Online Marketing Summit - Downtown Denver
On August 15, 2008 in Advice, Conferences
To better serve our clients SEO Prodigy staff periodically attends web marketing conferences to stay abreast with newest developments and strategies in the ultra radical online marketing industry.
On August 14th SEO Prodigy marketing director Chad Klingensmith along with future SEM manager Rachael James ventured to the Online Marketing Summit to learn about the newest Adv
anced Online Marketing tactics. The summit was hosted by online marketing bravado Aaron Kahlow who is currently a managing partner of Business Online. Kahlow humorously commented that this isn’t “your daddy’s conference” since most of the topic convered the newest developments in online media including social networking and video marketing.
While many good ideas were discussed at this conference, there was one prevailing concept; website usability. Unfortunately many webmasters invest tremendous amounts of time, money and effort promoting their website but make careless oversites that could seriously inhibit the performance.
Fact of the matter is that the industry website conversion rate is 2%. Simply put for every 100 visitors, 2 of them are either filling out a lead form, making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter/membership. Obviously this number fluctuates depending on the industries and whether the conversion is hard (spending money) or soft (providing information i.e. signups/leads).
However there is any entire analytical science behind about how visitors behave while visiting a website. Webmasters who are aware of this can acheive improved conversion rates. Here are a few quick tips.
1. People are attracted to people.
Studies have shown that visitors first look at images of people on their site while scrolling over websites…then they at the text. So if you are selling a service such as health insurance it may be a good idea to have the images of the smiling family redirecting to the quote page.
2. Move it to the right
Make sure the call to action button is strategically place UP and TO THE RIGHT of your website.
3. Use those curves
The human eye is attracted to an oval. Make sure that your call to action icon, images or letter are very big and well rounded
4. Remove the clutter
Make sure that on your sales/checkout page that you have absolutely no distractions/outgoing links that may confuse the visitor. We suggesting having one link back to the home page. That’s it.
5. Use contrast
Make sure that your call to action link/banner has a darker contrast (with light background). This is also makes it easy for seniors to read what you are trying to promote.
Those were just few small tips from the conference. Stay tuned; Rachael and Chad will likely share with us.
5 Excellent Ways to Screw Up your Web Marketing Campaign
On July 20, 2008 in Advice, Search Engine Marketing, online marketing, web marketing
After years of optimizing and promoting websites our team has seen about every web promotion fumble, roadblocks, hindrances possible that can limit a webmaster from reaching their online saturation goals. The fact of the matter is that many of these problems could have been easily avoided.
We are going to review the top 5 bloopers webmasters can make when they are trying to promote their website.
Here is number 1:
Web Designers who still use frames
Absolutely amazing that this problem still exists. In the late 90’s the use of “frames” became very popular in web design. You can tell if a website is using frames by viewing their source code and finding the script that looks like the following:
<frameset rows=“*,1″ frameborder=“no” border=“0″ framespacing=“0″> <frame src=“home.html” name=“mainFrame” id=“mainFrame” title=“mainFrame” />
Frames are usually used to accomplish some web design goals/tricks. The most often is to include an audio file/music when you visit a website.
The problem is that frames inhibit search engines from crawling necessary content and information needed for indexing. They also limited an entire website to just one webpage which severely limits search engine saturation and internal link popularity.
When I was first introduced to this issue in early 2005 I believed that the majority of the web design community understood this mistake and would cease using frames in web development. However in the last 6 months our company received web marketing requests from three different websites using frames. It turns out that some amateur web designers are still using frames/framesets to acheive aesthetically pleasing designs but are clueless of the consequences.
To save some time, headache and money make sure to communicate with your web designer about how SEO Friendly your current (or future) website is. If you have your doubts make sure to look through their source code for the word “frames” or contact us at info@seoprodigy.com to take a look at the website.
While frames are not the only web design structure problem you can have when promoting a site….they are certainly one of the biggest.
And yes, we have a full web design team that can make SEO friendly websites 100% frame free.
In the next post I will blooper number #2: Not 301 redirectly to your new URL.
Search Marketing in One Sentence - Part 3
On July 06, 2008 in Advice, Search Engine Marketing, online marketing, web marketing
VARIABLE #3: DEMAND
Demand is the secret sauce to the online visibility equation.
DEMAND (TIME + MONEY) = ONLINE VISIBILITY
In the not so distant past, the venerable web marketing guru Danny Sullivan commented at SES conference in Chicago that when it comes to web marketing “it is much easier to have the search engines pull your product or service….then trying to push it”. Just face it, some services or products are in more demand than others. And some industries are inherently more or less complicated. If you are trying to promote a website for general keywords related to mortgages, real estate, Viagra, etc you are likely going to have demand variable that is less than 1 ( < 1 ). This variable will unfortunately lower the return on your efforts involving TIME and MONEY. So for instance your product/service demand is 1% then your equation might look like something like this
($100000 x 200 hours of work) = ONLINE VISIBILITY RETURN
Not to be discouraging, but just realize that if you have a low demand service/product you will end up investing more time and money. You may also have to focus more a certain niche for these markets. For example, you may next to impossible for a newbie to get ranked on the first page of Google time getting ranked on the first page for “New York Real Estate”. Considering your brutal competition your demand variable is going to be very low for this phrase. However if you try promoting our website for “Ashland New York Real Estate” (Ashland is a small city in NY state) your are much more likely to get higher returns and placement for this specific phrase.
Also don’t forget to mention hot topics that are being noticed by the media/public. Have you found the cure for cancer? Did Oprah endorse your book/product? Do you have something special that none of your competitors can offer (and your customers truly want). If your answer is “yes” than your demand variable will increase exponentially. So the little money/time you devote to a high demand service/product will be significantly multiplied.
The tricky part about demand is that business owners often overestimate the true demand for their service or product. You need to seek unbiased information about popular your service/product is.
You also need to protect yourself against copycats, imitators and knock off artists. If you have a great idea make sure to file for a trademark/service mark immediately with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
So you may be saying to yourself “well I get your point….so now what?”. Well every situation is different. Our best advice is to accept the fact their are NO SHORTCUTS to success in web marketing. Stay optimistic because you will eventually get what you pay for. However watch out for charlatans/fly by night gimmicks that promise your website “a 100000 visitors for only $29.95″. True SEOs understand the value of white hat optimization.
Search Marketing in One Sentence - Part 2
On June 18, 2008 in Advice, Search Engine Marketing, online marketing, web marketing
Variable #2: TIME
Demand (Money + Time) = On line Visibility
Time which is often synonymous with money is fundamental variable of a successful online marketing campaign.
It’s possible to generate online visibility without spending a dime on paid advertising. This is usually accomplished through many hours of self taught search engine optimization, blogging, social networking, link requests, etc. This choice is often more common with hobbyists/part timers who are under less pressure to generate on line revenue. The problem is that it may take several months/years to learn how to naturally promote a website and much longer to actually apply these tactics. Another problem (sometimes a fatal mistake) is that beginners sometimes succumb to taking bad advice and end up using questionable tactics that end up hurting their online positioning. Plus it isn’t just about SEO anymore, there are new marketing options such as blogging, video promotion and social marketing.
Devoting your effort to promoting a website/blog can be very rewarding if you are diligent in your work. However remember the old cliché “time is money”. Do you really have extra time to devote to your project? If “yes” great, if no find someone to do it for you (unless you want to become a SEO professional).
In part 3 we will discuss the third variable and the “secret sauce’ to online visibility: Demand.
Search Marketing in One Sentence - Part 1
On June 13, 2008 in Advice, Search Engine Marketing, online marketing, web marketing
The one sentence answer to the meaning of life (at least for online marketers)
The QUESTION:
Over the many years our web marketing campaign our team has often been asked the ever so rhetorical question? How do I get my website ranked higher? How do I get more traffic? Or sometimes, almost incredulously, how do you get websites ranked higher (with the expectation of one sentence answer)? The modern day search engines use a state of the art, ultra-sophisticated, borderline artificially intelligent algorithms (formulas search engines use to rank websites) this question could be considered along the lines of “what is the meaning of life”. Unless you are a Google Engineer who is sworn to secrecy….nobody has a one right answer for marketing a website.
So maybe you belong to the growing market of web marketing newbies and rather not spend hours learning and researching search marketing. When starting out, how can you determine the best plan of action is for marketing a website? Let us give you a fresh perspective. Barring all extraneous circumstances or outliers the answer boils down to simple fundamental economics (and you thought you were finished with high school/college economics…..)
Lets clean up the chalkboards and mute out the noise. Here is a simple formula you can apply to web marketing visibility. Yes there is an ANSWER in ONE SENTENCE:
Demand (Money + Time) = Online Visibility
Yes that’s right. This simple algebraic equation is a baseline approach you must consider when promoting a website. Let me explain the variables to this formula.
VARIABLE #1: MONEY
We are mean and green….Welcome to the NOW generation. Most businesses are impatient and will quickly turn to only paid advertising for quick traffic and sales. This includes spending on paid advertising, paid linking, press releases, anything that costs money to get visibility on line. It could take months to rank organically for “New Balance running shoes” where it takes only 15 minutes to setup a Google Adwords campaign and start getting traffic immediately. However you must be willing to pay anywhere from $0.01 to over $50 a click for this traffic. Once your out of money, you are out of traffic.
There is nothing wrong with spending money on paid advertising as long as your business is producing a positive ROI. In fact I know SEO Prodigy has always been careful to calculate how much a client is spending to obtain a conversion (sale, signup, lead, etc…) Also considering this primary way search engine generate revenue (in fact Google makes 99% of its revenue through ad words) it’s unlikely the paid advertising will go obsolete anytime soon. Our suggestion is to make sure you are carefully managing your paid accounts…or find a professional to manage them for you. Many people are clueless when it comes to setting up and managing ppc campaigns. Similar to hiring an accountant to save money on taxes, hire a legitimate search engine marketing professional to save money on pay per click and/or other forms of on line advertising.
SEO Prodigy moves headquarters to new office!
On May 13, 2008 in Company News
In spring of 2008 SEO Prodigy moved headquarters from downtown Denver to the pristine Crescent Building VI in the prestigous Denver Tech Center. This decision was made on the premise that upper managemetn decided it was time to upgrade services and professionalism with helping clients. The Director of Strategy/Development Chad Klingensmith commented “I now have a 42 inch HDTV for a computer monitor….it’s fantastic for client meetings”.
Our new mailing address is
8400 E Crescent Parkway Suite 600
Greenwood Village CO 80111
Our corporate main number is 720-528-4062
SEO Prodigy looks forward to serving you!
SEO Prodigy will be giving web strategy presentation at local toastmasters group
On May 13, 2008 in Company News
Chad Klingensmith, the director of strategy/development will be giving a presentation about web marketing at the Bob Ord Toastmasters on May 20th. The speech will be our company slogan “marketing today for the world of tomorrow”.
The speech will be geared towards small/medium sized business owners who are seeking practical advice when it comes to promoting websites/blogs.
The Bob Ord Toastmasters group meets at the Cool Rivers Cafe in Greenwood Village at 7AM every Tuesday morning. Anybody looking to improve their communication/public speaking skills is welcome to attend. For more information visit their website at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TM1588.
Stay tuned for avi presentation!
SEO Prodigy announces partnership with Spiderbait Inc
On May 13, 2008 in Partnerships
SEO Prodigy has recently announced an official partnership with Spiderbait Inc. Spiderbait brings a wealth of experience and knowledge with search marketing. They are proud proponents of white hat/ethical search engine marketing. Owner Dante Monteverde is a respected editor for the Website Magazine. He is well traveled and regularly attends search marketing conventions including Search Engines Strategies conference/expo, Pub Con, Affiliate Summit and more. To learn more about the website magazine please visit www.websitemagazine.com
SEO Prodigy looks to work with Spiderbait to help implement their cutting edge marketing knowledge to maximize client services.