Category: Web world at large

Get Optimized - Request a Quote

What is an SEO Writer?

Posted November 27, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large, Writing for the Web | Tags: , | 3 Comments | Share This

 

What is an SEO WriterWhat is an SEO writer? That was a question at a recent web writing workshop, and one that gets asked frequently by business owners learning about the Web.

An SEO writer, or SEO copywriter, is basically a writer who develops keyword-rich website content.

Well-researched, keyword-rich content is a highly effective online marketing tool savvy businesses use to gain high search engine rankings, and generate leads and sales.

Accordingly, it’s the job of the SEO writer to effectively optimize website content with keywords that align with popular search terms.

Catering to two masters

The term SEO writer is also interchangeable with web content writer, web copywriter, website writer — the list goes on. Call them what you will, a web writer’s effectiveness should be gauged on to two main factors:

Traffic: A good SEO writer tactfully integrates keywords into website content so it ranks optimally on search engines. Weak SEO writers merely “keyword stuff,” meaning they randomly squeeze keywords into content wherever they can fit them. Lack of an effective keyword strategy results in missed opportunities.

Conversions: The experienced SEO writer also writes effective website content to engage visitors and promote conversions. That’s critical; you can have thousands of visitors monthly, but if no one is willing to invest in your offerings, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.

Such was the case for UBC, a globally known university in Canada that hired an SEO firm to improve their website’s search engine rankings. The SEO company did, but neglected the visitor. The content read so poorly that their bounce rates were dreadfully high.

Our SEO writers further optimized the client’s content, but also minded their visitors. Descriptive, useful information is now featured. As a result, the conference and accommodation website now generates both traffics and bookings.

At the end of the day, that’s what makes an effective SEO writer; one who writes for search engines and visitors.

Steps in Developing a Successful Website

Posted November 26, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large, Writing for the Web | Tags: | 3 Comments | Share This

 

Steps in Developing a Successful WebsiteCopywriters, designers, developers — they all have a part to play in building a successful website.

Like life, there are sequential stages of progression. A child learns to lift his head, turn over, sit up, crawl and finally walk and run.

As Stephen Covey points out in his best seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he states: “Each step is important and each one takes time. No step can be skipped.”

This hold true for websites as well. The planning, copywriting, design and development take time, too, and need to be a part of the process.

Otherwise, skipping any of these steps cause websites to fall flat on their faces.

Microsoft Sites Capture Largest Share of Time Spent Online

Posted November 10, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large | 0 Comments | Share This

 

Microsoft Sites held the largest share of time spent online among the top worldwide properties in Europe (16.8%), Latin America (35.9%) and the Middle East/Africa (33.1%), reported comScore.

Yahoo Sites captured the largest share of time online in North America with 11.2% share, while also attracting a notable 7.9% share of time spent online in the Asia Pacific region.

Google Sites commanded a strong share of time spent online in Latin America (19.4%), Middle East/Africa (9.7%), Europe (9.6%) and North America (9.1%).

Other notables:

Facebook.com, which continues to see significant growth on a worldwide basis, was the fourth most engaging destination with visitors spending 1.4 billion hours on the site in September, up 193% from the previous year.

In September 2009, nearly 27 billion hours were spent on the Internet globally by a record online population of 1.2 billion Internet users age 15 and older.

Read the full release.

“Hyper Giants” Like Google Flatten the Internet

Posted October 16, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large | 1 Comment | Share This

 

New York Times reports today’s Internet is “flatter” and “more densely connected” than ever before.

The newspaper notes there are only 30 large companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and YouTube that account for a disproportionate 30% of all Internet traffic.

Consolidation is not the only trend revealed by the new findings. There’s also an abrupt decline in peer-to-peer traffic, which only two years prior peaked at 40% of all traffic worldwide. Today, peer-to-peer traffic has dropped down to 18%.

Why the change? NY Times explains: “For the most part, the file-sharing that took place on networks like Limewire and Napster back in the late 90s and early 2000s, has now been largely replaced by streaming video thanks to sites like YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix.

“Given easier and less technical ways of accessing media, consumers have begun to shift away from the headache of P2P to these new and often free or ad-supported sites.”

Read the entire article: Google Accounts for 6% of All Internet Traffic.

The Evolution of Click Fraud

Posted October 13, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large, Website promotions | 0 Comments | Share This

 

Anchor Intelligence identified a click fraud ring being run out of China, which involved 200,000 different IP addresses and racked up more than $3 million worth of fraudulent clicks across 2,000 advertisers in a two-week period.

Click fraud occurs when someone sets up a website, signs up with an ad network, and then clicks on the ads to generate ad revenues with false clicks. DormRing1 operated the same way, except it easily involved more than 1,000 people who set up more than 10,000 Websites to spread out the fraud.

Read the full Tech Cruch article: Massive Chinese Operation DormRing1 Uncovered.

Planning Website Maintenance

Posted September 5, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large | Tags: , | 3 Comments | Share This

 

Before you start your website’s development, it’s a good idea to determine who will be in charge of website updates and how much time will be required to stay on top of them, suggests Brad Haima of Circle, an Abbotsford-based Vancouver web design firm.

“Many companies have great expectations but are often too busy to do simple website updates,” said Haima. “Having a good game plan ahead of time will allow you to prepare for how much time and staff you are willing to commit to website updates.”

Planning Website MaintenanceHe points out there are a number of pros and cons for each site editing option:

Outsourcing to a Web Design Firm

Pros:
1. Work will be done professionally and reflect the image your company deserves.
2. Because each page is edited manually your site can have a unique look throughout rather than a website that uses the same template over and over on every page.
3. Many web firms can also provide automated software solutions.

Cons:
1. Good web design firms are busy so getting edits done right away may not always be possible.
2. The costs for their services are more expensive than hiring an in house web master or using an automated solution.

Hiring an In-House Webmaster

Pros:
1. You have a designated person who can do any changes to the website right away.
2. Because each page is edited manually your website can have a unique look throughout rather than a website that uses the same template over and over on every page.

Cons:
1. If your website is small then there may not be enough work to keep a full-time webmaster busy.
2. The abilities and quality of the work done by a low-cost webmaster or employee many not reflect the image and/or quality your company is looking for. So, over time, your website can degrade from its original design.

For more information about website maintenance solutions—and websites in general—you can visit Circle’s web design site, or contact their web designers directly at info@circle.bc.ca.

Search Activity Rising, Google Still Tops

Posted September 2, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large | 0 Comments | Share This

 

More than 113 billion searches were conducted in July 2009, representing a 41% increase versus a year ago, reported comscore.

Google Sites attracted significantly more searches than any other engine with 76.7 billion searches conducted, or 67.5%.

Among the five global regions, Europe accounted for the highest share of searches at 32.1%, followed by Asia Pacific (30.8%) and North America (22.1%).

Can Anyone Bring Google Down?

Posted August 26, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large | 0 Comments | Share This

 

Google—whose brand is estimated to be worth $100 billion—is the king of search. There’s no arguing that. But can someone take them down?

Time provides an interesting perspective on the search industry, discussing the yet-to-be-approved Microsoft/Yahoo marriage.

Reporter Frahad Manjoo also brings to light an irony: Google and Microsoft share a similar problem. Google derives about 97% of its revenue from advertising, while Microsoft makes the bulk of its money from just two products—Windows and Office. Hence, the reason they’re attempting to diversify with products like Chrome and Google Docs.

Read: Can Microsoft’s Bing, or anyone, seriously challenge Google?

UI and Product Customization

Posted August 20, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large | Tags: | 1 Comment | Share This

 

Websites that let users customize the UI have the same measured usability as regular sites, reveals a recent study by Jakob Nielsen. Websites for customizing products, however, score substantially worse due to complex workflow.

Designs are often adapted to individual users so different people see different screens, both in applications and on websites. Nielsen notes there are two main ways to “individualize” the user experience, depending on who initiates the adaptation:

UI and Product CustomizationCustomization

Customization happens when the user tells the computer what he or she prefers to see.

Personalization

Personalization happens when the computer modifies its behavior to suit its predictions about the current user’s interests.

The study concludes customization is complicated, both technologically and design-wise.

“To get a user from blank slate to fully customized interface or product takes exceptional design skill,” said Nielsen. “It also requires cooperation among multiple groups to assemble, organize, and architect a usable customization path.”

He added: “Customization isn’t something you can throw together in a couple weeks, and businesses who approach it in that manner are risking their reputation and revenues.”

Read Nielsen’s full report: Customization of UIs and products.

Are Bing Users Click-Happy?

Posted August 7, 2009 | Posted By Rick Sloboda
Categories: Web world at large, Website promotions | Tags: | 2 Comments | Share This

 

It seems people who search on Bing could be more commercial than Google searchers.

According to a study by search-advertising network Chitika, visitors who arrive at sites from organic search results on Bing are 55% more likely to click on an ad than if they arrived from Google.

Chitika looked at the click-through rates from 32 million ad impressions across its network of more than 50,000 websites in a week this past July. Visitors from Bing clicked on an ad 1.5% of the time on average, versus a 0.97% click-through rate for Google visitors, and a 1.24% click-through rate for Yahoo.