Directory Submission: Master It!

April 19th, 2010 |

We all know that there are benefits to directory submission – if you’ve never heard the term or want to learn the basics of it, a great definition is found at . But if you’re looking for ways to get some directory submission taken care of, this article will give you a few tips.

ssFirst thing, a lot of directories are downright crap. Take a moment to think through how different directories are from search engines. A human looks at everything a web content author submits to a directory, and then decides its topic and relative placement. And while this process isn’t nearly as random as that encountered in a search engine, human beings are still fallible and the process can still become an exercise in frustration. So you definitely need to take more of a focused approach, instead of “shotgunning” your site to every directory under the Sun.

It’s a well known fact that anything general is going to be overlooked 9 times out of 10. And a lot of directories, while wonderful stockpiles of sites quasi-relevant to some probable search terms, have very little organization beyond the very top pages. Often, they use a line of code called NOFOLLOW, which means the search engines will take any given search to the top page… and then the searcher is on their own.

And come on, this is the 21st century – nearly anything can be found within mere seconds of tickling the keyboard. For general inquiries, say “tallest buildings on Earth,” a search engine will provide in seconds (or .001 seconds, in some cases) what a directory will require several minutes of searching to locate.

So the first step in directory submission is to select a very niched directory. If you’re writing about tall buildings, you might be in trouble. But if you’re writing about skyscrapers made of glass built in the past 30 years, you have a much higher likelihood of being successful by submitting your site to directories – and becoming an “expert” at a small but interesting field.

The second most important part of submitting to directories is to follow a very oft-quoted rule of investing – “preserve wealth.” If a site expects you to pay a fee in order to have your site listed, consider whether that site is helping you be indexed through the search engines (obviously, NOFOLLOW means it definitely isn’t). Also consider whether the directory itself is driving any real traffic to your site – which you can find out, first by finding out how much traffic reaches the directory itself, and then by going to some highly-listed sites in that directory and checking how much traffic they’re getting from it.

Simply put, if a directory adds value to you (through that precious traffic, and/or through helping your rating with the search engines), then it might be worth spending some cash.

As you can clearly see, directory submission is a tricky business – and you might not want to engage this particular campaign all on your lonesome. Don’t be afraid to seek out a good company that specializes in this sort of thing.

Organic SEO: Make it your Herb Garden

April 4th, 2010 |

Warren Buffett once said, “If you have the mindset of a farmer, you can be a great entrepreneur.” Although it’s easy to imagine that the Oracle of Omaha can’t so much as sneeze without being quoted, this statement transfers beautifully into every facet of one’s business interests. In fact, it goes as deeply as search engine optimization, especially in the area of the appropriately named organic SEO.

seTo start off, a farmer typically needs land (except for hydroponics, which is beyond the scope of this article). A good field of soil is not unlike a good field of interest – trying to rule broad ideas such as “peace” or “puppies” tends to result in an epic fail. Just the same way as no farmer could ever hope to grow every type of crop known to mankind, trying to have EVERYTHING in your site is a recipe for having NOTHING in your major readership.

So try niching it down. If your subject is peace, think “peace rallies in the St. Louis area.” There’s a good chance that if you can find some peace rallies in St. Louis to write about, you can rule that niche – and when people want to know about the St. Louis hippie scene, they might just turn to you.

Consider also that as your niche cred grows, you can slowly expand outward into other niches. It’s rather like mint plants, spreading across a field and basically taking over. It puts the “organic” into organic SEO when people are suddenly asking you about things that you never thought to write about – like how we might achieve peace in the Middle East.

Now, let’s look at how similar the organic SEO process is to growing a garden:

1. Prepare the soil

Relax, I’m not gonna tell you to shovel fertilizer – there are plenty of scammy cats who do enough of that for everybody. What I mean is, take some time to think about where the absolute epicenter of your knowledge base resides. Niche it down to the point where you’ll be excluding a LOT of people – because those who remain will be hyper-loyal… you might be the only game in town (or at least, the only one who isn’t just pitching some piece of junk).

2. Plant the seeds

Write your content. Don’t worry if you’ve just got a main page, an opt-in box and a few articles. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you shouldn’t expect your customers to flood in. Hunter-gatherers have quick results – you’re a farmer, and farmers think long-term. Just write what you want (that someone wants to read about), and make sure it’s the best you’ve got.

3. Water and fertilize them

Submit your site to the search engines. This should not be a paid process, and it should not take more than half an hour of your time. Keep in mind that your keyphrases and keywords will help you a lot… and that you have time to edit anything about your site before the search engines get around to it, if you have a better idea in the interim.

4. Wait, and let nature take her course

Growing a garden is not watching a horse race. It is not exciting, and it does not end quickly. SEO is a garden – it can take over a month, just to get indexed (which is rather like seeing those first tiny sprouts popping out of the ground). And at first, you probably slightly mis-identified just exactly which keywords/phrases you need to use. It’s no problem – wait and see who finds your site, how long they stay, and all that.

5. Figure out what you did wrong, and grow better next season

You’re not perfect – sorry to break that to you. You will make mistakes – you’re taking risks, after all. And mistakes are going to teach you a lot, both about how you think and about how your target readers think. Take corrective actions, like adding more relevant content, and let things progress. When dealing with a force like Mother Nature (or the Internet), all you can do it steer; the forward motion will never be under your direct control.

Growing your web site, especially through organic SEO, is just like growing a garden – so get to work, and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty!

Organic SEO as a way to grow online

March 22nd, 2010 |

Let’s be honest – there are hundreds of millions of web sites out there, and unless you have the budget for a real-world marketing campaign featuring billboards, radio and TV ads and a sales team, you’re going to need to use search engine optimization (or SEO) to let people find your site through the search engines. But of course, there are a couple different methods to choose from when you determine – some a bit more legitimate than others.

sssNow, since you’re reading this, you most likely don’t care about all the shady cats out there who use sophisticated software to basically “crack” the search engines, and get them to display content that just isn’t appropriate to a given search. And while that violates the user agreements of every major search engine, it’s technically legal to run a hustle like that. To some people, traffic is traffic – and leading a search for “identifying venomous snakes” to a site selling snake oil is just a way to make a little free enterprise profit.

But this is about organic SEO. In brief, organic SEO is having relevant content, displayed properly. A search for “identifying venomous snakes” ought to lead to a web site featuring a sentence like, “To identify whether a snake is venomous, look for…” If its sentences read more like, “Many snakes bite, releasing venom – and cannot easily be identified by a non-professional,” it won’t bring nearly as much traffic. While a strict phrase match isn’t necessary required, it doesn’t necessarily hurt.

I can hear the echoing question now: “How does one organically make their site search engine friendly?” It’s very simple, young Net Cadet:

1. Figure out who’s searching for your information

Who’s searching for what you write about? If you’re writing about, say couponing, should you target investment bankers making high six-figure salaries? Probably not, if you want any readers. If you’re writing about sea turtles, consider who likes reading about them – scientists, kids, teachers, or maybe it’s some porno freak’s new fetish. I can’t do this for you – think of this as a journey of exploration. It’s The Search for Your Base.

2. Try to determine how they’re going to ask for the information they want

Organic SEO begins with understanding your keywords and keyphrases.  If you’re writing for a person who wants to know “how wide is a boa constrictor,” then writing about “the breadth of a boa” (which would technically be the same premise) would be less effective, just because of the words you use.

3. Write (or re-write) your content so that it works the right way.

If at first you don’t succeed, keep working on it. The worst that can happen is that you might have to tinker with getting your site to the coveted first page of the big three (Google, Yahoo and MSN). Now, don’t get discouraged if this takes time – just submitting to a search engine can take more than a month before their crawlers are upon you (which is a much more pleasant process than I make it sound).

Organic SEO is definitely not easy.  But at heart, it starts with what you’re already doing anyway – writing great content, and making it relevant to your intended readers. So go get ‘em!

The idea behind local internet marketing

March 7th, 2010 |

For the past few years, there is a growing trend in the local small business industries. This trend forces local businesses both small and large to go absolutely online to increase their sales. This trend started a new type of marketing strategy known as local Internet marketing.

internetThe new wave of Local Internet marketing started due to the increase in the demand of online buyers to shop locally. In fact, 70% of homeowners today take advantage of Internet when shopping and all of them would prefer to shop locally. These homeowners search for any available information on the products and services they need to purchase. In effect, the number of people using yellow pages has decrease significantly.

Today, at least 27% of Internet users are searching for local information. According to the research done by the Kelsey Group in Princeton New Jersey, there is a high probability that local Internet search will surpass newspapers as the number one source of local shopping information. This is due to the reason that information in the newspapers is limited.

The purpose of local Internet marketing is to attract as much local customers as possible to a local business. Local Internet marketing generally uses local search enhancement to boost sales. Local businesses are allowed to submit their business content/profile so that they will be featured in a local listing.

The downside is that most local businesses today are still unaware of the opportunity that lies ahead in local Internet marketing. In addition, these businesses do not have an idea how to execute local Internet marketing. Some of these businesses tried to submit their profiles however most of them are discourage about the cost and task. The task can be time consuming and frustrating if you don’t get local Internet marketing service such as in Web Wise Media.

In local Internet marketing, the business profile should be updated from time to time. This type of marketing also takes advantages of keyword density to attract potential local customers. With the best keywords, a local business may increase its chances to boost sales locally.

Generally, companies that offer local Internet marketing service lessen the time spent by business owners in doing their own local marketing. Compared to yellow pages listing, local Internet listing is much cheaper and yet the business information is delivered or distributed to major directories. Usually, local Internet marketing offers customers map as a guide on how to find the business establishment. This is much faster and more efficient for the customers.

Mobile website Design: An untapped marketing strategy

February 21st, 2010 |

Recently, there is a high demand of mobile devices with Internet browser. However, most websites today are still not compatible with mobile Internet. As a response, companies are converting their websites to become accessible on any Internet capable hand held devices.

desAs the demand for mobile Internet increases, the number of websites that are compatible with these mobiles is also increasing. And mobile users respond positively to these websites. This implies that a new innovative market for local and worldwide clients is starting to emerge.

Mobile website design is not as complicated as you might think, with the help of a professional, learn where to focus your effects. Basically, there are seven fundamental steps to mobile website design. The first step is to choose the right markup for your mobile website design. There are several types of markup for mobile website design; pick the one that suits your customers’ needs.

The next step is to know your target mobiles phones. Mobile devices today have different screen dimensions from small to large screen size. You can optimize your content if you know the most common screen dimensions. It is also wise to keep your website shape and style as minimal and linear as possible.

Lets face it, your mobile website goal is to deliver necessary content to potential costumers so know your customers. In mobile website design, you need to know your customers’ needs, interests and hobbies. Mobile devices are very portable. This means your customers are anywhere while viewing your website. So, as much as possible make new sticky content.

Keep in mind that the content on a website is not usually available to some mobile devices and mobile surfers have different medium and requirements. So, keep things simple and if possible optimize mobile users experience. Also, don’t place the same content from your traditional website to your mobile website.

Mobile website design involves choosing a great domain name. Your domain will be use by your users to access your site. If possible, don’t use a separate domain name. Otherwise, you will confuse your customers. Instead, use a subdomain for your mobile website. Subdomain is the easiest and cheapest option for your domain name.

Since mobile devices have less disk space and lower processor, you need to validate your markup from time to time. You can do this through a desktop browser. Lastly, mobile website design also involves rechecking and retesting. Aside from testing it to a desktop browser, you also need to test it on mobile devices. Alternatively, you can use emulators and Rent Time to test your mobile website.

Affordable SEO Marketing Can Help Your Business Grow

February 10th, 2010 |

Affordable SEO is something you should find room for in your business’ budget right away. If your company has a website (and every company should) then you need to use good SEO practices. Just having a website doesn’t do anything for your business. You need affordable SEO marketing to help people find your website before they can become customers or clients of your business.

sasaHere’s an example. You create a website for your business. You might not know much about SEO, so you create the website based around your business. And then you wait for the people to come. You’ve heard the old adage about how you build something and people will come, but that doesn’t apply to websites. People have to be able to find your site before they’ll come and visit it. And very few people will search on terms like “Abe’s House of Shoes” or whatever your company’s name might be.

People search a certain way, and that’s how affordable SEO marketing can help you. If your website, first of all, isn’t optimized for the search engines and how people might search for the things you offer, you’re missing on potential customers every single day. And if you don’t use affordable SEO marketing to point people to your website from other places like blogs, article directories and social sites, you’re missing out on even more.

A good, affordable SEO marketing campaign will optimize your website for the keywords and terms people are looking for. To understand the benefit of that, compare “Abe’s House of Shoes” to “cheap high heels” to see the difference and the potential. They’ll also help you use blog posting, article marketing and social media to attract the attention of web searchers in a way that’s harder to do on a business website alone.

Those articles, blog posts and social bookmarking entries will show up in the search engine results, and lead people back to your website so you’re getting targeted traffic that’s looking to buy what you’re offering. Good, affordable SEO marketing is a cost-effective way to really increase your web traffic, and therefore your business, in a short period of time.

Blog postings and forum postings help you increase online exposure

February 6th, 2010 |

Blog posting and forum posting are two of the most powerful methods to build and increase online exposure for you and your business.  For years, people have been using blog posting to attract new customers and be recognized as an expert to a certain field.  In some cases, increasing your online exposure through blog posting does not require you to own your own blog.

in-mmBlog usually exhausts a lot of time and effort from its owner so instead of owning a blog, you can do guestblogging on other blogs.  Blog posting on other blog helps you create new business partnerships while you introduce your brand or products to other potential costumers.  The secret to guestblogging is to get the right mix to increase your online exposure.

However there are at least a thousand blogs online.  Finding the right one that is the most beneficial to you might be exhaustive.  In addition, guestblogging on more than hundred of blogs might not get you anywhere.  So before blog posting on a specific site, consider first the blogs that are almost related to your business.  For instance, if you own a bookstore, you can talk about educational books, great modern authors and latest trends in books.

Blog posting and forum posting can escalate your online exposure through back links.  The links are like a vote on your google page status.  This means that the more you attract people through your blog post and forum post the higher your status page will become.  Also, the more links you make, the higher your chances of increasing your rank in the search engine.

Forum pages are like discussion boards where people within the same field interact and exchange information from each other.  It is best that you post on forums that are related to your business interests and websites.  You cannot attract potential costumers if you post topics that are not related to your business.

In forum posting, you are required to signup for a specific forum.  You can either post a new topic or make a comment on an existing one in the forum.  While doing a forum posting, you should not forget to leave a link as your business signature below the post.  Otherwise, you cannot generate traffic to your website.

Usually, you are not allowed to spam and mislead people through blog posting and forum posting.  This way, visitors on the forums are guaranteed with quality posts.  Some forums also follow specific guidelines to prevent distribution of false information.

The latest trend in internet marketing: Web Presenter

January 21st, 2010 |

The vast majority of Americans believe that Internet is the most important source of information. In fact, at least 50% of newest Internet users think that Internet is a vital source of information for educational and even entertainment purposes. With this trend, there is no doubt that from the past few years there is an increase in the number of marketing strategies online.


Today, for a company to be successful in its field, it might need to utilize all the Internet strategies available and incorporate them in its business marketing plans. However, since all companies are doing the same strategies now and again, they can’t easily differentiate themselves from their competitors. This prompts companies to explore more creative methods to attract new potential consumers.

 

Recently, there is a rapid improvement in streaming technology in America. Americans have seen first the potential of web presenter as a marketing strategy. In the next few years, it is already expected that the new trend in the Internet marketing world is online video production or web presenter.

 

The efficiency of web presenter marks the new beginning of Internet marketing. In this competitive market, large corporate businesses need a lucrative and essential tool to boost their sales. Compared to other online marketing, there is no doubt that web presenter has an edge. Thinking about this: who would rather read than watch and listen?

 

Furthermore, in comparison with web content, web presenter has more power to attract and hold a visitor’s attention. With perfect sound and high quality picture, the information is delivered much quicker, simpler and efficiently. In addition, the advantage of web presenter is it can encourage more visitors to take action.

 

Web presenter can also give life to a website. It can demonstrate the product or service description within few seconds in clear and comprehensible message. It can also do training presentation and briefing. With powerful web presenter service, the website can grab potential costumer that might lead to conversion or sales.

 

Web presenter is easy to insert in a website and can be placed in any part of the website. The content of the video is usually unique and is based on the client’s preference. Typically, it has different communication style.

 

There is still lot to know about this latest trend in Internet marketing. This new level of Internet marketing takes advantage of bringing potential consumers through sight and sound. Web presenter service can also be used on Landing Pages.

Increasing your web presence with the help of a press release service

January 6th, 2010 |

For large businesses to gain more popularity, they need to take advantages of the benefits of press release service. This type of marketing strategy gives great benefits not only to big businesses but also to small ones. Press release service goal is to get you online press and media coverage.

Basically, the purpose of press release service is to strategize the placement of keywords that are associated to your website or business to increase your ranking in the search engines. This marketing strategy is also known as Search Engine Optimized Press Releases.

Through a press release service, you can easily reach out to thousands of online news websites. Typically, press release service offers clear article content that is easy to comprehend. In addition, it gives outstanding press releases that can increase your web presence.

Since then, press releases are considered one of the most superior forms of advertisement and marketing strategy. The exposure and recognition you can get from press releases will always be incomparable to other advertising and marketing strategy. Your business will grow at optimum soon after you combine press releases with successful email marketing, local search enhancement and SEO campaign.

In some instances, businesses get enough publicity through press releases. This means that with only press release service, even a small business can increase its web presence at a maximum level. In fact, publicity is considered the most cost-effective marketing strategy today. Through press and media, people think the products and services have credibility. The bottom line is, credibility captures the heart of potential consumers.

Generally, press release service was made to entertain all type of business structures. It can help promote new products and services quickly, easily and efficiently through the press and media. This gives new businesses an edge over their competitors.

Well-written press releases always make a significant difference to a company. They can determine if the company is successful or a failure. The most critical to press release is its delivery technique. In fact, great delivery can gradually increase product sales and web presence. However, timeliness and newsworthiness are also factors that affect the success of a press release.

 

In this competitive world, your business needs to make a scene to get the spotlight. In order to do that, you need to utilize all the resources available, especially the press and the media. Usually, all you need is a press release service to get the job done right.

Use of Social Bookmarking to help create market awareness of your website

December 21st, 2009 |

Social bookmarking is originally designed for Internet users to share, search, organize and manage bookmarks. Today, people are becoming aware on the potential of social bookmarking as an incredible tool for online marketing. As a marketing tool, social bookmarking can potentially increase online presence of a website.

Social bookmarking is a great Internet marketing resource because it can generate free traffic. However it can take a lot of time and effort to submit websites to numerous social bookmarking sites. The best option is to have social bookmarking service. Social bookmarking services allow user to spend lesser time and effort in submission. In fact, these services make automatic submissions to different social bookmarking sites.

Compare to other marketing methods, social bookmarking is much faster and easier. The most basic step in social bookmarking marketing strategy is to register in social bookmarking sites. After that, you can begin bookmarking and tagging. The efficiency of social bookmarking can be optimized with social bookmarking service. Through these services, you can submit your article, website or blog in seconds.

The concept of social bookmarking is simple. Once you submitted your article or website, people who enjoyed it will start bookmarking the site. This increases market awareness as your website increases in its popularity. As your popularity increases, more people will bookmark your website. The great thing about social bookmarking is that search engines generally crawl to social bookmarking sites for search results.

Basically, websites that can gain interest to online users have good content. It is a well-known fact that good content can increase traffic significantly. The same idea applies to social bookmarking. If the content is good, you can increase more traffic to your website. However, you don’t need to pay for pay per click service.

Unlike traditional automated resource, social bookmarking system involves tag-based classification done by humans. This means that the content of the resources given are well understood. More so, there are web pages that traditional automated resources ignored. Social bookmarking system can also rank a resource based on the number of times it has been bookmarked.

The disadvantage of social bookmarking is that it is susceptible to spam and corruption. Since there is an increase in the popularity of social bookmarking, more people are starting to use it along with search engine optimization to increase online visibility. Spammers will try to tag their site multiple times or using multiple popular tags just to gain more popularity.