PlanWebs Web Design, Online Media & Marketing

Search Engine Land
Some paid search marketing platforms may allow you to bid on a competitor’s branded keywords, but you should steer clear of their trademarks when it comes to organic optimization. As per an 11th circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, injecting another company’s trademarked terms into your site’s meta tags (be it title, description or any other tag) can cause consumer confusion and thus constitute trademark infringement.

The ruling upheld a district court’s decision that Axiom Worldwide infringed on American Medical Corp.’s trademark when it used the terms “Accu-Spina” and “IDD Therapy” in its meta tags–particularly in its description tag. A Google search that showed the terms highlighted prominently in the company’s description field was offered as evidence.

Axiom doesn’t deny that they used the terms, but as copyright and IP legal expert Eric Goldman notes, the ruling doesn’t take into account the fact that Google (or the other engines) sometimes automatically assembles search result descriptions from third-party resources like DMOZ. The issue also raises the question of whether meta data counts for much more in terms of rankings than the engines have been admitting to. Still, the best way to avoid any kind of confusion (or legal ramifications) is to not use trademarked terms in your meta tags.

Google Webmaster Central
So a hacker or competitor has penetrated your site’s source code and installed malicious scripts or programs. The first step is to get your site offline (temporarily) as fast as possible so that you don’t infect visitors unnecessarily. Speed may be a problem if you’re using a shared hosting service, so try using a 503 status code in the meantime, to keep the engine’s spiders from crawling. The Google Webmaster Tools URL Removal tool can also help with preventing incoming traffic.

The next step is to figure out what the hacker was after. Was it consumer or employee PII? Was it your proprietary shopping cart script? Check your server logs for any modified, uploaded or otherwise suspicious file activities.

Once you’ve assessed the situation, reinstall your OS–preferably from a secure, trusted site or disc. After the fresh reinstallation, use the latest backup you have to restore your site–but make sure that the backup is clean and free of compromised content. Change your passwords, and if your site was offline, take the steps to get it back online and work on getting the engines to start indexing it again.

ISEdb
“Since the ‘purchase’ is the ultimate conversion, it is imperative that you remove as many obstacles from the customer’s research-to-buy cycle as possible,” says Stoney deGeyter. This means having adequate search functionality and clear navigation paths, so that customers can quickly find product and pricing info, get their shopping cart full and check out with no roadblocks.

In terms of content, be sure to include features like side-by-side product comparison guides and customer reviews and ratings. If possible, list product availability–as even if something is out of stock, it’s better for customers to know up front than when they get to the checkout screen.

Meanwhile, don’t be afraid to up- and cross-sell your customers during their research and purchase process. “Provide a list of related products that typically go along with any current items in a shopping cart or product being viewed,” deGeyter says. “If applicable, allow shoppers to purchase additional services such as product engraving, customization, gift wrapping, etc. These features can make a nice up-sell opportunity while giving the visitors that customization offer that they need for special purchases.”

Future Now
If your Web site is struggling and you don’t have the time or cash to hire a search firm, then the Future Now team has some Web site optimization tips you can start implementing as soon as possible.

You’ll need to get a testing platform, like Google Website Optimizer and run a simple split A/B test. Since your site is struggling with low traffic, avoid multivariate testing, as the time it would take to generate enough traffic to gauge the success of multiple combinations of on-page factors could be too prohibitive.

Don’t make any judgments until the test is finished and you have statistically significant results. Basing your choice of one headline or call to action on incomplete data is a surefire way to waste your time and delay success. Meanwhile, supplement your test by driving traffic through PPC buys.

ADOBE ON WEDNESDAY LAUNCHED DIGITAL rights management for the Flash Web plug-in that powers most online video. Competing products such as Apple’s QuickTime and Microsoft’s Windows Media Player both include digital rights protection.

Because Flash has been used mainly for streaming rather than downloading video, that limitation hasn’t been a big issue. But the new Adobe media player set to launch next month will let users download Flash files to the desktop, according to the Beet.TV blog.

Separately, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said Tuesday that the company will develop a new version of Flash specifically tailored to the iPhone. Last month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was reported as saying Adobe’s mobile version of Flash hadn’t been adopted for the iPhone because of performance and technical issues.

–Mark Walsh

Sharon Housley

Many companies use websites to establish their brand. Others use websites as a communication tool. Some companies see websites as sales vehicles and “billboards”. Still others use their website as an educational tool. And some may be any combination of the above. The website must have a purpose in order for it to be effective.

What Is It That You Are Trying To Accomplish With The Website?

A strong understanding of the website will allow a webmaster to emphasize the action they want the website visitor to take on the website. By defining and understanding the purpose of the website, webmasters and publishers can better structure the information on the website. Information can be provided with the appropriate emphasis and navigation. An ideal website will lead the web visitor to take the action the webmaster wants. Continue Reading »

Links are vital to the success of your website. The more links you have from other pages and websites linking back to your site, the more popular it will be within the search engine rankings, so it pays to make a constant effort to increase links wherever you can.

They also provide extra streams of traffic from all kinds of directions, and can net you new customers and sign ups. The good news is that there is more than one way to increase the number of links you have. Continue Reading »

Some web designs are truly so repulsive that they actually drive people away from the site and prevent them from returning. Both you and your web design company must avoid these situations at all costs. Otherwise you run the risk of allowing your reputation to be diminished or being labelled and avoided by clients and customers.

Web Design’s Scariest Backgrounds The background of your website is one aspect that you have control over and you can easily change or alter to suit your client’s needs. You must be
aware, however, that some backgrounds are simply not attractive at all. Some of these backgrounds that should be avoided at any cost are: Continue Reading »

PromotionWorld
Brandon Cornett serves up a five-spot of steps for a quick Web site overhaul–one that can lead to increased traffic and visibility on the search engines within a few days.

It starts with keyword research–specifically, using a free tool like WordTracker to find the 100 most searched for phrases for a specific keyword or topic (like “gourmet coffee”). Scan the list and create a spreadsheet of the words that are most relevant to what your Web site is offering (i.e. “gourmet coffee beans” or “gourmet coffee gift baskets.” Armed with your list, go through your existing site content and add these relevant keywords to the title tags and body copy where they make sense. Then add at least five pages of new content that pertains to keywords from your new list–as you’ve likely found some traffic-driving, highly relevant phrases that you weren’t aware of, and had no content for.

Lastly, make it easier for the engines and users to find your Web site by creating sitemaps, and including a text-only footer menu where applicable.

THAT’S the first question to answer when determining strategy for using online metrics. You should be able to answer in 10 seconds. If you don’t know, or if key stakeholders can’t agree on your site’s purpose, then you are unable to use online metrics efficiently. And, worse yet, you are missing chances for improving your business performance.

Your Web site exists for a purpose, perhaps multiple purposes, such as: