LotusJump Blog

Search Engine Optimization is a significant way to measure and improve a webpage’s performance. By now, you are probably familiar with basic SEO techniques such as posting quality content, writing full-length articles, adding meta tags, title tags, etc. In reality, there are many different techniques that help users position their web pages ahead of other websites in search engines. During the initial stages of posting articles, quality and relevant content can draw traffic to one’s website; however, using advanced SEO techniques can help users drive traffic consistently for a long-lasting campaign. This article enumerates some of the advanced SEO tricks that would help bloggers to showcase their web pages to a broad spectrum of internet users.

Utilize Internal Linking

Providing internal links is one the easiest ways to rank higher in the search engines. In fact, internal
links help to popularize the other pages in your website which might have poor visibility through search
engines directly. Linking internally will also help you to list several links from your website in the search
pages, thereby increasing the chances for viewers to visit your contents. In addition, the use of anchor
tags in internal links boosts the search engine rankings as well.

Optimize Your Images

As images visually represent the content of a blog post, they too need proper keywords and tags. In fact,
about one-fifth of the daily users search for images related to their needs. You might have noticed the
name of certain images represented as image 1, image 2, DSC002, etc., which are the default names
assigned by the tools used to photograph them. Such default text should be renamed with words
relevant to your content. Only then, these images will be listed in the top pages of the search engines
when users search with keywords related to the content in your webpage.

Another common mistake that most bloggers commit is the use of blank spaces while naming their
images. A blank space in an image will be displayed as “%20″ which looks awkward, especially in the
address bar. Instead, use special characters like hyphens or plus signs for keyword spacing. If you are using
blogger to post your content, add ‘alt’ and ‘title’ attributes to the image tag through its HTML source
code.

Translate Feature

If you think that majority of the internet users make their searches in the international language, then
you are wrong. In fact, certain sources predict that more than 60 percent of the total users perform
their searches using languages other than English. Translating your content to other languages will open
up your web pages to a broad spectrum of visitors, not to mention there is less competition in foreign
search engines when compared to the conventional ones, thereby making it easier for your webpage to
climb higher in the search list.

Optimize keyword phrases

If you are familiar with the basics of SEO techniques, you should know the significance of keywords and where to include them on your site and in content. However, keyword phrases are mutually important as well.

The use of generalized keywords would drive a lot of traffic; but, as several blogs and web pages use
similar keywords, chances for your page to rise amidst the others are less likely. That’s when keyword
phrases help users to boost their content’s visibility and proceed forward in the ranking system as well.
Most content creators target users who make their searches with one or two words. But, you would be
much more successful if you target users who type 3 to 4 words to make their searches that are very
specific to their needs.

Utilize Free Resources

There are several analyzing programs available over the internet. In fact, some of the best tools are
available for free. To mention a few, Google Analytics & GoogSpy are some of the dedicated online services that collects information
about the popular keywords which are used in a popular search engine. Typing the words related
to a website would bring a list of keywords that the particular website bids on. In fact, users can get
information about the best keywords and keyword phrases that have high conversion rates. There are
several other free applications that would help you learn the practical keywords in use.

Examine Log Files

A casual glance at your server’s log files could provide you useful information about the keywords that are being used to find your website through search engines. If you find unfamiliar keywords in these files, optimizing them in your website will boost traffic further. This process should be done periodically to increase traffic consistently.

The above tips have the potential to help you boost your webpage’s ranking and traffic in search engines. However, don’t expect changes to happen overnight. Keep an eye out for potential areas to optimize your website and improve accordingly. After all, learning and implementing SEO techniques requires time and dedication for successful results.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology, health and parenting. Beside this she is fond of games and gadgets. These days she is busy in writing articles on nokia lumia 800 specifications and Andrew Lauren.

First of all, happy ‘leap’ day to everyone out there, especially those with birthdays today. To make this day even more special, we are going to start offering a free months credit for every person that you refer to LotusJump SEO software. All you have to do is send us an email at support@lotusjump.com (including the name and email address used by your referral to sign up for an account) and we will credit* that amount to your account. If you do not already have an account with us, sign up for a free trial and we will extend it an extra 30 days. Happy link-building!

Sincerely,

Your friends from LotusJump

*Referral bonus only applies to subscribers who continue past any trial phase offered

We’d like to give a special shout-out to Smiledog.ca for taking a few moments to answer some questions for this week’s Friday Spotlight. SmileDog is a small-medium sized business service provider that specializes in virtual answering services, virtual receptionists, as well as helping to create an effective virtual office. Their company has been around for over 4 years now and is looking to increase their success via effective online marketing campaigns. Here is a quick background about their company:

1. What was the inspiration/background behind your company?
Starting Smiledog was a personal challenge to see if I could start and successfully grow a virtual service business from scratch, after having some success with owning two successful franchised companies.

2. What company achievement are you most proud of?

I am most proud of our company name. It is a unique brand in our industry and customers love it since it easily represents the philosophy we are trying to promote. The name is based on Dale Carnegie’s original customer service concept “You should smile when you answer the phone.” The dog part of the name represents a loyal, friendly service.

3. Why do you think internet marketing for your business is so important?

When we started this business most of the web tools available today did not exist. We can service any business in North America and there is only one viable way to reach them, and that is to make sure our website shows up in the search engine results.

4. Would you like to share a creative marketing tip for other small business owners?

I use Stumble-upon to find a lot of technology-related sites that I can use to help grow my business - check it out!

Millions of businesses throughout the world rely heavily on traffic generated through the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!,  Bing) to generate traffic and sales, which is why the latest Google Panda(monium) update has led to chaos around the web. The update, designed to improve the overall search quality for users, was said to have affected over 12% of website rankings. This figure could be on the rise as newer (but smaller) updates seem to be released monthly.

• Original Content - High-quality, unique content has been (and always will be) the way to go when publishing content on a website. One of the biggest reasons sites were penalized was due to a lack of original, unique content. Spend the necessary time to ensure you don’t violate this website “code of conduct” and strive to have at least 500 words of content on your homepage, as well as the rest of your product/service sub-pages. If you are using content that is found on a different site, be sure to link to it and give credit to the source.
• Relevance - This one may sound like a “no-brainer” but you’d be surprised at how many sites there are that don’t match up the title tags/header tags with the content on the page. For example, if your site has a product page about dog food, make sure that the title tags, meta description, and headline tags contain the words “dog food” (hopefully a little more descriptive than that) in them.
• Backlink Profile -Search engines still rely heavily on a website’s link profile to determine how well the keywords rank. Strive to build a diverse backlink profile - don’t try and build all of your links from the same type of source. If you need help finding relevant places to build links, there are a few quality SEO softwares out there that can help. Also strive to integrate social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) into your business since any mentions of your brand via these mediums can lead to positive outcomes.
• Keyword Density/Variation - Don’t try and abuse or manipulate the system by spamming your keywords throughout your site’s content - search engines grow smarter by the minute and can almost always detect this. Instead, shoot to use your keyword (in different variations) about 2% of the total content. So if you are targeting a search term such as “weight loss pill”, use phrases such as “pill that can assist in weight loss” or “losing weight is a problem we all face. Fortunately, there are pills…”.
• Professionalism - Or in other words, make sure that the written content is grammatically correct without any misspellings, sentence fragments, or run-on sentences. To ensure that your site maintains a high level of professionalism, consider having 2-3 people read over each page of content to check for any of these errors. Yes, search engines can detect grammatical errors and may have an adverse effect on your keyword rankings.
• User-friendliness - Is your site easy to read and navigate, and does it offer insightful information (or helpful links)? High bounce rates are suspected to have a negative effect on rankings, so be sure to provide engaging content that will keep the user on the page for as long as possible with a desire to visit other pages of your site. Broken links are never a good thing. Be sure to update or 301 redirect them to their respective pages.

Keep in mind that having just 1 bad or irrelevant page of content can negatively impact the other pages of your site. Don’t get careless! Take some time to give your website a thorough review or get help from a professional SEO company and make sure you are keeping up to date with the latest SEO practices.

We’d like to thank ShopKirDeVries.com for taking the time to answer a few questions for this week’s Friday Spotlight. Kir DeVries is a unique gift store that specializes in selling products such as kitchenware, serveware,  lunch supplies, and wine totes. This online store has been around for a little over 3 years now and is excited to be featured in this week’s Spotlight.

1. What was the inspiration behind your company?

As a former niche brick and mortar store owner (and current foodie and wine aficionado) I was inspired to combine my skills and interests in the more flexible online e-commerce format. I believe very strongly in the homespun traditions of gatherings, dining and entertaining and wanted to provide a unique collection of goods to inspire people to enjoy entertaining at home.

2. What company achievement are you most proud of?

Kir DeVries has has evolved beautifully in our first three years of operation. As a bootstrapped company with a very limited marketing budget I am most proud of our exponential revenue growth year after year. It shows that we are really connecting with and serving our customers in a fun way that not only keeps them coming back but inspires them to spread the word about Kir.

3. Why do you think internet marketing for your business is so important?

Being an online retail site, we must constantly stay in our customers line of sight. So whether that is through SEO, banner adds or social media, it’s important to constantly remind shoppers of who we are and what we are doing in the medium in which they are spending most of their time.

4. Would you like to share a creative marketing tip for other small business owners?

One marketing strategy that has been working out surprisingly well for me is simply to ask my customers for help in spreading the word. With every customer service or follow up email I ask the customer to spread the word in a way that is unique to him or her. For example if someone bought a certain brand of product I’ll put a PS on the email that says “oh also remind your friends to like our facebook page so they can help pick our next round of Shinzi Katoh products”.  They are excited to be engaged and more than happy to help!

Thanks Shop Kir DeVries for letting us spotlight you this week! Leave a comment if you think you’re worthy of a Friday spotlight, and tell us why!

We’d like to thank Policehow.com for taking the time to answer a few questions for this week’s Friday Spotlight. Policehow is a career-helper website that teaches people interested in law enforcement jobs the types of things (such as education, experience, useful skills, etc.) they should be working towards in order to successfully land that type of job. Policehow has been around for almost 2 years now and is excited to be featured in this week’s Spotlight.

1. What was the inspiration behind your company?

Ever since I was little I have always wanted to become either an FBI agent or a policeman. Just the thought of being able to run around chasing  bad guys and help make the community a safer place sounded like a dream come true. So I told myself that if I was serious about landing a job in law enforcement, I had better find out everything there was to know about getting hired. I figured since there was going to be a lot of research involved on this topic, why not record this helpful information and share it with others on the web.

2. What company achievement are you most proud of?

I think it’s always nice getting emails from people interested in a law enforcement career expressing thanks towards my site for guiding them in the right direction. As far as a marketing achievement I am most proud of… ranking on my primary targeted search term “how to become a police officer”, which is currently in the 5th position of Google (thanks to LotusJump and it’s endless list of SEO tasks). Ranking this well for any keyword is awesome and drives a significant amount of traffic to my site. I am excited to start using LotusJump for my newly launched sites, FirefighterHow & FBIhow.com, in hopes of achieving the same kind of results.

3. Why do you think internet marketing for your business is so important?

Internet marketing is the key to success for any website; without SEO or other marketing efforts, no one will be visiting your site, and that tends to make it irrelevant. The way to move up on the search engine rankings and get more people visiting your website is to continually build high quality links, and fortunately for me, LotusJump makes that part easy.

4. Would you like to share a creative marketing tip for other small business owners?

I think one great way to gain more valuable links from related industries is to simply ask other website moderators if they would be willing to link to your site. When you send them an email, be sure to thank them for their site or a post you enjoyed, point out something you liked or learned by visiting their site, and then ask if they wouldn’t mind linking to your site. Be willing to link back to their site as well so they don’t think you are trying to get something for nothing. This link building technique has helped me to acquire tons of valuable links which have helped pushed my rankings to the top.

Thanks PoliceHow.com for letting us spotlight you this week! Leave a comment if you think you’re worthy of a Friday spotlight, and tell us why!

LotusJump is currently seeking partnerships with businesses related, but not limited to online marketing & PR, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), web hosting, web design, content generation, social media marketing,  SEO tools, bloggers, and more. LotusJump is an affordable web-based  SEO service that shows users how and where to build relevant back-links, which will help improve the overall search engine rankings for their chosen keywords. Find out how you can become a LotusJump partner or affiliate and start generating a lucrative residual income today!

For those of you out there who consider yourselves deal-hunters, we now have some new price-saving options for our LotusJump Pro and Basic accounts. Instead of paying the normal monthly fee, users now have the option of pre-paying for either 6 months or a year, which can lead to a savings of  up to 25% off the regular cost. See the links below to learn more:

LotusJump Pro account - Discount pricing

LotusJump Basic account - Discount pricing

For many e-commerce companies (including us!) it can be difficult and extremely frustrating trying to rank on the first page of Google for our targeted keywords. SEO can take time (months, even years) depending on how fierce the competition is, as well as many other factors that determine where exactly a site will rank in the search engine results pages (SERPS). To help increase the odds in how favorably Google lists our site, here are some SEO techniques (from the SEO experts) that you should consider doing:

1) Content - Make sure the homepage of your website has content (not just images or flash) that contains your targeted keyword(s). Aim to have at least 500 words of unique content, preferably more. Be sure not to keyword spam in the content and a good rule of thumb is to use keywords (and keyword variations) between 1-2% of the total content. Here’s an example to help clarify: If you have 500 words of content on your homepage, don’t use your keywords (and keyword variations) more than 5-10 times.

2) Title Tags - The title tags are very important when it comes to having Google determine what your website and content are all about. It’s extremely criticalto use your most valued keyword(s) in your title tags. A good rule of thumb to follow is to only use your top 2-3 keywords on your homepage title tags. Anything more may be considered spammy and could dilute any link juice allocated towards the keyword rankings. We also recommend that each page of your website have different title tags, and that the title tags relate to the content written. (For those of you who aren’t sure what the title tags are, look at the very top of your computer screen and examine the words written on the dark blue bar - those are your title tags)

3) Article Tasks - The article and content tasks listed in your LotusJump SEO software accounts are the most important tasks - so don’t ignore those! Freshly written articles that are unique and catchy not only help improve your overall SEO keyword rankings, they can also drive direct traffic to your site, especially if the article goes viral. The easiest way to capture a large audience of readers for your articles  is to write about something that is either funny, helpful, controversial, or causes fear, while relating to your product or services. Sure sex sells, but it can also be quite distracting to readers since it won’t relate to the product or service at hand.

4) Link Exchanges - If you have business partners who own websites, it would be a good idea to ask them to link to your website, preferably with 1 of your keywords as anchor text. This can provide a nice boost to your keyword rankings, especially if they provide a link to you on the homepage of their site. You can offer to do the same for them to help increase their likelihood of doing so.

5) Blog - If your business still doesn’t have a company blog, now would be a good time to get one. By creating a company blog, you can generate a new source of traffic and easily direct them to your company’s website. The nice thing about this type of online traffic is that it should be highly qualified, which should translate into higher conversion rates. Aside from providing an additional stream of visitors, blogs can also help improve keyword rankings through fresh content and imbedding links throughout the content.

* If anyone has their own suggestions or methods for improving keywords rankings, feel free to share them in the comments.

LotusJump is now accepting Paypal as a method of payment. This is particularly good news for users located out of the United States who may have had issues using a credit card over seas.