Advertising on the Web Archives - Baggies Web Solutions

March 29, 2019September 23, 2019

What is Time On Page?

Time on Page is a funny metric. Who cares how long someone spends on your website, right? As long as the people find what they are looking for, make a purchase, fill out a contact form, or call, why does it matter? While there is no concrete proof that the amount of time people spend on your site will cause your rankings to improve, there is reason to believe that it does make a difference. According to a Google spokesperson:

“As we’ve commented on before, we use interactions in a variety of ways, such as for personalization, evaluation purposes and training data. We have nothing new or further to share here other than what we’ve long said: having great, engaging content is the right path for success. We’d encourage site owners to focus on that big picture,” a spokesperson said.

That can be interpreted in many ways, but the most direct line of thinking is to make content that keeps a person on the site longer than someone who is in your industry competing for your traffic. Google is not know for giving straight answers and, at times, can be very vague.

What does that mean for my site?

We recommend a number of things to keep people on your site.

Videos
Blogs
Long-Form Content (over 1000 words)

The benefits of these suggestions are two-fold. First, it is giving more meat to the search engines to place your site where it needs to be in the results. Secondly, it is giving your visitors a reason to stay longer and browse the site. This, in turn, helps fulfill the requirement stated by Google when they say: “having great, engaging content is the right path for success.”

February 1, 2019September 23, 2019

Google+ Is History

On April 2nd, Google+ will become a thing of the past. After months of speculation of the exact date, we now know when it will go the way of the dinosaur. Google originally announced that they were shutting down the service back in October, due to low usage and a massive data breach. If you’re reading this, you have about 2 months to remove all of your photos and uploads to the service, before it starts deleting profiles and content. If you are interested, there is a handy article showing how to export your data.

September 7, 2017September 23, 2019

How to Dominate Search Engine Results

The internet has become a crowded, highly competitive marketplace. New technology, however, allows for more robust, direct marketing to your customers. The question then becomes, “How do you get your website and products in front of your customers?” The answer? Making sure your business website covers as much ground in the search engine results pages. Here are a few ways to make that happen.

Local SEO

In the past few years, local searches have taken over prime real estate in the results pages. Just take a look at my lunch search below! The first thing that pops up and takes up the entire page is the Map search showing you what’s around you! Local SEO means making sure your NAWP (Name, Address, Website, Phone number) are correct across all facets of the web. By monitoring your business’ web presence, you will show up in Map searches when someone is looking for your product or service in your area. After Google changed how they display local search results, businesses do not have to compete for the top spot but the top three.

Blogging

Regularly writing a blog that answers common questions that people may have about your business increases your authority and the chances of popping up in search results when someone does a specific search for that blog’s subject. If you are a HVAC repair company, you want blog content that answers a common question like “Why is my AC unit leaking?”. If you have a blog dedicated to that specific subject, your likelihood of getting clicks goes up tremendously!

Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click is a great way to get people who are looking for your services and products to your website. If you set up and monitor your ads wisely you can see significant returns on your investment. The search engines’ goal is to return quality results, but not necessarily the highest bidder. If the top paying ad is not helpful, customers will never click on it. Search engines want the best ad for the search, not the highest paying.

Fresh Content

Content on your site must be fresh, keyword-centric, and well-written. Fresh content is one of the major foundations of Google’s relevancy algorithms. Do not post content that is full of errors, duplicated, or boring. A great way to stay on top is to keep Google happy.

These are just a few ways to get more of your business in the search engine results pages. For an in-depth consultation, contact us and we’d be happy to sit down with you to discuss your needs.

April 13, 2015April 20, 2017

Can Online Reviews Help My Search Rankings?

Online Reviews and Search Rankings?

This is one of the most popular questions we get when meeting with clients to discuss their online presence. In a short answer: No. In a longer answer: Absolutely. Here’s why.

Bing Search Engine Results for “dallas sushi”

For the purpose of this blog, I went to both Google and Bing and did a search for ‘dallas sushi’ and on both search engine results pages, the very first thing that popped up were online reviews. Yelp for Bing and Google Reviews for Google. That means when people are searching for your business, if you have a less than stellar rating on either service, you aren’t presenting your business in the proper light.

If you’re out searching for the best sushi joint close to your home and there’s a 3-star review and a 5-star review, which one would you likely choose? Of course, there are many factors that go into that ranking, but, upon first glance, the 5 star review will be chosen more often.

Bing Online Reviews — Bing Search Engine Results for “dallas sushi”

It is not just Google and Bing anymore.

The restaurant and retail industries have become more and more dependent on the online review aggregators over the past few years. The rise of Yelp, Urbanspoon, Foursquare and Google Reviews shows that potential customers are willing to spend the time needed to wade through reviews to find what customers have to say about a business before they step in the front doors.

If your business has any reviews online, you must take action and address problems and compliments to your business, just as you would if someone were telling you in person. If an unhappy customer is out there writing reviews of your business in a negative light, then the number of customers lost can noticeably affect your income.

Google Online Reviews — Google Search Engine Results for “dallas sushi”

So, back to the original question: Can online reviews help your search rankings? While you may not notice an uptick in your traffic from Google or Bing, you will notice an increase in traffic from the countless number of review sites out there. Where are they coming from? Just do a search for “sushi” in your preferred search engine and take a look. Underneath the reviews and the local maps, is the organic search results, Yelp and Google Reviews are the all over the place.

Have you noticed an increase in traffic from online review sites?

March 19, 2015March 7, 2017

Is Internet Explorer Dead?

If you’ve read the news and seen the posts on Facebook, then you’re probably wondering what all the hub-bub is about Microsoft dumping Internet Explorer. Fear not! They won’t just hand over the reigns to Chrome or Firefox as the #1 most widely used web browser. So, is Internet Explorer Dead? Not quite.

Then what is all the fuss about?

With the news that the Microsoft team is working on their newest operating system, tentatively titled Windows 10, they have made reference to abandoning IE. As happy as that made many die-hard Mac fans, the news is somewhat misleading. In Microsoft’s case, they won’t be abandoning the browser itself, just the name. Currently, IE browsers are responsible for a whopping 56.64% of all website traffic. For Microsoft to stop making a program that has that much market share would be foolish. A simple rebranding and a redesign, hopefully from the ground up is what needs to happen.

Over the years, Internet Explorer has gotten a bad rap due to poor security standards, slow loading times, and clunky website rendering. Any website designer will shudder when you mention the disaster that was IE 6. We still, to this day, groan at having to troubleshoot the problems in one of the most widespread incarnations of the most popular website browsers. Thankfully, IE 6 now only commands a 1.31% market share.

What is Project Spartan?

With Microsoft renaming their web browser comes (hopefully) a new era of the PC version of Safari. Yes, every Windows machine has IE on it, but that doesn’t stop you from downloading Chrome, Safari, Firefox or even Opera, for that matter. Let’s hope that this new era of the Microsoft browser won’t be a mistake. I for one kinda want to see what it does. After all, when Firefox came out, it was the neatest thing in the world, then Chrome came out and it superseded it. After all, from early reports, the working title is Project Spartan. That’s a bold name for any project. Surely, Microsoft knows that in order to keep that 56% market share they will have to make some big jumps in usability and give users something that they’ve never seen before. Otherwise it’ll be more of the same and could go the way of the Zune.

February 3, 2013February 23, 2017

Winning the Battle Against Old and Incorrect Content

I’m old-fashioned, I enjoy a physical copy of a book to read. I went to a website for a local bookstore and began searching for their hours of operation. I found it displayed prominently on their site, so I headed out to go pick up a copy of a book that had been recommended to me. Once I got there, I was surprised to see that they were closed. I was taken aback because their website clearly stated that they were open from 8am – 9pm. It was 8:30pm. I waited until the next morning to call the bookstore and lodge my complaint against them. Come to find out, their new hours (8am-8pm) had been in effect for almost 6 months! I asked why they haven’t updated their website with the current hours of operation. Their response was “We never thought about it.” Which leads me to the subject of this blog post. Old or incorrect content on your website is a deterrent for potential customers to become current customers. Even if it’s something as simple as your store’s hours of operation, a price on an item, a phone number or where you are located. Not only do search engines pull valuable information from your website to display on their search engine results pages, but when customers are looking on your website for pertinent information, it needs to be correct, or you may lose them as a customer for life. Baggies 47 believes in keeping your website current and correct. We have maintenance plans that allow you to have us make an unlimited number of changes on your website. If your website needs updating, contact us today and let us handle the work.

November 26, 2012October 22, 2020

Special Holiday Marketing Package

Do you have a seasonal business that needs concentrated marketing during the holidays? If you do, you realize the importance of an efficient online marketing plan the limited amount of time you have to do business. Baggies 47 can build your new website, manage your social media and let you continue doing what you do best, run your business. We can offer our services to holiday bakers, light installers, tree farms, and any other holiday oriented business.

Here’s a rundown of the services we can provide:

You get all of these things for $500 through December 31st.

A one page website touting your business on a unique URL (ex. yourbusinessname.com)
Email addresses with your unique URL
Manage your Facebook profile. Increase engagement, add subscribers and run promotions to increase awareness of your business.
Pay Per Click (Google or Bing) management with a $50/month budget (more can be purchased)

August 31, 2012October 23, 2020

3 SEO Benefits of Business Blogging

The business blog has become practically a must-have for any business looking to expand their online presence. Beyond the fact that it’s a popular vehicle for information among readers, blogs also add massive amounts of SEO value to your site. This means greater online visibility for your business, more qualified leads, and more sales.

So, how do blogs achieve this marketing miracle? When done right, a well-written business blog helps to optimize your site for both search engines and human readers, and brings them both to your website.

Here are the top 3 SEO benefits of blogging for your business:

1. Fresh content is search engine food.
Any website that has continuously updated content is one step ahead of the competition. Posting a new blog every other day (or more!) is a perfect way to signal to the search engines that you take an active approach with your website’s content and will rank you higher than if your content is stale and rarely updated. Posting a blog with links to other sections of your site bolsters the crawl-ability of the pages, which in turn increases the SEO benefit to your entire site.

2. It adds keyword-rich content to your site.
Writing a well thought out, blog post, with keywords that you’ve done research on, is one of the most effective SEO tactics available today. It creates a page that is dedicated specifically to that one keyword, so anytime someone searches for the keyword that you’re focusing on, you will have a greater chance of being clicked on. Searches using these keywords often take people right to a specific blog page, so include them to boost your blog’s SEO power. With the ability to devote an entire page of your website to a one keyword or phrase, you can easily tell, via your SEO Reports, the traffic that is being brought to your site.

3. It brings you backlinks.
Perhaps the greatest SEO benefit that a blog can offer your site is the links it will bring from other sites. Blogs are where people tend to engage with your company. They comment on your posts and link to them from their own blogs. They also leave their own links with their comments.

Whether it’s through social media, blog comments or links to your blog from other sites, backlinks increase your authority with search engines, making you more visible to readers and helping you spread your content throughout the Web. It is the marketing miracle achieved by an optimized, well-written and authoritative blog.

Baggies 47 can help you write your blogs and increase your presence in the search engines. Blogging is one of the most effective and economical ways to increase traffic to your site. If you want to boost the SEO power of your website, spread your company’s message and showcase your authority to potential buyers, a blog is a must-do. Contact us today and see the difference it makes!

August 27, 2012October 23, 2020

CPM or CPC? Which one is right for me?

The definitions of CPM and CPC are simple. CPM is defined as cost-per-thousand impressions. So you could have your ad shown 1,000 times and have zero clicks, yet you still have to pay a specified price that is agreed upon before the ads start showing. CPC is defined as cost-per-click. Meaning, you could have your ad shown 1,000 times and if you have zero clicks on your ad, you pay nothing. The idea behind these 2 types of advertising models is where it gets a little more complex. Mathematically comparing the cost of CPC to CPM is simple. Knowing which produces results that drive sales…that is the hard part.

CPM advertising is effective as a branding tool where you are trying to create awareness for your company, brand or products. This is perfect for new products in order to stoke interest. CPM allows you to create banners and image ads to be shown on targeted websites. Google and Bing allow advertisers to target which websites they want to be included in (or excluded from). CPM ads use competitive bidding with minimums starting at $.25 per 1,000 impressions. Focusing on ad design is critical with CPM to encourage a higher click through rate.

CPC advertising is pure performance based advertising where you only pay when someone clicks through to your website or landing page. Results are very trackable with analytics. CPC text ads are the only option available if you want your ad to appear along with Google or Bing’s search results. CPC ads require a bid of at least US$0.01 per click.

Determining which one is right for your business requires a host of tests to determine which method demands the lowest cost-per-conversion (a click that leads to a purchase or inquiry about a service that you provide). Many CPM advertisers are able to lower advertising costs and increase their sales revenue with well optimized ads.

Category: Advertising on the Web