Small Business Blog
Earth Skater's take on the trends in e-commerce
27 Tips To Top Search Engine Rankings
- Increase your site’s link popularity by increasing your internal and incoming links.
- Internal links – Cross link all your sites and important pages within each site. This will maximize the PageRank of all your pages within each web site.
- Incoming links that you control – Create several small web sites related to your main site. Each site should only consist of a few pages. Then cross link them all together using the most important keywords. Don’t forget to include links back to the main site.
- Incoming links that you don’t control:
- Ask sites that link to your competitors to link to your site. To find out which sites are linking to your competitors, visit a search engine and enter, “link:” followed by the competitors’ domain name.For example:
link:www.yourcompetitor.com - Exchange links with sites listed in the same category as yours in the major web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory.
- Find sites that accept site submissions. Visit your favorite search engine and search for:
Also try searching for the actual submission page using its page name. For example:"add url" "your keywords"addurl.html, addsite.html, addlink.html, etc.
- Ask sites that link to your competitors to link to your site. To find out which sites are linking to your competitors, visit a search engine and enter, “link:” followed by the competitors’ domain name.For example:
- Try to avoid stop words in your TITLE tag. Stop words (a, an, and, but, he, her, his, i, in, it, of, on, or, she, the, etc.) are common words and characters ignored by some search engines to enhance the speed and relevancy of their search results
- Include a META DESCRIPTION tag, directly after the TITLE tag. Include the most important keyword phrase for the web page as close to the beginning of the description as possible.For example:
<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Mike's Marketing Software Tools Reviews</TITLE> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Mike's Marketing Tools is the leading review site for the very best internet marketing tools for web marketers and webmasters."> ... - If you use a META REFRESH tag, make sure it is set to refresh after 30 seconds.
Some search engines consider pages that refreshes under 30 seconds as spam. I recommend using a JavaScript redirect tag, if you require a quicker page refresh. For example: Step 1 – Paste this code into the HEAD section of your HTML document. Change the 3000 to whatever number you like. 1000 represents 1 (one) second.<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="30; URL=http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com">
Step 2 – Insert the onLoad event handler into your BODY tag, so that the JavaScript code is executed when the page loads.<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!-- function redirect () {setTimeout("change()",3000);} function change () {window.location.href="http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com";} //--></SCRIPT><BODY onLoad="redirect()"> - Remove all other meta tags (author, date, etc.), unless you’re sure they are absolutely necessary.
- Include a site map with links to all your pages. This will help search engines find and index all your pages.
- Limit the number of links on a web page to 50.
- If you have more than 50 links, limit your links to your most important pages.
- Include text on the page as some search engines, such as AltaVista, have been known to kick out links only pages.
- Use one or more header tags in your main page body and include your most important keyword phrase/s.
- Use large header tags, such as <H1>; and <H2>.
- Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to alter the appearance of the header tags to fit the look and feel of your site.
- Check the first couple of lines of the first paragraph to see if it’s appropriate to be used as a description of your page. Many search engines utilize the first couple of sentences of the body text as the search results description, instead of the contents of the META DESCRIPTION tag.
- Try to achieve an overall keyword density of 1-2%.
- Try to achieve a minimum word count of 300 and a maximum of 750 words on each page.
- Register a domain name with the exact keyword phrase you wish to target, using hyphens to separate the keywords.For example, if the keyword phrase is “search engine rankings,” then register:
If the domain you want is unavailable, either try a different extension, such as .NET, .INFO, or .US, or add a keyword to the end (preferential) or beginning of the domain.search-engine-rankings.com - Name directories after your keyword phrases, using hyphens or underscores to separate the keywords.For example, if an important keyword phrases is, “search engine rankings,” name your directory:
www.yoursite.com/search-engine-rankings/ or... www.yoursite.com/search_engine_rankings/ - Name web pages after your most important keyword phrase. Separate the keywords using hyphens or underscores.For example, if the keyword phrase is “search engine rankings,” then name the page:
search-engine-rankings.html or... search_engine_rankings.html - Name your graphic files after keyword phrases. Again, separate the keywords using hyphens or underscores.For example:
<IMG SRC="search-engines-rankings.gif"> - Include an ALT (alternative text) atrribute in image tags. Include the most important keyword phrases.For example:
<IMG SRC="search-engines-rankings.gif" ALT="search engine rankings."> - If you use an image map, include HTML links, as some search engines do not follow image map links. Plus image maps do not offer search engines any link text to index. So, try to avoid the use of image maps as they do not help with your search engine optimization efforts.
- Use the longer or plural version of a keyword, where possible. Word stemming is a concept used by some search engines to return search results that include keywords that extend beyond what you searched for.For example, a search with the keyword “engine” might return results for, “engines,” “engineers,” and “engineering.” If someone searches for the longer version of a word and your page only uses the short version, then your page will be excluded from the list of possible results.
- Sprinkle a few uncommon keywords and synonyms in your main body text. Less popular keywords have less competition in the search engines. So your web page is has a greater chance of being listed amongst the top results.
- Do not repeat keywords or keyword phrases over and over again on a web page, as this would be considered as spam by search engines.
- Keep your pages as close to the root domain as possible. Do not set up more than 3 directory levels.For example:
www.yoursite.com/index.html (1st level - excellent) www.yoursite.com/html/index.html (2nd level - Good) www.yoursite.com/html/marketing/index.html (3rd level - OK) www.yoursite.com/html/marketing/search/index.html (Too many levels down - search engines will find it difficult to find and index pages this far down) - If you have a persistent (on most or all of your pages) navigation bar at the side of each page, your table is almost certainly set up in such a way that it pushes your page’s body text down the HTML document. Search engines give prominence to keywords nearer the beginning of a HTML document. So, design your HTML table so that the navigation bar is placed after your main body text.
- Move Javascript code to a separate file, or the end of the HTML document after your closing BODY or HTML tag. Yes, this technique actually works!Follow these instructions to move the JavaScript code to a separate file and link to the file from the HTML document. Then place the following code in between the HEAD section:
This procedure also reduces your file size, and therefore your download time. In addition, it allows you to reuse the code on other pages by simply link to the JavaScript file. Both of these techniques will move your important body text nearer to the top of the HTML document.<HEAD> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" SRC="file-name.js"></SCRIPT> </HEAD> - Although not always practical, you may like to try naming your cascading style sheet tags after keywords.For example:
.search { color: #ff0000; } - Use Robots.txt files instead of Robots meta tags, as some search engine robots do not recognize the tag.
- Do not use font size one (1) text as the default text size. Many search engines consider tiny text to be spam. It’s OK to use some font size one text.
- Do not participate in link farms or link exchange programs. Search engines consider link farms and link exchange programs as spam, as they have only one purpose – to artificially inflate a site’s link popularity, by exchanging links with other participants.Do not confuse link farms and link exchange programs with reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is the exchange of links with individual sites, and is certainly an accepted technique for improving your site’s link popularity.
Call 877-627-2492 to discuss your marketing plan today.
Trouble Finding Blog Ideas?
Like anything new, becoming a Blogger could be overwhelming at first but it doesn’t have to be. With the help of a process that clicks for you, you can get past the hurdle of finding topics to write about and spend more time on writing the quality content you want to disseminate.
One of the hardest parts of blogging is finding stuff to write aboutYou already know that you have a lot of value in your experience, expertise, and industry knowledge to speak on. But that is a big pool of ideas to start with and we have to think about ways to narrow it down. Ideas for Blog topics can come from multiple sources including:
1. Daily Life
If your daily life is like mine, you have a lot going on and every now and then get that flash of inspiration that intrigues you to investigate and ponder further. These inspirational ideas are awesome when they come but they are not always handy when you need them. Always be ready to write down the flash of inspiration ideas immediately without thinking. Otherwise, a second later, they may seem silly or worthless and you’ll forget about it. On the other hand, those scribbled flashes of inspiration could save you in a crunch some other day when a topic is sorely needed.2. News/Media Sources
The news/media that you follow is an excellent source of topics for your blog. Industry related news gives you a chance to promote your brand perspective on the news of the day and provide valuable insight to potential customers. This is a fun category of ideas to play with and the topic is given to you, so you just have to give commentary or spin on it.3. Website Stats
Website statistics like Google Analytics and other real time statistics tools are good way to see what content that you already offer gets the most attention. Track which web pages and blog posts get the most attention and what keywords are driving traffic to those pages. This can help you to come up with Blog topic ideas that speak directly in realtime to your website visitors and social followers.4. Search Engine Stats
Search engine statistics are stats from sources like Google Webmaster tools where you can see the organic traffic your site receives and the specific keywords generating that organic traffic. These long tail keywords are Blogging gold and may be the source of your most valuable content ideas.5. Advertising Stats
Advertising statistics are stats from sources like Google Adwords where you can see the paid traffic (PPC) to your website and the keywords that are generating the most interest. Keywords that generate traffic and not sales can be paused but they may represent visitors in the investigative stage of the buying process, and it is those keywords that you may want to focus on writing Blog posts on. Blogging gold here again. I’m happy to help with any questions so please feel free to comment or contact freely. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sener Korkusuz is the Founder and CEO of EarthSkater.com, dedicated to helping small business owners succeed online with custom tailored eCommerce solutions. He is the Co-founder and CTO of the LinkedOpinions.com, a free tool used to survey your LinkedIn connections and the co-founder and CEO of the A7FL. The American 7’s Football League, “The Game America Wants”.
Best Practices for Developing a Global Website
Even the best online store hosting software will not be able to help you create the best website for your company if you don’t know how to approach the global market efficiently. Online stores have been the biggest trend since the beginning of the new millennium and every day we see hundreds of websites penetrate the web, but what hinders their progress is that they don’t take the global aspect of their product seriously.
The simplest mistake a company can make when developing its website is not taking the diversity of an online customers into account. If you want to know how the most successful companies in the world have such a strong online presence, then simply visit their websites and study them. From the in-country domain to the design layout, these companies use their websites as representations of who they are, and by giving the customer an appealing look, not only do they convert their visitors into loyal customers, but they also make sure that the customer knows that they are taking their own business seriously. So what exactly are these practices that should be followed if a company is looking to develop a website for global presence?
In-Country Domain
Using separate domain names for each target country not only creates a matter of identity for the customer, but it also helps Google detect it for search results. If you have your website on different domains, it will give the customer easier access to your website, and make them feel like you value their membership. Also, it can be very appealing to the customer if the website is not only in their domain, but also in their language.Google Webmaster and Analytics
By uploading the sitemap of your website to Google Webmaster and Analytics, you can keep an eye on the online traffic, online visibility, and different keywords which can help diversify the content of your website and find new target markets.Web Design
If you see any online store setup by Earth Skater, you will notice that we take all aspects of your company into account. Several important factors influence personalization such as the product name, colors associated, theme, visual and technical layouts along with logo all matter because they not only facilitate in creating a more efficient design for the customer but they also bring a sense of consistency to the website layout, especially if the website is being built in different languages.Content
This is the most obvious piece of the puzzle but one that is mostly overlooked. When writing your webcopy, it is best to not bombard it with keywords, rather just use them in a way that the script flows naturally. Many companies use professional copywriters and even linguists to make sure that their website gives off the best impression possible, especially if they are going to use that copy in a different language. For a global website, the main practice is to make sure that you understand your global market and its pressure points. Use what’s trending to your advantage and give the customer a website that uses professionalism and subtlety to hook the customer to your products.
Membership Subscription Billing
How can you sell your products online with recurring billing? The answer is not always so simple, especially if your recurring billing / subscription billing requires any sort of customization.
What are the foundation pieces you need to sell recurring subscription billing products or services? The answer is simple:
- a website
- a billing system that will allow customers to purchase subscription products and have their billing info. stored and charged on a frequency basis
A Website
You may already have a website which is good. You may also have an online store which is good as well to sell one time purchase products. Now, depending on the type of customer experience you would like, you must integrate or connect with a recurring billing solution.Connecting Recurring Billing to your Website
This is where things can get tricky. Depending on your website solution and online store solution, the answer to how to proceed will vary. Typically, you will have 2 options:- Integrate a 3rd party recurring billing solution directly into your website with embed code or custom programming (most professional)
- Just link from your website to the 3rd party recurring billing solution so customers are brought to the 3rd party site to pay (not the most professional)
Customer / User Experience
This is the most important part of creating a recurring billing membership solution, customer’s must be able to easily make payment, update payment information on file, and perhaps even upgrade or downgrade an existing or multiple subscriptions on file.- Integrating recurring billing into your website directly is the most seamless solution and typically best user experience
- Ability for customer to update their billing info. on file is a must for when billing info. on file expires or a new card is issued for example
- Ability for customer to upgrade or downgrade their subscription package is a huge value but requires custom programming
- Ability for customer to apply a coupon to receive a discount on the first or all recurring payments
- Ability for website to calculate custom package pricing for the customer’s recurring billing subscription is an option with custom programming
Recurring Billing and Subscriptions
Accepting recurring payments online is supposed to be quick and easy to get going, right? Yet, it is much more involved and often times complicated to set up an online store with subscription payments like for a service or auto-ship product.
Today, online store’s are offered like a commodity, and recurring billing and subscription products are some of the most difficult features to find and especially to customize to your specific requirements.
Authorize.net Recurring Billing
Earth Skater supports recurring billing (ARB, automated recurring billing) and CIM (Customer information manager to safely store customer information) with Authorize.net. Customization is a key to success with recurring billing setups. Your websites may need to allow customers to:- update billing package
- update billing frequency
- update billing date
- update billing credit card information
- cancel a recurring subscription
- connecting in with 3rd party API’s
- update user/pass in membership account
- save billing information
What Does This Mean For Me?
There are a few ways to setup recurring billing on your online store and so the biggest question is… Does your online store software support recurring billing and does it meet your requirements? If the answer to any of the questions above is NO, then please call Earth Skater today where we will be happy to help you review and find a solution to your business needs. Earth Skater specializes in eCommerce with complimentary website setup and transfer. We’ve helped hundreds of merchants make an easy transition into the world of websites and selling online with our online store platform.
Online Store Software Customization
Online stores are supposed to be quick and easy to setup, right? You just sign up and type in a few products, upload a few pics, and voila… er, not so fast.
Today, online store’s are offered like a commodity, just pick the one with the cool web design and a list of checkmark features that seems to match your needs, at least the needs you think you know you have. It’s all up to you, good luck! Setting up an online store can be done on the cheap but I don’t think most merchants would describe it as easy, quick, or sufficient to needs of their success.
Online Store Customization = Custom For You
Customization is a key to success, your website has to stand out through branding (your domain name, visual design, and marketing) and a variety of other factors including online store functionality and customer service in order to be distinct in the marketplace! Customizing your online store or website could involve:- having the website design created exactly the way you want it
- create custom content or using high quality stock photos & video
- creating a custom interface for the customer ordering process
- programming to automate and process orders more efficiently
- connecting in with 3rd party API’s
- recurring billing subscriptions with membership account
- storing customer billing information
- digital download products
What Does This Mean For Me?
There are many ways to customize your online store and so the biggest question is… Does your online store software provider provide the service to help you customize? Better yet, do they go the extra mile and offer the flexibility to meet your specific demands? If the answer to any of the questions above is NO, then please call Earth Skater today where we will be happy to help you review and find a solution to your business needs. Earth Skater specializes in eCommerce with complimentary website setup and transfer. We’ve helped hundreds of merchants make an easy transition into the world of websites and selling online with our online store platform.
eCommerce Website Nuts And Bolts
What are the nuts and bolts of an eCommerce website? What are the foundation pieces you need to begin selling online? The answer to this question depends on at least two major factors including and perhaps most importantly:
- Your businesses budget
- Your interest and ability to compete head on with market leaders
The Absolute Basic Nuts & Bolts
In order to sell your products or services online, you must have the following 4 nuts and bolts as part of your eCommerce business:- A domain name
- A merchant account (also called a payment gateway) such as PayPal
- An online store eCommerce website
- Website analytics (such as Google Analytics, Google WebMaster tools)
Minimum to Sell Online
- A brandable domain name
- A merchant account (also called a payment gateway) such as PayPal or Authorize.net
- SSL Security Certificate may be used to increase trust signs to customers
- An online store eCommerce website
- Marketing newsletter system
- Website Blog
Requirements to Compete with Market Leaders
- The most brandable domain name you can find or afford
- A merchant account (also called a payment gateway) that is integrated securely and directly into your own website such as Authorize.net or FirstData
- An online store eCommerce provider that offers real service to update and maintain your website, affordably, and when you need it
- SSL Security with clickable trust badge (provides extra level of trust to your customers)
- Marketing newsletter system (regular postings to your newsletter list)
- Website Blog (regular postings to your website blog)
5 Tips If You’re Serious About Starting an Online Store
If you are serious about starting an online store, then these 5 tips will help you, think of them as a checklist you should be able to pass easily and know the reason why you will succeed. If you can’t pass this checklist easily, then you have to rethink your business plan and if you are truly ready to start an online store yet.
- Do you absolutely know the product(s) you are going to sell? You have to know the product and related products you are going to sell in your niche market, know your competitors, know the CEO’s of those companies, and decide now if you plan to become a market leader or not, and what it may take to get there. This is where you must think as big as you can, regionally, nationally, globally!
- Is it your own product or not? If it’s your own product or you have a good vendor that is great. If you are an affiliate or drop shipping that is not as good typically.
- No mall websites! If you are a beginner entrepreneur and want to start a mall type of website like Walmart or Amazon or eBay, with tons of categories and products, we advise you to stop now; this concept is difficult even with a huge budget behind it.
- Can you afford to do it yourself? Yes, the question is can you afford to, because doing it yourself while it may seem free, actually may cost you the precious time you need to get started right away by going forward with a weak website with poor design and content. Can you afford to have a designer do it at the cost of a few thousand dollars? If so, then do it as that what it takes to be a market leader. Otherwise, choose Earth Skater as the budget solution where we handle the online store setup for you at no charge as part of our complimentary setup service.
- Can you afford to market it or can you learn to market it? If you can afford to market it and advertise with a budget that makes sense for your business, then you must start experimenting with your propaganda/message immediately, don’t make any long term commitments, and find the best team to work with. Either way, or if budget is a concern, you must to learn to market and advertise your business because you are the business owner, you know your business the best. Social media and blogging are the avenues you must follow in today’s market.
How to Start an Online Business
One of the most frequently asked questions by small business owners is how to start an online store business… we’ll give you the long and short break downs to help you get your business started online as easily as possible without any added stress.
Short…ish Answer
The short answer is, get the right online store for your products. If you sell digital downloads, research online stores that offer downloadable products. Compare the features and compare the package prices to find the best solutions. Demo the solutions, speak with the company, read their reviews, and do your due diligence. Be prepared to fail at least once in choosing the wrong online store platform, abandoning it, and chalking it up to a learning experience. Almost every merchant we speak with goes through this process and sometimes many times before finding the right online store partner. Find an online store eCommerce provider that can either setup your website for you or support you effectively enough to set it up yourself. If you are a busy CEO with plenty on your plate as it is, the choice is clear. If you are a designer and web developer with little to no learning curve involved then the choice is clear. In either case, service and support are key features your online store provider should offer.Longer Answer
- Obviously you must have a product or service to sell, what are people asking for, what problems are they trying to solve. The more people who have a problem that you could solve, the better.
- Write copy that supports your value proposition (key to getting the price you deserve for the value you provide).
- Design and build an easy-to-use eCommerce website. See short-ish answer for details.
- Use social media, blogging, and advertising to drive traffic to your site.
- Establish an expert reputation for yourself (start with LinkedIn posting and blogging on latest news/tweets/topics as CEO of your company blog).
- Build a mailing list (use newsletter providers like iContact, Mailchimp, etc) and follow up with your subscribers regularly with offers.
- EXPERT TIP: Send an immediate email within 24 hours to each new subscriber with a lesser product offering at a lesser price (research automated conversion funnels to learn more)
- Increase your income through multi-channel sales, meaning sell on multiple marketplaces and target specific industry verticals to scale revenue) and upselling, meaning selling add-ons, upgrades, and affiliate offerings that are complementary to the customer.
