What is Search Engine Marketing?

There are search [engine] optimization experts who want to take your money. They want you to believe that understanding how search engines work is so difficult that you must hire them. Before you invest any money paying someone to optimize your website for the search engines first consider what is search engine marketing?

Your real goal with search [engine] marketing is to target search engines to create traffic for your website or blog. Today that is more easily accomplished then it was a couple years ago.

The reason I say that is more and more websites are using blogs to get their fresh content online. As long as you targeted individual keyword phrases the blogging platform will build your web pages for you.

Certainly you have to put the content online, but you’re really targeting search [engines] by marketing a specific keyword phrase within the title, and within the introduction and closing of your blog article. This is known as search engine bait and is an excellent way to create a marketing plan using the search engines.

Along with those lines, you should be social bookmarking your blog post to the top social directories which create more search [engine] bait. Now you have taken your search [engine] marketing efforts beyond your individual blog and are reaching out to the directories that are spidered consistently daily by the top search engines.

Another thing you can do to practice search [engine] marketing would be purchasing pay per click advertising. This form of advertising has been around for several years now, but today Google AdWords really dominates that market.

You can quickly set up a campaign on Google and be on page 1 in a matter of minutes. A word of caution though is take your time to learn the ins and outs of Google AdWords before you invest your money with them. Surprisingly today more campaigns with them lose money than are actually profitable.

You can also purchase less expensive traffic on various other search [engines] including Yahoo and MSN. And there are many other forms of search [engine] marketing with pay per click advertising including 7Search, Kanoodle, Bidvertiser, and many more.

One final thing we want to mention in regards to search [engine] marketing is submitting your website to search engines and directories. You can get organic listings for your website and create back line links by utilizing this method of marketing to search [engines.]

If you want to spend the money you can use companies such as Search [Engine] Blaster, which will automate the whole process and do the submissions for you. This can be a big time saver as there are literally thousands of search [engines] and directories to submit to.

Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Marketing Versus Search Engine Marketing Services

Search engine marketing services sure can decrease the amount of
time you are required to devote to your business to make it a
success. However, even though there are many advantages to search
engine marketing services, there are disadvantages to be
considered as well.

Before you make the critical decision to hire or not to hire
search engine marketing service providers, be sure you have
weighed the pros and cons as they relate to your particular
situation. After all, each and every woman-owned business is
unique, so what works for one business owner may or may not be
right for you.

The primary advantages to contracting search engine marketing
services are: 1) not having to manage your search engine
marketing campaigns saves you a lot of time, and 2) when you
contract professional search engine marketing services, they
likely have more experience in search engine marketing than what
you have.

Disadvantages are: 1) search engine marketing services can be
expensive, especially with ongoing monitoring of your marketing
campaign, which is crucial, and 2) there is some potential that
you will not get search engine marketing services that are worth
what you are paying for them.

The main toss-up in deciding between do-it-yourself or search
engine marketing services is between time and money. If you’ve
got more time than you’ve got money, doing your own search engine
marketing is likely best; however, if you’ve got more money than
time, using professional search engine marketing services is
probably for you. The second consideration is whether to master
the learning curve so you can do your own search engine
marketing, or to rely upon professionals to take care of it for
you.

It is important to realize that ongoing monitoring and
adjustments to your search engine marketing campaign is
necessary, so consider that when reviewing your options. Some
businesswomen opt to have search engine marketing services plan
and launch their search engine marketing campaign, and then they
take the reins in managing the campaign over the long-run.

Search engine marketing services generally offer a variety of
service options. Search engine marketing services that design and
run your marketing campaign always begin with research. The
research should include analyzing your competition and
identifying keywords and keyword phrases that will optimize your
website for the search engines.

They may include natural search engine optimization and other
optimization services that involve strategic placement of
keywords and keyword phrases in your web content and meta tags.
Building link popularity is also generally a part of the natural
search engine optimization process.

The design and management of pay-per-click advertising campaigns
is often an option provided by search engine marketing services,
as is paid inclusion management, and online public relations.
Paid inclusion programs may include getting paid listings in
directories, portals, newsletters, ezines, or other online,
industry-based publications that will direct targeted traffic to
your website and increase your link popularity. Most search
engine marketing services provide ongoing monitoring and
maintenance to ensure that your website receives the best
possible results from your search engine marketing and paid
advertising.

Link popularity is one of those things that remain constant as a
tactic for getting a good rank in search results. However,
professional search engine marketing services should know that
link relevancy is just as important. You can have tons of links
coming into your website, but if they are coming from websites
that are totally irrelevant to yours, they will not usually
accomplish the objective of boosting your website’s performance
in the search engines. Last but not least, search engine
marketing services should be able to provide you with detailed
reports that clearly demonstrate the services they are providing
and the results, in terms of traffic, that those services are
generating.

A Few eCommerce Web Designing Trends You Should Be Aware of

Web designers across the globe are upbeat about the fast growth of eCommerce – not only because it promises a more capable trajectory in the near future but also because its fast changing environment accommodates ample scope for personal growth. As a designer you’re constantly challenged to explore new horizons of web designing in order to ensure a seamless shopping experience to your customers. It takes very little for a dominant trend to become outdated in absolutely no time. As such, is there even a point to predict eCommerce trends for 2017? Yes, there is – because that is what sustains us – designers- in the fast paced digital ambience. If we don’t learn we don’t grow. Simple.

The designing trends that are quickly emerging in prominence have been provided below. If you’re hiring an eCommerce Web Designing Company for designing or re-designing your eCommerce store then you choose a designer, who is duly aware of these trends.

Trends Shaping The Future of eCommerce Designs

Before delving into finer details, let us tell you that one thing which will continue to enjoy utmost prominence is mobile. What Steve Jobs had said around 6 years back is a reality now. He had said that mobile devices were fast replacing desktops or PCs as the most widespread computing devices. Today, in 2016, it is predicted that if eCommerce is poised to grow by 15% in 2017, then m-commerce is going to constitute more than half of that growth. Keeping this in mind, we will try to explore the major eCommerce designing trends to evolve in 2017.

Content Driven Design will Rule

Content driven designs such as material designs or visual storytelling will continue to be given due prominence. eCommerce companies are expected to use material design more often than what they have been doing all this time. One of the best attributes of material designs is that they are vibrant as well as focused on content. This particular trend started enjoying attention from 2014-2015 and it will continue doing so even in 2017.

Designers should Pay Attention to Upward Responsive Designs

As we all know, responsive design is a very important element of web designing in its entirety. Upwardly responsive designs entail design efforts tailored for both smaller screens like smartphones and high-resolution devices like TVs as well.

Hidden Menus

Hidden menu (a most used variation of the hamburger menu) continues to be a favorite of designers as well- primarily because it makes your site clutter-free. Initially, these menus were primarily used in mobile devices. However, they have slowly forayed into desktops as well.

What You Need to Keep In View

It is extremely important on your end to acquaint yourself with these trends so that you can base your choice of the eCommerce web designer on the same. You would like to know about trends that are going to shape the future of eCommerce web designing so that you can ascertain whether the designer you’re choosing are aware of similar trends or not – whether they will be able to keep these points in view while designing for you.

Ecommerce Plugins: What Is The Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugin For Your Online Business?

Ecommerce plugins are the devices that allow you to sell products online. As you know, you can sell from your site in many different ways, but it is super easy to sell from a WordPress blog with only one of these plugins. WordPress is an excellent ecommerce platform that shows your products to the whole world.

But, how can turn your WordPress site into an ecommerce site that sells?

The answer is in plugins, they can turn your site into a cash machine 24/7.

What is the best WordPress ecommerce plugin?

Here you have an x-ray description of the best WordPress ecommerce plugin:

1. WPe-commerce It has been massively used among WordPress users because it has many different features and is free. It offers different payment solutions; with it, you can accept manual payment such as checks or money orders, Pay Pal Payment Standard, Pay Pal Payment Pro, Pay Pal Express Checkout, Google Checkout and Cronopay. There is another option, The Gold version, which accepts even more kinds of payments and has more features, such as product sliders and shipping modules. Its downside is that with this plugin, you can’t customize invoices and you have to print them with your web browser. But, in spite of appearing such a complete and amazing service, many users find WPe-commerce a bit buggy and have to spend a lot of their valuable time hacking it to work.

2. Shopp Shopp is a very good plugin, but you have to pay for it. For the lowest price you get a single license for the software, then, you have many other plugins to maximize its function, but of course, you have to pay for them too. You can buy extra plugins for payment gateways, shipping modules, or even to have a priority for support. One advantage it has is that installation and usage are very convenient, besides it includes quite an amount of documentation. It has several interesting features too, such as the possibility to customize the carts. One thing to take into account is that in case you need any support, you have to pay for it, as you have to pay to access to the forum. And there is something else, it can conflict with some other WordPress plugins. But generally speaking, users find it to be one of the best WordPress ecommerce plugin.

3. PHPurchase It is a paid plugin that has two versions, the Standard edition and the Pro version. It is better and easier to use than the free plugins. It also has many different features and it is easy to customize. However, if you don’t live in the US, you must know that it only supports US dollars and it can be a handicap for your online business. As for gateways, it includes Pay Pal Website Payments Standard, Pay Pal Website Payments Professional, Pay Pal Express Checkout, eProcessing Network, Chase Paymentech, Quantum Gateway and Authorize.net.

4. Ecwid It is a free plugin for WordPress. It is a shopping cart as well as a full ecommerce system. It is very easy to install, to maintain and to customize. The only problem you may find is that Ecwid uses Ajax for almost everything, so it means that it can affect SEO rank. Besides, potential customers who don’t have JavaScript can’t use it on their site, so you can lose some sales. However, they are working on it. So it is a good free plugin to take into account.

5. EShop It is another free plugin for WordPress. It is a full ecommerce system as well as a good e-cart. It is very easy to install, you can also add products, review products and check stats in a very simple way. You can customize it completely and it can look awesome. The downside is that eShop only accepts PayPal or Payson. When using eShop, you won’t be able to print an invoice for the customer. Anyway, on the whole it is a good cart.

6. Shopify It is a very popular option among people who have had problems with other plugins. It was built for ecommerce and is very professional and reliable. It is very easy to install, it is very robust and very customizable. Users stick to it and think it is very robust and affordable.

Ecommerce plugins are easy to install in your site, but to say which is the best WordPress ecommerce plugin is not easy. If your business is small or medium sized and you know how to use WordPress, you can use an ecommerce plugin. If your business is a full-scale, selling thousands of products, you probably want a custom-built solution or an ecommerce publishing platform like Magneto, Zen Cart or Shopify.

The best WordPress ecommerce plugin can do a lot for your business and don’t forget that your job is not to manage the software but sell your products. If you want to know more about how WordPress can enhance your business and make more sales, you can grab this FREE valuable video course WordPress Genius Lessons