One of the perennial problems of small sized businesses is the availability of funds for the marketing needs. Not all businesses will have access to adequate funds to promote their brands aggressively on the web. Businesses that have great financial constrictions will find Twitter marketing to be highly beneficial. It is not without reason thousands of businesses use twitter as one of their major social media marketing tool. Twitter is a free platform where you will be able to increase your online visibility without having to spend loads of money. You need two things to promote your brand successfully in Twitter firstly you should have the required Twitter marketing knowledge and secondly, you should have the required amount of time to execute your social media optimization plans through Twitter. The first benefit small businesses can therefore enjoy from Twitter marketing is cost savings. You will be able to drive a considerable amount of traffic through Twitter without having to spend a lot of money.

Secondly, through Twitter you will be able to get closer to your target audience. You will be able to feel the pulse of your customers in Twitter and this will help you make timely action against things that tarnish your brand reputation online.

Thirdly, you will be able to post your links in Twitter and more people tend to visit links posted in Twitter when compared to other social platforms like Facebook. You will be able to post links to important pages and useful pages in your website in Twitter, you can post the same links multiple times without getting into trouble. However, you need to make sure that you do not go overboard.

When you build a good network in Twitter with good number of followers, each tweet you post will reach all the members in your network instantly. Building Twitter followers is relatively easy. When you start following people in your niche, they will return you the favor by following you. Only in the initial stages you might find it challenging to make people follow you but once your followers count increases and when people see that you have a considerable number of followers other users in your niche will start paying attention to what you have to offer and your followers count will increase dramatically each day.

It has been noted that brands that have high Twitter follows get better ranking in the search results. Most importantly, you can use Twitter in your brand reputation management needs as well. You will be able to create a positive brand image online using Twitter which will serve as a shield for your brand when you happen to face any reputation attack online.

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Grey Hat is.. Well, a grey area. Usually grey hat is tricks that are not exactly banned by search engines like Google and are not really bad when done in the correct way and without intent to deceive, defraud or otherwise cause the search results to be unfairly skewed.

The main pitfall with grey hat is the potential for abuse, so caution should be used when considering any tactics that fall under that aegis. Just follow the ‘Don’t be evil’ rule, and you should have a pretty good notion of what constitutes a bad idea!

White hat is squeaky clean, pure as the driven snow, transparent, goody two shoes- OK, you get the idea. White hat SEO is what we all should be focusing on. It’s the one way to ensure lasting results, and it won’t ever get you in a pickle.

So what is White hat SEO? Approaching the internet world with the idea of building a successful website honestly, to attract real customers who want real information.

Step one: build a site! Make it simple. Make it easy to use. Make it interesting! You can work on inviting guests after you have a home to entertain in.

Step two: Decorate. Good content is your wallpaper, your carpet, the couch and chairs and coffee table. Without it all you have is an empty building – not very inviting!

Step three: Power it up. No good if nobody sees you, right? Build links carefully and diligently, watching out for traps like empty link exchanges that cause a PageRank drain, and try to hook into one or two main sources.

Step four: Send out invites for your open house. Advertise, campaign, and shout it from the roof – “The Party is Here!!” Use press releases, a Google ad campaign, blogging and whatever methods you can think of drive traffic to your door.

Step five: Offer refreshments, and ask them to sign the guest book. Make your guests want to stay, to look around, to come back and visit again. Give them a present; a widget or a tool, and offer them a freebie like an ebook if they take a minute to join the subscription list.

Step six: Promote, provide, protect. Promote your website by having the correct buttons available to be Dugg or otherwise voted for in the multiple social networks across the net. Provide an easy way for your visitors to return in the form of an RSS feed or a reminder to add you to their favourites list. Lastly, make sure you protect all of their information, whether personal or financial – trust is the linchpin of internet commerce!

Once you have finished your SEO, you can take off your Gandalf hat and relax, content in the fact that white wizards only do good and not evil!

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Now that we have established there is such a thing as bad links, what are they, where do they come from, why are they considered ‘bad’ and how they can negatively impact your site? Let’s take a look at each question.

Many webmasters operate under the impression that quantity is the key, to success. They start contacting all their friends, family members and co-workers asking for links as well as any other websites in the same field. More than likely, it will draw in some links, but most of these folks are going to expect you to return the favor. Reciprocation is how it works.

This means they are expecting to see a link back to them from your own site. It’s a nice gesture, but it actually devalues the link that they gave you. Search engines are fully aware of ‘friends’ networks, and will sharply discount the value of these ‘reciprocal links’ when assigning value to your site. being kind comes at cost, but it is in place to stop abuse.

Another problem is that the quality of these sites you are now in a link exchange with might not be up the best. This can reflect on you as well because search engines do judge you bet the company that you keep. If people assume that your site is only as good as the sites that link to you, then being associated with a low ranking page is not a god thing! You need to fix that.

A trick you may be tempted to try in order to obtain links for your site is listing yourself in an automated link management system. They are fast and they are easy. They will get you plenty of links, but basically consist of pages of web addresses all hyperlinked to each other. in essence, you have less than worthless links for the time it took to register.

Most of the time the sites you’re linked to don’t have any relevance to your field. The whole scheme, which is what it is, is viewed by search engines with distrust. At best, the search engines will just discount these links as they really are just more reciprocal links, or at worst will label you a ‘link spammer’ and penalize you. that is the most likely scenario with Penguin in full force now.

Too many outbound links from your website to a friend’s may not be a good idea if the other site is completely unrelated to yours. Similarly, paid links are very dangerous. In many cases, these are scams – they either don’t deliver or they could use banned practices that will bounce back on you. Also, scammers may offer to pay you to write reviews or testimonials for their products; never endorse the product before researching it! if nothing else, take that bit of info with you after reading this.

A reputable SEO can oversee your linking practices for you. It is a great idea if you are feeling worried about your site’s links. They should tell you exactly what they plan to do, and how they plan to do it. If the answers shady, try another SEO! You only want to use the right linking tactics to build trust in your site and your product. This is your site and you have the final say in how it is operated and promoted.

Contact us for your SEO needs.

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So far, no one has developed an actual SEO strategy for the niche SERps- for the most part it has not really been in demand. Now though, as more people look for any advantage, this may be the next frontier according to some SEOs. Google is almost impossible to figure out month to month anymore and Bing is really moving more toward relying on the social side of things more and more. The niche search engines may better serve some types of industries,

The problem has always been whether or not they will last. They may generate a lot of short term buzz, but many wither away into obscurity before long making them a bit of a risky investment of resources. Sticking with Bing and Google may take longer to provide the results you want, and as fickle as they may be, almost everyone agrees that the bottom of page one on Google or Bing is better than number one on a smaller search engine from a volume standpoint alone.

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There are plenty of companies and individuals that are more than willing to pay a lot of money to get these domain names. Is it worth paying huge prices for such domain names, and do you really need to have keyword domain names? Not all SEO professionals will agree, but many SEO experts believe that keyword domain names are weighted – at a minimum – when it comes to search engine placements. History does seem to bear that out – or it could be that people spending lot of money on those domains don’t skimp when it comes to SEO. A number of SEO experts also feel that one of the search engine ranking factors has to do with the domain name.

Here are some of the things we can say we are sure of. We know that Google gives importance to the age of the domain – there is not even up for debate. Google also grades on keywords in the text, tags, and captions that appear on a site. Based on this, it does make a lot of sense that Google might give importance to domain names as well – it does seem logical. Exactly how, however, is still something of a speculation. Quite a few webmasters have tried to make use of keyword domain names and even spend thousands of dollars getting keyword domain names.

Here’s the skinny on it – you probably won’t lose anything by selecting keyword domain names, as there are other advantages associated with such domain names. One of the greatest advantages of getting keyword domain names occurs when people link to your website, as they will most probably be using keywords to link to your main pages. If the keywords and domain name matches, it can bring additional credit to your website – since highly contextual links to your website are always helpful. Google absolutely loves this!

Keyword domain names are also helpful. SEOs already know that Google and other search engines look for keywords in strategic places. It’s logical to think that search engines will consider keywords in the URLs and domain names as an important aspect to find relevant websites for a given search as part of their algorithm. There are also a number of people who link to websites using just the URL of the website rather than using anchor text. Keyword domains will stand to gain in this regard, because in the link itself your keyword will be present. It may not be the best way to have your link out there, but it sure isn’t the worst.

This does not mean that non-keyword domains do not rank well, because many do, but that it appears keyword domains have better rate of success on the whole. However, spending thousands on a highly keyworded domain name should only be done if you are confident it will aid you enough to recoup the cost and you can really afford it.

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There is logic to each side of the argument. Most social networks use NF (No follow) links which Google says they don’t consider under the traditional PR algorithm. There are others that claim that they do use them, just selectively – as in counting NF links from their own networks. It appears that as a whole however, Google is rewarding social signals more. Whereas Google used to only view public data, they have now bored into nearly everyone and know what you are doing everywhere.

Whatever the truth is, social signals do have value. They do get your visibility up on social networks which builds your audience. They do help on Bing considerably. Finally, the activity that is the root of social signals shows you’re a solid networker which increases your value as a social ally.

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The number of users has been under intense debate. Apparently the platform is only actively used by around 20% of the people that have registered for it, meaning a little over 23 million active users. Of those, only about half use it more than three times per week, and even then, they tend to share less than 5 pieces of content. This is a far cry from the numbers seen on Facebook for the same type of grouping.

Furthermore, there are many users not yet realizing that each +1 is similar to a Like on Facebook, but that Google is using those to gauge popularity of content as a small part of their ranking algorithm which is skewing SERP results to some degree. Finally, it was seen that most users still only interact directly with a fractional percentage of their followers as circles are designed in nature to make it appear as though users have a widespread group of friends/followers.

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Many business owners have been waiting to see whether or not it would survive but the wait is now over. With over 170 million users and growing, Google+ is very much in the social network game. In fact, at this point, it is a strong contender especially considering it is just about to turn a year old. But will Google+ actually benefit your business? There are specific actions you can take to use Google+ to drive traffic to your site.

Action #1: Manage Your Profile

Take the time to create an accurate and engaging profile – it is your opportunity to make a great first impression. Provide complete information on your profile page, including how people can contact you. Review your profile on a regular basis. Update it when necessary. Did your business receive an award? Post it. Have you adding someone interesting to your team? Post it. Creating a profile to get started on Google+ and then forgetting about it is a mistake. Just as you keep your website current, you need to do the same with your social media profiles. Your profile provides credibility to you and your business. You also need to optimize your profile.

Action #2: Identify the Right Keywords

Selecting the right keywords involves using your keywords and those of your targeted audience. You will need to do more than basic keyword research to develop this list. One way to find out which keywords your audience uses is to actually join in Google+ discussions that focus on your particular topic area. Don’t assume that your audience uses industry jargon as you and your peers do – rather, look for the “laymen terms” that are frequently used by customers which may include slang. If you are a B2B business, industry language may be appropriate but you should still confirm by participating in Google+ hangouts and other discussion circles.

Action #3: Use Keywords Appropriately

Once you have identified the best keywords, you need to make use of them in ways that will drive traffic to your site. Include them on your Google+ Profile and Google+ Pages. The best place to add keywords is in the “about” sections which are used on SERPs. You also want to use keywords each time you post messages or share photos. You should have a list of keywords from which you are working. Identify your top keywords but use your secondary keywords as well throughout your Google+ experience. Be consistent in how you use your keywords as this will help Google as it indexes your information.

Action #4: Establish Authority

Authority is essential if you want Google+ to work for you. As with many things that Google does, the number of links you have can improve your SERP rankings. They are still working on the quality issue but in the meantime focus on obtaining a volume of followers. As you join Google+ circles, people will reciprocate and join your circle. Of course the best way to establish authority is with fresh content that other Google+ users want to see. You can also establish authority by having your key team members manage their own Google+ profiles. You will be building your brand at the same time. Eventually you can be included on the “People and Pages on Google+” section of SERPs. Google also gives Google+ users AuthorRank (similar to their PageRank) and considers your other content across the web when ranking.

Action #5: Create Sharable Content

As with everything you do related to online marketing, your content must be sharable. That is, you need to provide content that followers will share with their followers. The more your content is shared, the more links you create. You also increase your chances of driving qualified traffic to your website. There are many ways to come up with new content ideas. You can follow Google+ discussion threads to see what the current hot topics are at the moment and create your own responses. You can also see what is trending on Google related to your topic area and respond accordingly. Be sure to let other Google+ users know they can share your content with others.

Action #6: Join the Conversation

It is important you actively participate in your circles. Plan to participate weekly by commenting on posts by other users. Join popular conversations by adding fresh content to the dialogue. Be sure to +1 postings that relate to your topic as this will provide additional exposure to you which is crucial for traffic building. You want to be as engaging as possible. You should view your Google+ experience as a reciprocal relationship – to get, you must give. You can see how well you are doing by using Google+ “ripples” to see who is sharing your content. This is a great way to see who your ambassadors are and identify new influencers. Do more of what gets shared. A tip to get your content shared is to provide information that is helpful and/or humorous.

Action #7: Host a Hangout

You can use Google+ Hangouts for just about any type of video content. Maybe you want to demonstrate a cool feature of a product you sell. Or perhaps you have a new online marketing tool that customers might be interested in knowing about. Whatever it is, the more hangouts you host, the more you are likely to engage new customers while building solid relationships with repeat ones. Not everyone is comfortable with virtual speaking or demonstrations. You can always delegate your Hangouts to your team members. This is a great way to showcase your team’s expertise and build authority along the way. Hangouts can be optimized for mobile marketing as well.

Action #8: Construct a Local Page

If you have a physical location, you can build a Google+ local page that local customers can use. Your local page can include a map to your location. It will have contact information including hours of operation. You will have the same level of functionality as you do with other Google+ pages so you can share content, create circles, and host hangouts. You can easily get more traffic using Google+ local pages to your advantage.

Action #9: Integrate Pictures and Videos

You will find that your followers have different preferences so mix it up. Include pictures and videos as well as text content. Often an engaging photo will cause readers to click on your post. Infographics are popular and are likely to be shared. Pictures can be shared on other social networks like Pinterest which gives you access to even more potential traffic. Be sure to optimize your pictures and videos so they can be included on SERPs. Add appropriate keywords to your alt tags for all pictures and videos you post. Be sure to follow all copyright and licensing requirements when using photos and videos.

Action #10: Put Links to Work

This might seem obvious but many Google+ users are not including their website URL on their profile page. You should do this immediately. Your brand page should also prominently display a link to your website. You can also include links in your postings. Perhaps you want to refer followers to a prior blog posting – no problem, just add the link in your Google+ posting. And do the reverse – include a link to your Google+ page on your website. You can also include it on your blog. Google allows you to link your Google+ page to your AdWords campaign. If you have an AdWords Express campaign, you can actually establish your Google+ page as your destination page. Remember, your goal is to drive traffic to your website. So don’t use Google+ in a vacuum. Make the connections for your followers. Google gives you many options when it comes to linking – use them!

Action #11: Incorporate Google+ in Marketing Strategy

Allow people to +1 you on your blog postings and marketing articles. Include a Google+ badge on your website and let your current customers know they can include you in their circles. You can also include your Google+ link on other communications such as emails and newsletters. And don’t forget your offline communications. You can drive more traffic to your site the more you share your link with people. Google+ has mobile applications that can be adapted to any marketing strategy.

You will find Google+ is easy to learn and use. It can quickly enhance your online marketing goals. Because it is still fairly small in terms of users (compared to older networks like Facebook and Twitter), you can still gain followers pretty quickly. And this will get you ranked higher on SERPs. You can drive traffic to your site directly from Google+ as well as through Google itself. This two-for-one opportunity is not available with other social networks at this time.

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In as little as one hour a day, you can realize significant benefits with web analytics. When you put this awesome option to work for you, you can quickly begin to see results in the form of increased traffic and higher revenue. Take a few moments to see what a bit of time and analysis can do for your business.

Learn About Visitors
Analytics provide valuable data on your site visitors. You know how long each visitor was on your site. You can easily determine where they originated and what they did once they entered your site. Are some of your web pages more popular than others? Are your visitors quickly leaving your site? Visitor behavior is a primary focus of marketers. It is getting much easier to gather this type of data. And it is incredibly helpful to know this information so you can target traffic that is more likely to convert to customers. It’s nice to know you have thousands of visitors but if they never respond to your calls to action, it’s rather pointless.

Remove Conversion Barriers
Being able to identify conversion barriers is invaluable. And because analytics provide data in real-time, you can immediately address issues that impede conversions. This can be anything from using bad publisher sites to broken links on your own. The point is you don’t have to work in the dark. You literally have information at your fingertips you can use to improve your online business success virtually overnight. Removing barriers to traffic conversions is an absolute must if you want your site to be productive. You can use information creatively to make changes to your website to reduce bounce rates and increase conversions.

Personalize Content
Because you are better able to target your content to specific audiences, you can use web analytics to personalize your content to those markets. Doing so will improve conversion rates which means more revenue. Geo-profiling is a specific method that allows you to determine the location of your traffic so you can use targeted marketing approaches that will drive even more traffic to your site. Information on user behavior makes it easy to adjust your content in such a way that you immediately benefit with improved traffic and conversion rates. For example, emails marketed to targeted demographics are more productive than a general campaign.

Improve Site Optimization
Once you know what works and doesn’t work on your site, you are in a better position to enhance your SEO efforts. After identifying ads on your site that perform, you can do more of those and eliminate the ads that have no or low response rates. You can also strengthen your content optimization. This may involve conducting more in-depth keyword research. Do you have pages that nobody seems to be noticing? You need to revisit those pages, both in terms of the keywords you are using and the actual content. Come up with several different versions. With web analytics you can use split testing to see which of the pages perform better for you. You may find that your overall site navigation needs to be adjusted if you have pages that are never visited.

Discover Profit Sources
It’s important you know where your profit sources are so you can protect them. Analytics gives you very specific information on each web page, ads, products, and content that directly impact conversion rates. Those with high conversion rates are your profit sources. You don’t want to make changes to those that are producing revenue unless you can improve them in some way. Identifying them is the first step. If you make changes to your site without knowing this, you may end up losing revenue. And it may be difficult to rebuild profit sources.

Identify Social Media Influencers
This is fast becoming an essential feature of web analytics. Knowing what drives your social media traffic can inform your social media marketing activities. Analytics allows you to know down to the keyword level what is going on with your customers. This includes their behavior and preferences. Having this information allows you to create specific marketing approaches that will engage those users. You also have the chance to develop new business opportunities that meet the needs of your target market.

Monitor Competitors
It has never been easier to know what your online competition is doing. You can actually compare your online marketing strategy with those of your competitors. With this information you can leverage your strengths to outpace competition. You can tap into new opportunities while strengthening brand awareness among online users. Analytics lets you see what keywords your competitors are using so you can make adjustments to yours. Knowing where your competitors are getting their traffic can pave the way for you to target those same sources or avoid them altogether, depending upon your specific strategy.

Strengthen Online Marketing Plan
An overarching goal of web analytics is to help site owners improve their online marketing plans. You may have developed your initial marketing plan based on assumptions but you can fine tune it using hard facts thanks to the data your analytics provide. You can use web analytics for everything from optimized content to affiliate marketing and PPC campaigns. Not only will you be better positioned to attract new traffic to your site, you can retain your current customer base for effectively. Analytics should inform your marketing plan which is a fluid document that changes as new opportunities arise.

Measure Return on Investment (ROI)
Without using analytics, you simply don’t know if you are spending marketing money in the right place. You may be paying for website modifications when the issue is your paid traffic sources. Throwing money away for any reason makes for bad business. It doesn’t take much to run through a marketing budget if you are paying for traffic. So you need to accurately measure ROI for every single marketing activity you undertake. Analytics can actually help you save money both in the short term and long term.

Use Data-Driven Decision Making
Web analytics can help your online and offline business activities. Specifically you will have real-time data you can use to make smart and timely business decisions. When you use data to drive your business, you have a better chance of being successful. In fact, data-driven decisions are the very foundation of a growing business. You need to know what customers want and provide that to them when they want it if you want to succeed. Analytics gives you the ammunition to do this in the most cost-effective and streamlined way possible.

Find Emerging Trends
Analytics can help you spot emerging trends in your industry that you can take advantage of by developing new business opportunities or creating new products and services. You can drill down to see how the trend got started so you can determine if it is merely a fad or it is here to stay. This is an often overlooked benefit of web analytics. Analytics are not just site specific. You can see what type of activities are taking place across the web and determine how to leverage them for your own gain.

A one-size-fits-all online marketing method simply does not exist. You must customize your approach by using every tool at your disposal. And web analytics is one of the most powerful because your site can only be effective if visitors have a positive experience. Visitors make or break your online business. Analytics can help you make sure visitors get the experience they expect and become converts.

There are many web analytics tools and programs you can use for your business. Many are free while others require payment to use. Review the leading options and select one or two that are most appropriate for your company and industry. You can try several before deciding which best fits your needs. The important thing is to actually use the tools to benefit your business.

Experts debate whether you should stick with one tool or mix it up. It’s your business – take time to see what will help you the most. Each analytics tool or program works different from others and provides different types of data. Learn what each has to offer and go from there.

Once you have learned to use web analytics, you can allocate a portion of each day to review data and make adjustments where needed. This will result in your site becoming more successful each day as your web presence and brand visibility grows. You can assign this activity to a team member or outsource it to a web analytics company who will provide reports on key performance indicators so you can better manage your business success.

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Gary asked us to create his company an online presence. We did just that with his new website. Go check them out : garycrosselectrical.co.uk

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