2010

20 SEO Terms That Are A Must Know

December 22, 2010 By Ben Janke 2 Comments

When you have a website or a blog, it is important to understand the following terms about SEO and getting Google, Bing, and Yahoo to send you more targeted web traffic.

1. What Is SEM?

Stands for Search engine marketing techniques, and as the name implies it entails advertising products or services via search engines. SEM is divided into two primary pillars: SEO and PPC. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it’s the practice of optimizing web sites to make their webpages appear within the organic search outcomes. PPC means Pay-Per-Click, and it’s the practice of purchasing clicks from search engines. The clicks come from sponsored listings within the search engine results.

2. The All Important Backlink

Also known as inlink or merely link, it’s an hyperlink that [Read more...]

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: anchor text, canonical url, keyword stuffing, sandbox, title tag

4 Metrics to Measure Your Best Leads

December 16, 2010 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

4 Metrics to Measure Your Best Leads

1. Conversion Rate to Opportunity

One key metric is the percentage of leads that convert into a qualified sales opportunity as tracked in your CRM. You might find, for example, that your email newsletter leads convert at a lower rate than your other offers and that your free product trial converts at the highest rate.

2. Conversion Rate to Customer

Conversion to sales opportunity isn’t the end of the game – you want to see how those leads convert into customers. You might find, also, that an offer that has the best lead to opportunity conversion rate may not have the best opportunity to customer conversion rate.

3. Average Rating

Sometimes you need qualitative feedback in addition to quantitative feedback. Have your sales team rate all the leads coming in to see commonalities in the leads that your team rates as their favorites.

4. Rejection Rate

Not every lead is going to be a great fit. Are you generating leads that immediately get thrown out or “rejected”? Measure this rejection rate and see where it crops up the most – maybe you find that leads generated through Paid Search (PPC) have a higher rejection rate than organic sources like Organic Search and Social Media. Rejected leads take up the time of your sales team to actually review but decide not to call.

Bonus Tip: Work each of these metrics into a sales and marketing service level agreement (SLA) to set expectations with your sales team and measure your progress over time. Identifying your best leads according to these metrics and setting an SLA will help you figure out where to invest your marketing resources and improve your smarketing productivity.

How do you measure your leads? Please share your strategies or successes in identifying and prioritizing your leads.

Filed Under: Marketing

50 Time Saving Firefox Add-ons

December 16, 2010 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

Firefox as we know is undeniably one of the most popular browser among the users however it is a love hate dilemma. Many vent that Firefox is slow however it still remains as a browser that web developers love most and we probably can’t live the same without it. Here is why, it is supported by a rich community of plugins and add-ons developers which makes it more than just a browser.

In today’s post, we are packing you with some of the most popular and accommodating add-ons that can prove our above statement – Firefox, not just a browser. These add-ons will help you achieve further, increase your productivity and make your working life, much easier. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Firefox

12 Reasons To Use Twitter For Business

December 14, 2010 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

Last year, I was looking across my Twitter account and discovered articles in USA Today, written by Steve Strauss in his “Ask An Expert” column, that was titled, “Should Business owners Twitter? Uh, No.”

As you can imagine, I clicked on the content and, after reading this, took great offense to his guidance, even though I’d been tweeting with regard to work for only five or six months at that point (imagine if I read it right now!). His points for not utilizing Twitter as an entrepreneur had been: You’re in business, it provides simply too a lot info, it requires too a lot time, and what can you say in A hundred and forty characters?

Well, being an entrepreneur who utilizes Twitter for my business, I couldn’t let that just sit. So We spent, oh, over two hours creating a professional response pointing out the actual flaws in his argument.

My response was this:

Attempt to realize the true value of Tweets.

1. I use Twitter to network every day with possible partners, clients, and talent. It’s like going to a networking event, but rather of for two hours once a month, I invest 30 minutes a day mining for info that’s helping me grow my online business.

2. I get all my news from Twitter and Facebook. Even RSS feeds are going by the wayside. By the time this reaches even the online news websites, I’ve learn about it for a good hour or much more. I additionally discover suggestions, tips, and tools from other CEOs that I haven’t yet considered. If I’m searching for an answer for some thing I’ve never encountered, I initially ask my personal followers if they have advice. It’s an advisory board and focus groups rolled in to 1.

3. It requires as much time and energy as you permit it. I’ve setup groups in TweetDeck that allow me to quickly scroll via info I want in as small as 5 minutes. I take a look at TweetDeck within the morning, at noon, and at night. We invest as a lot time as I see a good ROI for my business.

4. The A hundred and forty character limit causes you to be direct, to write in head lines or soundbites, and to consist of only pertinent information. It also permits you to tease to your newest blog post, article, interview, or business info.

In a time that all company frontrunners have to look for ways to innovate, not utilizing the Internet for networking as well as prospecting for company will leave you in the cold. It’s time to join the 21st Century!

In addition, I discovered this article on Twitter…not within the paper or by reading your Internet website.

Uh…the “Ask An Expert” writer at USA Today wants to talk me? Heck, yes!

And thus began a lengthy as well as fruitful relationship. We talked that first time and we began off simply by my educating him on the value of Tweets, from an entrepreneur’s viewpoint and then we went “on the record.” Through that conversation, he wrote, “Twitter for Little Business…Reconsidered,” in which he or she known as me “charming.” Even though I really feel like that was a bit tongue-in-cheek, it endured me to him or her forever.

Since then he’s become on Twitter themself and he’s hired a CTO (chief Twitter official). Yesterday he wrote, “Why I Was Wrong Regarding Twitter” and included 12 reasons businesses should be utilizing Twitter. These people consist of:

Prospect
Produce word-of-mouth advertising
Discover new things
Get new ideas
Meet new individuals
Construct a much better brand
Turbocharge your customer service
Go viral
Get much more company
Notify clients
Despite the fact that I do not agree with “go viral,” I still state bravo, Steve! Bravo! You’ve come a lengthy way and I love that you’re willing to open up your mind, and even change it out whenever you discover value.

The lesson here is two-fold: Commenting professionally upon other’s blogs and articles leads to a lengthy and fruitful relationship in places you discover from 1 an additional as well as Twitter still has not lost its capability to link individuals, to construct relationships, and yes, to grow your company.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: twitter

20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

December 7, 2010 By Ben Janke 1 Comment

2011 is dashing near to us as its December. Its time for a thorough spring cleaning to get the old, unusable things out of the door. Calendar for example, you should be searching for a new one and remove the old from your wall. As for designers, we are pretty specific about it because it is more than just another productivity tool and will definitely not settle for a plain, everyday looking calendars. Even better when its unique, artistic and workable. So where do I start searching for one?

creative calendars 2011 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Wait for it-not. In today’s post, we have compiled a bunch of functional yet creatively designed calendar for year 2011! We hope this collection will inspire and give you heads up in search for your next awesome calendar. If this does not satisfy your requirement, you can purchase some of the calendars through the designers

zazdesign 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(2011 ldt. edition Calendar by zazdesign)

Benjamin Koh 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Benjamin Koh 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(dreams & wishes by Benjamin Koh)

felix ng 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

felix ng 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Calendar two thousand eleven by Felix Ng)

Alexander Glenn 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Calendar 2011. Calendar based on UK daylight hours & temperatures. by Alexander Glenn)

Soha el Nassag 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Soha el Nassag 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Hazem Treasure by Soha el Nassag)

andrea moresco 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Croce d’Oro Cervo calendar 2011 by Andrea Moresco)

Fil Dunsky 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Fil Dunsky 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(The Black Cat Sheriff by Fil Dunsky)

paulbetowski 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

paulbetowski 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Fedrigoni 2011 Calendar by Paul Betowski)

Mash Creative 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Mash Creative 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(11″ Ltd Edition Glow In The Dark Calendar by Mash Creative)

Fabio Bernardi 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Mese o non mese Calendar 2011 by Fabio Bernardi)

Pawel Pilat 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(This is my title by Pawel Pilat)

Matt W. Moore 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Matt W. Moore 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(B/W Typography 2011 Calendar by Matt W. Moore)

Derek Bowers 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Derek Bowers 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Pantone by Derek Bowers)

Argyle Preppy Planner 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Argyle Preppy Planner 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Argyle Preppy Planner by Blu Lima)

ghin 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Calendar 2011 – Including: Interfaith and Bespoke Editions by Liew Ghin)

Irina Vinnik 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Saurians Renaissance by Irina Vinnik)

Santiago Durieux 01 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Santiago Durieux 02 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Show time by Santiago Durieux)

Pavel Ripley 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011
(Zodiac Calendar 2011 by Pavel Ripley)

Bastarda 20 Creative Calendars For Year 2011

Filed Under: Marketing

What is Anchor Text In SEO?

November 30, 2010 By Ben Janke 2 Comments

Anchor text is an important part of your search engine optimization efforts, but a lot of people still ask me what is anchor text in SEO and how do I use it?

What is Anchor Text

When you are writing an article, blog post, press release, or just simply linking from one page to anther on the net, the text that is linking to the other page is call the anchor text and should describe what they page is about. A lot of times you will see anchor text like “click here”, but if you are trying to SEO your site, “click here” isn’t the best anchor text to use. You want to use a term that you are trying to rank for in the anchor text. Like if you want to be found on Google for the keyword “Blue Widgets”, you anchor text could be something like “Blue Widgets” or “See Blue Widgets Here”.

When optimizing a website for a specific key phrase, some web sites can be overboard with the anchor text, to the point where it doesn’t look natural to Google anymore.

As Google operates on far more calculations and techniques to discover unnatural linking profiles, it’ll turn out to be seemingly obvious which websites are obtaining links organically. Mainly because, let’s face it, a new website will not take in hundreds of hyperlinks with 1 keyword as anchor text 90 percent of the time naturally.

Although SEOs comprehend the value of creating natural looking links, clients aren’t constantly so keen on the idea. Their objective would be to rank to the 1 golden keyword phrase.

Here are some techniques to explain the advantages of, and causes of, linking with out particular anchor text.

Develop Hyperlinks for Site visitors

One reason clients want to rank extremely in search engines is for traffic, correct? Then why don’t you use the classic phrases “click here” as anchor text that may encourage people today to take action if they see your link.

Build Links for Personalization

Branding is becoming more valuable, particularly when you believe about the undeniable fact that A stands for Amazon and AOL, T stands for Bank associated with America and Ideal Purchase, and so on when it comes to Google Instant outcomes.

For that reason, you need to create links for the business/brand name so that the manufacturer becomes extra authoritative searching outcomes. Imagine if someone else sort of remembers your company name, but not entirely, and tries making use of the Google to find you, 1 notice at a time. So when you have been Netflix, you would want your name to pop up as an individual started typing “Ne.”

Hint: This would be a wonderful time to be able to revisit all of those website link opportunities you may possibly have handed up due to the fact they didn’t permit anchor text.

Construct Links for Alternative Keyword Phrases

If a person doesn’t have a clear idea what they’re trying to find, they may possibly be led astray by Google’s ideas that appear in the actual search box as they sort. So research your client’s key phrases and commence typing them in slowly to see just what comes up, and show that to your customers. Maybe that can cause them to become consider other anchor text.

Also, Google is not the end all of suggest tools. There are numerous additional web sites that provide several keyword alternatives, including main search engines (Bing, Yahoo, Blekko) as well as social search websites (Topsy, Delicious).

Develop Links for Internal Web pages

Is your link building focus only on the website? Why not get the inner pages of the web site ranked extremely too?

You should see advantages of going for more particular terms, such as the visitors they would acquire if they had been to rate initial for a certain, much less tough keyword with an internal page rather than being number 12 for a generic key phrase with plenty of competition.

Your thinking on Anchor Text

How do you deal with clients looking links develop to 1 particular keyword phrase? What other types of links or alternative anchor text techniques do you go for when link building?

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: anchor text

Free Winter Desktop Backgrounds

November 29, 2010 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

I thought I would share free winter desktop backgrounds some that you can download and put your your computer.

It is a good time because it it starting to get a bit cold here and Christmas isn’t too far away.

Here is another precious fact you can expect from winter – its exceptional solitary beauty. Only during winter you get to see trees painted with white snows, frosted branches, snowflakes, frozen rivers, e.t.c. Therefore fun or extreme snow sports players should appreciate all these great phenomenon.

Here is the compilation of 20 exclusively selected beautiful winter themed wallpapers for your desktop, make sure to compliment it with a mug of hot chocolate! [Read more...]

Filed Under: TapLead Breaking News

Tips For Facebook Marketing Basics

November 27, 2010 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

Well it’s happened. Facebook has announced in July of 2010 that it has passed the 500 million users milestone and for those that wish to start or improve their social media as a advertising technique for small company advertising , this kind of web advertising cannot be overlooked.

Web marketing via social media is becoming much more well-liked, particularly with numerous types of little companies, like home-based, on-line companies, network marketing and also the standard “brick and mortar” establishment.

Facebook provides company owners a fantastic opportunity to not only socialize but to network with individuals. Now it should not take place of live people-to-people networking events, however it ought to enhance and be a part of your entire marketing strategy.

Here are some basic ideas in wanting to use Facebook for business advertising.

In your profile, post a fantastic picture of yourself with a nice smile on your face.

It has been proven that much more individuals will likely to click on a person with a smile than without. And please, no pictures of your pets or children as you profile image. This isn’t “Petbook” or “My Kids Book”, this is Facebook.

In your info area, have some basic items listed of yourself, schools you’ve attended, any movie, book or music interests.

Use your discretion about posting where you’re employed, particularly if you’re building a company of your own.

But of course mention your own company if you’re self-employed.

I would suggest leaving out your religion or political beliefs or views.

Not that you’re ashamed of those beliefs, but you’re trying to construct a company and attract as numerous potential clients as possible. I understand having strong beliefs and views – I do myself – but I feel it’s not something I require to wear on my sleeve in a social media marketing campaign.

Construct your “friend” list sincerely and slowly.

You are able to separate your relatives and personal friends into a sub-list. What I mean by building a list “sincerely”, don’t just randomly pick individuals to be your friend. Take the time to see what they’re interests are, what movies or music they like. Understandably, some don’t allow their info to be viewed until you are accepted as friends – if that’s how they show their profile, you can’t do anything about that.

Post memorable posts.

Motivational quotes or sayings of individuals you admire from history or current events are great. Post some things that are going on in your life. Nothing personal or deep, but something like my kid is starting initial grade tomorrow. Keep posts positive and upbeat. Even to get a conversation string going, something like, “I’m going to see the Stone Temple Pilots tonight in Philadelphia – what’s your favorite 90′s band?”

Be interested in other people’s posts.

Comment or answer their posts, have dialog. Usually answer people’s questions.

Keep your wall clean.

You will find Facebook games that some individuals participate, like Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc. Remove them from your wall. Prospective friends checking out your wall won’t know about you with all that junk on your wall. Start a separate Facebook page in the event you wish to play those games.

Don’t feel like you can’t remove somebody as a friend.

You’re Facebook page is to attract and hold the most individuals that interest each other. Remove anything and anyone that is offensive and degrading.

In future Facebook articles, we’ll talk about using “fan pages” on Facebook as you construct your popularity.

Remember Facebook is just one aspect of your total social media marketing strategy. As you construct your Facebook page, your social networking continues all the time. You will be looked at as an expert in your company and construct a following to where you’ll get to the point of viral marketing your company and will include Facebook paid advertising, and using Google AdWords

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: facebook

20 SEO Terms That Are A Must Know

1. What Is SEM?

2. The All Important Backlink