• it takes time to become an authority
• it takes time to do link building for a large set of keywords
• it takes time before Yahoo! Will give us the appropriate information we need
• it takes time before a link is paying off
• it takes time to write good content that is link bait worthy
• it takes time to build a good network
• it takes time to do everything…manually

It takes time to become an authority

When we take a look at the real deal we see that big authorities find it more easy to earn links than sites that are less known. Authorities are more likely to be mentioned when someone has to pick a name in a specific segment. For example; when someone wants to name a bookstore they are more likely to mention Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc instead of the corner shop running a website.

Authorities also have the advantage to have a good network of followers. An authority posting a research on a specific topic is taken more seriously than a smaller competitor who would have published the same research. These authorities also find it easier to get regional or even global press, often resulting in a link building snowball.

Authority websites usually generate more traffic. The appealing content will be noticed by more people and thus receiving a good inbound link will be more likely to happen. This is something I noticed when I wrote some articles on B2B SEO. The posts that were published as guest posts on authority blogs like Yoast.com received a lot of inbound links, while the one published on Netters (in Dutch) only received a few. Relatively speaking the number of inbound links compared to traffic are the same but the net result is a lot higher on authority blogs.

It takes time to do link building for a large set of keywords

A good link to your website will increase the rankings on all your keywords because your domain is becoming stronger. However in a competitive market you won’t get stunning results with just a few extra links. We all know that good deep links with the right anchor text can really benefit your rankings on your top keywords. I estimate that a website needs about 8 focus keywords (of course this depends per site). This means you will have to do link building for all those 8 keywords phrases.

Branded links

One way to achieve good branding results is to use your business title in anchor texts. You can use a wide variation of keyword combinations including your business title. An example for Onetomarket would be that instead of just using `Onetomarket` as the anchor text it would be wise to use `Onetomarket online marketing`.

Do not ask for links, write your own articles and submit them!

A different way to achieve good quality links with the right anchor text is to write your own articles and submit these to informative websites, blogs, or online magazines in your area of expertise. Most of the times you are allowed to use your own links! Be sure to check in advance if the website that is willing to publish your article is using `nofollow` links. If appropriate you can also use press releases in the same way, but often these don’t include links.

Keyword focused link building always takes time

When you are focusing on 8 keywords and you need about 5 links each, you’ll have to find a numerous amount of websites to help you with your link building. It is important to use every available opportunity (of good quality!). That’s why it is important to invest in your relationships with website owners or PR contacts. Make a phone call instead of resending that email if you feel you are being ignored.

Some articles worth reading on this subject are:

Getting the anchor text you want and Using KW research to diversify link profiles

It takes time before Yahoo! Will give us the appropriate information we need

Yahoo! Isn’t always that fast with indexing new links. It could take weeks before Yahoo! Will show those inbounds links, and in some unfortunate cases, never – while they are there. A good way to check is to see if Yahoo! has indexed the specific page.
As this is slowing down the monitoring of your link building it is wise to use different tools as well. Tools to use for example are Mint to see what new link is providing you new traffic. Another tool you can’t miss of course is the Google Webmaster Central.

Yahoo! and 301’s

Aside, Yahoo has the nasty habit to count 301 redirects as backlinks. I’m wondering if Yahoo will ever recognize a 301 as a 301. It surely will take some time before we will see this happen and the garbage being cleaned out of the results.

It takes time before a link is paying off

It is a known fact that old websites with old links rank easily. According to Google this old domain has earned its stripes and thus deserving a higher ranking. It is not just domain age that counts, also the period the old links already exist. Domains that have been parked for years haven’t increased in value a lot over time.

Unfortunately, ‘getting old’ takes a lot of time. Two years is not old. However a website dating back from the nineties with some good links can rank top 10 with little text on the most competitive keywords. Can’t wait that long? Buy a whole website!

Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine does not seem to be updated or rarely as of February 2008. This means that new domains have age background according to tools that use the Internet archive as their source of information. Note that it is possible that information is being updated, but is only available to some people.

It takes time to write good content that is link bait worthy

I’ve got a strong feeling that link bait nowadays is the magic word for everything and everyone that needs a bit of link building.
Its true, link bait is offering good opportunities to get you a few nice links, but make sure your content stands out of the crowd.
Some background information:

gathering link bait (in Dutch)

differences between link bait and link building (also in Dutch).

The same counts for link bait as mentioned before; if you reach the authority websites first, your project is much likely to succeed.

Cloning behaviour

Lists are always good. But everyone knows that. The Internet is flooded with lists on top 10s, 20s, 30s, 101s. Some are of high quality. Many of them are the result of poorly copy/paste behaviour.

But what makes it attractive to link to such a list? With each new version the list just has to be more complete!

Work half done right. The One Million Dollar Homepage was a good idea and worth linking to (43000 inbound links). But clones of this idea like The Most Expensive Domainname in the World aren’t worth more than a nofollow link.

SO what is good link bait??

Good link bait derives from your Unique Selling Points. Do you have the credibility to bring thorough research? Do so! Are you known as an informal, spontaneous club of people? Cover some gossip! Are you quick, fast and a real sponge? Earn those scoops and benefit from the momentum!

It takes time to build a good network

By building a network I don’t mean building a good linknetwork. Invest in useful contacts and bond with them so you’ll have a good audience who are more likely to spread the word or happily offer their help to reach your set of goals. Sometimes its plainly simple.

1. a woman is more likely to share.
2. someone who is leaving happy or funny comments are more likely to share than people who are just ‘consuming’
3. someone who sends presents now and then is more likely to share than someone that is `just being nice`.

Identify top decision makers in your segment

Invest in site owner relationships for your segment. Take a look at the top 50 of your most important keywords and interact. Give them some food for thought or even real food and invite them for dinner! You’ll soon notice that getting those links will be a lot more easier for you.

Wiep has a nice tip about this on his blog:

Set up a campaign in Google AdWords’ content network, to determine which (relevant) websites generate traffic and conversions. Contact those websites directly and try to get a link.

Authority, authority, authority

If your brand is well known it will be more easy to get things done. Make sure your brand is part of your link building as this will help you in the future.

It takes time to do everything…manually

Lot of the things that have to be done manually take time, lots of time. Keyword reviews, identifying good ranking websites. Analysing and building profiles of competitors, etc. But also engaging in link building. Spreading press releases, optimizing link profiles, cleaning out paid links and things as such.

Another thing that will take a lot of time is changing an organization. Once engaged in link building they will need to ‘think’ link building. Making it clear that this is important with all players involved takes time and lots of patience.

7 reasons why link building needs patience is a post from: Onetomarket

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With better integration of our blog and knowledge base you’re now able to keep track of our news, ideas and tactics.

Enjoy!

New website live! is a post from: Onetomarket

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Web analytics provides the means to measure, analyze and optimize these metrics.

This process is very important, because KPIs are the absolutely essential metrics your web analytics tool should be able to report. Determining them is a great help when it comes to choosing a vendor. Once the tool is chosen, the next step is a correct implementation to ensure quality data and correct tagging of all the pages and campaigns. At Onetomarket, we work with different tools every day. We can help you both with the choice and implementation.

Key Performance Indicators guide your use of your analytics tool where you can start segmenting the data by campaigns, content and visitors. How do people from PPC campaigns behave on the site versus Organic visitors? Where do people break off their purchase process? Which channel is best to achieve a particular KPI and goal?

Find out which campaigns really contribute to the performance of your online marketing strategy. How effective are they? What works, and what doesn’t? Web analytics is not about measuring traffic, but about generating true value by measuring KPIs and optimizing for business objectives.

Key Takeaways

• KPIs give you an indication of your progress.
• Web analytics provides the means to measure, analyze and optimize metrics.
• Find out which campaigns really contribute to the performance of your online marketing strategy.

So, how can we help you?

Maybe this sounds familiar to you, but if it does not – you are not alone! According to recent research by E-consultancy and Lynchpin “less than 18% of organizations have an internal strategy that ties data collection and analysis to business objectives.” Do you need to get Analytics on the right track, or are you just getting started and do you want to avoid all the pitfalls? We can help you! We do vendor selection, goals and KPI formulation, implementation, training and conversion optimization.

To get more information about web analytics and our services fill out the form below, or sign up to our newsletter!

Web Analytics is a post from: Onetomarket

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The word strategy originates from ancient Greece and refers to the commander which sets out objectives and tactics on the battlefield. Strategy is analogous to that commander; it assesses resources, sets the objectives, decides where to compete, and with what means. Determining your objectives is a critical step for successful optimization.

Strategy guides the choice of online goals, and goals determine the choice of KPIs. Web analytics can then be used to measure, monitor and optimize those metrics that affect the bottom line. The KPIs provide a framework for the analysis of your online marketing efforts. It pin-points areas for improvement and generates new ideas.

As Lewis Caroll said; “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”. Strategy ultimately decides which metrics drive value for your company. Web analytics provides the means to measure, analyze and optimize them.

Key Takeaways

• Strategy helps your company to achieve its goals
• Strategy helps you determine your KPIs
• Online marketing requires a strategic approach

So, how can we help you?

Through our years of experience in working with online marketing campaigns we have learned how strategy determines the success of a campaign. We know what KPIs matter to your business. We can help you analyze the metrics that matter to your business and make the right decisions based on this analysis.

Get in touch with one of our experts now and we can help you with determining your online strategy and align it with your overall business strategy.

Strategy is a post from: Onetomarket

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• Search Marketing
• Online Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• E-mail Marketing

And guess what? We offer all these services!

What is the best way to Reach my Audience?

Chances are that no canned answer would perfectly match that question. The truth is that whether you are in a lead generation business or e-commerce, the ways to reach your audience will vary. The competitiveness of your industry will also be a large, deciding factor in determining the right strategy for your company.

Therefore, the best option would come after analyzing your target (demographics), your sector (marketing intelligence) and your own resources, to choose the most suitable pick within all the available tactics. But:

How to implement them? What technology is required? And how can I see results?

Are you struggling with these questions? Don’t worry, our consultants have years of experience in working in an online environment. Get in touch now and we’ll help you to find the right way to reach your (potential) customer.

Are you still not sure? Read Testimonials of some of our current clients!

Reach is a post from: Onetomarket

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Analytics

Most companies start the analysis with the implementation of a web analytics tool, leaving the overall goal an afterthought. This leads to so called report surfing, where the user wanders aimlessly through the data. Although web analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Yahoo! Webanalytics offer sophisticated reporting and numerous ways of segmentation, they will never tell you what information is vital for your success. Business objectives and key performance indicators must be set by humans to pinpoint critical areas of performance and guide your analysis.

Insights do not appear in your reports simply by segmentation. Analysis is a task that must be performed by people. Before you select a tool, it is imperative you know exactly what to look for. Look for information that really impacts your performance, information that lets you optimize your results.

Key Performance Indicators

These bits of information are known as Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs.

KPIs give you an indication of your progress towards your objectives, and are associated with processes you control. They are key elements on your Dashboards, and can be simply described as: “the most important metrics from my web analytics tool”. They are those metrics that have a direct impact on the bottom line.

A business objective could be an x amount of turnover, and a KPI is a metric which you can influence to reach that goal. Take conversion rate, an important KPI for any e-commerce business. It can be controlled by selecting the right keywords in your campaigns, or by performing Conversion optimization on your site.

Strategy

Just as KPIs are determined by your tactical objectives, objectives are determined by your strategy. A quote from Sun Tzu’s Art of War applies here:

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”.

This quote stresses the need to give thought to the direction of your business, where a long-term plan should guide your current actions.

Key Takeaways

• Marketing Intelligence is what you need to improve your business performance
• Defining KPIs to determine the results of your marketing effort is important
• Setting KPIs is a human effort and not something that your tool does

So, what can we do for you?

Strategy ultimately decides which metrics drive value for your company. Web analytics provides the means to measure, analyze and optimize them. Analysis without objectives is pointless, and objectives that don’t support a strategy will never bring you long-term success.

We can help you determine the right KPIs and align them with your overall business strategy. We can also help you select the right web analytics package and make sure you get maximum value from your investment.

Contact us now and get your analysis and optimization on the right track!

Analyze & Optimize is a post from: Onetomarket

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