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Beef Up Your Website

Jim Vincent — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:29:00 GMT

Where’s the Beef?

How to Beef Up Your Web Design

Three old ladies huddle around a burger with a massive bun and a tiny patty. “It certainly is a big bun.” says one. “It’s a big fluffy bun!” says another. Meanwhile the third stares grumpily at the sandwich and then says, “Where’s the beef!?”

She clearly wanted a real burger — not a bun, not an air sandwich, and she didn’t want to be full on just some fancy baking. No matter how good the bun looked, or tasted, it was ultimately useless without the big, beefy burger she wanted.

Similarly, this is what happens when you have designed a smashing layout with a high bounce rate. If your grids are tight, your typography is engaging, and you are getting loads of traffic, but you have a big bounce rate, then your customers are saying, “Where’s the beef!?”

No matter how fancy your site may look, if it doesn’t convert to sales, your site is lacking serious beef. A few tips to adding beef to your website:

1. Be relevant. If a visitor comes to your site expecting one thing and gets something else, they’ll leave your site with a bad taste and will likely never return. You may dress nice, but you MUST be relevant.

2. Engage users. Do this with relevant content, impeccable design and a clear call to action.

3. Provide quick value. People’s time is valuable. Make sure to give them what they want quickly or else they’ll bounce. Offer enough value so they’ll want to spend time on your site and come back again.

4. Clarity. Explain your product, how it works, what you do and why the user needs you in just a few words. The clearer your message, the quicker the reader will take action.

5. Offer Expert Advice. You can do this through blogs, white papers, webinars, etc. This lends credibility to your brand and provides a purpose behind your website. It also helps with search engine optimization by providing fresh new content, andestablishing your site as an expert in your industry.

What is the next phase? While I would argue that content is king and good content strategy accounts for 3/4 of the success for a site, the remaining 1/4 rests squarely on taking that content and making it deliverable and engaging.

You need to take that valuable nugget of information, that hamburger patty you lovingly crafted, and garnish it. Present that information in a clearly legible manner. Use practical infographics that compel the visitor to sit up and pay attention. Engage them with interactive elements to help them really understand what it is they are looking at. Make that game the most amazing thing they have played recently. Compell them. Teach them. Guide them. Don’t make them think.T

he New York Times is a great example of great content leading the way for great design to seal the deal. Apple is another but with a more product oriented approach. ESPN is a great example of a leisure brand excelling at this. This final step will set you apart from the rest. If you are not sure how to speak to your user through these means, hire an expert. There are designers out there who speak this language so well they can engage users without them even realizing it, and these subtle successes are often times the most potent.

Never underestimate solid design backing great content strategy.

This one two punch — opening with a focused quality content, and driving it home with a grand user experience — will ultimately lead you to the top of the charts on a given search engine. You will keep the users you gain, lower your bounce rate, raise your conversion rate, and leave no one questioning the substance of your idea, event, or product.

Special Giveaway

Jim Vincent — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:27:00 GMT

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!

To All of my SEO clients;

I am giving away a brand newly built 20 page website or 1 free year of SEO to one of my current SEO clients in June of this yeaar.

Here is what you have to do to qualify.

1.Blog at least once a week (you get 1 point every week if you do)

2. Add an article to your website once a month (another point every month if you do )

3. Someway Somehow you must be actively doing SMM Social Media Marketing and have it linked to your website.(one point each month for that)

4. If you do any press releases for your website 1 point for each one.

5. You also get a point for every video you have on your site and 2 points for any new video’s or any videos of surgery.

Each point is a ticket that will go in the hat for the drawing.

All of these things are what you should be doing anyways to gain success.

On June 1st we will have the drawing and the winner we will either build a new 20 page website or erase their SEO Payments for 12 months.

The 20 page website will be the most up to date technology and the most interactvie website alive (which is what people want)

Good Luck and Thank You for being my CLIENTS!!

Getting High (no not that kind of high)

Jim Vincent — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Getting to the Top of Search Engines Through One Way Linking

One way links are links that point to your site from others, but which are not linked to from your website. Google and many other search engines include link popularity as part of the way they evaluate and rank websites. Links are seen as a positive "vote" towards the quality of the website. As such, the more links from other relevant websites to yours, the better.

Here are some of the ways to get one way links pointing to your website.

1. Articles

Writing articles is an excellent way for you to get free publicity. Getting an article published is free. The publicity you receive by having your article published in a newspaper, magazine or website can be worth thousands of dollars in equivalent advertising space. Well written articles yield better results than advertisements and earn you respect from customers who see you as an expert in your field.

So what exactly is an article???

An article is a short piece of information that aims to educate and inform people about something, which they may be interested in. They are usually between 500 and 3,500 words long and at the bottom of each article is a link to your website as well as a resource box about your company. An example would be my resource box at the bottom of this article. By writing and distributing these articles you are sharing information, which displays your expertise and gains you trust and credibility. No amount of advertising can gain you either trust or credibility. The best articles are 'tips' or expert pieces. People are looking for guidance and will purchase from experts who show them how to solve their problems. Writing your own articles may seem to be a daunting task, but you can get your articles written by professional writers at very reasonable costs and then distributed by various online services, such as Submit Your Article or The Phantom Writers. Also don't forget to set up "Google Alerts" so that you can see whenever your articles are published on various websites. The great thing about articles is that if your articles are well written they will spread virally, meaning that people will pick up the articles from article directories and include them on their website.

2. Videos

Over the last couple of years video has become a popular marketing strategy, as it can quickly generate traffic and interest. Unfortunately many people are still afraid to use it and think it's difficult to do. So now is the perfect time for you to get ahead of your competition. One of the major advantages of videos to traditional written marketing is that it saves your visitors a lot of time understanding what is being offered and there isn't much effort required on their part. Start the video and everything is explained to them right there and then. Hearing and seeing you tell them about your products or services has more credibility and allows you to connect to your visitors on an emotional level. Another great advantage of video marketing is that if you use the right keywords in your video's tags, you have a much better chance of reaching high rankings in many search engines.

3. Submission to Relevant Directories & Search Engines (should be done by your SEO Company)

Your website should be submitted to as many directories and search engines as possible, especially those relevant to your country or industry.

4. Blogs

A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily or weekly using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Blogs give you an increased presence on major search engines, like Yahoo! and Google. If you use Blogger (Google's Blogging Tool), every message you post creates a new page on Google so in a very short time you could have a lot of pages pointing to your website, bringing you lots of new visitors.

5. Media Releases

Having a story written about you and your business will not only bring you lots of new customers (at no cost to you), but will also provide you massive credibility. Stories about you in the media are far more believable, powerful and attractive than any ads you could possibly run. People will trust and respect you instantly. A media release (also called press or news releases) should provide enough details to be informative, but it should leave out just enough information to be tantalizing so that the media person calls you to find out more.

SMM-Social Media Marketing

Jim Vincent — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:18:00 GMT

SMM- Social Medial Marketing

Do you want a tremendous presence on Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, Twitter and more? I have been doing it for a few Doc’s and can now expand to a few more. 10 hours a week for $400 a month discounted down to $300 a month. Or 5 hours a week for $230 a month. Either way you can not go wrong. Get your video’s on these platforms. Constant updates and linking. Tons of sending your name and practice out to others to get yourself seen.

2010 Online Predictions Part 2

Jim Vincent — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:40:00 GMT

2010 Online Predictions – Part 2:

.The World of Social Media

What We Know-

• Twitter and Facebook dominate the scene, but Twitter has no revenue stream while Facebook becomes the dominating force in Social.

• Twitter and Facebook have become the way people share information, and it is affecting social bookmarking sites such as Digg.

• Twitter has redefined the way people communicate and the way search engines determine what is popular.

What We Suspect-

• Twitter seems to have reached its potential, and is going to be hard pressed to grow any further in its current form.

• In order for Facebook to retain, and increase users, keep an eye out for a completely redefined

“Group” option, or a vertical-ization of a new public section.

• It will be a shock if Twitter isn’t acquired by a larger company by the end of 2010

How Will it Happen?

(Facebook Prepares for Dominance)

One of the most important things we’ll see happen between Twitter, Facebook and upcoming Social Media like Foursquare, is definition. Social media sites will define their purpose, their existence, and their unique selling position (USP) this year.

Facebook is currently one of the strongest ways to advertise to targeted demographics and markets, while Twitter is the best way to “listen in” and distribute news, and information to the masses. As Twitter and Facebook start to better define their USP, corporate America should become more comfortable in developing marketing strategies with social media in 2010.

The first thing that will come with social media “definition” is a mutual goal with Twitter and Facebook. Both entities will make sure users understand that Facebook is not Twitter, and Twitter is not Facebook. The general public will learn and understand they are not the same thing, and there are benefits for using both mediums. By making this point clear to users, both companies should see an increase in users and interaction between users. I predict that the two companies will embrace each other, and incorporate each others’ strength. There is no better way to do this than with an official partnership, or even a merger. (As a side note, “TwitFace” could become Google’s worst nightmare.)

If Facebook (being the bigger fish in the pond) doesn’t take Twitter to be its lawfully wedded partner, then I predict that we will see some big changes for Facebook coming in the ways of “Group” and vertical-ization of a new public profile option.

Facebook’s next direction (in my humblest of opinions) needs to focus on having an option for “like- minded” strangers to connect without giving away the farm, personal family info, embarrassing photos of you that your jackass friend put up. The reason the current “fan pages” don’t work is because there is no seamless interface between you and your fan page. If this all comes to fruition then I strongly believe that we will see Twitter slowly suffer. Facebook would have serious leverage in providing and developing real-time search (RTS) abilities with the new public profile option (all enhanced by the Friendfeed acquisition), in addition to having the ability to connect complete strangers with similar interests.

Twitter will be the most vulnerable company that 53M+ users can’t live without, simply because it makes no money. Again, if a partnership can’t come together with Facebook, then the next logical option would be for Internet King Google to buy up the company so they could strictly control the RTS scene. And Google already has rumors circulating that they are interested. We will then see the most famous tweet of all time from @mattcutts: “What? It was either buy Twitter or create Gtweet.”

THE WORST THING THAT CAN HAPPEN TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media War: Facebook bans all Twitter language from status updates because it only comes across as gibberish to non-Twitter users.

THE BEST THING THAT CAN HAPPEN TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook develops a Twitter translator that will automatically translate Twitter language into readable phrases for non-Twitter users to better understand. In addition Facebook will create a “Gaming Facebook Platform” so I don’t have to know what happens to your Farm or Mob family. Just sayin’…

The World of Search Engines..Are You Ready?

Jim Vincent — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:32:00 GMT

THE WORLD OF SEARCH ENGINES

What We Know-

• Bing is looking to take over Yahoo! Search, making this a 2-search engine world (US Market, or larger?).

• Mobile search will grow exponentially and may become bigger than desktop search.

• Google has China in their sites, and Baidu is the target.

• Personal search tied into real-time search will show Google’s dominance in every aspect of our lives.

What We Suspect-

• Bing will go big or go home. Meaning either Yahoo people will love or hate Bing. With articles like this, showing that Bing is gaining new traffic, I suspect Bing will go big with Yahoo! users.

• Players who understand how their market uses the Internet will be providing mobile sites, optimized for (hold your breath) Google

Mobile Search.

A.- Does your site have too much Flash for Google Mobile? Full flash sites will really struggle showing up on Google Mobile but stay ok for Desktop.

B.- Is your site too big for Google mobile?

C- Is it too small?

D- Do you even know what Google mobile is? You probably have one in your hand every day. It is almost being used more often then

a desktop and shortly it will be used more then computers.

• The best way to kill Baidu is to buy Baidu, but can it be done?

• Big Brother is coming …

How Will it Happen?

Bing’s goal is to bring serious competition to the search-engine table. The only issue is Bing is trying to run the table with money: buyout Yahoo Search and news outlets, run intensive ads on TV. When all is said and done, Bing may spend more trying to buy their way into search than they actually did on developing their engine (slight exaggeration may be implied but $100 million is their rumored TV budget alone).

As stated before, I suspect that with the success Bing is having with new visitors, we’ll see some safe gains in the Bing corner. But I have a hard time believing Bing will provide Google with serious competition. Google has plans of its own.

Those plans include a growing list of future Google products and a growing list of companies it plans to purchase. (Example: Yelp is in Google’s sights, to improve local search options, but Yelp seems to be playing “hard to get.” This is how Google plays the game.)

In addition, Bing isn’t Google’s only concern. China is the largest developing market for Web use, and Google wants to be on top. In order to get there, Google will need to figure out how to handle Baidu. Even though in 2005, Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, refused to comment about rumors that Google was in negotiations to buy Baidu — leaving the world to speculate — Baidu has grown too large, and owns too much of the market to make that remotely possible.

However, Google stands at a crossroads in China. Should it continue on its current strategy, which has worked globally so far, but not with the Chinese, or does Google mold itself to fit the culture like Baidu has? In either case, I don’t think the search algorithm will change for the people of China. Ultimately, finding SEO success in China through Google should happen the same way you find success in the rest of the Google world.

Personalized Search (PS) and Real Time Search (RTS) are starting to bust their way onto the search engine scene. Neither one has struck a chord with the majority of users. I honestly don’t know of anyone out of the SEO/SEM world that has noticed the additions (even as I write this it seems that Google is reconsidering how to implement RTS). For this reason many people are beginning to write RTS off as a failure, and are predicting them to disappear in 2010. But even if Twitter doesn’t improve RTS, the caffeine update from Google proves that RTS is important. And whether we like it or not, I believe Google will place a lot of importance in developing this technology further.

In addition to PS and RTS, I believe you’ll also see more emphasis in mobile search as speculations say it could out-do computer-based search in the years to come. Overall, I believe mobile search will develop to be a major new search engine within itself. Because of the innovations from mobile devices like iPhone, and Google Android, I think you will begin to see a search engine designed specifically for mobile websites (sites that have been redone for easy viewing on those devices). The main factor that will propel mobile search as a big market is an increase in local/localized search as well (acquiring Yelp is starting to make more sense here) so that people can quickly find the store, the product, or the services they need while out and about in their daily lives.

TIME TO PANDER TO YOUR FEARS

Consider all the information we are willingly giving to Google: our email, all of our contacts, our calendar, health information, financial information and anything else found on Google Docs. Not only is this information handed to Google, but Google collects huge amount of data on our habits (that is why it is called Personalized Search). And not just what we do on Google, but what we do on websites we visit before and after using Google. Ultimately, Google is given a lot of power. Some say too much power. With all of this information being collected and analyzed, Google will begin laying the ground work for the most secretive, powerful, and threatening product ever conceived by Eric Schmidt himself. Some call it “Big Brother,” but its official title will be “Google Government …

” This post was fun. Look for my predictions tomorrow on social media, where we’ll discuss the future of the biggest social media platform Facebook, and its plans with Twitter.

Please Lower Your Sites Bounce Rate

Jim Vincent — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:02:00 GMT

Lower Your Website Bounce Rate in 2010

A lot of people have made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight in 2010. For website owners, you might have made a similar commitment to lose some undesired thing: your high bounce rate. To make this type of resolution come true, first you need to understand what causes a visitor to bounce from your website. Then you’ll be able to understand how some simple changes can keep people on your site and result in more online sales.

Why do Visitors Bounce?

Recently, while visiting my family in Canada I was looking for a specific Toronto Blue Jays baseball hat. I visited three sports apparel stores. The first two were similar. I spent only a few minutes in each store after finding out they didn’t have the hat I wanted. Then I found a sports store that sold only hats. I spent more time in this store browsing over the large selection of hats. But they didn’t have the style of hat I was looking for, and a similar style wasn’t available in my size. So I left.

We can compare this experience to searching online. If I was searching online for the baseball hat and I visited three sites similar to those stores, the first two sites would get a high bounce rate from my visit, and the third site would have a lower bounce rate but still not convert into a sale. I would “bounce” from each of the websites because I couldn’t find what I was looking for in the same way I left each of the stores when I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

How can you Reduce Your Bounce Rate?

If you consider my example of shopping for the baseball hat, each store could have reduced the chance of me “bouncing” from the store by expanding the inventory that they carried, or by not being listed on the mall directory as a store that would possibly have the hat I wanted. If we take these concepts and apply them to a website, you will get a similar affect with the bounce rate of the site.

You can lower the bounce rate of your website if you:

Provide more products or services relating to what was being searched for: Expand your product line to include all products available to sell that are relevant to the keywords your website is ranked for and make sure your products are easily found on your site. If you sell services you can break down your services into some that are more specialized. If I offer Internet marketing services, I could offer different focused services like organic SEO services or PPC management services that both relate to Internet marketing.

Target the most relevant search terms: I have mentioned the importance of targeting relevant search terms in a couple other posts and I will mention it again. You might have a business selling tropical fish online but that doesn’t mean that “tropical fish” is going to be a good term to get your website ranked for. I could be searching for “tropical fish” because I want to take my kids to see tropical fish at an aquarium. If I found your site that sold tropical fish, I wouldn’t stay at your site for more than a second because it isn’t relevant to what I was searching for. Think of the most targeted terms that relate to your products or services and optimize for those terms.

Incorporate a clean and user friendly site design: The bounce rate can be reduced by using easy navigation and a clean, appealing design. Make the products easy to find. Links to service or product pages should be clearly labeled. Include prominent links on your homepage to top selling products or most popular services. Check your products or services pages to see how easy it was to find them and make sure it doesn’t take more than two clicks to find them.

If you have a New Year’s resolution to lower the bounce rate of your website in 2010, then these tips will help you to accomplish that goal.

May 2010 bring you success in your online business ventures.

Want SEO Help?

Jim Vincent — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:39:00 GMT

Rethinking the Newsletter for Local SEO efforts

Most businesses of a certain size start flirting with the idea of having a company newsletter. Newsletters began as a way to disseminate information to employees when meetings weren’t practical. But newsletters grew as a way to cultivate the existing customer database.

Notices of sales, new employees, new products, location changes, community participation; these are points of interest hailed as perfect fodder for newsletters. With eNewsletters being emailed out, a convenience was placed on the poor postage meter and the content was now at the whim of the junk mail filter. Whether or not you personally like the idea of newsletters, there is something here that is very important for your SEO effort. Your newsletter is a source of content.

Content is King

Ask any web marketing guru if your website should keep having content be added and he’ll say “Yes.” Without content, your site doesn’t have much to say and the website visitor will wonder if you are actually doing anything or if the site was abandoned long ago. Not only does it make your site easier to index in the search engines you will give an edge to your thought leadership.

Unique Content is King-er King-er?

More King? Anyway, the content you come up with has a great advantage of all the repeated and shallow content that is out there. Content farms try to sell as much content as possible to as many people who will buy it to post it on their site. With ploys of promising “articles on your industry ready to go” and “look like a pro with our content,” I wonder how many times it has been around the corner so-to-speak. If you create your own content, you are already miles ahead of your local competition.

Content doesn’t have to be weighty

I remember talking to a CEO about blogging and they were reluctant on the whole idea. “What’s the point?” Well, after giving her some reasons, the whole crux of the argument came down to the writing ability and the scholarly-ness of the piece. When I told her that it didn’t have to be deep or lengthy, but addressed the topic completely from a perspective of an industry insider – that’s all she needed. It’s about having something, anything that shows the visitor that you are aware of what’s going on in your industry and you have something to say about it.

Newsletter Articles Reworked

Maybe you have an industry newsletter article about “heavy lifting” and the dangers therein. Rather than send that article to the eventual recycle pile, recover it as a page on your site. Expand on it, put 3rd party links on there. Put in a safety section that ties to other safety concerns. You have now taken a one time flash-in-the-pan article and created a page that adds thought leadership and maybe some key indexing for topics that are dealt within your business.

Don’t Archive. Display.

There was one client who archived all their newsletters online in a document format. The articles were great and could be reworked to remove any shelf life. Once it was seen that no one was looking through their archives, they agreed to repurpose the content into blogs and fill out some product pages. The eNewsletter now has a new purpose.

Website Pet Peeves

Jim Vincent — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:26:00 GMT

THIS WAS WRITTEN BY ONE OF MY TOP SEO EXPERTS. HE WROTE THIS 3 YEARS AGO WHEN HE WORKED FOR A MAJOR NEWSPAPER IN THE US. HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THEIR INTERNET PRESCENCE. HE RETIRED 2 YEARS AGO AND NOW WORKS FOR ME AS DOES HIS SON WHO HAS BEEN DOING IT FOR 12 YEARS NOW & WAS WITH A MAJOR PLASTIC SURGERY SEO COMPANY FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

Many websites similarly drive away customers with annoying Internet pet peeves. It’s the kind of thing that kills site traffic and conversion.

Many businesses don’t even know their website doesn’t connect with their demographic, much less the human race.

So, in no particular order, here are a few Internet and website pet peeves that will cost you visitors, readers, customers, and, most importantly, money:

*Popups. These make me want to howl and then close my entire browser. It’s amazing to me how many annoying popups still exist. If you want people to stay on your page, please get rid of these.

*Intruding, drop downs, advertisements or graphics. I’m OK with ads – as long as they don’t cover the text, float across the page, or do something else extremely annoying. They often make me think my computer is coming down with a nasty virus.

*“Give us your email, social security card and bank account number to read this.” I hate it when companies hold content for ransom. Companies try to promote their stuff then try to make you give them all your contact information to get it, often in the form of registration log on pages. *However, in some instances I think it’s OK, such as Webinars, etc. For the most part, free content available to anyone is the way to go. If you want to capture emails, have a newsletter sign up box, but don’t twist people’s arms.

*Overly promotional social media updates and press releases. These make me gag a little, especially when I was an editor at a newspaper. With social media and PR, you are providing information and connecting with people. It’s for conversation and news. It’s not for exaggerated fluff.

*Ambiguous home pages. You have just a few seconds before a visitor leaves your site or clicks through it. If your site doesn’t have a clear direction, say, “hasta luego” to your potential customer.

*Confusing Navigation. If it’s confusing, I’m going somewhere else.

*Bad copywriting. Typos, cheesiness, too serious, too long, unclear, un-engaging, exaggerations, etc., will kill your website. A site is often all about the headlines, copy and call to actions. If the writing is bad, you’ll have no chance with a customer.

“Install extra software to continue.” I hate this one. I fear getting a virus, and I don’t have the time to download new software.

*Slow-loading pages. Not only is this a pet peeve, it’s also going to be big for the future of SEO.Dead links. They are dead ends that force me to go somewhere else.

*Bad colors, graphics. Some websites make me want to scratch my eyeballs out. Many designs can be distracting, and the wrong background color can make it difficult to read the text.

*Flash and sparkly stuff. Flash can be pretty cool, but not usually in a conversion sense. Sometimes designers and CEOs like flash, because, it’s cool. But, it can often be flashy without any substance, and as a result, waste the viewers’ time. Some sparkly design stuff will make your site look like a used car sales floor. That is never a good idea.Ineffective site tools. Why do people launch websites that don’t work? Why, why why?

*MUSIC! Music on the homepage makes me do a mad scramble for the “X” button like it’s my full-time job to close out browsers. Music, and videos for that matter, that play without my approval, is a bad, bad thing.

Internet marketing is all about two things: (1) getting more traffic and (2) converting that traffic into sales.

That involves good SEO services, and a website designed around simplicity, easy flow, clear direction and good content. Everything on the page should propel the user experience. If it doesn’t, it will make my pet peeve list.

Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies for 2009

Jim Vincent — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:13:00 GMT

Web 7 Media.net Announces the Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009

December 9, 2009

The best Internet marketing strategies of 2009 revolved around establishing credibility and targeted exposure. The search engine optimization company says similar tactics will work in 2010.

In response to an eMarketer.com study stating that businesses will spend up to 75 percent more on Internet marketing this holiday season, Web 7 Media.net– a full-service Internet marketing company in Salt Lake City – announces the top 10 most effective Internet marketing strategies of 2009.

“Businesses want to make sure every penny goes to something that produces results,” said Jim Vincent, chief executive of Web 7 Media.net. “For that reason, more and more money is being allocated to Internet marketing because it’s measurable and has proven to increase ROI.”

There are a wide variety of Internet marketing methods, the most effective being the ones that establish credibility, trust and directly target a demographic. “Credibility is the most important,” said Jim Vincent. “When people are watching their money closely, they will only buy from companies and Web sites that they trust.”

Credibility, Buckles said, depends on how well a site is architected, how many other sites and networks link back to your site, how much social media and buzz surrounds a domain, how often a site goes down, how unique a site’s content is and how fast a site loads.

The Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies of 2009:

1. Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Web sites in the top of the search results are viewed as the leaders of their industry, and more than 80 percent of Web users click on the first listings. Good SEO services will consistently deliver a huge return on investment.

2. Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn – Social media marketing engages customers on a personal level, and can rapidly create buzz around a product, brand or business. In 2008, Pubcon search conference spent $75,000 to marketing their conference. In 2009, Pubcon saved that money and used strictly social media advertising with great success.

3. Keyword Research – Everything revolves around discovering what words and phrases your customers are searching for online.

4. Video Marketing – This is becoming more important both on-site and off-site. Videos help convert Web site visitors into sales. In the universal search results, people tend to click on links with videos more than those without – even if the video link is ranked lower.

5. Online Public Relations – This builds credibility online, in the mainstream media and for potential customers. Online public relations can help create a lot of buzz about your site through bloggers and industry sites, and can boost organic SEO.

6. Link Building – A key element in search engine optimization. Search engines like “popular sites.” From the search engine’s point of view, a credible and popular site will have a lot of links pointing to it.

7. Blogging – Blogs provide additional site content (which search engines love), graphics and other viral content to disseminate information and tie in with social media. Blogs can build your credibility by establishing your site as the hub for industry information.

8. Conversion Web Design – A good Web design will keep visitors on your site and sell them products or services. In the end, it all comes down to a site that makes money.

9. Paid Search Marketing – Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an extremely targeted strategy with measurable, immediate results. This enables a more efficient spending of marketing dollars.

10. Email Marketing – Nurture relationships and retain existing customers. It’s much easier to keep old customers than to get new ones. Send good offers and valuable information that’s customized to their needs.

“To have success on the Internet, you need a combination of all these strategies to drive traffic to your site, establish credibility of your brand and convert traffic into sales,” Jim said.

Search Engine Marketing Improve Your Rankings

Jim Vincent — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:19:00 GMT

Search Engine Marketing, Improve your Rankings

Once your site is listed and indexed in each of the Search Engines, the next stage is to increase the popularity and importance of your site and each of its individual listed pages. The problem is that each page of your website will need to have a level of popularity in order to rank highly within a keyword search. This can only be achieved through Search Engine Marketing.

Your site will now be listed but if you are not actively promoting and marketing your website your listings will be not appear on the first results page for a keyword search for your products or services. As a result you will be receiving a marginal amount of traffic to your site but you will not be maximising your potential traffic levels.

Search Engine Marketing is the process of promoting and developing your website’s search engine popularity and online presence. This is achieved through the use of a combination of different techniques which include:

- Search Engine Submission

- Directory Submission

- One Way Link Building

- Three Way Link Building

- Social Media Marketing including Submission & Bookmarking

- Online Press Release Submission & Article Submission

- Buzz and Viral Marketing

- RSS syndication and submission

Search Engine Marketing is a very difficult and complex process, it requires detailed strategising and hours of careful planning in order to create an online search engine marketing strategy which will not only promote and protect your brand but will increase the popularity and importance of your website. This will result in an increase in marketing generated traffic and an increase in search engine ranking which will result in higher volumes of search engine traffic. The importance and popularity of your site is the key to the success of your business.

There are plenty of things you can do yourself to help promote and market your website. These include directory submission, website sponsorship and press release and article marketing and submission.

Google Bots and How They Work

Jim Vincent — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:14:00 GMT

What’s Googlebot and why does it visit my site?

A Google bot is a search bot which is used by Google to gather and collect information about your website in order to build a searchable user index for the Google Search Engine. There are two types of Googlebot, “deepbot” and “freshbot” each undertakes a different task when visiting your site.

The “freshbot” crawls through websites looking for new and fresh content. If the “freshbot” discovers new content it will be reported and submitted for inclusion in the “deepbots” crawl list. The “freshbot” visits a website more frequently than the “deepbot”, this allows Google to maximise its resources as the “freshbot” is only looking for changes. The rate at which a “freshbott” returns to the site is dependent on how frequently your sites content changes and how important Google perceives the content of your site. If you’re adding a new page every day and your sites content is perceived as being rich in information and important to Google’s search users, then the frequency at which the “freshbot” will visit your site will increase.

The “deepbot” crawls through your website, trying to follow every link on every page, downloading as many pages as it can and submitting them to the Google Indexers. The “deepbot” spends much longer periods of time on your site and is often responsible for an increase in your sites bandwidth. It also follows new and fresh content links which have been found and submitted by the “freshbot”. The “deepbot” is responsible for correctly submitting the pages of your site to Google for indexing.

In order to make sure your website is fully indexed in Google it is essential to make sure that every page of your site is linked from the main content and navigation. Goggle discovers pages by harvesting the links on every page and crawling each one individually.

After Google has successfully crawled your website it then proceeds to use the information to index its findings within the Google search engine index. This is where your pages will be displayed an made searchable to Google search users by keyword and search term. Google takes into account over 200 criteria, including page rank, in order to identify the context of your site and its content and to index each page in the correct location.

Google News

Jim Vincent — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:53:00 GMT

An Article Released By The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

Investing in search engine optimization (SEO) is essential if a website is to be a success, according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). David Thorp, Director of research and information at the organization, said that SEO is key to driving customers to a business website.

“For many SME businesses, Investment in search engine optimization marketing is vital, and without it most businesses will struggle to generate the traffic needed to justify the creation and maintenance of the website,” he said.

“Although their will always be those who accidentally stumble across your website, if you are looking to attract new customers you need to invest in search engine optimization marketing to drive new customers to your website”.

It is amazing that this type of news is still news. I would have thought that all Website Owners should know this by now. I guess it just shows that there are still lots of people who don’t know how important SEO is for their site.

Currently 82% of the population in the US are internet users and 68% of them are frequent internet searchers.

As a new Price Waterhouse Coopers study indicates Internet Marketing is set to increase by 10.7% per year until 2011 in the US.

SEO involves increasing the number of internet users (traffic) visiting a website in order to capture a larger audience, so you can show off your talent, expertise, or products. Otherwise why do you have a website?

Despite this, many small businesses are failing to take advantage of the fast growing number of buyers now online.

Jack Wallington, programs manager with the IAB said that by 2010, internet advertising will have overtaken TV.

Panasonic has teamed up with Google to allow viewers to watch millions of YouTube videos on big screen high-definition TVs. Panasonic’s VIERA PZ850 series tellies with VIERS CAST will allow consumers to browse, find and watch free YouTube videos in their living rooms-which is likely to further boost the popularity of Internet Advertising.

Google bought YouTube for $1.65 Billion in 2006, and is excited at the opportunity for TV watchers to be able to access the YouTube Internet with just one click.

Leading search engine Google is adding blogs as a search engine feature. Blogs have become so increasingly popular that this has needed to be done for a while now.

Get more traffic so you can have more opportunities to grab more patients!!!!!

Ask Dr ______________

Jim Vincent — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:12:00 GMT

A lot of you have asked me questions since my email 30 days ago about a section on your website named Ask Dr ________ or a section called Ask ________ someone in your office or your spouse.

I have created 4 so far for 4 different doctors and yes whom ever you have doing your SEO loves it because it helps with SEO and adds full interactions with prospective clients. Great way to interact with them and get them communicating with you.

So here is the biggest answer to most of the questions. If you want I can give you the references of a Doc outside of your area that we are already doing it with. Will not show you someone in your area.

Cost is $600 if your a current client

$900 if your not a current client.

Newsletter Design, Maintenance, SEO

Jim Vincent — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:02:00 GMT

You asked for it so you can now have it if you want!

New at Web 7 Media.net we have a service where we will design you an awesome Newsletter and attach it to your website & Blogs. We will also have one of our SEO Content writers write a new newsletter for you every month or Bi-Monthly or every Quarter. We will post it for you and email it out and also Google SEO it for you. The writer will interview the Doctor or the Staff of the Doctor to gather stuff for the newsletter on a monthly basis.

*Interview with writer and have Newsletter written

*Post Newsletter to site and Blogs

*Email newsletter out to database of emails

*SEO Newsletter

*Send Newsletter out to all press sources as well as directories

Cost $500 Down for Design

$175.00 per month for monthly Newsletter

$250.00 every 2 months for Bi-Monthly

$250.00 a Quarter for Quarterly Basis

Been doing it for 3 clients for the last 3 months and works great. Many of you have asked to beable to do it so now it is set up. I can do it for up to 5 more clients only and ONLY ONE Client in a certain city.

What Makes A Credible Website

Jim Vincent — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:53:00 GMT

What makes a website credible?

With an increase in competition in search engine ranking and a rise in PPC prices, conversion rate optimization helps marketers get more out of what they already have.

Credibility -- People believe messages from sources that appear credible, so if a website is considered credible, messages will be more persuasive. Take mainstream media for instance, such as CNN and FOX News. They appear credible yet propagate lies and twist opinions in line with political agendas.

By and large, the reporting is based on credibility factors such as "an official said" or "experts from this field say" etc, with little or no proof to back up the claims other than "he/she said." People perceive officials as truthful authority figures and lies fly undetected.

The web works in a similar fashion. Once you have credibility on your side, your message is trusted more than a less credible competitor. Compare buying a plasma TV from Amazon or an unknown website. Which one has more credibility and trust?

Research shows that websites perceived as credible have a professional look and feel. They have well-structured content and easy navigation. Those websites also have a clear unique selling proposition that clearly states why they are better than the rest.

Credible websites also download quickly and focus on "you" language instead of "we." They steer clear of an aggressive sales pitch, but state the benefits of their products/services.

Credibility Factors

Brand - Brand is your biggest credibility booster. Once you have the brand, customers will find you more credible than an unknown.

Professional Design - An ugly design scares people off, even if you have a good offer on the table. Apart from being appealing, professional designs load very fast. If a website is slow to load, visitors will simply click the back button without waiting. There a hundreds more sites; why wait for yours?

Another aspect of a professional website is a mistake-free text/presentation. It includes no coding errors, no misspellings or incomplete content. Errors reduce the perception of quality, and with it, credibility. Even small errors can become big issues for your visitors, such as a misspelling in your text or unfinished pages.

Navigation - Users often state they cannot find the information they're looking for. When this occurs, they abandon the website and head back to the search engines. The design must allow visitors to get where they need to be in a minimum number of clicks, no matter which page they land on.

One of the ways to make navigation easy is to rely on content links and guide users to appropriate pages as they read content. Make sure to style links in a distinct color (and make them bold, preferably) for easy scanning.

Logo - The logo is one of the first things users see on your website, thus it is vitally important to present a logo that helps to reinforce your credibility and professionalism. Hire a professional to craft a logo if you want a good one.

Slogan or Unique Selling Proposition - The logo, slogan/USP are the key elements that identify your brand. Together they create weight and help you differentiate your company from competition that has no clear slogans/USPs.

A unique selling proposition, often used as a slogan, tells visitors in one sentence why they should pick you instead of other companies. For example, Avis: "We're Number Two We Try Harder" or Fedex: "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." It sets the frame and sparks light bulbs in visitors' minds in a manner that makes them think: "that is something I appreciate."

Successful slogans and unique selling propositions can increase conversion rates by two to four times, thus there's big money in those short tag lines. Good slogans should communicate biggest benefits, be simple, easy to remember, use an active tone, link to your brand name and differentiate.

Other Conversion Rate Factors

Link Length - Studies show that action-oriented, active tense, long links get more responses than short links. Sometimes, due to SEO constraints, long links are not an option.

However, if you're linking out to a form or order page which has ranking value, then it's okay to create a 5 - 8 word link with a clear call to action. For example: "save on plasma TVs and get free shipping."

Content Positioning - Make sure to position your most important content above the fold. Studies show that nearly three-quarters of users click on links, fill out forms, and read content located above the fold.

Sales Copy - Persuasive, benefit-oriented copy crafted by a professional copywriter can double and triple conversion rates. Online copy writing is a craft of its own and cannot be covered in two, three or 10 articles.

Images -- Images significantly improve conversion rates for merchants who sell physical products. Service providers also benefit by demonstrating an end result and making a website more alive, as sites without human imagery lack the "human touch."

Use only high quality pictures; poor images lower credibility. Try to keep the image on the right side, because it's uncomfortable to read text on the right. Make the image clickable, with an option to see higher resolution versions.

Practice Slow?

Jim Vincent — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:10:00 GMT

Is your practice slow at the moment?

Some of you have listened to these instructions over the last 60 days and have told me it has helped so here they are again.

Take this slow time over the next 60 days and get your Website and your SEO ready and strong for the people that are looking and for the better months that are around the corner.

1. Work on positioning thru content, links, outside sources to your website, and so on.

2. Blog, do a blog post every day or at least every other day if your slow. It will pay off.

Blog often and strong.

Use titles that people may type in and search for.

Use lots of searched for content.

Create some home made videos done nicely

Use lots of links in your blogs

Link some of your blog posts to outside sources.

3. Write some new fresh articles for your website and have your webmaster post on every 3 weeks instead of every month.

4. Create some question and answer forms for your website and either post them as PDF forms or even better for SEO as pages.

5. If you can financially build a few small specialty websites (feeder sites) to go out and grab more attention

6. Expand your comfort box, go out and grab more market share, further away, or different media avenues, thru social media or thru

areas you have not been doing or have not been putting much effort into.

7. Create some programs to involve the people that know how good your are like your former patients.

8. Make your website more fun and interactive.

Remember use the slow time to make your around the corner future even stronger as well as the distant future.

Blogging Tips

Jim Vincent — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:14:00 GMT

I have had 36 questions about Blogging in the last 10 days because more and more of you are using the slow time to build it up better so here is some help/

More Blogging Tips: Cooking with Gas

Yesterday I covered four great lessons we can learn about blogging from watching the movie "Julie and Julia." I promised you a total of 11. So what can you do to make your blog memorable, besides being passionate about your subject, having a goal, being reliable and finding your niche? Keep reading.
Just in case you haven't seen the movie, "Julie and Julia" told two true stories, the first one about how Julia Child became a chef and wrote her classic cookbook, and the second one about Julie Powell, who one day undertook the task of cooking her way through the entire book in just a year, and blogging about it. She went from nothing to having publishers (and Hollywood) knocking on her door.

Following all these tips might not make you rich and famous, but it should help you improve your blog, increase your readership, and maybe even grow your bottom line. But let me pick up from where I left off.

Track your visitors

Julie's first comment was from her mother, but we all got excited right along with her when one day she exulted that she'd received 65 comments, and none of them from people she knew. She eventually became the proud owner of one of Salon's most popular blogs.

By tracking your visitors, you can see whether you're on the right track. Is your readership increasing or decreasing? How popular was a particular entry? Should you write more on the same subject? Tracking your visitors gives you valuable feedback; it can help you figure out what changes you need to make.

Be proactive in responding to comments

We don't see this in the movie, but who can doubt that Julie not only read every comment to her blog, but jumped in and responded? Blogging is essentially interactive; readers want to know that authors read their comments, and often ask questions to which they expect to see a response.

In a sense, they're entitled to one. Think about it. If someone put the effort into reading a blog entry, thought about it, and posted a perceptive comment or asked a good question, that's work of a sort, and deserves a reward in kind.

Interaction encourages interaction. If you respond to comments, you'll get more comments. More people will visit, read, and comment on your blog when they know you're actively involved.

More Blogging Tips: Cooking with Gas - Write in ways that encourage comments

In the movie we saw Julie end a few of her early posts wondering if her readers were out there. That's a little extreme, and not recommended if you write a company blog, or any kind of blog that you want to look professional. But there are ways to entice your readers to respond to what you've written without begging.

Try summarizing an entry in which you relate your opinion of something, and then adding "What do you think?" with a suggestion to leave a comment. You'll no doubt find other ways to encourage comments that work particularly well with your blog's topic.

Be persistent in achieving your goal

Julie came close to giving up once or twice, but to judge from the movie, she never threw in the towel completely. Early on, her own mother didn't understand why she was doing it, but she kept it up anyway. Persistence pays; in Julie's case, it paid off quite literally.

Whether or not you've revealed your actual goal to your readers, you should be persistent in achieving it. This might mean changing your tactics based on the feedback you get. It might mean thinking outside the box and doing things you've never done before (like killing a lobster, or holding contests on your site).

In an extreme case, it might mean changing your goal, if your original goal turns out not to be realistic. But that shouldn't be your first instinct. If you took a look at your goal originally and outlined a path to achieving it that seemed reasonable at the time, stick with it unless you later found out that your first analysis was completely unreasonable.

Remember, some goals simply take a long time to achieve. As one example, it's taken me 17 months to lose 47 pounds, and I have another 5 pounds to go before I achieve my goal. I plateaued twice for so long that it was tempting to give up, but I persisted with what I was doing and made it this far. You can bet I'm not giving up. If your goal is reasonable, or even requires you to stretch a little, you shouldn't either.

More Blogging Tips: Cooking with Gas - Patience isn't its own reward

Reward yourself when you achieve your goal

In the movie, Julie went to a special exhibit on Julia Child when she finished cooking her way through the cookbook. This isn't just a good thing for blogging; it's a good rule for life in general. Reaching a major goal deserves a celebration. In fact, it can help to set smaller "landmark" goals along the way and treat yourself with smaller rewards, to keep your enthusiasm up.

These rewards should be things you enjoy, and that are appropriate to the goal you're trying to achieve. If you're trying to lose weight, you wouldn't reward yourself with a hot fudge sundae when you've lost 10 pounds - but you might celebrate with a pleasant walk in a colorful park you haven't been to in a while.

Match the size of the reward to the size of the goal achieved. Reaching your goal weight deserves a new wardrobe if you can afford it (you'll need to buy one anyway, but you can at least make the shopping trip fun). And yes, blog about getting your reward; if your readers have been following your struggles this far, they deserve to celebrate with you!

Don't expect to achieve everything all at once

Julie didn't start her cookbook odyssey by trying to debone an entire bird; she saved that for last. She didn't start with bisecting lobsters or creating aspics either. She started with pan-broiled steak, whole boiled artichokes with lemon butter, and rice. As she said in her blog, it was easy.

Do the easy stuff first, and then build up to the harder things. You'll be more willing to stick with what you're doing when you have regular successes under your belt. Just don't stick permanently with the easy stuff or you'll get bored - and so will your readership.

More Blogging Tips: Cooking with Gas - Be human

Let me expand on this point. You need to develop a voice. You need to be personal, but not too personal, especially if you're writing for a company blog. You need to consider the image you want to project, and stick with it as long as it works. Julie actually used a fair bit of profanity in her blog; she could get away with that, because it was a personal blog. One could even argue that it was expected, since she was trying to do something fairly challenging, and one of the stereotypes of New Yorkers is that they're rather loose with blue language.

But that doesn't mean she let it all hang out. In the movie, we see Julie have a fight with her husband; he walks out in a huff, and tells her that she'd better not blog about the fight. In that night's entry, she starts to write about it - and then stops herself, highlights the sentence, and hits the "delete" key.

The fight wasn't something that made sense to include in the blog. Yes, the Julie/Julia Project was a personal blog, but it was really about the cooking, and talking about the fight would have revealed way too much.

Remember, once you hit "publish," it's all over the Internet; complete strangers can read it. So give some serious thought to what your entry will look like to people who know nothing else about you, and might not even have read previous entries. If you're doing your job right, you will get exactly that kind of reader every week. Will they stick around to read previous entries? Will they become regulars? Or will they shrug and move on? The answers to these questions will depend very much on the kind of image you project.

What I've said so far about being human may seem contradictory. "Be personal, but not too personal"? Readers will try to picture the person behind the words. Give them enough pieces to get the skeleton of a picture, and they'll complete the rest of it themselves.

For example, when a novel writer describes a restaurant scene in a book, he may mention, for instance, grimy red-checked tablecloths, but he doesn't have to mention the shaky table legs; you, the reader, have been in greasy spoons before, and can conjure an entire image of the place from just a few short sentences of little details. You mentally fill in the rest.

Your blog readers will do the same for you, if you give them the right details. You don't need to look perfect, but you should be honest, sincere, and serious about achieving your goal (though not so serious that you don't have any fun with it). In short, as I said, you should be human. Blog readers are people, just like you, and relate to humans, not faceless companies. So give them something to relate to. Good luck!

Mobile SEO- You Still Don't Believe?

Jim Vincent — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:28:00 GMT

So you think that Mobile SEO is not for you yet? That’s ok fall further behind.

Mobile SEO Has Become A Major Importance;

The online world is going mobile, and everyone’s getting involved with the popular trend. Mobile Web browsers and smart phones have turned the mobile world into an entire universe of online sites and stops, advertising and extras. The online world is going mobile, and that means your site should, too. What is mobile SEO…and, do you know how to use it?

Mobile SEO is often treated like a very different animal when it’s compared to the more standard SEO practices we’ve come to accept when creating online content. Now that you’ve started to master search engine optimization practices for the Internet, it’s time to master a whole new skill named mobile SEO. How does it differ, and how do you use it to make your mobile site a success?

Mobile Web Sites

Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter and many, many other sites you find on the Web can also be found on the mobile Web -- mobile-enabled versions of the sites you’re probably already familiar with using.

There is often a distinction between mobile sites and their computer-viewable counterparts. For instance, Google has two versions of itself - the one you’ll find on the Internet, and the one you’ll find on the mobile Internet. There is often a distinction between mobile sites and “regular” Web sites, and this is misleading in a way. Though many sites choose to create a mobile version of themselves (mirror sites), it’s absolutely possible for mobile as well as computer users to find the exact same Web sites even when they’re using two very different types of devices.

Now, all you have to do is learn how that works, and learn how to apply the principles of mobile SEO to a site that might already be rich in standard SEO. Sound confusing? It doesn’t have to be.

Creating a Mobile Site

Many, many mobile Web sites are written in a code called XHTML, which is sort of like a simplified version of the HTML which is commonly used to create Web pages on the Internet. The domain .mobi is often used for mobile sites as well.

Here’s what you need to know: it’s not absolutely necessary that you have a .mobi domain or a site written in XHTML to create a strong and striking online mobile presence. Sites under the .com domain (and all the other extensions you might obtain) can be found just as easily by mobile search engines. However, it is best -- though not mandatory -- to use the XHTML code when creating mobile pages. This simply makes pages a bit more accessible for a larger variety of mobile users, making it possible for a wider audience to find your mobile site.

Learning XHTML, or converting pages of your site to this language, doesn’t have to be a difficult or drawn-out process. There are many online tutorials which will help you learn, create and convert XHTML code as needed. One very user-friendly tutorial at w3schools can help you learn more about XHTML and how it’s used on the Web, both in mobile- and computer-based versions.

Mobile SEO

The right code isn’t all it takes if you want to achieve mobile SEO for your site. Remember that mobile users, the same as computer users, visit a search engine when they’re hunting for something specific on the Internet. You want these people to find your site whether they’re accessing that search engine from their home computer, traveling laptop or mobile device.

If you have an online presence, you should already have search engineoptimization in place on your existing site. Now, how do you add mobile SEO to your existing pages?

First and foremost, make sure your site is definitely open and available to mobile search engine scans by the mobile search engines. When creating pages for the Internet population at large, you include a special META tag that makes your pages available to search engines for scans when users enter keywords. When you want recognition from mobile search engine scans, however, you have to take an extra step that doesn’t involve any sort of special coding at all.

You have to let those search engines know that you’re ready to receive mobile traffic, only you don’t do this through a special tag. The most-used mobile search engines at this time include Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL Mobile -- not surprising, considering these are among the most popular sites used by computer Web surfers. Want to gain their attention? Then you’ll have to submit your site to get it.

Yahoo (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/mobilesubmit) provides a user-friendly link that allows you to paste your site’s URL right into a blank box. Hit submit and you’re ready to start receiving mobile Web traffic from Yahoo. This sounds simple, but remember that you may have to take special pains to make your site viewable (and attractive) to mobile users. Once you’ve submitted, however, you can focus on a larger goal: mobile SEO.

Google (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=9346) offers a good deal of reading material to help you make your site ready for their mobile search engine, including directions to help you submit a site for their scans.

No Special Secrets

But submitting your site to the major mobile search engines is only half the battle when it comes to mobile SEO, isn’t it? Now that you’re using the right code and ready to receive traffic, it’s time to make sure your pages are optimized both for the mobile and the “regular” Web. It’s time to learn the secrets of mobile SEO.

Here’s the good news: there’s nothing new to learn. Mobile SEO, insofar as keyword usage and content stylings, is really no different from the search engine optimization practices you’ve probably already learned to adopt to boost your Web presence and Internet traffic.

Every piece of content, such as blog posts and articles, should revolve around two main keyword phrases which consist of two to four strong keywords. You’ll want to include keyword-rich titles and subtitles with every piece of content, images with captions that are equally keyword-focused and a few links that highlight important words and phrases.

In this, mobile SEO and standard SEO vary not at all. Keywords are still king, and content is still the placeholder for those all-important phrases.

Take care of the technicalities of mobile SEO, and you might already be done with the work. Keep basic SEO practices and principles in mind no matter what type of online content you’re creating, and your site will be optimized for computer and mobile users alike.

Video Google

Jim Vincent — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:15:00 GMT

Optimizing & Ranking Videos In YouTube –

PubCon Review

I’ve been intrigued with video marketing and video optimization for almost two years now. That is why I attended a session yesterday called “Best Practices: Video Creation, Integration & Marketing”.

There were three really great speakers, but one of them, Gregory Markel from Infuse Creative, had some awesome information about ranking factors in YouTube.

Since video marketing and driving traffic to websites via YouTube is so exciting to me, I thought I would share some of the main takeaways from his presentation.

The very first thing that Gregory spoke about is what it takes to do well in YouTube. Most people think that by quickly shooting a video and putting it up on YouTube that they will be an instant star, or be able to drive millions of unique visitors to their website. This may have been the case in the past, but times are changing.

To do well at YouTube, you have to be focused in three different areas.

Building and participating in the YouTube community in which you desire to do business in.

Focusing on keywords that you would like to rank for and build authority.

Obtaining links back to your video and having your video embedded in your site and other websites.

In the past, ranking in YouTube was as easy as simply optimizing the video for your main keyword. This was as simple as optimizing the title of the video and description. If you were good at that, you would probably be successful. If not, your video would quickly slip away, probably never to be found again.

Today, ranking well in YouTube is more complex. YouTube’s algorithm takes in to account many different factors. There are many different factors that Gregory talked about; I will touch on the few of the most important below.

Title, Description, Keywords, Links, & Tags

In order to rank well in YouTube, your video needs to be highly optimized. This means having your keywords in the right places (title, description, tags) and building links back to your video. These can be text based, anchor text links, or simply embeds.

View Counts / Frequency

The number of views your video has received shows that people are interested in what you have to share (if not manipulated). This helps build your authority and trust in the YouTube community. Also, YouTube looks at how often your video is viewed to make sure that your video content isn’t stale and outdated.

Comments & Thumbs Up and Down

YouTube loves when videos create interaction among its members. When you have a video with lots of comments and lots of thumbs-ups, this also shows that your video is interesting, provides value, and isn’t outdated or stale. On the other hand, when you have a lot of thumbs down, this can negatively influence your rankings in YouTube.

Age

Just like search engines love websites that have some age behind them, YouTube loves aged videos, as long as the video content isn’t outdated and stale. If you have a good video that is still relevant, and has been around for a long time, this will help you rank better in YouTube.

Video Responses

Video responses are above and beyond the normal responses that you might get on your video. Many times, comments on your videos are just spam. Just a few seconds of typing and you can pump out comments that have no real value behind them. Video responses are a bit different. Taking some time to shoot a video and responding to another video, shows that you have something real to share. Because of this, the video responses help rank your site better in YouTube.

There were many other things that he mentioned, but for the sake of us all not having to read a full discourse, I will stop there. Next, I want to discuss how to find good keywords and tags.

Optimizing Keywords & Tags

Before you even think about uploading a video to YouTube and turning it loose, you need to do some research to understand what people are searching for in YouTube.

First, you should research your competition thoroughly. Take a look at the videos that rank well for your desired keywords. See how they craft their titles, descriptions, and how they set-up their tags. You will want to follow closely, but not copy.

Second, you will want to use YouTube’s very own keyword suggestions tool. I’ll bet many of you didn’t know that YouTube had a suggestion tool. If you start typing slowly in the search box, you will see a populated drop down list of variations of other searches that are popular in YouTube. That is a good list to consider when trying to pick your keywords.

As with any SEO campaign, picking the right keywords from the very beginning and optimizing well for those keywords are key to your success.

Community Factors

One very important factor to ranking well and having success in YouTube is what Gregory calls community factors. I will list the most important community factors below.

Make Great & Unique Videos

Today, anyone can create a video and post it on YouTube. However, not many can actually produce videos that are unique and full of great content. These are the videos that have staying power and can truly help people with what they are searching for.

Include Call To Actions Early In The Video

As with any piece of promotional material, you want a clear call-to-action to guide your viewers to what you really want them to do. Include your call to action early in your video for maximum effectiveness.

Post Video Responses To The Most Popular & Relevant Video At YouTube That Day

Posting video responses to the most popular video in your industry will not only help you gain trust and authority in the eyes of the community, but it will help your videos get more views.

Use Some, But Not All The Same Keywords As Your Competition In Your Titles

Using some of the same keywords in your titles that your competition uses will help land your video in the “related videos” area of your competitors. This will help you get more views and build your authority.

Post Your Videos On Thursdays or Fridays

Believe it or not, most of the video views that YouTube receives are on the weekends. Uploading your videos on Thursdays or Fridays will help your video get additional views and help boost your video to the top of the YouTube search results.

Video marketing is going places. The web is evolving. Search is evolving. Adding video to your other methods of search engine marketing can really add a huge boost to your business.