Posted on March 4, 2011 by Hans Riemer
Google Search Results
Lately there has been a flurry of coverage in the mainstream media about Google’s efforts to improve the quality of its organic (non-paid) search results. In the past two weeks we’ve seen articles in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, just to name a few. Never before has the practice of search engine optimization, or SEO, received such prominent publicity.
The reasons behind SEO’s sudden fame are not very flattering, though. The story begins with Google’s rise to prominence in the search engine wars by delivering higher quality results than its competitors. It was common knowledge that nobody could “buy” their way to the top of Google’s organic search results, and whenever people tried to game the system, Google’s smackdowns were relatively swift and harsh.
Read the rest of this article »
Posted on February 4, 2011 by Hans Riemer
place your effort on the overall goal
Improve Conversion Rates Through “Reverse Engineering”
Whenever we have been asked to troubleshoot an online campaign that isn’t working, the #1 problem we see is that most of the effort has been placed on driving traffic rather than the overall goal. In other words, instead of focusing on keywords or ads, you should begin by defining the desired result of your marketing activity or campaign. Is it a highly qualified lead? A sale?
Start at the end and work your way backwards. That’s what we mean by “reverse engineering.”
Let’s break down the process into a sequence of logical steps you can follow.
Read the rest of this article »
Posted on January 20, 2011 by Darryl Delong
Question: What’s the quickest way to get people to leave your website?
Answer: Having a BORING headline on the entry page, also known as a landing page, that doesn’t grab the visitor’s attention or persuade them to take further action.
We’ve all seen websites that simply don’t present their product or service in a way that gets us to take further action. In fact, most websites are like that. Visitors bounce right off of them faster than you can flip a switch.
You may be getting tons of traffic to your site, but if your website doesn’t convert, it’s like putting 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 puts you at a tremendous competitive advantage and allows you to dominate your niche. Persuasive copy can help you accomplish this.
Read the rest of this article »
