As the internet is changing every second, Search Engine Optimization or SEO is important for websites. So the first question we get from clients is “What is SEO?” There 13.6 billion searches conducted every month on the web. 9 billion of those search queries come from Google.such as Google, yahoo, or Bing. Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, can be a confusing and daunting task to someone that is wondering how to get their website to climb to the top of Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engines. The highest tower of search engine providers is Google, accounting for close to 85% of the global search engine market share, as of last year 2010. In addition to being the largest search engine provider, it is also the most sophisticated and hardest to conquer in terms of SEO.
The majority of all Search Engine Optimization is a methodology: where you research? How visitors are using keyword phrases in the search engines when looking for a particular service? Some keywords will be better at attracting researchers while others are superior at bringing potential customers and buyers.
Take a look at search engines today; there are two ways for visibility in the search engine results page, also known as SERPS.
Sponsored Listings is one way: This is how commercial search engines such Google, yahoo, and Bing fund their operations. Take a look at Google for instance; these advertisements are displayed on the right hand side of the page or directly above the main organic search results. These ad are also known as sponsored listings or PPC (pay per click).
Another method for visibility is organic listings: Organic search results, also known as natural search results, they are listings on search engine result pages that appear because of their relevancy to the keyword terms being searched, and are not paid by the owner of the website to the search engine.
The ultimate goal in organic SEO is to get well placed in the natural search results. You want to choose keyword phrases that will draw people who are interested in what you are offering, whether it is a service or information. If your business sells to the local area then you need to focus on using local city or community names in your keyword phrases.
Your website position is where the placement of your website is on search engines. The higher positioned your website is the more visitors and traffic you will receive. So what does that mean, the more SEO friendly your website is the more new business it will receive. SEO is similar to a popularity contest, the more people know you the more higher your placement will be.
So you will often hear in SEO lingo PR1 OR PR4. This is basically referring back to how important or informative your website is on Google. SEO has several different methods to increase your website’s ranking on search engines, such as on-site and off-site optimization. On-site optimization consists of changing title tags, Meta tags, Meta descriptions, website content, and keyword density. On the other hand Off-site optimization consists of link building, press releases and posting on blogs.
However this increase in visibility or rank takes a timely manner which many Online Marketing Companies do not inform their clients about. SEO isn’t about instantaneous gratification where a magician waves a wand, and poof your website is on the first page of Google. SEO results often take several months to see. This is especially true if you are a new startup or just started to implement search engine strategies to your website.
So let’s go in detail about three major aspects of search engine optimization.
Keyword Research: This is deciding on the phrases that people are likely to type when they are doing a search. Buyers will tend to use more specific 3-5 word phrases. They will often use manufacturer names and model numbers rather than broader phrases. Develop a written plan with your selected keywords, assigning specific phrases to related web pages.
On site SEO: Here the keyword phrases are used visibly on your actual web pages. Use keywords and phrases in the META tags, page titles, headline tags (H1, H2, H6), in text of your content, and in the hyperlinks of your pages. It is also good practice to have a keyword rich domain name.
Offsite SEO: These are steps you do outside of the website. Getting other websites in your niche to link to your website is a large part of offsite SEO. Links should be from relevant websites, blogs, directories and social media. Preferably the anchor text (hyperlink text) will include your keywords and keyword phrases.
Now let’s get an overview of the different SEO types:
There are two different types of SEO, white hat SEO & black hat SEO. White hat SEO is using the correct methods for SEO and it will prevent your website from being blacklisted by search engines. Some white hat practices are having quality and relevant content on your website. You don’t want to have content about how to make a car on your website, when you are a car seller. The website should talk about fuel efficient and reliable cars or something of that nature. Keep in mind to keep your title tags and Meta data relevant to your website and content.
Black hat SEO is cheating the system, such as spamdexing or link farming. Doing this SEO method might give you fast results but it will also bring your website down quickly. This type of SEO practice will also get your website banned or blacklisted. So any company that tells you they can have your website on page 1 of Google within a few weeks or a month is not practicing the right SEO methods. This may be effective for a short time frame, but it will hurt you in the long run.
SEO is a critical process, but for online merchants it’s also a crucial business leads. Our experts at Renegade Advertising take the time out to understand our client’s needs, and implement effective SEO tactics to generate relevant leads.Ok people quick recap, today we spoke with you about what is SEO and what is the SEO process? Come On guys repeat after me: S E O! S E O! What is it called Search Engine Optimization? Stay tuned with us for next week about the various methods of SEO. Let’s get the ball rolling and do it right the first time. Contact Renegade Advertising for your Search Engine Optimization solutions.
Is your CTR for Adwords like your exam grades in college? (Low). Click through ratio is a very important part of a PPC campaign. A high CTR results in lower cost per click and increases the times your ad is shown. However there are a lot of key factors that go into boosting the click through ratio. Here are a few methods of increasing your campaign’s CTR.
Brainstorm: Generate Compelling and Creative Ads
Before you write an ad, brainstorm about who your audience is, what keywords will be displayed for this ad and evaluate ads of other competitors. Always remember to make your ad creatively unique. This means to keep your ad edgy and compelling. For example input a comedic or questionable phrase in the ad copy to make your ad an “attention grabber.” Stay away from inputting a generic ad copy especially if you are providing a service. Take a look here
Look at both ads and compare each other. The generic ad looks very plain Jane and can use some modifications to it. The tweaked ad gets the consumer‘s attention and make’s the consumer think about the what is being offered to them. Next they see how this service is offering savings to them, a CTA, and a reward of relaxation.
Organize Your List of Keywords In Different Ad Groups:
So take the time out and create different ad groups for your campaign. Also make sure to implement various ads for each ad group. For example keep the “garage door springs” related keywords separate from the “garage door repair” keywords. DO NOT keep one general ad for each ad group. Make sure to generate different ads in each ad group accordingly to the keyword list.
Use Landing Pages Accordingly: Landing pages is another aspect of boosting your CTR. Make sure your ads have the correct landing pages. Think like a consumer and keep your landing pages in pattern with your ad groups. For example if someone is looking for “t-shirts” verify that your landing page opens to the t-shirt tab instead of jackets or hoodies. Make your ad effortless and convenient for the consumer to buy your product or service.
These were some helpful hints to bring the CTR higher. So keep these few tips in mind when creating your next PPC campaign. Now go bring your CTR back to life and stop creating generic ads!
The cost of advertising on Facebook is on the rise. In the past few months, the social media giant has raised the cost at a faster clip, according to a newly released White Paper.
Efficient Frontier and Context Optional said in their report that the cost of Facebook advertising has jumped between 25 and 40 percent in the last three months and if the track stays, the prices will at least double by the end of the year from the previous year.
The report claims the cost increase is due to greater competition in the marketplace. The Financial Times in a recent report confirmed that the cost of advertising in the last year has jumped a whopping 74 percent as more big brands take their marketing dollars online.
Advertisers have been racing to Facebook in greater numbers as they try to tap into the buying power of the 700 million users of the social media platform.
Simon Mansel with TBG cautioned that the increase is the direct result of spending by brands not ROI related.
“In my experience of digital advertising this is the biggest growth that we have seen since Google. The main difference is that this is being fuelled by brand spend rather than [direct] response spend. That is an inflection point for the whole digital marketplace,” he said.
Experts caution that the rapid rise in Facebook advertising could discourage small and medium-sized businesses from competing for placement due to cost and, that might stifle competition.
Most web professionals woke up this morning to see their PageRank reading N/A or Zero (0). Predictably, some people rejoiced at the prospect of the death of PageRank because of its dominance at determining the importance of websites, while others were sent into panic.
Since the introduction a few years ago, Google PageRank has been used, justifiably or not, as a way to determine the importance of websites.
We have learnt that while Google does not plan to do away with PageRank, they have changed the query URL.
The change in query URL caused various toolbars and websites to stop reporting accurate numbers. We have updated our toolbars and once again all is well.
Here is how we did it. Follow these instructions if you use Firefox browser and SEOQuake and in a few seconds, you will have your numbers restored.
Open SEOQuake and go to Preferences
Select PageRank, then click Edit
Delete the code and replace it with the code below.
Humans appear to be taking back seats to algorithms and automations engineered by the folks at Google, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter, Facebook and other social media service providers.
But as recent incident involving video streaming service provider Netflix proves, companies may need to reassess their decisions and be conscious of the perceptions they leave in the minds of consumers.
Netflix debacle
Netflix this month announced they were separating their DVD and streaming businesses, and raising the price 60 percent for those that choose to keep both. Immediately, their customers howled at the decision forcing CEO Reed Hastings to retreat and literally apologize.
Marketing experts say that is a lesson in how not to treat customers.
Kim Kadlec, vice president of marketing at Johnson & Johnson said most companies are sacrificing “the art of courtship” to “the speed of communications.”
“It is overwhelming, but as marketers we have to shift from reach and frequency to reach and relationships if we want to engage consumers. Marketers and agencies need to connect in different ways. It’s about bringing back ‘pitching the woo.’ We have to add charm,” Kadlec said this week.
She advised companies to be more creative and thoughtful noting that traditional offline marketing rules also apply online.
“You have to have something to say, you have to be interesting, and charming. It’s not enough to just paste together a Web page and hide behind it,” said Kadlec. “You can’t be a wallflower.”
She said companies could not just show up any more. “You need to be creative. You have to differentiate yourself, and it’s not easy. You have to combine heart and creativity.”
Comparing Netflix’s reaction to the way Domino’s Pizza handled a similar situation, she said companies must be quick to apologize for perceived wrongdoing should it become necessary.
Two employees of Domino’s Pizza North Carolina store posted video on YouTube showing them defiling the company’s food. Over a million viewers saw the video before YouTube took it down.
Majority of Facebook users appear incensed at the changes the company has made to ‘Profile’ pages.
The social media world has been buzzing this week with thousands of posts on Twitter and Facebook decrying the changes rolled out by the Silicon Valley company. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg completed the flurry of changes during the F8 conference Thursday that left nearly the 750-million users of Facebook livid.
“The more that FB wants me to be social, the more anti-social I want to become” and “Is it just me or did new unveiled F8 at just miss the mark? FB is about communication, not archiving” were some of the milder tweets by angry users.
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg said the reaction was inevitable. “The FB news ticker reminds me of the hate when the news feed launched,” he tweeted, referring to negative reaction Facebook’s members had when the feature first launched in 2006. “Everyone will love/accept it in a few days… watch.”
Even Facebook owners were not too happy with the changes. Sean Parker, early Facebook adviser who still holds a stake in the social networking leader called the new functionalities “too painful to use.”
He later clarified his post. “Lest anyone misinterpret my ranting, I’m incredibly happy with where the product is headed and this is a proud moment to be an owner and friend of the company. Regardless of whether you’re exhilarated or aggravated by the recent changes, there’s a lot more good things coming down the pipe,” he said.
Mark Zuckerberg told those gathered for the F8 conference in San Francisco that the company is expanding its vocabulary beyond “Like” to verbs like “Watch” for watching videos and movies to “Read” for reading books.
How effective is social media in new customer acquisition? Every internet marketer wants the answer to that question.
Facebook touts half a billion active users while Twitter talks up the 140 million daily tweets on its platform. These are huge numbers and they present enormous marketing opportunities for companies and organizations of various sizes.
How do Facebook and twitter help your business?
Companies are investing millions to capture the attention of these active users every year. Does this approach work? Can companies acquire new customers through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and other social networks?
Polling company, Gallup this week released a report that confirms companies and organizations can acquire customers through these social networking platforms but not in the way you might think.
Gallup polled more than 17,000 active social media users, evaluating everything from the latest social media techniques and apps to old-fashioned word-of-mouth networking.
Social media helps retain customers
Gallup survey results reveal three things; that social media influence our daily interactions but do not help businesses and organizations acquire new customers, that all social networkers are not the same, and that social networking does not happen online alone.
“This first myth cuts to the core of what organizations want social media initiatives to accomplish: getting new customers and keeping existing customers. Yet brand-sponsored social media initiatives have very little impact on consumer decision making. Nor do they drive prospective customers to consider trying a brand or recommending a brand to others in their social network,” the report said.
“Brand-sponsored social media initiatives don’t have much influence on a customer’s deep rational and emotional attachment, which we call customer engagement,” Gallup said, adding that analysis shows that it works the other way around. “Customer engagement with a brand drives social engagement, the degree to which customers will work for or against your company or brand within their social networks.”
Social media apps alone not enough
Gallup also found that social media apps (social media applications) alone could not influence customer engagement with companies or organizations. The research found that “customer engagement is the result of the fulfillment of four psychological needs and three rational needs.”
These needs include “passion, pride, integrity, confidence and rational satisfaction and for a company to benefit from social engagement, it usually must create customer engagement first,” the report concluded.
Google says the 2011 Black Friday shopping war will unfold on mobile web and retailers not equipped for this emerging market will suffer.
The search leader released a report this week that contained some startling statistics.
Among them is that nearly half of all searches for last minute gifts will involve mobile devices including smartphones and tablets.
Google advised retailers to step back from planning for the end-of-year sales and consider their readiness for the mobile web.
“As you start to plan your campaigns, it’s important to take a step back and look at how consumers are using their mobile and tablet devices to drive in-store and on-device purchases,” the company said.
“We project that this year 15% of total “Black Friday” searches will be from mobile devices based on historical growth rates. Many advertisers do not realize that mobile users actively search for last minute holiday gifts and to locate stores to purchase these last minute gifts. In fact, we project that 44% of total searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms will be from mobile devices this holiday season based on historical growth rates.”
Google said mobile searches drive in-store purchases in greater numbers. Over 65% of all high-end device users report using their devices to search for local stores.
“The important thing to keep in mind is that these mobile searches drive in-store purchases: 65% of high end device users report that they have used their device to find a business, and then made a purchase at that business in person according (to) our holiday retail survey of users in the AdMob network.”
Google said retailers should plan for mobile users or risk losing business. “Retailers should be sure to plan for the tablet audience when it comes to driving on-device conversions. Ebay has stated that tablet users spend 50% more than PC users, have higher AOV (Average Order Value), and have higher or equivalent conversion rates.”
“According to our survey, greater than 33% of both smartphone users and tablet users plan to start their shopping before Thanksgiving, so smart marketers will start their campaigns early this year to reach these consumers,” Google concluded.
Google’s deal to buy restaurant ratings publisher Zagat could change the online ratings and daily deals market.
Aimed at boosting its online maps and local business ratings, the Zagat purchase could vault Google above Facebook and Groupon in the daily deals arena. Facebook recently began investing in the space while Groupon made its name perfecting the art of localized daily deals.
Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of local, maps and location services wrote in her blog after the acquisition that “Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering — delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.”
Internet and business experts agree with that assessment. “Zagat will play a prominent role in Google’s overall plans for becoming a player in travel, entertainment and particularly deals,” said Dan Olds, an analyst at The Gabriel Consulting Group.
“Groupon and others have paved the way with their deals offerings. I would expect to see Google expand the Zagat model to many more businesses, and also become much more active in the Web deals space,” Olds added.
Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group said Zagat’s value lies in their ability to help Google Maps users pick out places to stay or eat.
“It will also allow them to target high-scoring products for deals and the scores will help validate the value of the deal,” he added.
IDC analyst Hadley Reynolds added that Zagat brings a vast database of restaurant information and this will be immensely important to web surfers.
“At the end of the day, the target for Google is local advertising, and this deal is well-focused there, and not just in the U.S. Zagat will work particularly well for mobile searches, another primary Google target, where a much higher percentage of searches is local, and restaurants are a natural local search query,” he said.
Analysts believe Google bought Zagat because of its reputation, brand and the quality of its ratings and surveys.
Social media sponsorship is quickly emerging as a viable means of reaching and engaging social media users interested in brands, products and services.
Social media sponsorship occurs when companies or brands pay for mentions in social media posts or updates. This includes mentions on Facebook, Twitter, blogs or other social media platforms.
Concerned by potential for abuse, the Federal Trade Commission in 2009, released regulations requiring bloggers and other digital content publishers to disclose when they receive compensation for mentioning brands or products in social media updates.
Marketers willing to pay for Social Media mentions
A new survey by social media advertising company IZEA shows that companies and brands are willing to pay for social media mentions especially in blogs and videos.
Nearly half (48.8%) of companies surveyed report they have used sponsored blog posts to market their brands and products while 33% said they plan to use the tactic. 39.4% said they have sponsored tweets mentioning their brands while 36% plan to use sponsored tweets soon. 23.2% have sponsored online videos but over half (50.2%) said they plan to sponsor videos mentioning their products, brands or companies.
Respondents report that quality of blog posts was the most important factor affecting the success of the campaigns with over 80% of respondents saying it was important or very important to their decisions.
Companies also look at sentiment of content, cost of acquisition, cost-per-click and click-through rate, which was mentioned by over 75% of respondents as important or very important.
Respondents also said blog posts and videos are most valuable platforms for sponsorship followed by Twitter and Facebook mentions.
Social media sponsorship is still controversial among online professionals. Experts believe it could diminish the value of blog posts if consumers begin to question the authenticity of these posts or when publishers fail to disclose that they received compensation for blog posts or video endorsements.
As the internet is changing every second, Search Engine Optimization or SEO is important for websites. So the first question we get from clients is “What is SEO?” There 13.6 billion searches conducted every month on the web. 9 billion of those search queries come from Google.such as Google, yahoo, or Bing. Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, can be a confusing and daunting task to someone that is wondering how to get their website to climb to the top of Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engines. The highest tower of search engine providers is Google, accounting for close to 85% of the global search engine market share, as of last year 2010. In addition to being the largest search engine provider, it is also the most sophisticated and hardest to conquer in terms of SEO.
