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| DCS Webnews
Improve Your Search Engine Rankings |
 Dear Dan,
Hi, and welcome to the premier edition of DCS Webnews - the quarterly newsletter for subscribers and customers of DCS Websites. With each issue of DCS Webnews we will focus on one particular subject related to websites and/or the Internet. We'll include articles and information that we hope you will find interesting, informative and thought provoking.
In this issue we'll examine some of the techniques and practices used to improve search engine rankings. The featured article is a press release from 2006 that serves as a case study on the effectiveness of the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) process. I've also included information about WebLinks - a new Reciprocal Linking program offered by DCS, plus an article that illustrates some of the cheating techniques used by bad guys offerring reciprocal links. It serves as a good example of why you should only use someone you trust to manage your website.
In future issues we'll explore subjects such as online shopping carts, content management systems, blogs, live chat, and other subjects of general interest.
And so, I invite you to take a few moments out of your busy day to peruse this inaugural edition of DCS Webnews. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
Regards,
Dan Desroches
P.S. Since this is the first issue of DCS WebNews, I've sent it to most people in my contact list. If you would prefer not to receive future quarterly editions, please use the Safe Unsubscribe feature at the bottom of this email, and please forgive the intrusion. |
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SEO Effort Leads to Record Profits |
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(Reprinted from DCS press release May 25, 2006)
Your website can help your business increase revenues, even if you don't sell anything online. That's the moral of the story according to Dan Desroches, President of DCS Websites LLC. DCS, a website management firm based in Enfield, recently helped the Somers Day Spa & Salon realize record profits by performing a website marketing technique known as Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.
Looking for New Customers
According to Laura Jacewicz, Owner of the popular Day Spa, "Our business plan called for a major expansion of our facility, which meant that we needed to grow our customer base as well." She identified the Internet as one market segment that had the potential to attract many new customers to her business.
Desroches and Jacewicz discussed several alternatives, including web directories, pay-per-click programs, and various linking strategies. But analysis of website traffic showed that referrals from Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN were quite low and stagnant. That's when they decided to undertake the SEO process.
In theory, SEO is a simple concept that involves updating the text of a web page to include keywords that are important to the people viewing the webpage, and placing them in locations on the page that are considered valuable to the search engines. The SEO goal, of course, is to get your site ranked near the top of the search engine results for the selected keywords. But the trick is finding the right words, and placing them in the right locations.
In this case, the optimization effort took place over a period of three weeks, during the October/November timeframe - just in time for the holiday season. Almost immediately, traffic on the Day Spa's website began to climb. Tests showed that searches for the targeted keywords now listed the Somers Day Spa & Salon on the very first page on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Another look at the website traffic statistics showed that referrals from search engines in general rose by a factor of 7-to-1. Referrals from Google - the market share leader - were up by a factor of 8-to-1. While there were initial concerns that this was simply the strong seasonal spike of a thriving business, those concerns were erased when the first quarter statistics showed referral levels that continued to climb.
Of course, search engine referrals are only part of the website traffic picture. Looking at the overall traffic, and adjusting for the seasonal activity, the total number of visits increased by an impressive 170% - that's nearly triple the number of visitors. Even when you factor in the pre-SEO trend, traffic is up better than 2-to-1. More importantly, the new levels have been sustained over the course of several months.
But what impact has all this new traffic had on the business itself? "Well," says Ms. Jacewicz, "each month since November, we've exceeded the previous year sales by more than a 2-to-1 ratio. While other factors may have contributed to the gain, there's no doubt in my mind that the increased traffic on our website played a major role."
Indeed, holiday sales figures for the Day Spa showed an overall sales increase of 123%, while sales of gift certificates, a popular holiday item, increased 143%.
But according to Mr. Desroches, "The most impressive thing is that nothing is actually sold on the website itself." In order to purchase anything from the Day Spa, users must actually visit the facility, or place a telephone call. "But that's likely to change soon, since we're currently discussing a redesign of the site, including an online shopping feature.
"Website marketing is a notion that escapes many small business owners" he adds. "There's a popular misconception that 'If you build it - they will come'. But it's simply not reality. Your website is like another door to your business. If you want customers to enter through that door, you have to let them know where it's located."
Through the effective use of website marketing techniques, your website can help your business increase sales, even if you don't sell anything online.
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DCS Offers Reciprocal Linking Program to Customers 
by Dan Desroches
As many of you have heard me say over the past few years, one of the most important factors in attaining prominent search engine rankings is the number (and quality) of inbound links to your website. I've talked, some would say endlessly, about the need to add your website to Internet Directories, and about contacting other websites in order to establish reciprocal linking agreements with them.
Well, I'm happy to say that help is on the way for all DCS clients who would like to improve their positioning on search engine results pages. DCS Websites is proud to announce the startup of WebLinks - a reciprocal linking program exclusively for DCS clients.
The way the program works is quite simple really. Each client who subscribes receives a new web page that contains links to all the other subscriber websites. Each subscriber can choose their own link text, as well as which websites to "feature" on their page, and which websites to "exclude" from their page.
The WebLinks program is set to go live on August 1, and will initially include links to approximately thirty (30) websites. This means that subscribers will immediately gain 30 new inbound links to their website. Since many DCS client sites have achieved a Google page rank of 3 or higher, it is expected that the impact to subscriber rankings will be significant.
All current DCS hosting clients will receive a complimentary 60-day subscription to WebLinks. Beginning on October 1, a WebLinks subscription will cost just $8.00 per month for DCS hosting clients, and $12.00 per month for non-hosting clients. All new DCS clients will receive a free 30-day subscription to WebLinks upon publication of their website, so the number of inbound links should continue to grow indefinitely.
DCS will serve as the "LinkMaster" of the WebLinks program. This will help to ensure that all links remain reciprocal, and that the database of subscribers, featured sites, and exclusions is properly maintained. Furthermore, since the program is offered exclusively to DCS clients, you can rest assured that only reputable websites will be linking to you.
So keep an eye on your Inbox for further information about WebLinks, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me an email. |
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Beware of Fake Reciprocal Links
 by Michael Crocker
As any knowledgeable internet marketer knows, incoming links are a very important part of your site promotion strategy. Be aware, however, that just as spammers have proliferated in an attempt to manipulate the search engines, unethical "link partners" are popping up all over the web to take advantage of unsuspecting webmasters and their eagerness to acquire incoming links at all costs.
It starts innocently enough: you are contacted by a webmaster for a site that wants to trade links with you. You do your due diligence and check the site out, and everything seems to be in order. You agree to place a link on your site in exchange for a link back. One fairly common scam occurs when the requesting webmaster links back to your site, but only long enough to get your link. At some point in the future, the webmaster removes your link without notifying you, and suddenly your link exchange has become a one-way link in his favor. Such unethical tactics require you to either periodically perform a time-consuming audit of your link partners or utilize one of the many automated software packages or online services that specialize in keeping tabs on such things.
Recently, however, I was almost victimized by a more devious strategy. I received a link exchange request from the webmaster of a site that seemed of good quality and related to my internet marketing site. I replied that I would be glad to post a link back to him as soon as my link was up on his end. Within a few hours I received a confirmation email notifying me that my link was ready. I clicked on the URL, and, sure enough, there was my link. It wasn't until I hovered my mouse over the link that I discovered that the link actually linked back to his site, not mine. In every other way, the link looked just like the html code I had provided him. The only way to know it was different was to look at the source code itself.
In short, when manually verifying the presence of a link on another site, be sure to look at the source code, not just the displayed text. It's too easy to fake a link to your site.
About the Author
Michael Crocker is the CEO of Aartek Systems, a web design and internet marketing firm located in Greenville, South Carolina. |
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