Microsoft Bing announced a new feature named Linked Pages. The purpose is to make the search results for you and your friends more personalized as well as richer. If I am friends with you and you do a search in Bing for [barry schwartz] you will see the following search result at the top: Linked...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Conversion testing is the holy grail of ROI on the Internet. Every day, more of our customers start picking up their phones, asking what new test we are planning for their website. Or may that be a result of sales people “incidentally” dropping Conversion Optimization and in doing so, providing the...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Due to the agile and complex nature of paid search, managing a paid search program can often degenerate into a constant barrage of fire drills and ad hoc report requests. I have been there and it is not fun. I have also found that there is a way to dig out of this chaos and [...]

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

We’ve come up with 10 email marketing tips with which you can get the most value of every dollar you spend with online marketing. Email marketing provides you the opportunity to connect and build trust with your prospects and customers. It is a low-cost and cost-efficient method to advertise your business to prospective and existing customers.

Every well-created and designed email plays a major role in generating profit; thereby maximizing your return of investment. Therefore, you should definitely take these email marketing tips into consideration:

1. Decide on what you want to convey to your prospective and existing customers. All of your emails should have a unifying message that lets them know exactly what action you want them to take regarding your products and services.

2. In discussing the products and services you offer in your email message, it is much better to talk about the benefits instead of the features. Features merely talk about the product; while benefits tackle the exact advantage that your customers can get from availing your products.

3. Be customer-focused. Don’t use pronouns such as “I,” “me,” and “us.” Instead, use “you” because it makes the reader the main subject of the email.

4. Include a call-to-action message in your email such as Order Today, Sign Up Now, or Contact Us Today. Make it clear and convincing.

5. Make use of scarcity messages such as “limited edition,” “first 50 orders” or “available only today” to prompt them to take action immediately.

6. In creating the email content, make it short and simple, yet very convincing. Adhere to rules of organization and coherence while writing the introduction, the body and the conclusion. The offer should be visible both in the introduction and conclusion; and make the entire message immediately visible in the email; so the customer won’t have to scroll down to see the rest of the email.

7. The subject description of the email should be interesting enough to be opened by the reader. Stop using ordinary and common subject lines. Stand out by using attention-grabbing lines because they can make or break your business email. Make use of subjects such as: Disconnection Notice, Do a Spam Check and the like… You get the idea!

8. Check and review your emails before sending them! Make sure that all the information is correct and the links in the email are functional. Have them rechecked by 2 other people to improve accuracy and objectivity.

9. It is best to send emails between 11 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon; from Monday to Thursday, to ensure optimal response from customers; especially those working in the office. Always be prepared to answer inquiries and process orders quickly. If you can’t for some reason, make sure to at least acknowledge or confirm the order.

10. Evaluate the results after sending the emails. Measure the extent of response or the sales generated. Identify best practices as well as areas for improvement, so that you’ll know how to make the most of your next email marketing campaign.

With these tips, you should be able to generate more email marketing benefits than you can imagine. You can utilize email software such as Afmailer.co.za to assist you in the process. Afmailer.co.za provides you with the things you need to formulate, send and monitor your emails.

It’s time to go and try email marketing. Being the most effective online marketing strategy, it’s definitely worth the investment. You have absolutely nothing to lose and so many email marketing benefits to gain.

Asif Amod heads the AlmostFreeGroup, an IT company that specializes in software, email marketing, online sales, and everything on Google. We at Afmailer offer newsletter templates and bulk email software South Africa. For more details about web based email marketing service South Africa please visit us.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Email Marketing Tips

Guest Blogging is becoming more and more popular for good reason. Posting guest blog posts on popular blogs is one of the fastest and least expensive ways to get highly targeted visitors to your website. With paid traffic sources drying up, for average marketers, guest blogging is an even more attractive and cost effective alternative for the little guy to get his message in front of a big audience. Here are some reasons you should consider starting to add guest blogging into your website
promotion arsenal now.

Guest Blogging Benefit #1- Guest Blogging Gets Your Message Instantly in Front of an Audience That It Took the Blog Owner Years to Develop.

The host blog owner has most likely been patiently slaving away gradually building up his audience through years of relentless posting. He has pinged, social bookmarked, backlinked, even paid for advertising and now here you come to benefit from all his hard work with your guest blog post.

I remember, I submitted a guest blog post to SiteProNews and forgot about it. A few weeks later I noticed a huge increase in traffic and comments on my blog. I checked to see where the traffic was coming from and I saw that SiteProNews had featured my guest blog post on their site for the entire week. Cost to me? Nothing other than a little brain power to come up with an original article that fit the theme of the host blog. Slap that around Google Adwords!

Guest Blogging Benefit #2. Guest Blogging Traffic is Better Than Traffic You Buy.

If a blog owner has spent years developing an audience in your niche then the people who visit his blog are passionate about this subject. If your guest blog post is tailored to their interests, the traffic you will receive is already highly qualified and targeted.

They will not have found your website through a pop up or contextual ad on some vaguely related website, or have impulsively clicked on some banner ad. Rather they will have found your article on one of their favorite blogs on one of their favorite subjects. Plus, you are not approaching them as an advertiser. You are approaching this new audience as someone who is an expert in a field in which they have already demonstrated a strong interest. Plus, you are offering them valuable information as opposed to a sales pitch and this is coming with the implicit endorsement of one of their favorite bloggers.

Guest Blogging Benefit #3. Guest Blogging Provides Long Term High Quality Backlinks.

You really cannot get better backlinks than from an informative article posted on an authority blog in your niche. Your links are not on some junk article directory that very few real readers look at. They are not coming from spun articles on Web 2.0 properties. Your backlinks will be coming from the highest ranking authority sites in your niche. Your SEO cannot help but improve since this is exactly the type of linking the search engines are looking for. No need to panic when you get wind of the latest Google update because most likely your rankings will improve as the search engines hone in on quality content like yours and weed out lower quality content that once was your competition. And in most cases, the links are permanent since blog owners generally keep blog posts up for the life of the blog.

Guest Blogging Benefit #4. Guest Blogging is One of the Best Ways to Become Famous In Your Niche and to Increase Your Brand Awareness.

The ultimate in promotion is simply becoming known as “the person” or “the brand” to go to in your industry. Think about it. Does Google need to promote it’s search services on any other media? How many clever TV ads have you seen trying to get people to use Google? I have not seen any. I would bet that Google’s advertising budget is close to zero. Everybody already knows that if they want to find something online they should just “Google it.”

How would you like to be the person that everybody thinks of first when they think of your industry? One of the ways you can start to build your brand recognition is by posting quality articles on other blogs in your niche, A.K.A. guest blogging.

Guest Blogging Benefit #5. Guest Blogging Can Help You Build Your Email List and Social Media Followers.

Email marketing still works. It is a very direct method of reaching your target audience. You also own your list so no matter how the search engine algorithms change or if paid advertising sources change their policies, as long as you have a list you can still have a business.

If you have a large targeted list of followers who are interested in your niche, you control your own business destiny. If you drive quality traffic to your websites through guest blogging, you will not only get more subscribers to your email lists, but you will get more Facebook fans and Twitter followers. These prospects that were once part of the host blogger’s audience are now a part of your audience.

Matthew Meyer is the webmaster for Quickregister.net Marketing Blog. He is now accepting guest posts. All posts are promoted to his list of 130,000 subscribers. You may submit your guest blog posts here.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

The 5 Main Benefits Of Guest Blogging A SPN Exclusive Article

Google announced on the Google Webmaster Central blog that they are now adding video support for schema.org. They are doing this in combination with Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Search as a “joint effort.” Google says using the schema.org video markup is the “recommended way to...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Today is the 155th birthday of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the German physicist who was able to prove the existence of electromagnetic waves. To celebrate his contributions to the world, Google has a special animated wave logo on their homepage. He built an antenna that was able to detect and measure...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Google+ Pages have sparked a lot of discussion in B2B marketing circles. The ability to add multiple management functionality, site verification, and easy to integrate Google+ badges have leadership teams asking whether this truly is the next social media platform B2B marketers must focus upon....

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

What is a landing page… this is a page on your website, focused on important information about your company, your products or services, informational and educational content related to your business, sometimes offering free materials to the visitor, such as e-books, etc.

What are landing page goals?

* Obtain a registration typically generating a contact lead.

* Explore and convey your company’s valued proposition offer that differentiates your site from all the others that the visitor may also be visiting to research their buy. Define your distinct ability to provide something more than all the other sites.

* Communicate the value of your branded product and your organization’s integrity.

* Just in case the visitor does not want to provide their information at the time of the visit, be sure to communicate predominantly other contact means, providing them with the control to contact you (e.g. your primary company phone, sales numbers, technical and even basic information lines of communication). This provides contact information without forcing their hand into providing you their information.

A landing page must be keyword-rich, optimizing it for the search engines. The search engines crawl these primary landing pages. The first step is to have an attention-grabbing <H1> Header tag, subsequently, it should be followed by content that provides a solution via your products or services that address the visitors particular issue. Landing pages are the key to a successful website. You utilize these main landing pages to capture your audience and keep them on your site, which will result in conversions and a ROI. These are the gems of your website and should be optimized as such.

The user is taken to your first landing page and immediately, literal seconds pass, before they make the decision to stay and explore your site, that is how very critical landing pages are. Literally, this means that within less time than someone can truly perceive what they are looking at, they are drawing conclusions that will impact the rest of their experience.

Make your landing pages count by using some basic optimization techniques, such as the following:

* Instantly conveying the value your site offers and creating strong incentive to contact you by providing a clear title and description and an enticing layout.

* Focus your visitors, every chance you can get, to contact you by providing links, images linking to the contact us page; you may even offer free informational materials to get them to complete the contact us form.

* Always include your social media sharing links, encouraging visitors to spread the word that your website has something valuable to offer.

* Beware of what information you request in your contact form. You cannot expect them to fill out a complete page of information and be willing to do so. Just keep it simple, but be sure to obtain the important information needed to contact them.

Not only do you need to optimize your landing pages for search engines, you should take a step-back and consider as to what key words the user is entering in the search engine. These terms and phrases speak to the search engine and provide a better opportunity to have the visitor find your landing pages. In the same thought, your meta-tags, each individualized for each landing page, must convey the common terms visitors are searching for. Marrying the landing page content with audience intelligent meta-tags is another feather in your website cap. Essentially, make a point to consider exactly what is driving
visitors to your landing page.

Some thoughts on your page layout… it is a fact that the eyes are drawn to certain things and you should use this research to your advantage. Here are some factual layout points to consider:

* A studied and proven focal point on a landing page as the visitor moves left to right on your page, is grabbing their attention with faces. That’s right. Faces intrigue visitors and they will immediately be drawn to them. A poignant trick is to utilize facial images, but incorporate them into your landing page copy, tying one to the other.

* A controlled, often fixed design will be your best option for the visitor’s experience. It keeps the layout clean and delineated, without overwhelming the audience.

* Provide multiple and consistent ways for the visitor to easily communicate their needs and interests. The communication between the audience and your company is vital to your conversion rate, which means you transform a lead into an actual customer of yours.

* Your audience will tend to view your landing page from the upper left hand side first, so leverage images and content to provide the most punch in this location. Utilize their natural viewing of the page to your advantage.

* It cannot be stressed enough how very important the headline and web page title are. They are key items that have the greatest potential to provide an impact on the viewer, reflecting your conversion rate and ROI. Include keywords that leverage your websites relevance.

Landing pages can literally make or break your conversion rate and ROI. Do not venture into a website without researching what you need to present to the audience, build their trust, and obtain leads.

Article by Jess Holmes. I have an AS in Paralegal Studies from Edison College. I have a BA in Information Technology from Florida State University. I have a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from Capella University. I am the Owner/Vice-President of PageDragon.com. My specialty is Internet Marketing, SEO, and SEM. I also perform website design and programming for our clients. PageDragon.com can customize an intriguing look and feel for a clients website that will catch anyone’s eye. PageDragon.com takes your awesome website and makes it shine on the search engines.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to Create Killer Website Landing Pages

The mystery of Google’s stealth consumer product has apparently been conclusively solved. The NY Times is confirming earlier reports that Google is going to release “heads up display glasses” by the end of the year. The glasses — or literal Google Goggles in this case...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Google has been improving its flight and hotel search results over the past few months, adding capabilities and polishing the overall experience. In accordance with that “iterative” approach Google announced today that flight search will now be available on mobile devices (browser...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Scroogle’s Gone? Here’s Who Still Offers Private Searching You’ve probably read the news already that Scroogle is gone forever. It launched back...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

You’ve probably read the news already that Scroogle is gone forever. It launched back in 2003 and was popular among searchers who wanted to get Google search results in a private setting. Now that it’s gone, where can searchers go for a more private search experience than Google and...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

I’m obsessed with Google. (I mean, you kind of have to be if you’re in this industry.) But sometimes, you need a break from the hand that feeds. There’s no denying the power of advanced search queries, but you’d be surprised how many other and different prospects you can...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Learn powerful & profitable SEM tactics from over 130+ expert speakers. Join us in San Jose, February 28 to March 1 for Search Marketing Expo ­ SMX West! Programmed by the Search Engine Land editorial team, the multi-track agenda covers leading-edge tactics for SEO, PPC, mobile search and...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

A week ago, we reported that Scroogle was being blocked by Google and searches on the privacy search engine were no longer working. Since then, the site continued not to work and now it is completely offline. The owner, Daniel Brandt, said he took it down “forever.” He blames both...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

As the first of the International Search Summits of 2012 looms large (at SMX West next week) I felt it was time to review what seem to be the most significant 10 issues for search marketers at this time. What’s interesting to note is that just one year ago, this list was very different. 1....

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

In continuing with my interview series, it is my great pleasure to bring to you Branding and Marketing expert, Patrice Rhoades-Baum, owner of BrandingAndWebsites.com.

Backed by more than 30 years of strategic marketing and expert copywriting, Patrice’s experience includes 25 years of high-tech corporate marketing. In her corporate career, she strategized, wrote, and managed dozens of websites, including 2 Hewlett-Packard websites with $250,000 budgets.

In addition, she has managed big-budget advertising campaigns, direct-mail programs, and $100,000 tradeshow events. One of her articles, a technical case study, was published by Fortune magazine. In her seven years as a marketing consultant, she has teamed with hundreds of solopreneurs and micro-business owners to create their brands, write their website copy, and facilitate the creation of hardworking websites and other strategic marketing tools.

David Jackson: Hi Patrice, how are you?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: Hi David, I’m doing great!

David Jackson: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. I really appreciate it.

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: You’re very welcome. It’s a pleasure to be here. As you know, I’m passionate about educating small business owners on the importance of having an on-target brand and hardworking website to grow their business, so this is a wonderful opportunity to get on my soapbox, so to speak.

David Jackson: Speaking of soapbox, Patrice, tell my readers about your expertise. What makes you different from other branding experts?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: My branding expertise is specifically geared to solopreneurs and micro-businesses. My process is 100% “home grown” … it grew out of my need to brand myself as a marketing consultant and solopreneur. (Of course, I drew from my 25 years of marketing experience in high-tech corporations.) My branding approach is simple and goes “straight to the heart of the matter.” It is not a compilation of ideas from other branding experts who, for the most part, focus on either corporate branding or personal branding for executives and employees.

Examples of my solopreneur clients include successful corporate consultants, professional speakers, business coaches, sales coaches, etc. Example micro-business clients include dentists, a cardiologist, high-end building companies, and so forth.

I also have significant experience strategizing websites and writing the website copy for small businesses. I love how on the website — especially the Home page — so many branding, messaging, features, and functionality all come crashing together!

Clearly, these elements need to dovetail together in an elegant, powerful way. A strategic, hardworking website is the business owner’s most important marketing and sales tool. As you know, a hardworking website goes well beyond having an online presence … it helps to position the business owner as an expert or thought leader. It invites prospects to learn more about the products and services, and empowers them to self-qualify. It enables conversion, by selling products and services directly. Very exciting!

David Jackson: Patrice, how do you define the term “brand”?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: Unfortunately, corporate branding consultants have made the concept of “brand” extremely vague and mercurial. To a business owner, creating a brand feels like a massive undertaking, a project that will demand huge amounts of time and money. My view of branding is much simpler. I define a brand as simply a foundation to clearly communicate who you are, what you do, and the benefits (or results) your clients get. It’s that simple. Once you have a foundation with those clear concepts — who you are, what you do, what your clients get — then you can build on that foundation with a tagline, logo, and other elements that help you communicate your brand.

David Jackson: We live in a time when people are absolutely overwhelmed with information. Why is branding mportant? Doesn’t it just add more noise into the system?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: I believe a clear, on-target brand helps you quickly tell your prospects what they get. Imagine someone lands at your website home page, David, and they see your name, your photo or video, a great tagline that essentially says “here’s what you get,” and a professionally designed logo that visually supports this key message. I call these pieces the Brand Elements, and I love how the Brand Elements dovetail to quickly tell the story. When someone lands at your website, they immediately see key messages that let them know they’re in the right place — that they’ll get the help they’re looking for. Your prospects won’t need to read 3 pages of website copy to discern whether you’re the right service provider for them. On the other hand, if your brand is confusing, if prospects can’t immediately see that they’re in the right place, then “CLICK” they’re gone!

David Jackson: Patrice, I couldn’t agree more. In your opinion, what is most misunderstood about branding?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: That it’s hard. It’s expensive. And it’s overwhelming. With a bit of guidance, branding for a solopreneur or small business can be surprisingly fast, easy, and affordable. Oh, one more point: Many small business owners don’t think they need a brand, but this is a mistake. A clear, on-target brand empowers them to promote and grow their business.

David Jackson: Many consultants are uncomfortable promoting themselves, either because they’re introverted personalities, or some other reason. What would be your advice to those consultants?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: Excellent question! This can be a real challenge for solopreneurs and small business owners. I live in Colorado now, but I was raised in the Midwest. I was raised to embrace humility as a wonderful personality trait. And it is. But something odd happens when you own your own business, especially if you’re a service provider. You must be able to clearly communicate the value you offer and the benefits your clients receive. You can’t beat around the bush. You can’t look down at your feet, kick the dirt, and say, “Well, gosh, gee whiz, I guess I’m pretty good at such-and-such.” No one is going to beat a path to your door if you don’t clearly promote your products or services. And if you’re not selling anything, how will you pay your bills? How will you save for retirement? How will your take that dream vacation with your spouse?

The wonderful thing about creating a clear, on-target brand is that you can easily build on it to create a clear, on-target business card, website, brochure, ad campaign, and other marketing tools. Now you can promote and grow your business.

Also, you can build on your brand to develop a clear, on-target elevator pitch. Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, you’ll want to practice your elevator pitch so it’s flawless. And don’t script an elevator pitch that is meant to impress someone. Remember, if you’re at a networking event and someone asks, “What do you do?” your goal is to connect, not impress.

David Jackson: What are a few strategies someone can use to differentiate herself from others in the same field?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: Many of my clients will ask about strategies to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and I tell them, “Don’t worry about it.” If you’re a corporate media trainer, you have competitors. If you’re a sales trainer, you have competitors — LOTS of competitors. In my view, the best approach is to gain a crystal-clear picture of what you offer that’s unique to you. In my branding process, I like to look for that “gem,” polish it, and make it central to my client’s brand, website, and marketing materials. Instead of worrying about competitive differentiators, we make sure the gem shines and that it’s extremely attractive to prospective clients.

David Jackson: With the advent of the Internet, do you think it’s easier for a company to brand itself today or harder?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: Well, I guess it’s a double-edged sword. Just 10 or 15 years ago, branding was simpler, almost one-dimensional. It was central to advertising, direct mail, tradeshows, and other marketing and promotional activities. Today, the Internet offers extraordinary opportunities for interactive websites, YouTube channels, pay-per-click advertising campaigns, social media marketing, and much, much more. All these opportunities make it more complex to promote your business. A clear, consistent brand is more important than ever, because you need consistent messages and a consistent, professional look-and-feel throughout all your marketing channels.

Again, I believe branding for a solopreneur and micro-business owner can be fast, simple, and affordable. The fact that the Internet exists doesn’t make any difference when we’re drilling down to your core concepts: who you are, what you do, what your clients get.

David Jackson: I’ve always felt that pictures of the people behind the company were an important part of branding, especially for small businesses. But there are a lot of small business owners that, for whatever reason, choose not to show their face to the public. I think that’s a mistake. What are your thoughts on that?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: I agree with you, David. If you are a solopreneur or own a very small business, I believe your photo is an extremely important Brand Element because YOU are your business. Remember the saying, “A picture’s worth a thousand words”? Your picture can convey trust, confidence, and much more. As a point of clarification, you must hire a professional photographer — don’t use a handy-dandy snapshot. Tell your photographer about your brand and discuss what you want to convey. Your photo must support your brand. For example, if you’re a sales coach who promises to turnaround lackluster sales groups, you may want a high-energy photo — you don’t want a photo that looks like a librarian.

David Jackson: Patrice, as individuals, we evolve over time. Companies evolve over time. Should a brand also evolve over time?

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: I love that you asked this question. I work with business owners who are experts in their field. In fact, many are thought leaders. These are dynamic people who don’t sit still! You can bet that, within 5 or 10 years, their businesses will be quite different. So you’re right: As they evolve, their companies will evolve, and their brand will need to evolve as well. Again, that doesn’t mean it’s a huge, expensive, time-consuming effort. When I consult with solopreneurs and micro-business owners, we strive for a branding process that is fast and affordable.

In fact, David, I’d like to extend an offer to your readers for my new product, which is hot off the press: “Nail Your Brand: A 5-Step System to Brand Your Business.” Folks can learn more about it here: http://www.brandingandwebsites.com/products.htm. With this do-it-yourself system, my audio CDs and workbook guide you through 5 simple steps to create an on-target brand for your business. This brand-new product will be priced at $495, but I’ll give your readers $200 off. They simply need to email me at Patrice@BrandingAndWebsites.com and mention your name, David Jackson, to get the discount.

David Jackson: Patrice, that’s very generous of you. I’d like to once again thank you for taking the time to do this interview.

Patrice Rhoades-Baum: It was my pleasure, David. Thank you so much!

David Jackson is a marketing consultant and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business! free-marketing-tips-blog.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Branding and Marketing Expert, Patrice Rhoades-Baum Interview – A SPN Exclusive Article

Yandex is the next in line to gain access to the Twitter “firehose.” The Russian search engine is announcing that it will begin integrating the Twitter feed into its search results. Twitter reported the deal to us late last week but declined to disclose its terms. As part of their...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Microsoft adCenter is making changes to its location targeting functionality that will bring it into line with the industry standard Google AdWords. Now, the “market” (distribution channel) will no longer be available as a targeting option. It will be replaced by “language”...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.