MindScape

An effective landing page is only as good as the visitors that it attracts. Hence, the next logical step after development of an effective landing page is to promote it. This involves attracting qualified visitors to it, by employing various online marketing efforts, viz. PPC or SEO , email marketing. Another frequently employed online marketing tool with the twin benefit of economy and effectiveness is Link Building.

Link building is a practice of getting the other semantically similar websites to feature your link on their websites. Link building constitutes finding viable business partners willing to endorse your site. An authoritative link to your site counts as one vote toward your link popularity.

Other site owners would link to a page, when they consider the content important. Likewise, search engines will consider your content important because human beings, not software programs, link to your site’s content. These factors result in the page attracting classified visitors.

There are various attributes that influence the link building initiative. The irony of link building is that while it may be appear to be an easy exercise (sourcing links from FFA and link a minute sites is easy), the real benefits of link building accrue only when the link is obtained from a quality website that is thematically relevant to the website that the link is requested for. Hence the paradox.

Links, Search Engines and Visitors : The connection

Good thematic links deliver dual benefit. First, they make the website available for the Search Engine crawlers to visit, while at the same time they are instrumental in driving relevant traffic from thematically similar but non competing websites. Links are attributed significant importance in the Organic Search Engine promotion, and are instrumental in achieving high rankings. The number and quality of incoming links is a manifestation of the standing of the website in the respective domain, as well as authenticates its authoritativeness.

The premise that the Search Engines use to value a webpage is that large number of links substantiate authority of the website. This is based on the assumption that if other webmasters decide to link to a particular Web page at their own discretion, it indicates that they find the content of the website relevant, and want their visitors to view the content of the linked site too.

Many sites maintain search engine visibility and the resulting qualified traffic because of successful link development, and not just based on the number of keywords on a page. This can be achieved by effective use of the keywords in the link description. Link anchor text provides a snapshot of the target page to the search engine and highlights its relevance. Hence, irrespective of the words or the type of content that the page contains, a search engine can interpret a great deal about how popular the content is by reviewing the links that surround it.

The Link development Roadmap

Link development is a tedious process and requires careful planning and execution. The process involves identifying the potential link partners, sending them link request with a value proposition and then wait for a response. Link development begins by mapping the websites that may be thematically symmetric to your website. A generally accepted practice is to identify the websites that your competitor has obtained a link from. The same websites could be targeted by you in your link development endeavor.

Another source of obtaining links could also be the popular classified directories. These directories may be paid or free. For obtaining a link from these directories, it should be ensured that the URL is submitted in the appropriate category.

The other source for links could be the medium of online publicity. This entails obtaining links by submitting articles, press releases and content to the respective classified websites. Even appropriate blogs and forums could also be harnessed for link development. Links from such sources further enhance the credibility of the website.

Once the sources of link have been identified, the other factors that need due consideration are the relevance and value of the link obtained. Not all links can be good quality links. However, the evaluation is subjective and can be left to individual discretion. It should be observed that the inherent link benefit, in terms of relevant traffic, derived from a thematic website would be more than, a link sourced from a more popular website, albeit from a different business vertical.

Good content is mandatory for any successful Link Building campaign. It serves as a catalyst for encouraging natural linking to the respective site, which results in natural link development, with quality websites. While some of these links may be logical and sequential; others may be completely subjective. However, the back links will all accumulate to constitute a robust link portfolio.

The Paradox
Link building is characterized by its gradual pace, requiring perseverance and patience. However, the pace of link development is subjective, and the turnaround time for link development is determined by the domain, quantity and the nature of links.

It takes extended efforts to obtain high quality links. While, links may be easy to source, good quality links adhering to the essential link building good practices, take longer to develop. For a link to qualify to be classified as good, it should conform to the following parameters:

The links should not be obtained from FFA sites or Link Farms.
Should be sourced from indexed pages, failing which the benefits would not accrue to the respective website.
The link page should not have the link attribute “rel=nofollow “.
The links should be developed manually.
While the parameters are exhaustive, the aforementioned factors are fundamental to any campaign.

As highlighted earlier, link quality carries more weight than quantity. Hence there should not be an effort to divorce quality for quantity. Quality is a function of the semantic similarity of the target website and the relative importance of the respective webpage.

Further, it needs to be noted that acquiring too many links in a shorter period of time may be detrimental to the link building effort. It is a prudent practice to develop links progressively, and reap the benefits over a period of time.

Out source V/s Develop Links In-house: The Cost Benefit Analysis.
It has been established that developing quality links is a tedious task and requires perseverance. The process of identifying potential partners with detailed research, followed by sending mailer and thereafter waiting for the appropriate response and follow up requires protracted efforts.

Link building also requires constant validation of the obtained links, a pursuit again requiring labor.

In view of its labor intensive nature, it is often preferred by webmasters to outsource the link building to specialized agencies. The inherent advantage that these agencies have is their experience and expertise of managing link building campaigns across diversified verticals. A natural fallout to this is that the agencies often have a database of webmasters in assorted domains, hence reducing the time it would normally take to research for potential partners.

The other factor that needs due consideration is the price that the agency demands for executing the campaign. While there is no benchmark for the prices, it is imperative not to fall for offers that appear to be too good. Offers to sell high quality thematic permanent one way links for US $ 2 per link is not unusual! However the quality and the authenticity of such claims always command a veracity check.

The intent should be ascertain the methodology, competence and the quality of such agencies. A lot of small firms are known to develop links by sending a generic mailer to all and sundry, with out making an effort to establish the relevance of the target website.

We often receive such mailers, and a particularly amusing one was sent to us by a link developer who was requesting us for a link for his website selling sex toys!!

While in a rhetoric context, every enterprise endeavors to gratify its customers, however, expecting them to partner with a firm selling coitus paraphernalia is stretching the relevance too far.

The point of sharing this anecdote is to highlight the fact that link building is a specialized exercise and there should be adequate caution exercised before outsourcing the link building, since the firm would be representing your enterprise. The nature of reporting, client servicing and quality are several other parameters that should also be considered.

Conclusion
Link building is about bringing more pre-qualified traffic to your site, and not manipulating Page Rank. Consequently, link-building campaigns aren’t easy. It takes time to seek out sites, blogs, and directories that are relevant to your business and worthy of being your business partner on the Web.

Hence to derive the true benefits of link building, one initiate it after assessing the requirement, budget and objective, since the benefits of this exercise are far reaching and continuous. The link building plan should be comprehensive and should explore every avenue of link building involving sourcing links from directories, blogs, forums and by link baiting, an exercise that generates the best links.

We would encourage you to share with us your experiences and opinions on the subject of link building.

Zend Framework is an open-source software framework for PHP5. It has a flexible architecture that lets you build interactive web applications and web services effortlessly. One of its strengths is the highly modular Model-View-Controller design, which makes the code more reusable and easier to maintain and lets you focus on the big picture. 

Model-view-controller is an architectural pattern used in software engineering. Complex computer applications present a large amount of data to the user. A developer often wishes to separate data (model) and user interface (view) concerns. This enables him to make changes to the user interface without affecting data handling, and reorganize data without changing the user interface. MVC solves this problem by introducing an intermediate component: the controller. The controller decouples data access and business logic from data presentation and user interaction.

Zend Framework has further enhanced PHP and improved its candidature for use within an enterprise environment. It aims to:

• Provide a repository of high quality components that are actively supported.
• Provide a complete system for developing web applications powered by PHP5.
• Don’t change the PHP - it’s already a great platform.
• Embrace collaboration and community to further advanced PHP5 programming.
• Positively contribute to the PHP 5 ecosystem and the PHP collaboration project.

Advantages of Zend Framework include:

§       MVC application framework - Zend Framework’s model-view-controller architecture provides an industry best practice for Web application development. It enables the separation of business logic from user interface design.

§       Database support- Access multiple brands of RDBMS via a database-independent object-oriented interface. Databases supported include IBM DB2, MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL and SQLite.

§       Internationalization - Zend Framework supports advanced yet simple solutions to develop PHP 5 Web applications for a global audience.

§       Web services - Use classes to publish and consume Web services and feeds in PHP.

§       Foundation Framework services - Zend Framework provides many other classes to make common application development tasks quick and easy. For example, solutions for email, sessions, authentication, logging, caching, filtering input, and others are included.

Built in the true PHP spirit, the Zend Framework delivers ease-of-use and powerful functionality. It implements best practices in connecting the application to databases and networks. And so, it frees the developer to concentrate on user interactions and the business logic behind them.

All in all, Zend Framework provides much required “face-lift” to PHP and facilitates powerful solutions for building modern, robust, and secure websites.

In our last communication we deliberated on the fundamentals of an effective landing page . While identification of the message based on the target audience is rudimentary to the development of the sales page, it is not all pervasive. There are other factors like page layout and its design, efficacy testing of the respective pages and their technical viability, which augment the marketing efforts and convert those eyeballs to sales.

The objective of each landing page is different, hence, each page merits specific promotional strategy. While the principles of promotion remain uniform, their application would need to be customized. To achieve that coveted edge over the competitors, and to ensure that the visitors do not leave the webpage prematurely, it would be pragmatic to consider the following points while developing the landing page:

Logical sequence of the page: The page should be so designed to ensure that the visitor does not need to navigate too much and the navigation is seamless integrated. Care should be taken to desist from using unneeded elements, such as links to other resources.. The endeavor should be to encourage the visitor to focus on the page and get them to complete the one action on which your landing page is focused.

Page Layout using heading, fonts and color: The aesthetic of the page is tantamount to the presentation of a culinary delight. Not only should it look good but be functional too. The colors should be chosen to be consonant with the theme of the page and should be restricted to three, including black. The fonts could be varied to highlight a particular message.

Length of the page and the details, therein: The length of the page is a function of the product / service, its value, and the duration of the post purchase period. It is an accepted criteria, that more costly an item is, or the more unique it is, the more content will be needed to influence the buying decision.

Use of Images and graphics: A picture is worth a thousand words is a cliché that has relevance in the context of the web page design. However, images should not be used only to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the page, as it may distract to the visitor. The images can be an effective tool to corroborate the message since they are remembered easily and are appealing to the eye. The text can be illustrated by the image, though its relevance and positioning are points, that should not be ignored. Further, it is recommended that the image be placed on the left of the text, since studies in eye tracking suggest that it takes more effort to move the eye back to the left.

Address the check out dissonance: It is imperative that anything that could cause the visitor to change their mind about the transaction, be adequately addressed. It is not uncommon for visitors to abandon shopping carts and forms at the last minute. This could be due to anxiety that stems from the uncertainty, post purchase. To address this point, there should be an effort to put the visitor at ease by ensuring that the sales process is reassuring from the beginning to the end. Reiterating the expected action through the entire process is another way this phenomenon can be arrested.

Also, it is always a good idea not to give the visitors a choice at this stage of the conversion funnel. Testimonials of satisfied clients, would further add to the credibility of the service/product, and help allay the fears of the visitor at the checkout page.

Search engine consideration: It is a well established fact that a well developed Search engine reduces the Cost of Acquisition (COA), by reducing the bounce rate.
A targeted landing page is the best candidate for being promoted on the search engines. The factor that works in its favor, is the relevance of the page to the target audience. Search engine spiders are known to favor landing pages that contain lots of good, keyword-rich test.
However, if the strategy is to create multiple landing pages with cosmetic changes in text, it is advisable that these pages are kept away from search engine spiders. In such circumstances, the general purpose landing page can be made available for indexing, while robots meta tag or robots.txt directive could be employed to exclude the others. This initiative ensures that the search engines don’t interpret this as spam because of duplicate content.
The mandatory test before the Launch: A 360 degree view of the effective landing page is incomplete without the mention of testing. Before the web page is launched, it is always a prudent exercise to test the efficacy of the respective web page. A functional tool for such analysis is the A/B testing methodology. This involves splitting traffic randomly between two pages that are identical except for the individual factor that is being tested. This test allows us the user to understand the variables that work in favor of the website, and the others that would not.

Review, Reform, Repeat: There should be continuous effort aimed to check the bounce rate and the click through rate in the website. It is always a good practice to periodically research the competitor’s web appearance, and analyze the change in target audience, and their behavior.

It is paramount to ascertain a lower bounce rate by keeping the website updated, by catering to the changing needs of the assorted users. The design and development of the landing page is not a one time effort, and needs continuous improvisation, depending on the changing market dynamics, and how the businesses evolves overtime. However, care should be taken that the intended theme of the webpage is not diluted.

The aforementioned points are intended to act as a guide in your crusade to develop that perfect landing page, and capture the interest of each visitor.