Source: Six Revisions

Of course, it’s a hoax but there is a germ of truth. Every organisation is looking to the Internet to raise its market profile and to increase sales. Search engine optimisation is not simply about choosing the right key words it also includes judicious link building. A well-thought-out strategy of link building is not a case of “I’ll put your link on mine if you put my link on yours”. Effective online marketing requires discerning link building, connecting your website with websites that genuinely complement your product or service.

Some companies whilst formulating their SEO strategy pay fees to online directories to help build up their inbound links, but search engines do not consider links that are paid for in the same light as those that are sited on a quality website that offers a reciprocal link.

In truth, most organisations when looking at their SEO strategy, and factoring in link building, are very keen to establish inbound links but less keen to feature outbound links. After all, once a potential customer lands on your website, do you really want the person to be lured away by an outbound link before buying your goods? The answer is to build up a network of inbound and outbound links that do not compete with your service or products. For example, a good link with regard to search engine optimisation would be for a motorcycle accessories company to have inbound and outbound links with a company that sells motorcycles.

Article Source: Phoenix Realm

There are many common misconceptions surrounding SEO and PPC. One such misconception is that SEO is free and this is often listed as an advantage over the costs involved with Google AdWords and other PPC networks. With natural search, you will not pay every time someone clicks through to your website, but it should not be thought of as free. It is strongly advised to let professional optimisers carry out the SEO on your website and this will come at a cost. The alternative DIY option may seem appealing but will take a lot of time and is still likely to cost you money when you commence your link building strategies. Added to this is the possibility that you may “upset” the search engines if you do not know the “dos” and “don’ts” of natural SEO. So, if we assume that natural SEO will cost you money it begins to look more like PPC is the winner, but with one major difference.

Natural Search Engine Optimisation takes a lot of time and effort. A Google AdWords campaign can be up and running within fifteen minutes getting target traffic to you website and generating sales from the word go. However, natural listings can take months to arrive and there is no solid guarantee that they will arrive at all. This scares a lot of people off SEO; people want results they can see and they do not have the patience to wait several months for them. Natural Search Engine Optimisation is also a very intrusive procedure. A website’s position in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is dependant on a number of on-page factors such as page titles, descriptions and content. When starting an SEO campaign, you may discover that your website’s navigation needs to be completely reworked or that your SEO firm is insisting that they need to add 500 words of keyword rich content to your homepage. Before you sign up with an SEO firm, you should always discuss what work will need to be done to avoid any future upsets.

So far, compared to PPC, SEO seems to be the less desirable option: It requires more effort, takes longer to achieve and still costs money. Although it is true that an SEO campaign does cost money, it is much cheaper in the long run and will give a better ROI than you will achieve through paid listings. Once you have improved your website’s status and get the listings you were after, the bulk of the work is done. Although it is advisable to continue investing in link building and keep an eye on the competition, it should cost you no where near as much to maintain as it did to set up. In many cases it is possible to stop all SEO efforts altogether and still enjoy first page listings for years to come. While this may not be the reality for most commercial sites, SEO can generate huge amounts of traffic and can give an unbeatable ROI in the long term.

Although most people’s websites and business requirements can be wildly different, it is generally a good idea to invest money in both strategies. Investing in Natural Search Engine Optimisation will give the best long term ROI, while a simultaneous PPC campaign will provide a steady stream of traffic until SEO efforts come to fruition. There is also an added bonus that the on page SEO strategies are likely to increase your landing page quality score and reduce the cost of your paid ad placements in Google. Whichever methods you choose to pursue, it is sound advice to enlist the services of a professional company, chose the company carefully and make sure you know exactly what you are signing up for before you commit to anything.

Dave is a successful internet marketer, with proven knowledge in the fields of Search Engine Optimisation and Pay per Click Management. He is also the co-founder of Search Engine Oracle, an internet marketing company based in the UK.

Author: D Stewart
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Peer Bremer speaks to brainmates about his wonderful product smileCMS: a content management system that makes website administration a piece of cake.

Janey: Peer, can you tell us about how you came to be involved in content management systems?

Peer: I come from the communications industry having worked in and for Advertising Agencies on campaigns, print, packaging and corporate identity. I then started to get more and more involved with web design and application development to a point were I am now almost more of a programmer than a designer.

Janey: So, this led to the development of smileCMS, but were there other inspirations that prompted to you create your product?

Peer: Many of my clients are small to medium businesses that need to change the content of their web site regularly but don’t have the budget to retain a full-time webmaster. They were constantly requesting only small text changes but the whole process became inefficient and costly for them.

This motivated me to investigate several CMS solutions but most systems I looked at were very complex and not easy to learn or use. The users still had to know how to edit source files, tweak programming, and once they have everything up and running the resulting websites were not easy to navigate and were not visually appealing. Most systems also come with a price tag of several thousand dollars; even the ones that come with no license fees require the average customer to hire an external consultant. As a response to my clients concerns, I developed smileCMS as a more affordable alternative that would also provide functions to create better designed websites and offer a great user experience.

Janey: Can you tell me more about smileCMS and your favourite features?

Peer: SmileCMS is a content management system that allows the user to edit website content right on the web page. All you need to do is just browse to a page, click on the text and start typing. There is no need to know or learn any programming languages, not even html. The system is fully e-commerce enabled with an integrated interactive shopping bag. Managing and adding products for sale onto a website has never been easier.

My favourite feature is the ability to edit right on the web page. Most other system use pop up windows and dialogue boxes to manage or edit page content. But my favourites don’t stop there; the rest of the system is as easy as the text editing. You can upload images, resize and crop them within the system before dragging and dropping them onto the web page. You can also sort menu items by simply dragging them to a new position; create links by dragging and dropping selected text; and create or remove pages with one click.

Janey: smileCMS sounds like a dream-come-true for people who aren’t technical or website savvy. What is the main benefit companies will receive from using your product?

Peer: A big advantage is the minimum time required to learn the system. Everybody, even people that have no experience with web editing can learn and use the system right away.

Peer, thanks for sharing smileCMS with us – a product innovation created to solve specific market problems. It’s a story of product development at its best.