Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Hey Las Vegas: What is the World Wide Web?

Friday, August 6th, 2010

The World Wide Web is like a blanket on top of the internet, yes that’s correct the web is not the internet. People always get this confused—the internet is a compilation of computer networks, and the web is a plethora of files and programs that make the internet less boring. So, now that we got that straight let’s talk about the web and what it can do for businesses.

All these nice attractive graphics and links on the web are brought to you by files and programs that were developed to make the internet less boring. Graphics User Interface (GUI) is the term used for the graphics that are on the web. The web has been around for about twenty years now, and before this the internet was nothing but characters. The internet was just a communicating machine, which electronically transmitted data. The web is a bunch of files and programs that add links to other files and programs, and the big difference is—the web added attraction to the internet. It gave the internet graphics, links, hot links, and much more. A web browser is also needed to view these files and programs, and without these web browsers, you’re basically looking at the plain internet again.

In order for a company to be very successful, there advertisement has to be pure, and doing this without the web can only be done by huge companies, due to the fact, a large amount of money is needed to suppor the advertisement program. With the web, well the game is on—there are copious small businesses out there that are making a killing, because they simply understand the web and what it can do for them. The WWW is the foundation for many small businesses—this gives them an edge over the larger companies when it comes to being more creative, and time is money when it comes to the niches on the web. Large companies have to go through a huge political evolution just to get something approved, and the down fall with this—they miss out on the niches that are short term and need to be taken advantage of right now! Small companies recognize this and use it to their advantage.

If you’re a part of a small business, and are savvy with computers, networking, and programming–there will be many opportunities to explore. Look at all the small one person businesses that turn out to be huge successes, such as; Facebook, My Space, Google, Ebay, and Yahoo. This list can go on forever, and these weren’t major corporations before they started, they were college students in college looking for a way to make a buck, and by god, they did. The innovated people that sit down and think up these ideas are people like us—just one great idea away from a success story.

As you can see, the web creates opportunities for anyone with basic knowledge, and just a little bit of computer experience and programming knowledge, you can be the next hot shot to make it rich.

Are Directory Links Still Effective for your Website?

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Lots of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing Professionals are voicing their opinions and stating than directories and directory links are dead. Remember, these are the people that also say that Page Rank is dead, SEO is dead, and the latest this is dead theory.  So, is website directory link building no longer worthy for your business?

I believe the real issue with website directory links is that only some of them are good, while some others are junk, and being able to tell this difference is the key between loosing your time and having a fruitful link building campaign.  How can you tell if a directory is good enough for your website or that you should pass it?  Here are the 3 main criteria of identifying a good directory from a bad one:

  1. You can find the directory in the most popular search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. Also the category pages of the directory are cached on the search engines, if the directory offers detail pages, these should be as well.
  2. Check the source code of the pages of the directory. Look to see if the links are plain a href’s, without the rel=”nofollow” attribute, and no sneaky redirects are present. By validating all these you guarantee that these links are seeing and counted by Search Engines.
  3. The directory doesn’t link to questionable websites, specially topics like gambling, casino adult, and illegal content websites. Be very wary about directory that offers sitewide likes to these type of sites.

8 Cheap Ways to Promote Your Las Vegas Website

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Ways to promote your Las Vegas website in a cost-effective manner.

So just what is the difference between promoting your Las Vegas website and a traditional brick and mortar store? It’s a common question asked by many new business owners and internet marketers. It turns out the principles are the same but the methods are a bit different. Let’s take a look at how they differ.

The primary goal of the promotion and awareness-building of both is to first create awareness of its existence. Secondly, you need to communicate to potential customers to know what exact products and services you offer and why it will make their life or running their business more easily. Next you want to show them how your products and services are better than any others others in the market. This is all to achieve your final goal of visiting your Las Vegas website or store. Making the sale is another lengthy topic all together.

If you have a sizable advertising budget, you can start by advertising in the New York Times or on NBC for a brick and mortar store or on Google or Yahoo sites if you’re on the internet. If you do not have a large budget, there are many cost-effective ways you can promote your Las Vegas website.

8 Cheap Ways to Promote Your Las Vegas Website

  1. Tell your friends and family all about your website. On average, a person has a couple of hundred family members and friends. Email them, stay in touch and let them know!
  2. Sign up for a leads service that will refer leads to your Las Vegas website. This will be a nominal expense in relation to the leads if you utilize the right service.
  3. Post your helpful articles and opinions on forum web sites. This helps add credibility to you as an expert in your field and will refer people back to your web site.
  4. Consider Search Engine Marketing (SEM). An paid advertising campaign on Google Adwords is another way to reach your potential clients. You can choose the exact phrases and words you want and set your own monthly budget.
  5. Create a flyer or simple tri-fold brochure that promotes your Las Vegas business and your web site.
  6. Place newspaper classifieds in local Las Vegas newspapers. You can generate a very cost effective campaign using weekly newspapers that are less expenisve and can reach your target market in Las Vegas and beyond.
  7. Write and publish helpful and insightful articles just like this one that showcase your expertise and knowledge and help direct clients back to your web site.
  8. Start your own Las Vegas blog on your website. Your own company blog allows you to add more pages of content to your website and more pages of rich content helps with SEO efforts.

For more ways to promote your website for free, consider doing a google search for “free ways to promote my website” and see what other helpful tips come up. It takes a little time to do the research, but the benefits can be very beneficial!

Promoting Your Las Vegas Website for Free

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

When you first start your Las Vegas website, promoting it is an essential way of getting visitors to your website. If you don’t promote it, then chances are very few people are going to find it, and receiving a lot of traffic to your website can be absolutely critical, especially if you are running a business and need to generate revenue from visitors clicking on ads or buying your products. There are plenty of websites that claim to promote your website for a price, but there are plenty of methods you can use to promote your Las Vegas for free.

The first method is one that you’ve probably already thought of, and one that any website owner can and should do. That is promoting your website through word of mouth. Tell everyone you know, and tell them to tell people they know. This can actually be very effective if the chain is kept going. Also, if someone is asking about a service you offer on a forum, you can make a post there telling them about it. Also, speaking of forums, put your website in your signature.

Another way of promoting your website is becoming an affiliate of other websites. If you offer to put a small banner of their website on your website, they might allow you to put a banner of your own on their website. This can be a great way to promote your website, since, unlike the paid ads you see on many websites, people will actually end up clicking on these with genuine interest, especially if the website caters to a similar group that yours does.

You’ve probably heard of websites such as Stumbleupon and Digg. Millions of people use these social bookmarking sites. You can generate massive traffic to your website by adding your website to as many social bookmarking sites as you can. It’s a guaranteed way of getting your website noticed.

Of course, the most common way people find websites is through search engines such as Google. Most search engines actually will add your site to their database automatically, so you don’t have to do a thing. However, if you look around you find less well known search engines that may not. Most of these will have some way of submitting your website to them free of charge. Make sure you do so.

Perhaps the most important way is by creating content that visitors will find interesting. After all, if people come to your website and then leave, not liking what they see, then they won’t buy from you or tell other people about your website. Less visitors also means a lower spot in search engines.

Increase Organic Ranking for Your Las Vegas Website

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

You may have a website for your Las Vegas business or company and that is most certainly a valuable marketing tool. The question to ask yourself is how does your website rank on major search engines such as yahoo!, google, msn and others?

Organic ranking is when your website ranks on a search results under the organic rankings once a search is performed on a set of keywords (not the sponsored or paid listings).

Here are some tips to increasing your organic rankings on local search engines in Las Vegas:

  • Ensure your city, state and zip code are in HTML text somewhere on each and every page.
  • Optimize your META tags to include relevant keywords, key phrases, for the title, description and keywords tags (consult a professional web designer in Las Vegas for more information.)
  • Ensure you have links between website pages from the home page to sub pages and in between.
  • Ensure you have a website site map page with links to all of your website pages included.
  • Keep your website content updated often. Search engines like websites with fresh content.
  • Purchase your domain for a long period of time. Search engines like google, yahoo, msn and AOL like when your domain name is purchased for a long period of time (10 years or more) as it means that your website is planning on being around for a long period of time.

Google Analytics is a Needed Marketing Tool for Las Vegas

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Why do you need Google Analytics? The answer is simple. Google Analytics tells you everything you need to know about the traffic your site is receiving. From the novice personal informational website to the complex sales and corporate sites, Google Analytics has exactly what you need.

Google Analytics contains customized reporting on who is accessing your site, where they are coming from on the web, where they live, and even what type of web browser and internet connection they are using. At your fingertips you have the ability to find out if the group you are marketing towards is the group that is actually visiting your website. You can even see specific links that people are clicking to find your site.

With Google Analytics you are able to map trends and patterns. You can compare data with motion charts, funnel visualization, and other visually appealing features. You can even set up cross channel and multimedia tracking to measure the usage of Flash, social networking sites, video, and other applications. If you start a new advertising campaign, you can check the hits and other data associated with this advertising campaign independently.

Does your website sell products or market to a specific demographic? No problem. You can now be sure that you are hitting that demographic. If you aren’t meeting that demographic, you can alter the marketing strategies to more closely hit it. You can check your reports from anywhere in the world so long as you have an internet connection. Your Google Analytics is tied into your Google account to make life easier for you. Your website cannot afford to be without Google Analytics.

So why Google and not some other analytics program? Because Google is reliable. Google has the power and strength to continue to work for you. It is a name you know and trust. For free, you just can’t beat it. It works well with Google AdWords, AdSense, Website Optimizer, Webmaster Tools and other Google created masterpieces. If you don’t have Google Analytics on your site now, you need to get it soon. The longer you wait, the less you know about your website.

If you need professional assistance with setting up and installing any of the above Google marketing tools, please contact perkolate at 702.341.0085 or email us at fullsteam@perkolate.com.

SEO Services In Las Vegas & SEO Tips

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

SEO Tips For A Strong Online Presence

Search engine optimization (SEO) ranking determines the position of a website on search engines.  You need a good rank for your website to be listed higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher your website ranks in the Las Vegas market, the more traffic it receives. In order to overcome online competition it is important to improve your Las Vegas website’s SEO ranking. Most people use major search engines like google, whenever they have to search for any topic, product or service and most of them only go through the first 4-5 pages of the search results. No one really has the patience to go beyond that. So if your website is listed in first two or three pages, this can be of great benefit. 

To have a high SEO ranking is in fact not that difficult as you might think it to be. It is possible to increase your website’s ranking by following a few simple tips. The most fundamental and effective tip is to have proper keyword rich content on the website. You should definitely set aside budget for Search Engine Optimization services on your website (which Perkolate does of course!). We have rich experience in SEO and also have extensive knowledge in refining optimization tasks. 

You can also modify the design of your website to make it a high - quality SEO compatible. A well written, content-rich website has more chances to be listed higher in the search engines. The next important thing is not to use any filters in your website. Search engine robots often get puzzled with the disruption produced due to active links present in the website. Robots usually tag them as broken links, which undoubtedly can produce a negative effect on your website’s ranking.

In search engine optimization, the success of a website is largely dependent on the overall SEO plan. You must ensure that the SEO strategy you enlist is well thought out and the keywords and key phrases are carefully chosen. A SEO plan developed without expertise is not at all capable of attracting traffic. So it is better to consult professionals like Perkolate before designing the plan.

One of the most important aspects is to continually keep on revising your efforts with regard to SEO. Markets, strategies and tactics change at a fast pace and accordingly your SEO must continually change as well.

More information:

Maximizing Las Vegas Internet Marketing & Online Marketing Campaigns

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

If you aren’t currently running any internet marketing or online marketing programs for your Las Vegas website or business in general, you are a bit behind the curve. Over the past 10 years, many companies have shifted their marketing budgets from more traditional print methods (yellow pages, newspapers, magazine ads) to online marketing programs, after all, people are turning more and more toward looking for local Las Vegas businesses online through a google search, for example.

Here are some potential ideas for running your online marketing programs (along with links to our main website that describe each item further):

 

You can do all of the above yourself, it requires a learning curve and time to sign up and monitor the above internet marketing strategies, however, if you need help from a professional, please be sure to contact Perkolate at fullsteam@perkolate.com or give us a call at 702.341.0085. Get ahead of the curve!

Top Ten Search Engines - Las Vegas Search Engine Marketing Tips

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Top Ten Search Engines (your Las Vegas website should be on all of them):

  1. Google (of course!)
  2. Yahoo!
  3. MSN
  4. AOL
  5. Microsoft Live Search
  6. Ask.com
  7. Alta Vista
  8. Excite
  9. AlltheWeb.com
  10. Lycos
Importance of Appearing on Search Engine Listings
Search engines are a major sources of business here in Las Vegas if your website appear in search engine results, especially the first few pages. How do you get onto the first few pages? There are two ways, organic results and pay-per-click campaigns.

Organic Search Engine Results

To rank on search engines through an organic search, you must have a website that is properly built, has no broken links, and the content must be updated as much as possible. A professional SEO company like Perkolate can perform keyword research and find out exactly what the public is searching on and can devise a strategy to integrate those keywords into your website.

Pay-Per-Click Online Advertising Campaigns

In addition to having basic Search Engine Optimization services performed on your website in order to gain organic traffic, Perkolate recommends adding in a pay-per-click program into the mix. With a pay-per-click campaign you can choose the keywords you want your website to rank for, set a budget, and your website will appear as a “featured result” when someone does a search on google, let’s say.

Either way you look at it, your Las Vegas website needs to be properly optimized with search engine optimization and promoted with search engine marketing and pay-per-click advertising if you want to keep ahead of the curve!

Need help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)? Contact perkolate at fullsteam@perkolate.com or call us at 702.341.0085.

Why You Should Keep Your Las Vegas Website Up to Date

Monday, March 9th, 2009

There are many obvious reasons to keep the content on your Las Vegas corporate or business website up-to-date, but there are many not-as-obvious benefits that you should be aware of:

Obvious Reasons Why You Want to Keep Your Website Updated:

  • Keeps your website fresh - Visitors like reading new and updated content on your website.
  • Keeps your website professional - Visitors like to go to a website that is timely and well maintain, it lends credibility to your company that visitors know that you spend time on updating it, especially in Las Vegas.
  • Current information - It allows you to communicate timely and current information out to your clients quickly, for example a special promotion, news item or new hire information.
  • Reduces phone calls and emails - If visitors can learn about all of your products and services online and they don’t have to call you to ask questions, it saves you valuable time.
  • If you don’t, your competition will.

Additional Benefits to Keeping Your Website Updated:

  • Search Engines love updated content - google, msn, and yahoo (all search engines for that matter) are constantly crawling your website and the more often pages are updated, the better you can rank in the search engines.
  • New Technologies - new and improved technologies are constantly being released and your website should contain the latest.
  • Keep in Style - just like fashion, websites can look dated after a few years, so it’s always a good idea to refresh the look and feel to make sure yours doesn’t fall behind the curve.