A good landing page serves one purpose and one purpose only – getting your visitors to take the specific action you’ve defined for them. Whether that action is purchasing a product, signing up for an email list or submitting a lead to an offline business doesn’t matter. The only consideration you should have when it comes to designing and optimizing this valuable real estate is whether each design decision you make leads visitors towards the completion of this singular action. And really, the only way to know if the specific elements you’ve included on your landing page are…
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
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Most Topular Stories
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10 Tips for Landing Page Optimization
Single Grain Blog9 May 2012 | 8:21 am -
Scheduling Blog Posts With WordPress
Simple SEO Group | Small Business SEO, Web Design, & Inbound Marketing15 May 2012 | 11:44 amI’m going to share with you guys today a little secret — I’m actually on vacation out of the country right now (don’t worry our clients are in good hands and I’ll be back tomorrow) but as you can see I have a blog post going out. I’m actually writing this post on March 12, and scheduling it to release on May 15. I don’t travel too often, usually only a few times per year, but even when I’m not ... -
Unlike GM, Ford Is Still Bullish on Facebook Ads
ClickZ News15 May 2012 | 5:28 pmAutomaker tells ClickZ it will continue advertising on the social site. -
Pimp your web page titles in 6 easy steps
Free Weekly Search Engine Optimization SEO News15 May 2012 | 9:36 amWith all the hype about Google's latest algorithm updates, it is easy to forget about the basics that are needed to get high rankings. Before you work on the links to your site, your web page basics must be right. There are several things that you can do to optimize your web page titles. -
Google Leads April 2012 U.S. Search Engine Ranking
SEO Sevices Group- Official Blog- Latest News and Updates on SEM, PPC, SEO and SMM12 May 2012 | 6:49 amcomScore, a global leader in measuring the digital marketing landscape, has recently released its qSearch report of the U.S. search market in April 2012. Google sites topped the U.S. search engine...
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Search Engine Watch
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Piwik Open Source Analytics: A Primer
16 May 2012 | 5:00 amWith a focus on privacy and keeping data safe, Piwik is a web analytics package that aims to be a free software alternative to Google Analytics. Here are some of Piwik’s features and how it compares to other top-billing analytics packages. -
Make Second Tier Search Engines Part of Your Lead Generation Strategy
16 May 2012 | 3:00 amGoogle and Bing can only get you so far. If you work in an extremely competitive industry you may find yourself paying anywhere from $30 to $50+ per click. Working with second tier engine/networks can provide an abundance of traffic at a low cost. -
Social Media Ad Spending Forecast to Hit $9.8 Billion by 2016
16 May 2012 | 1:00 amSocial media advertising revenues in the U.S. will grow from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2016, according to BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Forecast (2011-2016). The leap would represent a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent. -
Embattled Yahoo CEO Leaves With $7 Million After 5 Months
15 May 2012 | 12:00 pmYahoo has their fifth CEO in as many years, as Scott Thompson stepped down in the scandal over his padded resume. Investor hedge fund Loeb will exert greater control with three board seats, while Ross Levinsohn takes the interim CEO post. -
5 Vital Facebook Reports Every Community Manager Should Know
15 May 2012 | 9:00 amLearn how Facebook Insights reports and public data sources can help you understand, at a granular level, the way your community consumes the stories you create, your fans demographic information, and how users are engaging with your competitors.
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SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog
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17 Types of Link Spam to Avoid
15 May 2012 | 4:02 pmPosted by Carson Ward If the last few months of ranking changes have shown me anything, it's that poorly executed link building strategy that many of us call white hat can be more dangerous than black-hat strategies like buying links. As a result of well intentioned but short-sighted link building, many sites have seen significant drops in rankings and traffic. Whether you employ link building tactics that are black, white, or any shade of grey, you can do yourself a favor by avoiding the appearance of link spam. It's become very obvious that recent updates hit sites that had overly… -
Response Codes Explained with Pictures
14 May 2012 | 4:11 pmPosted by Lindsay Friends and I were recently debating the finer points of serving a 410 versus a 404 response code when a brick and mortar retail analogy was born. I hope you'll have half as much fun reading through these amateur comics as I've had putting them together. You might also come away with an extra line of lingo when explaining HTTP Response Codes to clients or colleagues. What are Response Codes? When a search engine or website visitor makes a request to a web server, a three digit HTTP Response Status Code is returned. This code indicates what is about to… -
Project Management for SEO (2012 Edition!)
13 May 2012 | 3:58 pmPosted by Tom Critchlow So here's the truth - I used to suck at project management. But over the years I've determinedly turned myself into a half-decent project manager. Why? What was the driving force? Project Management Is A Tool For Effecting Change At the end of the day, I never have and still don't care that much for project management. But what I do care deeply about is effecting change. Driving action and results instead of talk and documentation. You can see my drive for getting things done in this whiteboard friday: (Note, if you have thoughts about this video you'd… -
Colossal Day of Craziness!
12 May 2012 | 3:38 amPosted by MozCTO Hello, I am Anthony Skinner, the CTO of MozLand! Many of you were affected by several SEOmoz tool issues that happened last week, unfortunately all colliding into one colossal day of craziness on May 3rd. We want to first apologize for any inconveniences or problems that these issues caused you. The good news is that our awesome engineers fixed these problems quickly, but we want to share an update of what happened, how we fixed it, and what we’re doing to prevent "colossal days of craziness" from ever happening again. So, here’s the inside scoop… -
The Penguin Update - Whiteboard Friday
10 May 2012 | 3:59 pmPosted by robkerry SEOmoz and I don't always see eye to eye on industry issues, but I still have a lot of respect for the company. In fact SEOmoz is still the website that I send people to, when they want to learn about SEO or get into our industry. Rand kindly invited me to the SEOmoz office when I was in Seattle this week, for a chat and the opportunity to present a Whiteboard Friday. This week's Whiteboard Friday covers the recent Penguin Update, including what to do and what not to do. I certainly wouldn't say that it's a comprehensive guide, but it does discuss the issues…
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Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
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Bing’s New Social-Friendly Search Interface Now Live
15 May 2012 | 6:31 pmThe new Bing interface, with a healthy dose of social connections and discovery, is now live for all users. Bing’s announcement today says that anyone can access the new interface at www.bing.com/new, but you should also see a new message atop the Bing home page that invites you to try... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
How To Use The Keyword Funnel To Understand Searcher Intent
15 May 2012 | 4:17 pmKeyword research can give you great insight into customer problems, needs, desires, and intent.I like to categorize keyword categories themselves into a total of *ten* funnel stages. After performing my initial keyword categorization (sort of into micro-categories), I like to categorize the... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 15, 2012
15 May 2012 | 4:05 pmBelow is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: A Glossary Of 15 Really Useful International Search Marketing Terms A conversation with a number of international search marketers recently showed that their... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
A Glossary Of 15 Really Useful International Search Marketing Terms
15 May 2012 | 2:06 pmA conversation with a number of international search marketers recently showed that their range of experience ranged from expert to beginner, despite their influential career positions. By the way, this doesn’t mean they weren’t all highly talented people – their routes to their... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. -
SPONSOR MESSAGE: Social Marketing for Search Marketers
15 May 2012 | 2:00 pmFacebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube best practices This white paper discusses: Three strategies for maximizing Twitter’s impact on SEO Tips for Facebook ads, events, groups and places Common principles between social and search marketing Download now Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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SEO Book.com
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GWT notice of detected unnatural links to http://www.seobook.com/
8 May 2012 | 8:28 pmI am already getting fake webmaster tool notification messages using the above subject line & the following message: Hello dear managers of http://www.seobook.com/! My name is Olivia, and the issue I’m gonna to discuss is for sure not new, but really actual and complicated, otherwise your website and therefore business wouldn’t have lost their favourable positions. Yes, I want to talk about Google Panda and Penguin. These virtual beasts become more and more freakish. Don't you think it's time to pacify them? Google intends to clean its search results from poor content websites, low… -
Ha! Bullets Can't Hurt ME
8 May 2012 | 10:23 amNegative SEO vs Sabotage Just about any independent SEO worth their weight who publishes a number of websites has at least once hit a snag & been filtered or penalized. A person can say "not me" but how do they operate optimally in both the short term and long term if they never operate near limits or thresholds? But now that Google has begun actively penalizing sites for unnatural link profiles & tightening these thresholds, competitors have been giving one another shoves. Some of the most widely highlighted examples of crappy SEO were not attempts at SEO, but intentional competitive… -
Google AdWords Ads Add Album Cover & Song Preview
30 Apr 2012 | 7:49 amBefore I get any drops of jupiter hate on the following...I was typing in training.seobook.com & somehow accidentally hit enter after typing train & when the URL completion didn't work I got the following SERP. If you click the feature video link it does a YouTube video overlay. The other links lead into the relevant iTunes webpage. Such media extensions have been in place for movies for quite a while now, but this is the first time I have seen them on music-related search results. In time one could expect similar ad expansions to hit other media areas like books, games, and maybe… -
The Google Penguin Update: Over-Optimization, Webspam, & High Quality Empty Content Pages
27 Apr 2012 | 2:21 pmHuge Update Google recently launched their webspam Penguin update. While they claim it only impacted about 3.1% of search queries, the 3.1% it impacted were largely in the "commercial transactional keywords worth a lot of money" category. Based on the number of complaints online about it (there is even a petition!) this is likely every bit as large as Panda or the Florida update. A friend also mentioned that shortly after the update WickedFire & TrafficPlanet both had sluggish servers, yet another indication of the impact of the update. Spam vs OOP Originally leading up to the update, the… -
GoogleBowling, Negative SEO & Outing
19 Apr 2012 | 6:46 amExcessive Complexity & Unintended Consequences Sergey Brin recently said: You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive. The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules, that will stifle innovation. He was talking about Facebook, but those words are far more applicable to Google. A Social Experiment In the movie Dark Knight the Joker ran a social experiment where he offered 2 boats full of people the opportunity to save their own lives by blowing up the other…
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Search Engine Journal
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5 Local Resources to Boost Your Local Rankings
15 May 2012 | 1:00 pmLocal search engine optimization (SEO) is a specialized form of SEO focused on optimizing businesses and their websites for optimal visibility in local search engines. Local search takes into consideration not only the keyword the searcher entered, but also the location of the searcher, whether indicated through user settings, automatic detection, or a location in [...] -
Most Popular SEJ Articles for April 2012
15 May 2012 | 11:00 amApril was a big traffic month for us and that means we had some fantastic and informative articles you should read. Below are the top 10 articles based on traffic numbers. Happy reading! 1). 24 Eye-Popping SEO Statistics by Eric Siu | @ericosiu 2). 15 Best Link Building Tools by Sujan Patel | @SujanPatel 3). [...] -
Advertising on SEJ Made Easy with BuyAds.com & iSocket
15 May 2012 | 10:00 amInterested in advertising your company or SEO tool on Search Engine Journal? Thanks to our new partner BuyAds.com, you can now avoid contacting me altogether ;) We now offer direct advertising on SEJ via BuyAds.com’s self-service ad platform, which is simple to use and integrate into your current media buying & ad management campaign. Pick [...] -
Visualizing Link Data With Screaming Frog and Excel Part 1
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amWhen Google rolled out penguin there was a tizzy online. Site owners freaked out, SEOs began running tests and searches to figure out what exactly happened. One of the characteristics that seemed to be popping up was over use of exact match anchor text. A few people had even gotten emails asking for the anchor [...] -
Google-Backed Offshore Power Project Moving Forward
15 May 2012 | 7:00 amA Google-backed project, the Atlantic Wind Connection, cleared the first of many regulatory hurdles yesterday. The U.S. Department of the Interior said that no competitors have an “overlapping competitive interest” and cleared Atlantic Grid Holdings LLC to proceed with an environmental impact study for their underwater power line. The study will analyze and measure the [...]
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ClickZ News
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Unlike GM, Ford Is Still Bullish on Facebook Ads
15 May 2012 | 5:28 pmAutomaker tells ClickZ it will continue advertising on the social site. -
Digital Co-op Ads Are Ignored by Some SMBs
15 May 2012 | 4:43 pm$450M in potential digital ads for SMBs from manufacturers will go unused. -
50K TV Viewers Shazam Ads for Pepsi, Cadbury in UK
15 May 2012 | 4:02 pmShazam TV impressions sell by flat fee or run $0.25 to $0.40 CPM plus TV buy. -
Xerox Selectively Tests Emerging Marketing Platforms
15 May 2012 | 1:36 pmA Twitter campaign increased followers by 50%. -
ESPN and Twitter Ad Program Links Social to TV
15 May 2012 | 9:31 amNew partnership starts immediately with NBA playoffs.
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Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO
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Example email to a hacked site
27 Apr 2012 | 10:18 amBeyond clear-cut blackhat webspam, the second-biggest category of spam that Google deals with is hacked sites. The most common reaction we hear from webmasters is “The problem is with the Google search. There is nothing wrong with our website.” That’s a real quote from an email one site owner recently sent us. Sadly, it turns out that the site is almost always really hacked.The single best piece of advice I can give to prevent website hacking is “keep your web server software up-to-date and fully patched.” That prevention is much better than the hassle of… -
New 30 day challenge: No news
15 Mar 2012 | 11:16 amI haven’t given an update on my 30 day challenges in, like, forever. So here goes:- In 2011, I paused my 30 day challenges to do a “six month challenge”: training to run a marathon. I ended up running the San Francisco marathon (while tweeting!) and a couple half-marathons. Pro tip: ramp up slowly to a marathon. I trained but then said “Hey, I can run 13 miles, so let’s just go for it!” and that was pretty foolish. But I’ve continued to run with some friends I met through USA Fit, and I did an 18 mile run this past Sunday!- In October 2011, I went… -
Eventful Events
5 Mar 2012 | 11:41 amUpdated: Okay, there’s a new plan. My wife is having surgery to put a screw in her foot, and the operation is two days before my panel. I really can’t leave her to come to SXSW. We’re going to try for me to Skype in to the panel instead. Cross your fingers.Every so often real life catches up with you in ways you didn’t expect. My wife broke her foot a few days ago. She took a unfortunate spill off a stepstool, but she’s telling everyone it was a ninja fight. Those ninjas pack a wallop: she’ll wear a cast for up to 6-8 weeks, and the doctor said she… -
It’s time to stop PROTECT IP
18 Jan 2012 | 6:47 amA couple months ago, I wrote this about SOPA: SOPA galvanized the tech community, from start-ups to venture capitalists to the largest web companies. SOPA was an unexpected shock and a wake-up call. Well, guess what? Now the internet is awake. And I don’t think it’s going back to sleep any time soon. We might need to rally again in the near future, but we can do that. The internet learns fast.Now it’s time to rally and get loud. It’s time to call your Senators. Heck, it’s time to ask your parents to call their Senators. If you think the internet is something different, something… -
Sharing a search story
11 Jan 2012 | 2:20 amI’ve been reading a lot of the coverage of the Search plus Your World launch and I wanted to share my story and then clarify something.I love to stay up until early in the morning playing Werewolf. In early December I went to a journalism conference called “News Foo Camp” in Phoenix and played a lot of Werewolf. When I got back, for some reason I searched for [werewolf] — maybe I was thinking about making a custom deck of werewolf cards. Because I was dogfood-testing Search plus Your World, this is what I saw:In the top row of pictures, you’ll see a bunch of people playing…
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Bruce Clay Blog
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A Look into Our Most Popular Blog Posts
14 May 2012 | 7:45 pmA Look into Our Most Popular Blog Posts was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.It’s the close of a Monday, so how about some light reading? OK, I lied. There’s nothing “light” about these powerhouse blog posts I’m about to share with you. Here on the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog, our staff writes about a variety of Web marketing topics; we like to mix it up and include everything from “how-to” posts to in-depth analyses on hot issues facing the industry to opinion pieces and more. We’re also really lucky… -
How to Remove Link Spam for Google Penguin Recovery
11 May 2012 | 1:52 pmHow to Remove Link Spam for Google Penguin Recovery was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.The patient is crashing! Triage needed STAT! Is there a doctor in the house? Yesterday the search engine optimization industry got fresh info from Matt Cutts on the Penguin situation. It’s been about two weeks since the bird first landed, enough time for SEOs to assess any damage and become familiar with the foul consequences of the update. For those suffering under Penguin’s iron wing, a plan of action is needed to identify and remedy the… -
LinkedIn for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile — Part 3
9 May 2012 | 7:38 pmLinkedIn for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile — Part 3 was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.In Part 1 and Part 2 of this LinkedIn for Business series, we talked about optimizing individual tabs within your company profile – the overview tab and the products and services tab. Now that you’ve got your “t”s crossed and your “i”s dotted, it’s time to look at how you are going to promote, grow and measure your LinkedIn business presence. In this post, we’ll explore LinkedIn plugins that increase visibility, ideas… -
Beware Google Bearing Gifts? When Too Much is Too Much
8 May 2012 | 7:08 pmBeware Google Bearing Gifts? When Too Much is Too Much was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.There are a few experiences that stand out ━ not only because of the impact of the action in that moment in time, but also for the reverberations that persist long after. One such event occurred at SMX East 2011. The Ask the Search Engines session was standing room only. Google’s rep was Tiffany Oberoi and she sat at the front of the room next to reps for Bing and Blekko. Tiffany had brought with her a bottle of Windex. You can just make out… -
LinkedIn for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile – Part 2
7 May 2012 | 6:42 pmLinkedIn for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile – Part 2 was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.Taking full advantage of LinkedIn for business using the company profile feature is a great way for B2Bs to reach their target audience. Last time, we looked at how to optimize the “overview” tab on the LinkedIn company profile. Today, we’ll take a closer look into the “products and services” tab, offering some very cool functions for highlighting your goods and also for segmenting content by audience. There are lots of…
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Free Weekly Search Engine Optimization SEO News
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Pimp your web page titles in 6 easy steps
15 May 2012 | 9:36 amWith all the hype about Google's latest algorithm updates, it is easy to forget about the basics that are needed to get high rankings. Before you work on the links to your site, your web page basics must be right. There are several things that you can do to optimize your web page titles. -
Official Google statement: ranking algorithm updates in April
8 May 2012 | 9:36 amGoogle has announced that they made 52 changes in April. Which of these changes are relevant to your website rankings and how do you have to react to these changes? -
Google releases two new ranking algorithm updates
1 May 2012 | 9:36 amIt seems that Google releases a new ranking algorithm update every week. Last week, Google’s Matt Cutts announced that there is another algorithm update that targets web spam. What does this mean for your rankings and how must you react? -
How to benefit from backlinks (even without Google)
24 Apr 2012 | 9:36 amMany people are uncertain about the best way to get backlinks to their sites. There are one-way links, reciprocal links, nofollow links, paid links and more. This week's article will help you to improve your link building activities so that you get the most effective links for your site. -
Have you received a Google Webmaster notice? Here's what to do.
17 Apr 2012 | 9:36 amDuring the last few weeks, Google sent many webmaster notification messages about unnatural links. If you have received such a message, here's what you have to do to make sure that your website doesn't get penalized.
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SEO by the Sea
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Google Glasses Design Patents and Other Wearables
15 May 2012 | 8:45 amGoogle was granted three different design patents for augmented reality glasses today, showing slightly different looks from one to the other. The first one includes lenses, while the second and third show variations of the glasses without lenses. A fourth granted patent describes how augmented reality glasses could be used with IR reflective painted [...] -
Microsoft Weighs in on Ranking Authors in Social Networks
11 May 2012 | 7:31 amAuthor Ranking in social media is more than just a popularity contest, and can include things like how frequently an author surfaces content that subsequently becomes popular, topical authority on different subjects, and popularity and influence signals. Author Authority to Distinguish Signal From Noise?Social media contains a lot of signal, and a lot [...] -
How Google Might Disassociate Webspam from Content
8 May 2012 | 5:30 amManipulative repetitive anchor text, blog comments filled with spam, Google bombs, and obscene content could be the targets of a system described in a patent granted to Google today that provides arbiters (human and possibly automated), with ways to disassociate some content found on the Web, such as web pages, with other content, such [...] -
Social Circles, Content Sharing, and Social Visibility Pending Patents for Google Plus
3 May 2012 | 9:51 amGoogle published 8 patent applications at the USPTO today that describe key elements of Google Plus and a number of alternatives that may or may not become part of Google’s social network. These include 2 applications on how social connections can be sorted into different social circles, 4 filings about how content can be [...] -
SEO Implications of New Matching Approach for Google Ads?
2 May 2012 | 10:31 amThere are some changes coming to paid search at Google that sound exciting on the surface, but may leave many guessing how exactly those changes might manifest themselves. Over at the Inside Google Adwords blog, we were greeted with a blog post titled New matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords on April [...]
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Coconut Headphones
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Linking Strategies: The Complete Guide
9 May 2012 | 11:28 amThere are many ways to go about getting links; the different methods vary widely. I recently helped some clients with their linking strategies, and when I did, I researched a wide range of approaches from the perspective of a number of characteristics. This article presents a massive comparison chart that may even make you reconsider...» -
Website Architecture for SEO: The Complete Guide
10 Apr 2012 | 7:29 amIf you want to “Bring Back the SEO Cup”, you would do well to emulate the folks who designed and built the “Stars and Stripes” yacht back in 1986 and ensure that your website has a highly optimized design. There are a number of SEO design principles for website architecture that have been extensively written...» -
How to Unoptimize Your Content for Maximum Rankings
26 Mar 2012 | 2:24 pmIt’s often said that you should simply “write great content for your users” in order to do well from an SEO perspective. I think it should be more correctly stated as: “Write great content about a topic that your users care about and which few have done a good job addressing”. There are many aspects...» -
Google Crawling Behavior Exposed: 16 Different Googlebots?
20 Feb 2012 | 12:20 pmOf the major disciplines in SEO, architecture is perhaps the most important of all. This is because if you don’t take into account Google crawling behavior and Google can’t properly spider your website and discover your content, then it won’t matter if it’s the right content, whether it’s optimized, or whether you have obtained any...» -
Search Engine Tools:Some of the Best SEO Tools are Free…Take a Look!
30 Jan 2012 | 1:23 amSearch Engine Tools are a dime a dozen, but most only do a very tiny micro-task; substantially useful tools are few and far between. Here are my personal favorite free search optimization tools for SEO; some may be familiar but hopefully there’s a few surprises in here for you. Snippet Preview Tool This allows you...»
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Cre8pc Blended Usability and SEO
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Does the Social Web Impact Human Behavior?
3 May 2012 | 12:00 pmCNN’s online news site recently posted a poll that asked, “Are you tired of social networking?” When I had checked their results, it showed that 74% chose “YES.” Yet according to Inside Twitter by Alex Cheng, Mark Evans and Harshdeep Singh, after analyzing information disclosed on 11.5 million Twitters accounts, 72.5% of all users joined during the first five months of 2009. 85.3% of all Twitter users post less than one update per day. Twitter is not the sole means of social networking of course, but this is one small example of conflicting reports regarding the Internet and human… -
Quick Second Credibility Usability Test
1 May 2012 | 3:14 pmIn a Lance Loveday’s article called Designing For The Subconscious Mind, he described his experiences when showing two different web site pages to an audience a half second apart. He then asked the participants which web site they’d prefer to do business with. The “professional” and “credible” page won over the “small time” and “cheap.” As Lance pointed out, nobody said, “I don’t have enough information to make that judgment.” I’m willing to bet in that particular setting, those who wanted more information felt too intimidated to ask, but his quick test is still… -
Ignore Usability Testing at Your Own Risk
30 Mar 2012 | 12:10 pmWhile more web site development companies understand why human factors web design contributes to long term business and brand success, there are still those not investing and taking risks. In my latest column for Search Engine Land, I describe the risks of not performing site testing during the developmental stages of web site design. The testing I recommend is not just on functional or server performance. I would like to see every department, from search engine marketing, to software application development to user interface engineering planning and testing together. This means adding more… -
To Underline or Not Underline Links
9 Mar 2012 | 10:00 amAs visually entertaining the latest trends in web design may be, there are a few usability walls we run into while reading. One is the appearance of a hyperlink. Should you underline a text link? These days it’s not the only way to signal a place to click. Other clues may be a different text color, font size or hover color. Your best choice is to pick one style and be consistent through out your web pages. Does underlining words that don’t link anywhere matter? On the Web, yes. The first reason is convention. Or, another way to say it – conditioned behavior. We know that… -
How Does Your Web Site Make Visitors Feel?
8 Mar 2012 | 1:56 pmI’ve been exploring and researching the relationship between computers and people. More specifically, I’m fascinated by web sites and how, or if, they affect us emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. As a web site designer, what special power do you hold in your artistic hands? As a blogger, what kind of reaction are you seeking from readers? As a well branded company, are there in-house human instabilities that can be sensed by your online consumers? A change in perspective Over the past dozen years, we’ve learned that a secret to a web site’s long-term success is to…
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Search Engine Watch - Latest
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Piwik Open Source Analytics: A Primer
16 May 2012 | 5:00 amWith a focus on privacy and keeping data safe, Piwik is a web analytics package that aims to be a free software alternative to Google Analytics. Here are some of Piwik’s features and how it compares to other top-billing analytics packages. -
Make Second Tier Search Engines Part of Your Lead Generation Strategy
16 May 2012 | 3:00 amGoogle and Bing can only get you so far. If you work in an extremely competitive industry you may find yourself paying anywhere from $30 to $50+ per click. Working with second tier engine/networks can provide an abundance of traffic at a low cost. -
Social Media Ad Spending Forecast to Hit $9.8 Billion by 2016
16 May 2012 | 1:00 amSocial media advertising revenues in the U.S. will grow from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2016, according to BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Forecast (2011-2016). The leap would represent a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent. -
Embattled Yahoo CEO Leaves With $7 Million After 5 Months
15 May 2012 | 12:00 pmYahoo has their fifth CEO in as many years, as Scott Thompson stepped down in the scandal over his padded resume. Investor hedge fund Loeb will exert greater control with three board seats, while Ross Levinsohn takes the interim CEO post. -
5 Vital Facebook Reports Every Community Manager Should Know
15 May 2012 | 9:00 amLearn how Facebook Insights reports and public data sources can help you understand, at a granular level, the way your community consumes the stories you create, your fans demographic information, and how users are engaging with your competitors.
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SEO Theory - SEO Theory and Analysis Blog
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Shaping User Focus Through Search
15 May 2012 | 12:00 pmIf you are not logged in you want to enter your email address in the subscription box to the right of this article. Go ahead, the article can wait while you subscribe to the once daily digests that tell you about the articles we have published here. Do it. SUBSCRIBE NOW. And when you’re done with that, you next want to click on the Letter.ly SEO Theory Premium Newsletter link to the LEFT of this article so that you can subscribe to the PREMIUM newsletter. Go ahead. Do it. It’s only $25 a month. And when you’ve finished with that, you want to visit my SEO Theory Premium… -
Dear @Bing – Please Get a New Marketing Plan
15 May 2012 | 7:00 amI ran Windows Update on two computers yesterday and Lo! and Behold! at the end of the process (both machines are running Windows 7) I saw much to my surprise a big fat ugly Bing Toolbar sitting in the middle of my desktop. The update process gave me the option of unchecking several default settings, which led me to believe that if I simply closed the toolbar it would not come back. But NOOOOooo! Bing wouldn’t have any of that! When I clicked on the settings icon (the little gear wheel) I found much to my surprise that Bing STILL wanted its toolbar to start up and run automagically when… -
Every Link on the Page is There for the User
13 May 2012 | 8:00 amYeah, right. I could not help but notice an interesting new discussion in an SEO forum where someone asked how many navigational links you can put on the page and still not trigger a Panda downgrade. A moderator quickly stepped in to admonish the asker to not think in terms of how many links the search engine will tolerate but rather how many links a user is likely to click on. This discussion reminded me of several I had last year after Google rolled out its Panda scoring algorithm. I browsed hundreds of downgraded Websites and read numerous case studies where people documented their… -
When the Numbers No Longer Add Up…
11 May 2012 | 12:00 pmIt’s no secret that I added advertising to the SEO Theory blog the same day I found out about the impending “ads above the fold” Google algorithm update. Matt Cutts warned the world that It Was Coming back in October 2011 at PubCon. The update rolled out in January and nothing adverse happened to SEO Theory’s placement in Google’s SERPs. In fact, if anything, I think the traffic increased slightly but that was probably due to my Authorship profile finally being added to Google’s pilot program (yes, it is STILL a pilot program and you are NOT guaranteed to… -
If I Had A Plumber Blog …
11 May 2012 | 7:00 amIt has been a long time since I had to call on a plumber for myself or my family. In my entire life I may have had to talk with a professional plumber on maybe three occasions. Plumbers get a bad rap in a lot of ways. The plumber stereotype haunts the profession in movies, TV shows, and even video games. I can’t really say I’ve ever met a dumb plumber. They sure know a lot more about stuff than I do. Some plumbers even hunt down — okay, we won’t go there. Smart people don’t always make the best writers. Sometimes you come across a great writer who happens to have…
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The Search Agents
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The Week We Searched For- May 11, 2012
11 May 2012 | 2:56 pmBing revamps search- Microsoft launched an updated version of its Bing search engine this week with a new design and new features aimed at better integrating search and social networking. The new design focuses on three main pillars: Core Search, Snapshot, and Sidebar panels. Core Search focuses on organic search results and will omit many of the social features currently included in Bing results. Snapshot provides further information about a particular results directly on the SERP. Sidebar is a new social navigation features that allows users to better integrate their search and… -
Interview with Cassandra Caswell-Stirling
10 May 2012 | 10:27 amThe Search Agency: How did you find your way to search marketing? Cassandra: I definitely didn’t take the most direct route into search marketing; that’s for sure. I was actually, once upon a time, supposed to be a lawyer, but after graduating from law school and working in two different law firms for 4 years, I decided to try something a little more creative. I began working for a small legal publisher on two of their online products. From there the small publisher was bought by Oxford University Press, and I began working on a larger variety of legal print and online products. -
Google Increases Transparency in Quality Scores
8 May 2012 | 1:51 pmMy experiences with most Google releases are typically a roller coaster of emotions. They start with sheer terror, transition into a “Protect This House” mentality and end with triumphant high-fiving after taming the beast and hopefully increasing effectiveness of each campaign. Inevitably once calm has returned to my adWords life, there is another release around the corner and I am again faced with a panic attack and more work. Google’s recent announcement caught me off guard, however, as it didn’t actually change the performance of anything in my accounts. Instead, it provided… -
The Week We Searched For- April 30-May 2, 2012
4 May 2012 | 4:12 pmGoogle launches Panda 3.6- Google has confirmed it launched another Panda update on April 27th, only 8 days after Panda 3.5. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land received confirmation on Panda 3.6 from Google and shared the following statement from the company: We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the over 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year. Google launches Penguin- Google has introduced a new animal to its zoo of algorithmic updates last week. … -
eRetailers Winning Customers at the Zero Moment of Truth
3 May 2012 | 6:07 pmThe Search Agency recently hosted a webinar with eTail on the importance of leveraging the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) to influence consumer buying behavior and drive sales. Raquel Krouse, Social Media Lead at The Search Agency, and Joe Nolan, Director of New Media at Men’s Wearhouse, discussed how new trends in online marketing are changing how consumers acquire, apply, and are influenced by branded knowledge at ZMOT. Krouse explains how increased consumer connectivity across devices and the mass of highly accessible, free information is changing consumer behavior. Today, consumers are…
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Techipedia | Tamar Weinberg
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The New Model: How Google+ “Gets” Content
15 May 2012 | 8:25 amThis is a guest post by Joel Harrison. The way content is shared today changes online marketing, putting content to the forefront of what users, companies, brands and products are about. Google+ has just won the People’s Choice award for social media at The Webby Awards presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This may come as a surprise, since Google+ isn’t as popular as was first expected. It’s trying to reverse that situation though and bind everything together into a huge social network, always faithful to its mission ‘to organize the world’s… -
How to Build Better [Business] Habits
8 May 2012 | 8:47 amThis is a guest post from Christopher Wallace. It’s 2 p.m. on a Wednesday and that fully loaded triple-decker sandwich from the nearby deli has you wondering how long you can get away with catching some z’s under your desk, or if that drawing-eyes-on-your-eyelids thing really works. Whether or not you plowed down a big meal or have the mid-week blues, those last few hours of the work day or week can be some of the most unproductive. So how do you pick yourself up and get back into the swing of things? The answer is in creating good habits. While taking a swig of an energy drink… -
How to Make Your Facebook Ads Convert
1 May 2012 | 8:45 amThis is a guest post from Craig Robinson. Getting proper return on investment for Facebook advertising can be tricky. First, you need to create an ad that attracts clicks, which usually is the easy part, and then you need a decent percentage of the people clicking through to be potential customers. The last thing is a bit harder to control but has a huge impact on the end result. When the wrong people click, your conversion goes down and you have to pay Facebook for nothing. There are, however, a few tips you can follow that might increase your performance. If your Facebook-advertising… -
Web Lead Tracking Explained: How to Get High Quality Leads with the Internet
24 Apr 2012 | 8:39 amThis is a guest post from Brad Shorr. A lot of entrepreneurs and midsize firms say they “get a lot of web leads.” However, when asked if they know the source of the leads, they have only a vague idea – and sometimes, no idea at all. How can you tell where to direct your marketing efforts if you don’t know where your leads are coming from? You can’t. This post will talk about how to set up lead tracking on your site, take the guesswork out of your marketing, and help you get more, high quality leads. Phone Conversions A lot phone inquires are never even identified as web leads! -
How to Create a Video Marketing Strategy for Your Business
17 Apr 2012 | 8:41 amThis is a guest post from Neil Davidson. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of video people watch on the Internet. Any forward thinking business will do well to take note and use video to their advantage. But where do you start? Surely, video marketing must be really expensive, time consuming, and technical? Actually, none of those concerns are necessarily worth the worry. The growth of affordable, digital technology means that anyone can make a video and put it online, instantly widening their audience base beyond anything we could have imagined 10 years ago.
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Powered by Search
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Stacey Morton
2 May 2012 | 11:59 am -
Julie Greenberg
16 Mar 2012 | 9:33 am -
Kim Kennedy
17 Feb 2012 | 8:44 am -
Google Freshness Update – What it Means For You
7 Nov 2011 | 8:00 amThe Google Freshness update is right up my alley. For those that know me I like to stay on top of what’s current and fresh. Whether it’s in music, technology or world news I like to stay on top of what’s happening and new or what is soon to come. I’m probably not alone, people in general would like to know what’s going on in the world around them. That’s why radio, tv, the internet and now social media have become so popular. Now as you’ve all probably heard by now Google has released another update. For those that haven’t the other day, Thursday, November 3rd Google released… -
How to Choose the Best Local SEO Keywords
25 Oct 2011 | 3:25 pmWithout links and keywords the internet stands still. So, for our local seo clients we are always digging into keywords and their ideal use. In a nutshell, keywords and keyword phrases are the driving force behind raising search engine ranking and drawing site traffic. Sounds easy doesn’t it? However, successful SEO marketing encompasses a great deal more than “pick and place” keywords. The following SEO keyword strategy will help to achieve more localized results. Choosing Relevant Keywords and Keyword Phrases The first step in an effective SEO strategy is choosing keywords and…
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Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News and Opinion
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OK, So GM Pulls $10M in Facebook Ads, So What?
16 May 2012 | 1:42 amCould this Facebook IPO be over with already so we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming? Please?! Every Tom, Dick and pundit is putting in their heavily discounted two cents (it’s like there was a Groupon for pre-IPO Facebook hype and speculation and everyone appears to have bought it) and it is getting pretty silly. The latest chicken little concern is the pulling of Facebook ads, to the tune of $10 million, by General Motors. Here is the tweet from the Wall Street Journal’s Dennis Berman that set all of this in motion. In the world of “no good tweet goes… -
New Study Shows Google+ Engagement is on the Rocks
15 May 2012 | 3:29 pmIt’s like a story from a Hollywood gossip magazine. The son of a rich and powerful man comes to town, he chats up everyone girl he meets. They’re not sure about him but he comes from a good family, so why not? First date, second date, he’s ready to ask her to go steady and bam – he never hears from her again. Poor Google+, he tries and tries but in the end, they always leave him. RJMetrics has detailed Google+’s relationship troubles and it’s bleaker than bleak. Check out this over the rainbow scenario. Each line represents the average person posting over… -
42% of Consumers Pay for Products or Services After Trying Them
15 May 2012 | 2:26 pmThe free sample has been used to tempt grocery shoppers since the invention of the toothpick, yet many of today’s marketers are reluctant to give anything away. Apps, ebooks, access — you gotta give a little and if you do, you’ll get a lot. iYogi just released a new study and infographic all about the power of the Freemium model. Their results show that 100% of the people they surveyed have tried a Freemium product and 42% have gone on to pay for it. Certain categories fared better than others as you can see from this slice of the full infographic: Online security and movie… -
So Email Marketing’s Dead? Don’t Tell HubSpot That
15 May 2012 | 9:57 amEveryone seems to be real quick to throw dirt on email marketing’s grave these days. Why? Because it’s not social media. Well, not to sound blunt (although it will), that’s stupid. If you need more evidence that email is indeed alive and well you should consider what HubSpot (a Marketing Pilgrim sponsor of our inbound marketing channel) has added to their suite of, you guessed it, e-mail. OK, so if a company that has managed to get over $65 million in VC backing (included in that is Google Ventures) and currently boasts just shy of 7,000 users of their inbound marketing… -
SEO’s Need A Laugh Too
15 May 2012 | 7:46 amThis video which was put together by UK SEO Sam Applegate is making the rounds (hat tip to Gareth Hoyle and Barry Schwartz for spreading the word as well). We’re running it because A) it’s pretty funny B) we trust that Matt Cutts has a good sense of humor and C) it’s pretty funny. Enjoy and don’t take a single “Um” seriously.
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Search Engine People Blog
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Can I Use Pinterest To Build Links?
15 May 2012 | 8:25 amPinterest is growing really, really fast. As with all things that generate a lot of traffic and lot of sharing it's become a focal point for SEOs looking to distribute content to wide audiences and build links. The first, most fundamental question here is: can you actually build links using Pinterest? Not directly – not unlike other popular social sharing sites (like Twitter) Pinterest no follows external links and subsequently isn't an SEO silver bullet, so the value of Pinterest for link building is really more about: Content Distribution – Not unlike networks like… -
Local Business Online Marketing Blueprint – It’s a Sketch, Not Set in Stone
14 May 2012 | 11:25 amI've written several times about what I like to call the Next Shiny Object Syndrome. I see it all the time. Local businesses and individuals get caught up with the next cool thing when it comes to online marketing. And I understand how easy it is to do with so many options being thrown at us from different companies; from social media optimizing tools, to new social media and blog platforms, to easy to use and design websites, to the next big thing that promises to create the biggest and baddest lead generating machine out there. But its very important for local businesses to take a step… -
This Is How You Easily Setup Actionable Google Analytics Dashboards
14 May 2012 | 8:25 amGoogle Analytics is a fantastic analytics tool, and it's gotten pretty easy to get some really sophisticated data out of it. Working in SEO can mean looking at a bunch of different metrics and doing a lot of deep dives into some serious data, and that's all well and good. But if you don't have some quick ways to get some top-level ideas of how the site is doing, you'll lose sight of the big picture really fast – and that's when performance suffers. That's why we need dashboards. Even if you're not a Google Analytics pro, you can set up a dashboard that… -
6 Tools to Create a Social Media Dashboard
11 May 2012 | 8:25 amSocial media has become a major part of an online strategy or marketing. Where the industry was once dominated by advertisements and databases, now there is a new means of sharing content via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pintrest and others. With this change has come the ability for anyone to reach viral status with the right means of using social media for exploiting content. The best way to use it for more than just a hit and miss method of sharing is by watching the effectiveness of your shares, followers, common mentions in brand, and keeping an eye on updates while providing… -
Google's "Near Match" Keyword Update: Swing and a Miss?
10 May 2012 | 11:25 amMoving beyond their recent fascination with pandas and penguins (can "project platypus" be far away?), the "do no evil" crew is at it again. This time around, team Google will be releasing an update to their keyword matching behavior, adding a "near match" element to that algorithm which should aid marketers in increasing exposure for their ads. Google Knows User Intent? According to the Inside AdWords post,"Google's organic search systems detect and compensate for misspellings and close variants. We know users are happier when they get search results…
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SEO and Tech Daily
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One Year in Tech - An Eternity
13 May 2012 | 10:12 pmAs some of my closer colleagues know, it was a little over a year ago that I decided to drop my SEO, viral advertising and Social Media consulting ... for a 'day job'. Things are changed exponentially on the tech landscape during that time. It's truly amazing and continues to be fascinating. There were many factors that led to my decision but the most prevalent was a series of 'high intensity' clients and just a much needed change of pace ... after three decades spending way too much time in front of a computer. (My wife's desire for a little sanity around here played as well :). -
Google Adds +1 To Blogger Pages and Speech Search!
2 Jun 2011 | 12:17 amEarlier today, Google announced the widespread availability of it's '+1' recommendation button for blogs and websites. In the announcement, the company said it would be available in other Google products such as Blogger. Despite the fact that I have been off doing other things and haven't haven't the time to write as much as I'd like in recent months, I decided to mess with the +1 documentation and see how easy it would be to try it out right here. I went to the notes .... and there was nothing about adding it to Blogger. Why? They already did. Alongside the Twitter, Facebook and… -
The Google Gaming Debacle - What's Next?
13 Feb 2011 | 8:12 amFor those of you that haven't already read it, the weekend tech news brings us a piece from the NY Times about a major retailer who apparently simply hired the wrong SEO firm. Nobody really knows why thousands of links (as evidenced by this article by Vanessa Fox) landed around the web, making for a classic case of what is known in the industry as 'Black Hat SEO'. It could have been anyone, inside or outside the company, a subcontractor, or even an employee trying to look good to his (or her) boss. Some of the comments on this morning's take by TechCrunch are (very) disturbing as well. -
Where Did SEO and Tech Daily Go?
21 Jan 2011 | 9:31 amIn response to (more than) a few e-mails, I'm making this brief post to keep you up-to-date on this blog and future plans. As some of my friends know, I made a rather radical career change last year embracing another one of my passions ... cars. It's all probably more than you want to know but suffice to say, it's required all my attention and left little time to do any unique or interesting here. There have been many times I've been tempted to post an opinion, prediction, or my own take on the 'next chapter' and the hyper changes we continue to see not only in tech, but how those changes are… -
Newsday (LI) Drops Paywall Temporarily
26 Dec 2010 | 9:52 pmOn occasion, I think we all check on the news in a place we used to live. For many years, Long Island's Newsday was, in large part, the primary newspaper for those who lived in Nassau and Suffolk counties. I grew up reading it .... as did my parents and grandparents. Newsday has changed hands a few times over the years and some time ago became one of the first major newspapers in the nation to put up a paywall. (IE: If you wanted to read it online, you had to subscribe). Those of you that have read my stuff know how I feel about monetization via paywalls (except in certain circumstances).
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SEO Web Help
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Zerg Rush – Google’s New Easter Egg
29 Apr 2012 | 3:41 pmGo to google.com and type in zerg rush and the letter O’s start attacking your page listings. Click as fast as you can and destroy those O’s before they take over your page. How did you do? Do you have … Continue reading → -
Internet Marketing Tips
17 Apr 2012 | 3:00 amSmall businesses have longed tried to compete with the bigger companies in the Internet marketing realm. How does one get noticed in the churning flow of information on the Internet? Lawyers, restaurants, doctors, small construction companies, and many others are … Continue reading → -
Top April Fools Sites – Google Multitask is Here
1 Apr 2012 | 3:00 amThe web can be daunting and slow but now with Google Multitask you can use multiple cursors to get more done, faster. Want to try it out yourself, go to Google Multitask Go to the next page for more information … Continue reading → -
Google Analytics Has a New Look
30 Mar 2012 | 2:28 pmClient was all excited to learn that Google Analytics has real-time results now. Um, well, that’s actually been there for months, but was hard to find if you’re not a fluent and frequent Google Analytics user. There are other sites … Continue reading → -
Apple’s Online Store Is Closed
7 Mar 2012 | 12:21 pmWith possible new products coming out, Apple has closed its online store – hopefully to add in lots of new items! They’ve announced a new Apple TV and new iPad (thicker and heavier) so far. Steve wouldn’t have let it … Continue reading →
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Posts about Search Marketing - Organic/Natural (SEO) from the Econsultancy blog
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Successful content marketing doesn’t require a zoo
16 May 2012 | 4:50 amContent marketing requires many things to be successful; luckily a Zoo isn’t one of them. That said, you can definitely learn a thing or two from “We bought a Zoo” author Benjamin Mee. I won’t bore you with all the details of who Benjamin is, but if you’re interested you should visit the Dartmoor Zoological Park website or watch this short video. Benjamin’s book was published in 2008. Since then it has become a film and the Zoo has enjoyed a significant amount of interest from the world’s media. This isn’t a typical content… -
Demand for digital marketing freelancers soars: trends
15 May 2012 | 4:25 amHiring online freelancers for marketing roles and projects is a trend that has experienced significant growth over the last year. We’ve seen a 106% increase in digital marketing jobs posted on Elance for the 12 months leading up to March 2012. And, the increase from UK businesses was even greater (124%). There has also been a 215% increase in marketing jobs completed and a 188% increase in client spend. In the first of a series of monthly posts, I'll look at more trends in digital marketing jobs...UK marketers are using digital marketing freelancers more than other countries. In March… -
Sears site review: the good, the bad and the ugly
14 May 2012 | 10:03 amI've been taking a look at the Sears website from a user experience perspective to see what the retailer does well online, and where it can improve. I've highlighted some excellent features on the site that other online retailers could learn from, some relatively minor irritations that would annoy users, and problems that may make users abandon the site. Overall, the site performs well and contains some excellent features, such as proactive use of live chat. However, even with the best sites, there is always room for improvement... The good Nice big search box One of the… -
What do you think of Econsultancy?
14 May 2012 | 5:45 amWe'd like you to help us improve the content and services on Econsultancy, and boost the amount we donate to Save the Children at the same time. Econsultancy's 2012 user survey is the first we have carried out since 2009, and we will donate £3/$5 for every completed response. We like to think we're pretty good at spotting trends and working out the kinds of services, content and events that digital marketers want to see, but sometimes there's no substitute for asking your users directly. The survey is completely anonymous. We'd like to know: How do you use… -
Is Google really going to rely more on social media signals in the future?
14 May 2012 | 4:57 amWith many people thinking that social media will become an increasingly important SEO weapon, we examine its likely importance in the long term. When you speak with SEO experts, the hot topic is how social media signals are going to be used increasingly by Google to determine the authority of a website. It’s believed that the number of Facebook “likes”, Twitter followers, Google +1’s and even You Tube channel views you have, the more credence you could gain from Google.It has a ring of truth. After all, Google has for years taken more notice of how others regard you…
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Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing
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Hello Again Marketing
8 May 2012 | 4:43 pmby Todd Bailey Have you lost sight of a well-loved service or product? People are creatures of repetition. Usually we commit when we find a service or product we enjoy using. Recently, Ryan Buddenhagen wrote a post on brand ability to bring back old services and products. The notion is not very novel. Blockbuster movies enjoy reviving old heroes and comics. Food producers sometimes reintroduce a retired food or beverage. The Eagles once did a "Hell Freezes Over" tour... Speaking of music, you may catch sight of modern-day hipsters wearing vintage CBGB shirts. The East Village club, opened… -
Metrics That Lie to You: Average Position (Part 1)
8 May 2012 | 2:04 pmby Mike Fleming I wouldn't call the "average position" metric pointless, but it's definitely lying to you. Most people approach this metric with a natural misunderstanding. It's natural to think, "This is the average position that my organic listing or paid ad shows up at in a search for this keyword." Sorry, but no. How could a tool just flat out lie to you? Well, the tool isn't lying to you. It's your understanding of what that metric is communicating that is lying to you. In a recent article titled, "The big lie of AdWords average position," light is… -
The Right Message May Not Be So Right for Your Audience
4 May 2012 | 11:05 amby Stoney deGeyter The number one key to your business growth is crafting a message that speaks to your audience. Having the right message builds up your strengths and helps you overcome any deficiencies you might have. McDonald's doesn't make the best hamburgers in the world, but they do have a great bit of messaging that speaks to their target audience. It's that message, not the hamburgers, that makes Micky D's the number one fast food restaurant in America. While substance is important in order to have a great message, the message itself helps establish the perception of your substance. -
Don't Just Build Links, Become a Thought Leader
3 May 2012 | 4:20 pmby Nick Stamoulis I think we can all agree that content marketing is an indispensable component of SEO and Internet marketing in general. Great content gets shared, which in turn creates inbound links to your website, which helps your site do better in the search engines, which drive more traffic to your site and so forth and so on. But too often site owners are just looking at content as a link building tactic. In reality, the content you are creating for your SEO, content marketing and social media marketing campaigns can serve a much greater purpose---it can turn your brand into a thought… -
Pinterest's Five Year Plan
2 May 2012 | 4:46 pmby Todd Bailey Recently, the entire Web community has been abuzz about Pinterest. Although the upstart social network is still in the open beta testing phase, it has overtaken LinkedIn as America's third largest social site, according to Experian Hitwise. At present, Pinterest is reaching millions of worldwide users per month and since January, has held the distinction of being the site to break ten million unique hits in the shortest timeframe. Pinterest is a social networking phenomenon that shows no signs of diminishing, but is there long-term viability within the…
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Online Marketing Blog
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Channel Your Internal Marketing Warrior: 4 Tips for Strengthening Your Marketing Plan
15 May 2012 | 5:25 amRelease Your Internal Marketing Warrior In March of this year I made a decision: I wanted to get healthier. The problem I have always faced is that I didn’t see the point of exercise, just for the sake of exercise. Treadmills and stationary bicycles never did much for me, but I was looking for a way to regain some focus and start down a healthier path. About a month ago I spoke with my good friend Ali who had recently started a training program to become a yoga instructor. She convinced me to attend a class with her and I even though I’ve done yoga before, this was an entirely new… -
5 Ways to Optimize the Business Value of Attending Conferences
14 May 2012 | 11:37 amAre you optimizing your conference experience? TopRank receives a lot of value from having me speak at conferences but you don’t have to be a speaker to realize a positive return from events. Small, large online or offline, there are numerous ways to optimize and maximize your return on conference involvment both in the short and long term. If your company is considering whether to send you to events because of uncertain return or benefits, show them the following list. In fact, if I were running a conference, I’d make sure these tips are shared with attendees, sponsors and… -
Online Marketing News: Take Action on Social Data, LinkedIn Gets the Scoop, Google Reigns Supreme, Google & Big Data for SEO
11 May 2012 | 5:35 amActionable Social Analytics This recent infographic by awareness takes a dive into social analytics. In an era where virtually every brand is online, it is essential that action is being taken off of the data we are collecting from social networks. This infographic provides not only some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that your company should be tracking, but how to calculate these numbers as well. Examples of the KPI’s your company should be tracking: Brand Awareness & Reputation Marketing Program Effectiveness Lead Generation Effectiveness Use LinkedIn to Get Juicy… -
Holistic Optimization Across the Sales Cycle: Optimize Speaking Events May & June
10 May 2012 | 10:08 amWhen you have a business that relies on attracting new business online the sheer volume of options can be confusing. Should offline advertising efforts transfer to online? Maybe email marketing? What about SEO or the hot topic, social media? So much focus is placed on tactics and channels, that a lot of misplaced digital marketing budget gets wasted or spent inefficiently. To bring some clarity to the myriad online marketing options available, I think it’s worth marketers taking a holistic approach that starts with an essential understanding of goals and customers. Who are your best… -
What Are the Most Important Social Networks for Business?
9 May 2012 | 10:03 amIf you’ve been involved with marketing on the web for 10 years or more, could you have imagined what the web looks like today back in 2002? Considering the changes over the past year between Google, Facebook, Pinterest and Mobile, looking ahead just 12 months can be a challenge. The state of constant change requires an adaptable approach. One that involves a cyclical process of planning, implementation, scale and refinement. During that process of continuous optimization, it’s important to take the temperature of trends for your specific target market as well as at a broad…
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John Battelle's Search Blog
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Penner Ash Willamette Pinot 2009
15 May 2012 | 12:42 pmPenner-Ash Willamette Valley 2009 Pinot drank VERY well last week. -
New Feeds For Searchblog
15 May 2012 | 12:11 pmPardon the site-specific interruption, but as part of my ongoing quest to keep my content here on my own site, I’ve begun posting pictures of stuff here that I’d otherwise put on Instagram, Twitter or other services. Given that many of you read Searchblog for my trenchant commentary as opposed to my preferences in pinots, I promised you that I’d create new RSS feeds. Well, here they are! You’ve got a lot of choices – Everything (all photos and posts), Everything But Photos, Headlines Only, and Photos Only. Many thanks to the team at Blend for helping me make this… -
Get to Know Ross Levinsohn
13 May 2012 | 8:23 pmThe remarkable news today that, among other important board moves, Ross Levinsohn will take over as interim CEO at Yahoo may well mark the end of an era – should his tenure stick, perhaps we can stop talking about the web pioneer in past or conditional tenses. If you’d like to get to know him a bit better, here’s an interview I did with him at Web 2 last Fall. -
The Audacity of Diaspora
13 May 2012 | 8:13 pmLast Friday Businessweek ran a story on Diaspora, a social platform built from what might be called Facebook anti-matter. It’s a great read that chronicles the project’s extraordinary highs and lows, from Pebble-like Kickstarter success to the loss of a founder to suicide. Given the overwhelming hype around Facebook’s IPO this week, it’s worth remembering such a thing exists – and even though it’s in private beta, Diaspora is one of the largest open source projects going right now, and boasts around 600,000 beta testers. I’ve watched Diaspora from… -
Oh, MacROSTIE!
12 May 2012 | 12:48 amA very happy Friday night with my wife, mother in law, and kids (and tomatoes, kale, wild rice, et al), made round by this MacRostie Pinot, 2007. Yippee, it’s the weekend!
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SMS
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Make The Most Of Visual Elements In Marketing Campaigns
15 May 2012 | 12:29 pmThe challenge for marketers is to stand out from the pack by telling their stories in a compelling way. With many of the image-based tools now available online such as Pinterest and Instagram, it’s not only easy to tell your story visually, it’s also extremely easy for users to contribute their own images or to share your images and videos with their friends. Visual storytelling is an effective way to cut through the clutter of information overload online. Here are some tips on how to effectively incorporate these visual elements into your next marketing campaign: 1. Tell Stories… -
Avoid The Squint & Pinch: Improving Customer Experience With Mobile Landing Pages
14 May 2012 | 2:13 pmCustomer feedback is one of the most valuable ways we can stay in touch with our market, and to make sure we are meeting the expectations of the lifeblood of our businesses. In a world gone digital, with resources such as Marketing Automation tools, Email Service Providers, services offering pre-designed and programmed landing pages, the customer feedback survey is easier than ever to deploy. Recently, I received this email requesting feedback on a company’s Customer Service. A great example of how to connect with customers. The email was… Clear in its Purpose: The subject line… -
Five For Friday — May 7-11, 2012
11 May 2012 | 1:18 pmLots of grumbling this week all over about the Penguin update effects and much discussion about how Google’s emphasis on “over optimization” will change how online marketers do things. Still too early to really understand all the implications, but here’s five of the most interesting and informative news items from the week. 1. The Best and Worst Times to Share on Facebook, Twitter — Samantha Murphy blogs at Mashable about the good and bad times of the day to announce content on social media properties Twitter and Facebook. 2. Manage multiple locations more… -
Infographics And The Power Of Lists
10 May 2012 | 11:16 amHave I got a list for you – this week’s infographic column. Yes, it’s the old list format that’s already been played out in blogging for some time now. It’s time we address this commonly used blogging tactic in more of a visual format. I’m sure you’ve seen top 10 lists in your blog and content strategy for some time. But why not go one step further and visualize this? List infographics might be less data-heavy than traditional infographics, but they still generate quite a bit of interest in their own right. This infographic below shows how to brain hack the… -
Earn High-Quality Backlinks (The Not-So-Easy Way): Host A Presidential Candidate
9 May 2012 | 8:00 amA client of ours recently had a rare opportunity that they just couldn’t pass up. They were contacted by the staff of the presumptive Republican nominee in the US Presidential race, Mitt Romney, and asked if they would be interested in hosting a campaign event. Sometimes these opportunities just fall in your lap. For our client, it was a great way to build brand awareness and some serious credibility. For us, as their SEO consultants, it was an opportunity to obtain some of the highest-quality links there are, links that would have been near-impossible to get otherwise. With only a…
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Ask Kalena
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SMX Sydney 2012 – Robert Moorman – Developing a video content marketing campaign
14 May 2012 | 4:37 amThis is a summary of Robert Moorman’s presentation at Search Marketing Expo / Online Marketer Conference held in Sydney 1-2 May 2012. Robert Moorman is a Video Strategist at Hunting With Pixels, a company that specializes in strategic social video campaigns. Robert has over 20 years of experience working as a video producer for media organisations like Fremantle Media and MTV in the UK, Australia and Europe. Content is king but distribution is queen, says Robert. Content is now about ideas, not tech. For example, 8 year olds who use iPads don’t need to know interface design in… -
Search Industry Job of the Week – SEO Consultant
11 May 2012 | 6:59 pmJob Title: SEO Consultant Job Reference #: Unknown Position Type: full time or part time Name of employer: Brivin Corp Location: Miami Florida or telecommute Date Posted: 10 May 2012 Position description: Brivin Corp is currently seeking an SEO Consultant to join their SEO Team in Miami, FL: If you have a thorough knowledge of SEO, are a self-starter and goal oriented — then you are their ideal candidate. The SEO Consultant’s responsibility will be to assist in the structure of the SEO architecture of their new websites alongside their SEO team. Required Qualifications: Must have… -
SMX Sydney 2012 – Anne Kennedy – Duplication, syndication & all that other mess
9 May 2012 | 4:35 pmThis is a summary of Anne Kennedy’s presentation at Search Marketing Expo / Online Marketer Conference held in Sydney 1-2 May 2012. Anne Kennedy has co-authored the first book on international SEO and PPC, called Global Search Engine Marketing. Anne provides search engine consulting to hundreds of companies worldwide and formed an international online marketing consortium with Nordic eMarketing in Reykjavik, London, Stockholm, Rome and Beijing. Duplicate content happens, says Anne. URL duplication is a big one. This is where you see several different versions of the same page being… -
SMX Sydney 2012 – Stephan Spencer – SEO in 2012
8 May 2012 | 6:15 pmThis is a summary of Stephan Spencer’s presentation at Search Marketing Expo / Online Marketer Conference held in Sydney 1-2 May 2012. Stephan Spencer is the author of two books: Google Power Search and The Art of SEO. He is also the founder of search marketing firm Netconcepts. Stephan starts by talking about Google’s Penguin algorithm update released on 24 April. A lot of people were hurt by the algo change which impacts 3.1% of searches. Stephan says, if you haven’t already done so, remove any dodgy SEO tactics NOW. Google is keeping a rap sheet on you – too many… -
Presentations from SMX Sydney 2012
8 May 2012 | 3:11 pmHi folks Sorry I haven’t been updating the blog daily lately, but I’ve been traveling, amongst other things. Last week I attended the Search Marketing Expo / Online Marketer Conference held in Sydney from 1-2 May 2012. I’ve attended nearly every SMX event held in Australia and although I enjoy them immensely, I rarely learn anything new. It’s a credit to the organizers that this year, I came away with an enormous amount of exciting, cutting edge industry information, helpful new tools to play with and the inspiration to take Search Engine College in a new direction. I…
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aimClear® Blog
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Sanibel Causeway From Captiva: aimClear Just For Fun Friday!
11 May 2012 | 1:30 pmToday we’re kicking off a new Friday afternoon feature, “Just For Fun Friday!” Being aimClear, we’re fortunate to have a ton of opportunities to experience life to it’s fullest. From Sydney to San Diego, New York to San Francisco, Toronto to Tampa, our team seems to be everywhere these days. Most weeks we’ll publish a few off-the-beaten-path pictures highlighting some tasty experience that lit up one of our iPhones, pocket cams’ or screen captures. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that delight me the most . The picture at the top of this… -
Email Marketing Hall Of Shame: 3 Classic #Fails To Avoid
8 May 2012 | 10:48 amEmail marketing is easy, right? It seems so simple. Yet some respected companies still make classic email marketing mistakes. Read on for an online marketing rant down memory lane. Before there were AdWords, Facebook or LinkedIn targeting, there was venerable email marketing. In this current (tricked out) demographic targeting era, where we regularly model and market to complex “Personas” and their sub- “Personalities,” it’s important to take a step back and remember the basics. Profile your customers by leveraging focused on-hand data. Tread softly. Treat… -
Community Manager Confessions: Why I’m Terrified Of Plasma Screen TVs (Or, How High-5s Saved My Sanity)
27 Apr 2012 | 11:58 amGather round, boys and girls, it’s time for another installment of Community Manager Confessions. If you’re unfamiliar with this social-media-secret-spilling series, it’s because we just created it today. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to exchange a high five with one another. Yes, high fives. Remember those? You know, you put your hand up – yep, yes, just like that, right – very good, and then I swoop in and slap your palm with my palm, but not too hard! Just a nice, even “Yeah, buddy!” high five to show you’re recognized, and… -
Mega CTR-Tastic Sponsored Stories, Live In A Facebook News Feed Near You!
26 Apr 2012 | 5:07 pmBy now, most Facebook users probably have not have noticed Page Post Like Sponsored Stories, FB’s paid organic amplification product, creeping into their news feeds. Facebook marketers, on the other hand, are jumping up and down for joy. CTRs (click through ratios) for Page Post Like stories are through the roof and, with clever second degree of separation targeting, there is obviously hay to be made. Sure, we’ve heard this was coming for months. In fact there has been reporting on the subject since last December. Still, not everyone has seen news feed stories. Now the feature… -
From Social Ads To YouTube Success Stories: aimClear Bookends Day 2 #SMX Toronto
26 Apr 2012 | 9:50 amTo attendees kicking it this week at SMX Toronto, be sure to check out aimClear’s own Manny Rivas (@mannyrivas) as he tears up the stage from dawn till dusk! Well… by that, we mean speak at the first session of the day and the final session of the day. On truly rad topics, to boot! Read on for a peek at what he’ll be dishing up during his bookend sessions. Thursday, April 26, 2012 (That’s Today!) 9:00 am EST - Beyond Search: Leveraging Ads On Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn Manny will wake up audience members and shake up the great city of Toronto with tips for…
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Branded3
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Penguin Update Renders SEOmoz & Majestic Link Data Unreliable For Link Cleanup
14 May 2012 | 7:52 amFollowing on from our blog post recently about cleaning up unnatural links we’ve been doing some research to understand which tools are best to use for finding bad links to your site. The primary tools that most of us know and love for link analysis are Open Site Explorer from SEOmoz and Majestic SEO but we have recently found that these tools (even if their results are merged together) are not able to find the same level of unnatural links that Google is aware of. The problem with OSE and Majestic is that they crawl the web starting with the highest authority sites and build an index… -
The EU e-Privacy Directive Compliance
14 May 2012 | 5:07 amYou’ve probably all heard of the ‘EU Cookie Law’ by now, but you might not know what it actually specifies and what’s going to happen when it comes into place on 26th May 2012. Named the ‘EU e-Privacy Directive Compliance’ (it doesn’t solely apply to cookies); the law actually came into play last May, but the Information Commissioner’s Office has given web masters 12 months to prepare for the enforcement of the law this year. The law states that cookies or similar devices must not be used unless the user of the technology is provided with “clear and comprehensive information… -
The New-Look Facebook for Brands
11 May 2012 | 4:29 amWhat does the new Facebook mean for brands and how can the Timeline be best utilised in the online conversation? Facebook’s now obligatory changes to its layout have meant that brands have had to alter their marketing approach to the world’s biggest social media network to maintain and attract the attention of their existing and prospective audiences. The introduction of the Timeline means that ‘brand stories’ are the main focus of the new-look Facebook – the whole layout means that profiles can now be much more engaging and, indeed, aesthetically pleasing, but that is only true for… -
Cleaning your links: A step-by-step guide
3 May 2012 | 5:08 amWhilst I’ve only been working ‘properly’ in the SEO field at Branded3 for eight months or so, it’s clear from our very own Patrick Altoft that the last few months have caused the biggest upheaval in the search world for a long time. “…SEO has never been harder to do than it is right now.” There’s much talk about the various Google wildlife that’s currently been unleashed on the WWW but this isn’t going to be another post about Penguins and Pandas, or how certain sites are more at risk of penalty, how bad the SERPs are or how Google is destroying small businesses. There are… -
Revolutionary study: We prove that tweets do affect rankings
26 Apr 2012 | 4:39 amIn the biggest study of its kind, we have found that there is strong correlation between the amount of tweets about a URL, and its Google ranking. Key Stats Study shows that URLs receive a significant boost in Google rankings when they are shared on Twitter The effects of this boost seem to level out at around 50 tweets, and the subsequent benefit of gaining additional tweets is minimal until around 5,000 tweets After 5,000 tweets the average ranking of URLs improves considerably URLs receiving over 7,500 tweets almost always rank inside the top 5 results Average rankings are heavily…
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Jennifer Slegg - Search Engine Marketing Consultant
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Infographics & their huge Google spam footprint
23 Apr 2012 | 7:17 amI cringe every time I see someone spamming some new infographic on Twitter or Google+. While some of them are clever and amusing, particularly in the beginning, some of them are clearly a stretch with shoddy graphic design and lack of any worthy (or accurate) content. Not only that, so many of them lately have nothing to do with the site in question and are simply created for link value, because obviously that infographic on Angry Birds addiction really fits into the content theme of a low fat recipes site. While infographics got their start on news sites, even well before the… -
SEO For Google+ & Google Search @ SMX West
29 Feb 2012 | 10:35 pmModerator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land (@dannysullivan) Q&A Moderator: Jennifer Slegg, Owner, JenSense.com Speakers:Sean Carlos, CEO, Antezeta Web Marketing (@seancarlos) Janet Driscoll Miller, President and CEO, Search Mojo (@janetdmiller) Daniel Dulitz, Product Manager, Google (@dulitz) Monica Wright, Social Media Editor, Search Engine Land and Marketing Land (@monicawright) First up, we start with the Google+ rep, Daniel Dulitz. He says you can ignore Google+ if you’re hoping to do well with Google Search. A user’s path to good content ranking:… -
Building Buzz On Facebook: Getting Liked & Shared @ SMX West
29 Feb 2012 | 10:09 pmBuilding Buzz On Facebook: Getting Liked & Shared Moderator: Elisabeth Osmeloski, Managing Editor, Search Engine Land (@elisabethos) Q&A Moderator: Jennifer Slegg, Owner, JenSense.com Speakers:Tami Dalley, Vice President of Analytics and Insights, Buddy Media (@DataDivaDalley) Aaron Friedman, Content Strategist, Resolution Media (@aaronfriedman) Dan Robbins, Director of Marketing, Fox Racing Shox (@reachdanro) First up is Tami from Buddy Media, with a series of tips for promoting your business on Facebook. Keep posts short. Posts under 80 characters have 30% higher engagement. … -
Creative Facebook Ad Tactics @ SMX West
29 Feb 2012 | 8:23 pmModerator: Greg Finn, Chief Marketing Officer, Cypress North (@gregfinn) Q&A Moderator: Noran El-Shinnawy, Director of Marketing, BoostCTR (@noranshinnawy) Speakers: Addie Conner, VP, Advertising, SocialCode (@socialcodeinc) Matt Lawson, VP of Marketing, Marin Software (@marinsoftware) Will Scott, President, Search Influence (@w2scott) Marty Weintraub, CEO, aimClear (@aimclear) First up is Matt from Marin Software. He says consumers exposed to a brands social media are 50% more likely to click on paid search ads. He also recommends the white paper ”The Influenced: Social… -
Building Buzz On Twitter: Getting Followed & Retweeted
29 Feb 2012 | 7:11 pmBuilding Buzz On Twitter: Getting Followed & Retweeted Moderator: Elisabeth Osmeloski, Managing Editor, Search Engine Land (@elisabethos) Q&A Moderator: Jennifer Slegg, Owner, JenSense.com Speakers: Drew Conrad, Social Media Marketing Specialist, ZAGG (@drewconrad ) Carrie Gouldin, Web Community Manager, ThinkGeek Chris Silver Smith, President, Argent Media (@si1very) Chris Silver Smith was up first, and he starts with a bang by telling the audience to get a jump start on a new twitter account by buying Twitter followers. Followers are low quality, but you get 1000 followers for…
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Performancing
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Web Hosting Providers Features: Is Live Chat Worth it for Your Small Business?
15 May 2012 | 7:00 amGetting involved with a web hosting provider is something that usually lasts at least one year, so it’s a big decision. There are many different web hosting companies to choose from, so it’s important that a hopeful website owner considers the different features that a company may or may not offer. There are tons of different features of a web hosting company including Bandwidth, site statistics, advertising credits, spam filters, and FTP manager, so the choice can be overwhelming. However, there is one feature that I simply cannot live without—live chat. For those who are unfamiliar,… -
How to Prevent Social Media Fatigue
10 May 2012 | 12:49 pmSocial media fatigue or burnout is becoming more and more of a problem for both consumers and businesses, as the availability of new and exciting social media networking sites like Pinterest and Instagram are gaining millions of users a month. However, for most people, there is a tipping point between being able to handle it all and feeling overwhelmed. A new study reports that approximately 50% young people feel that keeping up with their social media accounts is too time consuming. On a corporate side, a company or organization has two obligations– to prevent consumers from getting… -
5 Bad Pieces of Legal Advice Bloggers Get Regularly
9 May 2012 | 10:42 amWhen it comes to the Web, there are a lot of people out there willing to give you free legal advice. Unfortunately, much of it is outright wrong and it can be very dangerous. While, fortunately, many of these legal misconceptions have been slowly dying off as the Web has become more and more aware of these issues, some have managed to stick around and get circulated repeatedly. So, before you fall victim to some bad legal advice you found online, here’s a few of the more common (and more dangerous) pieces you are likely to encounter. 1. Fair Use Will Protect You A lot of people believe… -
The Benefits and Downfalls of Using Social Media Advertising
3 May 2012 | 10:31 pmSocial media advertising can be a great way to reach customers in a medium where a large majority are very active; logging on almost every day (and some for multiple times per day). It allows businesses and organizations to reach customers in a way they might not be able to otherwise. For instance, a user may not find a company’s blog or website, but could have a higher chance of being exposed to the brand and its products on a social media site. While there are a great deal of benefits that may come from social media advertising, there are still a few downfalls, which can make this… -
5 Social Media Dashboards to Help Get Your Social Media Under Control
30 Apr 2012 | 8:00 amThose who are new to social media learn quickly that it is not easy. Having a personal Facebook page and a personal LinkedIn account can sometimes give the impression that social media is “easy,” but it is quite a different story when you begin social media marketing for a company. Working with social media for your company requires you to juggle many different social media accounts at once—your personal company LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+—and this can get overwhelming. These social networks are really the “must-have” social networks when you’re first starting a…
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Sebastian's Pamphlets
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Dear webmaster, don’t trust Google on links
19 Apr 2012 | 8:23 pmI’m not exactly a fan of non-crawlable content, but here it goes, provided by Joshua Titsworth (click on a tweet in order to favorite and retweet it): What has to be said [View the story “A rant on Google’s outlandish link policy by SebastianX” on Storify] Google’s link policy is ape shit. They don’t even believe their own FUD. So don’t bother listening to crappy advice anymore. Just link out without fear and encourage others to link to you fearlessly. Do not file reinclusion requests in the moment you hear about a Googlebug on your preferred… -
About time: EU crumbles monster cookies from hell
10 Apr 2012 | 8:22 pmSome extremely bright bravehearts at the European Union headquarters in Bruxelles finally took the initiative and launched a law to fight the Interweb’s gremlins, that play down their sneaky and destructive behavior behind an innocent as well as inapplicable term: COOKIE. Back in the good old days when every dog and its fleas used an InternetExplorer to consume free porn, and to read unbalanced left leaning news published by dubious online tabloids based in communist strongholds, only the Vatican spread free cookies to its occasional visitor. Today, every site you visit makes use of… -
My Top 10 Predictions for 2012
31 Dec 2011 | 8:21 amSEO refuses to die. In other words, SEOs who grasped HTML5 might survive. Flash on the other hand, died earlier. Google delays the launch of their mind-reading-search-implant (beta) after Altavista threatens to give away their babelfish earpiece for free. Yahoo launches a huge comment link spam attack in order to boost the ranking of its few remaining Web facilities at Bing. Earth becomes flat, at least on-line, after the presidential elections. Counting is overrated. While working hard on tomorrow’s hangover, I remembered that posting drunk ain’t good for unknown reasons. If… -
Geo targeting without IP delivery is like throwing a perfectly grilled steak at a vegan
22 Sep 2011 | 9:22 amSo Gareth James asked me to blather about the role of IP delivery in geo targeting. I answered “That’s a complex topic with gazillions of ‘depends’ lacking the potential of getting handled with a panacea”, and thought he’d just bugger off before I’ve to write a book published on his pathetic UK SEO blog. Unfortunately, it didn’t work according to plan A. This @seo_doctor dude is as persistent as a blowfly attacking a huge horse dump. He dared to reply “lol thats why I asked you!”. OMFG! Usually I throw insults at folks starting a… -
Bizarre facettes of war in social media
13 May 2011 | 1:12 amAs a matter of fact, wars happen in social media, too. I don’t mean flame wars. I don’t refer to Arab dictators who, closely following the #ArabTyrantManual, during uprisings shut down Facebook, Twitter, or even the whole friggin Interwebs. I admit, those scumbags are somewhat creative. For example Syria’s junior dictator Bashar al-Assad, wo launched a huge amount of hashtag spambots diluting every piece of information leaking out from cyber activists, while reforming his people with T-72 shellings and mashine gun live rounds. With a little help from a fellow assclown based…
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Stone Temple Consulting
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AdWords Spam Fighting Methods with Google’s David Baker
10 May 2012 | 11:00 amDavid Baker is an engineer at Google and has been working for Google for 8 years now. In this interview, he discusses the constant efforts by Google to protect their search users from deceptive advertising. Key Points In 2011 Google had billions of ads that were submitted. Of these, roughly 130 million ads and 800,000 advertiser accounts were disapproved/suspended for violations of policy. Some of the spam problem is handled algorithmically while some is assisted with manual review. The system is constantly under work and revision. One of the biggest areas of bad ads is counterfeit. In 2011,… -
Link Pruning is the Key to Addressing Penguin
4 May 2012 | 10:20 amWith today’s post I am happy to announce the launch of the Stone Temple Consulting YouTube Channel. And, we are kicking that off with a video interview I did with Bruce Clay on a hot topic – link pruning. As you probably know, Google’s recent Penguin update focused on lowering rankings for sites that use questionable link building practices. This is a hot topic! If you have been hit by Penguin, or are worried about future variations of the algorithm, this is a video you can’t miss. In fact, regardless of your current situation, pruning the worst links out of your… -
AdWords Expanding Phrase and Exact Matching Technology
18 Apr 2012 | 4:11 pmAdWords has started releasing a feature that will expand the matching technology for Phrase and Exact Match Types. Essentially, Phrase and Exact Match Types will begin matching closely related search terms, when Google’s technology is able to establish that the search intent is the same. The opt-out functionality is live today; All Advertisers are auto-opted into this feature as a new Advanced Campaign Setting. The matching technology will not actually change until mid-May. Advertisers can begin preparing now, and opt-out now if they choose to. My Take: This is a classic… -
Rel=Author Defined with Google’s Sagar Kamdar
11 Apr 2012 | 10:58 amSagar Kamdar is a Group Product Manager for Google Search. Sagar is responsible for Google’s authorship and social initiatives in search. Prior to joining Google, Sagar was a Director responsible for Analytics products at Oracle. Sagar has a BS degree in EE from Cornell University. Key Points from Interview with Sagar Kamdar This interview transcript is from the March 13th, 2012 conversation I had with Sagar Kamdar, who heads up the authorship program at Google. This provided some simple, straightforward clarity on how it works, and some of the various scenarios for implementation. Here… -
The Future of Search and Social Integration, Interview With Andrew Shuman
5 Apr 2012 | 10:20 amAndrew Shuman is the Partner Development Manager for the Bing Experiences Team at Microsoft. He manages the team responsible for Bing Experiences, including the homepage, results page, rich clients, multimedia, and more. Andrew has held several positions in his time at Microsoft where he’s been since 1993. Key Points from Interview with Andrew Shuman I had a fascinating chat with Andrew Shuman about the adCenter UI and the integration of search and social media. He provided a lot of great insights on what some of the opportunities are, and some of the challenges as well. Here are some of…
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High Rankings Advisor Newsletter Feed
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Your Most Common SEO Questions Answered
2 May 2012 | 4:19 pmToday I browsed through the 3,500 or so SEO questions people asked at Google and chose the most common ones to answer. -
High Rankings Question of the Week
2 May 2012 | 12:50 pmDo you love or hate (or something in the middle) Google's Penguin Update? -
Advanced SEO Forum Thread of the Week
2 May 2012 | 12:50 pmThe 'Penguin Update' - How Can I Recover? -
HRA 331: Wrap-up
2 May 2012 | 12:50 pmThat's all for today! -
6 Web Marketing Strategies I've Learned (So Far) From Promoting My New Website
18 Apr 2012 | 11:35 amRead on to see what I've learned (so far) trying to market my new website.
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Graywolf's SEO Blog
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Shoeboxed.com Review – Receipt Scanning & Business Card Scanning Software
5 May 2012 | 10:09 amThe following is a review of Shoeboxed.com, a receipt scanning and business card scanning service. receipt scanning service and business card scanning service … organized online … and it’s completely painless … To be honest keeping receipts, accounting, or any book keeping work is pretty much something I hate. I can’t tell you how many times I’d be talking with the accountant, she’d ask for some receipt I wouldn’t have, and I’d have to go digging for it. I was talking with my friend Merrick at PRLeap earlier this year, and he mentioned a… -
Does Your Small Business Need a Facebook and Twitter Social Media Account
4 May 2012 | 11:50 amIt’s 2012 and social media and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are constantly mentioned on mainstream media news and entertainment websites and broadcast programs. Print ads for everything from movies to toothpaste have those ubiquitous little Facebook and Twitter logos, hashtags, and often special social media vanity URLs. The question is does your business need to be involved in social media, is it worth the time, what’s the benefit and is there ROI somewhere at the end of the tunnel? At the current time, in my opinion, there simply isn’t an excuse for… -
Why Offline Stores and Small Businesses Need to Embrace Online Shopping and Build Better Websites
2 May 2012 | 11:20 amI recently wrote a story How Brick and Mortar Stores Can Use eCommerce to Drive Sales about tips that eCommerce stores can use to drive traffic to their brick and mortar locations. However, what really needs to happen is offline stores and small businesses need to grow up and stop hiding in the corner from online commerce bogeyman. They need to give up their antiquated who moved my cheese mentality. It’s a fact that consumers’ preference for eCommerce stores will continue to grow, smart phone and tablet shopping will continue to rise, and merchants who don’t recognize this… -
Why Website Owners Should Be Using Pinterest
6 Apr 2012 | 11:30 amA lot has been said and written about Pinterest in the past few weeks and months, from how marketers can use use it to drive traffic to how affiliate spammers are using it to generate income. However, I’m going to take a slightly “bigger picture” view of Pinterest. How Should Web Publishers Use Pinterest …if you really want to taste the sweet nectar of knowledge, you personally have to pick the fruit straight from the tree and take a bite… There have been countless articles about how to extract short term value and traffic from Pinterest. Just as many social… -
Why You Need Different Templates for Your Website
4 Apr 2012 | 12:06 pmRecently I’ve been talking with some friends who don’t fit into the traditional SEO, publisher, or writer-with-delusional-dreams-of-becoming-a-famous-blogging-rock-star categories. They want to build and run websites in their spare time about subjects they are interested in. But they don’t want them to be hobby websites; they want to use them to supplement their income. One of the lessons I’ve tried to teach both of them is why your websites needs different types of pages or templates and how the goals of each of these templates is different. In this post, I’ll…
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SEO ROI
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Skip Display Retargeting / Remarketing: Start With Email ReMarketing
14 May 2012 | 8:15 amYou can segment your email list by what page(s) they visited. That means you can use your email marketing for “retargeting” aka “remarketing.” Retargeting is an increasingly popular marketing tactic that targets prospects based on their having already visited your site (or a specific page, depending what pages include your retargeting-cookie-dropping code). You know from the person’s previous visit that they’re interested in your product, so you use retargeting to get a second chance at converting them. Typically, retargeting is done via display ads. And… -
Pause Low CTR Ads In AdWords Automatically With Rules / Alerts
13 May 2012 | 8:17 amWhile looking around for AdWords alerts, I discovered a very handy time-saving feature in AdWords called Rules. You can use AdWords Rules to automatically pause low-CTR ads, high-CPA keywords and likewise auto-manage other aspects of your account that don’t require human judgment. Like this post? Get a free chapter from my book, on the right. Here are some things you can do automatically with rules without having to manually make the changes online or with AdWords Editor (whose interface sadly won’t let you setup rules): 1. Pause or start ads, ad groups or keywords 2. Increase or… -
Keith Hagen of ConversionIQ Previews Conversion Conference
10 May 2012 | 1:59 amKeith Hagen of ConversionIQ is set to speak at the next Conversion Conference in Chicago. He graciously agreed to an interview ahead of the show. Click here for a $100 discount on Conversion Conference. You’ll see the discount code listed in the upper right after the click. 1) What’s the topic of your presentation? How did you come up with that? The topic is “Testing What Matters” and it arose from a conversion I had with another CRO and were talking about how all these massive corporations (like the ones we had both come out of) have the best testing tools and are… -
Sort By Impressions To Find Worst Negative Keywords, Efficiently
9 May 2012 | 7:43 amHere’s how to increase your adwords CTR and drop CPCs in 30 seconds, by finding more negative keywords. Sort by impressions. The reason this boosts CTR is because your CTR is determined by clicks across ALL keyword phrases people use – not just those you intended. Use negative match to block your ads from showing up for irrelevant keywords, even those that are close misses. If you sell Ford F-150s but not their tires, phrase-matching “Ford F-150″ will get you tire-buyers viewing your dealership’s ads. So you want to pay attention not just to know budget wasters… -
Ecommerce SEO Is A NOT For Profit Activity
8 May 2012 | 4:34 amGoogle is cutting the ROI on ecommerce SEO and has been for 8+ years. If ecommerce merchants don’t understand the changes below, they’re going to lose market share to savvier competitors. Read on for what you need to do to survive and thrive. Google has reduced the traffic and ROI available to SEO-ed sites by: - Publishing sites’ content directly in search results as stock quotes, movie times, flight times, sports scores etc. - Creating “universal” search results that make sites compete with Youtube, Google News, Product search etc - Taking away keyword data for…
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Yoast
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Penguin, Panda, it’s not that black and white..
14 May 2012 | 7:37 amWe're getting quite a few site review requests and SEO consultancy requests recently for people that have been hit by a sudden drop in traffic. Because there has been quite some news about Google's Penguin and before that its Panda update, people are blaming those. In our perspective, whether you're blaming Penguin, Panda or another update from Google isn't really that interesting if you're not an SEO. What matters most is: you've lost traffic, how are you going to get it back?Why you'd want to know the update that caused itThe idea is that if you know which update caused your traffic to drop… -
Having a blast at BlueGlass LA
24 Apr 2012 | 12:18 pmI'm currently sitting in the conference room for BlueGlass LA, listening to Marty Weintraub and finishing my presentation I'll be giving this afternoon. Which leads me to the point of this post as I'm going to try and prove a point, therefore the following video is not really meant for you to watch but for me to test something with:As a side note, BlueGlass LA is probably the best conference I've been to in a while, with a ridiculous line-up of speakers, if you're going to go to an internet marketing conference, BlueGlass conferences are seriously among the very best in the US, second only to… -
Why I dislike Bo.lt
21 Apr 2012 | 4:59 pmWhen I released my updated WordPress SEO article a few weeks back, my buddy Avinash was kind enough to tweet it. He tweeted it, at first, with a bo.lt link. Bo.lt is a sharing service that allows you to basically make a copy of a page and add some notes or even some changes to the page. The idea is nice, as a webmaster though, I hate it. Let me explain why.You see, bo.lt makes a copy of the page at the moment it's prepared for sharing, they say they do that because of speed. As Avinash tweets a lot, he probably made that copy a couple of hours before he shared it. This wouldn't be so much of… -
WordPress Stats Infographic
16 Apr 2012 | 6:30 amMy Google Analytics plugin recently hit 3 million downloads and my WordPress SEO plugin hit its first million downloads. I thought those stats were cool and I decided to have an infographic made with more WordPress stats and dive in a little bit more and gather some stats that I thought would be interesting.If you read any blogs in the world, by now you'll know WordPress dominates the top 100 blogs in the world, Matt had some interesting comments about that. We've seen more WordPress stats, like these by Lorelle. I then started adding more stats on my own.I asked Experian Hitwise to give me… -
The ethics of SEO
4 Apr 2012 | 3:29 amThe type of SEO I help my clients do and promote to you using this blog is often labeled white hat SEO because it stays within Google's and other search engines guidelines. Other SEO's don't care about Google's guidelines as much and do what's called "black hat SEO". Far too often though, black hat SEO is confused with the hacking of sites and the use of other tactics not outside the laws of Google but the laws of our lands. I think it's time for me to explain where I stand in this.My backgroundAs a former Theology student and as someone raised in the Christian tradition, I have a fairly…
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adCenter Blog
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SMX London 2012: Complying and Coping In the New World of Regulated Global Marketing Environment
15 May 2012 | 11:28 amThe EU’s cookie and tracking legislation is an onerous policy that limits online marketing. US lawmakers are contemplating sweeping changes to intellectual property law that will stifle access and the flow of information. What’s a marketer...(read more) -
How to Seduce Seven Types of Searchers with Great #PPC Ad Copy #SMX
15 May 2012 | 11:24 amWelcome to London: it is pouring with rain and the tube doesn’t work. When the district line does reluctantly grinds to a halt at Fulham Broadway it only takes minutes to reach SMX London which is taking place in the home of Chelsea Football Club...(read more) -
Brooks Running Finds Success with Bing and Yahoo! Search
14 May 2012 | 2:31 pmWant to know if advertising on Bing and Yahoo! Search actually supplies a great ROI for your SMB’s marketing dollars? Don’t just trust us - trust your fellow SMB customers. The proof was in the numbers for Doug Rosenberg, Online Traffic & Loyalty...(read more) -
FREE Limited Time Accreditation!
14 May 2012 | 1:05 pmThe best things in life are FREE!! Are you ready to become a Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional ? For a limited time we are offering FREE accreditation so don’t hesitate, sign up and take the exam today by following this link and clicking...(read more) -
Heads Up: Microsoft adCenter Terms and Conditions 2012 Update
10 May 2012 | 2:00 pmThis is just a quick heads up that your Microsoft Advertising adCenter Terms and Conditions have been updated with the goal of enhancing our service to provide greater payment flexibility. An adCenter prepay option will be available --no word, yet, on...(read more)
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Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog
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The Business of APIs: Interview with an API Evangelist
16 May 2012 | 3:03 amI had the pleasure of sitting down with Kin Lane, an API Evangelist, blogger at KinLane.com and API Evangelist, contributor to Programmable Web, and all-around expert in APIs.Kin is an engineer who has been building database driven web apps for 12 years, and working with data for over 20. Watching API usage really rise in the last few years and seeing it drive innovation in social, cloud computing and more, and so much talk on the technical side of the world, Kin began to explore the business side of APIs. What does it take to deploy, what business elements do you need to support an API? Not… -
EU Cookie Law: 4 Tips For Crafting Your Opt-In Request
14 May 2012 | 6:42 pmThe May 26 deadline for compliance with the EU cookie law is rapidly approaching, and my heart goes out to all our friends affected by this ridiculous “solution” to a poorly defined problem.For a refresher on what the new law is about, check out Silktide’s brilliant (and humorous) explanation of it.I was asked in an interview by Mike Arsenault of Rejoiner last week what I thought of the law’s impact on personalization. My biggest concern is that consumers unreasonably fear cookies and their impact on privacy, without understanding how they make life easier for web… -
How Mobile Influences the Customer Journey [Infographic]
11 May 2012 | 3:02 amIs it the year of the mobile yet?Perhaps tablet penetration is only 13%, but 69% of tablet owners make a purchase from their device every month.This week’s infographic is courtesy of Mobtext and inMobi: The Role of Connected Devices in the Customer Sales Journey. It breaks down how tablets, laptops and mobile phones are used at home, at work and on the go throughout the purchase funnel.Click to enlarge infographic to full sizeSurprised that tablets are rarely used in the purchase funnel on the go? Not so surprising when you consider 9 out of 10 tablet owners prefer wifi to 3G. -
5 Tips for Custom Facebook Open Graph Buttons
9 May 2012 | 3:03 amSince reporting late last year that Facebook sharing buttons, through the Open Graph, will morph into a variety of creative verbs and nouns beyond Like, Share and Recommend, custom integrations have been gradually popping up around the Web.Custom Facebook buttons enhance the connection between consumption and social networking, allowing consumers to express how they feel about brands and products – a trend that’s catching on thanks to Pinterest.But just having buttons isn’t enough – like any call-to-action, they should be optimized.5 Tips for Custom Open Graph Facebook… -
Why Upgrade? How to Convert More Free Users to Premium
7 May 2012 | 3:04 amIn a recent Get Elastic post we looked at the business model of freemium, and 9 strategic mistakes to avoid.Today we drill down into the challenge of converting free users to premium — with tips to maximize your potential.Note: this article focuses on freemium models with premium “upgrades,” rather than free apps with add-on options that may be purchased to enhance user experience.Stop selling freeThink it’s easy to turn a free user to a paying customer once they get hooked on your product? Not necessarily. If your product offers free and paid versions, users who…
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QualityScores
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Truly Automated PPC Management Solutions
1 May 2012 | 9:16 pmI wrote a couple controversial posts a year or two ago. Then, like scumbag Steve, I didn’t tell you what I recommended for truly automated solutions in the bid management space even though I promised I would. A lot has changed since I wrote those blog posts. One thing that hasn’t is my opinion that certain things should be largely automated by machines. We just aren’t as smart or as fast as machines can be when managing thousands of keywords…there’s no way around that. Your argument is already invalid. A few of the changes that occurred since I promised to write… -
Ad Rotation Options in Google AdWords – Do NOT Choose ‘Rotate’
30 Apr 2012 | 9:11 pmYou have a few ad rotation settings to choose from in a Google AdWords campaign. 1) Optimize for clicks: show ads expected to provide more clicks (this is the default setting for new campaigns) 2) Optimize for conversions: Show ads expected to provide more conversions 3) Rotate: Show ads more evenly You can get to these settings in AdWords under any Campaign -> Settings -> Advanced Settings section -> Ad Delivery: Ad rotation, frequency capping -> Ad rotation (click “Edit” and you should see something similar to the picture below. Click the picture for a bigger… -
#EpicDinnerSJ at SMX West 2012
20 Feb 2012 | 11:37 pmEdit: Tweet me @jameszol or email me james@qualityw00tscores.com to get on the reservation list asap! Alan Bleiweiss gave me permission to put together an Epic Dinner at SMX West 2012 because he won’t make the show this season. We’ll miss him! We’ll try to make it EPIC w/out him! Here are the details that I have so far: We’re continuing the tradition started by Alan last year, holding the dinner at Morton’s The Steakhouse. 1.5 blocks away from the Convention Center. Time: 6:30pm Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 The price is $100. You get to choose 1 item from… -
What is Truly Automated, Adaptive PPC Bid Management Technology?
28 Jul 2010 | 1:47 pmIf you invested in bid management software within the past few years, chances are high that you were probably duped in one key area: automation. Now, before you think I’m about to split hairs here…let’s walk through a few basics to make sure we’re on the same page…and…wait…who am I kidding? This might make you mad – or it will make ppc software companies mad so I suppose it really might split a few hairs. Define:automation. <— This link takes you to google’s indexed list of definitions for the word ‘automation’ The… -
Manual PPC Bid Management is Dead
21 Jul 2010 | 7:31 amWhen I started QualityScores as an agency* several years ago, I was proud of the crazy results we were able to achieve with manual pay per click management techniques. We used massive custom spreadsheets (customized for each client! no ‘rubber stamp’ approach!) with rules that would tell us to move a bid up or down or change the ad copy or revise the ad group…it was really quite an amazing ppc management tool and I would often brag that we had tested a handful of ppc management software in the space only to outperform it manually every time! That was before most web-based or…
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Compete Blog
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What’s In A Name: Are We Really Naming Our Kids After Celebs?
15 May 2012 | 3:46 pmImage from: Baby Name Image / Shutterstock Yesterday, the U.S. Social Security Administration released the most popular baby names for 2011, and today, everyone is buzzing about the relation of said baby names to today’s celebrities. Female Names Sophia Isabella Emma Olivia Ava Emily Abigail Madison Mia Chloe Male Names Jacob Mason William Jayden Noah Michael Ethan Alexander Aiden Daniel The name “Sophia” was the most popular name for a girl, was “Jacob” was the most popular boy’s name. But what influence do Sofia Vergara and Jacob Black really have over… -
Publishers Clearing House: Giving away money to make money?!
15 May 2012 | 1:07 pmImage from: PCH We’ve all seen the videos online, where a TV crew pulls up to some lucky, unsuspecting household and they roll up to the doorstep with a bunch of balloons and a check the size of highway billboard to make someone rich. The first thing that always pops into my mind when I come across these clips is “can you cash those checks at the bank?” The second thought is always “those guys are STILL doing that?” The answer, most certainly, is definitely. Not only are they still doing it, the folks over at Publishers Clearing House seem to be doing it better than ever! I… -
April 2012 US Search Market Share Report: Bing up, Google up, Yahoo down
14 May 2012 | 10:19 pmFor the first time in months, the usual market share trends changed for Google and for Yahoo!. Google increased its share for the first time since December 2011 to 65.9% of the US core web search market. Yahoo! had been experiencing small increases in share steadily since December 2011, but saw a decline of 0.7ppt’s from March to April. Bing continues to gain monthly share since October 2011, and experienced a gain of 0.3ppt’s in April to represent 18.3% of the market. Google Powered engines now represent 2/3rd of the US search market, while Bing Powered engines represent the other 1/3rd. -
10 Photos from the DCMO Summit!
14 May 2012 | 3:19 pmThis time last week we were kicking off the 2012 Digital CMO Summit in Beverly Hills. Between speakers from AOL, Yahoo!, Funny or Die, and Vice, to views of the LA skyline and celeb sightings, we weren’t ready to leave. Below are just a few photos from our time in the 90210. Scott and Ryan are helping build bikes for the Boys and Girls Club of East LA, which is up for an award with the “Drops of Good” Project! Vote for this Boys and Girls Club here. Photo courtesy of @alyssamaine Setting up at the Beverly Wilshire- the ballroom is almost ready! Photo courtesy of @kristenrenda Spending… -
Sunday Series: Restaurants and Dining
13 May 2012 | 11:00 amImage from: My Pizza Brothers Our Sunday Series this week we are features 10 website with a large monthly increase in Unique Visitors from the Restaurants and Dining category. Bon appetit!
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Small Business Search Marketing
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SBSM Flashback: May 2011
16 May 2012 | 12:50 amFor those of you who are new SBSM readers & subscribers, here’s a list of noteworthy posts you probably missed from one year ago. I try to put together a post like this each month to introduce new readers to old content that might be worth reading. Is Google Figuring Out When Many Businesses Share One Address? Study: Yelp has More Productive, Less Extreme Reviewers Facebook, LinkedIn More Popular Among SMBs Than Twitter, Survey Says SBSM Mailbag: Four URLs, But Only One Page … Duplicate Content? Who Wants to Be a Search Engine Submission Expert? Previous Flashbacks SBSM… -
Google’s Freshness Algorithm in Action
11 May 2012 | 6:31 pmReal quick post here (I hope) about fresh content in Google’s search results. Background Google has been emphasizing fresh content in its search results for some time now. That link goes back to November 2011, and when I write on Search Engine Land about Google’s monthly search quality changes, they often include something about fresh content. Today’s Article & Google Freshness About four hours ago, I published a post on this blog with this headline: The Fallacy of Timing Blog Posts & Social Media Updates. Note, too, that I wrote a different title tag for that… -
The Fallacy of Timing Blog Posts & Social Media Updates
11 May 2012 | 2:16 pmStudies that claim to tell you when the best time to publish a blog post or share content socially are, in my opinion, mostly a load of crap. That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking with it. You’ve probably seen these studies and statistics. The folks at Bit.ly (a service I like and use) just shared some of their data and we wrote about it on Marketing Land. In a nutshell, Bit.ly is saying that the best time to post stuff on Twitter and Facebook is early afternoon, U.S. Eastern time. I don’t mean to pick on Bit.ly because, as I said, that’s just the latest in a… -
One Month Away: Local University – Advanced! – in Seattle
7 May 2012 | 8:39 amWe’re exactly a month away from what should be a terrific day of local search marketing information! GetListed.org’s first advanced version of Local University is scheduled for June 7th in Seattle as one of the additional training workshops associated with SMX Advanced. Rather than our typical four-hour, single-track workshop for small business owners, the Advanced workshop will be a full-day event with separate afternoon content tracks — one for small business owners and smaller agencies, and the other for big brands and large agencies. And it’s not just the format… -
8 Common Twitter Questions from Small Business Owners
4 May 2012 | 12:14 pmConfession: I’ve spent more time doing social media marketing in the past three years than doing local SEO/marketing. (Maybe that’s why my GetListed.org Local University friends put me on the social media “beat.”) In my experience, Twitter is more of a mystery to small business owners than Facebook is; that’s probably because they’re already familiar with using Facebook as an individual, so making the jump to having a business page isn’t too difficult. But they’re not so familiar with Twitter. For a lot of small business owners, I think Twitter…
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ReveNews
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The Five Biggest Mistakes of Onsite SEO
15 May 2012 | 12:00 pmFor any SEO program, the first order of business is to make sure your website is communicating clearly with Google. In order to properly index and rank your onsite content, Google must be able to find it, understand it, and determine its importance relative to other content on your site. If your site isn’t optimized correctly, important content will be completely ignored or under ranked. Consequently, the benefit of any link acquisition activities you’re undertaking will be seriously diminished. These five SEO blunders are not only big, they’re popular. How many of them is your website… -
Too Big to Ignore: The Market Potential for Social Search
14 May 2012 | 11:02 amOne of the effects of a giant infusion of capital, which Facebook is anticipating with its IPO this week, is the ability to expand a business into new ventures. Search looms as too tantalizing a market to ignore. Despite Google’s dominance in the search engine market, there does seem to be room for a major new competitor. comScore’s March 2012 report of search engine rankings reinforces the fact that, for some time, a usage gap has existed between Google (66.4 percent) and its closest rivals, Microsoft sites, including Bing (15.3 percent) and Yahoo! (13.7 percent). Facebook could quickly… -
Cashing Out: Week of May 6th – 12th 2012 in Online Marketing News
13 May 2012 | 3:54 pmVisa, MasterCard want a slot in the digital wallet One wonders if they planned it together. This week MasterCard and Visa both announced new digital wallet services, precursors to their planned mobile payments services, according to TechCrunch. At a conference in New Orleans May 7, MasterCard unveiled its new PayPass Wallet Services, a product the company is touting as “the future of payments for consumers, merchants and partners.” The service is broken up into three areas: PayPass Acceptance Network, which lets merchants accept digital payments across different networks,… -
LogMyCalls Launches Into the Future: A Q&A with CEO Jason Wells
11 May 2012 | 10:58 amLast week, call tracking, recording, and customer intelligence solution, LogMyCalls, emerged from Beta. Offered by ContactPoint, LogMyCalls got off to a strong start by winning the Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award and the Customer Interaction Solutions Product of the Year Award during its Beta period. We caught up with ContactPoint CEO, Jason Wells to find out what comes next for this innovative service. 1. During LogMyCalls’ Beta period, what system features became customer favorites and did any of them surprise you with how popular they became over other features? The… -
The Social Media Seesaw
10 May 2012 | 10:58 amThe ups and downs exhibited in the past few weeks suggest that social media continues to grow in popularity but remains a challenge for online marketers. When it comes to digital media buying, U.S. ad agencies certainly seem to favor social media. According to a new survey of U.S. ad agencies, conducted by media software firm STRATA, a Comcast company, media buyers rank social media second only to online advertising and ahead of search. The survey, which polls both small and large agencies around the country and therefore is representative of a broad sample, indicated that social media is…
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Understanding Google Places & Local Search
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29Prime – Would you Buy a Used Car From These Guys Let Alone SEO?
15 May 2012 | 5:00 amThis is a cautionary tale to 29Prime’s remaining 8000 clients. If this company abuses their own Google Places listing imagine what they might be doing in your name. Let me be upfront with my bias.. 29Prime is not one of my favorite companies. And I have in the past commented on their abuse of Google Place’s reviews to hide the reality of who they really are. But reader Dave Middleton pointed out that in addition to abusing Google Places’s review policy they are also abusing the Google Places Guidelines as well by adding a tagline to their business name in their Places… -
What Should You Tell A Client When Google Loses Their Reviews – A 4 Part Plan
14 May 2012 | 4:00 amGoogle continues having technical issues with losing reviews (here is my first report from August 2008 of them being lost – the issue goes back quite a ways.) particularly when the CID of a listing changes due to a merge. Also they seem to be tightening down what appears to be a relatively unsophisticated spam algo (first confirmed in November 2010) that is catching a number of good reviews with the bad. Don Campbell, amongst many others over the past few days, asked me what to tell rightfully upset clients that lose reviews from their Google Places page. Here is what do when I… -
Upcoming Getlisted Local University in Syracuse
14 May 2012 | 3:15 amWould love to see you at our next Getlisted Local University! May 22 - Local University: Syracuse will take place on May 22, 2012 from 8am – 12pm OR 1pm – 5pm at Driver’s Village in Cicero. Your choice of identical 4 hours sessions. Besides the regular speakers (David Mihm, Mary Bowling, Will Scott and myself) the event also includes John Carcutt, the Director of SEO for Advance Digital and co-host of SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM, Lauren Hufnal, a Bing Evangelist at Microsoft and Joel Headley the manager of Google’s Consumer Operations for Places and . If you… -
Minor Change to Review Presentation on the Places Page
10 May 2012 | 12:00 pmGoogle has changed the date information attached to a review and switched from the actual date created to a rough estimate of when it was created. The actual date is still visible if you click through to the reviewer. The change seems to create a greater visual sense of whether reviews are coming in over time. Now if they would just fix the problem of losing reviews. I find it amazing that Google is continuing to release new local products without fixing underlying issues like the problems they have keeping track of reviews and their lack of transparency in fighting review spam… Related… -
Google Places Rolls Out New Offers Program and Interface
9 May 2012 | 2:46 pmGoogle Places is now rolling out a new Offers creation program in the Places Dashboard to accompany the new Google Maps for Android. The product is significantly more robust than the current product and offers a range of creation options. There is an overview and FAQ available the Offers introduction page. It is now live in my Places Dashboard. Click this image to view a slide show of the creation options: Features: When you enter the Offers area of the Dashboard old offers are visible but not editable. It appears that older Offers created in the Dashboard will be maintained until…
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Convert Offline
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Google Maps Training By Mike Blumenthal – A Review
27 Apr 2012 | 8:30 amAs you already know, working in search marketing, change happens at light speed (byte speed for the punster) and continuing education and training is critical. When it came time to redefine our local seo procedure for all the recent changes, I wanted to create it with all known information available. Good luck, right? Since, I am an avid reader of Understanding Google Maps, I decided to take a chance and see if its author, Mike Blumenthal, would be interested in providing training. As it turned out he was and so we negotiated a price. Which went something like him telling me his rate is… -
Google Adwords Contact Form Extension Now Autofilled? Wow!
17 Feb 2012 | 10:35 amEmail address is autofilledThere have obviously some been some changes to Adwords contact form extensions since PPC Hero first wrote about them almost 2 years ago. For the first time, I saw one in the wild that autofilled my email address. I am surprised that google would take this step given the climate for increased privacy. Based on the privacy link (I hovered to get the screenshot) and the appeal for me to read their new privacy policy in the top right, we can infer that Google is aware that people might react badly to this. The defense to this would likely be the cloak of transparency… -
There’s A Yellow Pages In My Facebook… And Yours
19 Dec 2011 | 7:22 amFor the second time in my life, I found something in a Google search result that made me sure my professional life was about to change forever. The first was almost a decade ago when a simple search revealed the listings of 3 local businesses at the top of the results. I was a sales manager in the yellow page industry at the time. I knew instantly, these results foreshadowed the demise of the industry from which I was earning a living. That day I started preparing for the career I enjoy today. 2 days ago I had a similar experience. The writing was, quite literally, on the Wall. My Wall and…
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Mihmorandum: Local SEO + Web Design
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The Worst Kept “Secret” in Local Search: My Thoughts on the Impending Plus-Places Merge
14 May 2012 | 8:30 amThe inevitable integration of Google’s Plus and Places products, obvious since Day One of Plus, finally seems like it might be imminent. We’ve seen several signals from Google in the last couple of months that this integration may be coming sooner rather than later: 1) Google completed a major backend infrastructure update this Spring, presumably in preparation for [...] -
An Inside Look at Google’s Get Oregon Business Online
3 Apr 2012 | 7:15 pmI had the pleasure of attending Google's Get Oregon Business Online event last week here in Portland, part of their nationwide Get Your Business Online series (which Googlers refer to as "Gabbo"). I hadn't seen much coverage of any of these events in our little Local Search community -- even from Mike Blumenthal (!) -- so I thought I'd share some thoughts, as well as a small photo gallery. -
Google’s 8-Bit Maps for NES
31 Mar 2012 | 12:49 pmHas Google's Traditional April Fool's Joke Come a Day Early? While messing around with Google Maps I happened to come across a pop-up linking to a little video explaining 8-bit Google Maps. I applaud Google for its creativity and light-hearted nature. But I can't help but think of the (wo)man hours it must have taken to pull this off, and how those surely would have been better spent in the Places Help Forums, or on refinements to the clustering algorithm, where they would have a real-world, and not a fantasy-world, impact? -
Google Places Help Forums Permanent Archive
19 Mar 2012 | 9:55 amMany of you may have heard that Google is transitioning its Help Forums for Places to a new platform. They have made the very strange decision to suppress–actually ELIMINATE–all previous posts that have accumulated over the years. So much for “organizing all the world’s information?” Cynics may say that they’re attempting to cover tracks that [...] -
Local University Spring 2012 [Cross-Posted from GetListed Blog]
1 Mar 2012 | 1:20 pmAlthough my sparse posting schedule on here has unfortunately become the norm, the reason for the latest absence of posts has been that I’ve been putting together our Spring conference schedule for Local University with Mike Blumenthal, Ed Reese, and our other faculty. I’m excited to announce that we’re now “open for business” with all [...]
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SEO Igloo Blog
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Google Map Outdated And Wrong – Documenting The Reporting Process
19 Apr 2012 | 2:15 pmOne of our valued clients, Emerson Creek Pottery is experiencing a serious issue with the way in which Google has mapped their locale and pinned their location. The client’s correct location is at: Emerson Creek Pottery 1068 Pottery Lane Bedford, VA 24523 The Google Place Page for the client is listing them at an erroneous [...] -
Copy That Amuses, Copy That Enrages – Notes On The Power Of Words
17 Apr 2012 | 2:54 pmI’ve just finished reading an educational, entertaining book entitled Save The Deli by David Sax. In this unusual sociological work, Sax chronicles the origins of Jewish delicatessen, the disappearance of once-thriving delis from the world food scene and his personal hope in the lasting power of the deli in the future. This was a good [...] -
Google Places Hide Address Controversy – A Screencast
1 Apr 2012 | 2:43 amThis screencast presents opinion on the new hide address policy in Google Places and why it may make local search results less relevant in important decision-making situations. Please check it out, and thanks for watching! -
Hide Address Guideline Language Has Been Changed – Don’t Miss This
31 Mar 2012 | 4:56 pmYou think it’s Saturday. Put that picnic basket down. Take off those skis. An update to the Google Places Quality Guidelines regarding the much-publicized ‘hide address’ function has happened again. If you were confused by the previous language in the controversial guideline, check out the edit and see if this seems clearer to you now [...] -
My First Ever SEOmoz Post – The Google Places Hide Address Feature
26 Mar 2012 | 4:08 pmHope you will check out my SEOmoz blog post Why You May Need To Hide Your Places Address ASAP. Local SEOs will enjoy the big discussion going on there, and Google, will perhaps take note of the fact that people are not responding with much happiness to this change of policy. Please, stop by!
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LocalbizBits
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Survey: Budget, Time Biggest O…
15 May 2012 | 1:01 pmSurvey: Budget, Time Biggest Obstacles to Mobile Marketing for SMBs http://t.co/70nrdUxV -
Local Search Marketing Daily i…
15 May 2012 | 12:27 pmLocal Search Marketing Daily is out! http://t.co/CpBEbN4U ▸ Top stories today via @localsplash @yougottacall @devbasu @localsearchmkg -
Local Search Marketing Daily i…
14 May 2012 | 12:27 pmLocal Search Marketing Daily is out! http://t.co/CpBEbN4U ▸ Top stories today via @danielhollerung @joshaer @localseoguide @timtracey -
Four Steps To Create The Found…
14 May 2012 | 9:55 amFour Steps To Create The Foundation For Social SEO http://t.co/LUZIb5je -
Local Search Marketing Daily i…
13 May 2012 | 12:26 pmLocal Search Marketing Daily is out! http://t.co/1FBugB6Z ▸ Top stories today via @localsearchmkg @localseofirm
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SEO Diva
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SEO Diva is Back
6 May 2012 | 12:35 pmMonths ago all the posts on SEOdiva disappeared…at least to me (it seemed to still have some readership). It freaked me out at first, since I’ve had this blog since 2008. However, since my consulting business is keeping me super busy, I decided to let it go. Yesterday I added some side software, and suddenly the Diva is BACK! Know what? I’m glad. I missed sharing the really good information I learn about SEO. I also missed the communication with readers, some of whom have become personal friends. I think I needed the break. I also needed to come back. So stay tuned for some… -
Is Your Site Liable for Copyright Infringement?
29 Nov 2011 | 1:35 pmThere is a new bill in Congress called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that would rock the Internet – and not in a good way. The initial intent of the bill sounds okay…stop illegal sharing of music, movies and games. Unfortunately it could also stop the sharing of content on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Below is a synopsis of the effects of SOPA, shared from WorkOnTheSofa.com, for which I could be sued for copyright infringement if SOPA passes: Simply put, SOPA makes websites liable for copyright infringement that occurs among its users. Since the very foundation of social media… -
8 SEO Tips in a Panda World
20 Nov 2011 | 11:13 amIn this Panda world I’ve been taking courses and doing some serious research and study on how to get/keep top Google rankings. SEO has changed a lot, although some things never change – good onsite optimization means you don’t have to worry about every little update – your site will be solid. The Panda update did make everyone step up their game, though, especially in Google Places and link building. I spent 2 solid months researching, studying and revising my SEO methods to conform to the Panda world. Here are my Top SEO Tips after Panda Onsite SEO Increase the content of your pages… -
Get Backlinks That Are Automated, Relevant and Panda Friendly
14 Sep 2011 | 3:36 pmWe all work hard to get backlinks to our sites, in fact, it’s probably the most time consuming job we all have to perform to help our websites succeed. Here’s a heads-up on a link building WordPress plugin that I’ve been using and have seen great results with. In fact, it’s one of the best WordPress plugins I’ve ever seen. Not only will it build automatic backlinks, it’ll build backlinks that do it all: link juice, authority, traffic and long-life in one mega-SEO hit. How to Get Backlinks Automatically The plugin is called Digi Auto Links, and it gives you automated… -
Is Your Site Pretty to Search Engines?
12 Jul 2011 | 12:12 pmPretty is as pretty does. Some websites are quite beautiful to look at, but because of bloated coding, confused navigation, lack of applied SEO principles, corporate-speak in the content, and so on, they’re not at all pretty to search engines. WordPress sites do extremely well on the Internet. The coding is minimal, they are easy to optimize and maintain, plugins give them every functionality you could want, and the addition of regular fresh content makes the search engines come back for more. WordPress Owns the Internet Out of 1 million websites, 55% are WordPress. That’s an amazing…
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hobo
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Google Pagerank Update MAY 2012
3 May 2012 | 7:08 amGraphic by Elliance – First sourced at Search Engine Land Is anyone else seeing a Google Toolbar Pagerank update? I have TPR on pages from @ April 26 2012. This coincides with the latest Google PANDA and Google PENGUIN update in April 2012. I am definitely seeing toolbar pr update on internal pages. If you are interested in Google Pagerank….. looks [...] Check out - Google Pagerank Update MAY 2012 http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
TIP – How To Check For A Negative SEO Attack?
1 May 2012 | 10:00 pmQuick Negative SEO alert tip…… This won’t work for everybody but it worked for me (or rather, I happened across this simple method). But if you have a blog yourself, this might help you. It appears somebody is doing some negative seo ‘attack’ on the Hobo site as of recently…. I wouldn’t have known this [...] Check out - TIP – How To Check For A Negative SEO Attack? http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
UPDATED – Hobo SEO Wp Bot Tracker Plugin for WordPress
29 Apr 2012 | 10:14 pmUPDATED APRIL 2012 NOW TRACKS GOOGLE, BING, KEYWORDS, REFERRERS & 404 Pages. Marty just updated our simple WordPress plugin we made a few years ago – which you can install on self-hosted WordPress blogs. It nows also tracks the crawling activity of BingBot, as well as GoogleBot, and it will also tell you which keywords were used to find your site. We tested it [...] Check out - UPDATED – Hobo SEO Wp Bot Tracker Plugin for WordPress http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
Best SEO Company Results in Google UK
29 Apr 2012 | 10:13 pmFact 1. The UK is now in recession. You may be thinking of employing a seo company to help you optimise your site. You might even think about searching Google for “best seo company” (if you don’t know any better)….. Fact 2 – Google just applied the Penguin update to its natural listings. There are [...] Check out - Best SEO Company Results in Google UK http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/ -
Google Drive or Dropbox – Which Cloud Storage Is Best For Me?
29 Apr 2012 | 10:09 pm[Google Drive is not available in the UK at the moment. But - it's 'coming'.] Where will you choose to store your life in the cloud? Dropbox (aff) or Google Drive? NOTE – The following chart says Dropbox had 2 GB free storage as it did – but Dropbox now offers 5GB of free space [...] Check out - Google Drive or Dropbox – Which Cloud Storage Is Best For Me? http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/
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Antezeta Web Marketing
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New Trenitalia site design is an opportunity missed
6 May 2012 | 6:00 amA recent site redesign, undoubtedly motivated by the arrival of a competitor, Italo, was an opportunity for Italy’s Trenitalia to improve their booking process, key to the passenger revenue stream, and indeed there are some nice new features. If a trip includes one of the profitable trains... [...] -
Google search algorithm changes for April 2012 announced
5 May 2012 | 1:35 amIn an ongoing series, Google has just announced their most recent search algorithm changes for April 2012. Google is often cryptic when describing their changes, so the exact impact will be clearer over time. From an initial reading, many changes will impact international issues. It also appears... [...] -
Search engine Attrakt allows you to curate bookmarks and search through their contents
24 Apr 2012 | 8:28 amIf you’ve ever used delicious to organize bookmarks to authoritative web content, you can appreciate its value. Sometimes you may actually want to search though the bookmark’s content – and just that content – yet that’s not possible. A few guys from Florence decided... [...] -
Between the Lines: Google’s March 2012 Search Algorithm Updates
4 Apr 2012 | 4:15 amIf you try reading Google’s search updates, it might seem as if they’re speaking another language. Reading between the lines, here’s one quick interpretation as to what the main changes are: Google will now support a limited set of characters besides letters and numbers in search... [...] -
Facebook is the preferred tool for conveying birthday greetings in the digital age
4 Apr 2012 | 2:21 amBirthday Greetings Distribution in the Digital Age There’s one day a year where we all feel kind of special… our day, if you will. Well sure, perhaps we do have to share it with others, but its more or less our day. As an analog native who still remembers receiving birthday cards... [...]
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TopRankSEO® Blog
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Mother, Can I Trust Google? - Infographics
30 Apr 2012 | 8:11 amMother, Can I Trust Google? Infographics by Online Background Check Guide Hosted by: Online Background Check Guide If you liked "Mother, Can I Trust Google?" Infographics please Subscribe to TopRankSEO Blog RSS feeds, to get all the latest Google SEO, Analytics, Social Media, Online Marketing & Search Engine News. Meet TopRankSEO Blog at Facebook or Share it with your Twitter Network. -
Google Celebrating Gideon Sundbacks 132nd Birthday - Google Zipper Doodle
23 Apr 2012 | 5:14 pmGoogle Celebrating 132nd Birthday of Gideon Sundback's (Well-known for development of the Zipper) as on 24th April, 2012 by displaying interactive customized Zipper as Google Doodle Logo at their search home page. Google Zipper Doodle About Gideon Sundback from WikiPedia Gideon Sundback (April 24, 1880 – June 21, 1954) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer. Gideon Sundback is most commonly associated with his work in the development of the zipper. Watch out Live Google Zipper Doodle Video:- Read the entire article by clicking here Gideon Sundback Born April 24, 1880 Ödestugu… -
Google just got ZAGAT Rated! - Zagat Acquired by Google
8 Sep 2011 | 11:08 amMarissa Mayer, VP, Local, Maps & Location Services at Google announced that they had acquired Zagat today! "So, today, I'm thrilled that Google has acquired Zagat. Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering—delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world. With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry. Founded… -
Google Celebrating Jorge Luis Borges 112th Birthday - Google Logo
23 Aug 2011 | 4:55 pmGoogle Celebrating 112th Birthday of Jorge Luis Borges as on 24th August, 2011 as Google Doodle Logo at their home page. Jorge Luis Borges was born in an educated middle-class family in August 1899. Borges's 1929 book Cuaderno San Martín includes the poem "Isidoro Acevedo," commemorating his grandfather, Isidoro de Acevedo Laprida, a soldier of the Buenos Aires Army. A descendant of the Argentine lawyer and politician Francisco Narciso de Laprida, Acevedo fought in the battles of Cepeda in 1859, Pavón in 1861, and Los Corrales in 1880. Isidoro de Acevedo Laprida died of pulmonary congestion… -
Google Sitelinks Update - New Google Interface for WebSite Sitelinks at Google
16 Aug 2011 | 9:52 amIt's morning and I guess not many of power Google user's has noticed that Google rolled out a new Sitelink features which I just now observed. Also I am not sure does it being rolled out to all Google data-center's or as always Google trying out at few and later make it universal. To confirm this new Google Sitelink's feature I checked with Official Google Blog & Official Google Webmaster Central Blog, but there's no news yet in this regard. (Update 0n 08/16/2011: Official Google Blog: The evolution of sitelinks: expanded and improved) Espn.com - Google Sitelinks Well you must have…
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The Search Engine Optimization Blog @ MoreVisibility
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Google’s Penguin Update Nails Spammers
8 May 2012 | 8:16 amGoogle has recently launched its biggest algorithm update since the Panda update from last year. It’s called Penguin and it’s another way Google is actively fighting search spam. While Panda primarily targeted shallow content, Penguin is specifically an anti-spam update that is punishing sites for techniques like keyword stuffing (using the exact same keyword an [...] -
7 SEO and User Experience Nightmares
5 Apr 2012 | 8:24 amThe following are seven web design disasters that every SEO and UX person should know to avoid. Make sure that your business’s website has not fallen victim to one of these design flaws and make sure that your visitors, whether they be human or search engine bot, understand and enjoy your website. 1. Be Cautious [...] -
The Death of Blog Networks
4 Apr 2012 | 8:18 amEarlier this year, Google announced that its algorithms would be tweaked to devalue “over-optimized” websites. Even earlier still in 2011, Google launched its Panda update – which specifically targeted websites with low-quality content (think: duplicated and/or spam content). Google readily admits it’s doing everything in its power to promote high-quality content that values the user-experience. [...] -
Canonicalization: Canonical URL for Content Files
3 Apr 2012 | 7:39 amIn our previous two blog posts on canonicalization we covered the definition of the term, the most common webmaster concern of www versus non-www versioning of a domain, and the canonical tag. This blog post will dig a little deeper into canonicalization for website owners who link to content files, such as PDFs, from their [...] -
Canonicalization: The Canonical Tag
2 Apr 2012 | 10:25 amIn our previous blog post on canonicalization we gave a brief definition and covered the most common webmaster concern of www versus non-www versioning of a domain. This blog post will cover the canonical tag which was released in February 2009 to help website owners and their webmasters regulate how search engines sorted their content [...]
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Eduki Wiki
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Google Search Quality Algorithm Updates for April 2012
9 May 2012 | 12:45 pmWhile Google’s Penguin update, unnatural link warnings, two Panda refreshes, and a parking domain classifier issue made headlines in April, Google announced 52 search quality changes to its algorithm during the month of April 2012. Here are 7 changes that stood out in this particular search quality algorithm update. Index Size: Google’s index size has grown by 15 percent. Every Google query is matched against this newly expanded index. Authority & Domain Diversity: Google is looking to rank older domains that have strong link profiles and have avoided tactics Google considers… -
Google Panda 3.6 Update
4 May 2012 | 2:27 pmOn April 27th, Google pushed out a small, almost unnoticeable Panda refresh on April 27th, 2012. Since it was so unnoticeable, this post is primarily for documentation purposes. Google stated “We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the over 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year.” Why so soon? Why only 8 days between 3.5 and 3.6 when we typically see 6 weeks or more between Panda refreshes? Google has not told me why. Maybe there was an… -
Content Promotion
28 Apr 2012 | 1:11 pm -
Content Development
28 Apr 2012 | 1:11 pm -
Content Promotion
28 Apr 2012 | 12:58 pmWhat is Content Promotion? The goal of Content Promotion is to attract relevant links from those who are empowered to publish links on a quality website, influential blogger or highly traffic social profile. These promoters include bloggers, copywriters, social influencers, and basically anyone that influence what is published on a particular website or social channel. Steps in Content Promotion The first step is define a ‘hook’ that you feel will be interesting to a particular set of promoters. The next step is to find, reach out, and introduce your ‘hook’ to a…
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Organic SEO / SMO for small business
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Landing Page ROI 101: Are Your Landing Pages More Like Bouncing Betties?
10 May 2012 | 2:00 amYou’ve spent thousands of dollars on professional landing pages: professional design; professional copy; professional images. The pages drip professionalism and you’ve watched more dollar signs float out of your wallet than a bird has feathers. According to that fast talking sales person, people should be throwing money at you by now. You feverishly check your [...] -
SEO in the Outback: Hunting the Naturally Optimized, Ad-Free, User-friendly Website
7 May 2012 | 3:00 am“Welcome to another installment of SEO in the Outback. Today, we’re hunting a particularly elusive species of creature, situs al naturalis. They’re born with highly optimized content and navigation – these things seem to be in their DNA structure. Others in the websitus genus have to work hard to gain these attributes. These beasts are [...] -
Ranking, Traffic and Conversions without Investment?
3 May 2012 | 2:00 amLet’s face it. There are plenty of things you can do to rank, and rank well, in the search engines. Some are legit, some are not so legit, some are straight up illegal, but they’re out there. You can influence the SERPs, although not with a guarantee on the results. For example, you can’t know [...] -
How to Boost the Success of Your Link Bait BEFORE You Hit Publish
30 Apr 2012 | 3:00 amYou’ve spent hours researching and crafting the perfect piece of content. Now, you’re worried. What if your content fails to generate those much needed links? So, you tweak the content. You tweak it some more. Then, you change a few things and add in a few more tidbits of information. Next thing you know, hours [...] -
Stop Everything You’re Doing In Social. You’re Fired.
25 Apr 2012 | 2:00 amI recently had the opportunity to go to an Italian Meet Up in San Francisco, something I’ve wanted to do for some time. I always have liked meeting people face-to-face and meet ups allow you to grasp how involved the public is when it comes to online social. –BUT- After the meet up, when I [...]
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Outspoken Media
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The FruitGuys: A Case Study in Follow-Up
15 May 2012 | 10:27 amWhat if I told you that you could reduce reputation problems, provide great customer service, strengthen your brand, and live according to your values and mission through a single marketing tactic? The answer lies in fruit. Yes, fruit. Around the Outspoken Media office, we’ve been on a big corporate social responsibility kick. It’s one way we convey our values, so when I stumbled on a “fruit delivery” service from The FruitGuys, I had to know more. They provide a corporate delivery solution for local and organic produce. Fantastic! I’m a big environmentalist and… -
Coming soon: Where and When to Find Us
9 May 2012 | 5:21 amWant to see more of Outspoken Media? Here’s where we will be hanging out at in the coming months. We’re always happy to meet new people and catch up with the industry’s finest, so please come and say ‘hi’ if you catch us at one of these events: SMX Advanced – June 5th-6th SMX Advanced is fast approaching! This conference is loaded with some great speakers this year, including keynotes from Matt Cutts, Google’s head of web spam, and Derrick Connell of Bing’s Search Program Management team. Besides contributing to the creation of Bing, we’re pretty… -
Corporate Social Responsibility and Success
8 May 2012 | 4:00 amWhen you created your business plan, you took into account things like a marketing plan, financial data, licenses, employee salaries, insurance, and a social media policy. But did you think about corporate social responsibility (CSR)? If not, it may be time to rethink your business strategy. And if you think you don’t have time to volunteer, contribute to charity, or do something meaningful for your customers because you’re too busy running your business, well, you may want to rethink that attitude because CSR can increase your bottom line. Not only that, it can help you attract… -
Productivity and the Trouble with Assumptions
4 May 2012 | 7:54 am[This is part five in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.] I love “ah-ha!” moments. I’m fortunate enough to work in an industry where they happen all of the time. Kind of like when I find your navigation is coded in non-crawlable JavaScript and not HTML. I love those moments like they’re my own children. Well, that’s extreme, but you get the point. When Outspoken Media started working with Shem Cohen on strategic planning, team building, and organizational development, though, I stumbled upon more “ah-ha!”… -
Corporate Culture for Introverts
3 May 2012 | 5:00 am[This is part four in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.] Let’s just get this out in the open right now—a lot of you think the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is a bunch of hooey. Come on, admit it. You think it’s like a horoscope, right? You can read into it pretty much whatever you want, and then use it to justify your behavior, right or wrong. I’m sure a lot of people do that. You’re not really responsible for your behavior if it’s attributable to your predetermined personality. That’s just you, and…
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Agent SEO Blog
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Google Penguin Update: Over Optimization, “Negative SEO,” and Achieving SEO Quality
13 May 2012 | 5:03 pmAbout two weeks ago, Google launched what is being called their Penguin Update. Per Google, this algorithmic update should impact around 3.1% of search queries and is geared towards punishing pages that have been spamming Google, while promoting “high-quality” sites in their search results. I discuss tips for fixing your Penguin problem as well as how to avoid Penguin-related issues in the future. Continue reading → Visit my site to get the whole scoop... -
Google’s 50 Algorithm Changes in March 2012: Which Ones Should SEO’s Pay Attention To?
12 Apr 2012 | 1:48 pmI review Google's search quality changes from March 2012 and discuss which of their March algorithm changes I think are most important for you to consider and apply in your day-to-day SEO strategy. Continue reading → Visit my site to get the whole scoop... -
Six Good SEO Ideas: Making Sense of Google’s Latest SEO Statement
5 Apr 2012 | 12:53 pmLast week, I wrote an article making sense of the five common SEO mistakes portion of Google’s latest SEO commentary, posted on March 19th on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog. As with many of their releases on SEO, Google can sometimes be a bit vague. So this week, I will break down their six good SEO ideas and add some practical advice based on my experience and observations. Continue reading → Visit my site to get the whole scoop... -
Five Common SEO Mistakes: Making Sense of Google’s Latest SEO Statement
28 Mar 2012 | 3:25 pmLast week, Maile Ohye of Google wrote an article on the Google Webmaster Central blog detailing five common SEO mistakes along with six good SEO ideas. And since, when Google does say things, they can be a little vague when it comes to practical SEO application, I thought I’d write a few articles and provide a practical explanation. Continue reading → Visit my site to get the whole scoop... -
How To Use Google Authorship Markup To Show Thumbnail in Search Results
23 Mar 2012 | 2:57 pmLearn how to use Google Authorship markup and the rel="author" and rel="me" tags to have your Google+ thumbnail show in search results. Continue reading → Visit my site to get the whole scoop...
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New Media Marketing Company | Triangle Direct Media
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Pinterest at Play: Finding Value Within Your Social Media Strategy
27 Apr 2012 | 9:44 amSocial media marketing managers are still buzzing about the phenomenon that is Pinterest. It was during that month of January that Pinterest exploded from a casual social network into a powerful new way to distribute information, with more than 10 million registered users. Retailers quickly saw Pinterest as a way to inspire shoppers and drive traffic, but many brands have found it difficult to track, monitor, or understand how Pinterest activity affects their bottom lines. The ‘Visual’ Community When our team first started to research the inner workings of Pinterest’s users and… -
“Getcha ROI!” How To View A Successful Social Media Campaign
16 Feb 2012 | 10:12 amMany marketing directors and small business owners that are a part of our social media campaigns are looking for the ‘big’ answer which is, “how can I figure out my return on investment (ROI) of my social media campaigns?” In many of our SEO campaigns, we’ve looked at viewer’s measurement online. We are focusing now on one of the most difficult areas to track, which are of course, social media campaigns. Start Fresh Conventionally, businesses use ROI as part of their planning process. The question is simple, “Is this an idea is worth doing?” To find the answer, businesses… -
Ways To Keep Your Audience on Facebook
17 Jan 2012 | 3:00 amMany companies have thousands of fans with the opportunity for over 800 million (the latest tally of Facebook members) potential new clients for organizations promoting their brands on the social media site. With all of that promise, it is simply wasted if companies don’t engage with their pages and the people connected to them. We have some simple ideas to help companies get their audience and KEEP them before the dreaded ‘unlikes’ reach epic proportions. Promote Contests/Exclusive Deals and Offers Facebook offers you the opportunity to reward your customers and for many companies,… -
Social Media Predictions for 2012
16 Nov 2011 | 10:29 amWe are quickly moving into a new year, and now is the time when many social media analysts are making their predictions for 2012. We have a few thoughts and considerations to add to the mix. Content Strategy Many businesses have been beginning to see the value in this now and we see this trend continuing into 2012. As Facebook and Twitter become more crowded with comments, content strategists will become a more important part of the cycle. Businesses that take the time to review the content before passing it on will become a valuable resource for peer reviewed articles. Brands will become… -
Time To Dust off the Old Blog Possibly
3 Nov 2011 | 1:48 pmIf you are like many people out there you jumped on the blog bandwagon when it was the “hot thing” when instead of twitter and facebook you heard “visit our blog” at blah blah .com all the time. Well it may be time to pull that old blog off the shelf , crack it open and start writing in it again. If you don’t have a corporate blog its still not to late.. but I’d start one up now. This article over on search engine land points to some indication of whats going to be important in the future.. and references to fresh content are all over this article. In…
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Toronto SEO Services - Local Search Marketing
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Search Engines Promoting Their Own Products
1 May 2012 | 6:22 amThere is a set of interesting quizes being published over at SEObook.com – the one below is very telling. I personally think it is OK if a company pushes its own products but Google and other search engines built their popularity on the basis of offering free and fair search results. Many average Joes’s (and Jane’s) don’t understand what is paid and what is organic, they just assume they are getting the best results on the first page…. -
More Bad Overseas Content
17 Apr 2012 | 9:18 amI have written before about the millions of pages of spun content that has infected the web and is indexed and ranked by Google. Just yesterday I received a well written email detailing how this company will help me advertise on quality content blogs. I asked for a sample and this is the quality! -
Is Google + Just Smoke and Mirrors
1 Apr 2012 | 7:52 amThere have been many reports that Google Plus is not doing as well as they say. Here is a post by the new CEO of Reddit.com -
Digital Marketing is All About Seeing into the Future
1 Mar 2012 | 5:05 amLove this video! -
Article Spinning at its Worst
1 Feb 2012 | 5:26 amA favorite of pretend SEO companies is to spin articles using software and then publishing them as unique. Here is a shinning example (http://www.masquerademasksformen.com/2012/01/16/texas-automobile-recyclers-offer-opportunity-to-save-big-on-auto-repairs/) With countless companies in the usa taking visits in cash flow, there may be one that will be in fact booming and supporting individuals save money concurrently. The auto these recycling marketplace isn’t getting smaller, its expanding and there are many main reasons driving this increase in business. A vey important just one requires…
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SEO Unique Blog
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Problem with exact match anchor text links?
27 Apr 2012 | 4:07 amLots of chatter online about the upcoming/in-progress “over optimisation” algorithm update – the general consensus being that exact match anchor text spamming might now be a cause for concern. This has primarily been prompted by a number of “unatural links” messages from Google to be sent out and reports by a number of websites that they have seen drops in their rankings. For many years exact anchor text matches in your backlink profile would be a big indicator to Google as to the content on the link location and many SEO’s have benefited from such… -
Tips to Avoid Over Optimisation Penalty
24 Mar 2012 | 5:55 pmOver optimisation in SEO has always been on the radar in search, it’s by no means a new concept; that Google would look at a site negatively if you implement “too much SEO” and avoid the user’s needs. It is of course now on many people’s and clients list of priorities given Matt Cutt’s recent announcement that Google would be releasing algorithm updates which would look at penalising sites which have over optimisation. In my opinion this is nothing to worry about if you are an ethical user-centric SEO or use an agency that is well trusted. Google is not… -
Google Authorship with NEW Smaller Images
20 Mar 2012 | 11:58 amI came across a feature in the UK search results for “seo” whereby it appears an unusual size of the Google Authorship tag. You can see the result below: At first I thought I was logged in and this was just a recommended listing however on closer inspection the link “Terry Simmonds” actually points to a Google+ profile. I then checked a number of other pages to see if this was the same across multiple pages on the site: This was not the case it was only the homepage of this website which Google shows the smaller Google Authorship thumbnail and link. I also thought that… -
Google Places Change for 2012?
29 Feb 2012 | 7:48 amA potential change for Google places (local) that could be getting rolled out at a search engine near you for 2012: Performed a generic search and noticed a line that resembled organic sitelinks but with a plus sign next to it, once clicked on it expended the single listing as illustrated below: As you can see there’s a map under the organic search listing along with a link to the website, the address, link to directions and a link to a larger map. This research was carried out in Google Australia and am yet to see get rolled out in other territories, if anyone has other examples please… -
Google Authorship adds “More By” to SERPS
23 Feb 2012 | 3:29 amObservation this morning looking from the UK on Google.com – I noticed one of my blogs that has authorship tags displayed “More By” and then my name, see below; This only appeared on a few of the searches and not my other blogs which also have active authorship tags. Once you click on the “More By” link it brings up a personalised search results page all containing content by the author; At the top it displays information about the author, taken from Google+ and then below lists all the blog content – at the moment this only displayed content from one of my…
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Greenlane SEO
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Why Do You NoFollow?
15 May 2012 | 11:24 amWhy not add this post to inbound.org? Once upon a time, the prince of SEO, Matt Cutts, said that only a small percentage of web links are nofollowed, and we shouldn’t pay much attention to it. That's right... I made Matt a meme. I must only be surfing that small portion of the web because I rarely see external links that are followable anymore. I think it’s sad. Many of these are the editorial links Google originally built an algorithm around, but simply failed to measure the link graph for a publisher’s intent. Google. What have you done??? So I have… -
Review Of Zemanta
10 May 2012 | 5:55 pmLike this post? Vote for it on inbound.org. I learned about Zemanta at a Distilled meetup, where they were praised highly by Tom Critchlow – something about how no company has ever sponsored a Distilled meetup before, but Zemanta is special enough to have the honor. I also saw a referral by Rand Fishkin on their site. Maybe some of the 18 million is going to this company? Anyway, a few of the Zemanta sales team were in attendance. I spoke to a rep (who later coincidentally became my rep) – sounded like a good model. It’s not a paid linking service; instead,… -
Twitter Still Matters For SEO (Including Google)
7 May 2012 | 6:52 amLike this post? Vote for it on inbound.org. Tweet for link love. Tweet for the world. Maybe Google isn’t into Twitter, but Twitter is still a great marketing platform that you can’t ignore. Here are a few reasons why you should keep Twitter part of your daily iMarketing Mix: Link prospecting / link negotiation Content inspiration Brand Exposure / Mindshare Referral Traffic (remember, Twitter has a search engine) Link Prospecting / Link Negotiation If you’re a link builder, you probably have some tools that you use to find relevant link partners. Maybe Blogdash or… -
SEO Pranks
1 May 2012 | 5:55 pmLike this post? Vote for it on inbound.org. Well, since I slept through April in its entirety, and missed April Fool’s Day, I’m dedicating May 1st as its make-up day. Yup – that just happened. We all know about the Miserable Failure Google Bombs, but I started to think about other pranks. There had to be more, right? Yup. Smack The Link Finding Tools Update your websites terms and conditions to include a “service fee” for automated scraping without written consent. Send Open Site Explorer, Majestic, etc. an invoice with reference to the… -
What A Mexican Flea Market Can Teach Us About Relevant SEO Landing Pages
30 Apr 2012 | 3:02 pmLike this post? Vote for it on inbound.org. Today was interesting. I’m in beautiful visiting Mexico on vacation, and while shopping at a local flea market, I was approached – practically all at once after distinctly hearing one merchant yell out “Americans” – by over 30 different people selling random products. They were aggressive in a “buy my shit or I’ll make sure you don’t leave here alive” kind of way, but some were pretty good at targeting my interests. My first feeling was that of being overwhelmed, but slowly I got my…
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Jason Bartholme's SEO Blog
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My Dell Inspiron Keeps Chugging Along
12 May 2012 | 8:56 pmBack in 2009, Dell gave me a credit line and I had my eye on a laptop to use as my primary home computer. Previous to that I had never owned a laptop. I know that sounds rather unusual for a web developer and SEO, but that was the case due to circumstances. I was looking though Dell’s Outlet on their site and seen an overwhelming number of laptops with a whole range of prices. I did not want to break the bank, and I did not want an overkill of features that I would never use. I’m not much of a gamer, so I wasn’t looking for a gaming laptop. The dual cores were still fairly new and I… -
Protect Your Online Reputation
4 May 2012 | 3:20 pmEstablishing a positive online reputation can take years to establish on your own. You have submitted content in your own name; you use your name on web sites, and do everything conscious of how others perceive you in the search results. Now, what happens if an unhappy client or stranger posts negative, inaccurate, or misleading information about you? What if these comments and content were ranking in the first page of search engine results when potential clients look for you in the major search engines? Then, you need quality reputation management services to hide or eliminate that… -
Include Email Marketing Services in Your Campaign Strategy
4 May 2012 | 9:44 amMarketers need a multi-faceted strategy for successful campaign. Newer methods of promotion and engagement are social media and mobile integration, but one facet often over looked is email marketing. Email marketing has been a go-to for successful marketers for years. Email marketing is a tried and true method of targeting specific audiences, tracking engagements, getting referrals, opening a direct line of communication with the customer, and even saving money on postage and printing. Other benefits of an effective email strategy can increase sales conversions, gain feedback from existing… -
Infograph: 5 Tips for Online Shoppers for the Holiday Season
21 Dec 2011 | 12:46 pmThere is still time left for online holiday shopping. Cybercriminals are always looking for opportunities to exploit a shopper’s personal information. Here are five tips which can help you buy safely on the Internet this holiday season. Via: Trend Micro -
Sorezki Offers a Powerful Link Building Service
7 Dec 2011 | 2:29 pmSorezki is a full service team of professional link builders who have developed an intuitive web service customers to track their link building projects. They are not only professional link builders, but they also offer one-on-one consulting, PPC service, reputation management and other services to help their customer’s attract the attention of customers and search engines. Sorezki has developed Linkr their own all-inclusive link building platform. This web service allows SEOs and online marketers to log in and choose the type of method they’d like to use to promote their site. Once they…
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10 Golden Rules Internet Marketing Strategy Blog
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InternetMarketingClub.org Presents: The Shopper Economy
15 May 2012 | 8:54 amDon't you wish there was an easy way to check out what's going on in the mind of the consumer? Fortunately, there is! Liz Crawford, talented author and business analyst, has created a new study to evaluate the current trends in shopper behavior and retail changes. Her book, The Shopper Economy, discusses ways to turn these customer behaviors into financial capital for your business. Liz claims that buyers can be rewarded for one of four behaviors: paying attention, participating, advocating, or committing. Is this a new form of currency that has been unleashed? Find out more in Liz'… -
Coachella's Smart Wristbands: Connecting People or Invading Your Privacy?
11 May 2012 | 9:59 amCoachella's "Live Click" Social Media Check-in Portal Back in 2007, Twitter made a big splash at SXSW, simultaneously popularizing the micro-blogging service and branding the Austin-based film and music festival as a significant interactive conference as well. Now, Coachella is leading the social media community by providing RFID wristbands to ticketholders. The 2-weekend long festival in the California desert valley of the same name had 30,000 fans register to “Live Click” at various touch points throughout the festival grounds, which automatically updated their Facebook status. This was… -
New Ratings for Google Quality Scores
9 May 2012 | 9:09 amYou may have missed this update due its subtleness, but Google has increased its transparency in Google AdWords Quality Scores. Now advertisers can get feedback directly from Google on an expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. This feedback is provided as “average”, “above average”, or “below average”, in comparison to other advertisers. By way of a status hover (speech bubble icon) over a specific keyword, you will now find this additional feedback to the right of the numeric quality score. As an advertiser, it is critical that you evaluate and… -
Social Media and Global Power Shifts
8 May 2012 | 3:45 pmToday Mashable published an article on social media and the global power shift that it claims has come with the advent of new technologies. With social media taking responsibility for the mass appeal and massive outpouring of support for movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Egyptian revolutions, it's hard not to agree that a power shift is afoot. Even the power of marketing has been shifted to the consumer - inbound marketing, not outbound marketing, is now at the heart of the marketing world. Consumers are now the ones who can better control what ads they see and when, and how companies… -
InternetMarketingClub.org Presents: 3 Things To Do About Google's Penguin Update
7 May 2012 | 10:44 amGoogle constantly changes the way its search algorithm gathers information from the web. First, it was the Panda update that hit Internet marketers hard. Now with Penguin, is there anything left you can do to save your online content and hard work from being tarnished? Join Margie Schneider, VP of Operations at Ten Golden Rules, and Stuart Smith, Strategic Director at Ten Golden Rules, as they present this week's webinar and discusses three ideal strategies to use Penguin to your advantage. Click here to register (5/9 at 12:30PM)http://bit.ly/penguinregister About Margie…
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SEO.com » Blog
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5 Content Marketing Strategy Fundamentals
15 May 2012 | 2:09 pmEvery SEO campaign can be broken down into 5 fundamentals, then segmented into off-site (link building) and on-site (content) approaches to identify and understand the application. This webinar recap and slide deck (at the bottom of this post) is a top level guide to assist you with setting the correct content marketing strategy today. 1. Have a Plan A good content strategy will consist of a plan rooted in specific value-based principles. These values are those that make a website good, worth visiting, long lasting etc. The way I came to determine just what these values should be is by… -
10 Ways to Maximize Your SEO Budget
10 May 2012 | 5:08 pmAfter a number of years working at an SEO services agency I have monitored, worked on, analyzed, and overseen many projects across nearly as many industries. Some of these projects were successful beyond both the clients’ and our expectations while others struggled to climb the in rankings. I have been very careful to note the similarities between the campaigns that have the most success. Some companies assume that their success is directly related to the amount of resources dedicated to that campaign by the agency. Although the budget an agency is given dictates what resources they can… -
Build Natural Links Through Existing Marketing Strategies – Part II
7 May 2012 | 4:29 pmWith the newest Google algorithm changes, penalties have been taken on many websites for unnatural and artificial linkbuilding tactics. This update hit websites that used black hat SEO practices particularly hard, but it also affected many seemingly appropriate linkbuilding strategies. Because of these changes, careful, strategic, and natural linkbuilding is more important than ever. In the first part of this blog series by Rebecca, she talked about building natural links through event sponsorship, answering questions, holding contests, attending industry trade shows, and using public… -
7 Habits of Highly Effective SEOs
3 May 2012 | 5:31 pm“Is anybody here a Marine Biologist?” For the many Seinfeld fans out there, that marine biologist line is one of the more popular quotes out there. To refresh your memory George Costanza is once again pretending to be someone he really isn’t, namely his dream job…a marine biologist. When the problem of a very real beached whale comes up, George is in the hot seat. George is forced to go and try to save the whale even though he doesn’t really know what he is doing. It’s quite a funny episode. So how does that relate to SEO? Well, I found myself thinking that we, as SEO… -
Online vs. Industry Competitors: How To Evaluate Them
2 May 2012 | 3:21 pmOne of the most common questions that come up at the beginning of an SEO campaign, when we outline to a client which keywords have been selected and which competitors have been assessed in approaching that selection is: These aren’t my competitors. This website doesn’t even sell the exact same product/service as us. Why were these chosen rather than my real competitors? Here is answer… There is a difference between competitors in the industry and competitors online. When looking at search engine optimization our concern needs to be rankings and relevance. This means that…
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Why YOU shouldn’t be building links
7 May 2012 | 3:21 pmIs having an in-house SEO doing link building a good use of your resources? -
Are You Tired Yet?
12 Apr 2012 | 9:21 pmHow do you know when it's time to move on in your career, relationship or even your life? What are the signals? -
Google Announces 50 Search Updates – Here’s 6 you need to worry about
4 Apr 2012 | 11:34 amOn April 3rd Google announced 50 changes to their search algorithm. Most of them won't impact you on a regular basis, but there are a handful that anyone working on the web needs to take notice of. -
Making it to the Final Four of the @deanshaw 2012 Twitter Madness Tourney
29 Mar 2012 | 5:58 amMaking it to the Final Four of @deanshaw's 2012 Twitter Madness Tourney is a once in a lifetime feat. Here's my take on it. -
Australian Feral Goats
23 Mar 2012 | 3:38 pmHow Australian Feral Goats could make an impact on my blog and thus my life!
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SEO Sevices Group- Official Blog- Latest News and Updates on SEM, PPC, SEO and SMM
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Google Leads April 2012 U.S. Search Engine Ranking
12 May 2012 | 6:49 amcomScore, a global leader in measuring the digital marketing landscape, has recently released its qSearch report of the U.S. search market in April 2012. Google sites topped the U.S. search engine... -
Microsoft Revamps Bing Search Results Page
7 May 2012 | 8:12 amMicrosoft has redesigned its Bing search results page by removing the unnecessary cluttered items from the page. This fresh simpler look is an effort to help users scan results more easily and... -
Google Launches “Penguin Update” to Target Webspam
28 Apr 2012 | 8:17 amGoogle has rolled out a “Penguin Update” for its search engine algorithm, in order to minimize spam in search results. The update targets sites that involve in various webspam tactics like keyword... -
Global Paid Search Analysis Spending for Q1
13 Apr 2012 | 9:01 amCovario, the largest provider of search marketing services and management solutions, has recently released a report on Global Paid Search Spend Analysis. The report gave insight into paid search in... -
Google Enhances Adwords with New Features
7 Apr 2012 | 8:37 amGoogle has recently introduced two new tools and updated an existing feature in its Adwords product. The new upgrade will definitely give marketers greater control over location targeted ads. Google...
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Search Engine Optimization, SEO, & Other Online Marketing Strategies
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dynoTable – A JQuery Plugin by Bob Tantlinger
15 May 2012 | 6:55 pmdynoTable: A JQuery plugin for creating editable tables A while back I was working on a project that required the GUI to allow the user to dynamically add, remove and rearrange various form fields contained in table rows. The tricky part was that the UI needed to have this functionality for several different types of elements across several different forms. For instance, one set of fields was for adding and removing specifications to a product while another set of fields was for adding images to a product. Thus, I needed a solution that would be flexible enough to work across virtually any… -
Track Any Client Side Event With Google Analytics
15 May 2012 | 8:00 amTrack any client side event with google analytics By: Bob Tantlinger I’ve recently been doing some work integrating social media events, such as facebook likes, with google anayltics and was pleased to find that Google gives you a deep level of control over what you can track. It occurred to me that since a social media “event” is not really much different than any other client side event, why not use google analytics to keep tabs on any event the visitor might trigger. With just a few lines of code, you can take your analytics a step further and get some fine grained… -
Tracking Pins With The Pinterest Button
14 May 2012 | 1:38 amTracking Pins With the Pinterest Button By: Bob Tantlinger Recently I was tasked with logging social media interaction on a site utilizing the “buttons” (what do you call those anyway) of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. We wanted to be able to record not only when a social media button was clicked, but when an actual share, like, or whatever took place. In other words, we needed to know that the user actually did the share. Nothing very difficult. Most of the big players in social media have handy APIs that let you subscribe to events they fire off when a… -
SEO by the Sea and Me
8 May 2012 | 9:57 pmI wanted to publicly thank Bill Slawski from SEO by the Sea I recently hooked up with Bill in a Google Hang out which was hosted by and old mate of mine Dejan from DejanSEO. After listening to him talk about various SEO related topics, I knew I wanted to hear more. I fired off an email offering to take him out to lunch and he responded promptly (maybe he was just hungry?), we sorted out a day and time for me to come down to meet with him. It was a pleasure to chat with an industry veteran and share some war stories. I am looking forward to learning from and working with Bill in the future. If… -
Negative SEO – A post from 2008
3 May 2012 | 5:19 pmAll this discussion about “Negaitve SEO” reminded me about a blog post that I wrote in 2008 on the same topic: “Jun 28, 2008 Negative Search Engine Optimization (SEO) the future of SEO I have been reading and studying the term negative search engine optimization (SEO). I find it quite funny how people at Google in particular (Matt Cutts) says Google Bombing or negative SEO is difficult or nearly impossible without high jacking someone’s website. This is totally wrong, but then again he is the same guy saying you need links to get your site to rank, but don’t buy them……
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SEO Meme - TweetMeme
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In-depth Guide To Content Creation [With Infographic] - YouMoz | SEOmoz
16 May 2012 | 3:02 amIn-depth Guide To Content Creation [With Infographic] - YouMoz | SEOmoz http://t.co/bWgwZbs1 via @SEOmoz @designbysoap0 comments -
Make Second Tier Search Engines Part of Your Lead Generation Strategy - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)
16 May 2012 | 1:17 amMake Second Tier Search Engines Part of Your Lead Generation Strategy: Google and Bing can ... http://t.co/7HiyM4mb http://t.co/ZNoQAKla0 comments -
Peoples Marketing | SEO 2012, Post Penguin Update SEO | The People's Marketing
15 May 2012 | 11:42 pmRT @thepplsmktg: http://t.co/lETt1X4R Find out why people's SEO efforts have faltered the past few weeks, and why TPM's remain steady. #seo0 comments -
17 Types of Link Spam to Avoid | SEOmoz
15 May 2012 | 11:04 pmPosted by Carson Ward If the last few months of ranking changes have shown me anything, it's that poorly executed link building strategy that many of us call white hat can be more dangerous than black-hat strategies like buying links. As a result of well intentioned but short-sighted link building, many sites have seen significant drops in rankings and traffic. Whether you employ link building…0 comments -
Bing's New Social-Friendly Search Interface Now Live
15 May 2012 | 5:31 pmThe new Bing interface, with a healthy dose of social connections and discovery, is now live for all users. Bing’s announcement today says that anyone can access the new interface at www.bing.com/new, but you should also see a new message atop the Bing home page that invites you to try...Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.0 comments
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Fathom
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Get Real Problem-Solvers for Real Results from Your Big Data
15 May 2012 | 11:23 amIt can be very easy for a user to get lost in all the “Big Data” hype, but several things need to be in place to make sure your company finds the gold that lies within large data sets. It should be stated that you could have all the newest tools and experience in the world, but without the proper problem-solvers, your marketing intelligence could be misinterpreted. Big data for marketing is best applied with a combination of the latest software and skilled talent. By taking insights gained from a Big-Data analytics platform, you can make smart marketing adjustments grounded in science. -
AdAge 25 Largest U.S. Search-Marketing Agencies (2012)
11 May 2012 | 12:45 pmFathom is living large … again. For the 6th year in a row, the company has been named to the Advertising Age list of the 25 largest U.S. search-marketing agencies. Ranked by 2011 U.S. revenue, Fathom ended up at #21. On behalf of the entire company, I’d like to thank the many clients of Fathom throughout the years for making both this milestone and my career (along with the careers of my colleagues) possible. I’d also like to thank AdAge for this public recognition of our growth and overall success. Though many more results are still to be delivered for current and future… -
The “Other” Moneyball: Baseball Business Analytics
11 May 2012 | 8:23 amWith the Major League Baseball season only a month old, spring fever has hit the Fathom team as we reminisce about my favorite sport: Baseball. Incomparable to any other sport, statistics rule the game of baseball. Virtually every conversation about the game mentions a player’s batting average, home-run total, ERA (for pitchers) or one of a thousand other measured stats from the national pastime. After the release of the best-selling book and award-winning movie Moneyball, there is more attention than ever on statistics in baseball. Though with less fanfare than the player side of the… -
“Big Data” Means Knowing Where to Find the Gold
10 May 2012 | 1:59 pmBack during the American Gold Rush, most of the people who went out for gold were enthusiastic amateurs who had to search for it the hard way – they’d sit by a stream where gold had already been found, and run water through a shallow pan, hoping for paydirt. Today, a lot of people using digital marketing – be it email, SEO, PPC or some other medium – are functioning about the same way those miners did; that is, hit and miss and hope for the best. They’re missing out on leads and sales because they don’t have a clear idea of when, where or how to direct their efforts. That’s… -
Fathom Core Value Stories: May Edition
9 May 2012 | 11:31 amEvery month at company meetings, a handful of Fathomers are recognized in front of the group for extraordinary manifestations of our four core values (“everyone a leader,” “be the consigliere,” “make order from chaos,” “reward sustainable results”). This space immortalizes their accomplishments for the world to see. I hereby present the 7th edition of Core Value Stories: Everyone a Leader, Cheryl VanJaarsveld (pictured) — For providing outstanding strategy to a client’s automated lead-generation campaign that incorporated…
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Adam Sherk
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Media Relations Gone Wrong: How Not to Pitch a Journalist (Video)
15 May 2012 | 6:33 amThe Internet and social media have certainly made it easier to conduct media relations in a more efficient and less intrusive way. At my first PR job I had to type in contact addresses from the hard-copy Bacon’s guide so we could mail merge and send out the press materials. Or stand over the fax machine feeding through one press release at at time. Being required to do cold-call follow-ups as a junior employee was one of the main reasons I gravitated toward other forms of online marketing as soon as they started to emerge. Fortunately today there are much better tools at our disposal be it… -
SEO Metrics for Publishers: How are You Tracking and Measuring Success?
1 May 2012 | 9:49 amYour sites have been audited, improvements have been made and there is more to come in the road map. The technical, editorial and marketing teams are trained in SEO best practices and are integrating them into the daily workflow. Sounds good, but are your efforts working? That’s where tracking and measurement comes in. When it comes to SEO publishers need to understand and effectively communicate progress and success. SEO is a never-ending process and without good benchmarks, clear and realistic goals and solid reporting it is easy to lose momentum within the organization. So what are… -
The Fastest and Slowest News Sites in 2012
24 Apr 2012 | 8:48 amIt has been a couple years now since page speed has been an official Google ranking factor and one year since the launch of PageSpeed Online, the Web-based version of Google’s tool for analyzing site performance. So I thought I’d check in on the PageSpeed scores for a selection of major news sites. Page speed is not a major ranking factor (according to Google it impacts roughly 1 in 100 searches) but it does have a direct and indirect impact not only on SEO but also on social media activity and the overall user experience. For these reasons it is something that is worth paying… -
MLB Teams on Twitter and Facebook: Two-Year Growth Rates
10 Apr 2012 | 10:51 amWith a new baseball season underway I thought I’d check in on the 30 MLB teams on Twitter and Facebook. Which teams are seeing the most growth? I have not done a sports team comparison post in quite a while, mainly because the figures quickly become outdated and total reach is not all that important to look at. But one advantage of having done this in the past is that I have previous figures to compare against. Since it has been two years since I did The Most Popular MLB Teams on Twitter and Facebook I thought it would be interesting to revisit this and capture the growth rate for all the… -
Pinterest Traffic to Magazine Sites Up 141% But Figures Still Modest
3 Apr 2012 | 7:38 amYes, this is indeed another post about Pinterest. But fear not, I come with real data to share albeit it in aggregated and anonymized format. It is well established that Pinterest offers great opportunities for lifestyle publishers but how well is it paying off in actual site traffic? To get a clearer picture I pulled referral data from the past six months for a group of 25 magazines sites that we work with at Define Media Group. I am not at liberty to share the specific sites due to confidentiality requirements but they are all well-known brands. I selected sites from several different major…
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Genuine SEO Net
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Why Article Marketing is a Beginner Friendly Internet Marketing Strategy
15 May 2012 | 9:19 amIf you plan to start making money online, but you don’t have much to get started, using article marketing can help. This is one of the most beginner friendly options because you only need to pay for hosting and a domain name. For less than $20, you can get started earning money online and you will only need to pay a few dollars every month for hosting from there. The only other investment you will need to make is your own time. This strategy takes a little time to build up, but once you do, it can be very powerful. Many large companies and small companies use article marketing to help… -
Reasons To Choose Infographics Over Articles
13 May 2012 | 10:07 pmEveryone’s talking about infographics these days. Should you join the bandwagon and get into infographic design? Should you ditch your usual articles and go the graphic way instead? There is a lot to be said about the usefulness of infographics, but the same can be said about articles. After all, while there is the fact that infographics do catch people’s attention, quality content is still vital to keep people coming back for more. At the end of the day, there will be some situations wherein articles will do a better job, and there will be circumstances wherein infographics will be a… -
Directing Targeted Traffic Towards Your Website
11 May 2012 | 10:26 pmEverybody that has an internet site recognizes that to possess sales you’ll want traffic, although not just any traffic it needs to be specific traffic. What’s Specific traffic? It’s just site visitors aimed at your website that are curious about what your site is about. For instance, people thinking about purchasing jewelry will discover jewelry websites interesting. How do you get specific traffic I hear you request? Listed here are attempted and examined techniques: Forums Sign up for forums that discuss your subject. Respond to questions and participate in the debates… -
3 Easy Ways to Increase Web Traffic With Social Bookmarking
9 May 2012 | 2:35 amSocial bookmarking services are a significantly vital tool to power up your website and reach thousands of visitors. They are an effective tool for promoting your website. Although the initial effect can be impressive, this can deviate away very quickly. Not if you are already prepared for it. If people are desired to come again and again and you met their demands, you will indeed have a constant following. 1. Produce High Quality Content It’s an old strategy and still very applicable. But if your website is a techno centric then you need to have high quality content at your website… -
What To Look For In An SEO Company
6 May 2012 | 8:22 amSEO is one of the most complex services you will ever have to buy, the rules are not clearly defined and you have plenty of people who say there are no rules. However in my opinion there are a few factors that any business should look out for when interviewing for the seo position, whether your employing someone or signing up to an agency, the principles are the same. Keyword research is the process of working out which keywords will deliver the most return on investment. Many business owners think they know the phrases they want to rank for, but often there is more value in going after the…
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PreciseInternetMarketing.com
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SEO Secret Recipe – Top Ranking on Steriods
16 May 2012 | 4:05 amSEO Secret Recipe – Top Ranking on Steriodsaffiliates Earn 65percent – never revealed secret successful formulation most sensible 10 score in Google Yahoo Msn in days. A proven 14 years... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Ignite Energy Scam Won’t Stop Advantageous Entrepreneurs
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amIgnite Energy representatives are embracing the internet hoping to build their business simply because they have run out of people to speak to. Let’s face it, most internet marketers do not... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
SEO Software Se Sniper "Brought SEO to it’s Knees!"
16 May 2012 | 1:19 amSEO Software Se Sniper Brought SEO to it’s Knees!This innovative new instrument has brought search engine marketing to it’s knees. Giving other folks number 1 ratings in Google. The... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
The most effective Approach to Acquire Leads for Network Marketing
15 May 2012 | 5:27 amWithout having leads for network marketing you will be running around in circles. It doesn’t matter how superb you might be at each other aspect of building a successful network advertising... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
How to Use a Design Blog to Find New Clients
15 May 2012 | 5:24 amI recently had an interesting conversation in a freelance design forum about whether it’s worth it to blog as a designer. While this is an argument that has raged in the design community for... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Online Branding Blog - reactorr.com
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Building Digital Brand Equity
5 May 2012 | 7:53 pmMuch like any company that lasts, creating value through a unique product or service offering is often a key to success. In a recent article on Forbes the author (Eric Jackson) suggests two of the biggest online brands, Google and Facebook, might disappear in about 5 years from now. Both currently dominate their vertical, with Google owning near 80 percent marketshare in search, and Facebook owning a comparable or better amount on the social network side. They’ve continued to evolve and reinvest over the years, fortifying their positions to the point that they’re almost… -
Personal Branding – Invest in Yourself
16 Jan 2012 | 10:45 pmWhere wil you be in 5 or 10 years from now? It’s impossible to tell, but one thing you can be sure of, what you do today to build your personal brand can create opportunities for you tomorrow. Where to start? Get yourself a blog, but don’t settle for a free hosted one, invest in your own dot com. Everyone (possibly the exception being Seth Godin) eventually switch from a free service at some point. Commit to some kind of schedule and update it on a regular basis. What else? Venture into social media and start networking. There’s plenty of options, I’d recommend Twitter… -
Branding Online as a Medium
16 Jan 2012 | 9:51 pmDoes the Internet suck as a branding medium? That was the question I saw on a post at Millward Brown, and I would have to question this for a few reasons. It’s level of interactivity is second to none, providing a vast amount of options. Video, display ads, search, and most communications options seem readily available. Additionally, its far more easy to measure the effectiveness of any marketing efforts, as well as the ability to evaluate and make quick changes. In many ways, the Internet is almsot a hybrid of most other marketing channels (print, broadcast, DM) with outdoor possibly… -
Digital Marketing Forecast
27 Dec 2011 | 11:08 pmSearch, social, mobile, email and display marketing is thought to grow to $77 billion by 2016, or 35% of all advertising. Interactive teams and budgets are growing as marketers believe the digital channel delivers better results and measurable returns. Search marketing continues to dominate with the largest amount of the marketing budget, while social grows moderately. Mobile marketing overtook both social and email this year. Source: Forrester US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2011 To 2016 Digital Marketing Forecast is a post from: Online Branding Blog - reactorr.com -
Branding Perspectives
26 Dec 2011 | 6:11 pmJust how important are brands online? When a consumer is interested in a product or service, they’ll typically search for available options. Or they might turn to their personal network for ideas and suggestions. Since over 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands, it’s difficult to ignore the opportunity to connect. Its been said that a company can boost profits by 75-100% by retaining as few as 5% of their current customers. Whatever business you’re in,…
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Propellernet Blog
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We want to help you - particularly if you’re a local SME
8 May 2012 | 7:18 amWe love working with clients such as Marks & Spencer, Westfield Group, Mark Warner and Yell Marketing to help them make the most of online opportunities. We’re also proud to be a Brighton business. Our team love living and working in a vibrant, successful city and we want to help other Brighton businesses flourish too. So, we’re offering local SMEs a chance to benefit from some expert help and advice from the consultants who advise some of the UK’s biggest and best brands. We’re hosting two open days on: - Tuesday, 29th May - Wednesday, 6th June This is your… -
The ASA and Google - Allies in the war on unethical SEO?!
3 May 2012 | 10:41 amI recently attended a seminar covering the online remit of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). If you haven’t already heard (where have you been?) the ASA’s reach was extended in March 2011, to include marketing communications on brands’ own websites, Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. The seminar was a great chance to see examples of online campaigns that have come into question since then, and, more importantly, to hear the reasoning behind the decisions made about them. As a search and social agency, keeping on Google’s good side has always been a priority for us; but… -
From Panda to Black Swan - via Turkeys and Guinea Pigs
19 Apr 2012 | 3:32 amQ. When is a panda a black swan? A. When the farm is run by turkeys and not turkey farmers. I was on stage at Brighton Dome for BrightonSEO last week and I thought I’d use my 15 minutes of fame to talk turkey with the people responsible for running the farm that is the SEO industry. (The presentation’s here - take a look if you have a spare five minutes - it will help with what follows) I say ‘running the farm’ but I’m constantly shocked by how many times a group of such bright people (the SEO industry) get their necks wrung by the latest updates from the… -
Fashion Blogging: Industry Developments and Mystic Meg’s predictions for 2012
28 Mar 2012 | 3:09 amYou’re fashion insiders (and regular readers of this blog) so you already know how important fashion bloggers are becoming. But what’s coming next? That’s one of the things we asked the bloggers in the know when the Front Row Society convened at Shoreditch House. Here are some of things we discussed: Technological developments In the last year alone we have seen the introduction of some fantastic new social tools and technologies that have made the fashion blogger’s life simpler, more social and more creative. From Pinterest, to Instagram, to Google Plus, these tools are… -
Our health is our wealth
14 Mar 2012 | 11:36 amHave you seen Shawn Achor’s TEDx talk on The Happy Secret To Better Work? It’s utterly inspiring. Not only because he’s an exceptional speaker but also because his views and opinions are music to the ears of progressive business people everywhere. Researching and teaching about positive psychology, as the CEO of Good Think Inc., Achor’s work has dramatically increased success rates and profitability at a range of educational establishments and businesses, by increasing happiness and meaning. But this isn’t a plug for Achor. It’s a huge plug for the benefits of putting…
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danlew.com
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5 Ways to Add Variation to Your Anchor Text
10 May 2012 | 9:29 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword WinnerUsing Exact Match Anchor Text Won’t Help You Anymore! Find Out How You Can Diversify Your Anchor Text to Avoid Search Rank Penalties? The era of ‘exact match’ anchor text is now over. Last few Google updates (including the very recent Penguin) have made it quite clear [...] -
Key Qualities That Define a ‘Successful’ Entrepreneur
6 May 2012 | 7:50 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword WinnerWhat Skills Should I Carry to Become Successful as an Entrepreneur? It’s quite easy to call yourself an entrepreneur. However, achieving success as an entrepreneur is not as easy as you think. Many believe that entrepreneurial success is about being lucky. There are others who think that [...] -
3 Things Your Social Media Fans (or Followers) Are Looking For
30 Apr 2012 | 7:15 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword WinnerIf You Don’t Offer Your Social Media Fans What They’re Actually Looking for, You’re Headed in the Wrong Direction! To achieve success with your social media strategies, you need an audience. A group of people that wants to engage with your product or brand! You may call [...] -
7 Essential Ingredients of a ‘VIRAL’ Guest Post
23 Apr 2012 | 8:42 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword WinnerHow to Write a Guest Post That Goes Viral Immediately After It’s Published… Being a guest author feels good. When you write a guest post for someone else’s blog, you get plenty of benefits. After Google’s recent search ranking updates, it’s become quite obvious that guest blogging [...] -
Chronic Marketer Book by Brad Gosse
21 Apr 2012 | 8:39 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword WinnerI had the pleasure of meeting Brad Gosse recently at the Internet Marketing event in Raleigh recently and I was fortunate to have a look over his new book Chronic Marketer. Firstly Brad is a pretty laid back cool guy and has a very different approach to [...]
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97th Floor: SEO, Viral Marketing & Social Media Blog » Blog
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Overcrowded Industries – Content Marketing Friday
27 Apr 2012 | 12:22 pmI read a great blog post the other day from Jason Acidre about Viral Marketing for Boring Industries. This kind of stuff is always right up my alley. Especially with some of latest Google updates, we should all be more focused on how to turn our content into something more spectacular. Heck, we ran Viral [...] -
Pinterest Marketing 2.0 : The Site has Changed and So Should Your Strategies
19 Apr 2012 | 3:34 pmChange. It’s a word that we all hate yet have to adapt to throughout life. I hate change, but as a marketer I have to stay on top of any new technologies or updates that are thrown my way. Similar to Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest is finally changing its algorithm to combat the onslaught of spammers and [...] -
Instructographic Marketing on Pinterest
14 Apr 2012 | 6:46 pmWhen it comes to marketing on Pinterest the game has changed in the recent weeks regarding the recent algorithm change. In the past, it was possible to submit to your account every two hours and still make it to the category page. The category page is an essential for having your instructographics seen and shared [...] -
Content Marketing Friday: Hooking Boring Industries Up with Viral Bling!
13 Apr 2012 | 3:15 pmWelcome to the return of 97th Floor’s Content Fridays! If you haven’t met me yet, my name is Colby Almond and I like to think of myself as a ninja when it comes to turning boring things into traffic. If you work in a “boring” industry and use that as an excuse for not marketing [...] -
Announcing the Return of “Viral Marketing Friday” with a Name-Twist
10 Apr 2012 | 3:59 pmWe’re very excited to announce the return of one of our favorite segments we used to do here! Viral Marketing Friday is back and now known as Content Marketing Friday, where we’ll be taking suggestions from our readers on boring and overdone topics and turning them into killer, useable ideas. Yeah, it’s THAT epic! We [...]
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Daily SEO Tip
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Too Much of a Good Thing – Traffic You Don’t Want
14 May 2012 | 11:55 pmIf you run a website then probably a large portion of your time is spent trying to get people to go there and to this end you are probably trying desperately to collect as many links as possible and to promote in every way you can think of. This results in a kind of scatter gun strategy where you just throw as many links out there as possible and hope that a few stick. Likewise you’ll attract all kinds to your website which will result in your numbers going up. However ‘numbers going up’ isn’t necessarily always a good thing, and it’s not just about the number of… -
Growth of Mobile Search for Classifieds Sector in Mid-Western Europe
14 May 2012 | 12:00 pmIn the first quarter of 2011, Bluerank published a report on Mobile Search for Classifieds Sector in Mid-Western Europe. A year later, we have released the second part of that report, presenting the development of mobile search and the growth of its popularity among users. Our previous predictions concerning the development of mobile search in classifieds sector proved right. Again, we have conducted a research using Google AdWords keyword tool, to determine the level of popularity of mobile search for branded keywords concerning the classifieds sector and compare them with non branded ones. -
Optimizing Images in your Real Estate WordPress Blog
11 May 2012 | 1:57 pmAs realtors, we just love adding images homes to our posts to show off just how great they are right? The idea being that readers will be enticed by what they see as much as by what they read, so much so that they can’t wait to get hold of you and arrange a time to go see it. Right? Right. But, that’s not the only reason we should be adding pretty pictures to our blogs, oh no. Well optimized images can give a huge boost to a page’s search engine ranking, and what’s more they can even drive traffic directly to the page in their own right – through Google Images, for instance. -
If You Stay White Hat Then You Don’t Have to Fear Google’s Updates
8 May 2012 | 11:20 amGoogle went a little SEO update happy this past March, releasing 50 search quality tweaks. Google has also recently come out with some major algorithm updates, including the over optimization penalty and an attack on spammy blog networks. These are all quality updates following in the footsteps of the initial Panda update from last year that targeted article farms and sites that were heavily involved in article spinning. When news of the over optimization penalty broke, a few of my clients wanted to know if their sites were at risk. Every time Google comes out with a major update, most site… -
Why Banner Ads May Not Be a Good Idea for Your Site
2 May 2012 | 10:57 amIf you own a site or have been exploring numerous blogs and pages in the category in which your site finds itself, then you have probably noticed plenty of the standard square (125 x 125) banners that dot the sides and bottom of many websites and blogs. Renting out advertising space to companies who are advertising their services and products has become one of the standard ways that most bloggers earn – at least in part – income from their projects. What many bloggers and webmasters do not realise is how much they are selling themselves short and how advertising impacts visitors to the…
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Google Tutor
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Gmail Gets Better Google+ Notifications
15 May 2012 | 9:00 amGoogle+, like all other social networks, has a system of sending notification emails depending on the kinds of activity notifications you’ve opted to receive. By default you get all kinds of notifications and you may customize them in your Google+ settings. Now, Gmail is a Google product too and you know how Google has been trying to integrate other Google products with Google+ in the recent past. So, Google took another step in that direction few days ago by changing the way you receive Google+ notifications in Gmail thereby making it dynamic and integrating it deeply with Gmail. After… -
ScanURL Does a Comprehensive Security Scan for a URL
14 May 2012 | 9:00 amIf you have been our subscriber for a long time and generally read all our articles then you’d probably remember this post on Google Safe Browsing Tool where we talked about how this tool by Google helps you check whether a web page has malware or any suspicious content. The post caught the attention of a developer named Jake and he decided to create an online service where one could not only check the status of a page with Google’s Safe Browsing tool but also with other popular link trust evaluation tools out there like PhishTank and Web of Trust (WOT). The tool is called… -
Google Drive Arrives, Google Docs is Now a Part Of It
25 Apr 2012 | 8:55 amThe day has come. Yesterday, Google unveiled the long awaited Google Drive. Rumors had been doing the rounds since I don’t know how long and even Google acknowledged that in their official blog post which they started with “Introducing Google Drive… yes, really.” First things first, Google Drive is not instantly available to every one at the moment. You’ll find a ‘Notify me’ button like I did on their page and they’ll email you when your Drive is ready. I’ve been waiting eagerly since yesterday but haven’t received the notification… -
Gmail Now Gives More Information About Emails It Marks As Spam
28 Mar 2012 | 12:16 amGmail’s brilliant spam filter has always been a prime jewel in its throne, and has garnered a lot of praise since it came into being (though lately it has drawn some flak for its inability to be as accurate in marking spam mails as spam, as it used to be). While Gmails’ spam filter is still regarded as the best among web based email services, it isn’t infallible. A lot of times users are curious as to why Gmail marked a particular email as spam. Keeping that in mind Gmail has introduced a new feature that gives more details about a spam mail and why Gmail considered it as… -
Google’s Upcoming Search Changes – The Real Deal or Just a PR Play?
19 Mar 2012 | 10:14 pmA few days ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story titled Google Gives Search a Refresh. Considering that it talks about the dominant search engine in the world doing an overhaul of its system, the story picked up pace in no time and spread like wildfire. The article talked about Google’s push of semantic search into its algorithm where in the search engine will try to directly answer a user’s query first before showing it a list of results from around the web. Here’s a quick quote from the story: Over the next few months, Google’s search engine will begin spitting…
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HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
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Twitter Launches Weekly Email Digest to Aid Content Discovery
15 May 2012 | 3:30 pmLooks like Twitter is putting its January acquisition of social news startup Summify to good use! Yesterday, the official Twitter blog announced that it will start sending users a weekly email digest featuring relevant tweets and stories shared by the people they're connected with on Twitter. This just several days after news of Twitter's "acqui-hire" of personalized email marketing service RestEngine. Similar to the updated design of the Twitter Discover tab we covered earlier this month, the summary highlights which of the users you're connected to on Twitter shared the featured stories and… -
10 Simply Awesome Examples of Email Marketing
15 May 2012 | 10:48 amAs the Boston Globe highlighted eloquently on our behalf to announce today's launch of HubSpot's new email tools, email marketing is not dead! But over the years, some less than savory email marketing behaviors by brands -- whether they knew better or not -- have soured many recipients to the email messages filling up their inboxes. On the other hand, it has also made consumers jump for joy when they actually do get an email that is helpful, interesting, or innovative. And that's the kind of email marketing we like to celebrate! We've written about fantastic ecommerce retargeting campaigns,… -
Why List Segmentation Matters in Email Marketing
15 May 2012 | 7:50 amBy now, most marketers understand the importance of email to their overall marketing strategy and recognize that it's not dying in the wake of other emerging marketing tactics like social media. But while most marketers realize that email is here to stay, unfortunately, that doesn't exactly mean certain email marketing best practices have caught on. Segmentation is one such best practices. Segmenting your communications can improve your email marketing campaigns by leaps and bounds (read on -- we have the data to prove it!). Luckily, marketers are at least starting to realize the importance… -
8 Ways to Solve Prospects' Problems Through Your Marketing
14 May 2012 | 11:48 amYou're in business because you provide solutions. You've got answers. You're the (wo)man with the plan. Let's take a look at some of our customers, for example. AmeriFirst Home Mortgage helps home buyers find the right mortgage for them. In The News helps businesses memorialize their accomplishments with custom lamination and engraving. HubSpot helps marketers get an end-to-end view of their marketing activities to determine which channels provide the most ROI. Notice how none of those explanations of what each company provides focused on the specific product or service? That's because the… -
How Savvy Marketers Harness Social Data for Product Development
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amThis is a guest post written by Gini Dietrich, founder and CEO of Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm Arment Dietrich, and Geoff Livingston, an author and marketing strategist who serves as VP, strategic partnerships for Razoo. Gini and Geoff are authors of the new multichannel marketing book, Marketing in the Round. Online, we often talk about listening to our customers on social channels to help make content decisions in marketing. Moving to a fully integrated marketing picture for enterprise, using social media to compliment traditional market and product development…
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Local SEO Guide
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Linkbuilding Ain’t Marketing
14 May 2012 | 10:57 amWell at least a lot of the linkbuilding I see going on isn’t. But it can be. Which is why I wrote 5 Local Linkbuilding Ideas for the Post-Penguin/Panda Era And I wanted an excuse to put up ridiculous dog pics on SearchEngineLand. -
Going Negative on Negative SEO
11 May 2012 | 11:40 amAwesome discussion on Aaron Wall’s post, Yes, Negative SEO Techniques Do Work on Google, between Aaron, Danny Sullivan and a bunch of experienced SEOs who are not crazy about the collateral damage of the Penguin Update. The parts about small businesses and SEO ring particularly true, from both sides of the debate: AndrewL: there’s never any mention of small to medium businesses and other vulnerable sites in regards to negative SEO. There’s a bizarre assumption that all sites are “pundit” sites and all we have to do is keep blogging away writing… -
Why Google+ Still Has A Ways To Go…
10 May 2012 | 8:27 pm -
Bing Really Gets Social…
10 May 2012 | 6:35 pmor at least that’s what the press release says… -
Looking for a Product Management Guy?
7 May 2012 | 12:27 pmMy good friend Sebastien Provencher is exploring opportunities and since I occasionally post interesting job openings here, I thought it might be fun to try it in reverse and pimp some candidates. If you are in need of an experienced serious product guy, give Sebastien a call or Tweet or whatever social thing turns you on. Here’s how Sebastien describes himself: Following my recent departure from the VC-funded start-up I co-founded (Needium/Praized Media), I’m now actively looking for new senior product management opportunities in San Francisco in online media, local search or…
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Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik
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Excellent Analytics Tips #20: Measuring Digital "Brand Strength"
14 May 2012 | 5:05 amA lot of digital analytics focuses on direct response (conversions, leads, etc.). But there is an additional valuable, and sexy, focus of our marketing we don't give enough analytical love: Branding! It is sad that we spend so little time on brand analysis, primarily because 1. there is such little accountability to brand marketing and 2. it is such a strategic part of any business. So let's fix that problem in this blog post. Let's become BFFs with a lovely hidden gem that helps you leverage one of the largest source of data on the planet to understand the strength of your… -
You Are What You Measure, So Choose Your KPIs (Incentives) Wisely!
23 Apr 2012 | 4:54 amYes, data is important. Helps make marketing better. Makes for smart organizations. Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill: Measure. Find insights. Take action. (Or die trying.) Ascend to corporate heaven. While there is a great deal of appreciation for the power of metrics/data, I've come to realize that Sr. Leaders don't quite appreciate the deep, and often corrosive, consequences of choosing metric x over metric y as a key performance indicator (KPI). [Sidebar] A key performance indicator is a metric that helps you understand actual performance against preset business objectives. -
Multi-Channel Attribution: Definitions, Models and a Reality Check
2 Apr 2012 | 4:47 amA wise person said: "To guarantee success, spend 95% of your time defining the problem and 5% of the time solving it." I believe deeply in that quote. In my life I spend an extraordinary amount of time understanding the problem and attempting to define it clearly. As if by magic, I find that it is then much easier to find the optimal solution (or realize none exists!). Multi-Channel Attribution is a red hot topic in our industry, and yet it is so poorly understood. I'm convinced that the resulting problems (confusion, FUD, angst, daily prayers, and wasted budget) are due to the… -
A Big Data Imperative: Driving Big Action
12 Mar 2012 | 4:15 amIs there anything in the analytics space that is so full of promise and hype and sexiness and possible awesomeness than "big data?" I don't think so. So what is big data really? No one quite knows. As I interpret it, big data is the collection of massive databases of structured and unstructured data. The data sources include traditional (now considered puny) sources like corporate ERP/CRM systems and non-traditional (massive) sources like every technical ping from every human or mechanical sensor, all web behavior by everyone across the entire Internet, increasingly digital… -
The Biggest Mistake Web Analysts Make… And How To Avoid It!
20 Feb 2012 | 4:19 amThe single biggest mistake web analysts make is working without purpose. We work very hard. We torture SiteCatalyst. We send out a lot of data. Then we resend it again and again. And yet our work results in very little impact on the business in terms of action taken by company leaders. Why this sad state? Almost always we dive into the ocean of data first. Sadder still, we don't ask questions later. We never ask questions. No questions. No tie to what's important. No impact from the data. Result? Our work lacks purpose. It is that simple. My normal recommendation to address this…
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SEO Chat - Search Engine Optimization Tutorials
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Using Semantics for Keyword Research
15 May 2012 | 2:30 pmSujan Patel wrote a fascinating article on this topic for Search Engine Journal. After explaining how Google figures out what searchers mean when they enter keywords, he discussed five steps you can take in your keyword research that will help you get found more often by your target audience. I'm unspeakably grateful that we're passed the days when optimizing your keywords meant pick a single target keyword and cram it into your web content as many times as you can, as Patel characterizes the obsolete style. He correctly notes that That ship has sailed. Thanks in part to Google's Penguin u... -
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson Resigns
14 May 2012 | 12:30 pmActivist Yahoo shareholder and hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb brought the truth about Thompson to light, discovering that the CEO did hold the financial degree he claimed on his resume, but not the computer science one. Normally, one would think that Thompson's experience would make this a non-issue. As Greg Stirling pointed out, he had many years of experience as a successful tech executive in Silicon Valley...the paper was a technicality of sorts - not to minimize the ethics issue. Apparently it's the ethics issue that Loeb couldn't abide. He pushed hard, not letting the issue die; it… -
Bing Launches Social Sidebar
11 May 2012 | 7:00 amIn its blog post on the subject, the Bing team describes this as the most significant update to Bing since we launched three years ago. They'll be phasing it in over the next few weeks. So what can we expect? Danny Sullivan got a preview of the new features to try out. He noted that the new design featured three columns with Core Search, Snapshot and Sidebar panes. It comes across as a very functional design, and a surprisingly useful way to incorporate the social graph into search. For example, let's take a look at the Social Sidebar. It presents as a vertical gray sidebar to the right of… -
Write Content For the Four Buying Personalities
9 May 2012 | 5:00 pmOnce again, I owe a hat tip to Stoney deGeyter for discussing this point. In his article, though, he draws indirectly on a philosophy dating back to Hippocrates. Back in those days, and for a long time afterwards, doctors believed that both illness and one's personality stemmed from four humors, and treatment aimed to balance these humors. While science discredited the medical part of this theory, it turns out the idea of four different basic personalities has some merit. To be honest, we're all a little too complicated to be easily broken down into one of four categories. But in trying to… -
Write SEO Content for Your Visitor`s Goals
7 May 2012 | 11:30 amStoney deGeyter covered this topic recently. He approached it from the perspective of building a mental image of visitor personas. You form a persona based on a visitor's motivation. What do they need? Why are they on your website? Once you can answer those questions, you can think about what kind of content will help your visitors, and create it accordingly. I don't disagree with deGeyter, but I like to think more in terms of goals. If you really want to try to think like one of your customers, don't just ask yourself what they need; ask yourself what they're trying to accomplish. If your…
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MediaPost | Search Insider
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How Advanced SEMs Roll: Search Query Mining
14 May 2012 | 10:14 amBig data is everywhere. It's become a fashionable topic du jour, and in an industry like search engine marketing, where data is everything, that trend holds especially true. One of my favorite quotes on the importance of data to the future of business is from Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian, "Datarati are companies that have the edge in consumer data insight... Data is ubiquitous and cheap, analytical ability is scarce... The sexiest job in the next ten years will be statistician." -
Believing Is Seeing
10 May 2012 | 10:06 amIn his book "The Believing Brain," Michael Shermer spends several hundred pages exploring just how powerful beliefs are in forming our view of the world. Beliefs impact not just what we think, but they literally filter what we see and do. And, once in place, beliefs tend to be stubbornly unshakeable. We will go to great extents to defend our beliefs with rationalizations that are often totally or partially fabricated. As Shermer says, "Beliefs come first, explanations for beliefs follow." -
Dear SEOs: Google Owes You Nothing
8 May 2012 | 3:14 pmI have to admit it - yesterday's column by Ryan DeShazer got my dander up a little bit. Just the headline -- "Doesn't Google Owe SEOs Something?" -- caught me and wouldn't let go. So, I decided I'd present the other side of this discussion today on why Google does not owe anything to SEOs. -
Doesn't Google Owe SEOs Something?
7 May 2012 | 2:48 pm"It's one of the most important rules of search engine optimization. Don't depend solely on SEO. Especially don't depend solely on Google, the largest of the SEO sources. I'm always surprised when people fail to learn this lesson." That's how Danny Sullivan began his column, "Penguin's Reminder: Google Doesn't Owe You A Living, So Don't Depend On It." In that piece, Sullivan draws parallels between Google's latest algorithm update, codenamed Penguin, and algorithm changes from the past. He references the online virulence that often occurs in the wake of such changes. Penguin has been no… -
The 'Field of Dreams' Dilemma
3 May 2012 | 9:30 amThere's a chicken and an egg paradox in mobile marketing. Many mobile sites sit moldering in the online wilderness, attracting few to no visitors. The same could be said for many elaborate online customer portals, social media outposts or online communities. Somebody went to the trouble to build them, but no one came. Why? Well, it could be because no one thinks to go to the trouble to look for them, just as no one expects to find a ball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield.
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SEOptimise » blog
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SMX Advanced Tips & Takeaways | SMX London 2012
14 May 2012 | 9:41 amSchema & Authorship: 1 Year Layer Hresume in microformats http://t.co/SnqqVgph or schema job posting http://t.co/2yaFTRTf for positions, interesting! Visit http://t.co/dxbvN0kT to find out when the next Google webmaster tools hangout is Think of rich snippets as rich summaries, it must visible on the landing page. Rich snippets are supposed to be short descriptions of the content on to the page, not a spam tactic Google plus pages for publishers with rel=publishers to the publishers google plus page – ideal for Brands! Authorship – use accurately for authors NOT publishers… -
New Google Mobile app – an app with soul
9 May 2012 | 6:34 pmAfter a relatively long wait, Google announced today that they have launched an update to their Google Plus iPhone app. As I type this post, my phone seems to be taking its own time in downloading the update which gives me the impression that this particular update is a fairly significant one. In fact, Google seem to almost want the Google plus app to be part of your normal day to day experience by stressing that “we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density… -
Bing is For Doing – What do You Want to do Today?
2 May 2012 | 8:49 amWouldn’t it be great if you could just shut down the computer you’re on and go do something absolutely outrageous? Something you never thought you’d do, or be able to do? But, what if one of the world’s top search engines were to help you make those unfulfilled dreams a reality? If you haven’t seen their ads on Facebook already, this is exactly what the search giant, Bing, have set out to achieve. On the 18th of April, Bing UK, launched the “Bing is for doing” campaign to reach out to their users in order to discover what people really want to be… -
50 Tips & Takeaways from BlueGlass LA
30 Apr 2012 | 9:38 amLast week I got the chance to attend the latest BlueGlass conference in LA. I’ve got to admit, when heading out to the US I had high expectations for this event having heard a lot of buzz around previous conferences they’ve held and you might have seen my interview with Chris Winfield ahead of the event. But I’d have to say, they exceeded expectations way beyond what I ever expected! This was quite easily the best search event I have ever attended (and there’s been quite a few now!), the sessions were packed full of great content – once you’ve been to a… -
Top Takeaways from the Search Firestarters Event on Attribution
30 Apr 2012 | 7:59 amLast Thursday was the first Search Firestarters event, hosted by Google and Only Dead Fish – and we were lucky enough to get an invitation. Here are our top takeaways! Martin McNulty, from Forward3D Don’t try to attribute your way out of a rubbish marketing campaign. If your marketing is rubbish no attribution model will fix that. Modelling is not measuring – it’s about statistics and odds. Concentrate on what you can control – it’s all very well finding out the volume of search depends on cloud cover, but you can’t control the weather so you can’t do anything about it. Some…
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SEO 2.0
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Successful Blogging is Not About Becoming a Superstar
10 May 2012 | 9:50 amLast week one of the most successful bloggers in the marketing industry, Neil Patel has published a post called “How to Become a Blogging Superstar“. At first I felt like it was 2007 again, or even 2002. Why? I first started reading blogs around 2001 I think. I started my first blog in 2003. It was a blog a about radical art mostly. For the small niche it covered and the language it was written in it was hugely successful. That’s one of the reasons I moved on to professional blogging at first and then writing in English later for an international audience in 2007. I still… -
Dark Horse SEO Blogs That Look Very Promising
30 Apr 2012 | 8:58 amYou may already know that I’m one of the editors of the default /seoblogs slashtag on Blekko, the search engine contender for advanced users. After a few months of hiatus I have added a bunch of dark horse SEO blogs that look very promising to it. Old established SEO blogs tend to become silent after a while due to the success of the bloggers who get so much work after succeeding at blogging that they don’t have enough time to blog anymore. I’ve experienced this over the years as well. Thus you may want to subscribe to these blogs for fresh voices on SEO and similar… -
Three Timeless SEO Strategies and the Tactics to Boost Performance
27 Apr 2012 | 5:14 amThis is a guest post by Ryan Woolley, Vice President of Client Services, Response Mine Interactive. It has been submitted to SEO 2.0 already several months ago and was never published due to some issues I encountered with it. As the techniques described here are “timeless” I think it’s not too late to post it even now. I added some emphasis and text decoration here and there. We’ve reached our 10-year mark at RMI and it’s hard to believe that many of us at the company have been entrenched in SEO for equally as long. SEO is a fascinating space to work in. So dynamic, it… -
The Future of the Web According to Eric Schmidt of Google
23 Apr 2012 | 9:15 am“The Future of the Web According to Eric Schmidt of Google” is a post I have written a few months ago that hasn’t been published by the blog I have been writing for then. I don’t know why, they never even bothered to tell me about it. I guess it was too critical of Google. So here it is. Judge it yourself: Over the years Eric Schmidt formerly CEO and now chairman of Google has been known for giving some intriguing insights into Google, the Internet and the future of technology. Some of his remarks were very controversial to say the least. Many things he has expressed… -
How Do I Get More SEO Clients?
17 Apr 2012 | 9:22 amGetting clients as an SEO is a no brainer in a way, still many people struggle at the beginning it seems. Recently I answered a question on Quora: “How do I get more SEO clients?” The person who asked added: “I have a good SEO knowledge and experience, but I do not have a portfolio. Which would be the best methods for getting my first clients?” My reply did not get the attention it deserved I think and thus I’d like to publish it here and elaborate a bit on finding clients for a SEO business. The way it has worked for me when I started out is still the way it can…
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ReelSEO Online Video Marketing Digest
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Video Paywalls, Mobile Momentum, Optimizing Views & More [Reel Web #39]
16 May 2012 | 12:30 amThis week the Reel Web covers a lot of topics including YouTube’s venture into providing premium content, the stats on video sharing apps on mobile devices as well as a couple quick resources on monetizing your videos and looking at your video analytics. Click here to watch this video. YouTube Planning Premium Content Subscription – YouPayWall? YouTube may be bringing in some premium content that will be available to view with a subscription. Most of this content will likely be very popular on-demand content that is currently available via TV, however, there is speculation that this… -
The Rise of Mid-Roll Means Good Things for Video Advertising
15 May 2012 | 10:45 amI was just perusing a report from FreeWheel that pertains to online video monetization for Q1 2012 and there were some surprising things in it. For example, mid-roll video ad placements are on the rise, but mostly due to more long form video content being available, not because they’re more effective, etc. Right now, I’m in the planning stages of my own original web series and length of each episode was a topic of discussion with the team (really, there’s just two of us at present). I’m leaning more toward a longer episode while the other person was thinking shorter. -
Engagement, Not Views, is Driving Today’s YouTube
14 May 2012 | 1:15 pmWe all are a bit guilty of checking out a video’s view count and using it as its one and only metric for success. Although more critical thinking has made view counts less important, it’s still the easiest way to judge a video’s success. But YouTube has apparently wised up in the last few months as they have spent money on premium content and are looking for as many advertisers as possible. This very interesting article from Ad Age using Comscore metrics shows that while total views have dropped from the highs of last year, the amount of time spent on YouTube has… -
Critics of Organic Content Farms like Demand Media Should Eat Their Own Words
14 May 2012 | 12:20 pmA year ago, I stuck my neck out and defended Demand Media’s approach to developing great content down on the content farm. Last week, I felt vindicated when Demand Media reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and raised its previously issued fiscal 2012 financial guidance. Richard Rosenblatt, Chairman and CEO of Demand Media, in a press release, “We are pleased with our first quarter results and remain focused on investing in our long-term growth initiatives.” These include enhancing the quality of Demand Media’s Owned & Operated properties as… -
Adobe Cloud Gets Creative, Brings PrimeTime with it
14 May 2012 | 10:05 amI’m tracking several things coming from Adobe presently. The first is the announcement that the Adobe Creative Cloud is now live meaning you can pay a monthly fee for access to their Creative Suite 6 series of applications. Along with that there are also two new Touch Apps, but those are sold separately. The other thing I’m tracking and will have more on, probably next week, is Adobe’s “Project PrimeTime, the first fully integrated video technology platform to enable seamless viewing experiences for ad-supported TV content across desktops, TVs, smartphones and tablets…
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SEO Blog by Dave Naylor - SEO Tools, Tips & News
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Protecting Your Site and Brand From Negative SEO
15 May 2012 | 8:32 amFollowing the recent Google Penguin update that has been rolled out across their search engine just a couple of weeks ago, there has been a huge amount of concern within the SEO industry as evidence of ‘negative SEO’ seems to have come to light with people looking to investigate their search engine manipulation theories on [...]Protecting Your Site and Brand From Negative SEO is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
Speaking at SMX Advanced London, 15th & 16th May 2012
23 Apr 2012 | 5:45 amIn a few weeks I’ll be heading to London with Becky to speak at the SMX Advanced Conference being held at Chelsea Football Club. Its been a while since I’ve done a SMX conference so it will be good to return especially with all the changes that are happening at the moment in Search, so [...]Speaking at SMX Advanced London, 15th & 16th May 2012 is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
Google Webmaster Tools Notice of Detected Unnatural Links
18 Apr 2012 | 10:14 amFor years I have heard people say “buy links for your competitor and report them”, if it was really that easy and I’m guessing not illegal then we would all be doing it, wouldn’t we ? Why it just doesn’t work that way Sometimes I sit at home at night and pretend I’m the Head [...]Google Webmaster Tools Notice of Detected Unnatural Links is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
Dave’s Guide to wedding photography
2 Apr 2012 | 10:32 am1) Buy awesome Camera 2) start snapping 3) sit back and be revel in your handy work Not worried Not Ready Smile No Really Smile Really WTF “we never get a nice photo Adam always pulls a stupid face” Shelley Stafford oh wait a minute Shelley Wait it’s not just Adam Hog Roast (2am bad [...]Dave’s Guide to wedding photography is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
What Happened To Email Scheduling And PDF Export In Google Analytics?
21 Mar 2012 | 4:12 amBack in November on the Google Analytics blog they announced the release of email scheduling and PDF export for the new version of Analytics claiming that “both email scheduling and PDF export functionality will be the new interface in a few weeks.” – almost 5 months on this still isn’t the case. There are a [...]What Happened To Email Scheduling And PDF Export In Google Analytics? is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog.
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» blog
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Kung-Fu Panda, Happy Feet and Google
14 May 2012 | 6:52 amSource: http://cdn.pacific54.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/google-panda-update.jpg We have many movie buffs amongst our digital marketing industry that must have surely seen Happy Feet (2006) and Kung-Fu Panda (2008). Both have Academy Award nominations and critically acclaimed for outstanding animation. Both feature films were also made to highlight a very necessary aspect of animal conservation to society. Way back then, there was no concept of Google’s Panda and Penguin; today it’s a whole different ballgame. I must say, Google has surely done a wonderful job of scaring many… -
How Google Analytics Data Helps You in your PPC Campaign
10 May 2012 | 7:42 amThe basic criteria for setting up a goal of a search engine marketing – PPC campaign, is that it has to facilitate measurability. The principle of ‘Measurement’ plays a pivotal role in assessing the efficacy of any campaign. While carrying out a PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign Google Analytics, with its web analytics data, can come in handy, & can enable appropriate valuation of your campaign with respect to ROI (Return on Investment) and CPA (Cost Per Acquisition). The following presentation will help you use Google Analytics, in your PPC campaign. It details metrics &… -
How to Make Sense of the Google Penguin Update?
10 May 2012 | 1:03 amFollowing are the key pointers we have found out after having researched into the impact of the Google Penguin Update. Please note that just before this, there was a Panda 3.5 update on April 19th. This was a Google Algorithmic update targeting mainly “over-optimization” and “web spam” – first published on Google webmaster blog and then Webmaster world on 24th April. Search Engine Watch (24th April) – Danny Sullivan says web-spam encompasses the following:- Keyword stuffing – A lot of exact match keywords present with respect to keywords targeted Link… -
Iframes are SEO Friendly but only if You are Optimizing for Google
7 May 2012 | 6:31 amThere have been many questions related to iFrames that have always confused SEOs around the world- Should they be incorporated in the website? Do they pass any link value? Does the search engine spider crawl the links that are present in an iFrame? And most important question of all, are they SEO friendly? Although there were reports which in a way confirmed the crawling capabilities of search engine spiders as far as iFrames are concerned, still I was not convinced and the above stated questions often muddled me. So I decided to conduct a test to once and for all put an end to the agony of… -
LinkedIn + SlideShare = A Good Deal all Around!
5 May 2012 | 8:15 amWhat do you get when you cross a professional networking site with a content sharing platform? A good deal is what we say. The latest in social media news is all about the acquisition of SlideShare, a content sharing website, by professional networking giant LinkedIn for an estimated $119 million, to be signed off in a combination of 45% cash and 55% stock. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2012. Natural Partners! The LinkedIn SlideShare acquisition aligns almost perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission of ‘making professionals more productive’. For one,…
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Sean Hakes.com
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SH to Launch Phoenix Market?
14 May 2012 | 8:01 pmRumor has it, Sean Hakes.com will be re-launching our local Phoenix market… Details coming soon… Related Posts: Denver to Phoenix Phoenix, Tucson SEO Expansion Tempe SEO Tips to Identify an Unethical SEO Company New Site Design in Store for Sean Hakes.com Tweet -
How A Great SEO Campaign Can Become A Complete Waste of Money
14 May 2012 | 3:56 pmWritten by: Sean Hakes Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term that is becoming increasingly popular by the day – and because of that, there are more self-titled ‘SEO Experts,’ jumping into the scene to sell a product and/or service they really don’t know much about which has created destructive confusion among small business owners around the globe. The lack of understanding and trust in not only SEO but the so-called SEO Experts who sold the product has left much of the industry in shambles and small business owners loosing literally, thousands of dollars with… -
Report: Scott Thompson To Step Down As Yahoo CEO, Ross Levinsohn To Step In
14 May 2012 | 10:06 amIt appears that Yahoo, Inc’s., troubles continue as a new report indicates that Scott Thompson has officially stepped down as Chief Executive Officer and Ross Levinsohn, Executive Vice President will be stepping into into the new role as CEO. You can read the full report on Search Engine Land.com here. Related Posts: Will Yahoo Fail? Pending Layoffs Among Signs Did RipOffReport.com Just Get Smacked by Google? How to Remove a Rip Off Report Understanding SEO from the beginning. Yahoo Dropping Search Engine Market Share Tweet -
Next Discussion: Google Grants for Non-Profits
13 May 2012 | 11:07 pmThere are a lot of non-profit corporations (501c3′s) that are unaware that Google offers up to $10,000.00/mo., in free advertising. To date, our team has helped generated over $360K in annual (free) spend for non-profits. We’ll be striking up a conversation on how you can take advantage of a Google Grant for your non profit. Stay tuned. Related Posts: Free SEO Training Courses Community Rocky Mountain Domain Conference Snippet Optimization Will Yahoo Fail? Pending Layoffs Among Signs Tweet -
Free Denver SEO Training: May 17, 2012
13 May 2012 | 9:53 pmThis week I’ll be co-hosting a FREE SEO Training and business development workshop with Colorado’s most listened to consumer advocate, Tom Martino. We have VERY LIMITED availability so if you plan on making it, R.S.V.P now by calling 303-627-8466. Here’s the details: WHAT: Free SEO & Business Development Workshop WHEN: May 17, 2012 at 6:00PM – 8:00PM WHERE: Clear Channel Studios 4695 South Monaco Street, Denver, CO WITH: Sean Hakes & Tom Martino Again there is very limited availability so please R.S.V.P by calling 303-627-8466. Related Posts: Sean Hakes to…
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Blogging Tips on How to Make Money Blogging - Donny Gamble
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Why Facebook will inevitably become the next Myspace
15 May 2012 | 8:04 amI firmly believe that Facebook won’t keep its monopoly on social media interaction forever. I may be in the minority in that opinion, but it seems like Facebook has been on the downward slope ever since the company made big changes to its interface last year (the changed layout, timeline, privacy settings, etc.). While it’s hard to believe that a service with over 800 million users could be in any trouble, I feel like it’s only a matter of time until Facebook joins the ranks of Friendster and Myspace, moving aside for the next big thing to take its place. It might seem like an unlikely… -
Internet Entrepreneurs: Why Sink When You Can Swim: 7 Tips for Moving Forward
8 May 2012 | 7:29 amAs I‘ve launched my new internet business I now understand its strengths and unlimited potential. For those of you that have existing businesses and are continuing to struggle through the overwhelming cost of doing so, you too, need to look into an Internet business transition. Listen, there is no better time than now to enter into an expansion venture particularly on a global level. One of the more definitive ways to do this is to create an e-commerce/internet business. The ability to expand your business beyond borders and expose your products and/or services to a broader base of… -
No Time to Wait: 5 Tips which will Help Your Website Load Faster
3 May 2012 | 10:42 amOne of the most important factors in determining whether your website will be a success or a dud is the download speed. Nobody wants to sit and wait for some website to open. It’s boring! If you are serious about creating a hot site then you need to do it the right way from the start. Lucky for you, we’ve put together a list of 5 tips which will help your website load faster. Follow them and you will be well on you way to burning up the Internet. These 5 tips which will help your website load faster are given in no particular order as they all play a part in making your website load… -
How to Leverage Traffic from Pinterest
24 Apr 2012 | 11:04 amPinterest is a fast growing social networking site which allows the users to share and collect the things they like on the Internet. Pinterest’s growth in both traffic volume and usage shows that it is an ongoing concern. Important things to consider before getting started on Pinterest 1. Username: The selection of your username should be your name or whichever brand you want to promote. 2. Profile: Your profile should be complete so that people can get to know about you. 3. Interaction: You have to be interactive with other Pinterest users, like their pins and… -
Top 10 Content Creation Tips
17 Apr 2012 | 7:23 amIt is not enough to create a website and leave it at that. You must attract people who are interested in your website. The foundation of any internet business lies solely on the content available on the internet. The amount and quality of the content available on your website determine the amount and quality of the traffic that will come to the website. This article provides you with 10 top techniques of creating web content. The tips are as follows: 1. Come up with new topics: Keep coming up with new topics that are within the field that your website is dealing with. Do not let…
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Digital Connections - 360i Blog, Digital Marketing Agency
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Borrowed Influence: The New Symbiotic Relationship Between PR & Advertising
15 May 2012 | 10:14 amSince the Mad Men era, the widely held perception has been that consumers are only influenced by advertisements of shiny celebs and models – but social media and the rise of a new sect of influencers is turning this notion on its head. Recent research shows that consumers would rather receive marketing messages from bloggers or influencers that they are familiar with than a celebrity. Moreover, this preference ultimately affects their purchasing behavior (53% of female readers have bought a product based on a recommendation from a blogger). Cool Whip is using real moms as part of its… -
Sweet Music: Join Coca-Cola & Jason Derulo for a Live Google+ Hangout
15 May 2012 | 8:34 amFor many teens, the pinnacle of ‘Happiness’ would be hanging out with their favorite pop star – of course few people are ever afforded such an opportunity. Well, this dream is about to become a reality for seven lucky teens thanks to 360i client Coca-Cola and Google+. As part of Coca-Cola and American Idol’s ‘Perfect Harmony’ program – in which fans can help singer Jason Derulo pen his next big hit – the brand has picked a handful of teens to participate in a live chat on the Coca-Cola Google+ page. You can watch the chat LIVE tonight at 7 p.m. EST, as Jason answers fan… -
Bing Announces Social Updates to Search Results
14 May 2012 | 10:19 amLast week, Bing announced the most significant update to its platform since its launch three years ago, by introducing a new social structure to its search results. Microsoft has had the jump on Google for quite some time now when it comes to privileged social data, winning both the Twitter fire-hose deal and enjoying a cozy relationship with Facebook. And with Tweet and Like counts clearly poised to be the new relevancy king-maker signals, the most surprising thing about yesterday’s announcement is that it took so long. In fact, a week prior to the announcement, it appeared Microsoft… -
Digital Content NewFronts: Platforms Enter the Big Leagues to Allure Big Brand Dollars
8 May 2012 | 8:32 amThere was a lot to digest after a week of events at the Digital Content NewFronts (DCNF), which wrapped on Thursday with Google’s BrandCast event. This year, the magnitude of the event trumped those of years past, with platforms proudly touting the power of native digital content to attract large brand marketers. This post brings you all the highlights from DCNF 2012. About the Digital Content NewFronts The DCNF mission statement, according to its site, is to “to shape a new and practical marketplace for connecting the wealth of native digital content with brand marketers and their media… -
Tumblr Rolls Out Ad Products to Select Brand Partners
7 May 2012 | 12:36 pmLast week, Tumblr decided to throw their hat in the ring and start selling ads on their platform. Perhaps because they’ve had a chance to observe Facebook as they have publicly iterated on the core value proposition of their advertising products, Tumblr has skipped those steps and come out with a very clear stance on what they’re selling and who can buy it. Image via CNETAt fMC, Facebook launched new ad products that enabled marketers to easily port the content they were already publishing on Facebook into advertising units. Facebook had already been selling advertising for quite some…
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GSEO.net - SEO Community
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Did You Notice Any Google Search Ranking Changes in the Past 48 Hours?
15 May 2012 | 5:57 am<p>The SEO and the webmasters community is w... -
Google Updates its Panda with Version 3.6 Just After an ‘8-Day’ Gap
4 May 2012 | 5:45 am<p>Until now, Google Panda updates used to h... -
5 Reasons Your Link Building Doesn’t Work
1 May 2012 | 8:33 am<p>I'm often contacted by clients who c... -
Did Google's Penguin Bite You?
28 Apr 2012 | 2:16 am<p>After Google's Panda, it's the ... -
4 Creative Ways to Get Your Blog Linked the 'Natural Way'
24 Apr 2012 | 7:38 am<p>The tactics of link building are fast cha...
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Holistic Search Marketing
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New Compare Ads now out in the wild
1 May 2012 | 2:50 amFollowing on from yesterdays post about Google launching new comparison ads in the UK and the US, we have finally seen the ads now out in the wild The terms seem to trigger on quite specific terms at the moment such as - Compare credit cards - Compare savings accounts - Compare Bank Accounts - Compare current accounts - Cash ISA The ads themselves knock the organic search results down quite significantly, and on many screen sizes sampled now make the organic results sit below the fold, which is likely to impact significantly the likes of the GoCompare’s, Moneysupermarkets etc should the… -
Is Google about to shake up the finance marketplace?
30 Apr 2012 | 11:37 amGoogle may well have truly thrown the gauntlet down to the big finance aggregators with the launch of new financial comparison units on a number of finance related terms. The comparison ad concept themselves is nothing new, however rumour is rife that much of this will use the Beatthatquote technology that Google acquired back in 2011 – something that would really have significant consequences for the wider comparison market as a whole – and potentially impact on Beatthatquotes’ ex competitors such as Compare the Market, GoCompare etc. The fact this may happen is not a… -
Venice – more than just local extentions
30 Apr 2012 | 6:56 amAs part of our day to day campaign management at Mediacom, myself and my colleague Ryan McKay have recently been looking into the wider effect of the recent Venice update on the search rankings – as well as other updates such as Penguin/Panda etc. To many it would seem the effects of the recent update have been lost to many, certainly some recent on the subject suggests many seem to associate this to merely the greater integration of localised results into the Google search results – in fact a presentation from SMX suggested that it was merely Google changing ‘the rules for… -
How does Google work
23 Apr 2012 | 4:32 pmWell obviously your not going to get the full answer here, however Matt Cutts has posted a nice little video as to how Google used to work and currently works (at a very top level) – what else what you would expect? In it he goes through - How Google used to work - Google and crawling - How Google evaluates content Much of it isn’t necessarily brain science but its worth a watch all the same. -
Can Pinterest really help your business?
19 Apr 2012 | 3:49 amHave you heard of Pinterest? It is a relatively new social media network where users get to “pin” photos and videos that pique their interest. The website offers a “pinmarklet”, a bookmarking widget that allows users to pin their content without the need to copy and paste links. Pinterest, with its by invite only membership, have managed to expand its platform into over 10.4 million registered users. And as companies embark into social media marketing territories, a lot of businesses are on the run on making their own Pinterest page. But wait! Before you add another social media…
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SEO Blog of Link-Assistant.Com
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Mission Performance: 7 Updates That Do Miracles to SEO PowerSuite
15 May 2012 | 8:54 amSeveral months ago, we sat down here at Link-Assistant.Com to discuss how we could make SEO PowerSuite faster and more lightweight. The thing is, when it comes to data volumes, SEO PowerSuite is crazy software: users can check unlimited number of sites, pages, backlinks, keywords and rankings. This unlimited approach is a gorgeous way to go we believe: smarter SEO only comes with the full range of accurate SEO data. At the same time, if you are working with big projects, performance may suffer. With all the coming bells and whistles we're planning to add to SEO PowerSuite feature mix,… -
Google Vs. Naver: Why Can’t Google Dominate Search in Korea?
14 May 2012 | 8:00 amAlthough Google presently holds 83% of the global search market, there are countries that have been consistently slipping out of its grip. One such country is Korea, South Korea to be exact. Ask any Korean what search engine they use, and, most likely, the answer will be... Naver. Naver - the profile Naver (derived from navigate) is currently Korea's number one search engine and accounts for over 70% of the search market there. The search engine was launched in 1999 by a group of ex-Samsung employees and has dominated the Korean search industry ever since. If you haven’t been to Naver's… -
SEO Crash-Test 60: travelhalongbay.com
10 May 2012 | 8:05 amSwitch here to learn more on SEO Crash-Test and submit your website for SEO experts' review. User Experience: Although the website has slightly outdated design and those flickering and glittering bullets that might make your eyes sore, it's easy to use and browse. It takes just a few clicks to find a tour that is right for you and send a booking request. Breadcrumbs would significantly improve the usability of your website. The "Hotels" section should definitely be improved. Why not include more details in the hotels comparison chart? And surely you should find a more elegant solution for the… -
Three-Step Easy Strategy for Conversion-Focused Internal Link Building
7 May 2012 | 10:13 amLooking for the best link building opportunities is every SEO's daily routine, especially after the recent Google update: webmasters need natural links from trusted and relevant websites as never before. As you scavenge the web in search of great links, we'd also like to encourage you to broaden your perspective a bit ... and get the most out of links on your site. Interested? Here's a simple strategy for smart (i.e. conversion-focused) internal link-building with WebSite Auditor we have put together for you: Read More -
Don’t Get Hit by Googles Latest Penguin Algo Update!
4 May 2012 | 6:51 amGuess you've already heard the boiling news: Google's latest algo update is sharply changing the SEO landscape! Looks like the said "anti web-spam" update's affecting not only black-hat, but also some legitimate sites. In short, the two aspects under Google's close look now are backlinks and content. And SEO PowerSuite users deserve reassurance: if you follow these tips for your site's links and content, you'll be only gaining in Google rankings. So you can easily avoid being hit by the algo change. Just jump over here to see how to meet Google's new quality standards.
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The SEO Bullshit Feed
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You Can’t Compete With “Psycho”
1 May 2012 | 11:29 pmI often get asked, “What IS your goal, King?” “Domination to the point of demoralization,” is my answer. That’s when the bug-eyed, blank stare hits me. The concept of my strategy is so under-estimated, so feared, so rare, that no one hardly ever gets it that THAT is what I’m doing. Go fucking psycho on them. But that’s my strategy. WHAT IS PSYCHO? Well, it starts with sleepless nights. Or day-night sleep reversal, whatever you call it. Personally, I can’t work while those wretched birds chirp so that means when the birds start… -
Video SEO Bullshit – I Call Your Bluff!
30 Apr 2012 | 8:48 amRecently I have been researching what everybody else is saying about Video SEO. The topic being new and hot, it is interesting to see how it unwinds. While there certainly are some good bits of information around (including SEODojo’s podcast on the topic with Carla Marshall and Steve Gerenscer), there is plenty of stuff that cannot be referred to other than pure bullshit – so it certainly deserves its place here. Search for “Video SEO” in Google and one of the first things you get is an article published two years ago on TechCrunch. Now, TechCrunch is surely not an SEO… -
Google Presents “Titanic” aka “Penguin” – Coming To SERPS Near You
25 Apr 2012 | 8:31 pmHoly sweet mother of God. There’s adjustments, and there’s EVICTIONS. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to Google’s latest algo adjustment dubbed ‘Titanic.” Why “Titanic?” Because you’ll be searching for survivors, that’s why. Well, the official name has now been officially entitled “Penguin.” Our original “Titanic” moniker was at least related to something being cold and frigid. THE FALSE ALARM Last week, we saw some interesting, albeit odd, adjustments in the SERPS as Google wrangled… -
Ladies and Gentlemen, We’ve Got Legal Juice
19 Apr 2012 | 5:00 amThis week, Matt Cutts posted a 12 second video answering the question “Do Images pass PageRank?” This 12 second video simply responds, ‘yes.’ Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got legal, paid juice passing. This means that there is a white-hat way to flow juice while paying for it. So, yeah, it’s not a ‘paid link’ but it is ‘paid juice’ and since juice means domain authority, I think we’ve caught a break. So, let’s take this to the extreme then. What if I had a huge-ass budget and I decided I wanted banner ads placed on… -
Grey Hat To White Hat Disaster
18 Mar 2012 | 5:18 pmI knew it was going to be rough. I knew it was going to be bad. I had no idea how bad. It’s a total and complete SERP disaster. So, last quarter, I wrote about how I declared Google the winner of the “you better go white hat or else” stalemate. I did paid links, paid reviews, and never, ever did any shit like “cloaking”, “spam”, or “stuffing.” Hence, the “grey” hat campaign type. I had awesome content. I had a crawlable site. It was perfect in every way. I used paid links and reviews to scream at GoogleBot,…
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CanuckSEO
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Bontis on Business: Snappay For Merchants!
13 May 2012 | 8:52 amFor those of you who don’t know our local Hamilton Spectator and our business community, it might come as a surprise to you that in last Saturday’s paper, our own Nick Bontis’s column entitled “Bontis on Business” he covered our own Snappay mobile POS app! And we’re chuffed! Dr. Nick Bontis is one of the world’s leading experts on intellectual capital and is a tenured Professor at McMaster University and writes a weekly Hamilton Spectator column on business that covers much of both the international business scene and yes, our local one too! And a… -
Fabulous Friday: Infographics Rule!
11 May 2012 | 11:57 amOkay, it’s been a rough week – yeah, I know for you too… but especially since we’ve had everything from client fires to put out, new clients to pitch, clients to wine & dine (if that wasn’t you don’t worry, your turn is coming, eh!) and yes, doing the normal SEO practice work all week long too! That said, I did find a couple of real infographic gems and would like to share same with you and surprisingly a couple of them are on WordPress & SEO….so let’s take a look/see at what I’ve found this week, shall we? Infographic #1 this… -
IF StartUp Spotlight: Our Snappay Founder
6 May 2012 | 1:45 pmA new item now on our Hamilton based Innovation Factory website is their publication of local success strories and the lead off one is of our own Snappay Founder, Lorne Lantz! I am so proud of this young man – and yes, a reminder that I’m also involved with Snappay as their CMO and have been working hard for Lorne to help market Snappay, our mobile POS application that allows a user to charge a customer’s credit cards with no hardware! And while I’d like to think that I could add something to the Spotlight story – I can’t so here’s a re-post of the… -
Breaking News:Startup Weekend Inspires Entrepreneurs in Hamilton Again!
30 Apr 2012 | 5:43 pm54 Hour event brings together designers, developers, and more to launch companies quickly! Hamilton, ON (April 30, 2012) – Last weekend, 95 developers, designers, marketers, business professionals, animators, and engineers came together in the Collaboratory at Mohawk College to spend 54 hours trying to launch new startups in Hamilton. 3 months ago, Hamilton’s Regional Innovation Centre (RIC), Innovation Factory (iF) announced that they were once again joining forces with Software Hamilton to bring the international movement of Startup Weekend back to Hamilton after their successful first… -
Fabulous Friday: SEO Infographics R Us!
26 Apr 2012 | 8:35 pmWell, Thursday night really, but hey this is the only chance I’ll have in getting my normal Friday blog piece done and posted…because of my total commitment to our StartUpWeekend Hamilton:2 that begins tomorrow up at our Mohawk College and runs for three days straight! <grin> My commercial over and if you read here regularily you know that I often intersperse my Canadian SEO practice with a recap the week’s best Infographics and this week is no different, eh! And so I begin with an old friend, Yahoo. I go back so far with this search engine that I remember when it was…
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IKROH SEO UK Blog | News & Tips
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Small Business Marketing in Milton Keynes
15 May 2012 | 5:55 amWe’re going to be regularly focusing on local Milton Keynes marketing strategies on the Ikroh blog from now on, to help local businesses – big and small – to get the best out of their local area. Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be covering all aspects of online and offline marketing, and how to tie the two together, utilising the tools you already have as a company, and finding new ways to market (that don’t break your budget!)… Milton Keynes is a great place to run a business, but for your company to survive and compete within your area, you need… -
The Future of Larry Page’s Google
14 May 2012 | 10:27 amIt’s been just over a year since Larry Page took over as CEO of Google. The obvious landmark since his new position is Google +, and though the jury still seems to be out about the new(ish) social platform, the numbers show that it has the capability to stand against the big G’s arch nemesis, Facebook. (Did anyone else just visualise Zuckerburg slowly turning around in a leather swivel chair, stroking a big F sign? Just me? Ok.) Google is the king of search, it leads the way in online advertising, it has made YouTube the most important multimedia platform on the internet, and then… -
Hard Drive Failure and Disposal
12 May 2012 | 6:13 amThousands of old computers are thrown away every year, and most of the time important and personal data is still on board, potentially putting you (and your business) at risk. So if your old PC or laptop has seen better days, what do you do? Throw it in the bin? Smash it to pieces? Send it into space? Well, to start with computers need to be disposed of in the correct way, and, um, none of those options are right. The other important consideration to take into account is whether the machine has completely erased of all data. It is no good just hitting delete and then emptying the recycle bin. -
Using SEO and PPC for your Business
10 May 2012 | 5:42 amAny kind of internet marketing needs to be factored into your business plan, tracked, analysed and adapted as necessary. Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click Advertising are no exception and should be considered as an investment and offer you a measurable return on your capital - but how does it all work? Prior to any campaign, keywords will be researched and suggested to make sure they are worth targeting. The search volume of each keyword or phrase is analysed, and using data and experience from previous campaigns, the expected ROI (return on investment) is worked out for each… -
Keep your Mobile Phone Safe from Wireless Network Hacking
9 May 2012 | 6:43 amApparently there are now more smart phones than people in the UK. Blimey. The big question is: just how smart are they, really? When it comes to security they don’t seem to be very clever! Mobile hacking is on the rise, with viruses capable of hopping from your phone to your computer and back again, putting all your data and personal information at risk. Their biggest weakness is wifi – a smart phone can be hacked via a wireless network within seconds! A recent documentary on the subject showed security consultants who were easily able to hack into random phones in a shopping…
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Digital Gossips
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Why Google Should Acquire Pinterest! My Message to Googleplex
10 May 2012 | 12:50 amGoogle should acquire Pinterest!Build a better mousetrap, and Google will beat a path to your door. A virtual truth! Had Ralph Waldo been alive, he would have quoted so! After many acquisitions, I believe pinterest is the one that Google should acquire for many reasons.The popularity of inforgraphics is surging with a growing users’ base. ComScore reports that the site has seen a 900% increase in unique visitors with 17.8% million unique views in February 2012 in a short time since its inception in September 2009. Further, Pinterest is only third to Facebook and Tumblr, as per a story… -
Google Contains the Seeds of Its Own Destruction!
21 Mar 2012 | 6:54 amCourtesy Image: uncyclopedia.wikia.com Google’s love for brand is not a new thing to cover in my blog. Much has been written and talked about it but what is not talked about is the declining share of Wikipedia on Google search results. There was a time when Google would display Wikipedia on the top of the search result but now the top organic slot is replaced with big brands like ebay and Amazon. There are many SEO experts who always write their opinion on the best practices of optimizing a website. Does a site like eBay or Amazon follow the so-called SEO advice? -
Google Hypocrisy Exposed Again!
29 Dec 2011 | 5:52 amGreed is the discorded love of Google. The phrase that may not sound good to many watchdogs of the search engine but it’s actually true. There are many instances that prove Google favors brands and the company aims at smaller business to have its goose producing more golden eggs. First it was China that exposed Google hypocrisy and now buySafeIn digital world, the Pareto Rule (80/20) does not hold true especially in search business. Google knows 20/80 rule works in virtual world and it’s always about ‘Long Tail’. Google apparently favors big brand more on organic than on sponsored… -
Google 2012 –Predictions from Marketing Perspectives
26 Dec 2011 | 2:27 amGoogle 2012!Do you want to know what what might change in Google 2012? Although, a few might not come true yet I see these predictions something worth to have them for our knowledge. Please, see below the top 20 Google Predictions 2012 I have made!Deploy more human editors than automated algorithm to perform quality audit.Google tops brands on search results and gives more AdWords options to branded companies compared to smaller brands.Throws fresh results (15-20% search queries)! The archive rule gets relaxed to freshness although a bit.The area of rich snippets shall be expanded and… -
Neither G+ Promises Search Value Nor Business Value - Reasons Explained!
19 Dec 2011 | 3:34 amG Plus or G Minus!Do you think G+ has all the elements of success in social arena?Many marketers hope so at least the way G+ is being slapped on our face by Google. However, I cease to believe this, at least at this point of time! Contrary to my belief, various sources have already predicted that G+ would be a game changer. There are many experts like Bernie Borges who think so. Flooded are the websites with various analysis. One such reputed site is SEOmoz where many people have given their thumbs up opinion on G+. What has really caught my attention…
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SEO Takeaways
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Is your conversion Rate Statistically Significant?
15 May 2012 | 2:00 amMajority of us take marketing decisions on the basis of conversion rate. There is an industry trend to invest more in the marketing channel which has higher conversion rate. But sometimes such thinking can backfire and it can backfire really badly. The worst part is that you may never know why. For e.g. consider -
How to optimize Organic Search Campaigns without Keyword Referral Data
8 May 2012 | 12:06 pmThe advent of attribution models and multi channels funnels in my career was a turning point. I soon realized that everyone (I am no exception) is doing analytics all wrong and I should take analytics tips floating across the net with a pinch of salt mainly because they never really take multi touch attributions -
6 things you can learn from PostRank about Social Engagement Metrics
1 May 2012 | 2:00 amOne of my favorite analytics tool PostRank Analytics is going to retire today on Tuesday May 1, 2012. I used this tool almost as long as it was available to publishers. PostRank was one of the best tools to identify and measure social engagement and top influencers. It tracked the RSS feed content performance -
What you should know about historical data in Web Analytics
22 Apr 2012 | 3:09 pmFor many of us, historical data in web analytics is very important because it help us in optimizing our marketing campaigns and efforts. We often do time travel to get answer to these burning questions. But the problem with historical data is that it is historical. It is dated. The insight that -
What is fundamentally wrong with your Conversion Rate
16 Apr 2012 | 12:00 amWhenever I get a new account the first thing that I do is dramatically improve the conversion rate of the website along with campaign performance, visitors’ engagement and content consumption. You may say, “We all do that eventually”. But there is a difference. I do it a bit faster….say within few seconds and that
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Home Based Business Resources
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Important Tips To Select Domain Name For New Bloggers
15 May 2012 | 7:51 amIt is a great task to select a new domain name for your business niche. The importance of a domain name is realized by entrepreneurs because of its significance in SEO, among other things. To achieve success in business you should utilize all the possible means. And it all starts with an address – the [...] -
Mobile Site Builder, WP Plugin Blacklist, Google Penguin, Speedlink 19:2012
12 May 2012 | 9:06 amA couple of weeks has gone by since the Google Penguin update has been launched, and yet, news about it is still dominant around the web. Reason being, is because it is a great deal and many websites have seen their rankings plummet, some nowhere to be found. From a business standpoint, being affected by [...] -
Five Tips For Video Marketing That Work
11 May 2012 | 6:45 amLights! Camera! Action! Many of us daydreamed as children about being famous actors. Now, thanks to advances in technology, many of us are using video as another tool in our marketing arsenal for reaching a greater number of potential customers. However, not all video clips are created equal, a fact I’m sure you’re more than [...] -
How To Make Your Site Mobile Compatible In Minutes: Google Dudamobile Initiative
8 May 2012 | 4:10 pmHaving your site mobile compatible nowadays is something you should no longer ignore. Recent studies reveal that as much of 40% of mobile users turn to competitors sites, after having a bad mobile experience. People around the world are slowly but surely catching up with the mobile mania, and if you are in business, its [...] -
123Contact Form: Professional Form Builder for Web and Mobile
8 May 2012 | 6:04 amForms roll all key online interactions: registration (for community boards or exclusive website areas), checkout and payment (e-commerce websites), feedback and sharing (contact forms on all types of websites and blogs). Why is there such a need for automation? When approached by a wide number of people on your website, it’s obviously not a good [...]
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WebandRank.com Blog
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The 4 Biggest Ranking Mistakes-Infographic
30 Apr 2012 | 1:43 amSmall businesses make this 4 big mistakes in terms of their web basic SEO structure, if experiance is best teacher save this infographic in order to avoid the 4 biggest ranking mistakes. ArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArray -
Rank Checker Software
1 Apr 2012 | 6:32 amI’m going to run briefly through the top rank checkers software and give you some basic information about them, plus I’ll be discussing which I use and why I like this particular one.This article review won’t be either exhaustive or highly researched simply because I’ve sat back and listened to what others have said about the various tools out there and then found something which made sense…, which I jumped on.So some of what I’m putting down here is purely hearsay and not first-hand information but what I’ll be telling you will be based on what I’ve actually read online… -
Cory Doctorow
1 Jan 2012 | 6:20 amThe Coming War on General Computation by Cory Doctorow doctorow@craphound.comPresented at 28C3 transcript attribution by Joshua Wise joshua@joshuawise.com.So, when I speak in places where the first language of the nation is not English, there is a disclaimer and an apology, because I’m one of nature’s fast talkers. When I was at the United Nations at the World Intellectual Property Organization, I was known as the “scourge” of the simultaneous translation corps; I would stand up and speak, and turn around, and there would be window after window of translator, and every… -
SEO Job Titles
4 Dec 2011 | 11:44 pmToday have a job in SEO is a great opportunity of career, all over U.S. the number of well payed workplaces in the industry is growing fast with a large variety of sectors. Among many choices, you simply need to be able to find the right place for you and the salary that fits your work performance.Thanks to the growth of mobile Internet, social media, local search and behavioral targeting, Search engine optimization jobs is now one of the fastest growing professions in the U.S., Based on data from Onward Search’s proprietary Recruitics™ job posting software, the company saw a 64%… -
The Wall of Facebook
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Ross Hudgens
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Why You’re Lying to Yourself About Keyword Difficulty
2 May 2012 | 8:00 amA little over a month ago, I wrote about barriers to entry in the SEO world. This concept is something I think about constantly in my day to day operations in-house – however, it only begins to explain the long term competitive theories that are important to understand as overarching themes that cumulatively make the difference between a number one ranking, today, and a number one ranking five years from now. Although short term success is all fun and good, true dominance – and big business – comes from having many multiples of our number one rankings represent themselves… -
Why Google Needs The Manipulative Web
30 Apr 2012 | 8:00 am(The post originally appeared on Search Engine Land December 14th, 2010. Last week, the Google Penguin update made much of the debate about the quality of the search results resurface – and more around the concept that yes, maybe Google eliminated some spam, but in doing so, maybe they also hurt their search results. This article explains exactly why that may occur, and through that, perhaps illuminate why the events of the last week may have made that even more clear. Enjoy the article.) The Internet sometimes doesn’t work as we hope it would, or think it should. In certain… -
Interview With SEO Book’s Aaron Wall
27 Mar 2012 | 8:00 amAaron Wall is someone I greatly respect. He is unarguably one of the smartest public figures in the SEO space, and for that reason alone, every post he writes on SEOBook is worth reading. His opinions are sometimes controversial, but they are always cogent and continue to make SEO Book’s blog one of the only must-read blogs in the space. I have been considering joining Aaron’s high-level community for a long time, and likely will join soon. There are simply not enough places to openly discuss things with smart people that are controversial – which is why his blog continues… -
Staples Using Promoted Tweets For SEO
17 Mar 2012 | 12:47 pmStumbleupon Advertising is a truly powerful tool for link building. It puts your content at low cost in front of a large audience, and as long as it doesn’t suck, you can easily and quickly get thousands upon thousands of hits to your content. Since that time, Twitter’s Promoted Tweets has emerged. This seems like an obvious promotion mechanism, but is currently beyond the budget reach of many brands, as some services list their recommended investment as $15k over three months. I myself reached out to them, thinking I could do some social promotions utilizing the tool, but… -
SEO As A Barrier To Entry
8 Mar 2012 | 8:00 amIn traditional business, barrier to entry is a real and entrenched idea – its proliferation in physical retail and elsewhere is a main reason why moving from poor to rich has been extremely difficult in the past – there were strong barriers to entry that required long, tiring processes of establishing supply chain efficiencies and a necessitated time-lapse of building a mass of brick-and-mortar establishments to the point of true profitability. As the walls of retail and brick and mortar began to fall with the rise of the internet’s connected data came the rise of the new rich –…
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Seoswamy
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To be a fantastic principle overall, the more often overall area this data files a person’s attending coordinate will probably take
16 May 2012 | 5:47 amAn ardent device is usually a unique laptop mainframe in any remote control area where you can keep whatever different types of archives you should along with run anything uses an individual servidores dedicados want while permitting you whilst others a person approve access to the ones recordsdata and software from anywhere. It’s instead of [...] -
Some of the advocated web-sites in Acai berry excess weight reduction
16 May 2012 | 5:28 amThough, only fairly recently has the rest of the world turned out to be mindful of this virtually magical fruit. Even though it was was made use of by overall health insiders beforehand it was truly introduced to our attention originally due mostly in half to anti-growing older pro and doctor. Nicolas Perricone who was [...] -
Best Costs At Modern Furniture Calgary
16 May 2012 | 12:14 amWhen it involves Furniture Calgary, you’ll be able to easily get more for less. The Modern Furniture Calgary has temporarily won extensive reputation far and wide the world on the subject of the standard and elegance of the furniture. The GH Modern Furniture In Calgary has received a family title among buyers. The GH Modern [...] -
boasts several other companies including Fantastico P Luxe so that you to definitely place apps which include WordPress blogs
15 May 2012 | 11:50 pmInternet hosting study will broadly speaking be necessary should you looking for how to purchase a webhost for you personally. Each internet hosting assistance does have it’s range of elements to provide you with, although you don’t wish to cover characteristics together with assistance will never seem use, you will need some amount associated with [...] -
Lacoste Polo Shirts Sale Guide – Choose Your Own Polo Shirt
15 May 2012 | 11:44 pmCurrently, each and every major garments brand constitutes a polo shirt of some sort; they are popular garments being embroidered, usually in the second left-hand chest place which is virtually synonymous with this specific garment. Lacoste’s infamous embroidered alligator appeared on in which very first shirt and is still there. Additional clothing suppliers that were [...]
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Link Building Best Practices
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Using Pinterest to Gain New Business Online [VIDEO]
15 May 2012 | 6:30 amHow do you use Pinterest to gain new business online? Arnie Kuenn asks Mat Siltala with Dream Systems Media, Miranda Miller with Search Engine Watch, Janet Thaeler with PinnableBusiness.com and Kaila Strong with Vertical Measures. Each give their tips and insider info in this Google+ Hangout. This is a must watch for anyone interested in marketing their business on Pinterest! Related posts: Best Way to Accelerate Your Business Online? [VIDEO] Pinterest: A New Social Media Platform or Another Addicting Distraction? Pinterest Marketing Ideas for 24 Industries and Professions -
Does Your Company Need a Blog?
10 May 2012 | 6:30 amThere comes a time when every company realizes, “We need to improve our presence online.” The solution for this many times can be simple, a blog. A blog will give your site a consistent stream of new content, creates pages for targeted keywords, contains more content to share over social networks, allows people to interact with your website through comments and positions yourself or company as an expert in the field. Many companies debate on whether or not to spend money and time on creating a blog. The scope of the project can be larger than life. First you need to find a… -
What’s the Best Way for Me to Interact with Fans Who Like My Facebook Business Page? [VIDEO]
9 May 2012 | 6:30 amKaila Strong answers: “What’s the best way for me to interact with fans who Like my Facebook business page?” If you’ve got a question about link building, content, social media, SEO or other Internet marketing topics, just post it on the Vertical Measures Facebook page, or tweet it to us with the hashtag #VMQA. Transcription All right, so today’s question is from i-Brag who posted on our Facebook page. They ask: “What’s the best way for me to interact with fans who Like my Facebook business page?” One of the things you can definitely do is… -
Pinterest Marketing Ideas for 24 Industries and Professions
8 May 2012 | 6:30 amDrawing the attention of millions, virtual pinboard-styled social photo sharing website Pinterest is all the rage these days. From the comfort of your own home you’re able to pin awesome internet finds and share them with your friends. The site receives a whopping 11-16 million unique visitors a month, who are primarily women (80%) and users are between the ages of 25 and 54 (80%) according to Google Ad Planner. As internet marketers we seize the moment when new trends and sites emerge. We flock to where people are and in this case it’s a site that caters to the purse strings of… -
The Top Reasons to Attend Conversion Conference Chicago 2012 [VIDEO]
3 May 2012 | 6:30 amArnie Kuenn interviews Tim Ash, Founder and President of Site Tuners! If you’ve got a question about link building, content, social media, SEO or other Internet marketing topics, just post it on the Vertical Measures Facebook page, or tweet it to us with the hashtag #VMQA. Transcription Arnie Kuenn: Hi everyone I’m Arnie Kuenn, President of Vertical Measures in Phoenix, AZ and today our guest is Tim Ash, Founder and President of Site Tuners. Welcome Tim. Tim Ash: Yeah, thanks so much. Arnie: So I just wanted to quickly start off and maybe have you give us a short background about…
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Clear Simple Marketing
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Shockingly Inappropriate Vintage Ads and the Genius Behind Some of Them
15 May 2012 | 11:42 amFor those of you who are moms — Happy Belated Mother’s Day! I’m not a mom yet, but I am in awe of those of you who are moms. I know some of you moms. Being a mom is no easy feat! I spent Mother’s Day with my mom and grandma. While we ate dinner together, [...] -
Make these Small Tweaks to Your Website and Immediately Increase Sales
7 May 2012 | 9:31 pmHere in Minneapolis the skies are gorgeous and the days are getting longer. Like many others who live in northern climes, we take advantage of nice weather! Many of the CSM superheroes (a.k.a. our awesome staff) and I are taking ON our health and fitness right now. We are cutting back on carbs, sugar, and [...] -
3 Steps to Breaking Free from the Feast or Famine Cycle
1 May 2012 | 4:56 pmDo you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, trying every new trick you hear of to market your business successfully? For most businesses, there is no holy grail or silver bullet that is going to allow you to break the feast or famine cycle. Success is about doing the RIGHT things over and over – [...] -
Get a FREE 20-Minute Marketing Analysis
24 Apr 2012 | 1:47 pmLast week, I told you about the release of Danielle LaPorte’s newest book, The Fire Starter Sessions. Did you pick up a copy and start devouring it? I did! I am loving every minute of it. … In fact, I love it so much that I am shipping a copy to every participant in the next LIVE [...] -
Are You Ready to Make It Happen? 11 Credo’s…
17 Apr 2012 | 1:09 pmLast Saturday, we had a party at my house for the Clear Simple Marketing family. Pictured here are the Queen Bee’s of CSM, minus Heather & Jessica who live out-of-state but joined us via a Google Hangout. You can see more photos from the party on our Facebook page — click here. There was a [...]
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TrafficColeman: Black Seo Guy
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Fake It Till You Make It
16 May 2012 | 12:55 amWhat’s Real What’s Not Most people clicked on the title of this post because you really wanted to know what I was talking about. I named this post “fake it till you make it” because I know as a seo marketer that you must start somewhere online and that start can mean at the bottom. I started at the bottom and had to do certain things to get my name out there but to this day I’m not ashamed of actions I had to take…meaning I had to fake it till I made it. But what does this mean? Pretty much mean that you must do something that make you seem part of the group to basically get… -
This Google Penguin Update Good, Bad and Ugly
10 May 2012 | 10:27 amI had the pleasure the other week to see a lot of activity on my personal blog here and one my niche sites. I woke up to the Penguin update in late April 2012 and found something amazing and sad at the same time. For those of you who haven’t heard of the Google Penguin update, then I’m about to enlighten you on the good, bad and ugly of its doing. First I will like to say that these updates Google do are not new at all nor do they have any effect of the performance of your website..unless. Unless you been doing crazy things such as linking to blacklisted sites or farm type sites, then… -
TrafficColeman April 2012 Monthly Traffic Statement
7 May 2012 | 3:03 pm“Check out my TrafficColeman Newsletter..Lots of free stuff I’m given away” Another Month The time has come again to present to you my April 2012 traffic statement. I know I’m posting this a sort of late because usually I have these done by no later then the 2nd day of the month. But I had a lot going on offline that took up a good bit of my time. So for that reason I’m about a week late but no matter how you look at… it’s here so let get to it. The month of April brought good and bad news for not only my site but also millions of other sites out there. Google did another so… -
Part 14: Using Google To Find Long Tail Keywords
3 May 2012 | 8:56 am“Smart readers will never pass up free seo stuff and countless ebooks and tips…so go check out my TrafficColeman Newletter for free access to all sorts of things” One of the best things about seo is that I’m able to be in many places without any effort at all. The way I’m able to do that is through finding keywords center around my main keyword and build content from that. Because everybody knows that you must have your keyword in the header and throughout your content to get picked up by the search engine for that keyword. So if your going after the key phrase “cheap dog houses… -
How Much Traffic is Good for a Blog
30 Apr 2012 | 4:42 pm“Newcomers..don’t for get my TrafficColeman Newsletter…lots of free online marketing stuff” Sometime ago I wrote about how much traffic do I need to make money online. This question came up when a person left a comment on one of my post about making money online. The problem came into place when he was trying to figure in on how much traffic do he need to get this things rolling. Today another question has came up on how much traffic is good for a blog to be profitable. So I must say the jury is still out on that one because you can tackle this from all sides. No one really can give…
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The Brainchild Group - SEO & Social Media Agency
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Lowe’s Spring Commercials for 2012: Creative, Catchy, Fun
18 Apr 2012 | 9:32 pmNot many of you know this, but I grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables on my property, and I love when Spring rolls around. Plants go from the greenhouse to their final homes, the sun shines bright, and the bees are buzzing. Interestingly enough, Lowe's was able to capture the true feeling of Spring in their new advertising campaign. Related posts:Geico Take On Me Commercial: Dog & Bird Play 80s Hit Starbucks ‘Snowflake’ Commercial Ushers in Holiday Season Ally Bank Television Commercials | I Love Ally Bank’s Commercials! -
Geico Karaoke Commercial: Ronald Spills The Beans
16 Feb 2012 | 4:03 pmGeico's new karaoke dating commercial can be summed up in two words: absolutely hilarious. Ronald finds a way to skip costly online dating sites and channel his energy into, of all things, karaoke. Related posts:Geico Take On Me Commercial: Dog & Bird Play 80s Hit Geico Commercial: Do You Live Under a Rock? Geico Smartphones, Dumb Things Commercial is Another Hit -
How Ethical is Your SEO Company?
16 Feb 2012 | 7:45 amAs Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to gain attention and become a much-needed service, I feel it's important for businesses to know what they're getting into. Related posts:Yellow Pages Changes Company Image: Advertises YP.com Los Angeles SEO Company | The Brainchild Group 5 Tips For Finding The Best SEO Company -
Social Media for Business to Business: Think B2C
14 Feb 2012 | 2:48 pmAs social media continues to grow by the day, more and more Business-to-Business (B2B) companies are leaning on social channels to boost exposure and provide sustainability for the future. Related posts:Social Media Prices in 2012: Expect Increase, Broader Range 3 Elements to a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan of Action Internet Marketing a Clothing Brand: 3 Tips for Success -
Landing a Big Social Media Marketing Contract: Think Shoes
10 Feb 2012 | 12:50 pmThere are times in life when even though you're the absolute best, you still don't succeed. When it comes to landing a big social media marketing contract, or any contract for that matter, it's not only about what you know, but how you present yourself. Related posts:Zappos Social Media Customer Service = Superb Social Media Marketing: The Right Way & The Wrong Way Sonic Boom in Los Angeles From Space Shuttle Discovery | WOW!
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Single Grain Blog
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10 Tips for Landing Page Optimization
9 May 2012 | 8:21 amA good landing page serves one purpose and one purpose only – getting your visitors to take the specific action you’ve defined for them. Whether that action is purchasing a product, signing up for an email list or submitting a lead to an offline business doesn’t matter. The only consideration you should have when it comes to designing and optimizing this valuable real estate is whether each design decision you make leads visitors towards the completion of this singular action. And really, the only way to know if the specific elements you’ve included on your landing page are… -
How to Survive the Penguin Attack
3 May 2012 | 7:45 amIf the phrase “penguin attack” conjures up images of tiny, butler-clothed birds showing up on your doorstep – don’t worry! All the buzz about the recent Penguin attack has nothing to do with a pending penguin-apocalypse, and everything to do with Google’s most recent algorithm update – which has the potential to substantially impact your website’s performance. Here’s what you need to know about this most recent update, as well as how to regain traffic and natural search visibility if your site was impacted… On April 24th, 2012, Google rolled out one of its most significant… -
Leveraging Google’s Freshness Update for SEO
24 Apr 2012 | 8:29 amGoogle’s “freshness update” debuted in November 2011, but it’s taken some time for things to finally shake out regarding this latest enhancement to the SERPs. However, after a few months of tracking the impact this algorithm change had on the SERPs, we’re confident that the following recommendations represent the best way to leverage Google’s freshness update for SEO in today’s natural search environment. But first, a little background on this important change to the search results pages… The Impact of the Freshness Update The Google freshness update was launched at the end… -
31 Ways to Use QR Codes
18 Apr 2012 | 8:05 amBy now, most people are at least familiar with QR codes – those goofy looking black and white graphical barcode displays that allow marketers to pass on additional information (including text, images, HTML pages and more) to anyone with a QR code reader. But as their adoption in the US has only recently begun to grow, there are plenty of marketers out there who still aren’t sure how to use QR codes effectively. The following are a few fun ideas for distributing your QR codes in order to get your creative juices flowing: 1. As your Twitter profile picture Using your QR code… -
GoogleOPOLY (Infographic)
10 Apr 2012 | 8:07 amWith yesterday’s acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion, will Facebook follow the path of Google and create its own monopoly similar to Google’s? Let’s take a look back at all of Google’s major acquisitions over the years: Add this infographic embed code to your blog! [Via: Single Grain - A Digital Marketing Agency]
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Unmemorable Title
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Please Stop Verbing Your Nouns
24 Apr 2012 | 6:10 amI'm part of the generation that was never formally taught English grammar. I don't know what adverb means, I think pronouns sound slightly seedy, and that conjunction is something that happens in a car park outside a prison. -
The Worst Call-to-Action of 2012
12 Mar 2012 | 8:46 amNot only is the "Top 10 Scams of the Year" infographic featured on Mashable today dull, by-the-numbers fare; it manages to undermine trust in the company that commissioned it it -
Five Suffixes That’ll Make you Look Like a Moron
7 Mar 2012 | 4:00 amSuffixes are superb inventions. They can take a boring, humdrum word and turn it into something wonderful. Using the right suffix will help you create unforgettable portmanteaus that hook the reader and don't let go. But if you use the wrong suffix, you can come across a a pretentious, preening pillock with no grasp of the English language and a penchant for pointless buzz-words. -
Why I’m Seriously Losing Pinterest
29 Feb 2012 | 6:47 amLast week, I was confronted with something horrible. Somebody that I follow on Twitter had re-tweeted a blog post by a mutual acquaintance. Someone whose posts I love to read... I clicked. I took one look at the post, and hammered the back button. Then hit unfollow. -
The Seductive Art of Blog Commenting
14 Feb 2012 | 3:30 amIt's that time of year when everyone's thoughts turn to hooking up, getting together and making a sweet, sweet partnership. For bloggers, that means only one thing...
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Chitika Insights
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Report: iOS 5.1.1 on More Than 12% of iOS Devices after First Week
15 May 2012 | 9:54 amOn Monday, May 7, Apple released the latest version of its mobile software, iOS 5.1.1. The release represented a sigh of relief for iOS device users, as Apple had finally patched some security features of earlier iOS versions. The most important fix addressed an issue surrounding Mobile Safari. More specifically, users were susceptible to a potential attacker deceiving them and directing them to a malicious site, among other serious vulnerabilities. This presented a tremendous threat to iOS 5.1 users, as security experts believe that users could have unwittingly supplied private… -
Firefox Version Tracker Methodology
11 May 2012 | 1:06 pmTo see what percentage of Firefox users within the Chitika network are running each version of Firefox, Chitika Insights performed an analysis of the unique impressions seen within the Chitika Ad network and determined the share of these impressions represented by each respective version by analyzing the user agent of each impression. The following paragraphs detail the methodology behind the Firefox Version Tracker coming out of Chitika Insights. Additionally, to learn more about why we calculated these numbers, be sure to check out our report on the first week’s worth of data. -
Study: Most Recent Internet Explorer Versions have Highest CTRs
11 May 2012 | 11:49 amHow often do you click an online ad, and how often do you update your browser? These two questions, while seemingly unrelated, actually have a lot to do with one another. The Chitika Insights team looked to quantify this phenomenon by focusing on Internet Explorer, and examining the differences in click-through-rate (CTR) based on version number. Being the default browser for Windows, Internet Explorer (IE) is the software through which the majority of North American Web users view the Internet (we counted close to 123 million impressions in one week for our sample). Interestingly, there was… -
Unemployment Rates Correspond to Online Search Interest for Jobs
8 May 2012 | 7:00 pmThe Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest figures on unemployment on May 4, 2012, which indicate that the country’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.5% (December 2011 figure) to 8.1% at the end of April. Most impressively, the Labor Department’s latest statement on May 8 announced that the number of positions waiting to be filled increased by 172,000 to 3.74 million. This is the biggest gain since July, 2008. With the upcoming 2012 Presidential Election, jobs and unemployment rates are a topic of contention among potential candidates and President Barack Obama. Given… -
Research: Firefox 12 Second-Most Popular Version in First Week
7 May 2012 | 2:06 pmOpen source icon Mozilla Firefox has grown to command a substantial level of market share within the Internet browser marketplace. Due to the free software’s unique nature as an open source project, updates to improve functionality and bug fixes are frequent. Maximizing the adoption rate of Firefox’s latest version is important in order to maintain the security of its users, while also ensuring that the software’s millions-strong user base won’t be shut out on some of the latest and greatest features available on the Web. To visualize the rate of adoption, Chitika Insights tracked…
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Halyard Consulting
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Information Architecture as Website Foundation
27 Apr 2012 | 6:21 pmInformation Architecture as Website Foundation is a post from: Halyard ConsultingLet’s start with a riddle. How is a website like a house? The answer is they both need a foundation. While a house’s foundation is made up of rebar and concrete; a website’s foundation is made of a 2D diagram commonly called Information Architecture or IA for short.Defining Information ArchitectureThe Wikipedia definition of IA focuses on the organization and labeling of Internet vehicles like websites and online communities. To us here at Halyard Consulting, information architecture is an aspect of the… -
Paranoid Businesses Win
24 Apr 2012 | 1:59 pmParanoid Businesses Win is a post from: Halyard ConsultingEveryone likes to think of themselves as a nice person. No one wants to be paranoid. You don’t wake up in the morning and say “let’s see how I can make this world a worse place to live”; aside from the Kim Jong’s of North Korea and Rick Santorum. Most of us prefer to avoid confrontation, have a belief that life is fair, and generally trust people. This sometimes works great in day-to-day life but will quickly destroy you in business.Paranoia (Photo credit: Christian Heindel)Paranoid BusinessesIn business it’s best to be… -
Article Writing Secrets
20 Jan 2012 | 10:11 amArticle Writing Secrets is a post from: Halyard ConsultingThis article focuses on Halyard Consulting article writing secrets and is meant for our current and prospective clients. All competitors should stop reading immediately as this will give you an unfair advantage in getting your clients to the top of the search engine results. If you are a competitor of Halyard Consulting please stop reading this right now.Ok, hopefully they are gone and it’s just us.Article Writing Secrets: TerminologyBefore I get into the heart of the Halyard Consulting article writing secrets; I need to refresh our… -
The Ecommerce Guide 2012 Part 2
20 Dec 2011 | 1:08 pmThe Ecommerce Guide 2012 Part 2 is a post from: Halyard ConsultingContinuing from last weeks article: The Ecommerce Guide 2012 Part 1; I focus more closely on search engine optimization, Google Analytics, Google AdWords and understanding what some of the fears and uncertainties surround online purchasing.Amazon Ecommerce Home PageEcommerce SEOBackend work is just as important as front end. So don’t ignore the need for quality SEO. Apply the same method of prioritization you did for the product description and start with the best sellers first. If you’re a store that has multiple seasons,… -
The Ecommerce Guide 2012 Part 1
13 Dec 2011 | 12:54 pmThe Ecommerce Guide 2012 Part 1 is a post from: Halyard ConsultingOnce again I bring you all the thoughts in my head surrounding a specific subject. This article focuses on Ecommerce. Let’s begin…What Every Ecommerce Store Wants You To Do.Canonicalized data is the bane of all Ecommerce stores. Canonicalization simply means duplication of data. I think Google enjoys adding old words back into everyday lexicon. For Ecommerce sites canonicalization means that the product description on your site is the same as another site. Or in most Ecommerce cases it’s the same as everyone else’s as…
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Bay Area SEO | Alameda Internet Marketing
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Has Your Website Been Pecked by the Google Penguin?
2 May 2012 | 3:40 pmLast week Google made a massive change to their algorithm which decides what sites to put where in the search engine results. When we mentioned it last week, it was known only as “Webspam Algorithm Update“, but has since been given the name “Penguin”. Rolling out on the evening of April 24th, this update’s aim [...]from Has Your Website Been Pecked by the Google Penguin? -
Google Launches Big Webspam Algorithm Update
24 Apr 2012 | 5:26 pmGoogle has just announced on their Google Webmaster Central blog that it is now releasing a brand new webspam algorithm update with the goal of catching those who spam its search results or are purposely doing things to which are against the Google publisher’s Guidelines to influence search results. In the next few days, we’re [...]from Google Launches Big Webspam Algorithm Update -
How to Use Pinterest for Business
22 Mar 2012 | 6:28 pmSocial networks pop up all the time, but one that’s getting plenty of attention is Pinterest. At first glance, most people think it’s just a place for women to share pictures of fashions or decadent desserts. Well most of those people are probably right, but there’s much more than meets the eye. This new way [...]from How to Use Pinterest for Business -
Google Panda Update Infographic
24 Feb 2012 | 12:49 pmIts been one year since Google made clear their opposition to “thin content” websites ranking high in the SERPS with a major change to the algorithm, codenamed “Panda”. This great infographic from SearchEngineLand.com explains what it means to webmasters and how you can avoid having your site penalized through creating rich and unique content throughout [...]from Google Panda Update Infographic -
New Google Privacy Policy: Is There Such a Thing as Privacy with Google?
21 Feb 2012 | 6:52 pmYou’ve likely seen all the hype about new Google privacy policy that was released last month. Everyone and their brother has an opinion about whether is evil or just invasive. But the truth is that these changes won’t affect you too much, and here’s why… One of the biggest changes that Google announced was that they [...]from New Google Privacy Policy: Is There Such a Thing as Privacy with Google?
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SEO Copywriting
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Which should it be: Pinterest or Google+?
15 May 2012 | 4:25 amPinterest or Google+? Both of these social networks have broken up the Twitter/Facebook monopoly. In the last year, Google+ has gained 100 million active followers and Pinterest has expanded rapidly to become the 3rd most popular social network. Not surprisingly, marketers have taken notice. Making Google+ and/or Pinterest part of your social media strategy is a smart move. Based on their early performances, these social networks will be an integral part of an effective social strategy from here on out. Choosing one or the other isn’t necessary – but it’s a smart move if you want more… -
So how well does your copywriting convert?
14 May 2012 | 4:24 amGreetings! In today’s SEO copywriting video, Heather discusses how watching informercials can help you be a better copywriter, and greatly improve your conversions. Specifically, Heather demonstrates how informercials can inform your writing with structure, clear calls to action, and benefit statements that scream value to the prospect. Heather admits that she’s actually addicted to informercials because of what they show you about the process of building excitement and getting people really pumped about buying a product, and showing that product’s value so well. In fact, she’s… -
How to make your search listings sizzle
10 May 2012 | 5:00 amSo, what do you think is your first opportunity for conversion? Chances are, you said something like, “When a reader visits my site,” or “When someone sees my landing page.” But if we’re talking SEO, your first opportunity for conversion may surprise you… It’s the search engine results page (SERP). This makes perfect sense. Good SEO is more than helping the page rise in the search results. It’s getting folks to click the listing in the first place. And that’s where the creative work comes in. Your Title and meta description is more than… -
SEO content marketing roundup, week ending May 9th
9 May 2012 | 8:47 amCh-ch-ch-ch-changes: This week’s latest and greatest Web writing news is about adaptation, whether it’s to changes in content, SEO/search or social media marketing. Google’s string of 52+ updates keep SEO & search pro’s dancing, content marketers take a hard look at their websites, and social media marketers respond to all the new developments in their field with a plethora of how-to’s. So let’s turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes, shall we? Enjoy this week’s picks! Content Marketing In part two of her series on the “annual website cleanup,” Lyena Solomon details 2nd… -
On SEO copywriting & disruptive innovation: Susan O’Neil
8 May 2012 | 11:23 amWe are delighted to feature this guest post by Susan O’Neil of Website Publicity, who you may recognize as one of “The women who made SEO great.” Here, Susan briefly summarizes what she and her Website Publicity business do to help her clients stay one step ahead of the competition, with “disruptive innovation.” Since a company loses its edge if it doesn’t keep innovating, my team and I are always pondering and preparing for the “next big thing” coming our clients’ way in terms of digital marketing opportunities and challenges. To that end, I recently…
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Denver SEO
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What Advertising Works for Small Business?
15 May 2012 | 8:09 amPart of our service offering is interviewing hundreds of business owners on what advertising methods work (and which do not) for their company. From time to time we will publish the actually questionnaire and interview with someone who has had great success in marketing. This month we spoke with Matt Shoup the President of M & E Painting, based on Northern Colorado. Here’s a little about Matt, and his answers to our questions on SEO, and advertising. Matt Shoup Founded M & E Painting with only $100 to his name in 2005 after being laid off from the corporate world. This event only… -
Did Google Change Exact Match Domain Rankings?
29 Apr 2012 | 1:20 pmExact match domain Ranking changes. Google filed a patient in 2003 describing how they might handle the issue of exact match domains getting better rankings in the search engine results compared to other sites. That patient was just approved. Here is a great article about it by Bill Slawski of SEO By the Sea http://www.seobythesea.com/ 2011/10/googles-exact-match- domain-name-patent-detecting- commercial-queries/ There appears to be some strong evidence (at least at the local organic level) that Google has already started making changes in the SER based on discounting the value of a domain… -
Top Ranked SEO’s by City in the United States
15 Apr 2012 | 1:01 pmThe top ranked SEO web Sites in the United States by City: I was interested in what page and domain authority the top three search engine optimization sites have for the largest cities in the United States. You can take a look at the numbers and see how your site currently ranks compared to the top SEO sites in major US cities. I am using the free SEOmoz browser tools, so any one can duplicate this test, in what ever niche you like. I’ll be looking at each city leaders individually later, to see if we can find some commonalities in how they achieve these rankings. Hint, many do web… -
Local SEO in 90 Minutes
14 Apr 2012 | 7:38 amLocal SEO in 90 Minutes a Week. I run into so many small and medium businesses that are taking on their own local Search engine optimization programs these days. Generally the strategy is to list their site in as many directories as possible, and hope for the best. That strategy wasn’t all that terrible 4 years ago, but today there is a good chance that they will be competing against other web sites that have hired a professional web optimization company. Ensure Website Visibility With Search Engine Optimization Slide9 (Photo credit: hongxing128) Since I want to give some unique ideas… -
How To Sell Search Engine Optimization Services
31 Mar 2012 | 7:54 amHow to Sell Search Engine Optimization Services: Why do so many small SEO companies struggle with selling their services? Many reasons, as you will see below. SEO and Internet marketing services are, in the universal world of all type sales, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being really hard, and 1 being simple, about a 7. Here’s why. 1.) You are generally selling to a small business owner or manager.Small business owners really hate spending money on anything they can not see a very quick and tangible result from, and they have very good reason to feel this way. You must understand that most…
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Las Vegas Website Design
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What Value Does Your Website Designer Bring to the Table?
4 May 2012 | 1:00 pmIt seems these days that website design and search engine optimization have become commoditized. Everybody’s brother, mother, uncle, and dog have built a website before. With technologies like wordpress putting up a basic website has become increasingly easy. But the problems is that may times there is no understanding as to why you are using that nice looking slider on the homepage or worse they can’t actually code. So let me ask again what value is your website designer bringing to the table? At Web Ventures we take a consultative approach to website design and search… -
5 Things Every Real Agent Needs to Know About Website Design
1 May 2012 | 11:58 amOver the years Web Ventures has worked on hundreds of real estate websites. While working on those sites we have found that every website needs to following items: Clean Professional Design With thousands of agents competing for the same keywords, first impressions make a difference. Would you put a torn or ratty sign in front of your listing? I hope the answer is no, than why would you want to have a website that looks out of date? Listings This goes without saying. Have all of the listing that you can have on your website and have “search listing” form on every page. … -
Five websites that every business needs to be listed on
3 May 2011 | 10:02 amIf you’re a business, especially one in a local trade, Plumbers, electricians, roofers, lawyers, etc. Here are the five most important directories and local search engines that you need to be in. 1. Google Places 2. Yahoo Local 3. Bing Local 4. DMOZ 5a. Insider Pages 5b. Yelp When you claim your listing complete as much of the profile as you can and be consistent with your name, address, and phone number. -
Why your websites design matters
27 Apr 2011 | 12:01 pmIn today’s media world your websites design matter more than ever. Just like your physical stores layout and location, design matters! First impressions are everything and they matter so much more online. Visitors in a matter of seconds make a decision whether or not to trust your business. Your website is a direct reflection of your business. Here are some of the things to think about with your websites design. Does your website match your business image and industry? Who is your target audience offline and online? Can someone understand what you do or sell in 30 seconds or less? -
Goldmans Investment in Facebook and What it Means for You
24 Jan 2011 | 5:53 pmA lot of attention has been given this week to Goldman Sachs investment in the popular social network Facebook. So here are the facts that are important to you. Goldman Sachs invest its clients money at a valuation of $50 Billion and because of this investment Facebook now has more then 500 shareholders. You may be saying so what Facebook has 500 shareholders. 500 shareholder is an important milestone in the life of a private company. Once a company passes 500 shareholders they have 18 months to either IPO or report financials. Most company because of the costs involved in…
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Kaiserthesage
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Advanced and Scalable Link Building – Iloilo SEO Conference Presentation
12 May 2012 | 5:02 amThis was my presentation earlier today from the first Iloilo SEO Conference. I have written most of the deck’s content in the past, but there are also some ideas and tips that I haven’t put into a blog post yet, so it might still be a great read for you guys. I’ll update this post later next week, and perhaps add more photos, since it’s my first time to visit this place, and so far, I’m finding the city and their food extremely awesome! -
Anti-Penguin Link Building Plan
3 May 2012 | 2:27 pmThe Penguin update or Google’s webspam algorithm update, which was launched last April 24, did create massive impact to many online marketers and webmasters’ mindsets on how they should be performing search engine optimization from now on. It’s indeed another game changer, knowing that the update collected several negative reactions from webmasters around the world. The Penguin update was aimed towards spam tactics, and was said to have affected at least 3.1% of English search queries on its first roll out. It’s expected to grow more as Google will certainly be implementing more… -
Recent Google Slap – A Case study
26 Apr 2012 | 5:49 amIn the early era of my career, I got a chance to work with few competitive industries and logo design industry was one of them! I worked for a company who at that time was ruling the 1st page of Google with the term ‘Logo Design’. You can imagine how much traffic they used to get! Although it was a good learning experience but by the time I started reading blogs, followed the influencers in the industry and ran small experiments in the search industry, I got to know that the online marketing and to be more specific the link building approach we were using at that time was of low quality. -
Viral Content Ideas for Boring Industries
24 Apr 2012 | 8:01 pmThe incremental evolution of search engine optimization as well as with how information is being served and consumed over the web nowadays has certainly made content marketing a very powerful link attraction, social, branding and lead generation method combined. Although, not all niches are gifted with this arsenal, as some might say, but is this really true? Not quite, knowing that all it really takes to make a viral content to spread like wildfire is to have a compelling material and know why, how and where to promote it. -
Link Building in 2012: Scalable Link Building
12 Apr 2012 | 10:18 pmThere are tons of things happening and changing in the link building game since the start of the year, from the finer value being given to social signals, changes in the search results (primarily with Search plus your World and continuous roll out of different versions of Panda update), expected demise of link networks, to the improvements made by Google in interpreting the use of anchor texts to determine relevance. Most of these changes clearly denote that we all have to adapt and evolve as well with how we market, brand and make our websites more visible through link building.
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Chicago Internet Marketing Blog | Rise Interactive
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What is PPC: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Paid Search Advertising
9 May 2012 | 12:40 pmWho knew that looking for, or rather helping people find what they’re looking for, could be so complicated? Starting, building, managing, analyzing and optimizing a paid search marketing campaign can prove to be a daunting task. The following is a reference guide meant to provide an overview of the essential pieces of paid search advertising, as well as some basic strategies and tools to get anyone new to the game off on the right foot. If you were to take a PPC 101 class, consider this the “Cliffs Notes” you’d really want to get your hands on ahead of time. They won’t get you… -
Managers: 3 Steps to Improving Your Employees’ Industry Event Experience
27 Apr 2012 | 11:19 amAs an agency, we’re responsible for ensuring our employees are well-educated and up-to-date on changes in the digital marketing space. As a result, we send our staff to a large number of meetings and conferences, ranging from industry-general conferences to smaller, more targeted events. These events provide our staff with an opportunity to learn new concepts, benchmark against competitors and make new industry contacts. From a company perspective, finding ways to increase the return on training events, workshops, and meetings is an important consideration. By making a few small… -
Google Changes the Game Again: Now what?
26 Apr 2012 | 10:43 amDo you ever ask yourself how the goals of your company and Google align? Let’s make no bones about it. Google’s job is to get your customers to click on your Paid Search ads. That’s it. It is very simple and Google is very good at it. (As of April 22, 2012, Google’s market capitalization is $193 Billion). Over the last year, Google has made several changes to the way it displays and reports on search results. These changes have huge implications towards your Paid and Organic Search strategies and your overall online marketing strategy. It is clear that Google is reinforcing the… -
Budget Strategies – Why Some Marketers Win and Others Fail
25 Apr 2012 | 12:57 pmEvery year, thousands of companies compete with each other to win their share of audience. Millions of dollars are spent on advertising alone. Smart companies choose to invest in multiple channels to optimize their potential returns. It is no secret that the advertising industry is growing at a rapid pace, where creative juice flow and proprietary tools and new forms of media are plentiful. With all the new and emerging media, it is becoming more and more difficult for CMOs to decide how to appropriately allocate their marketing budget. By analyzing the past, learning from the present,… -
The Brand Journey: 3 Brand-Defining Concepts
24 Apr 2012 | 3:48 pmLast week, I attended one of the keynote sessions at Forrester’s Marketing Leadership Forum called Branding in the 21st Century, presented by Chris Stutzman of Forrester. Chris outlined a great framework for building your brand based on 4 key principles: Credibility, Leadership, Brand Relevance and Uniqueness. One of the major premises was that if you can deliver on these principles, you can demand a higher premium for your product. He then introduced three actionable concepts to help define your brand along the theme of a brand journey: a Brand North Star, Map and Compass. Brand…
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seohatch.com
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Top 5 WordPress Plugins – 2012
14 May 2012 | 1:34 pmOne of the best features of building a site on the WordPress platform is the flexibility and the ease to add new functions through plugins and widgets. Every day there are new plugins, updates, and functions released so it is important to stay up on the most recent add-ons that can benefit your site.The WordPress plugin directory now features close 19,500 plug-ins and 300,000,000+ downloads. With that many choices, I am here to help you sort through the trash and present you my favorite plug-ins for 2012. I am not going to rehash the same plugins that every other post discusses like… -
Why Quora is Turning into a High-Level Search Engine
11 May 2012 | 10:06 amFor those of you who are not familiar with Quora, it is a question and answer site started by 2 former Facebook employees. The site is reportedly raising between $30-$50 million in series A funding at a $400 million valuation. So, people in the tech industry and venture capital see huge value in product that Quora has.The competitive advantage for Quora is the fact that the site is frequented and used heavily by industry executives, innovators, and thought leaders. People like Marc Andreessen, the founder of NetScape and VC firm Andreessen-Horowitz, and Rand Fishkin, the founder of… -
Tips for Running a Design Contest on 99designs
9 May 2012 | 2:23 pm99designs is a relatively inexpensive way to get profession logo design, website design, and branding for your company. You choose how much you are willing to pay, describe what you are looking for, and guide the designers through the course of the contest as they compete to be the winning design and the prize money.We just finished running a 99designs logo contest for a client and are pretty happy with the results. The finished product was a polished, professional looking logo. The process took a lot more time to monitor than we expected, though. Below are some quick tips that I have for… -
A New Way to Monetize Your Digital Goods
7 May 2012 | 6:32 pmMaking money from selling your digital goods has always been somewhat of a hassle. If you wanted to sell an eBook you most likely will go through Amazon. If you want to sell your digital music, you most likely are going to use iTunes.That is where Gumroad comes into play. The new startup, which just raised $7M from the likes of Accel Partners and Chris Sacca, is aiming to disrupt the sale of digital goods. With their simple interface, users can upload and sell their digital goods, whether it be a picture, a song, or a movie file, through a link which can be easily posted on Facebook or… -
Our Free Competitor Analysis Tool
3 May 2012 | 9:38 amToday I have decided to release our competitor analysis tool for free. Well, basically free. I am using Pay with a Tweet, which allows you to download the file by just simply showing us some love on Twitter. Just scroll to the bottom of the page to download the tool.I have been using this tool for about a year now and it has helped me to provide some unique insights to my clients. In a nut shell, the tool provides you with which metrics are the most important for a ranking in a keyword.I decided to make the tool because over and over again, I was noticing that high ranking websites in one…
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Ker Communications
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Google Penalties
1 May 2012 | 9:58 amIf you have been reading about SEO for longer than a few minutes, you have probably found some variation of “build your website/write content for people, not search engines”. We have preached this from day one, but it seems like it may be one of those things that people read, but don’t really understand what it means. In light of Google’s recent announcements of an upcoming penalty for “over optimization“, an even more recent warning of a webspam algorithm update (now called “Penguin”), and a few years of algorithm updates and spam-fighting… -
Does Google Hate SEO and Want To Punish Your Website?
30 Apr 2012 | 10:39 pmThe sky is falling! Google wants to force everyone to buy PPC ads! Remove ALL links to your site and stop using any keywords at all! Oh how I wish I had a HTML tag to indicate sarcasm. The panic over Penguins and Pandas is spreading like wildfire. Please, relax. The sky is not falling. Legitimate SEO is not banned by Google or “dead” in any way. Creating a website that is easily navigated and understood by people and search engines, and has quality content which is promoted effectively and sensibly throughout the internet will not get you banned from Google. In case… -
Avoid Google Penguin Penalty for Webspam (Bad SEO): Start Making Sense
25 Apr 2012 | 6:27 amIf you have been reading about SEO for longer than a few minutes, you have probably found some variation of “build your website/write content for people, not search engines”. We have preached this from day one, but it seems like it may be one of those things that people read, but don’t really understand what it means. In light of Google’s recent announcements of an upcoming penalty for “over optimization“, an even more recent warning of a webspam algorithm update (now called “Penguin”), and a few years of algorithm updates and spam-fighting… -
Over-Optimized? Google’s New Penalty for Too Much SEO
17 Mar 2012 | 10:23 amAt SXSW, Google’s main search spam guy, Matt Cutts, announced that Google is releasing an algorithm update to target sites over doing their SEO. Google will attempt to “level the playing field” between websites with quality content versus those that are ridiculously optimized. (audio) A surprising thing about this announcement is that there is reason to believe that some penalties like this already exist. While there is no official word from G on existing over optimization penalties (except maybe this 2009 video where Cutts says there is no penalty), there have been many… -
Timeline Coming Soon to Facebook Business Pages
11 Mar 2012 | 3:20 pmWhat Will the New Facebook Timeline Mean to Your Business or Fan Page? Just when you thought you had your Facebook business page all fixed up with special tabs and a fan gate to encourage Likes, Facebook has announced the rollout of Timeline for business pages. While this is not going to be much more than a cosmetic rearrangement for many pages, if you have a highly customized business or fan page, there are some things you will need to know. One of the biggest changes from a marketing perspective is that, as of now, those “fan gate” pages that many use to hide content unless…
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Search Blog Asia - SEO Insights for China, Japan, Korea, Thailand...
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Meilishuo.com – a popular social shopping website
27 Apr 2012 | 4:58 amMeilishuo.com is a very popular fashion e-commerce site in China. With significantly increasing numbers of users, comments about Meilishuo.com are also growing rapidly on various industry websites. Some commentaries have said meilishuo.com and mogujie.com have created a precedent for community-based e-commerce in China. So, what does meilishuo.com look like? Introduction Meilishuo.com was founded in November [...] -
5 SEO Strategies to enhance your E-commerce web site
27 Apr 2012 | 1:39 amEveryone who has an idea always wants to sell their product online to reach the largest possible audience. I am writing this because it scares me to see how many E-commerce sites are out there which are not search engine and user friendly and which will struggle succeeding organically in many search engines as a [...] -
How Baidu and Weibo Rank Weibo Feeds Differently
23 Apr 2012 | 3:45 amThe level of noise surrounding China Search Social integration recently got amplified after Baidu improved the indexation scale of Sina Weibo feeds. The next question that online marketers may ask is how they can benefit from this, by improving their presence on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP’s) of Baidu and Weibo. An interesting finding [...] -
Baidu Indexes Weibo Feeds and Weibo Shuts down Comments – China Search Social Integration
11 Apr 2012 | 2:08 amAbout 4 weeks ago, as written about by my colleague Daniel, Baidu increased the indexation volume of Weibo feeds to accept Sina Weibo comments. Now for any popular terms, Baidu Search Engine Result Page (SERP) will show Weibo feeds in a scrolled-down frame in the same way Google uses to display Twitter feeds. This new [...] -
Rich Media Ads VS PPC
2 Apr 2012 | 11:47 pmIn the early stage of the Internet, most advertisements were Banner ads shown as words and flat pictures on the network. They passed direct stimulation to the audience. The information transmission of text image ads is simple and straightforward. The required network traffic is small and it’s loved by advertisers. PPC also belongs to this [...]
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Web Marketing Strategies by an SEO Consultant
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5 Ways Universities are Using Google+ to Enhance Higher Education
15 May 2012 | 11:21 amThis is a guest post by Lindsey Harper Mac. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please read the guidelines. The new social networking platform, Google+, offers benefits beyond better organization of social groups and enhanced privacy. In fact, colleges across the country are quickly recognizing how this medium can help students and faculty connect with one another on a more appropriate level, among many other educational advantages. To catch a glimpse of some of the ways Google+ is being used to transform higher education, consider the following top five ways universities are using… -
Simple Ways to Maximize Facebook’s Timeline
9 May 2012 | 3:18 pmThis is a guest post by Nadia Jones. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please read the guidelines. When Facebook creators decided to introduce The Timeline earlier this year, users definitely had mixed feelings. Some loved the fact that the social media site appeared more aesthetically pleasing and seemed to be more organized, while others thought the change was just too much and preferred the older layout. Of course, users didn’t really have much of a say when Facebook made the permanent switch from “the wall” to the “timeline” in late March. But while… -
5 Effective Keyword Research Tools for SEO
1 May 2012 | 8:37 amThis is a guest post by Leo Alvin Alexander. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please read the guidelines. All SEO experts and experienced Internet marketers agree that the number one step toward increasing volumes of quality traffic to your website is effective keyword research. Using the most desirable keywords and phrases in your Web content will greatly improve your site’s visibility and Web presence. Through professional website optimization, which begins with use of carefully targeted keywords for your site’s market, you will gain new customers and improve conversion… -
Top 4 key Elements Web Marketers Should Focus on when Creating an Infographic
25 Apr 2012 | 8:40 amThis is a guest post by Eliza Morgan, a full time blogger. If you are interested in writing a guest post, check out our posting guidelines. Just like they’re name suggests, infographics are “graphics” or illustrations that are able to creatively display a set of information or story in an artistic way. They’re quickly sweeping the internet by storm, over taking sites like Facebook and Pinterest. Not only are they pretty to look at and interesting to read, but infographics are a less aggressive way to organically increase search rankings since anchor texts help generate… -
5 Tips On Website Usability for Mobile Website
18 Apr 2012 | 9:24 amThis is a guest post by Divya Rawat. Want to contribute? Contact me! Mobile internet is going to dominate the world sooner than we think. It already is, in many ways. Here are top 5 things you should keep in mind for your mobile website design and usability because this is one medium you can’t afford to ignore: 1. Keep Your Mobile Website Design Simple This goes without saying that you have to be careful about how you code your pages and what graphics you use on them. Mobile sites are not as capable of displaying very heavy content or poorly coded content because these web browsers…
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DMS Internet Marketing
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Part 2 – Guest Posting leads to iPad purchase
4 May 2012 | 3:55 pmWith the growing demand for guest posts I have decided to purchase a tablet device (iPad). We all dream of being able to relax whilst we blog about our favourite subject and make money. Although it is highly unlikely you will be able to make enough money so that you can earn a living from blogging you can certainly increase your stock by being a well known blogger out expert in your field. With Google valuing content and people struggling to keep their blog up to date they will be more than happy to post your content. The more index pages a blog has, the more important Google will see the… -
Guest blogging increase leads to iPad investment
3 May 2012 | 5:48 pmGoogles attempt to convince us to hate black and white animals has continued with the release of a new update called ‘Penguin.’ Rumoured to be the over optimisation penalty that Matt Cutts had spoken about the Penguin algorithm update has lead to a lot of angry comments towards Google. Matt Cutts has already admitted mistakes have been made however this may be little consolation for people that have spent a lot of money on SEO/link building. The fact is and not many will admit it, SEO companies have used content networks and low quality links for years because it worked. The new… -
Building relationship the future of building links.
1 Apr 2012 | 7:56 amEverybody in SEO is aware that the most powerful offpage part of SEO is link building, however link building can mean different things to different people from directory submission to article submission. For years businesses have been able to gain the upper hand by simply having the most links irrespective of overall quality. However, the game has now (thankfully) changed. Google now gives strength to guest post links meaning that it is difficult to suddenly get 1000s of links over night. Unfortunately for a lot of big SEO agencies this is going to be critical to their business as standard… -
Death of BMR opens the door for white hat SEO and freelance SEO
28 Mar 2012 | 4:07 pmAs Build My Rank (BMR) said, they “had a good run” and they certainly did! For a long time Build My Rank have been the leader in content networks priding themselves on the quality of their service and the quality of the content they hosted on their site. For a number of SEO agencies BMR have been their main source of links and the issue was, they worked and worked well, however Google did not like content networks and since the Panda update has slowly begun to destroy the networks. Build my rank thought they were safe because of the quality of the service they offered however on… -
February Google Algorithm change a game changer?
10 Mar 2012 | 10:20 amThe recent Google Algorithm change could be a game changer! With Google stating that the are changing the way they look at link evaluation it could mean that the numbers game is finally over. Research suggests that more focus is being pushed on quality links from guest posts and web 2.0 sites rather than looking at the number of links a site has from content networks such as BMR. Being a huge fan of Hubpages, Squidoo and Tumblr for a long time it is great news. Many top SEO agencies may suffer, although if you are doing things the right way it should never matter. The question to ask is, if…
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distilled » Blog
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User feedback to improve Conversions
15 May 2012 | 4:05 amOften when working on CRO projects, it’s tempting to jump straight in and set up tests based on your own ideas and suspicions. But, for me, a more effective and measured approach is to spend time finding out what users think of a particular feature, page or product, and address any issues that they come up with, or place further emphasis on the things that they like. They are more representative of the people using your site, and often consultants or client teams are too close to a site to be able to look at it objectively. I’ve put together a few quick, easy, and free methods of… -
What Might Be Next For (not provided)
11 May 2012 | 1:00 amOn May 7th, Mozilla announced that Aurora (Firefox’s public beta) is beginning to roll out their HTTPS-by-default Google search behavior. It won’t be long before this is default in Firefox. As their announcement states, the user will be none the wiser (save for that tiny ‘s’ after http, and the secure lock icon). Webmasters, on the hand – let’s just say (not provided) is not making any friends. I spoke on advanced analytics at #SearchFest back in February and the topic of (not provided) was on everyone’s minds. The question – “What can be… -
SearchLove San Francisco – Site Clinic appointments
10 May 2012 | 11:00 amOnce again, we will be running our hugely popular site clinics during SearchLove San Francisco. Linklove London and Boston were a sell out so we are expecting the clinics to be equally sought after this time round. If you have already purchased your ticket for the conference, sign up for a clinic now! For those of you who don’t know what the site clinics are: We are offering a limited number of one-on-one consultations with our expert SEO consultants. You submit your site prior to the conference, letting us know the main issues you are facing. Our consultants will go away and look at your… -
SEO isn’t a Technical Problem, it’s a People Problem
10 May 2012 | 4:00 amThis post was prompted by a book I recently read – The Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg; I don’t want to talk too much about the book here, but I’d recommend you read it either if you are a consultant yourself (online marketing or otherwise) or if you hire consultants. Weinburg talks about various ‘laws of consulting’ but the one which really hit home for me was this: “No matter how it looks at first, it’s always a people problem.” ~ Gerald M. Weinburg I think this was particularly interesting to me because we often get brought in to… -
The Importance of Maintaining “Scent” for CRO
8 May 2012 | 12:58 pmYou’ve probably seen the CRO case studies that have touted insane conversion lifts from simply changing the text on a button or the background color of a product page. This is not a blog post about that sort of test. I don’t doubt that the subconscious makes associations with colors and button text, and if your site has the traffic to play with these ideas, give it a go. But there’s a less subtle aspect of CRO that’s much easier to control and predict. Entrance or “Scent” CRO Consistency of the “scent” is enormously important. If your paid…
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The eBiz Corner
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How to Make Money on Ebay
15 May 2012 | 5:44 pmHow to make money on eBay? Many of us want to make money with eBay but we do not know what the right steps are. For those who just started opening an account with eBay, you might wonder what are the right steps and certainty on how to make money with eBay. For your information, to make money with eBay, you must have a valid eBay account. As you can see, there are thousands of sales on each of every day which resulting a lot of income for a lot of sellers and there is still a space for you if you want to get involved. Whether you want to make this as your part-time business or full-time… -
How to Make Money on Facebook
14 May 2012 | 5:26 pmHow to make money on Facebook? Facebook has been existed for years and we all know that it is the top number one social networking site today. With the rapid development of social networking site such as Facebook, the internet marketers or entrepreneurs take this opportunity to make money with this social networking site other than niche marketing. Various methods were used to make money with this strategy and yet, it is another way on how to make money on Facebook. In this post, I am going to reveal ways on how to make money on Facebook. Forget Twitter or any other related social networking… -
Niche Marketing
14 May 2012 | 8:04 amNiche marketing is actually about finding or searching a smaller segment of a market and creating product or a service for that market. To be more understandable, it is very targeted and focused market. In running internet marketing business, niche is a very important and must be understood and controlled by online marketers. We must have unique niche and of course can bring profits to us. Niche is very specific in order to achieve our internet marketing target. If you have mastered niche marketing, then it will be easier for you to gain profits from online business. How important is niche? -
Affiliate Marketing Tips
13 May 2012 | 5:07 pmAffiliate marketing tips can be varying from one point to another point. Affiliate marketing is a way to gain income from the internet. This business is actually a business model that stands long, which is to pay someone if they successfully sell the product. It can be considered as a big business. It is worth around $14 million dollars per annul. In a moment, I will provide some of the affiliate marketing tips to strengthen your way to make money with affiliate marketing other than through viral marketing. In affiliate marketing, we will be paid if we successfully sell the product or… -
Viral Marketing
13 May 2012 | 2:11 amViral marketing is actually an idea that spreads. The word viral itself has connection with virus. As you know that virus spreads very fast. Now imagine if you can implement the promoting strategy just like viruses on the internet, people will know your business in a short period of time. Core from viral marketing is a promoting strategy that can cause people to talk about your business with their friends and social networking. In offline marketing, it is like public relations or network marketing which is to benefit association or social networking friends to spread marketing message of your…
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The Outsourcing Blog
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Convenience Offered by the Remote Staff Recruit
4 May 2012 | 5:11 amThe Philippines has been the top country on the list when it comes to outsourcing. This is because of the competitive and high literacy of the Filipinos when it comes to computers, internet, and information technology. Also, the country’s good education and English skills make the Filipino online workers to be the first choice when talking about hiring remote workmates. All these and more other reasons have prompted John Grant and Matt Canty to establish Remote Staff Recruit – remotestaffrecruit.com, which is a branch of the Kaizenify Coporation. If you are someone in need of a… -
Online Jobs for Newbies
3 Apr 2012 | 11:51 pmOnline jobs have been giving benefits to employers and employees today as they find the ease in transactions and task management in the convenience of home, without any huge money as an investment for business. In case you are an online employee, you surely know this fact. But if you are a newbie, then your future experiences will let you realize this is true. For those who are just new in this business, do not panic. There are many opportunities, though some job openings have high competition, you can still find jobs that are easy to get. However, the rates on these jobs vary from client to… -
Increasing Significance of Online Jobs Today
27 Mar 2012 | 10:11 pmI can still remember 5 years ago, when I was still in college, not all people know what the internet is or how to use it. However today, all ages seem to know a lot of things about the web. Kids for as young as four years old and grandparents for as old as eighty years old can actually go surfing and participate in social media sites like facebook and youtube. As the internet becomes a very valuable part of every person’s life today, no wonder that many employers and job seekers depend on the power of the internet as well. Online business has boosted its way on top as a lot of business… -
Be A Work At Home Content Writer
20 Mar 2012 | 10:37 pmTired of the traffic going to your office? Feeling discouraged of not being formally employed in a firm? Or looking for an extra income while studying? There is only one solution for all these-home based jobs! If you can write, you can surely make money out of the convenience of your home as one of the most well known online jobs is website content writing. The writing tasks can be done at home provided that you have a good computer and internet connections. The job is to provide relevant text entry or content for websites. A content writer must be articulate, imaginative and must have rich… -
The Need for a Talented Online Web Programmer and Designer
7 Mar 2012 | 5:50 amWeb programming and designing are not easy tasks. Both require special skills on planning and creating a web site, which usually involve writing the needed source code or symbols for creating the website. A web programmer and web designer must work hand in hand to create a competitive and attractive websites. Web programmer usually holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and is often knowledgeable in the use of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, VBScript, JavaScript and other languages in creating pages that is readable to the internet browsers. Like a web programmer, a web…
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Web Savvy Marketing
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Is a Responsive WordPress Theme a Requirement or Hype?
6 May 2012 | 9:13 amResponsive WordPress themes are the current craze in the open source world. But are they a true requirement or just a bunch of hype thrown out to sell more premium themes to unsuspecting buyers? Do WordPress users really need to consider upgrading their existing themes to one that is responsive and mobile friendly? At first I was a bit skeptical, but responsive websites have grown on me and it is now a part of daily life for me and my coding team. I will admit that I considered it hype at first, but once I understood what responsive was all about, I now consider it a requirement for new… -
Introducing Hans: A WordPress Real Estate Theme
23 Apr 2012 | 4:01 pmEarlier this month we launched a new premium WordPress theme designed for individual realtors, real estate companies, and home builders. The new real estate theme is a Genesis child theme and has functionality similar to the AgentPress theme from StudioPress. An Example of a Real Estate Firm Website Launch A few days before we officially released the theme I received a call from the president of a real estate firm in California. He needed a custom Genesis theme that was capable of integrating with the IDX functionality from Diverse Solutions. Before I could stop myself, I showed off our Hans… -
Become a Master of the Drip Campaign
15 Apr 2012 | 6:59 pmDrip marketing campaigns are very effective for sales cycles that occur infrequently or those that take a considerable amount of time to close. In these situations, you frequently come into contact with a prospective customer well before they are ready to make an actual purchase. You need to stay in front of them until they are ready and the drip campaign allows you to do just that. My marketing background started in enterprise software sales where a given prospect could be in the sales funnel for six to twelve months. We would have a new visitor reach our website while they were… -
Social Media Isn’t Just a Buzz Word
3 Apr 2012 | 1:36 pmFor the last few years social media has been the talk of the internet. Websites like Quora and Pinterest have become the Cinderella stories of the tech world. What originally started out as a novelty, has now become an integral part of SEO and content marketing tactics. Everyone wants to be seen on these social networking websites or be heard talking about how cool they are to use for marketing. My Travels Within the World of Social Media My social media experience started with Facebook. It was just at the start of the social networking craze. I was interviewing au pairs (aka… -
The War of WordPress Theme Frameworks
13 Mar 2012 | 4:54 pmWordPress theme frameworks are not new, but their usage is growing in popularity. As the WordPress community grows and the usage rate of WordPress escalates, our collective skill-set builds in sophistication. With this growth comes the ability to create, deploy, and utilize advance features and functions. When I first started working with WordPress, I taught myself about components of themes and their basic usage. I next migrated to creating my own themes with a software package called Artisteer. Next I moved into hacking themes already created by firms like StudioPress. Finally I…
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Point Blank SEO
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Faking Link Removal Notices
15 May 2012 | 12:00 amThe side effects of Google’s attempt to fight links through harsh penalties are really starting to add up.After reading this post in which a site was wrongfully accused of having spammy links, one thought occurred to me:What’s stopping black hats from sending off these emails pretending to be their competitors? Think about it. It wouldn’t be hard to fake it. Just register a very similar domain name of your competitor, create an email address from that domain, 301 the domain to your competitor’s site, then send out these emails to all of the sites linking to them. I… -
What type of links should we be getting?
8 May 2012 | 7:55 amIn the wake of Penguin, I’ve been getting asked this question A LOT. I think it’s finally time for my answer.Penguin has changed everything – oh wait, no it hasn’t. All it did was penalize those for doing what they knew was wrong, but the only difference is that Google actually followed through with some of their threats on bad links.So what SHOULD we be doing? We know what links we SHOULDN’T be pursuing, so it’s finally time to break down the links that you can get. Non keyword rich anchor text for mid to low quality linksI’m not talking about an Xrumer blast, but for the… -
Building Links Like A Bartender
3 May 2012 | 11:26 amCreativity is such an essential part of link building. Sure, some of you might have it down to an exact science, not needing to change your ways, but for the other 99% of us who want to bring in links by the handful, you have to start thinking outside of the box.Today’s name of the game: mix and match. Here’s a list of things we’ll be mixing together:EgobaitContrary hookLive bloggingHow to’s and tutorialsGlossary of termsWhite papersQuizzes/TestsResearch papersTimely/Seasonal contentCase studiesHumorPrintable resourcesContestsComplete guides/resourcesStoriesNewsInfographicsWeb… -
Optimize Your Link Building with Twitter
18 Apr 2012 | 8:00 amThis is a guest post by Chris Dyson from Triple SEO.The pure beauty of using Twitter as a link building tool is the ease by which you can quickly find the thought leaders and key influencers within any niche. Whenever I start working in a new vertical I try to learn more about whom these people are and what type of content are they sharing. A quick search with a service such as Followerwonk, Wefollow.com or even using a Twitter search can reveal a number of influential Twitter accounts we can utilise as a part of our campaigns. As Mike King succinctly put it in his New SEO Process article on… -
Interview with Link Building Expert Wil Reynolds
5 Apr 2012 | 8:00 amWil Reynolds, the founder of SEER Interactive, was kind enough to join me in this week’s interview. I could talk all day about how great Wil is at what he does, but I’ll let his answers speak for themselves. If you haven’t, make sure you subscribe to the SEER blog and follow him on Twitter. 1. You recently wrote a post titled “How Google Makes Liars Out of the Good Guys in SEO”. Do you think some of the issues you brought up will be fixed in the short term, or do we still have a long way to go? Explain.I think Google has started on this for sure, and I for…
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SEER Interactive
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Use Screaming Frog to Verify Google Analytics Code
10 May 2012 | 4:45 pmThe paid version of Screaming Frog is a lifesaver! I use Screaming Frog regularly to make sure the correct Google Analytics code is in place on every page of a website. Just because the code is in place on the homepage doesn’t mean the same code is on every page. Some pages could be totally missing the code while others could have different versions. Posting my quick process here since I get asked about this frequently… and since I’m talking about this today at the SEOmoz Meetup at the Search Church! Start by selecting Custom Filters under Configuration. Determine what you… -
More ImportXML Cookbooks
9 May 2012 | 7:30 am5 Scrapers for the price of 1 blog post! Here’s a new collection of 64 new ImportXML formulas and 5 spreadsheets to jump start your scrape-fest. I wanted to update my original ImportXML Cookbook post so I recently asked twitter for requests (DJ Chris Le.. get it?! HAhaha ah h … ok, nevermind.) The majority of requests were for social. No surprise, right? Well, here they all are! Let’s get cooking! Preparations 1. You’ll need a new Google Docs Spreadsheet 2. In cell A1, type in the URL you want to scrape. 3. In any other cell copy-and-paste the recipe. Press… -
“Did You Google It?” A Search Church SEO Event Announcement!
8 May 2012 | 4:17 pmWith so many SEOs buzzing about our upcoming SEOMoz Meetup happening THIS Thursday, we thought now would be the perfect time to let everyone know about our NEXT planned Search Church event called “Did You Google It?” Here are some of the quick details for you! When – June 22, 2012 Where – The Search Church (1028 N. 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA) Price – FREE! (but donations are accepted) Our awesome presenters! The event will feature speakers including Distilled’s Tom Critchlow (@tomcritchlow), iAcquire’s Mike King (@iPullRank) and SEER’s own Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds)… -
Visualize Your Backlinks with Google Fusion Tables
7 May 2012 | 10:02 amData can be boring. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good spreadsheet as much as I love a good novel, but whenever I can get away with it, I’d much rather just see the movie. Visualization and presentation have never been more important then they are today. The amount of data that we collect, process, and analyze is overwhelming. Have you ever peeked into the backlink profile for a domain that has over a million links? Can you even imagine what a million links looks like? I can’t. Luckily, we’ve come a long way in terms of visualization since the invention of… -
New Ad Group Ideas (Beta) Improves Keyword Research
2 May 2012 | 8:14 amAdWords finally announced a new gem of a beta, which I accidentally stumbled upon a few weeks ago while completing some keyword research. The Ad Group Ideas beta, which can be found in AdWords’ Keyword Tool, groups suggested keyword ideas into similar ad group themes. This makes the keyword research process a bit quicker and easier. In the Keyword Tool from the Tools and Analysis tab, AdWords now defaults to the beta tab. It’s probably not a smart idea to run with these suggestions as they’re presented – as with many of Google’s suggestions in AdWords, they may not…
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LOGIKal SEO TIPS
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Increase Your Local Business by Marketing Your Website
9 May 2012 | 10:00 amA lot of people who are mostly new to the business industry find that it is better to start their new business with local items rather than going for international brands because local brands and having business in local area works really well and quickly. People start realizing that you are from the same city and they can contact you whenever they want and therefore the amount of faith they have on you is better than what they might have on international brands that might not care much about customers. Even if your business is only local, it is a good idea that you have a website that… -
AS ROMA PURCHASE IS A GROUND BREAKER FOR ITALIAN SPORTS
19 Aug 2011 | 10:38 amThere a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the group of American investors taking over AS Roma yesterday. But there also a few reasons to be concerned. Concerns that are not inherent with the DiBenedetto led group itself, but adjusting to a culture and a sports economy that has been somewhat stuck in time since the 90’s. It’s a venture that really has no precedents. See, aside from this being the first purchase of a Serie A club from a group of foreign investors ever, the issues that these owners will face will not be similar in nature to the ones their American counterparts face in… -
Good SEO Hype vs. Reality
19 Jul 2011 | 9:06 amHumble words of advice. When looking for an SEO firm or sifting through seo packages online do your homework, and be weary of too good to be true “guarantees”. I must admit, being an SEO myself I’m often disappointed by the bad name some firms have given the rest of us in the industry. But it’s out there, small and local business alike often get burned by the false promises and black hat tactics used by these firms. Terms like “we are a Google partner” or “we’ll get your website first on search engines in no time” are all too often present and misguiding to website owners… -
The Importance of Ranking High in Local Listings
6 Jul 2011 | 11:39 amIf you own a local business and have a website, you surely must consider different seo plans and options , as part of an overall strategy to get new customers every day. One way that a lot of local businesses use to attract more leads and customers is through effective website advertising. Your company website can serve as a marketing tool for your business if you know how to drive targeted traffic to it. There are many options available when it comes to driving traffic to your website and one of the most common options would be to attract organic traffic by ranking high in the search engines… -
Don’t Just Choose an Seo Package by Pricing
6 Jun 2011 | 10:40 amThere are many different strategies and techniques available when it comes to search engine marketing for your website. Many SEO companies are offering SEO packages that comprises of some or all of these strategies and techniques which will boost your website’s search engine rankings. These standard packages are created to suit each website owner’s needs based on their internet marketing requirements and budget. You could also request for a customized package if none of their standard packages fit your requirements. Therefore, it is important to think about what you really want to…
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Gain Higher Ground
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My 7 BEST And 4 WORST Converting Email Subject Lines EVER!
14 May 2012 | 9:51 amBuilding a list is just SO powerful. It’s the fastest and easiest way to make money on the internet. However, it will only work if you take the time to write emails that people want to read and this all starts with the subject line. Think about it: It doesn’t matter how good your blog post, product, video or even email body copy is, without an enticing email subject line your subscribers won’t be feel compelled to open your emails and read your content. For this reason I’d like to share with you some of my best converting email subject lines. I’ve ranked these in order of open rate. -
How To Build A Successful Membership Site
11 May 2012 | 3:22 amWould you like to build a membership site? If your answer is yes then you are not alone – perhaps it’s just me but I’ve noticed a growing interest in this area. So based on my experience of running Gain Higher Ground Membership and setting up other membership style sites I thought I’d put together this blog post to help guide you in the right direction. Why Build A Membership Site? Owning a successful membership site is a wonderful thing, here are some of the benefits…. 1. Less product creation worries Although creating a membership site does require a fair amount of work it… -
Can We Meet In Person?
1 May 2012 | 11:10 amHi – Rob here and I have a special message for you! Please Click PLAY below to watch it (it’s only 4 minutes )… Please Click HERE Now For All The Details As I said, the only the first 100 tickets are discounted to £47. After that the price rises to £147 (the event organisers control this not me unfortunately!). So please book right now if you can make it! Kind regards, Rob. P.S. Will any of your friends or family be interested in coming along? If so, please click LIKE below or let them know about this page. -
The 7 Step Product Creation Blueprint
4 Apr 2012 | 7:39 amPromoting other people’s products and services, namely affiliate marketing, is probably the easiest way to get started making money on the internet. You don’t have to worry about customer support, taking payments, issuing refunds or putting the time and energy into creating a product in the first place. However, as time goes on and you get more experienced it is well worth considering creating your own products as there is no doubt that this is where the largest amounts of money are made online. If you’ve never created a product before then this can seem like a daunting… -
The Great SEO Scam
27 Mar 2012 | 4:20 amI’m in the mood for a rant today so hold tight, here we go… If you aren’t already aware, there has been a lot of turmoil in the SEO community recently. This has been come about in reaction to changes made by Google to its ranking algorithm. In particular it is focusing on “overly optimized websites” and has de-indexed a link building service called BuildMyRank.com. The changes have been so dramatic that BuildMyRank.com has gone out of business and are currently refunding their customers. This means that the thousands of people who have used their services to try…
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SEOgadget.co.uk
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High Quality Web Design Showcases, News & Infographics Submission Sites
8 May 2012 | 2:25 pmEven before I started out blogging back in 2007 I made a bold claim in a guest post on one of the most important blogs in that time: You don’t need conventional SEO, you just have to create a great site and great content and solely promote these a little. One of my main suggestions was to submit your well designed site to CSS galleries. Back in those days many sites were still done in Flash. Flash websites are rare these days for good reasons but the technique I propagated back then still hasn’t gone mainstream. Isn’t the SEOgadget site worth being listed in a web design… -
We’re Hiring! Come and Work at SEOgadget
7 May 2012 | 10:49 amOur growth in the past year has been exponential – 279% (comparing April 2011 to April 2012) to be exact. In fact we’re growing so fast that I’m taking some “push harder” decisions in a few key areas of our business. In the next month, we’re prioritising acquiring people in: - More resource in frontline SEO staffing (Senior, Middleweight and Junior) - Sales support (likely a Sales manager / Exec role) - EA / Office Administration support Our success has been entirely down to our people delivering great work for our clients, while we get brilliant… -
So Your Site’s Been Penalised? Now What?
2 May 2012 | 6:27 amGoogle’s war on spam has left quite an impact on the SEO industry of late, with last week’s Penguin update leaving swathes of web masters taken totally by surprise, running to the forums to make their complaints. While “white hat” SEO can start to look smug, innocent bystanders have been caught in the cross fire. Let’s imagine you’re one of those people. What are you supposed to do? Back at the GadgetPlex we discussed a series of options, some based on experience, some based on observation on specific penalised sites and some, in need of experimentation. -
6 Reasons Why Content is a Must for Online Marketing
23 Apr 2012 | 10:31 amBy now, you have probably heard nothing but the fact that content – content marketing, content development, and content strategy – must be a part of your online marketing strategy. And there are many, many good reasons for that. In today’s post, we’re going to look at all of the reasons that you should start implementing content into your online marketing strategy. These reasons include but also go beyond just SEO. Content Makes Panda Happy Panda is a hungry bear, ready to gobble up any sites with low quality content. It’s been over a year since Google released… -
Link Building: Anchor Text Optimisation Best Practices in 2012
16 Apr 2012 | 4:00 amFor years one of the key ingredients of successful link building campaigns has been anchor text optimisation. Anchor text or the actual words that get used to link to another page or site have been among the most important ranking factors. Indeed optimised anchor texts have been so crucial that many people focused too much on them. Some wide spread search engine spam tactics have been motivated by the will to pass anchor text. Lately, as expected by many in the SEO industry Google has been tweaking the algorithm to weed out possible anchor text spam tactics. We don’t know exactly how…
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jeffcaceres.com
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Facebook CPA Force: Turn Your Facebook Friends and Fans Into Leads By Force
25 Apr 2012 | 10:38 pmThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword Winner How A Facebook Lover Like Me “Forced” My Friends And Fans To Sign Up On My CPA Offers Legally? Dear fellow CPA and Internet Marketer, Are you sick and tired of Facebook and CPA eBooks out there that are completely rehashed and not working for you [...] -
Don’t Use Adf.Ly To Advertise Your Squeeze Page
22 Mar 2012 | 11:14 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword Winner Hello guys! It’s been a long while again that I haven’t updated this blog. You know why? I really love experimenting and scaling methods that I have researched, no matter how many times I failed LOL. Right now, I’m going to share something very interesting about [...] -
This Earthquake Is Stupid Enough To Distract Me!
6 Feb 2012 | 5:04 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword Winner What the hell? An earthquake? Yes, we do have an earthquake here. At around 11:48 AM after I got out of the bathroom, I felt something shaky. I noticed that the towels hanging there are moving and I felt dizzy too, so I hurried downstairs if [...] -
Top 5 Paid Link Building Sites Of 2012 You May Count On
5 Feb 2012 | 2:47 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword Winner In these days, lots of webmasters and bloggers are dying to get high quality backlinks to their sites. It is understood that our websites and blogs are considered dead without building backlinks to them. We also know that it really takes us a lot of time [...] -
Are You Worrying About ACTA?
2 Feb 2012 | 9:36 amThis blog post has been optimized using Keyword Winner Last month, the whole world showed their unity against Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, as it was already shelved by Rep. Lamar Smith. You know why? Due to the websites like Wikipedia, Google, Facebook and Warrior Forum going black to show their protests, [...]
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Mark Rushworth - SEO Leeds & Manchester
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SEO Tip – Identify New Data Between 2 Excel Sheets
3 May 2012 | 6:18 amPaul our new Excel guru has shown me a nifty little trick that im sure you’ll find interesting. I was discussing how each month Open Site Explorer outputted new data and it was hard to integrate this into an existing (previous months) worksheet without potentially overwriting the work already done. He rolled his eyes and [...] -
Panda, Penguin… Whats Googles Next Update Going to be
2 May 2012 | 7:16 amOK, so we’ve had a succession of Google Panda updates and the latest ones called Penguin. This implies that the theme is black and white… is a site or link good or bad. This begs the question what other black and white animals can they come up with to name future Google updates? Heres my [...] -
List of Google Social Analytics Metrics Partners
25 Apr 2012 | 11:16 amApologies for an other aide memoire but the following is a list of official websites used by Google in its social media metrics gathering. If you sell in social media to your clients or simply want to enhance your organic search results then this is a great way of doing so. Its interesting that Disqus [...] -
SEOMoz Gives Google Panda the Fist
25 Apr 2012 | 5:01 amOur n00bie SEO Paul found this on SEOMoz and thought it was funny… I have to agree. Now I know the Panda update hit SEO’s and site owners hard and it certainly packed a punch. Enough with the sillyness, its time to get back to work. -
Matt Cutts Announces New Google Update that Tackles Web Spam
25 Apr 2012 | 3:41 amToday the mighty Matt Cutts announced the latest in their series of updates designed to kill the impact of so called web spam. The full article can be read here. Now I fully understand keyword stuffing and acknowledge that it’s a technique from the dark past of SEO however the second example they show just [...]
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Success Is A Choice
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No plugins match your request- WordPress Issue
2 May 2012 | 1:36 pmThere is a new problem with wordpress where users a shown a message that “No plugins match your request.” when they try to search for new plugins. This wordpress problems seems to have started today and many people who would …Read more » -
Google+ (Plus Google) Changes Look to Facebook “Like”
13 Apr 2012 | 2:04 amGoogle+ has decided to change the look of the site to a one which many users have welcomed. It is a change which have taken long but many of us expected it to come sooner or late. The new changes …Read more » -
WordPress 3.4 Version To be Out (Released)
9 Apr 2012 | 3:10 amWordPress is soon releasing the WordPress 3.4. This comes a few months after WordPress 3.3 was released at the beginning of this year. The much awaited for WordPress 3.4 is expected to be out in May this year (2012). and …Read more » -
Samsung Galaxy Note: Features, Buy, Reviews
8 Apr 2012 | 5:57 amThe Samsung Galaxy Note is one of the most sought for after devices in the world today. The Galaxy Note was introduced to the market in October 2011. It is an Android smartphone and tablet computer and it attracted attention …Read more » -
Tips for marketing your home based business- Work at Home Success
29 Mar 2012 | 1:37 amIf you hate workplace politics, consider trying some business from home. While dealing with home based business, you need to reach out to the people to let them know that you are seeking customers. However, most of such businesses do …Read more »
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal
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Get That Content Published!
15 May 2012 | 6:00 amA lot of site owners and marketers, especially B2B marketers, have a hard time developing a consistent content marketing strategy. Many feel that they have nothing to say or that their audience isn’t interested in hearing from them—this is not the case! Your target audience, regardless of industry, is looking for more information. They want best practice tips and guidelines, product reviews and demos, industry trends and more. Every business exists to solve a problem (otherwise they don’t stay in business for very long!) and your content shows potential customers that your brand is the… -
Natural Link Building and SEO – SEO Video Lesson
14 May 2012 | 10:49 amNatural link building occurs just like it says, naturally! A positive product of all your SEO and online marketing efforts, natural link building happens when other sites and blogs willingly link to your content. Natural links weren’t asked or traded for–they happened because you have great content! Natural links build up overtime, so it’s still important to invest in a link building campaign, but natural links are a great addition to your link portfolio. Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here! For more link building lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick… -
Authorship Markup and SEO
10 May 2012 | 6:00 amI came across this great article the other day on The Daily SEO Blog from SEOMoz about authorship markup and how it might impact link building. Since Google looks at the quality of a link to determine its relevance and value when ranking a site in the SERPs, being able to verify the author of a link helps verify that the link is trust worthy. As the author (Tom Anthony) points out, this gives Google two advantages: Knowing this is an authored link, by a human who they have data about, they can place far more trust in a link. Its [sic] likely that a link authored manually by a human is of… -
If the Web is Immediate, Why is SEO Slow?
8 May 2012 | 6:00 amSEO is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—SEO is a slow, ongoing process that you just can’t rush. This is the number one SEO lesson I strive to teach my clients. On more than one occasion I’ve been asked by a full-service SEO or SEO consulting client, “But Nick. I can publish a blog post/article/video/changes to my website and it goes live immediately. Why doesn’t SEO happen immediately too?” There are actually a few factors that impact how quickly your SEO takes effect. Here are 3 of them: Too much content for it all to be immediately… -
Domain Registration Best Practices – SEO Video Lesson
7 May 2012 | 10:08 amWhen you register a new website, always try to register it for at least 10 years. This is important for a few reasons. First off, it shows you long term commitment to the search engines, which will help build trust. Secondly, it ensures that you won’t lose your website should the registration renewal deadline pass without you remembering. Watch this week’s SEO video lesson from Nick Stamoulis here! For more Internet marketing lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing Internet marketing video lesson archive.
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FutureRanking.com » FutureRanking Blog
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How to Create A “Superstar” Blog Post
10 May 2012 | 11:17 amThere are thousands of blogs floating through the vast space of the internet. However, the best blogs are like cream, they float to the top. But how do we separate the “superstar” blog posts from the... Content is King!!! Social Media Delivers and Survey Shows People are Getting It Posted by admin in Content Creation, News & Updates We all knew it, but a 2009 Marketing, Media and Measurement survey seems to confirm it. Social media and content are omnipresent in the market and that is where companies (and -
Why Businesses are Thriving in Google+
1 Feb 2012 | 11:53 amA revolutionary social network has begun—Google+. It’s a new social network with the backing of the Internet search engine juggernaut, which not surprisingly, ushers in new ranking opportunities.... Content is King!!! Social Media Delivers and Survey Shows People are Getting It Posted by admin in Content Creation, News & Updates We all knew it, but a 2009 Marketing, Media and Measurement survey seems to confirm it. Social media and content are omnipresent in the market and that is where companies (and -
Social Media Platforms in Sixty Seconds: A Jungle of Shared Information
19 Dec 2011 | 4:10 pmThe amount of information that’s available on the Internet to essentially everybody is extraordinary and dangerously powerful. The increased use of social media platforms, search engines, virtual... Content is King!!! Social Media Delivers and Survey Shows People are Getting It Posted by admin in Content Creation, News & Updates We all knew it, but a 2009 Marketing, Media and Measurement survey seems to confirm it. Social media and content are omnipresent in the market and that is where companies (and -
FutureRanking Employee Profile: Andres (Andy) Cambron
7 Dec 2011 | 12:48 pmAn interview with our SEO account manager – Andres (Andy) Cambron 1. Q: How long have you worked at FutureRanking.com? A: Since March 2010, nearly a year and a half. 2. Q: What’s your... Content is King!!! Social Media Delivers and Survey Shows People are Getting It Posted by admin in Content Creation, News & Updates We all knew it, but a 2009 Marketing, Media and Measurement survey seems to confirm it. Social media and content are omnipresent in the market and that is where companies (and -
Carbon Copy Product Descriptions Mean Duplicate Content
17 Nov 2011 | 12:30 pmAn ECommerce business is not a “get rich scheme,” it’s a process of building a brand and utilizing the correct SEO to promote products. Many people have to learn a new job market, and one of the best... Content is King!!! Social Media Delivers and Survey Shows People are Getting It Posted by admin in Content Creation, News & Updates We all knew it, but a 2009 Marketing, Media and Measurement survey seems to confirm it. Social media and content are omnipresent in the market and that is where companies (and
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Traffic Is King
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How To Make Money As A ClickBank Affiliate
12 May 2012 | 12:21 amIn this video I outline a few steps you need to do to make money as a ClickBank affiliate. I have personally done these steps myself and they have made me a nice income. Although I am very technically inclined and can put up a blog with my eyes closed, there are probably some [...] -
Web Traffic Domination Video Course: How To SEO Your Website And Build Backlinks
25 Apr 2012 | 10:57 pm -
Want To Submit A Guest Post For Us? Look At Our Guest Post Guidelines!
8 Aug 2011 | 11:29 pmIf you would like to submit a guest post to this blog, follow the instructions below for consideration. Only guest posts that meet these criteria will be considered for publishing. We will only consider guest posts that are tutorial based that show how to do a traffic generation, social media related strategy or a case-study [...] -
Get Off Your Computer And Take A Break. Sitting Kills!
3 Jun 2011 | 8:47 amBelow is a nice info-graphic of how sitting kills. Via: Medical Billing And Coding -
Enter The “Pimp My Facebook Fan Page” Contest
31 May 2011 | 8:34 amFrom now until this Friday you can enter to win an attention grabbing Facebook Fan Page Designed by me. Here are the details: 1. Go to this link –>http://bit.ly/igs0hc 2. Then Re-tweet this to your Twitter Followers : Follow @samuelawosolu & R/T this to win an Attention Grabbing Pimped out Facebook Fan Page Design [...]
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Webtise Blog
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Social Commerce Tip: Find out how many people have “Pin’d” from your domain name on Pinterest
12 May 2012 | 11:00 amIf you're loving Pinterest at the moment then here's a really useful tip for you so you can see how many images/ comments and "pins" you've had from your website address. -
3 Tips to Keep eCommerce Content Fresh
11 May 2012 | 4:22 amWith the continual changes being made to Google’s Algorithm lately, it’s never been more important to have plenty of fresh, unique content on your site. Not only does having plenty of information on your site ensure that Google is happy, … -
3 Quick Tips for Social Commerce Marketing
8 May 2012 | 6:41 amSocial Commerce is so hot right now (said like Mugatu in Zoolander) :) It's big business and is driving a lot of traffic to eCommerce websites. Plus with the new Google Penguin update now factoring social signals to it's algorithms, Social Media for YOUR business, simply cannot be ignored - Act now or be left behind. -
The history of #ecommerce (infographic)
7 May 2012 | 7:27 amThe history of ecommerce by Webtise -
Fancy – the new socialcommerce flavour of the month appearing on SERPS
27 Apr 2012 | 10:41 amWhilst doing some Google ranking checks for clients, I found another social/search example that Google is favouring social networks. This time it’s the newbie Fancy a socialcommerce dream that marries up buyers who “fancy” a product and sellers who can provide links where …
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SEO Italy blog: articoli, video e tutorial sul posizionamento web e l'ottimizzazione per i motori di ricerca
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Attenti al Pinguino
7 May 2012 | 7:30 amConsiderazioni e sul rilascio da parte di Google del Penguin update e di Panda 35 -
Mobile marketing che cosa e come si usa il QR Code
20 Oct 2011 | 5:44 am -
SEO mobile e marketing Il futuro oggi
7 Oct 2011 | 4:57 am -
Il marketing sui Social Media pi sostenitori con aggiornamenti costanti contenuti speciali ed inserzioni mirate
15 Jul 2011 | 8:16 amMarketing sui social network come sfruttare le potenzialit di facebook per gestire campagne di marketing e attrarre nuovi visitatori -
Il marketing sui Social Media le regole di base per costruire la propria reputazione sociale
4 Jul 2011 | 10:23 amMarketing e social media come creare e gestire la propria reputazione sociale online Trucchi e accorgimenti
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MyWebTronics
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Easily Turn Off Google Personalization Results
14 May 2012 | 8:02 amMy clients are often duped by personalized results. But there is an easy way around this. Google has a button located in the top right of its search results that allows you to turn on and turn off personalized search results. The person represents personalized results, the world represents global results. Check it out: Easily Turn Off Google Personalization Results is by: MyWebTronics -
Slow Site? Deactivate WordPress Plugins
23 Apr 2012 | 10:03 amI just took over a site and found that it was consistently loading around 8+ seconds according to Google Analytics. I tested some static pages on the server and found that they loaded very quickly, so it had to be the dynamic pages of WordPress causing the problems. W3 Total cache was installed and did not seem to be helping. The settings were fine so I turned to the plugins. Plugins for WordPress are amazing. The problem comes when many of the plugins work everytime a page is loaded. So I went through and deactivated many of the unnecessary plugins within WordPress which helped considerably. -
Turn GZIP Compression On In Shared Hosting
20 Apr 2012 | 8:47 amFirst verify that your host has GZIP compression turned on within your server’s configuration. You can see if you site is currently using GZIP compression by running a test on Google’s page speed site. If you don’t have gzip compression it will make it a high priority item. Open up your .htaccess file and paste the following at the bottom: <ifModule mod_deflate.c> <filesMatch "\.(js|css)$"> SetOutputFilter DEFLATE </filesMatch> </ifModule> Run the test at Google again and see if GZIP is enabled. Turn GZIP Compression On In Shared Hosting… -
SEO For Humans
8 Feb 2012 | 6:10 pmSearch the web for the phrase “SEO” and it’s easy to believe that this fledgling industry has more followers than Islam and Christianity rolled into one. As with any movement with a large following there are fanatics and zealots, there are a mass of the ‘faithful’ who try to live righteous lives by following the dictates of a mysterious Algorithm in the ether and there those who try to believe but are slightly dazed by it all. Some of us are even a bit cynical about the subject. Beyond the rainbow Yes it’s true that getting SEO right can help you to achieve sales nirvana, or… -
(Keywords Not Provided): How To Improve Your Keyword Data
25 Jan 2012 | 7:52 amAs you already know, Google no longer provides organic keywords used to find your site when someone is logged into their Google account. Since Google keeps users logged in by default, the number of “not provided” keywords is just going to increase. Mine is currently at 26% of Google traffic and is bound to get worse. Especially with 600,000 new users joining Google Plus every day giving with more of a reason to stay logged into their account. Having keyword data is extremely important to your site’s growth, especially if you are measuring conversion data. After all, know…
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SEO Eblog by SEO Advantage, Inc.
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Penguin Update Targets Link Schemes and Low-Quality Content
10 May 2012 | 2:36 pmGoogle’s much anticipated “over-optimization” algorithm update has been released. It was originally thought this new update would be called “Venice.” But in keeping the tradition of other updates that were named for animals (…think Panda), the search giant named this update “Penguin.” We did have some forewarning this update was coming. As we discussed a little over a month ago, Google’s spam chief Matt Cutts was asked at the SXSW Conference what Google was doing about “overly-optimized” sites. Although it isn’t customary for Cutts and Google to announce an update… -
10 Important Points to Consider when Redesigning your Website
30 Apr 2012 | 3:44 pmEvery so often, your website should undergo a face lift. It’s important to consider a site redesign every couple of years or so to maintain a fresh appearance for your company. If you just put a site online and don’t touch its design for many years, it will appear that your company is behind the times. Since online marketing channels and SEO is constantly evolving, you have to stay current or risk losing your position to a competitor who’s on top of their game and has an updated site. Other reasons like migrating to a new content management system or rebranding your company can also… -
Answer These 23 Questions to Understand What Google Looks For
16 Apr 2012 | 10:37 amReflecting more on our last post and Google’s latest update got us thinking a little more about how Google decides which sites to reward (…through higher rankings) and which ones to punish. How does Google write the algorithms that crawl a site, index its content, and rank it according to keywords? While that’s certainly a question we could write many books trying to explain, Google does provide some guidance into its thinking. They do not discuss specific ranking factors but do provide some insights into what they consider a high-quality site. The search giant’s stated goal is to… -
Upcoming Google Update to Penalize “Over-Optimized” Sites
2 Apr 2012 | 9:00 amRarely do we get a glimpse of a Google algorithm update before it occurs. But during a recent panel discussion at the SXSW event in Austin, Texas, Google’s spam chief Matt Cutts announced some minor tweaks to the search engine’s algorithm. Dubbed the “Venice” update, Cutts said Google would punish sites that are too optimized for SEO, or what he called “over optimized” or “overly SEO’d” (…according to reports from HubSpot and Search Engine Land). Although Cutts initially had planned not to announce the update ahead of time, he decided to go ahead and spill the beans… -
Why Are Major Marketers Moving Toward Google+?
20 Mar 2012 | 9:09 amRecently I had the pleasure of reading an interview of Guy Kawasaki regarding his new e-book, What the Plus! Google+ For the Rest of Us, as well as his general thoughts on the exploding new social network. In just under a year since it was rolled out, Google+ has grown to over 100 million users. And while it hasn’t reached the stature of Facebook, Kawasaki thinks now is the time to start focusing on the new social network. As of now, it’s still the “wild west” – meaning, you can stake your claim now before the competition. With Facebook and Twitter, you have to cut through a lot of…
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Professional SEO Solutions
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Professional Business Branding Consultation Free Via Skype
28 Apr 2012 | 2:07 amhttp://www.seobloggingsolutions.com/contact – Know your online marketing strategy for 2012 to gain maximum exposure and leads, please email ghazal@seobloggingsolutions.com with your details for 30 minutes professional business branding consultation free via Skype. Send to Facebook Related posts:Social Media Marketing for Business: a Trend or a MUST? Social media is the hottest craze among youth, professionals and... [...] Related posts:Social Media Marketing for Business: a Trend or a MUST? Social media is the hottest craze among youth, professionals and... Related posts brought to you by… -
Purpose of Your Website
31 Mar 2012 | 2:23 pmhttp://www.seobloggingsolutions.com/is-your-website-working-for-you/ Send to Facebook Related posts:Is Your Website Working for You? Are you a Professional/business owner? Do you have a Website?... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. Related posts:Is Your Website Working for You? Are you a Professional/business owner? Do you have a Website?... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. -
How to Use Pinterest for Business Part I
29 Feb 2012 | 8:18 amUnleash the power of interactivity in your marketing. Send to Facebook Related posts:Start a Business Blog | Blogging for Business | How to Blog Unleash the power of interactivity in your marketing with the... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. Related posts:Start a Business Blog | Blogging for Business | How to Blog Unleash the power of interactivity in your marketing with the... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. -
How to Use Social Media for Business
31 Jan 2012 | 2:48 amSend to Facebook Related posts:Social Media Marketing for Business: a Trend or a MUST? Social media is the hottest craze among youth, professionals and... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. Related posts:Social Media Marketing for Business: a Trend or a MUST? Social media is the hottest craze among youth, professionals and... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. -
Small Business Owner: Are YOU Ready for 2012
28 Dec 2011 | 11:44 pmA Warm Hello to all my readers, small business owners, online entrepreneurs and passionate professionals. It’s the best time of the year, I am sure you all are celebrating the festive season and would also have many exciting plans for the coming year. Let’s start the New Year with this rejoicing spirit – and be [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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SEO Solutions
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Is Your SEO Project Failing and Why?
18 Apr 2012 | 9:14 amIs Your SEO Project Failing and Why? The majority of internet marketers fail, it’s a fact. They put up a site, pour their heart and soul into it but fail miserably even though they understand the basic rules of SEO. There is any number of reasons for this and we’re going to list below the most common reason why Poor Execution/Lack of Analysis Whether you’ve studied everything you possibly can about SEO or you’ve paid an SEO company to write up a strategic marketing plan for your website it will be necessary to follow a certain number of… -
SEO Trends
28 Mar 2012 | 9:19 amSEO Trends of 2011 and 2012 Another year has begun and not only is it a time for looking forward but also for assessing our success in 2011 and for looking at tomorrow’s SEO trends. We can only move ahead if we have plans for the future and I wonder how many people decided to quit their internet marketing efforts as a resolution, and how many others resolved to start a brand new internet business. Bruce Clay discussed the main points of 2011’s SEO trends on his website www.BruceClay.com and where they are leading us in this New Year. FaceBook Marketing on FaceBook… -
Ways to Make Money with Your Website or Blog
7 Mar 2012 | 8:44 amAdding Revenue to Your Website or Blog Deciding you want to build a blog and make some money online can be exciting and a temptation for many people is to grab an idea out of the air and start building but a lot of consideration should be given to adding revenue to your website or blog. Without thorough keyword research it will be nearly impossible for you to attract organic searches. If your intention is to promote affiliate products then it’s important to find relevant products that will pay a good commission and be useful to your reader. Affiliate Products There are hundreds… -
Link Building Tips and Errors
28 Feb 2012 | 10:08 amA Few Tips on Backlink Building One of the first things that many internet marketers are advised to do immediately after adding some quality content to their site is to start link building. It is a necessary task, but it has to be done in the correct way. Google looks for “natural” links to a website and rushing off and getting hundreds of backlinks from poor quality sites every day is certainly not going to look natural. Backlink Building Error #1 It’s good to get into the habit of building a number of backlinks each day but where they come from is vitally important. -
The Future of SEO... What You Need to Know
17 Feb 2012 | 8:53 amThe Future of SEO… What You Need to Know We can’t really say for certain what the future of SEO will be in 2012 and in the future but if you’ve been keeping up with the latest developments by watching Matt Cutts’ videos and subscribing to at least one trustworthy SEO blog, you’re probably a few steps ahead of many other people. If you own or bricks and mortar business you are constantly making sure that the fabric of the building is not going to or harm your business – and you want it to look attractive. People with online…
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Commerce Kitchen
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2 Weird Things I Learned About SEOs This Week
27 Apr 2012 | 4:29 pmThis week I learned two weird things about other companies that do SEO. I shouldn’t be surprised; after all, too many businesses have had bad experiences with blackhat SEO firms and swindlers taking advantage of people who aren’t tech savvy or hip to the interwebs. So here’s what I learned this week. It’s creepy and I don’t like it, but it’s something to keep in mind when looking into an SEO firm and its tactics. SEO Firms Will Outright Lie. WTF? This week an SEO firm contacted one of our clients and made some pretty outrageous claims. Laughably outrageous. -
Sharing is Caring; Don’t Be Stingy
20 Apr 2012 | 3:56 pmWhy It’s Okay To Share On Social Media: Being selective doesn’t mean being stingy: Don’t share every piece of garbage that people post. But guess what? Not everyone posts garbage. People post great articles, blogs, videos, infographics, and images all the time. Humans are amazing. We’re smart and creative and funny and considerate. Choose what you post based on quality and relevance, but don’t be stingy. There’s no right or wrong number of times to retweet or share someone’s Facebook status. Make sure you’re posting your own material, but… -
Web Design Internship!
4 Apr 2012 | 4:28 pmCommerce Kitchen is hiring a web design intern! I know, we can barely contain our enthusiasm and neither should you! So what does this mean to you? Well, if you’re a college student in the Denver area, working in web design, then we want to see your work. In exchange, we’ll train you in building search optimized sites, UX and usability, and help you understand how to integrate sharing and social media into your sites. Awesome! Right? All you need to do is send us a cover letter that discusses why you’d like to work with us, what your experience is, and two faculty references… -
Metadescription Variation Is Ruining My F***ing Life
4 Apr 2012 | 3:43 pmGoogle. What are you doing to me, baby? I do what you want. I try so hard to make you happy. I just wanna be loved in return. This week I noticed that Google is pulling up some weird stuff in the metadescription field. Natalie, what’s a metadescription field? you ask. Check out all the yellow arrows: A metadescription is the brief description of your website that appears in the browser when your site shows up in search. You have the option to write whatever you want as a metadescription, but we encourage people to write a description that accurately represents whatever it is that you… -
Juggalo Marketing and SXSW Interactive
19 Mar 2012 | 1:41 pmThis week I interviewed Shelly Drumm on her experience at SXSW Interactive, and how it relates to inbound marketing, web dev, and SEO. Hi Shelly. Hi Natalie. You went to SXSW Interactive last week, and we wanted to catch up with you to find out what you learned. I know there’s always a ton of information on new innovations in technology and robotics and all sorts of awesome stuff, both directly related to the work Commerce Kitchen does and only sort of peripherally related. I did learn that GNR doesn’t always refer to Guns N’ Roses. Oh? Tell me more. I went to a Ray Kurzweil…
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SEO Positive » Blog
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Go Ahead Skip Keyword Research
9 May 2012 | 10:20 amFor some time the process known as search engine optimisation have come to follow the industry standard of keyword research, content development and link building. Combining these strategies makes your search engine optimisation efforts to be very effective. The only question is how much work you will be putting into your website in order to fully optimise them. Many SEO companies and SEO consultants however, has the tendency to skip several steps in the so called SEO industry standard, this may be caused by the fact that search engine optimisation strategies are very tedious and takes… -
Should You Use Facebook Timeline For Business?
8 May 2012 | 11:05 pmFacebook is said to be the number one social media platform worldwide, this is not a surprise considering the fact that Facebook has a close to one billion members. This is why Facebook has become a popular choice in terms of social media marketing. Apart from having a lot of members, Facebook offers a lot of features that will help their users depending on their chosen feature. Facebook indeed has captured a lot of users, and because of its member verification system in place a lot of business owners have been using Facebook not only to connect with their friends and families but also to… -
Increase Your Traffic through Social Media
7 May 2012 | 10:49 amMany SEO companies and SEO consultants knows that every algorithm change in the search engine might cause the de-ranking of their target website, what is worst is that when the site is actually lost the revenue goes with it. This is the reason why many SEO Companies and SEO consultants are looking for other sources for site traffic. One of the most popular alternative site traffic sources is the use of social media. With the popularity of Facebook and Twitter and its ability to make a post viral became the focus of such SEO companies and SEO consultants looking for alternative traffic sources… -
What is The Role of Blog Writing in SEO?
6 May 2012 | 11:48 amIf you have been following the trend in different websites you might have noticed that there is a lot of change on how a website is being designed and how it is being optimised. You might also have noticed that most of the websites nowadays especially those e-commerce websites have incorporated blog pages in their sites. What does it all mean? Why is there a blog page in an e-commerce website? This is all because of the process called search engine optimisation. Search engines ranks websites according to how well optimised the websites it, of course it is no secret that websites that are… -
Google Page Rank Update for May 2012
5 May 2012 | 11:14 amOn May 5, 2012, the different social media sites burned because of the extensive discussion regarding the latest page rank update conducted by Google, of course a lot of website owners were very happy because of the fact that their page ranking increased and some even jumped two page ranks up. Some were felt the opposite because of the simple fact that their rankings went down. This roller coaster emotions by SEO companies and SEO consultants is because of the changes in the page ranking of their target website. What is Page Rank? In order to understand why many SEO companies and SEO…
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Blind Five Year Old
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Social Echo
1 May 2012 | 3:28 pmHow many Tweets does it take to impact rank? How important are +1s? Should I care about LinkedIn shares? Are Likes more important than Tweets? I’m seeing these types of questions again and again and again as people try to understand the impact of social on search. Many seem to think there’s a formula. They want to know that if they get 145 Tweets and 62 +1s that their efforts will be rewarded by some specific amount. These are all interesting studies but do they miss the forest for the trees? The Social Echo In truth, it’s not about those specific Tweets, Shares, +1s and… -
Author Rank
30 Mar 2012 | 12:42 pmAuthorRank could be more disruptive than all of the Panda updates combined. That’s a bold statement but possible once you fully understand AuthorRank and how it could be applied to search results. What is AuthorRank? The idea behind AuthorRank is that your reputation as a content creator will influence the ranking of search results. Here’s the specific language from Google’s Agent Rank patent. The identity of individual agents responsible for content can be used to influence search ratings. Assuming that a given agent has a high reputational score, representing an… -
Single Domain Results
23 Mar 2012 | 5:28 pmIn the last few weeks I’ve noticed more results appearing from a single domain for a growing number of queries. Not only that but I’m seeing duplicate and less relevant results within those single domain results. Single Domain Results In August 2010 Google began to serve more results from a single domain for certain queries. However, sometime during 2011 I believe Google pulled back and search results were, once again, more diverse. Our collective mania over Panda let things like this slide under the radar. Today, I’m seeing more and more single domain results and what… -
No Such Thing As A Good Scraper
14 Mar 2012 | 5:06 pmI have 155 pending comments right now. The overwhelming majority of them are pingbacks from benign scrapers. Some may see this as a boon but I view these scrapers as arterial plaque that could ultimately give the Internet a heart attack. Here’s my personal diagnosis. The Illness My definition of a benign scraper is a site that scrapes content but provides attribution. I’ve gotten a ton of these recently because of links I received in high profile sites within the search community. Those sites are the target of these scrapers so my link gets carried along as part of the deal. The… -
Blog Post Optimization
12 Mar 2012 | 1:50 pmOne of the things I’ve learned blogging is that a blog post can have two distinct lives. Upon hitting the publish button a blog post lives in the sparkly social spotlight. But soon the lights fade and the crowd goes home. It’s time for that blog post to start working a 9 to 5 job, bringing traffic to your site each and every week. Optimizing your posts for both of these lives is important but takes some foresight. Here’s how I do it. The Social Life The social life of a blog post is short, lasting between 48 hours and two weeks if you’re lucky. Your goal is to generate…
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Skyrocket SEO
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Guest Posting – your questions answered
13 May 2012 | 5:40 pmIn response to the increasing numbers of questions I get about guest posting, I wanted to put together a Q&A post which aggregates some of my answers and hopefully proves useful to anyone who is exploring guest posting as a link building technique. These are all genuine questions I have been asked, in most cases [...] -
20+ resources for prospecting, organising & researching link opportunities
25 Apr 2012 | 10:16 amDeveloping and acquiring high-quality links is a challenge, let alone being able to effectively scale the process. Luckily though, there are a number of tools which will help with a lot of the heavy lifting which frees up your time to really get down and dirty developing those relationships and actually scoring the links. Here [...] -
What does a bad link look like?
20 Apr 2012 | 6:30 amI want to preface this by saying that nobody really knows what is going on at the moment, there is a lot of craziness in the SERPs right now. Anyone who tells you they have the answer or the magic fix is lying. The good SEOs out there (we include ourselves in this group) are [...] -
The Complete Guide to Blogging for your Business
16 Apr 2012 | 3:52 amIntroduction successful blog will become the heart of a business; the content engine, the customer acquisition system and the platform to develop thought leadership in an industry. At Skyrocket SEO, we’ve built a business around our blog and many people comment that our website feels more like a blog rather than a corporate website but [...] -
AuthorRank & The Future of Guest Posting
10 Apr 2012 | 4:46 amAuthorRank – it’s no longer a case of if but when. It’s coming and it is going to be big.(AJ Kohn reckons bigger than all the Panda updates combined) As webmasters, we’ve all got the ability already to implement rel-author but the full effect of AuthorRank is yet to be fully seen. To many it [...]
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blueclaw.co.uk
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EGR Forum
11 May 2012 | 4:26 amFirstly I’d like to thank the guys over at EGR for having me. The day was great and the presentation went pretty well for 1st thing in the morning if you excuse the horrible feedback issues. If you weren’t there or want to look over the slides from my presentation on building loyalty to bingo [...] -
Blueclaw Speaking At EGR
10 May 2012 | 4:14 amMike Liston, Head of iGaming will be speaking at 10:30am today at the EGR Subscribers Forum. -
Free Twitter Analytics Tools
9 May 2012 | 10:30 amI have put together a list of 5 free Twitter Analytics tools. Please have a look and let me know if you feel I have missed any you find particularly useful. -
AdWords Update: 30 Day Time Limit on Rotate Ads Evenly
3 May 2012 | 6:13 amGoogle AdWords have announced a change to the “rotate” setting for ad rotation. Ads will rotate evenly only for 30 days then will automatically be optimised to show the ad that generates the most clicks. Whilst rotating ads evenly is useful to test the performance of new ad creatives, it is not advantageous to continue indefinitely [...] -
ionSearch 2012 – Our Thoughts And Takeaways
3 May 2012 | 6:04 amThe Blueclaw office is still buzzing from ionSearch 2012 even though it was a couple of weeks ago now. Find out more about it here!
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waithash.com
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Social Media Marketing – Where Should You Start?
18 Apr 2012 | 10:50 amThe number of social media users is growing rapidly in Kenya, providing immense opportunities for businesses to communicate with their clients. Social Media Marketing works for brands and businesses whose customers use social networks. Target Audience, Determine Channels and Build Internal Capacity Before any business or corporate decides to use social media as a marketing channel, it has to evaluate the following things. Who are your market audience? Do your customers use social media? Which Social Media Channels are best suitable to reach your customers? Is it Facebook, Blogs, Twitter,… -
The Best Way to Learn SEO – Search Engine Optimization
28 Feb 2012 | 11:08 amAll Credit to Digital Marketing Agency Koozai -
Why Digital Media Will See Exponential Growth Despite Recession
30 Jan 2012 | 1:51 amThe year 2012 is predicted to be a year of slow economic growth world-wide. That’s what market and economy analysts are saying. Some European countries such as Greece are already in recession. The world is going through an economic stagnation. These are hard times for many businesses, governments and families as extra cash for luxury is drained. But despite all this gloomy outlook on the economic front, there is a glimmer of hope in the area of digital media. Digital media is the creative convergence of digital arts, science, technology and business for human expression, communication,… -
Why Twitter Will Play a Great Role in The Events of 2012
31 Dec 2011 | 4:29 pmNo doubt, Twitter has flattened the world like a pancake. Never in the history of the world has a single tool made it so easy for folks word-wide to connect, engage, and share knowledge and Information. The year, 2012 will be a defining year in many ways. Not less than 59 countries of the world including Russia, USA, China, France, Kenya and many others will be holding elections. Twitter will play a critical role in these elections in determining the winners. In 2012, Twitter will be at the centre of learning, business and social networking. I expect this tool to gain more acceptance,… -
Evidence Shows that Social Media Tools Affect our Ability to Concentrate.
14 Dec 2011 | 7:51 amScientists are keen on studying the effect that social media has on a human brain. Social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Blogs etc have a profound impact on the way we think and relate. This infographic shows that there is evidence to suggest that social media tools affects our ability to concentrate. We now have a shorter attention span than before because of too much use of these technology gadgets which at times results to addiction and insomnia for some people. Infographic by Assisted Living Today. Thanks to them.
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SEO Hacker Blog - SEO and Internet Marketing Company in the Philippines
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How does the Google Penguin Update Affects SEO and Negative SEO?
14 May 2012 | 7:19 amOver Optimization has been hitting websites like bowling pins – the score just keeps piling up. Google has now named this update the ‘Penguin’. I’m not entirely sure as to why. Sounds cute doesn’t it? The Penguin update rolled out April 24, 2012 and started hitting some 3.1% of all English queries in Google Search. What is it really and what are the effects of the Penguin Update to SEO? The Penguin Update increased the effectivity of Negative SEO Negative SEO is what we can call ‘foul play’ among SEO specialists. This is a practice that some SEO… -
Using Klout to Measure your Social Influence
7 May 2012 | 12:06 amIf you are new to the world of Social Media marketing, you may ask yourself, why am I focusing so much attention and effort to build up my presence online and how do I know if it is paying off? One tool that has gained prominence in the circle of Social Media marketers and influencers is Klout, an online aggregator of your influence in your Social Media networks. Webmaster’s Note: This is a Guest post by Daniel Day of Onerightclick.com What is Klout? Klout is an online tool for measuring your or your company’s influence in Social Media circles. The Klout score is calculated… -
Detecting Over Optimization Penalties with Rankpanel: A Case Study
28 Apr 2012 | 3:19 amIn the beginning of 2012 Google started sending out webmaster notification messages to reportedly 700,000 webmasters all around the world. A lot of these were about “artificial or unnatural links”. Note from the Webmaster: This is a Guest post from Rankpanel‘s Director, Alexander Puschilov. I think Rankpanel is one of those new tools that might just make it big – especially with the Google Penguin (over optimization) update. The notices seem to be related to some new search quality system in place, which renders certain link building techniques no longer viable. Patrick… -
How to Recover from Over Optimization
22 Apr 2012 | 6:54 amOver optimization is all about sprinting with your SEO in such a way that you’re already leaving your best partner behind – content and value. The internet is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. You don’t sprint until you’ve run a long one and the finish line is a few meters ahead. Note: Sorry about the Boromir pic. It gave me a few laughs. I’m an LOTR fan. You have to understand that all websites have a purpose – and that purpose is to get visitors coming in. If you want this purpose achieved, you have to have a website that hooks the visitors in and… -
Google Over Optimization Penalty
14 Apr 2012 | 11:24 amOver Optimization has been the recent craze of those who were unfortunate enough to be hit by this Google algorithm change. It’s not an easy thing to deal with over optimization. So how do you get back on track once you’re hit by Google? Black hat has gone a bit further Over Optimization has just been added to the list of ‘don’t do’s’ by Google. I thought only black hat techniques were placed in this category but obviously now that is no longer the case. Even natural, white hat SEO now has a fine line that it cannot cross. That line is named just enough…
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Ontolo blogs
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What it Takes to Rank for the Top Keywords in the Air Travel Industry: 2012.05.15
15 May 2012 | 10:45 amToday's Ranking Factors Report is for the top Air Travel keywords: airfare airline tickets flights cheap flights cheap airfare These Air Travel industry keywords represent a cumulative US search volume of more than 96,940,000 searches per month and more than 436,000,000 competing web pages. Click here to view the SEO Ranking Factors for the Air Travel Industry → This Ranking Factors report analyzes the top 1,000 Google search results for each of the five keywords listed above. We then crawl these results and collect data on the ranking websites. We do this to better understand what SEO… -
What it Takes to Rank for the Top Keywords in the Fitness Industry: 2012.05.14
15 May 2012 | 10:43 amToday's Ranking Factors Report is for the top Fitness keywords: fitness exercise weight loss bodybuilding workout These Fitness industry keywords represent a cumulative US search volume of more than 90,300,000 searches per month and more than 1,470,000,000 competing web pages. Click here to view the SEO Ranking Factors for the Fitness Industry → This Ranking Factors report analyzes the top 1,000 Google search results for each of the five keywords listed above. We then crawl these results and collect data on the ranking websites. We do this to better understand what SEO and Link Building… -
What it Takes to Rank for the Top Keywords in the Food & Groceries Industry: 2012.05.10
10 May 2012 | 11:59 amToday's Ranking Factors Report is for the top Food & Groceries keywords: food grocery supermarket online food online grocery These Food & Groceries industry keywords represent a cumulative US search volume of more than 118,416,000 searches per month and more than 5,480,000,000 competing web pages. Click here to view the SEO Ranking Factors for the Food & Groceries Industry → This Ranking Factors report analyzes the top 1,000 Google search results for each of the five keywords listed above. We then crawl these results and collect data on the ranking websites. We do this to… -
What it Takes to Rank for the Top Keywords in the Internet Services Industry: 2012.05.09
10 May 2012 | 11:53 amToday's Ranking Factors Report is for the top Internet Services keywords: dsl internet service internet provider isp broadband These Internet Services industry keywords represent a cumulative US search volume of more than 20,763,000 searches per month and more than 1,830,000,000 competing web pages. Click here to view the SEO Ranking Factors for the Internet Services Industry → This Ranking Factors report analyzes the top 1,000 Google search results for each of the five keywords listed above. We then crawl these results and collect data on the ranking websites. We do this to better… -
What it Takes to Rank for the Top Keywords in the Jewelry Industry: 2012.05.08
8 May 2012 | 2:59 pmToday's Ranking Factors Report is for the top Jewelry keywords: jewelry jewelers necklaces engagement ring wedding ring These Jewelry industry keywords represent a cumulative US search volume of more than 34,000,000 searches per month and more than 1,050,000,000 competing web pages. Click here to view the SEO Ranking Factors for the Jewelry Industry → This Ranking Factors report analyzes the top 1,000 Google search results for each of the five keywords listed above. We then crawl these results and collect data on the ranking websites. We do this to better understand what SEO and Link…
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Hallam Search Engine Optimisation
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5 Tips for Better Email Marketing
11 May 2012 | 8:10 amEmail is often left behind in today’s Social Media obsessed world. But done right, emails can achieve great results and they can be social too! Here are 5 quick tips that you can implement in your email marketing to start seeing improvements straight away. 1. Brand your email Is it easy to recognise your company straight away from the design of your email? Remember that your branding, company logo and important messages should be visible in the email preview pane. The size of the preview pane varies between email clients but keeping this information in the top 400 pixels is what we advise… -
UK Business Directory Scam
11 May 2012 | 2:55 amYour phone may be ringing, and those dreadful UK Business Directory cold calling salesman will be on the line. They tend to autodial companies in certain cities, so you may be next on the list. They pop up under various names over the years: World Business Directory, EU Business Directory… These are scams. They are deliberately misleading and there is no need for your business to pay to be in any of these directories. Do not pay for their services. Do not agree anything over the phone, get everything in writing. And even if it looks genuine, be sure to investigate their background. -
What are my competitors doing in Google Search?
10 May 2012 | 12:12 pmHave you ever wondered what your competition is optimising and trying to rank for in Google? There are a few simple things you can do to gauge what they’re doing just by knowing where to look, what to look for and and what tools are available to help you do this. I’m going to show you some of the basics and give a few real world examples along the way. Select Your Competition Just to clarify, your competition does not necessarily have to mean the business down the street that provides or sells the same products or services that you do. If you’re trading online, the… -
AdWords Ad Rotation Changes: A massive fail?
9 May 2012 | 9:25 amLast week, I wrote a post about how one of Google’s updates, the Venice update, affected local search. Well, also last week, Google announced another update, one that has not gone down too well in PPC circles: the retirement of its “Rotate: show ads more evenly” feature in AdWords. And people are not happy. AdWords current ad rotation settings In your AdWords campaign settings, you have three options when it comes to ad rotation: Optimise for clicks – where ads expected to provide more clicks are shown Optimise for conversions – where ads expected to provide more… -
Link Pruning: SEO and the Penguin Update
8 May 2012 | 11:26 amGoogle’s most recent update, Penguin, is a bazooka being pointed straight at artificial link building. It appears that the Penguin update is looking for pattens that show link spamming behaviour, and then reducing the value that those links gave previously. What you may need to do now is a programme of link pruning, or removal of poor quality links that are causing your positions in the search rankings to fall. What Links Need Pruning? Initial analysis of sites getting punished by the Penguin show artificial patterns of identical anchor text coming into the site, specifically for…
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Nick LeRoy
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Google Doesn’t Owe You Shit, So Stop Whining
30 Apr 2012 | 12:18 pmI actually read two articles today that made me want to go on a full blown rant but fortunately for you guys I only have time to do one. The first article was about a bunch of bull about “holistic SEO“ and how links don’t matter nearly as much as SEOs give them credit. I can’t even touch that one without wasting hours of my time ranting on how I think this logic is flawed. I’ll just say that link building CAN make up for the most flawed sites in regards to “technical” SEO. If I had to choose between a perfectly architected site with minimal… -
Why Home Depot Wins By Losing
23 Apr 2012 | 9:08 amThere is nothing better than watching the SEO industry absolutely lose it when a website or in this case a large corporation gets caught “cheating” in their SEO campaign. Home Depot recently was “outed” by several SEOs and given even more attention by a post Search Engine Land published last week. So whats the issue you ask? Home Depot sent out 2000+ letters to their service providers suggesting that they link to their website with certain anchor text. Also included in the letter was a note mentioning that the links don’t have to be visible and and that… -
Why Do You Blog About SEO?
26 Mar 2012 | 8:56 amSo it’s been a while since I added a new discussion to the site so why not today? This discussion is about SEO Blogging and why do you do it? Are you a freelance SEO or agency leveraging your knowledge to expand your online reputation and scooping up some extra client work? Are you simply looking to become the next Rand Fishkin and become a “leader” in this industry? Or do you simply like to cause controversy by blogging about SEO techniques that aren’t widely discussed or accepted within the industry? I personally have blogged for all the reasons above as I… -
What I Have Learned After 3 Years of SEO Blogging
11 Mar 2012 | 8:34 amAs of this month this blog is turning 3 years old. A lot sure has changed in the “SEO World” since I started 3+ years ago. When I started blogging it was a way to learn, experiment and hopefully become “e-cool” someday. These more traditional SEO posts that you guys read every day did OK. I acquired a few nice links naturally, a couple comments here and there and even a lead for a nice SEO project occasionally. I’ll be honest with you — It wasn’t worth it. Nothing was really that unique on this blog and I always felt constrained by… -
Balls Deep…Linking: The Art of Seducing and Satisfying Google with Style
21 Feb 2012 | 8:54 amNote from Nick: This is this sites first ever guest blog post. It’s from a very tall friend of mine who chose to remain anonymous. For simplicity reasons we will just refer to him as “Hattori Hanzo”. As mentioned below in the disclaimer this post is all in fun SEO satire and not intended to be taken seriously. If you’re offended feel free to remove yourself from the RSS feed. Disclaimer (Parental Discretion): Before you read any further, please know that this post contains plenty of vulgar language and quite a bit of sexual innuendo. It is all written in good…
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Online Marketing Blog
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Don’t die for SEO only, think to update the content
13 May 2012 | 8:45 pmFor the success of the website in the search engine listing, SEO is not everything. Because, only SEO alone can give your website a boost to get the top place in the search engine ranking. In this case, you have to update your website content on a regular basis. The reason is that Google only like to index the fresh content frequently. When you are updating your content with a new one so that it presumes you are using the new keyword. Therefore, when you are updating your website content, you should remember some criteria for the quality content. Uniqueness Always, remember that the content… -
Pros and Cons of Hiring an SEO Expert
10 May 2012 | 7:04 pmOptimizing your websites for popular search engines is one of the best ways to get traffic and increase your sales. But search engine optimization is considered to be a broad topic to study, discuss and analyze. You could require a couple of months or even a year’s time to digest every bit of the information you read about SEO and then decide upon the techniques and strategies to be used for your website. Once you start using these techniques, some may work and others won’t. This is simply because the search engine keeps on updating and changing the algorithm and its formula. Hence, it… -
Advantages of Pay Per Performance SEO
30 Apr 2012 | 11:18 pmPay per Performance or Performance based SEO is fastly becoming a popular phrase in the search engine optimization industry and this is considered to be one of the best way to get your SEO done by an agency or a consultant. Both the parties benefits from performance based SEO and this is really a safe way to manage your SEO projects. Pay for performance is entirely different from the traditional SEO campaigns and here you need to pay only for the results. If you do not get the desired results from your SEO activities, you are not supposed to pay anything towards your agency. In the tradition… -
SEO Basics – How to Do SEO for a Website
27 Mar 2012 | 9:45 amDoing SEO for a website is something that needs to be done with high care and attention. Doing SEO for a website is not a comfortable jobs, as there would always be unexpected challenges and issues which an SEO professional needs to sort it out of his own. Doing SEO for a website is not anything magic, and SEO process includes many sensitive steps and stages which need to carried out in the best way for better results. Different websites need to be optimized in different methods depending upon the nature of the industry and competition faced by that website. But there are many common things… -
SEO Basics – Why You Need to do SEO for a Website?
26 Mar 2012 | 9:08 amThis is for all those who are new into SEO and would like to state things in a simple way. For all those who are new to SEO, the major question that arises would be why we need to do SEO for a website. The question is so simple but this simple question has a lot of right answers depending upon the situation. The main thing that you need to know is about the real meaning of SEO. SEO or search engine optimization stands for all the activities that is done on a website so that it’s overall ranking in the major search engine increases along with an increased level of traffic to the…
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Mercurythread » blog
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What is a pingback?
21 Apr 2012 | 10:31 amOK so my use of this term @ #TBUMBR (Travel Bloggers Unite – Umbria) seemed to start a bit of a panic (and TBH it was someone else who used the term pingback – not me in the first instance). Basically a “pingback” is a piece of technology that sits inside your blog and when you mention someone else’s content (assuming they receive pingbacks) they get told automatically in their website that someone else has linked to them. Over at wordpress.com they say that : pingback is designed to allow bloggers to : inform other bloggers whenever they cite an article from… -
Cool Pics I Ripped from Google Image Search
23 Mar 2012 | 6:21 amGod knows why but I was looking at oranges (google still cant look at an image file and distinguish between an orange and a sunset was the point I was making). I found some cool pics with oranges and I aint posted in ages so I thought that I would stick some of them here just for the fun of it. Cat Made of Oranges Hahaha - I've never seen a cat made of oranges before. I have now So here we have another strange picture of an annoying orange Soma Records Feels like I need some Soma today I tell thee. Soma - I guess I need to find a mad man in the country and try and stabilse him with some… -
Virgin Media Broadband Connection #RantOfTheDay
30 Oct 2011 | 6:11 pmI’m trying really hard to keep it together. I don’t think I’m winning. All day my internet connection has been bottoming out to less than I used to get on my old dial up 256 kbps connection. It doesn’t matter which device I use (3 laptops, an ipad and an iphone) always the same. Get a decent signal and then whack it vanishes. At first I thought it was my router and some TCP issue. Have restarted my router numerous times, changes the wireless settings (fixed channels vs auto channel selection), I’ve plugged it in which gave me 1 meg and tbh I’m getting… -
Kick Ass Link Development needs Kick Ass People
22 Mar 2011 | 6:04 pmI’m so tired of the first rule of SEO fight club being ignored. Maybe it’s the whole concept of community not being what it once was. I have a tight knit group of friends who I share stuff with (the things I would never put on this blog or be for general consumption) and there is a reason I trust these people – they’re kick ass SEO folks and I can trust them. You know as soon as you go to see someone speak and you hear a speaker say “don’t tweet this” some idiots going to have it on twitter within seconds (may be the embedded command in the statement… -
Conference Calls for Small Businesses
6 Dec 2010 | 2:55 amI realised that for ages I haven’t posted and TBH if I start writing a post about links for SEO I’ll never stop do instead I thought, after listening to Radio 5 yesterday interviewing folks from Saracens about how they’re going to cope with a staff member in South Africa I thought I’d give you some ideas on software etc I use for conference calls and webinars. SKYPE VOIP/Instant Messenger I love this. Use it all the time for calls with people abroad. It is dependant upon the quality of your internet connection. I recently used this as my sole means of communication…
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Practical SEO
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6 Ways to Make Your Site More Engaging
15 May 2012 | 6:00 amCan we all agree that being spammy (even just a little bit) is a no-no? We all know that Google certainly thinks so, although isn’t always that good at spotting it! You’ve probably seen some of the worst offenders: plain pages full of hot-blue text links, crappy ads crammed everywhere, machine-generated content or even no [...] -
Google Auto Suggestion Sucks
12 May 2012 | 6:55 pmLook at the image below… Not the results you would expect right? I knew Google auto suggestion sucks for many terms, but for something like this, well, it’s pure censorship, like with many other porn terms, but in this case “anal” can also be presented as a medical term, so not sure if it was [...] -
Outreach Made Easy, Zemanta + Rapportive
9 May 2012 | 8:20 amI know most bloggers tend to give up easy on link building opportunities, they either send a direct mail of which most get ignored or they fail to find the right way to approach a fellow webmaster. I have a way around that, and it’s very easy (takes time, but it’s easy). There are different [...] -
Link Wheel Explained or Why You Should Avoid it, Especially Now With Penguin Update
7 May 2012 | 12:00 pmI remember that when I started dabbling with SEO in 2006 the concept of link wheel was one of the best methods used to get solid rankings. In fact, for a short while link wheel was probably the best way to get rankings boost and was the preferred way of link building for many SEOs [...] -
Negative SEO Factors – Penguin, Panda and Whatnot!
30 Apr 2012 | 6:11 amWell the last week or two were rather interesting considering that most of the online community was talking about over-optimization penalty, negative SEO and outing. All that became a bit clearer after Google announced their webspam update, or now officially called Penguin update. Penguin update was started on the 24th April and it’s now finished, [...]
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Haden Interactive
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When to Test Your Website
15 May 2012 | 3:47 pmOne of the controversies that tends to arise during the building of a website is when to test it — and indeed, when to let anyone look at it. It’s completely reasonable for someone who’s building a website not to want to let people see it. It may sound unreasonable if you’re the person who wants to see it — and maybe even the one paying for it — but it’s a desire based on experience. The experience may include things like what The Oatmeal described in How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell. It may just include things like people getting fixated on… -
Updating Website Design: What Does That Mean?
14 May 2012 | 9:28 amWhen you generally like the look of your website, but it’s not doing its job for you, you may need to update the design — not to go with a completely new design, but to transform the look you have into something fresh, new, and effective. That’s what we’re doing for Uncle Sam’s Safari Outfitters, a local sporting goods and Army Surplus store. Their current website, which you can see in the screenshot below, had a lot of the characteristics they wanted: nature photos, a natural color scheme, their Uncle Sam logo, social media connections, and a simple navigation… -
Google Maps Offers
11 May 2012 | 10:09 amGoogle’s new Offers plan may trigger a bit of deja vu for longtime users of Google Places. Google has always had an Offers option, which has been free. Companies who try to update those old offers now will see this: The new Offers option is free right now but will become a paid option in the future. If you’ve used the offers in the past and had good results, you should certainly jump on it now, before it becomes a premium feature. What about the future? Well, Google seems to plan a service just like that of myDealCompass. myDealCompass provides this option for businesses… -
The Maybes at Your Website
10 May 2012 | 2:49 pmRealtor Ken Jansen has a top ranking page for the prestigious LionsGate subdivision in Johnson County, Kansas. This page is also one of the top landing pages for his website, so we’re working with him to increase conversion. The first step is to get into the web analytics and dig around thoroughly. In this case, we’re looking for the Maybes. You may be familiar with the classic marketing advice that there are three kinds of people visiting your shop: people who are ready to say Yes, who will already be buying; people who have already decided to say No, who won’t be buying… -
Planning a Vlog
9 May 2012 | 9:05 amBlogs often contain videos these days, but what about the vlog — a blog that’s all videos? How can you plan for success when you’re planning a vlog? First, a reality check. Sometimes people who plan to have a vlog figure it’ll be less trouble than a blog. They assume that they can just point a phone at themselves, ramble a little, and post the resulting video in a few minutes. A blog, they reason, will require thought and planning and work, while a vlog will just be like saying “Good morning” to the family or making small talk in the office elevator. On the…
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Oban RSS Feed
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Russian search behaviour
8 May 2012 | 5:08 amRussian search behaviour In 2011 Russia became the largest online population in Europe, but still very little is written about Russia as a marketplace. Russia is different from any other European country in terms of Internet usage and search behaviour. Partly, because Russia has its own search engine Yandex, which processes about 64% of all Russian searches (followed by Google with 25% and another local player Search.Mail.ru with 7.5%) and partly because the market, although growing astonishingly fast, is by far less mature than Europe. Choice of a search engine … -
Online retail in China expected to hit $360 billion by 2015
8 May 2012 | 4:54 amOnline retail in China expected to hit $360 billion by 2015 At the beginning of this year, we were mentioning that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac and its set to be a very successful year for international e-commerce. Now a couple of months later, a report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced that China’s Internet commerce market is expected to triple its value over the next three years reaching $360 billion. Today, the Chinese e-commerce market is huge, counting more than half a billion of Chinese users and 193 million of these are online shoppers. -
After the Gold Rush: Conversion Conference West 2012
7 May 2012 | 11:03 amAfter the Gold Rush: Conversion Conference West 2012 Earlier this month the 3rd annual Conversion Conference was held in San Francisco for delegates from the burgeoning CRO market. GlobalMaxer Head of Client Services Joe Doveton reports. San Francisco has always been a town for outcasts and innovators, and is famous as the home of beatniks, hippies and gold prospectors. On March 5th & 6th, the plush basement of the Marriott Marquis was home to Conversion Conference West, the main global forum for what many believe will be the next internet marketing goldrush: the site-side discipline of… -
Google in Africa – Expansion into the continent with the lowest online penetration
6 May 2012 | 8:51 amGoogle in Africa – Expansion into the continent with the lowest online penetration In terms of population and land mass, Africa is the second largest continent in the world, trailing only Asia. But taking a closer look, Africa remains a continent where a billion people live and yet are using only 4% of the world’s electricity. But there is also good news for African Internet users whereconnectivity is given and an online culture is developing so fast: you don’t need much electricity to run a phone network. This has led to a situation where mobile phones become the new computers. -
Programme Outline - The IDF London, April 30th
19 Apr 2012 | 6:34 amProgramme Outline - The IDF London, April 30th On April 30th, The International Digital Forum (IDF) London @IAB (International Advertising Bureau) will bring industry professionals that have contributed and influenced international markets at a European and global level. During the one day free event, you will be able to get updated with the latest news, case studies and analysis in International PPC, Global Social Media focusing on B2C. Once again the event is all day and free of charge with refreshments provided for all attendees. Programme outline: 10.30 - 10.55: Welcome &…
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Zazzle Media
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9 Reasons why Guest Posting is now the No1 Link Building Tactic
15 May 2012 | 4:00 amThe proliferation of black and white animal related updates of recent weeks has given further credence to a more creative and exciting form of digital marketing – one that will reward those with expertise and the forethought to give value in order to win business.For those that ‘get it’ a life with Google on your side and a social audience of HUGE value awaits. All that is needed are some great ideas, a solid and deliverable content strategy and some hard work to develop relationships with the key influencers in your space.The reward will be the development of great… -
‘Google Have Dropped the Ball on Search Quality’ – An Interview with ‘Dr Pete’ Meyers
10 May 2012 | 9:53 amAs a cognitive psychologist Dr Peter J. Meyers should have a clearer understanding of Google’s motivations than any of us. But Penguin and the rash of updates in recent weeks has him stumped.Known better within search circles as the enigmatic SEOMoz blog supremo ‘Dr Pete’, Meyers is responsible for some of the most read posts of recent years. His most recent post on Penguin and rockstar piece on Panda and duplicate content has placed the amiable president of US usability agency User Effect at the top of the game.His opinion then is one valued by the industry which is why we… -
Google Penguin – Where Do We Go From Here?
4 May 2012 | 9:56 amAs part of our ongoing series into the Google Penguin update we wanted to share some insight into what MIGHT have changed and some actionable tips to help you understand how we should all be approaching our digital marketing differently.The underlying theme is that something significant has now changed in the way Google now grades site’s from a link profiling perspective and the industry is frantically peering at data to work out what that could be.Our TakeWe know for certain that Google ‘turned off a link signal‘ in February this year and that was quickly followed by a… -
Google Penguin and Webspam Penalties – Where Will it All End?
3 May 2012 | 2:39 amAnd so it has begun – Google’s unquenchable thirst for Black Hat blood. After years of passive dislike and the quiet devaluing of links the webspam team have decided that enough is enough. And that decision has huge potential ramifications for every business on the web.On March 23rd Google unleashed the latest iteration of Panda (or the first of Penguin) that was the first battle in a new kind of war, the likes of which we have yet to see. By actively pursuing penalties they went from a strategy of giving great sites a hitch up the rankings to one that sets out to destroy those it… -
Branding – The Social and Digital Preparations
1 May 2012 | 3:05 amBelow is a guest post by the well respected digital marketer, Samantha Noble. We asked her to share her experiences of an online rebrand the business she works for went through last year….On 13th April I did a presentation on the subject of ‘Branding or Re-branding Effectively’ at BrightonSEO. This was largely based on the steps we took at Koozai when we re-branded from Impact Media back in 2011 and the lessons we learnt during this process.One of the biggest tasks for us was ensuring that we were able to protect the new brand name in every way possible. During this guest post, I…
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Fresh Egg SEO Blog
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Friday Social Round Up: Bing It On, Twitter Surgery, Facebook App Store and Who’s Got Klout?
11 May 2012 | 6:21 amBing goes social Here at Fresh Egg we have #BingFridays. We’ve been stressing for a while that Google isn’t the only search engine out there, but let’s be honest: Google is the most used and the most shiny. However, things could be changing with... -
The Currency Cloud site re-launched with Fresh Egg
10 May 2012 | 9:31 amWe are pleased to announce the go-live of a new Fresh Egg built website and integrated blog for The Currency Cloud at http://www.thecurrencycloud.com/ Working over a period of several months, a full complement of team members was assembled for this project,... -
Mapping Objectives to Metrics
9 May 2012 | 4:52 amThrough the first two posts of this performance measurement and optimisation series, we have now clearly defined the business objectives and identified all primary and secondary conversion points on the website in question. This post will cover the process... -
Friday Social Round Up: LinkedIn Buys SlideShare, Get This Offer, #StarWarsDay
4 May 2012 | 6:00 amLinkedIn buys SlideShare Yesterday it was announced that LinkedIn, a social network for professionals, will be purchasing SlideShare for close to $119 million in cash and stocks (reportedly split 45% cash the 55% stocks). “Presentations are one of the... -
Free eBook: The Complete Guide To Pinterest
30 Apr 2012 | 3:59 amThe third in our series The Science of Social Media looks at social newcomer Pinterest. Pinterest is growing at a rapid rate and proving to be a great way to drive traffic to websites by allowing users to create inspirational boards filled with their...
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State of Search
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Google+ify Or Die – # SMXLondon
16 May 2012 | 5:46 amDanny started by giving the background on Google+ and how we need to engage with it to expand and future proof our SEO strategies. Bas van den Beld, Chief Editor, State of Search Bas started by going through the numbers. Google + is still very small when compared to Facebook from an engagement and a read more » Related posts: Overlooked, Underloved and Unknown Analytics at #SMXLondon Winning The Conversion: Creating “Can’t Say No” Paid Search Landing Pages at #SMXLondon Mobile Trends: Search, Apps & Landing Pages – #SMXLondon -
Hardcore Local SEO Tactics #SMX #SMXLondon
16 May 2012 | 5:23 amLocal search can be one of the most effective ways to target your marketplace, but it is surprising how many business get it ‘wrong’. This session showed us what to consider as a local business or as a national business targeting locally. Q&A Moderator Rob Kerry, Head of Search, Ayima (@robkerry) Speakers: Jonathan Ashton, Executive read more » Related posts: Global Local Search – Lisa Myers – International Search Summit SMX New York 2011: Day 1: Best of SMX Advanced Track: Hard Core Local SEO Tactics Local: The Brands Opportunity -
Mobile Trends: Search, Apps & Landing Pages – #SMXLondon
16 May 2012 | 3:58 amWelcome to SMX Day 2! This was a session that I was looking forward to as the year of Mobile is finally here. It was a great panel with some great takeaways from a stats and best practice perspective. Andy Atkins-Krueger, Group CEO, WebCertain (@andyatkinskruge) Andy started the session by saying how important the session read more » Related posts: Iphone vs Apple vs Android – Mobile Trends and the Future of Mobile Winning The Conversion: Creating “Can’t Say No” Paid Search Landing Pages at #SMXLondon The growth of mobile search: huge in numbers, not in CTR (research) -
Overlooked, Underloved and Unknown Analytics at #SMXLondon
15 May 2012 | 12:12 pmThere are many analytics packages that are used and each come with various features. One of the most used analytics packages by far is Google Analytics. In this session, four speakers who are experts in this field are going to show us tools and features that you may or not be aware of that will read more » Related posts: London SES – Deep Dive analytics – When Bounce Rate No Longer Floats Your Boat Google Analytics Can be Used in Germany without Complaint Germans (again) believe Google Analytics is illegal, they are serious now -
How to Rank Number One on Google According to Matt Cutts
15 May 2012 | 9:01 amIt's the question everybody wants answered: how to rank number one on Google. And since Matt Cutts is answering questions in his Google Webmaster videos, why not asking him how to rank number one? This video might give you answer or might not... Related posts: Saw A Rank Drop This Week? It Could Be Google’s Fault Says Matt Cutts Google Does Take Manual Action On Webspam Matt Cutts Going to the Roots: How does Google search work?
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An SEO Company
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Google Webspam Update. Have you lost rankings?
25 Apr 2012 | 9:59 pmGoogle has rolled out a new update which is meant to improve the quality of search results. I won’t go in too much broad detail because the good people over at Search Engine Land and Search Engine Watch have already covered quite a bit of it. I’ll be sharing some observations I’ve made regarding my own niche and most competitive key phrase, SEO Perth. I’ve never really tried to rank for the term, simply because I am already getting enough enquiries with other terms and long tail searches. Last time I checked, I was sitting pretty steady on page two. After the algo… -
More Free Adwords Credit – $100 Coupon
29 Feb 2012 | 3:24 amLike I mentioned in previous posts, I get loads of Adwords coupons and I don’t have much use for them. That’s why I’m giving away a new $100 Adwords voucher this week. All you have to do is leave a comment why you should get the $100 free Adwords advertising. Tweet and like the post to increase your changes. Expires on the 5th of March, 2012. Good luck everyone -
Free Google Adwords Credit
14 Feb 2012 | 10:57 pmFrom time to time I receive Adwords coupons (or vouchers) to start a new advertising campaign. I’ve currently got a spare $75 Adwords code for anyone who wants it. Just leave a comment telling me why I should give it to you. Best comment by the end of the week wins. -
Google Pagerank Update 7 February 2012
6 Feb 2012 | 9:15 pmOnce every three months Google updates the visible pagerank you can see on tools like the SEOBook Toolbar. What is Pagerank? – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank What is Pagerank good for? – http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-is-pagerank-good-for-anyway-statistics-galore Is Pagerank Important? – http://www.google.com.au/search?q=buy+high+pagerank+links&pws=0 Has your Pagerank improved? -
Irony. Can you see it?
15 Jan 2012 | 10:57 pmTwellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people who matter to you. 1. 2.
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Search and Social Marketing Services
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Sometimes Doing Nothing Can Get You Further Than Doing Something
9 May 2012 | 9:11 amSometimes Doing Nothing Can Get You Further Than Doing Something Every time Google has an algorithm update, some people lose rankings, and others jump up. Most times you will only hear from the people who lost rankings. For the sites that I work with, some clients are always wanting to know the next thing to do. In Search, there is always something that can be done – links, content creation, technical issues, etc. But sometimes the best approach is to do nothing. Yup – SEO’s dirty little secret. Just like anytime WordPress updates it’s software, there is almost always… -
Need a Pagerank 7 Link?
23 Apr 2012 | 9:51 amNeed a Pagerank 7 Link? Amazingly, I still get emails such as this one: Hello, We are sending this e-mail to let our users know that we have launched a new PageRank 7 backlink campaign to help you increase your website’s search engine ranking and receive more visitors and eventually more customers to your business. The Pagerank 7 directories currently available are: http://www.Edhecmba.com http://www.Ncdcusa.org 100 links are available and links are for as low as 19USD for a year. Instructions are included on the websites, simply visit the websites if you would like to take this… -
Why Does it Take a Rankings Drop For A Client To Finally Listen?
20 Apr 2012 | 6:42 amWhy Does it Take a Rankings Drop For A Client To Finally Listen? Sometimes, you are the victim of success. The client has a #1 ranking in Google despite not listening to your warnings that they need to clean up their code, or implement the directives that you told them about. They are so busy with business that they hardly have the time to look at the website and it’s glaring issues that you warn them about. “But we’re ranked #1 in Google, so it doesn’t matter.” They say. And then it happens. They drop in rankings in Google. From #1 to the second page. They call… -
Is Cash Parking Worth It?
28 Mar 2012 | 8:43 amIs Cash Parking Worth It? Amazingly, I get traffic daily for my Godaddy Cash Parking Review, which was written almost 2 years ago now. But, since people are still coming everyday, it also tells me that others have gone looking for a good provider of this service as well. I wish I had some better news for you, but I don’t. Even with my “VIP” status within Godaddy’s system, the cash parking has been ok. For me it’s a matter of principle. Sedo doesn’t charge me to park my domains. Neither does Fabulous. Or Google. So the only way to justify in my mind the… -
Dominate and Dislodge
21 Mar 2012 | 8:15 amDominate and Dislodge There are so many seo vendors out there that talk about getting to the first page of Google. The reality is, if they are decent, that really shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish, given enough resources. The key for all involved is to reach that #1 spot in Google. Even a move from #3 to #2 is an increased jump in quality leads and traffic, but everyone knows that #1 is the ultimate goal. So, how do you go about getting to the top of the mountain? The first thing is to know what you’re up against. For the keywords you want to rank for, focus on what the…
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Best SEO Software Reviews
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On-Page Seo for a Existing Site
16 May 2012 | 1:40 amIf the Internet Was a Library © by FindYourSearch Optimizing Site Content Make sure you have performed good keyword research and have a list of proper keywords Break up keywords into sub topics lists. Article titles should be your sub-topic headings. Go throught your list and… -
How to Find Low Cost Aged Domains With Page Rank
15 May 2012 | 9:12 amDomain Name Extensions © by The Booklight The power of aged domains is that they can help speed up and boost your new OR existing websites rankings. The reason is that they have been around for a while and Google trusts the domain name more… -
Press Releases and Other Fifteenth Century SEO Techniques
14 May 2012 | 7:05 amIt’s one of those questions; what came first the Press Release or SEO. The obvious answer is the Press Release, right? Yes, Press Releases have been around since William Caxton fumbled around with his inky fingers and then in “Tim Berners-Lee”… -
Marketing Doesn’t Need to Be as Dull as Ditchwater
13 May 2012 | 6:55 amThe_Content_Grid © by Eloqua I guess that everyone who has a reasonably successful career in marketing finds their preferred technique at some point. Personally, I went about it the hard way but got there in the end. Like a lot of people I kind of fell… -
9 Expert SEO Tips for Small Businesses
12 May 2012 | 1:41 amSEO tips from BlogWorld 2010 © by Nick Bastian Tempe, AZ All small businesses should have a website, so that they can expose their business to a very large audience that they probably would never be able to reach otherwise. Once you have a website up, you…
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WebiMax Internet Marketing Blog: SEO, PPC, SEM & SMO
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Things I’m Doing When I Should Be Working
15 May 2012 | 10:47 amTweetThings I’m Doing When I Should Be Working was originally posted on the WebiMax SEO Blog (Looks around) Psst. Hey you, come here. I have a secret. I’m not always ‘working.’ Well, better defined, I’m not always doing what I’m paid to do. You see, I’m not being disobedient or having a Peter Gibbons moment. I love my job. I’m just not always doing it. (Gets up, stretches, does some pushups, takes a sip of coffee, then looks out the window.) Here are a few things I’m doing when I should be working. Reading (Puts… -
Capitalizing on Emerging Markets; Opportunities Abound in the “New BRIC” Countries
15 May 2012 | 8:42 amTweetCapitalizing on Emerging Markets; Opportunities Abound in the “New BRIC” Countries was originally posted on the WebiMax SEO Blog Technology and the internet have driven wide growth and innovation around the world, but this has been most widely felt in developed countries where more people have been able to take advantage of these innovations and the opportunities they create. Now, looking ahead, many economists and business analysts are looking to emerging markets as the scenes of extraordinary growth in the next 10-20 years. As such, the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,… -
Getting in the Conversation Between Social Media Users
15 May 2012 | 8:41 amTweetGetting in the Conversation Between Social Media Users was originally posted on the WebiMax SEO Blog Although social media users swap countless IMs and posts across PCs and laptops every month, most people fail to realize the amount of direct messaging that takes place between mobile device owners through those same social networks. According to a blog published just a few days ago on the New York Times website, a number of recent studies all point to the conclusion that social media apps are quickly replacing standard phone SMS as a primary form of mobile communication. One particular… -
Microsoft and Facebook, Social Data in Search Results, & What It Means for Businesses
14 May 2012 | 3:02 pmTweetMicrosoft and Facebook, Social Data in Search Results, & What It Means for Businesses was originally posted on the WebiMax SEO Blog The push is coming, or has it already begun? The push from Microsoft and Yahoo (but considering Yahoo’s recent issues, let’s concentrate on Microsoft and it’s Bing search engine) to stand up to Google and offer formidable competition has been in the works for some time. Now, Microsoft is not backing from the challenge, instead fully pressing on continuing to invest in their online services division, that which guides its search platform… -
How to Be Socially Ironic Online
14 May 2012 | 1:19 pmTweetHow to Be Socially Ironic Online was originally posted on the WebiMax SEO Blog Warning: the following post contains sarcasm and irony. Please proceed in the appropriate fashion… Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Most of us did as expected: we bought flowers, called people, and spent time in places we may not have ideally wanted to be. I understand. You did as expected. Where’s the creativity in that! Oh, where’s the irony? It’s okay! The discomfort is over; now, you can use those karma points from yesterday and compensate today by neglecting…
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Build Internet Business
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What's The Best Font For Your Website?
20 Apr 2012 | 7:03 pmChoosing what font you use on your website is important. You didn't just choose any font did you? You're running an internet business and like anything else you do with your internet business you need to choose a font that PORTRAYS THE CORRECT MESSAGE. So, what is that perfect font for your website? What are you trying to portray on your website? Think about it? Are you writing to train someone how to do something? Do you want to be perceived as more professional or casual? Is your font easy to read? In the end your font is there for nothing else than to provide a way for your readers to… -
Stop Traveling Down That Long Road To Social Media Analysis
17 Apr 2012 | 8:15 amWhen it comes to analytics, TRACKING DATA IS KEY. The problem though is when you're starting out and you don't know what to track and how to track it. This is where Google Analytics and a bit of help can get you on track. So to help you I've created this list of goals that you need to start tracking. If you are new to Google Analytics thats ok. We've all started from the beginning and I'll walk you through how to setup these goals. But before we do that you need to sit down and play around with Google Analytics and read my post that explains the basics of Google Analytics. This way you… -
The 13 Amazing SEO Tools To Celebrate Friday The 13th
13 Apr 2012 | 7:00 amFor Friday the 13th this year lets look at some amazing SEO tools! Not only are these SEO tools great but some of these are free. So let's skip the introduction and get straight into it. KeywordSpy KeywordSpy is a great SEO program that comes with a free trial that helps you conduct keyword research, determine your ROI on keywords, and helps you determine your competitor's keywords both on their website and on their Google Ads. Knowing this information allows you to use information that your competitor's already know instead of reinventing the wheel and apply it to your internet business,… -
Never Struggle With Understanding Google Analytics Again
4 Apr 2012 | 9:57 pmGoogle Analytics is one of the best internet business analytics tools available for free. Because of this, knowing and understanding what Google Analytics has is very important. This is why I've decided to write a post on understanding Google Analytics. When you first log into Google Analytics you'll notice it has a vast array of dashboards. These initial dashboards can be of great help and can give you an idea of how your internet business is doing. When looking at these dashboards you may not understand what it is trying to tell you. So, to help let's start at the beginning. The Visitor… -
Increase Your Internet Business's Conversions With A/B Testing
31 Mar 2012 | 3:00 pmWhen you are new to building an internet business trying to figure out which button, advertisement, or headline gives you the best conversion rate can be a bit daunting. Luckily as an internet business entrepreneur you have options and some of these options are free. Using Google's Website Optimizer you can do just that by doing some A/B testing on your internet business's website for free. So what is A/B testing? A/B testing also known as split testing is a way for you to compare two or more different website pages on your internet business's website to see which one has the highest…
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Pan Galactic Digital » Blog
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Generate Your Own Infographics with Visual.ly
7 May 2012 | 9:29 amI’m a lover of infographics, that much should be apparent by now. Pre-internet, I often looked down my nose at USA Today, and their profusion of infographics. Let’s face it, the fire hose blast of info that is the internet today is almost impossible to stay on top of. Thus my love of infographics! Pan Galactic, being a social media ... -
Pinterest is your new Social Media Marketing BFF
23 Apr 2012 | 9:44 amBy now you should know, that this is one Social Media Marketer that loves Pinterest. Currently, I have two CPG clients, and Pinterest is their third largest source of traffic behind Google and Facebook. Suffice to say this scrappy, new kid on the block is killing it! I’m also proud to say that my home state of Missouri is the ... -
Whose to blame for Fan Growth Slowdown, Facebook or the Social Media Agency?
21 Apr 2012 | 10:07 amAttention Social Media Marketers! According to a recent study featured on Mashable, Facebook’s Timeline has caused a slowdown in growth for brands. “Comments are down 6.5% per post and fan growth was “slowed slightly” for all brands on average, but brands with more than 1 million fans experienced twice the sluggishness of smaller brands. The company did not delineate the ... -
Think SEO Is Dead? Think Again.
16 Apr 2012 | 9:12 amEvery couple of years, I read about the supposed death of SEO and Search in general. With the rise of Social Media, there were times when it really seemed like it could happen. For example, back in 2010, ComScore pointed out that users spend way more time on Facebook than they do on Google. It all makes perfect sense when ... -
You’re Missing One Heck Of A Social Media Party!
4 Apr 2012 | 8:57 amIn my ongoing quest to provide brands with solid, data driven reasons why they should participate in Social Media Marketing, I present to you this awesome infographic. Beyond the ranking signals that can help your site in the search engines, just look at the amount of traffic and participation! That’s a lot of eyeballs on your message and what others ...
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John Doherty | Professional SEO , Photographer, and Traveler
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Shut Up About Yourself
10 May 2012 | 9:00 amHave you ever noticed how a lot of companies pay lip service to wanting to become a “thought leader” in their industry, and lead through great content, yet when they start writing all that comes out is self-promotional drivel that, let’s be honest, no one wants to read? I have. Most businesses, in my opinion, don’t understand the difference between old-school “marketing material” and the new school of online marketing – thought leadership materials and other remarkable pieces. This has led me to one conclusion: Everyone wants a brand experience. No one wants a… -
SEO for Photographers
8 May 2012 | 9:00 amBeing both a travel photographer and an SEO Consultant, I have taken a keen interest in how images get found online. I don’t have enough time to dedicate to my photography site, but I’ve learned a thing or two about SEO for photography along the way to becoming an SEO professional. Because of this I was happy when Feuza Reis, a New Jersey wedding photographer, asked to interview me for a video blog that she has been doing on her site. I agreed and so we had a great 30 minute chat about SEO and photography. Have a listen and I’d love to have your feedback! A Few More Tips… -
Tools for Creating Editorial Calendars
3 May 2012 | 10:00 amWe’re all realizing the value of content and content marketing when it comes to SEO and earning rankings, especially with all the algorithm updates from the past year and the recent Penguin update as well. Content is more important than ever, and even the most skeptical are coming around to see that the time for content marketing is now. All of that is well and good, but it does us no good if we don’t know how to create an editorial calendar for content creation. So let’s examine some tools that can help us do that. Just like a lot of processes that we think “Man, I… -
Policing the Web is Everyone’s Job
29 Apr 2012 | 12:27 pmSome people in the marketing community complain that Google has no right to police the web, that the Internet is an open place where anything goes. People complain that Google is ruining their lives when an algorithm change goes live that wipes out their network of spam blogs. But that’s not the topic of this post. I want to highlight something I saw today that angered me, and make a bid for all of us to be good Internet citizens and police the places that we see that deserve to be kept clean. Just like it is – I think – our responsibility to pick up trash around our… -
Identifying Link Patterns with SEO Tools
27 Apr 2012 | 9:00 amThe other day I was doing competitor backlinking strategy analysis for a client of mine. Essentially, they wanted to know the backlink strategies of their competitors so that they could see where opportunity exists. I want to share the strategy that I used with you, so that you can use it to fairly quickly and easily identify your client’s (or your own) main competitors, and even further which competitors you need to examine more closely for their backlink strategies. The tools I used were: Competitor linkbuilding analysis dream team – OSE + Majestic + LinkDetective + Excel =…
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SEM and SEO News
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Google Plus Achieved Milestone of 100 Million Users
15 May 2012 | 5:20 amIf you are in-touch with the world of social media, then you should know that Google stepped-in a little late to the world of social networking. But it surely made a huge impact on the market. With the passage of time, it gained interest of people across the globe and achieved a milestone of 100 million users in a very short span of time. Read Full Story »» -
How To Build Backlinks - SEO Infographic
15 May 2012 | 4:30 amBackLinks Link Building isn't about increasing rankings, it's about increasing reach. it's about engaging with an online community and gaining addional referres to your site. if this is your motivation than rankings will happen naturally. I’ve just posted a new post on “How to Build Links”. It has an infographic that took all morning to create. Hopefully, you will admire it. Read Full Story »» -
Google Penguin Recovery
14 May 2012 | 7:07 amGoogle: Can't Recover From Penguin? Start A Fresh Website On 10 May 2012, Danny Sullivan had published a story named Google Talks Penguin Update, Ways To Recover & Negative SEO. In that post, he interviewed Google's spam lead, Matt Cutts on ways to retrieve from the Google Penguin update. There are some strong tips there but scary ones also. Here is one that is scary for those who were shoot by the Penguin update: If you've cleaned and still don't retrieve, at last, you might need to begin all over with a new site, Cutts said. Read Full Story »» -
Google Penguin Update Recovery Videos
14 May 2012 | 6:48 amGoogle Penguin Update Recovery: Matt Cutts Says Look Out These Two Videos If all else neglects, you may need to begin a fresh website Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land had posted a great Penguin post with some fresh quotes from Matt Cutts. We have reference of some of the points made in other posts, but one crucial thing to notice from the whole thing is that Cutts pointed to two very particular videos that people should look out if they want to clean up their sites and come back form the Penguin update. We frequently share Google's Webmaster Help videos. According to Sullivan, Cutts… -
Apple By The Counts (Infographic)
14 May 2012 | 6:19 amHow big is big Apple? It's no arcanum by now that Apple is a giant company. They are unquestionably the largest tech company, and are getting up there with major retailers, automobile manufacturers and investment firms. But just how large is large Apple? These statistics and figures should give you some thought. Read Full Story »»
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Path Interactive » Blog
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Meeting New People Through Social Discovery Apps
27 Apr 2012 | 11:01 amIn the last few months there has some buzz on mobile applications that introduce you to new people that share similar interests and are around your location real time. Some of the apps discussed in this video include, Highlight, Glancee, Pearescope, and Sonar. All four apps are available on the iPhone. Glance is also available on the Android. -
NYC Facebook Marketing Session at The NYXPO
23 Apr 2012 | 9:56 amNew York, April 23rd – New York Digital Agency, Path Interactive will have on of it’s own, Ruben Quinones, presenting on some of the latest facebook marketing techniques that businesses are using with success. This is 7th Annual NYXPO and will now be held in a two day format at the Jacob Javits Center starting May 2nd 2012. The session, a sample from an NYC Facebook marketing course at NYU, will be held at 11:00 AM on Wednesday May 2nd. This session will include Custom Applications to provide a Fan page with richer content and design. Engagement on Facebook: What is it? And… -
It’s Been a Rough Week for the #Instagram Community:
10 Apr 2012 | 12:52 pmIt was just last week that the photo sharing application Instagram became available for Photo Credit: Bloggokin Android. Android users rejoiced, and iPhone users mourned the loss of their exclusive relationship, many enraged that their “Instagram Club” had been ruined. Twitter wars ensued and articles were written. However last week’s Instagram drama hardly seems significant after the bomb that dropped yesterday afternoon. In case you haven’t heard: Facebook bought Instagram for $1B. Yes, BILLION. So now all the “iPhone snobs” that were in a huff about simply having to… -
Facebook Search Engine? Can They Pull it Off?
5 Apr 2012 | 1:12 pmWord is out that Facebook is looking to improve their search capabilities. Although it seems that it is limited to improving search only within their own platform, a Facebook Search Engine is certainly is going to draw some attention from Google. There already are some speculations that Facebook is making a play for a more robust search feature that would directly compete against traditional search engines. Google’s sponsored ads featured on it’s search results pages reaped $36 billion in sales last year, 10 times that of Facebook’s ad revenue of $3.2 billion. While a… -
How Would Don Draper Use Social Media?
30 Mar 2012 | 10:51 amWith all the buzz around the return of Mad Men, which endured a year and a half hiatus between seasons, the premiere was a big hit on social media. Unfortunately, Don Draper could not have even conceived of how we leveraged participatory media as we watched him in action. This thought led me to wonder, if Draper could use Social Media, how would he go about it? For the purpose of this post, we will stick to how he would employ social networks for his clients, not his personal life, although that would be a fun post to do . We will speak generally to which sites he might employ and how he…
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Marketingchip
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What is the best phone for SEO?
22 Apr 2012 | 4:59 amEver wanted to be able to check your analytics or maybe even some backlinks with your mobile phone? Do you find the Google Analytics app too limited and miss the full functionality? It is now possible to use the desktop version of Google Analytics on some moile devices. Until now, when trying to do certain actions in Google Analytics they would not work on the phone, such as selecting the date range. The Flash player on Opera Mini and Dolphin Browser HD just could not handle it. All that has changed however with Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the 4.0 version of Android and the release by Google of… -
Ranking Signals To Worry About
9 Apr 2012 | 3:06 pmIn a recent video Matt Cutts outlines which ranking factor SEOs worry about which they shouldn’t as well as which factors SEOs should pay closer attention to. To most of you none of this is life changing information, however I believe Matt really mentions the basics here which, if you’re short on time, is where you should be focusing your efforts. You can watch the video for yourself below or you can read my takeaways from this. What ranking signals do SEOs worry about which isn´t useful? Answer: Keyword density What ranking signals should SEOs be focusing on? Make… -
7 SEO Myths 2012
18 Mar 2012 | 2:56 pmHave you got an SEO Medusa in your closet? Google and other major search engines keep their algorithms a secret to reduce spam and while keeping spam down is a good thing secrecy also means that anyone trying to optimize a website is forced to make educated guesses as to what things actually work to improve rankings and traffic. Thanks to sites like SEOmoz, searchengineland and others there is now a lot of quality information which wasn´t there when I started doing SEO back in 2004. But more information also means there is a lot more bad and outdated SEO advice available. I like to call bad… -
How Google Treats Directory Paid Links
26 Feb 2012 | 4:39 amThe subject of paid links is taboo in SEO. Speakers at seminars whisper when they talk about the subject at conferences and even then they usually disclose they are against buying links lest Google´s wrath fall upon them. However, paid links, either directly or indirectly, are a major part of the cyber economy without which the economic recession would probably be even worse. How many work at home mom bloggers can feed their kids thanks to paid online advertising? Paid links work. That´s why companies are willing to pay for them. In most cases the links are relevant and useful to users. I… -
5 reasons Why I Inbound.org Rocks
11 Feb 2012 | 6:14 amInbound.org is a new site launched by Rand from SEO Moz and Dharmesh from HubSpot. My first impression is that I´m going to be hooked on this site. There´s barely any articles there but the few I´ve clicked through to have been extremely interesting. Within 20 minutes I´ve already read three articles, shared one on Google plus, commented on one and lastly I´ve been encouraged to write this post about the Inbound.org. There are some things I simply love about this new site and the idea behind it and I hope they don´t change these things in the future. 5 reasons why…
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DKS Systems
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SEO for Local Businesses – Tips for Thriving Online
14 May 2012 | 5:15 amIf specific locations are important to your business than local SEO is for you. 63%of consumers and small business owners use the internet to find information about local companies and 82% use search engines. Think of all the opportunities for local optimization! What is Local SEO? For a brick and mortar business, optimizing for local is an important marketing strategy to thrive online. For example, if you want your business to compete for “pizza in Minneapolis” or a similar structure of “[keyphrase] + location” – then you need to optimize for local search… -
Google Webmaster Tools: Crawl Errors
9 May 2012 | 6:00 amGoogle Webmaster Tools got a new face-lift recently. One of the most important sections in GWT is labeled “Health” which is ironic because we have been completely our Website Health Check-Up’s on a lot of our websites lately. On March 12, 2012, Google announced that they rolled out significant enhancements to the Crawl errors feature in Google Webmaster Tools. You may have noticed that the amount of errors your website had has increased since that update. Google goes through each of the “error sections” they list in their reporting. Their post is a little techy,… -
Website Recap: April
7 May 2012 | 8:00 amLet’s just dive into the details of April, shall we? January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April Recap New Additions & Announcements: We added the “We’re Hiring” call-out to our home page. Doesn’t it look pretty? Not website related, BUT! We’re expanding our office. We’ve taken over the office next door and will connecting the two. Exciting! Sammich Day Challenge. Food won. We’re still growing our Facebook page with our Facebook application. Slowly but surely, folks. Slowly but surely! Site Usage (compared to March 2012) Total… -
How To Claim Your Posts in Google: the rel=author tag
2 May 2012 | 5:45 amI know the title is vague, because what exactly do I mean by “claim your posts in Google?” Yes, they are YOUR posts because you wrote them, but does your picture show up in Google search results? No? Well let’s fix that. Adding the rel=author tag gives you credibility and exposure. It helps your content stand out and I bet that people are more likely to click on a post with the author picture than one that doesn’t have the author’s picture. Jill Whalen has a great post about the 5 reasons you need to use rel=author on your content – check it out if I… -
Interesting Findings with In-Page Analytics
30 Apr 2012 | 5:32 amLet’s talk about another gem from Google Analytics, shall we? In-Page Analytics. The Details In-Page Analytics allows you to see how visitors interact with the pages within your website. It visualizes where people click and what content your visitors are interested in. Similar to a heat map, this is a great free tool to take advantage of. It’s important to note that if you have multiple links on the home page that lead to the same destination, then they will have the same percentages. For example, you can tell in the picture to the right that both our logo and “Home”…
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Outrider Search Blog
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Infographic – Website Testing: Move Beyond the Landing Page
10 May 2012 | 6:30 pmTesting…1.2.3. Living in a world of online, testing is something all of us here hold very near and dear to our hearts. Test, test, test and test some more! Website testing has certainly evolved from the relatively minor colour and font tweaks of a single button to multi-faceted testing campaigns, covering pages, channels and more. Move beyond the [...] -
May 2012 Google AdWords Updates
9 May 2012 | 11:44 pmI don’t know if you’ve noticed but Google has been rolling out changes to its AdWords interface faster than I can keep up with recently. Here’s a quick rundown of the changes that are happening and what they will mean for you. Improvements to Ad Rotation Settings At the moment, when you set your Ads to rotate [...] -
Infographic – Pinterest: A Social Media Game Changer?
3 May 2012 | 6:30 pmHaven’t heard of Pinterest – Well, firstly where have you been hiding? Secondly, it’s time to educate yourself, not only for your personal development but for business too. This pinboard-style photo sharing website is heavy hitting in the social space – U.S. traffic has skyrocketed to more than 10 million visits, Pinterest is not only driving [...] -
Infographic – Social Media Cheat Sheet
26 Apr 2012 | 6:30 pmThink it’s only the big brands who are using Social Media? Think again! With 1 in 3 small businesses getting involved, relying on a website alone is no longer sufficient. Small business need to have a social media presence. Not sure where to start or what to do first? This handy cheat sheet from Column Five and [...] -
Google Doodle – Gideon Sundback Zipper
23 Apr 2012 | 7:07 pmIf you have been browsing to Google today, you would have noticed that they show a zipper image, which you can unzip and open to view the search result page. Quite clever. This doodle is created to tribute Gideon Sundback, an Swedish-American electrical engineer who is most commonly associated with his work in the development of [...]
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Building an Alternative SEO Glossary (Or Improving the SEO Lexicon, 1 Day at a Time)
9 May 2012 | 4:01 amAs you probably know there are some superb SEO glossaries out there. My particular favourites being SEObook, SEOmoz and SEO-Theory (the top 3 results, nice one Google for training me to believe the top results are indeed the best.) Regardless of whether you are a SEO beginner or SEO guru it’s always worth recapping a few areas – Come on now, do you really know what everflux, astroturfing and palindromic SEO entail? Ok, just me… It appears to be en vogue to invent your own SEO terms at the moment so I thought that I’d have a crack at coming up with some of my own. I… -
Sexy Algorithm Infographic
8 May 2012 | 3:50 amThree words that I didn’t think I’d ever type in order. I found this infographic via State of Search and thought it was worth sharing The original site (Outwilder) also posted a list of Google infographic sources in case you want to read more. If this is too small to read check out this. Google Algorithm Updates 1998-2012 Google Search Marketing Cheeky link Sexy Algorithm Infographic is a post from: 01100111011001010110010101101011 -
If I May Intrude On Your Thoughts For a Moment …
5 May 2012 | 9:15 amHey! Hows it going 01100111011001010110010101101011zers? Bit of a mixed up post today, covering a couple of things have made me laugh over the last few days. This week you may have seen a post about some bloke leaving the internet? There has been an amusing, dry post via Curious Rat where Harry looks to give up reading for a whole year. Good luck dude, I’m sure you’ll succeed! I found both of these posts via Hacker News. I know what you’re thinking, value add. Now I know you think this blog gets no visitors but recently Sergey Brin has dropped by to leave a couple of… -
How A Fight Club Philosophy Could Save Black Hat SEO
27 Apr 2012 | 8:47 pmI can’t sleep. I’m wired and I’ve just watched Fight club for the millionth time. Tyler Durden eh, yeah we all know Tyler. Lets remind the class of who and what he is: All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not. Oh look a post about a popular film/character, how original Sean, aren’t you witty/humourous/incredibly handsome… Anyway, as he mentions above Tyler’s a smart guy and whilst *watching* the film I… -
Matt Cutts – Masterplan
27 Apr 2012 | 10:32 amMatt Cutts – Masterplan is a post from: 01100111011001010110010101101011
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Click-finders.com
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What is the ROI for 10,000 Tweets on Twitter?
11 May 2012 | 12:45 pmTweetIf you are involved in SEO, Social Media Marketing or any form of Internet (or traditional) Marketing whatsoever, you are probably always trying to calculate the Return on Investment for your efforts and expenses. In fact there are many sources out there like Computer World, Blog Tyrant, and Hubspot (just to name a few) that have attempted to do just that for Social Media and for the most part, they do a great job. This article however is simply going to talk about Twitter and what we have seen before, during and after 10,000 Tweets. Is it an actual ROI…you decide! So how did we… -
In Bound Marketing and SEO Strategy
23 Apr 2012 | 2:06 pmTweetSEO IS NOT DEAD! But it is changing, by the minute. SEO is not dead - Not yet anyway! As with most Google Algorithm updates, the flurry of the “SEO is dead” posts, articles, tweets and rants have begun on Twitter, Facebook and 1,000’s of Blogs all over the Internet. And as usual, they are dead wrong. Although the fact remains that SEO (search engine optimization) is an ever moving and fluid entity, it is for all intents and purposes alive and well. The latest Google Algorithm has indeed changed the landscape of SEO and honestly, maybe even more than any other single update in… -
The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO – FREE eBook
11 Apr 2012 | 12:47 pmTweet THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ON-PAGE SEO Finally, an eBook that addresses the needs of new and do it yourself web designers! This eBook truly is “The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO”. Everything you need to know to properly code and design your website so that it is search engine friendly and visible for the keywords that you want or need to be found for in order to be successful in your online marketing efforts. And now, you can DOWNLOAD it for FREE, for a limited time only! LEARN THE SECRETS OF THE PROS Which HTML tags really matter How to craft content that is search engine friendly… -
How to Win With The Latest Google Panda Update
6 Apr 2012 | 8:26 amTweet"I eat SPAM for breakfast" March 2012 – Google rolls out the latest algorithm update, Panda 3.4. The number 3.4 is still in question as Google has only announced it as a Panda “refresh”. According to Google, only about 1.6% of search results were significantly affected, still that’s a lot of sites. Google also sent the update announcement via Twitter this time with a link to Blogger instead of just using their traditional media stream Blogger only. Not sure why they chose this route to deliver the news, but it still got the word out pretty effectively. You can… -
What Does It Take to Rank Number 1 On Google
23 Mar 2012 | 2:06 pmTweetGetting to the top of Google Ranking Number 1 on Google is the goal of every website owner that ever considered, dreamed about or implemented an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. The benefits can far outweigh the cost or effort. Companies have literally been transformed overnight because of this achievement. Check this post out if you have ever wondered What Organic Search Engine Optimization Can Do For Your Business. That article is filled with data and statistics that can blow your mind, they are staggering to say the least. So let’s assume that you are…
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SEOP Blog
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SEO and Social Media: Finding the right social media sites
14 May 2012 | 6:47 amImage by Jan Krömer Social media has become an organic and integral part of search engine marketing. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus are indeed very attractive to sites looking to expand their reach and elevate their rankings online. Because of this, many companies are investing their time and resources on the social Web, harnessing [...] -
Avoiding spammy site components on your Web pages
11 May 2012 | 3:14 amImage by 3oheme Spam is called spam for a reason—in Internet terms, it serves no one and offers no value for those consuming it, just like its meaty byproduct namesake. A few years back, many sites owners and SEO practitioners have put its elements on their Web pages in their attempts to dupe search engines into [...] -
Five ways new Web sites can get backlinks
9 May 2012 | 7:34 amImage by It’sGreg Getting backlinks can really be challenging for any Web site. That’s something not very apparent when we look at more established brands online getting backlinks in droves even without flexing much search engine marketing muscle. Needless to say, these brands already have a plethora of fans around the Web, as well as media [...] -
Is your Web site over-optimized?
7 May 2012 | 12:56 pmImage by owlpacino As part of its recent algorithm update, Google has taken a proactive and rather controversial step towards combating Webspam on the search engine marketing space. This may not be a problem if you’re focused more on the development of your site for the benefit of your users; but if you’re more SEO-centric and [...] -
Spotlight on negative SEO
4 May 2012 | 6:31 amImage by The World According To Marty Every single day, those of us in the SEO, and search engine marketing fields are tasked to put into motion various strategies to keep our Web sites ranking highly online. Some tactics work and raise our Web sites above the pack, others don’t. And while a lot of [...]
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Clear Web SEO Services
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Blog Will Be Back …
15 May 2012 | 10:16 amWe are currently re-indexing our blog posts at the moment, so please bear with us!
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SEO Blog by Dave Naylor - SEO Tools, Tips & News
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Protecting Your Site and Brand From Negative SEO
15 May 2012 | 8:32 amFollowing the recent Google Penguin update that has been rolled out across their search engine just a couple of weeks ago, there has been a huge amount of concern within the SEO industry as evidence of ‘negative SEO’ seems to have come to light with people looking to investigate their search engine manipulation theories on [...]Protecting Your Site and Brand From Negative SEO is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
Speaking at SMX Advanced London, 15th & 16th May 2012
23 Apr 2012 | 5:45 amIn a few weeks I’ll be heading to London with Becky to speak at the SMX Advanced Conference being held at Chelsea Football Club. Its been a while since I’ve done a SMX conference so it will be good to return especially with all the changes that are happening at the moment in Search, so [...]Speaking at SMX Advanced London, 15th & 16th May 2012 is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
Google Webmaster Tools Notice of Detected Unnatural Links
18 Apr 2012 | 10:14 amFor years I have heard people say “buy links for your competitor and report them”, if it was really that easy and I’m guessing not illegal then we would all be doing it, wouldn’t we ? Why it just doesn’t work that way Sometimes I sit at home at night and pretend I’m the Head [...]Google Webmaster Tools Notice of Detected Unnatural Links is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
Dave’s Guide to wedding photography
2 Apr 2012 | 10:32 am1) Buy awesome Camera 2) start snapping 3) sit back and be revel in your handy work Not worried Not Ready Smile No Really Smile Really WTF “we never get a nice photo Adam always pulls a stupid face” Shelley Stafford oh wait a minute Shelley Wait it’s not just Adam Hog Roast (2am bad [...]Dave’s Guide to wedding photography is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog. -
What Happened To Email Scheduling And PDF Export In Google Analytics?
21 Mar 2012 | 4:12 amBack in November on the Google Analytics blog they announced the release of email scheduling and PDF export for the new version of Analytics claiming that “both email scheduling and PDF export functionality will be the new interface in a few weeks.” – almost 5 months on this still isn’t the case. There are a [...]What Happened To Email Scheduling And PDF Export In Google Analytics? is a post from: Dave Naylor's SEO Blog.
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Just Search
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Things you should be thinking about when it comes to mobile
9 May 2012 | 9:28 amYou need a mobile version of your website Mobile browsing figures are on the up. Your website may receive as much as 15% of its traffic from mobile users. The iPhone paved the way for a desktop-like browsing experience on-the-go with smooth scrolling and zooming of web pages; this is still a compromise. The best mobile browsing experience is still to be redirected to a mobile-specific version of your website which best suits how people browse the web on their phones: held portrait in one hand and thumb protruding over the screen for scrolling. Users want content in paragraphs of text that… -
The Future is Content Marketing
2 May 2012 | 9:00 amSteve Jobs once said “The best people are the ones that understand content. They’re a pain in the butt to manage, but you put up with it because they are so good.” And it’s very difficult to disagree with that. Content Marketing is important. Content Marketing is the future. Companies who get content marketing are usually the ones who are progressive, understand the industry they operate in and look out for customer’s best interests. Therefore they are more likely to be profitable. Why I hear you ask? Well it is because content marketing is an art. Not the art of selling something… -
Business Development Manager – Dublin
25 Apr 2012 | 10:45 amLocation: Dublin 5 As a Business Development Manager you are responsible for developing sales of Just Search products and services through developing contacts with prospective customers, negotiating and closing sales. You will generate your own leads and communicate with the Country Manager – Ireland on a daily basis on the progress of current prospects. Key Responsibilities: Sales of Just Search products and services to predominantly new clients Generate leads through research, networking etc Generate interest in the company and product Respond to and follow up all incoming sales… -
SEO Programmer – Dublin
25 Apr 2012 | 10:45 amLocation: Dublin 5 The SEO Team is responsible for analysing clients’ websites in order to recommend SEO strategies, as well as carrying out all the programming work on clients’ websites, ensuring the best possible ROI. The team uses a custom built project management system and a quality management process to ensure the highest level of service for our clients. As an SEO Programmer you are responsible for defining, implementing and monitoring effective SEO strategies across a number of our clients’ web sites on a daily basis. This is a technical, hands on role, where you will be… -
Head of Search
25 Apr 2012 | 10:44 amLocation: Cheshire As Head of Search you will work closely with the other members of the senior management team in order to define our strategic direction. Your vision and commercial acumen will filter down through the search department to allow industry leading campaigns to be delivered across our entire client base. Responsibilities of the role: Be our search figurehead; defining our search philosophy for the future. Working at a strategic level with our most important accounts to ensure premium search campaigns are delivered. Be responsible for developing best practise for our search…
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The Wpromoter
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How To Set Up A WordPress blog
2 May 2012 | 3:23 pmIt seems like everyone is a blogger these days, from grandmothers writing about their favorite recipes, to trend-spotters writing about their new favorite looks for the season. The user-friendliness of web publishing tools and the ability to monetize those sites with minimal effort has lead to an explosion in the blog space. Recent stats from WordPress show anywhere from 15.1 million to 17.4 million blogs have been created on the platform alone. What Is A Blog? A blog is essentially a website that allows the users to post updates, photos and videos on an ongoing basis. Viewers can then read… -
How To Improve Organic Search Rankings
1 May 2012 | 8:20 pmOrganic. Is it better? That seems to be an ongoing point of contention in the foodie world. But in the SEO world, hands down, organic traffic is not only better, it is necessary to ensure that your website gets the attention it deserves, which comes in the form of higher search rankings. Organic traffic is any traffic that comes to your site naturally, through search criteria rather than someone clicking on a paid advertisement for your site. Most large companies spend a lot of time and money optimizing their website content with the goal of gaining high organic search rankings. While there… -
How To Remove A Negative Listing In Search Results
27 Apr 2012 | 6:55 pmYou know that old saying, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all? Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to the online world. If someone has a gripe with you or your company, it’s likely that the first thing they will do is go online and vent their frustrations about it through a negative review. The bad news is, unless they say something so harmful and blatantly false, that a court would consider it libel, there isn’t much you can do to get it removed. Rather than spending time and money trying to battle negative online chatter through legal means, a far… -
How To Get More Facebook Fans
10 Apr 2012 | 6:31 pmYou’ve created a Facebook fan page for your business and now you can just sit back, put your feet up and watch the numbers of fans grow, right? Not quite. With millions of Facebook business pages out there, getting a high number of faithful followers will take some time and creative thinking. But the benefits are worth it. Getting a large fan following on Facebook doesn’t just get your company’s name and brand out to the masses; it gives your business priceless creditability. When you go to a Facebook fan page for a business you’ve never heard of before and see that it has 40,000… -
Facebook to Acquire Instagram for $1 Billion
9 Apr 2012 | 6:18 pmAccording to Mark Zuckerberg’s Timeline post from earlier today, Facebook is in agreement to acquire Instagram, the popular photo-sharing mobile app, for approximately $1 billion, which will be paid in cash and Facebook shares. The deal is expected to close by the end of this quarter. Zuckerberg wrote, “This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people…
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SEO Blog - Search Engine Marketing Tips & Advice
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What is Content Marketing?
14 May 2012 | 4:08 amContent Marketing is an effective online marketing strategy that involves creating valuable free content that has a marketing purpose behind it. Content marketing is a vital ingredient in any online marketing and SEO strategy. Search engines love content. More high quality information, articles and guides mean more opportunities for your website to attract visitors and convert them into customers. Copyblogger has an excellent definition of content marketing: Content Marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers… -
How To Get Reviews for Google Places
2 May 2012 | 7:39 pmFor businesses competing in local markets, having a quality and high ranking Google Places page is vital. One of the major ranking signals that Google uses for local related searches is the quality and number of reviews on your business’ Google Places page and other complementary review websites. It is not always easy to get customers to leave reviews for your company, so you need to get a little creative to get these reviews! What to do First If you haven’t done it already, make sure you claim your company’s map listing at Google.com/places and fill it out 100%. Google… -
What Michael Jordan Can Teach Us About SEO
4 Apr 2012 | 1:42 amPhoto by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images Becoming successful in any field takes hard work, persistence, team work and dedication. SEO is no different. What does Michael Jordan have to do with SEO? Firstly, he is one of the most successful athletes of all time. He won 6 NBA championships, 2 Olympic Gold medals, had 14 All Star Appearances and was 5 time NBA MVP. You don’t get that level of success unless you are good at what you do. If you want to dominate your competitors like Jordan, then you need to…be like Mike! 1. SEO takes hard work I’ve always believed… -
4 Logo Design Websites for Small Businesses
22 Feb 2012 | 7:31 pmOne of the major start up costs for starting any small business is getting your logo and other marketing materials created for your new brand. In the past this could be an extremely expensive exercise and end up costing you 1,000s of dollar and months of your time. With so many design related services heading online, there are some great cheap alternatives for getting your logos and branding created. Here are a 4 great websites websites where you can create everything you need to start your new business including logos, letterheads, business cards and anything else you can imagine – all… -
The Google Keyword Tool
21 Feb 2012 | 7:39 pmThe Google keyword tool is an extremely useful tool for looking at potential market sizes, search volumes and competitiveness of keywords in any given market. A major part of local SEO is performing keyword research to determine which keywords are going to be most profitable to target when optimising your website. How to use the Google Keyword Tool The Google keyword tool can give you keyword ideas, traffic estimations, and uncover some really good suggestions for new content on your website. It can also be used to do detailed research on the keywords your competitors are using as well as…
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Tone Agency
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Social Media for Business – Which Networks to Join
1 May 2012 | 6:51 amWe get a lot of enquiries here at Tone from confused individuals asking questions regarding social media. The main being: “Which social networks should I join and which would be the best for my business?” The answer is; it simply depends! Because there are so many social media networks nowadays, all with their own personal benefits, it’s easy to see why many business owners simply throw in the towel before even starting their social campaigns. I wrote a post not too long ago explaining the individual benefits of each social media network in great detail so it may be… -
Title Tag Optimisation – Making a Good First Impression
23 Apr 2012 | 8:06 amWhen deciding to create a website for your business, the first phrase of production is the design and development. Once this stage is finalised and finished it’s time for the on-site optimisation to begin: Naturally the first thing to consider when starting your on-site optimisation is your keyword research. Following on from this, the next step is to sort out your title tags. What is a title tag? A title tag is a websites first chance to make a good impression. It is the first part of your site that searchers see when they query something that your website offers. They appear at the… -
Effective SEO for Startup Websites
3 Apr 2012 | 10:02 amWhen deciding to expose your business within the online world, it is essential that the first steps you take are following a path which is on due course for success. Too many fledgling businesses try to hit the ground running but unfortunately head down the wrong route, often leaving them well wide of the mark in their quest to dominate the top spots of the search engine results pages (SERP’s). There are numerous reasons why these companies land themselves in hot water. The main reasons that our clients tell us of is because either they have incorrect tools to track their website; they… -
Link Building – 7 Ways Link Builders Get Links
26 Mar 2012 | 9:52 amThere are numerous ways that marketers get links to their websites; some techniques more tedious than others but some can create great quality links; others not so great. As 70-80% (the true number is debatable) of SEO work takes place off-page, it’s vital to gain links from numerous sources and create a diverse range of links that can combine to produce a solid link diversity which will assist in the natural search rankings for your site. If you have a great product or service, the search engines will recognise this in the long-term and rank your site highly as a result. But what… -
Industry Expert – How to Become THE Influential Source
14 Mar 2012 | 6:51 amWe’ve all heard the phrase ‘content is king’ and I for one like to echo the phrase as often as possible. Not mainly because I write content for a living but simply because I believe the phrase is 100% accurate and believe that content really is king in the world of the web. So, if content is king, it would make sense to incorporate a blog into your website or create a blog separate to your website. We advise that a blog be created within your site as this is where all your products and services will be. You want to be drawing visitors to where these services are, and the way…
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Brijesh Rupareliya - Lead Internet Marketer | Ahmedabad - Gujarat - India
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Google Drive – Good one by Google
25 Apr 2012 | 3:05 amWith Google Drive, you can: 1. Create and collaborate 2. Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). 3. Search everything You can get started with 5GB of storage for free—that’s enough to store the high-res photos of your trip to the Mt. Everest, scanned copies of your grandparents’ love letters or a career’s worth of business proposals, and still have space for the novel you’re working on. You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account… -
Google SEO And Semantic Search
21 Apr 2012 | 5:25 amKeywords have always been the foundation of any SEO campaign even with the latest algorithm updates like Panda and Search, plus Your World. With these new changes, the basic principles of SEO are still valid by having relevant targeted keywords in title tags, headings, and landing page content. However Google is always looking at new ways to provide searchers with a better, more relevant experience. According to a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, Google announced plans to raise the bar even more by moving to a semantic search technology, which, according to Amit Singhal from… -
Google+ Hangout with Ban Ki-moon
10 Apr 2012 | 2:59 amUnited Nations, New York, 6 April 2012 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes young people everywhere deserve the power to get information, to connect and to ask hard questions. Join a live Google+ Hangout with Ban Ki-moon, Google’s David Drummond and young people around the world on Tuesday, 10 April 2012, at 3:30 pm EST. Details: http://www.un.org/social Google has been updating and using the “Hangouts” feature of Google+ quite a bit lately. Fromunderwater hangouts, to answering developer questions, to launching geeky web channels, it’s clear that… -
Study Says: Pinterest Could Be Key for Retailers
10 Apr 2012 | 12:53 amPinterest is now the third most popular social networking site in the U.S. and could help foster “meaningful connections” between retailers and cons umers. That’s according to a lengthy new 2012 Digital Marketer report from Experian. Retailers should also consider advertising on Facebook. The report found that retail advertisers saw conversion rates of almost 50 percent through Facebook ad campaigns in 2011. According to Experian, Pinterest attracted 21.5 million visits in the week ending January 28, 2012 – nearly 30 times the number of total visits six mont hs before. -
Google Project Glass: One day…
5 Apr 2012 | 1:49 amGoogle believe technology should work for you — to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t. A team within our Google[x] group started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. Follow along with us at http://g.co/projectglass as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass? Filed under: Google, Google Project Galss Tagged: google, google project glass
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Matt Beswick - Milton Keynes SEO Consultant and Web Designer
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A Penguin, a Panda and $18m
4 May 2012 | 10:53 amWhat a few days it’s been in the world of SEO. Firstly, let’s start with the obvious – a massive funding round signed by SEOMoz which was described over at Forbes. Even more astounding is the fact that this is the largest single round that Foundry have ever invested which is something that shows both the strength of SEOMoz as a company, but also the industry as a whole. Think about it: If someone is willing to invest that amount of money in an industry that has, historically, been seen as being a bit dirty and not entirely ethical then things must be looking up! The reason… -
Growing Pains
1 May 2012 | 5:39 pmWhen you’re running your own business it feels, pretty much constantly, like the biggest battle is with growing pains. Whether it’s the constant nagging ache as you struggle to get things to scale, or the deep-rooted panic as you do everything you can to bring in more money. To understate things hugely, this is quite annoying – especially as one tends to lead to the other and you end up in a constant cycle of pain and recovery. The easiest of these to fix, in my experience, has to be the issue of scaling. A prime example from what we’re doing at Electric Dialogue is… -
Standing Out
31 Mar 2012 | 6:49 amAs we all know, times are tough and everyone’s watching their wallet more so than they ordinarily would. I had a really interesting chat with Steve from Dog Friendly a couple of weeks ago at Crufts, and he’d noticed that a magazine offer that was just one single Great British Pound was no longer enough for people to just buy on the off chance that it was half decent. People would walk past their stand, stop, flick through a few pages, and then only part with the golden nugget if they liked what they’d seen. In the past this just wasn’t the case – after all, an… -
Reputation Management 101
15 Mar 2012 | 2:39 amReputation management is the process of “looking after” and “protecting” your brand within search engine results and social circles. This not only protects your brand so that you are active and ready to respond to questions and feedback, but also puts you in control of what people find when searching for background information on your company or organisation. Here are some top tips you can utilise to combine your reputation management campaign with SEO to help you to reach the desired outcome of controlling at least the first page of Google with profiles, websites and assets which are… -
3 Quick SEO Tips for Spying on Your Competition
24 Feb 2012 | 3:36 amEver since good ol’ Yahoo took away Site Explorer and left us with the lovely Bing Webmaster Tools, plenty of small business webmasters and business owners are probably scratching their heads about where their competitors are getting links from. Well don’t worry yourself grasshopper. There are still valid options for those looking for that linking data. Some of the valid options include the standard searches for your competitors URL in Google but who really wants to go through all that data and who really has the spare time? This is even more apparent for campaigns that shake up to…
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whitefireseo.com
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Content That Changed My Professional Life
15 May 2012 | 7:00 amContent That Changed My Professional Life It’s strange how inspiration works. Or doesn’t. Despite the number of people that seem to think that inspiration happens like a lightswitch, it’s more like a drippy faucet, but without the calcium or lime deposits. I’m not a particularly impressive example of an inspired life, but there are a few pieces of content that have fundamentally changed my professional outlook and my desire to learn marketing and become an entrepreneur (leading to the founding of WhiteFireSEO!). The content really is the biggest reason for this post, so let’s get to… -
How to Recover From Google’s Next Update
10 May 2012 | 7:00 amHow to Recover From Google’s Next Update Oh. My. Word. Google’s done it again. They nuked your site off the face of the planet for no good reason! You didn’t do anything wrong! You’ve been working tirelessly to make sure your site is the pinnacle of quality! Your SEO is immaculate! It’s not fair. They’re just bullies, swinging their search monopoly like one of those big spiky balls, you know, with the chain. The kind those obese medieval guys with the S&M black leather masks always swing around. So, what do you do? You’ve exhausted your options. You even built another… -
8 Lessons Drug Dealers Can Teach You About Marketing
3 May 2012 | 7:00 am8 Lessons Drug Dealers Can Teach You About Marketing This post sometimes has really dark examples, but they illustrate a point. Ok first off, no, I’m not telling you to become a dealer so you can be a better marketer. However, drug dealers get customers. Better still, they keep customers, even under threat of legal action. While I’m in no way encouraging the use, sale or distribution of drugs, there’s certainly something to be learned from the way they do business. So what do they do right? Gateway Drugs You don’t often get the new guys on the hard stuff right away. You ease them in… -
Using Hammers to Plant Flowers: Stop Trying to “Figure Out” Social Media
27 Apr 2012 | 7:00 amUsing Hammers to Plant Flowers: Stop Trying to “Figure Out” Social Media Marketers, we’re doing it wrong. As I watched my Twitter stream buzz past me the other day, this tweet by @jennita of SEOmoz caught my eye, and I couldn’t help but agree. It irks me when people talk about using Social media solely for SEO purposes. That defeats the purpose of social all together. — Jennifer Sable Lopez (@jennita) April 12, 2012 We’ve done our fair share of research into how social media affects SEO here at WhiteFire, so I suppose you could say this hit me a little harder than… -
Four Ways to Prepare for Google’s Entity-based Search
24 Apr 2012 | 7:00 amFour Ways to Prepare for Google’s Entity-based Search Google is incorporating social signals into its algorithm every day. We’re constantly learning about new ways that social media affects search, and the signals are only getting stronger. There’s even some evidence that Google’s moving towards an entity-centric search, where established authors receive more weight in the SERPs. Not only that, but there’s also buzz about reputable commenters’ authority influencing rankings. SEO is rapidly becoming a more people-centred practice. And, really, that means all the legitimate…
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WebpageFX Weekly
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7 Ways Your Brain Sabotages Your Work Relationships
9 May 2012 | 10:54 amWe write a lot about internet marketing. Strategy and tactics are great, but a large part of what we (and most business people) do involves interacting with other people. Personal relations aren’t as cut-and-dry as numbers. And what’s worse, our brain makes a TON of mistakes in our assumptions about ourselves and others. Since misconceptions [...] -
14 Essential Resources for New SEOs
2 May 2012 | 11:18 amIf you are new to search engine optimization or just trying to find some more helpful resources, take a look at this list of the 14 tools that every SEO should be familiar with. Google Analytics Google Analytics is an important tracking program offered for free by Google. It allows you to determine where your [...] -
The Social Network: Zuck’s Timeline [Infographic]
1 May 2012 | 10:08 amEmbed me! Infographic by WebpageFX In the past year, Facebook released an innovative new design, known as Facebook Timeline, that would appeal to its users on a more emotional level, by allowing them to connect with others through the depiction and illustration of their life story from birth to the present day. This new layout [...] -
Don’t Ignore the Value of the Click Through Rate
25 Apr 2012 | 10:22 amObviously anyone who has ever run an AdWords or adCenter campaign knows when the click through rate (CTR) increases, they’re probably doing something right – whether it be ads tailored seamlessly or ideal keyword targeting. The CTR is significant because it tells you when an ad is compelling a user enough to take action and [...] -
An Open Letter to New Internet Marketers and College Grads: How to Thrive in the SEO Industry
18 Apr 2012 | 11:13 amDear College Graduate/New Internet Marketer, Congratulations! You worked your tail off, followed the tips for studying SEO in school and landed your dream job in SEO! You may be experiencing a lot of different emotions right now… excitement, relief, eagerness, nervousness, sadness in leaving your classmates, etc. Well, brace yourself! The days of waking up [...]
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Search Engine News,SEO,SEM,SMO,Backlinks | SearchEngineBrief.com
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Google Penguin or Web Spam Update
7 May 2012 | 10:07 amGoogle Penguin Update launched on April 24 2012. In this update Google devaluate sites who is working on keyword stuffing, cloaking, spam link building and also over optimization techniques that’s violate Google’s guidelines. If some sites truly should not have been hit and have, that is part of collateral damage and Google is willing to live with some. Some were meant to be hit, despite what the site owners feel. Of course, there is a feedback form for Penguin complaints. 50+ Updates in Google Penguin some important factors are… -
Google Panda 3.5 Update
6 May 2012 | 9:39 amGoogle Panda 3.5 update begains on 19 april 2012. Google Panda 3.5 which affected spamy websites means over optimized. Google has announced the latest in its ongoing updates to the Panda algorithm that targets low-quality websites. It is Over-Optimization Algorithm or Penalty on whos sites which are working on Keyword stuffing, Spun articles, and Content Spams. 1. Sites using databases to aggregate information 2. Press portals and aggregators 3. Heavily-templated web sites Winners Sites: … -
What is SEO Over Optimization
18 Apr 2012 | 7:32 amWe all know search engine optimization is just an algorithm which uses many signals to rank websites. It’s actually a rocket science but not impossible to understand what all signals Google consider ranking a website better like Keyword Density, Backlink Building, Invisible Text, Doorway Pages etc. Google Over Optimization Penalty Avoid Following things: Low quality content on the site You are using highly optimized Title and META tags. Linking to a page from that same page with optimized anchor text Overly consistent and highly optimized anchor text on… -
PPC Ad Writing Tips
8 Apr 2012 | 11:16 amPay Per Click Ad Writing Tips: There are many subtle hints to doing pay per click advertising correctly. A small change in conversion rate can make a huge difference once scaled out across the entire web. A marginal loss that turns into a marginal profit can become an automated revenue stream if you write and target your ads to convert better. English to English Conversion: I went to the UK and realized just how different the versions of English are around the world. If you are targeting a specific region or country make sure your ads and website make sense to locals using words and phrases… -
SEO Resources 2012
5 Apr 2012 | 11:37 amSearch Engine Optimization/KSP Tool Online Tools http://webtools.live2support.com/ http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/free_tools.html http://www.iwebtool.com/ http://www.xaby.com/ TOP Page Rank Sites http://www.vretoolbar.com/articles/directories.php http://www.web2whizzing.com/social-bookmarking-list/ http://www.doheth.co.uk/info/list-of-web-sites-with-high-page-rank.php 25 Free High Rank Backlinks and Profile Sites http://www.realsoftwaredevelopment.com/best-of-the-best-web-20-web-sites/…
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Social Search Substance Satire
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Ten Simple Truths I Found in Social Media
14 May 2012 | 4:28 pmI’ve invested quite a lot of time in social media over the years, and particularly in the last nine months. Having presented a lot about Twitter in my own business I thought it would be hypocritical not to attempt to grow my only following. I did – this is my 70th blog post, I tweeted 4,000 times, and I’m on the cusp of getting 1,000 followers. That’s not much of a big deal, but it’s not bad in eight months since I didn’t have any external network to begin with – I’m just an inhouse digital marketer like thousands of others. Here’s what I… -
Mo Books, Mo Products: An Alternative View on Inbound Marketing
8 May 2012 | 10:59 amSo here’s an alternative view on inbound marketing, knitted together by my own views and the many conversations I’ve seen, heard or been involved with in the SEO industry. I hope everyone doesn’t take it too seriously, particularly those involved in the graphic. If you’d like to comment, I’d appreciate it if you took the time to read the author’s note at the bottom. Slides 13-14, Everything’s Better With Fans, Rand Fishkin. Search Love 2011 Available to purchase at the Distilled Store. Image available at http://minus.com/mxZ5HpLwm/1f See also:… -
Why I Believe Debating Authors is Totally Moot (Like Most SEO Debates)
17 Apr 2012 | 5:23 pmSo my last post focused on my Brighton SEO presentation, I Believe Authors are the Future, and I want to give my opinion potential debates that will likely end in a load of hot air, wasted energy, and people taking sides about how important it is. I think we’ve wasted enough time talking about inbound already! The reason I’m writing this is to counter posts such as Why I don’t believe authors are the future (which I actually rather enjoyed as an alternative point of view) and variants on this theme. I think it’s fair enough to have an opinion about the subject, but… -
I Believe that Authors are the Future – BrightonSEO Presentation
15 Apr 2012 | 6:12 amOne again I had the pleasure of speaking at BrightonSEO – which is probably has the biggest SEO conference audience in Europe. I presented a 20/20 on the subject of authorship and what it will mean for SEO. The slide deck is below and I’ve included a transcript of the talk. Kudos if you know who the middle author is. I Believe that Authors are the Future: An Explanation of Search Authorship & Rel=”Author” View more presentations from mrjamescarson. 1. If we think about search rankings, they’re really quite anonymous. Before search plus your world, there aren’t… -
Bauer Lifestyle are recruiting an SEO Executive and Web Analyst – let me know if interested!
5 Apr 2012 | 8:51 amHi, if you’re reading this, you’re probably interested. Bauer Lifestyle owns brands like FHM (www.fhm.com), heat (www.heatworld.com) and Grazia (www.graziadaily.co.uk) and we’re scaling up our digital operations by adding an SEO Executive and a Web Analyst. Ideally I’m looking for hungry 2nd or 3rd jobbers who are looking for a role with great independence and flexibility, to work on some of the most widely respected publishing brands in the world. We’re not looking for a super star who has done it all before. We want people who are ambitious, but can grow into a…
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Web Magazin
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Free Article Submission And Article Directories
16 May 2012 | 4:18 amSubmitting articles to free article directories and ezine sites is probably best way to gain some high quality backlink. I will write here list of best article directories to get best backlinks from this type of backlinking. EzineArticles.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 316 PageRank: 6 Description: This article directory is most popular among webmasters. They check quality of your submitted article. You need to submit only good written articles here since they don’t accept garbage. Write unique article and submit it, backlink from this website is totally worth it. Minimum number of words is… -
How To Find Profitable Mini Niche
15 May 2012 | 2:49 pmMainly, under finding profitable niche I consider finding profitable niche for AdSense. Those niches have good CPC (Cost Per Click) – cost advertisers pay for every click. Pay per click (PPC) (also called Cost per click) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher (typically a website owner) when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. More about CPC You can check… -
Moving WordPress Blog To Another Host
14 May 2012 | 4:42 pmMoving WordPress blog is very easy. First of all, I would suggest to you disabling all plugins. 1. Than go to managewp.com and sign up there. Here is sign up link: https://managewp.com/wp-login.php?action=register After you registered, you need to add website. On left side under Websites select Add your first website. 2. Than you will see a small box where you need to write your blog’s URL and admin username. Click Add site and now you should be asked to install ManageWP Worker plugin. Install plugin and don’t forget to activate it. Than go back to page and click Add site again. -
Uploading On YouTube Takes Forever? This Should Speed Up Uploading
29 Apr 2012 | 7:01 amIf you ever tried to upload something on YouTube, you might notice that uploading is extremly slow. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes of waiting just to see that your video isn’t uploaded more than 1%. I will share with you this trick that should speed up the process of uploading videos on YouTube service. So, this is easy. Here are steps to speed up processing if you are using Windows 7: 1. Click on Start > Control Panel > Network and sharing center In sidebar on left side select Change adapter options Right click on LAN connection and select Properties …and… -
Reasons why you shouldn’t buy traffic
24 Apr 2012 | 7:15 amSo I see a lot on webmaster forums or fiverr marketplace, people offering super cool targeted traffic! But when you look closely that traffic isn’t worth at all. It’s not even worth those 5$. Why? Because all that traffic (I’m talking about those sellers who offers like 10 000 UV for ONLY 5$! is coming from those sources: - Bots Bot is simply a piece of software which is used to open your website in default browser. But what’s benefit? Benefit is only +1 more UV shown up in Google Analytics. Nothing more, nothing less. Bots traffic is equal to buying fog. - Traffic…
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Ethical SEO Consulting
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Identifying a Trustworthy Search Engine Ranking Service
7 May 2012 | 6:17 pmUsing your marketing budget on a trusted and ethical search engine ranking service is a good move. However, in the sea of SEO companies in ...Identifying a Trustworthy Search Engine Ranking Service is a post from: Ethical SEO Consulting -
How Is Website Search Engine Ranking Determined?
2 May 2012 | 4:45 pmThe purpose of this article is to provide a very basic overview of how website search engine ranking is determined. When using a search engine, ...How Is Website Search Engine Ranking Determined? is a post from: Ethical SEO Consulting -
Internet Marketing Search: How To Find The Right SEO Company For Your Business
1 May 2012 | 4:29 pmCompetition Getting You Down? The climate of the market in all niches is changing these days. Consumers have stopped using many tried and true ways ...Internet Marketing Search: How To Find The Right SEO Company For Your Business is a post from: Ethical SEO Consulting -
Search Engine Placement Optimization
30 Apr 2012 | 11:48 amSearch Engine Placement Optimization is something that all businesses need. The internet is growing and changing all the time in turn changing the way that ...Search Engine Placement Optimization is a post from: Ethical SEO Consulting -
4 Factors for Picking a Small Business SEO Consultant
26 Apr 2012 | 4:50 pmTimes a-Changing With the technology revolution over the past 10 years the yellow pages and news paper is becoming a thing of the past. Print ...4 Factors for Picking a Small Business SEO Consultant is a post from: Ethical SEO Consulting
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Simple SEO Group | Small Business SEO, Web Design, & Inbound Marketing
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Scheduling Blog Posts With WordPress
15 May 2012 | 11:44 amI’m going to share with you guys today a little secret — I’m actually on vacation out of the country right now (don’t worry our clients are in good hands and I’ll be back tomorrow) but as you can see I have a blog post going out. I’m actually writing this post on March 12, and scheduling it to release on May 15. I don’t travel too often, usually only a few times per year, but even when I’m not ... -
SEO Results : A Case Study From An SEO Client
10 May 2012 | 11:34 amWe’re truly about results. Other SEO companies are okay with collecting your money and showing you the work they’ve done, but we take that one step further — we don’t just build links or fix your website, we do everything possible to get you the results you expect from a well managed SEO campaign. Just this week I was speaking with an SEO client who has been with us for a few months now, and we were reviewing some results ... -
Low Quality Websites Don’t Produce Revenues
8 May 2012 | 11:25 amLow quality, static websites don’t product revenues. I’ve seen it and said it time and time again, yet for some reason business owners don’t want to believe it. Trust me, it isn’t a way for marketers to just make money. If we were after that, there’s plenty of easier ways out there. When it comes to your website, you need to have a quality website that is updated regularly if you want it to produce revenue for you. Just last ... -
Spending Money To Make Money
3 May 2012 | 11:03 amAs a small business owner, every dollar that you don’t spend elsewhere is usually a dollar that ends up straight in your pocket at the end of the month. I deal with a lot of small business owners (and used to be one myself) who had this mentality and tried to do nearly everything on their own or passed up on things they need just for the sake of saving some money for themselves. And in many regards I completely ... -
5 Reasons To Start SEO Today!
1 May 2012 | 10:53 amWhat’s the number one reason small businesses push off SEO even though they know it can help them get new customers? The costs. I know how it goes, you have a limited budget, and often times marketing gets put on the back burner because you just don’t have the budget for it. The problem is while you spend time working on improving your marketing budget, you’re missing out on new customers who are going to your competitors. The sooner you ...
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Digital Organics » Blog
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Content Marketing is the Most Important Factor in SEO
11 May 2012 | 8:34 pmDigital Organics - SEO & Digital Marketing Content Marketing is the Most Important Factor in SEOWhen you think of SEO, you should think of content marketing. These competitive industry is about content being king and attracting visitors through the compelling content you can provide to your audience. There are 27 million pieces of online content shared everyday. Major search engines are focusing on creating the best possible user experience, which…Digital Organics Digital Organics - Grow You Business Online with Digital MarketingRelated Digital Marketing Posts: Google’s Freshness… -
Negative SEO – Can your Competitors Hurt You?
10 May 2012 | 9:30 pmDigital Organics - SEO & Digital Marketing Negative SEO – Can your Competitors Hurt You?The aim of SEO is to increase your site’s visibility in the search engine results pages. High rankings on search engines can help you to get a lot of customers. If your website has high rankings on Google for a good keyword then your website will get a lot of attention. But your competitors also…Digital Organics Digital Organics - Grow You Business Online with Digital Marketing -
The New Facebook Offers are a Huge Opportunity for Businesses
9 May 2012 | 6:06 pmDigital Organics - SEO & Digital Marketing The New Facebook Offers are a Huge Opportunity for BusinessesFacebook Offers are the new advertisements occasionally appearing on the News Feed section of some viewers. When someone “claims” their Offer, it will show up on the newsfeed of their Facebook friends. Now it not only demonstrates a high level of interest and action (ie purchasing or “claiming” the offer by a friend) but may…Digital Organics Digital Organics - Grow You Business Online with Digital MarketingRelated Digital Marketing Posts: How Small Businesses… -
Test & Measure – Multi-variate Experiments using Google Website Optimizer
8 May 2012 | 7:47 pmDigital Organics - SEO & Digital Marketing Test & Measure – Multi-variate Experiments using Google Website OptimizerMulti-variant experiments is the other type of testing you can do inside Google Website Optimizer. While A-B split testing is great when you want to split-test different templates or designs where the pages are completely different, multi-variant testing is ideal for testing elements of a single page. This will allow you to do different content…Digital Organics Digital Organics - Grow You Business Online with Digital MarketingRelated Digital Marketing Posts: How… -
How to do A/B Split Testing with Google’s Website Optimizer
7 May 2012 | 8:59 pmDigital Organics - SEO & Digital Marketing How to do A/B Split Testing with Google’s Website OptimizerIf you double the amount of people who come into your subscriber base, everything else being consistent (in terms of the conversion rates of your auto-responder series and your other marketing efforts), if you had twice as many subscribers, or you had half as many subscribers, think about what that would do to your bank…Digital Organics Digital Organics - Grow You Business Online with Digital MarketingRelated Digital Marketing Posts: A Guide to Split Testing “Go Mo”…
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Shaad Hamid » Blog
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My Day Out at Google
13 May 2012 | 9:32 amEarly this month Pritha, Tamsin and I visited the Google Office in London to get a sneak peak at Google’s second quarter product launches (or updates) – unfortunately due to a nasty non-disclosure-agreement (NDA) with Google, I’m unable to disclose … Continue reading → -
Facebook for Educators
8 May 2012 | 1:28 pmDo you realise how dramatically the world has changed in the last couple of decades? Today’s kids can type at 60 words per minute, are on Twitter, Facebook, and text message. Students now manage networks of 100s of people, publishing … Continue reading → -
Humanizing Technology – a Bing Initiative
8 May 2012 | 12:52 pmAt the end of the day, the purpose of technology is to help us work more efficiently, communicate seamlessly, explore our creativity, collaborate and enhance our relationships as one human race. I posted a while back of how Bing launched the … Continue reading → -
Google Honours 70 Young Women With the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship
2 May 2012 | 1:44 amAnita Borg is a modern role model not only for women, but technologists the world over. She was a strong believer in technology and of how it affects all aspects of our economic, political, social and personal lives. Described on … Continue reading → -
Oxford Brookes University Student Profile
27 Apr 2012 | 6:10 amRecently, I was interviewed by Oxford Brookes University Business School as part of their video series of alumnus profiles. My student admission to Brookes was a unique one, in that I enrolled as a ‘credit transfer student’ to the third … Continue reading →
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Small Business SEO Tips
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Top 18 Client Check List Questions For Local Online Marketing Consultants
1 May 2012 | 3:24 pmQuestions to ask prospective local clients As a local search marketing expert and business owner, you are attending to many duties. And, while we must clearly distinguish between “busy work” and “actual work” (productivity), the lines may seem blurry at times. Your main job should be focused on revenue generating duties. Your own work around products/services, pricing, placements and promotions must be clear, ongoing and distinctive. But, when the calls come in from your advertising and inbound marketing activities, it’s very clear that you must strategically… -
Domain For Sale? 12 Domain Finder Tools For Faster SEO Traffic
10 Apr 2012 | 3:46 pmGreat Domains Get Attention! A great domain name by itself is powerful. It can and will create attention quickly, if you have selected and built it out well. And in social media environments (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) – the link and domain name (if seen) will give us a high click propensity if friendly, relevant and not spammy looking. So, are you looking to buy a domain? Are you trying to sell an existing domain, or several? We’ll cover 12 powerful tools for finding and selling domains for your search engine optimization benefit. And yes, finding and building out the perfect… -
Your Adwords Account Scam-Banned By Google? Here is Why.
3 Apr 2012 | 12:23 pmHere is why Google Banned 800,000 Advertiser Accounts in 2011 24 hours a day, when you are awake and sleeping – both software and humans at Google are working to figure out if you are scamming Google with your Adwords account(s). The results can be devastating. The software and related systems scan information – from ads, webpages, links and much more — while hundreds of Google Adwords Spam/Scam Police watch (yes, humans) and monitor any red flags sent by the software agents. This may and will have implications for you. Even if you are legit. You can get inadvertently get… -
Google Click-to-Teleport Extensions Adwords
1 Apr 2012 | 10:45 amGoogle New Teleport Product April 2012 Google creates and makes improvements to products all the time, and in the case of the search engine, pretty much every day. In one of my Adwords accounts, I noticed a new feature which is sure to below many businesses away (literally). It’s the new “Click-To-Teleport” feature. The benefits? While there are many, the one standing out is the “driving in-store sales”. Customers will literally simply appear. Here’s how it works. “Click-to-Teleport extensions allow potential customers to instantly teleport to your… -
How To Become A Small Business Authority
27 Mar 2012 | 3:00 pmHow To Become a Trusted Authority How can you become an authority in your small business? And, perhaps more importantly, why should you? I’ll break down the 3 strategies to consider on the process of starting in this post. But first, why should you consider becoming an authority in the first place? Let’s use an example. Let’s say you had a bad knee and started to look for somebody to help you. Where would you begin? You’d probably start asking friends, family first. Then, you’d continue by searching online (search/social), visiting bookstores to read more about…
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Local Search Marketing, Local SEO, Google Places SEO - NGS
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Marketing Opportunities for SMBs in the Social, Local, and Mobile Web
16 May 2012 | 4:01 amThe Social – Local – Mobile (SoLoMo) “trifecta” is undoubtedly the one a lot of small businesses should be betting on if they would want to market their business online successfully. I admit I have been focusing too much on the “perfecta” Local on my blog, and I’m planning to change this starting today. Sebastian Socha shared with me a very intriguing infographic. It describes in a German children’s book style a story of an average day in an average town/neighborhood, and the marketing opportunities open to every SMB could grab in every… -
How to Contact Google Places Support or Customer Service
15 May 2012 | 8:40 amOne of the most asked questions related to Google Places is “How to get real people from Google to speak to”, or “What is the phone number of Google Places’ customer service?” This trend is predominantly caused by the bugginess of the product and the lack of any clear pointers on how to solve many of the problems surrounding it. I have previously written about some ways how one could get support for their Google Places problems, and updated it a little later, but since it was some time ago, some of the tips are now rather rusty. So here are some more… -
Google Displaying Wrong Reviews Counts
11 May 2012 | 7:58 amHamish McKenzie noted that Google displays wrong reviews counts for Google reviews in the local search results. The counts displayed are many times higher than the actual number of reviews for the business. He received the following answer to the issue from Google: We’re currently experiencing a technical error in which the total number of Google reviews is accurately appearing in the Places listing, but only some of the reviews are appearing on the corresponding Place page. We’re aware of this error affecting a limited number of Google Places listings, and are working to resolve it as… -
Google Makes Major Changes to Places Offers
10 May 2012 | 8:00 amGoogle announced the release of the 6.7 version of their Maps app. Arguably the most interesting inclusion is the option to discover nearby offers, which is currently available only for Android devices. However, the more interesting news for businesses are the improvements to offers for Google Places for Business that have been implemented. These have not been promoted very widely, but Vanessa posted a sticky thread in the Google and Your Business forum stating: We’ve given the offers interface in the Google Places for business dashboard a new look! Log in to your Places account, click… -
Google Places Offers Unavailable Outside the US
8 May 2012 | 5:26 amDuring the past weekend there have been at least 2 complaints (here and here) about Google Places offers (ex-coupons) not working for business listings in the UK. The users complained that they received the following message: Hello, Thank you for creating an offer for your Google Places page. We’ve found that one or more of your offers does not meet our guidelines. These offers have been suspended and are listed below. Your Google Places listing is not otherwise changed and remains active. Offer with summary: [information about the offer removed by me]. Reasons for suspension: Since…


