It’s the biggest search news of late and it’s got website owners across the U.S. and Canada anxious to see if their SEO rankings will bounce or bottom out as a result. On August 31, Yahoo disabled its API key in Rank Tracker and officially switched to Bing technology. Unofficially dubbed “Binghoo,” the combined Bing and Yahoo search engines account for about 5.2 billion monthly searches – a nice chunk of the market, though still no match for Google.  Still, it’s a strong competitor in the overall search market, and there are ways to leverage the Yahoo-Bing merger to help maintain or improve your SEO results.

If your SEO efforts primarily are focused on keywords, know that keyword search habits of Yahoo, Bing and Google users may vary. Differences exist when it comes to the criteria that Google and Bing use to rank sites as well. For instance, Bing tends to give more weight to domain age, topical relevancy and outbound linking than does Google. Inbound links that feature your target keywords in anchor texts prove even more effective on Bing than on Google. And Google favors sites with steady feed of fresh blog content, whereas Bing gives search preference to major news sites than to blogs.

AppSoft Web Design’s SEO engineers can help determine the right keyword mix, inbound/outbound link strategy and other search result-boosting tactics to ensure high rankings in both the Google and Yahoo/Bing search results. Get a quick start on climbing the Binghoo search ladder. Contact AppSoft Web Design at 800-736-9112 or via our online email form today.

Considering boosting your website’s appeal with web video? The stats show it’s a great idea both for web marketing and for search engine optimization (SEO). A full 97% of Internet users in the United States use the internet to shop, according to NPD Group, a leading global provider of consumer and retail market research information. A Yellow Pages study shows that many of them are making purchasing decisions based on seeing web video.

According to the Yellow Pages study 80% of American web users have watched a video ad online. Of them:

• 52% took action after viewing the ad;
• 31% visited the advertisers’ website;
• 22% searched for more information about the product;
• 16% talked to friends/family about the product;
• 9% forwarded the video ad to friends/family;
• 15% visited the store;
• 12% made a purchase.

A great example of the power of video as a web marketing and SEO tool comes from FindLaw.com, an online legal information service: “The results of new research demonstrate that online video marketing, adding an online video to a law firm Web site can help increase conversions from prospective clients. According to the research, consumers typically visit an average of almost 5 websites (4.8) before they end up making a decision as to which attorney to choose. When video is added to the lawyer’s website, this number decreases to 1.8.”

AppSoft Web Design has several award-winning video production professionals on staff, plus an in-house studio where we produce eye-catching web video projects designed to drive up your website traffic and boost your sales. To get started on your web marketing video, contact AppSoft Web Design at 800-736-9112 or via our online email form. Be sure to check the box beside “Web Videography.”

Once upon a time, search engine optimization (SEO) worked on a few proven techniques heavy on keyword placement and links. For the savvy web marketer, these few steps could place a website atop Google and other search engine rankings relatively easily, generating traffic and sales. No more. Today’s SEO is a much more complex animal with more factors playing important roles in the success of online businesses and ecommerce sites. The three most critical factors in the transformation of SEO over the past few years are the need for high quality content, social media and online video.

High Quality Content: One-time keyword stuffing works in SEO today like your mother’s 8-track cassettes work on your MP3 player. It simply doesn’t. Both search engines and live visitors today look for well-written and informative content, including website copy and blogs, that makes their visit to a site worthwhile. They want information and details that are updated regularly. Nothing will send a web visitor elsewhere quicker than recognizing a static site that hasn’t offered anything new in months.

Social Networking: Social networking websites have made such an impact that the words “Facebook me” are replacing “email me” among not just friends but business associates as well. Tens of thousands of businesses today use social networking profiles to more easily communicate with their audiences, grow their audiences and drive those audiences to their main websites and into their stores. A social media presence helps boost customer satisfaction by offering a perceived closeness to an actual individual than does an email form on a company’s primary website or a 1-800 number that takes customers through a maze of recordings and dial options before reaching someone who can listen and help. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter also help companies monitor the “buzz” about their products and services and tailor their overall marketing campaigns accordingly.

Online Video: Companies increasingly are using online video for SEO, informational, instructional and promotional purposes.  Once expensive and difficult to produce, high-quality video now is possible with affordable equipment and minimal training. Even a simple video, optimized appropriately, can help boost a company’s SEO ranking. Commercials, infomercials, how-tos and client testimonials all are effective ways to use online video to boost SEO efforts for online businesses.

AppSoft Development, headquartered in Jacksonville Beach, FL with operations in Orlando and California, can help improve your company website’s SEO with regularly updated, high quality, keyword optimized content and management of your social media profiles. Our in-house production team can write, shoot and edit your online video as well. To bring your SEO efforts up to date, contact AppSoft Development at 800-736-9112.

If you’re an online retailer and you have yet to log into the social media world, you’re undoubtedly missing out on a flood of new customers and revenue. According to a recent study by ForeSee Results titled The Key to Driving Retail Success with Social Media: Focus on Facebook, 69 percent of all online shoppers use a social media site. Of them, more than 80% are on Facebook – the dominant social media powerhouse that boasts more than 500 million users.

The study polled nearly 10,000 visitors to the biggest e-retail websites nationwide. Among the key findings on social media and online retailing:

• 56% of shoppers to top e-retail websites who interact with social media websites have elected to “friend” or “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This means that shoppers are choosing to engage in relationships with retailers via social media sites.
• 49% of respondents who “friend” or “follow” companies through social media do so to learn about special deals and options.
• 45% of users friend or follow companies to learn about products.
• Only 5% use social media primarily for customer support.

Of the online shoppers who regularly use social media sites:

• 81% use Facebook
• 31% use YouTube
• 22% use MySpace
• 16% use Twitter
• 12% use LinkedIn

An effective social media strategy drives new and existing customers to your main website, where visits turn into sales. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace facilitate the long-recognized top marketing tool — word of mouth advertising. Happy customers tell their friends about your company via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn friend and fan suggestions. And research continues to bear out the fact that a friend’s recommendation is a top factor in purchasing decisions. YouTube is a great spot for visual messages including commercials, infomercials, customer testimonials and how-to or instructional videos that showcase your company’s products and services.

Not convinced? Let AppSoft Web Design show you how a carefully crafted social media campaign can boost your website traffic and online sales. We offer multiple social media management, blogging and SEO/SEM packages tailored to fit any budget, whether you’re a mom-and-pop operation or a large company with hundreds of employees. Contact Devan Stuart or Rachel Kuncicky at 904-241-9777 or toll-free at 800-736-9112.

New research shows that colleges and universities nationwide increasingly are turning to social media to help recruit new students. Social media mixes may include presence on social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, plus the video sharing-turned-social network site YouTube, plus blogging, vlogging (video blogging), message boards and podcasts.

A full 88% of college and university admissions offices believe that social media is either “somewhat” or “very” important to recruitment efforts, according to a study recently released by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAO). The study also revealed:

• 33% of colleges maintain a blog
• 29% maintain a presence on social networking sites
• 27% maintain online message boards or bulletin boards
• 14% use podcasts

The college-social media relationship is a two-way deal, as more than half (53%) of college recruitment offices report they monitor social media sites for “buzz” about their institution. This kind of readily available research allows them to tailor their social media approaches and messages.

“Social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter and blogs, are key to communicating with this generation of students,” says Joyce Smith, NACAC CEO. “While still no substitute for face-to-face interaction, social media have opened lines of communication and inquiry for both students and institutions that were inconceivable only a decade ago.”

Institutions reporting recent success include the University of Florida, which set out to recruit 10 to 12 additional graduate students each to three different programs. The idea came about via plans developed by students in a graduate-level public relations class. The students created Facebook pages for each of the programs and included course descriptions, faculty and student bios and information on research projects. Grad students and faculty members posted status updates and comments, and responded when fans (primarily undergrad students) posted questions and comments. The result: All three programs easily hit their recruitment goals.

The social media-as-recruitment tool approach can be used not only by schools, but by any organization or institution seeking to recruit new students, members, volunteers, etc. Examples include churches, nonprofit organizations, gyms and business networking groups among many, many others. AppSoft Web Design can help manage your organization’s social media and blogging campaigns, including writing search engine optimized blog entries and social media posts, plus recruiting fans and friends to your social media sites. All are designed to drive web traffic to your main website, where you can turn fans and friends into paying clients. Contact Devan Stuart or Rachel Kuncicky at 904-241-9777 or toll free at 800-736-9112 to get started.

In a recent survey by the webzine Practical eCommerce, a full 95 percent of responding businesses agree that SEO is important. In fact, effective search engine optimization has become a top priority for Internet marketing professionals nationwide. But there is a huge gap between the number of entrepreneurs and business leader who realize the power of SEO and those who understand how to build and use it to the benefit of their companies.

Among the highlights of the survey, completed by polling readers:

• 95% of respondents said SEO was important to their businesses;
• Only 3.1 percent said they didn’t know whether SEO was important and one lone respondent declared SEO decidedly unimportant;
• 82.2% of respondents said that their websites are search engine optimized;
• 11% said that their websites were not SEO’ed and 6.3% were unsure;
• 40.6% of respondents said they were confident in their understanding of SEO;
• 54.7% said they “somewhat” understand SEO;
• And 4.7% percent admit they don’t understand SEO at all.

An understanding of SEO’s marketing power is becoming increasingly important to a business’ bottom line and its ability to compete in today’s marketplace. Consider a recent Internet Retailer study in which 51 percent of retail marketers reported that at least a quarter of their website traffic comes from natural search, compared to just 28 percent who could say the same for paid search.

But if your understanding of the workings of SEO is limited, you’re not alone. SEO is an ever-changing beast and it takes a lot to keep on top of all the new developments in the search engine world. The AppSoft Web Design/AppSoft Development team keeps up-to-the-minute on all the latest in the industry. We can help you develop an SEO plan that boosts your business while meeting your budget. Options include SEO website copy, blogging and social media management. For more information, contact us via our online email form or the convenient Click to Call feature our website.

It’s difficult to accurately document history as it is being made, especially when it changes overnight. If you’ve been involved in search engine marketing over the past ten years, then you’ve already seen a lot of change. In fact, you’ve likely come to expect it. When Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs recently announced his company’s change in direction regarding the support of Flash video on iPhone applications, many bloggers jumped at the chance to announce the “Death of Flash”. Fortunately, sensationalized headers and tags don’t tell the real story.

The real story is more likely engulfed in very boring legal issues between major companies that battle every day for billions of dollars in market share. The truth is portable computer devices have always had an eternal need for longer-lasting, faster-charging batteries. The truth is Apple has historically announced its intentions to follow the beat of a different drummer. The truth is Adobe Flash has already earned its rightful place in web history. After all, without the magic of easy-to-program Flash applications, the Internet might still be a static world of glorified print-style advertising pages.

Since the mid-1990s, Flash software applications have provided web programmers with the tools they needed to make business websites appealing, easier to use and much more interactive. So, long before Google became the “Sultan of Search” and over ten years prior to Apple’s introduction of the iPhone, Adobe Flash was already a valuable asset for corporate and e-commerce websites worldwide. An object-oriented language on a multimedia platform that allowed millions of self-trained programmers to manipulate graphics and stream audio or video files.

Now, over fifteen years later, Adobe is releasing Flash 10.1, which is primarily aimed at mobile device partners like Android, BlackBerry, Palm webOS, Windows Phone 7, LiMo, MeeGee and Symbian smart phones . . . almost every major player except the Apple iPhone. Although Google has announced their intentions to switch their YouTube mega-video site from Flash to HTML5, it is obvious the mobile division of Google still plans for their smartphones to remain flexible in displaying web content. However, that too may be more of a marketing decision considering the enormous number of existing websites that display Flash components.

As for historical significance, only time will tell who the winners and losers were, but that’s true for every release or new version of any developer’s software. In fact, the big winner in the mobile market for web applications may not even exist at this time. Once dominant computer software companies like Ashton Tate and Lotus 1-2-3, are only a fading memory of what was. But, don’t count Adobe or their “Hall of Fame” software out of the game just yet. A desktop version of Flash 10.1 and a gazillion loyal users may still have a lot to say about how this chapter in Internet marketing history ends.

You may already be familiar with the term Google “Sandbox”. In fact, you may be one of the millions of users who assume any major drop in SERP rank means your website has been sent to Google’s sandbox for an indefinite period of time. If the picture in your mind resembles the penalty box used in ice hockey where stripped-shirt referees send your website to sit out for a specified period of time, then you’ve likely been misled by SEO folklore.  Although Google seems to have many ways of punishing those “unforgiven” websites that repeatedly ignore published Webmaster directives, in the truest sense, a website sent to the Sandbox is one that is too new and still has too many loose ends to be properly indexed (or ranked).

Google’s motivations for creating the Sandbox were most likely based on the search engine’s desire for returning relevant search results, managing the amount of time their algorithms spend indexing your site and reducing the amount of bandwidth used to crawl millions of web pages. When the spiders find discrepancies such as broken links, bad sections of code or other situations where the algorithms can’t get do their job in a timely manner, Google uses filters (not the traditional Sandbox) to impose a “penalty” of sorts by assigning your website to a supplemental directory. Such actions seem to be an effective way for the search engine giant to let Webmasters know they need to “fix it”, regardless of what “it” is.

Although nothing is ever cast in stone and Google rarely admits to what they are actually doing at any given time, a good rule of thumb is to look at where your website ranked in the SERPs and where it ranks now. For example, if your site previously ranked 5th on page 1 and you suddenly drop to 5th on page 3, chances are you received a 30-point penalty. An experienced SEO analyst can often use this information as a valuable clue in determining what may have triggered the algorithms to take punitive actions. There also appears to be supportive evidence of a 50-point penalty that may be imposed if Google finds a webmaster using certain over-optimization techniques for a website. Conversely, some experts say a 90 position drop in rank is a definitive red flag issued for using “Black Hat” techniques to unfairly direct web traffic to a site.

Where the online transaction of business is involved, what really matters most is a timely response to any sudden drop in SERP rank. Whether Google’s spiders found suspicious external links or stumbled upon embedded formatting with text copied from a word processor, identifying the discrepancies and taking the most appropriate corrective actions is always the best next step. If the search engine algorithms are ignoring your website or you’ve noticed a fall in the SERPs, it’s a good time to call a professional Search Engine Optimization firm for assistance. At AppSoft Web Design and Orlando SEO World, we have the experience and expertise to create an action plan to get your online business back on track. Give us a call today at (904) 241-9997 to speak directly with a PRO about your problem.

Looking for the best Internet marketing tools to reach your adult market? For the best return on your internet marketing investment you’ll need to approach the younger and older adults differently, according to recent research by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press. The report, titled Social Media and Young Adults shows that while adults of all ages are more wired than ever, they approach their internet and social media use in distinct ways.

Research shows that Twitter, MySpace and mobile web sites are among the best Internet marketing tools for reaching young adults, whereas older adults are more apt to be engaged by LinkedIn and blogging. And Facebook appears to be the equalizer, proving to be among the best Internet marketing tools for hitting both the younger adult and older adult target markets.

Among the highlights of the study:

• 93% of young adults ages 18-29 and 74% of adults across the board (18 and older) go online regularly;
• 11% of Internet users ages 30 and older maintain a blog, up from 7% in December 2007;
• 15% of Internet users ages 18-29 maintain a blog, down from 24% in December 2007;
• 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008;
• 72% of online 18-29 year olds use social networking sites, compared to 40% of internet users age 30 and up;
• Adults of all ages are increasingly fragmenting their social networking experience, as 52% have multiple profiles today, up from 48% in May 2008;
• 73% of all adults have a profile on Facebook, including 75% of older adults and 71% of younger adults, making it the most commonly used social networking site among adults;
• 48% of all adults have a profile on MySpace, including 66% of young adults and 36% of older adults;
• 14% of all adults have a profile on the professionally-oriented LinkedIn, including 19% of older adults and 7% of younger adults;
• 19% of all adults, including a third of 18-29-year-olds post updates on Twitter;
• 55% of young adults have accessed the Internet on their cell phones;
• African American adults are the most active users of the mobile web and their use is growing at a faster pace than mobile internet use among white or Hispanic adults.

Determining the best Internet marketing tools for reaching various demographics, including younger adults, older adults and the increasingly consumer savvy teen market can be a daunting task. AppSoft Web Design can help craft an internet marketing approach that gets you noticed in your target market. Our expertise includes website design and hosting, SEM, SEO and social media management plus professional logo design. Visit our website for a look at the designs that have won our clients top search engine ranking and helped boost their revenues, then reach us via our convenient Click To Call Now feature and talk with an internet marketing specialist today.

Welcome to the new Appsoft Website Design blog.  As leaders in the web design and SEO, we are putting together this blog to bring you website design tips, web development  and SEO news, and other important website design and Search Engine Optimization information.