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Why is it so essential for good ranking in Google?
Everyone knows that most Internet traffic originates through search engines. Statistics show that over 74% of the U.S. population uses the Internet and most experts agree that 95 percent of people never go beyond the first page of search results. After all, why would they if they found what they wanted? Having a good Google ranking is very important because getting a better search engine ranking is a step towards a sale.

Importance of new content to a website and search engines:
Fresh content is important in terms of search engine optimization. Web users are always looking for the latest information. Search engines understand this and therefore place a heavy emphasis on the freshness of content. Fresh content brings higher search engine rankings and search engines love fresh content. The creation of compelling and useful content is likely to influence your website more than any other factors.   

In addition to the content being fresh, it must also be relevant. It makes no sense to add new content simply for the sake of it being new – this alone will not help your search engine ranking. But if your content is relevant, unique and closely tied to the popularity of the various keywords and keyword phrases, then you absolutely can help get your site ranked. Fresh content will keep both customers and search engines returning to your site. Updating your site often and adding new content is an invitation to the search engines to crawl your site and index new posts.

What Google says about the fresh content and its recently changed algorithm?
Google loves fresh content and frequent updates: It is important to update your site frequently with fresh content and new keywords. Keywords are high in the table algorithm for search engine indexing and classification. Some site owners even say that Google reviews sites after each change is made. A high ranking in SERPs get your site noticed and increases the likelihood of valuable backlinks!

What we know is that a website requires quality content to remain high in the search engine rankings but a website’s content needs also to be interesting, relevant and unique. It is impossible for companies to create content that is interesting, deep and, most important, original at all times. This increases the rate of duplication of content and link farms. Google has changed their algorithms which help to identify and penalize those sites which simply copy content from one site and present it as unique on their own site. This change implemented by Google will help boost the classification of what are considered high quality sites and push low quality sites which include copied content further down the rankings.

"From the beginning content is king and always be the king."
What do you think?  Visit www.wsiwebapplications.com for more information.

 

Do you want to create a greater web presence and attract more potential customers to your site?  Of course you do.  Incorporating video into your website is a sure-fire way to achieve this.  In fact, websites containing video are 53 times more likely to appear on Page 1 of Google vs. a site that is void of video (Source:  Forrester Research).  What's more, if a video is properly optimized (vast majority are not!), it provides web presence over and above what your website already provides.  Google is pushing video to the top of search engines and here's why a properly optimized video can achieve a page 1 Google ranking much faster than a website can.  Search engines work to have a blended mix of web content and in their effort to achieve this, they often give higher ranking to video content in order to display a consistency in search results. 

Aside from video optimization (a must!), ensure your video is professionally edited.  This video is telling the world about your business so don't "cheap out".  Remember the old saying, "You get what you pay for" and professional editing of your video should be a must!  There are 2 basic types of videos that you can incorporate into your website - the profile video and the subject video.  The profile video provides an overview of your entire business and sets the tone for why a customer would want to deal with you.  A subject video focuses on one aspect of your business.  For example, a heating contractor may do a subject video on furnace maintenance checks.  Whether it is a profile video or a subject video you are creating, both types must portray you as the expert.  Your customer wants his decision to spend money with you to be validated by knowing he/she is getting their money's worth.  Video allows you to connect with customers on an emotional level that pure text is simply unable to do.  Always remember however that a video's content is all about the customer.  Resist words such as "we" or "I" and substitute with words such as "you" and "your" instead.

Once your video has been created, edited and optimized, it is ready not only for insertion into your website but also for syndication.  Talk about creating web presence!  YouTube, the world's second largest search engine behind Google is one of many video websites where your video can be posted for maximum exposure.  You should also consider creating a custom YouTube channel which is branded in likeness to your website and houses the videos you have created.  A badge on your website which tells viewers of your site to "Watch our videos on YouTube" is also a terrific way to create web presence with video.

Lastly, like your website, Analytics is available for anyone with a YouTube account and it is strongly recommended that you pay attention to what Analytics is telling you.  Analytics provides the quantifiable justification for making changes with your video because it is reflective of what viewers think of your video.  Pay attention to the analytics if you want your videos to create high impact with potential customers.

There you have it.  Shoot, edit, optimize, upload, syndicate and analyze.  For video to increase your web presence.....rinse and repeat!  Check out www.wsiwebapplications.com for more helpful Internet Marketing information or call WSI Web Applications directly at (519) 480-0465.

While employing effective SEO techniques will help to drive traffic to your website, Analytics tells you what people are doing on your site once they reach it.

I'm always amazed at the number of companies I meet with that do not have Analytics embedded on their web pages.  I've read reports recently that peg the number of small to medium-sized firms with no web Analytics software at nearly 75%!  That's an astonishing percentage especially when you consider the vital role that Analytics plays in the performance of a website.  So what is Analytics?  It is a program which at a minimum, records the surfing behaviour of people while they're on your site (What pages did they visit?  How long did they stay on the page? etc.).  Analytics also tells you how the individual got to your site (i.e. Was it through an online search?  Was it through a link? Was it through direct inputting of your URL? etc.).  Why on earth would would anyone choose not to have such a crucial record system for their website?  Talk about a powerful planning tool!  I will often mention to clients who don't employ Analytics, "How do you know where you're going, when you don't know where you've been?"

Okay, here's the GOOD NEWS!  While there are different Analytic programs available, you would be hard pressed to find one that packs more punch than Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) and...wait a minute....it's FREE.  Google Analytics provides you with loads of helpful detailed information including, but not limited to, the number of site visits, page views, pages viewed per visit, time spent on the site.....the list goes on!  Google Analytics proudly boasts, "Improve your site and increase marketing ROI."  Obviously strengthening the bottom line is always a key performance metric with every for profit business.  While Google Analytics is a powerful and free tool, unless you dedicate the time to learn and properly interpret what the Analytics are telling you and monitor them faithfully, I recommend you spend a small sum to have an expert monitor and interpret the results on your behalf - it's money well spent!

How does one know if they even have Analytics on their site?  Here's a simple way to check.  Go to your home page (or any page on your site for that matter) and click "View" on the toolbar, scroll down to "Source" or "View Source" and click.  You'll then see some funky text which will likely look very foreign to you...don't worry.  Hit the "Ctrl" and "F" keys together and up will pop a small text box.  Type in "Analytics" or "Google Analytics".  If the box turns pink in colour (or an "item not found" message immediately appears), it is very possible that your site does not have Analytics software embedded on your site.  If your site contains Analytics, the cursor will immediately jump to the place on the page where the analytic code is contained.  Embedding Analytics into a website is not a difficult task.  If after checking your site, you believe that Analytics is not contained on your site, speak with your web developer and ask them to install Analytics on your website and to interpret the results that follow. 

Always remember that your website is your 24/7 salesperson, an invaluable business tool.  Ask yourself, "Is my website a cost centre or a revenue centre?"  If your answer is the former or "I don't know", installing Analytics on your site and then responding to what the Analytics are indicating about your site, will assist in turning your website into a revenue centre!         

I must admit I have become enamored with the various social media sites that have populated the web over the last decade.  I mean, where else can you connect with Aunt Betty all while enjoying your mid morning cup of joe and commiserating over your portfolio on E-Trade?  Man, talk about an efficient set up to match our fast-paced world.  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and other social media sites have garnered more than their fair share of marketing dollars in recent years and heck, why wouldn't they?  With millions of new users monthly climbing on the social media bandwagon, advertisers are clamoring to "reach out and touch someone" as Ma Bell would say by flipping higher percentages of their marketing budgets to social media giants like Facebook.  As eMarketer Daily points out in a recent article, "ROI is a top concern for online marketers, and just over one-half think 2010 is the year social media marketing will meet their need for measurability."  See the chart below.

While I'm not exactly going out on on a limb when I say that social media marketing is in the growth stage of the proverbial product life cycle, the question still remains how long it will stay there.  Given the skyrocketing increase in users and the fact that social media was something that only took flight as recently as George W's reign in the White House, I'm betting that the social media phenom won't be entering the maturity stage of the product life cycle any time soon.  That should allow Ashton Kutcher a little more time to work on increasing his "piddly" number of several million Twitter followers :)