Friday, 19 August 2011

SiteProNews


SiteProNews

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 12:15 PM PDT
searchmktgApproximately four years ago, Google made a major change in their search engine results page by introducing a “Universal Search” system that blended listings with video, images and news results along with the sites it gathered from crawling web pages. Universal Search also accommodated the increase in searches for location-specific information. Instead of just searching “restaurants”, many people were searching “restaurants Louisville KY.” Search engines tested this new interest trend by placing a map and local listings at the top of the results page. Heat map reports showing how users absorb a search results page implied that users paid a good deal of attention to the map listings at the top of the page.
This research also indicates that users interact with map listings and organic search results more frequently than the paid ads. This change prompted Google to prioritize local search to the top of the search results page, and in time most engines followed suit.
Before the rise of local search, users had to enter a search term plus a geo-modifier (e.g., Louisville, Kentucky, 40299) in order to get location-specific search results. Today’s search algorithms take into account the IP address of the user, showing location-targeted results without the searcher requesting it. A search for just “dentists” from a computer in Louisville will pull up dental offices in the Louisville, KY area along with the general information pages.
Google experimented with how many local search listings to display in order to maximize user experience. Originally, only three local search listing results were displayed as flags next to the area map. Google tried increasing local map listings to a 10-pack, but found that searchers did not like how far down the page that moved organic search results. Research indicated that local searchers wanted a selection of map listings, but also valued the organic search listings. This led to the 7-pack format, which presented seven listings at the top of the search page.
The most recent iteration of Google’s local search display is called “Place Search.” This format combines the organic listings with local map listings and positions the map on the right panel. There is also an option to see only local listings by clicking the “Places” link in the left-hand panel. The latest iteration personalizes local search by allowing users to select their location to see local listings in any area, not just their current location. This change puts even more emphasis on local search results by showing more robust listings with pictures, meta descriptions and review quotes.
Bing and Yahoo have followed Google into local search marketing. However, all local search does not work the same and they have different algorithms to determine business rank. Obviously, you get more traffic if you are ranked on the first page of local search. To obtain a high ranking, you must build out your business listing using geotags, reviews, citations, product and service keywords and additional information.
G3 Marketers is an internet marketing service that specializes in online marketing for local
businesses. G3 helps businesses get recognized through dynamic Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Google Places Optimization (GPO) as well as Yahoo Local and Bing Local. In addition, G3 provides Social Media Marketing (SMM) services which includes strategically placing your product, service or brand in front of millions of web users that religiously participate in social networking.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Why You Need A Local Search Strategy
Posted: 18 Aug 2011 12:06 PM PDT
emailmktg2Email Marketing is one of the quickest and easiest ways for any business to increase conversions and profits.
By changing from “selling off the page” to an email marketing model it is easy to increase conversions by 10 times, 16 times or even more.
But WHY is… email marketing so profitable… and if it IS so profitable why do so many people claim it doesn’t work?
Well, the answer is simple: most people get their email marketing horribly, horribly wrong and make some simple but easily corrected mistakes.
The truth is email marketing DOES work… but you have to be careful to do it the right way, assuming you want the best results. Simply sending “an email” is like going into the boxing ring with a world champion with the advice “just hit him” and hoping to win.
So here are 5 simple ways to make more conversions and hence greater profits from your email marketing:
1. Email More Often
I know this goes counter to the advice you’ve probably had in the past, but the truth is the more often you email, the more sales you’ll make. You’ll make far more sales because you’re both giving them more opportunities and incentives to buy from you, and developing a better relationship with them… and your conversion rates will improve tremendously.
By how much? Well, your business may vary, but in my business and my wife’s business, we get conversion rates of between 10% and 16% through email and maybe 1% from sales straight “off the page”. Yes, you’re reading that correctly: it’s a massive boost of 10 or 16 times or 1,000% to 1,600%.
2. Stop Being ‘Professional’
Forget sending stuffy and formal emails — they don’t work. People want to have a relationship with you, not be addressed as if they were in court standing in front of a judge. So write from one person, one human being to another, using the words, “you” and “me”, even if you’re writing to them from a big corporation.
3. Ditch the Fancy Designs
Newsflash: for reasons I don’t have space to go into here, the fancy “professionally designed” newsletter templates you’re encouraged to use by the email marketing companies and your website designer… look terrible at the other end. If you include images, they almost never get displayed, and even your HTML formatting ends up looking like a dog’s dinner. Stick to plain text or very simple HTML that LOOKS like plain text.
4. Have a Specific Call to Action in Every Email
Make it a personal rule that every email you send will have a specific action in it you want the reader to take, whether it’s to visit a page and buy something or to do something else. But make sure you have something in EVERY email because you are subconsciously training your readers to take action when you tell them!
5. Write About Anything!
This is a biggie: most businesses write boring, stuffy emails that are just about their businesses. Don’t do that. Include details about your life, and pretty much anything you please. Remember: you’re trying to build a relationship and you do that by sharing of yourself. I’ve written about all manner of things to my list, from my dog messing in the kitchen, to my son passing his karate belt (he has cerebral palsy, so it was even more of an achievement than usual), and I’ve even written about the operation I had on my toe. And my conversion rate is 10% or more!
The truth is if you do it the right way, email marketing is fast, effective and extremely cheap.
And these 5 tips will get you off to a great start.
Jon McCulloch is Ireland’s foremost email marketing expert and helps Irish business owners increase their online conversions and sales by as much as 10 or even 16 times (that’s NOT a typo you’re seeing).To discover more about effective email marketing in Ireland download Jon’s FREE audio training, Email Marketing Kick Start: http://www.emailmarketingireland.ie/email-marketing-tips
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Email Marketing – How to Increase Conversions By 10 to 16 Times or Even More
Posted: 17 Aug 2011 10:00 PM PDT
SEOptimizationCan SEO Companies and Consultants Be Trusted?
We get a lot of inquiries about search engine optimization services from people who have been “burned” by bad SEO and are understandably cautious about working with another search engine marketing company or SEO consultant. The level of mistrust should be increasing since the New York Times exposed link spamming by some very high profile online retailers, most likely through paid links. Paid links are when someone pays a website for a link to their own for the purpose of improving search engine rank, a practice which Google considers webspam and can get a website banned.
There are plenty of scammers in the online marketing business and just as many unqualified practitioners who do not realize that they are clueless.
A while back, I wrote an article about how to choose an SEO that covered some ways to avoid black hat and otherwise shady SEO companies and consultants. I left a lot of things out, so now seems like a good time to throw a few more out there.
It is usually pretty easy to spot the really bad SEOs. They are the ones making wild promises of overnight top Google positions, guaranteed search engine rankings, and internet marketing success beyond your wildest dreams – all for a ridiculously low price. But even some of the more legitimate SEO companies should be seriously scrutinized. Some of them may have known what they were doing at one time, but search engine marketing is a constantly changing landscape. What worked great to get a website to the top of Google last month may get your website banned from the search engines today. This type of search marketing consultant may mean well, but most people in the online marketing business are naturally know-it-alls. The good ones are able to recognize that they don’t really know everything and must continue learning. And of course, some are just as shady as the fly by night outfits, they are just better at looking legitimate.
Here are some ways you can check the quality and trustworthiness of SEOs:

Unbelievable Claims
Do they promise things like guaranteed #1 position, submitting to thousands of search engines (can you name more than 5?), “beat Google,” use of millions of dollars worth of proprietary technology or anything else that sounds too good to be true?
Do they advertise that they use known bad SEO practices like automated writing or duplicating of content, cloaking, doorway pages, buying links, or offer to include you in their network of sites (also known as a “link farm”)?
Or does the SEO company itself engage in any of those techniques for their own site? They probably won’t state clearly that these are known bad or black hat techniques, but instead act as if these are great innovations they will implement for your site.
Deceptive or just misinformed – either way, avoid them.

Ask a Trick Question
Make up a “just launched” Google feature like “Google Retention Manager” and ask if they are experienced with it. Or ask about an out-of-date, no longer useful technique like pagerank sculpting. Their answers will tell you much about their honesty.
Does their website have lots of stock photos of very good looking blonde haired blue eyed “business people” holding a phone to their ear or sitting at a conference table? This is often just lazy web design, but can indicate they have something to hide – maybe they are not located where they say they are and all the work is outsourced to foreign countries. Call and ask to meet with the people in the picture and see what happens. This is almost as much fun as asking telemarketers uncomfortable personal questions (yes, I need a healthier hobby).
Google the company’s name and look for contradictions Do they claim to be “ethical and organic” yet their site appears in a ton of paid link directories, brag about Google bombing in an interview, or have 3 or 4 different sites with different bogus company names that all eventually lead to the same contact page?
Everything is a Big Secret
Of course, many SEOs have techniques they would rather not make public, but when it comes to working with clients there should be no secrets. Don’t expect your SEO consultant to give you every little detail about what they do for your web site, but you have the right to know what techniques are being implemented and what it means to your website. You deserve an SEO that is open and honest with you. Bad SEOs want to keep you uniformed in order to avoid accountability.

Too Narrowly Focused on Rankings
There is more to the success of a website than search engine rankings, but a lot of SEOs don’t get that. Rankings are a good way to show progress, but should not be the end goal. Rankings are a means to an end and if those good keyword positions are not bringing in targeted traffic that leads to conversions, then what is the point?
Rankings are an important part of internet marketing but should not be used as the only metric of success.
They Only See SEO as Keywords and Backlinks
The job of the SEO is not to convince everyone that the ugly duckling is a beautiful swan, but to help the duckling become a swan, and make sure everyone knows about it. There are many paths to online marketing success that are off the map of standard search engine optimization. Social Media, for example should now be considered as an integral part of promoting most websites. While many strategies may fall outside the scope of their abilities, a search engine optimizer should keep all such options in mind for your long-term success and be able to make recommendations on how to implement them or at least where to start to look for complete web presence management.
No Follow Through
When they have exhausted their handful of sure fire link building techniques and other magic tricks and the real strategizing needs to begin, shady SEOs will often find simpler and greener pastures with new clients. Sure, sometimes all a website needs to rank better is some on page SEO housecleaning and a few links from high quality websites, but long term growth requires some dedication, innovation and adaptation.
There is always more to do. Bad SEOs get burned out working on a client, but continue to charge full price for minimal work.
They Don’t Understand What “Service” Means, but They Know How Much to Charge for It
Of course, there is nothing wrong with SEOs making money, but that should not be the only motivation. Good SEO consultants also do it because they enjoy it and want to help other people do well. It is much like the level of trust people have with auto mechanics. There are plenty of mechanics who will take every opportunity to rip you off, but there are many who love to work on cars and love to be of service to you. SEOs are very much like mechanics – we can fix your site or maybe even turn it into a high performance machine. Some will fix problems you did not have, and make more problems for you in the long run.
I like to see it as an opportunity to apply my knowledge, talents and experience in a way that can help others achieve their goals. You the client have a great product, service, or message and I know how to make sure everyone who should know about it has no problem finding it which helps you succeed in your business. That makes me feel pretty good and since it can pay my bills, that makes it even better.
In internet marketing and SEO, like most things, if something sounds to good too be true, it is probably crap. There is no “magic SEO system” and automated $29 solutions may work on very rare occasion, but are very likely to be ineffective at best, and damaging in the worst cases – unless of course you are looking to spam some knock off UGG boots or something like that. There are good and bad practitioners in just about any business, and there are plenty of good search engine marketing companies to choose from. You just have to do a little homework, and avoid looking for a cheap and dirty path to success for your business.
operates Ker Communications, a Pittsburgh SEO and internet marketing company dedicated to combining social media, high quality web design, insightful marketing, and high quality SEO to get real world results.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Warning Signs of Bad SEO – Who Can You Trust?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)