Eric Brantner

SEO Writer

 

The last couple of years have been an exciting time in the world of SEO. Many businesses are now starting to realize the importance of website optimization, and they are implementing basic SEO techniques on their website. I’m all for SEO increasing in popularity, but I’ve started to see an ugly side of it- websites that are over-optimized. Nothing sends chills down my spine like seeing a site that’s gone overboard with the SEO. We get it- you read a few posts about optimization and you thought you’d incorporate it into your site. That’s great, but you really chill out with the SEO. Here are some signs your website might be too optimized.

• Ridiculously Long Title Tags- Just because you can squeeze 65 characters into your title tags doesn’t mean you should. I know there are many SEOs who go on and on about the importance of taking advantage of this precious real estate. But a title tag that says “Flower Shop in Houston |Houston Flower Shop | Buying Flowers in Houston |Bridal flowers ” looks a little ridiculous. Stick with just one, maybe two, key phrases per title. Any more than that looks spammy, and it doesn’t enhance the usability of your site.
• Even Longer URLs- Hand in hand with long titles are even longer urls. If you think a long title looks like spam, a url with 20 keywords stuffed in it might as well be waving the red flag at the search engines to let them know they’re spammers. Yes, you want tocreate keyword rich, descriptive urls. But you can easily do this in fewer than 5 words. Personally, I prefer url extensions to have 3 to 5 words in them. Any more than that looks messy and unprofessional.
• Humans Can’t Understand Your Content- One of the most common misconceptions is that anyone can write SEO content. Sure, writing SEO copy isn’t rocket science, but you still have to be a talented writer. You have professional copywriters create your brochures, sales letters, and other marketing material; so, why not have a professional SEO writer handle your SEO content? I can’t tell you how nauseating it is to read poorly written, keyword stuffed content on these over-optimized sites. Here’s a tip- read your content aloud to hear how it sounds. If it doesn’t flow naturally, you need to ditch it. Don’t sacrifice quality content for SEO purposes.

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In today’s online marketplace, building trust with potential customers is a necessity. Consumers are already wary of getting scammed online, and anything on your website that gives them reason to distrust you will scare them away permanently. For this reason, it’s essential you take the steps necessary to earn your visitor’s trust. These guidelines will help you get on the right track to building a website that instills trust and authority.

1. Provide Information- Instead of filling your website with gimmicky copy, have a section that provides them with quality information about your products and other relevant information. Personally, I feel the best way to do this is to create an articles section for you website. This section can contain articles that give customers insight into your products, while establishing you as an authority for industry information. Avoid filling these articles with pitches for your company. Instead, present them in a straight forward, fact focused manner.
2. Be Easy to Contact- A sure fire sign that a website is run by an untrustworthy group is if it lacks contact information. Spammy websites rarely provide visitors with a way to get in contact with a human representative. Ease your visitor’s concerns by making it easy for them to get in touch with someone from your company. Human contact builds trust, and it can help create a loyal customer base.
3. Participate in Blogs and Forums- Creating a company blog, commenting on other blogs, guest blogging, and answering questions on forums will all build trust and your authority. You should make creating content for these sites a part of your daily regimen. This will position your brand as a leading authority in your industry, and potential customers will have an easier time trusting you.
4. Tell Visitors About Yourself- Having a simple “About Us” section on your website can do wonders for creating trust with your visitors. Just telling the visitors a little about yourself and the history of your company makes a personal connection with them, and it makes them more likely to be at ease when purchasing your products.
5. Use Testimonials- When visitors see testimonials from prior customers gushing over their experience with your company, they feel like they’ve found a trustworthy company. For this reason, you should acquire testimonials from some of your clients to display on your site. Displaying them prominently proves to any unsure visitor that your company is in fact everything you claim it is.

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Author: April Hall

Copywriter

Turn on the news, and you’ll soon learn that the American economy is struggling mightily. Home values are plummeting, unemployment is skyrocketing, energy prices are through the roof and the government is building a deficit faster than clocks can keep up with it. Is it any wonder that businesses are struggling to keep their profits up and are having to cut operating expenses in order to simply stay afloat? When the economy is in such bad shape, what’s an SEO marketing company to do in order to encourage their clients to keep ordering services and trusting their marketing firm to target new clients?

Short of begging clients to stay, there are many steps you SEO marketers can take to demonstrate their value to their account holders who may be wary of continuing to pay these types of advertising expenses. The most important thing you can do to reassure your clients is to provide on time, high quality customer service that they will not be able to find with a bargain basement SEO company. You want your clients to feel as if they may be paying more for your services, but it is well worth it for the quality of the investment return.

Other measures you can take to hold and grow your client base, even when the economy is faltering, include:

• Offering long-standing clients special package deals. Sometimes a business will need to sacrifice a few dollars along the way in order to increase their earnings later on. If you have some clients that have been loyal customers for quite some time, offering them a great deal or a special package may encourage them to tell other businesses about your SEO marketing services.
• Experimenting with new services. You may never have tried to offer your clients blogging services before; but many SEO marketers do offer this services. To keep your customers from looking elsewhere for more extensive marketing services, try to branch out and offer some innovating social media and social networking packages. It might take a bit of training for your employees, but learning new skills is never a waste of time.
• Increase your own advertising budget. Your businesses likely has the same temptation that your clients have: when times are tough, the first reflex is to cut down on operating expenses, which may mean reducing advertising. Resist the urge to drastically reduce your advertising! You have to keep your SEO marketing firm’s name out there in order to reach new clients and improve your brand. Instead of reducing advertising, search for innovative ways to more closely target potential customers.

As our country struggles together to dig our way out of this economic mess, let’s remember that the economy is always going to have ebbs and flows. Improving your business practices can help you create a strong, vibrant SEO firm that is able to withstand these times and come out even stronger when the economy eventually improves.

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Author: April Hall

Copywriter

The goal of every search engine marketing company is to attract new viewers to their clients’ websites. All sorts of SEO strategies are employed, from targeting popular keywords, to implementing long tail keywords, to using social media sites as a means of page promotion. There is so much opportunity to attract the millions of internet searchers everyday that most SEO companies view those potential viewers as the “holy grail” of internet marketing.

Now, it’s no secret that increasing your page views is quite an accomplishment. Every good SEO marketer will tell you that there is almost nothing more excited (during the workday, at least) than having a meeting with a client during which you can show them the latest Google Analytics Report that documents a sharp increase in page views. Seeing their face shine with the recognition of hundreds of new potential customers makes all the mundane keyword research and social media submissions somehow worthwhile, doesn’t it?

(By the way, if you are new to SEO and have not learned how to use Google Analytics Interface, take a look at the video below. Your search engine marketing will never be the same!)

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But what about the companies whose websites don’t have an over-abundance of new, unique page views; but who have a loyal client base of returning viewers? Is it worth neglecting the needs of these long-time visitors while we chase the dream of new ones? Are these two groups mutually exclusive? No! With a bit of creativity and a large measure of work, search engine marketing companies can cultivate relationships with new page viewers while rewarding loyal customers at the same time.

• Keep your content informative. Don’t just create website content that hits the right number, and the right type, of keywords; tell your readers something new and different about what your company is up to. Do you have a new product coming out? Incorporate that information into a new page–never forgetting to do a bit of keyword research beforehand.
• Update your content regularly. Not only will new SEO content help to drive up your site on the search engine results pages, but it will add some interesting information to viewers who regularly come to your website.
• Add a bit of humor and personal flavor, where appropriate. Who likes to read boring, dry page content day after day? A bit of humor added into an otherwise informative page helps to break up your content and make your company seem more personal. A company with a personality is always welcome, whether the readers is a longtime customer or is just browsing through the internet.

So, the next time you are adding some fresh page content to your clients’ sites, take a step back and look at it from the eyes of someone who visits the site frequently. Is it boring? Does it provide new information about the company’s products or services? Remember, you are writing page content not only to new readers, but to viewers who have been loyal page visitors for a while. Reward those longtime customers by providing something worthwhile for them to keep coming back to!

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Eric Brantner

SEO Writer

The social nature of the internet has given rise to an array of answer websites. The most popular of these sites is Yahoo Answers. Essentially, Yahoo Answers is a website where users pose questions to the community. Members of the community then chime in with their take on the subject, and the community votes on the answer they feel is best. To the casual internet user this might seem like nothing more than a simple medium for gathering information, but to an SEO savvy person it’s an obvious haven for increasing your online presence. What follows is a list of 3 reasons you should include Yahoo Answers in your SEO arsenal.

1. Exposure to New Audience- Yahoo Answers has an abundance of visitors from all backgrounds on their network. Questions are asked in categories for nearly every niche imaginable. You can answer the questions for your specialty, and have your thoughts viewed by a whole new set of readers. If you provide thoughtful answers, this new audience will take notice of your insight. You can use Yahoo Answers to build your name, authority, and brand. Some of these readers may even follow you back to your website to read more of your thoughts.
2. Inbound Links- Of course, readers couldn’t follow you back to your site unless you provided them with a link. This is another benefit of using Yahoo Answers- you get inbound links to your website. The inbound links help you on multiple levels. First, it directs interested users to your domain. Secondly, the inbound links help build your standing with the search engines. Inbound links earn the search engines’ trust and improve your rankings on them. In other words, answering these questions is a wise SEO strategy for improving your online visibility.
3. Get Ideas for SEO Content- As you may know, creating new, optimized content for your website is the best way to earn the attention and trust of the search engines. Google, Yahoo, and the others give credibility to websites that are updated consistently on a long-term basis. The one problem with this is it can be difficult to come up with content ideas day in and day out. One thing I’ve discovered is browsing through Yahoo Answers can help get rid of writer’s block almost every time. Simply browse through some questions relevant to your niche to find ideas for subjects you can create content around. Optimize this content for the right keywords, and you will be implementing a proven SEO strategy of generating quality, optimized content.

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Eric Brantner

SEO Writer

 

What is the main goal of your website? If you’re a business owner, most likely your goal is to increase sales. Brand building, social networking, SEO, PPC, and other internet marketing techniques are all ultimately contributing to one thing- generating sales. So, is your website doing the job it’s intended for? If it’s not converting visitors into customers, you might consider changing your conversion strategy.

Conversion Rate

In the simplest of terms, the conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors that become customers. In other words, if 100 unique visitors stop by your website and 1 of them becomes a customer, your conversion rate is 1%. Simple enough, right?

But what if you want to aim for a higher conversion rate? You feel more than 1% of your visitors should become paying customers. Here are a few tips to help improve your conversion rate.

1. Perform Keyword Research- One reason you might be suffering from a low conversion rate is you aren’t attracting the right visitors to your site. These users often type a phrase in the search engine and find your business in the SERPs. If you’re targeting the wrong keywords on your website, you will receive the wrong visitors. You should conduct through keyword research to identify the best key terms for your website. More precise, long tail keywords tend to target visitors who are more interested in your product. Tailoring your keywords to your target audience will help improve your conversion rate.
2. Focus on the User- Of course, all the right keywords in the world won’t help you if your website isn’t user friendly. Your website should accommodate the needs of your customers. Use clear, descriptive links to help your reader navigate easily through your webpage. Also, don’t make your visitor jump through hoops just to become a customer. A visitor should be able to purchase your product from any page on your site in no more than 2 clicks. By simplifying the process, you provide a satisfactory customer experience that generates loyalty and referrals.
3. Establish Trust- Even though the number of online shoppers is increasing at a frantic rate, many people are still hesitant to buy from companies online. If you aren’t an international corporation that everyone immediately recognizes, you might face a difficult time convincing your visitors they can trust you. The best way to earn their trust is to clearly state the truth about your products. Avoid gimmicks at all cost. Furthermore, have a clear return policy on your website so that customers know they have an option should they not be satisfied with your product. Additionally, you should make it easy for your customer to contact a representative from your company. A toll free hotline where a visitor can talk to a real life representative will help ease their worries, and it will put them on the path to becoming a loyal customer.
4. Have Plenty of Content- Websites with vague descriptions and little information do little to earn new customers. One of the best ways to improve your conversion rate is to build your authority through quality, relevant information. I find article sections to be a great way of providing visitors with all the information they desire. Simply create articles about your products, services, and other relevant information your customer might be interested in. All of this information will help educate the customer while earning their trust and their business.
5. But Divide the Content Clearly- Content is king, but how you present it is more important. If your website is one long page of content, visitors will click “back” in a hurry. You should always divide your content into short, unique sections. Doing this will help visitors find the content they need without having to dig through useless information. This improves the usability of your website, and it streamlines the buying process for your customers.

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