What is the difference between number one and number 2 in Google?

When determining the difference between the number two and number one positions on Google, there are two different significant perspectives from which to approach this topic. The first perspective would be the difference in traffic that each position generates and the bulk of this article will be dedicated to this. The second perspective would be to view the topic from the point of the difference in the amount of work necessary to move from the number two spot to the number one spot. Ultimately the benefits of being in the number one spot will be weighed against the work, effort, time and funds it would take to achieve the move from #2 to #1.

If you own or operate a website you have heard the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which simply refers to the systematic strategies that are used to create optimal search engine results when users search keyword phrases associated with your industry or niche. The ultimate objective of SEO in to maximize page rankings during general searches.

Anyone that has tackled the SEO process understands that it impossible to tackle every angle here. The key here is to determine the benefit of being in the number one spot as opposed to the number two spot.

In the past it was postulated that there was not much difference in being in the #1 position through the #5 on Google, however, we now have a great deal more data that brings some clarity to the issue. We have now learned that there is a significant difference in being in the first position on page one of a Google search than it is being in the second position.

In a search in which the searchers are using search terms and keyword phrases that take them to the same page in which company A is in the first position and company B is in the second position, the searchers who actually click one of the first two links pick company A 3X as much as the company B.

In additional analytic research that simply takes into consideration how many times the first position is clicked opposed to the second position, the same seems to be true.

With 9,038,794 total searches and total of 4,926,623 of those searches actually clicked a linked that led them to an actual website, the second position did not fare well, receiving 3X’s less than what the first position receives.

It seems that the first position gets 42.13% while the second position gets only 11.90%. Obviously, the clicks for links in lower positions diminished drastically after the first two positions, but the distinction between positions 3-8 is not that great.

With this key piece of basic information in tow we understand that it is extremely beneficial to any website owner to be able to move from the second spot to the first spot on Google, providing that the gain in revenue would justify the cost. Let me first say that being in the second position in a general search is no short order and the owner or agency used to accomplish that feat has done a great deal of work.

What would it take to move from the number two position to the number one position on Google. There are no hard line numbers to be presented because of the complexity of SEO strategies there is no one particular way of achieving the number one position. For instance, you can use backlinking strategies and there is evidence that an increase of 100 plus backlinks that are strategically linked to high ranking websites could close the average gap between the rankings of the number one position and the number one position. There is also data there shows that variances of only 1.5% in keyword density and keyword placement could make a difference.

Something worth noting is that the company in the number two position would have to have an idea of the ranking of the company in the number one position in order to have a benchmark to obtain their goal of overtaking the first position. Also worth considering is the fact that a company that has taken the necessary measures to achieve the number one spot will not likely be resting on their laurels.

At the end of the day there is a huge difference between being in the #1 spot and the #2 spot of Google. The question then becomes: Is the time, effort, and money necessary to achieve the #1 spot worth it. It depends on whether the accumulated data available reveals that the traffic gained will translate into revenue that surpasses the expenditures to achieve it.

What is the difference between number one and number 2 in Google?

10 Ways to Optimize a Landing Website Page

Optimizing a landing page is more than just adding bells and whistles. It involves good planning. Try the 10 tips below for better results:

1. Simplicity can sometimes communicate far better than a page packed-full of data. Overkill of content all on a page confuses a reader and blurs the direction of sight. A simple, clean format can instead direct a reader to specific menus or links while still including key SEO optimization in the actual content used. This tip is harder to implement than it sounds, however. It takes some planning to pick the right content to convey a good message, so thinking through first produces better results.

2. Always identify what the landing page is and where the reader is located in the website. Some landing pages try to obscure the real reason for the website, just focusing on trying to convert to a sale. Defining what the landing page is and for who provides clarity and allows a reader to understand the page better.

3. Don’t rely on crazy, forced gimmicks to get a reader’s attention once on the landing page. This includes those annoying popup windows, chat windows, service windows and just about anything windows. In addition, some landing pages rely on special effects, forced video and music to enhance the visit. It’s a waste of time; most readers are annoyed by anything that "takes over their computer" without their permission. Instead, give readers a choice to initiate videos and similar with obvious links on the landing page, but don’t make their play automatic.

4. Offer multiple ways for a reader to click through to a desired action. Too often landing pages only include one link for a reader to follow-through for a sale or more information. Instead, put the links in multiple places so they are easy to find, including the top and bottom of the landing page.

5. Track any information that a reader is will to give. Use of email capture, reader data capture, blogs and comment sections and similar all allow for the ability to get reader information. Registration forms for free information usually capture a number of readers since people like free stuff. This can then be used for followup marketing, newsletters, email blasts and more. It’s also important to track reader statistics. Paying attention to what is creating more traffic on a landing page is important for its success.

6. Make sure that the followup page related to a landing page with data entry is complete and gives the reader some more ways to follow up for contact, sales or whatever is expected in terms of action. Too often landing pages have a data field, get entry, and then dump the reader off on a simple thank you page with nothing else. Follow through with more offers and materials, and a landing page system can generate more actions, one after the other.

7. Test, test and test again. If you think your landing page is complete and has everything it needs, always have another party look it over. All the links should be tested to make sure everything works as intended. Not doing so means a reader can potentially find a mistake, turning the person off. Also, have folks read your web page while physically watching their eyes. This will give plenty of advice on how people see a web page what information they process first. It’s easy to tell; their eye direction versus the landing page layout will give away what is being looked at first.

8. Learn from other landing pages to get new ideas. Don’t just stick with one type of landing page. There’s no harm in finding good ideas from other websites and using them.

9. Keep the landing page design as evergreen as possible to make it long-term in use. Many businesses find they still get sales or information and contact submissions from old landing pages because new readers keep finding them. Consider a good, evergreen page a permanent fishing net; it’s always on and functioning even when everyone else is asleep.

10. Never assume any landing page is perfect. There is always room for improvement, especially as readers and customers change their tastes regularly. Creating new features on a regular basis helps attract old and new readers versus boring them.

10 Ways to Optimize a Landing Website Page

10 Ideas for How to Create Viral Website Content

Everybody with a web page wants website content that has the ability to go viral; it’s the Shangri-La gold of traffic-generating ideas. However, actually coming up with viral content is not so easy. A website owner needs to not only be able to develop the content quickly but also pick the topics that will catch people’s attention, causing them to share the information with others. Here are 10 tips that can help develop viral content:

1. Keep Tabs – To understand what make social media traffic tick, a website owner has to be paying attention to social media trends. Doing so gives a better idea over time what people are paying attention and what’s being ignored, including content type.

2. Make Content Matter – Sizable content of at least 400 words gets people’s attention enough that they are more likely to share the material. Short content tends to be ignored.

3. Good Titles are Important – Content with eye-catching titles and sub-headings tend to get more information versus just a wall of text. Titles allow a reader to easily and quickly scan material to determine its importance. When the reader finds the right part he likes, he tends to share it faster.

4. Manage Keyword Density – Nothing drives a reader away faster than content jam-packed with too much keyword density, especially when it doesn’t make grammatical sense. Proper placement of keywords in the context of the material works far better and doesn’t offend readers.

5. Include Emotions – Content that is emotional is often found to be far more interesting for readers, enough that they are willing to share it voluntarily with others. Emotional writing strikes a cord, causing people to remember specific content and value it more.

6. Pack Content with Simple Titles – Using a basic title and then supporting it with lots of good content follows a principle of "under-promise" and "deliver with gusto." Readers feel rewarded finding a content gem packed with lots of information. The opposite approach tends to let readers down, irritating them that the content didn’t live up to the hype in the title.

7. Plant, Seed and Harvest – Farmers don’t get crops sitting around wishing things to grow. They go out, till a field, seed it, and help the plants grow. Making content viral requires the same kind of effort. People need to know the content exists to find it and share it. Website owners who go to other sites and use backlinking, sharing, and regular linking where possible generate far more traffic to find content that could then go viral.

8. Get Feedback, Revise, Publish Again – Feedback tells people what they are doing right, and what’s going wrong. Based on return information, content can be improved to get a better response the next time. Mistakes can also be avoided once identified.

9. Lists and Lessons – Two formats that people like to share involve summary lists and lessons. Both provide concise packaging of information that can be quickly scanned and consumed for their salient points.

10. Do Reviews – Readers are often looking for information about things they are considering buying or trying. Reviews tend to draw readers because it offers a free snapshot of something people often have to pay for to access. Reviews can also save people money avoiding purchases for what they may eventually not actually want. As a result, they have a high potential for being shared among readers of the same mindset and opinion.

Viral content doesn’t happen automatically just following one of the above tips. Many website owners and writers often use multiple methods simultaneously to increase the change of catching readers’ attention and interests. The more triggers included, the more often people are will to carry an idea forward to their friends, which is the main goal. Once the viral effect hits, though, hold on as the traffic can be significant and immense. Then the challenge comes in trying to figure what to do with the huge response while its occurring.

10 Ideas for How to Create Viral Website Content

Ways and Methods to Reduce a Website Bounce Rate

A landing page or website’s bounce rate is a metric used to measure how many people visit a website and leave right away versus those that stick around and go through the content. This metric is often represented in the form of a percentage versus the total population of readers that visit a given website.

Reducing a site’s bounce rate often first involves understanding why their are so many visitors coming and going so quickly. Two categories of traffic often make up most of the situations.

The first seems somewhat obvious: the website has the wrong type of content on it, so no one sticks around very long to enjoy the Internet location. They don’t have a reason to explore or review the rest of the material provided. The second possibility seems a bit more like an oxymoron: people are finding exactly what they want and then leaving right away, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This just means the website is then serving its purpose very well. So understanding the nature and context of bounce rate can be just as important as wanting to change it.

If a website owner has pretty much concluded the bounce rate suffers from the first problem, the wrong content, then their are a number of ways to reduce the site’s given bounce rate and improve the "stickiness" of the revised page. These options include:

• Get rid of any popup window features. These tools may seem like an extra way to provide content, but most readers find them completely annoying and use popup blockers to make them useless.


• Enhance your site with more natural webpage navigation. Instead of using pre-determined click link locations, a web page can be designed with far more page navigation tools, allowing a reader to move around a website from more parts of a given web page.


• Speed up your web page. Nothing makes people leave a web page faster than one that won’t load quickly. Readers allow an average of 4 to 5 seconds for a page to load up. If things get stuck, a site loses readers before they even digest any content.


• Enhance a website with dynamic page design. More users are now accessing the Internet through mobile devices. However, a high number of web pages don’t cater to different screen sizes, making mobile users have to zoom to read content. With dynamic page content designs a website will know what kind of device a reader has and will deliver the appropriate screen size and format. People stick around longer because the site then caters to their reading needs.


• Keep the ads to a minimum. Readers go to a website for content, not to read another businesses advertisement. Banner ads and similar are considered disruptive, and too much turns readers off.


• Choose web page colors wisely. White backgrounds tend to be a common default, but many website tend to favor blue. Just don’t choose a color that blinds a reader into irritation.


• Utilize internal search engines specific to a website. This allows people to find the content they remembered from a while back, enhancing return visits. It also allows a site owner to track which pages are bringing people back to then connect further links to it.


• Don’t provide content as a wall of text. Frequently and liberally use titles, subtitles, and breaks in content to allow for easy scanning and reading. Even the most interesting content gets hard on the eyes without any visual breaks in the material.


• Keep web pages focused and clutter-free. This is particularly important for web sites intended to convert interest into sales. Keep the reader focused on why the site exists and the action readers should be taking. Cluttering up a site with unrelated material causes distractions and reduces the conversion turnover desired.

The above tips should not be considered singular in nature. Many good website designers take advantage of multiple tools and methods to reduce their bounce rate and improve the readability of their websites. With combined changes, website owners should see an increase in readers’ visit time as well as longer digestion of content.

Ways and Methods to Reduce a Website Bounce Rate

Tips on How to Increase Adwords Conversions

No matter how much money you spend on advertising, you will want to make sure that our ads are being as profitable as they are meant to be. Following are some ways in which you can increase your Google Adwords conversion rate and make the most of your advertising budget.

Determine Who to Reach

Determining who to reach is the most important aspect of drawing up a marketing strategy. It will determine which keywords you advertise for, how much you sell your products for and even how many keywords you bid for on Google Adwords.

Do some research on your target demographic to find out what they want and need. If you have been in business for some time, chances are you have seen which products are the most popular and who is buying them. Use this information to make your online advertising appeal to the people who are most likely to not only click on your ads but also buy something from you.

Make sure your price is competitive. You do not want to sell yourself short, but sometimes the Google ad conversion problem has nothing to do with ad placement and everything to do with the fact that your prices are too high. Do some market research, consider the average annual budget of the people you are trying to sell things to and price your products accordingly.

Choose the Right Keywords

Google Analytics has a helpful tool that lets you see how many companies are bidding for any given keyword. Choose keywords that are not overly competitive if you want to get noticed.

It can be a good idea to choose a number of exact match keywords and then advertise for these using the daily budget system. Google Adwords’ daily budget system enables you to put up ads in the early morning and have them automatically taken down at night, which will save you a lot of money.

Analyzing Ad Performance

After a month or so, use conversion software to determine which keywords are generating the most sales. Any ads that are doing reasonably well should be left alone. Many companies have lost a lot of money and a large number of potential customers by messing around with good ads in an attempt to make them better.

Ads that are not doing well should be taken down or tweaked. Consider not only how many sales an advertisement is generating but also clicks and leads. If an ad is not making much money but is bringing a lot of people to the site, then consider leaving it up for awhile longer. After all, if people are coming to the site and the bounce rate is not unreasonably high; chances are that these ads will, over time, generate a profit.

Site Editing

If a lot of people are clicking on a particular ad but the conversion rate is very low, then make sure the page in question works properly. If there are any glitches on the page or it is slow to load, then this will drastically lower the ad conversion rate.

If your page is working properly, then see what can be done to make the product more attractive. Consider offering a discount, or getting people who have already bought the product in question to write up positive product reviews.

It should be noted that it almost always takes time to set up a profitable Google Ads campaign. Furthermore, the job is never done, because an ad that performs well today may not perform well a month or six months from now. However, it is possible to turn a profit using this method of advertising if you do careful research beforehand.

Make sure your site is properly laid out and functioning properly and then determine who you want to sell things to and which products you want to promote. Choose keywords carefully, monitor chosen keywords to see how each one is performing and then tweak your advertising campaign as needed in order to bring in good results. Do this and your ad conversion rate is sure to increase.

Tips on How to Increase Adwords Conversions

How to Get a First Place Ranking in Google

While there are a large number of blogs and sites claiming that they can get first page Google rankings in a matter of a few weeks or months, these statements are simply untrue. Getting a first place ranking in Google takes time, effort and a lot of hard work. However, it is possible to get high rankings if one follows the steps outlined below.

Choose the Right Keyword

Choosing the right keywords makes all the difference in the world. To start with, consider what your target demographic is and what sorts of keywords they would search for online. Next, check these keywords out in Google Analytics to find out how much competition there is for any given keywords and how many people search for any particular keywords in a single day.

Choose clear keywords that directly relate to what you have to offer. These keywords may be three or four words long or as long as seven or ten words. The length of the keyword does not matter; what matters are relevance and the amount of competition that you will be up against.

Putting Keywords in the Right Place

Once you know what keywords you want to use, be sure to put them in the right place. Make sure a primary keyword is added as part of the domain name and add the keywords to the website header, footer and in title tags. You will probably also want to use your chosen keywords if you set up a Google Adwords campaign.

Getting Quality Backlinks

Getting quality backlinks to your site is important. Google has a multifaceted standard of measurement for determining how to rank any given site and way in which it determines a site’s ranking is by measuring how many quality backlinks the site has.

You can get backlinks from highly rated, relevant sites by looking up popular blogs related to your products and then leaving insightful, helpful comments on these blogs, together with your website link. You will also want to set up a Facebook business page and blog to help promote your site and get more traffic.

Use YouTube

YouTube can be a shortcut for those who want to get high rankings for free. Google owns YouTube and often automatically gives relevant YouTube videos first page ranking. If you have added your website URL in the video description section, chances are that YouTube can boost your site’s rankings dramatically and help you generate a lot of site traffic.

The video does not have to be long or complex, but it should have clear sound and picture. It should also have highly relevant tags to make it search engine friendly.

Local Optimization

Local optimization is a particularly good option for any business that caters to a particular city or state. While there are some things that can be sold both online and offline, a lot of people search for local products and services on a daily basis.

You can optimize your site on a local level by signing up for Google places, submitting your site to local business directories and putting your company address on Google Maps. Using Foursquare is also a good idea; this specialized social media site gets millions of visitors every single month and is used by those who want to find a local business that is offering a good deal on any given item.

These are some basic ways in which you can, over time, get first place Google rankings for your site. While these tips will take time to put into place, they do not cost a lot of money to implement and are tried and proven ways in which you can boost your Google search engine rankings.

While there is no magic formula for online success, you will increase your chances of success dramatically if you put a priority on making your site search engine friendly. A site that is high quality and properly optimized will, over time, attract an ever-growing number of visitors and earn a high ranking on Google and other major search engines.

How to Get a First Place Ranking in Google

Web Development as a Career

Take a moment to look at the screen around the words you are reading. Look at the colors, designs, images, video capsules and how they’re placed. You are looking at a webpage made by a professional web developer. Web development is a growing field where you can flex your creative muscles and yet not be a starving artist.

Thousands of business websites launch every year but not all of them gain traffic. As a web developer, your job is to make your clients’ websites stand out from the crowd. You want to get as many eyeballs as possible to look at your clients’ websites. This is not only an art but an evolving science.

What Does a Web Developer Do?

Web developers do a wide variety of jobs for their clients, but basically it comes down to:

• Making new websites


• Revamping existing websites


• Maintaining websites

Although those are the main three jobs of a web developer, a lot of steps go into creating, revamping and maintaining websites. Specific jobs include:

• Running websites on different browsers


• Website security and general bug fixing


• Choosing graphics, colors and fonts


• Adding new content and any links to that new content


• Finding the right web applications for websites


• Learning various mark-up languages like HTML, XHTML, PHP and CSS


• Learning design software like Photoshop or Dreamweaver


• Making the website function smoothly on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.

Where Do Web Developers Work?

Web developers encounter many different job environments. Some web developers work from home while others work in a traditional office. You may get paid a regular salary or only get paid after each job. Web developers may work with an established internet marketing company or do solo work as a freelancer. Anywhere you can find an Internet connection can turn into your workplace.

Some web developers may have to travel extensively, depending if their bosses or their clients require it. Web developers working as consultants may do the most travel. Even in this age of Skype and videoconferencing, there’s nothing like being able to meet a client face to face.

Required Training

Although you do not have to have a degree in order to work as a web developer, degrees make you more attractive to employers. Major in any computer-related field like computer science or information technology. You can take online courses for a certification in web design and development.

Web Development as a Career