Dec
14
Joke of the day – One man ..
A man, in his fifties,
enters the bar in a very gloomy mood.
He turns to the bartender: “make me the strongest drink you have, and make it a double! ”
“What happened? What is this all about?”
“Well, I found out that my eldest son is gay.”
The bartender makes the man his drink, then he went back home, crying.
A week later he returned, with even longer face
and with a sad voice said to the bartender:
– Make me the strongest drink you have, and make it a double!”
– What happened? Still depressing news on your son?
– Worse .. I found out that my second son was gay …
– “Unpleasant,” said the bartender, making him his strong drink again, to ease his sorrow.
A few days later the man returned for the third time,
Looking all indignant and asking for his usual extra strong drink again.
- “Say, the bartender asked him,
“Don’t you have anyone at home who likes women??”
“There is!”, the depressed man replied quietly, “my wife …”
Dec
05
Fast SEO Results: How to Speed Up an SEO Campaign
SEO rocks and sucks at the same time. It rocks because if you choose the right keywords (relevant, action-oriented and with high search volume) and make it to the top, you don’t ever need to do any marketing again. Most companies I know that are at the top of Google get more clients that they can handle and even have waiting lists or have to refer people to other businesses.
But, at the same time, SEO sucks. Actually, let me rephrase that: SEO, done the way most people do it, sucks. Here’s why: who wants to wait 8-12 months to get to #1? (most industries are very competitive and it takes a while to outrank the big players).
Even if you do realize that waiting a year to have a constant stream of business coming your way makes sense, the main problem most business owners face is that they don’t have the resources to afford 12 months of marketing before seeing results.
So, What’s the Solution? How Can I Get Fast SEO Results?
I’m sure you’ve heard about “long tail keywords”. They’re the opposite of “broad” keywords.
Cars -> Extremely broad
Ford cars -> Still very broad
Ford dealership -> A lot more specific/relevant
Chicago Ford dealership -> Very specific (long tail)
The more you move down to the long tail, two things happen:
- Keywords get more specific (conversion rates get better)
- The search volume decreases drastically
- Ranking at the top of Google becomes a lot easier
What’s Best for Fast SEO Results? Broad or Long-Tail Keywords?
The answer is: both. And everything in between. You don’t want to go too broad (if you own a Ford dealership in Chicago, you don’t want to waste your money trying to rank for “cars”). But you don’t want to get too specific either (”1998 Ford Focus for Sale in Chicago” might be very specific, but nobody is searching for it. It’s not worth your time.)
The Secret for Fast SEO Results: “Serialize” Your Keywords
The average SEO campaign happens in this order:
1. You fix architectural issues that might be affecting your site
2. You optimize the content and tags for your pages
3. You create optimized content to get more pages indexed, which will help you rank for more keywords and have more PageRank to pass to your “money pages”
4. You build links (external and internal, for authority [links from authoritative sites and sites related to yours] and reputation [text links with your keywords in the links' anchor texts])
The traditional way of doing SEO is to do all of the above at the same time for all the keywords. The way we do SEO is a little different: you start with the low-hanging fruit (which will start making you money fast) and then you move up to move competitive search terms (with higher search volumes).
The “Fast SEO Results” Formula
First you need to do the site architecture and on-page optimization at a site-level for all the keywords.
Once your website is completely optimized you’ll have two things left to do:
- Content creation
- Link building
They are both ongoing processes.
The idea behind the Fast SEO Results formula is to go after the long-tail (easy) keywords first while still doing some optimization for the harder keywords. So, work on the Easy, Medium and Hard keywords equally. Once you’ve reached the top for the Easy ones, continue with the Medium and Hard ones. Once all your Medium keywords are at the top, focus only on the Hard ones.
You should still monitor the keywords you got to the top just in case they drop and need a little push.
By doing SEO this way you’ll start seeing results right away, because long-tail keywords usually have very high conversion rates and they’re easy to rank for. But never keep moving up towards the broader keywords because they are the ones that will be writing you the big fat checks.
Article source: http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog
Nov
22
How to Avoid These 10 Common Mistakes that Most Affiliates Make – Special FREE Report!
So,
how do we avoid these 10 common mistakes that most affiliates make?
Read the special FREE report by Itay Paz! Click here to get the free report
Oct
15
10 tips to make your web page load faster
Introduction
It is essential that the load time of your site will be rapid so that visitors will not have to wait for a complete view and experience a pleasant experience.
From your end as site owner – you’ll benefit from less bounce when your visitor (especially the once with slow internet connection) don’t have to wait for long to receive your page.
And last but not least – Search engine algorithm calculate sites loading time as an important variable.
Use the following tips when you are building web sites:
- Perform optimization of your HTML code.
Be sure that there aren’t any unwanted tags and that it was optimized and clean. (1) - Design effective tables: use separate tables as much as possible. Sites are being displayed only after the tables are fully loaded.
If you’re using a lot of tables and separate them from each other (you can use the site heading in separate tables, content, footer, etc. …) the tables will load separately and the total load time of the column will be shorter. - Increased the content area: This not only reduces the load time of pages, it also increases the level of readability of your site and helps you for better organic search results & visibility.
- Reduce to a minimum any unnecessary weight: Any usage of graphics, Flash, scripts etc will increase the size of your pages.
ANY redundant or avoidable graphics or item should be reduced to a minimum. This not only affects the web page loading time, but increases usability of your site and helps keeping it clean and clear. - Stick to simple designs: the web pages that load quickly have little design in them and usually consider much more effective.
~~ Grab a TIP! More is less – very simple, right? ~~
Complex websites load very slowly, lose the surfer attention and convert less. - Spread your content. If you find that your pages are very long and busy, try breaking the content into parts.
By separating overcrowded pages you reduce loading time for each page and keep it readable.
No one will scroll down for more than a couple of pages filled with plain text. - Use text links instead of graphic buttons: Basically, prefer using as many HTML tags as you can.
You can use the technology of CSS Style sheets in order to make texts & links look attractive. - Use the SSI files from the internet servers your websites are hosted on. Those SSI file are flexible, they are being called one by the server and remain on their cache memory which makes their loading time extra short.
- Using layers instead of tables is a relatively innovative idea and can assist the webpage loading time.
- Don’t forget to check the load time of your site (2) that is the best way to know your status from external computers.
~~ Remember to test the load time of your site regularly. Use tools such as website analyzer or web site optimization website to get an updated status. ~~
(1)
The W3C HTML / CSS validator – the most common Validation Service around
(2)
Checking tools for web page loading time:
http://www.iwebtool.com/speed_test
This is a stronger tool if you’re interesting in more profound results:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/
Enjoy!
Sep
23
Healthy tip: Got any honey left? 3 homemade masks
It’s rich in vitamins and minerals; you got plenty of it after the New Year’s cooking: 3 suggestions for hair mask, skin, face and hands – all honey!
It’s rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and proteins, so why don’t you take advantage of your abundant honey jars you have to make yourself some Natural Cosmetics?
Here are three suggestions which will do wonders to your hair, face and hands:
- Natural Conditioner
Mix a quarter cup of honey with a quarter cup of olive oil.
Apply on the hair and rub onto scalp.
Cover your hair with a bath hat for half an hour
Wash with a shampoo, dry and comb.The result: incredibly soft and silky hair.
- Nourishing facial mask
Mix 2-3 tablespoons of honey with seven drops of Evening Primrose Oil (very rich in omega 6 which helps rehabilitation of cells).
Add one drop of lavender essential oil for soothing the skin & antiseptic.
Apply on clean face and leave for half an hour. Rinse with warm water. - Nourishing mask to soften dry hands
Mix 1 teaspoon of organic honey with one tablespoon of wheat sprouts oil.
Add two tablespoons of yogurt and bio (natural yogurt with no flavors).
Mix and spread the mask on dry hands and leave it for about 20 minutes.
Rinse with warm water.
Sep
17
Minesweeper – The Movie
Who never got to play Minesweeper??
This is the “promo” for the movie, very nice 
Sep
14
Do schools kill creativity?
One of Sir Ken Robinson mind challenging videos:
Do schools kill creativity?
One of my favorite quotes from the video:
“If a man speaks his mind in a forest and no woman hears him – is he still wrong?”
Sep
14
size DOES matter
An interested video post by drivingtraffic. According to the YouTube info they posted:
“This buy button style and size beats everything else in terms of sales and conversions.”
So here it is –
The “Magic” Buy Button That can DOUBLE your Sales:
Button specs from video:
Size – 400px wide
Color - FEB500 Orange
Text – Add to cart 000066 <<Navy blue>>
Background - FFFFCD
Sep
10
Develop Non-English Websites for International Search: 7 Strategies
SUMMARY:
Want to reach international prospects through SEO and PPC but don’t know how to start? Here’s a case study about testing the waters of non-English search traffic.
Read how the marketing team for a translation services company developed native language websites for several European countries. They started small, tested keywords, and have achieved 300%-500% growth in sales from some of their target countries. Includes strategies for:
- Keyword list development
- Site design
- Testing
To the original case study:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31354
CHALLENGE
Christian Arno, founder, Lingo24, had used SEO and PPC to help grow his translation services company in the UK. So he and his team wondered if they could achieve similar results with an international marketing effort.
“The Internet provides so many opportunities that sometimes people forget the obvious ones,” says Arno. “You’re immediately accessible to people in so many different countries.”
They wanted to test whether their successful English-language website could be adapted and localized for other countries and languages. But they didn’t want to spend too much time and money on site development or PPC campaigns until those markets had proven themselves.
CAMPAIGN
Arno and his team developed an international search marketing strategy that involved building sites and testing keywords for more than a dozen target countries. They started small and used their observations to adapt and optimize each country’s website.
Here are seven strategies that guided their process:
Strategy #1. Identify best markets for expansion
Before building any local-language websites, Arno and his team identified countries that were good markets for their translation services. They looked first at non-English speaking European countries and analyzed the following attributes:
- Gross Domestic Product per person, to get a sense of the country’s affluence levels.
- Export indicators, to get a sense of how many companies within that country are exporting. Exports are a key driver for translation services.
- Existing competition, to determine whether there is room in the market for a new translation service provider.
They identified several affluent, export-led economies, including:
- Germany
- Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland)
- Switzerland
- The Netherlands
- Belgium
Strategy #2. Use successful English terms as basis for local-language keyword lists
With target countries and languages identified, the team developed a list of search terms to incorporate into their website content and architecture:
- They used successful keywords from their English language website as a starting point, but turned those lists over to native-speaking translators currently living in the target countries.”We always use translators based in-country, because language always changes,” says Arno. “Even native speakers can mess up their natural language if they haven’t been living locally for several years.”
- The native speakers developed translations for the team’s English terms, and also suggested similar terms or relevant phrases that Arno’s English-speaking team could not have known.
Strategy #3. Build basic websites for each country
The team used the list of translated keywords and phrases as a guideline for developing a local-language website for each country.
- First, they purchased local domains and hosted these websites in-country. That structure helps achieve better Google rankings than a non-local website, says Arno.
- The team did not dramatically change its basic website structure or design. They used a vertical, left-hand navigation bar for links to important sections of the site, such as:
- Services
- Clients
- Contact information
- Pricing and ordering
That structure allowed them to accommodate changes in word or phrase length when terms were localized for different countries. By contrast, a design that featured a horizontal navigation bar on the top of the homepage might become unworkable when translating from English to, say, German, which tends to use longer words and phrases.
- They translated content for only the most important sections of the website, such as pages that described the company’s services, pricing and contact information. For initial testing, they did not translate news sections, blogs, or other dynamic sections of the site.
The result was a website for each country with six to seven pages of localized content that featured the keywords and phrases identified by their native-speaking translators.
Strategy #4. Test localized phrases with PPC campaigns
The team tweaked and adapted each localized website by conducting PPC tests of phrases on their keyword list. They also tested new phrases in an ongoing keyword-optimization process.
- They team waited until they received at least 100 visits from each keyword before making a decision on its performance. Then, they examined metrics such as conversion rate and revenue-per-keyword.
- Those metrics determined the team’s target position for subsequent PPC campaigns. For example, they targeted positions 1-4 for their best-performing keywords, and positions 5-8 for terms that didn’t perform as well.
- They also used results from those tests to identify new content for the site that would boost natural search rankings.
Strategy #5. Develop in-country inbound links
The team also sought links from in-country domains to each of their localized websites. They followed the same kind of link-building tactics that marketers would use for their English-language sites, such as:
- Contributing native-language articles to local industry news sites or blogs.
- Contacting local media to pitch company experts as interview subjects on industry topics. Arno says that in many European countries, especially in Scandinavia, reporters will conduct interviews in English and then translate those comments for a native-language article. The result is a good, localized link.
Strategy #6. Make arrangements for local search listings
Arno’s team knew from their UK site that many prospects seek out translation services using phrases that specify a location — e.g., “translation services London”
To capture similar local searches in other countries, the team set up virtual offices that allowed them to legitimately compete for local search results. For example, they contracted with a company that offers virtual offices in Stockholm to establish a local address and rank for phrases such as “translation services Stockholm.”
Strategy #7. Increase resources as volume of business from a country grows
The team’s testing approach allowed them to build several localized websites with very little upfront investment. Over time, however, they used search-marketing results to determine which countries deserved a larger commitment of resources.
For example, when they first launched a Danish-language site the team responded to search-generated inquiries in English. That technique allowed them to win some Danish business, because a large percentage of the population there speaks English.
However, after about six months of growing inquiries from the country, the team decided to test how much their conversion rate would improve by answering Danish inquiries with a native-speaker. They hired a Danish-speaking salesperson in their UK office to field those queries.
RESULTS
The team’s international SEM efforts tapped into the enormous value of non-English language search:
- Although the UK remains the team�s biggest market, five different countries each represent more than 5% of the company’s overall business.
- Sales from Germany have increased 300%.
- Sales from Scandinavia and The Netherlands have increased 500%.
“What’s really good is that it shows you can achieve quite a lot without risking much,” says Arno.Here are a few other observations from the team’s international search efforts:
- Searchers in English-language markets, such as the UK and the US, tend to be more sophisticated and type in longer search queries. As a result, keyword lists for those markets tend to be longer, and the long tail is more important for success.
- Lower competition for native-language search in Scandinavian countries makes it comparatively easy to maintain top rankings for simple, one- or two-word phrases.
- Hiring a sales member who can respond to international search queries in the prospect’s native language is a necessary step to achieve significant scale in those markets. Hiring a Danish-speaking sales representative helped Arno’s team make Denmark one of the countries from which they now get more than 5% of their revenues.
Useful links related to this article:
Creative Samples from Lingo24’s international search campaigns
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/Lingo24/index.html
Localize Your International Email Campaigns: 4 Proven Tactics
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31240
How to Get Better SEO Traffic: 4 Strategies to Increase Leads 58%
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30349
Lingo24
http://www.lingo24.com
Howdy. Welcome to Daily-Tip.com!
Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed. See ya around!
Daily-tip RSS- Joke of the day – One man ..
- Fast SEO Results: How to Speed Up an SEO Campaign
- How to Avoid These 10 Common Mistakes that Most Affiliates Make – Special FREE Report!
- 10 tips to make your web page load faster
- What is Facebook
- Healthy tip: Got any honey left? 3 homemade masks
- Minesweeper – The Movie
- Do schools kill creativity?
- size DOES matter
- Develop Non-English Websites for International Search: 7 Strategies