PPC… Can It Enhance Your SEO?

PPC… Can It Enhance Your SEO?
Can pay per click marketing really work in tandem with SEO? I have found that the most successful SEO campaigns were born from PPC results. What do I mean? Read on…

Just a like a company’s house list, the information they gather from their own PPC campaigns can provide a significant boost to the effectiveness of their search engine optimization efforts. The key is to know what information you’re looking for and how to use it to generate qualified visitors to your website.

Qualified visitors are those that have a higher degree of interest in your products or services and a greater likelihood of purchasing your products. I’ve often seen websites that have reduced their traffic while significantly improving conversion rates. The result is lower costs related to traffic acquisition and higher revenue. With more revenue and less expense, margins reach a new level of success.

The concept that I teach in SEO training is the most effective way to combine pay-per-click advertising with search engine optimization is to focus on conversions. What keywords have you promoted through pay per click advertising that led to conversions? If you’ve been running PPC for a while and you are still unsure, then consider expanding your analytic coding to include Google conversion tracking.

Once you have the answer and know which terms produce the greatest conversions, regardless of ad variation, then you SEO keywords have been determined. You want to generate organic traffic to the same keywords you’re promoting through PPC as long as they are generating your highest conversions.

An example of this might be someone promoting a book on how to fix a car. If the highest converting keyword is, “car repair”, then you should consider car repair as a keyword phrase you must optimize for. Organic traffic to this term will produce targeted web site visitors and conversions for little or no money as you improve your rankings.

The last piece is to take your highest converting landing pages and build in some or all of the elements into your website. Once you’ve tracking and optimized landing pages via PPC, you can duplicate what you’ve learned from a conversion perspective organically. Consider applying the landing page elements that have generated the highest return for you on your pay-per-click advertising.

Whether you’re just getting started with search engine optimization or consider yourself a search engine optimization expert, leveraging your pay-per-click advertising is the best investment you can make. Determine which keywords generate the type of traffic that is most valuable to you and optimize around these terms. They will generate more traffic and revenue.

To learn more about PPC, check out our comprehensive Content Bully Review.

Test Your Off-line Marketing

Test Your Off-line Marketing
Thank you all for the great comments and questions you’ve been sending to the Marketing Blog. As a result, I’d like to start answering your questions here on The Marketing Blog – so keep them coming.

Today’s questions is from Peter: How do you propose split testing for a campaign using offline media? There are many tools to do so with online media, but how do you measure the design of two different magazine ads?

It’s true that there are a number of tools for measuring the effectiveness of online campaigns. And it is, in many instances, easier today than ever before to evaluate the impact you marketing has with online tools such as Google website optimizer and a whole host of other resources. However, off line marketing can still be effectively tested and measured.

I’ve been testing offline campaigns for over a decade. The only change in the last few years is that many offline campaigns have been expanded to have an online component making it easier and quicker to track results. For example, you send a post card or publish and ad and have individuals fill out an online request form. This shows you quickly what type of results your campaign is generating in real time.

Without the online component, you can still track the effectiveness of your offline marketing. Personally I recommend you read, “Tested Advertising Methods” by John Caples a direct response expert. You’ll learn the methods John has used to evaluate campaign effectiveness. When marketing offline, you should always test one element at a time (ex: headline). Split test ads or run them consecutively within the same publication.

Always have a direct response mechanism. This can be a 1-800 number, an email address, or business response card. By having a direct response element, you can always test the response of your print campaigns. Different methods require different measurement techniques.

Test your print campaigns by circulating multiple versions of your creative in each campaign. Put in some type of mechanism to measure results that you can tie back to the unique version of your post card, magazine ad, or prospecting letter. By doing so you will always be able to test and improve your print campaigns.

On-Page Optimization Strategies For Improving You Search Engine Results

On-Page Optimization Strategies For Improving You Search Engine Results
On-page optimization is a great place to start your next search engine optimization campaign. Even though off-page optimization is essential for improving your Google rankings, on-page techniques can be used to build a strong SEO foundation and support good results on Yahoo!, MSN, and other major search portals.

SEO Design Tips For Website Success

SEO Design Tips For Website Success
When designing a new web site, there is a great deal to consider before you begin. Have you chosen a good niche? Have you organized your content in a way that is search engine friendly? Do you have a URL that makes it easy for search engine spiders to know what your website is all about?

Even if you have done all of the pre work to ensure that you are going to develop a web site that meets your needs, you must consider the needs of search engine spiders and SEO. Search engine optimization of web site design is easy if you know what to do.

The first step is to start with an web site designed in html and to use cascading style sheets. CSS keeps your coding to a minimum and helps create a consistent look across all web pages. The design of your site needs to be simple yet effective supported by clean navigation.

Web pages should all have a unique set of meta tags including title, description, and keywords. Additionally, the keywords you are trying to optimize for should be contained within your meta tags and on page as well. Your template should have your keyword phrase at the top of your page as well as at the very end of your page.

One simple way to apply this technique is by beginning your title tag with a keyword phrase. Additionally, include a copyright notice followed by your keyword phrase in a clean simple flow. One example is Copyright 2009. WebmastersBookofSecrets.com Marketing Expert. Marketing expert in this example is the keyword and is the last text on your page.

In addition to the beginning and end of your web page, focus SEO design with these helpful tips. Include your keyword phrase in both an H1 header and H2 Sub header. Keep your keyword density between 4 and 6 percent. Also, make sure that your keyword phrase is in bold, italic, and underlined. And lastly, keep your word count to between three hundred to six hundred words.

Simple SEO design is incredibly effective for achieving top rankings. These techniques help to expose your keyword phrase to search engine spiders. Additionally, they make each web page simple to scan, read, and react to. Take advantage of simple SEO design and results will follow.

The great Dane

The great Dane
The senior year of playing on any sports team is a bitter sweet thing.

There is a promise of good things to come, along with a joy in all that has happened.

There is sadness in knowing all that has happened will never happen again and the promise of good things to come, is but a hope for a currently unknown future.

PhD in DSP for Digital Terrain Elevation Data-NLDA/Delft
Ph.D. Research Assistantship to Explore the Potential of DSP for Digital Terrain Elevation Data at the Netherlands Defense Academy and Delft University of Technology

With today’s digital signal processing capabilities, it becomes possible to optimize the performance parameters of a navigation system for a particular set of intended applications. The Netherlands Defense Academy and the Delft University of Technology are providing an opportunity of a Ph.D. research assistantship to explore opportunities in the field of Terrain Reference Navigation (TRN) by using digital signal processing techniques that were originally developed for the acquisition and tracking of GPS signals.

The goal of the research is to contribute to the creation of a design framework which can be used to match technology and processing concepts to a particular set of navigation system performance requirements. The focus lies on exploring the potential of various digital signal processing concepts for matching a set of distance measurements with a stored database of the environment.

The candidate should hold a Master’s degree in electrical engineering, computer science,
applied mathematics or any other relevant study with substantial knowledge on data
processing. Research will be conducted both at the Netherlands Defense Academy and at
Delft University of Technology. Leaders of the project are established researchers in the
field of applied mathematics, geomatics and electronics. Contact Prof. P.J. Oonincx, Netherlands Defense Academy, at [pj.oonincx AT nlda.nl]. More information about the Netherlands Defense Academy can be found here http://www.nlda. nl

Men’s Basketball – Rough road contest for the Roos

Men’s Basketball – Rough road contest for the Roos
It was a tough night of character building for the UMKC men’s basketball team, in Thursday night’s game against North Dakota State University (NDSU).

Ranked first in the Summit League, NDSU pummeled UMKC in a 38-point win, 87-49, at the Bison Sports Arena.

PhD in DSP for Digital Terrain Elevation Data-NLDA/Delft
Ph.D. Research Assistantship to Explore the Potential of DSP for Digital Terrain Elevation Data at the Netherlands Defense Academy and Delft University of Technology

With today’s digital signal processing capabilities, it becomes possible to optimize the performance parameters of a navigation system for a particular set of intended applications. The Netherlands Defense Academy and the Delft University of Technology are providing an opportunity of a Ph.D. research assistantship to explore opportunities in the field of Terrain Reference Navigation (TRN) by using digital signal processing techniques that were originally developed for the acquisition and tracking of GPS signals.

The goal of the research is to contribute to the creation of a design framework which can be used to match technology and processing concepts to a particular set of navigation system performance requirements. The focus lies on exploring the potential of various digital signal processing concepts for matching a set of distance measurements with a stored database of the environment.

The candidate should hold a Master’s degree in electrical engineering, computer science,
applied mathematics or any other relevant study with substantial knowledge on data
processing. Research will be conducted both at the Netherlands Defense Academy and at
Delft University of Technology. Leaders of the project are established researchers in the
field of applied mathematics, geomatics and electronics. Contact Prof. P.J. Oonincx, Netherlands Defense Academy, at [pj.oonincx AT nlda.nl]. More information about the Netherlands Defense Academy can be found here http://www.nlda. nl

On Page Optimization Is Essential for Improving Your Rankings

On Page Optimization Is Essential for Improving Your Rankings
When thinking about search engine optimization and where to begin, think about on-page optimization. Although off-page optimization is essential for improving your Google rankings, on-page techniques can be used to build a strong SEO foundation and support good results on Yahoo!, MSN, and other major search portals.

Here are a few SEO tips you can use starting immediately to make your site more search engine friendly and begin enhancing overall rankings on all types of search engines.

Optimize Your Website URL. If you have not yet picked a domain name for your website, do not try to purchase yourkeyword.com. Rather, pick a name that will be memorable and is something you want to build your company or brand around. You do not want to limit your options too severely. That said do try to include your main broad keyword into your URL.

Optimize Your Page Title, H1 and H2 Tags. Create a title that is relevant to your site content and which is no more that 60 characters in length. The reason you want to limit the size of your title is because larger titles cannot be fully displayed on search engine results pages. The reason why the title is so important is because it gives you an opportunity to display your keywords first.

The first headline that appears on your page should include your keywords and be in the form of an H1 tag. The sub text should be presented as an H2 or H3 header. This reinforces the importance of your keywords and indicates prominence oriented around the specific content included on your web page.

Optimize All Your Meta Tags. SEO experts continue to debate the value of meta tags. I can tell you that although meta tags including the title, description, and keywords is less important that it was many years ago, it still plays an important role in optimization.

Today, meta tags are used as a starting point and a reference point for search engine crawlers. Your meta tags need to be aligned to your page content and also include your keywords. This creates consistency, something that search engine spiders yearn for. So make sure to fully develop your description and keywords. I suggest limiting your keywords to no more than twelve and limiting your description to about 150 words maximum.

Optimize your keyword density for Google. Creating a keyword rich content page is essential but do not get carried away. Your keyword density should be around 3 or 4 percent, no more. Some people believe that you could go as high as six percent for Yahoo! optimization but Google seems to like pages that have a smaller keyword density. From my perspective you are better off focusing on the placement of your keywords and the type of emphasis you provide. Remember to focus on H1 and H2 tags and place keywords at the beginning, middle, and end of your web page. In addition you should have an instance of each keyword phrase in bold, italics, and underlined. This variety again reinforces the value of your links.

Keyword Variation. The last piece to focus on is keyword variety. Instead of stuffing your page with the same keyword phrases again and again, use some variety. A great way to do this is to add a word or two before your keyword phrase and after it. Creating variety is important because it shows each search engine that your site has a focus but that you are not intentionally trying to improve your ranking.

The most important part of any search engine optimization campaign is to make your site appear natural, present valuable content, and follow on-page optimization best practices. If you use the above suggestions as a guide, you will be well on your way to a fully optimized website.

Using Google Website Optimizer To Improve Marketing Results?

Using Google Website Optimizer To Improve Marketing Results?
When doing business online, every little bit helps – especially when it comes to conversions. Google website optimizer is a free marketing tool that that I’ve used to help me test like webpages, determining which page can produce a more effective result.

Google optimizer allows you to perform two types of split tests on your website:

1. A/B split testing – Choose 2 pages on your website to split test. 50% of your visitors will see page A. The other 50% will see page B.

2. Multivariate testing – Allows you to break your web page up into blocks and show different content (in different combinations) for each block.

For most marketing professionals and website owners, A/B split testing is easy to understand. For example, you might keep your current home page, page A, and create a new version of it with different introductory text and colors. Google website optimizer will show page A or page B randomly to website browsers. When they buy from your webpage a conversion will be recorded and show you which page the customer saw, A or B.

Multivariate testing seems to confuse a lot of people but is really just a way to test different combinations of content on a page. The end result shows you which combination of content generates the most conversions.

One way to think about multivariate testing by considering that your page is divided into multiple blocks of content. You would us multivariate testing to randomly show different combinations of content for each block and, based on conversions, determine which combination of blocks drove more sales on my website.

After using multivariate testing, Google website optimizer provides you with the “winning combination” of content with actual behavioral data. Once you find the winning campaign, you go live with that page format and content. Then, you start your next test, continually trying to improve conversion rates.

This type of testing, either A/B or multivariate can help you succeed online. The key is to keep testing.

A Memorial to the war that ended all wars

A Memorial to the war that ended all wars
It’s something you might drive by everyday, and see smoke rising from every night, with its eternal flame. Yes, it’s the national World War One memorial, which is possibly better known as the Liberty Memorial.

The picturesque monument is dedicated to the men and women who fought in the War to End All Wars.

PhD in DSP for Digital Terrain Elevation Data-NLDA/Delft
Ph.D. Research Assistantship to Explore the Potential of DSP for Digital Terrain Elevation Data at the Netherlands Defense Academy and Delft University of Technology

With today’s digital signal processing capabilities, it becomes possible to optimize the performance parameters of a navigation system for a particular set of intended applications. The Netherlands Defense Academy and the Delft University of Technology are providing an opportunity of a Ph.D. research assistantship to explore opportunities in the field of Terrain Reference Navigation (TRN) by using digital signal processing techniques that were originally developed for the acquisition and tracking of GPS signals.

The goal of the research is to contribute to the creation of a design framework which can be used to match technology and processing concepts to a particular set of navigation system performance requirements. The focus lies on exploring the potential of various digital signal processing concepts for matching a set of distance measurements with a stored database of the environment.

The candidate should hold a Master’s degree in electrical engineering, computer science,
applied mathematics or any other relevant study with substantial knowledge on data
processing. Research will be conducted both at the Netherlands Defense Academy and at
Delft University of Technology. Leaders of the project are established researchers in the
field of applied mathematics, geomatics and electronics. Contact Prof. P.J. Oonincx, Netherlands Defense Academy, at [pj.oonincx AT nlda.nl]. More information about the Netherlands Defense Academy can be found here http://www.nlda. nl

Good Web Design: Easier Than You Think

Good Web Design: Easier Than You Think
Designing a web site takes more than skill. A new site must offer a web design that is attractive and able to grab the attention of a large number of web site visitors. Web design is more art than science and must engage web site visitors.

Good web design, coupled with programming that optimizes your web site pages for search engines can go a long way in increasing the visibility of your site among search engines and web site browsers.

Here are some helpful tips that when implemented can generate engaging designs that are easily spidered by search engines and improve effectiveness.

1. What does your website communicate?
Your answer to the question will lead you all the way to a good and meaningful web design. For designing a website, one should have a theme. On getting to know more of what the website is about, as a designer or as a Webmaster, it will be easy for you to design accordingly.

2. Plan for your web design before you start.
Planning makes work proceed smoothly. The first step in planning is research. Surf through the web to find sites similar to yours. Do a simple yet meaningful research to understand the pulse of the visitors. On doing so, your first impression will always be the best one.

3. Set your theme and web page layout.
After your research and planning, the vital part of your web design is the collection of assets. The first step will be theme selection and webpage layout. There are personal websites, informational websites, ecommerce websites and service providing websites. It is all in the hands of a designer to select a matching theme to satisfy the need and implement it attractively.

4. Properly designed sitemap and navigation.
Navigation within your website should be clear and easy to follow. Always try to implement normal links for moving around, and avoid animated buttons. The column to the right of the webpage should have good navigational links. The site map is another important and easy way for finding web pages in the website. So, never forget these as these are the principal tips to be remembered while designing.

5. Proper usage of images and text
Web design is all about expressing the ideas of your business to your target audience. For it to be a success, use of correct images for communicating the content of the website to the visitors is a must. The text in the webpage must be search engine optimized and must convey the message clearly.

This post adapted from John Williams of DotCom Infoway, a professional Web Development Services company delivers web design services for all your needs, specializing in complete website development solutions with expertise in Web Application Development services to global clientele.

Next Page »