Facebook has an advertising system similar to that of Google Adwords, but with a twist. You can target your demographic using keywords that they have used to describe themselves, for instance, you could target a college educated crowd or a users from a certain city. Another cool feature is that you can actually use a picture in your ad – which makes this ad more effective. I actually have used this on a couple of my own sites, and found that this method of advertising is very effective. You still have to bid on keywords for placement, but I have seen this actually deliver a better return on investment than Google Adwords in some cases. If you have questions or are interested in this type of marketing, I would be happy to help you get it going. Just give me a call! 402-210-3283 Steve or email sm (at) messagedirect.info.
November 23, 2008
November 18, 2008
SEO for Long Term Success
To many, SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is quite mysterious. Well, some of it is common sense, some of it is a science. Most of the process is technical and you need to hire someone with a good understanding of the big picture. I have studied for a long time, and had a few successes, but it was not until I got some training did the whole picture fit. Many people try to do one or 2 of the things but not the whole plan and expect it to work.
You really need to involve someone who knows SEO from the beginning of your project. It is a whole lot less expensive to build it in to your site from the beginning than it is to go back and try to fit it in after the fact. Your SEO program will be much more effective.
November 17, 2008
Local Search Engine Rankings In Omaha
I went to search for a dentist today here in Omaha, online, as part of an experiment. Seems to me that the firms who design websites are actually doing a bad job – sure they are great at making things look nice, but they have no clue when it comes to the technicalities of SEO. Then, I looked up Omaha SEO firms – these same firms advertise that they are seo experts, when the sites they have done didn’t include the basics for SEO even for the local level. If you have a web site, you need to be seen. This is why you want to involve a professional who can assist in local optimization of your business web site. At the local level SEO for your site should be fairly easy if done correctly.
November 16, 2008
Make your Site Navigation Easy – Part 1
Today I will be discussing how to make your site navigation more user friendly and, as a bonus, Search Engine friendly. This is a large subject, and I will likely have to break it down into more than one post.
Create a natural breakdown of your information and make it flow. Make it easy for users to go from general information on your site to more specific information.
Don’t:
• Make it overly complex. All your pages linking to one another isn’t always the best.
Use mostly text for navigation – Text links make the pages easier for search engines to crawl and improve accessibility. Make sure you use css standards – you can do a lot with css to make your links look attractive.
Don’t:
• Have navigation based entirely on images or flash – this slows down the page, makes it less accessible, and often adds large amounts of code (one other trick to optimization is code to content ratio – a whole other post – coming soon!)
Utilize “breadcrumbs” – These are rows of internal navigations, leading the user back to general information, from the most detailed information. It shows a hierarchy of info.
Having good navigation on your site will improve your user experience, lengthen the amount of time your user spends on the site, increases the possiblility of your user finding exactly what they need while there, and as an added bonus, you get the benefit of a potentially higher position in the search engines because you took the time to implement it.
If you need help with your navigation, or any other aspect of useability or SEO of your website, feel free to give me a call at 402-210-3283 (Steve). Factors like these are reasons you should hire an expert to develop your web site. You want to be found, you want your users to buy or contact you once they have found you!
November 13, 2008
Landing Page Blues
Many of my customers who have tried Adwords with little success question me as to why they are not successful. Usually, it is the landing page.
A Landing Page by definition is a page on your domain where you land people from your adwords campaign or from an off site advertiser like ComCast – you can then measure the effectiveness of the ad or write copy specific to what the ad talks about. This results in a higher conversion rate for your visitor. Conversions might mean different things to different marketing campaigns. It might be a sign up, a page view, or an actual sale on an e-commerce site.
If you don’t send your visitor someplace specific, you run the risk of 1. Confusing the visitor, 2. Wasting your visitor’s time, because you don’t give them the SPECIFIC information that they are searching for.
If you would like to set up an Adwords Campaign, I am available for assistance, and I can give you $50 towards your first Adwords campaign if you set up a new account. sm (@) messagedirect.info
P.S. Another benefit of a good landing page is that it actually will decrease your Adwords cost per click! Almost always my services will pay for themselves in the cost savings you receive from my expertise – plus, you won’t lose sleep at night over your Adwords!
November 9, 2008
Convergence: Technology, Marketing, and Sales
Like many small business owners, I want to succeed. I have to be nimble, and change with the times. If you are a small business owner who refuses to change their marketing plan with the times, you will be left in the cold. Technology and marketing have collided head on. The 2 together are here to stay. That is where SEMbyDesign can help – we are experts in Web Marketing, content writing, blog marketing, video for web promotion, and tailoring plans that will help you long term as your web presence grows with your brick-and-mortar business.
The thought of putting together all of this content for the web is daunting to most people, and understanding the things that you need to help you succeed on-line are often difficult. The younger generation is in tune with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube – the convergence of marketing with technology at it’s height. There is a lot of opportunity for getting your word out about your newest product, your best service, or your latest business venture. You need to include the web in your plans for communication. Let the experts at SEMbyDesign help!
In Omaha, we are only a call away: 402-210-3283 – Steve
New Web Advertising Service for Omaha
I have rolled out a package of web marketing to a few of my clients whom I thought would benefit from it the most. It includes multiple elements of article writing, blog posting, video posting, press release posting and podcasting. The main reason for these are to get backlinks, but you will also enjoy the benefits of having additional material for your off-line marketing as well. More content for your print brochures, for instance. Also, Video posting is pretty big right now, and we can have a really professional video put together and posted for you each month with this package.
If you are interested in this for promotion of your web site, or are interested in some sort of optimization for your site, feel free to email me sm (at) messagedirect.info, or give me a call at (402)210-3283. I usually like to sit down with my clients to determine need and get an understanding of their business, so this works best if you are in the Omaha area!
November 4, 2008
So, Any back link is a good link? Beware of bad neighborhoods!
I write a lot about back links in this blog, because they are vital to your ranking. However, it may surprise you that not all links are good. Google can penalize you for your link being in a “bad neighborhood”. You can actually lose page rank when you link to too many lesser ranked sites, sites with content that has little to do with your content, or even paid linking.
So, as you attempt to get those back links, be careful, do your research and then look for the links!
If you need assistance with this, we have lots and lots of creative marketing ideas for how to garner those links. Just give us a call!