In just about any form of marketing, when something works it gets repeated to death until the strategy is no longer effective. Online marketing, especially link building, is similar. While there is no replacing the concept of building a good site worthy of links and letting people know about it, there are actually numerous strategies available for attracting good links through solid marketing efforts....
Today, PR and marketing strategies continue to evolve as the Internet has taken its place alongside these traditional mediums and become a mainstream marketing channel. The Internet is still in its infancy though and the methods of online PR and related online marketing strategies continue to change....
People have diverse search needs that can range from very specific purchase behavior to informational searching on topics such as health or leisure. The Internet audience is varied, ranging from GenYers flocking to MySpace to baby boomers seeking simple pleasures and the fountain of youth....
Many search marketers promote the idea that the key to a successful link building campaign is to create content worth linking to. However, if you create great content and no one knows about it to send a link, then there's a lot lost on the effort. "Build it and they will come" is not the reality with search marketing....
According to comScore, 65% of Bank of America account holders use their online bill pay service. In fact, B of A is dominating the online bill pay market. According to the study, Wells Fargo has the next highest usage at 18% and then Chase and Wachovia at 13% each....
An online marketing campaign, like its traditional media counterparts, is a branding strategy meant to generate sales. Tthese campaigns have include such elements as corporate and promotional websites, pay-per-click and banner advertising, and email newsletters, but one strategy frequently overlooked by marketing executives is publishing bylined articles....
It is your most important SEO goal and perhaps the one most vital in determining the success of your SEO campaign. However, many search engines have trouble finding links buried deep within the structure of your site. So how do you make sure your pages are easy for the search engines to find? With a sitemap....
Usually Google is the search engine known for its innovative new products. Lately, I've noticed some interesting developments from Yahoo! which have started to peak my interest. Yahoo! has had a slow start to 2007 with their latest statement of revenue falling short of financial predictions....
Keyword research is a vitally important aspect of your search engine optimization campaign. If your site is targeting the wrong keywords, the search engines and your customers may never find you, resulting in lost dollars and meaningless rankings....
One of the nice things about the search world over the last few years was that we were starting to see less focus on "get rankings quick" style methods and more focus on what some have dubbed "holistic" search marketing. The idea was to stop focusing on finding the holes in the algorithm that would help push your site to the top of the rankings quickly and to focus on building sites that will rank well in the long term and that will attract qualified visitors that will convert to buyers....
Allurent, Inc. gave the following details from their Online Customer Experience Survey. A total of 82% of consumers who participated said having a frustrating online shopping experience would make them less likely to revisit a retailer's site. That's expected. The survey continued by saying if the experience improved, visitors would be open to buying more from the offending sites....
Right now the majority of our access probably happens in two places: at work or at home. Mobile access is generally limited to checking e-mails right now, and even that is a truncated experience where we're scanning subject lines to see if there's any fires we have to put out....
We are in business to serve our clients, not ourselves. But the more I thought about this the more I realized that this sentiment is not entirely true. While we want our purpose to be client-centric we realized that in order for us to properly server our clients we have to serve ourselves as well....
I think Rand had a bit too much of the secret SEO sauce. His post "What separates Search Marketing Novices from Experts" is, well, just downright ignorant. I think of Rand as a true SEO business man but I think this post shows a lack of understanding of SEO as a business....
There MUST be a secret formula for SEO, right? After all, an algorithm is just a mathematical formula! There's got to be a "best" way to do it that will guarantee a top ranking. People who think they've found the answer are dismayed to plug in everything in perfect order... and still rank on page 12 for their favorite keyword....
Whether or not you have Search History enabled, you get personalized search turned on by default. This means that Google will subtly change your results, based on various “signals”, like what you have on your personalized Google Homepage and what sites you’ve bookmarked as a Google favorite....
Matthew Inman has just posted an excellent CSS resource over at SEOmoz. For those of us who are not designers but are found frequently editing HTML and CSS, Inman's 15 CSS Properties You Probably Never Use (but perhaps should) is a great resource to be printed and filed away for frequent reference....
The title tag has been - and probably will always be - one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings. In fact, fixing just the title tags of your pages can often generate quick and appreciable differences to your rankings. And because the words in the title tag are what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results page (SERP), changing them may result in more clickthroughs....
U.S. Organizations that have 501(c)(3) statuses are eligible for a Google Grant. Non-profits in 12 other countries are also eligible. Organizations that have a religious or political focus, or organizations lacking a website won't be considered. Grants are made for a minimum of three months... they can run longer at the discretion of Google, but the length of the grant isn't stated at the time of approval....
I've been reading a bit about the new concept of Google's "Agent Rank" and their patent application while pondering how it might impact search. The basic idea here is that Google may be working on a way to tie content on the web to an individual and that Google might also establish a way to judge the reputation of the individual, and by extension, their content....
A new company is about to change the face of off-line advertising as we know it. They are starting in the movie industry (and only for eight seconds at a time) but the implications of this will reach into every aspect of paper advertising and even into the digital photo market....
Many websites currently offer a resource library for visitors – an area filled with articles covering relevant topics to the industry with which the site is connected. While it's true that a resource library, on the surface, exists to benefit site visitors, it doesn't end there -- they also provide benefits that can directly impact any business....
A few years ago, Joe Herbert and some of his brothers decided they wanted to make a movie. What they didn't expect was an impromptu detour to be a top-five finalist for a user-generated Super Bowl commercial contest....
Have you tried to break into the SEO elite and found it somewhat cliquish? You're not the only one. Aaron Pratt talks about the circular linking patterns of the SEO elites....
Every company has an expert (otherwise it wouldn't exist), but many companies still fail to realize the full value of this person's knowledge by integrating him or her into the company's business marketing strategy and promoting this expert in the media....
According to the major search engines, one of their main goals is to provide relevant results and give the people what they want when they perform a search query. Well in order to give the people what they want, you have to listen to the people....
Please keep in mind duplicate content is not an exact science or anything close to that. As I wrote this article, I often imagined exceptions where a penalty would or would not take place. That said the following answers are based on what my experience dictates to be the most common scenarios....
The time spent on billable activities is important information to know, and not just to have a better picture of the bottom line. How our time is spent affects both us and our clients. The more time we spend on unbillable activities the more we have to compensate by adjusting package pricing, but the less time we spend on billable activities, the less we are actually doing for our clients....
I am surprised to see that your own website still has both the www and non-www version in place — no redirect to get the "link juice" from the non-www version. Do you consider this a not so important issue? Both versions have good PR....
Time and time again I have seen organizations measure metrics that do not accurately indicate success areas in their online campaigns as they relate to ROI. Quite often it seems as if the online key performance indicators are not aligned with the company's overall KPIs being measured....
Search is more popular than display ads and email marketing because of its excellent performance and ROI. Internet marketers should take note of the development in the search marketplace in order to better focus their advertising budgets....
Your company probably thinks of its website as an Internet marketing brochure, but, in fact, it is much more than that. It is the interaction that online customers have with your company, no different in their minds than if they had called your 800 number and spoken with a sales representative...
Google Webmaster Central has just releases a tool that allows you to check your site's backlinks. Hows that different from the link: operator? Well, this one actually works!...
True success doesn't come easily but requires patience, determination, hard work and sometimes even personal sacrifice. If you do want to succeed and are willing to put forth the effort, here are seven steps to success in business and in life....
Until recently, whenever we sent out email flyers about our programs, we had the link go directly to the program's unique page on our website. Our marketing director has been trying to make a case for sending the clicker to the landing page that would then direct the clicker to a list of programs, including the one on which he or she clicked....
There seems to be a lot of buzz around social search but exactly how is social search shaping our search experience and why we should be looking at it in the future? We're going where we haven't been before and it helps us when people who share our interests can guide the way....
Mapquest now lets you find and compare gas prices in your city, state or zip code....
Designing a search engine friendly web site is not complicated, but it requires dedication and constant communication between the graphic designer, content developer and SEO analyst, as well as special attention to the site's architecture. Site architecture should not be an afterthought, nor should SEO....
The problem with most link emails is that there is never any real effort involved in getting the links. Just some generic crap about how they "really liked your site!" Wow. That's awesome! When I was contacted about getting the manuscript I was flattered that somebody wanted me to read their book and blog about it. Flattery is effective....
The fact is web copywriting is a perfect mate with search engine optimization and this has been the case ever since SEO became a reality. After all, as an SEO it is abundantly clear to me that getting people to your website serves no purpose unless they can be converted into sales; which is where a great copywriter comes in....
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