Web Marketing Strategies by an SEO Consultant

SEO Writing after Google Penguin Update

Justin McGill — Tue, 29 May 2012 19:18:23 +0000

This is a guest post by Chris Vendilli, founder of ProFromGo Internet Marketing.

SEO writing shouldn’t have changed much after Google Penguin, but it did, causing a shockwave among thousands of internet marketers who were over-optimizing [read: keyword stuffing] their content. SEO and IM forums feature thousands of posts from otherwise intelligent people spewing garbage about 3%-4% densities, specific LSI densities and other nonsense. Those strategies won’t work anymore.

In fact, not only is SEO writing changing; it’s likely dying. And one day – when the search engines are “smart” enough – writing for SEs will become an ancient ghost of a tactic strewn about the organic search bone yards along with cloaking, article spinning and private blog networks. The following are 5 key things to consider when writing optimized content post-Penguin:

1.) The Title is Still King

The title was, is still and will always be the most important part of SEO writing. The title is not only the primary hook with which you’ll reel your reader in, but it also has the most weight when it comes to search metrics of a given piece of content. It’s still an excellent idea to use your primary keyword in the title provided that it’s relevant. Don’t try to force geographical terms in like: City Keyword: Some Title. If you can remove the geo-targeted word and the sentence or title still stands, then don’t use it there.

2.) One or Two Mentions of Primary Keyword

One or two mentions of your primary keyword are all that’s required if your content is otherwise well-written. The best place for these two mentions is one in the first paragraph and one in the last. But remember that if you’re going to hyperlink your primary keyword, don’t overdo it. Google is on the lookout for an unnatural number of primary keyword anchor text links and will discredit or refuse to index them past a certain point.

3.) Don’t Force it

If it doesn’t sound natural, don’t write it. In the past SEO writing was often laced with keywords that were forced into the content and were grammatically or contextually incorrect. If you think this isn’t something that most readers will pay attention to, you’re wrong, and if they notice it, you can be sure that Google’s picking up on it too.

4.) LSI Terms More Important Now

Supporting terms and keywords used to be a big deal back in the day of Google’s Wonderwheel, but this importance seems to have faded for some time until Penguin waddled its way onto the scene. Latent Semantic Index keywords and related terms are more important now than ever and ultimately should serve to support your primary keywords. If anything, use them instead of prattling on while incessantly mentioning the same tired main keywords.

5.) Write for the Reader

The best way to write for SEO is to not write for SEO at all. Write for your readers. Include the terms they’ll use to search for your content, and think of those terms more as user queries than keywords. In the end, your SEO efforts will be bolstered more by a piece that users share for its inherent value – without any SEO at all – than a piece that you created primarily to get the attention of search bots instead of real people.

The problem with SEO writing is that it’s time consuming and requires skills that generally only specialized writers possess. So unless you’re already a great writer with plenty of free time, you should consider working with an internet marketing company that offers a well-blended balance of SEO and writing services. But if you do write your own SEO content, just be sure to ask yourself one question after the creation of each piece:

“Would I be happy if this result was served to me based on the search terms it targets?”

If the answer is anything but a straight “yes,” then you’re doing your readers and the search engines a disservice that neither will forget.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

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10 Tips To Increase Website Traffic Through E-Mail Marketing

Justin McGill — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:12:15 +0000

This is a guest post by Divya Rawat. Interested in writing a guest blog? Read the guidelines and then contact me.

E-mails are one’s personal contact destination on the web. The one “address” where things that count the most for the user – from registration forms to marriage invitations –are all received. On that one e-mail address you can lay the foundation of your communication and marketing strategies, to consequently increase the traffic on your website. So, here goes:

1. Style Of Communication In E-Mails

The first rule is to see how you communicate. The main aspect of winning people through e-mails comes from how you make a point. The style of communicating, convincing and the presentation style are vital in getting readers to click on your links. Good content leads to better traffic.

2. Announcements On E-mails

Are you launching a new product? DO you have new services on your cards? Sending out communication for the same is a great way to build traffic. your subscribers are interested in your work and if it is a new list, then they are sure to be curious! Send out the announcements and see the difference.

3. Keeping The Reader Engaged

Have you see that “To read more click here (…)” tab in e-mails? Well, if the content is interesting, I sure click to read more. If that is your story, then go ahead and try this e-mail technique. It should work!

4. Test Your Marketing Strategy

While improving traffic through e-mails or while aspiring for that, we need to keep in mind that our marketing strategies have to be strong. Be if catchy subject titles, or trying out different copy content or something else all together, we need to be clear of the goals.

Even an image in the e-mail, well marketed, can increase the traffic on your site manifold. It’s all on how you do it.

5. Offer Product Discounts In E-Mails

Since e-mails are personalized, giving it a personal touch by offering discounts to the user can be a great way to improve traffic. Ask them to visit the site, read or go through content and offer discount codes in e-mails. There are various schemes you can use based on your marketing plan of action.

6. Give Them Regular (Not Exactly Frequent) Updates

Regular updates are winners too – because e-mails are checked regularly. So, sending them regular – not too frequent – updates increases the chances of them coming to your site. More so, if the information is real good, they are going to pass it on to their friends and associates and your website gets more traffic.

Call To Action Techniques – Call to action, when clear and simple to comprehend also works for traffic increase because your goal is clearly spelled out.

7. Invite Them To Visit Your Site

Read this out clearly in your e-mail, words like “Please visit the site and support us by liking this page” – something like that is also sure to get a few people on as they read the work as simple instruction.

8. Catchy Titles

Titles with clear call to action – “Visit the site for discount” – followed by the body content also work for traffic.

9. Promote Product

Promote what you want to sell with clear call to action – “go ahead and purchase here” also works as an effective call to action. You have to find what best works for you.

Something Special: Royal treatment works!

10. Give away Something Free!

Finally, treat them like your special guests and give away something free. May be an e-book or may be a gift card – freebies work in building relationships and traffic – both!

Author Bio: Divya is a passionate web development expert. She works with a leading CrazyXHTML and is a popular blogger on subjects like e-mail marketing, link building, marketing strategies, etc.

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5 Ways Universities are Using Google+ to Enhance Higher Education

Justin McGill — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:21:48 +0000

This is a guest post by Lindsey Harper Mac. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please read the guidelines.

The new social networking platform, Google+, offers benefits beyond better organization of social groups and enhanced privacy. In fact, colleges across the country are quickly recognizing how this medium can help students and faculty connect with one another on a more appropriate level, among many other educational advantages. To catch a glimpse of some of the ways Google+ is being used to transform higher education, consider the following top five ways universities are using this social media website today.

1. Improving the Appeal of Student Groups

Contrary to popular belief, learning on a college campus can occur beyond the classroom setting. To encourage students to become more involved in worthwhile student groups and activities, colleges are utilizing the advertising benefits of Google+ to attract more students. These groups can include anything from student governments to Greek organizations. Making these groups known on popular social media outlets can effectively boost membership and improve the overall college experience for many students.

2. Promotions on Pages

Just like the student newspaper, the Pages feature of Google Plus helps to keep students informed regarding recent happenings on campus. This can include anything from upcoming events to recent publications in the school’s research journal. Essentially, Google+ Pages keep students informed about campus news on a minute by minute basis, which allows all students to stay involved and contribute more effectively to the university as a whole.

3. Marketing

More and more universities are developing a presence on Google+ to connect with both high school students looking into colleges and current college students looking to transfer or obtain a higher degree at another institution. One popular technique among universities is sharing videos of a typical day at the university. This gives students who may not have the ability to visit the school a chance to see firsthand what attending might be like. This not only benefits universities by getting the word out about their programs, but students benefit because they are given a full, detailed list of their options for higher education.

4. Sharing University Success

One of the most popular uses of Google+ is highlighting the achievements of current and former students, as well as professors. By continuously recognizing the successes of individuals associated with the college, institutions can establish a more prestigious reputation and encourage students and faculty to continue to excel by honoring their achievements.

5. Career Recruitment

An especially attractive benefit for job-seeking students, career recruitment on Google+ connects employers with potential employees in a more effective manner than career fairs alone. Through the Hangouts feature on Google+, employers can get to know small groups of students who are eligible and interested in working with them to find a good candidate for the job. This feature is especially beneficial for employers who may not be able to travel to career fairs, but would still like to expand the reach of their recruiting strategies.

Although Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have proven their value for purposes beyond merely socializing with friends, Google+ stands out in regards to its benefit for education. By integrating the following techniques into a Google+ educational campaign, universities across the country can enjoy improved student engagement and a stronger community on campus.

About the Author: Lindsey Harper Mac is a professional writer living in the Indianapolis area. She specializes in writing guest posts covering social media and education on behalf of American InterContinental University. Currently, Lindsey is completing work on her master’s

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Simple Ways to Maximize Facebook’s Timeline

Justin McGill — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:18:51 +0000

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please read the guidelines.

When Facebook creators decided to introduce The Timeline earlier this year, users definitely had mixed feelings. Some loved the fact that the social media site appeared more aesthetically pleasing and seemed to be more organized, while others thought the change was just too much and preferred the older layout. Of course, users didn’t really have much of a say when Facebook made the permanent switch from “the wall” to the “timeline” in late March.

But while marketers tried to quickly adapt their techniques in accordance with the new timeline, it’s been sort of a struggle for a few. In fact, data shows that some brands blame the Timeline for their loss in “fans” since its created a few roadblocks: it’s harder for users to read and make comments on posts since the new platform is photo-driven, and it’s not as easy to “like” fan pages as it once before. But that doesn’t mean that all efforts are lost. The Timeline can actually help you engage with users more and help you earn more customers if you know how to use the newly introduced features. That said, to learn how to “use what you got” and engage with your audience, continue reading below.

Post an Engaging Cover Photo

The most obvious of changes is the installment of the “cover photo”—it basically serves as a banner for your fan page. It’s the very first image someone will notice when visiting your page and will be judged at first glance. Thus, it needs to be worthy since it can really help promote your business/brand or your client’s business/brand in a really big way. But you want to skip the stock images. Instead, post a “personable” image that represents what the company stands for as well as intrigues the audience at the same time. Of course, you can always change out your cover photo too. In fact it’s encouraged, especially when you’re trying to promote something in an interesting way such as a special offer or an upcoming event.

Use the Pin Feature

The ability to “pin” something is only available to Facebook fan pages, it is not available for regular Facebook user profiles. What this crafty feature does is allow you to keep a certain post or image as your “top story” for seven whole days. So if there is something that you really want to promote or market, pinning the post to the top of your Timeline is a great idea. Another option is to highlight some of your content, which leads us to the next tip—

Use The Highlighting Star

If you want to showcase a must-read or find another way to show your audience that something you posted on your timeline is more important than the other, then make sure to “highlight” it using the small star next to the edit button. The status update or image will “expand” and enlarge so that it stands out when people are on your page. Do note that you can’t highlight and pin a post at the same time. But you can highlight a post that you no longer need pinned. That way, by highlighting old pins you can help document your page’s history.

Use Apps to Your Advantage

Lastly, Timeline allows its users to place apps at the top of their profiles. Typically these apps by default are photos, friends, maps, and likes but you can go and change it to whatever you want. Preferably you’ll want to change the tabs and link it to something that will help you make sales. For a really good example of how to change tabs for your benefit, check out how Starbucks added the Starbucks card tab –a digital gift card strictly for Facebook users.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at accredited online colleges about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.

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5 Effective Keyword Research Tools for SEO

Justin McGill — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:37:24 +0000

This is a guest post by Leo Alvin Alexander. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please read the guidelines.

All SEO experts and experienced Internet marketers agree that the number one step toward increasing volumes of quality traffic to your website is effective keyword research. Using the most desirable keywords and phrases in your Web content will greatly improve your site’s visibility and Web presence. Through professional website optimization, which begins with use of carefully targeted keywords for your site’s market, you will gain new customers and improve conversion rates. Good keyword usage will also provide your site and business with lasting prominent first-page listings in all the major search engine directories for constantly high site visibility.

You will find numerous keyword research tools available for your use on the Web. Some are free and others are for sale, yet even those to be purchased and downloaded are usually offered on a free trial basis. Five of the most popular and effective keyword research tools currently available online for your use are:

1. Google Adwords Research Tool. – This comprehensive, diversified tool encourages you to become an SEO pro while you build an expansive list of suggested keywords and phrases appropriate for your website. You can locate keywords based on:

a word or phrase;
a website; or
a category.

You can request that your keyword research results show only ideas very closely aligned with your search terms. You can also narrow your research project to include specific countries, locales and languages. You can also (1) specify content type, such as content appropriate for teenagers, (2) request information and statistics relative to a particular device like a desktop or laptop computer, or a mobile WAP device, and (3) use keyword tool filters such as estimates of statistics like impressions and PPCs (pay-per-clicks). You can perform searches and sort keywords related to your competition. You can also run data searches for results of both localized and global monthly site and product data.

When initiating your search, you can designate terms to be included or excluded. You can also specify varied keyword match types: Broad, [Exact], or “Phrase.” In conjunction with the Keyword Tool, Google AdWords supplies a Traffic Estimator to provide you with daily Summary data, your website’s Average Estimated CPC dollars, and its Daily Budget dollars.

As you can see, there are quite a few strong advantages to using the Google AdWords Research Tool. It is truly a highly effective tool for advertising your business site, products and services. You can look forward to seeing your website’s traffic volumes increase immediately by employing the precisely targeted Google ads while staying within your budget.

There are, however, disadvantages which some users of the Google AdWords Research Tool have encountered. For example, there is a definite learning curve to master when using this comprehensive keyword research aid. Fully understanding all its capabilities takes time. In addition, many search engine users pay more attention to the organic results of Web searches than to paid ads. It is also important to realize that advertisers who can easily pay high advertising costs will acquire the top ad positions.

2. Google Insights for Search.– With this sophisticated Web tool, you can make an extensive comparison of the resulting patterns of search volumes involving particular geographic regions, demographic groupings and other categories, time sequences or characteristics such as:

Categories. – Conform your search to definite categories such as health supplements, movies or novels;
Seasonality. – Estimate levels of growing demand for your business and products in order to best plan and finance your ad campaigns;
Geographic distribution. – Learn the distribution of your search volumes, patterns and your customers involving countries, rural regions and urban areas; and
Properties. – Observe the search trends in other Google properties, for example, related rising statistical searches in England over the last month.

Google Insights for Search was structured to satisfy the advertiser’s needs. It offers versatility and capabilities for advertisers, promoters and marketers to more fully comprehend search behavior. In addition, various new features bring attractive dimensions to searches like global heat maps displaying both search volumes and areas of highest interest and need.

By simply entering a keyword or phrase, you can observe search result patterns over a given time period along with the most significant rising search volumes. You can also make comparisons of search level trends involving multiple targeted search terms and categories (known as verticals), time sequences or locations. For instance, if you enter the term blackberry, the main top related and rising search results will probably be relative to the cellular phone device, Blackberry. If you want to perform a search related to the top-rated blackberry jams on the food market, you will need to filter your search by the Food & Beverage category.

The Google Insights for Search tool is a powerful competitive intelligence aid enabling you to accurately examine data supplied by Google to best comprehend valuable search trends and crucial business functionality levels. Yet, there are some major disadvantages to using this diverse keyword research tool. For, it is totally controlled by computer algorithms and analyzes data across millions of users without reporting basic identifying information. Additionally, it gives results only for search terms producing significant traffic volumes. It also maintains strict minimum inclusion thresholds for search terms.

3. NicheBOT. – This powerful keyword research tool was structured to be “The Master Blueprint to Keyword Success.” Its designers agreed that Google’s keyword tools reveal competition levels important to advertisers, rather than competition for attracting free site traffic. Such high volume keywords may be gold to someone whose purpose is buying traffic. However, these search terms will not help anyone seeking high quality, free organic traffic from Google.

In addition, Google will not reveal those Long Tail keywords and phrases that are generally classified as Buyer Keywords. These key phrases of five to eight or nine words are most often used by consumers to assist with purchasing choices. Since such keywords are low-competition, they can be much the easier to rank for. Now you are in the market for buyer keywords instead of researcher keywords.

NicheBOT supplies you with myriad databases that pinpoint keywords you will not locate through other sources. It’s like having a single subscription which includes all the major newspapers, journals and media outlets in the country and beyond. With NicheBOT you get access to 21 excellent keyword research aids. The program coordinates data from all its pipelines, compiling it in one organized interface. It exhibits the ultimate in strategic practicality as it integrates keywords, strategy and execution.

NicheBOT is an expert tool for discovering ways to legitimately dominate your niche market, and by using it you will reduce your marketing budget at the same time you increase conversion numbers. This highest quality keyword research tool can access upwards of 295 billion keywords, showing at least 15,000 results per each root keyword. It also translates languages and sorts, filters and exports complex data. The major disadvantage of NicheBOT is that it comes with a multitude of extra features which are constantly being updated, so there is an ongoing learning curve involved for users.

4. Keyword Discovery. – This expansive keyword research tool collects and analyzes search term statistics from all the major worldwide search engines. Since more than 80% of online purchases and transactions originate from a keyword search, a good keyword research aid must target all identifiable relevant keywords. It can reveal the keywords and phrases most frequently used to locate certain products and services. It can help you to (1) optimize all your site’s content and meta tags; (2) empower your pay-per-click marketing campaigns; and (3) lure valuable traffic volumes away from your competitors, increasing your conversion rates. Keyword Discovery collects data from more than 200 worldwide search engines and upwards of 38 billion searches. Some of its other important features include:

Keyword Tools. – Its many varied keyword tools enable you to qualify and examine key terms in such areas as marketing trends, competitors, and PPC bid values.
Competitors. – It reveals the most heavily trafficked websites per keyword according to Trellian completive intelligence user activity reports.
XML API Access. – With the XML API feature, you can form your own aid or solution in order to access Keyword Discovery’s entire database.
Keyword Projects. – Your comprehensive search term results can be compiled and saved into projects for copying, translating and exporting. You can also import your own key term data from excel and text files, URLs and other external sources.

Keyword Discovery now provides a premium updated database compiled from user panel data plus the toolbars of more than 3.5 million users. The major disadvantage of this excellent keyword research tool is its cost. However, you are invited to test-run its features during a free-trial period.

5. Market Samurai. – This outstanding key term research tool shows you the path to mining “gold nugget” keywords to greatly enhance your website traffic and conversion rates. It will help you identify and target the key terms serious buyers currently use in Web searches. You will learn how to best overtake your competition and acquire first-page search engine rankings. Market Samurai provides excellent “traffic-hunting” opportunities, helping you adhere to the four Golden Rules of SEM:

For Internet marketing success, you must have an expert keyword research tool which “thinks” like a search engine. Remember that search engine algorithms may not view your favored key terms as closely or even remotely valuable to marketing your site’s products and services.

To gain high traffic and conversion rates, you need keywords which attract sufficient Web traffic volumes to make investing your time, money and efforts into marketing your site and business worthwhile. Remember, 90% of all key terms initiate no traffic at all.
For success, you must employ keywords which provide both significant site traffic levels and conversion rates. Some key terms which generate traffic have little or no commercial value. You need to identify and target only key terms with profitability potential.
To succeed, you must target only keywords which have acceptable competition levels. This is important since 90% of keywords used in searches are much too competitive for obtaining first page rankings.

In Market Samurai Internet warfare, you must first goldmine the most profitable keywords and phrases. Then, you must identify market areas with weak SEO competition levels and conquer these markets. Finally, you need to work smarter, not harder, finding Web content you can link to your own site which will continuously work to the benefit of your own efforts. Make use of the vast wealth of material with high quality content authority on the Web to promote your website and greatly enhance your success and profitability.

Market Samurai’s PBR (Phrase-to-Broad-Match Ratio) is very helpful for determining what Web users are searching for. Its only disadvantage is that the more precise and narrow specific search criteria may be, the more often you will need to fine-tune it, since popular language usage is constantly changing.

These five major tools for SEO keyword research all bring modern, continuously updated technology and features to current Internet marketing. You may want to take advantage of their introductory trial offers to experience for yourself their vast and varied techniques and applications all designed for your ultimate SEM success.

Author Bio:

Leo Alvin Alexander is an online marketing specialist that currently works for a marketing firm based in New York City that offers business solutions such as marketing materials, graphic and custom logo design, search engine optimization and social media marketing services, etc.

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Top 4 key Elements Web Marketers Should Focus on when Creating an Infographic

Justin McGill — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:40:22 +0000

This is a guest post by Eliza Morgan, a full time blogger. If you are interested in writing a guest post, check out our posting guidelines.

Just like they’re name suggests, infographics are “graphics” or illustrations that are able to creatively display a set of information or story in an artistic way. They’re quickly sweeping the internet by storm, over taking sites like Facebook and Pinterest. Not only are they pretty to look at and interesting to read, but infographics are a less aggressive way to organically increase search rankings since anchor texts help generate links back to the target domain every time the infographic is shared on social media sites or blogs. And the better your infographic is, the more likely it will be shared by your target audience and boost SEO efforts. But in order for an infographic to really be considered an “infographic” there are four principle elements it must contain.

1. Originality

The first is that the infographic has to be original. If you think you’re really on to something, do a quick Google search and see if the concept has been tackled before. If it has it still might be ok to do, but you really need to make sure that you formulate a way to make your infographic better. “Brainstorming parties” are pretty crucial when trying to come up with an infographic concept. You want it to be timely, perhaps emotionally charge your audience, or explain something that will benefit your target audience in some sort of way—maybe that’s why how-to infographics typically do so well. Whatever you choose as your topic, you need to make sure that the idea can flow like an organized, academic paper. And what is usually included in papers? A strong set of data, which leads us to our next star-feature—

2. Statistics/Data

They don’t have “info” as part of their name for kicks. Infographics heavily depend on statistics, figures and other facts retrieved from credible sources—domains ending in .gov, .org, and .edu particularly. Scour articles, journals, and other official agency sites when trying to back up your topic’s thesis or concept. The more research your target audience realizes you did to construct the infographic, the more likely the audience will trust you and share it.

3. Eye Candy

Of course, statistics aren’t enough. Infographics are also heavily driven by the second half of its name—graphics. The theme of your illustrations, everything from color and style, will depend on whether your audience will like the infographic. Think of ways the stats can be emphasized through illustrations. A good graphic designer should be able to give you some good pointers. But ask to see his or her previous work before you hire a pricey graphic designer for the gig.

4. Share Buttons

A link to the domain site you’re promoting needs to automatically be included at the bottom of the infographic. But you also need to make sure that you make it extremely easy for your target audience to be able to post your infographic on to various internet mediums, like social media sites and blogs, so that it can get the exposure and attention that it needs for SEO reasons. Implementing share buttons is a great way to do this.

Does anyone else have any thoughts of what an infographic needs?

Byline:

This is a guest post by Eliza Morgan who is a full time blogger. She specializes in writing about business credit cards. You can reach her at: elizamorgan856 at gmail dot com.

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5 Tips On Website Usability for Mobile Website

Justin McGill — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:24:35 +0000

This is a guest post by Divya Rawat. Want to contribute? Contact me!

Mobile internet is going to dominate the world sooner than we think. It already is, in many ways.

Here are top 5 things you should keep in mind for your mobile website design and usability because this is one medium you can’t afford to ignore:

1. Keep Your Mobile Website Design Simple

This goes without saying that you have to be careful about how you code your pages and what graphics you use on them. Mobile sites are not as capable of displaying very heavy content or poorly coded content because these web browsers aren’t as specialized as regular web browser. There are more chances of pages hanging and sites getting stuck and you obviously want to avoid that!

2. Mobile Website Screen Resolution

It is quite disturbing to scroll up, down, left, and right all together while reading on a mobile device. It’s hence a good idea to see if you can get some standardization done. See which are the most common resolutions for mobile devices and try inculcating them.

There are also a number of responsive themes that adjust to the tablet or smart phone screen sizes. These are good investments for your website.

3. Simply Operation On Your Mobile Site

This means that you should make the navigation as comfortable for the user as possible. The navigation toolbar should be on the top, above the text. At places, users might be required to enter preferences. You can change this by offering them a set of choices to select from so that it’s easier to navigate and browse through your content.

4. Colors On Your Website

The right color scheme is important because reading on smaller devices is different. The standard white and back will certainly work, but you can always explore more option. You just have to be careful about the selections. Also, see that you use the color demarcation when it comes to hyperlinks. The links which have been opened or explored should change color. This makes the user experience more complete and helps providing clarity.

5. Test Your Mobile Website Regularly

You might have hired the best web development company to design your site, but you still need to test the progress and usability of your mobile website. Users may be finding it difficult to access the site from some devices, whereas it must be relatively easier on other devices; there may be important feedback or reviews; or there may be things that are working very well for your site. There are various related areas that may need your attention and hence, a constant evaluation is a must. It doesn’t mean that you make your mobile website and forget about it or contrarily, obsess over it! it only means, you need to deal with mobile website usability professionally.

Your website is the main platform to communicate with your users and hence, it’s important to put the right efforts in the right direction!

Author bio:
Divya is a SEO and SMO expert with an iNetZeal. She has many years of experience and enjoys blogging on related subjects.

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6 Tips to Create Good Email Lists

Justin McGill — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:53:09 +0000

This is a guest post by Divya Rawat, who has years of experience in SEO and SMO. Want to contribute? Contact me!

List building has been there for quite some time. Many major music bands and writers have used the power of mail lists to intimate their fans about their latest releases and tours etc. Email lists have also been used by various businesses to provide exposure to their products and create a tribe. Hence you can also start building your email list for the better focused exposure for your website.

Benefits Of Email List Building

There are many benefits of list building which you can utilize for your website. Some of the main reasons for list building are:

• By using a list you can easily notify your readers of any new posts and hence create loyal readers. This way it will also help in promoting your website.

• You will get more feedback through email as compared to on-page comments. Also you can expect to get direct answers for your questions through emails as compared to other methods including RSS feeds and direct comments.

• By creating a large and loyal (give more emphasis on loyal rather than large) email list you can be sure of a good and steady traffic to your site.

• Emails are more personal and hence you can create a sense of trust with your audience.

• An email list usually composes of people who are interested in your product and hence are more likely to buy products which are related to the niche. Hence you can easily make more money through email lists by selling various products related to the niche.

• Your site gets indirectly bookmarked as readers can easily come back to your website whenever they want through the link in their emails. Hence having email lists can be really beneficial for traffic reasons too.

6 Tips to Create Good Email Lists

1. Use An Email Service- Add a good email service like Aweber or Mailchimp in your website. It will provide visitors with the option to add their email accounts in your mailing list and hence create a decent email list for your website. There are also good FREE email services available in case you want to go safe or have a lower budget.

2. Create a catchy sign up form- Having a sign up form is not enough and you must make sure that it is really catchy to impress your visitor for greater conversion.

3. Use various promotions- You can create various promotions like giving a FREE ebook or some other useful thing related to your site’s niche to tempt people to subscribe to your email list.

4. Reward your subscribers for referring to friend- You can provide various incentives and rewards for subscribers who refer their friends and thereby increasing your email list.

5. Use video sites like YouTube, Metacafe etc. to create email lists- Many people visit these video sites and you can harness this fact to your advantage by creating quality videos to create your email lists.

6. Prominent Sign-Up Form- Create a prominent sign-up form which people can easily notice preferably at the end of the post or at the side of the page.

Author Byline:
Divya Rawat has years of experience in SEO and SMO. She is currently with iNetZeal which is in the business for six years. click here to read more about their various serivces.

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4 Ways to Re-Vamp Your Site for Panda Updates

Justin McGill — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:54:10 +0000

This is a guest post by Mariana Ashley, a freelance writer. Interested in writing a guest post? Contact me!

Whether you’re a blogger or online business owner, the way to attract traffic is to create content that feels fresh, is relevant, and is useful to your users. Fortunately, these things represent the bottom line for Google and the final aim of recent algorithm updates. While there are many technical aspects of new Panda updates that will surely affect your standing in Google, the most important thing is to create high-quality, original, and helpful content. Try any of these four tips to give your website a slight makeover and increase your chances of landing higher page ranks.

1. Create an Efficient User-Friendly Layout

The importance of having a layout that benefits the user cannot be stated enough. One of the major no-no’s in the Panda updates this time around is having a homepage without original content, or a template that features advertising more readily than the content of the site. For the most part, your blog will only get better the easier it is for users to navigate it. Put the items that will receive the most traffic on the main page, along with content that your users will be looking for most when they come to your site.

2. Make Your Images Work for You

We all see way to many blogger throw up useless images that have little to nothing to do with their blog content, just to post a photo along with an article. This is monotonous and annoying. It’s also a half-hearted attempt at increasing page rank, as images help optimize search. However, with new Panda updates, if your images are irrelevant or unhelpful, they may hurt your page rank. Always complete a full URL for your images, and use image titles that represent what user would most likely by typing into Google to search for them. Don’t forget to tag images, as well.

3. Share Content from Other Sites

Never underestimate the power of using content from other sites. If the last article you posted was about a rock group, go find a rock-inspired editorial and share it on your blog or website, linking back to the related article. This will help you attract a wider pool of users and get people from other sites hitting your content.

4. Encourage Social Media Connections

The importance of social media participation is probably one of the biggest changes in Panda updates so far. To acquire the best Google rankings, it has never been more necessary to encourage the use of social media on your site. It’s also great to get people sharing and liking your content. Try reaching out to users on Twitter and Facebook to generate an organic social media following. Accepting guest post submissions on a regular basis also expands your social network. You never know you might write a great article for your blog, and that will only enhance your own content while.

By-line:

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

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Understanding Google Freshness and It’s Impact on Search Results

Justin McGill — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:10:38 +0000

This is a guest blog post written by Mark Barry of Integrity SEO Experts Ltd.

By now, 99% of the SEO and Digital Marketing community will be aware of Google’s latest algorithm update – Google Freshness – released early in November, as well as the potential effect it could have on website rankings.

Freshness may have been a bit of shock to the system for those who are somewhat hit and miss about optimising or updating their websites, but looking back through Google’s history, it was only a matter of time before it came about.

This latest algorithmic update is only one tiny part of a ten year ‘big picture’ created by Google in 2003 and patented as the “Document Scoring Based on Document Content Update.” Based on the original, hundreds of mini patents have been registered since then, Freshness being the latest.

Google has actually been scoring content freshness for quite some time now, years actually, although few people have realised this is the case. Now that Google have made it official it has certainly brought the fact to everyone’s attention.

As with everything Google does, Freshness has been analysed inside out by experts in such areas and conclusions have been drawn. Naturally, anything algorithmic is complex, so below is an ‘in a nutshell’ version for those of us who like their English as plain as possible! This will hopefully help everyone from SEO’s to E-commerce website designers.

Each page of a website is given a ‘freshness’ rating, based on its date of origination, i.e. the date it is first indexed by Google. Over time, the rating ‘decays’ and will continue to do so until new content is added. The rate of decay also varies according to the website’s purpose. A news site, for example, would be expected to update much more often than most others.

The amount of content that changes also has a bearing – the more that is changed, the more impact to the freshness. In the case of a popular blog, whole pages are added on a fairly consistent basis, which is what gives them a high score.

It has been suggested that adding around 25% of the total web pages keeps the score high, but this should not be at the expense of neglecting content on existing pages, which has the reverse effect.

Content that has been defined as ‘important’ by using

to

heading classifications within the HTML, is rated slightly differently – changes made in important areas will rate a higher freshness than others. Important content is generally above the fold and found in the main body text.

Inbound links are also rated in two ways and can affect the site. Firstly, those coming from sites which have a good freshness rating themselves can positively affect the receiving site. The opposite applies if any links are static or worse still, dead. Secondly, increases in link growth is seen as freshness, but beware using unscrupulously sourced links, they could easily be viewed as spam over time.

So there it is, basically the Freshness update is aimed at encouraging webmasters to be diligent in keeping their websites clean, tidy, relevant and fresh. Things have been moving that way for a while, but now the onus is on webmasters to keep a careful watch over those that they are linking to or from as well.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

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