Archive for September, 2013

eManagerSite Tips for Selling on the Internet

September 10th, 2013

Can you make money on the Internet? Certainly. Thousands of other small businesses are making money right now in this medium. But if you want to set up shop on the web, it’s important for you to be just as professional, businesslike, and cautious as you would be in any other new venture. So I suggest taking time to get to know the Internet and to develop a strategy.

Here are vital tips that will give you a head start.

Get to know the Internet. Do plenty of exploring. If you’re already on the Net, you’re way ahead of the pack. I’ve run into plenty of people who are gung ho to advertise on the Internet before they’ve even got their own account. You need to know what you’re getting into. Work closely with a company that understands your vision. This is your business, and you should have a good feel for how it’s being promoted. You know your business better than anyone else. Because of that, you’re going to find dynamite ways to put the Internet to work –ways that no consultant or presence provider could ever think of.

Be a resource. Internet users expect information. So make sure your message is more than just hype. Add value. Be an information provider. Participate in online discussion groups, and be helpful. If you have a Web site, provide useful background information about your industry, your specialties, and your areas of expertise. You will become known as an expert on the Internet, and others — including potential customers — will be drawn to you.

Don’t send out unsolicited e-mail marketing messages. This won’t help your business and will just get recipients angry. There are much better ways to market your product or service like SEO search engine optimization and SEM search engine marketing. If you become a regular user of e-mail, you’ll see how annoying it would be if your mailbox got filled up every day with e -mail advertising. There’s nothing to be gained by this.

Use online discussion groups for “soft-selling.” Newsgroups and e-mail discussion groups can be fertile fields for marketing. But watch out. Most groups don’t tolerate commercial postings. Instead of barging in to hype your product, be a real participant. Lurk and listen. Answer questions and offer help. Include a “signature” block at the end of your postings to let people know how to get in touch with you. You’ll be surprised how often this will bring in leads from potential clients or customers.

Check your e-mail regularly. People on the Internet expect fast response. I recommend checking your e-mail messages twice a day. Respond as quickly as possible. This shows that you’re serious about your Internet presence and that you care.

Beware of “creativity.” I’m talking particularly about your Web site, once you start setting one up. Because the Web allows graphical presentations, it’s easy to get caught up in designing something you like — but that does nothing to sell your product. Make sure your site communicates and offers value to the user. Make sure it’s readable and that it’s easy to get around. Your Web site doesn’t have to be boring. You can be clever and you can be visual. But just remember this favorite advertising maxim: “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” Keep your Web site changing, so people will come back. Repeat visitors are more likely to become clients or buyers, and they’re more likely to recommend your site to others. To draw users back to your site, you need to keep it changing. Update your material. Take advantage of new technology as it appears. Add new features, new resources, new information. Use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I’m surprised how much poorly written copy I see on the Internet. Project a professional image by correct writing. Even if it’s a lowly e-mail message, double-check it for typos or vague language.

Include a clear call to action in your message. What do you want the user to do after he or she has followed your presentation? Purchase a product? Request a proposal and price quotation? Join a mailing list? Ask for more information? Let them know what you want them to do, and ask them to do it in clear, direct terms. Make it easy for them to respond. Set up a response mechanism — a direct e-mail link, a form to fill out, a button to click. The more direct and immediate the better. A phone number, a fax number, or a postal mail address is a second choice but better than nothing.

Promote your Internet presence through offline channels. Let your regular customers and the public know about your Internet presence. Put your e mail address and URL on your business cards, stationery, ads, brochures, packaging, and signage — anything you can think of. Send out press releases. Get the word out.

Marketing over the Internet and the Web can bring results in the form of  leads, direct sales, publicity, and image-boosting. Get to know the medium. Work up a sound strategy. Seek out appropriate online marketing methods that will get your selling message across while respecting other Internet users.

To help you start out selling in the internet contact webInteractive today and get a free evaluation. http://www.tccwebinteractive.com/

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by Al Bredenberg

Rules of the SEO Game

September 4th, 2013

Yes, on-page SEO has become more important and yes, on-page SEO can make or break your chances at ranking high on Google SERPs. But what has changed is the way we perceive and behave toward on-page SEO.

Most SEOs tend to think of on-page optimization as a very specific technical influx of code. You know the drill: meta tags, canonical URLs, alt tags, proper encoding, well-crafted, character-limit-abiding title tags, etc.

Those are the basics. And at this point, they are very old-school. They continue to appear on the on-page SEO checklist, but you know that the whole demography of SEO has changed vastly, even though the basic premise has remained the same. Because of that change, the way you perceive on-page SEO has to adjust as well. That’s what we’re going to look at now.

If your website isn’t properly optimized on-page, your efforts off the websi(link building, content marketing, social media) probably won’t yield substantial results. Not that they won’t generate anything at all, but more than half your efforts may end up going down the drain.

There’s no clear rule book that says: do X, Y, and Z in on-page optimization and your rank will rise by A, B, or C. On-page optimization is based on tests, analytics and errors. You learn more about it by discovering what doesn’t work than what does.

But of all the things to keep in mind, there’s this: If you don’t take care ofyour on-page SEO, you’re likely going to fall or stay behind: in rankings, in conversions, and in ROI.

But first let’s clear this one up: Why the fuss about on-page SEO? After all, there’s a ton of material available about it already.

The changing demography of search engine algorithms has altered the factors playing in to how one chooses to perform SEO. You can no longer think in terms of keywords and inbound links alone. Similarly, you can no longer think in terms of the meta and alt tags alone

On-page SEO isn’t just about how your site is coded. It’s also about how your site looks bare-bones (the robot view), and how your website responds to different screens. It includes load times and authority. And with the direction that Google is headed in 2013 and beyond, it’s clear that on-page elements and off-page elements must line up and agree with each other in a natural, clear, organic manner. That’s why we need to reevaluate on-page SEO a little more carefully.

1. Meta Tags Are Just the Beginning

We’ve known and used meta tags since their arrival. The meta “keyword” tag is long-gone, as an SEO ranking factor, but a lot of heat has been generated in discussions about the utility of meta description tags from an SEO point-of-view. More significantly than SEO ranking factors, is the fact that meta description tags provide an opportunity to affect how your website is displayed in search results. A great meta description tag can get your result clicked before the guy ranking above you. It’s still good practice to use keywords when you can, along with geographic identifiers (when applicable), but first and foremost should be the intent to attract clicks from humans.

2. Canonical, Duplicate, Broken Links, etc.

Google’s robots have become very smart, to the point where broken links and duplicate pages raise red flags faster than a bullet. That is precisely why you’ll find canonical links (and their corresponding codes) to be highly important. Broken links and dupes aren’t just anti-SEO. They are anti-user too. What’s your first reaction when you click on a link that just shows a page error?

3. The Robot’s Point of View

Text remains the most important part of any website even today. While Google does rank some videos and media higher than others for certain keywords, well-formatted and content-rich websites still rule the roost.To get a view of how your website looks to the crawlers, you can disable the javascript and images (under Preferences/Settings of your browser) and take a look at the resulting page. Though not totally accurate, the result is pretty much how your website looks to the crawler. Now, verify all the items on the following checklist:

  • Is your logo showing up as text?
  • Is the navigation working correctly? Does it
    break?
  • Is the main content of your page showing up
    right after the navigation?
  • Are there any hidden elements that show up when
    JS is disabled?
  • Is the content formatted properly?
  • Are all other pieces of the page (ads, banner
    images, sign-up forms, links, etc.) showing up after the main content?

The basic idea is to make sure the main content (the part you want Google to note) comes as early as possible with the relevant titles and descriptions in place.

4. Load Time Averages and Size

Google has long noted the size and the average load times of pages. This goes into the ranking algorithm by most counts and affects your position in the SERPs. This means you can have pretty good content on your website, but if the pages load slowly, Google is going to be wary of ranking you higher than other websites that load faster. Google is all for user satisfaction. They want to show their users relevant results that are also easily accessible. If you have tons of javascript snippets, widgets, and other elements that slow down the load times, Google isn’t going to award you a high ranking.

5. Think Mobile, Think Responsive

This is one of the most hotly discussed topics in online marketing today. From mobile ads and local search to market trend in desktop/tablet consumption, it’s clear that moving toward a mobile website is the wave of the future. When you think of a mobile/responsive website, how do you go about it? Responsive as in CSS media queries, or entirely new domains like “m.domain.com”? The former is recommended often because this keeps things in the same domain.

6. Authority & AuthorRank

The author-meta gets a new lease on life with Google promoting the AuthorRank metric. It’s a little more complex than that now, however. You will have to enable rich snippets for your website, make sure your Google+ profile is filled up, and link them up with your blog/website. AuthorRank has emerged as a very important and tangible metric that affects page rank, and is one of the on-page SEO tactics you should definitely do. Not only will it improve your rankings, but it will also improve your click-through rate in the SERPs.

7. Design Shouldn’t Be the Last Thing On Your List 

Ironically, I had to write about this as the last thing because many people remember only he last thing they’ve read in an article. Hardcore SEO people regularly overlook the importance of design. Aesthetics and readability stem directly from the design of a website. Google is good at figuring out what shows “above the fold” on websites, and Google explicitly recommends that you place content above the fold so your readers are treated to information rather than ads. On-page SEO isn’t only about the meta code and the canonical URL. It’s about how your website connects to the user and to the robot. It’s about how you make sure your website is accessible and readable, and still has enough information under the hood for the search engines to pick up easily.

Need help on your SEO project let us offer you a free evaluation.

WebInteractive

800 418 2358