All a search engine spider knows of your site is the individual page it's currently crawling and indexing. To get it to crawl your other pages, you need to give it a trail to follow — and that's exactly what a sitemap can do.
It's a fantastic way to increase your chances of getting your entire site indexed as soon as possible, regardless of what page a spider lands on first!
The search engines require an XML sitemap (XML is a programming language). Find out how to build one here: www.xml-sitemaps.com. This is the easiest way to build one because you can simply enter the URL of your site and your XML sitemap will be created for you — for free!
(This XML sitemap is different from the one you put up for your human visitors. A simple index with links to your pages will help visitors easily navigate your site.)
A good "people" sitemap helps visitors navigate your site — and an XML sitemap does the same for the search engine spiders.
Internet marketing,search engine marketing,search engine optimization and ppc tips and techniques there
Search Engine Marketing is Not SEO! What is SEM?
While many people include the practice of natural search engine optimization with paid search under the umbrella term ‘search engine marketing’, experts divide the two. Search engine marketing, according to well-accepted definitions, is the practice of paying for inclusion in search engine results pages via pay per click advertising, sponsored results, or contextual advertising. What is search engine marketing, and what are the main issues surrounding it?
The best recognized form of search engine marketing (SEM) is pay per click advertisements. These appear in the right hand sidebar of Google, Yahoo and MSN search results pages, and sometimes above the natural results. They are usually differentiated from the ‘natural’ results for the search, and have a heading of ‘Sponsored Results’ or something equivalent.
The process of engaging in SEM is much simpler than SEO. You will determine the keywords that you want to appear in the results for, write advertisements that adhere to each search engine’s character limits, and input a bid for the keyword that will determine how high up you appear in the results. The company that bids the highest amount for a particular keyword or keyphrase will appear at the top, the second highest bidder will appear second, etc. Conventional wisdom states that there is little benefit in appearing outside the top three places.
PPC ads are generally seen as good value by companies, as you only pay for the advertising when someone is interested enough to click through to your ad. Of course, there are initial campaign set up costs involved also, as well as monitoring and testing. PPC does have costs outside of the actual click, so it is still in a company’s best interests to have a well-executed campaign.
PPC ads are not generally seen as being as trustworthy as natural results – and there is some legitimacy to this view. Relatively new players in the PPC game can get to the top of the results simply by spending more money. While Google’s algorithms for natural results favor the sites that offer real value to searchers, their program for paid search favors the businesses spending the most money in the short term. That could be you.
Search engine marketing is like many marketing activities on the net – something that appears simple, but can quickly spiral out of control with regard to time and costs if not managed properly. We recommend outsourcing at least some of your initial campaigns for best results.
The best recognized form of search engine marketing (SEM) is pay per click advertisements. These appear in the right hand sidebar of Google, Yahoo and MSN search results pages, and sometimes above the natural results. They are usually differentiated from the ‘natural’ results for the search, and have a heading of ‘Sponsored Results’ or something equivalent.
The process of engaging in SEM is much simpler than SEO. You will determine the keywords that you want to appear in the results for, write advertisements that adhere to each search engine’s character limits, and input a bid for the keyword that will determine how high up you appear in the results. The company that bids the highest amount for a particular keyword or keyphrase will appear at the top, the second highest bidder will appear second, etc. Conventional wisdom states that there is little benefit in appearing outside the top three places.
PPC ads are generally seen as good value by companies, as you only pay for the advertising when someone is interested enough to click through to your ad. Of course, there are initial campaign set up costs involved also, as well as monitoring and testing. PPC does have costs outside of the actual click, so it is still in a company’s best interests to have a well-executed campaign.
PPC ads are not generally seen as being as trustworthy as natural results – and there is some legitimacy to this view. Relatively new players in the PPC game can get to the top of the results simply by spending more money. While Google’s algorithms for natural results favor the sites that offer real value to searchers, their program for paid search favors the businesses spending the most money in the short term. That could be you.
Search engine marketing is like many marketing activities on the net – something that appears simple, but can quickly spiral out of control with regard to time and costs if not managed properly. We recommend outsourcing at least some of your initial campaigns for best results.
Most Effective Search Engine Marketing Strategy?
As the search engines develop, so too do the potential avenues for effective marketing. So what exactly is the most effective Search Engine Marketing strategy?
Traditionally, the two ways in which you could improve your website’s visibility on search engines was through SEO and Pay per Click (PPC) advertising. Whilst they may remain at the forefront of most strategies, SEO and PPC are by no means the only way to get your name where it matters.
As the search engine results pages (SERPs) have diversified, including new facets and restructuring their layout, marketing methods have been quick to follow suit. With Twitter updates, local search results and news items infiltrating the SERPs, the realms of possibilities are more diverse and in greater supply than ever before.
Most Effective Search Engine Marketing Solutions
Let’s start with the forerunners though. There’s a good reason why SEO and PPC have endured for so long, whilst losing none of their popularity amongst Search Engine Marketers – they work.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
The basic premise of Search Engine Optimisation is to improve a website’s ranking within the search engines. This is achieved by following a basic code of understanding – there is no finite blueprint – with work completed internally and externally of a site’s parameters.
Fundamentally SEO revolves around two basic elements, content (on site) and links (off-site and on). Within the confines of your website a search engine crawler (which indexes pages and ultimately ranks them too) can only understand text. It assigns more weight to some areas than others, with factors including headings, page copy and Meta. Unique copy throughout your site will avoid any possible duplication issues and will provide the crawler with sufficient information to rank it for your keywords – which should be used in moderation throughout.
Off site, you want to get as many links coming in as possible. Variety is the spice of life and search engine algorithms are in no mood to argue with that. They want links from relevant, authority websites where possible and will assign your site with added strength as a consequence. So the more you can attract, without paying, the better you should perform. Using optimised anchor text where possible, including within the internal linking structure, will help to give search engines even more understanding of what to rank a page for.
SEO works, but it is a competitive industry. There are millions of sites competing for keywords worldwide, so to really succeed you need to be at your best. Top rankings are by no means guaranteed, but with SEO you could be surrendering the one free, constant source of targeted traffic .
Pay per Click Advertising (PPC)
If you’d rather pay for those targeted clicks, maybe PPC is more up your street. Pay per Click advertising is almost as simple as the name suggests; you create adverts, choose which page on your site to link them to and then set them live. Of course there is a lot of work that needs to be done to get them to the top and ensure that you’re targeting the best possible traffic.
In terms of Search Engine Marketing, PPC is a very important facet as the adverts appear in some of the most prominent positions on the SERPs – the top and right hand side of the page. Therefore getting your adverts to the top of these lists can be a simpler way of getting yourself noticed for the keywords you’re targeting. Through effective ad copy, catchy titles and focused keywords (and negative keywords) a PPC campaign can easily pay dividends for your Search Engine Marketing strategy.
Source: Search Engine Marketing Strategies: Which are Most Effective?
Traditionally, the two ways in which you could improve your website’s visibility on search engines was through SEO and Pay per Click (PPC) advertising. Whilst they may remain at the forefront of most strategies, SEO and PPC are by no means the only way to get your name where it matters.
As the search engine results pages (SERPs) have diversified, including new facets and restructuring their layout, marketing methods have been quick to follow suit. With Twitter updates, local search results and news items infiltrating the SERPs, the realms of possibilities are more diverse and in greater supply than ever before.
Most Effective Search Engine Marketing Solutions
Let’s start with the forerunners though. There’s a good reason why SEO and PPC have endured for so long, whilst losing none of their popularity amongst Search Engine Marketers – they work.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
The basic premise of Search Engine Optimisation is to improve a website’s ranking within the search engines. This is achieved by following a basic code of understanding – there is no finite blueprint – with work completed internally and externally of a site’s parameters.
Fundamentally SEO revolves around two basic elements, content (on site) and links (off-site and on). Within the confines of your website a search engine crawler (which indexes pages and ultimately ranks them too) can only understand text. It assigns more weight to some areas than others, with factors including headings, page copy and Meta. Unique copy throughout your site will avoid any possible duplication issues and will provide the crawler with sufficient information to rank it for your keywords – which should be used in moderation throughout.
Off site, you want to get as many links coming in as possible. Variety is the spice of life and search engine algorithms are in no mood to argue with that. They want links from relevant, authority websites where possible and will assign your site with added strength as a consequence. So the more you can attract, without paying, the better you should perform. Using optimised anchor text where possible, including within the internal linking structure, will help to give search engines even more understanding of what to rank a page for.
SEO works, but it is a competitive industry. There are millions of sites competing for keywords worldwide, so to really succeed you need to be at your best. Top rankings are by no means guaranteed, but with SEO you could be surrendering the one free, constant source of targeted traffic .
Pay per Click Advertising (PPC)
If you’d rather pay for those targeted clicks, maybe PPC is more up your street. Pay per Click advertising is almost as simple as the name suggests; you create adverts, choose which page on your site to link them to and then set them live. Of course there is a lot of work that needs to be done to get them to the top and ensure that you’re targeting the best possible traffic.
In terms of Search Engine Marketing, PPC is a very important facet as the adverts appear in some of the most prominent positions on the SERPs – the top and right hand side of the page. Therefore getting your adverts to the top of these lists can be a simpler way of getting yourself noticed for the keywords you’re targeting. Through effective ad copy, catchy titles and focused keywords (and negative keywords) a PPC campaign can easily pay dividends for your Search Engine Marketing strategy.
Source: Search Engine Marketing Strategies: Which are Most Effective?
Search Engine Optimization And Why You Must Use It
E-commerce is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest.
Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites.
For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.
Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization.
You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.
But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I aforementioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.
So just what is SEO and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need SEO to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.
With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let’s just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic.
If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.
So once again, what is SEO? SEO is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines.
Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site’s existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.
Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization.
These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.
You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative.
There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.
You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.
Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found.
Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.
If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site.
There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.
Act now and see the benefits with search engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company.
Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites.
For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.
Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization.
You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.
But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I aforementioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.
So just what is SEO and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need SEO to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.
With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let’s just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic.
If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.
So once again, what is SEO? SEO is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines.
Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site’s existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.
Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization.
These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.
You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative.
There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.
You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.
Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found.
Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.
If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site.
There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.
Act now and see the benefits with search engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company.
Increase web traffic by free processes!
Are you willing to put in hard work and have the necessary patience to learn more about web traffic? Remember that if you want to increase web traffic to your site, you basically need to fortitude and consistency. In case you have a firm and also a website but not enough web traffic, here are some guidelines that you can follow. With the internet and its multiple benefits, you can successfully generate more traffic to your website.
You may note that there is no need to spend a huge amount in order to reach your goal. It will, indeed, be a fantastic experience when you understand the effective ways to increase web traffic to your site through free methods. In fact, there are many websites that offer you several tips on how to increase the web traffic. But here you will be able to learn some of the most effective and practical guidelines to do so.
* Try to join a large number of online forums and online communities. You can do so without any payment. You can join online forums by just providing your name and address and some basic information. There are many sites that offer opportunity to discuss business issues. Craigslist is one such useful website. One of the most useful and effective significance of these forums and online communities is that you can focus your attention target on a specific group that can bring you the expected results. Try to find out and discuss more about the products and services that you want to offer. When you are prepared to explore and learn about the demands and needs of potential customers for your products and services, you are mentally preparing yourself for the foreseeable success. When you understand the requirements and expectations of your would-be and even existing customers, you have covered half of the distance to reach your target. This is because satisfying the customers’ needs is now within your control and reach. When you are able to discuss about your products and services, you have the greatest opportunity to build immaculate image for you and your company. At the same time, you will be able to enhance customer loyalty for your products and services. By joining and interacting through on online forums and online communities, you are most likely to increase web traffic to your site. Of course, this will be a slow and steady process.
* Try to keep an informative newsletter on your website. You can keep the newsletter schedule as weekly or fortnightly. Select the topics that customers are interested in and keep the latest and best information on it in the newsletter. Keep on updating it at every stage so that web surfers will come for the useful information to your website frequently. This is one of the best and practical ways to increase web traffic to your site.
* Another practical and most effective concept is of providing cross-links. Make agreements with some of the popular websites that feature different advertisements. Tie-up with some websites whereby you take ads of that website and that site reciprocates in the same manner. As a result, any web surfer goes to one site, is most likely to click on the other site, too. This can surely increase the web traffic to your site.
You may note that there is no need to spend a huge amount in order to reach your goal. It will, indeed, be a fantastic experience when you understand the effective ways to increase web traffic to your site through free methods. In fact, there are many websites that offer you several tips on how to increase the web traffic. But here you will be able to learn some of the most effective and practical guidelines to do so.
* Try to join a large number of online forums and online communities. You can do so without any payment. You can join online forums by just providing your name and address and some basic information. There are many sites that offer opportunity to discuss business issues. Craigslist is one such useful website. One of the most useful and effective significance of these forums and online communities is that you can focus your attention target on a specific group that can bring you the expected results. Try to find out and discuss more about the products and services that you want to offer. When you are prepared to explore and learn about the demands and needs of potential customers for your products and services, you are mentally preparing yourself for the foreseeable success. When you understand the requirements and expectations of your would-be and even existing customers, you have covered half of the distance to reach your target. This is because satisfying the customers’ needs is now within your control and reach. When you are able to discuss about your products and services, you have the greatest opportunity to build immaculate image for you and your company. At the same time, you will be able to enhance customer loyalty for your products and services. By joining and interacting through on online forums and online communities, you are most likely to increase web traffic to your site. Of course, this will be a slow and steady process.
* Try to keep an informative newsletter on your website. You can keep the newsletter schedule as weekly or fortnightly. Select the topics that customers are interested in and keep the latest and best information on it in the newsletter. Keep on updating it at every stage so that web surfers will come for the useful information to your website frequently. This is one of the best and practical ways to increase web traffic to your site.
* Another practical and most effective concept is of providing cross-links. Make agreements with some of the popular websites that feature different advertisements. Tie-up with some websites whereby you take ads of that website and that site reciprocates in the same manner. As a result, any web surfer goes to one site, is most likely to click on the other site, too. This can surely increase the web traffic to your site.
What IS Google Instant?
Google wants to get their searchers to the information they want faster than ever AND they don’t want to wait on these searchers to type their search phrase out.
Google says that people read quickly, but type slowly…so they’re gonna do the typing FOR you and save you 2-5 seconds for each search you do.
You don’t even have to hit “enter” to get your results.
As you type, Google starts suggesting keywords (cough cough hint hint has ANYONE been reading my emails???? cough cough hint hint), you pick one and the search results instantly change.
It’s crazy… you start typing, some suggestions start to show and if you use your down arrow the Google search results magically change for each suggested search phrase you scroll to.
Google says that people read quickly, but type slowly…so they’re gonna do the typing FOR you and save you 2-5 seconds for each search you do.
You don’t even have to hit “enter” to get your results.
As you type, Google starts suggesting keywords (cough cough hint hint has ANYONE been reading my emails???? cough cough hint hint), you pick one and the search results instantly change.
It’s crazy… you start typing, some suggestions start to show and if you use your down arrow the Google search results magically change for each suggested search phrase you scroll to.
What is Internet Marketing?
Depending on whom you ask, the term Internet marketing can mean a variety of things. At one time, Internet marketing consisted mostly of having a website or placing banner ads on other websites. On the other end of the spectrum, there are loads of companies telling you that you can make a fortune overnight on the Internet and who try to sell you some form of "Internet marketing program".
Today, Internet marketing, or online marketing, is evolving into a broader mix of components a company can use as a means of increasing sales - even if your business is done completely online, partly online, or completely offline. The decision to use Internet marketing as part of a company's overall marketing strategy is strictly up to the company of course, but as a rule, Internet marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of nearly every company's marketing mix. For some online businesses, it is the only form of marketing being practiced.
Internet Marketing Objectives
Essentially, Internet marketing is using the Internet to do one or more of the following:
* Communicate a company's message about itself, its products, or its services online.
* Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs) of existing and potential customers.
* Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.
Internet Marketing Components
Components of Internet marketing (or online marketing) may include:
* Setting up a website , consisting of text, images and possibly audio and video elements used to convey the company's message online, to inform existing and potential customers of the features and benefits of the company's products and/or services. The website may or may not include the ability to capture leads from potential customers or directly sell a product or service online. Websites can be the Internet equivalents of offline brochures or mail order catalogs and they are a great way to establish your business identity.
* Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site's natural (organic) ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings.
* Email marketing, which is a method of distributing information about a product or service or for soliciting feedback from customers about a product or service through Email. Email addresses of customers and prospective customers may be collected or purchased. Various methods are used, such as the regular distribution of newsletters or mass mailing of offers related to the company's product or services. Email marketing is essentially the online equivalent of direct mail marketing.
* Banner advertising, which is the placement of ads on a website for a fee. The offline equivalent of this form of online marketing would be traditional ads in newspapers or magazines.
* Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online wire service.
* Blog marketing, which is the act of posting comments, expressing opinions or making announcements in a discussion forum and can be accomplished either by hosting your own blog or by posting comments and/or URLs in other blogs related to your product or service online.
* Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience.
Source>>http://homebusiness.about.com/od/marketingadvertising/a/IMarketing101.htm
Today, Internet marketing, or online marketing, is evolving into a broader mix of components a company can use as a means of increasing sales - even if your business is done completely online, partly online, or completely offline. The decision to use Internet marketing as part of a company's overall marketing strategy is strictly up to the company of course, but as a rule, Internet marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of nearly every company's marketing mix. For some online businesses, it is the only form of marketing being practiced.
Internet Marketing Objectives
Essentially, Internet marketing is using the Internet to do one or more of the following:
* Communicate a company's message about itself, its products, or its services online.
* Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs) of existing and potential customers.
* Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.
Internet Marketing Components
Components of Internet marketing (or online marketing) may include:
* Setting up a website , consisting of text, images and possibly audio and video elements used to convey the company's message online, to inform existing and potential customers of the features and benefits of the company's products and/or services. The website may or may not include the ability to capture leads from potential customers or directly sell a product or service online. Websites can be the Internet equivalents of offline brochures or mail order catalogs and they are a great way to establish your business identity.
* Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site's natural (organic) ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings.
* Email marketing, which is a method of distributing information about a product or service or for soliciting feedback from customers about a product or service through Email. Email addresses of customers and prospective customers may be collected or purchased. Various methods are used, such as the regular distribution of newsletters or mass mailing of offers related to the company's product or services. Email marketing is essentially the online equivalent of direct mail marketing.
* Banner advertising, which is the placement of ads on a website for a fee. The offline equivalent of this form of online marketing would be traditional ads in newspapers or magazines.
* Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online wire service.
* Blog marketing, which is the act of posting comments, expressing opinions or making announcements in a discussion forum and can be accomplished either by hosting your own blog or by posting comments and/or URLs in other blogs related to your product or service online.
* Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience.
Source>>http://homebusiness.about.com/od/marketingadvertising/a/IMarketing101.htm
12 Ways to Improve PPC Landing Page Conversion Rates
Dollars are a little tighter this year than last, so learning new ways to stretch marketing dollars is vital. Improving your landing pages so they convert more sales is a dynamite way to boost your Return on Investment (ROI).
Here are a few tips for making your landing pages more effective. The goal is to make your landing pages more persuasive, more focused, more complete -- and provide the testing feedback needed to measure the success of your efforts.
Your Landing Page Must Be Persuasive
An excellent first step is to make your pages more persuasive. You can provide great information, but unless your copy is persuasive, people won't buy. For example, consider:
1. Call to Action. Include a call to action and place it "above the fold," that is, visible on the first screen without having to scroll. Your landing page can be long or short -- you'll need to test the page to know which works best for you -- but always include a call to action "above the fold."
2. Button. Make the call to action look like a button and make it larger and brighter than you think you need. As much as I personally love text links, they just don't draw the eye as much as a brightly colored call to action button.
3. Emphasize Benefits. Focus on benefits, not features. Here's why. Emotions are what really motivate us to purchase something. We like to have the logic to justify our purchase logically, but the actual reason most of us buy a particular item because it fulfills an emotional need. Don't tell me the only the specs or facts about a product; tell me how my life will be improved if I buy it -- the benefit to me! Stress benefits.
Your Landing Page Must Have Focus
You've set up Google AdWords, so you know the particular keywords and ad text that will lead a prospect to click on your ad. Now, make sure that you maintain that focus and lead visitors to the next step in purchasing on your site. Maintaining focus helps keep those visitors on track.
4. Continuity. There must be continuity between the ad and the landing page. Inconsistent messages will confuse your visitor. If she clicks on an ad with a certain value proposition, then the landing page should reinforce the appeal mentioned in the ad copy. If she clicks on an ad for a "Nikon 360," don't taker her to a generic SLR camera page; take her directly to what she is looking for.
5. Lack of Clutter. Remove unnecessary noise and clutter on the page. Too many bright graphics and excessive bold text can distract visitors. Links to other offers may de-rail customers from their purchase mission. When presented with too many options, visitors can get confused and leave a site. Or if they get distracted, visitors might totally forget why they entered your site in the first place. Retain focus.
Your Landing Page Must Be Complete
Minor landing page details can hurt you, so make sure you "dot all the i's and cross all the t's." Attention to detail can make the difference between a good landing page and a great one.
6. Contact Check. Ensure that your customer can contact you easily. Is the submission form working? How reliable is the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone number you are using? If a phone call is the preferred method for customers to contact you, is the phone number present on the page and easy to find? If you are using a phone number on the landing page, do you have a method to track offline conversions? If not, you have a big hole in your analytics.
7. Trust Enhancers. Include trust factors on the landing page. These include specialized badges, Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce memberships, and testimonials. A professional looking website also conveys confidence to the visitor that your site is trustworthy. Provide trust factors on your landing page whenever possible.
8. SSL Certificates. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates are used by e-commerce sites to encrypt sensitive information during online transactions. If your costumers see an expired SSL notice, they'll leave quickly, so keep your SSL certificates up to date. Most visitors don't know what the notice means and will leave your page feeling very uncomfortable about doing business with you.
9. Browser Compatibility. Test your landing page in different browsers. Designers often build landing pages in a hurry without the extensive testing normally included in a site redesign. Your landing page may look different in MSIE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) than it does in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. BrowserShots.org is a free tool that lets you see how pages render on different browsers.
Testing pages under different browsers takes time, but landing pages that render poorly make a bad impression and can cost you sales. According to Onestat.com, nearly 28% of Internet users in the US employ a browser other than MSIE. If testing sounds like too much work, ask yourself if you're willing to throw away nearly 30% of your sales because your landing page doesn't render properly on a non-MSIE browser.
Your Landing Page Must Be Tested
Without the proper testing tools in place, you won't be able to tell whether one landing page is working better than another, so testing is vital.
10. Analytics. Make sure your analytics program is installed correctly and captures website performance accurately. Analytics programs are only as good as the data you feed them. For example, if you forget the to place the analytics JavaScript on your landing page or make a typo in the process, analytics won't tell you the true story. (We've seen both of these horror stories occur on big brand sites on more than one occasion.) Test to make sure that your analytics program is capturing conversions correctly so that you don't base your marketing decisions on incorrect information.
11. Usability Testing. Many times we put all the best practices to work and find pages still aren't converting like we expect. One of the simplest ways to figure out what is going wrong is to pick a person who is in your target audience and conduct a usability test.
Here's how it works. Give person a scenario and a mission to buy a product from your website. Tell him to start with the ad, then go to the landing page. Have him talk out loud about how he perceives the page.
I'll warn you in advance that you can't have an ego when you're doing usability testing. Prepare for brutal criticism, because you sometimes find that the copy you thought was so compelling is considered drivel by the tester. Or the tester may sit staring at your page, totally lost about where to go next, because the link you thought was so obvious is invisible to him. Usability testing reveals problems that your analytics may be hinting at, but don't definitively tell you.
12. Multivariate Testing. Use multivariate testing to try different options on the page. You are never finished fine-tuning your landing pages. As you produce new pages, learn what worked on earlier pages, but continue to try new things too. In this competitive market, getting even a one percent better conversion rate can make the difference between success and failure. Google Website Optimizer is a free tool that allows the you or your webmaster to perform multivariate testing. Software like this used to be rather expensive. Google provides the tool without cost and has made it straightforward to use.
If you put all these tips and techniques into play, I am confident that you will improve the overall effectiveness, the conversion rates on your landing pages will go up, and your paid search campaigns will be more profitable.
Here are a few tips for making your landing pages more effective. The goal is to make your landing pages more persuasive, more focused, more complete -- and provide the testing feedback needed to measure the success of your efforts.
Your Landing Page Must Be Persuasive
An excellent first step is to make your pages more persuasive. You can provide great information, but unless your copy is persuasive, people won't buy. For example, consider:
1. Call to Action. Include a call to action and place it "above the fold," that is, visible on the first screen without having to scroll. Your landing page can be long or short -- you'll need to test the page to know which works best for you -- but always include a call to action "above the fold."
2. Button. Make the call to action look like a button and make it larger and brighter than you think you need. As much as I personally love text links, they just don't draw the eye as much as a brightly colored call to action button.
3. Emphasize Benefits. Focus on benefits, not features. Here's why. Emotions are what really motivate us to purchase something. We like to have the logic to justify our purchase logically, but the actual reason most of us buy a particular item because it fulfills an emotional need. Don't tell me the only the specs or facts about a product; tell me how my life will be improved if I buy it -- the benefit to me! Stress benefits.
Your Landing Page Must Have Focus
You've set up Google AdWords, so you know the particular keywords and ad text that will lead a prospect to click on your ad. Now, make sure that you maintain that focus and lead visitors to the next step in purchasing on your site. Maintaining focus helps keep those visitors on track.
4. Continuity. There must be continuity between the ad and the landing page. Inconsistent messages will confuse your visitor. If she clicks on an ad with a certain value proposition, then the landing page should reinforce the appeal mentioned in the ad copy. If she clicks on an ad for a "Nikon 360," don't taker her to a generic SLR camera page; take her directly to what she is looking for.
5. Lack of Clutter. Remove unnecessary noise and clutter on the page. Too many bright graphics and excessive bold text can distract visitors. Links to other offers may de-rail customers from their purchase mission. When presented with too many options, visitors can get confused and leave a site. Or if they get distracted, visitors might totally forget why they entered your site in the first place. Retain focus.
Your Landing Page Must Be Complete
Minor landing page details can hurt you, so make sure you "dot all the i's and cross all the t's." Attention to detail can make the difference between a good landing page and a great one.
6. Contact Check. Ensure that your customer can contact you easily. Is the submission form working? How reliable is the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone number you are using? If a phone call is the preferred method for customers to contact you, is the phone number present on the page and easy to find? If you are using a phone number on the landing page, do you have a method to track offline conversions? If not, you have a big hole in your analytics.
7. Trust Enhancers. Include trust factors on the landing page. These include specialized badges, Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce memberships, and testimonials. A professional looking website also conveys confidence to the visitor that your site is trustworthy. Provide trust factors on your landing page whenever possible.
8. SSL Certificates. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates are used by e-commerce sites to encrypt sensitive information during online transactions. If your costumers see an expired SSL notice, they'll leave quickly, so keep your SSL certificates up to date. Most visitors don't know what the notice means and will leave your page feeling very uncomfortable about doing business with you.
9. Browser Compatibility. Test your landing page in different browsers. Designers often build landing pages in a hurry without the extensive testing normally included in a site redesign. Your landing page may look different in MSIE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) than it does in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. BrowserShots.org is a free tool that lets you see how pages render on different browsers.
Testing pages under different browsers takes time, but landing pages that render poorly make a bad impression and can cost you sales. According to Onestat.com, nearly 28% of Internet users in the US employ a browser other than MSIE. If testing sounds like too much work, ask yourself if you're willing to throw away nearly 30% of your sales because your landing page doesn't render properly on a non-MSIE browser.
Your Landing Page Must Be Tested
Without the proper testing tools in place, you won't be able to tell whether one landing page is working better than another, so testing is vital.
10. Analytics. Make sure your analytics program is installed correctly and captures website performance accurately. Analytics programs are only as good as the data you feed them. For example, if you forget the to place the analytics JavaScript on your landing page or make a typo in the process, analytics won't tell you the true story. (We've seen both of these horror stories occur on big brand sites on more than one occasion.) Test to make sure that your analytics program is capturing conversions correctly so that you don't base your marketing decisions on incorrect information.
11. Usability Testing. Many times we put all the best practices to work and find pages still aren't converting like we expect. One of the simplest ways to figure out what is going wrong is to pick a person who is in your target audience and conduct a usability test.
Here's how it works. Give person a scenario and a mission to buy a product from your website. Tell him to start with the ad, then go to the landing page. Have him talk out loud about how he perceives the page.
I'll warn you in advance that you can't have an ego when you're doing usability testing. Prepare for brutal criticism, because you sometimes find that the copy you thought was so compelling is considered drivel by the tester. Or the tester may sit staring at your page, totally lost about where to go next, because the link you thought was so obvious is invisible to him. Usability testing reveals problems that your analytics may be hinting at, but don't definitively tell you.
12. Multivariate Testing. Use multivariate testing to try different options on the page. You are never finished fine-tuning your landing pages. As you produce new pages, learn what worked on earlier pages, but continue to try new things too. In this competitive market, getting even a one percent better conversion rate can make the difference between success and failure. Google Website Optimizer is a free tool that allows the you or your webmaster to perform multivariate testing. Software like this used to be rather expensive. Google provides the tool without cost and has made it straightforward to use.
If you put all these tips and techniques into play, I am confident that you will improve the overall effectiveness, the conversion rates on your landing pages will go up, and your paid search campaigns will be more profitable.
Source >> http://www.wilsonweb.com/paid-search/churchill-ppc-landing-pages.htm
What Is Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is considered as a more technical part of Web marketing. This is true because SEO help in the promotion of sites and at the same time it’s require some technical knowledge – at least familiarity with basic HTML and XML. SEO is sometimes also called SEO copyrighting because most of the techniques that are used to promote sites in search engines deal with text. Generally, SEO can be defined as the activity of optimizing Web pages or whole sites in order to make them more search engine-friendly, thus getting higher positions in search results.
One of the basic truths in SEO is that even if you do all the things that are necessary to do, this does not automatically guarantee you top ratings but if you neglect basic rules, this certainly will not go unnoticed. Also, if you set realistic goals – i.e to get into the top 30 results in Google for a particular keyword, rather than be the number one for 10 keywords in 5 search engines, you will feel happier and more satisfied with your results.
Although SEO helps to increase the traffic of one's site, SEO is not advertising. Of course, you can be included paid search results for given keywords but basically the idea behind the SEO techniques is to get top placement in a search result because your site is relevant to a particular search term, not because you pay.
SEO can be a 30 to 40 -minute job or a permanent activity. Sometimes it is enough to do some generic SEO in order to get high in search engines – for instance, if you are a leader for rare keywords, then you do not have a lot to do in order to get decent placement. But in most cases, if you really want to be at the top, you need to pay more special attention to SEO and devote significant amounts of time and effort to it. Even if your plan to do some basic SEO, it is essential that you understand how search engines work and which items are most important in SEO.
What is Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) and also increase the indexing in search engine .According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, SEM methods include: search engine optimization (or SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion
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