Posts Tagged ‘website’
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Submit Solution, an Internet-marketing company, just released an advanced new version of its website, submitsolution.com. The updated site now includes two new services – custom Web and logo design – as well as four ecommerce blogs and free search-engine submission, in addition to its search engine optimization and paid-search packages.
Submit Solution is already an expert at getting qualified traffic to clients’ websites via SEO and PPC campaigns. By adding custom website design and logo design to its services, Submit Solution can now help turn a higher number of site visitors into customers.
Submitsolution.com has a more user-friendly design, allowing visitors to quickly navigate its Web pages. The site boasts free search-engine submission, as well as four new blogs focusing on SEO, PPC, social media and Web design, respectively. It also provides additional Internet-marketing tools, definitions of ecommerce terms and FAQs to help newcomers learn the ins and outs of Internet marketing.
“The new Submit Solution website helps potential clients understand both the intricacies of a successful search-engine marketing plan and what we can do to help,” said Oliver Bigler, chief executive officer and founder of Submit Solution. “Internet newbies can often be drowned in a sea of conflicting information. Our website helps clients navigate their way toward information and services that fit their needs best.”
For 14 years, Submit Solution has worked in the Internet-marketing industry. Its SEO packages were recently updated to add social-media posting and inbound linking to its traditional tactics of optimizing site content, such as adding Meta tags. Other new or improved services include:
- Website design
- Logo design
- Paid-search advertising
- Competitive analysis
- Website consulting
This launch of Submit Solution’s new website makes this the second week in a row in which we’ve introduced an innovative product or service. Be sure to check out my blog entry on Magellan Commerce’s new online merchant service: “Magellan Commerce the 1st to offer ecommerce and merchant services.”
Tags: blog, eHarbor, internet, magellan commerce, marketing, new, news, online, search engine optimization, SEO, Submit Solution, website
Posted in Web Design, eHarbor | No Comments »
Monday, September 7th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Jeff Ashby, an SEO technician at eHarbor Inc., is the latest employee to be named the company’s Most Valuable Player. He received this honor at our monthly company meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2009.
In addition to his normal responsibility of providing search engine optimization for our clients, Jeff created a new website called Theme Fury, which offers more than a hundred free Wordpress themes. These themes help Wordpress blog owners stand out with a creative design instead of using a standard format.
Theme Fury already offers themes for websites in a number of categories:
- Animal
- Artistic
- Business
- Car
- Craft
- Education
- Electronics
- Family
- Health
- Music
- Nature
- Personal
- Sports
Be sure to visit Theme Fury’s installation page to find out how to install your favorite theme to your blog.
When Jeff’s not doing SEO or computer programming, he enjoys collecting Pez dispensers and watching Filipino movies. His favorite restaurants are Red Robin and Olive Garden, and he likes to watch shows like “Seinfeld” and “Arrested Development.”
This is the third time I’ve spotlighted an MVP in the eHarbor Blog. You can read about last month’s winner, Derek Anderson, in my blog entry, “eHarbor MVP gives great customer care.” We have many great employees to spotlight. I’ll keep you posted on them at the start of each month.
The photo of Jeff Ashby is from the blog post “Halloween Pictures” in the Ashblog, his personal blog. The Theme Fury logo is the copyright of Jeff Ashby and Theme Fury.
Tags: award, blog, eHarbor, MVP, new, search engine optimization, SEO, Theme Fury, Web Design, website
Posted in SEO, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 31st, 2009
By Robert Lockard
With the release of its Magellan Merchant service today, Magellan Commerce has become the first one-stop shop for businesses looking for website, branding and online payment solutions. No company has ever offered both an integrated ecommerce platform and merchant services until now.
There is a huge demand among online businesses for a simple, low-cost merchant service. That’s why Magellan Commerce combined its expertise at Web design with this new merchant service. Now businesses won’t have to work with several different companies to build their website and then allow customers to pay with credit cards online. It can all be handled by Magellan Commerce for a low price.
Here are some of Magellan Merchant’s great features:
- No setup fees
- Low transaction rates
- Low, 5-cent monthly fee
- No contracts
- No minimum monthly transactions
- PCI-compliant security protocols to protect against identity theft
Magellan Merchant services are only available to Magellan Commerce customers. Magellan Commerce is an innovative ecommerce platform that specializes in designing websites and logos for small businesses. eHarbor, Inc. is the parent company of Magellan Commerce.
To find out more about Magellan Commerce and Magellan Merchant, go to www.magellancommerce.com or call 1-800-925-1647.
Tags: Credit, Ecommerce, eHarbor, growth, internet, magellan commerce, Merchant Service, new, news, online, positive, website
Posted in Ecommerce, Web Design, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I enjoy Webmarketing123’s free Webinars on Internet marketing. I always learn a lot from them, and I try to apply what I learn. Today, I’ll talk about what I learned at their August 5, 2009 Webinar, “Advanced SEO Webinar: Linking Best Practices.”
The five things a website needs to get ranked on the first page of Google results are:
1. Keywords – The search terms you want people to type into a search engine in order to find your Web page.
2. Site Content – You need to use your chosen keywords in your website’s text to show search engines your site is relevant to those topics.
3. Meta Content – You don’t usually see this content, but it must be there in the backend of your site and in your Web page titles.
4. URLs – Include important keywords in your URLs. For example, it is better to have a URL like www.eharborinc.com/blog/2009/07/17/is-twitter-overhyped, which includes the date and headline keywords, than something like www.eharborinc.com/blog/post-81. The second URL gives no clue as to what it contains, while the first one gives a much better idea of the page’s subject matter.
5. Inbound Links – These are links (or votes) from other websites to your site. Search engines look at both the number and quality of the links you receive from other sites.
We’re starting a new blog on the newly redesigned Submit Solution website, which will debut soon. We’ll be shifting attention from the eHarbor Blog to that one soon. You can find the rest of this blog entry there. Stay tuned!
The photo of the confusing keyboard arrows is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of jeremyfoo.
Tags: content, keyword, Link, search engine optimization, SEO, Submit Solution, url, Web Design, webinar, website
Posted in SEO, Web Design | 4 Comments »
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
You might remember my blog posts on eHarbor, Inc.’s celebration of its successful start to 2009 with a showing of the movie “Knowing.” I’m pleased to say the good times keep coming, as the company recently announced its annual summer party on June 12-13, 2009.
That’s not to say that we’re celebrating all the time or that we’re focused solely on having fun. Our slogan for 2009 is “Swinging for the fence,” and we’re doing our best to live up to that ideal by working hard and giving our best effort.
Back to the eHarbor Summer Party, it is going to be fun. All eHarbor employees are invited to come enjoy camping, barbecue, an outdoor movie (I love movies!), golf tournament and some sort of water e-lympics.
These festivities will take place in Hobble Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah.
The photo of a tiger playing with a ball is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Tambako the Jaguar. This is the second photo of a tiger I’ve included in the eHarbor Blog. I also included a photo of a lion with my blog post on making content king. I really like cats.
Tags: company, Ecommerce, eHarbor, event, flickr, Fun, growth, Knowing, marketing, movie, online, positive, slogan, success, utah, website
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
In the digital age, information is not only plentiful, it’s downright endemic. We have Web analytics tools that can glean information on people who visit our websites.
I will compare information gathering to eating. The more food we eat, the more weight we are likely to gain. If we eat everything we find, we’re not living a healthy lifestyle. It takes discipline and wisdom to choose the foods that our bodies need the most and then eat appropriate servings of them. A little variety doesn’t hurt either.
If we constantly eat and never do anything with that energy, even if the food we eat is good for us, we’ll probably become obese. People who become obese have a greater chance of premature death, just as ecommerce companies that become saturated with information and don’t do anything with it can die prematurely, as well. Not to mention suffer indigestion.
Information is a great thing, just like food. But we must use it wisely. We should gather information pertinent to our needs and then put it to good use in our online marketing decisions, product pricing, customer service, etc.
By the way, I got the idea for this blog entry from an article in Ecommerce Times, entitled, “Drowning in Data: Web Analytics and Information Overload.” That article has lots of insights into information gathering, and I took a piece and ran with it.
This leads me to some things I learned at a recent Webinar by Hubspot and Brent Leary, entitled “How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers.” I promised I would talk more about this Webinar in my blog entry on Facebook, and I’ll keep my word now.
I highly recommend clicking on the Webinar link above to watch the hour-long presentation. You can also download the presentation slides in a PDF file to save time.
In the Webinar, I learned about websites I can use to both gather and organize information from social-media sites like Twitter. Here are the ones Leary mentioned:
- TubeMogul – distribute online videos and analyze viewers and impact.
- CoTweet – organize your conversations in Twitter.
- Salesforce – measure results in Twitter, Google and other online media.
- Bit.ly – shorten links and keep track of who clicks them.
- Favotter – another Twitter measurement site.
- Twitalyzer – in-depth information on your Twitter account.
I find these sites helpful in my efforts to focus the social-media exposure of eHarbor, Inc. and its affiliates. In fact, eHarbor’s affiliates help not only to create a website for you, but track and gain more visitors through search engine optimization and other strategies.
These companies include: Magellan Commerce, Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution, and Direct Home Find.
Remember, you are what you eat – but it’s what you do with your time and energy that truly defines you.
The photo of the fat cat is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of brokinhrt2.
Tags: affiliate, animal, article, Brent Leary, company, data, Ecommerce, Ecommerce Times, eHarbor, facebook, flickr, funny, google, humor, magellan commerce, marketing, obesity, Real Estate Promoter, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter, Web analytics, website
Posted in Ecommerce, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I read a Bloomberg article that said the New York Times is facing a large drop in revenue and is trying to cut back on its expenses to stay in business. The article is entitled, “New York Times Sees Further Ad Drop After Loss Widens.”
The New York Times is learning the hard way that ecommerce and online media are changing the way people gather information and the way marketers advertise their products to customers. They’re trying to stay afloat by cutting jobs, reducing their staff’s salaries and selling property and other assets to try to make up for lost advertising revenue.
All of this is prolonging the inevitable. Old media will have to adapt to changing conditions or go the way of the railroad.
For better or worse, Facebook, Twitter and other social-media sites are revolutionizing communication and information distribution. Marketers are shifting their advertising dollars online because it is much more cost-efficient to do so. Print faces serious challenges because of this.
One quote in the Bloomberg article stuck out to me above all the others. Thyra Zerhusen, managing director of Optimum Investment Advisors, said the New York Times has “to do a better job monetizing their online revenues.”
This seems to be a common theme for companies looking to make a profit online. Online marketers save money by hosting a website instead of renting space at a mall, but they need to understand doing business online is a big change from the old way of doing business and it requires different approaches to earning a profit.
I recommend going to Magellan Commerce’s redesigned website to find resources that can help you succeed online. These include search engine optimization, website design, and more.
You can also go to other eHarbor, Inc. affiliates: Submit Solution and Real Estate Promoter.
The photo of the tiger staying afloat is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of fPat.
Tags: advice, affiliate, article, Bloomberg, company, consumer, Ecommerce, eHarbor, facebook, flickr, future, internet, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, new york times, news, online, Real Estate Promoter, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter, web, website
Posted in Ecommerce, Media, eHarbor | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Can’t touch this. No, not the M.C. Hammer song – actually, I’m referring to a flaw in the format of ecommerce. I recently read a Time Magazine article, entitled “Want to Save Some Money? Shop Without Touching.” In that article, they talk about a remarkable study from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin that shows that consumers who touch a product are much more likely to purchase the product and even want to pay more for it than if they don’t touch it.
“When you touch something, you instantly feel more of a connection to it,” said Suzanne Shu, who teaches at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and co-wrote the study. “That connection stirs up an emotional reaction – ‘yeah, I like the feel of it, this can be mine.’ And that emotion can cause you to buy something you never would have bought if you hadn’t touched it.” This quote is from the Time article.
How interesting. The Time article focuses on consumers, saying that they can potentially save money by keeping their hands to themselves at stores. While that is a good idea, and I intend to follow that advice, I think the results can send a completely different message to ecommerce marketers.
To me, this article brings up the problem that ecommerce is, by definition, online shopping. And the Internet is different than a mall. Therefore, online consumers, who are unable to touch products they see on websites, might be less able to connect with products and won’t necessarily be as interested in buying them. It’s much easier to shop around for the best deal online, also. It’s a competitive market online.
It is essential to get your name out there as much as possible while the recession continues and since you face this slight disadvantage. Even though potential customers can’t touch the products on your website, they can be impressed by your professional presentation, high placement on Google and other search engines, and the great content on your site that attracted them in the first place.
Ecommerce sales continue to grow, despite the recession, even while sales slow in traditional retail stores. Clearly, consumers are interested in shopping online, and the ability to touch products isn’t the most important part of the buying process.
If you would like to have a quality website, and utilize search engine optimization in your efforts to gain customers online, be sure to check out eHarbor, Inc.’s services.
You might also want to check out Magellan Commerce, which recently launched a redesign of its website. Other eHarbor affiliates include Real Estate Promoter and Submit Solution.
The photo of the Don’t Touch Me sign is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of F.S.M.
Tags: company, consumer, Ecommerce, google, internet, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, news, online, Real Estate Promoter, search engine optimization, SEO, study, Submit Solution, Time magazine, UCLA, web, website
Posted in Ecommerce, eHarbor | 6 Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I get to fulfill my promise in my last blog post by writing about some of the great things happening at eHarbor, Inc. I’m excited!
Magellan Commerce, an eHarbor affiliate that was formed in May 2008, launched a completely redesigned and improved version of its website on Friday, April 3, 2009. It is quite an improvement, as you can see from the before-and-after screenshots below.
Original version of the Magellan Commerce website
New version of the Magellan Commerce website
Magellan Commerce designs websites, corporate logos, business cards, letterheads and postcards and more for businesses and individuals. They also help companies top search engines with search engine optimization.
Remember the SEO series we finished a little while ago? The tactics we discussed in that series, such as simplifying URLs, optimizing images and improving anchor text, are among those Magellan Commerce uses for its clients.
I recommend checking out the redesigned Magellan Commerce website for yourself today! Feel free to also visit other eHarbor affiliates, like Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution and Direct Home Find.
I look forward to sharing more positive ecommerce news like this soon.
Tags: affiliate, company, Direct Home Find, Ecommerce, eHarbor, growth, internet, magellan commerce, new, news, online, positive, Real Estate Promoter, redesign, search engine optimization, SEO, Submit Solution, update, website
Posted in Ecommerce, SEO, eHarbor | 7 Comments »
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
As promised in my last blog entry, this is the seventh and final part of this series on strong search engine optimization strategies. We’ll close this series by discussing how to promote your website and get noticed by your target audience.
Don’t expect your website to become popular overnight. Traffic doesn’t come to your site just because you get your site ranked high on search engines for specific key terms. You need to provide services and content of interest to your audience, and you must get out there and share the good news about your site.
A great way to let people know about your services and website is to blog about them. Search engines love blogs because they are constantly being updated with fresh content, full of (hopefully) relevant links, and magnets for attention from the blogosphere, if you do them right.
For instance, I recently blogged about eHarbor’s creation of Squidoo lenses. We created Squidoo lenses for:
- eHarbor, Inc.
- Magellan Commerce
- Submit Solution
- Real Estate Promoter
Squidoo is a great tool for showing off your products, services, talents, knowledge or anything, really.
Social media sites are another great way to promote your website. Once you write a blog entry or fill your website with strong content, submit it to social media sites to get the word out.
Here are some of the sites eHarbor uses:
- Delicious
- Digg
- Diigo
- Propeller
- Reddit
- StumbleUpon
- Technorati
- Twitter
It’s also a good idea to add your business to Google’s Local Business Center. This allows you to show up on Google Map searches, and also to have a map of your company’s location next to your search result on Google.
Try not to get to excited or start spamming social media sites with news that isn’t particularly useful. Just be wise and moderate in your attempts to promote your website, and you should do fine.
Wow! This has been a fun series to write. I hope you enjoyed learning about Web page titles, optimizing images, simplifying URLs, improving website navigation, and including relevant anchor text with links.
We’ve got plenty of other great ecommerce topics to talk about in the eHarbor Blog, so stick around. Check out Google’s SEO Starter Guide for more information on search engine optimization.
The photo of the misspelled “Advanced Web Design” sign is from Flickr and it is the copyright of agjimenez.
Tags: blog, content, Ecommerce, eHarbor, flickr, funny, google, humor, magellan commerce, marketing, promote, Real Estate Promoter, search engine, search engine optimization, SEO, seo series, spelling, squidoo, Submit Solution, website
Posted in SEO, Search Engines, eHarbor | 7 Comments »
