Did you know the title tag is one of the most important elements of SEO?
Search engines will rank each page of your site based on how well it is optimized for certain keywords. Therefore, if you wanted a site to rank well for the keyword phrase "network attached storage" then you would create a page that was all about this phrase.
Makes sense, but without a properly written title tag the search engines may never rank your site well for the keyword phrase your targeting.
A title tag should be included on every page of your site. It tells the search engines what the page is specifically about. In the example above, if you were targeting the keyword phrase "network attached storage" then you might want to have your title tag written with the following words: Network Attached Storage
Although, I found out that having too many words in the title tag may not be a good thing.
Recently I was perplexed as to why my client was not ranking well for the phrase "network attached storage" on Google. In fact, they were no where to be found on Google for this phrase even though the phrase was in the title tag and there were a good number of sites linking to this page. I took a whole day comparing their page to competitor pages that ranked well on Google for the same phrase. I found a number of similarities including the number of inbound links to the page, page rank of the sites linking to the page, anchor text, keyword density, etc.
The percentage of the keywords in the anchor text wasn't as high as the other sites and I noticed the competition had a few more sites linking to their pages, so I decided to focus my "off-page" optimization efforts on getting more sites to link to my client's "network attached storage" page.
Next, I focused my attention on "on-page" optimization. I noticed although the title tag had the words "network attached storage" in it, the tag read "network attached storage filers from..." As I mentioned previously, my client did not rank for "network attached storage" on Google, so I decided to type in "network attached storage filers" to see where the client would rank. The client ranked on the second page. To my suprise, just by adding that one keyword "filers" to the end of my keyword phrase made all the difference in where the page ranked in Google. So, I thought to myself what if I was to remove it from the title tag.
I concluded the main reason the site was not ranking for "network attached storage" was the title tag was too long. I immediately changed the title tag, Google spidered the page again a few days later and sure enough the site was now ranked 149 of out 48 million plus other pages. While 149 is not great, it is a good starting point from being nowhere.
05.Nov.07 
Contributors 
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Does this describe your company and your website? You have a great product or service, but you simply don’t present it in such a way that gets people to buy or take some type of further action. People bounce right of your site faster than you can flip a switch.Question: What's the quickest way to get people to leave your website?
Answer: Having a BORING headline that doesn't grab the visitor’s attention or compel them to take further action.
You may be getting tons of traffic to your site, but if your website doesn't convert, it’s like putting a bunch of coins into a broken coke machine over and over again, hoping to get a drink that never comes. What’s worse, if you’re paying for that traffic, it hurts your bottom line. Having a high conversion rate allows you to outspend your competitors on advertising and still make money, which is a tremendous competitive advantage.
The first step is to know what emotional buttons to push with your prospects and differentiate yourself from the rest of your competition by showing them you're credible and that they can trust you enough to buy from you – or at least begin the buying dialogue.
It's NOT about all the fancy, wonderful features your product or service has or how long you've been in business. What your website visitors REALLY care about is how you are going to solve a problem or need, and how quickly, easily and cost-effectively you can do it.
In other words, does your copy make it clear what's in it for THEM?
Below are four best persuasive copywriting tips that I use and have found to convert VERY well. Follow them, and let them change the way you think and write web copy in order to dramatically increase your conversion rates.
1. Figure out the one or two biggest benefits of your product or service or headaches your product or service eliminates and construct a compelling headline using this information.
2. Focus your content on "benefits" and not "features" and write as if your prospects are sitting across the table from you. Explain to them why they should buy from you or choose you over your competition.
3. If you want to sell more, you have to put your prospects at ease. Offer them a guarantee! Example: "Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you are not completely satisfied with our product then simply send it back to us within 30 days or less and you will receive a complete refund."
4. Add testimonials to your website. This adds third-party credibility and endorses your offer. If your prospects see that you've helped others with the same "pain" as they have, then they will be more inclined to buy from you.
Always include compelling reasons why your product or service is superior to others, why they should believe what you say to be true, and why they should immediately respond to your offer.
Implement the above action items and you will see a significant BOOST in conversion rates from your website.
Click here if you would like to download the above article in a pdf document.
30.Oct.07 Contributors Comments Off
The overwhelming consensus of most seo consultants today is that one-way, authoritative inbound links appear to be the way to go on Google in terms of increasing one’s page rank and search engine rankings for specific keywords.
Here are some Ideas for generating
one-way inbound links.
- Writing and submitting articles on relevant subject matter to content/article directories
- Writing testimonials for industry specific products/services in exchange for a link back to home page
- Writing an information ebook on relevant subject matter and offering free distribution (viral marketing technique)
- Writing and publishing a press release of the company
- Submitting website to targeted directories (Yahoo, Dmoz, Industry Specific)
- Participating in online forums/discussion boards that allow a signature that links back to home page
Non-suggested link building ideas
- Reciprocal links exchange (a thing of the past, no longer weighted heavily by Google)
- Paid text links/ paid text link ads thru a text ads broker (Risky, not natural and Google may penalize sites for doing this in the future. As an alternative, you may want to locate relevant sites with a high PageRank (PR) of say 4 and up and that have very few outbound links. Contact these sites directly or you could have an SEO firm handle this for you, you may have to pay for a permanent link on their site or you could convince them to link to you for offering them something of value in return.)
- Link Farms - a group of sites that are setup to link to one another (Google could ban a site for participating in this)
- Other non-ethical seo, spamming methods that could potentially have one’s site banned from Google or other search engines
05.Sep.07 Contributors Comments Off
