seo Archives | waveSpawn Marketing

April 7, 2015

Google Makes Mobile-friendly an SEO Ranking Signal

Do you have a mobile-friendly or responsive website? If not, on April 21 you may find it harder to rank in Google’s mobile search results.

Google recently announced algorithm updates that will have a “significant impact” on mobile search results worldwide for mobile searchers. The update improves rankings for sites that provide a mobile-friendly experience to searchers on mobile devices, and, by association, demotes sites that do not.

Note that the mobile-friendly update only affects mobile search results — i.e., searches from smartphones and tablets — not searches conducted on a desktop or laptop computer.

Have questions about your search rank and the possible SEO implications? Contact waveSpawn to discuss mobile marketing strategies.
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August 28, 2014

Should you develop a responsive website or a native mobile application?

Mobile App Developer Many businesses will admit they need a better mobile presence. The question then becomes – how to best offer that mobile experience? Will a responsive website be sufficient or should you consider a native mobile application?

The basic question any business owner needs to ask himself is, “Do I really need a mobile app?” If you’re a dental office who primarily interacts via in-person consultations or over the phone, then no, you probably do not need a mobile app. The same is true for a restaurant owner with one or two locations.

If you have a physical location, your responsive site could leverage GPS and integrate with maps to quickly display directions. It means that phone numbers are click to call. It means that buttons and text entry fields are touch-friendly.

Responsive websites can be a great solution for smaller businesses looking to move into mobile. Responsive websites are generally less expensive and easier to maintain than a mobile app. There are many content management systems (CMS) that enable administrators to upgrade software and make edits to both the desktop website as well as the mobile or responsive site.

Mobile applications are versioned to be optimized for each platform and display size. For example, the display on iOS, Android and Windows devices are not exactly the same. The screen proportions vary as do the display behaviors. Furthermore, smartphones (such as an iPhone) generally have lower resolution screens than tablets (such as an iPad 3). To accommodate for various screen resolutions, developers have app versions that will display the appropriate graphics. On future upgrades, all app versions should be updated and published to keep consistent.

Mobile apps can be a robust solution for payment systems, user logins, customer service tools, customer loyalty programs, parts or inventory look-up, etc. There are many situations in which a responsive website will not replace a native mobile app. If you have questions or would like to discuss a potential project, please feel free to contact us.

July 24, 2012

Internet marketing starts with effective website design

Internet marketing optimization starts from the design of a website. Developing an intuitive and content-rich website takes planning. Focus on organizing your information in a clear and logical manner. The areas of importance should stand out and be readily accessible. Too often home pages are cluttered with non-essential information. This is generally the case when a variety of people voice their opinions or product managers are jockeying for prime real estate to promote their product lines. It’s like the old adage “too many cooks spoil the broth”.

Here are five tips for effective web design and Internet marketing:

Know your customers
You really need to understand your audience and the keywords they are likely to search for. Internet marketing is about better positioning your content to rank higher than your competitors when keywords are searched. This is often referred to as your organic search results. These are natural keyword searches without paying per click for traffic. For most small businesses this is the preferred method of increasing awareness. It’s a low cost and highly effective strategy to get your products and services in front of potential customers. Successful Internet marketing will drive highly targeted traffic to your website.

Keyword optimization
You could have an award winning website design and still not see the performance you seek. A sleek design that truly represents your brand is important, but generating meaningful traffic should be your top priority. Marketing your website is arguably more important than designing your website. For any business to be successful, they need to be visible. Prospects need to be able to conveniently find the information. This is why optimizing your site or SEO (search engine optimization) with the most relevant keywords is essential. You want people to find you based on phrases and buzz words that accurately represent your business.

Ongoing marketing effort
The most effective websites are those that are updated frequently with timely and relevant information. Ensure that your pages are optimized for search engines, primarily by focusing on keywords and topics your customers are likely to search for. Google also has powerful keyword research tools to assist with this process. Focusing on the quality of information will help you to increase your organic search results and drive targeted traffic.

Integrated social media
As social media feeds and posts are increasingly being indexed and returned in search results, good web design will include your social media and digital marketing initiatives. News, articles, blogs, and social media accounts are excellent methods of keeping current customers informed while reaching new potential customers. Internet marketing efforts can be strengthened with effective use of social media.

Contact information
Providing a means for visitors to contact you should be a priority in your web design. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to scour a website to find a phone number or method to reach someone. It can be frustrating for visitors and a quick way for them to lose interest. Have easy to access contact information and provide a few methods for people to reach you – phone, email, social media, etc.

The KISS principle (or keep is stupid simple) is generally good to keep in mind when designing a website. It can be easy to get carried away and lose focus of your business objectives. Technology like Flash and bells and whistles can supplement your site, but they shouldn’t be included without a purpose. You’ll also need to understand any optimization limitations that accompany plugins and third party software.

February 9, 2012

10 tips to increase your website traffic

Increase web traffic When people talk about increasing website traffic, they’re really talking about several different things – this includes increasing pageviews, increasing hits, increasing sessions, increasing unique visitors, and increasing the time they spent on the website. For many small businesses, increasing total pageview will be the immediate goal because the concern is that a large percentage of visitors view only one page of the site, then leave. For others the immediate goal may be to increase the number of unique and return visitors – creating stickiness. Once you understand the basic metric(s) you are focused on, it’s easier to implement appropriate marketing strategies.

Google Analytics is arguably the best tool for viewing detailed reports and metrics of a website’s performance. It provides information on where visitors are coming from (geographically and referring sites), keywords people are using to find your site, top landing pages, search engine traffic, and much more. Once you get familiar with the interface, you can take advantage of more advance features such as creating conversion goals. This helps you to more accurately monetize the traffic on your site.

So how do you increase your organic search results?

Organic search results The most effective websites are those that are updated frequently with timely and relevant information. Ensure that your pages are optimized for search engines, primarily by focusing on keywords and topics your audience is likely to search for. Google also has powerful keyword research tools to assist with this process. Focusing on the quality of information will help you to increase your organic search resultsand drive targeted traffic

Here are 10 quick tips to help improve your website traffic:

Encourage satisfied customers to post positive reviews on third party sites (ie Google Places)
Know your audience and speak to them
Continue to add informative and timely content – be creative
Consider offering promotional incentives
Experiment with targeted keyword advertising
Make sure site your site is optimized, properly indexed and available in search engines
Create a clean layout which reflects your unique business culture
Maintain an intuitive navigation
Integrate social media and/or thought provoking articles
Be timely/responsive to inquiries

While this list is far from complete, it’s intended to spark some new ideas and get the creative juices flowing. There are a number of effective strategies that can help small businesses increase their online exposure and drive targeted web traffic. If you have specific questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you…

February 11, 2010

Making sense of Google Buzz

I’ve been an avid user of Gmail for the past six years. Yesterday I was reading all about Google Buzz and their attempt to succeed in the social media frenzy. Sure enough when I logged into my Gmail account, I saw the “Buzz” icon right below my inbox… so naturally I clicked on it. Wow, I already have several people following me and following several people. Apparently, I’m connected with everyone in my address book. Since Google Buzz integrates with Gmail without the need for users to sign up, Google instantly added 176 million users to their social network platform… not too shabby of a start.

It’s no secret that Google is anxious to compete in the social media space. While their social media platform Orkut has not reached the masses as Facebook has, this has not seemed to deter Google. Buzz seems to be a much more strategic way of penetrating the market.

While it’s intriguing to have built-in connectivity features in my email, I must admit it feels a little invasive. There comes a time when consumers want the convenience of aggregated information on a single platform. Who has time to login to dozens of different systems to manage their information, respond to questions, and provide updates? I’ve got login credentials for so many accounts – I can’t even keep track of them all. It would literally take me a few hours just to login to each of them for 5 minutes each on a daily basis.

In order to solve this issue, I think we’ll begin to see a convergence of the top players in this space. While some of the systems are already compatible, most users want a single stop destination. Think Facebook on steroids. The best features of the top platforms need to collaborate and partner to develop the ultimate social media networking destination.

What are your thoughts? Is there an easy solution to all of these disparate systems? Is Google Buzz the savior?

January 28, 2010

Google activates social search

Ever wanted more control over your Google searches? Perhaps filter and highlight relevant information from your network of friends, family, colleagues, and online contacts. Basically, have the ability to filter out a lot of the noise and take advantage of the knowledge of your network. I sure do. Well, this new beta release of Google Social Search is intended to do just that.

By releasing the facilities to enable social networking search, Google is adding more purpose to all of the various social communities being created online. You can quickly setup a profile and link social content. Let’s say you’re in the market for a new Gibson Les Paul guitar. Traditionally, you may go to Google and do a random search for “Gibson Les Paul” guitars (or some variation). You may get results from Gibson, Guitar Center, eBay, Craigslist, and many other distributors. Ok, that’s great… but wouldn’t it be cool to instantly search your network of musical friends who may have some personal insight or photos uploaded right from the Google search results page? You could interact with your contacts directly to answer basic questions that they may have already experienced. See for yourself at google.com/profiles

While this is an early release, certainly there is a lot of future potential… especially as more people embrace the various social networking tools. It allows integration with blogs, Picasa, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, etc. I just gave it a test drive… pretty slick. The video to the right gives a nice brief overview.