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Making Advertising Sales to Small Business Owners

Jan
24
2012

This will be the finale post on creating local search websites. If you’re just joining, the previous six posts have covered how to launch and profit from local listing websites. These are small sites that perform well in search engines by targeting niche keywords and list local business information.

As mentioned before sales are the X factor that will determine your overall earnings. The second post discussed the advertising options which I suggested are charging each business per listing, charging one or two businesses for premium advertising space throughout the website, or trying out affiliate marketing and Adsense.

Of course, all are options for one site. Bottom line, sales is the most flexible aspect of this business model and results will correlate with effort. Many things might trigger someone to go ahead and spend on advertising with your site. This post will give you a few ideas to open the relationship with a manager and conduct sales.

For those of you joining now here is a link to all of the posts so far.

Part 1 – Generating Income Through Local Search Websites
Part 2 – The Local Search Advertising Business Models
Part 3 – How to Uncover Local Search Trends With Google
Part 4 – Building The Most User Friendly Local Directory Sites
Part 5 – Streamline Your Workflow as a Local Search Entrepreneur
Part 6 – The SEO Equation for Long Term Traffic

How Do Local Business Owners Make Advertising Decisions

Believe it or not most local business owners shop for advertising like you and I walk down the cereal aisle and choose breakfast food. The owners see a myriad of options and each look pretty similar from their stand point. They understand one ad medium alone is not a miracle worker but they feel every new opportunity is a wild card. Owners are pitched daily from newspaper reps, sponsorships requests, SEO companies you name it. They have heard it all.

It’s going to be critical that you demonstrate the value of your website with visuals and statistics in under a minute. Keep the pitch and options simple. The upside is that you are a niche site and can demonstrate a top ranking for the area they serve. Doing this and delivering one, two at most options for advertising will go a long ways in helping achieve sales.

Materials Needed for Sales

I recommend these essential items to convey the value of your website.
A Screen Shot of Google Results Showing Your Site’s Top Rankings
Within the Screen Shot Text Citing the Cost Per Click for Paid Results.
The Traffic Your Site Receives & Pageviews for the Past 6 Months (and all time visitors).
Print Out the Top, or All Keywords Used to Arrive at Your Website
Show Where Ads are Placed at Your Site
Demonstrate Cost Saving Over Some Alternatives like Adwords, Yelp, Valpack.com, Entertainment Book, the Newspaper, etc.

Getting The Relationship

Starting a relationship with a business manager / owner is the first step to making a sale. You want to be talking with the person at the business calling the shots for ad purchases and as best as possible start the relationship in a non-treating (non sales) manner.

I believe you should follow the advice of Yvonne Herbst in her post on developing sales through hyperlocal directories. Yvonne talks about approaching business owners by giving away a free listing. This is something you already have done with your targeted directory. I believe the next step is to approach business owners and ask them if they would like to write an article for their page on your site. Think about it from an SEO perspective. In order to rank well your website needs content and links. This tactic would satisfy content, and possibly links if the business has a website.

Your Pitch Essentials

Once traffic is steadily arriving at your niche directory and the value of advertising is clear, it’s time to start selling ads to those business owners which you have worked on developing a relationship with.
Remind owners that you personally run the site, and are a small business owner too.
Show them your top rankings through screen shots of Google results.
Show them steady growth in traffic.

Discuss other positive attributes like a low bounce rate or high pageviews.
Tell them that you receive traffic from people looking for competitors; this is a great chance to get back in front of qualified leads.
Remind them this really is the most qualified audience available on the web related to their business.
Demonstrate your ad rates relative to other choices.

Streamlining Sales

Keeping an excel sheet with notes on all the business listing is a helpful tool to organize which ones have been solicited. There are two effective options to get in touch with business owners or whoever is the advertising decision maker, either by phone or in person. Don’t try direct mail; I found it doesn’t work. Business owners will never contact you by themselves. From my experience when visiting a business there is a 50/50 chance of getting in touch with an owner in person, so calling first helps. No matter what ask whoever greets you at the business who makes decisions regarding advertising before handing off materials.

Another handy idea is to organize businesses into three types of categories; A, B and C. A being what you believe are the most likely businesses to sign-up for advertising, B being second, and C having no chance. Organizing materials will help reduce your costs in time and materials.

Get After It

I love this business model for anyone who is looking for a part-time project that can earn more income. Over a period of time you might even own the town in terms of good online real estate. Building multiple sites is a great way to broaden your potential and hosting costs are flat because one hosting account can accommodate multiple sites. Best of Luck.

Using the SmallBiz Theme for Local Websites

This series shares advice related to all aspects of building local listing websites including sales, choosing a niche and web design. I build my sites on WordPress and recently switched to the using the SmallBiz Theme for these types of sites because of the speed at which I’m able to launch a quality of site that is supported with help forums, and a platform that is search engine friendly.

Go here to visit my site example for Ballston Restaurants and Ballston Hotels

About the Author:
Jeff Howard has delivered SEO results for major consumer oriented websites all the way down to local businesses and writes a column for Search Engine Guide.

Posted in Internet Marketing | No Comments »

Social Media – Part of Your Web Strategy?

Jan
23
2012

It depends on what you are trying to achieve with your site, but for many sites, the answer is increasingly ‘YES’.

Social media (mainly Facebook and Twitter for the purposes of this article) have become increasingly pervasive. Recently I read that one minute of every eight spent on the Internet, is spent on Facebook. If the purpose of a web site is to communicate, then identifying where other people are – is a good start.

A ‘No-Brainer’ for Charities

Charities web site Justgiving tells us that 15% of all people donating via the Justgiving site come via Facebook. Clearly, then, for a charity it should be a ‘no-brainer’ to set up a Facebook page and work on integrating it: both your web site and your Facebook presence should benefit from it. However, one shouldn’t underestimate the work involved in maintaining one’s presence. From my experience, with Tanzania Development Trust, I know that for a voluntary organization, resources can be an issue, particularly if it takes a while to build momentum. Can volunteers maintain the consistency and enthusiasm required to optimize a social media presence?

A ‘Must’ for Band, Gigs and Events

We have all heard stories of teenagers informing the world via Facebook of a planned party, with disastrous results! But it points to a truth: no sensible music event, festival or gig would dream of setting up without a Facebook presence. Bands and performers use social media to build a fan base and keep it informed of their plans and movements. It is fair to say that in these cases, social media leads the way, with the web site complementing its more ‘buzzy’, up-to-the-minute feel.

Not Just Teenagers Any More…

Still for those who haven’t invested time in creating a Twitter profile and presence, the overriding view is likely to be that it’s a waste of time. Why should we be worried about what someone had for breakfast? Who cares about what people are tweeting during the ‘X Factor’? Isn’t social media dominated by yóung people who use it to exchange the minutiae of their lives?

In fact, the most significant growth in recent years among social media sites has been from users aged 50+. This has steadily driven up the average age of users. By 2010, the average age of a Facebook user had reportedly risen to 38, with 61% of users older than 38. The average Twitter user was 39, with 64% of tweeters older than 35.

No wonder, then, that businesses are now seeing social media as a significant force for business. Many major corporations acknowledge this by seeking to build a social media strategy to communicate and engage with their customers. At a more human level, Twitter and Facebook can be used to drive viewers to a web site. Have you made an interesting post on your blog, an important update to your Facebook site, launched a product on your web site? Then why not alert your followers on Twitter?

Facebook as a Complement to a Business Web Site

Making the most effective use of social media for business purposes is a subject in itself, and heavyweight businesses and brands team up with expensive agencies to try to figure it out. For now, therefore, I shall limit myself to the observation that people like to engage with other people. It’s realistic for businesses with a social aspect (after all, it’s called ‘social media’) to hope to make an impact via social media without such an expensive approach.

In developing web sites for a couple of pubs, I was very much aware of the need to achieve a balance between appealing to the new visitor, probably interested mainly in the food offering and amenities, and the regular crowd, more interested in the social gossip and upcoming events. The former is very likely to be put off by pictures of the pub bore leering into the lens, or the guy who specializes in falling off his bar stool! For the latter, a feeling of real involvement is probably hard to achieve on a conventional web site, even with regular updates and the easiest content management system.

I used to maintain a site for my local pub in Cornwall, The Ship Inn at Mawgan. Since I moved away, the pub has changed hands and the new owners opted to use people they know for their web site. Though the new web site is pretty basic, I have been very much struck by their use of Facebook. In a matter of months, they built up almost 400 ‘friends’. The Facebook/shippinnmawgan.co.uk site is a useful tool for the proprietors to send out details of forthcoming events and promotions, but it is used just as much by customers, sharing their buzz, reflecting on the weekend’s music, etc. etc. An excellent way of building a loyal following, in an increasingly difficult industry!

Developing a Fan Base for a Sporting Event

In a sport that I follow, horse racing, I have been watching with interest the social media campaign for the QIPCO British Champions Series. This new (in 2011) series, sponsored by the Qatari royal family’s business QIPCO, was criticised at the outset for lacking a logical focus: though its end-of-season climax called itself ‘Champions Day’, most weren’t really championship races, they were sandwiched between established championships built around the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France and the Breeders’ Cup in the US, and so on and so forth. However, the horse racing season follows a well-trodden path, its rhythms, rituals and great occasions having endured for decades, even centuries. The 35-race series, running from April to October and sponsoring many of our most historic races, is ideal for the development of a narrative, and the building and involvement of a fan club. And the Twitter and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/britishchampionsseries) campaigns have displayed admirable energy.

But here’s the rub: it’s not enough to just set up a profile on Facebook or Twitter, integrate them with your web site, and expect amazíng results. You need to do the work, in building up a base of followers, and in presenting content. More than anything else, to be consistent. This doesn’t mean tweeting or posting about every little thing. In fact, that may be the worst thing you can do. On the other hand, even if your message is a serious one, you must remember to ENTERTAIN your followers now and again. Just like life, it’s about balance.

About The Author
Robert Gibson is a former finance professional with experience managing businesses worldwide. In recent years he has developed an interest in web sites – both design, and what can be achieved by web sites and social media. This, and other articles, can be found on his web site http://www.dovedaledesign.co.uk

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10 Ways to Improve Your Google Ranking

Jan
20
2012

Google is the world’s most popular search engine. Shortly after its creation, Google’s popularity skyrocketed and it soon became the dominant search engine for finding information on the internet. This is why, if you own a website, you want it to be high in the Google ratings.

Google is constantly changing and evolving so you need to keep up with the changes. Their recent changes, called the Panda Update, caused many sites’ rankings to drop significantly. Google’s mission is to provide the highest quality information for each search done and in doing this, many sites get lost in the endless pages of search results.

To get your website better ranking there are many things you can do and many things you should not do. I have tried to list some of the more effective things you should do and a couple things you should not do for better placement in Google.

1. Limit Your Advertising – If you have a hodgepodge or cluttering of advertising on your site, this can decrease your ranking. Google considers excess advertising to be a sign of a low-quality spam site. And remember, Google’s goal is to provide the highest quality sites at the top of the search results.

2. Google Toolbar – The Google Toolbar is an important tool to have because of all the features that will help you improve your ranking. The Google toolbar can help you monitor your page rank, help you find sites to link to and help you find which sites are linked to you. You can also keep tabs on how your site is doing with targeted keywords. Get it for free at Google.com.

3. Relevant and Quality Content - One of the most important things to do for better SEO is to provide quality content with relevant keywords. Quality is always more effective than quantity so don’t plaster a ton of low-quality articles on your site just to have content. Make sure the articles you choose are relevant to your site and provide helpful information. If you have some of the same articles as another site, the most relevant quality site will be higher in the rankings so the duplicate content itself, will not lower your rankings. Also, be sure to add fresh new content on a regular basis.

4. Google+1 Button – By joining Google Plus and adding a Google+1 button to your site, you can help lift your site’s rankings. One of the things Google looks at the most is your site’s level of importance and relevancy. The more plus ones you can get, the more importance it will give your site, thus causing Google to boost your ranking in the search results pages. This will also get your site more exposure resulting in more visits as well.

5. Become a Blogger – If you haven’t already done so, you need to add a blog to your business website. Blogging is a highly efficient way to raise your ranking in Google because a blog does two things. First, it can add many pages of keyword-rich, relevant, quality content to your site which will be noticed by Google. The more quality pages indexed, the more chances you have to be on page one. And secondly, a blog can boost the amount of quality inbound links to your site.

6. Relevant Inbound Links - Quality inbound links are a great way to add relevance and importance to your site. Guest posting on high quality blogs is one of the best ways to accomplish this task. Commenting on existing blog comments works well also. Always use keyword rich posts with appropriate sites and use relevant keywords for your links. Google does not value links from article banks as much as they used to so choosing a few quality blogs is better than submitting to countless article sites.

7. Social Media - As with many facets of internet marketing, social media plays a big part in SEO. Be active on your social sites. Do not let them go stale. Engage in conversations, post new info regularly and involve your visitors.

8. Keyword Research - Keywords play an important part in SEO, but using the wrong keywords can do more harm than good. Be sure to research keywords to find what search phrases people are using to find your site’s info. Google offers a keyword tool called Google Keyword Tool. This free tool will give you a list of keywords and tell you how often they are used and their competition.

9. Hidden Text - Hidden text is text displayed on your site but invisible to your visitors. A common way of doing this is to set the font color the same as the background color. The reason for doing this is to add a large number of keywords for the search engines but not make your content seem redundant to your visitors. Do not do this. Google considers this manipulation and it could get your site penalized.

10. Bad Linking - Reciprocal linking, inbound links, and outgoing links can all be good if you follow the proper procedure. Do not link with any and all sites. Be very selective and only link with sites that are relevant to your site and contain quality content. Stay away from FFA (Free For All) or link farm sites. Check your links regularly to make sure they are not broken. Broken links will catch the attention of Google and other search engines. Linking to poor quality sites or spam sites is also something you do not want to do. Years ago quantity might have gotten you a boost but now it is all about quality links to relevant sites, NOT quantity.

Obtaining a high Google ranking is the goal of every webmaster. It can be done, but you need to be consistent, persistent and keep abreast of Google’s ever evolving search methods.

About The Author
Don’t be one of the 95% of people who fail at their online business. Terri Seymour can help you make monéy online. Find out how to increase your traffic and sales with her popular “How to Build Your Online Business” ebook for FREE at: ==> www.SeymourProducts.com

Posted in Google, SEO | No Comments »

Google’s First Page… Guaranteed?

Jan
19
2012

A couple of weeks ago, I visited one of the Internet Marketing/Small Business forums that I’m a member of, and noticed a new member had posted a typical newbie question in the SEO forum. The member wanted to know how she could be guaranteed to get her website on the first page of Google. As usual, members came crawling out of the woodwork with advice – including members who didn’t even own a website.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty typical on Internet Marketing/Small Business forums… members who don’t own a website instructing other members how to get on the first page of Google… members who don’t own a business dispensing business advice. So be careful where you get your advice from… but I digress.

Not surprisingly, not a single member responded with the correct answer. And what is the correct answer? The correct answer is there is NO magic bullet that will assure a first page ranking on Google. Nevér has been, nevér will be. By the same token, NO reputable SEO company will promise first page rankings.

By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve written about this topic. In my article How to Choose a Reputable SEO Company I wrote the following:

“No SEO company can guarantee you a first page or top 10 ranking. I repeat: NO SEO company can guarantee you a first page or top 10 ranking. Here’s why: There are far too many variables involved in the ranking of a website – not the least of which are the age of the domain, relevancy and quantity of content, number and quality of inbound links, competition, and of course Google’s ever-changing algorithms. That’s why legitimate SEO companies don’t make those kinds of outlandish promises.”

Why Reputable SEO Companies Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings

In other words, it’s impossible to promise something which you have no control over. But don’t take my word for it… this is what Google itself has to say about the matter:

“Beware of SEO’s that claim to guarantee rankings.” (Source: Google Webmaster Tools)

Wow…that statement is about as succinct as it gets.

In his article, Why Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings, prominent SEO expert, Rand Fishkin writes:

“From 1996 through to today, SEO scams have used ‘guaranteed rankings and traffic’ as a slimy catchphrase to lure in gullible buyers with too-good-to-be-true promises. That association has stained the entire industry. SEO’s cannot control the search results the way FedEx can control shipping packages or Coca Cola can guarantee the taste of their beverage. The search engines alone are responsible for, and privy to the rankings’ methodologies.

There are times when I would be willing to gamble a large amount of money on the fact that we could achieve a certain ranking for a given keyword. However, that’s not the same as a guarantee. A guarantee is a promise – a basic contract that necessarily creates an assumption of certainty by the deliverer to the recipient. Anytime you cheat on that logic and make a promise outside your sphere of direct control, you’re walking on shaky ethical and business ground.”

Now think about that for a minute. If one of the most reputable and prominent SEO experts on the planet isn’t willing to guarantee rankings, what does that tell you about the validity of guaranteed search rankings claims?

Are There Any Exceptions?

Yes, there are always exceptions. For example, Dental SEO, The Visible Dentist is one of those companies that guarantees first page rankings. Their guarantee states:

“The dentist does not pay for SEO services until their website is favorably positioned in a major search engine. Major search engines include Google, Yahoo, MSN’s Bing and Ask. Our exclusive promise specifically guarantees that the client’s dental website will have high visibility in one or more of these popular search engines. Further, a minimum of twenty (20) positions on Google’s 1st page results will be attained before payment is required.

This warranty is made without absolute assurances to search engine positioning. The reason positions cannot be absolutely guaranteed is because no one has control of a search engine’s algorithms, nor control over the many websites coming online every day. However, all work on the client’s site will be performed according to specs and to the best of our ability. If desired ranking is not achieved, no payment will be due from the client.”

Personally, I don’t have a problem with that type of promise. The company is basically putting their money where their mouth is. They’re willing to prove their competency and assure results before the client pays a dime. This eliminates any and all risk for the client. If more SEO companies did business that way, the industry as a whole wouldn’t have such a bad reputation.

All that being said, even if no money is required upfront, you still need to do your due diligence and check things out carefully.

SEO Scam Artists

If all SEO companies competently applied their craft and performed the service they were paid to perform, articles like this one wouldn’t be necessary. But as long as there are incompetent SEO scam artists who intentionally take people’s hard-earned money without doing what they promised… I will continue to warn people about the problem.

Unscrupulous SEO companies that promise first page rankings aren’t stupid, but they think you are. In fact, they’re counting on your naivety, gullibility and yes… laziness. Because the truth of the matter is there are millions of people out there who would much rather put their faith and trust in leprechauns, magic pills and guaranteed rankings, than put in the time and hard work necessary to achieve the desired results. That’s the way it is, and that’s the way it’s always been – even before the advent of the Internet.

The Power OF A Strong Guarantee

Like I said, the SEO companies making guaranteed ranking claims aren’t stupid. In addition to counting on your naivety, gullibility and laziness, they’re also pretty astute marketers – well aware of the power of a strong “guarantee.” Like all smart marketers, they read books and articles about ways to boost their sales – like this article by copywriting expert Dean Rieck:

About The Author
David Jackson is a marketing consultant, and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business! free-marketing-tips-blog.com

Posted in Google, SEO | No Comments »

Combining Social Media Tools For Ultimate Marketing Dominance

Jan
18
2012

Social media is fast becoming one of the best ways to create awareness of your small business and let customers know what you can offer them. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more recently Google +, all offer extra web presence and ways to communicate directly to the people that are most likely to need the product or service you offer.

While you should not spread yourself too thin, one thing to remember is to try and focus your efforts on the types of social media that are best suited for you. Facebook and Twitter are the two top ways to communicate with your customers and should not be ignored, along with LinkedIn and the up and coming Google +.

If you are using videos on your website then signing up to Vimeo or YouTube is a good idea too. But there are plenty more out there, which may be especially suited to your business, so don’t ignore the lesser known networks!

How to get started with social media

If you are new to using social media, then begin by signing up to Facebook. It’s the most widely used form of social media and you have a variety of options when it comes to presenting your business on the network. You can choose from creating a personal account, a business account, or a business fan page.

Each has its differences and unfortunately the business account has the most limitations on it, so it is probably best to go with one of the other two. Creating a business fan page is a great idea because all your updates will automatically be sent to anyone that is a fan of your business.

Next sign up to Twitter and try to register your business name as your username. Creating a LinkedIn profile should be your next port of call. You may or may not already have a blog for your business, but if you don’t, start one now!

WordPress is widely regarded as one of the best web blogging platforms out there, and it’s simple to set up and is easy to integrate with social media websites. Get some quality content up on your blog and try to keep adding to it regularly. The more interesting your posts, the more people will look at them, so don’t post any old drivel.

Combining your social media accounts

It can take a while to get all the accounts setup but once you have it’s time to combine them and really harness the power of social media for your marketing goals. Connecting your different accounts is not particularly difficult, just go to the account or profile option pages once you are logged in at each website.

Begin with connecting your Twitter account to your Facebook page, as this will then post all of your tweets onto Facebook. This is very easy to do with the Twitter app on Facebook. To configure the app, simply press “go to application” and then click “allow”, following prompts to log in. Now you will update not just your Twitter followers, but also you Facebook fans every time you tweet. This will save you time and your message will reach more of your customers.

Next you need to think about how to make the most out of your blog. Using the ShareThis tool is a great way of giving the reader a wide range of options as to which social media they want to share your blog post with. Enable this tool on your blog and your blog’s content should start spreading across the web. Also, install one of the varieties of Twitter buttons available so that readers can instantly retweet your blog’s content to all of their followers too, with one click of the mouse.

To let all your LinkedIn connections know instantly when there is a new post on your blog, link your WordPress blog to your LinkedIn account with the WordPress app for LinkedIn. Search for the app and follow the instructions, but remember that your LinkedIn and Twitter worlds are now intertwined.

HootSuite users can also amalgamate the two services using the third-party app. This handy tool will then automatically publish a short introduction to your new blog post on your LinkedIn profile, so that people can link through to your content from the LinkedIn website.

Once you have done all of this you will find your updates, tweets, messages and blog posts reaching many more people than they did before. The result should be more awareness of your business and what it does, an increasing amount of fans and followers, along with an integrated way to communicate with all your customers.

About the Author:
Olivia Lennox is a London-based SEO and social marketing consultant. Having pioneered 2011?s most prominent viral campaign, her ambition for 2012 is to lead small businesses into social media success.

Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Google Vs Twitter: Is “Search Plus Your World” Bad For The Internet?

Jan
17
2012

Competition and controversy

This week, Google launched Search Plus Your World (SPYW), a set of features to personalize search results for users, which also happen to give Google+ content a lot more play in search results. The whole thing has sparked a great deal of controversy, with people talking about antitrust implications, relevancy issues, etc. Even Twitter called the day it launched “a bad day for the Internet”.

Google Vs. Twitter

The Google vs. Twitter element of this thing has been very interesting to me. In case you haven’t been following, let us recap this public back and forth these two companies have had this week.

And Twitter emailed a statement around to the press, which said:

For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet.

Often, they want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.

Google responded to Twitter on Google+ saying:

“We are a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer (http://goo.gl/chKwi), and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.”

I also found it a bit odd that Twitter would say this now, when really the lack of that aforementioned agreement renewal is what caused Twitter results to be less prevalent in Google search results. Twitter has not returned my request for comment on that at this point, but Macgillivray did tweet an example of where Google is surfacing Google+ over Twitter for the query “@WWE”. I’m not sure this is actually a product of SPYW, though the new features do place a prominent box of recommended Google+ profiles on the right-hand side of the page.

In an article specifically about that, we asked if the “@” symbol really belongs to Twitter anyway. Let us know in the comments what you think about that.

Competition

A lot of people view Google’s pushing of Google+ in search results to be anticompetitive. Some disagree.

One point that has been brought up repeatedly is that Google could be recommending public profiles from Twitter and Facebook alongside its Google+ recommendations. Sure, they could.

Facebook and Twitter don’t grant access to Google for all of the stuff that would improve the personalization experience.

Google Fellow Amit Singhal, told Sullivan, “Facebook and Twitter and other services, basically, their terms of service don’t allow us to crawl them deeply and store things. Google+ is the only [network] that provides such a persistent service. Of course, going forward, if others were willing to change, we’d look at designing things to see how it would work.”

Those are basically the same responses.

About the Author:
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Follow WebProNews on Facebook or Twitter.

Twitter: @CCrum237 | StumbleUpon: Crum |
Google: +Chris Crum

Posted in SEO, Social Media | No Comments »

WNW Design Ltd Launches Prime Meridian Website

Jan
16
2012

WNW Design Ltd are proud to announce the Prime Meridian website.

Prime Meridian are architects and structural engineers. They design buildings they are passionate about. They have got over 20 years experience and pride themselves in high quality and great customer service .

Browse the website www.prime-meridian.co.uk for the examples of work and more information.

Posted in Web Design, WNW Clients | No Comments »

WNW Design Ltd Launches The New Vintage Tyres Website

Jan
16
2012

WNW Design Ltd are proud to announce the launch of the new Vintage Tyres ecommerce website.

Vintage Tyres are a classic tyres supplier. Their business started in 1962 and initially they supplied Dunlop tyres for vintage and veteran cars as well as motorcycles. Over the years the range of the tyres they offer has grown dramatically. They also developed their own brands and can offer quality tyres of different sizes and patterns for cars as well as motorcycles.

Browse the website www.vintagetyres.com for more information.

Posted in Web Design, WNW Clients | No Comments »

5 Reasons Why You Need to Use Rel=Author on Your Content

Jan
16
2012

Have you heard of Google’s Authorship program yet? Whether you’ve heard of it or not, you’ve likely seen its fruits in the search results. You know those listings that have a photo of the author next to them? Most likely they get that extra cool stuff because they’re using Rel=Author correctly and Google has accepted them to participate. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit hit-or-miss as to whether your content gets accepted or not. I saw mine accepted for a day or two many months ago, and then *poof!* it was gone. I reviewed their new guidelines recently, however, made a few changes, and sure enough, within a week or so, my content started showing up… yay!

While you may or may not get your content into the program, the only way to know is to try, and persistence is definitely a key.

If you’re thinking it’s just not worth the trouble, here are 5 reasons why it’s super important:

1. It’s Kinda Sorta Easy to Implement.

While it is a bit confusing to figure out exactly how to enable authorship based on Google’s directions (which seem to keep changing), in reality their latest criteria have made it easier than ever to implement.

I’m not going into the specifics on how to do it, because you can follow Google’s directions. Suffice it to say that the main things you need are a Google Profile page that links to the website where you have author status, and a link back from your website’s home page to your Google Profile page.

You can also have an “author page,” such as the About Us page on your website, as long as your Google profile page links to that page.

Once you’ve got that all implemented, every time you write an article, simply link your name in your byline to either your Google Profile page or your author page with the Rel=Author code, as I have here:

By

- Example Page

Be sure to add the Rel=Author tag to as many of your old content articles as well, especially ones that you know show up well in the search results.

While Google has moved toward having you link directly to your Google Profile page in your Rel=Author links (as opposed to your author page) to make things less confusing, I still link to my author page, and it works fine.

If you go this route, be sure to follow their older, more confusing instructions as well.

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2. It Makes Your Content Stand Out.

Imagine if you could put big stars around your content listings in Google’s search results that everyone would see. Rel=Author does exactly that! Only it’s not stars, but your name and photo.

Before Rel=Author became widespread, only logged-in users and those who participated in social media might see a little profile photo of you if they happened to search on something that you had tweeted about. But with Rel=Author implemented correctly, even users who aren’t logged into their Google accounts or their social media accounts will still see the rich author information and photo .

This is huge, folks, and this reason alone makes it worth figuring out the implementation.

3. Provides Credibility And More Exposure.

Beyond just seeing my smiling face in the listings for my content, as you can see in this screenshot, Google is also showing how many people have circled me on Google+ as well as a “More by Jill Whalen” link. Clicking that link shows more information about me from my Google Profile, plus posts I’ve made on Google+ related to the search query, and all the other articles that I’ve written on the subject.

I’ve also seen them show articles others have written on the subject that reference me in one way or another.

4. Higher Clickthrough Rate.

I’d say this one goes without saying, due to all of the above factors. It would be difficult to *not* click on the listing that Google is screaming for you to click on. Time will tell on this one, but so far it appears that since my authorship status started to show up in the Google results (it’s less than 2 weeks now), I’ve been getting more traffic for certain articles.

5. Additional Metrics in Webmaster Tools.

As if all of the above weren’t enough, once you have your authorship up and running and showing up in Google results, you’ll also see new author stats in your Webmaster Tools account . (Look under “Labs.”) The information there shows you approximately how many times each of your content pages showed up in the search results (impressions) and approximately how many times it was clicked on, along with other interesting details that you can’t really get elsewhere.
Of course, Google has their own selfish reasons for giving us all of this awesomeness. Their number-one priority this year is Google+ and all that surrounds it. Rel=Author provides anyone who creates online content with a darn good reason (make that 5!) to create a Google Profile. And the more people who do that, the more who might start using Google+, especially if they want to get those circle numbers up as mentioned in #3 above.

About The Author
Jill Whalen is the CEO of High Rankings, an SEO Consulting company in the Boston, MA area since 1995. Follow her on Twitter @JillWhalen

If you learned from this article, be sure to invite your colleagues to sign up for the High Rankings Advisor SEO Newsletter so they can receive similar articles in the future!

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Google’s Search Plus Your World’s Impact on SEO

Jan
13
2012

Today, Google announced social search features with a mouthful of a name: Search Plus Your World.

We’ve been hearing rumblings around the Valley that Google was working on big new features to integrate Google+ with search results and this has been an obvious evolution for the search engine ever since they released their new social network.

This new set of features will include posts, videos, links, photos and more from your friends on Google+. It is not yet rolled out to everyone but will be made available to those signed into Google+ in the United States over the next few days.

Impact on SEO

This is part of Google’s effort to dramatically change how search works, placing an increasing importance on signals from its own social network, Google+. With 50 million users recently attained, this is a not insignificant source of data and their growth curve has been insane.

Speculation in the SEO community as well as in back channels all point to Google+ being a big part of Google’s plans for affecting how SEO works. The impact on SEO through Facebook and Twitter has already been felt quite strongly over the last two years and Google has obviously been paying attention.

Here’s what I think will be relevant for startups and marketers over the next twelve months:

Having More Pluses Will Increase Search Rankings

Take a look at almost any blog post with Plus, Facebook and Twitter buttons. Twitter and Facebook, by far, will have far more activity than the Google+ buttons. That overall inbalance probably won’t change in the next year although we will see a change in the ratio as Google+ begins to narrow the gap.

Now is the time to start building your audience on Google+ (this is our homework assignment as well), learn how the network works and begin to form meaningful connections with people who share your interests.

Links Will Still Be Important but Slightly Less So

Links, for the last decade, have dominated the collective mindshare of SEO community as the primary way to influence search rankings in your favor. We’re going to see an increased weight being placed on social signals, with perhaps slight preference towards Google+ numbers. From a search engine’s perspective, the rich data set to be found in the social graphs provided by Facebook and Google+ are irresistible indicators of quality and relevance.

What this means is that links will have a slightly less overall impact on your search performance than before. It’s still, in my opinion, going to be the primary signal for quality and relevance if only because they have a more permanent feel than most social signals, but the balance is shifting slightly.

My best recommendation here is to continue doing what you’re doing with link building, but to also ensure that your content is well optimized for distribution on Facebook, Twitter, and now, Google+.

Search Patterns Will Start to Change

Even with today’s release and Google+’s 50 million users, I don’t think Google has enough social content through their own network to significantly affect search patterns across all types of queries, but certain categories of queries may start to see changes. If you look at the types of posts that gain the most popularity on social networks, it’s those that have the most opportunity for interaction: photos, videos, links, longer posts.

These sorts of posts, from a purely search monetization standpoint, fit in well with travel and some ecommerce related queries. As this change begins to take hold, the way people search for travel destinations and products online could change to make more use of their own network’s recommendations.

Social signals (and the people behind them) are Viewed as More Trustworthy

At the current time, it is much easier to game the link graph (people have been practicing for the last ten years and there has been financial incentive) than it has been to game the social graph. For this reason, even though the overall weight and permanence on individual posts may still have less value when compared with a link, the people behind the social shares have their entire reputation and persona to back them up. This is the closest thing we will have to domain authority in the old SEO world but it’s long term impact is far more significant.

At the end of the day, spammers will figure out relatively effective ways of gaming the social graph at large scale, but we’re still in virgin territory and Google has many more options for determining authenticity with this data set than they ever did with links.

The Quality and Regularity of Your Content Will Still Matter Most

As a startup ourselves, we care most about what we can learn from this to better reach our audience and provide useful content to them. It’s clear on Twitter and Facebook that posting high quality, unique content regularly and often is the single best strategy for achieving that goal. That hasn’t changed, on the contrary it is more true now than ever before.

About the Author:
Ray Grieselhuber is CEO of GinzaMetrics, an enterprise level SEO platform based in Mountain View, CA. GinzaMetrics is a 2010 Y-combinator graduate company and backed by several individual investors as well as 500 Startups and Venture51.

Posted in Google, SEO | No Comments »

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