Search Engine Optimization - The Importance of Great Quality Content

It is a basic rule of marketing, for businesses both on and off the web.You need to know your customer, and sell the benefits to the customer, not the products.Not many people care about the streamlining of a vacuum cleaner bag, but there are plenty of overworked stay at home parents out there that care about how much time it takes them to vacuum the house.This basic web marketing strategy is employed by all successful websites, to create quality content that brings great search engine optimization results, and perhaps even the holy grail of internet marketing services the top Google ranking.We look at how to modify your webpage content for search engine ranking optimization and internet marketing success.

It is known as the "What's in it for me?" rule, and copywriters live by it.You need to be able to put yourself in your customer's shoes, forgetting everything you know about your business, to be able to write website copy that furthers your internet marketing strategy.You can market to one of several desires in you customers: the desire for health, wealth, good relationships, or sex.

Internet Marketing to a combination of these is often even more effective - as long as you maintain specific branding.If your customers are looking for job-related content, you will be using at-work emotions in your web marketing strategy and search engine ranking optimization campaign like: the EASE with which work can be performed, the SAFETY of a job (how likely an employee is to be retrenched or company to go broke), employee's or companies GREED for a better salary or bigger profits, POWER in the workplace, or EGO - having your performance recognized as better than others by your peers.

Every word of copy you write for your website should be filtered through the automatic "What do I care?" screen, with you thinking as a customer would.You often need to go a step further in internet marketing strategies, analyzing the words that people use in their searches instead of the industry speak for a phenomenon or event.For example, airlines use the words "low fares", customers search for the words "cheap flights".Your internet marketing services company or search engine optimization service can tell you which words your customers use to find you, and also to find your competitors, and help you integrate these into your copy.

Internet marketing services often do customer profiling, or creating personas, as it is known among internet consultancy services.This involves putting a gender, age, and other demographic profile to your typical customers.This allows your web marketing strategists to devise campaigns that really get results.When you have persona information for your site, you are not assuming you know your customer - you really do know your customer.Even Google advises this in their quality guidelines for webmasters - they say " Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users" - nothing annoys a user more than not finding the content they were looking for.

Google's words of wisdom on internet marketing services continue, with " Another useful test is to ask, 'Does this help my users?Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?' ".

It is essential that businesses have expert help in writing their website content.Tricks like keeping one idea to a paragraph, writing in the inverted pyramid style and with additions like highlighted text, extra subheadings and objective language builds your opportunities to connect with consumers, but requires expert implementation.

About the Author

InetAsia Solutions - Inetasia is a new breed of Internet consultancy.

InetAsia is the official WebTrends distributor for South East Asia, Hong Kong and Southern China.The principal services include Web Analytics, Search Engine Optimization and Internet marketing services.

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• Informational Products On How To Market Your Website!
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• A PPC Professional Guide To Successful PPC Campaigns

5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Should Not

If you are not familiar with Twitter then you are probably not up to speed on social networking.But if you have not decided to create a Twitter account, you are definitely not alone.Many internet marketers are wary of using Twitter for a number of reasons.Here are the top 5.

1.Useless Information.It is true that many Twitter users update their Twitters with completely useless information.Do you really need to know that someone just finished their second cup of coffee or is leaving the office early for a pedicure?The good news is that if you find that you do not particularly enjoy a person s tweets, you do not have to continue following them.But do not eliminate this option altogether.One of the most important aspects of Web 2.0 is engaging people in all aspects of their lives, even the mundane stuff.Share yourself, welcome the opportunity to let others share themselves with you, and you will go a long way toward building a loyal customer base.People are much more willing to do business with you if they think you have a vested interest in their needs and thoughts.

2.It is a Waste of My Time.This is probably the most valid reason of all.But the truth is that many marketers generate traffic and leads when potential customers find them through Twitter.When the content you share is relevant and high-quality, you can drive visitors to your website to learn more.Twitter is simply another tool for online marketing, so do not write it off until you have given it a shot to see what it can do for you.Do some of your own research to discover the multitude of business uses for Twitter and you might just be convinced that It is not a total waste of time after all.

3.It is Time-Consuming.Like any online endeavor, you can blow a lot of valuable time following your streams and entering your own tweets.But you can salvage some of your time by using RSS feeds to follow relevant conversations.Visit search.twitter.com and click on the link to Feed for this query.You can then follow the conversations that are most important and relevant to you and your business.If that is not optimal for you, simply discipline yourself to check only once or twice per day.

4.Twitter Does not Cater to My Customers.Before you decide that your customers are not on Twitter, look for yourself.Go to Search(dot)Twitter(dot)com.Search for the name of your company, the name of your product, and keywords relevant to your business.If you are afraid that your market may be too niche-y for Twitter, remember that your job as a marketer is to find people where they are.If there are a few folks on Twitter within your niche, put yourself there as well.

5.It Could Lead to Bad Press.Whether you are on Twitter or not, people are still talking about you, and you need to know about it.Even if there is poor feedback on Twitter, you need the opportunity to let folks know that you are aware and that you are going to do something about whatever it is that has disappointed them.If you respond quickly to the concerns of your detractors, you will go a long way towards putting out potentially damaging fires.Thoughtful responses make a huge difference in customer attitudes.Remember that if a critical mass of bloggers pick up on negative press and write about it themselves, things can get out of hand very quickly.On the other hand, you can make a great name for yourself if you address customer concerns promptly and tactfully.

There you have it.No more excuses for avoiding Twitter.Even if you think It is the most ridiculous tool ever invented, you still need to check it out for yourself.Give it some time and see what it can do for you.Explore different applications of this valuable tool and let it help you grow your business.

About the Author

Seomul Evans is a seo expert with a leading SEO company specializing in Internet Search Engines and a contributor of Social Media articles

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• Book Marketing: The Benefits of Giving Your Book Away
• Crafting Your USP - It's Not What You Do It's How You Do It
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What I Wish I Had Known About Websites When Just Starting My Business

I have been around computers for years, but only really started to embrace websites in the past 5 years.

As I have learnt and grown there is a pile of stuff that I wish I had known about websites when I was first starting out.Recently a number of start-ups have been asking my advice for beginners, so here are a few of the things I wished I had known when I was starting.

1.Domain names and web hosting are two different things

Starting from the simplest things.

Your domain name is just like your registered business name.It is the name of your business on the web.It can be your regular business name or it can be your keyword or keywords.

Your web hosting is the electronic equivalent of the landlord who leases you office space for your business.Your web host is the location where your business lives.

The other big lesson about domain names and web hosts is it pays to shop around.You can and will save thousands per year by doing your own research.Check out the forums and reviews for the most reliable companies with the best prices.Don't take your web developer's word as gospel.Generally they want to sell you their own package (with a huge cut in it for them).

The other thing I wish I had known is to buy more bandwidth, email accounts and domains than you think you will need.1GB storage, 3 emails and only 1 domain will get you nowhere fast and if you are like me you will max it out at the most inconvenient time.

It's not that big a deal to change your hosting.If you find a good one, they will manage the transfer for you, making it all quite seamless.

2.80% of all web designers don't know what they are doing (but will charge you a fortune in the process)

This is the most frustrating thing I have learnt.

Most web designers (especially the ones at the budget end of the market) cannot build a website that will generate good search engine rankings if their life depended on it.They have absolutely no clue about SEO (search engine optimisation) and will sell you designs that are search engine poison.The problem is most of them can talk a good fight and will baffle you with jargon that hides that they have no idea what they are doing.

You may get an attractive site, but it has no way to be found in search engines.Often the sites are all in flash, the keywords are useless and there are no decent metatags.And it generally would have cost the poor business many thousands of dollars to do.

If any of your web designers tell you it will take at least 6-12 months for search engines to find you then run away.A good SEO designer can have you ranking in search engines in less than a week.

If your designer insists they will make all the edits for you and that you can't do it - sack them.They are just trying to keep you hooked in to them.

If your designer insists on building you your own personal programs to run the back end of your database, newsletter or autoresponder - they are ripping you off just to make you stay with them.

If you have been caught out don't panic!You can choose a new web developer to update your site or hire an SEO expert to go over your site and improve things.

3.Good SEO Copy is vital to your website

Your website has 2 audiences - humans and search engines.

Unless you write in a way that search engines like and "get", your human audience will never find you to read your information.But ...if you write only for search engines, then it will appear stilted and unnatural.

You need to write your copy so that it is persuasive to both humans AND search engines.This is an art form and a science that takes many years to master.

Most copywriters are not trained in SEO, so while you may get great persuasive copy for your human readers, you may not get the search engine results you are looking for.A good SEO copywriter will cost you, but they are worth it in terms of business and search engine results.

4.Buy pre-packaged rather than tailor made

Wherever possible buy commercial pre-packaged products for things like your auto-responders, affiliate programs, shopping carts, newsletter broadcasts.

This means that the bugs in the programs generally have been ironed out before you get to them, they work with the features that you want and need, and they are cheaper!

The most critical piece is your auto-responder.You get one shot at choosing the right one, as every time you change your auto-responder program due to tough anti-spam laws, all of your lists must elect to resubscribe to your mailing list.You can kiss up to 75% of your list good bye each time you shift.

5.Akismet and Captcha are your best friends

If you have any forms on your website, comments sections on your blog or other methods of interactivity, insist on some form of human identification such as Akismet or Captcha.

They are the boxes down the bottom that ask you to type in the letters you can see.75% of all comments on blogs these days are spam.Akismet or Captcha reduces the number you see, so you are not manually deleting them every few minutes.

If you don't have something like these on your website and you have a form, expect your email box to attract the attention of spammers when their robots (yes they have their own versions of spiders out looking for vulnerable sites) find your address.

6.Host your own blog on your own website

Blogs are brilliant - but don't be tempted to host your blog on a site such as Wordpress or Blogger.

If you are going to go to the trouble of hosting a blog, do it on your own site (and not just publish to your site).

7.You can learn to do it yourself

There are piles of courses out there to help you learn.

Some are great and some are very expensive wastes of time.Do your research before you sign up for anything and check out some of the free courses available.

About the Author

Ingrid Cliff is a freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - a writing services studio that helps put your business into words.

For a free copy of the "7 Secrets of Compelling Copy & Powerful Words" visit her website http://www.heartharmony.com.au "> www.heartharmony.com.au .

Relaited Links:

• Book Marketing - 3 Ways to Drive Sales Using an Effective Book Cover Design
• What I Wish I Had Known About Websites When Just Starting My Business
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