One of the great things about internet marketing is that allows you to measure your return on investment fairly simply if you are doing it right. The following three mistakes made by many internet marketers, however, make it very difficult to measure your return on investment. If you can correct them, then you can ensure that you are using your marketing dollars wisely and making the most of your marketing efforts.

1. You are Not Making the Sale. The whole purpose of a business website is to compel your visitors to purchase your product or service. This means that you have to sell what you have got. You can not just assume that your visitors are going to poke around your site and be so overwhelmed by the magnificence of what you have to offer that they are just going to jump right in and buy. You have to motivate them to buy. You have to ask them to buy. So simply including a Contact us button or a Request a demo button is not going to do the trick. You need to have multiple offers on your website, offers that your visitors will have a hard time refusing. You need to have clear calls to action that motivate your customers to do something right now. And your landing pages need to be designed well so that visitors will see and respond to your offers and calls to action contained therein.
Make sure that you have plenty of offers, and make sure that those offers help your visitors make the connection between the challenge they are facing and the product you are offering. You compel potential customers by showing them that your product helps them go in the right direction.

2. You Have not Done Your Keyword Research. Most business owners truly believe that they have done sufficient keyword research when they have really only scratched the surface. Keyword research needs to be an ongoing process rather than a one-time endeavor. It is not enough to give your webmaster a list of keywords to use when creating your website and then call it a day.

Effective keyword research involves a number of factors. These include: identifying relevant keywords, identifying which keywords have high search volume, identifying which keywords are easy to rank for, constantly monitoring traffic generated by each keyword, and determining which keywords are turning into leads. If you do this regularly and rigorously, you may be able to increase your traffic up to tenfold.

3. You Do not Know Where Your Leads are Coming From. This is the key to internet marketing. When you know where your leads are coming from, you can determine what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong in your efforts to attract potential customers. The most important thing to do is to figure out which efforts are attracting the visitors who become your leads. What works most effectively for you? Keyword optimization? Social media sites? Focus on those and you will see that your leads increase. Avoid spending too much time worrying about how many page views you have or how long your visitors spend clicking around on your site. Those factors are not going to tell you anything valuable and they are not going to help you make the necessary changes that will increase traffic to your site.

Internet marketing professionals and SEO experts are invaluable when it comes to helping you figure out the kinds of mistakes you are marketing in your internet marketing strategy, so Do not hesitate to solicit their input as you correct the errors you have been making so far. While the task of fixing your mistakes may seem overwhelming, these professionals have the experience and expertise to quickly determine how you can turn your internet marketing campaign around so that it works for you. Fix your mistakes quickly and see how your business grows!

Every small business owner knows the importance of a high search engine ranking. SEO experts and internet marketing professionals have built their careers around figuring out how to help their clients achieve top rankings, and small business owners draw on that expertise every day. But whether you have done your own search engine optimization or had a professional do it on your behalf, things sometimes go wrong. If search engines believe that you are spamming or using any other off-limits methods of optimization, you will be banned, often without even realizing it. Here are 5 sign that you have been penalized by Google.

1. You Have a PageRank of 0. PageRank is Google s method of ranking the popularity and relevance of websites. If Google had previously ranked you, but you noticed that your current Page Rank is 0, you can almost guarantee that Google has penalized you. Before you panic, remember that new websites always begin with a PageRank of 0, so you should only worry if you once had a PageRank above 0 and currently have a PageRank of 0.

2. Your Website Is not Indexed. If your pages no longer show up in Google s index, then chances are you have been penalized. Think of a keyword for which your site has ranked in the past and plug it into the search field on Google. Where is your site? If you have dropped from the first page of results to the second, do not panic. Just make a note of it and improve your search engine optimization. But if your site does not show up at all for that particular keyword, then there is a problem. Remember also to ensure that your homepage is not the only page appearing in the search results. A minor penalty will sometimes result in only your homepage appearing rather than your homepage plus other subpages.

3. Use Your Tools. Google s Webmaster Tools is a great way to see how often Google looks at your website. If you use Webmaster Tools and notice a red sign next to your domain name, Google has penalized you. Webmaster Tools will also tell you how many inbound links you have from other sites. Do not forget to check on all of your pages. If Google is not seeing some of them, be sure to resubmit them.

4. Use Analytics. Search the web for free analytics tools to tell you whether or not Google has banned you.

5. Google Search Your Domain. Using Google, type in site:http://www.yourdomain.com. The results you see will tell you how many pages within your website Google has indexed. When you are typing in this request, use a lowercase s since using an uppercase S will cause the request to work improperly.
Search engine optimization can be a tricky process, especially if you are not familiar with its evolution and all the reasons Google has for banning certain practices. If you are unsure of your ability to optimize your site properly, consult an SEO expert or internet marketing professional. And if you discover that you have been banned, seek the help of an SEO professional to help you determine what mistakes you might have made in your optimization process. When you are up to your eyeballs in your own webpage, it is often hard to see what you might have done wrong. Let someone else look for possible errors and problems. You will be glad you did when your site is once again receiving top rankings from Google!

It is no secret that economic times are tight, and it is quite possible that no group is more profoundly affected than small business owners. Every penny counts these days, and it is important that every investment yield a significant return. So in this economic situation, why would you even consider paying top dollar for a premium domain name?

The answer is that premium domain names, also called simple domain names, can make a huge difference for your business.

What is a premium domain name, you ask? A premium domain name is a domain name that was registered at one time but is now available again. Shrewd business owners bought up the most intuitively-named domains long ago such as pizza(dot)com and flowers(dot)com. But owners of these domain names are now willing to part with them for the right price. Some domain names have gone for as much as $7 million, but many are available for anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

Given the amount that a domain name can cost, why would you choose to pay for a premium domain name? Here are 3 reasons.

1. Instant Branding. When you use a premium domain name, you automatically brand yourself. Not only will your domain name be a breeze to remember, but people will instantly associate your product with your name. If your domain name is vodka(dot)com, you would not need to spend much time trying to educate your potential customers about the nature of your product.

2. Increase Search Engine Ranking. Search engines take into account the relevance of your domain name to your product or service, so the easier it is to associate your domain name to your product, the higher your search engine ranking will be.

3. Increased Traffic. Direct navigation occurs when an internet user types a search word directly into the browser address line rather than using a search engine. So if a person types shoes.com into the address line, comes up with your website, and clicks the link to your site, that user has navigated directly to your site. As you might imagine, having a premium domain name can make a huge difference in the amount of traffic that comes to your site via direct navigation. And you did not spend a single penny on marketing that would direct that user to your site!
When you consider the fact that 80% of adults in the United States use the internet regularly, it seems like a good investment to spend whatever it takes to purchase a premium domain name.

If you are a small business owner, consider the possibility of purchasing a premium domain name and set some of your marketing budget aside to do so. Go to the website register.com to see if there is a domain name available that is relevant to your product or service, and then do some research to see what kind of return on your investment you might see if you purchase that domain name. If this kind of research seems overwhelming, consider consulting an internet marketing professional to help you determine whether a premium domain name is a worthwhile investment for your business. An internet marketing professional can also help you access search tools that will tell you which domain names will benefit you the most.

Although it seems like a big investment, purchasing a premium domain name can make a huge difference in the success of your business. A premium domain name will allow you to cut down on marketing spending in the long run, it will increase your search engine rankings, and it will help potential customers associate your business with your name. Consider the investment. It may be well worth it!

SEO experts know that one of the best ways to promote your business is to blog. Unfortunately, many business owners are under the impression that blogging takes a lot of time, or they have seen too many bloggers who start out with gusto only to abandon their blogs two or three months later. While both concerns are legitimate, there is no reason to let them keep you from starting your own blog. After all, business blogging is a great way to build a following and shorten the sales process.

Rare is the sales blogger who settles in a quiet room with a pencil and a pad of paper to write down his most profound ideas. Instead, most bloggers spend their time reading other blogs and interacting with others within their market niche. All this interaction makes it easier, not harder, to blog. Once you are in tune with what everyone else is thinking and writing, coming up with your own material is a breeze.

Here are 7 ways to quickly generate your own content.

1. Interviews. Find an expert in your market niche and see if she is willing to be interviewed via email. Read other interviews to glean interesting and timely questions, and then ask her those. Most experts are willing to be interviewed because they get some exposure out of the deal, too. And the whole process only takes about 15 minutes.

2. Guest Bloggers. Hunt down an expert in your field who has expertise in an area you lack and ask him to write an article for your blog. Not only will you increase your following by attracting your guest blogger s base, but you will end up ranking higher for keywords that would not normally generate a lot of traffic for you.

3. Rewrite. Read some of your old blog posts and find one whose lesson remains applicable to your situation today. You probably have additional insight now, so share that with your readers. Link to the old post and add your new insights. Thirty minutes later you have a new article!

4. Have a Contest. This provides a bonus post because you not only have to post information about the contest, but you also have to tell everyone who the winner was.

5. Ask a Good Question. A good question can ignite great conversation. Use Twitter to help build a following for your blog if you do not already have one. The great conversation generated by your question will ensure that your readers will stick around. Everyone likes to be asked for their opinion. Let your readers share theirs.

6. Use Lists. Lists are great article-writing tools because people are automatically attracted to bulleted or numbered content. Because it is easier to read and digest, readers are more likely to slow down for listed material than they are for material that is written in multiple paragraphs. If you have found a list that you like on someone else s blog, repost it on your blog using only the bulleted phrases and add a link to the original. Change the title of your post, of course, but always link back to the source.

7. Aggregator Blogging. Scan blogs within your market niche to find articles that you think would interest your readers. Publish one or two paragraphs from each article, link to the original, and add a sentence or two of your own to tell readers what you did or did not find helpful about the article. This is also a great way to start good conversations and build networks with other bloggers.

Do not forgo the opportunity to build links, network, and shorten the time it takes to make a sale simply because you think that business blogging is too time-consuming. Use what is already around you to make the process quick and painless, and you will see what a difference it will make for your business.

SEO experts and internet marketing professionals understand that changing and/or moving your website can result in positive outcomes regarding your search engine ranking. The most common changes that business owners make are changes to domain names, changes in web design, changes in content management systems, and changes in web hosts.

All such changes can be beneficial, but they do not come without risks. So before you make a move, consider how such a move might affect your business in particular.

1. A Change in Domain Name. Many business owners feel that a change of domain name is appropriate since a domain name relevant to website content can have a positive effect on search engine rankings. Some businesses change domain names because they have been acquired by other companies, and some businesses change domain name because the name of the company itself changed. So what should you do if you plan to change your domain name, for whatever reason? If you are only changing your domain name, 301 redirects are a good start. Once those are place, contact the owners of all your top referring websites and ask them to update their links to reflect the change in your domain name.

Your primary concern in changing your domain name should be to communicate to other search engines that your change is permanent in order to retain as much link equity as you can.

2. A Change in Web Design and Content Management Systems. These are the two factors that can most dramatically effect your visibility. Before you undertake such a change, be sure you understand exactly how search engines will treat your website in the aftermath. When companies make a change to a website, their primary concern is making the transition smooth for potential customers who visit the site. What they often neglect to take into consideration is the effect that a change in URL syntax will have on search engines.

Create a map of old URLs to new URLs, and use 301 redirects as mentioned above. And just as you did when changing domain names, contact the owners of your top referring sites and request that they change the URLs to which they are linking.
If you have pages that can not be mapped, use user-friendly and search engine-friendly 404 error pages. Once you have finished the CMS and design changeover, beware of the need to constantly monitor broken links.

3. A Change in Web Host. The only real issue with changing web hosts is timing. If this is your plan, you should start by putting your site at its new location. Then make your DNS changes so that your domain names points to the new location. Make sure your new location has been crawled by the search engines before closing down your previous location.

If you are considering a website change, your primary concern should be making a smooth transition both for your customers and visitors, and for search engines. Many companies are so concerned about making a seamless transition for users that they forget the impact a change can have on search engine rankings. Make it easy for search engines to understand what is going on.

If you are uncomfortable with making a website change, or if you are not sure how to make it easy for search engines to translate your move, consider hiring an SEO expert or internet marketing professional to help. These individuals have years of experience in helping companies transition from one web location to another. They can help you communicate a domain name change to search engines.

They can help you create maps and implement 301 redirects if you change your design and/or your content management system. And they can help you correctly time your transition if you change your web host.