Hi & welcome to this brief, In a Nutshell Video, on Website Usability.

Today’s video is a demonstration of a Usability Issue So Bad, That it
 Violates Google’s Adwords Policy

Who am I?

I am Greg Mate of Search Engine Academy Montreal.

• A Certified Master SEO Instructor, 2006;
• Internet Marketer & SEO Consultant, 2004;
• & Certified Usability Analyst, 2011,

Please feel free to get in touch 1-514-426-4000 https://www.searchengineacademy.ca/

The Search Engine Academy is a Global Alliance of Certified SEO Instructors, providing hands on SEO workshop training around the world. Please fell the to check out https://www.searchengineacademy.com for more info and for classes near you.

So lets get going, there are the 2 sections of this video are:

Why Usability is Crucial to Your Website – 30 Seconds
Live Website Review – 5 minutes:
  Demo the Usability Issue &
  Proof – Violates Google’s Adwords Policy

Why Usability is Crucial to Your Website

Okay the reason I want to explore Website Usability with you is because, how people feel about your brand and products or services is of course very important.

And weather you realize it or not, Website Usability can positively or negatively affect a person’s feelings towards your company.

I have seen a person during a website usability test exclaim that they “hate the company” and that they would never “do business with them” all because they found working with the website too frustrating.

The issue found here is something Google takes serious enough to suspend a site form its Adwords Campaign.

Live Website Review

OK here we go this is when I found this morning so it’s my dad’s birthday coming up, its a big one we’ve got friends and family coming in from out of town, he will not let me say in this video how old he is going to be so sorry about that haha.

So I was thinking I would it be cool to maybe have a banner printed out  “Happy Birthday Dad”

So I printed a banner a long time ago, I think it was with the ink jet printer don’t remember anyway so I did the search for “printing a banner with a laser printer” and the first thing that came up of course is an ad with “Banners Starting at $9.99″ that’s probably cheaper than that I am then going out and buying the paper and printing it in myself.

So I clicked on the ad and cool the landing page is about banners, good.  Well the page says “banners starting at $13.34” hmmm wait a minute, where is the $9.99 from the ad? So I scroll down here some more 20 x 36” banner $13.34. So scrolling down more I don’t see $9.99. I look in the pricing and specifications and not to be found.

So I go back up to the top of the page and do a search for $9.99 and look there’s nothing on this website that’s $9.99.

So what does this mean and how do I feel about this? I need either the ad is wrong, or the landing page is wrong or, it’s a con job to get me to click, hopping I’ll still buy from them? Well if it is a mistake, does that mean that they’re going to make a mistake with my printing too?

So how does that make you feel or me feel right? So I start to have second thoughts this company. So presumably and I will the “Get started” button I can do what I want to do which is order a banner. But what about this user experience but it’s also now, will I now place an order? Have they done something that’s going to make me not want to do business with them, there’s a good chance I may go back to my original page and figure out how to print a banner myself.

So the other important point I mentioned is a conflict with the Google Ads Policy.

I did a search for Google Ads Policy and I figured out that Misrepresentation will be what I’m looking for from everything here on the right.

Scrolling down and found Unavailable Offers which reads:

Examples: Promoting products that are not stocked; promoting a deal that is no longer active; promoting a price that is inaccurate; call-to-action in the ad that isn’t easily available from the landing page

Specific example: Ad reads “Buy tablets from $40,” but upon clicking on the ad, the user finds no tablets available for purchase at $40

So here we are there is a clear violation of the Google’s Adwords Policy so our friends here at Vista Print are or not only making the user unhappy, but you could make the big G unhappy too.

Here is a link to Google Ads Policy

Please feel free to share this video with only your best friends, and most respected colleagues.

I would love to hear your feedback if this was of any value to you.

Peace out from Montreal.

The post Video – Usability Issue So Bad, That it
 Violates the Google Ads Policy appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

In work and play I enjoy trying to look at things from a slightly different, hopefully unexpected, way or angle.

In the ad below Mercedes Benz (or their ad agency) found a effective creative way to demonstrate their complex suspension system called “Magic Body Control” which will scan the road ahead to allow the car’s suspension to predict and adjust for potholes and bumps keeping the car stable.

It seems we humans are able to see objects as stationary even if our bodies are moving, while the chicken cannot. So to demonstrate how the suspension tries to keep its passengers from moving, this ad demonstrates how the chicken keeps its head stationary – not sure if just for symbolic reasons not “upside down”.

The post Creative Fun Video – Which Was 1st the Chicken or Mercedes Benz Ad? appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

Why would Search Engines want to promote High Quality, Original Content in their Organic Search Result Pages?

Because that is what we Humans want high quality content too.
Google is so uptight about this that it will penalize your whole site if it contains some poor content on some of your pages “…low-quality content on some parts of a website can impact the whole site’s rankings….”

However with our SEO Training the rankings of the our graduates’ websites (and websites we design and consult on) continue to bring in targeted traffic as the Search Engines like Google make over 400 changes (“500” planned this year) some major like the Panda update & the rest mostly minor tweaks, to its algorithms each year.

So spend your time doing research to find out what your visitors are interested in and “be sure to provide high quality content” many of you have heard this more that than a few times in our workshops, I hope you were listening!

Link to the original Google page of May 6/2011 from the Google Webmaster tools http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html

Cheers!
Greg

The post I ain’t afraid of no Panda! Today Google spells out what we have taught for years… appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

“Last year Yahoo outspent Google by 72%, $353 million in advertising vs. Google’s $205 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence.” Theresa Howard wrrote.

Even after spending $98 million more in advertising “…Yahoo’s first-quarter ad revenue was $1.6 billion, less than half of Google’s $3.8 billion in the same period. Yahoo’s share of search requests in the quarter remained flat at about 28%, while Google’s rose slightly to 48%, according to Internet tracker ComScore.”
So what does Yahoo need to do? Organic visitor growth to it’s group of sites might not be enough. To extend their reach perhaps it needs to buy it too.

Enjoy the nice sunny day (in Montreal anyway)

The post Advertising works, well sometimes. appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

Web TV is just getting going and offers a multitude of opportunities for internet savvy individuals and companies.

The post NBC and News Corp take a run at Google’s YouTube appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

SEO is not going anywhere. In fact , I believe all media will eventually be search driven. Media companies who want to remain at the forefront of their industries will embrace search in all its formats. They will need your SEO skills.

SEO may very well play out to be a standardized commodity. That will only increase demand for employees with SEO skills, especially those of you who have established themselves.

Our yellow page background provides Greg and I with a unique perspective on SEO. We have watched yellow page publishers fumble through a few years of a difficult transition to the internet due to the lack of a qualified talent pool to draw from. Today, they digitize their online print ads so you can search the ads by keyword as well as by heading.

We are as close to the tipping point as it gets. Whether you want to add a skill set, start your own SEO business or keep up on the latest seo trends, pull the trigger…you will only become more valuable with time.

The post The Convergence of Media appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

This time of year you want Fresh Hot Coffee – well in Montreal anyway…a hot sunny July day is another story and that seems far far away.

What about the visitors to your site?

Many of us SEOs know this…
You must offer them new, fresh, and if you can HOT content. Do you expect them to come back to time after time to find nothing new? Do you do it?

Many of us SEMs know this too…”Getting fresh content is a daunting task”

So many of us do this…”Try to think of what to write about”

Well why not try this? Let your clients tell you what to write about. They use your product or service. They know what they like, need, care about and could do without.
Why not take their ideas and thoughts and turn them into -FAQs -articles or -blog posts?

Better yet, why not…get them to write it for you?
Do I hear crickets chirping? Yes I said why not…get them to write it for you?

How? Make it worth their while. Offer them something. Think about what they need. You may be able to offer them something that is just as elusive to them as content is for you.

It may turn out to be easy for you to provide. It could be quite easy for them too. They only need to describe their experience. They only need talk about, or comment on, or describe using your product(s) or service(s), maybe how they found you, why they stay with you, even why they left their former supplier or provider.

Why not get yourself a fresh cup right now and come up with 5 or 10 ideas, and write them down. Then look them over to figure out which you can accomplish now, or in a month or in a year.

Don’t throw out the ideas you can’t do! Keep a file and one day when you’re stuck for ideas go through them and who knows maybe you will be able to do them then.

Thanks for your support, have a great weekend!

The post Do They Want Fresh Coffee or Cold Coffee? appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

There’s tons of talk, and article after article, about the importance that articles play in Internet or Search Engine Marketing. And it is just that. Very important.

But isn’t it equally important to have your articles read?! None other than Robin Nobles, of Search Engine Workshops, thinks so and recently wrote “Article marketing is extremely powerful for increasing visibility, name recognition, branding, and more. I’ve been doing it for years.”

The title of this post is actually a quote from an article written about one of the contestants on the NBC reality TV show “The Biggest Loser”. I find myself repeating the quote often because I find it so powerful. Isn’t it?

(Sorry I don’t remember the article or the publication, in fact the quote was read aloud to me by a friend who actually read the article. I didn’t.)

“No food tastes as good as thin feels.” WOW. Would that title not tempt you to read an article? Imagine. That wasn’t the title of the article. But it should have been!

Titles are an important part of article writing, perhaps as important as the content of the article itself. For few may ever read your article unless you encourage them to do so.

After all what do they see first, the title or the article? Well one way to get them to notice and read the article, is to spend the time needed to come up with a powerful, compelling title. Like the writing articles, once you spend a little time doing it, writing great titles gets easier too.

“No food tastes as good as thin feels.” This could also an effective mantra to chant when found face to face with a threateningly fresh piece of Tiramisu this weekend. Heck every weekend!

Thanks for tuning in. I hope you all have a great weekend!

P.S. Many of you know, my usual mantra is “Cake! Cake! Cake!”

The post “No food tastes as good as thin feels” appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

Note: This page is geared for those needing basic training in how to create a simple Web page prior to attending the SEO Workshop.

In order for your Web page to achieve a top position in the search engines, you need to know how to create a very simple Web page.

At the outset you’re probably not going to be designing complete Web sites yourself, rather you will begin by designing and adding new information pages.

Also, you’ll need to know how to:

make simple changes to a Web page
how to use a software program for making those changes, and
how to add tags that can help boost your rankings.

Here’s something crucial to keep in mind:

The closer to the top of the page that your important keywords are, the more relevant your Web page will be to the engines.
The more relevant the page is for that keyword search, the better your rankings will be.
Therefore, you need to remember how important it is to bring all keyword-containing text and tags to the top of the page.

Prior to the workshop try to complete HTML Basic Assignments #1, #2, and #3 below. If you have time, work on some of the other assignments, but make sure you finish those three assignments first.

After completing the tutorials, you can always refer back to them for more information.

HTML Basic Assignment #1: (important to do)

For practice, those who have never created a simple Web page and perhaps don’t really intend to (you will hire a programmer to develop your sites and pages) you can compose pages in a word processor or text editor and “Save As” HTML pages.

Use a (free) text (HTML) editor and begin practicing by:

1. Right Clicking on this link:

http://searchengineacademy.ca/2006/11/28/cbs-evening-news.html

2. Save As (make sure you select “Web page, complete…”). Don’t change the name of the file. Remember the directory where the computer saved the file. Write it down NOW!

3. Browse until you find the directory where the above file was saved. Highlight the file, which will be named “cbs-evening-news.html” and open the file – right click and open with your text editor or word processor.

4. Modify the file – add words to it, or take words out – do whatever you want! When you make a change, click on Preview in Browser, and you’ll be able to see what your changes would look like online.

Assignment #2: (important to do)

Take the HTML Tutorial

Complete all lessons.

Assignment #3: (important to do)

Find out what FTP program you have. What is FTP? FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol . We can use FTP to transfer (upload and download) to a server, all the files needed for a Web site. After you work on your Web pages, you’ll need to FTP the pages and graphics to your server. Then, you’ll be able to view the pages on the Web.

If you don’t have an FTP program, go to http://www.download.com and download a trial version. Which ones are good? CuteFTP and WSFTP are both very good.

Try to spend some time playing with your FTP program.

Assignment #4:

Visit A Beginner’s Guide to HTML:

Primer 1: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478141
Primer 2: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478151
Primer 3: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478161
Primer 4: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478171
Primer 5: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478181
Primer 6: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478191
Primer 7: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478201

Here is a but more advanced information http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/building_web_pages_with_html_5/

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The post Creating a Simple Web Page – HTML Basics Primer appeared first on Search Engine Academy.

What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an internet strategy used to promote your web site. You “optimize” your web site so that it appears near the top of a search engine’s results page (SERP) when someone conducts a web search using a specific keyword or keyword phrases.

You are NOT paying to appear in the sponsored listings provided by search engines that usually appear at the top, bottom or right hand side of the results page and usually indicate “sponsored listings”.

You are building or extending your web site so that each individual page is relevant enough to appear high in the natural/organic results supplied by the search engines when someone searches for a keyword or keyword phrase.

The higher your web site ranks in the results listing of a search, the more likely your site will be visited by the person who is conducting the search. The majority of internet users won’t click through several pages of search results. More often, they will only visit sites displayed on the first page or two which makes search engine optimization essential for directing more visitors to your site.
How Do I Get Started With Search Engine Optimization?

Read the Search Engine’s Webmaster Guidelines. Most of the info you find on the internet regarding search engine optimization regurgitates strategies derived from Google’s webmaster guidelines.
You can search on Google, Yahoo!, MSN or any smaller search engine for information on SEO. There are hundreds of web sites providing a variety of free SEO strategies and tips. Keep in mind, search engine optimization is like any other tool in your search marketing mix. You are responsible for the outcome. If you are researching the info yourself, it would be wise to contact an seo consultant to make sure you are on the right path. Getting banned from Google because of a rookie mistake can be painful.
You can take an online course. There are dozens of courses available including our own online training at . Taking an SEO course online course is great but make sure the course providers are available to discuss critical issues.
You Can Attend a Search Engine Optimization Training Workshop. There is nothing like hands on learning and a support system. Make sure the workshop provides “White Hat” SEO placement techniques based on search engine guidelines.
You can hire an outside agency that provides search engine optimization services. SEO can be expensive but a good search engine optimization agency will provide you with a good return on investment. Make sure they are transparent and provide complementary search engine advertising methods.

The best advice I can give you is to start today. While you are thinking about getting it just right, your competitor has added relevant content, submitted to a few directories, written an article, and is hard at work on his new blog!

Until the next time….Trust Your Instincts But Track Everything.

Barry
About Gregory Mate

Gregory Mate is the Director of Training of the Montreal Search Engine Academy, He teaches a 1 Day Executive Masters’ in SEO Seminar, the 2-Day Basic SEO Essentials, 3-Day Advanced SEO Techniques, and 5-Day All-Inclusive SEO “hands on” search engine marketing workshops in the Greater Montreal Area of Quebec.
About Search Engine Academy

The Search Engine Academy is the first search engine optimization training designed for people with little or no previous experience with SEO. It also has a detailed certification program for current SEOs to ensure they possess the most current and correct skills. The Search Engine Academy was formed by industry leaders Robin Nobles and John Alexander. Each of the Search Engine Academies are independently owned and operated by licensed associates of the Search Engine Academy.

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