Denver SEO Blog: Web Development, SEO & Marketing

AOL could become another internet marketing powerhouse. The company has recently announced it’s new “Platform A”, a mixture of the technological successes of Advertising.com, TACODA, Third Screen Media, Lightningcast, and ADTECH’s global ad serving platform.

Platform A is poised to be a powerhouse of ad distribution through tightly defined niches like mobile advertising, video ads, behavioral targeting, and more. AOL has noticed CPM advertising is requiring more than just selling a bundle of clicks. Internet Advertisers and search marketers are requiring more demographic information before purchasing CPM these days. Without the right targeting, return on investment for CPM can be difficult to track(or realize!).

But Platform A also has the breadth of distribution to compete with Google: Platform A already reaches more than 90% of the domestic online audience, according to comScore. It will be interesting to test the two internet ad networks side by side: Each will likely have their own flavor, but one is going to clearly emerge as the leader. The competition will be good, but I doubt Google will be toppled just yet.

Tags: search engine optimization, denver web design, website development, denver web development, seo, website design

Mobile Search Optimization has been a bit of a buzzword this last twelve months. Web sites have long ignored the cellphone-based web surfer, but lately there has been much interest. There may be huge opportunities for websites optimized for cellphones, PDAs, toasters, and all of the other crazy devices visitors might be using to surf the web. More and more consumers are requiring email and even web access on their cellphones. Initiatives are merging local search, coupons, and even GPS. Mobile search optimization surely is the next huge possibility for traffic. Is your website ready?

It may not matter. With Apple’s impending introduction of the iPhone, everything may change. Again. Consider:

1. There will be a whole new set of expectations for how a phone should browse. With the iPod, Apple defined the niche. Competitors were weighed against Apple’s offering. With the introduction of full-featured browsing via the iPhone, consumers are about to demand more from their phones. They won’t demand a better mobile experience. They are demanding the full desktop experience in a mobile phone.

2. Who would visit a .mobi site, when the full featured experience of a .com is available? In most cases, I would be too lazy to attempt a .mobi surf - since I KNOW the .com is available. We all just want to get our data and get on our way. Only hobbyist surfers would want to go check out the .mobi sites. Who wants to look at a dumbed-down webpage?

Was mobile search optimization a waste of time? Having a few major companies optimize their websites for cellphones probably didn’t make much of a blip on the radar. It’s hard to say what the ROI was for their efforts, but it was likely more of a bet for the future. What do you think - Is mobile search optimization worthwhile for your company or clients?

Tags: website development, seo, denver web development, search engine optimization, denver web design, website design

There was an excellent story in the San Francisco Gate in May about Lake Champlain Chocolates, and the lessons they’ve learned with Pay Per Click Advertising. The story title is “PAY-PER-CLICK PROBLEMS: Emeryville gourmet chocolate company has a rough go of it“, but the real value of the article is the PPC secrets it gives away. The article discusses two chocolate retailers: Lake Champlain Chocolates and Charles Chocolates. Lake Champlain Chocolates has experienced successful growth due to their PPC campaign, but Charles Chocolates did see any measurable growth from theirs.

1. Use negative keywords
In the article, words like “cheap” and “free” were used as negative keywords to avoid showing ads to less affluent searchers. Every time you show an ad it’s like holding out a dollar bill for your searcher to snatch away. Be sure to get a prospective customer in return!

2. Refrain from using the content network
Google AdWords users expect that the content network will show ads in all the right places. In a perfect world, new customers would see your ad and keep you in mind for their next purchase. But it isn’t a perfect world(Don’t even get me started!). Consider:

- Visitors probably will not click. Content ads are like billboard ads. How often do you see a billboard and pull off of the highway to make an immediate purchase? It’s highly unlikely. Like the company in the article learned, “The return was never there.”

- Visitors who click your ad won’t buy that day. They were reading, not shopping. At best, they will signup for your newsletter or bookmark your page. Is the landing page converting them into bookmarking or signing up? Probably not. Either fix that, or turn off the content network for now.

- Clickfraudsters will click your ad and keep half. Click fraud is a plague of the content network. Last June, Outsell estimated that click fraud could be as high as 14 percent. The real estimate is probably a little lower, but click fraud does exist.

3. Use large sets of focused keywords
The successful Lake Champlain Chocolate seller had a keyword set as high as 70k at one time, and now has it trimmed down to 30k. That’s  a big keyword set!

4. Use advanced keyword features
One of the issues Internet Marketing Consultant Lael Sturm found with the struggling Emerville Chocolate Retailer Charles Chocolates was that they “hadn’t modified the ad text to match each specific keyword.” Be sure to use the advanced keyword options that PPC engines like Google AdWords provide. In Google AdWords, the code is {keyword: your keyword}. This option shows the keyphrase your user was searching for in the text of your ad.

5. Measure and adjust
Is money being wasted in your campaign? You won’t know unless you are measuring. Lake Champlain saw they spent money attracting a searcher for “Chocolate covered scorpions,” something they didn’t sell, and decided not to let that happen again. Along with measuring what ads are the most effective, be sure to measure what you are paying for and remove/adjust the ads lacking good ROI.

6. Outsource your campaign to professionals to dramatically increase your sales
Even with Lake Champlain Chocolate’s success inhouse, they were able to DOUBLE their sales by outsourcing their PPC management to professionals. You just can’t beat having the right help. Get to your friendly neighborhood search marketing agency today!

Tags: website design, seo, search engine optimization, denver web development, denver web design, website development

I’m still getting two copies of Search Marketing Standard magazine, but I’m not reporting it. First off, it’s so good that I don’t want to possibly miss an issue by having anyone mess with my subscription. With other magazines, I’ve found that fulfillment centers sometimes get confused, and it’s usually months before I realize a certain issue isn’t coming. I just can’t risk it. Every article is good.

Secondly, I’ll probably read through it twice. Might as well have a fresh crisp copy the second time. I wonder if I’ll even dog-ear the same pages?

Here are four excellent resources for anyone interested in SEO, internet marketing, ecommerce, and the affiliate scene:
1. Search Marketing Standard. If you’ve thought the SEO world moves too fast for print, think again.

2. Practical Ecommerce. Not just for ecommerce store owners. Every web developer creating ecommerce websites should be in tune with the industry.

3. Revenue. Great for affiliate marketers, ecommerce merchants, or any company creating PPC(Pay Per Click) campaigns on Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing.
4. Internet Retailer. Especially important if you are helping larger companies with their SEO, SEM, PPC, and ROI! This publication is best at industry trends influencing larger retailers and online merchants.

It is essential that web designers and web site developers start paying attention to the many facets that can make or break an online business. These publications can help get you serve your clients!

Tags: seo, denver web design, search engine optimization, website development, website design, denver web development