Monday, November 26, 2007

The Power of Links

There was a time, seemingly a lifetime ago, when you could launch a decent site and have a fair amount of instant traffic with little work. We still run into business owners who were part of those days back in the mid 90's. They just launched a site, and were #1 or #2 in Yahoo (back when Google hadn't even been conceived). But things have changed a lot since then. Now it is an enormous amount of work for most business owners to get the kind of traffic or search engine results they want.
Of course, there are multiple strategies. First, you can net fish for traffic. Just toss out the nets wide enough and you're likely to snag something. But that really isn't harnessing the power of the internet. Finding customers or clients on the internet is the most sophisticated form of fishing you've ever heard of. Imagine knowing exactly where the sort of fish you want are located at any given time of the day or hour. But then imagine being able to just drop the right pole and the right line and start pulling up exactly what you were wanting, one right after the other.
It may be fantasy with the sport of fishing, the stuff dreams are made of. But its very real in its application to the internet. The internet is a highly sophisticated fishing tool with very sophisticated tracking tools and data. So at any time you can know where your potential clients are and direct them to your website. And one of the best ways is using the bait of links! The right links in the right places are the best bait you can have. And it's probably one of the most overlooked resources for getting highly targeted traffic to your site.
Example: You have a site that sells womens shoes. Who are your potential clients? Obviously its largely the female population, so you get out your bait (links) and you place your bait right where you know they are going. In this case, lets use some fictional examples like a blog that 20,000 women read every day on female issues (there are lots of these in reality), or a female clothing store (that doesn't sell shoes). Want to target more to local women? Then put the bait in the local sites or local newspapers.
Linking also has added benefit - search engines love it! In particular, Google. But there are bad links or links that are wasting bait. Think through who you want linking to your site. If you are a womens shoe store, a local carpenter linking to your site is just wasting bait. And hiring a link farm (black market for links) can get you in trouble with Google.
Another positive option could be Pay Per Click. You can run ads for searches in Google or Yahoo that will link back to your site. And those can be highly targeted. 'womens shoes' or 'lace stilletos' (do they make such a thing?)
Aloha Media Group has the right connections to help you with proper linking and pay per click campaigns. If you are ready to start increasing the traffic to your website, and want some expert help, we would love to talk with you. Feel free to email us at info@alohamediagroup.com for more information.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Virtual Momentum

There is a theory in physics about physical mass gaining momentum and with each progression in the direction it is heading, it finds less and less resistance. Just such a thing is happening right now in the virtual world. Many things that have presented particular resistance to web development and useage and now dwindling. The impact is being felt worldwide.
Take for instance the news. I had the privilege of working for a print newspaper in the mid 90's in the interactive department. There was a lot of fear about this new medium, and funny as it may sound now, things weren't very hospitable for us in the interactive department. We were strategically located in a separate building across the street for good reasons. Many of those across the street feared for their jobs, and we were the physical representation of why they did. But the newspapers online have held their grip fairly well, until recently. With the revolution of Web 2.0 and user controlled content, blogs, and content mangement websites, more and more people are publishing information and content than ever before. From video casts on youtube.com to blogs like this, more and more people are having input on the content we all read.
And there is wikimedia with their wikinews solutions. Anyone can start a news site with their free software. And many already have. Things are gaining momentum, and AP is very rapidly loosing their marketshare.
In the book Wikinomics, the authors talk about the chaning revolution of user controlled content and mass collaberation. Where are we going next? It is local people controlling local content. People have had enough of reading about news across the world, but not being able to find out simple news items locally. Or being forced to read about things that they aren't interested in. On the Big Island here, the problem is very acute. Recently we had large fires in Puako and hundreds of people were evacuated. I watched the Honolulu news stations to hear about it, and the next morning my local paper had nothing to say about it. When I went online to the Honolulu Advertiser, the subject was covered in detail. Why is Honolulu covering our local content, but our 'local' paper owned by a company on the mainland inattentive? Those are just the sort of things that are making the web gain more and more momentum and user controlled content King.
If you want to be ahead of the next big internet bubble, think about how you can generate user controlled content that has local appeal. How can you provide rich, valuable content to your target audience? And how can you make it interactive, and let others collaborate? Give your users a way to have a voice, and you have just created loyalty in an entirely affordable and memorable way. Don't just think about what you have to communicate to your target audience, think about what they might want to communicate to you.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Generous Google

We come across a lot of information in our world, and perhaps the greatest challenge is sorting through it all and finding the real gems. But we're sure we found one this week. At http://www.google.com/grants/ your non-profit can apply for free adwords listings in Google. For those who aren't familiar with what this means, Adwords are *paid* search engine listings in Google. We use Adwords weekly for various client campaigns, and the cost can be anywhere from $30 a month to $200 a month. So, this is a tremendous value to say the least. Now, they say they may take up to 6 months to process the applications, and we have a few in the process. We'll keep you posted on what the real time processing ends up as. In the meantime, follow the link and get your application in! This could be one of the better moves you make for driving traffic to your website!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Analysing Analytics with Google

I remember fumbling around with beginning analytics software programs in the mid 90's. It was like using caveman tools, in a high tech environment. No matter how hard we tried, the software still left us taking 'educated guesses' as to what was really going on. But all that changed when Google Analytics entered the market. Not only is their program *free* (which we had paid enormous amounts of money for programs that still did not work) but it really works!
It's a fact I really don't want my friends to know, but I love statistical analysis! And if you do, you should beware of Google Analytics. It has so much information, you may find yourself digging around in there till the wee hours of the morning.
There are a few things we really recommend our clients to pay attention to. There is a lot of rich information, but there are some basics that take priority. The first is to find out where your visitors are coming from. I don't mean, necessarily, Denmark or Japan. I'm referring to 'referrering sites'. That is what sites referred them to your site. Such as Google, or a link from a positive blog article about your company. Or better yet, reciprocal links. Those are links others in your field are putting on their sites to yours, which hopefully you have returned the favor and posted their links on your site.
The next thing we ask clients to pay attention to is bounce rate. Your website isn't a playhouse, and no one should be bouncing out the door. In laymens terms, this is like someone walking into your store but then turning around and walking right back out. What you want is a low bounce rate and high 'stickiness' factor. The length of time someone spends on your site can be highly volatile depending on the depth of content you have. But, we like to see a minimum of 4-5 minutes of time on a clients site. And we LOVE to see 8-10 minutes! This means people are really spending time on the site and that is what makes our hearts beat a little faster.
I won't pretend to be the worlds expert on Google Anayltics, but I will tell you where to go. Download a copy of the new e-book Google Analytics Shortcut at http://www.gashortcut.com/. It's an investment that is well worthwhile.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

September tips of the month

With the ever evolving field of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), there are some amazing new tools that are making the science a little more manageable. One of those tools is www.keywordranking.com which is a great place to research and explore keywords that affect your ranking and visibility. It's a hefty to price to pay for the yearly membership, but it's one we wouldn't think about eliminating! Our hat is off to them for a great research tool.
The newest tool in our arsenal is http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html with an interactive java tool that allows you to get a good overhead glimpse of the links that are driving the SEO process for any particular domain. Building links is one of the single most important pieces to the success of an SEO campaign. We are real excited to have found this tool.
We're always striving to provide the best service in the industry. If you have a tip you'd love to share, let us know at info@alohamediagroup.com
Finally, our last plug is for the book Wikinomics. Although we are in this industry and largely aware of the collaberative nature of the new global economy, this book knocked our socks off. With rich details and stories, we grew immensely from this and are really looking forward to implementing some of the ideas we gained from the book. For more info, go to www.wikinomics.com and read a little more. It's certainly one of the top business books we've had the pleasure of reading in the past decade!
We'll be posting more info soon, subscribe post atom below if you want notification of when an update has been made. Mahalo!