We all know getting inbound links is the key to increasing your rank in Google.  But, what is it about inbound links that makes them so valuable to search engines?  Why does Google put so much stock in inbound links?  Is one inbound link as good as another?

In the broadest sense, Google considers a link from one site to another a vote.  If site A links to site B, Google considers site A proclaiming to the world that site B has something note-worthy going on.  But, not all links are considered equal and that’s where some insider info comes in handy. (more…)

If you Googled “Enter your site title here”, what do you think you would find in the search results? Surprisingly, you get a lot of legitimate e-commerce sites, most of them using AspDotNetStorefront, that just haven’t figured out how to set their site’s meta title. By not making good use of this tag, a lot of store owners are missing out on an opportunity to make it easier for shoppers to find their site.
(more…)

Inbound links are possibly the most important part of SEO. In this article I’ll define what a good inbound link is and what it takes to get them.

A lot of people focus on metadata when they’re talking about SEO. But metadata is only part of a successful SEO strategy. In fact, I’ve heard stories of horribly optimized sites ranking well for popular keywords solely because they had a lot of inbound links from popular sites.

The right inbound links will make the difference between whether customers will find your site or not.

(more…)

Web sites that aren’t using Web analytics are missing out on a wealth of customer data. This data can help them outstrip their competitors and grow into an online powerhouse.

Web Analytics isn’t anything new. In the 1990’s webmasters monitored the number of page requests, or “hits”, made to their servers.

Then websites grew to encompass multiple pages, images, subdomains, and other manner of web technologies. As websites evolved, so too did analytics. Today website tracking codes provide an almost overwhelming amount of traffic data.

Here at Vortx, we love Google Analytics. It’s free, easy to install, and the dashboard is intuitive and user friendly. Yet, we know that many of our clients, indeed many websites out there in general, do not possess any sort of analytics tracking.

So, why analytics? (more…)

Focus your site copy on your customers, and Google will notice too.

Many of our clients are concerned with SEO and hire us to help.  We work hard to make sure their metadata is perfect.  We analyze their keyword conversion rates. We compare search volumes and competition to find the perfect keywords for them.

Then we get cracking on the metadata. Title tags, keywords, descriptions, image names and alt-tags. Traffic will go up, which is great. But, sometimes I’ll notice bottle necks and notice customers are abandoning the path to sale.

I’ll check the page and it’s got problems. It’s poorly written, has a couple of crucial spelling errors, or doesn’t tell the customers exactly what to do.

All of these problems are easy to fix, and even easier to avoid. (more…)

The predominant trend in 2009 will be leveraging the natural networking capacity of the Internet to increase the visibility of your brand and website. With the down turn in the global economy, online businesses need to focus their attention on proven methodologies for increasing online sales.

There is no ‘magic bullet’ for online success.

Customers buy from businesses they know, like, and trust.

Building trust and providing ‘real’ value is essential for eCommerce success in 2009. Effective eCommerce is a continuous process of providing innovative marketing and significant value.

You want to model your marketing strategy after the internet, and it will spread like the internet and grow like the Internet.

Focus on 2 things:

1. connecting with people
2. providing significant value

In 2009 you want to dominate your niche market. This means your website must implement the basic elements of eCommerce success:
(more…)

The first and most important step in optimizing a website is to compile a list of keywords and phrases. It’s the foundation your SEO plan should be based on. Too often, businesses invest resources in optimizing for search terms that do not serve them well.

Determining the specific key words and phrases that are most likely to bring profitable traffic to your site ensures that the time and financial resources invested in search engine optimization efforts will pay off.

When developing a keyword list, it is important to pay attention to the following:

(more…)

So you have a website and you are getting visitors. But do they make it to your products, the real meat and potatoes, or are they simply seeing the home page and little else?

Knowing which pages your visitors are seeing, and more importantly where they are leaving from, is key to any site’s success.

This is where Google Analytics comes in. A small bit of code will give you access to a wealth of information to help you pinpoint your site’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
(more…)