http://marketingsource.com/articles/ Articles at marketingsource.com Articles Library en-us http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/basic-website-optimization-techniques.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/basic-website-optimization-techniques.html Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:12:22 -0600
SEO Basic Techniques

Keyword Phrases - Use keyword phrases rather than just one word keywords to allow online searchers to find your website more easily.

Where to Implement Keyword Phrases - Make sure your keyword phrases are in the titles, in the content and in the Meta tags.

How To Emphasize Keyword Phrases - Only use one to two keyword phrases per page of your website. Bold, Italicize and make links of them. Use them just a couple of times throughout the content of the page.

Clean URL's - Having clean URL's that include the keyword phrase (if possible) is highly advised. Although not a requirement a clean (or static) URL can assist the Search Engines in determining the relevancy of a particular page with the online searchers request.

Relevant Content - It is very important that your content is relevant to the keyword phrases you are using. I know most people don't want to read through pages and pages of content but not enough content can affect your rankings. Also keep your content new and fresh. The more often you update the more often search engines will visit your website.

What Are White Hat Techniques?

White Hat Techniques are the methods used for optimizing your website for better page rank. Make sure all of the text on your website is legible to the human eye and relevant to the keyword phrases used to optimize it. Use your keywords throughout the content of the page but don't overdo it, just two to three appearances should suffice. Make sure your content is unique; never copy content verbatim from another live website, even if you own the website that you are copying from.

The Use Of Single Keywords Vs. Keyword Phrases

It's important to use keyword phrases (also known as long tail keywords) rather than single keywords. Most online searchers, search by word phrases not by single words. So if your company provides online marketing services, then optimizing your site for the keyword "marketing" is too broad. Its better that you use the keyword phrase "online marketing services" or "internet marketing company". If your keyword phrase matches the search query, you will also show higher in the results for that search.

Proper And Effective Link Building

One very vital factor used in order to obtain a high page rank is the proper use of link building as they are used to determine the worth of your website to search engines. Some factors that are considered during this process are the number of inbound links, the number of outbound links, and the page rank of sites linking to you and how many other sites they link to as well. Try to refrain from link exchanges, link farms and No Follow sites.

Common Mistakes That Will Get Your Website Banned

If you fill your content with your keywords phrases to the point of over doing it then you are guilty of keyword spamming. If you copy content from an existing website even if the existing website belongs to you, you are running the risk of getting banned. If you decide to keyword spam your content but make it invisible for your online viewers to read (example: white text on a white background) you are running the risk of getting banned. If your website uploads too slowly or does not upload at all you run the risk of getting banned. If you obtain many, many in bound links to fast in a very short period of time, your website can get banned from the most popular search engines used today! ]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/benefits-of-social-bookmarking-service.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/benefits-of-social-bookmarking-service.html Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:58:29 -0600
Innovative Optimizing Tool

Social bookmarking is a great tool to optimize your website and this can be done efficiently by social bookmarking service professionals. It involves storing bookmarks online, instead of in our favorites on the computers. Basically, the work involves making bookmarks on a website accessible to everyone and tagging them with relevant keywords and a short description describing the content on that page.

Benefits

The immediate benefit is that these bookmarks can be accessed easily even from mobile phones. This has an advantage over search engines as only the links that are listed will be found, as against search engine results that may vary. Through submitting lists of web pages, interesting content of your web pages, can be shared through categories, defined formats, tags, or via search engines. Link building is very important part of optimizing and promoting your website.

It is definitely a great SEO tool as it creates inbound links to your content, which is a good way to get the attention of search engine bots and increase your page ranking. Thus, social bookmarking submissions can benefit your online business, in many ways. With so much of social networking activity going on, the best way of using this tool is to use a reliable social bookmarking service, will boost your business prospects through the web. These online marketers know that website promotion is all about traffic. The goal is to drive traffic to your sites through this method of submitting to relevant social networking sites.

Another advantage of social bookmarking submissions, is that since your website is linked to social networking sites, your site is indexed fast on the search engines. This means that your website will be treated with increased importance by search engines and will climb up ranking ladder in no time. When the community members like your content they will add your links to their forums, blogs and websites, so you get more natural links.

Submitting to social bookmarking sites gets your website more visibility because there are tremendous volumes of traffic on a daily basis, at the popular social sites. Your content will get noticed and several users will link to it and ultimately traffic to your site and brand awareness.

Service Benefits

When you use social bookmarking services they will relieve you of the time-consuming process of doing it yourself. They will create individual accounts and submit your website manually and so save your time and energy. You have flexible options of choosing to submit to the entire list, specific sites or favorite sites. You will get effective results within a week and by a month you will begin to see clear results.

Backlinks are a great way to expand your online footprint. You get high-quality links through social bookmarking sites and the best part is that this is a continuous process. Using a social bookmarking service is tremendous value for your money. ]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/making-the-most-of-your-trade-show-experience.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/marketing/making-the-most-of-your-trade-show-experience.html Sat, 11 Dec 2010 21:22:40 -0600
Keep Seating Handy

Trade show attendees are on their feet for long periods of time. As weariness sets in, many lose patience; as a result, they may move right on by your exhibit booth. A great way to fight back against this issue is by offering some sort of comfortable seating. Granted, you probably won't have a lot of space to work with; it never hurts to keep a couple of fold-up chairs at the ready in case someone wants to have a little pow-wow with you.

Don't Block Yourself in with a Table

One of the beautiful things about banner stands is that they keep your exhibit booth friendly and open. Many people make the mistake of blocking off their booths with brochure- and information-crammed tables. Using a table is perfectly fine, but it shouldn't act as a barrier between you and the general public. If people get the feeling that you'd rather not interact with them, they will move on by.

Highlight New or Popular Items

There is no need to present every single item from your product lineup during a trade show. Trade show displays are much more effective when they focus on a handful of things. Brand-new items that you'd like to introduce to the public are natural choices; popular, crowd-pleasing products are also can't-lose propositions. When you include too many things in your trade show display, it's difficult for people to digest what you're trying to convey.

Make Good Use of Storage

A cluttered exhibit booth isn't going to do a whole lot to boost your company's image. Therefore, it pays to invest in neat, discreet storage options. Come up with a neat and orderly way to tuck away unused and unnecessary items. Avoid the temptation of fanning out piles of brochures on tables - they inevitably end up in jumbled, disorganized piles within a couple of hours.

White Space is Okay!

After investing in topnotch banner stands and other items, you may feel compelled to make use of every last available section of white space; try to avoid doing that. Just like with print media and the Internet, a little bit of white space can vastly improve the appearance of your presentation. Sure, you have a lot to say; however, you don't have to - and shouldn't - try to say it all within the confines of your trade show displays.

Focus on Brand Messaging

Ideally, banners with bold graphics, along with other display media, should feature and incorporate your company logo whenever possible. The goal here is to sear your company's brand into the minds of those who visit your exhibit booth. Later, when they get home, they should still remember who your company is, what it does, and what kind of logo it uses. You're not going to win that battle each and every time - in fact, you'll probably lose it more often than not. However, you dramatically increase your odds by using dramatic, eye-catching graphics to boost your brand messaging strategy.

Trade show displays should be carefully designed and strategically executed in order to ensure the best possible results. Along with the preceding advice, make sure to investigate as many up-and-coming trade show concepts as possible to get the most out of the experience. ]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/trade-shows/getting-the-biggest-bang-for-you-buck-trade-show-displays-that-deliver-for-your-small-business.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/trade-shows/getting-the-biggest-bang-for-you-buck-trade-show-displays-that-deliver-for-your-small-business.html Sun, 21 Nov 2010 02:52:50 -0600
Know your show, know your product, know your audience.
To prevent wasting valuable money on an exhibit booth that fails to generate revenue, establish clear goals.
1. Determine your purpose and target audience. What do you want to get out of participating in a trade show? Are you looking to sell products on site or establish industry contacts? Thinking about these questions will help you clearly identify your goal for the trade show. This goal informs both the type of show you will participate in and how your exhibit booth should look.
2. Based on your goal, choose your trade show carefully. If you have never exhibited at a trade show before, take the time to research your options. There is value in exhibiting at popular, well-known trade shows as well as smaller, off-beat shows. Talk to other small businesses who have exhibited at these shows. Choose the show the best matches your goals.
3. Participate in a few trade shows as an attendee first. Evaluate the exhibit booths. Which booths draw a crowd? Which booths fell short? Think about what these booths lacked -- was it an engaging staff? A visually appealing display? Information about the product? Use these shortcomings to improve your own exhibit booth.

Advanced planning pays off.
A good trade show display does two things: attract attendees and educate them about your products and your business.
1. Start early. Allow yourself at least three months to design and produce your trade show booth.
2. Never lose sight of your goal. Write down your main marketing message on a sticky note, and refer to this note whenever you are making a decision about the exhibit booth.
3. A good exhibit booth has both substance and flash, and balances pictures and words. Include enough information to accurately present your small business and engaging graphics to attract attendees. Attendees browsing the trade show displays are drawn in by images, not text.

Cut costs, not quality.
At a trade show, your booth is your brand. There is a fine line between getting the biggest bang for you buck and looking cheap. For example, if you are not a graphic designer, then don't create your own graphics for the exhibit booth. The graphics will unprofessional, and this reflects poorly on your brand.
1. Many companies that produce trade show displays also have less expensive, generic lines. Your options for colors and materials may be limited, but you'll save a bundle over their pricier lines.
2. Buy a pre-used exhibit booth. Call local companies to see if businesses have returned booths or canceled orders. Their mistake can be your gain!
3. Consider a lower-cost panel system. These exhibit booths are flexible, allowing you to swap out graphics or add on panel extensions for future shows.
4. Advertise in advance. Create a buzz for your exhibit booth by advertising your business with trade show attendees in advance. This is a great way to drive traffic to your booth.
5. Fancy graphics and text can't replace a well-trained team. Ensure your booth is always manned, and that your marketing team is trained to directly connect with your target audience.

Remember, trade show displays shouldn't break the bank. With advanced planning and a little research, you can produce a high-quality, cost-effective exhibit booth. ]]>