CAT | Search Engine Marketing
23
Search Engine Marketing is not a Business Lifesaver
0 Comments | Posted by andy in Articles, Bing, Click Fraud, Google Adwords, Keyword Research, Landing Page Optimisation, Local Search, Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Resources, Yahoo Search Marketing
Without doubt, the Internet is a great place to be for anyone looking to sell products or services online.
Buying online is now very firmly in the mainstream and there are many businesses operating profitably online. Some of these have taken care of their own search engine marketing, whilst others have elected to use a specialist agency such as Slipstream.
Whichever direction a business takes, it is vital that they recognise the marketing of their website is just one part of a complex model. With Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you can improve your online visibility in the natural search results and using Pay per Click (PPC), you can complement SEO by having your adverts shown when users perform a search.
Both of these are proven methods to drive more targeted visitors to a site and we at Impact Media have helped many businesses to achieve more from their online marketing. However, Search Engine Marketing is certainly not the ‘be all and end all’ of running a successful business online.
Search Engine Marketing – A Business Lifesaver? Of course, the site itself has to perform well and engage with visitors in a positive fashion. There are many clues Webmasters can get from their log files and other reporting mechanisms. Google Analytics will show a Bounce Rate, this being a percentage of people that exit a site immediately. If your Bounce Rate is high, e.g. over 50%, for a page, then you need to understand why. Some suggestions could be:
1. Your pricing is not competitive (Tip – take a sampling of your products and compare with other online suppliers)
2. Your site design or navigation is poor (Tip – try usertesting.com for independent reviews)
3. Your payment processes are restrictive. (Tip – Provide as many methods as possible and don’t just rely on PayPal or Google Checkout)
Obviously, one of the advantages of the Internet for shoppers is the fact that they can visit a range of suppliers in minutes and carry out their own comparisons very quickly. For this reason, you need to ensure that your site is optimised for making online sales, not just receiving visitors (Tip – buy ‘Don’t Make Me Think‘ by Steve Krug. Also, whilst you’re buying it from Amazon, think about your own purchasing experience and how it compares to your own site)
It is vital that you review your analytics data and overall site performance. Just throwing money at Search Engine Marketing whilst ignoring the type of issues highlighted above is just not very sensible.
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Published by SEO Prof Andy
23
SEO is…SIMPLE
0 Comments | Posted by andy in Articles, Keyword Research, Landing Page Optimisation, Link Building, Local Search, PR, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Resources, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Resources
By following some straightforward Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) fundamentals, you can be sure that your site is ready to be indexed by the search engines and all set to meet your objectives.
S is for Searches
Keyword research will show you which search terms are most commonly used by searchers. It is important that you optimise your site for keywords and phrases which will be searched for; otherwise your site may be ranking high in the search engines for terms that very few people search for.
I is for Index
It is important that your site is indexed often by the different search engines. One way to ensure that the search engines keep coming back is to repeatedly add fresh content to your website. A blog or latest news section allows you to add new content to your site with affecting any current on-page body copy. A WordPress blog is free and you can then theme it to match your site – SIMPLE!
Remember it doesn’t have to be a 500 word post, (even though an occasional one this long is good) a short paragraph about some industry news will suffice. As long as it is related to your website or industry and is of interest then that should be more than sufficient.
M is for Money
Not really a SEO tip, but the reason you’re doing SEO in the first place is to meet your site’s objective, which in 90% of cases is to generate income. If your website is not appearing in the search engine results for terms that have commercial intent, then ultimately your site is not being run profitably.
P is for People
Don’t forget people when you are reviewing your SEO strategy. Even though your website should be search engine friendly, visitors to your site should not be put off; after all, they are the ones with pounds in their pocket ready to spend on your site and hopefully make you are profit.
Optimising your site goes hand in hand with making your site user friendly. It is important that the site is easy to navigate around and you should test your shopping cart to make sure that there are no barriers to checkout.
L is for Links
Inbound links to your domain from other websites will allow the search engines to frequently find your site and hopefully keep coming back to it by way of these links.
Don’t forget, it’s not the external links into your site that are important, ensuring your internal linking structure is optimised and functions effectively is essential too. You can replace ‘Click Here’ on the pages of your site with optimised anchor text, which will help to strengthen your internal link profile. Internal links will also help visitors to the site to navigate with greater ease, whilst also sending them straight to money pages.
E is for Engines
Please don’t forget that Google is not the only search engine. Of course it is the main search engine which the majority of searchers use, but there are other search engines out there to optimised for; these include Bing, Yahoo and Ask.
To improve your website within the search engine rankings you need to be patient; all changes you make will first have to be indexed by the search engines, which can take time. To see significant improvements you may need to wait anything from a couple of weeks to months.
A number one ranking in one of the other search engines may not deliver hundreds of visitors, but the quality of those visitors may still be good and could result in additional revenue, which previously you may have been missing out on.
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Published by SEO Prof Andy
23
Is Local Search Optimisation Now Essential for Business Websites?
0 Comments | Posted by andy in Local Search, Search Engine Marketing
When it comes to the future of search engine optimisation, local search looks primed to become indispensable for any business website. Whilst SEO focuses on what it is that your business offers, local search roots that information to a geographic location.
With the mobilisation of Internet connectivity people aren’t just going online at home or in the office. As such, consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile phones and PDAs to search for businesses and products within their immediate vicinity. This means that wherever we are, whether we are familiar with the surroundings or not, near continuous access to the Internet ensures that we are only a search away from getting directions to the nearest store, bank or hotel.
This is backed up by recent research performed by TMP directional marketing, which measured the effectiveness of local search on consumer activity. In their findings it was revealed that 32% of consumers with Internet-enabled mobile phones would search for local business information. That’s just shy of a third of all current Internet-ready mobile phone users, a market that is growing and is likely to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
Ensuring Local Search Visibility
The local search market is undoubtedly vibrant, and not without good reason. Internet consumers aren’t always looking to shop online, they want to visit a store, talk to the business and actually get a sense of what it offers. In the most part a website is simply an online portal for a business, although ecommerce sites are an obvious exception to this. It is a way of providing the information that customers or clients may require with a view to finalising any business offline. Essentially it’s the Internet wing of your marketing department, which comes with a free map for visitors; so how you present this information, preferably through emotive, engaging content, can often make or break a deal.
With this in mind, where are you most likely to look for the services or products that you are looking for? Do you want to get search results that reflect the whole of the UK, or would you prefer the emphasis is put on more local matches? Well, in the most part, the answer is that we would all prefer to deal with businesses in our immediate surroundings.
The major search engines have acknowledged this, by introducing a local business search results alongside the aforementioned ‘free map’. This prominent placement within the SERPs is no accident. Google and their competitors listen to the needs of their users and have adjusted their results pages and algorithms accordingly. Online often works to compliment the offline world; in the case of local search, the more relevant the results and the higher the standard, the more likely it is to result in a conversion without users having to look elsewhere – the ultimate target of both the business and the search engine.
Portability, Speed, Convenience and Local Search
Now that local search results are firmly embedded within Google SERPs (as well as Bing and Yahoo it should be noted), the importance of optimising a website for its physical location is hard to ignore. Returning to my earlier point, the convergence of a desire for local convenience and the increase of Internet-capable portable devices, could significantly impact the amount of interest your website generates and customers you get as a result.
For further confirmation of how seriously Google treat the up and coming mobile search market you need look no further than their recent purchase of AdMob and the development of their own Google mobile phone [see: The Google Phone Is Very Real. And It’s Coming Soon – from TechCrunch].
Keywords and SEO won’t die off, far from it. However, local search isn’t something that people should be taking lightly. The way the world interacts with the Internet is changing, consumers are demanding instant results and search engines are working hard to provide them. Google are focusing a lot of their attention on the speed of websites as well as their own SERPs with the introduction of Caffeine; if you want potential customers in your vicinity to find you first, local search optimisation is a must.
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Published by SEO Prof Andy
23
Online PR is The Way Forward
0 Comments | Posted by andy in PR, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Resources
With the country still struggling through the recession, companies are still after more PR in magazines and newspapers, but are they overlooking the power of the online network?
Having an article published in a newspaper or magazine is what a lot of companies see as the goal when they are trying to get a message out to the public, even though more often than not this process can be costly and not the most effective way of reaching the target audience.
With the online world ever growing there should be more of a buzz around getting an article published on the Internet or having the company name mentioned in someone’s blog or tweet. The online market has much more longevity than print. If an article is printed in a daily newspaper everyone in the target audience would have to read the newspaper on that day and that particular page for it to have any effect.
If, however, it was published online there would be a much wider audience likely to see it; articles are archived on websites so people will still be able to refer to it and it may even show up in search results months after it was released.
Online media usage is currently outstripping traditional media; more people get their news updates from social network sites than by reading the newspaper.
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Published by SEO Prof Andy
23
Using PR to Compliment your Website’s SEO
0 Comments | Posted by andy in Articles, Copywriting, Link Building, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
If you’ve got a website, or indeed have a client who has a website to be proud of then you want to show it off. SEO is the best way of getting the attention of the search engines, and those who use them, but there’s much more you can be doing besides.
Any PR specialist will tell you that anything can be promoted; it’s just about knowing where and how to do it. With PR fundamentally centred on generating buzz, the Internet is the perfect forum for getting the message out there loud and clear.
Online PR is by no means a detached process from your general search engine marketing processes. It can incorporate elements of SEO and link building, whilst of course spreading the word about your latest innovation, newest products or achievements. Any successful PR strategy just needs an angle; something that will make you stand out and unique from the competition.
Creating Buzz through a Unique Perspective
Finding that angle isn’t always straightforward though; how can you persuade someone who may only have a passing interest in what you’re offering to visit your site? Well, that’s the skill of PR.
Search engines are still the most consistent sources of traffic. There are very few sites that have succeeded in spite of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft; we use them to search for almost everything, which is why SEO still has to come first. But if you’re in a position to diversify and want to explore new channels, PR is the way forward.
Modern PR isn’t simply about creating press releases and sending them off to the local paper or releasing it through the newswire. Today, that same press release can be submitted to a site like PRWeb and within hours showing on journalists’ screens as well as search engine results pages across the world. It’s a far more dynamic system that provides opportunities for distribution that would not have been possible even in the last decade.
Of course, the modern digital press release has another major bonus, HTML coding. That’s right, most sites will allow you to include embedded links within the copy before distribution. Therefore, once it’s out there on the Internet your site is gaining SEO strength as well as providing an interesting news story that could well get picked up.
Promoting a site can take on many forms though. For example, once you’ve created a press release that links to your website, you can then go and promote the release itself. This can be done in many ways, but the most popular currently is social media. Sites like Twitter allow quickfire messages with short links, providing the perfect opportunity to talk up your own press release. Social bookmarking is another fantastic way to increase exposure; just get on Digg or your own site of choice and flag it up, you’d be surprised how many extra reads your press release can achieve.
It might sound a little complicated, promoting a promotional press release, but the truth is it can get results. PR today is about finding ways to utilise the resources available to their optimum. If you’ve spent a few hours writing a release, you want to make sure that it’s read, so why not spend the same amount of time promoting it? The same of course is true of most things, including blog posts and news stories within a site; by channelling visitors through intermediary content, you can get better results than providing a direct link.
An example of how to market a press release
Online users seek authority in the information that they read. For most, spam is still a major turn-off, so avoiding this online PR disaster – i.e. using inappropriate hashtags in Twitter promotions – is just as key to success. Provide people with something interesting, informative, eye-catching, captivating, intriguing – however you wish to term it – is a fantastic way of helping boost site traffic and profile.
Don’t let your hard on-site work go to waste. If you’ve got it, flaunt it; show the world what you’re all about through the search engines and innovative online PR.
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Published by SEO Prof Andy
