SEO Meta tags for your WordPress pages & posts

Title & Description meta data appears in Google search results

If we search Google for “outdoor furniture” we get the following listing.

Google search results for “outdoor furniture”

Now, when we view the page source at “www.outdoorlivingdirect.com.au”, we get the following META information in the page header.

Title META tag is:

<meta name=”title” content=”Outdoor Furniture Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra”>

The Description META tag is:

<meta name=”description” content=”Call 1300 067 138 – we are Australia’s best choice for outdoor furniture at exceptional prices! Free delivery to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart”>

So we can see that Google is using their Title and Description verbatim! (Hobart is missing because Google only uses the first 60 characters of the META description).

Your META Title & Description tags are essentially Google ads.

Your Title & Description tags will help your ranking in Google, and if worded right, will encourage a customer to click the link.

Tags:

description meta tags, description tags, google, google search results, header title, meta data, meta description, meta tag, page header, page source, SEO & SEM, Website Developer, Wordpress

The post SEO – Title, Description, & Keywords appeared first on xEcommerce.

On many occasions I went looking for simple icon png’s to incorporate into a design. It took hours, and finding icons that matched took even longer. Now most icons you are ever likely to need are easily available, and stored in font libraries that are tiny in size, and so simple to use.

You want to add an icon? Easy call the font face from css, and then use the appropriate character in the HTML document. Changing the size is also simple because fonts are vector graphics, so just set the font size with a simple css “font-size:” declaration, and you’re done. No need to ever fire up photoshop!

Oh, you can also create font sets using collections of characters from different fonts libraries! Too damn simple, and so efficient!

Here are the steps:

1. Select the icons you want to add to your font collection.

Go to http://icomoon.io/app/ to select the icons you want to use.

Select icon to add to your font

Also visit http://thenounproject.com and do a search for any icon you like (this place is like a free stockimages.com site for icons! Awesome!)

Search for any icon font character under the sun! Great service! Donate!

2. Download the icons font

Save and download font

3. Save it to your theme folder

Unzip icomoon.zip and copy font files to the theme folder (create a fonts folder if one does not exist). There are 4 font files – each browser uses it’s own format.

WordPress theme folder showing fonts

Shows each font file associated with each browser. Thanks to CSS Tricks.

4. Copy css to theme folder

Rename the style.css file to iconfont.css and copy it to the theme folder. (in this example i called the file dingbat-fonts.css)

Shows font css file created by Icomoon

5. Call iconfont.css from wordpress stylesheet (style.css)

Call the font css file from theme style.css

6. Add the HTML markup to the web page.

<span aria-hidden=”true” class=”icon-home”></span>

That’s it. Should work.

xEcommerce header with use of icon font in top menu

Tags:

font collection, font libraries, font sets, Fonts, free fonts, stockimages, vector graphics, Web Design, Website Developer, Wordpress

The post Adding dingbat / icon fonts to wordpress appeared first on xEcommerce.

1. Ad heading must closely match the search query

If the search phrase is “Nokia Cameras”, your ad should include the term “Nokia Camaras”.

2. Ad body that is compelling and has a very tempting call to action

Eg.
“Latest Range Of Cameras”
“30% Off Nokia Cameras”

3. Add keyword phrase to display URL

Instead of www.bestcamerashop.com.au as the display URL, use www.BestCameraShop.com.au/NokiaCameras

4. Landing page that closely matches the ad

There is no point getting a click (which you will pay for) if the user is not immidiately satisfied that your landing page has the goods.

• Make sure that your landing page is compelling and continues the conversation started in the ad.
• Use the same phrases used in your ad (ideally early in the copy and as a heading).
• Imagine you are a user that clicks on the ad. What do you expect to see on the landing page?
• For example if your ad reads;
  30% Off Nokia Cameras

Make sure the landing page contains exactly that – Nokia Specials.

• Don’t send them to your home page.
• Don’t send them to your cameras page (which might list your Pentax cameras first)
• Don’t even send them to your Nokia category page (which may list Nokia’s at full price)
• Send them to your Nikia Specials page (Preferably with a heading that reads “30% off Nokia Cameras”)

Of course it’s not always possible to be so specific on your landing page (especially if your ecommerce software does not offer that much control), nevertheless, that’s what will get you the most sales!

Use canonical tags on landing pages with duplicate content

If, you have landing pages that closely match your ad.
& If, you have many different ads.
Then, you will likely have many landing pages with mostly duplicate content.
So, to avoid peing penalised by Google for having too many pages with duplicate content, be sure to select your preffered page and use a canonical tag on all duplicate pages that point to the preferred page.

If you have any more simple adwords tips, leave them in the comments box.

Tags:

Adwords, google, heading, Internet Marketing, landing page, phrases, search phrase

The post Getting results from Adwords appeared first on xEcommerce.

I was recently looking for a local car wash and naturally used Google to find one (who uses the yellow pages any more!)
One of the ads caught my attention.

In addition to the address, phone number, and a link to their website, A1 Car Wash also had a few photos of the business (the outdoor seating, comfortable lounge inside the shop, their beverages fridge, and a photo of their pricelist – very nice).

A1 had added all this information to their “Google Places” account.

I could see all of this information without going to their website. But how?

Google takes this information and stitches it into the Search Results Page. No need to click a link to open a website. It’s more accessible and more convenient. No need to open a dozen pages looking for prices and opening hours. The answer is right there.

Unlike the contents of their website, A1′s Google Places account asked specific questions about the business that Google cannot easily parse from their website. Information such as opening hours, payment methods accepted, photos of the shop, a short bio, etc.

Google places also supports reviews, and you can be sure that Google will use these reviews when ranking their results.

Google places is critical for mobile services. Google knows the approximate location of your website (from the IP information), but has no way of knowing the exact address. So if someone is looking for a local business from their mobile phone, Google has no way of knowing if your business is near the customer without Google places. No Google Places account, means your business will not show in the mobile search results. So chances are your competitor will get the business.

The best part of Google Places is that it’s a free service.

If you have a Google Adwords Ad campaign, make sure you ad a Goggle Paces 

Extension to the Ads. This will add an extra line ad the bottom of your ad showing the business address.

Tags:

ad campaign, competitor, google, google adwords, Mobile eCommerce, mobile phone, mobile search, mobile services, yellow pages

The post Your Business MUST use Google Places appeared first on xEcommerce.

A paragraph or two describing the product, a product image, and a couple of links etc. does not impress Google, so your ad will rank poorly. This will drive up the cost of advertising, and simultaneously lower your position in the results (of course the click-through-rate are also critical).

All this makes sense. Google wants to link to high value sites, because that’s also what their users want.

Improving Adwords Quality Score

A great website will naturally have a lot of good quality information – not just a product description.

Great website content include:

• A Blog related to the products or service on offer
• How-to pages
• Best Buy Guides
• Customer Reviews / Testimonials
• FAQ Pages
• A Glossary of Terms
• Discounts / Specials
• & Always; Original & relevant content
  • Images / Videos
  • Lists / Tables
  • Links to other relevant information

The other very important pages to have on your ecommerce website are:

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Sitemap

Tags:

cost of advertising, ecommerce website, google, Internet Marketing, privacy policy, product description, relevant content, testimonials, website content

The post Improving Adwords Ad Quality Score appeared first on xEcommerce.

This tool is great when you need a quick list of the most popular keyword phrases related to a blog article you are writing.

If I’m writing a blog post on “ecommerce”, I type the term “ecommerce” into Google and it shows me the four most searched terms.

I can then choose a phrase from these suggestions to use as part of my header in the blog post.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

This is arguably the best tool to use to get keyword suggestions, simply because it is a Google tool, and mist users use Google for their searches.

The results (if you can believe them – I sometimes wonder) are what users are searching for on Google.

Wordtracker Keyword Tool

Wordtracker is a paid service, but offers a few things that Google’ Keyword tool doesn’t;

• Wordtracker gives you more than 200 results per term which is good for finding long-tail keywords. Then again the very long tails contain phrases which are rarely used and arguably not worth chasing.
• Wordtracker gives you “related: keywords. So, even if you type in ecommerce, you might get back suggestions for “shopping cart”

In my opinion it’s great to spend a little time researching the keyword phrases your business customers might be using, but it’s more important to create great quality content. Ultimately, that is what your visitors will come back for, and that is what search engines are getting better at finding.

Best keyword tools idea?

Write good content  - is future proof!

(do as I say, not as I do :)

Tags:

business customers, google, Internet Marketing, keyword phrases, keyword suggestions, keyword tool, most searched terms, quality content, search engines, Shopping cart, wordtracker

The post Keyword Tools & Stuff appeared first on xEcommerce.

For example the xEcommerce.com.au website sells shopping cart solutions. We have three different products;

Budget Shopping Cart – uses an existing design template
Professional Shopping Cart – fully customised solution
Catalogue only solution – no cart or on-line payments

The problem is that all three packages services share many of the same features, which are listed in point form. For example they all have inventory control, use a product slideshow, and have a built in CMS, etc.

When Google crawls these pages it’s possible it will consider all three pages as duplicates.

So What’s The Problem With Duplication

Google wants to provide their users with the best search results possible. And of course no one using the Google service would be impressed if they were served a search results page full of identical information.

When faced with duplicate content, Google has to decide which page is the authoritative page. To do this it probably uses its standard ranking algorithms. The preferred page will then be indexed while the others are largely ignored.

Avoiding Duplicate Content

Although it’s not always easy to do, business owners have no choice. If you want a page to rank now and into the future it has to have unique content.

In the case of xEcommerce’s duplicate pages. A paragraph has been added to each product page that is completely unique. Also, I have tried to make subtle changes to the features list. The feature is the same, but uses synonyms.

Tags:

business owners, business websites, cms, design template, google, Search Optimisation, seo, shopping cart solutions, synonyms

The post Avoid Duplicate Content – save your SEO appeared first on xEcommerce.

In addition to the legal reasons, it appears there might be another reason to have them – Google. It has been suggested by some SEO/SEM professionals that Google may penalise websites without these documents. Maybe it’s true, maybe not.

It’s understandable that a small business might not want to pay a lawyer to draft up expensive legal documents if they are not considered necessary.

The good news is that these documents are available for free online. Download the sample document and modify it to suit your small business’s needs.

Generic Privacy Policy Pages

http://www.freeprivacypolicy.org/generic.php
http://www.visser.com.au/blog/generic-privacy-policy-for-australian-websites/

Generic Terms & Conditions Page

http://www.website-law.co.uk/documents.html

Returns Policy Page

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=164926&seqNum=8
http://www.chinookwebs.com/returnssample.asp (lists questions to consider when creating a returns policy page)

Help With Your About Us Page

http://www.onextrapixel.com/2009/07/31/the-essence-of-about-us-page-with-12-captivating-showcases/

Small Business selling products on-line

http://www.draftdocs.com.au/virtuemart/commercial/terms-and-conditions-of-trade-for-internet-purchasing.html
http://www.draftdocs.com.au/virtuemart/commercial/terms-and-conditions-of-trade-for-web-based-business.html
(the above two are available for a fee of $330 – at time of publication)

If you have come across free documents useful to on-line retailers, please let me know via the comments box, and I will add it to this list.

Tags:

free documents, legal documents, policy docs, privacy policy, Search Optimisation, small business, terms & conditions, web based business

The post Free Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy docs for your business appeared first on xEcommerce.

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Tags:

business strategies, business website, ecommerce, labour of love, marketing, sleepless hours, small business, small businesses, Small e-Business, xEcommerce

The post Does Anyone Read Small Business Blogs? appeared first on xEcommerce.

As the saying goes, “Images are worth a thousand words”.

Short Attention Span

Statistics show that the average Internet user spends very little time assessing if a website serves their needs – possible only a couple of seconds.

With only a couple of seconds to cement a users attention, there is no point presenting them with a page of text. A simple slideshow with images, and short tag lines does the job very well. Then, once the user is convinced they are in the right place, we can direct them to the meatier content.

Slideshows Add Appeal

Slideshows are also a way to colour and style to your home page. Designed correctly they can summarise the content and theme of your shopping cart site, without obstructing the other content on the site (product categories, specials section, etc.)

Application of Slideshows

Slideshows can be content static or content dynamic.

In other words they can be created by the shopping cart software to automatically include products from your database, or they can be created manually by a designer.

In the case of a content static site the slideshow can be more appealing, but need to be redesigned each time you want to change the slideshow content.

Use whichever solution your needs require and budget allow.

Tags:

budget, business strategies, ecommerce, images, product categories, shopping cart software, short attention span, usability, Web Design

The post Slideshow A+ Plus For Shopping Cart Websites appeared first on xEcommerce.