Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

….And Four Tips On SEO

Search Engine Marketing is a form of internet marketing that helps to increase your site’s visibility in a search engine result pages. This is a modern marketing strategy, with the help of which, you can advertise your product globally. This article deals with different types of Search Engine Marketing strategies with special emphasis on Search Engine Optimization.

Types of Search Engine Marketing:

One of the most popular types of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Other popular types of SEM are search engine Marketing or advertising and paid submission.

• Search engine advertising: It usually follows a PFP model wherein you pay in order to ensure a top rank in the results of a search engine, both on the search site along with its distribution network. A successful PFP advertising campaign depends on 5 factors, namely, bid price, keyword selection, ad distribution, ad copy and effective landing pages.

• Paid submission: In a paid submission Search Engine Marketing program, web site owners pay an amount to have their specific websites reviewed by editors. However, there is no guarantee that the site will be accepted into a directory. It applies typically to human-based search engines, which are referred to as directories. A successful directory campaign depends on the title, description and the category selection.

Tips for Search Engine Optimization:

SEO, a popular type of Search Engine Marketing, is a set of techniques, which help to optimize a specific webpage. The primary aim of Search Engine Optimization is to rank a website organicaly (without paying) in popular search engines (such as, Google, Yahoo, etc.). Here are few tips that will help you to rank your webpage high in popular search engines.

1. Create a sitemap: You should create a sitemap as it helps a search engine to understand your website’s architecture as it is difficult to access then from backlinks. A sitemap can be defines as a hierarchical arrangement of web pages that are available in your website.

2. Produce high quality content: It is one of the prerequisites to rank your page high in popular search engines. The content, posts and article need to be of high quality. It is advisable that put informative article that help a visitor to know about your product category. It is better to keep the length of content short and to the point.

3. Maintain keyword density: Keyword density is an important aspect in site optimization. You should always keep the density wityhin4-6%; search engines may label it as spam if the density exceeds 10%. Therefore, always check keyword density before uploading a particular webpage.

4. Include internal links: Link your home page with all the pages in your website. Include suitable internal links on all the webpages; it will increase the number of links to each of the webpages and it will also make it easier for a search engine to find all the pages in your website.

Apart from doing it yourself, you may hire an experienced Search Engine Marketing company in order to market your website. It will help your website to rank high in popular search engines.

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

Ecommerce merchants have many pages to write copy for. Home and landing pages, category pages, product descriptions, articles, and shopping messages are just a few. This article will describe five ways to improve your web copy, and the concepts here can be applied to all pages on your growing ecommerce website.

1. Establish a Tone That Matches Your Niche

As you write, imagine that you are speaking to your niche group in person. Set a tone with your copy and continue it throughout your online store. Good descriptions establish credibility by demonstrating that you actually know something about the product, other than what the manufacturer provides. Share your personal insights and manager’s notes, or add specific customer testimonials. You can even ask employees to choose their weekly picks.

Create relationships between products and categories with text links and not just with navigation buttons. Create text links using relevant keywords, phrases that link product and article pages. If your customers include multiple sub-niche groups, create a page that allows them to choose specific questions they want answered, rather than trying to answer everything for everyone on one page.

2. Differentiate Your Products and Your Store

Differentiating your online store from the hordes of competition is one of the most critical, profit-producing elements any ecommerce site can accomplish (competing on price alone will typically leave you paddling against a very strong tide). Become a successful and profitable online store by fitting your niche. Compare your site against your three nearest competitors, and make sure people know exactly why they should shop with you over them. Your website cannot replace human contact, but it can work 24 hours a day to show people exactly how your ecommerce store is the better solution for them.

Create charts or checklists to identify ways your product is unique. If the product is not unique, then demonstrate how your company or service is better than the competition. Use concrete examples and customer testimonials whenever possible. If you are relying on your expertise, create links to articles and how-to information on your site that back up your claims. Tout your great customer service by including a phone number, hours of operation, and a contact person on the site.

For those stores carrying unique handcrafted or individually made items, remember that unique in itself is not a clear selling point. Explain how receiving a handmade gift makes someone feel, or describe how your product(s) fill a need for individual expression.

3. Educate and Inform Customers

Educate and inform your customers by making product facts interesting. Tell a story, be specific, and give examples on how to use it, when to use it, and what not to do, if applicable. Use multiple image views or videos to show the product in use. Write product descriptions for both scanners and diggers. (Scanners want bullet points, comparisons and checklists. Diggers want specification sheets, more details, and extensive product descriptions.) You can even add a PDF download for the super diggers. Add multiple image views or a checklist of ways to use the product. Create articles that answer common questions in detail and link to them from product pages.

Copying and pasting the same information on each page is a huge mistake, and it creates massive duplicated content within your site. Instead, write articles to answer similar questions, and link to them. This allows you more room for explanations, and gives every page unique content. If you have multiple products with similar descriptions, try using short video clips with a simple voice over to show how each individual piece is different. Think of any question a customer might have and find a way to include an answer.

4. Create a Clear Buying Path and Help Customers Follow It

Customer confusion hurts e commerce sales because when a customer gets confused they rarely buy. People want to make sure they have the right information before they decide to buy. And, once they decide to make a purchase, customers want to know how to buy and how other factors, like shipping, availability, returns and cost, will affect the sale. Be sure to tell the customer exactly what you want him or her to do, and spell out what will happen next.

Give your customers multiple ways to purchase your products on the same page. Make the buying process simple, but don’t just rely on the “buy it now” button. You can also add text links and image links to lead people to your checkout page. If there is a step before checkout, such as choosing a color, include it in the text. Don’t make people register before they buy. This confuses some and annoys others, and very often you will lose the sale. Make it easy to trust you and even easier to buy.

5. Improve Search Engine Optimization

Use relevant, varied keyword phrases in page titles, headlines and descriptions. To the search engines, “coat hanger,” “coat hangers,” “coats hanger,” and “coats hangers” are separate keyword phrases. Most keyword topics have dozens of versions of search phrases for a particular topic. Parcel your keyword phrases across multiple product pages throughout a category. When you have similar multiple items, spread out the keyword phrases using one or two phrases per product.

Be creative – Don’t be afraid to jump out of the BOX

Look for creative ways to use strange-syntax keyword phrases. Many people search for non-grammatically correct phrases like “coat hanger wide wood” or “hanger clothes plastic.” Optimize your product descriptions for unusual phrases, and do your best to work them into sentences that makes sense. In the example “coat hanger wide wood” you could write “No coat is too big for this coat hanger, wide wood version that keeps even the largest heavy winter coats in shape.”

Summary

Your online store offers you the opportunity to connect with potential buyers and to differentiate your products while establishing credibility and trust. Make the most of this opportunity by diving into your website copy with a clear purpose in mind. Just like any first impression, it’s important to make it count.

Examples of Websites With Good Product Descriptions

These two web pages use creativity, multiple images and video to showcase products:

• Baghaus
• Nappastudio

References

• 5 Tips To Better Product Descriptions
• 73 Ways to Describe a Widget by Marcia Yudkin

Related Articles from Practical Ecommerce

• Ecommerce Know-How: Writing Product Descriptions that Sell
• Product Pages: 6 Tips to Transform Them Into “Sales Magnets”
• Ecommerce Know-How: Six Ways To Improve Your Online Stor

Originally published with Practical Ecommerce in 2009

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

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I see many hotel and business websites looking very good, but performing so badly or they not perform at all. The owners of those websites must have thought “This site design looks stunning and fancy! Let’s upload the website right now! Our guest, clients or customers will love this side and us! They will buy our services and products! After all it’s a fancy site isn’t it?.”

An unfortunate but all too common situation!

A web designer who designed and created a website without any clue or idea what SEO and  Search engine Marketing means, and this designer couldn’t care less if the website will be popular and a profitable business! After all, the web-designer wants to build and show the most fancy website site to others for his/her own adverting and benefit! The designer couldn’t care less if your side will ever be a high-ranking site, if your site does  have visitors or if your site generates any business at all… Trust me, they don’t care or they don’t know that they should care about how the site can be seen by Google and all the other search entities.

Note: Honestly, you can’t blame them entirely – long gone are the days when you can have one person who is a specialist in both website creation and search engine optimization! These activities are worlds apart and both take massive amount sof training, leave the SEO to your local search engine optimization experts and let your website designer create the look and functionality of the site, better yet- thave them work together!

Let’s talk about some simple SEO facts:

• It’s a fact that most website designers don’t know much about SEO as the skills and knowledge needed for SEO and E-Marketing are very different. (Would you trust your local contractor to do important Sales and Marketing work for you?)
• It’s a fact that most website designers like to create the most beautiful site to be included into his/her portfolio as a reference and don’t care at all how many people will visit your site… or even better, how much business you create with your site!
• It’s a fact that many websites I check look really impressive and good! However with wrong keywords, without back links, without listings in web directories, without proper title tags, descriptions, proper architecture, HTML, XHTML or CSS, and with those mentioned, your site will never rank very high in Google.
• It’s a fact that using too much “Flash” will make  customer angry and your SEO efforts very difficult.
• You have heard that “Content” is King so don’t copy from other sites, write good content and write a lot of it! Use videos , audio and other methods to keep the content relevant and fresh. Make sure to include your keywords in the content on the page, and in the title tags too.
• It’s a fact that your visitors come to your site first and foremost for INFORMATION! Give them the option to view relevant articles, cusotmer reviews, pictures and optimized videos, but focus on INFORMATION and CONTENT.
• It’s a fact that your site must be USER-FRIENDLY as your visitors might leave the site less than 10 seconds after landing, especially if they cannot figure out what your offer or how to navigate your site.
• It’s a fact that you must keep on writing articles, press and news releases and submit them to all the leading sites and on social media sides.
• It’s a fact that you should always include social media links such as Face book, my space and Twitter etc.
• It’s a fact that by adding a Blog (where you post at least one (1) article a week on) can give your customers a way to interact, learn about new products and features as well as provide your employees with an easy way to share up to date info.
• It’s a fact that you might want to consider also posting on other blogs related to your business to create good exposure and back links, plus it makes you feel good!
• It’s a fact that SEO and E-Marketing is not a one-time effort.  This work never stops even after your site ranks well for several keywords. Search engine optimization is always changing and so is the competition, a regular approach to SEO will pay for itself with new and better traffic!

If a web designer offer to make you one of these sites- RUN!

It is not unusual to see some hotel and other business websites which are over 5 years old and still does not have a decent  page-rank, very limited or even no back-links and absolutely NO link-popularity at all. An Alexa rank of 15 million  or higher and very limited page view and visitors a day means even less business transactions.

Most of the time those websites are without relevant, updated content, only fancy flash and pictures and ‘blinking’ gadgets, and the focus on how pretty and wonder that company is.

Obviously no one asked the consumer what they wanted to know before they created the website. Vreate your website for your visitors – not for your ego! No wonder these websites do nothing to help thier businesses become more profitable. So – how does your website help you to get more business?

Many Small and medium sized business Directors and Mangers don’t like Internet Marketing, SEM  or SEO! (and why should they?) It’s a BIG pain in their side and a huge source of worry.

• They worry that they will spend all this money and not get real life results ( and be held accountable for it)
• They think that their customers are not really using the internet to shop, investigate or contact suppliers.
• They don’t really know how to justify the expense to higher ups because they work in a brick and morter setting and do not grasp how significantly marketing has changed because of the internet.

They better adjust their mind-set and learn new techniques or they will really have something to worry big-time, since well over 90% of all B2B managers serach online for product info BEFORE they decide who to buy from.

We know that especially here in Atlanta, the owners of many successful businesses don’t know much about Search engine marketing and even less about optimizing for Local search terms.

Those owners and managers trust their IT Manager- whose job involves making machines talk to each other, Search marketing is about having your website talk to REAL PEOPLE.  Sometimes these same owner and mangers,(who don’t have a clue what the IT Manager is trying to say) will trust this person with thier online marketing.

Many business owners and managers are simply too overwhelmed to learn a whole new system, like IT or SEO, so they  ask the next logical person to attempt this ( even if they are unqualified to do so) So, what I want to say here is:

As an owner or manager especially in a small to medium size, you have to learn about what  Information technology is, what social media is, what SEO means, what internet marketing is all about.  It is very important to understand these terms and how they apply to your business because it will help to SUCCESSFULLY compete in todays tough economic times.

Think about this example: Hotel Statistics:

90% of your sales and marketing budget produces in average only 42% of the result (Tour Operators and Travel Agents)  whereby 10% of the budget (E-Marketing) and SEO) does produce up to 60% of the business.

Most people and managers don’t know that it is NOT the IT Managers’ responsibility to do Search engine optimization OR internet marketing.  Almost all business websites could benefit form having a dedicated SEO or local serach engine optimizaton company to attract website traffic. This way you can rest easy knowing your bsuiness is not getting buried somewhere out on the web, plus you can see results with  monthly report on Local SEO marketing actives, search engine ranking and competitive search engine terms.

Klaus Rauter Managing Director Mai-BS (Thailand) Co., Ltd. info@mai-bs.com http://mai-bs.com

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

Dr Wilson and Marckini explains how local search works, with geotargeting, as well as using placenames or city names in the metadata — title tag, meta description tag, and meta keyword tag. Thanks You tube channel – Webmarketingtoday!

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

When you have a business online there are many marketing methods that you will need to use to promote your website. One of the first methods that you need to learn about and use is search engine optimization using keyword rich content. This is one of the most effective forms of marketing online and it is free to do. This article is going to give you some secrets about using keyword rich content for your SEO marketing.

Now, before you learn what the secrets are to search engine optimization, you need to know how important it is for you to educate yourself about this marketing method. Too many people try using this online marketing method without taking the time to learn about it. You can use SEO for marketing when you do this but if you want to have it work effectively for you then you need to take the time to educate yourself on it.

Now, here are the secrets to search engine optimization that you need to know.

Choose the right Keywords

1.  The key to using search engine optimization effectively is the keywords that you choose. You have to take time to research the keywords you are going to use. Come up with as many keywords or keyword phrases as you can because you will need a lot of them over time. It is important that you choose keywords that are relevant to your site. You want to use these keywords in the articles that you write for your site and for your sites marketing. You can also look for less competitive keywords that are more specific to buyers and target them ( read the article on targeting buyer behavior here)

Add Keyword phrases to your website content

2. Now, once you have the keywords you are going to use you need to decide how you are going to get the keyword rich content for your site and for your website promotion. The best thing you can do is to learn how to write the content or articles yourself. When you are a business owner this will be one of the best things you can learn because you will have to write a lot of different things for search engine optimization promotion. However, when you don’t want to learn how to write or you just can’t do it, you can always hire someone to do it for you.

Keep it Fresh

3. You have to make sure that you have fresh keyword rich content on your site at least once a week, twice a week is even better. You also need to have fresh keyword rich content that you can use once or twice a week just for promoting your site with article directories and other sites.

The secret is in the Phrase

These are the secrets to using keyword rich content for search engine optimization. They are not all of the secrets but they are the most important ones. The best thing you can do is to educate yourself on this before you use it, so that you know how to do it effectively.

Keywords are the language of the internet.

Without strategic keyword research and a keyword map, your online marketing efforts are doomed to languish. Keyword research is a dynamic event, and should be done at least once a year.

How Keyword research is like Jeopardy (and you’d better have the right question)

It’s important to remember that people use the search engines like they are the host of a big quiz show. When they type in “large dog beds” they are really asking “What is”:

What are the sizes of big dog beds?
Who has the best dog beds?
Who has a big selection of dog beds?
what do big dog beds cost?

You want YOUR website to become the right ANSWER to their question.

This is how you “show up” in the search engines. Search engine optimization, which is based on keywords, is the way that Google knows that is on each page of a specific website. If  you would like to get the most comprehensive and accurate Keyword research for your business web site give us a call LeadMastersUSA at 678 318 7515

You might also like:

Be unique or go home: 5 reasons to give your online store a unique selling proposition

A value proposition is often the last thing e business owners want to work on, mainly because they assume that their stores uniqueness is abundantly clear. Opening your own ecommerce store bring along with it a swarm of challenges; inventory, SEO, shipping, order fulfillment, getting traffic and site design to …

and

Successful Keyword Research Examines The Intent Behind The Search As Well As The Words

If you intend to develop your business website or e commerce store you will be targeting high traffic keywords – sometimes as many as a thousand. When it comes to keyword research there is a reason why we say successful keyword research examines the intent behind the search as well …

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

Publishing how-to articles on your growing ecommerce website can be an effective way to boost sales. How-to articles can attract traffic, improve your search position, engage visitors, increase time visitors spend on-site, and help to establish your brand and expertise.

Turn Visitors Into Customers

Writing effective how-to articles can be as simple as creating a series about your product line. People like to compare features before they buy, and they are often searching for timely information on installing, assembling, and using a product.

Some valuable how-to topics would include:

• What kind of product should I buy?
• How to choose between product A and product B.
• Which version is best for me?
• Why use product X versus other products?
• How to install and/or assemble product X.
• How to use product X.
• Five ways to use product X to create __.
• Ideas for using product X in your home office, school, and car.
• How not to use product X.
• Achieving a certain effect with product X.
• How to achieve _?
• Accessories guide for products.
• Reference and comparison charts for products.

Articles Boost Customer Confidence

Online shoppers are also looking for indications that your store will have the expertise and willingness to help them if there are any questions after the sale. How-to articles can boost consumer confidence because they demonstrate that you know real-world facts about your products.

Articles can also help reduce phone support expenses when you provide answers for the most commonly asked questions. A good article directory makes it easy for potential customers to surf your online store for answers, rather than clicking away in search of answers and into the arms of your competitor’s store.

Articles and Social Media

Social media is the newest ecommerce buzzword, and with all the talk about blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, articles have lost some of their prominence in favor of newer content distribution methods. But, article publication should remain a large part of any social media and marketing plan because articles are still an effective way to attract targeted traffic and engage visitors once they arrive on your site. People still like to read articles, especially how-to articles that are designed to help them better understand your products.

Is your successful online store willing to let potential customers click away in order to find out “how to” do something?

Summary

The simple act of sharing relevant information in the form of a how-to does more than just present facts. It demonstrates that you are interested in your customers’ questions, even before they ask. It shows that you understand their needs and are willing to address them. It also gives you a chance to gently guide potential customers into buying the right product for their needs, leading to fewer returns and more happy customers. And, that is what we are all looking for.

Examples of Effective Article Use

• B & H Photo Video
• Photo.net
• Lowes
• Whirlpool Bathtub Store

Related Articles

• Link Article Marketing to Purchase-Related Keywords
• Ecommerce Know-How: Writing Product Descriptions that Sell
• 5 Ways to Improve Website Copy and Grow Sales

Originally published in Practical ecommerce Aug 09

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – SEO for Local Search from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

If you watched last week’s Whiteboard Friday, you’ll recall that Google uses information from their Local Business Center, certain trusted providers like InfoUSA, Acxiom, and Localeze, as well as certain data from their webcrawl to determine local rankings. In the video, David and Rand walk through a chart of these info sources and how you need to tweak them for different aspects of your business.

One of the most important things you can do is to simply make sure your business is properly submitted to the LBC and Trusted sources, and that your contact info is accurate and consistent across all of your listings. You can also do some active management and search for web references to make sure mentions of your business are using the correct contact information.

The importance of Categories and Descriptions

There are also very important considerations for where and how you categorize your business, as well as where you’re receiving reviews and mentions. They can all have a big impact on your local rankings and your location prominence with Google; watch the video to learn more about how to dramatically improve your local search rankings without building a single link.

NOTE:

Thanks again Scott Willowby and his great VIDEO series “SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday” This is part two of local search and I think you will agree it is very informative and really explains how to position your website for local searches.

Thanks again Scott and David!

Discover how to get : #1 Google Placement for Local Search! Atlanta