Internet Marketing Tips

My previous post talked of various tips in order to improve your website. Below are some tricks to those tips and some various websites that will assist you in accomplishing these tasks.

Tricks

• Implement your free custom search engine here.
• Implement your free search box here.
• Implement your free navigational toolbar here.
• View my previous web logs for free to build a knowledge base about search engine optimization here.
• Test your webpage’s external objects, download speed, global statistics and object speed for free here.
• Download thousands of fonts for free here.
• Learn how to implement various hyperlinks and alterations to make them stand out for free here.
• Create a free “Contact Us” push button by visiting here.

Hopefully, these free sites will help better optimize your website and increase traffic to your website.

The importance of having an Internet presence in today’s modern world is imperative. The main objective for a small business owner should be not only to have a website, but to ensure that it outshines his/her competitors. Below are a few tips for the average small business owner (that does not have a degree in website design) can utilize to further enhance his or her website:

Tips

• Ensure that your site can be easily navigated by including a site map, navigational toolbar and/or a search box.
• Learn as much as you can about search engine optimization or if you have the funding available, hire a company to optimize your website. Make sure before you do this that you have spent plenty of time analyzing various groups of keywords that you would like your site to be optimized for.
• Keep your graphics, flash and videos to a minimum. Your homepage should be well under 60K.
• Keep your fonts to fewer than 2.
• Make sure that you have various avenues for a user to return to your homepage. This can be accomplished by inserted a “home” link, making your logo a “home” hyperlink and inserting a copyright section with your company name as the anchor text as a “home” link.
• If you have a “contact us” box or something along those lines, always make sure that you have your contact information typed out as well incase this link ever fails.

*Read my post tomorrow to find out the tricks and free websites that will help you implement some of these tips.

To continue with a basic HTML lesson this week, try implementing a few of these more advanced codes. These codes were mainly generated from the free online HTML tutorial at W3 schools.

Create a link to send me an email

<a href=”mailto:YourEmail@YourEmail.com”>YourEmail@YourEmail.com</a>

Insert a table

<table border=“3”>

<tr>

<th>Your heading one</th>

<th>Your heading two</th>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Row 1, Cell 1</td>

<td>Row 1, Cell 2</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Row 2, Cell 1</td>

<td>Row 2, Cell 2</td>

</tr>

</table>

Insert a text field (box)

<form>

First name:

<input type=”text” name=”firstname”>

<br>

Last name:

<input type=”text” name=”lastname”>

</form>

Insert a drop down box

<form method=post action=”____”>
<center>
Select an option:
<select>
<option >option 1
<option selected>option 2
<option>option 3
</select><br>
<input type=”Submit” value=”Submit”></center>
</form>

Insert a check box

<form>

I want to insert a check box here:

<input type=”checkbox” name=”Your Subject” value=”Check box”> <br> </form>

Insert a form’s attribute and submit button

<form name=”input” action=”html_form_action.asp”

method=”get”>

Username:

<input type=”text” name=”user”>

<input type=”submit” value=”Submit”>

</form>

Create an ordered list

<ol type=”I”>
<li>List item 1
<li>List item 2
<li>List item 3
</ol>

Create scrolling text

<marquee bgcolor=”#blue” loop=”-1″ scrollamount=”2″ width=”100%”>Your text</marquee>

Add background music to a page

<embed src=”YourMusic.mid”> <noembed> <bgsound src=”YourMusic.mid”> </noembed>

To continue with my post from yesterday, here are a few more advanced codes that can help you add some flair to your website. These codes were mainly generated from the free online HTML tutorial at W3 schools. These codes can be implemented into a program, such as Notepad and saved as a text file. You can then right click and open it with your Internet browser.

Insert a picture of graphic

<img src=”Your Picture.gif” alt=”Your Company”> or <img src=http://www.YourPicture.com alt=”Your Company”>

Apply a heading

<h1> to <h6> applies headings, with <h1> being the largest

Create a link that will open up in a new browser

<a href=“http://www.YourWebsite.com” target=“_blank”>Visit Your Company!</a>

Create a background color

<body bgcolor=“#000000”> or <body bgcolor=“black”>

Change a font style

<p>

<font size=“2” face=“Arial”>

Write a paragraph here.

</font>

</p>

Change spacing around my image

<img src=”YourImage.gif” hspace=10 vspace=10>

Highlight text

Can you see <span style=”background-color:yellow”>hi-lighted</span> text?

Be sure to remember that you will always need to close any tag that you implement with </>.

Over the next week, all my posts will be revolved around setting up a basic website. Below are some beginner HTML codes that will allow the first time HTML creator to develop a basic website with some added features and enhancements. These codes were mainly generated from the free online HTML tutorial at W3 schools. These codes can be implemented into a program, such as Notepad and saved as a text file. You can then right click and open it with your Internet browser.

How to…

Begin a website

The foundation for most web pages is as follows:

<html>

<head>

<title>Titles your page</title>

</head>

<body>

This is where you would usually begin typing the content for your page.

</body>

</html>

Start writing content for your page

<body>

Bold text

<b>

Insert a link

<a href=“http://www.YourWebsite.com”>Your Company</a>

Title your page

<title>

Insert a line break

<br>

Italicize text

<i>

Insert a horizontal rule

<hr width=”25%” color=”#6699FF” size=”6″>

Insert alternative text in place of a graphic

<image alt=“Your Keywords”>

Align objects on your page

<align=center>

Be sure to remember that you will always need to close any tag that you implement with </>. For example, if I wanted to bold just my name (Max Nunn) on my website, I would implement the following code: <b>Max Nunn</b>. Tomorrow, I will move into more advanced coding.

For those not familiar with click fraud, Wikipedia explains it as “…a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad’s link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.”

With the economy in the state that it is in, pressure is being put on businesses of all sizes. Can we point the finger at search engines and blame them for the higher minimum bids and more clicks that do not lead to sales conversions? I think that would be unfair, but who really knows what happens with a PPC campaign other than its host. What it boils down to is that it is extremely difficult to distinguish a malicious click from an organic one.

What really hurts the PPC world is the botnets trend. A botnet is a collection of robots that are trained to run automatically and autonomously. A bonet is also the same tool that search engines use to index web pages and determine your ranking. These “bots” can be trained to generate fraudulent clicks, which can ultimately destroy a PPC campaign.

Below are some interesting statistics regarding click fraud, courtesy of Zdnet:

· The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.3 percent for Q1 2008.

· The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 27.8 percent.

· Q1 2008 click fraud traffic from botnets was 8 percent higher than click fraud traffic from botnets in Q4 2007.

· In Q1 2008, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating from countries outside North America came from Monaco (3.1 percent), Ghana (3.1 percent), and New Caledonia (2.4 percent).

Click fraud is a felony in most jurisdictions and could bring down a company in a matter of weeks. Solutions on how to prevent click fraud are being widely debated, however, they all revolve around these two main areas: 1.) Forensic analysis of advertisers’ web server log files. 2.) Third-party corroboration.

Why should I have a blog? The reasons are countless, however, one must realize that in order to make a blog effective and credible you must constantly keep it current and this may involve taking some extra time away from other marketing avenues. I have compiled a list of the main reasons why any business should keep a blog, at minimum a post a week. These reasons include, but are not limited to the following:

• Higher search engine rankings. If you are a consistent reader of my blog, you will understand how much I value SEM/SEO tactics. By having a blog within your website, you create the opportunity for bots to scan your website, which will prove to them that you are constantly managing your site. This builds credibility, which could produce a higher ranking.
• The establishment of an online community. By blogging, you create an informal opportunity to prove how credible you are by offering your expertise. Also, someone may search for a topic that you have written about and be directed to your site. This could be the start of a new business relationship at the expense of you taking twenty minutes out of your day and sharing your knowledge and experience.
• Ease & inexpensiveness. A blog can be created and managed with relative ease by utilizing such programs as WordPress and Blogger. Best of all, these services are free and you can tailor their templates to suit your needs. Setting up a blog is fairly simply, even for the technologically challenged.
• Creates a news forum. Having a blog also allows you to easily post news about your company without going through the laborious process of uploading new content to your website.
• Provides accessibility. By allowing users to post comments or questions regarding your company, you can instantaneously be notified via email of new inquiries. This also gives you time to research the inquired topic instead of automatically being put on the spot, as you would be with a telephone call.

Every business owner loves to hear the words quick, easy, inexpensive, efficient and productive. In fact, combining all of these words together to describe something in the business world is basically unfathomable. Take advantage of new Internet advances, such as blogging and allow your company to stand out above your competition.

In addition to my last post, I am going to elaborate more on how to generate longer stays on your website. This time, I am going to concentrate on the graphic elements of your page. As with content optimization, I also see three very important graphic areas that need to be optimized to ensure longer visits. (Keep in mind, no layout is perfect for every website). They are as follows:

1. Keep your visual elements organized in your layout. Your main focus should be to establish a layout that easily allows you to input your graphical and textual information without creating a confusing flow of information. You want a user to view your page as having a visual hierarchy.
2. Visually draw in your user to the most important aspect of your page. If your end result is to make a searcher buy one of your products, visually lead him to the area of your layout where they have the option to do this. Create pictorial links that bring them right to the purchase form. Never stick the purchase form at the top though. Let the searcher see and read a little about the product, then present them with the opportunity to buy.
3. Have visually sharp objects. Try not to have shoddy images or graphical elements that look visually unappealing. There are plenty of great websites where for a very small fee will allow you to grab some of their high quality stock photos. I Stock Photo is a great example.

In my opinion, there are three extremely simple content avenues that you can exploit that will generate longer visits to your website. The three content areas that you should really concentrate on include the following:

Develop keyword-optimized content. The more a optimized your website is for keyword density, while still being user-friendly, the greater chance that a searcher will be interested in the subject matter that you are presenting in your site. Ensure that your content:

· Pertains to your keyword

· Pertains to the subject matter of your website/product/service

Create original content. The more original content contained in your site, without creating an unfriendly user experience, the better. You want your site to stand out from other websites. You do not want searchers to come to your site just to have them link out to another site. Your website should never be the “middleman.” After all, your website should be your medium of expression. Brag a little, let it be known that your website should be the final destination of their search. Ensure that your content:

· Is honest and trustworthy

· Cites sources thoroughly and accurately

· Is thorough, but not overly extensive

· Tells users why they should stop searching and stay at your site

Produce valuable content. The more a searcher sees the subject matter of their search contained in your website, the greater chance they will continue perusing your site. People, in general, like to be personable. Do not be afraid to get intimate with a searcher. Tell them your story and make them view you as a trusted source (see #2). If they can immediately attach themselves to you or your story, it makes it that much easier for them to be attracted to your service or product. Ensure that your content:

· Is edited, spelled checked, reviewed, reread, revised and edited again and again. The amount of credibility you could lose by having grammatical and spelling errors could be astounding! I cannot emphasize this enough!

· Gets the searcher interested in you and your business

· Is personable and honest, yet to the point

According to usability consultant/expert Jakob Nielsen, around 50 percent of readers skim or partly read newsletters. A mere 23 percent of readers will actually take the time to read the newsletter the whole way through and the last 27 percent will never even bother to open it. Below are eight tips to ensure that you maximize your potential to entice readers to view your newsletter.

1. Include graphics and/ or pictures. You literally have a matter of a few seconds to attract a reader; so drawing them in with pictorial elements could be your best bet.
2. Never put “Unsubscribe” in your newsletter. Many spam filters can read this word and automatically place it in a junk folder. Use more general words like “Remove me” or “Take me off.”
3. Insert line breaks. Never jumble your copy together. You are dealing with a smaller frame compared to those in programs, such as Microsoft Word; so make sure that you are writing more concise paragraphs.
4. Include many links to your website. Make sure that you contain numerous links to your website by making your logo a hyperlink, having text within your copy be hyperlinks and always include a copyright section at the bottom of your newsletter that also includes a link.
5. Include color. When I receive a newsletter that contains a plain white background with no elements of color or graphical images, I do not even bother scanning through it. It is imperative to make your email aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
6. Spell check & spell check some more. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a newsletter that is grammatically flawless. I am sure that you cannot afford to spend countless hours creating an eye-catching layout and lose a reader over a spelling error. Credibility is vital, especially when you are utilizing a medium with so much questionable trustworthiness as the Internet. The easiest way to accomplish this is to simply write your copy in a program, such as Mircosoft Word (which includes a spelling and grammatical checker) initially instead of a simple text editor program that may not have these features.
7. Always Bcc. You never want to copy a thousand emails into the To: section of a new email. People do not want to see that they are one of a thousand people to receive your newsletter. Make them feel special by letting them think that you are personalizing your newsletter for them.
8. Keep it within the email. Try to include the newsletter within the email itself. You will lose numerous readers if they are forced to download and view an attachment of your newsletter.

There are great services out there that offer tracking, reporting, email templates, coaching and support, such as Constant Contact. You can try it free for 30 days to see if it will be of value to your establishment. Or, you could brave it up and create your own email template from scratch and precisely tailor it to your needs. Or, you can download one of these free templates to help you get a start.