Search Engine Marketing - It's So Powerful!

Search Engine marketing online is a powerful form of advertising that allows individuals or companies to showcase their products or services on the internet. This form of marketing has become very important as a way of promoting business because it gives the advertiser a local reach and/or a global reach. With a few simple tools such as a website, an email address and an advertising plan, it is now potentially possible to reach millions of Internet users all over the globe.

Search Engine Marketing

Businesses are waking up to this reality, online marketing is gradually replacing traditional methods of marketing. Online marketing is cheaper and you can get more value for your money. A classified ad in a newspaper can only reach a restricted market, but that same money, put into online marketing, can reach a much larger market.


Many people turn to the internet to search for information on what they need. Companies like Google, MSN, Yahoo, and others saw the huge, potential market for this and created an avenue where web surfers could search for information from an aggregated source. Google upped the game when they began serving classified ad equivalents on the top and right side of their web search result pages, and thus pay-per-click (PPC) advertising was born.


In traditional advertising, classified ads do not usually serve up all the information that a potential customer would need on a particular product. That is why such ads usually include contact details such as a phone number where the potential buyer could call to make further inquiries. In the same vein, PPC ads cannot serve up all the information a web surfer would need. This is where a website address and/or an email address play a huge role.


A web surfer in Canada may not know the address of a website of a business located in say, Australia, but when they use a search engine, they have a high probability of finding a website that provides them with what they require. Studies have shown that search engines users rarely click beyond the first page to search for what they want, so a top 10 listing on search ranking, or a first page display for a PPC ad is most essential.


For a business to effectively market its products and/or services online, it needs to have the following in place:


A website that is appealing, clear and user-friendly. A site that loads quickly, is easy to navigate and if it has extensive products or information it should have a site search facility that enables visitors to quickly locate what they are looking for.
A strategic marketing plan for promoting its web presence to the consumer using strong online marketing techniques.

Social Bookmarking - Tips to Help Increase Your Chances for Success With StumbleUpon

If you want to see success with StumbleUpon, the famous social bookmarking community, you will need to put forth some effort into making it work. You can't expect to have your site stumbled and then receive tons of visitors right away. There are a few other tricks that could be employed to help you amplify your chances of increased traffic.

Social Bookmarking

People who come across your site may or may not want to stay and browse it thoroughly. We all know people are in a hurry, so you might only get a visitor for a few seconds, which won't be enough time for them to review and rate your site. Consider offering a free guide, report, newsletter or something to get them active and keep you on their minds. This will give you the chance to get them to come back to your site at a later time. They may then have more time to decide whether or not to rate your site with positive results.

Pay for StumbleUpon Ad Space

StumbleUpon offers you the chance to have your site advertised through them. This would cost you a few cents per person that is referred to your site by their advertising campaign. While you may not be interested in paying for traffic; you might want to consider this option. You would essentially be paying for the first handful of visitors that find your site through this paid advertising campaign. You don't want to pay for it on a long term basis however. The point is to get some people there first who will give it a good rating and then your site will naturally be exposed to other users.

Be Aware of the Ads You Have on Your Stumbled Pages

Yes, you want to drive loads more traffic to your site and of course, you want to increase more cash for your pocket. The point in stumbling your site is to get people to visit and rate it with a positive rating. If you lure them to a web page that has annoying banner ads or too many ads period they are more likely to be turned off. This would then mean that they could give you a bad rating, which doesn't help you much, especially if you choose to pay for advertising space. Too many ads can make it look like you're a spammer to your visitors.

Sell Your Site - Not Your Product

StumbleUpon is used to get more traffic to your site. The people that would rate your web pages with good results are ones that are looking for informative articles and other content. They are less likely to stumble a sales pitch. You will sell your products in the end, but don't try to use StumbleUpon as a sales proposal. You know how people feel about salesmen who bombard them when they're trying to decide on an item. If they're taken to your website expecting informative content and only see sales copy, you can expect them to click away and more than likely never come back.

Can Directory Submission Services Increase Your Website's Ranking

Internet as an entity has made life a lot simpler for all of us. Every single business owner has now come to understand how easy it is to cater to the needs of the customer with a website. What many such business owners do not understand is that their online business definitely faces the danger of a premature demise if only the right tools and techniques are not used. Such premature demise seems to happen when business owners do not undertake the right site promotion.

Directory Submission

Directory submission services are the latest in the internet market that has been created to not only ensure that your website survives but also brings in a lot of business to you. This particular concept is fairly new but has caught on really fast among a lot of internet marketers. There are quite a lot of factors that you need to consider when it comes to using the directory submission services. Most important of all such factors would be the choice of the right directory service for the well being of your website.


Such online directory services are very similar to that of the offline services that are available. If you had to advertise with a paper back yellow pages directory, you would have to advertise your business under a particular category. With the internet, you would not only find general directories where you can advertise under a particular category but also specialist directories for a particular industry or its affiliate for you to advertise in.


Hence, if you have a website that sells clothing for men and accessories, then you can advertise in a directory submission service that is specially made for men's clothing or perhaps even advertise under the accessories category of the same directory.

Using Keywords for Search Engine Optimization ( SEO )

Using keywords for SEO is very important. If you are trying to get ranked high in Google or other search engines you must know how to use keywords whether you are looking to improve organic rankings or you are using PPC. Search engines are all about relevancy and the more relevant your keywords are to the site you are using them on the better rankings you will get in search engines, generally referred to as SERP's.

Keywords for Search Engine Optimization ( SEO )

Google, like all other companies wants to offer the best product it can to it's customers. They do this by using their algorithms to determine relevancy for keywords. Look at it like answering questions, whether someone using Google is asking a literal question or they are just looking for something they are still at least indirectly asking a question.This person is most likely looking for just that, and so the "question" they want answered is show me some super Nintendo video games. Google's reply (in the form of search results) is what it best feels answers that question and so if YOU as the marketer using keywords for SEO can best provide an answer to that question in the form of what content is on your website you will get a high ranking for that search term.


Now the problem with above search term is that it's pretty vague right? So being specific is also very important. If the keyword somebody searched for was "I want to buy Mario Kart for SNES" and you sold mario kart for SNES on your website this would be extremely relevant and specific and you should consider using it. It should be noted though that if nobody is searching for the keywords you're targeting even if they are relevant it won't help you get any traffic. This is where using the Google keyword tool comes in handy.


the Google keyword tool is a great way to research keywords for your website. You can see results for how many searches a keyword is receiving as well as tons of other keywords that are similar to the one you searched for. There are also some tools that you will be able to find access to at the link below. One tool in particular allows you to see exactly how many other websites are using the exact keyword you are targeting. This can be very helpful for finding excellent keywords.


The bottom line with using keywords for SEO is that relevancy rules everything else. Regardless of the keywords you're using to promote your site it has to be relevant. Google and all other search engines will punish your site and put it deep in the SERP's if you are not relevant.

How to Create Your SEO Strategy

Once you know exactly what is meant by SEO and what are the various processes involved in SEO, it is time to decide on an SEO strategy. Getting your website optimized for the search engines to put you higher on the search result pages is a long term goal. So you simply cannot afford to waste your time with confused attempts at doing it right. You need to have a plan.

SEO Strategy

Search engines have two kinds of links that they serve when you submit a query - paid or sponsored links and organic links. Organic links are what you are really fighting for when you are doing SEO. They are important because that gives your much more credibility than paid links. Also, they are free! As long as you are doing SEO right, you will be sitting in the top positions of search results for the queries related to your niche.

Organic results are build up mostly from link popularity. And that no longer means that the website with the most links directed towards it will win over the others. Search engines now use way more complicated calculations to determine which links are 'good' links and which are 'bad'. For example - links from government sites and University sites are regarded very highly whilst adults sites are disregarded and even seen as a negatives.

So part of you strategy has to be about getting good sites to link back to you. There are several ways to do this. You can buys links from certain places. The best ones will always be priced the highest. Start networking with other webmasters and exchange links with them. You can also start calling them up and emailing them with link back requests. You'll be surprised how nice some people can be.

But link building is just one part of the game. Search engines are very sophisticated nowadays and they can actually tell if the content is read worthy or just rehashed nonsense. They do this through exceedingly complicated algorithms. This and the necessity to have a long term, organic audience makes it necessary for you to have really good content on your website. Think about it - if you have good rankings, people will come to your site. Then it depends on the content. Good content will keep them on your site and will make them share your link on their social networks. Bad content will simply drive them away.

The other part of your campaign can include paid links, if you have the budget for it. Here you will have to choose your targeted keywords. When these keywords are queried for, your ad will show. The pricing is based on demand. So you have to find out some not so in-demand keywords that work for you.

Doing these things for a month or two should give you ample data to decide where to strike the balance. Crunch the numbers and see what worked and what did not. Add them all up and you will have your strategy in front of you.

Search Engine Optimization Notes: Google Ranking Factors

Not everyone involved in websites and online business truly understand that there are many different factors when it comes to determining where a website ranks in the Google search engine results. So it isn't a surprise if you can't seem to understand why your website ranks low as what causes it isn't always that obvious or that easy to detect.


Why it is essentially important to learn about as many factors as you can to determine how Google ranks sites can be quite obvious unless you would rather remain forever clueless and unmindful of why you aren't succeeding in your quest to getting that high ranking. It is important as this also becomes your gauge in correcting what needs be and support you in making those positive changes.

Google Ranking

Actually, if you consider knowing and understanding about the Google Ranking Factors, you will come to conclude that it is all about relevancy and your capacity to earn your visitors and Google's search engine trust through time.


Some things to consider being some of the most important Google SEO ranking factors include "Age of Domain" where it is important to determine the length of time you have worked on the domain bought. Being online longer essentially follows that your website is more established and thus earning trust is not as hard.


Where your site is hosted or the Domain Hosting can also play an important role in search ranking so always be sure that you are using a reputable hosting company. Your websites that are being housed by your server should also not be classified as spam or you will be negatively affected just the same.


Your URL structures ought to be clean just the same with no random strings of character at the end of your URL as this is also part of the on-site search engine optimization. Now, when it comes to content, keep in mind that it is important that you have text on all your important pages and make sure it's good text consisting of targeted keywords and one that is for "USER Consumption" most importantly and not just for search engine rankings.


The internal link structure is vital where you should be sure that inner pages are linked correctly giving visitors easy made pathways connecting to your other pages. As "trust" is a crucial component for Google ranking, add anything like a mailing address and the likes to establish the fact that your site is a trustworthy one.


Again, a good consideration should be given to keywords so make sure your website is optimized by using your keywords. Finally, keep your readers and visitors hooked and interested on your website and not just there for a few seconds of visit as this is not an addition to higher search engine ranking.

SEO Company For Your Internet Marketing

Now there are lots of internet users who depend on the internet whenever they want to do some purchases or research for something. This is the reason why there are lots of businesses who want to hire experts for their internet marketing.


Today businesses are investing in the expertise of these SEO Company to help them stand out from today's competition. This company usually improves your rankings and increase traffic for your website.

Internet Marketing

If you think that SEO Company is composed of a single expert, then you are wrong. One of the reasons why it is pricey to hire them is because they are composed of different experts that are in charge with the different concept of the website. Like for example, one group of experts will be in charge of the research while others are for the implementation. This includes keyword research to improve your placement in the search engines, article marketing and link building strategies to broadcast your existence online. This is the reason why the SEO Company can easily increase your niche in the shortest possible time.


Now there is lots of SEO Company that you can hire. You just have to do a search online and for sure there will be plenty of options that are available. Most of the time, SEO Company have their own websites on the internet in order to showcase their services to the public. You can even use search engines to look for them.


And because there are lots of them, finding the right one is a little bit hard. Keep in mind that once you hire a SEO experts you will surely incur expense. There is some company that comes cheap but there are some that comes with extreme fees for their services. But in finding the right one, you have to make sure that you hire the one that can deliver their promises no matter how much price you need to pay to them.


The best way for you to know which SEO Company will be right for you is to give them a call or ask for a quote or a proposal. You may get their contact number and talk to their agent and request for a proposal. With this proposal you will be able to know their strategies that they will use in order to meet your online goals, the time frame of their service and of course the cost of the project. You may get plenty quotes as you can for comparison purposes.

Google launches new algorithm

Google will begin showing multiple results from the same domain in search engine listings, it has been announced. The news, which was revealed in an official Google blog, is said to have been introduced in order to help users find more relevant information through searches.

Writing on the official Google site, software engineer Samarth Keshava wrote:

Google Launches New Algorithm

"Today we’ve launched a change to our ranking algorithm that will make it much easier for users to find a large number of results from a single site. For queries that indicate a strong user interest in a particular domain, we’ll now show more results from the relevant site.

"We’re always reassessing our ranking and user interface, making hundreds of changes each year. We expect today’s improvement will help users find deeper results from a single site, while still providing diversity on the results page."

The news of the algorithm change comes as Rob Ousbey, a search engine optimisation expert, discovered the search engine was also testing live updating search results. Writing on his own personal SEO blog, Rob commented:

"Earlier today, I noticed that my Google results were centered in the middle of the page. This evening, I spotted that you don't even need to hit the 'Search' button anymore - Google updates the results for you while you're typing."

At present, the feature is still in a testing page, so it is unknown if the search engine is set to introduce the new format to all users.

7 Deadly Business Blogging Mistakes

Below are the top 7 mistakes we see companies make with their business blog:

Business Blogging

1. Brand Inconsistency: 

From the design and layout of a blog to the content, from the images you post to blog loading time, your brand is directly expressed in every element of your blog. If even one of these features is misaligned with your brand, you'll run the risk of creating an inaccurate image of your brand. And remember, your blog readers are not only members of your target audience, but they are also your peers and key influencers. Providing them with an imprecise perception of your brand could be detrimental to your business.

2. Business-Centric Web Copy: 

Using your blog solely as a sales tool is unacceptable in the blogosphere. The blogging community is built on valuable information and relationships that could lead to business partnerships, new clients, and an increase in your key influencers. Therefore, blog content should never try to make a sale; rather, it should provide your readers with valuable information that is fresh, current, and informative. Focus on writing content that gives something of worth to the reader.

3. Lack of Clear Contact Information: 

One of the most frustrating things as an individual who is trying to contact a blogger is a lack of contact information. Don't be one of those blogs that has no contact information.


Adding contact information is easy and painless-I promise. There are three steps involved:


Create a page on your blog titled "Contact."
Drop your contact information onto this page.
Click publish.
And voila! You have a contact page that makes it easy for peers, key influencers, and your target audience to contact you.

4. Zero Marketing Efforts: 

Blogging for business requires much more than posting two to three times a week on important industry information. Blog promotion on social media platforms and ensuring all posts offer valuable information and are properly optimized are merely a small portion of gaining exposure for your blog and your business.


In order to use your blog to its fullest potential, you must build blogger relations. To increase blog readership, consider commenting on influential blogs, mentioning other bloggers on your blog, posting articles from influential blogs on your social media profiles, asking bloggers to guest blog, and becoming friends with your favorite bloggers on social media.

5. Improper Use of Tags: 

In a nutshell, tags are what help the search engines and tag directories catalogue your website. Tags help you get found online. Tags should reflect what your readers would be typing into search engines. Keywords you use throughout your post should simultaneously be used as tags.


Categories, on the other hand, are meant for readers to easily find the information they're looking for. For example, if you wrote a travel blog that focused on countries in Europe, you might have a category for each country you focus on. And let's say you wrote a post on the variety of French baguettes. You would categorize this post under France but tag it as French food, travel France, etc. These tags describe the specific content of the post and help readers to find your posts based on specific keywords and terms.

6. Bad Headlines: 

Blog headlines need to grab the readerand compel him or her to take action by reading your blog. It's your first hurdle, and it's a big one.


The headline needs to speak to a pain the reader has or something the reader wants-now. Arousing curiosity is a good tactic. Appealing to strong emotions grabs the attention of the reader and hits him or her on a basic gut level.


When you're writing headlines, focus on the benefits, don't try to be too clever, don't give false promises, and keep it short and sweet. And, keep an eye on which headlines attract the most readers, and try writing future headlines in the same manner.

7. Thick Copy: 

Forcing your readers to sift through loads of dense copy is not a great way to win them over. In fact, it's one of the most agonizing things you can do to them. Give your readers what they want-good information-quickly.


Your blog post needs to be as easy to read as possible. Many people will scan your copy rather than taking the time to read every word. If they can't scan it quickly and get to the meat, they'll leave-and probably won't return.


Therefore, if you want to create a loyal readership, make sure you write in short paragraphs, keep sentences short, use bulleted lists, eliminate extra words, and help readers to get to the point with effective headings.

Differences Between the Google and Yahoo Search Engines

When trying to figure out the key differences between Google and Yahoo search engines, the most simple way to put it is that Yahoo's biggest contributor is the advertiser, Google's biggest customer is the average web surfer. This might be the reason why Google has fared a little better than Yahoo when it comes to searching for things online. Yahoo tends to cater to the advertiser integrating as many advertisements as possible extending page lengths to do so. This is their money maker so it is the area that they focus the most on. Google does advertise plenty, but their main concern is the average web traveler. They have worked on making the most relevant key words searched the sites that appear at the top of the search.

Google and Yahoo Search Engines

For example, in the year 2004 Yahoo had an astounding two hundred fifty links on its home page linking to advertisers. People see enough advertisements on websites and in every day life. The last thing they want is to be bombarded by ads when trying to search for a specific thing. In all fairness, as the years have passed Yahoo has begun to refine this and take down some of the links decreasing it to about a hundred or so.


The internet is a huge and overwhelming place to look for things. Without search engines such as Yahoo and Google, it would be nearly impossible to find exactly what you are looking for. This is the precise reason that Google has continued to be a household name, they focus on saving your time and helping you find exactly what it is you are looking for on the web with their advertisements being relevant to the search topic. Yahoo more focuses on ad revenues and increasing page views.