Reaching customers using smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices is valuable for any website. Mobile customers are often looking for products in a hurry and are ready to make a purchase. To respond to the needs of mobile web users, many websites have “mobile” versions of their website that are text-heavy and meant to load quickly on web browsers. While this help improve loading times and the customer experience, it also makes it difficult to optimize a page to increase conversion rates.

One solution to this problem is creating a responsive design. This involves the implementation of a flexible code structure that allows the design elements to adapt to the parameters of a mobile device. How the on-screen elements are presented to the reader will depend on the type of which type of device the person is using. A smart website conversion for mobile devices using responsive design also incorporates elements that work well on smaller screens (such as video and audio) and eliminating elements that will distract people reading the page on a phone or tablet.

What are some of the elements that you might want to consider during a conversion to a mobile site using responsive design?

Minimalism is a key element to mobile webpage design. Create a scrollable slideshow of product images instead of having them all appear on the screen. Smaller thumbnails are great for touchscreens.

Enhance the call to action by making it a prominent part of the display. Create a large button or banner that is easy to find and clearly states what the call to action on the page is. Doing this avoids customers not being able to click through to the sales point on your site.

Make pricing clear and don’t force people to search through the site to find it. Because of the small size of the screen, customers might get frustrated and leave your webpage if they can’t find the pricing information they need. This includes sales offers and deals such as free shipping on products.

Highlight reviews and ratings to give customers a sense of confidence before purchasing one of your products.

Make content expandable with one-touch rather than forcing people to click on tabs with small text in order to find out more information about your products.

Starting an SEO campaign from scratch can seem like a daunting task. This is especially true in the “new world” of search engine rankings. Algorithm changes such as Google’s Panda and Penguin have changed many of the basic SEO fundamentals. It’s no longer acceptable to create as much content as possible – no matter the quality – or use manipulative links to get clicks. Search engines such as Google are looking for high-quality content and links that get people to stay on a site – and that’s only part of the equation.

If you are launching your SEO campaign, the best bet is to work with professional search engine marketing specialist such as eVisible that can craft an effective campaign and implement the tactics. However, there are many steps that you can take yourself to get your SEO campaign off the ground. Here are five steps that any small business internet marketing professional can do to get immediate SEO traction:

Start a Pay Per Click campaign. While you will want to do keyword research to give you guidance on which keywords to target, you can also do your own testing on a small scale. By investing in small test runs of ads using different keywords, you can see which ones generate clicks and which ones generate more sales – which is always the most important thing.

Build links. You can do this by researching the web pages which have links that are ranking near the top of Internet searches for your targeted keyword. By creating and using a simple email template, you can easily and quickly reach out to hundreds of website owners and start building high-quality links.

Create a Facebook fan page. Facebook fan pages are about more than just increasing your social media presence. They are also an effective tool for SEO purposes in their own right. After all, many Facebook fan pages will come up within the first page of Google and other search engine results.

Get active on Twitter. Just like a Facebook fan page, official Twitter accounts also can rank very highly on Internet searches. And like with Facebook, it’s important to make your Twitter profile as active, complete and dynamic as possible to send the right social signals.

Write great content. If you are an expert in your industry, you can use this knowledge to boost your SEO by writing powerful content. Think about how you can address problems your customers might have and how you can write to grab their attention.

It wasn’t that long ago that quantity was the king when it came to creative content writing. The general feeling was that search engines only tracked the sheer volume of SEO-driven content that a site was producing – regardless of the quality of the writing. This led to an explosion of online content, much of which was lacking in quality or in informative substance.

Eventually, this became a kind of online scourge, as web searchers would frequently have to fight through page after page of “spam” content in order to find useful links. Users were upset, and eventually Internet search engines listened. Updates to search engine algorithms such as Google Panda were implemented specifically to place an emphasis on the quality of the writing. Specifically, content marketing services and individual companies were forced to consider if their content would be considered both useful and relevant to someone searching online.

In today’s search engine world, content can mean a lot more than just words. Infographics, FAQ sections, videos and social media content are all important parts that can add up to powerful SEO content. It’s important to analyze what your competitors are doing to determine the gaps in your content strategy. Here are three steps that you can take during this process:

• Visit a site such as SEMrush (https://www.semrush.com) to determine useful information about the URLs of your competition. Focus on individual rankings for major search terms rather than overall search traffic or sheer volume of ranking keywords. Take a look at the URLs beyond the homepage to see which ones rank highly and what type of content they have.
• Next, go to OpenSiteExplorer (https://www.opensiteexplorer.org) to see the top destination links for your competitors’ high ranking URLs. Find out which supporting content pages are getting a high amount of links back to them.  These pages typically have content that resonates with users and they want to share with others.
• Finally, visit MutualMind (https://www.mutualmind.com) to assess the social landscape. You can use this site to determine which social media sites are the best fit for the type of content that your competitors – and you – are likely to produce. You are looking for content that other people will want to share and become evangelists for.

SEO practices can go a long way in impacting your Search Engine Results Placement (SERP). Producing the right content and using best SEO practices such as authorship, site links and social signals can improve the SERP display of a website page on a search engine query. But this is only part of the battle. In order to profit from a high SERP, you need to be able to get people to click through to your link. With higher SERP conversion, your high-ranking link is as worthless as one that is at the bottom of the search engine rankings.

SERP conversion is often an overlooked element of search engine optimization. However, it should be an important part of any SEO conversion strategy. Organic clickthough strategies are proven to lead to an increase in highly targeted and motivated visitors to your site who are ready to make purchasing decisions. Ultimately, that’s the goal of any online marketing campaign – get qualified leads ready to buy to your site.

Over the years, we’ve developed many different strategies to improve organic clickthrough rates. The right strategy for you will depend on your unique position, but these five strategies have been proven to work over time:

Rich snippets such as ratings, number of total reviews, price range and contact information can go a long way in getting people to click on a link. This is even more powerful when combined with strong calls to action to “see pictures” or “read unbiased reviews.”

Building a brand through offline tactics can help your SEO strategy. Google rewards links associated with known brands. Running contests and offsite promotions are some of the ways that you can create positive association with customers and get them interested in clicking on your link.

Harness multimedia by going beyond text. Create videos and use attention-grabbing images. Make sure to caption and tag them for full optimization.

Optimize your site by reviewing your internal linking strategy and site structure. Research how customers are viewing your site so you can create breadcrumbs in your search results.

Take ownership of your content by attaching your company’s name – or your name – to the great content you are creating. It establishes credibility with searchers and helps with your Google ranking.

One of the most overlooked elements of any search marketing campaign is identifying the correct audience. Most people understand this when it comes to doing basic demographic research and targeting a campaign to hit customers’ particular interests. But many people don’t realize that this also extends to online advertising services and search engines. In fact, which search engine you are advertising on can significantly impact how you want to market and which customers you have the potential to reach.

It’s natural for companies to focus on Google as their search engine of choice when they want to drive higher ROI. After all, Google has the lion’s share of the Internet search market. According to recent comScore data, Google sites make up around two-thirds of the total market share in the Internet search world. Certainly, any online marketing campaign should include Google as one of the key points of focus.

But doing research beyond the market share numbers shows that it’s also important to focus on Google’s competitors such as Bing and Yahoo. One reason for this is because of exclusivity. Some people make the assumption that web searchers will go back and forth between one search engine and another to get the best results. The truth is that most web users find one search engine and stick with it. For example, 73 percent of people who perform searchers in the travel category of the Yahoo Bing network use that network exclusively. This means that the only way to reach these 12 million searchers in the United States is through Google and Bing ads.

In addition, considering other search engines allows you to tap into the potential buying power of web searchers. In December 2012, comScore published the Audience Buying Power Index, which went into detail about the potential buying power of consumers using different search engines. The results were surprising:

• Searchers on the Yahoo Bing network spent eight percent more than Google searchers on average
• The 47 million unique searchers who exclusively use Bing and Yahoo! in the US spend an average of 30 percent more than the exclusive Google searcher.

As you can see, there are definite reasons to consider advertising on the Yahoo Bing network ahead of Google. You’ll need to do the research to determine which combination works for you, and you’ll need to consider your target audience when doing this research.