It has been called a process, even an art form, but selecting the proper keywords for your website involves many hours of tedious research and a little conjecture.  Regardless of how you describe the process, proper keyword selection is the most important link between your website and potential clients, customers and visitors and it is vitally important to any search engine optimization campaign.

People searching for information enter specific keywords into the search engines to find what they are looking for about products, companies, services or whatever.  Keyword research allows you to see how people are searching for information, what words they are using and which phrases you should use in your content so they are directed to your website.  By gathering keyword data, you can gain valuable insight to searchers behavior and ways to create a user-friendly, informational website that converts visitors into customers.  So where to does one start their keyword research?

Start by washing away the common misconception that you already know what terms searchers use to find your website.  If you are just guessing at what people are looking for, you run the risk of getting it completely wrong.  Place yourself in the searcher’s shoes and don’t look for one right answer.  Successful keyword research should lead to numerous great answers.

When doing your research, don’t limit yourself.  It is easy to get trapped with a specific phrase you have your heart and mind set on.  In some situations, starting with a single word can open the door to a much larger range of potential keywords.  If you are not sure where to start, select a broad, non-specific term to start your search and discover a plethora of less competitive yet very effective keyword terms to develop your keyword list.  Bear in mind, many keywords and keyword phrases are so popular it is almost impossible to get a high ranking for them.

Once you have completed your keyword collection, and it should be a fairly extensive list, the next step is to research the keywords popularity and competition.  This can be accomplished through the use of several keyword research and analytic tools.  There are many keyword research tools available, like those offered by Overture, Google and Wordtracker.  To ensure the quality of your keyword data, analysis should be performed and cross-referenced across multiple tools.  There are also web analytics tools available such as those offered by Webtrends, Omniture and HitBox.  Using these tools will allow you to identify the most effective keywords for your optimization plan.

It is also important to target locally. Local targeting, including your location in your keyword search phrases, is very successful as many people mention specific locations when searching for services and products.  Also take the time to explore all niche opportunities. It is essential to identify what part of a market you’d like to focus on.  Don’t forget, getting ranked number one for a term that has nothing to do with your website is a giant waste of time and money.

Keyword research is the first step in the optimization of your website for search engines and to gain greater site traffic.  So get out there and start researching.  Discover new keyword opportunities and fix existing keyword uses.  Keyword research is an ongoing process.  Your customers and your website change over time.  It is important to monitor your keywords and tweak them accordingly.  Although keyword research is a tedious task it is well worth the effort.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

When executed properly, an article marketing campaign can be very effective at promoting your company on the internet and building a brand. Article submission is the process of taking an article you have written and uploading it to an article directories. These directories list articles on a wide range of topics, from arts and entertainment to health and fitness. Article Submission is a two pronged approach.

1. When you write articles with good information related to your industry these sites are no only more likely to be accepted by the article directories, but then many times other sites will republish your articles as well. Search engines search article directories all the time due to the high amount of traffic these sites get and tons of content being generated. So your articles start showing up on the search engines in topics related to your industry.

2. At the end of the articles, there is a place to put links back to your site. This is a completely legitimate way to build links to your website, because you are providing good content in exchange. This aligns with the very purpose of Google. The result is increased presence in the search engines.

Check out my Squidoo page called: Distributing Your Content with Article Submission Services for a more detailed description of article submission and article submission services.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

It isn’t very often that commercials touch us deep in our core. A company may have such success with one commercial in their product lifetime, but for repeated success, it can be difficult. A company has accomplished just that. GM’s Onstar commercials touch the very core of our beings by focusing on realistic situations that generate fear, love and hope in almost all viewers.

The GM Onstar commercials have found a way to market a product that touches our soles with small children saving parents, soccer moms becoming heroes, and Onstar operators being the helping hand to millions of crash victims.GM has done a great job of marketing this valuable automobile and life accessory. But what if you want to watch a commercial again and you didn’t think to record it yourself?

Having searched the Internet high and low, it can be very difficult to locate a GM Onstar commercial. There are plenty of spoofs and spin-offs and I am starting to wonder if it wasn’t in Jeff Gordon’s contract that his are one of the only commercials viewable on YouTube. Although Gordon’s role in the commercials were good, this series did not have quite the heart touching effect as the crashes and emergency situation responses. Why is it that GM hasn’t taken their Onstar commercials to the Internet?

They obviously know they have a great marketing channel open, with the value of realty in their commercials, why have they not taken advantage of the free and many times permanent advertising capabilities of online video services? They could quite possibly save money on advertising and create a pervasive, long term campaign. That’s just a thought, but this service is invaluable to so many and in honesty, some of the Onstar spoof videos could generate a little bad publicity. By launching an online video marketing campaign, GM could make Onstar the most loved and watched commercial in all the land. In turn, more people looking for Onstar in their next vehicle.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

Smooth sleek design combined with speed; simple yet elegant.  Sounds like a car commercial, but these are the words I am using to describe the view of the web from Chrome, Google’s new Internet browser released in Beta yesterday. Downloading Google Chrome is quick and easy. Chrome automatically detects and copies your bookmarks, passwords and other information from your existing browser and imports it into your new Google Chrome browser. This is an amazing time saver. In the end starting use of Google Chrome takes only minutes and you are ready to view the web in a whole new way.

The first thing you will realize, as you open your browser, is the simplicity of Google Chrome.  It can actually be baffling to some people because it is so simplistic.  The open page view and uncluttered space of this browser make if feel more like a meditation than an Internet experience.  By combining this minimalism with great features such as being able to change your default search engine and the introduction of the OMNIbar, which combines the classic URL address bar with the search box, saving time and space, Google has been able to utilize features of current browsers and add new features of their own.

Two other great advantages of the Chrome browser are the OMNIbar and their tabbing processors.  First the OMNIbar, is not only unique in its dual function, but when you enter a search term into your OMNIbar, Chrome searches not only your browser history’s page titles, but the page content as well and the search results are often accompanied by thumbnail views of the websites.  The tabbing and multiple web page views also go beyond traditional browsers as each tab opened runs in its own process and if there were a crash, only that particular tab would be closed not the whole browser. In addition, Chrome features its own task bar, allowing users to identify which tab or web page is eating up CPUs and a user can terminate that page with one click.

Being Beta, there are some flaws to be worked on with the Google Chrome Browser.  These include the scrolling mechanism, organizing bookmarks, font visibility, and Google Chrome Beta depends on a lot of shortcuts that beginner users may not be aware of, and other points like navigation. Google Chrome is also missing the vital elements of add-ons and some plug-ins.  Page Rank lovers like myself, may find it difficult to move around the web without this important tool and as it is a Google tool it should be simple to integrate into the browser.  There could also be some lingering issues with privacy for me, as Google Chrome clearly states that they are tracking usage and using this information to develop advertising, etc.  But for all I know other browsers could already being doing this too-they were just never kind enough to tell me.

Chrome comes from Google so the expectations are high and for a beta version, overall I was impressed.  For now, I am sticking to my Firefox as it has all my plug-ins and bookmarks right there, but I look forward to the final release of the Google Chrome browser; provided there is one as many Google Betas stay Betas for a long time, but I am hopeful that Google Chrome will be the new browser for every PC.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

For years it has been the common belief that money was the key and source of employee happiness and longevity. Although money is important, it can’t buy employee happiness and your customers and business livelihood suffer the most when your employees are unhappy with their job.

It’s true. Many studies have confirmed that employee happiness has a direct correlation to customer satisfaction. Although money may keep an unhappy employee coming back to work everyday, an employee who does not feel engaged in the workplace, is going to deliver less in service and productivity. For most companies these are the individuals interacting with their customers and representing their business everyday. Bottom line, if you take great care of your employees, they will take great care of your customers and your customers will keep coming back, again and again.

Need to see this concept at work before you change your management position? Take a look at Google. This search engine giant made the list on Fortune Magazine’s Top One Hundred Places To Work in 2007 and 2008. What makes Google such a great place to work? This was not based on pay scales for employees, but on Google’s continuous efforts to support a healthy work environment for all employees. Now, most businesses can’t afford to pamper their workers with on-site laundry facilities, massage rooms, free gourmet lunches and a virtual college campus of relaxation and fitness, but Google has some programs that can help any business. Take their Innovation Time Off policy. Using this motivation technique, which encourages employees to spend 20% of their work week on a project that interests them, Google has not only given their employees the space, time and confidence they need to be themselves and be happy, but they have benefited from the plan as well, with great programs like Gmail and Adsense being the results of such freedom. You can learn more about Google’s Innovation Time Off policy at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google#Innovation_time_off, but in the end a workplace built on great employees leads to even greater business.

Poor leadership and challenging workplace cultures are among the many reasons quality employees leave. In addition, environments that are constantly monitored are stifling. Employee engagement means making your employees believe they are part of something pretty special. Employees are seeking to be treated with respect and allowed to grow and be a part of the business. Acknowledge a workers worth to you and your company. Invite your employees to share their opinions and allow them to become active participants in discussions and business matters.

Start by instilling an attitude of care and respect for your employees. Discuss expectations, goals, and future plans and keep your employees in the loop. Demonstrate that they are a part of the whole picture and the success of your company and business depends on their satisfaction with their work environment. Your business is only as good as the people working for it and if you want happy customers, be a great employer.

Dr. Maddahi is a client and a friend of mine. I had developed an internet marketing strategy for him and had been running it for some months. I was in Beverly Hills meeting with him and I decided to ask him about a chipped tooth that I hadn’t done anything with.

30 minutes later…

No pain and a fixed tooth.

Being a Beverly Hills cosmetic dentist requires an elite precision as a dentist and Dr. Kourosh Maddahi has that.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

Ahh yes, the hot glazed doughnuts produced by the people at Krispy Kreme. Customers started lining the streets in 1937 to get their hands on the fresh baked sugar rounds when they could make their purchase through a hole in the wall of founder Vernon Rudolph’s bakery. Makes one wonder how a company in business for 70 years with a renowned product and dedicated customers that once lined the streets, fell from grace.

Aside from avoiding the greed laden financial scandal, could Krispy Kreme have taken a different path over the past 20 years? The answer is yes. Lets start with “why ruin a good thing?”. In their first 20 years of operation, Krispy Kreme was a giant in the doughnut world of the Southeastern United States. They were a thriving business with their first chain stores and they had standardized their doughnut mix and necessary machinery to produce the same quality and consistency of product through out each store. They probably weren’t making millions, but they had that “only in the South” flare and people would travel far and wide just to get their hands on the fresh hot glazed doughnuts. Krispy Kreme doughnuts were unique and word of mouth kept the doughnuts flowing out of the stores and, even today, word of mouth is the most effective marketing available.

By the year 2000 Krispy Kreme was not only all over the east and west coasts, they were international. Expansion in the 90’s was insane. And it didn’t stop, by 2004 Krispy Kreme not only had 429 factory stores cranking out hot glazed treats, but they had them on the shelves in 20000 grocery and convenience stores. Why travel to get the doughnuts from the factory store when you can easily pick them up while shopping for groceries or getting gas? What was once a high-end doughnut store chain, with a so fresh their still hot product, was now everywhere-only often not as fresh and generally not hot. They lost their long line of customers. They made their own factory stores obsolete. Had they stayed small and avoided the grocers and 7-11s, they may have saved their brand value. Coincidentally, it was at this same time that Krispy Kreme stocks started to fall and the company began experiencing “unexplained” profit losses.

Expansion is good, but it needs limits. Look at In&Out. It’s a California and Nevada only burger chain, but people love their stuff. They have high quality food for being a burger joint. They have had many offers to go national, but have opted not because they chose to avoid over-saturating, the way many companies do-which often leads to failure. Brilliance…

Keeping up with the times is a marketing must if you want to remain successful in our ever-changing world. Krispy Kreme’s Hot Glazed Doughnuts are far from a healthy snack. Very few humans missed the health revolution with the low-carb diets and movement away from fried and processed foods. People are eating better and it may be time to get creative and market some new products that fall in line with this trend. There was the whole-wheat doughnut and talk of the not-yet-seen sugar free variety, but there is plenty of room for providing a healthier alternative without losing the sugar-glaze that attracts thousands. On the same note, coming up with other non-doughnut products like fresh squeezed juices, organic milks and getting a consistent coffee throughout the stores could add a larger customer base. Donuts aren’t the biggest seller at competing businesses like Dunkin Donuts. People frequent these locals for the coffee, bagels and muffins. Not just for some sugar-glaze or jelly filling.

The Krispy Kreme brand is far from dead, but a different marketing strategy 20 years ago may have saved them from the struggles they are having today. They started in 1937 with a brilliant strategy of producing a superior product and promoting it very well, but they limited their success with over-saturation and a limited product line during changing times. It may be time to bring the fresh hot glaze back to it’s roots and let it start growing again.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

With the spread of broadband internet access in the home, although there are still the very rural that live perpetually in the world of dial-up, accessing video on a personal computer keeps getting easier. It is this sprouting accessibility that contributes to the growth of popular video sites. Millions have heard of them, have seen and submitted video to them and watch video daily.

As connections and the computers they are allied with get faster, video sites must keep up with the times and meet the speed of their visitors. The large video sharing sites, like YouTube, are already testing a player that detects your connection speed to serve up higher quality video. Optional, of course, but who wouldn’t want the higher quality and where does that leave the timeless “camera phone” videos or “first time holding a camera” videos? And if video marketing was on your list of online marketing campaign strategies-what level of quality do you need?

The content of your video is extremely important, but is content more important than quality? It’s a balancing act. They need to walk hand in hand. It is vital to have effective content that intrigues the audience. Without excellent content, no matter how good the quality, your video will stink and sink right out of existence. However, by combining high quality with brilliant content you’re destined to have greater success than the lesser quality video.

Do you need studio quality stuff? No, but a broadcast filled with extraneous noise is just annoying. The people coughing in the background. The shaking and clumsy camera hand. The dog barking off in the distance. Get that stuff out of there. Don’t be mistaken; unedited video has massive value for keeping it real. But it is better to invest your time in producing high quality videos for a lasting high quality impression.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

Your META title is what will appear in search results. It is literally the first thing searchers will see about your website. Spend some time on your titles. Brainstorm for the right words to describe your site and use different titles for each page that reflect the true nature of what each page is about. Just like pay per click ads-no clicks means no conversions. Titles must grab attention, create curiosity and evoke emotion. A clean, well-worded title will immediately portray a professional image.

When using keywords in the title, it is best to not to overdue it. Select a pertinent keyword to your page and form a quality title around the selected keyword. Search engines often highlight these terms in the search results when a user has performed a query. This will help to generate greater visibility and a higher click through rate.

General rules to remember:

• Keep an eye on the length-65 to 70 characters including spacing. Titles that are longer than this often appear unfinished in search results.

• Keeping your main keyword near the beginning of your title indicates the value of your site for this information. Using multiple keywords or repetitive keywords can do damage to your ranking and may get you blacklisted.

• Readability and emotional impact. A compelling title tag will pull in more visits from search results.

Proper time and use of your titles will generate better keyword driven search engine traffic and initiate interest in your site. Don’t just think about optimization and keyword usage. Think about the user experience. Your title is your first impression. Make it a positive one and write your title for the user-and not just for the search engines.

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98

Granola. Lightly crunchy nuggets. Cranberries. Almonds. A touch of vanilla flavor. Sounds delicious. What is even more appetizing is the refreshing video campaign used by Post to introduce the new “abundant combination of tastes and textures” of their Trail Mix Crunch Cereal.

It’s the simplicity of the advertisement that makes it so appealing. Free from the obscure pitches of so many other cereals. They don’t boast about the power of the whole grains or the number of calories. Yet this commercial effectively leaves watchers wanting to start their day with trail mix for breakfast and fuel their own spirit for adventure.

Of course, there is the added humor of the extremely talented hound that delivers breakfast in bed (and up a lot of steps) with the sole purpose of motivating his owner to get his day started so the furry friend can steal his spot under the sheets. Obviously Post understands that at every point that a customer interacts with a company, brand communication takes place and making certain your campaign leaves customers feeling good means more customer’s starting their day with Trail Mix Crunch.

Now if they could only give you the delivery dog with your first purchase…

Rafferty Pendery
CEO Studio98