Visitor Tracking - Important or What?

Long since been the way to check who is visiting your Website, how they got there, search terms used, how long they stayed and a lot more useful information essential for an effective marketing campaign.

Never more so valuable, when looking at a new clients tracking stats for the first time......horror......very nice site ...but with a heavy amount of "Flash" on the opening page the download time was causing OVER 50% of visitors to leave BEFORE the opening page was loaded. Two lessons to be learned, How long does your site take to load...

and secondly.....

Check your visitor stats REGULARLY ( if you don't currently have them see your ISP) if they don't offer them …. then we can offer an add-on service that will not effect your Website, OK with practice and a lot of patience you can analyze raw logs but they will not give you anywhere near the tabulated information you get with tracking stats.

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Keywords

Improper Keyword/Keyword phrase selection will hurt you if you select keywords that aren't related to your topic and "stuff" them into your text. An extreme example is this: you could use the word "cars" in your META Keyword tag, then insert the word cars over and over at the bottom of a page devoted to say "photo copiers". This is called "keyword stuffing" and search engines almost always catch it and penalise you. If they don't, your visitors will because they'll have wasted their time, by visiting a site completely unrelated to their search term. Some search engines even offer users the opportunity to report Spam sites. Choose and use your keywords carefully to avoid having them misinterpreted by search engine algorithms.

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21 Questions to ask before you buy a "Shopping Basket System"

Once you've decided that you are giving your customers the option of buying on line, the next most important decision you'll make is which shopping basket system to buy.

It is a very important decision to make.

Because:
·You will probably be committed to the system for a long time.
·If you buy into a system that isn't adequate, it can cost you money. Lot's of money.
·There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of off-the-shelf alternative products out there vying for your money, time or both.
·Even if you decide you've made a mistake, switching shopping cart systems is really difficult.

To receive your copy of "The 21 Questions to ask" Please send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Your sites success and ultimately your income can increase considerably when you have the right shopping system.

It's like having a professional sales force selling for you 24/7.

What a quaint olde English expression 24/ 7 is!

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Search Engine Positioning

Search is the most popular activity online second only to e-mail. It's intuitive. If you want to find a product or service, where else can you go?

But with the average search engine now containing several billion indexed Web pages, the competition is fiercer than ever. Searches for even two and three word phrases often return millions of Web pages, but studies show searchers still do not go past the first three pages of search results. If your Web site is not listed among those first search matches, you lose, no matter how much you spent building an attractive Web site.

Perhaps one of the most important benefits of search engine positioning is this one: Beating your competition online. When your Web site comes up more often than your competitors, you take away your competitor's market share and they and your customers quickly learn that your company is the important player in that field.

Online visibility is measured by the amount and quality of search listings a site has within the major search engines and directories when users conduct queries. Beyond providing the most qualified traffic, increased visibility leads to greater brand awareness and a shorter sales cycle. Most importantly, a successful SEP campaign leverages a company's investment in their existing Website.

Planning & Executing a New Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Campaign. Part 1

To achieve good positions in the Search Engine's a clear understanding of what our potential customers will be searching for and how is necessary, and to ensure your site is optimised for them to be able to find you.

Understand the Value
First and foremost; one must understand the value of optimisation within a specific web site’s existence.

Is the site goal :-
Retaining visitor information?
To obtain user feedback for content personalisation?
Direct increase in sales?
Promote a product?
Or some of the many other site objectives

Regardless of the actual goal, a specific type of site user can be identified. That user type can be considered a targeted user, as they are the ones that the site is not only intended for, but also optimised to attract. Too many sites try to spread the net and lose the key USP the company has.

Identify the Intended Audience Online
Once a targeted audience has been identified, research must be done to understand the user habits and search patterns of such individual search terms.

While conducting research on such topics, the following should be identified:
· What motivates one to seek this site’s information?
· How will (targeted) users search for such information?
· Where are they likely to begin searching from?
· What other information may be relevant in obtaining site click through?
· How are the online competition approaching this market?
· What search terms are most used in such searches, and be prepared to be surprised.

Do Not Be Something Your Site Is Not
All too often, Websites try to become something they are not. The worst part is, site users and others looking to review your Website can tell. Trying to become something your site is not takes up time, money, and often ruins the impression of your site.

Generate Usable Content
By far the best way of getting and maintaining good positions is to make sure your site has good content, seems obvious but most Search Engines these days look for a good theme content and continuity through the site.

Make the completed site informative, easy to use, and on target with the end goals.

To be continued...

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Hits v Visits...

Hit A single action on the Web server as it appears in the log file. A visitor downloading a single file is logged as a single hit, while a visitor requesting a Web page including two images registers as three hits on the server; one hit is the request for the .html page, and two additional hits are requests for the downloaded image files. etc While the volume of hits is an indicator of Web server traffic, it is not an accurate reflection of how many pages are being looked at, as a page with say 8 files is recorded as 8 hits.

Unique Visitors Individuals who visited your site during the report period. If someone visits more than once, they are counted only the first time they visit.

Visit All the activity of one visitor to a Web site. This is the important stat. As you see from the hit definition a "Visit" to a page could result in several hits, often 5 or 6 or more.

Pay per Click (PPC)

PPC engines have been growing rapidly in popularity over the past couple years, like many terms used on the web there are some variations such as Pay Per Placement engines (PPP), others call them Bid for Placement (BFP) engines, with PPC emerging now as the most recognised.

Pay Per Click is a more accurate description as you are not strictly paying to be listed in a high position but agree to pay when a visitor “clicks” on the link to your Website. The person placing the highest bid per click price for a keyword achieves the highest position or ranking.

1. You can be in place usually within hours as opposed to other Search Engines which can take weeks or in some cases, months.
2. You can choose several “Keywords” or search phrases you want to be found under, easily up to a 100.
3. You can create your own Title and Description and know it will be used (You are told Max. No. Of characters available for each) unlike some SE’s who ignore your carefully crafted Descriptions. AND you can write individual descriptions for each entry.
4. You only pay when someone visits your site. OK so if a competitor uses this to find your site it can smart a bit, but the Major SE’s have systems in place to prevent mass “clicking” costing you lots of cash!
5. You have control over your account to raise or lower you bids, if you are “bumped” down you have the option of increasing your bid or keeping it as is
6. You can even set a monthly budget that they will temporarily remove your site when it reaches your pre-set budget and reinstall the next month.
7. My favorite ... you can establish how many people used any given word or phrase in the previous month. So it’s great being No1 “Fresh Peanut Supplier in Dorset” but not a lot of good if no one is using your master “Keywords” to search.

We have a lot of experience with PPC and would welcome any requests for more information without obligation.

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Pay per Click Update

Since our last mailing the PPC situation has moved on a pace. Along with Overture; Google and e-spotting have become major players in this field. Of course just to make life difficult they all have different business models and methods of working......but strangely all have worked out about the same for a "Click Thru" on the various trials we have been running.

Overture: Results look very similar to a typical directory page except you agree to pay for your clicks, the more you agree to pay the higher you are. They also have deals to supply results to AOL, MSN, Alta V and many others.

E-spotting: For this brief description, similar to Overture, there rise to prominence is due to the deal they have to appear on Yahoo's pages. They also feature on Lycos, Ask Jeeves, BT and many others.

Google: Called Adwords it's those boxes that have appeared on the right of existing search results .....not noticed them eh! You would not be the only one but with Goggles record rise to prominence, guess they have got this one right too. Type in a phrase and look see. This is the most complicated of all because you can easily be above someone who has bid more but if you get more traffic, above them in the listing you go.

They say it's down to the searchers preference ... the cynical would say ... it's the overall spend that gets you there!

Please Remember: This is just another Website Marketing tool (a very effective one though, especially for getting traffic quickly to your site) and not a substitute for the others.

the More Tools You Have in Your Box......

We have a lot of experience with all these PPC's and would welcome any requests for more information without obligation.

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Domain Names

One of the most basic yet critically important strategies to obtain good positions in Search Engines is to use your primary keyword in your domain name. A good example

Example 1: www.websitemarketing.co.uk

Example 2: www.websitemarketing-uk.com

The SE’s logic is simply that if it’s in the domain it must be relevant. Don’t be afraid to use a hyphen (–) in the domain to separate the primary words, and to bring down cost to an affordable level. Example one was held by a speculator who wanted 15K example two cost £25 for 2 years. Ideally we would have preferred the .co.uk but not for 15K.

How far you go down the domain trail depends on budget and how important are they to you to stop your competitors buying them and using them against you.

They are extremely important if a generic domain name could be used against you, and could be well worthwhile acquiring if your products warrant the site being split into Product Groups to form Mini Sites with good generic domains for each.

Then we have the added bonus of having a Keyword in your Domain when Linking from another site. It is considered important by the SE's and as many SE's give credence to links from creditable sources you gain again. Linking is a topic we will cover in depth in the New Year.

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Domain Names 2

We have been called by a couple of our clients saying they have been offered additional domain suffixes for their existing domains.

It works like this : You own www.mydomain.co.uk, a very kind person phones to tell you "someone" has asked them to register www.mydomain.com and .info or maybe .biz. Now as you own .co.uk. "They" very thoughtfully are calling you to see if you would like these names before we register them for our someone "sorry we can't tell you who" Usually they quote a £100.00 each or 2 for £180.00 Vastly more expensive than they should be and somewhat in our opinion DUBIOUS

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Skimmers or Analyticals

Potential buyers who visit your Website are either skimmers they "skim thru", read the headlines and make decisions, or the opposite end of the scale buyers are more "analytical" these are those that want to know everything, therefore unlike in a one to one sales situation when you can tailor your presentation to the buyers characteristics, your website must cover the full spectrum from

Take a fresh look at your website with different “glasses” on, does it answer quickly for the “Skimmers” does it give the “Analyticals” all the information they want, and does it cover those in-between. Think of people who are extremes of these types and ask them to review your website. You may be surprised at what they see.

Top Five Search Engine Misunderstandings Revealed!

It’s no secret that Search Engine's can drive significant amounts of very qualified traffic to a web site – as 85% of Internet users utilise search engines to find or look for goods and services. So why do more companies not actively use the Web to promote their business. Do you have a brochure printed then leave it in a cupboard, of course not yet many companies have a website built and then do nothing to promote it with Search Engines. We know the popular misconception that most web designers submit your site to the SE's but do they? and more importantly do they do it properly?

We believe these "Misunderstandings" are some of the main reasons companies do not pay the attention necessary or employ companies such as ours, to achieve traffic and ultimately business from their websites:

Misunderstanding 1 – Search engine leads are not as good as those which originate from other forms of traditional marketing (print, direct mail, PR, etc.) – this we believe is way off the mark, We’ve in fact found just the opposite when we’ve analysed SE traffic versus other types of leads for our clients. Search Engine traffic can be much better, as it is comprised of individuals who are actively seeking information about your product -they've actively put your search term into their favourite SE , they are not just people whose curiosity has been roused by an eye-catching publication advert or press release. Also, when we’ve analysed the data by tracking leads via a landing page (on a web site) we’ve discovered that CPL (cost per lead) numbers can be much lower for SE traffic. How much does a magazine advert cost? .

Misunderstanding 2 – Effective SE optimisation can be done in house – this is rarely the case, the sheer complexity and online competition for rankings makes this extremely difficult for most companies. Based upon our experience many conventional marketing people and most web designers don’t understand the basic fundamentals; i.e. how to properly use keywords, meta tags and titles, links and link structures

Misunderstanding 3 – off the shelf software that submits a site to thousands of SE's, Directories, Portals and every where else that nobody uses can do it all for you. This is so inaccurate and nothing can be further from the truth – it takes a tremendous amount of research and time to identify keyword and keyword phrases (not just words), optimise the content for these keywords, submit the pages while obeying the rules of the SE (it's their ball and they play what game they want with it ) and then continually analysing rankings and tweaking to maintain and drive rankings up.

We use some sophisticated Software that can help to automate some facets of the process and be used for back end analysis – but you can’t expect any application to make the job easy, there is too much inherent complexity in the processes. And, competition for keyword sets is fierce – as there are an estimated 5-10 Million registered domains worldwide (the numbers vary widely depending on whose figures you believe, but they all agree…..huge!) and there is again estimated, 10K new domains being registered every day.

Misunderstanding 4 - Any page listing will help to drive traffic to a web site – this is another misunderstanding we often find. Sites without high listings can often bring in odd bits of traffic, but if you are aren’t achieving page 1-3 rankings for keyword phrases that people are actually using to search for your product then you are wasting a great deal of time and potential business as most people never go down below these pages.

Misunderstanding 5 - It is not cost effective to use a website marketing company to bring traffic to your website. We would naturally say this is not so, why not give us a chance to prove how cost effective we are for our clients and could be for you. Remember we do not commence a project without sufficient research at our expense to know we are going to be successful.

Call or e-mail for a no obligation or cost appointment.

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Viral Marketing ... A very effective cost effective way of spreading your message

Almost certainly you have experienced viral marketing if you spend any time on the Internet, or receive e-mail. Do you recall that hilarious joke, addictive game, anecdote, great free offer someone FORWARDED to you? That's ...

"Viral Marketing" receiving something that you feel is worth passing on to YOUR contacts.

Therefore the one element all viral marketing campaigns must have is something the recipient feels to be of sufficient benefit, interest “need to know” t o pass on. The overriding aim is to provide information or access to something that the consumer likes, and would want to tell their friends about. Of course the factor that many friends or indeed business associates have a similar interest in a subject makes this a very effective form of marketing. Think about some useful information / product or useful resource for say an owner of a boat, classic car collector, small business person, they all are "group" associated so the chances are if they find the information very useful they will pass it on.

Most campaigns are conducted via e-mail, how often would you copy and post something to say 10 people by snail mail? Compare this to forwarding on using e-mail and it becomes obvious why this is such an inexpensive way of getting your name in front of potential new customers. Other variants include options on web sites to "tell a friend" about a service, or send a "free coupon" for a product or service to a list of e-mail addresses. Either way the campaign perpetuates itself without any additional work by the originator.

So, what are the keys to success for using viral marketing?

Determine the audience that you'd like to target: business group, community, hobby, sport, social event, special interests etc.

Spend some time brainstorming the things that this audience finds irresistible, but that still fit in with your brand / product/ service - free offers. good quality information, product associated game, topical joke etc.

Remember that, to work effectively, viral marketing is the ultimate "soft-sell" – The Company and or the author’s knowledge and credibility on the subject is the aim, not to get across a heavy sales pitch! The aim is to get people to visit your Website and contact you.

Identify "friends and family” or business associates from your database of up to 100 consumers to get the campaign under way - this is the critical number. This should ensure that a good viral marketing piece would take off.

When it works you'll know - you'll probably receive a copy in your e-mail!

Please contact us to discuss a Viral Campaign specific to your business.

Oh and of course you are welcome to pass this Newsletter on ...

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Google Alert!

There's a fun Google Hack on the internet called Google Alert. It's a free service for non-commercial use only, put together by PhD student Gideon Greenspan.

With Google Alert, you can automatically keep track of anything. It runs daily searches for you, and emails you, whenever new results appear.

Many people use it to track what the web is saying about them, their personal interests, track emerging details, or any projects they are involved in.

www.googlealert.com

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New Anti-Spam Law

Virginia's tough new email law sends spammers to jail. The toughest anti-spam law in the US came into force in May when Virginia Governor Mark Warner signed two bills creating a maximum prison term of five years for those convicted of clogging inboxes with unsolicited commercial email. Why is Virginia so important? IT is stated that over half of the worlds email goes through Virginia: the reason AOL, Microsoft and several other major players use routing facilities due to tax advantages.

N.B. Ever looked at your tracking stats and seen lots of traffic from Virginia? Well don't go setting up an office over there thinking they are interested in you, again it's a routing thing.

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