Conversion rate optimization maximizes your audience return on investment.

google analytics

Adjusted Bounce Rate – A Behavior KPI

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Use Adjusted Bounce Rate To Monitor User Behavior

Ever wondered how many visitors really pay attention to your site before departing the page? Many of these visits are completely useless, but how many aren’t? When using adjusted bounce rate there’s finally a way to monitor this! Bounce rate in Google Analytics is one of the major key performance indicators that can help to assess the quality of your traffic. A bounce happens when the visitor left the site from the site landing web page, without going to any other page. That is a superb indication on how applicable the content was for the user and how engaged they had been with your site. Bounce rate does not always account for user behavior though, some may use the web page for and address or phone number or simply read the content and leave.

adjusted bounce rateWhile working ideal for web sites, there are groups of websites where this metric isn’t enough. For stated by Google, they apparently doesn’t use pure bounce rate as a rank signal, but that does not mean it isn’t an essential metric to monitor as a relevance signal. Nevertheless, as Google notes, it is more useful for some forms of sites compared to others. As an example, imagine you are promoting a post that explains all the advantages of your company; the visitor may read the entire post and remember your business and really good products – and they may immediately go to hunt for your product or service on one of the search engines straight away.

Since that visitor just looked at the one page they’ll be recorded as bounced visitor. Another example when you have a service description value proposition on the web page, along with your telephone number on the exact same page, the visitor could study the description and then call you for more information and again, that visitor will be registered as a bounced visitor, as only a single page was seen. There are a lot examples, and even traditional web sites can benefit from the adjusted bounce rate KPI described below as compared to the standard unadjusted bounce rate.

Adjusted Bounce Rate Is The Answer

The solution to this issue is something referred to as adjusted bounce rate. You implement a small tweak to your Google Analytics code, which executes an event when a user has spent over a certain amount of time on the webpage. Depending on the website, the time can range from 10 seconds to few minutes – you should decide for yourself the amount of time you consider the user to be sufficiently engaged with your website or product or service.

Once the event is executed (past the time frame) the visitor is no longer counted as bounce even though no additional page view is recorded. This will mean your bounce rate will show users who have not spent a required minimal time on your website compared to the ones who have truly bounced.

Here is the adjusted bounce rate modification to the Google Analytics code that you need to make (on the example of the latest, asynchronous code):

<script type=”text/javascript”>
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-XXXXXXX-1’]);
_gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’]);
setTimeout(“_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ’20_seconds’, ‘read’])”,20000);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true;
ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

The setTimeout function is the one that requires the adjustment, and you can set it up to whatever delay you wish (in this example, it is 20 seconds).

Now that an event is created after the time expiration (the 20 second lapse), you can create a goal, here defining this event as a goal in Google Analytics, and even import this goal as a conversion to AdWords, provided all of the parameters are met.

Adopting adjusted bounce rate allows you to better understand how people engage with your website. This small code tweak will allow you to track and understand the users’ behavior and quality of the traffic coming to your website more accurately, and help you make more informed business decisions.

Benefits Of A Unique Value Proposition

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Finding a Unique Value Proposition For Your Business

In most free markets competing businesses are always looking for an edge. If you’re not watching your competition then you consider the need to become aware of what the competitors are doing. But even with the stress and worry of competition in your line of work, there are positive sides to having so-called business rivals such as learning from them and surpassing them. Separate yourself from the ordinary with a unique value proposition (UVP) that resonates with your target audience. A compelling brand message will insure your message is heard.

In most specific markets you will find the business that failed and from which you can learn what not to do, and businesses that are stagnating from which you can also learn what not to do or what you can improve and offer to your target customers in order to not slag behind within the mediocre crowd. This is where, when and how you will find a unique value proposition for your business and overtake your competition. While the competition is left in the dust, unaware of what even happened, you will be miles ahead of them already and working on that head start to move on further and further to the satisfaction of your target customers.

content marketingHow To Craft A Unique Value Proposition

Unique value propositions are sometimes difficult to come up with but they are always there as long as you pay attention to the throbbing beat of demand, desire, needs and wants of your target customers. Which variable of a product, service is most valuable to them in a specific scenario? Which priorities does your specific narrow targeted customer have at present or the near future? You want to put yourself in their shoes and think like they think so that this mindset and will power to work together with your customers sets you apart from the rest of the businesses that are competing with yours out there.

Make sure that your newly discovered unique value proposition sets you aside from your competition so that your targeted customers notice you and the benefit your business offers them and their needs. Be sure to make your unique selling proposition is easily understood; with a unique angle to it that delivers the promise of a solution to a need, desire, problem, want, ache of your customer.

What Is Your UVP?

Can you think of anything you can offer right now to your customer that your competition is not? Can you think of a benefit you can create in the near future that is valuable to your end customer? Can you find knowledgeable experts that can help you with creating a solution, a product? Can you look outside the average boxes of stalled business minds? Are you running your business for yourself or your end customers? The core, heart and soul of any business are your customer and their satisfaction. An unsatisfied customer will fire your entire business in less than a minute so set aside any ego trips and realize that businesses are a two-way street always and without the customers and their needs, wants, desires there is no great business out there.

If you’re offering the same thing exactly the same way as everyone else then somebody is completely unnecessary in the market and will struggle long term consequences of being stuck in the average pool. You are not average, and there is no need to be under the false illusion of safe business when you can strive and achieve so much more in tune with your target customers.

It’s not about if you will find a unique value proposition, it’s about when will you decide that you want to find it and develop it. Keep in mind at all times that even failure on your path to overcoming your competition is a success in disguise and a test to see of what you are made. The leaders in the marketplace constantly refine assess the competitiveness of their unique value proposition, validating that it remains meaningful with potential buyers or clients. Is it time to take a closer look at your offer?

content marketing

Duplicate Content Is Bad For SEO

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Why Copied Content Is a Big No-No with Google

In today’s online business environment, your web design and SEO strategies have to be top notch to remain competitive. Previously ignored issues like copied content can no longer be taken for granted and failure to take immediate action can mean a long and arduous road ahead for your online business. Duplicate content is bad for SEO.

You already know how important good content is to your site. It drives visitors to your site and converts them into leads, thereby bringing in huge profits. There are many helpful tips available out there for anyone who wants to write quality content. Nonetheless, many people still assume that copied content is good for their website. But the truth is that copied content is a big no-no with Google and the content world as a whole.

Why Duplicate Content Is Frowned On By Search Engines

There are numerous reasons why you should avoid posting duplicate content on your site. One of the main reasons is that you will never be a trustworthy source for clients who are always looking for unique, high quality content. Your readers want to see that you are an authority in your niche market, and if you are regularly copying your content or articles, you will be hurting your reputation.

Other reasons duplicate content is bad include:

Google Wants High-Quality Unique Original Content

Plagiarism is a big word with bigger consequences in today’s content world. The work of Google is to index and provide as much unique content as possible, presenting a variety in the results. For example, imagine searching for a business such as a plumbing service. If the plumber serves many locations and all the locations had a single web presence with the same content, then you won’t get variety within the search engine results when it comes to business services. What you are actually searching for is a variety of plumbing services that you can choose from.

Duplicate Content Will Put Your Site on Google’s Naughty List

Google will actually reward your site for having high quality, original content. However, it will punish it accordingly if you have duplicate content. Using the same article from the internet throughout your website, or even copy-and-pasting content from another website can greatly hurt your Google rankings. It is true that a website can have good rankings throughout other search engines, but still not reach anywhere in Google results. A search using a reliable plagiarism checker can help determine whether the content on your site is being used on other online sites or directories.

Copied content will make your website look like an illegal business, even if you’re a legitimate one. This is because that’s something trolls and spammers are doing on a daily basis. They copy and paste everything on a website in an attempt to stay relevant.

Google has been at the forefront of the fight against duplicate content and any content that looks deceptive or manipulative is penalized. When writing content, your aim should be to stand out from your competition and gain trust in the market. You want to write content that is helpful and engaging for your visitors to attract clicks, interactions and sales.

When you use duplicate content, however, you run the risk of losing even your most loyal visitors and not converting your leads. Copied content will keep your site hidden and your competitors will be seen by potential customers, instead. Duplicate content does not only harm your authority on Google, but it also harms your domain value, so don’t be cheated into thinking that it is a way of saving some money.

Avoid Duplicate Content And Enjoy The Benefits Of A Trusted Site

You may have tens or even thousands of pages on your site and just thinking about writing content for each other them can be frightening. However, the truth is that you have to do it if your seriously want to rank well in Google. If you don’t know whether or not your site has duplicate content, you can use a reliable plagiarism checker to make the job easier and faster. You should make sure there is little or no copied content on your site.

If you are looking for high quality, original content to replace the existing duplicates, then it may be time to hire a copywriting service. This will help you get professionally written articles that you can use to get rid of duplicate content on your site.

seo wireframe

Silo Site Structure For Success

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Silo Your Site Architecture

Silo Site Structure: What The Structure Of Your Website Should Look Like

Search engines have evolved, your site architecture needs to evolve too! Silo site structure is one way to improve your website performance. The engines with their bots and crawlers track the organization structural patterns of your sites. The secret here is to have your website structured naturally and logically as if you were writing a thesis paper with topic and subtopic, introduction, main body, and epilog. The purpose of such a structure is to make it easy for the website user to navigate your site. Make sure that you’ve organized content in a meaningful way.

Remember that you can always rewrite your online content so change and experiment with different keywords and key phrases over time to produce the best results for your online business. Consider building a couple of websites to see which version of your online content ranks better and faster.

sitemap-silo-exampleSilo sites are sites that are organized structurally to boost the main landing page in the search result pages by proper information on the website that links back to the landing page which is optimized for the primary keywords. The content of your site should be valuable to the end user however quantity is not as important as one might think. Constant updates of content are not necessary since the engines do not factor in the updates in the algorithm behind the intricate workings of search engines.

The crucial factor to ranking is to keep close attention to how your content is organized and linked on-site and off-site. You can easily create a silo site by making a plan of your SEO content for the webpages of your website. First, you need to focus on long-tail keywords and expanding on those long-tails with additional keywords and phrases. These keywords are the skeleton of your silo site. A silo site is like a thesis on a specific topic that expands with sub-topics which all link back to the main topic to support it and rank it in the search result pages.

Silo Site Structure For Success

The aim of a silo site is to rank higher for your main target keyword with all the secondary articles with long-tail keywords and wordings that all link back meaningfully and in an organized tier structure to the primary keyword optimized landing page. The long-tail keywords of your site are the waves that push your main keyword up in the search result pages. Remember that you still need backlinks from other sites in your niche that link back to your silo site. Silo sites will always rank longer than non-silo organized sites due to the changing landscapes of the world-wide web.

seo whiteboard

Little Used On Page Optimization Tactics

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Least Known On-Page Optimization Techniques

These little used on page optimization tactics can significantly increase your organic traffic when added into your overall grassroots SEO strategy.

1. Readability level

Readability level is a measure of how easy or hard it is to read a webpage. Internet users range from young primary school pupils to retired and elderly people. If your webpage language resembles that of a legal document, how many users would read and understand it? Many would have to sit with a dictionary and still have doubts. Therefore as you write, consider the readability level of your articles and make sure that they are easy to read and understand. Note that Google arranges search results according to reading level scores among other factors. Use a reliable tool to weed out spelling, punctuation, vocabulary and grammatical errors.

2. Embed content related videos

The human mind can remember visual information more easily than text. Videos increase the average time that users spend on a webpage. Consider if you embed a 2-minute video in your article. Some users will watch that video and also spend time to read the article. This means that the average time spent by a user on that particular webpage is increased. The good thing about sites on which visitors spend more time is that Google gives them a lot of importance. So before you publish an article, check for interesting videos on popular video sites like YouTube. You should only embed videos that are directly related to your content.

3. Reader comments and reviews

Readers will leave comments on a website if they found it helpful. Comments are important in helping Google to understand the context of a website. Thus go through the comments, look for and approve those that contain your target keywords. Comments that contain one or two keywords are very valuable because they add up to the content of the article. This will consequently increase the organic traffic to your site.

4. Internal linking structure

Internal site linking or sidebar linking involves adding a link to a webpage from the sidebar. Creating a sidebar link that points to an internal article is a form of interlinking that is fully supported by Google. A site wide link is such a valuable interlink because it has the potential of drawing traffic from all the other webpages of a website. Thus you should have an increase in organic traffic of the webpage that the sidebar link points to.

On Page Optimization Beyond The Basics

Using the above on-page optimization techniques will go a long way in helping you capture more organic traffic from your competitors.

social media

Secrets of Landing Page Optimization 

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Landing Page Optimization Secrets

Here are some strategies that will help you achieve success in landing page optimization:

landing page optimization1. Clearly state the value of your offer

A visitor who does not know what you are offering will not care to continue reading your content. A landing page whose value proposition is not clear will turn people off. Therefore, let your audience know the benefits of spending time on your website. Clearly inform them why they should read what is on your page. Your landing page should convince visitors that they are in the right place. As you do this, avoid commanding statements and focus on giving value to your visitors.

2. Avoid commanding, pushy and arrogant headlines

Your headlines will determine if visitors will be convinced to continue reading or press the ‘back’ button on their browser. A good headline should convince visitors that it is worthwhile to stay on your webpage. Pushy, arrogant and commanding headlines will turn visitors off. Too much hype on your headlines is also not necessary. Let the value of your offer be clearly and honestly stated in your headlines. Always use friendly and welcoming words.

3. Be specific about your offer

Capture the attention of every visitor by being specific about your offer. Use bullets or numbers to list the benefits that target audience should expect from your website. This will guide your reader’s eye and demonstrate your offer in a tangible manner. Win the trust of your visitors by stating your offer in a specific and self explanatory manner. This will encourage them to continue reading and interact with your website more. Exaggerated claims and false promises will annoy your online visitors.

Implement the above three strategies and see your online marketing efforts improve drastically. Your offer will be more compelling to the target audience, thus increase your conversion rate. Figure out what you want your visitors to do and then make it easy for them to so.