Most of us spend many hours online, and shoppers are no exception. Many businesses have an online store that helps bring in new customers everyday and anytime. The Internet has made this possible, and there are new forms of social media that have generated widespread popularity due to their ease of access over the Internet. You can expand your online business’s reach even further when you use search engine optimization with a knowledgeable search engine optimization service and apply it to social media.

An SEO company will use social media such as blogs, podcasts, e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, to promote a website. What connects them all is the Internet, and because they are all online, the way many people access them is through a search engine. Continue Reading »
Search Engine Optimization & Social Media

Informative and easy to understand guide describing the process of organic search engine optimization. Topics covered include content and keyword analysis, website structure, link popularity, registration of your website, and much more. Click to read the entire SEO Guide.

You may have recently begun to hear the phrase search engine optimization bandied about in discussion of search engines. Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your site “search engine friendly” so that search engines will be more likely to rank your site highly in search results. With so many millions of websites competing to be found via search engines, it is wise to make it as easy as possible for a search engine to recognize that your site is a valuable match.

Many people new to the world of search engines assume that there is a significant human aspect involved to search engine rankings. That is, they think that a team of people review websites and then ranks the website accordingly. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Search engines are purely automated things. Google indexes over 4 billion web pages. It would be impossible to employ enough people to categorize so many. Therefore, search engines have automated computer programs called “search engine spiders” that look at each website and determine under which search terms it should appear.

So what exactly is done during optimization to make a site more search engine friendly? The process is multifaceted, and not easily pinned down to one or two steps. Because of this, search engine optimization is often viewed as a vague, almost nebulous process, but its many aspects are actually well-defined. Search engine optimization is something that involves the entire website: its design, marketing strategy, copy, structure and popularity.

There are several steps that go into optimizing a website. Following is a brief overview only. It is not supposed to be a complete guide, but rather a general introduction to help newcomers understand the basic aspects of search engine optimization.

Keyword Analysis
First, you should determine which keywords you wish to optimize for. That is, when searching for your product or service, what search terms will your potential website visitors use? What words will they type into the search box? If you sell stuffed toys, will they type “stuffed toys” or “plush animals”? The phrase most often used could vary slightly but return quite different results, such as “used socks online” and “online used socks.” So you will really want to put yourself into the mind of your customer. Once you have decided which keywords to aim for, you will want to include these key phrases and terms in your content.

Design from the Bottom Up
You get better results if you design with optimization in mind from the beginning. If you incorporate optimization into the very construction of your website, it is much more seamless and genuine than if you build your site and then try to tweak it for optimization. The most search engine friendly sites are straightforward sites built from basic, non-frame, non-Flash, HTML documents. Your site should also use a static internal links as these are most easily indexed and followed by search engines.

Content
The web is a text-based medium, and search engines do not see graphics. Think about it: How is a computer program supposed to tell the difference between a picture of Willie Nelson and field of daisies? It can’t. A computer program such as a search engine spider can only see and interpret text. So give them lots of it. Creating large websites with lots of great copy is one of the best ways to get ranked well in search engines. Not only do search engines appreciate the extra text, but people will be more likely to link to your site if it’s got depth and plenty of useful information. This linking will help your link popularity, discussed below.

Link Popularity
You can determine how popular you are by how many people would list you as a friend, and the same goes with websites. Search engines notice how many other sites have links to your site. This has unfortunately led to the rise of some “link farms,” sites with no real content, just lists and lists of links. Link farms are considered “spam” by search engines. On the Internet, “spam” does not mean “spiced ham” but rather “undesirable and annoying stuff,” which could describe the way some people think about spiced ham anyways. In any case, you do not want to be associated with a link farm or any sort of spam whatsoever because search engines don’t like it. So, don’t just link with anybody. Find some fellow, quality website that deals with similar content and see if you two can share links with each other.

Search Engine and Directory Registration
Once you have your site all pretty and optimized, you have to make sure search engines know you exist before you can hope to show up in their Top Ten ranking for your particular niche. As long as you have at least one quality link pointing to your site, search engines such as Google are more likely to pick up your site. To speed up the process, many people opt to submit their website to search engines and directories.

Some directories allow you to pay for inclusion, such as Yahoo that charges a flat fee for the year. DMOZ is another important directory. Their submission is free, but they can be very exclusive. When submitting to any directory, you will want to adhere to their submission rules exactly. Directory listings such as these will not only help searchers find you directly, but they will help with your link popularity as well.

Many search engines such as Google will not allow you to pay for inclusion. You can, however, submit to Google which will add your website to a queue which Google maintains and periodically trolls electronically.

Now, keep in mind, being submitted to a search engine such as Google will not automatically put your website in the top ten. This will merely include you somewhere in the billions upon billions of possible results. Getting ranked in the top ten under your chosen key phrases can only be accomplished through optimization. The two processes (submission and optimization) should be combined in your marketing efforts.

It should be noted is that there is a right way and a wrong way to do optimization, and if you or the company you hire does not follow the proper rules, your site could be banned for life from some of the most popular search engines available, which is suicide for your traffic. So, in order to make sure that everything is done correctly, you should know the proper processes involved. Do not allow any spamming, any connection to link farms, or any other shady dealings that you would feel uncomfortable explaining to your clients or to search engines. Remember, search engines, and more importantly your customers, are looking for useful content as the optimal result. So build your website with your visitors in mind, and it will be easier to succeed in your optimization as well.

About the Author:
Sean Odom runs a Houston, Texas based SEO Consulting firm specializing in search
engine marketing and Social Media Optimization.

A website is not just something you stare at on a glowing screen.  These days, a website is a multi-dimensional beast, a complex character that deserves thought and attention.  Great website development involves so much more than just design and color scheme.  Creating a great website is a careful, step by step process that begins with domain name selection and ends when visiting customers convert to sales.  And once your website is designed, up and running, continued maintenance and promotion is key to keeping visitors coming back for more.

Let us take you through a brief description of each step along the Yellow Brick Road of Web Design.

Domain Registration
Your domain name is what you type into the address bar of your browser (it is your URL).  It is what your visitors will be typing into their browser, so selecting an easy to type and understand domain name is important.  It is your home on the Internet. Make it easy to get to.  Some examples of domain names include google.com, and NBC.com.  You know exactly where you are headed when you type those into your browser.  However, with millions of domain names already registered, it may feel like all the good ones are taken.  But be creative and patient and the right name will come along.

Web Hosting
If your web page is like a paper flyer, than your server is like the bulletin board you stick it on.  You will need to sign on with a web hosting service so you can store your files on their server.  Your host is who makes your site available to the public, not just to you.  When choosing a web hosting company, you should take into account how much space you’ll need, how much bandwidth, access, and so on.  There are numerous web-hosting terms that may be new and confusing for you.  For example, you may come across will be “Secure Server” which you will need if you plan on doing any sort of eCommerce. Another strange term you might see is “FTP Solutions.” FTP is short for File Transfer Protocol.  FTP is what is used to “upload,” or move your site from you computer to the host computer “bulletin board.”

Site Design
Although design is not the only important aspect of creating a website, good design is still vital to having a successful site.  You only get one chance to make a first impression, and studies show that the average person’s attention span is only about 8 seconds when looking at a site.  Make those 8 seconds count by having a clean, clear, easy-to-read site that conveys information while also being aesthetically pleasing to view.

While graphics and animation are snazzy and fun, they aren’t necessary to making your website work.  Sometimes simpler is better, easier on you and easier on the customer.  If you do choose to use advanced graphics and animation, remember that good visuals should be eye-catching but NOT distracting.  Do not crowd your page with spinning vortexes and dancing bears.  Utilize appropriate graphics that go with your company.

Remember:  Sloppy website design does not make your product look very desirable.  If your website is quality, it implies your product is quality, too.

Site Layout
Your layout is an aspect of design so important we gave it its own category.  Layout, navigation, and usability are the active components of your design.  The color is important to the eye, but how your site is navigated is important to its utility and efficacy.  “Navigation” refers to how your visitor moves about your site.  What do they read?  What links do they click on?  How is information organized?  If you have lots of information, do not dump dozens of pages of links into one section; break them up under various categories to make them easier to look through.  A carefully planned website can make it easier for your customer and for yourself.  Also allow for growth, since your business will develop over the months and years, and you need your website to grow along with it.

Content/Copy
Your text, information and page layout is called your copy.  It is the words on your page, but equally the charts, graphs, pictures and the layout of all these items.  Remember that Internet copy is different than paper copy, and oftentimes a wall of words will overwhelm a visitor to your site. Keep your copy clear and concise, since visitors’ attention spans on the web are notoriously short.  Determine your site’s chief purpose, your thesis.  Are you about building your brand, selling your product directly over the Internet, or getting a buyer to visit your store?  Keep your purpose in mind as you create your website copy.  Tell it like it is.

Maintenance
Your company will be growing, so your website should as well! As you organize, allow for new categories, new products, and new links.  You should perform regular maintenance to make sure your links are working, your contact information is correct, your forms are working, and that everything is up to date, including copyrights.  You want to keep your content current.

You can also use tools that will track what is working best for your website, what is getting results, and what pages are being visited the most.  Good statistics about where your visitors enter your site and how they move through it can help you tweak your site to improve sales and to create more effective layout, copy and design.  You never know where your company may go, and good maintenance of your website will keep it, and your customers, with you every step of the way.

Marketing
You want other people to see this website you put so much hard work into, so you need to find internet marketing to get it out there.  These days one of the best ways to reach your customers is via Search Engines, because that is where customers are looking for you.

A search engine is a site such as Google or Yahoo where one can go and type in any sort of keyword and be led to sites that feature whatever they are looking for, be it “mouse ears” to “oven racks.” In order to ensure that YOUR website is among the top of the list of results, you need to practice what is called “search engine optimization.” You see, search engines rank the results they find, and if you sell staplers in Butte, you will want to be sure your site will rank well when someone types “Butte staplers” in the search box.  Search engines rank their results based on very specific information from the copy and underlying code of your website.  There are millions upon millions of websites that search engines have to sift through for each search, so “optimizing” your website will make is easier for a search engine to recognize that your site is relevant.  If you have the time and the inclination to learn, you can optimize your website yourself.  However, optimization is something many companies choose to outsource.

Remember your website is not like a printed document.  It is not a one-dimensional, non-interactive page.  Your website is a completely new kind of marketing medium and must be approached as such.  From choosing the right domain name to converting visitors into buyers, through the creation and implementation of your navigation, copy and design, from choosing your host to search engine marketing, every aspect must be carefully considered. Best of luck!

About the Author:
Wintress Odom is a professional copywriter with over half a decade of experience in writing technical and advertising copy. She runs a successful copywriting agency, The Writers for Hire.
Article Copyright © 2007 The Writers for Hire, Inc. All rights reserved

These days, the exciting visuals on websites have started to overshadow the meat of the content, the words. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but really, how many words does a dancing monkey or rotating starburst convey to you? How can that bouncing frog in the upper left hand corner of the page tell you what you need to know about, say, lawn care? Not much, though he may be cute to look at.

The website is a new medium in the world of television, newspapers, magazines, and radio. This form of communication is something of a combination of all of those that have come before it. Needless to say, when there’s a new kid in town, new rules apply. But we can’t throw all the old rules out either.

The copy (text) of your website is where the action is. This is where you hold the attention of your audience, and this is where your word choice and grammar are critical.  People can think your exploding fireworks graphics are cool, but if you misspell your product caption “cheep fireworks,” they are going to laugh at you and click the back button.

There are several mistakes that should always be avoided when writing your website copy. But if you follow these basic guidelines, and always keep your visitors in mind, you can come up with something that will wow and amaze even the most jaded web surfers.

Tip 1: Please, please, please be careful that your spelling and grammar is correct. If you are writing your copy on your own, you may wish to consult something like the Associated Press Style Guide, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style or another solid grammar guide. They are quick and handy references in case you are unsure if you should use a colon or a semi-colon, and they can help you keep all ten thousand comma rules straight in your head.  Also pay attention to your spellchecker. Almost all word processors have them nowadays. Good grammar and spelling is not only expected of you, but it gives your site an air of professionalism that customers deserve.

Tip 2: For Pete’s sake, keep the exclamation marks to a minimum! They sound overly dramatic! They make people antsy! They make you sound like a guy wearing a clown suit on a used-car commercial! It’s annoying! And, bottom line, exclamation marks don’t make your sales pitch more effective.

Tip 3: Keep it simple. While we stress the importance of words, we don’t suggest you use too many of them, either. A customer faced with a wall of words before them may be too bored or too busy to read them all. People have short attention spans in this click-click net navigating world, so keep that in mind. Use simple, concise, easy to understand words and you’ll do much better than if you try to talk your website visitors to death.

Tip 4: Keep it scannable.  White space is your friend. It’s hard to read online, so you want to keep eyestrain to a minimum.  Be a razor-sharp editor and cut out anything that might be dragging down the rest of your copy. Don’t use run-on sentences. Don’t make your paragraphs too long and bulky. Use big text, descriptive headlines and short paragraphs. Use bold text to help make your copy scannable, but use it judiciously. If you make everything bold, it defeats the purpose.

Tip 5: When it comes to word choice, choose words that are descriptive and helpful. Be specific. Words like “great,” “awesome,” “super,” “new” and “improved” don’t tell you much.  But words that explain just why your product is great and improved are much more helpful. For example, if you sell shampoo, and you want to tell everyone that it is now “new and improved,” explain that now it has a cleaner, fresher scent, won’t leave a greasy residue, and won’t spill if you drop it in the shower. Now that’s something that tells me what I want to know!

Tip 6: On a related note, don’t use words that are too flowery or colloquial. Write appropriately for the subject. If you are selling cowboy boots, you can probably throw a few “pardners” and “l’il doggies” in there, but that probably isn’t so impressive if you are writing for your office’s money marketing page. Also, while you may have a well-versed Harvard vocabulary, many of your customers may not. If you are inclined to use words such as “sycophantic” and “pedagogy” or “fungible,” you might consider leaving them out. Also, though you may really want to use the word that means, “to swarm like ants,’ you probably ought to avoid having your visitors read, “The 6th graders formicated all over the playground.” Your site’s readers may not have a dictionary handy.

Tip 7: Organize your information.  Start simple, and then get to the details. There’s no need to tell them everything at once. While your homepage is really like the welcome mat to your Internet abode, the rest of your pages are like the rooms. Make sure they are friendly and inviting and organized, not a cluttered, musty mess like at your Uncle Leo’s house. Your homepage should focus on telling your visitors specifically why they want to enter your home. What’s in there for them? On your inner pages, you can go into more detail. A lot of information is good, but break it up into well thought-out, organized pieces that are easy for your visitor to handle. Who wants to tackle a page 10 scrollbars long? But 10 pages, correctly organized, can help your visitor find the information they need and will make them comfortable, happy customers.

Tip 8: Lastly, if you are not fully confident that you can create the exact kind of copy you are looking for, you can always hire an experienced professional to help you. They may help you see potential for your website you might never have thought of on your own. And they can help stop you from making a fool of yourself if you accidentally say, “all sinners will be vaccinated on Tuesday” when you meant to say “all seniors”.

You can have the greatest layout, the prettiest shade of background color, the easiest navigation bars, but if your copy is messy, hard to read, or uninformative, your website is going to tank.

About the Author:
Wintress Odom is a professional copywriter with over half a decade of experience in writing technical and advertising copy. She runs a successful copywriting agency, The Writers for Hire.
Article Copyright © 2007 The Writers for Hire, Inc. All rights reserved

Follow the simple code example below in order to implement a page specific 301 redirect. This is also a handy redirect for informing a search engine spiders that a web page has permanently moved.

Warning, you will be editing your .htaccess file, so please be careful and make a backup of the original just in case there is a problem.

First, download the .htaccess file via FTP. Next open the .htaccess file with a plain text editor such as notepad. If there’s already code in the file be sure you skip a line before adding the code below. Now copy and paste the following code into the .htaccess file;

(without the “<-- -->” part)

RedirectPermanent /old.html http://www.yoursite.com/new.html

Next, replace the “old_page” portion with your unique “page name”, save and upload.

Now when somebody requests old.html they will be automatically redirected to http://www.yoursite.com/new.html.

Note, be sure to include a space between the old page and new location portion, see below;
/old_page.html space http://www.yoursite.com/new_page.html

For more information about 301 redirects, please see http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_alias.html#redirectpermanent

About the Author:
Sean Odom runs a Houston, Texas based SEO Consulting firm specializing
in search engine marketing and Social Media Optimization.

Click fraud has become a major problem for online marketers. If you participate on Google adwords campaigns or Overture, you must already pay a lot for your campaigns.

What is click fraud?

Click fraud is the deliberate clicks to PPC search engine ads for completely other reasons than expressing interest for buying the related products or services.

Overture defines click fraud as clicks arising for reasons other than the good-faith intention of an Internet user to visit a web site to purchase goods or services or to obtain information.

Google defines click fraud, or invalid clicks, as any method used to artificially and/or maliciously generate clicks or page impressions.

In simple words, Click fraud means that someone is cheating you and that you pay too much Continue Reading »
How To Eliminate The Click Fraud Problem

Microsoft announced a new search macro yesterday LinkFromDomain:. Using the linkfromdomain: operator in a search will return a list of web sites that are linked from that specific domain.

Usage example: LinkFromDomain:helpsitez.com will give you a list of all the sites helpsitez.com links to.

Live Search Blog Post, Form Based Tool