Using Google Analytics: A Case Study

Founded in 1995, CareerBuilder.com offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. In May 2006, comScore Media Metrix ranked CareerBuilder.com as the nations largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 900 partners that reach national, local, industry and niche audiences.

In January 2006, CareerBuilder.com launched CBcampus.com, a site designed specifically for college students. To drive traffic to the new site, CareerBuilder.com initiated outreach programs on college campuses across the country by running print ads in college publications and sponsoring a variety of campus events. Because of the wide variety of campus events and the considerable investment in on-campus outreach, CareerBuilder.com was committed to tracking how successfully each kind of event drove traffic to the site. It was clear that an innovative approach to online tracking would be needed, one that could link offline events to online activity. To this end, CareerBuilder.com created a pilot marketing tracking study using Google Analytics.

Approach

During the period of the study, CareerBuilder.com sponsored career fairs, athletic and social events, and organized guest speaker events to give students an opportunity to learn about career opportunities. "All of these activities take time, and we need to figure out how best to focus our efforts, explains Nathan Lippe, collegiate marketing manager at CareerBuilder.com. "While the team is on the road, we want them to do whatever is most effective."

Using the Google Analytics Network Location report, Lippe was able to pinpoint the campuses from which CBcampus.com was getting its traffic. CareerBuilder.com used this information to run a study comparing traffic before and after events.

In the analysis, Lippe tried to determine which type of campus activity yielded the highest percentage increase in traffic. CareerBuilder.com ran eight different activities on over 50 different campuses. For each activity, Lippe looked at the total number of visits for 30 days prior to the activity and 30 days after the activity. Two of the activities saw a 30 percent increase in traffic, while another saw a 20 percent increase in traffic. For competitive reasons, Lippe does not reveal the details of specific activities, "But, one of them was completely off the chart." To learn why, he decided to dig deeper into the campaigns data.

"A well designed methodology in combination with Google Analytics made our testing a success. Armed with what we've learned, I feel confident that we've developed the right marketing focus."

-Nathan Lippe
Collegiate Marketing Manager at CareerBuilder.com


For the high-performing campaign, two print ads had been created to promote an on-campus event. The first ad ran two weeks prior to the event and the second ran one week prior to the event. Lippe looked at traffic over five distinct date ranges: the "baseline" period (30 days prior to running the first ad), the "promotion response" period (seven days after running the first ad), the second "promotion response" period (seven days after running the second ad), an "event response" period (seven days after the main event), and finally the "event lift" period (30 days beginning one week after the main event). Google Analytics was used to determine the average number of daily visits over each of these date ranges for three campuses.

Lippe saw that traffic increased from the "baseline" period by over 1000 percent to its peak during the promotion and event. "We had expected to see a spike in traffic," Lippe said, "but what really surprised us was that, for over 30 days after the event, there was a sustained lift in traffic. And we saw the same pattern across all three campuses." Indeed, for the "event lift" period, that is, the 30 day period beginning one week after the main event, CBcampus.com saw an average daily traffic lift of 230 percent over the baseline period. It was clear that the promotions had been effective at increasing long-term awareness and usage of the site.

As Lippe further studied traffic for each of the date ranges, he noticed something unusual. Traffic spikes also occurred during the "promotion response" periods, not just the "event response" period. This told Lippe that something about the promotion was as important as the event itself. "We found that it was the incentive to go to the site, rather than the actual event, that really made a difference. With this knowledge we plan to run more incentive-based promotions since we know they work well," he said. "You can gain so much insight if you go beyond simply comparing traffic before and after the events."

Results

This fall, CareerBuilder.com continues their on-campus marketing activities. "Were planning to visit 80 more colleges this fall and we want to get the most value from the events we sponsor," Lippe said. The results we've seen with certain activities have become our new baseline. Were not just driving one-time visitors to the site; were getting students to learn about the site and use it as a resource. "A welldesigned methodology in combination with Google Analytics made our testing a success. Armed with what we've learned, I feel confident that we've developed the right marketing focus."

Is Your Web Site Search Engine Friendly?

One of the keys to obtaining top rankings, or ANY rankings for that matter is making sure that the search engines can properly spider and index your site. This means doing whatever you can to make sure the search engines are able to reach each page of your site as easily as possible.

When I talk to my clients about spiderability, I'm generally referring to two things...

1) Are all the links in the site true hyperlinks that can be picked up properly by the search engines.

2) Are all the pages within the site reachable within 2-3 clicks from the homepage.

So let's go over the above two areas of concern.
1) Hyperlinks. This may seem almost silly, but you would be amazed at the number of sites I run into when doing consultations and website analyses that have non-standard hyperlinks. By "non-standard", I'm referring to javascrípt generated hyperlinks or hyperlinks embedded within flash files.

There is nothing inherently wrong with java script or flash when used properly, but the simple fact is that java script and flash are NOT search engine friendly. Google is pretty much the only engine that is able to pick up links within java script or flash code. At this time, I have seen no evidence that either Yahoo or MSN have this ability.

While Google may be able to pick up links, it is unclear as to whether or not Google places any VALUE on the links it finds in this manner. Remember, much of a page's ranking in Google is determined by links, so you want to be absolutely sure that each and every link is valued.

So, be absolutely sure that your links are true hyperlinks (by "true" hyperlinks, I'm talking about hyperlinks coded with the normal href tags) if you want to make sure they are found, followed, and counted by all the engines.

2) Distance from Homepage. Ideally, you want your visitors and the search engines to be able to reach any page within your site within a maximum of three (3) clicks and preferably two clicks. The more clicks it takes to reach a page, the less chance there is that the search engines will index that page.

It is for this reason, that site maps have become so popular. By utilizing a sitemap, you are able to link from your homepage to a page that lists all or most of the links to the various pages of your site. The search engines (and visitors) are then able to get to virtually any page of your site within just a couple of clicks.

You'll notice I've mentioned not only the search engines but the visitors as well in the above paragraphs. By reducing the number of clicks it takes to get from your homepage to any page on your site, you will find that you also increase the overall usability of your site.

While site maps can definitely help to increase the spider-ability of a site, it is important to remember that they are not a total fix for bad navigational structure within a site. As mentioned, all of the search engines utilize page link popularity in one way or another in their algorithms.

In general, the homepage of a site will have the highest link popularity of any page within the site. This is because most inbound links to a site are pointing to the homepage. It's from the homepage that all the internal pages derive their link popularity from a sort of "trickle down" affect.

A site map will only derive a certain amount of link popularity that it can pass on to the pages it links to. To understand this best, think of the homepage as a large river with each link on the homepage a smaller river branching off from the main river. Each river will be fed a similar amount of water by the main river. Alone one branch of the river will never be able to deliver as much water to the various areas as all the branches of the river can combined.

The site map is one branch of your sites link popularity river and it has value, but it will never have the same impact as a well thought out and implemented links structure that makes use of all the rivers of link popularity within your site.
To make the most use of the link popularity of your site, you should try and setup your sites navigational structure so that even without a site map, the search engines and visitors are still able to reach any page on your site within 2-3 clicks.

So...to make a long story short...Always be sure to utilize true, standard hyperlinks throughout your site and be sure that your sites navigational structure allows any page of your site to be reached within no more than 3 clicks. See you at the top!


About The Author
John Buchanan is a veteran search engine optimization specialist with over 9 years experience. For more information, visit his site at SESecrets.com or his newest site SEOVideoanalysis.com where he will provide you with a professional SEO Video Website Analysis of your site.

Google's Supplemental Index - What You Need to Know

Have you ever heard of the Google Supplemental Index? I never have... but a recent article from SiteProNews, authored by Titus Hoskins (c) 2007 tells you everything you need to know.

Before you begin, keep in mind that Google continually changes its algorithm so I'll be sure sto stay on top of this issue moving forward.

If you run an online website or business you have probably already heard about Google's Supplemental Index. You may have even heard it being referred to as Google's Gulag, Google's Digital Dungeon, or the moniker that seems to have stuck: Google Hell.

Hate it or love it, webmasters are passionate about the big G. There's no argument on that point for one good reason: Google simply delivers the most search engine traffic on the web. For any webmaster with at least a few white SEO connected brain cells Google can supply 60% or more of their traffic.

Therefore, suddenly getting the majority of your pages thrown into Google's Supplemental Index can result in a correlating drop in business. A few examples of this were reported in a recent Forbes article by Andy Greenberg entitled "Condemned To Google Hell".

It recounts how two online jewelry businesses lost traffic and sales by having their pages falling into Google's Supplemental Index. They speculated on what had caused this to happen: duplicate content? buying links?

Matt Cutts, Google's main spokesperson (some say pacifier) to worried webmasters everywhere, responded in his own blog: "Having urls in the supplemental results doesn't mean that you have some sort of penalty at all; the main determinant of whether a url is in our main web index or in the supplemental index is PageRank."

However, regardless of what Google maintains, being in the supplemental results is not a good thing for any webmaster or business. Just the fact it's called a supplemental index means it's not as important as the main index. This index is seen as duplicate pages, less important or less trusted by Google, thus the lower PR.

All semantics aside, webmasters should try to keep their important web pages out of this supplemental index. Why would anyone be satisfied with having their pages or website buried in dusty boxes in the backroom when they want them displayed on the Front Store Window, preferably in the #1 spot?

Lately, despite webmasters' wishes, Google seems to be placing more emphasis on the Supplemental Index and putting more pages there. One can only guess, but it may have to do with improving their SERPs -- the more relevant Google's search results become, the higher quality their flagship product will achieve. Or it may just be an easier way of spidering and managing all those countless pages that exist on the web.

Regardless, you do not want your pages in this Supplemental Index unless they are really unimportant pages and these can have the 'no follow' attributes in the robots txt file. However, you still need to check this supplemental index for your own pages.

Simple Way To Check Google's Supplemental Index

You can go to Google search and type in:

site:www.yoursite.com *** -sjpked

replacing 'yoursite' with your domain/site to see what pages are indexed in Google's Supplemental Index.

If you see any important pages there you should check your whole linking structure of your site. Are these pages linked properly? Are they orphaned? Are they well positioned in your internal site architecture? If there are obvious interior linking problems with these pages, fix them.

It is also a good idea to see what percentage of your pages are in this index.

How To Calculate Your Supplemental Index Ratio

You can get your percentage of Supplemental results by dividing the number of pages in the supplemental index by the total number of pages in the main index.

site:www.yoursite.com *** -sjpked
___________________________________
site:www.yoursite.com

This will give you a good indication of the overall health of your site. If you have too high a ratio or too many pages in the supplemental index you should fix your site's linking structure and remove duplicate pages. Make sure robots can crawl all of your pages or at least the ones you want them to crawl.

If you do find your site or too many of your pages in Google's Digital Attic, simply try to increase the PageRank of those pages. This is the main remedy supplied by Matt Cutts:

"The approach I'd recommend in that case is to use solid white-hat SEO to get high-quality links (e.g. editorially given by other sites on the basis of merit)."

In other words, raise your PageRank to get those pages out of the supplemental index. This has always been the basic key to getting traffic from Google. Quality content plus quality links equals quality traffic from Google.

Likewise: QC + QL = No Supplemental Index

It is always a good practice to keep on the good side of Google. No need to be paranoid, but you don't want to do anything to bring unwanted attention to your site, especially the kind of attention that get your pages thrown into Google Supplemental Index in the first place. Besides, you never know how long it will take to get your pages back out and into the main index where they truly belong. Rumor has it, that place takes forever to freeze over!

About The Author
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the most effective web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools For the latest Google Marketing Strategies go here:Google Cash File Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Affiliate Programs: How do you know if their good?

How can you tell if an affiliate program is legitimate and if it will generate revenues for you? There are some basic concepts to follow when considering an affiliate program you wish to join or an affiliate product you wish to promote.

1. Stick with the larger affiliate programs. These programs have been around for a while and are used by millions of websites. Some of the top affiliate program sites are: Commission Junction, Paydotcom, and Clickbank.

2. Start small. Select one or two affiliate products that you'd like to promote. You can't see success if you're trying to promote dozens of products without a clear marketing strategy. The best advice I can give is to choose products that are closely aligned with your web site content and your passion.

3. Go for a test drive. The best way to learn to market or promote a product is to use it yourself. If you're going to promote a product, use it yourself or contact the product owner and ask for a demo/free access. It never hurts to ask.

4. Look for Affiliate Resources. Will the product owner provide you with online assets you can use to promote the product? Online assets would include banners, buttons, emails, affiliate articles and so on - making it easier for you to generate sales.

5. Promote products from well established Affiliates. Do a little research on the products, sites, and site owners you are looking to promote. This will help alleviate any fears you may have and optimize your chances for success.

Personally, I've had great success promoting just a few products that are closely aligned to my website MarketingScoop.com (Internet marketing expert) by sticking with just a few products from well established Internet marketing providers. The products I like to promote are:

1. SEO Elite

2. Article Submitter Pro

3. Ultimate Wealth Package

4. Covert Affiliate Links

5. Directory Submitter


There are a number of other affiliate products I could market, but these are most closely aligned to my website, my content, and my passion. Look for future posts on affiliate programs - be sure to bookmark u!

There’s power in submitting your site to website directories…

For those of you who have been reading my blog for some time, you'll know that I follow SEO Guru Brad Callen. He's created awesome products like SEO Elite, Keyword Elite, and others. He recently announced his launch of new software (sometime tomorrow) that will support semi-automated submission of your website to Web Directories. You can learn more by visiting his site at Directory Submitter.

Webmasters like you and me are always on the lookout to enhance the link popularity of their sites. One method of doing so is to seek out authority sites in your niche – sites that are widely known on the Internet (through the sheer number of back links) and have been around for some time (think more in terms of several years). Unfortunately, such websites are often at a Page Rank of 6+ and as such, link exchange or text link ad placement is very, very expensive.

Luckily, there is a cheaper alternative. You can use web directories to not only enhance your search engine visibility (through increased link popularity), but by targeting niche categories and using sponsored listings where necessary, you can get a big jump in your traffic as well.

So, let’s get started…

What is a Web Directory?

A web directory is a collection of links broken down into relevant categories. Think Yahoo! and their directory, the Open Directory Project or even the Google Directory (which, incidentally, is pulled from the ODP). At its most basic level, a web directory is a collection of bookmarks made available to the public. In other cases, like Yahoo, it is a professional resource for people actively looking for information.

To get listed in such a directory, you can either get listed for free (which might take a while), or in many cases, pay a one-time fee to have your website reviewed and entered in the directory. One major exception is Yahoo, which charges a recurring fee for its commercial listings, and we’ll look at that later.

The Benefits of Being Listed in a Web Directory

In theory, there are two main benefits of being listed in a web directory:

1. Increased link-popularity due to a one-way link from a highly-respected resource.
2. Increased traffic due to being listed in a directory that is searched by many people every day.

In reality though, these benefits are directly related to how popular the directory is itself, and how much money you have paid for your listing. Of course, if the link is for free, there is nothing to worry about.

There are thousands of FREE website directories on the internet!

But if you are paying for submission, you need to know some very important facts.

Link Popularity

As far as link-popularity is concerned, you need to factor in several variables:

1. The Page Rank of the directory

2. The Page Rank of the category page on which you are listed

3. Where you are listed on the page

4. The number of competing websites on that page

Where directories win out is the fact that are free or only require a one-time fee. In contrast, authority sites (or most websites with a Page Rank greater than 5 or 6) tend to use text links as a source fo revenue, and thus charge monthly fees. A directory listing then becomes a much better option (but only for link popularity).

More Traffic

Directory listings are also used as traffic building opportunities. How this works is that many directories are searchable for their visitors, so that users can look for information. In theory this is great – you can get lifetime traffic for just a nominal payment, but you should not expect a sudden deluge of traffic from just one directory listing. Here’s why:

Most directories, apart from the top twenty or so, are usually used for link-building and not pure searching. This means that while people may use GoGuides or Yahoo for regular searches, you should expect that the smaller directories are mainly for link-popularity, and plan your investment as such.

Many directories offer listings based on an alphabetical ordering, or a first-come, first-serve ordering. In both cases, your website has quite a big chance of being lost out in the noise.

Directory-search algorithms differ greatly. Some directories, like JoeAnt, base their search on keyword relevancy (which makes it more of an exercise of stuffing your directory listing with keywords rather than making a good website), while others take a more “editorial” approach by factoring in editor ratings. And still, many directories display sponsored listings first, reinforcing the adage that even on the Internet, it’s your advertising budget that talks, and not necessarily the quality of your website.

After you factor in the above points, you realize that there are only a handful of web directories where it is a definite benefit to “pay” to be listed. And even then, you cannot just rely on just being listed – sponsor listings get much more exposure. But before we discuss these dozen or so web directories, I’d like to tell you how you can make sure your website is accepted.

How to get Listed – An Overview

Getting listed in a web directory is a function of two main factors:

1. Time

It takes alot of time if you were to manually seek out these directories and then manually submit your website details to each one of them.

2. Quality

In some cases (very rarely nowadays), directory inclusions can be rejected due to the poor quality of a website. Maybe the editor considered that your website was not ‘useful’ enough (meaning it had little or no useful / original / any content), or sometimes, there may be moral issues (although editors are urged to abide by directory guidelines and not personal beliefs). If rejected, you will almost always receive feedback (you might have to ask for it) on how to improve your website.

In earlier days, quality was a big issue. Today, it is still a major concern for top directories like Yahoo, but this is more to separate the truly atrocious from the rest rather than to separate the best from the rest.

A directory listing is, in most cases, useful only for the link popularity. In such scenarios, if you can find better deals on authority sites in your niche, then you should go for them. However, a directory listing is cheaper (one-time versus monthly payment), and with the big directories like Yahoo, Dmoz and GoGuides, it can also bring you reasonable traffic.

As always, remember that directory listings form a small part of your overall online marketing strategy. If you don’t have the budget for a Yahoo listing, don’t sweat it – focus on submitting your website to the free directories out there, and come back to it when you can afford it. Directory listings are important, but only when you are looking to squeeze every possible drop of search engine placement out of your links and your website.

How to Effectively Promote Your Book Online

Your published novel or ebook? Generate sales with proven online marketing strategies.

If you’re looking to market your personally authored book or ebook, learn from the Internet marketing experts. Selling books online is a great way to promote your product and increase sales. Although many marketing methods are available, there are some in particular that have proven to generate above average results for selling books – printed and electronic.

Learn more about each of the following if you’re ready to start selling and be sure to seek guidance from those who have already successfully marketed online.


1. Develop a Website or Blog.

Thinking that it’s not worth developing a website or blog for a single publication? Think again. Today, acquiring a domain name is easier than ever – and it costs less than $10. Additionally, you can buy a website or a website template for about $75. If you know some very basic HTML, you can develop a website for less than a hundred dollars. Having a website that is only focused on a single publication can work wonders for promoting your product.

Blogs are even easier to create. Already have a website but need a blog? Visit Blogger.com, WordPress.com, or simply type in “free blog” into Google. You’ll quickly find a whole host of free blog sites that help you set up a blog in less than five minutes. Once you’ve created your blog, enter a post about your ebook and provide a link to your online store or order form.

If you’re looking for a way to process online transactions, visit Paypal.com. For about twelve dollars per month, you can process transactions for those wishing to purchase your book online. There are other online transaction management tools you can use, but Paypal is one of the easiest I’ve used to set up and accept online transactions.


2. Use Online Marketing (PPC) Programs.

By now you’ve heard of Google Adwords. Other providers such as Yahoo! and MSN also offer pay-per-click programs. These online marketing programs allow you to promote your book or e-book to a very targeted audience. For example, if your book is about “antique lamp shades”, you can purchase the keyword phrase, “antique lamp shades” to display on sites that offer related content. As a result, those seeing your ad can click through to your website or Jump Page.

The best part about pay-per-click advertising is that you only pay when someone clicks on your advertisement. Be careful though, you could end up with a lot of clicks and only a few conversions. Test multiple campaigns and evaluate their effectiveness on a daily basis. Google offers you free tools that can help you evaluate the results of your campaign in greater detail such as Google Analytics.


3. Develop a Specific Jump Page.

Short of building an entire website or starting a blog, you could simply build a single jump page. A jump page is a promotional page that pitches your product or service. There are tons of successful jump pages out there that you can reproduce with your own content.

The most successful jump pages are those that are easy to read and include testimonials. Testimonials from book reviewers are very influential. To make your jump page even more compelling, offer print and audio testimonials. A good site to follow is SEO Elite.


4. Give Samples.

One of the most effective marketing strategies on the planet is sampling. You see companies offering samples to invite users to try their products or services. The same can be true for book purchasers. Share a summary, a chapter, or let them peruse your book. Just spend some time on Amazon.com and you’ll quickly see how promotion and access can play a major role in the purchase decision.

One great technique is to offer a small sample for free. Offer additional access (perhaps to a full chapter), after users provide you with their name and email address. This allows you to touch prospective purchasers via email after they’ve contacted you, keeping their interest high and continuing to promote your publication.


5. Email marketing.

With the 2003 introduction of CAN-SPAM legislation, email marketers must be very careful about who they email and how. Learn CAN-SPAM basics before you begin emailing people. A couple of things to keep in mind from an email marketing perspective is that your own list (of emails collected via your website) will almost always perform better than a purchased list. Think about ways you can collect the names of individuals visiting your website such as offering a free summary or excerpt in exchange for their name and email address.

From a CAN-SPAM perspective, make sure your physical address is included on each email and offer an opt-out. If a recipient asks to be taken off your list, remove him/her within 10 days. You can also use an online service to help manage your email marketing. Online email providers are very careful about conforming to email marketing standards and will lead you through the process step-by-step.


6. Refer a friend

Your current customers can be your best marketers. Once an individual has purchased your book, be sure to give them a reason to refer others. Perhaps you can offer them a special promotion on a different product or perhaps additional content that wasn’t available with their first purchase.

Offering a friends and family coupon is another great way to generate additional sales. Something as simple as a $5 off coupon is a great way to promote your product and create buzz. Whatever tactic you use in your email, be sure to encourage customers to refer others.


7. Leverage an affiliate program.

Are there other websites that attract the audience that would be perfect for your book? If so, contact them via phone or email and see if they’d be willing to sell your publication in exchange for a commission. This is a great way to reach an audience in an affordable way and is considered an affiliate program.

Most of the successful products being sold online today are not being promoted from a single website. Rather, many sites are promoting a given product or service. These sites are often referred to as niche sites as they cater to specific audience or segment. In addition to doing some research on your own, you can also investigate affiliate program sites that you can use to promote your product.

Affiliate sites bring together advertisers and publishers. The publishers provide the content, software, or resources, and the advertisers promote these products in exchange for a sales commission.

Marketing your book or ebook takes time but can have significant pay-off. Utilize some or all of the marketing methods described above to sell you book online. These methods have been used by some of the most successful internet marketers promoting print and electronic book products online. Internet marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. Learn from the experts and follow internet marketing strategies like those above which have already proven successful.

*Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert, search engine optimization specialist, and the President of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for further details and more free marketing articles.

How to Improve Bad Website Design

Improving a badly designed website can have a significant impact on overall conversion rates. Once you've collected your data and know that you have room for improvement, consider the following when redesigning your website. Today, Special Ayat Shukairy shares her suggestions for a well designed website.

1. Balance your page

When users enter a website, their focus first starts at the top left of the page, and hovers there before slowly tracking to the right. Contrary to what many think, the web user is focused more on the text of the page, rather than images or graphics. This is where balance comes into place.

Balance will not only make your page more visually appealing, but it will make your page easier to read and items easier to find. A good layout will help the objects on your page to flow.

2. Keep it simple

Less is more. Clean your website up by removing all the unnecessary visual elements. This will allow important items to stand out. Leave some white space on the page. The illusion of space is visually pleasing, as well as easier to navigate. Otherwise, your visitor will get whiplash by darting their head from left to right in an attempt to look at all the information crammed on your screen. Or worse, they'll clíck on out of there in a hurry.

3. Fix your fonts

The size and type of font you select will have an effect on how your reader takes in your information. What font should you use? San-serif fonts such as Arial and Verdana are popular choices for on-screen reading. And keep the size in mind too. The font size should be no smaller than 10 points and no largër than 14 points. You don't want the reader to be able to read the information from across the room, but you don't want them squinting and leaning closer to the monitor either.

4. Clean backgrounds

Go subtle. The background textures and colors you choose have the ability to gauge the overall appeal of the website. Lots of texture and graphics in the background can be distracting, and the more texture you add to the background, the less noticeable your text and images become.

If you're going to use a color on the background, make sure there is a significant contrast between the background color and the text. Strike a good balance, or you may compromise the readability of the text. Make good choices. You will rarely go wrong with black text on a white background. It's crisp, clean, and easy to read. Be cautious when using darker and brighter colors such as red or yellow. They cause visual fatigue and the reader will löse their focus on the text.

5. Graphics

Graphics are often overused on webpages. We often clutter the pages with objects that look cool but serve no purpose other than to íncrease the download time. Here are some instances where you can use graphics to enhance your pages:


Logo – Your logo is your brand recognition and it adds visual appeal to your webpages.

Title bars – The title bar lets your visitors know which page they are on.

Horizontal rules – Graphic lines are often used to separate categories or sections of a webpage.

Background images – Are used to add visual appeal or make a web site easier to navigate.

Photos – Personalize a website and make it inviting.

Navigation icons, such as `home' and 'back' enhance a page because they are familiar and users anticipate seeing them.

6. Easy navigation

Create a toolbar with links that are easy to navigate. Position the toolbar in an area that makes sense. Web users often look for the toolbar across the top or down the left hand side of the page. Going with the norm will create a sense of familiarity and facilitate the ease of navigation. And don't forget a link to your homepage. It's often forgotten but very important to point your users to your home page. Chëck out www.invesp.com for an example of easy and well structured website navigation.

7. Text readability

You have great copy, but are you displaying it effectively? Make your pages easy to read. Break up blocks of text and create short paragraphs.

Consider the key points on each page and create headings and subheadings.

Only use one or two fonts. Select one font for your headings and subheadings and another for the body text.

Highlight key words and phrases by bolding or using a different color. Be careful when selecting colors, and don't use every color in the rainbow. Many, such as yellow and pink, don't stand out well if you've selected a white or black background.


8. Scrolling

Horizontal scrolling? Yikes. That needs to go, now! Users hate, hate, hate to scroll left to right. It's disorienting and annoying, so if you've got it, löse it. Vertical scrolling is ok if you have to have it, but consider moving largër blocks of information to another page and providing links. There's also the danger of missing vital information that falls below the screen if a user decides not to scroll down to view it. So if you've got to have a scrolling page, try to keep all your important information above the fold.

9. Make it quick

We all get impatient when it takes more than 5 seconds to connect to a website. Users want to make contact, and make it quick. Ensure that your pages load as quickly as possible. Eliminate unnecessary graphics, especially flash graphics...they can be time hogs. You need to make an immediate impression, and the only impression you're leaving as your page slowly grinds in to view is "this page sucks"...if they're still there to see it at all.

About The Author
Ayat Shukairy is the Director of "the writing department". Ayat has become an expert at increasing conversion rates for clients. Her team of writers provide copywriting services, as well as SEO writing services

7 Steps for Creating a Jump Page That Sells

Your jump page is an essential tool for generating online revenue...

If you practice Internet marketing, you know the importance of a high converting “Landing Page”. Also called a promotional page, jump page, or squeeze page, effective development of these pages are essential for online marketing success.

After a web browser clicks on a search engine generated link (organic or paid), they are directed to a website or jump page. Depending on your promotional tactics, you may be using pay-per-click marketing to generate sign-ups, inquiries, or sales. Regardless of the specific purpose of your page, one fact remains the same – you want a browser to take some type of action.

In the steps that follow, I will share some landing page best practices that have been provide to increase conversion rates and have those browsers taking the action you’re hoping for. Keep the following concepts in mind when designing your jump-page:

Big, Bold, Relevant Headline.
If you don’t catch the attention of the browser with a big, bold, headline that is relevant, than nothing else matters. This is why expert marketers test multiple jump-pages at once – to see which page proves most relevant to browsers. For example, if a user is searching for tinker toys, the headline should be targeted as such - versus saying, “Hey check out these toys you can build with”. Doing so is not particularly relevant and as a result individuals will never get past the first few sentences of your jump page.

Use Visuals.
If people have to read beyond your headline and sub-headline before understanding what you’re selling (or offering), you’ll have a difficult time getting them to read any further. This is where visuals come in. Pictures are worth a thousand words and can convey your message quickly and with less effort. Make sure your jump page goes beyond plain text and integrates visuals in the form of a different colored font, pictures, and/or video.

Testimonials Sell.
Would you buy a product you never heard of? What if your best friend told you all about it? People like to buy based on recommendations. This is particularly true of online purchases. Having proof points validated through like-minded individuals removes fear and breaks down skepticism. There are a variety of ways to share a testimonial and they all work (photo and quote, audio recording, video).

Provide Something for Free.
Encourage action by offering something free in exchange for name and email address. If you’re actually selling a product from your page, consider giving added bonuses for making a purchase. The more you offer at the price point you’ve identified, the more value you create for your potential customer.

Time Bound/Limited Offers.
Create a sense of urgency with an offer that is only valid for a short time. You may also make your offer available to a limited number of new registrants. Either method works for creating urgency and encouraging a purchase. You will need to test your time-bound offers to identify the time frame that works best for your potential customer base. The same is true for limited-time offers.

Offer Multiple Payment Options.
Believe it or not, some marketers only provide one way for prospective customers to order their product or service. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way, nor should it. Give users multiple options for how they pay. From traditional credit cards to PayPal, the more the merrier. Additionally, be sure to include an 800# for any questions they may have.

Test.Test.Test.
No matter how good you think you are, you can always do better. Be sure to test your control page, attempting to improve conversions each time. This ensures that your business will continue to grow and you’ll better understand what works and what doesn’t with your target audience. It will also help you better understand seasonal trends.

Creating an effective jump page is essential for successful online marketing. Begin with a basic page that follows the criteria mentioned above. Test multiple pages to determine which has the highest conversion rate and continually tweak the page to improve results. This ensures jump page will continue to produce long into the future.

Easily Wrap Your Text Around Google Adsense Ads

For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis, you know how much I love to share great tips when I find them. Today's post is based on a post from Erik Vossman of http://www.erikvossman.com/.

Erik - I know you're worlds away in Hawaii... but I can't thank you enough!

by Erik Vossman

If you’re like me and rather new to the html coding world you proabably are looking for a dumbed down way to do things. Well I have begun posting lots of tips on using wordpress and netfirms and decided that I need to post about coding in general as well. One of the most useful things I have learned how to do is wrap text around Google Adsense ads when they are embedded in text. If you are using wordpress and would like to find out how to wrap text just follow this link. If you are looking to just wrap text around ads using a normal html editor like notepad, Dreamweaver, or FrontPage then keep reading.

Also the great thing about this trick is that it works for Chitika ads as well. If you aren’t using Chitika ads you should, they are very similar to google adsense and another way to generate revenue for your site. They pay monthly once your account goes over $50.

The process described is a really easy 2 step process with one extra tag you need to add. This is the quickest and easiest way I found to wrap text around google adsense using the least amount of html coding. Much easier than inserting a table or anything like that.

How to wrap text around Google Adsense ads (also works for Chitika):

1. First off you need to get into your text editor you use for html coding. You can use the coding section of Dreamweaver or FrontPage, or use Notepad. Then you have to find where in your content you want the text to wrap around the ads. Anywhere will work for your first try, you can then copy and place the text where you please.

2. Once you found the spot you like you need to add the following div tag around your adsense or chitika code. Note: replace the "[" with "<" and the "]" with ">".

[div style=”display:block;float:right;margin: 5px 5px 5px 5px;”] all the google adsense code (or chitika)[/div]

That’s it!

Explanation of the div tag
The float:right attribute can be changed to float:left or float:center as well and it will position the ads in those positions while allowing the text to wrap around the ads that directly preceeds and follows it. I also add the margin code to add a margin of white space around the text wrap on the top, bottom, left, and right. You can add or remove space as you wish. The display:block element basically just describes whether you want to break the line where you are inserting the ad or let the browser find where to break the line and wrap the preceeding text. If you want the browser to do it just choose block:inline. I have better luck with block:float but it can sometimes make the text look choppy. Play around with these to see what you like.

There you have it, you can now insert this same coding with different add scripts all over your content and have the text wrap around the ads. Remember that this works with both Google Adsense and with Chitika based ads. Good Luck!

If you are using wordpress check here to get text to wrap around adsense inside posts. I also have a similar article about getting it to wrap around chitika ads which just requires a tweek.

How to Use Social Bookmarks as a Marketing Tool

From my previous post, you know that social bookmarks are the here and now. They provide users the ability to tag an article or meaningful content on a variety of social bookmark sites.

When users visit the main site, such as Delicious or Blink, they are quickly confronted with the day’s top bookmarks from the social community using that bookmark tool. This makes the organization of information timely and most of all relevant.

Each social bookmark site has a slightly different audience and feel to it. To find out what I mean, just spend a few minutes reading the top headlines from the various bookmark sites. You’ll see that many of these communities work in tandem and consistently identify a certain type of information. Therefore, some bookmarks may be more valuable to you than others.

So, how can you use bookmarks as a powerful marketing tool?

Because of the proliferation of these sites, companies like AddThis.com have developed tools to facilitate bookmarks on multiple social bookmark sites. Additionally, each bookmark site has its own button you can download and place in and around your content. Personally, I like AddThis.com because a single button provides access to all bookmark sites.

Whenever you publish new content to your website, it should include a bookmark icon –allowing users to tag the information. This does two things for you that are beneficial:

1. Creates a link from the bookmark site to that specific webpage (great for SEO)
2. Displays a tag (which reference your page) to other individuals in the social bookmark community referring your page (great for generating awareness and traffic).

To make social bookmarks work in your favor, you need to continually create new and valuable content. I know it seems like marketing 101, but content – valuable content- is still king!

Bookmark this post below...

Social Marketing... the Future is Now 2.0

Everyone knows the most powerful word in marketing... FREE. But do you know the most powerful concept in marketing? Word of mouth. The word of mouth concept has been around for ever - but the way in which people share information has changed. With the advent of Social Bookmarking, word of mouth has reached a whole new level.

Today it's more difficult than ever to find sites that do not include the "social bookmarking" icons such as


The ability to rate a site, post it, and bookmark it is WOM on steroids and it's soon to change how we evaluate and identify important content. I'll be providing more information on social bookmarking and how you can use it to drive more traffic to your website and increase your search engine result placements in upcoming posts. In the meantime, start reading what you can on social bookmarks, you'll be glad you did.