Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the web design process to determine which is the best method to help website owners turn visitors into paying customers.

There are two primary approaches to CRO.

Researching before launching the website

Launching the website first, and then testing different strategies to see which is most successful. Do Your Market Research Before Website's Launch - about the makeup of your potential client base and then incorporate that research into the website design.

By knowing what your prospective customers are looking for, you can design a more targeted message, making sure that everything from your content to your web page design appeals to your client base.

You'll have to do the research anyway-so why not do it upfront? Any good marketing campaign succeeds or fails based on how well the marketers know their customers. Even if your initial website publishing is successful, at some point the website will expand and you will have to do CRO research. Wouldn't it be best to do it in the beginning and increase the chances of having the website be a success? The Downside to this method is it can be time consuming - researching potential customer behavior can be an extensive process, and deciding what to do with the research can take longer. It will delay your website generating revenue and allowing more time your competitors will have to work on your client base.

And you'll never be 100% certain - all the research on the planet can't predict human behavior and the best way to test a particular strategy whether it's a headline or an image or the text works is to test it.

By launching your website and then researching the market you begin to get a sense as to what works and can optimize everything from the background to the Flash intros based on actual input from customers.

The downside to this approach is if the first does not work and the strategy needs to be switched, you risk turning off those customers and they may leave and never return.

If you have the capacity to make some of these assessments and recommendations yourself, you may be able to discover any potential stumbling blocks for your business without help. Otherwise, you should consult a professional web company such as Web Consulting Services that offers Conversion rate optimization services that can take care of the research and recommendation for you.

Google hates being used and updates its algorithms regularly to counteract "cheaters" and prevent its search crawlers from being tricked into thinking a page is more relevant than it may actually be.

The Other Side Of The SEO Coin
Many sites have posted great content that goes unnoticed and It happens all the time. Many times…you have probably done a search and found the same information clearly copy & pasted on result after result on poorly formatted pages. Some of these may even have annoying ads or pop ups. It can be difficult sifting through all the garbage

In these cases, think of SEO as an opportunity to attract deserved attention.

If a page is legitimately useful and well formatted, it has every reason to appear in the top results, however this may not happen. In this example the post being search engine optimized isn't so much fooling Google as it is grabbing attention.

Great content being enough is partially true. Well written content will not automatically attract visitors by climbing search engine rankings and it is more of a Keyword Balancing Act.

Proper SEO combines a solid use of keywords with interesting copy. The mistake that way too many SEO companies and writers make is focusing completely on keyword saturation and not on making the content worth reading.

Google claims that keyword stuffing doesn't work and it hurts your Google ranking. Yet far too often we perform searches and see page results loaded down with keywords and no real information. They're on page 1, above many other sites that didn't stoop to this low. Don't do it. It may get people to your site but it won't keep them there.

When you spend an investment for an attractive website built and then market it to get viewers, if it's poorly written or laid out, viewers may reach for their "back" button.

They found your site through your marketing efforts but what are you going to offer them now that they're here?

A solid use of keywords, headings, and titles is important.

Whatis meant by online reputation? Since the internet has become interactive, customers can interact with website owners and you must be weary of negative feedback and do everything in your power to manage your reputation on the organic search engine results. One post from an irate customer can tarnish your online business. Anyone can post a Rip Off Report about your company.

These "Rip Off Report" posts tend to rank high in the search engines because the sites that post them are authoritative sites. This can be bad if your business has a rip off report rating. Now whenever someone searches for your company website, the negative report will show up on the search results, usually in the top three results. This is detrimental and can have huge consequences.

Other negative reports about your business can hurt you too like a Better Business Bureau low rating, Yelp reviews, negative forum posts and Craig's List posts. All of these get indexed within the search engines quickly and tend to rank high.

The consequences of having negative reviews means that customers will be weary to shop from your store or to do business with you. They may even tell friends, family, or coworkers not to shop at your store due to a bad experience or negative reviews.

A good way to check if your site has any negative reviews is to type in different variation of your website and company name in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Scroll through the first three pages to see if anything bad sticks out. If something does, then you must immediately take corrective action.

Now that you are aware of negative feedback and the impact it can have on your business here's what you can do to avoid this.

The easiest solution is to personally manage any complaints against your company and ensure that angry customer problems are resolved. Unfortunately, this is not always possible and the customer is angry and spreads the word about your service. You can fight back by building or promoting existing pages for those specific keywords that are bringing up the negative feedback.

You can create new pages and make sure they're tailored around specific keywords that bring up negative feedback about your site. Promote these new pages by building links and adding the new pages to directories and other authoritative websites. In time these new pages will surpass the negative results and dominate the search results.

These methods should help remove any negative feedback or remarks about you or your company from showing up on the search results.

Remember that this is an ongoing process and the negative feedback will start to reappear if you do not continue to monitor the new sites that replaced the negative feedback. This will show your customers that you truly care for them and will increase sales, revenue, and ultimately your business's bottom line. See also " We Help You Manage Your Online Reputation

One of the best examples of brand development is Coca-Cola. Their brand has remained consistent thru the decades even when modernizing its appearance, it is still the same and recognizable anywhere on the globe. Unfortunately, not everyone has their advertising budget, but we can learn from their example in a smaller scale when branding.

Online brand development starts with making the decision of what is the most appropriate identity for you and/or your business. The next step is to establish how to brand the chosen identity that is effective and in alignment with what it is you do and provide the most extensive coverage.

No matter how dynamic or cutting edge your strategies may be, if they are not reinforced consistently through repition they will do you little good. Ultimately the key will be in your repetition since this will be what eventually embeds the image you are reinforcing into the minds of people.

Here are 5 reasons why repetition and not necessarily the design of the strategy plays a major role in the effectiveness of your online identity branding efforts.

Expands Exposure - The greater the repetition the deeper the market saturation.

Conditions the Mind - As more people begin to see your repeated brand in different areas online, they begin to form the association between the image itself and your business.

This conditions people to automatically make this association with your business and is exactly how branding strategies work.

Arouses Further Curiosity - If people see your image or brand often enough it commonly peaks their own curiosity to seek further information on what the image represents.

Brings Forth More Witnesses - This is the point where your repetition has saturated the market allowing others who may not have formerly seen your information a chance to view more about you.

Image Reinforcement - Your consistent repetition serves to firmly establish your identity. With each new effort your exposure grows and the association between what you are branding and the image you are establishing becomes that much stronger.

Brand development is an important aspect of internet marketing. Branding helps make you more easily noticeable online and the process is actually not very complicated. Branding starts with the determination of what is the most appropriate identity for you. After that, a decision is made on how to brand this chosen identity into the minds of others.

Without repeated and consistent reinforcement even the best strategies will fall short of the impression you want make in the minds of others.