November 2007

Simon Heseltine

SMX London Coverage: Search Marketing for Financial Services

Last Friday I attended the Search Marketing for Financial Services session at SMX-London. This session was moderated by Danny Sullivan. The session was aimed at addressing the specific challenges facing businesses in the financial services sector, a niche not exactly known for attracting tons of incoming links.

Scott Buresh

What Every Search Engine Optimization Company Should Know about Keyphrase Choice

There are many keyphrase tools out there, but any quality search engine optimization company should know that they are in no way replacements for true market research. When one is embarking on a campaign of marketing on the Internet, it is important to select keyphrases that represent an understanding of one's audience. In this article, we'll discuss two crucial aspects of keyphrase research that your search engine optimization company should be taking into consideration: knowing the prospect and knowing the company.

Jennifer Laycock

Google Finally Spells Out Their Paid Link Policy Crystal Clear

I'm just returning from a well-earned, extra-long holiday weekend away from the computer, so I managed to miss Google's sneaky little update to their webmaster guidelines late last week. Thankfully, Search Rank's David Wallace was on the ball as usual and got a great post up noting the change. While the new guidelines did include mention of the nofollow tag if you went hunting for it, the new ones do a pretty good job of explaining exactly what Google expects from site owners who buy or sell links.

Jill Whalen

DMOZ Description Showing in Google

It appears the text Google is now showing [for a particular keyword phrase] is from our DMOZ directory listing. Until very recently (and while our listing position was as good as it is now) Google was showing the first few words of text from the body of our home page. Should we leave everything as is and enjoy the good listing position, but put up with the less than ideal text in the search results?

Jennifer Laycock

Blogging Isn't Losing Steam, It's Just Getting Easier

I've seen quite a few posts this past week from popular marketing bloggers asking if blogging is finally losing steam. They note a number of popular bloggers have been taking long breaks and others are simply abandoning their blogs completely. With the growth of social networking sites like Facebook, marketers are asking if the day of the blog is coming to a close. I found myself asking the same question last week and I've realized blogging is only just getting started.

Jennifer Laycock

What the Heck is Reputation Link Bait?

Debra Mastaler knows and she's more than happy to tell you. Her latest column on link building over at Search Engine Land is a gold mine of information for anyone having a hard time building links a really competitive niche. Always ahead of the curve, Debra looks beyond the standard link bait and aims to help site owners learn the value of using a public relations style campaign as a link driver.

Stoney deGeyter

9 Paths of SEO Enlightenment, Part I

Can a proper balance between optimizing for spiders and humans be struck? Can you achieve the perfectly optimized web page for search rankings, while also maintain a perfectly optimized page for your audience? No, but since perfection is unattainable, what you can do is find the most effective balance between being both user friendly and search engine friendly.

Todd Mintz

SEO Spam Solicitation Stripped

I'm guessing that most everyone reading this article has received SEO spam and regular readers of Search Engine Guide know enough about the SEO process not to be suckered into believing the sorts of claims made in SEO service spam emails. However, as a public service to all, I am going to deconstruct the latest example to arrive in my inbox.

Simon Heseltine

Search Marketing for Retail - SMX-London

Last week I attended and presented at SMX-London. It was a great chance to meet with British search Marketers that don't get to make it out to the US conferences, and to hear a different perspective on familiar topics from mostly British presenters. Friday saw the "Search Marketing for Retail" seminar, which was moderated by Rob Kerry of Ayima.com.

Debra Mastaler

Can I Get You To Tattoo My Company On Your...

How well do you know your customers and what makes them tick? Well enough to know they'll permanently tattoo your logo on themselves in exchange for your products? Do you know which hot trends to take advantage of to promote your business? What does this have to do with building links anyway? Everything...

Manoj Jasra

Googe Up, Yahoo and MSN Down in October

comScore recently released its Search Engine rankings for the month of October 2007 in the US and the results favor Google which is up 1.5% from last month.  Both Microsoft and Yahoo showed decreases in search market share while ASK held steady at 4.7%....

Diane Aull

They're Dead, Jim

Is this the end of the target audience? Well, okay, to be honest... no. The target audience is alive and well. But what can you do to improve website performance further? Check out the concept of personas....

Jennifer Laycock

The Accidental Lessons of Life in the Search Industry

I missed a great post last week by Matt McGee, so I'm blogging it now. Titled "Eight Things the Search Industry Can Teach Small Businesses," the post offers up several great examples of how to market yourself online from people in the industry who were simply going about their business. From networking to staying visible to finding your niche, it's a great little set of tips and examples worth reading through.

Jennifer Laycock

Mark Your Calendars for SMX West

If you've been thinking about attending one of the major search marketing conferences, you might want to check out the newly posted agenda for SMX West. Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman will be offering up more than 50 sessions on February 26-28, 2008 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I won't be able to make it, as I'll be at another conference in London, but so far, it's shaping up to be a great looking show.

Jennifer Laycock

Ultimate Online Copywriting Cheat Sheet

Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about online marketing knows traffic is worthless if you can't deliver compelling copy. Good copy earns search rankings. Good copy earns links. Good copy convinces visitors to stop shopping and start buying. Unfortunately, good copy isn't easy to write. That's why the Eisenberg brothers have put together a fantastic list of more than one hundred copywriting articles divided by topic and spread out over two lengthy posts.

Jennifer Laycock

Are You Integrating Multimedia into Your Site Yet?

The great thing about the Internet in 2007 is the ability to integrate several different types of media into your site. Faster internet connections, cheap bandwidth and free third party multimedia hosting services have made it easy for even the smallest of small businesses to work multi-media into their sites. Since it's well known that different people absorb information in different ways, smart small businesses are looking at the best ways to leverage social media and Web 2.0 technologies to better serve their customers.

Jennifer Laycock

How Do You Value Social Media?

Social media is about the hottest topic there is right now in the online marketing world. Search marketers and traditional marketers are both obsessed with finding ways to drive interest and traffic using this new medium. But how many of them are actually investing in social media marketing and how many are simply offering up half hearted efforts? And how many of them have any idea how to justify their investments?

Liana Evans

What Would Social Media Be If We Didn't Talk To Each Other?

How does social media media work without conversation? It doesn't. So how do you handle navigating the social media "vote for this" waters of friends lists? We are social creatures by habit, long for conversation, so why not strike one up with the folks on your friends list? This article includes tips on not annoying your friends with copious amounts of requests for Diggs, Sphinns and Fetches.

Stoney deGeyter

6 Ways to Get Your Visitors To Contact You From Your Contact Us Page

Along with the About Us page, your Contact Us page is one of the most important and crucial pages on your site to get right. In fact, the Contact Us page could be considered the absolutely most important page. Even if the rest of your site succeeds in the goals, if visitors fail to find the information they need to contact you then you will bring their shopping experience to a screeching halt.

Manoj Jasra

9 Ideas for Blog Posts When You Are Stuck

If you are the type of blogger who writes daily then it becomes important for you to post consistently because your readers begin to expect that from you.  However, what do you do when you're fresh out of ideas and still want to get something valuable out to your readers?...

Jennifer Laycock

Designing the Perfect Small Business Marketing Conference (Houston, Texas 2008)

In the last five years, I've attended dozens of marketing conferences, events and seminars. During each of those shows, I've spent time talking to the small business owners who've come to try and learn a little more about how to market their business online. Time and time again, the message I hear is the same. "The information is incredible, but I have no idea where to start!" It was that line that caused Robert and I to sit down several months ago and brainstorm all the things we'd do if we were planning a marketing conference for small business owners. It was Stoney deGeyter who said "so why don't you do it?"

Jennifer Laycock

Does Registering Your Domain for Longer Periods Help You Rank Better?

There's a conversation going on in our Small Business Ideas forum about domain registration and the impact it has on search engine rankings. Generally, when I hear small business owners ask about this, they want to know if the age of a domain has any impact on their rankings. In the case of this thread, the original poster is asking if the length of domain registration has anything to do with rankings. I've heard this question pop up more often in the last few months, so I thought it might be worth throwing down a few thoughts on the issue.

David Wallace

5 Ways Small Business Can Benefit From Social Media/Networking Sites

I recently wrote a piece demonstrating how companies can use social media and networking sites to help control their online reputations. I want to take this a step further and describe some of the benefits social media sites are providing for small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). Some of the most popular sites include Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and YouTube however, it does not stop there as the list of sites is nearly an endless with new ones coming on board all the time. Even eBay and Netflix have jumped on the social bandwagon, allowing users to create social media profiles...

Jennifer Laycock

See How Landing Page Tweaks Can Double Your Conversions

If you've done any reading about paid search campaigns at all, you know good landing pages are essential to conversions. Of course you may be asking yourself what actually makes a "good" landing page. You're not alone. That's why the team at Marketing Experiments offers up two great case studies this week.

Jennifer Laycock

Deliver the Goods to Sway "Social Researchers"

According to new data released by the e-tailing group and PowerReviews, nearly two-thirds of online shoppers now spend a significant amount of time reading consumer reviews before making a purchase. Dubbed "social researchers," these shoppers rely on advice and feedback from others to help them decide which products or services to buy. 86% claim these reviews are "extremely important" to their buying decisions.

Patrick Schaber

How Tony Bennett Inspired a User Experience Experiment

With all the "advice" we've been receiving from search engines on how to manage our site and provide the right user experience, I was thrilled to happen upon a little experiment. I recently had the opportunity to do a little user experience testing on the various search engines. I was surprised by the result.

Scott Buresh

Google's Paid Search vs. Organic Results - A Rickety Wall of Separation

The good people at Google have long maintained that there is a Chinese Wall between paid search results and organic results - that is, the department responsible for advertising is completely separate from the department responsible for organic search engine placement. The company insists that Google Adwords is a completely separate entity than the Google search engine, and never the twain shall meet. This all sounds very good, in theory.

Manoj Jasra

4 Tips and 11 Resources for Increasing Subscribers

Feed subscribers are quite possibly your most loyal readers therefore it's important to grow your subscriber community as much as possible. With Google's purchase of FeedBurner as well as their own proprietary subscriber calculating technology don't be surprised to see feed subscribers becoming a variable in Google's ranking algorithm. In today's post we'll talk about how to increase your feed subscribers with some very simple tips....

Jennifer Laycock

You Don't Have to Build Your Own Tools to go Web 2.0

As businesses get more and more obsessed with building community and leveraging Web 2.0 techniques, a lot of small businesses are finding themselves wondering if they can afford to get into the game. What these small businesses often miss is the fact that they don't need to invest a ton of time and money into fancy new technologies. Sometimes, it's about finding what already exists and leveraging it for your brand. That's something I've noticed more and more companies doing with Flickr, my favorite social media site.

Stoney deGeyter

Big Picture SEO vs Small Detail Obsessions

While looking at every last minute detail of SEO is advantageous, it is effective only to a point. One can't get mired into trying to get every last little detail right all of the time. To do so often comes at the expense other important things. Instead of focusing on the big picture, you're mired in the little things that don't provide the return you may have imagined.

Sage Lewis

Video: Sage Lewis Tells Us What's In the News - Monday, November 12

Radiohead moves should open your eyes to possible changes in other industries. Verizon debuts Web 2.0 marketing campaign. AOL acquires Quigo for $300 million. Google at your gas pump. Tapping into social networks.

Stoney deGeyter

Full RSS or Summary Feed?

I'm not the first one to chime in on this topic, mostly because I've gone both ways and I can make pretty valid arguments from either side. But I've finally settled it in my mind which is "best". Full RSS feeds are better than summary feeds. Let me tell you why...

Scott Buresh

Current and Future Search Trends: What the Top Internet Search Engines Are Doing

The future of search is unclear – what is clear is that change is rapidly happening for all of the top Internet search engines. Google as always is the front runner for many of these search trends, but even little guys like Ask.com are making waves. In this article, I will attempt to cover some of the more interesting search trends that are occurring today with the top Internet search engines – but I am by no means being comprehensive about the subject. Things are changing on a weekly, or sometimes even daily, basis, and future articles will cover additional developments in depth.

Sage Lewis

Video: Nobody Wants Your Stinking Content... So Give Them a Community!

I love this article written by Stoney deGeyter on multiple levels. There is much to be learned with this article starting with how it grabbed my attention.

Sage Lewis

Video: In the News - Thursday, November 8

Planning downtime? Better 503. Matt Cutts... get ready to get dinged! What does constant innovation get you? $700 a share.

Sage Lewis

Video: Twitter... When Technology You Snub Finds a Purpose

Jennifer Laycock's blog post, "Twitter CAN be Useful! Who Knew?", reminds us that in today's business world you need to be open to new ideas and new iterations of ideas. What may seem a waste of time at first glance may hold promising potential as a business application.

Patrick Schaber

Bonding With Your PPC Prospect?

It took me awhile to realize that paid search was not a game! Really. Paid search is big business and potentially a large amount of a small business marketing budget. But like many people, I jumped in headfirst and was enamored with tweaking ads, trying new keywords and spending my company's money. My early ways were more PPC Gunslinger than responsible Marketing Manager. Then, slowly over time, you realize that PPC is actually very similar to a sales process and you need to treat it as such.

Jennifer Laycock

Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign

While learning how to effectively manage a paid search advertising campaign can take quite a bit of time, there are plenty of quick and easy ways to increase your chances at success. This article aims to outline five common mistakes that end up keeping small businesses and in-house marketers from maximizing the potential of their pay per click campaigns.

Stoney deGeyter

The Great SEO Lie Exposed

I had an alternate title for this post: "Ask not what Google can do for you, but what you can do for Google". We're moving into a new age where we have to pay closer attention what Google does -- despite what Google says.

Manoj Jasra

Google Does it Right with Open Platforms

Google's vision of creating open platforms for both OpenSocial and Android (Open Handset Alliance) is absolutely genius. Not only does it help Google competitively but it also helps create a stronger user experience and a strong support community. Here are some of the major benefits to open platforms such as OpenSocial and Android

Jennifer Laycock

Floundering in Blog Obscurity? Join the Conversation!

One of the most common complaints I hear from small businesses who have launched blogs is how difficult it can be to get on the radar. After all, it doesn't matter how great your content is if no one can find it. One of the best ways to build up your reputation in this situation is to leave quality comments on other blogs. Caroline Middlebrook offers up another fantastic post this week discussing this very topic.

Stoney deGeyter

5 Easy Ways to Make Your About Us Page More About Your Customers

For many sites, visitors that find their way to your About Us page tend to have a somewhat higher conversion rate than those that don’t. Potential customers that do visit this page are showing a bit more than a casual interest in what your site has to offer and are looking for additional signals of trust.

Robert Clough

Composing the Perfect Letter of Surrender

Matt McGee made a post on Sphinn asking us, and other publishers, to be open with our decision making process and to share what we planned to do regarding Google's nofollow stance. I think Matt had a good idea and being open with our decisions may help other publishers. So I've decided to publish some of our IM conversations to provide insight into where we stand.

Jennifer Laycock

Fighting Back Against Bad Pitches

It's no secret that blogs and social media sites are a great way to get coverage of your web site or your products and services. In fact, teaching small businesses how to approach and pitch bloggers is one of the things I most enjoy writing about. The archives here are full of suggestions and blog posts pointing out the right way to approach people and the wrong way to approach people. That's why I thought it was worth mentioning Wired Editor Chris Anderson's controversial post outing bad PR pitchers.

Jennifer Laycock

Four Tips to Maximize Your Spend on the Google Content Network

If you've been thinking about giving the Google Content Network another try, you aren't alone. John Ellis is testing things as well and offers up some helpful tips on maximizing your ad spend on the content network.

SMX London Coverage: Search Marketing for Financial Services

What Every Search Engine Optimization Company Should Know about Keyphrase Choice

Google Finally Spells Out Their Paid Link Policy Crystal Clear

DMOZ Description Showing in Google

Blogging Isn't Losing Steam, It's Just Getting Easier

What the Heck is Reputation Link Bait?

9 Paths of SEO Enlightenment, Part I

SEO Spam Solicitation Stripped

Search Marketing for Retail - SMX-London

Can I Get You To Tattoo My Company On Your...

Googe Up, Yahoo and MSN Down in October

They're Dead, Jim

The Accidental Lessons of Life in the Search Industry

Mark Your Calendars for SMX West

Ultimate Online Copywriting Cheat Sheet

Are You Integrating Multimedia into Your Site Yet?

How Do You Value Social Media?

What Would Social Media Be If We Didn't Talk To Each Other?

6 Ways to Get Your Visitors To Contact You From Your Contact Us Page

9 Ideas for Blog Posts When You Are Stuck

Designing the Perfect Small Business Marketing Conference (Houston, Texas 2008)

Does Registering Your Domain for Longer Periods Help You Rank Better?

5 Ways Small Business Can Benefit From Social Media/Networking Sites

See How Landing Page Tweaks Can Double Your Conversions

Deliver the Goods to Sway "Social Researchers"

How Tony Bennett Inspired a User Experience Experiment

Google's Paid Search vs. Organic Results - A Rickety Wall of Separation

4 Tips and 11 Resources for Increasing Subscribers

You Don't Have to Build Your Own Tools to go Web 2.0

Big Picture SEO vs Small Detail Obsessions

Video: Sage Lewis Tells Us What's In the News - Monday, November 12

Full RSS or Summary Feed?

Current and Future Search Trends: What the Top Internet Search Engines Are Doing

Video: Nobody Wants Your Stinking Content... So Give Them a Community!

Video: In the News - Thursday, November 8

Video: Twitter... When Technology You Snub Finds a Purpose

Bonding With Your PPC Prospect?

Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign

The Great SEO Lie Exposed

Google Does it Right with Open Platforms

Floundering in Blog Obscurity? Join the Conversation!

5 Easy Ways to Make Your About Us Page More About Your Customers

Composing the Perfect Letter of Surrender

Fighting Back Against Bad Pitches

Four Tips to Maximize Your Spend on the Google Content Network