Top 5 Ways to Improve “Call to Action”

1. Big Button

Make sure your “call to action” button is big and is above the fold.  Above the fold means what a visitor sees on their screen without having to scroll.  It should be above the fold for all computer screen sizes.  Also, add action words like buy, order, or donate instead of learn more.  No one ever wants to just learn more.

2. Give Support

Many websites offer no additional supplemental information with their “call to action.”  Adding bullet points on reasons why or client testimonials can enhance the click through rate for your button.

3.  Why Should I Click

Spend more time on the page talking about the value the consumer will get for doing business with your company then just how good a company you are.  People want to know what is in it for them.  Plus, most visitor will not perceive the value of your information unless you tell them directly the value they will achieve by clicking your “call to action.”

4. Reduce the Choices

Many people don’t convert as they get lost in a website with what to do.  Reducing the clickable options can increase your conversion rate.  Don’t confuse having lots of content and a good “call to action.”  You don’t have to give everyone access to everything you have on your site from the home page of your most important landing pages.

5. Give Guidance

For many businesses they offer more than one service or product and need multiple “calls to action” on one page.  You can increase conversion rates by highlighting the best offer or best deal that can increase the likelihood a person will click instead of getting lost.

Top 5 SEO Mistakes

1. Too Many Keywords

It is important that each page have a keyword that you are targeting.  Many websites either only look at what the keywords are for the home page and forget all about every other page, or they stuff each page with as many keywords as possible.  The most you make each page important for one keyword the better chance it has to rank for that keyword phrase.

2. SEO Friendly URLS

Ranking for keywords is about competition as right now someone is working on out ranking you for the exact keyword you want.  Having SEO friendly urls so the keyword you want to rank for shows up in the url stream.  If you check your address bar you can see the keyword “seo mistakes” in the url.

3. No Title Tag

The title tag is the title of the article that shows up at the top of your browser.  This is one of the most important pieces of information for the search engines to understand what your web page is about.  Most websites have the exact same title tag on every page which tells the search engines that every page is technically the same and of no additional value.

4. No Meta Tags

Meta tags are the description and keywords that are added into your source code to quickly tell the search engines what each web page is about.  This is also the information that you see when you search on Google underneath the page title in the search engine results page.  Meta tags should have the important keyword that each page is optimized for.

5. Horrible Keyword Density

If you want to rank for any keyword it has to show up on your website.  Many people only use one version of a keyword phrase ingoring other popular versions which means you have no ability to rank for it.  The other spectrum is people over stuffing the page with using the same keyword over and over.  Search engines look at too high of keyword density on a page as Spam and will penalize accordingly.

These 5 important mistakes are a small sample size of the issues Authority SEO finds on clients website when we start working on the project.  You here the term link building all the time that it is important, and that is true though until you are communicating effectively with the search engines about what is important on your website link building will be of little value.  Most clients are amazed at how just fixing the website from a SEO stand point increases traffic automatically before we start the marketing campaign to drive more targeted traffic.

Your competition can give you great insight avenues for more revenue that you are missing

5 Items to Check on Competitor Websites

1. Promotions: it is a good idea to keep up to date on your competitions promotions.  Our there products or services that you could be offering.  Also, checking to see what kind of promotions they are doing and how often.  The frequency of promotions can tell you the success rate of using promotions to increase sales.
2. Conversion Funnel: good websites lead their visitors to the information that supports them making a buying decision or contact your company decision.  Verify how your competition is doing this.  Depending on your business model you may need more or less information to convert a visitor into a sale.
3. Validation: I call them “warm and fuzzies.”  Look for external validation markers like the Better Business Bureau, Hacker Safe, or industry related certifications.  Factors that increase reliability and give external validation that you are legitimate business are vital for increasing trust and sales.
4. Price: be careful of getting into price wars.  You can find more success by offerings great value to your customers than just being the lowest price.  You do want to pay attention though if you are way too low or high as it relates to your competition.
5. Payments: how are your competition receiving payments.  Do they have a shopping cart?  Do they use external payment methods like Google Checkout or Paypal, or do you need to make payments over the phone?

Remember a blog post unlike an article doesn’t have to long

5 Small Business Blog Post Ideas

1. Current events: you can use Google news, subscribe to RSS feeds for local news, or read the newspaper.  A good blog post can be your expert opinion on a subject in the news that relates to your business.
2. Industry trends: many people like to know what is happening.  You can build a successful readership if you are keeping people up to date with current trends in your industry.
3. Top 10 lists: top 10 lists are easy for readers to get information.  You will find lists are some of the top tweeted posts on Twitter.  This post you are reading is a top 5 list.
4. FAQ: frequently asked questions about your company or business category make great blog posts.  A blog post can simply answer a question in a paragraph or two.
5. Interview as expert: interviewing an expert takes more time though the rewards are immense.  You will get more traction for your blog with real expert opinions than any blog stating they are a guru.

Press Releases need to be news worthy to be effective

Top 5 Reasons to Write a Press Release for Your Website

1. Organic traffic: a well written and news worthy press release distributed through the top online press release channels can get displayed in Google news and show up in Google organic search.  Google search and Google news both can drive thousands of people to your website.
2. Link building: at the bottom of your press release will be the ability to add a link.  The link gives your website a one way link from all the websites that your press release was distributed to.
3. Reputation: press release distribution websites rank well in Google typically for your company’s name.  Consistent submitting of press releases can make news from your company be the top 10 ranking results when a future customer Google’s your company’s name online.
4. Web 2.0: blogs and other social media subscribe to press release syndication sites and if your press release is interesting enough they might blog about it, add it to Twitter, or so on which can virally increase your online presence.
5. Traditional media: journalists who find your story interesting can follow up with you and write a story about your company or service in traditional media outlets.

5 Factors You May Not Now that Affect Your Google Rankings

1. Poor links: you may have heard that links for poor sites don’t have the importance that high quality links do though did you know that if you are sending links to poor sites that Google can perceive your site to be part of thier ilk.
2. Hosting issues: websites on not very stable hosting accounts can go down from time to time which means Google can’t spider your website.  If this is a common problem Google determines your site to be unstable and can drop it in the rankings.
3. Duplicate titles: a good website will always have unique titles for every page on their website.  Having duplicate titles even on low ranking pages shows lack of quality for a website.
4. Same anchor text: We know that effective anchor text can support your keyword rankings.  If you only get links with the same anchor text then Google sees that you are attempting to manipulate search results and can punish you.  It is important to change up some of your anchor text links.
5. Spamming your page: You need your keyword on the page to rank for it.  Spamming your page with a high percentage of the same keyword over and over will drop your rankings instead of improve them.

Top 5 Reasons to Own a Blog for Your Business

1. Simple: it is the easiest way to create new content online.  If you can handle typing in a Word document you can handle a blog post.
2. Authentic: a blog is written from the author’s point of view.  Good blog posts are free direct advertising and offer the reader insights into the author’s knowledge base.
3. Free: you can get a blog created for free from sites like Blogger or WordPress, there are others.  Find a professional looking theme and you are off and running.  I do find for minimal expense you can set up a blog under a unique domain name with a custom template.
4. Credibility: you increase your brand my sharing your expert knowledge on your subject matter.  Readers of your blog will build trust with yourself which can lead to business down the road.
5. Online Visibility: blogs have their own search engines.  Checkout blogs under the drop down of your Google search page.  Blogs give you access to visitors who are not looking for answers from standard websites.

Check out Authority SEO clients’ blogs from our portfolio page

The two advantages of article marketing are it is free exposure.  Most article directory sites are free for you to upload your article.  If you right a compelling article people can pick it up and place on their site.  The second is adding credibility to your company or website that you are an expert.  A highly viewed article supports your ability to build online trust with your consumer.

Top 5 Tips for Successful Article Marketing

1. Solid content: your article has to be a well written article full of useful information on the subject.  Keep in mind the article has to be good enough for other person to want to place in their website.
2. No Selling: most article directories will boot your article if it is just a sales pitch for your company or your products.  The selling piece is a well written article on your subject matter.
3. Be Specific: broad topics don’t work as they don’t offer and real information.  Very specific topics that explain or give unknown information for your average consumer are very effective.
4. Unbiased: people can see through an article that sings the praises of your genre.  Right from an unbiased point of view and offer both sides if applicable.
5. Headlines: people read headlines.  They are how most people decide if they are going to give your article even a seconds look.  Take time to right keyword specific and attention grabbing headlines for your articles.