Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Search Engine Optimization And Why Arkansas Businesses Need It

E-commerce is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.

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 have been and will continue to 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 site's success in search engine optimization. There is a higher probability of being clicked on when you rank high, again, especially in the top 3. 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 better. 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 and then make efforts to keep those rankings.

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 to make your site income generating.


There are benefits to getting ranked well in the search engines. Only 10-20% of the traffic that makes it to your site will purchase something. Obviously, the more traffic the better! If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you'll get a good steady stream of sales. If you get only ten to twenty hits a day, you'll only get one or two sales, if 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 on 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. Getting your site best situated to get ranked well is what search engine optimization is all about. The many factors include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your site's niche or theme.

You may also need to rewrite your site's contents so that 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 links, get involved in Social Media, and the like. The more inbound and outbound traffic of a site is one of the components search engines uses to rank them.

You can visit other areas of our site for more information. How To Market Website

Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are available.

We also offer classes and one on one coaching for your business in addition to our SEO services where we make your site search engine friendly.

The more knowledge and information you can gain the better. This will all help you get those high rankings. It will require a little time and effort on your part but the benefits will be astounding.

We offer search engine optimization as one of our services. Learn Web Site Marketing

There are many sites that help with keyword research. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that are also good quality.

Act now and see the benefits garnered with search engine optimization. All of these will result in better traffic and more business for your site and company.

Visit Web Site Marketing Skills today for a FREE Competitive Analysis.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Using Ecovers For Internet Marketing Endeavors Improve Your Conversions

The trouble with digital merchandises is that, well, they're digital. They're ethereal. They're non-existent physically. They do not possess any physical structure.

As such, they do not have any aspect that will help prospective buyers weigh their value. Not like an actual book for instance, where you can look at the cover or scan the back flap to know what it's all about, an eBook won't have such luxuries.

This is the explanation of why eCovers – electronically manufactured graphics that represent apparently real covers or boxes for online products – are very important for online entrepreneurs. Ecovers give that sense of tangibility that online products seriously require. This is important because this sense of tangibility offers for buyers the impression that they will be purchasing a thing that they can really own, a thing that they can really be theirs. Without this sense of tangibility, online products will be a difficult sell surely.

One more basis for the sheer importance of eCovers for eCommerce today is that these graphics provide buyers something that they can utilize as barometers for the value of the products they are considering to purchase.

For this reason, online advertisers should strive for top quality, expertly made eCovers rather than taking risks on cheaper but less winning selections. Even if persons feel that manuscripts shouldn't be judged by their casings, they are still considered by the same because casings are the primary things that people get to see. With digital products, casings are all that buyers are able to see, thus, casings take on a whole new layer of importance.

A poorly designed, poorly prepared eCover will dishearten your buyers. They'd sense that the actual product that such an eCover epitomizes is only as poorly designed and poorly finished.

On the other hand, a good appearing eCover will certainly sell a product of, for instance, lesser quality work. The eCover solely will be able to condition the prospect's minds that the product it represents is only as carefully arranged and a gracefully made venture.

If you're in the trade of selling digital products, eCovers should be one of your primary investments. Don't attempt to hunt for shortcuts. Don't try to find the cheapest deal. Instead, attempt to search for the fairest deal, that is, the coolest looking eCover for an entirely acceptable price.

Get more internet marketing tips Arkansas

Monday, June 8, 2009

Using Technorati For Internet Marketing

Technorati is a great way to boost your site higher in the search engines and snag some traffic from Technorati itself. If you haven't ever checked it out you really should take some time and see what it's all about. This service is an index/bookmarking site which focuses on blogs. So if you blog (which you really should be doing) you can claim your blog on Technorati. This will allow you to create a profile, and add links to each of your blogs. If you want to see mine as an example you can click on my Technorati Profile to check it out.

Technorati rates and ranks a blog based on how many blogs link to your blog. So to gain a better ranking, the following two important things need to be considered:

1.Having more than one link from a single blog to yours will not make much difference. You need to participate in guest posts and post comments on different blogs. Your link should be among the links within regular posts.

2. Only links created within the last 180 days are counted. You cannot rest on your laurels or your ranking will start to sink.

Technorati classifies its blog postings by assigning tags to each one. For instance, all posts related to the keyword phrase 'attention' can be viewed at technorati.com/tags/attention. Technorati has its own special language code for tagging posts. If you have WordPress, several plug-ins that create Technorati tags are available. However, you probably shouldn't display the tags right on your website, since it offers the reader a chance to become distracted and wander away from your site. Technorati's content comes from your RSS feed, so it's really only imperative that the tags are found there. Try AutoMeta for a quality WordPress plug-in.

If there is a two-word tag such as, 'attention age', one will not have to list all of the permutations. These posts will be listed by Technorati under 'attention age', 'attentionage', 'attention', and 'age', automatically.

In addition to any tags that you explicitly add to your pots, Technorati will also use the categories you post was associated with as tags.

You must alert Technorati once you have posted comments on a blog. To do this you have to ping Technorati, unless you are employing a service such as Ping-o-matic which does it for you. If you have to do it yourself, put rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping among the sites your blogging software contacts. When using WordPress, this is accomplished by entering the information into Options > Writing > Update Services.

Technorati also serves as a social network bookmarking site with a whole lot more included in the package. List your blog sites here and get your authority rating. The biggest draw that I see with this social bookmarking site, is the tab in the upper right hand corner called "Blogger Central". Find out what's percolating in blogs today, the top tags or keywords, the rising links of the day, top blogs, and top favorited blogs by members at Technorati. From Blogger central you can access the Technorati tools, plug ins, widgets, and applications. The top most one hundred blogs run from an authority given by Technorati of 27,000 to 2,500, this is an attainable goal when focused. The widgets to place on your blog or site are a top searches widget, top tags widget, and link count widget, which displays the number of links to your site, in real time, updated live for all your site visitors. With the Technorati widgets chart, enter any term to see how many blogs have used that term in the past week to the past year.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

SEO Tips Internet Marketers Can Use To Improve Their Sites

Last time I posted about onpage seo and how internet marketers can apply some simple strategies to improve their rankings in the search engines and make their sites more user friendly for their visitors. Want some seo tips?

Navigation
Studies have been done to track the eye movements of people on the internet. They discovered many things about folks which I won't go into here, but in terms of seo, they did discover a few things we should pay attention to in our internet businesses.

The part of our eye that sees with great clarity and focus is rather small, really about the size of your thumb held out at arms length towards your computer screen. (Really!) The rest of what our eyes see is somewhat blurry. So, we should consider putting the price for our products very close to the "buy now" button so people can find it easier.

For the same reason our navigation links should not have more than 7 links without a break for our eyes. We tend to give up if we have to work too hard at finding our way around a site. So, break your categories up into groups not more than about 7 long.

Links
We haven't talked too much about linking yet on this blog, but we will; I promise. :-) But for the moment, in terms of on page seo, links here refer to links on your site pointing either to other pages on your site or to other sites.

We try so hard to get folks to our site, it grieves us to consider putting links on our site to other sites - but that's just what we need to do. Google likes to see us participating in the internet community. So, here's a tip: look for links to sites that aren't competitive. Government agencies and education sites, associations or other such organizations are great because, they are high PR sites generally, but aren't competitive. You don't have to have a lot of these links, just some.

Additionally, when we can't get around putting a link to a site that is competitive we can use nofollow tags to keep the spiders from leaving our pages, even if our visitors do.

Architecture and Site Design
As you build your pages ask yourself a very important question - what purpose does this page serve? What is your goal with the page? What one action could your visitor take from that page that you intend for them to take? The ultimate point of the page? If you don't have one, they won't get it. It's that simple. Your visitors need to be led through the process. They don't want to think. They already came. They are already interested. Sure they might back out, but that's the risk we always take in business and marketing, right? Take them by the hand and tell them the ultimate point. Lead them to the action you want them to take and then spell it out for them. Make sure they understand it. This is called a "call to action" in marketing. And they expect it. If they are confused in any way they will simply back out. So, what does that mean in terms of seo, architecture and site design?

Simplify every page to be about one thing. One focus. One point. They can like it or not. Stay or leave, but at least they won't be confused. Make THE POINT be THE POINT.

Additionally, in the same vein I want to hit on what is called "selling the click." On page SEO involves writing meta tags (title, keywords and description tags). The title tag is what shows up in the search results that you click on. The description, at least in Google, is what shows up as the little blurb on the search results page under the text that you click. You want that text to be inticing them to click. It needs to be intriguing, or funny, or thought provoking or something that stands out. We are marketing after all. We are competing on the search engine results page with all the other listings. How can we stand out. Sell the click. Get them to click you. There is an art to this - but you need to learn if you are going to be a successful small business. Internet marketing is marketing - not just building a site and waiting for folks to come by from us like a lemonade stand.

This is true on your pages too. Above I discussed narrowing the focus of your pages to be concerned with one and only one main point, one action you want them to take. Sell that click too.

Happy Marketing.

Private coaching and consulting for internet marketing is available. Ask me how.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Arkansas Internet Marketing | On Page SEO

Successful internet marketing has many facets. Some are things we can control from our websites, while others are more or less out of our control, though we can influence them greatly. On page seo is the former, allowing us to hone in on areas that need improvement at our site. We can always stand to improve things. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying we should forever be revamping our site and never get on to more important things like making money. In fact, I've written about this very topic before on this blog, stating that Arkansas internet marketers lack focus in terms of building businesses. They far too often get bogged down with color choices and the like.

But, once we have a working business, we would be foolish to stop paying attention, stop gathering or evaluating statistics, stop testing and stop improving our site. After all, if' I'm making money successfully online, don't I want to try and make more? I do!

If you do too, here are some things you should pay attention to on your site that are straight up on page seo:
  • Title Tags are a must
  • Keywords can't hurt
  • Descriptions are a must
  • Link architecture
  • Use your keywords in your copy
  • Anchor text
  • Alt Tags
  • Image optimization
  • Don't use java for links that matter or flash
  • Use nofollow on links that don't matter to save link juice
  • Don't use duplicate content
  • Find out what that really means!
That's not everything, but it's a good start. Basically you want to look at your site through the eyes of your visitors and through the eyes of a spider. We have to give them both what they want if we want to be successful.

Happy marketing!

Arkansas internet marketing consulting and private coaching is available.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Arkansas SEO

I heard Jeff Johnson say this recently, and it's true. It will also probably turn a few heads and drop a few jaws - SEO is sexy...

Really it is - it's the sizzle to internet marketing, but it isn't the steak. And that was his point and mine. Search engine optimization is probably the smallest part of true marketing online. Sometimes we are just like teenagers running hither and yon after the latest gadget or gizmo for our website, when what really matters is are we getting first sufficient numbers of people to our site and are they buyers. In other words, bottom line - are we making any money. And if we are, can we make more?

But, all things having their place, this will be a post about seo itelf because Arkansas small businesses need to know about seo in order to succeed online.

For those who don't know, search engine optimization (seo) is comprised by the strategies we use on our actual website pages to be all that we can be for the search engines. Why? So they will give us some spider lovin'! Search engines send out small little computer programs called spiders (or robots or just bots) to scour the internet for new and interesting sites. Their job is to follow links on pages, copy all the information from web pages that it's been told to gather and to get it indexed in a database. Then, when common folks like you and me "google" something, we get the results of their hard labor in the forms of clickable links to pages that google "found" when we searched their database. We call it "googling" and we do it a lot!

When we focus on seo we are looking for the best way to position ourself so that the spiders not only know what they find on our site and index it correctly, but pick us when someone searches. That's how we get found on the internet and hopefully engage in meaningful business transactions.

Arkansas internet SEO services are something we provide. If instead of being "serviced" you prefer to do things yourself, we also offer private coaching, consulting and training.