Tips on Optimizing Your Listing on Google Places

Google Places is a free web page used for marketing services that various kinds of businesses or firms, regardless of the scale on which they work, can use to provide information. This information is regarding their products and services, and also lists their hours of operation, business address, phone number, email address, and website URL. In addition, this web service is equipped with the options to personalize your Places page by uploading pictures and videos so that they can be reviewed by their customers.

With the passage of time, marketing on Google Places has gotten very competitive. Earlier you could simply fill out your business listing on Google and see it in the 7 pack a few weeks later.  These days, if your listing does not have a 100% core, then Google displays will not show the name of your business in the top 10 local businesses in the search. There are few tips by which you can optimize your listing on Google Places.

Fill every field on the website

There are about 250 fields on the Google Places that you are supposed to fill. Most of the companies find this job hectic and hence leave those fields empty. Since the competition is so tough, you should be well aware of the fact that by the end of day, your business might not be listed in the first page of top 7 local businesses. This may be just because the Google Places of another company had one more video than your Google Places page.

Provide proper information

Make sure that you include your business’ name without any other information such as phone numbers, URL’s or taglines that are not a part of the official name of your business. You will be given extra space where you can enter all the other information. Use landline numbers rather than 800 or call center numbers.  You can add these numbers, as an alternative, after you have entered the necessary data.

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Posted in SEO Tip of the Week | Leave a comment

Advertise or DIE!

Advertising is the key to running a successful business.

I eagerly spend 20% of my profits to advertise and my goal for this year is to increase that to 30%.  Advertising is the only way to make it when times are tough so when cash flow is a problem, you need to find a way to advertise.

Here are some key reasons to increase your advertising budget!

  1. No one knows your company
  2. No one knows what you do
  3. Business is slow
  4. Cash flow issues
  5. Your competition has control over the market
  6. BRANDING

I know you must be asking yourself, is Peter nuts?  He is saying to increase advertising when cash flow is an issue or when business is slow?  Why?  Well how are you going to grow without attracting new customers?  How are you going to make your business a success?

This quote by Henry Ford says it all “The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.”

So turn your business around and increase your advertising today!

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Posted in Grow Your Business Online | Leave a comment

How to Use Your Content to Get Back links

Without quality content the value of a website to visitors is close to nil.

Optimization experts advise to create and upload quality content on all sites, the kind that visitors will stop to read. Back-linking has proven to be the most effective way of getting high exposure and user traffic. It is considered the best method to multiply the chances of web exposure to quality content.

Such factors confuse webmasters, as to either concentrate efforts on quality content or back-links. But, SEO demands many different things to be considered for channeling back to keyword rich content and creating sufficient back-links.

Your internet marketing efforts might end up in vain if there is not enough visitor traffic on your website.

Many webmasters buy traffic and pay more for advertising on foreign websites. A tested way of getting higher internet traffic is ranking higher in search engine results. Apart from high traffic this method is free and no payment is required for any step on the way.

Website ranking is dependant on various factors like site age, domain age, number of quality links and other criteria still unknown. In order to get more internet exposure and higher traffic you need to get back-links from trusted and developed websites in similar categories as yours.  Back-links help spread interest and information about your website, products & services. There are many ways to build back-links, for instance through article submission, website submission, blog commenting, video marketing, guest posting and more.

Don’t just rely on content alone.

Using quality content alone is a good idea, yet, using content without the help of back-links will take longer to achieve a successful search engine ranking, as long as 2 to 4 years.  Placing back-links to duplicate content or relatively useless content will do no good. If visitors visit your site twice and find irrelevant and old content, they will seldom visit again. So, upload quality content on your website first and then use back-links to invite traffic through various channels.

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Posted in SEO Tip of the Week | Leave a comment

Increase Your Website Conversions in 5 Easy Steps

There are various tools and tips to assist with increasing the traffic on a website, but lesser information on increasing conversion rate. There are two possible reasons for that, first is that driving more traffic to your website is easier than conversion, and second, given the conversion rate is constant any increase in traffic will show an acceptable increase in sales.

The BIG 5

1. Simplify your message

Your website should be simple and should be focused on your purpose and not provide too many “innovative” options that are irrelevant for the visitor. You have seconds to delight or distract the visitor. Navigation should be simple and the buying process must be easy. The content on the website should not be either bogus or duplicated from another website. If the content is original and of high quality, the visitor will always return to your page for more. Take a hint from the 7-UP commercial, “simpler is better.”

2. A Copy that “Pops”

Yours might not be the only website selling a product with the same product description and content.  Hundreds and thousands of companies including the manufacturers sell the same product with the same descriptions and content. Design the product information that is unique and makes your product copy “pop.” The key is to spend time writing your product copy in a way that pops off the page. This can be done by having a compelling title, including consumer reviews, adding quality information on the product page and creating a benefits statement for the customer.

3. Visual Hierarchy

The visual hierarchy on a web page is all the multimedia, placement of media, size of media, padding, contrast, hue, saturation and the face used on the page. When all these elements are placed on a webpage in perfect hierarchy the user will catch user eyes & attention. It does not mean you should clutter your page with irrelevant media rather choose the perfect color scheme, media, and placement of content etc.

4. Make contact info easy to find & repeat

Don’t hide your contact info. If you want people to call you, make sure you can find your phone number on the top and bottom of the website. Also be sure to include a quick contact form and give visitors a reason to fill it out. Free trial, free analysis, free quote, free sells.

5. Multivariate testing of the landing page


Multivariate testing involves testing different factors on a webpage, for instance, buttons, images and content. The factors are tested in a live environment that is on the internet with real users. After the test the most attractive features are used to lure visitors and increase conversion. You can test different wording, colors, layouts and more.

Don’t waste anymore time, get to it. Follow these steps and boost your conversions today.

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Posted in Grow Your Business Online | Leave a comment

Optimize Your Products and Boost Your Revenue

Ecommerce SEO is a great way to optimize business products and boost revenue through your online shop. You can always expand and profit from proper SEO tools and strategies. As more businesses create an online presence, the line between conventional business and ecommerce is thinning out. You can attract more customers by fine tuning your website and appear higher in search engine rankings. 

Business owners can optimize products through SEO tools by:

  1. Adding unique product descriptions – never use default product descriptions, similar businesses will be using the same descriptions. It might be hard work but it will pay off and will not be marked as duplicate content by search engine bots.
  2. Use product names in URLs – use simple product names in the product page URL, for instance use www.flowers.com/tulips. Don’t make URLs unnecessarily longer and difficult for customers to access the page directly.
  3. Optimize new products immediately – as soon as new products are added optimize their descriptions, links and names. Make a monthly or weekly schedule to do this.
  4. Setup automated product optimization- when adding new products to your site, have some default settings in place so product pages are readily optimized when the product is added. For instance, have title tags retrieved automatically from product name.

Business owners can boost their sales on their website by targeting traffic through search engine optimization. Your brand can get international exposure through SEO. SEO also creates brand awareness and increases brand loyalty when the company is displayed in the top few search engine results.

Businesses can get more revenue by PPC advertising as their website rank goes higher in search engine results. Again if the website has a higher organic ranking, the cost of PPC will significantly decrease as more people will be visiting through keyword searches rather than clicking on the paid link on top of the organic links.

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Posted in Grow Your Business Online, Small Business Advertising | Leave a comment

Search Engine Land Produces SMX Be There or Be Square

Search engine land is a leading online resource for news, research, analysis, commentary and expert advice on search engine optimization and its latest trends. Directed by industry professionals Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, the online publication is supported by experienced editorial staff and contributors providing comprehensive coverage of the industry. 

Search Marketing Expo is a search engine marketing conference from Third Door Media, the company behind the Search Engine Land and the Search Marketing Now webcast series. Search marketing Expo conducted in various countries like Australia, Canada, USA and Germany. The SMX is an interactive conference hosted by Danny Sullivan covering all aspects of search marketing usually for a week or more. SMX is designed for search marketers of all skill levels. The show offers sessions and a meeting point for attendees to network and discuss related topics.

At different venues all over the world SMX educates both industry beginners & professionals on the latest technologies and tactics that may be regarded as best practices to aid modern business and corporate entities. For instance SMX Canada offers 30 sessions that expand from planning strategies to implementing SEO techniques in modern business processes.

SMX is a great way to educate industry experts and professionals to get updated on the latest trends of search marketing. It also plays a great role in bringing people in the same fields together and share their ideas and prospects for the future. Over 40 industry professionals part great information to the participants talking about various fields related to SEO, SEM and SMO.

SMX conferences share information and research related to:

  • Search business strategies
  • SEO fundamentals
  • Search analytics
  • Media and emerging technology
  • SEO & International issues
  • SEO Best practices
  • PPC tactics
  • Social media tactics (SMO tactics), and more…

The expo also extends training and educating advanced professionals about paid searches, analytics & conversion, in-house PPC designs and tactics and overcoming SEO challenges.

Attending an SMX ensures quality learning of exceptional content that can be readily implemented and applicable for future use. The expo gives opportunity to socialize and make priceless connections, interact, exchange ideas and get expert advice from speakers and sponsors. Those looking to enhance their search marketing and optimization knowledge have a great chance to get valuable information and education on their related field from industry patriarchs.



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Posted in SEO Conferences | 1 Comment

Just Say No to SEO Spam

SEO spam is the top rated spam content in email inboxes. Search engines claiming to put your website in the top 10 spot or getting more traffic to your website. Whatever their claim they are no more than cheap spammers. Users should be careful in subscribing to these search engines since these are low ranked engines who will promise webmasters top 10 search spots but no commitment on their claims. 

Site owners should know that stooping to SEO spam will not get them good rankings. If SEO is done right the first time it doesn’t take long for websites to grab top 10 positions in web searches.

SEO SPAM

SEO spam is anything that uses unethical practices to SEO websites. This involves manipulating search engine spiders and redirecting visitors to inappropriate or banned content. Google categorizes the following as SEO spam:

ü  Hidden links to attract search engine spiders

ü  Redirecting users to other web-pages

ü  Sending automated queries to search engines

ü  Pages packed with unnecessary content

ü  Duplicate pages on websites

ü  Using multiple doorway pages to attract search engines

SEO spamming results in penalties when caught, common penalties include lowering search ranking or being banned entirely on search engines. SEO spammers are entities that don’t work with custom SEO techniques but instead take advantage of revenue generation by being able to rank higher in searches.

Search engine spiders are optimized to get smarter all the time and they can even detect spelling mistake, duplicate content and cloned links on websites easily. There are also human editors on search engines who check questionable websites code.

Therefore, SEO SPAM can have negative repercussions on any budding website or blog. It is important to practice ethical ways to build fame and trust among readers.

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Posted in SEO Tip of the Week | Leave a comment

Bing Launches Business Portal for Small Businesses – A Challenge To Google Places?

Recently Microsoft launched the first competitive software for Google places, calling it Bing Business Portal. With BBP small businesses can list themselves, create a mobile website, add links to social media like Facebook and, add deals & coupons. 

Bing business portal lets local small businesses maintain, verify and modify business listings. Although very similar to Google places the BPP service is claimed to be unique with some new added features. For instance, the Bing Business Portal allows businesses to create discount coupons and promotions and share them not only on their business listing but also on their Facebook page, Twitter, Bing search results and Bing Mobile home page.

Once businesses have confirmed themselves as owner of a particular listing they can add interactive details like photos, logos, payment methods, language options and business categories to appear in. Restaurant and bar owners can add menus and daily entertainment that they will provide throughout the month. They also have the option of creating mobile menus that mobile users can access from their devices. There is also the option of editing specialties, list in six different categories and register multiple keywords to offer a more accurate view of the enterprise.

As we discussed above, Bing Business Portal allows creating deals and discount offers on their listing and social media pages. This is a very special feature of BBP that allows small businesses to boost sales. Deals and discount offers can be easily created using the Deal Editor feature of BBP where users can specify offer categories, Dollar amount or percentage of deals, describe the offer and promote the offer through Bing search and social media.

Although new, Bing Business Places provides some innovative options that small businesses can take advantage of and the best part is, BBP is free to use unlike Google Places.

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Posted in Small Business Advertising | Leave a comment

Why Doesn’t My Website Show Up On Google?

Google develops new innovative search engine technologies rapidly for better SEO and SEM techniques. Every now and then site owners find their pages not listed on the most visited search engine in the world. There are although numerous reasons why this happens, we have compiled the most basic ones.

The website is new

Google indexes millions of new websites every day. Most of such new websites either fail or are not cared for by their owners. Such sites are discouraged by Google bots and instead they enlist older and more reliable sites to appear higher in searches.

Good Limited Content

Keeping updated and precise content on the website makes a huge difference in appearing higher in Google searches. Google bots are now engineered to not only recognize related content, but also quality content. Most websites are not shown in searches due to copied content, content spinning, errors or too much media on the webpage.

Optimized Website

A properly optimized website is obviously easier to search. A cheaper web design company will not consider it a priority, but a good one will ensure that your website is built so that it can be indexed quickly on Google. Professionals make websites SEO savvy by improving their coding. It is always advisable to get the website content re-written by a professional and optimized with relevant keywords.

Competition & SEO Consultancy

Competition on the web is phenomenal. Website owners can take advantage of simple keywords and SEO techniques to appear on top of the search but not for too long. Being top of every related search requires a 360 SEO strategy. Website owners should hire an SEO professional to implement proper tools to appear at the top.

Outbound links

Google bots love outgoing links from your website. Google tends to reward websites that provide links to informative websites. Sites that link visitors with the best information are rewarded with a higher search rank.

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Posted in Grow Your Business Online, SEO Questions & Answers | 2 Comments

Pay Per Click Or SEO What Is Better?

When talking about internet marketing, marketers and site owners think of the two most popular methods, search engine optimization (SEO) or pay per click ( also SEM or search engine marketing.)

SEO or organic SEO is enhancing your website’s rank or position in search engine results. Pay per click allows websites to position the website in search results by paying for relevant keywords related to the products or services. So what is best, free SEO optimization or the traditional paid optimization technique similar to advertising?

Visitor Trust

Visitors are more comfortable with organic search results rather than paid keyword optimized sites. A study shows that 14% people like paid links or ads and a phenomenal 30% dislike paid links that appear in searches. The web surfer puts more trust into organic results than pondering over paid links.

Tendency to click

There is higher tendency in people to click on organic search results compared to PPC. 50% users begin their searches with organic links. People tend to find more information on organic links than on paid links. A massive 70% of users never click on paid ads compared to the 30% who do. It is observed that more sales are generated from clicks on organic sites than on sponsored links.

Rise in pay per click costs

Since 2005, the costs of keywords have gone up by almost 100%. 57% of US companies found that it was too expensive to hire their relevant keywords for optimization. Organic SEO techniques keep costs stable and require more human effort compared to a paid campaign targeted on clicks.

Relevance

Users rate organic links to be more relevant to their search. On Google, a massive 72% voted organic links to be more precise and informative compared to 28% who considered paid links as relevant.

Clearly, organic SEO techniques are far superior to using pay per click techniques. But this depends on organizations and their available budgets to decide which one to use. Experts believe that SEO is a much better option. SEO has a longer shelf life and delivers more value over time. Firms are becoming more comfortable with SEO rather than going for expensive SEM campaigns.

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Posted in SEO Questions & Answers, Small Business Advertising | 6 Comments

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