What Does the Google +1 Button Mean for SEO

Google, the internet giant based in California, has had a strangle hold on much of the online market for the past decade. Most would struggle to find a single person in the Western World who is not yet familiar with the Google Search Engine. In fact the search engine is so popular that the phrase 'Google it' has been adopted by many Gen-Yers.

In addition to their massive presence in the search marketplace, Google also commands a large percentage of the online advertising industry, generating revenues in the region of US$35 billion per annum.

Converting Your Website Visitors One Small Step at a Time

The ultimate goal of most websites is to collect leads and/or make sales. Which makes them important conversion points to measure with your web analytics program.

Leads and sales are also the reason why I'm a huge proponent of optimizing services and products pages. If a Google searcher lands directly on a page that is selling what they want, there's a strong likelihood that this will convert into a lead or a sale.

Leads and sales often come with a high price tag and are what I call "large conversions." Any conversion that potentially costs money is going to be harder to get than one that is free.

10 Biggest Social Media Myths Exposed

Merriam-Webster defines a myth as "a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon."

It's been said all myths are based in fact. Whether or not that's true is debatable. What isn't debatable, however, is like society, Social media also has its myths. This article exposes what I consider to be the 10 biggest Social media myths.

Local Search Marketing with Google Places

If you want better search engine results (and more clicks, and more business), and you haven't paid attention to "Google Places," you need to do so right away.

Why You Need to Claim Your Spot on Google Places

* Google has stated that one out of five searches on Google is related to location. That translates to 2.6 billion "local" searches a month, and that number is increasing 50% per year. (Yes, that's "Billion"-with a "B.")

* If you're a family law or divorce attorney in Irvine, CA for example, you want to show up when someone does a Google search for "divorce attorney orange county," or some variant of that - which happened over 56,000 times last month. Maybe your niche or location can't boast that kind of volume, but when you get your Places page set up and positioned correctly, it can still have a dramatic effect.

How to Handle Social Media Trolls

One of the unfortunate side effects of social networking is dealing with Internet trolls. These anonymous consumers seem to exist just to spite you. They love stirring up trouble, attacking your brand and lambasting your company on every forum, blog and social network they can find. Maybe they are a former customer with an axe to grind. Maybe they're just looking to pick a fight. Whatever the reason, almost every company is going to have to handle a troll at some point.

Here are 5 ways to help you better manage the social networking trolls:

1. Establish Ground Rules

You want to make sure that the troll doesn't make your company end up looking like the bad guy. Before trolls become an issue, establish a set of ground rules for commenting on your social profiles. Let you audience know what kind of behavior will and will not be allowed. If a troll posts something offensive or abusive on your Facebook wall and you decide to delete it, let your network know that it's because you won't tolerate that kind of belligerent attitude, not because they don't like your company. Just make sure you play by your ówn rules!

2. Don't Try to "Disappear" Them

If someone leaves a comment on your Facebook wall that you don't like, you have the ability as the page owner to delete that comment. Seems like the best way of dealing with a troll, right? Not necessarily. Trying to just "delete" your trolls and their comments might come across like you have something to hide or are trying to drown our dissenting opinions. It may cause your real social network to question your integrity. If things get really heated, find a way to take the conversation off of your social profile without just deleting it entirely.

3. Kill Them With Kindness

It almost néver pays to get into a spitting match with a social troll. They don't have anything to risk by getting involved in an online feud; you do. Your brand and online reputation are up for grabs when you start fighting with a troll on a social networking site. You may not like what they have to say, but don't get angry and use social media to vent. The person who is handling your social media marketing cannot afford to take it personally! The troll isn't attacking one particular employee; they are going after your brand. As long as you stay polite and courteous, your company will come out on top.

4. Reach Out for Support

If you've taken the time to do your social media marketing right, you've probably built up a strong and solid network of brand loyalists. If one troll seems intent on picking a fight, have your social network come to your defense. Ask your Friends, Fans and Followers to post/Tweet/blog or share their opinions of your company. Chances are your social network is more than willing to police itself. Users are smart, and they can tell when someone is trying to cause trouble for no reason. Having that much support shows the trolls that they are facing a much bigger fight then they thought.

5. Actually Listen

This might sound a little crazy, but you do have to pay attention to what the trolls are saying. They might not be the only ones who feel so negatively about your brand, even if they are taking it to an extreme level. Let's say you have 1,000 Facebook fans, but only 200 have commented on your Facebook page. Those 200 comments may or may not represent majority opinion. Sure, you have to take the comments of a social troll with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean you can't learn something about your audience at large if you dig deeper. Sometimes a troll is nothing more than a very upset customer. You want to make sure there aren't other customers this upset with your brand. Once you understand the problem, you can address and fix it.

Sooner or later, just about every company will have to deal with a social troll. It isn't worth the risk of damage to your brand to get involved in a public fight with one of them. Remember to take the high road and your online reputation won't suffer because of it.

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About The Author

Nick Stamoulis is the President and Founder of Brick Marketing a full-service SEO and social media marketing company. With over 12 years of experience, Nick Stamoulis shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog, the Search Engine Optimization Journal and by publishing the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter. Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 or nick@brickmarketing.com

Sources; SiteProNews, Fri 8/26/2011

Rankings Dropped? 9 Possible Reasons and 9 Ways Out

Sometimes SEOs and site owners encounter the problem of their sites suddenly going down in the search engine results pages for no particular reason, it seems. When this happens, it is often hard to figure out why your rankings nosedived.

So, let's consider possible reasons for and solutions to the problem. I arranged them by relevance, starting with the most common ones.

1. Your Site Got Penalized for Using Black-Hat SEO Techniques

Google has Webmaster Guidelines by which all SEOs and webmasters must abide. If Google finds out (or your site gets reported) that you are not playing by the rules, your rankings may drop substantially, or your site may get removed from Google's index altogether.

As stated in Google Webmaster Guidelines, one must not "participate in link schemes" (buying/selling links is basically meant here), create "doorway pages", or use "hidden text" on a site. These are considered illegitimate (Black-Hat) SEO practices and may incur Google's wrath.

The Way Out

Well, if your site does get penalized, find out what might have caused this. Re-read Google's Webmaster Guidelines and remóve whatever is in violation from your site - then file a reconsideration request.

2. The Search Engine Algorithm Has Changed

On the one hand, search engines are trying to keep their search results as relevant and SPAM-free as possible. On the other hand, there are people who are trying to game the system or just take advantage of the existing loopholes. And, with the ever increasing number of websites on the Internet today, search engines are forced to tweak their search algos every once in a while to keep spammers at bay.

For example, Google's latest big algorithm update known as Panda (or Farmer) was intended to do away with sites that provide poor-quality content and, as a result, provide poor user experience. However, it also affected groups of sites that have significant duplicate content by nature, such as e-commerce sites, online directories, etc.

The Way Out

First of all, if you are doing SEO and you really mean it, you should be informed about what's new in the Search Engine Land at all times. The online resources to keep an eye on are Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Land [http://searchengineland.com/] (yes, I did it on purpose :) ) , the official Google Blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/), and the inside-Google Matt Cutts' blog (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/).

If the rules change, and there is no way you can continue using the same SEO techniques you've been using before the algorithm update - you have to change your ways then. However, if you think your site was not supposed to get affected by the algo change but it did - you can write about it on Google Webmaster Forum - that often solves the problem.

3. Your Website's Content Got "Scraped"

If your rankings suddenly deteriorate, that could be because someone has stolen (or "scraped") the content from your site and posted it somewhere else on the Web. In this case, search engines sometimes lower both sites' rankings - then look deeper into the matter. Eventually, they are likely to start ranking your site as high as they used to before the incident, once they realize who copied whose content. However, this may take some time.

The Way Out

Dealing with content thieves normally involves locating the site that posted your content, contacting their webmaster, emailing their host, filing a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) request or taking the matter to court - whatever helps. It's recommended to start with contacting the scrapers. If this does not help - take the other measures mentioned here.

4. Your Site Got Penalized for Copyright Infringement

For various reasons, this may happen as well. It can be that your in-house SEO or a third-party firm you hired to promote your site used somebody else's content to boost your site's rankings in which case the owner of the content may have filed a DMCA request (the request is normally filed in written form) or reported your site to Google for copyright infringement.

The Way Out

Remóve the duplicate content, hire a new SEO or an SEO services provider and submit your site for re-inclusion (just follow the same procedure that's described in way out 1 of this post) (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35843)

5. Competitors Beat You in the SERPs

Sometimes your rankings may go down just because a competing site (or sites) manages to boost their rankings to a substantial degree.

The Way Out

If this is the case, analyze competitors' sites and see in what way they are better than yours. Pay attention to their backlinks, keyword density, social media popularity and act accordingly, depending on what your site is missing.

6. Your Site's Structure Got Crippled

Spotless site architecture is crucial to high rankings. If there are broken links, HTML code errors or other structural discrepancies on your site, search engine bots might not be able to crawl it within a reasonable span of time, and thus, your site's rankings may deteriorate.

The Way Out

Run an audit and fix all the flaws that may hold back your site's rankings. Sometimes a site may not be visible in search results for the simple reason that the host is down and the server is not responding. A thorough site audit will show that.

7. Important Backlinks Got Removed from Your Site

Sometimes it's due to "juicy" backlinks with top Google positions pointing to your site being removed, resulting in a rankings drop for your site.

The Way Out

Check the backlinks pointing to your site. Experienced SEOs run such checkups from time to time to see whether any of the links got assigned the "nofollow" attribute, were hidden from search engines because of the robot txt file or were simply removed. If this happens, you should get these links back or get similar backlinks from other websites.

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About The Author

Alesya is a blogger and a marketing manager at Link-Assistant.Com, a Europe-based SEO software provider and the maker of the celebrated SEO PowerSuite toolset. Link-Assistant.Com's SEO tools have set industry's benchmark for automated link building and Web promotíon. 

Sources: SiteProNews, Fri 9/2/2011

Google+ Reviewed

Social networking has grown steadily in scope and importance over the last decade, and over the past few years, Facebook's position as the top dog of social networking services has been solid and unquestioned. Enter Google+. Google's attempts to step into the realm of social networking have been plentiful and almost undeniable failures, but Google+ is undoubtedly their strongest showing yet, and has the best chance of success. It is growing steadily in popularity, but how well does it work and what sets it apart from its competitors? Read on.

Social Networking, Google Style

Google has a long, tumultuous, and mostly unknown and ignored history with social networking. The following is a rundown of their previous attempts.

Orkut: As far as I am aware, this is Google's earliest and (until now) most successful attempt at a social networking platform. It didn't ever gained much popularity in the United States, but it is huge in Brazil to this day, and it also has a following in India and other various countries.

Getting the Most out of Facebook Like and Share

People long have loved to find new and innovative uses for the most innocuous technologies and advances. In the late 19th century, "moving pictures" were a nickel-arcade novelty. Today films such as Avatar are made on budgets comparable to military-grade hardware investments. Alexander Graham Bell's telephone could barely call from one room to another; now the average iPhone has more uses and computing power than all the computers used in World War II combined.

This trend is repeating itself with the rise of social media network marketing practices. What started as socialization programs only slightly more complex than the average e-mail client has grown into one of the newest and most promising marketing niches in the entire world. Taking advantage of this means familiarizing oneself with a few surprisingly simple concepts that have unusually far-reaching implications. In particular, marketers are finding that the "Like" and "Share" features on Facebook have become the newest and best tool in the marketing online arsenal.

We "Like" It

The "Like" function is a pretty simple one - people click "Like" for things that interest them. On the surface, this seems almost irrelevant, but thinking so ignores the way Facebook operates. Taking advantage of the "Like" function is actually the key to getting good marketing opportunities out of Facebook.

When a user clicks "Like," whether on Facebook itself or through a site's Facebook plug-in, Facebook records the data and uses it in a number of ways. First, a notification is put up on the user's wall confirming the "Like." This informs other users who are familiar with the wall about the product, news item or event, giving them an opportunity to examine and potentially "Like" it as well.

Therefore, if a user has even 200 friends, which is not that great a number given the increasing inter-connectedness of online communities, that's 200 people who will see what their friend "Liked," and who will have the chance to "Like" it themselves. This is the very foundation of viral content, or content with the ability to move rapidly along through intermediate connections of hundreds of people.

Additionally, Facebook makes recommendations to users based on things they have "Liked." Thus if friend A has friend B, and friend A puts a "Like" on business C, friend B will not only get an announcement about the "Like," but may have the business recommended to them since they "Like" friend A. This is still another route of communication and an indirect marketing opportunity that requires no more effort than a simple click. Thus it is to any business' advantage to put a plug-in allowing people to "Like" them on Facebook via the business' site.

"Share" a Little, Gain a Lot

"Sharing" is another process which allows users to spread information about themselves and the products, news items or events they enjoy across multiple networks. This level of extra-connectedness in essence performs the same function as "Like," but with more data given which people can use to evaluate contacts and make connections.

"Like" simply gets a basic fact out there. "Share" will tell users more about each other, allowing for the kind of networking that drives modern business. It also expands the audience beyond the immediate momentary location of Facebook to other sources such as LinkedIn or Twitter. This further creates the potential for any post to go viral, allowing it to spread quickly among related yet distinct audiences.

Two-way Street

The communicative rather than broadcast model will serve marketers well in the area of "Liking" and "Sharing." Yes, it is good when users "Like" a business - it drives referral traffic to the business and allows for more information to get out there. However, equally good is when a business provides "Likes" to others and for their material.

In the first, most mercenary example it will increase the business' own traffic automatically. Consider friends A and B from before. If friend A puts up a post that Business C likes for whatever reason, friend B will see the "Like." This creates another indirect marketing opportunity and referral traffic automatically. So it's clearly to a business' benefit to be active in the community and to consistently "Like" things that are interesting to the business.

Indirectly, it creates goodwill in the community. The model of the Internet is a place where people exchange ideas and information, so people respond well to good comments. If business C "Likes" friend A's post, then friend A may "Like" them in return, for reciprocity if nothing else. This can be amplified by providing well-thought-out, insightful and proper comments on various walls throughout a given Facebook community.

At its roots, Facebook "Likes" and social networking "Shares" create opportunities to be more involved, and they reward increased and thoughtful involvement more than automatic, disinterested participation. Actively read through communities touching on a brand's interests and look for the "Likes" and referrals others are following. Provide commentary for your brand, as well as for the interests of others, and people will respond out of courtesy. The brand that behaves like a human will receive human consideration, while the brand that acts like a robot will be blocked out automatically.

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About The Author

Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to www.BrandSplat.com or visit our blog at www.iBrandCasting.com

Sources; SiteProNews, Wed 9/7/2011

Is Your Brand Worth Professional Treatment?

You may not remember the 1950s but the so-called "Golden Age" of television was in general pretty bad. Yes, there were some great, groundbreaking programs, but there was also a lot of crap, especially the commercials that for the most part were emotionally and psychologically clumsy despite their pseudo-innocence.

We may be nostalgic for Speedy Alka Seltzer but it hardly stacks up to the Evian Baby T-Shirt videos that to my mind were even better than the more famous Roller Babies, a campaign where technical gimmickry overpowered the message. Of course in the 50s, the medium was new and the technology was rudimentary, especially by today's standards.

With an audience raised on radio, TV producers could get away with almost anything, but today's audience brought up on television and big budget movies expect and demand a far greater level of presentation sophistication.

If you want to communicate to today's Web audience, you have to understand the techniques used to make your message understood and memorable. And just as importantly, you have to understand the negative impact of video presentation inadequacies. When we speak of ineffective communication, we are not just talking about technical issues like poor lighting and audio room tone, but more importantly poor messaging and mediocre performance.

Audiences Demand Quality Marketing Presentations

The days of face-to-face meetings are all but gone; even the telephone has become a worthless marketing tool thanks to the auto-call-robots harassing everybody with pitches for duct cleaning and cheap windows and doors. Today people rely on email, text messaging, and social media. These venues have their place for couponing, contests and discounting: promotional tactics that work for nationally advertised brands that have the budgets and built-in demand to take advantage of every marketing platform. Unfortunately these venues are not conducive to delivering a branded marketing message with the style, sophistication and nuance needed to convince an audience to purchase a non-nationally advertised product or service. If you're an entrepreneurial company, you have to think like one, not like Procter and Gamble.

Websites Are Still The Most Valuable Venue

Websites are still the most important marketing resource for prospects trying to find information about a product, service, or brand. Websites are the new phone directory, encyclopedia, catalogue, news magazine and shopping mall all wrapped into one customizable, brandable, multimedia resource. And when it comes to engaging a media savvy audience, video on your website has the potential to deliver the impact, immediacy, and the mind-altering persuasion needed to boost sales - if you know how to use it.

With easy access to relatively inexpensive hardware and software it's easy to become a "shooter". Just about everybody owns a video camera and with a little practice, anyone can become proficient in using it; but that is not the same as producing a commercial message. It's your business, and if you want it to prosper, you better find someone who knows how to tell your story in a way that will make your audience care.

Hiring an outside professional video communication firm to develop your video presentation may seem like an extravagance but you have to ask yourself, how much is your reputation worth?

What Professionals Bring To The Table

No one has more pride in what they do than owner-managers of small and medium size businesses, and one could argue that running a SME is far more difficult than running a major corporation. SME executives are so involved in running the day-to-day operations of their businesses it is not surprising they don't have the time to develop the cutting-edge skills required to implement a Web video campaign in-house.

In the long-run, quality video marketing will bring in more business, expand your market penetration, and enhance your image and reputation. And isn't that worth investing in an expert who can get it done.

Multi Function Creative and Technical Skills

In order for a video to communicate a marketing message effectively it requires a variety of creative and technical skills including scripting, lighting, audio, videography, photography, editing, special effects, and sound design. Getting by with hackneyed images, stock music, templates, and amateur shooters and presenters will ultimately reflect on your image and cripple your ability to convert visitors into customers.

Conceptual Brand Understanding

There are times when it's difficult for everybody to see the forests-for-the-trees, and working from dawn to dusk on day-to-day problems leaves little time to think about your business from a conceptual point-of-view, but that's just what professional marketing companies do.

Every experienced marketer understands that campaigns based on features alone are not the way to move product and grow businesses. Promotional campaigns based on discounting, sales, and contests are nothing more than short-term fixes with little long-term payback and the danger of turning regular clients into discount junkies.

There has to be something more behind a marketing campaign; you need a conceptual basis for audience acceptance. Developing an effective video campaign requires someone who can turn your product, service, or brand into an emotional aspiration. Marketing success requires going beyond the "need" into the realm of "desire."

Creative Courtship

Marketing is like romance; you have to woo your audience with style and substance. It's one thing to take a date or your spouse to dinner at some fast-food joint, it's quite another to take her to a five-star restaurant. Both may fill the need but only the gourmet dinner will light the fire of desire. Marketing is no different. If your video presentations are nothing more than a burger and fries, it's time to start thinking of filet mignon, but even an expensive meal can cause indigestion if the chef doesn't really know what he's doing.

Experience

Professional video marketing firms produce material for a variety of companies in many different industries. That kind of experience can be a valuable asset in developing a campaign approach that works for your business.

An experienced producer will not only know what works and what doesn't, but he or she will also know how to save you monéy by not allowing you to waste your budget on costly ineffective concepts, stunts and production techniques.

It's An Investment Not A Cost

Web video production must be viewed as an investment not a cost. Doing it right means hiring the right company who knows how to develop a presentation that enhances your image and attracts attention. Homemade or semi-pro efforts may seem like a bargain at the time, but they will ultimately turn out to be a costly waste of resources that can do more damage than good; then again if you sew your suits, act as your ówn doctor, and grow your food, perhaps you don't need a professional.

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About The Author

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design and marketing firm that specializes in Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com, www.136words.com, and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

  

Sources: SiteProNews, Fri 9/9/2011

A Necessary Evil for Search Marketers?

A few years ago, I read a good article by Canadian SEO Melanie Nathan called "The Reciprocity Link Building Method" in which she outlined a technique she sometimes used to build up high-quality links for her clients' websites. The gist, as I understood it, was to first find a website that would be good for your client's site to link to. Then you'd click around to see if any of their current links were broken (went to dead pages or sites). If you found some, you'd use this information as an opening to start a dialogue with the site owner or webmaster, and eventually mention your client's site as a substitute for one of the broken links. I thought it was a very clever idea, a great way to make contacts in your client's industry, and a win-win for everybody involved.

More recently I saw another article on this topic by Nick LeRoy, a search marketer in the Minneapolis area. Nick talked about the same basic technique Melanie had mentioned, and added a real-life example email he had used. In his example email, he mentioned to the webmaster that he had a favorite site from which he liked to purchase stuff for his son on birthdays and holidays. Nick again mentioned "his son" in a follow-up email, saying that he liked the products at this particular website because they made his son think.

All sounds good so far, right? Except that Nick doesn't have a son!

I made the following comment on the post:

   "Nick, I didn't know you had a son (as per the emails requesting a link). If indeed you don't, are you suggesting that people create a trust relationship with these webmasters by lying to them?"

Lots of comments ensued, which I encourage you to read over at Nick's site. For me, what he did was certainly not ghastly, but the situation does bring up a ton of questions.

Was it necessary to lie? Isn't that sort of thing exactly what gives marketers in general (not just search marketers) a bad reputation? Couldn't he have done things exactly as he did without the lie?

I contend that he could have.

Nick claims that telling the webmaster that you're looking for links on behalf of a client has less of a success rate for securing the link. It would certainly be interesting to test that theory, and it may very well be true. But even if you get fewer links out of it, that doesn't justify lying in any aspect of business--or in life. (Are they really two different things?)

Lying in any form is deception.

Even if it's just a tiny white lie. Even if it gets you more links. Even if it gets you more business. Even if it makes you look better in the eyes of your boss or client.

Which brings up another point: As the boss of someone using this technique, how would you feel about it? If your company culture is one of honesty, then any form of deception within your business should be a no-no. I can tell you that if I found out that an employee of mine did this, I would be very disappoínted in them and explain why we don't use deceptive practices. I would also wonder why I had to explain such a concept to an adúlt.

And what about the client?

Did they know that their search marketing company was using deception in order to obtain links? Is their company culture such that it's not a problem for them? Or did they not even know exactly how their links were being obtained? If you're being deceptive on your clients' behalf, one would hope that you get their permission and written sign-off so it doesn't come back to haunt you at some point.

Personally, if I hired a company to perform a service for me and they did it in a way that involved any form of lying, I would wonder what else they were doing that was deceptive. Were they overcharging me? Did they even have the skills they claimed to have?

Not to mention the unsuspecting webmaster on the other side who gave out the link.

How would they feel later to find out they were duped? Would they have a bad taste in their mouth for not only the marketing company, but for the company they were linking to? What if they felt so duped that they decided to go public on social media with the information? How would the client like the technique if they ended up with a reputation management nightmare?

Surely I'm being dramatic here, because we're only talking about a little white lie. But does the size or color of the lie make it any less deceptive?

And we are talking specifically about link building here. There's a reason that I dislike it and don't do it. As far as I'm concerned, link building in and of itself borders on being a deceptive practice because it's usually done to secure a fake "vote" for a website. It's an industry that shouldn't exist, and wouldn't exist if Google didn't place so much weight on links. If it weren't for that aspect of Google's algorithm, we'd have website owners giving and getting links for the right reasons, with a lot less deception (and payment) going on behind the scenes.

We can debate ethics forever and néver come to a consensus because they are often seen as situational. What might be unethical in one situation might not seem so unethical in another situation. Certainly, life-or-death situations are not the same as marketing ones. If a lie is going to somehow save someone's life, then by all means, please lie your head off!

But marketing isn't a life-or-death situation.

Lying and deceiving to seek someone's favor is generally agreed upon by most cultures as being wrong.

This is not a "black hat vs. white hat" issue.

It has nothing to do with hats. When it comes to search marketing, I don't care what techniques you use or what methods you use to gain more targeted search engine visitors. I don't believe that there are techniques that are more or less ethical than others. I don't care what Google puts in their Webmaster Guidelines, because there's no reason to need to know. If you fundamentally understand that all Google cares about is that your website isn't being deceptive in some manner, then you can't run afoul of them. They have to know that they can trust the information contained on your site and the information that you provide to Google. Nothing more, nothing less.

So many ethical conundrums come down to one simple question:

Is it deceptive or not?

I worry about search marketers who believe that deception is a necessary part of their job if they are going to get results. It's not only incorrect, but a sad commentary on our industry and perhaps our world.

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About The Author

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

Sources; SiteProNews, Mon 9/12/2011

10 Valuable Aspects of a Successful Homepage

The homepage of your website is often the landing page and is critical to the success of your online business. When people land on this page, you have just a few seconds to capture their interest. This page will be a giant factor in your conversion rate which is the ratio of visitors that respond to your goal action. This goal action can be subscribing to your newsletter, signing up for your ecourse, ordering your products, etc.

Your homepage needs to contain certain elements to be successful in raising your conversion rate. Read the list carefully and check to see if your homepage meets all of the following criteria.

1. Color 

The color you choose for your website can have a big effect on your visitors. The type of site you have should be a factor in the colors you choose. There are essentially two types of colors - cool and warm.

Browns, blues and greens are cool colors and can make you feel relaxed, calm and assured. These colors are good for sites pertaining to medicine, relaxation and other sites that have reassuring answers to your problems.

Yellows, reds and oranges are warm colors that bring out feelings of energy, excitement and happiness. These colors work well for exercise sites, sports sites and other energetic type sites.

Purple is a good color for fashion and jewelry sites. It emulates sophistication, royalty, and luxury, but it is also feminine and romantic.

2. Clutter 

How does it make you feel when you walk into a business that is messy and full of clutter. It doesn't exactly bring out the confidence in said business. Your website is the same way. You don't want it to look like a junk-filled mess! Keep it simple, clean, consistent and easy to follow. Don't fill your site with flashing banners, junk ads or fancy hard to read font.

3. Header

The header you use for your homepage is very important. You have just a few seconds to "capture" your visitor and the header can be a vital factor in achieving that goal. Make your header professional, short and to the point. You want the header to get the visitor to want to know more about you and your products/services. The header should outline in a few words what the benefits of your site are in a way that will make the visitor stay longer. Color is also a consideration.

4. Ease of Navigation

Another critical point to consider is how easy it is for people to navigate your site. Does your site feel like a maze with doubts on how to get from here to there? Visit your site as a customer and take note on how easy it is to navigate and how well laid out and simple the page is. Is your menu easy to find and follow? Is the font easy to see and read? Does one part of the page flow into another? Are your links prominent and easy to find? Look over every aspect of navigation with an extremely critical eye because people will not stay on a site that makes them feel lost and confused.

5. Use Testimonials

Testimonials are invaluable to your site because they reassure the visitor by increasing your credibility thus allowing them to trust you and your products more easily. Sprinkle a few short testimonials on your landing page where appropriate and have a section saved just for some of your best testimonials. Use detailed testimonials as opposed to more generic ones. For example: "I love your product and will purchase more" is not as good as "Your product helped me lose 20 lbs in just 6 weeks!"

6. Contact Information

Nothing makes me leave a site faster than when no contact information or email address is found. This, to me, says the person does not want to be bothered with customers, questions or anything else. I wouldn't ever do business with a website that does not provide complete and accurate contact info. More than likely, not many people would so it is extremely important to have your contact info prominently displayed on your homepage and every other page of your website.

7. Capture Visitors' Email Addresses

Most of us are familiar with the phrase, "the money is in the list." In a big way, this is true. Capturing your visitors' emails allows you to keep in contact with them so you can build that ever important relationship that will turn them into customers. Most people will not purchase anything on a first trip to a website so by capturing their emails you can astronomically boost the chances of converting that person into a customer. You can put a subscription form on every page of your site and be sure to have one on your landing page. Building a mailing list will help you market your sales, specials, etc. and will also help you build a solid customer base.

8. Call to Action

A Call to Action is a specific thing you "order" your visitors to do. This can be done with a text link or graphic. For example: Clíck here for a free marketing ecourse. You are giving the visitor very clear and concise instructions on what to do. Sometimes your visitors need a little push to complete the call to action so you would use something like this:

Limited Supply Clíck Here Now, or Sign Up Today for a Free Consultation.

Provide incentives to help your visitor make the decision to complete your call to action. Have just one clear call to action. Do not give you visitors too many choices because it will just result in confusion and indecisiveness.

9. Always Proofread

Always proofread and proofread again to be sure you catch all typos, grammatical errors and so forth. Make sure all your links work and everything on your landing page is in working order and correctly done.

10. Analytics

Be sure to take advantage of your site stats and analytics. This information can be critical to making your page a success. Google Analytics is free and provides a great service for anyone who has a website. You want to see how many people are going from your landing or homepage to other pages of your site. And if they are not, try to find out why, so you can improve your homepage. Monitor your bounce rate, conversion rate and other valued information.

You just cannot throw up a website and expect to boost your revenue. You have to nurture, maintain and care for your site and always be improving it. Keep abreast of the latest trends, info and data and always be learning how to make it better. Your landing and/or homepage is critical because it often decides the fate of your site so be sure to make it the most efficient and effective webpage possible.

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About The Author

Terri Seymour has over twelve years of online experience and has helped many people start their own business. Visit her site for reprint articles, resources, information, resell ebooks and more. Sign up for the RSS Feed for a free business ebook with MRR. www.SeymourProducts.com

Sources: SiteProNews, Wed 9/14/2011