Email Marketing Best Practices

The business world that is running the world now is obsessed with getting the most customer intelligence to further their businesses. Businesses need to know what customers need, how and what they think, what services or products are they looking for, etc. And they turn to all sorts of media blitz and campaign in order to get more customers for their business. Big businesses’ spending on TV and print ads and Internet advertising are staggering and unbelievably huge. And the advertising industry absolutely enjoys every bit of it.

One marketing technique that has not been maximized is email marketing. Compared to all the other popular marketing strategies and techniques, email marketing does not cost much. The investment will probably be on Internet subscription, minimal human resource, desktop computer and electricity bill. Hence, email marketing is deemed the most cost-effective advertising technique there is today.  

In order to get the best results from email marketing, the following lists down some of the known and proven email marketing practices which you can use as a guideline when doing your email marketing campaign.

• Create Incentives-oriented line opener for your email. This will increase the open rates of your email. Recipients are likely to open their email if they read something like, “Get an iPad free by signing up for a demo”, or “Free shipping for first order.” Don’t just do this for the sake of converting; make sure you can deliver what you promised.
• Keep your email clutter-free. Sending an email full of junk will not likely end up in a conversion.
• Highlight call-to-action above the fold. Putting your main message and call-to-action towards the end of the email will most likely result to them being ignored or not read by the recipient. Call-to-action should be repeated throughout the email the least of which is 3 times.
• Put your logo where it can be easily seen – at the upper left hand side of the email. Studies have shown that people look for the logos at this particular and specific area.  
• Create eye-catching and compelling subject lines. Like the email line opener, you can write a subject line of 30 – 50 characters with a sense of urgency. This line should give the readers an idea of what the email is all about.
• Tie your email to landing pages. Craft your email such that it will be able to link to landing pages which should have the same headline, copy and content. Use tracking tools to monitor the email and landing pages for performance.
• Use auto-responder for Opt-ins. It’s normal for recipients to forget they opted in. You need to set up auto-responder to remind them and it should be sent out in 1, 5 and 10 days after the opt-in registration. Auto-responder email should contain additional content or bonus material for opting in.  
• Make your email with a personal touch. This is where the power of email lies – the recipient needs to feel that the email was sent on a personal capacity and as such deserves a response. Use email as your way of reaching out to your customers and making them feel important.
• Timing. Know exactly when you need to send the email, which is when the recipient is around to read it right away or almost immediately. Studies and surveys showed that more people are using their lunch hour to check their email, Facebook and Twitter accounts. This should be about the right time to send your email.  

Email marketing is still a great way to generate leads and eventually more conversion prospects for your business, if done the right way. Compelling email marketing campaigns still get high success rate. People abhor getting junk and suspicious looking email marketing materials. Just follow the simple guidelines presented above to elicit chances of your marketing materials ending up in junk mailbox.

Email marketing is just part and parcel of online marketing. You have to understand online marketing as a whole to have holistic approach and have a more effective campaign. You can take a look at The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Marketing for better guidance.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Marketing

In this day and age of internet and advanced technology where online marketing outsourcing is just as anybody’s business, the success of any business is largely dependent on effective online marketing strategies and campaign programs. It opens up business doors to a broader consumer audience.

There are however, important considerations when it comes to acceptable online marketing for many outsource internet marketing experts. These online marketing do’s and don’ts will help differentiate good marketing practices against bad marketing techniques.

Online Marketing Do’s

• Simple and accurate website information. Your main concern is for users to be able to get the information they want from your website easily and quickly. Making your website user-friendly is key to an effective internet marketing campaigns.
• Simple and easy-to-remember domain names. If your website’s domain name is extremely long and hard to remember, gaining repeat stream of traffic to the site is not likely to happen. Imagine a secretary dictating to a business affiliate over the phone a domain name made of hardly read words - a jungle of letters and numbers.
• Learn SEO. For any online marketing outsourcing experts, effective search engine optimization strategies are a helpful lot in supplementing online marketing campaigns for implementation into the website. If your website is found by the various search engines, traffic to your site will definitely improve without spending extra for advertising.
• Have a specific and clearly defined USP. Unique Sales Positioning (USP) is like a single online ad which describes your core business. It should eliminate generic connotations to set your business apart from generic competitors. Example : Domino’s Pizza’s USP is “pizza delivered hot in 30 minutes or it’s free”. The recall factor is strong and people will easily associate the ad to the business.
• Use a short email signature. When using email marketing, use an email signature with a URL attached linking to your website. This is a great way to get traffic to a website. By keeping it short and easy to remember.
• Keep an interactive website. Your website should stimulate interaction from the users. Use online polls, surveys, etc. to get more information about your website’s audience.
• Pick your medium. Whether it’s paid search (PPC) or media buying (banners, pop-ups), choose the logical medium where your targeted prospects are.
• Blog posts. Creating blogs for your website will facilitate user interaction and will cause your website to gain traffic. Make sure to post new blogs in order to keep the users wanting for more new information to read.   

Online Marketing Don'ts

• Use Blackhat SEO techniques. As search engines regularly updates their algorithms, using these techniques will get your website penalized or banned. Online marketing outsourcing companies shun this practice.
• Over-Publicity. There’s nothing worse than a publicity overkill especially when your website is not fully ready for traffic. This is a sure way to drive users away from your website.   
• Conditional access to information. Websites requiring registration prior to gaining access to the information will definitely turn off users.
• Forget the user. Most of the time internet marketing outsourcing companies are so caught up with their campaign that they forgot the users – the people the website is designed for and the people in control of revenue.  
• Send spam and long email messages. This kind of online marketing will end up in the trash folders of email recipients or worse; people will block you. You might as well filter out people who you will send email marketing materials to.
• Slow loading and poorly designed website. Your website is your best asset. Websites that takes time to load will cause user boredom and you’re leaving the users with the option of hitting the back button.

Even conventional marketing firms are slowly moving towards online marketing and nothing beats expertise when it comes to digital marketing. However, if you’re new to the digital marketing world, you might as well want to get informed on how does its mechanism work to avoid unnecessary actions that might be detrimental to a marketing campaign.  Of course, mistakes and experience are the greatest teacher but being a bit cautious could let you go the extra mile.

Being audacious with your internet marketing campaign can be widely accepted and at the same time, may not be accepted at all. But, knowing the foundations and the rules of how marketing or advertising should be done can actually defy any hurdles that may come along the way.

On-Site Optimization Techniques

Search engine optimization requires both on-site optimization and off-site optimization techniques in order to achieve high ranking in search engines. On-page optimization refers to the many optimization elements that you have control of – keyword research and analysis, keyword density, content writing, links, text and images, etc., for the website to be properly detected and found by search engine crawlers for every search query made by users for specific relevant keywords.

On-site optimization is actually the initial step in telling Google and other search engines what the site is about. Google and search engines should know this so that when someone makes a search for a specific topic or subject, and your page has relevant content, Google can show your pages as one of the sites users can visit to get the information they need.

A good content with relevant information for the site is the best way to begin with the optimization techniques. This strategy has been proven effective in getting search engine rankings, especially for newly-launched websites. A site’s content should target the readers and not the search engines. This means, content should have useful and informative data to make it easier for both the readers and search engines to locate the website. The soonest your site is found by search engine crawlers the better ranking your site will have.  

The following are some of the on-site optimization techniques which can positively impact the rankings of your site in search engines.

• The Title Tag. The title tag should :
• describe your page content. It is important that the title and the actual content on the page match.
• have keywords placed as far left as possible
• be safely within 70 characters
• be unique for every page on the site
• be optimized with just one or two relevant keywords
• mention your geographical location (city or country) if you are targeting local customers
• should not be over-stuffed with keywords

• The Page’s URL. The URL is another important component of on-site optimization techniques. The URL should:
• have the most relevant or important keyword for specific page
• be accurately short
• preferably be static than dynamic

• Images. Images with alt tag, filename should make use of targeted keywords so that search engine crawlers can ‘read’ what the picture or image is all about and will index accordingly.

• Keyword usage. This is also known as keyword density. Repeat your keywords or key phrases for up to three times for a short to medium length page and up to six times for a longer page. It is best to write the content without worrying about the number of times the keywords or key phrases were used.  When the article or content is finished, you can count the number of times such keywords or key phrases were mentioned throughout the content. Modify accordingly – add if you have less keywords or key phrases and reduce if you have more than the acceptable number. This will really depend on the length and the content. Don’t just insert keywords or phrases for the sake of keyword density, the content will lose its sense.

• Anchor Text. This is used for easy website navigation. You are making it easier for anyone who is viewing a page in your website to visit or see other pages, services, or products. This is a form of encouraging your audience to go see what else your website can offer. Just make sure that you use variable keywords as your anchor text to avoid getting penalized. Anchor text can also serve as reference if you are pointing it to an external website.

• Use of H1, H2 and H3. Emphasizing your most important keyword with the use of H1 will tell search robots that the phrase or word is important. Your targeted or primary keyword or your page headline must use H1. H2 and H3 are used for subtopics which are made of your secondary keywords or key phrases.

• Use of Bold, Italics or Underline. Highlighting important words or phrases is essential in every article or content. It makes it a lot easier for internet users to see the most important part of the content. These styles are actually used to give your secondary or other related keywords emphasis.

• Side Links. Side links help internet users have flawless website navigation. Side links helps lessen a website’s bounce rate because it shows internet users other options they can look at. It serves as a website map which shows available pages. Other targeted keywords that describe another page can be used as side link.   

Do remember that every time there is a chance to put strong emphasis on your targeted keyword, do so. It’s sort of reiterating to search engine crawlers and your audience that your website speaks of those words or phrases. Avoid over optimization which could cause more harm than good to your website and business. Just optimize what is necessary to not look like you are manipulating spiders.

If these words or techniques sound foreign to you, you have the option to let those experienced do it for you. Internet marketing outsourcing or hiring web developers who have search engine optimization background are your best options. Entrusting your on-site optimization to people who really knows what they’re doing will greatly help in positioning your business online.

How Can SEO Company Position Your Business on the SERP?

In ordinary language, a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Company helps businesses or companies in making their website be more visible by making it search engine friendly in order to increase the traffic to the site and improve business activities. Because SEO is a process of improving search engine ranking of the company, websites tend to gain from such by gaining more users, readers or potential customers.

Depending on the expertise of the SEO Company and the needs and requirements of the business, specific SEO services are provided with the same objective of increasing the online visibility of the website and the business. The many different techniques and strategies implemented are all geared towards achieving good and high ranking with search engines.

Creating a brand is the main thrust of search engine optimization. By having so much online visibility, a business is starting to become a brand not only locally but worldwide. Since the Internet is the best avenue to target a wider audience apart from the local market who is within a company’s reach, SEO companies saw the potential of leveraging in a business website to achieve local and global reach and branding.   

So, how can SEO Company position your business on the top pages of the search engines results page? The following are the important things SEO company can do in order to achieve the target ranking:

• Choosing Appropriate Keywords. Keywords are words or phrases used in search queries. By doing an intensive research on the keywords, SEO Company will be able to target relevant keywords and key phrases that will help the site land on the top pages of the search results page every time a search is made on the specific target keywords. If incorrect or irrelevant keywords are used, the website will not be found by the searchers or it can get traffic that is not actually interested in your products.

           

Keywords being targeted must speak of the company, its products, or the services it   offers. This way, keyword choices will directly benefit a company’s website once searches are made.

• Creating Relevant Site Content. Writing website content may not be sufficient. A specific page only speaks of a particular product or service and does not speak of the whole website.  A forum or a blog could be integrated or linked in order to increase the site’s visibility to the users. This is not to forget that the content SEO Company should create need to be compelling, informative, relevant and timely aimed at serving the readers’ needs. Sometimes, a website content just needs to be the basic foundation of certain information. Information that can be used for a long time will likely attract more users and traffic as it is timeless and can be used as reference.

• Designing a Solid Site Structure. A site that is designed such that search engine spiders can easily crawl the pages and something that is appealing for its targeted audience is likely to get high ranking from the search engines. Do remember that robots heavily relies on user activities. To be able to glue a user to your website, it must be very functional and easy to navigate. A solid site structure combined with a visually appealing site design optimized for search engine spiders and for people can absolutely bring positive results to the site in terms of ranking.

• Implementing Onsite and Offsite Optimization Techniques. The search engine optimization experts should add in all the required optimization elements, whether they are on-site or off-site techniques. This is where focus will be given to keyword density, internal links, images, backlinks, etc. will come into play in order to enhance the site’s ‘appeal’ to search engines spiders and crawlers.   

• Internal Linking. For the site to get fully indexed, search engine spiders should be given an easy path through the website. Internal links can get spiders traverse between pages within the site. SEO Company should make sure they have built a strong internal linking within the site pages making it again, easy for users to use and for spiders to understand page relevancy.

• Submissions. A site that is authoritative and trustworthy is likely to rank high with search engine spiders. Submitting the site to search engines will help a website get indexed in search engines and by submitting a site to directories will add backlinks to a website. Directory submission also help websites get listed locally.

• Monitoring and Tracking Results. The site needs to be regularly checked, updated, monitored and tracked for results. This is to make sure that the optimization techniques in place are working effectively to achieve the target goals and results. By tracking and monitoring website performance, easy fix can be done if certain strategies don’t work.

Positioning your business in search engine results page means achieving greater heights for your business. Appearing on top results will increase customer visits and conversion. If search engine optimization sounds foreign to you, you can always seek help from SEO companies who have proven to deliver promised results.

There are numerous countries who offers SEO services, you can always search on who delivers better results when it comes to internet marketing, particularly in search engine optimization. SEO companies in India, SEO companies in the Philippines, SEO companies in Australia and other countries can be your options. Just trust the SEO company who is more aggressive at the same time well-versed when it comes to search engine optimization expertise.

What is Redirection and How Does it Affect SEO?

For those who are non-technical, a 301 and 302 redirects may sound meaningless and strange. But for those in the business of outsource online marketing, these redirects are nothing new. By definition, “redirect” means to direct someone or something to a different place or a different route. In simpler terms, a webpage redirection means assigning a new URL to the webpage. Redirection can also mean a changed design, coding, navigation, etc.

Redirection may be prompted in any businesses’ web pages, for instance, for different reasons and the changes applied will depend on such reason. The usual reasons for redirecting a web page are:

• Broken URL or URL that is not working
• An inactive webpage or website
• A new webpage is being tested for design and functionality
• A web page is being fixed and while in that process, you want your users to make a detour to another page so as not to disrupt the user’s website experience

To be more specific, a 301 redirect, also known as a permanent redirect, is used to permanently redirect a page. This means that all ‘qualities’ of the redirected page will be passed on to the new or detour page, including PageRank, MozRank, Page Authority and Traffic Value. A 301 redirect is a complete takeover of the old site or page where the changes implemented are meant to be permanent. The old page will then be removed from Google’s index and the new one will take over and replace the old page. Majority of the internet marketing companies employ page redirects as an effort to continuously update their contents.  

On the other hand, a 302 redirect which is also known as a temporary redirect, is used to redirect your site visitors into a new webpage with the intention of bringing the redirected or old page back after a specified time or after some changes on the old page have already been completed. With this objective, a 302 redirect will maintain the ‘qualities’ of the old page and not pass on to the detour page. Because the old redirected page will be brought back to the fore, the new or detour page need not absorb the ‘qualities” of the redirected page. Any internet marketing company should be careful in using a 302 redirect correctly. Otherwise it will hurt the site’s search engine visibility.   

Effects of Redirects to SEO

Using page redirects can have negative impact mainly on search engine optimization rankings. Using a 301 redirect can slightly lower a web page’s PageRank points. Google, a popular and widely used search engine hinted that a 301 redirect may not always transfer PageRank data from one page to another. And since PageRank affects the number of pages crawled by Google on a given website, a reduce PageRank will impact the site’s visibility to users.

In order to minimize the negative effect of redirects to SEO on your website, it is important that internet marketing companies make sure that all links to their old page from directories or other websites are equally updated. This will probably be the most difficult part of implementing changes on the website because many links may end up on pages which no longer exist or have been abandoned or neglected. By ensuring that all the relevant pages are updated with the redirection changes, improved contents, and good site architecture, the site’s search engine ranking may not be hurt at all.

Why do you redirect a web page?

You redirect a web page because you do not want to commit the mistake of having search engines index the page that no longer exists or the page that is under construction. Broken links are your worst enemies in pulling your ranking down. One wrong move could be very detrimental to a website. You do not only appear as scam to robots but to humans as well. You will lose your credibility and the chance of getting visited by the same user is synonymous to impossible.

A good SEO company is cautious in committing redirection mistakes because the harm it may cause a business may not be controlled and could be fatal.

Targeting Local Market through SEO and PPC

If your business provides products or services targeted for local consumers and customers, the best way to increase the reach of your business online is by implementing search engine optimization and paid advertising like pay per click which are geared towards the local market. Local SEO and PPC are two effective ways a business can target the local customers.

In majority cases, increased sales is always guaranteed if your site garnered a higher page ranking in search engine results for local products and services. Therefore, your website should be optimized such that the local market is targeted effectively and efficiently. Website owners should make sure that their websites contain the essential elements that would direct local consumers and customers to your site with their search queries. Following are some local SEO tips which reinforce your local marketing efforts:

• Register with Local Directories. Local consumers look up for businesses in the local directories or commercial directories that cater to local markets. You may take advantage of free local listings like Google+ Local or Yahoo! Local. Most of the customers use the more popular local online search engines when they look up for products and services.
• Create a Sub-Domain to Build Trust. It takes a while to generate trust with the major search engines. You may opt to capitalize on the domain trust of established businesses by creating a subdomain with them to gain exposure. Linking your main site in the external domains, you can increase traffic to the site which will eventually help it gain trust with major search engines.
• Make Your Address Visible. By listing your business address prominently on your main home page or landing page, and all the other pages of your site for customers to see and remember easily.  
• Multiple Markets. If your business caters to multiple local markets, make sure you have a landing page for each of the towns you are marketing. A local customer would not be interested in reading through information about other towns on the same page his town is displayed. A more localized landing page is preferred.

Like local SEO, PPC relies on the principle that targeting a specific geographical area in a marketing campaign will bring in more positive results for a local business. Pay per click (PPC) ad campaigns are inexpensive and do significantly increase traffic even for a specified timeframe only. Learning how to make local PPC work will get your site ahead of the competitors. It all boils down to the effective research of proper and relevant keywords and put them to work.

There are three ways to target a local audience through PPC:

• Local Keyword Campaign. By using a combination of local geographical modifier and core keywords, a local product or service is advertised within the specified geographic location.
• Geographic Targeted Campaign. This is the most frequently used campaign to target local market. The search marketer shall simply select the local audience for which the ads need to be displayed – state, city or customer defined area.
• Ads on local business listings and maps. This option requires setting up an account at the Google+ Local or the Google Local Business Center, and text ads may appear on a Google area map after a local search is made.

These are the benefits of local search engine optimization and local pay per click advertising campaign. These two online marketing strategies will help your business grow and get local presence if properly done. SEO companies in the Philippines can help you obtain local presence and brand recognition.