Posts Tagged ‘online marketing tips’

Domain Authority-A Search Engine Optimization Essential

Posted by Modern Maze

Website owners, this is an important search engine optimization lesson I think you should want to know. It’s called Domain Authority.

 Domain authority can be described as the value your domain name (your website address) holds in the eyes of the search engines.

The main goal of the search engines is to provide the best search results for every query. To do that, lots of criteria are taken into consideration. Domain Authority is one major factor.

3 major criteria determine domain authority:

1. The age of the domain name, meaning how long it has been registered holds much weight. Lots of people with good intentions purchase domain names and either never build a website on them or otherwise fail at their original idea and shut it down. So search engines consider longevity of a domain a factor in its rankings.

2. The size of your website: Adding new information to your website is also a contributor to Domain Authority. The search engines favor a site in motion and especially GROWTH. This is easily accomplished with the addition of regular blog posts on your website.

3. The other most important element is the site’s popularity also known as TRAFFIC. Driving traffic to your website and also KEEPING them there for some time boosts your search engine rankings. Your website becomes more relevant to searches. Your domain authority increases. Here’s are ways to drive traffic to your site.

Drive traffic to your site with your emails. If you’re a local business, for example, and you send promotional offers via email, resist making your offer in the email but rather drive them to the website for the full details. Use social media to alert your friends and fans about an offer on your website and link to it on your post.

One of the best ways to keep people on your website is to provide video. The average website visit is under a minute. If you can engage people with 2-3 minute videos, it’s significant. If you can keep people on your site longer than others in your market, you website could have a Domain Authority advantage.

13 Marketing Mistakes Business Owners Make Online and Offline

Posted by Modern Maze

13 Marketing Mistakes Business Owners Make Online and Offline

Search Engine Optimization For Local Small Businesses: The Internet Gravity Wheel

Posted by Modern Maze

I created Internet Gravity Wheel (sm) as a way to visualize a concept of a local business online marketing system. A method of search engine optimization.

The term, “internet gravity” refers to the way a local business “attracts” the attention of search engines.

The web is very friendly to local business today but only a fraction of businesses are proactive in “working” this awesome tool.

Google is by far the #1 search tool on the web and its claim to fame is that it reports the best, most relevant search results of any other search tool. But it doesn’t work alone nor is it the only search engine people use. True, Google does harvest immense amounts of online data on its own but part of its unique way of determining high relevance in searches is from where it gathers the information. That’s where the Internet Gravity Wheel comes in.

A company’s website is just the tip if the iceberg when it comes to a presence online. Not to diminish its importance, but there are other significant places around the web that draws much more visitor traffic that a typical stand-alone small business website.

Having content all around the web pointing back to your business and your website is what Internet Gravity Wheel is all about. What I mean by that is a presence and optimized profile on directories and citation sites.

Online directories and citation sites are abundant. Many of them are free and your business is very likely already listed on many of them. But you can make your business stand out by “claiming” your listing on these directories as the business owner. 

“Claiming” your profile on these directory listings usually permits you to upload photos of your choice, your logo, a link to your website, and to describe your business the way YOU want to. Many times, the information in these directories is inaccurate and inaccurate information can not only confuse prospective customers but can also confuse the search engine robots which pull information about your business and reduce your rankings because of the conflicting information.

You can also find relevant directories your business could or should be listed in and upload your business information. Many of these are free and have upgrades available which offer extra marketing for more exposure.

Some online directories are fee-based, like moderncoupon.com which offers a full web page to showcase your business with pictures, unlimited business descriptive detail, video and engages your prospective customer with unlimited coupon offers. 

moderncoupon.com gets high search engine rankings because it combines relevance of content: local business information and coupons. 

Whatever your business, it’s wise to find as many free directories to be in as possible. It’s also advisable to find one or 2 fee-based directories to test.

Businesses owners can do this work themselves. However, it IS time consuming. Turning this project over to us is a good idea because we can do it better, faster and cheaper than you can do it yourself.

(Internet Gravity Wheel is a Service Mark of Affordable Online Marketing Systems)

Small Business Marketing – Online Marketing That Works

Posted by Modern Maze

This message is for business owners who want to make the web work to produce customers and make sales. Whether you have a website or not, the web can help get your phone to ring and people in your door.  

Straight talk here. No fancy persuasive language. No theory. These are facts because I’m not a computer geek-I’m a business owner who has gone through the motions, the learning and the study (and I still do) to get my business discovered online.

1. A website is just one tactic in an online marketing strategy. 

For most small businesses, particularly those who only serve their local market (I call the Main Street businesses) a website is at the bottom of the online marketing priority list. I’m not saying it’s not important, I’m saying there’s other, more powerful ways to get your your basic information in front of people’s eyes.

Besides, who’s going to find & visit your site unless they already know your website address? 

I like to use the “yard sale” analogy: How will people find your yard sale? If you just put your stuff out on your front yard, only the incidental passers by will ever see your sale. BUT, if you put a sign on either end of your street, signs on the neighborhood’s surrounding streets and a classified ad in your local paper, you’re going to attract more prospects. 

Attracting prospects to your business and your website is the same. There are dozens of ways you can put signs out on the “super highway” to get the attention of prospective customers. Most of them don’t even require you have a website. 

I’m experienced enough to know it’s important to keep this information is best delivered to you in bite-sized chunks so I’ll keep this series of messages short and recorded on video so you can review them any time.

Why I am sharing this information with you for free? 3 reasons:

  1. I learned a long time ago, when I share what I know, I learn it more and at a deeper level.

  2. I have a passion for helping small business owners. I come from a family of small business owners and eventually I became a wholesaler in service to small business owners.

  3. And finally, I can do all the things I’m about to share with you faster, better and cheaper than you can do them yourself.

How And Why To Increase Your Facebook Fan List

Posted by Modern Maze

This article started out as “How To Increase Your Facebook Fan List” but I erased it because the article became too long.  I decided to focus on the “Why” instead and tie in the “How” later.

Here are some very powerful reasons why a Facebook Fan Page is your friend:

1. It’s free advertising to a list of very targeted, very interested people

2. It’s better than email. On average, less than 20% of emails are opened even when they’ve opted-in to your email list. Your fans see your message when they look at Facebook 

3. It’s easy for people to share what they “LIKE” on Facebook, comment on it and tell their Facebook friends. Most people have hundreds of Facebook friends. Some have thousands. Give them something to talk about and share and your audience and business can skyrocket.

Instead of going through a the long list of “How” to increase your Facebook Fan list, I decided to give you better advice: go to Youtube and search the term. There are dozens of video tutorials on the subject which are more thorough and easy to absorb through video.

There are tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people you can reach for little or no cost through the power of the internet & social media. You CAN learn the stuff and engage in it and grow your business.

Don’t go to the gold mine with a pocket knife. At least bring a shovel. Put out some effort. Apply yourself. The opportunities have never been so great to take advantage of technology.

Good Marketing.

Andrew (Modern Maze) Mazer

Founder of Affordable Online Marketing Systems

Creator of moderncoupon.com