Keyword Metatags

As an example, take a look at the page source of any dozen or so websites you find on the Web (write to info@globalb2bcommunications.com if you want step by step instructions on how to do this, it is easy and available to everyone).  Start with your competitors.  At the time of this writing, my sampling shows me again and again that more than half go to great pains to list “keyword metatags.”  “What’s wrong with that?,” you ask, as an SEO advisor for one of  ALM Communication’s global PR firm’s clients recently inquired.

To start, Google’s official spokesperson, Matt Cutts, tells you not to use keyword metatags.  He did so in 2009, and those who watch Google closely will tell you that when such announcements are made, the changes have been extant for quite some time.

Secondly, what’s with the laundry lists of unrelated keyword metatags, and few of them having anything to do or being mentioned once in the body of the Web page?  You find words like “sale,” “service” or “reliable.”  These are telltale signs that there is lack in understanding. Did somebody really think that a person would go to his or her search bar and type in “service” to find their company’s offerings?

But the bigger problem is this: why tip your hand to your competition?  Yes, it’s like a poker player insisting on sharing all the cards in his or her hand with everyone else at the poker table. YOU ARE ALWAYS COMPETING ON THE WEB. The good news, however, is that you are only competing with the Web pages that are using keywords identical to yours. Web pages that are optimized for different keyphrases are not your competitors and there is absolutely no reason to pay any mind to what their Web pages look like.

You are graded on a curve always.  If you are lucky, your competitors will be crippled by out-of-date SEO techniques. Chances are, whether you realize it or not, you are lucky in this regard.

How many inbound links do you need?  What is the correct “phrase depth” to pursue?  What is the authority of inbound links that you need to draw traffic away from competitors? There are answers to such questions, but you can only determine them by using high-powered mathematics tools built for web competitive analysis that zero in on your company’s unique competitive landscape on the Web.

You know how big box stores are able to spend significant dollars on analytical tools that help them determine optimal ways to price and display merchandise in each store?  The clerks stocking the shelves are not required to know the math behind the methods for displays or the logic of sku pricing.  They just need to follow instructions.   This is not news; it’s been an open secret of big box success for well over a decade.

The price tag for the best mathematical tools to help determine pricing, shelf displays, etc. is somewhat steep.  GOOD NEWS:  That is certainly not the case with web competitive analysis tools for search engine optimization.   You can do a month’s kick of the tires on these tools to your heart’s content for less than your store pays for a seasonal sale window sign!

Warning:  The bigger expense is in time budgets.  You can succeed with math-based tools for SEO even if you flunked HS math—I kid you not!  But you have to take time to get up to speed on the only SEO approach that matters: Web competitive analysis.  It will take one week at least.

Amy Munice is president of ALM Communications, now also d.b.a. Global B2B Communications, www.globalb2bcommunications.com and Web and Design Science, www.webanddesignscience.com, a marketing/public relations firm that both gives, guarantees and fully integrates high-powered artificial intelligence search engine optimizers for lead generation and online sales, into all communications strategies. Contact Ms. Munice at info@globalb2bcommunications.com, or 773-862-6800.

Easing Online Customer Concerns About Fraud

The economy has online shoppers fretting over their purchases, not only because of budgetary concerns, but also the possibility that their security will be jeopardized, allowing someone to scam them for all they have left in the bank. So what can e-tailers do to reassure their customers and prevent this kind of crime? The Harris Interactive survey highlights the fact that, “Retailers can assuage consumers’ concerns with a trust mark on their site that assures shoppers that the site is trustworthy. In fact, 33 percent of shoppers say they would buy from a small independent retailer that featured a trust mark over a more well-known site without the seal.” Security experts also offer a range of tips that can help keep businesses safe, while Visa offers ideas specifically for retailers through its Security Sense program:

1)Keep track of exactly what sensitive data you collect and store, such as names, addresses, identification information, payment card numbers, bank account details and Social Security numbers. Think carefully about what data you actually need, and do not store sensitive data you can do without. For example, don’t use credit card numbers as ID numbers, in a customer loyalty program. Retailers should never store the “full track” of magnetic swipe data, the card validation value, or user PINs.

2)Make sure you are using secure services and tools that have been validated as adhering to industry standards. Use verification services that make sure the purchaser has the correct billing address and is physically holding the card.

3)Keep your payment system and data isolated so that only those employees who need access can get access. Eliminate remote access if you can, and make it secure otherwise.

With care and vigilance, you can make it harder for criminals to target your business and your customers, and for your effort they’ll thank you and more likely do business with you.

Gift Registry for Local Supporters Receives Support of Its Own

With the help of the Manchester Young Professional Network and its recent New Hampshire Start Up Challenge business plan competition, Grappone is now $25,000 richer to help with the creation of her business idea. The registry is to be called, Nearbyregistry.com, and will allow small businesses to access a new avenue for profit, as they have previously been prevented by most registries to participate. Focused on the greater good, Grappone says, “More dollars stay within the community when you spend locally. This increases the number of jobs, and it gets people out on the town. Really, it widens up the downtowns that have currently been hit hard from the economy.”

While the idea for the online registry was sparked four years ago, it took nearly three years of interviewing gift givers, receivers, vendors and producers, in order to help in the conceptualization of the website. Ready to launch, Grappone was missing a few important requirements for a successful business. “Legal counsel and accounting were the two most important things Nearbyregistry.com needed,” Grappone says. Luckily, the $25,000 prize money also came with the legal services of the Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green law firm, and accounting services from Howe, Riley and Howe. Brides and grooms alike will soon have the opportunity to be gifted a part of Main Street USA. This piece has been adapted from The Telegraph.

Below are the top 10 warning signs indicating that you have fallen victim to out-of-date or poor SEO technique:

1) Your web designer presents you with a turnkey site that he or she has created and declared as “optimized for search engines.” Then they give you no means to add to or change the site.

2) The “SEO Expert” advising you puts great emphasis on your website’s keyword or description meta tags, neither of which have figured into SEO for many years.

3) Your SEO consultant tells you, rightfully so, that keywords and keyphrases are very important. Then, they politely ask you what your keywords are without suggesting that they will do keyword research to augment and strategize your site’s keywords throughout the site.

4) If they do provide keyword research and they show you the Google keyword tool, they are giving you no advantage over your competitors who are using the same research tools.

5) They then proceed to put the same keywords on every page of your site, i.e., a long list of keywords that read identical on every page.

6) When you ask your SEO consultant what their support will include, they show you the free Google reports that are readily available, perhaps packaged with their SEO company’s logo. Then, they put a high price tag on what are essentially one-click reports.

7) When you ask, the SEO consultant cannot tell you how localized search, personalized search, social media, or mobile devices should figure into your website design or verbiage. Instead, they state that they will get you ranked on page one.

8 ) Your SEO consultant says that inbound links are important and when you ask for further detail, he or she says there is no such thing as a “bad” inbound link.

9) Your SEO consultant measures your site’s keyword density and tells you to beef up your copy’s keyphrase density first and foremost because they say that is always the most important factor. Or they say that ANY SEO factor such as outbound link count, title keyword, etc., is always the most important for every site.

10) You measure your site about six months after it is up (e.g., http://www.globalb2bcommunications.com/seo-tools/search-engine-listings-2/) and you find that your site has less than 50 percent visibility on the Internet.

Why stop at 10? In my next column, I’ll share with you other signs of out-of-date website design and search engine optimization that are widespread. If any of the above list is puzzling to you, please do not hesitate to write me at info@globalb2bcommunications.com and ask me why I have included it in this top ten list.

Amy Munice is president of ALM Communications, now also d.b.a. Global B2B Communications, www.globalb2bcommunications.com and Web and Design Science, www.webanddesignscience.com, a marketing/public relations firm that both gives, guarantees and fully integrates high-powered artificial intelligence search engine optimizers for lead generation and online sales, into all communications strategies. Contact Ms. Munice at info@globalb2bcommunications.com, or 773-862-6800.

PayPal Recognizes m-Commerce’s Role in e-Commerce Success

For those of you operating an e-commerce business along with your brick and mortar store, you may be familiar with PayPal, a partnering e-commerce business allowing payment and money transfers to be made through the Internet. In a recent PayPal consumer report, it was confirmed that there is not only an increasing need to invest in multi-channel retail, but that in-store sales can be expected to fall with e-commerce and associated m-commerce on the rise. Internet Retailer reveals in a recent article that, “PayPal has experienced significant growth in its mobile payment volume, growing from $25 million in 2008 to $750 million in 2010. By 2013, the company is expecting its mobile payments volume to reach $7.5 billion.”

It comes as no surprise that the increasing daily use of smartphone applications (apps) and smartphone browsers has created a channel for your customers to purchase products. As Portio Research Limited’s report, “Mobile Applications Futures 2010-2015” forecasts, “The global mobile applications user base is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 37 percent between 2009 and 2015 to reach nearly 256 million by the end of 2015.” Embracing m-commerce could potentially market you to those 256 million users and consumers.

With the market making a slight turnaround from economic hardships, what kind of crowd do you expect to come browsing your shelves for Mother’s Day this year? According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2011 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, “the average person celebrating the holiday is expected to spend $140.73 on gifts, up from $126.90 last year, and a return to 2008 spending levels.”

Independent Retailers Will Benefit

Jewelry is always a popular gift option for mom. In a 2010 interview for Independent Retailer magazine, Guy Andrews, CEO of Plum Island Silver, a sterling silver jewelry wholesale distributor, affirms that one wholesale category that survived the economic downturn, and again gaining momentum, is jewelry. Andrews confirms, “Earrings were very popular this year. We had a good recovery over the past year, and business has been steadily gaining.” This Mother’s Day is no exception as the NRF reveals that, “31.2 percent of celebrants [are] planning to buy mom silver, gold or diamonds, up 19 percent from last year. Total spending on jewelry is expect to reach $3.0 billion.”

For those other retailers hoping to see an influx of customers as the holiday is rapidly approaching, the NRF has some good news for you too. Particularly, independent retailers either selling electronic and mobile devices, or utilizing them in a new advertising campaign, will be happy to know that, “Those buying electronics will shell out $94.91 on smartphones, cameras and even tablet devices, up eight percent from $87.70 last year.” It is no surprise that keeping mom connected on the go is a priority on a lot of shopping lists, as the craze for smarphones and applications continues. For example, Portio Research Limited’s report, “Mobile Applications Futures 2010-2015” forecasts, “The global mobile applications user base is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 37 percent between 2009 and 2015 to reach nearly 256 million by the end of 2015.”

Who Will Benefit, Online or Brick and Mortar?

Although consumers undoubtedly have new shopping behaviors, as they use other innovative channels to research, select, transact and collect products, the popularity of online shopping shouldn’t make brick and mortar retailers uneasy this holiday. A recent BizReport column, examining the NRF survey, claims that, “despite the rise in spending, department stores continue to be the favored place to shop for Mother’s Day gifts….One third of shoppers will head to specialty stores such as florists and jewelers, 30 percent will head to discounters….” All in all, Mother’s Day is looking prosperous for both moms and merchants.

To read more on the NRF survey results click HERE.

Valpak is now offering its coupons via the junaio augmented reality app, InternetRetailer reports. Consumers who download the free app to an iPhone or Android device and select “Local Coupons by Valpak” will be able to access discounts to use at businesses near their current locations. The app launches the smartphone’s camera and uses a device’s GPS functionality to overlay on the camera view a set of icons that display the available Valpak coupons in the vicinity as the consumer holds their phone up and scans their surroundings. The app scans for deals between five feet and 20 miles away, and the coupons and offers pop up on the user’s mobile screen.

“Providing Valpak content on the junaio platform extends the reach our advertisers achieve when they purchase Valpak advertising,” Nancy Cook, vice president of new media business development at Valpak/Cox Target Media, told InternetRetailer. “Our content distribution strategy is to be everywhere consumers look for savings.”

More on this story can be found HERE.

Today, Western Sales supplies numerous gift stores, boutiques and swap meets with the colorful, framed artworks. “It was a big hit at the California Gift Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center in January,” Chandler says. “We sold upwards of 5,000 pieces.” The artwork consists of beautifully framed three dimensional art in a shadowbox frame, creating amazing depth to the artwork itself. “This is not your standard art, which is flat,” Chandler explains. “The 3D art actually sticks out from the image and comes toward you, so you see the sides of the face, the nose and everything. It’s almost like a statue on the wall,” he adds. Currently carrying about 100 different types of 3D art, Chandler says the religious themed art is far and away the company’s bestseller. “If I had to name a single piece, I’d say The Virgin of Guadaloupe is our number one item,” he says, adding, “Religious items are about 75 percent of our total sales.” Still, the company has an extensive line of other art pieces, and all are available for viewing online at 3DFramedArt.com.

The artwork varies in wholesale pricing depending on size, but Chandler offers up an example. “We have an 18” x 30” piece of art, with glass and a double mat in a shadow box with a two inch border frame, that wholesales for $10,” he says. “It retails for at least three times that, and can go for much higher.” A minimum order is only one case, but as the company ships by freight, “It makes sense for a customer to order a full pallet load,” he says. For new customers, Western Sales and Marketing offers a 50 percent off deal on first orders. “We also allow dealers to use our color catalog, customized with their contact information,” Chandler says. “We email it to them, and they can add in their own contact information and prices. We’ll do everything possible to help them boost sales.”

For more information:

Western Sales

13539 ½ Alondra Blvd.

Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

Tel.: 562-483-8700

Fax: 562-483-8710

Email: sales@3dframedart.com

Website: www.3dframedart.com

Since the start of the year, a number of states from California to Tennessee have introduced legislation to force out-of-state Internet retailers to collect sales tax from online shoppers. Illinois is the latest, with Gov. Pat Quinn signing HB 3569 into law, a move that prompted e-commerce giant Amazon.com to terminate its relationship with 9,000 affiliates rather than collect the sales tax. California, meanwhile, held a revenue and taxation assembly committee hearing recently to address AB 153, authored by Rep. Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland). The committee is expected to take a vote on the measure in the coming weeks. Supporters of the bill claim out-of-state retailers get an automatic price advantage, since they don’t collect sales tax. Opponents, meanwhile, declared their livelihoods will be threatened if the bill passes, predicting the out-of-state advertisers they rely on for income will terminate their relationships, rather than collect the sales tax.

“If everybody paid the sales tax that’s due, the states’ budgets wouldn’t be as bad as they are,” says Diane Yetter, president of Yetter Consulting Services and the founder of the Sales Tax Institute.

For a complete look at the story, including a list of states with similar bills pending, click HERE.

Inhale began manufacturing the product in China, and was the first company to offer a line of poly-resin hookahs. “This new type allows us to put more detail into the design,” Chaoui says. “We made the first hookahs featuring skull and skeleton designs, and we’re able to incorporate more colors in them,” he adds. The company now holds more than 32 patents on its unique products.

Inhale International distributes its products across the U.S., as well as in France, Germany, Japan and other countries. Carrying more than 10,000 different skus, the company also sells to smoke shops, small mom and pops and various other independent retailers. One of its most popular sellers is its new line of molasses tobacco, which wholesales for $8 for a 250 gram sized can, but retails for up to $20. The company also has an extensive line of tobacco grinders, t-shirts, hats, candles, incense and more.

There’s no minimum order size, and Inhale International has a number of posters available for retailers to advertise its various tobacco blends. For new customers, the company will offer some extra free merchandise to help offset shipping costs. “We’re always looking for long-term relationships,” says Chaoui. “We also back up our goods 100 percent. If a customer is not happy, we’ll take the item back or offer a refund.”

–Rory J. Thompson

For More Information:
Inhale Corp.
P.O. Box 921
El Cajon, CA 92022
Tel.: 619-593-9125
Toll Free: 800-716-5777
Fax: 619-593-4107
Email: inhalesd@aol.com
Websites: www.wholesalecentral.com/inhale0001
www.inhale.asia