I still find it interesting that people believe their web site has been indexed well if they can find it in a Google search for the name of their web site. Let’s think about that for a moment and see if it is truly important.

Let’s assume the purpose of your web site is to sell something whether a product or a service. Let’s assume, also, your company name doesn’t identify that product or service. Ex: Mc Grath Enterprises, Ltd., and the product I sell is a blue-fringed widget. The company/web site name gives no hint that you can purchase a lovely blue-fringed widget from us.

If a person doesn’t know the company exists, he or she is so very unlikely to search on Google for “mc grath enterprises, ltd.”  But, if a person knows he or she wants or needs a blue-fringed widget, he or she is very likely to search on Google for “blue-fringed widget.”

If the web site of Mc Grath Enterprises, Ltd., has been optimised well for that keyword, Google is very likely to present it as a search result for that keyword.  If the price for your widget is a good one, a sale is likely.  That is the point of an e-commerce web site.

When you are thinking about the content of your web site, and especially the home page, keep this little example in mind.  You want Google and Yahoo and MSN and all of the other search engines to rank you well for the keywords people are likely to be searching for, and you want your e-commerce web site to be optimised for your products and services.

So, you will want to mention your “blue-fringed widgets” rather prominently in your home page’s copy - - in your headings, in the paragraphs that follow, in the page title, in the meta description, and in your navigation menu even, if possible.  That will get you indexed well and correctly for the keywords that will bring visitors searching for what you sell.

It should be no surprise that you can find your site in a Google search for the name of your site.  But, how many others will be searching for you by the name of your site?  Since they are more likely to be searching for what you sell, that tells you what you need to say on your home page.

Make the words you use count.  And, measure how well your site has been indexed by the rank results for the keywords that count.  In that sense, the name of your site really doesn’t matter.

Here’s another example:  our client, Wynners.ie.  Daphne Wynne’s company sells printed promotional products and corporate gifts. You’d never truly guess that from the name of the web site, www.wynners.ie.  And, it’s probably no surprise to you that for a search on Google for the keyword “wynners.ie” her site is ranked #1 and #2.  But how many people are likely to search that keyword?

Her home page copy was optimised for the keywords “printed promotional products” and “printed corporate gifts” because those are the products she sells.  And, because those are the keywords potential customers are likely to use in their Google searches.

For the keyword “printed promotional products,” her site ranks #3 on Google; and, for the keyword “printed corporate gifts,” her site ranks #4.  That’s not a bad rank for the first month following launch of her new site.

Keep your products and services in the forefront of your thinking when it’s time to write copy for your web site’s home page.  That’s what your customers are going to search for, and you certainly want them to find you when they do.

KISS Ireland is pleased to announce the launching of a new web site for our client, Daphne Wynne. The website is an e-commerce site for the sale of printed promotional products and corporate gifts, and you will find it at www.wynners.ie.

Daphne is an active and longstanding member of the BNI in Dun Laoghaire, and is well experienced in her field. Her site was financed, in part, by a kind grant from the Dun Laoghaire - Rathdown County Enterprise Board.

We wish Daphne well with her new web site and online business.

Let’s talk about copy writing for the web today, and specifically who the audience is for that copy. It’s something of a dilemma, with some advocating the search engines as the primary audience while others identifying visitors as the more important one.

It is a valid argument that no one will see your web site unless search engines send them there in the first place. With more than 125 million web sites world-wide and growing every day, the competition for traffic gets keener by the moment. Grabbing the attention of Google and Yahoo and the rest seems just the obvious notion, with the expectation that a high rank position on them will guarantee traffic.

It is also a valid argument that no one will do business with you unless the content of your site grabs them.  Compelling and well-crafted copy that holds a visitor’s attention will get you that most desired response, whether it’s a purchase of your product, or a telephone call to schedule an appointment, or a contact form submission that supplies an email address for followup contact.

So, which is it?  I’m not going to answer the question, actually.  I’m taking a different approach to it today, and give you even more to think about.

There’s an old line from French Revolution history that seems applicable at the moment - - something about needing to find out where the people were going so they could be lead there.

Keywords - - the words or phrases pertaining to your products or services that people are likely to use in a Google or Yahoo search, and for which you want your site to be ranked well.  That’s as good a definition of keyword as any for purposes of this discussion.

You know what your keywords are, or at least you can figure them out based upon the products or services offered through your web site.  In order to be indexed by search engines for those keywords, they must appear in the copy of your web site.  Listing them in your source code (meta keywords) just doesn’t cut it with search engines.  Read our Free Resource Booklet for more detailed discussion.

After you’ve assembled your list of those keywords, though, don’t take pen to paper just yet.  Check the keyword inventory for them first.  Use an online resource like Nichebot, or even Nichebot Classic - - find out how many searches were conducted for those keywords in the past and what the predicted search inventory will be in the future.  Also, find out in what variations your keywords have been searched or are likely to be searched.

Think about that. You can learn what people are already searching for, what they are already wanting to find.  You can learn how they are searching for you, too - - what phrase or variation of your keywords they are already using in those searches at Google and Yahoo.

Find out where they are going so you can lead them - - invaluable information.  Now, take pen to paper and write your copy.  Make sure it contains keywords (words and phrases) that people are already searching for and that you want to be found for, and lead them to your site.

Let that be the perspective of your writing, rather than who your audience should be.  Search engines will reward you with a good rank, and visitors will have found what they have already been looking for - - your site.

KISS Computing Ireland is pleased to announce the launch of a new web site for Trevor Hughes. The site, Selfcatering-Enniscrone, serves his holiday and vacation rental property letting and management business in Co. Sligo.

The site has a new design for Trevor, slide show presentations of all of his property listings, and an extensive presentation of area resources to help make your holiday stay a memorable one.  Enniscrone is famous for so many of its local features, and the property listings range from 2 to six bedroom selfcatering facilities.

We wish Trevor well with his new web site, and invite you to visit it at www.selfcatering-enniscrone.com.  More than that, if you are intending to search for a holiday destination in the west, you’ll find much to offer at his site.

KISS Computing Ireland is pleased to announce the launch of another new web site. Our client, Patrick Lane, a Dublin-based Accounting and Tax Consultant, has launched Fix My Tax for the EU market.  He is attending a three day conference in Switzerland beginning 16 February, and this new site was launched to be introduced by him while in attendance.

With so many new regulations taking affect in the area of taxation, it is Patrick’s purpose and intent to create a Directory of EU Tax Consultancy Resources, beginning with himself, of course.  The Fix My Tax Dot EU web site is the Internet vehicle for that purpose.

We wish Patrick all the best and great success with his new site.  More news will be forthcoming with additional web sites under development for Patrick, including a new site for www.patricklane.com.

As we’ve written so often in the past, search engines are word value-based systems. They do not “see” images or colors, graphics or photos. They scan the words they find, run those words through their algorithms, determine how a site should be indexed (stored in their data bases), and for which searches it should be presented as a “relevant” result.

Their little “robots” scour the Internet from site to site, examining what they find, and reporting back to the “mother ship” those findings. They recognize the words they scan, but without any understanding of their meaning. After all, those “robots” are merely pieces of software, and not sentient beings.

Let me offer a simple and simplified illustration of one thing this means.  We’ve all seen it, and you’ll know exactly what I mean.  You are at Google or Yahoo or another of your favorite search engines running a search.  The results page pops up in response, and you notice some of the sites given, both in the organic list and in the sponsored results list, don’t really seem appropriate to your search.  The sites listed don’t have much to do with exactly what you are looking for, and you wonder why they’re listed.

There are two reasons for this.  First, the site has likely played a little with its keywords, taken some liberties with content or copy that has little, if anything, to do with their products or services.  The site has nonetheless been indexed for those keywords and “fooled” the robots into thinking that is what the site is about.

The second reason is that robots, so far, only recognize the words, and not their meaning. That may change someday.

Search engine algorithms have evolved mightily over the years, and the way search engines work will always be dynamic.  The most important concept for them is relevancy - - delivering search results matched exactly to the search.  This is how they help their brand loyalty build, believing that searchers who are given the most relevant results for their search will return to that engine for all future searches.

Imagine, then, a search engine algorithm that understands the meaning of a phrase, rather than simply recognizing the word(s).  How much more relevant, then, would search results be?  I’d say pretty darn relevant, and searchers would be given “just the facts, Ma’am” every time.

This is one of the directions Google and Yahoo and the rest will be moving toward, if they are not already doing so.  In the meantime, though, you can probably expect them to assign greater value to “brand” in order to combat those web sites who play games with their content in attempts to “fool” the robots.  The better known the brand, the more likely it will be presented as a high ranked search result.

Search engines are fighting for their own brand loyalty, if you will, in their efforts to grab a large share of the billions spend on sponsored results.  Recognizing a “brand” name is one way to fight for market share, because it has the best chance of presenting relevant results.

It also means the little guys will have a harder time achieving high rank positions.  Longer keyword phrases, or “longtail” keywords, will still have high value.  Searchers have learned that if they drill down their searches with longtail phrases, they are likely to be given more relevant results to their search.

Simplified, but a good example:  “hotels” gives you hundreds of millions of results; “hotels Dublin” gives you tens of millions of results; “hotels Dublin Leopardstown area” will give you far fewer, and if that is where you need to stay on your trip to Dublin, you’re going to get the most relevant results for your search.

Yes, search engine algorithms undergo regular changes and updates.  Some day, the robots are going to recognize the meaning of the words they find, and not just the words.  For the time being, though, us “regular” folk should simply continue to drill down our searches for the best and most relevant results.

Many of us are familiar with Skype, a free Internet technology that enables one to make free phone calls to other Skype users through their computer and broadband connection. All you need is a Skype account and a USB headset plugged into your computer and you can speak to any other Skype user anywhere in the world free of charge. It also has an instant messaging component that works just like Yahoo Messenger and the multi-protocol system,  Pidgin.

It’s a terrific service, and we use it regularly to speak with our office on the other side of the pond in Massachusetts.  The sound quality is “next room” level, and the price is certainly right.

Skype, based in Europe, was purchased by eBay in 2005 for $2.6B, and has already written down another $1.4B in expenses since.  The software behind Skype is regularly updated and new features are being added all the time.  In fact, the service is so good, and the updates to the technology so effective, it is in the gun sights of security agencies all over the world at the moment.

It seems the security of the Skype VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in the person-to-person (P2P) communications is so good that eavesdropping is virtually impossible.  With the constant updating to Skype encryption software, the possibility of eavesdropping is even further frustrated.  A bounty of sorts has been placed on Skype, and spy agencies, including the NSA (National Security Agency) in the US, is keen on having someone break the Skype code.

While one can understand why security agencies and law enforcement officials would want to be able to monitor Skype chats, it does seem to be the only bastion of privacy on the Internet today.  No one is immune to or can escape the scrutiny of the web today.  Every moment of our lives can be documented in one way or another, spied upon from above, listened in on from within.  No video is safe from YouTube today, and nothing is sacred any longer in our lives.

Skype offers the one safe haven where friends can chat without being overheard, and save money with overseas calls at the same time.  It is a dangerous world we live in, and there are, no doubt, people using the security of Skype for nefarious, if not terrorist, activities.  We all want to feel safe, and we would like to think that people everywhere will be safe, but that is not ever going to be the case.

Still, the ability to close the door and pull the shades for those few moments of unmonitored privacy in a telephone call with family and friends seems worth fighting for as that last resort.  It’s not likely to be with us too much longer, though.

The person or company that breaks the encryption of Skype communications stands to make billions.  That’s a pretty hefty incentive, and I’ve no doubt there are many working on it as these words are being written.  For that matter, eBay could stand to get all of its money back, all $4B so far, by selling Skype’s encryption to those security and law enforcement agencies.  Pretty tempting, I would think.

It will be a day of very mixed feelings on that day that occurs.

Times are tough, and we all know this. The natural tendency in times like these is to tighten the budget, cut spending to essentials only, and keep looking for ways to reduce business expenses. Often  the first of those to go, or at least get cut, is advertising and marketing. Here’s the argument against that tendency, especially as it pertains to search engine optimization efforts for your web site.

No matter what anyone says, content is still king. The content on your website continues to be determinative of your search engine rank position. There have been subtle changes made to the ways in which the search engines index sites in the last six months, but that is also not a new phenomenon.  Those search engine algorithms have been fluid for years.  It is sufficient to say at the moment that content remains key.

There are two aspects of content that are essential elements of any good SEO plan - content growth and home page refreshing.  Search engines will reward dynamic web sites with ever improving rank position, assuming the activity is keyword appropriate and keyword rich.  Home page updating is another excellent practice, again assuming the updating is both structurally appropriate and keyword rich.

During normal times, it’s crucial to assume your online competition is engaging in SEO best practices, including content growth and home page refreshing, and that assumption should be enough to urge you on with your own best practices.  Let’s now assume, though, that your competition has decided to sit on their hands at the moment, reduced their SEO spending and suspended their SEO practices.  What better time to ramp up your own SEO activities?

If your competition’s site has become static, nothing much going on, while they weather these economic hard times, you have the opportunity to muscle them out of your way up the rank ladder on the major search engines.  Double your content growth efforts - - write that white paper you’ve been putting off writing and add it to your site; put a few blog posts in the bank and get ahead so you can increase the frequency of your postings; have your SEO consultant look anew at your home page content, run the due diligence analysis of your site performance, review your statistical data, research keyword inventory for you and rewrite your copy accordingly.

If some of your competition has decided to stand pat at the moment, you have your opening.  Shoppers are becoming even more discreet with their spending, and are investing far more time doing their comparison shopping online.  Since virtually all pre-purchase research is being done online today, no matter the product or service to be purchased.  A little effort, and a little expense, can help improve your rank position and make it easier for those prudent shoppers to find you.

Take advantage of that opportunity.  Find something else to cut in your budget.  It may sound counter-intuitive, but it does make good sense.  Invest the time and energy, and the modest expense, to punch up your site, help it stand out where it will be found.  And when this economy rights itself, you’ll already be positioned well.  Your competition will be scrambling to catch up to you.

You’ll have learned in the process what it takes to improve your organic rank position, and figuring out what to do next will be so easy - - more of the same.

The advantage of the Internet over any other form of marketing and highly targeted promotional efforts is the ability to measure performance to the penny, to the person. No other media can promise that with reliability. As my friend Lenny Berner and I used to joke, it’s all math. It really is.

Today I will make the argument that it is prudent and wise to increase your Internet marketing costs as a way to get in the face of the world’s economic downturn. It’s precisely the math that makes that argument persuasive.

While a newspaper or a magazine can tell you how many subscribers it has, or how many issues were sold or distributed, that is not the same thing as telling you how many people saw your advert.  It can tell you only the number of possible people who might have seen it.

On the Internet, though, where everything is measurable, you can learn exactly how many people visited your site.  Secondly, if you are engaged in a Google Adwords campaign, your statistical data can tell you exactly how many “impressions” (page openings) displayed your sponsored result.  Thirdly, your data can tell you how many people clicked on your sponsored result (meaning you had to pay your bid price for that click).

There’s a formula we use to help our clients calculate what they should be willing to pay for that click and still be assured of profitability from their web site.  Yes, assured.  It’s a very basic and common sense formula, and it takes just a few minutes to assemble the variables for the equation.

Site traffic is the first variable.  How many visitors came to your site?  If you don’t have Google Analytics code inserted on all of your web site pages, you should have your webmaster add it for you today - - it’s that important, and helpful.

Most Desired Response is the second variable.  Every site has one - - buy the product, give your email address, call for an appointment, fill out a contact form.  There is something every e-commerce website wants from its visitors.  How many MDRs did you get from your site traffic?

These two numbers will tell you your conversion rate:  how many visitors were required in order to get one MDR?  If it took 100 visitors to sell one widget, the conversion rate is 1%.

Now, it gets a little more involved, but still pretty easy.  Profit per MDR is the third variable.  How much did you make on the widget sale?  or from the email address?  or from the telephone call?  or from the contact form?  What is the average profit per MDR?  Let’s say, for round numbers and easy calculating, that your average profit per MDR is €100.

We now get to the calculating part:  You need 100 visitors at a conversion rate of 1% in order to make €100 in profit.  So, how much can you afford to pay per visitor in your Internet marketing campaign  in order to break even?  100 visitors divided by €100 = €1.  Let’s call that your Break Even Customer Acquisition Cost.

This means you can afford to pay €1 for each of those clicks in your Google Adwords campaign to break even with your online advertising budget.  It also means that you can remain profitable by paying less than €1 per click; and conversely, lose money by paying more than that.

There are nearly 900 million regular Internet users in the world today, and with thousands coming online daily in the emerging markets of China and India, we’ll see 1 billion within the next decade, if not sooner.  Studies show that nearly 100% all of regular Internet users do all or virtually all of their pre-purchase research online no matter the product or service.

If you know your potential customers are researching the products or services you sell online, doesn’t that mean you should be helping them find you?  With money tighter than it has ever been in recent memory, those customers are looking at every penny they will spend more closely today.  You want them finding you when it comes time to spend those pennies.  The competition for business is very keen.

This Break Even Customer Acquisition Cost (BECAC) formula helps you determine how to keep your online business profitable.  Tally your conversion rate (how many visitors to your site to generate one sale), sort your average profit per sale, and do the math.  Always bid lower than your BECAC in your Google Adwords campaign, and your website will remain profitable.  This example simplifies the concept, and your click bids should be well below your BECAC.  But the concept is quite valid and will help you look at your web site business and Internet marketing differently.

It’s all math, just like Lenny and I have always said.