Often used, yet mostly abused. The best way to use meta tags has been hotly contested around the Web for years.
Some veterans of SEO will tell you that certain meta tags are worth their search engine weight in gold. Others will tell you that those same meta tags are useless and your time would be better spent elsewhere.
Either way, if you’re going to use them, you may as well use them properly. Check out the below articles for our guide to the use of meta tags:
Title Tag Guidelines – Commonly the first reference to your company that a visitor will see, and yet so often overlooked. Check out our guide to figure out the best way to write your website page title.
Meta Description Guidelines – Your 160 character sales pitch. If you were introducing your business, would you give them three randomly composed lines or would you give them a 160 quality marketing pitch?
Meta Keywords Guidelines – The most questionable of the three in terms of usage, but does that mean we should ignore it completely or abuse it? Find out here!
Get all three just right and you’ll take a big step towards better search engine presence for your company.
If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable about cold calling and other traditional sales approaches but you must sell as part of your business, we have the perfect free webinar for you.
Tom Poland, international business strategist, will be joining NZS.com General Manager, Gary Jensen, to present Tom’s unique and proven effective five step formula for How To Get New Clients Without Selling. No cold calling. No pushy sales talk.
So if you’re a business owner, or you’re in a management role that requires you to sell, and …
you DON’T like the idea of having to sell but
you DO like the idea of new clients coming into your business every week
… then make sure you book this date in your diary now (remember, there’s no fee for this event):
Thurs 18th March from 5:00 – 6:30pm NZDT
Tom will deliver the training live and online. The content-rich training will run for between 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the number of questions.
If you’re reading this and you would like to be informed of future webinars and what’s happening on the Web in New Zealand in general, you can sign up to the NZS.com newsletter here.
The New Zealand IAB have released their latest IAB Insight Report this week surveying the online advertising spend for the fourth quarter of 2009 as well as the full 2009 year.
With 10.06% growth from 2008 ($193.15m) to 2009 ($213.89m), the increase is being described as a year that demonstrates marketer’s confidence in the online medium as a whole over a period when marketing budgets have been tightened.
Search and Directories have proved the true success story of 2009:
Search and Directories led the way with year on year growth of 31.64% in 2009. Display advertising grew 7.67% to $64.30m from $58.12m and accounted for 30% of all interactive spend in 2009. Classifieds decreased from $75.32m to $71.43m.
If you’ve been thinking about giving search and directory advertising a go, NZS.com has some easy search and directory advertising options.
If you follow the latest search news you’ve probably come across this interview with search industry big kahuna Bruce Clay. His firm is one of the top SEO and SEM companies in the world, and at an American Search Engine Strategies conference in August he discussed the importance of video and other engagement objects for search in the future.
Basically, some people in the industry have taken from the interview that Bruce is implying that without video, you website may be unlikely to rank in the future. And while that may be a tad extreme, it is clear that engagement objects are becoming increasingly crucial when it comes to organic and universal results in search engines.
An ‘engagement object’ is an element or multimedia component you can add to your website that engages users and encourages them to interact with your website.
These include videos, podcasts and audio files, images, macros, graphs and charts, webcomics, RSS feeds, maps, polls, and live streaming.
In the interview, Bruce talks about which variables are important to the Google search algorithm, discussing how the introduction of universal search has resulted in a change in the number of variables that are considered for ranking.
While it has been previously accepted that Google used 120 variables to rank websites, the general belief is that since the introduction of universal search and greater use of engagement objects, Google has increased its algorithm variables to as many as 200.
He goes on to say that websites containing video, viewed as one of the most important engagement objects, will soon be received by Google’s algorithm better, resulting in your site having a greater opportunity to rank well.
We’ve all heard the old adage that content is king – but why exactly is content so important to the success of your website?
Firstly, you need quality content to assure your visitors and potential customers that you are legitimate and offer the perfect services to meet their needs. Secondly, good website content is the backbone of search engine optimisation. Which is equally important if you’re to have any chance of ranking in search engines and gaining genuine traffic.
Though innovative and eye catching design may impress potential clients, it’s relevant, well written content that is really the heart and soul of your website. It is that content that will ultimately drive visitors to your site, capture their attention and keep them wanting more. In short: great website content is the best relationship building tool you can have with your customers.
Think of your website as a cake. You nip into a bakery to buy a delicious cake to share with your customers. You spy the most delectable, and expensive, cake in the store, but the moment you taste a slice you realise the baker has forgotten to add sugar. Now the cake is bland and boring and hard to swallow… and your customers are less than impressed and losing interest.
Think of web content as the sugar that needs to be added to your cake. While great design may make your website look professional, without quality content you’ll find customers are not satisfied and soon lose interest.
A well designed website can attract visitors to your website, but website content is the key element that will bring regular traffic, persuade your visitors to take an action and convert visitors into sales.
For more information on creating quality content and search engine optimisation be sure to check out our Website Resources on NZS.com.
Setting up a business in the New Year? Start up costs can soon add up, so saving money on business cards can be a huge advantage for any entrepreneur or small business owner.
If you’re looking for free business cards online, check out the services of a quality business printing expert and take advantage of special offers for new clients.
The added advantage of being able to customise or design business cards online using templates and easy to use image and logo uploading tools means you’ll save valuable time you can put to use elsewhere in your business plan.
From free business cards to free promotional pens, mugs and more, doing a little business homework online can save you big bucks.
Whether you’re a business or just someone with a computer who thinks the world might be interested in what you have to say (in 140 characters or less) there’s no denying that it’s all about Twitter right now.
Companies and contractors are finding the mini blogging site to be a great way to interact with potential consumers and clients. And while sending your Tweets out into Twitterland may be uber-easy, the reality is there’s little point Tweeting if you haven’t got anyone following you.
People try all sorts of methods to gain more followers – many of them unfortunately coming across as a tad spammy. So when I came across this little gem today, outlining 8 Ways to Increase Your Twitter Followers (Without Spamming), I knew I had to share it with you all.
From the simplest tips such as including your Twitter link in your email signature, to participating in trending topics, you’ll be able to increase your followers and indulge in a little self promotion – and genuine interaction – in no time.
Be sure to follow @nzscom on Twitter for more tips!
The Q3, 2009 IAB Insight Report released today shows a 15.8% year on year increase and has Search and Directory advertising leading the way over other forms of online advertising.
Search and Directories came in at $22.36m followed by Classifieds at $18.11m and Display with $17.22m.
Search and Directories experienced major growth which is hardly surprising as the economic situation has placed extra pressure on marketers to maximise returns on their investment.
NZS.com has participated in the report for some time so it’s great to see the increasing representation of Search and Directories in the online ad spend for NZ, as marketers recognise the ROI benefits that highly targeted search advertising can provide.
You can find out more about our own options in Search and Directory advertising through the NZS.com online advertising page.
Get ready to crack out your fatigues and black face paint, because Search Engine Boot-Camp is right around the corner.
Okay, it probably won’t be completely necessary to get army-styled up for the workshop, hitting Auckland October 2. But those attending will be given all the tactical knowledge they’ll need to survive and thrive in the virtual jungle that is search engine marketing.
This will be the third year Search Engine Boot-Camp has been held in Auckland, programmed with marketing executives in mind and aimed to help you understand why you need to be directing your marketing budget towards the all powerful world of search and web promotion.
The one-day Boot-Camp held at the Auckland Hilton will give you all the tactical know how to put a paid search campaign into action, optimising you company website for organic search traffic.
Search Engine Boot-Camp will be divided into 12 sessions throughout the day, covering all the important search engine optimisation and pay per click search marketing techniques.
Highlights will include keyword research, search engine optimisation content creation, link building fundamentals, paid search optimisation, link building fundamentals, paid search optimisation, landing page optimisation, and more.
Also being held in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in 2009, the Auckland even will be the only Search Engine Boot-Camp run in New Zealand.
Want to boost your online marketing tactics but not sure where to begin? Updating your web marketing strategy isn’t as tricky as you think, and we give you the low down in our latest Website Resource, Refresh Your Web Marketing Strategy.
The latest featured sites showcasing New Zealand businesses on NZS.com are a must view for home owners, businesses and anyone wanting to indulge this week.
Business owners looking to update their signage and promotional material may like to check out solutions from Sabre Signs, while anyone who is looking for a little luxury can indulge in designer jewellery from Jeni B, delicious Macadamia nuts from Nuts About New Zealand, and the ultimate in relaxation with Polynesian Spa.
Savvy business owners to recently claim their websites and make the most of their Site Profile by adding contact details, links and marketing descriptions include Red Creative Event Styling and Consultancy and Go Deep Scuba.
Claim your website and add your business details with Website Resources on NZS.com.
Often used, yet mostly abused. The best way to use meta tags has been hotly contested around the Web for years.
The New Zealand IAB have released their latest IAB Insight Report this week surveying the online advertising spend for the fourth quarter of 2009 as well as the full 2009 year.
Whether you’re a business or just someone with a computer who thinks the world might be interested in what you have to say (in 140 characters or less) there’s no denying that it’s all about 
Get ready to crack out your fatigues and black face paint, because 
