Atlanta SEO | SEM | Internet Marketing Blog | Elite Web Professionals

Why is my website not ranking? 4 Common Indexing Issues Websites Face

Christopher Williams — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:54:32 -0700

Why is My Website Not Ranking On Search Engines?

Small business owners all over the country understand the importance of ranking on the first page of major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Some have had their websites for years, but remain virtually invisible with exception to searches related to their business name or domain name. In this article we will uncover 4 common indexing issues that websites face that make it impossible to rank well on search engines.

Frames - Frames are web pages that show multiple pages at the same time on a browser. To know whether your website is in frames or not take a look at these factors.

Usually the home page sets the "frame set" for the layout of the web page including the header, menu, content, and footer.
Within the frame is the main content of each page.
When and page is clicked the URL remains the same regardless of what page is clicked.
- For example, www.example.com has five pages. These pages include:

Home Services Prices Testimonials Contact

In this example, regardless of what page of this site that you click on the URL remains to be www.example.com. The biggest problem with frames is that search engines have a problem determining where a page ends and the other begins. If the home page is indexed the search engine finds it difficult to determine home much content is from the home page. Sometimes internal page are indexed with no menu systems, footers, and etc. There are ways to work around this, but for the most part, frames are difficult to rank on search engines.

Flash - Flash files have been a problem for search engines to read through for years. Recent technology has made it easier to decipher words within flash content. Google has announced that they are now able to read through some flash elements. However, that is not to say that a flash website will perform just as well as a text based website. For the best results using flash, limit your flash to your header or menu.

Pictures & Video - A small business website is not a website without pictures or videos, however many people are surprised when I tell them that search engines can't see their pictures or their videos. Some websites consists of a few pictures, a few words and a video. The problem is that unless you specifically let search engines know what the picture is, or explain what this video is about you leave the search engines in the dark. In turn, your website is not included in search results. Remember to include "Alt text" for every image on your website describing the image. For video, video services like YouTube, and Vimeo will allow you to upload your videos with a description of what the video is about.

Duplicate Content - Many websites have the same Title, Meta Description, and Keywords for every page of their website. Every page of your website should have a unique Title, Description, and Keywords that describes the content of that page. Many times, correcting this one factor alone will greatly improve your results on search engines.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article.

Elite Web Professionals offers SEO Advertising to help you rank on major search engines for keywords related to your business. We specialize in website design, pay per click advertising, and search engine optimization to help you use the entire page of search results to generate leads to your business. Visit our blog for other SEO tips.

Franchise Advertising - How to Use Website Design to Attract The Right Buyer to Buy Franchise

Christopher Williams — Mon, 6 Sep 2010 22:20:36 -0700

How to Use Website Design to Attract The Right Buyer fo Buy Franchise

Whether a new franchise owner or a business owner for many years, a website can attract new customers to a business, as well as make a franchise very attractive to someone interested in buying a franchise. There are many reasons why franchise owners attract the right kind of buyers, in this article we are going to talk about how your website can help. Based off of your website design and internet advertising strategy you build a brand name for your franchise in your local market, establish a measureable platform to grow the company, and help determine the needs of your customer base in your area.

Brand Name

Establishing a brand name for your franchise in your local market is very important for a franchise. There are many people who may need your service, but may not know of your business. Effective local franchise advertising will put you in front of these buyers when they are ready to buy. Many times, for franchises in the service industry, users look on the internet to find a company to provide a service. Services like carpet cleaning; pressure washing, water damage, painting, home improvement, janitorial service, house cleaning, and roofing are searched quite a bit on major search engines. For example, if someone needed their carpet cleaned in Atlanta, GA it is very likely that they will search for carpet cleaning Atlanta. If Atlanta is your territory, then it would greatly benefit you to be visible for this search term on the search engine this particular user is using.

Growth of Franchise

Word of mouth, for most business owners, will always be the primary stipend for customers. However, word of mouth, in most cases, is also the most unpredictable. An effective website design powered by the right advertising strategy can help you to establish a measureable platform of which to use to grow the company.

Determine the Needs in Your Local Area

Would you like to know the number 1 product or service in your industry that your local market needs? Would you like to know how people search for that service? An effective website advertising strategy will give you feedback on what people are searching for, as well as, determine people’s immediate need. An effective website design will help you to clearly define and understand your market, your customers, and your customers' buying habits

By using your website design to build a brand name in your local market, determine the needs in your local area, and grow your business you make your franchise very attractive for a person interested in buying a franchise. Whether you are considering selling your franchise right now, or thinking about doing so in the distant future making your business attractive for the right buyer starts with your website.

Choosing the right internet advertising strategy will take time, and can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will put you one step closer to the right internet advertising for your business.

If you are interested a website design and internet advertising campaign for your business in Atlanta, call (404) 477-4819. For any questions or comment please contact us.

Pay Per Click Advertising - Never Pay Too Much For Sponsored Advertising Again

Christopher Williams — Sun, 1 Aug 2010 17:52:14 -0700

Pay Per Click Advertising - Never Pay Too Much For Sponsored Advertising Again

Many business owners are paying too much for their pay per click advertising and do not know it. The number 1 way to know that you are probably paying too much for your pay per click advertising is if your site is not being optimized with your campaign. If your website has never changed since you started your pay per click, and you have not invested in any search engine optimization, chances are you are paying too much. We will uncover how to improve your website so that you may pay less and gain more from your internet advertising.

Choose A Specific Advertising Area - A very common reason why many businesses pay too much for pay per click advertising is marketing outside of their service area. Make sure you choose the exact area that you would like to target, and create a campaign for those areas. Be sure that your website contains information about the areas that you are targeting. For example, if you are marketing to a city or state, include that city or state on the landing page of the ad. If you have a pay per click advertising company managing your campaign be sure to get exact information on your service are. There is no need to receive clicks from an area that you will not service.

Make Ad Groups with Keywords That Are Related - Create ad groups with similar words. The more related your keywords are to each other, to the ad, and the content on the landing page the less you will pay per click to your website. For example, if you are creating a campaign for a store that sales apples oranges, and watermelon and you wanted to increase your apple sales. You would create an ad group for apples, create an ad with an apple discount, choose keywords specific to apples, and have the ad link to the apples page of your website.

Add New Keywords and Remove Poor Performing Keywords Regularly - Monitor your website analytics to see which search queries resulted in a click to your website. If the clicks that you receive are from keywords that you believe will result in a potential customer, leave them there. If you notice a keyword that is not related to a service that you provide, is simply too broad, or consistently does not convert to a customer delete it. Do some additional keyword research, to find additional keyword opportunities.

Pay per click advertising can be a great way to increase quality traffic to your website. However, if your campaign is not maintained properly it can become very costly. Use these tips to never pay too much for sponsored advertising again.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article.

Christopher Williams

(404) 477-4819

Pay Per Click Advertising

Make a Website That Will Win - Website Design That Makes Dollars Only Makes Sense

Christopher Williams — Sun, 1 Aug 2010 15:46:09 -0700

Make a Website That Will Win - Website Design That Makes Dollars Only Makes Sense

Whether you choose to compete or not, there are businesses that are trying to target your next potential customer. It is your responsibility to give yourself the highest chance of impacting their decision. To make a website that will win you need to use these website design tips that will help you to get a return on your website investment.

Determine Your Market - If you are working with a limited budget, make a website specifically for an area or areas that you can dominate. For example if you live in a major city like Atlanta, be sure to market every page of your website to Atlanta, GA. However, if your business is located in several different cities in different states it is better for you to provides specific information about your offices in those cities. Important information like your phone number and address is very important so that new visitors to the site will recognize you as a local business to their area. In order to do this some web professionals make specific pages for each city, while others simply include phone numbers and addresses to each location on the contact page.

Make It Easy For Your Customer To Contact Your - Some people prefer to call businesses, others would rather send an email and do everything online. Be sure to include your phone number, as well as, a conversion form on every page of your website. The most common mistake that people make when they make a website is to only include a conversion form on the contact page. It is your job to make it easy for the customer to contact you, not their job to learn how to use your website to give you their contact information.

Update Your Website As Often As You Can - As your website starts to generate more phone calls you will start to recognize common questions that people have when they call for more information. Be sure to update your website with answers to these questions, as well as, come up with other creative ways of selling your product or service.

Make a website that will win by marketing in specific areas, making it easy for your customer to contact you, and updating your website often. By using these tips, you give yourself the best chance of a website design that makes you money.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article.

Christopher Williams

(404) 477-4819

Atlanta Web Design

33 Reasons Why You Need A Website Right Now

Christopher Williams — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:50:35 -0700

33 Reasons Why You Need A Website Right Now

People are more internet savvy than ever before. However, there are many businesses that feel that they are ok even though they do not have an online presence. There over 100 reasons why businesses need a website. In this article, we will only talk about the 33 reasons why you need a website right now.

#33. Your Competitor Has A Website - Whether you choose to compete or not, there is someone trying to market to your customers. When price is not the issue, and 1 reference is not good enough to close the deal, your website can be used as a tool to gain new customers. If you do not do it, your competitor will.

#32. Your Customers Are Looking For You - In a perfect world every customer that you ever service will keep your number on their refrigerator, or in their cell phone. When they need you they would simply go to the frig and give you a call. Unfortunately wives throw items away from the frig without asking and cell phones get lost or broken. When you customer needs your service again, it is likely that they will know your name and not your number. In many cases they will then look for your website.

#31. Your Customers Need Your Help - A happy customer would love to help you gain new business, however if someone is asking about your work and your previous customer does not have you phone number off hand they may be forced to search for your business online. With no website, you give your competitor a perfect opportunity to impact your potential customer’s decision.

#30. Many People Use Websites to Research Before They Buy - Many people love the fact that they can research a service anonymously before they make a decision. No pushy sales people, only information on a product or service. Position your website properly, and you can have the greatest impact on a their final decision.

#29. Establishes Credibility - Years in business, Testimonials, Photos, and Pricing Information all help to establish credibility. Your website is a perfect tool to provide this information and much more for the customer that has never heard of your business.

#28. Shows Quality of Work - You may be able to provide the best service or have the best product, but if no one sees your work, no one will buy from you. A professional website gives a potential customer a sense of your style, a chance to see your work, and a chance to determine if you can provide the best service.

#27. Create a Fan - There are many potential customers that are not ready to buy from you right now. A website can be used as a tool to make them a fan so that you can communicate to them with your expertise until they are ready buy.

#26. Before and After Effect - Show your potential customers that you understand their needs. Use your website to tell a story with before and after photos. The better you are at showing that you can solve a problem, the sooner you will earn a customer.

#25. No One Knows The Business Better Than You - As a small business owner there is some-thing that brought you into the business. There is something that makes you unique. Maybe its your price, or quality of service. It could be your time of completion on your job. Use your website to show customers your expertise, and what makes you different from your competitors.

#24. Many People Will Not Buy Unless You Have a Website - Where there is one person who does not mind doing business with you without a website, there may be one more that would like to see your website before they make a decision. The question you have to ask yourself is, which one of these customers is more likely to spend the most money? If your answer is the customer that is looking for a website, then you need to act quickly to reach those customers right away.

#23. Your Domain Name May Be Purchased By Anyone - There are companies that buy domain names only to sell to the owner of a particular business. The more successful your business is, the more at risk you are of being a victim.

#22. If you completed Your Website Today You Are 4 to 6 months away from seeing consistent traffic - A well optimized website in a competitive market like Atlanta will take about 4 to 6 months to achieve exceptional ranking. That means that if your site was complete today, you would not be able to see the true potential of your website for some time.

#21. Your Competitors Need Your Help - You read this reason right. Your competitors may need your help. Every week I have customers that get calls from other businesses to provide a service that they do not offer. Take a roofer for example. If I only provide roof repairs and cleaning, and a potential customer needs a new roof. He is not likely going to train his technicians on how to install a new roof. He is more likely to give this to a company who can provide this service. Many companies get calls like this in their industry all the time.

#20. Your Customers Do Not Know What You Do - Many times your greatest opportunity to grow your business is by up selling you current customer base. A website is a great tool to show your customers all of the services that you offer. I call it, making sure you get the low hanging fruit.

#19. Your Name Does Not Say It All - In 21, we talked about a roofer who does not do new roofs. What if you are a car insurance company that offers health insurance as well? The key here is that your business name does not say it all. A website is your opportunity to show the customer all of the services that you offer.

#18. Your Safety Net - Plan on advertising in the yellow pages, billboard, tv, radio, or even a magazine. You need a website right away. If someone sees your billboard, but could not write down your phone number on the road, they will probably look you up online when they are avail-able. If they hear your radio ad, or see your television commercial they may search on the internet for more information. Your website will help to protect your investment in other forms of advertising.

#17. Your Dream Customer Is Looking Online - Do you know your perfect customer? If you do, make sure that you show them that you provide the service they are looking for, answer the questions they usually have, show some examples of completed projects, and give them the price they want. If you are successful at providing this information, you will attract the perfect customer every time.

#16. Search Engines Need Your Help - The purpose of search engines is to provide people with information. By adding information about your product or service, you help provide the search engines with answers to the questions that users may have. Fortunately for you, sometimes this information will attract new customers.

#15. It is 2010

#14. Why Not Have Two Businesses - When people come into your brick and mortar business they can take a look at the products and services you offer, get pricing information, and make a purchase. Many people will not leave the house until they have decided what they are going to buy. A website for many people is a second business, in that it reaches a group of people who would probably never come to your physical location.

#13. Website Design Is More Affordable Than Ever - There are more internet advertising companies than ever before. This competitive market means you win. With some companies building websites for as low as $250, the question is is not how much anymore it is,what does this include?. While website design is important, be sure to add an effective internet advertising strategy as well to your program.

#12. Time Is Running Out, But It Is Not To Late - With the rapid growth of the internet, many businesses are learning how important it is to advertise on the internet. The more websites that are built in a particular industry means the more competition. The search engines have factors that they use to help some websites perform better than others. One major factor is time. If you build a site today, and your competitor builds his in another year, you have the upper hand on keeping high visibility.

#11. Instant Policy Information for Customers, Phone numbers, and Business hours - Have you ever needed to get a specific department of a company, but had to be transferred several times to get the person you needed to speak to? Are you making your customers do the same thing? Give your customers a point of reference to follow for your product or service online, as well as, people to contact for more information.

#10. Reach Potential Customers 365 Days a Year, 24 Hours a day - Many people choose to research a product or service before they buy. Unfortunately, for many businesses they need to do their research after business hours when they get off work. Give these potential customers relevant information about your product or service, set their expectations on what they can expect if they were to hire you for the job, and you have a tool that will reach people 24/7, 365 days a year.

#9. Collect Email Addresses of Potential Customers - This is my secret weapon of lead generation. You would be blown away by the amount of people who would prefer to leave their contact information such as email instead of phone number. What I would have you consider is, what person is so busy that they would rather communicate through email than pick up the phone and call? You guessed it! Someone who is very busy, or said differently someone who is very successful. Someone you would like to talk to.

#8. Save Money - A website will save you money because it saves you time. It will save you time by, shortening your sales cycle. You can also use your site to narrow your market to a product or service that brings a higher return. Reduce calls for services you do not offer. Protect Your Brand Name. Last but not least, protect your investment in other forms of advertising.

#7. Reach Local Market - If you can not be the King of Rome, be the King somewhere! Market your site locally, and dominate your local area to generate quality leads from people who are ready to buy right now.

#6. Answer Common Questions - How long have you been in business? How much does your product or service cost? How long will your service take? When can you start? What do you need to do to get started? Where are you located? What is unique about your product or service? The questions you answer every time a new lead calls you. Save yourself time and speed up the sales cycle with simple answers to common questions.

#5. Test New Products or Services - Is there something unique about your product or service that no other company has? Have you created something that will save people time, save them money, or perhaps even make them money? Reach people quickly and receive feedback from the people who need it most. If you have something worth sharing people will invest in you.

#4. Speed Up The Sales Cycle - Provide a complete resource of information on your website that people can use to make a decision on your product or service online and you have shortened the sales cycle. Save people time, and they will give you money.

#3. A Sales Tool Outside Of The Office - Provide sales tools for your account representatives to use in the field. Give them log in and password to access spreadsheets, pricing information, or power point presentations. Consider allowing them to process sales and payments online so they will not have to carry sensitive customer information like credit cards, or checks. In many cases, this will save your representatives time, leaving more time to do what you need them to do. Sale!

#2. Protect Your Brand Name - Thousands of businesses can be tremendously impacted by the effects of 1 negative review. If a business has been around for more than 2 years, there is a very high chance that there is some information about them on the internet. Yellow page directories, search engine map listings, and BBB will often provide a platform for customers to give feedback on a business. Unfortunately, happy customers will not usually take the time to find these directories to write reviews. Without a website, you are at risk of 1 single negative review being seen by every potential customer that looks for your business online. Give your happy customers a platform to write positive reviews about your business and perhaps a person who was going to write a negative review will reconsider based off of the work you have done over the years.

#1 Search Engines Want To Help You Grow Your Business - That is right Google, Yahoo, and Bing wants to make you money! Think about it. If you became wealthy off of online marketing with Google, who are you going to spend money on for advertising? Big businesses and large corporations have already figured out how to get customers from internet. The search engines biggest opportunity to grow their business is to help you grow yours.

There are many reasons why you need a website. I hope this article helps to you know 33 reasons why you need a website right now!

Thanks for taking the time to read my article

Elite Web Professionals

Atlanta Web Design

(404) 477-4819

Local Seo and Internet Advertising Defined Part 3

Christopher Williams — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:24:23 -0700

Local Seo and Internet Advertising Defined Part 3

Search engine optimization(SEO) is the biggest tool right now to build a brand name, establish credibility, and get customers from the internet. Websites that have been optimized well, show up on the left side of search results of search engines below sponsored results. This area is called organic results or organic placement. Organic results account for about 65 -75% of clicks from search engines. Organic results on major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing has proven to be the most unbiased and reliable information. Many people use the organic results to research a product, service, place, and etc before they make a buying decision. The biggest benefit of seo to local businesses is that every click from organic results to a website is free. In part 3 of internet advertising defined we will uncover how local seo can help your website, why it works, and what type of program would be best for your business.

When I speak with business owners about investing in search engine optimization, the first thing that they say is that it is too expensive. This is simply not true. Actually in most cases it is the complete opposite. I’ll explain. You own a website that you had built for free, and it doesn’t generate you customers for your business. While your competitor has a website that he pays someone $1000 per month to advertise on search engines, that brings him $10,000 per month in return. Your free website is costing you $9,000 per month to have. By strategically advertising on search engines, you give yourself the greatest chance of making money from your website. By doing nothing however, your website will bring you the same in return.

Local Seo

Seo can require a high initial investment when you are talking about marketing to an entire country, or an entire world. However, when you target a smaller area your costs can be very affordable. Many people call this type search engine optimization “local seo”. Local seo can help you increase quality traffic to your website by helping your website to land on the first page of search engines organically in a specific area. The location that best represents the information, products, or services you offer is where your local seo will be the least expensive. For example, if you are a plumber with an office in Atlanta, GA. Based on the competition in your area, it is much less expensive for you to advertise your business in Atlanta than anywhere in the world. Local seo is the process of helping your website move to the front of search results on major search engines in your local area.

Businesses that claim a position organically has shown search engines that they are the most beneficial to its users, therefore they are placed at the front of search results to provide information, a product, or a service. There are many factors that search engines use to determine what website is the most beneficial for their users. One of the major factors that search engines consider is the age of the website. Another important factor is how well a website communicates to search engines the information that is on the website. Other factors include website load time, bounce rate, popularity, domain name, and many other factors.

Internet advertising companies that specialize in local seo can offer you very affordable rates for advertising on search engines. When investing in local seo, be sure to ask if you will own the domain name, as well as, the website. Some companies will do a good job of helping you advertise on search engines, but will never allow you to own your website. The second you stop paying them, they give you your domain name and take your site down. Without knowing how to include the aforementioned factors properly, you may not be able to effectively recreate a website to ranks well on search engines. Other internet advertising companies will still try to charge you outrageous rates for local seo services, claiming that the competition in your area warrants these prices. While in some cases competition will cause the initial investment to be higher, many companies take advantage of unsuspecting advertisers. For the most affordable rates, I would recommend investing with a local seo company that specializes in all three major parts of search engines. These companies have a better chance of reducing costs on each service, by using them to complement each other.

In conclusion, local seo can help you increase quality traffic to your website helping your website to land on the first page of search engines organically in a specific area. By targeting your local area, you can dramatically reduce your cost of advertising on search engines.

This concludes my 3 part series to “Local Seo and Internet Advertising Defined”. After careful consideration of map listing, sponsored results, and organic placement the best local seo and internet advertising program for your business should include all three parts of major search engines.

Choosing the right internet advertising strategy will take time, and can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will put you one step closer to the right internet advertising for your business.

If you need local seo in Atlanta, GA call (404) 477-4819, or browse our website for more information on seo advertising.

Local Seo and Internet Advertising Defined Part 2

Christopher Williams — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:19:31 -0700

Local Seo and Internet Advertising Part 2

Pay per click is a great tool in local seo, and internet advertising for generating more traffic to your website. Pay per click advertising can be found on the top of the search results page of search engines in the shaded area, as well as, on the right side of the page. These areas are marked as sponsored results. Sponsored results account for about 15- 25% of clicks from search engines. The first thing that people say when I say sponsored results on the right side of the page, is that they never click on any ads on the right side. This is one of the biggest benefits of a pay per click campaign. If no one ever clicks on your ad, you never pay anything. By investing in the sponsored results of major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing you give your business thousands of impressions on peoples’ minds sometimes without paying a penny. Another benefit to pay per click advertising is that you can choose any keyword that you want to appear on the first page of search results. Many times search engines will even start your advertising in as little as 15 minutes after you set up your campaign. In part 2 of internet advertising defined we will uncover sponsored results, and simple tips to keep your costs down while making sure that you get the most from ever click to your site.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Many people believe that they must pay an internet advertising company to do a pay per click campaign for their business. This is simply not true. Setting up a pay per click campaign is free for anyone. To sign up simply search for “advertise“and the search engine that you want, and the first result will walk you through set up. For example, search for “advertise on Google”. The first result will be Google Adwords with instructions on how to sign up. It will then walk you through set up from choosing your area, making a payment, creating an add, and choosing keywords. A small pay per click campaign (5- 20 keywords) with select keywords that are most important to your business can be set up and maintained without the help of an internet advertising company. With a little patience, and time you can create a successful campaign that will bring you customers. Simply consider these 10 tips.

1. Make Sure Your Website has Your Business Name & Phone Number Prominent on The Landing Page.

2. Make Sure Your Website has Meta Data (Title, Description, Keywords) Relevant to the Most Important Keywords to Your Business.

3. When You Create Your Ad, be Sure to Include Keywords in the Title & Description.

4. Consider Offering a Special and Using Call To Action in Your Ad(All specials must be mentioned on your website within 1-2 clicks of the landing page)

5. Make Sure the Landing Page That You Pick has the Information That You Promised in Your Ad.

6. Only Choose Keywords or Synonyms of Keywords Mentioned on Your Landing Page.

7. Include Negative Keywords That You Don’t Want For Your Business.

8. Only Advertise in Local Area(20 Mile Radius)

9. Track Your Results

10. Remove Keywords That Don’t Convert To Customers and Add New Ones.

If you are unfamiliar with any these terms, they will be further explained when you set up your campaign on any of the search engines. If however you are unable to change your website to include meta data or make your phone number prominent on your landing page, for example, contact your local internet advertising company for assistance. Lastly, if you don’t have any experience with pay per click and you are considering building a larger campaign than 20 keywords, I recommend that you speak with a web professional to assist you with your campaign.

There are many companies that offer pay per click advertising. When choosing the right company for your campaign, be sure that your campaign will include all of these 10 factors.

In conclusion, pay per click is a great way to generate relevant traffic to your website. This form of advertising only account for 15-25% of clicks from search engines. If you are investing in pay per click advertising, and need more website traffic then congratulations you are ready to move on to part 3 of the three major parts of search engines.

Choosing the right internet advertising strategy will take time, and can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will put you one step closer to the right internet advertising for your business.

If you need pay per click advertising in Atlanta, GA call (404) 477-4819, or browse our website for more information on seo advertising.

Do You Know How To Advertise On Search Engines?

Christopher Williams — Fri, 9 Jul 2010 17:01:52 -0700

Do You Know How To Advertise On Search Engines?

Local Seo and Internet Advertising Defined Part 1

There three major parts of major search engines like Google,Yahoo!, and bing that you must know to make an informed decision on internet advertising. Knowing how they work and exactly what they are, will show you how to make the best of all three. Did you know however, that most companies that sell internet advertising only sell 1 of the 3? For this reason many companies will be inclined to tell you that the others are not as important as the 1 they just so happened to sell. In this 3 part series we will uncover each part of these three major search engines and show how each of them can help you grow your business.

The three parts of major search engines that we are going to talk about are:

Maps

Sponsored Results

Organic Placement

Google, Yahoo!, and bing each have their own version of Maps. Google has what’s called Google Maps, Yahoo! has Yahoo! Local, and bing has what’s called bing Local. Each has unique features that will help your business generate leads. Maps account for about 5-10% of clicks from major search engines. The best thing about these services is that they are absolutely free to set up, and you never have to pay for a click. Another great thing about map listing are that they are the easiest way to get on the first page of search results of these search engines. To sign up, simply create a listing with your exact business name(Name, Address, Phone), choose the categories of your business, and authorize your business. In many cases it is just that easy to rank for your categories, and create visibility for your business. However, for more competitive industries or major cities, keyword research is needed to know which keywords to target to generate the highest return. In this case some businesses may consider hiring an internet advertising company to assist with optimizing their map listing.

Companies that specialize in map listings often call this form of advertising, local search advertising or local search marketing. Some companies will guarantee you first position. No one knows the exact formula to rank on the first page of any search engine. You should be very careful when dealing with any company that guarantees you anything when it comes to internet advertising. The best advice I can give you is to not do business with them. Reputable seo advertising companies will not guarantee anything, however they are able to offer a track record of success and if need be references. Other companies will try to create multiple listings for one business to try to give you “increased visibility.” This is against map listing guidelines, and if your business is caught, it can cause you to lose all of your map listings from search results. Create one map listing, and optimize this listing for all of your services in your location.

In conclusion, advertising on search engines with map listing is a great way to generate relevant traffic to your website. This form of interned advertising only account for 5-10% of clicks from search engines. If you have obtained first page visibility on map listing and you need more website traffic, then congratulations you are ready to move on to Part 2 of the three major parts of search engines.

Choosing the right way to advertise on search engines will take time, and can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will put you one step closer to the right internet advertising for your business.

If your are interested in assistance in advertising on search engines with map listings in your area call (404) 477-4819 and one of our web professionals will assist you with keyword research for your listing. For more information on local search advertising browse our website or contact us.

How to Choose A Web Professional For Internet Advertising

Christopher Williams — Fri, 2 Jul 2010 09:44:02 -0700

Web Professional and Internet Advertising

Lets face it. There are many very important decisions to make when you start a new business. Making the right decision on an internet advertising company will determine the success or failure of your online advertising campaign. Before you choose your web design company and decide on how you are going to advertise your business online, here are some essential tips on how to choose the right company.

Will You Own Website?

Many people assume that because they choose an internet advertising company to design a website, that they own the website. Unfortunately, in many cases this is not true. In some cases companies will only offer ownership of only the domain name. Others will offer partial ownership, meaning that you wouldn’t have exclusive ownership of the design. These business owners are disappointed to find that other businesses around the country have an exact copy of their website. Be sure to ask you company if you are getting a custom website design, and if you have exclusive rights to the site.

How Does Their Website Rank?

If a company is offering to design and promote your website, you should consider if you like that companies marketing efforts. The most important factor to look for is if they are ranking on Google for their business name. To find out if this is the case, simply go to Google and search for the name. If the company that you are considering to advertise your business is not on the first page, do not allow them to build your website. If you are competing in a more competitive market, search for their keywords in their city. If this is a seo company, search for seo advertising and their city. For example, if the company is located in Atlanta, GA search for “seo advertising Atlanta”.

Are Previous Clients Performing Well

When you are looking to hire a new employee, you require 3 references from previous employers. Requesting references for your internet advertising company is just as important. While a company is doing their presentation with websites they have designed take notes. Write down the name of the business and consider keywords for their business. Do a search for these businesses on Google for their name and keywords in their city as you did for the company.

Can You Add Content At Anytime?

Being able to add content to your website is very important in the competitive market of online advertising. There are questions that your customers ask you every day that may be the information that a potential customer needs to know to make a buying decision. When you get a question like this from your customers, you should be able to easily add an article to your website. Content Management Systems like Joomla, Word Press, and Drupal make it very easy to add content at any time

Definite time for completion of project?

Depending on how many features are in your website design will determine how long it will take to complete your site. An experienced internet marketing company will be able to take all of these features into consideration and give a timeline on design. Ask for a timeline on completion of design, as well as, possible lead generation.

Choosing the right website design and internet advertising company is a very important , and can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will put you one step closer to the right website design for your business.

If you need internet advertising in Atlanta, GA call (404) 477-4819, or browse our website for more information on seo advertising.

Web Design & Internet Advertising For Busy People

Christopher Williams — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:44:33 -0700

Web Design & Internet Advertising For Busy People

For years I have been working with small businesses all over the country with internet advertising and web design. The common factor that I have found for many successful business owners is that they are simply too busy to handle the design and marketing of their website. With all the day to day of business as usual: providing a service, providing customer service, customer retention, employee management, and bookkeeping; many business owner can’t find the time to build and effective internet advertising program. Much less know how to do so… If this describes your business, you need to know these essential tips to creating an effective website that will generate customers for your business.

User Friendly Web Design

Choose a website design that is very easy to navigate for a person who is not familiar with the internet or with your website. Make sure that you business name, logo, and phone number is big and bold across the top of your website. This will allow those users who come to your site looking for service “right now” to get the information they need without having to navigate through your site. Another important part of a user friendly web design is choosing a simple navigation bar. Some web design companies will go as far as adding 3 navigation menus for the user.

One horizontal at the top
One vertical on the left or the right
One at the footer of the site

My recommendation is to have 2 navigation menus on every page of your website for easy navigation from anywhere on the site. The last feature of a user friendly web design is to choose a design that doesn’t include much flash if any. Flash looks very nice, but takes a long time to load. If a user has to wait more than 5 seconds for your site to load, many times they will leave your site to find another site.

Communicate to Two Adiences With Your Website

It is important to know that you have two audiences that you are speaking to with your website. First you are speaking to your potential customer. Be sure to include “all” of the services that you offer so that a customer doesn’t have to guess if you offer it or not. A good way to think of it is that if you don’t mention it on your website, a person will assume that you don’t offer it. Many times they will simply refine their search to find a business the specifically offers that service.

Your second audience to which your website is talking to is the search engines. It is vital to the success of your website to communicate to the search engines what information is on your website. You do this by choosing a “Title”, “Description”, and “Keywords.” This is called “Meta Data”, but more importantly to you, it lets the search engines know what content is on each page of your site. Your title and description will also be used in search results as a snap shot of your website.

Add Unique Content to your website

There are possibly thousands, and in some cases millions of websites that talk about the same services that you offer. Each of these businesses has something unique that brought them to their business, and makes them stand out. It is important that you show what makes your business unique. Having unique content on your website is possible the easiest way to generate traffic to your website. If you have a website that speaks about a service that only you offer, it makes it easy for search engines to send the traffic to you. Determine what makes your business unique, and market that service often on your website.

Another way to make your website you unique is to frequently add content to your site. While there are many website online, many never change a single word. By making regular updates to your site, you give your site the best chance of standing out from the crowd.

Choosing the right website design and internet advertising strategy will take time, and can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will put you one step closer to the right website design for your business.

Thank you for reading my article. If you have read this article and you would like to hire a web professional to help you with your website design and internet advertising call (404) 477-4819. Or browse our website for more information on web design.

Web Professional Tips To Create More Website Traffic - Improve Online Conversion

Christopher Williams — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:52:34 -0700

Web Professional Tips To Create More Website Traffic and Improve Online Conversion

Elite Web Professionals is a search engine optimization(SEO) company in Atlanta, GA that specializes in web design, branding, and lead generation. Now, more than ever, it is essential to have a website that generates traffic that converts to customers. Our expert seo consultants will assist you with the entire process of generating more website traffic and improving web conversion. The first step in the process is to determine your need. Do you need a website? Are you already online, but need more website traffic? Or Do you have one bad review that is being seen first when someone searches for business? Based on the answers to these questions and many more, a web professional can design a program that will suit your needs to grow your business on the internet.

Website Design

Need a Website? The first impression of your site is a very important part of converting website traffic to customers. Your perspective customer is looking to determine your quality of work, your price, and level of professionalism within the first 10 seconds. Our web professionals will do the homework for you. We will do a market analysis of your competitors’ websites to determine a unique layout that will make your business stand out. The content of your website will match your unique slogan, and cover every opportunity of visitors looking for your service to improve web conversion.

More Website Traffic

Are you already online, but need more website traffic? Every industry is different. In order to determine whether you website is effective or not, there are many factors to consider. Some of those factors include: number of unique visitors, page views, and conversions(phone call, purchase, etc). The experts at Elite Web Professionals will analyze your industry and your website to determine your market share. We will then provide you with a solution based recommendation that will uncover opportunities to improve your internet presence.

Bad Review

Do you have one bad review that is being seen first when someone searches for business? Branding is a lost art for many small businesses these days. This is particularly dangerous in the internet community, where one bad review can stand out and ruin your good name. An expert seo company will assist you will branding your business to insure that your business is recognized for your work and not for an angry customer. We will teach you how to handle customers’ complaints, as well as, obtain reviews from happy customers.

In closing, a web professional will assist you with generating more website traffic, making a great first impression, and branding your business. While you are busy handling customers for your business, you can leave every aspect of lead generation online to a search engine optimization company.

Thank you for reading my article. If you need customers from your website call (404) 477-4819, or browse our website for more information on small business seo advertising.

Local Search and Online Advertising

Christopher Williams — Sun, 6 Jun 2010 07:22:22 -0700

Local Search and Online Advertising

Do you need customers? Do you need more phone calls from individuals inquiring about your services from the internet? There may be customers looking for your business on the internet everyday that can't find you. To come up with an effective solution to this problem you will need to determine an effective local search advertising strategy. Fortunately, there are many affordable solutions to this problem:

Google Maps
Yahoo Local
Bing Local
Internet Advertising Companies
Free Directory Listings
Blog and Article Writing

Local Search Advertising

Many people don't know that all three major search engines Google, Yahoo, and Bing offer great free local advertising. All three of these appear as a map and can be found on top of organic search results for major keywords that may be related to a specific industry. They offer local information for people who may need service in their area. If you type in a keyword including your local city(the city on your business address) and the local results that come back are for an area larger than 10 miles, than you are missing out on an opportunity for local customers in your area. For example, if you are a plumber and you are located in Lithonia Ga, you would search plumber Lithonia on Google. If the map results that come up include more cities than Lithonia, there may be an opportunity for free local search advertising on Google Maps in your city. Contact your local search engine optimization company for more informantion .

Internet Advertising Companies

There are many affordable internet advertising companies that may assist you with getting customers in your local area. They will help you with the entire process including:

Building a Website
Marketing In Local Area
Building Brand Name
Social Media
Link Building

Based on your needs, an internet advertising company will greatly improve your visibility online and help you get customers in your local area.

Free Directory Listings

There are hundreds of good web directories that offer free listings for your business. However, these two have very strong presence in major cities like; Atlanta GA, New York NY, Orlando FL, Seattle WA, and Chicago IL. These are some of the most highly competitive cities on the internet, yet these directories get first page exposure on Google in as fast as 15 minutes. Hot Frog is the local search directory that gets great local visibility all around the US. A business may add their information for free and use multiple tools including an "Add My Products & Services" tab that creates a page that is optimized to rank for those products and services. Hot Frog gives a follow link for your website to associate your website with those keywords as well.

Merchant Circle is another great local search directory that offers a free listing that will rank on the first page of search results of Google, Yahoo, and Bing in major cities. Merchant Circle's "Promote my Business" tab has a "Create/Manage Blog" tool that gives you the ability to publish your products and services to search engines and appear in search results in as fast as 15 minutes. These blog articles offer a follow link to your website to give you credit for the article as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. Local search advertising can be competitive depending on your industry and location. Contact a search engine optimization company for more information on your industry in your area.

Elite Web Professionals

Christopher Williams

Internet Advertising Atlanta, GA | Business Advertising Part 1

Christopher Williams — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:19:11 -0700

Internet Advertisng Atlanta, GA

Elite Web Professionals, an internet advertising company in Atlanta, GA provides expert search engine optimization(SEO), and web design to help you advertise your business online. Many business in the Atlanta area are trying to find the answer to their marketing needs with different advertising mediums. Elite Web Professionals uses the world wide web, and major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing to help you increase your visibility online.

Online Advertising

Online advertising can be very difficult in a very competitive market like Atlanta, GA. For this reason it can be very expensive to create a presence. Elite Web Professionals will help you to gain a relevant internet presence, in some cases, with a very small budget. Depending on your competition, the cost of online advertising can be as low as $100/month or as high as $5,000/month for the entire Atlanta Metro Area. For a business that has used all other advertisng mediums, the internet can be a good resource for local visibilty or a great way for national branding.

Affordable Business Advertising

Rank on the front page of Google for your local area for a fraction of the cost of a Yellow Page Ad.

In todays market, advertising strategies that have worked for years are starting to loose steam: Yellow Pages, newspapers, magazines, and other print mediums have all changed in recent years. In some cases, they have gone from double digit growth from year to year, to over 10% loss of usage. Many analysts believe that this is due to consumers using the internet to make their buying decisions.

When trying to decide on the best way to invest in your business, check the trend of the market. Our internet marketing consultants will walk you through the entire process:

Researching your industry.
Locating your competition.
Determining an effective online strategy
- Local Marketing
- Regional Marketing
- National Marketing
Providing Analytics & Tracking
Optional Advertising Consulting

By hiring an expert from Elite Web Professionals, you invest in your own internet guy. Any question you have about the internet, or online marketing will be answered with your best interest in mind.

For expert internet advertising in Atlanta, GA call (404) 477-4819, or browse our website for more information on online advertising.

Seo Business Advertising Path of Least Resistance

Christopher Williams — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:01:20 -0700

Seo Business Advertising Path of Least Resistance

Seo Business Advertising is becoming Atlanta businesses path of least resistance to grow their business. For many years, business owners have tried to figure out where to invest their money to get customers. From yellow pages, to radio, television, and billboards many business owners were overwhelmed with information and sales calls. Each year the usage for each of these forms of advertising has gone down, while the internet has seen an average of 18% growth every year for over 20 years.

In 2005, the internet reached 1 billion users worldwide. Major search engines have received a similar rate of growth as people are using the web to get information. According to comScore, in February 2009, major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing received over 13 billion searches.

Major cities in the US like Atlanta, Seattle, Washington DC, Orlando, and Boston host the most tech savvy users in the United States. This has made business advertising online not only an option for getting customers in the local area but a necessity. For many business owners this has become, what they believe to be, the path of least resistance. For others however internet advertising is a waste of money. In this article, we will uncover the common conceptions and misconceptions of search engine optimization.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site or a web page from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed to other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) which may deal with paid inclusion.

Make You A Celebrity Over Night

One of the most common mistakes that business owners make when investing in search engine optmization is investing in a program with short term goals. I call it turning you into a celebrity over night. There are several factors that determine how competitive an industry may be. However the one thing that remains constant is that it is a process, of improving the traffic to a website over time. Search engine optimization should be an investment for your business for future success. While most of the time you will be able to take advantage of immediate traffic; this should not be the only facto of which you should base your entire internet marketing strategy. Seo business advertising is the path of least resistance if you invest over time.

Only For Big Business

Another common misconception is that it takes thousands of dollars per month to invest in seo advertising. With that type of investment seo should only be for big business. The investment that a business should make to improve traffic to their website is based on the age of website, the amount of competition, and expertise of your seo company. Many companies charge based on their results, the higher their success rate, the higher your monthly investment. With that being the case, many industries can have an effective campaign at very affordable rates. For example, in some cities programs may start as low as $100 per month. Seo business advertising is the path of least resistance with the right company for the right price.

For seo business advertising in your local area call (404) 477-4819, or browse or website for more information on local search.

Give us your feedback. Do you think that seo business advertising is the path of least resistance for getting customers in your local area?

Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization -- Great Way to Get Customers in Atlanta Ga

Christopher Williams — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:44:49 -0700

Pay per click and search engine optimization, both have their proponents and detractors? Many small businesses in the Atlanta area view PPC marketing as a waste of money. The second you stop spending money on your campaign you lose all visibility. While others feel search engine optimization is unrealistic and too expensive. With the amount of competition for many industries in the Atlanta, many seo campaigns can run as high as $5000 per month. Often these campaigns offer no guarantee and only offer results after 6 months.

Many Atlanta businesses have tried one or the other form of advertising only to be left with another high marketing expense, with marginal return. However, the use of the internet is growing rapidly around the world. With this increased internet traffic, it is safe to say that more and more people are getting products and services from online. Small business advertising in Atlanta must use some form of internet advertising to get those customers. We will go over how both Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization can work together to bring your business both immediate and long term results.

Atlanta Pay-Per-Click - PPC

PPC marketing is also known as search engine marketing(SEM). Most pay per click campaigns are managed across Google, Yahoo, and MSN(Bing). Those who have experience with pay per click will tell you about the immediate results in traffic to their website. For those who benefit from PPC marketing, it is a way to get immediate visibility and traffic to their website. In a matter of minutes, you can start receiving traffic and adjusting your site to convert the traffic at the best rate possible. For those aren’t so lucky, bids are too keep going up and very few of those clicks actually convert to calls or customers.

Atlanta Search Engine Optimization – SEO

Search Engine Optimization attracts a different type of buyer. Most seo campaigns are ran for a minimum of 6 months. Therefore, most people who invest in seo are planning for more of a long term internet marketing presence. Many businesses in Atlanta look at the free traffic and glorious profitability of a site that converts the traffic at a decent rate. However it some cases seo can take some time to get high rankings, particularly on Google. Once you obtain first page placement many it is possible to lose ranking due to competition changes or changes in the search engine ranking process.

So, who is better? The truth, of course, is both marketing platforms should be used whenever possible.

Get Customers in Atlanta Now!

Every site is unique, but most should combine PPC and seo marketing as part of an overall internet marketing strategy. When starting out, the PPC campaign is critical for getting immediate traffic and tweaking the site to maximize conversions. At the same time, a seo campaign should be started. As the site rises in search results, the PPC campaign should be phased out for the relevant high listings.

PPC and seo marketing are not mutually exclusive. When effectively used together as part of an overall marketing strategy, both platforms will deliver the excellent long term results.