Web Moves Blog

Reciprocal Linking Techniques For A Successful Web Site
Building a successful web site is a process that works best when done in a deliberate, logical step-by-step manner. The first step is to build a top quality web site that is packed with interesting and useful content.

Next, you need to submit your site to the major directories and begin a well thought out advertising campaign.

But the single most important step is getting a top ranking in the major search engines, most notably Google and MSN.

When ranking the sites in their index, Google places a very high importance on “link popularity”, that is the sites that have the most high-quality incoming links generally rank higher in Google. Getting links to your site from other sites is an absolute must for a top ranking in Google and the other top search engines (top 10 at a minimum).

The question that you may be asking is “How do I get these links?”. There are many ways to attain links to your web site, but it can be very difficult for new sites to get other sites to link to them.

There’s a simple way to jump-start the process however. It’s called “reciprocal linking”. This is how it works: You search for sites that are in the same general topic area as yours (but not sites that compete directly). After you find a list of suitable link exchange partners, you place a link to their site on your site. Then you email the webmasters of the other sites and ask for a link exchange.

Do not send generic copies of the same email to each webmaster however. Rather, take a few minutes to browse each site. Then write a personalized email to the webmaster explaining what you liked about the site (be specific) and why you think a link exchange would benefit both parties.

Be sure to address the webmaster by name if at all possible. Also, be sure to give him your link exchange information. This should include the title of your site, a short description, and the URL that you want his site to link to (this doesn’t have to be the home page). And be sure to include the URL of the page that already has his reciprocal link on it.

After you have sent the emails, expect a few rejections for various reasons. This is normal and expected so don’t be at all discouraged. You will also quickly get a few emails from webmasters accepting your offer. Verify that your reciprocal link is in fact on their sites and then send a “thank you” email.

A great way to find potential link partners is to do a Google search on one of your main keywords or phrases. You will most likely have many pages of sites listed in the search results.

Here is a simple way to find out which of these sites actively exchange links: Go to the bottom of the Google search results page. Click on “Search within results”. In the text box type in “Add URL”. This will return only the sites in your original search results listings that have an “Add URL” link on their web site. You can also do a search for “link exchange”.

If you aggressively pursue link exchanges on a regular basis, within a few short months you’ll have built up good rankings in the search engines with a steady flow of targeted traffic to your web site!

Author Bio:
Rick Rouse is the owner of RLROUSE Webmaster Resources and the author of “Super Webmaster SEO Toolkit” which gives step by-step instructions for getting a top 10 listing in Google & Yahoo.

Google Drives 70% Of All Web Traffic! Wake Up MSN, YAHOO!
A recent post in a discussion list suggested that Google is becoming the Microsoft of search (dominating web search as Microsoft dominates PC operating systems). So I decided to research a theory – one I’d developed about search engine traffic. I dug into the traffic stats on three of my own sites and those of several clients that I monitor traffic for.

While this case study is tiny and certainly NOT conclusive, I’ll wager it has strong parallels across small business web sites. The conclusions drawn are admittedly opinion, based on very limited statistics, but those are all that matter to those of us seeing tiny search engine traffic from supposedly monstrous portals.

The participating clients from this case study ALL submit their sites to paid inclusion programs from AltaVista, Inktomi and AskJeeves/Teoma. Two use LookSmart LookListings and all but one are listed in YAHOO! Directory. All are listed in the Open Directory Project and all submit to smaller industry specific directories and smaller search engines. One uses Overture PPC on a limited basis, while none use Google Adwords. All were optimized by yours truly and each represent varied industries in retail, professional services and one is an information site only, is non-commercial and sells nothing. Each of them ranks well at most search engines, but see little traffic from those good rankings.

The research I did confirmed what I’d only assumed before by backing it up with solid numbers. On my own sites and those of clients that I reviewed, Google sends over 70% of all search traffic to every one of those domains in every case. This includes Google foreign variants, Google Directory and Google image search (image search numbers are tiny). The foreign Googles send tiny numbers of visitors from non-English speaking countries, but English speaking Google traffic from the UK, Canada and Australia drives more traffic than either Yahoo or MSN according to traffic statistics of those sites reviewed for this case study.

With the highest difference between compared search engine traffic of 8 percent variation between studied domains, I’ve compiled a list of average traffic delivered by search engines for those sites to which I have access to traffic logs. The Google percentages are inclusive of those portals that use Google results such as iWon.com and Yahoo web results. Direct Yahoo results are for sites listed in their directory.

Google 74%
Yahoo 14%
MSN 9%
Ask 2%
All other SE’s 1%

I’m concerned, not that Google is too big, but that the other search engines just don’t get it, don’t deliver it and don’t want to give it up. What is IT? Traffic!

I attribute this to one thing. Those search engines don’t want to give up visitors to FREE search results. They are happy to send visitors off if they gain income from that traffic in either PPC ads or advertisements of ANY sort. Knowing that those free results will lose the “eyeballs” of searchers, they struggle to deliver both PPC ads and sponsor ads that most closely approximate the search phrase entered by the searcher. Thankfully, all have dropped banner ads from the SERP’s (Search Engine Result Pages).

They cannot stand the idea they will lose the visitor and seek to entice them to click on something, anything that’ll earn them income. Even if it means delivering NON-relevant results to entice the searcher to use a different search phrase seeking to gain more relevant results, thereby viewing more ads and additional PPC ads the visitor may click on to deliver income to the portal.

I believe these search engine traffic percentages are a direct reflection of relevance delivered by those search engines. The more relevant the results, the more likely they’ll send a higher percentage of traffic to your site.

74% of search traffic referred:
Google offers their own PPC results, offers no outside banners, Amazon links or effluvia related to the search. They deliver relevant results and visitors love that, then leave freely to return next time they want relevant results.

14% of search traffic referred:
Yahoo offers Overture PPC results (which they’ll soon own), Amazon links and sponsorship links, along with that “Also search in: Yahoo! Shopping” link at the bottom of every result page, hoping you’d rather shop than to actually find what you were searching for!

9% of search traffic referred:
MSN offers Overture PPC results, “Broaden your Search” (LookSmart) links, “Shopping Results on MSN” links and a sponsor text link at the bottom of every page as though you didn’t really want to find anything but their ads.

2% of search traffic referred:
Ask offers more paid results than any other search property with 5 sponsor links at the top of every search result page and TEN links to further paid sponsor results in a “Related Searches” footer to every result page. Ask sponsors provide search ads. Doesn’t Ask understand that most searchers see right through this?

Relevance at each of these search engines declines further with progress down the list of traffic referred. Is it any wonder Google is the leader? They lead in relevance, therefore in search engine referred traffic. All any engine need do is provide relevant results with limited sponsors and no excessive “shopping” or multiple source PPC links and book links. If they do that, they’ll compete effectively with Google. More relevant search engines deliver the traffic to web sites, NOT to their advertisers.

I have a bold suggestion to make to MSN as they develop their new in-house search engine. Drop the ads, sponsors, book links, shopping links and resist the temptation to bring back banner ads. Searchers want to find what they are looking for and easily see through transparent attempts to sell stuff to them and keep them from leaving. Let go of searchers by delivering highly relevant search results while clearly labeling limited numbers of sponsor or PPC ads! The result will be devastating to Google by giving searchers a real alternative that they may prefer using!

YAHOO! has a huge task ahead of them – to integrate the recently acquired Inktomi, Overture (and Overture’s recent acquisitions Altavista and Fast/AlltheWeb) search technology into their search mix. Clearly they’ve plenty of technology now and won’t need Google when they add all these ingredients to the search soup they are cooking up. Yahoo will possess all the best technology and must only decide to provide relevant search results WITHOUT shopping links, excessive sponsor links, book links and other clutter to the SERP’s. I suggest that if they show only limited Overture PPC ads and clearly labeled sponsor ads along with the relevant results – that they can also threaten Google’s lead.

If the re-born, re-cooked and massively complex YAHOO! or the “new” MSN resist the temptation to send searchers to advertisers rather than sending them to relevant results, then we will have three very strong competitors in the search market. The numbers of search referrals will level off at about 30% per competitor and Google will have to fight to gain back their current dominance. If YAHOO! or MSN seek to favor advertisers over searchers, Google will maintain dominance – clear and simple.

I encourage all webmasters to do their own comparisons of traffic referrals now and then again when YAHOO! and MSN weigh in over the next year with their “new” offerings. It could get very interesting if there were some true competition in search, so referred traffic from YAHOO! and MSN starts to deliver to webmasters rather than advertisers.

Author Bio:
Mike Banks Valentine is a Search Engine Optimization specialist practicing ethical small business SEO Search Engine Placement, Optimization, Marketing

5 Ways To Get Other Websites To Link To Yours
In-bound links from other web sites to yours provide two avenues to success for your site.

First, the number of quality in-bound links pointing to your web site are a major factor that the search engines (including Google) use to rank web pages in their databases. Lots of high-quality in-bound links can help boost a page into the “top 10” of a search engine’s search results page (SERP).

In addition to the search engine ranking benefits provided by in-bound links, they are also a very steady supply of referral traffic to your web site! If you are able to attain a large number of links from quality sites, you will get about as much traffic from referrals as you get from the search engines.

The big question is “How do I get other sites to link to mine?”.

There are several techniques that you can use to entice other webmasters to link to your site:

1 – Simply ask the webmaster for a link! If your site can be a valuable resource for the other site’s visitors, send the webmaster a polite, personalized email asking for a link. Tell the other webmaster why a link to your site would be beneficial to his visitors (and his site).

For example: Your site sells books about web site promotion. Your web site would probably be of value to the visitors of a site that features web authoring books or tutorials. And since your site compliments (but doesn’t compete with) his site, he may well be happy to give you a link!

2 – Offer the other webmaster a freebie in exchange for a link. You could offer a free software download, a free service (such as search engine optimization for his site), or a testimonial for his site (with your link in it of course).

3 – Write articles about a topic in your field of expertise. Offer to let other webmasters use the article on their websites or in their newsletters. At the end of the article will be a “resource box” that provides information about you and a link to your web site. Writing free articles is a major traffic-builder!

4 – Produce and distribute free ebooks about topics in your field of expertise. Give (or better yet sell) other webmasters the right to distribute your ebook via their web sites or newsletters. Of course, each ebook will have information about your web site as well as a link to it!

5 – Exchange links with other web sites that compliment (but don’t compete) with yours. Do a Google search on one of your target keywords. Contact each webmaster with a personalized email explaining why a link exchange would benefit both sites (be very specific). Then ask to exchange links. It helps to already have his “reciprocal” link in place before you contact him with the URL of the page on your site with his link on it.

There are numerous other techniques that you can use to get in-bound links to your site. Simply use your imagination. If you devise a well-thought out plan for your link campaign and apply it with diligence, you can watch your search engine rankings and web site traffic steadily climb to ever new heights!

Author Bio:
Rick Rouse is the owner of RLROUSE Webmaster Resources and the author of “Super Webmaster SEO Toolkit” which gives step by-step instructions for getting a top 10 listing in Google & Yahoo.

How To Reach All The Search Engines
Hi Jill,

I don’t know if you will recollect, but we have communicated several times and your feedback is always so helpful. Hope you can give me a little assistance here.

I am using WPG’s page critic. It is quickly apparent that what works for one search engine is frequently quite different on another. What is the answer?

I could use a robot.txt file and create a different version of each index page but is this a smart approach? Does this look to be like
spamming? How do you handle these differences?

Thanks in advance.

Jerry

~~~Jill’s Reply~~~

Hi Jerry,

Nice to hear from you!

The answer to your problem is to simply not use PageCritic. It’s totally wrong, from my perspective. Pages can and do rank highly on
all the search engines. There’s never a need to design a page for any particular engine at the exclusion of others.

Make your pages the best they can be for your users and search engines in general, and your site will do great!

Jill

[Apparently my reply didn’t quite answer Jerry’s concerns, so he wrote me back with additional questions. See below…as the Q&A
continues… J]

Jerry’s Response
Hi Jill,

The thing that drives me crazy is how well all of my sites do on Google and how poorly they do on MSN (why, btw, do all of MSN’s results come from LookSmart?). So, knowing what needs to be done to the page to move up in MSN is important. Do I simply rely on
Searchenginewatch or others for that insight?

I’m surprised to hear your response. I know better than to use the [WebPositionGold] submitter or the page generator but I thought their knowledge base and page critic were good tools for getting general insights on a page vs. search engine.

Do you mind telling me how you determine what to do on a page when faced with a similar dilemma?

What is about WPG that you believe makes it an invaluable SEO tool?

Again, thanks for your help and feedback.

Jerry

~~~Jill’s Reply~~~

Hi Jerry,

The thing that drives me crazy is how well all of my sites do on Google and how poorly they do on MSN (why, btw, do all of MSN’s results come from LookSmart?).

MSN is all about the money. If you care about doing well with them, you probably should pony up to LookSmart and pay for every click to your site. Unfortunately, the Inktomi listings only show up *after* the LookSmart listings. Of course, even Inktomi wants some of your cash these days. If you absolutely need to be doing well in MSN, you can use paid Inktomi inclusion and tweak your pages to your heart’s content. You’ll be spidered every 48 hours and can see what works and doesn’t. You’ll need to shoot for the phrases that have no LookSmart listings, though, as there’s no way to beat them with Inktomi “natural” results.

So, knowing what needs to be done to the page to move up in MSN is important. Do I simply rely on Searchenginewatch or others for that insight?

All of the search engines want the same thing — to show the pages that are the most relevant to the search query. Keep working on your pages so that they are the most relevant in all respects, and you’ll eventually get lots of highly targeted traffic and sales.

I’m surprised to hear your response. I know better than to use the submitter or the page generator but I thought their knowledge base and page critic were good tools for getting general insights on a page vs. search engine.

If you like numbers, I suppose PageCritic can be interesting. But years ago when I ran some high-ranking sites through the PageCritic and it told me that they needed to be changed, I decided never to look at it again. It only works for the algorithm du jour. If you want to chase whatever algorithm is up to bat on any given day, more power to you.

I prefer a long-term approach, which blankets all the engines with lots of keyword phrases that are relevant to my sites. This way when some phrases are ranking highly in some engines, and others are ranking highly in other engines, I still have good representation across the board. Rankings do change. They can change on any given day. Up and down, down and up. That’s life in the SEO game. The trick is not to look at the minutiae, and see the big picture instead. Forget about rankings even. Are you being found in the engines for relevant phrases, and are you converting that traffic into sales? That’s what matters.

What is about WPG that you believe makes it an invaluable SEO tool?

It’s really not an invaluable tool to me anymore. Five years ago, when we had many competing search engines and it was important to be ranked highly in all of them, WPG as an easy way to check positions. Today, there are only 2 or 3 search databases that anyone cares about, making it easy enough to do some spot checking by hand. Or even
better — to simply check server logs. That’s the best indication of how you’re doing.

Hope this helps!

Jill

Author Bio:
Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine marketing consultant and editor of the free weekly email newsletter, the High Rankings Advisor.

Make Online Marketing An Effective Sales Tool
All businesses should have some kind of Internet presence, if only to help the occasional Web searcher find the phone number to a nearby brick-and-mortar store. Like most corporations, many HVAC and sheet metal companies today want their Web sites to go beyond a simple online brochure, but they also need to get a decent return on investment to justify operating, promoting and maintaining an engaging Web presence. Here are some ways to ensure your Web site stands out.

An effective Web site not only needs to be attractive, it has to be easy for visitors to find and use. It has to create interest in a company’s products or services. Ideally, it will make visitors want to buy, or at least call a company for more information.

Thanks mostly to software and a growing online-marketing industry, companies now have full control over how and where they appear online, and company officials can know exactly how many people come to their Web site, where they come from, what they do and how much they buy.

Internet Exposure
Some online customers know a company’s Web address and type it into their browser directly. When that happens, it’s an indicator of good branding, which is mostly established through off-line marketing efforts. The best way to catch this valuable traffic is by selecting a good Web address, sometimes called a “URL.” Preferably, the address will include the company’s business name or a brand name people commonly use when referring to the company (usually without the “Inc.” and “Corp.” attached). Addresses should avoid hyphens, if possible, and officials should buy similar, available Web addresses that people might type in when looking for the company. These additional Web address can then instantly redirect visitors to the main Web site.

To capture those potential customers who don’t know a company well enough to type in a direct address, a Web site needs to appear in online databases called “search engines.” Popular examples include Yahoo, Google and Alta Vista. A search engine scans the Internet for Web sites that contain a certain word or phrase.

To maximize online marketing efforts, a corporation’s Web site should appear in the No. 1 position when someone types in the company’s name. Ideally, the Web site should appear prominently when a visitor types in any phrase that relates to what the business sells. Some manufacturing companies don’t bother pursuing good search-engine listings, figuring their potential clients are not searching for information or products online.

No Need To Guess
But no company needs to guess whether people are looking for them online. Software and Web applications are available that can tell officials approximately how many Web users are searching for their products. One of the most popular Web-based tools is WordTracker (www.wordtracker.com). A one-day subscription is available for $7. This software gives its users a list of how many people search for a phrase. These statistics can give Web site owners an idea of which phrases are more searched than others in a particular industry. (See Figure 1)

Appearing under any phrases in a search engine is a bit more complicated than it looks. Most search engines provide two types of listings for searches: sponsored listings and free listings. Companies can appear in both of these types of listings.

Exposure in the free listings is determined by the search engine itself, which searches online for Web sites to index in its database and then determines, based on a Web site’s code and content, where it should appear in the free list of results for particular phrases. This method explains why most Web sites appear when someone types in their business name. The Web site content usually contains that name multiple times, basically telling the search engines that the name of the company is an important phrase for the Web site.

There are ways to encourage a search engine to see the Web site as important to other phrases beyond the company name. This is called optimizing a Web site for search engines and an entire online-marketing industry has developed to help companies optimize their Web site for free search listings in Google (www.google.com) and other search engines.

Pay For Placement
Most companies, however, direct their online-marketing efforts towards a simpler task: paying to appear under the sponsored listing section in multiple search engines. There are many places online to pay for placement, but the two most common search engines offering paid placement are Google and Overture (www.overture.com), which serves as a distributor of paid listings to the search engines such as Yahoo and MSN. Both these engines let Web site owners bid on a per-click cost for a sponsored ad and let the company determine what phrases it would like that ad to appear under. Web site owners then pay every time a user clicks on their sponsored ad.

WordTracker software also helps subscribers know how much a particular phrase costs on the search engine Overture. (See Figure 2)

Although search engines are the most popular and easy way to increase a Web site’s online exposure, companies can also buy “banner ads” – ads that appear across the top of a Web page – and listings in industry-related Web sites and newsletters. Associations, press publications, and related industry or online-resource Web sites offer advertising to qualified buyers in Web site directories, through banners on front and internal pages, and within their online newsletters.

Tracking Traffic, Volume And Behavior
Once a Web site has a decent online presence in general search engines and industry-related Web sites, traffic will increase and, hopefully, so will customer leads and sales. But companies don’t need to rely on hope to determine if their Web site is bringing in buying traffic. Web sites are hosted on servers that track basic information about site traffic in what’s called a “server log.” Software is available to help companies compile this log information and organize it into reports that can tell a company where users specifically come from, what pages those users go to once they enter the Web site, and how many of those users buy products or request more information on the Web site, among other things.

The amount of details available about traffic volume and behavior within a Web site is dependent on the software used to compile that information. One of the largest Web site server-log software is WebTrends (www.webtrends.com), available by subscription in several versions, depending on a Web site’s statistical needs. There are, however, hundreds of software packages available, each offering companies something different in compiling capabilities. Some compile reports that indicate general trends of traffic volume and behavior, while others can tell companies details like how much they paid for an ad in Overture, which products those Overture visitors bought online, and then what the specific return on investment was for that phrase and ad in the Overture engine for a month’s time. Other software helps companies gather information about visitors, which can then help the company compile reports about a specific visitor’s behavior on the Web site each time he or she visits. Online bookseller Amazon.com is one well-known example.

Once a company chooses the best software for its needs, reports can be generated to answer questions like:

Is the marketing attracting qualified traffic?

What Web sites refer buyers and leads?

How does traffic move through the Web site?

What pages do users typically leave from?

What percentages of users buy or request information on the first visit?

How much does it cost for every online lead or buyer?

Making Sales
Compiling and analyzing Web site statistics can only be effective if the Web site design and marketing has been done with goals in mind. Companies that want an effective Web site need to have a business and marketing plan for the site and not operate it haphazardly. If the Web site is more than just an online brochure, it can represent the company as a mini-business in a virtual world.

Most companies want online visitors to buy product or services from them, but that goal is typically too simplistic to be effective. Online-marketing research indicates that most first-time Web site visitors don’t purchase a product or service during their initial exposure to the Web site.

One commonly quoted figure estimates that on average, only 2 percent to 3 percent of Web site traffic will perform a “most-wanted-response” during a Web site visit, even if that response is not a purchase but a request for information or signing up for a newsletter. Web site goals can be even harder to determine when a company sells products through a distribution network.

Since most people need to return to a Web site multiple times before requesting information or making a purchase, some of the most effective goals for a Web site involve keeping the visitor engaged with useful information and capturing e-mails and names to entice visitors back to the Web site until they’re ready to buy.

The most common way to capture information is by offering an industry newsletter that provides valuable resources or information on a weekly or monthly basis. But contests, request-for-information forms, and free trials or products can also be good customer-retention goals for a Web site and can all inspire qualified leads to give an e-mail address, name or phone number.

Once a company establishes some activities for visitors, they can track the conversion rate between the total number of visitors and those that perform the desired actions on the Web site. If those goals are clearly established and analyzed, the information about how visitors find and interact with the Web site can justify changes in the marketing plan, content creation and Web site design. This information will also justify the costs of owning and operating the Web site, and can give companies hard figures about online lead costs and the costs of sales conversions.

Make Online Marketing An Effective Sales Tool
All businesses should have some kind of Internet presence, if only to help the occasional Web searcher find the phone number to a nearby brick-and-mortar store. Like most corporations, many HVAC and sheet metal companies today want their Web sites to go beyond a simple online brochure, but they also need to get a decent return on investment to justify operating, promoting and maintaining an engaging Web presence. Here are some ways to ensure your Web site stands out.

An effective Web site not only needs to be attractive, it has to be easy for visitors to find and use. It has to create interest in a company’s products or services. Ideally, it will make visitors want to buy, or at least call a company for more information.

Thanks mostly to software and a growing online-marketing industry, companies now have full control over how and where they appear online, and company officials can know exactly how many people come to their Web site, where they come from, what they do and how much they buy.

Internet Exposure
Some online customers know a company’s Web address and type it into their browser directly. When that happens, it’s an indicator of good branding, which is mostly established through off-line marketing efforts. The best way to catch this valuable traffic is by selecting a good Web address, sometimes called a “URL.” Preferably, the address will include the company’s business name or a brand name people commonly use when referring to the company (usually without the “Inc.” and “Corp.” attached). Addresses should avoid hyphens, if possible, and officials should buy similar, available Web addresses that people might type in when looking for the company. These additional Web address can then instantly redirect visitors to the main Web site.

To capture those potential customers who don’t know a company well enough to type in a direct address, a Web site needs to appear in online databases called “search engines.” Popular examples include Yahoo, Google and Alta Vista. A search engine scans the Internet for Web sites that contain a certain word or phrase.

To maximize online marketing efforts, a corporation’s Web site should appear in the No. 1 position when someone types in the company’s name. Ideally, the Web site should appear prominently when a visitor types in any phrase that relates to what the business sells. Some manufacturing companies don’t bother pursuing good search-engine listings, figuring their potential clients are not searching for information or products online.

No Need To Guess
But no company needs to guess whether people are looking for them online. Software and Web applications are available that can tell officials approximately how many Web users are searching for their products. One of the most popular Web-based tools is WordTracker (www.wordtracker.com). A one-day subscription is available for $7. This software gives its users a list of how many people search for a phrase. These statistics can give Web site owners an idea of which phrases are more searched than others in a particular industry. (See Figure 1)

Appearing under any phrases in a search engine is a bit more complicated than it looks. Most search engines provide two types of listings for searches: sponsored listings and free listings. Companies can appear in both of these types of listings.

Exposure in the free listings is determined by the search engine itself, which searches online for Web sites to index in its database and then determines, based on a Web site’s code and content, where it should appear in the free list of results for particular phrases. This method explains why most Web sites appear when someone types in their business name. The Web site content usually contains that name multiple times, basically telling the search engines that the name of the company is an important phrase for the Web site.

There are ways to encourage a search engine to see the Web site as important to other phrases beyond the company name. This is called optimizing a Web site for search engines and an entire online-marketing industry has developed to help companies optimize their Web site for free search listings in Google (www.google.com) and other search engines.

Pay For Placement
Most companies, however, direct their online-marketing efforts towards a simpler task: paying to appear under the sponsored listing section in multiple search engines. There are many places online to pay for placement, but the two most common search engines offering paid placement are Google and Overture (www.overture.com), which serves as a distributor of paid listings to the search engines such as Yahoo and MSN. Both these engines let Web site owners bid on a per-click cost for a sponsored ad and let the company determine what phrases it would like that ad to appear under. Web site owners then pay every time a user clicks on their sponsored ad.

WordTracker software also helps subscribers know how much a particular phrase costs on the search engine Overture. (See Figure 2)

Although search engines are the most popular and easy way to increase a Web site’s online exposure, companies can also buy “banner ads” – ads that appear across the top of a Web page – and listings in industry-related Web sites and newsletters. Associations, press publications, and related industry or online-resource Web sites offer advertising to qualified buyers in Web site directories, through banners on front and internal pages, and within their online newsletters.

Tracking Traffic, Volume And Behavior
Once a Web site has a decent online presence in general search engines and industry-related Web sites, traffic will increase and, hopefully, so will customer leads and sales. But companies don’t need to rely on hope to determine if their Web site is bringing in buying traffic. Web sites are hosted on servers that track basic information about site traffic in what’s called a “server log.” Software is available to help companies compile this log information and organize it into reports that can tell a company where users specifically come from, what pages those users go to once they enter the Web site, and how many of those users buy products or request more information on the Web site, among other things.

The amount of details available about traffic volume and behavior within a Web site is dependent on the software used to compile that information. One of the largest Web site server-log software is WebTrends (www.webtrends.com), available by subscription in several versions, depending on a Web site’s statistical needs. There are, however, hundreds of software packages available, each offering companies something different in compiling capabilities. Some compile reports that indicate general trends of traffic volume and behavior, while others can tell companies details like how much they paid for an ad in Overture, which products those Overture visitors bought online, and then what the specific return on investment was for that phrase and ad in the Overture engine for a month’s time. Other software helps companies gather information about visitors, which can then help the company compile reports about a specific visitor’s behavior on the Web site each time he or she visits. Online bookseller Amazon.com is one well-known example.

Once a company chooses the best software for its needs, reports can be generated to answer questions like:

Is the marketing attracting qualified traffic?

What Web sites refer buyers and leads?

How does traffic move through the Web site?

What pages do users typically leave from?

What percentages of users buy or request information on the first visit?

How much does it cost for every online lead or buyer?

Making Sales
Compiling and analyzing Web site statistics can only be effective if the Web site design and marketing has been done with goals in mind. Companies that want an effective Web site need to have a business and marketing plan for the site and not operate it haphazardly. If the Web site is more than just an online brochure, it can represent the company as a mini-business in a virtual world.

Most companies want online visitors to buy product or services from them, but that goal is typically too simplistic to be effective. Online-marketing research indicates that most first-time Web site visitors don’t purchase a product or service during their initial exposure to the Web site.

One commonly quoted figure estimates that on average, only 2 percent to 3 percent of Web site traffic will perform a “most-wanted-response” during a Web site visit, even if that response is not a purchase but a request for information or signing up for a newsletter. Web site goals can be even harder to determine when a company sells products through a distribution network.

Since most people need to return to a Web site multiple times before requesting information or making a purchase, some of the most effective goals for a Web site involve keeping the visitor engaged with useful information and capturing e-mails and names to entice visitors back to the Web site until they’re ready to buy.

The most common way to capture information is by offering an industry newsletter that provides valuable resources or information on a weekly or monthly basis. But contests, request-for-information forms, and free trials or products can also be good customer-retention goals for a Web site and can all inspire qualified leads to give an e-mail address, name or phone number.

Once a company establishes some activities for visitors, they can track the conversion rate between the total number of visitors and those that perform the desired actions on the Web site. If those goals are clearly established and analyzed, the information about how visitors find and interact with the Web site can justify changes in the marketing plan, content creation and Web site design. This information will also justify the costs of owning and operating the Web site, and can give companies hard figures about online lead costs and the costs of sales conversions.

Author Bio:
Article by Sage Lewis, founder and president of the web site promotion firm SageRock.com. He has been employed as an Internet Strategist and design/promotion consultant for 6 years.

Day One
Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Strategies rolled into San Jose this week, bringing an unprecedented four days of search engine marketing advice (SEM) and news to more than 1700 attendees. If you still had reservations about the legitimacy of search engine marketing, one look at the impressive roster of exhibitors, sponsors and attendees would quickly dispel any doubts.

More than 48 companies, including Google and Yahoo, decided to exhibit at the event (the highest number of exhibitors ever for SES) and speakers included representatives from all of the main search engines as well as the top SEM companies.

At the immensely busy registration desk, a buzz was developing with attendees enthused about recent developments in the search engine industry. With Overture, Google and Lycos, just a few of the search engines expected to make some big announcements during the proceedings, the conference was expected to provide a lot more than just ‘how-to’ information.

Day One of the conference had been designated as a ‘pre-conference’ day with the sessions taking on two distinct tracts. Danny had decided to move all the beginners SEM sessions to this day and additionally take the opportunity to provide an annual update on the economics of the search engine industry.

As part of this exclusive insight to the world’s largest SEO conference, I decided to take a seat in many of the search engine economic sessions. A notable exception being my own presentation on ‘Search Term Research’ (which I provided as part of the beginners itinerary).

One of the most interesting sessions of the day was unquestionably the Search Monetization Strategies. While none of the panelists could agree on what ‘monetization’ meant, they all had some interesting information to share.

Sheryl Sandberg, VP of Global Online Sales & Operations for Google was the first to speak on the topic. Discussing the growth of Google, she shared with us that Google is not only the largest search engine property, but is also the fastest growing. Focusing on the ‘how do make money’ side of Google’s operations, she offered that with more than one hundred thousand advertisers, eight-eight different interfaces and products in 11 languages, Google had taken great steps to secure its position.

Sandberg also shared with the audience the great success they had seen with their Google Search Appliance product, allowing any business to purchase an easy and effective search tool for their own website. With companies on board that include Boeing, Cisco and Xerox she confirmed that this is a growing market for Google. She also took the time to showcase the recently launched AdSense service, which allows the average website to display Google’s AdWords campaigns and receive commission on the click-thrus. The success of AdSense is in part due to the fact that Google is able to spider the website of the proposed partner and use an algorithm to determine which ads would be most relevant to the page being displayed. This format was far more accurate than simply asking the website owner which terms they thought were relevant to the page.

Finishing, Sandberg offered answers to audience questions which confirmed the following:

1. Google has no plans to introduce a ‘paid inclusion’ or trusted feed service at anytime in the future.

2. While Google’s AdWords campaign does track the click-thru rates of an ad, they do not track how long a visitor remains on the advertiser’s website.

3. Commenting on eBay’s request to remove any ads that infringe on their copyright, Sandberg confirmed that these requests could be made by any company concerned about trademark or copyright infringement.

While Google is still the darling of the search engine industry, Yahoo has caused quite a stir with their recent acquisitions. Tim Cadogan, VP of Search for Yahoo explained some of the initiatives Yahoo had taken to improve their search offerings. One of the most interesting Yahoo developments has to be their new Product search. While still in beta-testing, this service strikes an uncanny resemblance to Google’s new Froogle service. Perhaps its no surprise that the new service from Yahoo will also include sponsored listings from Overture.

Cadogan also describe some other steps Yahoo has taken to improve user access to search. These included:

1. Showing Yahoo Yellow Pages listings in search results for products or services that also include a zip code. E.g. Pizza delivery 95110

2. Search for Weather or Maps for a location will bring up relevant information not just search results.

3. Including a search box in Yahoo Mail accounts so that a user receiving an email on a product or service can search without leaving their mailbox,

With the addition of Tony Mamone of LookSmart and Jim Diaz from Ask Jeeves, a lot of information was shared. Look for more details in a future round-up of the session.

Another session of interest was the Advertiser Roundtable. This was an opportunity for respected experts in the search engine marketing industry to discuss future developments of the search engine technology, in particular PPC and Paid Inclusion.

Most of the panelists agreed that there needed to be a lot of improvements made to PPC or paid inclusion if the search engines wish to see marketers continue to use these mediums. Dana Todd of SiteLab International made a valid point when she complained that with all PPC solutions an advertiser must pay the same click-thru rate whether their ad was shown on one of the top search engine partners or on some lowly unknown search engine. She suggested that a model would need to be developed which would provide for different costs per click depending on the quality of traffic.

Kevin Lee of Did-It.com offered that there are two types of company that place high bids for search terms. Those that are very smart and those that are incredibly dumb. The smart bidders are the ones that track traffic and understand the value of their visitors, while the dumb ones simply keep increasing their bids without knowing if the high bid brings a ROI.

Asked whether PPC and paid inclusion would overtake Organic SEM, Frederick Markini of iProspect suggested that there would always be a need for a balance in online marketing. With PPC there is always a risk that a company will run out of money or no longer be able to keep up with escalating bids, he argued that organic SEM did not suffer from these factors.

The Industry Analyst Roundtable session brought together some of the industry’s best know analysts. Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman of Search Engine Watch were joined by Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com and Greg Notess of Search Engine Showdown.

This open forum took on a simple format with audience members interacting with the panelists. Some topics discussed, of which I will bring further details of after the conference, included:

1. Anecdotal evidence that simple paid inclusions did offer some assistance with obtaining better search engine ranking despite claims to the contrary by the search engines themselves.

2. The limitations of PPC; advertisers are limited to only being displayed for search requests that they have identified and bid on. Many search terms have no PPC bids on them.

3. The constant evolution of search engines. Google replaced AltaVista, will Nutch replace Google?

4. Should XML Trusted feeds be labeled as such, clearly identifying their placement in search results?

Day Two of the conference will revert to the normal format expected from SES and with three distinct tracts being offered, there should be lots of varied information to report back. In the meantime, please excuse me while I prepare for tonight’s ‘Google Dance’ a soiree taken place at the Googleplex where I hope to track down a Google employee and find out exactly what is happening with their PageRank these days.

Day Two
Day Two of Search Engine Strategies, San Jose promised to step up the pace with the offering of three separate itineraries for search engine marketers to choose from. While many attendees were recovering from the Google Dance the night before (which should probably be re-named ‘Googlepalooza’ as the open air event offered a soundstage with DJs, marquee tents, Segway rides and massage chairs all designed to sweep attendees up in further Google hysteria), they soon got down to business when Danny Sullivan took to the podium to give an unprecedented keynote address on the state of the Search Engine Industry.

While Danny started off his address with a comical look at the recent acquisition upon acquisition, he soon got down to the nitty-gritty of the future of search. With over 5 billion searches conducted in the month of June, he confirmed there is no doubt that the search engines are here to stay. Danny decided to look into his ‘crystal ball’ and made some predictions of what is to come. Some important observations included:

• Yahoo will launch its new search engine sometime in 2004 with a combination of Inktomi, AltaVista and AllTheWeb technologies.

• MSN should also be ready to launch their own crawler in 2004, with the possibility of purchasing any of Ask Jeeves, FindWhat, LookSmart or even Google, to help speed up the implementation.

• AOL is likely to continue its partnership with Google as this remains a non-competitive relationship for them.

Moving on to audience reach of the search engines, Danny explained how Google’s current reach of 76% of all searches would be diminished in 2004. He predicted that Google’s total audience would reduce to around 51% with Yahoo at 25%, MSN at 15% and the other engines making up the remainder.

Discussing the future popularity of the search engines he suggested that Google might become a victim of its own popularity with both reporters and users experiencing ‘burn-out’. With tongue-in-cheek he predicted that Ask Jeeves would make valiant attempts to become the ‘Avis of search engines’ by positioning itself as the #2 preferred search engine. He also believed that LookSmart would position itself as the most popular supplement to primary search results, continuing its current trend of being a provider to other search engines.

Turning to paid placement and paid inclusion, Danny expected to see growth and development in this side of the industry as search engines look to increase their Advertising revenue from their search results. Citing results from an IAB survey, Danny didn’t believe that search engine users would object to paid advertising as 64% of them are already aware that it exists and 52% of those do not care, so long as the paid advertising is relevant to their search. Drawing from his previous journalism experience, he estimated that in the coming years search engines would increase the amount of paid advertising shown on a search results page from an average of 25% to around 70%.

Danny wrapped up his keynote address by answering a question on everyone’s mind; ‘Will SEO still be important?’ He strongly believed that search engine optimization (SEO) would still be a dominant part of the industry as there will need to be a balance between paid ads and organic listings.

While the Search Engines & Trademarks session concentrated on information that would be of interest to those involved with the legal aspects of a company’s campaign, there were some interesting comments that stood out.

The recent incident where eBay asked Google to remove any sponsored ads that included their trademarked name, drew claims of hypocrisy from the panelists. They pointed out that while eBay did not want companies to bid on the word ‘eBay’, one could go to Google and search for trademarked names such as ‘Barbie’ and instantly see paid ads for the product on sale at eBay.com. The panelists also touched on cases that are currently working their way thru the legal system. They suggested that, while it is fair for a company to use trademarked names in comparative examples, the waters become very murky when simply bidding on a competitor’s brand name. The best advice from all of the panelists was to seek legal advice before bidding on the trademarks of any company.

A new topic to SES was ‘Cleaning up the Mess’; a look at how to clean-up spam that had been left by another SEO company. Many of the panelists discussed techniques for identifying spam including viewing Google’s cache of the site and the source code. In addition, Matthew Bailey of The Karcher Group offered an assortment of techniques for spotting spam and rectifying it. Some of these tips included:

• With Google’s PageRank fluctuating wildly over the past couple of months, he urged SEOs to not automatically assume that a low or zero PageRank meant a penalty on the website.

• However, if you do determine that a site has been banned by Google, fixing the problem and then sending an apology email to Google outlining the problems fixed and promising not to do them again, was the best approach to getting a ban lifted.

• Bailey also suggested viewing the website with a text viewer such as the one located at http://lynx.browser.org to determine how a spider might be viewing the site.

Shari Thurow of GrantasticDesigns.com also suggested some things to keep an eye out for when reviewing a website. She pointed out that a site might not be banned, but may be using techniques that were preventing it from getting listed. These included:

• A recently redesigned site that had switched from static content to dynamic.

• A newly implemented Robots.txt file might also have an adverse effect on a site’s ranking if not correctly formatted.

• The new use of cookies or session IDs might also be to blame for a websites sudden drop in ranking.

All of the panelists suggested that businesses should review the contract of any SEO firm being considered to ensure that they would not be taking any risks. A clearly outlined ‘anti-spam’ policy was considered to be among the top things to look for when choosing an SEO. With the use of doorway pages being viewed one of the worst things an SEO could implement in an ‘organic’ optimization campaign. However, as Danny Sullivan pointed out, using doorway pages for PPC was totally fine and acceptable. Although, he confirmed that using them for ‘crawler’ listings would be bad for anyone’s website.

It seems that a new search engine statistic or survey is released every week. The Search Engine Ratings session promised to shed some light on exactly where all of this data is coming from. Up first was James Lamberti of comScore Networks to provide details on how his company collects information and what they know about search engine use. Lamberti explained that comScore uses data collected from more than 1.5 million online consumers who agree to have their Internet activity monitored passively. Unlike some consumer rating companies, comScore is able to track various types of Internet activity including searches, click-rates and conversions.

They are unique in that they are able to track online activity in addition to asking the normal consumer survey questions. The benefits of this were apparent when Lamberti offered two stunning statistics.

1. 15% of Google visitors do not actually go there to search. He gave an example that many people have Google set as their homepage when they launch their browser. This registers a visitor for Google even though no actual search was carried out.

2. 20% of consumers surveyed attributed their searches to the wrong search engine. For example, they may have said they went to AOL, but the data tracked by comScore showed they actually used MSN.

The remainder of the panel was made up of experts from Nielsen/NetRatings, Hitwise and Statmarket. While none of them could agree on percentage share of search engine users, between them they offered some very interesting statistics:

• While Google may be dominant in the US, in Japan, Yahoo receives 74.19% of all searches.

• There were 5.5 billion searches carried out worldwide in June 2003, up 28% compared to the previous year.

• In 2002, more than 25% of all online product purchases originated from a search engine.

• While 96.9% of US searches are carried out on US search engines, only 56.6% of UK searches were done on a UK search engine. In fact, the US Google is more often used in the UK than Google.co.uk.

The end of the ratings session also marked the end of the second day of Search Engine Strategies, San Jose. Day Three brings Google co-founder Sergey Brin to the Keynote address podium and advanced topics of search engine marketing and search engine technology are also introduced.

Day Three: A Chat With Sergey Brin
Day 3 of Search Engine Strategies, San Jose included a wide range of sessions covering broad topics such as ‘Meet the Crawlers’ and the more targeted ‘Google API’. However, there was not an empty seat available when Danny Sullivan sat down with Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, on the eve of his 30th birthday, to chat about the past and future of the world’s most famous search engine.

Sitting in two elegant arm-chairs with a large plasma screen providing a back-drop of a roaring log fire, the setting suggested that we were ease-dropping on too old friends who were reminiscing about the past.

Google’s growth

It has been five years since Google entered the search engine arena and in that time the then unknown challenger to AltaVista has grown from 15 million pages indexed to a colossal 3+ billion, serving 76% of US searches. Danny Sullivan recalled how Brin had attended one of the earlier conferences and had asked the audience who had heard of Google. Back then, few hands went up. Laughter circulated today’s audience when Danny gave Sergey the opportunity to ask the same question; ‘Who here has heard of Google?’

Danny then proceeded to real off the developments that Google had made this year alone; AdSense, Toolbars, buying Blogger, launching Google News Alerts etc. Asked if Sergey was proud of these accomplishments, he replied modestly, that despite the list sounding impressive, he believed they were ‘not doing enough’ in his mind. Sergey wanted his company to expand even further and provide searchers with even more technological developments and enhancements that would expand the use and enjoyment of Google.

Expanding content on the web

Danny wanted to know from Sergey which of the past year’s accomplishments he was particularly pleased with. After giving the question some thought, Sergey offered that the recent launch of their ‘AdSense’ service was his proudest moment. The affiliate type service allowed small businesses an opportunity to display Google’s AdWords sponsors on their own website, providing a means for many companies to increase income from their website by sharing in the revenue these sponsorships generated. Sergey expressed his desire for AdSense to ‘spur the next generation of content on the web’.

An IPO for Google?

Turning to the question on everyone’s lips, Danny asked Sergey if an IPO was on the horizon and when might Google make a public offering. Giving his answer, you could tell that Sergey was a man that had envisioned building a better search engine to assist the world, with the last thing on his mind being answering to Wall Street. ‘We debate [going public] periodically at board meetings’ said Brin and it ‘would be nice to have currency to do acquisitions, [however] there are significant management distractions with being public’. While his statements seemed to signal that Google does not intend to become a public company, Brin did admit that there is a ‘good chance eventually’ that they would issue an IPO but that it is ‘not the most pressing thing.’

Google acquiring MSN?

If issuing an IPO was not in the future of Google, was an acquisition strategy likely to be developed? Danny couldn’t resist putting a twist on a recurring question, ‘Any chance Google would buy Microsoft?’ Sergey joined the audience in raucous laughter as everyone dismissed this as being a possibility, although with Google’s reputation and dominance, you would be forgiven for thinking that this impossible scenario could just happen. On a more serious note, Danny did ask Sergey whether Google would entertain any advances made by a rival company such as MSN. ‘We have always said ‘no’ thus far’ explained Brin, but he went to on elaborate that they ‘can’t discount any approach’. This statement created more questions than it answered, suggesting that rumors of an approach by MSN and Yahoo had an element of truth.

Preventing misuse

Turning to the technology developments that Google had planned for the future, Danny asked Sergey to elaborate on the work that goes into the constant development of the famed Google PageRank. Sergey explained that it was still very much an important part of Google’s ranking system and that more than half a dozen new ranking technologies are tested each month with roughly half of these being integrated into Google’s PageRank algorithm. He went to on discuss the issues Google faces with spam and indicated that Google is aware of the ‘corrupt’ uses of some companies in an attempt to manipulate the PageRank but he made it quite clear that they have technologies to deal with any misuse.

Paid inclusion not likely at Google

A request that is often made to Google is that they introduce a paid inclusion option so that those interested in obtaining faster inclusion into the index, have a means to do so, at a premium. While many representatives of Google have expressed in the passed that this is unlikely to happen, Sergey made a point of clarifying his dislike of introducing paid inclusion. ‘I don’t really believe in it’ said Brin, adding that he wanted to ‘keep any kind of payment from objective search results’. ‘Objective search’ the very thing that has made Google popular, hence his reluctance to tinker with its formula for success. In the second part of the question, Danny asked whether Google had given any thought to offering some form of ‘paid support’ to allow webmasters a faster and easier way of communicating a problem with Google engineers. This was also a ‘no go’ as far as Sergey was concerned as he believed that by offering this type of premium support it would sap resources and ‘slow down [Google’s] pace of development.’

As the ‘virtual fire-place’ started to die down, Danny asked Sergey what was the worst thing about being at the helm of the worlds most popular and most analyzed search engine. After taken a few seconds to consider the question, Sergey offered a simple answer, ‘coping with the growth’. While many of us might think that we would love to be involved with a company growing as rapidly as Google, being in control of behemoth such as Google can be a daunting task for someone who has yet to celebrate his 30th birthday.

Day Four
While many attendees had decided to forego day four of Search Engine Strategies, San Jose in order to catch a flight, those that did stay, were offered some very diverse and interesting sessions to choose from.

The most important topic of the day for any search engine marketer had to be Converting Visitors into Buyers. While some marketers concentrate on simply obtaining top rankings in Google, Yahoo and other search engines, those more experienced SEM’s know the importance of actually converting that valuable traffic. An impressive panel of speakers provided the audience with ideas and solutions to increase a website’s conversion ratio.

While iProspect is known for its expensive service, their pricing does allow for extensive work in the area of visitor conversion. Conversion Product Manager, Larry Kerstein, shared with the attendees different factors that help ensure a website encourages conversions. While the natural thought process might lead a website owner to write text that screams ‘buy it now’, Kerstein suggested that in some instances your visitor may not yet know that they need your product or service. He suggested that the copy on a website should inform and educate a visitor so that they can ultimately decide what meets their needs. Once they know what it is you offer and why it is better than your competitor’s product, you can then encourage them to order. Talking to the buyer in the language of the buyer and using benefit statements rather than product specifications, were all conducive to increasing client conversion, according to Kerstein.

Michael Sack, Chief Product Officer for Inceptor offered similar advice but suggested that you ‘do not have to take apart your website to increase conversions’. Citing an example taken from Dell’s website he backed-up his theory by demonstrating that the computer manufacturer had increased conversion rates by 6% simply by enhancing the category structure of certain areas of their website. Sack provided research from Shop.org that suggested that the average conversion rate for the retail sector was just 1.8%.

Sack also gave attendees examples of questions a visitor may ask themselves when at your website:

• Why should I buy from you?
• Should I trust you?
• What is special about your company?

The most important part of Sack’s message was that website owners should simply ‘expose their content on the Internet’. By this he was suggesting that too few websites offer enough information about a product or service and with many people using the search engines to research a purchase, marketers needed to provide this valuable information. Finally, Sack told attendees to constantly ‘test, analyze and adjust’, giving a great example of how different types of pages tested on MSN yielded conversion rates from 1.75% to more than 3%.

Repeat speaker Heather Lloyd Martin took the conversion process to a different level when she challenged that the conversion begins with enticing a search user to actually click on your listing. She implored marketers to ensure that Title tags and Descriptions were compelling to humans and not just search engine friendly. She explained that a site ranked lower on a search results page, could have higher click-thrus than the number one listed site, if it’s listing were more enticing and targeted.

Of course, in order to accurately track all of these conversions, a website owner would need to ensure accurate reporting and tracking of visitors. The Measuring Tool Vendors session brought together different web analytics companies together in one room to tout the benefits of each of their respective products.

Representatives of all the major analytics tools were in attendance, each offering the benefits of their product and how it worked. The companies included:

• Urchin.com ‘ software based analytics starting at $895 with additional modules priced at $695. A 15 day trial is available at their website.

• ConversionRuler.com ‘ for the minimalist looking for a cheap alternative. Focused on reporting PPC data the service is priced ‘per click thru’ analyzed with a free trial available.

• WebTrends.com ‘ the most well known web analytics service and most popular. Comprehensive stats can even show you which stage of a website’s checkout process causes the most abortive sales.

• ClickTracks.com ‘ the newest, but arguably the most original web analytics package around. ClickTracks displays website visitor behavior directly on the pages of your website. Different demos can be downloaded from the website.

John Marshall of ClickTracks was particularly entertaining when he decided to skip thru his entire presentation in about 30 seconds so that he could discuss a book that he felt would provide great insight for marketers looking to collect and present data. Marshall suggested that each attendee purchase Edward Tufte’s ‘The Visual Display of Quantitative Information’ as it would assist them in analyzing website data. While the unique abandonment of his own product to discuss a book may have seemed crazy, I suspect that Marshall knew that the findings of the book would lead marketers to conclude that ClickTracks unique display of website analytics was the perfect solution to their needs.

As the last day of the conference wound down, a wave of satisfaction appeared to be felt by all of those involved. The attendees, staff, exhibitors, speakers (and those of us who had agreed to write daily articles when they should have been relaxing) all agreed that the event had been the most successful and well received search engine conference yet. The industry is growing at a rapid rate. Not only is there change in the landscape for the search engines, but search engine marketers are also changing and adapting. With the successful launch of SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization), marketers even have a ‘trade union’ in an industry that is expected to grow by billions of dollars each year.

If you were not able to attend the conference in San Jose, I hope this series has given you an insight into the developments taking place and maybe even encouraged you to attend the next conference in Chicago in December. If you were able to make it, I’m sure you will agree that the event was an outstanding success.

Author Bio:
Andy Beal is Vice President of Search Marketing for WebSourced, Inc and KeywordRanking.com, global leaders in professional search engine marketing. Highly respected as a source of search engine marketing advice, Andy has had articles published around the world and is a repeat speaker at Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Strategies conferences. Clients include Real.com, Alaska Air, Peopleclick, Monica Lewinsky and NBC. You can reach Andy at andy@keywordranking.com and view his daily SEO blog at www.searchenginelowdown.com.

Introduction
In case you don’t know it, the meta description tag or ‘Meta Desc’ as we call them are what people searching the web will see in the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages). That, along with your important title tag information I explained in one of last week’s articles on this website. Simply put, the words placed within your meta description tag can help a page to rank higher in the search results, if done correctly.

Definition of the “Meta Description Tag”
The meta description tag is just simply a snippet of HTML code that belongs inside the HEAD section of a Web page. To be real effective, it has to be placed after the title tag and before the meta keyword tag. The proper syntax for the meta description tag is:

META

Functioning Of The Meta Description Tag
When applied correctly, the functioning of this important tag is twofold. The actual words placed within this tag are given some crucial weight with most major search engines today and can really help a page to rank higher in the search results for specific keywords and key phrases. Just as important, the words placed in the meta description tags appear under the title in a search engine’s list of results, giving searchers a much better idea of what that page is all about.

If no information is supplied for that tag, or if it is omitted from the HTML code of a web page, the search engines will often use the first few words that appear on that web page as the description of the site that appears on search results pages. We’ve all seen search results pages with some that look like this:

“Maria’s Gourmet Restaurants” ‘ [homepage] [about us] [hours] [contact us].

If the search results look like this it is simply because Maria or her site designer either forgot or neglected to write a meta description tag in her or his HTML code. The search engine did retrieve in fact the first few words on the page, but they happened to be some navigational links. As anyone can readily see, not only does this look awkward, it fails completely in offering searchers any information they can use that could otherwise be of value to them.

Surveys indicate that most people tend to skip over search results that look similar to what you just saw and they then click on the next link that will offer them more relevant information describing what is on that next page.

How To Really Design META Description Tags That Will Work
As we have just seen, because the meta description tag actually serves two functions, it must be carefully thought about differently than the title tag and meta keyword tag. Personally, I use both of those tags mostly for high search engine results rankings. But the meta description tag should also be thought of as a marketing vehicle along with being a tool for high search rankings. I recommend that it utilizes your most important keywords and key phrases for that particular page. Additionally, make certain it is written in a way that will entice searchers to click on your link instead of your competitors.

If you read my previous articles on this website, and if you have access to a professional copywriter for the sales copy for your website, you could take an important descriptive sentence from the sales copy and place it in the meta description tag. Even if your page wasn’t professionally written, you should look to find a line that will work for this function. Some optimization experts recommend using the first line of text on your page if you don’t know which one to use. I think that is a good place to start, although there are certainly more you can look at.

If you have what you think is an appropriate first line, then you could try it and then test the results in the search engines. There are some that will tell you the search engines don’t give the description tag nearly as much importance as they give the title tag. Some of that could be true. However, and talking from experience, I do know that some major search engines do in fact index the words placed in the meta description tag right into their database, and therefore it is important for you to get some of your most important keywords into them.

There are also some people that will tell you that the first words in this tag are often given more weight than the latter words. Because of this, I always try to write the important keywords at the beginning. I also usually try to use the same first words that I’ve used in my title tag as the first words in my meta description tag whenever at all possible. I usually limit this tag to one good but short descriptive sentence. Generally speaking, some search engines will index approximately 150 characters of your meta description tags. The longest ones I have seen so far are in HotBot.

Additionally, try to not repeat words in the meta description tag. However, one thing you could do is use various forms of words in the tag, example: plural/singular, present tense/past tense or “ing” forms of words or verbs and so on and so forth.

Finally, always make sure that all your meta description tags are actual sentences, not just simply a list of keywords or key phrases. If you create good meta description tags, you can often use them as the descriptions you would enter in search engine directories such as Yahoo, the Open Directory (DMOZ), Global Business Listing and LookSmart.

Author:
Serge Thibodeau of Rank For Sales

Writing Powerful Key Phrases – Introduction
In this article, you will learn the proper techniques on how to write powerful key phrases for the search engines and the importance of good relevant text. But first, we need to know how to properly research these key phrases, ensuring they are the right ones. You cannot write efficient key phrases if you don’t know what they are.

Identification comes first. Action comes second. In case some of you still have some reservations or doubts on the importance of key phrases, let’s start by defining exactly what these key phrases are and try to learn how to work with them in writing strong, key phrase-rich text that is relevant for your web site.

First, The Importance Of Key Phrases
If chosen correctly, your key phrases will truly yield the return on investment you need. It will help transform any web site from a static one to one that pulls in qualified and targeted visitors, wich, in turn, should become buyers. I will even include a case study, where I have a client who manufactures precision-engineered, special teflon parts that are designed for the aerospace industry.

When I reviewed his “antiquated” key phrases, the first thing I discovered was they weren’t targeted in any way and not specific enough. For example two of their key phrases were: teflon parts and parts for airplanes!

Upon initial observation, one might think the key phrase choices seemed logical. After all, they are in the aerospace industry and they do manufacture teflon parts. However, years of optimizing sites for strong key phrases have taught me to never assume anything. The careful research and identification of the exact key phrases needed comes before any other process. It comes before the writing of your copy, before inserting your Meta Tags, before everything.

So, to write powerful, key phrase-rich text, you need to identify the exact key phrases that, number One: will specifically target what product or service you offer, and number Two: are those key phrases exactly what your average searcher types in when he or she needs a specific product or service like what your site offers?

If a person optimizes a web site for the wrong key phrases or if that person guesses or assumes in any way what key phrases people are searching for without better evidence, in such an instance the chances for failure are very high. To proove to you that this is right, the fact that one of the main key phrase in this site was “airplane parts”, the owner would regularly get requests, either via email, FAX or phone for airplane parts which had nothing to do with HIS business.

In one such case, they received an RFP (Request for Proposal) for a part that goes in the landing gear of large airplanes such as Boeing’s 747. The only applications of the parts manufactured by my client goes into the security openings and closings of most of the passenger and cockpit doors on medium-sized aircraft! So you can readily see the importance of carefully researching and using the right key phrases when optimizing a commercial web site.

Developing powerful marketing copy with the wrong key phrases can lead you to situations like the one described above. Once I carefully identified and selected the right key phrases, my teflon parts manufacturer client went from one to two Internet clients a month to two or three a week. Needless to say, the work done is appreciated and, a year later, that company is still doing very well in the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages).

The Wordtracker Professional Search Tool
If you are like most people, you might find that searching through various databases on your typical working day could be very time consuming, to say the least. Instead, what we use at Rank for $ales is the Wordtracker professional search tool. Today, WordTracker is the best and the most popular fee-based keyword and key phrase analyzer on the Internet and is used by most serious search engine optimization professionals we know of. We use it daily and we have no idea how we could ever achieve the work we do without such an important resource.

WordTracker is based on meta search queries made by ordinary people searching the web everyday, wich means that the keyword and key phrase combinations found are much more reliable than the pay-per-click listings generated by the Overture suggestion tool. Over time, we have also found that the data generated is also more objective. Now the people at Wordtracker know that you should not always rely on the most competitive keyword and search query combinations.

These are more or less dictated by large corporations that can afford to allocate much bigger budgets on various search engine marketing and sales campaigns. We recommend that it just might be as sensible to optimize for less popular key phrases or search terms for your industry!

Let me give you some general rules in the careful research of key phrase brainstorming. Number One, you should use key phrases your target audience will readily understand. Your sales and marketing division may or may not agree with you on this. However, at all times, you should remember that you want to carefully identify and use only key phrases that only your audience will respond to, and not nice-sounding, marketing-hype words that will please your sales department, but, like in our aerospace client example, will pull in the wrong audience.

A note about “one-word” key phrases:- First, if it’s only one word, it cannot be called a key phrases to begin with! Typically, single keywords are too competitive to be worth anything and chances are you will be wasting a lot of time, for little return in the end. Using Word Tracker, after you have carefully identified and selected your right key phrases, it’s time to start writing the body of your text.

Author:
Serge Thibodeau of Rank For Sales

The King is dead! Long live the King!
The death of Louis XIV. was announced by the captain of the bodyguard from a window of the state apartment. Raising his truncheon above his head, he broke it in the centre, and throwing the pieces among the crowd, exclaimed in a loud voice, “Le Roi est mort!” Then seizing another staff, he flourished it in the air as he shouted, “Vive le Roi!” (Yes I know it’s French for King, but work with me here, it works so well for my story!)

Pardoe: Life of Louis XIV., vol. iii. p. 457.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the captain of the bodygaurd for Advertising, so the task of announcing the death of advertising is not among my responsibilities. Nor is finding a successor to the throne. No, I do the less glorious task of search engine marketing. I’m quietly on the sidelines as Dot Bomb after Dot Gone pass by in a funeral procession that seems endless. The parade route marching to the funeral dirge and drum, glumly trudging through the streets mark the passing of online royalty on a weekly basis.

Every week we bow our heads in honor of the passing of another advertising-reliant giant. Today it’s WebGiant, before that it was WebVan and WebMD and Wine.com — I’m starting at the bottom of a very long alphabetical list, as you no doubt know.

The deathmarch itself has been analyzed-to-death by everyone from network news anchors to newspaper commentators and pundits.

I won’t burden us with another perspective here other than to say that it’s big business that has it all wrong in a twisted attempt to apply old models to a new medium. I wonder why it is that each new technology is constantly wedged into the wrong shape hole because that is “where the money is”.

When television was first developed, we didn’t know what to do with it because advertising was not so ubiquitous. We had print advertising in magazines and radio advertisement ruled the airwaves. But everyone agreed that television was worthless . . .

Not more than 10 per cent of the population will take up television permanently. Raymond Postgate, 1935
Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of this device. C P Scott, 1936
Television won’t last because people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox co-founder, 1946

Not more than 10 per cent of the population will take up television permanently. Raymond Postgate, 1935
Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of this device. C P Scott, 1936
Television won’t last because people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox co-founder, 1946

But TV finally fell to advertising and is now fully one-third ads and very little content, except for product placement and sponsored content.

But because advertising ruled our lives when the internet was launched in 1995, we just naturally assumed that advertising would rule online as well. But we got it wrong. I spend hours online daily and do all I can to ignore the flashing, blinking banners and skyscraper ads and sponsored links glaring from the top, bottom and now edges, of the screen in front of me.

How do people behave online? Simple, they search. They search for things they have an interest in. They bookmark favorites. Most don’t know why they get the results they do when searching.

It’s because the top ranking sites in search results are very specifically designed by people who know how to gain those top rankings in the search engines. Why on earth would anyone spend good money on advertising when most web surfers seek to avoid advertising and even buy software meant to block advertising from their web pages? Why on earth don’t more businesses see that search engine positioning is the number one solution to visibility and success online?

Here comes another funeral.com march. I’ll bet they had Super Bowl ads and have banners flashing all over my favorite web site. Oh and look! They have banner ads on the hearse! I guess they didn’t want to waste the eyeballs attending the funeral. At least they aren’t animated banners. Have some Respect!

Well, I’m going to usurp the job of the Captain of the Kings’ bodygaurd and announce that “Advertising is Dead!”

“La ROI publicit? est mort!” (Ad Return On Investment)
“Long live Search Engine Positioning!” Viva le ROI! Viva le SEO!

Author Bio:
Mike Banks Valentine is a Search Engine Optimization specialist practicing ethical small business SEO Search Engine Placement, Optimization, Marketing.

Small business webmasters often believe search engine optimization is a complex and mysterious art that they must struggle to understand and master. It couldn’t be further from the truth. SEO is basic and simple – TEXT.

As a search engine optimizer, I’m faced daily with the errors of well-meaning webmasters who have unknowingly done their best to hide their site and its topic from the search engines. They do this by naming image files with numbers or word fragments unrelated to the image. They have splash page with an image named “product.gif” containing no “Alt” tags, no text and a link to their inside page named “intro.html” which is full of images!

Even if you use the most basic of web authoring software, SEO can be built in to your site simply by naming your HTML files with important keyword phrases, naming the image directory with more important keyword phrases dropping those same keyword phrases into headlines and body text. Oh, and let’s do have body text of at least 500 words. Many site owners seem to believe that a few product photos and a nice looking logo will suffice.

Wrong. You must have text using keyword phrases within your site or the search engines have no way of knowing what those products or services are that you sell.

Text is all that the search engines have to determine what your site is about. Text in your metatags, text in your headline, text in your body copy, text in image filenames and text in your domain name and directory names. SEO is all about words on the page NOT images of words in gorgeous graphics created by your designer and displayed in IMAGES of words in fancy fonts. This includes those menu links from image maps and buttons.

I have a new client whose resort has been positively written up in dozens of national magazines. I was glad to see links to those articles within their site until I clicked on one and got an IMAGE of the magazine page instead of text from the magazines. Many magazines do not allow reproducing their content without licensing, but all allow a limited quote with attribution along with links from the quote to the article on their site.

Those quotes would serve as dramatic testimonials for the client and there are dozens of important keyword phrases in those rave reviews that would be good stuff for both the search engines and the site visitors. Even if there were only one paragraph from each of the dozen great reviews on a single page, that TEXT would be just what the search engine doctor ordered. This will be our first move in working with this new client.

I’ve got another client that sends out press releases on a regular basis discussing their latest partnership or new product. These press releases are chock full of keyword phrases and important industry lingo and buzz- words. The catch? They distribute these press releases as PDF files and serve them to visitors via FTP, which essentially hides them from the search engines! Their partners then distribute them via FTP as well because that is how they received it. This strategy cheats my client out of links from their partners because those press releases are NOT posted as HTML pages anywhere!

The thing that I always emphasize to new clients is that search engines read text that appears on their web page only. Search engines don’t read images or pretty graphics, they can only make assumptions based on those image names and the image “alt” tags. Try doing an image search at Google for “logo” and see what you get. Now try an image search for common words to compare the filenames used to describe those images. Search for any number combination and you’ll see how common numbers are as image filenames.

Try another image search for keyword phrases that are important to your industry and I’ll wager that is your competition. If you take an extra step and review the filenames in the URL that appear directly below those results describing where that keyword named image turns up. I’ll bet the competitors who are tops in non image searches for similar important keyword phrases use those phrases in image filenames, directory names and domain names.

I’ve had clients that get their site redesigned soon after I’ve done site optimization who come back to me asking why their search engine rankings dropped.

Inevitably their site designer has not only used word fragments or numbers as image and page filenames, but removed hyperlinks from important keyword phrases in body text, text that was maintained at our instruction. Text hyperlinks are another important ingredient to SEO that designers dislike because it changes text colors in order to help visitors know it’s hyperlinked phrase.

Although designers and search engine optimizers rarely work together, they should be required to. Even though the SEO’s job would simply be to type keyword phrases in the “save as” box because designers won’t do it on their own. If a copywriter is hired, they should work with the SEO as well, although the SEO’s job would be only to convince the copywriter that it’s OK, indeed is necessary, to use keyword phrases more than a single time. Copywriters don’t like repeating themselves and often pride themselves on saying the same thing in various creative ways. Search engines don’t yet fully support using a thesaurus to determine page content.

Author Bio:
Mike Banks Valentine is a Search Engine Optimization specialist practicing ethical small business SEO Search Engine Placement, Optimization, Marketin