True SEO strategy is of course a lot more involved that just choosing some keywords and implementing those into your site structure, content, and off-page strategies (link building).  Just like any other marketing effort, SEO should start with a foundation of core business goals.  Whether you are doing this for your own company, outsourcing to an SEO company, or a hybrid of the two, make sure to follow these steps for building a great strategy that the whole company can stand behind.  This article spends less time on the technicalities behind on page SEO and places more emphasis to how marketing and off page efforts enhance the overall strategy.

Define the company goals:  The “discovery” process is probably the most important opportunity for getting the strategy defined right out of the gate.  The company goals will of course the be applied to the keyword research and keyword assignment.  This discovery process should involve company owners, executives, marketers, content providers, and possibly accounting.  The bottom line is that everone has to be on the same page as to what drives the company forward, what keywords relate to both the brand and the products/services, etc.  You should also look at what keyword phrases drive revenue (or have the potential to drive revenue). 

Apply the goals to the keyword strategy:  Even companies that have been doing “SEO” for a while often need to put on the breaks and redefine the strategy.  You can of course apply all the research you need to help you refine the goal (i.e. competitive analysis, website analytics, etc.).  Start by dialing down on your top 25 or so “money” keyword phrases.  Make sure the list is a mix of both broad and long tail terms.  This task is more complicated than it sounds and can take time.  For example, if you have an e-commerce platform and sell hundreds of products it might seem impossible to dial down to 25 keywords.  Keep in mind this is a starting point and should be developed throughout the campaign.

Apply keyword strategy to the keyword assignment:  Now that you have your list and everyone from the CEO to the marketing team has signed off on it, apply the keywords to the website.  Keyword assigment should start with the home page and work down from there.  Remember to follow best practices such as charater limits, the use of hypens to separate title words as opposed to underscores, page hierarchy, etc.

Make sure to have a blend of SEO and “marketing” in the application:  SEO is not just about having your top keywords associated with the page in the title tag.  Getting rankings is only the first step.  You then have to entice clicks.  If your not getting the clicks, who cares about the ranking.  That is where marketing comes into play.  Your title pages are what will appear for your search result listing so make sure you use a structure that is appealing as well as keyword appropriate.

Have a comprehensive off page strategy:  The fundamental goal of the off page SEO effort is to distribute content and build links.  Good links start with compelling content.  The old link building strategies won’t do you much good anymore.  The natural link building efforts take more time, more energy, and forces you to develop great content that people want to consume and share.  This may include but is not limited to the use of blogging, social media, SEO focused PR, engaging your local community, engaging you online communities, and continually developing great articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, and any other content that is relevant and that will add value to your users.

You just can’t by with an “old school” website anymore.  And yes, your company/brand will be judged on the appearance of your website.  You also can’t get by anymore by just having a site that serves the purpose of being your “online business card”.  Every company, no matter what industry, no matter what size, should have a website with clear goals.  Conversion goals that is.

Conversion optimization takes all aspects of your website into consideration starting with your core business objectives.  These need to be clearly defined and your website should be designed (or redesigned) to support these goals.  You should also have a solid understanding of your analytics so you can set some benchmarks:

• Where does our traffic come from?
• What are our bounce rates?
• How long do people stay and what pages do they go to, leave from?
• Do visitors convert?

What happens in 8 seconds.  A “bounce” is defined as a user who comes to your site and leaves in under 8 seconds.  Therefore a bounce rate is the ratio of people who leave in under 8 seconds VS those that stay.  Anything under 50% is pretty good.  Conversion goals are different for every website but examples are capturing information like name, address, phone; a sale; a download; a phone call…you get the idea.  So let’s take a look at the various elements that need to be considered when building a website that converts.

THE INITIAL HOOK

You must have a clear call to action, or a few key action points.  E-commerce sites usually have promotions and offer things like FREE shipping.  Everybody likes and deal and wants to be incentivized.  If your goal is to get a user to download your whitepaper, tell them why its valuable and give them some incentive for doing so. 

DESIGN

Once you have defined your goals, the site needs to be designed so that the call to action is prominent and focused on encouraging the user to act.  Using larger fonts, bold colors, simple but compelling design concepts, less content, and plenty of open space usually fall under the best practices category.  It is usually recommended to use separate landing pages with clear calls to action to support online and offline marketing efforts.

Notice the example below has a very clear purpose (sorry the picture is kind of small).  This page is designed to bring people back to the site, capture their information, and offers an incentive to do so.

SITE FUNCTIONALITY

This is very important because the more user friendly your site is the better your consversion rates will be.  Seems pretty obvious but can take a lot of focus to get it right for any specific site.  Many times bounce rates and lack of conversions are simply due to poor functionalty, poor design, and a “sales cycle” that is just too long.  Streamline the process, only capture the information you need, and keep the steps simple and fast. 

You can use technology and custom tools to enhance the experience and go beyond your competition.  Just remember, it all starts with defining clear goals first and then developing a plan.

By now if you have not heard that there was an election in Iran, then you have either not been on Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo!, MySpace, Digg, CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, National, local, and international newspapers, and simply been living as a hermit in a long lost case where civilization is the furthest thing from you.  But since you are reading this that cannot be the case.

Today, Friday 06/19/09, major companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook announced support for Persian language.  Apple has done this with their SMS’ being possible in Persian, Google Translates to Persian now, and Facebook is available in Persian too.  And if you believe that is only company, think again.  Twitter rescheduled their maintenance so that the Iranian people inside Iran would have a means to communicate because the government had shut down sms/texting, and disconnected cell phone towers, and kept everything under watch.  Even Internet sites are being filtered and censored.  With Twitter for example, because their are so many applications using Twitter’s open API, it is extremely difficult to filter those servers because their IP address differs from Twitter’s main IP.  In fact, there are countless proxy servers setup out there with people from all over the world assisting in this digital revolution.  Regular folks, Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and more are all partaking in the first true digital revolution.  And this is all being done through Social Media platform like Twitter, Digg, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and many, many more out there.

To see tweets from inside Iran, you can follow the hottest “trend” on Twitter, or follow two students tweeting from within the country:

twitter.com/change_for_Iran

twitter.com/iranElection

Social Media is not going anywhere, it was indicated with the power of Obama gaining incredible following using these tools, and it is being cemented in the world as not only a cool tool, but as a power changer, as a ways to gain freedom.  Through the likes of Twitter and Facebook the world will know that through sheer will of power, anything is possible.  Let the dream of unity, the dream of freedom, and the dream of a better tomorrow ring true for the people of Iran, and the rest of the world needing their own CHANGE.

Email is a powerful Internet email marketing tool and a cost-effective approach to communicating with your target audience. It allows you to engage with your customers on a regular basis and to connect with prospective customers who are almost interested in your offerings. Here are a few pointers to increase the likelihood of your email being open, read, and simply avoiding the trash bin.

Before you start, ask yourself:
What is your goal?

What is the message you wish to convey?
•    Deliver only ONE message.
•    Make it clear and concise.
•    The purpose should be detailed in the first paragraph, which keeping sentences short and to the point.

What are you marketing?
•    Include call to action i.e. phone call, link to website.
•    Mention your value proposition over the competitors.

How are you going to connect with your audience to what you are marketing?
•    Personalize your email i.e. include the name of the subscriber in the greeting.
•    Make your content interesting to your reader.
•    Offer tips and advice i.e. ‘How Tos’.
•    Make it interactive i.e. include a relevant video or a poll.

The Subject Line
A subject line is your headliner. Therefore it needs to capture the attention of your audience. Your subject line should connect with your audience on an intimate level. Ensure that the subject line is useful, relevant and informative to the message you are conveying in your email. This will increase the likelihood of your email being read.

The Content
Establish a tone, write with a friendly voice and avoid sounding like a sales person. Your email content should be direct and informative containing pertinent information about your message. Be sure to include your full contact information.

The paragraphs should contain no more than 3 sentences. If you are trying to convey something in more detail, include a link to your website for more details.

If you have case studies or testimonials, share it in your email. Utilizing customer feedback and experiences can entice your audience to want to relate. Additionally, it is a trust factor and builds confidence in your brand as if a best friend told them so.

The Visuals
The graphics and images used in an email should be used sparingly but effectively. For quick download, all visuals should be optimized. They should be relevant and give an illustration about your message. If your company has earned trust logos, be sure to add to these trust logos to your newsletter footer.<–>

So you are ready to take the next step expanding your business online and embrace your internet marketing efforts. You no longer have to have a physical storefront to do business anymore. Today some of the most profitable businesses are online and only have an online presence. There is such a wide range of shopping cart solutions how do you choose the right one for your online venture?  The most basic and important features of the shopping cart are 3:

-    The Shopping cart allows the user to interact with the store and add items to their bag. This should also calculate taxes and shipping and charge the user while staying on your website.

-    Shipping:  This is the only delivery method for online shopping carts. You need to be able to integrate the cart with your preferred shipping provider this will alleviate many hassles in the future and will streamline your processes from start to finish. This is very important because if your shipping methods are not efficient you will end up needing to charge higher shipping prices in the future.

-    Accepting online payment: No one likes to be limited. You need to be able to offer your clients several ways to paying. So make sure your shopping cart is able to integrate with various payment gateways and accepts several forms of payment. One of the easiest is over the phone and all you have to do is offer them a phone number to call.

There are 2 main components in a shopping cart the front end which is what the user sees and interacts with and the backend or the administrator’s area. When choosing a shopping cart here are a few tips to keep in mind for uability:

Offer a Guest Checkout: not all people like to sign up for an account when shopping. Especially for first time users to the store, or people that are shopping for gifts.
Security symbols: Make sure that your website is secure and not susceptible to hackers. No one wants to put their credit card number onto a website that they do not think is safe. Make sure to have your SSL certificate correctly installed and it is also a good idea to include the SSL providers logo on checkout pages.
One page checkout process: this facilitates the user through the checkout process.
These are just a few quick tips to making your shopping cart more user friendly and what to look for when choosing which to use!

Social Media is a fairly new coined term.  In the past 6 months especially, the term has seeped into everyone’s lives.  If you do not know what Social Media is, and how people are now using it to notonly communicate, use it for press releases, but now also using it for dating.  It is the speedier way in many ways.  Locally here in San Diego, in the past 2-3 weeks, if you have turned into AJ’s Playhouse on Channel 933 (93.3 FM), you may have heard many stories about Twitter.

On AJ’s Playhouse, they made a song about Twitter, they had a local Tweet (Melodie Tao) come in and talk about Twitter, and they also had a dating coach come in today and talk about how to find local singles in San Diego through Twitter.  In other words, if Channel 933 is talking about Twitter this much, and you are still on the fence on Twitter, and getting an online presence through social media, then it is time to get on the bandwagon.

People ask us how to make a great looking and functioning website pretty much every day of the year.  One of the most important things people don’t think about is usability. How important usability is for the internet marketing industry as a whole.  No matter how “attractive” and cool your website is if it is not built for the users it is useless!  You need to make your website easy for the visitors so that they know how to purchase from your website. Make it fast and easy for the user!

On most websites this is pretty self explanatory. E-commerce websites have many different guidelines and studies to help them but there are several e-commerce websites that are not taking advantage of all of this information. Here are a couple of usability DO’s to keep in mind when you are creating your website design.

Remind the shopper where they are: Be sure to use breadcrumbs so the user can easily navigate your website easily. Also make sure to highlight headers and sub headers so the user knows where they are on your website.

Many companies do not offer phone numbers on websites and stick to just using the contact us form. Either way you want the user to be able to contact you. This makes your website more trustworthy and people will hesitate less before a purchase.

Give them what they want: give the user several ways to search your website, main navigation, left hand navigation, footer, and Always make sure to have a Search field on the website above the fold.

Add a section to your website where you can have “featured Products” “Best sellers” or even better  a section that tells the consumer “ You may also like” this allows you to show the client other products your company offers and that the client might like!

Another great addition that we have found works well is letting the user add items to the shopping cart even if they are not logged into their account. You want the user to go through the purchase smoothly and uninterrupted allowing this as a possibility will help you with those shoppers that are reluctant to sign up for accounts.  Along with this is having the option to checkout as a guest and not have to create an account to purchase  from the website.

These are just a few of the tactics that we have found work best for ecommerce website design. Be sure to keep them in mind while building your website. First and foremost make sure you are building your website for the users!!

Social Media Circle

With the way outlook has been like since the financial meltdown, companies are looking for ways to cut costs by any means available to them.  They are looking to survive, meaning the days of wanting to be the best are becoming a faded memory.  If your company is in such a pit as most companies are, you do not have to despair – but only if you take the right steps towards survival, and thriving.

Recently on Yahoo! News, there was a story featured about a London bakery that is thriving.  But, they are not thriving through traditional means of radio, television, or print ads.  Instead, they have decided to embrace social media technologies at their disposal.  They are using Twitter to inform their Twitter followers when they are serving fresh bread.  They are a small business who have embraced social media for their sales purposes.  Large companies are also following suit.  They are building what is called “engagement marketing” by allowing consumers to be actively engaged in the branding, products, and more that companies sell or offer.  Online users are no longer restricted to the high schoolers, college students, or simply tech savvy people.  Instead it has become successful in attracting people from all ages and background – this is why companies are now not only following suit temporarily to save money, but because social media is here to stay.

Advertising online, appearing in organic listings, being talked about online in forums, social networks, discussion boards and more is what is now considered the norm for online marketing.  Additionally it also is how companies such as Dell convert disgruntled customers become happy ones through Twitter.

Conversion optimization was born out of the need of lead generation and e-commerce internet marketers to improve their website’s results. As competition grew on the web during the early 2000’s, Internet marketers had to become more measurable with their marketing tactics. They began experimenting with website design and content variations to determine the layouts, copy text, offers and images will improve their conversion rate. – Wikipedia

Conversion optimization is more important than ever as companies move more of their marketing budgets online seeking more cost effective ways to achieve their goals.  The approach has two angles.  The first starts with researching the industry and target markets of the company in need of improved conversions.  Once the data has been collected, a more targeted marketing message can be planned.  Secondly, comprehensive testing such as A/B testing is done to monitor results and make adjustments to continually improve the conversion rates. 

Conversion optimization is about achieving business goals and gaining the best possible ROI from the marketing efforts.  Here is a chart that outlines the basics:

The foundation behind conversion optimization is website design.  Once you have the marketing message put together and before you start running the campaign and testing results, you have to design the site and landing pages accordingly to achieve your goals.  Like anything esle there are some best pratices to follow when putting together a landing page.  The basics include the following:

• Keep it simple and focus on the message
• Message must be associated with ad campaign
• Keyword association
• Clear and obvious calls to action
• Simple content (bullet points)
• Trust factors
• Short registration forms
• Must be well designed and compelling

The bottom line is that a good Internet marketing company will first help you define your business goals, then help you assemble the message, and then put together the campaign, launch it and test results constantly.  Continually updating your landing pages will improve results dramatically which will lead to a well spent marketing budget!

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When you are designing redesigning a website there are several things you want to keep in mind. With all of the technology and studies we have about website design there is a lot to think about when creating a conversion optimized website. What draws people’s attention on a website? What makes people more likely to convert? What makes them turn away? What gives the user a sense of assurance while purchasing? These are all things you have to think about with your website design. With all of the information we have it is not longer acceptable to just make a “pretty” design. Here are a few tips about creating a great website design that converts to sales/leads.

• Stick out what you’re about – User that come to your website are looking for both text and images but the first thing that captures their attention is text. The user wants to know what your website is about. So have your tagline above the fold and in bold.
• Start at the Upper Left  – The first thing that we look at when we navigate to a website is the upper left hand corner. This is an important factor when building a website so keep the users eye pattern in mind and build your website from upper left out.
• Follow the F – It is widely known that people visiting a website always seem to look at the upper left hand corner first. What happens after that? After much research the F pattern seems to be the way we search.  Starting at the top of the website then down content or to the next topic that interest us then down again. Many people will not stop to read every single bit of information you have on your website but it is more likely for them to read information near the top of the page.
• Make your Sub headings relevant – It might seem superficial to say but looking at several websites I feel that many don’t get this. If you want people to keep on reading down the page. Keep the headings relevant  and exciting, make the user want to read more. The user will only keep on reading if they
• To Banner or not – Today there are many websites that are full of banners – some that rely on banners to make a profit. The truth is that not many people are focusing on banners. They ignore them to get all of the pertinent information they want form your website. So designers need to get more creative about where banners are placed and how they look. Do not leave the Whole left side of your website to banners. You are only losing great real estate for yourself and the users trust. So use that space and add in small banners in between videos, images and content that are relevant to the information on the page.
• Keep it Simple and Clean – Cut out all of the elaborate fonts and colors. Keep it to a specific number of colors and fonts on your website. To attract attention to headers use bold, underline, and larger fonts and keep the script fonts off your website. If there are too many large different fonts and a variety of colored letters people tend to see this as ads.
• Use numbers not letters – if you are going to insert the actual number like 7 or 190. Most of the visitors you get to your website are just scanning the content and will stop when they see something they are looking for.
• There are many many more things to learn about the users experience and what we can do while building your website  to make is easier for the visitor to use and to increase conversions.