Dave M Stewart asked:


For many years, Google and Mozilla have had a good relationship that has been beneficial to both parties.  Google has actively promoted the Mozilla FireFox browser and in exchange, Google has been the default search engine for FireFox.  With over 20% of the market share, FireFox is the second most popular browser available and has Millions of users in the UK alone.  Understandably, being the default search engine for FireFox is a coveted position.  In fact, almost 90% of Mozilla’s revenue comes from this partnership with Google.

Last year, Google launched its own browser, Chrome, and this has changed things considerably.  Whilst the introduction of Chrome does not necessarily signify the end of the Google / Mozilla relationship, it is a distinct possibility.  Mozilla chair, Mitchell Baker has announced that the introduction of Chrome is causing them to rethink their reliance on Google. There is no doubt that there will be many companies eager to fill Google’s position, some of who will be willing to pay over the odds for the privilege.

The current contract between Google and Mozilla will not expire until 2011, and a lot can happen in that time. In fact, 2009 is set to be a big year for browsers. So far, we have seen the launch of Chrome after being removed from beta as well as an antitrust lawsuit brought against Microsoft for its exclusive inclusion of Internet Explorer With windows. It is quite possible that the Market share of the major browsers will change a lot in 2009, making the situation in 2011 very difficult to predict.

Dan

Ruth Kuttler asked:


The Internet has the ability to level the playing field between small and big business with regard to capturing market share. Search marketing – SEO, PPC and viral marketing is the most effective and least expensive method of driving traffic to a web site. Any type of business with a web site can participate.

Trends in Search Engine Marketing

North American advertisers spent US $9.4 billion on search engine marketing in 2006. This represented a 62% increase over the prior year and an 750% increase from 2002. The reason for this growth has to do with the explosive growth of the Internet worldwide – a trend that has impacted every industry in every developed country, producing billions of dollars in revenue for companies with a strong Internet presence.

Search Engine Marketing for Increasing Web Site Traffic

Search engine marketing (SEM) refers to listings and links to web sites that are produced on the pages of a search engine directory (like Google, Yahoo or MSN) when a keyword search term or phrase is entered. There are two types of results that are produced. Listings at the top and/or right column are sponsored results from advertisers who pay each time someone clicks on their ad and visits their web site. This is called pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The largest SEM vendors for sponsored searching are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter.

The second type of search results are the free organic listings that are produced because of content and code on the web site that match criteria determined by the search engines- essentially the search engines look for keywords, relevant content, meta tags, alt tags, back links and traffic flow. The process of getting web pages to match these criteria is called search engine optimization or SEO. The closer the site matches the search engine’s criteria, the better the ranking order for that web site. If a web site is not found on the first or second page of search results, it is unlikely to be found and result in traffic. Any number of pages on a web site may be optimized and found through the search engines. There are hundreds to thousands of search engines. The majority of searches however come through Google, Yahoo and MSN. Each search engine uses different rules or algorithms for determining ranking order. These rules can and often do change over time. That is why it is an ongoing process to achieve and maintain a good page rank with SEO. When SEO includes a presence in forums, blogs, social networks, and multimedia directories, the result is viral marketing – this is where traffic and results get very exciting!

Best Results Through SEO and Viral Marketing

A good SEO program will not just produce a high page rank for keywords, it will also drive traffic from a particular target market to web site pages from many different sources. These may include links from relevant web sites valued by the search engines, forums, blogs, social networks, multimedia directories and online press releases. The sum total of all of this marketing produces a viral effect resulting in high search engine rankings and explosive web site traffic.

17 critical components for SEO with viral marketing results:

1. Keyword research and analysis to determine keywords that are searched in significant numbers and relevant to the web site’s target market.

2. Incorporating an XML site map so that search engines can crawl the web site easily.

3. Incorporation of informative content-rich web pages to the existing web site based on targeted keywords.

4. Defining keyword-rich Titles and Meta tags for each and every page of the web site in order to make every page search engine friendly.

5. Hand submitting the web site to niche directories to get valuable one way links.

6. Writing and developing keyword-rich articles focused on targeted keywords.

7. Creating a blog for the web site and submitting it to blog directories and blog search engines.

8. Submitting articles to leading E-zines and other informative sites to get one way links along with relevant traffic towards the web site.

9. Exchanging links with other relevant web sites to increase back links for the web site.

10. Participating in niche Blogs & Forums to get quality back links and traffic.

11. Creating a presence in Social Book marking sites.

12. Creating a presence in Social Networking sites.

13. Participating in Video Sharing using video that showcases the web site’s mission, purpose, brand and unique selling position.

14. RSS feed creation and submission to various RSS directories.

15. Press release creation and submission.

16. Including powerful and effective marketing copy in all content developed for the SEO and viral marketing program.

17. Tracking of results and making modifications based on traffic patterns, lead generation results and sales conversion data.

A plain vanilla SEO program that optimizes web pages will produce limited results. I have personally seen companies charge big bucks and stuff keywords into pages that no human being would read. They may get attention from the search engines but people will be off that site in a heartbeat. The bottom line is effective marketing copy in everything that is produced for the project.

Most SEO companies do not include many of these viral marketing concepts in their program. Using this list of criteria when shopping around for a company to do your SEO will help you to get the most value for the money you spend. Done well and responsibly managed, SEO and viral marketing can be your most productive marketing investment.

Mario

Martin Stanford asked:


The practice of optimizing a website for the purpose of improving the internal and external aspects; in order to increase the traffic received by the site from search engines is what is meant by Search Engine Optimization. Getting a website search engine optimized involves some elements. This discussion will include the description of some the elements of SEO; precisely the Search Engine and Keyword/Keyword phrase.

The Role of the Commercial Search Engines

It is important to state that the large search market-share belong to the major commercial search engines; Yahoo, Google, MSN and AskJeeves. In essence, a large part of the web traffic is controlled by these commercial search engines. So, if your website is not visible to these search engines, it means that your website will not be listed among the websites provided through search. In essence, this is very detrimental to your internet business since almost every internet user is likely to use these search engines as their primary mode of navigation. This means that your product or service or whatever you are marketing on the internet might likely not be visible to your potential customers.

The Role of Search Terms

The words that users input into the search box also known as search queries; are of immense value. These search terms back up the visibility of your product and service site. This is the means of getting targeted traffic for publicity, revenue and exposure. Any investment made towards achieving SEO is worthwhile and rewarding; it is indeed an investment that yields more earning. An important fact that a newbie in internet marketing should know is this; keywords or keyword phrases are better structured with a term that is popular in your business niche, which users are always searching or are likely to search more often. Also this keyword or phrases should be of moderate density.

Whatever technique you are using to increase the visibility of your website, apply caution not to make any move that will sink your website in the search results where visibility will be insignificant.

The search engine plays the chief and most important role in traffic generation. Keyword is also an important element in search engine optimization and hence, traffic generation.

Brad

Andre Zayas asked:


Running your own business involves doing whatever you can to get your business out to potential customers. Without customers, a business will not survive. Every business needs some type of revenue in order to be successful. One of the most popular ways to attract new customers and create a steady stream of revenue is making a website. Using Houston search engine optimization can help more customers find your business.

You may wonder how Houston search engine optimization (or Houston SEO) can help your business. The answer is simple. Search engines are the most common ways in which consumers find what they need. These users will type what they are looking for into one of several search engines and will begin to go through the results. Most often, they will start at the top of the list. This is where Houston SEO comes in.

In order to make use of Houston search engine optimization, a business owner will need to choose keywords that will allow the most potential customers to find their website. Being as specific as possible will help a business to attract more customers that are more likely to need their goods or services. If you use a vaguer keyword, you will be competing against a larger number of websites. A more specific keyword gives you an advantage in Houston SEO.

Once you have chosen your keywords, you will need to create content that uses Houston search engine optimization. This content should be updated frequently in order to keep your website at the top of the search engine results pages. It is also important for a business owner to create content that uses the keywords an appropriate number of times. Search engines will red flag any sites that overuse words as illegitimate and will not include those sites in their results.

Florence

Scott Buresh asked:


It’s a fact of life in business that when there’s an economic downturn, the first thing that’s usually cut is available marketing spend, typically an unfortunate byproduct of accounting’s inability to justify costs without hard data in place. While the argument has been made numerous times over the years in books and articles that cutting budgets in a down economy is one of the worst moves you can make, I won’t rehash this old (but still valid) argument. Instead, I’d specifically like to address why cutting your search engine marketing budget in a down economy is a bad move, and why it’s equally important to place your trust in your search engine marketing company during a down turn.

It’s probably true for most businesses that there are fewer people actively searching for their products and services due to the economic climate. Companies reasonably approach this situation thinking, “Why should we pay the same amount in marketing that we’ve traditionally been paying when our current target market has shrunk?” This is a rational concern, but it doesn’t always lead to rational decisions – and it’s at this point when it becomes appropriate to break down the differences between push and pull marketing.

“Pushing” Your Message Out: The Traditional Method

With push marketing (by modern definition), you are essentially “pushing” your message out to various venues, such as billboards, magazine ads, direct mail, and radio and TV spots, trying to target your ideal customer. You’re spending money to reach mass audiences in the hopes that some percentage of them are looking for your products or services at just the time your message reaches them. Of course, if sales in your particular market have dropped by, say, 25%, you can expect that your push marketing results will probably correlate to the industry decline.

“Pulling” Your Market In: The Value of Search Engine Marketing

Enter the modern definition of pull marketing, such as the services that your search engine marketing company provides. With pull marketing, you are able to target a potential customer at the exact time he or she is seeking your products and services regardless of any declines in the marketplace. If your search engine marketing company is running a PPC program on your behalf, you should remain adequately represented in search engine results pages. If there are fewer people searching for the keyphrases upon which you bid, your costs for pay-per-click may decrease, but at least, in this case, it is a market-driven decrease based upon solid information rather than a decision passed down from someone far removed from marketing.

Another argument can be made for search engine optimization. Although the budget you allocate for a search engine marketing company and its services may be fixed, it’s likely that many of your competitors have lost their budgets, opening up the playing field and potentially allowing you to garner more of the business that’s still out there.

Establishing Long-Term Success with Hard Data

This takes us to another area especially important to businesses where long-term relationships are crucial to long-term success. In a down economy, people cut marketing budgets (including the crucial, but often overlooked online marketing efforts performed by their search engine marketing company), leaving a prime opportunity for you to use pull marketing tactics to gain market share while your competitors are left trying to “ride out the storm.” As previously mentioned, fewer of your competitors will be paying for ongoing SEO efforts or even allotting revenue for PPC campaigns, which opens up more potential search engine real estate for your company in the organic and PPC arenas and, quite possibly, lowers your per-click cost in PPC.

With push marketing, it’s difficult to attribute a direct ROI correlation. It can be tried – companies will use vanity phone numbers or URLs on a variety of different online advertisements or offline flyers, but nothing compares to the ROI metrics that can be provided by your search engine marketing company. Frankly, you can get as granular as you want with data – how much a lead costs, the exact amount of revenue generated by individual campaigns, all the way down to the exact amount of profit you made from particular keyphrases on the Google AdWords campaign between 4 and 5 PM on March 05. The bottom line is that it’s hard to argue with this data, and while many marketing pros are understandably in job preservation mode, it’s obviously valuable to be able to point to undeniable metrics that demonstrate success.

Don’t Cut Marketing; Build on Existing Efforts

Ever since the marketing department made its debut in the modern business world, it has seemed to be the first to get downsized or even axed during trying economic times. Of course, I feel that any marketing that has traditionally worked for a company should not be eliminated during a downturn. However, if budgets must be revised, I recommend you focus your remaining efforts on pull marketing, gaining market share, and concentrating on the metrics (acquired with the assistance of your search engine marketing company) to prove your ROI.

Edwin