SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

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  Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

• ShoeMoney Marketplace Changes

  Jeremy Schoemaker

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:53 am

  A couple months ago we were getting about 10-20 solicitations a day from people wanting us to talk about their products… or their product for sale… or whatever. It seemed logical to give these people an outlet where they could get exposure on ShoeMoney.com & we could raise a decent amount for charity. So we started the ShoeMoney Marketplace. I have been pretty surprised by the response. We have been getting an average of about 15 listings a week or so. People had some requests… They were concerned we were not using SSL for the CC transactions… they wanted to be…

• Whats Your Thoughts On The Google Suberbowl Ad?

  Jeremy Schoemaker

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:01 pm

  I thought it was brilliant. Well done Google. You told an amazing story without saying a word. Very powerful. What did you think? Get a sneak peak at the all new ShoeMoney System This Post Is From ShoeMoney’s Internet Marketing Blog Whats Your Thoughts On The Google Suberbowl Ad?

• The Video Boss Puts Out Another Amazing Video

  Jeremy Schoemaker

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:25 pm

  IF you are not on the Video Boss list then you need to get on it now. Andy just released another amazing video in the Video Boss series. I just finished it. Its unbelievable. Our team watched the first video the other day and we were wondering how exactly Andy records his slides… We assumed it was with some software like screen flow or camtasia… but no… its much easier then that. Its so enlightening to watch someone do an exact step by step complete walk through on making video’s that drastically increase conversions. Everything from what camera to use, to where to get…

• This Week in the ShoeMoney Marketplace

  Jeremy Schoemaker

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  New listings placed this week in the ShoeMoney Marketplace: OFFCOST.com – Win a Flip Mino HD Video Camcorder by becoming a fan LogoNerds.com – Crazy Logos Under 50 LogoNerds.com – Crazy Logos Under 50 THE ULTIMATE SEO PACKAGE-NEW Strategy WIKI LINKS 25 WIKI pages 625 links INSANE SERP INCREASE RowellAuctions.com Buy Investment Property Online Quality Backlinking Packages and SEO Services For Cheap Need to get a ton of backlinks fast I have the solution Adminizio admin templates Buy PPV Landing Pages LogoMyway.com – Start A Logo Contest Sponor a custom viral prank or…

• UFC109 Relentless Randy Couture VS Mark Coleman

  Jeremy Schoemaker

  6 Feb 2010 | 11:35 am

  I am pumped for tonights UFC card. While its not a huge main card title fight there are tons of great match ups on the card. I am a pretty hardcore mixed martial arts fan and have been watching events for the last 10 years. Randy Couture Vs Mark Coleman I remember when Randy Couture came into the sport and people were saying he was too old.. Now at 46 years old he is still one of the best fighters in the world. But he has essentially lost his last 3 fights (depending if you think he beat Vera or not). Tonight Randy is fighting Marc Coleman whois pretty close in age. Both are UFC Hall Of…

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  Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

• Google Buzz Launches 150+ Million User Social Network

  Andy Beal

  9 Feb 2010 | 11:39 am

  How would you like to launch a social network and instantly amass more than 150 million monthly users? Well, Google just launched Google Buzz and it’s going to be tied into its existing Gmail user base–all 150+ million of them! How smart is that? Google has failed to gain traction with any of its previous social networking efforts. How many of you are active Orkit or Google Wave users? So, instead of trying to build a new social network from scratch–and likely failing–it’s tying Google Buzz directly into its email offering. Genius! It’s built right into…

• Putting a Dollar Value on Buzz

  Jordan McCollum

  9 Feb 2010 | 11:20 am

  Generating buzz—getting people talking about our products or even advertising on their own—is the goal of many ad campaigns today, even television commercials. (Case in point: the Super Bowl.) Online, buzz seems to be the Holy Grail: going viral, getting evangelists, having people talking/Tweeting/friending/following you. But assigning a value to that can be hard. We’re driven to assign an ROI to social media, but we’re having a hard enough time even monitoring success. General Sentiment, a sentiment analysis company, has come to the rescue. Using media prices,…

• Ask/IAC Q4: Bleeding Money, But Hey, Online Ads are Doing Good!

  Jordan McCollum

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:49 am

  Ask’s parent company IAC posted $1B in losses largely because it wrote down the value of its search business. But, says the AP, this is actually good news for the online ad market (and not because a competitor is about to get out of the market)—because IAC didn’t do as badly as expected. No, because it beat estimates by 2¢ per share, a nine-figure loss “offered the latest indication that the online advertising market is improving,” as the AP says. IAC investors seemed to agree, since it the stock jumped four percent after the results were posted. In the most…

• Please Email This Article; Researchers Say You’ll Feel Better

  Andy Beal

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:12 am

  If fear, scandal, sex, and humor sell newspapers, it stands to reason that those topics would make for the most popular articles on news sites and blogs. Right? Wrong! Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have intensively studied the New York Times list of most-e-mailed articles and discovered that it was an entirely unexpected emotion that caused the average reader to share an article. “Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion,” [Dr. Berger] said. “If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want…

• Google to Make Its Move on Facebook and Twitter?

  Frank Reed

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:11 am

  UPDATE: Google Buzz is now live! The buzz around the Internet marketing and social media circles is humming with the news (or the rumor, call it what you want) that Google is getting set to introduce a new feature to Gmail. No, it has nothing to do with your e-mail but rather your ‘experience’ with Gmail and in particular your social experience. Looks like Google is getting into the social game.  This comes on the heels of the talk of Facebook getting into the e-mail game as well. What’s going on? It’s like opposite day with Google going social and Facebook getting all e-mail…

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  The Clix Marketing Blog

• David Szetela Tweeted This Yesterday…

  admin

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pm

  I'm at Loves Travel Store (178 Southwell Blvd, exit 59, Tifton). http://4sq.com/aPLXif # RT @clickequations: RT @kylehase: Google went with "Parisian Love" superbowl ad? Should have done "Apple as the new big brother" a la 1984 # @John_A_Lee really sorry about the Colts. But the LSU-alumnus side of me ain't. in reply to John_A_Lee # U.S. Politics, c. 2010: http://tweetphoto.com/10777180 # CMO hires show focus on direct, digital ROI http://bit.ly/d1M5dV # Help Clix find some exceptional freelance web designers: http://bit.ly/9H9DWn Pls. RT # Let's get a few more…

• David Szetela Tweeted This Yesterday…

  admin

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pm

  RT @tweetmeme Coming Soon: The 21 Secret Truths of High-Resolution PPC http://is.gd/7L3Vf # @CarrieHill yw! in reply to CarrieHill # RT @gregjarboe: RT @sewatch YouTube was born five years ago and now it's the fifth largest website in the world http://bit.ly/a6iQBC # Clix is Looking For Exceptional Web Designers: http://bit.ly/9H9DWn Please Retweet # Farewell, Forrt Myers Beach! http://bit.ly/dhEggs # I'm at Mcdonalds. http://4sq.com/4GhLAR # @SemBarista interesting day – driving 1,100 miles – FL to KY in reply to SemBarista # Powered by Twitter Tools

• Clix is Looking For Exceptional Web Designers

  David Szetela

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:02 am

  We’re looking for exceptionally-talented freelance web designers to create super-effective landing pages for our clients. You must have experience creating conversion-focused landing pages. You must be able to work quickly and efficiently, and communicate by IM and email even during “off hours.” You must be able to: Use Dreamweaver proficiently. Create design prototypes, including graphic design, site navigation, and layout of content for dynamic landing pages. Create visual concepts from static image mockups or written descriptions that match the content and the image…

• David Szetela Tweeted This Yesterday…

  admin

  6 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pm

  RT @shawnafennell: Have U signed up? 30 Webinars in 1 weekend : SEO, PPC, Ecommerce, & more- FREE. #nle http://bit.ly/7MS14l # RT @mediatwo: Just created a list of professional advertising associations worth following – please help me add to it! http://bit.ly/cgNMvT # RT @clickequations: Bing & Facebook get cozier on search, talk about adv. http://bit.ly/cfmW1w Bing + Facebook + Apple may be something # @JoeKerschbaum the book will RULE!! in reply to JoeKerschbaum # @JoeKerschbaum I won't be able to read it – I'm on VACATION! ;=) in reply to JoeKerschbaum # Was…

• David Szetela Tweeted This Yesterday…

  admin

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pm

  RT @John_A_Lee: RT @Amelia_Dawson: Discussion on LinkedIn on 10 questions when choosing a P#PC Management technology http://bit.ly/cOSlb7 # RT @clickequations: RT @KimClink_MrsC: Want to exclude parked domains from the #AdWords Content Network? Watch this: http://bit.ly/cfIpee # RT @John_A_Lee: RT @sengineland: Introducting Your #PPC Dashboard: Today, we’re going to go under the hood http://selnd.com/bEyJqJ # RT @Amelia_Dawson: Still having issues with the new(ish) Google AdWords Interface/Dashboard? If Yes – Read This! http://selnd.com/aR5YMn # @designsbyjole thanks! in reply to…

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  Search Engine Marketing Gurus

• Women of Internet Marketing Series: Interview with Sarah Goodwin

  Julie Joyce

  Welcome to the latest installment in the Women of Internet Marketing Series, where I talk to Sarah Goodwin, otherwise known as Yoshimi_S. Whether she's making Lisa D. Myers speechless, rescuing homeless rats, or smoking one of those weird USB-ish cigarettes whilst wearing a giant shawl she knitted herself, she is truly one of the most fascinating Brits you'll ever meet. Q: Give us your background, if you'd be so kind.A: I'm a university drop out (which is easily explained when I say I was studying accounting) who wandered into sales and then carried on wandering until I fell into SEO about…

• What Do You Want From Google for Christmas? (#SESCHI)

  Li Evans

  Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 wrapped up yesterday, as usual we had the snow to deal with, but I have to say, this year's conference really rocked content and keynote wise. I've got some coverage to put up on SMG about the Wednesday keynote and if you are interested in reading Jeff Jarvis' thoughts on Media (Newspapers) & Google from Monday's keynote, check out my coverage over on Social Conversations. In the meantime, I'll leave our viewers with the video they put together, and yes that's me (Li) who leads off the video by totally cracking up at being asked "and what's your name…

• eMetrics: Accelerated Darwinism Online & the Evolution of Web Metrics

  Li Evans

  I've gotten the opportunity to attend the eMetrics conference in the Washington, DC area this year and already the first two presentations have really impressed me.  The first was Jim Sterne's which I'll be blogging about a bit later over on Social Conversations, but the one I wanted to tell SMG readers about was the presentation given by Foresee Results.It was all about the evolution of web metrics in comparison to what customers are doing online.  How did we really get here?  So much data, but yet so little true meaning for a lot of companies.  So little actionable data because of the…

• Online Marketing Tips Video: Twitter Tips - URL Shorteners, Blogging & ReTweeting

  Li Evans

  This week for our Tuesday's Tips in Online Marketing Video, I'm discussing some Twitter Tool that you can integrate into your strategy to get a better handle on what's happening with all those URL's you are tweeting out. Full Twitter Tips Video Transcript after the jump.... Twitter Tips - URL Shorteners, Blogging & ReTweeting - Video Transcript Hi and welcome back to Tuesday's Tips in Online Marketing. I'm Li Evans of Serengeti Communications and Search Marketing Gurus. I'm back today with some more Twitter Tool Tips! Yes, Twitter, you know everyone is using…

• Women of Internet Marketing: An Interview with Ayima's Jane Copland

  Julie Joyce

  Q: In the unlikely event that anyone reading this doesn't know who you are, can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you're currently doing, workwise? A: The short version is that I'm a twenty-five year old SEO consultant, relatively fresh off the boat from the United States, living in London. I began my career in SEO at SEOmoz in Seattle and I now work for Ayima Search Marketing here in the UK. I'm 100% organic-SEO focused (PPC sounds like something people take at the club around the corner from my flat) and I'd far rather chase down a stellar link profile than attempt to converse with…

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  Small Business Search Marketing

• SEO & Social Media Workshop – Next Week in Tri-Cities

  Matt McGee

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:53 pm

  If you’re in the Tri-Cities area, Spokane, Seattle, or even Portland, I hope you’re making plans to come out to Learn About Web next week in Kennewick. It’s happening on February 18th, and you can use code LAW0208 to register for only $89 through Friday. I’ll be giving a presentation on my SEO Success Pyramid and then doing a session on SEO and Local Search later in the day. Craig Sutton and Doug Waltman are speaking, too, on topics such as User-Friendly Web Design, Blogging, and Social Media. Oh, and all registrants will get a free copy of my How to SEO Your Site in…

• How to Choose the Right Category in Google’s Local Listings

  Matt McGee

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:05 pm

  One of the most important things a small business can do with its listing in the Google Local Business Center is choose the right category(ies). In fact, “Associating LBL w/Proper Categories” scored very highly in last year’s Local Search Ranking Factors survey (see image at right). Mike Blumenthal, aka Professor Maps, has just released a tool that he previewed last week at GetListed Local University in Spokane. It’s a searchable database of categories in Google’s Local Business Center. If you’re not sure how to choose the right category for your business,…

• Looking back at GetListed Local University Spokane

  Matt McGee

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:44 am

  “Fantastic.” “Really great.” “Excellent.” “Very helpful.” Those are the short versions of the feedback I received from speaking with four attendees after last week’s GetListed.org Local University Spokane seminars. And I feel the same way. It was an excellent day of local search marketing education, and the fact that this was a first-time event is almost mind-boggling. It just went so well. And to get reps from both Google and Bing to show up? Even better. What stands out for me more than anything was the quality of the discussion and…

• Google Place Pages: Who Owns Them?

  Matt McGee

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pm

  Small business owners: Just when you thought it was safe to send prospects and customers to your Google place page, think again. Google has added a new content section to place pages — recommendations of other nearby businesses. And as I point out on Search Engine Land, those recommendations often include your competition. In that piece, I suggest this idea: If the small business has claimed its local business listing, then Google should turn off the nearby recommendations. Reward local businesses that claim their listing, don’t punish them. The bigger question here is, who owns…

• Welcome GetListed Local University – Spokane Attendees

  Matt McGee

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

  If you’re reading this while at the GetListed Local University seminar, a big welcome to you. Thanks for visiting SmallBusinessSEM.com. In my presentation, I mention a couple dozen web sites, articles, and other links that you may not have had time to jot down while I was speaking. If that’s the case, here are all the references I made in chronological order: Trust SEO Success Pyramid Stats Nielsen: Led by Facebook, Twitter, Global Time Spent on Social Media Sites up 82% Year over Year Blogs Jeremiah Owyang: Web Strategy: How To Evolve Your Irrelevant Corporate Website HubSpot:…

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  Yoast» - Yoast - Tweaking Websites

• Unleashing Quix

  Joost de Valk

  13 Jan 2010 | 6:15 am

  I've been working on a secret (side) project for 3-4 months now, way longer than I ever intended to work on it, but it's now ready for release. I'm ready to show you Quix, a tool I think is very cool, which I've shared with quite a few of my friends already who all like it as well.Quix is an extensible bookmarklet, that allows you to easily access all your bookmarks and bookmarklets, across all your browsers, while maintaining them in only one spot. All you have to do is remember the shortcut for the bookmarklet, so, basically, it’s like a command line for your browser.Check out the…

• Checking Blog Privacy Settings

  Joost de Valk

  31 Dec 2009 | 2:10 am

  As a result of last nights post, I dove in and added a check to my Robots Meta plugin that checks whether you're allowing search engines to spider your site.If not, it'll throw an ugly warning on each and every page until you fix it:The code for it is easy, and as I'd like other plugins to start using it as well, let me give it to you here:function blog_public_warning() { if ( '0' get_option('blog_public') ) { echo "<div id='message' class='error'><p>" echo "<strong>Robots Meta Issue: You're blocking access to…

• Web Designer Mag should fix its SEO

  Joost de Valk

  30 Dec 2009 | 12:06 pm

  Ok I just had to post this, as it's too funny. I got a Google Alert this afternoon for this post, which mentioned one of my plugins as being listed by Web Designer Magazine. So, I Googled them, as the post didn't link to them, and got this result:Notice something? I know I did: there's no description there. So I clicked on and checked the page to see what could cause that, finding it was easy:<meta name='robots' content='noindex,nofollow' />It was listed right above the EditURI line that WordPress puts in by default, telling me they forgot to uncheck a box (that get's checked by default…

• WordPress Hosting

  Joost de Valk

  22 Dec 2009 | 8:06 am

  You can find my WordPress hosting article here, because of an experiment the comments for that article are here, while the article itself is "on it's own".WordPress Hosting is a post from Joost de Valk's Yoast - Tweaking Websites.A good WordPress blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Check out my thoughts on WordPress hosting!

• Preventing your site from being indexed, the right way

  Joost de Valk

  17 Dec 2009 | 6:41 am

  It keeps amazing me that I keep seeing people use robots.txt files to prevent sites from being indexed and thus showing up in the search engines. You know why it keeps amazing me? Because robots.txt doesn't actually do the latter, even though it does prevent your site from being indexed.Let's go through some terms here:Indexed / Indexing The process of downloading a site or a page's content to the server of the search engine, thereby adding it to it's "index".Ranking / Listing / Showing Showing a site in the search result pages (aka SERPs).So, while the most common process goes from Indexing…

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  Conversation Marketing

• Dunbar's number and warp drive: Building your social network beyond 150

  5 Feb 2010 | 3:45 pm

  This is really, really geeky stuff for a Friday. Plus, I had to dig waaaay back to my college Sociology courses to figure it out. You've probably heard a lot about the fact that a person can only maintain relationships with 150 people before their brains are frappe'd into cottage cheese. It's a valid assumption. Try to keep actively in touch, day-to-day, with more than 150 people. It's hopeless. That 150-person limit is called Dunbar's Number. It's like the speed of light (C, if you're a hardcore geek): Current physics says you can't exceed the speed of light. You get more and more massive as…

• 10 questions to evaluate an SEO

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:43 pm

  One tradition in marketing: If something works, you beat it to death, and then some more, until it's a broad, flat spot on the ground. So, after folks loved my first piece, 10 questions to evaluate a social media expert, I've decided to do another about SEOs. Face it: If there's one industry that's even more rife with con artists than social media, it's SEO. One way to deal with it is to just say "Screw SEO, it's all a sham anyway. After all, Scoble says it doesn't matter." If you want to do that, fine with me - one less competitor. Another way to deal with it is to ask questions that'll make…

• Introducing The Fat Free Guide: What I'd do on Groundhog Day

  1 Feb 2010 | 6:53 pm

  I'm talking about the movie Groundhog Day, not the day when we try to predict the weather using a large rodent (I know it's not really a rodent, but come on). Quick synopsis: Bill Murray lives through the same day again and again as the universe tries to show him the direction to take his life. Hilarity ensues. Bill gets clever, though, learning to play piano, preventing accidents that he's seen happen over and over again, etc.. I like it! If I got to live through 2/2 again and again, I'd: Memorize stock prices and become the ultimate day trader. Write a really good web site to teach folks…

• 2010 SEMMY Winner: You like me! You really really like me!

  1 Feb 2010 | 10:06 am

  I'm probably way too excited about this, but hey, it's stuff like this that compensates for lots of nights writing blog posts. Thanks to everyone who voted for my post, 10 Questions to evaluate a social media 'expert'.

• My BlogTalkRadio Interview with Rey Ybarra

  30 Jan 2010 | 10:12 am

  Rey Ybarra of the New Media Radio Hour interviewed me last week. Here's the recording, if you want to listen:

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  Samir Balwani

• Are You Marketing or Advertising?

  Samir Balwani

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:28 am

  Lately, I’ve been thinking about how social media has been a part of our overall marketing program. I started to realize that our definition of marketing and advertising is slowly evolving. In my mind advertising was the driving force of a marketing campaign. The idea was to create something interesting and broadcast it with advertising. credit Advertising was more important than the actual campaign. If you spent enough money and as long as it was marginally interesting, you could be successful. Nowadays, there’s seems to be a tip in the scales. Marketing is becoming more…

• This is How You Measure Social Media ROI

  Samir Balwani

  28 Jan 2010 | 6:45 am

  More talk about social media ROI and measurement? You know it. This time Mitch Joel of “Six Pixels of Separation” wrote a post about measurements and metrics. As much as I like Mitch (his articles are great and I highly recommend his blog), I really disagreed with his take on social media ROI. credit He states that… “Thinking about business objectives instead of ROI makes the whole strategy that much workable and doable. In the end, instead of looking for the ROI in Social Media, maybe the smarter thing to do is to focus on what the business objectives are, and then figure out if…

• Will Social Media Survive?

  Samir Balwani

  20 Jan 2010 | 6:44 am

  Social media… what a buzzword. It’s grown, exploded, and ushered in a new paradigm in marketing. Kind of. It seems like everyday there’s a new social media guru, someone to tell you how to use your Facebook, when to Tweet, or berate you for not having a FourSquare. The social media industry, in its current form, is not sustainable. Why do I say that? Well, two main reasons stand out. First, it’s not easy to assign or forecast ROI from social media. Without being able to at least estimate return, managers have a hard time justifying investment. It’s not a large issue right now…

• Social Media Requires a Cultural Investment

  Samir Balwani

  13 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  Investment is a word that rules business decisions. How much do I need to invest? It’s a question I hear on a near daily basis. So why is it that when it comes to social media, many focus on money and ignore the cultural investment? Everything you do has a cost, whether it is monetary, time, or some other abstract resource. Social media although not the most expensive, requires a cultural evolution. For many of the largest companies, a cultural investment can be greater than a monetary one. To change a business culture requires a form of dedication and collaboration rarely achieved. But…

• Welcome to 2010… Now Trim the Fat

  Samir Balwani

  11 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am

  It’s January, the month where the gyms are packed, fitness rules, and ad campaigns take an odd turn towards diets. But as much as we’re trained to make weight loss resolutions, your business should be looking to lose excess baggage as well. credit I’ve written fairly extensively on how most brands tend to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to social media. Almost always, the largest culprit to online marketing failure is bureaucracy. It’s the reason why small businesses can excel at social media, while adoption is slow for large brands. Online marketing requires a company be…

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  Search Engine Guide

• SEO 101 - Part 7: Everything You Need to Know About Site Architecture and Internal Linking

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:32 am

  by Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or services across all industries. Common Architectural Problems In order to move your site up in the search engine rankings you have to get your optimized content to the search engines in the most streamlined way possible. There are some common problems…

• The World Does Not Begin and End With SEO

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:03 am

  by Jennifer Laycock Ever notice how when someone finds a solution to a problem they're having, it suddenly becomes the solution to everyone else's problem as well? People who love their chiropractor tell you how much seeing one would help your sore back/sinus problem/shin splints/etc. People who have lost and kept weight off with a specific diet suggest how well it will work for you. People who experience success trying a marketing tactic tell you what a difference it will make for your company if you do it too. This is fine and dandy. It's called word of mouth and it's a very effective way…

• SEO 101 - Part 6: Everything You Need to Know About Search Engine Friendly URLs & Broken Links

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:59 am

  by Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or services across all industries. Search Engine Friendly URLs When developing a website, you can save yourself a lot of problems down the road by planning ahead before moving full speed into the site development process. One of the first site…

• GTmetrix - A New Tool For Google's Speed Factor

  3 Feb 2010 | 11:42 am

  by Robert Clough Much has been written about the load time of pages as a ranking factor in Google. If you aren't already up to speed on the topic, these articles are a good place to start: Site Speed, Google's Next Ranking Factor - Search Engine Land Google: Page Speed May Become a Ranking Factor in 2010 - WebProNews So, will Page Speed be more important than your content? No. Matt Cutts of Google weighed in on the topic to assure site owners that Page Speed is not more important than relevant content. In their article "Google Sets Record Straight on Page Speed as Ranking Factor," WebProNews…

• SEO 101 - Part 5: Everything You Need to Know Domain Names

  2 Feb 2010 | 5:32 am

  by Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or services across all industries. Domain Names Its easy to think that all the good domain names are taken. Sure, the easy and obvious ones have been snatched up years ago, but that doesn't mean there still aren't any good .com domain names left that are…

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  GOOGLE BLOG SEARCH: SEM

• Search Engine Optimization And Search Marketing For Start Ups ...

  admin

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:55 am

  Startup Companies usually have massive dreams and a little budget. Using pay per click (PPC) advertising like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN.

• Search Engine Marketing, the Right Approach | Engineering Anonymous

  admin

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:31 am

  Search Engine Optimization plays a vital role when you consider a Search Engine Marketing Campaign. A systematic approach when considering.

• Video Search Engine Marketing, Part Two by Kelly Gerards ...

  admin

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:15 am

  http://www.BlowUpYourProfits.com Part Two, Video marketing, search engine marketing for direct sales professionals, small businesses. Case study showing proof.

• Anatomy of a Hands-on SEO Site Audit – Part 1 | Search Engine Journal

  Alan Bleiweiss

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:58 am

  Welcome to part one in a series of articles on the anatomy of a hands-on SEO site audit! This was originally just going to be one article. But then my.

• Domain Strategy – Why It's A Critical Component to SEO Technical ...

  Glenn Gabe

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  When it comes helping clients with natural search, I'ma firm believer that SEO technical audits are an incredibly important first step for most.

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  Search Engine Land

• Google Buzz: Google Takes On Twitter, Facebook & Even Foursquare

  Matt McGee

  9 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am

  Google has announced a new product called Google Buzz, which represents the company’s latest attempt to hitch its wagon to the popularity of social networking and, more specifically, the growth of social sharing and status updates. Many will call this a Twitter killer or a threat to Facebook. Certainly the company is targeting the audiences that [...] ....

• 30 Link Builders Discuss Backlink Analysis For Campaign Design – Part 1

  Garrett French

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:34 am

  We asked 30 link building experts 9 questions about backlink analysis… and got 20,000 words of response. This article is part 1 of a 3 part group interview series on backlink analysis. Part 1 covers how backlink analysis – of your site and your competitors’ sites, as it applies to link building campaign design. You’ll find [...] ....

• Liveblogging the Google Buzz Launch

  Matt McGee

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:55 am

  Google is set to announce a new social tool at a 10:00 am event on its Mountain View campus. Due to the last-minute notice, we’re not on the scene, but Google is providing a webcast via YouTube that we’ll be using. NOTE: Google Buzz Is Now Live. See our detailed post, Google Buzz: Google Takes On [...] ....

• SMX West Networking Activities and Parties Scheduled

  Search Engine Land

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:26 am

  We’ve already highlighted the exceptional content and highly qualified presenters at SMX West. But there’s another aspect of the show that is just as important and valuable – networking. And with hundreds of companies sending delegates (so far), there are lots of people to network with! Keep reading to learn more about the networking opportunities and [...] ....

• IAC Q4 Earnings: Search Growth 3% But Takes $1 Billion Loss On Ask.com

  Barry Schwartz

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:48 am

  IAC, the parent company of Ask.com, reported their fourth quarter earnings today and overall, it was a good quarter of revenue for IAC, being up 5% year-over-year in revenue. On the income side of the balance sheet, IAC was up 47% from Q4 of 2008 to Q4 2009. Search, which includes Ask.com, was [...] ....

• 
  Search Engine Journal

• Weekly Search & Social News: 02/09/2010

  David Harry

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:24 am

  Welcome to another edition of ‘7 Days of Search and Social‘ – I hope this edition finds you well and 2k10 is rocking so far (busy, but fun over here). Last week was the kind of week a geek like me dies for. There were a ton of great blog posts, plenty of humour, lots of geeky IR stuff (including an IR post with profanity.. wicked cool!) and even a bunch of interesting patents. Actually, one of the longest search patent names I’ve ever seen. Truly a week that was a blast to follow. On that note…let’s not waste more time with my idle banter, we’re a lot…

• Anatomy of a Hands-on SEO Site Audit – Part 1

  Alan Bleiweiss

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:58 am

  Welcome to part one in a series of articles on the anatomy of a hands-on SEO site audit!  This was originally just going to be one article.  But then my book-length article nature came up squarely against the awareness that true site audits can be extremely complex. And as much as everyone just loves those cute little 9 steps to blah-de-blah, we all know already that such articles are rare for me to write anyhow.  And this particular topic is one that I think comes to the top of the list as far as importance in our industry. Fifteen College Credits This series of articles isn’t going…

• Domain Strategy – Why It’s A Critical Component to SEO Technical Audits

  Glenn Gabe

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  When it comes helping clients with natural search, I’m a firm believer that SEO technical audits are an incredibly important first step for most engagements.  I’ve already written about the power of technical audits and how they often can provide the most SEO bang for your buck.  The reason is simple.  In SEO, without a clean and crawlable website structure, you’re dead in the water.  You can build links and optimize content until the cows come home and it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference. Although SEO audits detect problems with indexation, canonicalization, navigation…

• SEJ Tools: Enhanced Keyword Research via Wordtracker

  Ann Smarty

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:59 am

  In the last week’s post I shared how you can do keyword research using Google Adwords tool right within your SEJ tools dashboard. I also shared why it is actually so helpful to have third-party keyword research tool integrated within the advanced toolkit. This way you can manage your lists more efficiently and easier add keywords to the tracker to monitor your rankings; Here’s some great news: besides Google Adwords tool, you can also use Wordtracker within your SEJ tools dashboard to have a broader choice of key phrases to analyze and choose from. To access Wordtracker search,…

• Pros and Cons of In-House SEO

  Shane Jones

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:56 am

  I’m just coming up to the end of my first year of being an In House SEO, and it was clear in the first few months how much more beneficial it was to be on the client side rather thank the agency side. I have now decided to weigh up some pro’s and con’s of being an In House SEO. Pro’s If like me your company only runs one website you get to dedicate 100% of your time to doing SEO on that one website. In reality I run at 80% with 20% research and catching up on industry news. I get 100% control on the strategies and paths to success. Being the first SEO in a company and…

• 
  Sphinn: Hot Topics

• Is Google’s One Trick Pony About To Be Euthanized by Microsoft

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:58 pm

  Excellent post and foresight by Jeremy about what is coming for Google!

• Link Building Strategies: Checklist

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:36 am

  What are your Link Building Strategies? Do you have any? If you do have any, are you following them? Do you have a link building checklist to follow? These are some questions that you must ask yourself if you want to build quality and quantity links to a website or webpage. With Google using around 200 data points to size up your website, we all know that links are one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization.

• What Guest Blogging Is NOT: Don't be a douche

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:09 am

  I know I have emphasized link building benefits of guest posting quite a few times: but if link building aspect is the first in your list of reasons why you start guest blogging, you are getting it WRONG from the very start.

• Position Yourself As An Expert With Guest Blogging

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:22 pm

  Whenever we talk about guest blogging, the conversation usually focuses on the link building benefits of guest blogging. And while this is certainly one of the best reasons to guest post, I’ve personally found that the increased exposure and the ability to position yourself as an expert in your niche are the most profitable effects of guest blogging.

• 62 steps to the definitive link building campaign

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:04 am

  Mark racks up yet another link building post that should be on the radar of all you link builders out there. An especially great read if you're just starting out a large campaign.

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  ISEdb.COM

• Google’s Super Bowl Ad, Simple and Powerful, But Why?

  Many are scratching their heads at why Google felt the need to air an advertisement in one of the most prized spots on television – during the Superbowl.

• Searching for Super Bowl Ads?

  Congratulations to the Saints for winning their first ever Super Bowl. Other than the game, the talk around the water cooler tomorrow morning will most likely be about the best and worst Super Bowl commercials. Here is a list of Websites to help you watch all the Super Bowl commercials aired during the 2010 Super [...]

• Google runs Super Bowl Ad

  If you watched the Super Bowl, or just like most of us watched the Super Bowl for the commercials, then you’ve probably seen this Google ad. This is the first ever Super Bowl ad by search engine giant. The ad is one of Google’s short stories series about its search product. The video called “Parisian Love” have [...]

• There May Be More to Google China Issue than We Thought

  A recent Reuters article reports that thorny legal issues have created high stakes in the recent announcement by Google that it may pull out of China.

• Google and NSA to Probe December’s Cyber Attack

  Don’t think for a second that Google is going to forget about those corporate espionage attacks that it may have incurred from within China. The search engine giant has teamed up with the US National Security Agency to further investigate the crime.

• 
  Majon: Search Engine Marketing

• 12 Website Linking Strategies to Make the Links Come to You

  admin

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  Link building is hard work. Link baiting is easy. The metaphors contained in the terms make it obvious - it’s like the difference between building a house, and fishing! Website linking is an essential part of the process of having a website, you can start automating the process somewhat by concentrating on these strategies for getting links to come to you. Website linking via normal building means is essential - but you can use these high-end strategies to ice your link popularity cake in the future! 1. Corporate blogging for value Create a regularly updated resource that aims for…

• Email Marketing Tips at the Atomic Level: Doing Your Quality Control

  admin

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  In email marketing, you usually have a couple of chances to impress your reader. After all, it takes more work to actually click the unsubscribe button and confirm that you don’t want to be on the list than to just hit the delete button. As a marketing medium, therefore, email can be a bit more forgiving than some others. However, if you consistently disappoint your readers you have not only missed an opportunity now … but destroyed an opportunity in the future. Disappointing email messages create not just an indifferent impression, but an actively negative one, and the fastest…

• Essential Directory Submissions for All Businesses, part 1

  admin

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  When building a list of directory submissions for your business, it makes good sense (both for people and for Goooglebots), to keep your submission relevant to your business. There’s little point submitting your fresh flowers website to a directory aimed at pro gamers and website developers, for example. However, there are some directories that are truly applicable to all businesses - you probably even use a few of these yourself to find information on the web. Today we are looking at some of the big names in directory submissions that all businesses should be paying attention to. Yahoo…

• Should You DIY Article Submissions, or Outsource?

  admin

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  When you are just starting out with your website, budget is often of the essence. The cheapest solution might not be the best one … but it is the only one that is possible! When your company finds its foothold and things start looking up, though, you are often faced with a dilemma. Is it better to keep doing things in house, or should I outsource some of my activities to experts? When it comes to article submission, the time you can potentially spend is huge. We look at whether it is smarter to outsource your article submissions, or keep it in-house. Upfront cost versus time cost Time…

• How NOT to Start Writing Press Releases!

  admin

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  Writing press releases is perhaps one of the most specialized forms of content creation in the world currently … rivaled only by the use of iambic pentameter, Shakespeare’s favorite conversational rhythm! It is incredibly easy, once you know how. Yet, much like playing guitar, if you start out doing it the wrong way you’ll only teach yourself bad habits and negate all the effort you put in. Here are the most important steps NOT to take when writing press releases! DON’T write about something static Too many people decide that the world needs to know that their…

• 
  Search Engine Watch Blog

• IAC Earnings: Search Revenues Up, But $1 Billion Impairment Charges

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:19 am

  Despite loss, they beat the Street.Click to read the rest of this post...

• Twelve bloggers blogging about SES London 2010

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:55 pm

  There are a lot more than "12 bloggers blogging" about SES London 2010. If you want to see a comprehensive list, go to the Search Engine Strategies blog.Click to read the rest of this post...

• Justice Department Opposes Revised Google Books Settlement

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:54 pm

  Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief expressing concerns over a revised Google book settlement. Click to read the rest of this post...

• AdWords Offers Free Online Training

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:09 pm

  Google AdWords has launched a new site where you can get training on their paid search platform. For FREE.Click to read the rest of this post...

• Bing Launches Winter Olympics Search Features

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm

  Instant Answers and Visual Search galleries are given the winter games treatment.Click to read the rest of this post...

• 
  Internet Marketing News Watch

• 'Get PR for Your Blog for Little to No Money!' Jack Humphrey and Anissa Wardell's Webinar February 10

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:28 am

  Jack Humphrey and Anissa Wardell are hosting a webinar on Wednesday, February 10 at 8.00 pm EST. The topic of the webinar is "Get PR for Your Blog for Little to No Money!". [Webinar]

• 'Learn The Underground 'Virtual Equity' System' Ryan Moran and PotPieGirl's Webinar 8.00 pm EST

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:23 am

  Ryan Moran and PotPieGirl are hosting a webinar on Tuesday, February 9 at 9.00 pm EST. The topic of the webinar is "Learn The Underground "Virtual Equity" System". [Webinar]

• 'Article Marketing Power Boost: Your Title and Your Resource Box' by Jeff Herring

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:18 am

  Jeff Herring's latest blog post is titled "“Article Marketing Power Boost: Your Title and Your Resource Box". [Blog]

• 'Where’s the Beef…in Affiliate Marketing?' - Affiliate Classroom Blog

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:11 am

  'Affiliate Classroom' latest blog post is titled "Where’s the Beef…in Affiliate Marketing?". [Blog]

• Ray Johnson Announces 'Clickbank Stealth' System Early-bird Notification

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:04 am

  Ray Johnson has announced 'Clickbank Stealth' system early-bird notification. According to Ray, the sign up page will send notification to those who are interested to get his 'Clickbank Stealth' system that reveals the secrets of top selling clickbank products is launching on Tuesday, February 9. ['Clickbank Stealth' System]

• 
  The Search Agents

• The Week We Searched For – February 8, 2010

  Camille Canon

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:43 am

  Facebook Turns Six The beloved social networking site Facebook turned six last week with an astounding 400 million users. During a celebratory party last Thursday at the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Facebook received yet another facelift. The update, which places emphasis on the top menu and left column, is said to focus on improving site navigation. In related Facebook News: Bing to be Facebook’s Exclusive Search Engine- Microsoft and Facebook reached an agreement on Friday for Bing to become Facebook’s only search engine. In exchange, Facebook will now manage its advertising…

• Importance of Tracking Google PageRank Improvement: Is PageRank Still Relevant?

  Otto

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:25 am

  I’ve had a few questions brought to me regarding a blog post on the relevance of PageRank. After reading the post, I would like Mike Volpe from HubSpot to answer one simple question.  I will offer a free link on one of my sites.  One is a PageRank 8 and the other is a Page Rank 2.  The question is: Which site will you pick to get a link from?  The answer is obvious. PageRank is absolutely relevant.  Is it a precision timely measure?  Absolutely not.  Is it a relevant indicator?  Absolutely yes.  Should it be tracked?  Definitely.  Just because something is hard to do…

• Search Engine Land Article: “What is a Link Really Worth? Part 1: Valuing PageRank”

  Camille Canon

  2 Feb 2010 | 10:10 am

  Ted Ives recently authored an article entitled “What is a Link Really Worth? Part 1: Valuing PageRank” that was published on Search Engine Land, a go-to reference point for online marketers. Everyone would agree that links are an important ranking factor in SEO.  And typically, inbound links from sites with a higher pagerank (PR) are assumed to be worth more than those from sites with a lower PR.  But by how much? Ted notes that Toolbar PageRank is a logarithmic measurement and previous research suggests that each incremental PR level is worth 5.5 times the previous level (e.g. a link…

• The Week We Searched For- January 29, 2010

  Camille Canon

  29 Jan 2010 | 10:01 am

  Apple’s Demos Their iPad Finally, after weeks of rumors, Apple introduced their new tablet computer, this week, the iPad. What’s most interesting about Apple’s release isn’t actually the product itself, as most of the features, apps and programs were all to be expected, but rather the overwhelming reaction from the blogosphere. After Apple’s announcement on Wednesday, bloggers across the web cast their judgments on the new device. Some have proclaimed that iPad will pioneer the territory between laptop and smartphone, while others are accusing Apple of making yet another overpriced,…

• Google’s Matt Cutts on the Future of SEO – Hacking?

  Grant Simmons

  28 Jan 2010 | 5:22 am

  Matt Cutts is Google’s official spokesperson to the SEO community. His fame grew organically as the unofficial then the official face of Google webmasters’ outreach. I like Matt Cutts, and so apparently, do other “Search Agents.” Overall, I find him personable, entertaining and certainly honest. His honesty got him in hot water (and an unofficial slap on the wrist) last year when his offhand comments at SMX Advanced (Search Convention) in Seattle on page rank sculpting prompted some official “clarifications.” As noted, and Matt if you’re reading…

• 
  DMNews Search Marketing

• RH Donnelley emerges from bankruptcy as Dex One

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:07 am

  Yellow Pages and local search company RH Donnelley emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 1 under a new name: Dex One Corporation. The company will continue to offer its Dex-branded suite, which includes online and mobile search services, print yellow pages directories, voice-search platforms and pay-per-click networks.

• Citysearch debuts local content, ad network

  1 Feb 2010 | 9:02 am

  Citysearch has launched CityGrid, a content and advertising network for local markets. The platform aggregates advertisers from company partners, enhances their listings' by adding Citysearch content and distributes it through a pay-per-performance ad engine to partner Web sites.

• GE Analytical Instruments taps 90octane for search marketing

  25 Jan 2010 | 9:26 am

  Environmental technology manufacturer GE Analytical Instruments has chosen search marketing agency 90octane to increase international awareness of its redesigned site, www.geinstruments.com.

• Covario buys NetConcepts

  12 Jan 2010 | 9:12 am

  Search marketing service and software company Covario has acquired fellow search marketing firm NetConcepts. Both companies will operate under the Covario brand, headquartered in San Diego. The teams will also be integrated, with no layoffs planned.

• Direct pays off across borders

  3 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

  Savvy US direct marketers recognize the growth potential in international markets, where an uptick in ad spending is expected this year. However, reaching consumers in other countries isn't without its challenges.

• 
  eMarketer Articles

• Measuring Return on Social Investment

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Marketers must connect business goals to social media objectives

• What Works in Online Video

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Shorter spots see higher completion rates

• Social Media Marketing Best Practices

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Debra Aho Williamson eMarketer Senior Analyst

• Mobile Marketers Demand ROI

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Quantifying returns needs most improvement

• At Container Store, Mothers Get Royal Treatment

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Catherine Davis Direct Marketing Director The Container Store

• 
  e-Consultancy: SEM

• Is social media a threat to paid search?

  Ashley Friedlein

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:23 am

  For a while now people have been speculating whether ‘social media’ sites, in particular Twitter, pose a threat to Google search as people increasingly choose to ask their network for help rather than search. I can see this happening in a small way but it is certainly nothing like a Google killer. However, based in part on our own experience, I have been wondering increasingly how social media could impact negatively on paid search spend, which might be some cause for concern at the search engines?Charles Arthur at the Guardian yesterday posted his US media sites' traffic shows that…

• How to control SEO spending post-recession

  Kevin Gibbons

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:45 am

  Remember back when the credit crunch was new? Every other blog post, including a fair few of mine, urged firms not to lose faith in online marketing, not to hack at their search engine marketing (SEM) budgets or lay off members of their online PR team. I still think it’s important to hold marketing nerve. If you are to grow your business then a successful marketing strategy is essential and budget cuts are not going to help.However, as the country shudders its way out of a historic recession, achieving an estimated 0.1% of growth in the last three months of 2009, it’s time to face facts.

• The rules of email engagement: part two

  Matthew Kelleher

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:26 am

  A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece on the rules of email engagement, very much laying out fairly broad thoughts on the subject. Now I want to follow up with a more pointed ‘plan’ that, if followed, will ensure a virtuous spiral of engagement and increased ROI... That is a horribly glib statement, something that a Californian ‘guru’ might pen, so let's preface these comments with two facts: You cannot sell to someone who isn’t listening, or, to put it another way, if a customer is not opening and reading your email, you cannot influence them into purchasing. A customer engaged…

• Q&A: Ian Hendry of WeCanDo.BIZ on social media and lead generation

  Graham Charlton

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:39 am

  WeCanDo.BIZ is an online network which helps SMEs find sales leads and business referrals, and it also offers a sales lead service for Twitter. I've been talking to CEO Ian Hendry about the company, the potential of Twitter for finding leads, and the effects of social media on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Tell me about Wecando.biz, what is your business model?  The site helps businesses engage with potential new customers. We use social networking methods to broker introductions between people with a need and those who offer a solution; and provide Social CRM tools to help…

• Is social media destroying trust in friends?

  Patricio Robles

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:05 am

  Just as marketers increase their spending on social media marketing comes potentially discouraging news: consumers are trusting their friends a whole lot less. According to AdAge, the 2010 Edelman Financial Services U.S. Trust Barometer found that only 25% of those surveyed considered friends and peers to be credible sources of information. That's down from 45% in 2008.The findings are stirring up a lot of buzz for obvious reasons. One of the reasons that social media is finally coming into its own as a bona fide marketing medium, where companies can interact with consumers and influence them…

• 
  Search Marketing Standard

• Google’s Click-to-Call Mobile Ads: A Lead Generation Direct Response Marketer’s Dream

  Chris Stiner

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:10 pm

  A few weeks ago — Thursday, January 28th to be precise — Google released a mobile feature that allows marketers to add a click-to-call mobile paid search ad to their paid search campaigns. While paid search is nothing new to the mobile world, the new feature of click-to-call has made it a much more accessible space to advertise in. This is an ideal setting for local businesses to advertise in, but it is also is great for direct response marketers, especially those marketers looking for leads. Let’s back up a minute and consider that one of the biggest barriers for marketers when…

• Can You Say Five Conventions In Five Days?

  Mike Evans

  2 Feb 2010 | 1:55 pm

  Can you say five conventions in ten days? I wish I couldn’t… Affiliate Summit West, Mike Filsaime’s Affiliate Appreciation Conference, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domainer’s Conference, National Association of Television Producers and Executives (NATPE), and ASTDM. The last conference (ASTDM)? I never did find out what it stands for. But it was definitely the best, at least for me. One great thing about conventions as far as journalists are concerned is the press pass. The New York Times does not buy a ticket to cover a Rolling Stones concert and Sports Illustrated doesn’t buy a ticket to the…

• Retargeting With Search And Display

  Chris Stiner

  1 Feb 2010 | 8:21 am

  Everyone knows that with a search campaign you get wasted clicks that don’t turn into conversions. Despite all your efforts of optimization in the keyword, ad copy, bidding, and landing page areas, most search marketers still end up with a significantly higher percentage of clicks that don’t convert as to those that do. Many advertisers look at those non-converting clicks as casualties in the fight towards covering the search market. However, if you combine your thought processes and analytics of your search and display campaigns, you will see there is a retargeting gold mine sitting…

• SEMMY Finalists Make For Great Reading

  Frances Mary Krug

  29 Jan 2010 | 8:58 am

  The finalists in the annual SEMMY awards are up on the site, and there’s a great collection of insightful reading that has made it to the finals. Voting closes at the end of today, so if you haven’t yet taken the plunge, head on over and do some reading! The categories range across the board, but one category that many of us don’t spend enough time looking into is “Search Tech.” Why? Because many of us consider ourselves to be marketers, not techies. When faced with an article about information retrieval and heuristics, we feel the need for some Tylenol. The cool…

• Are Your Maximizing Your PPC Split Testing Strategies?

  Chris Stiner

  27 Jan 2010 | 8:25 am

  Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is commonplace for most pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers. The idea of testing two different ad copies or landing pages is nothing new, but I bet there are many advertisers that could dive a little deeper when it comes to split testing and discover a new level of clarity for their PPC campaigns. First, here is a quick definition of split testing as regards PPC. With split testing, two or more items are tested side by side to determine which performs better at a specific metric. The importance of testing is critical to optimization. If you don’t test,…

• 
  The SEM Blog

• iPad, iPed, iPid, iPod, iPud

  JMO

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:37 pm

  Previously only one of those words was an Apple product. After January 26th, however, Apple now sells iPads along with iPods. What may be a silly name or a great name briefly caused a bit of confusion with the search engines. IPED and IPEDS are acronyms that have quite a few results in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. But, the other spelling brethren to the iPod do not have much meaning. Because of this, all three search engines show spelling corrections for those words and typically include “iPod” search results as well. Today, we still see this for iPud and iPid. And, immediately after…

• SEO Modules for your Drupal site

  JMO

  21 Dec 2009 | 10:46 am

  Drupal (for those that don’t know) is a very popular open-source content management system (CMS). It is built to be very lightweight at the core level. Features are added in by using modules that are submitted by the Drupal development community. They can help to create new content, work with users, add media, and of course, help automate the process of search engine optimizing your site. The following modules are essential to help the SEO of your site. SEO Drupal Modules Pathauto – Creates automatic URL aliases based on patterns created by the Token module. Includes options for…

• Holiday Trends and Planning

  Jonti Bolles

  2 Dec 2009 | 10:53 am

  Most of us are aware of Holiday Trends and Planning as we scurry to find the best deals on Cyber Monday or Free Shipping Day. If you are a little late in getting your site optimized for this year’s holiday rush, start planning for upcoming seasonality. Online shopping and events can make effective use of campaigns related to keyphrases such as free shipping, discount, gift, coupon and last minute deals. Use Google Insights and Trends to discover seasonal trends for your segment of the market. Whether it is a gift membership, free shipping or other discount, savvy shoppers are on the…

• Twitter Teams up with Google and Bing

  JMO

  27 Oct 2009 | 2:45 pm

  Twitter recently partnered up with both Google and Bing to allow them to search and index the full stream of tweets. Both companies are taking a different approach to how to showcase the data. Here is a look at each one. Bing Twitter Page and Search Bing actually created an entire page at bing.com/twitter which displays trending topics in a cloud at the top followed by a listing of the most active links below. Each link is followed by a couple of related tweets. There is some mystery as to which tweets are being selected. It does not appear to be the first tweets or the ones from people with…

• New Google Analytics Features Released

  JMO

  20 Oct 2009 | 3:43 pm

  Today, the Google Analytics Blog detailed some of the new features that are out now and coming soon. Here is a rundown of what is included and why you need it. More Goals Previously you could only have 4 goals per profile. Now you can have up to twenty, made up of 4 sets of 5 goals. Additionally, you can now setup Engagement Goals which allow you to use Time on Site and Pages per Visit as goal-capturing metrics. This is valuable for many types of sites (like Blogs!) that may consider a Goal accomplished without actually capturing contact information or making a sale. Advanced Filters Advanced…

• 
  97th Floor

• Viral Marketing Ideas and Infographics for Valentines Day

  Chris Bennett

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:24 am

  We have had tremendous success over the last couple years in creating and marketing viral articles and especially infographics for our clients. There is always a unique opportunity to do something viral when a holiday or major event is approaching and currently we don’t have any clients that would fit the bill of Valentines Day. So I wanted to outline some viral and infographic ideas that any of you can use if you have a site that is related to the Holiday. The Meaning Behind Flowers [Infgraphic] - This would be a graphically driven chart showing all the major types of flowers and roses…

• 5 Must Do’s After A Successful Viral Marketing Campaign

  Chris Bennett

  15 Jul 2009 | 8:39 am

  I have talked a lot about what to do to create and promote viral content. I wanted to give some tips that have helped me ensure that my future campaigns have equal success. First and this should be obvious before any viral launch you should have a set of metrics and goals you are looking to achieve and track. Whether that is sales, traffic, leads or links. What is it that you are looking to achieve as a result of a viral campaign? I am going to manly talk about learning from your mistakes to make future virals better as well as links and traffic as that is the most common/general goal of…

• Social Media For Firefox Adds Bit.ly (this is really cool)

  Chris Bennett

  13 May 2009 | 7:29 am

  In 09 we have made 2 very cool updates to Social Media for Firefox. In Feb we added Twitter, Sphinn and Mixx. This lets you hit the manual button on any URL you are on and see how many Tweets it has had. In other words it lets you see how many people have posted your link on Twitter. (There are a million short url services and we are working frantically to add the most prominent in so numbers might be a little off until then) Today I’m announcing that we have added Bit.ly the Short URL service and I am really excited about the time it is going to save you. Here is how it works. After…

• 5ones.com Launches Earth, An Actions Sports Google Maps Mashup

  Chris Bennett

  5 May 2009 | 10:51 pm

  Aside from 97th Floor, I co-own an action sports news site called 5ones and a live analytics company called BLVD Status. This week 5ones launched a very cool project that we have been working on for a very long time (initial idea Jul 08). It is called, “5ones Earth” and it is an interactive Google Maps mashup that organizes all of the worlds Surf Spots, Skate Spots, Ski/Snowboard Resorts, Pro Shops and Company Headquarters. The idea is if you are in Hawaii on vacation and you are not familiar with the local surf spots you can do a search and the application will bring back all the…

• Taking Social Media Beyond the “Top 10 List”

  Chris Bennett

  6 Apr 2009 | 2:00 am

  This is a guest post written by Vince Blackham over at Primary Affect. Holla! Follow him on Twitter With social media reaching near its peak, more and more people and businesses are realizing its importance. Unfortunately for most, they get their ideas from a “bag-and-tag” blog post that claims it has the end-all result to reaching viral success. There’s especially been a lot of chatter on Twitter about people being so called “social media experts/gurus” and, in turn, there have been a bunch of blog posts to ridicule those type of people. One of my favorites on…

• 
  All Things SEM / SEO Blog

• New Features for the Internal Link Building WordPress Plugin

  Marios Alexandrou

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm

  I'm a fan of the Internal Link Building plugin that Gabriel Goldenberg released a while back. A little work with Excel combined with the plugin's import feature can turn hundreds of keywords into links in one fell swoop. That's my kind of SEO! After using the plugin on multiple sites I came up with some additional features that I wish the plugin had. Well, now it has them: Limit the number of keywords that are turned into links on any given post. This'll keep a post from looking too spammy to your users. Broadening the matching functionality so that words in between the keywords you specify…

• First Link Priority with Images

  Marios Alexandrou

  9 Dec 2009 | 5:17 pm

  It's SEO experiment time. This one is inspired by a recent webinar from the SEO Braintrust folks and, of course, something I saw on a client's site. In the webinar, Leslie Rhode reminded me of discussions way back when regarding first link priority. The topic isn't new as many before this webinar, including Matt Cutts, have commented on it. But what I've yet to see is anyone test how image links are handled (Michael VanDeMar makes a recommendation though). So that's what I'm doing here today... Basically repeating previous tests except the first link is an image. First Link: Second Link:…

• 5 Traits of Efficient SEO

  Marios Alexandrou

  21 Oct 2009 | 3:36 pm

  Despite recent proclamations that the recession has hit bottom and we're now in recovery mode, the reality is that we should always be looking for ways to improve our efficiency. This is especially true in SEO, where a number of traps too often cause marketers to stumble into wasting time, money, or both. Avoiding these traps, and making the most of your resources, means becoming a smarter marketer. But becoming a smarter marketer doesn't require expensive tools or intricate solutions; instead, there are simple, easily implementable changes you can make to improve both your strategy and…

• Would a Domain By Any Other Name Be As Sweet?

  Marios Alexandrou

  19 Aug 2009 | 6:27 am

  When I first launched this site I picked a domain that closely matched the company I was working at without being so close as to infringe on trademarks and such. My goal back then was to help my employer launch a blog to complement their corporate site. Mistake #1. Unfortunately I left the company and so the domain name didn't make much sense so I changed it to AllThingsSEM.com. I liked this new domain as it gave me a lot of leeway in terms of topics I could write about. Afterall, SEM (search engine marketing) is the umbrella term that covers both paid search and search engine optimization.

• Link Building Goes Mainstream

  Marios Alexandrou

  15 Jul 2009 | 3:37 am

  I came across an article on CNN yesterday about link building. As with many SEO-related articles on mainstream news sites, it didn't go beyond what I've already read. But I do enjoy reading these articles as a measure of what is considered mainstream. The gist of the article is that many people are exchanging and buying links. And if you take the word of those interviewed, both activities yield positive results. I suspect this article is going to result in a flurry of e-mails to webmasters. Joy. Related Posts Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Rank Checking Lives On Actively Manage Your…

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  John W Ellis

• No Bid Management For Me

  John W Ellis

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:49 am

  I am asked often, as pay-per-click “professional”, why do I not use bid management software. Arguing against PPC automation is often futile in the search marketing community. We are often bombarded with software vendors that seem to dominate the conversation. Our voice, from an in-house perspective, is often shunned. First, let me clear up one misconception on why I do not use bid management software: Job Security. The concern of losing my job has nothing to do with not using pay-per-click automation software. I have plenty of day-to-day tasks that keep me busy, along with pay-per-click.

• How to optimize for the Google Content Network

  John W Ellis

  1 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  I discuss and write often about the Google Content Network. However, sometimes I forget to go bring it back to the basics. What is the Google Content Network? Google allows advertisers to place ads on “relevant” websites. This is the Content Network, a contextual targeting advertising network. Google analyzes each site’s content and matches that with your campaigns. Contextual targeting matches advertising with interest. Thus, website visitors are not bombarded with irrelevant ads and advertisers are assured their ads are showing to qualified “eyes”. Exclusion By default,…

• Google Content Network Wins in Massachusetts

  John W Ellis

  22 Jan 2010 | 7:17 am

  If you have caught any news this week you heard about the recent Massachusetts election. Scott Brown, Republican, defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a race for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy. But what you may not have heard is the online marketing technique Brown used to win. Twitter? Maybe. YouTube? Sure, that helped. Google? Most definitely. Yes, Brown was very aggressive with his social media tools, but it was Google that sent him over the edge. A recent article on blogs.wsj.com points out it was Brown’s “groundbreaking use of Google to drive volunteers and…

• My Best 0f 2009

  John W Ellis

  28 Dec 2009 | 10:47 am

  Since I picked of my favorite Nashville blog posts of 2009, I figured it was only right to pick my own too. Please forgive my self-indulgence. The following is a list of my top posts from 2009, based on traffic, comments, and personal preference. In other words, it’s my list I can put what I want on. Pay Per Click 4 Tips for a Successful Google Content Network Campaign Broad Match is giving me a headache Budget? What budget? It’s pay-per-click Search Engine Optimization The New SEO Optimizing for Google Caffeine Social Media Twitter and the Nashville media My Twitter Rules Search Industry…

• The New SEO

  John W Ellis

  16 Dec 2009 | 11:59 am

  If your idea of search engine optimization is meta tags, site submissions, and keyword stuffed content, then keep reading. The fact is many of the old SEO tactics are dead. It is not to say you can’t still use meta tags and submit your sites to search engines. Those tactics, if done properly, won’t hurt. However, their value to rankings has very little impact these days. There are many existing myths with today’s SEO efforts. I could spend a whole other post discussing myths, but for now, let’s focus on the right things to do. 1. Link Building I know link building is “so old…

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  KOMARKETING ASSOCIATES: SEM BLOG

• WordCamp Boston: 5 Reasons You Should Attend in 2011

  Derek Edmond

  28 Jan 2010 | 6:46 am

  Last weekend KoMarketing Associates was a small business sponsor for WordCamp Boston, a one-day conference where “almost 500 WordPress Beginners, Enthusiasts, Developers, Designers, Users and Volunteers came together…for a day of learning and community.” http://www.flickr.com/photos/kgrocki/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 This was my first WordCamp (which are informal, community-organized events that allow WordPress users and developers to meet and collaborate) and it was a great experience. WordCamps are held across the globe, and many of the people I talked to had been to several in…

• The Competencies Required for Search Engine Optimization

  Derek Edmond

  15 Jan 2010 | 9:03 am

  Last week Jill Whalen’s Twitter Question of the Week asked, “What has changed most in Search Marketing since 2000?” My answer to the question: There are a lot of good answers; search innovation, integration of social media, success measurements, to name a few. I wanted to use this post to further develop the point that success in search engine marketing often requires multiple skills and resources, more so now than ever before. Search Engine Optimization in 2002 While I still use many of the SEO tactics I was learning early in the past decade (I started experimenting towards…

• “The Best of 2009″ Internet Marketing Blog Post Round Up

  Derek Edmond

  6 Jan 2010 | 7:40 am

  As should be the case this time of year, many online marketing sites are publishing their list of the best posts for 2009. Here is a round up of these “Best of 2009″ posts, organized by Internet Marketing theme. There is a lot of great information, concepts and writing to read through. If I’ve missed your list, please feel free to send me a message directly or through the comments below. Happy New Year and wishing everyone the best in 2010 and beyond! Internet Marketing Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2009 – Techipedia – Tamar Weinberg’s well researched…

• Why Google Personalized Search is Great for the SEO Industry

  Derek Edmond

  16 Dec 2009 | 6:40 am

  A recent Technorati blog post poses the question as to whether the expanded Google personalized search will challenge the SEO market. Background: If you don’t know about this development, here is Google’s video explaining the change: In my opinion, Google personalized search could very well be the best thing to happen to the SEO industry since…well…since Google itself. While there certainly will be discussions on privacy, here are four reasons why I think personalized search will change the SEO industry for the better. Elimination of Ranking for Ego TermsThere is a…

• 5 Posts I’ll Be Reading While Sitting in the Mass Pike Parking Lot

  Derek Edmond

  25 Nov 2009 | 5:11 am

  This afternoon we’re headed to Western New York to see my side of the family for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, traveling west on the Massachusetts Turnpike the day before Thanksgiving is never a good idea. I’m preparing for worst. What usually would be a six hour drive surely will eclipse ten; hoping it doesn’t take twelve. However, the miracles of technology in coordination with solid preparation have me ready for the journey ahead. Here are five recent blog posts I have bookmarked to read in depth and recommend to you if your Thanksgiving travel plans will be anything like…

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  MOREVISIBILITY: SEM BLOG

• Gain Insight into Your Season

  Sonya Wood

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:14 am

  Valentine’s Day is getting closer and many marketers are gearing up for a busy season. During holiday seasons, it is important to determine when people are interested in your products. Using Google Insights for Search can help you determine when interest in your products or services is at its peak throughout the year. For example, if [...]

• Is Your Online Campaign Performing?

  Ryan Faria

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:12 am

  Every online advertiser knows that search engine marketing is a contributor for generating sales, but how do you know if your online campaign is actually producing a return on investment? Calculating your return on investment (ROI), or rate of return, is not only easy to do, but it can also help you determine how your overall [...]

• What’s Your 2010 PPC Strategy?

  Ryan Faria

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:58 am

  With the arrival of the New Year, 2010 is the perfect time to evaluate your online campaigns and budgets.  It should come as no surprise that advertisers are allocating more of their budgets to support pay per click efforts.  According to eMarketer.com, it is projected that online advertisers will spend $11.4 billion in advertising for [...]

• Dot the i’s, Cross the t’s, and Fill in the Blanks

  Gerard Tollefsen

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:01 am

  With all of the advancement in search engine marketing, it is imperative for online retailers to maintain proper data in their inventory control system.  Depending on the e-commerce platform that you use, there could be ten to fifty attribute fields in your inventory system.  While you may think for the sake of speed to only [...]

• Do You Really Need a Mobile Site?

  Marni Weinberg

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:45 am

  There’s been a lot of hype recently with regard to making sure your website has a mobile friendly version available for Blackberry, iPhone, Android etc. users. How important is it really? Think about it this way. The vast majority of your site visitors have a mobile device, right? Well, the number of those mobile devices [...]

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  Reel SEO Video Marketing

• The New Frontier for iPads and eReaders – New Media Minute

  Mark R Robertson

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:10 am

  We just posted a fairly critical overview of the iPad after its announcement and I think this week’s New Media Minute offers a compelling reason why the iPad may actually succeed. The comic business is estimated to be a $1 billion business annually but it’s one of the few media forms that hasn’t yet fully transitioned to the digital world. That may change with the coming influx of Apple iPads and sexy new eReaders. The business of digital comics is also one TV networks are already starting to leverage, including Starz, which created a motion comic for its popular new…

• Online Video Platform Solutions Focus on Video SEO Goodness

  Mark R Robertson

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:10 pm

  Validation feels good   What do I mean by this?  Well, over the past year, many of the online video platforms that we write about, have begun to focus a bit on helping their customers deploy videos that are more search engine friendly.  I imagine that the focus on video SEO comes from the platform’s customers who are hearing the video SEO buzz and are publishing more and more videos that they want to have discovered. All of this is step forward with regard to hosted video SEO and is the reason that I started ReelSEO in the first place – so, it is music to my ears. It is likely…

• Veeple Launches Search Engine Friendly Video Embed Codes

  Mark R Robertson

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:58 am

  Today – Veeple, an online video platform that we’ve covered in the past, announced a new feature for their customers which helps a bit with the long-standing issue of Flash and SEO. They have modified their video embed codes to provide alternative text content for the search engines.  Although the <embed> tag is now deprecated, it is really the only tag that works equally well across browsers and most online video platforms as well as video sharing sites like YouTube provide video embed tags using this tag, perhaps that is why they are called embed tags   Its sibling…

• Over 1 Billion Videos a Day in December (2009) Says comScore

  Christophor Rick

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:31 am

  According to the comScore Video Metrix report, there were over 33 Billion videos streamed in December 2009. That’s more than a Bilion a day. Who came out on the top for the month? Hulu? No they didn’t hit the top spot that still belongs to Google of course, but they did top 1 Billion video streams for the month. Of course about 40% of  the other 32 Billion were mostly served up by Google Sites (13.2B roughly). It is the first time that Hulu has topped 1 Billion streams for a month. In fact, since April 2009, Hulu has tripled their streams while Google has only doubled theirs. …

• Viral Video Marketing Round Up – Lessons From This Week’s Viral Video Successes – 02/05/2010

  Jeremy Scott

  5 Feb 2010 | 2:37 pm

  Welcome back to our weekly series recapping the very latest and emerging viral video success stories.  The hope is that we can learn a bit from these stories, and eventually get better over time at crafting and promoting our own viral video content. Let’s dig in, shall we? Learn To Laugh At Yourself I first learned of this video on a social bookmarking site—don’t remember which one—but I’ve started seeing it pop up on various blogs and news sites in the days since. The video shows professional angler (that’s fisherman, to you and I who don’t travel in such circles) Drew…

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  SEM Insights

• The Ultimate Conversion Tip Collection

  Laura Callow

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:51 pm

   I’ve been thinking a lot about landing page conversion lately, and read quite a bit about it. When I was a super affiliate (years gone by) maximizing conversions was always top of mind, and it sort of slipped from that vaulted position as I became more and more focused on specializing in SEM. It shouldn’t have, but it did. BUT after years of experience, research and seeing how things work on numerous sites across multiple industries, as well as chatting with experts focused on core deliverables, this is a list of my ‘ultimate conversion tips’ with a short list of links to other…

• In-house PPC – No or Go!

  Laura Callow

  15 Jan 2010 | 10:24 pm

  I recently stepped back into the fray that is in-house PPC management, and I’m loving it! There is more freedom (and lack of cost) associated with effective in-house management, but it always surprises me as to how this type of move is met by the engine reps and other folks still using agencies. In-house you’re after the lowest possible CPA, and the best possible ROAS. You’re also looking at overall profit for the business – but that can’t be done on a short term basis in a big brand, so I’ll stick with ROAS for now. (CPA is slightly different and affected by more than one…

• Major Social Marketing Mistake

  Laura Callow

  21 Dec 2009 | 11:17 pm

  This blog doesn’t allow me the space I need to include the audio file of this transcript, but you can find it here. This post won’t make sense if you don’t read/listen to it. This is NOT a search marketing post, more one about how the viral internet can spread, with my comments here on a post/wmv that has. My comments as an ex-teacher on the post: Many parents are irresponsible Many parents are clueless Many parents are caring and concerned I understand the post, but do not condone their approach For the irresponsible, This is a wake-up call to listen to the teachers of your…

• 2 Easy Steps to Hire the RIGHT Search Manager

  Laura Callow

  1 Oct 2009 | 7:43 pm

  … It’s actually pretty easy… 1. Decide if hiring in-house for SEO + PPC or SEM combined is more feasible in terms of your spend than outsourcing. I realize it depends on size and revenues… but as soon as you get to a point where you can hire inhouse, you chould. Using an agency initially may give you an idea of the power of SEM (SEO+PPC) assuming you get a decent agency. I recommend contacting Epiar or Clix Marketing in the first instance for SEO and PPC respectively. If their books are full, they will point you in the right direction (North America wide). As with anything,…

• 3 Top Organic Search Questions…Answered: #1.Selection #2.Placement #3.Optimized Use

  Laura Callow

  8 Sep 2009 | 8:24 pm

  This is a really big topic, but as I’ve been asked to explain these 3 facets of organic search marketing numerous times, I thought a quick high-level overview might be of use. 1. Which Search Terms to Target This is somewhat subjective & somewhat objective. It really depends on 4 primary interrelated variables: i.   the level of competition for the phrase ii.  the relationship between search query language (phrase), search query intent (expectation/anticipated result), and the relevance of the search phrase to your offering (perceived or real match/deviation) iii. your search…

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  SEMClubHouse - Key Relevance Blog

• Town & City Name Sponsorships

  silver

  2 Feb 2010 | 2:24 pm

  by Chris Silver Smith I just wrote an article which published at Search Engine Land yesterday on the subject of some innovative and occasionally guerrilla marketing tactics that might be used to display advertising promotion via Google Maps. (See: Six Odd Tactics For Getting Ads Into Google Maps) One aspect the article touches upon is how some smaller towns and cities might find it attractive to sell the rights to their names in return for sponsor dollars. I find this concept interesting, particularly as many municipalities have begun considering flogging the rights to name all sorts of…

• New Yahoo PPC Network Distribution option to go live on Jan 19, 2010

  mike

  14 Jan 2010 | 12:24 pm

  by Mike Churchill Yahoo! will be launching their new Network Distribution feature on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010. This will allow advertisers to optionally opt out of the Yahoo Search Partners sites for PPC ad display, and will also allow Yahoo! PPC advertisers more control over how they bid on ads. Advertisers will have the option of displaying ads on: The Entire Network – including Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Partners Yahoo! Search – includes all Yahoo! O&O properties and co-branded sites only Yahoo! Partners – includes all Yahoo! Partners Only In addition to opting out…

• Easy Tactics To Leverage Wikipedia For Google Maps

  silver

  11 Jan 2010 | 11:02 am

  by Chris Silver Smith I recently wrote an article outlining how Wikipedia was abruptly rocketed into being heavily influential within Google Maps (see New Behemoth Emerges In Google Maps: Wikipedia). For small businesses everywhere, I predict that this change is going to bring Wikipedia to the forefront of SMB’s attention. With just a little bit of review, I think that small business owners are going to be noticing how Wikipedia has become very ubiquitous in Place Pages for Google Maps, and they’ll notice or suspect that those Places which sport a Wikipedia association tend to…

• Looking Back At SES Chicago 2009

  sem

  16 Dec 2009 | 7:47 am

  By Christine Churchill Keyword Research Session Despite cold and the busy holiday season, search enthusiasts gathered in Chicago to attend the Search Engine Strategies conference. This year, I had the honor of presenting a solo presentation on Keyword Research. As long as there are search boxes requiring text queries, keywords will play an important role in being found on the web. Keyword research is a fundamental skill set all successful online marketers must master. In the keyword session I discussed techniques for finding and evaluating keywords. I also covered a number of the keyword…

• I think my computer must be tired – it’s not thinking too clearly

  admin

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:01 am

  by Mike Churchill I was checking the weather this morning (raining again – Ugh!) and when I went to look at the detailed hourly predictions, I got a suprise. It was interesting find that the Google Toolbar thinks that the US Government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website is written in Sovenian !

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  The Invesp Blog

• 2009 – How did the recession impact your company?

  Ayat Shukairy

  27 Jan 2010 | 10:32 am

  During the last two weeks we analyzed our 2009 projects to assess the average improvements in conversion rates and increases in revenue our team helped clients achieve.  Before we get to the numbers, we wanted to reiterate that 2009 was one of the most challenging years for our clients.  Our projects for clients were focused on plugging the leaky faucet of online shoppers due to the external factors of the economic recession. Promotions, pricing structures, and free shipping became huge motivators and persuaders for the online shopper throughout the year. And here are the results:…

• 6 Household Brands That Got The Taste of Social Media Backlash

  Social Media Insider

  26 Jan 2010 | 6:48 am

  Social media has exploded as an industry and changed the way businesses interact with their customers. Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are drawing millions of people into active participation—and when you find millions of engaged people, you’ll find plenty of businesses trying to convince them to part with their money. For all the altruistic talk of companies connecting with human beings (that’s the social) the endgame is always going to be revenue (that’s the marketing). Sometimes, however, the marketing and the social aspects fail in colossal fashion. And when that…

• Invesp’s Top 100 Marketers of 2009

  Ayat Shukairy

  10 Jan 2010 | 11:07 pm

  Online marketing has evolved tremendously over the last decade. Within a single decade the interest and need for understanding this space has grown to insurmountable lengths. And there are the select few carrying forward…  In compiling our second ranking of the Invesp’s Top 100 Marketers, we struggled with determining the exact criterion because every marketer has made contributions. We determined that marketing your company, your products or yourself had to meet four requirements. First, we asked, what are this specific person’s achievements? Bryan Eisenberg, who ranked high…

• Video Interview: 5 Ways to Increase Your E-Commerce Conversion Rate

  khalid

  28 Dec 2009 | 12:02 pm

  While speaking at SES Chicago, Dr. Ralph Wilson , from Web Marketing Today interviewed Ayat to talk about 5 ways to increase Your ecommerce conversion rate. © 2006-2009 Invesp Consulting

• Twitter IDs: 2009 Top Marketers Nominees

  khalid

  4 Dec 2009 | 10:02 am

  Since voting started on the 2009 top online marketers yesterday, I wanted to put a quick list of the twitter ids for the nominees. (names appear in alphabetical order) Aaron Brazell (@technosailor) Aaron Wall (@AaronWall) Adam Audette (@audette) Adam Ostrow (@Adamostrow) Adam Sherk (@adamsherk) Alisa Leonard-Hansen (@alisamleo) Andrew Shotland (@localSEOGuide) Andy Beal (@andybeal) Andy Beard (@andybeard) Andy Sernovitz (@Sernovitz) Angel Djazambov (@djambazov) Anita Campbell (@smallbiztrends) Ann Handley (@marketingprofs) Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) Art Jonak…

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  ASK Enquiro - SEM News

• ASK Enquiro – Blog Redesign

  manoj@enquiro.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:07 am

  Welcome to the brand new Enquiro Blog. You will notice that it has a lot of new features including: Better navigation Consolidated category list Easier to filter by Author Easier to update content (for us) We hope you enjoy the new site, don’t forget to submit any internet marketing questions to us! Goodbye ASK Enquiro 1.0 – You will be missed…

• The Google Experience During The Super Bowl

  manoj@enquiro.com

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:17 pm

  Google just ran a Super Bowl ad, something Eric Schmidt said in a tweet yesterday means that Hell has frozen over. Regardless of the current atmospheric conditions in the underworld, one of the more subtle things about the Google ad that caught my attention was a mention in the Google blog that, “our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact.” Google and its proponents have always made a point of emphasizing the user experience of search – that’s why the Google start page isn’t covered in…

• The 150-millisecond Gap

  manoj@enquiro.com

  4 Feb 2010 | 2:16 pm

  A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a meeting room at Simon Fraser University, looking at two squiggly lines on a graph in a PowerPoint slide that 5 of us in the room were all looking at intently. Amongst the five of us, there was a PhD and a handful of Masters degrees in Neurology and Psychology. I contributed nothing to this impressive collection of academic achievement. Still, there was something on the chart that fascinated me. The chart was the result of a neuro-scanning experiment we conducted with Simon Fraser last year. We were exploring how the brain responded to brands we like, brands…

• How Buyersphere Insights Impact Your Content Development Strategy

  manoj@enquiro.com

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:32 pm

  Enquiro has an active research department that tackles everything from eye tracking studies to website user behaviour. One of their recent projects has been to tackle the problem of how business buys from business, which has been compiled into a book called The Buyersphere Project. B2B sales are notoriously challenging as you are not dealing with just one person but with all the complexities of an entire organization. Within an organization you find different people playing different roles and who have differing informational needs – which can be met at least in part by your website. When…

• Undecided about Bing: The Decision Engine

  manoj@enquiro.com

  29 Jan 2010 | 11:31 am

  Okay, I admit it. Bing is starting to show some glimmering signs of promise. But I still have concerns. Big concerns. I had the chance to chat with Stefan Weitz recently about where Microsoft wanted to take Bing and it’s hard not to get swept up in Stefan’s evangelism. Microsoft is trying to do some very impressive things with search: parse the ambiguity out of our language, stitch together disparate fragments of content into a whole that’s useful to the user and present all this in a results format that informs and assists without requiring extensive tweaking on the part of…

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  PPC Management & SEO - The Wpromoter

• 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Leverage Social Media Now

  Amanda Moshier

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:46 pm

  Now that social media is no longer just a ‘trend,’ many small business owners are coming to us unsure about how to proceed. Some may heard online shoe retailer Zappos does a great job of branding themselves on Twitter or Burger King went overboard with its “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign on Facebook, but the question of how to make social media work still looms. The Kogi truck tweets to communicate with customers The good news is social media isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies. In fact, many small businesses have surprised themselves with the amount of press they have…

• Viral Video Friday

  Jesse Bouman

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:42 am

  It’s a rainy Friday here in Los Angeles. These five videos will bring a little sunshine to everyone. This week we’re prepping you for some Super Bowl ads, introducing you to the invention of the decade, a serious PSA, and a reminder what NOT to do at work. Payton Schlewitt’s Snapshot of America This is the first of five Christopher Guest directed videos for the US Census Bureau. The next video debuts during the Super Bowl. Say “Cheese!” Bridgestone: Whale Of A Tale If you’re going to watch the Super Bowl for the ads, here’s another one to watch out…

• Understanding the Content Marketing Trend: 5 Questions to Ask Before Spending a Dime on a Case Study, Webinar, or White Paper

  Amanda Moshier

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:23 am

  Push marketing is no longer enough. Brands need to engage consumers with relevant messages to stay competitive. It’s no secret consumers are becoming more resistant to traditional advertising. Attention spans are lower, and competition for time and money is fierce. Terms like “ad blindness” point to dropping click-through rates on display ads and a consumer mindset that ignores whatever it doesn’t want to see. This is not to say display doesn’t work, but this and other forms of “push marketing,” wherein consumers are interrupted with sales messages, are no longer…

• Client Profile - Quartermaster

  Marissa Allen

  2 Feb 2010 | 1:01 pm

  One of Wpromote’s top performing clients, Quartermaster, is a leader in high quality and affordable equipment for law enforcement, military, security and a wide range of public safety professionals and organizations. From police boots to body armor to handcuffs, for over 35 years Quartermaster has offered the best deals in the industry. Striving to meet all of its customers’ shopping needs, Quartermaster carries the world’s most recognized brands available, as well as its superior LawPro® brand, available exclusively at Quartermaster. It is not only the quality of its products, but…

• Tues News: 2/2 (Groundhog Day Edition)

  Michael Block

  2 Feb 2010 | 11:40 am

  When the Cheat comes out of his grill, I wonder if he'll see his shadow? Today is Groundhog Day, which means that the world’s most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, came out of his hole to give us a prediction. Well, it’s bad news, unfortunately, as Phil saw his shadow and doomed us to another six weeks of winter. That’s bad news, however, much like in the movie Groundhog Day, starring the irreproachable Bill Murray, it’s just more of the same. Phil, you see, has seen his shadow in ten out of the last eleven winters! It seems that life is imitating art with this…

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  Reel SEO Video Marketing

• The New Frontier for iPads and eReaders – New Media Minute

  Mark R Robertson

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:10 am

  We just posted a fairly critical overview of the iPad after its announcement and I think this week’s New Media Minute offers a compelling reason why the iPad may actually succeed. The comic business is estimated to be a $1 billion business annually but it’s one of the few media forms that hasn’t yet fully transitioned to the digital world. That may change with the coming influx of Apple iPads and sexy new eReaders. The business of digital comics is also one TV networks are already starting to leverage, including Starz, which created a motion comic for its popular new…

• Online Video Platform Solutions Focus on Video SEO Goodness

  Mark R Robertson

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:10 pm

  Validation feels good   What do I mean by this?  Well, over the past year, many of the online video platforms that we write about, have begun to focus a bit on helping their customers deploy videos that are more search engine friendly.  I imagine that the focus on video SEO comes from the platform’s customers who are hearing the video SEO buzz and are publishing more and more videos that they want to have discovered. All of this is step forward with regard to hosted video SEO and is the reason that I started ReelSEO in the first place – so, it is music to my ears. It is likely…

• Veeple Launches Search Engine Friendly Video Embed Codes

  Mark R Robertson

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:58 am

  Today – Veeple, an online video platform that we’ve covered in the past, announced a new feature for their customers which helps a bit with the long-standing issue of Flash and SEO. They have modified their video embed codes to provide alternative text content for the search engines.  Although the <embed> tag is now deprecated, it is really the only tag that works equally well across browsers and most online video platforms as well as video sharing sites like YouTube provide video embed tags using this tag, perhaps that is why they are called embed tags   Its sibling…

• Over 1 Billion Videos a Day in December (2009) Says comScore

  Christophor Rick

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:31 am

  According to the comScore Video Metrix report, there were over 33 Billion videos streamed in December 2009. That’s more than a Bilion a day. Who came out on the top for the month? Hulu? No they didn’t hit the top spot that still belongs to Google of course, but they did top 1 Billion video streams for the month. Of course about 40% of  the other 32 Billion were mostly served up by Google Sites (13.2B roughly). It is the first time that Hulu has topped 1 Billion streams for a month. In fact, since April 2009, Hulu has tripled their streams while Google has only doubled theirs. …

• Viral Video Marketing Round Up – Lessons From This Week’s Viral Video Successes – 02/05/2010

  Jeremy Scott

  5 Feb 2010 | 2:37 pm

  Welcome back to our weekly series recapping the very latest and emerging viral video success stories.  The hope is that we can learn a bit from these stories, and eventually get better over time at crafting and promoting our own viral video content. Let’s dig in, shall we? Learn To Laugh At Yourself I first learned of this video on a social bookmarking site—don’t remember which one—but I’ve started seeing it pop up on various blogs and news sites in the days since. The video shows professional angler (that’s fisherman, to you and I who don’t travel in such circles) Drew…

• 
  HigherVisibilty Online Marketing Blog

• Do You Google Yourself? If Not Others Are!

  admin

  28 Jan 2010 | 8:08 am

  The phrase “Google yourself” has become one of the digital age’s top guilty pleasures. Although many do it, few admit it. Or do they? Recently a survey was performed by Microsoft where they found out only 42% of US consumers have used a search engine to find information about them. While many in the US may not be Googling themselves, apparently the HR industry has picked up the slack where 79% of hiring personnel admit to review online information about job applicants. The folks at Google are well aware that their site handles millions of vanity searches every day, and that users…

• How Much Are You Wasting With AdWords?

  admin

  25 Jan 2010 | 8:36 am

  As you may or may not know Google tries to make it easy  to get your ads up and running as quickly and pain free as possible. The AdWords system is set up to maximize Google’s yield, often at the expense of new advertisers – who do not realize the hidden “tax” in many default settings. According to PPCBlog: “When you create your first AdWords campaign you feel in control. But behind the scenes, your ads show up for irrelevant keywords (a feature of “expanded broad match”). And your ads appear on websites that are unsuitable to your business (ever…

• Yahoo Does Still Care About Search

  admin

  21 Jan 2010 | 12:04 pm

  According to the YSMBlog, Yahoo has come into the New Year with some enhancements that will benefit users and advertisers. Can’t say it’s not about time!!! Here is a video from YSM explaining the updates. Do you think this will make any difference to you and if you will spend more time and money advertising with them? New Year, New Search Enhancements @ Yahoo! Video

• 5 Ways To Get Your Email Read

  admin

  20 Jan 2010 | 10:33 am

  When running an email marketing campaign, the first challenge you face is getting people to actually read your emails. Without a decent open rate, your campaign won’t have a chance to succeed. That’s why it’s imperative that you understand how to write compelling subject lines that simply beg to be clicked. • #1: Keep on testing—MarketingSherpa.com performed a recent survey in which they found that 40% of email marketers had high impacts on the return on investment (ROI) by testing their subject lines. Testing is the only way to what does and doesn’t work for your campaign. Take…

• Conan Marketing The Tonight Show Sale Online

  admin

  15 Jan 2010 | 8:02 am

  On last night’s Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien joked that he’s putting the program for sale on Craigslist — while he still can. However, it appears that the listing itself is no joke, and can be found under the for sale/wanted > collectibles category in Los Angeles. Titled “4 SALE: BARELY-USED LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW,” Conan’s looking for your best offer, but also “willing to trade for Coldplay tickets.” Here is the listing:

• 
  Search Marketing : Darin Carter

• Roses for Valentines Day

  Darin

  3 Feb 2010 | 2:36 pm

  For all my male readers, giving you all a heads up! Don’t let 2010 be another year that you wait until the last minute to set up your Valentine Day Plans! You know you need a Gift, GO GET ONE THIS WEEKEND !!! You know you need Flowers (ROSES!!!!!) so go to Rose Delivery and order your Roses today and have them delivered on the 14th !!! Planing is key, if you wait till the last minute, you get all stressed out over something you should have done weeks ago. Lets get it DONE TODAY, and be stress free on the 12th, 13th and 14th of this month! I say this because I recently learned a…

• Shoemoney System Live

  Darin Carter

  26 Jan 2010 | 1:57 pm

  Today, Shoemoney Launched The ShoeMoney System! Limited to 500 students only! Shoemoney is dedicated to the success of each person that signs up. His name is on the line and so is his reputation. The system will be closed after 500 students, which looks like it won’t take long for that to happen! Signup for The ShoeMoney System NOW!!! Darin Carter Post From: Search Engine Marketing : Darin CarterShoemoney System Live

• Person Finder : Haiti Earthquake

  Darin

  20 Jan 2010 | 2:18 pm

  Here is a great tool hosted on the Google App Engine http://haiticrisis.appspot.com/ It’s a Person Finder tool for the Earthquake in Haiti! If your looking for a loved one, type in their name and SEARCH for them! Post From: Search Engine Marketing : Darin CarterPerson Finder : Haiti Earthquake

• Google Phone – Nexus One

  Darin

  6 Jan 2010 | 11:45 am

  Well, the talk is over and it’s here, The Google Phone – Nexus One! Honestly there is no reason for me to write about it, just Dive in and Look For Yourself! http://www.google.com/phone Sponsor: Get a Free Macbook Air Post From: Search Engine Marketing : Darin CarterGoogle Phone – Nexus One

• Happy New Year 2010

  Darin

  31 Dec 2009 | 9:38 am

  Yet another year is upon us, and I just wanted to take this time to say Happy New Year to all my readers. Just 1 word of advice, buckle your seat belts tight, cause 2010 is going to be a tough year for us Marketers. You have to start thinking outside of the BOX! Be safe tonight and Goodbye 2009! Darin Sponsor: Join the Affiliate Revolution. PepperjamNetwork.com Post From: Search Engine Marketing : Darin CarterHappy New Year 2010

• 
  Maine SEO Blog

• Why are your blog comments getting disapproved?

  Nicki

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:01 am

  Many blog platforms are set up, by default, to catch any spammy looking email address or website, as well as a comment with more than two links within it. Of course, the blogger always has the ability to refine these parameters; even approving on a comment-by-comment basis. If your comments are getting disapproved, this might be why: Your name isn’t India SEO. That may be what you do – and kudos for the attempt to incorporate as much anchor text as possible; but I’m sure your mother see you for the first time and think I shall call him India SEO. You’re not adding…

• Maine SEO Project: Berman & Simmons (The Power of Blogs & SEO)

  Nicki

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:02 am

  Recently flyte launched four new blogs for Berman & Simmons, a Maine personal injury and trial law firm with locations in Portland, Lewiston, and Bangor. The blogs include: Maine Accident and Personal Injury News Maine Nursing Home Law Center Product Safety at Home and at Work Maine Court Decisions You may be thinking: four blogs? Four? Well, with such niche fields and enough manpower to create plenty of great content, it seemed like a no brainer – especially with all the great search engine visibility blogs provide. So for the latest information about Maine accidents and personal…

• Making Analytics Actionable: How to Improve SEO by Employing Data & Metrics (with SEOmoz’s Rand Fishkin)

  Nicki

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:04 pm

  Rand’s going to talk about how to make standard metrics actionable. [woot] To make Analytics actionable, always ask: Why am I measuring this? What would I do if results were different? Search Referral Analytics # of visits per search engine over time – You want to see this number increase over time, in relationship to the search engine’s market share/overall global growth [Action: find out if it's a ranking/indexing issue] # pages getting search referrals over time – Measure for each search engine and often. [Action: discover if indexation is an issue worth effort,…

• 6 Strategies for Using your Meta-Description to Make your Website Stand Out

  Nicki

  2 Feb 2010 | 10:18 am

  Meta-descriptions are one of the last meta-tags that search engines still care about; the extent to which, no one really knows. And while inserting all of your keywords may not help you, a call to action might. For meta-descriptions (or search engine descriptions, as we lovingly refer to them), I always suggest clients incorporate their contact information – for those searching on smart phones, or simply searching for a way to reach them. More and more, even that may not be enough. So how can  you really make your search result stand out? I did a search for nike light running shoes,…

• How to Find Out Who Subscribes via Email to Your Blog with FeedBurner

  Nicki

  28 Jan 2010 | 8:01 am

  FeedBurner is a great platform for seamlessly keeping your blog subscribers up-to-date on your latest posts. The added bonus? As the blog owner, you get some pretty sweet stats out of the deal. A lot of people (myself included) probably don’t check their FeedBurner stats often enough – but why would we? The FeedBurner dashboard is not the most intuitive under the sun. So let’s start with something simple: I want to see how many email subscribers I have and who they are. From the main Analyze page, click “See more about your subscribers”. (By the way, subscribers…

• 
  SearchViews

• Which Brands Scored an Integrated Touchdown at Super Bowl 44?

  Anthony Iaffaldano

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:59 pm

  This morning, Reprise Media released our 6th annual Search Marketing Scorecard on the Super Bowl, which ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on the level of integration between their television commercials and presence in search and social media –measuring how prepared each brand was to capture the demand created by their Super Bowl advertising investment.  The Search Marketing Scorecard is the longest-running study of its kind. The audience for this year’s Super Bowl was primed and ready for integrated campaigns. According to a recent comScore study, 1/3 of the 90 million people…

• Google Product Extensions: Providing More Information and Relevancy

  Yvonne Wong

  25 Jan 2010 | 8:21 am

  In November, Google released a new AdWords product called Product Extensions that allows advertisers to enrich their Google AdWords ads with more specific and relevant information. With Product Extensions, an advertiser’s search ad will display with a plus box appended below, which can expand to show product images, titles, and prices that are relevant to the user’s search term. Below is an example of a Product Extensions ad run by Sephora on the keyword “sephora cosmetics”: Product Extensions can be associated with specific keywords within your campaign, and you can specify which…

• Personalized Results and Paid Search Are Not A Match

  Emil Panzarino

  19 Jan 2010 | 8:16 pm

  Recently, I was doing some routine campaign QA for one of our clients when I ran into something that stopped me dead in my tracks. I was searching on Google for one of our automotive clients’ model names when, much to my dismay, I was shown a listing from a completely different ad group within the client’s  account. The listing that should have shown had language that was specific to that car model’s name, but the one that did show was tailored for the more broader automotive brand name. I soon realized that the ad that was shown was from an ad group that historically had the most…

• China v Google Not About Free Speech

  Mark Pilatowski

  15 Jan 2010 | 8:40 am

  Google v China Free Speech was originally posted on SEO Manager Mark Pilatowski’s piloSEO blog. Mark agreed to allow us to post it on SearchViews and share it with our audience. “Don’t be Evil”. It is fairly well known that Don’t be evil is Google’s informal corporate motto. It looks great and gives everyone that sees it a warm and fuzzy feeling that this huge corporation that essentially tracks everything you do online is like a friendly neighbor. Google still has a pretty good reputation as far as corporations go. Unlike Microsoft, the general public…

• Search and Social Media: Mom Power Drives Marketing Results

  Ruth Nightengale

  7 Dec 2009 | 1:36 pm

  The fact that women are powerful is hardly news, but recent studies suggest that moms may very well represent the National Power Grid for the United States. In a white paper published by Advertising Age,  The Rise of the Real Mom,  the Boston Consulting Group states that  moms control $4.3 trillion of the $5.9 trillion U.S. consumer spending total, or 73% of household spend.  The Shriver Report, issued in October, found that women are the major breadwinners in 40 percent of families. And just last week, Google released another study on moms they are calling Four Truths about Moms and…

• 
  Traffick: The Business of Search

• Social Media: It's About Mission, Not Measurement Alone

  Andrew Goodman

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:20 pm

  "This is not about measurement, but about organizations and their capacity to manage this changing real world of reputation. They find it hard to do this, because they're stuck in an old-world broadcast model."The speaker: Bryan Eisenberg. The setting: a past SES London conference, at an All-Star Analytics panel.This year's SES London is, once again, particularly heavy on Analytics all-stars. As it should be. Search marketing is accountable, performance is king, and any digital marketer can improve their lot by doing a better job with the analytics toolkit.But some people and some companies…

• Life Is Good

  Andrew Goodman

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:08 am

  How are things? Trick question: it's a matter of perspective. It's a matter of how you frame things.Hardly anyone searches for "february blahs" (you can look it up on Google Insights for Search), so full steam ahead? Not so fast. The number of people searching for "winter blahs" eclipses that by what looks to be a hundredfold.And that's nothing. Queries for Seasonal Affective Disorder outstrip searches for winter blahs, a hundredfold, a thousandfold, who knows. :(But then again, if you compare *that* to fun, active queries like "super bowl 2010" or "vancouver olympics," SAD isn't even on the…

• Is Your Search Marketing Knowledge Outdated? You Know What to Do

  Andrew Goodman

  26 Jan 2010 | 8:04 am

  It's becoming a truism that search engine marketing as practiced by busy in-house marketing managers, and others in similar positions who may drift in and out of direct responsibility for those initiatives, need serious "brushing up" every year or so. That used to be described as "changes in the search ranking algorithms you need to keep up with." Now the issue is broader, with changes in the paid search algorithms, new search products, blended search, and more.Much like going to the dentist, it's polite to claim that you go in for a refresh every six months, and it's polite to tell the…

• Why I Won't Invest in Avid Life Media

  Andrew Goodman

  25 Jan 2010 | 8:33 am

  Jason Calacanis, the notorious web entrepreneur of Weblogs, Inc., and Mahalo fame, recently raised a flap by telling everyone to boycott comScore and indeed, to sell or short-sell its stock. I'm glad I came to my senses and decided not to get caught up in that catfight, though I sometimes have questions about the accuracy of comScore's numbers (which is the real point needing more sophisticated debate, but also more transparency on comScore's part).Observers have been quick to distance themselves from Calacanis, but in fact this underscores an important point: bloggers, journalists, and…

• AdSense Revenue Share: 72% for partners, 28% for Google

  Andrew Goodman

  22 Jan 2010 | 10:27 pm

  Google's impressive Q4 2009 earnings report makes certain aspects of the business clear for all to see. For example, they report that revenues of $2.07 billion in revenue was generated by "Google partner sites through its AdSense program," and that "amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners" totaled "$1.47 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009".Misleadingly, the report states that "TAC (traffic acquisition costs) as a percentage of advertising revenues" is 27%. True, but as a percentage of same-channel advertising revenues, it's 72%. There are virtually zero TAC's for "Google-owned…

• 
  Inside AdWords

• Update to Pharmacy Policy in U.S. and Canada

  Inside AdWords crew

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:18 am

  We understand how important it is for users to be able to purchase pharmaceuticals online for themselves or for loved ones, and we've decided to update our Google AdWords online pharmacy policy to ensure that the experience purchasing these products through our ads is a positive one. The change will go into effect towards the end of this month.There are two main aspects to this change:Only VIPPS and CIPA certified pharmacies will be allowed to advertiseWe've made the decision to further restrict the ads we accept for online pharmacy sites in the U.S. and Canada. Starting at the end of this…

• Watch free online courses in the AdWords Online Classroom

  Inside AdWords crew

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:51 am

  We're excited to announce our latest and most interactive online training for advertisers: the AdWords Online Classroom.You can get free, hands-on online training on key AdWords topics, delivered by our own AdWords & Industry specialists.We're offering a great selection of live and recorded courses, including:* Improving your AdWords performance with key tips* Reaching more potential customers* Getting the most from your website with Website Optimizer* Using Google Analytics reports to improve your AdWords return-on-investmentTo view all upcoming live and recorded courses for North…

• 80 days until major AdWords API v13 sunset

  Inside AdWords crew

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:10 pm

  This is an important reminder for those of you who use the AdWords API. On April 22, most v13 services will be turned off. To make sure that your application continues to work after this date, we recommend migrating to v200909 as soon as possible.If you're an API user, you might want to follow the AdWords API Blog. It's a great place to learn about what's changing with the product and find migration resources.If you're not an API user, but would like to learn more about it, visit the Google Code website.Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

• Introducing click-to-call phone numbers in local ads on mobile devices

  Inside AdWords Crew

  28 Jan 2010 | 12:59 pm

  When people search for goods or services using their mobile phones, they often prefer to call a store rather than visit that store's website. Whether they're placing a direct order, making a reservation, or inquiring about services, the ability for prospective customers to easily call your business is a key distinguishing feature of searches made on mobile phones versus computers.Now you can make it even easier for potential customers to reach you by adding a location-specific business phone number in ads that appear on mobile devices with full internet browsers. Users can click the number to…

• New targeting options for mobile ads

  Inside AdWords Crew

  20 Jan 2010 | 10:41 am

  If you've chosen to show ads on iPhones and other mobile devices with full internet browsers, you can now target specific mobile devices or carriers. This feature makes it easier for you to reach the right users if you have a carrier- or device-specific message. This includes landing pages that have been optimized for a specific device, billing relationships with certain carriers, or mobile apps developed for a specific platform. For example, if you sell iPhone cases, you can use device targeting to ensure that users with Android phones won't see your ads.Starting today, we're also making…

• 
  Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

• Yahoo! Network Distribution and Import Campaigns Webinar

  Administrator

  3 Feb 2010 | 1:22 pm

  Please join us Feb. 4, 2009 for this free and informative Sponsored Search webinar We’re offering this free webinar for our Sponsored Search customers, covering two important features: Network Distribution and Import Campaigns. The Network Distribution feature allows you to target marketing campaigns to the entire Yahoo! Network, including Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Partners. Learn how you can control where your ads appear, use reporting to help you optimize your settings, and adjust your bids, as well as how to set premiums based on the traffic most valuable to you. The Import…

• Ad News and Views from Around the Web

  Administrator

  3 Feb 2010 | 12:49 pm

  Selling the Super Bowl; digital ad budgets to increase; keeping it simple; promote your blog Selling the Super Bowl This Sunday is arguably the biggest sporting event of the year, Super Bowl XLIV. Advertisers, according to AdWeek, have shelled out nearly $3 million each for 30-second spots during the big game. “The game is the only significant TV showcase for commercials left in today’s media-fractured environment, and advertisers are frantically putting the final touches on their plays for the day,” writes Eleftheria Parpi. How are they are building buzz around their creative?

• Don’t Set it and Forget it

  Administrator

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:04 pm

  Four simple steps to help your campaign keep up with new searches I can’t possibly be the only person that remembers the line “just set it and forget it”.  Those were the good ol’ days—the same days as when you could just set up a search marketing campaign and leave it alone.  Not anymore. Users are more sophisticated in their searches now, and we’ve seen that up to 20% of searches in any given month can be search queries never seen before by a search engine.  This means if you leave your campaign untouched, you could be missing 20% more traffic. So what’s the best way to…

• Ad News and Views from Around the Web

  Administrator

  29 Jan 2010 | 5:38 pm

  Quantifiable creative; blogging enhances SEO; search surges; kids more plugged in than ever; celebrating Guy Day, and more Three simple steps to better creative Let’s face it, a lot of agency creatives like to blather on about “inspiration” and the “creative process.” But, says iMedia Connection blogger, Robert Boman, (who is also Javelin’s Interactive Creative Director), “Marketing is a profession, not an art show. Your work’s got to be far more than just eye candy. It needs to be smart. It needs to be trackable.” He offers a handy, three-step process for creating…

• You’re in Control

  Administrator

  19 Jan 2010 | 4:05 pm

  Network distribution and import campaigns features give greater control over your campaigns We resolved to deliver to our Sponsored Search advertisers two great new features in the new year: network distribution control and an import campaigns tool. These items may have been on your wish list for a long time, and as of today, the wait is over. Here are the details: Network Distribution This new feature enables you to set up campaigns or ad groups targeting Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Partners, or both. If you select Yahoo! Search, your ads will appear only on Yahoo! search results pages. If you…

• 
  adCenter Blog

• Speed Up Spring with PPC: UK Insights for Finance, Travel, Entertainment, Motoring and Retail

  Simone Schuurer MSFT

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  According to Cliff Arnalls, a part-time tutor at Cardiff University, the 24th of January was the most depressing day of the year. He even came up with a formula forecasting this day of misery which included elements like 'foul weather', 'debt', 'lack of money' and 'days since Christmas'. While it may have been a dark and dreary day for some, for me it was well and truly spring. Like many in marketing-related roles, my job requires me to always think a few months ahead.  Instead of researching cures for depression, I was optimising some…

• Optimizing Your Microsoft adCenter Campaigns for Improved Health Results on Bing

  Kyle Getz - MSFT

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  Bing recently announced an improvement to certain health queries, meaning users are seeing updated organic listings for searches on topics like health conditions (try obesity or dry skin), medicines (try ibuprofen), and diseases (try diabetes). For health advertisers, now it's even more important to focus on keywords in the top of the search funnel. Unlike brand queries, people searching on general health terms are in research mode. With these new results pages, users could be spending more time on Bing searching, refining, and reading, which means more opportunities for them to interact…

• SES London 2010 – Microsoft Speaker Line Up

  Mel Carson - MSFT

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:39 am

  With just over a week to go till Search Engine Strategies in London, our team have been putting their finishing touches to their presentations. Peter’s session on Bing on the 1st day is really one that’s not to be missed. From the conference website:...(read more)

• From the Bing Blog: Enhanced Cooperation with Facebook on Search

  Carolyn Miller - MSFT

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:18 am

  The Bing Blog has the latest on Facebook and Microsoft . From their post: Facebook has been a close and valued partner of Microsoft for a number of years. We have worked together on several fronts all designed to create great experiences and services...(read more)

• Contacting Microsoft adCenter Support: Email, Phone, Forums and Help Files

  Tina Kelleher - MSFT

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:52 am

  Questions about how to get in touch with adCenter support are among those most frequently asked by our advertisers. You can access support through scrolling to the bottom of the page on both the adCenter site… … and here on the Microsoft...(read more)

• 
  The Adventures of PPC Hero

• Dissecting Yahoo’s Network Distribution Settings

  Carrie

  9 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am

  Yahoo’s newly launched (and perhaps overdue) network distribution settings give advertisers greater control over their search campaigns. You now have the option to display ads in only Yahoo! Search, only Yahoo! Search Partners or across the entire Yahoo! Search Network. These expanded distribution options open the door for expanding your Yahoo! account with greater visibility, reporting and control. Network distribution options are now available in every Yahoo! account. It is up to you to take advantage of the new targeting possibilities. Depending on your distribution settings, you now…

• 4 Tips For Getting Out Of Your PPC Rut

  Jessica

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:03 pm

  Anyone who has been working on a PPC account for a while- whether it be your own or a client’s- probably reaches a point of inspiration deficiency. A new PPC account can be like a new toy (if you’re not as nerdy as us, as I’m assuming you are, and this does not hold true for you I apologize); it’s fun setting it up and seeing what it does and how the world responds. But after a while, you have other new accounts to play with. Or you don’t, and this is the one account you’ll be handling forevermore. Either way, boredom can lead to neglect, and neglect will eventually damage your…

• PPC News Roundup for 2/5/2010

  Jessica

  5 Feb 2010 | 2:08 pm

  There are some great benefits to the content network like lower click costs, and a large audience base, but like any campaign you need to make sure expanding past search will help you meet your business objectives. Once you’ve done that, it will be easy to get started if you follow this step-by-step guide from PPC Blog. In his post Review Your PPC Keywords, Jason Tabeling from Search Engine Watch, reminds us to pay close attention to the keywords and match types we have running in our campaigns. Understanding how Google is serving up your ads based on users’ search queries can ultimately…

• Our Greatest Hits for January 2010

  Erin

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:22 pm

  The page views have spoken! Below we have gathered PPC Hero’s four most visited, and hopefully most valuable articles from January. Whether you’re a new or long-time subscriber, you may have missed these insightful and helpful PPC management tips. Google has launched contact form extensions allowing users to submit contact information within the search results. Amber has all the details and what this could mean for you. Tracking your PPC clicks is only one step in the process; there are plenty of other metrics to consider, including conversions. To really gauge your campaign performance…

• Increase Conversion Rates with Minimal Effort, Time and Money

  Amber

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:23 am

  I’ve always been behind the philosophy that telling customers what to do on your landing pages or website is much better than letting them figure it out on their own. After all, that’s what marketing is, right? We lead them in the direction we want them to take; to see our new product, new offers, new promotions, new content, etc. However, if you’re working with graphic designers to design a website, I must say, they typically don’t like using buttons. Buttons are also known as a ‘call to action’. We’re calling the customer to take an action. Buttons can certainly ugly up a page…

• 
  Conversion Rate Optimization & Marketing Blog | FutureNow, Inc

• 20 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Optimization Services

  Since the common predictions over the last two months have been that Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is going to have a big year in 2010, some of our GrokDotCom readers have expressed interest in how to evaluate the different CRO service providers out there. Despite an obvious bias, I still think ...

• Can Conversion Rate Optimization Improve Lead Quality?

  There was a question posed in the comments section of my last post on Pay Per Click optimization that I thought I'd try to address: "What are your thoughts on using CRO to improve the quality of leads?" Good question!  Many people assume that optimizing for higher conversion rates in the ...

• Avoid Asking for the Lead Too Early

  My best girlfriend, Brittany was searching online for an apartment in Salt Lake City last week. She told me about her frustrating experience with Rent.com. I want to share her experience with you, to show you what NOT do on your site. This is a perfect example of a reputable ...

• How To Optimize Pay Per Click Advertising & Control Costs

  Every client I talk to who's using Pay Per Click (PPC) as part of their online marketing mix voices some level of concern about cost and ROI, and for good reason.  With PPC, there seems to be a thousand different ways to spend too much money for not enough return.  ...

• Your Visitors Are Individuals So Treat Them That Way

  I have a friend who is responsible for gathering & reporting all the stats for his company.  In speaking with him, I found it interesting when he said “although stats are vital for reporting, they sometimes don’t tell the full story of what really is going on.” Numbers don’t report the ...

• 
  Blogation

• The 10 People Google Will Meet in Hell

  davidzhawk

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:13 am

  Who hates Google? Well, it turns out, quite a lot of folks. It’s a testament to the incredible power of their brand that Google’s reputation is still so stellar, considering the number of groups that are already pissed off at Google. Here’s a list of ten companies/organizations/groups (upgraded from my previous list of just eight!)that are now ‘at war’ with Google. Each of these is linked to an article supporting the claim! Apple Microsoft eBay China Newspapers Book Publishers Radio Stations Advertisers Web Publishers The US Government! Bonus! Consumers…

• Buh Bye Blogger!

  davidzhawk

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:42 pm

  You would think that blogging software owned and operated by Google would be the default standard for the blogging community. You’d be wrong. Simply put, blogger has less features, poorer SEO, and even worse in-sight search than WordPress. It’s shocking but WordPress just blows away blogger. So with that in mind, welcome to the new Blogation. You’ll quickly see that the in-sight search functionality works, as do the categories, and the overall usability is much better. Oh, and you can type blogation.net or www.blogation.net, or even http://www.blogation.net and *all* of them…

• MSN AdCenter – Where Usability Goes to Die

  davidzhawk

  4 Feb 2010 | 3:46 pm

  Ugh – you want to know why you are so behind AdWords, team MSN? Let’s start with your absolutely horrid usability. I got an email stating that some keywords and/or ad text was disapproved. I clicked on the message setting in the UI and got this completely useless information (account ID blacked out): Notice that the message doesn’t tell you which keywords (and/or ad text) was disapproved – you are left to your own devices to hunt through the UI and find the disapprovals. But wait – it gets better – there’ s no report that will show you disapproved…

• This AdSense Ad Proves that Crime Does Pay Pretty Well It Turns Out

  davidzhawk

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:38 pm

• Customer Service in a Rude, Anonymous World

  davidzhawk

  30 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm

  Today I went to Whole Foods to shop for dinner. I love Whole Foods, so much so that I am a proud shareholder (and a not-so-proud investor, who bought the stock at $65). I was pushing a heavy cart of groceries through the store, my son perched in the child seat, and as I came to an intersection between aisles, a Whole Food employee was coming at me in the other direction – there was only room for one of us to make it by. Without missing a beat, he kept on walking, blocking my way and forcing me to wait for him to pass. This sort of stuff happens so frequently in our society today, that…

• 
  CDF Networks

• Automating tasks with Ubot Studio

  Chad

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:40 am

  Internet marketing is full of repetitive tasks.  One of my 2010 goals was to automate as many things as possible.   Some things you can outsource to contractors or employees, some things its quicker to slog through on your own. But as a general rule any task that you can automate is a good thing. I am always looking for tools to save me time and few months ago I came across a tool that is a serious time saver.  It’s a visual scripting language editor called Ubot that allows you to build automation programs (or bots) with almost no programming knowledge.  This is stuff that could be…

• Interview with Pay Per Call innovator Ring Revenue

  Chad

  28 Jan 2010 | 10:36 am

  I have always thought Pay Per Call is a potentially game changing technology for our industry.  I am investing a lot of my company’s resources going forward in testing Pay Per Call offers and marketing techniques.  Today I was lucky enough to interview Jason Spievak, the CEO of Ring Revenue.  His company has developed the groundbreaking call tracking platform that is in use on several affiliate networks. Here is the basic outline of how it works: I asked Jason many questions about using Pay Per Call, mainly from the perspective of the affiliate marketer.  This is a must listen for…

• Affilliate Summit West 2010 Review

  Chad

  20 Jan 2010 | 10:50 am

  Another Affiliate Summit is now history. This was my 3rd one in Vegas and I can honestly say they keep getting better every year. My compliments to Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for putting on such a well run show. Its incredible how popular these events are getting.  The hallways, sessions and exhibit halls were just packed all the time with affiliates, merchants, agencies etc.  I got to the meet market late on Sunday but it was still overflowing with people were trying to secure their party invitations for later and grab some early freebies. I ended up going to 2 sessions while I was…

• Current state of the google content network

  Chad

  13 Jan 2010 | 10:01 am

  One the most common questions I continue to be asked is “should I use the Google content network?” The Google content network is still one of the most misunderstood forms of online advertising. The confusion is understandable.  At first all the experts and gurus said to “just turn it off”. It was thought that it didn’t convert for CPA offers. After a while people started realizing that it does in fact work quite well, it just requires a different skill set than normal pay per click advertising on Google.  So where does the content network stand today at the…

• Twitter is for closers

  Chad

  4 Jan 2010 | 9:07 am

  You’ve probably heard the famous line “coffee is for closers” from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. While I’m not into the whole high pressure sales vibe of the film, that line does ring true in many ways. How much time do we waste while there is still work to be done? It got me thinking how that relates to the self employed Internet marketer. For our industry, Twitter is for closers. Not just Twitter but forums, blogs, Facebook etc… How much time do you spend a day on this stuff? 1-2 hours a day maybe? That might not sound like much but when you add it up, even an…

• 
  expertSEM

• Mobile Ads More Effective Than Online

  Crystal

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:51 am

  In a recent study published by InsightExpress, researchers found mobile ad campaigns were five times more effective than online campaigns.  This is probably why 97.8 percent of agencies see mobile advertising as a valuable part of the media plan and expect to see increases in mobile budgets across nearly all services, according to Mobile Marketer’s 2010 Mobile Outlook (which can be downloaded here). While online campaigns still have their place in advertising, mobile campaigns were found to offer higher levels of engagement with more technical capabilities. When you couple that with…

• IFA 2010: Increase online visibility and drive traffic for free

  Angie

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:05 am

  We touched down in San Antonio and booked it to the convention center so that we didn’t miss the session, “How to Increase Online Visibility and Drive Traffic at No Cost.” Erik was involved in the development of this session’s content. He spoke with Moderator Philip St. Jacques and provided some background and tips on how franchises can manage local map listings. You’ll be happy to know that we made it to the session in plenty of time! The panelists were senior-level franchisors, offering real-life experiences and tips on developing online franchise marketing programs. Philip St.

• Interactive Marketing Weekly Roundup 2.5.10

  Angie

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:53 am

  It’s interactive marketing weekly roundup time. Before jumping right into the articles, I wanted to explain a new format I’m trying out. I’ve received some feedback that these roundups jump from topic to topic a bit. Since we’re covering the entire interactive marketing industry, this is inevitable. However, we’d like our readers to have a pleasant and enlightening experience when visiting expertSEM; therefore, I’ve broken the articles out into separate aspects of interactive marketing. Hope this helps with the organization of topics and makes reading more enjoyable. SEARCH…

• Facebook Homepage Redesign 2010

  Tarla

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:49 am

  So last night before heading to bed I logged on to Facebook, an all too common occurrence with me. Lo and behold, what’s this, a new homepage design?! It seems like just yesterday we were all in a flurry over the last homepage redesign that we thought ended our relationship with Facebook as we knew it. Of course we all adjusted and can hardly remember what it was like before and why we were so mad about it. However with this new redesign I am seeing more of the positives rather than the negatives. First off, my favorite reason for visiting Facebook is to see the pictures posted by all my…

• Interactive Marketing Chat – Web Analytics

  Angie

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:43 am

  Samantha Bedford, Location3 Media’s recently-dubed SVP in charge of account services, discusses web analytics. Samantha talks about why analytics is so important for online marketing campaigns, which analytics provider she prefers, the new features released by Google Analytics, interesting projects she’s worked on and much more.

• 
  Search Engine Marketing Blog

• Where are the Greenbacks?

  seo

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  Saturday morning’s meeting at the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum featured the topic of New Media Revenue Models: Growing Greenbacks in the Digital Ecosystem. Although we wished there was a clearer focus on ways to actually obtain greenbacks (especially for smaller and start up companies), the keynote speakers, panelists and audience helped make it a very informative [...]

• Are You Developing Your Social Media Strategy?

  seo

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:22 pm

  Another rainy Friday morning in Los Angeles! We began this one with the first out of a series of implementation courses by The Art of Online Marketing and Rachel Perlmutter. Equipping Your Marketing Tool Belt From the beginning, a very important point was made and that is: social media is just another marketing channel. Think about social [...]

• Email’s Not Dead

  seo

  29 Jan 2010 | 7:52 am

  The topic of yesterday’s webinar was social media and email marketing presented by Peggy Hatch with Blaine Mathieu. With the emerging world of social media, email marketing efforts can easily get left behind. While there are problems with email marketing, the solution may lie in combining it with social media efforts. The Problem with Email My favorite [...]

• Webinar Wednesday: Website Conversion and Social Media

  seo

  27 Jan 2010 | 2:49 pm

  Another day, another webinar! Today’s presentation was a double-header moderated by Steve Ziemba with Darren Guarnaccia and Adam Mertz. It was very useful to follow the corresponding hashtag on Twitter to see other users’ real-time comments. Here are some highlights on the two topics: Website Conversion Tips Habit #2: Find a balance between user experiences and your [...]

• Just Attended: Social Media Club

  seo

  22 Jan 2010 | 10:58 am

  Last night, we braved the rain and made it to join, “Social Media: Getting it Right in 2010”, with the Social Media Club of San Gabriel Valley. Moderated by Sally Falkow, the panelists included: Dana Chinn, James Macpherson. and Jessica Gottlieb. With good people and good fudge, what more could we ask for? In about 2 [...]

• 
  Samir Balwani - Internet Marketing Strategy

• Are You Marketing or Advertising?

  Samir Balwani

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:28 am

  Lately, I’ve been thinking about how social media has been a part of our overall marketing program. I started to realize that our definition of marketing and advertising is slowly evolving. In my mind advertising was the driving force of a marketing campaign. The idea was to create something interesting and broadcast it with advertising. credit Advertising was more important than the actual campaign. If you spent enough money and as long as it was marginally interesting, you could be successful. Nowadays, there’s seems to be a tip in the scales. Marketing is becoming more…

• This is How You Measure Social Media ROI

  Samir Balwani

  28 Jan 2010 | 6:45 am

  More talk about social media ROI and measurement? You know it. This time Mitch Joel of “Six Pixels of Separation” wrote a post about measurements and metrics. As much as I like Mitch (his articles are great and I highly recommend his blog), I really disagreed with his take on social media ROI. credit He states that… “Thinking about business objectives instead of ROI makes the whole strategy that much workable and doable. In the end, instead of looking for the ROI in Social Media, maybe the smarter thing to do is to focus on what the business objectives are, and then figure out if…

• Will Social Media Survive?

  Samir Balwani

  20 Jan 2010 | 6:44 am

  Social media… what a buzzword. It’s grown, exploded, and ushered in a new paradigm in marketing. Kind of. It seems like everyday there’s a new social media guru, someone to tell you how to use your Facebook, when to Tweet, or berate you for not having a FourSquare. The social media industry, in its current form, is not sustainable. Why do I say that? Well, two main reasons stand out. First, it’s not easy to assign or forecast ROI from social media. Without being able to at least estimate return, managers have a hard time justifying investment. It’s not a large issue right now…

• Social Media Requires a Cultural Investment

  Samir Balwani

  13 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  Investment is a word that rules business decisions. How much do I need to invest? It’s a question I hear on a near daily basis. So why is it that when it comes to social media, many focus on money and ignore the cultural investment? Everything you do has a cost, whether it is monetary, time, or some other abstract resource. Social media although not the most expensive, requires a cultural evolution. For many of the largest companies, a cultural investment can be greater than a monetary one. To change a business culture requires a form of dedication and collaboration rarely achieved. But…

• Welcome to 2010… Now Trim the Fat

  Samir Balwani

  11 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am

  It’s January, the month where the gyms are packed, fitness rules, and ad campaigns take an odd turn towards diets. But as much as we’re trained to make weight loss resolutions, your business should be looking to lose excess baggage as well. credit I’ve written fairly extensively on how most brands tend to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to social media. Almost always, the largest culprit to online marketing failure is bureaucracy. It’s the reason why small businesses can excel at social media, while adoption is slow for large brands. Online marketing requires a company be…

• 
  Daily SEO Tip

• Use Permission Marketing to Improve E-Mail Link Begging

  Ann Smarty

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:22 am

  The guest post is by Ross Hudgens, a Senior SEO Analyst at Single Grain. You should follow him on twitter here. Seth Godin coined the term Permission Marketing, which means that you obtain permission from the consumer before advancing to the next step in the purchasing process. The opposite of this is interruption marketing – interruption marketing frequently occurs when you watch television or surf the internet. The commercials you don’t want to watch get pushed in your face, similar to the AdSense or banner ads that clog the internet. It makes sense – when you are yelling at someone…

• How to Discover the Pages on Your Site With the Most Search Traffic

  Ann Smarty

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:38 am

  *This guest tip was provided by Dee Barizo from Celebrific* Once you’ve been running a site for a while, your analytics stats become a great source of information for improving your search optimization. One simple way to leverage your stats is to figure out which pages or posts are attracting the most search traffic. For this tip, you’ll need Google Analytics. First, go to Content and then click on Top Landing Pages. This will bring you to the screen that shows your best landing pages. However, you need to filter them to show the visits from search engines. Go to the drop down…

• Get Your Name Heard by Guest Blogging

  Ann Smarty

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:07 am

  This article was by Christopher Holland who works for nbat Digital - a multimedia design agency based in Kent. If you plan to start guest blogging, do join My Blog Guest: the forum that connects bloggers to guest posters. As the Internet has grown so much in the last decade, it has become vital for small and large businesses to gain an online presence. This can be achieved by search engine optimisation, with the key part being to obtain relevant backlinks. With social media (Twitter, Facebook etc…) being the latest trend, it has become a lot easier to publish and share your articles.

• 9 Coupon Sites You Can Add Your Products Into Free

  Ann Smarty

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:26 am

  *The following guest tip was provided by Warner Carter who provides Search Engine Placement Marketing services.* SEO ultimately means driving traffic and making sales. What I like to call “Search Engine Placement Marketing” I will be implementing this in a few weeks for a new client that has a retail vitamin store and a website. He also has his own brand and this should get him some quick results. You can go right to any of these sites and add your coupon free. Some of them have quite a lot of traffic. A coupon can be for a percentage discount, free shipping, a bonus if the buy…

• Blogify Your Static Website for Google

  Ann Smarty

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:21 am

  *The guest tip was provided by Matthew Yarro, JuiceeLinks* Not every website on the Internet is a blog. I know, It seems crazy in today’s super-social-media climate, but some websites simply exist to offer up whatever information they deem to be important–and do so with infrequent updates. The problem with these “static” websites is that Google eventually realizes that the websites are not being frequently updated, and so it makes a point of not crawling these websites as often as it would blogs that are updated regularly. This can result in a huge time lag between the…

• 
  Online Marketing Blog

• Two Biggest Advantages of Small Businesses SEO

  Adam Singer

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

  With search engine optimization, small businesses have two advantages larger competitors often can’t match: creativity and agility. By embracing these two philosophies as part of their digital marketing DNA, small businesses can carve out a search marketing strategy that runs circles around larger competitors. Today, we’ll briefly explore why creativity and agility are advantages small businesses have for search marketing, and some quick tips to activate each. Creativity as a search marketing advantage Large = more risk management – Small = creativity/individuality can…

• 5 Ways to Show Digital Assets a Little Respect

  Michelle Bowles

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  Don't ignore digital assets in your optimization efforts Don’t fight it: Blended search results, and hence digital asset optimization, are here (at least for now). Text content may be your SEO poster child, but with images, video and audio content often appearing in standard search results, digital assets can no longer be treated as the ugly stepsister in the online marketing family. Many companies produce a variety of content and media that never make it to the public web. To this point, the majority of marketers have either overlooked or ignored optimization of non-text digital…

• BIGLIST Update: SEM Blog Reviews Snarky Edition 020410

  Lee Odden

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:13 pm

  Welcome to the newest  BIGLIST review of Search Marketing Blogs. We have a little bit of everything today ranging from Chinese focused PPC to the World’s Greatest SEO to a steaming pile of SEO Bull$#*t. Enjoy! If you think your blog deserves to be included, then write a compelling and maybe humorous comment below. We’ll almost certainly ignore it but you never know. The SEO blog design recognition for this week’s BIGLIST update goes to a newer blog from an experienced search marketer:  SEO Mofo. I like the clean, yet colorful (and irreverent) design of this blog by…

• 2010 MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Guide

  Lee Odden

  3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

  One of the most trusted sources of marketing research and information is MarketingSherpa. I’ve been a subscriber for many years and always look forward to the reports on Search Marketing, Email Marketing and B2B Marketing. Last year MarketingSherpa started conducting research and publishing a Benchmark Report on social media marketing. The new Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report was recently released and I’ve had a few days to take a look and will provide a review for our readers. As you can expect, this guide is a “meaty” 250 plus pages of research, charts &…

• Upcoming TopRank Social SEO & PR Events

  Lee Odden

  3 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

  Our team works hard to stay on top of current best practices and as a result, we’re asked to speak at a variety of conferences, workshops and webinars. One of the goals at TopRank Online Marketing is to help companies better understand the current landscape of the digital marketing & PR environment. That includes strategies that can be executed more efficiently and marketing programs that can adjust to persistent change. Hopefully you’ll find an event below that fits your needs. Feb 9, 2010 Webinar: Secrets to B2B Marketing Success TopRank, along with our client Marketo and…

• 
  Outspoken Media

• When Does Social ‘Aggregation’ Become ‘Stealing’?

  Lisa Barone

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:33 am

  [Bear with me. This isn’t really about Google. I promise.] So, last week I accused Michael Gray of being off his crazy pills when he accused Google of stealing content and hijacking traffic by showing a business’ hour and review information in the SERPs. Michael and I don’t always agree but I typically ‘get’ where he’s coming from. However, this time I didn’t. It seemed like he was making a big deal out of nothing because, as Patrick Sexton so eloquently tweeted, businesses want customers, not Web visitors. If Google wants to improve user experience by displaying business…

• You Can’t Take The Personal Out Of Blogging

  Lisa Barone

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:05 am

  While many of us were watching Michael Arrington throw a 17-year-old under the bus this weekend, another story spread through the blogosphere worthy of some attention and discussion.  The SageCircle Blog reported that Forrester management had put a ban on personally-branded research blogs, stating that anyone with a personally-branded blog ( think Web Strategy with Jeremiah Owyang during his time at Forrester, for example) must either (a) take down the blog or (b) redirect readers to a Forrester-branded role-based blog. Basically, if you are a Forrester employee and blogging, you just lost…

• Weekend Coffee Links

  Lisa Barone

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

  I'll tie this in later. I promise. Hey, guys. It’s Saturday. That means its time to check in and maybe share some laughs. How was your week? Get it all done? If not, no worries. That’s why God created the weekend. And Monday. At least I figure that’s why She created Monday. I surely haven’t found any other good use for it yet. It was another busy week, but luckily there were lots of good reading nuggets to help get us through it. Here are some of the interesting links I stumbled across. If you have something you think people should hear about it, drop it in the…

• TechCrunch & The Dark Side Of Communities

  Lisa Barone

  6 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

  Michael Arrington couldn’t care less about the TechCrunch community. And he’s not even hiding the fact anymore. Yesterday Michael Arrington took to TechCrunch to post an apology to his readers. After an investigation, it was discovered that 17-year-old TechCrunch intern Daniel Brusilovsky accepted compensation (rumored to be in the form of a Macbook Air) in exchange for coverage about a startup. Because TechCrunch takes its editorial standards as seriously as they take colon cleansing, the intern was immediately terminated. Though it’s said that Daniel only accepted compensation one…

• Why I Do Business with Socially-Savvy Companies

  Lisa Barone

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  I received a phone call from a sweet older man a few weeks ago. He called because he was upset about Twitter and wanted to talk about it. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate, plopped on the couch and told him to let me have it. And he did. For almost an hour I got to listen as he vented that Twitter made it hard for him to follow conversations (I tried to offer assistance here but he was really mad), that he wanted more than 140 characters to express himself (I didn’t have an answer for this one), and how he thought social media was completely useless for small businesses. No one on the…

• 
  aimClear Search Marketing Blog

• Should Search Marketers Socialize Every Direct Response Solicitation?

  Marty Weintraub

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:46 pm

  Should direct marketers place Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and/or other buttons as part of the template for every email blast?   What about PPC landing pages? Should Twitter and Facebook be exit-options for every PPC landing page impression? How should advertisers think about socialization as either primary or secondary KPIs (key performance indicators A.K. A “goals.”)? At first gape, these questions seem easy, yes?  “Of course, yes, socialize everything” you shout!”  “After all, isn’t the ‘net  all about social media these days?” How…

• Is Your SEO Expert Obsolete? 8 Minute Self-Audit

  Marty Weintraub

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:27 pm

  credit: rahady We’ve reviewed many sites where supposed search engine optimization “experts” damaged a business with archaic techniques and/or outmoded business practices.  While it’s easy to spot most scumbags, it can be much harder for laypersons to sift out previously germane SEO dinosaurs– now dangerously out of step. To fill the void, this post offers wary small business owners, CMOs and marketing managers a 30,000guerrilla vendor gut-check litmus test. Use these 20 procedures as first-line-of-defense screenings to evaluate whether your experts have kept current or are…

• Why We Reserve the Right to Truncate Your Irrelevant, Whiny Comment

  Lauren Litwinka

  27 Jan 2010 | 2:57 pm

  Here at aimClear, we’re proud of our in-house authors. Like many publications we also open our pages as a community platform to host guest bloggers. Sometimes guest posts are written by industry professionals whose practices are perceived by some as controversial. Wait. Let’s stop right there. “Controversial.” That word can carry a negative connotation, one of altercation, agitation, even acrimony. But on the flip-side of the coin, “controversy” can be a beautiful thing. Controversy when hosted on a public, unbiased, progressive platform, such as a third-party…

• SEMMYs, SEO & Evolution: Matt McGee Interviewed

  Lauren Litwinka

  22 Jan 2010 | 1:08 pm

  Matt McGee (@mattmcgee) is a respected member of the online marketing community, helping companies understand “the Internet” and succeed online since the late 1990s. Two years ago he created the SEMMYs, an annual awards event that laudably recognizes “the great content produced across the search and online marketing industry.” I had the pleasure of holding a candid interview with Matt this week on the eve of the 2010 SEMMYs (don’t forget, folks- SEMMY finalists will be announced this Monday, January 25, public voting begins January 29, winners are announced…

• Why Your 4,243,564 Twitter Followers Don’t Mean Jack

  Lauren Litwinka

  15 Jan 2010 | 10:59 am

  When Twitter launched four years ago, it (perchance inadvertently) gave businesses the most precious gift imaginable: an intimate glimpse into consumers’ daily lives. It gave them the power to monitor brand reputation in a clean, accessible interface. Corporate brands like @Zappos & @Zappos_Service, @Starbucks, @DellOutlet, @JetBlue, and @TheHomeDepot, as well as personal “brands” like @StephenFry and @AlyssaMilano have been wildly successful with social media because they’re structured, devoted, attentive, engaging and personable. Tragically, there are also bandwagon-jumping…

• 
  Blogstorm SEO blog

• Google Local Business Listing Ads

  Patrick Altoft

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:57 am

  Until the invention of the Local Business Listings Google had two sets of results, AdWords and natural. Placing some ads around the natural listings was a perfectly acceptable thing to do but Google is limited by the number of ads they can show due to the size of the page. Adding 4 or 5 ads at the top simply wasn’t going to help the user experience. Fast forward a few years and Google invented the Local Business Listings and suddenly started displaying them for one in every 13 searches (and virtually all the time for geographical searches). This is probably the cleverest move by Google…

• Branded3 is hiring an experienced SEO consultant

  Patrick Altoft

  29 Jan 2010 | 3:37 am

  We’ve had a really good year so far at Branded3 and are looking for at least one/two experienced SEO consultants to join our Leeds office. I don’t want to make this post sound too much like a job advert because I’m sure most of you know the skills and qualities that an SEO consultant needs to have. You will be working with some of the leading brands in the UK (our client list is missing some of the best accounts we have due to NDA’s) and get to work in one of the fastest growing natural search agencies in the UK. We’re looking to move quite quickly once we find…

• Google reducing AdSense payouts & secretly tracking toolbar users

  Patrick Altoft

  26 Jan 2010 | 12:26 am

  When you download the Google Toolbar and select the “enhanced features” option you are giving consent for Google to monitor and log all the web pages you visit. That’s always been fairly clear but apparently Google is being a bit more sneaky – the toolbar will continue to track your visitors even after you disable it. Pretty clever way for Google to get data. Another story this morning shows graphically how Google is reducing the share of money they give to AdSense publishers. Not a good day for Google. Not getting the rankings you want? Hire us for Search engine…

• SEO industry in 2010 & new look for Blogstorm

  Patrick Altoft

  22 Jan 2010 | 2:11 pm

  This isn’t a post predicting what’s going on for the rest of the year, more a post talking about what’s been a bit of a whirlwind year already and we’re only 22 days into it. I don’t normally talk too much on Blogstorm about the stuff going on at Branded3 because I hate self promotional blogs but today I wanted to make an exception just to explain why there are so few posts going up on Blogstorm at the moment, even though it has a shiny new design. The initial reason for slow posting was my 3 week Christmas holiday but since then business is so busy the blog has…

• The Rise of Google Local Business Listings

  Patrick Altoft

  19 Jan 2010 | 4:16 am

  Google Local Business Listings are either a fantastic opportunity or a really annoying barrier stopping a site in 4th place from getting any traffic. For example when Google displays a map for the query mobile phones it’s annoying for the poor site in 4th place because they get a massive drop in traffic but it’s also not an opportunity really because most people are not looking for a local phone shop they want a national online retailer. If you are lucky enough to be in an industry where local search matters then 2010 could be HUGE for you. Google is reporting that in the US one…

• 
  Conversation Marketing: Internet Marketing with a Twist of Lemon

• Dunbar's number and warp drive: Building your social network beyond 150

  5 Feb 2010 | 3:45 pm

  This is really, really geeky stuff for a Friday. Plus, I had to dig waaaay back to my college Sociology courses to figure it out. You've probably heard a lot about the fact that a person can only maintain relationships with 150 people before their brains are frappe'd into cottage cheese. It's a valid assumption. Try to keep actively in touch, day-to-day, with more than 150 people. It's hopeless. That 150-person limit is called Dunbar's Number. It's like the speed of light (C, if you're a hardcore geek): Current physics says you can't exceed the speed of light. You get more and more massive as…

• 10 questions to evaluate an SEO

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:43 pm

  One tradition in marketing: If something works, you beat it to death, and then some more, until it's a broad, flat spot on the ground. So, after folks loved my first piece, 10 questions to evaluate a social media expert, I've decided to do another about SEOs. Face it: If there's one industry that's even more rife with con artists than social media, it's SEO. One way to deal with it is to just say "Screw SEO, it's all a sham anyway. After all, Scoble says it doesn't matter." If you want to do that, fine with me - one less competitor. Another way to deal with it is to ask questions that'll make…

• Introducing The Fat Free Guide: What I'd do on Groundhog Day

  1 Feb 2010 | 6:53 pm

  I'm talking about the movie Groundhog Day, not the day when we try to predict the weather using a large rodent (I know it's not really a rodent, but come on). Quick synopsis: Bill Murray lives through the same day again and again as the universe tries to show him the direction to take his life. Hilarity ensues. Bill gets clever, though, learning to play piano, preventing accidents that he's seen happen over and over again, etc.. I like it! If I got to live through 2/2 again and again, I'd: Memorize stock prices and become the ultimate day trader. Write a really good web site to teach folks…

• 2010 SEMMY Winner: You like me! You really really like me!

  1 Feb 2010 | 10:06 am

  I'm probably way too excited about this, but hey, it's stuff like this that compensates for lots of nights writing blog posts. Thanks to everyone who voted for my post, 10 Questions to evaluate a social media 'expert'.

• My BlogTalkRadio Interview with Rey Ybarra

  30 Jan 2010 | 10:12 am

  Rey Ybarra of the New Media Radio Hour interviewed me last week. Here's the recording, if you want to listen:

• 
  HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

• International SEO 101: Search Marketing for Foreign Countries and Languages

  Rebecca Churt

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:30 pm

  Many businesses only target potential customers in their local markets, but inbound marketing also allows you to easily reach prospective customers in a global marketplace. Have you optimized your site for international search engines? Do you want your business to be found or shared with a broader audience? If so, here's how you can advance your international marketing efforts more strategically. Approach international SEO first with a decision on which countries you want to target. Research and gain insight on your audience (including culture), search results and competition. You will also…

• Shocking Edelman Survey Results Reveal Less Trust in Social Media Referrals

  Pamela Seiple

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:23 am

  Public relations firm Edelman recently released its 2010 Trust Barometer, which highlights some findings regarding social media marketing that may shock you.   According to the latest survey, the number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company has dropped from 45% in 2008 to 25% in 2010, decreasing almost by half! I don't know about you, but as social media continues to be a marketing hot topic, I've seen a lot of discussion emphasizing the importance of company/product referrals and word of mouth marketing.  So do these…

• Social Media Save: How Facebook Can Work for SMBs

  Kirsten Knipp

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:14 pm

  I'd like to share a personal story of how social media recently came to my rescue, highlighting an important opportunity for all you small businesses out there.  This Friday was really stressful.  I was up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for the movers to come, followed by my cleaning service, all to turn my condo into a state fit for my new tenant in 24 hours!  That stress only increased when the cleaning service, slated to arrive between 3 and 5 p.m., still wasn't there at 4:50 p.m.  Their office couldn't get in touch with the ladies scheduled to clean my home and could give me…

• HubSpot TV - Swimming with the Fishes

  Rebecca Corliss

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  HubSpot TV is LIVE every Friday at 4:00pm EST. Watch the show in real-time at www.hubspot.tv and chat with us via Twitter.  Episode #77 - January 29, 2010(Episode Length: 25 minutes, 11 seconds) Intro How to interact on Twitter: @karenrubin and @mvolpe with www.HubSpot.tv in your tweet. Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.hubspot.tv Brian Halligan is speaking at the Franklin Club in Boston on Feb 1st at 6pm -- Cost $65 (Use coupon code hubspottv and save $10) Headlines Google Search Goes Social Search is getting more social"With Social Search, when we search for baby sleep patterns,…

• What Did Jane Austen Know About Social Media?

  Elizabeth Dunn

  5 Feb 2010 | 1:00 am

  With the final episode of Jane Austen's Emma airing on PBS this Sunday night, we've noticed that people are behaving a little bit more ... courtly to each other. Here's a handy guide to extending that exquisitely good behavior to the social media world. It is a truth universally acknowledged... that social media is being used by more and more businesses to engage meaningfully with their customers and to drive more qualified traffic to their sites. And while Jane Austen never blogged (she totally would have), or had a profile on Facebook, or posted status updates on Twitter, she…

• 
  Local SEO Guide

• With Google’s Nearby Places, Reviews Are More Important Than Ever

  Andrew Shotland

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:15 am

  Last week Google launched a controversial new feature on local Place Pages - a list of nearby businesses that promotes local competitors on a business’ Place Page, even if that business has claimed their GLBC profile.  With this move Google has perhaps decided that the Yellow Pages industry is totally off their rockers - many YP sites show competitive listings on a business’ profile page only until the business becomes an advertiser. As Matt McGee suggests, it would be a good move by Google to remove the Nearby Places list for businesses that have claimed their profile else Place…

• Google Local Business Center & Agency Accounts?

  Andrew Shotland

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:56 am

  In my recent interview on SEOBook I mused that Google might create ways for agencies to get access to a business’ GLBC profile.  Matt McGee spoke with a GLBC rep today and got the following responses: “agency access to LBC is unlikely” & “they may give biz owner a way to share account with one person” Not perfect but sounds like a step in the right direction.

• Local SEO Guide on SEOBook

  Andrew Shotland

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:53 pm

  VanillaCoke, one of my fave readers, has done the honor of putting up an interview with yours truly on my fave SEO Blog, SEOBook.

• Phylacteries: If We SPAM Google, The Terrorists Win

  Andrew Shotland

  22 Jan 2010 | 10:59 am

  I mean come on: It’s all about relevance right?

• 2010 SEMMYS Nominees Are Out

  Andrew Shotland

  13 Jan 2010 | 1:37 pm

  Matt McGee has put together a great list of the top online marketing posts from 2009.  There are a lot of great articles to dig into and I am psyched to see a few LSG posts from last year made the cut: How To Get Your Site Indexed Quickly In Google & Other Search Engines (I Hope) (in the SEO Category) IYP SEO Rankings Report 2009 (in the Local Search Category) Yellow Pages vs. Social Media: A Rebuttal to the Lazy, Lying Mainstream Media (in the Rants Category) Hint to judges, I am pulling for the Rant. I will be judging the Search Tech category along with the inestimable Todd Malicoat. …

• 
  Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik

• Analysis Ninjas: Leverage Custom Reports For Better Insights!

  Avinash Kaushik

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:01 am

  Here is a key difference between Reporting Squirrels and Analysis Ninjas: The latter almost exclusively leverage custom reports (powered by advanced segmentation) and the former flirt with one standard report and then another and then other and in the best case scenario pull only half of their hair out.There is nothing particularly wrong with the standard 19,000 reports in your web analytics tool. But they do represent the Vendor’s best guess about what you should look at. Sometimes they even get it right.Most of the time though your business is absolutely unique (even as it exists…

• Dear Avinash: Search / SEO Metrics & Analytics Questions + Answers

  Avinash Kaushik

  20 Jan 2010 | 12:47 am

  How do you measure success of a online webinar?I recently did a webinar for the Search Engine Strategies conference (I am doing the opening conference keynote at SES London and SES New York) and my Market Motive co-faculty member Greg Jarboe sent me this KPI via email:“Your webcast was a big success. Your KPI questions per attendee was off the chart!”I don’t know why I had not thought of this wonderful KPI. So much better than # of attendees.As always though context is king.It could be a good thing (“you were great, engaged the audience”) or a not such a good…

• Five Sweet Web Analytics Resolutions To Kick It Up A Notch

  Avinash Kaushik

  6 Jan 2010 | 1:13 am

  The new year is such a wonderful time. Wonderful smells in the air. The world is full of hope. Unachievable things seem achievable and are being polished into shiny resolutions. World peace seems within grasp.As we spring to action full of passion I wanted to share with you all a short list of things that will expand your little world of online marketing & web analytics.We all have a tendency of getting caught in a rut, using the same tool to do the same things and spew forth the same data. Change is hard, even if we know that we should be executing a multiplicity strategy to win in the…

• Analysis Ninjas: Move Beyond The Top Ten. Find Love (/Insights).

  Avinash Kaushik

  21 Dec 2009 | 4:31 am

  You know what is the one thing stopping you from finding truly actionable insights from your web data?Web analytics gems lie deep in the data and we spend our lives looking at the top ten rows of data.It does not matter which report you look at. Affiliates. Products sold. Referring URL’s. Pages viewed. Search keywords. Promotions. Geographies. Really pick any report with any dimension you want to look at, we spend our time (and valuable space on our dashboards) looking at the top ten.We look at the top ten rows of data because:1. Too much data from our web analytics tools.2. Lack of…

• Who Owns Web Analytics? A Framework For Critical Thinking.

  Avinash Kaushik

  9 Dec 2009 | 1:30 am

  It is rare for me to work with a organization where the root cause for their faith based decision making (rather than data driven) was not the org structure.It is almost never tools. Not any more.Surprisingly it is often not their will to use data, that is there in many cases.Sometimes it is that they don’t follow the 10/90 rule.It is always the organization structure.Specifically: Who owns web analytics / who it reports to from a org structure perspective.[Let me hasten to add that this, web analytics ownership, does not exist in a vacuum. If your overall web business is misaligned…

• 
  Portent Interactive, Seattle, WA

• Have You Been A/B Tested Recently?

  Thomas M. Schmitz

  28 Jan 2010 | 2:59 pm

  Full disclosure: I am not a designer. I cannot select color palettes. My favorite textures involve brushed steel. Whenever I walk by, our design team seems either out for coffee or in a meeting. That said, even I can recognize colossal web design blunders. It's amazing how the perfectly wrong photo will rip the eyes out of your sockets and whimper them off from a web page's correct eye-tracking path. Design is subjective. You see the world like no one else. What seems like a perfectly comforting image to you and me might creep-out an animal rights activist or a mommy blogger. Even if…

• Portent Interactive Visits Zoka Coffee

  Emma

  25 Jan 2010 | 2:50 pm

  Who says on-the-job research can't be fun - and heavily caffeinated? Last week, Portent Interactive took a field trip to the Seattle headquarters of what is quickly becoming our tastiest new client: Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea Company. In the Name of Research A field trip seemed like the logical thing to do - even the biggest coffee junkies among us admitted that drinking four cups of Folgers a day did not a coffee-expert make. And getting to know our clients - their passions, their work ethic, their product - is a huge perk of the job. So who were we to say "no" when Zoka offered us a…

• Interview on Search Engine Journal

  Ian

  15 Jan 2010 | 9:18 am

  Todd Mintz interviewed me for Search Engine Journal. If you're looking for a chance to embarrass me at the next internet marketing conference, this interview has lots of good material: Read the interview here. You can follow Todd Mintz on Twitter at ToddMintz. Recommended reading! Also, best title award goes to @AlanBleiweiss:

• Google Caffeine - Don't Let It Keep You Awake at Night

  Thomas M. Schmitz

  11 Jan 2010 | 10:11 am

  It appears that Google's new infrastructure, code named Google Caffeine, is rolling-out live to data centers. Why is this important? Expect to see ranking changes. Don't freak-out. We're not talking 2012 or Alderaan upheaval here. That said, expect disturbances in the force. While most well and legitimately optimized websites should remain unscathed, it's likely that others could experience some organic ranking unpleasantness. What is Caffeine? Caffeine is an infrastructure change. Think of it like upgrading from XP to Vista or from Vista to Windows 7 or from Snow Leopard to Windows 7. Google…

• 15 Years

  Ian

  6 Jan 2010 | 2:55 pm

  In January of 1995, I took my one credit card, purchased a Pentium 75 PC (running the latest version of Windows 3.0) and a business license, and launched The Written Word, Inc. That company is now named Portent Interactive. The date on that first business license is January 7, 1995. So, as of tomorrow, we've been around for 15 years. For perspective, when I started my company: There was no such thing as wifi; My 2800 baud modem was state of the art; Google and Yahoo! didn't exist; Actually, neither did Firefox, Blackberry or cell phones that weighed less than 5 pounds; I was (choke) 26 years…

• 
  Posts from the Econsultancy blog

• Is social media a threat to paid search?

  Ashley Friedlein

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:23 am

  For a while now people have been speculating whether ‘social media’ sites, in particular Twitter, pose a threat to Google search as people increasingly choose to ask their network for help rather than search. I can see this happening in a small way but it is certainly nothing like a Google killer. However, based in part on our own experience, I have been wondering increasingly how social media could impact negatively on paid search spend, which might be some cause for concern at the search engines?Charles Arthur at the Guardian yesterday posted his US media sites' traffic shows that…

• How to control SEO spending post-recession

  Kevin Gibbons

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:45 am

  Remember back when the credit crunch was new? Every other blog post, including a fair few of mine, urged firms not to lose faith in online marketing, not to hack at their search engine marketing (SEM) budgets or lay off members of their online PR team. I still think it’s important to hold marketing nerve. If you are to grow your business then a successful marketing strategy is essential and budget cuts are not going to help.However, as the country shudders its way out of a historic recession, achieving an estimated 0.1% of growth in the last three months of 2009, it’s time to face facts.

• The rules of email engagement: part two

  Matthew Kelleher

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:26 am

  A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece on the rules of email engagement, very much laying out fairly broad thoughts on the subject. Now I want to follow up with a more pointed ‘plan’ that, if followed, will ensure a virtuous spiral of engagement and increased ROI... That is a horribly glib statement, something that a Californian ‘guru’ might pen, so let's preface these comments with two facts: You cannot sell to someone who isn’t listening, or, to put it another way, if a customer is not opening and reading your email, you cannot influence them into purchasing. A customer engaged…

• Q&A: Ian Hendry of WeCanDo.BIZ on social media and lead generation

  Graham Charlton

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:39 am

  WeCanDo.BIZ is an online network which helps SMEs find sales leads and business referrals, and it also offers a sales lead service for Twitter. I've been talking to CEO Ian Hendry about the company, the potential of Twitter for finding leads, and the effects of social media on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Tell me about Wecando.biz, what is your business model?  The site helps businesses engage with potential new customers. We use social networking methods to broker introductions between people with a need and those who offer a solution; and provide Social CRM tools to help…

• Is social media destroying trust in friends?

  Patricio Robles

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:05 am

  Just as marketers increase their spending on social media marketing comes potentially discouraging news: consumers are trusting their friends a whole lot less. According to AdAge, the 2010 Edelman Financial Services U.S. Trust Barometer found that only 25% of those surveyed considered friends and peers to be credible sources of information. That's down from 45% in 2008.The findings are stirring up a lot of buzz for obvious reasons. One of the reasons that social media is finally coming into its own as a bona fide marketing medium, where companies can interact with consumers and influence them…

• 
  Fathom SEO Blog - Search Engine Marketing

• Search Engine Marketing NewsWire – February 2010

  Kurt Krejny

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:31 am

  Online Conversions and Google Analytics Custom Reporting Google Analytics is a very robust and flexible analytics tool that simply helps us do our job better. We have worked with a number of different analytics packages over the years, but Google’s tool continues to support and enhance the tracking capabilities for our client’s websites. Creative Link Building: It’s Not All About You As the SEO industry continues to explode, webmasters and site owners are becoming more savvy to linking strategies and are less likely to just give a link away. Developing link bait that will…

• Of Google, Unicorns and Uniforms

  Matt Keough

  5 Feb 2010 | 1:26 pm

  There has been some attention lately to Google’s use of synonyms and related searches. Google posted about it on their official blog.  One change is they are bolding not just plurals in the results, but also terms that mean the same thing. In short, it is wise to recognize that there are many ways to express the same concept. Google is attempting to be less literal and yet continue to deliver relevant results.  While one searcher may use “sofa” and another uses “couch”, both might be interested in a shopping results from the same furniture store. This may be good on a couple of…

• Fathom SEO Employee Spotlight: Caroline Bogart

  Kurt Krejny

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:01 am

  Caroline Bogart SEM Technical Writer Areas of Specialization: SEO Leadership Role: I write and edit content for our manufacturing and technology clients. Industry Verticals: Manufacturing, Technology Best Thing About Working at Fathom SEO: It’s a fun working environment where I get the opportunity to do the work that I enjoy. Most Challenging Aspect of Your Job: Keeping up with the ever-changing SEO industry! Most Rewarding Aspect of Your Job: Seeing my content recommendations positively impact our clients website rankings. Education: BA in Journalism from Miami University, MA in…

• How Does Social Search Affect SEO?

  Dustin Brady

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am

  Last week, Google announced that they were moving Social Search from experimental status to beta and making it available to the public. As Google’s Social Search grows in popularity, search engine marketers are starting to ask, “How do we optimize for it?” Before we talk about optimizing for Social Search, we’ll first talk about what it is. Google explained that they created Social Search to help users easily find content created by people in their social networks. Right now, Social Search can only work for users signed in to Google because Google has to use their profiles to build a…

• What Can SEO-Savvy Blogs Do For You?

  Abigail Rossbach

  2 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

  To blog or not to blog – if that is your question, then reading this post should help you find the answer. Creating a blog for your company is an excellent way to implement SEO strategy. Many people do not realize the important connections between successful, regularly-updated blogs and SEO rankings. TopRank Blogging recently published a survey covering the “Impact of Blogging on Search Engine Optimization.” Of the 326 participants, 87.4% “successfully increased measurable SEO objectives as a direct result of blogging” and 94% “reported seeing measurable SEO benefits from blogging…

• 
  Fuel Interactive Blog

• GPS in the car - a tool for thieves (Personal Security)

  Phil Spitze

  14 Jan 2010 | 7:59 am

  No one will dispute how convenient, helpful, and mostly accurate a GPS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gps) in your car is to navigate around new and familiar places.  Some theives, however, have figured out a way to exploit this otherwise well-intentioned gadget. The information below was forwarded to me, so I am unsure of the original author. A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a [youth] football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans.

• The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams (Security)

  Phil Spitze

  6 Jan 2010 | 7:23 am

  More and more you can shop online, bank online, and get scammed online.  Phishing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing), spoofing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spoofing), and hacking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28computer_security%29) are all on the rise since it is the easiest way to make money if you're a computer criminal.One of my favorite websites, Lifehacker (http://www.lifehacker.com), featured this article on how to avoid getting scammed online.  It is written in basic terms that everyone should be able to understand and is complimented with great…

• 2010: A New Year for Security

  Phil Spitze

  31 Dec 2009 | 7:20 am

  The end of one year and the beginning of the next is always a good time for reflection, planning, and celebration.  It is also a great time to update your passwords!  The average home user may have upwards of 20 passwords to various websites and online services.  A company user could have the same amount, though usually a lower count due to the many single sign-on (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_sign-on) technologies that most companies utilize.  And while most people find the process of changing passwords a huge chore, it really is the only defense you have against…

• Google Analytics' Game-Changing Features

  Melissa Kavanagh

  20 Oct 2009 | 1:13 pm

  At today's eMetrics Summit in Washington, D.C., Google announced some pretty important new features for Google Analytics.  These are significant additions that bring Google Analytics much closer to being a true enterprise solution.A few of the most important changes:This is huge! Analytics Intelligence:  Will provide automatic alerts of signficant changes in the data patterns of your site metrics and dimensions over daily, weekly and monthly periods.  For instance, Intelligence could call out a 300% surge in visits from YouTube referrals last Tuesday or let you know bounce…

• Climate Change: A Family Affair ~ Blog Action Day, 2009

  Fuel Administrator

  14 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm

  POSTED BY MIKE, 2009     I'm turning 40! I can't believe this milestone came so quickly. It seems like only yesterday for so many of my previous milestones: First day at school; first car; graduating high school; graduating college; first day at my first "real" job; my wedding day (Love you, Dear!) and of course, the birth of Lucas (who, as I write this, is outside playing up a storm in a t-shirt and shorts!) I can't remember ever still being in shorts at this time of year. Thinking back, the summers have been getting warmer and longer. Surely a sign of climate…

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  Hobo

• Identifying How Competitive Competition For A Keyword / Market Is

  Shaun Anderson (Hobo)

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:31 am

  Unfortunately I was too busy actually doing this stuff at the moment lol to take part in Wordstream’s neat group interview – The Ultimate Guide To Keyword Competition (essentially, determining how competitive a keyword niche is), but it’s neat stuff nevertheless and worth a read and bookmark if you’re drawing plans against a particular keyword vertical. Before targeting a new keyword vertical, it’s imperative to evaluate the difficulty of the market. This is done through competitive keyword analysis. Search marketers estimate how much time and effort it may take…

• Upcoming…

  Shaun Anderson (Hobo)

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm

  I’m aiming to make the Hobo SEO blog more useful, with better posts, which will mean fewer posts being published. I’m not going to publish an article just because it’s timely, or just to get my traffic stats up. I’m just going to do my own thing, hope it’s useful, and hope it continues to satisfy the @8,000 of you who have subscribed. Upcoming Posts I’ll be publishing the following in the coming week or two… Can You actually Identify On Page/On Site Ranking Factors? How & Where Can I start Link Building To My Ecommerce Site To Improve Positions…

• Stone Roses For Piano by Richard Thomas – Friday Fun

  Shaun Anderson (Hobo)

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:55 pm

  I loved the Stone Roses as my pals know (still listen to them all the time), and I came across these amazing Stone Roses for Piano tracks on Itunes. I’m working with Roddy McKenna, the A&R guy who first discovered the Stone Roses in the late 80s and he told me yesterday: I think this version is great!!! I asked Richard Thomas the artist behind the stone roses for piano how this came about… Richard said: Well i was and still am a massive roses / ian brown fan and i was at spike island in 1990 with my sister (who was also at blackpool and to my lasting regret i didnt go); i have…

• Google Personalised Search Study & How It Affects Ranking

  Shaun Anderson (Hobo)

  19 Jan 2010 | 1:36 pm

  Or should that be Google personaliZed search? Anyway…. David Harry of the SEO Dojo has pulled together an interesting study about Personalised Search (how Google changes rankings based on various metrics included being signed into a Google account) We decided to take a set of queries to build a session (task) in a space that may or may not be familiar to the respondents. The queries we used were; ‘antique lamps’ ‘buy antique lamps’ ‘buy lamps online’ We also asked them to tell us; Where they’re located (region/country) Which browser they’re using Cleared search history…

• Remember The Problem With SEO Theory Blogs, Like This One

  Shaun Anderson (Hobo)

  19 Jan 2010 | 1:31 pm

  HooRank is a modified polynomial distribution that is calculated every Thursday at 9am local time wherever the website is hosted, and applied to the ranking calculation the following Tuesday at 3pm CET. (http://seocockstars.com/) Note – the reason I am posting this is I have some seo stuff I am going to publish shortly (including some seo analysis I dont think I see out there) which falls under seo theory so I thought I may as well get this out of the way before somebody pipes in later lol. There’s many problems with seo theory blogs. Misinformation is an obvious one. Rarely are…

• 
  Post-Click Marketing Blog

• Are You Fluent or Disfluent in Landing Page Design Practices?

  Anna Talerico

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:33 am

  I was reading an article on the Boston Globe website last week, “Easy=True” about the effects of ‘cognitive fluency’ and saw an immediate connection to landing page design.  The article defines cognitive fluency as “a measure of how easy it is to think about something,” and goes on to say that people prefer things they are familiar with. Studies have shown that when presenting people with a factual statement, manipulations that make the statement easier to mentally process - even totally nonsubstantive changes like writing it in a cleaner font or…

• 5 Reasons to Start Landing Page Testing Now...

  Anna Talerico

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:49 am

  While I was watching the 2009 Omniture Conversion Survey webinar, I couldn’t help but marvel at some of the statistics. Out of the 1100+ respondents that do some sort of website testing, less than half of them do so ‘frequently’. Ack! How can that be? Testing your conversion experiences leads to…well, more conversions. Continuous testing works. Here are 5 reasons every organization needs to be testing landing pages … now! Users tell you exactly what they want and what converts them (no more guessing!) Correct the leak(s) in your conversion funnel Support your…

• How to Pitch Conversion Rate Optimization to the Executive Suite

  Anna Talerico

  4 Feb 2010 | 2:48 pm

  The great thing about conversion rate optimization is that it produces numbers—really good numbers. In fact, one of the most frustrating things you may be facing is that conversion rate optimization seems like such an obvious slam dunk, but you aren’t getting executive sponsorship.  While you can be successful doing a little optimization here or there on a project basis, with executive sponsorship you can take optimization out to a bigger stage within your company. As your company adopts an optimization-focused culture, the results will be even bigger return. Here are four…

• 6 Roles for Landing Page Optimization

  Anna Talerico

  4 Feb 2010 | 2:46 pm

  The webinar this week was focused on what the CMO should know about landing page optimization. Part of this included why the CMO should create an LPO team, and who should be on that team.  Many companies are struggling with low conversion rates because they delegate post-click marketing to one person who already has a lot on his or her plate. It becomes an after thought, or the thing that keeps slipping further down the to do list. We’ve seen that with a dedicated and focused team in place companies realize an increase in conversion rates. And higher conversion rates can mean lower…

• 22 features for awesome SEO landing pages

  Scott Brinker

  4 Feb 2010 | 2:10 pm

  Last year, our product development team set an ambitious goal: to make LiveBall the very best software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for deploying SEO-friendly landing pages, conversion paths, and microsites. As the disciplines of SEO and conversion optimization continue to intertwine, we feel there are two key capabilities that conversion optimization solutions such as ours should deliver: 1. Organic boosting. When testing landing pages for paid media campaigns — which is what most conversion optimization tools emphasize — marketers should be able to enjoy additional organic…

• 
  johnon.com

• Amtrak “Creative Class” and High Speed Rail

  john andrews

  28 Jan 2010 | 1:40 pm

  The US Government says it will spend big money to build “high speed rail” connecting cities in Ohio, California, Florida, and possibly other states. In the fine print we see that “high speed rail” means a maximum of 200mph (only in one part of California) and more typically, not much faster than Amtrak travels now.Nothing [...]

• Google’s Legacy - the Internet Cesspool

  john andrews

  24 Jan 2010 | 9:31 pm

  Google makes a market in freely copying and redistributing other publisher’s products. They do not make a deal with the publisher, and they don’t disclose the details of their activities. They don’t respect copyright in the traditional, accepted form, but rather argued for (and apparently won) a special consideration that treats search “snippets” differently than [...]

• With the Proper Resources….

  john andrews

  2 Dec 2009 | 12:05 pm

  What seems like many years ago American business methods shifted. Money became more important than potential. Cash associated more closely to power, where “might” had previously been associated with power. What I mean by that is companies with real might in their industries, real potential stored in their established positions, had power and were respected [...]

• Ignorance is Powerful

  john andrews

  27 Nov 2009 | 1:39 pm

  Ignorance is more powerful than knowledge. Don’t believe me? Look around you. Which force is shaping the world around YOU? Post from: johnon.com by John Andrews. Ignorance is Powerful

• Pay No Attention to the Little Man Behind the Curtain…

  john andrews

  25 Nov 2009 | 3:23 pm

  Since it’s Thanksgiving Day and in my culture that means watching The Wizard of Oz, I thought I’d reference the wizard (the little man behind the curtain) while making a note of Google’s latest “innovation” — the breadcrumb URL replacement. Aaron over at SEOBook (a great source of free SEO tools by the way) notes [...]

• 
  MediaPost | Search Insider

• What's Good For The Google Should Be Good For The Old Gum Tree

  9 Feb 2010 | 10:30 am

  The buzz around Google's proposed settlement with the Authors Guild, designed to make out-of-print library books available while still protecting the rights of their creators, set me to thinking. One conclusion: The global copyright system is clearly broken.

• Using Placements To Boost ROI On Google's Content Network

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:16 am

  The Google Content Network -- comprised of hundreds of thousands of third-party Web sites -- reaches up to 80% of Internet users worldwide. Yet many marketers don't put enough advertising dollars into the Content Network because they lack the tools to effectively measure, manage, and optimize performance down to the site and placement level. Limiting your ROI in this important channel ultimately means less budget and clicks -- which equals a missed opportunities for revenues and profits.

• Super Battles for Search Dominance

  5 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm

  This weekend, the Colts and Saints will battle to determine the king of the football hill during Super Bowl XLIV. A month into 2010, there are battle lines across the search landscape that also bear watching. These battles will shape the devices, platforms and consumer experience for this year and many to come. Here's your quick primer of the battles, the stakes and what to watch for to determine who has the upper hand.

• The 150-Millisecond Gap

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:15 am

  A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a meeting room at Simon Fraser University, among five people looking intently at two squiggly lines on a graph in a PowerPoint slide. There was a Ph.D. and a handful of Masters degrees in Neurology and Psychology. I contributed nothing to this impressive collection of academic achievement. Still, there was something on the chart that fascinated me.

• The Days of Guessing at Keyword Research Are Over

  3 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm

  In my last few columns, I've covered the considerations for search in a site redesign, so today I want to drill down even further into how market research and, by extension, keyword research helps to inform the design and marketing process. As the title of this post suggests, and as I've stated many times here in the last few years, the days of guessing at keywords used by target audiences are done for serious enterprise marketers. We need to rethink our approach to audience research, including what language and digital triggers are used, and we need a more focused view to understand how a…

• 
  Marketing Technology Blog

• Blogging for Business

  Douglas Karr

  9 Feb 2010 | 8:52 am

  If you weren’t at the Webtrends Engage 2010 conference, you missed an incredible business intelligence conference. Engage is unlike any other company conference I’ve been to. The objective is to provide customers and industry professionals with exposure to some of the best and brightest experts throughout the online industry. Register for next year’s Engage in San Francisco – they always sell out! This year I was invited to do a sprint, a 10 minute powerpoint about something online marketing related and that I’m passionate about. I decided to do mine on inbound…

• Can Retailers Strike Gold on Facebook?

  Douglas Karr

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:01 am

  According to Foresee… yes. Foresee is releasing some findings on some retail statistics associated with Facebook today. Here are some of their findings: 56% of shoppers to top e-retail websites who interact with social media websites have elected to “friend” or “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This is an amazing testament to customer loyalty and interest in social engagement. Shoppers are actually choosing to engage in relationships with retailers on social sites. Facebook is, by far, the best place to reach…

• Super Bowl 44 Advertising – a 3 Star Year

  Douglas Karr

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:20 am

  Not only was it a tough year for the Colts, it was a tough year for Super Bowl advertising. I was watching Twitter during the Super Bowl and there was a ton of criticism on ‘pantless’ juvenile commercials. AdAge’s Bob Garfield does a great wrap up of Super Bowl advertising this year (click through if you don’t see the video): The winners that Bob lists: This post was written by Douglas KarrDouglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search…

• Tracking Multiple WordPress Authors with Google Analytics

  Douglas Karr

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:39 am

  I wrote another post on how to track multiple authors in WordPress with Google Analytics once before, but got it wrong! Outside the WordPress Loop, you’re unable to capture the author names so the code did not work. Sorry for the fail. I’ve done some additional digging and found out how to do it smarter with multiple Google Analytics profiles. (Quite honestly – this is when you come to love professional analytics packages like Webtrends!) Step 1: Add a Profile to an Existing Domain The first step is to add an additional profile to your current domain. This is an option that…

• Sample Company Social Media Guidelines

  Douglas Karr

  7 Feb 2010 | 1:21 pm

  While doing some research on the book, I happened across this wonderful little goldmine from Shift Communications PR squared blog… a Top 10 Social Media Guidelines. They put it out there and require no attribution whatsoever for commercial use. TOP 10 GUIDELINES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PARTICIPATION AT (COMPANY) These guidelines apply to (COMPANY) employees or contractors who create or contribute to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of Social Media. Whether you log into Twitter, Yelp, Wikipedia, MySpace or Facebook pages, or comment on online media stories —…

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  Online Marketing Tips | Search Engine Marketing & Analytics Insights

• Google’s New Synonyms Search

  The goal of a search engine is to return the best results to its users. We provide some info on how Google understand its users' language and interprets synonyms.

• Integrate mobile advertising in your online campaigns

  We see that the mobility in internet access has changed the web experience for users as a whole and extended the reach from advertisers to the consumers on a different level. It could be the time to explore this platform for business to integrate it as part of the marketing mix.

• The Basics of Advertising on YouTube

  Are you looking to advertise on YouTube but haven’t a clue where to start? We are here to help, so by the end of this blog entry, you will have a much better idea of the options available to you, and hopefully, have more confidence embarking on your advertising adventures on YouTube!

• Why You Should Care About Mobile Advertising

  In late 2009, Google's purchase of AdMob at $750m caused a stir in the advertising world. This acquisition by Google (its 3rd most expensive next to Youtube and Doubleclick) highlighted to the industry how important mobile ads were projected to be in the coming years.

• The Benefits of Link Diversity

  We discuss link diversity link diversity: “Acquiring different types or diversity of links from a variety of sources is always better than multiple links from one source."