Week of 2008-04-02 Hi,
Featuring: Jennifer Laycock, Stoney deGeyter, Diane Aull, Debra Mastaler, Paul Jahn, Manoj Jasra, Liana Evans, David Wallace, Sage Lewis and Mack Collier. 14 Website Usability Guidelines That Keep them Coming Back for Moreby Stoney deGeyterSites that are designed to sell products and/or services must go the extra mile to enhance the visitor's engagement with the website. Shopping cart abandonment (shoppers abandoning their carts before deciding to pay for the "items" they've added to... Ask SEMpdx: In-house or Outhouse? What Criteria Should a Company Use to Decide How to Handle its Search Marketing Needs?by Todd MintzHow should a company handle its search marketing needs? Companies frequently make a choice based upon incomplete / incorrect information and end up with unsatisfactory results. Todd Mintz asks several members of SEMpdx about the factors they'd look at when deciding whether to take SEM on in-house or through a third party vendor. Use What's In Front Of You To Attract Linksby Debra MastalerIf you have an offline store supporting an online presence or even if you exist only online, it makes sense to expose your URL's and special promotions at every opportunity. Doing so helps to build credibility and natural inbound links. How Doing a Little Thesaurus Surfing Attracts the People Who are Article Surfingby Jennifer LaycockSean D'Souza at Copyblogger calls them "a few measly words." I like to refer to it as "Thesaurus surfing." Either way, Sean offers up a couple of fantastic examples of how adding a target and some adjectives to your article titles can go a long way toward tightening up your content and enticing readers to click through and follow you along for the literary ride. Boost Your Blog with Static Contentby Jennifer LaycockEarlier this week I wrote a post reminding small businesses why it's so important to consider launching a blog to go with their web site. At the time, I pointed out the benefit of ever-changing content. Today, i ran across a great post over at ProBlogger exploring nearly two dozen types of static pages you should consider building into your blog. While the idea of creating static pages on a blog may sound counterintuitive, it's actually an important part of blog creation many people miss. 8 Factors to Cover in a Competitive Analysisby Manoj JasraThe main purpose of a competitive analysis should be to gain awareness of the competitive factors analyzed and to leverage the client's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to their advantage. So what kind of factors should be included in... YouTube Gets in on the Stats Gameby Jennifer LaycockIf you're a marketer and you put content online...you want data. Data is what tells us our ideas our working. Data is also what tells us our ideas are falling short. It's what tells us who came, where they came from, how long they hung around and if they actually did anything during their visit. The problem data loving marketers are facing these days is how to reconcile new sources of traffic and exposure with an extreme lack of insight into how people are interacting with our content. A Simple Reminder of Why Alexa is Uselessby Jennifer LaycockWhile catching up on my RSS feeds today, I came across a post at Matt McGee's Small Business SEM that's a few days old, but well worth mentioning. The post dives into the issue of Alexa rankings and explains why they should not be used as a gauge of how successful a web site is. Missed the Early Bird Price on Unleashed? No Worries!by Jennifer LaycockNo doubt some of you looked at your calendars last week and realized you'd missed the $850 early bird price for our upcoming Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston. Don't sweat it, we've got you covered. We've spent the last six months building the perfect conference for you. We know how busy you are. Do you think we'd let you miss out on this great show just because you forget to set an alert on your calendar? 10 Ways to Help Your Visitors Trust Youby Stoney deGeyterTrust is a key usability issue when it comes to running a successful online business. Most people automatically view web businesses with a bias against them compared to their brick and mortar counterparts. Your ability to convince your visitors that yours is a trustworthy business is one of the key components to getting visitors to convert into customers. Creating a website that conveys trust can be tricky. There are rarely any answers that are always "right" for every visitor. There are, however, several factors that have universal appeal to the weary shopper. Using a Search Engine Optimization Company vs. Hiring an In-House Expert: The True Dollar Costby Scott BureshIt's a common question that companies who are considering hiring a search engine optimization company often face - is this something that we can do in-house? More importantly, can we do this in-house and get the same results that an expert search engine optimization company would provide? A Dozen Reasons to Blogby Jennifer LaycockWhile social media is still the topic du jour at major search conferences, I'm still hearing a lot of buzz about blogs. While Technorati is tracking more than 121 million blogs these days, we're still no where near the saturation point. The issue now is convincing small businesses of the need to consider launching a blog. That's what Grant Griffiths is aiming to do over at Home Office Warrior with his great list of 12 Ways a Blog Can Benefit Your Business. Think Beyond The Link: How Exposure Building Trumps Link Buildingby Stoney deGeyterGetting links is great, but as search marketers we should be looking far beyond that. We should not be so much as trying to get other websites to link to us (that's certainly a welcome result) but we should instead be working on getting exposure, in whatever format that comes in. Three Recession Proof Tactics You Can't Afford to Missby Matt BaileySEO, Usability, and Analytics are the best investment that you can make for your online business. In fact, dollar for dollar, these recession proof tactics should result in some of the best ROI you'll see from your web site. If you're still on the fence when it comes to investing in any of these three areas, you could be missing out on a wide-open opportunity to get the most out of your website. Google AdWords Opens up Demographic Biddingby Jennifer LaycockIf you've been looking for more control over who sees the ads you run via Google AdWords, here's your chance. Google began beta testing demographic bidding back in January and opened the program up to all AdWords advertisers last Friday. Granted, when they say all AdWords advertisers, they mean all the ones utilizing the content network, but this new feature still gives small business owners far more control than they've ever had over who sees their AdWords ads. Which Is Better - PPC or SEO? How One Company Increased Traffic 60% After Ditching PPC for SEOby David WallaceThe Dallas Business Journal recently ran a story on one of our clients, Wasp Barcode Technologies, describing how they went from spending enormous amounts of money on PPC to focusing more on traditional SEO and link building. The strategy paid... 10 Easy Ways to Grow Your Blog Trafficby Mack CollierWant more traffic to your blog? Of course you do. But how do you get it? It's a question that many bloggers struggle with, but thankfully there are several fairly easy ways you can start today to grow your blog's traffic. Presenting Search Marketing Results for Large Clientsby Paul JahnA long time ago search marketing was mainly a vehicle for small businesses to compete with the big boys. For the many Fortune 500 companies that now outsource at least some sort of search marketing, presenting results whether it's through analytics, lead generation, or sales can be tricky yet still highly effective. 20 Resources For Google Analyticsby Manoj JasraGoogle Analytics has quickly become one of the most popular analytics software available, additionally there are numerous resources available which deal with configuration, implementation, analysis, and reporting. Below I have compiled some of the most useful resources for Google Analytics... Are You Monitoring Twitter?by Mack CollierIf you aren't, you should be! With close to one million users (according to TwitDir), businesses are beginning to realize that it's just as important to monitor what Twitter users are saying about them, as it is to monitor the blogosphere. Not Just More. Better!by Diane AullDo you simply want more website traffic, or would you rather have better traffic? Did you know you can make more profit with the same (or even less) traffic? You can -- as long as you know how to get... The Anatomy of a 12-Month Link Baiting Campaignby Stoney deGeyterLast February (2007), I had a diabolical plan to become a household name in the SEO community. Here I was, a guy who has been in SEO for almost ten years and remained a relative unknown. Sure, I made a few friends here and there and have been slowly building my reputation, but who would of thought 12 months ago that I would be able to snag an interview with one of the biggest names in the SEO. And that's not me interviewing the big name, mind you... that's the big name interviewing me! How to Write Your First Blog Postby Mack CollierRecently a friend asked me a question that any business that begins blogging will have to answer; What should your first post be about? That first post is terribly important, because it sets the tone for the blog, not just for the readers, but for the writers as well. Is Your Marketing an Experience?by Mack CollierLast week I attended South by Southwest, and while the festival itself was the main attraction, the events and parties that sprung up every night were examples of great and cheap marketing that many small businesses could learn from. Return to the Top of this Page 
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In response to... The Anatomy of a 12-Month Link Baiting CampaignHehe! That's hysterical. Thanks for being so candid about your tactics. I guess us lesser folk better start hatching a plan to publically disagree with YOU now! Carolyn Price Return to the Top of this Page 
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(If you like our search engine news, you'll love our small business news.) Weekly Wrap of the Hottest Small Business ThreadsChris Logan shares the buzz from our small business forum. Return to the Top of this Page
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