MarketingSherpa’s 2008 Online Advertising Handbook & Benchmarks
Let's assume you spend $50,000 per year on ALL of your online advertising. What if you could spend just 1% of that budget and potentially increase the visibility, clickability, and conversions of all your online ads? Enter MarketingSherpa's 2008 Online Advertising Handbook & Benchmarks. (affiliate) I've just finished reading this great guide from MarketingSherpa and it's a valuable companion to The Landing Page Handbook we reviewed back in January The handbook's 200+ pages are packed with a wide selection of industry stats, best practices, and tactical information to help increase the effectiveness of your online advertising. Here's an outline of the handbook's chapters: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking this post was just put together without anyone actually reading the guide. Well, while you were stuck in traffic this holiday weekend, I sat down and read it, cover-to-cover. Here are some of the handbook's lessons that jumped out at me. Industry statistics Ad strategies Ad tactics It's not all stats and strategies, the 2008 Online Advertising Handbook also includes in-depth advice on how best to design, source, and place your ads. Even if your annual ad budget is just $5,000 you might want to consider the handbook anyway–you probably need to squeeze every penny out of your budget. If you're spending $500K or $5m, then you definitely need to buy this guide. And, with MarketingShepa offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee, you can't go wrong! What's next from MarketingSherpa? I can't wait to get my hands on the 2009 Business Technlogy Marketing Benchmark Guide! ** Earn 35% commission on all payments, when you become a Trackur.com affiliate! **
How much do you spend on online advertising each year? $5,000? $50,000? $500,000? Or perhaps $5 million?
7 Easy Ways to Make a Blog Unique, SEO friendly, and Work for You
By Kelly C. Jones If you know anything about SEO you know that blogs are inherently SEO friendly. They have a lateral navigation that is conducive to indexing, they include keyword tags, they frequently have inbound and outbound links, they have subscription and syndication capabilities and it is a way to update content to your site continually without having to have much technical knowledge. The hang up with blogs is that sometimes they aren't right for every business. If you're blogging for business, the goals for your blog should be defined before you invest too many resources blindly. For SEO purposes, and getting noticed, blogs can help increase traffic to your site. Many times owners are too busy running their business to put the effort into search engine optimization and an online presence with authority. That is why as an SEO consultant it's your job to get creative. You must step outside the blog box in order to generated excitement from the client about making the commitment to continually invest time into updating their site. So I present to you 7 ideas that are non-blogs, but take advantage of all the blogging benefits. 1. Turn your blog into a guestbook. Have a rental property or vacation home rental web site? Print up some cool inexpensive business cards (example: www.moo.com) that advertise your guest-blog. The cards can provide an e-mail address that guests can submit what they would traditionally write in a guestbook. A book just like the one that would sit on the house's coffee table. Ask them to include links or attachments to any videos or photos they'd like to share from their trip. Then the work compiling these items is minimal. The e-mail system allows you to review the comments and pictures before allowing them to go live on the web. I would recommend writing a guestbook policy and displaying it on the blog. Make your own rules, and be fully transparent. If you censor posts that are unfavorable be fully transparent about this. 2. Have a photo contest. This concept could go so many ways. You could hold a contest for the best picture where people are wearing a company t-shirt. This is also a great opportunity and place to sell company shirts. Developing an interface for people to upload their own content before you approve it could be difficult, but you could just set up a gmail account for the photo submissions and upload the appropriate ones manually. Have people vote for the photos in the comments section. 3. Create a press center. This suggestion is not new, but is still very useful. Categorize the different types of news your company may have, and house press releases on the blog. The tags, link capabilities, and photo uploads make it easy to create a social media press release. The more multimedia you have the more areas you may be able to cover in universal search with your keywords. Please just try to write about news that is actually newsworthy. Remember quality content will make people come back for more and generate links. 4. Create a portfolio. Turn a blog into your portfolio. WordPress allows you to create multiple pages. You could use the blog as a database for your work. You could make each category a page or tag each item with predetermined category tags for organization. Upload your work into a post, add pictures and descriptions, and voila! you have a Web site that shows the world who you are and what you do. 5. Create a gallery that shows you make a difference. Along the same lines of a portfolio you could use posts to display your "before and after" shots. This would work if you were an interior designer, a dentist, personal trainer, plastic surgeon, etc. The posts could consist of pictures that display the quality and innovation of your work. 6. Create a consumer case-study. Are you a car dealership? Sponsor someone to go on a road trip with one of your cars and have them write about it. Here's another opportunity to utilize multi-media. Again, full disclosure and transparency are imperative. If you choose to have someone blog about how great your car is, but don't disclose that you are sponsoring them, don't even implement this idea. In fact, get out of the social media space. 7. Create a video portal. For a lot of business owners, selling is a lot easier than creating content that others could actually use. I'm not a fan of using a blog as an outright advertisement, but if you establish it as such it may actually work. Motivating clients to create content is a lot easier when they can see the marketing value for their products. While you may have a YouTube or Vimeo page, use the blog format to display your videos as an extension of your Web site. Upload video demonstrations of your products or videos of people using your products. If nothing else, it helps inform consumer of what you have to offer. These examples will utilize the SEO friendly blog formatting, but are topics that either empower others to generate the content for you or they do not have to be updated constantly. Of course if you are savvy enough to manipulate the code you can manipulate a blog into looking like a traditional Web site and just use the back-end as a content management system. I just wanted to demonstrate that these ideas can be implemented with little coding knowledge and be very successful in a traditional blog format. Think dynamically about these ideas and morph them into projects that would serve you. What ideas do you have for an untraditional, non-blog?
Safety tips for travelers' protections
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN If you're traveling overseas, try to leave your computer at home. If you must have it, put only a few files on it and leave as many as possible behind. Encrypt the files you do bring. These are some of the steps that computer security analysts advise for international travelers anxious to avoid being the victim of data espionage. The AP reported Thursday that U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. Such incidents illustrate the care that business executives or government officials should take when they travel to places where rivals might try to filch vital trade secrets or sensitive information. Dangers exist even if travelers keep their laptops closely held the whole time but connect to Internet networks abroad. "Unlike several years ago, people are traveling with the entire contents of their office in their briefcase and plugging into what we might call a promiscuous port, not knowing who they're talking to or who runs the Internet security provider they're connecting to," said Mark Rasch, a former federal computer crime investigator now with FTI Consulting Inc. Experts suggest people reconsider bringing a computer when they travel to locales of uncertain trustworthiness. If leaving the laptop home is impractical, the best bet is to deploy whole-disk encryption. That cloaks every file on a computer and grants access only to the user who enters the proper password. Some whole-disk encryption products are even free; Windows Vista comes with one, called BitLocker. This will protect a computer that gets lost or stolen while it's turned off. But whole-disk encryption is far less secure if the user selects an easy-to-guess password. And it's all but pointless if the user logs in with the correct password and then leaves the machine unattended and unencrypted. To address the latter issue, security analyst Bruce Schneier, chief technologist for BT Counterpane, uses whole-disk encryption on his laptop and then a second layer: He encrypts individual files on the machine separately, with a different password. Travelers connecting to the Internet also should access business files only with methods that encrypt data streams against snoops. Such methods include VPNs (virtual private networks) for network traffic and SSL (secure sockets layer) for e-mail. It's also key to deal with data on mobile devices. It's conceivable that a foreign government would try to install a tap on a prominent traveler's cell phone. Getting physical access to the device is not required. Joel Brenner, the National Counterintelligence Executive, told a conference in December that business executives have picked up tracking bugs and other security vulnerabilities on their mobile devices during international business trips. Brenner advised leaving such devices home and using a temporary, disposable one while overseas. Schneier points out that even cautious travelers could find their data copied at any international border crossing, if guards ask a traveler to enter decryption passwords so a computer can be inspected. (U.S. courts have yet to clarify whether you can say no to that question upon entry to this country.) Schneier said several companies now deal with this issue by giving their employees a laptop whose hard drive has been wiped clean. While on their trips, the employees have things they need e-mailed to them. Then they wipe it clean again before they cross another border. The approach has a downside for many business travelers, Rasch said: "You can't do a lot of work on the plane."
Yahoo CEO says company is not 'under siege'
(AP) - Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang rejected the image of his company as "under siege" Wednesday, telling conference goers that executives are rallying to streamline Yahoo's offerings and make it more relevant to consumers and to advertisers. Yahoo faces the threat of mutiny from shareholders unhappy with the way its board handled a takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. that was ultimately withdrawn this month. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference, Yang stood by his handling of the deal and painted a bright future for the Internet pioneer he co-founded. "The perception of us being a company under siege is just not accurate," said Yang, who deflected repeated questions about what lies ahead for the company, where he returned as CEO last year. Yang and Yahoo President Susan Decker said the company was reorganizing around four pillars: home page, search, mail and mobile services. "The essence of Yahoo is being defined today," Yang said. "We have to be incredibly relevant to the consumer. We want you to start your day at Yahoo." Later, he pleaded for time to turn around the slumping company. "I know people want to see results," he said. "But I think we're starting to show Yahoo can be on this path to being a different entity." Yang faces a looming showdown with activist investor Carl Icahn for control of Yahoo's board. Icahn, hoping to channel shareholder discontent, has nominated a slate of candidates to replace the current board of directors _ a process known as a proxy fight _ in an effort to arrange the marriage between Microsoft and Yahoo. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant withdrew its $47.5 billion bid earlier this month. Yang has said he and other board members wanted $37 per share, or about $52 billion. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said Wednesday night that he was "mystified" Microsoft failed to consummate the acquisition. "I cannot understand the whole thing," he told the same audience. Microsoft is "not used to big deals," said Murdoch. "They backed off." Microsoft offered a price that a vast majority of Yahoo shareholders wanted to accept but Yang managed to spike the deal, Murdoch said. If he were in Microsoft's shoes, Murdoch said he would resume his bid, a gambit that might get a boost from Icahn's efforts. "(Icahn) wants to make a few hundred million dollars for himself," Murdoch said. "From Microsoft's point of view, it's a bit of helpful noise." Murdoch denied any plans for News Corp., owner of the MySpace social networking site, to bulk up on the Internet with a big acquisition. "We're staying where we are," he said. Yang let out a single harsh snort at the first mention of Icahn's name during his appearance but did not comment on his efforts. Instead, Yang defended his handling of the failed Microsoft talks, saying he was committed to building value for long-term shareholders even at the expense of short-term gains. He blamed Microsoft for deep-sixing the deal and indicated that regulatory and other concerns played a role. He has said the deal fell apart over price disagreements. "We did not walk away from the proposal _ Microsoft did," Yang said. "We were willing to do the deal on the right terms." Microsoft and Yahoo have acknowledged they have renewed talks about a possible transaction with since Icahn mounted his challenge, although both companies say the discussions so far haven't included another attempt by Microsoft to buy Yahoo in its entirety. Yang said he was still waiting for a clearer proposal from Microsoft but was vague about the shape any possible partnership could take. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Tuesday in his own talk at the conference that the two companies were in "ongoing discussions" about developing a partnership, but declined to provide any specifics. Yahoo also has been exploring a possible partnership that would allow Internet search leader Google Inc. to sell some of the ads that appear alongside the results users see when they run searches on Yahoo's Web site. A two-week trial completed last month indicated Googol's technology would help to boost Yahoo's profits and perhaps its stock price. But any alliance between Yahoo and Google would face antitrust obstacles because the two companies combined control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search market. If Microsoft were to negotiate a similar partnership with Yahoo, instead of trying to buy its rival outright, it might not face the same antitrust problems because Google would still control more than half the market.
By ALLISON HOFFMAN
Does the Cutting Edge of Social Media Really Pay? By Mark Silver So someone asks you: "What's your Twitter name?" and you look at them like they are a loony. Twitter? Huh? And then the next person asks you, "You blog, right? What's the URL?" Hold it. What happened? In the seeming blink of an eye, suddenly there's all this new so-called 'social media' on the web, and you know nothing about it. What's worse, is that everyone else seems to be there already. It's like you went to the bathroom, and when you came out, the party moved on, leaving you in a dark room with empty glasses all around you. Start Earning Extra Revenue with NeverblueAds! Time to drop everything and catch up with the party... quickly! Quickly! And let's say you catch up with the party... You've got your blog, your Twitter name, and all of those things. And no matter how fast you run with it all, it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. The world IS moving, you can't safely ignore it. And yet chasing after it isn't working. What to do? Innovation is a no-no. There is a teaching in Sufism that speaks against innovation. Well, not all innovation, and only in certain circumstances. This is sometimes where people get the idea that Islam is anti-science or anti-progress. Not true. In the twelth century, during Europe's 'dark ages,' Islamic culture had some of the most advanced universities, scientists, and doctors in the world, at the very cutting edge of modern technology. The problem with innovation is that it can feed on itself. Innovation is forbidden when it becomes a false idol. We've come to think about technology as 'computers' or 'science.' But, the word 'technology comes from the Greek 'tekhnologia' meaning, an interest in an 'art or craft' (Oxford American Dictionaries) . The problem comes when someone studies technology for its own sake. For our personalities, our egos, the lure of 'newness' is strong. New sensations and learnings can encompass all of our attention, immerse us in the experience. Get Top 10 Rankings on Google! This can be a good, because immersion is a great way to learn. The problem with something like all the innovation happening in web technology, is that there is no defined 'end' point. There is no way to tell externally when you've done enough. If you get caught in this loop, you can emerge months or years later, having totally lost track of the path you are on. The irony is- people want connection. The irony of web-based social media like blogs and Twitter is that it's coming out of the deeper hunger to connect to community, to love, to Source. Yet all of this innovation in the internet can leave you exhausted and isolated- even if you're good at it and like it. As you may already know, that connection you're yearning for is in your heart, not Twitter. It's in the hearts of other people, not in the technology. If you forget that, you'll be lost. By remembering your true intention, then technology can be useful to you. So do I blog and Twitter, or not? Well, I'll give you a definitive answer: it depends. :) It depends on your business, and the hearts of the people you are trying to reach. If you work with younger adults or teens, or with engineers or gadget geeks, then yes, you're going to want to meet them where they are, which is usually on the cutting edge of the latest toys. If you don't, it may not be as critical. And, even if you suspect that a good portion of your audience is found in the 'blogosphere' as it's sometimes called, there's still no need to be so urgent about it. How do you proceed? Well, take breath, connect to your heart, and let's take a look. Forget Expensive PPC Advertising - There is an Alternative! Keys to Technology * Your current website and newsletter is not obsolete! Don't panic and discard what you've got now. Just because all of this new stuff is out there doesn't mean what you already have isn't perfect for what you're doing. My bicycle is more than fifteen years old, and it gets me around just fine. And, if you haven't even gotten your website done yet, it's still more than worthwhile to finish. * You don't need the latest, just adequate. Unless your business is about social media and cutting-edge web technology, in which case you probably aren't even reading this article (hiya!), then forget about Twitter, Pownce, Digg, Stumble-Upon, del.icio.us for right now. You don't need anything but entry-level basic. Just start reading some blogs, without being in a rush. Here's a few to start with: Dawud Miracle Michael Martine Adam Kayce Heart of Business (my own) * Set a 1-3 month 'safe zone' of learning. As you begin to learn, tell yourself that you don't have to do anything about it for one to three months, that you are just going to learn. It will work even better if you find a friend or colleague who can give you an hour or three for a personal guided tour of this stuff. This approach doesn't just apply to blogs, but it applies to most anything new you need to learn about your business. And, once you understand the basics, the more obscure pieces will come MUCH more quickly. You might actually find yourself enjoying the technology. :) With blogs and other social media, remember that technology is just a tool, and that the craft you are studying is not blogs. You are involved with the craft of connection, and you're just learning a new tool to do what you already know something about. Don't let gurus rush you. Take a breath, and dip in. You may find that all of this innovation and technology can actually improve your connection to what you care about most. The best to you and your business. About The Author Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: www.heartofbusiness.com
Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube
Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube
Viacom President and CEO Philippe Daumann joined Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft, onstage last Wednesday at the Microsoft advance '08 client sumnmit to discuss the Future of Search. They didn't discuss copyright infringement or Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. Perhaps they should have.
Google, YouTube's owner, claims the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit questioning YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off YouTube.com threatens the free exchange of information on the Internet.
Google's lawyers filed papers on Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in response to Viacom's lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others.
Viacom filed its lawsuit last year, asking for damages for the unauthorized viewing of programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as "The Colbert Show" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
In papers submitted to a judge late Friday, Google claimed YouTube "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works."
By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Google said Viacom "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."
Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.
On that count, Viacom says Google has failed miserably.
The Associated Press reports that in a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.
Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming — including "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" episodes and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" — that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times."
The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.
It said Google and YouTube had done "little or nothing" to stop infringement.
"To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan," Viacom said.
SEO - Just Add Water.....NOT!
SEO - Just Add Water.....NOT!
By Jennifer Horowitz (c) 2008
I miss the old days....life was simple. Your TV had just a few channels, your phone was attached to a wall, and the computer was a cool thing to have for the few who could afford one. But times change, our world changes and technology grows. TV has 200 plus channels (and still nothing on), your phone is attached to your hip and you could not live without a computer and the Internet is filled with billions of pages.
SEO was an easy job then. It was a no brainer. It was fast, it worked and the stress was little. Well, those days are long gone and the facts of SEO are no longer as easy as it used to be. It is not a quick fix and it is an ongoing process.
You Don't Have to Study for 5 Years to be an SEO Pro!
Sure, there are hundreds of SEO companies available for you to choose from. Cheap ones that say they submit your site to 1000's of engines (big deal), ones that add 100's of doorway pages (look out for spam), those that promise fast top rankings (they lie). Let's face it, for SEO there is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. But lets not focus on the bad and ugly....they may be cheap, but you get what you pay for...nothing!
SEO is not instant, not any more. You need to look at many factors, you need to be prepared to make changes, you need to be willing to work closely with your SEO expert and be willing to be in it for the long haul. SEO changes and you need to be ready to meet those changes.
You should be serious about your web site. This is your business and you need to treat it as such. Canned web sites, website templates that offer everything from stores to products to hosting and say you have no worries on updating the site and still can achieve rankings may be a bit misleading. SEO is ongoing work and one you need to be prepared to handle.
Your SEO Expert serves two purposes...to guide you in changes that you need to make to a web site and to help you optimize your web site by actually working within the site so that you can be found for relevant keyword phrases.
Your Web Site Design
It used to be that design aspects really did not matter. Well, now they do and it is a big deal. If your site is poorly designed, poorly coded and developed using complex databases or heavily graphic, you face issues. You may need to make changes, you may want to develop a new site...whatever the need, your SEO will inform you what issues may be causing the site from being read correctly.
Give Your Site a Voice!
Your Keywords
Please...generic words may seem like the best, but with billions of pages, is it really feasible? Keyword phrases are extremely important, phrases that target your audience are imperative. Your SEO expert should work with you on helping you to make the most important choices on good, targeted and precise phrases that will target your consumer or product line.
Your Content
Using your keywords in content is important for the engines. Having good content is important to your consumer as well. Lack of content is not going to help you gain on the engines and lack of content is not going to help your consumer understand your product line. Your SEO expert can provide you writing assistance for those do it yourself folks or provide you with their expert content writers. Do not be fooled...if you are not using keywords with content, how can you expect to achieve rankings for those phrases?
Forget Expensive PPC Advertising - There is an Alternative!
Your Site Link Popularity
If no one else thinks your web site is important, then why would a consumer. You web site needs to be found on relevant web sites. You need to get your site out there....it needs to be seen on other web sites. Not doing so means that even you do not think your site is important enough to share with others. Your SEO can help you achieve a successful link campaign or even consult with you on the process. This is a time consuming task, and it needs to be done right. I mean, you want your site to be seen on the best of sites, so take the time to consider getting a link to those sites that can help you be seen as an expert in your product field.
Your Blog
Funny word...Blog. I mean, what does it really mean? Who came up with it...well who cares. What is important is that they are fabulous for helping with your SEO campaign. They are informative, they are easy to navigate, they contain content and so much more. Bogs are the way to go to help enhance your site. Again, your SEO can help you by developing a blog. You can easily learn to maintain it, keep it fresh, and keep it current.
Conclusion
Sure, SEO is just part of your marketing game plan. But it is a vital one when used with your other online and offline marketing. Gone are the days of easy rankings. Just because you built it, doesn't mean they'll come. A website is a business and as such deserves your time and your professional SEO to help you achieve your goals and bottom line success.
About The Author
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing for EcomBuffet.com. Over the past 10 years Jennifer's expertise in marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has helped clients increase revenue. Jennifer is the editor of the popular Spotlight on Success: SEO and Marketing newsletter. Follow Jennifer and stay current on SEO, marketing, social media and more: http://twitter.com/EcomBuffet
Gain the competitive edge with SEO (page 4 of 4)
Putting SEO into practice The study above suggests a solution to this problem. With empirical evidence on what drives SEO ranking results and understanding the differentiation by engine from operational website changes, large companies can ensure that results can be driven in the short term while their long-term continued improvement is also scheduled and managed. Take "cheap airfare" again. For a travel company or an airline looking to optimize on this word, here is what the study would suggest for prioritization. Focus first on content issues, meaning the usage of the word in the text on the pages in the site. These can be changed most rapidly by the agency or content managers and have a very significant effect on rank improvements. The study suggested the following: Content issues are also relatively easy to syndicate across a large site, particularly when the issues are made available to content managers. A best practice can be given to always emphasize the usage of "cheap airfare" in text, and to design URLs with the most important keyword that will drive traffic conversions. The second area of focus should be on the link strategy; however, this is less simple to execute en masse across a large site. It is the quality, not the quantity, of links that matters. What is a "quality link?" It is a link from a site or page that has a Page Rank (a statistical measure of relevancy that is available from Google on various pages) greater than three. So the question becomes: How does an organization drive multiple web managers to build a small number of links from pages with Page Ranks greater than three and distribute this information efficiently? This is an area of intense study. There are very sophisticated ways to implement link building and a number of companies that specialize in this, both agencies and specialty consultants. For a large site, deploying these solutions can be cost prohibitive. The above study suggests that building links from a series of authoritative sources such as .gov or .edu. for "cheap airfare" in order to get a link from the FAA would be highly valuable but very difficult. A link from .edu would be easier. Also, Technorati and del.icio.us sites are good places to start. In the study, Google reacted very significantly to sites with links from these sources, as did MSN, so this is a straightforward way to get sites started in an efficient way to build links. Again, one to two high quality links are better than 1,000 poor quality links, and Covario's study results strongly support this assertion. The final step is to address the technical structure. This is listed last because technical issues usually deal with fundamental technical construction issues around site design. Changing these in large organizations is highly non-trivial and takes time and planning. Technical issues can also be the most egregious as they may fundamentally prevent the mechanisms used by the engines to organize information from working. However, the above study provides guidelines on efforts that can be prioritized for the IT department or the web management team on how to deal with site issues and drive better rankings. There are essentially two major issues: The technical issues are not term-specific. If there are technical issues, it will impact any keywords that an organization is trying to optimize, not just "cheap airfare." What is important for a large organization is making sure that the business case for determining whether or not making changes to site structure is worthwhile, and that the right process can be developed by the SEO Center of Excellence. This is a change and very valuable in getting the appropriate attention and results from, what are usually, overburdened IT teams. Conclusion
SEO daunts many organizations because they get paralyzed by the number of things they could do, and do not know which two to three things they should do to drive the best results per engine. This is the big challenge organizations have -- the prioritization of the work and building that prioritization into the web management process.
The rewards of building these processes are vast as more consumers use search engines to find information about their brands and services. A brand that does not do this can be assured its competitors will, thereby influencing consumers on brand choice through one of the fastest growing, most effective advertising media available. Establishing competitive advantage through SEO is no longer a luxury -- it has shifted from avant-garde to de rigueur.
Gain the competitive edge with SEO (page 3 of 4)
Studying the Center of Excellence approach The goal of the study was to assess whether the metrics that had been built to measure SEO health of the websites could be used to predict results in rank improvement on the major U.S. search engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN). The study used changes in rank for the participating Fortune 500 brands as the metric of success. The results were impressive. To help educate the SEO knowledge workers in the brand and geo-marketing divisions, a proprietary technology titled Covario Organic Search Insight developed by my company, Covario, Inc., was used to identify what aspects of the sites were well optimized on 48 different criteria. Changes to these site factors were then statistically measured against changes to rank on the engines. During this study period, the average brand experienced an improvement in its average rank position for the keyword it was trying to optimize by 4.5 rankings. To put this into context, on "cheap airfares," moving from position five to position one on the engines means a difference of $2.5 million in commerce per year, based on analysis of data from comScore Marketer Search Data. Most importantly, the relationship between the changes made to the websites during the test period had a very strong statistical relationship to changes in rank on the search engines. This means that the statistical links discovered by Covario can be used to predict improvements that other sites may experience given similar changes. This is key as ROI on SEO for these organizations can be reasonably estimated, helping to justify the expense of the programs. What is more, the reactions of the engines were very different. Google was 15 times as sensitive to technical issues as Yahoo, and twice as sensitive as compared to MSN. Specifically, Google was far more reactive to link improvement strategies than Yahoo or Microsoft -- by eight to 10 times. Yahoo was much more reactive to changes in content than Google or MSN -- up to 50 percent more reactive than Google. The reactions are part of the complexity that many large advertisers find hard to corral. However, with the right processes in place, insights like these can be used to determine which aspects of the site will provide the best ROI for brands and geo's by engine, by product, by site, etc. This is a great example of the development of the science of SEO, which presents large advertisers (and their vast, complicated web properties) a process-driven, data-based method to manage their brands' presence on the organic side of search engine marketing, and do so in a scalable and efficient way. So how do this information and the Center of Excellence for SEO concept get actualized in a large company? Let's see.
To determine the effectiveness of this approach, Covario conducted a study between March 1 and October 15, 2007 with approximately 300 global brands to measure how leveraging the Center of Excellence concept improves performance. More than 85 percent of the brands involved in the study belong to Fortune 500 companies with their websites operating in multiple languages and on many search engines.
Gain the competitive edge with SEO (page 2 of 4)
Building a Center of Excellence A successful approach is the concept of driving SEO-best practices around technical construction, content management and link strategy into the brand management function itself at both the product and geo-marketing levels in large companies. Essentially, this requires anyone who touches the site -- marketing and web management -- to be held accountable for SEO-related results. This is very similar to the "Center of Excellence" concept used to drive CRM best practices. What is involved? Most Center of Excellence initiatives start with a preliminary 90- to 180-day project. With respect to SEO, the purpose of this is to: Once the initial project is completed, two important outcomes have to occur. First, the program has to be sanctified by the senior marketing leadership as a priority and as something other brands need to embrace. The metrics from the initial project (e.g., indicators of SEO-health for the site, rank analysis and conversion analysis) need to be benchmarked for other sites and goals for improvement set systematically. Brand and geo-marketing managers need to be held accountable for improvements once the initial benchmarking is completed and for getting their groups certified on best practices. Second, the work on the initial site needs to be expanded to continue improvements. Most organizations experience degradation in SEO performance after about 90 to 120 days. This is why SEO is most effective as an ongoing process. Degradation is usually the result of competitive action. Search marketing is a zero sum game: There is a finite amount of inventory available and being successful at SEO comes at the expense of a less able competitor. Competitors will notice improvements and respond. The Center of Excellence concept is designed to be scalable as it is viral. It builds the best practices into the daily processes of the employees working on the site and ensures they are educated, motivated and measured to excel at SEO. Let's see how it works.
Gain the competitive edge with SEO
By Craig Macdonald Leaving organic search results to chance can be costly for your brand. Here's a strategic, scalable system for success. How much is the word "cheap airfare" worth in the United States? The answer is about $8 million, according to comScore Marketer Search Data, December 2007. A word like "laptop" is worth about $35 to 40 million. "Car insurance" is estimated to be worth more than $50 million per year. And this is just the conversion value of the top organic listings. Organic listings continue to account for the majority of the clicks, with between 75 and 85 percent of all clicks going to organic results depending on which study you read. Add in the PPC results, and these figures can be adjusted up by another 15 to 25 percent. The value of search is rarely questioned nowadays. So as more and more consumers go to Google and Yahoo to research everything they do -- from restaurants where they eat to the houses they buy -- the option to invest heavily in search engine optimization (SEO) is no longer a choice; it is a necessity. Not focusing on building processes to dominate organic rankings is a very costly brand management error in every market. The challenge, particularly for larger brands, is how to build a scalable and predictable approach for managing organic rankings -- how to raise awareness, how to leverage the opportunity, how to instill the key processes and how to execute the work. The focus of this article is the best practices in building out scalable SEO processes. The information below is based on the experience of some of the largest global brand managers in the market. Also discussed below are results attained by these major brands and how what they learned can be used to predict future outcomes from SEO. The complexity of building SEO for large brands Excelling at SEO involves both good news and bad news for a large company with its many brands, websites and locations in multiple countries. The good news is that a large brand site, with its linking and content, has every right to be at the top of the organic listings based on the way the search engine algorithms work. The bad news is that exposing that content to the engines usually requires close coordination between personnel in the organization's IT and marketing departments as well as the agencies being used. With worldwide offices, this gets complicated. Also, the engines are increasing the sophistication and complexity of what SEO means. SEO is no longer just based on text analysis. In the age of universal search, SEO-based brand promotion has to include the way images, videos and text are added to the site to ensure visibility and relevance to key search terms used by consumers. In addition, there are ever increasing ways that the engines are returning relevant information to end users through specialized return results such as News, Travel and Maps. Each category has unique ways to determine which organic ads are shown and therefore command the lion's share of the consumer's attention. A common response from large organizations is to hire an SEO expert to act as an internal advocate and consultant to the brands on SEO-related issues. Given the size of these organizations, the number of parts of the organization that require communication and the complexity of the problem, this approach is rarely effective or efficient. SEO requires a holistic approach -- one no different from the management of traditional corporate processes like customer relationship management (CRM). It would be unthinkable in this day and age to "hire someone to do CRM" as organizations have a healthy respect for the fact that CRM is a process and a way of thinking. CRM is a way of life for large enterprises. SEO should be the same. Here's a way to manage it.
Why Bother With "LinkedIn" or "Facebook"?
By John Clark (c) 2008 That's what I used to ask myself as numerous acquaintances kept tagging me to be part of their realm of contacts in FaceBook.com or LinkedIn.com. It seemed a nuisance until I sat down with an old contact, Don Tinney from EOS Worldside (EOS=Entrepreneurial Operating Systems). Don is an EOS Implementer whose job is quite simple. He says simply, "We make millionaires out of owners of small to medium size companies". So maybe he has something to say I should know. I was in both LinkedIn and FaceBook and didn't see the significance. My business was humming along just fine and didn't need the distraction. Don forced my mind open a bit and so I took it upon myself to find out if there was some gold to mine there that I had missed. Like hunting for Morel mushrooms, it went from "none to be found" to being surrounded with all kinds of uses. Here is my quick rundown of uses in the hopes all our business partners can begin to take advantage of these tools. Start Earning Extra Revenue with NeverblueAds! To begin with, I'm going to concentrate on LinkedIn.com because I find it the most dialed in of the two for "business networking". While I'm in Facebook also my contacts there are almost all personal life related. Sure, we all can use a few friends but the majority of my day is more about business and LinkedIn appears to me to have a larger corner on it. So if you... * Are new to LinkedIn and don't know how to use it to help your business and career. * Have been using LinkedIn yet felt like you haven't really accomplished anything with it. * Are trying to persuade your friends to join LinkedIn and want / need to communicate the value of it. * Wondering if LinkedIn type sites can help improve your web site's visibility. * Think there's no real value in LinkedIn. ... this is for you! Here is a small amount I've learned about using LinkedIn, understanding there are millions of users who know a whole lot more about it than I do. This still should give you a starter kit on the value. It will also be a great link section to teach you as much as you can possibly know about this. Off-Site Factors Enhance Your Web Site's Ranking More than On-Site Optimization The original criteria the creators of Google used to rank web sites is still the same as it is today. It ranked sites according to the value of the web sites that linked to the evaluated web site. If you have dozens of important sites with links to your site and those sites are related in subject matter to what your site is all about, it will out-weigh many of the things you put (or fail to put) in your site for rankings. Build an Online Store Today! When you have links to your web site in your LinkedIn or Facebook listings, those are off-site links. If you make recommendations for other people in your circle of contacts and include your web site address as part of your signature then you have even more. Make dozens of good recommendations and receive them in return. It's truly a "giver's gain" world there. Add to this some effective Public Relations campaigns and you can really begin to boost your rankings. Write articles like this to online magazines and make links to your web site part of your signature. It takes some real honest to goodness work but the results can be magic in your rankings. There is more on how all this works in one of our blog articles: The Most Important Key to Web Site Traffic! Business Development - Marketing - Sales We all know that strength of a warm lead. All the initial hurdles have been jumped. Linked in contacts can help you get to the right people. Interested in doing business with Acme Widgets? Do a search in LinkedIn for current and former employees of the company. Find out if any of them are connected to someone you know in your circle. If so, ask that contact to give you a formal introduction. Before you meet that contact look over their interests if posted. Going to meet someone who is President of the company you want to work with? Look them up in advance and discover their interests and background. See who they know that you may also know. Create common interests and connections from that information and start the conversation warmly. Did you know that ALL 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are represented on LinkedIn? Either the CEOs or the upper level management are to be found there. There must be something to it. Those who are active on it may just be looking for you and who you are on LinkedIn. If you're not there, they may wonder why. This is dang near as good as the Mason secret handshake without all the silly rituals or red beanie cap. Forget Expensive PPC Advertising - There is an Alternative! For a good article on warm calling using LinkedIn see A Guide To Business Development 2.0 . When searching for companies, uncheck "current companies only" and find out what former employees have to say about the company. What kind of talent has left the company and how fast? Contact them and find out things the company may not want you to know. Learn their weaknesses and how to market to it. The líst is endless. Increase Your Credibility Imagine that before agreeing to see you on a sales call the business owner checks to see if you are on LinkedIn. Not being there could be a strike against you because he feels he's flying a little blind in your regard. If you are there, he or she may want to see your background, your connections, or your recommendations. Finding numerous positive reviews from others who have worked with you can create a positive frame of mind. If they know some of the same people you do, it can get even better. Here it can get even better - receiving calls from buyers who found you on LinkedIn and want to buy something from you. Shocking? See how all this can work in the real world in Using LinkedIn to Make the Sale . Career Enhancement and Job Search Enhance your efforts in searching for a job or finding qualified applicants for positions you need to fill. It should be no stretch to your imagination at this point on how you can take advantage of this when looking for career advancement. Use your LinkedIn link as part of your email signature or refer to it in your resume. A large number of HR people and managers will recognize it. If you've done your homework and have numerous recommendations, it can really work in your behalf. Make friends and get recommendations before you need them. The best way is to start by recommending others first. For more on this check out "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn" . Improve Your Website's Visibility This will be the subject of my next article because this one's getting a bit long. In short, there are two main things that can positively affect your website ranking and visibility with search engines. The first, and least important are your on-site factors. The most important is your off-site factors. This aspect is mostly ignored by business owners and web developers. It is all part of true professional web development. In this regard you will truly get what you paid for. If you are a member of LinkedIn - log out and then search for yourself. When you find yourself, copy the address from your browser's address bar. Use it for a link in your signature for emails. Other Sites for More Education: Top Ten Reasons to Use LinkedIn How do I use LinkedIn to find a job How to use LinkedIn to Create Authoritative Content Wall Street Journal - The Right Way to use LinkedIn 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. His profile in LinkedIn. You can also contact us at wowwebworks.com or at 269-321-5041.
Engineering Insurance
by Editor123 Do you own an engineering company? Well! These types of companies are exposed to various kinds of risks, in accordance to their trade. Therefore, it is important to cover the risks of engineering businesses adequately. This is primarily because of the fact that the lack of sufficient cover will always give you a feeling of uncertainty. Usually, engineering risks are more complex than standard commercial risks, and therefore, it is better to communicate with an insurer who caters to engineering industry. A business entity may find so many insurers who maintain a team of dedicated and qualified insurance specialists, holding years of experience in the engineering sector. By dealing directly with the customers, these insurers ensure that the insurance premiums should be low, without compromising on the insurance cover. Engineers Insurance: Caters the Need One can find different kinds of engineering insurance, tailored to match the individual preferences. Some insurance covers include the assets, earnings and legal liabilities of a business entity. Some policies are meant to protect the liabilities against the risks caused due to public and product liability, business interruption and day-to-day operating cost such as trade contents, machinery, plant and stock. In addition, a business entity can ask for more coverage on the basis of its needs & requirements. Engineers Insurance includes different kinds of engineering risks. Let us know about them in short: Contractor's All Risk (CAR) It includes protection against buildings and civil engineering projects. Damages caused against the destruction of the work in progress also come into this liability. Erection All Risk Insurance (EAR) This protection coverage includes damages caused to machinery, equipment or apparatus during the process of installation or erection. Electronic Equipment Insurance This coverage protects all types of electronic equipment such as computers, radiation equipment and communication equipment and many more others. Machinery Breakdown This insurance cover protects a business entity from any kind of unforeseen and sudden loss or damage to machinery, mechanical equipment and apparatus due to external and internal causes. If you really want to take engineering insurance, it is always better to check the insurance offer carefully.
Seo Services India SEO Tips for Search Engine Optimization
by: suntec123 "Search Engine Optimization" or SEO is a very specialised field and takes time to excel at. Search Engine optimization is not easy and cheap. It requires analysis and logical thinking by search engine experts. You design your website and submit it to search engines but no one will visit your website until it is well optimized by search engine experts. There are many companies in the market who provide search engine optimization and submission services but some of them provide this service in a non-ethical way which can lead to spamming of your website into the search engines. Once your website is on a list for spamming a search engine, you will never get listed on the search engines. New Delhi Digital Works provides an ethical Search Engine positioning service which drives genuine traffic to your website. An optimization objective for any online business is essential to keep a competitive edge in today's marketplace. The aim of our Search Engine Optimization proposal is to present you with a competitive solution to increase the traffic to your website through Search Engines and thereby attract new clients. New Delhi Digital Works uses its own unique Search Engine Placement Techniques. We can help you get better search engine positioning, optimization and placement at low pricing. The SEO tips below should assist the reader in forming a basic understanding of how to create human friendly web pages which are easily understood by the most popular search engines. Our goal is to respond as quickly as possible to you. Please Mail your queries to us at info@nddw.com
SALES LEAD GENERATION: WHAT'S WORKING TODAY
by: Guest E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y In today's B2B selling environment, it is increasingly difficult to surface, qualify, and, most importantly, drive a ready-to-buy sales lead to your sales staff. The competition for share of your prospect's mind is fierce. Business buyers are bombarded daily by advertising messages and pitches for products. Consider these facts of life that sales organizations face today: The high cost of a sales call: Of 23,000 businesses surveyed, the average business-to-business sales call cost $329. A typical business-to-business sale that exceeds $35,000 takes an average of 5.12 sales calls to close, bringing the total cost of the sale to over $1600. The average salesperson spends almost three-quarters of his/her active selling time with existing customers. Less than 20 percent of sales efforts are being focused on prospective new clients. Seventy-five percent of the companies studied say that a sale over $35,000 now requires a combination of direct and indirect sales efforts. Source: Cahners Research - 2001 What then are leading companies doing today to keep their sales lead pipeline full? The purpose of this paper is to explore the new trends and working practices in sales lead generation being deployed by successful sales organizations. Introduction Lead generation for many companies means sending out postcards in advance of a tradeshow, or a mass mailing of the annual product catalog. For others, it is a sophisticated program of integrated communication efforts with each measured along the way in an iterative, interactive process. We've identified five key areas where companies today are making a difference in their sales lead generation efforts: There are two main web tactics that companies are using today to drive leads: search engine marketing (SEM) and webinars. Search Engine Marketing The market landscape has changed considerably in the past few years concerning the use of the internet in researching business buying decisions. A full 93.2% of business buyers indicated they would first go online to research a purchase. Among business buyers going online to research, 63% would first go to a search engine as the place to begin research, and an amazing 82.9% chose Google as their search engine of choice. For purchases over $10,000, 60% of buyers would begin researching more than two months prior to purchase date. Source: Enquiro/MarketingSherpa - Search Research Study, 2004 SEM has become a key method for many companies to generate a consistent flow of new business leads. There are primarily two methods in use, and another is fast becoming popular. Pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) have been the standard for years, and pay-per-action (PPA) is gaining use among internet marketers. PPC allows companies to buy keywords that relate directly to their product, and to buy keywords at prices that put them high in the paid search listings of the major search engines. Keywords that include three or more words generally produce fewer visitors but convert visitors to leads at a higher rate than more general, one or two-word buys. Prospects typing in more specific, longer keywords generally have a specific product or service in mind and are more likely to visit your site if your keywords match their needs. As with all good direct marketing, companies effectively using PPC measure each keyword for cost-per-lead and ultimately cost-per-sale to determine where to invest future PPC dollars. Search Engine Optimization SEO is the process of creating a website with content that, when properly marketed on the internet, is found at the top of the non-paid, or organic, search engine listings for particular keyword search terms. PPA is paid keyword advertising like PPC but with the difference that the advertiser does not pay per click, but only pays when the prospect completes an action, such as purchasing a product, signing up for a newsletter, or completing a form. Leading PPA networks today include: snap.com, services.google.com/payperaction/ (currently in beta testing) and turn.com. Not enough companies today balance their PPC and PPA advertising with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts and specific landing page creation (the web page that appears when a visitor clicks on your paid link). Studies show that searchers will click on organic listings more than sponsored listings, and that organic listings convert better than paid listings. So while PPC is the easiest point of entry to search engine marketing, it's also important for marketers to develop an SEO strategy to take advantage of the increased traffic and quality of the clicks in organic search results. The big bonus, of course, is that clicks on your organic search links are free. Many service firms specialize in developing search engine optimization strategies and tactics for companies who choose not to perform this function in-house. Clearly, however, there is agreement that dedicated, consistent in-house or outside resources are critical to staying ranked at or near the top in the ever-changing SEO landscape. Once a prospect clicks on your paid link, a specific landing page directly related to the keyword(s) is crucial to converting the prospect to a lead. Often, companies will deliver these prospects directly to a home page - which often requires a prospect to search among products or other areas of the site for the information he is seeking. When prospects are forced to do extra work, the risk increases that they will abandon their search. Specific landing pages linked to PPC keywords vs. generic landing pages have increased conversion by hundreds of percent in some cases. Landing pages work best when they do not include extra links that allow the visitor to leave the page, but focus on your call to action, or what you want the visitor to do (respond for more information, download a whitepaper, sign up for a newsletter, etc). Both agencies and marketers report that testing landing page copy and design is among the top campaign tactics that improve SEM results (MarketingSherpa's Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2005-2006). Webinars Webinars are not receiving the high sign-up and attendance rates we saw just a few years ago. However, they remain a popular choice of B2B marketers because the targeted content in a well-constructed webinar generates self-selecting prospects interested in your topic. To be sure, webinars take thoughtful planning and marketing to get good attendance and capture the attention of qualified prospects. To promote your webinar, use the following key tactics that successful companies are using in webinars today: Pay close attention to content - no one wants to attend a blatant pitch for your product or service. Case studies or recognized experts work best. Use mid-week and mid-day times, keep the webinar to an hour, and start promoting around a month before the event. Start with your customer base, prospect list, or outside email rental lists to promote your webinar. Use industry e-newletters or promote on other websites if possible. Make the registration form as simple as possible, knowing that you can get more information from attendees with post-webinar marketing. Expect 40 to 60% attendance and have a plan to invite nonattendees to the archived version of the webinar. Send reminders to the attendees that they and their colleagues can also view the archived event. Track all attendees and feed into your lead scoring and lead nurturing systems. Provide a short survey at the end of the webinar for feedback and gathering more information about your prospects. Have a plan in place to send further communications to the attendees. Defining the Ideal Prospect, Accurate Lead Scoring Companies with successful lead generation programs have a clear idea of what their ideal customer looks like. Often, this profile is developed by analyzing data attributes of customers and by talking to the sales staff. Profiles of target companies often include such attributes as: Standard Industrial Code (SIC) or North American Industry Classification (NAICS) Annual Revenue Site type (branch, HQ, etc.) Number of employees Geographic location Business situation (growing, acquiring other companies, etc) Competitive or related products used These attributes are used to determine the target list of companies for marketing, as they allow a company to identify prospects that look like one's best customers, and would thus be more likely to buy. Lead scoring is the process by which a lead is assigned points, or some other qualifying label (based on a prospect's meeting certain criteria) that determine when a lead is passed through to the sales force. In many companies, each lead is assigned a label like cold, warm or hot. The successful companies we've seen have more sophisticated systems which assign points that qualify and continually re-qualify a lead toward being sales-ready based on criteria such as: Interest in products, demonstrated by webinar attendance, whitepaper downloads, etc. Ideal Prospect Attributes Opportunity size or amount Intent to purchase Influence in buying process - decision-maker, specifier, end-user Time to purchase In a simple example, an ideal prospect who represents a large opportunity indicates a desire to purchase in 12 or more months. They receive a relatively low score and are put into a communication or nurturing program that delivers valuable information to the prospect (in return for more qualifying information). When the purchase decision timing is within six months, or some predetermined time period, the lead receives a higher lead score and is delivered to sales. Points are assigned for each attribute, and it's only when the purchase decision is within six months that the new total score pushes the lead over the predetermined threshold that determines handoff to sales. A scoring system will not work if marketing does not have feedback from sales as to which leads convert to sales. From study as to which leads become customers, marketing determines what lead-scoring attributes are most important, increases the scoring weight of those most important, and thus creates a more predictive and successful process that results in higher close rates. Top selling companies regularly evaluate what the ideal point threshold should be to determine a sales-ready lead. In the end, sales really doesn't care what the lead score was, only that the leads were sales-ready and they experienced high close rates. Lead Nurturing Trends A monthly call by your in-house sales rep that seeks to close, or delivery of a one-size-fits-all e-newsletter is not lead nurturing. Lead nurturing is the process by which a company delivers relevant information over a period of time that demonstrates your expertise and builds trust in your service or product offerings. Not every inquiry or lead is ready to buy when they first make contact with your organization. A cohesive strategy that develops a relationship with the prospect over time brings the lead closer to the buying decision and positions your company as the preferred source. The process of lead nurturing requires a dialogue with prospects in order to gain an understanding of the key benefits the prospect is seeking, and results in more relevant information being able to be delivered that addresses those needs. Successful lead nurturing programs include a variety of tactics - telemarketing, webinars, whitepapers, and direct mail, among others. Depending on the attributes of the prospect, leads may be put into different lead nurturing promotion streams. Some prospects may not be as promising as others and so may not deserve the expensive product catalog. Marketers today have tracking systems in place that provide insight as to which lead nurturing tactics work best in moving prospects through the sales funnel toward final sale. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are used by many companies to track what information has been sent and what additional information has been acquired from leads in the system. These changes feed the lead scoring system as leads move closer to a sales-ready opportunity. The lead nurturing/lead scoring integration is an iterative process that demands constant marketing attention and measurement. Building the relationship with the prospect by delivering relevant information based on their needs and developing a dialogue are the keys to successful lead nurturing. Web 2.0 Strategies Web 2.0 strategies being implemented today allow companies to reach out to their customer base and create dialogues with them. These Internet lead generation strategies include blogs, podcasts, and other technology-based forums that bring businesses, customers and prospects together to communicate and learn from each other. One of the more promising uses of Web 2.0 is in allowing customers to comment on or rate a company's products right on the company's web site. When business users are researching a purchase, some of the most compelling sales arguments are often delivered by current users. Who would you trust more, the company that makes the forklift or ERP solution, or business people like yourself who are using the products? An important bonus is that reviews and ratings of products make product refinements and new product development that much more sensitive to customer needs. Blogs are spreading like wildfire - according to some estimates one blog is created every second of every day. Blogs in the business world have been somewhat slower to catch on, but have proven to be an excellent forum for customers and companies to interact. One would naturally expect consultants, business writers and technology companies like Sun Microsystems and HDNet to have blogs, but the likes of General Motors and Boeing have been at it as well. In the open source software business, companies promote staff blogs and discussion areas where developers both inside and outside the company swap code. Marketers monitor and reward regular developers who contribute and enhance the companies' software offerings. The key elements that attract customers and prospects to blogs are consistency and content. While daily blogs may be the ideal, weekly seems to be the preferred updating schedule by most company bloggers. Content must be relevant and inviting, even if the content is from another source, and should not be blatantly self-serving. Most blogs take an informal tone, which tends to make them more accessible. Companies that write regular blogs can use the space surrounding the blog copy to offer webinars, whitepapers, free trials, and other product and information that requires the visitor to register, thus creating a lead. In terms of the lead quality from this channel, one can't imagine a more qualified lead than a prospect who is reading the company blog. Web 2.0 strategies in B2B lead generation continue to grow, and new ideas in this space are being tested all the time. These dialogue and community strategies are bringing companies closer to customers and prospects, increasing the velocity of knowledge transfer back and forth, and will be an increasingly important part of quality lead generation in the months and years to come. Tracking and ROI Measurement Today CEOs and CFOs are demanding accountability and Return-On-Investment (ROI) measurement of all marketing expenses, not just lead generation. While lead generation campaigns typically have discrete and identifiable costs to aid in producing ROI metrics, the costs incurred by the sales staff once the lead is handed off are sometimes more difficult to quantify. While never perfect, the closer the alignment of sales and marketing teams in agreement of ROI measurement and costs, the more successful the companies are in generating sales and proving value to Clevel execs. Once tracking is in place to deliver conversions or sales based on the lead generation channel - usually through a CRM system -- then the ROI calculations become simple to compare channel versus channel. Email campaigns versus print advertising versus direct mail, for example. Campaign metrics like cost per lead, conversion rate, cost per sale, and ROI are typically included in lead generation campaign reports. Where sophisticated marketers are making improvements, however, is in understanding the dynamics and the ability to measure incremental contributions based on their actions within each channel. A simple example would be a direct or email campaign with several lists. While the campaign measured in total might prove to be a success, further analysis may reveal that among the 10 lists mailed, only four of them demonstrated acceptable ROI for the campaign. Marketers who rapidly cut the unacceptable lists from future campaigns may be moving too quickly until they consider lifetime value. One of those marginal lists may deliver the exact attributes of your ideal customer profile, indicating great product or service affinity, high cross-sell potential and future profits. Over a three year period, customers who meet this profile are hugely profitable, even at expensive upfront acquisition costs. So with an understanding of granular campaign ROI metrics (by list or keyword, search engine, or publication, etc.), combined with at least a sense of lifetime value by customer segment, marketers today find clearer direction on where to spend lead generation marketing dollars to produce the best return-on-investment. Of course, in many companies and industries, campaign response and sales conversion rates are fluid and changing, making it all the more important to have reliable and timely tracking so that marketers can keep changing their allocations and tactics to generate the best ROI in their lead generation efforts. About the Author Mercury Leads is singularly focused on business-to-business sales lead generation. Their process includes competitive market benchmarking, best customer profiling, extensive testing of marketing tactics, lead scoring and lead nurturing. Mercury Leads takes a solution-neutral approach to sales lead generation. This allows development of a client-specific mix of marketing tactics that includes among others: search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, direct marketing, teleprospecting, print, tradeshow, email, webinar and whitepaper marketing. Mercury Leads serves clients from a wide range of industries, including technology, publishing, consulting and manufacturing. For more information,
Top Ten Seo Tips
by Fran Top ten SEO Tips Search Engine Optimization is perhaps the most important factor in ensuring your Web site is ranked high. Because SEO is so important, you should follow some common and effective tips, such as: Understand SEO. Before you start trying to optimize your Web and other content for the search engines, ensure you have a solid understanding of SEO. You can learn about the intricacies of SEO by doing online research or even by finding internet marketing or SEO forums and discussion boards where entrepreneurs of all levels often discuss SEO strategies. Engage in keyword research. Keywords are essential when it comes to the search engines. Make use of the keyword tools available to you - including Word Tracker and Overture - to choose the best keywords for your content. Don't go overboard with keywords and keyword phrases. If you've ever conducted research online, you likely have come across Web sites and articles that are filled with keywords and keyword phrases - and not much else. Experts recommend having a keyword density of only one to three percent. If you saturate your content with keywords and keyword phrases, ultimately you're going to hurt yourself when it comes to search engine rankings. Compelling copy sells. People want to read information packed articles, so make sure your content is always valuable, in some way, to your readers. Additionally, make it easy and enjoyable for readers to read your content by writing naturally. Build links to your Web site. Links - both inbound and outbound - are vitally important to your SEO efforts, so set aside time to build your links by posting comments on related blogs and adding your URL to the comment; by exchanging links with other Webmasters in your niche, and by including your URL in all of the content you submit to article directories. Create a plethora of content. Don't just write content for your Web site; also create content for article directories, blogs, and Squidoo lenses. Spice it up. The search engines, particularly Google, do not want to see the same content posted all over the internet, so do your best to avoid using duplicate content. So, if you post an article on your Web site then submit it to article directories, make sure you change the original article by at least 30 percent (some say you should change each article as much as 70 percent) before submitting it to the article directories. Ensure your keyword or keywords are included in your domain name. Choose an available domain name that includes your main keyword or keywords. Create a reputation as an expert. The search engines love experts, so it's essential that you establish a reputation as an expert in your particular niche. Establishing expert status is as easy as publishing valuable content and joining in discussions on online forums and adding value to the conversations, for example. Make the most of SEO tools. There are plenty of SEO tools available to entrepreneurs, and you may want to try some of them. Among the many SEO tools on the market are the Similar Page Checker, Search Engine Spider Simulator, Backlink Summary, and Keyword Density Checker.
There's one thing that every online business owner has in common: Every entrepreneur wants his or her Web site to rank high in the search engines, particularly Google and Yahoo, arguably the top search engines today. Getting indexed high in the search engines is certainly possible, if you know what you are doing and are willing to put in the time and effort that it takes to build a high ranking Web site.
How to Profit from Adwords
by Fran 5 Killer Techniques - How To Profit From Adwords. Do a quick online search, and you'll find there are thousands of articles, ebooks, and courses dedicated to Adwords. Read everything you can, remembering that not everything you read is 100 percent accurate. Knowing how to use Adwords will ultimately help you make money with Adwords. Following are five techniques that illustrate how to profit from Adwords: Understanding Adwords isn't difficult. In fact, you will probably be able to learn everything you need to know in a relatively short period. However, remember that you have to continuously educate yourself about marketing if you want to get ahead, and stay ahead, of the competition. Keep a close eye on the competition to see what they're doing. You may initially be intimidated by Adwords, but if you use the techniques you learn from Adwords experts or in online adwords courses , you'll better be able to plan an effective campaign.
Internet marketing is one of the hottest ways to make money today: With the right product or service, there is a lot of money to be made. One of the most popular ways of marketing a product or a service is through Google Adwords. If you've never heard of or only have a vague understanding of Adwords, you must thoroughly research and understand how Adwords work before you sign up for an Adwords account.
How to Choose A Great Clickbank Product
by Rusty McGlasson It makes it much easier and you will be more effective marketing products if you know what you are talking about. Choose a product that you have experience with and that you will be able to market with skill. If you learn carefully from the author of the product, you will be able to gather information and gain insight about the product so that you will be able to connect with them and represent them well. Open communication and networking will give you an understanding of the product that you can not get from the sales descriptions that often accompany the products but from the product itself. Once you choose a product that is in the category you are searching for, you can use the marketplace to look into vendors who have suitable products to offer. Some vendors are not the original people producing the product. Check the vendors sales page to get a feel for the person you will be working with. There are thousands of products to choose from and you have to determine which ones are worth marketing. The description that tries to convince you to market the product may not give you legitimate information. There are third parties that offer help in deciphering the quality of listed products. They provide feedback from other affiliates and customers. Some of the products are made with quality, but you must be careful of poor material. Once you choose a product that is right for you, provide great information for it. If you know a lot about the product and you have a great feel for the things that a potential buyer needs to know, you will be able to make a sales pitch that is based on legitimate arguments and by pressing pain points with the buyer. Use different marketing techniques to cover all bases when moving the product. Carefully review the individual situation to be sure that you are marketing the product to the right audience. Continually review your progress by observing the statistics and web traffic. That means that you can empathize with the reasons why the buyer needs the product. If you can provide reviews, it will help people get more comfortable with the product. Testimonials will further the buyers faith in the product. Service tips and recommendations will draw them in and help them move towards action and a sale. Be careful if you are an affiliate choosing a ClickBank product. Understanding and believing in the product is half the battle when it comes time to market them. Take your time and read the information so that you can be sure that the quality of the product is up to your standards and that you can feel good about promoting it. Choosing the right CB product is half the battle as mentioned but now you need to get some traffic, free traffic if you can! Google Snatch wins people over by having both of them in place within their arsenal, so that not only will they like the product, but also provide the skills to ensure they can get the traffic for free and make money as an affiliate.
If you want to be a great affiliate with ClickBank so that you can make money online, you need to be wise when you choose a ClickBank product to promote. Choose products that you are knowledgeable about, learn all you can about the product, use different methods, and continually improve and update your strategies.
To Generate More Traffic
There so many ways to get a web traffic to your website. Most of them do not require out right money but guarantees to give you profit in time. Make your own content Writing and posting articles is an effective strategy to increase web traffic. However, in writing articles, the content must match with the theme of your site. You need to write about something that you are familiar with. If you come up with friendly and readable articles, more visitors will get interested in reading them. As much as possible, you can give tips and advices, which you have learned from your experiences. This will attract the reader’s attention, which can thereby increase web traffic. After every article, you must include a resource box. You can also include a short and brief biography about yourself. It is also necessary to include the URL of your website for it to make sense and add traffic to your site. Put knowledge that you know into every writings, you can discuss tips, tricks, guidelines that you get from your own life experiences. This will encourage your visitors to frequently visit your site. Submit your articles to article directories and published on websites. Before you know it, your content will be displayed on various websites and read by customers who would even be attracted to what you are offering. The technique in article marketing is to write quality and informative articles that focus on your niche market. Publishers are always on the search for fresh new contents. Once they see your articles, they would want to use them in their publications. When this happens, your link popularity will be given a boost along with your search engine rankings. When writing articles, look for the right keywords to target. They should then match the topic of your site. It is best to try and use keywords that have very high traffic but with low competition from existing websites. What is important is that you get the attention of your readers and keep them still in reading your articles to get the real thought. Exchange links This is the most effective way to bring traffic in your website. This is a careful study of all the links shown on the search engines. Exchanging links to other sites is a good strategy to generate web traffic. If you carefully study the performance of top ranking sites on the different search engines, you will get numerous links. It is important to secure the sites that are linked to you to have topics same to your website. Traffic is generated if the same subject is seen on the recommendation by the site that you share your subject with. There will be an increased chance of reaching the highest rank with the benefit of linking with other site or search engines. Both sites exchanging links will benefit from this exercise. RSS Blogs and RSS feeds go hand in hand. Since more people are into blogs, website owners are finding that this has become a valuable tool in getting website traffic. Newsletter The more subscribers you get, the more chances of increasing web traffic is achieved. If you have regular visitors, you must send them newsletter regularly. It is either on weekly or monthly basis. Traffic exchanges This is another form of exchange links allowing the member to view each other’s web pages by surfing. By surfing to the web pages, you are gaining points, the more you surf the more points you receive. You are also given an option to gain credits. This will not produce much traffic but it will obtain the names for your visitors by using squeeze pages. Ezines This is for those who have ezines. You can building up a huge opt-in list of subscribers to your ezine in order to bring in more website traffic to your site. Use your ezine to give out tips and suggestions to your readers. When you have built up a good relationship with your readers, they will remain faithful to you and try to come back for more of what you have to offer. Your ezine should be directly related to the topic of your site and gives information that will be very much helpful. You will realize that once you continuously manage your site based on a single focus, you will be regarded as an expert on that field. When you are considered an expert, visitors will come looking for you to seek out ideas and suggestions. Viral marketing One way of getting more website traffic is by giving out freebies to your visitors. Consumers come running at the first sign of something free. Many websites offer free reports that their visitors can download and be able to use. One example of a freebie that can bring a lot of website traffic is updated report and tutorials on using software like RSS for all kinds of website. The viral marketing techniques you should are the ones, which you can brand with a link to the company and that can pass around with no trouble at all. Programs that goes with what your site is all about is another viral marketing suggestion you may want to consider. Forums The last good option to increase web traffic is having online forums. You can think of good subjects so that a lot of people will get interested. With a good subject, expect your members to be frequently logging into your site and you can get the web traffic that you have been dreaming of. You can host a forum or community that talks about any subject you can visualize. Search for the forums that can be added to the topic that you wish to promote. Carefully study the entire discussed topic and relate it to the questions asked during the discussion. The discussion can also answer personal questions. Make sure that in every discussion made, you put a small resource box at the end of it to serve as a link to your particular site. You must not advertise other sites, if you advertise it you will be banned from joining the forum. It is necessary to put your bio in every end of your postings. Do not pursue with some of the forums that do not allow the posting of a resource box. Any of this method will give your website web traffic. These eight ways are proven to attract traffic in your website successfully. You can count on an increased web traffic and soon enough, an increase in profits. Get This Massive Collection Of 'How To' SEO Training Videos That Show The Easy Ways To Increase Your Online Profits, now: http://www.e-bestsellers.com/gseoaudio_0978.html or, Discover how to watch and learn while you sell & earn with this Massive Collection of Internet Business Training Videos: http://www.e-bestsellers.com/index.html Copyright © Anne-Marie Ronsen You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included. free download free ebooks free software free premium content manual website submission Drug Rehabilitation FORUM
Web traffic is important for websites to function. No particular site will exist without having web traffic; there is no point really of having a site without anyone going in. Owners of a website are continuously running the online business because of the profit they got from the traffic. Even the most optimized site will not be successful without any web traffic.
The Best High Quality Yet Cheap Link Cloaking Software
by Fred Collins The cheap link cloaking software I use and recommend in Mylinker. I was about about to drop $150 on link cloaking software, aMempublikasikan Postingnd I haven't seen decent link cloaking software for less than $100. There are 3 main advantages and benefits that Mylinker has over other link cloaking software and places such as Tinyurl. Benefit # 1-No Tracking Homepage For Mylinker One of the disadvantages of using Tinyurl or anything similar to this is that many people use these to hide affiliate links and they have a homepage that consumers can go to. Consumers can see that you are trying to hide something especially if they go Tinyurl.com. You will lose the trust of any potential customers if they think they are going to some random site called Tinyurl. When you do the research for yourself you will find you make better conversions using Mylinker over Tinyurl. Mylinker has a more legit url, that doesn't look like affiliate linking. You simply put your affiliate link in and Add a tracking name and The layout for your url will change to 'http://www.my-linker.com/hop/XXXXX'. The X's are where your tracking ID would go. Mylinker is both a tracker and a cloaker so you can put all your affiliate links in one spot. Benefit # 2-Bonus Tools To Boost Your Sales The second benefit of choosing this high quality yet still cheap link cloaking software is all the bonus tools that come with it. Mylinker is not sold as a single tool but rather with many other tools that will help make you a more efficient internet marketer. Mylinker is a tool at The Wealthy Affiliate University. It would take to long to describe all the tools at WA so I'll give you a brief rundown. Rapid Writer-This is an awesome new tool from WA that just came out recently. Rapid Writer is an article editor that allows you to spin your article easily without using sites such as Jetspinner. Jetspinners tool does not compare to WA's Rapid Writer, especially since no one can even access the 400 directories they claim to post to. Besides spinning articles Rapid Writer has PLR articles that you can spin already and a built in thesaurus and spell checker so you don't have to think of a bunch of words yourself. Rapid writer also comes with a Key Word research tool that allows you to find keywords and phrases that are untapped. This is great for people who have trouble finding niches. This alone will make all your article marketing campaigns go smoother. You can research keywords on Google, Yahoo, and MSN all at the same time. Site Rubix-Site Rubix is the easiest tool to use if your looking to build an affiliate landing page, squeeze page, or even website. I actually built a 40 page website using Site Rubix and it turned out great. You don't have to learn any html and you can literally have a website within an hour. Site Rubix also has a built in FTP and FREE Templates and Hosting to get your started. 8 Week Action Plan-This is the Ultimate Guide To Making Money Online. If you follow the 8 week action plan there is no doubt in my mind that you will be making online in no time. I was making money by the second week, some people on there forums have made money within the first day! This guide has over 3 Ebooks worth of information, so you don't have to go buy some guide that will rip you off and link cloaking software that will rip you off even more. You can get it all in one place! WA is not limited to these tools, Here is what else comes with this cheap link cloaking software. Personal Profile(Like Myspace for Internet Marketers), Keyword List, Competition Spy Tool, Videos, Task Manager, KW Research Tools, Jobs(People paying each other to do all kinds of internet marketing work) and of course the Famous WA forums(The most comprehensive IM forum on the internet). Benefit #3-The Price There is already a lot of advantages that Mylinker has over other link cloaking software but the Price is definitely the reason I signed up for WA to get Mylinker. Like I said previously decent link cloaking software is going to cost you at least $100. These link cloakers talk about all the benefits of their software but in the end they only cloak links so you don't need a $200 program to do this. WA is offered at the low price of $49/mo and to make it even lower if you Sign Up Through Me I will take an additional 20% off the first month just so you can see for yourself. With the money Ive made using Wealthy Affiliate and Mylinker I have already paid for a whole year of Wealthy Affiliate. Thats how efficient and useful these tools are. You are not guaranteed to make more money when you buy some overpriced link cloaking software and you certainly don't have access to these many tools and resources at that low of a price. $49 at an additional 20% off is much cheaper than the $150 I was about to blow on high priced link cloaking software. Using Mylinker alone was well worth the price. I would have paid double for that tool alone. I almost payed triple for link cloaking software just like Mylinker. Beware of people that tell you that cloaking is about redirecting people by saying your page is one thing and then sending them to someplace different. This is "Bad Claoking" and Google as well as most other search engines are banning pages forever for using these tactics. These are Black Hat tricks and will get your articles or pages removed from Google forever. Can you imagine if this happened to you? You would lose all your money buying link cloaking software and lose all your articles and pages after Google gives you the boot. You don't have to worry about such a thing with Mylinker. Cheap link cloaking software is very rare and is usually poor quality. Mylinker comes as a part of the WA package and is high quality enough to the point where they could sell Mylinker alone for at at least $100 possibly more. About the Author Visit The Wealthy Affiliate University yourself to get access to Mylinker and these other powerful tools. If you want to get 20% off for signing up through me visit the Mylinker/WA Discount Page to claim your special discounted link today! Good luck on your internet marketing career and I look forward to see
If you are looking to buy cheap link cloaking software then you are in the right place. Link Cloaking Software doesn't come cheap, almost all link cloaking Software is extremely overpriced. You don't want to use Tinyurl and I will explain why later on.
Learn To Get Repeat Visitors To Your Blog
by Peter Lee First impressions Last It is a common human behaviour that the first impression of an event, a person, or an activity stays with you forever. In internet marketing, this is still valid when your reader visits your blog for the first time. It is important therefore that your blog’s font size is large enough with a good and nice design. If you have a unique design, this is even better and it may lead to a certain branding that people can identity as yours. Remember always that your blog is being read by many readers, not just yourself, so how you personally like your blog to look like may not be that important after all. Dona Over Focus On Your Keywords There is a general tendency for many people to place too much emphasis on SEO in their blogs as they wish to get top search engine ranking for their internet home business site. It has been an acceptable practice that when you write to repeat your keyword or keyword phrases and sprinkling them throughout the article post. Although this is a good practice to follow and eventually your search engine ranking does improve due to this blogging technique, there is unfortunately a downside to it. Your readers may eventually get a little bored with your posts and stop visiting your blog. You should therefore try to focus on a narrower topic but mix it with other content to attract your blog visitors, new and old. You should also consider content swap in which you exchange blog posts with other bloggers. This offers your readers fresh content as well as present a different style of writing too. It is a first step towards getting your repeat visitors to your blog and ultimately to your online business opportunity. Squidoo Lens, Blog and RSS Feed There is a relation among your squidoo lens, your internet home business website and your blog. With squidoo, you can create a lens or a free page. This lens consists of various modules that you can choose from. Every module contains a different category such as text, eBay opportunities, Reader Feedback, RSS Feed, Your Tube videos etc. However, many marketers seem to neglect the RSS module. Simply putting your blog RSS Feed address into this module allows your latest blog posts to appear in your squidoo lens. To create a good lens, it is important to choose a topic that is related to what your blog offers to your readers. It is easy to create a squidoo lens but it is important to make a good one so as to generate free targeted traffic and repeat visitors to your blog. Blog Frequency You have to blog frequently if you want to see repeat visitors to your blog.. The more often you blog the better it is, but I would say you should blog at least weekly. You can also consider blog posts from other bloggers, which provide your readers some variety and a different perspective to your usual work at home business ideas. Also remember that your visitors subscribe to your blog because they like what you have written, the service you provide and the internet home business ideas your blog offers. So if you dona blog frequently they may be tempted to just unsubscribe. Remember that your subscribers contribute to your free targeted traffic to your blog, so not only do you need to bring in new visitors, but it is important also to keep those in your subscription list satisfied as well. Value Readersa Comments Your readersa comments on your blog posts are important and you should review and reply them as soon as they are received. A comment posted by your reader may arise as a result of his agreeing, disagreeing with you or seeking clarification on whata your have written. There are some very good techniques that you can use to encourage your internet home business readers to give their valuable comments on your blog. A good blogging technique that I have learned is to engage my readersa feedback and responses. You can do this by asking a question in your post, usually towards the end of your post. Do remember that writing a blog post is a lot different than writing for a newspaper article, in which you present all possible scenarios of the topic to a very passive audience. In a blog, you should try to encourage and engage the reader to provide comment and feedback and share his experience on the topic. Inviting participation like this is good for getting your traffic and your visitors. The reader may be interested to find out more about the topic and like to read up on the new responses that are received. Getting high traffic and repeat visitors to your blog in this way is common, if the topic is thought provoking, interesting ant the right blogging technique is used. About the Author Peter Lee Is A Banker As Well As An Authority On Developing Home Based Internet Businesses Part Time. Learn his Work At Home Business Ideas And How To Get Repeat Visitors To His Blog. Discover How He Uses Dead Simple Techniques To Make Passive Income On Autopilot.
If you use a blog you definitely would like to get repeat visitors to your blog. As an internet home business owner, getting a person to visit your blog for the first time may already seem hard work, but what do you need to do to entice the same reader to visit your blog continuously. How do you get repeat visitors to your blog? It certainly is not hard work, but it does require a conscious effort from you to learn a few easy yet effective techniques to make this happen. If there is something that I can share with you, it is that if you can succeed in making your new blog visitors feel really at home, well half the work is already done.
Become a Pay Per Click Expertin 5 Quick and Easy Steps!
By Scott Jason Some people use PPC as their primary source of search engine marketing while others use it as a way to get steady supplemental targeted traffíc. As an SEO professional I've developed PPC campaigns for my clients so they get targeted traffíc while the organic optimization is ramping up, which often takes weeks or months. Whatever the reason, PPC is a good way for any online business owner to get targeted traffíc and a great way for those who know how to use the system to their advantage. And that's exactly what this article will do for you. But before we dive in, just why is AdWords so valuable? There are plenty of reasons but for starters... 1.) AdWords listings are seen by more than 80% of all Internet users on millions of sites ranging from Google and AOL to very specific niche locations it would otherwise take forever to research and manage independent advertising accounts with. 2.) Your ads can be targeted specifically by region or language. 3.) Ads that you can constantly update and test are a great way to test what keywords are really best for targeting in your organic SEO efforts, which can be very time consuming and expensive. Step 1: Get an AdWords Account If you don't already have an AdWords account, it's easy enough to sign up for at http://adwords.google.com. Once you have your account you can begin creating ads and finding the best keywords. Actually, you can use Google's free AdWords keyword research tool even without an account by visiting: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Step 2: Develop a Killer Ad Here are the things to know about ad development broken out by Title and Body... Ad Title: 1.) Use targeted keywords NOT your company name 2.) Mention a benefit, rather than a feature. 3.) Take advantage of the "Dynamic Titles" feature by entering the following code in your title "{KeyWord: Your Keyword}" (without quotes.) This allows you to use the same ad body text with a dynamically generated title that matches exactly what the searcher is looking for and makes your ad the most relevant it can be. By the way, this is case sensitive; "{KeyWord: Your Keyword}" will make the first letter of each word capitalized while "{keykord: your keyword}" will make it all lower case. Ad Body: The body or text of your ad need only do two things; hook 'em and then reel 'em in. The hook is something that peaks their interest such as "íncrease your profíts with XYZ software." While reeling them in involves what traditional marketers refer to as a "call to action." This might be "Download your Free 30 day Tríal now." Note: Do not over capitalize your ad. At best just capitalize the words you feel are most important to the viewer. It's OK to capitalize the first letter of each word in the title but not the body. Step 3: Maximize URL Usage While we're on the subject of what the searcher sees in your ad, we need to consider the URL. Google will let you make the visible URL different than the actual URL leading to the landing page where the visitor will end up after clicking your ad. This is huge! Take advantage of it. This feature will let you test multiple landing pages in your ads to see what pages are converting sales best while showing the visitor the "display" URL for your product. Let's say the landing page being tested in this particular ad is "...com/XYZ/purchase3.htm." When that ad gets clicked you will soon see if "/purchase3.htm" is converting better than "/purchase1.htm." But here's the magic... By using a display URL of "...com/XYZ/" , and actually having the product there as well, you are building your brand and providing a visual queue for users to manually type in the URL if for some reason your landing page is unavailable. Step 4: Use Special Keyword Advantages Obviously keywords are a very big factor in the success of your campaign. Choosing the best keywords is extremely important and using Google's "Keyword Matching Options" can help take your great keywords one step further. Just clíck the "Advanced option: match types" link when setting up your ads and choose from the following... 1.) Broad Match: Is the default and will show your ad each time all of the keywords in your keyword phrase are entered. 2.) Phrase Match: Looks for the order of words in your keyword phrase and only shows your ad if the order matches. Your ad will still show if your phrase is any part of the search query, but only if the word order is the same. 3.) Exact Match: This is the most stringent and will only present your ad if your exact keyword phrase, and ONLY your exact keyword phrase, is used. 4.) Negative Match: This is a nice feature that will stop your ad from showing if a word appears in the search query that you don't want to get clicks for. The most common example is "free" which would eliminate you paying for clicks from people who just want a free version of what you offer. Step 5: Find and Use the Best Keywords Now for the most important aspect of your PPC campaign; keyword selection. The more targeted keywords you can find, the better. Google offers a great free keyword tool as we discussed early on. Here are the qualities to look for in your keywords: 1.) A good "Average Search Volume" rating (check out the blue bars) 2.) A high search volume for the previous month (especially true for seasonal topics) 3.) The lowest possible "Advertiser Competition" rating 4.) Look for common misspellings and use the "exact match" feature to get plenty of low cost targeted traffíc. 5.) Scroll down the page and find hidden gems that others miss. There are a lot for those who look carefully enough. Insider Tip: You can also collect hundreds of low volume keywords, put them in a spreadsheet for easy upload and use the "Dynamic Title" feature we discussed earlier to generate hundreds of low cost highly targetëd leads. Professional Tip: SEO professionals typically use specialized keyword selection and SpySoftware because it does weeks worth of work in a matter of hours. Keyword Elite for example, can generate thousands of valuable keywords in minutes and does "ethical spying" that exposes the competition and makes placement takeover easy. That's all you need to know to join the top 10% of PPC advertisers getting the most out of their campaigns with minimal effort. Best of luck! About The Author Scott Jason has been an SEO professional since 1999 and is the founder of BestSEOcopywriting. He has developed and managed PPC campaigns for both small companies and corporate giants alike.
Ever heard of the 90/10 pay per cliíck rule? Basically it says that 90% of PPC success is enjoyed by only the top 10% of advertisers who know the inside methods to getting the most from their PPC campaign. And oddly enough, it's basically true. Especially when it comes to Google's AdWords, which offers the most advanced methods to help advertisers get their money's worth (and then some!)
Optimization Techniques - Email Marketing Success
There are many ways to do this such as: - Offer a free report with information they'll find valuable - Ask them to opt in to your newsletter or subscribe to your website for update - Intrigue them with entry into a free draw for a prize. Once someone has signed up for something you've got a valuable e-mail address that you can use to build your list of potential customers. Once you have that e-mail address, you want to be very careful with it because otherwise it won't do much for you. How do you stay out of the spam filter? It's a good idea to have someone confirm before you give away anything. Many will put in a fake e-mail address just to get something for free. You can require them to confirm by receiving an e-mail from you and clicking a confirmation link. Remind them to check their junk folder and if they mark your message as not being Spam, their email software could then automatically whitelist you so that you don't land in the spam folder in future. By requesting a confirmation, you also ensure that you are getting a real e-mail address. Autoresponder software is a good investment for anyone marketing online. Buying into a package AutoResponsePlus or something similar will help you easily manage your mailing lists. The thing is, once you have a mailing list in place and a plan that includes autoresponders, you need to work on your email content and deliverability. Each communication you make in future with prospective client should do two things:
It's a common trend that internet marketers do whatever they can do to get the e-mail address of the people visiting their site. Online, you have a really small window of opportunity to convert a visitor into a client and if they're not ready to buy whatever they're browsing on your site, it's a good idea to at least find out who they are so that you can try a different sales approach on them on another day. Just because they're not interested in what you're selling today doesn't mean you can't find something else to tickle their fancy.
The e-mail needs to offer them something valuable otherwise they'll unsubscribe. Give information or tips or helpful information that will have that person anxious to open future emails from you.
You need a call to action line at the end which will entice them to do something you want after they close the email. This could be to visit your website with a handy link, sign up for another service, refer their friends to you or even offer a purchase link so they can buy what you're selling.
Deliverability is definitely a key factor. You want to know that your e-mails reach their recipient's email box so here are a few things you can do to increase the likelihood of your target audience actually opening your e-mail. People are fed up with Spam and using all sorts of programs and techniques to ensure they're not having to sift through spam to get to the important e-mails.
People make use of domain keys and SPF records so that they aren't getting phishing e-mails by those posing as their bank or PayPal.
People use spam filters and this helps them build the trust in their incoming messages. Once you make it past that filter, you're set.
By getting yourself whitelisted, you can increase the likelihood of being delivered to an e-mail inbox instead of a Spam folder and by buying an autoresponder product that's hosted on your own server, you can more easily get past Spam filters because if you've done your bit to get whitelisted, you'll be trusted by your recipient's e-mail server which will increase the chances of your brilliant and persuasive copy being taken seriously.
About the Author: For helpful information about e-mail marketing success, autoresponder programs like AutoResponse Plus and more helpful advice for entrepreneurs, visit TheWebReviewer.
AdSense Ads--What Good can They Do for You?
by Nathalie Fiset Making Your Google AdSense Understanding Firm and Precise If you have every single intention of working on Internet marketing, then there is likewise all the reason for you to get to know how AdSense works. Google AdSense is a set up which permits all of the webmasters to provide the most relevant content and advertisements on the web pages. Now, what normally happens is that when a particular website visitor attempts to click on any AdSense advertisement which is served or provided to a particular website, then the owner of the online website gets all the credit for the referral that he or she has done. Google AdSense is also related to the results of the PPC or pay per click adword sense. Maintaining the Website with AdSense When the word "maintenance" is talked about, a lot of people would end up growling. Indeed, the term maintenance may actually suggest an action that requires dedication, hardwork, and patience. But in line with the website maintenance concerning AdSense, nothing needs to be worried about. It is in fact too easy to maintain. One has to simply affix a java script that has been made up by Google itself. It then needs to be inserted into the website template or into the web page itself. The Google spider then crawls the AdServing websites and therefore supplies the needed ads which are related to the content articles of the website. In here comes the function of content analysis and keyword matching which determine the most appropriate ads that need to be encrypted into the web page. It is now the task of the java script to call in the ads from Google that would be served to the website visitors who click on the web page. Now there is the so-called filtering system which gives the full control to the webmasters regarding the prevention of the ads from coming into the websites that are under their accounts. Hence, ad blocking makes it possible to outcast the efforts of the rest of their competitors from streaming into their clients. On the other hand, Google has a wide range of ad formats so the webmaster is faced with a lot of choices. The formats include the preformatted towers, buttons, incline rectangles, and banners. Moreover, the ad boxes may be customized according to the color scheme, concept, and preferences of the webmaster. Also, the ads are available in several languages such as English, French, Spanish, and the likes to match the location of the customers. Google AdSense Channel Reporting Google is definitely one of the leading sites online. With this, AdSense has been given the way to improve its reporting process. As a channel is chosen, Google then customizes the embedded java script in order to follow up on some additional tracking proceedings. These AdSense channels are responsible in monitoring the performance of the different domains, the revenue differences, and their placement. With these records, the webmaster could then decide on how he may boost his AdSense revenues. Making Money with Google AdSense Definitely, you can make money out of Google AdSense. If you know the right procedure on how to do it, you would be very happy with the balance that gets accumulated to your bank account. Then, you should start working out on the tricks that must be played as you push through with the Google AdSense tool. First and foremost, you must use none other than the very sensible AdSense ads to increase traffic in your website. Images, videos, and other tools would help in the campaign. Take note that your page must be crafted in a very informative one. If your ads would seem irrelevant, then no one would get the interest to even take a glimpse of what you have there. Be cautious about the headings and titles that you use too. Your ads must be a reason to prompt your readers and website visitors to action. They must be inspired to respond to the ads too. It is in this way that you can collect higher revenues with Adsense.
What is AdSense all about? For some non-technical people, the term AdSense may appear as a vague concept. Who on earth would know its meaning especially when he or she does not work with computer and today's technology? This article will give you a brief yet concise overview of the nature of AdSense and every little thing that has to do with its existence and functionality.
Get Your Best Source of Income through AdSense
by Nathalie Fiset What is AdSense? How can AdSense bring me income for my site? AdSense is paid by advertisers to spread their ads to different websites. Google, in return, will give you a portion of the revenue generated from these ads. They will offer you three ways to get paid: the cost per click method, the cost per thousand impressions or cost per action method. In the cost per click method, you will get paid every time an ad has been clicked from your site. The cost per thousand impressions will generate revenues for you every time a page has been viewed a thousand times. And in the cost per action method of payment, you will get your revenue every time your visitor follows a link from your website and takes the advertised action in the ad. Payments are normally sent monthly. What are the benefits in using AdSense? AdSense serves as your own ad broker. You do not need to worry about negotiating prices with advertisers. You employ this service so that they will all of these for you so that you can concentrate on creating quality content for your website. You also do not need to worry about finding appropriate ads for your website. AdSense AdWords, their advertiser base, has just about every ad that can be given to you no matter how specialized your website contents are. And it only shows appropriate ads that are related to your content through the use of Competitive Ad Filter (which enables you to sort out your competitors and ads that you do not like), Editorial Review (where the Google team reviews and approves related ads for your site) and Customizable default ads (which provides you with your personal choice of ad if Google cannot find enough appropriate ads for you). Also, ads from AdSense are not too flashy, providing more attention to your content rather than your advertisements. But because they are contextual in nature, your visitors will still likely to click these ads since they can be relevant to your topic. And best of all, it is free to place AdSense ads in your website! How do I get started with AdSense? What is good about AdSense is that you do not have to have a big and popular website to start using it. It is easy to get started. You will just have to apply online with Google AdSense. They will review your website or blog if it has an acceptable content and a valid URL. They will also get your name and address to send you your income. They will send you the advertisements ready to use for your site. If you have multiple sites, you will not have to re-apply as long as your other sites are deemed acceptable by Google. How can you maximize your AdSense income? Generate more traffic to your website. The best way to expose AdSense ads is to have more people visit your site. Employ different internet marketing techniques such as website promotions to increase traffic in your site. Build a niche site. You can maximize your AdSense profit through this because a site with a one-way focus will tend to achieve a decent search engine placement. Just be careful of choosing your niche. Your niche should be able to support a lot of advertisements to generate more income. Create valuable content for your site. Creating valuable content will help your advertising campaign as well. Your link has been clicked by a reader who is probably searching for information that he wants to know. Give them that. When you create good content for your site, more and more readers will visit your site. And when you tease them into knowing more about what you have just written, they would probably also click on the ads related to your site. Use encouraging words to click on ads. This can also help maximize your earnings in AdSense. Use words such as Advertisements or Sponsored Link to indirectly attract readers to click on the ads. Just keep in mind that Google is very strict about placing words directly aimed to increase ad clicks. Using phrases such as Click on my ads will get you in a lot of trouble.
AdSense is a program service that links advertisements to websites run by Google. It provides you with contextual ads that you can place on your blog, search engine, or website.
Quick Tips On How To Take Money From Google
by Phil Booker NEW Information on GOOGLE ADWORDS Like any subject, like any aspect of life, there are very few changes... Yet what is new is a 'new perspective; the 'old system' but with a new eye. Some formulas are explored within a few weeks of a system originating; others ideas take some time to manifest and develop. Once tried and tested, although 6 to 12 months in the making, they are new to everyone else. Occasionally all who use Google Adwords are prone and tempted to trying a little experiment; testing an idea to see if it works. Finance of course prevents us from exploring the idea to its fullest. Just when we think we've got a handle on a way to earn some serious cash; does the idea or system go belly up. So as a consequence of our experimentation and subsequent failure we patiently await with our ears to the ground for the next breakthrough; made by those other people that we envy. I introduce the hard work, patience and persistence of Andrew and Stephen who have produced a double volume ebook entitled the Google Magic Formula. The first book introduces the basics for Google Adwords and few of the more seasoned professionals need to read this volume. But the juice and fervor surrounding the magical tips and advice that flows through the entire second volume; it makes you wonder why I have the time to write this article. When you have mixed, matched, worked beyond midnight and started before 6am on varying topics related to earning your living off Google Adwords; then the Google Magic Formula becomes a big contribution to your arsenal. As I read through the Google Magic Formula I noticed areas I had dabbled in but not fully understood. Eureka was the cry... Suddenly it all fell into place! Please... Just at times I am a bit pigheaded claiming I know everything there is to know, but when you find a few more tweaks that will help your campaigns, I have to step down off my pedestal and get back into the real world. Meanwhile, Google shareholders are sipping their Moet with friends in their 20th floor Penthouse apartment in New York City. These shareholders are beaming. Like Google, they know that 90% of all Adwords account holders fail in their mission to make money. This majority just pump hard earned cash into Google's ever-increasing coffers, giving Google shareholders a reason to $mile as they just sit back and watch their bank accounts get fatter and fatter with every new Google Adwords newbie signing up online. As you read the new Google Magic Formula a paragraph will start seemingly full of what you already know, then soon you read beyond a gem of a suggestion and you track back to read it again... and then again. I'll break off know because I'm itching to get started. Speak again soon. Mr. P. Booker Adwords-and-Adsense.com
We don't have any news from Google... But what news we do have is about Google.
How to Do it As an Internet Marketer
by Nathalie Fiset Why blogging? As a novice in internet marketing, you might want to use several tools in building your internet home-based business. To start off, blogging is a great way to earn money. It’s considered as one of the most popular ways in which you can increase traffic in your website. A blog is simple to create and maintain. Another advantage of blogging is that it allows your visitors to add their comments, so that gains you something that may help you develop your blog that most people would enjoy reading and find your articles helpful. Furthermore, there are still a lot of ways in which you use your blog to earn more money. Writing keyword-rich articles A blog is useless without content. To get the most out of your content, writing and posting keyword-rich articles is the best way to do it. Because you are an internet marketer, you can provide readers helpful information about what your business is all about or you may affiliate programs to all your readers, subscribers, and customers. This method gains you position as an expert in that certain area. What is more, these keyword-rich articles help increase your ranking among search engines and provide you the opportunity of increasing traffic to you site. By using heavy keywords, make sure that readers who search keywords in any search engine will immediately find your articles. Adding a batch of fresh articles on regular basis also helps in expanding your internet marketing business. Adding affiliate links Another way of improving your rank in search engines is to include affiliate links on your blog. If your blog contains useful, unique, and original articles, it will definitely be linked to by other people’s blogs. More links would mean more exposure to more people. Using Google AdSense Google AdSense is another way of expanding your online profits in your blog. After you registered for a Google AdSense account, you will immediately notice the appearance of advertisements on your site. When any of the readers click any of them, you earn a small commission. Despite the amount you could only get out of doing Google AdSense, it’s basically one way of increasing profits in your business. Promoting your products, services and affiliate programs Through your blog, you can also promote your products, services and/or affiliate programs. With blogging, you get to be in full control of introducing what you offer to your customers and prospects in a way that they will be interested to try. Because blogging allows people to post their comments on your blog, their interest in what you offer may also attract more prospects upon trying any of what you are offering or selling. The regular interaction between you and the prospects and customers will also increase the traffic of your site. Lastly, more sales will be generated assuming that those prospects who make enquiries about the products and services you offer are purchased and tried. Through your blog, promoting your affiliate programs is another way of earning additional online income. You may post keyword-rich articles about your affiliate programs, write reviews on the different affiliate products you are marketing, and of course, you can add more affiliate links. When your readers find your articles useful, they will be inclined to click on the affiliate links you posted, thereby, generating more sales. With all the things you could do on your blog, do try to remember that you use blogging to drive traffic to your website. Regular increase in traffic means more sales to be generated and a chance to greatly succeed on your internet marketing business.
A successful internet marketer knows precisely the techniques of marketing anything available on the Internet. From teleseminars to niche websites to outsourcing, you name all these techniques and an internet marketer would definitely tell you that he/she has been using or previously used them. Internet marketers are generally dubbed as the elites of the world of Internet. True, there are a lot of people who wish to be internet marketers but didn’t have the right skills to become one. If you would like to become an internet marketer, basically you need to learn how internet marketing works and know what are the available ways you can apply to earn a decent income.
The Ten Commandments of Search Engine Optimization
By Bhaskar Thakur 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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". 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. 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. 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.
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.
22 dead in Mo., Okla., Ga. after new round of storms
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, 
SENECA, Mo. - Stunned survivors picked through the little that was left of their communities Sunday after tornadoes tore across the Plains and South, killing at least 22 people in three states and leaving behind a trail of destruction and stories of loss.
At least 15 people died in southwestern Missouri. In the fading mining town of Picher, Okla., at least six people were killed, and at least one person died in storms in Georgia.
Susan Roberts, 61, stared at the smashed remains of her classic 1985 Cadillac sitting on her living room floor — the only thing left of her Seneca home. A woman who had apparently sought shelter in the car died there, she said.
"That is what is tearing me up," Roberts said. She had warned the woman — who stopped to change a tire as Roberts and her 13-year-old grandson drove away from the rental house — to escape. The tornado hit just minutes later.
I'm from Kansas. I grew up watching storms," she said as she walked through the debris. "If I didn't have my grandson with me, I probably wouldn't have left."
The same storm system earlier hit Oklahoma, where at least six people died and 150 people were injured in Picher.
The town, once a bustling mining center of 20,000 that dwindled to about 800 people as families fled lead pollution there, was a surreal scene of overturned cars, smashed homes and mattresses, and twisted metal high stuck in the canopy of trees.
"I swear I could see cars floating," said Herman Hernandez, 68. "And there was a roar, louder and louder."
Ed Keheley was headed to town to help out Saturday night when he heard a woman screaming. He looked over to see her hand reaching out of debris.
"She was sitting in the bathtub, she had curlers in her hair and she wanted out of there," said Keheley, who along with several others pulled her out.
The area is part of a Superfund site, and residents have been asked to take part in state and federal buyouts in recent years.
"From what I've been able to determine, that wouldn't have any bearing on whether a disaster declaration would come forth," said Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Earl Armstrong.
One storm victim's child was initially reported dead, but state emergency management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten later said the infant was actually alive at a Tulsa hospital.
As the system moved east on Sunday, one of at least six tornadoes in Georgia killed a person in Dublin, about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta, the National Weather Service said.
The small town of Kite was destroyed by the storm, said Caroline Pope, a spokeswoman for the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. Close to 1,000 people live in the community, she said.
"From what they're telling me, it's gone," she said from the dispatch center in the jail, which was operating on a generator because the power was out.
Storms later Sunday in North Carolina destroyed several mobile homes, but there was no word on injuries, said Patty McQuillan of the state police. And in South Carolina, a possible tornado damaged several homes, but no injuries were reported, said Charleston County spokeswoman Jennie Davis.
President Bush has talked with governors to express his condolences for the lives lost and to discuss needs for recovery, according to the White House.
"The federal government will be moving hard to help," Bush said.
In Missouri, the tornado hit the rural area about eight miles north of Seneca and continued east.
Jane Lant climbed over splintered wood to go through the mud-caked remains of her bridal shop.
"I just feel so awful, going through this rubble when they are out looking for bodies," she said as she motioned to the search dogs wandering the field behind her. An unidentified body lay under a blue tarp nearby.
Among the dead were five family members of her neighbor who had been going to a wedding when the tornado caught their vehicle in front of her store, she said.
Next door, her husband's feed store also lay in shambles. But one bright moment came Sunday when rescuers heard chirping from the mound and found a half-dozen chicks. They had rescued about 100 the night before.
Susie Stonner, spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management Agency, said it was unclear how many homes had been damaged. But she said officials in Newton County, which includes Seneca, had initial estimates of 50 homes damaged or destroyed there.
In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado caused significant damage in Stuttgart, but no one was seriously injured, said Weather Service meteorologist Joe Goudsward.
Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and another seven were killed in an outbreak May 2. In between was freezing weather, persistent rain and river flooding that damaged homes and has slowed farmers in their planting.
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Associated Press writers Murray Evans in Picher, Dorie Turner in Atlanta and Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
Myanmar at risk from further cyclones: UN weather expert
GENEVA (AFP) - Myanmar could suffer another major storm this season even as it braces for more bad weather after the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, a UN weather expert warned Friday.
"It's not rare if they have another (cyclone)," said Yuichi Ono, a programme officer for the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
The Bay of Bengal generally sees two cyclone 'peaks' either side of the monsoon season which is likely to start by the end of May, Ono told AFP.
An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless in Myanmar by the disaster, which has killed tens of thousands and left the country's infrastructure in tatters.
The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday its forecasts predict further adverse weather conditions for Myanmar in the week ahead.
In a statement, the UN weather agency said current forecasts point to occasional tropical rain showers from now until next Thursday, with a shift towards heavy rainfall around Thursday.
Total rainfall around Thursday is seen reaching "around 100 mm expected for a period of 3 days".
It added that winds are expected to revert towards the most affected regions, "thus also compound the situation in the coastal region" by enhancing rainfall and "possibly affecting runoff or surge".
Ono said that the impact of any further cyclone would be much more devastating and even if early warnings were issued, it is not clear where people could go amid the devastation.
"But they shouldn't be in low-lying areas or stay in destroyed houses," he added.
UN relief spokesman Richard Horsey warned that another storm was heading in Myanmar's direction, which could further complicate the slow-moving relief efforts.
"Our meteorological people tell us there's likely to be fairly strong rainfall in the next seven days," he told AFP in neighbouring Thailand.
"That's going to be a big issue with unpaved roads. Heavy rainfall could complicate things for all those people going without shelter," Horsey said.
"If there's an epidemic of water-borne disease and a lack of shelter when a storm comes in ... if we have another storm coming into the delta, that's going to be a significant concern for all those people without shelter."
Myanmar's reclusive military leaders have blocked journalists and international aid workers from coming in to assess the situation, making it difficult to get a true picture after the storm, which the government says left 60,000 dead or missing.
Myanmar seizes UN aid supplies YANGON
Myanmar - Myanmar's military leaders seized aid shipments headed for cyclone survivors and told the top U.S. diplomat there Friday that they're not ready to let in American aid workers despite warnings the country is on the verge of a medical catastrophe.
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Another 4 inches of rain was forecast to fall next week as more than 1 million people waited for food, clean water, shelter and medicine to reach them. Diplomats and aid groups warned the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because of illnesses and said thousands of children may have been orphaned.
The U.N. World Food Program said two planeloads of supplies containing enough high-energy biscuits to feed 95,000 people were seized Friday, prompting the world body to say it was suspending aid flights.
Later, WFP chief spokeswoman Nancy Roman said the flights would resume on Saturday while negotiations continued for the release of the supplies.
Myanmar's government acknowledged taking control of the shipments and said it plans to distribute the aid itself to the affected areas.
In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, government spokesman Ye Htut said the junta had clearly stated what it would do and denied the action amounted to a seizure.
"I would like to know which person or organization (made these) these baseless accusations," he said.
The WFP's regional director, Tony Banbury, directly appealed to Myanmar's military leaders in an interview with Associated Press Television News.
"Please, this food is going to people who need it very much. You and I, we have the same interests," Banbury said. "Those victims — those 1 million or more people — who need this assistance are not part of a political dialogue. They need this humanitarian assistance. Please release it."
Shari Villarosa, the U.S. charge d'affairs in Yangon, said she met with Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu on Friday to discuss American relief operations.
Myanmar says it will accept aid from all countries, but prohibits the entry of foreign workers who would deliver and manage the operations. The junta is not ready to change that position, Villarosa said she was told.
But Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, has agreed to allow a single U.S. cargo aircraft to bring in relief supplies for victims of a cyclone, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Stuart Upton said Friday.
"We hope that this is the beginning of broader support between the United States and Burma to help the Burmese people," he said.
The U.S. has an enormous ability to deliver aid quickly, evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.
More than 60,000 people are dead or missing and entire villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta after Saturday's cyclone. Many of the survivors waiting for food, clean water and medicine were crammed into Buddhist monasteries or camped outdoors.
The U.N. estimates 1.5 million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of dead bodies.
"Many are not buried and lie in the water. They have started rotting and the stench is beyond words," Anders Ladekarl, head of the Danish Red Cross.
About 20,000 body bags were being sent so volunteers from the Myanmar chapter of the Red Cross can start collecting bodies, he said.
The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said its models forecast three days of strong rain next week that could dump 4 inches in Myanmar beginning Thursday or Friday.
Heavy rain could worsen the situation in the storm-affected coastal region, the meteorological agency said, though it cautioned that forecasts beyond five days could change.
In the village of Kongyangon, someone had written in Burmese, "We are all in trouble. Please come help us" on black asphalt, a video from the Norway-based opposition news network, the Democratic Voice of Burma, showed. A few feet away was another plea: "We're hungry."
In Yangon, the price of increasingly scarce water has shot up by more than 500 percent, and rice and oil jumped by 60 percent over the last three days, the Danish Red Cross said.
The U.N. has grown increasingly critical of Myanmar's refusal to let in foreign aid workers who could assess the extent of the disaster with the junta apparently overwhelmed. None of the 10 visa applications submitted by the WFP has been approved.
"The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts," Risley said. "It's astonishing."
The junta said in a statement Friday it was grateful to the international community for its assistance — which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies — but the best way to help was just to send in material rather than personnel.
Andrew Brookes, an aerospace specialist at the IISS, an independent think tank, said Myanmar has about 15 transport planes but most are small jets not adequate to carry hundreds of tons of supplies. The country has fewer than 40 helicopters and only a fraction may be operational, he said.
"Even if they were all serviceable it's not even a drop in the ocean. The task is so awesome it would phase even a sophisticated force like the British, French or Germans," Brookes said.
It is not clear how much aid has been delivered to the victims in the Irrawaddy delta.
"Believe me, the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area," said Yangon food shop owner Joseph Kyaw.
"The government only cares about its own stability. They don't care about the plight of the people," he said.
Three Red Cross aid flights loaded with shelter kits and other emergency supplies landed in Myanmar Friday without incident.
"We are not experiencing any problems getting in (unlike) the United Nations," Danish Red Cross spokesman Hans Beck Gregersen said.
One relief flight was sent back after landing in Yangon on Thursday because it carried a search-and-rescue team and media representatives who had not received permission to enter the country, the junta said. It did not give details, but said the plane had flown in from Qatar.
According to state media, 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis.
Grim assessments were made about what lies ahead. The aid group Action Against Hunger noted that the delta region is known as the country's granary, and the cyclone hit before the harvest.
"If the harvest has been destroyed this will have a devastating impact on food security in Myanmar," the group said.
UN plane lands in Myanmar with aid after cyclone
The military junta also continued to stall on visas for U.N. teams seeking entry to ensure the aid is delivered to the victims amid fears that lack of safe food and drinking water could push the death toll above 100,000. Two airplanes carrying high-energy biscuits, medicine and other supplies arrived in Yangon, and two others were to follow, U.N. officials said. The planes had waited for the last two days while the world body negotiated with the military regime to allow the material into the Southeast Asian nation. By rejecting the U.S. offer, the junta is refusing to take advantage of Washington's enormous ability to deliver aid quickly, which was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations. "We have demonstrated in crises around the world ... our logistical capability to get humanitarian assistance quickly in to the people who need it," said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar. U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Eric John told reporters that U.S. and Thai authorities earlier believe they had permission from Myanmar to land U.S. military C-130s. But Myanmar officials later made it clear that this was not the case. Gordon Johndroe, President Bush's national security spokesman, said the U.S. was still working to gain permission to enter Myanmar. Myanmar's generals, traditionally paranoid about foreign influence, issued an appeal for international assistance after the storm struck Saturday. They have since dragged their feet on issuing visas to relief workers even as survivors faced hunger, disease and flooding. In 2004, the first foreign military aid did not arrive in the hardest-hit nation, Indonesia, until two days after the disaster. The most significant help came when U.S. helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln began flying relief missions to isolated communities along the coast of Aceh province. It was the biggest U.S. military operation in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam war. With roads washed out and the infrastructure in shambles, large swaths of Myanmar's delta region also remain accessible only by air — something few other countries are equipped to handle as well as the United States. In Yangon, the cyclone blew off the roof of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and cut the electricity to her dilapidated lakeside bungalow, where she is under house arrest, a neighbor said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "What is critically needed at this point is for Myanmar authorities to open up to a major international relief effort," said U.N. spokesman Richard Horesy. "If that is not done quickly, there is a major risk that there will be a second phase to this disaster where large numbers of people will die of communicable disease." Thailand Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej offered to negotiate on Washington's behalf to persuade Myanmar's government to accept U.S. aid. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband asked Myanmar's junta to "lift all restrictions on the distribution of aid." The Association of Southeast Nations appealed to the international community to keep sending aid through Thailand. "Please keep the help coming, keep the contributions coming, and if you have to, go to Thailand, park there and wait for redistribution from there," said ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan. The U.S. military sent more humanitarian supplies and equipment to a staging area in Thailand on Thursday. A C-17 transport plane with water and food landed Thursday, joining the two C-130s in place, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said at the Pentagon. Another C-130 loaded with supplies was on its way, she said. The Navy also has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in any relief effort, including an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard. The Navy was sending helicopters from the USS Essex to the staging area in Thailand, a defense official said Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. China, Myanmar's closest ally, urged the military junta to work with the international community. The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said some donors were delaying aid for fear it would be siphoned off to the army. The World Food Program's regional director, Anthony Banbury, indicated the United Nations had similar concerns. "We will not just bring our supplies to an airport, dump it and take off," he said. So far, the United Nations has recorded donations to Myanmar relief totaling $25 million from 28 nations, the European Union and charities. An additional $25 million has been pledged. The U.N. refugee agency said it is assembling a truck convoy to take supplies from Thailand to Yangon, but that it will take several days to put the shipment together and then up to two weeks to reach victims there. Myanmar's state media said Cyclone Nargis killed at least 22,997 people and left 42,019 missing, mostly in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta. Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, said the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because safe food and water were scarce and unsanitary conditions widespread. U.N. officials estimated as many as 1 million people were left homeless in Myanmar, which also is known as Burma. Entire villages in the delta were still submerged from the storm, and bloated corpses could be seen stuck in the mangroves. Some survivors stripped clothes off the dead. People wailed as they described the horror of the torrent swept ashore by the cyclone. "I don't know what happened to my wife and young children," said Phan Maung, 55, who held onto a coconut tree until the water level dropped. By then his family was gone. The World Health Organization has received reports of malaria outbreaks in the worst-affected area, and said fears of waterborne illnesses surfacing due to dirty water and poor sanitation also remained a concern. Even near Yangon, the country's largest city, stricken villagers complained that they had received no government assistance and were relying on aid from Buddhist monasteries. Myanmar's state television Thursday showed Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein distributing food packages to the sick and injured in the delta and soldiers dropping food over villages. The date of the distribution was not given. Although most Yangon residents were preoccupied with trying to restore their lives, activists wrote fresh graffiti on overpasses, including "X" marks — a symbol for voting "no" in a referendum Saturday on a new military-backed constitution. Voting has been postponed until May 24 in Yangon, some outlying areas and parts of the delta heavily damaged by the storm.
YANGON, Myanmar - Relief supplies from the United Nations began arriving in Myanmar Thursday, but U.S. military planes loaded with aid were still denied access by the country's isolationist regime five days after a devastating cyclone.
Olympic torch lit on top of Mount Everest
Specially designed Olympic torch lit on top of Mount Everest
By ANITA CHANG
"One World, One Dream," team captain Nyima Cering yelled as the torch was lit on the final icy incline leading to the peak, repeating the slogan for the Beijing Olympics. "We have lit the torch on top of the world," another climber said.
The 19-member team, dressed in red parkas emblazoned with Olympic logos, broke camp before dawn and reached the top of the 29,035-foot mountain a little more than six hours later.
Organizers hope the dramatic image of the torch atop Everest will counter some of the damaging publicity from protests during the international leg of the torch relay.
Criticized from the outset because of China's often harsh rule over Tibet — where Everest is located — the relay drew more intense scrutiny after Tibetans across western China erupted in anti-government protests in March.
The Everest torch is separate from the main torch but organizers say the flames are from the same source. Before the Olympic flame left on its world tour, it was split, with one flame going to light the torch carried up Everest. The main torch could not be used on the mountain because of concerns weather problems could disrupt its schedule.
The Everest flame had been carried in a special metal canister during the ascent. As the team neared the top, they used a wand to pass the flame from the canister to the torch, which had been designed to withstand the frigid, windy, oxygen-thin Himalayan air.
The climbers could be heard struggling for breath as five torchbearers each inched a few feet before passing on the flame to the next person. A colorful Tibetan prayer flag lined the path and fluttered in the wind.
The final torchbearer, a Tibetan woman named Cering Wangmo, stood silently on the peak with her torch while other team members unfurled flags Chinese and Olympic flags. They then clustered together, cheering "We made it," and "Beijing welcomes you."
One person was heard breathing heavily, murmuring "not enough oxygen."
The head of the Everest leg of the relay, Li Zhixin, was overcome with emotion as the flame reached the top. "It was so difficult," he said at the CCTV studio set up at base camp, choking on tears.
The Everest leg has largely unfolded amid secrecy, in part to deter protesters who have criticized the event as symbolizing China's domination over Tibet.
The 19-member final assault team was comprised of both ethnic Han Chinese and Tibetan members and also included university students. The team captain, Nyima Cering, is a Tibetan, while deputy Luo Shen is Han Chinese, CCTV and the Xinhua News Agency said.
The main Olympic torch is on the opposite side of China. The relay leg scheduled for Thursday, in the boomtown of Shenzhen, was postponed until the afternoon to allow for the Everest ascent. The main flame will cross every region and province of China, returning to Beijing on Aug. 6, two days ahead of the opening ceremony for the games.
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The torch seems to be having a smooth relay through China. After the tour kickoff Sunday, the flame has been greeted by jubilant crowds in such places as the port city of Haikou and the southern city of Guangzhou, also known as Canton.
Relieved corporate sponsors like Samsung and Coca-Cola, whose logos were seldom seen along the torch relay outside China, now are splashing their names everywhere.
While most of the more than 100 stops across China should go smoothly, legs through Tibet and the largely Muslim province of Xinjiang — areas with recent protests against Chinese rule or policies — could test security and crowd control.
Crowds in Haikou were friendly to foreigners, showing little of the angry, anti-Western sentiments of recent weeks after protests in London, Paris and San Francisco that some Chinese saw as an attack against China and the Olympics.
"Welcome to China!" university students called out, some sporting face paint and tooting plastic horns as the convoy streamed by.
Sprint Nextel to form $14.55B wireless company - Clearwire
By DAVID TWIDDY,
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Clearwire and Sprint Nextel have resurrected their plan to offer high-speed mobile Internet service with the help of some deep-pocketed supporters.
The two companies announced Wednesday they will combine their wireless broadband units to create a $14.55 billion communications company, to be called Clearwire, that will continue developing a mobile network based on WiMax technology.
WiMax is similar to the WiFi service found in coffee shops, airports and many homes but more powerful — and able to cover whole cities, in some cases. It promises faster speeds than the latest cellular networks for movies, games and other data services.
"The agreement enables us to get to market faster and reach a broader audience than we could have if we went alone," Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel's chief executive officer, told analysts during a conference call Wednesday.
A similar partnership fell through last November. This time, however, the duo is getting help from a group of outside investors, including Intel Corp., Google Inc., Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks, who will kick in $3.2 billion for the new company.
Clearwire will also receive an investment from Trilogy Equity Partners, led by U.S. wireless industry veteran John Stanton.
Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint Nextel will be majority owner with a 51 percent equity stake. Existing shareholders in Clearwire Corp., a Kirkland, Wash.-based startup founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, will receive a combined stake of about 27 percent. And the investment group will have a 22 percent stake.
Wall Street's reaction was mixed Wednesday, grateful that Sprint Nextel Corp. will be able to focus on its struggling wireless service but worried the deal may have too many moving parts to be successful.
"If new Clearwire manages to avoid the massive channel conflicts it will have with its strategic partners and executes well — both big challenges — it has the potential to create significant competition for incumbent wireless and wireline providers," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Tim Horan wrote in a research note. "However, it is not entirely clear that this is their strategy."
Shares for Clearwire and Sprint initially surged on the news Wednesday, but Clearwire stock ended down 24 cents at $16.22 while Sprint's fell 3 cents to $9.16.
The new company plans to make its service available to 120 million to 140 million people in the U.S. by the end of 2010, although company officials acknowledged they'll need to raise or borrow up to $2.3 billion more to make that happen. Alternatively, they said they could shrink the size of the network.
For Sprint, which began testing WiMax earlier this year in three markets, the deal eliminates an operational distraction and allows management to return to salvaging its troubled wireless business. It also could quiet critics who consider WiMax experimental and expensive — one estimate had Sprint paying more than $5 billion to rollout the service.
Clearwire already has 400,000 subscribers for its WiMax-like technology. It gets new capital, infrastructure and broadband spectrum out of the deal, plus further validation of its technology.
"We strongly believe that the new Clearwire will be in the best position to succeed in the 4G race," said Clearwire Chief Executive Benjamin Wolff, who will also lead the new company.
Clearwire will sell WiMax services back to Sprint and the cable partners through a "mobile virtual network operator," or MVNO, business model. The cable companies and Clearwire will also receive current-generation wireless service, called 3G, from Sprint Nextel through a separate agreement.
Cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House want to bundle wireless services with their regular services to slow customer defections to telephone companies that are now offering video services.
A similar partnership of five cable companies and Sprint, called Pivot, collapsed earlier this year. But Hesse said the Clearwire model would do better as it gives the cable partners greater control over branding and rolling out services to the market.
Intel will be able to sell WiMax-enabled computer chips for a wide range of consumer products while Google will help develop future software applications.
Rivals such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless have eschewed WiMax, opting instead for upgrades to their current wireless broadband networks and for a future technology called Long Term Evolution. But Hesse said WiMax is available now and should give the new company a two-year head start in the so-called "fourth-generation," or 4G, telecommunications market.
Analysts with Deutsche Bank Securities were skeptical, however, warning that while Clearwire's network would be an option for up to 140 million people by 2010, its competitors already reach 230 million potential subscribers.
The deal, which has been approved by the boards of all companies involved, must be approved by Clearwire shareholders and regulatory agencies, but is expected to close during the fourth quarter. The company will apply for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker "CLWR" — the current symbol for Clearwire.
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Associated Press Business Writer Michelle Chapman in New York contributed to this story.
Google looking golden again after challenging stretch
SAN FRANCISCO - It's hard to believe Google Inc. actually looked vulnerable just two months ago. The Internet search leader's stock had plummeted 45 percent from its peak. And its two biggest rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., appeared poised to combine forces and launch a double-barreled attack.
But on the eve of Google's annual shareholders meeting Thursday, the company looks stronger than ever. Its stock is hot again and Microsoft has scrapped its plans to buy Yahoo, with Google playing the spoiler's role.
"Google is winning again. What a surprise," said Canaccord Adams analyst Colin Gillis. "If you want to invest in the Internet space, where else do you want to be but Google?"
More investors have been coming to that conclusion since last month, when Google's stellar first-quarter results cast aside concerns that the drooping U.S. economy would depress the online advertising spending that generates most of the company's profit.
Google shares have surged 29 percent since the first-quarter report, regaining a little more than half of the $100 billion in shareholder wealth that evaporated as the stock plunged from an all-time high of $747 last November to a 52-week low of $412 in mid-March. The shares finished Wednesday at $579, down $7.36.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Yahoo are again trying to figure out how to lessen Google's dominance of Internet search and advertising.
Microsoft hoped to throw Google for a loop by buying Yahoo for $47.5 billion. Unnerved by the threat, Google worked behind the scenes with Yahoo to thwart Microsoft's unsolicited takeover attempt.
The counterattack now has Yahoo considering a deal that would allow Google to sell some of the ads displayed alongside the search results on Yahoo's Web site. The alliance, which has already been tested in a two-week trial, will likely hinge on whether the two companies can persuade antitrust regulators the partnership wouldn't undermine competition in the ad market.
Even if a Google-Yahoo pact isn't consummated, the threat of it helped drive Microsoft away from Yahoo for now. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer cited Yahoo's negotiations with Google as one of the major reasons why the Redmond, Wash.-based company decided to abandon its takeover attempt.
Yahoo is considering the Google deal because it believes its rival's superior ad-serving technology will boost its profits. But by acknowledging the shortcomings of its own ad system, Yahoo could end up driving even more business to Google even if their partnership doesn't pan out.
"Google is still in the driver's seat either way," said analyst Martin Pyykkonen of Global Crown Capital.
Perhaps Google's only glaring weakness is its dependence on those ubiquitous ad links that appear alongside search results and other content on thousands of Web sites. They have generated virtually all of the $42 billion in revenue that has poured into the company's coffers since 2003, even though Google has invested billions to build software applications for businesses and an array of other products.
Google wants to sell more visual advertising through its two biggest acquisitions — video-sharing site YouTube and DoubleClick, which specializes in the Internet's equivalent of billboards.
The DoubleClick deal, completed for $3.2 billion in March, represents the first time that Google will have to absorb hundreds of new employees into its work force. The acquisition also prompted Google to make the first mass layoffs in its nearly 10-year history. At least 300 of DoubleClick's 1,500 workers are expected to lose their jobs, and the number could rise in the months ahead.
Google also has been losing some of its top talent to rising Internet star Facebook Inc., which runs an online hangout with about 70 million users worldwide.
Sheryl Sandberg, formerly Google's vice president of global online sales, became Facebook's chief operating officer in March. This week Elliot Schrage, Google's head of communications, announced he is taking a similar job at Facebook. Google also has seen a couple of top engineers move to Facebook.
But Google's challenges are outweighed by its opportunities.
Besides developing more ad avenues on the Internet, Google is extending its reach into television, radio and mobile phones. In its latest push into the mobile market, Google on Wednesday disclosed a $400 million investment into a new high-speed network being developed by Clearwire and Sprint Nextel.
Google's success and bold ambitions figure to make its shareholder event a congenial affair, much like the three previous meetings that the Mountain View-based company has held since going public in August 2004.
Meanwhile, Yahoo is girding for what's likely to be the most contentious meeting in its 12-year history as public company. The meeting, scheduled July 3, will provide a forum for Yahoo's angry shareholders to excoriate — and possibly oust — the company's board for its handling of the Microsoft bid.
"If I were an executive," Pyykkonen said, "I would much rather be presenting at Google's annual meeting than Yahoo's meeting."
Hackers' posts on epilepsy forum cause migraines, seizures
SAN FRANCISCO - Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims. But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.
The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.
The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that allowed them to quickly make numerous posts and overwhelm the site's support forums.
Within the hackers' posts were small flashing pictures and links — masquerading as helpful — to pages that exploded with kaleidoscopic images pulsating with different colors.
"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation.
He said legitimate users are no longer able to post animated images to the support forum or create direct links to other sites, and it is now moderated around the clock. He said the FBI is investigating the breach.
Security experts said the attack highlights the dangers of Web sites giving visitors great freedom to post content to different parts of the site.
In another recent attack, hackers exploited a simple coding vulnerability in Sen. Barack Obama's Web site to redirect users visiting the community blogs section to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's official campaign site.
The hackers who infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation's site didn't appear to care about profit. The harmful pages didn't appear to try to push down code that would allow the hacker to gain control of the victims' computers, for instance.
"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline — they don't realize how cruel it is," said Paul Ferguson, a security researcher at antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. "It was an opportunity waiting to happen for some mean-spirited kid."
In a similar attack this year, a piece of malicious code was released that disabled software that reads text aloud from a computer screen for blind and visually impaired people. That attack appeared to have been designed to cripple the computers of people using illegal copies of the software, researchers said.
Oil price hike could hit recovery
The Ernst & Young Item Club said the modest upswing in economic growth it was predicting for 2009 and 2010 was predicated on the price of oil remaining below 100 US dollars (£51) per barrel. But it warned that if the cost of oil increased to 120 US dollars (£61) per barrel or 150 US dollars (£76) per barrel in the long-term, it would have serious implications for the strength of the wider economy. It added that if the cost hit 200 US dollars (£102) per barrel, as one Opec minister recently predicted, then "all bets may well be off". The group said if oil prices climbed to 150 US dollars per barrel it would trim its forecast for economic growth for 2009 from its current prediction of 1.5% to a weak 1.1%. It said the following year, when many commentators had pencilled in a strong recover in GDP growth to 2.7%, high oil prices could dampen growth to less than 2%. A long-term price of 200 US dollars per barrel for oil would cut economic growth even further to just 0.9% for 2009 and 1.2% in 2010. It warned that such high oil prices would have an impact across the whole economy, adding that one of the main factors driving the predicted recovery in 2010 was increased consumption as high street spending picked up. But it said if oil prices did hit 200 US dollars per barrel next year, consumption would turn negative and there would be only a modest improvement in 2010. Hetal Mehta, an economist at the Ernst & Young Item Club, said: "Our predictions don't take into account the impact on public confidence that this type of oil price increase would have and how that would feed back into the economy, so we may well be underestimating the potential downside."
High oil prices could "snuff out" any recovery in the UK economy during the coming two years, economists have warned.
How to Optimize for Google: Part 3 of 3
Completing Optimization: Other Considerations Redirects If you need to use redirects on your site, it is very important to use the correct one. If a page is moving to a new location, or being removed all together, it is very important to have this page redirected to either the new location or the next closest page using a Permanent 301 Redirect. While rare, if a page is being moved to a new location for a short term, with the intent of it returning to the original location, then and only then, will you want to use a Temporary 302 redirect. For more information please see Redirects: Permanent 301 vs. Temporary 302 . Non WWW Redirects To help eliminate page rank split, and provide your site with a little extra value, implement a non-www redirect. What this redirect will do is change the URL to include the "www" whenever a URL is accessed that does not include it. This can help to consolidate links to the correct page and give your site some additional strength. For more help on Non WWW redirects please see: How to 301 Redirect Non-WWW to WWW URL's HTTP Headers Check your page headers! If you have implemented any form of redirect on your site including mod rewrites, check your HTTP headers. You may be surprised at what you find. Some forms of redirects may use a 302 code where you really want a 301. By checking your headers you can ensure all is well, and troubleshoot problems. On our website we have added our own HTTP Header Checker for your convenience. Home Page URL Never have more than one URL for your home page. If your home page is available and displays on more than one URL, then utilize 301 redirects on all but the main URL you want to focus on - in most cases "http://www.domain.com/". All your links pointing to the home page should direct to the exact same URL otherwise you will split the value of your home page into multiple duplicate URL's. Google sees "http://www.domain.com" and "http://www.domain.com/index.html" as different pages, but displaying the same content. This splits the overall value of your home page, and can decrease the chances of rankings. By keeping it consistent with a single URL, you remove this split and retain more of the strength. In theory having your home page split like this could bring with it duplicate content penalties, however, I have yet to see this actually happen - that said, it is best to avoid the risk all together. XML Sitemap XML Sitemaps are great for ensuring that Google and the other engines are able to spider your entire site. While an XML sitemap will not directly impact your search rankings it can help as Google is more likely to see any SEO based changes more quickly, which in turn can have an impact. Robots.txt This is the first file all search engines look for every time they visit your site. While placing a blank robots.txt file in your root folder will not help with search rankings, it will help reduce 404 errors appearing in your log files. It is also highly recommended that if your site utilizes an XML sitemap, to include a call to this sitemap within the Robots.txt file. Simply add the following line to ensure that the major engines (including Google) can find your sitemap: Sitemap: http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml Potential Blockages If you are finding that your site is simply not being indexed it is possible that you are blocking the spiders in one way or another. Start with checking your main site navigation, if you are using Flash or some other fancy form of navigation that could be your problem right there. Next check your HTTP headers to ensure that your home page is returning a 2xx code which indicates that the clients' request was successfully received. Finally take a look at your Google Webmaster Tools for any noted errors. If you are blocking Google, chances are you will be able to uncover the issue with these steps. Duplicate Content Duplicate content can be quite damaging to your rankings. Ensure that all content on your site is unique. Never steal or "borrow" content from another site, and never cut and paste large portions of text from one page of your site to the next. By keeping all pages of your site entirely original you stand the best chances of getting a thumbs up from Google. Fresh Content / Regular Updates Update your content. In highly competitive markets, sites with old static content can often slip away. Keep your content fresh and updated to keep bringing Google back to your site. If they find new pages and updated pages with every visit, they will come back more often. Site Age The age of your site can also have an effect on search engine rankings. While there is little you can do (short of keeping the same domain) to help on this matter, remember that the longer your site is online, the better its chances for success. It pays to select the perfect domain right from the start and not to change domains mid-stream. Older sites that stand the test of time add a level of authority in Google's eyes. New sites seldom see rankings for competitive terms in their first year. Note: Site Age is determined not by the date the domain was originally registered by rather by the date Google first discovered content on your site. Load Time Load time can have an impact in your Google AdWords Quality Score but it is unknown for sure if it can also impact your organic search rankings. It is best to keep your load time to as little as possible. If it is not already a part of the Google Algorithm, it likely will be soon. Besides, it is also best in order to give your site visitors the best experience possible. Server Up Time This can be a rather significant issue. If you find that your web hosting company has a history of down time, change hosts. If Google comes to visit your site once and it is down, not to worry, they will come back, but if Google visits your site often only to find that it is unavailable, you can find yourself with drastically depleted rankings. Google Local If you have a traditional brick and mortar store, consider submitting to Google Local . While this will not directly impact your regular organic rankings, you may find your site ranking above the organic results with a "local business results" map listing. This tends to be most common when your business is near the geographic center of a city, and when the search phrase uses a geographic modifier. W3C Compliant Code There is much speculation as to if W3C compliant code can have a positive impact on search rankings, and the majority believe "maybe" with some saying "yes". Regardless, it is definitely a good idea to have your site be W3C Compliant if at all possible. Not only may it help you in terms of search rankings, but having compliant code can decrease load times, and help to ensure cross-browser compatibility, all of which are good things. If at all possible, it is recommended that sites be made to be compliant. Many experts who took part in the SEOMoz "Google Search Engine Ranking Factors" lean towards it not being a big contributor, however, it may be an issue if Google has difficulties indexing a page properly. A code validation service is available at validator.w3.org . About The Author Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc., based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott's articles and those of the StepForth team at news.stepforth.com or contact us at StepForth.com, Tel - 250-385-1190, TollFree - 877-385-5526, Fax - 250-385-1198
In Part 1 and Part 2 of How to Optimize for Google I discussed general website optimization, links, and Google webmaster tools. In Part 3 we will look at a number of other considerations which play a role in successful rankings in Google, and also touch on some tactics which are best avoided.
Nuclear reactors will cost twice estimate, says E.ON chief
The Government has vastly underestimated the cost of building a new generation of nuclear power plants, according to the head of the world's largest power company.
Wulf Bernotat, chairman and chief executive of E.ON, the German energy giant that owns Powergen, has told The Times that the cost per plant could be as high as €6 billion (£4.8 billion) - nearly double the Government's latest £2.8 billion estimate.
His figures indicate that the cost of replacing Britain's ten nuclear power stations could reach £48 billion, excluding the cost of decommissioning ageing reactors or dealing with nuclear waste. “We are talking easily about €5 billion to €6 billion [each],” Dr Bernotat said.
The news comes as EDF, of France, RWE, of Germany, and Iberdrola, of Spain, prepare to submit offers for British Energy, the nuclear generator, by Friday. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is in talks with EDF and others about a possible joint approach E.ON's cost estimates provoked an angry response from anti-nuclear campaigners. Tim Jackson, of the Sustainable Development Commission, said: “Combined with the myriad concerns about the legacy of nuclear waste, it should now be clear that a new generation of nuclear plants is the wrong option.”
Dr Bernotat's estimates are based on E.ON's experience as a partner in the construction of a nuclear plant in Finland to a French design viewed as the most likely for deployment in Britain. He estimated the cost of that project at €4.5 billion.
The Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said the £2.8 billion figure, contained in a White Paper published in January, was an estimate and that the final costs would hinge on many factors.
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Keyword and meta description tags
Been there and done that. So I thought I would let you in on the secrets I use to get my pages to rank high in the search engines. Once you read these tricks you might think that is so obvious I should have thought of it. Here are the 10 rules I use to search engine optimize a page for keywords and description meta tags. 1. First let's assume that you already know what the page is about and have already created it. This is not a tutorial on how to write web pages. Rather guidelines for search engine optimization using your meta keywords and description tags. Depending on the type of page you are creating determines how many keywords you should use. For instance a sales letter is typically 2000 or more words. In that type of page you need to describe all the advantages of your product and why it is the right solution. You will want to get testimonials and place them in appropiate places. You may even want to tell a story relating to how well the product has performed. Don't over do the page or you will lose your prospect to boredom. The product page (different from the sales letter) should be between 500 and 750 words. All you are trying to do here is sell a product. Visitors that make it to these pages probably already know what they are looking for and are only looking for specific information. Your job is to convince them that your product is the right one. Beyond that and there is more opportunity for your visitors to disagree with your pitch and move on. The article page should be at least 1000 words and not more than 5000 words. Okay some might say that 5000 is too long and others have said that isn't 1000 words aren't enough words to describe what they have to say. Too long - some say that 500 words is good for an article page. So lets look at this: a person who can read 10 words a second will be through your page in 50 seconds. Not enough time for them to soak up your message. A person reading 3 words a second will take about 2-1/2 minutes. Plenty of time for your message to sink in. The average reader can read somewhere around 6 words per second. Which would take them 83 seconds to read your 500 word article. Barely enough time to get your visitors comfortable. At 1000 words the avearge reader will read your page in roughly 3 minutes. At 6 words a second your reader needs around 3 minutes to read a 1000 word article. This plenty of time for the reader to make a decision to click on your most wanted response. At over 2000 words the average reader will need 5-1/2 minutes to get through it. This is stretching the limit of time most visitors will spend reading one web page. At 5000 words the average reader takes over 13 minutes to read your page. This is well past the amount of time a visitor will need to decide to click on your most wanted response. If your article is really good most people will read all the way through it. If not they are off to the next website in a flash. If you have more than 2000 words you may want to consider breaking the article into 2 pages. Okay, back to rule #1 use the right amount of words for a particular type of page. Not too many and not too few. 2. Primary meta keyword (the first one) must be an exact match with the file name of your page. This lets the search engines match up your keyword with your page and give your page higher relevancy. Here is an example from: Ocular Defense Formula (Pr2 and #2 in Google). The first keyword for this page is "Ocular Defense Formula." This seemingly obsure product gets 33,000+ search engine results in Google alone. So it is not that obscure after all. And makes for a good example. 3. Use only 5 keywords in your meta keywords tag. More than that and the search engines might think you are keyword spamming and won't list your page. The search engines rank your keywords in the order that they appear. This makes the first one the primary keyword and the second one a secondary keyword and so on. You should line your keywords up in the order of relevance to the page. Here is the meta keyword tag I used in this example. "Ocular Defense Formula, Lutein, Bilberry, eye health, vision" 4. Use all of your keywords in your meta description, with the primary keyword as close to the front as possible. Definitely within the first 5 words of your description. The search engines don't read your description verbatim, but can find and match them with your keyword list. So try to use them all but don't repeat them if at all possible. Again if your meta description repeats your keywords too often the search engines might think you are keyword spamming and not list your page, so don't do it. 5. Meta description should be between 100 and 200 characters. It is important to get a solid description of your page. Less that 100 characters and the search engine may not find it relevant enough to list. More than 200 characters and the search engines may truncate it. Which looks unprofessional on your part. Truncated meta descriptions may leave searchers with the impression that your content will be too wordy and full of you know what. Too short a description and your visitors may think there is not enough information on your page and move on to the next result. So try to get your description just right, not too long and not too short. Here is the meta description for ODF. "Ocular Defense Formula with Lutein, Bilberry and herbs to support eye health and protect your vision from aging and oxidation. Learn how to improve your visual acuity." 6. Line up your meta keywords up too resemble a sentence. Although search engines don't read your keywords as a sentence verbatim, it should reflect well what your page is all about. See the meta keyword tag above. 7. Proof read your content twice. You should always proof read your work before you post for a lot of good reasons like spelling, grammar, placement and paragraph distribution. Once your page looks great proof read it again with your focus on keyword placement and repitition. You want your keywords placed in your content sparingly. What? you say. Again over use of your keywords might result in the search engines thinking you are keyword spamming. That isn't to say you shouldn't have too few. My rule of thumb is 3 uses of a keyword for every 300 words. This lets the search engines know that there is a lot of supporting content for the keyword. As you are proof reading you may discover that you have a much better keyword for your meta tag than what you originally thought. For instance in ODF I discovered that I had left out the keyword "vision". After proof reading my page I added that keyword to my list and used it a couple more times in the page. 8. Put your meta description all on one line in your html code. This will ensure that the search engines reads it all. I have noticed that some search engine results leave off the second line of a description. That may leave out some of your meta keywords if that happens. 9. Never use more than 3 words for your primary keyword (and file name). People rarely search for a keyword phrase over 3 words long. Too many words in a keyword phrase and the search engines may not find enough relevancy to list your page in the results. Two words in a keyword phrase (and file name) is ideal. For Ocular Defense Formula, I thought 2 words weren't enough to describe the page. "Ocular Defense" would have been too vague and misleading. I could have named the page something else and optimized for those keywords, but, ODF is a product page and optimizing for something like "Eye Health" would have been misleading and probably not get listed high in the search engines. 10. Use your primary keyword in the first and last paragraph of your page. The search engines will give more relevancy to your page if they find your keywords at the beginning and the end of your page. Also your primary keyword should appear in the first 90 characters of your content. Bonus tip - Use your primary keyword as a text link in your page only once. Not twice but definitely once. If you don't want your visitors to leave your page make that link an "add to favorites" bookmark. On a product page this works great because you don't want to give your visitors the opportunity to go else where. In summary use these tips to increase your search engine rankings. Optimizing your keyword and descriptions should improve the relevancy of your page and boost your search engine rankings. Notice how I used my primary keyword and description meta tags in this last paragraph. About the Author: Tim Koen - web developer, http://www.best-website-tools.com. Tool Time blog. All the best website tools, tips and techniques to grow your online business.
Keyword and description meta tags optimization tutorial for better search engine rankings. Have you ever wondered why some web pages get higher search engine rankings than others? Of course you have, if you are a web developer. You may have read or heard of a hundred ways to improve your page ranking and tried them all. Only to see dismal results and wonder what the heck went wrong.
How to Optimize for Google: Part 2 of 3
First to get an idea of how many links you may need, take a look at the top 10 ranking sites in Google and record how many links Yahoo is noting for each site. (This is because Google does not display anywhere near all the links they have noted). The average of this count is often a good indication of how many links your site may need. Articles There are also a number of places you can get links that have basically turned south, and are not generally recommended. These include signatures in form posts, guest books, and other typically free links. Stay away from sites that cross link with obvious spammers. These networks of SPAM sites are not ones you would want your site associated with, and if you achieve links from enough of these sites it can adversely impact your rankings. Even more important, NEVER link to any of these sites - as that will certainly tie in your connection to them and give Google reason to discount your rankings. About The Author
Optimizing for top Google rankings includes a number of factors. In Part 1 of 3 we discussed onsite optimization. In Part 2 we will touch on incoming links as well as using Google Webmaster Tools.
LINKS
Links are very important in today's Google rankings, but just how many links you need will depend on both the competitiveness of your target phrases, and the quality of the incoming links themselves.
Essentially the number one rule of links is to keep it relevant! Topical relevance is very important in order for inbound links to give your site the most value. If the page that links to you is relevant that is good, if the entire site linking to you is relevant, that is better.
There are many different ways to get links to your site including the age old reciprocal link trade, directory links, article based links, and links from press releases.
Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal linking has seen its value drop considerably over the past few years, however, if the site you are trading with is relevant you can still receive value from these links.
Paid Links
Google frowns on paid links, however that is not to say that they don't work. Often you can find highly reputable and relevant websites which are offering paid advertising spots. If these links are coded to link directly to your website without passing through any tracking redirects, you will in many cases see value in the form of both direct traffic and increased link densities and rankings.
Writing and distributing industry specific articles is a great way to help increase both your link counts and site traffic; for examples of such content see StepForth's SEO Blog News articles. Consider writing articles on a regular basis and submitting them to some of the more popular services such as EzineArticles. Be sure to include a link to your site from somewhere within the article, or at the very least within your bio. Try to use a target phrase as part of the anchor text for additional value.
Press Releases
If something of importance has happened to your company such as a new product launch, or other notable achievement - essentially anything news worthy, put out a press release. Submit this press release through services such as PRWeb or PRNewsWire. Again, be sure to include a target phrase as part of the anchor text.
Forum Posts
Forum posts can help to marginally increase your link counts; however, with this one you must be careful. Only add a link to your site in your signature if both the forum allows it, and you are a respected member of the forum. If you are a solid contributor and your posts have depth and meaning, and the forum is highly relevant to your site, then having a link in your signature may give your site some juice. Posting wildly to random forums will in most cases get yourself banned, and will be both a waste of time and potentially make you and your site look bad.
Guest Books
In nearly all cases, do not post your link to guest books. If you happen to stumble upon a guestbook that is highly relevant to your site, the other comments are relevant to your site, and you have something useful (and again relevant) to say, then perhaps consider it, but typically focusing on links from guest books is considered SPAM and is best avoided all together.
Blog Comments
Having a link from your blog comments is not necessarily a bad thing. If you find a relevant blog post of use, and have something relevant and constructive to say, don't be afraid to enter your link into the "URL" field of the form, but don't try stuffing links into the comment itself.
Link Farms & Bad Neighborhoods
These are sites that allow you to simply post your link no strings attached. They are mostly long scrolling pages with countless links. Stay away from them. If you see one, run in the other direction. These links are bad, will not help with your rankings, and in some cases can actually damage your rankings.
DMOZ, Yahoo and Other Directories
Directory based links can be of significant help, especially if they are from highly reputable directories, the two biggest being DMOZ.org and the Yahoo Directory.
Getting a site into DMOZ is like Gold. Google loves links from DMOZ and your site will reap the benefits. The big catch however is actually getting your site into the directory in the first place. Find the perfect category for your site and check to see if it has an editor. If you see a link "Volunteer to edit this category" try and find another relevant location. Pages without active editors take much longer to get listed into. Once you find the perfect directory submit your site every 4-6 months until listed. If you are lucky you will get in eventually.
Yahoo Directory is seen as an authority in the eyes of Google, and getting your site in will help your link reputation. This link does come at a price of $299 per year, but will play a role in helping your website achieve top rankings.
There are a number of other valuable directories out there that can help you with your search rankings. Before submitting to any directory the key is a combination of relevance and authority. If the directory is relevant and active, it may be worth considering.
GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS
Google Webmaster Tools can be very useful for your optimization efforts. It may not directly help you obtain higher rankings, but can help you trouble shoot if you are experiencing problems. It will also allow you to remove URL's that you don't want indexed and set various preferences such as your domain, crawl rate, and geographic target.
XML Sitemaps
This is the most common reason people use Google Webmaster Tools - the submission of their XML sitemap. While you can use your robots.txt to have Google find your XML sitemap, by submitting it directly to Google you can check up on the spidering status.
Error checking
Webmaster Tools is also quite useful for checking on various error URL's that Google may know about. Under the Diagnostics > Web Crawl you can view any errors that Google has to report on your site. By cleaning up any errors you can help increase your chances of rankings.
Links
From inside Google Webmaster Tools you can get a much clearer look at what sites Google is noting as having links to you, and give you a better indication of the need, if any, to increase your link counts.
WWW Preference
Be sure to select your domain preference under Tools > Set Preferred Domain. In nearly all cases you will want to select the version including the "www" .
SUMMARY
Inbound links play a significant role in successful Google rankings. By focusing on relevant links, as well as by diversifying where you get those links from, you can build a solid foundation for your search rankings today and into the future.
Stay tuned for Part 3 (of 3) where I will discuss other considerations including redirects, HTTP headers, and a number of other factors which play a role in successfully conquering Google.
Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc., based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott's articles and those of the StepForth team at
How to Optimize for Google: Part 1 of 3
THE RIGHT KEYWORDS To help illustrate the fact Google takes this tag into consideration, simply do a search for your target phrase and take a look at the titles of the top 10. I tried a search for a rather broad term "hotel" and saw that all 10/10 listings had it in the title tag, and 6/10 had it as the very first word. A quick scan showed that the entire top 30 either had the word hotel, or hotels in their title tags. Meta Description Tag Body Text and Keyword Placement About The Author
In today's online world search engine rankings can make your business succeed, and while rankings in Yahoo and MSN are very valuable, their combined market value is still less than that of Google. This makes achieving top rankings in Google that much more important.
In this three-part series on How to Optimize for Google we will touch on a number of important aspects for top Google rankings including website optimization, links, Google Webmaster tools, and a number of other considerations.
The focus of Part 1 will be on page website optimization.
This article is not about keyword research so I will not spend too much time on this topic, however, I felt it was important to at least brush on this slightly. If you are interested in reading more, please see Keyword Research for Organic SEO.
Make sure that your targets are achievable. If you select the wrong keywords, it can make your entire optimization experience essentially a waste. Choose keywords that are attainable but yet still offer a reasonable search frequency for your industry. Your phrase selection should also be targeted to bring qualified traffic to your site.
Using the hotel industry as an example, targeting the word "hotel" would make very little sense but by narrowing it down to "Victoria BC hotel" you now have less competition, and a more qualified audience. Keep your targets in perspective and go after the obtainable rankings.
WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION
There are many on-site factors that play a role in your search engine rankings. Here are a number of those factors and what you can do to increase your chances of success.
Title Tag
The title tag plays one of the most important roles in search results at Google, and is almost always the heading Google chooses for each of its listings. Placement of your target phrase is best used near the start of the tag and repeated again in the middle or near the end. Three uses of your target phrase may be helpful in some instances, as long as it is not too overwhelming. For best results each page on your site should have a totally unique title tag.
It is also important to remember that because Google will use this title as the main heading for your listing, you will want to keep it attractive to potential searchers. Try to also add a call to action, or other wording to help make your listing appear attractive to searchers.
If you do only one thing to your website, make sure that all your title tags are relevant, unique, and contain your target phrase for each page.
The Meta Description tag is still occasionally used by Google as the description which appears in the search results themselves. While this used to be a more common practice Google tends to use it most often on sites with very limited content, or those which are flash based. I have seen it still used for content rich sites, however this is less common.
The Meta Description tag still has an impact on search rankings. Your best bet when using this tag is to keep it short and sweet with your target phrase close to the start and never repeated more than 3 times. Like the title tag, each page on your site should have its own unique description tag.
Meta Keyword Tag
When it comes to Google this tag is useless, and won't influence your rankings. There is some speculation as to whether a spammy keyword tag can however, have a negative effect on Google rankings. As a result, if you do utilize a keyword Meta tag for the smaller engines, it is best to keep it clean and play it safe.
Density
Keyword density plays a role in overall rankings; however, it is not as cut and dry as it once was. Once upon a time there was a magic number that when used could almost guarantee top rankings.
This is no longer the case. Today the ideal density varies from industry to industry, phrase to phrase. To find out what density you should aim for, take the top 10 or 20 search results and see what percentage those sites are using. In most cases you will find that the majority of these sites have a very similar density to one another, and this average density is a good estimation of what you should aim for.
The location of relevant text on your site will help establish the overall importance of your target phrase. While you do not want to overwhelm the engines and site visitors with a bombardment of target phrases at the top of the page, try to sprinkle in some instances as close to the top of the page as possible.
Synonyms
Be sure to include various synonyms for your target phrases within your body text on your site. Google will use these synonyms to tie in the overall relevance of the page for your main target phrases, which in turn can improve your odds.
To find possible synonyms you can use a thesaurus, but the best way is to search Google itself and see exactly what they consider to be similar. Simply search in Google for your target phrase preceded with a tilde, such as "~hotels". Next scan through the search results for any text Google has bolded. These are all words that Google considers to be related. Using the "~hotels" example Google brings up phrases such as 'travel', 'tourism', 'accommodation', as well as various hotel chain names such as 'Hilton Hotels'.
Keywords in Domain
There is still some speculation if having a target phrase as part of your top level domain (TLD) is of use to search rankings. From my experience, yes, there is value here, although, nothing like it was several years ago.
If you are starting off in the online world and are contemplating which domain to go for, consider one that uses your target phrase, assuming that it is both relevant to your business name, and uses no more than a single hyphen. While multiple hyphens in a domain can be successful, they are very common with highly spammy websites, so it is best to not take that route if possible.
While having a keyword located within your domain can offer some ranking juice, I would not suggest heading out and doing a domain swap. In most cases you would be better off working on your existing site than starting from scratch with a new domain.
Keywords in page specific URL
Using keywords for specific page URL's can also help add a little bit of value to your site, providing you use them responsibly. Consider using a keyword as a directory name and as part of a file name where it naturally makes sense to do so. If you have a website that focuses on tourism and includes local hotel listings, you may want to consider the following structure for your page on the Hilton:
Heading Tags
Placement of target phrases within heading tags helps to establish the importance of those given phrases. That said do not over do it, or abuse it. Only place target phrases within a heading tag if it makes sense to do so, and don't flood a page with numerous tags. Heading tags are not as critical as they once were, but still a good contribution to a well optimized page.
Link Anchor text
This is the actual text you click on as part of a link. When full or partial target phrases are used within your text links they help pass on some value to the linked page for those phrases. This is also true when considering surrounding text. When the content around the link is also relevant, the link holds slightly more value.
While a link that simply states "click here" or "www.domainname.com" does have its place, they provide considerably less value than a link that would use "discount hotels" as its anchor.
Image Alt Text
While image alt text still plays a minor role, its biggest part is within the use of image based navigation. If you have an image linked to another page, the alt text will be attributed much the same way as standard link anchor text is.
Image Alt text should always be short and to the point and should accurately describe either the image itself, or the page the image is linking to. Do not use alt tags as a place to stuff keywords.
Inline Links
These are links that are found mid sentence or mid paragraph as opposed to a simple listing of links as found in a menu or possibly on a sitemap. Links found mid paragraph tend to pass on a little more value from the surrounding text and can offer more relevance to the linked page.
Site Navigation
It is absolutely imperative that your website be fully spiderable by the search engines. This may seem obvious, but often webmasters overlook Google's ability to crawl a website. Google has become very advanced in what links it can follow and how it can spider a website, but there are still some things that can cause significant roadblocks.
- Flash: One of the most commonly made mistakes is the use of flash. If flash is used as a sole means of site navigation then you can count on Google not viewing your internal pages, and having a significant disadvantage in terms of site rankings.
- Java Script / DHTML: These days most Java Script and even DHTML menus can be spidered by Google, however, this is not always the case. If your site utilizes any kind of fancy navigation and you are wondering why Google has not indexed your internal pages, check out Google's Cached Text version of your page. If you do not see any text links, then your navigation may be invisible to Google.
- Images: Image based navigation has been safe for many years now, but if your site uses this form of navigation it is essential to have brief, relevant alt text on all your buttons. This alt text will act much like standard anchor text for text based links. This is not only for the purpose of search ranking value, but take a look at Google's cached text version of your page. If you have image based links that do not have alt text, those links do not appear. This doesn't mean Google won't follow them, but for anyone viewing your site on a text based browser, your links will be invisible to them.
URL Structure
Avoid long elaborate URL's with extraneous characters. While Google has reached a point where they can index massive URL strings, it is best to avoid them if at all possible. For dynamic sites consider utilizing mod rewrites to significantly clean up the URL to not only make it more search engine friendly, but more user friendly as well.
stands a better chance if cleaned up to read:
SUMMARY
Basic website optimization is a critical component for successful placement in Google but is only part of the overall picture. Stay tuned for "How to Optimize for Google - Part 2 of 3" where we will discuss Links and Google Webmaster Tools.
Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc., based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott's articles and those of the StepForth team at news.stepforth.com or contact us at StepForth.com, Tel - 250-385-1190, Toll Free - 877-385-5526, Fax - 250-385-1198
