Avoid these common landing page traps

By Dino Adamou

Imagine seeing a great ad for an intriguing new flea shampoo call ShamKill. It's only available at PetWorld, so you hop in your car and head on over. You walk in the doors and are quickly greeted by a sales person, but when you ask for further details, you are given a wishy washy answer. Your sales person claims to know all about dogs, birds, and toilet training cats, but is clueless about ShamKill.

A web site where the landing pages are not designed properly is just like PetWorld. Let's learn how to turn this situation around so that when someone comes into your store, your sales people (landing pages) will know exactly what to do.

A landing page acts as the top part of your sales funnel. It captures visitors and tries to keep them engaged long enough so that when the call to action comes, they are likely to answer the call and move on to the next part of the sales process. If people are coming onto your site and then spilling over the sides of your funnel and never coming back, then it is time to evaluate your landing page strategy.

Smooth Transitions – For landing pages that receive traffic from PPC campaigns, email blasts, or any other source that you directly control, make the transition from the source page to your landing page as smooth as possible. Don't dump your readers directly into the middle of a sales page. If they came from your Facebook campaign, keep your landing page social and friendly. If they came from your ads on a tech blog, your landing page should be a tech sounding page as well.

Direct Calls to Action – Don't be shy about telling your readers what you want them to do next. For every 1 person who is offended by a blunt request to join a mailing list, there are 3 who consider it just part of being on the Internet. Tell them what you want them to do and make it easy for them to do so. Don't beat them over the head though, 2-3 calls per action should be plenty for an average sized landing page.

Engaging Content – Just because your landing page is effectively a pre-sell page, that doesn't mean that it has to sound “salesy”. Keep it informative, keep it engaging, and keep your readers nodding along with the content so that when the call to action shows up they are already in a “yes” kind of mood.

Effective Section Headers – Just like with print copy, when someone first lands on your page it is likely they will merely skim the section headers to get a quick idea of what that page is about. If you have bland section header (introduction, conclusion, etc) then don't be surprised when your readers just move on to their next bookmark without even giving your page a chance. Use informative section headers that tell a complete story if the user just reads them and nothing else.

For example:

Does Your Cat Suffer from Fleas?

New Flea Shampoo Guarantees 100% Kill

Veterinarians Agree that ShamKill Works

Here's How to get ShamKill

Just the Good Stuff – Don't give your readers reason to leave your page, except for when it's to sign up for your mailing list, trial offer, or download your special report. The only links on your landing page should be ones that further reinforce your message (testimonials, for instance). Keep them informed and entertained, but keep them in a box.

A good landing page keeps your readers' right where you want them all the way up until the time they sign up for your email list or other steps in your sales funnel. A good landing page does not distract or bore your readers, and it does not step lightly around what it wants your readers to perform. Good landing pages drive sales, so don't ignore this critical portion of your site.

How does your landing page measure up? Tell us about it and tell us what we missed.

One of the most underestimated aspects of SEO

By Dino Adamou

Ever wonder why some sites that are on the front page of Google don’t get as much traffic as other sites on the same page? Sometimes, a site that is near the bottom of page one or even on the second page of search results can get quite a bit more traffic than one of the big boys in the top three, but why is that? Most likely, it is because of the title tags, little bits of extra HTML on a page that can make all the difference in the world.

When someone does a search on Google they are presented with a long list of search results. Each result contains a small description about the page that can make or break a website and greatly influences the amount of traffic and search engine love that the page receives.

The first part of the description that you see (highlighted in the red circle above) is the “title tag” of that page (highlighted in the red circle below). The title tag is one of the most important and one of the most overlooked pieces of the SEO puzzle. Getting this tag right on all of your pages can make a big difference in the amount of traffic you get. The title tag is your “first impression” on the world.

Pick your favorite topic and do a Google search on it, then examine the results. Notice how some of the title tags are bland and generic and stuffed with keywords? This is a bad idea. When readers who are looking to buy exercise equipment are browsing search results, do you think they are going to visit the site that has a tag of “Dumbbells, Kettle bells, P90X” or the site that has a tag of “Great Deals on Exercise Equipment”?

Search engines generally limit what they display of your title tag to around 70 characters. In less than half a Tweet, you need to attract the attention of browsers, and this is why so many people get it wrong. They want to stuff the title tag with keywords instead of telling reader (and Google) what the page is actually about. No matter how many times Google tells them that keyword stuffing doesn’t work, no matter how many times the emphasis on relevance and readability is pounded into their heads, some people just don’t get it.

Here are a few tips to help you create relevant title tags?

1 - Make them short and to the point. In 70 characters, tell the reader exactly what the page is about and why they should want to visit it. If the page is selling something, make sure they understand that they are about to visit a page that offers a great deal on a great product.

2 - Use them on every page. If your website architecture is setup properly and a user lands on a page deep within your site, you will have a good chance of keeping them there. Don’t think that pages that only get a few hits a week are worthless. They are breadcrumbs that lead back to your monetized content.

3 - Use title tags to enhance your brand. Incorporate branding into your title tags whenever possible, but not at the expense of relevance. “Great deals on Exercise Equipment from ExerMart” is a good, branded tag.

4 - Be better than the competition. Do searches on your site’s keywords, examine the title tags of the top two pages of results, and figure out how to write better tags than your competitors.

Title tags are important, second only to the actual body of your posts in terms of search engine optimization. What are some tactics that you employ in your title tag standards?

Reasons Why Your Content Might Be Failing You?

By Dino Adamou

 Every content creator and blogger knows the feeling: you spend all night working on a great article or post and no one ever comes to read it. The days go by and no comments appear and the hit tracker just sits at zero, mocking you. Why did your stunning piece of content end up in the bin?

There is no simple answer to this question. Content, even quality content, can go unnoticed for a lot of reasons. However, there are some common failures that many content creators fall prey to, so let’s look at them and see what we can do about them.

Good Content Needs To Actually Be Good

You’ve been writing on computer repair for months and no one visits your blog? Maybe you don’t know as much about computer repair as you thought. Have an expert in your field look over your blog and make sure that it sounds like someone who knows what they are talking about. Maybe you do have great knowledge; you just are not very good at communicating it. Do some research and learn how to make your writing more powerful, or better yet, just hire someone to write it for you.

Good Content has Great Legs

If you want to spread your message, you need to have content that people are going to find interesting, so interesting that they want to share it with their friends. This is how content goes viral, by being compelling, interesting, shocking, gripping or funny enough that when you read it you want other people to read it. It’s very hard to create viral content from the ground up because in our own minds everything we create is awesome. The best you can do is write to the best of your abilities and provide link sharing buttons and widgets around your content to try and encourage people who might be on the fence.

Good Content is Authoritative

Google loves content that speaks with authority. Readers respect articles that provide useful, actionable advice. This means that you can’t just throw stuff together and hope for the best. You need to do research, cite sources and quote experts wherever possible (without making the article sound too scholarly). Look at articles from “real” magazines and newspapers. Do they sound like someone rambling about their favorite subject? No, they are backed up with expert insight and references. Even if you ARE the expert, having references that compare and contrast to your writing is important.

Good Content is Promoted

As much as we love having our content found “organically” through search engine queries and by having users share the content with each other, it is naive to think that all we have to do is “write it and they will come.” When you put up a new article or blog post, go out and promote it! Tweet about it, share it on your own Facebook page, etc. The first person who should be cheerleading for your new content is YOU, so go do it!

Content is what makes or breaks a website. Informative, useful information is what Google and readers are looking for, so if you want to succeed that’s exactly what you have to provide. 

What are some of your content strategies that you employ on your own sites?

LinkedIn Profile Tips

By Dino Adamou

LinkedIn offers professionals and entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect and network with colleagues and potential clients. When used properly, the professional social networking site can help users land new jobs and keep in touch with people who can make a difference in their career. When used improperly, a LinkedIn account is about as useful as a bicycle to a fish.

If you want to get the most out of LinkedIn, then you have to start with a profile that lets people find you and then, once you have them, keeps them interested. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your LinkedIn account:

Be Professional

Really can’t stress this one hard enough. LinkedIn is where you show off your skills, talents, and desire for work to the world. It’s not where you voice your distrust of the government or how you feel about the latest American Idol. Keep your profile “strictly business” and you will stand out from the casual user crowd. 

Show off your Skills

One of the more over-looked features of LinkedIn profiles is the skills section. Here you can list everything that you have the talent for doing - including writing, programming, design, etc. By listing all of the skills that you possess, you make it a lot easier for searchers to find you.

Put Keywords in your Profile

Your summary, experience, education, and any other section that LinkedIn lets you fill in yourself should be keyword optimized. This means that if your primary skill is web design, make sure that you mention it in as many places as possible (but don’t go overboard). The search function on LinkedIn hits all of these areas, so if your profile is better keyword optimized than your competitor, who do you think is going to get found (and hired) more often?

Use a Photo

People trust faces more than anonymous profiles. If you have a professional looking picture as your profile photo, it makes a much better first impression. If you don’t have a good mug shot already, then hit the yellow pages. Many smaller photography studios will gladly hook you up with a professional headshot for under $25.00, and it only takes a few minutes of your time.

Promote your Website

Your LinkedIn profile not only gives you a platform to promote yourself, it gives you a place to tout your website as well. Make sure you mention your business website and your blog in your profile wherever it is appropriate. If you can’t land the deal based on your LinkedIn profile alone, maybe your website will finish the job for you.

Be a Contributor

LinkedIn is more than just a place to dump your profile and resume. It’s also a place where people connect and discuss business. Join one of the thousands of LinkedIn groups that are related to your field and participate in the discussions. Hop on over to the Answers section and see if you can provide assistance to someone looking for advice. Don’t be a wall flower. The more your name shows up on LinkedIn, the more likely it is that someone looking to hire someone just like you will find you.

How are you using LinkedIn to get the most out of it? Are there any questions you have about the business social network? Let us know!

Is Your Website Architecture Hurting Your SEO?

By Dino Adamou

The one aspect of SEO that you have complete control over is your website architecture. You control how your site is built, how the pages relate to each other, and how your page hierarchy flows. These aspects are just as important to getting decent page placement results as having a ton of back links. We will look at a few of the most important website architecture elements that have a critical impact on SEO.

Title Tags

While the title of your web page that the reader sees might be “Designer Shoes Enhance any Outfit” the title that the search engines sees can be something entirely different, and you control what that title is. Every web page should have a title tag in the header, and what you put in there is completely up to you. This tag is where you should make sure that the primary keywords for your site are prevalent. For instance “cheap designer shoes – woman's fashion shoes” would be perfectly acceptable for a title tag for this page.

Internal Keyword Anchoring

Just as you want other sites to link to yours using anchor text that contains the proper keywords, you want to ensure that your pages link to other pages within your own site using the same strategy. For instance if your website is about telescopes, then every article you publish on that site should have 2-3 hyperlinks that use relevant keywords and target pages within your own site.

Let’s say that your front page article uses the phrase “beginner telescope”. You would use that phrase as the anchor text for a hyperlink within your own site that describes a good telescope for beginners. While internal links do not hold as much weight as links from other sites, they are still important and help reinforce to the search engines exactly what you your site is about.

The Three Click Rule

Ideally, from the front page of your site, every other page on your site should be accessible in three clicks or less. The easiest way to accomplish this is through correct categorization and sub-categorization of your content. By dividing up sites with a lot of content into categories and sub-categories, it makes it easy for both your readers and search engine robots to navigate your site.

Images

Images may or may not be worth a thousand words, but for SEO purposes they are worth at least a few dozen. By having images on your site with keyword optimized “alt” text, you are giving search engines another trail of crumbs that leads back to your site. In addition, images make pages more interesting for your readers and help reduce the clutter that many long content pages are plagued with.

Content is King

When all is said and done, the value that your site gives to your readers is the most important part of SEO that there is. Readers who find your site informative and engaging will return to your site often to check for updates AND they are more likely to share your site with their friends. As time goes on, the little “tricks” that the SEO “experts” use to leapfrog over top of sites with real information lose their effectiveness and sites with useful, regularly updated content take their rightful place at the top.

What website infrastructure rules are you following to ensure proper SEO? Have we missed any, or do you disagree with the ones we have highlighted? Let us know!

An SEO Tactic That Deserves More Attention

By Dino Adamou

While Google and other search engines have tweaked and optimized their search algorithms a dozen times or so this year, one truth still remains: keywords are king. If you are not properly choosing the keywords your site is going to target, then you are condemning your site to the back pages of Google where only the most determined (or bored) searchers are likely to see it. Keyword selection is not as simple as slapping “laptop” all over your home page, but it isn’t rocket science either.

Think like a Buyer

Most likely, you are looking to catch buyers with your keyword selection. This is why you avoid generic terms like “iPod”. You don’t necessarily want everyone interested in iPods coming to your site because 90% of them probably already have one and are not in the market for a new one.

To catch buyers, use phrases that people might search on when they want to buy an iPod. For instance “iPod discounts”, “iPod coupon codes”, “iPod reviews”, “comparison of iPod models”, etc. This will get people who have their wallets in hand coming to your site and people looking for tips on how to use the iPod they already own going somewhere else.

Use Exact Match to Verify Keyword Selection

The Google keyword tool is a great tool, but it’s not perfect, especially for people unfamiliar with SEO strategies. While “bowling balls” when searched under Broad Match has 301,000 searches, the same phrase searched under exact match only has 40,500. Ideally, you want your keywords to have a high number of both Broad and Exact searches, but the latter is more important. If “fuzzy widgets” has 3,000,000 broad searches but only 300 exact searches, then “fuzzy widgets” is a poor keyword to target.

Track How Visitors are coming to Your Site

How visitors found their way to your site is important, particularly in regard to the search phrases they used to get there. If you analyze your logs and find that people are occasionally coming to your site via some long tail keyword phrase that you didn’t think of, then maybe it’s time to expound upon that phrase and add some additional content around it.

Keyword review is also important for the keywords that you already have in place. If you are sure that one of your keywords is a good one but it is not getting much action, then you know that you need to ramp up the content you have around that keyword. Don’t forget the popular keywords either. If people are landing on your site all day and night because of “iPod coupon codes” then toss up a couple of more pages around that keyword and catch a few more of them.

Don’t start a fight with a Bigger Dog

If you have a small budget, don’t try to outrank an industry giant for a popular keyword. To keep beating a dead horse, at this stage in the game ranking anywhere near the top of the SERPs for a phrase like “iPod” or “iPad” is pretty much a losing battle. Choose a set of more specific, buyer friendly keywords and target the heck out of them.

Have you had any success in outranking a big dog? Do you have a secret keyword strategy we haven’t covered? Tell us about it!