What You Should Know About Flash Websites and SEO
There has been a lot of debate over the past few years about the advantages or disadvantages of Flash websites as opposed to HTML websites. One of the topics of disagreement is whether search engine optimization works with Flash websites. The answer is not as cut and dried as many people would make it out to be.
First of all, let it be said that HTML websites are naturally search engine friendly when it comes to recognizing text content and links. The search engines have no trouble crawling and indexing the material on an HTML website because it is in a rather plain and uncluttered form. If you have an HTML website, your webmaster can write basic HTML programming and include your SEO content to bring you your website traffic.
On the other hand, Flash websites have the reputation for being difficult to read by the search engines. Common wisdom says that text and links are embedded in Flash websites to the point that search engines cannot read it. This has been the standard argument by HTML programmers for years.
However, with the use of XTML for the text-based content, a Flash website can be picked up as easily as an HTML site. It is up to the webmaster to get this right. If the proper coding is done, there should be no problem with Flash SEO.
If you do not want to or cannot afford to hire someone skilled in website programming, you can use a content management system (CMS). With the right CMS, you can have a Flash website that is not only search engine friendly, but is also easy to update all by yourself. You do not have to know HTML or XTML either. You just type in the content the way you want it to appear.
All this information is irrelevant if you like the look and functionality of an HTML website the best. Many people prefer it, and like the fact that it loads up quickly and easily even for analog users. However, Flash websites offer a more attractive, eye-catching, and exciting visual impact, with sights and sounds that will keep many visitors on the website long enough to discover and buy your products.
Businesses who are just setting up their websites should consider all these factors. SEO for websites is also important for people who already have Flash sites. You need to know that there is a way to include SEO in your Flash site with the proper programming or a content management system. Otherwise, you will miss a ton of traffic that is just waiting for you on the web.
Google Insights – Keyword Research Tools to Help You Structure Your Marketing Campaign
There is a variety of keyword tools to help you do research for SEO Internet marketing campaigns, but Google Insights is one of the best free ones available. You can find the top keywords to use in your content writing and in your Pay per Click campaigns. You can even use this valuable information to help you decide what feature or aspect of your product to focus on in your marketing campaign.
When you go to Google Insights, you have the ability to input up to five keywords to produce a comparison. You might choose different aspects of your product, or different products you carry. You might select five different services you offer, instead. You can do it as many times as you like, so do not be afraid to experiment.
You can choose from four different types of searches, such as web search or image search. You can specify a geographical location, and you can nail down a time frame from the last day to years in the past. When you have typed in all your data, click “Search” and you will see your results.
There will be a graph showing the comparative performance of all your five keywords over the time period. There are also numbers you can see if you dig further by following the given link. A map shows you the search volume for different regions, and you can toggle from one keyword phrase to another to see the volume for each phrase. Rising keywords are also given that you can add to your list.
What does all this mean to your company? It means that you can target your ads specifically to a region based on keywords that are popular in that region. It means that you can choose certain keywords to use in your search engine optimization rather than others based on current status. It will help you choose keywords for Pay per Click and give you an idea of what the bidding will be like to get them.
The interesting thing is that keyword research tools such as Google Insights give you so much more than words to use. They also give you concepts to shine your light on in all parts of your Internet marketing campaign.
Say you have an in-home bakery business. Does “homemade bread” have more volume than “natural bread?” Then, you should make ads and content talking about the pleasures and memories of homemade goodness. If it is the other way around, you might have a campaign based on natural foods with no artificiality. The product is the same, but the focus is different.
With a good keyword research tool, you can learn a lot in a little amount of time. Google Insights is just one of these keyword tools you can use, but it is a good one to try if you are beginning in SEO. Other tools include the other Google Keyword Tool Box, WordTracker and WordStream. The point of all of them is to make your life easier in SEO and in Internet marketing.
Hammer And Spanner by Anna Cervova
SMS Marketing – Text for Success
SMS marketing is not some mysterious formula for meeting all your business needs, but it can help you increase your profits. SMS is just Short Message Service; in other words, SMS refers to texts sent and received on mobile devices. There are several ways to use SMS marketing to gain website traffic, leads and sales.
1. Contests
Have a “fastest-finger” contest. The first person to text a given word to the SMS code given will win a prize. The prize might be a product you sell or something totally unrelated. The great thing about getting people involved in a contest is that they concentrate on the given word very hard to get it into the text as fast as possible. If the word to be texted is one of your brand name products or your current marketing slogan, that will stick in their minds. The depth of attention will be more than it would be with many other marketing methods.
2. Coupons
There are a number of ways to get mobile text coupons to your potential customers. All you need is a short, one-line ad to say, “Text [my word] to [my number] to receive a coupon good for [my product].” It could be in a flyer, a radio or TV ad or even on your business card. People can use SMS texts to get the coupon, and then all they have to do is show their phones to the clerk in the store to get their discount.
3. Voting
Voting by SMS can get your potential customers busy texting you very quickly. You can have people vote on what types of products they like best. Give them 4 choices; make sure you make selections from among the types of products you sell. Many people find polls to be fun and entertaining. You could mention that you will post the results of your poll on your Facebook Fan page to get them interested even more, thus increasing your social network at the same time.
4. Opt-In
You can use SMS to get people to opt-in to SMS or email marketing notifications. All they have to do is to send you a text with the right word to your SMS number. Then, to guide people to your specific products through SMS, you can text them with short news texts on the best deals you offer for that type of product. They will appreciate the insider information. SMS marketing can not only gain you leads, but it can also gain you customers and loyal ones at that.
Woman Reading Sms by Petr Kratochvil
Feeding the Beast – How to Make Sure Your Content Is Always New
Face it: search engines prefer new content to old most of the time. New articles will have more impact on your Internet presence than old ones. In fact, you should definitely update your blog and even your website regularly. Sometimes it may seem overwhelming to produce so much content, but it is essential to getting the most traffic to your website.
1. Use Google Alerts. Google Alerts is a special service that keeps you up to date on information that you request to be notified about. You will get an email when new websites and news results come up on the search results for the keyword you choose. You can ask for information on your product type, your industry or your target audience for instance. These Alerts will give you ideas to spark your imagination.
2. Get Information from Trade Associations. Learn the latest news about your industry from Trade Associations. Once you make sure the information is available to the public, you can use it in good conscience. You will find out about the cutting edge technology or new products that are being introduced. When you get the basic ideas from the Trade Associations, you can do your own research on the subjects and come up with your own conclusions and ideas about the innovations. Another topic for your blog or website is born.
3. Listen to your Social Network. You should both listen and post updates and other media to your social network. Perhaps the most important activity you do, though, will be actively listening to your Friends and Fans. Active listening means asking questions to clarify comments or adding your own expertise when appropriate. In other words, create a dialogue. You will learn where the heart and interests of your target audience lie, so you will be able to gear your content to fulfilling those needs.
4. Get help when necessary. Sometimes, you just do not have time to keep up with submitting and updating all the content you need to take care of by yourself. There are several ways to handle this problem. You can ask a friend or family member to help you. If you do, do not ask them to do it for free or they will surely come to resent you.
Another choice is to get employees to spend a small amount of their days brainstorming for new content ideas. Hire an in-house specialist to do the work at your office. A final option is to outsource your content production by giving an article write-up service your keywords and having them come up with new content for you. The Internet can seem like a beast that needs to be fed constantly, but you can handle it if you use the right methods.
Free Stock Photo: FreePhotos.com
Gleaning from the Social Networks – How to Use Google Realtime
Going on the social websites is like wading through mud sometimes. People just get on and do updates and Tweets about things that have nothing to do with anything that matters. At least, it does not matter to you and your business. It would be so much easier if you could weed out all that nonsense and only listen to talk that relates to your company or products. With Google Realtime, you can do just that.
Google Realtime is a fairly new service that allows you to glean the material from the social networks that is most relevant to you. The results show up on a constantly updating stream of content from social networks, the latest blog posts and up-to-the minute news.
Your first step is to choose a keyword phrase to search for in the social websites. Remember that people do not converse on social networks the same way that they choose keywords for search engines. They are using the words and rhythms of natural speech, so forget about cumbersome long-tailed keywords.
If you do use several good, descriptive words, put them all in one set of brackets for Google Realtime if you want to limit your results to those that use all those words. The best choice is to choose something fairly distinctive that someone would actually say in a normal conversation. For instance, if you sell curtains, “window treatments” might not be the best keyword phrase because it might not be a casually mentioned phrase on a social network. A better phrase might be something like “new curtains” or “buy curtains.”
You can also choose a location for Google Realtime, so that your results are limited to one geographical area. Sometimes this will reduce your results to zero, but sometimes it will give you some very valuable information. You will want to know where the nearby demand for your products or services is, especially if you specialize in one location.
Of course, there is a goal to all this searching through social networks. Once you find conversations that revolve around your products or services, you can jump into the conversations if it is appropriate to do so. Always remember that your expertise and information is more valuable to others than your sales pitch. However, you will reach a more targeted group by narrowing your search through Google Realtime.
Image: hinnamsaisuy / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Search Engine Optimization Language – Why You Need a Fluent English Writer
Assuming that you are building a website for an English speaking audience, you will probably use an English speaking writer to do your website content. Most people put their resources into making their website look and read like a polished production. Yet, many people do not give all their content the same attention. If you are outsourcing, there are several reasons you need to use fluent, native English speaking writers for your articles, blogs and social media marketing.
1. People who do not speak English fluently make mistakes that are obvious to English-speaking readers.
Some words are completely misused. Some sentences may make some sort of sense if you think about them, but they are not phrased in the way a native speaker would say them. When you hand over control of your content to a writer without great language skills, your content looks bad and you look bad by association.
2. With writers who do not know English well, each keyword will stick out like a sore thumb.
A foreign-speaking writer who does not have a good grasp on the English language will struggle to fit your keywords into your content. This makes your material sound very stilted and unnatural. People will not want to read it and they will click on to the next article or the next website in the blink of an eye. Your readers are not there to read mindless content punctuated by irrelevant, misplaced keywords. They want to read something interesting and informative. Ideally, they should not even think about the fact that keywords are present.
3. Readers will not gain confidence in your expertise unless you give them content that earns their respect.
For the reader who is looking for solid information in your articles and other content, your expertise is a valuable commodity. Do not let someone who does not express himself well in English write about your industry or products for you. Poor writing does more than give an impression of sloppiness; it also tells your readers that you did not make the effort to give them your information in a clear format. It may make your readers question whether you really know what you are talking about in the first place. Poor writing lowers your status as an authority in your field.
It is always important to make a good first impression when a reader begins to read your content. Just as important is getting the chance to communicate your ideas clearly and succinctly. One of the main goals of online marketing today is the soft-sell technique of establishing yourself as an expert. Without excellent English speaking writers, you will never receive the respect you seek.
Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
How-To Videos: How To and Why To Teach on YouTube
You have heard by now that informative, educational and entertaining content is your friend in many Internet marketing ventures. You may already be writing articles, interacting as an expert on Facebook and Twitter, and giving your authoritative views in your blog. You can add to your body of work in a powerful way by producing some great how-to videos for YouTube.
Why do how-to videos?
First of all, how-to videos are very popular. Anytime someone wants to learn about something she is interested in, there is a good chance she will go to YouTube to see a how-to video on the subject. If she does not go directly to YouTube, she might go first to a search engine. There your how-to video will pop up in the search results if you have optimized it carefully. In either case, your video will reach her.
Not only will she come across your video, but she will also watch it from beginning to end if it is truly informative. A video can capture attention like no other medium can. What is more, the how-to format is easy to follow because the steps are laid out clearly and directly. Your viewer’s attention will not get sidetracked as easily as it might with some other types of content.
Finally, how-to videos can bring in more customers to your website and ultimately to your business. Always include a link back to your website. Tell the whole story that the how-to is supposed to cover, but leave your audience wanting more. Mention a new topic that they might also be interested in and tell them how to reach you at your website to get the additional information. The more you engage your viewers, the more traffic and business you will see.
How are how-to videos done?
You need an interesting subject related to your products or industry. Remember that it is not a sales video, but it can touch on the products you do sell. For example, you might sell fishing gear. You would not do a sales video for YouTube and pass it off as a how-to. Instead, you might make up a video that discusses how to use a particular type of fishing equipment.
Once you have your topic, make an outline of the steps needed to do the task. Depending on the complexity of the task, decide on the length you need for your video. Write up a script and practice saying the words distinctly, relatively slowly and in a pleasant voice. When you are satisfied, get your props or photos together to flesh out your video.
Set up the camcorder yourself or have someone take the video for you. Then, you can edit it to make it run smoothly, without a hitch. Upload your how-to video to YouTube, and you will soon improve your status as an authority on one more subject.
Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
SEO Keyword Research for Your Target Demographics
It is very profitable to do keyword research if you want your website to receive a high ranking with the search engines. Not only that, the right kind of keyword research helps bring visitors to your site who are actually interested in your products or services. If you want a high conversion rate of visitors to buyers, this is essential.
The first step is to come up with as many possibilities as possible. Keep a few basic concepts in mind. First, your keywords should be ones people would use to look for your site. Second, they should be words that you suspect your target demographic would use. Third, the commonest single words are not good keywords because it is hard to get a ranking for them and they do not tell a story about your website.
With all this in mind, you can brainstorm until you have 20 to 50 possible keyword phrases. Narrow down the list by crossing off everything that did not fit within the guidelines you had set with the basic keyword concepts. When you have limited the list to what you believe are relevant keywords, start your keyword research in earnest.
To do this, use a keyword research tool. There are many out there to choose. Google Suggest and Thesarus.com are tools that will make it easy for you to fill out your list with synonyms and related keyword phrases. Wordtracker.com is one of the most effective keyword analyzing research tool of them all. It can be used to rate the popularity of a search term.
Use the keyword analyzing research tool by looking at the results for the keywords you expect will be the best for you. Are they the most popular? Sometimes it is not the best idea to choose the most popular keyword phrases. If they are so general that they apply to millions of sites, you might not stand a chance. Look for keyword phrases a little lower on the list.
Now, move back to your demographic concerns. Some of these analytical tools can tell you who is searching for keywords by gender, age, geographic location, and possibly factors like education level. Use this information to choose keywords that will zero in on your specific target market.
An example will make all this clearer. Say, you sell used textbooks. Your first reaction might be to use a keyword of “books.” That would be too generic. You might get traffic, but it would not be geared to your particular audience. Then, you try “used textbooks” in a synonym-type keyword research tool and find that there are some more popular keywords that are related to it. One might be “cheap used textbooks.” Another might be “used biology textbooks.”
Finally, you use a keyword analyzing tool, such as Microsoft’s Keyword Forecast tool, which gives you demographic information about who is searching for the terms you have chosen. For used textbooks, you might target a market of young adults with a high-school graduation-level education. When you have found the most popular keywords for your specific target demographic, you have your keyword list.
Landing Page Perfection – Why It Matters Where You Send Your Content Viewers
Once you have put out all your advertising, SEO articles, press releases, blog posts and updates to social networks, you will probably expect traffic to start pouring into your website. You will also hope to have increased sales and grow a larger customer base. Yet, there might be one thing standing in your way. If your landing page is less than ideal, you might not get very many visitors who actually explore your site.
In most Internet marketing campaigns, you spend time and money producing informative and compelling content for outside websites to lead back to yours. The people who read, listen to or view your content are in it for the experience. If your website landing page does not offer them the experience they want, they will navigate away immediately.
If you are wondering what makes a good landing page, you are in good company. Savvy business owners and managers all over the web are experimenting with different landing pages to try for the largest possible return on investment for all those hours and dollars spent marketing. Trial and error can often help you find what works best, because the same landing pages do not work the same for every crowd.
Consider your target audience. If they are the pampered sort, they might want a lot of pomp and circumstance. If that is the case, set up an impressive display on your website landing page. That could be a spread with stunning visual images and well-polished writing on the page, for example. Go for the most luxurious design you can make to entice your affluent or cultured audience to find out more about your company.
On the other hand, if your target audience is a young, technologically advanced crowd, you might get farther with a layout that incorporates video along with current techno lingo. Add a high-tech interactive experience right on the landing page, and you will attract your target audience even more – perhaps to the point that they will share your website features with others.
Gaining cachet with your target audience is perhaps the most important reason for having a terrific landing page. Your content attracts a specific audience, but it cannot keep them on your website. However, when people get a first impression of you that strikes a chord with them, they will feel enough of a connection to find out more. When audiences see by your landing page that you can speak their language, they will stick with you. Reading on to find out more of what is on your site just comes naturally after that.
Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Sitemaps Can Help You Get Noticed on Major Search Engines
Do you have a new website that is performing poorly? SEO articles and other back-links are a great idea to bolster you search engine rankings but there is a quicker way to get noticed in the beginning. Submitting a Sitemap will get those search engine spiders crawling over your site and put you on the search engines’ radar faster than any other method you can use.
A Sitemap is basically a hierarchical listing of the URLs of your website pages within your website. There is a particular format Sitemaps should follow and you can find it on Google’s Webmasters Tools. You should follow the instructions given and submit your Sitemap to Google or other search engines. Then, they will crawl your web pages and index them. Your rankings should quickly improve.
One way Sitemaps are categorized is by whether they are static or dynamic. A static Sitemap is one that you set up once, and have to go in and change directly if you make any changes in your website. You will have to alter the Sitemap on your site and re-file it with Google each time. With a dynamic Sitemap, you will set it up once and it will update itself automatically whenever you change the website.
Sitemaps can make it easier for the web crawlers to see your website in general, but specifically they can make it much easier for them to index your photos and video. You put time and effort into making video for your site, and you want it to be noticed. A Sitemap can make that happen readily. Then, with a dynamic Sitemap, you can change your video often and still have it seen by the search engines.
Another feature of Sitemaps is that they allow you to add some identifying information along with the URLs of each web page. You can include all kinds of information about a video such as how long it lasts, whether it is suitable for children or its subject matter. This improves your visibility to the search engines even more.
Sitemaps are not just for newbie’s either. You can increase the ranking on an established site by adding a dynamic Sitemap and submitting it to Google. It always helps to get the word out about your website. Google would like to know about it as well. If you successfully implement a Sitemap and continue to create relevant content, you will start seeing more pages indexed and more organic traffic.
Photo: Spiders by Petr Kratochvil