There are a couple of ways to prevent tracking your own visits to your site, or those of your employees. However, none are simple and none are permanent. 

Block Web Analytics by IP Address

Every computer or mobile device that is connected to the Internet is assigned an “IP address” (IP stands for Internet Protocol). Most web analytics programs allow you to filter out visits to your site from specific IP addresses. This is great in theory, but it only works if you have what is called a “static IP” – meaning your IP address is always the same. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will assign a “dynamic IP”, meaning they will change your IP address every few weeks. With a dynamic IP your visits will no longer be blocked as of the moment your IP address changes. You will then see a false rise in traffic and you will wonder which marketing campaign triggered it. Since we never know when our ISP is going to change our IP address, this is not an effective way of preventing your web analytics from tracking your company’s own visits to your site. 

If your company has a static IP, then this is the way to go. Many business level Internet packages will include a static IP, but you should confirm this before proceeding. 

Block Web Analytics with Cookies

Another way to prevent your web analytics program from tracking your own visits to your site is by using “cookies”. While this is a better method for those with dynamic IP addresses, it’s not 100% reliable. “Cookies” are small encoded data files that are left on your computer. They are used by millions of websites around the world, and are very safe. We can create a special web page (let’s call it the “Cookie Drop Page”) on your site that every employee can visit just once. By visiting that page, the browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) places a cookie on the employee’s computer that tells the web analytics software not to track visits from this machine. Going forward, any time anyone from that computer visits your site, the visits will not be recorded in the web analytics program. 

The problem with this method is that the moment the user clears their cookies (a process of cleaning up loose files left by the browser), visits from that machine will suddenly be tracked. Once again, since we don’t know when a user is going to clear their cookies, you could see a false spike in traffic that will make you question which marketing campaign is working. 

You might consider this method if you can teach employees to visit the Cookie Drop Page every time they clear their cookies. However, most will likely forget. A more realistic “fail-safe” would be to set every computer in the office to use the same home page, which of course, would be the Cookie Drop Page. The problem here is that employees are likely to change their browser’s home page, or use a different browser altogether (cookies are not shared between browsers).

Block Web Analytics with Filters

Caution: Unless you are an advanced web analytics user, this method can be quite dangerous.

You can determine what your IP address is and then use a filter in your web analytics program to show you all visits except for those from that IP address. The problem with this method is that if you are using Google’s web analytics program, any filters applied are permanent and cannot be undone. That means that if you make a mistake – or if your IP changes – you will have permanently and irrevocably skewed the data in your web analytics program. This is not something we recommend for the average user, so please seek the help of a web analytics professional for this kind of work.

Domain Registry of Canada Scam

If you have a .CA domain for your website, be aware of the Domain Registry of Canada Scam. The Domain Registry of Canada Scam preys on people who don’t fully understand how domain registration works. They get their victims’ names and dresses from public whois records, and usually mail (the old fashioned way) what looks like a very legitimate domain name renewal form. The Domain Registry of Canada is a scam because the form is not a renewal, it’s a transfer. So, if you registered your .CA domain name with a registrar like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc., you could get a letter from the Domain Registry of Canada Scammers saying that you need to renew. While it’s true that it probably is time to renew (they time it just right), if you fill out the Domain Registry of Canada Scam form, you will no longer be doing business with GoDaddy or Network Solutions.

Domain Registry of Canada Scam – How does it work?

The Domain Registry of Canada Scam is quite successful because they are actually a legitimate domain registrar (although they are very expensive). This unethical business practice is sickening, and I have had to help more than one client get their money back. If you call the Domain Registry of Canada Scammers and try to get your money back, they are rude and obnoxious, and even resort to name-calling. It’s ridiculous.

Protect Yourself from the Domain Registry of Canada Scam

To avoid falling victim to the the Domain Registry of Canada Scam, keep these tips in mind:

• Don’t send money to renew your domain unless you have verified that the registrar name and address are the same as the one you originally signed up with. If you can’t remember who you originally signed up with, you can check your website at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
• Take advantage of the auto-renew feature of your domain registrar to avoid such scams
• Remember that your domain registrar will contact you via email, not postal mail

If you do have a negative experience with the Domain Registry of Canada Scam, please Report the Domain Registry of Canada Scam to the BBB. Read more about the Domain Registry of Canada Scam.

Freel free to contact us if you need help with the Domain Registry of Canada Scam, we’re happy to do what we can to stop this deceptive practice.

Most business owners unknowingly put themselves in danger every single day because of two seemingly minor oversights:

1. They do not use strong enough passwords
2. They do not maintain up-to-date website software

Understanding the importance of these two, most basic elements is crucial to avoiding catastrophe. Many small business owners don’t think that their website is a worthy target because they don’t keep sensitive information on their site. What they don’t realize is that hackers are looking for a back door – the website itself is often not the desired target.

At one time, email was the preferred method for spreading viruses. Today, 80% of malware spreads via Internet browsing, but only 1% comes from suspicious or ‘dodgy’ sites – the rest spreads via legitimate websites like yours that have been hacked.

Just like you should always install Microsoft Windows updates as soon as they are available, CMS updates are no different, as they often include fixes to security vulnerabilities that have been discovered after the software was released. If you are unable to update your CMS software yourself, you should speak to your web developer about a maintenance plan.

Most passwords are shockingly easy for hackers to guess. Why? Because hackers don’t sit in front of their computer trying to think of what you might have used for a password. They have sophisticated software programs that run through millions of combinations in just a few minutes.

The best passwords are at least 8 characters long and do not contain any words that can be found in the dictionary. Strong passwords use a combination that includes both upper- and lower-case letters, as well as numbers and symbols.

The passwords used for your CMS, FTP, cPanel, hosting account, database and your email login should all be different. Once a hacker has one of those passwords, he will try it on every account he can think of to gain access to even more accounts. If your email password is the same as your PayPal password, you have put yourself at serious financial risk.

Don’t forget that you should also protect your user ID. Never use a user ID like “admin” as it is the first one that hackers will try. Always change the default user ID and password the first time you login to your new website. Your developer will likely give you a generic user ID and password to get you started, but it’s crucial that you change it the very first time you log in.

Once they have control, hackers can use your site to spread viruses, Trojan Horses, malware, and spyware. They can take over your email, and lock you out of your own website. They can publish anything they want on your site and it could take you days or weeks to get back in and take it down.

Yes, it is very inconvenient to keep track of all of these passwords, but modern browsers have the ability to remember them for you. And the risk that you are taking by not using strong passwords is immeasurable. Try to imagine that you turned on your laptop this morning only to find out that you can’t get into your email, your website has been hacked and now has a gigantic message on the home page that says, “We are being sued for selling child pornography. This site has been taken down by the federal authorities and is under investigation”. Obviously, it’s a massive lie, but what do you do? How long do you think it will be before you can log back in to your website and take the message down? What kind of damage control will you have to do to win back your customers trust?

Although these techniques do not guarantee a hacker-proof site, they are the first and most important precautions to take.

SEO Guarantee Scams and How to Avoid Them

What is the purpose of an SEO Guarantee? No one buys a drill because they need a drill. They buy a drill because they need a hole. Just like you don’t need your website to appear on page one of Google for the sake of being on page one – you need qualified traffic coming to your website so that you can ultimately increase sales (directly or indirectly).

Here’s how you can get exactly what you need to avoid the most common scams and what to expect from a real SEO Guarantee.

SEO Guarantee#1: Page One Rankings

Typically, a page-one SEO guarantee is successfully achieved with keywords that are not searched by anyone. The more words in the keyword phrase, the fewer searches that are conducted. A “long-tail” keyword strategy is a good one, as long as the keywords are not too long. A keyword phrase with 6-10 words is not likely to be profitable, so if your SEO “specialist” tells you otherwise, they should have data to back it up. 

Even if the keywords are exactly right, no one can control what gets listed on Google except for Google, so a page-one SEO guarantee is likely to be using some fairly questionable tactics, which could ultimately get your site banned from search engines completely. This is especially true if the SEO provider is guaranteeing a specific time frame as well.

SEO Guarantee #2: Increased Web Traffic

Since traffic is what you need, an SEO guarantee that includes increased traffic to your site – and data to prove it – is what you should be looking for, right?

Nope. Remember, not just any web traffic will do. Many “black-hat” providers will back up their SEO guarantee by showing you the log files from the web server to prove that traffic has increased. And while it’s true that there are more visits, what the SEO provider is not telling you is that the traffic includes “robots” (software). Server log files do not differentiate between human visits and robot visits.

A good web analytics software program will not count robot visits, so you don’t have to sift through mounds of raw data to determine exactly which visits were human and which were not. While using an analytics program, you will see significantly lower numbers, but those visits are much more likely to lead to increased sales, conversions and increased brand awareness. 

A Real SEO Guarantee

So what can you expect as a legitimate SEO guarantee? You should expect upward ranking movement within 6-12 months, and increased traffic for well-researched and client-approved keywords.

This means, you will approve keywords, and the SEO consultant will do the research to determine if those keywords will be worthy of pursuing. If your SEO consultant determines that the keywords are not highly searched (or are perhaps too competitive), he or she will be able to recommend related keywords that would be better to target. You should then review that list to see that they match your company’s offering. Working back and forth like that – as a team – you will come up with a list of keywords that you can expect to get real results with. An ethical SEO consultant will not agree to work with just any keywords that you provide. They will do the research to first determine if those keywords are highly competitive, cost-effective, and highly searched.

Questions to Ask About Your SEO Guarantee

Ask the following questions before you put your trust in an SEO guarantee:

• How many people are searching for the targeted keywords (on a monthly or daily basis)?
• Where is the keyword data comes from?
• Where is the traffic data is coming from?
• Does the traffic data include robots?
• Can you show which keywords are driving traffic?

Hopefully these tips will help you avoid falling for the two most popular SEO guarantee scams. Remember, even those with Google certifications and partnerships cannot control where a website ranks in Google’s search engine, and there is no such thing as a “special relationship with Google.” Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fraud. Only Google gets to decide where a site ranks, and they keep their magic recipe for determining the results quite secretive so that spammers and scammers cannot cheat the system.

So, do expect an SEO guarantee, but understand that your SEO provider can only guarantee so much. If it looks too good to be true…

SEO Tips: Optimize for Misspellings or Not?

There is a prevalent question among Internet Marketers as to whether or not you should optimize your website for common misspellings of your business name, product name, or other relevant keywords. This post in our Series of SEO tips should help you answer that question.

SEO Tips Explained

What does it mean to optimize for misspellings?

If you own a fitness centre in Montreal, for example, you could optimize certain pages of your website to rank well for “fitness centre Monteral,” “fitness center Montrael,” or any other variation of typos. That way, when anyone searching accidentally types one of the words incorrectly, you’ll be the first to rank on the search results page, and you’ll have a better chance of attracting that visitor to your website.

SEO Tips: The Verdict

Today’s SEO competition is fierce. There are more websites online than ever before, and everyone wants to be on page one of search results. So, anything you can do to rank at the top will help, right? Not necessarily.

My opinion is that you should not optimize for misspellings, for several reasons:

1. The misspelling of the keyword in question is often a simple typo, not necessarily the way the searcher actually believes the word is spelled. If the searcher knows the correct spelling, the reputation of your business is at stake – you certainly don’t want people thinking that no one at your company can spell… especially if your target market are somewhat educated individuals.
2. The time and resources that you spend optimizing for typos as a gimmick, could be better spent optimizing your pages well, as a long-term investment.
3. By targeting misspellings, your site will be listed alongside lower-quality links and “spammer” type sites. You may not want your company to be associated with this type of search results, as it could damage your online reputation.
4. Search engines are becoming more and more intelligent every day, and will often automatically show results for the correct spelling. They will usually include a link to search for the typo, in the off-chance it was actually what the searcher was looking for, but there’s a good chance that the searcher will never click that link. Watch the video below to hear Google’s explanation of how they came up with a feature called the “Escape Hatch”.

SEO Tips Series

Do you have a suggestion for the next tip in our SEO tips series? Contact WSI to ask us questions to address in our SEO Tips Series, or leave them in the comments box below.

Why should you include mobile marketing in your marketing mix? With the rise of mobile devices in the past couple of years, mobile marketing has become a hot topic – and for good reason. Within 18 months, 15-30% of web traffic will be from mobile devices, and by the end of 2014, half of all Canadians will have a Smartphone.

The Four Components of Mobile Marketing

The statistics are glaringly obvious, but what may not be so obvious is what companies should include in their mobile marketing plan. Certain industries are better suited for mobile marketing – fashion, retail, hospitality, and restaurants, for example. Regardless of your industry, hopefully the following will help you prioritize your mobile marketing strategy.

Mobile Website: Have you looked at your website on several different mobile devices and tried to carry out simple tasks? If not, go do that now. Were you surprised by the experience? Mobile visitors will not stay on your website for long if it’s not mobile-friendly. If they have to scroll horizontally and continually zoom in and out, they will get frustrated and go elsewhere. The last thing you want is for visitors who have found you to dislike you because of something as simple as usability. Surfing non-mobile-friendly sites on a mobile device can range from mildly annoying to downright painful. Check your web analytics to determine what percentage of visitors are surfing your site on mobile devices, and if they are leaving without taking any action.

Mobile Search: Mobile search results differ from standard desktop search results. Without a mobile website, your site will not rank as well in mobile search results pages. Your SEO strategy should be different from your mobile SEO strategy, especially since mobile visitors will have different goals than desktop visitors. The keyword phrases you target should also be different for the same reason.

Mobile Advertising: Like email marketing, sending ads via text message (SMS) to your customers and prospects is a great way to promote your business. Running contests, text-to-vote campaigns, and offering mobile coupons can drive traffic, increase profits, and generate more business. There are some very creative marketing strategies that you can implement using SMS text messaging.

Be very careful of your approach, though. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation is not limited to email marketing – Bill C-28 includes text-messages. If you don’t follow the rules, you could face a fine of up to $1,000,000. It’s a good idea to have the counsel of a professional before embarking on using instant messaging as an advertising medium, just to make sure you are complying with Canadian and International anti-spam laws.

Mobile Apps: This is the mobile marketing component that requires the largest investment, and it’s not for every business. If you can’t create a mobile app (application) that solves a problem, fills a need, or has a very useful purpose, then you should spend those marketing dollars elsewhere. Most people won’t download something they feel has no value.

If you decide to develop a mobile app, be mindful of how much memory your app requires and whether or not an Internet connection is necessary in order to use it. Recently I attended a WSI conference in Las Vegas, for which, WSI had created a mobile app. The app included a map of the venue, a personalized schedule with all of the events I wanted to attend, notes, reminders, biographies of keynote speakers, and much more. It was a very useful tool, and thankfully, it didn’t require an internet connection because the hotel’s Internet was down during most of the conference. I was still able to use the app, and it came in very handy.

Do You Really Need a Mobile Marketing Strategy?

For most companies, mobile marketing is a necessary component of an overall marketing strategy. Even though the bulk of businesses will not likely need a custom mobile app, every business that serves customers at their location should have a mobile website that is optimized for mobile search. That’s the very minimum you should be doing in the mobile marketing space. Mobile Ads and Apps are not necessarily something that every business should venture into, so contact an Internet marketing consultant to help determine what makes sense for your business.

In this Mobile Marketing video for Canadian businesses, you will see recent mobile marketing statistics (most of which apply to Canada). If you’re not convinced that you need a mobile marketing strategy by the end of this video, well, you probably never will be.

Mobile search is said to surpass desktop search in 2013. The simple fact is that if you don’t have a mobile web presence, people who are ready to do business with you will go to your competitor instead. Mobile search can be a painful experience, so don’t lose a golden opportunity by forcing mobile users to navigate your main website on a tiny screen… because they won’t do it anyway, they’ll just go elsewhere.

Research shows that people searching on a mobile device are more motivated to buy than desktop searchers, so there are no more excuses. Mobile is here to stay.

What’s So Great About Mobile Marketing?

1. Mobile is entertaining
2. Mobile is local
3. Mobile is immediate
4. Mobile complements other media
5. Mobile is the Ultimate Shopping Companion

There are a number of things to keep in mind when developing a mobile marketing strategy. Firstly, you need to know what information people will be looking for on their mobile device. It’s not likely that they will be trying to do extensive research, but rather they will be looking for contact information, hours of operation, etc. And don’t forget to track what you’re doing so that you can measure the results and improve as you go. There are many mobile marketing opportunities, but without analytics, there is no point in doing anything with it.

Mobile Marketing Video transcription (statistics are mostly for Canada):

1. In Canada, 1 in 3 mobile devices is a Smartphone.
2. Within 18 months, 15-30% of traffic to your website be from mobile devices.
3. By the end of 2014, half of all Canadians will have a Smartphone.
4. Canada supports over 25.3 million mobile devices.
5. 86% of Canadians research online before making a purchase.
6. 57% of Canadians buy online, 43% still prefer to buy in-store.
7. 83% of Canadians rely on user ratings or product reviews.
8. Increase in search volume:
• Reviews: +94%
• Local Searches: +197%
• Coupons: +246%
9. Only 14% of SMBs used search advertising last year.
10. There is no doubt that your business needs a Mobile Marketing Strategy.
11. Contact WSI to get started today! 1-866-498-4627 experts@wsimarketingstrategy.com
    www.wsimarketingstrategy.com

Generating Quality Inbound Keyword Links

In my previous post, I discussed SEO and On-Page Optmization. Off-page SEO is definitely more challenging that on-page SEO. Offsite Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about creating great content and acquiring quality inbound keyword links from other websites. It is best to get links from high ranking websites and web pages, but internal repeating links within your own website also count. Keep in mind that search engines are cracking down on spam, content farms, and other shady practices, so keep it clean, and you won’t be penalized for your SEO efforts.

Here’s How You Can Improve Off-Page SEO:

• Create and share engaging video content to attract more visitors.
• Create a blog and be active in forum discussions in the area of your business.
• Submit articles to carefully selected online directories for
  syndication, making sure your content contains several keyword links
  back to your other content pages. Don’t submit to just any article site, as some are considered “spammy” and links from them will not help you.
• Connect with other complimentary businesses and arrange to do a profile of one another as an exchange. Do not simply exchange links with any random site, as this practice is frowned upon and is not effective.
• Cross-reference related items between individual product pages (include
  accessories or similar products). This creates healthy internal links.
• Go social! Create profiles on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networks to get links from existing customers.
• Issue press releases and PR briefs about product launches, events and promotional offers regularly.

Just starting out as an online retailer with a few products to sell? Selling thousands of products online for many years now? Either way, incorporate off-page SEO to ensure that your eCommerce site is optimized for the search engines so that you are most visible to your potential customers.

Optimizing an eCommerce site for SEO isn’t that different than optimizing any other type of web site. To make a page rank well in the organic search results, it needs a good title tag (that includes the keywords you’re targeting); and good content on the page that includes the appropriate keywords.

Some Tips for Effective On-Page SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. Content is still king in the SEO world.
• To achieve good keyword focus, limit yourself to just one or two keywords per content page. You can even create a page for each product in your store so that you can take advantage of long-tail keyword phrases.
• One reason why product pages on e-commerce sites appear in the search engine indexes and then disappear is because they are duplicating content (which the search engines catch on). Keep content and tags unique.
• If you’re selling products that your competitors are also selling, then your product descriptions need to be unique and different from theirs. Don’t just copy the generic product descriptions of items that are provided by the manufacturer. You’ll risk having your page considered a duplicate page by Google and other search engines.
• Add links to related products or accessories, or perhaps a testimonial about the product. Adding ‘related products’ type of navigation on your product pages will help visitors stay on your site.
• Product and Customer Reviews can increase your visibility and improve your page rankings. This gives the search engines more content to read and also creates a third party endorsement for your product.

Online shoppers are using search engines to compare product features and prices, and if your e-commerce site isn’t positioned in the top search engine results, you’re missing out on a lot of potential online sales. SEO on-page optimization is a worthwhile investment.

In my next post, I’ll discuss Off-Page SEO.

Getting a general idea of where your online reputation stands starts by searching for your company name, product/service, CEO/president name and any trademarks associated with your brand on the major search engines. Start with Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You’ll also want to search on the major social media sites and industry-specific directories to see what people are saying about you and your company.

Be sure to further refine your search by adding keywords like “reviews”, “scam” and “complaints” to your search. You may notice that a lot of the sites that appear in the search engines are links to popular directories or review sites, such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local and Yelp. Look for your business by name on these directories and review sites to see if there are comments about your company.

Respond, Don’t React – Your Online Reputation is at Stake!

If you find something positive in your online reputation management search, go ahead and send a thank you or promote it. However, if you find something negative, think before you post. Do not engage in arguing with customers online, it will only make you look bad and it will be even more difficult to recover from. Instead, respond with patience, understanding, kindness, and humility. Don’t be afraid to apologize. An apology is not a sign of weakness and it doesn’t have to be an admission of guilt. In most cases, responding with something is better than not responding at all.

Online Reputation Management is an On-Going Process

Now that you have an idea of what people are saying about your business, you can address any negative issues. Most importantly, repeat the searches regularly! There is no substitute for a regularly maintained Online Reputation Management system. Regular maintenance will help you catch the good, the bad and the ugly before too much damage is done.