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Mobile marketing is becoming more important as handheld use increases

Mobile Marketing

Do you see people with smart phone and tablets everywhere? Everywhere I look on the train people are reading, texting or surfing (even, occasionally, talking). With the news that Google has entered into the handset production business mobile has moved to the front burner. They made the acquisition of Motorola in defense of the Android operating system. Google now owns thousands of patents related to mobile computing. This acquisition clearly makes the statement that Google sees itself as a mobile company. This means that mobile marketing is going to be very important

Some of the various sites that we monitor are showing over 15% of the total visits coming from mobile devices. This emphatically underscores the importance of making sure that your website is mobile-friendly. If your site relies on Flash-based navigation alone it is likely that many mobile visitors will not be able to get any of the information that they are searching for. Apple’s iOS that runs on iPhones and iPads cannot see Flash animations. This makes it very unlikely that they visitors will return to your website on their mobile devices. The good news is that the Flash can be converted to HTML5 which will preserve the functionality while, at the same time, make it accessible to all Internet-connected devices.

It should be noted here that the Web crawlers used by Google and other search engines don’t handle Flash very well either.  For SEO purposes it is a very good idea to limit Flash usage or convert it the the HTML5 alternative.

Please contact us if you have any questions about search engine optimization, social media marketing for all types of Web browsers from the desktop to your mobile handset.

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How important is an SEO-friendly website for your business?

Business owner are realizing how important their website is in producing leads. Our clients have found that a significant percentage of their new business comes from search engine traffic from companies like Google and Bing as well as social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

What we’ve found is that existing websites frequently need to be re-built by us to correct the common search-unfriendly mistakes that many website developers inadvertently build into their designs.

If you are in the process of shopping for a new website please give us a call at 773-769-SEMC to discuss building a search-friendly website right from the start. We have the expertise to produce effective websites from small business card sites to elaborate content management systems (CMS) or ecommerce sites to sell thousands of products online.

If you have us build your website you will be assured that it will be the effective business tool that you need in order to compete in today’s tough economic climate.

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CMS v SEO

Did you know that there is a very important relationship between Internet marketing and website Content Management Systems (CMS)?  Many people don’t.
It has become very popular in the last few years for businesses to choose to develop their websites with a Content Management System (CMS). The benefit is that a CMS gives a business the ability to add and change content on their website without special software.Unfortunately there is frequently a hidden cost to deploying a CMS: a search-unfriendly website. The consequence of a search-unfriendly site is that search engine optimization (SEO) becomes much more difficult. This, in turn, means that the marketing project will take longer, cost more and have a reduced potential for success depending on the competition.

There are many possible indications of such a website: a “?” in the page addresses, javascript statement in links, addresses that read like gobbledygook rather than clear statements of what is on the page and so on. Clarity and relevance are what leads Google to see a site as worthy of a high search engine return placement (SERP).  A search-unfriendly CMS reduces both clarity and relevance which means it will be less likely to achieve a desirable SERP.

This has been a known issue for years now but there are still developers that are either ignorant or so vested in the system that they developed that they deny this very important point. Many of the popular open source CMS have made quite a bit of progress in becoming search engine friendly. Any site that we develop at sem[c] will be created to be optimized from the onset whether or not it uses a CMS.

If you have any question about your CMS or Internet marketing please feel free to contact me for a quick analysis.  Remember, we’re Internet magicians and will make your search-invisible website appear dramatically in Google and other search engines.

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Apps?

If you have a smartphone the manufacturer has undoubtedly gone out of its way to trumpet how many apps are available for it. Apple’s iPhone led this charge although the various flavors of Microsoft’s mobile offering have had many available for years. Google’s Android operating system is now being offered by a large number of manufacturer’s and the rate of app development for Android has surpassed that of Apple’s iOS which means that Android will soon offer the largest number of apps.

Apple has now led the way again into tablets with their iPad. The larger screen of such tablets has started a new wave of development for tablet-specific apps. Google has released Android 3.0, nicknamed “Honeycomb”, which is the first version that is optimized for tablets.

All this enthusiasm for apps has spurred businesses to develop apps that are designed to specifically market their business. While no one can deny the “wow” factor of launching your very own app it does make me question how many apps the average person will use.

Both iOS and Android now have search built into the apps listings. Isn’t it easier to simply use the Internet to search for what you need? The blurring of utility between apps and websites becomes nearly complete when your website is properly designed to display a handheld-friendly design when accessed by a smartphone or tablet. A perfect example is found in Google Voice for iOS. What appears to be a nicely realized app is rendered in the Safari browser.

Contact us to discuss whether or not a custom app is right for your business.

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Is AdWords Too Expensive?

AdWords

The cost of running an AdWords campaign seems to be a concern to a lot of people … including both my clients and my prospects. Of course, this is one of the reasons that we think that organic SEO is such a great idea for businesses because it delivers qualified clicks with paying for each click.

This is in no way meant to denigrate the value of AdWords in any way. We always strongly suggest a small initial campaign that is designed to accurately discover the most important keyword phrases for your business.  This ensures that optimization will benefit your business in the best possible way. Once you are effectively optimized you can reduce your reliance on paid advertising. We think that’s a good plan, don’t you?

We recently enrolled in a program that Google has created to make our ability to help our clients maximize this benefit.  One thing (of many) they’ve made available is a great brochure explaining AdWords very clearly.  It’s available on our website at:

After you’ve read it you’ll probably want to ramp up traffic to your website with AdWords from sem[c].  When you work with us you’ll get the first $100 free!  Contact us today at 773-769-7362
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Mobile rising?

Do you see people with smart phone and tablets everywhere? Everywhere I look on the train people are reading, texting or surfing (even, occasionally, talking). With the news that Google has entered into the handset production business mobile has moved to the front burner. They made the acquisition of Motorola in defense of the Android operating system. Google now owns thousands of patents related to mobile computing. This acquisition clearly makes the statement that Google sees itself as a mobile company.

Some of the various sites that we monitor are showing over 15% of the total visits coming from mobile devices. This emphatically underscores the importance of making sure that your website is mobile-friendly. If your site relies on Flash-based navigation alone it is likely that many mobile visitors will not be able to get any of the information that they are searching for. Apple’s iOS that runs on iPhones and iPads cannot see Flash animations. This makes it very unlikely that they visitors will return to your website on their mobile devices. The good news is that the Flash can be converted to HTML5 which will preserve the functionality while, at the same time, make it accessible to all Internet-connected devices.

It should be noted here that the Web crawlers used by Google and other search engines don’t handle Flash very well either.  For SEO purposes it is a very good idea to limit Flash usage or convert it the the HTML5 alternative.

Please contact us if you have any questions about search engine optimization, social media marketing for all types of Web browsers from the desktop to your mobile handset.

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How can a security problem affect your website’s SEO?

A lot of us are a little sloppy about keeping our desktop and other documents organized. Sometimes things get too disorganized in other venues… like our websites, for instance. Recently a client needed to deal with their site being hacked because it was being used as a part of a “phishing” scheme to trick people into revealing their usernames and passwords for websites like their bank. Criminals sell this information to other criminals.

There are a number of organizations that monitor such activity and make the information about compromised websites widely available. When your website makes these lists it is likely to get “blacklisted”. When your website is blacklisted your company emails could get blocked. Google and other search engines could de-list you so that you disappear from search results. This is the opposite of search engine optimization (SEO).

My client learned the hard way that failed installs and old software left on their website had become a security risk and had very likely been exploited by criminal hackers. They asked me to quarterback the correction so I brought in a developer who was familiar with some aspects of the site. Even after the developers cleaned up the site it will need to be monitored because nothing is completely certain in a circumstance like this.

In addition, like the software on your computer, server software needs to be updated to the current releases to ensure that it is not easily hacked. The ISP (Internet Service Provider) in my client’s case was not updating one of their most basic server software, PHP, because they were afraid of breaking the functionality of some of the sites that they host. I disagree with that kind of reasoning. It’s better to require necessary changes to functionality programming than to jeopardize the security of all the hosted sites.

 

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Where is your website traffic coming from?

Recently a client asked me what was the cause in a large spike of traffic to his website. By looking into his Google Analytic stats I saw that there was one day on which search traffic for the name of his company jumped.  This is an example of validation, a key component of the current buying cycle. His products had been featured on an HGTV cable show. People watching the show wanted to know more and both searched and typed in the address for his website.

Your website stats can tell you a lot about what’s working and what’s not working effectively for your website.  It can even help you with conventional media exposure like TV or print.  For a recent print example: we had a client who wanted to run print ads in magazines that had good and relevant content to his product. We created landing pages specifically for each magazine so that it would be easy to see which media buy was the best. This is SOP in online marketing because it is so effective in giving valuable information about your print campaigns.

“Best” from a marketing standpoint means increased traffic to the website. It is important to understand that sales will come from that increased traffic but the ratio of visits to sales will vary depending on media, time of year and many other variable specific to the product or service that is being sold.

We believe that Google Analytics gives you the best look at what’s happening with your website and install it on all of our clients’ sites. For more information search or click, you’ll find us.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, from our ongoing review of online discussion seems to have begun to receive an undeserved unsavory reputation.  This must be a result of “black hat” practitioners that have caused problems instead of delivering results.

I was speaking with one of Google’s SEO consultants recently and I mentioned that there were people being quite vocal online about SEO being some sort of “scam”.  She laughed.  Of course the fact that Google, Yahoo and all the other search engines have SEO people on staff should alert everyone to the validity of the art of SEO.

In fact, SEO not only helps with organic search engine return position (SERP), but also results in the improved relevancy that keeps costs down in a paid online search advertising campaign (SEM) and ensures that people looking for what you offer find you easily.

Being relevant is critical in the lightning quick world of online search and the more one’s website is honed to be relevant to its prospects, the more successful it will be.

sem[c]‘s combined SEO / SEM campaign for a major Chicago real estate firm nearly doubled the number of visitors and tripled the number of registered site users interested in buying and selling real estate.  These numbers were achieved in a “down” market.  This is the effective power of SEO.

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Google Maps

I was doing some research for a project recently and saw Google taking a different approach to Places, it’s term for results from maps.google.com in its general search returns.
Search Engine Marketing Chicago screen shot
The search is for “Chicago criminal defence attorney” (sic). Google ignores the misspelling without notice which is a bit different than previously when it noted the change. The real difference for me is how prominent the Places listings are as circled in red above. Photos have been added to these listings to enhance their visual appeal as well.

 

This more emphatically elevates the Places listings above the Organic listings which begin further down the page. In addition, the map on the right side of the results scrolls down with you if you move down the page which keeps that part of Places in front of you at all times.

 

It must be noted that this format does not appear for all types of businesses so  your mileage will, as always, vary.

 

At sem[c], we’ve been using Google Maps as an important component of our comprehensive marketing for years. So, no matter if it’s Google Places, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other part of online business marketing visit our website, call or email us.

 

For more information feel free to contact me,