The Rank Magic Blog
eCommerce Requires Site Search
 August 26, 2009 :::
On an eCommerce site, one of your primary goals needs to be making it easy
for people to buy what you're selling. Assuming you sell more than a handful
of products, you need to incorporate a Site Search function. If people have
to spend too much time looking for a product, they're likely to give up and
look on someone else's site.
We have a very simple and free search function
on our site in the right-hand column, but a search function specially
designed for eCommerce is better for you if your web site sells directly
online. Even for a non-eCommerce site like ours that's mainly informational,
a search function proves to be very valuable.
A search function on your web site not only
helps your customers find what they're looking for, but it can also inspire
them to look for other products to buy. A customer might think, "Gee, if
they have this product, I wonder if they have ..." and search for that new
product.
Without a search function, you may be missing out on the potential for more
sales, just because it's not convenient for your customers to look for
additional products.
August 19, 2009 :::
Kathryn Katz of
www.webcast1.com has published a helpful article in Jill Whalen's
terrific High
Ranking Advisor on the subject of niche directories. Here's what she had
to say.
Finding Free Niche Directories
By Kathryn Katz
 As search engines place more and more emphasis on "link
popularity," web site owners find themselves pressured not only to optimize
their site, but to find other quality web sites in their niche market that are
willing to link to their web site. Many niche web directories like
Business.com,
IRED.com and
MedMarket.com are willing to list your web site, but at a price.
For those web site owners that are working on a tight budget, paying for every
link is not only expensive, but not in their budget.
But don't despair; there are many quality, free niche directories out there. The
biggest challenge is finding them. Here are three easy methods to find free
niche directories:
Method 1: "Search Engine Search"
Go to your favorite search engine (mine is Google), and type in general
keyword(s) related to your site. For example, if I have a wedding caterer site,
I would type in "wedding." Usually, well-ranking niche directories will place in
the Top 10 results. In this case
WeddingLinksGalore.com is ranked #1 and
mentions in the description that the directory offers free links. Click through
to the site and look for an "Add a Link" or "Join Vendor Directory" button or
link somewhere in the navigation.
Method 2: "Directory Search"
Go to a standard directory, like the Google Directory, and click on "Reference."
Click on "Directories" and then select the major category that relates to your
web site. For example, if I have a CPA site, I would click on "Business." At
this point, I could choose to submit the site to the general directories listed
under "Business" like CEOTrak.com or narrow my search further to "Accounting
Firms" like CPADirectory.com. Probably, I'd end up going through both the
"Business" and "Accounting Firms" categories and submitting my site to all free
directories that were relevant to my niche market.
Method 3: "Competition's Links"
Go to your favorite search engine and search for the web sites linking to your
competitor by typing in link:http://www.competitorswebsite.com. Then click on
each link and find directories that your competitor submitted their site to. Or
go to your competitor's site using the Google Toolbar's Page Info > Backward
Links feature. (The Google Toolbar can be downloaded from
http://toolbar.google.com/.)
Here's another tip: Don't be afraid to think outside the box when searching for
a free niche directory. When looking for a directory, try to think of all
markets that relate to your web site. You'd be surprised at what counts as a
related directory. For example, I market a general law practice. I came across a
quality, free niche directory,
WorkIndex.com, that specializes in human resource
issues. Because the law practice does employment and labor law, they were
eligible for a submission to WorkIndex.com under their "Legal Issues" category.
Keep in mind that you might have to go through several directories before you
find some quality, free niche directories that are right for you; however, your
persistence will pay off. You will find some great directories that will boost
your link popularity and maybe even bring in some quality, targeted traffic as
well.
Good luck and happy hunting.
Kathryn Katz
Search Engine Marketing Specialist
Searchwiz Marketing - division of Webcast 1, Inc.
www.webcast1.com |
 August
13, 2009 ::: In evaluating
keywords to optimize your page for,
frequency of search is clearly critical. You don't want to optimize your
site for keywords that no one ever searches for. Focus and competability are
two other factors we use in evaluating keywords.
Microsoft has a new tool in their
AdCenter Labs
section that has potential to further improve keyword selection: Microsoft OCI -- Online Commercial Intention. Here's how Microsoft describes it:
|
Web page searches display two levels of commercial
intent: informational and transactional. This tool can detect customer intent to
acquire information or to purchase products based on their search queries or
recently visited URLs. For example, if a customer searches for "canon digital
camera", it is likely that they want to purchase a canon digital camera;
therefore, the online commercial intent is strong, with a confidence level
larger than 0.5. |
Informational intent has to do with searching
for (duh!) information. Commercial intent means the searcher is looking to
buy a product or service. For most of our clients, we'd want keywords with
a high commercial intent score. For web sites providing mostly information
(like Wikipedia) they'd want a high informational intent score.
We're looking into whether the new Microsoft
tool is robust enough and convenient enough to build into our client
keyword evaluations.
Why not try it out for yourself?
 5
Tips for Avoiding Deceptive SEO Companies
August 9, 2009 :::
There are deceptive SEO companies out there -- we refer to them as
"black hat" companies who use unethical techniques to get your site near the
top of the rankings. Their techniques often work well in the short term, but
they don't produce long-term results and often they can get your web site
banned from the search engines.
Small Business Trends has an article on 5 things
that may reveal a black hat SEO company:
85 Reasons Why Website Designers/Developers
Keep SEOs in Business
August 3, 2009 :::
Noted SEO Guru Jill Whalen recently wrote a pretty true but
amusing article by that title in
Search Engine Land. She starts out saying this:
|
A few months ago, I was quoted by Google’s Matt Cutts as saying that
“website developers keep SEOs in business.” I honestly do believe that
and have for a long time. While I don’t mean to say that ALL website
designers/developers believe or do all of these things, you’ll likely
encounter many who have done or believe in some of these.
As long as there are developers and designers who believe in any of
the following, there will always be a need for SEO consulting: |
 Jill goes on to list things that many web designers do or don't do that
ensure the need for SEO companies like Rank Magic. Some of the items
in the list include:
They think adding words into a Meta keyword tag is SEO.
They develop navigational menus that are invisible to search engines.
They think one-word keywords are what you optimize for
They think SEO is submitting to search engines.
They think SEO is submitting an XML sitemap to the search engines.
They put the same Title on every page of the website.
They design sites completely in Flash.
Check out Jill's piece for the full list.
|
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