I Do Web Marketing

There continues to be new reasons nearly everyday to choose online marketing and social media strategies over any other form of marketing for just about all businesses. The United States continues to be the leading example of what will follow in most other markets, and definitely markets like Australia, Europe, Latin America, and even more so nowadays, the Middle East. Here are some of the recent new records, market leaders and new milestones in the world of online marketing and business.

• One Billion. Google continues to make new records, and clearly dominates the absolute majority of the search engine marketing market. Google just recorded over one billion unique users for the month of May. This is a milestone for any website, and a milestone and another boost in business for the search engine giant. It must be stressed this figure is of ‘unique’ visitors. This is clear evidence of the continued increase of internet users, and even more reason to work with those who specialise in SEO (search engine optimisation). Having your website, article or webpage come up at the top of those search results continues to be one of the best ways to market yourself. At the same time, Google is about to be put under a serious spotlight, by an investigation of US Federal regulators looking into Google crowding out competitors, particularly in the area of maps. It does not take much investigation to know this is the case. Maps also forms the basis of Google Places, an area that has become very important to small business.
• Facebook Ads. Facebook has increased its share of the online advertising market. This is a little different to the search engine advertising market of Google, and the two should not be confused. Facebook has now become the largest generator of advertising on the internet according to a survey by eMarketer, and has taken the top spot from Yahoo. The same company (eMarketer) predicts that Facebook’s advertising revenue will reach US$2.2 billion this year. For a company that many still believe doesn’t have a real revenue stream, the figures do a lot of talking. There is a lot to be said about including a targeted Facebook advertising campaign into any online marketing and awareness strategy.
• LinkedIn. LinkedIn, which has a huge popularity in itself, without competing with the likes of Facebook, has taken a leaf from Facebook’s advertising platform. LinkedIn has just started its own new socal ad formats as of late June, 2011. The advertising platform is designed to leverage the actions of members on the site. For example, if you recommend a company or ‘like’ or ‘follow’ a company, LinkedIn will use this data to give users a more targeted advertisement. This is not just about what you see, but how other users could interact with you and those advertisements. The example LinkedIn provides, gives a very good explanation of their strategy. “LinkedIn could put up an ad for a Google job (sponsored by Google) that will show people in your network who work at Google”. This could help you in targeting those who could refer you. Other examples need to be demonstrated, but because of the huge popularity and clear demographics of LinkedIn, the potential is extremely exciting.

The world of online marketing is still playing second fiddle to the budgets for TV advertising, but it is only a short time before this situation changes.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest blog post written by Noel Addison Agnote of NDIC.

Social media is a great channel of communication in this modern day. It is a great means of reaching out to people, exchange thoughts with whom you already share a relationship and continue to develop a harmonious relationship with people, which is anticipated to be mutually advantageous. Social media is all about strengthening relationships through communication.

The key to a successful social media is the social relationship with users, which is based on trust which eventually generate loyalty. If you want to be in touch with those you serve, boost your reputation, and grow your user base, social media is the best place for you.

Build Relationship Based on Trust with Your Target Market

Reaching your target audience and building a good relationship with them is essential for your business. Connecting with your existing customers and target clients could bring you higher profits, customers’ loyalty and the pleasure of owning a business that serves people. Reaching out to your target market takes effort, patience and time but in the end it is all worth it.

Keep in mind that social media is all about mingling with people and building relationships. And those relationships are built by trust (from consumer) and credibility (from you) which consequently promotes a strong sense of loyalty on both parties. Strengthening your connection with others will increase the loyalty of your customers or clients.

In today’s new course of business getting the trust of your target people is the key to your business’ success. Trust creates revenue. It is a primary block of establishing your brand.

Here are some tips on how to build a strong relationship and get their trust:

1. Be Truthful

Be honest with your customers. Tell them how you can serve them and the benefits that they can get from buying your products or subscribing to your services. At the same time, let them know your limitations and what you can’t do. Show your potential customers what made you different from other businesses who are offering the same line of products or services.

2. Engage your audience

Engage your audience by writing a quality content that will get their interest. Write in a friendly and clear tone suitable for your target readers. Share information that can be beneficial to your target customers, educate them and inform them that you understand their needs and situation. One way of getting their engagement is writing as if you are having a simple conversation with a good friend.

3. Know the motivation trigger of your target market

People are stimulated by different things. You have to determine what motivates your prospect to buy something. Some loves to be adored and that motivate them to buy products that keep them looks beautiful and adorable. Knowing what triggers your consumer to buy your product or service let you know how to communicate with them in manner that gets good results. It also allows you to create products or services that will answer their problems.

4. Connect with people as a human

People who are participating in social media are humans. Thus, you have to act just like what everyone does in the online community. Online people mingle only with people they can relate with. You can do this by interacting with them, updating your post, replying to others post and sharing others content when you find them useful. Let people know not only “who you are” or “what your business is all about” rather tell them “how can you help them with your service”.

Make people see you as a real person and not just an entity who want to make money out of their rockets. Reach out to your clients as if you are having a chat with a friend or neighbor. This is a great way of establishing a strong bond between you and your target audience.

Building Your Brand Based on Trust

Building a good relationship with people through social media not only increases your profit it also fortifies your brand make the public more aware of your existence as a business or company. Building strong brand awareness to the public can help you position your product or service in the marketplace. Right positioning in the marketplace places you first in line in the minds of consumers. Consequently, it is now easier for you to differentiate your product or service from those of your competitors.

Having a good brand creates a positive impression in the minds of the public that builds up your strong reputation in your industry. Having an established brand allows you to slowly cut the marketing expenses which will sooner add to your revenue.

Build relationship with people that creates trust and loyalty so people will not forget you and keep on coming back to you.

Noel Addison Agnote is a writing enthusiast and an online marketer. He is a part of NDIC, Santa Barbara’s premiere web design and web marketing firm. Visit NDIC to learn how to establish a good online presence for your business.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Dean Vella of the University of San Francisco. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

Education has been strongly impacted by the transformative power of technology. Technological advances have made online learning more robust, and it’s clear that this path to higher education is here to stay. On a typical day, in every corner of the world and nearly every academic discipline, untold numbers of students and teachers participate in and benefit from the convenience and interactivity offered by online education.

If you’re looking for a solid career strategy that can give you a competitive advantage, you should look into advancing your professional education through an online program. Gaining new skills can be the gateway to new opportunities – and when you’re learning online, advancing your knowledge can happen any time of the day, no matter where you happen to be.

How Online Education Technology Has Evolved

Over the past several years, education technology has expanded, with new ways to present and share information and reach more students. Online education has grown in program offerings, course depth and user interactivity. The student experience is better than ever, with the widespread use of streaming video lectures, online testing and exam tools, discussion tools, videoconferencing, and synchronized presentation tools.

As access to bandwidth continues to improve, more students can take full advantage of improvements in online education tools. Computers have also become more reliable, with more memory and faster processors. Capacity will continue to increase, which means online learners will enjoy even more interactivity with their instructors, fellow students and the online classroom.

Computer portability is becoming more widespread, with increased use of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet PCs, as well as cloud computing, which stores data and files online, rather than the computer’s hard disk. And finally, storage is becoming much less costly. External hard drives, flash drives and server space are all relatively inexpensive; as more data is stored other than on the computer, speed and stability increases. Each of these trends point to the increasing virtualization of computers and software, which is sure to make accessing online education easier and more engaging.

How Students Benefit From Advanced Online Education Technology

Today’s online student enjoys state-of-the-art professional training via multimedia, video-based platforms, with 24/7 access to classes and lectures, downloadable MP3 and MP4 files to learn on-the-go, interactive features like live chat and online discussions, and dedicated private messaging systems.

The user experience in online education is much more advanced – and enhanced – than ever before. Current online learning technology offers students the inclusionary feel of a classroom without the inconvenient aspects of brick-and-mortar classes, such as commuting to campus, arranging childcare, and missing work and family activities. Plus, today’s online students can enroll in any college, wherever their program of choice is offered. You could attend a college located across town, across the state, across the country or halfway around the world. It is more convenient than ever to take advantage of the benefits of online education and advance your skill set to fit today’s business world.

Is Internet Marketing the Right Online Program For You?

Doing business in the digital age requires advanced techniques and carefully developed Internet marketing strategies. That’s why companies of every size and in every industry are selling goods and services, finding new customers, and expanding their market share through online efforts. In a competitive global environment, businesses need the skills offered by qualified Internet marketing professionals. If you enjoy analyzing data, improving website performance and staying ahead of trends, this could be the program for you.

Why not take advantage of today’s online education technology to learn the advanced skills, tactics and techniques you need to compete for Internet marketing jobs? You can gain an advantage over the competition to position yourself to advance or reach for a new career through professional search engine marketing training, web analytics training, social media training, affiliate marketing training, and other interactive marketing certificate courses.

Expand Your Career Opportunities Through Online Internet Marketing Training

Thanks to advances in technology, learning the skills that can lead to greater opportunities for career advancement is more robust, convenient and accessible than ever, through online education. When you enroll in internet marketing training courses online, you can learn the in-demand skills companies need to improve search engine rankings, expand reach and improve customer relations. Online education can open the door to wider career options by giving you the updated, marketable skills today’s business world demands.

This guest post was provided by University Alliance and submitted on behalf of University of San Francisco. University of San Francisco offers online search engine marketing training which is designed to help professionals advance within the field.  Getting certified should be an important part of your career.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Sachin of Web Profits. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

There is little wonder why social media applications like Twitter are becoming legitimate communication tools that can be used to engage with various stakeholders including members and industry associations.

They have a lot of benefits that are almost immediate. Twitter, for instance, is like a giant water cooler where companies can find out what the breaking news is, what Government Departments/Ministers/Officials are up to, and what like-minded or competing associations are currently doing.

In addition to this, Twitter offers benefits in exposure to new markets, branding and reputation, collaboration and networking, key stakeholder monitoring, information gathering and if used appropriately it can increase traffic to your website.  It can also contribute to a greater awareness of your company, while providing the opportunity to build networks amongst your clients and other brand advocates.

First things first, you need to set-up a Twitter account. This is incredibly easy and you can just follow the prompts on the Twitter website. Once you have done this, it’s time to post your first tweet. Tweets must be 140 characters or less.  A lot of people often wonder how they can get their message across when they are restricted to such a small amount of characters, but think of each tweet as a dot on a piece of paper. Any single tweet, just like any single dot, can be insignificant and meaningless. But if, over time, you end up with a lot of tweets, it’s like having a lot of dots drawn on a piece of paper – eventually there are enough dots for your followers to connect them together. And if you connect the dots, you get a picture of the company, and that’s a reflection of your brand.

The best tweets are those that:

• Cause their followers to smile (i.e. something funny)
• Inspire their followers (i.e. inspirational quote)
• Enrich their follower’s perspectives (i.e. new announcements, breaking news or interesting articles, photos, videos).

So, we want to create tweets that add value in some way.

The main reason Twitter accounts fail to gain traction (i.e. attract and keep followers) is because they become too ‘me-focused’ and become irrelevant to those that follow them. Remember, your followers come from all walks of life – they can be industry associations, current employees, potential employees, current clients, potential clients, partnering organisations, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, and interested members of the public. So it is important to maintain a balance between tweets containing general company news and greater industry/government news.

Maintaining your social media presence via Twitter requires a little time and dedication each day. You need someone who is committed to this task. If you need help doing this contact a marketing agency near you just jump on Google and search for ‘marketing agency Sydney’ or ‘marketing Sydney’.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Brendan Egan of Simple SEO Group. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

Bloggers around the world know the importance of getting their blog and blog posts ranked on search engines.  While some bloggers depend on referral traffic from other websites to deliver their visitors, the vast majority of bloggers receive their traffic from search engines.  In a recent survey, it was estimated that over 65% of blog traffic comes from a search engine.

With these statistics in mind, you might be wondering what you can do to your own blog to make it more search engine friendly.  Here’s 5 great tips to get the most search engine traffic possible on your blog.

1) SEO Plug Ins: One major aspect of SEO is having a good URL, Title, and description for your blog posts.  If you’re using WordPress or really any blogging platform out there, you can search for SEO plug ins that will allow you to control your URL, Title, and other important aspects of your post.  Make sure you optimize these aspects to be reflective of the keywords you want that blog post ranking for.

2) Write Quality Content: This should come without saying but you’d be surprised how many people out there don’t write quality content for their blog.  “Today we are having a sale come in to our store” is not a quality blog post.  While it may be helpful to write a blog post about your sale today, it would be much better to put “Today we are having a sale come in to our store” as your title or headline, and then expand on this by writing a 200-500 word blog post outlining the sale, what you are offering, and providing other details.  Not only will this help with drawing people in but it will also help with SEO.

3) Never Copy/Paste: Duplicate content is like a bullet to the heart these days.  Never go around on the internet and copy/paste content you think is interesting or helpful. If you find something interesting, write a blog post about it on your own and link to it during your blog post so readers can find the original resource if they want.  Providing duplicate content will most definitely hurt your website’s rankings, especially after Google’s most recent updates this year.

4) Tag/Categorize Your Posts: Adding tags and categories to your posts will not only help you with organization, help your readers find what they are looking for, but it will also help with SEO.  Your blog software will insert your tags/categories throughout your post and then will create a page for these tags/categories with other similar blog posts from your blog.  This gives search engines another keyword rich page to rank and will help search engines understand the relationship between multiple blog posts.

5) Find Similar Blogs And Provide Quality Comments: Ok, this has gotten me in trouble before for posting, so let’s be clear: This is NOT comment spamming which is going to a blog and writing “Great post!” then expecting that to get approved with your link.  Go to similar blogs and read their blogs (it might give you ideas for future blogs) and upon reading write a meaningful, relevant comment and enter your URL in the URL field.  As long as you are actually contributing to their blog, they will likely approve your comment which will give you a great new back link.

While following these steps won’t get you to the first page of search results for a competitive keyword like “Stock Market”, it will  get you to the first page for long tail keywords, for example “Learn How To Trade Options In The Stock Market”.  I’ve seen dozens of posts on our blog and our client’s blogs get ranked on the top page of search results just by following these simple tips, and chances are following these suggestions will only take you an extra 10-15 minutes per blog post, but will help drive much more traffic to your blog.

About The Author: Brendan Egan is the owner of Simple SEO Group, a small business online marketing firm specializing in small business SEO. Brendan can be contacted at SimpleSEOGroup.com

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Sachin of Web Profits. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

Many people do not realise how big of an industry social media marketing, online marketing and other related professions, such as SEO (search engine optimisation) have become. Getting educated for these industries is tricky enough in itself. The best in any industry are those who study, learn and create well before there is somewhere to study. That being said, private institutions seem to be the best place to learn for these careers. It is difficult to find a degree in Facebook, for example. So what does it take to be a part of these exciting new industries?

• User Experience. Knowing social media, knowing all those sites, and having your own experience is the best way to know anything to do with online marketing. Unlike many other media industries, the options, strategies and methods are varied, many and complex. The best way to understand what is going on is to be a part of it. Your own research and reading will take you further than most studies.

• Studies. Online marketing could be described as the latest version of public relations – just it is on a very big scale. If you are looking for some background or foundation studies to support your career move, a degree in communications is worth a look at. There are those private institutions that are already developing more specialised study programs. As per usual, the USA is leading the way.

• Working Style. Anyone who works in media, or any other creative type industry knows there are long hours. At the same time, there are long hours in anything we want to do well in. We thought computers were going to give us more free time. That is obviously not the case. In other words, it is not the hours that are the issue. Working in a creative environment takes a fresh and open attitude towards working. Those who work best in these industries know a flower only grows when it is given water and sunshine. Encouragement and positivity will allow you and everyone else to get the most out of what they do. It is not always pressure that delivers, especially when we are talking about creativity.

• Getting Experience. There are so many fields we can apply to online marketing, and particularly social media marketing. Making the switch to these new industries might not be as difficult as you think. Spending 3 years to get a new degree might not be a sensible option in a field that is so new and fresh. Facebook marketing did not exist only a few years ago. It might just be your communication skills and your current following that make all the difference. Again, user experience and self-education are still the best ways to go.

Those who specialise in SEO (search engine optimisation) are the true online marketers. This is actually the basis of many of the other fields of online marketing. Social media marketing, Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing and now, Google+ marketing are areas those professionals have included in their portfolios. You might have more knowledge than you think. Careers come and go, but you can be assured, online marketing is here to stay.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is an update to the original list I wrote a couple of years ago. I felt it was necessary to update this list as a number of statistics and sources are outdated from that post. So, without further ado, here is the 2011 version of the top 10 reasons to use SEO:

#10 – According to data from Search Engine Land, there are 2 million search queries performed per minute on Google. A total of 98.8 billion search queries are performed across Google, Yahoo, and Bing in a given month. 40% of queries are local searches.

#9 – According to Avinash Kaushik of Google, 14% of clicks on a search results page are on PPC ads, while 86% of clicks are on natural search result listings.

#8 – 9 out of 10 people use a search engine when looking for products and services.

#7 – Over a quarter (27 percent) of small businesses have a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan in place, up from 19 percent a year ago. It is only going to get more competitive!

#6 – Online marketing is currently 13.3% of all total advertising spend.

#5 – Online advertising spend expected to be $36.3 billion by 2014 and has seen an average of 10% growth year over year.

#4 – Forrester estimates that both US online retail will grow at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015, reaching $279 billion in 2015.

#3 – Everything is measureable, since you can utilize tools like Google Analytics.

#2 – Your website is a virtual salesman that works 24/7/365, no sick days or paid time off.

#1 – Best way to initiate a direct response as it is the only form of marketing that puts you in front of targeted prospective customers who are looking exactly for what you offer at a point when they are ready to buy.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

In part 1, part 2, and part 3 of this series, we talked about how to measure your online marketing efforts and specifically what metrics and tools you should be working with for your SEO and social media campaigns. But in order for this information to be meaningful, you need a concrete strategy with clearly defined goals that will drive your marketing decisions.

Measuring return on investment in the online marketing world necessitates a clear understanding of what you expect from your efforts. The measuring we’ve talked about previously is really the final step of the process. Let’s take a look at what comes before metrics analysis in order to define success.

1. Define Goals

Of course, your big picture goals will be to attract customers and win conversions, but those aren’t specific enough to be helpful in the creation of your marketing strategy. Break these big goals down into smaller increments such as:

• Increase Twitter retweets by 2%
• Offer informative content to encourage retweets
• Create a new blog post each week

Notice how this list begins with the general goal of increasing retweets and funnels down to the specific, actionable goal of creating new content.

2. Create Content

Content creation is the proverbial horse that must come before the cart of social media or SEO promotion. Your promotion efforts will fail miserably if they’re not undergirded by solid content creation. Well written content places you in a position of trust and gives people a reason to keep visiting your site and recommending you to friends. Even Google understands the important of regularly updated content and will give priority in the SERPs to websites that update frequently. Start by researching keywords that your target audience is searching for and focusing on what problems you can solve for your readers.

3. Promote Content

With your content creation strategy underway, you can focus on promotion efforts through SEO and social media. Use search engine optimization and social media venues to keep your content in front of your target audience. Remember that the better your content, the more likely your followers will be to share it with their friends, generating greater interest and brand recognition for you.

4. Measure Success

This is where you come full circle and can begin to measure the results of your online marketing strategy. The metrics we talked about in previous posts will show you how effective your strategy is, giving you the information you need to make educated changes based on measurable results.

What do YOU think? Anything I may have overlooked? Feel free to share some of your own success stories!

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

Having discussed the metrics and tools best suited to understanding the success of your SEO strategy in Part Two of this series, it’s time now to turn our attention to social media. You can approach social media ROI by seeking to determine how well your customers are engaging with you through various outlets.

Social Media Metrics to Follow

The success of your social media strategy depends on how well your target audience interacts with you. You can get a feel for customer engagement using the following key metrics:

●      Facebook Likes—While it’s true that there are many ways to determine how effective your Facebook campaign is, the like button is a great place to start. If your customers “like” your page, that means they’re taking the time to read what you’re posting, they’re giving it some thought, and they’re expressing their approval.

●      Re-tweets—The re-tweet tells you that your Twitter followers have engaged with your content enough to share it with their friends. Overall, re-tweets are more important than the number of followers you have since they tell you who is engaging with your content.

●      Google +—Google + offers many of the same benefits as Facebook, but with a few new features. Google + enables you to create circles, segmenting your friend group so that you can designate particular content for particular circles. It also incorporates a video chat feature and content gathering option (similar to an RSS feed). While Google + is still very much in its infancy stage, marketers have already seen great potential for reaching a particular audience with a targeted message.

Start monitoring your Google + account by using Google Analytics to watch Google + generated website traffic as well as clicks and actions.

●      Overall Mentions—Keeping track of your overall brand mentions is the best way to determine how well your branding strategy is working for you. Find out what people are saying about your brand using the following tools:

○    Google Alerts—Setup brand related keyword and phrase alerts and receive a daily report of the overall mentions you receive in a variety of categories including news, blogs, web, and video.

○    HootSuite—A little more sophisticated than Google Alerts, HootSuite is a full social media management tool that allows you to monitor your brand mentions as well as organize them and filter them so the results are more usable, and you can also schedule post across various networks. Free version allows you to monitor up to 5 accounts!

Monitoring your social media metrics along with your SEO effectiveness will give you a good grasp of how well your online marketing efforts are reaching your intended audience. In the next post, we’ll take a look at how to bring all this information together as you formulate your best online marketing strategy.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

As we discussed in Part One of this series, measuring the success of your online marketing strategy depends on understanding the differences between ROI in traditional marketing and ROI in the online world. When it comes to your SEO strategy, your ultimate goal is of course generating traffic that leads to conversions, but in order to truly gauge the effectiveness of your campaign, you’ll need to understand the dynamics that go into reaching that goal. Analytics programs offer a lot of data, but sometimes it can all be overwhelming. Let’s start by discussing what metrics you should be watching.

Metrics That Determine SEO Success

The most important metrics in determining SEO success revolve around rankings and customer interaction with your site. Keep an eye on the following metrics to see how well your campaign performs:

• Rankings—Keep an eye on rankings in all the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) to determine whether your target audience can find you.
• Website Traffic—Monitor who is visiting your site and where they’re coming from to find out whether your SEO strategy is bringing people in.
• Bounce Rates—How many people enter and leave your site without ever clicking? Find out whether your SEO strategy is targeting the right audience by tracking bounce rate.
• Page Load Time—If your page takes too long to load, you’ll lose a significant portion of visitors before they ever see your site. Monitor your load time in order to tweak hefty site elements when needed.
• Pages Visited—Does your conversion funnel operate as you intend it too? Does your SEO strategy target the audience most interested in what you have to offer? Find out by watching which pages your visitors view.

SEO Analytics Tools

With your short list of SEO metrics in hand, the next step is to choose an analytics tool that will make it easy to monitor those metrics. Here are the best of the bunch:

Google Analytics—Probably the best free analytics tool available, Google Analytics lets you segment, customize, and track your website metrics in order to hone your online marketing strategy strategy.

Google Webmaster Tools—View reports detailing your site’s visibility on Google as well as your average search engine ranking.

Authority Labs—Follow overall rankings and keyword data with this fully automated tool.

In Part 3 of this series, we are going to look at some social media metrics you should be monitoring as well as some tools that will help with the management of your social media accounts.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.