Internet Marketing Blog

Keyword Rich Domains

Nick — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:05:44 +0000

All SEO professionals know that domains that are rich in keywords are loved by Google, and search engines will show favouritism towards those websites that have domains with keywords included in them. If a domain name is a direct match to a keyword that is being searched for, then it goes without saying that the website will rank higher for the keyword than other sites whose domains are not rich in keywords.

There are many people who argue that this is a flaw in the Google Algorithm and that this type of favouritism is clearly wrong. There is perhaps a case to support this as people have long since realised that Google favours a domain rich in keywords and this has led to huge competition when buying domain names in an attempt to have a top ranking website and to get increased traffic in a quick and easy way.

There are several methods that are becoming popular in dealing with keyword rich domains, such as 301 redirecting where the keyword rich domain is directed to the actual website in use. There is also an upsurge in doorway pages being created that are content rich, and finally entire websites are being moved to new domains in an attempt to piggyback on the benefits of a keyword rich domain.

However, Google is catching up with these methods and is starting to penalise those that have employed a keyword rich domain purely to boost their search engine optimisation efforts.

At Click Consult we can develop an effective search engine optimisation internet marketing strategy to build your site effectively, without fear of penalties.

How Deleted Ads Affect Quality Score

Laura — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:42 +0000

How you ever considered what your Quality Score looks like for your PPC account in general and whether it has affected the account throughout the years?

Everything you do now will affect the future score and gaining a good Quality Score will take time. For some it may take just a week but for others it can take much longer. By optimising the PPC account on an ongoing basis you will start to see the benefits of a great Quality Score. In time, costs should drop and the ad will have better placements.

What many people do not realise is that deleted or paused ads will still have an effect on the Quality Score. Both paused or deleted ads and keywords still have an effect and their historical performance can continue to affect the account history long after they are deleted. However it is still recommended to delete those that do not perform well to increase the quality score. This prevents them affecting the quality score and your account history in the future. Over time as other ads gain positive performance history the effect of the deleted keywords and ads will start to diminish and the affect on the quality score will lessen.

It is recommended to delete poor performers rather than to pause them, as they could be resumed by accident. In Adwords for example it is possible to start deleted keywords and ads so beware of that possibility.

If you want to increase the click through rate the keep deleting poor performers and adding new ads.

At Click Consult we can help you manage all your pay per click accounts.

Web Design And Usability Testing

James — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:05:43 +0000

Carrying out usability testing as part of the web marketing and development process is potentially beneficial, but there are a number of pitfalls to avoid. Tests can be unreliable if they are not carefully planned and results can be useless if they are taken in isolation rather than as part of a bigger picture.

One obvious benefit of usability testing is that it can reveal glaring errors made by the web design team. Other more subtle aspects of tests can be easier to miss. Selection of the right participants is crucial. If a user is asked to carry out a task he or she has no interest in, the results will differ from those of a more motivated person. If the aim of a test is to help streamline a site for new visitors, it is no use testing with participants selected from existing users, as they will already have come to terms with the established system and will find it familiar.

Results must be analysed with caution. If a person visits lots of pages, does that show extreme interest or could it mean that the information that was sought for could not be found? Alternatively, a user lingering on one spot could be a good sign, and mean that the page was engaging, or it could be that the visitor was unsure how to proceed. Awareness of such possibilities makes it more likely that testing a web design will prove fruitful. At Click Consult, our web development professionals fully understand the pros and cons of usability testing.

Take Care Of Your Affiliates

Dan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:46 +0000

A merchant is only successful if his affiliate marketing network is up to standard and performing well. It is worth putting a lot of effort into maintaining the high standard of your affiliate network as this is where you will gain a greater return on investment.

The most obvious improvement that any affiliate merchant can make is to implement actions in their affiliate network that they would welcome if they were an affiliate. Many merchants don’t consider whether their affiliates will be happy when they reduce commission levels or alter the payment periods, they just presume that affiliates will tolerate any changes. Unfortunately, there are numerous affiliate programs and it is all too easy to lose your affiliates to another merchant.

Offering a training or mentoring program is a good way to increase your affiliates’ sales. If you notice that some affiliates aren’t making many sales, offering some advice or recommendations on how to increase traffic to a website will be appreciated by your affiliates as well as increasing profits.

Technology is an important aspect of an affiliate program. Keeping abreast of changes in the market is imperative if you want to stay ahead of the competition and your affiliates will love being provided with the latest sales techniques.

Creating an affiliate marketing campaign that is successful is time consuming which is why it is advisable to employ the services of an internet marketing specialist such as here at Click Consult as we can take care of your affiliate network for you.

Crafting Your Emails

Richard — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:05:04 +0000

Creating an email marketing campaign that will be noticed is very important and should be one of your top priorities in web marketing. It is a complex task designing an email that initially attracts the attention of the recipient and encourages them to read what you have written, as well as getting people to take action such as clicking on one of your links.

The first and most important task is attracting the attention of your email recipient and enticing them to read more. This has to be accomplished with a tempting subject heading that is inviting but not sensational in its approach. Headings that are making bold statements and false claims will usually end up in the junk folder and will never be read.

The body of your email has to be interesting but also has to present an offer that cannot be refused. Using lots of fancy graphics is fine but if your offer is not tempting or good value, no amount of fancy emails will make a person buy. The other problem with graphics is taking care that they will actually work on the recipients email. You have to think about what your reader will see when he opens your email. Anything that doesn’t work such as broken graphics or links will discourage a person from reading more.

Here at Click Consult we have the necessary expertise to be able to craft an email marketing campaign, emails that have compelling subject headings and present an offer in an interesting fashion. We test sample emails rigorously to ensure that they can be opened and read by the email recipient.

Top Tips For A Good PR

Susie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:56 +0000

There are all sorts of outside elements that play on your internet marketing press release, and you can talk about these with our experts at Click Consult. When it comes down to it, your online press release needs six things:

1. A great headline. Your headline will usually serve as your title tag for most online press release sites, so it needs to be catchy and contain your keywords. This is a big ask for just a few words. Marketing and advertising copywriters recommend spending around 50% of your writing time on getting the headline and opening sentence of your press release just right.

2. Specific information offered up at the start. You may have heard of the five W’s. What, where, when, who and why all need to be answered in the beginning of your press release. The order is up to you.

3. Strong emotional triggers. You want your press release to prompt the reader to do something, even if it’s just nod in agreement.

4. Something that gets the reader on your side. Many writers for the web talk about sensationalism being a great way to attract attention, and this is absolutely correct. A press release, however, wants to get the reader on side.

5. An offer to the reader. This doesn’t need to be a ‘buy one get one free’ offer. It just needs to be something of value, whether it is information or entertainment.

6. A unique mystery. This is a dramatic way of saying that your online press release needs to be different enough to stand out!

Optimise Your Blogs With Images

Dan Taylor — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:05:12 +0000

Using images within content and articles is not essential, but by introducing them you can create several advantages for yourself, for your blog and for your SEO efforts. If you add images to content it will attract more people to click through to the site from Google News when you have been accepted as a publisher.

If you do get a blog accepted in Google News then it is wise to optimise the images used within the articles so that they are more readily picked up by Google. This will allow the image to be positioned against the link in the search results. If you want to do this and get the most out of your blog you need to ensure that the images meet Google’s requirements.

Here are the main points to remember when writing blog posts with images:

- Aim to use larger images that are well in proportion

- Take care to position the image at the top of the page, near the article title. This ensures it is linked to the topic you have covered in the blog

- Always put images into the JPEG format for Google

- Choose your keywords wisely when describing the image as this will link into your search results

- With these factors in mind you can help Google to pick up your blog and its images. In turn you should start to see a notable increase in the click through rates from the results pages

At Click Consult we are experts in search engine optimisation and the use of images for SEO and search marketing.

Advanced Local Listings

Alan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:36 +0000

If you are setting up geo-targeted PPC campaigns in combination with local listings there are some advanced settings you can use to further improve your pay per click advertising.

Once you have fully listed all your opening hours, the forms of payment that are accepted and a detailed description of the services and products on offer you have an automatic line into those search engines that accept your listing to amend and update them as time goes on.

By claiming your listing you block other companies from hijacking your entry but you can also gain advantages for your PPC campaigns in Google.

In the campaign settings you can show appropriate addresses to searchers via ads in a targeted area. This is great way of appealing to searchers by using a well targeted ad and supplying an accurate local address.

Once Google has claimed your listing, access the settings tab for the campaign you want to amend. Click on the link which allows you to addresses which can be found under ‘Locations, Languages and Demographics’.

Local search is fast being recognised as one of the fastest online divisions. Local marketing is projected to continue to thrive and it is thought that as mobile usage is linked to local search, the boom in mobile applications will propel local marketing further. By using a combination of geo-targeting and local listings you will be one step ahead of the competition.

At Click Consult we can offer more advice on how you can create effective pay per click accounts for local ads in your web marketing campaign.

The Use Of JavaScript In Web Design

James — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:05:15 +0000

JavaScript is a programming language which is often used in web development. When present in web pages it enables the addition of a range of features. Users surfing the internet will already be familiar with the effects of JavaScript, as it is responsible for the appearance of pop-up windows, and interactive events such as those that occur when visitors move the cursor over an image. JavaScript also causes the alerts that appear if the wrong details are typed into an online form.

In more subtle ways, JavaScript is employed to collect information about a user’s operating system, browser type, screen size and resolution. Similarly, details of the time and date can be gathered from a visitor’s computer. JavaScript can also be used to carry out calculations and for text manipulation, including putting new text into an existing document.

All of these simple options can be combined to powerful effect. For example, JavaScript could check in detail whether a form was correctly completed, including filling in all the boxes, supplying a valid email address, and making any appropriate selections. It would then be used to warn the user if they had made any omissions or mistakes.

It should be remembered that JavaScript can only work if it is enabled in a user’s browser. For this reason, it can be risky to rely on JavaScript for vitally important parts of a website to function. Our web design experts at Click Consult know how to make full and proper use of JavaScript in web development and web marketing.

When Do You Start An Affiliate Program?

Dan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:00:38 +0000

Many merchants start thinking about creating an affiliate program as soon as they have a product or service to sell, but there are numerous considerations before starting an affiliate marketing campaign. One of the most important aspects of a successful affiliate marketing program is the product or service that is being promoted. If nobody is interested in your merchandise then your affiliates won’t make sales. Once this happens your affiliates are going to leave you and find someone who has a popular product to promote.

Before creating an affiliate marketing campaign it is essential to test the marketability of your merchandise, promoting your own products to test the conversion rates. If an affiliate signs up to your program and spends a large amount of time and money on promoting your product online, they will not be encouraged to promote your brand if they get a poor conversion rate.

Affiliates communicate with each other and once you get a bad reputation as a result of your merchandise not selling, you will lose any affiliates that you have. Employing the services of a professional marketing company is a wise investment if you want to create a lucrative affiliate marketing campaign. Here at Click Consult our expert marketers have many years experience in creating affiliate marketing campaigns that work. We can track sales and performance enabling you to make improvements as necessary.

Doing some research into the potential of your products and services is essential to ensure that your affiliate internet marketing network is able to recommend your brand to other affiliates.