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Top 10 Google Search Features for Your Business

2011-01-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

The people at Google are truly inspired! They are evolving their search engine into something that can be an incredibly powerful tool for business. There are a zillion things that Google can do for different parts of your business and in this post, here are the top 10 Google search tools that will help your supply chain.

Since Google is just a click away, it's a very useful for everybody involved in the supply chain to be aware of how much easier it can make their lives. Everybody from traffic managers, to purchasing people, to accounting people and customer service will likely need to reference what Google can do during the course of the week. There are a lot of people who don't even know all of Google's capabilities. So without further ado, here is your:

Top 10 Google Search Tools That Will Help Your Supply Chain

1. Package Tracking - You can track packages by typing the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS package directly into the search box. Some of the LTL and motor carriers also allow for you to plug in their pro numbers as well. Google will return results that include quick links to easily track the status of your shipment.

Example of what to search for: "1Z9999W9999999999"

2. Time - This is huge when dealing with vendors or customers overseas or across the country. To see the time in many cities world wide, type in "time" and the name of the city.

Example of what to search for: "time London"

3. Currency Conversion - This is cool! To use Google's built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you'd like done into the Google search box and they'll provide your answer directly on the results page.

Example of what to search for: "150 GBP in USD"

4. Unit Conversion - Countries use different metrics for measuring. This tool is extremely useful. You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and Google will do the rest.

Example of what to search for: "10.5 cm in inches"

5. Calculator - Since Google is right on your desk top you don't have to go searching for your calculator. Plus it uses Excel style equations so it's really easy for business people who think in Excel. To use Google's built-in calculator function; simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box.

Example of what to search for: "5*9+(sqrt 10)^3="

6. Weather - Weather plays a big role in transportation so this is great for getting a snapshot of the world's weather. To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type "weather" followed by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country.

Example of what to search for: "weather San Francisco, CA"

7. Maps - Want to see the mileage between a shipper and a consignee or try to figure out where your vendor is located? This is great! Type in the name or U.S. zip code of a location and the word "map" and Google will return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take you to a larger version on Google Maps.

Example of what to search for: "Seattle map"

8. Area Code - This can be helpful in situations ranging from trying to find where a phone call is coming from to finding out what part of the country you are calling. To see the geographical location for any U.S. telephone area code, just type the three-digit area code into the Google search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button.

Example of what to search for: "212"

9. Stock Quotes - Wanna see how a freight carrier or a vendor is doing in the market? Just type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance as well.

Example of what to search for: "MSFT"

10. Earthquakes - I have heard carriers make up some crack pot reasons why they missed the delivery. In case you are given the old earthquake excuse, you can use Google to see if the story checks out. To see information about recent earthquakes in a specific area type "earthquake" followed by the city and state or U.S. zip code.

Example of what to search for: "earthquake 90210"

*When entering keyword or phrase into Google's search engine with these tools, do not use quotation marks.

(George Muha)

5 Top Traffic Sources For Your Site

2011-01-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

Traffic is King

Traffic brings in the leads and the sales. Quality traffic is what produces your online revenue, whether from advertising or from sales on your site. Now, I have sites which get less than 50 visitors a day, I have a few sites which get around 200 visitors and I have one site which gets around 2,000 visitors a day.

Don't jump to any conclusions, some days the site getting 50 visitors can make just as much as the site getting 2,000 visitors. It all has to do with the quality of the traffic and how well it converts into a sale. And of course, it all depends on what you're selling... an LCD cleaning kit for $20 bucks or a gaming laptop which sell for $2000+.

Regardless, you have to get that traffic in the first place if you want to earn an online income. The more traffíc you have, usually, the more you will make; at least this has been my experience. Since traffic is very important to me, I keep a lot of records and stats on where my traffic is coming from on the web. I have to know what produces the quality traffic and how to get it.

So below I have listed down my 5 most important traffic sources and/or the marketing techniques I use to get that traffic. This list might also help you with your traffic and how you can grow it. Here are my 5 main traffic sources...

1. SEO and the Search Engines

The majority of the traffic to my sites comes from the search engines, mainly Google. It is my high rankings for my targeted keyword phrases which brings in the most and the best quality traffic to my sites. Get the SEO right and build a lot of quality one-way links from related sites and you will get the traffic. Another tactic, don't just create a website with only 10 or 20 pages - create one with 1000 to 5000 pages. I know this takes time but consider your site like a long-term business which you will keep building for years. Produce plenty of quality content and you will get plenty of quality visitors in return. Works for me.

2. Article Marketing

Another very effective way to bring in quality traffic to your site or sites is article marketing. Just write short articles related to your site's keywords and place your keyworded links in the resource box. Distribute these articles all over the web. Right now, what is working for me, is writing unique articles which I only place on one important site. I am using this technique with sites like SiteProNews, Buzzle and many more. Article marketing is still one of the most effective ways to get quality traffic, just try it.

3. PPC - Pay Per Clíck Advertising

I know, I know, this can be very expensive, but PPC can be the quickest way to get quality traffic to your sites. Just be careful and approach it with kid's gloves until you find campaigns which work for you - then scale them up. Microsoft Adcenter and Yahoo Marketing have now joined forces and I find this is producing good traffic for me. Google Adwords is probably better, but they are a real pain to work with and have become too expensive, at least for my keywords. But if you have the resources, don't rule out Adwords or any of the PPC programs.

4. Social Media Sites

From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, social media sites can provide a lot of traffic and word of mouth advertising for your site. For me, even though I haven't worked these sites to their fullest potential, I still get traffic from them. Getting your pages bookmarked in some of these sites can bring in a flood of traffic overnight, while most of this traffic will be temporary, you can get a lot of sign-ups to your newsletter and different follow-up lists. While not exactly in the same group, I have had some success with YouTube videos which also bring in targeted traffic. Don't ignore these social media and video sites in your traffic strategies.

5. Emaíl Marketing and Follow-up Lists

This is another one of my major sources of "repeat visitors" to my sites. You must be constantly building up your different contact lists for further follow-up. This will bring in more visitors than you would expect, especially if you put some simple viral messages in your emails. If you supply valuable information, people will recommend your content to friends and co-workers; again word of mouth can bring in a lot of traffic especially in this age of Facebook and Twitter.

Of course, there are other traffic sources such as Press Releases, Banner Ads, RSS Feeds, Off-line Advertising... and if you have your products to promote, affiliates and joint ventures will be your most valuable source of traffic.(Titus Hoskins)

Understanding Web Advertising

2011-01-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

More money is wasted on advertising than any other business function. That is not to say businesses shouldn't advertise but rather people should understand how advertising works. There are many ways to characterize ads, but for our purposes let's make it simple and separate advertising into two distinct approaches: saturation and emotional.

One of the things I've learned over a long career is that business folk invariably take their lead from the wrong sources. Small and medium size businesses look to the mega corporations to learn their tricks and adopt their attitudes when they have little in common - advertising being no exception. Since our clients are mostly medium or small size companies we try to help put some of these issues into perspective.

If you're big enough and have the money available, there are all kinds of marketing initiatives you can invest in, but if you have a limited marketing budget you need to be smart about how and on what you spend your advertising dollars. And the most effective and cost efficient place to spend those dollars is on your website. Yes you need to attract people to your site, but if once they arrive they find it lacks intriguing, engaging content, then you've wasted your money. So what tactical approach should you take to deliver your marketing message?

Saturation Advertising

The first approach is saturation advertising like you see on television. Anyone who has spent an evening sitting in front of the TV set is familiar with what I am talking about: the constant repetition of the same commercials over and over until the ads become an unwelcome irritation. The fact is no matter what you do to avoid commercials they eventually seep into your head. Even fast forwarding through commercials on a recorded program has an effect. Saturation advertising depends on repetition not quality, which is why some of the worst and/or stupidest commercials can still be effective.

There are some great commercials on television that do engage the audience with an entertaining, memorable, marketing message that enhances the brand and generates leads, but when push comes to shove, television advertising is all about repetition not quality.

Does Saturation Advertising Work?

Does saturation advertising work? The short answer is yes it does, at least for a television audience it does. Most people believe that it works on others but not on them, a phenomenon, psychologists call the Third Party Effect. The fact is, repeating something automatically makes it appear more believable.

The majority of people will respond that they don't pay attention to commercials, but inattention does not protect you from the influence of repeated messaging. In fact bad commercials work better if the audience isn't really paying attention, and fail when the audience is actually listening carefully. Careful attention brings to light all a message's conceptual, technical and performance issues.

Will Saturation Advertising Work For You?

But saturation advertising is expensive because it relies on huge media buys in order to get the required number of repetitions needed to worm its way into an audience's collective consciousness. It's a messaging tactic that depends on deep pockets and that rules it out for most companies. Advertising that depends on constant repetition just won't work on the Web unless it's merely to supplement an existing extensive integrated television and print campaign.

Just as an aside, the music industry uses the same tactic. The constant repetition of a song, even of inferior quality but with minimum rhythmic value and a repetitive catchy chorus, can become a hit if heard often enough on the radio or on television in a music video. And like most saturation advertising it's controlled by whoever has the most money available to purchase audience access. The same holds true for political advertising. Politicians can get away with the most incredible nonsense if they raised enough money to drown-out their opposition.

The Web is a different communication environment compared to television. Where television and the Web converge is with programming: your website is not an advertisement, or at least it shouldn't be if you want it to be effective; your website is the equivalent of the program not the commercial, and that is why the key to success is the ability to turn advertising into content, and content into a memorable experience. You need to engage your audience with the same kind of techniques and messaging that is used in the programs you watch and not in the commercials you try to ignore.

If You Don't Establish Your Brand, You Won't Have a Meaningful, Memorable Message

If you can't saturate the market with your brand then you have to find a better, more cost effective way to influence your audience. I use the word brand instead of product or service because that is where you have to start - you have to think 'brand' not product/service. What we're talking about here is advertising intended to promote and grow your company within the context of a long term marketing strategy rather than a promotional ad intended to let your audience know about a particular sale or promotional event. Companies that stick exclusively to a promotional format are basically teaching their customers to only purchase goods and services when there's a sale, and that's a tough way to make monéy on a long-term basis.

We all know how popular the Google AdWords program is and we all know how expensive it can get in order to gain access to the keywords that trigger your ad placement. The Google system is basically relying on the same principle as television advertising: big audiences and lots of placements equals lots of leads.

The problem in addition to the continual expense is that even if you attract a large initial audience, that audience will not stick around long enough to get your brand story if that story is not at least as interesting and entertaining as the television programs they watch. And even if that audience manages to stick around a while, if your site isn't interesting enough, they won't ever come back and that reduces your chances of being remembered. Unlike television where the audience is captive to the commercials, a Web audience is not. Unlike television where the experience is generally a compromised gróup decision, Web viewing is not.

For most Web-based businesses their website is their best and potentially most effective advertising venue, but people only go to websites that interest them, and they will leave in an instant if a website doesn't engage, inform, and entertain them.

Emotional Advertising

"People forget what you say, but they remember how you made them feel." - Warren Beatty

Everybody likes to think of him or herself as a rational, intelligent human being, but in truth, we are all motivated by the same hardwired emotional triggers. Our brains are marvelous, malleable organs that absorb information without us even knowing it; they process information, massage it, and produce instinctive responses to external stimuli. Our survival and dominance as a species depends on this ability. Our brains are not cameras that just record input; they are interpretive instruments that produce gut-instinct. As a consequence, successful long-term marketing strategies depend on an emotional brand association with basic Maslowian needs.

No matter who you are or what you do your competitors will undercut your price, add new and better features, or come up with superior alternative solutions. The business world is littered with the corpses of once proud companies that owned their market until someone came along with something better, or cheaper, or just different. No one wants a Polaroid camera when digital cameras are all the rage. Once proud Kodak has been humbled and downsized considerably because they saw themselves as a film company and cameras as merely a way to sell more film rather than tools of human creativity. Products and services come and go, but brands are forever, and brands are defined by their emotional appeal. (Jerry Bader)

How to Use Twitter for Business - 5 Tips For Twitter Newcomers

2010-12-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

Twitter is a wonderful business tool, not least because it's free. All it will cost is your time (and if that's in short supply, you can hire a social media marketer to manage it for you).

Used well, Twitter can provide good exposure for your business, but you can also damage your brand with social media marketing if you're not careful, so it's worth learning the biggest do's and don'ts before you start using Twitter.

Tip 1: Be Yourself and Be Human

The beauty of Twitter is that it's a huge global community of human beings (mostly; there are spammer accounts but they're easy to spot, block and report). So do show your human side, especially when using your business account. Talk about things that matter to you: funny things your children say, recent achievements, your favorite band or TV show, and so on. Join in with conversations that interest you - be friendly, show emotion, and use smilies if you want to.

On the other hand, don't be too human. Don't share anything you wouldn't share at a real-world business networking event; keep intimate health problems and controversial or potentially offensive opinions to yourself.

Tip 2: Watch How You Write

Some people write well, others don't - that's true in all areas of life, not just on Twitter. You don't need to be a bestselling novelist to use Twitter, but it helps if you have basic literacy skills (and if you use Twitter at the website instead of through a client, your Tweets will be spellchecked as you type anyway - which helps).

However good (or bad) your writing skills are, with Twitter's 140-character limit you'll need to be creative with your Tweets. Your Tweets need to be concise yet informative, and often you'll be trying to squeeze in a URL too (URL shortening services like bit.ly and tinyurl.com are lifesavers).

One definite don't is using text speak. Text speak is fine if you're 13, but as a professional adúlt promoting your business you're just going to look silly, and won't communicate your messages efficiently - unless you're targeting 13 year olds.

Tip 3: Share and Share Alike

If you have some good news - related to your business or your personal life - share it; everybody loves a good news story.

Do share links - to your website, your blog, your local news service, or anything else that interests your followers. This is a great way to get conversations going. But do remember to explain what the link's about, or your followers will feel less inclined to click it. And don't Tweet the same link over and over; people will quickly become bored and may stop following you.

Do retweet your friends' links, too. They'll be grateful, and so will your followers if the link is interesting and relevant. But here's a very big 'do' - DO make sure you click the link and read the content before sharing it with your followers, or you could end up sharing a page that's irrelevant or offensive, or which contradicts your usual position on the subject.

Tip 4: Be Part of the Community

Don't treat Twitter as your personal billboard. It's not. It's a community, millions of members strong, and the community as a whole is not very tolerant of users who constantly advertise. Try to stick to the 80-20 rule when you use Twitter for business: no more than 20% of your Tweets should advertise or self-promote, and at least 80% should be non-promotional. If you can get the ratio down to 90-10 or 95-5, even better.

Listen to what people are saying, and join in. Twitter is a network of conversations, so it's good practice to listen and respond to parts of those conversations that interest you. Don't just stand in the middle of the room with a megaphone, shouting "I'm fabulous! I'm selling widgets at 20% off this wéek!" Again, if you wouldn't do it at a business networking event, don't do it on Twitter.

Do retweet your friends' requests for help (for example, charity appeals and sponsorship requests), and do introduce friends that are new to Twitter and could do with some followers. And again - do retweet useful, interesting links from people you follow, but always check links before sending.

Tip 5: Mind Your Language

Don't use offensive language when representing your business on Twitter; even mild swearwords can put sensitive souls off following you (and besides - cursing in public is hardly professional).

Use Twitter to answer customer questions and solve their problems by all means. Many organizations use Twitter as a customer services tool very effectively. But don't ever, ever use an impolite or impatient tone with a customer. On Twitter, everything you say is out there for everyóne to see, so leave your followers with the best possible impression of your brand at all times... the Internet has a very long memory!

Finally - consider this a bonus tip, since it's not really connected to any of the previous ones. Try to enjoy yourself when you use Twitter. Try to embrace all that's good about Twitter - the new friendships and business contacts you'll make, the fun hashtags and trending topics, the strong community spirit - and before long you'll be singing (or is that Tweeting?) Twitter's praises to anyone who'll listen. (Debs Williams)

Top 5 Tips for Multi-Lingual Website Success in 2011

2010-12-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

2010 has come and gone and even now many online marketers and web designers are still ignoring the importance of adapting their websites for other languages and cultures. While English was still the number one language on the Web in 2010 with 536.6 million users viewing pages in English, Chinese is closing in with 444.9 million users.

This means that there are almost the same number of Chinese users as there are English and if your website is in the business of selling, then you are missing out on a potential 78% of internet users if you only provide an English version of your site.

We explore some of the main areas you need to consider when creating and optimizing your site for a multi-lingual audience.

Keyword Research

One of the most common pitfalls of localizing your website into another language is not spending enough time researching language specific keywords. Simply translating your English keywords is a step on the road to failure. The classic example Google Translate gives for 'car insuránce' in French is 'l'assurance automobile.' While this is an accurate translation French users will more than likely not use this keyword at all and type something along the lines of 'assurance voiture.'

Foreign language keyword research should be approached in more or less the same way that English keyword research is achieved by using a native speaking professional translator who is able to brainstorm for synonyms and the most commonly used search terms for that country.

TLD vs. Sub Domain

This age old debate nevér fails to arise on discussions of multi-lingual websites. Is it better to use a country code top level domain (ccTLD) or a sub domain of your main domain?

Both choices have their ups and downs. For instance, using a ccTLD such as www.yourdomain.it may make your site look slightly more authoritative in Italy to local search engines and visitors than a .com/.net address, although there is much debate as to whether this is truly the case.

Using ccTLD's is useful if you are looking to target countries or regions, but don't get caught in the trap if you simply want to provide alternative languages for your site. There are many countries that speak the same language. You wouldn't really want your Spanish .es site serving your South American visitors would you? Add in the cost of some ccTLD's, maintainability issues of separate domains and hosting and you have to ask yourself if you are targeting a specific language or a specific country.

The alternative is to use a sub domain of your main domain such as www.it.yourdomain.com or even www.yourdomain.com/it. This method is more practical if you are looking to provide alternative translations of your content but are not solely focused on selling products or services in a specific country or region.

Cross-Cultural Content

It's not only keywords that need to be researched and managed; content also needs to be properly localized for each language. A common mistake is to poorly translate English content or have content machine translated on the fly.

Content should be properly localized for individual cultures and that doesn't just mean getting your content translated. Different cultures prefer different styles. You could get away with an informal, almost 'chatty,' tone when writing for a UK audience. But try this for a German audience and visitors will more than likely be put off by your lack of professionalism since they prefer a more corporate, to the point, efficient tone.

You should get to know your target audiences and what their preferences are. Use analytics and statistics to evaluate your landing pages and content. How long are your visitors staying on a page? How high is your bounce rate?

Successful multi-lingual content is a mix of many different things, including SEO, and can take numerous trial and error attempts to get right. So research, refine, and re-write!

Translation Management

Management of your translated content also needs careful consideration. What happens when you alter your English pages? Do you leave your other language pages as they are or have them translated again?

There are efficient ways of working with translated content such as the open source GNU gettext framework which allows your translators to work from easy to use .po files. We will be exploring this method further in a future article. There are also numerous methods for popular blog platforms to manage translations.

Analytics, Analytics & Analytics

Google Analytics shouldn't ever be ignored. First you should make sure you have a separate account for each domain or sub domain you have running. This will help to segment and breakdown the analysis of each site and enable you to draw conclusions on how each country or language version is performing and where to improve. (Luigi Koechlin)

3 SEO Traps to Avoid During Your Redesign

2010-12-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

Going live with a redesigned website without considering the SEO implications is like being ensnared in a nasty trap that you cannot escape from. It's hard to make monéy while stuck in a trap!

With that in mind, here are a 3 SEO traps to avoid before, during and after you develop your website:

SEO Trap #1: Your Content Management System

If you are switching to a different content management system, (CMS) it often means that the URLs from your current site will have to change to something that fits with the new system. It's likely that the new URL naming convention will not match your old one.

The Escape: If this is the case with your new back end, then 301-permanent redirect all of the old URLs to their new counterparts if you can. If this is a practical impossibility, then review your analytics to find the landing page URLs within your website that receive direct search engine visitors, and redirect those. Also redirect any URLs that have links pointing to them from other sites. While it's best practice to redirect all URLs, those that don't receive any direct search engine traffic and don't have any external links are less important.

SEO Trap #2: Your Site Architecture

Your new website is likely to be sporting a brand new navigational scheme as well as an overall change of its site architecture (how each page links to each other). This is a key element in determining whether pages from your website will show up in the search results. For instance, if you take a page from your website that is currently featured in the main navigation (meaning that every page of the site links to it) and you feature it less prominently within your new website, don't be surprised if it doesn't show up in the search results for its targeted keyword phrases as it used to.

The Escape: You can tell the search engines which pages are the most important ones on your site by how you link to them. Be sure that the pages you are optimizing are linked from your main navigation so that they will receive the internal link popularity they deserve. They'll stand a much better chance at bringing you targeted visitors than those that are deeply buried.

SEO Trap #3: Your Content

If you hadn't previously optimized the content of your old site, I highly suggest doing so with your new site. This means that you research the keywords that people use at the search engines to find products or services like yours, and then use them strategically within each page of the website. Doing so will likely boost the targeted visitors to your site fairly quickly after going live.

On the other hand, if your existing site was fairly well optimized and already bringing targeted visitors, you'll need to be careful about the content that you change. While you shouldn't be afraid to make your content better, it may not be a good idea to completely rewrite old content that was working for you. You'd be surprised how many marketers decide to change their website messaging without even realizing that it was previously optimized to bring in targeted visitors.

Still, your website redesign is a good time to work on increasing your website conversions. All the targeted visitors in the world are of no use to you if they don't take any of the actions you'd like them to take. Rewriting some of your content to convert more visitors into buyers is a good thing as long as it doesn't decrease the number of those visitors. Again - this is where you'll need to review your analytics reports to determine which pages were your best performers.

The Escape: If you find that your existing page content was bringing in search engine traffic and conversions, think 10 times before changing it! If you're certain that your new content is much better and more in tune with your company's message, then try testing it against the old copy through a tool such as Google's Website Optimizer. You may be right, but you won't ever know for sure unless you test it.(Jill Whalen)

7 Tips for Flipping Websites for Income

2010-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Flipping websites is a lot like flipping houses - except that they're totally different. When you flip a house, you purchase it for $100,000, spend $30,000 more than you expected fixing it up, which takes three months longer than you hoped to make mortgáge payments, then sell it for $120,000. Or so I've heard from some folks who have been a little burned.

With flipping websites, it's a bit different in that you're dealing strictly with digital goods, so to speak, so there's no material cost involved. And there are many more opportunities for old-fashioned, do-it-yourself, boot-strapping - IF you know what you're doing. And if you don't? You can still get burned, so be careful.

Here are some tips for launching a website flipping venture:

Stick With Well-Known Sources

My own favorite is Flippa. A while back it was under the umbrella of the Sitepoint.com marketplace and eventually launched as Flippa. Flippa offers some nice and helpful features such as:

    * Current revenue, with verification of anything suspicious.
    * Detailed traffic and ranking information.
    * A secure transaction method.
    * Domain registration information.
    * Both bidding and purchase it now possibilities.
    * Incredible searching and sorting abilities so you can find a niche-targeted site in your price range      easily.

There are other sources, such as the Digital Point forums and even eBay, but the few sites I've bought and sold have occurred on Flippa.

Watch Out for Spam and Scam Sites

Yep, they're everywhere, and sometimes they sneak through on Flippa as well. You'll often see sites for sale that seem fishy, make too many promises, or look way too familiar. Go with your gut and walk very carefully. Do your research and verify claims of original content, high traffic numbers, and revenue earned. Make sure they haven't been blacklisted by Google and be sure to ask every question that crosses your mind before purchasing to see that the owner answers well.

Stick to Your Budget

If you've decided to invest $300 into flipping a website, don't give into the temptation to spend $500 on the hope that you can turn the website around and make even more.

Write Out an Improvement Plan

Before buying, make a list of the things that you think you'd need to do to turn the website around. Such as:

    * Freshening up the graphics.
    * Freshening up the typography.
    * Addressing usability issues.
    * Re-structuring the content flow and/or sitemap.
    * Adding social sharing features.
    * Moving to a new platform.
    * Adding more features and services.

Consider Your Time and Expense Budget for Improvements

Decide how long the changes will take, how much money you might spend on graphic design, data migration, etc., and whether these changes will actually improve the site enough to sell it for a profit or not.

I once heard that improving a kitchen or bathroom will yield more than a 100% on your investment when selling a house, but adding on a deck will wind up costing you. The same is true of websites. If a complete redesign is in order, it may be smarter to get yourself a property (domain name) and build from scratch to begin with.

Do It Enthusiastically, or Not at All

If you've been around the WordPress world much, you might know the story of Small Potato, who sold WPDesigner.com to a guy who made great promises to the site's community and then didn't ever really showed up again. His lack of passion created a community backlash from the people who had been so loyal to Small Potato. It was really the first premium WordPress theme marketplace around, offering "premium" themes for a $5 membership fee. Small Potato felt so bad about the sale that he refunded each person's fees personally, of his own accord.

So, if you're passionate about selling bells and whistles, then by all means, buy a bells and whistles website, fix it up, and sell your bells and whistles website after building the community. But if you don't know a bell from a whistle, veer in a different direction.

When It's Time to Sell It, Sell It

If you're growing a site, chances are it's because of the energy you're pouring into it. In many cases, continuing to pour more energy in will produce even greater results and growth. But at some point along the growth curve, you have to determine when it's time to sell it, if at all.

The Internet is filled with stories of startup companies who were offered great sums of monéy for their growing ventures. Some turned down those opportunities to sell, only to go on to even greater heights. The obvious risk is that someone else will beat you to the punch and release a better website first, but this is the open world of the Internet. There is room for multiple sites about bells and whistles. (Brandon Cox)

Twelve Simple Ways to Generate More Blog Traffic

2010-11-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

Imagine that you've taken the giant leap to start a blog to bring more brand awareness and exposure to your small business.

You've taken all the necessary steps to build your blog platform and now comes the day when you make your very first blog post. You spend hours crafting a post that is educational, inspirational and positions you as an expert in your field. You are as proud of this post as if it truly were your flesh and blood. And, most of all you can't wait to share it with the world.

So, you hit "publish" and wait for your readers to react to your nuggets of wisdom. However, the waiting is an endless ordeal.

Why aren't you generating any comments? Why aren't people emailing you thrilled that you have shared your expertise with them?

It's called "lack of traffic" and if there's no traffic to your blog, no one will ever see it.

So, how can you begin enticing readers to visit your blog? Here are twelve quick ways to generate a flow of non-stop blog traffic:

1. Create Great Content

Obviously, this goes without saying. But, your content needs to educate, entertain, inspire or provide a solution to your readers' problems. You want to try to accomplish at least one of these tasks with every blog post.

2. Keep Your Posts Short

We are living in an age where short attention spans are the norm. Keep your posts under 500 words so that you don't lose your ADD readers.

3. Get Your Blog Indexed in Technorati

This is the big daddy of all blog catalogs. Make sure that you go through the very simple process of submitting your blog RSS feed to Technorati.

4. Submit Your Blog Feed to Other Top Blog Catalogs

Blog catalogs and RSS feed catalogs are where readers go to find blogs to read. You want to make sure that your blog is there. To make the process even easier, you can use a service such as SubmitINMe to manually post to the catalogs for you.

5. Entice Your Readers to Subscribe to Your Blog

Give your readers a free goodie (such as a downloadable ebook, whitepaper, audio class, etc.) if they subscribe to your blog.

6. Let Your Social Networks Know About New Postsbr>
Whenever you post to your blog, Tweet it out to your followers, update your LinkedIn status and let your Facebook friends and fans know about it. If it's a good post, they will pass it on to their community as well.

7. Get Involved in the Blog Community

Blogging is a social activity. Read other blogs, comment on other blogs and refer to other blogs within your blog posts.

8. Comment Back

When your readers make comments on your blog, make sure that you comment back to them. You want to encourage a natural back and forth dialogue between you and your readers.

9. Participate in a Blog Carnival

A blog carnival is a blog event that it is dedicated to a particular topic and is published either weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of an article that contains links to other blog posts on that particular topic. Blog carnivals can be a wonderful way to produce awareness around your blog. Read the rules and regulations of the blog carnival and get involved.

10. Offér to Write a Blog Post for a High-Traffic Blog

Research various blogs within your particular industry. Read the blogs, comment on the blogs and interact with the blogger. Once you've established a relationship, send them an email politely letting them know that you would be willing to be a guest blogger for them at any time in the future. Include a link to your blog so that they can check out the quality of your work.

11. Use Your Blog Posts in Your Ezine

Instead of writing a brand new article for your weekly ezine, send out the first few paragraphs of one of your past blog posts. Then include a link for the reader to continue reading the post on your blog.

12. Include Your Blog URL in Your Email Signature

Develop an email signature that you use whenever you send an email. Of course, your email signature should include a link to your blog.

Once you implement these twelve strategies, you'll certainly notice a spike in traffic and begin generating comments and interaction from hundreds (even thousands) of readers in your particular industry. (Jessica Swanson)

7 Tips for Flipping Websites for Income

2010-11-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

5 Ways to Enhance Your LinkedIn Company Profile

2009-10-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

As consumers continue to flock to social media websites, marketers recognize the importance of attracting and retaining those users. One of the challenges facing companies today is how to enhance their LinkedIn company profiles.

LinkedIn has grown from a startup company to over 33 million members in the United States and over 80 million registered users worldwide. The recent economic downturn has also boosted the amount of individuals and companies that have turned to LinkedIn for networking opportunities. LinkedIn company profiles now provide a wide variety of tools to help your organization improve business networking opportunities.

Here are a few tools and tips on how to get started:

Build a Business Profile

Setting up a business profile is relatively easy, you start by setting up your personal profile.

As a registered user you now have the option of creating your company profile. A LinkedIn company profile can help foster a network to support your company's exposure online. LinkedIn developed company profiles initially to help boost the exposure of businesses looking to promote and recruit candidates. Initially, company profiles were designed as a way to receive an information stream from the company - today they provide a number of new and more powerful features. Users also have the ability to browse your online statistics, such as employee job functions, educational degrees and years of experience.

Another practical advantage of a company profile is that it will ultimately show up in your company's organic search engine results. Users will be directed to a company profile page and can follow your company if they too are registered LinkedIn users.

Engage Users with Thought Leadership

As an expert in your field, you probably spend a good amount of time engaging friends, prospects, and colleagues in conversation. Take that conversation online by providing relevant, up-to-date information using LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups cover many topics with millions of members sharing stories or asking and answering questions. LinkedIn Groups are organized by specific topics and geographical areas and self moderated by members. In order to join a LinkedIn Group you must request access or be approved by the forum moderator. Forums give professionals the ability to interconnect on topics and provide focused networking opportunities.

Participating within a group is as easy as sharing a news story or responding to questions or authoring original content to share. Your involvement gives users a better understanding of your expertise in a particular area. The result is an ability to help members and expand your professional following.

Connect with Existing Users

Once you have a business profile completed, get found on LinkedIn by mining your existing connections and adding new members to your profile. One of the most effective tools is the free LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar which scans your Outlook files and imports your contacts automatically. The software easily installs into your Outlook email client and automatically scans your inboxes and folders for possible LinkedIn connections. After it completes running its search it gives you the option to connect with those users. The toolbar is free and is available on LinkedIn's website.

Another easy way to promote your involvement is to enable the Twitter connection within your individual profile. (Currently company profiles don't have ability to assign a company Twitter account) You can tweet your company profile from your individual profile to help build awareness and attract your Twitter followers.

Promote your Company's Services

One of the newest features in LinkedIn's company profiles is Services. The Services tab allows businesses to promote products or services by completing a questionnaire for each item with the option of uploading a corresponding image. Users within your network can also recommend and share your services with others.

In addition to free profiles, LinkedIn also offers DirectAds, paid advertising that is displayed on the LinkedIn website as rectangular advertisements or text link advertisements. Similar to search engine pay-per-click advertising, you select the word or phrase you want your ad to correspond to and your budget for each word or campaign.

Market Your Involvement

Market your involvement on LinkedIn by including links, logos, and commentary to highlight your company's activity. A visitor browsing your website may not be interested in filling out a contact form, but a well-placed LinkedIn logo may give that visitor a more appealing way to follow your company.

In addition to offering the company's badges, consider incorporating your company's recent job openings to take advantage of the sites job seekers. Adding a job position isn't free but if you're looking to attract high quality candidates, LinkedIn offers a number of tools to help target your prospects in real-time.

Getting a good LinkedIn company profile is essential for anyone who desires to have a successful social media strategy. Hence, it is important to take advantage of all the best tools available. (Adam Aloi)

Tips for Developing a Link Building Strategy

2009-10-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Link building should be considered phase two of any SEO campaign (on-site optimization being phase one) and is a critical component of maintaining site ranking and establishing a trust factor with the search engines.

Link building is an ongoing campaign necessary for improving a website's inbound link stream which can help promote your brand and overall visibility in the search engines. Link building can also help boost unique visitors to your site which in turn can lead to a boost in conversions. Link building efforts come in many forms including: local profiles, blogging and blog commenting, social networking, directory submission and online publicity, among others.

The overall goal of a link building strategy is to grow links from many different, but relevant, sources over time. Most link building strategies range from 3 months to a year and should incorporate 10-20 different scheduled tasks a month. It is important to create a very specific link building schedule and stick to it as much as possible. Growing links too fast raises a red flag with the search engines and can result in negative consequences. Growing links slowly helps establish a trust with the search engines, leading to better positioning in their results.

The first step in developing a link building strategy is to conduct a link audit for your website and its top three competitors. Google Webmaster Tools can analyze your site while Link Diagnosis (both free services) can be used to analyze the competition. Conducting a link audit helps establish a baseline strategy by determining how many one-way links are already pointing towards your site. Depending on the age and size of your website, an audit could return with 100, 1,000, or even 100,000 one-way links directing traffic to various pages on your site. It isn't necessary to visit all 100,000 links, but you should take a good sample (roughly 1000) of the listed links and visit each one to determine what kind of link it is. This is called creating a link portfolio.

The person conducting the link audit should keep an eye out for "bad" links coming from places like adúlt or gambling sites. Search engines keep track of how many "bad" links a website has and the greater the percentage of links coming from these sites the more poorly it reflects on the website. Again, trust is the most important thing to establish between a site and the search engines. The number of "bad" links has a negative effect on a website's trust factor.

Analyzing a competitor's website helps you determine if there are any good places you should be focusing your link building activities, but aren't. It also lets you know what kind of competition there is online. If competitor X has 7,500 links, competitor Y has 12,000 and competitor Z has 23,000 one-way links, then a company with only 2,000 links knows it has a lot of work do to before it can effectively compete in the same space.

When developing a link building strategy, you need to create a schedule of diverse activities. Search engines want to see a blended approach because it demonstrates a commitment to site branding. It also lets the search engines know that your site is legitimate and employing white hat SEO techniques. These efforts can include creating social networking profiles, article marketing, and online video marketing.

The easiest place to start with link building is directory submission. You should submit your site to reputable directories like Yahoo! Directory, Dmoz and Business.com, as well as industry specific onlíne directories. Just double check that your website isn't already lísted in a directory before submitting a new profile. Duplicate submissions look bad to search engines as well as consumers because it shows a lack of attention to detail and can appear spammy. If a website is already listed, make sure the profile is up-to-date.

Along with online directories, you could consider becoming a member of industry associations. While it often costs to join these associations, it helps lend credibility to your site and can help position you as an industry expert. You should try to promote your website as an "authority" in your industry by placing links in online arenas that correlate to your industry/products and that will drive appropriately targeted traffic to your site. Industry associations are also a good place to develop relationships with other members.

You can help promote yourself as an industry leader by creating, and commenting on, industry blogs. Producing your content as opposed to just re-posting work by outside sources lends credibility to your site and encourages consumer trust in the expertise of your company and you as a writer. It can also help create a conversation with customers as opposed to the one-way communication of a website. Blogs that allow for comments encourage consumer participation.

Leaving appropriate comments on other blogs (comments that actually contribute to the conversation, not just things like "Thanks for the post!" or "Great ideas!") helps grow relevant links back to your website and promotes your company's authority as a leader in your industry.

As you promote your website and build its authority as an industry leader, natural inbound links will develop overtime. As your company blog or white paper is discussed or cited, as your product/service is reviewed and promoted by word-of-mouth over social networking sites or as your online press releases get picked up by various news sources, your campaign will grow to include links not directly created by your website's link building efforts.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to link building (just like most SEO efforts) is that it must happen over an extended period of time. It's easy for website owners to get anxious and want to see immediate results and over-aggressively push link building efforts. Doing so can result in negative consequences. Link building isn't just about boosting the number of one-way links pointing to your website; it is also about building and managing an online brand that resonates with consumers.(Nick Stamoulis)

Top 14 Benefits of Social Media Marketing

2009-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of fuss surrounding social media these days. If you still haven't jumped on the bandwagon and aren't sure why so many people are making such a big deal about it, here are 14 benefits of social media for your business and you from Success magazine.

Establish a Brand and Raise Awareness
Spy on the Competition

Pitch Products in a More Human, Interactive Way

Bring Attention to Your Products

Incréase Customer Loyalty And Trust

Listen to Your Customer's Opinion

Conduct Market Research

Strengthen Customer Service

Build Your Personal Reputation

Display Your Resume

Find a Job

Showcase Your Talents And Establish Yourself as an Expert

Enhance Your Business Contacts and Enhance Personal Relationships
Share Information with Like-Minded People

Tingkatkan BackLink dengan MLM BACKLINK

2009-07-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

Setelah membaca trik backlink building dari mas Lutvi di Cafebisnis.com,
MLMBACKLINK.CO.CC tertarik untuk mengembangkan trik farming backlink ini agar lebih mudah diterapkan oleh para blogger. Dengan sistem ini, anda hanya perlu melakukan rebloging artikel dengan daftar link yang di generate otomatis sesuai dengan upline referal anda. Oleh karena itu, seluruh pendapatan backlink anda dari downline bisa lebih terpantau. Dan yang penting, sistem ini bisa mencegah mereka yang ingin berbuat curang dengan menghapus beberapa link uplinenya dari daftar backlink.

Berikut ini backlink yang digenerate berdasar referal saya :

	SISTEM MLM BACKLINK AUTOMATIS
1	DetikCom Layanan Berita Online Indonesia
2	OkeZone Okezone Indonesian Portal
3	Facebook Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.
4	Friendster Friendster is a leading global social network emphasizing genuine friendships and the discovery of new people through friends
5	Google Indonesia The Best Search Engine
6	Wikipedia Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensklopedia bebas
7	MlmBacklink.co.cc Backlink Farmer Community. Join MLMBACKLINK, refer to other friends and get backlink from members!
8	Cafe Bisnis Online Panduan Terlengkap Belajar WordPress dan Bisnis Online
9	Forum Sejahtera Apa yang membedakan Anda dengan orang lain yang sukses? Jawabannya karena Anda tidak mengerjakan apa yang orang sukses kerjakan.
10	My Brain Tempat untuk berbagi ilmu

Jika tiap peserta mampu mengajak 5 orang saja, maka jumlah backlink yang akan didapat adalah

Ketika posisi anda 10 , jumlah backlink = 5 ( mereka yg mendaftar dgn referal anda)

Posisi 9, jml backlink = 25

Posisi 8, jml backlink = 125

Posisi 7, jml backlink = 625

Posisi 6, jml backlink = 3125

Posisi 5, jml backlink = 15,625

Posisi 4, jml backlink = 78,125

Posisi 3, jml backlink = 390,625

Posisi 2, jml backlink = 1,953,125

Dan semuanya menggunakan kata kunci yang anda inginkan. Dari sisi SEO anda sudah mendapatkan 1,953,125 backlink dan efek sampingnya jika pengunjung web para downline anda mengklik link itu, anda juga mendapatkan traffik tambahan.

Anda tertarik untuk mengikuti MLM BACKLINK ini?

100% GRATIS - CUKUP DENGAN REPOST ARTIKEL KE BLOG ANDA !!

+ LIHAT STATISTIK PENDAPATAN BACKLINK SAYA
+ BERGABUNG DENGAN MLM BACKLINK

Search Engine Optimization

2009-07-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

Optimisasi mesin pencari (bahasa Inggris: Search Engine Optimization, biasa disingkat SEO) adalah serangkaian proses yang dilakukan secara sistematis yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan volume dan kualitas trafik kunjungan melalui mesin pencari menuju situs web tertentu dengan memanfaatkan mekanisme kerja atau algoritma mesin pencari tersebut. "Tujuan dari SEO adalah menempatkan sebuah situs web pada posisi teratas, atau setidaknya halaman pertama hasil pencarian berdasarkan kata kunci tertentu yang ditargetkan". Secara logis, situs web yang menempati posisi teratas pada hasil pencarian memiliki peluang lebih besar untuk mendapatkan pengunjung.

Sejalan dengan makin berkembangnya pemanfaatan jaringan internet sebagai media bisnis, kebutuhan atas SEO juga semakin meningkat. Berada pada posisi teratas hasil pencarian akan meningkatkan peluang sebuah perusahaan pemasaran berbasis web untuk mendapatkan pelanggan baru. Peluang ini dimanfaatkan sejumlah pihak untuk menawarkan jasa optimisasi mesin pencari bagi perusahaan-perusahaan yang memiliki basis usaha di internet.

Sejarah
Menurut Danny Sullivan, istilah search engine optimization pertama kali digunakan pada 26 Juli tahun 1997 oleh sebuah pesan spam yang diposting di Usenet. Pada masa itu algoritma mesin pencari belum terlalu kompleks sehingga mudah dimanipulasi.

Versi awal algoritma pencarian didasarkan sepenuhnya pada informasi yang disediakan oleh webmaster melalui meta tag pada kode html situs web mereka. Meta tag menyediakan informasi tentang konten yang terkandung pada suatu halaman web dengan serangkaian katakunci (keyword). Sebagian webmaster melakukan manipulasi dengan cara menuliskan katakunci yang tidak sesuai dengan konten situs yang sesungguhnya, sehingga mesin pencari salah menempatkan dan memeringkat situs tersebut. Hal ini menyebabkan hasil pencarian menjadi tidak akurat dan menimbulkan kerugian baik bagi mesin pencari maupun bagi pengguna internet yang mengharapkan informasi yang relevan dan berkualitas.

Larry Page dan Sergey Brin, dua mahasiswa doktoral ilmu komputer Universitas Stanford, berusaha mengatasi permasalahan tersebut dengan membangun Backrub, sebuah mesin pencari sederhana yang mengandalkan perhitungan matematika untuk memeringkat halaman web. Algoritma tersebut, yang dinamakan PageRank, merupakan fungsi matematika yang kompleks berupa kombinasi antara perhitungan jumlah link yang mengarah pada suatu halaman web dengan analisis atas kualitas masing-masing link tersebut.

Berdasarkan prinsip kerja PageRank, secara umum bisa dikatakan bahwa halaman web yang memperoleh peringkat tinggi adalah halaman web yang banyak di-link oleh halaman web lain. Nilai PageRank juga akan semakin tinggi apabila halaman web yang mengarah kepadanya juga memiliki kualitas yang tinggi. Nilai sebuah link dari situs berkualitas tinggi seperti Yahoo! atau DMOZ dapat bernilai lebih tinggi daripada kombinasi nilai link dari seratus situs web berkualitas rendah.

Backrub hanyalah sebuah permulaan. Pada tahun 1998 Page dan Brin mendirikan Google yang merupakan versi tingkat lanjut dari Backrub. Dalam waktu singkat Google memperoleh reputasi dan kepercayaan dari publik pengguna internet karena berhasil menyajikan hasil pencarian yang berkualitas (tidak dimanipulasi), cepat, dan relevan. PageRank lantas menjadi standar baik bagi mesin pencari lain maupun bagi webmaster yang berusaha agar situs webnya memperoleh nilai PageRank setinggi mungkin sehingga menempati posisi tertinggi pada hasil pencarian.

Webmaster dan mesin pencari
Sejak tahun 1997 perusahaan mesin pencari menyadari bahwa beberapa webmaster melakukan segala hal untuk dapat terindeks pada urutan teratas hasil pencarian, termasuk dengan cara-cara yang manipulatif dan ilegal. Infoseek, salah satu mesin pencari generasi pertama, melakukan perbaikan pada algortima mereka untuk mencegah manipulasi dengan meta tag yang tidak relevan.

Bagaimanapun, dalam beberapa hal mesin pencari juga menyadari nilai ekonomi yang besar dari peringkat hasil pencarian, dan mereka terkadang memiliki kepentingan terselubung dari aktivitas perusahaan SEO. Beberapa perusahaan mesin pencari mengirim perwakilan atau menjadi tamu pada event-event rutin yang diselenggarakan komunitas SEO.

Mesin pencari besar seperti Google dan Yahoo! menyediakan program dan panduan yang memungkinkan webmaster mengoptimalkan situsnya agar terindeks dengan baik. Google menyediakan aplikasi Webmaster Tool dan memperkenalkan sitemap berbasis XML standar mereka, sedangkan Yahoo! menyediakan program Site Explorer yang memungkinkan webmaster mendaftarkan URL situs, mengecek jumlah halaman web mereka yang telah terindeks di Yahoo!, dan melihat informasi link masuk. Namun demikian mesin pencari tidak mentolerir metode SEO yang manipulatif dan menghalalkan segala cara.

Etika dan legalitas
Sistem PageRank, walau menerapkan algoritma yang kompleks, belakangan juga tidak lagi sepenuhnya mampu menghadapi trik dan manipulasi. Sejumlah webmaster dan praktisi SEO telah mengembangkan beberapa metode yang memanfaatkan cara kerja PageRank agar halaman web klien mereka berada pada peringkat pertama hasil pencarian. Google secara resmi telah melarang penggunaan beberapa teknik ilegal seperti link farming, doorway pages, keyword stuffing, dan auto generated pages atau scraper pages. Situs atau layanan SEO yang tetap menggunakanannya terancam akan dihapus dari indeks pencarian.

Ancaman Google dan mesin pencari lain bukan hanya gertakan. Beberapa perusahaan layanan SEO beserta klien mereka yang tidak mengindahkan larangan tersebut menerima penalti yang serius karena perbuatan ilegal mereka. Pada tahun 2005, Matt Cutts dari Google mengatakan bahwa URL sebuah firma SEO bernama Traffic Power beserta klien-klien mereka telah dihapus dari indeks Google karena menggunakan teknik SEO ilegal. Kasus lain yang terkenal adalah ketika Google pada Februari 2006 menghapus situs web perusahaan BMW dan Ricoh Jerman dari daftar karena terbukti menggunakan metode SEO yang manipulatif. BMW dan Ricoh dengan segera meminta maaf kepada Google dan memperbaiki situs mereka. Google kemudian memasukkan kembali situs web mereka ke dalam indeks pencarian. Namun skandal tersebut tetap meninggalkan citra buruk dan memalukan bagi kedua perusahaan tersebut.

Berdasarkan panduan resmi mesin pencari, SEO bukanlah teknik ilegal sepanjang dilakukan dengan mengikuti etika dan aturan yang ada. Hal tersebut untuk menjamin setiap situs web memperoleh kesempatan yang sama dalam pencarian, dan pemeringkatan dilakukan dengan obyektif, di mana yang paling berperan dalam menentukan peringkat suatu halaman web adalah kualitas dan manfaatnya bagi pengguna internet.

Tokoh-tokoh SEO Terkemuka
Selain pendiri Google Larry Page dan Sergey Brin, beberapa orang menjadi figur yang dihargai dan pendapatnya dijadikan acuan seputar bisnis mesin pencari dan SEO.

Danny Sullivan
Mantan wartawan LA Times yang mendirikan situs web Search Engine Watch yang aktif menyoroti perkembangan bisnis dan teknologi mesin pencari. Kini dia aktif menulis dan membuat reportase di Search Engine Land.

Matt Cutts
Programmer dan mantan pegawai NSA (National Security Agency) Amerika Serikat yang bergabung dengan Google pada tahun 2001 dan saat ini mengepalai tim penanggulangan spam Google. Selain menjadi karyawan Google, Matt Cutts adalah seorang blogger terkemuka. Artikel-artikel di blognya menjadi rujukan para praktisi SEO dari seluruh dunia, karena blognya sering menjadi sumber pertama setiap informasi mengenai perkembangan teknologi pencarian Google. Matt Cutts sering dianggap sebagai juru bicara tidak resmi Google.

Vannesa Fox
Mantan karyawati Google. Vannesa dikenal di kalangan webmaster sebagai konseptor dan programmer yang mengepalai proyek Google Webmaster Central.

Strategi pemasaran internasional
Bisnis dan layanan SEO berkembang pesat seiring dengan pertumbuhan web, yang menyebabkan sebuah situs harus berusaha lebih keras agar alamatnya lebih mudah ditemukan pengunjung di antara jutaan alamat situs lain dari seluruh dunia yang menjadi kompetitornya. Mesin pencari merupakan pintu masuk utama, karena pengguna internet tidak lagi sanggup menghafalkan jutaan situs web, dan sebagai gantinya mereka mengandalkan hasil pencarian dari Google, Yahoo!, Bing, dan mesin pencari lain.

Berada pada posisi teratas atau setidaknya halaman pertama hasil pencarian untuk subyek tertentu memberikan keuntungan ganda bagi perusahaan pemasaran via internet:

* Peluang calon pelanggan mengunjungi situs web mereka menjadi lebih besar. Hal tersebut dapat berlanjut pada meningkatnya tingkat konversi dari pengunjung biasa menjadi pembeli.
* Berada pada peringkat pertama hasil pencarian memberikan citra dan reputasi yang baik bagi sebuah situs di mata pengunjung.

Mesin pencari pada umumnya tidak mencari keuntungan secara langsung dari hasil pencarian organik. Pendapatan usaha mereka diperoleh dari iklan yang ditampilkan pada bagian atas atau samping hasil pencarian organik tersebut. Perusahaan yang kurang berhasil menerapkan strategi SEO sehingga alamat situsnya tidak berada pada posisi teratas dalam hasil pencarian organik masih dapat memperoleh pengunjung dengan beriklan pada mesin pencari tersebut.

Pada Google, pemasangan iklan dapat dilakukan melalui Google AdWord. Google AdWord menerapkan mekanisme pay per click atau bayar per klik, artinya untuk setiap iklan yang diklik oleh pengunjung, pemasang iklan akan dikenakan biaya, yang besarnya berbeda-beda tergantung pada proses lelang (bidding) katakunci yang dilakukan oleh pemasang iklan.

Sumber : Wikipedia

Belajar SEO Para Pemula

2009-05-07T00:54:00.000-07:00

Aku sebenarnya nggak bermaksud untuk mengikuti Kontes "Belajar SEO Para Pemula", hal ini dikarenakan sampai sekarang (12-07-09) blog ini belum terindex sama si om GOOGLE. Sementara blog ini dibuat per tanggal 07-07-09 (tepat sehari sebelum PILPRES di Indonesia ..) Jadi rasanya akan sangat mustahil untuk "tiba-tiba" saja "nongol" di SERP urutan 1 digit. Dua digit sekalipun akan sangat mustahil, lantas kenapa nulis ini?emang nggak boleh?yah, daripada iseng trus "kemasukan" mendingan ikutan Belajar SEO Para Pemula sekalian biar terindex sama si om, eh om apa mbah sih? what ever lah yang penting terindex dan bisa "Belajar SEO". sebelumnya aku ucapin thanks a lot buat si penyelenggaranya atas terselenggaranya acara kontes Belajar SEO ini.

Berikut Kutipan dari Ayomaju dot Com sebagai yang punya hajat :

OK langsung saja kontes SEO untuk pemula ini hadiahnya kecil tidak besar seperti kontes lain. Namanya saja untuk kontes para pemula. Kalau hadiahnya besar kan kontes untuk master SEO. Saya dengan megap-megap (maklum blogger miskin) akan mengumpulkan anggaran Rp 500.000,- sebagai hadiah hiburan bagi para pemenang yang dibagi seperti pada kotak dibawah ini:

Hadiah Kontes SEO Untuk Pemula
Pemenang Pertama Rp 150.000,-
Pemenang Kedua Rp 130.000,-
Pemenang Ketiga Rp 100.000,-
Pemenang Keempat Rp 70.000,-
Pemenang Kelima Rp 50.000,-
Pemenang selanjutnya ada hadiah hiburannya....

Hadiah yang sederhana memang, tapi bagi yang sedang Latihan SEO, lumayan anda bisa belajar dan berlatih dan memiliki kesempatan mendapat sedikit rezeki, lumayan bisa untuk tambah-tambah beli domain baru (apalagi yang selama ini masih menggunakan subdomain blogspot). Selain 5 hadiah diatas maka pemenang urutan ke enam sampai kesepuluh akan mendapat hadiah hiburan berupa review gratis (hanya ini yang bisa diberikan saat ini) di ayomaju.com.

Kontes ini lebih pada latihan dan persahabatan, jadi jika motivasi anda hadiah maka maaf kontes ini tidak cocok bagi anda. Silahkan anda mengikuti kontes lainnya saja. Sebenarnya saya ingin mengadakan kontes review tapi tidak ada juri dan saya pikir kalau saya sendiri yang menjadi juri maka penilaiannya menjadi sangat subyektif. Agar adil maka biarlah mengadakan kontes SEO saja karena mesin pencari yang menjadi jurinya. Hanya karena tujuan awalnya review maka salah satu syarat peserta adalah memberikan backlink pada blog ini dalam artikel yang dibuatnya. Dibawah ini peraturan dari kontes SEO ini:

* Peserta adalah pemula, jika anda mengikuti kontes ini maka anda harus rela disebut sebagai pemula.
* Link dimesin pencari harus ke artikel bukan ke halaman utama blog, karena yang dilombakan halaman artikel.
* Hasil pencarian menggunakan Google.co.id
* Masa berlaku kontes 3 bulan (biar banyak waktu belajar bagi para pemula) yaitu mulai 17 mei 2009 sampai dengan 17 Agustus 2009.
* Menjadi followers (google friend connect) blog ayomaju.com (widget disidebar) dan mem-favorite-kan ayomaju.com di technorati (Gunakan Link Ini untuk melakukannya, tentunya login dulu). Ini untuk membedakan peserta dengan blogger yang hanya mengacau SERP karena merasa sok master. Selain itu menjalin persahabatan.
* Artikel yang diikutkan kontes ini harus melinkback ke halaman utama ayomaju.com dan ke artikel ini (Belajar SEO Para Pemula (Kontes SEO Untuk Para Pemula)). Ini juga untuk membedakan peserta dengan blogger yang hanya mengacau SERP karena merasa sok master.
* Keyword yang dilombakan adalah "Belajar SEO Para Pemula"