Archive for May, 2008
Mobile: Mobile Media Optimization
In recent years you may have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In recent months you may have head of Social Media Optimization (SMO). As wireless and mobile media grow in use and popularity you will start to hear more about Mobile Media Optimization (MMO).
The purpose of Mobile Media Optimization (MMO) is to modify digital content so it is more visible & higher ranking in mobile media and mobile media search results as well as easier to tag, share, link to and republish.
Here are some key Rules of Mobile Media Optimization (MMO):
- Put your best content first - Include your most important concepts phrases and keywords within the first 20 words (including title)
- Optimize for short keyword phrases - Since it takes longer to type on a mobile device, mobile users often search for shorter phrases — so optimize your mobile site for 1 to 2 word keyphrases
- Make mobile content bite sized - A good rule of thumb for editing text from print for use on the web is to cut it in half. Similarly, when moving/editing content from web to mobile media, try cutting it down in length or duration by at least 50%
- Make mobile content tagging and bookmarking easy - Encourage and enable your mobile content users to tag and bookmark your content with the most popular social mobile media sites and tools. Add mobile bookmarking and tagging links and widgets to every page of your mobile site
- Make mobile content sharing easy - Ensure you have send to a friend and forwarding options enabled for all of your mobile content
- Make mobile content repurposing easy - Encourage your users to use your mobile content (mocontent) for their own mobile websites (mosite) or mobile blogs (moblog) mobile applications (moapp) and in any combination of the above (mobile mashups: momash)
Ximda's mobile media consulting services can help your business reach the mobile audience and optimize the mobile media experience, contact us today for a free consultation.
E-Commerce: Choosing the Right Shopping Cart Application
You’ve decided to move you company ahead and establish an eCommerce website. One of the most important decisions involving eCommerce websites and one that has a long-term impact on your success is selecting a shopping cart platform. Choosing the best platform for your business is crucial, switching from one to another can be costly and very time-consuming.
With an abundance of shopping cart software out there, the right decision may be a bit frustrating to make. There are key essential features to compare and look for when making your shopping cart platform decisions.
If you don’t know what features you’re going to need for your site just yet, just think about the products or services you’re selling and think about the properties of them. Do they have variants (colors, sizes, etc.), or kits, are they drop shipped? These types of questions will help identify what kind of features your business will need. Here are a few other high priority items related to eCommerce sites.
Key Shopping Cart Platform Features:
- Integration: This means orders placed on the website come directly through to ERP, with customer information available for CRM functionality, and of course real-time inventory and product information coming directly from the warehouse, and accounting and sales information all running out of the same system.
- Extensibility: What we mean by extensible is that the solution allows for the integration of add-ons and third party tools. This allows for the platform to be more scalable and flexible to meet your needs.
- One-Page Checkout: Even today many of the shopping cart platforms still don’t have this feature. Just by having a simplified one-page checkout without requiring users to register, shopping cart abandonment rates are dramatically reduced.
- Design Flexibility: Usability and accessibility should be important factors when it comes to the design of any website, including eCommerce sites. What exactly does this mean? CSS based website designs allow your site to be more compliant with both of these standards. Many shopping cart platforms today use hard-coded table based designs that are often difficult to modify or are even impossible to design around a complete CSS framework.
- Custom URL Rewriting: Most shopping cart platforms today included this feature, URL rewriting. In fact, having a platform that allows URL rewrting is a must. URL rewriting allows you to have “pretty” URLs, that your potential customers or users can understand. And they are “SEO friendly”, which can generate more traffic.
- Custom Meta Info: Having the ability to have customized titles, and description tags for each page on your site is another must. Having the same title on every page is not advisable from a SEO standpoint.
Our E-Commerce Consulting services can assist the success of your business by building powerful customized e-commerce applications that will enhance your customers’ online shopping experience and assure your business goals. If your ready to help increase sales, improve profitability, and ultimately, ROI through Ximda’s E-Commerce Consulting Services, Contact us today for a free web consultation.
SEO - Keyword Selection Mistakes to Avoid
The success of your online marketing campaign depends on selecting appropriate keywords that your potential customers will be using. Whether you engage in organic SEO methods, Pay-Per-Click campaigns or a combination of the two, both depend on the thought and effort put into selecting your keywords. Choosing the wrong keywords can seriously diminish the effectiveness of your online campaign, while costing you unnecessary losses of money. Avoids these common mistakes to ensure a successful search marketing campaign..
Common mistakes companies make when selecting keywords:
- Targeting keywords people never use. Far too often companies select keywords that are so common in their corporate lives that they forget that not everyone uses corporate or insider jargon.
- Overlooking keyword appropriateness. Keyword popularity should not be confused with keyword appropriateness. Keyword popularity doesn’t always mean that it will be popular for your company. For extremely competitive keywords the PPC bid prices will be higher and achieving a top organic rank position will require more work because more competitors are targeting that phrase.
An alternate approach, especially for a small business would be to pursue more focused, more relevant terms that are less popular, but be better choices because they return a higher conversion rate.
- Targeting single word keywords. In most cases, single terms are highly competitive and expensive, giving you a lower return rate than more focused phrases. The broadness of keywords rarely targets the right customers.
- Not examining competitors. Many companies select keywords and do not consider how competitors are ranking for those phrases on the web. Put potential keywords into google, yahoo, or what ever search engine and see how competitors’ sites are ranking for the keywords or phrases.
- Failing to review keywords after implementing campaign. Reviewing keyword performance is key to knowing if your campaign is working or not. Keywords that are not performing well might need to be tweaked or dropped. It could indicate they are inappropriate to your campaign and your money would be better spent on different terms.
Starting your online marketing campaign right by selecting appropriate keywords will save your company time and money. Whether you are starting your online marketing campaign or need to revise your existing campaign, Ximda’s SEO consulting services can help you in achieving a successful online marketing strategy, for your free web analysis contact us…
Web 2.0 and Social Media
Getting the most out of web 2.0 and social media marketing campaigns. SEO and PPC can have a lot to do with increasing traffic through search engines while other online marketing tools can get your website visible to a specifically targeted audience. Using Social media marketing tools and practices can provide your business with the key to doors that were once locked to outsiders. The phenomenon of social media has become a mainstay in the way people communicate. Ex. Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, and numerous others
What is Social Media?
Social Media or social networking is the term that has been given to a breed of online websites that facilitate greater interaction with an online audience. Social Media sites allow two-way interaction between online content owners and their audience. It enables website visitors to engage, interact and contribute to content. It also enables site owners to syndicate content out to other sites and online channels, and gives them the ability to easily aggregate relevant, related content from other sources into their own sites.
Web 2.0 approach to Social Media
Web 2.0 in this case is the term given to the tools and techniques that form the core of many Social Media sites and channels. Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Syndication, RSS, and Aggregation are some of the popular web 2.0 social networking tools that are used in a successful social media marketing campaign.
Here are a few techniques that you can use to start embracing social media:
- Blogging. Not only do blogs improve your SEO (which is always a good thing), they enable you to build a relationship with your visitors. Blogs are a great way of communicating with your audience. Not sure what to blog about? Blogging about news and info specific to your industry is always a good start
- Networking. Sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook are amazing resources for getting in touch with people, generating leads, raising brand awareness and much more. They’re also becoming powerful business to business (B2B) tools, enabling companies to effortlessly communicate with their stakeholders.
- Digging. Add social bookmarking tools to all of your news and product pages which will allow your visitors to easily bookmark and share your content with their own networks. Sites such as Digg and Del.icio.us are a good starting point.
- Twittering. Twitter is a great way of keeping tabs on your friends, colleagues and workforce. Many people don’t get it initially, but once you do, you’ll be hooked! You can also feed(RSS) your blog to Twitter
Social media is changing the way company’s can interact with potential customers. The web is no longer a faceless medium. Social media marketing allows you to become an authority in your market sector by giving you the ability to build trust By empowering your audience with the ability to contribute and become involved, you will gradually build a strong relationship which develops brand loyalty.
Ximda’s social media consulting can immerse your company in the social media landscape by fully utilizing tools and techniques that meet your business goals. Contact us today for a free consultation.
Mobile: 2008 Year of the Mobile Web
Are you ready to take your business mobile? It’s very likely that your audience is already waiting. The evolution of mobile devices has changed the way we do business and everyday life. Driven by device evolution, speed, and developing business models, the mobile phone is moving from being just a portable phone to becoming a mobile communication and media management platform.
Apple, with its iPhone, has boosted the attention of the mobile industry and is forcing them to innovate. This means that the mobile experience is going to continue to improve, providing a better user experience for everyone regardless of using an iPhone, or some other “smart phone”. Better mobile experiences will eventually lead to increased mobile behavior.
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