Video Optimization Tips From Ad:Tech San Francisco - WebProNews Video

Making a good video can be difficult enough; you shouldn’t have to struggle to get it in front of individuals and search engines after wards. So at Ad:Tech San Francisco, The Search Agency’s Drew Hubbard gave some tips on how to optimize video for search.

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One key point is that “it’s all about the content on the page.” For now, content producers should still assume that videos are invisible to search engines. Be sure to come up with good titles, good tags, and good keywords.

Otherwise, if you’re trying to decide between hosting a video yourself or turning to a site like YouTube or Vimeo, there are a couple of things to take into consideration. Going the DIY route will grant you a great deal of control over the clip. At the same time, letting YouTube handle things may save you money, and it can put also the video in front of a larger audience.

Hubbard pointed out that, according to some statistics-tracking firms, YouTube is actually competing with Yahoo for the title of number two search engine.

Don’t Assume Anymore: Select Keywords That Work! - WebProNews Video

Do your keywords support your site? Unfortunately, the answer is no for many people choosing keywords for search engine optimization purposes. According to Mike Murray of Fathom SEO, people depend too much on tools such as Keyword Discovery, Google Keyword Tool, and SpyFu. These tools can be helpful, but there is also a great amount of research on your part that needs to be done...

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There must be a web page to support every keyword. Similar words do not count; they must be exact. Make sure your keywords are a good investment. If you choose the wrong keywords, you’re going to lose money and waste time.

Mike refers to people who do this as “people with their heads in the clouds.” He says people who dream up keywords are not going to have success in their efforts and need to come back to earth and be practical.

Mike suggests looking at the following factors when selecting a keyword list:

- Keywords in domain name
- Website analytics
- Competitors’ rankings
- Inbound links
- Where you ranked today, which page ranked, and on what search engine

Also, look for value in your PPC campaign. If someone is paying for a keyword, then it should be taken under consideration for your SEO program as well. It is possible that the same keywords could work for both programs.

Lastly, don’t look at who is ranking number 1 or 2. Look where websites are ranking that are similar to your site. You could be comparing your website, which is operated by 3 people, to a website that is run by a large corporation. Mike recommends first looking at the website’s age, size, and other factors before taking action. You may need to address other issues on your website to compete effectively.

SEO is a long process and the investment into keywords should not be taken lightly. After looking at the above factors, let’s again ask the question: Do your keywords support your website?

Marketing Strategies for Mobile - WebProNews Video

As mobile devices become more and more popular, the importance mobile marketing becomes greater as well. Cindy Krum of Rank-Mobile always keeps us updated on what’s going on in the mobile market and this video from SES New York is no exception.

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Cindy actively promotes having only one website by making your existing website provide mobile capabilities too. The same goes with marketing strategies. Cindy suggests that businesses integrate their mobile marketing strategy into their existing marketing strategy to get the best results.

The mobile Web is not just the current trend; it’s here to stay. Not only Cindy, but also many others including Dr. Vint Cerf, believe mobile will play a large role in the future. Based upon that information, Cindy believes if you embrace mobile now, you have the opportunity to pull ahead of your competitors.

So how do you integrate mobile into your overall marketing strategy? Here are a few quick tips from Cindy:

- Follow all traditional and local SEO best practices
- Provide info relevant to mobile users
- Submit your site to mobile search engines and directions
- Don’t rely on: Embedded images, Objects, Scripts, Frames, Flash, Pop-up Windows, Mouse-over trends

There are many mobile applications for search, which are taking feeds from existing search engines and integrating results into their own. Determine where they are getting their data from and make sure you are ranking well there. For mobile SEO, Cindy suggests coding in XHTML, employing multiple style sheets, and using CSS.

SEO Tip: Create Different Landing Pages for the Same Product - From Tubetorial.com

Great SEO tip from Tubetorial.com...

If you sell a small number of products, it’s a good idea to create different landing pages for each product. Each of these landing pages should be optimized for a different keyword.

There are at least two benefits to doing this.

1. Your search traffic will increase because you’re targeting more keywords.

2. Your conversion rates will increase because your landing pages have relevant content related to the keywords. Relevancy is one of keys to increasing conversion rates.

Here’s a video that shows two sites that are using this SEO tactic...

What’s Happening with Social Media and Businesses? - WebProNews Video

Chris Brogan and Lee Odden have been teased about their striking resemblance to each other, so WebProNews decided to feed to the humor and interviewed them together. Both Lee and Chris are a lot of fun, and they are also very knowledgeable in the Internet marketing industry.

In this video from PubCon South, the two discuss social media and where it fits into marketing. Chris says that we are seeing more and more larger companies embracing social media.

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There are also many people using social sites because they think they can “get rich quick.” As companies determine how to effectively use social media, Chris predicts the number of “get rich quick” people will rapidly decline.

Lee agrees with Chris’s outlook and points out that companies are now discovering exactly where they are getting the most return and capitalizing in those areas. He says social media has now become a natural part of marketing.

There are however, risks involved in social marketing if companies don’t have a solid plan in place when they start their social efforts. Lee’s company, TopRank Marketing, suggests that companies construct a social media road map, which requires them to identify their audience, behaviors, and specific objectives.

After these factors are determined, companies can decide on what their social strategy is, whether it be blogging or social networks. From there, companies need to choose what tools they are going to use and decide how they will track their success. When measuring progress, Lee says it is important to measure goals in actual conversions and not simply by the number of friends or followers the company acquires.

Chris follows up on that point by explaining the importance of putting the “physical connector” back into social media. The overall marketing plan should contain traditional marketing tactics, which includes a physical side, as well as Internet marketing strategies and social media.

More older Americans are going online than ever...

The Internet Is Getting Gray...
More older Americans are going online than ever.
Source: eMarketer.com

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, from 2005 to 2008, the largest jump in adoption of Internet usage was by users ages 70 and older. Internet penetration among people ages 70 to 74 increased by 19 percentage points from 2005 to 2008. For people 75 and older, the increase was 10 percentage points.

What sets older Americans apart is their online activities. Older Americans aren’t as likely as younger users to play games, watch movies, use social networking sites or read blogs. What sets older Americans apart is their online activities. Older Americans aren’t as likely as younger users to play games, watch movies, use social networking sites or read blogs.

The majority of Internet users are people under the age of 45, but growing numbers of older Americans are going online. That is an opportunity marketers can exploit.

Read more at: eMarketer.com

Making Twitter Work for You - WebProNews Video

Most people dwell too much on the “rules” or accepted expectations for sites like Twitter. In this video, Michael Gray points out that there is no right way or wrong way to use Twitter. He says the only right way is when you are getting out of it what you want and what you’re putting into it...

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What works for one person or business may not work for you. Therefore, it is important to determine your goals early and to do whatever you have to do to meet your goals.

Michael does give some basic tips that everyone could adopt and practice to build their reputation in the community. They are:

- Be polite
- Make friends
- Start conversations
- Ask questions
- Answer questions

Most people prefer tweets that are not self-promoting. Michael says bigger brands have more flexibility in this regard, but even they should not take advantage of it. Twitter is about engagement and most self-promotions do not encourage it.

The value you receive from Twitter is ultimately determined when you identify your goals and work to meet them. It’s not about how many followers you acquire. What really matters is how many of those followers actually know who you are and are helping you meet your goals.

Search Marketing Evolution - WebProNews Video

As search has developed, the end user has also undergone behavioral changes. Universal and blended search have played a lead role in the user’s changes. Many times, searchers don’t know what they want when they search and the blended results offer a number of different options for them to choose from. Mike Grehan of Acronym Media told WebProNews in this video that we must look at these developments when we think about search in the present as well as in the future...

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Grehan and many others such as Bruce Clay have said that ranking is not as significant as it once was, especially after universal and blended search rolled out. Universal and blended search have also opened up a whole new playing field for people who before didn’t have the opportunity to be noticed. These users are now able to be seen and heard through their clicks, their tags, their ratings and reviews, etc. Grehan says these “signals” the end users are sending are very powerful to the search engines.

So what does all this mean to SEO? According to Grehan, it places a strong emphasis on “engagement” and “connectivity.” SEO will become more complicated because users will demand a much richer experience. Monitoring the results will become even more important than ever since users will be producing more of their own content and even interacting directly with brands.

All this information and more is compiled into Mike Grehan’s new book which is set for release in August. His thought paper “New Signals to Search Engines: Future Proofing Your Search Marketing Strategy” can be downloaded at www.acronym.com/thoughtpaper.

SEO Metrics to Replace PageRank? - WebProNews Video

Rand Fishkin and SEOmoz introduced their tool Linkscape at SMX East and WebProNews was there to get the story. We followed up with Rand at SMX West to get an update on the tool.

Rand prefaces the discussion by boldly stating that they are “a few months away from reversing Google’s algorithm.” If that does happen, just know that WebProNews broke the story. As we all wait on that to occur, Rand tells of a different approach that SEOs can implement...

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Traditionally, SEOs look at PageRank to determine how well they rank and how and why someone ranks above or below them. Rand says this methodology is not much better than random guessing. The actual correlation that SEOmoz found is that basing actions on PageRank is only about 3 percent better than guessing.

He instead suggests acting upon data driven metrics. Take advantage of third-party data to estimate traffic competitively. For this, Rand recommends sites such as Compete, Alexa, and Quantcast. There are also tools that Rand recommends for predicting search engine rankings. They are Yahoo Site Explorer, PageRank, and Linkscape.

Rand strongly advocates this idea of bringing mathematics and statistics into SEO. He does however, believe that not one single metric should be held as the key. Link popularity is still the most prominent factor by nearly 75 percent and is followed by keywords and content.

comScore Reports on Search Growth - WebProNews Video

According to comScore year over year data, the U.S. has a strong search market. (It’s great to read a sentence that has the words “market” and “strong” in it, huh?) In this video, Jenni Tafoy of comScore gives us a positive report based upon their data...

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To be exact, comScore found total U.S. searches to be at 18.7 billion, which is up 38 percent year-over-year. These numbers are a result of more people (7.1 million specifically) being online, people searching more days out of the month, and people conducting more searches per day.

Consumers are becoming more and more reliant on search. Search engines have seen a 32 percent growth and interestingly enough, non-search engines have also seen tremendous growth. Jenni says this research shows how marketers can expand their campaigns outside of the traditional search engines and into search areas such as video, local, image, and social networking sites.

YouTube has shown 100 percent growth, which is massive. Local has grown 38 percent, and image has grown 32 percent. Social networks driven primarily by MySpace and Facebook show 49 percent year-over-year growth.

Even with those statistics, Jenni still encourages marketers to continue their campaigns with traditional search engines. She advises marketers to utilize both search areas. Video search, local search, image search, and social networks will only continue to grow, but traditional search engines are also holding their own especially with the increasing growth of universal and blended results.

Make the Most of Your Online and Offline Marketing Campaigns - WebProNews Video

As a result of the economic crisis, retailers are more concerned than ever about the return their marketing dollars are generating. In this video from SMX West, Ryan Gibson of The Rimm-Kaufman Group explains how retailers need to understand which online and offline programs are profiting them the most and capitalize on those areas...

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Offline marketing interactions with customers involve TV, radio, print, direct mail, or catalogs. Online marketing interactions include social media, content/display, search, and email. Offline conversions come by phone or by going into the store. Online conversions occur through a website or by email.

In a perfect world, all customers would either react only to online marketing methods or only to offline marketing efforts. Unfortunately for marketers and retailers, it’s not a perfect world and customers mix it up. Customers may search online, place a call to the calling center, go to the website, or go into the store before they take action. Every customer behaves differently which makes if difficult for marketers to track their online and offline marketing programs.

Ryan says marketers and retailers have to understand their customers. Observe the customer and be aware when they’re talking about you. If they are talking about you on social media sites, listen to them first and maybe even connect with them.

Do not however, forget about offline marketing efforts. Understand the customers sequence of action and which programs they are using to find you. Once you realize where your value lies, maximize those programs to their fullest potential so that you do not miss out on any profit.

SMX West: Solution to Marketer/Developer Relationship Barrier - WebProNews Video

The relationship between developers and marketers has recently been a hot topic at industry events, and SMX West was no exception. An entire track was devoted to the topic at the recent show. In this video, Nathan Buggia of Microsoft Live Search says the barrier between developers and marketers goes all the way back to the very definition of each.

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Marketers need data such as customer information. They need to have the ability to run experiments and update the text and content on their site. Developers also need data, but they need keyword and audience research. In addition to that, they need to be given all the details and structure of each project and then adequate time to complete them.

As business gets more competitive, especially online, Nathan emphasizes how the need is even stronger for developers and marketers to work together. He says that business success really depends on marketers and developers working together effectively.

The barrier between the two is more difficult for larger companies because there is usually a large marketing department and a large development department. Smaller companies are able to come together more often and be more open about the overall business strategy.

So, what is the solution to breaking down the barrier? Nathan says communication is the answer, and ideally, it starts from the very beginning. He and Vanessa Fox have created a conference based solely on this idea of building a strong and effective relationship between marketers and developers. Everyone is invited to attend the first O’Reilly Found Conference taking place June 9-11th in Burlingame, CA.

John Battelle Predicts the 2009 Search Industry - WebProNews Video

Predictions are exciting. They’re even better when they come from a credible source, someone such as John Battelle. He has been giving yearly predictions on the search, technology, and media industries since 2004 and has been quite accurate. WebProNews caught up with Battelle at SMX West and asked him about a few of his predictions for 2009.

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Microsoft has been the topic of a lot of people’s conversation this year, so it is really no surprise that the company made Battelle’s list of predictions. Specifically, the prediction reads:

“Microsoft will gain at least five points of search share in 2009, perhaps as much as 10.”

The giant company now stands in third place behind Yahoo and Google with a 6-10 percent holding. So how are they going to gain search share? Battelle says the company is very serious about winning the search game.

He also points out the company has a lot of money and that the world is essentially driven by money. One way Microsoft could increase their search share is to buy Yahoo, AOL, or even Firefox. Another option he discloses is that Microsoft could make a deal with a company such Dell or HP.

Yahoo makes another one of Battelle’s predictions. Speaking on behalf of all the recent dire news about the Sunnyvale-based company, Battelle says:

” I think Yahoo’s coming out of a long winter.”

He says Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz, is a very capable leader for the company and will help to revive its purpose. He still suspects Yahoo will make a search deal with AOL or Microsoft, but says:

“I will not count them [Yahoo] out.”

Although it’s not one of his direct predictions for 2009, Battelle talks about a new form of search that will become more and more prevalent with time. As he explains in this video, search is our interface to the Internet and the way we navigate. The new interface would allow Web users to search in forms other than text, in forms such as image, video, and sound.

As stated earlier, John Battelle has been very accurate in his yearly predictions, so it will be interesting to see how 2009 plays out.

Micro Campaigns to Target Customers and Make the Telephone “Ring” - By WebSuccessTeam.com

Is your website under performing? Not producing enough targeted traffic, leads or sales? Then it is time for a change of online marketing tactics. You should consider developing niche micro-site campaigns to target customers and make the telephone or email “ring.”

First let’s define the problem. You may be a medium to small company with a number of products or services. The questions I ask my clients are: Do your products or services relate to each other? Is your customer base the same for each of them? Or do customers need to be marketed to differently? What are your unique selling points? Are your messages clear, concise and quickly understood?

To address the above concerns, here are 8 strategies to get better results and boost sales:

1. Look at the Big Picture: Keep it simple
The old adage, “less is more” holds true for the web. Visitors view a website in chunks, scanning to see what catches their eye and engages them. If there are multiple messages or conflicting ones, the viewer won’t take the time to sort them out. They’re gone in less than 10 seconds. It is counterproductive to jam everything into a website, all that does is make it cluttered and confusing.

Your micro campaign should be direct and to the point. They are single page or 2-3 page websites that target a specific product or service. If you need to have a lot of content to explain your products or services, consider a 1-2 minute video. Make your pitch concise and simple. Visitors will appreciate the clarity and you will project a professional image and instill confidence . They will react positively, recognize that you are not wasting their time because they can understand it quickly. Then they are more apt to respond to your message or call to action.

2. Think Out of the Box: Be creative and innovative
Never get too comfortable with what you are doing or how you are selling your company’s products or services. You need to reach those customers that aren’t responding to this method or approach.

You can tailor a mini-campaign just to those potential new customers (i.e. a more youth oriented audience). This does two things: it won’t isolate your more traditional viewers and it won’t conflict with your current offers or messages. In marketing terms, we call this the low hanging fruit — ripe for the picking, providing you get there before the competition. Again, get creative, think out of the box, make an impact, and take a risk!

3. Make an Immediate Impression:
Campaigns should get their attention with a sense of urgency, a timely call to act now! Now that your message is clear and concise and you have their interest and attention, close the deal with a sense of urgency. If you are selling products, have time-dated specials with real value and savings; for a service, offer something value added and have the first 10 people to call will receive… Use of a flash element to draw their attention can be effective. Graphics should enhance the branding, never overpower it.

4. Target New Customers: Develop new markets.
People like to think of themselves as unique, individuals, and not part of the herd mentality. You can capitalize on their self-image by addressing new customers in ways that will appeal to them. Whether it is a lifestyle, the dream of a better quality of life, or as a means to an end — making their life easier. Remember, different markets will require alternative approaches. Tailor your branding and customize your message. Then of course test and track your sales approach. Get feedback from customers, new and old, how they use your products or services and then create a niche campaign directed to their specific needs.

> Get the other 4 strategies at:
http://www.WebSuccessTeam.blogspot.com

Matt Cutts Explains “Canonical Tag” from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft - WebProNews Video

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft announced today a joint effort to help reduce duplicate content. The three major search engines came together to allow users to point out their preferred version of a url. As Matt Cutts explains in this video, this format offers users more control.

Duplicate content has been a challenging issue for a long time. Websites containing a lot of content such as a retail site, could end up with several urls for each page making it difficult for search engines to crawl.

Google gives an example on the Webmaster Central blog.

Watch this video of Matt Cutts at SMX:

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For more information, each of the search engines have explanations and examples in their own announcements: Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.

Privacy and social networks from BusinessWeek.com

Bruce Nussbaum recounts a Davos discussion including Microsoft's Craig Mundie and Hamid Arkhavan of T-Mobile on how privacy concerns affect the adoption of social networks...



View more videos at BusinessWeek.com:
http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/video/direct.html

Why Direct Response Websites? - Web Success Team

Why Direct Response Websites?
Content Source: http://www.websuccessteam.com

Direct Response Websites are simple and intuitive, have easy to follow navigation, and use proven interactive techniques. We develop websites that get results by creating a call to action to obtain a sale, and capture email addresses for future marketing outreach.

This is how your website should work. Since your prospective customers and clients are one click away from your direct competitors, your website needs to persuade them to stay and take the action that pays-off for YOU and your business.

We build in the necessary techniques to generate a "Call to Action." Direct response websites focus on a defined target audience, create the intended mood from the start, and result in accomplishing at least one of three things: obtain a sale, schedule an appointment or collect a name and email address to be used for future outreach and sales opportunities.

Our interactive websites are designed to drive traffic and generate sales! If you don't develop a comprehensive strategy for marketing your website, you can't build a profitable online business. It's imperative to drive thousands of visitors to your site, then convert them to paying customers.

With the right website design you can turn visitors into buyers. You can change the way people think about your business. The interactive techniques we use will HUMANIZE your website, draw traffic, collect valuable marketing information and generate sales. The Internet is the most economical and effective way for businesses to communicate.

You must have a website that works for your business! Your smart, effective website design positions you ahead of your competition. Your prospective customers and clients immediately trust you because your website design focuses on them and their needs. They recognize you as someone who can help them solve a pressing problem. And they are willing to pay you for it.

For More Info Visit: WebSuccessTeam.com

Video with Chris Boggs - Optimized Site Vs. Search Friendly Site - WebProNews Video

Video from SES Chicago: Optimized Site Vs. Search Friendly Site...

Everyone wants both an optimized website and a search friendly website, but it seems that most sites lean either one way or the other. What comes first - optimization or search friendliness? In this video, Chris Boggs of Rosetta (formerly Brulant) explains how realizing that there is a difference between optimizing a site and making it search friendly is the main problem behind the misunderstanding of this topic.

“It’s easy to optimize the site, but you have to make it search friendly - big difference.”

Making your website search friendly is actually the first step. Your url needs to be search friendly. If you are a marketer, you need to work closely with the IT department on joint goals and strategies...

Watch the Video:

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Read more at: WebProNews

From SES Chicago: Ensuring Your Website Has a Clear Purpose - SiteProNews Video

Ensuring Your Website Has a Clear Purpose...
Website usability is one of those things that most companies know is important but put it on the back burner when comparing it with creativity and web design. The fact is that a lot of companies want their site to look so impressive and so unique that they leave out checking to see if a potential consumer can actually use it. Matt Bailey of SiteLogic Marketing advises companies to always conduct a “Mom Test” to get a true usability answer...

Watch the Video:

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Read more at: http://videos.webpronews.com

Create Your Own Customized 404 Error Page for Increased Traffic - SiteProNews.com Article by Ed Duvall

Create Your Own Customized 404 Error Page for Increased Traffic...
As Seen on SiteProNews.com article by Ed Duvall

By design, the server that hosts’ your web site delivers a 404 Error / Page Not Found when a surfer clicks on a link that the server cannot find or something else unexpected happens. The most common error page is the HTTP 404 “Not found: The requested URL/whatever.html was not found on this server.”

This generally happens when a person clicks on a link for page that has been removed, renamed or otherwise changed.

If you were to enter the link below into your browser and hit the enter button you would see my own custom 404 Error page: cashway.com/aintnosuchpage.htm (This link is not active and will present you with my custom 404 Error page.) What happens to your web visitor who gets that error message on your site without a custom 404 Error page?

Generally speaking they’re off faster than a “speeding bullet” looking for the information they were seeking - probably to a different website. That’s something you really don’t want to have happen and it can be prevented with a custom 404 error page that gives them options on the error page that will tell them how to find what they were looking for.

So the answer is? Create your own custom 404 Error page that suggests other resources on your site and then helps redirects that person to them.

In essence you’re capturing traffic that you had, but lost and didn’t know it, and keeping that visitor by helping them find what they need and possible turn them into a buyer for your product or service later on.

But “I don’t have the time or know how to make a custom 404 page”, you say.

Well good news - it’s not as hard as you think. If you have about 30 minutes and your server is a Apache or Unix web server then it’s virtually a snap to do

** Your Custom 404 Page Design **

In my opinion your custom 404 error page should provide at least these components:

• A simple statement that the requested URL was not found on your site.
• A brief description of some of the most common mistakes that couldhave lead the visitor to the missing page.
• A “plug” for one of your Free products or services

You can of course add other components like simple java script code for date & time and IP address display, etc. if you really want to impress someone with your technical wizardry.

Your page also should carry the look and feel of your web site, so you should include your header or footer or both so it is clearly branded as yours. You may wish to include some other links for your site that lead visitors to other pages you may want them to visit.

Click this link NOW to read the FULL ARTICLE basic the steps!
As Seen on SiteProNews.com