Archive for the 'Tips' Category

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WordPress SEO Made Easy With 5 Awesome WordPress SEO Plugins

Published on June 2, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Wordpress SEOBesides creating an opportunity to help show your personality and connect with customers, a blog on your website is a proven online marketing tactic to help generate serious traffic from search engines.  What is not well known though is that there are over 22 million WordPress publishers as of February 2010 with 10.6 million blogs hosted on WordPress.com plus 11.4 million active installations of the WordPress.org software (per WordPress Stats).

What is even more amazing is that over 350,000 blog posts (see below chart) are published every day.  So with more and more blog posts being published every day, how can you increase your chances of having your blog appear at the top of search engine results like Google.com? The answer is simple – optimize your website for search engines.  Wow, we are genius right?  Obviously how that gets done is where the challenge is and we want to help you and hope you find this blog post on WordPress SEO made easy beneficial.

Wordpress SEO Made Easy With 5 Awesome Wordpress SEO Plugins wordpress seo statsThis WordPress SEO blog idea can be credited to a few clients who do have a good blogging strategy in place; however, they are not seeing traffic coming from the search engines to their blogs and requested our advice on what tools we have in place for WordPress SEO.

At the end of the day, without optimizing each and every blog post you won’t get much traffic, and your blog will slide into SEO black hole.  We know it is hard enough to create unique and consistent content for your blog so optimizing your blog post for search engines is one more step that can be easily solved leveraging existing WordPress SEO plugins.

Here are 5 WordPress SEO plugins that we have found that will help make your blog more search engine friendly and will help achieve your WordPress SEO objectives (oh and of course with our search engine marketing services too):

  1. Google XML Sitemaps – This WordPress SEO plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask to better index your blog. With an XML sitemap, it’s much easier for the search engine crawlers to see the complete structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. The Google XML Sitemap WordPress plugin supports all kinds of WordPress generated pages as well as custom URLs. Additionally it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content. You can see an example of iClick Solutions Google XML Sitemap.
  2. All in one SEO Pack – This WordPress SEO plugin will help you take care of all your meta and title tags. There are a few amazing SEO features included with this plugin such as Canonical URLs which allows for the best URL format, i.e. www.sample.com versus sample.com or sample.com/blogpostname.php, optimizes titles of posts automatically, automatic generation of meta tags based on content which can be overwritten if you wish to change them and allows you to easily customize these important attributes without the need to dig into your html code.  It is important to still understand what keywords to optimize for so if you need assistance with your search engine optimization keywords please let us know.
  3. Redirection -  The Error 404 “Page not found” is the error page displayed whenever someone asks for a page that’s simply not available on your site.  The 404 error page is bad for users but also not loved by search engines.  This WordPress SEO plugin makes it much easier to manage all the pages of your site that have moved. The Redirection WordPress SEO plugin helps manage 301 redirections, keep track of 404 errors, and clean up any loose ends your site may have. This is useful if you are migrating pages from an old blog, or are changing the directory of your WordPress installation. It is well know that if you have too many 404 errors, search engines like Google may remove you from their index and really hurt your chances of achieving top search rankings.  The search engines closely monitor bounce rates and reward those websites with good rankings and traffic if you provide a good user experience so definitely leverage this WordPress SEO plugin to ensure you don’t have any dead page 404 errors.
  4. WP-Super-Cache – One of the newest requirements for increasing your chance of earning top search engine rankings is to ensure your website or blog loads quickly.  You can learn more about this topic on our Google page load time prior blog post.  To help your blog load faster leverage this WordPress SEO plugin that generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier WordPress PHP scripts. The static html files will be served to the vast majority of your users, but because a user’s details are displayed in the comment form after they leave a comment those requests are handled by PHP. With this plugin the search engine crawlers will be able to access your website faster and page load speed is one of the important on-site search engine optimization requirements.
  5. Sexy Bookmarks – Though the name may be a little risky for some (don’t worry clients won’t see the WordPress plugin name), SexyBookmarks has proven to be an extremely useful and successful tool in getting your blog readers to submit your blog post to numerous social bookmarking sites. This WordPress SEO plugin (see below this blog post for example) will automatically insert an attractive navigation bar on top or bottom of each blog post so that your readers can automatically bookmark your website on any of the most popular social bookmarking sites. You can customize which social sites such as Twitter or Facebook.  This WordPress SEO plugin helps the search engines find your content easier, and it can help boost your search ranking if more people discover your site and link to it.

There are many other amazing WordPress plugins available; however, we have found the above 5 WordPress SEO plugins to work the best.  We recommend you install (we can help if you need it) some of the above WordPress SEO plugins and are confident you will see improved search engine traffic within a few weeks.  Share with us below other WordPress plugins you have found to be of benefit and why.  We would love to learn from you as well.

Image Source from PromotePoint.

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Privacy on Facebook Settings Made Easier

Published on May 31, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Privacy on Facebook

As you may have heard, today is Quit Facebook Day when a number of users around the globe plan to delete their Facebook profiles in protest over recent privacy on Facebook issues on the world’s largest social network.

At the time of writing this blog post a little more than 27,000 people had committed to delete their accounts, according to the Quit Facebook Day Website. While Quit Facebook Day may be a bit of bad press for Facebook, the reality is those intending to leave Facebook today make up just 0.0054 percent of Facebook’s 500+ million users.

We are huge fans of Facebook and almost always include Facebook in our social media marketing plans.  Yes, these recent Facebook privacy issues have been confusing and we don’t agree with how they were communicated; however, people are getting a little too upset about the privacy on Facebook concerns.  Our recommendation is before you follow the other Quit Facebook Day users, take the time to learn what the issues are and how you can make adjustments to your Facebook privacy settings.

Here are 2 great resources to check out:

Facebook is currently rolling out modifications to its privacy settings in response to the recent influx of user complaints. According to founder Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook needs to continuously update itself in order to accommodate its exponential growth.

Some of the recent changes, especially those dealing with privacy settings, have been met with controversy. The new updates aim to offer more privacy controls and limit 3rd party applications from accessing personal information.Concerns around privacy due to Facebook’s recent OpenGraph changes has been getting major press over the past few weeks.

Below is a Facebook video on how to edit your privacy settings on Facebook:

Here’s a recap of some of the ways Facebook simplified the privacy on Facebook settings:

  • Reduced the number of settings required to make all information private from nearly 50 to less than 15
  • Introduced presets that cover 18 individual settings for sharing with one single control—two clicks to control what had been more than 100 different options.
  • Consolidated 10 settings on three separate pages into seven settings on one page.
  • Reduced the number of separate pages in the privacy settings from 13 to eight.

The new controls are launching gradually, and many of you may not see them on your privacy settings page yet. Based on these updated privacy on Facebook changes everything you post is now in your control. That’s a big improvement and that means you can choose exactly who sees every post you make.

What do you think?  Are you concerned about your privacy due to Facebook recent changes?  Do these recent Facebook changes making it easier to set your privacy controls address your concerns?

Image Source:  sdow.semanticweb.org

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Best Internet Marketing News Of The Week May 24 2010

Published on May 29, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Best Internet MarketingThe iClick Solutions internet marketing team dedicates countless hours (probably too many) reading internet marketing news, updates and using all this knowledge to create innovative ideas for our clients each and every day.

Each week we are going to highlight the best internet marketing news that we have seen you may have missed and should read.  Makes sure to subscribe to iClick Solutions RSS, via email on the right sidebar and / or connect with us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on these weekly internet marketing updates and learn how to leverage internet marketing and social media to connect with your customer online.

For the week of Monday, May 24, 2010 here are iClick Solutions Best Internet Marketing winners that you want to make sure you read:

  • Google Completes $750 Million AdMob Acquisition by Jack Marshall – Google has completed its $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob, following approval from the FTC last week after a six-month anti-trust investigation into the merger. Writing on the company blog, Susan Wojcicki, Google’s VP of Product Management wrote, “Today, we closed our acquisition of AdMob… We’ll now begin the process of bringing our products and teams together in the best way, and building new products and features together. We’re working to make this integration happen as fast and as seamlessly as possible. We’ll actively keep our clients up-to-date as we bring our businesses together.”
  • 44% of US Adults Research SMBs Online by Matt McGee – Does small business reputation management matter? I think so. It’s right near the top of my SEO Success Pyramid as one of the last “steps” to earning trust in your business. The Pew Research Project has put the value of small business reputation management into numbers: 44% of online adults say they have searched online for information about someone whose services or advice they seek in a professional capacity, like a doctor, lawyer or plumber.
  • 10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Killer Social Media Strategy by Beth Hrusch – Why do businesses need social media? It’s a good question, and one that everyone should ask before they get started. After all, spending time, money, and other precious resources on social media marketing before you have an understanding of what it can do for you is kind of like putting the cart before the horse (not advisable).
  • Only You Can Prevent Blog Trolls & Comment Jerks by Lisa Barone – As a SMB owner, I think it provides you with an unparalleled opportunity to create thought leadership and to use storytelling to create an interesting point of difference. I also think one reason small business owners are hesitant to get involved with blogging is because they’re afraid to open up their community and site to people who may drop by and say mean things. Everyone’s afraid of the dreaded comment troll.
  • 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Landing Page by Hubspot – Does your online marketing strategy include things like “conversion,” “ROI” and “new customers?” If the answer is yes, then landing pages are something you’ve thought long and hard about.  Landing pages broker the exchange of information between you and the interested party. Combining an eye-catching offer button with an effective landing page can turn what was once just web traffic into a steady stream of leads for your sales team.
  • Small Business Owners Adopting Social Media in 2010 by Matt McGee – A new survey of U.S. small business owners confirms what I’ve thought to be true: Social media is growing as a marketing tool. The “FedEx Office Signs of the Times Small Business Survey” polled 500 small biz owners across the country in early April. When asked how they plan to grow their businesses in 2010, social media was one of the few methods that gained when compared to the 2009 survey.

If you have any thoughts regarding above articles please share below. Also, if you have a suggestion for topics you want us to focus on with next week’s best internet marketing tips please Contact Us and let us know.  We would love to hear from you.

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10 Email Marketing Tips That Every Marketer Should Follow

Published on May 28, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Email Marketing TipsTired of hearing about this rough economy?  I know we are.  When things are tough the last thing you want to do is cut back on marketing; however, that is the 1st place companies look to save money.

The good news is that marketers continue to find great success with email marketing as a tool to generate positive return on investment, especially since email marketing is very inexpensive.  However, only if done correctly!

For those marketers who are using email marketing or for those businesses about to start emailing customers through email newsletters here are 10 email marketing tips that you should follow:

  1. Email opt-in form on website – Make sure you do have permission to start emailing before you put people on your email distribution list. If you are using an email tool like Constant Contact use their opt-in form on your website to ensure you are properly including your customers in your email database.
  2. Don’t buy or rent your list – Trust us we have tried this a few times in the past and have had HORRIBLE results.  Ask yourself if you enjoy getting unsolicited emails?  Doubtful… so why would your customers be any different?  Build your list in a more natural fashion by collecting business cards and including an opt-in email newsletter form on your website.
  3. Get Past SPAM Filters – If you want people to open your emails, you need to get past their SPAM filters first. We have our SPAM filters set probably too high as our junk box gets quite full with emails we actually want; however, it does help us learn what NOT to do.  Avoid using words such as Free, Make Money, or You’re a Winner that triggers a SPAM filter to toss your email into the lovely junk box.  Check out  Mailigen list of words to avoid for a more complete list.
  4. Email Frequency & Timing – When to send email and how often you send emails are critical to email marketing success.  For email marketing to business recipients start out by sending your email newsletter midday around lunch or early afternoon. Sending email before work can result in your email getting lost as customers get ready for their day. If your business focuses on consumers after work are the best hours. People check their personal email when they get home from work or after dinner. Regarding how often to send email, sending too often may cause the recipients to unsubscribe, but sending too infrequently may cause subscribers to not remember who you are.  Here are 2 great articles to review on email timing – How often should you email your customers? and Email Marketing: How Often is Too Often?
  5. You Need to Have a Privacy Policy -  Email marketers must have a clear and detailed privacy policy.  If you do not have one already, here’s a great Privacy Statement Generator tool to help you get started.  Make sure you post the privacy policy on all emails, as well as, a link on each page of your website.
  6. Branding Consistency – Not only will your email be recognized in a overly stuffed inbox, email recipients prefer and appreciate a familiar look so they instantly know who you are.  Once you decide on a template look and feel stick with it for at least a few months.  If you decide to make changes do it slowly to avoid confusion.  Testing is definitely important when it comes to emailing but don’t do anything drastic such as changing 5 different elements of your template (e.g. background, layout, font size, etc).
  7. Landing Pages – Do you like reading about a great email offer and then being sent to a home page where you have to search for that offer or coupon?  Probably not so don’t do that to your customers.  Make it really easy for them and send them to a landing page that your email is promising or offering.
  8. Don’t Ask Them To Jump Through Hoops – Great tip from AllBusiness.com is not to make readers jump through hoops when asking for them to give up their precious email address. If you want someone to subscribe to an e-mail newsletter or sign up for updates about your product or service, do not make them fill out endless online forms, click through multiple pages, and provide unnecessary information. The more difficult you make it, the less likely they will be to subscribe. All you really need is their permission and their e-mail address.
  9. Leverage Social Media – What is the 1 thing that everyone has on social media networks such as Facebook, Linkedin, etc?  Yes, an email address!  Without an email address you can’t log into these social media platforms so consider including an email newsletter sign up in your social media networking profiles.  You can also suggest to your fans to visit your website opt in form and they will be rewarded with exclusive specials, announcements, and more.  With Facebook you can add Static FBML App and include an email newsletter sign up on your Facebook page.
  10. Analyze Metrics And Make Improvements – This is one of the most important tips.  A few days after each email newsletter you send make sure you look at all key metrics, such as open rates, click through rates, and unsubscribe rates.  You should focus on improving these important metrics after every single email marketing newsletter.  MailChimp (great email service provider) created a chart that outlines average open, click, bounce and abuse complaint rates by industry.

So there you have it – 10 email marketing tips that will help ensure email marketing success.  Of course, you don’t need to follow every email marketing tip above but we sure hope you do.  Are there other email marketing tips you have found to be beneficial in connecting with your current and prospective customers?  If so, please share those below:

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Why Optimizing Your Website For Mobile Usage Is Important

Published on May 24, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

iPhone vs AndroidHaving a mobile optimized version of your website has become increasingly important with 63.2 million people now accessing the Internet through mobile devices, with 35% of those going online every day, according to figures released by ComScore.  “Social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web and these activities are growing at a torrid pace,” added Mark Donovan, senior vice president of comScore’s mobile division.

As shown below, women and people between 35 and 54 are most apt to perform social networking activities via mobile device, according to data from The Nielsen Company.  When considering optimizing your website for your current customer demographics the below stats are helpful because social networking is a large element of mobile usage; however, keep in mind how fast this technology and adoption is moving.  If your customer demographic is over 54 years of age do not completely discount optimizing your website for mobile usage.

Mobile Gender and Age Stats

When considering optimizing your website for mobile devices also keep in mind that each mobile device displays the web differently.  Based on current stats and mobile devices you need to focus on iPhone (60% market share), Android (20% market share), and then possibly Blackberry / RIM (10% market share).  We say possibly Blackberry because of its decreasing mobile internet usage.  Blackberry is reported to release a better internet browser functionality during later part of 2010 and when that occurs we may see Blackberry RIM usage increase.  As shown below, Android is making steady gains, overtaking RIM both in the US and worldwide.

Mobile Traffic Share

Google reports that in 2009, 50% of new internet connections originated from cell phones.  Google’s research also shows that as mobile internet speeds get faster, web browsing using a cell phone becomes more common and the trend is clear – mobile internet connections and use are increasing at an exponential rate.

Most likely your regular website will provide a poor experience for those using mobile phones and this can be confirmed by reviewing your website analytics from those visiting your site from mobile phones.  With our clients, who are in many different types of industries, see a 50  – 70 % bounce rate increase from mobile usage vs. traditional web visitors.  So there are 2 things you must do immediately:

  1. Your Website Mobile Experience – Pull up your website on mobile devices and click around.  Ask yourself if this is an experience you want for your users? Make special note of download speeds, image resolution, navigation and usability. If you don’t have a mobile web based phone, such as an Android head over to your nearest cell phone store, such as Verizon and AT&T, and pull up your website.
  2. Usage and Bounce Rate – We recommend you review your Website analytics to get a sense of how many people are looking at your site today through mobile and what is the current bounce rate.

Mobile optimized sites are definitely a build it and they will come strategy so even if your current mobile usage is low you need to consider planning for the future. As shown below, we took a snapshot from Google Analytics mobile section and it is very easy to see how many people are visiting your site and from what type of devices:

Why Optimizing Your Website For Mobile Usage Is Important Google Analytics Mobile

Almost every website can benefit from a mobile version of their site; however, there are several sites that benefit more than others based off the Comscore research shared earlier:

  1. Local Businesses – From a search engine perspective, there are specific indexing algorithms for mobile websites so if you do not have an optimized mobile site you are missing out on local and mobile search rankings.  For example, Google Mobile Web Search crawls and indexes sites that have been specifically designed for mobile phones and devices. Users can search the mobile web on their mobile devices using Google Mobile Web Search. Local restaurants, retail and other local businesses can benefit significantly from a mobile website as they can have another efficient and customer friendly way to communicate.  Yelp.com is one of the most popular local review websites and have created a great mobile experience that you can check out to get some ideas.
  2. News and Blogs — You want to make sure that your viewers and audience has the most amount of up to date information as possible.  The mobile site can help you accomplish this goal.
  3. E-Commerce Sites — Like Amazon.com mobile, you need to make sure that your customers can review and purchase products from your website.  A recent study by Coda Research agency has revealed that mobile eCommerce in the US shall grow at a compounded rate of 65% between 2009 and 2015. According to this study, mobile phones will constitute 8.5% of all eCommerce revenues in the US and in 2010 this is estimated to be a $2.420 billion business.

So hopefully you are now convinced that maybe it is time you create a mobile experience for your users.  Please check out these 2 great articles for creating mobile optimized sites as each helped me in my research and are full of additional information:

There will soon be a time when designing a mobile version of a site will be a must and that time is probably just around the corner. The information above was intended to provide updated stats on where mobile is currently at and to give you a sense of where it is headed.  Please use the comments below and share your tips for mobile optimization and any questions you have. I’m eager to learn from you as well!

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