I just spent a relaxing week in Curacao, an island off the coast of Venezuela. We stayed at some quaint apartments overlooking a bay called the Spanish Waters. This place is really off the beaten path. Our day started with Costa Rican coffee on the patio only a few feet from the water. Big Sigh!
The inn is owned by a charming couple, Raul and Sylvia. He gives scuba diving instructions and she teaches Salsa dance lessons. The name of the place is called the Limestone Holiday in case you’re looking for an ideal location to rejuvenate.
I was talking to the owners and they asked what I did for a living. That is not always an easy answer, but to simplify the response I said Internet marketing. That answer always stimulates interest, especially from local business owners.
Now I originally found this quaint inn through the Internet. In fact, it kept popping up on a number of different keyword searches. They proceeded to tell me how they use to spend considerable money advertising offline, and the results were not all that impressive.
Several years ago they built a web site and now they get 90% of their business off the Internet. Except for a listing on the official Curacao site, most of their traffic is free and generated through the search engines.
What is amazing is that they made little effort to optimize their site for the search engines. They just built pages that focus on their rooms, their location, scuba diving and local attractions. But important terms like Curacao, scuba diving, restaurant, etc. are peppered throughout the site. The same terms people would use if they were researching Curacao for a vacation. There was no conscious effort to strategically position the terms throughout the copy for the sake of the search engines. In fact, they do not even know what search engine optimization means.
This is a perfect example how a local business can generate new customers with a minimal effort. I can tell you that the owners of the inn were not working on their site on a daily basis. In fact, they may not have updated it in the last six month. And yet they are generating new business that would cost thousands on a monthly basis if they were advertising offline.
Depending on the competitiveness of your market, with a just minor effort you could dominate the search results for your local area. And those results can generate targeted prospects who are actively looking for your products or services. By following the basics of search engine optimization, and by creating content that is search engine friendly, you could significantly increase your profits and have the time and money to visit the Limestone Holiday in Curacao.
Fred Waters is President of the Local Online Marketing Association, where you can get the Free Ebook, The Indispensable Guide to Local Online Marketing. Learn how you can profit online and reach new customers.
Does your business have a Web site? Have you missed the idea that it can be your 24/7 virtual marketing machine? Do you wonder how it could bring you minions more customers and clients to your “brick and mortar” location?
The biggest mistake local businesses make is not using the Internet to let potential customers and clients know who they are, who they can be by offering valuable content to attract them back again and again, and why they are the first choice over their competition.
Did you know that many of your local potential customers will Google your Web name or your name to see what you offer and how you may be their choice over others? Today people are much more Internet savvy. You need to speak to them.
Building traffic to your Web site to market it needs you to install proper content and sales messages on it as well as other tried and true Online promotion methods such as submitting articles and creating a blog.
FACT: You have only 10 seconds to attract your potential customers and get him to stay long enough to show them your business is his best choice.
How’s your Web Site Doing?
Take the “Check and Correct Quizâ? below to see if your Web site measures up. After your input what you don’t know will be clearer. If you want your Web site to be more effective, stay open and learn how they can put more money in your checking account each month.
Answer these questions to see if you are on track or need a professional partner to help you get the necessary marketing language and content on your site to bring targeted traffic. Realize the spiders of the search engines comb sites daily looking for good key word, free information, and power writing sales content.
Did You Know Your Web site Needs…?
_____1. A sales letter (short or long) for each product or service you offer. You need to give your visitors a reason to buy from you.
_____2. Benefit driven headlines on your home page to attract people to your sales messages. Drop your announcements because they bore. Make your visitor’s mouths water, their skin tingle, and their eyes receive a positive picture of how they will be after they use you. Make your headlines on your home page and in your sales letters sizzle and seduce to get them to call you and come to your office.
_____3. Testimonials from former clients and customers
_____4. Less bio and credentials on the home page because your customer wants to know “what’s in it for me?” Put this information on your Contact or About Me page.
_____5. Less telling and more engaging the visitor to stay (they leave immediately if they don’t see benefits and valuable content that answers their concerns). Forget the brochure-style home page.
_____6. A preplan naming the top two to three focuses you want to attract customers to, who your target market is, and your Web site’s contacts and money goals.
_____7. Much more “You” centered information such as benefits or short tips and articles
_____8. Acknowledgement and answers for your visitor’s concerns, problems or challenges. These hook your Web visitor to pick up the phone to call you.
_____9. Proven strategies that get people to your site to include writing and submitting short articles to other Web sites and ezines, exchanging links, a blog page for your customer to interact with you and get questions answered, and many more.
____10. A willingness to take the time and spend the money to make your Web site work. Without this, your site will languish with inactivity.
When you don’t know what you don’t know, your site just sits there with no one to play with. Your brick and mortar business sits there too. Now that you do know more than you did, take a leap of faith and know that you too can learn how to make your Web site shine and bring people right to your business address. Find yourself a good professional Internet marketing person, read books on the topic or take a teleclass or seminar to boost your skills. Partner with a professional who can make your journey so much shorter, with fewer mistakes, and help you enjoy your business more.
Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.
Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The BookCoach Says…,” “Business Tip of the Month,” blog Q & A at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 170 free articles.
There are some basic Search Engine Optimization methods that you can use on your website to increase your popularity in search engines.
First & foremost one of the most influentual ways to increase your ranking is to get backlinks pointing your you website with relevant Anchor Text. Anchor Text looks like this:
Make Money Online
The Anchor text of that particular link is Make Money Online. This will result in you getting a slight boost when people search for the phrase Make Money Online. Naturally you have to consider that such a phrase would be quite competitive….
Secondly it is important that if you want to rank for a particular term that you have a good density of that particular keyword on your page. We usually reccommend anywhere between 5%-8% keyword density.
Here’s a list of other techniques you can implement:
1. Keywords on your Domain Name.
2. Keywords in your URL.
3. Keywords in h1 & h2 tags on your pages.
4. Having backlinks pointing to you site with anchor text that you want to rank for.
5. Having your page title in the description meta tag, including keywords.
6. Using Alt tags on images with keywords.
7. Have the page title come before the site name in your title, this will increase clickthroughs to your site.
8. Make sure you have a good internal link structure so that the bots can find your pages easily.
9. Add a Sitemap to Google Sitemaps.
10. Submit your site to directories with varying Anchor Text.
Having a reliable webhost also plays a part in the picture, you want as much Uptime as possible so that when the spiders do visit you they’re not getting 404′s.
Stuart maintains an Affiliate Marketing Software site with information about Adsense Optimization & Chitika Tips.
While searching the web these days, it’s hard not to notice all those little Local tabs sprouting up in the vicinity of the search field on virtually every major search engine. Within the past year, the race has been to integrate a plethora of advanced features into local search capabilities.
Already we’re seeing features like customer reviews and ratings, storefront and product photos, detailed maps with directions, hours of operation, forms of accepted payment, integration with cell phones, and much more is promised to follow. Picture a million paper phone books combined – on steroids and capable of providing instant results for an information-hungry and time-challenged customer base. The potential for local search is really quite staggering!
So what exactly is local search, and how can you best position your business to take advantage of it?
In a nutshell, local search is essentially the Internet’s version of the phone book. The difference being that this “phone book” is much faster and far more responsive. For example, suppose I’m in Boston staying at the Harbor View Hotel and in need of a haircut? No problem. I Just enter haircut followed by the zip code of the hotel where I’m staying – 02114 – and I instantly find Richard’s Haircutting for Men a scant 0.4 miles east and with directions.
All that took about 30 seconds from concept to completion leaving me with a feeling of satisfaction that no regular phone book could ever provide. I’m now addicted to local search after only a single dose! Throw away the phone book, never mind the concierge.
Now, if that little demo hasn’t yet convinced you, chew on this recent finding…
70 percent of U.S. households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services… Findings also suggest the Internet is poised to surpass newspapers as a local shopping information resource. Source: The Kelsey Group
Simply put, local search – including local search on mobile devices – is about to dominate the world of brick-n-mortar marketing. Ready or not, here it comes! …we suggest you get ready now, before it starts costing you a fortune to negotiate the learning curve. Oh, and get used to the fact that the big yellow phone book is well on its way to becoming nothing more than a cheesy doorstop.
How To Get Listed In Local Search
The first step to getting your business listed in Local Search is (surprise) to buy a listing in the offline Yellow Pages (yep, that cheesy doorstop-to-be we just dis’d). Here’s why:
Most search engines get the bulk of their local business listings from just two companies: 1)infoUSA and 2)Acxiom.
…or else from Internet Yellow Pages sites which also derive their listings from these two companies. Both have compiled enormous databases containing detailed information on most of the businesses and consumer households in the US and Canada. And much of their data is pulled from your basic Yellow Page and Business White Page directories (aka, the cheesy doorstops).
The good news may be that your business already has a listing in your local Yellow Pages – if not, then you should get one! Don’t worry about taking out a big colorful ad with lots of information about your company. We haven’t any reason to believe that expensive ads offer any advantage in local search rankings. Nor does lots of business information in your Yellow Pages ad seem to enhance your local search listing’s comprehensiveness. It appears to us that any Yellow Pages listing at all will get you included in most local search engines just fine.
By the way, InfoUSA has the more user-friendly website of the two. They provide a way for you to actually check to see if your site is listed with them by using their Directory Assistance Plus web search. And, if you find your business is not listed or is listed incorrectly, you can use their add/update page to correct your listing.
How To Check Your Listing
Once you have a Yellow Pages listing (the cheesy doorstop version), then chances are you’ll be found in most local search engines. To check your listing, enter your business name and zip code into the search fields at the following locations:
Google Local – http://www.google.com/lochp
Yahoo Local – http://local.yahoo.com/
MSN Local – http://local.msn.com/ – Still not yet quite as extensive as most other search engines. Don’t be surprised if you’re not listed.
Ask Jeeves Local – http://local.ask.com/local – Not quite as good at word parsing as Google and Yahoo. For instance, sees timeshare as different from time share. Be specific in your spelling and punctuation of your business name or category.
AOL Local – http://localsearch.aol.com/ – Divides its results into directory-like categories, so you may have to drill down a few levels to find your listing.
A9 Local – http://a9.com/ – Not really a local search engine, but A9 does have local features, as well as their own Yellow Pages. Type in your business name and zip code and see what comes up.
If you find your business is missing from any of these local search engines, most of them provide an interface to allow you to add your site. Look around for a link that says something like “Update Your Business” or “Information for Business Owners”. Chances are good that even if your site is listed, your business information may be incomplete or inaccurate and you’ll probably want to update and improve your local search listing.
Esoos Bobnar is a search marketing specialist and one of the head researchers at SearchEngineNews.com, a company which publishes an award-winning Search Engine Book, as well as a monthly report on the latest search engine marketing techniques.
Are you fully leveraging the power of the Internet with your marketing efforts?
It’s kind of amazing, but I still meet lots of small business owners who don’t think the Internet is crucial for their success. “I’m just a small local business. I don’t think the Internet is necessarily the right place for me to focus my marketing efforts.” I’m still hearing this sentiment from many a small business owner.
Hey, I was one of those people for almost a year with my own business. And I’ve set my stall out as a small business marketing guy.
Listen, whether you’re trying to get people’s attention from half-way around the world or just half-way around the block, you need to consider the power of the Internet. More and more people are turning to the Internet before (or in lieu of ever) turning to the yellow pages. That’s true even when they’re looking for things in their own town.
It’s a place where people go to begin gathering information to make a decision. It’s the place where people prefer to start when someone has made a referral or recommendation. It’s the place people would generally prefer to go after they’ve met you at a networking event and were interested enough to know more.
The Internet is not going away. In fact, the trends show us that it’s becoming a more and more integral part of the communication media we depend on. Anybody notice how interested the cable companies, phone companies, and cell phone service companies have become in putting out products and services that work with the Internet?
Are you fully leveraging the power of the Internet with your marketing efforts yet? Do you have a web site? Email newsletter? Blog? Podcast? Vlog?
Does the mere mention of all these terms intimidate and overwhelm you? Don’t let it.
You don’t have to do all of these things at once. Make this the year that you begin leveraging the Internet to grow your small business.
But, the power of the Internet is something you simply can’t ignore if you really want to take your business to great new heights. Make a commitment to learn more about this powerful, ever changing medium called the Internet. And then pull out your marketing plan and figure out how to make it fit into your strategy.
About the Author:
Kevin Dervin is the owner of KPD Marketing and creator of the ABCD Growth System. If you find this article useful, you’d probably enjoy Kevin’s FREE eZine called ABCD Grow. To subscribe, just go to http://www.ABCDgrowth.com and follow one of the links to the FREE Stuff page!
Search Engine Optimization is an endless process which requires a lot of on going effort and patience to get desired results. There are many on page factors which affect your ranking in Search engines. The most significant on page factors include:
⢠Choosing keywords
⢠Domain name registration
⢠Title of the page
⢠Meta tags
⢠Page Heading
⢠Keyword Saturation
The first and the most important factor is to select keywords that are related to your business. The selection of keywords also requires some research on the user queries, which are issued to look for a specific service, product and document. Therefore, it is helpful to make some research about the user inputs if they want to find your product through search engines.
The other important task for effective search engine optimization campaign is find the most relevant word for your website while registration. This issue perhaps requires a bit of luck but if you get one with your top keyword then it will be beneficial for you. For instance, if you are going to start an online perfume business through your website, you need to look for a domain name that includes the word âperfumeâ? in it. Similarly if you are having a data recovery business for all storage media types like hard drives, raid servers, file recovery and any other removable media then your domain name must include âdata recoveryâ? in it.
The title tag for your pages is very critical if you really want to get a boost at early stages of your search engine optimization activity. The optimized title for your page is one which is relevant to your page content and must include your key word for which you are optimizing your page. Make sure your title is not more than 80 characters and in some cases donât exceed 70 characters.
Meta tag is not as important now a days as it was in earlier days of search engine optimization but you can keep it with most important keywords and it should not be senseless. Try to keep the length of your meta tags not more than 200 characters.
The selection of your top heading for a page must include a brief sentence about the overall pageâs content. For simplicity you can keep it same as the title of the page if applicable. Use H1 or H2 tag with your heading and use additional attribute like strong to make it more distinguishable.
Deciding about the proper key word saturation for a page requires a lot of study and in some cases it really confuses you a lot as one of your competitors might have used different percentage of saturation and the other might have different. So you may not decide about that but my advice is to keep it not more than 5-8 %.
M usman Qureshi Software Engineer and webmaster at http://www.vibranttechsolutions.com email: usman@vibranttechsolutions.com.
Search Engine Listing And Optimization
In the world of website marketing, search engines are an essential key to success. They are the most important way to bring traffic to your website. Understanding how search engines work and what they require is an important first step to harnessing their marketing power.
The two types of search engines can be characterized as active and passive. An active engine utilizes crawl technology that constantly searches out websites, adds them to its database and creates listings automatically with what it finds. Passive engines require registration of your website directly with them and rely on editors to add your site to their directory. As search engines have evolved, many have adopted a combination of passive and active strategies.
Search engine optimization is the utilization of techniques that will assure that search engines find and include your website in their databases. There are proven methods to search engine marketing involving website design and content adaptation, and keyword strategy. The primary goal of these methods is to bring traffic to your site. The secondary goal is for that traffic to be targeted to your product. In the internet marketing game, exposure is essential. But marketing efficiency requires effective exposure to the right prospects.
Customer Delivery By Search Engine
Valiss’s knowledge of search engines and how to position your website for optimal exposure can help your website top its market. Search engine optimization must be a central part of your internet marketing plan. By refining your website, Valiss will enable search engines to deliver more of your prospective customers to your site.
Ted Prodromou spent over 25 years in the computer industry working for IBM, Digital, and Cellular one. Today he’s the owner of Valiss IT, a consulting firm that provides small business coaching and marketing help. He’s also a certified personal and professional coach.
Ted has created and led many coaching workshops and today is helping small businesses automate their marketing with his latest coaching program, “Attract Clients While You Sleep”. For more information visit http://www.valiss.com/specials.
Using streaming video is a choice driven by many factors…
Streaming Video over the internet is in essence a task that has been occurring for the last ten years. But with the recent updates in technology and broadband being available around the world, only recently is it now considered a top trend for the internet. It’s available for everyone to learn and use.
Businesses and organizations, both small and large, are using streaming video for communicating, training, informing, educating, promoting and selling services and products across the internet. One major decision an organization or business must make is what their major usage of video on the internet will be for them. This decision is usually the determining factor on whether or not the information is offered on-demand or live.
What Is On-demand Streaming?
On demand means that viewers click on a link for that video and actually watch it either immediately on the website or as it progressively plays in their media player on their computer. The event that is being displayed as video actually has occurred another time and not necessarily the same day of viewing when doing on-demand.
Many television stations will state coming live to you from….but this is not really occurring at the time you are watching it. It was taped live and being presented at a later date. This is referred to as ‘simulated live’. When you watch American Idol on television, it states it is live from wherever they are that day, but actually it was taped months ago.
What Is Live Streaming?
Live streaming is when it is actually happening at that moment you are watching it. A live stream is delivered to it’s viewers within seconds of it happening. Many sports games now are coming ‘live’ over the internet. They are happening at that exact time.
Events can be streamed live from one side of the world to the other with high quality viewing. Our company did a stream of a live sporting event in Germany and viewers watched it in Canada, Europe and the United States. It was occurring live at that time, and viewers watched it as it happened.
Corporations are doing live trainings from their headquarters in one country to offices in other countries – live and on-demand. Universities and Colleges are doing long-distance training of courses live with interaction amongst students and professors from one side of the world to another. Live streaming is being used in many ways for events around the world. When the new Pope was inducted it was one of the largest live streaming events in the world over the internet.
Cost Can Be a Determining Factor
Many live events take a more experienced, and professional crew to produce as encoding (compressing and decompressing to send that large file) is done at location prior to sending it over the internet. Content Delivery Networks (CDN’s) can be expensive if doing large on-demand or live streams of extreme length. Smaller video streams can be uploaded to your website using your own hosting service. Whether or not you have to use DRM (Digital Rights Management) is also another factor to consider. So there are a lot of factors involved in streaming on-demand and live video.
So your first decision when consider streaming video over the internet is whether it can be on-demand or whether it must be live. Your event at hand will determine that and your viewers’ needs will also affect that decision. The extra costs for a live crew on location can be a determining factor also.
Copyright 2006 Cathy Linderman
Cathy Linderman currently works with internet audio and video and her business provides related resources, practical training and products for all websites, whether personal or business. Cathy and her business associate, Komee, are known for their simple, practical, easy-to-learn techniques for using audio or video on websites.
Editor: Komee Carpenter
http://www.GlobalInternetBroadcasting.com
This year will be remembered as the year the Internet Video Revolution has taken over the Internet and simultaneously left many people wondering what streaming videos are all about.
For the first time in history, advertisers are spending more money for Internet advertising than for Television advertising. With the advent of Google Video and Mac Video websites, the Internet has now provided a way for individuals, businesses and video techies to showcase their videos via the Internet.
159 million Americans own cell phones with video capabilities. 58 thousand Mac Ipods are being sold every day and we are spending twice the amount of time on the Internet than watching TV.
I always tell my audience when I give a lecture about this topic to go into an Apple store and see who is in it! Take a good look around and watch what technology is being used and who is using it. And that technology is streaming video. I am amazed at how many business owners, expo promoters and webmasters are up in the air when it comes to this subject of streaming video and how it is changing the way we do business and how website are now being converted into their own TV sites.
A great indicator of this is to see what companies are using streaming media and how they are using it on their websites. So the next time you log on, take a good look around and learn from these companies if you have not done so.
And just a quick note, a streaming video commercial about your product or service can help increase your sales by as much as 85%.
Rey Ybarra hosts and produces the http://www.Optimalhealthtv.com, http://www.healthexpotv.com and the http://www.websitestreaming.com Internet TV websites featuring streaming media! He lectures at many of the major expos and events about the importance of producing streaming video for your websites. Rey is considered by his peers to be one of the most prepared talk show hosts and knowledgeable speakers/lecuturers in the field of streaming media.
Without a doubt, online video increasingly influences the way we expect to digest content on the Internet.
As high-speed access becomes the norm in households that actually spend money online, video will pervade even more of every user’s experience.
Besides the enriched content online video provides for viewers, it has also sparked yet another online “gold rush” for online businesses.
The dash for cash this time centers on who can figure out how to put effective advertising into the video mix.
But, unearthing these online riches entails balancing the advertising content so businesses can make money while at the same time not alienating viewers who, up until now, have not been forced to endure institutional advertising in their online video clips.
With some sites getting over a million visitors a day, the prize of figuring out how to get those visitors to buy something has proven too tempting for online advertisers to ignore.
In fact, some even speculate that video advertising technology in the not too distant future will allow contextual ads to appear in video based on actual dialogue in the videos.
Though this sounds exciting, my experience with creating online video tells me that, for most big companies, online advertising won’t work with any measurable effectiveness.
For example, one of the most popular videos online right now shows kids with a Pepsi or Coke bottle dropping Mentos candies into a two-liter container.
The ensuing chemical reaction makes for an explosive show. On the surface, you might think one of the soda manufacturers or the candy maker would want their ads to appear within the video, but would they?
I don’t think Coke wants to encourage people to make bombs out of their product.
However, an ad for a book about pranks or mischievous projects with common household items might sell like bottled water in the desert.
Another obstacle faced by advertisers who want to ride along in other people’s videos involves the fact that TV advertising doesn’t work online for a very basic reason: the Internet is NOT TV!
When someone watches TV, they are typically in a very physically passive mode.
They sit back in their chair, feet up, drink in one hand, remote control in the other and a bag of chips in their ever-expanding lap.
Conversely, when someone watches video online, they usually sit upright, leaning forward, mouse firmly in hand, and ready to click away on to the next thing at the first sign of boredom.
In short, people physically and mentally won’t stand for a traditional TV advertising approach when it comes to online video.
So what will work in online video advertising?
Simply this: advertisers must create their own videos to go with the ads they want to run.
They can’t just plop 15-30 seconds of advertising material into someone else’s video and expect to turn a profit very often.
Video advertisers must understand that the line between video ads and video content is a blurred one that can’t be separated by “And now, a word from our sponsor.”
The videos themselves, not the ads, must build a desire within the viewer to find out more about a product or service.
This especially holds true for smaller companies and individuals who, unlike Coke and Pepsi, don’t have millions of dollars to throw at online video to “build a brand.”
The real winners in online video will understand that the marketing message and the delivery method are one in the same.
Taking the “easy road” of inserting TV ads into videos won’t generate a profit for the vast majority who try to make it work.
Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-step and click-by-click how to get your own money-making videos posted online… “Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU To Painlessly Create, Post and PROFIT From Your Own Money-Making Online Videos… Without Being a Computer Geek or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!” => http://www.WebsiteVideoSecrets.com
Now more then ever profitable opportunities exist to promote your local business on the Internet. Through search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, email marketing and local listings, you can connect with a willing audience. Your customers are turning to the Internet to find local products and services. If your competitors have an online presence and you don’t, guess who gets to take home the prize
Below are several crucial techniques for promoting your business regionally:
Listings in local search engines and directories
Pay Per Click advertising in Google and Yahoo
Email marketing
Search engine optimization
Local Listings
Even if you do not have a web site you can still promote your local business online. For example, you can list you business and contact information with the local search engines of Yahoo and Google. It takes an hour at the most to get a free listing on the two most popular search engines. Your listing will include an interactive map that can direct customers right to your front door.
Another important resource that accepts free listings is Verizon’s Superpages.com, as does the local version of AOL.
And don’t overlook regional and industry specific directories. Many accept free listings, or charge a nominal fee. Once again, for most a web site is not a prerequisite.
Pay Per Click Advertising
If you do have a web site, than you need to promote your local business through Pay Per Click on both Google and Yahoo. With Pay Per Advertising you bid on keyword terms that your potential customers would use in a search. An example is “Tacoma Wedding Photographer.” The cost per click depends on how competitive the term is. You only pay if a prospect clicks on your text ad and goes to your site. This is referred to as performance advertising, where you only pay if the ad performs.
The appeal of PPC is you can get it going within an hour. You set the budget, you determine what keywords are relevant, and you determine your price per click. You can also turn it on or off in an instance. The general consensus is that PPC generates a higher return on your investment over traditional offline advertising.
Search Engine Optimization – Free Traffic
For those that like a challenge there is search engine optimization. SEO is the ability to optimize your web site for high search ranking. If you can optimize your site properly, you can benefit from an endless stream of free, targeted search engine traffic. It takes time and effort, but the results can take your business to a whole new level.
If you are selling nationally SEO can be cutthroat. For a local business it can be relatively easy to rank for terms that relate to your business and location. (ex. Richmond Wedding Photographer)
Local Email Marketing
Another tremendous marketing tool is email. For virtually nothing you can communicate with both prospects and your existing customers. Email is an excellent method to convert prospects to customers. It can also significantly increase the lifetime value of your existing customers by simply alerting them to upcoming sales and promotions.
Knowing the power of email communication, I find it hard to believe how few use it to promote their local business. Now listen up, start collecting your customer’s email addresses today. I can guarantee they will respond favorably to joining your list. We all like to be informed on bargains and special offers.
The future of your local business will depend on the Internet. It is estimated 25% of searches online are local in nature. The Internet is the perfect resource for finding local products and services, which is why your customers are searching online. Now is the time to get your business positioned to reap the rewards.
Fred Waters is co-founder of the Local Online Marketing Association, where you can get the Free 54-page E-book, âThe Indispensable Guide to Local Internet Marketing .â?
Search engine marketing can be a complex and scary topic. Endless opportunities to advertise and market, constantly changing trends and technologies, and overly complex solutions all come with the territory. So, what you don’t need when you’re evaluating or creating your search engine marketing strategy is lengthy explanations about how different techniques work. Instead, seek out advisors who can guide you with simple explanations and techniques based on real results. That’s exactly what the following article is about. It’s a simple list of four things business owners can use in creating or evaluating their search engine marketing strategy.
1. Establish Your Internet Marketing Strategy Goal
Many consultants will tell you to set goals about what you want to achieve with your website. Forget it. Those are distractions from the real question you need to ask yourself, which is
“What is THE purpose of my website?”
Once you answer that question, all other aspects of search engine marketing strategy can be leveraged to help you achieve that purpose. Typically, people use their website for many different purposes. Regardless, you still need to answer this question. The focus you will get from it will help you create a more effective strategy.
Here are the top three most common answers to the question “What is THE purpose of my website?”
1. To sell things
2. To generate leads for my sales team
3. To educate my target audience
It can be this simple! Just decide which of the three answers above suits you best (or create your own) and then move on to step 2.
2. Establish a Search Engine Marketing Plan
There’s a reason why search engine marketing is so hot. It works. It consistent generates leads, sales, etc. at a lower cost-per-lead or cost-per-sale than traditional mediums like TV or direct mail advertising. It makes sense when you think about it: when people want to find something online, they go to Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. and search for it.
Search engine marketing is all about SHOWING UP when people search for what you sell, offer, or have on your website. There is a growing body of knowledge (books, articles, etc.) on how to do this. And like anything else, it has become over analyzed and too complex. To further complicate things, some search engine marketing techniques are ethical and legitimate, while some are not. The best approach is to create a search engine marketing plan that focuses on two aspects:
1. Search engine optimization – showing up in the “free” area of the search engine’s results
2. Pay-per click advertising – showing up in the “paid” area of the search engine’s results
For search engine optimization, first realize there is no “silver bullet.” There just isn’t a way to easily get ranked consistently high in the search engines. It is a combination of factors that always come down to one underlying truth: build your website according to web standards, with a focus on accessibility for all.
Just like search engine optimization, there is no “silver bullet” for pay-per click advertising, either. Instead, the formula for PPC success is in well-placed bids (what you will pay to have your ad show up) combined with meaningful landing pages (where people go when they click on your ad).
3. Conduct Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The goal of search engine optimization is to make changes to your website to get higher rankings in search engines. Yet, search engine optimization is a confusing sector. On one hand, there are “snake oil salesmen” ready to get you a number 1 ranking with their latest trick. On the other hand, the things that actually do work are very simple, and frankly, just not very “sexy.”
The best strategy to take is a common-sense approach to SEO: develop standards for your website that ALL pages must adhere to. If you do this, and enforce it, you can then branch out to some of the other “niche” aspects of SEO.
Here’s a sample list of SEO standards to enforce on your website:
1. Write descriptive HTML page titles that really describe the page it is on (in 255 characters or less)
2. Write a summary sentence that really describes the page it is on (in 255 characters or less)
3. Write page content that is focused on
4. Write descriptive ALT text for all images that describes the concept the image illustrates and never use images for text
5. Build all pages to comply with current web standards observed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Only once your web pages comply with the above standards should you start more advanced SEO techniques, including keyword targeting, 301 redirects, link building (getting more links to your site), RSS news feeds, blogs, and SEO-specific metrics and tracking.
4. Leverage Pay-Per Click Advertising
Pay-per click advertising helps you get more traffic from search engines through advertising in search engine results. You pick terms that people search on. You bid a price per click on your ad that you are willing to pay. You ad shows up when someone searches on that term, and, if you’re lucky, they click on your ad and come to your website.
So, pay-per click advertising really boils down to 3 components:
1. Picking keywords to advertise on (i.e. target keywords)
2. Determining what to bid for those target keywords
3. Writing copy for the ads that show up when people search
Picking keywords is all about knowing what terms your customers, clients, etc. would use when searching for your product or service. There are several tools to help you generate ideas. The best tools also check to see how many searches-per-month your target keywords receive. You typically want to find keywords that generate a lot of searches every month, but are focused enough for your business. For example, a company that sells Keen high-performance outdoor sandals probably would be best served bidding on “keen sandals” versus “sandals” which could include searches for the all-inclusive resort, Sandals.
Determining what to bid for your keywords can be a highly-scientific process, sometimes managed by complex software and several key metrics. To keep it simple, let a tool like Google Adwords Traffic Estimator recommend to you what to bid at first. Start there, and start small. Your best bet is to lock-in a low daily budget limit until you are comfortable with the impressions your ads are getting, the flow of traffic from the ads to your website, and what those people do once they get to your website.
Writing ad copy comes down to writing a headline that people will click on, and creating compelling copy below that headline/link that will get people to click.
Headlines are best created by following what magazine covers do: focus on getting attention through eye-catching, short phrases. Using words like best (i.e. “Best Tips for a Summer Barbeque”), ultimate (i.e. “Ultimate National Park Vacations”) and number-based lists (i.e. “Top 5 Hybrid Cars for 2006″) have all been proven to work.
Writing effective ad copy below the title/link is really about reinforcing the term(s) search for. This means using the keywords in the ad copy, and starting the copy with an action verb.
By following the approach above, you can create or evaluate your search engine marketing strategy, focus on what matters most when executing your plans, and more effectively achieve your goals.
For more information and weekly tips on developing a search engine marketing strategy, visit Agility Web Marketing (http://www.agilitywebmarketing.com).
If you have researched search engine marketing to any extent, then you have probably heard of the PPC search engine movement. Early on, many people dismissed the longevity of PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising, but it has recently become obvious that this form of search engine marketing is here to stay. For this reason, online business owners need to get a handle on PPC search engine management. Knowing what it is, how it works, and why your competitors are using it will help you take advantage of PPC search engine marketing. It is also important for online marketers to learn about the new and effective tactics in PPC search engine management, such as demographic placement.
For example, did you know that MSN now offers focused demographic placement? If you want your ads to appear only to men between the age of 18 and 35, MSN can make it happen. (Google and Yahoo have something similar, but do not currently live up to MSN’s ability.)Other new developments in PPC search engine marketing include new types of ads and platforms. For example, Google is now providing AdWords advertisers with the opportunity to advertise in magazines. It is rumored that radio ads will soon follow. Other proposed PPC search engine management projects include video ads and rich media ads.
While many of these new marketing opportunities are still in development, online business owners should expect to see rapid progression in the PPC search engine movement. As the Internet becomes more ingrained into the general public’s everyday lifestyle, the search engine marketing opportunities will only continue to grow. Online business owners who have become familiar with PPC search engine management will see the biggest.
About the author: CR Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff Posey has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses and his continual research into further business improvements.
Local Search Marketing provides you, the business owner, with the most targeted and cost effective customer acquisition opportunity.
Your customers are more and more often searching for businesses like yours on the Internet. Studies show that these customers have a serious buying intent.
As a local business you need to figure out how to cost effectively reach out to these customers and start the business relationship. You need to do this even if you don’t have a web site and don’t want one!
The Internet has changed the way that customers are looking for your business. The days of pulling out 2 kilos of two or more volumes of phone books are coming to an end. People are still letting their fingers do the walking but it’s on a computer keyboard. The Kelsey research group published these statistics and trends.
q 74% of households use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally.
q Approximately 45% of local searches had a buying intent.
q The percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories decreased from 75% to 62%. (If you have a yellow page ad, it is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.)
As local business owners you need to take action now. You need to keep your existing customers, and gain new customers, so you need to be found where they are searching. Local Search Marketing is where your future clients and customers will come from.
So where do you start?
Most likely your customers will have a default setting on their computers and this will be set to one of these sites for search; Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL. These search engines all index web pages and have some form of paid advertising referred to as Pay Per Click. This is fine if you have a web site but what about many small and local businesses that have little or no web presence at all? And even if you do have a web site, does it show up in the search engines above?
Okay, so what other choices have you got?
Well, for example, in Australia things are pretty limited. There are those folks, you know whom I am talking about, who will place you not only in a hard copy directory but also have services on line. The challenge is in what the financial cost is, BIG, but hey, they have been around a long time and have deep pockets. The other issue is that they often advertise in the search engines and you will find them there BUT if you follow the link to them, you need to do your search all over again! What a pain.
There are other commercial âlocal search enginesâ? and some of these are good value but many are not comprehensive. If there are only a few thousand businesses in a local directory most users will leave given the limited amount of content.
So what you need to do is use a search engine like Google and search for âlocal search directoryâ?, make sure you limit your search to the country you are in. For this article I am using Australia. The results include Yahoo local search and a number of local directories. You should check these out and see what it takes to participate in the directories that make the first page of the Google search.
Many on-line marketeers forget the key point to being found on the Internet. What is the âActionâ? that you want to happen once someone finds your web page or directory listing? If you can’t or don’t sell products from your web site there are only two actions you want. First, that they call you, or second, that they email you.
That’s it!
You want a call or an email. These are the only two outcomes that can lead to interaction, a relationship and the potential to do business.
Many small businesses already know, and the current research is proving them right, that a âcallâ? is worth 15 times a click.
Why is this?
Email is to often being viewed as spam, sometimes it never even gets through âfiltersâ? and it lacks the emotional and personal âtouchâ? of voice. So what we really want is a phone call. We want that phone to start ringing. But â¦â¦â¦
Why people don’t call as much any more.
It is getting harder and harder to get people to ring these days. They âhideâ? behind email or resist picking up the phone with fear that one of these things will occur:
1. Please press 1 for â¦. and 2 for â¦. or 3 for â¦â¦, or
2. We value your business and you are number 17 in the queue, or
3. This call maybe recorded for training and quality purposes!
No one wants this response to picking up the phone and making a call.
So what is the alternative?
It’s called Pay Per Call, but all it is, is a âpush to talkâ? button. Someone presses a button on a web page, puts in their phone number and they are connected to the company that put up the button. It’s simple, easy and direct.
Not a click, it’s a call!
This is what we see as the future of local search. People finding companies that are in their area and pressing a button to talk with them. Could be a local cleaner, carpet layer, pool builder, alarm installer, baby sitter. You name it. These are the local people you want to attract and do business with. To do this, you need them to find you and talk with you. If they can find you through an Internet search and know that they won’t be placed on hold, since you are calling them, you win. Now it’s business as usual and your back in control of the sales process – not the Internet!
These complimentary features of local search and push to talk buttons are available today in Australia at AussieWeb Local Search. Google just announced that they are beta testing this with Pay Per Click advertising in America. Wonder where they got that idea?
Monte Huebsch is the CEO of http://www.AussieWeb.com.au and the original implementer of âpush to talkâ? buttons in Australia with http://www.WeCallYouNow.com. You can email him at Monte@AussieWeb.com.au