September 16th, 2006 admin
What is the benefit in combining both worlds? Google Analytics provides information about what happened once your visitors arrived at your site, why not also have information about how those visitors behave when they are ready to click on your site? Search engine marketing relates not only to the conversion inside the web sites but also about bringing new qualified traffic into your site.
Google Sitemaps (Google Webmaster Tools) is a great tool to include in your arsenal when considering a complete strategy for SEM.
Google Sitemaps provides one of my favorite comparison tables for your site: Top search queries and Top search query clicks.
Top search queries allows you to understand the exposure of your keywords (top 20 keywords), on the other hand, top search query clicks allows you to grasp knowledge about which keywords are actually bringing traffic to your site. Match this with your Google Analytics reports, specially using the “Sources Conversion†report and you will know the average position of your top search query click terms and the amount of traffic. By doing this consistently and recording your findings you would be able to determine the approximate size of your market according to the positions in the search engines!
One step at a time: “Take the time to download your Google Sitemaps information at least every month.†Some time in the future match this information with the traffic changes in your website. Take a closer look at your leads from Google cross-segmented by keyword and you would find information that you hadn’t seen before.
I hope this little tip allows marketers out there to push limits a little further.
Alex Centeno MBA.
Online Marketing
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September 2nd, 2006 admin
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.†by Henry Ford.
As an internet marketing consultant, I get the same question over and over again: “how can I rank top 10 in Google for a very broad term?†The answer is probably going to sound simple, but it is truth in my experience.
I have read an important amount of articles, releases and books concerning Page Rank®, I have done Search Engine Optimization for more than 5 years (this is a long time in web life), and I have tested with my own websites and my own keywords.
My research always points to the same thing: If it is valuable, then it will appear well ranked. Now, most people want to hear a 1,2,3 pointer version and get done with it, and that is why they don’t engage in thinking.
Thinking is the most difficult part of Search Engine Optimization. Nobody can teach you how to think. You can take a horse to the side of the river, but he is the one that decides when to drink the water.
These are my pointers in bringing the horses to the water:
- Pay attention to questions. i.e. if you have a website that sales software online, make sure that you pay attention to the questions that people usually have. They should be almost always the same. Can I check the history of the orders organized by date? Can I try the software for free? Etc.
- Think and discover, once you discover: share your discoveries for free. “WHAT? FOR FREE???!!†after all this hard work usually you don’t want to give anything for free. Think for a second of your favorite three websites and what do they have in common? The answer to most people is that they are for free.
- Don’t try to be everything for everybody: if you sale Microsoft® EXCEL® add-ons for Monte Carlo simulations, then don’t try to rank high also for Excel Spreadsheets and for Word documents and for Monte Carlo software.
- If you don’t have transactions ( online sales ) then first try interaction. If you don’t have interaction (two way conversations) then do information. If you have a site about financial calculator reviews, then research and provide as much content and information on that topic. Everything there is to know should be on your site.
- Use relevant keywords in your tags: url, title, description, alt tags, copy, image names, anchor text, headings and bold and in your pr releases and sitemaps.
- Do everything you can to give something of value. Information is the easiest one.
- Find your online competitors and find their weaknesses instead of copying their strategies.
- I have had clients with number 1 ranking in Google for best terms of the industry and still lack conversion capacity in their website which led to frustration. So much effort for what?
In the web, quantity is as important as quality. If you have the biggest resource of information about laptops and your content is high quality information you will be in the first page of all search engines and you will convert your visitors into clients.
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