SEO St Louis

Archive for the ‘search engine marketing’ Category

When it comes to soccer, in theory it is pretty simple– you need to put the ball in the back of the net. When this happens it is usually the goal scorer who gets the most credit, but what about the defense who got the play rolling? In reality there is far more to a team’s scoring strategy than the person who gets the ball into the back of the net, in fact Paul Tomkins has devised a system to track the contribution of each individual player. This system creates a value of how they contribute to the team over a number of games.

“When turning soccer into numbers, there will always be problems. And when it comes to ‘assists’, this is especially true. How can you reward someone who rolls the ball eight inches from an indirect free-kick as highly as someone who beats seven men and puts the ball in the striker’s path in the six-yard box?”

Those in the Internet marketing industry may want to take the time to read Tomkins’ strategy in order to relate it to the website conversion attribution debate. When it comes to website conversion, each keyword searched or direct visit – which ultimately results in a conversion–is in most cases a hit from a repeat visitor, or from a visitor who is familiar with the brand name, and each step of your search engine marketing strategy can be seen as an assist that led that conversion goal to your website.
With the highly-anticipated World Cup right around the corner, here is an analogy of how the steps to scoring a goal in a soccer game are similar to making a visitor react a desired way on your website.

 Website Conversion = Goal
You’ve done the hard work, you’ve found a potential customer who is interested enough in your website that they return via a keyword (or direct visit) and complete a sale, give you a call or whatever your call to action may be. This is the same as giving a player a free shot with just the keeper to beat. You won’t always get a 100% conversion rate – but in both cases there’s a very good chance it will end up with a goal.

Second to Last Visit = Assist
Some players don’t always score enough goals (David Beckham for example) but if you take him away from taking freekicks, corners and crossing the ball into the box then you’re likely to see a noticeable drop in chances created and goals scored. This could be exactly the same with your complete online strategy, which is why it is so important to find those advertising channels and keywords which are contributing to the end goal.

Mid-Level Visit = Midfield Pass
If Liverpool scored a goal last season, there’s a good chance Xabi Alonso (player known for his high number of assist) was involved at some point during that move. This may not have a huge importance to the overall outcome, but if involved more often than not, then he is clearly having a positive impact to the team. This could relate to an email marketing campaign, social media campaign or a keyword which may rarely convert, but is often involved in an assist. Take it away and those conversion chances may start to dry up.

First Visit = Defensive Build Up
What got the ball rolling in the first place? In the case of a soccer game, it may start with a key pass by the goalkeeper. When online, perhaps it was a search at the early stage of the searching process, as far back as typing your search words into Google. After this happens there is still a huge amount of work to do in order to grab that conversion, but you need to start somewhere!

So in which stage does the importance lie? In tracking the performance at all stages you can really get a strong idea about how every aspect of an online marketing campaign (or professional soccer team) is performing. With this valuable feedback from web analytics, you can make informative decision (whether that decision be to change up your keywords or to trade your center midfielder) based on the actual facts and figures. All in all looking at every step of your marketing strategy, rather than just the end result, will tell you which components of your overall efforts are effective, and which ones could use some help.

High quality content is vital in Internet Marketing. SEO content appears in your web pages, articles, blogs, press releases and social media marketing, and needs to be continuously updated if going to be effective.

Before jumping into writing optimized content for the web, remember these tips:

•Use keywords the right way – make sure your SEO content writing is easily understood. Don’t just stuff key words into your content.

•Place readability of the content first; if the keywords didn’t come naturally (or if you haven’t used enough to meet keyword density requirements), insert them where appropriate to turn your document into effective SEO content writing

•Never use too many keywords. An adbundance of keywords could transform your document from an SEO content writing project into spam (search engines are not stupid, and if this is the case they will not recognize your website.)

•Keep SEO content writing short and sweet- stay on the topic

•Stick to two or three keywords per page of SEO content writing to avoid reader confusion

If readers are unable to tell that they’ve just read SEO content writing, you have done your job. If you wrote content that is easy to read, flows well, is to the point and doesn’t leave your readers wandering why you have used the same word X amount of times- mission accomplished.

In the March 2010 issue of Fast Company, the feature story reviewed the success of Mark Zuckerberg, the Founder and CEO behind social media giant Facebook. Considering that the six-year behemoth has inspired the most popular global brands to subscribe to social media, it is growing increasingly impossible to rebuke Facebook’s potency.

Despite the fact that the social mega media site is still in its babyhood, 2009 was the first time the company turned a profit. With more than 350 million users and growing along with a slew of free tools available in 70 languages, Facebook represents one vital role for any company:

EXPOSURE. EXPOSURE. EXPOSURE

Social media networking has shifted the paradigm in market research. Any-sized corporation can directly interact with their clientele to tweak products and services.

There is no longer the need to invest thousands of dollars in market research.

Aside from commissioning a web design company to create a Facebook page, an incentive driven social media strategy is necessary to assure a booming fan-base.

An Analysis of Trident’s Social Media Strategy

• Cadbury’s Trident® utilizes an incentive focused social media strategy.

• The marketing incentive welcomes consumers to enter its “Perpetual Festival,” which includes “30 festivals around the globe in 30 weeks.”

• Trident’s Facebook page incorporates the same web design that is presented on its UK Web site. The sweepstakes engages the consumer to participate in the drawing by leading the visitor to enter a code from a pack of Trident gum

• From the Facebook page to Trident’s micro site, each website design maintains continuity, transitioning the consumer from one page to the next.

Given Facebook’s omnipresence, the social media marketing is impossible to disregard. Now that the most powerful search engine directory, Google is caching and posting Facebook’s status updates, social media is an extension of the SEO strategy.  

Consider the following questions about your company’s social media marketing strategy:  

• Are your competitors using social media to bond with the target audience?

• How can your organization out-face the competition or better retain the target audience’s attention via Facebook?

• Does your company have a Facebook fan wall reflective of your products and services brand identities?

• Are you posting engaging media, which entices the target market to subscribe, contribute and engage in the conversation?

• Is the company Facebook page updated on a regular basis?

If you need assistance developing social media design in sync with your Internet marketing strategy, contact The Net Impact.

Connect with The Net Impact on Facebook.

Search engine optimization (SEO) considerations often pose several challenging questions: 

• Which is better hiring an in-house web designer or outsourcing?
• How to maintain autonomy without being at the complete mercy of the Web design company? 

These answers are subjective. The cost analysis depends on how much a business values time, money and results.

What is the timeframe?

If your business plans to make an impact on the search engines, every day is critical. In other words, the longer your site is offline or not optimized for search engine traffic, it represents substantial losses. 

How much will it cost to have the internal IT department build a new web design with the latest search engine-marketing infrastructure?

In order to compete with the competition, a business Web site attributes for a significant part of the market strategy  and new business development (i.e.: lead generation, sales transactions, new subscriptions).

If your IT department is manning the company’s network, how realistic is it to expect a timely completion of the new Web site design?

While many web designers understand the importance of marrying website design with search engine optimization, the wheel is always being reinvented. SEO is in constant evolution. A Web design company, who specializes in SEO, can ensure that your business site is current with the latest trends and practices in search engine marketing.

Want the immediacy of professional web design, yet the autonomy to manage regular updates –in-house?

A web content management system offers the autonomy to update content on a regular basis without the cost of outsourcing billable hours. For example, Auctori is a legal content management system with built in SEO.

How can you assure that your Website attains the highest ROI?

Most employees do not sign a contract offering to forego their salary if a Web site underperforms in site conversions. To assure an ultimate return on investment, opt for a Website design company that offers a strategic partnership. This alleviates the chances that the search engine optimization strategy will become obsolete.

To maintain a competitive edge, consider a web content management system designed with search engine optimization. Learn why more and more companies are powered by the Auctori.com web content management system, please click: “Auctori” to read more.

Social media is not limited to nurturing narcissistic tendencies. Despite the market research indicating that only 65 percent of American business professionals incorporate social media, it’s rapidly emerging as paramount component of the search engine marketing strategy. 

Amid Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, a new crop of social media networking sites mushrooms across a myriad of marketplaces. SEO-St. Louis compiled a shortlist of social media networks geared for vertical and horizontal markets. Here are the finding: 

Cofoundr is a community for entrepreneurs — designers, investors, and programmers, and other individuals, who are committed to developing partnerships for new start-up ventures.

Doctors HangOut.com is a social networking service for medical students, doctors and residents.

FastPitchNetworking is an international business social networking site.

Nexly is a business to business social media marketplace for small to mid-sized businesses to network. (Nexly’s URL is www.nexly.com)

ResearchGate is a professional social networking site designed to help scientists and researchers collaborate on new studies and trials. 

Ryze is another professional social media networking site, segmented into thousands of organizations to nurture new business relationships.

Select Minds is a corporate social networking platform designed to connect current employees, former employees and organizations with each other to procure new business.

Upspring is a social networking site designed to help vertical markets such as retailers, manufacturers and service providers to improve their local web presence. 

The microcosm of social media sites validates that corporations can no longer afford to ignore the potency of social media (Twitter, Facebook, et al).  And in terms of maintaining robust search engine optimization—as in online exposure, social media networking fortifies that visibility, affording an abundance of new professional and business relationships.

If your organization is considering Twitter, Facebook or any of the aforementioned social media networking pages to enhance new business, please click “contact The Net Impact” for a hassle-free consultation.

Small entities, renowned corporations, and search engine marketing firms converge in St. Louis for the second annual Midwest’s Premier Search Marketing Conference on April 1^st. With keynote topics covering the insider specs on using social media to create awareness about the online presence, quadrupling new business transactions, it’s a must attend expo. Some of the search engine marketing’s most renowned names in the industry will impart a wealth of intelligence about using social media and search engine optimization  (SEO) marketing to:

• Generate more leads
• Increase online productivity
• Nurture client or customer loyalty 

According to event planners, the purpose of the event is to help Saint Louis business owners realize how to maximize their online presence. Attending this expo provides the following incentives:

Develop an exacting strategy to drive search engine action from Google, BING and Yahoo Learn how to generate more sales and revenue from site traffic.

• Learn how to use Facebook and Twitter to maintain consumer loyalty and retention
• Search engine marketers and SEO programmers from around the country will provide a succinct overview.

President of an St-Louis SEO company, The Net Impact Steve Thomas will share the latest trends for incorporating search engine marketing in conjunction with a potent social media networking strategy.

Where Is My Business, a major sponsor of the Midwest’s Premier Search Marketing Conference spearheaded many of the conference’s ideas. They even conceptualized the giveaway. All attendants receive a complimentary Web analytics for improving their company’s Web site search engine visibility. The site analysis is a $279 value, but will be offered to any company that redeems the offer subsequent to the event.

Conveniently centered downtown St. Louis at the illustrious Lumiere Hotel and Casino, there is also a pre-conference networking social in the Cascade Lounge. Additional registration and discount information is available at the following link http://www.marketstl.com.

For eight years, we’ve had a corporate web site designed by a web design company. From day, one site was search engine optimized using our keywords. Given the age of our web site and quality content, we’ve been able to maintain a decent page rank. Also, we have an affiliate program, where we awards our strategic partners for recommending our products. which generates link popularity to our web site. Over the past six months, we’ve seen our page rank slip and we are wondering  what avenue we should consider to enhance our online presence? Can you provide any search engine optimization seo tips or SEM marketing advice?

Lydia – Arkansas

Your question is one many thriving corporations face. The practices of search engine marketing are in constant flux. Which means that corporations as well as the small sized entity must remain current with the evolution of SEO. Search engine optimization is no longer limited to awe-inspiring web design and quality content. To ensure maximum exposure the following search engine optimization complement the process:

• Blog Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Linking Program
• Pay per Click Management
• Press Release Optimization
• Social Media
• Web Marketing 

By outsourcing web design to a company, offering the aforementioned search engine optimization (SEO) services, companies can be assured a complete solution, where the search engine marketing strategy works in accordance with the SEO results. 

 

Test drive the possibilities , contact the Net Impact for a hassle-free consultation.

Recently, one of St. Louis’ most renowned SEO companies hosted a conference about using search engine marketing to heighten brand awareness. The seminar evaluated the pertinent elements of an effective search engine marketing campaign. The topics that were reviewed, included:

• The relevance of architecting a resilient link
• How link building influences site exposure and traffic
• Advanced business-to-business search engine marketing

The first segment Search engine optimization consultant, Lauren Williamson and president, Steve Thomas of The Net Impact shared valuable insight about the role linking plays in building the search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

Think of your Web site as a popular portal, recognized for being a network that everyone relies on for industry specific information, news and data.  

 

 

During another segment, Web Account Manager, Sonya Sawall provided a pithy overview of how business decision-makers buyers are using search engines to find strategic partners and vendors. To review the presentation, click on “Advanced B2B Search Engine Marketing.”

 

 

From social media networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and other microsites, Ms. Sawall evaluated how the mediums emblemize business-to-business search engine marketing. Moreover, the use of these Internet marketing tools bolsters the linking strategy and other search engine optimization objectives.

 

 

Towards the end of the seminar, Angela Cicerelli explained how social media networks, such as FlickR YouTube, are generating significicant sources of traffic and even appear in search engine query results.

Also, for those naysayers, who question the validity of the aforementioned search engine marketing mediums, Ms. Cicerelli and Steve Thomas, evaluated the efficacy of mixed search engine and social media.

 

 

For a web site analysis, click on SEO to read more.

Amid the social media networking frenzy, it’s merely impossible to ignore the marketing advantages of Facebook and Twitter. All-sized entities are reaping the rewards of attaining familiarity to leverage consumer loyalty. Before social media networking crept into the search engine stratagem, search engine optimization was almost a one-dimensional medium.

 

Anytime an organization has a page on Facebook, the social media networking site enables you to advertise your website, company as well as any events or special causes.  The link, from the Facebook to the site plays an integral role in the search engine optimization. Given Facebook’s customized geo-location targeting age and interests, it exemplifies how social media networking complements your company’s SEO.

 

SEO Tip: Remember to measure your target audience, on Facebook, based on consumers specific to your criteria.

 

Between surveys, photos, videos, several content tools can be applied to the Facebook canvas, enticing consumers to become fans and engaging the dialogue.

 

Social media networking tip: Contests and drawings have proved to be an effective incentive to motivate consumers to follow organizations.

Facebook serves as a vital marketing tool, bolstering credibility, enhancing brand awareness, driving Web site traffic. With regular Facebook updates, results show up in search engine results, complementing a company’s Web site  SEO and exposure.

Check out The Net Impact on Facebook

While creating a Facebook micro-site may seem like an arduous process, it’s another marketing tool, which can be initially delegated to a Web design company; and, then managed by one of your socially savvy team members.  Contact the Net Impact for a social media networking consultation.

In part one of Content Management Systems that Bolster Search Engine Marketing, the president of The Net Impact, Steve Thomas revealed how Auctori™ is distinctive from other content management systems  — in that it works in accordance with the search engine marketing strategy. The following interview bytes cover some of the most frequently asked SEO and efficacy questions associated with the CMS.

Q: Rumor has it that Auctori™ resembles the Microsoft Word document programming. Is it true that the content management system is as easy to use as Microsoft?

 

Thomas:

Developed by the Unified Development Inc. (Unidev ®), Auctori is a Microsoft Certified Web Content Management System (WCMS) built for search engine optimization (SEO).

In other words, the content management system is intended to mimic some of the interface qualities that end users are familiar with using, associated with a Microsoft Word document. 

Q:  How long does it take the average admin to learn the basics of search engine optimization to properly use the Auctori content management system?

Thomas:

The training is easy and almost unnecessary. Since the Auctori content management system is as straightforward to use as Microsoft ® applications, it is easy for most end users to learn to add, update, and modify content without any previous HTML experience. Most administrators catch on in a short period of time. 

 

Q: Is Auctori cost effective?

Thomas:

If you compare the hourly cost of making Website design changes to updating content in-house the savings is astronomical. In other words, dollar for dollar Auctori affords a cost effective search engine optimization solution with a substantial return on investment.

 

Q: What if a company decides to add a new market niche to their menu of services, how does the content management system integrate the additional search engine optimization components?

Thomas

When The Net Impact developed the Auctori content management system for search engine optimization, we did it to ease organization’s productivity and costs. Since our core competency is Website design and SEO, we can customize any specification, accommodating any design request.

Post your content management system questions below.