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Should Your Business Have Its Own Custom Mobile App?

Doug Williams @ 5:21 am

This blog entry was posted on September 30, 2010.

There are an ever increasing number of mobile phone apps becoming available on all the major platforms. Mobile phones are transforming into a vital tool for doing business while on the move. Consumers want to engage with brands at a time of their choosing. Custom apps for Smartphones allow businesses to do just that.

The question now is… should your business have its own app to reach, interact and market to the world of mobile users?

This last week, I was introduced to an affordable solution that allows any business to create and maintain its own custom mobile app. MobilityCMS, technology by ITX, is a web-based content management system that allows any business to publish real-time updates and integrate Twitter and RSS feeds into a custom app. Mobility CMS then publishes apps on iPad, iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms as well as creating a mobile website.

Instead of producing a static app, businesses that produce content (blogs, Twitter, audio, YouTube, etc.) can update their own app in real time and publish across all major platforms. Other content can be added for easy download by mobile users.

MobilityCMS is currently producing custom mobile apps for colleges and universities, musicians, motivational speakers and celebrities. This is ideal for marketing organizations.

The system is built out with assistance from MobilityCMS to include all your own graphics, colors, and any selection of modules that are offered with content you provide.

Having your own custom branded app is no longer a marketing tool for Fortune 500 companies. Any company can create a 24-hour-a-day presence on the mobile web and be seen as a technology leader.

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Filed under: Mobile Web



Tapping into the Google Traffic Fire Hose

Doug Williams @ 4:33 am

This blog entry was posted on September 28, 2010.

You want more traffic to your website so you can get more sales, more leads and more conversions. There are 227 million websites on the Internet worldwide according to Netcraft (September 2010). Google performed 15.7 billion searches in the US in August according to Comscore. The goal is to do 2 things: get the largest possible portion of this search traffic and to convert as many visitors as possible into buyers.

Increase Traffic from Google

  1. Organic SEO: Using organic search engine optimization methods, increase the number of visitors to your website. Your objective is to bring in visitors that are interested in what you sell. You do this through keyword selection, optimizing your website for these phrases and them getting relevant websites to link to your content.
  2. Google Adwords: This is advertising on Google. These ads come up based on the keyword query and appears under the sponsored results. Using Google cost-per-click, advertise on Google and bring in a flow of interested visitors. CPC advertising is pure performance based advertising where you only pay when someone clicks through to your website or landing page. Always optimize your Adwords campaigns.

Improve Conversions

  1. Merely increasing traffic to your website is not enough. You need to increase the percentage of visitors that buy or sign-up. Website conversion optimization is the science of converting more of your visitors into customers. The key to conversion optimization is to exactly match your offer with the motivation of your arriving visitor. How to improve conversion rates.

To tap into the Google fire hose of visitor traffic, you need to receive your own stream of Google traffic (SEO and CPC). You then need to tune your website and your offer to capitalize on this traffic stream.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



What Optimization Does Your Website Need?

Doug Williams @ 5:47 am

This blog entry was posted on September 26, 2010.

You are not getting visitor traffic to your website. You have a great site, but it may as well be a billboard on the moon. No one can find it. What should you do?

  1. Structural Issues: Check to make sure there aren’t any website structural problems that are preventing your website from being crawled or indexed by the search engines. Check to see how many pages Google has indexed on your website.
  2. Right Keywords: Has your website been optimized for the correct keyword phrases? You may be using technical phrases that your customers aren’t searching for. Verify there is regular search traffic on Google for your keywords.
  3. Page Optimization: Have your web pages been correctly optimized for your keywords? Were keywords used in the Title tags? H1 tags? Are your keyword phrases being used in the visible body text?
  4. Back Links: How many other websites have linked back to your website? Have they linked to your site using keywords in their link text (anchor text). Keyword rich anchor text is a very important backlinking strategy to get top Google rankings.
  5. Website Analysis: Do you want an SEO tech to take a look at your site and let you know if your site has any serious issues? Request a free website analysis and find out.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



How to Choose Your Search Engine Optimization Company

Doug Williams @ 2:47 am

This blog entry was posted on September 24, 2010.

Be suspicious of an SEO company that makes wild promises that seem too good to be true. Instead judge them by the SEO results they are getting for others. You need to develop a high level of trust to insure they will be able take care of you and your website.

Web Marketing: Your SEO services company needs to be able to advise you on improving your conversion rate and be able to attract your best buyers as visitors. Your website is much more than your company’s calling card on the internet. It needs to actively generate business and leads and not just visitor traffic. Evaluate your SEO consultant’s ability to help you market your business online.

Their Approach: They should share with you their planned approach to get you the traffic you want. They should be able to guide you through the processes involved in your campaign.

Monitoring: Search engine optimization is an on-going process. Your search positions must be continuously monitored. Ask for a sample weekly report that they will supply to you and ask what steps they will be doing to ensure you will obtain the best possible results.

Budget: Define what results you want to obtain. Establish your budget before you begin interviewing SEO companies. Compare each company with the cost / benefit each brings to the table and decide which will give you the results you need.

References: Follow up on references. When you contact these references, be prepared to ask them what their experience was like with the company. Did they accomplish what they promised? How were they to work with? Have they been responsive to questions? Ask the ultimate question, will they recommend this company.

Your SEO company should deliver more than top rankings, they should deliver qualified prospects to your site.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



Write Your Website Content for People, Not Robots

Doug Williams @ 7:26 pm

This blog entry was posted on September 21, 2010.

Too many SEOs forget that the real audience they want to attract is people. Website content that is loaded with keywords but written mechanically may work well for search engine spiders, but what happens when a real live person visits your website? You need valuable content that speaks to your audience.

Good content writing entertains, educates and convinces your audience. By skillfully weaving in keywords, content writing also gets the attention of the search engines.

Unique, original, keyword rich content is the key to make your website search engine friendly. Use these words to draw in your customer and convince them to purchase. These same words will be spidered and indexed by the search engines and make your website available for search.

SEO copy writing is much more than just writing keyword rich text, it must appeal to your human readers once they arrive. SEO content writing means applying keywords to your website in a way that tells the search engines how to index your website.

Keywords are how people think and search for what you offer. Use these keywords to attract attention and engage your visitors. You Engaging SEO writing will attract visitors as they search and then engage them once they arrive.

For SEO to be truly effective it needs to focus both on attracting targeted visitors and then to engage them with compelling words that answer the question arriving people are searching for. The voice, tone, and formality needs to speak to your audience in a way they understand.

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Filed under: Web Usability



7 SEO Tips for Bing Search Engine Optimization

Doug Williams @ 4:41 am

This blog entry was posted on September 20, 2010.

For years most of us have focused on Google because no one else has had a significant share of the search market. With Yahoo using Bing search results, this means that combined they account for 28% of all search. Bing is now important to consider in attracting search traffic.

To optimize your web pages for Bing is slightly different than for Google. Bing tends to place more importance on the SEO you do on your web pages. Google places more emphasis on back linking. The steps you take to improve your position on Bing won’t harm your search position on Google.

  1. META Title and Description: Use unique page title for each web page and place keywords in the beginning of each title. Use unique page descriptions for each page that accurately describes each web page.
  2. Age of Domain: Bing, like Google, favors websites with older domains. Domains over one year in age will do better in Bing’s search results.
  3. Keywords in URLs: Bing appears to give a lot more importance to keywords in URLs. Use keywords in page names where possible.
  4. Page Text: Have 300-500 words of keyword rich text on each optimized page. Make sure there is strong relevance between the page title and the page contents.
  5. Clean HTML Code: Bing places more emphasis on valid HTML code than Google does. Follow W3C standards while coding your website. This will not only improve your Bing rankings, this validation gives improved browser compatibility.
  6. XML sitemap: Submit your XML sitemap to Bing at http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/. Be sure to include the full URL for your website’s sitemap.xml file.
  7. Inbound Links: It is important to build as many back links to your website as possible. Inbound links with keyword rich anchor text seem to be particularly important on Bing.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



How to Select Keywords for Your Website

Doug Williams @ 5:06 am

This blog entry was posted on September 18, 2010.

To be successful in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) you have to optimize for the correct words and phrases. Keyword research is the foundation since the keywords you choose from your research will be included in your website text, in your PPC campaigns and other promotion campaigns. Keywords are what your customers think of when they search for what you provide.

9 Step Process

  1. Intuitive keyword list: First create your initial keyword list. These are phrases that you believe people would use when searching for your service. This will give you a starting point as you begin your research.
  2. Competitors: Go to your competitor websites. What phrases are they using that apply to what you sell? If you go to sites like keywordspy.com, spyfu.com or compete.com to uncover which phrases they are targeting.
  3. Analytics: If you are optimizing an existing website should be started with its internal analytics. Look at which phrases are already attracting visitors.
  4. Customer: You will want to think like your customer, not an industry expert. Did you know most realtors instinctively want to be found for “real estate for sale” yet most people actually search for “homes for sale”? Think about what your customers ask for when they call you on the phone.
  5. Keyword Tools: To do your keyword research there are a number of good keyword research tools. These can range from the free Google Keyword Tool to one time software charges like Market Samurai to subscription services like WordTracker, Keyword Discovery or WordStream. Best results come from using multiple tools, no two look at the phrases in exactly the same way.
  6. Relevance: As you compile your keyword list, start by only selecting phrases that are highly relevant to what you offer. The wrong keywords will bring the wrong prospects. If someone typed in your targeted phrase, will they want to buy what you are selling? Don’t start by selecting phrases with the highest search volume.
  7. Target Audience: Identify your best buyer that you most want to attract to your website. Use a tool like the Demographics Prediction Tool that will show what demographics a particular phrase is most likely to attract. Choose phrases that best match your targeted buyer.
  8. Intention to Buy: Identify and keep the phrases that are most likely to attract buyers. The Detecting Online Commercial Intention Tool will show how likely someone is to buy or convert for a particular phrase.
  9. Implement: If your keywords are for organic SEO, apply them to the most relevant pages and use them in the visible text. For blogging, articles and social media campaigns use the phrases in your titles and visible text. If you are creating a PPC campaign (pay-per-click), you will want to use these phrases in both your ads and on your landing pages.

Learn More about how to implement organic on your website. Register for your free webinar by Doug Williams  Google Domination Secrets Thu, Sep 30, 2010 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM PDT

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



Why Blogging is the Ultimate Business Marketing Tool

Doug Williams @ 4:39 am

This blog entry was posted on September 16, 2010.

Blogs are a powerful way for businesses to reach and interact with potential customers. Blog marketing is an educational based marketing where you share your opinions, your expertise and your advice. Blogs are not about selling; they are for branding and interacting. Blogs work best when they are added to your website.

The job of your blog is to attract readers. In addition, blogs are a natural link magnet that attracts inbound links if you write interesting, original and engaging posts. Bloggers will then carry these conversations back to their own blogs and of course they will reference your blog posting with a back link.

Blogs are active while websites are passive. Blogs broadcast their content out to the web via RSS every time there is something new. Websites, on the other hand, wait to be discovered by search engine spiders. It’s like the difference between fishing and hunting. You can sit and wait for fish, or you can actively hunt and pursue.

Businesses that blog get more website traffic, more inbound links to their website and have more indexed pages on their website. This is according to a Hubspot study. All these are powerful indicators of a successful business website.

Blog marketing gives businesses other tangible results. Blogs build your brand awareness and build you as an authority in your market. Blogs build rapport with your audience and build a relationship of trust. This makes you the natural person they seek for help.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



How Important is Your Alexa Traffic Ranking?

Doug Williams @ 4:41 am

This blog entry was posted on September 14, 2010.

What is the Alexa traffic Ranking?

Alexa Traffic Ranking was launched with the intention of ranking every website on the World Wide Web. It is assumed that the lower your website’s Alexa ranking, the more visitor traffic your website receives. The number one ranked website would receive the highest amount of visitor traffic in all of cyberspace.

The Alexa Traffic Ranking is only an indicator of traffic that your website receives. It does not measure all traffic, only those people who have an Alexa Toolbar installed in their browser. But it does give you a relative measure of how many visitors arrive to your site compared to others on the web.

Alexa Traffic ranking is based on website visits by Alexa Toolbar users plus data collected from other sources during a rolling 3 month period. The website with the highest number of visitors on the web is ranked #1.

The Alexa ranking (as of today) for this blog webdesignseo.com is 333,592. In Alexa rankings, like in a golf score, lower is better. This would mean there are 333,591 websites with more traffic. The number one ranked website is Google and Facebook is number two.

Why it is important

To put things in perspective, we need to know how many websites are there on the web? Fortunately Netcraft tracks this and reports this monthly. In August 2010, Netcraft reported there were 213,458,815 sites on the web.

So, if your website’s Alexa Traffic ranking is 1,000,000. Then your website receives more visitors than 99.5% of the websites in the world.

Marketing Tip- Check not only your website Alexa Ranking, but also that of your closest competitors. If they have a lower Alexa ranking, what are they doing? Should you be doing something different with your website to get ahead of them?

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



How to Decrease Your Website's Bounce Rate

Doug Williams @ 6:19 am

This blog entry was posted on September 12, 2010.

These are people who visit a single page and then “bounce” away from your site. A high bounce rate means you are not doing a good job of getting your visitor’s attention and encouraging them to stay.

What is a high bounce rate? Typical bounce rates are 40-60%. But this varies by the type of website and by industry. What is considered average?

  1. Content and Informational websites: 35-55%
  2. Blogs and news websites: 55-75%
  3. Retail eCommerce websites: 25-45%
  4. Simple PPC landing pages: 30-60%

What can cause a high bounce rate?

  1. Targeting or attracting the wrong prospect. You should be targeting people most likely to convert. These are your target customers. Do this with keywords, PPC ad writing and landing page headlines / landing page content.
  2. Site design is poor or confusing. Your page design should instantly communicate trust and your core message. It should be organized with clear navigation. Be consistent with other websites in your market and what your customers expect. Your business website design should be tasteful and professional.
  3. Slow loading web pages. Make sure you have optimized the size of your images and try your best to keep the loading time as low as possible as it affects the user’s experience and search engine results.
  4. No Call to Action: There is no clear call to action. Provide a clear path to action. Provide an interesting link for your visitor to follow. On a blog this may mean adding links to related posts at the end of each blog posting. Landing pages need a clear next step. Informational sites need a clear call to action on the home page.
  5. Eliminate Distractions: Eliminate any unnecessary information from landing pages so visitors can focus on your main message.
  6. Test and Measure: Measure your bounce rate with Google Analytics or similar tool. You will want the ability to measure bounce rate by page. Don’t be afraid to experiment with headlines, content and improving your call to action. A good tool to use is the Google Website Optimizer which allows you to do A-B testing.

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Filed under: Web Usability



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