Content writers and amateur web developers are often cognizant of the importance of keyword density—but many lack the knowledge needed to actually put this concept to beneficial use. One of the biggest myths about keyword density is that more is always better. But in reality, overburdening your website’s copy with key phrases will have a detrimental effect both on your reader’s experience and your search engine ranking. Keyword stuffed content obviously identifies itself as spam to both human viewers and search engine spiders. Still, you shouldn’t completely ignore keyword density. But rather than aiming for a certain percentage—such as 1 or 3 percent—you should try to work keywords into a couple strategic errors. As long as it sounds natural, of course. Focus on the following areas:

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Much of your search engine optimization (SEO) and Internet advertising success relies on solid keyword research. And to get the most mileage out of your keyword optimization, it’s best to target keywords with varying levels of focus. That’s because there’s a certain amount of tradeoff that occurs when choosing your keywords. In general, a broad keyword has high search volume, high competition and low conversion. A more focused keyword, on the other hand, may have less search volume, but lower competition and higher conversion (if targeted correctly). The rationale is that those who are using very specific search terms—for example, "how to identify vintage fiestaware” instead of "dinnerware”—are more likely to have a very clear purpose for clicking through to your website, thus, it’s easier for you to guess what they are looking for and to deliver it. Of course, if you target nothing but laser focused, highly specific keywords, you’ll only garner a hand ... Read more »

Ranking high in the search engine results pages (SERPs) is key to any Internet marketing or Internet advertising campaign. And the way you craft your content makes a big difference in how your website is ranked among your competitors. Specifically, copywriters want to aim for a certain level of keyword density, or the ratio of targeted keyphrases to other text. But in order to do so without alienating your human audience, a balance must be struck. Luckily, there are a few unobtrusive ways to boost your keyword density without making your copy read like spam. It all has to do with a few quirks in the way that search engines read your website.

Unlike your high school English teacher, search engine spiders could care less about punctuation. In fact, a period, a comma, a space, a page b ... Read more »

Writing landing page copy is an inexact science, but there are certain elements of conversion-friendly style that consistently deliver more clicks, purchases and subscriptions. Each of the following dos and don’ts of landing page copy are all geared towards creating highly readable, crystal clear copy. Keep them in mind as you craft your next landing page.

Do make a complete sales pitch

It’s wrong to assume that your customer will be coming to your page with any prior knowledge about your product or will go through the trouble to contact you for more information. Lay all your cards on the table on each and every landing page. Include the main benefits of your product, the price and everything else you’d tell the customer if you had them on the phone, about to make the sale.

Don’t overlap your selling points

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In a review of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has updated the language of the law to allow "jailbreaking” of smartphones, such as the iPhone. Jailbreaking refers to the practice of bypassing Apple’s controls in order to install unapproved software on the iPhone. A similar practice, called "rooting,” achieves the same goal for Android smartphones. According to the new language, any efforts that a cell phone manufacturer might take to bar users from installing legally obtained software on their phones violates copyright law. Specifically, the paragraph in question says:

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

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Getting potential customers to your website or sales page is half the battle—getting them to follow through with a purchase (conversion) is the other. Conversion is an interesting art and science, especially when compared to the first part of the equation. Search engine optimization, pay-per-click and most other Internet marketing strategies are very much numbers games. It’s the endless pursuit of more backlinks, higher PageRank, more impressions, etc., etc. A website with a large number of links from authority websites naturally garners more traffic. That’s easy to understand. But when it comes to conversion, there are some aspects that seem to defy logic.

Take this one, for example. Which offer do you think would convert best: (A) 50 percent off (B) half off or (C) buy one get one free. If you guessed C—the almighty BOGO—then you guessed right. Studies and test conducted by scores of direct marketers back up the ... Read more »

Google, in its noble quest for usability, is always dropping hints to webmasters for how to get their pages indexed correctly and ranked well. But rarely do they reveal specific details on how the system works. The reasons are obvious—the more you know about the mechanism of the Google algorithm, the easier it is to exploit it (read: spam). Because of this, Google usually limits itself to recommending search engine optimization tweaks by speaking to the spirit of the Google algorithm.

One of the latest recommendations was to use related keywords in your SEO efforts in addition to your main keyword. For example, if you were trying to rank high for "Internet marketing books,” you shouldn’t just stuff your copy with the words "Internet marketing books” like those are the only three words you know how to say. Google encourages webmasters to also use words like "email marketi ... Read more »

Investors, manufacturers and advertisers are betting that electronic readers—such as the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad—are going to be the preferred means for reading long form literature in the near future. But according to a study conducted by Dr. Jakob Nielsen, curling up with the classics in electronic form isn’t exactly faster than the old-fashioned way—nor is it necessarily more enjoyable.

Drawing on a small sample of subjects (about 20), Dr. Nielsen gauged how long it took each one of them to read through a selection of Ernest Hemingway works. Each research subject read a story from a print book, then on a computer and then on an iPad and lastly, on a Kindle. Dr. Nielsen’s findings showed that readers were 6.2 percent slower on an iPad and 10.7 percent slower on the Kindle, when compared to reading in print. With regard to reading on a PC, subjects responded that they didn’t particularly enjoy it as much ... Read more »

Content is king—that much is obvious to web developers, Internet marketers and SEOs alike. But understanding of the how and why of content’s rule over the search engine results pages is a little bit more elusive. Many SEOs have taken the tip that Google likes "fresh content” and taken it to mean that they should occasionally rejigger the text on their website periodically to make it seem new to the search engine spiders. Move a navigation bar here, alter a title tag there, and somehow the Google juice would start flowing like wine. But those who use this practice may be misinterpreting this hot SEO tip. Search engine algorithms are designed to recognize and reward genuine user value, and most attempts to game the system fall flat sooner or later. The same is true for "fresh content.” The real way to attract traffic and boost your overall search engine ranking is to continue to add substantial content—not just new content. The most logical avenue for th ... Read more »

ScienceBlogs, the largest online community dedicated to science, recently added a controversial new blog to its ranks: a nutrition blog sponsored by PepsiCo. The blog network originally consisted of over 80 bloggers that have been hand-picked for their "originality, insight, talent and dedication” to scientific dialog. One such blogger, who writes under the penname GrrlScientist, has used ScienceBlogs as a forum to lodge her distaste over this decision—a sentiment which is presumably echoed by other ScieneBlogs readers and authors. According to GrrlScientist, the corporate sponsorship of the nutrition blog introduces the potential for a conflict of interest. By including to what amounts as a "corporate PR blog” among the existing bloggers, it undermines the credibility and willfully disinterested status that they have built up over the years, argues GrrlScientist.

What is interesting about GrrlScientist’s diatribe ... Read more »