Online Tactics: SEO & PPC (Pay per Click)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC).

Search engine optimization is the process of getting your website ranked as high as possible in search engine results using keywords. This is known as "organic" method. On the other hand, “pay per click” (PPC) is advertisements shown by search engines that link to your site. You they only need to pay when people click on them.

The most popular PPC provider is Google AdWords. LinkedIn advertising is too growing popularity among B2B companies. Is SEO or PPC more effective? Which is easier? Which is faster? There are compelling points for and against each. Any marketer who has the budget and resources should use it both for their various strengths and the benefits they can be achieved by their mutual leverage.

Keywords and key phrases are a way to improve your search results engine optimization. If you're not sure how they work, check Google Keyword Tool - a free way to help you choose which keywords should your SEO campaign focus on. Assignment Your company URL and click "search" and you will be presented with a list of phrases suggested by Google, their popularity and the number times when they are wanted.

Google Keyword Tool will they also help you identify related terms, compare demand between different keywords and help you find new phrases and keywords you can use. Your website is only useful if your target market can find it. Some of your visitors may enter your company's URL, many more will find your company through Google or another large company search engine. Your job is to ensure that your website rank high in searches related to your business. With a good SEO program, it can drive your listing from page ten to page one.

There are many companies that deal with SEO exclusively and can help you improve your results. if you are lean on a budget, it's not hard to learn the basics of SEO. The hard part is patience: it can take three to six months to see the results of your SEO efforts. And constant maintaining your program is essential to success – SEO it is never "done".

A few tips for D.I.Y SEO:

1. Index your website on Google – It sounds simple, but it is it is always wise to check if your web retailer has Google indexed your website. If not, quickly visit http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl should fix it.

2. Page Titles – Every page on your website should have a unique page name; avoid generic names like "O" or "Home Page". Titles should contain the most important key phrases used on the page and be no longer than sixty-five characters.

3. Meta description – Meta description consists of several sentences of text embedded in the code of each web page that search engines will show when your website is listed in the results.Your website's meta description should be several short ones sentences that describe your company and what it does. ("Meta descriptions" are the main type of meta tags used for SEO. Often confused with "meta keyword" tags that are useless. 

Years ago they used search engines website meta keywords (lists of embedded keywords to the website code) to evaluate the results. But because this made it easy for unscrupulous people to game the system by filling their pages with hundreds of popular keywords, search engines stopped paying attention to them.)

4. Document Names - Each document to download at your website should have the correct file name. Include yours company name, document title and use hyphens instead of spaces.

5. Tagged Images/Videos – Make sure each of your graphics and the videos are labeled and subtitled (these are normally referred to as "alt tags"). This makes searching easier engines that will select keywords and include your rich ones content in the results.

6. Keyword-rich content - Every page of your website should consist of strategic and appropriate keywords content. Don't stuff your page with tons of keywords just for the sake of it for the sake of having them; to ensure that this happens in a natural environment way. Google suggests that your content should have 1-2% Keywords. 

If terminology changes or is new in your field trends, adjust your content to reflect these changes which will help you increase traffic to your website. Keeping your website optimized for search engines can be laborious. If you are not comfortable with DIY SEO, consider hire a professional. An SEO firm will charge anywhere $500 to $5,000 a month - but you'll have a strong partner help you track changes in traffic and usage of keywords and on tailor your link building and on-page optimization efforts.

International SEO

North America is a Google-centric world. While Bing (Microsoft search engine) is gaining market share, Google still has most of the search market. But if you market and sell your products and services internationally, it is important to know that Google is not alone game in town. Any investment you make in a search engine optimization must be tailored to the markets you are targeting.

Some markets and search engines to consider:

• China: Baidu owns the vast majority of the market and Google declined because of the public controversy

censorship between the company and the Chinese government.

• Russia: Yandex is the leader with around two-thirds market and Google lags far behind.

• South Korea: Naver has more than two-thirds market. Google is almost non-existent.

• Japan: Yahoo!/Bing leads with almost half the market.

• Czech Republic: Seznam.cz owns over half of the market. If you work with an SEO company, make sure you do experience with these other search engines and such they optimize your website to work well on them. Most SEO companies focus on Google, but if you are trying to grow in Russia you are missing 75% of this market.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

With PPC, you offer specific search terms and phrases that you want your ad to appear in the results. Ads are displayed in the highlighted section at the top and right of Google results page. PPC ads are ranked by how often they are clicked and on the relevance of the linked page to your ad. It doesn't matter how much you bid for the keyword; if your ad fails to connect users and Google thinks that the linked page does not match your ad close enough, your ad will slide to the bottom of the PPC pile The ad must be an answer to the searcher's question. 

PPC and its companion landing page should be created together the same lines as the organic search "meta description" snippet and its landing page. Design your PPC ads with this in mind. Use it to offer something to your audience – white paper, webinar or demo – it compels searchers to click on your ad and visit your website; action words work well here. 

If you can't get your ad to the top of the list, don't worry. While the top slot will almost always receive a higher volume of traffic, some of that traffic may be "impulse clicks" that reduce the overall quality. It is better to have lower a volume with higher quality - users who are more motivated to buy and more likely to convert – which can still be achieved with a low PPC ranking. A useful aspect of PPC that is often overlooked is the capability to use negative keywords to determine which words you want to use you don't want your ad to be associated with. 

Filtering unqualified traffic helps you avoid spending money on clicks that don't convert to potential customers. Your negative keywords will depend on what industry you're in, but here are some recommendations to get you started: freeware, bargain, cheap, salaries, public domain, lawsuits, and the consumer.