Search Engine Solutions Blog

The problem with these fast pace companies is that they’re forgetting the Quality Assurance process when new features are kicking in.
From time to time you can see this alert on Google AdWords:

Campaign Budget Alert
Your ads are not receiving 29% of their eligible impressions due to your current budget settings. Increasing your budget can maximize your ad exposure and help your ads receive more clicks.

Under the status, Google recently added a link “View recommended budget“, which is nice feature, but look at the “don’t change” button.This is a basic unit testing kindergarten!

I have so may bugs to report that it is crazy. Maybe Google would like to order my QA services, or they can get them from dummy blogs like this for free

What is ROI?
Return On Investment. The amount of value received relative to the amount of money invested, in this case, in advertising. ROI is an excellent measure of the success of any campaign.

How to calculate and Measure ROI for a website promotion?
Before you decide to measure your ROI, ask yourself these five questions:

The calculation process:
Conversion Ratio: Divide your number of orders by your unique visitors to arrive at your sales closing rate. The sales closing rate is the bottom line metric out there. It’s a measure of how many of your visitors actually complete the transaction you led them.

Customer Acquisition Cost: Divide your marketing expenses by the total number of orders you receive from unique new buyers over a given time period. Your cost of acquiring a customer is critical to improving your profitability and also your cash flow. With regard to the marketing expenses component of the calculation, some companies include a monthly amortization of the cost of the website as well as the monthly cost of maintaining the site, while other companies only consider promotional expenses. Use the approach that works best for you.

Sales Per Visitor: Calculate the actual average amount purchased per visitor (not per order).

Cost Per Visitor: Simply divide your marketing expenses (or your marketing expenses plus your Web expenses) by the number of unique visitors. Cost per visitor measures the effectiveness of your marketing and your conversion processes. The objective is to minimize cost per visitor and increase sales per visitor.
No Sale Rate: All Pages Divide the number of one-page visits to the entire site over a period of time by the total number of visitors over the same period of time. While focusing on top entry pages is more important in the short term, because that is where the traffic is happening, this more global metric is likely to point to global design flaws in navigation or page layout. When you make global design changes, pay attention to this one — you want it to be forever falling.

Free SEM Calculator >

Yep, my old login to PayScale still works! Site URL is payscale.com

They do have SEO category now and offering 16 SEO job categories. I typed “sempo” for the “Certifications” question and asked to choose:

[_] Advanced SEO, Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)
[_] SEM Fundamentals, Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)
[_] Advanced Search Advertising (PPC), Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)

Salary for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist National Median is $41,228 and SEMPO Certification can get you more of $13,000 in the pocket.

I set this test scenario:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Manager – New York

Anonymous Profile: Years In Field/Career 7
Job Location (City withheld for privacy), New York, United States
Salary (Annual) $75,000
Bonus (Annual) $3,750

More Details:

Number Supervised 0
Reports To Vice President (VP), Marketing
People Managed None
People Management Tasks None
People Management Scope None
Employer Type Company
Years with Employer 3
Number of Employees 40
Salary Type Standard Full-Time 40+ Hours Per Week
Vacation Weeks 3
All Benefits/Perks Paid Holidays / Vacation, 401(k), Life Insurance/Disability, Laptop / Notebook Computer, Internet Access (DSL/ISDN/Cable…)
Health Benefit None
School/Degree (School Name withheld for privacy), Bachelor of Science (BS/BSc/SB), Marketing, 2000
Age (Age withheld for privacy)

While dynamic pages offer a number of desirable features for web site owners like design consistency and up-to-date information, in order to optimize the effectiveness of your internet marketing website you’ll want a static landing page. Static landing pages offer several advantages over dynamic pages where attracting and retaining visitors is concerned. This is of course essential to converting web site visits to sales.

First, assuming you advertise your product or service on other web sites, when users arrive at your site after clicking one of your ads, most of them will leave within a few seconds if they don’t immediately see the information that prompted them to click on it in the first place. They do not want to fill in any forms, navigate your site looking for the information, or wait while the page is generated dynamically. Having the relevant information presented in a concise, statically loaded page will capture their attention and keep them from wandering away. For best results, this page should be customized for the advertisement or ad campaign that brought the visitor in. Thus, if you have different ads for a variety of products or services, each should link to a different landing page, optimized to deliver information relevant to that product or service, with a clear indication on what the user should do next. Many on-line marketers are realizing higher Click Through Rates this way.

Second, when content is dynamically generated, it may not always present the information your visitors are looking for. Pages are generated based on data, and if the data is unavailable (if for example, a service is not responding or a database is down), the page may not contain any information useful to your visitor. It may give error messages, or it may not render at all. Nothing will turn off first time visitors faster than a web site that appears to be broken. They’ll leave and likely never return.

The third and perhaps most compelling reason to utilize static landing pages on your marketing website is the simple fact that they are easier for search engines to crawl and index. In the old days, search engines couldn’t index dynamic pages at all. Now most search engines do index dynamic pages, but not as effectively as static pages. If there are too many special symbols in the URL for example (like question marks), some search engines will just skip it. If a dynamic page requires any kind of user input, like filling out forms or clicking buttons, most search engines will not be able to navigate the site and find the content. Regular html links are not a problem for search engines. That’s where a static landing page can really help. If all your relevant content is summarized on the landing page, with text links to the related areas of your site, the search engines will have no trouble indexing this information, and the text links will actually improve your rankings if you’ve used meaningful key words.

So how can you reap the rewards of a static landing page for your marketing website without sacrificing the benefits of dynamically generated content? One answer is to use a tool like “Landing Page Builder“, which in effect gives you the best of both worlds. Utilities like this one function by scanning your site, triggering the dynamic generation of the content, and automatically creating a static landing page. This page will contain a tightly focused overview of the services or products you wish to emphasize, relevant to the ads that drive the traffic to your site. When new pages are added to your site, or there are significant changes to the content, the site is re-scanned and the static landing page is re-created. With this arrangement, the majority of your site is still dynamically generated, so you retain the timeliness of the information (it’s as current as the data from which it’s drawn), but you get the consistency, performance, and search engine readiness of a static page for your visitors’ first impressions.

“Landing Page Builder” offers a few other features as well, designed to help improve the Click Through Rate of your ads and the effectiveness of the landing page. The ability to use short, descriptive URLs for your landing page makes it easier to post and email links to the page. Additionally, there is some research that indicates that people are more likely to click on shorter URLs when they appear in search results. Also, the designers of these tools are experts at Search Engine Optimization, so the pages generated do a pretty good job with keyword density and placement, which should drive additional traffic to your landing page.

If you are a web designer with the time to invest in creating customized Landing Page optimized for traffic from specific advertisements, or if you retain the services of such a designer, then this should give you some food for thought. Otherwise, it may be to your advantage to investigate an automation service for this.

Related posts:

[_] Landing Page Builder is good for Internet marketing

[_] Why static landing pages are good for Internet marketing

[_] Dynamic versus static web pages optimization

[_] Test the effectiveness of internet marketing by using landing pages

A static page vs. a dynamic page, is a single ‘landing’ page that is the essential pitch for a product or service you are promoting. Often summarizing and condensing and entire set of dynamic or variable pages into a single concise expression of what you offer a particular target audience. You have to grab the prospects attention and keep it drawing them into the benefits your product/service offers.

Clear and concise wording is the art and essence of a Static Landing Page. Landing Page Builder is a product by Search3w that helps with the process of distilling the content from and entire web site into a single promotion. It aligns with the main goal of the web site. The most common mistake of a manually made landing page, is to try to appeal to all prospects, rather than focusing on the key constituency of your web site. A variety of AdWords clients will click an ad out of very generalized curiosity. Landing Page Builder helps you focus in on the attributes your product or service offers to the most important reader. The one who will buy into either an ongoing relationship via email or answer the call to action that you will end the static landing page with.

One of the biggest reasons to use a static landing page is to prevent the client from ‘wandering off’. If you leave the opportunity to ‘click away’ from your pitch. A least a percentage will stray from the page you want to them to follow. Landing Page Builder by Search3w is the package that helps you lay down the path for them to follow. Its how you space out the bread crumbs of information that keep the customer pecking away at a pace that’s known to work.

If you are building an email list, you will want to match the message in the email campaign to the primary message in the landing page. Landing Page Generator helps develop the overview you are looking for in the ‘program’ mix. A comprehensive, persuasive approach to helping your customer with the marketing decision. Theme integration is the general concept, bringing all the strings of the theme into an articulate whole, that’s easy to understand with out being patronizing is the knack. Landing Page Builder is the tool to help with this Integration.

Scan-ability or the ability to quickly get the gist of the message is also an important aspect of a great rather than a good sales landing page. Most people are ‘grazing’ information, scanning for something that compels them to action. With the web you are always just a back button away from losing the clients attention. Landing Page Builder makes certain your headlines, sub-headings and graphics enable visitors to skim your landing page’s content to quickly learn what’s important to them and how it will benefit them. Most importantly, make sure it clearly points out how easily take the action.

Don’t forget esthetic’s, Landing Page Builder frames the content to lead the eye, making use of copy, graphics color and white space to ‘lead’ the reader through the path to the offer. Placing images next to the important key text messages makes the reader more likely to stop and read the messages. Varying the font size conveys importance of key impact messages. Font Color helps highlight important aspects of the body of the message.
The all important call to action. If you don’t ask for the sale, the entire process has been in vain. The final call to get an email address and or sign up for a product is what the whole cost of putting a messing in front of people. Landing Page Builder puts it together in a time tested fashion that insures you get the most impact for your advertising dollar.

Split testing is putting the same Goggle ad words ad on two different pages and examining the data one page will out perform the other and can be refined further still. With every iteration you get closer to your target group of people. Landing Page Builder assists with every step in the iteration process and will eventually get you to ‘marketing nirvana’, the perfect pitch of a GREAT static landing page.

Related posts:

[_] Landing Page Builder is good for Internet marketing

[_] Why static landing pages are good for Internet marketing

[_] Dynamic versus static web pages optimization

[_] Test the effectiveness of internet marketing by using landing pages

Static landing pages are an important part of Internet marketing. Unlike dynamic landing pages, static pages are search engine friendly, which brings more traffic to the page.
Dynamic pages, which use scripts, can pass personal information about the user, but are not easy for the search engines to index. Static landing pages are easy for the search engines find and index. The search engines also evaluate relevancy of the site. The site content must be relevant to the keywords.

Google has changed the rules. Only one Adword ad for an URL will be displayed. That makes it hard for affiliates who are promoting the same product to get their ad displayed.

Most article directories will not allow affiliate links in articles or in resource boxes. This limits the effectiveness of using articles to market affiliate products.

One solution to these problems is to create landing pages on your server to presell the customer before sending them to the product site. These landing pages may contain reviews or more information about the product.

Search engines bring traffic to the page. The job of the landing page is to convert that traffic. Landing pages have one function. That function is to get people to take action. The action may be to purchase a product or to enter their name and email address.

Internet marketers like static landing pages because once they are in place, they are easy to maintain. They can be optimized to specific keywords. If the domain name includes the keywords, this can increase the search engine page ranking.

Static landing pages can be a single page to sell a product, obtain viewer’s information or serve as a gateway to other pages. These static pages can be used to collect email address to build your list. They can also be use to sell an affiliate product or your own product. They have their own page rank.

The Internet offers an overwhelming amount of information. You have mere seconds to capture your viewer’s attention. First impressions are important. Viewers evaluate if the site is simple or complex. They determine if the site is relevant to their search query.

Landing pages should be simple. There should be no flashing graphics or other eye candy. There should be no links or other distractions for the reader. The purpose of the page is a single call to action. This may be to sell a product or to collect information.

There has been lots of research and testing to find what makes a good landing page. The success of the page is determined by the percent of visitors taking the desired action.

The page should load quickly. Flashing graphics detract from the purpose of the page. Keep in mind the purpose of the page. Focus the viewer on the single purpose of the page. The focus of the page should be on the user’s experience. Give them what they are seeking. Make sure they understand what they should be next.

If you are collecting information, make sure you are only collecting the information you need. If you are adding them to a mailing list, a name and email address are all you need. Asking for too much information can lead the user to click away from the page.

Now you don’t have to be a web master or know HTML. You don’t have to wait until your IT guru can make time for your project. There’s software that makes creating a good landing page easy. Landing Page Builder makes the process simple. Landing Page Builder gives you a simple fill-in-the-blanks form. Then it creates a search engine friendly, optimized site in a matter of minutes.

The software also offers tips on Adword campaigns and domain names. It enables you to improve the appearance and conversion rates of your pages. It allows you to pick different color schemes to change the appearance of your pages. The headline, sub-headings, and description should contain keywords. There should also be keywords in the first and last paragraph. Landing Page Builder puts your keywords where they count. The headline needs to promote the promise of the product or site. The reader wants to know what’s in it for them. Landing Page Builder creates a page that stresses the benefits to the customer.

The important thing is to do some testing to find the version of the page that converts the best. This will require split testing with different text and keywords. Landing Page Builder has done the testing for you. The pages it creates have proved to be successful at conversion. It saves you time, effort, and lost sales.

Related posts:

[_] Landing Page Builder is good for Internet marketing

[_] Why static landing pages are good for Internet marketing

[_] Dynamic versus static web pages optimization

[_] Test the effectiveness of internet marketing by using landing pages

Google Maps bug, or maps hijack

Google maps results for Movers New York, NY query showing a business pretending are FlatRate.com, one of the leading and most trusted moving companies (Forbes awarded) in the states. Real FlatRate is (E & G), the hijacker is Luckymover.com shown as (A).

Somehow, Luckymover info window is showing FlatRate’s Details, 120 Reviews and Web Pages.

The only differences are the brand names (“flat that rate”), link & directions (“Luckymover.com”) and fake address few blocks away (same zip code).