Keyword Density - The Basics

Today's Marketing Tip: Keyword Density

Keyword density is an indicator of the number of times the selected keyword appears in the web page. But mind you, keywords shouldn’t be over used, but should be just sufficient enough to appear at important places.

If you repeat your keywords with every other word on every line, then your site will be rejected as an artificial site or spam site.

Keyword density is always expressed as a percentage of the total word content on a given web page. Suppose you have 100 words on your webpage (not including HMTL code used for writing the web page), and you use a certain keyword five times in the content. The keyword density on that page is obtained by simply dividing the total number of keywords, by the total number of words that appear on your web page. So here it is 5 divided by 100 = .05. Because keyword density is a percentage of the total word count on the page, multiply the above by 100, that is 0.05 x 100 = 5%

We recommend a keyword density between 4% and 8%, to get recognized by the search engines try not to exceed this. Remember, this rule applies to every page on your site. It also applies to not just to one keyword but also a set of keywords that relates to a different product or service. The keyword density should always be between 4% and 8%.

The more important keywords should be not only included in the copy of the page, but in the following areas of the document:

• URL title, this is found in the html code of the document
• Meta keywords and description, these are also located in the source of your HTML document.
• Page Headings, in this case the page heading is "Keyword Density, What is it & Why is it Important?"
• Try and include your keywords in link text, this will help give the document greater keyword strength for your top terms.

Check Your Keyword Density:

Use the keyword density tool. Simply copy and paste the copy from your page into the text area of the tool and click "GO". In no time the density tool will generate a report telling you the count of all the words in the page.

So, make sure your keywords take up between 4% - 8% of your document word count, include them in the main areas of the document and use the key terms in link text and you will be on your way to natural search nirvana.

Read more »

Posted in: keyword density

How To Put Video On Your Website

Are you frustrated by the time and trouble it takes to get video on your website? If so, then I have some good news for you... Thanks to advances in web video technology you can now put any video on any website in just a few minutes. All you need is the latest software (VTF - which stands for "Video To Flash") for converting and posting your videos.

V2F transforms huge video files (.avi, .mpg, .wmv, etc.) into small, Internet-ready "flash" videos so quickly and so easily that ANYONE can do it in just minutes. That's how quick and easy it is to get video online with V2F. Here's a rundown of how it works.

Here Are The 3 Simple Steps To Creating Online Video:

Step #1 - Make A Video...

Step #2 - Shrink The File Size And Make It Internet Ready...

Step #3 - Generate The HTML And Publish!

You can take care of Step #1 with your video camera or webcam. (I assume you already have because you're here, right?). But for years, step #2 and #3 have been the hardest. Video files are HUGE and everyone has been waiting for technology to catch up with them. But now the technology is here... and V2F uses the latest in web video technology to make steps #2 and #3 a piece of cake.

And ready to go right out of the "box." Learn more about V2F technology by clicking here...

Read more »

Posted in: internet marketing,video

Google Changes Pay Per Click Display Policy

Today's Marketing Tip: New Rules At Google

Today, Google announced that it is changing its display URL policy. The display URL is what you see when sponsored ad listings are shown on Google search result pages under ads. For a long time, these "display URL's" had a great deal of flexibility. The result was that some advertisers would often mislead individuals in terms of which site they were actually visiting after clicking on a link.

Starting in April, display URLs for new ads will be required to match their destination / landing page URLs, without exception. This policy will be strictly enforced for new ads. Here are some aspects of the policy to keep in mind:

Tracking URLs – Ads will be approved if the URL of the landing page domain matches that of the display URL domain.

Acceptable
Display URL: www.marketingscoop.com

Destination URL: www.marketingscoop.com/cgi-local/ya/clickmarketingjobs.pl?id=google

Landing Page URL: www.marketingscoop.com/marketingjobs

Unacceptable
Display URL: www.marketingscoop.com

Destination URL: www.marketingscoop.com/cgi-local/ya/clickmarketingjobs.pl?id=google

Landing Page URL: goodmarketingtips.blogspot.com

Keep these new regulations in mind when creating your ads. If your ads are in violation of these new rules, Google will likely shut them off with or without notice.

Read more »

Posted in: pay per click ads

Article Marketing Made Simple

Today's marketing tip: Article Marketing Made Simple

Everyone knows the power of article marketing. The challenge is creating compelling articles that will be read and distributed across the internet. Here's how to create and article with staying power.

Create your page content by writing ten or more paragraphs. Each paragraph can be just a few sentences long or longer if you'd like. Write your page content as close to how you would speak it in normal conversation as possible. Google and all the best engines use a natural text algorithm that sees through Spammy text in a heartbeat. Here's the formula...

Paragraph 1: Make this paragraph one of the longest and use each of your top three keywords one time. Use your number 1 keyword as close to the first word as possible. Use the number two keyword somewhere in the second sentence if possible but no later than the third sentence. Now use your number 3 keyword anywhere after number 2.

Paragraph 2: Use your number 1 keyword one time within the first one third of the paragraph text. If your paragraph is 100 words long, make sure the keyword is placed within the first 33 words, the closer to the beginning the better.

Paragraphs 3 and 4: Do the same as above using your number 2 keyword in paragraph three and number 3 keyword in paragraph four.

Paragraphs 5 through 9: Now mix things up a bit and use one or more keywords anywhere in each paragraph. Just do not use any single keyword more than three times total before you reach your final paragraph.

Paragraph 10: In your very last paragraph we will do exactly the same as we did in the first paragraph, but in reverse. Start it with your least important keyword and end with your most important.

This formula works extremely well. With the right links you can dominate Google in no time!

Read more »

Posted in: article marketing

How To Improve Your PDF Search Engine Compatibility

Today's Marketing Tip: Optimize Your PDFs

If you write white papers, you most likely are creating PDF files as the final product. As you may already know, search engines like Google will treat the content within your PDF file as if it were a web page. This means that a properly formatted PDF file can actually come up very high on search engine results. That translates into more exposure for your white paper.

What follows are some tips on how to improve your PDF file's placement on search engines. These tips come from MarketingSherpa's article, How to Optimize Your PDFs to Increase Search Traffic: 10 Steps.

1. Optimize the text: Simply apply the same rich keywords that you would for an HTML file. This means your white paper should contain many of the phrases that folks search on when looking for a solution to their problems.

2. Add metadata: This means you should manually insert keywords and descriptions of the document using Adobe Acrobat. This can be done by accessing document properties. MarketingSherpa adds, "You can also enter other keywords here, but don't put in misleading phrases. That ‘black hat' SEO tactic can get you penalized by most search engines.

3. Add links: Links inside PDF files are crawled by search engines. MarketingSherpa adds:

Be creative with adding links. Acrobat allows you to insert links in PDFs, so customers can click to view more information about a product or click to add it to a shopping cart. This step turns the PDF into a landing page and you can define its intended conversion however you want. You can also add links to your homepage or other parts of your site to gain the SEO benefits of internal linking.

4. Create a document footer: Include your business contact information and website. This helps folks easily find you when your great paper goes viral.

About the Author:
Visit http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/ for extensive resources on crafting compelling white papers and applying creative marketing tactics. Michael A. Stelzner is the author of the new book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged and has written nearly 100 white papers for companies such as Microsoft, FedEx, Motorola, Monster and SAP.

Read more »

Posted in: whitepapers

Alternative to Google Adwords

If you're like most people marketing online, pay-per-click advertising is a source of leads for your business. As this form of online marketing has become more popular, costs have continued to increase. In fact, I recently found many of my keywords inactivated by Google with a message that said I would need to increase my minimum bids substantially to reactivate my keyword campaigns.

I don't know about you, but my feeling is that $10 per click is way too high. So, what are the alternatives? If you can't play in the Google Adwords game, what do you do? Fortunately, there are still many online advertising alternatives. Yahoo! and MSN both offer a form of "Google Adwords." Additionally, other sites like ExactSeek.com and AdBrite offer either a fixed price ad unit or pay-per-click. If your Google Adwords aren't paying off, try one of these alternatives.

Read more »

Posted in: google adwords

Today's Marketing Tip: Traffic Exchanges

Marketing Tip: Traffic Exchanges

A number of blog readers have been asking about ways to improve traffic to their website. I've experimented with a number of different methods and have found the best to be traffic exchanges. The way these exchanges work is quite simple - browse and earn credits. These credits are then used to serve up your website to other browsers.

The best traffic exchange is TrafficSwarm. One of the most popular traffic exchange websites, TrafficSwarm has a number of different categories for listing your website. If you want to start generating free traffic, start with TrafficSwarm.

Read more »

Posted in: traffic exchange

How To Improve the Performance of Any Landing Page

Today's Marketing Tip: Improving Landing Page Performance

Undertaking any new advertising campaign should also entail the optimization of your landing pages. These pages need to be set up primarily to convert the visitors that your advertising generates. No matter the method of marketing or advertising you use, even offline advertising, you should have a clear understanding of the visitors that it will produce.

- What keywords, if any, led a visitor to your page?
- Are your visitors looking for information or products?
- Where are your visitors likely to be from?

The first step to landing page optimization is getting to know the resulting visitors. With paid search and even organic search you should have a good level of knowledge of the keywords that those visitors have used to visit your site. Consider whether the keywords and your campaign in general is geographically targeted, whether it will lead to visitors that want more information or are ready to start the buying process, and their general demographics. The more information you can determine about your new visitors, the more effective your landing page can be.

- Have you included the most relevant keywords in your page?
- Are the images relevant to the topic your visitors want?
- Are ALL of your page elements relevant?

The landing page should be optimized so that it is relevant to these visitors. Page relevancy is always a popular topic. The more relevant a page is to its visitors, the more targeted those visitors will be, and the more targeted a visit is, the more likely they will convert and perform your desired action. Including keywords is a part of page relevancy but generally matching all of the page content to the needs of your visitors is vital.

- Why did a visitor choose to visit your site?
- What did you promise or infer in your advertisement?
- Do your visitors want information or do they want to buy straight away?

Reading from a computer screen is very different to reading from paper based media. We can't read as quickly, we digest less information, and we comprehend fewer facts and less information. As such, it is good practice to write differently for the Internet than we would for a magazine or other publication. The very first paragraph needs to be a concise and informative summary of the rest of the page. Sentences and paragraphs should be shorter in length and, therefore, simpler in their reading. Headlines and titles, as well as other formatting, should be well employed in the relevant areas.

- Have you removed any unnecessary links?
- Is advertising kept to less visible sections of the page?
- Have you moved distracting page elements below the fold?

The more external links that appear at or near the top of the page, the more likely that your visitors will leave your site. Similarly, distracting advertisements that aren't a part of your CTA (Call To Action) need to be placed somewhere less distracting, along with other potential diversions. While these page elements all have a place on websites, they shouldn't detract from a well optimized landing page.

- What do you want your visitors to do next?
- What will your visitors want to do next?
- Have you clearly defined and implemented your CTA?

The Call To Action, or CTA, is the online vehicle that will drive your visitors to take the next step in the process. What this step is will differ according to various factors. If you sell your own products then the next step for your visitors could be to make the purchase. Alternatively, the desired action could be to sign up for a free newsletter, click an affiliate link, or download a free ebook. Identify what it is that you want your visitors to do next as well as what you believe they will want to do next. Once you've identified your CTA you need to implement it on your page so that visitors recognize what they are expected to do.

- Do you have any special offers, reductions, or discounts?
- Do you have any promotional giveaways or other incentives to offer?
- Have you pushed these incentives above the fold?

Incentives are a great way to persuade undecided visitors to take the plunge and move on to the next step. Either have a creative ad made that is relevant to the incentive, or at the very least ensure that it is mentioned in or around the first paragraph of your page. It should also be considered one of your USPs so it is a critical part of optimizing your landing pages.

- Is there any way you can make improvements?
- Are you tracking results?
- Are you prepared to make changes according to those results?

Your landing page is all about getting results. This means you need a powerful analytic package so that you can track the performance of these pages. You should have this software installed on your site anyway, in order that you can track the results of the advertising campaign itself, determine your most successful and least successful pages, and gather important data. Make small changes in a bid to improve page performance, and ascertain the success of those changes before making any others. Keep monitoring and optimizing until you get the best possible results.

---

About the Author: The landing page is as important as the advertising itself. Poor landing page performance essentially means wasted advertising revenue while optimized pages can mean excellent sales levels and highly profitable marketing campaigns. Matt Jackson, of WebWiseWords, creates compelling web site content, and also specializes in a range of other web site content writing services.

Read more »

Posted in: landing pages

Today's Marketing Tip: Start A Blog!

I love blogging. If you haven't already heard of blogs or even considered starting one of your own, now is the time to give it considerable thought. Blogging is fun and can help drive visitors to your main website. In addition to the blog you're reading I also blog at The Marketing Blog.

You can start your very own blog in as little as 3 easy steps. After hearing about the popularity of blogs and learning about the multiple benefits of creating a blog, I set out to start my own. After doing some additional research, I found a number of popular sites that actually let you create and host your own blog at no charge. What's even better is that the process of creating your blog is incredibly fast and simple. I suppose this is why blogging has become some popular.

Step 1: Choose a Purpose or Topic

One of the most important things you can do to ensure a quality blog is to determine the purpose of your blog and the topic you will be writing about. For example, a number of individuals who host blogs do so for the purpose of sharing their ideas on a particular topic. Others are simply looking for an outlet to make posts on just about anything- without a real agenda. Often times, these individuals are simply looking to drive Adsense revenue.

Regardless of the purpose you choose, select a topic that provides you the flexibility to contribute on a regular basis. Often times you will develop ideas for your next post based on the comments of others. This is one of the best ways to develop new content that is relevant to your readers.

Step 2: Select a Blog Provider

There are a number of websites that offer free blogs. However, the two largest and easiest to use are Blogger.com and WordPress.com. These sites have millions of users and have been offering free blogs for some time. The benefit of using established blogging hosts is the reliability and ease of use you can expect. I personally use Blogger for my marketing blog. The service is very easy to use - even for a web novice like me.

Step 3: Launch Your Blog

If you're selecting Blogger to launch your blog, all you do is simply create an account, name your blog, and choose a template. From there, you can begin posting to your blog immediately. Many of the blog providers, like Blogger give you the ability to choose from a number of blog templates. Advanced users can design their own blog template.

Wordpress, another blogging tool is also very simple to use. After creating a username and entering your email address, you create a blog name and title. You'll receive a confirmation email that provides instructions on how to begin.

Once you've launched your blog and made a number of posts, you should really focus on generating traffic. Not only will the traffic support any online business you may be supporting, but it can also improve the overall quality of your weblog.

Some simple techniques for generating traffic to your blog include:

• Registering your Blog with DMOZ and other Blog Directories
• Designing your blog for search engine optimization
• Generating Links to your blog via link exchange and article marketing
• Updating content on a daily basis
• Establishing a pay-per-click budget

One thing you'll find about starting you own blog is that blogging is both simple and fun. As you develop a loyal readership, you'll find blogging to be a great learning experience as well. Simply put, there no reason why you shouldn't start blogging today.

Read more »

Posted in: blogging

The Power Of The Free Download

Today's Marketing Tip: The Free Download

If you want to succeed at online marketing, you've got to acquire email lists that convert. The best performing email lists are what we marketers call the "house" list. The house list quite simply is a list that you acquire on your own - usually from your own website.

One of the most effective techniques I have found for acquiring email addresses is with the help of a free download. A free download can be as simple as a special report or even a checklist. Simply ask individuals to register with just a name and email address to access the report.

The last step is to reassure the browser that you won't sell their name to third parties. The purpose of acquiring this lead is to sell your own products, not someone else's. So be sure to use the name for your purposes only. Try offering a free download and start emailing your list to start generating sales.

Read more »

Posted in: internet marketing