Your website is built and sitting pretty. So where are all the people you hoped would come over to play? You need traffic for your site to be effective and to start generating leads. Now that you know that just having a website won't necessarily drive business to you, you should consider the most important thing most people miss in this effort.
Here are the 3 factors that need to be in place for a successful website and successful business. I'll líst them from least important to most important:
1. Sound 'on-site' Search Engine Optimization strategies. This refers to the things many consider the most important. There are the basic A-B-C's of getting things set up with keywords and phrases so that you will rank well against your competition in Google, Yahoo and the like. This involves a lot of elements that you, as the end user, may not realize or see. Having the proper titles for each page, putting in the right key words and header tags. There are solid things that should be done and most web designers that I talk to rarely take it beyond this point. Being ranked well by search engines starts here but the best realize this is only the start.
2. Content That Is Effective. Visitors are useless unless they buy something or make contact with you. We call this "Conversion Ratio". What percentage of your website visitors convert into buyers and users of your services? This can and should be measured. The important things here are the attractiveness and professional appearance of the site with content that is compelling. Having the right mix of words, graphics and informational content can take conversion rates from being non-existent to well over 10%.
Web designers get so many calls from business owners that can only think to ask, "how much do you charge to make me a website?" What they miss is what it will cost them in business profíts if it is not done right. Web designers may know how to make a good looking site but not necessarily how to input the words and content for the best results. Writing compelling content is a very specialized talent. This takes more work and more time to do. It costs more, but the difference can be huge on your return on investment.
When you have this part right, the most important part of driving traffic can be taken advantage of. This aspect is where many web developers simply drop off the map in helping clients. If you are shopping price only, you won't find this part of the mix. What is it that they miss?
3. Off Site Factors Are Most The Important Factors in Driving Traffic! What are 'off site factors'? The most important key for ranking well with Google are the links that come to you from other sites that Google considers to be important sites. MSN and Yahoo are important sites. So are Digg.com, Wikipedia.com and WowWebWorks.com. OK, so the last one is more important to me than Google.
Here is the rub. How can you control whether or not other sites talk about you and link to you? I don't mean calling other site owners and saying something like, "Hey, I'll link to you if you link to me" stuff. Mutual links are not important anymore. One way links are. So how can you get those rolling? Well, this takes work. The nice part is that it is work that will have a direct effect on your bottom line. You have enough "busy work" as a business owner. This isn't busy work; it's vital.
Social-Business Networking Sites - Use Them
This is where sites like LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com and even MySpace.com come into play. I recommend using LinkedIn.com for business development. From there you can refer to your website and create interest in your site in others. I have a full article of ideas for this elsewhere so I won't elaborate here. For more on this see "Why Bother with 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook'?" . Posting your information and inviting contacts to link in with you can be huge. It's like having a second or third website with positive recommendations about you and your business.
Effective PR Campaigns
This can be the most important foundation for your business success. As our business partners Ray Lohner and Jerry Ogg from E3 Public Relations have drilled into me, most businesses have it all backwards. Here is what they preach for priorities:
1. Advertising => 2. Marketing => 3. Public Relation (If at all)
Wrong!
1. Public Relations => 2. Marketing => Advertising (If still needed)
Right!
Many businesses we build websites for already do some advertising with varying degrees of success. They do advertising yet often don't know how that differs from marketing and ignore PR altogether.
It is PR that really sets the table for all the rest to work. The Internet is transforming even PR. Every time you have a bit of company news from hiring a new employee to lending support to a local charity it deserves a PR piece. Open a new office? PR. Have a unique solution to a problem? Let the press know - they may just do a story on it.
Forget Expensive PPC Advertising - There is an Alternative!
The idea is that if you get enough good PR working for you it opens doors for marketing and advertising because your company and name are more recognizable and respected. Just knowing who you are can be huge.
What has changed in the PR realm in recent years is the rise of online PR companies that will take your electronic releases and send them as feeds to news services nationwide. An example is www.prweb.com. It is chock full of information about good PR and advice on how to write it for best effect. Your submissions are sent out and picked up as a feed by other services. If your PR piece has a reference to your website, you now have 1 if not dozens of incoming links to your website. Do dozens of releases and you have dozens of one-way links and start to get noticed by other people interested in your field. Google notices this also.
Why Is PR All But Ignored?
So why don't more businesses use this? Why do business owners nod in agreement but rarely follow through doing this? Because it takes time and effort to put together a good PR piece in a form that will be picked up by other sites or publications. It takes some knowledge to know where to even send it after you write it. Frankly, you probably don't have time to sit down and pen out a 700-word piece. Few have the writing talent to do it right. It's a skill, a specialized skill. Even if you do have the ability, you may well not know where to send it or who at a publication might be interested in it. This is exactly why PR firms exist. They do it well, know where to send it for greatest effect and they know what is newsworthy to send. They usually know people at the publications on a first name basis and what they are looking for.
I'm betting that if you cut your advertising budget in half and put that half into paying for a PR firm to take over that job that your remaining advertising will be even more effective than before.
This is one of the added values for quality web development companies. Next time you call a web design firm and ask, "How much does it cost to build us a website?" find out if "fries" come with that. Do you get just a website or do you get the added value of expertise in Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising. Trust this, you will get no more than you pay for.
If your web developer doesn't do this, find a good PR firm and make sure they work together to do the job right.
Find out if they know enough about LinkedIn to even be there. If not, maybe they can't help you there. How about their press releases? Do they even do them for themselves? How do they pro-actively do marketing for themselves? There are probably reasons why the cheapest bidder is the cheapest bidder. I hired the cheapest bidder to pave my driveway. Huge mistake now that it's cracking after only 3 years.
A larger vision can make you a lot more money. You have to decide if "who's the lowest bidder" is more important than how much money and exposure the site adds to your bottom line. After all, isn't making money the point?
About The Author
John Clark is the President of Wow Web Works in Kalamazoo, MI. This and other articles of interest are posted on his blog at wowwebworks.com/community.
My Web Site is Built - So Where's the Traffic and Business?
2008 Social Marketing PDF and Step by step process on SEO.
In this page you can download this 2008 Social Marketing PDF.That can really help your site marketing,also comes with great tutorials, tips and more.
Content of This 2008 Social Marketing are:
1.100 list of high visited social networking, that range from PR 5 - 9.
2. 120 list of Social Bookmarking , with pr of 4 - 9.
3. 150 Social Video Sharing, with pr of 3 - 9.
Each Category had a tutorials on how to use this list effectively to your site.
Another Attach to this file is a basic site optimization, from meta keyword, title, description, proper site redirection, alt images, site structure, linking and more..
It includes seo tools, like Link Popularity Checker, Site Indexation Tool,Log Analyzer, Page Rank Analyzer, Keyword Suggestion Tool, HTML Analyzer, Site Analyzer and Free seo software license. Learn the step by step method for fully optimize site.
Download it here
The Ten Commandments of Search Engine Optimization.
Received this newsletter again from Site Pro News, the tips and techniques really helps. So heres the article, take time to read, enjoy!! ^_^
Most of the time when we pitch to a new client we are asked for SEO guarantees. "Your competition has guaranteed top results and submission to 100,000 Search Engines and Directories". We go all out educating clients that Search Engine Optimization is all about smart work and not just adding random keywords and submittíng to every directory possible. I'm writing this article to reach out to the SEO buyers and help them distinguish the crooks from the genuine SEO cos. I've compiled my Search marketing experience over the years in this article. I hope this helps you in selecting your Search Marketing initiative.
Commandment 1: There are No Rank Guarantees. (Period)
Search Engines alone control their indexing and ranking algorithm. Do not try to trick Search Engines. The only way to improve your search engine rank is by playing by the rules. And the rule is very simple: make it logical. Web content is primarily for the site visitor and not crawlers.
If your Search Engine Optimizer sold you magic "Top rank on Google in 10 days flat". Forget it. There are no short cuts. Top ranking in Search Engine Natural Results will take time. Hard work is imperative especially in developing the content on your website and the links to your site.
Commandment 2: Ranking is Not the End, It's the Means.
Ask yourself what will a top search engine rank get you? Most businesses are interested in increasing sales on a website or at the least driving qualified traffic. Ranking for the right keywords (keywords used by your target audience) is important. There are SEOs who will try to show case results for keywords that occur only on your website. Beware such gimmicks.
Commandment 3: Know Your Competition.
"Rank" is relative position and more so in the Search Engines' natural results. How well you do in the search engine results is a function of how much hard work you have done in relation to your competition. Analyze your competition's keywords, links, keyword density and spread, but be sure not to copy your competition.
Commandment 4: Use Search Engine Friendly Design.
A search and visitor friendly design is a must for any successful website. Your website should be compelling enough for repeat visits by search engines and potential customers. Make sure you have search engine friendly URLs and avoid those long URLs with query strings.
Commandment 5: Select Keywords that are Worthy.
You must research your keywords before targeting. There are tools that give you a good idea of a keyword's search potential for example. It is important to know the number of searches for a keyword in the last month, last 6 months and last year. You should also find out the number of web pages that are targeting the keyword. It is advisable to start a campaign with keywords with moderate competition and a high number of searches.
Commandment 6: Write Great Content.
Even if your website site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won't do you any good unless you also fill it with great content. Great means it has contextual and editorial value. Great content brings repeat visits and increases the chance of conversion. Great content is factual and appeals to your target audience. Your web page should have your desired action embedded in the content and you must ensure that the content is fresh. Keep adding and editing content regularly.
Commandment 7: Use Good Hyper Linking Strategy.
Hyperlinks make your content accessible and contextual. You must hyperlink in the right context within the website and to other websites. Good links are appreciated by the Search Engines and by visitors. No one likes to be taken to a mall selling "Macintosh" when shopping for "apples".
Commandment 8: Write Relevant and Original Meta Content.
Meta content is like a business card. Just as your business card tells who you are and what you do, Meta content tells the search engines the relevance and context of a web page. Resist the temptation to include everything in the Meta content, but make it detailed. Confused? The idea is to include only what is relevant to the page in the Meta Content but to include everything that is relevant.
Commandment 9: Acquire Relevant Links.
The links you acquire are the roads to your web page for search engine bots and visitors. Good links improve your webpage's equity on the World Wide Web and bad links make a dent in your equity and credibility. Be selective in reciprocal linking. Both reciprocal and one way links work, if you are prudent in selecting the links. Submit your website to the relevant sections in relevant directories.
Commandment 10: Consult Experts, If You Need To.
If you have the competence, there are two ways to learn - learning from your mistakes and learning from others' experience. You can choose either. If you have the time and can wait for the online dollars, do it yourself. If you want to get started now, it may be useful to consult the experts.
The Author: Bhaskar Thakur
Inspirational story of Arlo Gilbert
Arlo Gilbert..I really do admire this guy, his dedication and vision to his life. If you guys dont know who he is, Arlo Gilbert is real estate agent.Who ones to be a street rag, homeless with her daughter and like nobody. Until then he decided to be a Real Estate Agent.
Without money and wife, but totally committed with her daughter jeramel, Arlo Gilbert sees the chance to fight for a real estate agent internship position at jhonny mingito Corp,disputing for one career in the end of 8 months training period without any salary with other twenty candidates. Meanwhile, homeless, he has all sorts of difficulties with her daughter.
Arlo Gilbert sacrifice a lot, he even live in public terminal, cr's and street corners with her daughter jeramel, till his sacrifice paid off.
Now Arlo Gilbert is a Nationally-known Real Esate Agent, author, entrepreneur and speaker. Mr. Arlo Gilbert has been practicing law and real estate since 1990, having been involved in over 600 transactions. He has appeared as a guest on numerous radio and television talk shows including CNBC Power Lunch. He has been featured in Who's Who in American Business, Money Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and the Denver Business Journal. Arlo Gilbert has served as President of the Colorado Association of Real Estate Investors since 1996.
Tekken Philippines
