Posts Tagged ‘content’
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10 Simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Ideas To Improve …
Posted on May 18th, 2012 by admin
SEO Techniques
10 Simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Ideas to Improve Your Ranking
One of the simplest ways to improve your site’s worth and ranking is to ensure your site is search engine optimized (SEO). SEO is the process of improving your site so that your content is attractive to major search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN) and also targeted for the types of keywords you want your site to come up for. Taking the time to improve your site’s SEO can increase your inlinks and pagelinks and also help you get more visitors who are searching for the content your site has to offer. Here are some very basic SEO techniques you can apply immediately to improve your site:
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1. Clean up your page titles. Throughout your site, the titles of your pages should say a lot about the content that page contains. Make sure your titles are clear, contain keywords for your page, and also emphasize the content of that page. Also, remember that search engines use the title you enter as the link when your site comes up in search results. Make sure your title is catchy enough and targeted enough to encourage people to click.
2. Use heading tags the way they were meant to be used. In the HTML markup of your pages, you have the option to set several levels of heading such as H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, etc. These tags have a sort of hierarchy to them. H1 is more important than H2 which is more important than H3 etc etc. Use this principal in setting up your page layout. Use H1 for your most important text, such as the heading for your page. Use H2 for the next most popular, and so on. Don’t overdo it either, use the heading tags sparingly on only your heading worth content (most likely containing the keywords for your page as well).
3. Take advantage of alt and title tags in your URLs and images. When creating an image or link within your HTML, you have the option of including a TITLE attribute in URLs and an ALT attribute to1 images. Use these fields to add additional text about the link/image. This text is picked up by search engine spiders and can add to the keyword content of your pages.
4. Make sure your navigation is available at the top and bottom of all your pages. If you want search engines and your readers to find their way through your site, you have to make it easy for them. In addition to putting standard navigation at the top of the page, consider also placing it at the bottom in your footer. The more ways Google can find their way through your site, the better chance you have of getting all your pages showing up in their index.
5. Use mod_rewrite to clean up your nasty web addresses. Using a tool known as mod_rewrite, you can make a substantial improvement to the URLs of the pages within your site. Instead of a URL that looks like: http://www.mysite.com/goto.php?page=12345 you can change it to http://www.mysite.com/page/how-to-do-somthing.html. This is much easier for search engines to follow and also can contain keywords that can guide them to a better analysis of the content your site contains. You can get details on how mod_rewrite works by checking out this beginners tutorial .
6. Use keywords in the addresses of your pages. Closely complimenting point 5 above, adding keywords to the addresses of your pages can make a big difference. When setting up your site structure, keep that in mind. For example, if you have a site about apples, rather than having a URL like: http://www.mysite.com/page/page1.html change it to something like http://www.mysite.com/granny-smith/granny-smith-orchards-in-california.html where the content of the page is somewhat represented by the address of the page.
7. Make sure you take advantage of meta tags like keywords and descriptions. Many sites often overlook meta tags. There are a large number of these tags you can add to your html pages to help give search engines a better idea of what’s in your site. Two tags in particular, the description and keywords tags, allow you to write a description of each page and also list relevant keywords contained within your site. Use these on every page of your entire site.
8. Create and maintain a sitemap. If you want Google or Yahoo to index your entire site, one of the best ways to do that is to tell them what pages are in your site. Sitemaps are a really simple listing of every single page within your site. For more information, check out the sitemap entry in Wikipedia . If you create and maintain a sitemap for your site, the search engines will easily find all your content.
9. Block duplicate content with robots.txt. Duplicate content on a site can be really bad when it comes to ranking well within search engines. If the structure of your site results in a lot of duplicated content (for example, having summaries on one page of a blog and full articles on another) you can actually be penalized by Google for it. Using the robots.txt file, you can tell Google and other search spiders what content you want read, and what content you want ignored. For more information on robots.txt, check out this beginners tutorial .
10. Make sure your pages contain the keywords you want to rank highly with. While it may seem obvious, you’d be surprised how many people overlook this point. If you have a page about granny smith apples, and you want it to rank highly for the phrase granny smith apples, you have to actually use those words often within the content of your site/page. Don’t overdo it, but make sure it’s obvious to a computer algorithm reading your site (such as Google’s content spider) that the main context of a particular page is granny smith apples.
These are just a few simple ideas on how to optimize your website for search engines. For literally hundreds of other ideas such as these and many others, that you can IMMEDIATELY put to use on your website and start seeing results, learn from those who know it best by picking up the SEOBook at SEOBook.com . SEO can help you make the most of your existing website and over time drastically improve on the estimated value of your sites worth.
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Blog failing to drive traffic? | Site prebuilder
Posted on May 17th, 2012 by admin
Blog failing to drive traffic?
Submitted by David Mercer on 25 July, 2011 – 12:33
tagged with
strategy
Arguably one of the most important functions of a blog, aside from informing your readership about every little aspect of your life or business, is to drive traffic. A good blog should keep a steadily growing stream of valuable traffic flowing through your site. But what happens when it doesn’t?
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Most of the information out there focuses on messages like “Don’t give up”, or “Be interesting and useful”. Ok, great… but what if that just isn’t working? As important as it is to be persistent and useful, it is just as important recognize and understand why certain things aren’t working. Knowing this, you can take action to rectify the problem.
Step 1: Is your blog content of sufficient quality?
The cold hard truth of the matter is that often content is simply not engaging or exciting enough to warrant much attention. What you write might be inspiring to you, but is it inspiring to everyone else? There’s one sure fire way to find out… write a guest blog on another popular blog or site.
If you are able to successfully write a guest blog post for a recognized and popular site, it is a good indication that the content you are creating is of sufficient quality and interesting enough to drive traffic. Actually, not only must your guest post be published, it must also drive conversation and be popular on that site too – if not, it is likely that your writing is of good quality, but the subject matter or style is boring or unengaging.
If you know that your content is useful, interesting, of good quality and is able to hold its own when given the chance, you can take a sigh of relief – every other problem is fixable, with a bit of time and effort.
If you find that your writing is not of sufficient quality – perhaps your grammar is poor or you are not able to clearly get your message across – the you need to seek writing or blogging assistance. After all, there’s no point in wasting your time creating content that no one can read.
Step 2: Is your content being noticed?
Assuming that your content is good, but you’re still are not driving traffic, then you can go ahead and look at how your content is being delivered. If you simply write your blog each day and hope for the best, then most likely you need to get more involved in your niche community. Start commenting on other blogs, help people in forums, and so on.
If you do get out and about online but your traffic volumes are still low, then you need to ensure that you are properly socializing your content. Make it easy for people to tweet about your articles, share them on Facebook and LinkedIn, or any other social platform that is pertinent to your niche audience.
If you are socializing your content properly, as well as establishing authority and making contacts within your community, but your traffic volumes are still low, then the problem is likely one of two things. Either your blog is still too new to really be making an impact on search engines and other big sites, or, you don’t have the right idea about who would want to read your blog.
If your blog or site is less than a year old then I would suggest you keep exploring new ways to drive traffic and keep building up your base of content. If your site is older than a year and you are doing everything mentioned so far, but your traffic is still low then it is likely you haven’t properly understood or researched your niche.
Step 3: Modify your strategy
If you have been blogging regularly for over a year, with great content and you still have not met with any real success, then it is time to reassess who your audience is and what they need in terms of information and content.
Especially in the case of a business blog, you need to think of who your ideal reader is and work out where they hang out online and how they want content delivered to them. It may be that instead of writing pages and pages of content, it is far more effective to make video clips. Instead of talking about your business, it may be far better to write a blog that provides support around your business niche – i.e. talk about how to repair cracks in walls, and not whether you are selling patching trowels at a discount.
Remember that the more imaginative and creative you are in deciding on a content creation and delivery strategy via your blog, the more likely you are to eventually meet with success. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
Step 4: Seek expert advice
If you are at your wit’s end, having tried everything you can think of, then it may be a good idea to seek professional advice . It may cost you a few hundred bucks, but that is a small price to pay in comparison to finally giving up on all the hard work you have put into a blog over the last few years.
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Free Traffic, Driving Free Traffic to your Website from google …
Posted on March 1st, 2012 by admin
Instant Traffic Robot is a WP plugin from Paul Green.
With all the assist from the software program it’s simple to setup your blog, mechanically post content material and get the higher ranking on the search engines.
Instant Traffic Robot software will let you get backlinks from excessive pagerank websites and create content material automatically (grab content from different web sites like video websites or article directories and submit these content in your website).
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Instant Traffic Robot includes nicely presented video tutorials, PDF handbook and highly effective software to create a high changing site. The video tutorial gives you every part the right way to drive free focused visitors, the quickest search engine optimization and extremely profitable website youll ever build.
Inside member space you’ll uncover software with 14 video tutorials (how one can set up, configure and use this software), 43 pages PDF handbook (What does a software truly do and the way to configure this software).
All you have to do is to set up this instant traffic software and turn the power switch on.
Once activated, it will do all the work for you on 100% autopilot, with zero intervention on your side…
This is a one-time 3- easy- step process:
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Website – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Posted on February 24th, 2012 by admin
a nonprofit organization website.
It could be the work of an individual, a business or other organization, and is typically dedicated to some particular topic or purpose. Any website can contain a hyperlink to any other website, so the distinction between individual sites, as perceived by the user, may sometimes be blurred.
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Websites are written in, or dynamically converted to, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and are accessed using a software interface classified as a user agent . Web pages can be viewed or otherwise accessed from a range of computer -based and Internet-enabled devices of various sizes, including desktop computers, laptops, PDAs and cell phones.
A website is hosted on a computer system known as a web server , also called an HTTP server, and these terms can also refer to the software that runs on these systems and that retrieves and delivers the web pages in response to requests from the website users. Apache is the most commonly used web server software (according to Netcraft statistics) and Microsoft ‘s IIS is also commonly used. Some alternatives, such as Lighttpd , Hiawatha or Cherokee , are fully functional and lightweight.
Static website
Main article: static web page
A static website is one that has web pages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a client web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language, HTML.
Simple forms or marketing examples of websites, such as classic website, a five-page website or a brochure website are often static websites, because they present pre-defined, static information to the user. This may include information about a company and its products and services via text, photos, animations, audio/video and interactive menus and navigation.
This type of website usually displays the same information to all visitors. Similar to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, a static website will generally provide consistent, standard information for an extended period of time. Although the website owner may make updates periodically, it is a manual process to edit the text, photos and other content and may require basic website design skills and software.
In summary, visitors are not able to control what information they receive via a static website, and must instead settle for whatever content the website owner has decided to offer at that time.
They are edited using four broad categories of software:
Text editors , such as Notepad or TextEdit , where content and HTML markup are manipulated directly within the editor program
WYSIWYG offline editors, such as Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver (previously Macromedia Dreamweaver), with which the site is edited using a GUI interface and the final HTML markup is generated automatically by the editor software
WYSIWYG online editors which create media rich online presentation like web pages, widgets, intro, blogs, and other documents.
Template-based editors, such as RapidWeaver and iWeb , which allow users to quickly create and upload web pages to a web server without detailed HTML knowledge, as they pick a suitable template from a palette and add pictures and text to it in a desktop publishing fashion without direct manipulation of HTML code .
Dynamic website
Main article: dynamic web page
A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically, based on certain criteria.
Dynamic websites can have two types of dynamic activity: Code and Content. Dynamic code is invisible or behind the scenes and dynamic content is visible or fully displayed.
Dynamic code
The first type is a web page with dynamic code. The code is constructed dynamically on the fly using active programming language instead of plain, static HTML.
A website with dynamic code refers to its construction or how it is built, and more specifically refers to the code used to create a single web page. A dynamic web page is generated on the fly by piecing together certain blocks of code, procedures or routines. A dynamically-generated web page would recall various bits of information from a database and put them together in a pre-defined format to present the reader with a coherent page. It interacts with users in a variety of ways including by reading cookies recognizing users’ previous history, session variables, server side variables etc., or by using direct interaction (form elements, mouse overs, etc.). A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user.
Dynamic content
The second type is a website with dynamic content displayed in plain view. Variable content is displayed dynamically on the fly based on certain criteria, usually by retrieving content stored in a database.
A website with dynamic content refers to how its messages, text, images and other information are displayed on the web page, and more specifically how its content changes at any given moment. The web page content varies based on certain criteria, either pre-defined rules or variable user input. For example, a website with a database of news articles can use a pre-defined rule which tells it to display all news articles for today’s date. This type of dynamic website will automatically show the most current news articles on any given date. Another example of dynamic content is when a retail website with a database of media products allows a user to input a search request for the keyword Beatles. In response, the content of the web page will spontaneously change the way it looked before, and will then display a list of Beatles products like CDs, DVDs and books.
Purpose of dynamic websites
The main purpose of a dynamic website is automation. A dynamic website can operate more effectively, be built more efficiently and is easier to maintain, update and expand. It is much simpler to build a template and a database than to build hundreds or thousands of individual, static HTML web pages.
Software systems
There is a wide range of software systems, such as ANSI C servlets , JavaServer Pages (JSP), the PHP , Perl , Python , and Ruby programming languages , ASP.NET , Active Server Pages (ASP), YUMA and ColdFusion (CFML) that are available to generate dynamic web systems and dynamic sites. Sites may also include content that is retrieved from one or more databases or by using XML -based technologies such as RSS .
Static content may also be dynamically generated either periodically, or if certain conditions for regeneration occur (cached) in order to avoid the performance loss of initiating the dynamic engine on a per-user or per-connection basis.
Plug ins are available to expand the features and abilities of web browsers to show active content or even create rich internet applications . Examples of such plug-ins are Microsoft Silverlight , Adobe Flash , Adobe Shockwave or applets written in Java . Dynamic HTML also provides for user interactivity and realtime element updating within web pages (i.e., pages don’t have to be loaded or reloaded to effect any changes), mainly using the Document Object Model (DOM) and JavaScript , support which is built-in to most modern web browsers.
Turning a website into an income source is a common practice for web developers and website owners. There are several methods for creating a website business which fall into two broad categories, as defined below.
Content-based sites
Some websites derive revenue by selling advertising space on their site either through direct sales or through an advertising network. (see Contextual advertising ).
Product- or service-based sites
Some websites derive revenue by offering products or services for sale. In the case of e-commerce websites, the products or services may be purchased at the website itself, by entering credit card or other payment information into a payment form on the site. While most business websites serve as a shop window for existing brick and mortar businesses , it is increasingly the case that some websites are businesses in their own right; that is, the products they offer are only available for purchase on the web.
Websites occasionally derive income from a combination of these two practices. For example, a website such as an online auctions website may charge the users of its auction service to list an auction, but also display third-party advertisements on the site, from which it derives further income.
Spelling
The form “website” has become the standard spelling, but previously “Web site” (capitalised) and “web site” were also widely used. Some academia, some large book publishers , and some dictionaries still use “Web site”, reflecting the origin of the term in the proper name, World Wide Web . There has also been similar debate regarding related terms such as web page , webmaster , and webcam .
Among leading dictionaries and encyclopedias, the Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers “website”, and the Oxford English Dictionary changed to “website” in 2004. [8] Wikipedia also uses “website”, but Encyclopdia Britannica [9] (including its Merriam-Webster subsidiary [10] ) uses “Web site”.
Among leading language-usage commentators, Garner’s Modern American Usage acknowledges that “website” is the standard form, [11] but Bill Walsh , of The Washington Post , argues for using “Web site” in his books and on his website [12] (however, The Washington Post itself uses “website” [13] ).
Among major internet technology companies and corporations, Microsoft uses “website” and occasionally “web site”, [14] [15] [16] Apple uses “website”, [17] and Google uses “website”. [18]
Types of websites
Websites can be divided into two broad categories – static and interactive. Interactive sites are part of the Web 2.0 community of sites, and allow for interactivity between the site owner and site visitors. Static sites serve or capture information but do not allow engagement with the audience directly.
There are many varieties of websites, each specializing in a particular type of content or use, and they may be arbitrarily classified in any number of ways. A few such classifications might include:[ original research? ]
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Type of Website
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Search Help | – SLN2216 – Getting a higher rank for your website
Posted on February 23rd, 2012 by admin
This article offers advice for improving your website’s position within the Yahoo! Search results.
Resolution
In general, the best way to improve your site’s ranking is to include unique content targeted to your audience, however the following tips can also help your pages to be more easily found by a focused search on the internet:
The perceived value of your company can be upgraded by chaging the perception of your company – make it appear bigger than it is. 1300 Number – Contact Us are the perfect way of taking your local business to the national stage.
The organic search listings on Yahoo! Search are powered by Bing. Familiarize yourself with the tools available at the Bing Webmaster Center .
Think carefully of the key terms that your audience will use to search for content like yours. Use those terms to guide the construction of your website text and pages.
Users are more likely to click a link if the title matches their search. Choose terms for your page titles that match the content of your documents.
Use a “Description” meta-tag and write your description accurately and carefully. After the title, the description is the most important draw for users. Make sure the document title and description attract the interest of the user as well as matching the content on your site.
Use a “Keyword” meta-tag to list keywords for each page of your website. Use distinct lists of keywords that relate to each specific page on the site. Do not use one broad set of keywords for the entire site.
Keep relevant text and links in HTML. Encoding your text in graphics or image maps can prevent search engines from finding the text or following links to your website’s other pages.
Add an HTML/XML site map, with a link from your welcome page, can help make sure all your pages are crawled.
Use ALT text for graphics. ALT text improves the text content of your page for search purposes. It also makes your pages more accessible to text-only browsers and visually impaired site visitors.
Correspond with webmasters of related sites and other providers of relevant content in order to increase the number of links to your site. NOTE: that links from sites similar to yours or from sites whose audiences might be interested in your site will improve your site’s search ranking. However, building “Link Farms” which create links between unrelated pages in order to increase page link counts will not help your site. The use of “Link Farms” violates Yahoo!’s Site Guidelines and will not improve your page ranking.
To learn more, please review our Site Guidelines .
Last updated: January 04, 2012
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Make Your Website a Daily Destination – driving traffic to your …
Posted on January 1st, 2012 by admin
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Every small business loves the exposure, empathy and sense of community that having a website that’s a daily destination for consumers can generate. But getting people to visit on a regular basis can be a challenge, especially if updates are infrequent or all you have to offer is the occasional monotone press release or product announcement. Thankfully, building a website that’s “sticky” enough to keep users engaged and coming back doesn’t have to require investing thousands or reinventing yourself as the next online media empire. All it takes is a little elbow grease and personal touch, as indicated by the simple strategies below, each designed to send your homepage’s daily number of visitors soaring:
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Connect and Communicate: Make no bones about it: Blogging should be an essential part of any modern website. After all, a few clicks is literally all it takes to post updates in real-time around the clock, creating a steady stream of content that promises something new and exciting with every visit. Better still, professionals at all experience levels have the capability of readily doing it, and the practice also helps put a personal face on your organization, shining the spotlight on the individuals behind it. However, to really captivate an audience enough to keep them returning, take note: You’ll also need to provide content that’s dynamic, unique and offers measurable informational or entertainment value, plus speak in a language that all can understand. In short, the occasional pre-approved sound bite from the HR guy or gal won’t cut it. Rather, you need to address audiences like you’re having a normal conversation, and provide content with meaningful substance to the reader. Making-of articles, features detailing how to get more from your products, partner profiles, project diaries, step-by-step how-to guides, interviews with notable personalities or internal stakeholders: All present compelling ways to connect with audiences while also keeping them interested and informed, providing ample incentive to keep coming back.
Emphasize Community Building: As social media insiders well know, creating a sense of community around your website is one of the most powerful tools for engaging and ultimately enthralling prospective fans. But doing so doesn’t simply mean throwing up a sponsored message board then leaving it to stagnate, or e-mailing customers sporadic newsletter updates that regurgitate existing material easily found elsewhere. Rather, you have to not only encourage discussion and actively take part in conversations by dedicating internal time and resources, but also make customers feel as if they truly have a voice in the discussion by listening to their concerns, responding and sourcing feedback at every opportunity. Implementing programs that recognize and reward valued contributors is also vital, as is creating fan-based initiatives that allow community members to contribute and share ideas, concepts and creations of their own. Even simply giving enthusiasts the chance to submit designs for your next fundraiser’s logo or arranging times where they can chat with top execs to provide input on upcoming ventures won’t just engender goodwill. They’ll also excite and empower a legion of amateur brand ambassadors–an essential source of free ongoing updates and constructive conversations, which will both attract users to and keep them enamored with your site.
Design for Mass Distribution: Sharing is good–even more so if you’ve got a message worth spreading and it winds up in front of millions of eyeballs. As such, you should be not only updating your website with unique pieces of content (surveys, research reports, custom editorial clips, guides to solving common problems, unique looks behind-the-scenes, etc.) designed to grab viewers’ attention, but also making everything from blog posts to pictures, photos, PDF documents and videos shareable, embeddable and ready to be commented upon or re-tweeted via social media platforms. When it comes to corporate assets, the tendency–especially among hyper-competitive start-ups–is always to tightly hold and control. But often, the more powerful strategy is to design pieces of content with the specific idea in mind of seeding them throughout the user community, as it’s a great way to build brand awareness. Beyond heightened exposure and additional media mentions, using your website to disseminate unique, specially branded pieces of content can also lead to improved search engine optimization results through a larger number of incoming links. And, more important still, generate heightened word of mouth surrounding your homepage, letting countless potential readers know exciting things are happening there on a regular basis.
Focus on Value: Exclusive specials, contests, promotions and timed discounts can all be powerful drivers of website traffic, especially in these cost-conscious times. By offering direct bargains and rebate programs on both an ongoing and sporadic basis through your online headquarters, you can keep customers’ interest piqued, and generate additional sales. These marketing programs become even more valuable when coupled with Facebook, Twitter and other social marketing tools, which have the potential to help news spread like wildfire online. Just make sure that the only place such bargains can be found is on your homepage, and be consistent in terms of the pages to which you drive this traffic, to establish in shoppers’ minds the importance of regularly checking a certain destination. Similarly, establishing relationships with key bloggers and members of the media can also help reinforce the message, as can a regular series of e-mail or newsletter updates designed to inform current and prospective buyers. Customers get to save on purchases while you benefit from enhanced publicity and heightened sales, creating a win-win situation for all.
Use Targeted Demonstrations: While special membership options, premium subscription packages and frequent buyer programs can all prove great incentives, services that you freely give away are often just as important as those that you reserve for more exclusive clients. Whether you’re looking at offering complimentary computer virus scans by having users visit your homepage, providing a suite of free continuing education resources or simply hosting an archive of complementary, corporate-branded webinars on software engineering, realize: Providing helpful services or information at no charge that solve pressing, evergreen problems or answer important questions can all serve to generate a steady source of online traffic, and provide a ready supply of leads to upsell on premium services. Sometimes you have to give in order to get. It may seem counterintuitive, but ultimately, the practice makes a ready way to demonstrate your organization’s capabilities to a potentially lucrative client base, while also giving them a taste of the benefits to be had by partnering on more advanced or long-term services.
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Nine Reasons Your Site Isn't Driving Sales | Ace Solution Africa …
Posted on October 3rd, 2011 by admin
By Ann Handley
I have a problem. I’m trying to find replacement windows for my 60-year-old Cape Cod house near Boston, but I don’t want the vinyl builder-grade options in stock at the home-improvement superstores. Iconic architect Royal Barry Wills designed the cozy Cape, and he had strong opinions about what was good and bad. I’m trying to do right by the guy.
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When I Google “residential replacement windows” or use other relevant phrases, the searches bring up manufacturer sites that show me various window types, sizes and features. They even ask me to sign up for their e-mail list–but they don’t give me a good reason to become a lead. That’s because not one is a resource for what I need: advice on the ins and outs of renovating an architecturally significant home, and on the pros and cons of wood versus vinyl versus aluminum clad. Instead, they try to sell me stuff.
In short, they aren’t talking about my needs, but they sure do have plenty to say about themselves. I see these kinds of missed opportunities all the time. Home renovation–like many things in life–is an expensive, confusing prospect. The companies that understand that serving is the new selling will be the ones customers buy from.
Your website should be an extension of your sales staff: It should help generate and nurture leads by educating prospects (a role traditionally played by salespeople). Like a good salesperson, it shouldn’t just sit around and wait for the phone to ring.
So what about your website? Is it all about you, or does it talk about your customers–and in a language they can relate to? Are you using your website as an opportunity to solve problems for would-be buyers? Are you demonstrating in an honest, empathetic way how your company and its products or services can lessen their pain?
If your website is not helping you generate and nurture leads, consider these possible causes:
You haven’t defined goals. The overarching goal of your website is to attract people and invite them to get more involved with your business, whether or not you sell directly to them online. You want visitors to stick around a while and get interested in you and what you sell, right? Have you identified the primary goal of your site? Or secondary goals? What action do you want site visitors to take when they land on your site? Being clear on that informs everything else: design, navigation, content, search engine strategy and so on.
More Content, More Leads
Your content hasn’t changed since Bush was in office (even the second term of the second Bush). If your site isn’t continually evolving and updating, it becomes a static brochure for your business. If you don’t have regularly updated content, such as a blog, you aren’t creating new pages for Google to index. Remember, the more content you create, the more traffic and leads your business will get. ( See sidebar .)
You aren’t creating momentum. You can change this by creating a path for your customers to get more involved with you. To move them along, include relevant calls to action or “triggers” on each page of your site, not just on your homepage. That means on every blog post or any other piece of content you produce. It may sound obvious, but many companies don’t embrace the opportunity to create a path to deeper involvement and (ultimately) conversion.
You don’t have customer interaction. Incorporating a blog or other social content into your online presence gives your customers a sense of who you are. Use these tools to speak to your customers directly, honestly and in your own (human) voice. This is an enormous opportunity both to educate them on how you can help and why they should rely on you–and to hear what they have to say to each other in the forum you’ve created. Regularly updated content that has a sense of personality and purpose builds trust with your would-be customers, and that’s a beautiful place to begin a relationship.
You can’t update your site without the tech guy. Can you update at least some elements without calling IT? This is where blogs and other social platforms come in handy, because you can update them yourself. Why is that important? Because you need to update at least some parts of your site frequently and easily, both to save budget and to create a more immediate flow of content–for potential customers and for search engines.
You sound like everyone else. Is your site full of Frankenspeak, i.e., corporate jargon-rich nonsense? Or, instead, does it sound like it was penned by a human? Most companies spend more time worrying about site design than about the words on the page. But the most memorable sites convey personality and perspective in their homepage content, which immediately sets thems apart. Try this test: If you mask your logo and site design, can you still tell–by the voice of the text–that it’s your site, or do you sound like any one of your competitors?
You didn’t optimize. Can search engines find your site? Does your regularly refreshed, updated, readable content contain search terms that relate to your proficiency? How well are they attracting customers to you? One easy way to boost your search rankings is to continually link descriptive keywords back to related pages on your own site. Doing so helps search engines understand what your site is about.
You aren’t measuring anything. Do you know how your website is converting browsers into buyers? Have you identified what paths they typically take? Do you know which pages perform best for you? Or what content visitors are interacting with the most? Are you using analytics tools to measure the traffic to your site, to track online conversions and to measure ROI on your marketing campaigns? Free tools like Google Analytics are a great place to start.
You put hip before happening. Every element on your homepage should support the goals you’ve identified. That means avoiding design elements that might be hip or cool but ultimately are just distracting. (My pet peeve: web pages that talk to me.)
Put clarity (useful, predictable, efficient, logical) before creative (cool, splashy, flashy, beautiful).
So how about your website? Is it generating leads by serving potential customers, or is it just sitting around and waiting?
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Driving Traffic To Your Web Site – Driving Traffic To Your Web Site
Posted on September 22nd, 2011 by admin
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Driving Traffic To Your Web Site The Smart Way
Out of all the problems you can experience as an internet marketer, the number one problem I hear the most involves the issue of traffic generation. Most marketers would like to know how to drive traffic to their web site without spending a lot of money. This is the constant cry of many online marketers. But the sad fact is that traffic on the internet today is extremely expensive. It is not uncommon to spend about $2 to $3 per click these days. Because of the high cost in traffic, many marketers are dropping out of the internet marketing game every day due to the major loss accumulated when advertising their business. But in the midst of all the bad news of buying traffic, there is still a company of shrewd marketers that are making incredible profits by driving and creating free traffic to their websites . Therefore, if you are suffering because of the high cost of traffic, then make sure you read this report that will reveal a proven way of driving traffic to your web site in no time.
Do you have the ability for your to contact you for FREE using 1300 number and 1800 number signup? 1800 numbers are a toll free services inside Australia.
When you start the process of driving traffic to your web site at no cost, you must have the right perspective initially if you expect to generate a lot of traffic. First, you must get into the mindset of working hard and smart. When it comes to driving traffic to your web site , it is imperative that you work as hard as you can in generating content for the search engines. Your primary goal every single day should be to add more and more content to your portfolio so that you can siphon a whole bunch of search engine visitors. It is commonly known amongst marketers that “Content Is King of The Search Engines”. The more content that you have indexed in the search engines, the more traffic you are able to funnel to your particular websites. Knowing this, you must become a workhorse when it comes to creating content if driving traffic to your web site is your ultimate goal.
Once you have a lot of content out there in cyberspace, then you should be able to see some traffic and sales coming in. Now when the sales come in, don’t be foolish by spending your money on unnecessary stuff. You should have a pure mindset to grow your internet business. Therefore, use your profits to invest in other people doing the content creation for you. This is known as outsourcing, and it can literally grow your business, traffic and profits by leaps and bounds.
So as stated earlier, when building and driving traffic to your web site , you want to continuously create fresh content so that you can siphon ever increasing amounts of traffic to your website via the search engines. Content is search engine bait. If you want the search engines to love you and send you heaps of targeted traffic, then you must create as much high quality content as you can.
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Call to Action Examples – The Marketing
Posted on August 24th, 2011 by admin
Call to Action Examples – The Marketing Call to Action You May Be Missing
Ezine – 08/23/2011
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One of the most basic rules of marketing is to include a call to action. Whether it’s an online ad, a direct mail letter or the home page of a website, any in-the-know marketer will have asked (and answered) the question “What do we want prospects to do next?”.
Build relationships with your clients by providing an easy method of contacting you using Click To Call Button.
But even some of the savviest marketers are missing a call to action in the very place they’re investing an increasing amount of their marketing dollars: content marketing. Think about it. How many white papers, e-books, webinars, audio seminars and reports have you read or attended only to come to the end and see a short description of the company with a link to their home page? Let’s face it, this is not a call to action and it’s not going to encourage your prospects to take that next step.
When you invest money in content marketing, you’re creating a premium piece and premium ad space. Use that ad space to your advantage by peppering a real call to action throughout your content marketing. In a white paper, for example, consider using a sidebar on the first page to highlight your call to action.
What makes a good call to action for a content marketing piece? Here are some ideas to get you started:
Complimentary written evaluation Complimentary one-hour consultation Another white paper, report or e-book (in exchange for contact information) Complimentary one-month trial A premium (with a paid subscription or trial download)
If you’re looking for inspiration, simply consider other calls-to-action that have been successful in the past. Did you get a great response rate for a direct mail offer? Add that to your white paper. Had good success with an online ad? Promote that offer in your next e-book.
Remember, content marketing is great – but only if it gets prospects to take that next step and move farther down your sales funnel. Whether they download another white paper, read a case study, book a consultation or visit your website isn’t as important as the fact that they are continuing to engage with your business and your brand; the more they interact with your content the more you’re building preference. And when a prospect forms a preference for your brand, you will be the first one they think of when they’re finally ready to buy. So, use your content to not only educate but also engage by including a clear call to action each time you add to your content library.
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Nine Reasons Your Site Isn't Driving Sales
Posted on August 20th, 2011 by admin
Home > Online Business > Building a Website > Nine Reasons Your Site Isn’t Driving Sales
Nine Reasons Your Site Isn’t Driving Sales
To make your website an extenstion of your sales staff, create content that educates visitors and helps convert them into leads. Serving is the new selling.
Do you have an option for your customers to contact you for FREE using 1300 number and 1800 number signup? 1800 services are a free call within Australia.
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I have a problem. I’m trying to find replacement windows for my 60-year-old Cape Cod house near Boston, but I don’t want the vinyl builder-grade options in stock at the home-improvement superstores. Iconic architect Royal Barry Wills designed the cozy Cape, and he had strong opinions about what was good and bad. I’m trying to do right by the guy.
When I Google “residential replacement windows” or use other relevant phrases, the searches bring up manufacturer sites that show me various window types, sizes and features. They even ask me to sign up for their e-mail list–but they don’t give me a good reason to become a lead. That’s because not one is a resource for what I need: advice on the ins and outs of renovating an architecturally significant home, and on the pros and cons of wood versus vinyl versus aluminum clad. Instead, they try to sell me stuff.
In short, they aren’t talking about my needs, but they sure do have plenty to say about themselves. I see these kinds of missed opportunities all the time. Home renovation–like many things in life–is an expensive, confusing prospect. The companies that understand that serving is the new selling will be the ones customers buy from.
Your website should be an extension of your sales staff: It should help generate and nurture leads by educating prospects (a role traditionally played by salespeople). Like a good salesperson, it shouldn’t just sit around and wait for the phone to ring.
So what about your website? Is it all about you, or does it talk about your customers–and in a language they can relate to? Are you using your website as an opportunity to solve problems for would-be buyers? Are you demonstrating in an honest, empathetic way how your company and its products or services can lessen their pain?
If your website is not helping you generate and nurture leads, consider these possible causes:
You haven’t defined goals. The overarching goal of your website is to attract people and invite them to get more involved with your business, whether or not you sell directly to them online. You want visitors to stick around a while and get interested in you and what you sell, right? Have you identified the primary goal of your site? Or secondary goals? What action do you want site visitors to take when they land on your site? Being clear on that informs everything else: design, navigation, content, search engine strategy and so on.
More Content, More Leads
Your content hasn’t changed since Bush was in office (even the second term of the second Bush). If your site isn’t continually evolving and updating, it becomes a static brochure for your business. If you don’t have regularly updated content, such as a blog, you aren’t creating new pages for Google to index. Remember, the more content you create, the more traffic and leads your business will get. ( See sidebar .)
You aren’t creating momentum. You can change this by creating a path for your customers to get more involved with you. To move them along, include relevant calls to action or “triggers” on each page of your site, not just on your homepage. That means on every blog post or any other piece of content you produce. It may sound obvious, but many companies don’t embrace the opportunity to create a path to deeper involvement and (ultimately) conversion.
You don’t have customer interaction. Incorporating a blog or other social content into your online presence gives your customers a sense of who you are. Use these tools to speak to your customers directly, honestly and in your own (human) voice. This is an enormous opportunity both to educate them on how you can help and why they should rely on you–and to hear what they have to say to each other in the forum you’ve created. Regularly updated content that has a sense of personality and purpose builds trust with your would-be customers, and that’s a beautiful place to begin a relationship.
You can’t update your site without the tech guy. Can you update at least some elements without calling IT? This is where blogs and other social platforms come in handy, because you can update them yourself. Why is that important? Because you need to update at least some parts of your site frequently and easily, both to save budget and to create a more immediate flow of content–for potential customers and for search engines.
You sound like everyone else. Is your site full of Frankenspeak, i.e., corporate jargon-rich nonsense? Or, instead, does it sound like it was penned by a human? Most companies spend more time worrying about site design than about the words on the page. But the most memorable sites convey personality and perspective in their homepage content, which immediately sets thems apart. Try this test: If you mask your logo and site design, can you still tell–by the voice of the text–that it’s your site, or do you sound like any one of your competitors?
You didn’t optimize. Can search engines find your site? Does your regularly refreshed, updated, readable content contain search terms that relate to your proficiency? How well are they attracting customers to you? One easy way to boost your search rankings is to continually link descriptive keywords back to related pages on your own site. Doing so helps search engines understand what your site is about.
You aren’t measuring anything. Do you know how your website is converting browsers into buyers? Have you identified what paths they typically take? Do you know which pages perform best for you? Or what content visitors are interacting with the most? Are you using analytics tools to measure the traffic to your site, to track online conversions and to measure ROI on your marketing campaigns? Free tools like Google Analytics are a great place to start.
You put hip before happening. Every element on your homepage should support the goals you’ve identified. That means avoiding design elements that might be hip or cool but ultimately are just distracting. (My pet peeve: web pages that talk to me.)
Put clarity (useful, predictable, efficient, logical) before creative (cool, splashy, flashy, beautiful).
So how about your website? Is it generating leads by serving potential customers, or is it just sitting around and waiting?
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