Balancing Web Design and Advertising to Get the Best of Both

Hey, Josh here from the InternetBeacon.

More info on SEO, check out our SEO Answers page, our SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Today we examine one of the classic conundrums when it comes to web design: using advertising to grow and earn from you website while not turning your page into a seizure-inducing catastrophe. Fear not, this can be done. In fact, lots of people have done this already. Here are a few tips.

Carefully Examine Potential Ads

Unless you really didn’t look at the agreement before posting ads on your site, you should have had a chance to look at some ads that the company runs. If they are all “Click Here! You’re a Winner!” ads with strobe effects and smiley faces, you will probably want to stay away from them. Be cautious, as your ads will affect how people perceive your site.

Take it Slow

Placing advertisements on your site is not an  “all or nothing” deal. You can start slowly and examine how different types of ads work. Google, for example, offers very simple, low-impact ads that will give you a taste of how the ad game works in relation to your site.

Match Ads to Content

Some ad networks will do this for you. You tell them what your site is about and some demographic info and they provide you with ads. However, some may not do this and so you need to make sure the ads on your page make sense. If you are writing a blog about home remedies and your page’s ads are about savings on video games, odds are they won’t match your target market.

-Josh

Internet Beacon

Increasing Your Footprint Online: Getting More Twitter Followers

Hey everyone, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. The Internet Beacon is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Maryland. What we do, SEO, is a form of Internet Marketing. Much like traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your name out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google and Yahoo. For more information, check out our SEO Answers page, SEO Glossary, and our blog posts on SEO.

Twitter is a very popular social media platform right now. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a micro-blogging service, freely available, that allows users to upload 140 character lines of text for the world to see. Now that the world can see it, does it mean people are actually reading them? Here are some tips for getting more Twitter followers.

Dive In

Find other popular Twitter users and follow them. Then, retweet (repost another user’s tweets while giving them credit) for others to see. Also, make sure to reply to other user’s tweets. This is similar to leaving a comment on blogs. You may see other people follow you as a result.

Be A Trendsetter

Trending topics are a way for users to have conversations with the world about specific ideas. Using a # sign, called a hashtag, followed by a word or phrase, marks your tweet with a topic. For example, if you want to talk about dog training tips, you might tweet “Getting my dog to jump through hoops is really hard. #dogtrainingtips” Then, people who use the dogtrainingtips hashtag will see your tweet.

Look Around You

Putting your location into Twitter will make it possible for other people in your area to find you. Also, with the advent of GPS in phones and Twitter on cell phones, you can search for Twitter users within a specific radius. This is great if you want to get involved in local affairs, but be careful; this will be a search with every local user. Specifying whom you want to track will be a bit more difficult.

That’s all for this week. We’ll see you back next week.

-Josh
Internet Beacon
SEO Baltimore

SEO in Baltimore, Maryland

Welcome to the InternetBeacon.com and to our first blog post!

Description:
We help businesses dramatically increase sales leads via their website & convert their website from a web business card into a powerful, sophisticated, marketing tool, and improve Search Engine Rank.

General Services:
Improve Search Engine Rank, Internet Marketing, Pay Per Click, Sales Lead Generation, Search Engine Optimization, SEO

Serving Baltimore, Maryland and the surrounding area.

Local Counties Served:
Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Carroll County, Frederick County, Howard County, Montgomery County

Example of the localities we service in Baltimore County:

Brooklandville, Maryland 21022         Randallstown, Maryland 21133
Cockeysville, Maryland 21030           Reisterstown, Maryland 21136
Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031            Ruxton, Maryland 21204
Lutherville, Maryland 21093              Sparks, Maryland 21152
Marriotsville, Maryland 21104           Timonium, Maryland 21093

Owings Mills, Maryland 21117          Towson, Maryland 21204
Pikesville, Maryland 21208                Upperco, Maryland 21155