Email Marketing Outperforming Social for Driving Sales

Email marketing is simply the most cost-effective digital marketing channel for your business.

That's not really news to us, but we always like to see data to back it up. Wired has a nice look at some new data released by Custora, a predictive analytics platform.

The report shows that while social channels get all the hype, "it’s a relatively antique tech that appears to be far more important for selling stuff online. . . Over the past four years, online retailers have quadrupled the rate of customers acquired through email."

The number of customers earned through Facebook has stayed small and flat and Twitter, meanwhile, doesn't register at all, according to the report.

Customers acquired through email opt-in are also more valuable — they buy more and more often. Organic search and paid search scored higher than email, according to the Custora data.

In late 2012, Bloomberg noted all the reasons email simply can't be beat for retailers.

What does it all mean? Social channels such as Facebook and Twitter definitely have a place in your marketing toolkit. But when it comes to earning new customers and driving revenue for your business, email remains a top digital channel and one whose power seems only to grow.

Read More

Understanding Duplicate Content

"A client asked me the other day about duplicate content and how it would related to the SEO of their site. Duplicate content refers to content on your website being found to be very similar to content on another page, either on or off the site, and then penalized for it by the search engines. The client was concerned about the percentage of duplicate content on their site, as it related to category pages using bits of product pages as their content. The funny thing is that most SEO's think in terms of only percentages when it comes to duplicate content. It actually doesn't work that way anymore.

Prior to 2011, the algorithms were much simpler in how they operated and scanned for duplicate content. At that time, you could avoid any duplicate content penalities just by making sure your content was 30% unique or more. This seemed to be the cut off at the time. However, after a number of algorithm changes by Google, this all changed.

I'll use made up phrases as an example.

On page 1 we have the following sentence: "The [sick] [dog] went to sleep."

On page 2 we have the following sentence: "The [ill] [canine] went to sleep."

I put terms in parenthesis that are similar. So, the old algorithms would consider both of these sentences to be 33% unique, which would have been fine, because 1/3 of their text was different from each other. The new algorithms would look at it a little differently. They would pass by both pages and note the percentage of difference and similarity in the content. They would then use their latent semantic index engine (essentially an intelligent synonym database), to catalog the terms in both sentences. Next, they match the terms against their existing database to determine if "sick" and "ill" are synonyms. After that, they use assigned "similarity scores" that influence how unique the content is perceived to be to help score the content overall. For instance, the terms "sick" and "ill" might be considered very similar to each other, whereas "sick" and "flu" are perceived as less similar to each other. These individual synonym scores influence the algorithm's perception of the "uniqueness" of the content. Even more interestingly, the semantic database changes daily, and so do the "similarity scores". Google might have learned 100 new synonyms for a word tomorrow, and this will change everything having to do with that word set in the database.

Google will also catalog the different parts of the site. The algorithm is intelligent, and it is very good at understanding the structure of your site. So, for instance, you don't have to worry about the content in your navigation bar being perceived as duplicate because Google knows that it is common practice for websites to have the same menu/navigation across multiple pages. Another example is that if you cite something from other websites or people, the citation will indicate to Google that the content is SUPPOSED TO BE duplicate content. You still won't want your whole page to be citations, but a little is ok. Your primary concern should be the uniqueness of the "body" of the page and making sure that you write it from scratch.

Google made these changes in order to combat marketers that were using small synonym databases to "spin" content in order to produce vast amounts of content without having to write it. This is great news because it means original content is worth even more than it used to be, because the "cheaters" can no longer easily cheat. The bad news though is that Duplicate content issues have become far more prevalent. Make sure you consulting your SEO professional so you don't have any duplicate content issues. Even now, this is one of the most widely ignored aspects of SEO."

About The Author:

Nick Fitzgerald - Vice President Of Online Marketing at Foremost Media, Inc
Nick handles the implementation of Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Management, Reputation Management, and Online Advertising Management for Foremost Media Customers. Nick is an expert in the fields of search engine optimization, online advertising, and reputation management.

Read More

Top 3 Latest Tips for SEO

1. Good quality, in depth content

You hear it again and again that “content is king”. The truth is that content is the most influential part of helping your website rank well.  Well written, interesting content will keep viewers engaged and increase the time they spend on your page. How long visitors stay on your page influences your rankings in the search engines. The more your content is shared, the better you will rank as well. Writing informative, in-depth information will help encourage visitors to share your content. In general you should try to have at least 400 words on each page of your website, but the longer the better in most cases. Longer articles tend to get more shares (according to a recent article by Moz) and help to make it easier for search engines to determine what your page is about.

2. Be social

Not everyone realizes that social media efforts play a part in SEO. The effects of social media on rankings are debated because Google always keeps their exact algorithms secret, but Google has indicated that social factors are playing a bigger role in SEO. A high number of social shares and followers is thought to help boost search engine rankings. Being active on social media sites will bring more traffic to your site, (leading to more sales) which will also help improve rankings.

In order to be more active make sure you at least have a page set up on each of the major social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.). Help encourage people to visit your site by sharing recently updated content to your followers. Making content easy to share on your site can help as well. Make sure you have social sharing buttons located on your website in places that are easy to find. Viewers that want to sure your articles, pictures, etc. will be a huge help to your efforts.

3. Mobile

In the past few years more and more users have started accessing the internet through mobile devices. According to Marketing Land nearly 40% of internet usage takes place on mobile devices. With such a high percent of users on mobile devices it is obvious that it is extremely important to have a mobile friendly site. Currently there are several options for developing mobile friendly sites. You can create a mobile version of your website that users are redirected to when they visit from a mobile device, you can implement a responsive design to your site, or you can convert your site to an app for mobile devices.

Recently Google made an announcement that mobile website usability will soon begin to play a role in rankings. Websites that are not mobile friendly will begin to take a hit on their rankings. Google hinted that websites that use responsive design are the best option and they also suggested that sites that redirect to mobile versions will be most likely to take a hit on their rankings.

Foremost media offers social media packages as well as website design. Contact us today for assistance or for more advice on how to get your site ranking well.

Posted By Jon Ballard

Read More

All Hosting Is Not Created Equal

The Foremost Media Data Center In Omaha Nebraska

One of the common questions I get from new customer is why does your hosting cost more then many of your competitors?

Below is a bit of information on how our hosting works:

All of our sites are hosted on a cloud server configuration which in non technical terms means that your site is actually sitting on more then one sever.  If a server were to fail or slow down the other severs in the cloud would take over.  Unlike many hosting companies we greatly limit the number of sites on each cloud server.  Giving you site more resources and better performance.

Although we build our sites to be hosted anywhere we prefer to host what we build for three main reasons:

1. If there is a problem with your site you have one call to make.  Over the years I've seen a lot of developers blame the hosting company  for performance issues or other problems with the website and it's not uncommon for the hosting company to point fingers at the developer.  We don't want that to happen to our customers.  If you build a site with us and host with us you only have to call one person if something goes wrong.
2. Our servers our built and optimized to run only sites we build giving us better performance and better ability to update should a security risk arise.  Most hosting companies host a lot of different CMS systems on their servers from a wide variety of developers.  Did you know bad coding on a site that is not yours but happens to be on the same sever can slow or even crash your site?  We only host sites we build.
3. We are able to monitor site performance and resources and respond before there is a issue.  We have techs on call 24/7 monitoring all our sites and servers.  On the rare occasion that there is a problem with your site we will typically know about it well before our clients.

Here is a bit of background on our data center where our sites are hosted:

Our sites resides in a Tier 4 data center in Omaha, Nebraska. This facility is free from natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and power shortages that plague other datacenters throughout the world.  Below are a few of the key features of our Data Center:

• Carrier Access
  Four local SONET fibers provide redundant carrier/neutral fiber access (AT&T, Level 3, Qwest, and COX) 
• Internet Access
  Route Science manages redundant, Tier 1 internet bandwidth with fully redundant, Carrier-class Cisco core routing and switching 
• Network Monitoring
  SNMP management tools monitor all critical infrastructure components 
• Fiber
  Four fiber carriers with diverse points of entry 
• Network Providers
  Meet-me access to major carriers (AT&T, MCI, Qwest, Global Crossing, Alltel, Sprint, Cox and Level 3) 
• Carrier Services
  OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and above
• Internal Cabling
  Cable management trays throughout the building use copper and fiber access to carrier bandwidth 
• External Cabling
  Dual points of entry into the building with multiple CO redundancy and fiber access

For your reference here are the differences in data center ratings Again, our center is a certified Tier 4:

Tier Level	Requirements
1	Single non-redundant distribution path serving the IT equipment Non-redundant capacity components Basic site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.671%
2	Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 requirements Redundant site infrastructure capacity components with expected availability of 99.741%
3	Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 and Tier 2 requirements Multiple independent distribution paths serving the IT equipment All IT equipment must be dual-powered and fully compatible with the topology of a site's architecture Concurrently maintainable site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.982%
4	Meets or exceeds all Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 requirements All cooling equipment is independently dual-powered, including chillers and heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems Fault-tolerant site infrastructure with electrical power storage and distribution facilities with expected availability of 99.995%

Other companies that are in our data center:

• Ameritrade
• Ebay
• Wells Fargo
• Paypal
• Alegent Health

For more information on Foremost Media Website Hosting Services Visit Our Website

Read More

5 Outdated SEO Strategies

Since search engine optimization began there have been many changes in the approaches people use to rank well. Over time it has become more and more difficult to rank well quickly. Since the search engines are constantly making new rules, each of the following strategies (or lack thereof) listed below are now outdated.
.
1. Putting text that is the same color as the background

In the past this was commonly used as a way to add keywords to a website without writing them into the content. In the beginning this may have worked well for some, but the search engines quickly caught on. Google has posted information warning users against doing this at goo.gl/MTlIs. Any content that the average viewer cannot see but can be seen by the search engines is bad for your site. Overall, it is best to try to optimize for the viewers and avoid making it obvious that you are trying to rank well.

It is important to try to use the proper coding when adding image captions and JavaScript descriptions. Putting image information in as "alt text" is extremely important. Previously some people might have put this text behind the image itself and this may have appeared as deceptive to search engines. Adding alt text makes the page more search engine friendly while still allowing the image to be read by screen readers and Google Images. If JavaScript is being used on a page it is important to put the words that are in your Java into <noscript> coding. This will help the search engines read what your JavaScript says and is much more effective than putting text behind the image that cannot be seen. This will also be helpful for users that do not have plug-ins or who have slow connections.

2. Blog commenting to get back links

Blog commenting is not as effective as it used to be for getting backlinks. Since it was an easy way to quickly get a link to your site, many people were using this tactic. Bloggers, as well as search engines, have made blog commenting more difficult to do and less effective. Many more bloggers moderate their comments now than they used to making it difficult to get your link to show up on their blog. Most blogs also do not have "do-follow" links enabled. This means that your website will get very little boost from a link on the blog. In addition, even blogs that still give "do-follow" links have been spammed with hundreds of comments. After the Google Penguin update, links from pages with more than 99 outbound links are generally devalued. As a result, even "do-follow" blogs are of little value from a link perspective.

If you are going to utilize blog commenting for your SEO strategy it is important to make sure that the blogs you are commenting on have a high page rank and are somewhat relevant to your site. If you are using spammy tactics, like commenting on hundreds of blogs that are not related it your site, it is obvious to search engines and you may be penalized.

3. Repeating words over and over on a page (Keyword Stuffing)

Obviously, having the keywords that you are trying to rank for on your site is important. However, many people do this excessively. It is important to not overuse your targeted keywords on your website because it can look like you are spamming. Make sure the you are writing content that makes sense and incorporates your keywords a reasonable amount of the time. Generally it is best to use a targeted keyword about 2% - 4% of the time within your content. However this percent varies based on the market and how often your competitors are using this term on their sites. In order to gain additional relevance for a term, you can use synonyms for the term. Google uses a technique called Latent Symantec Indexing to determine which words are related to other words. Here's a trick. Type in your key phrase into Google. Now look at the bottom of the page and see what "other similar searches" or "suggestions" it has for you. If any are different various of your term, you could use those in your site as well and it will increase your website's relevance for both your targeted key phrase and the similar phrase.

4. Not tracking bounce rate

Tracking your website's bounce rate is extremely important. Search engines track bounce rates, as well as traffic to your site, to determine how relevant and useful your site is. They even give you a rank boost if they like what they see. It is important to have a low bounce rate because this means users are viewing more of your content. Writing better content and targeting more relevant words for SEO can help improve your bounce rate and thus increase your rankings.

5. Duplicate Content

Duplicate is the practice of using the same content over and over on the web and was often used to get relevance or backlinks for a website quickly. However, search engines do not look very highly upon repeated content. Google and other search engines want to provide a wide variety of results to viewers with the goal of delivering what is being searched for. Because of the search engine's desire for variety, multiple pages with the same content will are not likely to show up high in search engine rankings. The reason for this is that search engines will perform one of three functions when they see a piece of duplicate content. First, they may de-index all content except for the content it perceives as having the highest authority. Secondly, it may penalize or devalue all of the duplicate content. Lastly, it may do nothing. There are many factors that go into determining how the search engines will react to duplicate content. In short, just stay away from duplicate content. Original content is far better for your website's search engine health.

As times change so do SEO strategy's. When considering how to rank well in the search engines, think about how to make the viewer of your content happy. Next, think about the different ways you can spread the word about the content. For example, you could put out a press release or post to social media sites. Promote yourself in natural ways. Do not use spammy tools or short cuts or eventually you will get caught by the search engines. When that happens, you may never recover.

Do you need help with your SEO?  Contact Foremost Media Today.  Foremost Media Inc is a privately held company concentrating on all aspects of application and internet development and marketing from website design and visibility optimization to social media marketing.
Posted By Jon Ballard

Read More

10 Ways To Improve Your Pinterest For Business Account

1.  Set Up A Business Page
If your page is not already a business page it is important to change it to one. It does not appear any differently to the consumers but you will get several benefits including:

• The ability to add more detailed information about your company. 
• The option to group your business into a category which will make it appear in more searches. 
• Access to analytics data based on traffic to your site and specific pin data (make sure you verify your site through Pinterest to get this data). 
• It will help increase your SEO rankings by making the page look more credible.

2.  Use Targeted SEO Tactics In Your ProfileUse targeted SEO keywords in your business description section on profile. This will help you appear in more search engine queries for these key phrases. Search engines see Pinterest as a credible site so you Pinterest page may rank more easily than your website in some cases.

3.  Add The "Pin It" Button To Your Site
Add “pin it” buttons to your website next to all relevant images (ex. Products, tutorials, and pictures in blog posts). This will:

• Make it easy for website visitors to quickly share your content
• Help create more links back to your site

4.  Add a Pinterest thumbnail

Add a Pinterest thumbnail, as well as other social media thumbnails, to the header or footer or you website. This will allow your website visitors to easily find you on Pinterest.

5.  Add a link to Pinterest on your other social media sitesAdd a link to Pinterest on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media pages. This will help draw more of your current fans to your Pinterest page. Add links to other social media sites on your Pinterest profile as well. 6. If at all possible use the same profile image on all social media sites in order to maintain consistency and help consumers recognize your brand.

7.   Be Social
Use this URL: http://pinterest.com/source/yoursite.com/ to view what others are posting from your website and comment, like, follow them, or thank them. Doing this:

• Encourages consumers to repin your pins.
• Shows consumers you are genuine.
• Helps build consumer relationships.

8.  Pin Others Photos
Make sure you pin relevant things from sites other than your own. Find companies or people on Pinterest that are related to your business and repin some of their posts. This will help increase your number of followers and ensure that you are not bombarding your followers with sales pitches.

9. Tips to follow for pinning: 

• Pin once or twice each day (this can include repins)
• Saturday mornings are best time to post. The best time to post for weekdays is between 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. or after 8:00 p.m. If you want to schedule your pins you can at http://www.pingraphy.com/.
• Use hash tags for your business related keywords (ex. #recipes or #hairstyles) after relevant pins. This will help your pins be seen more often and will increase the chance they show up in related searches.
• Add prices to gifts and products by typing price in caption. This will ensure your pins show up in the gift section. It will also add price to the image which increases the likelihood it will be clicked on.
• Add your URL to caption. This will automatically link the image to your site and increases the click-through-rate. 

10. Ideas for getting more Pinetrest followers:

• Link your Pinterest account with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You currently cannot link to a business Facebook account but you can temporarily link it to a personal Facebook page if you wish. Once connected you can follow some friends that may be interested in your business. Hopefully they will follow you back. After you’re done with this you can unlink the accounts if you want.
• Add in email addresses of those who you think would be interested in following your Pinterest page.
• Post on other social media accounts and let your fans know that you are now on Pinterest. You can even ask them to follow you or check your page out. This will help encourage fans to look at your page and hopefully follow you.
• Share some of your popular pins on other social media sites.
• Have a contest encouraging followers to pin things from your website and have a free give away.

Posted By Jon Ballard

Read More

Essential Tip for SEO with HTTP Request Codes

HTTP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. Day to day activity on the Internet extensively uses HTTP request codes, telling the user-client (ie. your browser) how to react to the information being sent. Usually this happens behind closed doors, but occasionally something goes wrong, door opens, and your confronted by the dreaded 404 - "Page Not Found".

Understanding what the codes mean is essential to moving forward with your website. HTTP request codes can be easily broken into 5 categories, based on the first digit of the error code.

Informational - 1XX
Successful - 2XX
Redirection - 3XX
Client Error - 4XX
Server Error - 5XX

Informational (1XX) and Successful (2XX) function behind the closed doors. They are simply saying everything is in working order, continue with what you are doing.

Server Error (5XX) codes are the opposite. This collection indicates something bad is happening with your server. If you receive these, contact your host provider immediately.

Redirection (3XX) and Client Error (4XX) is where the magic of SEO comes into play. Websites are always evolving, and reorganizing, causing links to break. This is detrimental to the health of your site's SEO if not handled properly.

Pages that no longer exist are handled differently, depending on the CMS (Content Management System), or lack thereof, your site is using. The common HTTP Request Codes assigned to these pages are:

302 - A status code of 302 tells a client that the resource they asked for has temporarily moved to a new location. While allowing the redirect, it blocks all SEO power that any links pointing to the old page would provide to the new page once redirected.

404 - The most common code displayed, 404 tells the user agent that the requested resource could not be found but may be available again in the future. This will throw an error page, as well as stopping the flow of link power. In addition, the search engines will eventually remove the page from the search index, albeit slower than the 410.

410 - A 410 indicates that the resource requested is no longer available and will not be available again. This should be used when a resource has been intentionally removed and the resource should be purged. Upon receiving a 410 status code, the client should not request the resource again in the future. Clients such as search engines will likely remove the resource from their indices, stopping the flow of link power.

With all of these choices, it should be easy to figure which code fits the scenario best, but when you are talking search rankings, you need to follow all of the angles.


Google has indicated that the 410 is treated as "more permanent" than a 404 and that it would be slightly better than a 404, but primarily in the sense that it will remove a 410 from the index faster than a 404. However, 301 is the ONLY redirect in existence that passes external link juice to a redirected page. As a result, while a 410 may make the Google servers slightly happier, because we indicate the page is gone instead of just an error, any of the links attached to the missing pages will not pass their link power to the site.

Using 301 on any page that was previously linked to is the only way to keep all of the link juice flowing to your site. While it may not be the code that best suits the situation, it will help keep your rankings high, and your old links actively bringing people to your site.

Read More