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Who doesn’t want more traffic from search engines? Aside from George ‘Miserable Failure‘ Bush, we ALL do!
Gaining more traffic is easier for some than it is others, especially when there is no place to go but up.
Many brand new, and grossly under-performing, websites can make some very simple changes, which can have significant impacts.
First, give each of your pages unique, descriptive titles. Don’t cram them with keywords, but certainly put the primary keywords, pertaining to the page, in there. Far too many websites use the exact same title for every page, which confuses the bots, and even more pages have NO title! A search for ‘untitled page’ returns an alarming 36 million plus pages…there is no excuse. Add a title.
Secondly, clean up your page copy. Make it relevant, coherent and unique from one page to the next. If you have multiple pages, utilizing large blocks of identical content, you are creating duplicate content…a no-no in Google.
Third, make sure your pages link to each other efficiently. A good internal linking structure makes it easier for search bots to crawl your pages and also makes it easier for visitors to navigate your site. Use descriptive link, or anchor, text (the text that is the actual hot link) that accurately, and descriptively, describes the page it links to. Avoid using the proverbial ‘click here’ link text.
There you have it…three simple and easy changes that will assuredly help your search rankings and site traffic.
Get to work!
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Top 10 signs you need a new website:
10. Your website content copyright says 1998
9. Your contact email is you@aol.com
8. It contains a link that says “send an e-postcard”
7. Your contact form contains ‘referred by: surfed on in’ or ‘referred by: alta vista’
6. It is “optimized” by keyword stuffing, long meta tags and a 75 word page title.
5. It is hosted by GeoCities.
4. You have pictures of people wearing ‘Jack Tripper Shorts’ and glacier glasses.
3. Your site uses the blink tag
2. You can find 10 different fonts in five different colors…on one page!
1. Your site is ranking high and kicking ass on Alta Vista!
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You ever walk away from a conversation thinking, “Wow…that is unreal!” I often wonder how some people make as far as they manage to do in the business world, and I have a whopper to share.
Recently I overheard a self-professed upper-echelon designer and online marketing “expert” speaking in a classroom setting. I was appalled what he was telling the unknowing participants whom were sadly…scribbling away taking notes.
The flag first went up when he mentioned the importance of submitting to the Open Directory Project, which at the time was frozen in time by some major infrastructure problem. As many of you know, submissions for a long period of time where not possible. I mentioned that aspect…and the “expert” was unaware of the situation.
An “expert” with paying clients…yikes!
The final straw for me, was when the “expert” explained that pay per click (AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, MSN) where all simply a waste of time. To each his own you say…well I agree…but the following comments, as someone involved in helping people maximize PPC, made my stomach turn.
The gentleman relayed a story of a client that sold window blinds, for whom he had built a “fantabulous” site. Mentioned the client bid big bucks on very general terms, received a ton of clicks, but no customers to show for it….and subsequently went out of business!
With not even a hint of remorse, “well at least I was paid for my design work”.
This comment really pissed me off. It bothers me that someone involved in helping businesses succeed can simply shrug off that a client went out of business because of their glaring lack of knowledge.
The fact is, PPC can work…and can help someone build a business and generate income. Keyword discovery, testing ad copy, and evaluating the topography of your search vertical…hard work, but can pay off.
Drilldown and find the terms with low cost per click, and high relevancy and you have found a winner. A paradox of PPC is that the terms with the lower PPC (most often more specific terms) are more targeted and will generate a higher ROI.
For anyone out there reading this that is searching for someone to facilitate a PPC campaign, please know, it CAN be done. Find a quality search marketer and ask questions.
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One of the most important, yet most overlooked, component of your website is your content…more specifically your copywriting.
In almost all of my projects it seems that copywriting is an afterthought, just the icing on the cake so to speak. Quality copywriting can make even a bad design effective, and poor copywriting can make a great design bomb.
Can the topic of creating quality content be covered in a single blog post…absolutely not. I have been working hard of late to gain more knowledge of this all important topic.
Some outstanding books include Waiting for Your Cat to Bark and Call to Action, both by Jefferey and Bryan Eisenberg. The core of these books is creating compelling content, relevant to the visitors persona using a technique which they call ‘Persuasion Architecture’. Highly recommended.
Some themes and important concepts to keep in mind when creating your website content.
- Write with terms that your visitors use in describing your product of service
- Ditch the jargon, acronyms and keep it simple and to the point
- Chunk up your copy allowing for easy scanning…use quality, descriptive subheaders
- Use hyperlinks effectively…moving visitors down the conversion pipeline
- Empathize with your visitor, put yourself in their shoes in viewing your product or service
- Go easy on superlatives
- Create an emotional tie with the visitor, make them envision themselves using your product or service
- Write in active voice as much as possible
- Accentuate the benefits that will come from your service….not the features
- Be concise
- Understand the buying cycle and trigger words associated with each phase (See Call to Action)
This is just a short list of things which can make an immediate impact on the success of your website. Read a book, take a class and learn more about how you can create quality, relevant and highly effective copy for your webpages.
What are your thoughts on creating quality content and copywriting?
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