Tuesday, March 23, 2010
SEO Content Writing Helpful Hint #1
Instead of “he has worked in the area for several years” try using something like “he has worked in the Atlanta area for several years” OR “Luis Argyle has sold Ford trucks in the Atlanta area for over 15 years”, etc. In this example, you could even mention what trucks (F-150, Ranger, etc.) Luis sells.
If you are offering a service or a product to a specific area, then use the city, state, region as a keyword. Be specific in the products or services you offer. If you sell jewelry, mention what kind. If you build homes, where do you build them? If you were searching for the service/product you are writing about, what keywords would you use?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Organic vs. PPC Marketing
Organic marketing refers to the natural rise in search engine results a website enjoys relying solely on the way search engine indexers, or “spiders,” read the content on the site and how they consequently evaluate the site's relevance. This process of evaluation and ranking varies with each search engine and is influenced by many factors. With good SEO optimization in place on a website, many website owners wonder whether the extra expense of a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign is worth it. After all, with careful attention to creating fresh, original content enriched with keyword phrases in page titles, descriptions, headings, and content, in addition to excellent linking relationships with other important sites, one might think all the bases are covered. Is the extra expense of a PPC campaign really needed?
According to a blog by Kara Ratliff, “It’s a question most, if not all, businesses will eventually have to ask themselves in the course of developing their Internet marketing strategies. Which alternative offers the best return on investment? Which one is more easily managed?”
Use Both Techniques
Ms. Ratliff interviewed two Internet marketing experts and concluded that a strategy employing both organic and PPC strategies is essential to a website's success. According to Ratliff, “neither method (is) sufficient by itself and … everyone should look at trying both if at all possible. For some sites, depending on your goals, it often makes sense to allocate more or less resources to one form or the other. However, for most sites looking to put together a comprehensive marketing strategy, most any plan should include components of both.”
To further elaborate, Ms. Ratliff caught up with Dana Todd, an executive from SiteLab, who said, “(Each form of) Advertising has a completely different place in your media mix. We would never recommend … that you do one or the other; you always do them both wherever possible.” Another expert, Jeremy Schoemaker of Shoemoney Media Group, Inc., explained that when selling a product, PPC gets results quickly; but if a website is simply a blog site, a PPC campaign may be overkill. The main drawback with a PPC campaign is that nowadays, with extensive competition and heavy players in the market, an effective PPC campaign requires a large marketing budget. Yet, if quick results are needed or wanted to sell a product, for instance, a PPC campaign is the way to go.
Comparison for Decision Making
By the same token, organic marketing requires effort and resources, too. Manpower is required to test, refine, and retest any organic marketing campaign. Time and dedication are needed for research, evaluation, and integration. When faced with the decision about how much to spend on PPC vs. organic marketing, the comparison chart found here may be useful for business owners and decision makers.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743. Stay current on the latest products and web trends at http://www.hitnewsfeeds.com/
Friday, November 27, 2009
Adding Keyword to Your Videos
To start, do a keyword search for your video. The word “video” is an important word to include in the filename, title, and summary of your video since many people will type that word into their searches, but think about other important or significant words to use as well. Then, include those words, along with “video,” in your video filename and title. Next, write a summary of your video. Again, include key words and important search phrases to enhance your search rankings. Be sure to pay attention to meta tags as well. (See Video Search Optimization.)
When posting on social sites such as YouTube or Facebook and others, you can maximize your efforts by incorporating your keywords, summaries, and meta tags on the pages supporting your video.
Once you have your video prepared for search engines, the next thing to consider is a “linking strategy.” As explained by marketing guru Michelle Bowles, “Video is judged by the same linking standards as all other forms of digital content. So building both internal and external links is crucial for video SEO. Ideas for a linking strategy include: cross-linking to other videos, linking to videos from relevant web pages, linking to videos in blog posts, Tweeting the video, linking to videos from social media pages, (and) bookmarking the video.” (See Tips for Video Optimization.)
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Why You Need Good Product Descriptions
There are a few things you can do that can actually help bring in more customers and help them find your products. If you are familiar with SEO, you may have heard of a term called “Long Tail.” This refers to longer search phrases, more than 3 or 4 words that people are searching for when they are searching for something very specific. For example, let's say someone is looking for a new pair of jeans. Your potential customer already knows the style, the color, the fit, the brand, and maybe they are looking for a sale or discount, so instead of typing in blue jeans, maybe they would type in “30 32 Levis 501 blue sale.” It would be silly to optimize your whole website around this one phrase, but by having well-written product descriptions for each of your products, your website will contain the phrases that people are searching for when they are looking for something very specific.
HIT Web Design can help you write product descriptions for you products. We also offer SEO URLs where each of your individual products has part of the product description right in the URL. With good product descriptions and SEO URLS, you will increase the chance that someone will find your site and buy your products.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
What is Meta Data?
The three main elements of meta data are the Page Title, Page Description, and Keywords.
Page Title
This is the most important piece of meta data and should be keyword phrases that accurately describe what your site is about, and a phrase that people are searching for. The Page title appears at the top of each of your web pages.
Page Description
The page description tells in only a few sentences what your website is about. It is important to use keywords here as well, while accurately and concisely describing your website. This is the information that appears when you do a search on a search engine under the results.
Keywords
Due to abuse, the keywords meta data is not as important as it once was when determining a websites search engine ranking. However, it is still used and listing keywords here can be of some benefit to your site.
HIT Web Design writers can help you find the keywords and write content for your site that can help improve your sites search engine rankings.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Link Baiting
One thing you can do is create blog posts or have a page on your website that contains content like a how to article, or a “Top Ten” list such as “Ten Reasons to Not Buy a....” Content written from the point of view of an expert giving tips and advice is a great way to get people to want to link to your content.
Another thing you could write about would be a well-thought-out argument on a controversial topic. The idea is to get people talking about what you write about and make them want to share it with others. You want to create conversation about your blog post or website content so more and more people will link to it. The more people you get to link to your blog or your website, the more it helps your search engine ranking.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Using Links for Better Online Rankings
The Link Advantage
Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN (now Bing) are constantly crawling through the World Wide Web to find out what's out there. Their crawlers, called “spiders,” like to enter a website and explore everything—including where the links lead to. When you have more links on other websites that lead to yours, these spiders are winding up on your site more often. The more links they see leading to your site, the more they'll assume your site is relevant and the search engine will list yours higher when people search for things related to your business or industry.
How do I get people to link to my site?
There are several ways. One is to simply ask the administrators of other websites to include a link to your site. But, Michael Bluejay of Website Helpers.com lists some rules of thumb to remember when asking: Include a link to their site first. Then “tell the other webmaster that you linked to their site,” Bluejay writes, “what your site is about, and that you hope they'll link back if they think it will be of interest to their own visitors.”
Another way is to provide useful, quality information and services on your site. Bloggers might begin using you as a resource, linking to you in their blogs. Other sites might link to you as a resource to their own visitors.
All links are not created equal.
If you can convince a major or authoritative website to link to your site, this link will be especially valuable because, in a sense, you'll be piggybacking on that site's reputation. When a search engine associates you with a site that it already considers highly relevant, your site will be given more relevance.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Make the Most of Each Website Page
Think about the last time you have looked for something on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or another search engine. When you enter your query, blue headings for each site display. This is the page title. Below that, the page description gives a short blurb about what the site is all about. Not only is it important to ensure that both the title and description are worded so that they match the wording in a search, but they need to appeal to the visitor who will spend seconds scanning them to determine which site to choose.
Optimize Titles and Descriptions
An ideal page title should include the most search-relevant keywords possible while still acting as a title—not just a jumble of words. Though recommendations vary, generally the title should be between 70 to 150 characters long.
An ideal page description should share what the site has to offer in a concise way. Remember, keywords are important to get the search engine's attention, but the primary purpose is to persuade people that clicking on your site is worth their time.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Blogs a Powerful Tool for Improving SEO
When undertaking a blog, the important thing to remember is consistency. Starting a blog can be a fruitless endeavor if you are not committed to maintaining it and posting regular new quality content.
SEO blogger Lee Odden lists several reasons why a blog can become ineffective. He says that sooner or later, the dynamo for staying focused on a blog can fizzle, resulting in less time spent on improving a blog's visibility and effectiveness as an SEO generator. The antidote: time and effort. This may be difficult, but the results of providing a frequently updated, well-written blog can be worth the effort.
“That's all well and nice,” you might say, “but what am I supposed to write?”
Seopher.com's Steven York offers some tips about the purpose behind blogs. He says they should engage readers, providing content they can use—not just a mundane record of internal business developments. Use it to offer information and advice about different aspects of your industry, he advises, and people will begin to think of you—and your business—as an expert in the field.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Right Keywords Will Set Your Website Apart
But that's easier said than done. In fact, a whole industry has arisen around this technique of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Here are some things to remember when optimizing your text for better search-engine ranking:
- Before you create text for your site, research what words people are using in search engines to find similar products and services as yours. There are many tools for this, including using free reports from Google and other sources, as well as utilizing website tracking tools and paid SEO keyword databases.
- Keywords can range from very broad to very specific, and each has its advantages.
- A broad keyword is one that describes a general aspect of your business or service, like the word “bathroom” would be to someone who remodels bathrooms. The advantage is that because it is such a generalized word, a large base of people will use it in searches, potentially bringing more to your site.
- A specific or targeted keyword appeals to people searching for something specific. So, if someone specifically refinishes bathtubs and showers, then refining your keyword to “bathroom and bathtub refinishing” would correlate with people who are looking for that service specifically. Though fewer people will be as specific in their searches, the advantage is that they are more likely to purchase the service or product when they find it.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Use Free Tools to Optimize Website Copy
Google AdWords: This is a powerful—and free—tool that utilizes Google's vast history of queries made in the last month. You can type in a keyword or phrase, and the tool will generate a list of the relating keywords that others have used. The tool includes data showing how commonly the word is used among competitors and how many queries using the keyword have been made in the past month. Check it out at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Wordtracker: This subscription service utilizes a database of hundreds of millions of keyword terms. Though you must pay for full access, it does provide a free keyword suggestion tool that lists the top 100 related keywords based on keywords you enter. To get more specific and advanced keyword data, you must subscribe. Check out the free tool at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Quality Content Improves SEO, Search Engine Ranking
To get out in front of a large online audience, words matter. Poor wording can cause your website to be swallowed up in the vast sea of the World Wide Web. Those that stand out have learned to play by search engine rules, optimizing themselves to include what search engines like best.
Rule No. 1—Use quality content.
Search engines review and classify websites by reading their text. They look for keywords that have relevance to the words people type in to find something on the Internet. If you're a plumber in Phoenix, for example, you will definitely want to include the words “plumber” and “phoenix” on your site.
But, it's not that easy. Search engines have gotten wise to sites that simply use repeated, or spammed, keywords. Search engines now look at the text as a whole, factoring in the relevance and quality of the entire content as it relates to these keywords. So, including “plumber” and “phoenix” is important, but so is ensuring that these keywords, and other relating keywords, are placed strategically within well-written copy.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
How To Know Which Keywords to Use
Researching keywords, writing text that markets your business, and writing effective page titles can take up a lot of time. If you want to increase your natural search engine rankings but you don’t have the time, let us help. HIT Web Design offers a wide range of products and services to help you maximize your web site’s potential.
Instead of “he has worked in the area for several years” try using something like “he has worked in the Atlanta area for several years” OR “Luis Argyle has sold Ford trucks in the Atlanta area for over 15 years”, etc. In this example, you could even mention what trucks (F-150, Ranger, etc.) Luis sells.
If you are offering a service or a product to a specific area, then use the city, state, region as one of your keyword. Be specific in the products or services you offer. If you sell jewelry, mention what kind. If you build homes, where do you build them? If you were searching for the service/product you are writing about, what keywords would you enter into the search engine?
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tips for Creating SEO Friendly (and Visitor Friendly) Content
Once you have written your content, you will want to create a page title for each page. A well-written page title will help your Search Engine Optimization. Your page title should have 5-6 keywords and include a keyword phrase.
You want to create a page title that is visitor friendly. In addition to great content and a page title, you can add a site map and a blog (with well-written, informative blog articles). Site maps and blogs can help bring people to your site and increase your natural search rankings.
Before you begin optimizing your site, make sure you’ve spent time educating yourself.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Keywords and How They Effect Your Website Traffic
Your quality content should have enough keywords to benefit your search engine ranking without annoying your customers.
What is a keyword, exactly? A keyword or key phrase is the word or group of words that your potential customer enters into a search engine.
Do your research and see what keywords and phrases your potential customers are using. You can then add these keywords to your text. The more specific your keywords are, the better. For example, if you are an auto dealership, you would want to use a phrase like “black 2008 Mazda CX7” rather than “Mazda” or “new vehicle.”
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Friday, October 16, 2009
What is SEO?
Once your website is up and running, you need to do something to get people to it. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, encompasses several ideas that, when implemented, can increase your natural search engine rankings.
It can be a big challenge. After all, you may be competing against companies that spend tens of thousands of dollars a month on Search Engine Optimization.
Fortunately there are things that you can do, at very little or no cost, to optimize your site.
When you are considering Search Engine Optimization and your website, you need to think of every page of your site. Some website owners spend a lot of time and energy optimizing their home pages but neglect optimizing the other pages of their site. For each page of your website you should include, as a minimum, excellent keyword-enriched content and a page title.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Monday, August 3, 2009
SEO Versus Paid Search Engine Ads
With that said, it does take some thorough research. You need to figure out what your customers/viewers will be searching for when they look for a website that has to do with your business, and then write the content accordingly. This should be fairly easy as hopefully if the customer is in fact searching for your type of business simply using the keywords about your business in the content of your site will go a long ways towards creating a site that is friendly to the search engines, and will help you get the positioning you need. Another great way of helping your ranking is to have sites that are ranked highly link to your site. Do not fall into the trap of thinking you can cheat the search engines, even with reciprocal links. Avoid linking to “bad neighborhoods” (sites that are known for spamming the search engines) or scamming links to your site in any way. It can ultimately lead to your being banned altogether. However, legitimate links are always helpful.
Another benefit of great content is an increase in your conversion of site viewers to actual buyers. If your site doesn’t make someone want to buy from you, getting traffic to the site ultimately means nothing. I will touch on this subject more in future blogs.
In talking about search engines as a marketing strategy, I would not be doing anyone a service by saying that relying on search engine traffic for your business is a good thing. Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms and if they suddenly change something that causes your ranking to drop, sales can plummet. This is something that is completely out of your control and can in itself be disastrous. Instead of just SEO, I would recommend a more conventional method by employing SEO as well as paid advertising on the web and search engines, such as Google Ads. The paid advertisements under the keywords of your choice that you bid on can be extremely lucrative and can often be worth their weight in gold.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Creating Quality Site Content - Avoiding Mistakes with the Search Engines
The following list is directly from Google and can be seen in its entirety by going to Google and looking up Webmaster Guidelines or by going to http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769&src=top5.
Quality guidelines - specific guidelines
• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
• Don't use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Don't send automated queries to Google.
• Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Don't create pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.
I’ll have more tomorrow on the right way to create a user friendly as well as a site that is friendly to the search engines.
For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
What Social Networks Should I Join?
People talk. If you have a product or service on the market, chances are people are talking about you, whether you want them to or not. It doesn't matter if you care to participate in the conversation or not—they still talk.
There are many places, or “social networking sites,” where people talk online. Some major ones include Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn. There are other specialized social networking sites, too, such as Squidoo, ChaCha, and Mechanical Zoo's Aardvark, where avenues to experts and hard-to-find information can be found.
To give you an idea of the potential marketing power of these networks, let's consider the growth of Facebook and Twitter. As of Feb. 2009, Compete.com ranked Facebook number one in visits and length of stay per visit, with MySpace second, and Twitter skyrocketing from number 22 to number three! (See Top 25 Networking Sites.) Facebook has added over 100 million (yes, million) users in less than a year.
Online marketing expert Erik Qualman put Facebook's growth in perspective by saying, “If Facebook were a country, it would overtake Indonesia as the fourth largest country in the world by September at this pace.” (See “15 Maxims for Marketers, p. 15.) That's a ton of customers just waiting to be engaged by your products or services.
Get Into the Social Scene
To maximize your social networking strategy, the first thing you need to do is delineate your own target market, and then determine if each social networking site's demographic makeup matches yours. Surprisingly, the biggest users of social networking sites are the Baby Boomers, that is, those in their mid 40s to 60s, not those in their 20s and 30s. In fact, the younger folks are slowing down when it comes to using social networking, perhaps due to information and technology overload. (See Gen X and Gen Y.)
Listed below are some important social networking sites that you can use (with creativity) to promote yourself, your products, or your services. Don't be afraid to experiment.
www.squidoo.com
Appeals to anyone seeking high-level expertise.
Mr. David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author, recommends using Squidoo to drive traffic to your site. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 236-37.) Squidoo allows you to create what is called a “lens,” which is basically a single page catalog of your expertise. Searchers can search for your expertise on Squidoo, and when they find your lens, you can direct them from there to your website.
www.facebook.com
Originally only for students, now open to anyone. Women seeking to reunite with old friends are a big part of the membership.
Mr. Scott also describes how to make good use of Facebook. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 231-35.) This strategy is threefold: 1.) use the “post a message” feature to let people know what you are doing (new product release, new book published, attending a tradeshow, etc.); 2. Create a Facebook Group to gather people together with a common interest (i.e., users of your product or service); and finally, 3.) Use Facebook's ability to make customized applications to access as wide a market as possible from the Facebook users.
www.myspace.com
Not just for teenagers anymore, entertainers and musicians, for instance, employ MySpace effectively to build a large fan base and stay in touch with enthusiasts.
Myspace profiles are a good way to connect with a lot of people. Mr. Scott warns, however, that “authenticity and transparency” are critical. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 229-31.) Ad agencies have been known to create false profiles for selfish benefit, only to see a huge backlash when their scheme is discovered. Mr. Scott suggests that one way around needless trickery is to emulate Volkswagen's idea of creating a fictional character that everyone knows is made up who can then humorously and shamelessly promote your product.
www.twitter.com
Appeals to young and middle-aged professionals alike.
Twitter is easy to use, and focuses on the ability to get quick answers to questions. While Baby Boomer individuals aged 45-54 are the largest segment of Twitter, the second highest segment is individuals aged 25-34, indicating that both aspiring young executives as well as seasoned business veterans benefit from, and consistently use, this social networking site. (See Social Media Optimization.)
www.yourwebsite.com
Remember, the quality of your website and its content is critical because the whole point of harnessing the power of social networking is to drive people to your site. When they come, you want them to stay! For more tips on making your website the best it can be, contact HIT Web Design.
