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  1. 6 Ways to Use SEM to Build Your Business

    There is much more to having a successful business than merely having a website. This is because online business is fed by search traffic. This has resulted in a whole industry focus on improving a website’s visibility or Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Originally in 2001, Search Engine Marketing was defined by Danny Sullivan as “The act of marketing a web site via search engines, whether this be improving rank in organic listings, purchasing paid listings or a combination of these and other search engine-related activities.” Today, however, not everyone is in complete agreement as to exactly what SEM is and often uses the term as a synonym for paid search (PPC or Pay-per-click). Now, a commonly accepted definition as stated on Wikipedia is “A combination of search engine optimization and the use of paid and contextual advertising in order to bring a website’s articles or product pages to the top of search engine result pages (SERPs).

    Line Graph

    In 2008, the US spent $13.5 billion in search engine marketing; however, according to Street Insider, global industry analysts are predicting that the world market for SEM is going to reach US $50.68 billion by 2015. It is thought that this increase will be driven by factors such as:

    • an increasing demand for cost effective advertising and marketing strategies
    • raising popularity of organic and paid search
    • the growth of the mobile Internet market

    The report goes on to say that the US remains the largest market, likely due to the “high usage of web search and the continued evolution of search engine technologies in the nation.”SEM is composed of 2 basic factors which must be employed in order to be effective. The first of these are listings. These listings can then be divided into two groups: editorial and paid. In editorial searches, also called “organic” or “natural,” the listings appear without being paid for and are provided by search engines. In paid searches, also known as CPC (cost per click) or PPC (pay per click), the premise is simple, you pay to be listed; the ad is usually displayed alongside the editorial content and should not influence the editorial coverage.

    The second factor in SEM is the type of activities utilized. There are 3 main forms of SEM activities that should be used by business owners: SEO, link building and Paid Search. Using SEO is the equivalent of good PR; good SEO, like good PR, doesn’t necessarily guarantee good search engine coverage, but it can increase the odds if done correctly. In addition to SEO, you should use paid search, CPC or PPC which allows you to “pull in” your potential customer at the exact time they are seeking your products and services regardless of any declines in the marketplace. So, what can you do to make sure that your website is SEM optimized to bring you the full potential? After all, just knowing what SEM is is not enough. You need to be doing it.

    Consequently, be sure these 6 jobs are on your “to do” list.

    1. Be familiar with SEO practices. This is the single most important thing you can do.
    2. Use tools such as Website Grader to asses where your site is or where your website isn’t optimized for SEM. If you don’t know where the problems are, then it is difficult to correct them.
    3. Make quick changes first! These would include concerns like metatags, keywords in title tags, etc. Once the “little things” are accurate begin working on any big changes/corrections.
    4. Use SEM optimized CMS software and plug-ins like WordPress or ImpressCMS. These are the preferred choices at Page Progressive and we have been very pleased with the various features each of them affords.
    5. Test PPC and landing page strategies. You may want to keep lists of which keywords and advertisements bring the most traffic, as well as what happens when the guests arrive. You can also use Google Analytics to help you track what guests do.
    6. Remember, inbound links are critical to point traffic to your site.  If writing articles and posting them to a blog or site such as E-zine, or Hubpages does not appeal to you, then hire someone else to do it. It will be money well-spent.

    SEM, like many aspects of business, is something that must be maintained. But it can be a bit of a trial and error process as you determine what will work best for you, so don’t get discouraged. After all, SEM has the ability to improve your business and should not be overlooked or deemed unnecessary. If you are interested in implementing SEM, but don’t know have the time to do it yourself, talk to the professionals here at Page Progressive, we’ll be glad to help. Our designers and writers will be glad to give your website a makeover so that you can begin seeing more traffic to your site with positive results being the outcome.

  2. Improve Your Website’s Ranking with Twitter

    Before you can determine if your site is being indexed by search engines, you need to have something that can tell you if your site is being seen by the search engines. There are many free tools to help with this: Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo Site Explorer and Microsoft/Bing Webmaster Center. In addition, there has recently been much in the news about the effects of social media on the search engine ranking as a result of Google’s recent move to "Real Time" search. But how can you use "Real Time" search to your advantage? 

    TwitterAs you begin writing for Real Time search engines, keep in mind how they work. Remember, Real Time searches index comments and Tweets and then display them at the top half of the search results page. You want to be in this coveted spot. With this in mind, how can you make the most of your Twitter account so that your business gets the optimum exposure? Here are 9 ways to use Twitter to improve your business search engine ranking.

    1. Keywords are important. Be sure that you use keywords in the links as well as within Tweets.
    2. Tweet unique content, not just items cut and pasted from someone else.
    3. Your choice in user name, like your domain name and key words, is important. Consider a user name that has your anchor text or keywords. In addition, be sure that your brand is your Twitter name; do not use a modified name on your Twitter account as this will not generate a posting above the fold in search results. If your name has already been taken you have two possible options. You can see if Twitter will allow you to register a trademark squatting complaint and give the name to the proper owner. Or, according to rumor, if an account is not active for 6 months, the name may be re-circulated.
    4. The age of the account is thought to be a factor as "older" tweets will outrank those by "rookies".
    5. Have a common theme in your tweets. If all of your tweets contain information about painting, then you are going to be seen as an expert in that field.
    6. To improve your reputation, get external links from non-social media sites.
    7. Tweet, retweet and tweet some more. The more you post the better your chances of ranking.
    8. Close ratios between "followed" to "follow", like reciprocal links, may be seen as a red flag to Google. Be careful of auto-following.
    9. Using lists, is thought by some, to be a great way to improve your Twitter reputation, especially if the lists are designed by a reputable Twitter user.

    As you use Twitter to improve your business search engine ranking, consider your approach. There are 5 things to keep in mind in order to create a Twitter strategy for your business. 

    1. Choose your audience; pay attention to who in your audience has the influence.
    2. Know what people are saying about you and your competitors.
    3. Determine what you are after. Sales? Contacts?
    4. Determine your goals and use metrics to track them.
    5. Decide on your approach. Consider how formal you want to be, what your keywords will be, what your message will be and any other factors that represent your company and the chosen audience.

    Since Google, Yahoo and Bing have all opted for Real Time searches, be sure to keep these tips in mind as you use Twitter. In order to promote your business, be sure you are taking advantage of the many tools available. Do it yourself, or have someone do it for you. If you don’t know where to start, talk to the pros here at Page Progressive, we’ll be glad to help. 

  3. Adobe vs. Apple: Is Website Development with Flash Dead?

    Last month, Steve Jobs announced that Apple will no longer be using Flash on its devices like the iPad, iPod touch or iPhone. He then went on to give 6 reasons to back the statement.

    1. Apple Versus AdobeFlash is 100% proprietary and is only available from Adobe. However, he does conceded that Apple uses proprietary products like the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, but uses open standards like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
    2. Although Adobe says that Apple devices cannot access the “full web” due to so much of the web’s video content being in Flash, Jobs points out that many sites now offer the same content in H.264 codec, so iPad users are missing very little.
    3. According to studies done by Symantec, Flash had the worst security records in 2009; Flash is also the number one reason for Macs to crash.
    4. Flash drains battery life, in some cases by more than 50% when compared to using H.264 codec videos.
    5. Flash is designed for a PC and a mouse, not for touch screens, so rollovers and other interactive components can be an issue.
    6. Apple does not want developers to use a “third party cross platform development tool,” preferring to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to their developers so that they can design applications that are unique to their needs and take full advantage of feature on Apple devices.

    Of course,  Adobe could not stand idly by and say nothing. Consequently, the founders of Adobe, Chuck Geshke and John Warnock, have responded to Jobs,  stating:

    1. Saying that they believe in open markets and have"openness to innovation". Adobe has launched a new campaign titled "We (heart) Choice" where they state, "We support technologies like HTML4, HTML5, CSS, and H.264."
    2. Flash was originally designed to be used with tablets that have touch interfaces. For content designed with a PC and mouse in mind, Flash 10.1 (this is scheduled to be released in June 2010) will work.
    3. Concerning battery life- Flash 10.1 will improve battery life, codec execution, memory use, and hardware-accelerated video playback and the Flash Player will be ideal for laptops, tablets, desktops and netbooks.
    4. Regarding security problems, Adobe has taken steps to improve Flash vulnerability and are correcting concerns within Flash as quickly as possible.
    5. Adobe states that Flash Player is part of both open and proprietary technologies and that anyone can design their own SWF or FLV/F4V player.

    For those on the sidelines of the Apple-Adobe debate, there are many opinions. Some, such as James R. Borck of InfoWorld Test Center, feels that Adobe is making progress in hardware acceleration and that Flash is a solid and well-designed content delivery platform that has continually changed to keep up with a rapidly growing web ecosystem.

    Others like Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group, feel that Adobe should focus on what users are missing out on if they don’t have Flash rather than spending time talking about "open" or "closed" technology. Gartenberg has also commented that in order for Adobe to be successful, they ought to convince Apple customers to pressure Apple to makes changes; however since Apple sales are skyrocketing, this doesn’t seem to be likely.

    When it comes to security issues, Ed Bott of PC Computing Magazine recently checked the facts concerning Adobe’s response and found while Adobe stated "that they had the second fewest number of vulnerabilities" this does not accurately tell the story. Bott, followed through on this statement and checked the Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report page and found 23 vulnerabilities in the Flash Player and Adobe Reader.

    Apple’s stance on Flash seems to have made an impact on web development as well. Several web developers, have had clients specifically ask for sites that are compatible with Apple mobile devices. Daniel Trimpey, CEO of Page Progressive, a web development company in Raleigh, NC says:

    "While we had already decided a few years ago to pretty much abandon the use of Flash technology for most sites that we develop and instead rely on Javascript-based alternatives, this recent feud between Apple and Adobe certainly reinforces to us the use of more open standards like CSS, HTML and Javascript, which are making huge strides in their ability to mimic many of the interface elements that were only possible with Flash in the past. And these technologies are better for search engine optimization and also easier to integrate with content management systems."

    Big names and technical arguments aside, many consumers and web developers have one opinion in common: The belief that by Apple choosing to keep 3rd party programs from developing cross-platform apps, that Apple is wanting to "corner the market" so they have no risk of profit loss from apps that are not confined to the Apple iTunes Store.

    Only the future will tell if Flash technology will remain prevalent in website development, but with support from Nokia and also Google, who develops the popular Android mobile operating system, chances are Flash will be sticking around at least for now.

  4. 11 Tools and Tips for Social Media and Business

    Having become proficient in the use of social media, you are likely recognizing that a great deal of time can be spent maintaining a social media site. After all, tracking down hot topics, checking reports and doing analysis can be time consuming. Fortunately, others have already recognized this, and have created a variety of tools to help make managing a social site easier and more productive for the business owner.

    Consequently, there is no need for you to spend excessive amounts of time researching,
    tracking and analyzing your sites; rather begin using these 5 social
    media tools:

    • MajesticSEO offers
      link analysis and acquisition counts.  Site owners can get full reports
      on their website. There is also a paid version that gives you link
      details on your competition and helps you find high impact links for
      SEO.
    • Andy Beal’s Trakur monitors
      social media sites giving you insight into what others are saying about
      your brand, identifies their influences and shoes where they are
      commenting
      Tracker Screenshot
    • SocialMention is
      a free Real Time and social search tool that crawls social media sites.
      It has a variety of options, outputs and tools that help you create
      spreadsheets to track your progress.
    • PostRank shows
      you what topics are hot, so you can include information about the most
      popular search queries.
    • bit.ly is
      a URL shortener that allows you to create a domain name for Twitter and
      Facebook that is recognized as your own.

    Tips for Building a Social Media Network

    Now that you have your tools and apps in place for your social media profiles, you will want to make sure your fans and followers know as much as possible about what your business can do for them. The tips below will help:

    • Make sure people know about your social media accounts. Link them through your blog, website, newsletter, signature line, etc.  Pages such as Flavors.me are a great way to get all your sites listed in one location.
    • Pick an avatar or custom background that stands out as this will help people recognize you.
    • Be authentic and accessible- people want to know who they are dealing with.
    • Be polite and helpful- Offering a service or giving advice or free consultations shows expertise and builds a good business reputation.
    • If possible, spend some time each day (some people schedule a set number of minutes) on your social media account. If you can’t do this- or don’t want to, then consider hiring someone to do this for you. The more people see "you" the more they will trust you. Note that the more strategic time (NOTE: Not playing games or sending goofy messages to your high school buddies) you invest into social media, the more benefits you will rea. Just having the account and letting it sit won’t do you any good, as it is SOCIAL media after all…
    • Be persistent. Building business through social media will pay off, but you, or whoever you appoint, have to invest some time.

    Using social media is proving to be one of the business owner’s best friends. Take time to make your business social media profiles benefit both you and your customers.  You will soon see an increase in business. Whether you maintain the page yourself or hire Page Progressive to do it for you, you don’t want to miss the potential of social media – your competitors won’t. get started today!

  5. 13 Apps for Combining Business & Social Media

    Now that you have set up accounts at a few (or several) social media profiles, you will want to use it to its full potential. Of course, maintaining a social media listing takes time, so learning how to get the most of your efforts is important. Fortunately, making your company’s social media profile profitable can be done through the effective use of tools and applications that can increase your business while decreasing the number of hours you spend on your Facebook, Twitter, Buzz or other social media profiles.

    7 Facebook Apps to Improve Your Business

    As one of the most recognized social media sites, Facebook has massive potential for increasing your number of customers. Recognizing that a number of applications have been designed to assist businesses in customer services and product promotion. Some of the most useful are:

    • Contests, promotions and polls are a great way to support your business and encourage interaction with your fans, just be sure to follow the Facebook guidelines for using contests.
    • SocialToo  allows users to update their profile pages and promote Twitter from their Facebook status update box.
    • SocialOomph provides update tools for Facebook, Twitter, and StatusNet.
    • Network Blog makes it easy to promote your blog on Facebook and connect with others.
    • JobMagic is a recruiting application that expands a recruiter’s range through Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
    • Social Store Builder enables a store owner to sell and display product from their Facebook page.
    • IAnalyst– This new Facebook app allows you to integrate HTML into your page. It is especially helpful for small business owners.

    6 Twitter Management Tools

    Depending on your business, you may have opted to set up a Twitter account. However, as you are limited to 140 characters per tweet, you will want to make the most of your text and Twitter time. Here are some tools to enhance your Twitter business account:

    • HootSuite.com offers a free tool to help manage multiple social media accounts. You can personalize columns, view multiple feeds, and create messages then select what social media accounts to post to. You can even schedule when tweets go out and have custom searches for topics that interest you.HootSuite
    • CoTweet allows you to manage as many as 5 accounts with a single login; there are workflow management tools and the ability to take notes on Twitter for co-users to view.
    • EasyTweets is a low management tool for multiple Twitter accounts. It allows you to post and track RSS feeds in Google Analytics, set up continuous searches for brand mentions, and follow those users who mention your brand.
    • TweetDeck keeps track of multiple social media accounts. You can follow topics with saved searches, manage conversations and records, and share or watch video clips, YouTube and photos.
    • PeopleBrowser allows a visual browser based dashboard view of social activity and to create and manage groups by adding public/private tags.
    • Twitterfeed.com  takes RSS feeds from a blog and posts them as a Tweet linking them back to your site.  However, be careful not to overuse this automation tool as it can then be seen as spam and people may stop acknowledging it.

    With the growing popularity of Facebook and Twitter, you can expect to find more and more tools to take advantage of these services. With the speed at which social media platforms are being developed, having tools to help automate and simplify things are almost essential! Stay tuned in for the next post where we will be exploring more tools for social media research and also tips for building a social media network!

  6. 5 Reasons Why You Should Use Social Media to Promote Your Business

    Reasons to Use Social Media for Business, Part 1

    As few as 3 years ago, the use of social media sites and their relevance to business was unheard of. Today, however, savvy businesses are approaching their advertising and marketing resources with a bend toward social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Buzz and others. In fact, according to the observations by the Center for Marketing Research, the Inc. 500 companies are outperforming Fortune companies largely due to the use of social media. In addition, Facebook recently topped Google as the most visited website on the internet. If you are not using a social media website, then you are missing out on a large customer base-and who wants to do that?

    Social Media

    If you still aren’t convinced of the value of social media websites, consider these recent five facts:

      1. There are more than 350 million active users on Facebook with 1.6 million active pages.
      2. 50% of active Facebook users log in on a daily basis, spend a minimum of 55 minutes per day and are posting 700 items per second
      3. Digg has 1 million users
      4. Twitter has over 18 million users posting an average of 600 tweets per second
      5. There are 55 Google Buzz comments per second

              To put these numbers into perspective, consider these comparisons. According to a February 2010 report:

              • Google has 34,000 searches per second; 2 million per minute; 121 million per hour, 3 billion per day and 88 billion per month.
              • Yahoo has 3,200 searches per second; 194 per million; 12 million per hour; 280 million per day and 8.4 billion per month
              • Bing has 927 searches a second; 56,000 per minute; 3 million per hour; 80 million per day and 2.4 billion per month
              • Twitter reports 50 million tweets daily and Facebook shows 60 million per day.

              In addition to these numbers, it should also be noted that in January 2010, Facebook passed Yahoo to be second only to Google. Then, during the week of March 7-13, 2010 visits to Facebook increased by 185% and Google by only 9% over the same week of 2009.   

              With these numbers in mind, utilizing the selling power of social media in business marketing is a must. After all, using social media sites is cost effective (usually free) and the ability to build one’s customer base is exponential. However, there is more to social media than merely setting up an account. To be effective, businesses need to combine SEO practices and customer interaction options in order to build trust and respect with their audience. This social media interaction has been shown to increase retail and e-commerce significantly. Many companies have recognized the correlation between social media and sales. According to a February 2010 Marketing Sherpa poll of 2,300 communication experts, "79% of experts of retail/e-commerce plan to increase their social media interaction in 2010" Simply put, if you are looking for a cost effective and efficient was to promote your business, social media is the way to go. 

              Uses of Social Media to Businesses

              Because search engines are now using "Real Time" search results as well as crawling social media sites, business owners can promote their services in a variety of ways. Also some sites, like Facebook, allow you to target your advertising based on gender, relationship status, age, location, etc… so you are able to focus your efforts on those who are most likely to be interested in your services. Consider including any (or all) of the following as part of your business social media page.

              • Post questions that encourage fan response
              • Post a poll to garner customer feedback
              • Integrate apps like games or quizzes to encourage guests to spend more time on your page
              • Repost information from other  users that is relevant and interesting
              • Promote your business through promos only available on your page (free shipping for fans only, exclusive product discounts, specials, etc…)

              Social media is likely here to stay. Regardless of whether you are a small business owner or President Obama, choosing to use the tools available on sites like Facebook or Twitter, can be a big business benefit.  Why not use it to your advantage and promote your business where you will be seen by the largest customer base available? You can do it yourself or hire the professionals at Page Progressive to do it for you. The sooner you do, the quicker your business can increase. Contact us today!

            • Tips to Test and Measure Your Site’s SEO

              If you’ve been following our last few posts, you now have spent a fair amount of time making your site search engine optimized. And, chances are, you are already seeing a bit more web traffic. However, your website SEO is not complete, nor will it ever be 100%. This is due to step four of the SEO process.

            • 4 Areas of SEO Content Optimization that You Don’t Want to Miss!

              Last post we discussed keyword research. Now that you have your keyword list and have tested them for effectiveness, now you are ready for step 3 of improving your website’s SEO.

              3. Implement Content Optimization and Submission

              Perhaps the most important aspect of improving your site’s SEO, content optimization and submission can also be quite time consuming and somewhat frustrating. There are 4 primary parts of optimizing your website for SEO (This list of 4 is certainly not exhaustive, but they are the key ones to focus on):

              1. using keywords in your title tags
              2. using keywords in the H1 tag
              3. using keywords throughout the body copy
              4. using keyword phrases as anchor text of links on other sites that point back to your website’s pages

              Keywords in Title Tags

              Title tags should tell both users and the search engine what a page is about. You will want to have a well written title that is both brief and descriptive for each page of your website so that they show up in the search results of search engines and can increase clicks from targeted searchers. Do not write title tags that have vague titles like "homepage" or "page 3." Titles that are stuffed with keywords and are longer than 60 characters will look spammy and also won’t help, so keep it concise 😉

              Keywords in H1 Tags

              Using keywords in your heading tags is also very important. There are six sizes of heading tags (H1 to H6) and they work as clues for readers to know what information is to follow. These assorted title tags should be used sparingly, generally no more than one H1 tag to a page. Also, be sure that the H1 tag represents the thesis of the page and is as close to the main targeted phrase as possible.  Title tag faux pas are inconsistency in tag size, putting all the information in a title and using heading tags for styling text rather than content structure.

              Keywords in Content 

              As you write the content for each of your site’s pages, it is important to incorporate your keywords throughout the body copy. You should use bold and italics whenever possible, without being overdone, as well as have a list (numbers, bullets, check boxes, etc.) that includes your keywords. Keep in mind that according to Jon Wuebbon, author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web, key phrase use should make up 3-8% of an article or page, but at the same time, don’t get too concerned with the numbers when it comes to keyword density. Just make sure you are aware of the key phrases you are going after and  that your text reads logically and doesn’t sound like you are stuffing in as many key phrases as you can. As you create your web page content, be sure that it is easy to read, has a unique approach, focuses on the subject, showcases your services or products and is written with people, not search engines in mind. You should not have duplicated material – even if it is original work – on your site. In addition, your webpage(s) should not have poorly written material with grammatical errors, extensive misspellings (intentional misspellings not withstanding) or excessive amounts of writing on a wide range of topics without using paragraphs, headings or subheadings.

              Keywords in Anchor Text

              Using keywords and phrases as anchor text on other sites is a great way to direct people to your webpage. Submit articles that contain anchor text links back to your site on sites such as Ezinearticles.com, Buzzle.com, Ehow.com and others. Be sure the text is descriptive yet short and is easily spotted. When using anchor text, do not use long text (e.g. whole sentences), overloaded keyword articles, unneeded links that detract from a site’s usefulness or use generic terms like "page" or "click here".

              Ezine Screenshot

                  Once you have implemented content optimization and submission as part of improving your site’s SEO, you are nearly "finished." As you will find in step four, found in our next post, there is no such thing as being completely finished with SEO, but knowing the steps to bettering your site’s SEO is one of the best things you can do to increase business.

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