sometimes they get lucky, but more often than not what they thought was a great deal turns out to be a disappointment that is just full of heartache. Had they listened to their better instincts, they could have saved money instead of losing it. So trust yourself, and then enjoy shopping online!

Buy Online, discounts, coupons

SEO Copy

admin — Mon, 23 May 2005 20:53:00 GMT

Today, being on the first page for your most popular keyword phrase is like having the most memorable prime time television commercial in 1973.

Essentially, that’s where the power of advertising is going. It’s all about Search. And Search is only going to become more important over the next ten years. If you can get on that coveted first page organically, well then, more power to you!

I know you probably have read other articles about writing SEO copy and how it relates to achieving high search rankings, there are plenty of them to go around. But some of the articles are complicated; some are too long, others boring. Still others don’t explain that great SEO copy is rarely effective just on it’s own – in order to get those high rankings (which is the goal after all), you have to do other things too. So, we decided that what most people really needed was a “down and dirty”, easy to understand, ten step method. You ask, and we deliver. Here are the official ten steps in order:

1) Check your Competitors

Who are your competitors? Do you know? If you don’t, you may want to go online and do a search for your product or service. Who is on the first two pages? That is your target. Those are the companies that you want to compete with. Because right now, they are getting your customers. Take a look at their website. Notice the copy. Analyze their business. Are they successful? What are they not doing right? Look for the holes. You’re going to meet the needs of their customers (that they are not fulfilling) so they become YOUR customers.

2) Research your Keyword Phrases

Remember, Keyword Phrase research is critically important. It can also be a little tricky. Do you know what keywords or keyword phrases your customers search for when they look for you? Are you sure? See what your competitors are using. You can do this by right clicking on their home page, selecting “View Source” and then checking their keyword meta tag. Next, go on to Overture.com (Now Yahoo), click on “Visit the Advertiser” section, and use their Keyword Selector Tool. Its great – and its free. You can also use Wordtracker.com, but it does cost $7.50/day.

3) Write Good Copy

Now its time to start writing. Or re-writing. And if you can’t write, you can hire a website copywriter to do it for you. The bottom line is to write about benefits, not features. Don’t tell them how great your company is. They will discover that for themselves when you overwhelm them with your service and deliver the perfect product that meets their every need. Make the copy to the point and snappy. Make it sure it has impact, and asks the potential customer for their business.

4) Integrate Your Keyword Phrases

After you figure out which keyword phrases you want to use on your site, you need to integrate them into the copy of your site. Think Home Page and Services page as the most important pages to use them on. Essentially, you want to them to make up 5% of the total words on the page. It’s not that hard actually. Just don’t use them all over the place like some stupid copywriters do – you could get de-listed from the search engines. Definitely use them in your headlines and sub headlines. That will get you extra points, so to speak.

5) Check your Links, Build if necessary

Do you have any inbound links pointing to your site? If not, no amount of awesome copy is going to get your site high rankings. Links are very important. And even more so for Google. Go to linkpopularity.com and see what you have. Also check your competitors. If they have more than you, you need to get some high quality links. You can either do that yourself or hire someone to do it for you. It can be time consuming and expensive. But you gotta do it. It makes you look important to the search engines. A good way to do it is to make sure you are listed on directories, including DMOZ and industry related sites. Go to incominglinks.com to see which ones you should be listed on. Then write articles and submit them to article submission sites. That could potentially give you hundreds of links for free.

6) Use Go Rank’s Analytical Tools

GoRank.com is a fantastic free resource for SEO. They have a Keyword Density Analyzer, Link Popularity Analyzer, Top 10 Keyword Analyzer, Research, News and lots of other great stuff. It’s a great tool and something I use every day. It will help you in your SEO copy efforts.

7) Submit to the Search Engines

After you’ve ensured that your website copy and all the other important SEO considerations have been completed, it’s time to submit to the Search Engines. Do it manually. Go to the search engine and do it yourself. Definitely don’t pay someone to do it for you. You may have to resubmit a few times, but eventually, your site will get noticed.

8) Tweak the Copy as necessary, Add New Content

After your site has been up for a while, go back and take a second look. Ask friends and customers what they think of it. Can anything be improved? You’ll be surprised what you may hear. If something isn’t working, fix it. Make it sound better. The other thing that you should also be doing is adding content regularly. Build free resources into your website. This will make your customers and potential customers happy, and it will make you appear to be more important in the eyes of the search engines. Adding articles to your site is a great way to give your customers new, free content. Write about things that they would find interesting.

9) Partner with a Great SEO Firm

You may want to also consider partnering with a great Search Engine Optimization firm. There are probably a hundred very good ones out there. There are also 1000 bad ones. For the good ones, check out topseos.com. and marketingsherpa.com. They both list reputable firms. Whoever you go with, make sure they have a list of client success stories complete with stats to back it up.

10) Measure Your Success!

Finally, measure your success. (or progress) Get a software program that will provide you with some web metrics as it pertains to your site. WebTrends and Statcounter are great ones. There are quite a few others as well.

As you can see, Search Engine Optimized copy is only part of the overall SEO story. There is a lot to it, so make sure you cover every area. After all, we want to get your web site to the very top!

Advertisings Future

admin — Mon, 23 May 2005 20:52:00 GMT

Advertising is a medium that constantly evolves. It changes with the times. It adapts to new technologies. It is unrelenting in its desire to find new and better ways to reach an ever-growing consumer marketplace.

But its not simply advertising that evolves. Consumers and consumer behavior are changing too. As we look at the future of advertising, it’s important to look at how the two interact and change together over time.

Without a doubt, the Internet has revolutionized the industry. It has taken the world - and the advertising world by storm. And it has only just begun to make an impact. The Internet has become a global medium with massive potential. Forty years ago, television was considered new media. Fifteen years ago, it was cable. Today, people spend increasing amounts of time online at the expense of other media. The first evidence of this audience migration appeared in 1998 in a Forrester Research report.

The researchers asked PC users which activities they were giving up to spend more time on their computers. 75% of the respondents said they gave up television.

Interactive. That is the real key behind the power of the Internet in advertising. The Internet is really the only medium where we see true interactivity. In addition:

· It means greater viewer involvement.

· It means users can access services according to their interests and their tastes.

· They can request and receive specialized product information, make an instant purchase, all the while saving time and expense.

· The effectiveness of Web advertising appears to relate to the fact that surfing the web is an actively engaging experience, similar to reading magazines.

Consumers also have the choice to “opt-in” to receiving additional information on a particular product or service. In Seth Godin’s groundbreaking book, Permission Marketing, he said, “By reaching out only to those individuals who have signaled an interest in learning more about a product, Permission Marketing enables companies to develop long-term relationships with customers, create trust, build brand awareness- and greatly improve the chances of making a sale.”

All the Rage: Pay Per Click and Natural Search Using SEO

It’s no secret what has taken over the business world, in industry after industry. Pay Per Click and Natural Search Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Today, being on the first page for your most popular keyword phrase is like having the most memorable prime time television commercial in 1973.

Pay per click advertising on search engines allows you to choose keywords you would like your site to appear under when a potential customer engages in a search. You decide how much you are willing to pay each time a person clicks on the search results. But it can be competitive – and expensive if you are trying to use keywords that are very popular.

Natural Search or Organic Search is the non-biased, non-paid results that come up when you do a search. This can be influenced heavily by what’s called “Search Engine Optimization” – the complex and time consuming practice of ensuring that your website is doing all the right things in order to rank high for certain search terms. In this arena, smaller companies can out maneuver large corporations, so there’s a lot of excitement generated because of this.

Web Sites, Banner Ads, etc..

The other forms of on-line advertising vehicles are of course, web sites, banner advertising placed on others sites, newsletters, ezines, and email. They are used in many different combinations, for different purposes at different times. But most savvy companies are using all of them. The value of banner ads has been hotly debated for a number of years. Opponents argue that the click-through rates have gone down so much, that banner ads are nothing but wasted money. But research clearly shows that banners are very effective in building brand awareness. On-line users may not click on a banner, but if they see it enough times, the company’s name is drilled into their head. When its time to shop, that product or service is first in their mind. Simply being exposed to the brand as one surf’s the web is enough to make a big impression.

The impact of banners on brand awareness was tested for the first time in fall 1996 by Millward Brown International. Three brands were tested including a men's apparel brand, a telecommunications brand and a technology company. The findings were significant and conclusive for each brand. Awareness was significantly greater among the banner-exposed (test) group than the non-exposed (control) group. Specifically, exposure to the ad banners alone increased brand awareness from 12% to 200% in a banner-exposed group.

The study also compared the impact of the banner ads in this test to television and magazine norms from prior Millward Brown studies. The findings were remarkable: Single exposure to a Web banner generated greater awareness than a single exposure to a television or print ad. Rather, the effectiveness of Web advertising seems to stem from the fact that Web usage is an actively engaging exercise.

Newsletters and Ezines

Most smart marketers out there have either a newsletter or ezine nowadays. These types of customer communication and advertising tools will only continue to grow in use and importance. It goes back to the whole “what’s in it for me?” issue. The customer wants to be part of the process. They want to learn something. Or keep themselves updated on the latest news. Most of all, they want to get something out of the relationship. They want to do more than buy something, they want to improve their lives in some small way – and they want you to help them do that.

Email Advertising

Email is another of the big three Internet advertising mediums. Companies like Got Marketing, OptinBig.com, and N5R are providing new and exciting email marketing solutions for thousands of progressive firms. Their results are impressive. Consider response rates that average 10 to 20 times those of traditional direct mail. Or campaign Network marketing referral rates as high as 40%. The bottom line is that programs they put together have produced millions of leads for clients. And it’s surprisingly affordable. This means that almost anyone can now utilize this advertising medium. But it has to be done smartly, because you don’t want your emails to end up in spam filters. That is one inherent problem with email advertising, especially in the past two years.

N5R in particular is now one of the leading direct marketing agencies in North America. They develop innovative one-to-one marketing campaigns that drive a measurable, positive ROI on behalf of their clients by driving acquisition and conversion to trial and purchase for their clients. They have developed award-winning strategies in five major industry sectors. These include Internet Marketing and Online Contests/Promotions, Permission Based Email Marketing, Text Messaging, Success Based Email.

In Internet Marketing and Online Contests/Promotions, marketers can gather and compile behavior and preference data from prospects and customers and use this information to send targeted and relevant information. Developing ongoing programs of one-to-one communication is cost effective and measurable. Contests are the quickest and most effective way to gather this data and build relationships with customers. It’s very possible to build a permission-based database of over 50,000 prospects in only 6 weeks, increase web site traffic by 900%, improved online sales revenue by 1,000%, and achieve $40 million in sales from leads generated by an online promotion.

With Permission Based Email Marketing, loyal clients are just an e-mail away. Where traditional marketing campaigns fail, e-mail can shine through. E-mail marketing allows companies to speak one-to-one with their audience in a respectful, intelligent and creative way. It is extremely cost-effective, provides the foundation for future marketing initiatives, and delivers measurable results.

Text Messaging or SMS (Short Message Service) is a technology that allows people to send and receive short (up to 160 characters) written messages on cellular phones. It is already hugely popular in Europe and Asia and is growing rapidly in North America. SMS marketing offers the following benefits:

One-to-one communication with your target group, anywhere, anytime reach, low campaign cost, and very measurable data. Imagine if your mobile phone received an email message, “You’re only a block from a Starbuck’s; stop in for a 20% discount on your latte.” The data is available and marketers are starting to tap into these resources.

Success Based Email is free email deployment where companies only pay for results. This "pay-per-click" approach is based on the premise that companies will only pay for each email that receives a "click-through" from the recipient. Not only does the new approach enhance the value of marketing dollars spent on such campaigns, the move will likely trim total dollars spent.

For example if 100,000 emails are sent, 70% are opened and 15% of the recipients actually click on a link in the email then clients will only be charged for the 15,000 people that clicked on the link, not for the other 85,000 that didn't. The return on investment (ROI) or cost savings inherent in this new approach will be very appealing to permission-based marketers. The bottom line is that marketers will now pay for real, measurable results.

The Next Step

Compared with other media, the Web is still limited in its bandwidth offerings. But it’s getting better every day. With the continued improvement of bandwidth development, we will soon be positioned well to create full-featured multimedia advertising on the Internet. Once a majority of consumers have DSL capability and the computer power to access it, there will be some incredible things happening. Sites like tvtonic.com are already offering some very compelling visual and audio imagery in the form of movie trailers and music videos.

Market researchers, futurists and industry experts predict that interactivity through multiple technologies and devices will change how consumers interact with marketers. Interactive advertising will soon be everywhere. So, in effect, it could be considered the age of mass customization in advertising. Advertisers will have the tools to narrow their targets and address Web ads to individuals and not to a demographic or psychographic group. Why market a commercial to 1 million people, most of who aren’t in the target audience, when the same ad could be shown to 10,000 people who are very interested in the product or service? Most of those will even give their name and address.

Interactivity will also be a part of television. Interactive TV will be the norm in the near future, and this too is another exciting opportunity. There will be total integration between TV channels and advertisers web sites. While we are watching TV, we will be able to interact with what we are seeing, ordering hamburgers from the McDonalds down the street or communicating with the local car dealer that we are interested in buying a car. Clicking on products we see in TV shows and ordering them will be easy. Your TV will keep track of what you are watching. Your TV will even know what kind of car you own because you’ll tell for the free oil change you’re offered in exchange. The oil change will be compliments of DirecTV, and it is only good at Jiffy Lube, which has paid to be the official oil-change provider for DirecTV.” That’s the way it will work.

Service Initiative Advertising

Another major trend is what I call “Service Initiative Advertising”. Let’s face it; consumers are tired of advertising as usual. Many people say they hate commercials. The success of Tivo and satellite radio can attest to this. They want more from their advertising. And who could blame them? People are inundated with advertising today- every where they go. Service Initiative Advertising takes the whole process one step further. Essentially how it works is that it requires advertising to offer some value to the consumer.

For example: Kraft Foods creates a website that offers busy mothers a source for quick recipes for the family evening meal. The idea isn’t to push Kraft products, but to promote Kraft as a brand that offers a service to customers. There have been companies who positioned their entire marketing strategy on this tenant. Now, it will become a key part of advertising for almost everyone. The consumer wants to know you care.

It’s important to realize that advertising mediums of the past will still be here. But, they may look a little different in the future. Direct mail will always be around as long as people like to receive mail. And despite external challenges, the U.S. Postal service will still be around. TV and radio will be here too.

But the future is here. And advertising will never be the same.

One thing that is certain is that it will continue to be as exciting and dynamic as it has been in the past. But now, the consumer is a part of the process.