Search Engine Optimization – On Page and Off

Search engine optimization is a methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine. These include Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.

SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine. Businesses can increase there SEO through a number of methods. Pay Per Click, which i discussed in my previous blog is one of these methods that can be used. Pay Per Click advertising involves placing bids on key words that are associated with your business.  When a web user types a search query into the field of a search engine that matches the advertiser’s keyword list or visits a web page with content that correlates to the keywords or phrases chosen by the advertiser, the PPC ad may be displayed on the page. Now i will discuss how businesses can improve SEO through an organic format.

On Page SEO

On Page SEO can be described as the work that can be done on the website by the website owner. On Page optimization include actual HTML code, meta tags, keyword placement and keyword density. To achieve the best possible ranking on SERP, the content, title tags, URLs, and image alt text are all key. The content that is created for the alt tags, title tags and URL need to be consistent and contain similar buzz words throughout.

Off Page SEO

Off page SEO is defined as the things you do offline to your website in order to achieve good search engine ranking. Off page optimization does not involve any optimization with the contents of the webpage instead it is the optimization which is done offsite the web contents. To improve you off page SEO, several steps must be followed. These are as follows: create reputable links from your website to increase visibility in search engines and drive traffic to your website. Social media links are another way of increasing your SEO. Social media sites include, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and most importantly Google +. Google love Google + users and this is a great strategy to increase organic SEO. Blogging is one of the most powerful ways to promote your company/website online. Write a blog of your own for your company/website and include lots of unique content.

Overall, on page SEO can be achieved on the page itself which will increase SEO ranking. Off page SEO is achievable through creating quality content and also by good link building and a social media strategy.

Pay-per-Click or Display advertising – Which is best?

  

Pay per click is a method of online advertising that is used on a wide range of  search engines, where the advertiser only pays if a web user clicks on their ad. Hence the title, ‘pay per click’. Search engines like Google and Bing allow businesses and individuals to buy listings in their search results. These listings appear along with the natural, non-paid search results. However, a good Pay per click strategy is not just about getting the links at the top of the page. It is about getting links in the best possible position and making every pence that you pay worth spending.

Display advertising are ads that appear on any page throughout a publication. Display ads are used online by various Internet companies to attract customers. Display ads can come in a variety of sizes, including half- and full-page ads. Most publications charge more for the larger display ads. Display ads often contain pictures or diagrams along with the copy. Display ads can also contain color to attract attention.

Pay per click and display advertising both have there advantages and disadvantages.  I will discuss in further detail each method of marketing and decide which one in my opinion is the best.

Pay Per Click- Advantages

1. Pay per click advertising can generate traffic right away. The simple concept of spend enough, get to the top placement, and potential customers will see you first. If customers are searching for the key phrases on which you bid and you’ve placed a well-written ad, you will get clicks the moment the ad is activated.

2. Pay per click Advertising gives you the ability to design and control your campaign to meet your business needs. You can bid only the amount that you are willing to pay and there are many targeting options available. It gives you flexibility by allowing you to track the performance of your Pay Per Click campaign. You can also choose to target your advertisements to a particular position or pay more for certain keywords at certain times of the day or week.

3. Pay per click advertising is fast and effective. With some systems, such as Google AdWords, you can generate targeted traffic within a few minutes of opening an account.

Pay Per Click- Disadvantages 

1. Pay per click service is not as simple as it appears. You may need to get the service of an SEO expert to target the right keywords for you. There is always a chance of another business targeting the same keywords as you.

2.  The next disadvantage of PPC advertising is that it can get be really expensive.  It’s easy to get caught up in a bidding war over a particular keyword and end up spending far more than your potential return.

3. One main disadvantage to using this advertising has a lot to do with your market. If you are not trying to appeal to a niche group, this could have you in direct competition with a few hundred other marketers for select keywords.

Display Advertising- Advantages

1. Display advertising can boost your search engine market results. This is achieved by incorporating key words that is relevant to your business into your display advertising campaign. This will help with reaching your target audience and is more effective than using articles.

2. Digital marketing has made marketing campaigns easier to monitor and track. With display advertising, you can receive daily or weekly updates and track the number of times your ads are clicked. This helps you assess whether an ad is working, and whether you need to tweak your efforts.

3. Visually, display advertising is very effective. This form of marketing engages the audience by capturing the consumers attention by the visual aspect of the display. By creating mental images in the buyer’s mind  may lead to the customers influence in the long run.

Check out this video that shows the 5 best metrics for display advertising:

Display Advertising- Disadvantages

1. One major disadvantage to display advertising is that most of time it is completely ignored. According to a study carried out by Brafton, show that  internet banner ads proved the most ineffective, with nearly half of respondents (43 percent) saying these are the ad units they are most likely to ignore.

2. Similar to Pay Per Click, display advertising is very expensive. When the low response rates are combined with relatively high cost, this makes online ads an inefficient medium.

So which one is the best? Ultimately the decision is completely up to the business and whether or not their campaign is more suited to Pay Per Click advertising which if sales are high then this may be the preferred option. Whilst display advertising may better suit if sales are expected to be low. As proven above, each form of marketing have their advantages and their disadvantages.

How B2B Marketers are Successfully Using LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members to establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally. Not only is it a place to find a job but it also offers detailed information about companies which maybe helpful when going for a interview with a company. LinkedIn started in May 2003 and after their first month of operation they had a total of 4,500 memebers in the network. Today, LinkedIn  is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 259 million members in over 200 countries and territories.

Business to business (B2B) companies are now focusing a lot of their marketing energy on LinkedIn and are using the social networking site as a helpful business tool.  Fortune top 100 companies use LinkedIn as a part of their hiring strategy with 75 companies using the site.  A recent study from the 50,000 member strong B2B Technology Marketing community on LinkedIn showed that 85% of B2B Marketers say LinkedIn is the most effective social network in delivering content.

There are a number of ways in which B2B marketers use LinkedIn as a marketing tool. Here are a few examples of how B2B marketers are successfully using LinkedIn:

1. Join Groups

Successful B2B marketers join groups were customers are present and listen and participate in the group. This can be a helpful strategy. Responding to questions and customer concerns  can lead to customer relations and brand loyalty.

2. Set Up Your Own Group

LinkedIn groups are by far the most powerful aspect of LinkedIn. Companies can build their entire business by setting up a group on LinkedIn. By setting up your own group on LinkedIn it can help establish you as a thought leader in your industry, enables  you to highlight and showcase your own content as you wish and help develop relationships through interactions.

3. Networking & Connections

Successful B2B marketers are using LinkedIn as it helps you to increase your social networking with various people across the globe. You can start your own company page where other news or announcement can be posted. One of the main advantages of using LinkedIn is getting connected with Professionals who are in the similar industry. By connecting with professionals you build a very serious network of people where you can release news and other important aspect of your business.

Here is a video of how HP are building connections with followers by using LinkedIn:

In the last 8 years YouTube has taught us that…

A world without YouTube is nearly unthinkable and even harder to believe that it is only in existence for 8 years. The video sharing website has become a part of our lives and is growing in power and influence every day. According to the statistic page on YouTube, more than 1 billion unique visitors access the site each month. YouTube was founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim out of a garage in Menlo Park. In 2006, the three aspiring entrepreneurs sold there invention for over 1 billion dollars to search engine company Google. YouTube gives people the platform to connect, share and inform others across the globe. For the most of us YouTube offers a wide range of entertainment, ranging from top charting music videos to the outright ridiculous.

Here are a few points on what YouTube has taught us over the last 8 years:

Education: 

YouTube has become a platform for people to gather information and to educate themselves. For example, instead of looking for a recipe in a cook book, people have turned to step by step tutorials on YouTube that will give them a much easier way of cooking. Other examples include, makeup, hair and how to play an instrument tutorials. YouTube is now being used in our education system were students watch videos and can ask questions directly to the person who has made the video.

“There’s no way that online video can replace physical classrooms led by educators. But in the developing world, these resources could really be revolutionary.”

Here is a example of what type of educational videos that are been watched by students around the world.

YouTube Stars:

YouTube has changed the way in which we discover new talent in our society. With a few clicks of a button, fame might not be too far away. An example of a celebrity who was founded on YouTube is teen pop sensation Justin Bieber. Justin found fame by uploading videos to YouTube of himself performing R&B songs. At the age of 13, Justin signed a contract with Usher’s record label. Beiber became world famous with his debut single ‘baby’ reaching number one in several countries. To date it is the second most viewed video on YouTube with an astonishing 921,140,481 views.

Of course by uploading videos of yourself, you leave yourself exposed for criticism and the possibility that your video may go viral for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately for the infamous Rebecca Black this was the case with her debut single called ‘Friday’. The singer posted her video on YouTube and became a viral hit on the video sharing site along with other social media sites. The song reached 59,734,213 views but was dubbed my music critics as the worst song ever.

YouTube and Business:

Businesses are using YouTube as a real marketing strategy. At the early stages of YouTube it was solely for the people who wanted to entertain and for so many who wanted to be entertained. It didn’t take long before businesses tapped into this and use it as a platform to promote their brand. The beauty of viral marketing is that it can last for up to four minutes where traditional marketing such as tv adverts would last for roughly 30 seconds. A prime example of a business that uses YouTube effectively to market their brand is ‘Guinness’. A major problem for businesses is the option to skip the advert to go straight to what the viewer wants to watch. The trick is to create a good enough advert that will attract the viewer into not skipping the advert. Guinness mastered this with there inspirational commercial and people find it very difficult to skip this particular ad.

In the last 8 years YouTube has taught us so much but the question is what will it teach us in the next 8 years??

10 Ways Small Irish Businesses Can Use Facebook & Twitter

Social Media has become a major marketing tool for businesses and is growing rapidly every day. The two big players in the social media game are Facebook and Twitter. Currently Facebook has over a million businesses integrated on to its site and that number is blossoming every day. Facebook is a fantastic tool to further your small business. it does so by bringing you new customers on a daily basis by posting relevant and interesting articles, and giving you a fantastic and easy way to interact with your clients on a daily basis. Much like Facebook, Twitter can be used by small businesses to connect with existing and new customers. In this blog I will outline and discuss how small businesses can use Facebook and Twitter as a Marketing strategy.

1. Create Brand Awareness

The power of social media has changed the way companies carry out business. According to a study carried out by Internet Advertising Bureau UK, they found that nearly 80% of consumers would be more inclined to buy more often in the future because of a brand’s presence on social media.

2. Share Interesting and Visual Content 

By sharing interesting and relevant posts gives you a chance to draw in your consumer. A great opportunity for your business to stand out on the consumer’s news feed is too showcase employees, community activities, or how customers are using your product or service.

3. Communication Is Key

Facebook and Twitter allows a two-way communication system which creates a customer relationship and builds on the businesses success.

4. Networking

Adam Ball, the owner of the design company Concept Cupboard believes that through Twitter, he was able to expand his network immenseley, he says “Twitter gives you a free platform to let the world know who you are and what you do. When you’re looking to approach someone for potential partnerships, meetings and so on, this can be a great tool to reach out to people.”

5. Monitor Competition

Social Media enables companies full access to competitors Facebook and Twitter pages. One of the best things about Facebook fan pages is that the majority of information is open and available for public consumption. This can give you a great idea of what you should be doing with your business and your Facebook strategy if you want the same love from fans too.

6. Groups & Hash tags

Using Facebook groups or Twitter hash-tags allows the small company to target specific demographic and target audiences.

7. Stand Out From The Crowd 

Being creative and unique is essential for a small business.  According to Seth Godin, a businesses must stand out from the crowd and be the “Purple Cow”

8. Events

Through social media, companies are enabled to publicize their events for free on Facebook and Twitter. This is a great way to advertise your event and create a buzz with your customers.

9. Special Offers

Special offers such as discounts and prizes can be a great way to reward your fans on Facebook and Twitter. This is an important strategy as it builds on customer relations and enables you to measure your effectiveness online by checking how many customers have redeemed their vouchers.

10. Keep it simple

Finally, it is crucial for small businesses to keep it simple. This is even more so important for businesses that are lesser known. Don’t block up people’s newsfeed, be concise and to the point.