Well, I am tired of having a blog and only writing about dry/boring internet business. I bet many of you could care less about the goings on behind the scenes. So, today, to hell with the internet business!

I was wondering if any of you have ever been to beautiful downtown Savannah. I ate lunch at the Pirate House, yes a real Pirate house opened in 1734. That is where the book Treasure Island got started…

Anyway, I sat on a park bench in Wright Square under the massive live oak trees and contemplated life. The square (As people in Savannah call them) is like a mini park. If any of you saw Forrest Gump, well today that was me! Same square, and same town. Although I don’t look or act like Forrest, sometimes I wish I was Forrest.

Presently, it has not reached the misery state. The weather is still nice. I hope it holds till Saturday! Sailing and the Beach or bust! Y’all take care…

Tom

As an Internet company and providing SEO (Internet marketing), I get asked a lot about how we get sites found and their site rankings improved and I tell the person, it’s a lot of work and takes a lot of knowledge of how the Search Engines react to changes a person makes to a specific web site.

While I can not provide all the tools we use I thought I would share with you some of my favorites and I have arranged them in “action” order (I had to leave out the complete URL for some of the sites because of the rules covering the number of URLs per article.)

PAGE ANAYSIS:

One of the best is Google Rankings. You can check your rankings on the major search engines except GOOGLE. You need a special key but unfortuantely they no longer support new users. A great tool.

1. Popuri: A tool to check at-a-glance the link popularity of any site based on its ranking (Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Technorati etc.), social bookmarks (del.icio.us, etc), subscribers (Bloglines, etc) and more!

2. Submit Express: A super tool to see how search engine robots analyze your or your competitors web site,- Receive tips on how to improve your Meta Tags, – Check the keywords used on the page and find the keyword density- Check web server operating system where site is hosted- Check website load time- Check website file size- Check URLs and links found on the page STATS PLUS:

3. Crazy Eggs: A tool for visually viewing your visitors to your site. They offer various plans at a price but they do offer a free trial but you will have to provide email information. As I have often suggested, use a Yahoo or Gmail account for some sites and if they will allow this option, use your alias email account.

4. Web CEO: A cool tool for checking a number of actions on your web site. They also have a free or trial option.

5. Google Analytics: The leading free stats program on the Internet. Go to Google and type in “Google analytics in the search block and you will be taken to the right page to do use.)

6. Add Free Stats: A neat tool that provides a lot of information on what is happening on your web site. This tool is helpful if you are not currently using a web site statistical reporter. NOTE. If you elect to use this service, you will need to add a code (provided by them) to your site. If you control access to your site, no problem but if not, your hosting provider can do this for you.)

WEBMASTER TOOLS:

7. Web Site SEO: The Web Site SEO Checkup report will quickly provide information about your web page search engine ranking for a specific keyword, number of indexed pages in major search engines, the number of inbound links, your Google Page Rank, and a Keyword Density Cloud.

LINKS:

8. Link Popularity: Most of the major search engines now factor Link Popularity into their relevancy algorithms. As a result, increasing the number of quality, relevant sites which link to your site can actually improve your search engine rankings.

OTHER:

9. Google Banned List: Sometimes web site owners after spending considerable time and maybe spent money still cannot get their site listed on Google and little did they know that their site has been banned by Google for a host of reasons. This action is often a result of something that maybe a previous domain name owner did or? This tool helps you find out if your banned and if so, what to do. Just type in banned list in the Google search bar and you will be directed to the correct page.

10. Browser Shots (org): This is a good tool to see how your site is seen on the major browsers, such as: Netscape, Internet Explorer, Firefox and others.

The above sites are just some of the tools a typical SEO firm will use but by trying these and learning the why, who, where and how’s behind the tools will help you increase your knowledge of Internet marketing and what to do to improve your ranking and hopefully increased sales or requests for information.

Chuck St. Arnaud is the Chairman & CEO of a the oldest and largest ISP in Coastal Georgia. A frequent writer and speaker on the Internet, he is considered a local asset when it comes to understanding the potential of using the Internet. Chuck is also an adjunct professor of Marketing at a local university. Visit his blog at http://www.sysconn.com/blog and sign-up for his monthly newsletter. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chuck_St._Arnaud

Most small and medium sized companies that have websites are satisfied that they have a site. It amazes me to read through Savannah Magazine. This particular magazine is full of advertisers (companies) that advertise and do not include their web address.#@!? Hello! It also shocks me so many companies out there don’t even have websites.#@!? I wonder if these companies still use a hand ledger.

Lets face it, it is important to have a website. I think we are in the 21st. century! Also, it is important to monitor you keywords and your position on the major search engines. Search Engine Optimization allows you to fine tune your keywords so that more of your prospective clients will find your business. It takes about 6 months of monitoring and your site will receive more visitors. More visitors/More sales!

Systems Connect has been doing SEO work for some of our clients for over 12 years. I dare anyone out there to find a SEO company charges less for these services. So, if you have a website that is just sitting out there on page 25 on Google, and you want more exposure, contact us at 912-356-9920.

Ten Handy Tools for Checking and Improving your Internet Marketing Actions.

As an Internet company that provides SEO (Internet marketing), I get asked a lot about how we get sites found and improve site rankings. I tell the person, it’s a lot of work and takes a lot of knowledge of how the Search Engines react to changes a person makes to a specific web site. While I can not provide all the tools we use I thought I would share with you some of our favorites and I have arranged them in “action” order:

PAGE ANAYSIS:

1. Google Rankings (www.googlerankings.com) let’s you check out your keywords on the major search engines except GOOGLE. You need a special key but unfortunately they no longer support new users. A great tool.

Popuri: (www.popuri.us) A tool to check at-a-glance the link popularity of any site based on its ranking (Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Technorati etc.), social bookmarks (del.icio.us, etc), subscribers (Bloglines, etc) and more!

Submit Express (www.submitexpress.com).  A super tool to see how search engine robots analyze your or your competitors web site, – Receive tips on how to improve your Meta Tags, – Check the keywords used on the page and find the keyword density- Check web server operating system where site is hosted- Check website load time- Check website file size- Check URLs and links found on the page

STATS PLUS:

Crazy Eggs (www.crazyeggs.com). A tool for visually viewing your visitors to your site. They offer various plans at a price but they do offer a free trial but you will have to provide email information. As I have often suggested, use a Yahoo or Gmail account for some sites and if they will allow this option, use your alias email account.

Web CEO (www.webceo.com). A cool tool for checking a number of actions on your web site. They also have a free or trial option.

Google Analytics (www.google.com). The leading free stats program on the Internet. Go to Google and type in “Google analytics in the search block and you will be taken to the right page to do use.)

Add Free Stats (www.addfreestats.com). A neat tool that provides a lot of information on what is happening on your web site. This tool is helpful if you are not currently using a web site statistical reporter. NOTE. If you elect to use this service, you will need to add a code (provided by them) to your site. If you control access to your site, no problem but if not, your hosting provider can do this for you.)

WEBMASTER TOOLS:

Web Site SEO (www.marketverticalpartners.com)   The Web Site SEO Checkup report will quickly provide information about your web page search engine ranking for a specific keyword, number of indexed pages in major search engines, the number of inbound links, your Google Page Rank, and a Keyword Density Cloud.

LINKS:

Link Popularity (www.linkpopularity.com) Most of the major search engines now factor Link Popularity into their relevancy algorithms. As a result, increasing the number of quality, relevant sites which link to your site can actually improve your search engine rankings.

Google PageRank (http://www.top25web.com/pagerank.php) This is an absolute must (checker). If you are scoring below a 5 (out of 10), you need to spend some time or hire (US, a plug) to see what needs to be done to get your ranked higher. Most of time it is content but?

OTHER:

9. Google Banned List (www.iwebtool.com/google_banned) Sometimes web site owners after spending considerable time and maybe spent money still cannot get their site listed on Google and little did they know that their site has been banned by Google for a host of reasons. This action is often a result of something that maybe a previous domain name owner did or? This tool helps you find out if your banned and if so, what to do.

10. Browser Shots ( http://browsershots.org). This is a good tool to see how your site is seen on the major browsers, such as: Netscape, Internet Explorer, Firefox and others.

The above sites an tools are just some of the tools a typical SEO firm will use but by trying these and learning the why, who, where and how’s behind the tools will help you increase your knowledge of Internet marketing and what to do to improve your ranking and hopefully increased sales or requests for information.
I hope this helps and at the end of the process (using the web sites above), you should have a good idea where your web site stands and what you need to do to improve it.

Same byline but please. Visit Chuck’s blog to read more of his articles at www.sysconn.com/blog

Just a short note!

For those who are interested in visiting Savannah, go to www.savannahtraveler.com !

Thanks!

ENABLING BUSINESS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY ANDTEAMWORK

KEYWORD YOUR WEB SITE FOR SUCCESS!

In the past, I have written about SEO (Internet Marketing) and the importance of using the right keywords to attract visitors to your web site. With the importance of the Internet in our daily lives and buying on-line options, we need to take another look at what we are using to get found on the major search engines. Why? Because our needs for knowledge, information, new products and even everyday necessities can be met with a single click of a mouse. We type the description of what we want into the search engine and click, a wealth of websites related to our search comes up. No wonder more and more people everyday elect to search and shop the NET rather than drive to the mall or the shopping center. My wife does most of your Christmas shopping on the Internet and arranges for direct shipment to our children and grandchildren. Easy, cost-effective and you don’t even have to dress-up.

Shopping on-line has sparked a revolution in the strategies used to market on the Internet. Web site owners or companies such as mine compete with so many other sites to get A TOP 10 placement on the major search engines. One of the best tactics is to craft the best keywords or keyword phrases.

An old strategy was to saturate the page with dozens or more keywords. The philosophy behind using multiple keywords was appropriate at the time but the NET is changing and people are searching the internet using specific words or phrases. To be effective in choosing the right words think about what a potential client would use to find your product or service. For example, if a person was searching for a portable music device, what words would most likely be used in a search for this product? How relevant can you make the keywords on your site to a search for music playing devices? The best way to start is to think about what you would search for. Start with “music players” but get more specific. The more generic the keyword is the more generalized the search will be. People who are seriously looking for something will be much more specific in their search. So it is not just the short keywords but also complete phrases, or “multiple key words”. In the music device example, a potential customer would probably be more likely to search for a “Ipod or IPod Nano” rather than just “music player”. They also may be likely to do a search for specific features they are looking for like “capacity “.

So how can a web site owner capitalize on the searches conducted by users?

The first result that comes out of a search engine is usually the website that contains the most similar number of keywords in the exact same order as the search. For instance, if I used “IPOD NANO 4 GB” for my search string, the search engine will look for the exact same words and word placement. The search engines will also bring up any website names that match my search.

To be able to fully use your website’s potential as a top search result item, you need to orient your website towards the product or idea you want to promote. If you cannot have the .com name, you can rely on keyword optimization to help you with your search engine rankings.

As I mentioned before keywords will not work if they are generic. Most customers log onto the Internet already knowing what they are looking for. Remember, most Internet users are looking for information first and prices and opportunities to buy second. An Internet shopper cannot examine the product or speak to a salesperson so most are looking to find out what they can about the product or service first. Often they will end up buying but these shoppers can’t hold or examine the merchandise so they want to find out about them first before they actually buy. When they do decide to buy, they have a specific idea in mind. They will use this idea as their search string in search engines. If you have multiple products, you need to be able to generate a fair amount of information containing relevant keywords for all of your merchandise (an alternative is to have more than one web site.). If you choose to limit your business to a certain area, be sure to include the name of your chosen location into your keyword base.

Use keywords effectively and you will see the results of your research and hard work.

Same Byline.

Systems Connect, in Savannah, is creating a new website called the Savannah Traveler.  It’s domain will be www.savannahtraveler.com.   Our goal is to help individuals that are planning to visit our wonderful city.  The site will be up soon.  It will be my job to locate advertisers, and hopefully, discounts for you!  I have posted some pictures of Savannah on the right side of my blog.  I am working on making these neat pictures thumbnails.  I hope you enjoy!

Tom

Well, for all you sports fans out there, the fighting Cardinals kicked some Tennessee butt last night.  Yes, I stayed up till after twelve to the end.  University of Louisville won the basketball game by 19 points and advance to The Elite Eight.  Next challenge, the University of N. Carolina!  I hope we make it to San Antonio!

By: Jullian James

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jullian_James

Many offline businesses had taken their earnings potential to the next level after introducing their products and services in the Internet. But mind you though, despite the fact that some of them works tremendously, most just failed to attract new customers.

Why they failed and how they succeed? Continue reading to know what it takes to build a profitable website.

Great Content That Have Good Demand

Web surfers are looking for information which then drills down to the solutions. It is your job; as the business owner, to identify their problems and give them the best possible solutions. For example, a couple from US is planning for romantic honeymoon in Italy but not sure which place they should go. If you owned a five star romantic hotel in Italy, they are your potential customers already.

After doing some keyword research, you might want to write about “Romantic Places in Italy” which include all the romantic activities, nice shopping malls as well as pictures surrounding those places. You might also want to offer some romantic packages for them so that they don’t have the hassle of managing the honeymoon themselves.

Results? The couple will be more than happy to pay for all the services you provide. Isn’t that great?

Building Trust and Deepen Relationship

People buy from someone they trust. This especially true for online purchases since there are so many scams out there. Therefore, you have to bridge the gap with your potential customers as well as your previous consumers so that they will buy the products from you now and thereafter; and not from anybody else. Result? You can keep your loyal consumers and grab the potential customers from your competitors; both at the same time.

It’s like killing two birds with one stone. But how?

First of all, provide friendly and personal information about your offer through great web contents. You can write some tips or techniques that will make their job much easier. Secondly, communicate with your customers & potential consumers through monthly ezines or newsletters. You can do this by using auto-responder.

Generate Targeted Traffic For New Customer

You can’t expect your website to generate enough income of you don’t put effort to market it. Having said that, not all kind of traffic will do, but super-targeted traffic will help. Targeted traffic is visitors that are interested in what your website is all about. This can be a couple looking for romantic places, family looking for great places during summer vacations or maybe some business person who has meetings in Italy. All of them can be your targeted traffic.

But how to entice them to visit your website?

You can advertise your business using Pay-Per-Click methods, such as Google Adwords. Besides that, you can sponsor some banners in other related websites or forum space to introduce your offer. Last but not least, you can use articles to attract them via article marketing. Either ways, you must keep your marketing effort to gain highly targeted traffic to your website.

I have to agree with many of the points in this article. Such as, it is extremely important to build trust and deepen relationships. Word of mouth and great service will drive customers to your site. In generating traffic to your site, you must know who your customers are and what they like and dislike. Create a comment or a feedback page. Build relationships and network through newsletters. Also, take a look at your keywords for your site. You may want to replace keywords to get more traffic…

-Tom Baker

I got home last night amped and ready for an evening of basketball.  Being a Louisville grad, I couldn’t wait to see my Cardinals in the big dance.  To my surprise, Comcast in Savannah was not showing the game.  The basketball fans in Savannah had to endure a night with Arkansas and Indiana.  The SEC, who cares?  Is the SEC a good Conference this year?  Well, enough of my complaining. 

Thank God for computers and the internet!  I tuned in my game on www.cbs.com  It was not as good as watching on the boob tube, but got to watch the the CARDS!  They beat Boise State 79-61.  On Sunday, Louisville plays Oklahoma.  If that game is not on TV, I will be on the internet!

Have a Blessed Weekend and Happy Easter!