Web Promotion Articles

AdWords Ads: To Syndicate or Not to Syndicate

When running ads on the AdWords network, one of the first decisions you will need to make is on which network or networks your ads will run. You can run your ads on either the Google “search network” (Google, Earthlink, AOL, AskJeeves, etc), the Google “content network” (About.com, New York Times, Lycos, Business.com, Infovillage, etc) or both. There are plusses and minuses to both that you will need to weigh before you decide.

What’s the Difference?

Add comment July 25th, 2006

Three Search Engine Ranking Gold Tips

Getting a high ranking in the search engines is something with many variables.

It can rely on what industry you’re in, the products or services you supply, and the competition you have. There is however a few basic things you can do to help this process.

1. Choose The Right Domain Name!

Add comment July 25th, 2006

Search Engine Strategies for Affiliate Websites

The major search engines are always on the lookout to improve their search results and to weed out websites with duplicate content. They are also weeding out websites that mainly contain affiliate links. This is going to affect quite a few businesses on the Internet that depend on affiliate links to generate revenue.

Add comment July 25th, 2006

Link Popularity

In today scenario when we talk about Search Engine Optimization, we also talk about one of the most important aspect of SEO, which is Link Building. But there are different types, aspects and limitations of Link Building, which would be discussed now under

1.Types of Link Building: I would be explaining this factor in a more understandable manner with giving some examples with Site1, Site2 and Site3.

Add comment July 25th, 2006

PPC Management Starts with A Great Keyword List

PPC Management Starts with A Great Keyword List

 by: Darren Yates

Your keyword lists are the root of a good PPC campaign. You should properly research and source quality keywords. Create a good long list. Go deep and go wide, by this I mean investigate every avenue and every avenue off every avenue etc.

Here’s a quick example of how to expand your lists by investigating related avenues. In this example I’ll use mortgage as the base keyword.

Mortgage is a very competitive keyword on the Net simply because the commissions are so high. So how do you break into the market without paying over the odds?

Create your first list and think of different ways your prospect could interpret mortgage e.g. buy house, bad credit mortgage, best loan, house purchase finance, no status loan, home finance, etc. This really is only slightly removed from the base keyword, you should dig deeper still.

Next try expanding into types of mortgage - flexible, interest only etc. take these and mix them up with your first list, as you do this you’ll find avenues of keyword groups present themselves from single keywords e.g. interest only house loan, flexible home finance etc.

You could create an Ad group focused entirely on mortgage company names take that further still and add a .com to the name or a co.uk or your own country extension e.g. www.somemortgagecompany.com.au It doesn’t matter if this domain doesn’t exist, people type things like this into a search engine so it’s possible you can pick up low cost traffic with these keywords.

Avoid the general keywords and dig a little deeper to expand on related terms or, here’s a good one, rephrase those terms e.g. turn cheap mortgage around and use mortgage cheap too. Put yourself in your prospects shoes. What would they search for? How would they type it into Google? People don’t always type a search phrase in a logical order.

For some quick avenues to explore check out these keyword goldmines -

Plurals, domain names, serial numbers, product numbers, spelling errors, no spaces between the phrase words e.g. buywidget. Add .com or .net or .info etc, company names, company domain names, domain names and variations e.g. mydomain.com www.mydomain etc. Add superlatives e.g. best, cheap, cheapest, best buy. Competition site names, foreign words, US or UK spelling, product names, typo’s, hyphens instead of spaces.

Be sure to separate out all these keywords in to different lists. You should be setting up different Ad groups for each. It’s important to not just drop them all into one campaign together. Instead place all the typos in one Ad group all the plurals in another and so on. This will make for easietr targeting of your ad writing depending on your Ad groups keywords. Plus tracking results will be simpler.

Another great source for keywords are your site Log files trhey’ll tell you exactly what keyphrase has been used to find your site by a visitor.

Search for your main keywords on the search engines and see what related terms pop up. Check the meta tags on your competitors site. Check the copy on your competitors site.

Do you see were this is going. I trust that gives you an idea of the power of going deep and wide on your keyword list building. Remember this is the first building block on which to lay down your PPC management.

Add comment July 25th, 2006

Beyond Clicks & Conversions: Six Requirements For A Value-Added SEM Vendor

Beyond Clicks & Conversions: Six Requirements For A Value-Added SEM Vendor

 by: Kent Lewis

You’ve probably already read articles about how to select a search engine marketing (SEM) vendor, as they’re a dime a dozen. Most are written by an agency owner, highlighting areas they are strong in to optimize the soft-sales pitch. If you think this just another one of those articles good call! Rather than focus on traditional evaluation criteria for selecting an SEM vendor (i.e. credentials, case studies, references, published articles, conversion rates) I’m going to outline value-add criteria that truly generate an ROI for your business. Below are 6 elements any good vendor (SEM or not) should provide as a strategic partner interested in your bottom line.

Education

On the most basic front, an SEM vendor should add value by educating you, the client, by sharing their knowledge of SEM strategies, tactics, technologies & trends. Does your SEM vendor send you news (either ad hoc or via newsletter)? Do they maintain a SEM resources section on their site, or an industry blog? One way we’ve educated our clients is by hosting a free half-day seminar, bringing in our valued partners and industry leaders to share the latest and greatest you usually have to spend big bucks to see at Search Engine Strategies.

Experience

I started my career in high tech PR, representing a technology company (now called LapLink). For the first year I pitched their product to press & analysts, I’d never even seen the application, let alone used it. Once I had an opportunity to try it, I was amazed, and it helped me do my job that much more effectively. Lesson learned. Has your SEM vendor tested or use your product regularly? We not only make a point of experiencing our clients’ products, but we often purchase them. Some are easier than others, as a bag of Kettle Brand Chips are not as much of a financial commitment as a hot new LCD projector from InFocus.

Feedback

I’ve been a customer of WebTrends & WebPosition since the products first launched. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to provide input on future iterations of the products. The same goes for our other service-based clients. If your SEM vendor isn’t providing you feedback based on their experience with your products or services, they’re either ignorant or fearful, and neither is helpful to the evolution of your company.

Referrals

Regardless of whether or not your product or service is useful to an SEM vendor, they should be sending you potential prospects and partners. If they don’t, they aren’t a strategic partner and you’re missing out on growth opportunities. We regularly refer customers and partners to clients, not to mention recommendations on potential vendors and employees. This is particularly true for long-term clients like InFocus and Marqui, who come to Anvil as a trusted partner with a variety of requests.

Exposure

Due to my background in PR, I’ve spent a good amount of time promoting Anvil via press releases, syndicated articles, speaking engagements and awards, but that’s not unusual. What is unusual is if your SEM vendor does that for you. Even though we do not offer PR services per se, we’re always looking for opportunities to promote our clients. We’ve brought a handful of clients into speaking opportunities, and even included them in pitches that have resulted in press coverage.

Strategy

If you’re the type of company that doesn’t look to vendors for strategic business advice, please stop reading here. If you’re the type of company that is always looking for that edge, and is open to input from vendor partners, you should already have received unsolicited advice from your SEM vendor. On more than one occasion, we’ve had to be brutally honest with our clients about short-sighted marketing strategies (that impact us directly) or even bigger picture business strategy (branding, positioning, infrastructure, etc.) based on our collective knowledge and experience. It takes a strong company to listen, and an even stronger company to act on that input. So far, telling clients the truth hasn’t hurt us.

Moving Forward

Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.

Score:

1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.

3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals

5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.

Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile for your company. I have no problem demonstrating my dedication to clients. I liked one client so much, I married her. Talk about commitment.

Add comment July 25th, 2006

If You Build It They Will Come - Not Without Web Marketing!

I’m sure everybody has received an email from a company promising to get their website placed first on all the major search engines. Maybe some of you have even tried these services or may be thinking about it right now.

NetSource would like to say BE CAREFUL! Did you know that it is possible that some search engine optimization companies could actually do things to get your website banned from search engines? Plus, many search engine optimization companies will only get you listed for the short term and under keywords that are not really doing you any good.

Add comment July 25th, 2006

What Did We Learn from the Great Search Engine Experiment!

Last Week I did a Search engine Experiment. I wanted to see if I could brand myself as the coolest guy in the universe. I created a web page that said Mike Makler is the coolest Guy in the Universe. In that Web Page I repeated that Phrase over and over. In less then 24 Hours I was Number 1 in Yahoo for the Phrase coolest Guy in the Universe in Double Quotes. A Few hours later I was no where to be found in Yahoo.

Add comment July 25th, 2006

SEO India: Tips & Techniques by Ravz

SEO India: Tips & Techniques by Ravz

 by: Ravz Dubz

SEO is all about “Individualism”

According to me SEO is not only getting rank for keywords (Of course that is the primary objective) but apart from ranking your objective should be “Conversion” getting “Sales” (No matter if its personal site or clients site)

SEO Steps:

1. Understanding Business.
   • What is your business all about
   • How is it going to Operate.
   • Target audience (Global/Local)
   • Opportunity
   • Competitor study operating in same business.
   • “Core competence”

2. Target Keywords.
   • Getting a good list of keywords. (More keywords maximum number of ppl can be targeted)
   • This is something that will directly reflect your efforts (targeting wrong keyword will get all your efforts in vain)

3. WEB Designing.
   • Navigation
   • Page size
   • looks n feel
   • inter linking
   • HTML Code validation*

4. Meta tags & Content
   • Title
   • Description
   • Keywords
   • Content

   *This is something all seo do in their style, some do not emphasis more on 1st point (according to me which is very important) & shoot up with 3rd step then 2nd & 4th.

5. Directories
   • They are the boss (More the submission to directories more the chance to rank top for targeted keyword)

6. Link Building
   • I am very bad at this (This is something which can do wonders for you)

I am still in process to transferring my skills & knowledge to a Brand “SEO Expert” or “SEO Specialist”

Ravz..!

Add comment July 25th, 2006

The Sandbox Effect

What once many people thought they had a penalty, is now being called the Sandbox Effect and is causing new web sites not to rank very well in the search results of Google, not even for the least competitive phrases. Meaning that a filter is being placed on new web sites and cannot rank very high for most words or phrases for a certain amount of time.

Add comment July 25th, 2006