If you are a builder, you know the importance of building a house on the right foundations and building a website is no different. WordPress is the most popular content managment structure (CMS) available, it is free, easy to use and it is loved by Google.

On top of wordpress lives your chosen theme, and just like a chameleon lizard who can change the colour of it’s skin for hunting, a theme  controls the appearance of the website and also some of it’s  functionality.

There are many free themes available but just like buying a juicy celebrity gossip magazine over reading a free sidewalk paper, you often get a lot more value for just a small investment. The WordPress Thesis theme is the natural choice if you want to build a powerful blog based websites that you want to rank in google. This is because it is simple to use and packed full of features like a swiss army knife.

Here is a summary of some of the best features of the WordPress Thesis theme:

• Thesis site options- is menu that contains the fundamentals of your website set-up, all in 1 place: title tag settings (the most important setting for SEO), navigation menu setup, follow and no-follow index etc.
• Thesis Design options- is a menu that contains your website set-up, again all in 1 place: the layout, colors, fonts, home page options, image setup, comment setup, multimedia and just about everything other option that controls what your website looks like.
• Script management – there is an easy place to put in any software scripts that you want to run on every page – like google analytics, facebook feeds or feedburner feeds from your site.
• SEO friendly – one of the fundamental benefits of thesis is that it has been designed to be easy for search engines to find and understand the website so that your website gets great rankings in Google.

Also just released is a dedicated Thesis shortcut menu that integrates with the standard wordpress menu and also an Openhook manager  that can be used for further customization of your website. Just like speeding down the fairway in a golf buggy, WordPress Thesis will make your website building easier and fast-track your results.

Not your average WordPress Thesis theme review is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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This is a screen shot I took a week ago of a client’s website that was getting Google traffic from the wrong countries. The Domain name is a ‘.com’ but her business is serving local customers in Melbourne and Geelong.  As you can see from the image, 49% of her organic Google traffic was coming from the US and only 32% was coming from Australia!

This is because if you do not have a Domain name from a specific region, like ‘.com.au’ for Australia or ‘.co.uk’ from UK then Google does not know which region you want traffic from, so it will tend more towards US traffic from google.com searches as opposed to regional traffic from google.com.au for example.

If you own a ‘.com’ website (which is preferable because ‘.com’ is the original and the best) and you just want local traffic then you need to go into Google Webmaster tools and register your website. Then in the Site Configuration/Settings/Geographic Target – set it to the country you want. This is easy to do and it happens instantly.

The table above is a screen shot of the same site 1 week after changing the settings and you can see the results – 83% of the traffic is now coming from Australia.  You will still get a small amount of traffic from other regions but your traffic will be primarily from your desired country. There is so many little tips and tricks when building your business website that it is necessary to keep tuning and growing your website and the best way to do this is to keep learning and growing your knowledge so you can stay in front of your competition.

Getting the right Google traffic is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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There are many things I enjoy about Internet Marketing – building websites, channeling traffic, analysing data etc. One of the major things I like is that I continue to learn new skills everyday because there is so much to learn and the landscape is always changing.

This week I learnt how to transfer domain names between suppliers.  I had 2 domain names that because I bought them second-hand, I had to buy them through a domain name registration company that I do not normally deal with.  When it was time for the domain name renewal the cost was going to be $38 each per year instead of the normal $10 per year that I pay through Namecheap.

These 2 domains had Google pagerank values of 2 and 3 (from Market Samurai) and the domain name renewal was due in just 2 weeks so my first reaction was to pay the money just in case something went wrong with the sites or if I lost the domain names.  But as I love to ‘go down in a blaze of glory’ I had a go at transferring them.

As it turns out the process is simple:

1. Go to the old domain name renewal company and make sure the registrar lock is disabled
2. Then click on ‘email auth info to registrant’ which should be under the ‘Auth info/EPP key’ heading. This will send a key to your registered email address.
3. Go to your new domain name renewal company (Namecheap in my case)
4. Apply for the domain name transfer and input the key that was sent to your email address
5. And pay the fees for the next year.

I followed this process and within 24 hours both of my names were transferred and I will now only be paying $10 for my domain name renewal. There is a perceived pain of disconnect to change registrars which is why higher fees can be charged but i have found that it is amazingly simple to change registrars when your domain name renewal is due so paying higher fees is not necessary.

Don’t get robbed by your domain name renewal is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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The size of a business hardly matters on the Web where effective Internet marketing strategies enable small business to promote their products and services alongside large companies with huge marketing budgets. Landing at the top of search engine results pages directly affects sales and profits as a vast majority of Internet searchers tend to view and click on links only appearing on the first page of search results. Small business SEO (Search Engine Optimization) holds the key to high search visibility and is a necessity for business survival.

Basis of small business SEO

Search engines aim to provide the most relevant search results that are responsive to keywords which Internet consumers use to find products and services. The results are influenced by hundreds of factors which are used to measure a web page’s relevance and popularity. These factors are addressed by on-page and off-page SEO techniques.

On-page SEO details primarily with the HTML code and visual appearance of a web page. Every web page has a visual and HTML version for human visitors and search engine robots respectively. Internet users prefer pages that are uncluttered, present informative content and are easily navigated. Search robots are programmed to lift data found in tags, making it important to incorporate relevant keywords in appropriate parts of a page’s HTML code.

A good SEO service will usually provide web development incorporating on-page techniques at the earliest stages or review an existing site before making HTML code adjustments. Content plays an important role in SEO as Google webmaster guidelines emphasize the primacy of attracting human visitors in search rankings.

Off-page SEO focuses on building related links to a web page or website. This process is continuous and involves several strategies such as:

• online directory submissions
• social media integration
• commenting in blogs and forum discussions
• online press releases
• document sharing
• article marketing
• video marketing
• email marketing
• reciprocal linking

Website and business owners need not to learn all these techniques in order to implement SEO in their web pages. There are tools and systems for almost every SEO technique developed by Internet marketing experts. A SEO service should be able to implement strategies using the most cutting edge tools for keyword research, website development, sitemap generation, video creation and automated email marketing, all of which complement social media marketing.

No singular technique is more important than the other. The best small business SEO strategy combines both on-page and off-page techniques conducted and measured regularly for long lasting results.

Effective Strategies for Small Business SEO is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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1. Basic Tools for Small Business Internet Marketing
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Search engine optimization or SEO sounds complex to business owners who may be aware of its importance but who lack the skills to implement it. While SEO generally boosts rankings in major search engines, its main targets are the top rankings of search results pages of Google, the world’s leading search engine. By following a Google SEO guide, small businesses are able to compete online with companies that are armed with sizeable marketing budgets.

Basic Google SEO guide

Determine targeted keywords: Keywords are phrases which Internet users type in search fields to look for web pages containing products, services or information they need. A web page containing popular keywords in a particular industry is a good foundation for SEO. These are determined through a process of brainstorming, research, analysis and testing.

Optimize website: Use the targeted keywords in various parts of a web page: title, meta description, H1, text content, Alt image attributes, text accompanying video and page URL. Use simple text in the URL of each page and rename pages where necessary. Boost local search results by adding essential business information such as the company name, address and phone number at the footer of every page. Insert no-follow commands for links that are not intended for indexing. A robots.txt file also guides search crawlers to pages for indexing.

Submit website to directories: Site directories such as Google Places are good sources of local traffic. These drive Internet users to a website and to the doorsteps of a bricks and mortar establishment. Submission of website details at these online directories is free. As a rule of thumb, consistency in business information appearing across online directories influences visibility in Google local search results. Conduct an online search of industry-specific directories and add the website to all these.

Submit sitemap: A sitemap in XML format shows Google search crawlers all the pages of a website, and enables crawling and indexing. Create a sitemap and submit it to Google Webmasters Central.

Create inbound links: Popularity is a major factor in search results and it is best indicated by the number of sites linked to a web page. The source of a site’s links is important; exchange links only with relevant websites. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs and forums also provide good sources of inbound links. Integrate social networks with a website and leave appropriate comments containing links at blogs and discussion threads.

Google’s formula for ranking web pages is known as a search algorithm which considers and calculates hundreds of factors known only to Google’s search Engineers. Due to changing Internet behaviour and technology, the algorithm continues to experience modifications making SEO a constant challenge for business owners. The right SEO service is backed by years of SEO study and experience, and stays updated on the latest trends, making it the ideal Google SEO guide for small business.

Google SEO Guide is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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Small business Internet marketing is as essential as the traditional marketing media of print, TV and radio. Unlike the usual forms of advertising, Internet marketing has a wider reach and costs much less than radio or TV airtime. With an estimated 2 billion Internet users going online everyday to search for products or services they need, the best way for small business to grow rapidly is through a website that is optimized for search engines.

What you need

Website: Every business needs an online presence, a website containing essential information about a business, its products or services and how it may be reached. A website can be a series of simple static home pages containing a business logo, address, list of products, photos and contact information or a highly interactive one with colorful and animated graphics, forms to fill out and useful information.

Domain name: Also referred to as URL, the domain name is a website’s address on the Web. It is how Internet users and search engine crawlers distinguish one website from the other. Ideally, the domain name should bear a business name or keywords relevant to the business it represents. Domain names are easily purchased online for as little as $10 each.

Email address: Most social networks, file sharing sites and membership websites require an email address to register an account. It is also used for link building, sending out newsletters or marketing letters to potential clients and buyers. A business email can be set up in conjunction with your website and its hosting service.

Google account: An account with the world’s largest search engine gives its members access to free email, keyword research tool, keyword monitoring, directory listing and other important tools which promote search engine optimization for small business Internet marketing.

Simple steps for small business internet marketing

Website development: A website must be visually appealing, highly navigable and informative. Its technical parts must be optimized in order for search crawlers to index and store relevant data easily. Basic web page optimization includes keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, headers and at various parts of text content. A sitemap and robots.txt files also promote visibility to search engines.

Content creation: Target clients are attracted to websites with fresh and helpful content. The best articles contain the right keywords to attract the search engines and relevant information to convince Internet users to buy a recommended product or leave their email address to receive further information.

Social media integration: Using the business’s email address, create accounts at various social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogs. Link the business web page to the social sites, grow these networks and update information on these platforms regularly.

With the basic elements of Internet marketing in place, a SEO specialist can develop more advanced small business Internet marketing strategies to boost sales promote awareness and maintain client relationships online.

Basic Tools for Small Business Internet Marketing is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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Landing on the top search results of Google is every webmaster’s goal because it is linked to increased sales, profits and marketing success. An on-page Google search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, however, involves a combination of techniques specifically designed for a web page.

Principles of Google Search Engine Optimization

Relevance: Google strives to provide the most relevant search results to its users. Relevance is influenced by hundreds of factors that are captured in a mathematical formula also referred to as an algorithm.

Importance: The order of appearance in search results is also affected by importance of a web page which, for now, is equated with its popularity. The presence of quality inbound links tends to increase a website’s importance and rankings.

SEO tips

Use keywords: Keywords that buyers use to find your products or services must be incorporated in the title tag, meta description, H1 header, content’s body, image ALT attributes and page URL.

Keyword density: Use keywords at least a few times in the body of the text content but avoid stuffing as search engine crawlers are programmed to ignore a page filled with highly repetitive keywords.

Craft SEO content: Keywords must be intelligently used in text content of a web page in order to attract readers. Readers prefer original and useful content and boost SEO by sharing these in their social networks. The challenge lies in weaving targeted keywords into high quality content. Google advises that between writing for the crawlers or human readers, it prefers content that is readable to Internet users.

Review website structure: Technical elements of a web page can also prevent Google’s crawlers from storing its data. These include a site’s navigability issues, the absence of XML sitemap, text and links stored in files that do not use HTML code, no-follow links and the robots.txt files. Whenever necessary, a web page must be re-designed in order to enhance user experience and provide a clear hierarchy of links that search crawlers can easily follow.

Submit URL to directories: A well-designed and highly informative web page needs additional Internet marketing to create numerous inbound links from web pages all over the Web. Create links by adding a web page’s URL in Google, listing it in Google places and other online directories, reciprocal linking and making it available for viral sharing in social networks and document sharing sites.

Google’s algorithms have been modified several times and continue to face modification as its search engineers strive to provide 99% search results relevance. Time, practice, experience and continuous learning are necessary to master Google search engine optimization. Web page owners who are not tech savvy or who don’t have the time to monitor their site stats will need Internet marketing specialists for SEO.

Best Google Search Engine Optimization Strategy is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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Internet traffic is the lifeblood of every website. The mere existence of a website does not guarantee visitors nor does its visual design automatically increase website traffic. Correct website architecture is only one of several factors essential for traffic generation, making search engine optimization (SEO) a constant strategy for website success.

Effective ways to increase website traffic

Except for the most aggressive marketing or PPC campaigns, much of a website’s traffic will come from search engine results that Internet users click to find specific products or services. The top 10 search results are without doubt the most profitable as Internet users often look no further than the first page of search results. The main purpose of SEO is to steer a web page to the top of search results using strategies that make it more visible to search engine crawlers.

Research keywords: Every search starts with a phrase or group of words typed into the search field. While there are tools that measure the popularity of keywords, the starting point of keyword research is often brainstorming and competitor research. Internet marketers must have a good grasp of the business in order to come up with an initial list of targeted keywords.

Improve link structures: Search engine crawlers and robots are automated programs that go around the Internet in search of fresh content for indexing and storing. The crawlers view specific data found at the back end of a web page, index them for later retrieval. A web page with a simple and clear hierarchy of links and a structure that is easily crawled tends to rank well than one that is too intricate for the search engine crawlers or robots to follow.

Use HTML text format: Images, flash files and Java applets are not visible to search engine spiders. Search bots prefer to view text in HTML codes and readily index these for later retrieval. If a web page must use other file types such as images, its targeted keywords must be incorporated in the ALT attributes which are visible to the search crawlers. Wherever possible, include a text transcript of audio or video files.

Create high quality content: Search engines such as Google and Yahoo display search results according to relevance and popularity. hundreds of factors influence relevance but Google emphasizes high quality, legitimate and credible content in its latest algorithm change. As a results of the content farm update, web pages with duplicate or mass produced content were downgraded or removed from search results.

No single technique can immediately increase website traffic. It takes time, constant review, combined SEO practices and website analysis to generate heavy streams of traffic.

How to Increase Website Traffic is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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Studies indicate that the number 1 search result generated by Google typically receives at least 40 percent of Internet user click-throughs. Moreover, there is an increasing number of studies that show how internet users tend to view only the links found on the first page. The secret to improve Google ranking lies in a combination of steps known as search engine optimization or SEO.

How SEO can improve Google ranking

Arrange elements for Google bots to see: Google relies on automated search programs known as crawlers or robots to view specific data on thousands of HTML pages. When a website is not ranking well, an Internet marketing specialist will usually examine its web pages and asses its viability to search engine robots. Adjustments in the title tags, meta description, page URLs, and the accompanying text of image, audio and video files are some of the basic practices useful for SEO.

Enable users to find useful content: A well written article that is informative will still need SEO for Internet users or a website’s target audience to find it. It is good practice to include well-researched keywords in the title tag, the first few lines of content and in several portions of the body content.

Use social media for building links: Create a blog with useful and interesting content that can be linked to the main website. Blogs allow users to leave comments and easily turn viral with social media buttons for sharing and re-tweeting interesting posts. Install a google +1 button for Facebook users to indicate their approval or your web page.

Register at various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn under your business name or professional name. Keep these social network accounts active by posting updates, links, photos and video files related to the business.

Increase social interaction: Leave intelligent comments with a signature file containing your site’s URL at forums discussing relevant topics. Participate in discussion threads, comment on blog posts and respond to comments on your own blog. The inbound links generated by these interactions improve Google ranking as part of social proof.

Test and measure: Google search criteria constantly change in response to Internet behaviour. As a result, SEO to improve Google ranking requires frequent review, testing and analysis. New techniques may be developed in order to address changes in Google’s search algorithm. The best way to deal with Google changes is to engage the services of an Internet marketing specialist who has a good grasp of SEO and years of actual SEO practice.

How to improve Google Ranking is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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Maintaining a website requires search engine optimization (SEO) practices in order to boost search visibility and to stay on top of search results. The first page of search results typically display the top 10 most relevant results for queries with matching keywords. In a market with high competition and very little product or price differentiation, the right SEO service can be a huge competitive advantage. In other types, such as niche and specialist markets, implementing strategies to improve search engine ranking is the key to reaching a target market.

Ways to improve search engine ranking

SEO specialists usually provide a menu of services consisting of on-page techniques and off-page strategies that are designed to increase inbound links to client’s web page.

On-page SEO refers to the process of making parts of a web page visible to search engine robots which roam the Internet, viewing, indexing and storing various data found on web pages.

Keyword research: This often begins with brainstorming for common phrases that are used to find specific products and services and are relevant to a web page. A keyword research tool can generate additional keywords and provide statistical data for further analysis.

Headers, page titles, domain names, tags, URLs, meta descriptions: These are parts of a web page that search robots ordinarily examine for keywords that are indexed and stored. Other technical aspects that promote visibilty and readability include web visual design, browser compatibility, XML sitemap, robots.txt files, 301 redirects, keywords in alt tags and file names and nofollow commands to appropriate links.

Off page SEO is focussed on creating numerous inbound links through:

• URL submissions at directories such as Yahoo Local, Google Places and Bing Local
• Social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn
• Document and file sharing sites such as Scribd and YouTube

No longer just an optional service for fine-tuning web pages, SEO is regarded as an online business necessity which forms the backbone of ther Internet marketing activities. The ideal time for SEO is in the first stages of web development when it is easier to lay the foundation of on-page SEO and incorporate basic elements such as keywords, title tags, page URLs and meta descriptions. For existing websites, the time to implement SEO is yesterday! Existing website owners need to obtain SEO services immediately in order to reap its benefits sooner.

SEO services utilize different methods for making web pages more attractive and visible to both human and robot visitors. The best proof of SEO services used to improve search engine ranking lies in the website’s stats and search results pages of Google and other search engines.

How to Improve Search Engine Ranking is a post from: Touchdown Website Marketing

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