Posts Tagged ‘web marketing’
Why Do The Search Engines Change Their Minds?
June 3rd, 2010 | 
Author:
One of the common questions that come up time after time on forums is , “why do the search engines keep changing their minds about what they want”. The search engines really don’t chop and change what they want, really they don’t. They all want one thing, to deliver the most relevant pages to searchers. it isn’t rocket science (despite what some of the telephone sake oil salespeople SEO’s tell you). SEO is simple, here are off my cuff the simple basics of seo. 1) Make sure your site can be spidered If not then all else is wasted, this is a basic that believe it or not many overlook. 2) Make sure the spiders can spider it quickly and understand the importance of every page in your site. Set up a nice clean navigation and folder structure with the site broken dow into little pockets of focused pages. Put in place a sitemap, with links to the pages, and a brief text of what to expect at that page. 3) Carry out keyword research and do not cut corners. Keyword research is the bedrock of any marketing, be it PPC or organic SEO, get it right and it is a joy, get it wrong you pay the price miles down the line when you have to come all the way back and start again. 4) Create the structure above, and create informative clear crisp focused pages. A page should focus on a subject and the subject should be clearly identifiable. Make the subject the page title and your away. 5) Create clear page titles How on earth do you expect a search algo to know what your pages are about if they are not clearly marked? Leep in mind that the page title serves two masters, the search engine, and more importantly the searcher. A clear focused page title will encourage clicks to your page. 6) Create clear quality on topic content. Search engines need content to work out what your site is all about, without it they have to guess. Quality content matched to quality backlinks into your site will help you rank well, and will please your visitors. 7) Focus your pages! The search engine algorithms need to be able to work out what each page is about on the web. Covering three or four topics on the same page will only serve to confuse the issue. Focused tight content and outbound on topic links will help both visitors and search engines. 
Be proud of your site. Let people know it exists, submit to directories, contact other sites that are likely to be able to share client types, and swap links. 9) Link out So much is made of incoming links, but I am a firm believer that you can assist the search algorithms greatly by linking out to good authoritive pages from within your site. This is how it was in the beginning with academics citing each others work, and this still works today. 10) Use the right anchor text Anchor text was again how we did it in the early days, but people kind of lost track of that. Now again they realise the importance of anchor text. Use descriptive anchor text when possible, and this includes internal links within your own site. Well that is that take a look and tell me what is new there? The answer is nothing really. So SEO doesn’t change, the search engines don’t keep changing their minds about what they want. The problem is that too many people create sites that algo chase one factor or another of the algorithm, and when the weight is altered for this factor, they have to move onto another to shore it up. Create a good well balanced site with all the elements covered, and it will stand the test of time.
Related posts
Posted in Internet Business | 
Tags: basic search engine optimisation, seo basics, web marketing | 
No Comments »
Has Your Web Site Changed Your Business?
Yes, you should ask yourself this question. Has my Web site changed my business? Does your Web site help your business differentiate your business from your competition? You can’t expect to differentiate your business from you business by using clichй statements such as “We provide superior customer service”, or that, “We have the experience to get the job done right.” Such statements are ineffective because they have been used over-and-over by every one in business. People are simply tuning out such claims. How do you feel when you see a business make such claims? Does it convince you that you are dealing with a better business? If you fail to differentiate your business, you can only compete on price. There are no winners in price wars. Without differentiating your business from the competition, your product or service can be quickly commoditized. You have to remember that your customer doesn’t care about your company. Your customer is only concerned, and rightfully so, about how they can benefit from hiring your company or buying from you. Your Web site should not be so much about you, but about your customers. You should be able to honestly examine your Web site and consider if it’s better than your competitor’s site. Focus on your target market. Are you speaking to your specific market? Is your message too generic? If you have a dental practice that specializes in dental implants, you should speak to the demographic that is most likely be interested in your specific specialty. For example, who is going to stand out more? ·The local dental office, or ·The local dental office that specializes in dental implants. Whatever is your specialty should be part of your message you include on your Web site. Concentrate on the problems your service or products solve. When you focus on a specific concern that your customers deal with, you can position yourself as the real solution provider. Focus On Results. Show that you can deliver on a specific result that makes a measurable difference for your customers. Always focus on differentiation when it comes to your Web site.
Related posts
A Little Something Extra For Your Clients
As a writer, editor, web designer, forum maven, etc. [boy, I sound multi-talented!] I try to give my clients a/k/a customers a little something extra whenever or wherever possible. No, not so that they take advantage of my kindness, rather to show that I go the extra mile for them. Hey, it is a competitive market out there and I don’t want to grow complacent! So, exactly what am I talking about? Blogs. That’s right, I enjoy blogging so much that I have decided to include a “blog option” as part of my web package for clients [new and existing] who want one during 2006. It doesn’t cost me any money for the software, but it will cost me approximately one hour’s time to set up each blog. How about you? Are you expanding your offerings or are you standing in place? Is there something extra/special which you can offer to your clients at no cost to them? If you are thinking of short term gains then you are missing my point. Invest in your clients and they will return the favor to you in the form of loyalty and increased exposure: happy clients tell other clients of their good fortune, which is you and what you offer to them — top notch service!
Related posts
Posted in web design |
Tags: blog, online design, online hosting, web design, web hosting, web marketing |
No Comments »
Why Should Go For Open Source Software?
“Open source is a set of principles and practices on how to write software, the most important of which is that the source code is openly available” The free software movement was launched in 1983. In 1998, a group of individuals advocated that the term free software be replaced by open source software (OSS) as an expression which is less ambiguous and more comfortable for the corporate world. Software developers may want to publish their software with an open source license, so that anybody may also develop the same software or understand how it works. Benefits of Open Source Software: Low Cost NO need to buy expensive server software licenses or renew. The service includes all required software, and never required any additional software. Efficient Working The major reason is it is virus free. Also it works fine with lower configuration hardware. You will not require to take higher configuration hardware. Reliability Almost all software releases contains bugs. When a bug is spotted in proprietary software, the only people who can fix it are the original developers, as only they have access to the source code. Open source software is different. As a large number of users can access and change the code, bugs tend to be more visible and more rapidly corrected. One of the slogans of the open source movement is that ‘given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow’ Customization Closed source applications can only be customized or adapted by the original vendor. Open source applications may be customized by anyone with the requisite skill. Thus, open source software can be readily adapted to meet specific user needs. Even if you cannot program yourself, it is easy to post a feature request on an open source software project’s home page. If you would like something added or customized urgently, you can generally pay an appropriately skilled software developer to do it for you. Translation With access to the source code it is easy to translate the language of the software interface. Large closed source commercial software vendors are usually unwilling to translate their products into less widely spoken languages, as the market for them would be too small to guarantee profit. Easy Learning From Examples If you are interested in programming, open source code provides an excellent resource from which to learn, and open source projects provide a practical environment in which to test your skills. Just watching the development process can provide an education in itself. If you choose to submit code to an open source project, it will generally be checked and commented on by experienced programmers. Once you have convinced the project community that your code is of appropriate quality, you may be granted full committer rights yourself. Large Community and become a part of it By adopting open source software you become part of a community of users and developers who have an interest in working together to support each other and improve the software. The extent to which you engage with this community is up to you, but you may obtain the intangible benefits of goodwill if you do. There is leading software and development providers who offer a range of powerful Open Source Software that provide zero risk, cost effective functionality. Rather than the expensive and risky approach of building a bespoke site from scratch First Rate uses a proven base system and simply plugs in proven modules as required. Popular Open source Software: • Oscommerce – Ecommerce Application • Zen Cart — Ecommerce Application • Joomla — Content Management System • TYPO3 — Enterprise Level Content Management System • X-Cart — Ecommerce Application • Cs-Cart — Ecommerce Application • Wordpress – Blog System • phpBB – Discussion Forum • Drupal – Content Management System • Moodle – Learning Management System • phpNuke – Content Management Portal • mambo – Content Management Portal Regards, Whites Destiny – www.perceptionsystem.com
Related posts
How To Choose Your Website Colors
Color is often overlooked in the business of optimizing websites for better returns on investments. Website sales can be greatly affected by simply changing its colors. Ever come across a website that uses some funky combination of print and background colors? If you ever want to experience an eye-twisting headache, try reading yellow print on a blue background. The reason you see black type on a white background so much is that it is the best color combination for reading, both on and offline. And since it is even harder to read text on a monitor than it is on paper, we must all be especially careful with the colors we choose for our websites, or suffer less-than-optimal site traffic and repeat visitors. Color choice should also be dictated by other, less obvious goals, when designing or re-vamping a website. It’s important to realize that different colors invoke different emotions, are associated with specific concepts and say different things in each society. For instance, green often times is associated with freshness or money, which is fairly obvious if you think about it. But every color does this, and some of the emotions and concepts are more subtle. For example, white means pure, easy, or goodness and purple can be associated with royalty or sophistication. What’s more, each color carries with it both positive and negative ideas. The emotions and concepts that you associate with specific colors may differ from other people’s associations, but there are themes that run throughout each color. Here are some: Red: Positive: Sense of power, strength, action, passion, sexuality Negative: Anger, forcefulness, impulsiveness, impatience, intimidation, conquest, violence and revenge Yellow: Positive: Caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring time Negative: Criticism, laziness, or cynicism Blue: Positive: Tranquility, love, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security Negative: Fear, coldness, passivity and depression Orange: Positive: Steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, and cheerfulness, warmth, excitement and energy Ignorance: Ignorance, inferiority, sluggishness and superiority Purple: Positive: Royalty, sophistication, religion Negative: Bruised or foreboding Green: Positive: Money, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, and responsiveness Negative: Envy, greed, constriction, guilt, jealousy and disorder Black: Positive: Dramatic, classy, committed, serious Negative: Evil, death, ignorance, coldness White: Positive: Pure, fresh, easy, cleanliness or goodness Negative: Blind, winter, cold, distant A major goal of marketers is to invoke emotion in their audience. We know that if we can cause some kind of an emotional reaction in the people we are marketing to and communicating with, we have a better chance of compelling them to buy from us. The battle between logic and emotion that rages in each of is usually won by emotion most of the time. By choosing the colors of our websites and online media with deliberate care, we are purposefully trying to invoke a specific emotional response that will increase sales. So pick your colors carefully. Not only do colors evoke emotions, but they can communicate messages or concepts too. For example, look at http://www.clickitticket.com to see how color is used to communicate the new affiliation between Oak Web Works, LLC and ClickitTicket.com. The blues of Oak Web Works’s logo swirl into the reds of ClickitTicket.com’s logo. This can be interpreted as a melding of the two organizations, which is what the words underneath say, “in affiliation with”. Also, the red of http://www.oakwebworks.com/tickets/ indicates action and passion, two essentials for people who want to attend theater, sporting events or concerts. Another online ticket website, http://www.bestshowticketslasvegas.com/, has a different color approach. Its main colors are blue and purple, giving the site a comforting, secure and sophisticated feel. The main header on each page has all the colors in the rainbow in it, a collage of images, with the word ‘Tickets’ in large, white font. Much of the site is white too, which gives it a clean feel. As a general rule of thumb, when Oak Web Works (http://www.oakwebworks.com) designs websites, one primary color and one secondary or complimentary color will be chosen. These colors are based on the specific audience and market of our client and the messages the client wants to communicate to the rest of the world. If more than two or three colors are used, things tend to look a little messy, and the power of any one color is diluted too much, so we most often stick with two colors. When I am not sure exactly which colors or combinations to use, I often start trying different things, then take a step back and ask myself what my chosen colors are conveying to me. After designing many websites over the years I have realized that going with my gut has often worked when I’m in doubt. You would be surprised at how creative and accurate your intuition can be. However, if the client already has an established brand, we will always make sure to match the colors of the website with the original colors of the company. It is not wise to have print collateral material one color and the website a totally unrelated color. All marketing channels need to remain consistent, with one face only. Since website visitors all have different platforms, different monitors, and different settings for their screen resolutions, the colors you choose for your website may not always be rendered the exact same way on your site visitors’ monitors. That’s why there are “Web Safe” colors that have a much higher likelihood of looking the exact same regardless of the user’s computer, monitor or settings. Many graphics programs, including Adobe Photoshop, have a feature that allows you to choose “Web Safe” colors only. Keep in mind however, that the sophistication of technology today allows for Web designers to be able to stray from the “Web Safe” colors more and more. So don’t be overly concerned if you choose to use “un-safe’ Web colors, chances are that most of your audience has the computers necessary to view your site the exact way you intended. Whether you are designing sites for clients or designing your own business website, your color choice is vital. Be sure to try different colors, different shades, and different combinations before you decide. It’s a lot of fun playing with colors but every choice you make comes with a set of pre-defined societal meanings and emotions, so choose with deliberate care.
Related posts
Posted in web design |
Tags: choosing colors, collateral material, e-marketing, jason oconnor, marketing, oak web works, Small Business, web colors, web design, web development, web marketing |
No Comments »
Learn the 10 secrets to an award winning web site?
1. Clearly define what you wish to achieve What are your goals and what does your site need to achieve? What is its purpose? Branding, marketing, lead generator, sales channel Integrate online with offline. Know your audience and who they are? What do they want? They want a useful website and useful information, friendliness, efficiency, good service 2. Don’t be pushed around Don’t let marketing people, arty web designers push you into “bleeding edge” web design. Ask yourself the question does it add to my sites functionality? Does it make it easier for your customers? 3. Make the most of your cyber world real estate Don’t – Waste it with filler, splash pages, unnecessary content or welcome messages. Do – State clearly your company’s point of difference. Important links upfront, include search, minimise use of animation or scrolling. 4. Establish your credibility You only have one chance to make ANY kind of impression and provide easy to find products, an easy way to buy or contact information. Give visitors a sense of your credibility that you are a trustworthy and a legitimate operation. 5. Take ownership Make sure you assign someone to take ownership of your site! Keep it updated and fresh not just for your customers but for the search engines. Answer emails promptly. 6. Keep it simple Don’t use in-house terms or confusing language. You’d be amazed at how much jargon you use when speaking about your business. Get your we writing checked by a professional. 7. Talk to your visitors Establish a way for people to sign up for email newsletters. Keep in touch with customers, but only when you have something to say. 8. Give it personality People love to know they are dealing with real people. Tailor the tone. If appropriate, write your content in a personal manor. 9. Tell people about your website Include the URL on every piece of paper communication put it on brochures, letterheads, business cards, pens….. 10. Continual Improvement Don’t let your site stagnate. Just like you as a business owner, a website requires continual improvements to keep it up to date so it can be as successful as possible. Keep an eye on competition. Test and measure AND test and measure after testing and measuring. Don’t do new stuff, just because it’s new. For comments and enquiries about this article visit www.datumconnect.co.nz
Related posts
Posted in web design |
Tags: web design, web development, web marketing, web promotion, Web Writing, website design |
No Comments »
Google Adsense And Adwords – Like Yin And Yang
Many websites include a section or two with the “Ads by Google” above it or below it. These are ads displayed via Google’s AdSense. When you do a search on Google and see ads in the search results pages, they are generally AdSense ads. AdSense – The Yin: Google’s AdSense is programming that “senses” the content of a page or search. It finds keywords on a web page or in a search phrase to determine the subject of the content. It does this by either “reading” the page, or taking a look at the search term that was typed into Google Search. It can “Sense” which ads in the system are relevant to the content or search and display them – thus: “AdSense.” Before ads on a page are displayed, AdSense searches its database of advertisers and finds ads that are associated with keywords on the page or in the search. Now AdSense needs to decide which of the thousands of ads vying for position are actually displayed. To make this decision, AsSense looks at the advertiser’s bids for the relevant keywords. The advertisers that have a combination of the highest bid, keyword relevance and best click through get displayed first. Google tracks clicks on ads and advertisers pay Google the bid price for each click. When the AdSense ad is on someone’s web page, Google pays the website owner a portion of the payment for each click. The term “monetizing” your site refers to taking your existing site and placing ads like AdSense on it to make money (or finding other way to make money with websites). If you get 10,000 visitors and 10% of them click an ad that pays you, theoretically, $0.75 per click, you just made $750! Not bad for just copying some AdSense code (which Google provides) into your popular website’s HTML (if your site is not popular, learn about SEO – Search Engine Optimization – from sites like AcmeWebResources). AdWords – The Yang: The other side to AdSense is AdWords. AdSense ads have lists of relevant keywords associated with them. Each keyword is bid on by the advertisers for placement in the results pages and on web sites around the world. The words that will prompt a display of an advertiser’s ad are bid on by the advertiser. When an ad matches the words on a page, the ads are displayed; thus: AdWords. AdWords is the system in Google that is used to place ads that display in AdSense. You can enroll in AdWords to pay for AdSense ads to drive traffic to your site. The first step is to sign up with Google. The next step is to associate keywords to associate with your site. The idea is to drive traffic to your site through the use of relevant ads. The more relevant the ad to your content, the more targeted your traffic will be. Compose your articles around your list of keywords. Next, write an ad based on the keywords and assign keywords to the ad. You will bid on the keywords at the time you associate keywords with the ad. If one of your keywords is searched for or relevant to a site, and you have a good bid and relevant ad, your AdWord ad will be displayed. Only when someone clicks your ad are you charged by Google. The more popular keywords are wanted by many competitors, so the prices per click can get pretty high. It is not uncommon for a click to cost $5 or even $10. If you have 10,000 ad clicks, after you account for your conversion rate (the rate that you convert visitors into buyers) you better be sure you are making more than the ad click costs! But it should never break your bank because you can set the bid limits and the monthly budget. What if you can’t afford $5.00 per click? Since the more popular keywords are so expensive, it is best to bid on less popular keywords because the cost per click is lower. Google presently has a minimum bid of $0.05 per click. If you can get those, you can reduce your advertising budget. A popular site can make a lot of money, however, a lot of money and time can be wasted. To avoid waste, you have to learn as much as possible and get the right tools to do the research.
Related posts
Posted in web |
Tags: adsense, advertising, Adwords, internet marketing, make money online, monitize, web marketing |
No Comments »