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Building an SEO Strategy for Your Business

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:59:38 +0000

Search engine optimization starts with understanding your online business objectives. Do you want to provide company background, gather sales leads, or sell online? If you know what you want to achieve, you can then build a website optimization strategy targeted for your unique goals.

Think of search engine optimization as a puzzle with many pieces – including content, design, links and tracking. Website optimization involves bringing all these pieces together to create a complete picture that makes your Website attractive to search engines and customers alike.

Compelling Content That Sells
Choosing a few targeted keywords is a much more effective website optimization tactic than selecting a host of keywords that are barely relevant to your business. Search engine optimization requires that you not only choose the right keywords and phrases but also imbed them in clear, engaging copy that your sites visitors will find useful. Make sure that your website optimization efforts do not result only in pages filled with keywords, but rather that you use those keywords in real, valuable information. Your website optimization content needs to attract users and search engines by providing compelling, natural dialogue that is informative and interesting while also rich in the right keywords for your business.

Search Engine-Friendly Design
Even if you have optimized your content, your website’s design could prevent search engines from reading and indexing the information. Search engine optimization starts at the root of your site’s design and includes far more than just placing keywords in HTML title tags, meta tags and header tags. Designing for website optimization involves the tactical use of images plus limited reliance on Flash and other design elements that cannot be deciphered by search engines. For instance, use your keywords as text links to get from one page to another rather than using a button or other image. The design should support your search engine optimization efforts by making each page of your content accessible to search engines. Including internal text links as an important part of your website optimization plan will assure that search engines and visitors understand what your site and business offer.

Popular Links
Your website’s relevance is also determined by the quality and quantity of other websites that link to it, which makes link building another important element of your search engine optimization strategy. Although it can be time-consuming, getting relevant links — especially quality links from a major news site or blog — enhances website optimization by showing that others trust your site. Be patient – it can take a while to build the amount of quality links needed to impact search engine optimization. In addition to the search engines seeing your site as valuable through these links, you will also get additional traffic from people clicking from those sites to yours – an additional benefit from implementing a good search engine optimization strategy.

Revise, Update and Refresh
Once you have a search engine optimization strategy in place, you may be tempted to feel like your work is done. Website optimization actually requires an ongoing effort. Tracking the success of your search engine optimization plan – and making adjustments accordingly — is crucial to long-term success. Your ability to continue success with website optimization is largely dependent on updating your website and revising your content so it responds to existing customer behavior and current trends. Websites that are frequently updated and revised receive more notice from search engines than sites that remain unchanged. By tracking visitor behavior and using that information to make content and design revisions, you’ll keep your search engine optimization plan running smoothly and help your site visitors get what they need.

Online Marketing
Website optimization takes a while to show results. If you want immediate increases to website traffic, consider other online marketing techniques in addition to website optimization. Pay per click advertising provides immediate search engine visibility. Once your website begins to appear in natural results, PPC can then give your search engine optimization strategy a boost by significantly increasing the exposure a user has to your brand or product when searching on a particular keyword. When a search engine results page (SERP) contains both high natural rankings for your pages and paid ads for your business, it can promote perceived credibility and enhanced brand or product recognition, as well as give prospective customers two opportunities to click to your site.

There are many components of a successful search engine optimization strategy. Select the right keywords, write good content, use search-friendly web design, update your site regularly and consider additional online marketing techniques. By implementing these website optimization tactics, you will be able to get positions in the search engines and grow your search engine referral traffic. Look at the “big picture” of website optimization: which search engines draw the most traffic, which keywords convert to sales, which external referrals are working and which pages on your Web site entice sales. By using this information to strengthen your ongoing search engine optimization efforts you can create a considerable advantage for your online business.

What is Pay Per Click Marketing?

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:56:55 +0000

Pay per click marketing (also known as search engine marketing) appears at the top and right side of a search engine results page (SERP). Search engine marketing services work by associating your ad with a keyword or phrase related to your product or service. Any time that keyword is used in a search, your PPC advertisement will be shown on the search results page. You only pay for PPC advertising when a customer actually clicks the link to visit your website. The cost charged for each click depends on popularity of the keyword, the search engine’s assessment of how descriptive the PPC ad and keyword are to your website, and how frequently your ad is clicked vs. your competitors’ ads. While PPC advertising shows up most often in search engine results, pay per click results may also appear on different advertising networks and various websites across the Internet.

How Can PPC Advertising Help My Online Business?
A pay per click marketing program enables you to buy your way to a better position on search engine results pages that are most relevant for your customers. By purchasing PPC advertising on search engines, you can get your website promotion instantly in front of your target audience much faster than with search engine optimization (SEO). However, pay per click marketing costs can add up quickly, and most experts agree that it’s best to have an online marketing plan that includes a balance of PPC advertising and SEO.

How Can visiblexposure ® Help Me with Pay Per Click Marketing?
Network Solutions pay per click marketing experts give you all the advice and support you need to generate high quality leads from your PPC advertising campaigns. We have built strong relationships with all the major search engines that offer PPC advertising, including Google® and Yahoo!®. We’ll work with you to select keywords that your target customers are likely to use in an online search and, therefore, offer you value for your PPC advertising investment. After writing and placing your ads on the search engines, you will receive regular reports that analyze the success of your PPC advertising and suggest adjustments to keep your pay per click marketing campaign on track.

With visiblexposure PPC advertising, you can choose from different investment levels based on your budget and your pay per click marketing goals. All PPC advertising packages are designed to drive traffic to your website quickly — bringing you customers who want to buy what you sell.

Creating Effective PPC Landing Pages

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:52:17 +0000

PPC advertising (pay per click) costs you money – sometimes even dollars per click – so it’s vital to make every click count in search engine marketing management. Your initial goal for your PPC advertising campaign may be to increase traffic, but you’ll also want to convert those visitors to your site into loyal and profitable customers. You can do this by making sure that you guide your pay per click visitors to a specific landing page that will convert them from a passive visitor to a satisfied customer.

There are many different ideas on what makes a successful landing page for PPC advertising. Testing your Pay Per Click landing pages is probably one of the most important things you can do to find the right mix that works for your business market. Here are some PPC advertising tips on how to create effective landing pages aimed to convert your target audience.

Strong call to action
PPC advertising is highly targeted so traffic will be focused. It’s important that you don’t confuse your pay per click visitors with too many offers and distractions from the original online marketing promotion that brought them to your landing page in the first place. Your page should be solely dedicated to a single purpose – with a strong call to action that is specific for each PPC advertising promotion. What is your pay per click offer? And who is your pay per click target audience? The call to action may be to download a file or buy a product. This action needs to be bold, big and repeated several times on the page. The call to action should also be customized for each PPC advertising campaign you are running.

Streamline information
Make sure your page provides the information you’ve promised, and incorporate some of the same text you have used in your pay per click advertising. Sentences should be short, with concise copy that makes your points quickly and directly. Your visitors need to easily scan the page to find the content they are looking for and that fulfills the promise you made in your PPC advertising copy.

Solve your customer’s problem
Answer all questions your pay per click visitor may have to increase your chances of a sale. Use testimonials, graphics of the product and provide details of the exact service promoted in your PPC advertising. Make sure that any questions your customer may have before they click on the “buy now” button are answered. Try to minimize your visitor’s need to wander off the landing page before they complete the action you desire.

Minimize distractions
PPC advertising is best kept simple. Creative elements that look great on other pages on your Web site may be confusing for your landing pages. Bear in mind, the goals of your home page may be to inform customers of multiple products, services and industry news, whereas landing pages should be dedicated solely to your PPC advertising goal. The most effective landing pages are easy on the eye so the visitor can pay attention to the desired action. Without the distractions of unnecessary graphics and flashy navigation, you increase your opportunity to focus your pay per click visitor on the specific action you want them to take. Once that action is completed, you can provide a specific path for your pay per click customer to view other pages on your Web site.

Giveaway
It may seem obvious, but providing something for free often helps you get more from your PPC advertising. Some visitors to your landing page will not be ready to commit to a sale immediately – despite their interest and your strong persuasive copy! They’re just not at the right point in the sales cycle. However, you can still capture their information by offering a free report or suitable giveaway that pertains to the product or service in your pay per click ad. Careful follow-up of these PPC advertising leads can nurture new visitors to become loyal customers.

Avoid technical hiccups
Fast download times are crucial to ensure you avoid frustration and direct your pay per click visitors to the information they’re looking for. The use of bold headings and bigger “BUY” or “SUBMIT NOW” buttons help increase PPC advertising success rates as your potential customer can find it easier to navigate the page and follow the action that is being suggested to them. Ask only for the information you really need on a registration form. Although it’s tempting to ask for every single entry field in your sales database – the shorter the form, the more likely people will complete the whole form. Rely on your PPC advertising team to follow-up and complete the missing entry fields once you’ve secured the lead from the website.

Test! Test! Test!
The most important thing you can do to increase the effectiveness of your pay per click landing pages is to test them! Look for immediate conversions and also at the longer term effectiveness as pay per click leads are nurtured and then closed. There are so many variants that can be changed to increase the effectiveness of your page to suit your specific audience and desired action – only testing will help to find the blend of elements that creates the best results for your online marketing and PPC advertising management.

Using Online Press Releases for Website Promotion

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:50:06 +0000

While it may seem that online press releases accomplish the same goals as their print counterparts, the truth is that they do so much more than simply “get the word out.” The Internet has breathed new life into the traditional press release, transforming it from a common communications vehicle into an effective website promotion strategy.

Optimized press releases are online press releases that are written to appeal to readers and search engines alike. They contain targeted keywords that will attract search engines to your site and ultimately bring you the quality traffic – and conversions — you desire. When you choose professional, optimized press release services, you can expect to:

Gain Immediate Visibility

Optimized press release services often include same-day distribution to PR newswires. Once your optimized press release is published on a newswire service, it is instantly available to journalists and other news sources. These newswires also typically place online press releases on their home page for added visibility.

Reach a Targeted Audience

The targeted search terms used throughout optimized press releases often bring impressive rankings on news search engine websites such as Google® News or Yahoo!® News, where savvy searchers are likely to be searching for the “latest” on your industry. Optimized press release services should also publish online press releases on several targeted industry sites, where they are likely to reach their desired audience.

Generate Traffic

Remember that online press releases are intended for website promotion. The goal of an online press release isn’t just to get readers – it’s to bring those readers to your website. When optimized press releases are published on your website, any external links will bring your readers right where you want them.

Build Inbound Links

Inbound links are a crucial component of website promotion. Search engines, especially Google, place high value on quality inbound links – like those that come from the online news sources. Not only can online press releases help improve your rankings quickly, they can also offer long-term linking benefits when they are archived.

Increase Brand Awareness

Online press releases increase the amount of online content that supports your business — and the more information a searcher can find about you, the more legitimate you appear.

Also remember that location impacts the success of online press releases. For example, when your online press releases appear on the popular news search engines, searchers are likely to see that placement as a stamp of approval from a trusted source.

Measure Success

Online press releases make it possible to gain valuable insight into their performance. Optimized press release services often include detailed reporting that identifies several important factors, including: how many sites pick up online press releases, how online press releases rank and how many people view online press releases.

With so many great benefits, online press releases have become a popular website promotion strategy. When you’re ready to announce your website to the world or build excitement around your products and services, optimized press release services can help you achieve your website promotion goals.