Website ROI: How to Maximize Your Website Return on Investment

When you have invested precious time and money in setting up a website, you naturally want to get the most out of it that you can. You will also want your site’s visitors to get exactly what they want from it.

Website optimization is the process of designing web pages with an eye towards achieving a higher rank in the listings of the popular search engines. Carefully researched and placed keywords and phrases, well-written tags and text and an overall positive design are key components needed when optimizing a website.

If website optimization is not enough to increase your website’s profitability, you may need to look at using conversion rate optimization testing. This identifies what you need to do to improve your customer satisfaction rate.

What is a Conversion Rate?

There are two types of website conversion. Type one involves attracting potential customers to visit your website, whereas type two actually occurs when a visitor is using the site. This measures the number of visitors that remain on the site to make a purchase, or that sign up to be a member. Many website managers concentrate their efforts solely on the first type of conversion, basing their success on the volume of visitors. However, if you want to realize the maximum return on the investment you have made in your website or product, you will need to focus more on the second type.

Maximize Your Conversion Rate

Maximizing your conversion rate means establishing how to increase your Revenue per Visitor. Revenue per Visitor is the average value of a visitor to your website; visitors who register as members, or that purchase items successfully obviously have a higher revenue value.

Conversion rate optimization testing is useful to determine when visitors are leaving your site prematurely, and why. One of the most common findings relating to conversion rate failure is lack of trust on the part of the visitor. Finding the weak areas of a website and strategically reassuring the prospective customer at these points, can make a big difference in building a relationship of trust with him or her.

Advertising can actually help in this regard. Article-based advertising is very productive among desirable demographics, such as 18 to 24 year olds and those with incomes over $75,000 per year, and is the preferred form of online advertising. Visitors are more likely to read and act on this type of advertisement, and online articles stimulate more searches for products and services. If they can read and evaluate it on their own time, consumers will frequently follow through by clicking for more details. Integrating articles and other types of informative materials into your website will help increase your conversion rate by allowing consumers to participate and interact with your products or brands in an intelligent way.

Case Study:

An online casino gaming website specializing in slot machines, wanted to improve their visitor traffic and conversion rate. After professional evaluation, they began by improving the launch page, by emphasizing the benefits of game registration and online play. They implemented micro-conversions – smaller steps allowing visitors to transition from being an anonymous player to a registered player without difficulty. To draw visitors to the site for other reasons than simply slots, the website added article-based content in the form of how-to’s, general information, commentary and blog postings. Positive results were seen immediately and the Revenue per Visitor continues to increase.

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How To Hide Updates on LinkedIn and Unblock Them Later

Sometimes updates can be overwhelming, especially if you get bombarded with them from the same people. It’s easy enough to remain connected with these people while blocking all their status updates from your updates section in LinkedIn.

Not sure if this works from a cell phone or not but for the purpose of this tutorial, let’s assume that you are using a computer.

Hover over the update from the person that you want to block. On the right hand side of the update, you will see the word “hide”. Click on it and you will then see this message:

You will no longer receive updates from this user

You have the option to undo this by clicking on the undo button. Otherwise, all updates from this person will not be visible on your profile page.

How to block status updates from Facebook friends

If for reason you want to start getting updates from this person, you need to click on your name on the top right, then go down to settings. Once you are in your settings page, scroll down and on the bottom left, click on Account. Then under privacy control, click on Customize the updates you see on your home page. Click on the hidden tab and there you will see everyone you blocked.

To start getting updates, simply click show updates.

Do you have habitual posters in your news feed that would be better off blocked?

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As a Small Business Owner, What SEO Tricks Can I Do To Improve My Website Ranking

Most small business owners who have an online presence want to know how they can rank higher than their competitors in search engines.  After all, the higher a site ranks, the more visibility it gets which should result in more income for that company. Everyone wants to be first and that is why being first can sometimes be very difficult to achieve.

Aside from hiring a SEO company, there are a few things that you, as a small business owner, can do to improve the ranking of your website online.

1. Forget about the tricks. SEO is about optimizing relevant information and making it stand out. “Tricks” may have worked in the past but not anymore.

2. Be as descriptive as possible. If you have trouble writing, hire someone to write easy to read and descriptive information on your website so people can easily understand what services you offer.

3. Setup profiles for your small business on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter… The more places that reference your business online, the better your chances are for being ranked in search engines.

4. Do not over optimize.  Repeating words over and over on web pages, also known as keyword stuffing, was a trick that may have worked in the past.  Search engines have since evolved and this “trick” may actually do more harm than good.

5. Keep your website fresh by adding content to it on a regular basis.

There are many factors that determine where your website will rank among your competitors. It will be easier for you to rank in less competitive markets so if you find the competition to be fierce, getting your website to rank can be a full time job.  I always tell my customers, SEO is not rocket science but it does take a lot of time if you want to see results.  With the easy to implement tips above, at least you can get the ball rolling.

What are some things you have done to improve visibility of your website?
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Internet Digital Marketing – Push vs Pull

Main/popular types of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing employs digital advertising channels in order to promote brand names and reach the consumer effectively. The 4 most popular venues for digital marketing are cellular phones, the internet, radio, and television as well as other types of digital media. Currently, there are a number of digital marketing agencies that assist their clients in this area of internet and other marketing campaigns. Many people will often ask “what is the difference between digital and internet marketing?”

The most significant difference lies in the type of techniques which are currently being employed in the fields of digital and internet marketing. Internet marketing totally focuses on reaching consumers using the internet whereas digital marketing uses every channel available and never limits the advertising to the internet. Some of the media channels that are most commonly used in digital marketing include:

Blogs
Cell phone text messages or SMS (Short Message Service)
Podcasts
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds
Outdoor digital displays
Websites

These are very common in both the digital and internet marketing sectors and you will find that many digital marketing agencies employ them.

Offers: Small Business SEO and Local Website Marketing September Special

Push versus Pull techniques of digital marketing

Anytime you are discussing the concept of digital marketing and the techniques used, you will most likely here about the two primary strategies, namely the “Push” or the “Pull.” Here are the differences between the two strategies:

Pull digital marketing – the consumer visits the merchant’s source of information or website about specific products or services that they are searching for and put in a request for the information.

Push digital marketing – conversely, with push digital marketing, the consumer receives the information they are looking for by viewing advertisements (cell phone messages, RSS feeds, or SMS).

Additionally, there are advantages and disadvantages of both types of digital marketing which include:

Pull advantages include low technological requirements, no opt-in requirements, and there are no restrictions on the size of a file. Pull disadvantages includes little or no tracking of website visitors, more marketing requirements, and no personalization of messages to encourage website visitors to return.

Push advantages include detailed tracking of consumer preferences, high sales conversion rates, and personalized messages. Conversely, Push disadvantages include the ads being blocked, compliance with the Can Spam Act of 2003, delivery technology is required, and specific opt-in requirements.

Ask any successful internet marketer about Search Engine Optimization and they will tell you that SEO is the ultimate traffic generator for any website. SEO is the technique that many digital and internet marketing gurus have turned to using this in order to enhance their sales and attract more website traffic. The business market today, whether offline or online is highly competitive. However, where online businesses are concerned, the importance of using SEO content on webpages can never be over stressed. When you consider that website traffic is the lifeblood on the online business, the importance of SEO should be obvious.

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Why a Good SEO Will Never Guarantee Number 1 Ranking on Google

A common question that a SEO will hear by a potential client is can you make my site #1 on Google?  There are many ways that SEO companies answer this question but the simple fact is:

No one can guarantee #1 ranking on Google.

This is a very important concept to grasp when looking for a reputable SEO company.  There are Google Webmaster Guidelines that a white hat search engine optimizer can follow but the fact is that no one, not even Google can guarantee your site to be ranked number one.

So how can I explain to my clients that ranking can not be guaranteed?  This is a very good question and Matt Cutts from Google attempts to answer this question in the video below.

mobile users click here for video:
How can I explain to my clients that ranking can not be guaranteed?

Some key points in the video highlight:

-The importance of Local SEO

Be wary of SEOs that promise you the world – they probably use black hat SEO techniques which will eventually get your web site banned from Google search

-Its much better to rank 2,3,4 for keywords that bring you business as apposed to #1 for long obscure keywords

-What are the phrases that are going to convert well as apposed to phrases that you rank #1 for

-Look for an SEO that will help build your site to stand the test of time

If you still have questions, see what Google thinks about how to find a good search engine optimizer

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What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization or SEO, is the process of getting a website to the top of a search for any combination of keywords that are relevant to the content on the website that is being optimized.  Popular search engines including Google will rank websites high if good relevant content is found on that site but sometimes, that’s not enough.

Industries like computer repair where the competition is high require more aggressive strategies in order to get to the top of a search.  It is not enough that content on the site is good.  Small businesses will sometimes hire a SEO Company if they want to get their site on the radar of their potential customers.  These SEO firms can help a small business get to page one of a search which we all know is the place to be.  It is rare for people to go beyond page one when searching for services online.

According to Wikipedia, the acronym SEO can refer to search engine optimizers, a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house.

SEO is usually first incorporated into web site design and development which is the bare minimum that can be done as far as optimizing a site goes.  A SEO company will go far beyond on page SEO and use various techniques to promote the web site they are working on.

One popular technique used by many SEO companies today is to promote sites via social media outlets including Twitter and Facebook.

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Facebook App for Android With a Few New Features

Facebook for Android app was recently updated with some nice added features including groups, places and optimized notifications.

Scan the QR code below from your android phone to get the app.

QR Code

What do you think of this new app for your android phone? I personally like it because it has some really useful new features like groups and places check in.  It was a real pain to post comments on a group page before this app version came along.  I had to use my browser to navigate to the groups page and it became a big hassle.

I would like to see some support for viewing and editing local business pages but I guess that will come in the near future.

The new app is definitely an improvement from previous versions, good job Facebook!

Articles by: DKNJ Networks – Laptop Repair Hopatcong NJ

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How to Stop Getting Updates From Certain Friends on Facebook

Some Facebook friends never post anything while others seem to post something every 10 minutes.  This is all good but if your news feed is getting flooded by information that you would rather not read about, there is a solution and it’s very easy to implement.

You can remain “friends” with people that you block from your news feed.  Simply move your mouse over the post of the person that you would like to block.  An X should appear on the top right portion of that post.  Click on that X and you will get 3 choices – click on the 1st one that says “Block xxxx” or “Hide xxxx”.   You should now see this message:

Posts Now Removed

Posts from xxxx will no longer appear in your News Feed. Edit News Feed Options

By doing this, you will block that person’s posts from appearing on your news feed.  If you ever want to add them back, go to the bottom of your news feed page and click on the link Edit Options

There you can add the “blocked” users back and start seeing their updates again.

The nice thing about this is that there is no message indicating you blocked the user, the user will not know and you can still go to that user’s profile page to catch up. 

You can view this and other articles at DKNJ Network’s SEO NJ Blog

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What happens when you take a break from your seo campaign

So you are working on a site and your SEO efforts are paying off.  More and more people are getting to your site and business is good.  So what do you do? You take a break from your SEO efforts to concentrate on other things that need attention.  Although this might not be a bad thing if you step away from it for a few days, taking a 3 month hiatus from SEO will definitely hurt your campaign.

I did a little experiment and took a break from optimizing 1 of my New Jersey sites just to see what would happen.  Well, my visitor count drastically dropped for that particular website.  Many people think that once a website is on top, it will stay on top but that is far from the truth.  Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing job that needs constant attention.

Companies that pay for initial optimization and stop because their site drops know this very well.  They figure if their site is on top of the search engines, it will continue to stay there so it is a total waste of money paying the SEO company an ongoing monthy fee.  A few months later, they call back asking for service because their site is not doing as well as it used to.  Now that the site dropped, more effort is required to get it back up making the price greater.

It was a cool experiment and confirms that you need to nurture your website if you want to see it grow!

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With New York So Close, Why Optimize for New Jersey?

So you have a New Jersey business and want to get your small business website seen by thousands of people on the web.  It is true that New York, especially NYC has many more people and chances are if you successfully get your site optimized for NY search, your visitor count will be greater.   The real question is do you want a large quantity of visitors or a good quality of visitors viewing your site.

What I like to focus on when optimizing websites is ROI which stands for return on investment.  It all comes down to how much money your business is generating.  There are sites out there with a page rank of 5 and are not making any money.  What a waste of time!  It is true that some websites were not created to make money but for the ones that are, it is wise to use strategic methods to get your site viewed by the right people (your potential customers).

I use Google Analytics to find out who is visiting my sites.  This tool will give you every piece of information needed to make wise SEO decisions based on what your client’s goals are.  If used correctly, this tool will help you find out how to get the right people to your site.

So back to the original question, with NY so close, why optimize for NJ search? Because your customers are in New Jersey, that’s why.  If you perform a service and a customer has to come out to see you, the distance between you and your customer is highly relevant.  Local SEO is your best bet when trying to optimize your service based business.

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