Archive for January, 2010

January 7th, 2010

Find New Keywords to Target

This edition of Tutorial Tuesday shows you how you can find new keywords to target using a cool tool from the creator of SEO Book, Aaron Wall.

Original Link:

http://www.tushardhoot.com/find-new-keywords-to-targetfind-new-keywords-to-target/

Please Visit:
http://www.tushardhoot.com

Duration : 3 min 32 sec

January 6th, 2010

Internet Marketing Agency Reveals Search Engine Optimization Secrets

If your web site doesn’t have a Top 10 search engine ranking, you’re missing out on approximately 85% of the Internet users who are looking for the exact products or services you offer.

No matter how much money you’re spending on online advertising, it isn’t bringing you anywhere near the bang for the buck that natural search engine optimization services can according to one Phoenix Optimization Firm that specializes in providing natural search engine optimization services.

Unlike having to spend thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising and pay-per-click online marketing strategies, an online marketing agency that provides natural search engine optimization uses techniques that are approved, and even endorsed, by all of the major search engines.

According to our Arizona SEO company contact, a professional search engine optimization service provider takes a holistic approach to boosting a web site’s rankings. The steps that these companies take often include:

* Performing key word research to identify the most popular search terms Internet users are entering to find the client’s products and services.

* Optimizing the web site’s content pages by adding those key words, in a relevant and proper manner, to the copy that appears on each page.

* Optimizing the web site’s HTML source code to accentuate those key words and to make sure that search engine spiders will have no problem fully indexing each page on the target web site.

* Develop and implement a web site linking strategy that creates both inbound and outbound links to and from other web sites that are relevant to the client’s web site but are not competitors.

* Providing the client with regular search engine placement reports that demonstrate how well their natural search engine optimization services are performing.

* Being proactive when it comes to adjusting and fine-tuning each web page in order to ensure that it continues to maintain a top rank in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Most web masters who try to perform their own search engine optimization often fail. That’s because search engines are very picky and even one technical or tactical error can cause a site to plummet to the bottom of thousands of SERPs.

Professional search engine optimization companies like our Arizona SEO company friends are worth every penny they charge and they charge a whole lot less than you’ll earn if your site gets a good ranking thanks to proper natural search engine optimization services.

Eddie Sanmarco
http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/internet-marketing-agency-reveals-search-engine-optimization-secrets-114787.html

January 6th, 2010

The Common Goal Of SEO And Paid Search Advertising

The goals of both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search Advertising are geared towards the same direction. Their services aim to help convert a quiet traffic stream into a busy information highway. This means new clients on a daily basis due to increased traffic and visibility.

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) definitely refers to both advertising and optimization methods. Internet advertising to most marketers is primarily about having control over position, keywords, listing copy and visitors’ landing pages. Optimization, on the other hand is about coming up with a website design that can easily be crawled, indexed and well-ranked by major search engines.

There are several types of SEM services including search engine advertising, paid submission for directories, search engine optimization marketing and aggregators marketing. Search engine advertising includes the Paid-For- Placement (PFP) or the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program as well as contextual advertising. A placement on the result pages of the search site and within its distribution network is guaranteed upon payment. The key factors of this type of advertising are keyword research and selection, bid price, effective ad copy and traffic landing pages.

Paid submission actually applies to directories. In this type of marketing program, the website owner pays for a human based review of its site although inclusion is not always guaranteed. The site is usually included from 7 to 14 days depending on the directory. The success of paid inclusion is largely determined by the selection of the category as well as the title and description of the business.

Search engine optimization aims to produce organic and natural results through the design and creation of spider-friendly websites. It is basically a science of keywords placement, content enhancement, site structure and link popularity campaign that is expected to maximize the probability of attaining top ranking. It is considered the heart of all SEM campaign notwithstanding the fact that more and more business developers tend to forget its importance. Although it is not impossible to achieve very swift results, an optimization process usually takes a few months to have its goal realized.

The aggregators or price engines have made it a lot easier for online shoppers to get the information they need about required products and their associated price. They are able to offer a broad range of pricing and features. Chances of success are maximized through pricing strategy, product availability, product description and shipping rates.

Online businesses are facing tough decisions on setting a budget for online marketing specifically for organic search engine optimization. Paid advertising is very much in demand which accounts for quickly eaten up budget. More often than not, depleted advertising budgets are readily remedied by providing a new budget. The same cannot be said for SEO budgets as campaigns tend to end as budgets are exhausted. SEO is apparently not getting the respect it deserves since the success of organic optimization is a lot more difficult to measure. The real value of the keywords that make the rank will be better seen as more improved and cheaper analytical tools become available.

Statistics would show that there are at least two offline sales generated for every online sale that occurs. Research reports reveal that a large percentage of searchers complete their purchases in offline retail stores. This is considered a direct result of their search activity.

Telemarketing and other forms of leads generation have been sending signals of a saturated market. This has prompted many companies especially the manufacturers to turn to the web to get new leads. Finding a prospect usually starts with a paid search strategy which eventually evolve into SEO. Maximum results are obtained from the combined strategies only if companies commit to make SEO a part of their long term marketing strategy. The ultimate measure of success of Search Engine Marketing is generating leads and closing sales.

The Search Environment Under SEM Strategies

Majority of the marketing budgets from small businesses are dominated by paid search. The smaller a company is, the higher its reliance on paid search and the higher the percentage of total spending. SEO is quickly overtaking spending on banner ads for manufacturers as focus is shifted to training existing web team staff and education on the creation of content that is optimized for search engines.

The first half of 2006 can be considered a period of expansion, growth and significant change in search marketing. Never have there been as many online options available to advertisers and their agents like now. Search has become a part of the mainstream marketing consciousness, but there remains much room for innovation and invention. This development has presented a dilemma for the traditional search marketing sector.

There are at least three major search related marketing venues existing: the traditional organic search results, the paid search advertising market and the social networking sphere. Each of these venues use some form of search as a distinctive guide towards finding information while a tremendous amount of integration and interaction exists between them.

The SEO sector is being overshadowed by the PPC market and at the same time being challenged by social networking. Major search engines constantly strive to improve and innovate on methods that would correctly rank web documents. This is the very reason for the fundamental changes seen in organic search engine optimization.

SEO focuses on a myriad of on-site and off-site issues such as hosting, link acquisition and competitive research. An increasing number of applications are being added for organic search results. The dozens of on-page elements which SEO works on makes it more complicated due to the time involved. However, fresh and focused content remains the single most reliable element of a successful website.

Paid search advertising has been experiencing a rapid growth as a sub-sector of the industry, propelling Google and Yahoo! to the front of the pack. It continues to undergo several forms of expansion to allow more and newer options for advertisers. The distribution of paid ads to third party web properties is a very interesting aspect of paid search advertising. Click fraud detection and advocacy is closely associated with this particular venue.

The social networking atmosphere is touted to be the most fluid search marketing venue. It is expected to be a preparatory step towards transition in web-interactive development. It is currently taking place in an environment that is tagged as Web2.

Danny Wirken
http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/the-common-goal-of-seo-and-paid-search-advertising-69164.html

January 6th, 2010

Building Positive Buzz for your Business With Online Ratings and Reviews

Most business owners know that the best marketing tool is good buzz or word-of-mouth, and that bad word-of-mouth can negatively affect a business. In the internet age, word-of-mouth can now mean discussions in chat rooms, postings on internet forums and reviews posted on ratings websites. Studies show that the internet is now the number one source of consumer information – ahead of newspapers, TV and even friends. In other words, when people think about using a service or buying a product, they first do a web search to see what they can find out.

You may already be using the internet to promote your business via your website, online directories and e-mail lists. While you can control and target your website and promotions, you can’t control what is said about you on other sites.

So how can you be sure you’re getting good buzz on the internet, and prevent bad buzz?

First, remember that managing customer impressions starts at your business. Make sure your staff is trained to quickly and effectively handle problems and complaints. We all know that an issue which is resolved graciously and quickly can produce satisfied and loyal customers. A problem that festers will produce an angry critic.

Next, be aware of what is being said about your business on the internet. Regularly search for your business by name. You’ll probably be surprised at how many places your business is mentioned: MySpace pages, forums, blogs and more.

Also search for applicable rating and review sites (for example, if you are a realtor, search for realtor ratings and realtor reviews). Bookmark the review sites in your browser so you can check them regularly. While there are several national ratings and review sites, there may also be local sites in your area. To find the local sites, simply include the name of your city in the search; for example: realtor ratings San Francisco or realtor reviews Philadelphia.

Once you’ve found and bookmarked the review sites, check each to see if your business is listed, and that the basic information is accurate. If the business is not listed, you should see if there is a way to add it yourself to be sure the listing is accurate. If there are errors in the information, look for a way to contact the site operator with corrections.

Finally, check the review sites, and the other sites you’ve found in your searches, to see what is being said about your business. Think of this as an opportunity to find out what your customers really think and say to one another… good and bad. In the past, this was information that was only shared between people – however these sites now allow you to be privy to these comments.

At some point you will likely find negative reviews — perhaps even lies and defamatory comments. If a review is severely damaging, you may contact the site operator to see if it can be removed. Very likely the answer will be “no.” Review sites don’t remove reviews — good or bad — unless they violate the site’s rules. Otherwise, there would be no negative reviews — and the sites would be worthless to consumers.

At this point, some owners begin making threats of legal action. This is almost always a waste of time. Rating and review sites operate as public forums on which people can post their opinions. The sites are protected by law, and operators are not liable for the opinions posted there. The rating and review sites are often represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation or the ACLU, so any legal battle will be costly and almost certainly fruitless.

So let’s talk about what you can do instead of making threats:

Fortunately, most review sites have a process for you to respond to reviews, and this is worthwhile. The tone of your response should be reasonable and positive. It’s good to acknowledge the complaint (even if you believe it’s false or exaggerated), and respond to it directly (especially if it’s a valid complaint.)

For example:

“As the reviewer says, we’ve had some problems with bunk plumbing; which we’ve revamped over the winter.”

Or,

“Thanks you for your comment. We were unaware of the busing problem and it has been corrected”

In other words, try hard to put the complaint to rest and sound like the “good guy”– making the person who wrote the bad review seem less credible.

How about a negative review that says something you can’t really respond to, like, “This place sucks and the staff is rude and unhelpful! All they care about is making money.”

In that case, simply acknowledge the complaint and talk up your positives: “I’m sorry the reviewer felt our staff was not able to help. We work hard to insure our customers are satisfied, and as a result our business has grown each year since 1998. Please note that we have a perfect record with the Better Business Bureau.”

Hopefully you won’t need to deal with many negative reviews. Instead, focus your energy on getting positive reviews. Your best assets are you current customers.

Your regular customers are likely to say good things about your business, so encourage them to write online reviews.

First, visit the major rating sites, and find the URL (web address) of the page where your business is mentioned. Then:

* Include the URL on your business flyers and advertising, and a link on your website (“Rate us at… “).

* If you have an e-mail list, you can use it to ask your customers to submit ratings and reviews.

When submitting reviews, ask your customers to talk specifically about the best features of the business, or good experiences they’ve had. Reviews that simply say “awesome!” don’t carry much weight with readers, but specific reviews that describe positive experiences are great ads for your company.

Once you get some positive reviews and ratings on the web, publicize the fact! Include your ratings, and excerpts from reviews, in your ads, flyers and on your website.

Remember that people will talk about your business on the web; so make sure you know what is being said!

Bob Nicholson
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/building-positive-buzz-for-your-business-with-online-ratings-and-reviews-125714.html