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We’ve all seen them, the SEO ads that guarantee overnight success.  They promise that your website will be listed in the first position on the major search engines within 24-72 hours of hiring their firm.  Many business owners who are just beginning to explore their SEO options will logically think that it makes more sense to hire a company guaranteeing first page or first position placement almost immediately as opposed to the company that is offering this same level of success in three to six months.

Here’s the problem.  No company that utilizes ethical SEO techniques can guarantee immediate first page results.

One of the most important things to know when you begin thinking about how to optimize your website is that there are several SEO techniques that will get your site banned from the major search engines.  Google, Yahoo, and Bing may refuse to list your site at all for an extended period of time.  Unfortunately, SEO companies that guarantee incredible results are most likely utilizing techniques that will get your website banned.  You’ll still need to pay for their services because they delivered on their promise, even if your website was eventually pulled from the major search engines.

Optimizing your website for the long haul is not like turning on a switch.  It requires employing a series of tactics and strategies on your website and elsewhere on the web.  It requires extensive research and keyword testing.  To put it plainly, it requires patience.

Almost all of our clients have and continue to achieve first page rankings for their top keywords however, these results occurred over the course of months not hours.  To read about the kind of success our client’s have achieved, check out our free SEO guide “6 Tips on How Search Engine Optimization Can Help You Grow Your Business.”

No matter which firm you hire for your optimization needs, make sure to choose one that’s not going to get your site banned or damage your brand.

If you’re looking for a way to shake things up during this holiday sales season, consider adding a live chat feature to your website.  Many business owners think live chat is only for companies that have difficult to understand products.   The fact of the matter is that online retailers of all types can benefit from the power of live chat.  Consumers are impatient.  Even if information is easy to find on your website, they frequently want someone else to find it for them.  Here are a few tips about how and when to use live chat.

Use live chat to connect with consumers before they decide not to do business with you. If there’s a page on your website that is often the last one visited before prospects leave without converting, that’s the perfect place to put a live chat button.  You may be able to capture the questions and concerns that these people have before they leave your site.  Adding a live chat button to that page will provide you with the chance to turn a consumer that’s ready to walk into one that’s ready to do business with you.

Use cookies to cultivate. If you’re concerned about the cost of offering live chat to everyone who navigates to your home page, consider using cookies to ensure that you’re only offering live chat to a select group.  Offering live chat to previous customers is a great place to start.  If someone has purchased from you before, then the time spent on live chat can actually be a cultivation tool.  These people will often buy additional products or accessories after chatting with your sales reps.

Use live chat to convert. Another group to offer live chat to is anyone who appears to be visiting your website multiple times to conduct research.  Visitors who get to your site and click through almost every page and then return again, are a group who you definitely want to target in a live chat marketing plan.  Many of these people just need one bit of information or assurance about your product before they’ll convert.

Don’t miss out on one of the simplest ways to take your sales to the next level.  Make live chat an integral part of your marketing plan.

People love to buy things online primarily because of how convenient it is.  They can see the product they’d like to purchase being advertised at ten different stores without ever having to get in their car.  Just as online shopping has become a common part of our culture, so has a lack of trust for online retailers.  Most people have at least one horror story detailing an online purchase gone awry.  To keep themselves from getting taken advantage of, many online consumers will look closely at a couple of critical areas to determine a website’s credibility.

1. Can they reach you? If you’re selling something online, it’s critical that you have an 800 number that appears prominently on your website.  If consumers have to hunt all over your site to find your phone number, they very well may believe that you don’t want to be reached.  What company doesn’t want their consumers to call them?  A company that sells junk products.
2. Do you have a customer friendly return policy? Savvy consumers will read your return policy before they buy from you.  While no company wants to have consumers returning products that are old, banged up, and can’t be resold, you should still think of your return policy as a way to win their business.  If it’s clear that your return policy was written to protect you and not to serve the consumer, buyers will be wary.  Depending on the product, give a reasonable amount of time for consumers to make returns.
3. Don’t go overboard with fees. Requiring consumers to pay for their return shipping is only fair.  Charging 30% of the value of the original sale to put the product back on the shelf may be a little extreme.
4. Security and online sales go hand in hand. Consumers want to know that when they make a purchase on your website their credit card isn’t going to be used to finance a stranger’s European dream vacation.  Having a secure website is fantastic.  Advertising your website’s security is even better.

Even if a consumer will never meet you personally, they still need to know that they can trust you.  While they’ll definitely be paying attention to the claims you make about your product or service, they’ll also be assessing these four basic areas before they decide to do business with you.  If you follow these simple steps you won’t only gain the consumer’s trust, you’re also likely to win their business.

Many companies will spend countless hours researching and refining the perfect set of keywords for their business website.  That’s a good thing, because keywords drive search.  To put it plainly, keywords are the language of the Internet.  Without them, we can’t tell search engines what we want.  Without them, we can’t bring targeted prospects to our websites.

It does appear, however, that many people are only using their keywords in their content.  Parenthetical keyword usage is important, but there are four other critical places where keywords really matter.  Every website should be utilizing keywords in their title tags, meta tags, meta descriptions, and H1 tags.  If these phrases sound like a foreign language, they should, because they’re HTML.  However, what they represent are some very basic locations within your website where you can use your keywords for maximum effect.

First, let’s talk about title tags. Every page on your website has its own separate title called a title tag.  Title tags appear in search results.  For an example, check out the image at the beginning of this blog.  They also appear in the top of your browser bar.  If you’re using Microsoft Explorer to view this blog page, then you should see the phrase “SurchSquad Blog – PPC Management and SEO Services for Small Business.”  That’s our title tag for our blog pages.

Meta tags are keywords that you can imbed in each of the pages on your website.  They can’t be viewed by people reading your website, but they can be detected by search engines.  These serve to tell the search engines what each of your webpages is about.

For an example of a meta description, take another look at the image above.  Every page on your website should have its own meta description, since Google indexes every page separately.  This means that when someone is searching for a company like yours on the Internet, the first page they find may or may not be your homepage.    They might first land on your services or about us page.  That’s why it’s critical to optimize every page on your website.

H1 tags are subheadings that separate your paragraphs.  Subheadings are great because they break up your text and make your content easy to scan.  Using keywords in your subheadings can allow the search engines, and your readers, to know what each section of your web page is going to be about.

Finding the best keywords for your business really is just the beginning.  Knowing where to use them can be the key to getting dramatically better search results for your website.

When working with clients to optimize their websites, we talk a lot about what they should do to increase their rankings with the search engines.  However, we rarely discuss the specific activities they should not do in order to not get penalized by the search engines.

There is a set of activities that, when performed on a website, are considered by the major search engines to be covert or “black hat” SEO techniques.  When the search engines find websites that are participating in these activities they will often delist them from their search results or, at a minimum, give them very low rankings for an extended period of time.

The only problem is that some of these techniques might appear to be smart from a beginner’s point of view.  To help ensure that you don’t step into a sticky mess with the search engines, let’s go over some of the more common black hat SEO techniques that you need to avoid.

1. Keyword Stuffing. Probably the biggest culprit is called “keyword stuffing”, which basically just means putting too many keywords on your website.  Don’t spam the search engines by overusing your most effective keywords.
2. Using Invisible Text. Another area where many websites get in trouble is they choose to include invisible text utilizing font colors that match the background of their webpage.  They do this to ensure that their page comes up for high ranking keywords, even if those keywords don’t relate to their business.
3. Link Farms. One of the areas Google assesses when deciding where to rank pages is how many websites are linked to or pointing to yours.  To trick the search engines, sometimes website owners will get together and agree to link their websites to each other, even though their sites are not at all related.

Stay away from these tactics, because they can get you in serious trouble with Google and the other major search engines.  Work strategically and ethically to optimize you site and, over time, you will see drastically better results.  To learn more about how to optimize your website, read our free guide “6 Tips on How Search Engine Optimization Can Help Grow Your Small Business.”

Customers don’t like websites that try to reinvent web design.  Remember, prospects come to your website with a purpose.  They might be conducting research to answer a specific question, they might be trying to get a sense of your company brand, or they may even be ready to make a purchase.  Don’t complicate their efforts by utilizing web design techniques that are outdated or uncommon.  Stick to the basics to convert prospects into customers.

Always use consistent colors, fonts, and layouts. You don’t want your home page and your services page to look as though they’re from two different websites.  Make sure that your basic design choices don’t change from page to page.

Make sure that your website is easy to navigate. Most websites follow a common set of criteria.  Very few companies can get away with web designs that completely reinvent web navigation.  Placing the buttons for your pages in random places isn’t how you want to show off your company’s creativity.

Prospects run from websites that aren’t easy to read. If you love the way that bright pink and lime green go together, then design a tie-dye t-shirt, not a website.  Don’t use a bright pink font on a lime green background because no one will be able to read it without seriously endangering their vision.  Also, blank space is your friend.  You don’t have to fill every corner of your website with text or images.  Blank space on your website will not only give the readers eyes a rest, it will also make the most important information pop.

Make sure that your site is easy to use on handheld devices. You never know if a potential client is using a Blackberry, an iphone or a regular cell phone to research your company.  If pertinent information can only be viewed by excessive horizontal scrolling, you may need to consider adjusting the width of your site.

Always include a lead capture form. A lead capture form allows your prospects to provide you with their pertinent contact information.  These forms usually work best with some sort of giveaway that justifies your request for their information.  For example, you can offer a free consultation, or you can sign them up for your monthly newsletter, or promise to send notification whenever you’re having a sale.

Every time someone visits your website they’re having an interaction with your brand.  Make sure that your website is easy to use so that your prospects are more likely to become paying customers.

Getting people to your website is always a good thing.  Increasing your traffic and getting higher rankings with the search engines are goals every business owner should have.  Unfortunately, increasing your website traffic may not be enough to grow your business.  Your site should be designed and written in such a way that it compels your prospects to do something like make a purchase, contact you, sign up for a newsletter or something similar.

Don’t lose your stream of steady prospects by having a website that ignores one of the most tried and true concepts in marketing.  Every website needs a well-crafted call to action.

A call to action is a phrase or statement that urges your website visitors to take an action sooner rather than later.  Why?  Because people are busy.  They might look at your website and tell themselves that they’ll get in touch with you this afternoon or tomorrow.  Will they remember?  A call to action gives them a compelling reason to get in touch with you now.

How do you incorporate a call to action into your website?  First it’s important to utilize links and buttons that tell visitors to your site exactly what you want them to do.  For instance, if you have a newsletter, don’t hide that fact on an obscure page in your website.  Include it on your homepage and offer a gift for people who sign up.  Second, a call to action should include a reasonable sense of urgency, like “20% off until the end of October,” or “For a limited time only.”  Finally, don’t overdo it.  Customers should feel compelled to act, not harassed.

A company website is one of the most comprehensive advertising tools business owners have available to them.  Make sure that you’re utilizing yours to turn prospects into customers.

The short answer is yes.  Sometimes business owners are reluctant to take the SEO plunge because they aren’t sure whether or not it will really make a difference.  If they’ve been getting clients through referrals and walk-ins it may be hard to understand how Internet Marketing can help their businesses grow.

Search engine optimization works for business to business companies, mom and pop shops, service providers, consultants, and everyone in between.  Even if your prospects aren’t likely to search for a company in your industry online because referrals are so critical, you should still use SEO to build your brand.  You can connect with your clients and prospects through blogs, articles and more.

For example, the average consumer may not use the web to find a flooring company in their area.  Flooring costs are high and contractors can be unreliable.  Consumers may be more likely to rely on referrals instead.

Even in this case, they’d still get online to learn about the different types of flooring available, whether or not they should put hardwood in the kitchen, why linoleum costs more than tile, yet can devalue a home and so on and so on.  If a consumer received referrals for two different companies, but yours is the one that keeps showing up online with helpful solutions, which one do you think will win their business?

Search Engine Optimization is not a trend that will fade away like pet rocks or leg warmers, it’s here to stay.  SEO works because it addresses the way that most people today acquire new information.  They use the web.

If you’d like to learn more about how search engine optimization can help your business, download our free guide: 6 Tips on How Search Engine Optimization Can Help Grow Your Small Business.

The phrase “ROI” is bounced around a lot in the search marketing industry.  ROI is short for “return on investment.”  Your return on your search marketing investment can easily be tracked and managed by using free and low cost web tools.  As a matter of fact, when you see that an ad or certain keywords aren’t performing, you can switch gears in the middle of a campaign by pulling the ad or adjusting its language.

Consider this. What if you spent tons of money on a banner ad, but didn’t measure it.  You might know that your web traffic went up significantly, but what if your sales didn’t increase?  Web analytics tools allow you to keep track of each and every click made by people who visit your website.  You can determine if they got to your website and immediately clicked away or if they spent time there, learning about your products, only leaving once they got to your price page.

So, how do you track your ROI?  There’s an endless amount of ROI tracking software out there.  As a matter for fact, if you use customer relationship management software, it may have some general ROI tracking built into it.  However, for a simple, yet effective ROI tracking software, consider Google Analytics.  On a basic level it allows you to track your leads and conversions.  On a more sophisticated level it allows you to test different landing pages and also to test the keywords in your pay-per-click advertising campaign.  You can even create your own customized reports.

Another way to measure your ROI is with the use of proxy phone numbers.  This is a phone number you set up that forwards to your regular phone line.  Customers who see an online ad, but then convert offline by calling your company, can now be tracked and targeted.  Companies like Mongoose Metrics have solutions for creating multiple proxy numbers to track different aspects of a marketing campaign.  Mongoose has integrated their products with Google Analytics so you can analyze all of your marketing campaigns with one tool.

The bottom line is that not measuring your ROI is like advertising in the dark.  Real time ROI tracking allows you to find out how well your campaign is performing at any time of the day or night.

No matter what business you’re in, at the end of the day we all need some of our prospects to convert into paying customers.  This simple truth drives every business from the largest conglomerate to the door to door salesman.  Like every other aspect of sales, how to convert prospects into paying customers is a topic that gets covered online a lot.

One of our primary goals here at SurchSquad is to demystify Internet Marketing.  To that end, we’ll be doing a monthly series about the different strategies that small to medium sized business owners can use to turn their stream of prospects into paying customers.

This week’s conversion tip is about the importance of the welcome letter.  If someone signs up for your newsletter or to receive regular email updates from your company, then you’ve succeeded in getting their attention.  Next you need to succeed in getting their business.  Your first communication with these prospects should be dynamic, personalized, and peppered with useful information.

Don’t write one letter and hope it works for everyone.  Instead, use your web analytics to separate your prospects into segments.  Create letters that reflect the areas of your website where your prospects clicked the most.

For example, an online retailer with a clearance section may find that half the people signing up for their weekly updates do so after clicking extensively through the clearance items.  The welcome letter these individuals receive could focus on the retailer’s ability to provide value and affordability without compromising quality.

So, take the time to craft targeted, personalized welcome letters.  You won’t regret it.