Local search tactics offer a huge opportunity whether you are local or not.

 
Suggested Tags: seo, sem, web design, website design, search engine optimization, internet marketing, web marketing, local search, web promotion

 
Show summary:

 
1) Local search defined.

 
2) The numbers are all pointing to more and more local searches being done online by Internet users.

 
3) A 10 step plan to get started with driving more traffic to your web site through optimizing for local search.
 
 Download and Subscription Links:
 
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Links to resources mentioned in this podcast:

 
comScore’s Local Search press release

 
Google – add your local listing

 
Yahoo – add your local listing (through a “myyahoo” acct. sign in)

 
MSN – add your local listing (through localeze):

 
infoUSA – add/verify your information

 
Yellowpages.com advertising (WARNING this link has SOUND!!):

 
Verizon’s Superpages.com advertising

 
Local.com – vertical search engine

 
TrueLocal.com – vertical search engine
 
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Don’t put all your eggs in one web marketing strategy. The key to short and long term success is diversity.

 
Suggested Tags: seo, sem, web design, website design, web site conversion, online sales, ecommerce, internet marketing, web marketing, trust, credibility, web promotion

 
Show summary:

 
SES San Jose - A little about the recent Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose

 
Diversification - Be careful about jumping too soon AND jumping too late. Longevity is one more reason to diversify now, though. Think your safe with SEO or Pay Per Click - think again.

 
Upcoming podcasts - Switching back to the Drive side of Drive It - Convert It! Look for the new Getting Started series to help get you started with new Internet Marketing vehicles and for those that want some extra tips on doing it effectively.

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Continuation of episode #9 - Techniques to build trust and credibility on your web site.

 
Trust and credibility translates into website conversions. Here are 50 tips to help you build your web site’s credibility rating.

 
Suggested Tags: web design, website design, web site conversion, online sales, ecommerce, internet marketing, web marketing, trust, credibility

 
The 50 tips are separated into 9 categories

 
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Techniques to build trust and credibility on your site.

 
The more credible your website, the more trustworthy and capable you will be perceived to be. The more trustworthy and capable you are perceived to be the higher your website conversions.

 
Web site design and refinement plays a key role in building a site’s trust level and credibility, all which translate into a higher conversion rate.

 
Suggested Tags: web design, website design, web conversion, online sales, ecommerce, internet marketing, web marketing, trust, credibility

 
Topics include:

 
1) Web smarts – today’s street smarts
2) How web visitors judge us
3) Improving credibility and trust
4) Introduction to 50 tips in 20 minutes

 
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Discussion on the importance of improving web conversion rates through more effective landing page strategies and design.

 
Suggested Tags: landing page design ppc email campaign conversion online sales ecommerce internet web marketing advertising website web design webdesign

 
Show Summary - Seven Steps to Effective Landing Pages:

 
1) Recognize the true value of a better landing page
2) Know your product
3) Know your target
4) Build based on your lead-in
5) Set you landing page objective
6) Design a superior landing page
7) Measure and test

 
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Website promotion is great - turning visitors into customers - even better. An overview of web conversion strategies and tactics.

 
Suggested Tags: conversion web ecommerce internet online web marketing promotion seo search engine optimization advertising website design webdesign

 
Show Summary:

 
Ten tips to improve website conversions.

 
1) Define your target
2) Define your objective
3) Define the offer and call to action
4) Define a conversion
5) Match ads to offers to landing pages
6) Vary your approach
7) Test, test, test
8) Audit your conversion process
9) Have a good overall design
10) Build a tracking methodology

 
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In Search Engine Optimization part 4 we discuss the ins and outs of getting links to your site to help you drive more traffic to your site – in other words - link building.

 
Show Summary:

 
Take-aways from this episode are:

 
1) What’s a link, what’s a backlink.
2) Why are links important (there’s a number of reasons)
3) How you can get links (and COULD doesn’t always mean SHOULD)
4) The future of linking

 
Shameless linking plug (add a bastioninternet.com/podcast/ link to your site - thank you very much!). Here’s the code to cut and paste:

 
To listen to a great <a href="http://www.bastioninternet.com/podcast/">Internet marketing podcast</a>, check out BastionInternet.com

 
Quick links:
 
Download the Podcast here:

 
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In Search Engine Optimization part 3 we discuss how to determine the best keyword and keyword phrase targets. This will focus your site on the best terms to increase your rankings in the search engines.

 
Show Summary:

 
1) Why Keyword Phrases are important.

 
The search engines and searchers are all focused on them – at least for now.

 
2) How to determine what phrases you want to target

 
Look at the nouns and adjectives that describe your company. Modify and qualify with industry niches, geographic locations, and alternate phrasing.

 
3) Technical processes to determine which phrases and terms to target

 
A few methods to see which terms are going to give you the biggest bang with the least competition.

 
4) Ensuring your website is being developed and maintained to take advantage of keywords in search.

 
Make sure your site is heading in the right direction

 
Some quick links I refer to:

 
- Yahoo Search Marketing tools

 
My Odeo Channel (odeo/1bf9f36afb79290e)

 
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Read the full transcript here …
 

(more…)

In Search Engine Optimization – Part 2 we discuss On-page Coding. What steps should we take in coding our website to gain in search engine rankings.

 
Click the “more” link below for a full transcript of the show.

 
Here is a summary:

 
(Note: In this podcast, on occasion I refer to the “Content” meta tag. That should be the “Description” meta tag. I guess my “Content is King” theme from Show #3 stayed with me a little too strongly. Sorry for any confusion.)

 
The code you use on your web pages was designed to tell users more about that page. Thus, it also tells search engines more about your page.  Over the past 5 years the importance of that code has diminished somewhat, but it is still a valuable tool for both the viewers of your page and for the search engine crawlers.

 
First it’s important to have an understanding of the web itself and how it works. I briefly discuss and explain the following:

 
1) What is the Internet
2) Web Page Technology
3) How crawlers crawl
4) HTML – the language of the web
5) Specific on-page coding

 
Within Item 5 – Specific on-page coding, I take a look at 7 items that can help you to higher rankings:

 
1) Title Tag
2) Alt Attributes
3) Headings tags (like an H1 tag)
4) Meta tag – Description
5) Meta tag – Keywords
6) Internal linking structure
7) Clean code

 
(see examples here)

 
This is not a tutorial but is meant to give you an understanding of the relative importance of on-page coding, it’s likely importance in the future, and some of the top areas to examine if you want to pursue your on-page coding in more detail.

 
If you’d like to get more into the details, there is one excellent resource at www.seomoz.org. I also recommend frequenting www.searchenginewatch.com and www.webmasterworld.com.

 
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(more…)

In Search Engine Optimization – Part 1, we discuss Content Is King. How important is your content in search engine rankings and how do you adapt your content to get the best results.

 
Click below for a full transcript of the show.

 
Here is a summary:

 
Writing content is one of the most challenging aspects of producing a website. However, it’s extremely important from both a Web visitor perspective and from a search engine optimization perspective.

 
To effectively produce your content you need to plan, write the overview, focus, and refine.

 
Plan by architecting your website into logical categories and subcategories. Write in a similar style to that of a newspaper with the most important points first and then breaking down into further and further levels of detail. Focus each page on a central idea and incorporate targeted keywords and phrases.

 
Make further search engine specific refinements such as accessibility, elimination of pronouns, high use of adjectives, variation of keywords and strong use of relevant headings.

 
Download the Podcast here

 
Subscribe to the Podcast here

 
Read a full transcript here …
 
(more…)

 
Establishing the proper target market before you role out traffic-driving and conversion strategies such as Search Engine Optimization, Advertising, and landing page designs.

 
This podcast explores some examples of how your online target market may differ from your regular brick and mortar target. It also covers the effect of demographics, psychographics, and technographics on site design, search engine strategies and other web marketing vehicles.

 
Download it now - Drive It - Convert It! Podcast #2
 
Here is a more complete transcript … (more…)

The inagural podcast of Drive It - Convert It!
This podcast talks about a vital part of your online success - nailing down your site objective.
Here’s a summary:
Many companies never nail down the main objective of their website. They then go on to spend money on search engine advertising and search engine optimization without having the best vehicle for it - a site with a clear objective.
Once your objective is clear, it becomes orders of magnitude easier to ensure you have an appropriate and effective site design, focused web advertising, and the right level and quantity of functions and content. It also gives designers, search engine marketers, and programmers the focus they need to stay on target with your site development and site marketing.
Thus, you have a better designed site and you won’t have overspent.
Here’s the podcast Drive It - Convert It! Podcast #1

The upcoming show will be the inaugural podcast “Drive It - Convert It”.

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