Search Engine Optimization

Lucky Link http://t.co/Z3jszKKLvt
— Donna Shoulders (@DonnaShoulders) October 1, 2013

True search engine optimization requires the ongoing analysis and tweaking of many on-site and off-site variables, which need to be consistently and effectively acted upon, with a clear strategy and proven methodology to realize the goal of good placement in search engine results pages.

A website is ranked on each search engine according to its relevancy against other websites using the ranking formula specific to that search engine. Each search engine has its own closely guarded secret formula that it uses to generate results and therefore it is common to see similar, yet different results for the same term across a variety search engines.

A well optimized website will rank high across a number of search engines at the same time for the same target key phrase as it is the most relevant for that search term on that specific search engine using its ranking formula.

The ranking formula that a search engine uses to determine its most relevant results is a blend of more than 100 variables. Some of the variables used range from the on-page content of the website, such as the meta tags, key phrase density and key phrase weight of the page, to off-page external factors such as quality inbound links, website competition, page rank and many more.

Effective search engine optimization involves analysis of your own website, the websites of your competition, as well as your target market and keyword research, to ultimately make your website more relevant than that of your competition.

A very basic summary of the optimization process is based on the following steps:

Identification of the competition websites Link identification, analysis and tracking of your own and competition websites Research and analysis of the most effective keywords to use for your website Website content written specifically to enhance the relevancy and effectiveness of the researched keywords.

Effective programming of the web pages strategically incorporating keywords in the html elements of the page
Building of organic links on and to your website using your chosen keywords as the anchor text.

Tweaking of keyword frequency, keyword weight and keyword density on your web pages Search engine and website directory submission and verification of inclusion.

Social bookmarking and promotion of your website on popular social networks and web 2.0 websites Search engine placement checks for chosen keywords on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Analysis of website traffic statistics, traffic movement on the website and conversion to customer stats.

Internet Marketing

Jahanara Site http://t.co/GLrgXiyCfo
— Donna Shoulders (@DonnaShoulders) October 1, 2013

Internet marketing of your website, or ‘website marketing’ is the ongoing implementation of many different marketing strategies, techniques and ideas at the same time, often working hand in hand, bridging the gap between networks, media, customer demographics and technical boundaries.

We like to think of Internet marketing as the bigger picture of a continually evolving marketing strategy puzzle. Each aspect of online marketing is only one piece in the puzzle that can never be completed, due to ongoing developments on the internet and its ability to evolve.

Website Marketing techniques can involve some of the following methods:

Search Engine Optimization:The implementation of on-page and off-page methodologies and strategies to optimize your web pages for specific keywords and key phrases relevant to your market, to get your website indexed as well as boost its performance on search engines.

Pay Per Click Advertising: This is an advertising method where you only pay for the advert once a user clicks your advert. Typically you bid against competitors, for keywords relevant to your target market, in order to display your advert on Search Engines and content networks.

Email Marketing: The development of newsletters and advertising / promotions emails, as well as member databases to send emails and newsletters to on a regular basis.

Link Building: The setup, management and implementation of a reciprocal link exchange pages for your website, as well as one-way inbound link building to your website.

Social Networking: The introduction of your brand and services to online communities and networks in order to share information and develop the awareness of your brand amongst interested and like minded people. This allows you to connect with potential clients in a unique and personal manner.

Website analytics:The tracking and analysis of the visitors to your website, and the information we can get from them, such as how they came to find your website, which pages they accessed, how long they browsed, if they ‘converted’, or made contact, and where in the world they accessed the website from.
Using a variety of website technologies available to us, we can effectively create brand awareness for your company, and develop an effective marketing strategy that will give you a good return on investment.

How we can assist your business?

We are specialists within the field, constantly researching latest social media trends and providing clients with solutions that best suit their organisation – ensuring that your business’s global presence compliments and strengthens your brand. What we do?

1. Set-up of Social Media tools

- we ensure that all social media tools are set-up correctly, failure to do so will have a negative impact on your organisations brand and customer relationships.

2. Customise social media tools to suit you and your business Design

- we design full HTML landing pages which can contain graphics, text, videos, links, flash and the list continues. A well designed landing page creates a good impression, keeping visitors interested for longer and increasing your chances of converting them into clients.

- we design profile pictures which effectively compliments your brand and occasion.

4. 101 Social Media tutorials

- we provide all clients with a 101 Social Media tutorial, ensuring clients understand the power of social media and how to operate these tools effectively.

5. Social media news

- we provide all our Facebook followers with the latest social media news, because the worlds gone social and our goal is to keep YOU in the CONVERSATION.

Why does my business need Social Media?

We all know the world is going social and the business world needs to join the conversation. Consumers no longer rely on traditional media, but are looking to the World Wide Web to show them what they need. A recent study has shown that individuals are more likely to rely on and trust in peer reviews for a product or service, as opposed to advertisements. Therefore by giving people the opportunity to comment on your business through social media, it not only spreads good word to consumers, but also highlights possible areas of change for you as a company.

Social media has many benefits for your business as it allows you to increase brand awareness and exposure, make new contacts, build new and strengthen existing relationships through effectively interacting with your chosen target market, you can build on or add to an existing web site, it allows you to promote new and existing products or services, you can easily answer questions and erase doubts, and is a great way to monitor your businesses reputation.

Social Media is fun, there is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate and being part of the change is the first step to success!

What is Social Media?

wow parvez site http://t.co/khMEcXjzv8
— Donna Shoulders (@DonnaShoulders) October 1, 2013

What is Social Media?

Social media is an interactive form of online media, allowing everyday individuals, like you and me, to participate in the creation and development of the content of the media. So we are not just receptive to the media, like in traditional media methods, but are allowed to be a part of it! It not only allows us to communicate effectively with one another over the internet but also allows us to share our thoughts, videos, pictures, likes and dislikes with the rest of the world – and to find out their opinions on it in real time. It allows us to network, talk, share and participate with various business contacts, friends, and communities by the click of a button.

There are a variety of Social media, including YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook...to name a few. It is clear why Social media are the words on everyone’s lips!

B2B marketer

As a B2B marketer, do you hope to feel more love from the sales team?

We’re constantly hearing advice telling us that “sales and marketing need to be better aligned”. Like many things: easy to say, hard to do. Sure, it makes sense, but how do you actually make it happen using existing tools and resources (especially when you’re a department of one)?
Here’s what you do:

1) Ask, beg, or demand to be invited the next sales pipeline meeting.

Better yet, just show up! Make it your business to be there. The sales manager shouldn’t object. After all, marketing’s ultimate goal is revenue growth. The point is that you, as a marketer, need to take the time to know what is happening in the world of sales.

Specifically:
Who is in the sales pipeline?
Which opportunities are the big ones?
Who’s gone quiet?
Who’s presenting the most challenges?
The best way to learn this is to be there. There’s just no substitute.

2) Check your CRM system (assuming you have one, of course)

Look at data around the prospects, what products or services they’re interested in, notes from the sales rep, etc. It’s not a replacement for being physically present at the sales pipeline meeting, but it’s a great supplement. If the CRM system is being utilized properly by the sales team (realizing that can be a big “if”), then you should be able to get some easy to digest data about your top prospects.

3) Take action and arm your sales team

This is the fun part and you don’t need any new expensive tools to do this. Basically, you need web analytics and your brain to do a little deductive reasoning. If you do not have web analytics, then stop reading and go sign up for a free Google Analytics account. Assuming you have analytics, log in and have at it.

Using Google Analytics as an illustration, below are a few examples of things you can do that your sales team may find incredibly valuable.

a. Click on the “Network” Tab on the Google Analytics menu.
b. If you have a good volume of traffic, you’ll see a long list of ISP’s or service providers. Most (but certainly not all) companies larger than 50 employees have their own network name (as opposed to having someone like Road Runner or Comcast as their ISP). This is far from being a perfect metric, but it gives you something to go on.

c. Roll up your sleeves and get granular.
Find out if that prospect is engaging with you or not. You can gain some clues about what that prospect is looking at, what are they researching, etc. In the search field (see below), type in some variations of the prospect company name in your sales pipeline. For example, let’s say UPS is in the sales pipeline. You would start typing in either “UPS” or in this case “United”:

Click on the name of the prospect and you can see more drill down detail (screenshot below):

Simply by drilling down a few levels you can tell when people from that company visited your site (red square) and what that mix of visitors look like (green box). The percentage of “new visits” can be very relevant here because a high percentage may be a strong indication that multiple people within that company are doing research on your site.

d. Find out WHAT that prospect is looking at:
First, just go to content (left hand side) and click on “All Pages”:

Next, just scroll back up to the top and take the first step to creating an advanced segment by clicking on the link:

After that, click on create a new custom segment

Next, click on the dropdown menu until you find “Service Provider” (It’s the same thing as “network” – confusing, I know). Start typing in the name of the prospect (in this case, “United Parcel”. Then click on “Preview Segment”

You can save the segment if you wish, but you can quickly end up with a boatload of advanced segments. I usually just do the preview.

Now you do a screengrab and tell exactly:
- Which content is being viewed
- What is the level of interest?
- How often those people are coming to the site
RELATED CLASS: Learn how to build the ultimate Google Analytics dashboard.

4) Analyze and report

This is the part where you get to use your brain to provide some insights for the sales team. For example, recall some of the things you heard from sales in the pipeline meeting.

Is the prospect in a due diligence phase?
Are they doing some product specific comparisons? If so, which products?

Are they reading and downloading case studies or other materials?

Apply some deductive reasoning along with some common sense and you’ll be able to give the sales team some insights that can help them advance the deal.

Be careful though, the method I just showed you doesn’t scale very easily. You have to be prepared to spend some time drilling into data so you’ll want to just pick a handful of top prospects (for example, maybe one that went radio silent or one that sales doesn’t have a good feeling about).

Google Offer Extensions in AdWords

How to Use the New Google Offer Extensions in AdWords

Google Offer Extensions, AdWords latest new advertising extensions, is now being rolled out to all AdWords advertisers and can be found under the “extensions” tab. The new feature merges discount deals with search ads—exciting! Offer Extensions enables AdWords advertisers to post a rebate, coupon, or discount to their regular Google search ads. Here’s a peek at what they look like:

Clicking the offer will take users to a landing page, detailing the logistics of the offer and how to use it. From there, users can print out the offer or can save it for later by saving it to the My Offers section of Google Offers.

There are plenty incentives for this new ad extension – it lets advertisers easily enter the ever-popular deal space without contending with Groupon and Living Social-esk sites.

Offer Extensions also mean more search ad real estate, broadcasting discounts that are likely to bring in better click-through-rates, although the cost-per-click will be the same as it would be for a regular ad.
Setting Up Offer Extensions

AdWords Offer Extensions can be created at the campaign level or ad group level, and are fairly simple to set up. You’ll need to start first with an “enhanced campaign.” Once the campaign is created, click Ad Extensions à  Offer Extensions, and then “Create New Extension”.

From there you fill in the details concerning the redemption dates, the offer headline, redemption details, etc. Make sure to follow best practices to get the most out of your Offer Extension.

The offers won’t show up in every SERP – only when an ad already appears in one of the top three ad positions, and only if Google think the offer is relevant to a searcher’s query.

What Does Offer Extensions Really Mean?

Offer Extensions cuts advertisers a pretty sweet deal for a number of reasons:

Advertisers can post “deals” without going through deal sites and using the familiar AdWords landscape.
Extra Google Search ad space that has the potential to stand out and be more clickable than regular text ads.
Online activity can now affect offline activity – a simple Google ad offer can drive business to a physical brick and mortar store.

Is This the End of Groupon?

Could AdWords ad extensions spell out the end for Groupon? Sites like Groupon and Living Social post business deals on their site, relying on their name to bring in potential customers. However, Google Offer Extensions does one better, matching an advertisers’ offer with relevant users who are ready to make a purchase, increasing the likelihood of a conversion.
Groupon is known as being a difficult group to work with – they are known for taking a big cut of deal profits, and often deal sites bring in one-time users who are just looking for a good bargain. Google Offer Extensions only shows discount offers to users who already are interested in what you are selling, therefore bypassing the frugal rebate wranglers who are just looking for a deal.

Advertisers should keep their eyes out for this new ad extension – it could mean big changes for the existing deal space, and offers a lot to AdWords advertisers.