Goongee Blog
Goongee Search Marketing Blog
The Importance Of One Way Links To Your Website
May 26th
When you’re building a website or promoting a web based business, one of the most important aspects of your promotion is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Website optimization includes using on page factors such as keyword development and providing relevant information to your website visitor, but one of the best things you can do for SEO is building quality links to your website.
One way links are built by having another website to link to you. In some cases, you may even visit other websites that allow you to post a link to your own website, including web directories. The more links you have, the better your chances are at ranking high in the search engines.
It’s important to note that one way links are much more powerful than two way, or reciprocal links. Google and other search engines use complicated, top secret algorithms to calculate which website will get the top results for certain keywords. You get points for having links into your site, but you also give points away when you link to other people. When that is taken into consideration, you will quickly realize that just a few high quality one way links are worth more than a ton of reciprocal links. If you have the chance, it’s much more efficient to spend your time developing one way links.
One problem with building one way links is that most webmasters will not just link to you without anything in return. Getting people to trade reciprocal links with you is fairly easy, but convincing someone to place a one way link to your site is nearly impossible unless you are willing to spend some money. Even then, it’s really hard to tell which sites are worth spending the money on, especially when you are looking at purchasing links from someone’s personal website.
One alternative that is a bit safer is to look into purchasing links from paid web directories. Unlike most free directories, you don’t have to give a reciprocal link to get your website listed. Also, using a paid directory is generally a safer move, as you can know for sure that the site is a professional and trustworthy business partner.
When you are building one way links, you definitely need to make sure that each link is placed in an area that is related to your topic. Many people make the error of working long hours getting non-targeted links; this ends up just being a waste of time in the long run. You always want to make sure you are getting links from related sources. If you’ve decided to purchase web directory links, be sure that you pick the category that is most closely related to the topic of your website or business. When you combine the power of one way links with the good choice of targeted topic linking, you’ll really be getting the most for your money.
If you haven’t been building quality one way links for your website, you’re truly missing out on one of the most powerful and cost effective methods of promotion available on the internet and you should consider starting a one-way linking campaign to boost your rankings, increase your conversion rates and send more qualified traffic to your website.
Targeted Website Traffic – Why It Matters
Apr 21st
Targeted website traffic is the goal of all successful online publishers and retailers. Targeted website traffic helps to improve sales conversions and produce a better return on investment from advertising and promotional expenses.
The more targeted your website traffic is, the more likely you are to sell your product or service to your visitor and increase your website profitability. So you ask, where exactly does this ‘targeted traffic’ come from?
There are many ways to build targeted website traffic. An advertising campaign is one way to build targeted traffic through Pay Per Click advertising and directory submissions. Both of these methods allow advertisers to purchase affordable advertising on keywords that they are targeting and when an interested party searches for those keywords they find you.
Companies or individuals that don’t have the time or the knowledge to incorporate these techniques oftentimes use professional Search Engine Optimization firms to oversee their advertising campaigns on a contractual basis. Although SEO services might cost a bit more than doing it yourself, these managed campaigns are handled by firms that specialize in driving targeted traffic to your website at a fixed cost, so your advertising dollars are ‘set’ and aren’t likely to skyrocket if you forget to log into your advertising account.
Ideally, all of your advertising dollars should produce enough revenue to cover the expense of the ads and produce a profit. Targeted website traffic will help to achieve the goal of profitability.
Best Affiliate Programs – What To Consider
Apr 17th
A successful affiliate program is part of building a powerful business online. There are numerous affiliate programs available to web publishers these days, so it’s important to consider what type of affiliate program would be best suited to your web visitors. Here are some suggestions for choosing the best affiliate programs available to you.
1. Know your visitors. The more you know about the people that visit your website, the better. Demographics are everything! For instance, if a large proportion of your website visitors are females aged 12-17, chances are that an affiliate program that sells films that star Bruce Lee is likely to be less successful than an affiliate program that sells books by Stephenie Mayer.
2. Know what action your visitor is expected to take. Not all affiliate programs are the same – some affiliate programs pay based on generating a sale, while others might pay for generating a lead or a ‘click.’ Have an understanding of what your visitor is expected to do in order to generate revenue so you aren’t surprised when payout time rolls around.
3. Research the affiliate program. Before plastering advertisements and banners all over your website be sure that the affiliate you’re considering is reliable. Longstanding programs like Google Adsense and Amazon are pretty safe bets for non-obtrusive ads. These programs allow you to control the look and feel and don’t require a maintenance to keep them up to date. In the case of Amazon, some offerings expire and old ad code must be removed. Both of these programs have a minimum payout that must be met before you’re eligible for payment.
In the case of ‘second-tier’ advertisers, it’s wise to do a quick Internet search and find recent feedback from other publishers regarding timely payments, overall performance and satisfaction. Are other publishers reporting problems with functionality, performance or payouts? If you find an excessive amount of negative comments on a program, you might want to think twice before running their ad code.
I hope that these tips for finding the best affiliate programs are helpful as you build your successful website!
Amazon Makes Changes To Their Affiliate Program
Apr 6th
The current state of the economy is making many online retailers rethink the way they’re doing business – big Etailers included.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) one of the largest internet retailers recently announced changes to their highly popular affiliate program.
Beginning on May 1, 2009 Amazon.com will no longer pay affiliates referral commissions for paid search (PPC) traffic via Google, Yahoo or other paid traffic sources. This change affects affects North American affiliates and eliminates keyword bidding as an usable method of driving traffic to Amazon’s website for affiliate commissions.
Conflicker Worm Lays Dormant
Apr 1st
An Internet worm that was predicted to infect Microsoft computers and computer networks on April Fools Day has laid dormant for now.
The worm, called Conflicker is believed to have infected thousands of Windows based machines and creates a ‘botnet’ that has the capability to send spam Emails and Denial Of Service attacks. It could also pilfer sensitive personal data like logins, credit cards and other sensitive information. But just because the worm hasn’t “hit the hole” doesn’t mean the internet is out of the woods yet – the writers of this malicious code could set the worm into action at any time.
People using Windows based computers are advised to stay current on updates. The most recent Windows update has a patch for the virus and most Antivirus programs are current with protection against the Conflicker.
For more information or to make sure your computer is up-to-date on security patches, please visit Microsoft Update
Google Offers Expandable Ads
Mar 6th
Google recently announced the addition of “expandable ads” to their lineup of advertising solutions, allowing publishers to display media rich advertising without having to install special software or third party applications.
Expandable ads do just as they describe – expand to a larger area over a publisher’s website – to show the advertisement. Visitors must click or otherwise interact with an ad for it to expand.
Like Google’s other advertising programs, including mobile, search and feed based ads, publishers are paid based on a CPM or CPC basis and the visitor must visit the advertisers website and not just to expand the ad.
To find out more about Google’s new expandable ads, please visit the Inside Adsense Blog
PPC Search Engine Marketing – What Is It?
Feb 10th
If you’re new to internet marketing and have been doing some research on tactics to drive traffic to your web business, one of the methods you may have heard about is PPC Search Engine Marketing.
PPC is an acronym for Pay Per Click, meaning that any time a potential customer “clicks” on your advertisement, you’ll be charged a set rate for that click. A successful PPC advertising campaign can bring a nice return on investment when these “clicks” lead to a “conversion” via a sale, a sales lead or other desired outcome.
PPC advertising is based on buying ads that consist of ‘keywords’ or ‘key phrases’ that briefly describe what you have to offer.
For example, if you operate an online fishing supply website, keywords that you might consider would be “Buy Fishing Lures” or “Discount Fishing Gear.”
Both of these keyword phrases give a short description
of what a visitor can expect to find if they click on your ad. It’s always a best practice to send your potential customer to a web page that has what it says it does, since you want this person to convert. If you don’t really offer what you advertise, your visitor is likely to leave your website without generating any revenue for the click.
Pay-Per-Click search engine marketing is a service that’s offered by search engine marketing companies and search engine marketing consultants, but it is also something that you can do on your own – if you’re so inclined. Larger PPC programs include Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter and there are numerous smaller PPC programs that allow you to pay on a “per click” basis.
One of the downfalls of PPC advertising is that there is little ‘longevity’ to this type of advertising. Once a click is exhausted, it has no other search engine benefits. PPC advertising should be used as a part of a well rounded internet marketing campaign to increase sales and conversions across the board.
Use Customer Service To Increase Sales
Jan 8th
Customer service is an important part of operating any business, online or offline.
How you treat your customer could be the difference in whether or not a consumer decides to patronize your business again in the future. It’s a well known fact that repeat customers are the bread and butter of a lot of businesses.
A good offline example of this would be a mom and pop diner. You know the type of place I’m talking about – you walk in and the waitress knows your name and automatically knows that you take your coffee with cream and sugar. You know that when you eat there you can expect a decent meal at a fair price and the proprietors are happy that you stopped by. The level of product and service is enough to make you want to eat there again and again.
Customer relationships in online business are a little different, but still follow the same basic principles.
Trusted customer relationships are probably even more important when conducting business online because you don’t really get a chance to meet your customer face to face and introduce yourself. The only interaction you’re likely to have with your buyer is by way of a telephone call, an Email and/or delivering your product or service, as described, in a timely and accurate fashion. These things will be determining factors in whether or not a customer will buy from you again.
If you offer prompt and courteous customer care and accurate order processing in a world where this has fallen to the wayside, the chances to sell more products are much greater. If a consumer knows that they can depend on you to deliver the products and services they need, you’re likely to be the first retailer they turn to one when they need to purchase again.
Along with excellent customer care, you might also offer additional incentives or bonuses to repeat customers.
Offline, many retailers offer loyalty cards that offer the end consumer discounts or other incentives to spend at their stores. Online, you might consider offering expedited shipping at no extra charge or a “buy one – get one” deal. In difficult economic times, these small tokens are worth a lot. Your customer might sing praises of your exemplary customer care and tell five or ten friends, family members or business associates, making even more sales opportunities for you.
The opportunity cost of treating a customer with disrespect or falling short on delivering what you advertise is never worth it and making a customer happy is worth money in the bank.
Benefits Of Internet Marketing
Jan 7th
The field of internet marketing has saw substantial growth over the years. This change in marketing direction and focus comes as no surprise as the number of people accessing the internet using computers, laptops, game consoles and cell phones continues to grow.
This engaged market segment is more likely to react to a targeted internet marketing model.
Benefits of Internet marketing include:
- The ability to track and manage sales. Website owners and operators can refer to statistic programs that can tell them exactly when and where a visitor arrived from. Other forms of marketing like radio, television and newspaper advertising oftentimes don’t provide an origination source (unless you offer a special code or a coupon that must be presented at checkout) so it’s difficult for advertisers to track the success, or ROI (return on investment) of their advertising campaign.
- The ability to track and manage internet ad campaigns. Internet advertising venues offer advertisers the ability to target a preferred demographic, so advertisers avoid marketing to people that aren’t interested in what they have to offer.
For example, if your website or business sells posters of ‘tween stars like Robert Pattinson, Miley Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers, marketing to a 45 year old man with no children isn’t likely to yield sales or conversions, making the advertising ineffective and costing you valuable marketing dollars.
If you’re interested in advertising to a broad market segment and just want to display your brand, products or services to a large market, you might want to consider using Run Of Network advertising, which is less targeted, but gets your brand name in front of consumers.
Internet marketing campaigns can also be adjusted as needed to fit an advertiser’s budget without a long term contract that requires them to keep on spending, even if sales or results are soft. Internet marketing plans can be easily tailored to fit business conditions on an “as needed” basis.”
- Some internet marketing tactics have long term benefits.
Just like the Yellow pages, it’s difficult for people to find your business or website without having business listings. Internet directories offer permanent listing options in relevant categories so people that are specifically looking for a product or service can find them easily using categorized directory services. - Internet marketing strategies can augment offline advertising. If you aren’t comfortable abandoning all offline ads in favor of online advertising, internet marketing methods can, at the very least, augment your offline advertising so you can extend your marketing reach.
This means that you can sell a product to someone that wouldn’t walk into your shop while physically walking by. Now a consumer in California can easily purchase a product or service from a business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania without having to visit their storefront.
Internet marketing is, by far, one of the most superior ways to bring your brand, your product or your service right to the front door of qualified consumers on a global scale. It offers more opportunities to sell to more people than ever before.
Simple Web Site Designs For Business
Jan 5th
Learning to make a web page is relatively easy, but designing a brilliant website requires much greater effort. Visual creativity and a good concept are both very important when it comes to making a pleasing business web design. Simple web design styling doesn’t require a lot of colors or too many pictures. A simple design can draw a lot of attention to highlight the product or services that your website offers.
Usability in a simple website design is a top priority. Slow load times are a real turnoff to the average web surfer. You’ll want to be sure that your web pages load quickly and without error. Cross browser compliance is another thing to consider. You’ll want to be sure that visitors using any type of browser will have a smooth user experience.