Many visitors to your website will arrive via a search engine. Making your website more visible on search engines will hook potential customers, so follow our simple steps to improve your ranking.
Things to do today…
• Make a list of keywords and phrases that best describe your products and services. Run keywords through a keyword tool to identify any additional possibilities and find out how frequently they are searched for
• Go online and find appropriate businesses that might be able to provide reciprocal links to your website
Short term actions
Use search engine optimisation There are certain things you can do to improve your website’s search engine ranking.
• Make your site accessible. Well- written, easy to navigate pages will attract repeat visitors and may
help push your website up the search engine rankings (see chapter one).
• Use keywords and phrases.
Decide which keywords and phrases are unique to your industry products and services. Be fairly specific, eg ‘organic local apples’ will generate more qualified search engine leads than ‘apples’. Run these through a keyword tool to identify additional possibilities. Target these key phrases in web content, page titles, headings, sub-headings and any metadata included in the page code.
• Include an HTML link to a basic site map on every page of your website. Search engines will then be able to index pages of your site, increasing the chance of your site appearing in searches.
• Include reciprocal links. Use search engines to find websites that have high rankings for appropriate key terms and phrases. Contact them and ask if they will include a link to your website in return for a reciprocal link.
• Make sure your website is useful. This will encourage others to link to your site of their own accord. These one way links are often more effective than reciprocal links.
Top tip
• Don’t compromise the quality of your web copy in an effort to fill it with keywords. Search engines could penalise you for this and your rating will drop.
Start a pay per click campaign
A pay per click (PPC) campaign will further improve your web presence.
A PPC campaign involves posting sponsored links or adverts on search engine websites. When users search for keywords related to your business,
2. Search engine marketing
your sponsored link appears in a column often to the right or above the natural or organic search results.
A PPC campaign is cost-effective as you only pay for click-through to your site. The results can be easily tracked allowing you to optimise your campaigns. Set a daily budget and your advert will be switched off once your allowance is spent.
Plan your pay per click campaign Careful planning will help you maximise the success of your
PPC campaign.
Consider the following:
• Which visitors you want to attract.
• Whether you want to target local or regional customers, a particular age-group or
particular-interest customers.
• How many unique adverts you want to create for each advert group. These will need to be tested against each other to find the most effective.
• When you want adverts to be activated and for how long.
• Which keyword searches will generate your sponsored link.
A broad match will trigger your advert more frequently than an exact match and could mean your advert is shown inappropriately.
• How much you are willing to bid initially for each click.
For more information about running a successful online advertising campaign contact Scream Media today for a FREE no obligation quote.
Showing posts with label google ppc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google ppc. Show all posts
25 May 2010
12 April 2010
Is your Business Losing Out?
With Internet growth in South Africa at a all time high and the introduction of Paypal, the best thing you can do for your business nowadays is get online. So many consumers and so much of the market is based on the internet nowadays, that it is almost financial suicide not to get involved in the online sensation. Scream Media offers highly competitive prices, as well as a very professional, proven product.
Scream Media not only offers a team of skilled designers and programmers to help design and build your site, we also offer services including webhosting, SEO, PPC, social network marketing and internet strategy.
Creating a website is like nurturing a plant, where the process begins with choosing the right sapling or seed and ends with sowing the proverbial fruit of your labor. Likewise, website designing also requires your utmost attention and step-by-step execution of strategies in order to thrive in the long run. Without a doubt, website designs do play the role in creating that preferred reaction to your business. It is about the overall outlook of a website, where packaging does play the role. After all, first impression can yield better results by convincing the visitors to stick to a page for sometime. Usually, visitors do jump from one page to another, as nobody has much free time these days. In the event that your design does attracts the visitors, there is a high probability that they would like to check out more of your pages. A rule of thumb is 3 clicks to find what you want.
On the other hand, a webpage design says a lot about your business. In case you do not have the budget or skills to create a background based upon coding, you can streamline things by designing the perfect theme. These days, themes have become one of the most useful tools in retaining the visitors, as people remember these websites and like to return to them. Themes work well, when you need to convey your message without too much effort. For example, Scream is in the process of redesigning our own website, following on from the modern art theme we currently have on H2L
It is not difficult to get the right theme for your website. You can consult experienced corporate website design professionals, who can help you out in getting the right theme. A well designed theme should communicate your message effectively.
Scream Media not only offers a team of skilled designers and programmers to help design and build your site, we also offer services including webhosting, SEO, PPC, social network marketing and internet strategy.
Creating a website is like nurturing a plant, where the process begins with choosing the right sapling or seed and ends with sowing the proverbial fruit of your labor. Likewise, website designing also requires your utmost attention and step-by-step execution of strategies in order to thrive in the long run. Without a doubt, website designs do play the role in creating that preferred reaction to your business. It is about the overall outlook of a website, where packaging does play the role. After all, first impression can yield better results by convincing the visitors to stick to a page for sometime. Usually, visitors do jump from one page to another, as nobody has much free time these days. In the event that your design does attracts the visitors, there is a high probability that they would like to check out more of your pages. A rule of thumb is 3 clicks to find what you want.
On the other hand, a webpage design says a lot about your business. In case you do not have the budget or skills to create a background based upon coding, you can streamline things by designing the perfect theme. These days, themes have become one of the most useful tools in retaining the visitors, as people remember these websites and like to return to them. Themes work well, when you need to convey your message without too much effort. For example, Scream is in the process of redesigning our own website, following on from the modern art theme we currently have on H2L
It is not difficult to get the right theme for your website. You can consult experienced corporate website design professionals, who can help you out in getting the right theme. A well designed theme should communicate your message effectively.
13 January 2010
The 2010 New Year Checklist for Your Business
1. Use “Cause Marketing” – This is the year that you should identify your business with a worthy cause and either donate a percentage of profits to it or contribute to it in some way. And if profits or hard cash don’t fit, consider donating employee time. Then in your marketing campaigns, your marketing materials and sales pitches you should talk about what you’re doing and why it’s important to you. Your prospects and customers increasingly want to do business with a business that cares and has moral obligations, and they’re looking for you to let them know how you fit the bill.
2. Use Social Media with Email Marketing - Finally get your act together with social media this year. Start with Twitter and Facebook, dont forget as part of our SEO service we do this for you. Then set your goals on how many Twitter followers your business will get or how many Facebook fans you’ll attract. Make sure you tell your email marketing recipients to follow you when you send out a campaign. And don’t forget to post your links to your email campaigns in your Twitter account and Facebook pages and ask people to join your email list. All of these marketing vehicles work really well together and feed off of each other. 3. Think SEO – Make a point of checking your SEO ranking with EVERY piece of content you add to your site, Think position, think search when writing articles or content for your site. H2L offers content writing for SEO at a very affordable rate.
4. Make This the Year of Customer Service - People talk about companies that listen to them and that treat them well so you’ll want to go above and beyond with customer service this year. This is especially true since companies like Facebook and Twitter are taking off and becoming a platform for people to tell the world how they feel…about you. This might be the year you get your customer data all in one place so it’s easy to find a customer when they call.
5. Cut Costs - Keep cutting costs because we’re still in the economic weeds. Look at your top spending categories and see if there’s money to be saved. Is your rent too high? If you’ve got a number of years left on it you might call your landlord and ask if you can renegotiate “stepped” payments. Ask for a discount this year and tell them in the future years you’re willing to pay at bit more per square foot. If you’re spending too much on shipping, start calling other providers to see if they’re competitive. Doing things like this in January will add up for the rest of the year and help you to profitability.
6. Listen to Your Customers - Listen and watch what your customers are saying about you. Sign up for Google Alerts with your company name as a keyword, but also with your competitor’s names so you can see what is being published about them as well. Sign up for a free TweetDeck account and do the same. You’ll see what people on Twitter are saying about your company, your competition and even your industry, up-to-the minute for an unlimited number of keywords. Then chime in to the conversation and address the issue or try to get a new customer. Word to the wise: make sure you’re transparent with who you are, you don’t want to “hide” as someone else, tell them you’re with your company and you want to help out or answer any questions.
7. Find New Customers, Inexpensively - Google is where people go these days to find businesses they’re looking for. So set up or build on your Google Adwords pay-per-click efforts. If you don’t know where to start with Google try our PPC service, we manage your account through our Google Professional account.
8. Build Your Email List - Offer your clients a free sign up on your site to your monthly newsletter.
9. Hire People Who Care – If you’re lucky enough to be hiring for your business, this should be the year where you have an ample choice of people who need to work to choose from, so it’s your pick. Make sure you select people who have the same passion as you do, and people that fit into your business culture like a glove. Make sure you ask the questions that count; you want someone who can handle situations, someone who can communicate and someone who you trust. Don’t settle for second best, your customers will notice.
10. Embrace Word of Mouth – At H2L Online Marketing over 50% of the people who sign up for our service hear about us through “Word of Mouth” . In 2010 you’ll really need to take a good look at what you’re doing to spur word of mouth. As noted here, customer service is important, the quality of your product or service is important and the entire customer experience is important in order for word of mouth to start.
2010 is poised to be a great year for growing your small business. Good luck with your venture, and remember we are here to help.
20 December 2009
Search Engine Optimisation OR Pay per Click, whats right for you?
Recently, we looked at a debate over what is better between search engine optimization and pay-per-click. Of course both should be used typically. The general consensus seems to be that you should use both when possible, but that SEO is better for the long term, and PPC is better for quick results.
On the SEO front Google is making changes that could have some effect on the success of organic rankings. One of these changes is the introduction of personalized search to all Gooogle users. You no longer have to be signed in for Google to personalize your results, and that means it is much more important to get that first click from a user.
On the other hand, the usefulness of PPC to people who are just establishing themselves on the web. The reality is that SEO takes time, and while it is of great importance and provides long-term benefits, it is very hard to be competitive right out of the box.
When you have a brand new domain name, a new site, and no links, you're probably going to have a hard time jumping up in the rankings for any competitive keywords. PPC lets you do it and start getting your ROI quickly.
SEO is an absolute must when dealing with new web sites. None of the search engines are going to rank you very high in the organic searches if you are not meeting their criteria. And...the Organic search results are 24 hours per day ads. Not so with PPC, unless you are dealing with an unlimited budget.
PPC should be used after SEO to target special sales, or services. It is a great way to help searchers locate your products when they are on sale, or your services when a special price can be obtained.
On the SEO front Google is making changes that could have some effect on the success of organic rankings. One of these changes is the introduction of personalized search to all Gooogle users. You no longer have to be signed in for Google to personalize your results, and that means it is much more important to get that first click from a user.
On the other hand, the usefulness of PPC to people who are just establishing themselves on the web. The reality is that SEO takes time, and while it is of great importance and provides long-term benefits, it is very hard to be competitive right out of the box.
When you have a brand new domain name, a new site, and no links, you're probably going to have a hard time jumping up in the rankings for any competitive keywords. PPC lets you do it and start getting your ROI quickly.
SEO is an absolute must when dealing with new web sites. None of the search engines are going to rank you very high in the organic searches if you are not meeting their criteria. And...the Organic search results are 24 hours per day ads. Not so with PPC, unless you are dealing with an unlimited budget.
PPC should be used after SEO to target special sales, or services. It is a great way to help searchers locate your products when they are on sale, or your services when a special price can be obtained.
04 December 2009
How to get quality Linkbacks
In mid 2007 Google began editing toolbar PageRank scores and rankings for many sites that were selling links. It is not legal to buy links, you need to earn them.
At the same time, more and more people are writing online. Setting up a blog only takes a few minutes. There are hundreds or thousands of people talking about every topic imaginable, so if you create something remarkable and capture the attention of a few thought leaders who like it, you are going to get links. But how do you create content that people will like?
Passion = Market Knowledge = Links
One of the easiest (and most effective) ways to predict a future and to predict what people like is to immerse yourself in your topic. If you are passionate about a topic, know more about it than anyone else, and openly share information, then eventually people will notice and link to you. If you know what people are interested in, rather than asking them to link to what you have, create something that they would be interested in linking at. Express your world view and your bias in a way that matches their world view.Become a Platform
Each of us is the most relevant thing in our own lives. It sounds selfish but it is true. If you promote other people they will be more likely to promote you. Popular bloggers search to see what people are saying about them. If you want someone's attention linking at them from a blog post on your site is an easy way to get them to notice you. The Web is a Social Network
Social interaction of any type leads to links.
* Speak at a conference? Someone will likely blog about it.
* Want to get thought leaders to promote your site? Create a community project or contest and ask them to participate. Or give out awards.
* Lack the budget needed to go to conferences? Moderate forums, comment on related blogs, and build social relationships online.
* Track hot news in your space and try to get out in front of important trends.
o As an example, when Google did a big update that promoted some big brand websites we were one of the first websites to analyze it.
Be Credible
But for people to take you credibly you need to make sure your website adheres to good web credibility standards.
* Is your domain name memorable?
* Does your design complement your copy?
* Is your content interesting and conceptually unique?
* Does your site have an editorial component and voice, or is it a boring low-value thin product database?
* Is your about page memorable?
* Is your site easy to use and understand?
* Do you have a brand people care about?
You do not need to "have it all" to get started, but the more credible you look the faster you will gain momentum.
Build on Your Success
Work to improve your site every day. Over the course of the year fixing or creating one thing a day will lead to a large advantage. Building up a leading market position can take years, but once you get at the top those years are the barrier to entry which prevent others from being able to replicate what you buit up.
How to ask for a link back
Below is an example of an email to send out, remember no one will link to a site with a lessor page rank then their own website.
Dear Sir / Madam
We came across your web site on Google and would very much like to exchange links with you. Swapping links with similar themed and good quality web sites can help improve search engine positiopns and encourage mutual visitors to each web site.
If you would like to swap links with us, please add our link using the following information.
Title H2L Onlinemarketing
URL www.h2lonlinemarketing.co.za
Description: H2L Online Marketing is a Cape Town based Internet Marketing company, with over 15 years experience on the web. We offer a variety of Online Marketing services including Web Design, Logo Design, SEO(Search Engine Optimization), PPC(Pay Per Click Advertising), Email marketing, Web Hosting and bespoke Programming and Scripting. Please send us your own details in the same format and we would be delighted to add a link to your web site here:http://www.h2lonlinemarketing.co.za/links.php (page rank 3/10)
Many thanks for your time and we look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards
H2L Online Marketing - A Scream Media Company
At the same time, more and more people are writing online. Setting up a blog only takes a few minutes. There are hundreds or thousands of people talking about every topic imaginable, so if you create something remarkable and capture the attention of a few thought leaders who like it, you are going to get links. But how do you create content that people will like?
Passion = Market Knowledge = Links
One of the easiest (and most effective) ways to predict a future and to predict what people like is to immerse yourself in your topic. If you are passionate about a topic, know more about it than anyone else, and openly share information, then eventually people will notice and link to you. If you know what people are interested in, rather than asking them to link to what you have, create something that they would be interested in linking at. Express your world view and your bias in a way that matches their world view.Become a Platform
Each of us is the most relevant thing in our own lives. It sounds selfish but it is true. If you promote other people they will be more likely to promote you. Popular bloggers search to see what people are saying about them. If you want someone's attention linking at them from a blog post on your site is an easy way to get them to notice you. The Web is a Social Network
Social interaction of any type leads to links.
* Speak at a conference? Someone will likely blog about it.
* Want to get thought leaders to promote your site? Create a community project or contest and ask them to participate. Or give out awards.
* Lack the budget needed to go to conferences? Moderate forums, comment on related blogs, and build social relationships online.
* Track hot news in your space and try to get out in front of important trends.
o As an example, when Google did a big update that promoted some big brand websites we were one of the first websites to analyze it.
Be Credible
But for people to take you credibly you need to make sure your website adheres to good web credibility standards.
* Is your domain name memorable?
* Does your design complement your copy?
* Is your content interesting and conceptually unique?
* Does your site have an editorial component and voice, or is it a boring low-value thin product database?
* Is your about page memorable?
* Is your site easy to use and understand?
* Do you have a brand people care about?
You do not need to "have it all" to get started, but the more credible you look the faster you will gain momentum.
Build on Your Success
Work to improve your site every day. Over the course of the year fixing or creating one thing a day will lead to a large advantage. Building up a leading market position can take years, but once you get at the top those years are the barrier to entry which prevent others from being able to replicate what you buit up.
How to ask for a link back
Below is an example of an email to send out, remember no one will link to a site with a lessor page rank then their own website.
Dear Sir / Madam
We came across your web site on Google and would very much like to exchange links with you. Swapping links with similar themed and good quality web sites can help improve search engine positiopns and encourage mutual visitors to each web site.
If you would like to swap links with us, please add our link using the following information.
Title H2L Onlinemarketing
URL www.h2lonlinemarketing.co.za
Description: H2L Online Marketing is a Cape Town based Internet Marketing company, with over 15 years experience on the web. We offer a variety of Online Marketing services including Web Design, Logo Design, SEO(Search Engine Optimization), PPC(Pay Per Click Advertising), Email marketing, Web Hosting and bespoke Programming and Scripting. Please send us your own details in the same format and we would be delighted to add a link to your web site here:http://www.h2lonlinemarketing.co.za/links.php (page rank 3/10)
Many thanks for your time and we look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards
H2L Online Marketing - A Scream Media Company
11 November 2009
What is Pay per Click?
Pay-Per-Click marketing has become an online phenomenon, with marketers only paying for traffic they receive. As Internet marketing has evolved, pay-per-click is seen by many as the middle ground between paying per impression and paying per sale. Advertisers only pay when they receive traffic that may or may not be targeted.
The pay-per-click advertisements are usually displayed with the advertisement from the highest paying bidder in the top position.Navigating the complex web of Internet marketing, publishers and marketers are often confronted with terms that seem foreign. This simple guide will assist you in understanding the Pay-Per-Click marketing model.
An easy way to explain this is to remember that the top results (skyline) of Google and the sponsored results on Google and Yahoo are all paid listings.
Facebook PPC
Recently the social network giant Facebook has started offering a pay per click advertising model. What is exciting about this is that one can not only target keywords and regions as in the Google model, but also prospective clients by their interests, age, marital status etc. The model is not as advanced as Google yet in its tracking, however it is generally cheaper and can with the right product give far better conversion rates.
Pay Per Click Definitions
Bid - The amount that an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on a specific keyword.
Budget - The amount of money that an advertiser sets aside for an advertising campaign. Different publishers allow for advertisers to set daily, weekly or monthly budgets.
Clickthrough Rate (CTR) - The percentage of clicks on a link. This is usually a percentage based on the total number of clicks divided by the number of impressions that an advertisement has received.
Conversion Rate - The relationship between visitors to a web site and actions considered to be a "conversion", such as a sale or request to receive more information: the percentage of people whose clicks have resulted in a sale or desired action in relation to the total number of clicks on an advertisement.
Cost Per Click (CPC) - The cost or cost-equivalent paid per click-through to an advertiser's website.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM) - The amount an advertiser pays for one thousand advertisement impressions, regardless of the consumer's subsequent actions.
Delisting - The removal of a listing as a result of inaction or poor performance.
GeoTargetting - An advertisement targeted at a specific geographical region, area or location.
Impressions - The number of times an advertisement is viewed by web surfers.
Keywords - Search terms or phrases that are related to an advertisement or ad copy.
Landing Page - The specific web page that a visitor ultimately reaches after clicking an advertisement. Often, this page is optimized for a specific keyword term or phrase.
Linking Text - The text that is contained within a link.
Pay Per Click (PPC) - Advertising model in which advertisers pay for click-throughs to their website. Ads are served based on keywords or themes.
Rank - How well a particular web page or web site is listed in a search engine or advertising results.
Return On Investment (ROI) - The percentage of profit that results in a marketing or advertising campaign. Naturally, advertisers want the amount of money made to exceed the money spent.
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