YouTube Tips For Marketing Your Business Using Videos

    YouTube is the one of the largest search engines in the world and is the largest video search engine in. It is also currently owned by Google. Right now, there are millions of videos being viewed everyday and if you don’t tap into YouTube as a source of traffic and marketing medium for your business, you’ll potentially be leaving tons of money on the table.

Let’s look at some YouTube tips for marketing your business. The best way to market your videos is through viral videos. Viral videos are cool, interesting, and valuable videos that make people want to share them with their friends. Thankfully, YouTube allows for easy sharing on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, and also allows fans to subscribe to a video channel for the latest updates. 

Get a video up onto YouTube and tweak it accordingly. Make sure at the end of your videos there is a call to action so that you can tell your viewers to take the next action such as visit a website or follow you on Facebook or Twitter. 

In the description area, always include your link to your website on the first line of the first paragraph. This helps improve SEO and gets a free backlink to your website. It is also the first one of the first things people see when they watch the video. 

In your description area and title, make sure you include high search volume keywords so that people can find your content easily. YouTube ranks high in the search engines so by putting your content on YouTube, it makes your stuff much easier to find.

Last but not least, promote your videos to your list of followers. The more people that view your videos, the more eyeballs it will get because YouTube will feature more popular videos in the front of the searches.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209-509-4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com 

Search Engines and The Small Business Website

If you're doing any type of business on the internet than search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! could play a large role in the success or failure of your business. Even though most internet user have experience using search engines, many don't know how the engines work.

For website owners it is important to understand how, at least at a high level, search engines work so they can take advantage of the website traffic that only search engines can deliver.

Search Engines are special sites on the Web that are designed to help people find information stored on other sites. There are differences in the ways various Search Engines work, but they all perform three basic tasks:

- They search the Internet or select pieces of the Internet based on important words,
- They keep an index of the words they find, and where they find them, and
- They allow users to look for words or combinations of words found in that index.

Early Search Engines held an index of a few hundred thousand pages and documents, and received maybe one or two thousand inquiries each day. Today, a top Search Engine will index hundreds of millions of pages, and respond to tens of millions of queries per day.

Before a Search Engine can tell you where a file or document is, it must be found. To find information on the hundreds of millions of Web pages that exist, a Search Engine employs special software robots, called spiders, to build lists of the words found on Web sites.

When a spider is building its lists, the process is called web crawling.

In order to build and maintain a useful list of words, a Search Engine's spiders have to look at a lot of pages. How does any spider start its travels over the Web? The usual starting points are lists of heavily used servers and very popular pages. The spider will begin with a popular site, indexing the words on its pages and following every link found within the site. In this way, the spidering system quickly begins to travel, spreading out across the most widely used portions of the Web.

To increase the likely-hood that the spiders find your website make sure you are listed on high ranked websites like Merchant Circle. You can create a free business page and blog that will not only increase your chances of being found but also be another place for potential visitors to find about about your website.

Once the spiders have completed the task of finding information on Web pages, the Search Engine must store the information in a way that makes it useful. There are two key components involved in making the gathered data accessible to users:

- The information stored with the data, and
- The method by which the information is indexed.

In the simplest case, a Search Engine could just store the word and the URL where it was found. In reality, this would make for an engine of limited use, since there would be no way of telling whether the word was used in an important or a trivial way on the page, whether the word was used once or many times or whether the page contained links to other pages containing the word. In other words, there would be no way of building the ranking list that tries to present the most useful pages at the top of the list of search results.

To make for more useful results, most Search Engines store more than just the word and URL. A Search Engine might store the number of times that the word appears on a page. The engine might assign a weight to each entry, with increasing values assigned to words as they appear near the top of the document, in sub-headings, in links, in the META tags or in the title of the page. Each commercial Search Engine has a different formula for assigning weight to the words in its index. This is one of the reasons that a search for the same word on different Search Engines will produce different lists, with the pages presented in different orders.

You can get a customized Page Critic Analysis Report from Webs 4 Small Business that tells you how YOUR webpages should be set up to make sure give the search engines what they are looking for when they review your page.

An index has a single purpose: it allows information to be found as quickly as possible. There are quite a few ways for an index to be built, but one of the most effective ways is to build a hash table. In hashing, a formula is applied to attach a numerical value to each word.

The formula is designed to evenly distribute the entries across a predetermined number of divisions. This numerical distribution is different from the distribution of words across the alphabet, and that is the key to a hash table's effectiveness.

When a person requests a search on a keyword or phrase, the Search Engine software searches the index for relevant information. The software then provides a report back to the searcher with the most relevant web pages listed first.

Not sure what keywords you should use? Picking the right, or wrong ones, can make or break your chances at online success. Consider getting a customized Key Word Report from Webs 4 Small Business that tells you which keywords you should and should not consider for your site. These keywords are specific to YOUR website not a generic list of keywords.

So, why are search engines important to business website owners? Simple. You need traffic and Search Engines have lots of it. And, their purpose is to drive traffic to sites that they think match their visitors' needs.

The way to get a portion of that traffic, is to optimize your website (you've likely heard of Search Engine Optimization or SEO). That way when a someone searches for a keyword that is relevant to your website, the search engines includes a link to your website in the search results. That puts traffic and potential visitors just a click away from you website.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

Is Link Marketing Important To My Business?

Link marketing has become something of a wonder. Some will say that if you do it, you’ll end up hurt. Others will tell you that you have to follow specific steps to being successful. In any case, the bottom line is that anything positive that you can do to aid your website in getting more visitors should be something that you do, at least to a point. Today, there are hundreds of strategies about what will work in search engine ranking. Some people believe in optimization while others believe in quality content. When it comes to link marketing, there are several things that you should know.

First, realize that there are several types of link marketing to consider.

One way links: To be short, this is one of the best ways to use link marketing. If you use one way links, you are having other website owners list your website link on their page. That may sound strange and you may not realize why anyone would actually want to do that, but the truth is that you can do it. One way links help you to build traffic to your website. They are also highly regarded by the search engines because someone is saying that your website is high quality enough to direct others to it. To use them, visit article directories. Add in a few directories with your link attached and off you go.

Reciprocal links: This type of link is like a trade off. You will place your link on someone’s website and then you’ll need to place their link on yours. It’s a fair trade, so to speak. But, the difference here is how you do it. If you go about adding links to your website that do not have anything to do with your site, or add a ton of them all at once because you purchased them, your website may actually be lowered in the search engine ranks. This is because this is considered a way of cheating the search engines and therefore its not worth it. But, if you put them on correctly, from relevant websites in the proper way, they can help you to improve your website ranking.

The important thing to know about link marketing is that it should not be the only thing that you use to get your website ranking well. There are many things to consider that may actually be more important. For example, having quality content on your site, an easy flowing site and even one that will have your visitors coming back are better choices.

When it comes down to it, using link marketing in your website business is important. It should be a part of your strategy of building a well founded, high quality website. After all, you do want the search engines to rank you well enough to get visitors. Why not use other people’s rankings to help you to get a few of those visitors as well? In short, using link marketing is a tool you should consider for a successful website design that ranks well with the search engines.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

7 Surefire Ways To Increase Your Traffic

So, we all know what is at the core of it all, traffic is the most essential thing to a successful company on the internet. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and you have your company’s internal organization well taken core of, it would be time to get to the nitty gritty of things, generating traffic.

If you already have a site and you think that you're not getting the traffic that you're supposed to be getting, then its time to reconsider what you are doing. If you are contending in these very competitive niches, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday.

Timing is essential, that’s an old adage known to everyone. But with generating traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your site traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.

To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase your traffic would cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Overture is the top surefire way to increase your traffic.

You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of site feature these advertising system and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Yahoo’s advertising.
(You can email us at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com to request a FREE $100 coupon for Adwords to get you started)

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic could be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company’s name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you. Googles Adwords Keyword Tool is free to use and we definitely recommend it.)

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site

Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

6) Join forums and form online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

A Pay Per Click Beginner's Guide.

Should you Pay Per Click?

Commonly refered to as PPC among the savy internet marketers. If you have been marketing online for any length of time you have probably seen PPC eat up your advertising dollars with little or no results.

You research and choose the hottest keywords, then burn through your daily budget in an hour with no sales. The myth that mega traffic produces mega profits is just that. A myth.

Traffic is great. Traffic improves your search engine ranking. It increases word of mouth advertising. Traffic gets you more traffic, but when you are paying a pretty penny for each and every click you want sales.

You may remember the class action law suit against Google. A group of businesses sued Google claiming the company didn't do enough to prevent click fraud so they lost money in their PPC campaigns.

In my less than humble opinion, click fraud was not the culprit. For those who don't know, click fraud is when someone who publishes Google Adsense ads clicks on ads on their own sight to make money with no intention of purchasing the product advertised.

As I said, in my opinion click fraud was not the culprit. It was badly chosen keyword phrases. Instructions on how to choose and bid on keyword phrases are available on the PPC sites so I won't go into the mechanics of bidding.

The important thing is, if you chose the most popular keyword your ad will show up in hundreds maybe even thousands of searches an hour. This means you will recieve hundreds maybe even thousands of clicks a day.

Mega traffic right? For instants. If you are selling hand painted porcelain piggy banks and you bid on the keyword "bank". Who will see your ad and possibly click on it? People looking for online banking, people looking for a rock band called "Bank", kids writing a report for school on the banking industry. In other words, people who don't want what you are selling.

They will click on your ad without reading the whole thing and go "This isn't what I want." and hit the back button. Remember, it cost you money for them to click. It costs them nothing, so people aren't careful about what they click on.

Choose your phrase carefully. You want clicks from visitors who are looking to buy what you are selling. Target your phrase. Bid on "porcelain hand painted piggy banks" if that is what you are selling. People who do broad searches are just looking. People who target their searches are looking to buy.

Will you get less traffic? Yes. Will you make more sales? Maybe, depending on your product, how easy your site is to navigate, your prices, etc, etc...

The point is, with PPC, looky loos cost you money. Save the most popular keywords for your free traffic sources. Target your PPC so that only credit card in hand buyers click your ads.

.
Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

7 Things You Can Do Today To Make Google Fall Head Over Heels In Love With Your Small Business Website

Creating your own small business website can be a scary thing to do and extremely tough. It requires some planning to get it right and make Google sit up and take notice of your site at first glance. Small business website search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the keys, but all too often, business people leave the creation of their websites up to a family member or a friend who happens to know something about it. This is strange, for they wouldn't dream of letting the same people build their bricks and mortar store or office. This is why business owners should leave it to the professionals.

Of course, getting an expert who fully understands small business SEO to build your website is not likely to come cheap, but it may be the best solution if you are starting out from scratch. However, this article is aimed at those small businesses that already have a website, but are disappointed at how poorly it performs. If you're frustrated because your website appears on page 42 of the Google search results, and no one is visiting your website, here are 7 things you can do to quickly improve your results.

1. Create an Effective Website Title Tag, Description Meta Tag,
and Keywords Meta Tag

The most important part of any website page (in the eyes of the search engines) is the title tag. The title is enclosed between the opening title tag: and the closing title tag: . It is located in the head section of an HTML document, or web page. You should use your page's main keyword in your title. Try to use your main keyword near the beginning of your title, and perhaps again near the end. But always strive to make your title readable, and not obviously keyword stuffed. You must also make sure it appears on the main page at least 3 times, but don't be to repetitive.

Your description tag plays an important role in SEO for your local small business. This tag is used by most of the search engines in their listings, so you need to spend some time getting this right. The description tag looks like this:

<meta name="description" content=

and it is also found in the head section of your web page.

Something brief such as, "Acme Dynamite, Makers of Green Dynamite," gets the message across, but you could do much better. Try to list benefits rather than features, and use your main keyword in your description as well. Keep your description reasonably brief, but not too short. Something like, "Acme, Inc., Makers of the Strongest, Most Powerful and Affordable Dynamite on the Planet" is better.

Like a headline for an ad or sales flyer, your description may take time to develop. Start with a list of all of the benefits your product or service offers and then try to write 20 different descriptions for your site based on those benefits. Test your descriptions by reading them to your customers, employees or others familiar with your business. You'll find out which description resonates most strongly with your potential prospects - and that's good for the search engines and for your sales.

The keywords tag, again found in the head section of your web pages, looks like this:

<meta name="keywords" content=

The keywords you choose for your page are important, because they tell the search engines what should be found on the page. Google and all the other search engines present search results based on relevancy – how relevant your web pages are to the keywords and phrases your prospects are searching for.

Keep your keyword phrases to less than seven and don't repeat the same words. For example, if you have two keyword phrases, which are, "blue widgets" and "bright blue widgets," you should only include unique words after including the first "blue widgets" keyword.

Curious to know what your Title, Description, Meta and Keyword tags currently look like? Here's a simple tip – just go to any page of your website, then click on "View Source" or "View Page Source" from the "View" menu. Or Ctrl+U in most browsers. There you'll be able to see exactly what your tags are telling Google when they crawl your site.

2. Optimize Your Website Copy

Your website copy consists of the words on every page of your site. Try to make it interesting and informative. One simple way to arrange your articles, or informative pages, is to use a simple three-step format. Begin with an introductory paragraph that tells your visitor what you are going to tell them. Then in the next two or three paragraphs, tell them. Finally, wind up the article by telling them what you just told them.

This may seem overly simple, but it works. Speak to your website audience as you would to a seven-year-old child. Don't patronize them, but lay it out clearly in simple steps using straightforward language that anyone can understand.

When writing your copy for each of your pages, make sure to focus on one or two keywords per page. If you are selling dynamite in all colors and you also sell blasting caps, then dynamite should be on one page and blasting caps on another. Keep it simple for your customers and the search engines by focusing on one idea per page and your customers will thank you for it, and Google will thank you too.

3. Establish an Acceptable Keyword Density for Your Website Copy

While optimizing your website copy you also need to establish a keyword density that is acceptable to the search engines. Opinions differ, but somewhere between 2% and 5% is probably about right. This means that for effective small business SEO, your main keyword phrase should appear around three times for every 100 words.

Where your keyword appears is important too. Try to use your main keyword or phrase twice in the first paragraph, once in the second paragraph, once around the middle of the article, and once again near the end of the article. Try to start and end the first paragraph with your main keyword if possible, but don't force it. Always aim for copy that is readable before copy that has perfect keyword density.

4. Create Quality Back Links to Your Website

Increasingly, the search engines are giving added weight to the number of quality back links your website has. It used to be that reciprocal linking was quite acceptable, and it still is, but now Google and the other search engines give higher credibility to one-way back links as far as your search engine rankings are concerned.

And it's not just any back links either. You need to have quality back links, or back links from sites that are similar to yours. It's not much good getting a back link from a site about butterflies if your site focuses on racing cars. With Google, it's all about relevance. You should also strive to get back links from so-called authority sites. These are sites that the search engines deem to be an authority on their chosen subject. They tend to be quite big and to have been around for some time. Google gives more reward for .edu backlinks and its not really as hard as you would think. I have some from Harvard and I've never been there in my life.

5. Use Local Directories Effectively

If you are marketing to a local market, then make use of local directories. How do you find them? If, for example, you are located in New York, then go to Google and search for, "directory" + "new york." This will return a list of all the local directories in that city. You could even try searching for, "green dynamite directory" + "new york," if you are marketing blue widgets.

Once you find a suitable directory, submit your website to it. People do search on local directories, so even if your product has worldwide appeal, there's a greater chance that you will get the sale if someone finds you in a local directory over someone else located in another continent who can deliver just as cost effectively or as quickly.

6. Create a Proper Site Map and Google Site Map

Every website should have a site map. This is merely a directory of all your site's pages with links to every one. You should have a link from every page of your site back to your site map, and your site map must be updated whenever a new page is added.

A Google Site Map is also a site map, but one that is in a special format that Google can easily spider. It has the great advantage of allowing Google to instantly "see" your site and evaluate it. It can be a very useful tool in getting Google to index your site more quickly than otherwise. For more information on creating a Google Site Map, go to: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/.

7. Add Fresh Original Content to Your Website at an Acceptably Measured Pace

Your website should never be considered finished. It should always be a work in progress that is constantly expanding with fresh and original content. The easiest way to do this is to add new articles on specific subjects on a regular basis. One article a week is the least you should aim for, but don't add content too quickly either. Dumping 100 articles a day into your site will ultimately work against you, because the search engines look for organic growth – in other words, growth that seems natural. Since it's not likely that you were able to write 100 articles in one day, Google and the other search engines will see this as unnatural and will count it against you in your page ranking.

SEO for your local small business is easier than you might think. Getting Google to fall head over heels in love with your small business website is not rocket science. You only need to implement a few simple things on a regular basis, and over time Google will notice and your page rank – and your placement with the search engines – will start climbing.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

An Introduction To Search Engine Optimization And Web Design

Create a website and in no time at all you will be receiving visitors, right? Wrong. It can take time before a search engine finds and indexes your site. Once it does, it is by no means any guarantee that you will be one of the first sites listed under your subject. Search engines index billions of pages and even the most obscure subject can have thousands of pages.

So how do you put your webpage at the head of the pack? It all comes down to search engine optimization. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the term used to describe methods and tricks used that will help improve how search engines rank your page. The higher that your page ranks, the better chance your page will be selected by someone searching, resulting in more traffic to your site.

Search Engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! use complicated, highly guarded algorithms to rank your website that can be so confusing Einstein himself would have trouble figuring it out. Instead of focusing on those issues, let us instead focus on a few basic areas that will help improve your websites ranking. 

One final note about search engines: The most popular search engine right now is Google.

Keywords
Choosing the right keywords for your page is the most important step in SEO. In actuality, "keywords" usually key phrases since you will be choosing about three or four key phrases for each page of your website and rarely focus on a simple word. It is important that you are specific when picking your phrases. You need to stay away from generic terms such as “cat,” “television,” or “car.” Pick phrases such as “marketing consultant”, “plasma television”, or “Chevy Corvette”. The more specific you can be the higher that your page will be ranked, and the better chance your page will be found by your target audience.

To pick the right phrases, think about what words you would type in when looking for your site. Ask your friends and family members what they would type into the search engine. Understand that television and TV are two different words and not interchangeable in the minds of search engines. Going back to my example of Creative Marketing Consultant, I might choose the keywords of “Creative Marketing Consultant”, “Professional Marketing Consultant”, and “Consultants in Peoria, Illinois” for a marketing consulting website. Keyword phrases should only be about three to four words long.

Domain Name
If you have not picked a domain name, it is best to pick one that uses at least one of your keywords in it. Use dashes to help separate the words, if desired. A website named http://www.marketingconsultingpeoria.com or http://www.creativemarketingconsultants.com is better than http://www.randombusiunessname.com. For even better results, choose something that is specific to your keywords. That said, it is believed that search engines may rank domain names with  two or more hyphens lower because they are usually associated with lower-quality or spam-ridden sites.

Anchor Tags
Anchor tags, also known as anchor text, are the visible hyperlinked text on the page. Search engines typically weigh them heavily. Make sure that your anchor tags contain as many of your keywords as possible. Also, they should not be too long, although there is no limit, and be a clear indication of what the user will find by clicking on it.

Headings
When designing a webpage for search engine optimization, it is important that you use headings (, , ) for your titles instead of graphic images. Search engines weigh headings heavily as an indication of what content to index your pages. Therefore, it is important that your page have headings that include your keywords. Pages without any headings rank lower in search engine results.

Meta Tags
Meta tags help search engines index a website correctly. Although there are quite a few meta tags to choose from, the two most important are description and keywords. If you do not place these two in your heading section of your website, search engines will decide for themselves, usually by taking information from the first text it can find. Here is an example of each of the meta tags.

• meta name="description" content="An introduction to search engine optimization, or SEO, including how to pick and use the right keywords, use meta links, title tags, alt tags, image names, site maps, links, and headings.

•  meta name="keywords" content="search engine optimization, SEO, webpage design, choosing keywords, anchor tags, headings, meta tags, title tags, alt tags, image names, site maps, robots.txt, keyword spamming or stuffing, web content development

The description should be about 170 characters long and never exceed 200 characters--including spaces and include all the major keywords for the webpage. Notice that commas separate the keywords and there is no comma after the last keyword in the sequence. Also, try not to repeat a word more than twice in the listing. A lesser important meta tag is the author tag. While it will not help your website be ranked higher, including it will help your company or your name be recognized.

It is critical that your description and keywords are accurate and relate to that page. Listing words or phrases that are not included in the text of the page lowers their relevance ranking. Search engines will rank the relevance of terms based on how many times the term occurs on the page, the position they are located in the document, the length of the document and the “weight” of the search term. Weight is determined by how often and the location of the keyword. Words that appear in the title, headings, and tags are considered heavier than other terms.

Title Tags
Technically, the title is a meta tag but because it is probably the most important one, it is listed separately. It is also what search engines list first, so it should be carefully thought out. Make sure you have a unique title for each of your pages.

The title tag is placed in the header section inside . Most people simply place the name of their site in the title tag, which is not good SEO. Instead, place your most important keywords phrases inside the title tag without listing them. For example, instead of saying “Andy's consulting” say, “Andy's Consulting - Home of the finest creative marketing consultant in Peoria, Illinois”.

Length is also important. Google displays 66 characters of a title tag, cropping between words. Yahoo! allows much longer titles, up to 120 characters. Therefore, you are best to include a title that is at least 66 characters long and subtitle that is an additional 54 characters long. You also want to consider what will be displayed by web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. What would be displayed if a visitor bookmarked your site or on browser indexes?

Alt Tags and Image Names
Search engines only index text. However, they do index the alt tags associated with images. This is why you should label each image on your website with tags that use your keywords whenever possible and relevant to the image. Do not include alt tags that are simplistic. Be as specific as possible without going overboard.

File names are another great place to include keywords. While you cannot include spaces in a file name, you can separate your keywords with hyphens (-) or underscores ( _ ), which will be perceived as spaces by search engines. Going back to the above picture, instead of naming it “image1.jpg” list it as “american_wirehair_kittens.jpg” or “wirehair_kittens.jpg”.

Site Maps
Site maps are documents that can be submitted to search engines that help them learn the structure of your site. You need to set up a site map that has a direct link to every page on your site and place a text link to that site map on the index page of your site. You can also submit this site map to search engines such as Yahoo! and Google.

Robots.txt
The robots.txt file is a file that you place on your web server that instructs web robots which directories can or cannot be crawled. A robot is a program that searches the web hypertext structure looking for websites to index. They are also known as web wanderers, web crawlers, or spiders. Robots.txt implements the Robots Exclusion Protocol, which allows the web site administrator to define what parts of the site are off-limits to specific robots. The very basic robots.txt file will simply contain the text:
    User-agent: *
    Disallow:

This signals that any robot can search all of the pages on your website. If there is a page on your site that you do not want robots to index, simply insert a backslash and list it after disallow. For example, if you want to exclude the page “www.calebscattery.com/friends.html” you would place the following in your robots.txt file:
User-agent: *
    Disallow: /friends.html

Once you have created and uploaded your robots.txt file, you can make sure it is valid by going to Robots.txt Checker [http://tool.motoricerca.info/robots-checker.phtml].

Keyword Spamming or Stuffing
Keyword spamming, also known as keyword stuffing, is when irrelevant keywords are included on a webpage in the hopes of attracting unsuspecting surfers to the site. This can be done in a variety of ways such as listing phrases at the bottom of the page, including hidden text on the page, or other methods. This is also the most popular of the “black hat SEO” methods, or unethical search engine optimization. DON"T DO IT OR YOUR SITE WILL BE BANNED
Search engines are good at recognizing these tactics. Sites that employ these methods are either ranked lower or, in extreme cases, removed altogether from the search engine. Even if the web robot does not recognize your methods, your competitors might and then report you.  

Web Content Development
Each page of your site needs to contain at least 250 words, although 500 words would be better. When web robot visit, they will read your site from top to bottom, left to right. For that reason, try to include your keywords very early on in your text and then a few more times within your text and in the last sentence of your text. Do not list the words or repeat words just to repeat words. You have to write your content for humans too. ;-)

It is also important to note that web robots “count” any html, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript or other code listed on the site. Learn and use external style sheets to remove it from your page. It is believed that most robots will only look at the first 80-100 lines of code--including any blank lines you may have included. If your text is buried at the bottom, it might not get included when they index your page.

Spending the time to optimize your site for search engines is as important as developing quality content when it comes to finding and keeping visitors. Having the best site in the world does no one any good if it cannot be found. Good SEO should not change the content of your page or alter it significantly. It will only alter its ranking by search engines.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

Are You Making These 5 Common Pay-per-click Mistakes In Your Small Business?

Because of the ability to specifically target your unique prospects based on interest as well as geography, the ability to tightly control your ad spend and to precisely measure results, Pay-Per-Click (PPC such as Google's Adwords) is probably the greatest breakthrough to come along in advertising since the launch of television.  And, because of those same benefits, it’s much more affordable for the small to mid-size business owner to leverage for their business (as compared with television and many other advertising alternatives).

That being said, PPC is not as easy as it seems at first glance. Business owners looking to launch their first campaign will quickly discover how easily they can spend hundreds – and even thousands – of dollars in wasted efforts while they learn to navigate the PPC waters.

While entire books have been written on the ins-and-outs of pay-per-click advertising, there are 5 common mistakes that I see business owners making when I’m asked to evaluate their pay-per-click campaign strategies.  These mistakes are easy to fix, and doing so will dramatically increase the effectiveness of your pay-per-click campaign!

The 5 most common PPC mistakes are:

   1. Using your home page as the landing page.  No matter which search engine you use for your campaign – Google, Yahoo!, Bing or any other – you can decide where to direct your new customers when they click on your ad.  The most common mistake I see business owners make when they launch their PPC campaign is directing those clicks to their home page.  The thinking seems to be that their home page is equivalent to the front door of their business, and they want their new customers to walk through – but that’s where they go wrong.  With PPC advertising, your prospect is searching for something highly specific – that’s the “keyword” they’ve entered into the search engine.  Having them land at your home page is the equivalent of having them ask you for a specific item in your store, and you telling them – “it’s in here somewhere, it’s up to you to find it.”  Obviously you wouldn’t do that in person with your customers – and you don’t want to do it online, either.  By designing what’s known as a “landing page” – the place where visitors “land” when they click on your ad - you can present your customer with exactly what they are looking for when they come to your site.  Your landing page should be tightly focused to the keywords you are using for your PPC ad, with no other links or distractions to confuse your prospect. This dramatically increases their satisfaction with your site, as well as the likelihood that they will make a purchase from you.

   2. Not customizing your landing page to your prospects’ keyword searches.  The way an ideal PPC campaign works is something like this:  a prospect enters a search term – for my business it might be “e-mail marketing.”  They are presented with my PPC ad with “e-mail marketing” in the headline AND the ad copy.  My prospect clicks on my ad and is taken to my landing page that is all about our services.  (I will have bid on all of my keywords there to capture searchers entering them).  The likelihood that my prospect will become a customer is high, because there is no confusion about what the page is about – no wondering if he’s in the right place or if we offer what he is looking for.  A common mistake I see business owners making with their PPC campaigns is to try to combine several products or services into one landing page.  This leads to frustration when your searcher clicks on your ad and lands on a page that they aren’t sure offers what they are specifically looking for.  Make sure your landing pages are customized to the keyword your prospect is searching for – and quickly turn prospects into customers.

   3. Using generic ad copy in your PPC ads.  The tricky thing with PPC ads is you don’t have much real estate to work with.  Google allows just 70 characters; Yahoo allows 190 characters (with spaces) in a text ad.  When every single word counts, you can’t afford to use meaningless words like “high quality service,” or “established in 1903.”  While these statements may be true about your business, they don’t target the specific searches your prospects are entering to find the products and services they are looking for.  A mistake I see clients make in their PPC ads is to include these type of generic statements that don’t set their business apart.  When you are writing your ad, you’ll want to include specific keywords that your prospects will likely enter to find what you have to offer.  Your headline must be captivating and should include your main keyword.  The next line of your ad should contain the single biggest benefit you offer to your customers.  What sets your company apart from your competitors?  That’s what goes in your PPC ad.  The 3rd line of your ad should contain a feature of your product or service or an offer – special discounted pricing or something free work well here.  By making your ad specific to the keywords that your prospects will likely enter, you’ll be well on your way not only to increasing clicks, but to turning clicks into cash as well.

   4. Not securing high enough placement with your bids.  All of the search engines use a slightly different method for determining the position for your ad.  Google and Yahoo use a combination of ad relevancy (how relevant your ad is to the keywords you’ve bid on and the landing page you present to your visitors) and bid price.  A big mistake I notice my clients making is not targeting their keywords tightly enough and specific enough to their product or service to allow them to bid high enough on those keywords to secure top placement on the search engines.  It’s estimated that 85% of all PPC clicks occur on ads that appear in one of the top 3 positions on the page.  That means, if you aren’t working hard to find keywords that are specific enough to your niche and not bidding high enough to secure a top spot, you are missing out on a good portion of the clicks that could be yours.  Use a keyword tool such as Wordtracker or Google's Adowrds Keyword tool to research keyword possibilities that you may not have considered.  Look for a Keyword Effectiveness of 10 or greater – meaning that the keyword has sufficient search queries with the engines to result in significant traffic, without a lot of competitors bidding on the same keyword.  When you place your campaign, use these keywords and bid high enough to secure a top spot, ensuring that the people searching for what you have to offer find your website – instead of your competitors.

   5. Not testing your ads to determine their effectiveness.  While there is a “formula” for crafting an effective PPC ad, slight changes – even changing one word – can have a dramatic impact on your click-through-rate (the percentage of people who click on your ad as compared with the number who see it).  A mistake I see business owners making with their campaigns is to choose their keywords and then write only one PPC ad to display.  All of the major search engines offer the capability of creating ad variations so that you can test different ad copy to determine what works best.  This is known as “split testing” or “A/B” testing, as you are comparing the results of two different ads for the same keywords.  Google will alternate the ads for you, and you’ll easily be able to see which ad performs better by looking at your click-through-rate.  When you find an ad that outperforms another, that ad becomes your “control” – or the ad to beat.  Put the under-performing ad on “hold” and create another version, changing one or two words or possibly just the headline.  Then test that ad against your control.  This is a continual process – you are always trying to beat your control to improve your number of clicks.  Not surprisingly, advertisers who test their ads in this method are more successful with PPC, as they tend to know their customers better and are able to target their prospects with captivating ads that turn into an increasing number of clicks – and customers – for them.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

3 Traits Of High Quality Seo Web Design

When it comes to web design, there are so many amazing designers out there.  Most web designers are very creative and have a strong artistic background. They are able to use their talents to create layouts that are guaranteed to catch the eye of your visitors.  Unfortunately, there is one major thing that most web designers are missing. The overwhelmingly vast majority of web designers are not familiar with the concepts and implementation of search engine optimization techniques. Even if a web designer has at least some basic knowledge of SEO (Search Engine Optimization,) they do not worry about implementing search engine optimization strategies into their designs.

While this may seem like a trivial detail, it can actually be the root of some major problems for your site and your businesses bottom line. No matter how attractive your web site is, if it is not indexed by the major search engines, the traffic it receives is going to be minimal. Once you realize this is happening, you are going to have to hire someone with SEO knowledge to fix your layout. Therefore, you may end up paying double for something that should have been done the first time around.  Whether you are a web designer or someone getting ready to hire a web designer, here are three traits of quality SEO web design:

Usability: As a general rule of thumb, if the design of a web site makes it easy for your human visitors to navigate, it will also be relatively easy for search engine robots to access, crawl and index your web site.  Making your site user (and search engine) friendly includes minimizing (or completely eliminating) things such as Flash (in some cases), Javascript navigation and layouts designed with tables.  By designing with usability in mind, you can be sure that your visitors and the search engines will be happy with your web site.

Avoid Being Sneaky: Because web designers are generally very creative people, they like to push the envelope when it comes to designing web sites. Although this mentality can result in some truly amazing web layouts, it can also cause problems if taken too far. When creating a web site layout, it is important to keep the web master guidelines of search engines like Google in mind. Incorporating things like hidden text into your designs is a sure way to get penalized (or de-indexed) by search engines. It is ok to push the envelope with your designs, but just make sure that you avoid doing anything that the search engines tell you not to do.

On-page SEO: Although this is the last item on the list, it is actually the most important.  On-page SEO is the basis for quality SEO web design. It is vital that properly implement things such as title, meta, H1 and H2 tags (header tags), along with internal linking and the other key components of on-page search engine optimization. Taking the time to employ these practices will make a significant difference in where your web site ranks in the search engines.

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

5 Reasons Why Your Business Must Have an Online Presence Today

The Internet has officially changed the face of business and in case no one has done this for you already, let me be the first to formally welcome you to the “Information Age”, or should we call it the “Internet Age”. So...Welcome to the 21st Century! Things are going to be different.

The Internet is not a fad or a flavor of the week anymore and hasn't been for some time.  It is the real deal and it is here to stay.  It may morph in one way, shape, or form however, it is here to stay and the most successful businesses are taking advantage of it.

So why exactly should you take your business online?  Although there are tons of reasons, here are 5 key ones:

1. It is expected.  Quite simply, the Internet is the first place people look to find out more about you and find services, your business, and/or your product.  They look for your website as well as information they can find out about you from other websites.  Yes, I dare say it, in 99.9% of the cases, it will damage your credibility to some degree with a prospect if you cannot be found out there.

2. It is cheap.  Never in history has a marketing medium been available to all businesses, no matter the size of their company or bank account that afforded them so much possibility for success.

Obviously money if applied properly can increase your results on the Internet; however, you really can get started with little or no money.  Skeptical, just read some of the books from the “Guerrilla Marketing” series by Jay Conrad Levinson (they are awesome by the way, I've read a few.)

3. It is immediate.  Face it.  We live in a world of instant gratification.  We want everything yesterday.  If something is not immediately available, we just may lose interest or worse yet get it from somewhere else – like your competition.

4. It is 24/7.  The Internet simply never sleeps.  Having and implementing an effective Internet strategy can be like having a well tuned marketing and sales force that continues to do your bidding around the clock.

5. It is global.  Why limit your business to the 15 minute radius surrounding your office?  Your current competition certainly isn’t and new competitors are seemingly coming out of nowhere every day. (I have people visiting me from 150 countries world wide and climbing everyday)

Look at the Internet as a means to allow you to share your genius with prospects who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to experience what you have to offer.


So in closing, what’s the best advice I can muster up on this topic?  Make a sincere effort to understand the Internet and the sheer power and opportunity it brings to your business. Create a plan of attack and get in the game. Play on the grandest court available today, the Internet! 

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

How Do I Market My New Business On The Internet?

Marketing on the Internet can be huge task for some people, especially ones who are more used to more traditional methods of marketing and advertising. Doing your marketing on the Internet is generally less expensive than traditional types of marketing. When done correctly will yield great results.
So how do I market my new business on the Internet? Do your research. I know that it seems like that’s always the advice you get. Research, though, is vital to learning what types of marketing best suit your style and pocketbook. So before you start throwing down your money for banner ads, do your homework to find out if this is really the best, most efficient way to market your particular new business.

Planning is also an important part of marketing online and off line. A common mistake Internet marketers make is to jump in with no real plan. You will want to be certain that any marketing plan you develop fits your budget as well.

The best advice is to start small and work up to more expensive marketing techniques. Doing your research, making a budget, and drawing up a marketing plan for your Internet business will ensure that you get off to the right foot.

Some typical ways of marketing on the Internet are:

• Banner ads
• Solo ads
• Ezine ads
• Press releases
• Email
• Promotional offers
• Linking to other sites
• Pay-per-click

There are other methods as well, but these are the most common and useful. All of the above methods are extremely effective ways for you to market your new business on the Internet, but a combination of several of them will bring you the best results. It will be up to you to decide which ones work best for you and how much you can comfortably spend.

Marketing by these methods does require close monitoring and the ability to make adjustments when you see something that isn’t working or isn’t delivering the results you need to grow your business. The great advantage that marketing on the Internet has is that you can track your result easily and respond quickly with any needed changes to your marketing plan.

Perhaps, though, one of the best and most cost-efficient answers to the question how do I market my new business on the Internet is to write articles and post them on website across the Internet. In these articles or at the end, you add your contact information with a link to your site. By providing information people need about topics related to your new Internet business and a link to find your site, you will get a lot of visitors—and more important, lots of sales!


Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

3 Must-Have Strategies to Stay on the Cutting Edge

http

1.  Explore New Advertising Methods

The first sign that you might need to explore new marketing strategies, is a sharp decline in the effectiveness of your advertisement campaign.  Yeah, you shell out a lot of hard earned cash to advertise, and the public turns its nose up!  Don't wait until your profits are plunging to start hunting for new marketing strategies.

Keep searching for the pot of gold.  The whirlwind of change that continuously sweeps through the marketplace offers great opportunity for discovering new advertising mediums. Be on the lookout for one that will set you up for brand new heights of success.

Here's the rule of thumb for advertising:  Keep 80 percent of your advertising budget invested in the "tried and true" methods that bring in a steady flow of profit, and invest 20 percent into the exploration of new ways to get  your message to potential customers.

2.  Be On the Lookout for New Markets

Be alert! Diversification is the key to staying on the cutting edge of an ever-changing marketplace.  You'll be insulating yourself against the effects of these changes by continuously changing as well.  And hey... you never know when a brand new market will translate into millions of dollars in sales! 

You don't have to go out on a limb to reach new markets.  There are marketing niches within the market you are currently dealing with.  Think of it like this...your market can be subdivided into several narrowly defined markets.  A Multi-Level Marketing company may notice that many of its prospects are stay-at-home moms and retirees.  Hey a few advertisements directed at the right people...two additional Web pages targeting stay-at-home moms and retirees linked to their home page...and they've effectively customized their markets and are likely to see a 20 percent increase in sales.

3.  Invest In New Products or Services

Have you noticed a continuously progressing slump in the sales and profits of a product or service you currently offer?  It's no sweat if you have other products and services to fill the gap.  Keep a sharp eye out for new products and services that complement what you already have to offer.

A bridal shop owner may have a humming business that sells gowns and veils, but what about tuxedos?  Wouldn't it be easier for the wedding party to get everything in one place?  Tuxedos aren't just for weddings...proms and parties call for bow ties and tails as well.  The potential is expansive.

Yeah, you don't have to be intimidated by clever competition and new technology when you stay on the edge, and make changes with it.  Try these 3 strategies to keep you sales numbers vibrant and climbing!

Andy Ray Uppole is an artist from Peoria, Illinois that specializes in audio and video production, graphic design, commercial art, and creative consulting. You can contact him by calling 209.509.4120 or email him at subversiondesignsolutions@gmail.com

This is your new information souce on topics including art, politics, business, graphic design, and new technology.

Welcome to my blog!
This is now your new source for anything art, business, politics graphic design, and new technology related. I will be posting articles several times a day on these topics, giving product reviews, business and design tips, political commentary and pretty much anything else that might be on my mind. You can visit my official web page @ www.subversiondesignsolutions.com My company provides graphic design and printing solutions for small business start-ups to fortune 500 companies. Take a look at our services and give us a call or shoot us an email for a free consultation and quote. Act now and get 10% for the entire first year!
-Andy