Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Tips for Bouncing Back From a Google Penalty

By Hugh Benjamin  |   Submitted On October 04, 2016

When Penguin and Panda rolled out, many website owners were devastated as their ranks were swiftly taken away at the blink of an eye. It's an issue no business or entrepreneur wants to endure, but will if not careful. Google is very serious about its algorithm and providing users with the best search results possible. At this point, website owners scrambled about, looking for SEO services to help their company get back into the good graces of Google.

No one was spared from these updates - not even the billion dollar corporations that faced Google penalties for whatever reasons deemed necessary. It took a long time for some businesses to get a foot hold on their rankings. The longer they suffered from low rankings, the longer their bottom line suffered.

If you found that you were affected by a Google penalty, then you can use the tips some of the best SEO services companies use to bounce back.

Understanding Penguin and Panda

In order to bounce back, you first need to understand what changes Penguin and Panda brought, so you can have an idea of how it works. This way, you can potentially avoid getting back into trouble with Google. An Internet marketing agency can also help you better understand this:

Penguin: Better catches websites that are using spamming methods, such as purchasing links or getting links through link networks for the sole purpose of boosting their ranks in Google.

Panda: Designed to filter out web pages that are low quality.

Getting Your High Ranking Back

Here is a list of quick tips you can use to get your website back on track after being penalized by Google:

Take a look at your search console on Google. This will have a notification if your site was tagged for web spam.
Take a look at your backlink profile. You can download you link report from the Google Search Console, once known as Webmasters. Check for links stemming from spammy websites and attempt to disavow them.
Analyze the content on your site. Make sure there's no duplicate content or pieces that were poorly written. Also, avoid using keyword stuffing.
Review recent Google algorithm changes to see if you are in violation of anything. Google is known to change its algorithm between 500 and 600 times annually.
You can work together with an SEO services company to analyze your site and right any wrongs that have been found. This is the quickest and most effective way to get back on the right path to business growth.

http://www.ithinkanidea.com/ is a leading, full service internet marketing agency. I Think an Idea works with serious business owners small to large alike. Based out of Los Angeles, CA providing great results for services such as SEO, social media marketing, Online reputation management and PPC management. I Think an Idea can maximize your search engine presence and amplify your brand across social media channels, and help safeguard your reputation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Hugh_Benjamin/2237016



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9542689

Successful Characteristics Of A Small Restaurant Website

By Sohaib Azam, Esq  |   Submitted On October 07, 2016

Building a successful website requires a fair amount of effort no matter what type of business it is. A small restaurant website is no exception. This article will talk about some of the characteristics that should be in any small restaurant website if it wants to be well-designed and impactful. Just to clarify, a small restaurant for purposes of this article is not a chain restaurant and is a restaurant with only a few patrons at any given time.

#1: Make Sure That The Website Has An Organized Navigation Bar With Options For A Menu And Contact Us Button

This piece of advice sounds obvious and most major chain restaurants' website have these things. However, there are many small restaurant websites out there which are either outdated or poorly designed. Often times, you will have to scroll to the bottom to find a menu or contact information. Today's websites must have a navigation bar either on the top or to the sides so that the viewer can find this important information. A small restaurant website must always have a menu that is easily accessible to the viewer. It must also have a contact button as well because the viewer will always have questions about the food and about the service. You must make sure these elements are on the website and are easily accessible and visible to the viewer and not lost in the website.

#2: Pay Attention To Your Use Of Colors

This will require a lot of trial and error. Finding the right color combinations is always important. This applies not only to the background of the site, but also the text. Keep in mind that small businesses do not have the advantage of brand recognition that larger businesses have, so color combinations can make a big difference in how people perceive the site.

For example, if your restaurant is a seafood restaurant, you would most likely use blue to represent the water. However, what other color you might use to complement the blue color must be taken under careful consideration. Red would probably not be a good choice because it might clash with the water theme associated with seafood restaurants. Some color combinations such as blue with orange or blue with pink would just seem awkward for a seafood restaurant. This all depends on what kind of restaurant you are building a site for, but the important thing to pay attention to the color combinations and the type of restaurant you are using them for.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sohaib_Azam,_Esq/2182390



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9545473

Monday, October 10, 2016

3 Reasons Why Your Strategy To Increase Online Traffic Isn't Working

By Christopher Rivera  |   Submitted On September 26, 2016

Businesses today require multiple strategies to compete in the global marketplace. Not only must businesses properly define themselves to customers and distinguish themselves from the competition but they must also stay up to date on the newest technologies and use it to their advantage. The internet has revolutionized many ways that businesses compete and having a proper online presence is no longer an optional luxury, it is clearly a necessity. Funneling online traffic to your business websites is no easy task. Often times skilled and experienced marketing companies are outsourced to handle the complex job of sustaining a powerful online presence. Many companies need more online traffic, but what are the best ways to increase it and why are the current strategies failing? Here are 3 reasons why your strategy to increase online traffic isn't working.

1. The advertising side of the marketing plan is not strong enough

One part of a sound marketing strategy is to have the advertising portion spearhead the whole campaign. If the initial ads are not properly defining the brand of the product or service, or are not distinguishing them from other competitors', the overall interest will be low and this will be reflected not only in low sales and brick and mortar activity but in the online domain as well. To be able to capitalize on the turn over from online activity you must first stimulate and interest the customer base into seeking out more information.

2. Failure to build the brand using social media outlets

Social media is a revolutionary force in the online domain as it pertains to businesses. It has changed marketing and advertising substantially for better or worse. Any marketing plan that fails to realize the potential in advertising and brand building, using social media, is not fully utilizing and leveraging the internet. Most of society, especially the youth, are familiar with social media and count and depend on it for their information. Word of mouth and direct business advertising seem to merge together on social media outlets. By utilizing this resource, an advertising agency was able to properly identify niche markets, hone brands, learn about what customers wanted, all while improving online traffic.

3. Not using blogging and article resources properly

Along with social media, many depend on blogs and online articles to learn about new products and services offered. SEO article writing is also another way to connect with potential readers and also drive traffic to your websites. By under utilizing these resources, the online presence will be hampered in waves of other companies utilizing the same resources correctly. It is important to stick out from everyone else and continue to put in effort into blogs and articles. Also, using ill-defined headings and topics will muddle the results and confuse the market. It is important to be very precise with the topics and headlines that lead the subject matter of the blogs and articles. When properly done, not only will customers be informed of new products and services, but they will have a favorable impression of your brand as well as a desire to continue searching for more information online.

As you can see, utilizing the online domain for advertising and marketing purposes is extremely important for driving traffic. Avoid these top mistakes and watch your traffic soar.

To learn more about how to increase online traffic, visit MindEcology.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Christopher_Rivera/2290975



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9535807

Employee Advocacy - Is It the Next Generation Word of Mouth Marketing?

By Dr. Venkatesh Raman  |   Submitted On September 12, 2016

Word-of-Mouth Marketing has always been the best weapon in a marketer's arsenal. A study by Ogilvy, Google and TNS says that 74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision! For those of you who think this is only for B2C, you will be surprised to know that 83% of B2B buyers are researching online before making a purchase and thus rely on your online reputation to make business decisions.

Businesses have realised this globally, which accounts for the social media marketing frenzy that has taken the business world by storm. Out of the many strategies that have been devised to increase the online presence and reputation of brands, businesses are now realising the full potential of what is becoming the next big thing in word-of-mouth marketing - Employee Advocacy.

What is Employee Advocacy?

In the basic sense of the term, employee advocacy comes in to effect when employees, advocate or promote, the business or products of their employer through positive word of mouth. Employees are empowered by the company with content and the freedom to share the company's posts and spread the brand's reach to their own social networks.

Why is Employee Advocacy the next big thing?

Big names like Oracle, Bluewolf, AT&T, and Adobe have found major success with employee advocacy programs and here is why:
advocacy programs and here is why:

1) Empowered Millennials are gold for advocacy

Millennials, which is the term being used for those who are born between 1979 and 1999, make up the majority of the workforce today and Forbes estimates that by 2025, this group will fuel approximately 75% of the US workforce. Millennials are not very concerned about the pay check when they choose employers; they are a generation for whom a cause matters. They want to align themselves with the company's goals and values and are passionate about making a difference; being empowered to make decisions and contribute to the growth of their employers is important to them. This drive makes these social media savvy, confident employees a force to reckon with when it comes to employee advocacy.

2) Employees are more trusted than Brands

A happy employee radiates a positive message about the company. "They have inside information about the company they work for and would only recommend its products or services to their friends and family if they are convinced that it is good" - this is the thinking behind trusting an employee's recommendation rather than a brand's "marketing" post.

The truth in this can be seen in the findings of Edelman's 2016 Trust Barometer, which says that "In several areas, employees are viewed as the most trusted sources of information, particularly when it comes to communicating on ï¬ï¿½nancial earnings and operational performance, business' practices or handling of a crisis, and how it treats employees and customers. In each of these areas, they outrank a company CEO, senior executive, activist consumer, academic, and media spokesperson as far as trust and credibility." 52% of consumers who were part of the study felt that employees were the most credible sources of information about the company and its products.

3) Employees have a far greater reach than brands

According to MSLGroup study:

• Brand messages shared by employees reached 561% further than when shared through official brand social channels.
• Brand messages are re-shared 24 times more frequently when distributed by employees' vs the brand.

Let's see the numbers on how extensive a post's reach can be when shared by an employee advocate. Let's take just one social media platform - Twitter. The average number of Twitter followers is 208. As a brand, you are one entity and can thus reach 208 people with your message. But now if your company has a thousand employees and they all advocate for you, your post reaches 208,000 and multiples by 208 times for each employee! Also keep in mind that each of these shares are trusted 2X more than that sent by your brand. Consider the possibilities with LinkedIn then, where the average number of connections is 930! Simple math isn't it.

4) Employees care about their online visibility

Millennials are aware and concerned about increasing their online visibility. They understand the importance of personal branding and are looking for ways to increase their presence online. This is a boon for employee advocacy. When an employee advocacy effort caters to this need and works with them to increase their visibility through the company's social media, you are hitting two birds with one stone really.

When it comes down to it, the trigger that really gets employees advocating for you is the basic 5-word question - WIIFM (What's in it for me). Because it gives them what they care about, today's employees will stand up as advocates and bring your advocacy efforts to a success.

How to implement a successful employee advocacy program

Now that it has been established that Employee Advocacy is the next big thing in word of mouth marketing, it stands to reason that we need to get on the bandwagon and fast. How do you do that? Here are a few pointers from a recent blog - 4 Steps to Implement a Successful Employee Advocacy Program

1) Evaluate Employee Engagement Levels

Employees must want to advocate for you. Evaluate their engagement levels and work on improving their relationship with employers and managerial staff; work on increasing their loyalty towards the company through active engagement, recognition and involvement.

2) Define what's in it for them

As discussed earlier, give employees a reason to advocate for you. Show them what's in for them by working with them to build on their personal branding.

3) Work towards an Objective

Ensure that your objective is not just to increase the reach of your brand. Work towards something bigger like improving or advancing a particular industry, technology or application, or improving the quality of life of a certain population. This will give employees added impetus as they work towards a cause.

4) Find Key Influencers and Start with them

Look for those employees who are enthusiastic about sharing for the company. Work on them and help them achieve set goals. This will in turn motivate other employees to do the same.

5) Make it Easy and Fun

Train your employees on social media sharing and address their concerns and fears. Empower them with content that they would love to share and involve them in fun campaigns through gamification with innovative incentives.

There is no question then, that Employee Advocacy is indeed the next big thing in word of mouth marketing! You can get a complete understanding of Advocacy Marketing and what is involved in it through this free online academy if you want to know more.

Get in touch with Team SOCXO to learn how you can achieve the real benefits of running an advocacy marketing program for your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dr._Venkatesh_Raman/2322400



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9522537

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Why Is SEO Important for Website Owners?

By Yash Pal Singh  |   Submitted On September 28, 2016

Most online surfers discover websites through mega search engines like Google and Yahoo. Some cleverly guide to websites through indirect links and ads that redirect them to specific websites. Website owners and companies also take the help of offline marketing strategies such as brochures and newspapers to secure online visibility. The good reputation of the websites is another vital feature that aids in securing huge online traffic towards them.

If you desire that online users reach your website through primary search engines, then you have to optimize (SEO) your website for best results. Webmasters and software developers are constantly churning out new SEO software and finding innovative methods to modernize search engine optimization. But, even today, the old strategies like using free SEO tools picked out from the online platform or keeping abreast of latest search engine algorithms can promote your website to superior rankings with sizeable traffic.

Let us discuss some the SEO tactics that work wonders for online website visibility and promotion:

Good Website Architecture - A properly designed website can improve user experience and lead to better search engine rankings. Correct placement and alignment can give your website clear-cut looks. You just need to follow the traditional standards of website design like loading relevant videos, images, good quality content and correct minor flaws to boost user experience.
Interlinking Sites - Links play a crucial role in website ranking. It leads visitors to all the different pages on your website. Using proper linking and anchor support on primary keywords and web pages can help you in catching the attention of Google crawlers.
Mobile Friendly - Being a mobile responsive website is one of the most important features to succeed in SEO and getting decent rankings. More and more people are using smartphones as an interactive device and only those websites with mobile responsive layout structure have the maximum chance to secure good user visibility.
Free SEO Tools - Instead of buying the most expensive and top SEO tools, you can find alternatives such as getting free SEO tools from the net. Toolkits such as Ubersuggest, YouTube Keyword tool, Anchor Text over Optimization Tool, and Wordstream are some of the free SEO softwares worth mentioning.
Why is SEO an Indispensible Asset for Website Owners?

Software developers and experts believe that modern techniques and new algorithms have only made SEO an indispensable factor for the development and growth of websites. Webmasters and companies know that search engine optimization is the only respite to secure good rankings, higher visibility, a large amount of organic site traffic and profitable sales. SEO techniques, if properly executed and implemented are one of the best ways to succeed, for small as well as big businesses.

There are innumerable hidden tricks and methods to boost rankings and site visibility through optimization of the websites. It is not necessary to spend a large fortune to gain online recognition. In fact, a few trial free top SEO tools and dedicated approach can help you survive the online completion find lasting success.

Looking for top SEO tools? Read experts reviews & comparison of the best SEO tools is based on reviews, features and functionalities... http://www.iexpertsforum.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Yash_Pal_Singh/2128387



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9537088

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

What Is RSS? Or What Does That Orange Radar Thingy Do?

By Carolyn L Stevens  |   Submitted On April 26, 2012

Do you know what the orange radar thingy is for?

It's an RSS feed button. And, surprisingly a good number of people haven't discovered what RSS is or does yet.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, or in everyday terms, a "News Feed".

This means that there is no need to bookmark your favourite websites, and no need to make a point of returning to them periodically to see if there's any new information. All of this can be very time-consuming, not to mention confusing, particularly if you're trying to keep track of several sites. We all know how annoying it is to return to a website and find that we've missed out through not checking often enough, or worse still, we keep reading the same webpage because there's no new information as the site isn't updated regularly.

RSS takes away the need for all of this, and as its name suggests, Really Simple Syndication is really simple to use.

Firstly, you will need to connect to an RSS feeder. Many are linked to your email account provider, so you're already halfway there. Type in "your email provider" and "reader" into the search engine, sign in to your account and connect your reader to your account.

The next time you're visiting your favourite site, click on that orange radar thingy - the RSS feed button, and subscribe to start receive the latest updates. Usually you're sent to a one click page which confirms that you want to subscribe and that's the job done.

Occasionally, you're directed to a page with code. Don't panic! Copy the URL of your chosen website, go to your readers homepage, click on the add subscription button and paste the URL into the box and confirm.

All of the latest information is now sent to your reader, which acts as a purpose made inbox for everything sent from your chosen websites for you to read at your leisure.

When you visit your reader, the headlines of all new updates will appear to the right of the page. If you want to read more, you simply click on the headline.

Now you have all of this information in one place, with the websites doing all of the work instead of you.

No more hours trawling the internet for new information, no more form filling, and no more need to give out your email address, which in turn means a much less cluttered inbox.

I'll bet you're glad you found out what that RSS feed button (formerly known as the orange radar thingy) does!

Inspired by those who think that making money online is beyond their ability and understanding, Carolyn Stevens writes regular articles on her blog. To read more on this subject, please visit Carolyn's blog at [http://www.powerincomedynamo.com/blog/ignoring-RSS-can-leave-you-with-egg-on-your-face]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Carolyn_L_Stevens/1316743



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7025731

How 6 New Changes Coming to AdWords Will Affect AdSense Publishers

By Eyal A Katz  |   Submitted On June 02, 2016

In case you've lived in a well for the past couple of years, Google is absolutely in-love with mobile traffic. We don't need to tell you why - you already know that's where the audience is. But mobile is also where the largest potential for growth lies.

Ad networks have yet to fully crack or hack mobile advertising campaigns, which means there's still a ways to go to make advertisers and users happy.

But does Google still love us, publishers? Well, the messages we got from the GPS event were somewhat mixed. Most of them had little to do with AdSense directly, but can indirectly affect your earnings. So which direction will your AdSense revenues go, with these new updates on the AdWords side of the ad marketplace?

It's all about location, location, location - Local Search on Google Maps
The new Google Maps are going to offer attractive advertising capabilities for small businesses and local chain branches based on user location as well as other data.

Sounds pretty good for AdWords advertisers but what does this mean for AdSense publishers?

More Inventory = Less Competition

The laws of supply and demand tell us that if we increase supply of a certain product to satisfy increased demand we'll effectively stop prices from going up.

Or in digital advertising terms - more ad inventory means diminished demand for every ad unit and diminished CPCs and CPMs. Unless, with more inventory come greater ad budgets, especially if the new inventory is effective for advertisers. So this can actually be a blessing in disguise for AdSense publishers.

Search vs. Display

Google prefers clicks on their own turf. Of course they do. They don't have to share their revenues with publishers there. So offering a Google-owned locale-targeted inventory to advertisers is more than likely to take a bite out of that local search traffic.

Who Gets Paid for Embedded Maps?

will Google be adding ads to embedded Google Maps, and if so - who gets the revenue from the clicks in these local ads?

Another good question is what will happen to said ad units and publishers making a good living from in-map AdSense ads?

Who is bigger better for? - Expanded Text Ads Get Double Headlines & More Characters
Advertisers will now be able to include a two lines of 30 character each in clickable titles on their text ads, and 80 characters for a description line. Overall, this promises longer ads taking up more screen space in mobile searches.

This is great for search advertisers and Google, but for anyone trying to get organic traffic to monetize this is bad news. Looks like paid search ads are worth more to Google than the content you invested in making.

The Dread (or not) of Smart Pricing - Better Measurement of In-Store Conversions
At GPS, Google announced they will now be cross-checking users' mobile location history with PPC ads they've clicked and then attributing conversions to AdWords campaigns accordingly.

The goal of increased conversion measurement is to attract more advertisers. If Google is successful in this, it just means higher demand for AdSense inventory. And that will make everyone happy.

Not Just Responsive Ad Units - New Responsive Display Ads
Creating image ads for all ad sizes can be a pain. Especially for a small business advertiser. So often, you end up uploading image or flash ads in the most common sizes, and that's about it.

Google wants more competition between more advertisers over more inventory. By letting advertisers create responsive ads that can fit in more ad units, Google basically does just that. And this is great for everyone.

Targeting Your Device - Changes to device bidding
Google hopes (and we do too) that this will allow advertisers to spend their budgets more effectively and scale their ad spend quickly. Which would lead to more AdSense revenue for you (and Google).

Retargeting Gone Open - Lift on AdWords Demand Restriction
Other ad networks can display retargeting ads to users instead of AdSense, where AdSense is not implemented.

This might reduce CPCs for retargeting ads on AdSense, and hurt publishers relying on AdSense for revenues.

Local, Mobile, and Advertiser Oriented

Overall, the announcements at GPS are very advertiser oriented, and especially SMB (small to medium business) advertising budgets that have started to migrate over to the big F in increasing numbers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Eyal_A_Katz/2167080



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9432604