In a flat rate PPC, the advertiser and publisher mutually agree on the amount of money to be paid for each click. This negotiable rate is determined by the CPC, “Cost Per Click”. The CPC is a calculation based on different areas and aspects of the website such as, the content on the page. Content that has a large amount of valuable visitors will have an overall higher rate. The downfall of the PPC form of advertisement is that once you stop paying for the service, your benefits are over.

As opposed to Pay-Per-Click forms of advertisement, there is also Search Engine Optimization. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is technique used to elevate a website through the ranks in SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages. Because Google runs on a “Natural” or “Organic” algorithm that determines their results, specific features and guidelines must be applied in order to gain an increasing number of visitors to your site.

With SEO you achieve increasingly better placement, and more visitors, almost immediately. The traffic comes continually, and the effects are long term and long lasting. Without SEO, your website may not be ranking high due to lack of keywords, or it may be too difficult for your target customers to find you and your product. Even after you are finished with SEO servicing, the work is already done and the benefits continue for a long time.

Besides “The Bad Guy” or “Villain”, another name for this form of SEO is called “Spamdexing”. Spamdexing can include a variety of unapproved tactical attempt used, by hackers, to redirect search engine results to their desired location. These tactics include, keyword stuffing, hidden texts and links, and link farming, and Blog Comment Spam. Such activities are meant to produce the best possible search engine results using inappropriate methods, but in all actuality, produce the exact opposite results. Google and other search engines like it penalize sites for these activities, decreasing your ranks in the requested search results.

In contrast to the Black Hat form of search engine optimization, the true way to amplify your website is through White Hat SEO. White Hat is a term that comes from the “Good Guy” or hero in old, western movies. This form of search engine optimization is well accepted well into search engines. White Hat SEO is often the makeup a “Search Engine Friendly” site, and unlike Black Hats, abides by the Terms of Service regulations particular to that search engine. The name White Hat also refers to, what is called, an “Ethical Hacker” or “Penetration Tester”. These types of White Hats have the initial focus of securing and protecting IT systems.

The answer depends on what we want to invest in time, energy, competitive analysis, and of course money. It is not after all matter of “if” so much as “when”, as long as we understand what we are up against.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requires a certain degree of faith, since the world of SEO is fraught with unknowns. When will a search engine index my pages? How often will updates to my website be viewed as incremental value-added? Is my content equal to the challenge; my meta data superior to my competitor’s? Are incoming links as relevant to my keywords in the eyes of Goggle as I had hoped?

Regardless of the unknowns (and the unknowable), there is amble evidence available that a number of quality SEO-targeted and search engine acceptable procedures (site maps and submittals, proper meta content, care in creation of content, keyword and link relevancy to name a few) will force a website to rise in both ranking and search positions over time. The speed of the rise and the level of the increase are still a matter of some forces outside of our control (unless of course we work at Google!), and for this reason we need to temper all of our work with some wait-and-see, hope-and-pray, and simple optimism.

Which is why I am a Search Engine Optimist.

Written By Peter C. Erich, Esite LLC

One day, I got a rude awakening when the Marketing Director for one of my clients called and cancelled their marketing contract despite the success I felt we were achieving for them.

I asked why they canceling and the response was:
“I don’t care how much traffic we get to our website. I don’t care where we are ranked with the search engines. I just care about increasing my sales. I have contacted most of our branch locations and asked if they were receiving leads from the internet. Their response was no.”

This client was not an eCommerce business so there were not identifiable sales coming from a shopping cart. We were making the client’s phone ring with new customers.
However, the problem was that most businesses do not recognize an internet lead as being such. They just know that the phone rang or that someone new showed up in their store and made a purchase.

This is when we made a significant adjustment in our approach.
We still report on things such as traffic and rankings, but what we constantly focus on now is how much business our client is getting from the effort.
We do everything we can to document that new clients are being acquired as a result of what we do.
This can be done with web analytics as well as other tools such as tracking phone numbers.
We also emphasize with our clients the life time value of a customer.
How many times does the average client make repeat purchases? In the case cited above, we were able to convince the client to continue with the marketing contract and with a better focus on documenting their internet sales, they eventually quadrupled their internet marketing budget.

Written by J. Burns Smith Jr. – WSI Star Web Solutions

The reason I want to ask this is because so many clients SEO are underperforming and they don’t know why. “We’re doing SEO don’t worry, we hired a guy to do it for us” they will tell you thinking that one SEO provider does exactly the same as the next.

In my experience I’ve worked with a number of clients (and one just recently in fact) who were happily running their business only get a call one day and their SEO provider tells them there’s nothing more they can do, they’ve taken them as far as they can.

Taking this most recent client of mine for example, did the SEO provider mean that they had successfully gotten the client a page 1 ranking for every key phrase that is likely to generate business for the client? No, in fact the client was still on page 3 for their most valuable key phrase.

So the client had gone in search of another SEO provider who could take them to the next level and we were only too happy to oblige.

This highlights something I have seen time and time again. Something that is very hard to get a new potential client to understand. It’s the fact that what one company does and calls it SEO may be very different from what another company does and calls it SEO.

Think of it like this, if there are 200 (so Google tell us) criteria that they take into account when determining what search results pages a website should appear on, isn’t it at all possible that the SEO company you spoke to whose proposal came to £500 covers far fewer of those criteria than an SEO company whose proposal came to £5,000?

Isn’t it also possible that there may be a difference in the results the two companies are able to get for you? The answer is OF COURSE.

If some of these criteria are:

• H1 H2 Tags optimization
• Title tags optimization
• Meta tags optimization
• Keyword optimization
• Alt Optimization
• Website Structure optimization
• Body text and content optimization
• Sitemap for Link Optimization
• W3C validation

Then isn’t it likely that a £500 proposal only covers 1 or 2 of these things? How many other things does the £500 proposal leave out? Is it worth the risk?

A wise man once said “the most expensive marketing of all is that which produces no results”.

Written by Chris Coney BSc, Simplify Internet Marketing

Social Media has opened the door to unfettered, extended communication – a rich frontier for an unregulated interplay of ideas. It also provides a playground for uneducated, under-informed rumor mongers and gossip fabricators bent upon upgrading the tried and true methods of the past (whispered lies, faxed inaccuracies, phoned innuendos) with the technology of today.

Add to the mix the power of Optimization (SEO) inherent in well maintained social media sites and you have two possible formulas. One is to provide the world with an intelligent alternative to long hours of research and long-distance correspondence and heavy lifting (as in paper-based media). The other is to open the Pandora’s Box of opportunity for the unchecked destructive campaigns of the aforementioned truth killers.

Take for instance the current presidential campaign as a prime example in this country of both sides of this Social Media coin.

When else in our history have we as a voting population been able to completely vet candidates on their voting records, their history in politics, their lives as citizens and most importantly on their own vocal and written records? Given the power of the Internet expanded with the interaction of millions of the general public, the politicos and power brokers, and the Fourth Estate, there is an opportunity to individually research candidates and their positions without the interpretation of intermediaries (news brokers, friends and family, television and radio ads). All it takes is a little bit of time and an openness to facts – after all, research with a closed mind is actually no more than an effort to collect “documentation” to prove preconceptions.

And therein lays the link that breaks the chain of intelligent discourse; the closed mind – that wall of stubborn belief that many of us form to block out the truth.

As of this writing, there are 130,000 Google pages referencing verifying internet rumors while there are over 8 million pages dedicated to the phrase Obama is a Muslim. If we were to believe the Internet rumors, Barak Obama is a Muslim who attends racist Christian churches and has close ties to radical Communists (atheists). Hate mongers as well as the genuinely fearful are busy making their views known in spite of fact, abundant evidence contrary to their opinions, and most importantly simple common sense.

These search results are indicative of how quickly and easily lies can be spread into the Internet through Social (and other) media sites, and yet how effective intelligently written and truthful content can counteract those lies. The top page results for the phrase “Obama is a Muslim” are in fact part of the website results set for the phrase “verifying internet rumors” – the pages were formed with thought to content and theme. Some of the biggest purveyors of the untruths or half-truths are up there in rankings also, and that is what the battle of SEO is all about. The fact is that hard work in managing SEO through social media will produce results beneficial to the networkers involved and the focus of their writings.

So is Social Media friend or foe? Will it take us all to higher levels of discourse and make us aware of information that is critical to our decision making, or will it enhance the standing of blogging morons and sycophants? Simply put it is a tool. Social blogging is a tool less important than critical thinking and more influential than water-cooler conversation. And like any tool, it can either be a helpful addition to our daily lives or it can be a weapon.

The choice has to be made by each of us but the questions are fundamentally simple ones:

What do you want to be – a provider of information or simply better known?

Who do you want to be – someone who improves the world or someone who helps tear it down?

Why do you want to communicate – to help your audience’s understanding or to prove your point?

Written by Peter C. Erich, Esite LLC

10 Key Questions to Ask

When Choosing a Web Designer

Written by Jason Gervais, Certified Internet Consultant

Let’s face it. Running a business is not easy. With so many different aspects of running a successful business, you have to be confident that you are choosing the right partners along the way to help you achieve your business growth goals quickly and effectively.

Your presence on the Internet could be the best marketing investment you’ll ever make. Or it could be a complete flop and lead you to the belief that the Internet doesn’t work in your line of business and that you just wasted a lot of your hard earned money.

Choosing the right web designer involves more than simply finding someone who has the technical wherewithal to design a web page and program it so that you show up on the Internet if someone types your website address into their browser. There are several questions to consider up-front to avoid a costly experience that provides little or no return on investment.

Here are the 10 questions you should ask when choosing your web designer:

1) How much experience do they have?

Experience is more than just the knowledge of HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, PHP, ASP, JavaScript, and so on. Most college students with any amount of experience can play around with these common web development languages.

How long has their company been in business? Have they worked with other businesses in related industries to yours? How has their work impacted their client’s businesses?

Ask for specific examples or case studies. Look at their design portfolio. Do they use Photoshop or a similar graphic application for professional web design?

Design is the most important single element of your website. Research reported by the BBC, has shown that visitors will make a decision to stay or go within a 20th of a second upon visiting your site. Not only does it need to look great, but your business, your product, and your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) must be instantly identifiable if you want to keep the visitor on your site.

2) Are they marketers or technologists?

Obviously technology is a requirement of your online success. That being said, great technology alone rarely leads to a significantly higher bottom line.

There are many ways to use Internet technology to reduce costs and improve business efficiencies. But the best way that the Internet can impact your business is by generating more leads and increasing your sales.

Success on the Internet is about effective marketing. Your web designer has to be able to assist you with identifying your company’s unique selling proposition (USP); what separates you from your competitors, and communicating it effectively to your audience.

You’ll need to understand your audience; what their needs are, how much information they need to feel comfortable and what process they use to make decisions. Your web designer should have a system for helping you uncover this information and incorporate it into the architecture of the web site.

3) Can they help you come up with copy for your website?

Writing professional content for your website may be the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do. To be effective, your website should have a minimum of 10 to 15 pages of content averaging 300-500 words.

As business owners, we’re inclined to write about ourselves, our accolades and accomplishments, or commitment to service, or our excellent products. For web content to be effective it should focus less on us and more on our readers.

Unless you are a professional copywriter or know someone who is, it will be in your best interest not to try writing all of the content yourself. Often, it will delay the launch of your website by months and the end result will be a website that does not communicate effectively to your audience.

Ask the web designer if they have professional copywriters they work with. Professionally written copy on your website will significantly speed up the project completion and will almost always provide a faster return on investment.

4) How can they help you find the right images or graphics?

Did you know that 55% of people are visual learners? The visual representation of your product or service on your website is imperative in communicating your message effectively to your audience.

Somehow, you will need to come up with high quality images with people and objects that relate to the product or service you are selling. You may already have some images to use. They must be at least 1024 pixels x 768 pixels in resolution in order to display clearly on the internet. These images can easily be reduced in size, but smaller images can never be increased in size.

Ensure that your web designer can edit the images using Photoshop or similar software. Often, images have distracting objects or people in the background that need to be cropped out. You should also consider adding effects to your images, like borders, shadows and other effects.

The most effective way to come up with high quality, effective imagery for your website is to use stock photos. There are many resources available to source stock photos which can usually be purchased for low cost.

You should ask your web designer if they have access to these resources and if they can help you make sure that the graphics on the website will look both abundant and professional. Every page should include some imagery within the text area of the page.

Be aware of copyright laws. It is illegal to take any image from someone else’s website or any copyrighted document and use it on your site. Even if you are planning to display images from your suppliers’ websites or marketing materials, you must ensure that you have their written permission to do so in order to protect your own interests.

5) How much will it cost?

Just like any product that you might buy, there are different types of websites and many options that can all add to the cost.

Simply stated there are 2 types of websites; static and dynamic. Static websites are also known as brochure websites and are limited by functionality and how easily content can be changed or added. Static websites can be built for prices ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the level of design and amount of content.

Static websites have a fairly short lifespan since they are difficult to maintain and expand upon and offer little in the way of functionality. They are a lower cost solution initially, and often lead to a higher cost over time.

Dynamic websites offer more robust functionality. There is usually a combination of static content pages and database driven information. They commonly include a content management system so that the owner of the site can easily make changes or add to existing content. These websites are flexible, expandable and can offer any type of functionality that you can imagine.

Dynamic websites can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. There are many out-of-the-box solutions available. These pre-developed solutions offer lower-cost and robust functionality and expandability.

It is important that your web designer can not only provide this functionality but can modify or customize the functionality to meet your specific requirements as needed. Programming is a very time consuming process and will always cost more. The more customized your solution becomes, the higher the cost.

Dynamic websites have a much longer life-span because they are flexible, expandable and customizable. It’s unlikely that it will last forever without an upgrade, but you should be able to get several productive years out of it before upgrading.

6) How long will it take?

It is important that whomever you decide to work with is more than a one-person operation. There are a number of different skill-sets required create an effective website and Internet Marketing System, and there is a lot of time and effort involved.

You need to hire a great designer, a programmer/developer, a copywriter, a Search Engine specialist, a Project Manager, and a Certified Internet Consultant to advise you on how to make the best use of it all. If you find all that in one person, you have just struck gold!

Many website designers attempt to provide all these services as an individual rather than a team. It almost always leads to a longer than expected delivery time and a less than anticipated return on investment.

Ask your designer how many people are on their team and how they will ensure a quick launch of your project. A robust, dynamic website and Internet Marketing System should be delivered in a 60-90 day timeframe.

Advanced customized solutions can take significantly longer, so be sure to include a discussion around timelines and deliverables at the inception of the project so that you can reduce the likelihood of unexpected delays along the way.

7) What happens after your website is launched?

The internet is full of a vast expanse of forgotten websites. Since the late 90’s businesses have begun taking the plunge into the World Wide Web. Unfortunately many of them simply checked it off their list and moved on.

Many website designers target businesses that have this checklist philosophy because it is quick and easy. Typically it’s a short-term relationship. Once the site is launched, the relationship is over. The only time you’ll hear from them is when they invoice you for your monthly or annual hosting.

If you are serious about using your website as a marketing tool for your business, it is critical that it not become stagnant. Your content must be kept up to date. You should be continuously adding information, updating your specials, posting news or events and anything else that will give visitors a reason to keep coming back.

A dynamic website should include a content management system so it will be easy to make changes yourself, if you have the time to manage your own website. Not all content management systems are the same, so ask to see it and test it. Some are more difficult to use than others.

Regardless of whether you’ll be managing your content yourself or not, you will need to be sure that your web designer is available for ongoing maintenance and upgrades to your website.

Your web designer should also be able to provide you with statistical reports of how users are interacting with your website. More than just how many hits or visitors you are getting, you should know which Search Engines and which specific keywords are sending the traffic. How long are they spending on your site and where are they losing interest? You should also be able to track how many or what percentage of your visitors are taking a desired action on your site. All of this can be measured using web analytics software.

Ask your web designer if they provide these valuable statistical tools and the ongoing consulting required to help you make the best future business decisions and maximize your return on investment.

8 ) How will they ensure that you will get lots of traffic to your website?

Having a nice website by itself isn’t going to make your cash register ring. This is the biggest problem that small and medium sized businesses face on the Internet. Many business owners thought that they needed a website so that they would appear legitimate and that having a website would mean that droves of people would be finding them and contacting them. And more often than not; they were disappointed with the results.

Don’t fall prey to having a website that doesn’t work! You have to choose a professional who not only can help you design a great website, but can help you be found on search engines for keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business, industry and location.

The percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to a new high of just under one half (49%). Source: PEW Internet & American Life Project. Just because you have a website doesn’t mean that you will be found. There are specific things that must be done in order to ensure that you show up on the first page of a search.

It can be confusing and often daunting, trying to comprehend all the industry buzz words. As a business owner, you care about one thing only; your bottom line! Be sure to choose someone who will immerse themselves into your business to ensure that you achieve long-term results.

9) Can they host your website securely?

Would you trust a stranger or someone you’re not 100% sure of to take care of your business for a year, a week or even a day? Probably not! The hosting for your website should be as important to you as the minding of your actual business.

Hosting is necessary for your website. Simply stated, your website is made up of a series of files and programs that need to be stored on a computer, called a server, which brings up the information when someone types your website address into their browser. Not all web servers are the same.

You should ask your web designer where the servers are located. It’s not unusual for some to host websites on their own server, in their local office or even their basement or storage room. This is not a secure choice.

Ask if they backup the servers; how often and with what redundancy. If you plan on using the web for marketing, then you’ll be making frequent changes to the content and will probably have data stored on the server that you won’t want to lose.

Do they offer an uptime guarantee? You don’t want people getting a ‘page not available’ error just when they’re ready to give you their business. Make sure that the site is guaranteed to be working at least 99.9% of the time.

Can they host your email? Many website hosts do not support email hosting. It is in your best interest to have an email@yourcompany.com. It is more professional and gives you the impression of a larger company; even though you may be a one or two person business. Be sure to keep future growth in mind as well. You should be able to add up to an unlimited number of email addresses in the future.

10) Will they deliver?

Like any intangible purchase, you ultimately have to take a leap of faith with the belief that everything that has been promised will actually happen. Be sure that you do your homework. Ask all of the questions discussed here.

And be sure to ask for references and call them. You should be able to get a good feeling for the quality of their work and their ability to deliver based on these conversations.

Most importantly, choose someone who you like. This is a long-term relationship and it’s critical that you find someone who you can relate to.

Written by Your WSI Advantage

זכיין מעוניין להקים נכס וירטואלי בנושא בגדי תינוקות למשל, הזכיין חותם חוזה זכיינות מול חברת לקסמדיה ישראל, בחוזה זה נרשם שהזכיין שותף מלא של לקסמדיה על הנכס הוירטואלי, הזכיין מקבל כלים בעזרת קורס אינטרנטי מפורט המסביר כמעט הכל על עולם האינטרנט ועל קידום אתרים, הנכס הוירטואלי עולה לאויר לאחר שהזכיין כתב כתבות בנושא בגדי תינוקות (שוב בעזרת כללים שחברת לקסמדיה מלמדת אותו) לקסמדייה פועלת בדרכים יחודיות שאתר זה יעלה למילות חיפוש רבות הקשורות לנושא בעמודים הראשונים במנועי החיפוש.

הנכס הוירטואלי מגיע למקומות הראשונים למשל במילת החיפוש “בגדי תינוקות בזול” או “בגדי תינוקות מיוחדים” גולשים רבים המחפשים את מילות חיפוש אלו יגיעו לאתר ויגבירו את התנועה באתר, לקסמדיה מצליחה לסגור עסקת פרסום לנכסים וירטואלים אלו ומוכרת שטחים בתוך האתר לצורך פרסומות, ניקח לדוגמא חברה עם מותג בגדי תינוקות ידוע, שרואה ש 200 אנשים נכנסים לנכס הוירטואלי של בגדי תינוקות ומבינה שיש כאן פוטנציאל פרסום מעולה. 200 איש נכנסים לאתר ואלו 200 איש שמעוניינים בבגדי תינוקות, מכאן זוהו פוטנציאל לקוחות ממוקד ובוודאי תרצה לשים שם באנר שלה שיפנה את הגולשים לקניית מוצרים.

חברה כזו תהייה מוכנה לשלם כסף טוב לבעלי הנכס הוירטואלי על כל קליק של גולש על הפרסום שלה, אפילו שידוע לה שרק כ 20% מהגולשים מקליקים על פרסומות, אבל מספיק ש 40 גולשים יקליקו על הפרסומת ורק 10 גולשים יקנו בסופו של דבר מחברה זו, חברת בגדי התינוקות זו, תהיה מוכנה כנראה לשלם תשלום נכבד לבעלי הנכס הוירטואלי עבור כל הקלקה של לקוח פוטנציאלי על הפרסומת שלה.

זהו בעצם שיטה של שבה כולם מרויחים, המפרסם שהמכירות שלו גדלו וכמובן רווחיו, הזכיין שמקבל את הכספים מהמפרסמים ולקסמדיה ישראל שמשתתפת בריווחי הזכיין.

Good SEO consultants will not change their mind according to things you tell them e.g. “I don’t have the budget for this now”.
A bad SEO consultant will end up saying “Okay, let’s do another thing or let’s switch the plan to match your budget”.
A good consultant will always stick with his opinion and will say things like “I still believe this is the plan, if it is hard for you to do it all at once, we can reach this goal over time” or “I still believe this is the right way to go but with let’s select the more crucial things since this is all we can work with”.

2 – Blackhat Tactics

Blackhat tactics such as: Duplicate Content, Doorway Pages & Keyword Stuffing should not be offered to a real business by any SEO consultant since they do not last for a long period of time before Google finds out and penalize the site

3 – Versatility

SEO Consultants should care about all SEO aspects of your site, not “ONLY CONTENT”, “ONLY LINKS”, “ONLY SOCIAL MEDIA” etc…

4 – Traffic, not Rankings!

The fact that we are trying to rank on the SERPs is just a stepping stone towards traffic, don’t be blinded by 1^st page placements with no traffic or by going after very competitive keywords only, neglecting the converting long tail keywords.
The best SEO consultants will try to rank for both the long terms and the highly search terms.

5 – Conflicting Advice

Bad SEO consultants will tell you an advice today and conflicting advice tomorrow – those are the first signs that a consultant that is untrustworthy; of course SEO consultants will change their mind according to changes in the site.

6 – There Are No Guarantees

No one besides the search engine companies (e.g. Google Inc.) can control the SERP – we can all try but no SEO consultant can actually make a guarantee that he will rank in a certain placement or page because not only is it uncontrollable – it is always changing, and usually if they do give you a guarantee then it is for very non-competitive keywords and they know that those keywords are a safe bet; since they get no traffic so no one is trying to actively rank for them.

7 – Proof

As I said no guarantees, BUT -> you need to see how the tactics that you are paying for (and sometimes spending an arm and a leg on) are working for other clients and sites, ask to see rankings, plans of action, reports, traffic analytics, etc…

8 – Out Dated Knowledge

Some SEO consultants are very smart, experienced and educated but they are practicing the same SEO tactics for years and don’t make the effort to learn new tactics and methods. The search engines are not according to anyone; they keep renewing and improving themselves that is why SEO consultants must keep on learning non-stop as search engine updates come along.

9 – The Exception of the Rule

There are exceptions essentially for every theory, you see a site that is ranking with no links another is ranking with no content, a good SEO consultant will know that, and will not follow blindly after 1 or 2 cases as a rule.

10 – SEO Consultants will Research

Experts have many answers to many questions, but not to all, SEO consultants will often tell you that they cannot answer your question without further research… THIS IS GOOD. You do not want to put you trust in a guy that answers you without knowing, just for you to get a quick answer. You would rather put your trust in SEO consultants that will analyze well before an answer is given.

Tom Light,
SEO Consultant.

A overwhelming number of fresh businesses go under within the first three years! By using WSI you will increase your traffic business (it has proven search results) and obtains your business’ accomplishment seriously. WSI is dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness and development of your business. They are a service company and they cater to your business needs. WSI always make certain the highest quality of franchises!

Take action and contact a WSI consultant because they will listen to your matters and map out the perfect solution specifically tailored to your business’ needs. They will push you into triumph in no time.

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