Marketing your business on line is a challenging task. You have to arm yourself with the proper information and tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are competing to optimize their rankings with the search engines and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the black hole of sites that get zero traffic and earn no money. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites. For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need. Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization. You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in. But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I already mentioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday. So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating. With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let’s just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic. If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all. So once again, what is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines. Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site’s existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business. Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme. You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization. You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites. Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found. Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding. If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality. Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization. All of these will result in better traffic and more business for your site and company.

STATISTICS AND DEVELOPMENTS INDICATING THE NECESSITY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR BUSINESS AND MARKETING Provided by SE-Optimize During the summer of 2006, we saw several key indicators that business executives and investors were taking keen notice of social networks and their potential impact on the online advertising and marketing arena. Many popular bookmarking and social networking sites have been acquired by larger corporations – the most famous of which was of course Google’s acquisition of social video network, YouTube. However, what is more interesting to business owners and C-level executives are the large investments now being made into advertising models and programs within social networks. In June, Interpublic Group announced it would be developing marketing programs on FaceBook for its agency clients to the tune of $10 million worth of ad space. In early July, WPP Group invested $2 million into corporate social network, LiveWorld. This unique joint venture will help WPP’s agency clients, such as the skincare company Dove, deploy their own social networks. We find it fascinating, as a company that participates in both the social networking and search optimization spaces, that Fortune 1000 companies and large advertising agencies are recognizing the importance and profitability of social networks far faster then they recognized the benefits of search marketing. However, to the benefit of the small business or medium-sized company, these large corporations will take time to implement their large-scale campaigns, while their smaller counterparts are moving quickly to acquire their piece of the social networking pie. For instance, Forrester’s December 2005 survey of marketing executives showed that 13% were marketing via blogs or social networks at the time, but 51% forecasted “total adoption” of such marketing strategies within the next 12 months. BUT JUST HOW LARGE IS THE SOCIAL NETWORKING SPACE? According to comScore Media Metrix, the total US internet audience has grown by roughly 4% in 2006. Yet several social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and Bolt have seen growth percentages in the triple-digits. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the top 10 social networks (MySpace, ClassMates.com, Flickr, FaceBook, YouTube, etc.) received roughly 68.8 million unique visitors by 2005 – reaching 45% of all active web users. That means that nearly 50% of all Internet traffic ran through one or more social networks last year. But think of the explosive growth and public acquisitions in 2006… In June of this year, US web stats company, Compete, released some fascinating data that blows 2005’s growth out of the water: Their Key Findings: 1.In June, 2006, 2 out of every 3 people online visited a social network 2. Social Networking sites are now close to eclipsing traffic to search giants like Yahoo! and Google 3. MySpace received 55 million visitors in June 2006 For those of us who participate in the global markets, it’s interesting to note that Bebo overtook MySpace as the top social network in the UK during most of 2006. WILL THE SOCIAL NETWORKING FAD LAST? Jon Gibs, senior director of Nielsen/NetRatings, said social networking sites are the “reality television of the Internet.” “The content is relatively inexpensive for publishers to produce, and social networking is not a fad that will disappear,” Gibs points out. “If anything, it will become more ingrained in mainstream sites, just as reality TV programming has become ubiquitous in network programming.” This means immense opportunity for any business owner or executive. First of all, online advertising is far more affordable than television or traditional media advertising. But more importantly, there are ways to market yourself in the various social networks without spending money on advertising. These strategies include maintaining your own blog, creating profiles for your company on MySpace and other networks to interact directly with your audience (without spamming, as we’ve seen recently occurring on MySpace), producing engaging and buzz-worthy content that gets circulated among bookmarking websites (as well as Technorati), and producing media content for networks like YouTube and BlogTalkRadio. The key to success in marketing with social networks is to understand that there’s no middle man here. No marketing hoopla. And no wall of corporate messaging to hide behind. Social networks are transparent and to effectively engage their audiences you have to be willing to be transparent as well. Then all you need are some creative strategies for communicating with your audience – which we are happy to provide you. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss.

The Importance of Tag Titles and Descriptions

When optimizing your site for search engine statistics, one of the most important things you used to be able to do is offer a good title tag. Recently, search engines have begun to look beyond this simple headline to determine what your site is about and index it accordingly, but it can still go a long way toward putting yourself in a good position if you create good title tags with these simple tips:

Length

Google will take only the first 65 characters of any title tag to display. Any more than that and you’re wasting time and space. Be efficient and succinct right off the bat. Of course you want to optimize your title tag as well for the best results, so you’re walking a very fine line here. The difference between optimization and intelligibility is not quite as thin. The best way to get the results you’re looking for might be to simply stuff keywords.

Making Sense

But, stuffing keywords doesn’t always make sense either. If you write everything out without a sense of what your site is actually about save the word “dog collar” repeated four times, you’ll get fewer visitors. You’re writing this for multiple audiences – the search engine algorithm as well as your visitors. Find the right balance.

Capitalization

Make this a headline of sorts. You should have every word that is of any importance, or just simply every word capitalized to grab attention. More or less all copywriting is better and more effective if you use this technique and hey if newspapers have been doing it for centuries, why not you as well? This is an important step you can take in separating your text from others; however make sure not to capitalize every letter in your title. It looks juvenile and angry.

Unique Key Words for Every Page

It might be easier to just use a set list of keywords and title tags for each page of your site, but by separating them out and utilizing numerous styles and phrases throughout your website, you can further enhance your search results. Otherwise, you’ll likely never see any of the subpages of your website ranking in the search engines. By optimizing every page individually, you can receive a better chance of each individual page being successful.

Company Names in Tag Titles

Don’t do this. It’s just a bad idea. All you do by adding your company name to a tag title or headline is waste space in a search engine. The only way this helps you is if someone searches for your company name directly, in which case they’ll likely find your site anyways. You want to use keywords that attract audiences looking for products like yours. If they are already looking for your product, you probably don’t need to optimize.

Optimizing your tag titles is a key step in providing the best and most efficient description of your website to both the search engines and potential visitors. Doing it correctly is important or you’ll likely find that no one visits your site or those that do, do it for the wrong reason.

Bringing the Internet to the Neighborhood

What can an intenet marketer do to secure some business right in their own home town? There has been a real surge in excitement and attention paid to bringing Internet Marketing strategies to brick and mortar buisinesses. Local businesses can and do dominate the search listings for their products and services when an effort is made to make that happen. 

Localizing SEO

Marketing SEO to Local Businesses Leading the way in their ability to capture, process and close more sales, the savvy business owner uses Web 2.0 and SEO to obtain more customers at the earliest possible opportunity. With rapid rewards leading to greater profits, it doesn’t take long for the average business owner to see the leverage in having website and SEO services done sooner rather than later. Gathering Leads Locally Many times I am asked if I have a preference for the type of businesses that I work with. While I am able to help out the start-up company, my preference is to work alongside existing businesses. Pre-established business owners tend to have a better scope of what it takes to flourish. Even if they have managed to survive without an Internet presence, they quickly realize that by adding a well thought out and executed Internet Marketing Plan, they will be able to add prospects, customers, clients and most importantly PROFIT to their business. How Much Will it Cost? The part of this business that prevents it from ever becoming boring is the fact that each and every job, each and every design or project is always something new. When it comes to your local business merchants, it is difficult to fit them all into one template or business model. With that said, costs can vary dependent upon the needs and desires of the client.

These are considerations when pricing a project: Starting Costs:

Although I enjoy this work, I’m not in it for charity, I’m in it for a business. Clients should expect to pay between 1/3 and 1/2 of the estimated contract price up front. If this is an issue, you don’t need the business. I use the position that in my initial meeting to discuss a project, I’m going to see if I want the job, not if I can get the job. Ongoing Fees:

Many larger projects can take months to complete. When this is the case, a monthly fee is appropriate and to be expected. Measurable results should be taking place during this time. Maintenance vs. Residual Commission:

This is where the real sustainable income is generated. At some point after the project is completed you have really moved from a role of designer/facilitator to one of consultant and/or “business-partner”, sine you now have a vested interest in the continued success of that business. Be sure to discuss in the pre-contract stages whether your work afterward will be on a monthly maintenence fee schedule or if you’ll work for a commission, based on the percentage of growth accountable to your work. Guaranteed Satisfaction is Paramount As I mentioned earlier, I don’t go to see if I can get a job. I go to see if I want the job. With that said, I will continue to design and optimize a site for a client until he has at least earned back his intial investment. The best way to grow our own business is to ensure that our customers and clients are always happy with the work that we do for them. Make it easy for your clients to give you referals. The bottom line is that my work is 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED !!!