As many of you know, I am the Webmaster for Coach K’s Official website, CoachK.com. I thought I would share what’s been going on with his site during Duke’s Championship run.

As the tournament progressed and Duke advanced, the site traffic grew higher and higher.  The site traffic reached a peak of over 9,000 visits on the night of the championship game. On several occasions during the final four and championship weekend, the amount of traffic actually brought down the site.

CoachK.com is a WordPresss site currently hosted on a shared plan with Host Gator.  I’ve never really experienced  one of my sites going down due to the amount of traffic it was receiving. In each case, I worked with the Host Gator admins to get the site back online. In addition to their help in getting my site back online, I also received an education in caching plugins for WordPress.

Host Gator’s tech support was responsive, professional, and very helpful. I highly recommend them as a hosting provider.

This is a great example of the value a good hosting company can provide. Where is the value in cheap or free hosting when your site has a problem and you can’t get any support? On top of their great support, Host Gator is also very inexpensive and reliable.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Duke’s Championship and CoachK.com

Related posts:

1. CoachK.com Redesign Launched
2. CoachK.com Added to the WordPress Showcase

The $97 info product is by Ryan Deiss and is available at GmailMindTricks.com (not an affiliate link) if you’re interested.

If you’d like to know how to make your ads appear in Gmail without spending $97, check out this YouTube video posted by Austin Lau, an Agency Media Planner at Google.

I watched the GmailMindTricks intro video but have not purchased the product. Ryan is a reputable internet marketer. Presumably the $97 product includes more than what is on the above YouTube video.

In either case, I thought the info contained in the YouTube video was worth sharing.

Have you had your ads appear in Gmail before? What has been your experience compare to “regular” AdWords?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

How to Target Gmail with Google AdWords

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Bing – Is Good, Good Enough?

CoachK.com is the Official Website of Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski. If you haven’t seen the site, check it out at CoachK.com and vote it up over at the WordPress Showcase.

I’ve been working with Duke Basketball since 2004 and I’m very proud of  my association with Coach K and the program. The current design of the site, powered by WordPress, was launched in August 2009. Read my post about the site launch to learn more about my use of WordPress.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

CoachK.com Added to the WordPress Showcase

Related posts:

1. CoachK.com Redesign Launched
2. Duke’s Championship and CoachK.com
3. About Me

A web-based social reader, Brizzly is laid out in a way that just makes sense; it has a very simple interface and the site itself runs smoothly and seamlessly.  Once you create an account, it’s easy to find your way around the site.  There’s even a “Getting Started” video and help section to answer most of your questions. Brizzly’s usability is not an accident. Brizzly was created by some of the same people who built Google Reader.

Here are some of Brizzly’s great features:

• Twitter: Send and receive direct messages. Your direct messages are presented in a threaded conversation like format right on your main page. You can even have multiple message threads going at once. When you receive a message, you can view it or choose the “shh” option to ignore it and pull it up later.
• Twitter: View images in tweets as opposed to links.
• Twitter: Monitor up to five Twitter accounts.
• Twitter: Create groups from your Twitter followers.  Right now, you can only have 5, but Brizzly promises more in the future.
• Twitter: Support for newly introduced Twitter “Lists”.
• Twitter: The Mute feature allows you to hide a user’s updates until you decide you want to see them again.
• Twitter: The “Trends and News” feature provides an explanation as to why terms are trending on Twitter.
• Twitter: Follow and unfollow Tweeters, reply to a Tweet, repost a Tweet and save drafts.
• Twitter: Search Twitter or find people to follow. You can also save your searches.
• Facebook: Update your status, wall posts and comments.
• Short URLs are shown in their full form on Brizzly.

Currently in closed beta, Brizzly is open to users by invitation only.  You can request an invite on the Brizzly homepage or ask a friend who already has an account. Another way to “get in” is to do a Twitter search for “Brizzly invitation”.

The addition of Facebook support is a huge step forward in Brizzly’s development. No longer simply just a Twitter Reader, Brizzly is now a Social Media Reader providing a simple, more streamlined way to monitor these two leading sites. I highly suggest you check it out. Brizzly’s fantastic features will greatly enhance your social media experience.

What are some of your favorite social media applications?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Brizzly Review: A Better Social Media Reader

Related posts:

1. Twitter Etiquette for Businesses
2. Facebook to Offer Custom URLs
3. Twimailer – Follow Me to Your Inbox

While you may argue that if you don’t optimize your Title Tag for your targeted keyword phrase you won’t be able to rank at the top of Google, I’d reply, “You’re wrong.” When is the last time you have actually studied the search results in Google? Often, many of the top ten results do not have the keyword you searched for in the Title Tag. It’s true.

It isn’t a big secret that you can use incoming anchor text to get top rankings in Google, but making the Title Tag compelling means that you can get more clickthroughs than your competitors even if they outrank you. And that is the key: clickthroughs.

Due to “Off Page Factors” Google doesn’t require the keyword phrase to be in the Title Tag to rank well. If you’ve been in SEO for the last few years, you’re already aware of this. Let me share two examples: “job search” and “search engine”.

Notice that Career Builder has the search term in the Title Tag while Monster does not. However, which is more compelling? Read both out loud. Hands-down, Monster.com is more compelling. “Find Jobs. Build a Better Career. Find Your Calling.” That’s powerful, especially in this economy where jobs are a premium.

The next example shows the top two results for “search engine” and neither have the keyword in the Title Tag. Yahoo! is listed twice in the top ten, and in both occurrences it does NOT use the keyword in the Title Tag. But the main problem is neither of these results are compelling. And Dogpile has created the “ultimate SEO sin” in using “Home Page” as part of their Title Tag.

There are, of course, exceptions, such as the term “used cars” which has the keyword phrase present in all top ten results, but for the most part, about half of the top results do not have the keyword phrase in the Title.

So, does that mean you should no longer use the keyword phrase in the Title? No, of course not. This is to get you to think more “outside the box,” as too many SEOs have the false belief that you throw a keyword phrase in the Title Tag and buy a couple of links with the phrase in the anchor text and they’re done with SEO. Hardly.

Recommendation - Keep your Title Tag to eight (8) words or less (65-character limit) and make it compelling.

Hint: Write your Title Tags on your web pages the same way you write your Headlines for AdWords. Be direct, to the point, and SELL the click!

Clickthroughs only happen when the searcher is compelled by what they have read, and that begins with the Title Tag. A top position is worthless if it isn’t clicked. Master this art and you will always have an advantage over your competition. Always.

Proof: When you search, do you just click the number one listing? Of course not. You scan the page and click on the result with a Title Tag that matches your needs. That is your key: “Give the user what they want and they will click.”

Remember the three-step process to successful SEO: ranking, click-through and conversion. Ranking is worthless without a click-through, and the click-through is wasted without a conversion. Start your conversation with the Title Tag.

Further Proof: Titles that are either keyword stuffed or boring have poor click-through rates because people scan the results looking for what they want. David Bullock, a conversion expert, says prospects think about what the solution should be and approximately what it should cost before they search.

Therefore, when the prospect starts their search, they scan the search results looking for what matches the internal pre-search conversation in their heads. Titles longer than eight words make scanning more difficult and are often bypassed by searchers, as they are not perceived to continue their conversation. Testing has proved Generic Titles are not what they’re looking for.

Here is an example of a “keyword stuffed” Title. Even though this page ranks well for a highly competitive phrase, the click-thru will be low due to the “stuffing” of keywords. The Webmaster was just trying to get as many as they could in there. Read it out loud to gain the full effect.

Hot Tip: While you know that your solution and price are perfect for the prospect, if your Title Tag does not match their conversation you won’t earn the click. It doesn’t matter how effective your landing page is; if few prospects see it, your sales will also be few.

What can you do to make your Title Tag stand out? You’ve heard advice to ensure the Title Tag is “READABLE and COMPELLING”, but how? This task is not unique to SEO. A compelling Title tag is fundamental in any marketing campaign. You always need to break down your market into segments.

What I do is open my Business Journal and map out what I think the typical prospect needs. I then look at the Titles for the competing sites and look for possible inspiration.

Here are examples and results for a few tests which I have personally run:

Plastic Surgery – Don’t Trust Your Body to Just Anyone - This achieved a 4-1 clickthrough ratio over a listing above it in the SERPS, mainly due to the word “trust” being added.

Looking for the Best Mortgage? – This achieved a 3-1 clickthrough ratio over a listing above it and the conversion ratios were very good as the landing page contained a graphic, “See Us for the Best Mortgage Offer for your Home.” This is a strong call to action.

Get Help Finding a New Job - The director reported since changing the Title their overall traffic has decreased, but the number of closes for their resume help service has gone up sevenfold. Visitors are not just more qualified, but they come in with an obviously better outlook and attitude. This can be referred to as “pre-selling” the visitor without them seeing a “pre-sales page”.

Health Insurance: Avoid the Traps, Get Expert Advice - This Title has boosted leads to the highest point in this firm’s web history. They have their top keyword phrase “health insurance” but they also tell them why they should click: to avoid traps and also get expert advice. Notice they did not place their company name in the Title, which is often just a waste, because the prospect doesn’t care.

Other examples from the SERPs:

Good Example:

Notice how the Title is concise and uses the power word “tips.” While the Description is too long, it is also well focused.

Example of What Not to do:

Beyond “Traditional …” what? This is why you want to limit the characters of your Title Tag. eHarmony should be smarter than this.

Exceptional Examples:

Notice the Venetian uses just four words (“the” isn’t counted as it is a “stop word”) and it does not mention the phrase “Las Vegas hotel” in the Title, yet it ranks #2 in the SERPs. Note the highly compelling description.

In the above example, Thrifty uses the keyword twice (car rental) in the Title and holds the #6 position.  The fact is, since other car rental places in that industry rank WITHOUT that keyword in the title tag, Thrifty should take a different tack.

Right now, they are doing little to set themselves apart from their competition.  They could probably safely take “car rental” out of the title tag and should instead use that valuable real estate to help convert the searcher by selling the click (just like you would in a PPC ad headline).

Other Examples:

“Online computer store” gets 110k searches and only one page in the Top Ten contains the target phrase.

“Find a job” and “work from home” have three or fewer results with the keyword found in the Title Tag.

Bonus Examples – Nothing but Pure Comedy

All of these are actual Titles taken from the web. This is stuff you just can’t make up … even if you wanted to:

Untitled document: this is a great example of the “Lazy Webmaster” who hasn’t taken the time to change the default text. I love the Meta Description … “logo.”

“The web pages uses frames, but your browser doesn’t support them.” Okay, if this is your Title, I am sorry, you are just an idiot Webmaster and you really need to outsource the work to someone else who “gets it.”

Insert Keywords Here: Another example of being lazy, but also telling the world that you are, well, an idiot. At least the “Untitled Document” is descriptive … “Insert Keywords Here” does not help your online image. It is the online version of a “Kick Me” sign on your back.

Home Page – That’s your Title. “Home Page.” Go ahead and cancel your hosting and see if you can get your old job back.
This article should have convinced you that the Title tag is no longer for SEO purposes but to start the conversion process by convincing the prospect to click on your listing. Take the time and rewrite the Title Tags of your top five pages which do not have #1 rankings and see your traffic increase without moving up in the search results!

Learn more about Jerry on his SEO Testing and Conversion website (webmarketingnow.com) or his internet marketing blog (blog.seorevolution.com).

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

The Title Tag: The Unused Marketing Weapon

Related posts:

1. Naturally Build Backlinks to Your Site
2. Blogging Basics for Maximum Traffic

The new design, shown below, replaces the original look launched in April, 2004. Advances in web technology over the past five years along with the site’s growth (over 300 pages) made the redesign necessary. In addition, I wanted to give the site a cleaner,  more modern look. Having worked closely with Duke’s athletic department on the site’s development, I am thrilled with the result.

Some of the new website features include:

• rotating flash banner ad for featured stories
• redesigned “Share Your Story” feature allowing fans to share their Coach K stories
• site search
• added social bookmarking icons to promote sharing of information
• dynamic menus and site navigation
• a number of other back-end enhancements

The new site is powered by WordPress . I’ve done a lot of work with WordPress lately and love the ease of use and flexibility it offers.

Check out the new CoachK.com website and let me know what you think.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

CoachK.com Redesign Launched

Related posts:

1. CoachK.com Added to the WordPress Showcase
2. Duke’s Championship and CoachK.com
3. Web Design Best Practices

Early feedback about Microsoft’s new “decision engine” has been positive. Users report accurate search results and helpful features but is it enough to make them change their search habits?

Some of Bing’s useful features include the following:

Website Summaries

Mouse over the right edge of the search results and a brief summary of the page is displayed. This allows you to learn more about the page without leaving your search results.

Live Video Previews

Do a video search and the results will be displayed as thumbnails. Mouseover the thumbnails, and the videos play directly on the search results page. There’s no need to click through to view the video. This is an innovative yet controversial feature that may see legal challenge.

Company Contact Info

Bing returns company contact information when searching for a company name. Search for Amazon.com and Bing returns the company’s customer service phone number (800-201-7575) along with links to the website. This can be a huge convenience if the company you’re trying to contact doesn’t make this information readily accessible.

Clean Design

Borrowing from Google’s minimalistic design, Bing’s search engine results pages (SERPs) have plain and simple backgrounds. This helps keep load times to a minimum. Similar to Google, sponsored ads are displayed both at the top, and along the right side of the page.

Multiple Search Options

You can choose to search websites, images, videos, news, maps and more, right from the homepage. “Related searches” is a helpful feature for delving deeper into a topic by displaying related search queries. Bing also keeps track of your past searches, displaying them as handy links on the left side of the page. Similar to “Google Suggest,” Bing’s autosuggestion feature gives you suggestions for searching in real time. As you type in the search box, related search terms are displayed to help you narrow or refine your query.

Is It Enough?

Most people seem surprised Bing works as well as it does. This may be due to the challenges internet search presents as well as Microsoft’s past search engine efforts. Some studies even show Bing provides “better” search results than Google.

“Good” or “Better” may not be enough for Bing however. People are creatures of habit, especially online. To change consumer behavior, in this case their search habits, a new product must be significantly better than an existing offering. Google has become so integral to many people’s online lives that it will take a lot for them to change to a new search provider. It’s not enough for Bing to be as good or marginally better than Google.

Because of this, it’s highly unlikely Bing will replace Google as #1 in search anytime soon. A more realistic goal might be to surpass Yahoo and take over the #2 spot in search market share. Some research shows Bing has already passed Yahoo but it remains to be seen if Bing can maintain that position over time and build on its momentum.

Have you used Bing? What do you think of it? Will you make Bing your new default search provider?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Microsoft Bing – Is Good, Good Enough?

Related posts:

1. How to Target Gmail with Google AdWords
2. Subscribe
3. Blogging Basics for Maximum Traffic

A message posted on Facebook explains, “Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, you’ll be able to choose a username on a first-come, first-serve basis for your profile and the Facebook Pages that you administer by visiting www.facebook.com/username/.”

The reason for the change is to “make it easier for people to find and connect with you.”

Currently Facebook uses a randomly assigned id number for profile page URLs. In my case, my profile page URL is:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692946276

Now, my Facebook profile URL can look like this
http://www.facebook.com/jeffklein or http://www.facebook.com/jeff.klein

Custom URLs are already supported by sites such as Twitter, delicious, and MySpace so this move by Facebook is not unexpected. That said, Facebook is the largest social networking site and this move represents a significant opportunity from a personal branding standpoint. I strongly recommend you claim your username on June 13th when the new prorgam opens up.

You can learn more on the Facebook blog.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Facebook to Offer Custom URLs

Related posts:

1. The Many Faces of Facebook
2. Brizzly Review: A Better Social Media Reader
3. Twimailer – Follow Me to Your Inbox

Here are some blogging basics to maximize your search engine traffic.

Use of Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of your internet marketing efforts. When selecting target keywords for high search engine rankings it is important to be specific, focused and realistic. More than anything however, you have to know what keywords your target market is using to search for your product, service, or blog. There are many tools available to help identify these keywords. Here are links to some of the top keyword research tools:

• Google Keyword Tool
• WordTracker
• Wordze
• Keyword Discovery
• SpyFu

Once you generate a list of keywords, you can target each one by creating a blog post. Use your most important keyword(s) in the title tag. You should also include your target keyword(s) in your post’s META description and wherever else you can in the content of the post. Be careful not to overdo it however. Keyword stuffing can hurt your rankings and the readability of your blog. Do not sacrifice the user experience in an attempt to appease the search engines.

Link Popularity

While it is not simply a matter of numbers, generally speaking, you need to get as many links to your blog as possible. To do this, start submitting your blog’s RSS feed to blog and feed directories. Here’s a resource that lists RSS / blog directories you can submit to: http://www.toprankblog.com/rss-blog-directories/

You can also do a Google search to find such directories.

Another method of gaining links is to visit other blogs or forums in your niche, and post comments. In most cases, when your comment is published, it will include a backlink to your site. This way you gain exposure as well as links to your blog. Make sure your comments are respectful and provide value.

Update Frequently

This is one of the most important blogging basics. If your blog readers find your content valuable, they will want more of it. If you post to your blog consistently and frequently (at least once a week if not more) people will return or follow your feed on a regular basis. I need to do a better job on this one and post more frequently.

Keep a Tight Focus

Many people have a personal blog where they post anything and everything related to their life. While this may be OK for a personal blog, it’s not recommended for a professional blog.

If you are serious about your blog and hope to make some money from it, stick to a single topic. If you want to cover a different topic, start another blog. The cost to create a new blog is minimal and with everything you’ve learned from your first blog, creating your new one will be that much easier.

Make Use of Plugins

Plugins are components designed to extend the functionality of your blog. Written by the development community, plugins offer custom functions and features allowing site owners to tailor their site to their specific needs.

There are many helpful plugins that make blogging a lot easier and more fun. Plugins like “Most Popular Posts”, “Related Posts”, “Recent Comments” etc. can help keep readers interested and coming back for more.

Encourage User Interaction

Foster conversation on your blog. Encourage comments and dialogue. Posts with a lot of comments indicate to users that you are providing valuable content. This encourages people to subscribe or return to your blog. One way to encourage comments is to ask a question at the end of your post.

When someone leaves a comment, be sure to reply. Another way to encourage commenting is to not require registration or moderation of comments. Just be sure you have a good spam filter in place.

What are some blogging tips you use to make your blog a success?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Blogging Basics for Maximum Traffic

Related posts:

1. Naturally Build Backlinks to Your Site
2. The Title Tag: The Unused Marketing Weapon
3. Domain Name Basics

Because Twitter is still evolving, businesses are still figuring out how to leverage it effectively. Each new feature brings a new opportunity for businesses to introduce their products or services. Businesses must be careful however. Just like in the offline world, there are rules and standards of behavior for social media marketing. Social media etiquette should be observed by businesses (and consumers too) so they don’t alienate their target market.

Business’ using Twitter should follow these etiquette tips:

Identify Who Is Tweeting

Is this your business’ official Twitter account? Foster trust with the community by being transparent and honest. If you specify who is doing the tweeting you will build a stronger relationship with those following you. Everyone likes to know who they are talking to.

Listen First

Twitter can be a powerful tool for identifying customer concerns or fostering dialogue. You can use the Twitter Search function to see what people are talking about in relation to your company. A better solution is to use an application like TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop. You can create and save a search query for your company (or any topic). This allows you to continually monitor the buzz about your organization. If you find questions and comments about your business, join the conversation.

Provide Value Not Just Promotion

Why should someone follow you or your business? Give them something of value. Help others without an expectation of something in return. Share your knowledge, both from your own company but also from other sources. If all you do is link back to your own site, this will be viewed as spam and your business will be cast in a negative light.

Pay It Forward

Retweeting (RT) means taking a twitter post from someone else and forwarding (rebroadcasting) it to your followers. If you find a good tip or information, retweet it to your followers. This shows you are in touch with your market and willing to give credit to others. When tweeting yourself, it is not considered good practice to ask for retweets. This will happen naturally if others feel your information is valuable.

How does your business utilize Twitter to grow your bottom line?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Twitter Etiquette for Businesses

Related posts:

1. Twimailer – Follow Me to Your Inbox
2. Brizzly Review: A Better Social Media Reader
3. Facebook to Offer Custom URLs