Have you heard about Google’s new search overhaul? Along with a cleaner and brighter logo, the search results will now feature an easy to use left-hand navigation. There will be also different categories so that you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for, whether it’s in the news or shopping section. Makes things a lot easier, doesn’t it? This is a good reason as any to consider the aspect of search engine friendly web design for your website. How exactly do you make your web site more search engine friendly?

• Relevant content via articles or blogs
• Focusing on a specific group of related keywords
• Utilizing tags (h1, title, meta) to make your website seen by search engine crawlers

If you’re not sure about these factors, now is a good time to check.

A web copywriter can help you with creating content every month. Because they specialize in the SEO aspect of copywriting, this will take the load off your shoulders when it comes to constantly adding new material. Remember some of the advantages that you can gain with copywriting services:

1. Improved search engine rankings for relevant keyword phrases
2. Effectively bring traffic to your website
3. Broaden your online reputation across multiple search engines and social media sites

1. According to comScore, this is what market share looks like concerning the top search engines. Reports came out that Google suffered a decline for the fourth month in a row, ouch! Just when you think that Google can’t get any bigger, it seems that they may have reached their peak. After all, what comes up, must come down… but Google? They are the only company in the world with no measurable debts!
2. Tired of cluttered and slow loading sites? Mashable reports that Google is taking consideration (a small amount) into the speed of a site in search rankings. Finally, in 2010! Less than 1% is a small portion, but hopefully this will help weed out slow sites.
3. We’ve talked about “augmented reality” before but what about its use in print? DMNews reports that advertisers are embracing this trend, even for their print ad campaigns. Sounds interesting to see it incorporated in print. I wonder what the next advertising trend will be?

Get Educated
Sometimes, a little education can go a long way when you’re trying to engage your audience. There are free webinars and seminars every day, so find a topic that interests you. PRWeb often sponsors webinars that are beneficial for small business owners, bloggers, and more. You can do some live blogging, or participate in real-time discussion via hash tags on Twitter. Search Engine Watch always features interesting topics with great speakers.

Staying in the Loop
Webinars are a good way to get your social media news, but it also helps to stay more current. Like any other news room, it can be too cluttered to really stay focused. This is where newsletters and weekly wrap-ups can come in handy. Marketing Profs has a free daily newsletter which will help you stay in the loop and stay inspired. Remember, it’s easy to get distracted, but stay on the watch for credible sources for your social media news.

No More “Batch and Blast”
I saw this tip as it applies to email marketing, but you can apply it to different platforms. Twitter, Facebook, and even blogging. Have you ever wondered why you constantly get postcards and junk from your local real estate agent? They often use this batch and blast method because it’s cost efficient and effective. Just think of it, the commission they make from one sale makes their direct mailing costs very minuscule. Sure… social media marketing is free, but you really are paying a cost if you blast your followers with self-promotion. No matter how you choose to carry out your campaign, think of it as a continuous process.

Copying Competitors and Copycats
Google alerts is a great way to keep an eye out for your reputation, but have you thought about using it to watch your competitors? This article does a great job of compiling a variety of different ways you can stay in the know. Have you dealt with plagiarism in the past? You might have a piece of content that people love to steal. You can check by searching a certain phrase in parenthesis or checking CopyScape. We’ve had 3 different “companies” steal content on our video marketing page and reported them to Google as soon as we found out.

Google Webmaster Tools for Your Wordpress
Did you know that you can use Webmaster Tools to get insight about your Wordpress? The Wordpress dashboard already allows you to see how many visitors you get and who’s linking to you. Once you verify ownership of your Wordpress account with Webmaster Tools, you’ll see where your blog ranks in search engine results along with relevant keywords. You’ll also be able to see any crawl errors and other useful diagnostics. Best of all, this tool doesn’t cost anything. Feel free to add all your blogs/sites and master Webmaster Central today.

How exactly does this work? If you have good content that your audience can relate to, you can use social media to bring them in the spotlight again. This can happen via Digg, Reddit and even email. After going through your own articles and stories that best resonate with your audience, take the time to make them relevant again. Carol tells us that most of her clients have had success with content that was written months to even one year ago!

Come up with a realistic content plan. Recognize relevant keywords and track their position as you release content that should bring more traffic. Although content marketing is a slow and steady process, it has very real results. Get ready to focus on your content plan today. There are many free research tools that you can use to get started you keyword research that will strengthen your content efforts: Word Vision, SpyFu, Compete, Quantcast, MajesticSEO, SEOToolSet, LinkVendor, Marketleap and PageGrader.

Real-Time Search for Real Life

Search engines are useful in bringing us relevant results. But what about information that’s relevant in this moment? I was searching for Google’s financials awhile back and came across some reports from before 2004 – before it went public! How and why is this relevant to what I’m looking for? It’s not! In December, Google launched its Real-Time Search, which will help customers get their hands on up-to-date info. With Google leading the way, it’s only a matter of time before others follow. Yes, we’re looking at you Yahoo! and Bing.

Going Mobile to Accommodate Smart Phones

With new smart phones coming out every second, you can’t rule out the importance of having a mobile compatible site. I don’t have a smart phone, in fact, I like to call mine’s a dumb phone. But I do have my handy iPod touch. When browsing the internet on a small screen, you want to ensure that all the essential links are there and that your customers aren’t missing out anything because they’re not on a desktop. The sky’s the limit for mobile in 2010, as consumers will want faster ways to get their info and all in one convenient place. If you haven’t done so already, get started on making your site more friendly with the right mobile web design.

Facebook is Up While Twitter Falls Flat

Ok, so the time is here. In 2009, there were many skeptics who doubted the staying power of Twitter. So far, we can certainly see that Facebook remains in the lead. As Facebook is experiencing increasing growth, Twitter seems to be flat lining. These two giants will continue to fight for the market share in 2010 as they go head to head by releasing international versions of their services. Twitter is working hard to be more personalized and relevant. On the other hand, Facebook’s CEO has publicly announced some questionable beliefs about users’ privacy. In any case, it looks like it will be another exciting year for social media.

Begin with a Search Engine Friendly Web Design

We are all pretty familiar with searching the Internet by typing in words and phrases using Google or Yahoo Search, but the key to realizing the importance of having a search engine friendly web design is first gaining a simple understanding of how a search engine functions.  Search engines run automated programs, called “bots” or “spiders”, that “crawl” the pages and documents of the Web, scanning and storing contents in a giant database.  Think of this database as a search engine’s “index.”  When you type words into a search engine, the engine will look in its “index” for all the documents that match your query. Once the search engine has determined the results, the engine’s algorithm (a mathematical equation commonly used for sorting) runs calculations on each of the results to determine which is most relevant. They sort these on the results pages in order from most relevant to least so that users can make a choice about which to select.  That’s where search engine optimization comes in.  Naturally, a user will want their search to be as efficient as possible, viewing the sites that they feel will provide the most relevant information; the sites that the search engine ranked highest.  Therefore, to increase traffic, you want your website to rank highest among a search engine’s results.

The Importance of SEO Copy

Optimizing your website to be search engine friendly begins with incorporating SEO copy.  What’s the point of having a visually and technically impressive site if no one is able to find you?  Keep in mind that search engine “bots” and “spiders” are only able to scan and process textual content, making images, videos and Flash components – though impressive and stimulating – useless in terms of search engine optimization.  By placing strategic keywords into your site’s text, you will increase the likelihood of reaching your target market by elevating your search engine rank.

How an Internet Marketing Firm Can Help

New to the whole SEO concept?  Finding the right Internet marketing firm to assist you in analyzing your needs can be a crucial step in meeting your goals. As online marketing becomes more of a key player in the nature of business overall, getting an SEO marketing analysis is a running start to optimizing your website.

So, just how do popular YouTube videos make money? The most obvious answer is that they can act as links that drive traffic to your website. Like updates on Twitter or being featured on social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, your website can benefit from exposure to a huge Internet audience. Video is a growing trend and you can use your creativity to help your site rank higher in search results. From product placement to running affiliate ads on your videos, there are many ways to monetize your YouTube efforts. Just like any other social media campaign, videos are a great utility in promoting your website.

Many have found that video blogs are catching on because you can easily promote yourself, your company, and your brand. Embeddable videos are user-friendly because they are easy to access and share. A popular video can help you gain leverage that you might not get otherwise from using standard PPC ads or SEO. The next time you see a viral video that you like, analyze some of their techniques and see how it can help you in your efforts. Do you have any videos that you’d like to share?

Have you ever found yourself fascinated by a fun flash game or an interesting video clip? These may have been part of an online viral marketing campaign. Through using online buzz marketing and word-of-mouth on social networking sites, marketers work hard to use clever techniques to capture online attention and increase brand awareness of a company. A notable marketing campaign is Blendtec’s Will It Blend? channel on YouTube. The company demonstrates their product’s strong blending abilities by testing different objects ranging from golf balls to the Apple iPhone in an infomercial type series of videos.

By using unique approaches, marketers can capture more attention than when using a more traditional marketing method. YouTube videos are particularly popular because they are embeddable and easy for users to pass along via links or on their blog. You don’t have to always use outrageous techniques or videos, but it can certainly help when it comes to attracting potential customers.

A focus on web design marketing can be just as crucial in attracting visitors to your site. Your website should always accurately represent your company. It should also display a consistent message that is easy for your clients to understand. Not only should your website be eye-catching, but also easy to navigate. In order to gain favorable traffic, it is also important for your site to be search engine friendly.

So, whether you want to try to build momentum by creating an innovative video clip or adapting a new web design, there are countless different options that you can look into. Remember to do your research and keep in mind that these options are not mutually exclusive. You can mix and match the different methods that work best for you and your company.

• CurdBee: A free online billing utility via PayPal or Google Checkout – especially useful for freelancers and small businesses.
• DirectMail: Provides a variety of consumer and business lists. You’ll be able to directly target consumers by age, estimated income, business type, and more.
• WuFoo: An application that allows anybody to create online forms such as: surveys, event calendars, online orders and home finances.
• Copyscape: Allows you to find unauthorized copies of your content online.
• iWebTool: Has resources such as page rank checker, search engine position, and broken link checker.

Have any other useful tools that you’d like to share?