iClick Media is going to share with you 5 secrets on how you can market your website to improve the visibility and branding! The web today (2013) comprises of trillions and trillions of links. Who links to your money site (website) and how they link to it is the fundamental factor driving your search engine rankings and your website’s traffic. If you’re not sure where and how to begin when it comes to building links with other sites, here are 5 easy ways to get started:
1. Create a blog. (or just more pieces of content on your site!)
Creating content (to be exact, unique content) on a consistent basis not only builds links internally (by linking out from your posts), but it also gives you the ability to build links naturally. Remember that content is your greatest asset when attracting links and it will be your most profitable asset when it comes to conversion. A blog is essential to many strategies outlined here, such as linking out. You absolutely need a blog in today’s online environment to survive. If you’re not sure how to design and develop a blog, you can ask your friends who studied IT for help. If you don’t have any friends in IT, or if you’re just too shy to ask, contact a professional web design company in Singapore, like iClick Media!

We’ve created many different systems for companies such as UOB, Singapore Airlines, etc and we’ll be glad to help. Just call 6362 0123 to get a free quotation. Don’t be shy.

2. Ask people you know for a link.
Whether it’s your friends, colleagues, relatives, employees, ex-boy friends, flings you know at the pub, business partners, clients, or anyone else, ask them for a link. Someone you know might have a website or blog, so take advantage of that. It never kill to ask, right? By asking, you never know you would have a free quality link from a Page Rank 7 (PR7) site. Remember this, the more quality backlinks you have, the better it is for your website’s ranking on SEO.

3. Make it easy to link to you.
If you want people to link to you, make it easy for them. DUH!

Create HTML-ready snippets that people can copy and paste onto their website. Either create a “Link to Us” page or use a little JavaScript to generate the HTML at the end of each article or post. Again, if you’re unsure how to do, either ask your friends/colleagues or seek a professional web design company like iClick Media to help you. It’s not a free service, but hey, you’ll be getting quality work done, at the soonest possible time.

Note: This might not be the best option for every community. Are you in the envelope trimming niche? Then this is perfect. Are you talking about internet-related business? Then this might not be your best bet, because the majority of your audience probably already knows how to link.

4. Link out.
Linking out is huge. Don’t be a link hoarder; you’re going to create content, so use it to gain favor with other people. Do unto others what you want others to do to you. If you read something great, link it to them. In the same way, people will want to link to you if you produce quality unique content. Right? That’s the way the world turns right?

5. Paid directories.
Some directories ask for money before accepting your link(s) in their listings. Dir.Yahoo.com, for example, is a paid directory. Once again, while some of these can pass on legitimate value, others offer little and aren’t worth your time or money. You’ll need to know whether its a dofollow or a nofollow site. Also, some sites which are nofollow can actually bring you good value for money because they bring positive conversion and quality eyeballs to your brand. Business decision to follow to decide whether or not to buy.

Internet Yellow Pages

So.. what’s next?

To improve your website ranking, there are 1,001 ways to do it. If you do not have the time and expertise to do it, its simple! Just call iClick Media, the reliable web design company in Singapore, at 6362 0123! Our sales consultant would be in touch with you very shortly.

Cheers!

Let’s examine it here in iClick Media’s blog.

1. Slow loading time

Nothing is more irritating and annoying than a website that takes like forever to load. Although most internet users these days have high broadband/cable connection speed, a huge percentage of the internet users are still surfing the World Wide Web (WWW) via slower dial up internet access. We should not neglect those users as they are potential customers of your e-business. When you build your website, try to stay away from big glossy image file that takes up a huge file size. You do not need those unnecessary pixels for web because the user experience will be more important than how your website looks. In fact, with a reduced in file size, it does not affect the overall looks of your site.

Try to avoid using Adobe Flash animation or fancy movie files because of the long loading time too. And no, no catchy music. These days, many users are already plugged into their own MP3 songs running in the background, do you want to annoy them by running your own sound files?

What’s important is that you have a website that delivery the necessary adequate information it promises at an instantaneous rate (if possible). For this reason, choose functionality over design.

2. A poor user experience (UI/UX) in navigation system

If your main navigation bar is too complicated or overly complexed, you’ll really end up driving away alot of your visitors because they can’t find what they want in like 3 seconds? In fact, many internet users are impatient people. If you can’t get them what they want in mere seconds, they leave. Simple as that.

You don’t want your visitors to get stuck in 1 page. You want them to explore your site, know more about your business and finally to checkout and pay you. Therefore, your pages should be interlinked in a logical and sensible way. This connection should be easily navigable through an intuitive interface that even a child can understand.

So, do place your navigation links at either the top of the page, or right below the header. Alternatively, place it at either side of the page in a vertical column. This is where your customer’s eyes will be when they are exploring the pages of your website.

3. Low quality content.

Haven’t you heard this before? Content is king on the internet. Repeat after me, Content, is King! Internet users log online to find information they need for their everyday life. Information is conveyed and transmitted via your website. If your content is poorly written, would people have the patience to browse through your website in detail? If the content is not unique, why should they choose your site over others?

In my opinion, there are 2 requirements for good quality content. Excellent presentation and originality. Without either of this, your website will be in jeopardy.

4. Poor choice of keywords to focus on.

Keywords drive traffic to your website. That is the reason why so many SEO companies have some form of search engine optimization writers in their company. Keywords are the key terms that users will search for when they’re looking for information.

If you select the wrong keyword, visitors will be scarce. So do make sure you check and discover the right keywords even before you start building your website.

5. Cookie cutter websites.

Why should your customers choose your website over your competitors if there is a lack of originality? You should probably offer different content, different layout and make your website special!

If you cannot answer these questions positively, then your e-business is bound to be doomed from the start. Know what’s worst? Search Engines like Google and Yahoo penalize duplicate content. If you copy content from others, your website will have a lower position in the search engine results page (SERPs).

6. Is your website focus rich?

Focus is key when we design your website. It is difficult for a website to focus on various unrelated topics. For example, why would visitors who are visiting a pets website be interested in a home plumbing industry website? There is totally no link between the 2 topics.

Instead, focus on giving your users the right relevant and related content. If you have a website on dogs, how about further enriching it by having more content on dog food, dog training, dog hostel and even dog costumes apparels?
The above 6 most common mistakes are things you should avoid. Your online business depends on how your website fares. Don’t be afraid to create several websites under different domains. Try and test and see which 1 works for you. Take time to think about how you can properly build your website.

Web Developer
iClick Media Pte. Ltd.

So, you have a website. You spend alot of money engaging a company to design and develop it. You then spend a huge bomb of money marketing your website. You do get alot of traffic to your site but you feel that the conversion to actual sales is lacking. Do you think your current website design is affecting or pulling down your conversion rate? The thing is, have you tried putting in a different design or a different landing page to test?

If you haven’t try, you never know.

Do you know that by making the smallest of changes on your website, it could mean a whole lot of difference to your pocket. Don’t believe it? Take a look at some past case studies on conversion tracking using data intelligence:

When you change a button’s color from green to red, it led to a 21% increase in conversion rate! This is huge! Soocial also experienced a 4.2% increase in conversion just by changing its site text from “Sign Up” to “Sign Up: It’s Free.” In fact, they’re still doing testing on their main site. If you visit their page now, it now reads “Sign up for free!”.

Unless you do various testing of your website’s design, (or for that matter, if you engage a digital agency to do it for you), you’ll never really know which piece of your website is pulling down your conversion rates. Like anything in life, the first step is the hardest. Take the step to let go of your current site design. Plunge in (calculated risk) and see if it works. If it doesn’t, what’s stopping you from changing back?

1) Let go of your emotional attachment

Yes, that web design may have been on your site since you started it 3 years ago. You’re so emotionally attached to it because that website made you $x. But you know what? Its probably time for you to give that design a rest. Let it go. The color scheme, website content, font type, font size and etc are just emotional burdens. You like it but that doesn’t mean this is currently performing at the best level for you.

Nothing is sacred without limits.

If you are unable to step back and be really objective about your goal, then it’s time to bring in the professionals. Hire a professional SEO company that can provide you with an effective, honest and affordable plan to get your website back to where it should clearly be. The digital marketing experts should be able to clearly identify some common spots on your website and they’ll probably also suggest some changes to you without any emotional attachment.

2) Have you tried Google Website Optimizer?

You should get yourself extremely familiar (or at least comfortable) with the Google Website Optimizer tool. It will be your best friend in no time. Did you know that this tool allow you to experiment with 2 different site designs by sending random traffic to both sites and yet being able to report the thorough analytics?

If you’re looking for a simple control over your current design versus a tweaked design (variable), then you should probably choose the A/B experiment.

Looking for something more fun? Try the multivariate experiment!

3) Look for common optimizers

The best part is, you do not have to start from scratch, from nothing.

You can follow the improvement other companies have made and take the cue from there.

In a nutshell, iClick Media Pte. Ltd. suggests that you can do the following and also list down, the possible improvements you can get.

• Add an arrow to applicable buttons can lead to a 20% improvement in your conversion rate.
• More than 50% of the top Internet retailers use “Add to Cart” over other popular purchasing messages, including “Add to Shopping Bag,” “Add to Shopping Cart,” or “Add to Basket.” Don’t ask us why, it just works.
• Bigger buttons are better: We suggest having button sizes of at least 225 pixels by 45 pixels.
• Adding security trust badges, such as those from Verisign, can bring a major boost to your conversion rates.

If you’re not sure, strip your website down to its most basic purpose: to direct and funnel web visitors into a chosen pathway. At the end of the day, your site design’s main purpose isn’t to look “pretty” or “sleek” or “modern” or “cool.” Its job is to bring clear results for your company. When it’s time to count your profits, it doesn’t matter how pretty your typography is — what matters is that your business is growing and thriving.

Until you test and retest that design, you’ll be forever underestimating your site’s true potential.

Want to know how your web design stacks up? Contact iClick Media for a professional site audit. And while you’re here, check us out on Facebook!

However, when we build webpages now, the information are no longer static. Many webpages are linked to a database with ever changing content. PDF files are also becoming very popular amongst web users and the good things is that they are showing up in Search Engines Results Page (SERPs).

Many businesses have also taken a step forward to share more information about their products and services via a PDF file.  Now the question is, how can you optimise your PDF files for maximum visibility on the various search engines?

iClick Media would like to share with you that there are generally 6 tips to optimise your PDF files for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

6 tips to optimize your PDF files for SEO:

1) When you create your PDF, use a text based creator like Microsoft Word document, or the immensely popular Adobe Acrobat. Do not embed your information or data into a picture image such as jpeg, gif or png because the robots are unable to read that.

2) When you type in content into your website, make sure that there are sufficient links pointing back to your web site. In fact, do not just link it to the homepages. Feel free to link it into the inner pages.

The reason why we recommend that is the the web browsers can actually find information straightaway without having to “search” again in your website. The links also acts as a “backlink” for your website, thus improving the site authority in Google’s eyes.

3) Make sure that in your PDF, the main keywords or keyphrases are used repeatedly in the article. Also, make sure that the anchor text are relevant keywords and not generic keywords such as “read more”, or “Click here”.

4) Name your pdf appropriately. For example, give it a document title. Ensure that author’s info and copyright info are all available. In general, make it easy for humans and spiders (robots) to find you.

5) Link your PDF from your homepage! Spiders would have a hard time (or even not finding your pdf) finding your pdf if it is hidden layers deep into your site. Ensure that the robots can access to it via a link on the homepage. This is because the homepage is crawled more frequently by search spiders as compared to the inner pages.

6) Does your pdf have images? I’m sure. Make sure that the keyword titles are close to the images. All these helped the spiders in ‘knowing’ and ‘recognising’ your content.

If you would like to know more details, please send in your contacts and we will get in touch with you very soon. Contact iClick Media today!

So, what exactly is meta description?

Meta descriptions main purpose is to show and describe the content of the page to potential visitors – both robots and human beings. It is very essential in helping the search engine (such as Google, Yahoo and Bing) to understand the content of the page in order to match the relevancy of the search as well as give users an idea of what your page is about.

As a result, meta descriptions is one of the key elements that not only help search engines ‘read’ your website better, but can help you gain a higher click-through rate from the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

To get you started, here are some tips to help you increase the number of visitors to your page through effective meta description tagging:

Truth be told, there isn’t a single factor that can boost your rankings. However, we’ll be glad to share with you the top 10 important ranking factors for a website.

1. Unique and Relevant content.
2. LSI & LSA
3. Title/Meta Tags.
4. Use H1,H2 tags
5. Keyword density.
6. Keyword Proximity
7. Quality inbound links (Link Wheel incorporating Social)
8. Crawlable Address Matching Place Page Address
9. Updates regularly.
10. Use Google strategy which changes day by day

If you need help on SEO, drop us a dm at enquiry@iclickmedia.com.sg

Cheers!

At 420 million, China is the world’s biggest internet market by number of users . Total e-commerce sales soared 60% year-on-year in the first half of 2010 to $340 billion, according to government figures. On Taobao, China’s largest online retail platform, the average number of transactions per user grew by 35% year-on-year, according to data released by Alibaba this week in Beijing.

E-commerce has brought about lifestyle changes and eliminated the boundaries of traditional distribution channels, said Jonathan Luk, Taobao’s CEO and president. “Consumers all over China, even in the most remote inland areas, have access to the more than 800 million product listings on Taobao.”

Sales on Taobao Mall, Taobao’s dedicated B2C platform, quadrupled last year compared with 2009. By the end of 2010, Taobao hosted more than 3.65 million “stores,” including branded retail outlets on Taobao Mall for marketers like Unilever, Procter & Gamble Co., General Mills, McDonald’s Corp., L’Oreal, Hewlett-Packard Co., Samsung Group and Johnson & Johnson.

Ten days after the announcement in November of Taobao Mall’s independent web domain, Taobao Mall set a record for the most daily sales — $141.17 million — during a special “Singles Day” promotion. Following its launch, Tmall.com was almost immediately ranked 24th among all of mainland China’s websites and number one among all mainland Chinese business-to-consumer websites, according to Alexa Internet, a web metrics company.

In 2010, men made up more of the online shop population (54%) and spent more, but women bought more items. Men tended to purchase pricier goods such as consumer electronics, household appliances and sports shoes, while women opted for clothing, food and accessories. Even within the same product category such as clothing, men spent more, on average, than women.

Chinese are also shopping on their mobile phones, with sales on Taobao’s mobile platform of up to $5.58 million per day and 17 million daily unique mobile visitors. The top 10 best-selling items were, in descending order: mobile phone credit; women’s clothing; consumer electronics; men’s clothing; online gaming cards; skincare products; snacks and other dry food items; sports shoes and bags; car accessories; and books and magazines.

Zhejiang province showed the biggest year-on-year gain (52%) in gross merchandise value (GMV, or the value of merchandise sold across the platform), followed by Shandong province and Hubei province, which grew by 46% and 37%, respectively. The top 10 areas with the highest GMV in 2010 were, in descending order, the provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang; Shanghai; Jiangsu province; Beijing; and the provinces of Shandong; Fujian; Sichuan; Liaoning and Hubei.

“There is such a wide variety of products being sold on Taobao, like fish, vegetables and other groceries, it’s really becoming the Walmart of China,” an Alibaba executive in Hong Kong told Ad Age.

But the real Walmart is moving aggressively into China to compete with Taobao. Last week, the world’s largest retailer confirmed an investment in Chinese e-commerce consumer electronics seller 360buy.com to expand Walmart’s presence in China.

Walmart is partnering with five other investors to inject $500 million into 360buy, which was founded in 2004 by Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co. in 2004. 360buy generated revenue around $1.54 billion last year, a 250% increase from 2009. Unlike Taobao, which charges sellers to maintain an online listing, 360buy follows the Amazon.com model by fulfilling orders and earning a share of the transaction revenue.

Walmart opened its first store in China in 1996 and has about 190 now. Third-quarter sales in stores rose 15.2% from a year earlier.

iClick Media

On the one hand, the SEO team must drive traffic. The other must communicate brand experience. Both are very essential, yet employ very different techniques and ideas. How can web design and SEO live together in harmony?

The Design Team

Web Designers create websites with the client’s audience in mind.

Too often they believe a user’s experience dictates success. A simple “build it and they will come” mindset pervades their approach to site design. That’s not all bad.

At a very basic level, creative teams long to tell a story. Through design and copy, the team takes a brand and crafts a world for it. They built  a Website with a look and theme; a feel and flavour. Often, the most effective way to convey a message is through more expressive technologies like AJAX, Flash Animation, and Silverlight. Even video integration (read youtube) has become more prevalent with increased broadband penetration.

Designers want to make use of these technologies because they engage the user. Technological integration helps tell the brand story and bring design to life. If Flash or Silverlight will make the overall site experience more enticing and interactive, then designers should implement them accordingly.

The SEO Team

If a designer tells a story, then the search engineer provides directions to the lecture hall where it’s told. The SEO side focuses heavily on traffic and visibility, believing a website must be seen to be heard.

Now here’s a surprise. Remember those cool technologies the creative team wants to use? Well, SEO wants to use them too. They’re just more cautious.

While an SEO-friendly website doesn’t need to be straight HTML, SEO teams must take into consideration search engine spiders. Even if a site uses AJAX, key content must be accessible to spiders for indexing.

This is where the 2 teams lock horns. When creative says Flash, SEO counters with CSS. When creative wants rollover navigation, SEO wants text-based. So what’s more important: the experience or the traffic? Which side is right?

The Compromise

It can’t all be about Search Engine Optimization. If you drive traffic to a site and user experience is sub-par, you disappoint not only the user but the client as well. Conversely, what good is an eye-catching website if no one can see it? The Internet is big enough for both experimental webdesign and search optimization. It is big enough.

While not always easy, the web designer and search engine engineer can find ways to achieve both creative and search interest without sacrificing the integrity of either.

The key to such compromises is education. Creative must understand how SEO works; SEO must also comprehend the importance of certain design elements to branding and messaging. Both must also consider how visitors will reach the site. Will they find it solely through search? Or will a media blitz (including social media) help drive traffic to the site? All these elements must be considered when negotiating design and optimization issues.

You (The Client) Comes First

Regardless of department affiliation, our web designers and SEO engineer will place your (client) interests before their own. Clients want both brand identity and search visibility. The creative and SEO teams need to put aside their feud in order to meet such expectations.

Sometimes you might have to forgo a video splash page, or you may need to optimize a Flash microsite. Even if you disagree with the other department’s tactics, you still need them to achieve project objectives. Our client matters. You matters.

It’s not? It’s something you really need to give it some thoughts.

Here’s the thing. Many small businesses (SMEs) don’t need a web site. Many small business websites don’t deliver a real return. Yet we’re told over and over again that in this day and age, every business needs to have a site.

The problem here isn’t having websites, it’s diving into this investment without really questioning it. You wouldn’t buy office equipment or rent a new office for your business without careful consideration.

Many (probably most) businesses do need a site, especially if you sell through it directly. It’s just about making that decision for the right reason, not just investing because everyone else is doing so.

Think genuinely and carefully about whether your business needs a website, or if you need to keep your existing website (hint: if you’re embarrassed to hand out business cards because they have your site on them, or you haven’t updated it in years, you probably don’t!)

And if You do Really Need a Site?

So you’ve thought long and hard and decided that yes, your business absolutely couldn’t continue to function without a website. You’ve decided that:

Your business benefits from having a website in a tangible, measurable way that than pays for the effort, expense, and time that goes into it, or that there is the potential there for it to do so. You operate in a niche where there is evidence that a quality website can drive sales or new business.

Now comes the really interesting, challenging part:

Go full out for your web site. Treat it like a key member of your team. It is like an invisible salesman selling for you 24hours a day! Treat it like you would a $10,000 machine you just bought, working day and night to give you a return on your investment. Treat it as if that life or death of your business depends on it (if you really need your site, it does).

I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of small SMEs websites that are obviously half-thought out, poorly maintained, and obviously don’t work for their owners. You may even be guilty of owning one yourself. This is about not having that site.

If you would like to know more about getting a functional, aesthetic and cost effective website, look no further. iClick Media has the necessary experience and expertise to come out tops for you. Call us at 6841 1118 or email us at enquiry@iclickmedia.com.sg