Internet Marketing Defined By A Reputable Search Engine Optimization Company

Google

Google, by far, is the most common and most popular search engine in the world. Because Google is the most popular search engine in the world—not just regionally or particular to any one country—the site has far reaching implications for any business involved with Internet marketing. Google has made possible the globalization of even small home-based businesses.

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Marketing incorrectly on Google does not necessarily mean breaking a company, but doing marketing the right way through Google can mean the difference between mediocre profits and incredible profits. A lot of time has been spent by third party Internet companies research how to best benefit from Google’s searching strengths, and though Google’s search algorithms are priority technology, Google has themselves provided users with a wealth of tools such as Google Key Words and Google Analytics.

Yahoo

Yahoo comes in second to Google, but provides users with the same basic search functions as Google. Yahoo is also, just like Google, an international web site. Yahoo does not offer the same Internet marketing tools that Google offers but does offer a web site submission form.

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The submission process is free and does not guarantee top page ranking, but does let Yahoo know about a site’s existence on the Web.

Bing

Bing is the new kid on the block in search engine services and is Microsoft’s answer to Google and Yahoo. Bing advertises itself not so much as a search engine as much as a decision helper. The site was launched June, 2009. As Bing expands into the search engine market share, many web developers are concerned

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with how web sites are ranked on Bing. Interestingly, not much has changed—quality links, the age of the web site, organized html, updated pages. If a business is gearing their web site for Yahoo or Google searches, the site will also be seen on Bing.

Facebook

Facebook began as a way for college students to connect to each other. The site allowed students to post a profile complete with photos. The site allowed its users to discuss upcoming events such as informal parties, sorority and fraternity rushes, and campus organization and club activities. When Facebook opened the doors to the general population

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outside of colleges, the Web Page’s popularity soared. Businesses saw the popularity of Facebook and began capitalizing on Facebook success by beginning to post their own profiles. Direct marketing on Facebook does not work very well thought. The site is mainly a relationship tool, and when businesses market their product or services on Facebook, the social aspect of the site needs to be kept in mind. Restaurants, for example are notorious for posting to many coupons on the, “recent news” feature and that bothered the heck out of people. Facebook marketing took action and now requires the restaurant industry to change their marketing techniques and tell a story that people can relate to.

YouTube

YouTube is owned by Google and allows users to upload and share videos. In the Internet Marketing world there is a rush to utilize YouTube in viral marketing campaigns. The idea is to create a video so intriguing that it spreads beyond the Internet. Sometimes this viral campaign happens organically, such as the wedding aisle

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dance that made its popularity all the way to prime time TV. Companies tend to plan out the viral video a bit more. A good example of a planned viral marketing video on YouTube is Evian’s roller skating babies video; however, Evian does not have any control over where the video ends up outside of YouTube. Recently, a local church used the Evian ad to advertise a skate party. Even though Evian planned out the viralness of the video, the actual popularity and use of the ad still grew organically.

Flickr

Flickr is similar to YouTube, but instead of users uploading and sharing video, the user uploads and shares still photos or sometimes artwork. In a marketing sense, this free service may not necessarily sound like a very powerful tool, especially in comparison to video. However, photography and artist businesses can really shine on Flikr. Other business types can take advantage of the service in other

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useful ways. Event coordinators can photograph their events, caterers can photograph their meals, and photos of organizational events and promotions can be uploaded by any business. People can leave comments on the photos, and web developers can host all of their photos on Flikr for use on business web pages. Flikr allows searches of users, photos, and comments and is just another great way for people to discover another aspect of a company and its people.

Twitter

Twitter is like text messaging on steroids. Originally developed for business use only, Twitter’s popularity has spread world-wide. Many celebrities and radio talk show hosts have embraced the free service, utilizing Twitter as a self-promotion tool. Pizza shops have come on board too,

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tweeting special deals that arrive on cell phones via Twitter. Messages are limited to two hundred fifty characters and can give a customer almost instant access to information about what’s going on with a person or business. As a business professional, Twitter is also a great way to keep up to date with market trends and changes in individual business circles.

WordPress and Blogs

WordPress is a platform for hosting blogs. The term blog comes from a combination of the words Web and log. A blog is an incredibly simple web site usually maintained by an individual and is updated on a regular basis with thoughts, commentary, articles, interviews, photos, and video.

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Blogs came on the scene quickly but have slowed in popularity to such services as Facebook and Twitter. Still, blogs are a useful tool in the marketing world. Product reviews are excellent uses of blogs, but so are daily business diaries. Blogs can also be a great way to showcase YouTube videos or Flikr photos. Often-times, one can update Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites all through a single blog.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the Facebook page specifically for business professionals. A profile can be posted to LinkedIn, and LinkedIn then allows the user to network with other professionals in the same arena. For instance, real estate brokers can connect with other real estate brokers. Joint venture entrepreneurs can

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discover like-minded individuals. The site is rather like posting an educational vitae online, though schooling information is not required. LinkedIn offers a free service and also an upgraded service for a monthly payment.

Google Local

In the world of Internet and social media marketing, there is a distinct move toward a more local focus. In the beginning, search engine sites such as Google and Yahoo were across the board run of the mill search engines. A user put in a term, and a list of related and relevant web sites popped up on the screen.

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Google, for the most part, still works like this. It is difficult to get top page rankings though. People began adding local geographical tags to their web sites, and now when a user visits Google, they can go to local.google.com, which showcases a map. When users type in a search term they can also add a geographical location such as a town or state and find specific businesses and searches near their desired location. When designing web pages, it is important to keep this in mind and add geographical tags.

Bing Local

Bing Local is pretty much the same deal as Google Local, except currently the service is only available in the United States. There are plans to expand into Great Britain soon. Businesses can add their address, phone number, and other relevant information. The site acts like a supped up yellow pages.

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 isn’t an easy thing to define. It does not have a clear meaning, but is more of a trend. Web 2.0 covers all kinds of social media applications on the Internet such as wikis, social bookmarking, blogs, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology. In the past, web technology was pretty much static.

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A Internet user visited a web page, read the material, and then went on with his or her life. Today, a Internet user visits a web page, makes a comment, signs up for a service, complains or praises the service. Web 2.0 encourages user interaction. This interaction allows a marketing expert to better evaluate a product or service. The interaction also allows anyone to promote something he or she likes. Or, to discredit a service or business.

Landing Page

Web sites have a certain type of design or layout. When web sites first emerged onto the scene in a big way in the 1990′s, the web design concept was thought of in two different ways—as a billboard or as a print publication. In a billboard type design, the web site was a single page, and was pretty much just like a sign. The page listed the business, the phone number, the address, and

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maybe a few customer comments. In a print publication design, there was a front page or cover, a back page, and all the pages sandwiched in between. The problem with the bill board design was that it was static and uninteresting. The problem with the print publication design was that when someone did a search and landed on the site, there was no real guarantee which page in the print publication design the user was going to land on. It could have been one of those middle pages, and then the content of the entire site was lost to the user. Today, there is a movement toward the print publication layout for web pages, but they are designed in a manner to increase the likelihood of someone landing on the front or first page. Also, the pages in between are designed not to loose the viewer just because they landed on one of the more obscure pages first.

Pay Per Click/Adwords

Pay Per Click are links found on many web pages. The link is set up so that every time a user left mouse clicks on the link, the person hosting the link gets paid by the advertiser that paid for the pay per click link.

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Adwords are similar to pay per click links, except Google pioneered the technique, users choose keywords, and the links then appear on Google results pages as sponsors.

Article Campaign

An article campaign is all about exposure. A series of articles are written about a particular topic. A back link or tag to the web site that wants to increase traffic is added to the end of the article. The article is then submitted to various sites that can use the article as relevant content.

Back Linking A back link is a link back to a web site. The more back links a web site has, the higher it normally ranks in a web search engine. For example, a particular site may be about pest control. Another site is on the control of indoor ants, and the indoor ant site links

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back to the pest control site. A different site may be about how roaches breed, and the site links back the pest control site.

Content Content is the information on a web page. Content can be thought of as the articles found within a newspaper. Lousy content tends to loose readership, where as quality information can increase traffic to a web page – make sure you are up to date with the latest on the Google Panda Update.
Affiliate Marketing Affiliate marketing allows web page owners to sell someone else’s product and then receive a percentage of items sold through his or her web page. From the perspective of someone trying to sell a product, affiliate marketing allows for a greater web advertising reach. Keyword Research Keyword research involves figuring out which key words in a web site will garner more hits or visits. Keyword research finds words applicable to a web site’s topic. In the example of pest control, the web site’s content may contain the keyword “pesticide,” but not the keyword “agriculture.” The keyword “agriculture” in conjunction with

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“pesticide” can garner the site more visits through a web search engine. Keyword research helps determine those specific words that then can be used in the content of a page.

iPhones An iPhone is Apple’s version of a smart phone. The phone specializes in Internet multi-media. Droid A Droid is Motorola’s version of a smart phone. The phone specializes in Internet multi-media and runs on Google’s Android operating system. Smart Phones A smart phone is a phone-like hand held device that has computer-like functions, often able to not only make phone calls and take pictures but also able to act as a contact manager database, function as a word processor, play music, and perform other various applications. Currently, no industry standard exists for a smart phone.