SEO St Louis

Archive for the ‘search engine optimization’ 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 this age of the application rage, certain aspects of Web design and web marketing are outmoded. In the proceeding post of SEO-St. Louis, we’re reviewing several instances whereby web content management systems are simplifying Web site updates and the search engine optimization process:

No more requests. It was merely half a decade ago when companies had to schedule Web site updates. Since many sites were developed using HTML or PHP, modifications required certain programming expertise that only the Web design company could perform. As for keeping a Web site fresh with new keyword driven content, corporations relied on an SEO company’s understanding of their products and services.

Alleviate downtime. Given the advances in web content management systems, businesses are no longer dependent upon the downtime associated with modifications. Bid adieu to the time lapse between the site update request and the actual site modification.

Businesses used to rely on IT departments and the web design agency to deploy web site updates. Between phone conversations, instant messaging, email messages, communications disconnects accounted for approximately 25 percent of Website design glitches.

For now, web content management systems not only afford companies of any size the self-sufficiency to amend design elements and media content, but minimize outsourcing Web design service expenditures. This translates into a higher return on the Web marketing budget.

Despite cost efficiency, certain web content management systems, designed with built in search engine optimization, place companies on the roadmap to major search engine traffic. In example, the Auctori content management system exposes each week’s content additions, social media posts and other web marketing uploads to Google, RSS feeds and other steady streams of traffic flow.

Read more about how the Auctori web content management system helps automate search engine optimization, visit: www.Auctori.com.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a silent member of the sales force. While it won’t infringe on co-workers’ territory, take the day off to entertain ‘clients’ at the Cardinal’s game, or require health insurance, SEO supports the sales staff. This article provides a succinct overview of the effects of marketing sans SEO.

Did you know?  Businesses that do not incorporate search engine optimization in conjunction with their site’s Web design are merely invisible on the Internet.

 What transpires without SEO:

Concealed.

• The company Web site is virtually invisible on the Internet.  As long as any entity Web site occupies cyberspace, the objective  is to expose its products and services to as much of the target market as possible—to acquire new business.

Counterproductive.

• Employees have to work harder finding prospective clients, who are in the market for the company’s offerings. With a website designed using SEO, targeted traffic (as in sizzling hot leads) visits the company site, fueling the sales teams’ prospects and sales opportunities.
• Low page rank and online exposure are counterproductive to any sized entity’s targets and sales goals.

Stunted financial results.

• Search engine optimization has been found to leverage marketing results by twenty-five percent. Without SEO, the losses represent a fourth of productivity.

Low Retention

• The marketing strategy is incongruent with sales goals and targets. Word-of-mouth and traditional local advertising lack the retention rate companies require to thrive in the marketplace.

Kudos to any organization or business model that can thrive in today’s economic climate sans SEO.  As for those, who need the perpetual sustenance of new leads, prospects and sales,  learn what SEO can do for your business, when you click contact the Net Impact.

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.

Web analytics, A/B Testing and strategic planning are underrated search engine optimization  and web design contrivances.

In the sphere of online marketing, some companies overlook the merely exacting science of A/B Testing.

What it is?

A/B Testing is a component of site analysis, providing target market intelligence to transition unique site traffic from a visitor to a prospect or consumer. Think of A/B testing as an intuitive marketing tool. Enabling marketers and advertisers the ability to predict which action the target market is most likely to engage in.

Why it’s needed?

Although search engine optimization (SEO) is designed to maximize a Web site to attract targeted traffic, what those prospects do once they arrive at a site is far more important. Web sites, which are designed to leverage the marketing agenda, have a precise objective for site traffic. From enticing a visitor to sign up for the company newsletter, complete an online sales transaction (ecommerce) or input information into a form, each action nurtures new business opportunities and customer relationships.  

A/B Testing is an ongoing process. It leverages an organizations understanding of which web design modifications are necessary to retain site traffic.

 The ultimate advantage of A/B Testing is in how it heightens conversion rates, yielding the best return on investment.

How it works?

With A/B Testing, various elements of a pages’ web design is tested to measure conversions. An SEO company will modify any of the following elements of a landing page to analyze which page motivates the highest conversion. 

• Headings
• Color
• Call to actions
• Marketing communiqué

From Web design analysis, competitive intelligence and a roster of SEO services, A/B testing assures that the marketing strategy has the capacity to meet benchmarks.

How to get it?

Test drive the possibilities of A/B Testing, 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.

Hi SEO St Louis;

Recently, we updated our company site to a content management system. We’ve been making regular site updates to ensure that our Web site is cached on the major search engines. Although our Web design company provides search engine optimization services, and we manage our CMS, we think that our company is pretty set in the SEO marketing. Are there any other services that we’re missing out to maximize our site’s online presence?

________________________

Kudos for understating the importance of making regular content management system updates to improve your site’s exposure to search engine traffic. However, link building is another critical component of the search engine marketing strategy.

Frequently undervalued and understood, link building is the process of enticing other sites to link to your organization’s Web site. Theses links are emblematic of a site  ‘endorsement.’ The objective is to acquire more link endorsements, which innately drive more site traffic.

Another underlying value for link building or link management is that the more links or endorsements (links), the higher a site’s page rank via major search engines.

And while, your organization may try to manage all areas of your search engine optimization via your content management system, link building is merely a science, requiring:

• External Web site linking
• Internal Website linking
• Link bait development
• Natural link content development

 

Each page of any site acts as its own piece of real estate on the Internet.  For obvious reasons, the web page with 68 page links pointing toward it outpaces the page with 16-outboud links.

As for the architecture of your site’s content management system, internal linking is important too, along with a solid link bait and natural content development system.

Contact the experts of linking building and the innovators of a CMS, built for SEO.

Certain search engine optimization services are not optional. At SEO-St. Louis, we often talk about the technical benefits of search engine optimization.  The ultimate purpose for the search engine optimization (SEO) mumbo jumbo is to improve the bottom line. In this installment we’re reviewing four SEO services that the small business cannot afford to do without.

 

If your prospective target audience is unable to find your Web site, this is an indication of a misaligned web marketing strategy. The Net Impact, a St. Louis-SEO company, improves site’s search ranking by providing the following services:

 

• Keyword Research
• Meta Tag Analysis and Recommendations
• Optimization of Content for the home page and key landing pages
• Manual Search Engine Submission of your website to Google, Yahoo and MSN

Keyword Research — Keyword research is the foundation of search engine optimization. When consumers conduct searches via Google,  they enter keywords specific to their query. For obvious reasons, Web sites, hoping to generate leads, require keyword research to capture online traffic.

 

Meta Tag Analysis and Recommendation – Meta tag analysis is another component of keyword research. Based oo a site’s keyword research, meta tag descriptions, titles and headings should reflect the strategy. This is often referred to as “Google analytics consulting.” Moreover, other technical processes are involved in synchronizing a site’s keywords and meta tags to assure high online visibility.

 

Optimization of Content for the home page and key landing pages – Now once, your site is comprised of the appropriate keywords, it requires optimization. The step involves developing marketable content, which appeals to major search engines, and possesses the appropriate balance of keywords. In order to maximize a site’s traffic potential, each web page is treated like its own piece of Internet real estate, known as a landing page. These pages are quite important for marketing specific products, services and promotions.

 

Manual Search Engine Submission – Once the pages of your site are optimized for traffic, a manual submission  to major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) assures that sites are cached on these directories.

Read more about search engine optimization (SEO) services.

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.