11.30.2010

Cyber Monday Sales Up 19.4%

CNet


According to Coremetrics, a division of IBM, online sales yesterday were up 19.4 percent, compared to Cyber Monday 2009. The average consumer's online order value was $194.89, representing an 8.3 percent gain over the average order value of $180.03 in 2009. Coremetrics also found that luxury goods sales were up 24.3 percent, compared to Cyber Monday 2009.


Coremetrics also reported that total sales on Cyber Monday were 31.1 percent higher than Black Friday's online sales. However, the research firm stopped short of saying exactly how much revenue online retailers generated on Cyber Monday.



Black Friday's promising numbers for the online community were again strengthened by Cyber Monday's 19.4% increase over last year. People are shopping online more often, but they are also spending more than they did previously. I was most surprised by the fact that luxury items have increased 24.3% over last year, despite the world economic situation.


For those still asking themselves whether or not search engine optimization is a viable idea for your company - ask yourself this question instead; How do you personally find products and services online? Odds are, you're using Google, Bing or Yahoo! in which case, getting your business to the top of the list so it can be found by consumers should be a top priority - and we have the seo team to get you there.

11.28.2010

Black Friday Sales Dramatically Up Online

I love Black Friday. Not for the sales, but for the sales data that comes from the event. This year, Black Friday is bringing joy to business owners everywhere - so long as your business is online.


BBC


The 0.3% increase in sales on Black Friday followed a 0.5% rise last year.

"This means the American consumer has adapted to the economic climate over the last couple of years and is possibly spending more wisely as the holiday season begins," said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin.

Online payment service PayPal reported a 27% increase in volumes on the day, compared with Black Friday in 2009.

"The tough economy has made shoppers more price-conscious, and this year's Black Friday results show that they're going online to find the best deals," PayPal's Amanda Pires said.


WXEL


In a survey of shoppers over the weekend, 16.3 percent said that they paid for their purchases with credit cards, down from 30.9 percent a year earlier, according to consumer research firm America's Research Group.


San Jose Mercury News


PayPal today announced Black Friday shopping results, showing a rise in online and mobile sales on what is traditionally the biggest shopping day for brick and mortar stores. The company reported approximately a 27 percent increase in total payment volume on Black Friday 2010, compared to the previous year.

Other PayPal results from Black Friday 2010 included:


  • PayPal found that the official holiday shopping season began on Monday, November 15, 2010.

  • On Black Friday 2010, consumers shopped most frequently between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. PST.

  • Black Friday 2010 resulted in 21 percent more total payment volume compared to Thanksgiving 2010.

  • PayPal saw 19 percent more payment volume on Black Friday 2010 compared to an average Friday in 2010.

  • PayPal processes 16.5 percent of U.S. eCommerce and 15 percent of global eCommerce.


Not only are people shopping online more often, they're also more reserved about the purchases they make. This year, shoppers are shying away from large credit card purchases and looking for holiday items on a sensible budget. Paypal's twenty seven percent increase in sales revenue provides a great indication of how the average consumer has seized the power of online shopping. In contrast to online sales being up nearly 30%, brick and mortar sales only went up by a third of a percent over last year's sales. Having a dominant online presence is more important now than ever. We'll help you get there with organic search engine optimization.

11.08.2010

HTML5 SEO

A lot of buzz has been generated on HTML 5 to the point where our SEO clients are beginning to ask us if our methods will have to be changed to deal with the new markup. After looking into HTML 5 in great detail, we can say with certainty that it will yet again change the search engine optimization market, but only by a little bit.


HTML5 provides SEO specialists with a better breakdown of each web page through it’s code. Instead of labeling each separate unit of the web site’s code as a “div id”, each segment of every page is named according to what it really is. Currently web sites are structured using a heading format, where each heading is assigned a corresponding value according to its weight on the page. With HTML5, search engine specialists are able to tag each piece of the page to accurately represent what is being seen by surfers.


New HTML 5 labels



  • header tag

  • section tag

  • article tag

  • footer tag

  • audio tag

  • video tag


Flash Goes Extinct in HTML5


The new audio and video tags allow for flash-free animations as well as flash-free video. In the past we have spoken out against flash based web design. It is nearly impossible for search engines to index as entire web sites can be built on one line of visible code. As you might imagine, that doesn’t give search engines much to determine what your site is based upon. Currently, flash is best left for page attributes - though we feel it will slowly go the way of the dinosaur now that a better solution has filled it’s niche.

Page Load Speed Increases


We have focused our efforts on creating clean code since day one. HTML5 makes this practice semi-standard through offline web application storage. HTML5 does this by storing programs needed to load each web page in your browser’s cache. Since your computer will only have to load the content of the site and not animations, video, etc. the loading speed of each page.


HTML5 Makes Your Web Site Prettier


Past the code improvements, HTML5 allows web designers to dig a little deeper creatively allowing for much easier use of decorative touches like:


  • Multiple backgrounds

  • Direct web fonts

  • Wrapping to the text

  • Stroke and shadow to the text

  • 2D transformation to the object, animations

  • Gradients

  • Opacity

  • HSL and HSLA color

  • Background clipping

  • Outline

  • Box resizing

  • Box shadow

  • Top-right- left-bottom navigation

  • Attribute selector

  • Overflows x and y

10.14.2010

Pay Per Click Just Became More Expensive

Google's Profits Lifted by Higher Advertising Revenues - BBC World News

Google's latest quarterly results have beaten market expectations after posting a 32% rise in profits. Google made a net profit of $2.17 billion over the last three months, up from $1.6 billion from the same period last year. Google thanked higher advertising revenues, but also the success of its newer businesses, such as its Android mobile phone operating system. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said "Our core business grew very well, and our newer businesses - particularly display and mobile - continued to show significant momentum."

While Eric Schmidt was quick to point out the new divisions that are doing very well for the Google brand, he seems less quick to point out that Google has increased its rake on businesses using their pay per click - Google Adwords. This is yet another reason why businesses need to move away from paying Google to advertise their business.



Pay Per Click - An SEO's Point Of View

Our clients tell us that our organic search engine optimization brings them more than ten times the paying clients that pay per click had. In our experience, pay per click advertising generates lack luster leads who "kick the tires" but continue surfing the internet, despite constant landing page modification.

When people ask us why we don't provide pay per click and Adwords marketing, I like to ask them a simple question; When was the last time you clicked on a pay per click advertisement? Over 90% of people I ask cannot remember a time they have! Yet every person follows that statement up with "I only click on the organic part, cause they're actually relevant to what Im looking for, its not all advertisements."

Don't get us wrong. Pay per click makes sense for broad, international target terms like "womens clothing", but small businesses don't have the capital needed to market those terms aggressively. Focusing on where your customers pay attention on the search results will always land the best results, and for the best results - look to organic SEO.

10.09.2010

MM Painting Services SEO - Painter SEO

MM Painting services has been a bronze client here at Full Monty for roughly a year but decided they wanted to step up to the stronger Silver SEO package. Our silver SEO package is optimized for smaller local businesses who are looking to excel in their search markets.

Key Features Include:
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - complete web site analysis and optimization.
  • Rank Relevant Content - every facet of your web site is relabeled to meet more stringent search engine standards. *Limited to company offerings & services.
  • Clean Code Technology - complete SEO friendly re-coding of your website, custom template design optional.
  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - competitor web site / link analysis with SEM strategy implementation.
  • Prominence Link Building - 20 permanent one way links to your web site per month. (PR 1-5)
  • Traffic analysis & conversion honing.
In the Silver and Gold SEO packages, our clients can choose a new look for their website. We setup MM Painting Services with a more refined, interior design oriented site. Our goal in this effort was to maximize customer attention spans. In the past few weeks, the average time spent on MM Painting Services has increased by 700% showing greater interest and a better chance of landing paying clients.
As we speak, the major search engines are still indexing the new web site, but we have already seen some very positive changes in MM Painting Services rankings. Here's a sampling of services they're on the front page of Google for;

We look forward to the coming months with MM Painting Services and want to remind painters and contractors alike that search engine optimization, and more specifically, organic search engine optimization is the key to the success of your business.

8.11.2010

San Diego Home Improvements Web Redesign and SEO

We are happy to announce San Diego Home Improvement's new website release! In addition to design and layout, the site has also been optimized (SEO) and we are working to build links for this San Diego based remodeling contractor.

8.09.2010

Automotive Design SEO

Last year at SEMA 2009, we met up with Tavis Highlander of Highlander Concept Rendering at the 1965 GTO display. Tavis mentioned he had literally hundreds of pictures, sketches, concept renderings, etc - but no one could find his site, short of typing in his web address.

In February, we stepped up to the plate. In 7 months time, Tavis moved from total obscurity to holding down first page positions for every service he offers. Not only that, but Highlander Concept Rendering is now outranking the companies who built the cars he drew!

8.07.2010

San Diego Chiropractic Group

We are happy to announce that San Diego Chiropractic Group has joined our growing seo client base. SDCG offers chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage therapy in a modern professional office setting just off Balboa and Genesee here in San Diego. We look forward to a positive future with San Diego Chiropractic Group.

6.21.2010

Automotive Search Engine Optimization

Excelsior Motorsports is certainly gearing up for summer. Excelsior has been an SEO client for nearly 8 months now. The first four months of Excelsior's time with us was as a bronze client - in that time, we were able to dominate the local search market for San Diego and southern California. At the four month mark Excelsior asked to become a silver client. We revamped their web site, creating a new look and feel for Excelsior that followed the nature of the LSX/Corvette tuning industry. Since then, Excelsior Motorsports' web site has effectively dominated the worldwide Corvette tuning market.

How dominant is Excelsior?
Excelsior currently ranks number one in the world for "Corvette Tuning." This term is also the primary target term for companies like Lingenfelter Engineering, Hennessy Performance, Team ZR1 and LG Motorsports.

Corvette Tuning - 1st page
Corvette Tuner - 1st page

Is your performance shop looking for a web site that not only looks professional, but dominates your market, contact us for your automotive search engine optimization needs!

6.18.2010

Pest Control & Termite Company Search Engine Optimization

Whitworth Pest Solutions has now been with us for a total of four months and I am happy to report that they're doing very well online. When they first started, we were told that Puyallup is where the company is located, but Tacoma was the target market goal. We have since added Seattle as another target market. Here is a sampling of their current rankings for every pest they control:

Carpenter Ants - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Carpet Beetles - 1st page for for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Clothes Moths - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Flea Control - 1st page for Tacoma.
Food Pests - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Mice - 1st page for Tacoma.
Mosquito Control - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Rat Control - 1st page for Tacoma.
Spider Control - 1st page for Tacoma.
Hobo Spider - 1st page for Tacoma.
Termites - 1st page for Tacoma.
Subterranean Termite - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Dampwood Termite - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Paper Wasps - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.
Yellow Jackets - 1st page for both Seattle and Tacoma.

Pest Control - 1st page for Tacoma, 2nd page Seattle.

6.17.2010

Lt. Dan Choi - web site creation and search engine optimization

We are pleased to announce Lt. Dan Choi's web site and search engine optimization has been completed and the web site is now live! We pride ourselves in supporting equality, Lt. Dan Choi and the LGBT movement.

Please take a moment to show your respect for the members of our armed services by visiting http://www.ltdanchoi.com.

1.29.2010

Search Engine Optimization Updates

Search Engine Optimization Brochures


I am excited to announce our new sales brochures which we have in .PDF format as well. Feel free to check them out here.



New Search Engine Optimization Clients


Excelsior Motorsports SEO


Excelsior Motorsports is a San Diego based Corvette tuning shop which specializes in outrunning sanity. I have had my vehicle worked on by the owner; Kushan - and let me tell you, Kushan's work can only be measured in how much fun you're going to have when the car is finished.


Prior to signing on, Excelsior was having trouble ranking for terms to the San Diego area related to performance tuning and corvettes. In three months, Excelsior ranked highly on page one for all terms related to the work they performed in San Diego. Now, at the five month mark, Excelsior competes on a first page basis worldwide for the same terms.