Latest Google Update: Bad News for SEO's ?

Official Google Blog: Search, plus Your World

Wow, so this could be bad news for SEO Marketing types. If more and more people are customizing results, there will be less opportunity to expose people to products they may be interested in.

I know that ultimately it's a business. And herein lies another fantastic money making option for Google. I'm predicting right here and now after reading this article that Soon you have the option to have "Sponsored Results" like you see on Twitter. You know, the links on the right that tell you who you might like to follow based on interests and mutual followings etc, but the top one or two are always like CocaCola or some other big timers.
Any way, that's what I see happening here. Keep your eyes open. With Facebook ads already beating the socks off of Adwords as far as targeting and reach, with this new addition I think the use of Adwords is going to slooooooowly go away.

That's my two cents.

Top 5 Signs your website sucks

Small business owners may not have the resources to invest heavily in their web presence and finding solutions to problems can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You know something's wrong but don't have the faintest idea how to fix it. Is it a technical issue? Are your ads not performing well? Don't know what kind of traffic you're getting? Website problems can fall into a myriad of categories. So if you think your website sucks, a) it probably does, and b) you should read on.

1. You Aren't Getting Traffic

You're excited about the big, expensive job the design team just finished on your site. It looks like a million bucks! Well it's a shame it isn't making you a darn cent. Just because it exists doesn't mean people know about it. Announce it to the world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites (you do have useful content, don't you? If not, I'll cover this later). You can even do some link exchanges -- provided the sites you exchange with are reputable -- just to get your site crawled early on. Further optimize it for search engines by following good SEO practices, building quality content and generating inbound links from other sites. Once you do that, you'll need to monitor progress with web analytics software. Google Analytics is free and it has a slick interface. And we know you like pretty things seeing as how you broke the bank on your web site design.

If you're looking for high ROI, invest your own time in learning search engine marketing. Better yet hire a qualified SEO firm if you have the budget for it. Don't settle for quick-fix promotional ideas. Build long-term exposure and a solid reputation by attaining high rankings, keeping email/newsletter lists, targeted ad placement and social media participation.

2. You Have Worthless Content

What defines worthless content? Without knowing what topic your web site covers it's tough to say, but if you have nothing that sets you apart from your top competitors then I'd say you aren't in good shape. If you don't know what kind of content people are looking for on the Internet today, take a peek at what's popular on social bookmarking sites. Observe some of the story titles on the front page of Digg.com:

"Guinness Stout Beef Stew Recipe for St. Patrick's Day"
"In Move to Digital TV, Confusion Is in the Air"
"Kim Jong-Il Interprets Sunrise As Act Of War"
"Automatic bacon dispenser?"
"The 5 Best Obama Photomosaics on Flickr"

Words I would use to describe these topics, in order, are: seasonal, informative, satirical, comical, and trendy. This information is popular because it's appealing in its uniqueness and is relevant to today's market. To set yourself apart from your competition, you need to get creative. If you're the kind of person who had trouble painting by numbers, then hire someone creative. Professional copy writers can be well worth the investment. Create free tools your customers will want to use; write funny or interesting commentary in a blog about your industry; put a new spin on a traditional product or service or offer seasonal discounts. Create a comprehensive F.A.Q. on your site that covers topics your competitors don't.

Take the time to beef up your content. Be innovative - don't be afraid to think outside the box. Use the top competitor in your field as a measuring stick.

3. You Have No Call-to-Action

Poor promotional language can have a sabotaging effect if visitors aren't drawn to your conversion pages. A conversion page is any page that acts as the final step in a visitor submitting a form, making direct contact or purchasing a product online. Obscuring those pages or confusing the visitor on where to go next can make them leave your site. Internet users have a short attention span - give them a clear direction when navigating your web site.

Use your web analytics software again to find out what pages visitors are landing on first. If your home page gets the most traffic, make sure there are clear links to your sub-topics. If inner pages are your most popular landing pages, find out if the traffic is targeted. Once you know the type of visitor and the specific page they land on, then you can start marketing your content more accurately.

The bottom line is to always make clear why, and how, visitors can buy your product. Don't get too cute with multiple steps, options or convoluted language.

4. You're Getting Traffic But No Sales

Are you sure the traffic is relevant? If you're running a pay-per-click campaign, ensure your ads are geo-targeted properly and your ad text or landing pages appeal to your customers. For organic search engine placement, have you done keyword research and analysis before optimizing your content? Look at your web stats and see where your visitors are coming from. What keywords were they searching for when they landed on your site? Are the referring sites relevant to your industry or topic? How much time does the visitor spend on each page? Sales won't come if your visitors aren't interested in what you're selling. This is why preliminary keyword analysis is so important to search engine marketing.

If you're running ads it's always good practice to experiment with different ad campaigns. If you put all your eggs in one basket you run the risk of losing out on potential revenue. Elements of your ads that you can change are:

- ad text
- landing page
- specific network your ads are shown across
- topics on which you focus the campaign
- geo-locations targeted

Remember, it doesn't pay to skimp on initial product/market research and analysis.

5. You're Getting Relevant Traffic But No Sales

This problem could signal a technical error or navigation problem with your site. Make sure you thoroughly test all functionalities on various web browsers and systems. Submit test forms. Do a link check to spot possible broken links. Is your web hosting service reliable?

If you've ruled out technical issues as the cause then turn your attention to the content and customer base. Has your market taken a downturn? Can the lack of sales be attributed to the poor economy? Have you fallen behind your competition in product quality, selection or pricing? Does your web site's navigation system confuse users? Your web site is the first line of contact between the business and potential customer, but it's not the only step you need to worry about. Telephone operators or online payment systems can present their own issues.

This is moving away from web site problems but if any part of the sales process takes place away from the site, investigate those areas of your business as well.

If you're pulling out your hair over a problem with your site and these tips still haven't helped, feel free to post a comment and I'll personally have a peek at your site.

With eight years in the search engine marketing industry, John Metzler of FreshPromo knows what works and what doesn't regarding website success. His strong grasp on visitor usability and analysis, along with a highly-skilled SEO perspective, can be seen through his professional SEO services. Read the FreshPromo blog for more free tips and commentary.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Metzler

If you aren't doing this, your visitors are leaving

I have written a number of articles on how to market and advertise your website for free through article marketing. Then I receive numerous emails from people saying they tried it and their visitors have not increased that much and they don't stay once they get there. Using Google analytics they see how long a visitor stayed and how they surfed and the results they see aren't pretty.

I then go and visit their websites only to find they are terribly and poorly designed. You can't find anything on them, the color scheme makes your eyes water, you get the famous "debug this code" message as if every web surfer is now a web developer, and of course the ever irritating scroll off the page to the right. And these are the things I see in the first 30 seconds of a website.

I immediately email them back saying you need to redevelop your website. I don't care how you advertise if your website falls into any of the categories above people will not stay. Here are some development tips that could mean the difference between someone staying and someone leaving.

Navigation
Make it easy for your visitors to find things. If they need to log in do they have to go through four or five links to get to the log in screen? Good navigation is when the visitor clicks no more than two links to get there and sometimes no more than one click.

Soft and Clean
Is the color scheme and layout of your website hard on the eyes? Do you use a lot of dark and uninviting colors? That is another reason why they don't stay. Use softer lighter colors and make sure if you use multiple colors that these colors compliment each other and work together. Also make sure the visitor does not have to scroll off the right side of the screen to see the entire website. If you have to make the visitor scroll down or hopefully not at all, and adding too much information to a single page overwhelms most users to the point where they will just leave. So keep each page simple.

Speed
Design your website for speed. Graphics, Flash and sound all make a website great but if it takes forever to load most people won't stick around. Make your site load faster by using as much HTML as possible, smaller graphic files, loading of Flash and sound files as needed as opposed to loading them regardless of whether they get used or not. If a visitor has to wait they will leave.

These are just three ideas you can implement today that won't cost you more than a day or two of development on your website. All you have to do is look at some of the better websites on the internet to see how they align their navigation and color schemes and you will see why they are extremely popular.

Once you have your site to the point where it makes the most sense for the visitor, then get back to utilizing the article marketing techniques that I have written about in the past.

About the Author

Bruce Tucker is a contributing writer to Mike's How-To Blog, a blog that covers a wide variety of topics and how to do them. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruce_A._Tucker

Why Web Design is Important

In today's economy, Internet savvy business owners are realizing the importance of operating a website for their online presence. More and more businesses are switching from traditional marketing to online advertising as a way to combat the economic downturn. Businesses should make it a priority to put their efforts into recession-proof marketing techniques. These start with a well designed web site.

A well designed web site is not just pretty; it must have good content and be "search engine friendly". When choosing a web design company, be sure to ask if they create Search Engine Optimized sites. Sites that contain content, links, and html code that gets noticed by search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. This is key. You can spend a lot of time and effort getting a beautiful web site, but if no comes to it what good is it?

Now that you have chosen a web designer who will be sure your site meets Web 2.0 standards, what do you put on the site? Here are some keys to good content and site organization.

• Provide credible, original content in as many forms as possible.

• Update your site regularly, providing valuable, timely information.

• Share everything you learn.

• Target your site's content to your users needs.

• Be sure your site loads quickly, use optimized graphic file sizes.

• Make your site easy to read.

• Use interactivity to engage users.

• Make a well-organized site structure.

• Become the expert in your field.

• Have a secure site if you are selling online.

• What's on your web site

• Where to find it.

• How to contact you

• Why they should explore further

Everything else is just gravy. Most people will spend approximately 8-10 seconds looking at a homepage and deciding to stay or move on to somewhere else. It is called a homepage because it is the "home camp" of your web site. It is where visitors can return to, to continue exploring your site. It should thus look a little different from the rest of your site.

A common homepage mistake is to write too much. Most visitors do not read your home page, they scan it. There are billions of sites out there, who has the time to read every homepage. This is why it is important to make the homepage simple and concise. Let them know what is on your site and why they need to explore further. Create links leading to more detailed content on separate pages. The content on your web pages should be written with your visitors as well as the search engines in mind. Include the keywords or keyword phrases that pertain to your business. This way the search engines "robots" will detect the high relevance of your site when people search for the keywords that you have chosen.

Behind the scenes there is a lot going on as well. That is why it is important to choose a reputable web designer or firm. These are the invisible things that visitors do not see, but benefit from nonetheless. It is the "stuff" that gets your site noticed by the search engines and making your business easy to find on the web.

Some of the "invisible" includes:

* Architecture

* Technology Choices

* SEO Planning

* Graphic Design

* Programming

* Content Production

* Marketing and Promotion

* Maintenance Strategy

Build THE website you need to increase your brand awareness, grow your business, and explode sales.

For more information on Website Design visit http://www.emarketme.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Antoinette_Wakefield