Effective Online Marketing – Another Tip To Improve Conversions
Here’s another tip to become a achieve more effective online marketing: photos. You see, text might do the trick in terms of driving search engine traffic, but you should be supplementing that content with some inviting photos in order to achieve maximum local virtual real estate success. If you’ve thought the inclusion of photos was unnecessary, consider how they might help your overall efforts.
First, photos can be a traffic-driver. People are using tools like Google’s “image search” with greater frequency. If you’re using photos that are properly titled and are surrounded by keyword-rich text, you’ll be tapping into another traffic source. This image traffic is convertible and is often quite motivated to make a purchase. That’s because people will look for product images before making a purchase.
Second, photos can improve the user experience. You want to minimize bounce on your VRE sites and to encourage people to stay on site long enough to take an action that generates income for you. Part of that involves an attractive and inviting design. Photos fill that role nicely. They also make purchase offers more inviting, while adding increased level of appearance-based credibility to your site.
We tend to focus on keyword research and SERPs when discussing VRE. Sometimes that obfuscates the fact that other activities, like utilizing photos, can help your site immeasurably.
Till next time,
-Dan
Your Local Internet Marketing Consultant
Marketing Local – How Small Can You Get?
When people think of breaking into the world of local virtual real estate, they usually imagine themselves managing big, fat, content-rich websites that attract visitors the way a magnet attracts metal shavings. They don’t think of dozens of visitors per day, they think of thousands.
And that’s possible. It can be quite profitable, too. However, it’s not the only way to approach local virtual real estate (or VRE for short). There is room to make money using virtual real estate methods with smaller projects in tighter niches.
In other words, marketing local. You can get small and still get paid.
Let’s say you run a business in a smaller city. Or perhaps you find that particular sub-niche for a very particular type of product. You find only a handful of keywords that really look like a good fit. However, it appears as if you’ll be able to rule top spots for those terms very quickly. Should you run away from this niche because of its inherent size limitations?
No way. You can attack that kind of niche or local market and dominate it very quickly. After that, the maintenance work required to stay toward the top is usually minimal relative to high competition niches. When you break it down based on the amount of work involved in a project, some of these smaller local virtual real estate ventures can offer an excellent return on investment.
On-Page SEO for Local Business Websites: It’s More Than Keyword-Rich Content
We tend to think of on-page SEO for local business websites to involve the discovery and use of effective keywords. That research and planning, combined with their effective use in content are a big part of how local business websites are optimized. It’ s not all that goes.
There are various aspects of search engine optimization that involve the way your site is designed and how content is presented. For instance, is the title of a piece of content wrapped in an appropriate H1 tag? Are you using bold or strong markings to improve keyword performance? Is your site structured cleanly and efficiently? Are you following the best practices outlined in the Google webmaster’s resources?
Good on-page SEO for local businesses does matter and it does go well beyond your content. Content is a focus with respect to local business websites, but it isn’t the whole story. The best sites feature keyword optimized content in a search engine friendly environment.
That’s what you should be doing, too. Find a few good checklists of on-page SEO for local business website “musts” and check your site against them? How are you doing? If you have shortcomings, repair them right away. Every visitor counts and boost in search performance can get you many, many more visitors.
Till next time,
-Dan
The Internet Marketing Consultant for your local business
Your Local Virtual Real Estate Needs to Have Curb Appeal
Looks matter. That’s true in a variety of aspects of life and it’s certainly true in building your local virtual real estate (VRE for short). You want your properties to have some real “curb appeal”. You want them to look good and entice readers to stay on your page for more than a split second, exploring your content and the various monetization methods you’ve sprinkled through the site.
Ugly websites tend to under-perform. There’s a school of thought that maintains a little ugliness can encourage a few Adsense clicks, but overall, an unattractive website design tends to scare people away before they can do anything that’s going to put money in your pocket.
A good website design doesn’t just prevent flight, it also give people a positive reason to stay on your site. It increases the professionalism of the project and enhances credibility. That’s actually pretty meaningful in terms of persuading people to click on the various monetization methods and offers on your local business’ website.
You don’t need to win design awards to have a “good” website. It’s possible to create a very attractive website using readily available templates or free WordPress themes. The key takeaway here is to avoid construction of amateurish or ugly websites for your local virtual real estate. Looks do matter.
Till next time,
-Dan
The Internet Marketing Consultant for your local business
Proper Keyword Research: Why It Pays to be Unique
In proper keyword research, it really does pay to be unique. No, we’re not talking about the desirability of a crazy haircut or a series of interesting quirks. Instead, we’re referring to unique content, a hallmark of the most successful virtual real estate projects (VRE for short).
Don’t worry. This isn’t another attempt to scare the heck out of you with exaggerated stories about the way Google will beat you to a pulp over duplicate content. That’s not the point. You can actually use some previously-published content to your advantage as you build your VRE.
However, the inclusion of new, unique content is going to be much more valuable to you. The search engines crave unique content and when they notice that your site is regularly churning out new, fresh material their robots come back again and again.
It’s true that unique content can cost a little more in terms of time, effort and even cash (if you’re outsourcing) than just grabbing articles from a directory. It’s a worthwhile investment, though, as it’s the best way to boost the SEO performance of your virtual real estate.
Skip the haircut and the eccentricities. If you want to be unique in a way that really pays off, sit down and start writing some great new, unique web content.
Till next time,
Dan
The Internet Marketing Consultant for your local business