| |
| |
|
SEO Information |
|
|
|
 Owning Your Category Online - Is Our Website Broken?
"Owning your business category online is more than just a few keywords... Is your website broken?" Let's face it, the Internet is a crowded place... and it's becoming even more crowded as you read this. Your business can't stand still online, and you can't afford to look backwards. Qualified, targeted traffic generation is what we all desire. Owning your category online goes a long way in providing just that. It's not about just looking forward, but moving forward and taking some ownership. Every business online today is worried about being found in the Top 10 Search Engines and Directories for their products or services - and they should be! Statistics still make them (search engines) the number one stop for all surfers. But, just for a moment let's imagine that these search engines and directories provide the most relevant results. That's right, let's just say for the sake of this article, that they all work extremely well. O.K? Now, since we believe that our products or services are way more relevant than those companies listed above us in (today's) search engines results - we have to admit something is wrong... but remember, the search engines are perfect. We all know you can buy your keywords in Google? and Overture? right? Does that make you the best? (not.) Do surfers know this? (Yes.) Does it make your business (your website) any more relevant? (No.) It does put businesses with a larger budget at the top of the pile again, that's all. Is this why many of us don't click on sponsored links? (Ahem...) If the search engines were (are) perfect, then let's get back to something else being wrong. Hmmm, my website must be broken! Wow, somebody is actually staying with me here.. My website must be broken? Why else would all those "other" websites be showing up ahead of my business when people search for my products/services/information? Don't these people know we are the experts? (nope.) Don't they know our products are superior? (nope.) Can't they see the skill we employ and our dedication to employee and customer service? (nope.) Haven't they read the reviews? (probably...) So, in an effort to help you "own your category online", here's some suggestions to assist your business in getting ahead of those "other" websites and putting your business where it rightly belongs! If you already employ all these practices, we commend you. But if you find yourself behind, these tips can help your company without having to become a Webmaster or a Search Engine Marketing Professional. Pass these on to your Marketing Team and get better results and recognition starting today! Do: Research the search terms (keywords) that people would use in seeking out your offerings. You can start with Wordtracker? and the search terms you first come up with. Wordtracker? will help you locate terms that are similar to your terms in meaning and search. It is a tool that gives you an *idea of what the general terms people are using, and how many searches are taking place on these terms... * that's another book though. This is a great starting point and the trial really is free! Tip: Do not just 'look-up' your company name, - prospective customers or vendors or partners are not looking you up by your 'company name' in Google? - they don't know it yet...? Surfer's have become quite good at 'searching'. Be specific and general. You can also learn who you have to beat online! - Who's kicking your butt when people search for your product or service online? That first page of results is your market share online! Do: Make sure you have a *keyword specific "Title" for every webpage that's relevant to the content on that page (*keyword specific, not keyword stuffed). Page Title; Top of the screen, blue 'title' bar (in explorer). I still see thousands of websites with "Homepage" in the title bar, or "MyOneHotBusiness.com" and just that phrase or 'Title' is repeated throughout every page on their website! Each page in your website is (content) unique - make it's 'Title' unique too! Or call your webmaster with new "titles" for each of your website pages. Different values are placed on this "page title" from the different search engines and directories. Tip: Add "Chicago, Chicagoland, Illinois" to the end of your Title (your city, state). This helps in regional search queries. Do: Have at least 200 words of (content specific) text on the pages of importance (homepage, category pages, etc.). This is what the engines and directories DO read, these words and links are how the engines interpret what's on this page. Images or pictures of words or "ads" are not "read" so-to-speak. Make this text content highly relevant to the topic (product or service) on this page. Tip: Put your fancy Flash commercial on a link from your homepage and put up a content relevant page of your best text instead! Visitors will still look at your commercial if you tell us it's cool, but don't force us to watch it! - That's not what we came for. This Flash file does almost nothing for search engines and directories. Do: Have yourself or your professional staff write articles on their specific area of expertise in product or service. Make these articles a webpage with relevant links to the product or service directly. Short of hiring a Search Engine Marketing Consultant or a Professional Copywriter, these detailed articles if rich and full of relevant content, are the exact pages that will generate you the most qualified and targeted visitor to your business! Once these 'article pages' are crawled (indexed) by the search engines you will be pleasantly surprised to see that (now) you are a more relevant search result. (Not to be confused with 'links' or 'reciprocal linking programs' - your (article) webpages are much more "read" and effective in sending the reader to your site, or keeping them there, not to mention the branding opportunities) These articles not only show your business as an authority, they prove it in words and information for the reader, me, a human. These concise type articles are an excellent way to gain exposure, recognition (branding), traffic, and yes, even sales. You said you were an authority, now prove it. Tip: Submit these articles to other online and offline publications and Ezine's. You make them available to other websites just for leaving your Author and link intact. There are businesses craving this type of content for their website's success! Your business website will begin receiving quality traffic from every website that posts your company's article(s)! Now there's a strong statement. Do: Include your URL (www.) in every piece of material you print - every piece of traditional advertising you already pay for! Every week I read through different newspapers and magazines - I can't believe how many businesses forget to put their web address in that Advertisement they paid for. You pay big bucks for a quarter page ad or whatever, and then never mention your website!?! Which is open 24/7/365 - and that Tribune is just around for two days! Start your marketing return on investment right there! Tip: Offer a website only promotion or coupon in your Ads to generate further interest and traffic to your specific offer web pages! Do: Ask visitors to "Bookmark your site" or "Tell a friend" or "Send this article to a friend"... Your visitors don't always think of it, so just ask them? Bookmarks not only increase return visitors, but they also give you a vote of confidence in providing something worthwhile... even if that's a return trip! This does not have to be bold and obnoxious either, a simple button saying "Bookmark Us" will do on any business website. Do: Be Patient. All search engines and directories have different timeframes for updates, changes and new submissions. After making changes or additions to your site, allow 90 days after initial submission for realistic results to begin showing in the major search engines and search directories. Owning your category online is more than just a few keywords. Don't just say you do all these things! Do: Go and check! Tip: Go and check again! Because if you do your best with these few suggestions - your website will show up higher in the search results for those relevant terms you selected. You'll be hundreds of websites ahead, and getting more qualified visitors too. There's much more to owning your category online, but every business should be employing these "level one" marketing concepts. There, now we can stop imagining that the search engines are perfect. Good Luck. Written by and Copyright © Scott Sedwick http://www.hyperformancemedia.com About The Author Scott is the Founder and Sr. Project Manager for Hyperformance Media, Inc. a website marketing company since 1996. His 24+ years experience in the computer industry can help your business succeed online! Copyright SS ss@hyperformancemedia.com http://www.hyperformancemedia.com
MORE RESOURCES: Buy and sell financial instruments with one mouse click No commissions or exchange fees on your trades - you can trade as much as you Start trading with as little as $1, or use other major currencies for deposit Open your account for free and get $5 cash reward so you can start trading right away! Wanna more Articles and Information? - Read other thematic articles from the site: =>First paragraph is the hook to get the editor interested. There is no "warm-up" paragraph. In fact, this first paragraph could be the lead of your article. For example: When Adam White bought his first block of land in (name of town) almost ten years ago, he had no idea his investment portfolio would reach nearly $2 million. <==get the tip =>It's an affordable route Nothing is more affordable that pulling up your sleeves and doing it yourself especially if you don't have a budget to spare on outsourcing. <== visit article... =>An experienced Sales Engineer with a reputable VSAT provider can guide you toward the right backup solutions for your organization. Get on the phone and get the protection your company needs??sooner or later you will be down! <== find your strategy =>The writer needs to make sure that visitors feel they are in the right place, that your site is the place where they can achieve their goals. The home page needs to shout out, "Yes! You've come to the right place!" more... =>One of the toughest challenges is the loaded question. Don't answer a loaded question; defuse it before you answer. Before answering a question such as, "What are you doing with all the money you are making from increased prices?" defuse it by saying, "I understand your frustration with the recent rate increase. I believe what you are asking is, 'Why such a sudden increase in rates?'" Then answer that question. You only get into arguments when you allow yourself to answer the loaded question. If the person is not satisfied with the changing of the question's wording, tell him or her that you will be glad to talk about it following the question and answer period and move quickly to the next question. <== full presentation =>Both of these top tier service providers have done a great job of keeping the process simple. You simply sign up providing very basic information and make a list of the movies you want to see. Your movies will then begin to arrive postage paid in your mailbox in one or two business days. Like I said, crazy simple! <==play that article =>Look over your lists again. You are focusing on all the things you feel you can't do and the reasons why you can't do them, right? Well, don't. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN DO - FOCUS ON YOUR POTENTIAL. Make it a habit to focus on your strengths. Don't forget to include your undeveloped potential, as well. Train yourself to focus on your potential instead of your limitations. <== success! =>If you're like most people, you spend the majority of your waking hours at work. You'll know you're in the right profession when: you wake up anxious to go to work, you want to do your best daily, and you know your work is important. anti-stress that |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
SEO -- Tips to Optimize Your Webpage to Compete for a High Ranking Search engine optimization (SEO) is very important to websites. If you rank high in search engines, your website are shown to a huge number of target users. A Link From An Ugly Duckling Website With A PR=1 Could Give You 10 to 80 Times More PageRank Whether you want to start a business and sell on the Internet or you're an old pro and want more Internet sales, here's the easy way to do it.To get the most sales on the Internet you need to have a high PageRank on Google. 3 Principles Of Google When online "Use it. Use it. Search Engines Are Doomed to Fail A very provocative title, isn't it? Based on the latest news it is not far from the truth. Over the years the search engines were the target number one on the hunt for visitors and traffic to millions of web sites. SEO Quickstart - 3 Things You can Do to Improve Search Engine Rankings Right Now Increasing your search engine rankings should certainly be one of your main goals if you are looking to increase your targeted traffic. The reason for this is if you improve your search engine rankings, you'll increase the amount of visitors your website receives, and when you increase traffic to your site you are going to increase customers and sales. SEO Trade Secrets - 8 Great Tools for Search Engine Optimization About 80% of website traffic comes through search engines. And research shows, if you're not on the first 2 pages, most people won't find you. "Google Friendly" Solutions to Graphic-Intense Sites We all know that the search engines can't "see" or "read" the graphics on our pages. We also know that we need to provide text on a page, so the spiders will have something to crawl and index. Link Building in Light of Vision-based Page Segmentation The days of basing a successful link building strategy on link quantity and anchor text alone may be numbered. The link popularity theories behind PageRank and Hilltop remain important, but major search engines are continually adding new elements to their link algorithms to improve search relevance. Getting Noticed by Search Engines We all, meaning us webmasters want to have the best and top-rated website. But how do we get there? We start linking and submitting. Search Engine Marketing: 20 Nitty-Gritty Strategies To Compel People To Link To Your Website You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that having quality inbound links from websites with high page ranks can help you attain high rankings in all the Search Engines.But achieving this can be more difficult to do than can be imagined. Why Search Engine Marketing Has A Passion for Web Site Usability Watching a recent football game, I imagined two very different teams: one called â??The Hordersâ?? and the other, â??The Huntersâ??. In the game, it takes planning and skill to carry a football a few yards. Diary of a Google Gazumpee Back in November, when the Google Dance began, Barry Lloyd of makemetop.co. The Truth About Search Engines: Playing A Game You Cant Win If you go strictly by the numbers, Yahoo, MSN and Google are the "Big 3" of search engines and directories. Between them, they index millions and millions of pages in their directories. Guide to Getting Linked Getting links from other websites pointing to your site can sometimes seem very hard and time consuming. There are several ways to get people interested in your site, you've just got to be creative with it and think more in terms of putting yourself in the other webmaster's shoes- figure out what the advantages are for them to be linked to you!One thing that you often hear is that to attain a high Page Rank thru Google, (which, let's face it, is the Big Daddy of Search Engines) that you have to link to other high PR sites. SEO Tips for Google Getting a high ranking on Google is a big achievement. There are many factors that go into pulling a high page rank. Over Optimization and the OOP - Does a Penalty Exist? If you have questions about whether or not the Over-Optimization Penalty (OOP) exists or not, then you obviously haven't pushed the limits enough with your own website optimization or organic SEO efforts to have experienced the joys of running into the OOP (Over-Optimization Penalty).I'm sure you're probably thinking: "prove it". The Google Sitemap For Idiots I don't mind admitting that every time some new fangled idea or piece of technology arrives online, I have a small fit and wonder how long it's going to take me to understand what it is, what it's for and whether I need to use it to stay 'up there'. It's even more frightening when the experts start explaining it and really only serve to confuse the matter when they use their 'techno-speak'. New MSN Search Engine: How Good is it? If you have an online business or you just use Internet as one of your marketing tools, you know that how important are the search engines in your quest to get more targeted visitors to your website. The changes in search engine field can have unexpected outcome for your online endeavors. Duplicate Content Penalty - How to Lose Google Ranking Fast! Duplicate content penalty. Ever heard of it? This penalty is applied by Google and possibly other search engines when content found on your website is largely the same as what is found elsewhere on your site or on other websites across the internet. Reciprocal Links to Boost Link Popularity ? Link popularity means the number of incoming links pointing to your website. This is one of the criterical factor that rank the search results.
|
| Main | Dirrectory map |
© <<====== Evil & Murderer of Society Developement
|