Week of 2008-04-16 Hi Everyone, Well, it's finally here. Small Business Marketing Unleashed has officially arrived, and we're pumped! We can't wait to meet those of you who are coming, and for those of you who haven't committed yet, there are still spots left. So, email me directly if you're interested in attending but haven't made that final push yet. Wish us luck and have a great week!
Featuring: Jennifer Laycock, Stoney deGeyter, Diane Aull, Debra Mastaler, Paul Jahn, Manoj Jasra, Liana Evans, David Wallace, Sage Lewis and Mack Collier. Is Your Small Business Website's Voice Honest and True?by Miriam EllisWho are you? An individual? A family? A group of people sitting at desks in an office? An entity with a physical location where I'll be standing in a line to speak with someone behind a counter? A co-op of professionals that will come to me to perform a service? When I hit your website, one of my first efforts is going to involve trying to determine who you are, behind that screen, those images, those words on your pages. What Makes a Great Company Blog? Part 1by Mack CollierAs more companies and businesses enter the blogging waters, it's becoming easier to identify the characteristics of an outstanding company blog. Next week at the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston, I'll be presenting on the topic of Blogging for Business. Part of my presentation will cover the elements of a great company blog, and I thought it would be a good idea to cover those areas here as well. What Makes a Great Company Blog: Posting Schedule Part 2by Mack CollierIn Part Two of my Elements of a Great Company Blog series, I'll look at how to create a posting schedule and why it's so important in growing your blog's readership. 3 Steps to a Stronger SEM Training Programby Manoj JasraRecently I have been involved in creating a search marketing training program which some very clear objectives: help new search marketing strategists get up to speed quicker, allow them to work on billable client work sooner/more efficiently and get them... Great Examples of Corporate Twitter Useby Jennifer LaycockI (along with the rest of the marketing world) have been writing more and more about Twitter in the last few months. How to use it, how to leverage it, and why you need to be part of the conversation. While there are now plenty of examples of why Twitter is valuable in terms of networking and driving traffic, David Armano has a great post this week exploring how two companies are using Twitter to interact with customers and to build their brand. Trying to Get a Handle on Building Links?by Jennifer LaycockIf so, Adam Audette has you covered. He has put together an exceptional (and incredibly comprehensive) post called "The Fundamentals of Link Building" over at his blog. The post is about a month old, but if you haven't already spotted it, it's well worth a read. Adam breaks link building down by topic and includes dozens of links to tools and resources aimed at helping you through the process. Paid Search Advice That's 75 Years Oldby Jennifer LaycockYes, you read that right. Seventy-five years ago a team of brilliant marketing professionals offered up the type of advice you can use to get more out of your paid search campaigns. They may not have known sites like Google and Yahoo would pop up decades later, but the concepts and techniques they used and taught are timeless. Alan Rimm-Kaufman takes a look at this advice and how you can apply it in his Paid Search column at Search Engine Land today. Spite is Not a Marketing Strategyby Jennifer LaycockOver the past few weeks, I've seen multiple instances of companies using spite and or attacks to try and push themselves ahead of their competitors. I imagine in their minds, painting the competition in a poor light makes their own products and services look that much better. Unfortunately for them, they've missed a key lesson in both life and marketing. If you have to make someone else look bad in order to make yourself look or feel good, you've got a long way to go. Use Custom Tags to Track Your MSN and Yahoo PPC Campaignsby Jennifer LaycockIf you're using the free Google Analytics as your stats solution, you probably already know that AdWords integrates into Google Analytics pretty seamlessly. If you're running campaigns on Yahoo or MSN, it takes a little more effort. Lucky for you, the folks at The Adventures of PPC Hero have created handy primers on how to get things rolling. Five Reasons Twitter is an Essential Social Media Toolby Jennifer LaycockI've been using Twitter for roughly five months now and I'm finding more and more reasons to include it on my must-use list of social media sites. I go to thinking about my little love affair this week when Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends asked fifteen small business owners what their favorite social media site was and why. I was interviewed for the piece, as were Unleashed speakers Matt McGee and Wendy Piersall. The more I thought about it, the more I realized Twitter just might be the best all-around social network for small business owners. Microsoft and Yahoo!, Search Engine Partners? How Mergers and Acquisitions May Change the Search Engine Playing Field - and Where Google Comes Inby Scott BureshUntil recently, there were five major players in the search engine world: Google, MSN, AOL, Ask.com, and the Yahoo! search engine. These top Internet search engines quickly could be narrowed down to four, however; AOL uses the Google algorithm and will yield nearly identical results. Further narrowing is rapidly occurring - Ask.com seems to be stepping out of the spotlight to focus on specific markets, and in early March 2008, Microsoft began attempting to purchase the Yahoo! search engine. If there are just two top search engines with which to be concerned, what does this mean for your business and for SEO as a whole? Return to the Top of this Page 
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In response to... What Makes a Great Company Blog?"Focusing on reader needs, rather than corporate news, provides many advantages. Patagonia, a great company on many levels from employee satisfaction, brand prestige, and social responsibility - seems apt. Their success with blogging should surprise few folks." "Yet most of us can not reach those heights. I hope you provide more practical tips in the next essays. Please remember that some of your target audience includes small and medium businesses taking their first, tentative steps into the wild, wild web world of blogging." Thanks! Eric "My company has been running a corporate blog for about 18 months now and we've seen great success both in terms of search engine rankings and visitor numbers. The key for me is to refrain from overtly promoting the company. A well managed and interesting blog says everything you'd want to say about a company anyway." "We even get criticism from readers when we put anything that promotes the company even a little bit!" "Check us out http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog" " We'd be happy to contribute if you wanted to do a case study or anything like that." Nick Hibberd Return to the Top of this Page 
Skaffe.com Directory: Show off your website Express Submit today.Quality directories like Skaffe.com offer you strong search engine exposure. Sporge Directory from Skaffe.comUnder new management! All new with low submission prices. WoW DirectoryPowerful and affordable directory marketing services. Submit your website today! New! Team Skaffe Directory from the editors of Skaffe.comUp to 4 links for every submission. Free submission for non-commercial websites. Free SEO ToolsThinking of buying SEO software? Then try the best SEO tools free first! Return to the Top of this Page 
(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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