Is Branding Relevant to Small Business?
Most small business owners/operators would probably agree that developing a stand-out brand identity is an essential part of the marketing package for corporates and large companies.
Many would add that branding is not that important for small businesses and see it as an additional expense on the P&L. So they head off to the local printer or graphic designer who designs a logo (sometimes even for free) that gets used on stationary, vehicles and other marketing materials.
From our experience in this field, we find that most logos designed for small businesses are simply graphic devices and not actually brands in the true sense of the word, and portray little about the value proposition of the company, its personality and service promise.
In actual fact, development of a meaningful, representative and outstanding brand identity is just as critical for small businesses and if properly executed, can actually be a powerful competitive advantage.
For corporates, an effective and powerful brand is a 'must-have', simply in order to be in the game.
It may not necessarily differentiate them but it does at least give them parity with their competitors.
Unfortunately, some corporates still don't understand the value of a great brand and have cruddy logos that are, in short, embarrassing and doing nothing for their businesses.
But there is significant value to the small business that has the vision and commitment to invest in having a professional marketing agency develop a meaningful and appropriate brand identity.
A brand identity is more than just a visual symbol or logo design - it defines your company's unique service promise, builds lasting brand recognition and invokes positive recall.
A strong brand enhances your company's credibility by integrating your brand strategy with consistent graphic application across all market and customer contact points.
Think about this - if most small businesses have weak branding, then by developing a compelling and effective branding package you can position your company ahead of your competitors in the mind of your target market.
A strong and effective brand can definitely be a competitive advantage in the cut throat world of small business.
To develop a strong brand identity, your marketing agency needs to work closely with you to understand the needs of your customers and prospects.
They need to explore suitable graphic elements and branding metaphors for the logo device, develop appropriate colour palettes and provide guidance on how to effectively apply your branding and logo design in specific applications.
Your goal should be to ensure complete brand integrity. If the brand development process is executed correctly then your company will stand out from the mass of small businesses that simply couldn't be bothered, or more likely, don't know any better.
Professionally designed brands, usually most visibly represented by the logo device, tell the market a visual story about your company.
It speaks of attention to detail, professionalism, pride and investment in your company, presents your unique value proposition and helps you to stand out above your mediocre competitors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author: Wayne Attwell is the founder and senior brand strategist at Bold Horizon. He has over 25 years of international marketing and business experience across large corporates and SME's. Initially trained as an industrial designer, Wayne also has an intuitive feel for great design and presentation. For more marketing, brand development and internet marketing information visit www.boldhorizon.co.nz.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Local Internet Advertising Solutions
Local-Internet-Advertising-Solutions
Zenergy Internet Marketing - Local Internet Advertising Solutions
5 Ways To Generate INSTANT Traffic For Your Website
1. Yahoo Answers. This is the most excellent method to create immediate traffic to your internet site. If you have a Yahoo account, you’re right to start. If you don’t, well, it’ll take a minute or two to create one. Go to www.answers.yahoo.com and search for free inquiries regarding the topic that is the center of your internet site. You can utilize the built-in search function. The moment you locate an open inquiry, reply the same to the best of your abilities and put down your site’s link in the field where your source is demanded for. Do this with as many appropriate open queries that you can see. This method will succeed in two ways. Number one, it will create immediate traffic to your internet site because in a matter of 2 years, Yahoo Answers has become one of the web’s premiere authority pages. Second, you will be able to create roundabout traffic because Yahoo Answers’ pages are noticed by search engines in a matter of hours, and if your URL’s there, your internet site will be indexed just as effectively well.
2. Digg it! If you have published new subject, submit the same to www.digg.com. If your content is engaging and stimulating enough, the viewers of the aforementioned internet site can vote for the same by appropriating Digg points. If your subject garners adequate Digg points, it will display prominently well in the site’s pages for millions of persons to browse.
3. Writing statements on blogs. Browse famous blogs connected to the topic of your site. Say something on current blog entries and put your link. Perform this in a way that won’t your statements appear as spam. This tactic will succeed in two ways, as it will create both immediate and secondary traffic for your internet site much like Yahoo Answers.
4. Snitching a location at Technorati. If you have published new piece, tender the same to www.technorati.com. Classify your account under a suitable ticket. Now here’s the stealer: you can come up with whatever ticket you want. It may be a popular, well-searched tag, or it may be a ground-breaking and new tag that no one has ever used previously. New entries constantly emerge at the pinnacle of the page corresponding to the said labels.
5. The intangible my Wikipedia link. Wikipedia has quickly become one of the web’s major source sites. Search for the topic of your own site in the pages of Wikipedia. See if you can put in anything that hasn’t been discussed about the topic. If you do put in anything, place your URL as link. There is no guarantee that your link will stay there for a long time, but it’s always worth the attempt given the incredible results you can acquire from this strategy.
Zenergy Internet Marketing - Your Local Internet Advertising Solution Company
Zenergy Internet Marketing - Local Internet Advertising Solutions
5 Ways To Generate INSTANT Traffic For Your Website
1. Yahoo Answers. This is the most excellent method to create immediate traffic to your internet site. If you have a Yahoo account, you’re right to start. If you don’t, well, it’ll take a minute or two to create one. Go to www.answers.yahoo.com and search for free inquiries regarding the topic that is the center of your internet site. You can utilize the built-in search function. The moment you locate an open inquiry, reply the same to the best of your abilities and put down your site’s link in the field where your source is demanded for. Do this with as many appropriate open queries that you can see. This method will succeed in two ways. Number one, it will create immediate traffic to your internet site because in a matter of 2 years, Yahoo Answers has become one of the web’s premiere authority pages. Second, you will be able to create roundabout traffic because Yahoo Answers’ pages are noticed by search engines in a matter of hours, and if your URL’s there, your internet site will be indexed just as effectively well.
2. Digg it! If you have published new subject, submit the same to www.digg.com. If your content is engaging and stimulating enough, the viewers of the aforementioned internet site can vote for the same by appropriating Digg points. If your subject garners adequate Digg points, it will display prominently well in the site’s pages for millions of persons to browse.
3. Writing statements on blogs. Browse famous blogs connected to the topic of your site. Say something on current blog entries and put your link. Perform this in a way that won’t your statements appear as spam. This tactic will succeed in two ways, as it will create both immediate and secondary traffic for your internet site much like Yahoo Answers.
4. Snitching a location at Technorati. If you have published new piece, tender the same to www.technorati.com. Classify your account under a suitable ticket. Now here’s the stealer: you can come up with whatever ticket you want. It may be a popular, well-searched tag, or it may be a ground-breaking and new tag that no one has ever used previously. New entries constantly emerge at the pinnacle of the page corresponding to the said labels.
5. The intangible my Wikipedia link. Wikipedia has quickly become one of the web’s major source sites. Search for the topic of your own site in the pages of Wikipedia. See if you can put in anything that hasn’t been discussed about the topic. If you do put in anything, place your URL as link. There is no guarantee that your link will stay there for a long time, but it’s always worth the attempt given the incredible results you can acquire from this strategy.
Zenergy Internet Marketing - Your Local Internet Advertising Solution Company
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Steps to Building Links
Zenergy Internet Marketing - Internet Advertising
"Steps To Building Links"
In a recent discussion with a client, I explained the importance of link building for search engine optimization, I asked a few peers to share how they build links to their website. Here is a brief overview of what I got back.
In this brief blog, I will explain how I go about building links.
Link building is not easy. And it's not that intuitive until you do it. There are also many different techniques and methods that will have varied results. Below is how I recommend clients start and master link building.
I tell people that there are 4 Levels of Link Building Excellence. And it usually takes 4 years to master it - just like high school:
1st Year. Links You Can Build Yourself That Require Little Time Investment
Before I get into this, I'd like to stress that you should have a really good keyword strategy and make sure you've optimized each page on your site around a different keyword phrase. Any link you're building should be designed to help a specific page rank high in the search engines for a specific keyword.
That said, the first set of links that every business should get are the ones that don't require anyone else's help. There are lots of business directories out there where you can just submit your URL, company name and a description of your business. Some of them require approval. Some of them require a fee. Yahoo's directory, Joe Ant, Aboutus.org are some of the ones you should do right away.
In this class of Level I links, there are also many social media sites where you can simply build links to your site. Most of these no longer pass SEO credit, but they're still good links to get, assuming your target audience visits the site or these sites rank high for your keywords already.
It's arguable that you should hire someone to do (or start) this stuff for you. It's low level work that generates low level returns. Just make sure that you don't hire a firm that will get you 2,000 links for $1,000 dollars. If it's too good to be true, it is.
2nd Year: Links You Build Yourself that Require Effort
Before I get into this level, I'd like to stress that launching a business blog should be done before doing this. Without having a blog on your site with lots of good well optimized content, you don't really have anything to link to.
That said, there are two very common link building techniques that work well that don't require you to be a "thought leader". Yet. These activities require a bit more time investment and a small financial investment. They are article marketing and press release optimization. With both of these methods, you have to create relevant content that will appeal to your market. So, it requires more time than Level I. Also, the process of getting your articles syndicated and your press releases submitted and picked up - takes effort. You might consider hiring a wired pr firm or a strong seo firm (Like Zenergy Internet Marketing) to do some of this stuff for you.
If done correctly, both of these methods can significantly increase the links to your site. Also, if you write your articles and press releases with a keyword strategy in mind, and with links that support your keyword strategy, it can significantly raise your rankings for specific keyword terms. Run your press releases and your articles through press release grader to determine whether they're going to help.
11th Grade: Links You Network For that Require a Significant Time Investment
This part of link building is kind of like sales. Cold calling can be done effectively with persistence. But, networking, getting referrals, giving first, the law of attraction, etc is a better way of getting new clients.
Link building is the same way. If you're more of a cold caller type, and there are lots of potential places you can get a link, you might consider just creating a list of webmasters and asking them for a link.
If you're a natural networking junkie and you're in this for the long haul, I'd recommend being a bit more patient. Apply your persistence and spend your time building relationships.
No matter what route you take, the goal of this level is to make yourself visible among people interested in the same topics as you. This process is a bit self promotional. But, you must promote yourself in a way that you're adding value. You master this level by acting like a resource for people in your industry. How do you do this? It's all about networking and building meaningful relationships. The first step is reading other people's blogs. Then, commenting on them. Then, eventually starting a relationship where you're communicating 1 on 1 with them. I recommend you take the leap from reader to 1:1 with a blogger, by pointing them in the direction of other people's content that might be interesting to them. In the non marketing world, this usually happens through email. In the marketing world, this usually happens through Twitter. If you're techy, this might happen through Delicious. If you use StumbleUpon or Digg, those are great platforms to share things with peers. Even google reader lets you do this kind of networking. But, it can certainly happen through any social networking platform or system that enables 1:1 communication.
From a link building perspective, the ultimate goal of this level is to get invited to write a guest article for other people's blogs or website.
4th year: Links Other People Give You Because You Create Remarkable Content.
This level is like the last month or two in high school when you've already passed mid terms and you've been accepted to the college of your choice. You've done the hard work already. Now, it's time to go to parties and enjoy being the care free big man on campus.
You don't necessarily halt the activities above. But, you spend more of your time just creating remarkable content. (And some link bait.)
At Zenergy, I am in the process of doing seminars and workshops. Writing content to be used for my clients to help them spread their word.
None of this happens overnight, so be patient.
Lessons learned for Internet Advertising.
"Steps To Building Links"
In a recent discussion with a client, I explained the importance of link building for search engine optimization, I asked a few peers to share how they build links to their website. Here is a brief overview of what I got back.
In this brief blog, I will explain how I go about building links.
Link building is not easy. And it's not that intuitive until you do it. There are also many different techniques and methods that will have varied results. Below is how I recommend clients start and master link building.
I tell people that there are 4 Levels of Link Building Excellence. And it usually takes 4 years to master it - just like high school:
1st Year. Links You Can Build Yourself That Require Little Time Investment
Before I get into this, I'd like to stress that you should have a really good keyword strategy and make sure you've optimized each page on your site around a different keyword phrase. Any link you're building should be designed to help a specific page rank high in the search engines for a specific keyword.
That said, the first set of links that every business should get are the ones that don't require anyone else's help. There are lots of business directories out there where you can just submit your URL, company name and a description of your business. Some of them require approval. Some of them require a fee. Yahoo's directory, Joe Ant, Aboutus.org are some of the ones you should do right away.
In this class of Level I links, there are also many social media sites where you can simply build links to your site. Most of these no longer pass SEO credit, but they're still good links to get, assuming your target audience visits the site or these sites rank high for your keywords already.
It's arguable that you should hire someone to do (or start) this stuff for you. It's low level work that generates low level returns. Just make sure that you don't hire a firm that will get you 2,000 links for $1,000 dollars. If it's too good to be true, it is.
2nd Year: Links You Build Yourself that Require Effort
Before I get into this level, I'd like to stress that launching a business blog should be done before doing this. Without having a blog on your site with lots of good well optimized content, you don't really have anything to link to.
That said, there are two very common link building techniques that work well that don't require you to be a "thought leader". Yet. These activities require a bit more time investment and a small financial investment. They are article marketing and press release optimization. With both of these methods, you have to create relevant content that will appeal to your market. So, it requires more time than Level I. Also, the process of getting your articles syndicated and your press releases submitted and picked up - takes effort. You might consider hiring a wired pr firm or a strong seo firm (Like Zenergy Internet Marketing) to do some of this stuff for you.
If done correctly, both of these methods can significantly increase the links to your site. Also, if you write your articles and press releases with a keyword strategy in mind, and with links that support your keyword strategy, it can significantly raise your rankings for specific keyword terms. Run your press releases and your articles through press release grader to determine whether they're going to help.
11th Grade: Links You Network For that Require a Significant Time Investment
This part of link building is kind of like sales. Cold calling can be done effectively with persistence. But, networking, getting referrals, giving first, the law of attraction, etc is a better way of getting new clients.
Link building is the same way. If you're more of a cold caller type, and there are lots of potential places you can get a link, you might consider just creating a list of webmasters and asking them for a link.
If you're a natural networking junkie and you're in this for the long haul, I'd recommend being a bit more patient. Apply your persistence and spend your time building relationships.
No matter what route you take, the goal of this level is to make yourself visible among people interested in the same topics as you. This process is a bit self promotional. But, you must promote yourself in a way that you're adding value. You master this level by acting like a resource for people in your industry. How do you do this? It's all about networking and building meaningful relationships. The first step is reading other people's blogs. Then, commenting on them. Then, eventually starting a relationship where you're communicating 1 on 1 with them. I recommend you take the leap from reader to 1:1 with a blogger, by pointing them in the direction of other people's content that might be interesting to them. In the non marketing world, this usually happens through email. In the marketing world, this usually happens through Twitter. If you're techy, this might happen through Delicious. If you use StumbleUpon or Digg, those are great platforms to share things with peers. Even google reader lets you do this kind of networking. But, it can certainly happen through any social networking platform or system that enables 1:1 communication.
From a link building perspective, the ultimate goal of this level is to get invited to write a guest article for other people's blogs or website.
4th year: Links Other People Give You Because You Create Remarkable Content.
This level is like the last month or two in high school when you've already passed mid terms and you've been accepted to the college of your choice. You've done the hard work already. Now, it's time to go to parties and enjoy being the care free big man on campus.
You don't necessarily halt the activities above. But, you spend more of your time just creating remarkable content. (And some link bait.)
At Zenergy, I am in the process of doing seminars and workshops. Writing content to be used for my clients to help them spread their word.
None of this happens overnight, so be patient.
Lessons learned for Internet Advertising.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Online Reputation
Building a strong online presence for your business requires playing both offense and defense. We at Zenergy Internet Marketing boast an array of online reputation management (ORM) tools and services to help you beat the competition by ensuring a strong and positive presence in the search engines.
Our approach can be two a fold punch. We have the capabilities to mobilize a massive effort to promote a positive online presence for your company. Or conversely, we can engage in “damage control” to combat any negative press, blogs, or reviews about your brand which might pop up in search engine queries.
Why is online brand reputation management crucial?
The answer is simple: your brand’s online persona is your first impression to potential leads or clients. And first impressions count a lot in cyberspace. Study after study demonstrates that web surfers have notoriously short attention spans. If you fail to capture someone’s attention – or, worse, if you’re pegged with a negative association off the bat – odds are you won’t get a second chance to make your case.
But what if you operate a top shelf website and/or boast a thriving brick and mortar presence? Surely these all the positive reviews will shine through and combat the negatives engendered by poor search engine reputation management (SERM), right? In theory, it should. But the reality is that your Internet Brand reputation management matters. The statistics on this subject are staggering. An exhaustive 2007 study commissioned by the Ponemon Institute found that over 50% of employers use the web to check out applicants. Another cross-industry study showed that more than 33% of clients will research prospective partners using simple Google and Yahoo searches – and this percentage seems to be on the rise. Furthermore, data shows that Internet first impressions may be extremely sticky. In other words, once your company or brand has been tainted with negative associations via the search engines, your online reputation management strategy may be hobbled, perhaps fatally.
The good news is that you can draw on Zenergy Internet Marketing's experience with all manners of brand reputation management challenges. We deliver competent, honest, time-tested solutions, and we’ll custom tailor our approach to make sure you get the maximum visibility for your efforts. Whether you’re scrambling to squelch quick moving and potentially scandalous online publicity by a rogue blogger or you’re desperately vying for visibility in a competitive search sector, we’ll leverage our strengths to deliver results. Our client roster includes some of the biggest names in a vast array of industries, and yet we also boast a touch that’s subtle and precise enough to score victories for fledgling or niche businesses.
“Okay,” you may be thinking, “that kind of strategy sounds intuitively right. But how does Zenergy Internet Marketing spin damage control? What tactics does Zenergy Internet Marketing employ to resurrect damaged reputations?”
What WE can do for YOU
Think of international online reputation management as architecture. An architect doesn’t simply throw up slabs of material and hope to end up with a solid building that can withstand the elements. They begin by crafting a blueprint – a diagram – that’s based intimately on the needs of the client and the demands of the landscape. Only once that blueprint checks out on paper do they order the concrete mix. Analogously, our online reputation management approach begins with a deep examination of your end goals (financial and otherwise) as well as a survey of the “search engine landscape” on which you’ll be competing. Only then do we design and build (using our aforementioned technology) an approach to make you visible.
Combating Negative Results
Our most potent defensive technique involves ranking positive search engine results to push down the rankings of your negative results. Let’s say, for instance, that a dissatisfied customer has posted a ranting review of your service on a blog, and now this blog comes up on Google’s top 20 results whenever someone searches your company’s name. We have the capability to “blow out” that negative review from Google’s top 20 by creating original positive content and promoting existing positive content about your company to outrank the bad post. Of course, such an approach doesn’t always work – or it may be prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, we have a wide and varied slate of online reputation management strategies, and we can also draw upon our rich experiences with all manner of international online reputation management conundrums.
Pro-actively Promoting Your Brand and Image
With all that being said, you may still be wondering how exactly our online reputation management operation works. Let’s take an example. Say you’re yearning to make a newly-launched web platform for an established “real world” brand visible on the Internet. In that case, we would roll out a full court press to optimize for key terms relating to your business. We could draw upon any number of tools in our toolbox, including: state of the art bid management software to simplify the process of looking at and manipulating your keywords; scalability capabilities to quickly canvas multiple search engines (we’ve achieved nearly 1,000,000 “Top Ten” keyword placements for our clients); blog creation to get your side of the story out there; easy-to-understand and regularly delivered campaign reporting; a host of linking strategies; profile developments; and much more.
But for all our top tier corporate reputation management technology, we pride ourselves most on our customer care. The Internet is still a kind of “wild west,” and the web’s seemingly ever-changing business environment can intimidate even the most adventurous corporate cowboys. That’s why we take the time to explain our strategies and tactics at every point along the way – and why we solicit feedback from our clients so often. No Internet reputation management battle plan can succeed in a vacuum. Indeed, search engine reputation management executed without a clear purpose in mind can actually do more harm than good.
To learn more about how Zenergy Internet Marketing can protect you from internet slander and internet defamation, please contact us through our site or via phone at 707.287.5222
Our approach can be two a fold punch. We have the capabilities to mobilize a massive effort to promote a positive online presence for your company. Or conversely, we can engage in “damage control” to combat any negative press, blogs, or reviews about your brand which might pop up in search engine queries.
Why is online brand reputation management crucial?
The answer is simple: your brand’s online persona is your first impression to potential leads or clients. And first impressions count a lot in cyberspace. Study after study demonstrates that web surfers have notoriously short attention spans. If you fail to capture someone’s attention – or, worse, if you’re pegged with a negative association off the bat – odds are you won’t get a second chance to make your case.
But what if you operate a top shelf website and/or boast a thriving brick and mortar presence? Surely these all the positive reviews will shine through and combat the negatives engendered by poor search engine reputation management (SERM), right? In theory, it should. But the reality is that your Internet Brand reputation management matters. The statistics on this subject are staggering. An exhaustive 2007 study commissioned by the Ponemon Institute found that over 50% of employers use the web to check out applicants. Another cross-industry study showed that more than 33% of clients will research prospective partners using simple Google and Yahoo searches – and this percentage seems to be on the rise. Furthermore, data shows that Internet first impressions may be extremely sticky. In other words, once your company or brand has been tainted with negative associations via the search engines, your online reputation management strategy may be hobbled, perhaps fatally.
The good news is that you can draw on Zenergy Internet Marketing's experience with all manners of brand reputation management challenges. We deliver competent, honest, time-tested solutions, and we’ll custom tailor our approach to make sure you get the maximum visibility for your efforts. Whether you’re scrambling to squelch quick moving and potentially scandalous online publicity by a rogue blogger or you’re desperately vying for visibility in a competitive search sector, we’ll leverage our strengths to deliver results. Our client roster includes some of the biggest names in a vast array of industries, and yet we also boast a touch that’s subtle and precise enough to score victories for fledgling or niche businesses.
“Okay,” you may be thinking, “that kind of strategy sounds intuitively right. But how does Zenergy Internet Marketing spin damage control? What tactics does Zenergy Internet Marketing employ to resurrect damaged reputations?”
What WE can do for YOU
Think of international online reputation management as architecture. An architect doesn’t simply throw up slabs of material and hope to end up with a solid building that can withstand the elements. They begin by crafting a blueprint – a diagram – that’s based intimately on the needs of the client and the demands of the landscape. Only once that blueprint checks out on paper do they order the concrete mix. Analogously, our online reputation management approach begins with a deep examination of your end goals (financial and otherwise) as well as a survey of the “search engine landscape” on which you’ll be competing. Only then do we design and build (using our aforementioned technology) an approach to make you visible.
Combating Negative Results
Our most potent defensive technique involves ranking positive search engine results to push down the rankings of your negative results. Let’s say, for instance, that a dissatisfied customer has posted a ranting review of your service on a blog, and now this blog comes up on Google’s top 20 results whenever someone searches your company’s name. We have the capability to “blow out” that negative review from Google’s top 20 by creating original positive content and promoting existing positive content about your company to outrank the bad post. Of course, such an approach doesn’t always work – or it may be prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, we have a wide and varied slate of online reputation management strategies, and we can also draw upon our rich experiences with all manner of international online reputation management conundrums.
Pro-actively Promoting Your Brand and Image
With all that being said, you may still be wondering how exactly our online reputation management operation works. Let’s take an example. Say you’re yearning to make a newly-launched web platform for an established “real world” brand visible on the Internet. In that case, we would roll out a full court press to optimize for key terms relating to your business. We could draw upon any number of tools in our toolbox, including: state of the art bid management software to simplify the process of looking at and manipulating your keywords; scalability capabilities to quickly canvas multiple search engines (we’ve achieved nearly 1,000,000 “Top Ten” keyword placements for our clients); blog creation to get your side of the story out there; easy-to-understand and regularly delivered campaign reporting; a host of linking strategies; profile developments; and much more.
But for all our top tier corporate reputation management technology, we pride ourselves most on our customer care. The Internet is still a kind of “wild west,” and the web’s seemingly ever-changing business environment can intimidate even the most adventurous corporate cowboys. That’s why we take the time to explain our strategies and tactics at every point along the way – and why we solicit feedback from our clients so often. No Internet reputation management battle plan can succeed in a vacuum. Indeed, search engine reputation management executed without a clear purpose in mind can actually do more harm than good.
To learn more about how Zenergy Internet Marketing can protect you from internet slander and internet defamation, please contact us through our site or via phone at 707.287.5222
Email Marketing
EMAIL MARKETING
Email Marketing and Online Survey are the tools you need to help grow your business. They're affordable. They don't take a lot of time to use. And they're effective. In fact, more than 200,000 businesses use Constant Contact® to drive their success because they know using our tools to communicate with their current customers generates more referrals, customer loyalty, and repeat business.
Email Marketing lets you connect and get relevant messages out to people who want to hear from you. Online Survey helps them tell you what they really think about your products, services, and communications—giving you new ideas and feedback to better understand and meet their needs.
The insights you'll get with Online Survey help you focus on how to meet customer needs—and deliver what they want. And with Email Marketing, you can deliver relevant, professional-looking email campaigns that get opened, measured and acted on.
* Create professional email campaigns and online surveys quickly and easily; choose from more than 200 easy-to-use newsletter templates and 40 survey templates.
* Get survey feedback and measure email campaign results in real time with instant tracking and reporting—and uncover revealing trends and patterns.
* Use online polls to keep your website fresh and your visitors coming back.
* Manage your email and survey lists, and reporting—all in one place with your integrated Constant Contact account.
* Create targeted email lists based on survey response, and follow up with relevant email communications.
* Get help every step of the way with our online educational resources and award-winning, free, and unlimited customer support.
Open the lines of communications with your customers or members. Build strong, lasting relationships with them. Do it all with Email Marketing and Online Survey by Constant Contact today!
Pay Per Click Or SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Problems with the current Pay Per Click Management Industry
PPC management companies need to make a change. There is a very small relationship between amount of advertising spend you invest on a campaign and amount of work needed to run the most efficient and ROI producing search campaign. But if this is widely known, then why on earth are all of the companies charging this way? The answer is an old way of doing business. Spend more - Make More. Ad agencies are used to making commissions. The more a client spends, the more the make.
The Zenergy Internet Marketing difference
Zenergy Internet Marketing has taken a bold step to start the migration of how companies pay for PPC Search Engine Management. We are now offering a "NO" set up fee and no commission based platform. Just A $125 dollar Flat Rate.
The answers are below:
1. Know that we will only spend dollars that make you money, not us
2. We will shave all the fat from your account instantly, instead of keeping it there to get paid.
3. Know that when we suggest you spend more, it’s not for our benefit
4. Rest easy knowing that everything that can be done is being done despite budget size.
5. We are available to you for regular communication
6. Our core competency is Internet Marketing
7. We are transparent
8. We are consultants, not employees. (proactive VS Reactive)
Zenergy Internet Marketing is not a "set it and forget it" Internet Marketing Agency. We are not a volume-driven powerhouse of mediocre results and sub-par service. We are highly skilled and experienced Pay Per Click Professionals. We don't just send you an automated report without an explanation; we work with you to make incremental increases in ROI every month.
PPC management companies need to make a change. There is a very small relationship between amount of advertising spend you invest on a campaign and amount of work needed to run the most efficient and ROI producing search campaign. But if this is widely known, then why on earth are all of the companies charging this way? The answer is an old way of doing business. Spend more - Make More. Ad agencies are used to making commissions. The more a client spends, the more the make.
The Zenergy Internet Marketing difference
Zenergy Internet Marketing has taken a bold step to start the migration of how companies pay for PPC Search Engine Management. We are now offering a "NO" set up fee and no commission based platform. Just A $125 dollar Flat Rate.
The answers are below:
1. Know that we will only spend dollars that make you money, not us
2. We will shave all the fat from your account instantly, instead of keeping it there to get paid.
3. Know that when we suggest you spend more, it’s not for our benefit
4. Rest easy knowing that everything that can be done is being done despite budget size.
5. We are available to you for regular communication
6. Our core competency is Internet Marketing
7. We are transparent
8. We are consultants, not employees. (proactive VS Reactive)
Zenergy Internet Marketing is not a "set it and forget it" Internet Marketing Agency. We are not a volume-driven powerhouse of mediocre results and sub-par service. We are highly skilled and experienced Pay Per Click Professionals. We don't just send you an automated report without an explanation; we work with you to make incremental increases in ROI every month.
Search Engine Optimization
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization improves a website's placement on search engines like google. Using methods that search engines employ to rank a page, a search engine optimization company can make your website appear on the very first or second page of a search engine's listings for industry relevant keywords.
Good search engine optimization combines processes, features, additions and ongoing changes to a website in order to achieve top rankings in the major search engines. Google, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, and Ask all look for different ranking criteria. A good Search Engine Optimization firm can make your site friendly to all of these search engines at once.
Why You Need Organic Search Engine Optimization
Search engine traffic has been increasing at an even more rapid rate than Internet usage. According to Jupiter Media Metrix, 80 percent of Internet users start off in search engines before they buy a product or service online. Not appearing in the top listings for your specific keywords can mean the difference between the success or failure of your online business.
How Can Zenergy Internet Marketing Help?
All Of Our Packages Include:
* Competitive analysis
* Keyword and marketplace research
* Analysis of your written content
* Title tag and meta keyword optimization
* HTML code optimization
* Database rewrites with Spider-friendly site architecture
* Press releases (optional service)
* XML sitemap creation and implementation
* Robots.txt creation and implementation
* Blog Syndications
* Article Syndications
* Enhanced Directory Submissions
* Local Directory Submissions (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and many more)
* Ongoing Consulting Time
* Keyword Ranking Report
Search Engine Optimization improves a website's placement on search engines like google. Using methods that search engines employ to rank a page, a search engine optimization company can make your website appear on the very first or second page of a search engine's listings for industry relevant keywords.
Good search engine optimization combines processes, features, additions and ongoing changes to a website in order to achieve top rankings in the major search engines. Google, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, and Ask all look for different ranking criteria. A good Search Engine Optimization firm can make your site friendly to all of these search engines at once.
Why You Need Organic Search Engine Optimization
Search engine traffic has been increasing at an even more rapid rate than Internet usage. According to Jupiter Media Metrix, 80 percent of Internet users start off in search engines before they buy a product or service online. Not appearing in the top listings for your specific keywords can mean the difference between the success or failure of your online business.
How Can Zenergy Internet Marketing Help?
All Of Our Packages Include:
* Competitive analysis
* Keyword and marketplace research
* Analysis of your written content
* Title tag and meta keyword optimization
* HTML code optimization
* Database rewrites with Spider-friendly site architecture
* Press releases (optional service)
* XML sitemap creation and implementation
* Robots.txt creation and implementation
* Blog Syndications
* Article Syndications
* Enhanced Directory Submissions
* Local Directory Submissions (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and many more)
* Ongoing Consulting Time
* Keyword Ranking Report
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Total Track
ReachLocal
WOODLAND HILLS, CA--(Marketwire - April 15, 2008) - ReachLocal, Inc. (http://www.reachlocal.com/) announced today the release of its automated TotalTrack ™ product that gives local businesses a comprehensive view into the effectiveness of their offline and online marketing expenditures in real time. TotalTrack is a powerful extension of ReachLocal's existing patent-pending, reverse-proxy tracking solution that has been measuring and optimizing thousands of Internet search advertising campaigns on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Superpages.com for local businesses across the United States and Australia.
According to a recent survey by the The Velos Group and Sales Lead Management Association, over 82 percent of small businesses do not track their return on investment for their lead-generating sources. The inability to track ROI for marketing campaigns was listed as the number one concern of the respondents. TotalTrack automates this process by offering advertisers easy-to-use call tracking, including call recording, and web conversion functionality that highlights which offline and online advertising campaigns are offering the best ROI. By consolidating these reports into a single interface, the ReachLocal solution allows advertisers to view and analyze the use of their marketing dollars simply and affordably.
"Local businesses do not have large marketing budgets, so each dollar matters," said Zorik Gordon, ReachLocal's Chief Executive Officer. "In this economic climate they especially need to know if a single lead is costing them one dollar or one hundred dollars. TotalTrack empowers them to make the best choices to achieve the most profitable return on their investment."
TotalTrack launches with existing ReachLocal customers ranging from automobile dealerships tracking banner advertising campaigns to auto repair shops measuring the ROI on their Yellow Page print spend. TotalTrack monitors a marketing campaign's ability to deliver customers over a wide range of offline and online media, including newspapers, broadcast/cable television, Yellow Page directories, direct mail, search engines, banner ads, Internet Yellow Pages and emails without having to employ a team of marketing analysts to do so.
"Technology has finally solved what has always been a time-consuming, inaccurate, or unachievable process of determining which marketing campaign generated which sale," said Michael Kline, ReachLocal's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer. "Small businesses simply do not have the time or resources to purchase tracking phone numbers and contact a Web site developer to put those tracking phone numbers and tracking code on their Web site. TotalTrack is a dynamic product that frees up advertisers to concentrate on running their business."
Earlier this year, ReachLocal solidified its ongoing relationship with Google by announcing a strategic alliance as an authorized reseller of Google's AdWords™ advertising program. ReachLocal makes available to advertisers 98 percent of the search engine landscape via its strategic alliances with Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Superpages.com and others.
About ReachLocal, Inc.
ReachLocal, Inc. (http://www.reachlocal.com/) is a leading provider of local online marketing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The Company's mission is to become the digital advertising agency of record for these companies, delivering the same broad set of online marketing functions currently only afforded to large corporations on a national basis. ReachLocal pioneered the local search engine marketing industry by bringing together a patent-pending technology with a strong partnership model and a proprietary national sales force. The result is a simple, scalable and affordable platform local businesses need to create, maintain, track and analyze their Internet search advertising campaigns. ReachLocal makes available to advertisers 98 percent of the search engine landscape through strategic alliances with Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Superpages.com and others. Founded in 2004, ReachLocal is a privately held corporation led by Zorik Gordon, its Chief Executive Officer. The company is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California.
WOODLAND HILLS, CA--(Marketwire - April 15, 2008) - ReachLocal, Inc. (http://www.reachlocal.com/) announced today the release of its automated TotalTrack ™ product that gives local businesses a comprehensive view into the effectiveness of their offline and online marketing expenditures in real time. TotalTrack is a powerful extension of ReachLocal's existing patent-pending, reverse-proxy tracking solution that has been measuring and optimizing thousands of Internet search advertising campaigns on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Superpages.com for local businesses across the United States and Australia.
According to a recent survey by the The Velos Group and Sales Lead Management Association, over 82 percent of small businesses do not track their return on investment for their lead-generating sources. The inability to track ROI for marketing campaigns was listed as the number one concern of the respondents. TotalTrack automates this process by offering advertisers easy-to-use call tracking, including call recording, and web conversion functionality that highlights which offline and online advertising campaigns are offering the best ROI. By consolidating these reports into a single interface, the ReachLocal solution allows advertisers to view and analyze the use of their marketing dollars simply and affordably.
"Local businesses do not have large marketing budgets, so each dollar matters," said Zorik Gordon, ReachLocal's Chief Executive Officer. "In this economic climate they especially need to know if a single lead is costing them one dollar or one hundred dollars. TotalTrack empowers them to make the best choices to achieve the most profitable return on their investment."
TotalTrack launches with existing ReachLocal customers ranging from automobile dealerships tracking banner advertising campaigns to auto repair shops measuring the ROI on their Yellow Page print spend. TotalTrack monitors a marketing campaign's ability to deliver customers over a wide range of offline and online media, including newspapers, broadcast/cable television, Yellow Page directories, direct mail, search engines, banner ads, Internet Yellow Pages and emails without having to employ a team of marketing analysts to do so.
"Technology has finally solved what has always been a time-consuming, inaccurate, or unachievable process of determining which marketing campaign generated which sale," said Michael Kline, ReachLocal's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer. "Small businesses simply do not have the time or resources to purchase tracking phone numbers and contact a Web site developer to put those tracking phone numbers and tracking code on their Web site. TotalTrack is a dynamic product that frees up advertisers to concentrate on running their business."
Earlier this year, ReachLocal solidified its ongoing relationship with Google by announcing a strategic alliance as an authorized reseller of Google's AdWords™ advertising program. ReachLocal makes available to advertisers 98 percent of the search engine landscape via its strategic alliances with Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Superpages.com and others.
About ReachLocal, Inc.
ReachLocal, Inc. (http://www.reachlocal.com/) is a leading provider of local online marketing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The Company's mission is to become the digital advertising agency of record for these companies, delivering the same broad set of online marketing functions currently only afforded to large corporations on a national basis. ReachLocal pioneered the local search engine marketing industry by bringing together a patent-pending technology with a strong partnership model and a proprietary national sales force. The result is a simple, scalable and affordable platform local businesses need to create, maintain, track and analyze their Internet search advertising campaigns. ReachLocal makes available to advertisers 98 percent of the search engine landscape through strategic alliances with Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Superpages.com and others. Founded in 2004, ReachLocal is a privately held corporation led by Zorik Gordon, its Chief Executive Officer. The company is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California.
Friday, October 3, 2008
The Four Best Human Reviewed Internet Directories
Even after decades of advancement in computer technology, there are some tasks that humans are just superior at doing. One of those things is evaluating the quality of a website. The most dominant search engines are all computer based today because of the vast pace at which content is published online. However, this was not always the case. Back in the 1990's when the Internet was just a small set of interconnected tubes [smile] a number of websites tried using people to review and list websites in a directory and use that directory to power search results. The idea was that humans could do a better job of deciding if a website was good or not and should be included in search results.
In fact, that is still true today. A human can do a much better job than Google of looking at a website and deciding if the content is good and it is a quality website. Computerized search engines have won the search engine battle, because to review all of the websites on the Internet using people would be cost prohibitive and time consuming given the explosion of content on the web. We prefer search engines that are always including new content that was just published and that search nearly all of the web. But human reviewed directories still do a good job of only including good websites, even if they only include a small percentage of the overall Internet. And because of this, the computerized search engines look at the human reviewed directories as a list of websites that are more trustworthy than other websites.
Getting your company listed in a human reviewed directory is sort of like getting into a good college. It doesn't mean you are smart, but it means a human looked at your application and thought you are smart. It is also somewhat expensive and time consuming. But, just like a good college on your resume sends a positive message to potential employers, getting listed in a human reviewed directory sends a positive message to the search engines.
Here are four of the better human reviewed directories, along with a bit of info on how to use them.
Four Directories That Should Include Your Company
1. DMOZ - The name for DMOZ.org comes from directory.mozilla.org, the original name/location of the directory. Because it is all volunteer run, it can take a long time (months, sometimes never) for them to act upon your request to get listed. Only sites that have some history to them and decent content get listed. Here are the instructions for suggesting your website for listing in DMOZ.
2. Yahoo Directory - Like DMOZ, the Yahoo Directory started as a way to use humans to screen websites for quality and use those as part of search results. The good news about Yahoo is that they act pretty fast on your submission (a week). The bad news is that it costs you $299/year. Here is information about listing your website in the Yahoo Directory.
3. Business.com Directory - The Business.com directory is another human reviewed directory. Like Yahoo, they will review your website quickly, but they also charge $199 for the first year and $149 annually after that. Here is information about listing your website in the Business.com directory.
4. ZoomInfo - ZoomInfo is a newer website than the other three. It is also not really a completely human reviewed directory, but it does have a verification method to edit your company listing and it uses trustworthy sources (other than your own website) to build your company profile. Also unlike the other three that really just have a link to your company, ZoomInfo has a full profile on your company, so that page sometimes shows up in search results. The other great news is that it is free. Just got to ZoomInfo, search for your company name, click on the result, and on the page that shows your company name and website, click the edit link. You'll have to create an account and verify through email you work at the company. If your company is not listed, they don't have a great way to get it listed, but you can use this form to make a request.
In fact, that is still true today. A human can do a much better job than Google of looking at a website and deciding if the content is good and it is a quality website. Computerized search engines have won the search engine battle, because to review all of the websites on the Internet using people would be cost prohibitive and time consuming given the explosion of content on the web. We prefer search engines that are always including new content that was just published and that search nearly all of the web. But human reviewed directories still do a good job of only including good websites, even if they only include a small percentage of the overall Internet. And because of this, the computerized search engines look at the human reviewed directories as a list of websites that are more trustworthy than other websites.
Getting your company listed in a human reviewed directory is sort of like getting into a good college. It doesn't mean you are smart, but it means a human looked at your application and thought you are smart. It is also somewhat expensive and time consuming. But, just like a good college on your resume sends a positive message to potential employers, getting listed in a human reviewed directory sends a positive message to the search engines.
Here are four of the better human reviewed directories, along with a bit of info on how to use them.
Four Directories That Should Include Your Company
1. DMOZ - The name for DMOZ.org comes from directory.mozilla.org, the original name/location of the directory. Because it is all volunteer run, it can take a long time (months, sometimes never) for them to act upon your request to get listed. Only sites that have some history to them and decent content get listed. Here are the instructions for suggesting your website for listing in DMOZ.
2. Yahoo Directory - Like DMOZ, the Yahoo Directory started as a way to use humans to screen websites for quality and use those as part of search results. The good news about Yahoo is that they act pretty fast on your submission (a week). The bad news is that it costs you $299/year. Here is information about listing your website in the Yahoo Directory.
3. Business.com Directory - The Business.com directory is another human reviewed directory. Like Yahoo, they will review your website quickly, but they also charge $199 for the first year and $149 annually after that. Here is information about listing your website in the Business.com directory.
4. ZoomInfo - ZoomInfo is a newer website than the other three. It is also not really a completely human reviewed directory, but it does have a verification method to edit your company listing and it uses trustworthy sources (other than your own website) to build your company profile. Also unlike the other three that really just have a link to your company, ZoomInfo has a full profile on your company, so that page sometimes shows up in search results. The other great news is that it is free. Just got to ZoomInfo, search for your company name, click on the result, and on the page that shows your company name and website, click the edit link. You'll have to create an account and verify through email you work at the company. If your company is not listed, they don't have a great way to get it listed, but you can use this form to make a request.
SEO For Business - The Importance of Meta Data
Every time I start off a Search Engine Optimization campaign with a client we look at the On page structure of the site. As part of this analysis process, one area that we look at is the “meta-data” elements of the site. This concept is often new to the business owners I talk to, so I thought it’d be helpful to provide a simple description of what it is and why it’s important. As is the case with prior articles in this series, if you’re an uber-techie and already gauk at all this stuff, feel free to save a bookmark to this article for the next time a business-type asks you what meta-data is. It will save you 10 minutes of your life that you can’t get back. You’re welcome.
Meta-Data Overview: Meta-data is information about a web page that is not part of the “core” content of the page. It provides useful information regarding the page to various pieces of software (a browser, search engine crawlers, etc.). From a structural perspective, meta-data is stored in a different part of the web page’s HTML code than the usual web content that people see.
There are three primary pieces of meta-data that you should be concerned with.
1. Title: This is without a doubt, the most important piece of meta-data there is. One could further argue that it is the most important part of your web page, period. Why? Two reasons. First, the title is what is recognized to be the one piece of information that describes what the page is about. (Similar to a book title or article title). It shows up at the top of the browser when users are browsing your site. It is the default title your browser and book-marking sites will automatically use when people decide to “save” your site for future use. Second, it is what search engines also use to figure out what the site is about. Compared to everything else on your page, it gets the most “weight” from the search engines. Think of your meta-data title just like you would if you were writing an article for the Wall Street Journal or authoring a book. The title is immensely important.
2. Description: This is an “abstract” or summary of the web page. Most SEO experts will advise you that you should ensure that important words and terms about your site should be crafted into the description somehow. I would agree. Another use of the description is that currently Yahoo! (and possibly other engines) use this provided description, or a part thereof, when your site “matches” on a given search term and it has to show a small summary of your site below the title.
3. Keywords: This element provides a set of key terms or words that describe the web page. Many years ago, when search engines were first introduced, the keywords element was very heavily weighted towards determining the context of a web page. It was a quick way for the search engine to “figure out” what a web page was about (instead of having to scan all the content). But, as time went on, people started abusing this “feature”. They stuffed words into the meta-keywords element that had nothing to do with the web page’s content. (The rationale was that by stuffing “popular” words, they’d draw some traffic). As a result of this abuse, the importance of the meta-keywords element has been greatly diminished. Search engines no longer look at this information as the definitive way to figure out context. However, most SEO experts continue to advise that it is important to use the keywords element because it is still used.
That’s it. Basically, the key is to make sure that you understand what the three most important pieces of meta-data are and ensure that you include them in your web pages.
Meta-Data Overview: Meta-data is information about a web page that is not part of the “core” content of the page. It provides useful information regarding the page to various pieces of software (a browser, search engine crawlers, etc.). From a structural perspective, meta-data is stored in a different part of the web page’s HTML code than the usual web content that people see.
There are three primary pieces of meta-data that you should be concerned with.
1. Title: This is without a doubt, the most important piece of meta-data there is. One could further argue that it is the most important part of your web page, period. Why? Two reasons. First, the title is what is recognized to be the one piece of information that describes what the page is about. (Similar to a book title or article title). It shows up at the top of the browser when users are browsing your site. It is the default title your browser and book-marking sites will automatically use when people decide to “save” your site for future use. Second, it is what search engines also use to figure out what the site is about. Compared to everything else on your page, it gets the most “weight” from the search engines. Think of your meta-data title just like you would if you were writing an article for the Wall Street Journal or authoring a book. The title is immensely important.
2. Description: This is an “abstract” or summary of the web page. Most SEO experts will advise you that you should ensure that important words and terms about your site should be crafted into the description somehow. I would agree. Another use of the description is that currently Yahoo! (and possibly other engines) use this provided description, or a part thereof, when your site “matches” on a given search term and it has to show a small summary of your site below the title.
3. Keywords: This element provides a set of key terms or words that describe the web page. Many years ago, when search engines were first introduced, the keywords element was very heavily weighted towards determining the context of a web page. It was a quick way for the search engine to “figure out” what a web page was about (instead of having to scan all the content). But, as time went on, people started abusing this “feature”. They stuffed words into the meta-keywords element that had nothing to do with the web page’s content. (The rationale was that by stuffing “popular” words, they’d draw some traffic). As a result of this abuse, the importance of the meta-keywords element has been greatly diminished. Search engines no longer look at this information as the definitive way to figure out context. However, most SEO experts continue to advise that it is important to use the keywords element because it is still used.
That’s it. Basically, the key is to make sure that you understand what the three most important pieces of meta-data are and ensure that you include them in your web pages.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Importance of Google PageRank: A Word to Business Owners
If you’ve spent time learning about online marketing, then the topic of search engine optimization (SEO) usually comes up. And, no discussion of search engine talk is complete these days without someone mentioning Google. This insert provides a brief overview of how Google ranks search results with a look at their Page Rank™ algorithm. I'm an not a programming expert (that is the bad news) The good news is that I am not going to describe Google Page Rank in complex terms but rather a simple terms (such that you can impress your friends and family with your new-found knowledge).
Quick Intro To S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization)
Put quite simply, SEO is the process of optimizing your website for the search engines (like Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN). By “optimizing”, I mean attempting to make it such that searches for specific key word phrases rank your website higher in the search results than other websites. There are lots of good reasons to want to rank higher, but for businesses, the primary reason is to generate good leads and traffic for your product or service. Hundreds of Millions of people use Google looking for a product, service, or information. Some of these people might be potential clients looking for your particular type of company. There are two ways for you to show up on the results page when users are doing a search. The first is paid advertising (I’ll talk about this in a future blog) and the second is what is known as “organic” (or “natural”) search. The natural search results are listed free and are dependent on Google’s estimation of how relevant and credible your website is. Natural search results are my favorite kind, because you don’t have to pay money for them, and they often works better than paid advertising. I liken this to the difference between getting mentioned in a magazine article and purchasing an ad in that same magazine.
If you can rank high on the free (organic) search results for Google, it’s like getting potential hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free advertising in the most relevant trade magazines, trade show, radio, tv, or print for your industry. I’m not sure about you, but that’s pretty interesting to me. It’s a great way to grow your business and find new clients. So, how do you get all this free, effective advertising in the search engines? Well, to do that you need to understand the Google algorithm and how it determines who gets listed. And oh yea, hire someone like me to get you there. That, unfortunately, is not free.
Google’s Search Algorithm
First, let’s establish a simple example which we can use to frame our discussion. Let’s assume you are the owner of a large background checks firm. Lets further say that your specialization is providing custom solutions to big business. Now, you could probably identify a number of search phrases that your potential clients might use when interested in this particular topic. Users may search for something like “background checks”. Or, they may just start by looking for content (instead of consulting) and search on “how to get hire a background check company”. In either case, Google has an algorithm that figures out which websites of the hundreds of millions out there should be displayed in rank order on the results page. These are the organic (i.e. non-paid) results. You want to rank high on these results.
Though Google’s algorithm is extremely sophisticated, it boils down to something like this:
Search Ranking = Relevance * PageRank
Relevance is basically the measure of how your website (or more accurately one of your web pages) matches the search phrase the user has entered. Measuring relevance is a relatively sophisticated process, but it boils down to some fundamentals like the title of the page, words on the page and how frequently they occur, etc. So, if your home page has things like “background checks”, it drives up the relevance for this particular search. Basically, Google figures out what your page is “about” by looking at it’s content (and by looking at other sites with similar content that are linking to yours). It then uses this to figure out how relevant you are for a particular search phrase.
Page Rank is an independent measure of Google’s perception of the quality/authority/credibility of an individual web page. It does not depend on any particular search phrase. For the public (you and me), Google conveniently reports this as a number from 0-10 (10 being the best). So, assuming for a second that your web page and your competitors web-page has the same relevance – then whoever has the higher Page Rank gets the better ranking – and shows up at the top of the results page. This is why Page Rank is so important. Your relevance is based on your content (if you’re a consulting company specializes in performing background checks, your relevance for high powered lawn mower searches is going to be understandably low). Your Page Rank is what counts.
How Page Rank Is Calculated
There has been a lot written and a lot debated about Google’s Page Rank, but on one point there is near unanimous agreement. PageR ank is primarily determined by how many other web pages are linking into you. Google considers this kind of inbound a link a vote of confidence. But, here’s the trick: Not all inbound links are created equal. Web pages with more credibility that link to you have more “value” to your Page Rank than those with less credibility. How is this credibility determined? Why, by their PageR ank, of course! So, let’s take an example. Lets say you have your Best Friend linked to you from his blog to your small business website. Let’s also say that Best Friend's blog has a Page Rank of 3 (this is being a little generous because all your Best Friend writes about is his Hot Rod and has limited inbound links). This link from your best friend will certainly help you – a little bit. It will help you more if you can find 100 such websites with a Page Rank of 3 and get them to link to you.
However, if you get a single link from a website with a Page Rank of 8, it’ll help you more than a 100 best friend websites. Why? Because a site with a Page Rank of 8 is 100 times more powerful than a Rank of 3. I divide up Page Rank into these broad categories:
0-3: New sites or sites with very minimal links
4-5: Popular sites with a fair amount of inbound links
6: Very popular sites that have hundreds of links, many of them quality links
7-10: Usually media brands (NYTimes.com), big companies or A-list bloggers.
Now, it’s important to note that Page Rank is believed to be calculated on a logarithmic scale. What this roughly means is that the difference between PR4 and PR5 is likely 5-10 times than the difference between PR3 and PR4. So, there are likely over a 100 times as many web pages with a Page Rank of 2 than there are with a Page Rank of 4. This means that if you get to a Page Rank of 6 or so, you’re likely well into the top 0.1% of all websites out there. If most of your peer group is struggling around with a PR2 or PR3, you’re way ahead of the game.
What’s Your Page Rank?
There are two ways to figure out what your approximate Page Rank is. One, you can download the Google Toolbar (the Page Rank feature is not turned on by default, so you’d have to enable it after installation).
Quick recap: Organic search is like free advertising. It’s worth the investment to try and get a high ranking by the major search engines. To rank high you should do two things: First, make sure your site has the right relevant content for the types of searches your potential clients are conducting. Second, try to get the highest Page Rank possible. To do this, you need to get as many inbound links from as many high Page Rank web pages as possible.
Quick Intro To S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization)
Put quite simply, SEO is the process of optimizing your website for the search engines (like Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN). By “optimizing”, I mean attempting to make it such that searches for specific key word phrases rank your website higher in the search results than other websites. There are lots of good reasons to want to rank higher, but for businesses, the primary reason is to generate good leads and traffic for your product or service. Hundreds of Millions of people use Google looking for a product, service, or information. Some of these people might be potential clients looking for your particular type of company. There are two ways for you to show up on the results page when users are doing a search. The first is paid advertising (I’ll talk about this in a future blog) and the second is what is known as “organic” (or “natural”) search. The natural search results are listed free and are dependent on Google’s estimation of how relevant and credible your website is. Natural search results are my favorite kind, because you don’t have to pay money for them, and they often works better than paid advertising. I liken this to the difference between getting mentioned in a magazine article and purchasing an ad in that same magazine.
If you can rank high on the free (organic) search results for Google, it’s like getting potential hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free advertising in the most relevant trade magazines, trade show, radio, tv, or print for your industry. I’m not sure about you, but that’s pretty interesting to me. It’s a great way to grow your business and find new clients. So, how do you get all this free, effective advertising in the search engines? Well, to do that you need to understand the Google algorithm and how it determines who gets listed. And oh yea, hire someone like me to get you there. That, unfortunately, is not free.
Google’s Search Algorithm
First, let’s establish a simple example which we can use to frame our discussion. Let’s assume you are the owner of a large background checks firm. Lets further say that your specialization is providing custom solutions to big business. Now, you could probably identify a number of search phrases that your potential clients might use when interested in this particular topic. Users may search for something like “background checks”. Or, they may just start by looking for content (instead of consulting) and search on “how to get hire a background check company”. In either case, Google has an algorithm that figures out which websites of the hundreds of millions out there should be displayed in rank order on the results page. These are the organic (i.e. non-paid) results. You want to rank high on these results.
Though Google’s algorithm is extremely sophisticated, it boils down to something like this:
Search Ranking = Relevance * PageRank
Relevance is basically the measure of how your website (or more accurately one of your web pages) matches the search phrase the user has entered. Measuring relevance is a relatively sophisticated process, but it boils down to some fundamentals like the title of the page, words on the page and how frequently they occur, etc. So, if your home page has things like “background checks”, it drives up the relevance for this particular search. Basically, Google figures out what your page is “about” by looking at it’s content (and by looking at other sites with similar content that are linking to yours). It then uses this to figure out how relevant you are for a particular search phrase.
Page Rank is an independent measure of Google’s perception of the quality/authority/credibility of an individual web page. It does not depend on any particular search phrase. For the public (you and me), Google conveniently reports this as a number from 0-10 (10 being the best). So, assuming for a second that your web page and your competitors web-page has the same relevance – then whoever has the higher Page Rank gets the better ranking – and shows up at the top of the results page. This is why Page Rank is so important. Your relevance is based on your content (if you’re a consulting company specializes in performing background checks, your relevance for high powered lawn mower searches is going to be understandably low). Your Page Rank is what counts.
How Page Rank Is Calculated
There has been a lot written and a lot debated about Google’s Page Rank, but on one point there is near unanimous agreement. PageR ank is primarily determined by how many other web pages are linking into you. Google considers this kind of inbound a link a vote of confidence. But, here’s the trick: Not all inbound links are created equal. Web pages with more credibility that link to you have more “value” to your Page Rank than those with less credibility. How is this credibility determined? Why, by their PageR ank, of course! So, let’s take an example. Lets say you have your Best Friend linked to you from his blog to your small business website. Let’s also say that Best Friend's blog has a Page Rank of 3 (this is being a little generous because all your Best Friend writes about is his Hot Rod and has limited inbound links). This link from your best friend will certainly help you – a little bit. It will help you more if you can find 100 such websites with a Page Rank of 3 and get them to link to you.
However, if you get a single link from a website with a Page Rank of 8, it’ll help you more than a 100 best friend websites. Why? Because a site with a Page Rank of 8 is 100 times more powerful than a Rank of 3. I divide up Page Rank into these broad categories:
0-3: New sites or sites with very minimal links
4-5: Popular sites with a fair amount of inbound links
6: Very popular sites that have hundreds of links, many of them quality links
7-10: Usually media brands (NYTimes.com), big companies or A-list bloggers.
Now, it’s important to note that Page Rank is believed to be calculated on a logarithmic scale. What this roughly means is that the difference between PR4 and PR5 is likely 5-10 times than the difference between PR3 and PR4. So, there are likely over a 100 times as many web pages with a Page Rank of 2 than there are with a Page Rank of 4. This means that if you get to a Page Rank of 6 or so, you’re likely well into the top 0.1% of all websites out there. If most of your peer group is struggling around with a PR2 or PR3, you’re way ahead of the game.
What’s Your Page Rank?
There are two ways to figure out what your approximate Page Rank is. One, you can download the Google Toolbar (the Page Rank feature is not turned on by default, so you’d have to enable it after installation).
Quick recap: Organic search is like free advertising. It’s worth the investment to try and get a high ranking by the major search engines. To rank high you should do two things: First, make sure your site has the right relevant content for the types of searches your potential clients are conducting. Second, try to get the highest Page Rank possible. To do this, you need to get as many inbound links from as many high Page Rank web pages as possible.
Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing
When I talk with most people in marketing today about how they generate leads and fill the top of their sales funnel, most say seminars, trade shows, email blasts to purchased lists, internal cold calling, outsourced telemarketing, and advertising. I call these methods "outbound marketing" where a marketer pushes his message out far and wide hoping that it resonates with that needle in the haystack.
I think outbound marketing techniques are getting less and less effective over time for two reasons. First, your average human today is innundated with over 5000 outbound marketing messages per day and is figuring out more and more creative ways to block them out, including caller id, spam filtering, Tivo, and XM satellite radio. Second, the cost to learn something new or shopping for something new using the internet (search engines, blogs, and social media sites) is now much lower than going to a seminar at the Hilton or flying to a trade show in Vegas.
Rather than do outbound marketing to the masses of people who are trying to block you out, I advocate doing "inbound marketing" where you help yourself "get discovered" by people already learning about you and shopping in your industry. In order to do this, you need to set your website up like a "hub" for your industry that attracts visitors naturally through the search engines, through the blog-o-sphere, and through the social media sites. I believe most marketers today spend 80% of their efforts on outbound marketing and 20% on inbound marketing and I advocate that those ratios flip.
I think outbound marketing techniques are getting less and less effective over time for two reasons. First, your average human today is innundated with over 5000 outbound marketing messages per day and is figuring out more and more creative ways to block them out, including caller id, spam filtering, Tivo, and XM satellite radio. Second, the cost to learn something new or shopping for something new using the internet (search engines, blogs, and social media sites) is now much lower than going to a seminar at the Hilton or flying to a trade show in Vegas.
Rather than do outbound marketing to the masses of people who are trying to block you out, I advocate doing "inbound marketing" where you help yourself "get discovered" by people already learning about you and shopping in your industry. In order to do this, you need to set your website up like a "hub" for your industry that attracts visitors naturally through the search engines, through the blog-o-sphere, and through the social media sites. I believe most marketers today spend 80% of their efforts on outbound marketing and 20% on inbound marketing and I advocate that those ratios flip.
Monday, July 21, 2008
How Do I Get My Blog Searched By Google?
I have run into many clients who have blogs. They ask have asked me several times "How Do I Get My Blog Searched By Google? and the answer is easy. Submit it! Yep, that is it, you just need to know where to look...So here ya go....
Click on this and you are just one step away from having your blog indexed by Google's Beta Blog Search Tool.
Click on this and you are just one step away from having your blog indexed by Google's Beta Blog Search Tool.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Zenergy Internet Marketing
The Date: 6-30-06
Official Start of something incredible. The Internet Marketing Company for business owners who want Real Results, Real Customers, in a Real Geo Specific Area.
Here is a list of SEO Keywords used last month on Yahoo, Google, AOL, and MSN:
Traffic Estimator Results (For Selected Keywords Only)
internet marketing 2,553,611
internet advertising 1,408,113
internet marketing strategy 154,554
internet online marketing 108,422
internet marketing tool 92,370
internet marketing company 77,311
strategic internet marketing 61,678
internet marketing services 58,832
internet marketing business 47,443
internet marketing consultant 46,588
internet marketing solution 44,335
internet marketing advertising 41,500
internet marketing center 40,174
internet marketing ebook 35,344
free internet advertising 35,332
internet advertising agency 35,329
internet marketing consulting 28,679
pennsylvania internet marketing 26,668
internet marketing firm 26,190
internet marketing for small business 25,243
business marketing advertising internet marketing general 24,487
how to get published free best in self publishing print on demand plus marketing your book on the internet 3rd edition 23,115
internet web site marketing 22,382
internet marketing software 21,280
internet marketing agency 20,786
internet marketing seo 20,531
internet marketing search engine 19,939
internet marketing affiliate program 18,810
internet advertising company 16,074
affiliate internet marketing 14,383
internet marketing course 14,273
ppc search engine internet marketing 14,155
internet banner advertising 13,501
internet marketing research 13,357
web site promotion internet marketing 12,434
internet dental marketing 12,152
internet marketing promotion 12,038
network marketing internet business 9,796
hotel internet marketing 9,717
internet marketing plan 9,234
internet marketing expert 9,059
targeted internet marketing 8,219
internet marketing suggest link 8,045
internet advertising opportunity 7,942
internet marketing specialist 7,900
home based internet marketing business 7,813
internet and network marketing 7,695
web internet marketing 7,342
internet marketing article 7,209
internet marketing ireland 7,182
internet marketing ny 7,144
business home internet marketing opportunity 7,110
add link internet marketing 7,015
calgary internet marketing 6,882
internet marketing for online business 6,867
marketing your retail store in the internet age 6,498
internet marketing online advertising 6,338
home business internet marketing 6,179
internet marketing idea 6,027
internet marketing promotion advertising 6,000
online business internet marketing compu 5,936
consulting internet marketing services 5,913
internet marketing richmond va 5,856
san diego internet marketing 5,799
internet marketing building advantage in a networked economy 5,704
3g marketing on the internet seventh edition third generation internet marketing strategy for online success 5,673
internet marketing email 5,670
internet marketing company affiliate 5,632
business internet marketing plan sales 5,605
internet marketing advice 5,472
affordable internet marketing 5,426
internet marketing tip 5,407
internet online marketing advertising business 5,358
internet marketing resource 5,324
internet marketing va 5,255
internet marketing book 5,255
real estate internet marketing 5,092
internet online advertising 5,088
business internet marketing opportunity 4,967
business to business marketing internet 4,860
internet marketing uk 4,860
affiliate internet marketing web 4,815
email promotion internet marketing 4,792
101 ways to promote your web site filled with proven internet marketing tip tool technique and resource to increase your web si 4,739
internet marketing chicago 4,727
richmond internet marketing 4,674
online business internet marketing computer 4,594
attorney internet marketing 4,579
denver internet marketing 4,541
internet marketing toronto 4,503
internet marketing technique 4,172
internet marketing training 4,058
ebook internet marketing strategy 3,937
internet marketing search engine placement 3,914
planning your internet marketing strategy a doctor ebiz guide 3,872
atlanta internet marketing 3,861
affiliate internet marketing tip 3,796
internet marketing conference 3,789
internet marketing campaign 3,773
internet marketing tip gazette 3,713
Official Start of something incredible. The Internet Marketing Company for business owners who want Real Results, Real Customers, in a Real Geo Specific Area.
Here is a list of SEO Keywords used last month on Yahoo, Google, AOL, and MSN:
Traffic Estimator Results (For Selected Keywords Only)
internet marketing 2,553,611
internet advertising 1,408,113
internet marketing strategy 154,554
internet online marketing 108,422
internet marketing tool 92,370
internet marketing company 77,311
strategic internet marketing 61,678
internet marketing services 58,832
internet marketing business 47,443
internet marketing consultant 46,588
internet marketing solution 44,335
internet marketing advertising 41,500
internet marketing center 40,174
internet marketing ebook 35,344
free internet advertising 35,332
internet advertising agency 35,329
internet marketing consulting 28,679
pennsylvania internet marketing 26,668
internet marketing firm 26,190
internet marketing for small business 25,243
business marketing advertising internet marketing general 24,487
how to get published free best in self publishing print on demand plus marketing your book on the internet 3rd edition 23,115
internet web site marketing 22,382
internet marketing software 21,280
internet marketing agency 20,786
internet marketing seo 20,531
internet marketing search engine 19,939
internet marketing affiliate program 18,810
internet advertising company 16,074
affiliate internet marketing 14,383
internet marketing course 14,273
ppc search engine internet marketing 14,155
internet banner advertising 13,501
internet marketing research 13,357
web site promotion internet marketing 12,434
internet dental marketing 12,152
internet marketing promotion 12,038
network marketing internet business 9,796
hotel internet marketing 9,717
internet marketing plan 9,234
internet marketing expert 9,059
targeted internet marketing 8,219
internet marketing suggest link 8,045
internet advertising opportunity 7,942
internet marketing specialist 7,900
home based internet marketing business 7,813
internet and network marketing 7,695
web internet marketing 7,342
internet marketing article 7,209
internet marketing ireland 7,182
internet marketing ny 7,144
business home internet marketing opportunity 7,110
add link internet marketing 7,015
calgary internet marketing 6,882
internet marketing for online business 6,867
marketing your retail store in the internet age 6,498
internet marketing online advertising 6,338
home business internet marketing 6,179
internet marketing idea 6,027
internet marketing promotion advertising 6,000
online business internet marketing compu 5,936
consulting internet marketing services 5,913
internet marketing richmond va 5,856
san diego internet marketing 5,799
internet marketing building advantage in a networked economy 5,704
3g marketing on the internet seventh edition third generation internet marketing strategy for online success 5,673
internet marketing email 5,670
internet marketing company affiliate 5,632
business internet marketing plan sales 5,605
internet marketing advice 5,472
affordable internet marketing 5,426
internet marketing tip 5,407
internet online marketing advertising business 5,358
internet marketing resource 5,324
internet marketing va 5,255
internet marketing book 5,255
real estate internet marketing 5,092
internet online advertising 5,088
business internet marketing opportunity 4,967
business to business marketing internet 4,860
internet marketing uk 4,860
affiliate internet marketing web 4,815
email promotion internet marketing 4,792
101 ways to promote your web site filled with proven internet marketing tip tool technique and resource to increase your web si 4,739
internet marketing chicago 4,727
richmond internet marketing 4,674
online business internet marketing computer 4,594
attorney internet marketing 4,579
denver internet marketing 4,541
internet marketing toronto 4,503
internet marketing technique 4,172
internet marketing training 4,058
ebook internet marketing strategy 3,937
internet marketing search engine placement 3,914
planning your internet marketing strategy a doctor ebiz guide 3,872
atlanta internet marketing 3,861
affiliate internet marketing tip 3,796
internet marketing conference 3,789
internet marketing campaign 3,773
internet marketing tip gazette 3,713
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
