Optimizing Your Website for SEO

This week I learned there are several ways we can optimize our websites for good SEO.

A few I learned about but not all are:

• Font sizing needs to be readable
• 301 redirects to ensure your www.website.com is the same as your website.com address content
• Custom 404 pages to help people when they find a broken link
• Editing Titles to reflect keywords
• Editing headlines and keeping things organized according to syntax.
• Creating gread readable content that people want to come back to and link to.

If you are curious about what you can do to improve your website SEO you can use https://www.woorank.com/ to obtain an assessment.

Also, https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo is a great starting point to learn more about SEO.

Social Media for SEO

Social Media is a very important part of increasing your SEO results. The key to a good social media marketing plan is to know your clientele.

Here are a few improvements I have decided I need to make to my own website in order to improve my social media presence:

Product Pages

For each product page we will need to create much more in-depth content which sells the product on its own. This content needs to target specific keywords as well as engage the client.  Product page content can include prizes and awards the product has won in food festivals, quotes from past clients about specific products, detailed information about the individual ingredients included in the product such as where it came from, if pesticide free, locally sourced etc. This is a high priority since ultimately we are trying to get people to the website to make a purchase and having this content completed will enable us to convert that traffic into sales.

Facebook

Facebook is another part of our social media plan. The owner will post behind the scenes footage such as live feeds and upcoming events she will be attending. Specials found only on the website can also be featured here. Because of our google analytics, we have discovered that Facebook is a great source of qualified leads and drives good traffic to our website for orders so we need to utilize it for early success in online sales.

Blog Content

Create relevant content for the website blog which potential clients will find useful. The content produced for the blog can include, but is not limited to videos demonstrating recipes which use the food products in special ways or for special events. Videos explaining the creation process of each product and the source of the ingredients. Blog posts explaining what certain terms mean such as gluten free, sugar free, locally sourced, organic, etc. Create blog entries for seasonal specials being run on the online store which are exclusive to ilasfoods.com. Each written blog entry will create new content for the website and keep it at the forefront of the search engine robots since it is new content. All blog content will target specific keywords within the content to ensure searchability and relevance. Since it will take a long time for this content to be created and established, I consider it a long term strategy to create organic search traffic for the business.

Mailchimp Mailing List

To generate sales from current and past clients, we will need to produce a mailing list which is sent out once a month, possibly more often. This will include articles, exclusive member specials for past clients, recipes, and upcoming events. It’s important to note the specials must be exclusively for the mailing list clients so people will be motivated to buy more frequently and sign up for the mailing list.

By creating high quality content that people will want to share and return to time and time again, we will develop good SEO content which will bring in more traffic to our website and hopefully generate more sales for the business.

ROI and Conversions

Having all the web traffic in the world doesn't mean a thing if it doesn't produce the results you're after.

Return On Investment

Return on investment is basically a way of saying, "Is paying money for this actually making me more money?" When it comes to adwords campaigns, your advertisements will cost you every time someone clicks on your ad and is taken to your landing page. Once at your landing page, they will either decide to stay or leave, and that will be determined by several factors. Here's the formula for determining your return on investment:
(Revenue - Cost of goods sold) / Cost of goods sold

Relevancy of advertisement to landing page.
If your advertisement says "click here for free puppies" and then it leads people to a page that sells puppies for $800, they will probably be disappointed or irritated and leave. On the other hand, if your ad says, "Puppies for Sale, starting at $800" then they will be rewarded with relevant information. You don't want to mislead people with your ads because you will end up paying for clicks that don't produce sales.

Quality of Content
If your landing page has nothing but a product name and a price, it's possible you could make a sale if it's something the customer already knows about. On the other hand, it's always a great idea to provide as much relevant and high quality information about the product you're selling in order to encourage a sale and increase consumer confidence. If the page also includes your targeted keywords, that is also helpful for your SEO and Ad Quality Scores.

Call to Action
When selling, it's imoportant to ask for the sale. This can be done by including call to action buttons to purchase, to learn more about the product, etc. If you don't ever ask for a yes, it's harder to receive one. Calls to action don't necessarily have to be purchase calls to action. Asking people to sign up for a newsletter, or to click for more information can also bring them closer to completing an order.

Conversions

A conversion is when you are able to get your customer to perform an action through marketing efforts. Conversions could be completed sales, newsletter signups, readings of a website etc. In order to tell if your efforts are paying off, you need to determine where your results are coming from. You can track efforts by linking your Adwords account to your google Analytics. 

Your analytics account can tell you what sources are producing the best results for your website, and in turn, where you you should invest your time and money for the best return. For example, if you are spending $50 a month on Adwords advertising but none of those clicks have lead to a sale, then you either need to change the ad, change the landing page content, or change your keywords. It's also possible you could be making sales as a result of unpaid marketing efforts like Facebook posts. If that's the case, then you can confidently put in more time with your Facebook marketing and save money on advertising. It's important to note, however, that marketing isn't just using one magic tool, it's a whole bunch of marketing efforts combined into one marketing plan that will produce the results you're looking for. Newsletters lead to interested customers, Facebook posts can lead people to place orders as well, and social media can help build brand appreciation which also leads to sales.

Quality Scores

Google Adwords Quality Scores are Google's way of rewarding content producers for producing good, relevant content that their customers want to consume. The quality scores show advertisers how effective their ads will potentially be based on relevance of ads in relation to content on the page the ads link to.

You can improve your quality score in several ways:

First of all, it is important to remember that the higher scores are based on the customer’s click through rate, which means they are more likely to click on your ad. This is mostly based on relevance. If your score isn’t very good you could:

1. Make sure the ad is relevant to the page it is being directed to. If the customer clicks on an ad and it’s exactly what they were looking for, they are more likely to stay. 
2. Include Keywords in the body of your ad that you are targeting in your ad campaign.
3. Include keywords in the headline of your ad if possible.
4. Include negative keywords to filter out irrelevant results.

Above all, keep in mind you need to focus on click-through-rate of a customer. If they are more likely to click on the ad and it takes them to what they are expecting, then you are doing well. 

Here's a video which explains Google AdWords Quality Score a bit more in depth:

Google Text Ads

Components of a Google text ad:

Headline Text (30 characters each)

Include words customers might have typed in for their search. There are two headlines in this section of 30 characters each. The sections are separated by a dash "-" and might display stacked depending on the viewing device.

Display URL (15 characters each)

This section is usually in green and shows where the customer will be directed. The purpose of this is to give people a better idea of where they'll be taken if they click on the link.

Description (80 Characters)

Highlights details about your product of service. It's a good practice to include call to action, discount information if any.

If you want to see what your ads look like on Google search results, you can use the Ad Preview and Diagnostics Tool.

Keywords: Good vs Bad

What are keywords?

Keywords are words AND phrases which are relevant to the content of your website. You can use keywords in your Adwords advertising in order to target specific searches your potential clients are making. "Orange tabby kitten" is a keyword. "orange tabby" counts as a different keyword, and "kitten" is considered yet another different keyword. When choosing keywords for your ads, the most relevant keywords to their content tend to win.

Note: common misspellings and plurals of keywords are automatically accounted for in your adwords campaigns. Therefore, you don't need to create separate keywords for those instances.

Good keywords:

• Contain words or phrases your customers would most likely search for when trying to find your product of service. When trying to find good keywords, ask yourself, "If I were my customer, what would I be typing in to find my product?"
• Are not overly specific. If your keywords are very specific you may have a better conversion rate with those keywords because you are giving them exactly what they are searching for. On the other hand, you will miss out on a lot of people who weren't as specific in their search. For example, a keyword "blue yeti microphone" would produce more potential clicks than "silver blue yeti microphone" while still being specific enough for your target audience.
• Are not too general. If your keywords are too general, you could end up paying for ads targeted to unqualified leads. As in our prior example, if you simply targeted "yeti" you could be paying for ads aimed at people searching for pictures of the abominable snowman, which is very different from a podcast microphone. 

Bad Keywords:

• Are too specific. In the example above, a bad keyword would be, "silver and white blue yeti microphone on sale for $90 with included cords"
• Are too vague. As stated before, "Yeti" would be too general.
• Aren't targeted toward your customer's searches.

Business Entities

As a small business there are several business entities you can choose from which provide different tax and legal benefits.

• Sole Proprietor
• Limited Liability Company
• General Partnership
• S Corp
• C Corp

Click here for a comparison chart of business entities.

What entity is right for the business I'll be working on?

I believe setting up an LLC is the best option for the web business I'm working on because it helps to limit the amount of liability the owner has over business issues. For example, if the business gets sued for outdated jelly sales or an outbreak of salmonella, people can only collect damages from the company and not necessarily the owner's personal belongings. Of course, this isn't a guarantee they can't go after personal belongings, but it does make another hurdle for them to cross. Also, for now, the owner is doing everything, but if she wants to make multiple people owners as well, she can easily do so in the future. Also, for tax purposes, the LLC is simple enough for her to file papers for, but not as complicated as a corporation.

In order to set up an LLC you need a few things:

1. Unique business name
2. File an "Articles of Organization" document with the secretary of state. This document includes info such as business name, address, and the names of the LLC members.
3. Operating Agreement. An operating agreement includes percentage of interests, allocation of profits and losses, member's rights and responsibilities and other provisions.
4. Licenses and Permits. You need a business license and any permits relevant to your industry. For example, creating jam needs very particular food handling permits, some on the federal level and others on the state level.

Payments and Page Designs

What should I put in my web page?

Choosing a page design and the elements you're going to include is a huge part of the design process. Before making your website, it is important to learn about similar businesses in you industry.

Ask yourself:

• What do other websites have that I like?
• What do other companies have that I hate?
• What is missing from these other companies' websites that I can include in my own?

When choosing a website template, do your best to pick the one that will fulfill your needs in the best way possible. Don't be fooled by all the pretty pictures they have included in the design, because ultimately, it will be your content in this template when all is said and done.

Accepting Credit Cards

PayPal is one of the most widely known and trusted online order processing companies. If you would like to accept credit cards on your website, doing so with PayPal is a simple way to start. You can create custom buttons, call to actions and connect the transactions to your own PayPal account in order to accept payments.

Some things to consider:

• Who will be on the hook for cancelled payments?
• What is the interest rate charged for each transaction?
• Are there additional hidden fees associated with each transaction?
• Will my customers want to leave my website and use PayPal just to complete their order?
• What system does the business currently use? Is it compatible with PayPal?

If PayPal isn't the best solution, there are several alternatives. After all, PayPal only makes up about 20% of the market. Here are some alternatives:

• Checkout by Amazon
• OpenCart
• Squareup

Choosing a Host and Site Builder

Site Builders

Site Builders are services which help you build a website, go figure. Site builders are designed to make it easy for even novice users to create a website. The amount of flexibility and skill needed will vary from one to another. Some work best with their own hosting system while others work great with all platforms.

Here's a list of some drag and drop site builders:

• Weebly.com
• Wix.com
• Google sites
• Yola
• Webstarts.com
• Homestead.com
• Webs.com
• Bluevoda.com
• Website Tonight

Content Management Systems

Content management systems are a bit harder to learn, but offer more flexibility and power

• Wordpress
• Squarespace
• Joomla
• Drupal

Hosting Services

Website content needs to be stored on a server for the world to be able to access it. This is the purpose of buying hosting services. You pay a fee and you get a place to upload your website. Hosting services vary in the options they offer but here are some things to look out for:

• Is it compatible with the site builder or CMS you want to use?
• How responsive is their tech support?
• How much do they cost?
• Is everything you need included, or do you need to pay extra?
• Is a free domain name included?
• Is email service included?
• Are free adwords credits available with purchase?

www.top10hostinglist.com is a great weebsite which compares host companies to each other to help you make an informed decision.

Drop Shipping vs Affiliate Sales

There are two great sales models available when you don't want to take part in the manufacturing of product but you still want to make money off of selling someone else's product. These two models are Drop Shipping and Affiliate Sales.

What is drop shipping?

Drop shipping is basically when you sell someone else's product directly through your website as if it were your own. With drop shipping, your brand and marketing are associated with each sale but the wholesaler is the one who actually packs up the product and ships it out under your name.

Pros: 

• Drop shipping sales are easier to make since there are fewer steps the customer needs to take in order to complete a sale. Much higher conversion rate. Quicker sales.
• You make a higher percentage of profit per sale than affiliate marketing
• This method is more hands-on which gives you greater control over your customer's experience. You take the calls, handle return requests, answer product questions, etc.
• Less time is spent creating a website that contains valued content to drive traffic (compared to affiliate marketing.)
• No capital investment. If there's too much stock to sell, it's not your problem.
• More profit. Usually your sales are getting wholesale pricing since companies can buy large volumes of inventory. This gives you a bigger profit when you make a sale.

Cons:

• This method is more hands-on, you need to deal with the customer, their questions, their complaints etc.
• Since your branding is associated with each sale instead of the wholesaler's this means you need to create a business brand, marketing materials, etc. to sell the product.
• If the transaction breaks down, you could be on the hook for the costs associated with the sale issues including charge backs, refund fees, shipping.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is when an advertiser pays a commission of their sales to a publisher when the publisher brings them a sale. For example, some dude writes a blog talking about fidget spinners and in his article, includes a link to where you can buy a fidget spinner. If the reader clicks that link and completes an order, the publisher gets a cut of the sale.

Pros:

• Very hands-off approach. The publisher can merely set up their website and let the orders come through without even having to deal with a customer.
• Branding of products is associated with the manufacturer/wholesaler and not the publisher. If there's a problem with an order, the wholesaler gets all the problems and bad press that go with it, not the publisher.
• Once the content and website are well established the publisher can focus on market research and providing product links for items which sell well instead of worrying about order fulfillment or pesky customers. This is a great solution for someone who only likes marketing.

Cons:

• Takes longer to produce income. Affiliate marketing is a very passive sales technique. In order to make sales the website needs to have a lot of valued content to attract viewers/ readers to the website so they can be funneled into sales opportunities. Creating highly trafficked content to do so takes linger than merely setting up a website for direct sales.
• Smaller percentage of profits. Since you're not doing much work to complete the sale, you normally will get less of a percentage of the sale than with drop shipping.
• Lower conversion rates. Since customers have to click more in order to make a sale, the conversion rate is much lower. This means you need to have a much higher level of traffic coming through your website in order to compensate for the drop off.

How do I Get Started?

Affiliate Marketing:

If you want to sell products from a well established company, chances are they already have an affiliate system set up for you to join. Simply do an internet search for "company name + affiliate program" or something like that. If they don't have an affiliate program, you can set one up yourself through an affiliate network. Affiliate networks do all the tracking, accounting, and payment of commissions for you. Here are some of the top affiliate networks:

Commission Junction

ClickBank

LinkShare

Affiliate Window

ClickBooth

Amazon

Shareasale

Google Affiliate Network

OurFreeStuff

You will also need to:

• Buy a domain
• Buy Hosting
• Buy Email Service
• Build a website with valuable content

Drop Shipping:

You can contact a wholesale company directly to see if they are interested in doing a drop shipping partnership. Be careful if they have never done one before though. You can also do a web search for "drop shipping + product you're interested in selling" to find suppliers who already have drop ship programs established.

Worldwide Brands is another good source for finding actual wholesalers who do drop shipping.

So you want to start an online business eh? Where do you start? From what I understand, it all starts with a solution to a problem. If there's not enough cowbell in the world, you can fulfill the need by selling cowbells. If there are lot of people wanting to improve their photographs, you could teach them in exchange for some type of fee. The way you're going to make money isn't as important as the problem or the solution though.

A successful business must:

1. Solve a problem/ fulfill a need
2. Have enough demand to make it financially viable
3. Be run by someone who cares about the business
4. Be well thought out and planned to avoid pitfalls

First of all, it doesn't matter how well you run your business, if it doesn't fulfill a need then no one will want to use it. If no one wants what you've got then there's no way you can turn a profit. We can save ourselves time and effort by doing some research in the beginning. One way to do so is with the google keyword planner found in google adwords accounts. By choosing specific keywords related to your products you can see if people are searching for your products, or if your idea is just totally crazy or a new unexplored market. The keyword finder also helps you see how much competition there is in your region for those particular keywords. If there is high competition and low traffic for your keywords then you will probably end up paying more in advertising for fewer results.

Once you have discovered a product or service to sell, it's time to choose a good business model or combination of business models to determine how you're going to make a profit off your business.

• Brokerage - bring buyers and sellers together and make money by charging a fee for that service.
• Advertising - sell ad space on your website or blog
• Infomediary - sell lists of demographics and such
• Merchant - sells stuff that others make
• Manufacturer (Direct) - makes products and sells them directly to customers
• Affiliate - make money by referring people to products
• Community - requires high customer loyalty. Make money off ads or affiliates or whatever.
• Subscription - charge a scheduled fee for access to a service
• Utility - pay as you go, based solely on usage

If you've done everything right up to this point, you'll need to consider a few other things. How much will it cost to try out this business? Not only will it cost money, you'll also need to invest time to get things running well at first. What kind of budget is reasonable to start with? Many times you may discover your idea just won't work because of timing or financing, but having planned ahead you will figure that out before getting stuck with a loss. planning is essential.

Other things to consider:

• Is the web domain available?
• Does your target market approve?
• Will it blend?