SEO is Only Part of the Equation by Julie Friedman Bacchini

Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Dream: You launch a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign and immediately you have millions of hits and your web site crashes because of the traffic and - of course! - the sales. You never have to do anything again except sit back and relax: hundreds of thousands of people will visit your site every day from now on, buying everything you care to offer. Oh, and did I mention? The SEO campaign itself was an inexpensive, quick, do-it-yourself kit.

The Reality: The above scenario is nothing more than a dream … in fact, nothing more than a pipedream. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's time to chew a stick of the reality gum and get down to business:

1. SEO is not a silver bullet. The fact is, there is no silver bullet when it comes to marketing. It's easy to think that the next "latest and greatest" is the answer to all your marketing prayers: SEO, enewsletters, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter … every one of them has been touted as the be-all and end-all of marketing. But the truth is, they are all tools. Tools that have to be weighed carefully to determine if they will work effectively with your business strategy to drive your target market to your door. Some will work for you, some won't.

2. SEO is part of your overall marketing strategy. Because there are no silver bullets, every available marketing tool should be analyzed to see where and how it may fit with your overall marketing strategy. And remember, all those tools then become interrelated: SEO, blogs, direct mail, TV and radio advertising, print ads, etc. A careful marketing strategy examines both the tools available, and their potential interactions in order to gain the most bang for the buck. Accordingly, SEO may very well be a part of your overall marketing strategy, but it is still only a part of what you need to do to get the word out about your business.

3. SEO is a unique part of your marketing strategy. Another important point to consider is that SEO is unique in its position in your marketing strategy. Basically every other marketing strategy is about getting your name out in front of your target market. You send emails, letters, ads, commercials, billboards … all hoping to catch someone's eye. But SEO is different: in SEO, your target market comes looking for you. Instead of you reaching out to them, they are reaching out to you. It is vital that your overall marketing strategy includes both these outward pushes (traditional marketing) and inward pulls (search engine optimization) - and plans for them to work hand-in-hand.

4. SEO is a deliberate, methodical process. If you decide that SEO is appropriate for your business, then set realistic expectations about how it is going to happen. Search engine optimization is about promoting your unique company and your unique benefits to your unique market … there's nothing cookie-cutter about that goal, so there is nothing cookie-cutter about the process. This is not about making a phone call, shoehorning some keywords into your site, and sitting back. A search engine optimization strategy must be tailored to your precise needs and goals, and that takes research, time, and effort.

5. SEO takes time to generate response. "Sign up now! For $299 we'll put you on the front page of Google in a week!" You remember the old adage? "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Certainly, that's the case for SEO. SEO is a time-intensive process. Not only is it time-intensive when it comes to developing the initial SEO strategy: it is then time-intensive in actually working that strategy out. An SEO campaign involves getting your site re-indexed, tracking results, modifying keywords and copy, consistently adding new content, and much more. All that takes time. But the good news is, the results are powerful - and lasting.

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Buying Cycle of products in an Ecommerce website by Manish Shrivastava

Friday, May 29, 2009

Be it apparel merchandising or an adult website promotion, planning for it is of vital importance as that would ultimately drive in more customers for the product. The Buying Cycle defines the complete process of searching to sale completion of the product.

Before purchasing a product, a customer usually goes through different stages. The customer would search for the product in general, check for the required features, create a preliminary list of features and other options, check the seller credentials, check after-sale support, check for discounts and finally buy the product. Although, the process appears to be very lengthy, it can be summarized into some definite stages, which may help in understanding the customer behavior and product performance. These are:

Research stage A customer searches for the product over the Internet before making a final decision to buy. In this stage, the customer should be provided with relevant information and gradually convinced about the product. From Search Engine Marketers perspective (for example, adult web promotion or promoting any service), the customer should not be "pushed", even though he should be followed up with related information.

Comparison and analysis stage After deciding to buy, the customer would now compare the product with those of the competitors and analyze the pros and cons. For example, in an adult web site promotion campaign, the customer should be made aware of the "edges" or advantages of the product and its unique features.

Buying Stage In this stage, the customer finally decides to buy the product. Here, the customer should be given any available promotional or discount offer or any suggestion on other available products or related items.

Post-buying stage Once the customer buys, he should be thanked for his/her decision and made aware of the return policies and possible options for existing customers (for example, special offers for adult web marketing campaign as cited above). He should also be given the details of customer support and should be encouraged for future shopping.

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Write Quality Content Articles To Build Free Website Traffic by Rex Kingman

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

If done correctly, you can write quality articles for search engine traffic can be very effective. There are so individuals and companies that are trying to use this method but get it all wrong.

There are really just a few tips that you need to follow, and if you do this then you will be on your way to success with article marketing.

You should first know your target audience. This is a significant part that a lot of people miss. It appears that many people chose to write articles on topics they know nothing about, which can really bore your readers. You're much better off writing quality content articles on a subject you know about, even if it is a smaller target market.

Secondly make sure you optimize your articles for search engines by using keywords. This is another important aspect that people overlook, but make no mistake about it, the people who are making money with article marketing know the importance of this step. You should search for keywords that are likely to produce a large amount of targeted searches within your niche market.

Submit your articles to quality article directories. There is no excuse for making this mistake, and many people do it anyways. You need to submit your articles to the top article directories, two of them are ezinearticles and goarticles. There are also another dozen or so that are pretty good.
Go to squidoo.com/buildfreewebsitetraffic for more information on getting tons of traffic to your website.

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