Designer Websites

What is Web Design?

2011-03-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

Web Design is the creation of the web pages, and sites. Some of the programs that are used to create web pages are HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other web programs. When they say Web Design just think about it like how it said, because it’s pretty much the combination lo lines, shapes, texture, and color to go with what your purpose of the page is. Web design is what you do to make a web page look fantastic!

http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesign/Web_Design.htm

Successful Tips about how to Create Engaging Social Media Content

2011-03-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

There is many ways to be involved in social media, but not all of them may be easy.

You see many people just want too be in the social media to be around the crowd, but not all of them are willing to commit to what they promised. You see when you promote your brand you want to make sure that what you are promising will be true. Make sure you are loyal to your fans/followers.

1. Know the voice of your brand – You want to make sure that you give your costumer a funny, recognizable, bro- ish posts that will make your brand successful

2. Know your target market – You want to know who will be interested in your advertisement. People want weird cool things, on specific cities and nationwide.

3. Solve Problems – Their people out their that they may need the help or the guide so you should help them so they wont have a hard time. That’s they key that leads to customer service success in social media.

4. Time is of the essence – You should be able to write back to your client when they ask you a question. The reason is because you want to be aware of the chatter going around you. There’s app’s that you can use which are completely free such as tweet deck, hoot suite or even Facebook and twitter.

5. Use your head – Excel can be very helpful for the social media this way you will not bored your fans with posts updated at the same time.

Think outside the box. Find your voice and run with it. Success will follow soon

http://www.jacobtyler.com/creative-blog/2011/01/11/find-your-voice-tips-for-creating-engaging-social-media-content/

Strength in Emails

2011-03-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

Where do you mostly spend your time in on the web? If you think it might be some social site it isn’t. Chances are that you mostly spend more time on your email more than anything.
It has come to Google and Yahoo! attention that they should spend time on social networks. Google and Yahoo! already have a lot of the stuff that Facebook and other social networks have. So why not just make it a social network?

Yahoo! plans to create an inbox 2.0. This version of the inbox automatically determines how often the relationship is between the person who is emailing and instant messaging. It will sense how often you interact with the other person and will put it as a more important message than the others waiting for you.

Source: http://www.smartbiz.com/article/view/2323/1/58

Traditional Design Methods that lead to New and Innovative Ideas

2011-02-28T10:18:00.001-08:00

Some methods of revitalizing your creative side include some traditional methods of design and the process of building new ideas. In this day and age, everything is done behind a computer screen. Why not try and take out a pad of paper and a pen and jot down ideas and sketches to stimulate new idea growth.

Are you getting in the routine of webinars and online tutorials? How about trying in-person seminars or conferences where you can network and share ideas. Building up a social network outside of the internet allows for a more personal and interactive relationship with others in your field.

After meeting with clients or interviews are you sending a thank you back? I don’t mean by simple text through a smartphone but by e-mails or even a letter through snail-mail. E-mails are great in that it’s quick “stationary” and widely used. Writing a traditional letter isn’t as fast as an e-mail but it’s unique and will tell you apart from the rest.

http://www.howdesign.com/article/oldschool/

The Design Process and Idea Generation

2011-02-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

Design by Craig Frazier

The methodological approach to design is finding what works to convey a message without being too obvious or unclear. Our goal is to have the viewer engage the message briefly so the message is clear but memorable.

Things to avoid are clichés; these are the obvious contexts in society like symbols or images that we already commonly refer to when we go about our daily lives. The idea of design is to go beyond cliché’s and design out of the norm, we want to form visual pieces of work that tie to our conveying message without boring the audience with already played out phrases or blunt meanings.

The effectiveness of a design can be measured by the ability for the designer to pass their message into the subject to create a meaningful impression to the intended audience.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/02/21/clich-s-and-idea-generation-how-to-turn-clich-in-a-successful-visual-solution/

Even Forbes gets a Penalty from Google

2011-02-17T14:34:00.001-08:00

The Forbes website has recently been notified by Google as having “possibly artificial or unnatural links…pointing to other sites.”

The act of Selling Links is a black hat SEO practice looked down upon by Google. The purchaser of those links gets to buy “Link Juice,” – the increased probability of getting more clicks from users, generating increased ranking in Google search results by having a presence on an established site.

Forbes admits to selling links through a partner for some time in the past, though they have begun making significant changes and removing those links in late 2010. Some of those changes include a revamped site architecture, and no purchased or “artificial or unnatural” links on their pages.

Source: SE Round Table

Your website must have backlinks to get high rankings on Google

2011-02-15T10:15:00.001-08:00

Backlinks are very important to get high rankings on Google. That's why Google works so hard on filtering the wrong kind of links.

The links that point to your website should be from related websites and they should contain the keywords for which you want to get high rankings. Do not manipulate the links to your website by buying links and do not join automated link systems to increase the number of links to your website.

If you want lasting results, focus on ethical search engine optimization methods. There are many ways to get good links (related websites, blogs, social bookmark sites, directories, etc.)

Please visit our Web Design website for more information
www.designerwebsites.us

Why choose Designer Websites?

2010-09-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Whether you are a biotech company, a small business owner, or just an individual who would like a visually intriguing and user-friendly website, Designer Websites is dedicated to giving you exemplary design and SEO services. We have compiled 4 Top Reasons to choose Designer Websites

Form and Function
Designer Websites exemplifies compelling design coupled with target audience usability with respect to your vision and budget. We aspire to create visually intriguing graphics, cooperative multi-browser compatibility, and easy-to-navigate content with your cooperation. Your feedback and participation in the creation of your website is important to us.

Professional Staff and Friendly Service
We are dedicated to top-notch service and growth. Internet trends never stop and continually expand at a rapid pace, and we believe we should, too. The owner, Mr. Davis, is an openly dedicated Christian, whose values are reflected in his high standards of quality and service. With over 25 years’ of graphic design experience, he brings a realistic and foundational knowledge base that collaborates with the ideas of new.

Location, Location, Location

Location not only means that we are located in (usually) sunny San Diego, California.

We mean the location of your site in the search engines, such as Google, Bing, etc. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or the strategies and techniques used to increase your visibility in search engine results via natural/unpaid search results. For example, if you are a plumber in San Diego, it would be ideal for your website to show up in the first page of Google when someone types in keyword phrases such as: “Plumbing Services San Diego, ” “San Diego Plumber,” etc. Designer Websites is proud to follow “White hat” SEO techniques, fair and effective marketing techniques that prove to be more favorable and less deceptive to the search engines.

Web 2.0 and Social Media
As referenced to earlier, technology and the web are continually changing. We now have smartphones that have several capabilities to be considered something of handheld mini computers. The term “app” has become popularized to signify software on your phone that is specialized towards a user’s wants. For example, there are game apps, gps apps, and e-mail apps.
Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and grown to be an exponential part of a company or individual’s online identity. And while signing up for these online services is free, the time spent to master and use them to your benefit are not. Designer Websites will happily offer services to help you get started with your Social Media, as well as help you maintain visibility online.

Despite our namesake, Designer Websites exemplifies versatility in our services. In addition to creating appealing websites in terms of form and function, we offer SEO and Social Media services to expand your online presence. We also provide other services: such as multimedia editing and hosting.

If you are interested in working with us, please contact us.

Pardon the Dust....

2010-09-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

This blog is currently undergoing some changes. Please feel free to look through our previous articles, website, and social media for any information that might benefit you. If you would like to contact us in questions about using our services, please click here.

Need Web Updates?

2010-03-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Do you need web updates? How about a fresh new look for spring? We can help! Call us today for a free quote! 858-467-9138

Happy Monday!

2010-03-22T09:25:00.001-07:00

I need of much needed updating to your website? We can help! Stop in or call us today for a free quote! 858-467-9138

Get Festive!

2010-03-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Easter's on its way! So spruce up your website with an Easter feel or bring in spring with a vibrant new redesign. Call us today for a free quote!

Updates!

2010-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

In need of updates to your website before the big game this weekend? We can help! You worry about the big party you'll be throwing and we'll take care of all your website needs. Call us today or stop in!

Happy Monday!

2010-01-25T09:17:00.001-08:00

Stop in or call us about our web site design and hosting discounts!

Valentine's Day is Coming Fast!

2010-01-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is coming fast and why not bring in this wonderful day by sprucing up your website and giving it a welcoming and enjoyable feel. Let us update your website with specials for the holiday or a nice redesign to celebrate. Let your clients, family members and significant others know that you appreciate all you do. Call us today at 858-467-9138 or come on in for a free quote.

Specials!

2010-01-12T09:11:00.001-08:00

15% Off Web Services or 35% Off First Year Web Hosting!

On Web Design, Re-Design, Updating and Optimization Only.Discount on web hosting for first time customers only.

Offer Expires: 02/19/10

Hurry in today to take advantage of the se fantastic website offers! 858-467-9138

New Year, New Website!

2010-01-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We hope you all enjoyed the Holiday's. It's a new year and with a new year comes new innovative website designs and updates to existing websites. So let us help you this year! 858-467-9138

Just a week and a half away!

2009-12-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

The festivities are ready to begin! Are you ready? Get those last minute web updates and quotes today by calling us at 858-467-9138 or stopping in!

Happy Holiday's!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

Brighten up your website with a Holiday theme! We hope you have a wonderful Holiday and we'll see you in the New Year for all your website needs!

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Deals!

2009-12-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

We have added our listing to Google Maps with printable and mobile viewing coupons. Check them out! http://tiny.cc/FBJZ0

Also, we have updated our coupons on Merchant Circle. So save some cash for the Holidays and take advantage of our deals today!

Happy Holiday's!

2009-11-23T09:45:00.001-08:00

The Holiday's are here so why not spread the cheer and give your website a Holiday feel! Stop in today or call us at 858-467-9138!

Happy Monday!

2009-11-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The Holiday's are just around the corner and what better to celebrate them and show the world than to spice up your website with some holiday cheer. So give us a call today for a free quote!

Your Web Site Should Be...

2009-11-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

Your Web Site should be easy to:

Read - make it simple on readers
Navigate - make it easy for the reader to find what they need
Find - the easier it is to find you the more readers and potential clients you will attract
Download - If it takes you site longer than 15 seconds to download there's a slim change you still have your potential client. Flooding your website with flash and large images to try and make it dynamic can have a negative effect on your website.
Also, having consistency throughout each page of your website makes in easier on the reader so they don't get confused with different designs.

So the next time you look at your website make sure it has each of the qualities for a better experience for your readers and potential clients.

Writing Effective Content

2009-10-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

I recently read a fantastic article by Matt Jackson from WebWiseWords on how to write effective website content. Some key points i'd like to share with you is that internet readers today want to get straight to the point. So what used to be the conclusion at the end of a story, now should be at the beginning. In the article he used the word Inverted Pyramid that made complete sense. Starting with the main point you're trying to get across to your customers then everything below that is explaining these points in detail.

In today's times we want things fast which in turn brought every search engine to "real-time" search. So our words must be short and simple. Get the point across, use bullets and lists, use that header so people know where it is they are and what it is they're reading about.

Give readers what they want; concise, easy to read content that will give the reader the information they need as quick as they need it.

Come on Down!

2009-09-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Have you come and checked out our new office yet? Right across the street from our last location. If you haven't, come on down and take a look!

In need of some updating on your website?
How about a re-design?
Maybe a brand new site?
or looking for a Corporate Identity?

We are greatful for all your business and the opportunity to work with you.

Have a wonderful day and God Bless!

Putting the 'Search' in Research

2009-09-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

How much do you pay for research on your customers every year? Not just in terms of the in-depth panels, focus groups and customer surveys, but dues to organizations or one-off purchases of reports on industry trends and shopper behavior?

Knowing your customer is critical to reaching them effectively, and in creating the ideal environment in which to convert them to buyers. It's critical to making the right choices about advertising, site design, pricing, and future moves. And because it's that valuable and difficult to mine, that knowledge isn't cheap.

Whether you're using internal time and resources to dig through your own data or run tests, or ponying up for consultants or syndicated information, it can be difficult to make a business case to learn more about your audience. You have to make the most of free or inexpensive opportunities, whether your research budget is in the millions or the single digits.

Fortunately, your search efforts provide a great platform for learning about your customers through raw, publically available data, and inexpensive testing opportunities. And while focus groups, panels, and external reports can offer up gobs of very specific information, for the simplest and quickest of insights your search program and experts can provide a great supplement or outright resource for your business as a whole.

Keyword and Messaging Research
Want free access to general information about figures and trends on how people search, which can be leveraged for anything from ad copy to product naming, descriptions, or even new product selection? Effective use of Google's AdWords keyword tool can offer you insights into terms people use to describe the products you sell -- and thus the words that have clearly made a connection with them.

Do you sell "footwear" or "shoes"? Are they "grey" or "gray"? These can seem like small distinctions, but they all have traffic and audience implications that should be considered across your brand.

These can make a difference not just in your search campaigns (like your meta descriptions), but can help you determine the ways that they can be described in other copy. A broader view of how people are shopping for your products may also give you insights into other products that you should be offering: A seller of mainly black office chairs might find that, with the volume of searches (i.e. demand) for "white office chairs" versus "black office chairs," it'd be worthwhile to look at adding white to its product selection.

Further tools like Google Insights and Google Trends for Websites offer deeper insights on seasonal trending and geographic niceties.

Message Testing
Search ads are a great platform for testing marketing messaging across channels. By testing differences in CTR (and, ideally, conversion) across multiple messages, you can get relatively cheap feedback on major factors and unique selling points.

Testing these messages (on your branded terms for lowest costs) can quickly get feedback based on thousands of impressions, giving you a chance to see if people are more likely to be driven to your site or products based on subtle language changes like the earlier examples, or for broader points like customer service, wide selection, or price point.

Page and Site Design Testing
Similarly, by sending audience segments to different landing pages on the same ads, you can get a quick gauge of how a broader set of customers might react to a site-wide change by comparing interaction rates.

Did template A get more sales than template B? Were shoppers more likely to sign up for e-mail alerts with a new layout? Are they spending more time on the site with a slightly different layout?

This can be accomplished directly through AdWords by varying landing pages or by setting up a page-testing environment at the site, like Omniture Test & Target, Google Web Optimizer, or through a conversion optimization agency or consultant.

Infinite Possibilities
With free access to global search behavior, a pool of test subjects, and a platform to vary elements that's easy to use, large and small organizations alike can leverage search data and ads for customer insights. Whether it's supplementing other investments into customer research or making the most of slim(mer) budgets, small and large businesses alike should look to search's capabilities to shed some light on their customers' behavior, wants, and needs.

By Herndon Hasty

Duplicate Content Bad for SEO?

2009-09-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of ways that you can improve your site's page ranking in search engines, unfortunately, not all of them are good.

Some people employ certain methods in acquiring a high page rank in search engines, even if these are considered to be deceitful in the sense that they are designed to trick the search engines - one of these methods is actually duplicating web content.

What is duplicate content?

Duplicate content in SEO is actually any web content that is considered to be similar to another site. Search engines have actually implemented new filters specifically to monitor these types of deceitful attempts to improve site's search engine page rankings.

A lot of people think that by creating multiple but similar replicas of their web pages or content, that they will be able to improve their site's page rankings since they will be able to get multiple listings for their site.

Since search engines are now monitoring these types of trickery, sites using duplicate content can actually end up getting banned from search engine indexes instead of improving their ranking.

What are considered as duplicate content?

There are a couple of duplicate content types that are being rampantly utilized by a lot of people, each one a bit different in their use, but all of them employed for the same purpose, which is to trick search engines to get better page rankings.

One way of getting duplicate content is by having very similar websites or identical web pages on different sub-domains or domains that offer basically the same content. This may include landing or door pages aside from the content, so make sure that you avoid using this if you don't want your site to become vulnerable to search engines' duplicate content filter.

Another method of creating duplicate content is by simply taking content from another website or page and reorganizing it to make it appear dissimilar to its original form, though it is actually the same.

Product descriptions from many eCommerce sites are actually being utilized by other sites as well. Other sites simply copy the product description of manufacturer's utilized by other competitive markets as well. And add the fact that the product name, as well as the name of artist, manufacturer, writer or creator would be included, a significant amount of content would show up on your page. Although this is much harder to spot, it is still considered to be duplicate content, or spam.

Distribution of copied articles by other sites other than the one that distributed the original article can also be considered to be a duplicate content.Unfortunately, although some search engines still deem the site where the original article came from as relevant, some however, do not.

How do search engines filter duplicate content?

Search engines filter for duplicate content by using the same means for analyzing and indexing page ranking for sites, and that is through the use of crawlers or robots. These robots or crawlers go through different websites and catalogues these sites by reading and saving information to their database.

Once this is done, these robots then analyzes and compares all the information it has taken from one website to all the others that It has visited by using certain algorithms to determine if the site's content is relevant, and if it can be considered as a duplicate content or spam.

How to avoid duplicate content?

Although you may not have any intentions to try and deceive search engines to improve your site's page ranking, your site might still get flagged as having duplicate content.

One way that you can avoid this from happening is by checking yourself if there are duplicate contents of your page. Just make sure that you avoid too much similarities with another page's content for this can still appear as duplicate content to some filters, even if it isn't considered to be spam.

About the Author: Craig Edmonson

Corporate Branding is Key to a Successful Business

2009-09-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Corporate Branding is the process of establishing a name and image for your business. It is something, which should be done by every organization, and establishes a name for your product or service.

While you can have a successful business without the use of corporate branding, it is much harder to remain in the minds of customers when you do not have a brand or logo for them to associate your business with. Corporate branding begins with designing of a relevant logo, website, business cards, letterheads, and any other promotional materials that you might need.

With these items in place and the corporate logo established, you will begin to see why corporate branding is the key to success.

Why is Corporate Branding so Important?

When you think about Nike, what comes to mind? I can guarantee that most of you just pictured a check mark in your head. This is because Nike has spent a lot of time and money to ensure that their logo and "just do it" motto have been set into the minds of consumers for years.

This is just one example of why corporate branding is so important. Without a brand image to quickly associate your business with, you are instantly out of the minds of consumers.

Developing a Website That Generates Traffic and Increases Sales

2009-08-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

When you own a business, your website is one of your most important tools that can be used to reach new customers and generate higher sales.

Whether you have an established website that is not currently working for you, or you are a complete newbie to the online marketing world, improving your website so that it generates traffic and increases sales is the right thing for your business.

Without a high quality website that attracts visitors and provides you with a way to capture information, you are not using the Internet's power to its full potential. The information below can provide you with an idea of why a good website is so important for your businesses' bottom line.

Why is a Quality Business Website so Important?

A high-quality business website provides you with a way to capture the enormous amount of traffic that is on the Internet. It also makes your business more accessible to your customers.

It does this, by giving website users a way to contact you or find out valuable information about your products or services without having to get on the phone, and during non-business hours.

There are literally millions of people searching the Internet for various reasons on any given day. If you are not trying to capture some of those visitors, then you are losing out on many potential sales each month. Just as your store gives you a physical presence a high-quality website provides you with an online Internet presence.

Benefits of Having a Good Website

As a business owner, there are many benefits to having a quality website that is able to not only generate traffic but also increase sales for your company. The first benefit that a business website can provide you with is it enables you to have access to customers that you otherwise might not have contact with.

Without a website, you are only able to reach your potential market through traditional means, and not those potential customers that primarily use the internet for their purchase research.

By enlisting the help of an internet marketing service company, you can create a highly effective direct response website that enables you to reach out to Internet traffic.

By adding an opt-in form to a quality website, you can increase your earning potential each year by at least 20%. An opt-in form provides a means of capturing visitors' contact information. This is very valuable as it will allow you to send current and potential customers information about promotions, important updates, and special sales events throughout the year.

The visitors on your list will be people that you know are already interested in the services that you are offering, and by sending out a sales message to them your rate of return will be much higher than with an untargeted ad in the newspaper.

One of the most important benefits that a business website provides is that it allows you to remain a step above your competition. If other related local businesses do not currently have websites, you are already reaching far more people than they are.

By creating a high-quality website that can generate massive traffic and drive sales, you are ensuring that your site will be listed before the competitions' in the search engine rankings.

How to Develop a High Quality Business Website

Unless you are professional, the best way to develop a high-quality business website is to seek out an Internet marketing company or web designer that can create a customized plan for your business.

These companies have experience marketing to those online, and they can help your website by marketing it for targeted driven traffic, and ensuring that it gets ranked well within the search engine listings.

Off-line business owners can increase their revenue by creating a business website or revamping their old one. Without a high-quality site that is able to generate traffic and increase your sales, your online presence will do you no good. Enlist the help of a professional Internet marketing company to develop a website that will help your business thrive.

Make a Good Facebook Fan Page

2009-07-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Social media is a huge part of optimization. There are tons of sites that you may be a part of that you are always logging on and updating. Updating is crucial in this social media/optimization frenzy so here's a little information to help you get one step ahead of the crowd.

Over the last year, and especially the last few months, Facebook fan pages have quickly risen in noteriety. The launch of the new Facebook a few months ago shot fan pages into the spotlight as it allowed fan pages to be more customizable.

Fan pages also became more like profile pages, in that status updates now appear in feeds. Over the last month, fan pages have gotten even more publicity, as Facebook announced that administrators could create vanity urls for their fan pages. All of this begs the question: What makes a good Facebook fan page?

Read More about making a good Facebook fan page!

What's the Future of Search?

2009-06-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

“Good news is, there is one. Bad news is, Robot Overlords”

Isn’t there something just inherently ‘Internet-y’ in speculating about what the future will bring? Personally, I always enjoy chatting with smart web-savvy internet folks about where we are headed with ‘this’ or ‘that’ in the future.At SMX Advanced in Seattle this year I asked Rebecca Lieb about what she is reading in the tea leaves insofar as search is concerned. Here are a few key concepts I considered the big takeaways from the discussion.

Social Media:
Rebecca believes we are going to see search engines spend a lot of time and effort developing ways to integrate social and behavioral data into search. We all know about Google’s appetite for data. Most people even on the periphery of the industry have a really good idea (and a nagging worry?) about how much data Google has about our search behavior.

What about Facebook? What about Twitter? Facebook goes a little different direction than what your behavior is, they know more than what we do... they know what we like. They know this because we tell them. We tell them our favorite colors, our favorite bands and where we like to go on vacation.

We tell Twitter about ourselves too, but most importantly with Twitter, we tell them what we are doing ‘right now’. Think a search engine wouldn’t be interested in knowing what you are doing ‘right now’ when you are doing a search? Maybe?

If you can get past the slightly creepy aspects of this concept, the upside of it all is that we will probably have better search engines. All of this data we are feeding the machines about ourselves is going to make the machines exponentially better at interpreting what we ‘mean’ when we type in a query. Pretty soon, who knows? They may know more about what we want than we do. Won’t that be nice? Instead of typing queries into search bars, we can just request optimal instructions.

There’s an App for That:
Rebecca seems to be of the opinion that search, particularly mobile search, might slip through the fingers of the giant aggregators like Google and Bing. She believes we are going to see an uptake in usage and mobile search marketshare going to specialized search apps like Urban Spoon.

There may still be 3 or 4 of you out there thinking ‘meh, mobile search’ but pay attention to the part in the video where Rebecca points out that “30% of Google search in Japan is coming from mobile search”. That’s a lot of search. Think that % is going to go down? Clearly I can’t speak for everybody, but personally, I think this smartphone thing might have some legs to it.

Say Hello to your Customer:
Another memorable Rebecca quote (well praraphrase at least) from the video is; “people are really realizing that monitoring reputation management is more and more a part of search”.

As social media data makes it’s way into search engines, companies better have a good idea about the potential impact - good and bad - they may be looking at when ALL of their customers have the potential to air their opinions.

The guy that bought the ‘XL Blue Beach Widget’ last week and left a 3 page rant about how bad it sucked and how horrible your company was to deal with, could more and more find his way to the top of search results for your ‘XL Blue Beach Widgets’. What happens if your ‘XL Blue Beach Widgets’ normally make up 30% of your seasonal spring internet sales? That could get ugly. Say hello to your customer. If they wave, wave back.

Search, as Rebecca points out is becoming more and more of a 2 way street. Your clients are informing your market strategies already now more than they ever have. This influence is only going to grow. If you are thinking about your Search strategy and have another group in your organization working on your Social strategy.... you guys need to hang out more. A lot more. Go to lunch, have drinks after work, become room mates (if you are management, consider handcuffing these people together) - whatever it takes. Social and search get a little closer every day. If search is vital to your business, then social is vital to your business, you may just not know it yet... But it’s coming.

by Mike Mcdonald

Watch the Future of Search Video with Rebecca Lieb

Bing, A Better Way to Search?

2009-06-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

The scoop from SMX Advanced

With Bing officially launching today, senior program managers from Microsoft discussed the new decision engine in the session "Bing: A New Approach to Internet Search."

Coverage of SMX Advanced continues at WebProNews Videos. Stay with WebProNews for more updates and videos from the event this week.

Ramez Naam, Group Program Manager, Live Search, said Bing is a faster way to make more informed decisions.

"Information on the Internet is exploding," said Naam. There are about 1 trillion urls across the web.

Search is the second most used application on the Web following email. "Satisfaction in search could improve," said Naam. Only 1 in 4 queries delivers successful results.

"We believe search doesn't anticipate user intent. Sixty-six percent of people use search engines more frequently to make decisions," he said. Decision sessions are lengthy.

Opportunities for innovation:Users are dissatisfiedUsers want help searchingIncreasing focus on tasks and decisions

Bing is working to cut down on time and simplifying tasks.

Organizing results page:
They have a 'table of contents' area to left of resultsIf searching for car: they have reviews, pricing information, etc.They are trying to anticipate what users are looking for

Key themes:
Deliver great resultsA richer, more organized experienceHelps you accomplish key tasks more easily

Nathan Buggia, Senior Program Manager Lead, Webmaster Center, Live Search, said the goals of Bing is a better understanding of user intent and making searchers more successful in making decisions.

The best match feature brings up deep links and a website can appear as each type of "best match" or a normal result depending on the query.

Document preview:
Content automatically generated during indexing(You can opt out of document preview)

Crawling:
Significant improvements in freshness, quality, and depthNot changing the msnbot

Cutts Explains How Blogs Can Rank Higher In Google

2009-06-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

Bruce Clay, who has been in the search engine optimization game since 1996 (before Google), sat down with WebProNews to discuss how the search industry has evolved over the years.

Things Clay mentions as good ways to keep up with search industry changes include:
- Training- Attending Conferences- Reading the right blogs- Following Matt Cutts and reading all the stuff he's ever written- Paying attention to the videos
"If you listen to experts and follow experts' advice, you're probably going to do much better than if you read a forum, and it's misleading, and you think you understand, but don't quite," he says.Among other things, Clay talks about some elements a lot of SEOs are missing, and should be paying attention to. Watch the clip.

What's Your Goal?

2009-05-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Choose the Right SEO Project Goals

Picking the right goals is key to the success of any SEO (search engine optimization) effort. A surprising number of companies focus on what they think are the right goals, but end up being dead wrong.
When the wrong goal is selected, SEO energy gets invested in the wrong ways and the ROI (return on investment) on the SEO project ends up being lower. Let's look at a few examples of non-optimal goals.

Rankings
This remains a very popular goal for many businesses. People frequently contact us and let us know that their goal is to rank number one for a particular search term. The problem with this goal: new businesses generally don't get top rankings.
Imagine that they succeed at their goal of ranking number one for their term. Perhaps they increase their Web site sales by 10 percent as a result. This is indeed a good result, right?
But, what if they could have taken the same SEO energy and increased relevant traffic to the site by 20 percent, and grown sales by 20 percent? With 70 percent of the relevant traffic to a site generally coming from long tail terms, this scenario is actually pretty likely.
The SEO strategy to drive relevant long tail traffic isn't the same as it is to drive a single term to the number one position. So would you prefer a 20 percent increase in business or a 10 percent increase? Granted, we shouldn't discount the branding value of being number one, but most businesses would rather get the extra cash.

Traffic
A lot of companies focus on increasing their traffic. This is closer to the right goal, but many companies can also run into problems here. The problems with it were outlined very nicely by Market Motive's John Marshall in "Don't Buy Traffic, Buy Intent."
Imagine that you could double the traffic to your Web site. Sounds good, right?
Well, if the traffic isn't relevant, it might not be so good. Maybe you end up with only a 10 percent increase in sales. Whereas if you bring in 20 percent more traffic that has strong buying intent, you might be able to increase sales by 20 percent. Which would you choose?

Summary
The problem with poorly selected goals is that it focuses your energy in the wrong directions. Sadly, we have a grim example unfolding in front of us of how a poorly selected set of goals can come back haunt you. I'm referring to the current recession, which was clearly driven by sales-at-any-cost goals, resulting in a lot of financial institutions taking on bad debt (because it increased sales), which looked great until they couldn't collect on the debt.
This idea of picking the right goals applies almost anywhere you look in life. In the world of SEO, you need to tie your SEO goals as tightly as you can to the broader goals of your business.
If your goal is to increase sales, leads, or impressions (for advertising-based sites), tie your SEO goals to those metrics. You'll be glad that you did.

Reference Eric Enge

20 Tips For Writing Good Web Copy

2008-11-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

1. Tight writing. That doesn’t mean bad or easy writing.

2. Copy of about 600-800 words is better for SEO and catching the long tail of search.

3. Title – Subject – Support, in that order, like subject, verb, object.

4. Titles should be snappy and informative – clickable, but clear.

5. Leads (first sentence or paragraph) should get to the point. Tell the reader what the article’s about first thing.

6. No fancy, wordy intros where it’s not clear what you’re talking about.

7. Information beats fluff every time. Pretty is for books and newspapers.

8. Information does not beat style every time. Style keeps people awake.

9. Sans serif fonts are easier and faster to read on computer screens.

10. White space is awesome – even better than big, pretty pictures.

11. Content should be scannable.

12. Think in bullets and subtitles.

13. People like lists.

14. Pictures should be specific and informative, not generic, decorative and ad-like

15. Photos should be relevant to content.

16. People in pictures should look friendly and approachable (and have their whole head).

17. Photos should be full body if possible.

18. Spell stuff right. It makes you look smarter.

19. Grammar IS important. Unless you’re not really a professional.

20. Online press releases should be even tighter than web copy.

Author: Jason Lee Miller

Knowing HTML Is Not Nearly Enough

2008-11-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

Every web designer is familiar with the HTML programming language, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language. The language has been in use since the advent of cyberspace, and although it will probably always be used, it is already being supplemented by newer, more versatile versions of HTML.

The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is a family of current and future document types and modules that reproduce, subset, and extend HTML, reformulated in XML. XHTML family document types are all XML-based, and ultimately are designed to work in conjunction with XML-based user agents.

Unlike HTML, which focuses on describing how data or text is supposed to be displayed, The XML language instead describes what the data is. So, XML is not something that is apparent on a web page, because it does not actually tell your browser how to display the data.

As information and data presented on the world wide web became more complex, XML was invented to effectively structure, store, and send this information.

What makes XML truly unique is that there are no predefined tags as is the case with HTML. All of the tags used in HTML have already been defined, such as the paragraph tag, the header tag, and all the various style tags. XML is not defined. You can make your own tags!

XML, forms the basis for a language called XHTML. XHTML is what is known as a meta-language, which is used for defining a markup language. To put it simply, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) is the basis for HTML. XML is a more refined subset of SGML, and forms the basis for XHTML. On the whole, XHTML is more flexible than HTML.

XHTML was developed for two reasons:

(1) to try to create a language that could more effectively convey the meaning of a particular webpage to a computer
and
(2) to create a layout for webpages that would be universally understood by browsers running on different platforms or on different types of screens

This is extremely important, because people are now using a wide variety of gadgets to connect to the Internet, as almost every electronic device on the market now comes equipped with email and Internet access. Cell phones, palm tops, computers installed in automobiles; they all have built-in web access.

Each of these devices displays text and graphics differently, and utilize different platforms and a variety of web browsers. As a result, someone using a cell phone to access a certain web site may not be able to view it properly because the browser running on that cell phone might not be able to display the HTML. The platforms that run on some of these new products and devices are not totally compatible with HTML.

So, it is imperative that most web designers learn to design web pages in XHTML. As almost every electronic device on the market is now equipped with Internet access, it is important to use a versatile programming language like XHTML so that your web pages can be viewed and properly formatted across a wide variety of platforms.

Author: Jim Pretin

Increase Traffic With Quality Content

2008-11-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

Every web site owner wants to increase search engine traffic. It’s free and the visitor is targeted to your subject matter, product or service. Now, more than ever, you need to understand search engine ranking methods which can be quite a challenge.

The number of opinions from “experts” on ways to increase search engine traffic is overwhelming. Regardless of what anyone might tell you, they’re all guessing. The search engines themselves don’t divulge how their methods work for one simple reason. As soon as anyone figures out the method, there’s a mad rush to implement changes based on the method.

In a perfect world, where there were no scoundrels, this might not be a factor.
Everyone would organize their web site information so that a visitor could easily find what they are looking for, and life would be good. But we certainly don’t live in a perfect world and scoundrels are everywhere.

So we are at the mercy of the search engines to help us sort through the clutter to find what we want. That’s the value search engines provide - accurate and meaningful search engine results that are related to the search terms or phrases. So it goes back to the quality of content, the only common factor in all 3 major search engines’ ranking methods.

Each of the big 3 (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) search engines use a little different method and technology to arrive at any given web site’s ranking under specific search terms. As mentioned above, no one knows exactly how each method works. However, you can test different strategies and methods to see how they impact your rank.

Herein lies the only true method of determining what the search engines might look for when ranking your web page on specific search terms. Most of us are aware that many processes can be expressed in mathematical equations. I’m not sure if that’s the best method for search engine ranking, but it is the most popular for the search engine ranking process.

Considering the fact that when someone has determined (or thinks they have determined) one of the factors used in search engine rankings, they beat it to death. Every discovered aspect in the past few years has been exploited immediately to the point of the search engines abandoning the tactic. As soon as the search engines see that someone can beat the system, they change it.

That’s one of the big reasons you see constant change in ranking methods. Since there is a tremendous amount of revenue at stake for all concerned, i.e. sales of products and services for the web site owners, plus the advertising revenue for the search engines, any advantage is huge.

If you would have tested and tracked all the changes and methods in search engine rankings for the past few years, one constant factor would stand out. This is also one of the most misunderstood and often overlooked elements in search engine ranking for a specific term.

So what’s the one thing that the search engines can’t change about their mathematical algorithms? You got it, CONTENT! The search engines can play with the process, methods, or means to judge web site content. But, if web site owners stick to the basic philosophy of providing meaningful content, in relation to the search term, the impact of changes are far less, if even felt.

And that is where many web site owners run afoul of getting good search engine rankings. Many jump on the bandwagon with every new revelation in search engine strategies based on the latest changes. It’s the old forest and trees scenario, Internet style. Even if you get a slight advantage from all these “new” tactics, it will be short lived. As soon as the search engines catch on that you are working the system, they will change the system.

So the best way to increase your rankings for a particular search term is to provide meaningful information or content based on that search term. Here a few guidelines I’ve found that help:

* Make sure you focus on the subject matter (don’t try to satisfy too many terms with one web page).
* Get inside the searcher’s head – figure out what they want and give it to them.
* Be specific and provide details – don’t generalize and be descriptive.
* For a sales page use benefits and features to fully explain the problem and the solution.
* Update your information often – setup a schedule to update and add more content.

Web Site Marketing Strategy Tips

2008-10-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

Your web site marketing strategy is the essential factor that determines the success or failure of a business web site. This is true whether your web site is an extension of an offline business, or you run an completely online business. Web site marketing is unlike any marketing you may have done using other media.

However, marketing your web site on the internet shares many common core marketing foundations that underlie your marketing efforts regardless of the media you use. I am a strong believer that for a small business, all marketing should be based on the old direct marketing mantra of attention, interest, desire, and action. In this article I am going to discuss those aspects in terms of how they are crucial in marketing your web site on the internet.

Regardless of the media you choose, nothing will ever happen if you don’t attract the attention of prospective buyers. This is one of the very basic tenets of successful marketing. On the internet, this concept is evaluated by the traffic that you receive on your web site. But there are a lot of factors that affect how much traffic you get, and only part of it is the actual content of your web site. There are two ways you can get attention in any media: you can earn it or you can buy it.

All the major search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.) show up two different types of results when a customer uses them.

The most relevant results based on the search algorithms used by the engine are called ‘free’ or ‘organic’ since they are the natural result of running a search.

The second type of result are actually paid advertisements, and they can be very difficult to distinguish from the results that are actually relevant to you query.

It is important to keep in mind that no matter how good the engine, the results are still hit or miss. It is a computer program sorting web pages based on mathematical formulae, not live people helping you select the best results, so as a person hoping to be indexed, you must be willing to put the time and effort into checking how you rank on the major engines and tuning your word choice to optimize that. If you can’t make it onto the first (or second at the very least) page of results, your traffic will drop dramatically! Most people don’t bother to wade through the hits on the pages after that. Even second-page ranking will hurt your ability to attract new users.

One of the most effective ways to increase internet traffic is buying some form of advertising. One of the most pervasive forms is banner advertising. Originally, these were very popular forms of advertising, but as they became more prevalent, their effectiveness waned. They can still be effective as long as you have a clear marketing strategy and are able to track your advertising statistics.

Text advertisements are probably the most common form of internet advertising today. Google has paved the way, and if done correctly, your internet traffic can multiply quickly by using Google ads. MSN and Yahoo also offer text advertisements on their sites. One downside to text advertising is that the cost can add up fairly quickly, depending on how many hits you receive for your ad. Each time a searcher clicks on your text ad, the provider charges you a set amount. Another way to increase traffic to your site is to buy traffic from someone who has an e-mail contact list or has a lot of traffic on their site already.

Any approach to publicizing your website or portal must begin with the aim of grabbing attention of the web surfers and internet addicts. To grab attention, you must deliver your message to surfers on websites they frequently visit. You can publicize your website by doing the hard work yourself or by availing expert help, or a mix of both.

Doing it yourself means you will have to commit your time, energy and money. It might sound daunting but ultimately proves to be cheaper as well. Availing expert help can get your results without eating your time. To set the cash registers ringing, it is suggested that you develop your own mix of both ways suited to your own needs and resources.

About the Author: You can get more information about Business Marketing at http://www.BizRave.com. Eric Menzies writes about Search Engine Marketing Firms and other topics.

Deciphering Web Analytics

2008-10-28T11:36:00.001-07:00

Want to optimize your online sales? Improve your understanding of your target market demographics? Need to improve your marketing ROI? What right minded webmaster or online entrepreneur doesn’t, right?

Your web analytics are your gateway to measurable success and provide a lot more information than most people gives them acknowledgment for. Yes, they track the number of visitors you receive and indicate your most and least popular pages.

However, they also guide you towards your best performing keywords, the countries that provide you with the most active visitors, and essentially provide you with a blueprint of the exact steps each visitor takes on your website.

Armed with this kind of information you should be able to improve the overall performance of your website and your online business. You can also improve your marketing efforts, enabling you to concentrate on the more effective, and ignore the least effective.

Keywords, Search Engines, and Popular Landing Pages

For many sites, the search engine is the leading producer of traffic. An SEO campaign can produce excellent levels of highly qualified leads with comparatively little spend. The key to a good SEO campaign, though, is to continue the optimization process.

Good analytics packages provide detailed information that is vital to your SEO campaign. You can view a list of the keywords that visitors have used in order to find your site. This information can be used to identify those keywords that are providing the most traffic and any that can be improved upon.

By reading the referrer of each visitor it is also possible for most analytic programs to determine the search engine that directed visitors to your site. Again, it is possible to use this information in order to improve your optimization efforts, with a little online research.

Landing Pages and Referrer Pages

A good avenue of pertinent information is the list of landing pages and referrer pages. The landing page is simply the page that a visitor first lands on when they reach your site, while the referrer is the page that directed them to your site.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that all of your traffic emerges on your home page. At least, for most websites this shouldn’t be the case. Each page on your site is a potential source of search engine traffic, and if you have well categorized pages then PPC campaigns should also be page dependent.

Alternatively, if you use any kind of advertising, it will pay to keep track of how each campaign performs. The referrer statistics will help you determine this very fact. If you have links all over the Internet, then this can point you to the more beneficial of those links so that you can attempt to gain more, similar ones.

Visitor Experience

How your visitors reach your site shouldn’t be your sole fascination. Once a person reaches the fold of your domain, you should attempt to learn whether they had a positive experience, and, if not, then why not. Fortunately, web analytics typically provide some very good statistics to help you with this.

Visitor and page load statistics

Whenever a page is loaded in a browser it is logged as a page load. However, any single individual can open numerous pages or may even open the same page numerous times. The unique visitor figure is the number of individual people that have accessed your site.

Visitor paths

You can track the actions of a visitor from the landing page to the exit page. This includes every page they visit in between, the amount of time they spend on each page, whether they make a purchase or click any links while on those pages, and more. This information is crucial to determining any problem areas on your site. If a particular page is leading to a lot of people exiting your site, then address it immediately. These statistics can also provide you with hot spots you weren’t previously aware of.

Translating the results

Translating the results need not be any more complicated than actually reading them and doing so can seriously improve your profits. Here are a few guidelines that can be used when next viewing your analytics.

Lots of Visitors But No Conversions

A lot of people place too much emphasis on driving traffic to their site, and not enough emphasis on actually converting those visitors to customers. If you find that the pages of your site are frequently being visited, but surfers are leaving without becoming customers then you need to take action quickly. Typically, your site content may need improvement or the traffic you are gaining is not targeted to the topic of your website. Look at visit lengths and paths to determine which the case is for you.

Visitors are Leaving From a Specific Page

Again, this can usually be combated with improved content on that page. If the content of an individual page is poor, but the rest of your site is good, then you will usually see that your visitors are navigating happily around your site until they reach this one page. Look for broken links, inappropriate content, or just poorly written content.

Traffic From a Specific Source is Particularly Inactive

If you look at your referrer statistics and note that one source of traffíc is sending a lot of inactive visitors to your site there may be one or more explanations. Review where the visitors are being directed to and ensure that this page is well optimized for conversions. Also do some digging on the referrer’s end. A banner or link placed on an irrelevant page is unlikely to yield the positive results you are looking for.

These are just some of the ways that analytics can help you and your website. Experiment and look for trends. Question anything that you notice until you find the most reasonable answer, and then take action accordingly.

Article by Matt Jackson.
WebWiseWords, website content that sells.

Designer Websites Welcomes New Member

2008-10-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

Our family just got one member larger, as we have hired a new web designer. His name is Stephen Histed. Although he grew up in Elmira, New York, he moved to the San Diego area about three years ago. "This is by far the most beautiful place I have ever lived. The area has so much to offer it is amazing. I couldn't imagine calling anywhere else home," he said.

Well we sure hope that you plan on staying a while as well. Welcome to the Designer Website family!

SEO Tips and ABSOLUTELY No Tricks

2008-10-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

SEO is not a one-shot process. The search landscape changes daily, so expect to work on your optimization daily. The bottom line in SEO is Text, Links, Popularity and Reputation. Here are just a few ideas to send you on your way to the top!

Check the link to your home page throughout your site. Is index.html appended to your domain name? If so, you’re splitting your links. Outside links go to http://www.domain.com and internal links go to http://www.domain.com/index.html. Ditch the index.html or default.php or whatever the page is and always link back to your domain.

Check for canonicalization issues - www and non-www domains. Decide which you want to use and 301 redirect the other to it. In other words, if http://www.domain.com is your preference, then http://domain.com should redirect to it.

Check your server headers. Search for “check server header” to find free online tools for this. You want to be sure your URLs report a “200 OK” status or “301 Moved Permanently ” for redirects. If the status shows anything else, check to be sure your URLs are set up properly and used consistently throughout your site.

Use absolute links. Not only will it make your on-site link navigation less prone to problems (like links to and from https pages), but if someone scrapes your content, you’ll get backlink juice out of it.

Search engines want natural language content. Don’t try to stuff your text with keywords. It won’t work. Search engines look at how many times a term is in your content and if it is abnormally high, will count this against you rather than for you. Not only should your links use keyword anchor text, but the text around the links should also be related to your keywords. In other words, surround the link with descriptive text.

Links from .edu domains are given nice weight by the search engines. Run a search for possible non-profit .edu sites that are looking for sponsors.

If you are on a shared server, do a blacklist check to be sure you’re not on a proxy with a spammer or banned site. Their negative notoriety could affect your own rankings.

Be aware that by using services that block domain ownership information when you register a domain, Google might see you as a potential spammer.

Get the owner or CEO blogging. It’s priceless! CEO influence on a blog is incredible as this is the VOICE of the company. Response from the owner to reader comments will cause your credibility to skyrocket!

Understand social marketing. It IS part of SEO. The more you understand about sites like Digg, Yelp, del.icio.us, Facebook, etc., the better you will be able to compete in search.

To get the best chance for your videos to be found by the crawlers, create a video sitemap and list it in your Google Webmaster Central account. Videos that show up in Google blended search results don’t just come from YouTube. Be sure to submit your videos to other quality video sites like Metacafe, AOL, MSN and Yahoo to name a few.

Use the words “image” or “picture” in your photo ALT descriptions and captions. A lot of searches are for a keyword plus one of those words. Enable “Enhanced image search” in your Google Webmaster Central account. Images are a big part of the new blended search results, so allowing Google to find your photos will help your SEO efforts.

Through the use of swfObject and swfAddress, alternate content can be provided for Flash so that it becomes search engine accessible. Smart use of XSLT can allow the same content to populate both the flash and the HTML content seen by spiders.

10 Great Tips to Optimize Your Website

2008-10-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some ideas I hope that you find useful...

Be bold.
Use the bold tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Deep linking.
Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site.

First come, first served.
If you must have image links in your navigation bar, also include text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won't follow additional links to the same page. You can see this in action at the link to the home page on this web site monitoring page.

Titles for links.
Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Multiple domains.
If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

Article exchanges.
You've heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someones article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links.

Not anchor text.
Don't overdo the anchor text. You don't want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, "Gumbo Pudding Pop" occasionally, "Get gumbo pudding pops" as well, "Gumbo-flavored pudding pops" some other times, etc.

Newsletters.
Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

Site map.
A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too.

Become a foreigner.
Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

By David Leonhardt
David Leonhardt is an effective, professional seo consultant and a website marketing consultant. For a free quote, call 613-448-3931, or send us an email.

Making Sense Of Website Statistics

2007-07-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

Every website owner wants lots of traffíc directed to their website, but this can sometimes involve spending a lot of time and monëy. Fortunately, most website owners can íncrease their return on ínvestment simply by paying closer attention to their website log files. Most website hostíng companies have special software installed that will process these website log files and display the information in an easy to read format. From this information website owners can get an understanding as to how many people are visiting the website, where the visitors are coming from, where they are entering and exiting the website, the average number of page views per visit, and many more interesting facts. These statistics will allow you to better analyze the effectiveness of promotional campaigns and give you some insight as to how you can tweak your website to íncrease your return on ínvestment.

"Hits" Explained

There seems to be some confusion regarding the terms used to describe website visitor traffíc. We usually hear website owners speak in terms of "hits" to their website. Hits don't accurately describe the number of visitors viewing the website – they are actually just any sort of HTTP request made to your server. Not only are requests made for website pages, but also for all the images and other files associated with viewing a single page. Therefore, one page view could actually result in dozens of hits, and, if a single user visits many pages on your website, this visit could generate hundreds or even thousands of hits. This can excite some website owners, but this number is not a reliable indicator of how many people have actually visited the website.

The term that website owners want to focus on is the amount of unique impressions that are generated by their website. A unique impression will measure the number of actual people visiting the website based on their IP address, browser, and operating system. No matter how many "hits" a visitor registers on your website, the server will record the session as one unique visit. Thus, the number of unique visits gives us a much better idea of the amount of traffíc the website is generating.

What to Look for When Analyzing Website Traffíc

Number of Unique Visitors: We've already determined that the best measure of true website traffíc is the number of unique visitors. What we want to look for is a trend in the average number of unique visitors. On a day to day basis, there may be a good amount of volatility in the number of unique visitors, but we want to pay attention to the trend of the average number of visitors per month. Optimally, we'd like to have the number íncrease on a monthly basis.

Entry Page Statistics: From these statistics we can learn which page people are using to enter your website. Most visitors will enter from your home page, but you may notice that up to 50% of your website traffíc originates from a page other than your home page. It's important that your website have an easy to use navigation structure to ensure that visitors can find the information they are looking for, even if they don't enter through your website's main page.

Bounce Rate: The bounce rate can be defined as the percentage of people who visit your website and immediately leave. Don't get worried if your bounce rate is high – most websites have a bounce rate of about 50% or so. If the bounce rate is unusually high, you can experiment with your website to try and retain more visitors. Maybe you need more enticing graphics, less text, faster loading pages, or a more engaging design.

Exit Page Statistics: These statistics will show you where people are leaving your website. When you know which page is losing the bulk of your website's visitors you can experiment with some changes in an attempt to retain more visitors.

Average Time & Page Views Per Visit: Website visitors are very goal oriented and task driven. Upon visiting your website, most visitors will merely scan the page to quickly determine whether or not it contains the information they are searching for. By analyzing the average amount of time spent on your website and the average number of page views per visit, you can determine how engaging your website's content is. The key to retaining visitors and increasing the number of page views is to have relevant and interesting information on your website. Remember – content is king!

Top Referring URLs: This statistic lets you know where the bulk of your website's traffíc is coming from. This is important if you're pursuing a website marketing campaign or search engine optimization campaign because you can easily judge the campaign's effectiveness by looking to see how many visitors each marketing method is generating.

Top Search Words & Phrases: This information will let you know which keywords and phrases visitors are searching for in Google and the other search engines in order to find your website. With this information you can gauge the effectiveness of a search engine optimization campaign, or get an idea of how your website's keyword density should be altered to position it for the keywords and phrases that you're targeting.

Browsers, Platforms & Screen Sizes: This information gives us some insight as to the type of software and hardware your visitors are using. You should ensure that your website looks the same across all browsers and operating systems. In addition, you must pay attention to the screen size and resolution in which your visitors are viewing your website. The goal is to ensure that no visitor has to resort to the horizontal scrolling bar to view your website – this is a major turnoff for most people.

Country of Origin: A good website stats program will also let you know the geographic region of your website's visitors. This is important if your website only has appeal in a particular region. For instance, if you own a retail store that caters to Southwestern Ontario and you notice that 90% of your website traffíc is coming from the U.S., then it can easily be determined that you need to re-think your online marketing strategy.

The goal of website traffíc analysis is to assess how well or how poorly your website is working for your visitors. From these statistics you can figure out what the problem is and try out some possible solutions. The problem often lies in the website's visual appearance, layout, navigation structure, or keyword optimization. When making modifications to your website in order to remedy these problems, it's best to only make minor and gradual adjustments, and then assess the progress over the next month or so to truly understand if your changes were for the better. Also, remember that sites with a greater number of visitors will have more accurate web statistics. Sites with smaller numbers of visitors are more prone to have their averages thrown off by a few anomalous visitors.

Author: Paul J Coulter

Increase Search Engine Traffíc With Quality Content

2007-06-27T13:12:00.001-07:00

Every web site owner wants to íncrease search engine traffíc. It's free and the visitor is targeted to your subject matter, product or service. What more could you
ask for in search engine traffíc? The downside is that you need to understand search engine ranking methods and that is quite a challenge for many.

The number of opinions and "experts" on ways to íncrease search engine traffíc is overwhelming. And regardless of what anyone might tell you, they're all guessing. The search engines themselves don't divulge how their methods work for one simple reason. As soon as anyone figures out the method, there's a mad rush to implement changes based on the method.

In a perfect world, where there were no scoundrels, this might not be a factor.
Everyone would organize their web site information so that a visitor could easily find what they are looking for, and life would be good. But we certainly don't live in a perfect world and scoundrels are everywhere.

So we are at the mercy of the search engines to help us sort through the clutter to find what we want. And that's the value that the search engines provide, accurate and meaningful search engine results that are related to the search terms or phrases. So it goes back to the quality of content, that's the only common factor in all 3 major search engines' ranking methods.

Each of the big 3 (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) search engines use a little different method and technology to arrive at any given web site's ranking under specific search terms. As mentioned above, no one knows exactly how each method works. But you can test different strategies and methods to see how they impact your rank.

And therein lies the only true method of determining what the search engines might look for when ranking your web page on specific search terms. I'm sure most of us are aware that most processes can be expressed in mathematical equations. I'm not sure if that's the best method for search engine ranking, but it is the most popular for the search engine ranking process.

And consider the fact that when someone has determined (or thinks they have determined) one of the factors used in search engine rankings they beat it to death. Every discovered aspect in the past few years has been exploited immediately to the point of the search engines abandoning the tactic. As soon as the search engines see that someone can beat the system, they change it.

That's one of the big reasons you see constant change in ranking methods. Since there is a tremendous amount of revenue at stake for all concerned, i.e. sales of products and services for the web site owners, plus the advertising revenue for the search engines, any advantage is huge.

If you would have tested and tracked all the changes and methods in search engine rankings for the past few years, one constant factor would stand out. This is also one of the most misunderstood and often overlooked elements in search engine ranking for a specific term.

So what's the one thing that the search engines can't change about their mathematical algorithms? You got it, CONTENT! The search engines can play with the process, methods, or means to judge web site content. But, if web site owners stick to the basic philosophy of providing meaningful content, in relation to the search term, the impact of changes are far less, if even felt.

And that is where many web site owners run afoul of getting good search engine rankings. Many jump on the bandwagon with every new revelation in search engine strategies based on the latest changes. It's the old forest and trees scenario, Internet style. Even if you get a slight advantage from all these "new" tactics, it will be short lived. As soon as the search engines catch on that you are working the system, they will change the system.

So the best way to íncrease your rankings for a particular search term is to provide meaningful information or content based on that search term. Here a few guidelines I've found that help:

Make sure you focus on the subject matter (don't try to satisfy too many terms with one web page).

Get inside the searcher's head – figure out what they want and give it to them.

Be specific and provide details – don't generalize and be descriptive.

For a sales page use benefits and features to fully explain the problem and the solution.

Update your information often – setup a schedule to update and add more content.

There are many sub factors that can have an impact on how well the search engine bots can determine the value of the content. The search engine bots are software programs that go out and "read" your web page and then provide the information to rank your web pages on what they discovered.

You'll find many "experts" who will give you a hard líst of items and how to present this information. And I don't disagree with suggestions to include the search term in your web page in key areas like title, description, and font designations like H1. That helps the search engine software bots to determine the content.

Author: John Dow

Define Your Target Market in 5 Easy Steps

2007-06-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

This report is designed for entrepreneurs, small business owners, independent contractors and anyone who needs to build relationships and develop leads or referrals in order to promote and increase their business.

The information in this report is given based on the assumption that YOU know your product and service inside and out and you have already defined your business goals and have somewhat of a business plan in order.

The next step would be to narrowly and clearly define your target market, your ideal prospect.

Some people believe that their products or services would be perfect for everyone. For example, Mary Kay Cosmetics - no offense to my MK friends or other people in the health industry who say 'anyone with skin' needs a facial or 'anyone who has stress need a massage. Then there are people in the home improvement industry who say, 'anyone with a house' needs my landscaping, my windows, my furniture or my loan, etc.

For most small businesses however (1-5 employees or even more), I don't believe this is the most effective way to try to generate new leads and customers. If you determine the right target market to fit your business, you figure out the best ways to reach them AND if you figure out the best message to reach them with you will be spending your marketing dollars wisely. Business owners who don't plan ahead to figure out who their target market is before they open their doors end up spending a whole lot more money trying to figure it out by trial and error and that's expensive.

Would you shell out $200 for a pair of shoes without trying them on? Plunge into a steaming bath without dipping a toe in first? Of course not-but people do the business equivalent every day. Many an entrepreneur has found out too late that nobody wants to buy hand-quilted Christmas stockings at $24.99 a pop, or that wealthy customers won't schlep to the unfashionable part of town for luxury stationery.

The irony: Conventional market research is expensive (corporations regularly budget tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for it), but no one needs it more than a startup entrepreneur. A couple of marketing blunders won't put a giant manufacturer out of business, but just one can sink an entrepreneur like a bolt of lightning.

Defining Your Target Market

Your "target customers" are those who are most likely to buy from you. Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. Try to describe them with as much detail as you can, based on your knowledge of your product or service and how it will benefit them.

Step 1: Ask yourself some questions to get started

1. Are your target customers male or female?
Figure 75-80% of your target customers would be which? If it's split, narrow it down another way but more than likely you can narrow down the gender.

2. How old are they?
Give an age range of 10-20 years max, otherwise you might have two target markets. Remember, the marketing messages towards different age groups will be quite different most likely depending on your product or service.

3. Where do they live?
Is geography a limiting factor for any reason? Can you narrow it down to specific zip codes or counties? The larger the geographical area you choose, the more people you will find but the less likely you'll be able to afford to market to all of them so narrow it down and expand out later.

4. What do they do for a living?
You can get a mailing list by industry or profession and specific title for example.

5. What does their specific profession say about their lifestyle?
Is it very busy with little time to shop? Would they be likely to be familiar with the internet for their shopping, researching, news and event information? Would they be commuting more in their car?

6. How much money do they make?
This is most significant if you're selling relatively expensive or luxury items. Most people can afford a latte. You can't say the same of custom murals. Narrow this down to a specific range also and high enough that you will weed some people out or again, you'll have way too many people to afford to market to.

7. Are there kids in the household?
What ages might they be? How many would there likely be? What does this say about their lifestyle - are they carpooling, or soccer parents where they are rarely home? Do they possibly eat out a lot or have less 'family' bonding time? Or are they empty nesters where they might spend more time at home watching television or reading?

Step 2: Get specific

What other aspects of their lives matter? Here are some examples to think about, see how your target market compares or how you can get more specific with them.

* If you're launching a roof-tiling service, your target customers probably own their homes. In addition, they probably own homes with older roofs like shake roofs; you can get a list of homes by their age.

* If you're a realtor, you might be interested in targeting first time homebuyers in which case you might find them to be likely to live in apartments or rentals of which you can get a list of those too.

* If you're selling your own individual artwork but you can't create multiple paintings with the same picture, you may have to sell the unique pieces at local art shows rather than selling them online.

* If you're planning to open a custom-tailoring shop and need busy executives to come for three fittings, you may need to limit it to your local area.

* If you're a direct jewelry consultant needing women to gather for parties in someone's home, you'll want to go where many women meet like mom's groups, women's professional organizations, day cares or grocery stores.

* If you're a business or life coach and want to coach only over the phone then you'll most likely want to do more online marketing and make sure to have a really top notch website since that's mostly what people are going to see for their first impression. You can network locally too but the more 'known' you are in person, the more people will want to do business with you in person. Step 3: Keep your mind open to any information

Keep a list of primary research questions handy, such as:

* Who influences your customers and how? Spouses, neighbors, peer groups, professional colleagues, children and the media can all affect buying decisions. Look for hints that one or more of these are a factor for you.

* Why do they buy? Distinguish between the features and the benefits your product or service offers. Features describe what it is; benefits are what your customers get out of it. The latter is why your customers pay you. Are they looking for a status symbol, a savings in time or energy, a personal treat or something else?

* Why should customers choose you and not your competition? What can you offer that the competition doesn't?

* How do your customers prefer to buy? Many businesses benefit from the broader market provided by the Internet and mail order, while others do better with a physical presence. Don't assume you fall into one category or the other; customers may surprise you.

Step 4: Identify Your Ideal or Favorite Client

Think about your favorite client - who are they, name them, write down everything you know about them, their family status, age, sex, marital status, where they live, where they work, possible income level, their shopping characteristics.

* Do they like to use coupons or shop on certain days? � Do they call you at the last minute to get something from you?

* Do they value your service/product? � Is that type of client the most profitable type you have or the most non-profitable and you just like them?

Step 5: Determine their profitability to your business

Which type of clients will make you the most money, bring you joy and refer you tons of business? These are the types of clients you ultimately want, now where are they?

Ask Yourself:

* Who is the most profitable type of client? The one who will make you the most amount of money the fastest and with the least effort - do you like working with them? If not, you won't be totally happy with only this type of person, maybe you need a combination of the two.

* How often will they be able to buy or consume your product or service? If they can only possibly purchase your services every 10-20 years (getting a new roof for example), do you never market to them again after the sale or do you heavily market to them after the sale by every means possible for at least 1 year to get all the referrals you could possibly get out of them in that time?

* How likely are they to know others like them they can refer to you? Normally, very likely, in which case following up with them before, during and after the sale is huge - and if you don't ask for referrals in each stage of the sale continuously then shame on you.

* What is really important to them when it comes to your product or service? Not what you think they should know or like, but actually what they care about, like, ask for, thrive on, are passionate about, etc. These are your target market's "Hot Buttons" and these are what you should be addressing in your headlines, letters and marketing efforts at all times because these are why the client would choose to buy.

Defining your business' target market is absolutely critical to any small business. Everything you do in your marketing, advertising, design, publicity and networking will depend on who your target market is and what matters to them. Making decisions on your marketing and advertising without fully defining your target market or knowing them in depth could be detrimental to your business and you could be making some costly mistakes!

Author: Katrina Sawa

Knowing HTML Is Not Nearly Enough

2007-04-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Every web designer is familiar with the HTML programming language, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language. The language has been in use since the advent of cyberspace, and although it will probably always be used, it is already being supplemented by newer, more versatile versions of HTML.

The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is a family of current and future document types and modules that reproduce, subset, and extend HTML, reformulated in XML. XHTML family document types are all XML-based, and ultimately are designed to work in conjunction with XML-based user agents.

Unlike HTML, which focuses on describing how data or text is supposed to be displayed, The XML language instead describes what the data is. So, XML is not something that is apparent on a web page, because it does not actually tell your browser how to display the data.

As information and data presented on the world wide web became more complex, XML was invented to effectively structure, store, and send this information.

What makes XML truly unique is that there are no predefined tags as is the case with HTML. All of the tags used in HTML have already been defined, such as the paragraph tag, the header tag, and all the various style tags. XML is not defined. You can make your own tags!

XML, forms the basis for a language called XHTML. XHTML is what is known as a meta-language, which is a language for defining a markup language. To put it simply, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) is the basis for HTML. XML is a more refined subset of SGML, and forms the basis for XHTML. On the whole, XHTML is more flexible than HTML.

XHTML was developed for two reasons:

(1) to try to create a language that could more effectively convey the meaning of a particular webpage to a computer.

(2) to create a layout for webpages that would be universally understood by browsers running on different platforms or on different types of screens.

This is extremely important, because people are now using a wide variety of gadgets to connect to the internet, as almost every electronic device on the market now comes equipped with email and internet access. Cell phones, palm tops, computers installed in automobiles; they all have built-in web access.

Each of these devices display text and graphics differently, and utilize different platforms and a variety of web browsers. As a result, someone using a cell phone to access a certain web site may not be able to view it properly because the browser running on that cell phone might not be able to display the HTML. The platforms that run on some of these new products and devices are not totally compatible with HTML.

So, it is imperative that most web designers learn to design web pages in XHTML. As almost every electronic device on the market is now equipped with internet access, it is important to use a versatile programming language like XHTML so that your web pages can be viewed and properly formatted across a wide variety of platforms.

Author: Jim Pretin

20 Things To Remember For Good Web Copy

2007-03-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

1. Tight writing. That doesn't mean bad or easy writing.

2. Copy of about 600-800 words is better for SEO and catching the long tail of search.

3. Title – Subject – Support, in that order, like subject, verb, object.

4. Titles should be snappy and informative – clickable, but clear.

5. Leads (first sentence or paragraph) should get to the point. Tell the reader what the article's about first thing.

6. No fancy, wordy intros where it's not clear what you're talking about.

7. Information beats fluff every time. Pretty is for books and newspapers (and only sometimes).

8. Information does not beat style every time. Style keeps people awake.

9. Sans serif fonts are easier and faster to read on computer screens.

10. White space is awesome – even better than big, pretty pictures.

11. Content should be scannable.

12. Think in bullets and subtitles.

13. People like lists.

14. Pictures should be specific and informative, not generic, decorative and ad-like

15. Photos should be relevant to content.

16. People in pictures should look friendly and approachable (and have their whole head).

17. Photos should be full body if possible (so guys can check out packages and stuff).

18. Spell stuff right. It makes you look smarter.

19. Grammar IS important. Unless you're not really a professional.

20. Online press releases should be even tighter than Web copy.

Author: Jason Lee Miller

How Google Measures Link Popularity

2007-03-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

Link popularity is by far the most important factor for determining your search engine ranking. You need to know what link popularity is, why it is so important, and how Google measures your link popularity (over 50% of all search engine traffic comes from Google, and if you can rise to the top of Google, you will rise to the top of all the other search engines as well). But, before we talk about how Google measures linking, we need to cover some basics.

Link popularity is defined as the number of sites that are linking to your site. Some websites have thousands or even millions of sites linking to them, while others might have only a few. The search engines use the number of inbound links your site has as a measure of how important your site is, which translates into your search engine ranking.

The actual number of links to your site is not the only variable used to calculate your link popularity. The search engines also examine the relevance of the links to the subject matter of your site. For example, if a website that sells vitamins has 4,000 inbound links, but the source of most of the links are websites that have nothing to do with vitamins, then the algorithm that search engines use to determine link popularity will take that into account, and the link popularity score will not be very good.

It is possible for a website with a relatively small number of quality inbound links to be ranked higher than a site with a bunch of irrelevant or insignificant links. If I have a website that offers quotes for auto insurance, and I have 800 quality inbound links, then I might receive a much higher search engine ranking than another mortgage site that has 3,000 links that stem from link farms or Free For All (FFA) pages.

If you try to acquire inbound by using link farms or FFA pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get permanently removed from the search engine listings. Links farms are sites where you can instantly exchange links with all the sites listed in that directory. FFA pages are pointless link directories. The search engines usually discount any links that come from either of these sources.

Now that we understand what link popularity is and how it works, we need to look specifically at how Google measures it. Google uses a number of variables in their algorithm to calculate your overall link score. The higher your score, the higher you will be ranked in the search listings.

One factor that Google uses in their algorithm, obviously, is the total number of sites linking to you. The more links you have, the higher your score will be. However, their algorithm is a little more complicated than that, and it is possible for a website with fewer links to be ranked higher than a website that has more links.

The reason for this is because Google also measures the quality of your links. If your website is about vitamins, and the site linking to you is a video game site, then that is not considered a quality link. The link still helps your score, but the link would help your score much more if it were from a website whose subject matter is the same as yours.

Also, Google gives a higher score to a link if it comes from a page that has actual content that relates to your keywords. For example, if your site is about jewelry, and another jewelry website has posted a link to your site on their links page, that link is not as valuable as a link to your site coming from a blog or a message board where a lot of information about jewelry is being written or discussed.

Also, Google gives an even higher score to a link if it contains anchor text that matches one of the keywords that describes your site. For example, if I have a site that sells lawnmowers, and a blog about lawnmowers has posted a link to my site, it helps my score even more if the link text (also known as anchor text) is LAWNMOWERS. To learn more about anchor text, go to a search engine and look up ANCHOR TEXT and you will be able to learn about it.

Another factor used by Google to score your link popularity is the diversity of keywords contained on sites linking to you. For example, if you have a site that sells handbags, and all the links to your site are from other sites that contain nothing but the keyword HANDBAGS, Google considers that to be abnormal. To get a higher score, you need to have links coming from sites that contain a variety of keywords related to handbags, such as BUY HANDBAGS, LEATHER HANDBAGS, etc.

It is difficult to increase your link popularity, but now that you understand how your score is calculated, you can devise a plan to improve your score. You might want to consider posting to forums and blogs that contain information that is related to your site, and when you post, include a link to your site. As long as you are persistent and tailor your strategy towards Google, you will do fine.

Author: Jim Pretin

6 Things High Ranking Websites Have That Yours Doesn't

2007-03-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

I've looked at a lot of websites over the years and helped a lot of clients, and I've yet to meet anyone who is totally committed to making their site as successful as it could be.

This is particularly true when it comes to search engine optimization. Most online businesses make a half-hearted attempt to get better search engine rankings, but rarely implement anymore than one or two things that could really help make their site a success.

Which of the following does your website have?

1. Unique Page Titles.

Take a look at a selection of web pages that come up high in the search engine results for any search term and you'll notice they all have one thing in common: unique page titles. Denoted by in HTML, page titles tell the search engines what your web page is about, and are thought to be a critical factor in how search engines determine the order in which pages are displayed in the search engine result pages (SERPS) for a specific search term.

2. Descriptive Keyword Links.

How do search engines find and index your site? They follow links from one page to another, indexing content as they go. If the links they follow contain keywords and phrases that are relevant to the page content, the search engines will boost the ranking of that page in their results. You should also use keywords and phrases in the site's navigation (menu), as those terms are (or should be) highly relevant for the page they link to.

3. Keywords in Your On-page Copy.

If you want the search engines to know what your page is about, and rank it appropriately, you must scatter keywords throughout your on-page copy. Keywords in your copy establish your site's relevance for words searchers use when they're looking for your product or service.

4. Clean, Accessible Website Design.

Messy, bloated HTML code, 404 errors, re-directs, too many graphics, content hiding behind forms etc., all hinder the search engines' ability to index your site. And if they can't index it, they can't rank it. Follow W3C's accessibility guidelines when building your website. Better yet, ask your website designer what he knows about standards compliant website design. If he or she can't answer, find someone who can.

5. Focused Site Topic.

It seems logical that the more focused your site is, the higher it will rank for related search terms. For example, a site that is focused on the sale of exercise mini-trampolines will probably do better for the search term "mini trampolines" than a site that tries to sell a number of unrelated or a selection of different exercise equipment. In addition, it makes sense to create specialty websites whenever possible. That way, you don't fall into the trap of trying to do too many things and end up doing none of them well.

6. Relevant Incoming Links.

The number of other sites that link to your site's pages is important but the quality of those sites, and the text used in the link, carries much more weight with the search engines. For example, one relevant link from an "authority" site such as a .org, .gov, or a site that's proven itself as a reliable source, provides more value than several links from unrelated or "unproven" sites.

Of course, there are other several other factors that go into determining a site's ranking (far too many to go into here) but these are some of the most important.

They're all easy to implement, so there's really no excuse for not taking advantage of them especially if you want to make sure your site is found and visited by as many people as possible. Then all you'll need to worry about is getting those people to buy something from you on a frequent basis.

And that's really what it's all about.

Author: Julia Hyde

7 Ways to Drive More Targeted Traffic to Your Website

2007-02-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, when it comes to your website, the "if you build it, they will come" strategy just doesn't work. Fortunately, there are several ways to drive high-quality traffic to your website for little to no cost. The following 7 strategies will show you how:

1. Optimize your site for the search engines.

You'd have to be a fulltime search engine optimization expert to keep up with all the changes the major search engines make, but there are a few basic things you can do to help your site come up for relevant searches. Here are some to get you started:

a. Define your keywords - this is how people will find your business online. The trick is to find keywords that are highly relevant to what you offer and popular enough that they will attract decent traffic to your site, but not so competitive that you can't rank well using them. Use your keywords in your web page copy.

b. Create your metatags - this is how the search engines "read" your site. Put your keywords in your metatags on each page of your website.

c. Don't use lots of graphics or Flash, frames, or "alt" tags in HTML for pictures - search engines don't like them because it makes it hard for them to "read" your site.

d. Submit your site to the search engines (see #2).

e. Get links to your site - create a page in your website and call it either resources or links and add GOOD links, meaning relevant links. Linking is the second biggest indicator of how your site is ranked.

2. Submit your site to the search engines.

Why wait for the search engines' robots or spiders to find you? Submit your website to at least these three major search engines manually. It's easy and only takes a minute. Then use a company like www.EnterURL.com to reach even more search engines, directories and specialty sites.

Submit your website to:

Yahoo at http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Google at http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

DMoz at http://www.dmoz.com/add.html

Submit your website using a company with a global reach:

EnterURL: http://www.EnterURL.com

3. Use pay-per-click advertising.

Google Adwords or Yahoo Overture both offer pay-per-click advertising options. You can create a ppc campaign for a very small investment, and because you have complete control over your budget, you can set it for whatever amount you feel comfortable with. It's very difficult to get to the top of the "organic" search results (on the left side of the search results page) but can be very easy to get on the first page of results with a PPC, bringing targeted traffic to you. The best part is you only pay when someone clicks your ad that takes them to your website.

4. Place or swap ads with other e-zines in your niche.

Seek out other e-zines in your niche whose publishers might be interested in swapping ads. They can either be formals ads, or just a recommendation within the content of the e-zine itself.

In addition to or instead of swapping ads, you could also purchase ad space in an e-zine in your niche that has a large circulation. If you pay to place an ad, it is usually suggested running it for a minimum of three consecutive issues for the best results.

5. Be a bonus participant.

You're probably aware of the tactic of adding valuable bonuses to your offerings to encourage people to buy. As a traffic-building technique, you could do the same for someone else's product offering.

6. Become an "ask the expert" on a high-traffic website in your niche.

Seek out websites that are information portals for your niche, and see if they offer an "ask the expert" section (and if they don't, you could always suggest they do). Offer your services as an expert, to answer questions from their visitors about the challenges they face.

7. Be an active participant on a large discussion list in your niche.

Research and join a handful of discussion lists in your niche, and schedule time every week to check in and see if you can offer any valuable advice to the conversation. Be careful to follow the list rules about promoting your website, though. Most lists are intended to be a place where people can ask for help without worrying about being sold to. However, most lists also allow you a couple of lines in your email signature where you can promote your business. Use this space to point people in the direction of your website.

These 7 ways of attracting targeted traffic to your website are tried-and true, meaning they do work. You may have to do a bit of thirsty work, and give it some time, but the end result will be more high-quality traffic to your online business.

Author: Alicia Forest

Article Marketing Tips - Start with An Outline

2007-01-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Marketing is often segmented into four distinct sets of activity. The four P's - Product, Pricing, Promotion and Placement or distribution. Article Marketing Strategies can play a significant role in at least two of these activities and should be incorporated into every Internet Marketing Campaign.

Writing and submitting articles strategically to various Sites is of tremendous value in both Promotion and Placement.

With this is mind, what's the best way to write these promotional articles?

We've done it through junior high, it expanded longer through high school, then on college it became chapters. No matter how many times a person have done it, writing articles has proven to be a task many has continuously avoided. Now at a time when writing articles could help your job or work, facing the job at hand can be still faced with unfriendly behavior.

While there are a great number of people who do not have the same attitude in article writing as others, there are still those who would rather walk in piping hot coals than do some article writing. What set people apart from other towards article writing is that they are prepared and has some methods and procedures in writing articles.

One of the methods you can use to prepare yourself when tasked to write in article is creating an outline first. Creating an outline for all your articles makes you prepared. You have an idea of what to do first and make a plan for your succeeding steps. Being prepared makes the job easier and faster. Being organized will allow for disorientation to be shunned away.

An outline can act as the design or blueprint for your article. This will guide you in creating the introduction, body and conclusion of your article. Here in this point, you can write down some of the ideas and sentences that you feel will look good in your article. This could be some of the focal point that could help make your article creative, interesting and appealing to a reader.

A carefully planned and fully prepared project would guarantee and ensure a problem and worry free procedure that can virtually go without any hassles. Creating an outline for all your articles will get you ready and breeze through writing an article in no time at all. Here I will provide you with some tips and guidelines in how to create an outline for all of your articles.

Did you know?

* Writing and submitting articles strategically to various Sites is of tremendous value in both Promotion and Placement.

* Promotion includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.

* Placement or distribution refers to how the product gets to the customer - the channel by which a product or service is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc.

Do some brainstorming and jot down your brilliant ideas first. Think of some ways to attract the interest of your reader. Designate a time frame where you can write down all the ideas that you can use for your articles. By this time you should have done all your research and information searching. Review and reread your ideas and notes, gain mastery and sufficient familiarity with your topic so that writing them down later own would be easy for you.

The next step is to discover your sub topic and sub titles. As you would provide a first sentence for your article, one that would immediately grab the attention of your reader, you would need some as well for your sub topics. To be concise, you would need to get all the facts that will support and go against your point.

These are the frames or skeleton of your article, now its time to add the flesh and the meat of your article. You will need to connect all your paragraphs and sub topics. This will form the body of your Article. While the introduction will usher in the ideas of your paragraph, you will need a conclusion. The conclusion will wrap up your points and drive in what you are saying in your article.

The outline for your article would also require you to write a draft first. This may take more than one attempt but remember that it is called a draft for a reason. Your outline shall be perfected as each draft is written and this draft is meant for your eyes only so there's no reason to feel ashamed. As you go on, you will clearly see the bigger picture and write an article that will perfectly suit what is demanded of it.

Reread and reread what you have written down. Always refer to your outline so that you won't drift away from what you had first written down. Its not hard to be caught in the moment and get lost in your writing frenzy. Your outline will help you keep in track. All those hours spent in outlining your article will not go to waste. This will serve as your guide in writing articles. Trust and rely on your outline because this will prove to be a very helpful tool in writing all of your articles.

Author: Michael Saunders

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

2007-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

According to the Internet World Stats database, at the end of 2006, Internet usage in the world reached 1,091,730,861 people surfing the web. In the United States alone, there were 210 million users. With a population of approximately 302 million people, that's 69.6 % of the U.S. that is online. With the internet growing every day, online marketing has become more and more important and ranking on search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo! (among many others) has become a very hot topic.

If you are an internet marketing novice, you are probably facing the seemingly impossible and somewhat daunting task of trying to get your site listed on the first page of the search engines. The first thing you need to understand is that your search engine ranking will not improve overnight. With that in mind, the first step is to optimize your website for the keywords or phrases that people actually use when searching for products or services related to what you offer. For example, if you sell vitamins, you would want to improve your ranking for the phrases BUY VITAMINS or BUY VITAMINS ONLINE.

The next step is to submit your site to the search engines. There are hundreds of legitimate search engines and directories in cyberspace, and you should submit to all of them.

The last step, and probably the most important component of getting ranked higher on the search engines, is increasing your link popularity. The more websites that are linking to your site, the higher your ranking will be.

If you employ each of the strategies outlined in this article, you should be able to improve your search engine ranking while at the same time garnering the kind of traffic that you want. No website can improve its ranking overnight, but if you are persistent, your efforts will be rewarded in the long run.

info from Jim Pretin and Internet World Stats database.