A Step-By-Step Website SEO Audit Guide

At some point SEOs need to audit a site to find out what is going wrong and what needs to be fixed. There might be a number of things preventing a website from reaching its full potential but finding those problems can be difficult. The outline below will help educate you and show you what you should be looking at and how to fix it.

If you are performing SEO on behalf of clients, especially new clients, you need to have their sites thoroughly examined for technical issues. Whether a site has crawling issues, indexing problems, or other issues that are inhibiting the site’s ability to rank, this process will find it.

It should be used when new clients sign on but could also be used as a sales tool. Free site audits can be compelling for showing your leads what is wrong with their sites, and shows them the route you would take to deal with those issues.

Most websites that you come across are going to have something wrong with them. Having a process in place to efficiently identify these issues is essential to maintaining site health and rankings.

Let’s get started.

Screaming Frog Spider

Your first task is to use a tool called Screaming Frog. It is a free application that can be used to crawl sites. When the client’s site has been crawled, you can export the data to excel and analyze it. The tool looks at every page of the site and reports back on the following:

• Duplicate Pages – Identifies any pages where the content is the same or similar to another page on the web.
• Errors – Reports any client or server issues, such as 404 pages.
• External Links – Shows all of the sites that you link out to.
• Title Tags – Shows any missing, duplicate, short or long titles.
• Description Tags- Shows any missing, duplicate, short or long descriptions.
• URL Issues – Shows URLs with upper cases, dynamic URLs, URLs that are too long or have underscores.
• Redirects – Shows any permanent or temporary redirects.
• Headings – Shows information on any h1, h2 or h3 tags used on the site.
• Meta Robots – Lets you know what you are allowing to be indexed, and what you aren’t.
• Anchor Text – Identifies the anchor text you are using for any images or web pages.
• Internal Links – Shows where you are linking to other pages on the same domain.
• Follow & Nofollow – Shows you which links are follow links and which are nofollow. This can be useful to quickly find links that need the nofollow tag added to them, which will minimize link juice being passed to other sites.
• Bot Crawling – Crawls the site as the Google, Bing or Yahoo bot, allowing you to see what the search engines see.
• Images – Gives you information on the site images, the alt tags used, and where alt tags are missing.
• Page Depth Level – Finds how many levels deep the search engines have to crawl to find all your content.
• File Size – With smaller file sizes, your website will load faster. Identifies spots where you need to make files smaller.

When the site has been crawled, which will take a few minutes; you can export the data and refer back to it as needed.

Google Webmaster Tools and Analytics

Make sure the site is registered on Webmaster tools and in Google analytics, and that you can access them both.

Through Webmaster tools, you can see any crawl issues that Google is encountering, the general health of the site, and loads more. It is the easiest way to discover any problems with your site.

Webmaster tools needs to be checked once a month for all clients at a bare minimum, to ensure that any problems that crop up are dealt with quickly.

Keyword Analysis

The information on title tags and description tags that you acquired from the Screaming Frog tool can be used to understand what the site is currently trying to rank for.

You can then combine that information with Google analytics to see if the site is actually getting traffic for the keywords you are targeting. You can then decide where keywords need to be changed and target keywords that will bring more quality, relevant traffic to the site.

URLs

The Screaming Frog report will also give you information on the URLs that are used across the site. Ideally, the URLs need to obey the following rules:

• Must be static – Static URLs contain only numbers, letters and dashes. For some reason, search engines struggle to understand URLs if they contain anything other than this.
• Easy to remember – Make sure all URLs are user-friendly. Simpler URLs are ideal.
• Under 100 characters – As a rule of thumb, make sure URLs aren’t longer than 100 characters.

If any of the URLs fail to meet these criteria, you may want to consider changing them. If you do, make sure you redirect the old URL to the new one to maintain any of the link juice flowing to that URL.

Title Tags

The data from the Screaming Frog tool will give you information on all of the title tags used across the site. Title tags are probably the single most important place to insert your target keywords. Make sure all of the title tags follow these guidelines:

• Must be 50-70 characters in length.
• Must be unique.
• If possible, and if it makes sense, use the target keyword for that page twice.
• Use the name of the city for the business if it makes sense to do so.

Description Tags

Descriptions don’t actually help with rankings, but they do substantially alter your click-through rates. Description tags need to be compelling, and give good reason for searchers to want to click through and visit the site. Follow these guidelines:

• Make sure that every description is unique and relevant to that page.
• Include a call to action.
• No more than 160 characters in length, no less than 51. But ideally, the longer they are the better.
• Use the target keyword for that page where appropriate. It will appear bolded in the search results which will draw searchers’ eyes to your listing and improve click-through rate as a result.
• Use the name of the city for the business, if appropriate.

Headings

H1, H2 and H3 tags need to contain the target keywords for that page because they help a lot with ranking. Follow these guidelines:

• Search engines generally feel that keywords that are bigger in size are more important and give them more authority as a result. Therefore, it is important to make the headings big, prominent and ideally the first thing that people see on the page.
• They should only contain text – no images or logos.
• Use a H1 tag at the top of the page and break up paragraphs of text with h2 or h3 tags. They work well from a usability standpoint and help with rankings.

Content

You need to make sure there is enough content across the pages on the site. You can’t use any of the tools to help you with this, but it should be easy enough to just scan the site and identify where more content needs to be added.

Each page should have a minimum of 300 words of content. If any of the pages don’t, add some more. But don’t add content for the sake of adding it; only add useful, engaging content.

It is more important to fulfill the needs of your actual visitors rather than that of the search engines. Large chunks of spammy, unnecessary content will just ruin the credibility of the entire site.

Make sure content is split up into bite size chunks as testing has shown that visitors skip over content if it is laid out in one massive paragraph.

Internal Linking

If you link to inner pages of the site where appropriate, search engines find it much easier to crawl the entire site. You can refer to both the Screaming Frog data and Webmaster tools for information on internal linking.

Where you can, ensure you don’t have more than 100 links on any one page, and around 2 or 3 internal links.

Using anchor text that is too rich with your target keywords can actually have a negative effect on rankings so only use target keywords around 10%-30% of the time when linking internally. Use click here’s or similar text links instead.

Image Text

Every image must have an alt tag. This is for the benefit of the search engines and visually impaired users. The alt tag needs to describe the image and contain a keyword if that keyword is relevant to the image. Alt tags do have a slight impact on rankings so try and get the keyword in where possible.

Nofollow

If one page links to another, and Google sees the linked to page as relevant, some of the link juice is passed through. When the nofollow tag is used, Google will then pass 50%-100% less link juice through.

Use the nofollow tag on sitewide external links, blog comments, and anywhere else where you don’t want to lose link juice.

Excluding Pages

Search engines don’t like it when you have loads of pages with barely any content on them. Where you can’t add more content, you may wish to stop that page from being indexed altogether.

Simply addto any pages that you don’t want to be indexed.

Sitemap

Sitemaps make it easier for search engines to index all of the pages on a site. Go here to get a sitemap created, and then submit it to Webmaster tools. It will tell you how many submitted URLs are actually getting indexed.

Make sure you check Webmaster Tools regularly to ensure the sitemap is still working as it should.

Redirects

There are two types of redirects: a 301 redirect (permanent), and a 302 redirect (temporary). 302 redirects are a dead end for SEO, and don’t pass any link juice.

Unless the reason for a redirect is truly a temporary solution, such as a timed promotion, a 301 redirect should be used.

Take a look through the data from the Screaming Frog tool and make sure deleted pages or URLs that have changed are using a 301 redirect.

Duplicate Content

The search engines really don’t like duplicate content. Following the Panda update to Google’s algorithm, sites with duplicate content have been identified and penalized.

There are 3 main ways to deal with duplicate content:

• Rewrite the content to make it unique.
• Use URL redirects.
• Use a rel canonical tag to specify the original page to the search engines. You can use this tag within the head section of the page to show the canonical web page:

Broken Links

If a spider comes across a broken link when crawling a site, it will stop crawling and immediately leave the site. If there are too many broken links on a site, it will be seen as providing a bad user experience, and rankings will suffer as a result.

You should use Webmaster Tools to check for broken links and you can also use the Xenu link sleuth tool. When you find broken links, use a 301 redirect.

Page Load Speed

Google recommends that sites load in 1.4 seconds or less. Any longer and rankings are not going to be as good as they could be.

Use Pingdom’s speed tool to test the speed of the site and then use the pagespeed tool from Google, to identify solutions. If the load time is longer than 1.4 seconds, there are a number of actions you can take.

• Browser caching
• CSS sprites for images
• Reduce image file size
• Combine CSS or javascript into fewer files
• Install the W3 total cache plugin, if the site is using WordPress.

Incoming Links

Use Open Site Explorer to analyze inbound links. You will get a good idea of the type of link building activity that has been performed on the site in the past.

Thoroughly look through the link profiles and search for spammy or low quality links. It may be that certain links are having a negative effect on the site’s ability to rank, and you may need to use the disavow tool to discount certain links.

Domain Authority

Use SEO moz’s domain authority rank, which can be found in Open Site Explorer, to judge the overall authority of the site.

It ranks the site from 0-100, and is currently the best way of working out how much authority the site has, which is going to seriously effect its ability to rank.

Compare the domain authority to that of competitors. If the site’s authority doesn’t stack up well against theirs, you’ll want to avoid targeting the same keywords as them.

As a rule of thumb, if the domain authority is lower than 30, you’ll want to adjust the competitiveness of the keywords that you target.

Once you build a site’s domain authority to a decent level, ideally above 40, you can begin to target more competitive keywords.

Find Social Media Mentions

Social signals definitely have an impact on rankings, and it is
important to assess the number of mentions the site has. Again,
you can find this data within Open Site Explorer.

There are two simple ways to modify a site to increase the chances of acquiring social signals.

• Integrate sharing buttons clearly across the site and on any blog posts.
• Create content that is worthy of sharing, and reach out to people to ask for feedback.

That’s it. Hopefully you learned a few things about auditing a site. Don’t forget to bookmark so that you can come back as and when you need to. If you have any comments, concerns, or queries, leave them below and I’ll get back to you.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/08/14/a-step-by-step-website-seo-audit-guide/

Video SEO Has Landed: Google Trends Tracks YouTube

Google Trends, the stellar tool that reveals hot topic keyword searches to crafty SEO experts, has officially launched a game changer: users can now track any and all searches on YouTube. Why is this so significant?
YouTube has arguably been the second largest search engine for many years now, behind mighty Google but often way ahead of Yahoo and Bing. Now that YouTube has announced their support from Google Trends, marketers and curious netizens can now learn all they ever wanted to know about YouTube’s user searches. This gives experts a new bird’s eye view into the search habits of users on the mega-site, which to video content creators and marketers is a godsend.

How to Use the New Feature

If you haven’t yet used Google Trends, you’re missing out. It’s one of Google’s most intuitive and useful tools. To access the new YouTube data, launch the site, plot a search and find the “limit to” option on the left hand side. Select “YouTube” and feast on the results. You can choose to examine trends across all of Google and YouTube, or narrow your research strictly to YouTube only. You can also segment by region or category.
SEO professionals use Google Trends regularly to help chart the ideal keywords for their target businesses. They can test to see how prevalent currently used search terms are, and see up-to-the-minute results for other potential searches as well, to guarantee their content is well-matched with the exact things users are after. Trends is a fantastic way to get a legitimate feel for what people are searching for, and to determine how best to optimize your own sites for top Google rankings. Now that video data is included, Trends has become a must-have tool for any and all content publishers.

Consequences of the Merger

Before YouTube searches were tracked by Google Trends, video publishers relied on educated guesses and limited research to help decide how to position their content. With the new content marriage, watch for YouTube creators to quickly ascertain how best to name their videos in order to reach the maximum number of avid watchers. Overall, this is good news for users, as it will encourage publishers to be a lot more polished and professional in naming and describing their content.
Now, publishers can actually search to see what people are looking for in relation to videos and create content focused around what’s hot. In the world of YouTube, most trends that reach maximum popularity do so through a serious of spikes, then begin to taper off. Close examination of recent data will help to reveal if current trends are still at their peak, or are starting to dissipate. These metrics will take a tremendous amount of guesswork out of the video marketing process.

Highlights of the YouTube Data

Google added YouTube trends that go as far back as 2008, so SEO folks can get a great grasp on the old and the new. Having access to historical performance trends makes the data even more useful, for obvious reasons.
Early trend results prove that assumptions about what’s hot and what’s not are anything but obvious. For example, given a list of cats, dogs and goats, which would you assume is currently seeing the most traction? If you guessed cats, the obvious internet darlings, you would be sadly incorrect. Goats are currently the cat’s meow – just look at this chart for proof (and visit this screaming goat video to see what started the madness to begin with.)
resource:http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/04/11/video-seo-has-landed-google-trends-tracks-youtube/

Savvy Social Marketing Tactics to Improve SEO

Every online marketing department, no matter how large or small, is now implementing various strategies for SEO and social marketing. The really smart ones, however, don’t ever forgot how integrated the two really are. Social marketing campaigns are all about the creative sharing of content, and great content can mean great SEO. By employing many of the current SEO trends in every social marketing campaign you create, you better your chances to make both efforts a smashing success.
So what aspects of SEO should be considered when executing smart and effective social marketing strategies? There are many savvy tactics, but at the heart of every one sits a personal strategy to connect with and truly engage your audience. Below are some invaluable and current methods to make your brand memorable to both your customers and search engines.

SEO – The Numbers Don’t Lie

A recent study presented by SearchEngineWatch shows just how critical it is that your business land on the first page of results for your keywords. The good news: if you’re smart about your tactics, you don’t have to pay for top placement. 85% of clicks land on organic links, as opposed to paid features, which means the majority of users gravitate to sites that used brains, not dollars, to get their attention. The more alarming news: 53% of those clicks hit the first organic listing. This means if you’re not on the first page, and darn near the top, you will likely be overlooked.

Make SEO a Multi-Pronged Approach

Most of us already incorporate SEO best practices into our website marketing strategies. But by making SEO a top-of-mind consideration in every marketing effort, you up your chances at a high ranking. Your business website, local directories, blogs, and social media profiles should all work hard to carry out your SEO goals. The more consistent they are in word choice, tone, style and engagement, the better.
Why? For starters, it’s a numbers game. The more quality content you have on the web that consistently and accurately reflects your brand, the better. Social media can arguably generate a vast majority of your content, so be consistent with your keywords in all your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn shares, and you’re well on your way.

Social Marketing and SEO – Create a Perfect Marriage

The first step in weaving SEO tactics into you social media is to ensure all your profiles are complete to the last detail. Create a vanity URL that best expresses your brand (and remember, with sites like Facebook, you only have one chance to lock this in – choose wisely.) Try and make all your URLs as consistent as possible too. Then, make sure the About sections and related areas have content that is readable, accurate, and full of your targeted keywords and style. If the social media partner allows it, don’t forget to backlink to your business’s site as well.
There is often a tendency for businesses to overlook these details, placing generic sentences that indicate there’s an assumption no one will ever read it. Here’s a tip: Even if few users ever will read this text (which may or may not be the case), search engines will. Make every opportunity to share information and content about your business matter.
Likewise, never leave the geographic details on social media sites blank either, especially if you service a physical area or group of areas. Customers will likely be searching for you in a given area, and these stats placed on various social sites make you that much easier to find.

If It’s Not Engaging, It’s Not Social

You already know you need quality, shareable content on your social media pages. The difference between something that earns a handful of Likes, however, and content that actually engages your customers means everything in online marketing. Your social content should not just aim to gain a few eyeballs, but to encourage viewers to keep coming back. Engagement, therefore, is far more valuable than just content that people read, “Like”, and leave. One-off Likes don’t create enviable conversion rates – engagement does. Engagement means asking questions your customers actually want to discuss, offering discounts or deals that they act on immediately, or supplying viral videos that incite users to watch and share, among others. Each of these social events also helps your SEO. The more people engage and share your content, the more search engines view that content as valuable. Much of great SEO is about establishing consistent authority, and social media is an obvious opportunity if you work to authentically engage the masses.
Of course, creating regular engagement with your brand requires you to regularly engage with your customer. It is absolutely imperative that you not only post content on a consistent basis, ideally similar times each day/week, but that you respond to your social fans in as close to real-time as is conceivable for your business. If someone actually takes the time to comment or ask something on a social page of yours, a speedy response is integral to keeping that customer engaged. And again, if people are reading, sharing and engaging with your content, search engines are noticing.

Consistency is Key

One core strategy to consider regarding the integration of your SEO and social campaigns revolves around tone and voice. If possible, it’s a very good idea to let one person become the voice and face for your brand, so that users can engage with an actual person, rather than a generic logo/ideal. People trust people more than they trust companies. It’s also easier for one person to stay mindful of keywords, content consistency, and release schedules than it is for a disjointed team.
Look at Google – they have no shortage of employees, but it’s Matt Cutts that often speaks front and center for the mega-business with regards to SEO. Although he gets plenty of slack, he does an outstanding job of maintaining a friendly and approachable image.
If you do have an online ambassador, make sure he or she not only understands your business inside and out, and can create a friendly and likeable persona, but that he/she can also handle the onslaught of negative commentary that is often unavoidable in a public space. As we all know, the internet can be a very cruel place, so your representative should stay positive in the face of some friendly (and not so friendly) feedback.

The Big Picture

Every piece of content and every last reply, tweet and post you create, should all share a common goal and message from your brand. How you engage with your audience is and always will be up to you – you know your customers best. Good marketing strategies consider every nuance of the customer, and now, those executions must bear in mind successful SEO strategies as well. The good news is, they are not mutually exclusive. People love quality, consistency and credibility, and so do search engines. By carefully monitoring the success of all your social campaigns in terms of traffic, audience engagement, and SEO rankings, you can create a multi-pronged strategy that improves each critical aspect. It’s the true definition of a win-win.
resource:http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/04/05/savvy-social-marketing-tactics-to-improve-seo/

The Google AdWords Landscape

 We tend to think of AdWords as the domain of PPC specialists, but it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Google’s SERP advertising has a huge impact on the position and effectiveness of organic results. So, I wanted to ask a simple question – what does the AdWords “landscape” actually look like in 2013? In other words, where are the ads, how many are there, what combinations occur in the “wild”, and how often do they show up? I’ll dive into some details below, but the answer looks something like this (click the image for a full-sized view)…

Embed this image:
<div style="width:604px;"><div> <a target="_blank" href="http://cdnext.seomoz.org/1362430343_3b2eff4e74ca876e4317a7557b0ececc.png"><img width="600" height="795" alt="Google AdWords Landscape Infographic" src="http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/upload/google-adwords-landscape-600.png" style="border: #cccccc 1px solid; padding: 1px;" /></a></div> <div style="text-align:right; font-size:11px; margin-right: 5px;"> Produced by <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-google-adwords-landscape-infographic">SEOmoz</a>. ©2013.</div> </div>

The Methodology

We collected data from 10,000 page-one Google SERPs via Google.com on a weekday during normal business hours. Personalization was turned off, and the crawler emulated a logged-out Chrome browser. We parsed the major ad blocks (which have consistent DOM markers) and the links within those blocks. Keywords and categories were pulled from AdWords’ keyword tools, with 500 keywords coming from each of 20 categories.

A Few Caveats

Naturally, keywords pulled from the AdWords’ research tools are more likely to have commercial intent than the “average” keyword (if such a thing exists), so these percentages may not be indicative of the entire world of search queries. We did run these numbers at other time periods and on other days, and the results were fairly consistent.
These statistics were computed by unique queries, not by query volume. The results seem to be very similar, though. For example, we found ads on 85.2% of the queries crawled – if we weight those queries by Google’s “global” volume, we get ad penetration of 84.5%. The correlation between the presence of ads and query volume was virtually non-existent (r=-0.018). The correlation between the presence of ads and Google’s competition metric was high (r=0.874). This is probably not surprising, since “competition” is essentially defined by how many advertisers are vying for any given query.

The Changing Landscape

This is only a snapshot of a rapidly changing picture. For example, paid shopping results are still relatively new, but we discovered them on almost 20% of the queries we crawled. Unlike the traditional AdWords blocks, paid shopping can appear in multiple positions and forms, including the larger, upper-right format previously reserved for Knowledge Graph.
Even traditional top ads are evolving, with ads showing extensions, expanded site-links, lead generation forms, etc.  Expect Google to experiment with new formats on the top and right, and to blend advertising into the Knowledge Graph area to increase CTR. This changing landscape will impact the efforts of people in both paid and organic search, so keep your eyes open, and don’t assume that this is something only the PPC team has to worry about.
Resource:www.seomoz.org/blog/the-google-adwords-landscape-infographic

What Factors Contribute To That Perfect Web Presence?

SEO Company India | SEO India
The perfect website is yet to be built, but what makes a good or a bad one? There are so many different features that can combine to make a great website but, if used incorrectly, the results will be less than satisfactory.
Of course, many features of what is considered to be good are purely an opinion based on appearance, graphics and ease of use. Tastes vary from person to person, so what one person finds appealing, another will find repellent. On the other hand, if we all liked the same thing, life would be very dull indeed. Don’t forget, appearance is only one facet of what makes a good website, although a visually pleasing site will always attract more attention than one that is not so pleasing.
There is one thing you should ask yourself before you even start building a website: what is its purpose? What do you want to gain from your website? Once you have answered these questions, you can set your objectives and decide hot to give your site’s visitors what they want. This is where you will need to think about the content. Remember to keep your content current and ensure it is pertinent to your business. There is no point in talking about shoe design if you sell dog food.
The appearance and color scheme are key to encouraging visitors to remain on the site. Apparently, there is a psychology to color and a good website designer can use and combine color to really make a statement about your business. A good designer will ensure the color and design are not too complex and that the design used reflects your business services or products.
One of the primary criteria for a good website is ease of use. It should be easy to navigate around the site and no more than four clicks should be made to go to a particular page. As a general rule, two clicks or less should take you to any page on the site. If the navigation is complicated, visitors will get frustrated and leave quickly.
The core structure is not seen but is the foundation and is crucial to creating a good website. The base programming and coding will build the foundations of your site and this needs to be done correctly for the site to work properly. A well constructed website should be accessible from all browsers and varying screen sizes and should work with different operating systems including those powering mobile devices. You may lose large numbers of potential customers if your website is not compatible with the most popular systems. The mobile market is increasing rapidly so if you are not already geared for it, you could be missing out in a big way.
Make sure your ISP has outstanding uptime and is capable of fast transfer speeds. Remember, people will not wait if your site does not load quickly – would you? Competition is fierce, so you really need to make the most of whatever advantage you can to stay ahead of your rivals.
resource:http://www.seo-news.com/what-factors-contribute-to-that-perfect-web-presence/

How to Advertise Online - 3 Steps to Posting a Great Online Classified Ad

Learning how to advertise online using online classified sites is actually not difficult. However, many people don't seem to get visitors to click through to their ads no matter how hard they try.
The truth is, knowing how to advertise online by posting online classified ads can bring great results when you follow a proven method of posting your ad.
And here are the 3 steps that have always helped me to post a killer ad.

Step 1 - Know What You Want to Advertise
It's ridiculous but true. There are people who want to learn how to advertise online, but they don't even know what they want to sell or offer once they know the ropes to posting ads on online classifieds.
Don't let that happen to you. If you really want your posted classified ads to do well, then you'll need to know what you want to advertise or offer first.
Think about it. If you don't know exactly what you want to offer or sell, you'll never even be able to write a proper ad to get customers to spend money to get your products or services, even if you get good click through rates.
So get this step right first before going on.

Step 2 - Put Yourself in Your Customer's Shoes
This step enables to you know the inner most needs of your customers, so that you'll be able to address their needs in your ad and attract them to take up your offer and service.
Do not rush this. That's part and parcel of learning how to advertise online. You'll need to know your customers in order to do that.
Take the time to really think about what you customers need, and jot that down. Then use those points to craft your ad.

Step 3 - Craft Your Ad With Simple English
Yes, it's time to craft your ad, and here's another thing you need to know to learn how to advertise online... use simple English.
One of the most major mistakes that people make when they post online ads is that they use bombastic language to word their ad, thinking that makes them sound important and professional enough to attract visitors.
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
It's true you need to sound professional, but that doesn't mean you need to use bombastic language.
Word your ad with simple English, and you'll be surprised that people will still take you up on your offer.
So if you have been having difficulties getting your online classified ads to convert, try the steps above. You'll be surprised by the improvement once you start using the steps above that teach you how to advertise online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6995559

QR Codes for Marketing

internet marketing
QR stands for "quick response". A QR code is a trackable 2D matrix barcode that can be read by camera equipped Smartphones with the use of a simple QR app reader which can be downloaded for free. The QR reader decodes the code and the mobile user is instantly sent to a website, landing page, video, or social networking page.
QR codes allow mobile users to interact with their environment 24/7. A QR code can be placed just about anywhere, from printed advertisements in newspapers, to yard signs, business cards, t-shirts, or point of sale displays, just to name a few.
QR codes were invented by a Toyota subsidiary in Japan as a tracking device for the car manufacturing industry. While they have been popular in Japan for several years they have finally made their way to the US where they are now becoming more familiar and more popular. Large as well as small businesses are beginning to use these codes to engage mobile users.
Today Smartphones are driving mobile use so using QR codes in your marketing plan is a smart idea. It offers businesses the opportunity to instantly connect with millions of mobile users. The code insures instant access to the marketing message of the business owner's choice. With these advanced barcodes a business can promote unique product features, allow customers to make online purchases quickly at any time of day or night, gather useful consumer data, strengthen b2c relationships, provide exclusive offers, or even notify consumers of time-sensitive information.
A QR code is easy to create. It can link back to any webpage you want it to by converting a standard URL into a square-shaped code. Once the code has been created the image file can be downloaded and attached to emails, Facebook profiles, or printed on just about anything.
Some considerations to make when creating a QR code include:

• The code needs to be big enough for a user to see it, at least 1" x 1" in size.
• The landing page of the code needs to be mobile-friendly so the user can read the site content.
• Preferred channels for reaching your target audience need to be researched.
• Code testing needs to be performed before launching a campaign or distributing the code.

QR codes are easy to create and easy to use, they are fun and different and offer extra lines of communication between customers and companies. With more Americans actively using their cell phones and more of those phones become Smartphones people will be interested in trying out this new internet marketing idea.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7008107

Back-Links On Your Website

SEO Company India

Over time you will see your back-links increase which is good SEO for your Website, but make sure you do not overdo this.
All the major Search Engines take great value in who links with you and who you link with, therefore they analyze the links quite closely.
Remember:-
Having a new one/ten page Website with 1,000 links on it is going to raise the red flag with Search Engines.
Having an old one/ten page Website with 1,000 links on it makes the Search Engines happy.
Having low ranking sites linking to your Website is going to make the Search Engines unhappy.
Having just high-ranking sites linking to your Website is going to raise a red flag.
Having a good general mix of ranking sites linked to your Website is going to make the search engines happy.
As you can see from the few examples I have mentioned, it is very important that you have websites of all ranking linked to your site.
Do not concentrate on just a single page/blog of your Website for links, try to spread them out over the entire site.
Because you are publishing something on the Internet, you are going to get comments from people about your content.
These comments fall into 2 categories, genuine and spam.
Installing a 'Captcha' plug-in will sort out the genuine and spam comments for you, this will allow you to only put the genuine comments on your website.
Any genuine comment is a 'Link' and will be welcomed, if the comment (link) has a business attached to it make sure it is the type of business your site wants to connect with.
Your visitors are going to see the comments (links) that show on your Website, so make sure that you do not publish any comments that you are not entirely happy with.
Some comments will be critical about your site but if they are constructive use them, no one wants to see comments praising your content all the time, so mix them up.
Remember the old saying that "Any publicity is good publicity" but if you have a doubt about a link then delete it.
Whenever I receive a link, I will always go and check the Website out (or where the link is from), this enables me to check that my links are displayed correctly and the Website is ok.
The comments (links) must always be up to-date, nothing looks worse than seeing old comments posted on a Website. You should look every week at your comments and getting rid of the oldest.
You will find that with a little experience, all the things I have mentioned above will only take a couple of minutes of your time. This is good housekeeping for your Website, and done once a week will keep everything up to-date.

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