No one will ever dispute the fact that search engine optimization is paramount in obtaining excellent traffic numbers, especially organically.  Once the potential customer arrives at your site, however, you have to be prepared to win them over with well-written content, offers that don’t seem pushy and a smooth navigation around your website.  Having said this, we’ll concentrate on keeping content current and fresh today, a facet that is perhaps more important that what you are selling as if your writings are of little interest, chances are your products will not get many looks either.  Concentration on solid website content is an absolute must if you wish to convert your readers into subscribers or product purchasers.

Keeping your website current with trends that are happening in your niche is perhaps the first key that needs to be addressed in your content.  Are you writing for today and tomorrow, or are you rehashing things already covered yesterday? People get tired of whimsically racing around websites attempting to stay in-step with current news; providing well-researched content is important for your organic search rankings and in doing so, you’ll draw a larger interest from a wider spectrum of readers as you’ll be well ahead of the written curve in your niche, and customers bank on this to make informed decisions such as purchases.  Watch local news, read authoritative newspapers or even browse through magazines to generate your content in your own personal, professional opinion based on how your niche is trending at the moment.

Grammatically correct content is also a huge key to having a successful readership; people want to read articles that are of sound native tongue and flow naturally when reading.  Using difficult jargon to express an opinion or feeling is not going to help your viewing audience; you should always write at the internationally accepted reading level of 8-9 grade, making it easy to understand across the board.  Your content should insult a college professor or make the uneducated feel uncomfortable; therefore, write at a grade level appeasing to the masses and understood by the same.

Finally, avoid writing 1000 word posts as often as you can; should you wish to captivate an audience with any points and close the article out with a call to action, it is important to be as thorough as possible within 600 words.  You can make opening arguments, explain your position, and any final thoughts well within that word count while entertaining your audience enough to take an action of purchasing or contacting you.  The goal is to keep your visitors on as many pages as possible for hours, if possible.  You’ll lose interest fast if there is 10 useless paragraphs sandwiched in between three great ones; condense your content to open strong and finish stronger, assuring the reader you have the answers to any open questions or can leave their commentary on your content.  Allowing this open dialogue can add to your content, which is all the better reason to make your opinion count in as short of space as possible, considering dialogue will grow if the subject is interesting enough to sound off on.

Greg Henderson, a California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. His current projects include a background checks website Easy Background Checks as well as a marriage records website Genealinks.

greg henderson

California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. Knowledge is power, and through my public records projects, I hope to give power of knowledge to you.

The newcomer and your expert internet marketers all share one common interest: Trying to get their websites indexed through the top three major search engines quickly. For larger websites the task is even more daunting, and there are a few small but effective techniques that can assist in the indexing process. Patience is a virtue and in today’s internet marketing world patience and planning is a key element of success in getting your content and websites correctly indexed into the search giants.

Smaller one or two page websites, also known as sales pages, are the easiest and quickest to get indexed in the three major search engines almost anyone can generally succeed by just manually submitting through each search engines submission process. Websites with a considerable number of pages will often only immediately get their first page indexed which therefore requires small effective planning strategies and a little bit of patience to become completely indexed and incrementally found in organic search results.

Key Strategies Necessary:

- Prior to submitting your websites to the search engines or establishing link partners which will cause the search engines to start indexing in your website. Start planning out the basic website structure so that search engines robots can easily flow through your website and index each page.

(a) Have an sitemap linked from you main index page that thinks through out your website.

(b) If possible, ensure that each page is linked together, not just back to the main index page. This is not possible depending on what type of website you have, the number of pages, or your website design and structure. But this has been a successful technique in the past.

(c) Build and submit a Google Sitemap.

- Test your websites design and structure using Google Sitemap Software such as SOFTplus GSiteCrawler (Freeware) that will try and index your entire website. If your unsuccessful building a index of your entire website, then further planning and design changes maybe in order to index your entire website. If the software can not index your entire website, how will the search engine robots index your entire website?

- Instead of manually submitting your websites, submit your website through directories and establish link partnerships. This will improve how often your website is crawled by the search engines and how fast your website is indexed. Also, when establishing link partnership and directories higher the Google Page Rank, the quicker your website will be indexed and how often your website is crawled.

- Patience. The process the search engine will go through while indexing your website is: First, the search engine will have to find your website (Hence, establishing partnerships with high Google Page Rank), then crawling through your website and absorbing all the information contained, then ranking each individual page and finally your website will appear in the search engine result pages.

This type of patience and dedication in getting the website prepared and eventually indexed can be perplexing yet exciting at the same time.  Keep all of the steps you took to get indexed written down for the next time you need a quick reference in indexing your site or the sites of others. Always raise your patience high and keep your goals reachable in any search engine endeavor; keep current with trends and proper principles by reading other good articles such as those found on this site written by professionals in the industry.

About The Guest Author

Greg Henderson, a California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. His current projects include a criminal records site PeopleSearchPro.com, and a marriage records site Genealinks.com.

greg henderson

California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. Knowledge is power, and through my public records projects, I hope to give power of knowledge to you.

photo credit: rockbadger

Businesses have been urged this week to start preparing their Christmas online marketing campaigns, as shoppers begin thinking about possible gifts and researching products.

Next month is the time that online businesses need to really start shaping up their paid search advertising in particular, experts advise, with Dzine IT vice-president Peter Crisafi noting that “internet search terms used to find products can be both specific and vague at the same time.”

To this end, SEO content needs to be calibrated for “both broad category-based terms as well as specific product names,” he added.

Other experts have urged firms to keep their online marketing campaigns simple and not to spread themselves too thinly, with a few good-quality promotions launched at intervals throughout the run-up to Christmas, rather than a new promotion each day in a paid search advert. Businesses also need to be constantly aware of the rise of mobile advertising, as more and more customers will be using mobile devices to do their online Christmas shopping.

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.

photo credit: stoneysteiner

Online marketing professionals should take note of recent guidance on how to optimise a business’s on-site search and navigation to drive up sales and increase customer satisfaction – pointing out that there are various ways that retailers can improve this.

Fact-Finder head of UK operations Mathias Duda said that improved search and navigation on websites “can drive sales through personalised merchandising, increase a user’s experience of a brand and help retailers get a better understanding of their customers and how they behave on their website” – adding that too many retailers neglect site optimisation as part of their online marketing strategy.

One major improvement that can be made is changing the search function so that it understands misspellings and synonyms – up to 40 per cent of queries are spelt differently to actual product names, so this would clearly increase sales.

A general point also worth considering is that improved knowledge of what customers are seeking on a site will in turn improve online marketing by improving the efficiency of AdWords and SEO choices.

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.

photo credit: David Boyle

One online marketing expert has made his predictions for the major areas of interest in the sector set to dominate the New Year.

Hit Search founder Andrew Redfern said that copywriting skills will become “more important than ever” in 2011 as quality of content starts to be the decider in many online advertising campaigns.

He said that marketing teams will have to raise the bar when it comes to their knowledge skills, as they respond to the increasingly fragmented nature of the online marketing arena.

A third area in which online marketing is due to develop is in terms of planning, he went on. The new ability on search engines such as Google to carry out localised searches and focus on cross-platform resources, ­­­means that online advertising campaigns will need to be better integrated over the next 12 months if they are to be successful.

The final major area of development in the world of online marketing in 2011 will be cross-platform marketing, as previously alluded to. Mr Redfern stressed that “HTML5 will allow for a more strategic view to function over multiple platforms.”

When it comes to SEO marketing, he said that the localisation of Google would have a significant effect over the next 12 months, with more complex systems of management and delivery required. The year will see the “blurred lines” between SEO and social media such as Facebook and Twitter becoming even more so, especially as local additions are placed on Google and other search engines.

Google itself is likely to remain the number one search engine, although as the year progresses the likes of Bing and Yahoo will be clawing back a small amount of the market, Mr Redfern predicted.

However, Facebook is also set to launch its own search listings in 2011, again with the focus on localisation.

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.

An online marketing expert said today that businesses seeking the maximum exposure through search engine optimisation should consider looking “beyond Google.”

Search strategist Bas van den Beld said that there were other important search tools which were more focused on specialised content and niche interests, in an article for Search Engine Watch.

He said that there were video sites – such as the mighty YouTube – which attracted some two billion viewers every day. He argued that while online marketing executives may well be aware of YouTube as an area of opportunity, few businesses are using this opportunity to its full advantage.

Mr Van Den Beld said: “Many people are surprised to learn that YouTube is the second largest search engine,” going on to stress that there are more searches made every week on YouTube than on more mainstream search engines such as Yahoo or Bing – if not Google itself.

He insisted that YouTube is “the place to be” thanks to its 1.5 million-plus business-based searches every week and the immense diversity of its users.

Furthermore, YouTube videos tended to show up in the Google results anyway, giving online marketing campaigns a second bite of the apple when it came to getting their brand noticed on the world’s largest and most successful search engine.

As many before him have also noted, Mr Van Den Beld went on to point out that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter also had excellent potential for broadening the search engine optimisation activities of businesses.

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.

A new feature being trialled by search engine giant Google stands to improve the way that online marketing campaigns reach out to potential customers.

The new full page preview feature shows Google users an image of the website in a special pane on the right hand side of the screen when they hover over the search result with their mouse cursor, which becomes highlighted in blue.

The preview pane itself displays not only the website, but the specific text on that site which is relevant to the user’s original Google search. This text may be very different from the meta-description of the site in the list of search results itself.

If this new feature is adopted as a permanent part of Google’s features, it will significantly affect the way in which both online marketing and the subset of search engine optimisation is carried out.

Marketers will have to think about which areas of text are most likely to be highlighted by the preview feature and will also have to ensure that the design of a page lends itself well to a smaller preview image.

If the feature becomes part of Google’s results, it will have an impact on both search engine optimisation and online marketing, to help determine which pieces of text are highlighted and optimising a page for being previewed in a smaller format, respectively.

Whatever the potential advantages to online marketing experts, the chances of the preview feature ever reaching Google users en masse are still in the balance. The feature raises fresh concerns about unacceptable keywords – at present Google cuts out certain words in its new instant search results – and publishers could also protest about “unacceptable” content.

For its part, Google is keeping the online marketing world guessing, insisting that the preview function is just one of between 50 and 200 experimental features operating on the system at any given time.

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.

One of the most common positions people find themselves when starting in business with a website or e commerce site is then finding the right SEO company to help improve there companies fortunes online. It is no exaggeration that companies can spend years trying to track down the right company who doesn’t just say all the right things over the phone but actually deliver good honest results with first page listings on google. Many new clients we speak to have actually reached a point where they feel like giving up after being fed unrealistic targets.

One of the most important things to consider when using a SEO company is first and foremost what natural listings and what page rank is there own site on Google. If you can tick this box then you really are halfway there if a company selling SEO has a page rank of zero on google and has no first page listings under good generic search terms then you have to question there abilities and whether they are a company that practices ethical seo. If it sounds to good to be true it normally is so a perspective of reality and clarity is always important.

If a company promises a first page listing and asks for a set amount of money to achieve this you are also right to question this. Promising a first page listing is something that can be realistic and SEO is a logical process it all boils down to numbers and a proven structure and system at the end of the day but is it realistic especially within the time scale. Also consider the size of the company that is offering the SEO services how many times have you had problems with larger national organistations due to a breakdown in communications between departments.

Consider what service you would prefer a person looking after your SEO that is sales driven pushing for sales targets or someone that actually cares about your positions and will treat your companies fortunes online like there own. The Pros of using a larger organisation is you know they can provide results and perhaps there site is well listed on google but your companies site may well be a small fish in a big pond. An up and coming SEO company may take extra pride in working for your company and take it upon themselves to focus all there efforts pushing your site for future case studies or examples of successful seo campaigns. If you are asked to sign up to a long term contract I would also take caution why would a company need to tie you in to a 12 month contract if they were 100% confident you would be happy after 10 months service ? Ask the question in a worse case scenario if we don’t see any results will I still be tied in within the contract What is the company listing as its criteria of providing you with a successful campaign if this criteria is cloudy perhaps full of potential loop holes and not quite in black in white this says it all. Contracts in my experience within the SEO business always induce alarm bells so take extra caution here.

Large Fees OK no one likes to pay large fees for SEO but if it provides results then so be it ? Remember one thing it would be possible to be listed on the first page of google for a search term and you would still not generate good levels of traffic and thus not generate a good return on investment. We got a quote for one of our sites from a rival company and the cost was £12,000 in order to achieve a first page listing for a particular generic keyword when we did the maths it would have taken at least 12 months in this position in order for the SEO work to reach a similar level of return on investment that we could have achieved instantly by setting up a google AdWords campaign.

Look for a long term relationship with a SEO company a relationship that will result in updates to your blogs, updates in strategy, updates if and when they develop the Internet is a constantly evolving beast so your company needs to keep up to date with all the possible avenues. Look at a way of outsourcing your Internet marketing as a whole package not just a flash in the pan SEO surge there are no easy answers or quick fixes SEO work and Internet Marketing is very much a part of companies long term strategies so don’t be left behind and take caution.

Garry Pickles

As the Managing Director of Online Media Direct Garry takes care of the day to day management of the company. Garry has been working within the Internet Marketing Industry for the previous 10 years and has a wide range of experiences in SEO, CPC and Social Media. | Follow me on Google Plus

With search engine giant Google preparing a move into Britain’s travel market, online marketing experts are warning travel portals such as Travelsupermarket and Expedia to beef up their business models and face the “threat” head on.

SEO marketing expert Andreas Pouros specialises in helping companies to maximise their online advertising and marketing operations. He recently told Travelmole that Google’s recent acquisition of travel technology firm ITA Software meant that it now posed a clear and present danger to holiday price comparison sites based in the UK.

Mr Pouros said that the ITA data included such essential information as minute-by-minute flight availability and the cheapest fares, which would enable Google to point potential holidaymakers to the best deals without the need for other companies to be involved.

“Travel intermediaries should be very concerned as Google moves towards becoming central to consumers’ travel purchasing behaviour,” he insisted.

“It is only a little over seven months ago since Google made a similar move with property intermediaries.”

Google now shows houses that are for sale or available for rent on Google Maps, thanks to a facility that allows property portals to download their listings free. With ITA it will also now be able to point users towards the cheapest flights or hotel deals.

It is believed that at first the search engine will only use the new software to direct web traffic to dedicated travel websites, but there is also the likelihood that it will ultimately start selling plane tickets directly to travellers.

Mr Pouros said that “travel intermediaries should at the very least be determining how they should operate in the next few years.”

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.

Some internet analysts have suggested that the growing popularity of Microsoft search engine Bing could change the way that online marketing operates, as it muscles in on the domination of the search market by Google.

With Bing just over a month old, research by comScore found that, along with the Yahoo! search engine, it was gaining ground on the market leader, with implications for anyone involved in SEO marketing.

Across the USA in May, an incredible 15 billion searches took place. Of these, Google remained at the top, with 63.7 per cent of all searches conducted using its engine. Nevertheless, this was still a smaller percentage than in April – and both Bing and Yahoo! were the ones making up the ground.

Google’s rivals are considering teaming up to better challenge its supremacy. Recently, Microsoft senior vice-president Yusuf Medhi said that his company hopes to have integrated Bing’s search technology into Yahoo’s applications by the end of 2010.

Mr Medhi tolf the Search Marketing Expo in Seattle: “Right now, Yahoo engineers are joining Microsoft and they’re sharing ideas. We will power the algorithm results and the paid search results – Yahoo has flexibility to add things on top.”

Although online marketing companies should not rush to shift their Google-based strategies towards Bing or Yahoo! just yet, it makes sense for anyone involved in SEO to keep an eye on their direction of travel and take Google’s rivals into account.

With the prospect of closer working between Bing and Yahoo! by the end of the year, it would be foolish to discount the chances of a more formal partnership between the two in the near future.

Dan Coysh

Daniel has been a freelance journalist and providing SEO Copywriting services for over three years now at Online Media Direct, after eight years as reporter and news editor for a national newspaper. He has provided SEO news content for a number of sites and on several occasions has completely rewritten a website’s text – both in the public and private sectors.