Tag Archives: website marketing

Four Key Ways You Can Use Your Business Blog As Part Of A Comprehensive Search Engine Optimization Plan

When it comes to establishing an online presence, businesses in every industry recognize that search engine optimization is a proven resource. Here are four ways you can use your business blog as a part of your overall search engine optimization plan. The result is increased online visibility, higher ranks in the search engines, and a following that recognizes you as a thought leader in your industry.

Upton Technology Group: Experts In The Search Engine Optimization Benefits Of Blogs

At Upton Technology Group, our team of website marketing experts understands that creating a business blog can play a significant role in a well-executed search engine optimization plan. Easy to create and establish and relatively inexpensive, a blog can quickly help a business put themselves on the online map. While it’s no secret that a blog can make a major impact in a short time span, it’s important to wield its power wisely. Understanding four critical factors when going live with your company blog can make all the difference between being a mere face in the crowd or actually standing head and shoulders above the competition.

Compelling Content: Just like other online copy used for website marketing and search engine optimization purposes, it’s vital to only post blog pieces that contain informative and engaging content. Never arbitrarily stuff a piece with relevant keywords at the expense of the message. While your company may receive an initial traffic uptick with stuffed pieces, the overall results of the website marketing campaign can get diluted quickly. Need another reason to write compelling content? Your blog should be more than just an SEO tool. Its purpose should be to inform and educate your current and potential customers. Write content they actually want to read, and you will soon have avid followers that consider you a thought leader in your industry.

Post Often: Want to dominate the search engines for your industry niche? Post new blog articles frequently. Browser algorithms actually seek out fresh Internet copy and weigh it heavily when determining which site shows up first. Unlike standard websites that only allow for a specific page count as it relates to your business, a blog delivers infinite publishing opportunities.

Always Fill Out Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Both the title tag and meta description are searched by the browsers as additional means to determine the content of the piece. Utilizing these blog sections will further entice the browser algorithms to notice your company as more than a passing blip on the Internet radar. Failing to include these two sections translates directly into missing a major website marketing opportunity.

Include Backlinks: Backlinks provide clickable text within the online copy that channels Internet viewers to a specifically targeted page on your website. Always include at least two backlinks in every online blog post. For maximum search engine optimization, always include two different backlinks and attach them to two different keyword phrases. To further leverage this powerful website marketing technique, strategically align your business with other organizations and develop a backlink exchange campaign. Having your company’s backlinks showcased on other blogs broadens the overall search engine optimization impact.

Ready to create a business blog? Contact Upton Technology Group today to find out how we can help you get started!

How Google +1 Can Help Your Business’ Search Engine Marketing And Website Marketing Efforts

Perhaps you’ve heard the news: A couple months ago Internet browser giant, Google rolled out its latest innovation in search engine marketing, Google +1. This website marketing tool has been developed to enable users to more confidently and efficiently navigate the often unwieldy and overwhelming search engine terrain. Likened to the Google equivalent of the omnipotent Facebook “thumbs up,” the +1 button allows everyone with a Google account to simply click the +1 and alert their entire network that this site is worth checking out.

Can Your Business Search Engine Optimization Campaign Benefit From +1

For individuals exhausted from incessant wheel spinning and time squandered clicking through an endless list of search results, this search engine marketing tactic brings with it ample opportunity to expeditiously prioritize browser returns and acknowledge the +1 as a “start here” indicator. While an impressive feat on its own, it appears that businesses implementing this new website marketing technique actually stand to gain the most.

Previously, search engine marketing campaigns focused on Google’s specifically engineered algorithms to determine how to best design a website marketing strategy guaranteed to help business links catapult to the top of keyword searches. The onset of +1 can possible change that process. No longer will returns from Google be based solely on these computer generated calculations, but instead, will also include input from individuals within our own social networks. While it’s still too early to determine if Google will ever be able to match Facebook’s achievement in sheer volume, one thing is certain; the Google +1 is a search engine marketing method that businesses can’t afford to leave unexplored.   

Upton Technology Group: Incorporating Google +1 Into Customized Website Marketing Campaigns

Like most website marketing techniques, the specifications and unique applications of the Google +1 tool may overwhelm business owners who attempt to incorporate this resource into their own search engine marketing strategies. Aligning your business with a reputable firm that specializes in the various nuances of search engine marketing is critical to ensure a successful implementation.

At Upton Technology Group, our team of seasoned search engine marketing specialists recognizes the potential of this important new Internet function and the pivotal role it will play with our partners endeavoring to rise in the ranks of browser search returns and, ultimately, secure market share. Our staff of experts will partner with your organization to understand specific business goals, visions and action items and then create a custom website marketing solution that includes Google +1 tactics to target every objective and ensure a thorough and positive return on investment. In short, Upton Technology Group will help incorporate Google +1 and its many online benefits into a specifically created search engine marketing campaign to help enhance your business’ online presence.

We can help bring you that much closer to your clients and, most importantly, help your homepage stand out as quality content among the endless ocean of search engine results.

Understanding the Benefits of Search Engine Marketing

Understanding The Benefits Of Search Engine Marketing And How To Maximize Results For Your Business

Search engine marketing has firmly established itself as a viable promotional tool for both Internet businesses as well as brick and mortar companies alike. Organizations of every size have embraced search engine marketing and its suite of online promotional campaigns strategically created to directly target and market to specific consumer demographics. With techniques including website marketing tactics such as pay per click and paid ads functionality, the ultimate goal of search engine marketing is to increase website traffic and convert these clicks into currency.

Why Search Engine Marketing Is A Powerful Website Marketing Tool

While most entrepreneurs appreciate the overall value of search engine marketing as a powerful website marketing resource, pinpointing specific benefits can prove challenging to someone unfamiliar with the process. At Upton Technology Group, we partner with our clients to showcase the many positive results a company can capitalize on as we create and implement their optimal search engine marketing solution.

• Fast Implementation: While some website marketing components can require a lengthy start up process and turnaround time, a pay per click search engine marketing method can be incorporated fairly quickly and will yield measurable results within just a few hours.
• Highly Measurable Results: One of the greatest advantages a search engine marketing strategy offers is the ability to collect a wide array of data easily, allowing businesses the ability to quickly analyze both the broad scale and intricate details of the process to determine what’s working and what may be needed in the plan going forward.
• Client Flexibility: Once implemented, Upton Technology Group can quickly modify existing pay per click operations based on harvested data and results to ensure that the campaign is truly maximizing our clients’ return on investment.
• Focused Demographic: Search engine marketing allows a business to incorporate a highly targeted form of direct marketing. The specialists at Upton Technology Group understand how to use this process to weed out periphery players and help get your company viewed by potential clients looking specifically for what your business does.
• Campaign For Every Budget: A search engine marketing solution is highly customizable and can meet various price points – this is especially useful for businesses looking to test the waters of this website marketing technique without committing to a high overhead endeavor. More importantly, Upton Technology Group can help smaller clients with less discretionary revenue still generate powerful SEM campaigns to go head to head with larger, more established competitors.

Search Engine Marketing: One Piece Of The Website Marketing Puzzle

While the benefits of search engine marketing are numerous, it must be incorporated into a customized and comprehensive website marketing plan to guarantee success. At Upton Technology Group we will work with your business couple these strategies with other website marketing techniques to ensure that targeted potential customers are not only enticed to explore your wares and services, but also to convert your generated search engine marketing leads into revenue.

Website Marketing To Your Niche and the General Public

In the past this blog has talked about the power of local website marketing, which helps promote your business to those customers nearby and thus most likely to benefit from what you have to offer. For many businesses, physical proximity is important, but it isn’t a deciding factor for every online store. If you don’t have a local focus, you’re probably deciding between a narrow focus on your existing client base, or a more broad, far-reaching website marketing strategy that will help bring in new clients while also catering to the needs and wants of your current base.

We typically help our clients find a balance of both, using web design that will reach both groups simultaneously and content arranged to ensure that each group can find what it wants.

Separate Web Pages Make For Great Website Marketing

When you are dealing with a number of different groups, creating different web pages is one of the most powerful tools you have. Search engine optimization allows you to specifically target website marketing at a particular group and ensure that you’ll be reaching them, rather than simply creating something that will be seen by everyone who Googles you. Knowing your potential markets is a necessary first step to making this strategy successful. You must be able to correctly identify keywords that each will target, and know how to tailor your website marketing and content appropriately for each.

Consistent Web Design Is A Benefit

Although your website marketing and content may change between the various micro-sites you set up, keeping your web design consistent can be a good idea. A consistent web design helps emphasize your company’s branding, especially because your design probably features your logo in a prominent location. Branding like this will help you be easily identifiable for any visitor, regardless of whether they’re a new customer or someone who’s worked with you before.

Connecting Your Micro Sites

The micro sites themselves need not have any connection to each other. Much like location based landing pages, these are designed to augment a strong, centralized website marketing plan with specific information relevant to a particular group. Your main homepage should have information that everyone will want to know; these subpages should emphasize the particular aspects of your products or services that people searching for these key terms would want to know. For example, if you manufacture office paper, you might have one page targeted at large businesses who will order in massive bulk, while another is targeted at small businesses requiring slightly less volume.

Avoid Being Too Niche

No matter what kind of website marketing strategy you choose, it is almost always wise to avoid catering exclusively to people in your niche market. Always make sure that you have ample information available on your website for people who may not understand what it is you have to offer. This extra content will help your website marketing overall so long as it’s properly optimized, and should fit in easily with your web design.

If your company would like help creating a web design and website marketing plan that will appeal to current customers and new business as well, Upton Technology Group can help. We can seamlessly unite the two, creating a strong web presentation for multiple audiences.

Going Beyond Website Marketing

It’s easy for most companies to see how web design and pure website marketing are important parts of the overall online marketing scheme. However, although they are important, they are not so important that other things should be overlooked. We’ll talk about some of the other options beyond website marketing, including social media, blogs, and more.

Web Design Is Just The Beginning

Everything flows from a good web design. With a strong web design, your customers will know exactly who you are whenever they encounter your company or products. The primary role of website marketing is to promote your company to everyone who sees it. Ensuring that the promotion is memorable is a key to having high impact. Whatever else you decide to do, be it social marketing, blogs, pay per click, or anything else, starting with good web design is always a good idea.

Social Media Adds A Lot Of Traffic

Social media is one of the newest and fastest developing website marketing tools online. Social media allows you to directly communicate with your fans or customers, while simultaneously offering you the chance to have anything you post go viral. Going viral means that it will be naturally passed along by the people that read your original. Viral is one of the best things that can happen for a company because it offers essentially free publicity. While it is possible for something not inherently viral to become viral through being put on the internet by the people who want to share, it’s a better idea to start it out on the internet yourself. This can be done either through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace (in some cases) or YouTube. All of these and more are strong places to start promoting a company through social media.

Pay Per Click Ads

If your company doesn’t want to wait for search engine optimization to reach its full potential, pay per click ads are a great addition to your website marketing. They are relatively inexpensive and can often be paid on demand, ensuring that you never overspend your budget. In addition, they will attract attention alongside the regular search results for your chosen terms. The end result is similar to search engine optimization, although the two are distinct.

Properly Using Blogs

Blogs can be a great way to reach your visitors in a format that’s slightly less formal than an open letter from the CEO or a simple website page. Posting a blog allows you to provide constant updated content, which is always a plus for the search engines. In addition, it’s a good way to add something new each week and keep your visitors interested.

All of these elements can – and should – work in harmony with your web design and website marketing. When used together, they will always become stronger as one naturally permits more linking to the other, and vice versa. Creating a comprehensive plan from the beginning is wise, and simply planning different stages will help keep costs down. Upton Technology Group can help you determine all the specifics of your website marketing, including web design, web development, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and more.

Integrated Website Marketing: Are You On Board With This Strategy Yet?

As website marketing professionals, we at Upton Technology Group are always looking to help our clients get the most out of their marketing efforts. We see many companies who are successful in one aspect of website marketing, such as search engine optimization or web design, but who fall short in another important way. Today’s market doesn’t permit anything other than strong marketing on all fronts; that’s what makes integrated marketing so important. With integrated website marketing, you create a unified message across diversified marketing tools. Your web design fits in neatly with your search engine optimization, which in turn is backed by strong offline marketing. When you combine all of these, you obtain much more marketing power than would be available through one avenue.

Good Search Engine Optimization Is Inherently Integrated

No company can afford to skip over search engine optimization in today’s highly competitive environment. As more potential customers turn to search to guide their product choices, it’s pretty much imperative that your company come out on top. Search engine optimization starts with your company’s own homepage and your own web content. Web design is a natural part of it.

But that’s not all there is to search engine optimization. To be done right, search engine optimization will also incorporate things like link building, which is best done through content marketing. Content marketing involves putting your company’s name out there by publishing articles. Those articles will create valuable backlinks and help your website rank more highly, but they’ll also establish you as a thought leader and industry leader within your field. You become an authority on the topic, and at the same time you make your search engine optimization more effective. It’s a win-win situation.

Good Web Design Ties In With Your Other Marketing Endeavors

Web design is itself a combination of many other factors. For instance, web design implies some form of logo design. It also requires some degree of web development to meet technical challenges, such as the creation of an online ordering system, or simply the organization of your website to ensure that it can be easily navigated. While not all of these are marketing related, all of them are interconnected and impact the final product.

Web design is the background that highlights all other elements of your website. When done well, web design ties your website together with your other marketing in subtle ways that might not even be obvious to your visitors. It is things like color and logo design that will make that connection, and that will solidify your company’s identity in the process.

Offline Marketing Is A Crucial Part Of An Integrated Strategy

There’s a strong tendency for today’s marketing experts to unintentionally ignore the offline in favor of an online focus. While the world’s eyes are increasingly shifting toward the internet, there are still many instances where offline marketing can reach them just as effectively. The key is targeting your offline efforts to ensure that they have maximum impact. They should coordinate with your search engine optimization and content marketing. When you put all of these disparate elements together, you get a powerful and effective campaign where every element supports and enhances the others.

Upton Technology Group continues to lead the way with integrated website marketing locally and nationwide. If you’d like to learn more about integrated website marketing or any of its component strategies, we’d be happy to work with you and create a custom plan for your business.

The Ins And Outs Of Local Search Engine Marketing

From the inception of search engine marketing, local search engine optimization has always been a recognized subset of the overall market. Local search engine optimization works somewhat differently from non-local search engine marketing, and they appeal somewhat to different client bases. Understanding the differences between local website marketing and non-local – especially understanding what will and won’t show up for different search terms – can be a key element of designing a comprehensive search engine marketing strategy.

What Is Local Search Engine Optimization?

In the past, local search engine marketing could be hit or miss because it could only target people who searched for those specific terms. Now, if someone does a generic search without location based terms, search engines like Google will detect their location and provide relevant website marketing links to nearby matches. The connection between local search engine optimization and non-local keywords has been further strengthened with the introduction of things like Google Places, which allows you to connect your business location with Google’s maps and with your website marketing.

What Kind Of Keywords Does Local Search Engine Marketing Use?

Local search engine optimization focuses on similar keywords to non-local marketing. Both of them will emphasize keywords that people searching for your company will naturally use; local search engine marketing will simply have a stronger emphasis on adding local keywords into the mix.

One of the most difficult parts of local website marketing is actually deciding what precise keywords you want to be using. The same kinds of tests need to be run as would be necessary for normal search engine optimization, including extensive keyword mapping. Most regions with a fairly decent level of population have several keywords that can apply to the same location, and there may also be keywords applying to a larger area that still merit use for your search engine optimization. A company needs some pretty significant experience working with local search engine marketing in order to ensure that the correct keywords are targeted. Proper targeting is trickier with local search than national website marketing.

Can You Do Local And National Website Marketing?

Yes, you can – and often should – use both types of search engine optimization to your advantage. The best way to make that happen is through landing pages, which provide a specific focus page for each region you serve. In addition, claiming your business on Google and setting up a Places page can be a valuable way to establish yourself as a local presence. Depending on how local you are, you might want to focus your entire website marketing strategy around appealing to a local audience. This works particularly well for businesses that have no real way to serve a market outside their home location, such as restaurants and other service-based businesses.

Upton Technology can help your business balance strong local search engine optimization with the appropriate amount of national website marketing. The two can be a powerful combo, and our experts will help them work to their best for your company. If you have questions about local search engine marketing or nationwide strategies, or would like to get started, contact us for more information.

How To Use Google Analytics To Inform Your Search Engine Optimization Choices

A few weeks ago we discussed the many different ways to measure the success of search engine optimization. We talked a little bit about Google Analytics, and mentioned that it was a powerful tool for tracking a number of different website marketing metrics. In fact, Google Analytics is a key component of any search engine marketing strategy because it provides some of the best info available in a clear, concise fashion. Best of all, it’s free to use and easy to incorporate into your webpage.

Getting Started With Google Analytics Website Marketing Metrics

The first step for using Google Analytics is to actually sign up for it. This is as simple as registering for a Google webmaster account, and linking your webpage to that account. The full details for how to do this are readily available through Google. Depending on whether you were in charge of your search engine optimization or you had another company do it for you, your website might already be registered and tracking your metrics. Ask your search engine marketing provider whether they set it up, and if so ensure that you’ve got a way to access the results.

If it’s not set up, you’ll have to place actual lines of website code inside your page. You may need to ask your website marketing company for help here, but it’s well worth it for the information that you will receive. The task itself is fairly simple, but can be overwhelming for a first-time user. Upton Tech generally provides this service for our clients.

What Search Engine Optimization Info Does It Provide?

The data gathered by Google Analytics is directly useful for website marketing. The code you place on your website will track everyone coming into your website and leaving again. This simple tracking yields powerful search engine marketing results because it tracks in rather great detail. For example, it can tell you where someone came from. Did they get to your page through online ads for website marketing? Did they arrive directly? Or did they click over from Google’s search engine, indicating that your search engine optimization is taking effect?

Taking Your Search Engine Marketing To The Next Level

There are many layers of detail which can be viewed through Google Analytics. For companies just starting out with website marketing, the raw data of visitors to the homepage is usually sufficient information for most decisions. As your business grows, you can begin exploring the more in-depth elements of Google Analytics. It is a very powerful service, capable of revealing where most visitor traffic originates, how long they viewed each page, and more. This more detailed information might overwhelm a new user, but is perfectly suited to a more experienced search engine optimization consultant.

Most companies who are serious about search engine optimization in the long term will install Google Analytics quickly and start using it right away. This powerful tool is something that no website marketing team should miss, It is completely safe for your website and has no impact on user privacy, yet provides valuable information for your search engine optimization team.

Measuring Search Engine Optimization Results

Virtually every search engine optimization expert recommends that you track the results of every campaign that you run. They’ll tell you the benefits of using that data to gain insight for future search engine marketing endeavors, as well as for modifying current website marketing strategies. The problem is, they rarely tell you much about how to best measure your search engine optimization results.

That’s partly because the field of search engine marketing metrics is still developing, but it’s primarily because most website marketing experts don’t want to worry about tracking their performance. Here, we’ll discuss several different ways to measure website marketing results, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each different method.

Search Engine Marketing Metric #1: Your Bottom Line

The first method is the most simplistic. In this method, the effectiveness of your search engine marketing is measured against your bottom line. If profits improve, then you’ve succeeded. It’s a very simple measurement to obtain. Simply record your profits in the quarter before you begin website marketing, and then record them afterward. Unfortunately, this method often returns the least valuable information about what’s going on with your search engine optimization.

The reason is simple: there are so many other factors beyond web marketing that can impact your revenues. It changes with the season, it’s impacted by overall market trends, and it’s also affected by other marketing endeavors that might be totally unrelated to search engine optimization. Most companies don’t think it’s worth it to measure search engine marketing success by their bottom line – there are too many other things which can influence revenues.

Search Engine Optimization Metric #2: Website Traffic

This method can be less easy to track, but its results really let you narrow in on the success of your website marketing in particular. With this method, you’ll need to use some form of counting add-on for your website. Google Analytics allows you to track a number of different aspects of your website, and is an absolute must have for any kind of search engine optimization — regardless of how closely you intend to track your results.

Increasing your web traffic is almost certainly one of your primary web marketing goals. In addition, increased web traffic is unlikely to be the result of something else — and if it might be, you’ll know (you’ll be running a concurrent conventional media program, or something else that would easily explain it.) 

Website Marketing Metric #3: Watch Your Search Engine Ranking

This is another simple metric to observe. It generally isn’t impacted by factors beyond your search engine optimization efforts, and it’s really quite easy to track with benchmarks for as many keywords as you like. The problem is, higher ranking in search engine marketing isn’t necessarily going to accomplish your longer term goals. Rankings do indicate successful search engine optimization, but the same content that put you at the top of the results might not succeed in turning increased traffic into sales.

The Solution: Use All Of The Methods!

Tracking every method mentioned here isn’t actually that tough. Look for overall trends in the data. For example, are you seeing more traffic to your website and higher search engine marketing rankings, but not a lot more sales? Then you might need to look at your website marketing content and see if you can make it more powerful. If you’re seeing that most visitors to your website are ultimately becoming customers, but that you’re still low in the search rankings, you should probably look at what elements of search engine optimization you might be missing.

Upton Technology Group can help you examine your current search engine marketing program or start one up from scratch. We’ll use metrics and analysis to determine the best search engine optimization strategies for you, and then we’ll help you make any adjustments needed in the future to ensure that your website marketing always puts you on top.

Interactive Website Marketing: Tips For Engaging Your Audience

Search engine optimization is an important element of any website marketing program, but it’s not the only element that a good program should have. Today we’re going to talk about another really important ingredient for search engine marketing success: interactive website marketing. There are many ways to incorporate interactive elements into your website marketing. Some of them can be pricey to implement, but others are surprisingly inexpensive and very easy. When done right, interactive website marketing is the perfect complement to search engine optimization, and a real benefit to your website’s bottom line.

What Is Interactive Website Marketing?

Interactive website marketing is any kind of website marketing which directly involves the visitors in some kind of action. Rather than simply reading the search engine optimization content, there is something else for them to do. Contact forms are not generally considered interactive website marketing, but games, eligibility calculators, forums, and many other common web design elements are. The trick to interactive marketing is that it must engage people. They must gain something from it (that might be entertainment, or something more tangible or educational).

How Does It Help My Current Search Engine Optimization Strategy?

One of the biggest benefits of interactive website marketing is that it provides something people will want to share. If you’ve got a particularly useful calculator for mortgage rates or interest, it will get shared. If you’ve got a unique game, it will go around the internet. Successful interactive marketing is about much more than entertaining a single visitor: it quickly reaches beyond an individual person, and starts bouncing around the internet at large. Once it reaches this status, it will begin benefitting your search engine optimization through increased backlinks and general traffic. Google and other web crawlers will see that your website is increasingly referenced and visited, and you’ll get a boost in your rankings to augment your current search engine optimization.

Discussion Boards Are A Simple Way To Get Started With Interactive Website Marketing

Designing and creating a web-based game from scratch is a tough task that few companies will tackle. Once you’ve got an established web presence it’s more than worth the hassle, but when most companies start out they choose a simpler website marketing technique: discussion boards. Discussion boards are a classic element of interactive website marketing. They’re easy to set up, and depending on how they’re structured and how they factor into your site, posts made on them may directly boost your search engine optimization results because they’re considered new, fresh content.

Discussion boards are interactive in an even more vital way than other forms of interactive marketing. Instead of the interaction being between a human and a computer, they’re actually able to talk with other humans. Your website can become an online gathering spot for people throughout your industry, with very positive effects.

This kind of exposure and hub status is not for every company. You might also choose to limit your forums to discussion of your products, possibly including a place where individuals can ask questions and the community can answer. This might help you indentify potential problems before they become chronic. In addition, it provides a place where your staff can answer questions and address concerns directly — a vital addition in a world where customer service is more important than ever.

Adding a discussion board to your website isn’t complicated. The website marketing team here at Upton Tech can arrange it for you, or you can talk to your own website developer about it. With a few minor tech tweaks, adding a discussion board can be just as effective as the most flashy web-based game for interactive marketing and search engine optimization.