07/02/08 by admin | Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation | No Comments »
New developments in Flash search indexing could lead to significant changes in search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies.
Adobe has revealed that it is providing its Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! to help the two engines make improvements to their search indexing of Flash SWF file formats.
This could eventually lead to greater visibility of Flash content to search engines, helping web users to find more of the kind of information they are looking for, Adobe said.
According to Mashable, this development could rewrite the rules of SEO, which have historically suggested that those looking to improve search rankings should avoid Flash content as it is not easily picked up by engines.
“We are initially working with Google and Yahoo! to significantly improve search of this rich content on the web and we intend to broaden the availability of this capability to benefit all content publishers, developers and end users,” commented David Wadhwani of Adobe.
Google has already started rolling out the Flash Player technology across its engine and has developed an algorithm that looks at text in Flash elements such as buttons and banners, according to a recent Official Google Blog posting.
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07/02/08 by admin | Search Engine Optimisation | No Comments »
Spotlighting search terms, site linking and regular blogging are among the best ways a firm can benefit from search engines, a Google engineer claims.
Matt Cutts tells USA Today that search engine optimisation is easier than most companies believe.
He says the most common pitfall is businesses setting up websites without emphasising their key search word enough on it.
“You have to make sure the keywords are on the page,” he tells the newspaper.
“If you’re a San Diego doctor, Des Moines architect or Portland ad agency, best to let people know so immediately, at the top of your page.”
Getting other sites to ‘link’ back to you as an endorsement is also helpful as most search engines rank pages based on popularity.
Google remains the internet’s most popular search engine, with new figures from comScore showing that it increased its share of core US searches from 61.6 per cent to 61.8 per cent in May 2008.
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09/05/07 by admin | Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Has Phone Book Advertising, commonly known as the “Yellow Pages ®”, finally stepped aside to give way to recent trends in online advertising? Recent years have witnessed a major decline in Yellow Pages ® Advertising in favor of the Pay Per Click (PPC) and organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Did the “fingers that do the walking” finally grow tired?
Pros of Yellow Pages ® Directory Advertising
Advertising through the yellow pages has its advantages: it was thought to have the farthest reach since every home has a copy of the Phonebook. When an advertiser places his ads on the yellow pages, marketing becomes the least of his worries for the next 12 months – the phonebook takes care of it, 365 days of rain and shine, snow included. When a customer finds your business on the yellow page of his phonebook and dials your number, you have on the other end of the line a potential customer who has an immediate need for your product or service. This cuts the chase for you – from traffic to revenue.
For a newbie in business, advertising on the yellow pages guarantees him stray customers here and there, even if nobody realizes his business exists! Customers, when they happen to see the ad placement on the phonebook may dial the number, on happenstance.
The disadvantages in advertising on the Yellow Pages ® however, far outweigh the good:
Phone book advertising requires a year-long advance payment for the ads;
Your ads are placed side by side with your competitors’; level of competition is high;
The smaller your ad, the less noticeable it becomes; the bigger it gets, the more expensive;
Corrections will wait until the next directory sees print; nonflexible.
Then came along the internet; technology sparked a new beginning for different industries to promote their products and services. The internet paved the way for different businesses and groups to find an alternative advertising medium that will quickly and easily target different online consumers. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) became one of the rapidly growing advertising models in the online scenario.
Then came SEO
Online advertising also took a major advance due to the initiatives of the different search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) to allow Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to thrive online. With the online competition driving different companies to seek out PPC platforms, companies struggle to bid for higher positioning on the search engines and gain more sales from the different advertising campaigns.
Looking back, we could say that proponents of the Yellow pages might have unwittingly inspired the brains behind search engines to integrate PPC campaigns in online advertising. Through the Pay-Per-Click programs, search engines supplied to advertisers, publishers and consumers what the Yellow pages lacked.
What PPCs Offered
Firstly, PPC campaigns can target a wider scope of advertisers, publishers and consumers than a local copy of the Yellow Pages ever could.
Secondly, unlike Yellow Pages ® ads which advertisers must pay for regularly, without the assurance that the ads will be effective in reaching consumers, PPC offers an effective online platform upon which thousands of advertisers and publishers can generate revenues from.
PPC Advertisers can also monitor properly, which ads work and which do not. Since they only pay for the number of clicks on their ads, money can be put to good use. Advertisers can put ads on hold and show only those that are giving good results. Yellow Pages can’t do that.
PPC over Yellow Pages ®
With Yellow Pages, you get to show only a number of ads per page. Pay-Per-Click gives you maximum exposure at a fraction of the cost you would regularly pay for advertising on the Yellow Pages ®. An advertiser could rotate a few hundred ads, and at 10 to 15 cents initial bid per click. Although you need to bid for a specific keyword, your ads will still be shown even though you pay only a small amount. PPC also allows you to maintain and change ads as often as you want thereby giving you flexibility in your marketing campaigns;
And lastly, if you have proper Search Engine Optimization on your website, as well as PPC campaigns, you can improve your overall exposure, and gain better sales. These are the unbeatable duo in internet marketing today.
09/01/07 by admin | Internet Marketing | No Comments »
“All is fair in love and war.” So says one of the most famous statements in the world. Some heartbroken souls may disagree. But in today’s time, all’s fair in the market, too. After all, the modern time has given rise to so many changes. If, in the past, big multinational companies have maintained dominance for decades with no questions, smaller businesses are now beginning to challenge their ranks.
What are SMEs?
SMEs refer to small and medium enterprises. These are businesses or companies whose headcount or turnover is below given limitations. In some countries, the term small or medium sized business (SMB) is more commonly used. In the United States, a small business as defined by the number of employees is that with no more than 100 workers, and a medium-sized business is that with 500 employees or less. But the most commonly used American definition of a micro-business based on the number of workers is the same as that of the European Union: an enterprise with no greater than 10 employees.
Internet Marketing for SMEs
In the majority of countries, smaller businesses are much greater in number than bigger ones. In the entire European Union, for example, SMEs account for roughly 99% of all firms and hire around 65 million people. Therefore, in many fields of the economy, SMEs are reliable for compelling innovation and improving competition. However, it is not easy for SMEs to increase their market share, especially not within a short period of time. Fortunately, there’s the Internet. The Internet has provided a low-cost yet effective means of marketing an SME: through Internet marketing.
The benefits of SEO for SMEs
There are many benefits of SEO for small- and medium- sized businesses. First is the low cost. At a minimal investment, the Internet allows SMEs to make their presence be felt in the World Wide Web. With only a few clicks and several skilled men on the side, an SME can introduce itself and provide information about its services. Through these, customers are drawn to its products and services. Less expense as a result of SEO will be apparent when an SME no longer employs the handful of people required in doing a commercial (whether in TV or radio), a print advertisement, or door-to-door sales pitch. At the same time, an SME not only reduces costs but also widens its audience, because eMarketing through SEO is not limited unlike these traditional marketing methods. But since the Web is too vast, the probability of an SME maximizing its presence in the online world is low. That is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes handy. SEO is a vital and effective tool for SMEs to further increase their online visibility. SEO works to make an SME’s website to rank high in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Even ground
When you optimize your website and its pages, more surfers can access your pages. Being a smaller and less known enterprise, consumers are not expected to know your URL by heart. Thus, SEO paves out a more even ground between you and the bigger companies. When your website is optimized for search engines, consumers who type for a certain need (e.g. computer repair shop) can see both TheBigComputerShop’s site and yoursmallcomputershop in one page. SEO for SMEs allows healthier competition and a fairer share of the market. Because the Internet is a fast medium of communication, its users (your target customers) are often hurrying, too. After all, we’re all living in a fast-paced world. When your SME’s website is optimized, you don’t end up in the 20th SERP, where it is impossible to get a single customer. No, using SEO, you can be displayed right up there in the first page. Being on the first page puts you on the same page as the bigger players. And, like them, you get the chance of being visited by surfers-turned-buyers, too. Finally, applying SEO to your site makes the whole world your audience. Virtually every country (even third world ones) has access to Internet now. Because of this, whatever your services or products are, when your site is optimized, you can have the world as your market base. As you see, with Internet Marketing and SEO, all is fair in business.
