Small Companies Using SEO Can Shine

Setting up the navigation and layout and other design decisions for your website should be done with the user in mind first but followed closely by considerations for maximizing its ability to be found by the search engines. SEO (search engine optimization) is changing as are the benefits of being a well optimized site. Google changes the rules regularly as it tunes itself to improve it's product (search). But the customers are changing at the same time. Depending on where they are in their personal use of web tools they are all moving towards greater use and more dependence on electronic search results. Keeping track of both factors is crucial to competing in a world where having a strong web presence is no longer optional.

Surprisingly, a lot of large companies are not quick to see these changes and fall behind. They spend huge amounts on the sites and the marketing and don't use the latest knowledge in their efforts. A much smaller company can spend a much smaller amount and rank well or even dominate a market-space simply by paying attention and making effective use of search engine optimization..

Check Your Website in Different Browsers

Something you need to do if you have a website even six months old. Open and go thru the different pages with a critical eye with at least three of the most popular browsers. Each browser renders the HTML code in your website differently and something that looks great in one might not even show in another.

A real problem right now comes from the recent release of the latest Internet Explorer by Microsoft. IE8. I have found a number of sites that are 2 to 7 years old that do not act as intended with this new issue.

Here is the statistics regarding the browser wars....as of October 2011...

2011	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
October	21.7 %	38.7 %	32.3 %	4.2 %	2.4 %

When I evaluate a site I use IE, Firefox & Chrome. Chrome is my everyday browser. Contact me if you have a question about the difference in browsers.

Search on Mobile Devices

From Manta about mobile search;

More than 50% of online searches will be done from mobile devices in 2012, Google says. That means it's more important than ever to be found where customers are looking. If your site--or at a minimum, your home page--is not optimized for mobile, get it done. Also get listed on other sites that are optimized for mobile (like Manta).

SEO Still Beats All Others for Lead Generation

According to a report from 2011 State of Digital Marketing Report SEO is still the better investment for companies online.

Whether B2B or B2C, both groups of marketers agree that SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation. 57 percent of B2B marketers credit SEO as their primary source of generating leads, while 41 percent of B2C marketers said the same thing.

You can download the report at the above link or call Visual App and we can go over what this data might mean for your company. Your website is one of the primary building blocks for your customer service.

Interesting piece of data from digital marketing guy/VC Darren Herman: Just five companies control 64% of all online spending. (Incredibly, Google controls 46% of all online spending.)

One thing to note, says Herman: "With Facebook only now starting to monetize their platform, you can start to see how big an impact they could have on the dominance of the digital advertising landscape."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-these-five-companies-control-64-of-all-online-ad-spending-2011-10#ixzz1cSqr6uAG