Week of 2008-07-24 Hi Everyone, We have some large format ad inventory opening up soon. Let me know if you are interested in picking up 300x250 or 728x90 ad space. I'll see you next week. Rachel Phillips
Featuring: Jennifer Laycock, Stoney deGeyter, Diane Aull, Debra Mastaler, Paul Jahn, Manoj Jasra, David Wallace, Sage Lewis, Mack Collier, Karri Flatla, Jackie Baker, Ross Dunn, Scott Allen, Diana Adams and Mike Moran. Local SEO Hero: An Interview With David Mihmby Todd MintzDavid Mihm is one of the top experts in the ever-growing specialty of Local Search Optimization and he focuses his consultancy on helping small business clients generate online revenue in their respective marketplaces. His Mihmorandum blog is a "mandatory add" to the feedreader of anybody remotely interested in the Local SEO niche.... Small Businesses Need the Internetby Mike MoranFrank Reed had an interesting post on his Frank Thinking blog, lamenting how small businesses seem to avoid search marketing. They spend their money on Yellow Pages ads and other older forms of marketing that might not bring the best return on their investment. So, with the U.S. economy focusing every small business on making more from less, why is it that Internet marketing, and search marketing in particular is so scary? What can we do to help small businesses take advantage of the Internet?... Has The Better Business Bureau Outlived Their Usefulness?by David WallaceI learned today that Google has an "unsatisfactory" record with The Better Business Bureau. How can a company voted "top global brand" in 2008 at the same time have an unsatisfactory record with the BBB? Apparently because out of 331 complaints filed against the search giant over the past three years, 2 were listed as unresolved. that's right - just 2! Despite this, Google continues to lead the way in search and nothing on the horizon seems to be able to change that. This got me thinking as to whether the BBB is still a useful resource in today's online... Small Business Blogging Case Study: Tinku Galleryby Mack CollierOne thing I love about blogging is that it gives a small business the ability to quickly and easily build awareness for itself online. This is exactly what Amrita Chandra is doing to get the word out about her Toronto-based art gallery, Tinku Gallery. Become a better Analyst with these 5 Skillsby Manoj JasraIf you are looking for a career in web analytics and want to establish a solid foundation of skills as a part of your overall analytics training, then I recommend adding the skills below to your tool-set to help you become a very well rounded analyst before you enter the field. Taking a course on web analytics, reading a book on web analytics or subscribing to a web analytics blog are a good start, but frankly, are not good enough by themselves.... SEM Bootcamp: How Search Engines See Keywordsby Jennifer LaycockOne of the questions I hear over and over again when I teach a search marketing boot camp is "How do search engines know which of my words are my keywords." These folks believe Google has a "list" of keywords and they come to your site hunting for them. While I can understand their line of thinking, the idea that search engines dub certain words on your site as your keywords isn't really true. Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website: #1 Expert Informationby Stoney deGeyterIf you can't be considered as an expert on your subject, what reason is there for someone to make a purchase from you or subscribe to what you offer? For most people, they want to find people who they are confident know their information inside and out. If I'm not confident that you'll be able to answer my questions intelligently, I'll move on to someone who can. Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website: #1b Seven Types of Expert Informationby Stoney deGeyterThere are a number of different types of expert information that can be developed for your webiste as a means of providing your visitors with additional, quality content. Depending on your site, some types of types of expert information are more applicable than others and not all will be a good fit for you. Each site must be evaluated to determine what kind of expert information will best serve the audience's needs and expectations. By finding ways to add additional expert information to your site you'll begin to build a site that can stand up above the competition. Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website: #2 Usabilityby Stoney deGeyterRunning SEO campaigns that don't address usability concerns is like running radio and TV promos to drive people to a store that is unfinished. The traffic being driven may not be a total loss, but you certainly aren't getting the full value out of each customer. Many won't find what they are looking for, others will be frustrated trying to check out, and some may turn around the moment they walk in the door. Usability addresses those issues to ensure each customer has a good experience on your website. Puppy's Picks - 07/21/08by Jennifer LaycockI scan a few hundred feeds and read dozens of articles a day so you don't have to. From egommunication to controlling the message online to a great recap of the fundamentals of paid search advertising, check out a roundup of five posts I classify as "must-read" for the day. Free Ways to Estimate Keyword Demand Reduxby Mike MoranYou've probably heard me advise marketers to "do it wrong quickly," allowing feedback from customers to help you improve your marketing. I am using feedback from my June 24th post on "Free Ways to Estimate Keyword Demand" (and a fortuitous announcement by Google) to improve the procedure I documented just a few weeks ago. (In case you're wondering, "keyword demand" is the number of searches on a particular search keyword done in a period of time, such as "3,000 U.S. searches per month for the keyword AAA Plumbing"—which you can use to help project the traffic you'll attract to your... Destination Search Engine Marketing, Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousandsby Stoney deGeyterOne of the things many businesses struggle with is how to really make their site stand out. Many of us have dozens, hundreds, even thousands of online competitors. Some are serious competition, some not-so serious, and some not yet even on the radar, but will soon become major players for "our" space. The truth is, everybody wants to be #1 and there is only one #1 position. So, how do you stand out among them? Destination Search Engine Marketing, Part IV: It's Not Just Marketing as Usualby Stoney deGeyterMost site's rely on marketing alone to increase traffic. Marketing drives traffic and traffic is really nothing more than more eyeballs on the site. The site still has to do it's job in selling the product or service you offer. And it has to do it effectively if you want to be profitable. Building a Destination Website rockets you beyond the competition in several key areas. Puppy's Picks - 07/16/08by Jennifer LaycockI scan a few hundred feeds and read dozens of articles a day so you don't have to. From more insight into Google's algorithm to the value of links to a reminder of how well Twitter works as a networking tool, check out a roundup of half a dozen posts I classify as "must-read" for the day. This is Why I Love Plurk (And Why You Should Too)by Mack CollierIf you use Twitter, then you might have heard of a new microblogging site called Plurk. Both services are alike in that they are both microblogging sites, in the same way that a Jeep and Ferrari are alike because they both have four wheels. But just as Twitter holds potential for you to grow your business, so does Plurk. Return to the Top of this Page 
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In response to... Puppy's Picks - 07/21/08Ah, the power of blogging! One blog picks up something from another blog and runs with it...but not with the rest of the information. I actually responded to Becky's interpretation of my comments in "Diversity Women" as follows: "LOL! I appreciate the discussion, but you've just demonstrated how the Internet can take a misimpression and exacerbate it. When I said, "if you know how to effectively use blogs and websites, you'll control 100 percent of the message" I was, in fact, simply saying that ON YOUR OWN BLOGS AND WEBSITES you control the message 100%. Of course you can't control it anywhere else. There was further context to that quote given at the time of the interview, but as is often the case, there apparently wasn't "space" to include the full context. "But I do appreciate the interest!" Jonathan Bernstein In response to... Want More Comments on Your Blog?Including specific questions in posts definitely helps get higher numbers of comments. I find that when I include questions in my headings that it is a particularly effective way of getting a response from readers as you set a question in their mind from the first moments of your post. Major Movie Spoilers Return to the Top of this Page 
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SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONTechnologies Behind Google Ranking SiteLinks - SERP Placement With Additional Links Which Are Stronger - Backlinks From Blog vs Forum How Do You Add A RSS Feed To Your SitePAY PER CLICK Landing Page OptimizationOTHER ONLINE MARKETING Are Your Marketing Strategies And Your Website On The Same Page Selling Off Excess Inventory ... eBay Any One Use AdbriteDIRECT MAIL Niche AdvertisingSMALL BUSINESS ISSUES Just Purchased Buisness Cards... Do I Own That Logo Now Sole Proprietorship or LLCPREVIOUS WEEK Small Business Forum Update For July 14, 2008 (If you like our search engine news, you'll love our small business news.) Return to the Top of this Page
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