Getting Started on Twitter™ in Plain English</h1> <article> <h1>Getting Started on Twitter™ in Plain English</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:58:27 GMT</p> <p><eta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <eta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"> <eta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Generator"> <eta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Originator"> <link href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjdalton%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List" /> By now you have probably heard of Twitter<sup>™</sup>. If you watch CNN, Oprah or know of Ashton Kutcher, you have heard of Twitter. Recently, Ashton Kutcher and CNN had a race to reach a million followers (more on what that means later) with Ashton winning and appearing on Oprah. Because of recent events like the 2008 Election, the 2009 Inauguration along with many celebrities and major news outlets jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, it has brought this technology into the mainstream. And while you may have heard this weird name, you may not know what exactly it is, how to get started using it and what you can do with Twitter. So here is a guide in plain English to get started on Twitter.<br /> <br /> <b>What Is Twitter?</b><br /> <br /> Twitter is a messaging tool where messages are limited to 140 characters in length. Users of Twitter can send and receive these messages via the web, SMS, Instant Message clients, and third-party applications like iPhone™ apps. Twitter users can also post pictures via TwitPic<sup>™</sup> and audio files via TwitterGram<sup>™</sup> but primarily, Twitter is used for text. All types of people use Twitter including celebrities, writers, consultants, moms, dads, teenagers and companies both large and small. Twitter is unique in its simplicity. For inspiration, Twitter poses the question, "What are you doing?" to all its users. Users engage in conversation with their peers by filling in the field below this infamous question. Messages can range from breaking news, to twenty-four hour promotions, to heads up on commuter traffic, to even boring recounts of the morning's breakfast. <br /> <br /> <b>How Do You Get Signed Up?</b><br /> <br /> Getting started on Twitter is really easy. </eta></eta></eta></eta></p> <ul> <li>Set up an account</li> <li>Enter your profile information so people know who you are</li> <li>Customize your Twitter page with a photo, image or company logo</li> </ul> <p><b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Now that I am signed up, what do I do now?</span></b><br /> <br /> Once you are signed up there are a few things you need to do....<br /> <br /> <b>Follow people</b><br /> <br /> The concept of following people means you're interested in hearing "What they are doing" and you want to receive their updates. Following is easy. Go to the Twitter page of someone you are interested in keeping up with and click on the "Follow" button. You'll then begin to receive their posts or "tweets". Some users have subscriber numbers of 1,000 or 1,000,000. So how do you find people to follow? If you know their name or email you can search for them on Twitter<sup>™</sup> or start by looking at your favorite blogs. Most likely those who write a blog are on twitter. Have lots of email address contacts? Use the Twitter import tool and hook up to your email account and you might be surprised how many people are on Twitter. Have some hobbies or interests? You can use sites like Twellow.com and JustTweetIt.com to find people with similar interests to yours. You can also search Twitter (www.summize.com) for keywords, conversation topics and niche topics to find people you want to follow.<br /> <br /> <b>Start Posting or "Tweeting"</b><br /> <br /> A limit of 140 characters forces you to craft messages that get right to the point and with practice you will be amazed at how good you get at writing in short and meaningful tweets. There are no real rules in Twitter but there is a certain etiquette that is evolving. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Essential Keystrokes</span> recommends some topics to "Tweet" about:</p> <ul> <li>What you are doing.</li> <li>Ask a question related to your business niche, something you want to know more about or something even more general.</li> <li>Answer someone else's question.</li> <li>Respond to a tweet made by others.</li> <li>Share your opinion on current events, shows, and topics of interest.</li> <li>Share your latest blog post automatically using TwitterFeed<sup>™</sup>.</li> </ul> <p>Twitter is used to ask for advice, directions, and support. Leverage this tool to ask others for their open-ended interpretations to general questions. Twitter feeds can also be used as an additional outlet to share blog posts. There are many reasons to use this simple tool, which one will be yours?</p> <p> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Ten Steps to Social Media Success for Small Business</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:01:29 GMT</p> <p><eta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <eta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <eta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"> <eta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"> <link rel="File-List" href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjdalton%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" /> <link rel="Edit-Time-Data" href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjdalton%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_editdata.mso" /> Most companies think that new marketing programs cost a fortune to implement. With the advent of social media tools you can get your business reaching new heights for very little investment. It's simple to get started, just remember that social media is about conversation. To get you up and running quickly, here are 10 Steps to Success with Social Media:<br /> <br /> <b>Step 1 - Listen first and then participate. </b><br /> <br /> There are a number of social media channels where people are having conversations. To start, use one or more of the social tools listed below to search for a topic that interests you. Listen to the dialogue. If you feel you have something to add to the conversation, then contribute using a conversational tone when you comment.<br /> <br /> Here are just a few social media tools where you can start listening to the conversation:</eta></eta></eta></eta></p> <ul> <li>Twitter<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Friendfeed<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Technorati<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Tweetscan<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Buzzlogic<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Google® Alerts</li> <li>Techrigy<sup>TM</sup></li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 2 - Contribute to the conversation - Start a Blog</b>. <br /> <br /> Blogging is a great way to start a dialog with others who share your interests and or concerns. It can also help position you as a thought leader in your industry and local community. Here are a few tips on creating a blog<b>.</b></p> <ul> <li>Identify the goal of your blog and the voice of the author. Does your blog take the position of CEO, customer support, thought leadership, etc?</li> <li>Connect with other bloggers who complement your business. Link content and promote each other's stories - read & comment on other people's blogs.</li> <li>Be patient, building an audience takes time.</li> <li>Make it easy to share your posts. Allow readers to send links by email or submit a link to sharing services.</li> <li>Offer a variety of ways to be notified of updates to your blog. Examples include RSS and email.</li> <li>Be interesting & unique in each post, you want people to join your conversation.</li> <li>Use FeedBurner<sup>TM</sup> & Google© Analytics<sup>TM</sup> to track where your traffic comes from. Then collaborate with the traffic sources & build partnerships.</li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 3 - Build authority. </b><br /> <br /> Authority, as it relates to your blog, indicates the number of unique blogs that are linking to your blog. The more relevant links you have the more authority you have in the blogosphere, which helps position you as a thought leader on the subject of your blog. You can help to increase your blog's authority by doing the following, and be sure to always include a link back to your blog:</p> <ul> <li>Contribute to relevant forums and community boards</li> <li>Participate in online chats</li> <li>Answer related industry questions on LinkedIn<sup>TM</sup> and Yahoo® Answers<sup>TM</sup></li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 4 - Leverage FaceBook<sup>TM</sup>. </b><br /> <br /> FaceBook is a free personal social networking site where users can set up a profile and network with individuals or groups organized by city, region, workplace or school. Users can also add friends to their networks, join groups, and become fans of products, services, companies, or just about anything. Create an updated professional profile as well as page for your business and</p> <ul> <li>Avoid risky content</li> <li>Connect with as many business people as you can using your professional profile</li> <li>Join groups related to your niche, participate & befriend people with similar interests</li> <li>Add links to your profile</li> <li>Post on the network</li> <li>Post to other people's walls</li> <li>Avoid overselling, use FaceBook for conversation and awareness</li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 5 - Leverage LinkedIn. </b><br /> <br /> LinkedIn is considered a business social networking site where users can set up a free profile, join groups that are organized similar to Facebook. Many who use LinkedIn list their work or business experience and tend not to use it as a site to post personal updates or photos. Get involved:</p> <ul> <li>Create an updated professional profile</li> <li>Import your address book to start building your network</li> <li>Answer questions to build reputation and authority</li> <li>Join groups & participate in them</li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 6 - Use press releases effectively. </b><br /> <br /> If you have recently launched a new product, signed a new client, or have a special promotion going on, now your company news can be broadcast on the Internet. By drafting a press release announcing your news you can post it on the following free press release distribution services. This can help provide links back to your Website or blog and helps you with search engine optimization. Your story can now be headline news take advantage of free press release services including:</p> <ul> <li>PR.com</li> <li>PRLog.com</li> <li>I-newswire.com</li> <li>Prleap.com</li> <li>24-7pressrelease.com</li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 7 - Submit to social news aggregators. </b><br /> <br /> News aggregators can help promote your content; however, you are dependent on the power of the other users. Social news aggregators allow users to vote news stories with thumbs up or thumbs down. If you write an article, which includes a link to your site or blog, that is voted up or is considered popular, you can receive massive amounts of traffic. The top three social news aggregators are:</p> <ul> <li>Digg.com</li> <li>Mashable.com</li> <li>Mixxx.com</li> </ul> <p><br /> You can submit your story to multiple social news aggregators at the same time using sites like</p> <ul> <li>AddThis.com</li> <li>SocialPoster.com</li> <li>SocialMarker.com</li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 8 - Engage multimedia tools. </b><br /> <br /> Consider adding different mediums to your communication efforts like photos, video or podcasts (audio files) to communicate your thoughts and ideas. There are tons of multimedia tools out there for photos, audio and video. Find a few examples below, but there are hundreds of tools out there for sharing multimedia.<br /> <br /> For photo sharing try:</p> <ul> <li>Flickr<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>PhotoBucket<sup>TM</sup></li> </ul> <p><br /> For video sharing try:</p> <ul> <li>Jumpcut<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>YouTube<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Blip.TV</li> <li>Viddler<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Tubemogul<sup>TM</sup></li> <li>Seesmic<sup>TM</sup></li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 9 - Share documents that other people can use. </b><br /> <br /> There are many Websites available where you can post your presentations or other documents. By sharing industry knowledge, it builds credibility and promotes company transparency, which is appealing to many who consume social media. Examples of document sharing sites include:</p> <ul> <li>Slideshare.net</li> <li>DocStoc.com</li> <li>Scribd.com</li> </ul> <p><br /> <b>Step 10 - Always be aware of new tools and new channels. </b><br /> <br /> Keep your eyes and ears open for new and emerging social media tools. Remember you want to have a presence with your customers in the channels of their choice. Stay included in conversations it's the best way to discover new social networks and social media channels.</p> <p> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Online Marketing: A Blend of Natural and Paid Search Drives Traffic</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:06:13 GMT</p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Online Marketing (OLM) is the art of driving traffic to a Web site. Traditional brick and mortar shops can rely on drive-by and foot traffic to draw buyers in the door. But as a Web-based business owner, you cannot simply hope that visitors will stumble upon your site. The Internet is too vast. Instead, you need to make an effort to attract visitors, buyers, and surfers alike to your Web site.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>And the way you do that is through Online Marketing.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/online-marketing/index.jsp">Online marketing</a> involves a variety of key concepts, in particular, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. In essence, Search Engine Marketing is a paid advertising approach, and Search Engine Optimization involves driving natural traffic to your site.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Both forms of online marketing have their strengths and weaknesses. Search engines, like Google</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;">Ò</span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">, seem to appreciate sites using a blend of the two. That means having a comprehensive and complementary online marketing strategy that will enable you to achieve higher rankings on search engine results pages and ultimately drive more traffic to your site.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The Natural Approach</span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Cultivating natural, organic, or unpaid search results takes work, but it is a great way to begin the process of building your online reputation. One of the most common ways to start online marketing is to focus on optimizing a Web site so that it attracts the attention of search engines. To attract attention you first need to understand how search engines see your Web site.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Search engines use “spiders” to find Web sites. These spiders are not the creepy crawly kind, but are programs that can read the text of a Web page. That is why search engine spiders are sometimes referred to as a “bots” or “robots.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>These spiders read the text that they find and then “index” the information as a search result. Then they follow the page’s links to other pages and Web sites. There are three main things you can do to attract and keep spiders coming back:</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Feed them content:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> When search engines crawl Web sites, they are looking for text.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>They want to understand what your Web site is all about.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>In order to attract attention and keep them coming back, you need to have rich content that changes on a regular basis. If the content on your site does not change, search engines will be less likely to come back and search your site, which will result in lower rankings. To attract attention you need to have fresh, pertinent content on your site and keywords woven throughout.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Bait them with keywords:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> <a href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/online-marketing-basics/what-are-keywords-1042/1108">Keywords</a> are </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN;">words or combinations of words that users type into a Search Engines, like Google® or Yahoo!®, to find the information they are looking for on the Web. Search engines use keywords to determine which Web pages are relevant and should appear in their search results. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Keywords should appear naturally, fitting well with the text content on each Web page on your site. </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Help them find you with links:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> Spiders stay busy crawling across the Web every day at all times. Spiders travel, or crawl, through the Web via links. For this reason, if no other page on the Web is linking to your site, it will be difficult for the search engines to even find your site. Take time to <a href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/optimizing-online-marketing-efforts/building-inbound-links-1148/1214">build inbound links</a> to your site so you can be found on the Web.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"></b></span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The Paid Approach</span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Keywords that are relevant to your site can also be purchased to help you generate traffic more quickly. Paid search results typically appear at the top or on the side of the search engine results page and are also known as “Sponsored Links.” When you purchase keywords, you pay only when a visitor clicks on your link and goes to your site (not simply when your ad appears on the results page.) This is why it is often referred to as “pay per click,” or PPC, advertising.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>There are some real benefits to using Pay Per Click, here are a few:</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Get up and running fast:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> The primary benefit of Pay Per Click is that it can be operational within minutes of setup. You can actually drive traffic to your Web site in the same hour that you open a Pay Per Click account – it’s that fast! </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Pay as you go:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> Another benefit is that you pay only when someone clicks on your ad – you don’t pay per impression like most traditional forms of advertising. Remember, if someone doesn’t use your keyword, it won’t be featured in that search and you won’t pay anything. So, even a small business could optimize for hundreds of keywords. </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Understand your costs:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> The greatest benefit of paid search advertising is that you can easily discover your cost per acquisition, something that is difficult (if not impossible) to determine through traditional advertising. For example, if you get 100 clicks for the term “pink crocheted socks” and paid $1.00, then you can see how many sales you made as well as determine exactly what it cost to earn those sales. By scrutinizing this data, it becomes very apparent whether it is worth it to you to continue purchasing a particular keyword. If you find a keyword doesn’t convert for you, take it out of the mix, revising your keywords list or your strategy accordingly.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-weight:normal;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;"> </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Pay Per Click advertising campaigns can require extensive management and oversight to maximize your return on investment. You can consider hiring a full-time employee to monitor and/or review the campaign on a daily basis. While this is manageable for some companies, others do not have the resources. Hiring an outside firm to oversee the campaign allows you to make the most of your budget without increasing your overhead.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-weight:normal;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;"> </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">If it all sounds overwhelming to you, consider turning to a solutions provider, such as <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/online-marketing/index.jsp">Network Solutions</a>®, to create and manage your campaign efforts. When you do, you can set a daily, weekly, or monthly budget so that you don’t spend too little or too much. Such services not only help you to create viable keyword lists, but also help manage the rise and fall of keyword usage. </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">As you consider implementing an online marketing strategy, remember that it is a dynamic process. People are constantly changing the way they use the Internet and the keywords they use to search. The most effective blended campaign will be one that you monitor and refine consistently over time. As you do, you will be well on your way to achieving your online marketing objectives, improving your search engine rankings, and driving quality, targeted traffic to your site.</span></p> </span></p> <p> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Web Sites for Law Firms: Three Key Benefits</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:03:46 GMT</p> <p> The Web has transformed how law firms market themselves. Today, the Web is the fastest, most cost-effective way to attract new clients. But an effective Web presence is much more than just a Web site - it's a critical component of your marketing strategy that includes driving highly targeted traffic to your Web site, all day, every day. <br /><br /> It's difficult to find qualified clients through traditional marketing efforts. At the same time, it's often challenging for clients to find the right law firm to meet their needs. By complementing traditional marketing with a full-featured Web site, you can attain high Internet visibility, helping clients in your area find you quickly and easily.<br /><br /> Using online technology, you can reduce the time you spend on marketing, free up time to spend with your clients, and start reaping the rewards of networking with potential clients and other attorneys who can provide valuable referrals. The benefits of an effective Web presence are many.<br /><br /> <b>Benefit #1: A Web site enables you to attract new clients</b><br />In today's legal market, a Web site is a necessary tool for attracting new clients. Rather than expending enormous effort to find new clients yourself, your Web site, which runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, lets your potential clients find you.<br /><br /> A Web site confirms that your law firm exists, and quickly communicates important information to visitors, including your practice areas, your philosophy and legal focus, the number of attorneys you have, your success rate, and how to contact you.<br /><br /> You can use your Web site to reinforce your professional image, highlight your services, and connect your prospects to the professionals in your firm with relevant expertise. It's important to include a description of your services, client testimonials, published articles and links to resources-these may help win over new clients.<br /><br /> But, no matter how well designed your site is, one of the most important success factors is whether or not you are drawing visitors to your Web site. Search engine optimization is often a determining success factor for lawyers. To optimize your search engine capabilities, make sure your content is compelling and addresses the searcher's needs. Be careful to incorporate your chosen key words and phrases into the copy on your main pages, and ensure that search engines recognize those key words.<br /><br /> <b>Benefit #2: A Web site helps you build credibility</b><br />A well-designed Web site will help your firm stand out, distinguishing you from you're your competitors, and enhancing your credibility. <br /><br /> Your Web site provides a vehicle for showcasing your expertise and accomplishments. You can include articles, white papers, newsletters, blogs, podcasts, and webinars on topics of interest to clients and prospects, communicating your capabilities in these areas. Prospects and clients benefit from this single source containing targeted information on their topic of interest-saving them time and effort. At the same time, it helps them to form an opinion of your firm.<br /><br /> With an RSS newsfeed, you can display content from around the world such as news headlines or blog entries on the topics of your choice. This content will be automatically displayed on your Web site as new content becomes available. Keeping your site up-to-date with newsfeeds that are relevant to your business may keep clients coming back.<br /><br /> <b>Benefit #3: A Web site will enhance your marketing efforts <br /> </b>In addition to serving as a primary marketing tool to clients and prospects, a Web site is essential for enhancing your marketing efforts. Many Web site templates include a number of tools designed to automate and streamline your practice, including contact management, form generation and completion, and the ability to create and send coupons and business cards online.</p> <p>With online contact management tools, you can gather contact information from your Web site, and market and communicate to your clients using the data that you have collected. Contact management tools-often included in a Web site template for law firms-allow you to set up mailing lists as a way to keep in touch with clients and prospects via e-mail or newsletter. In addition, you can set up your tools to notify you in advance of a client's birthday so that you can send a card, or send e-mail blasts each time you add or update listings. <br /><br /> A "Contact" page is vital for converting visitors into clients and does the work of collecting prospect information for you. You can include a form for prospects to complete that includes their personal information.<b></b><br /><br /> Contact management is further simplified through online forms. Rather than tying up the phone lines, you can collect data needed to respond to requests for appointments, referrals, or promotional information right through your Web site.<br /><br /> Web sites also help you promote your practice by having an online business card available to be e-mailed. This feature can often be used with online brochures, office announcements, or other informational materials. In addition, Web site templates provide the ability to offer new client discounts, or highlight a specific service, with a customized coupon. It's an easy way to promote your practice, get an edge on the competition or introduce a new specialty.<b></b><br /><br /> To optimize your success, keep your Web site up-to-date by adding fresh content, monitoring traffic, and analyzing the results on a regular basis. This analysis will help enable you measure your Return on Investment (ROI) so you can see how valuable your Web site is to your practice.</p> <p> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>How Does Pay Per Click Advertising Work?</h1> <p>Katie Saykes — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:41 GMT</p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">So you’ve got yourself a website, but how are people going to find it?<span> </span>Whether the goal of your website is to simply share information or to sell goods and services, you need to find a way to get the right people to it.<span> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">Pay Per Click advertising is a </span></span><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">very effective and easy way drive traffic that is highly qualified and targeted to the subject matter of your site.<span> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">Pay Per Click, or PPC, advertising is a form of online marketing in which ads for your website are placed on search engines and/or their partner sites and as the advertiser, you are only charged for the ad when someone clicks on it and is taken to your website.<span> </span>Your ad will essentially appear on a search engine results page when someone searches on a keyword which you have placed a bid on.<span> </span>The position in which your ad appears for that term depends on several factors, and unfortunately the search engines do not divulge each and every element that is considered, or the weight at which those elements are placed.<span> </span>The most basic factor, though, is the maximum bid that is set for each particular term or keyword.<span> </span>The maximum bid is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay if someone were to click on your ad as a result of their keyword search.<span> </span>Another major factor is keyword competition which means the number of advertisers bidding on a particular keyword.<span> </span>Each search engine determines ad position in a different way, and many use complicated formulas to determine which are the best, or most relevant ads to serve when someone performs a search.<span> </span>They do, however, usually provide “best practice” guidelines that will give you insight on how to structure your account in order to achieve the best results.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">Pay Per Click ads are displayed on search engines and their partner sites with the designation of “Sponsored Listings”, “Sponsored Results”, or some variation of the phrase in order to differentiate them from the “organic”, “natural” or “free” listings which are placed automatically by search engines.<span> </span>There are many PPC providers out there ranging from the big players such as Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing to smaller scale providers such as Ask.com or Miva.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">Many providers will also assign a specific account representative to customers that maintain account at a certain level.<span> </span>There are also many companies that provide outsourced PPC management services where your PPC campaign is set up and run by an advertising specialist usually for a management fee plus the cost of your clicks.<span> </span>One advantage of hiring an experienced online advertiser is that you have a well trained and experienced marketing professional setting up your account according to the best practice standards of each search provider.<span> </span>They also have knowledge of many different PPC providers’ interfaces and can easily manage the day to day activities of the account including budgeting, bid pricing, writing ad copy, and much more.<span> </span>Outsourcing also prevents website owners from spending valuable time running their PPC accounts when they need to be focusing on more important business matters.<span> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">Setting up a PPC account is fairly simple and most engines make the set up process very easy for first time customers.<span> </span>Usually it just involves entering customer information, setting up a form of payment and creating a login and password and then you are ready to start developing your PPC account.<span> </span>The first step is deciding which keywords you will be bidding on and how to structure those keywords into campaigns and ad groups.<span> </span>You will also need to develop the ad or ads which will appear in the search results when someone searches on one of your keywords.<span> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">The process of creating campaigns, ad groups, selecting keywords and writing ad copy is usually a very streamlined process that each PPC provider will lead you though in a step by step fashion or otherwise provide assistance through an account rep. When choosing keywords, you want to choose words or phrases that are the most relevant to the subject matter of your website, because you want the most qualified and relevant customers to see your ad and click on it.<span> </span>Another way to qualify potential customers is to write targeted and relevant ad copy because if you have well-written ad copy, you will likely avoid clicks from the wrong customers.<span> </span>Ad copy not only includes a brief title and description which conveys your desired message, but it also includes a display URL and destination URL for your website.<span> </span>This “display” URL is <span class="hilite1">display</span>ed in the ad text and the destination <span class="hilite2">URL</span> determines where on your website the customer will be taken once they click on the ad.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">Once you’ve developed your account structure, chosen keywords, and written ad copy the next step is usually setting your keyword bids.<span> </span>As mentioned earlier, the keyword bid is the maximum amount you’re going to pay for a click that results from a search on a particular keyword.<span> </span>Some search engines have minimum bid requirements, which means that maximum bids cannot be set below a certain amount.<span> </span>Others will recommend bid prices for your keywords in order for your ad to show in a certain position range.<span> </span>One thing to remember is that no bid price can guarantee your ad will be in the first position or for that matter, any position, all of the time.<span> </span>Again, there are many things that factor into your ad placement, one of them being the maximum bid but there are many others that vary from search engine to search engine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:x-small;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Although setting up a Pay Per Click account for the first time can seem like a daunting task, the process, once started, is not too complicated.<span> </span>Again, there are many tools to help you including tutorials or help guides provided by most PPC providers, account reps that work for the providers, and even outside companies that can handle the setup and account management for you.<span> </span>After the setup is complete, it is really the day to day management of your account that will make your Pay Per Click account a success.<span> </span>And remember, you can always make changes to almost any element of your account.<span> </span>Once everything is up and running, it is important to monitor your account performance and make adjustments when necessary because you competition will be doing the same!</span></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Increasing Your Search Engine Ranking - Beginner's Guide</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:59:56 GMT</p> <p>The methods employed to increase your search engine rankings may seem like rocket science to you, so you have probably avoided dealing with this issue. I am here to tell you - the time has come to face your website! A high search engine ranking for your website is so essential that if you have the slightest desire to actually succeed in your business, there is no way you can continue to avoid this issue.<br /><br />At least 85% of people looking for goods and services on the Internet find websites through search engines such as Google<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;">®</span>, Yahoo!<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;">®</span>, and MSN<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;">®</span>. The idea of optimizing your pages for high search engine rankings is to attract targeted customers to your site who will be more than likely to make a purchase. The higher your page comes up in search engine results, the greater the traffic that is directed to your website. That's what search engine optimization is about.<br /><br />You can immerse yourself in all the technical information available online to figure out how to optimize your web pages to achieve higher rankings. Or you can look at a few simple items on your pages, make some small adjustments, and most likely see improved rankings quite rapidly. The first item you should examine is the title bar on your homepage.<br /><br />The title bar is the colored bar at the top of the page. Look at the words that appear there when you access your home page. To increase search engine rankings, the words on your homepage's title bar should include the most important keywords or phrases, one of which would include your company name.<br /> <br />Then click on all your links and examine the title bars on the pages you access. Each title bar on every single page of your site should contain the most important keywords and phrases taken from the page itself. However, avoid very long strings of keywords, keeping them to six words or less. Avoid repeating keywords more than once in the title bars, and make sure that identical words are not next to each other.<br /><br />The next item to put under your microscope is your website content. Search engines generally list sites that contain quality content rather than scintillating graphics. The text on your site must contain the most important keywords - the words that potential customers will be typing into search engines to find your site.<br /><br />Aim to have around 250 words on each page, but if this is not desirable due to your design, aim for at least 100 carefully chosen words. If you want to achieve a high ranking on search engines, this text is essential. However, the search engines must be able to read the text, meaning that the text must be in HTML and not graphic format.<br /><br />To find out if your text is in HTML format, take your cursor and try to highlight a word or two. If you are able to do this, the text is HTML. If the text will not highlight, it is probably in graphic form. In this case, ask your webmaster to change the text into HTML format in order to increase your search engine rankings.<br /><br />Next we come to what is called meta tags. I know this sounds like something out of science fiction, but it is really just simple code. Many people believe that meta tags are the key to high search engine rankings, but in reality, they only have a limited effect. Still, it's worth adding them in the event that a search engine will use meta tags in their ranking formula.<br /><br />To find out if your page is set up with meta tags, you must access the code. To do this, click the "view" button on the browser menu bar, and select "source." This will pull up a window revealing the underlying code that created the page. If there are meta tags, they usually appear near the top of the window. For example, a meta tag would read: meta name="keywords" content=. If you do not find code that reads like this, ask your webmaster to put them in. This may not do much for your search engine rankings, but any little boost helps.<br /><br />Lastly, we come to the issue of link popularity. This is a factor that is extremely important in terms of search engine rankings. Almost all search engines use link popularity to rank your website. Link popularity is based on the quality of the sites you have linked to from your links page.<br /><br />If you type in "free link popularity check" in a popular search engine, the search engine will then show you what sites are linked to your site. In the case that there aren't many sites linked up to yours, or that the sites that are linked up have low search engine rankings, consider launching a link popularity campaign. Essentially, this entails contacting quality sites and requesting that they exchange links with your site. Of course, this requires checking out the rankings of the websites you want to link up with. Linking to popular, quality sites not only boosts your search engine ranking, but it also directs more quality traffic to your website.<br /><br />Search engine rankings are extremely important for a successful <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/search-engine-optimization.jsp">Internet marketing campaign</a>. Before you go out and hire a search engine optimization company, try taking some of the simple steps listed above, and see if you can't boost your rankings yourself. Don't ever ignore this all-important factor in Internet marketing. Remember, the higher your search engine ranking, the more quality customers will be directed your way.<br /><br /><br /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Increasing traffic to your Web site with the least amount of time and expense.</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:39 GMT</p> <p>Search Engine Optimization is an important part of getting your web site found online. Network Solutions’ Website Builder Tool provides you an easy way to get your Web site added to the indexes of major Search engines like Google®, Yahoo®, MSN® and many more.<br /><b><br /></b></p> <p><b>What are the basics to make my Web site search engine friendly?</b><br />Search engines want the results they present to their users to be highly relevant to the keywords entered by the users. Search engines explore or “crawl” Web sites looking for this relevancy and “index” the Web sites accordingly. You can help the search engines to find and index your Web site by making it “search engine friendly”, also known as “search engine optimization” or SEO. There are professional SEO experts who can help you achieve higher search engine rankings, but here are a basic few things you can do on your own.<br /><br />Make use of keywords that people can use to search for your site, by adding them to image names, page names etc.</p> <ul> <li>Put relevant keywords in the title, description and body text of all your pages.</li> <li>Link all your pages from the home page.</li> <li>Have a header for every page that summarizes the contents of the page the same as a chapter heading in a book.</li> <li>Spread the content over several pages. Each page should not have more than 250 to 300 words. If you have more content, add it to another page.</li> <li>When using images in your Website Builder Tool make sure you include the “alt text” in your images. You will be given the option to add this when selecting an image to add to your page.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><b>Make it easy for search engines to index your pages</b></p> <p>Before publishing your Web site, make sure add page titles, descriptions and keywords to your Web site by completing the “Attract Visitors to Your Web Site” form. See <a target="_blank" href="http://websiteuserguide.com/07-meta-tags.htm">http://Websiteuserguide.com/07-meta-tags.htm</a> .<br /><br />Use the “Attract Site Visitors” form to fill in the page title, description, and keywords for your Web site pages. Search engines such as Google® send “robots” or “spiders” to “crawl” (explore) your Web site for keywords and descriptions. Click on the “Search Engine Keywords” link under “Free Web Site Tools” on the right of your Control Center.<br /> <br />OR<br /> <br />If you are on the “Edit Your Web Pages” screen</p> <ol> <li>Click on the page name and then click “Change Search Engine Keywords”.</li> <li>Select the title for this page. This title will appear in the bar at the top of your user's Web browser.</li> <li>Enter a concise description of your site in 200 characters or less, including spaces.</li> <li>Finally, enter the keywords and keyword phrases that best describe your Web site.</li> </ol> <p>You can also edit, refine or change your keywords any time through “Web Site Pages”. Just select the page you want and then click the “Change Search Engine Keywords” link.<br /> <br /><b>Tip:</b> Developing very precise keywords will help improve the position of your Web site in search engine results. For example, if you are a real estate agent, using keywords such as “Real Estate” is too broad and will reduce the likelihood of your Web site appearing early in search results. Instead, use a more precise phrase, like Northern Virginia Commercial Real Estate. Also, make sure your most important keyword is in the title of your Web site. For example, use Northern Virginia Real Estate as your title to help increase your ranking.<br /><br />You should repeat this process for each page on your Web site.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>How do I add footer text on each page?</b><br />If you own a brick and mortar business that services walk-in customers, we recommend you use the footer to display your location, phone, etc. on all your pages. The inclusion of your address on your Web site will also help you with local search engine results when a customer is looking for a product or service in a local area.</p> <ol> <li>Click on the “Web Site Pages” icon in the top menu bar.</li> <li>Click on a page name and on the “edit page” link.</li> <li>Click the “add footer” button that appears at the bottom of the page.</li> <li>Enter your footer information in the text editor box, format it for size, font, etc., and then click “Continue”.</li> </ol> <p>Use our Free SubmitWizard tool after you have fully built your Web site and published it. Details of using Submit Wizard can be found at <a target="_blank" href="http://websiteuserguide.com/07-submit-wizard.htm">http://Websiteuserguide.com/07-submit-wizard.htm</a>. To access this tool:<br /> <br />Under “Free Web Site Tools” on your Website Builder Tool Control Center, click the “Submit to Search Engines” link.<br /> <br />OR<br /> <br />If you are on the “Edit Web Pages” screen:</p> <ol> <li>Click on the page name.</li> <li>Click “Change Search Engine Keywords”.</li> <li>Complete all the sections of the page.</li> <li>Scroll to the bottom of the screen to the section “Submit to Search Engines”.</li> <li>Click on the link “Submit Information to Search Engines</li> </ol> <p>It’s as easy as that to get started! If you need additional help on more advanced <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/search-engine-optimization.jsp">Search Engine Optimization</a> techniques, Network Solutions offers a free white paper called “<a target="_blank" href="http://bpmforms.networksolutions.com/whitepaper-seo.html?OriginationPage=online-marketing/index.jsp&CampaignName=BasicsOfSEO-20070628">SEO Guide to Getting Found Online</a>.” </p> </article> <article> <h1>Website promotion in 10 seconds</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:36 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">During the first ten seconds that a visitor enters your site, it is your goal to induce a click from the prospective buyer. Here are some tips for successful <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/online-marketing/index.jsp" target="_blank">online website marketing</a>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Here are two successful methods for grasping the attention and interest of your visitors:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">1.<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Understand exactly what your users want, and give it to them. This seems obvious, but becomes complex when you have thousands of visitors hitting your storefront daily. How can you cater to each of them with a limited amount of space on your homepage? You can build out a portal style site map of your store… a "quick navigation" that breaks down categories and sub-categories. This provides a quick screenshot of your entire operation. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Aside from giving the prospective buyer an overview of your offerings; users are able to drill down deep into your site with one click. The text-based site map also proves invaluable for search engines. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">2.<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Another method to inducing the first click is providing a strong call to action or incentive. By featuring discounts and free shipping offers, the offer may intrigue the user to commit another click. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Once you have the prospective buyer "on the hook"…don't kill the sale with poorly written product descriptions. Nothing kills a sale quicker than a product that is as enthralling as reading the ingredients of a box of tofu. You have invested the time and effort to build your store, don't miss out on sales due to poorly worded product descriptions. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Being personable is also important. Instead of having the most exciting part of a television product description be it's "titanium silver color"… talk about how the consumer's home will be the place to come and watch the big game (on a screen so big you can see the sweat coming out of the players' pores). Speak about how the "picture in picture" capability means there will be no more flipping back and forth- saving the fingers precious energy for snatching up potato chips. Do all you can to involve the person's emotions and senses into the product description. Sure, the technical stuff should be included, but put it at the bottom of the description. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Do testimonials work? Can testimonials be rigged and seem unauthentic? Sure. It seems like most testimonials are generic. If you include the first and last name of the testimonial, you will earn trust and credibility. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">After you have converted a "browser" into a "buyer" follow up the sale- customer service will separate you from your competition. Thank them for their business. The purpose of a follow up e-mail is to reassure the customer they made the right decision- to remove the feeling of "buyers remorse". Make them feel comfortable with their purchase. It won't go unnoticed. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">While a flashy site with neat graphics may catch someone's eye, well written, descriptive, persuasive text is the ticket to sales conversions... it's the difference between the prospective buyer exiting your site and opening their pocketbook.</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>What are keywords?</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Keywords are the Search Engine’s guide to your web site</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Keywords are words that are embedded into the code of a website to indicate what each page is about. Some keywords are invisible to human eyes looking at a web page, although you can see them embedded in the code if you have the option to view the “Source” of a web page in your browser. Other keywords can be seen by humans because they are included in the visible copy on the page.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Keywords originated in the 1990’s when it was felt that search engines were not very good a deciding what was relevant on a web page. They were (and still are) placed within specific tags in the webpage code, generally towards the top of the page.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>Today, search engines are much more sophisticated and use a variety of techniques to determine what is relevant and important on a web page. For this reason, web site copywriters will try to “optimize” the content on a web page to make sure that the appropriate keywords are found not only within the tags, but also within the content. So using keywords effectively can still help move your web site up in the search rankings.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">When you add keywords to your Web site code and copy you are performing what is known in the industry as Search Engine Optimization. However, unless you are using a professional company that provides <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/search-engine-optimization.jsp%20">SEO services </a>, it is easy to make mistakes with keywords.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Some common mistakes when using keywords for Search Engine Optimization</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">One of the typical mistakes people use when selecting keywords is to make them too general. If you own a motor sport business, for example, using the keyword “motorbike” is probably not going to help boost your search engine rankings, and even if it does, visitors to your site may not be looking to buy a motorbike, but rather read the results of the latest motocross rally. However, if you use a phrase of several targeted keywords, such as “xyz brand model number dirt bike”, you are more likely to attract visitors who are specifically looking for a product you have for sale.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Another mistake is not thinking about how people might enter search terms to find something – for example, people will often misspell the word they are searching for. By having the misspelled keyword on your site, you might gain a better placement in the results. Companies that offer SEO services can often generate a good list of potential misspellings for you to target.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Also, don’t try to find good keywords by typing them into a search engine and seeing how many results are returned. The search results will only show you how many pages contain those keywords, but not the frequency at which they are searched for by real people. In order to try to find out how popular a keyword is, you can use an online tool such as Google’s<a target="_blank" href="https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal"> Keyword Tool </a> or hire a professional Search Engine Optimization expert. As part of your SEO services, an SEO expert will review your Web site to develop a list of keywords that are relevant to your site, your business, and your industry. He or she will work wit you to develop a list of targeted keywords that correspond to terms or phrases that people frequently use to conduct a search for your types of services. These can then be implemented into your site as part of the tags and the content on your site.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Tips and Tricks for optimizing an e-commerce Web site</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Ecommerce SEO presents some unique challenges</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">E-commerce web sites have their own unique challenges and opportunities for Search Engine Optimization. Perhaps the greatest challenges are the problems of individual product page visibility, and the issue of duplicate content with other sites. By following some basic ecommerce <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/search-engine-optimization.jsp" target="_blank">SEO</a> guidelines, you can avoid these problems and significantly improve your ranking in search engine results.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Help the search engines find your pages</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Individual page visibility can be an issue if individual product pages are dynamically shown to the user based on a site search. A search engine cannot enter text into your search box to find out what content is on your site, so unless there are static links to your products, the search engines will not find your product pages. Here are some tips to help over come this problem:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Try to avoid dynamically generated URLs when product pages are displayed as a result of a site search. Search engines cannot index these properly so your content will be lost.</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Feature your most important products on your home page and provide a static link to their pages in your store</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Link from those product pages to other similar products, to provide the search engines with a pathway to explore your entire e-commerce site</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Add additional static content to your site. A blog is a good way to do this, because you can write about your products and then provide a link to their product pages that the search engines can follow. Other content could include ideas on how to use your products, or customer reviews and testimonials, all with links to the appropriate product page</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Avoid duplicate content – make your site fresh and different</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Another reason product pages are often ignored by the search engines is because they appear to have duplicate content from other sites. This is often a result of using the generic product descriptions provided by the manufacturer of the products you are selling – many other e-commerce sites may also be using those descriptions. Search engines will often discard content that they believe to be duplicating another site. In addition, if some of your products are very similar, for example you have different pages for different sizes or colors of the same item, this may also appear to be duplicate content to the search engines. Here are some ways you can make sure your ecommerce site is listed ahead of your competition in the search engine results:</span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Use a unique title tag, meta tag, meta description and meta keywords tag on every page of your site, including each product page.</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Include your own unique product description for each product, rather than the generic one provided by the manufacturer</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Add additional content about the product. You could include customer reviews, or your own thoughts on what you like about the product.</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Add links to similar products that you sell, with a unique description of those products</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">In other ways, ecommerce SEO isn't that different than optimizing a regular web site. You can read about the basics of good optimization using keywords and the importance of internal linking in our article “Search Engine Optimization in five easy steps”.</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Online shoppers are increasingly using search engines to look for products and services online. Ecommerce SEO is an essential aspect of making sure potential customers can find your web site in search engine results. Network Solutions’ <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/search-engine-optimization.jsp" target="_blank">online marketing</a> experts can help you further improve your rankings in the indexes of major Search engines like Google®, Yahoo®, MSN® and many more.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Why is Google Ignoring my Web Site?</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p>You have a Web site that you spent time and money creating, but when you search for it on Google, nothing comes up! Google presents a list of competitor sites but nothing for yours. Follow these steps to find out why Google is ignoring your site and how you can use Search Engine Optimization techniques for better results: </p> <p>1. <strong>Check to find out if your Web site is in Google’s index</strong> </p> <p>In order to be displayed in Google’s search results, your Web site must be in Google’s index. This can happen in one of two ways; either you can submit your site to Google to be indexed, or Google may find it by following a link from another site. To quickly determine whether your Web site is in the index, go to Google and perform a search for its entire URL. </p> <p>A search for site:www.google.com, for instance, returns the following results: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=site:www.google.com">http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=site:www.google.com</a> . When searching. be sure you don’t include a space between “site:” and your domain name. You can also use Google’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitestatus?hl=en" class="null">Site Status Wizard</a> to check the index status of your site, and find out when your home page was last visited by Google. </p> <p>If your Web site isn’t in Google’s index, you can tell Google about it by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/addurl/" class="null">submitting it</a>.One way to speed up Google's indexing of new pages is to submit a Sitemap. Even if your site is already in the index, Sitemaps are a great way to tell Google about the pages you consider most important. If your Web site used to be in Google’s index, but isn’t there now, it may be that you have inadvertently violated Google’s <a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769" class="null">webmaster guidelines</a> . You should review your Web site against the webmaster guidelines and submit a reconsideration request. </p> <p>2. <strong>Check your Web site for things that Google penalizes</strong></p> <p>If your Web site is in Google’s index, but not high in the search results, it could be because there is something on your Web site that Google doesn’t like. Google penalizes Web sites with “problematic” content in it’s results. You should work through the following guidelines to determine if your Web site has any problems:</p> <p>Avoid tricks intended to only improve search engine rankings. A useful test is to ask is, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?" Especially don't deceive your users or present content that is different search engines than for users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking". </p> <p>Avoid hidden text or hidden links – Google can identify these, and will penalize you for them. Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links from web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links. If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that it adds value. </p> <p>Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as pages with little or no original content. </p> <p>Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs violate Google’s Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google. </p> <p>Finally, keep the links on any page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100). </p> <p>3. <strong>Add things that Google likes!</strong></p> <p>Google will rank your Web site higher if it has good content and navigation. Setting up your site to maximize this type of content is known as Search Engine Optimization. Here are some tips directly from Google on ways to optimize your website and improve your ranking: </p> <p>Give your site a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link. Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages. Submit your site map to Google to help it crawl your site. </p> <p>Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your services. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first. Check to ensure that you don’t have multiple pages, subdomains or domains with substantially duplicate content, as Google will penalize you for this. </p> <p>Think about the words a user would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words. However, don't load pages with keywords and especially not irrelevant keywords. Also don't create pages with malicious behavior, such as Phishing, viruses, trojans, or other badware. </p> <p>Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images. If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few. </p> <p>Make sure that your TITLE tags and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate. </p> <p>4. <strong>Check for broken links and correct HTML.</strong> </p> <p>Essentially, create a site that users will find to be helpful, and easy to use. Keep it updated, and relevant and Google will like it too! </p> <p>If these tips and tricks don’t significantly increase your position in Google’s search results, you may wish to engage a professional Search Engine Optimization firm. Network Solutions has a team of experienced optimization experts who can help you move up the rankings. A variety of Search Engine Optimization packages are available to suit your particular needs</p> </article> <article> <h1>Search Engine Optimization in Five Easy Steps</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal" style="> </p> <p>What are the basics to make my Web site search engine friendly? </p> <p>Search engines want the results they present to be highly relevant to the keywords entered by the users. Search engines explore or "crawl" Web sites looking for this relevancy and "index" the Web sites accordingly. You can help the search engines to find and index your Web site by making it "search engine friendly", also known as "<a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/search-engine-optimization.jsp"><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><span style="color:#0000ff;">search engine optimization</span></span></a>" or SEO. There are professional SEO experts who can help you achieve higher search engine rankings, but here are a few basic things you can do on your own.</p> <p>These small search engine optimization steps will certainly help your search engine ranking. However, if you are in a competitive market or still finding that your site isn’t ranking well, you might want to consult with a professional web site optimization company.</p> <ol> <li>Make use of keywords that people can use to search for your site by adding them to image names, page names etc. Try include your keywords in the "alt text" for your images. If you are using Network Solutions Image Café web site builder, you will be given the option to add this when selecting an image to add to your page. </li> <li>Put relevant keywords in the title, description and body text of all your pages. Developing very precise keywords will help improve the position of your Web site in search engine results. For example, if you are a real estate agent, using keywords such as "Real Estate" is too broad and will reduce the likelihood of your Web site appearing early in search results. Instead, use a more precise phrase, like "Northern Virginia Commercial Real Estate". Also, make sure your most important keywords are in the title of your Web site. For example, use Northern Virginia Commercial Real Estate as your title to help increase your ranking.</li> <li>Link all your pages from the home page and try to link between pages when relevant. Search engines will find it easier to crawl your site. </li> <li>Have a header for every page that summarizes the contents of the page. If you own a brick and mortar business that services walk-in customers, we recommend you use the footer to display your location, phone, etc. on all your pages. The inclusion of your address on your Web site will also help you with local search engine results when a customer is looking for a product or service in your local area. </li> <li>Spread your content over several pages. Each page should not have more than 250 to 300 words. If you have more content, add it to another page.</li> </ol> </article> <article> <h1>PPC vs SEO – Friends or Foe?</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:17 GMT</p> <p>When it comes to which form of search engine marketing is most effective, the argument between search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) advertising can become as passionate and heated as a political debate. If you’re new to search engine marketing, it is easy to get overwhelmed and lost in the sea of opinions on both sides.</p> <p>Some experts believe that you get more out of paying for the targeted traffic that comes to your Web site from a PPC advertising campaign, while others point out that SEO is free and brings more traffic to your Web site. Luckily, there is one thing that the experts all agree on: if your company has a Web site, you need a way for potential customers to find you onsearch engines such as Google® and Yahoo!®.</p> <p>The fact is, there is a place for both PPC and SEO in a robust search engine marketing plan – both are integral and imperative, with their own distinct advantages. In this whitepaper we will discuss the pros and cons of both, and help you understand the ideal relationship between the two.</p> <p> <b>Search Engine Optimization</b></p> <p>When a Web user goes to a search engine and types in a word or phrase (also known as “keywords”) then clicks “enter”, they are served a “results page,” which shows both “paid results” (PPC advertising) and “organic results”. Paid results traditionally show up on the right hand side or top of the search results page, and have the term “sponsor results” alongside them. Organic results appear in the center of the search results page, and are numbered. <b>SEO refers to organic results only.</b></p> <p>SEO is the process of developing your Web site so that it can be searched and indexed by search engines such as Google® and Yahoo!®. Ultimately, this searching and indexing will result in higher rankings for your Web site when someone searches on a keyword or keyword phrases related to your industry or business.</p> <p>SEO is particularly important for e-commerce sites. However, SEO isn’t something that is easily picked up by newcomers to the search engine marketing scene. Due to the fact that copywriting, design and HTML skills all play a factor in SEO, there is a steep learning curve — yet one that can produce serious results as 70% of all online searchers click on “organic” results verses pay per click ads*. Keep in mind that SEO isn’t a quick fix to get traffic to your Web site, as it can be a long process with increased results for your Web site in the search engine listings generally showing around the fifth month of optimization.</p> <p>Here is a quick view of the pros and cons of SEO:</p> <p> <b>SEO Pros</b></p> <ul> <li><b>Time</b> – Rankings can remain long after the optimization has been completed.</li> <li><b>Cost</b> – You don’t pay every time someone clicks on your listing.</li> <li><b>Trust/Branding</b> – People often trust “natural” listings more then they do paid listings.</li> <li><b>Branding</b> – The higher ranked you are in the natural search results the more credible people (and the search engines) perceive you to be.</li> </ul> <p> <b>SEO Cons</b></p> <ul> <li><b>Cost </b>– SEO requires larger up front costs than PPC.</li> <li><b>Unpredictable</b> – Ranking can change quickly as search engine algorithms change or competition increases.</li> <li><b>Competition</b> – Competition can be brutal for certain keywords. Some marketers even</li> <li>resort to unethical practices to ensure they are in the top position.</li> <li><b>Targeting</b> – Targeting is a little trickier, especially geographical targeting, with SEO.</li> <li><b>Changes</b> – Obtaining consistent top rankings will require constant monitoring and</li> <li>tweaks to your site.</li> </ul> <p>SEO is complex and the methods for achieving top rankings change often. So what can you do in order to increase traffic to your Web site while you are waiting for your SEO campaign to bear fruit? This is where PPC advertising comes in.</p> <p> <b>Pay Per Click Advertising</b></p> <p>Going back to the search results page, as stated above, pay per click ads appear in the right and top part of the search results page. PPC advertising allows you to choose as many relevant search terms as you want and advertise on them. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, and you are allowed to bid how much you would like to pay per click – thus the name.</p> <p>The beauty of PPC is that it can be live within minutes of setting it up. You can literally drive traffic to your Web site in the same hour that you open a PPC account – it’s that fast! Another benefit is that you pay only when someone actually clicks on your ad – you don’t pay per eyeball or impression like most traditional forms of advertising. Here’s a quick run down of the pros and cons of PPC:</p> <p> <b>PPC Pros</b></p> <ul> <li><b>Calculation </b>– PPC is easily measured. Marketers are able to get raw numbers within seconds. Return on investment (ROI) and cost per acquisition (CPA) are easy to calculate.</li> <li><b>Cost</b> – You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.</li> <li><b>Speed</b> – Everything about PPC is done fairly fast. The campaign can be running in less than a day.</li> <li><b>Control</b> – You have total control of what the searcher sees when they view your ad or click through to your site.</li> <li><b>Timing </b>– You can set up your ads to only run when you want them to.</li> <li><b>Targeted</b> – You can easily hit your target audience by using the proper keywords and ad copy.</li> </ul> <p> <b>PPC Cons</b></p> <ul> <li><b>Expense</b> – A PPC campaign can be expensive it if isn’t monitored correctly.</li> <li><b>Click Fraud</b> – There is always a risk of getting unethical clicks.</li> </ul> <p>However easy it seems, there are nuances to learn about PPC advertising. PPC advertising has a learning curve – albeit much shorter than SEO – and it’s important not to rush into anything without learning how. A complex algorithm that takes into consideration your bid, your ad’s relevance and a number of other factors actually determines in what placement your ad will be seen on the page, and the better placement you have, the better chance you have at quality clicks that convert.</p> <p>In addition, without the right account structure, ad copy, and landing page choice, you may pay more money per click than your competitors. Without the correct budget set daily and monthly, you could either miss out on most of your best traffic or allow your spending to go out of control while you’re not looking.</p> <p> <b>PPC versus SEO — Which is the Right Choice?</b></p> <p>PPC and SEO are two fantastic ways to drive traffic to your Web site, and are ideally suited to use together. PPC advertising can fill in the gaps for your SEO. During the five or so months that you are optimizing and waiting for results, you can drive most of your traffic via PPC ads. Once your optimization has taken place, you can use your PPC ads to highlight any special offers or new products that you have and to target all of the keywords that your search engine optimization wasn’t focused on.</p> <p> <b>You should never put all your marketing dollars in one basket—it’s too risky.</b></p> <ul> <li>If you have high organic rankings but no paid ads, then you are letting your PPC-savvy competitors steal traffic from you because a large percentage of potential customers will click on paid ads too.</li> <li>If your organic rankings suddenly take a dive due to search engine algorithm changes and you don’t have a PPC campaign then you are suddenly invisible in the SERP’s (search engine results pages). Granted you can start PPC at any time, but if you aren’t familiar with it, it can take some time (even for a professional) to figure out the most effective PPC strategy for your site.</li> <li>If you only focus on paid listings, you are missing out on the 70% of traffic that goes to organic rankings. Also, research indicates that many customers put a higher “trust” level on organic rankings since many customers are aware that sponsored ads are paid for. You may find that your conversion rate for organic rankings is higher than that of your PPC campaign.</li> <li>If you only focus on paid listings and suddenly a competitor enters the PPC market with a big budget that you can’t compete with, then you are going to lose your placement and now you are looking at 3-5 months before you can counter that with organic rankings.</li> </ul> <p> <b>Use SEO and PPC together for the most effective marketing strategy </b></p> <p>Organic SEO is a great long-term investment that everyone who is serious about their Web site should invest in, but PPC can start driving traffic right away. Smart customers will use this to their benefit and begin SEO and PPC at the same time to get traffic to their Web site right away, while waiting for organic rankings to rise. Once you’ve obtained strong organic rankings, you can reduce your PPC spending, but you shouldn’t stop it altogether.</p> <p>Regardless of what tactic you choose, implementing any search engine marketing campaign requires learning and time, which is why many companies outsource it. If you’d prefer to have a professional manage your SEO or PPC campaigns, Network Solutions can help. Our online marketing experts have been professionally trained and are here to help you navigate the sometimes confusing, but often beneficial world of online marketing. To speak to a Network Solutions search expert, call 1-877-438-8599.</p> <p> <b>About Network Solutions®</b></p> <p>Network Solutions, a leading provider of Web solutions and the pioneer of the domain name registration service, draws on decades of experience to make it quick and affordable for customers to build and manage an online presence. Our full range of Web-related services includes:</p> <ul> <li>Web hosting</li> <li>Web design</li> <li>E-commerce software</li> <li>Search engine marketing</li> <li>SSL Certificates</li> <li>E-mail services</li> <li>Domain name registration</li> </ul> <p>Network Solutions® backs its products and services with free, award-winning customer service named “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience” by J.D. Power and Associates. A quick e-mail or toll-free call for help will be answered promptly by a trained Network Solutions® Customer Support Representative — 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.</p> <p> For more information, please visit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com">http://www.networksolutions.com</a> or visit our new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.marketing.networksolutions.com/blog/">Online Marketing blog</a>. </p> <p><b></b></p> </article> </main></body></html>