Making each page of your site unique

Here's a quick read from Nick Usborne's Excess Voice newsletter about making each page appear unique within the basic layout and design mainstays of your site.

Read the full article on Nick's site.

Technorati tags:
Writing for the Web, Web Page Design, Copywriting, Writing Online

Sitemaps

Sitemaps can dramatically improve the visibility of your web site by allowing search engine spiders access to all pages of your site. An ideal sitemap includes a title along with a short description for each web page. In effect, you will have more than a sitemap--you'll have a table of contents for your site that provides an extra boost to each page's rank.

A Google sitemap is an additional design element that you should consider. Find out more about Google Sitemaps.

Technorati tags: Sitemaps, Search Engine Friendly Web Design, SEO Consulting, Web Site Promotion

Akamai and JupiterResearch Identify '4 Seconds' as the New Threshold of Acceptability for Retail Web Page Response Times

I thought this would be of interest since I've been talking about optimizing your pages. Keep your page load time in mind too.

Read More...

FortifyYour Website with these 5 SEO Activities

Fortifying your website with the elements that both search engines AND your readers love, will reap deep benefits in due time.

You must think of these Search Engine Optimization [SEO] activities as ongoing. They are musts for site evolution and progression. Fortify your website by taking time to prepare your site for the search engines. Many website owners have no idea how to do this or even that they should!

So go with me on a crusade to fortify your website with these 5 steps:

1. Choose the right keywords
Don't make the mistake of optimizing for very general keywords. It is very unlikely that you'll rank high for them. Sure you'll get lots of traffic with them, but the traffic will convert very poorly because these are not targeted prospects.

Search stats - 28% of searchers type in a product name; 9% type in a brand name; and 5% type in a company name. The more targeted your keyword phrase, the more qualified the buyer. If they are searching for specific products, brands, or companies they are further along in the buying process.

2. Optimize your page for your targeted keywords
There are many elements that determine your rank in the search engines. One of the most important is a good title. The title appears at the top of the head section and the words will appear as a clickable link on the search engine results page (SERP). Your title tag should contain the targeted keywords that reflect the copy of the page. Use your most important keyword at the beginning of the title tag. You want the title to be compelling enough to prompt searchers to read more or click. Think of the title as the headline in an ad.

Following your title tag is the description META tag. Less weight is given by the search engines to META tags, but you should take the time to include them. They'll allow you to control the description of your listing in some search engines. Use the description tag for marketing purposes. Think of the description as the actual ad. The title grabs their attention and the description tells them what's in it for them.

Finally is the keywords META tag. Although this tag isn't recognized, if at all, using this tag for misspellings, technical acronyms and synonyms may bring additional traffic from people searching for these less popular keywords.

3. Create Quality Content
Don't just write your pages for the search engines. Optimize your content for your readers first - they are the most important. Once the copy is written, then weave your keywords in so they appear and flow naturally throughout your page. Use your best keyword phrase in the first sentence of your first paragraph of text. Other places to include your keywords are in the image alt attributes, within your heading tags, and near the end of your page.

4. Internal Linking
Proper navigation and site structure is important for retaining your visitors once they arrive. It's also key for the search engines since they cannot fully index your site if it's not properly linked together. Each page of your site should be no more than 2 clicks from your homepage. Decide which pages are most important and include them in your navigation - both on the top and/or side, as well as the bottom. This will transfer the highest possible page rank to each page. Each of these links should include anchor text, preferably your targeted keywords. Think of each page as a subfolder of the main page. These subfolders contain more information on a particular keyword phrase.

5. Inbound Links
When you are done optimizing on-page elements, focus on off-page elements. To complete the SEO cycle you need to go beyond on-page factors. Link popularity is a crucial ranking element. All of the following activities can make your site link worthy: syndicating articles, exchanging RSS feeds, submitting your website to directories, syndicating podcasts, sending out press releases, obtaining affiliate partners. If other sites find your site useful and informative, then natural linking begins to occur. Be sure with any of these activities, that you include your anchor text [targeted keywords] in the copy and, if possible, make them clickable links.

SEO activities take time. Put these strategies into action one step at a time and you'll soon begin to see the benefits. Have fun!

Everything you do leads to a transaction!

Everything you do online either moves you toward or away from a transaction. That can be said of any marketing activity - online or offline. Business online is about making those transactions at the lowest cost possible.

Here are 6 ways you can keep people in conversation and interested:

1. Use an email autoresponder
2. Build mailing lists
3. Blog
4. Advertise
5. Network
6. Market with affiliates/strategic partners

Make your transactions as cost-effective as you can and then test them to be sure your spread between cost and gross revenue [profit!] is at an acceptable level for your business.

Paula Bonelli
A S A P Website Promotion

website optimization
marketing your website online
website marketing
website promotion
internet marketing

9 Ways to Market Your Business Online

DO YOU NEED…a website? Or just better website results?

You want your business to grow, right? You love what you do and want to be successful! Whatever service or product you offer, you can grow your business by marketing it on the Internet. Don't know how?

Here are 9 ways to market your business online:

1. You can multiply your profits by creating an e-commerce website. Whether you sell a service or a physical product, you can expand your target market to include online customers. It's convenient. Once you are set up online, you can take orders and sell stuff 24/7. It can all be automated so you can earn money while you sleep or while you are away.
   
2. Build your contact list. Create ways for people to give you their contact information. Once you've identified your target market and drive them to your site, they are pre-qualified customers that are ready to buy - so be ready to keep in touch with them by collecting their name and email address.
   
3. Get targeted traffic to your site by writing articles, newsletters, emails, blogs, etc. and distributing them to your current customers. This will help you become a trusted source in your field. Take it a step further and find resources online for where you can distribute your written content.
   
4. For those of you who just don't like to 'sell', the Internet is a non-threatening environment. It's an easier place to market your product or yourself effectively if you don't like to be in front of people. You don't have to be a polished presenter, invest in a fancy wardrobe and spend hours preparing materials for public speaking. Using online tools, it's easy. For example, you can translate your knowledge into a 'how-to' article, edit it at your leisure, and send it out to your list with the click of button.
   
5. Link to other sites. Link popularity is important in building traffic to your site. Link to others sites that are directly relevant to your site content and target market. Seek quality sites and be prepared to tell them why you think linking to you is beneficial to them. The search engines love relevant links.
   
6. Viral Marketing - the 'Pass Along'. If your readers find value in your information, they will want to share it with friends and business associates. Be sure to include, a "forward to a friend" or "pass along" link so that it's easy for them to circulate material for you.
   
7. Get in front of your target market offline by:
   -joining your local chamber
   -joining professional groups in your field
   -speaking at industry events
   Networking is the best offline tool for building relationships, and relationships lead to sales.
   
8. Include your web address in all printed material. Be sure to use your web address on:
   -business cards
   -hand-outs
   -brochures
   -any printed material you distribute
   
9. Make your website the center of your marketing efforts - don't make it an afterthought. Use your site to give helpful information to your target audience by offering e-newsletters, tips, webinars [online seminars], etc.

Online there are endless possibilities. The World Wide Web audience awaits your creativity and uniqueness. The more you do online, the more your online network grows. You get a chance to see what others are doing and learn from them. Even your competitors are a great resource!

Just remember…be patient and enjoy the process. Don't give up too soon. An online business is like a garden, it takes time. But properly planted, watered, weeded, and maintained -- it will soon be time to harvest. Even a modest investment of time and money can yield great rewards!

Paula Bonelli
http://www.MarketYourBizOnline.com
http://www.ExpertWebsiteResults.com

Technorati tags:
marketing your website online , website marketing , website promotion , internet marketing

Small Business Blog by Janet Attard - Domain Name "Slamming" Attempt

An item worth noting -

Small Business Blog by Janet Attard - Domain Name "Slamming" Attempt: "Domain Name 'Slamming' Attempt

One of my staff just took a call from someone who wanted to 'verify' some information about our domain name.
My staffer put the call on hold and told me about it, so I took it myself. The caller, who spoke with an Indian accent, asked to 'verify information about your domain.'"

Read more...

Vertical Response Email Marketing Blog

Check out the September 12 posting on the Vertical Response Email Marketing Blog about Email Marketing Planning for retailers. If you haven't tried Vertical Response--you should! It's pretty simple and a quick way to establish an e-newsletter or mail postcards if your customers prefer snail mail. You can even send yourself a FREE postcard to see the quality. It's a high-quality, professional postcard that is sure to grab your customer's attention.

Sign-up for an account here: Vertical Response, Inc.

Discover Keyword Research Service for Website Promotion

Discover Nichebot Keyword Research Service for your Website Promotion(s).
This is a tool I've used regularly for promoting my site and my client's sites. There are other tools out there; WordTracker and Overture being the most popular.

Here's the trouble with using WordTracker or Overture.
The data from WordTracker comes from two meta search engines, Dogpile.com and MetaCrawler.com. The search volume is approximately 1% of the entire global search volume and translates to approximately 330 million keyword phrases. Oh, yeah--that data only goes back 100 days, so if you are searching for seasonal keywords you aren't going to find them!

The data from Overture comes from Yahoo! and can boast many results from which to search, but the database through their Keyword Suggestion Tool only goes back as far as the previous 30 days. Once again, seasonal relevance is out of the question.

The Keyword Discovery Tool at NicheBot goes back ONE WHOLE YEAR and uses data from 180 search engines resulting in an approximate 32 billion keyword database [yes that's Billion with a 'B']!

You can get top 10 results for free at NicheBot and upgrade to a paid service if your needs are greater. Check it out--it's really handy and a terrific resource.

Tags: keyword research, website promotion, keyword tools

Does Your Website Make Sense?

This is a good note from Yaro about keeping it simple :) Click the link below and head on over to read it.

Does Your Website Make Sense?
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Author: Yaro Starak

Technorati Tags: internet business, online marketing, sales page, website design

Net Eagles Web Design & Development

Thought I would pass along my favorite web guy. Dan Virtue and the team at Net Eagles are experts in many areas.

Net Eagles provides web design and development services, custom programming for web-based or desktop applications, and web-based database applications for business. They can provide custom software programming services with special emphasis on business applications. Custom Software can be an invaluable resource to save you time and money. Custom software can assist a business to become more efficient and productive by managing the data system and improving interactive capabilities for the end user of the software. Visit Dan at www.neteagles.com

I work exclusively with Dan and his team. If we can help you establish a presence online, please contact me. We look forward to helping you with our fanatical support and our mission to exceed your expectations!

Paula Bonelli
A S A P
www.marketyourbizonline.com
info@marketyourbizonline.com

Google is implementing Landing Page Quality update

Google Adwords is implementing a new landing page quality change. Here's a quote from the Inside Adwords crew--

"Here's a little background, and a look at what's coming up:

As you may recall, we began incorporating advertiser landing page quality into the Quality Score back in December 2005. Following that change, advertisers who are not providing useful landing pages to our users will have lower Quality Scores that in turn result in higher minimum bid requirements for their keywords. We realize that some minimum bids may be too high to be cost-effective -- indeed, these high minimum bids are our way of motivating advertisers to either improve their landing pages or to simply stop using AdWords for those pages, while still giving some control over which keywords to advertise on. Although it is counter-intuitive to some who hear it, we'd rather show one less ad than to show an ad which leads to a poor user experience -- since long-term user trust in AdWords is of overarching importance.From time-to-time, we improve our algorithms for evaluating landing page quality (often based on feedback from our end-users), and next week we're launching another such improvement. Thus, over the coming days a small number of advertisers who are providing a low quality user experience on their landing pages will see increases in their minimum bids. It is important to note, however, that the vast majority of advertisers will not be affected at all by this change, as they link to quality landing pages.If you do see an increase in minimum bids and you feel that your landing page is providing a great user experience, please contact AdWords support and we'll take a look. Also, for useful guidelines which will help to define what users look for in a high quality site, we hope you'll take a look at the landing page and site quality guidelines, from the AdWords Help Center. "

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Yahoo! and eBay Form Strategic Partnership

Yahoo! - Press Release

VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol

SiteProNews: The VoIP Insurgency
Check out this article from SiteProNews dated April 28, 2006.
It could be just the answer your business needs to reduce your long distance spending.

Marshall Field's 12 Things to Remember

The main points are from Marshall Field's and the comments underneath are mine.

1. The Value of Time
Nothing is more precious than my time. I try to make the important people in my life consume my most precious time, whether personal or professional. Relationships are so much more important than business, money or material things.

2. The Success of Perseverance
One thing I know about my business…if I keep putting one foot in front of the other, my business will be successful. Think of the successful people you know. They all have stories of failing a few times, heck, maybe even a few HUNDRED times. But one thing is consistent--they didn't get where they are by giving up.

3. The Pleasure of Working
The pleasure in working is the satisfaction and enjoyment I get when it all comes together.

4. The Dignity of Simplicity
I've learned the hard way that I need a simple life. Too much complication and too many activities just bring more stress. I've learned to say "NO" a lot more often and choose my involvement wisely.

5. The Worth of Character
Character to me means that I'm honest, forthright, reliable, and dependable.

6. The Power of Kindness
Never underestimate the power of kindness. This line is included in most of my online signatures: "Practice Random Acts of Kindness". It's amazing to me that when I'm not self-focused [you know--What's in it for me?] and I can think "Who can I bless today?, that I usually end up being the one whose blessed! It can change your entire outlook.

7. The Influence of Example
Being a mom, I sure hope I've grasped this one! I can think of many people in my life that led by example and profoundly influenced me personally and professionally.

8. The Obligation of Duty
I really don't like the wording of this--to me it seems to imply our obligations are chores; maybe I'm not getting it?! I choose to fulfill my obligations because I want people to be able to count on me. I strive for excellence in all I do.

9. The Wisdom of Economy
To me this means the wisdom of managing my money. Here's my simple motto: Give first, Save second, Spend third.

10. The Virtue of Patience
I'm not quite sure I've completely mastered this yet, but I'm persevering :)

11. The Improvement of Talent
Be a continual learner. I don't know everything and I feel each person I come in contact with can teach me something. I try to be humble enough to be teachable.

12. The Joy of Originating
Be original. Try something new even if no one has ever done it before. Someone has to be the first--might as well be you!

75% Doing, 25% Learning

I've been approaching this whole website learning curve exactly opposite of this! I've been spending WAY too much time absorbing information and not enough time applying what I've learned. It can seem overwhelming because trends change so quickly.

So, I'm going to try and flip that around and apply more of what I've learned. But I do think that this might get a little out of balance when you're trying to learn something new. But if you let it become 25% doing and 75% learning, I fear your business will go forward very slowly!

75% Doing, 25% Learning! Let's try it :)
-Paula

Back at it!

I took a little break over Easter to visit with my family. Also needed some time away from my office :) Although I was back in town today, I wasn't back to work. But I did want to check my email and clean out my inbox so I could be back on my game tomorrow.

I continued work on my newsletter. Last week I signed up to use VerticalResponse.com and have been testing it. It's an online postcard and email tool that's really slick. You can create email marketing campaigns or newsletters, as well as postcards. They have several templates to choose from or you can import your own images, logo, etc.

Check it out--you can even send yourself a free sample. Or do what I did--I sent it a client so he could see firsthand the quality of the end product.

Cool! Super easy and a great time-saver whether it's for your own use or for a client.



Ciao, Paula

Web Images...

Don't Forget!

One thing most sites forget when using images in web pages are the use of alt text tags.
Alt text makes images viewable for people who surf with 'images turned off' in their browsers. This way even if the image doesn't appear, there is a bit of descriptive alt text. If the image is a link, it can still be clicked if the image doesn't load.

Instead of seeing an empty box--they get a description of what's in the image. So be sure if you use images, to optimize for the web by resizing them, use the correct format, and use alt text to describe what's in the image.

-Paula

The Use of Images on Your Site

Keep Your Web Images Small
Small images means faster page loads. Not everyone has a DSL connection, so you have more flexibility if you keep images optimized, but small.

Web images take the longest to download on most web pages. Optimizing so that you have a faster loading site will keep your visitor around. Remember you only get a few seconds to make a first impression and if they have to hang around waiting for your page to appear--they won't! If you have many images or items that have long download times, make sure you stagger them on your page open so that some text comes up first and they can start reading while the rest downloads.

Learn how to resize images. If you have a photo, make sure it's cropped so that only the relevant part is shown and be sure you use the correct format--most web images are either .jpeg or .gif.

Here's a helpful website for managing images with Microsoft Editor:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6470/photoed.htm

Until next time...
-paula :)

Search Engine Marketing Activities: Where should I submit my site?

You can list your website free to the top 3. It may take several weeks for your listing to show up, and there is no guarantee that they will index your site. But it's free--so once you're up and running you might as well submit your site to Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search. Just click to these sites, and follow the instructions listed:

Google Add URL http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Yahoo! Site Submission http://submit.search.yahoo.com/
MSN Search URL Submission http://beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

Sign-up for my newsletter and find out reasons why you should extend your search engine marketing activities beyond the Big 3.

Practice Kaizen

[This is a little tidbit passed along to me by Perry Marshall :)]
'Kaizen is a Japanese word that means continuous, incremental improvement.'

There are always ways to improve...

In business, try to apply one new thing every day--or at least one every week--to your site, your blog, your newsletter, etc. See the big things that can come from small changes and improvements.

In your personal life, make quiet time to contemplate ways you might improve your relationships with family and friends. Make time for these important people--they are what makes your world a more joyous place!

Until next time--continue to learn new things.

Paula

More About the Power of Blogging

Blogging can build your credibility, as long as you post relevant information. It's a great way to establish yourself in your area of expertise. After all, we all have areas of talent--why not share them with others? Use a blog to promote your services.

If you have a commerce site, use a blog to promote your products. You can use your blog to mention new products, feature valuable products, or direct your visitors to your sales website.

Use your blog to generate extra income. Google Adsense allows you to monetize your blog and generate revenue by automatically showing relevant ads on your blog.

There are some places where you can go and search other blogs for topics you may be interested in blogging about. Check out these places to find weblog posts about specific topics:

Google Blogsearch http://blogsearch.google.com/
Technorati http://www.technorati.com/

Also, simply searching the search engine news sources with a specific keyword or product can be a great resource.

Google News http://news.google.com/
Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/

Until next time--have fun seaching and blogging :)

Official Google Blog Deleted, Blogger Registers googleblog.blogspot.com

Official Google Blog Deleted, Blogger Registers googleblog.blogspot.com

Check this out! Google actually deleted their official blog [mistakenly!].
See don't feel like you can't do this online--even Google makes mistakes! :)

The Marketing Power of Blogging

You can use a blog for business. They aren't just for online diaries of people's personal lives, but can be used to increase your website's traffic.

Ways your business can benefit:
It can humanize your business because blogging allows you to write posts in your own voice--it's more conversational and allows you to interject your personality :)

I hope to use it as a way to help other online business owners by sharing my knowledge of web marketing. Hopefully I'll have interaction with those of you who read it by way of posting comments or questions.

If you sell products on your site, you can use it as a customer service tool. You can provide product updates and other relevant information to your customers quickly.

It's easy to post. You can quickly give your readers the information they are looking for and automatic archiving by date can give new visitors access to your content.

Check back soon. My next post will continue with more ideas for harnesssing "The Marketing Power of Blogging."

Thank heaven for daughters!

Well, this technologically challenged Mom tried to add a quick photo to this blog and ran into trouble! Then I tried to get a link to work properly on my site and ran into trouble! Maybe today just isn't my day :O It is Friday........

Daughter to the rescue! She figured out what code I was missing to make the link work on my site and I'm sure she'll figure out what I did wrong trying to upload the photo.

I'm writing this as a little encouragement for those of you just starting out with a web presence and trying to muddle through all the details. They can be overwhelming at times, but just put one foot in front of the other. Try to do something each day. Keep learning!

Market Your Business Online

Hi all!
This blog is just getting started--I haven't even had time to post yet!
Please check back later for some great tips on marketing your small business website.
www.marketyourbizonline.com