By hosting your images at one of the leading online photo/image hosting services such as Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket and others your search engine visibility will likely improve. Why? Most of those services provide a spot for a link back to your website providing customers another means of entry into your site and showing Google and other search engines a "high quality inbound link".
We're big fans of Google's Webmaster Tools. Check out a blog post from Google about Webmaster Tools and how inbound links can improve your site's search results ranking.
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/good-times-with-inbound-links.html
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sell Stuff on the Web update
In our last post we discussed our steps to sell my 13' Boston Whaler Sport. Well its not sold yet (low demand in the Fall/Winter) but the blog and other classifieds are doing well in search results. The blog shows up on page 2 of a google search for "Boston Whaler Annapolis" which is pretty amazing since the blog was first published about two months ago.
Blog is at http://bostonwhalerannapolis.blogspot.com/. And by the way this link will help improve the placement of the site in search results. Google counts quality incoming links in their "scoring" of sites.
Blog is at http://bostonwhalerannapolis.blogspot.com/. And by the way this link will help improve the placement of the site in search results. Google counts quality incoming links in their "scoring" of sites.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
How to sell stuff on the web - case study
Since 311 Media is located near Annapolis so we have a boat. Got to have one in this area to enjoy the natural resources. Just got "new to us" boat in fact. So we need to sell our 13' 1967 Boston Whaler. Being a web design firm we launched a web blitz to get the word out. Makes for a nice case study we thought we'd share with you. We did the following:
Research - being Google experts, we researched keywords via the Google Keyword tool that folks use to find used Boston Whalers. Based on that info we proceeded to...
Create a web blog in blogger using the keywords in the URL. Here we posted a detailed description (more keywords), lots of photos and a video using the embed feature on youtube.
Oh yeah, youtube. We posted the video there using keywords, link to our blog, etc to get it to come up in Google search results.
And of course the craigslist ad, again linking to our blog site. And an ebay motors listing (also free).
Finally we did some google searching to see what sites were highly ranked for our keywords. One stood out in particular, oodle.com, so we posted an ad there (and at a few other free sites), again linking to our blog.
We also used Google AdWords, paid advertising, to fill in for a few days until our "organic" search results start to really kick in. The budget is set at a modest $6 per day. Might get us a few clickthroughs.
So we've built our own "web" using popular websites, a new blog and advertisements strategically placed to create a lead generation machine.
THE RESULTS
The oodle ad is already first in Google results for certain keyword combinations. We're waiting to get the blog ranked higher in search results, probably by later this week. The youtube video is already on page one of search results.
No sale yet but we're hoping. It is kinda late in the season. And now lets try word of mouth... if you know someone who wants a nice little boat, Contact Us!
Research - being Google experts, we researched keywords via the Google Keyword tool that folks use to find used Boston Whalers. Based on that info we proceeded to...
Create a web blog in blogger using the keywords in the URL. Here we posted a detailed description (more keywords), lots of photos and a video using the embed feature on youtube.
Oh yeah, youtube. We posted the video there using keywords, link to our blog, etc to get it to come up in Google search results.
And of course the craigslist ad, again linking to our blog site. And an ebay motors listing (also free).
Finally we did some google searching to see what sites were highly ranked for our keywords. One stood out in particular, oodle.com, so we posted an ad there (and at a few other free sites), again linking to our blog.
We also used Google AdWords, paid advertising, to fill in for a few days until our "organic" search results start to really kick in. The budget is set at a modest $6 per day. Might get us a few clickthroughs.
So we've built our own "web" using popular websites, a new blog and advertisements strategically placed to create a lead generation machine.
THE RESULTS
The oodle ad is already first in Google results for certain keyword combinations. We're waiting to get the blog ranked higher in search results, probably by later this week. The youtube video is already on page one of search results.
No sale yet but we're hoping. It is kinda late in the season. And now lets try word of mouth... if you know someone who wants a nice little boat, Contact Us!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
New Website using Concrete5 Content Management System
We're developing a site for a local Irish Dance School, the Hunt School of Irish Dance using Concrete5, an excellent Content Management System. Concrete5's features include:
- InContext editing - you browse to the page you want to edit and click "Edit"; That was easy!
- Many different themes or designs to choose from
- Add ons to extend the functionality of your site including galleries, slideshows, video, etc.
You can build almost any kind of site with Concrete5
- Online magazines and newspapers.
- eCommerce sites.
- Extranets and Intranets.
- Government web sites.
- Small business web sites.
- Non-profit and organization web sites.
- Community-based portals.
- Church, club and team web sites.
- Personal or family homepages.
- Marketing focused sites for a corporation.
- Any school, college or university web site.
- Many online communities.
- Anything else you can dream up!
Contact us for more info about how Concrete5 will make your website easier to maintain, more functional and help improve your customer's satisfaction.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Boost your Business "findability"
Google Places is a new service offered by Google since April 2010. It allows businesses to define their location, hours, services, etc for display on Google maps results and searches. I'm also guessing it helps your google organic search results so claim your business and describe it with keywords in a readable paragraph in the Places account. http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Using Google AdWords? That's a good start.
There seem to be two extremes that small businesses seem to fall into re: Google Advertising.
1. I don't click on ads (see previous post) so I don't need ANY campaigns.
2. I have one (or more) ad running on AdWords but my site doesn't show up in the "regular" Google search results.
The correct approach, as with most things, is to take the middle way. Your business or organization needs both an Adwords campaign, however modest and your site needs to be optimized for Google "organic" search. My typical suggestion is to run an Adwords campaign for 3-6 months with a fair level of intensity while your building your site to enhance the organic results. Adwords campaigns are also handy for special events. One client, a yacht dealer in Annapolis, runs Google ads during the Fall boat show season, generating traffic to their site and name/brand recognition for boat show visitors.
Feel free to contact us if you are interested in either setting up and Adwords campaign and/or having your current site evaluated (for free) to see if it meets Google's recommendations for improving organic search results.
1. I don't click on ads (see previous post) so I don't need ANY campaigns.
2. I have one (or more) ad running on AdWords but my site doesn't show up in the "regular" Google search results.
The correct approach, as with most things, is to take the middle way. Your business or organization needs both an Adwords campaign, however modest and your site needs to be optimized for Google "organic" search. My typical suggestion is to run an Adwords campaign for 3-6 months with a fair level of intensity while your building your site to enhance the organic results. Adwords campaigns are also handy for special events. One client, a yacht dealer in Annapolis, runs Google ads during the Fall boat show season, generating traffic to their site and name/brand recognition for boat show visitors.
Feel free to contact us if you are interested in either setting up and Adwords campaign and/or having your current site evaluated (for free) to see if it meets Google's recommendations for improving organic search results.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Go Green! - new website lauched @ green-pedals.com
311 Media helped update and launch the website for Green Pedals, a light electric vehicle sales and services shop located in Annapolis, Maryland. Green Pedals has been featured in the Washington Post and the local Fox 5 television network for their unique and innovative product line.
Check out the new site at www.green-pedals.com.
Check out the new site at www.green-pedals.com.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Search Engine Success
311 client Annapolis Yacht Sales consistently ranks on the first page of Google search results for a large number of keywords. Try it out at google; use words like Beneteau, yacht sales, annapolis yachts, etc. This success is a result of a properly coded website, use of web 2.0 techniques and using social media sites to boost search result rankings. We know all businesses and non profits want the same successful results so contact us for more info on how we can help you.
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