Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » targeted traffic http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog Web Hosting Industry News, Latest Trends, and Analyses. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:48:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 What Type of Domain Will Best Serve my Online Endeavors?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/26/what-type-of-domain-will-best-serve-my-online-endeavors/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/26/what-type-of-domain-will-best-serve-my-online-endeavors/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:49:33 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=818 Determining what kind of domain would best suit your business is usually an easy task if you decide to go ahead and purchase a .com domain like everyone else. However, there are many domain extensions and each one serves it’s purpose. Simply using .com in every situation may not always be your best option, especially if you are going after highly targeted traffic. Aside from focusing on targeted traffic, you might not be able to find a .com domain that is suitable to your business domain, in which case you may have to settle for an alternative domain extension. But how do you know which domain extension to use with your website?

Which Domain Extension is Better Than .com?

This question can be a difficult one to answer, because it depends entirely upon a variety of factors such as what you intend to do with the website, your budget, and other factors such as traffic targeting. If you’re planning on starting a company online, then you’ll actually want to own every extension of your domain. The reason for this is to prevent capitalization by your competitors.

Owning Your Domain Name

There are many competitors that will use nefarious means to steal your traffic by using your popularity, and even your own domain name against you. To do this they will register a domain name that has a different extension than yours, yet the same domain name. For example, if you own examplesite.com, then your competitor may purchase examplesite.net just to steal some of your mistaken traffic. They may even purchase names that contain typos like exmaplesite.com just to trick your visitors into visiting their site when they are trying to type in your site names. If you’re planning on only buying one domain extension, then you’ll want to choose wisely. If you are starting an online business then you can use the .biz extension, although you may be better off using the .com extension. However there are instances when simply using a .com domain would not be your best option.

Using Region Specific Domain Names

Region specific domain names are domain names that pertain to a certain location. An example of a region specific domain name would be examplesite.co.uk. This site extension is meant to show that the site is based in the United Kingdom. Using a domain extension like this would be especially helpful if you were targeting traffic in the United Kingdom. If your site is built around offering a local service, then you would most likely reap the most benefit from using a geographical domain name like the one above.

The beautiful thing about these domains is that you don’t have to actually be based in that area. You can give your site visitors the confidence they need to do business with you and make them believe you are located locally, even though you are located across the world. For example, if you want ed to sell a product that was hot in India, you could open a site with an Indian domain extension to give the impression that you are located in India. This is one way region specific domains are used to attract geo-targeted traffic.

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/26/what-type-of-domain-will-best-serve-my-online-endeavors/feed/ 0 How Does Search Engine Optimization Relate to Your Web Host?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/18/how-does-search-engine-optimization-relate-to-your-web-host/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/18/how-does-search-engine-optimization-relate-to-your-web-host/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:08:49 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=806 Search engine optimization is perhaps the most important marketing aspect in online business. If you want a successful website, then you need to be at the top of the search engines. There is simply no other way to get tons of targeted traffic on autopilot. The problem that most people have regarding search engine optimization is the sheer density of it. There is just so much to know and it seems as if there is not enough time in the day to devote to it. As soon as you think you know it all, you find out you’ve been doing something wrong all along. Search engines have been developed over time to index and catalog every aspect of your website, both internally and externally. Therefore the factors that affect your search engine ranking are innumerable. One factor that most people overlook is the relationship between their hosting company and their search engine optimization effort.

Server Reliability

Perhaps one of the most fundamental aspects of your web host that will affect your search engine ranking is the reliability of your web server. The main problem that you need to be aware of is server downtime. Search engines crawl the web at various points throughout the day. No one can know for sure when the search engine spider will visit your site. This means you need to make sure your site is up at all times. If the search engine spider attempts to crawl your site while it is down, then all of the recent changes you have made to your website will not be indexed., This can greatly hinder your search engine optimization progression.

Robot Text

Another important factor of search engine optimization that closely relates to your web hosting account is your robot text. The robot text is a document that tells your server how it should deal with outside influences such as website visitors and search engine crawlers. This document will differ depending on the hosting company that you’re with. Some web hosts will have the document set to allow search engine crawlers while others will not. It is extremely important to make sure your robot.txt files allows crawlers to index your site, otherwise the site will not even be indexed at all!

IP Address Reputability

The final SEO factor that is directly related to your web host is your IP address. Every website online has an IP address that it is associated with. With some hosting plans you share an IP address with others, and some hosting accounts give you your own dedicated IP address. If you decide to share an IP address with others then you need to understand that you are taking a substantial risk to your search engine optimization efforts. Since you are sharing an IP address with other sites, if these sites are penalized by the search engines your site could lose some of its value within the search engine as well, especially if your site is in anyway linked to the non-reputable site on your IP address. For more information on this make sure you talk to your hosting company about dedicated IP addresses and how they can help you.

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/18/how-does-search-engine-optimization-relate-to-your-web-host/feed/ 0 Improve Your SEO Efforts by Choosing the Right Web Hosting Planhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/12/improve-your-seo-efforts-by-choosing-the-right-web-hosting-plan/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/12/improve-your-seo-efforts-by-choosing-the-right-web-hosting-plan/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:57:21 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=797 The success and sustenance of every website begins with the server on which it is hosted, and the performance of that web server relies entirely upon the competence, reliability and capabilities of the web hosting provider. Perhaps even more essential to the success of a website is it’s ranking in the search engines. Without traffic a site may as well not exist, and it is a well known fact that having a high page ranking search engines is the bet way to get constant traffic automatically. Many people do not see the correlation between their web hosting plan and their search engine optimization efforts, but I assure there is a valid connection. Every web hosting plan comes with certain features and options, some of which can directly impact your site’s ranking in the search engines.

Geographic Targeting

Many people seem to overlook the importance of targeted traffic. Getting traffic to your web page can be easy, especially if you accept any kind of traffic. However, getting traffic that is actually going to convert into sales is another story. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative to go after traffic that will be beneficial to your business. One of the ways you can do this is by targeting your traffic geographically. If you are trying to sell a product or service that is going to be popular in the UK, then you wouldn’t want a lot of your traffic coming from China. For this reason it is important to choose a web a hosting provider that is located in the area you would like to target. I.E. -  If you are in the US, then try to pick a web hosting provider in the United States.

IP Addresses

Another important aspect to consider is the IP address of your web site. Search engines often look at the IP address of a website to determine it’s relation to other websites, which may directly impact it’s rankings in the search engines. In other words, choosing a web hosting plan that offers only shared IP addresses may not be the best decision. You may find it too expensive to purchase a dedicated hosting plan, however you can still get a dedicated IP address with your shared hosting account. If you share your IP address with other websites then you are risking the search engine ranking of your site, since the actions of those websites could be directly connected with your site’s behavior by the search engines. When you have a dedicated IP address you will not have to worry about such occurrences, as your IP address will only be used by your website.

Site Building Tools

You’ll also want to make sure you have access to all of the website building tools and languages that are standard in today’s technology. For example, you’ll need to be able to use PHP, MySQL databases, FTP clients and other standard tools. You’ll also need access to your .htaaccess file and PERL if you want to have a fully functional and reliable website. These tools are also extremely important in the search engine optimization efforts of your website. If your web hosting provider does not offer these tools then you may want to consider a different web hosting company.

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/12/improve-your-seo-efforts-by-choosing-the-right-web-hosting-plan/feed/ 1 Seven SEO Myths Debunkedhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/07/23/seven-seo-myths-debunked/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/07/23/seven-seo-myths-debunked/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:36:46 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=437 Search engine optimization is vital for anyone looking to attract targeted traffic to their website.  Being that it is such a hot topic, the web community is constantly in talks about which methods work, and which ones don’t.  The purpose of this article is to debunk seven of the most common myths associated with SEO.  Whether you intend to hire an SEO firm or go at it alone, this knowledge will give you a better idea of what to expect.

1.) All Meta Tags are Created Equal

Though some are extremely important, other meta tags do not play a determining factor in your search engine visibility.  Because spammers are quickly becoming infamous for leveraging keywords, search engines are relying more on genuine website content and less on meta data.

2.) Regular Search Engine Submissions are a Must

There is a large perception that you should manually submit your website to search engines on a weekly or monthly basis.  This couldn’t be further from the truth because all it takes is one submission to each search engine you intend to target.  What many of the expert firms won’t tell you is that if your site is properly optimized, the search engine bots will automatically find you.

3.) Good SEO is Expensive

For the most part, SEO is a very cost effective form of online marketing, generally much cheaper than banner or sponsored advertising.  This is especially the case when optimizing to achieve organic rankings.  If you couple a quality site design with good networking and links, you can end up paying little to nothing for your SEO campaign.

4.) Homepage Optimization is the Key

Some have the belief that once you sprinkle a few keywords and links into your homepage, optimization is done.  However, you can and should optimize all the pages within your site.  Each page should have its own keywords and pay attention to the appropriate meta tags.  Keep in mind that search engines rank individual pages, not entire websites.

5.) You Should Stay Away from Competitive Keywords

Many avoid using competitive keywords and phrases in fear that they just don’t have enough to fight with.  The truth is that you should still aim for relevant keywords regardless of the competition surrounding them.  Don’t run away from terms that you can get you noticed just because someone else is targeting them.

6.) PPC is More Effective than SEO

While a PPC campaign can work wonders at promoting your site, SEO is far more effective over the long haul.  It is a known fact that most web surfers use the search engines and rarely find their content through sponsors advertisements.  They simply trust the organic results more than the sponsored content.  Even though PPC can get you to show up in the results, this is only a short term solution that could weigh heavily on your budget.

7.) Good as a Guarantee

There are a number of SEO firms in the business of making guarantees on superior optimization and ranking.  In reality however, there is no firm that can make you any guarantees for ranking in any search engine.  Some companies are actually out to help you, while others are simply looking to fatten their pockets.

Related posts:

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/07/23/seven-seo-myths-debunked/feed/ 1