.Pro Domains Break Language Barriers on the Web

If you’re looking to expand your reach with .pro domains, consider the fact that the .pro domain extension transcends language barriers.

Indeed, these three letters begin the word professional in many different languages:

  • Albanian–profesional
  • Catalan—professional
  • Croatian—profesionalne
  • Danish—professionel
  • Dutch—professionele
  • English—professional
  • Estonian—professionaalne
  • Filipino—propesyunal
  • French—professionnel
  • Galician—profesional
  • German–professionelle
  • Indonesian—profesional
  • Italian—professionale
  • Latvian—profesionālās
  • Lithuanian—profesinės
  • Maltese—professjonali
  • Norwegian—profesjonell
  • Portuguese—profissional
  • Romanian—profesional
  • Spanish—profesional

So, if you’re looking to buy .pro domains, think big. Think internationally.

.Pro domains are available at select hosting companies, such as Network Solutions.

Link Building 101

Like keyword-rich website content, link building is an essential element to achieve high search engine rankings.

The more websites that link to your site, the easier is to get high rankings on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Links to your site are like votes – the more ‘link love’ you receive, the more the search engines trust you.

But it’s important to get the right links. Links from related websites, which are also credible (for instance, they’re
 popular and have been around for some time), help your search engine rankings more than links from websites with limited inbound links.

On that note, search engines are not fond of paid links, which, if reported, can actually get your website penalized. That’s black hat SEO, and it’s bad news.

Effective ways to get others to link to your website include providing useful tools, as well as insightful articles or posts. When you offer something worthy, website owners are generally quick to make reference to your website, and reward you with that all-so-valuable link.

SEO Copywriting Services

SEO copywriting services

Whether you’re a New York IT firm or a San Diego design studio, SEO copywriting services can help you tap into a new stream of leads and sales.

The fact is that 85% of all new traffic to websites arrives via search engines. And it’s no secret that Google owns close to 75 per cent of the market. Hence, if SEO copywriting services get you to rank top 10 on Google, you’ll achieve a powerful return on your investment.

On the topic of investment, website owners often ask what do SEO copywriting services cost. Some supposed ‘SEO experts’ make themselves available for as little as $150 a project, while large SEO agencies can charge tens of thousands of dollars per month.

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Power of the Internet: Rogers Customer Service

Rogers’ executive team should monitor and attempt to influence what shows up on the Web. Case in point: the following screenshot reveals Google’s results when searching Rogers Customer Service (click on image to enlarge):

rogers-customer-service-google-search-result-2009.jpg

The number one result is a blog post critical of Rogers Customer Service, complete with dozens of subsequent comments that slam the company. The post is consistently in Google’s top 10 results, and often ranks above their official websites.

It all started with a blog entry I posted about Rogers’ no-shows and screw-ups that fell upon deaf ears for more than a year. Dozens of others vented as well, including customers, ex-customers and even employees. So, when consumers type Rogers customer service into Google or other search engines, the company’s poor service is often brought to their immediate attention.

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Cool Design Blogs

Here’s a list of 30 fresh design blogs that are worth checking out, brought to you by Six Revisions. Get inspired and dig up tips on everything surrounding web, graphic, and print design.

Worthy web design blogs that were missed include Web Designer Wall and Web Designer Depot.

Are you a web designer? Here’s an article featured on the Guild of Accessible Web Designers that discusses how to get ahead in the Web world.

Technology Video: Did You Know?

We came across a compelling video that makes you reflect on where we’re headed with technology, and just how fast.

Some of the gripping facts:

  • The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004
  • 1 out of 8 couples married in the US last year met online
  • If MySpace were a country, it would be the fifth-largest in the world

In the end, the video asks: What does it all mean? Perhaps if we don’t fully embrace technology, we’ll literally be left in the dust – sooner than later.

Check it out right here, right now.

Playing in Google’s Sandbox

Owners of new websites often ask about the Google sandbox, a filter the search engine uses to fight spam.

Google typically indexes a new website, lists it for a few search terms and then the web pages drop from the search engine result pages for some months.

Generally, brand new websites with new domain names need about six to eight months to get top rankings on Google.

How Do You Get Out of the Google Sandbox?

While some waiting is required, you can prompt Google to speed up the process.

When you register a new domain name, create a temporary page immediately as the six- to eight-month delay appears to start with Google’s first contact with your web site. The sooner Google knows about your web site, the better.

Also, ensure you acquire some quality inbound links from other websites, and get your meta data optimized. The meta data, which comprises title, keyword and description tags, can make a big difference. In fact, this factor has helped some Webcopyplus clients attain desired rankings in as little as six weeks.

So get a page or two up as soon as you can, and take your links and keywords seriously. It can make a world of difference to your new website’s search engine rankings and online presence.

Putting Social Media to Work

Putting social media to work

The recession has put major pressure on marketers to deliver results, and many are responding by increasing investments on social marketing. The reason?

Social media provides relatively inexpensive tools that can quickly get marketing messages out through interactive discussion and rapid word of mouth.

But how does a business go about making social applications a permanent part of its marketing efforts?

Plan for Success

According to James Wallace of Kontent Creative, a Vancouver design studio and web development group that helps clients tap into the social media realm, there needs to be a cohesive company strategy in place for social media interaction.

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Search Engine Optimization: Don’t Deceive

Despite the perception of so many business owners, search engine optimization is not about tricking search engines to get anyone and everyone to your website.

It’s about building an effective online marketing strategy that delivers a flow of highly targeted prospects who are seeking what you offer.

Yet, so many business owners think more traffic — any traffic — is the key to their success on the Web. Sure, it looks impressive when reviewing Google Analytics. But the wrong traffic will do little for a company’s bottom line.

For more insight, read Good Traffic, Bad Traffic.

Web Content Headlines: Tell Visitors Where They Are

Your website’s headlines and kickers (a.k.a. sub headlines) need to tell visitors they’re in the right place.

You have a fraction of a second to orient people on the Web. If your web content does a good job, you’re often a step closer to a conversion. Miss the mark and your bounce rates will go through the roof.

A headline takes more than a catchy hook or angle to get prospects to stop and scan your web content. You need to align your headlines and web content with your visitors’ emotional drivers or trigger points.

The most effective way to achieve this is to leverage what you know about your target audience. Familiarity can help you nail the right information, keywords and angle.

But always be sure to provide practical information on where they’re at and what you can do for them. Vague statements don’t stick well on the Web. “5 Writing Tips for Web Designers” is a lot more helpful to visitors than a generic headline, such as “Writing and Web Design.”

Precise, practical headlines help your visitors get to the right information, and spare them time and frustration.

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