PMI Online Business

There are two different kinds of keywords you can use when optimizing your website: short tail and long tail. Short tail keywords have broad application and are highly competitive – such as “gift baskets.” Due to their familiarity, short tail keywords are searched for much more than long tail keywords. An example of a less-competitive, long tail equivalent to “gift baskets” might be “happy birthday gift baskets.” 

So if long tail keywords don’t get searched for nearly as much as short tail, why would anybody use them? First of all, long tail keywords aren’t as competitive, so you have a realistic chance of making the first page of results on Google and other search engines. Depending on the competition, you may even be able to crack the top five, which would be difficult with a short tail keyword like “gift baskets.” This search result positioning is incredibly valuable for internet marketers and is a great tradeoff for short tail keywords, which ultimately get more searches. 

Because long tail keywords are more specific, they generally convert at a high rate. For example, if an internet marketer worked day and night and was able to rank on the first page of search results for “gift baskets,” they would be seen by an enormous number of people each day. But many of the people would be looking for a specific kind of gift basket, which the marketer may not offer. When someone searches for “happy birthday gift basket,” they know exactly what they want and are likely to make a purchase if you offer a good selection of related products.

A few months ago, we wrote about .mobi domains and the advantages of having one. Some questions arose and we’d like to clarify the topic at hand.

First of all, Google and other search engines don’t give out all details on each of the algorithms they use to calculate search results and relevancy (even when they’re asked). That being said, we admit there is occasionally a bit of speculation on our end about what different details Google takes into account for its results. However, given some of the other criteria Google uses we felt it reasonable to suggest that they – and other search engines – may give more weight to .mobi domains if the search is being conducted from a mobile device.

Secondly, search engines use hundreds of different criteria when ranking a link – how recently the site has been updated, the last time it was clicked, how long people stayed on when they clicked, etc. So while a .mobi domain will have some influence on the results, it certainly doesn’t mean the site will automatically rank better than a non-.mobi site; it only means the link will get an extra bump in that direction.

Lastly, if you run a search on your mobile device, you may not notice any .mobi sites in the results. Part of this may have to do with what was just mentioned (about .mobi only being one of many criteria) but some of those links may actually redirect the user to a .mobi site. The search results page will display the usual URL (.com, .org, etc.) but the mobile user will actually land on a .mobi page.

So these are some things to consider not only when searching on a mobile device, but when deciding on whether to have a .mobi site.

With the increasing popularity of Google AdSense, contextualized advertising has become a commonly used term. So what is it, exactly? In its simplest form, contextual advertising is advertising that is related to the content of the webpage on which a user views it. In this way, it is put in context with its surroundings and has a much higher chance of being applicable to users. For example, if you were viewing a hunting website, contextualized ads on the webpage might include ads for hunting rifles, scopes, camouflage clothing and game processing. Search engines often use contextualized ads as well, meaning that if you searched for the phrase “deer hunting,” you might see the same ads as given in the previous example.

While early models of contextualized advertising utilized cookies and were considered invasive by many users, PMI Coaching has noted that modern versions are instead based on website content. In addition to being more socially acceptable, modern contextualized advertising is also highly effective. Google AdSense is one of the most well-known services, though there are many other options. Smaller companies include Overture, Kanoodle and Quigo.

Entrepreneurs who want to get the most bang for their buck are increasingly gravitating toward contextualized advertising. Rather than just throwing an idea out there and hoping it sticks, contextualized advertising allows you to provide users with information directly tied to their interests, resulting in higher returns for advertisers and fewer irrelevant ads for website users. In this way, both advertisers and consumers win.

Just like you did when you selected a product, you should sit in a quit place and turn off the analytical side of your brain do you can focus on writing, not thinking. To help get you started before you actually start writing, think about your main product and some of the products associated with it. Think if you were an Internet shopper looking to buy those products, and write the terms you would use if you were to search for them on your favorite search engine. Also think of variations of some of your keyword ideas. For example, left-handed putters instead of just left-handed golf clubs; left-handed wedge, left-handed sand wedge, left-handed pitching wedge and etc. Branch out and really find some three to four word keyword phrases that are very specific to the products you are selling. If you know of some, you can even include brand names with all the variant keywords and phrases thus making them even more specific. Whatever it is that works for you, take about an hour to come up with as many ideas as possible, regardless how silly or uncommon they may seem.