Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

Fresh Vs Stale – how good is your content?

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Fresh Content

Content is still King but over time content on your webpages needs to be revamped to give a fresher look and feel. In showing up webpages in the SERPS Google does give weightage to content that has been updated frequently. Even making small changes within the existing text especially in important areas like the text above the fold or the headlines helps in  keeping the content fresh. Areas like the navigation, the advertisements etc can remain the same.
If you have added new pages of information to the site and the pages are indexed quickly it adds value to the content and the information being provided on the site. In turn this gets reflected in the search Result Pages.
If you have not updated your site pages for a long time then chances are very likely that when the site is dispalyed in the SERPs the user may bypass the result and click on other results. With the recent algo changes this can be seen as a factor where content on your site can be taken as old content and can effect your ranking on the SERPs.
Last but not the least check the backlink anchor text to your site. What sites are the links coming from. Are these updated frequently. Are the pages still up? A link from a site that has new fresh content has more value than a site with outdated information.

Optimizing an Existing Google Adwords Campaign

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

With increased competition, you need to refocus on the marketing spend and existing campaigns. If you are caught in a situation where you have to handle a Adwords account and cut the costs as well, it becomes a different ball game altogether.

Adwords management is all about continuous analysis and involvement. The focus should be on get low wasteful clicks and increase conversions.  You need to first start by downloading the required reports for a certain time period which will serve as a base for reference and analysis.  You can download the campaign report, adgroup report and the keyword report. You can analyze the data using the desired success metrics. Some steps to optimize an existing Adwords campaign are outlined here

1 Reviewing the current keywords and Keyword expansion

The keyword searches constantly change each month and you will need to keep on analyzing them using software like wordtracker or keyword discovery. You will need to add new keywords and delete underperforming ones. This will help in purging the keyword list and combining into better adgroups.

2. Improve keyword performance by Using Keyword matching options

You need to find out if the keywords are using Broad Match and need to implement keyword matching options. This will improve targeting and overall account performance. You can use phrase, exact, and negative matching options.

3. Writing new ad copy for the campaigns

If you are using an old copy, multiple ads and landing pages, it is suggested to create at least one new ad per adgroup and then split test it. You then need to analyze the results with the metric being used. If an underperforming ad needs to be deleted, then you need to analyze the data fully and then make the decision.

This should be done on a monthly basis. The Display urls should also be customized based on the keyword and adgroup being targeted.

4. Daily campaign management to maintain relevancy

You need to manage the bids on a daily basis so that you can increase the chances of finding the ads. You may need to pause underperforming keywords and reduce bids for high cost keywords. The target is to reduce the keywords that are not converting. But keep in mind that data should be constantly analyzed for backing the decisions being made.

5. Account Organization

If you have multiple campaigns, then you might need to restructure and see if they are required. Sometimes only one or two campaigns are sufficient.

6. Create Your New Campaign

You may need to create new campaigns as well. You can use the Google Build out Spreadsheet and then upload using Adwords Editor. You can create new or replace old campaigns as required.

Online Marketing – much ado about nothing

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Online Marketing would include the strategies and solutions offered to market a product or service via the internet and the mobile phone. This would include services such as blogging, guest postings, article syndication, email marketing, banner advertising as well as Search engine marketing.
In seach engine marketing a website is marketed through search engines by improving the ranking of the site through search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, or pay for inclusion listings in directories.
Email marketing distributes information about your products or services through your email. Some methods empoyed for email marketing are newsletter distribution, mass mailings or special offers and incentives.
Banner advertising allows the placement of advertisements on a website at a cost.
Blog marketing includes posting comments, sharing an opinion, or making announcements on forums. This can be done through hosting a blog of your own or by adding comments and URLs in blogs that are related to your business and what you have to offer online.
Article Marketing includes writing articles and publishing the articles on different online sites that relate to articles.
Where business is no longer constrained by geographical limitations and the target audience can span the entire globe, devising a strategy to drive more traffic to a website and proportionately more sales would be the driving force behind
any online marketing campaign.

Effective LinkBuilding

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Effective Link Building
Links get us Rankings on the SERPs. However what kind of links should you source? What adds value to how Google looks at the links pointing to a site. How many linking root domains are there? What’s the anchor text balance like? What links should you prioritise? How is the competition getting their links? Most important what is the budget you have in mind for high end links for high-level directory submissions, press release distribution, etc?
Here are some really simple ways that you can add valuable links to your site:
Placing content on other websites is a great way of building links, especially if you’re a new website trying to build a reputation from scratch. Find out some good sites in your niche and check if they allow guest posts. See what kind of posts they would like. Write on the topic and send the post. Not only do you get a valuable link back but also add credibility to the information provided. To get a  list of potential sites to post content on visit a community of guest bloggers like: http://myblogguest.com
Blog comments where the comments add additional information to the content posted prove to be a good source of traffic and good links. Make sure that the comment has a do follow so that some link juice is passed on to your site.
Articles that are unique can be spinned across various article sites to get a valuable content link. The important thing is to ensure the information in the article is unique and pertaining to the product or service provided on the website.
Press Releases are a good way to promote a site and get those links. Inexpensive sites like PRWeb offer great access to news directories, as well as conventional magazine editors.
Use high level directory submissions.
Make it easy for your visitors to link to you i.e if they want to.

Google Wallet

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Google Wallet is an Android app that makes your phone your wallet. It stores virtual versions of your existing plastic cards on your phone. Simply tap your phone to pay and redeem offers using near field communication, or NFC. Your phone sends payment, and, at some merchants, offers and loyalty information. All you need to do is your smartphone some credit and tap your phone to pay with the virtual credit cards stored on your Google Wallet. You can then top up the card with additional funds from any of your plastic cards. You’ll pay no fees to top up your Google Prepaid Card as of now. Since the Google Prepaid Card is purely virtual, you won’t get an physical card.
When Google Wallet launches, it will support two kinds of cards:
Citi® MasterCard® credit cards, and
the Google Prepaid Card
Citi MasterCard
It’s easy to set up a Citi MasterCard with Google Wallet. If you already have a card, open Google Wallet and enter your account information. After Citi verifies it, your credit card credentials are stored to a secure microchip on your phone. You can then tap your phone to pay. You can check your citi card as well as apply for one if you do  ot have a citi master card.
Google Prepaid Card
The Google Prepaid Card is a virtual card that you can fund with any of your existing credit cards — no Citi MasterCard required. After you activate the Google Prepaid Card in Google Wallet, you’ll get $10 in your account.

Google Prepaid CardThe Google Prepaid Card is a virtual card that you can fund with any of your existing credit cards — no Citi MasterCard required. After you activate the Google Prepaid Card in Google Wallet, you’ll get $10 in your account.

Google Wallet

Some Important SEO Terms

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Browser: A Browser is a Software Application used to open search engines and locate as well as display other websites. Some commonly used browsers are internet explorer, firefox, Google Chrome etc.

Search Engine (SE) : Search Engine is a program that opens in any browser and  searches documents for specified keywords entered by the users. Some of the search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN, Alta Vista etc.

Keyword: Keyword is defined as the simple words used by the users to search something on the search engine.

Search Engine Result Pages (SERP): Search Engine Result Pages are the output of the search engine when user enters any query on the search engine.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): It is a form of Internet Marketing used to promote websites or products by increasing its visibility and ranking in the search engine result pages (SERPs).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Search engine optimization is the process to optimize the websites on the various search engine result pages. SEO is used to increase the ranking of any website in various search engine result pages by promoting that website and increasing its visibility on the internet. SEO is of two types: On Page SEO and Off Page SEO.

Inbound Links: When any other website give link to your site on its page then that is called Inbound link. Traffic comes to your site from other sites through inbound links.

Outbound Links: When your website gives link to any other website then that is called as Outbound links for you. Through outbound links, traffic goes from your site to others site.

Page Rank (PR): It is the measure or numeric value of your page given by the search engine (Google) by using its algorithm that represents the importance of your page on the web.

Keyword Density: The term used to refer how often you used a keyword or keyword phrase in the content of your website.

Landing Page: It refers to any page that opens after clicking on any link or advertisement.

Static Website: A website or a web page whose content is fixed and does not change. It can be changed only if changes are done manually.

Dynamic Website: The websites whose content is not fixed and keeps on changing as per the selection of the user.

Back link: The term referred to the links that are coming on your website from another website. Back links directly affects the page rank of your website.

SEO Firm

The Importance of SEO – Use Professional SEO Services

Friday, June 10th, 2011

In this technological era, internet has taken place almost in every house of this world. Even the common people are using internet from their mobile phones, computers, and laptops for searching even the small thing. So Internet has become the most popular media to get information, to buy and to sell products and services. For this, the website must appear among the top in the search engine result pages to attract visitors. Just to make a good website is not the end of the task; you have to promote that website to become more web visibly, to increase the internet traffic and to come at the top of the search engine result pages. Professional SEO Services will help you to achieve this. So if any business or company really wants to grow in this highly competitive digital marketing world, they should reach to the more customers through internet. That’s why; the new and existing firms are taking the help of Professional SEO Services to stay ahead from their competitors.

SEO Firm

Professional SEO Services

As today people prefer internet to find out information about products and services, and to buy products online. So more and more companies are turning to the internet to promote and advertise their new products and services. But if your website is present somewhere on the internet but not among the top positions in the search engine result pages then what is the use of making it, because it’s not approaching by the right users to view your products and services to buy them. So your website must be among the top positions to let the traffic come and increase your business. To achieve this, optimize your website.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization, an internet marketing technique to optimize your site. It is the technique to popularize your site and spread it on the internet to make your website more web visibly. It also helps to increase your internet traffic and also list your website at the top rankings in various search engines. Online marketing is the most effective effort when all other available channels are used to market your product. Search engine marketing is the first step towards e-marketing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is divided in two types of optimization. These are:

1.)   On Page Optimization

2.)   Off Page Optimization

On Page Optimization deals with the optimization that are done on the page of the website. All the changes are visible on the website. It include various services like fresh and relevant content placement, content optimization, Keyword Research and Analysis, Page Specific Meta Tag Creation (like Title Tag, Alt Tag, Anchor Text Tag, Description ), Keyword Density, Implementation of 301 Permanent Redirect, Creation of Proper Internal Linking Structure, Submission of XML Sitemap etc. It is advisable to do the on page optimization before setting the off page SEO campaign. And also try to update your website’s content regularly as soon as possible.

Off Page Optimization deals with the optimization that are done outside the website to increase traffic and to improve website‘s ranking in various search engines. Off page optimization includes various services like: Link Building, Blog Comments, Directory Submission, Article Writing, Article Submission, Social Bookmarking, Press Release Submission, Forum Posting, Business Listings, and Social Media Optimization. The links (links to other sites and incoming links to your website) generated through off page techniques are very helpful to attract more traffic to your site and also to increase search engine rankings.

You can set your SEO Campaign with the desired services you want to take. Hire some good SEO firm to work for your website and make your site more valuable.

Professional SEO Services – Make your site more searchable

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Do you really require professional seo services now that your website has been launched?

When looking for seo services what criterion should you keep in mind when short listing a professional seo service company? When there is so much hype on black hat techniques how can you distinguish between what techniques are correct and what can get your site black listed on Google and other Search engines.

Just keep it simple

The methods require to rank high on Google may be complex but the path is pretty simple. When selecting a seo service company just check carefully if some of the basic guidelines mentioned below are being followed to attain the goal for high ranking:

Site Structure

The first thing any professional seo service company will do is analyze the existing site structure in terms of user behaviour as well as search engine spiders. The site structure should be optimized so that spiders can crawl content on the site and easily access all the information pages on the site.

The way a site is structured, affects the way search engine spiders crawl the site and that in turn affects the site rankings. If your navigation appears higher in the code of your web page than the content then it is given a higher priority. The goal is to make the core sections of your page appear higher in the code than the portions that are not critical to the optimization of each page. All the site optimizations should ensure that the site structure should be such that spiders “read” the content before the navigation.

Site Relevancy

Relevancy is with reference to the information provided on a webpage with respect to a topic. If your entire site is about mortgages for example, you’re going to find it easier to rank for related phrases.

Content Optimization
Content in header tags as well as bold, italic, anchor text and other formatting options all add value to the text. A professional seo services company should be optimizing the body content of a webpage in addition to the basic title and Meta tag optimization.

Keyword Optimization density

Optimize your content with right targeted keywords. Keyword density is the proportion of the number of times the targeted keywords are used on the webpage with respect to the total number of words on the page. The optimal keyword density generally seems to hover around the 3 to 5% range.

Code Optimization

A website’s code needs to be as light as possible since long loading times for the user translates to long loading times for search engines especially Google. Small corrections such as choosing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to design your website keeps the code light by keeping all of the style properties in one place, allowing for less code repetition, and also making it easier to add new content. These and other parameters should be a part of optimization.

Link bait and Link Building

Most professional seo services include link baiting to attract back links to the site. Link baiting basically creating bait (this can take the form of the form of tools, contests, humorous stories or cartoons or something as simple as a blog) so that other sites naturally link to the webpage offering the bait. You basically create something that naturally attracts backlinks by getting people to talk about it, discussing it on forums, blog about it; post it on delicious, Furl, Digg, Shoutwire and get backlinks from these Web 2.0 sites. It also helps in attracting lot of visitors.

Link baiting is an ongoing process and most seo firm would use different methods for marketing your link bait: Press releases, articles, blog feeds, etc.

All the online marketing and advertising efforts should target at making the website informative for the visitor and search engine crawler. So that it will get you the top rankings for your chosen or site targeted keywords.

Surviving Google Panda

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
The February 24th Google algorithm change hit more sites than expected. Referred to as the Farmers algorithm or more commonly as “Google Panda”, the major update by Google on how it ranks sites has affected 12% of search results and reduced the number of visitors landing on a site via organic search.
This has forced a number of sites to revisit the pages that were ranking and reassess the same. The focus here is to continue to provide value to the users. The value of a page is assessed by by assessing the quality of backlinks to a page as well the user experience on the page . In other words the algorithm is also checking the quality of your links and the people visiting your site as well as the bounce rate on the site.
What contributes to a good user experience ?
  • Can visitors easily find their way around?
  • Is it obvious what topic each page is about?
  • Is the content original or is it aggregated from other sources?
  • Do the number and placement of the ads serve as a deterrent to accessing content?
  • When looking objectively at the site, is the primary focus the user need or the business goal?
  • Is the content on the page authoritative and valuable? Does it answer the query  better than other pages on the web?
  • If some of the pages on the site are very high quality and engaging, are other pages on the site not as high quality? (Google has stated that enough low quality content on a site can reduce the entire site’s rankings, not just the low quality pages.)
Sites like J.C. Penney and Overstock.com, which relied on low quality content farms were adversely affected by the Panda update. By combining the standard evaluation system with evaluations from outside testers, Raters were asked questions like: “Would you be comfortable giving this site your credit cardnumber? Would you be comfortable giving medicine prescribed by this site to your kids?”. In other words the content created for your site should also be trustworthy and most of all authoritative.
So if you have a site that serves original content, has information such as research, in-depth reports, case studies and does not host low quality links then you are in the safezone.
In addition there are some efforts that you can still make:
  • If you have not installed Google Webmaster tools – then do this immediately as you will often see the links that Google can see.
  • Remove low quality links.
  • Use blogs, whitepapers, webinars, infographics, and other high quality content to leverage for link building and to attract natural, organic links. Some content marketing strategies that you can adopt to get quality links:  Social media, article postings, events, E-newsletters, Case studies, white papers, Videos, Webinars, Print magazine
In a nutshell keep content original, continue to add external links just focus on quality over quantity and most important be active within social networks to get those all important natural links.

PPC Management – Integral Part of PPC Advertising

Friday, May 13th, 2011
PPC Management

PPC Management

When someone is looking for more quality leads for their website, then pay per click is the solution for them. Great results at low rates are making PPC high in demand. It has been termed as the quickest and easiest method to promote products and services. The best part of pay per click is that, in this the targeted traffic is those customers who are looking for the services or products you are offering.

This will help to generate more leads as well as more revenue through their sites.

With the help of PPC management websites are listed at top of the most popular search engine’s result page. If someone desired to have their websites on some specific position on search engines like Google, Yahoo, then PPC management brings you the best results.

With proper and skill full PPC management one can double their ROI and profits with less spend.

When you are opting for a firm for the professional PPC management service, one should take care of the following points:

1. In PPC one has to pay for every click you receive for the keyword. With quality PPC management strategies can reduce the amount of money spends on the clicks.

2. Effective PPC management is the important part of any pay per click campaign. It can make or break your success story. Thus it need to be sound enough so that you can drive best result in less time with less amount spend.

3. By implementing proper strategies one can double the quality traffic coming to their website. Pay per click is the most cost effective internet marketing strategy, as in this one spend only that amount, one wish to.

4. Running a PPC campaign is an easy task. One just needs to place bids on the keywords related to the product or service they are selling or want to promote.

Your website becomes the landing page for the visitors clicking on your ad copies. So the deign and content of you r web page has to be appealing and effective to encourage the users to perform the action you want them to perform on their website.
You may try to manage the entire PPC campaign but until you are qualified and have necessary knowledge & the time, you are not likely get much in a way of the results.

A professional ppc management will help to get the most of the ROI for your money spent on the campaign. You can hire a qualified individual or a consulting firm for running your PPC campaign.

Professional PPC managers have all the analytical and reporting tools and knowledge which will help to track the performance of the campaign, give you detailed report and statistics about the progress and will also make necessary suggestions and recommendations required for the better improvement of the campaign.

Cranvas is a ppc management firm which can optimize your ppc campaigns to increase your ROI.