Keyword & Content Optimization

Despite the major search engine’s (i.e. Google, Bing & Yahoo) continued evolution of more and more complex algorithms, content still remains as a major player for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). What does this mean for your business? That every page of your website; whether it is a blog, eCommerce or static website should be looked over and analyzed for keywords in meta-tags, keyword density, page focus and user functionality/readability. While existing content should be analyzed and optimized, new fresh content should be created weekly, if not daily, following the same guidelines.

Despite their recent downgrade of importance with major search engine algorithms, using keywords and keyphrases in your meta-tags is still the best practice and should be followed. This does not mean that you should go stuff keywords in the meta-tags and wait for traffic to come in. Rather use them legitimately and follow these basic SEO rules. On-page tags such as image alt tags and title tags should also be filled. If you have a blog make sure you use the tag function because there is recent evidence that these are of growing importance.

Keyword density and page focus go hand in hand. Each page of your website should be focused around no more than two keywords or phrases. More than two and your content becomes diluted and search engines will have a hard time categorizing your website which will result in poor rankings for your desired keywords. You should be careful not to repeat the same keyphrase over and over again.  A good rule is 5 times per 300 words. You should use supporting words and synonyms that go along with the the subject. H1 and h2 tags should also be used, but no more than one each per page and they should be very similar to your meta-tags.

While search engines may not be able to truly experience your website’s feel and function, they do take in account navigation and text to code ratio (more text, less code is best). These two aspects will also directly affect the human user’s experience.  Less code means a faster website and a more logical user-friendly navigation.  People will be able to view and peruse your site easily.

There are many factors that come into play when making your website  search engine friendly. Optimized content has withstood the test of time and has even grown in importance. Ensuring that your new and existing website content follows these rules will go a long way in your internet marketing efforts.

London UK – 19 April 2010. Profile Wines, a UK based online wine retailer recently launched their new website developed by InteractOne. Built on the Magento community platform, Profile Wines seeks to build a community of Wine lovers who actively participate in an ongoing discussion about their favorite wines.

Enhanced shop by attributes functionality, rating systems and feedback design were implemented towards this goal. A clean and classic design was chosen to support the Profile Wines brand image as well enable shoppers to easily navigate the great selection of Wines.

Hosted on InteractOne’s Ecommerce cluster, Profile Wines is able to achieve top performance load times even during peak load times. Given the great response since launching, Profile Wines is committed to increasing their web community through partnering with InteractOne to further their social, organic and direct marketing efforts.

Visit Site: ProfileWines.com

Using a chat service on your website is a great way to engage your customers and to increase conversions. This is especially true for eCommerce sites like Magento and osCommerce which can offer an array of products to consumers, many of them comparison shopping and looking to learn more about certain items. By answering their specific questions about certain products or services you can expedite the purchasing process, leave customers with a positive shopping experience and offer a more personal connection with your brand.

At InteractOne we use Kayako’s Live Response, which has not only provided us with a more personal connection to potential clients but also gives us information on how they found our website, what pages they have viewed and for how long. It also gives the viewer and us the option to initiate a chat.

Studies into the effectiveness of such a chat service show the benefits of adopting such a system. In a recent article in Website Magazine the numbers are eye-opening. The survey, conducted by Bold Software, stated  “56 percent reported that live chat technology” positively influenced their customers to make a purchase. This number shoots to 65 percent for the Hardware/Home Improvement marketplace and 63 percent for the Health/Beauty marketplace.

Adopting a chat service is a great way to bridge the personal connection gap that many e-tailers experience. Contact InteractOne today to add a chat service to the bag of tools your website uses to connect with your customers.

One of the most overlooked aspects of a solid internet marketing plan is content. There are many on-site Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies; however, if your website is missing unique, high quality, user friendly content all your work might be in vain. Good content not only will attract and cause search engine robots to scour your site but helps retain viewers and encourages them to take action and increase conversions (ie. phone call, buy a product, fill  out a form, ect.) .

So what is good content? Good content will establish you as an authoritative expert on your product or service. Good content should focus around the products or service you are trying to sell.  Each industry has keywords and phrases unique to that industry and your pages should only be focused on one or two at the maximum.   Your websites home page text should focus on your general services or product and should be linking out to pages of related content.   Each page should be at least a couple paragraphs in text with images that complement the text. Your pages content should also include links to other related pages making site navigation easier.

eCommerce websites are notorious for lack of  unique content. This is the nature of selling hundreds and thousands of items in which entering unique descriptions is nearly impossible and a would take a significant amount of time. A way to combat this is to create pages describing your best selling items or services. If your selling apples for example, publish pages showing your expertise in the apple field. Write about tasty apples, apple types, any apple related news, how to grow apples, apple recipes,  history of apples, apple events, apple nutrition…..you get the idea.  Make your website a expert source on the subject.

Creating unique, high quality, user friendly content for your website will go a long way with your SEO efforts. By making yourself an expert or authoritative figure when it comes to your product or service you can ensure that traffic for your website will increase and with it conversions.

Looking for an eCommerce shopping cart that will meet the needs of your business and stay within your budget can seem overwhelming at first. Shopping around to find the right solution can be a daunting task.   Wading through the seemingly endless varieties of shopping cart packages can take many hours and can be very frustrating!   Each company boasts that their system is the right one for you so determining which platform to run your eCommerce business requires time and patience.  Here are some points to keep in mind when purchasing an eCommerce shopping cart system.

Easy To Use Interface
The interface should be easy to use and understand for both you and the customer. Any eCommerce system worth its salt should be able to import products from an excel sheet, organize them into categories and track inventory.  Writing descriptions and modifying products should not be a difficult task.
On the consumer end, your eCommerce shopping cart should be easy to navigate and the checkout process must be simple and secure. Your products should also be categorized and displayed in a logical and intuitive way.

Search Engine Friendly
If people can’t find your eCommerce site then you’re not going to make any sales. Clean code and the ability modify URLs and header tags should be standard.  Your website’s loading speed must be fast and without any lag.  Lag is any noticeable delay that the user experiences when accessing your website.

Analytics and Reporting
A good eCommerce system will have the ability to track traffic, search queries, shopping cart abandonment, most viewed items and have automated sale reports. Knowing who is coming to your site, what they’re buying, their likes and dislikes, and how they are finding you can go a long way in shaping your marketing strategy.

Marketing Promotions and Tools
Promoting products, offering an email or newsletter sign-up, free shipping options and up-sells are a few features a shopping cart are the features of a superior shopping cart. Getting the customer to the site is only half the battle!  Encouraging them to purchase items is a lot easier if your eCommerce system is equipped with the ability to promote your products.

These are just a few pointers and suggestions when looking for an eCommerce system.  Here at InteractOne, we offer Magento eCommerce and osCommerce shopping cart solutions. If you are interested in either system for your business please contact us to learn more!

You have decided to implement a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign to drive traffic to your website, increase conversions and tap into the millions of consumers shopping for what you offer on the internet.  Which keywords or key-phrases should you target? While instinct might tell you to go after the keywords and phrases that best describe your business, it is best to research your competition using those same keywords, variations on keywords, and a cost analysis of the effort and time required to implement your keywords versus the amount of traffic they may generate.

First to give credit where it’s due, your instinct is right - make sure your SEO keywords specifically fit your business.  The key word here is “specific.” If you are a car window repair shop, choosing the keyword “windows” will get you nowhere fast. If you are a local New Holland tractor dealer, trying to rank with the phrase ”New Holland” might put you into unwanted and unprofitable competition with several large cities around the world. If you are a coffee shop, tempting as it might be, you have little chance with the keyword “coffee” alone.

Do you see the trend? Make sure your keywords are on-target, ownable, realistic and not easily mistaken for another subject entirely.

Once you’ve built your list of keywords it is time to analyze how many people are searching the web using those keywords. Two free tools that do a good job of this are Google’s Keyword Traffic Tool and Wordtrackers GTrends Tool. Follow this rule of thumb: if a keyword generates a ton of searches, it will be harder to rank organically through an SEO campaign.  If you find that your keywords have too much competition, try adding the town, city or state name. Also, try longer-tailed keywords; for example instead of  “windshield repair” try “windshield repair Cincinnati” or “window repair shop in Cincinnati.”

Your current rank for a keyword or phrase, the amount of competition for the same keyword and the current state of your website are all important factors in estimating SEO campaign costs. Writing articles and submitting them, optimizing website code, text, images, creating and monitoring social media to support your site, and the creation of new website content all must be taken into account.

Determining the proper keywords for your SEO campaign is an ongoing process. Setting and forgetting just isn’t possible. Constant traffic analysis, keyword position reports, and frequent website updates optimally tune your website for SEO.  Like most things, experience and first-hand knowledge are paramount. Start your SEO campaign on the right track with the proper keywords and you’ll gain the experience to make your website highly competitive by constantly refining your SEO strategy.

Inbound links from credible websites carry considerable weight in Google’s search algorithm and are a critical element for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For businesses entering the Internet; especially small to medium-sized businesses, getting quality links can prove to be a challenge. Here are some tips to get started on your linking campaign and improve your overall internet marketing efforts.

A great place to find links is simply to reach out to your business networking contacts. These can be clients (use discretion here), distributors, neighborhood businesses, charities or events your business takes part in, and related businesses. Just remember, do not be afraid to ask. The worst thing they can say is no and the benefit of obtaining quality links is well worth it.

Another great way to garner links is to go out and be part of the online community of blogs and forums. Make sure your comments are meaningful and on topic. Avoid spamming techniques like putting keywords where your name should be and filling the comments field with meaningless keyphrase babble. If you have content on your website that is relevant to the discussion make sure you offer a link back to that page of your website.

While searching for links, consider what I call “off the web links.” These links are your business’ URL printed on traditional media such as stationary, billing, business cards, and any form of advertising. To leave your URL off any form of media your business uses is simply giving yourself an unnecessary handicap.

Obtaining links can be challenging; however, it is a must when building your credibility with the major search engines and potential customers.

When potential customers search for your business online what are the results? The best case scenario would be a link to your website at the top of the first results page with links to positive reviews and content you control on the rest of the page. Worst case scenario is your competitor’s website or negative reviews at the top of the first results page with a link to your website nowhere to be found.

No matter where you are in the above scenario there are steps you can take to ensure that the results for a search of your of your business’ name are positive and bring customers to you instead of scaring them away.

1) Create a Static Website or Blog for your Business. This is not as intimidating as it sounds. Today you can set up a simple website or blog that will provide your business with an online presence for less than $20.oo a month. Keep in mind that this type of website won’t be winning any awards in design but will provide search engines with content on your business that you control. Blogging platforms such as WordPress are edging out static websites in popularity because of its ease of of use, functionality, and the ability to update text and design with little or no coding skills.

2) Get involved in Social Media. The great thing about social media is that it is free! The three top social media sites I recommend are Twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn. Facebook and Twitter are great internet marketing tool that allow you to engage your target market. You can use these platforms to update customers on your products and services, changes in hours, industry news and any other sources of information that might appeal to them.

3) Set up Local Listing Accounts. This also a great way to put your business on the web for free. Yahoo, Bing, and Google all have local listings/maps that allow you to post a summary, images, video, contact info and hours of your business.

4) Be Pro-Active. Search the internet for blogs, websites, forums, online news outlets and any other type of website that is related to your business or industry. On many of these sites you can make a profile for your business and leave comments and respond to questions.  If you see any negative reviews or postings about your business make sure you reach out immediately to resolve these issues.

Creating an online presence for your business that attracts customers instead of repels them only takes a few hours to setup and a few hours a week to manage. As more and more people log-on to the internet to find a business or to learn more about a business they plan on working with, you can bet your online reputation is going to play an ever more important role.

Website loading speed is a major factor when it comes to search engine rankings, retaining viewer interest and turning viewers into customers.   Although Magento is a fast loading Ecommerce website out of the box but there are many ways to tweak it for more speed. Increased speed can easily translate into more sales and better rankings in the  search engine result pages (SERPS).

One of the easiest ways to improve Magento’s speed is to add the Fooman Speedster extension. This extension is free and can be found here.  Load time after this extension is installed is vastly improved and is a must for streamlining your online store.

Another easy way to speed up Magento is to take out this line of code php_value memory_limit 128M which is found in the root .htaccess file. Eliminating this line of code gives magento more memory to work with which will improve page load times greatly.

Enabling Gzip on your server is another great way to speed up your Magento eCommerce site.  You can do this by updateing your .htacess file. First find “enable apache served files” in the file. Next change that code to the following:

############################################
## enable apache served files compression
## http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html#gzip

# Insert filter
SetOutputFilter DEFLATE

# Netscape 4.x has some problems…
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html

# Netscape 4.06-4.08 have some more problems
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip

# MSIE masquerades as Netscape, but it is fine
BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
# Don’t compress images
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.(?:gif|jpe?g|png)$ no-gzip dont-vary

# Make sure proxies don’t deliver the wrong content
Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary

Hold on to your hats!! Off you go! These  modifications and updates are sure to improve the performance of your Magento eCommerce website, convert into better standings in the SERPS, and result in happier customers and more visitors.

Website loading speed is one of the most important features of your website. To much load time and you can lose a potential customer entirely. A study released by Akamai Technologies, Inc. in September showed that “2 seconds is the new threshold in terms of an average online shopper’s expectation for a web page to load and 40 percent of shoppers will wait no more than three seconds before abandoning a retail or travel site.” This threshhold is only going to continue to be pushed as customers speed expectations grow.

Search engines are also adding speed to their page ranking requirements, this is evident with Googles upcoming Caffeine update. In a recent interview Matt Cutts, the man in charge of Google’s Webspam Team, said “speed hasn’t played a role in rankings in the past, but that may very well change.”

So how do you speed up your website? The best fastest and easiest way to speed up your websites performance is to look at the websites design. Are there large bulky images, tons of java & flash script? These need to be eliminated and at the very least optimized for performance.

Another variable to look at is your Websites hosting company. Are the severs they provide made for the type of site you have?

Many times the performance issue has to do with age. Code builds up and is outdated, the website platform hasn’t been updated and is vulnerable to bugs and hacks, and like most things the newest version is just plain better. Instead of updating these issues one by one, many times a complete website redesign would be the better and cheaper alternative.

For eCommerce sites a high performance option would be Magento. The Magento platform combines performance, ease of use, and awesome looks into a seamless package. This platform is used by many major retailers for these many reasons and can be parred down or expanded depending on your needs.

For websites that require good looks, speed, and the ability to be updated from any PC WordPress is an excellent platform. With almost endless styleing possibilities, lightweight code, and a host of free plug-ins that can boost performance and functionality this platform has set the standard in Content Management Systems (CMS).

Whether you need to go through your sites code line by line to streamline its performance or your going to opt for a complete redesign one thing is for certain, speed will effect the success of your website and its importance will only continue to grow.