the online marketing guide

The Online Marketing Guide

All You Need To KnowBy

Colum Devine

The Online Marketing Guide – All You Need To Know

Since the early 1990’s Internet marketing has been rapidly developing, now a days it is the

most complicated but effective way to market your business. This presentation will explain

how to use SEO & SEM as well as Social Media, Email and Affiliate marketing to

achieve your business goals.

Social Media Marketing – Checklist for SuccessSearch Engine marketing

SEM & SEO will make up the bulk of the presentation outlining SEO tactics, do’s and don’ts including PPC

Lessons 1 – 16Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is a vital part of modern marketing and will highlight the different platforms

Lessons 17 – 19Email marketing

Email marketing should not be over looked and makes up an important part of the marketing mix

Lessons 20 – 21 Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a win/win situation and should be taken advantage ofLesson 22

Web AnalyticsAll the above are very important in generating revenus for business but the ability

to analyze results and progress is essential to continued successLesson 23 – 24


Crawler Based Search Engines•Also known as ‘spiders’ or ‘web crawlers’ automatically visit sites and rank them. (Often referred to as ‘Bot’ ‘Robot’ ‘Spider’ or Crawler’)•Their job is to read Metatags, Text at the beginning & end of page and text wrapped in links.•Site is then placed in Search Engine Index (SEI), after this if the page is matched with a ‘Search Query’ it will be ranked

Human Edited Directories•Manually submitted, reviewed and sorted by a human

Hybrid Engines•Incorporate both the above

Types Of Search Engines (SE’s) Lesson 1

Search Engine Marketing


Understanding Crawler Based Search Engines•They will look at how many other pages in the index are linked to yours. The more quality links the better.

The 3 most important factors to optimize your site for Search Engines:PageRank: Calculated for each page in the index. It is very important to have quality, high ranking links that are updated regularly.Anchor Text: Link text that points to your page i.e. ‘Football jerseys from leading brands’Semantics: Defines which words mean the same thing and which ones are always together




How To Get Search Engines•Optimize each page for ONE specific keyphrase•Use keyword in domain (if possible) www.soc-network.com

•Use keyword in URL www.soc-network.com/twitter

•Use Alt attributes on images (as SE’s do not see images)•Compare keywords / keyphrases (3-5 words long) against competition•Compare keywords & phrases against monthly world searches•Use Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI)



http://www.soc-network.com/

http://www.soc-network.com/twitter


Optimizing KeywordsMake content sound organic to human visitors so it will not seem like spam to spiders. The goal is keyword focused content with ‘Focused Optimization’ in mind. The criteria to achieve this is: Prominence; Density; Frequency; Proximity.Keyword Prominence: The closer to the top of the page the greater the prominence, 100% prominence to keyword at beginning of the pageKeyword Weight/Density: Percentage of keywords to general number of words on page (rec: 3-7% keywords per page-too many considered spam)Keyword Frequency: Number of times keyword appears on pageKeyword Proximity: How close the keywords appear to each other in each phrase. The closer they appear together in text the better.

Optimization Lesson 4



HTML Elements That MatterTo comply the HTML document must have ‘Head’ & ‘Body’ area.Head: Everything that appears between <HEAD> and </HEAD>. Including <TITLE> and </TITLE>. Also </META NAME=“Keyword” Content=“...”>, Finally <META NAME=“Description” Content=“...”

Body: Everything visible between <BODY> and </BODY>. There can be 6 HTML headings <H1> to <H6>. <H1> most important and <H6> least important.




Optimizing HTML•S.E’s consider Title tag most important – must be compelling for searchers to click when it shows up on results page•Use primary keywords in title tag – give it 100% prominence•Use a unique title tag for each page•Titles between 5-9 words (under 59 characters) work best•Company name at beginning of tag is a good idea•Localize keyword (i.e. Boston) to appear higher in results•Try a thought provoking question as title •Make informative meta description (25-30 words) as S.E’s often use this in the results page

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Optimizing HTML•Place keyphrases early in the body of the text•Spread the phrases throughout paragraphs so it reads well•Keep words of ‘key phrases’ close together in paragraphs•Use heading tags H1- H6 to break up page copy•Use Alt tags – insert keyword only if it explains the image




Optimizing For Local SEOYou can optimize your site for local searches. This is good for smaller localized businesses•Use local domains .co.uk, .ca, .fr, these will outrank .com in your area•If your IP address is located on a server physically close to that country it will appear in those searches•If you have a worldwide business register domain in different country (check server location)•If you have a local address put it at the footer of each webpage•Different English speaking countries have different spelling•Use Google webmaster to target specific geographic location•Use Google Places




Your Websites Quality•Are there any current existing SEO/SEM reports on your website?•Do site quality/functionality report (get free on the website)•Is it written for human readability •Optimized for indexability (spiders) Highlighting Site Index Issues•Look for broken links•Look for broken redirects•Make sure there is a Title Tag•Update old pages regularly•Deep pages (located far from Home page or from where spider enters site) •Excessive length of Title & Meta Tags will hinder your position on S.E. Results page

Auditing Your Website Lesson 8



Fixing Your Websites MessThere are a number of things that will be seriously inhibiting your sites quality and usability. This is what you should do:•Orphan files are those that no longer have links from any page on the website e.g. Discontinued eBook, copied file to new location and not deleted from old location•Monitor Site Uptime, do a speed test on your website to determine its availability and uptime• Content Monitoring, informs you when a word or phrase is missing on a certain page of your site. Monitoring site uptime will help avoid losing site traffic

Auditing Your Website Lesson 9



Making A major Difference•Link popularity – 50% of your time should be spent building links•Quality of links to you overrides the quantity•Include a detailed site map into site structure then submit ONLY the Home page•Submit to Yahoo! Search Submit Express ($49) Yahoo! Search will find and crawl your site•Submit to Yahoo! Directory•Submit to DMOZ (by now Google will have found your site)•Submit to Bing Directory

Optimization Issues Lesson 10



Importance Of Site MapSite maps are very important for a website. It is a good idea to restrict the number of pages on site map to 30 so that it is not mistaken for a link farm and it will be easier for human visitors to comprehend. Below are ways to build an XML Site Map:•Google's Python Generator•A PHP Generator •FREE Online Generator




SEO-Savvy Link Building Strategies•Submit press releases & articles•Submit to directories – DMOZ, Yahoo! Are great inbound links•Find link partners – get list of quality sites•Spy on competitors – see who they are linked to•Use Key Query – Google keyword see the sites that are returned

Contemporary Methods•Link baiting – write posts using online promo tools like Twiiter gets retweets (make it interesting, controversial so people talk about it/spread and recommend•Viral content distribution, needs to be interesting so it will be passed on•Widgets distribution – share widgets, videos, tools etc




Analyzing Search Engine RankingsMonitoring your rankings is more than just keeping track of your position, it will help you measure the effectiveness of your optimization efforts. What you should do:•Analyze over long period of time•Run ranking check everyday•From the start log SEO actions & rank history•Monitor competition history •Comparing yours and competitors rankings will show fluctuations and help alert you to when your competitors are growing, which may damage your rankings

Monitoring Rankings Lesson 13



SpammingThere is often pressure to trick spiders – this is called spamming. Spamming will lead to being penalized. SEO Techniques are explained below:White Hat: Ethical techniques under SEO guidelinesBlack Hat: Aggressive tactics – not following guidelinesGrey Hat: Techniques on the border of spamming, should also be avoided as they may lead to black hat, hence getting penalized

Techniques To Avoid Lesson 14



Do Not Use The Following:•Hidden or invisible text •Tiny Text (too small for human eyes)•Excessive Keywords•URL redirection•Pages or sites with duplicate content or pages Major site with alot of satellite sites)•Link farms•Free for all link pages (different from link farms as it automatically adds new links and deletes old ones when limit is reached•Doorway pages – machine generated pages that lead to different site

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Do Not Use The Following:•Link spam alliances – disregarding content – linking to boost rank•Paid links – buying links (black hat)•Social Media Spamming – Wiki, blogs, forums•Wiki – anyone can post on wikipedia •Splogs – spamming blogs to deceive search engines•Forums can be used by spammers to add back links




Pay For Performance Options•Pay Per Click (PPC): Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions, Microsoft Ad Centre, Ask, Kanoodle & Looksmart •Paid Inclusion: Fee based inclusion into database or directory•Paid Sponsorship: Pay flat fee , in return search engine shows advertisers ads together with search results

Search Engine Advertising Lesson 16



Social Media ChannelsSocial networks build online communities – networks, blogging & micro-blogging (twitter), bookmarking sites (delicious) wikis, event sharing sites, media sharing (Flickr, Youtube)Benefits Of Blogging:•Fast publishing•Low cost•No technical skills required•Personal approach to readers

Social Media Marketing Lesson 17

Social Media Marketing


What All Bloggers Should Do•Get guest posts to get more in-depth posts into products•Involve the customers materials include success stories & testimonials•Write about and link to new updates on your site•‘How To’ posts are always popular•Answer common concerns or questions•Connect blog to Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Facebook via social media share buttons•RSS feed to spread news•Use Flickr photo album, increase sociability, plug-in, share buttons•Track what is being said on Google Alerts




What Social Networks You Should be UsingSocial networks connect people at low cost, follow up with posts & track your success: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn8 Rules For Social Media Optimization•Increase your likability •Make tagging and bookmarking easy•Reward inbound links•Help your content travel•Encourage the mashup •Encourage creation of user generation content•Allow users to evaluate, modify & organize content•Let users connect on your site (masup: combination of 2 or more external sources easy for external sources)




Benefits Of Email•Fast – can take days not weeks or months •Immediate response 90% of response within 4 days•Traditional methods are restricted by geography, postal regions, time zones etc•Easier & cheaper to prepare•Easier & cheaper to distribute•Email gets better results- make it personal: voice, video, audio, color, interactive

Email Marketing Lesson 20

Email Marketing


When To Send The Email•January is the best month for responses (July & August is the worst)•On Mondays people look through emails quickly as inbox is full•Friday people delete a lot without attention, preparing for the weekend•Tuesday & Wednesday are best days for emailing campaigns•Thursday is the best day for following up•For gaming/entertainment emails Thursdays are best•Fridays are best to send to small business owners•Click through increases by 12% when campaign is sent at noon•Don't turn people off with too many emails. 2 per month

•An info based email &•Promotional email

Email Marketing Lesson 21

Email Marketing


What Is ItAffiliate marketing is a win/win situation where merchants gain the desired action and only pay when a sale is made.Getting Started•It is possible to generate more than 50% of business from affiliates•Use Linkshare: one of the top affiliate solution providers•Think like an affiliate: what do they need•Treat them as business partners•Prepare images, links & graphics which can be shared•Decide if you will manage tracking/reports in-house?•Develop affiliate screening program & training•Do your research

Affiliate Marketing Lesson 22

Email Marketing


What Is It?Web Analytics is a measurement of which aspects of the website work towards business objectives.

There are 2 different ways to retrieve data on your website•Log Analyzers: This is an older way of getting information on traffic. It is not the best option for marketing purposes as they are not detailed enough•Real Time Visitor Tracking: Uses browser-side scripts to report data about visitor page views and becomes perfect for marketing. Reports: Operating System, Cookies, Time Zone, Page Details & Embedded Script.

Web Analytics Lesson 23

Web Analytics


Web Analytics Lesson 24

Hits: Not too useful for web analytics. If we get 1 million hits it tells us nothing about Human activityPage Views: This is recorder every time a page is loaded – not activityVisits: First level of activity. Highlights page popularity, entry/exit and referring siteUnique Visitors: Number of visitors at given times. Helps understand loyalty, retention and frequencyUnique Identified Visitors: hard to acquire but useful, need sophisticated ID system linked to database. Use this to undertsand your visitors.

Web Analytics

Social Media Marketing – Checklist for Success

This presentation is intended to give readers an idea of what is involved in marketing a business online.

Thank you for taking the time to browse through this presentation. If you need a more detailed guide I would be happy to provide a step by step

PDF. Please email me for more details

[email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/thomascolumdevine

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the online marketing guide

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